Houcun Zhou

Houcun Zhou


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

9Years (2018-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

View All Publications
29 October 2018 in Journal of Marine Science and Technology
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
PDF file
HZHoucun Zhou
Houcun Zhou
MXMin Xing
Min Xing
POPatrick N. Okolo
Patrick N. Okolo
ZWZeping Wu
Zeping Wu
GBGareth J. Bennett
Gareth J. Bennett
WZWeihua Zhang
Weihua Zhang

16 October 2018 in Water
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
ZLZhipeng Lin
Zhipeng Lin
WYWenjing Yang
Wenjing Yang
HZHoucun Zhou
Houcun Zhou
XXXinhai Xu
Xinhai Xu
LSLiaoyuan Sun
Liaoyuan Sun
YTYuhua Tang
Yuhua Tang
Multiphase flow solvers are widely-used applications in OpenFOAM, whose scalability suffers from the costly communication overhead. Therefore, we establish communication-optimized multiphase flow solvers in OpenFOAM. In this paper, we first deliver a scalability bottleneck test on the typical multiphase flow case damBreak and reveal that the Message Passing Interface (MPI) communication in a Multidimensional Universal Limiter for Explicit Solution (MULES) and a Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient (PCG) algorithm is the short slab of multiphase flow solvers. Furthermore, an analysis of the communication behavior is carried out. We find that the redundant communication in MULES and the global synchronization in PCG are the performance limiting factors. Based on the analysis, we propose our communication optimization algorithm. For MULES, we remove the redundant communication and obtain optMULES. For PCG, we import several intermediate variables and rearrange PCG to reduce the global communication. We also overlap the computation of matrix-vector multiply and vector update with the non-blocking computation. The resulting algorithms are respectively referred to as OFPiPePCG and OFRePiPePCG. Extensive experiments show that our proposed method could dramatically increase the parallel scalability and solving speed of multiphase flow solvers in OpenFOAM approximately without the loss of accuracy.

16 June 2025 in Biomimetics
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
FGFukui Gao
Fukui Gao
XLXiyan Liu
Xiyan Liu
XLXinlin Li
Xinlin Li
ZFZhaolin Fan
Zhaolin Fan
HZHoucun Zhou
Houcun Zhou
ZZZhe Zhang
Zhe Zhang
Webbed-foot gliding water entry is a characteristic water-landing strategy employed by swans and other large waterfowls, demonstrating exceptional low-impact loading and remarkable motion stability. These distinctive biomechanical features offer significant potential for informing the design of cross-medium vehicles’ (CMVs’) water-entry systems. To analyze the hydrodynamic mechanisms and flow characteristics during swan webbed-foot gliding entry, the three-dimensional bionic webbed-foot water-entry process was investigated through a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method coupled with global motion mesh (GMM) technology, with a particular emphasis on elucidating the regulatory effects of entry parameters on dynamic performance. The results demonstrated that the gliding water-entry process can be divided into two distinct phases: stable skipping and surface gliding. During the stable skipping phase, the motion trajectory exhibits quasi-sinusoidal periodic fluctuations, accompanied by multiple water-impact events and significant load variations. In the surface-gliding phase, the kinetic energy of the bionic webbed foot progressively decreases while maintaining relatively stable load characteristics. Increasing the water-entry velocity will enhance impact loads while simultaneously increasing the skipping frequency and distance. Increasing the water-entry angle will primarily intensify the impact load magnitude while slightly reducing the skipping frequency and distance. An optimal pitch angle of 20° provides maximum glide-skip stability for the bio-inspired webbed foot, with angles exceeding 25° or below 15° leading to motion instability. This study on webbed-foot gliding entry behavior provided insights for developing novel bio-inspired entry strategies for cross-medium vehicles, while simultaneously advancing the optimization of impact-mitigation designs in gliding water-entry systems.