Surrogate-based aerodynamic optimization for enhancing the shelter effect of porous fences on a triangular prism

To further improve the shelter effect of porous fences on the wind erosion of a triangular prism pile of coal, an aerodynamic optimization procedure has been developed, by coupling computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver, kriging model and genetic algorithm. Two-dimensional ReynoldsAveraged Navier-Stokes equations with the RNG k-epsilon turbulence model were used for numerical simulation of the shelter behaviour. The single and multi-objectives were minimizing the sum of absolute mean pressure coefficients on the surface of the prism, and/or the total peak velocity ratio values around the prism. Two case studies focusing on the optimization design of a single front fence and dual fences were presented, in order to determine the optimal fence parameters (height and porosity). The weighted-sum method was utilized to solve multi-objective problems, which finds the Paretooptimal front one by one by changing the objective weighting coefficients. The results showed that the optimal design of porous fence provided a remarkable shelter performance improvement compared with the near optimal design. It was also found that the weighting coefficient had a significant influence on the optimal results, and a good trade-off between the two conflicting objective functions has been achieved by selecting suitable fence parameters.

Automated summary

The study focuses on improving the shelter effect of porous fences on wind erosion of a triangular prism pile of coal through aerodynamic optimization. By using CFD solver, kriging model, and genetic algorithm, the optimal design of fence parameters is determined by finding a good trade-off between two conflicting objective functions through changing objective weighting coefficients one by one. The results show significant improvement in shelter performance compared to near optimal design.