Since its inception over 15 years ago, the Launch, Ascent, and Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA) CFD Framework has evolved into a highly performant and comprehensive multi-physics simulation suite. Supporting the three standard mesh paradigms—Cartesian, Unstructured, and Curvilinear—LAVA has made a significant impact across numerous aerospace applications with features developed to address the most challenging fluid dynamics problems at NASA and beyond. Innovative capabilities such as parallel Voronoi mesh generation, adjoint-based mesh redistribution, and high-performance Cartesian Adaptive Mesh Refinement reduce the level of user expertise required to achieve stand-out accuracy. LAVA’s central focus on computational efficiency for modern compute hardware enables the routine use of scale-resolving simulation methods for complex scenarios, including parachute fluid-structure interaction modeling, launch environment simulation, high-lift aerodynamics, iced aerodynamic prediction, jet acoustics, and more. This talk will detail recent advancements within LAVA, highlight key application results, and introduce new design optimization tools.
As LAVA approaches public release, interested users are encouraged to email jared.c.duensing@nasa.gov to receive updates on availability and access.
Biography
👁 Photo of Michael F. Barad Michael F. Barad is the lead developer of the LAVA Cartesian flow solver at NASA Ames Research Center, delivering high-fidelity CFD for NASA’s most challenging flow physics problems—such as Artemis launch pad analysis, Orion abort, supersonic retropropulsion, parachute deployment, and high-lift aerodynamics. He focuses on Cartesian immersed boundary methods in an unsteady block-structured AMR environment—demonstrating scalability to over 100 billion cells—which he has developed with his team at NASA. He led the LAVA GPU porting effort, making Cartesian among the fastest WMLES codes available while enabling efficient AMR-based flow feature tracking, and continues to advance parachute fluid-structure interaction modeling capabilities. Mike earned his Ph.D. from UC Davis as a DOE CSGF fellow, spent six years in the Applied Numerical Algorithms Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and was an NSF MSPRF postdoc in Stanford’s EFML, where he studied internal gravity waves and taught HPC courses, before joining NASA in 2009. He is widely published, a recipient of the NASA Silver Snoopy and multiple engineering and group awards and medals, and is dedicated to ultimate CFD accuracy and performance, advancing NASA’s simulation tools, and mentoring future engineers.
👁 Photo of Jeffrey Housman Jeffrey Housman is the lead developer of the LAVA Curvilinear flow solver, joining NASA's Computational Aerosciences Branch as a civil servant on September 25, 2011. He received his B.S. in Mathematics from Sonoma State University in 2000 and his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from U.C. Davis in 2007. He started at NASA Ames Research Center as a student researcher in 2001 and has been working in the Launch Ascent and Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA) group since its inception. Within LAVA his work has focused on development of the structured overset curvilinear grid solver as well as mid-field and far-field aeroacoustic modules. His research interests include scale resolving simulations, hybrid RANS-LES models, and moving body simulations. Jeff has worked on a wide range of NASA missions including launch vehicle liftoff and ascent; aeroacoustic analysis of high-lift devices; noise generation from propulsion systems such as open rotors and jets; design and analysis of the X57, X59, and X66; stability analysis of the MSR-EEV and Dragonfly capsules. More recently he has been focusing on transonic buffet analysis and developing advanced Hybrid RANS-LES models.
👁 Photo of Emre Sozer Emre Sozer is the lead developer of the LAVA Unstructured flow solver and a research aerospace engineer in the Computational Aerosciences Branch at NASA Ames Research Center, specializing in unstructured numerical methods and high-performance computing. Since joining the LAVA Team in 2011, he has supported a range of NASA missions, including launch thermal environment modeling for NASA’s Space Launch System and commercial vehicles, boom signature and aerodynamic performance predictions for the X-59, and, most recently, scale-resolving simulations of aircraft in high-lift configurations. In addition to his role as the principal developer of the LAVA unstructured solver, he also guides development of the LAVA Voronoi mesher.
👁 Photo of Jared Duensing Jared Duensing is the branch chief of the Computational Aerosciences Branch at NASA Ames Research Center, where he oversees a team of aerospace engineers and researchers that specialize in developing and applying computational modeling and simulation tools that support many of NASA’s flight vehicle analysis needs. Prior to his current role, Jared worked as an aerospace engineer at Honeywell Aerospace and subsequently joined NASA’s Launch, Ascent, and Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA) Team in 2016 as an aerospace engineer, leveraging structured curvilinear CFD methods to analyze numerous aircraft and launch vehicle technologies of interest to NASA. In addition to his branch chief duties, he also serves as co-lead of the LAVA Team.
