Posted on July 2, 2026 by Ender Finol and Maria Bolanos Moreno
Dr. Araya and an undergraduate student use virtual reality to visualize supersonic turbulent airflow over curved surfaces under different thermal conditions, including cold, adiabatic, and hot walls.
Led by Dr. Guillermo Araya, the Computational Turbulence and Visualization Lab advances fundamental and applied research in aerothermodynamics and high-speed fluid dynamics using state-of-the-art high performance computing, AI, machine learning and visualization tools to improve aerodynamic efficiency, drag reduction, and thermal protection strategies for next-generation aerospace systems. In 2025, Dr. Araya received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) Award, which is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.
The facility includes two Apple iMac Retina systems (128 GB and 32 GB RAM) and two high-performance Windows workstations (Dell Alienware and ASUS ROG G700/U9), each with 64 GB RAM. It also features advanced virtual and augmented reality systems, including the HTC Vive Pro 2, Varjo XR-3, and Microsoft HoloLens 1 and 2, along with high-resolution displays, a 70″ Vibe smart board, and terminals providing remote access to major supercomputing resources. These include UTSA ARC, the Texas Advanced Computing Center (Stampede3, Lonestar6, Frontera, Ranch), and Department of Defense systems such as Carpenter, Narwhal, Raider, Gaffney, Koehr, and Jean. The lab’s “Narwhalito” GPU cluster, operational since March 17, 2025, significantly expands its high-performance computing capabilities for large scale scientific computing.
Built on a Dell PowerEdge XE9680 server, it includes eight NVIDIA H200 GPUs (141 GB each), 48 Intel Xeon Gold 6442Y CPU cores, 2 TB RAM, and 38 TB of NVMe Gen4 RAID6 storage. This system enables faster simulations, large-dataset processing, and advanced real-time visualization, substantially strengthening the lab’s computational infrastructure for faculty and student research.
The DoD project titled "Effects of wall curvature on hypersonic turbulent spatially-developing boundary layers” (AFOSR#FA9550-17-1-0051) studies how airflow behaves over curved surfaces when vehicles travel at hypersonic speeds (more than five times the speed of sound). Using advanced computer simulations, the research examines how surface curvature affects turbulence, heating, and drag—key factors that influence the safety and performance of spacecraft and high speed aircraft. The findings help improve the design of thermal protection systems and more efficient aerospace vehicles for future space and defense applications.
The DoD project titled “Coherent structure assessment in high speed crossflow jets (#FA9550-23-10241) investigates how high speed jets of air or gas interact with a surrounding airflow, a fundamental problem in propulsion, fuel injection, and spacecraft thrust vectoring control systems. Using advanced high-fidelity simulations and postprocessing tools, the research identifies organized flow patterns—called coherent structures— that influence mixing, stability, and heat transfer. The results support the design of more efficient propulsion technologies and improved thermal management for aerospace applications.
— Ender Finol and Maria Bolanos Moreno
This article was written by Ender Finol and Maria Bolanos Moreno
