Multi-fidelity Kriging extrapolation together with CFD for the design of the cross-section of a falling lifeboat

Abstract

Surrogate modelling techniques such as Kriging are a popular means for cheaply emulating the response of expensive Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. These surrogate models are often used for exploring a parameterised design space and identifying optimal designs. Multi-fidelity Kriging extends the methodology to incorporate data of variable accuracy and costs to create a more effective surrogate. This work recognises that the grid convergence property of CFD solvers is currently an unused source of information and presents a novel method that, by leveraging the data structure implied by grid convergence, could further improve the performance of the surrogate model and the corresponding optimisation process. Grid convergence states that the simulation solution converges to the true simulation solution as the numerical grid is refined. The proposed method is tested with realistic multi-fidelity data acquired with CFD simulations. The performance of the surrogate model is comparable to an existing method, and likely more robust. More research is needed to explore the full potential of the proposed method. Code has been made available online at https://github.com/robertwenink/MFK-Extrapolation.