Renato Tognaccini
Full professor of Fluid Dynamics
Contacts:
renato.tognaccini@unina.it
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale
Piazzale V. Tecchio 80
80125 Napoli ITALIA
Tel: +39 081 7682179
Short bio
Renato Tognaccini is Full Professor of Fluid Dynamics at the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Naples Federico II. He took the master degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1985, then, for seven years worked at Alenia (currently Leonardo Company), the main Italian aerospace company. During this period, for one year and half, he worked at NLR (the Dutch Aerospace Laboratory) as visiting researcher. In 1992 he became staff research scientist at the University of Naples where he is still working as full professor. He is lecturer of three courses at his University: Aerodynamics, Rotary Wing Aerodynamics and Aerodynamics for the cadet pilots of the Italian Air Force Academy. In the past he also taught Aircraft Aerodynamics.He currently leads the team TAARG (Theoretical and Applied Aerodynamic Research Group). His research activities are documented by more than 100 papers, most of them published on international journals as AIAA J., J. of Aircraft, J. of Fluid Mech., Physics of Fluids, etc.. His research interests are in Theoretical Fluid Dynamics, Computational and Applied Aerodynamics. He led different international research teams within relevant EU funded programs as AIRDATA, DESIREH, Clean Sky JTI-GRA (Low Noise Domain and Clean Sky 2 REG Program Airgreen2 funded by EU. He also led projects funded by the Italian Ministry of Research.
Concerning his main research activities, during 80s at NLR he participated to the development of a multi block structured software environment for subsonic and transonic CFD analyses of complex configurations including the simulation of propeller and open rotors.
During 90s at University of Naples he wrote a DNS code for the simulation of the airfoil start-up and proposed new exact analytical solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations coupled with thermal field.
During 2000s within EC funded AIRDATA project he developed a method for drag analysis and breakdown from CFD data. An alternative method was developed in cooperation with JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Agency). He is currently cooperating on this topic with ONERA (the French Aerospace Labs), CIRA (Italian Aerospace Research) and Cranfield University within a GARTEUR project.
In cooperation with CIRA (still ongoing) he also proposed a turbulence model for the analysis of low-Reynolds number airfoils and wings.
During 2010s, within EC funded Clean Sky GRA program, he developed a model for CFD simulations of aerodynamic configurations with riblets installed.
With Prof. Luciano Demasi of San Diego State University he is studying advanced unconventional wing geometries.He is cooperating with IIT (Italian Institute of Technology) for the development and built of a flying humanoid robot.
He is currently cooperating with Prof. Gianluca Iaccarino of Stanford University to the development of Aerodynamic prediction methods by Machine Learning algorithms.
Publications (journal articles)
Paolino A., Nava G., Di Natale F., Bergonti F., Vanteddu P.R., Grassi D., Riccobene L., Zanotti A., Tognaccini R., Iaccarino G., Pucci D., Learning aerodynamics for the control of flying humanoid robots (2025) Nature Communications Engineering, 4 (1),10.1038/s44172-025-00447-w.
Saetta E., Tognaccini R., Iaccarino G., Uncertainty quantification in autoencoders predictions: Applications in aerodynamics (2024) Journal of Computational Physics, 506, 112951.
Longobardo G., Tognaccini R., Catalano P., Quagliarella D., Modeling Laminar Separation Bubbles by Field Inversion Method (2024) AIAA Journal, 62 (1), pp. 175 – 192.
Minervino M., Tognaccini R., Aerodynamic force by Lamb vector integrals in unsteady compressible flows (2024), International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat and Fluid Flow, 34 (7), pp 2654-2687.
Minervino M., Tognaccini R., On the spurious effects in Lamb-vector-based force decomposition methods (2023) Aerospace Science and Technology, 142.
Minervino M., Tognaccini R., A unified thermodynamic/Lamb-vector-based analysis of the aerodynamic force (2023) Physics of Fluids, 35 (9).
Saetta E., Tognaccini R., Identification of Flowfield Regions by Machine Learning (2023) AIAA Journal, 61 (4), pp. 1503 – 1518.
Saetta E., Tognaccini R., Iaccarino G., Machine Learning to Predict Aerodynamic Stall (2022) International Journal of Computational Fluid Dynamics, 36 (7), pp. 641 – 65.
Minervino, M., Andreutti, G., Russo, L., & Tognaccini, R., Drag reduction by wingtip-mounted propellers in distributed propulsion configurations (2022), Fluids, 7(7).
Fournis, C., Bailly, D., Tognaccini, R., Invariant Vortex-Force Theory Extending Classical Aerodynamic Theories to Transonic Flows (2022), AIAA Journal, article in advance.
De Santis, C., Catalano, P., & Tognaccini, R., Model for enhancing turbulent production in laminar separation bubbles (2022), AIAA Journal, 60(1), 473-487.
Morales, E., Bornaccioni, A., Quagliarella, D., Tognaccini, R., Gradient based empirical cumulative distribution function approximation for robust aerodynamic design (2021), Aerospace Science and Technology, 112, art. no. 106630.
Fournis, C., Bailly, D., Tognaccini, R., Compressibility correction to Kutta–Joukowski and Maskell formulas using vortex-force theory (2021), AIAA Journal, 59 (2), pp. 773-778.
Fournis, C., Bailly, D., Tognaccini, R., Definition of an invariant Lamb-vector-based aerodynamic force breakdown using far-field flow symmetries (2021), AIAA Journal, 59 (1), pp. 34-48.
Mele, B., Tognaccini, R., Catalano, P., De Rosa, D., Effect of body shape on riblets performance (2020), Physical Review Fluids, 5 (12), art. no. 124609.
Mele, B., Russo, L., Tognaccini, R., Drag bookkeeping on an aircraft with riblets and NLF control (2020), Aerospace Science and Technology, 98, art. no. 105714.
Russo, L., Tognaccini, R., Demasi, L., Box wing and induced drag: Compressibility effects in subsonic and transonic regimes (2020), AIAA Journal, 58 (6), pp. 2398-2413.
Catalano, P., De Rosa, D., Mele, B., Tognaccini, R., Moens, F., Performance improvements of a regional aircraft by riblets and natural laminar flow (2020), Journal of Aircraft, 57 (1), pp. 29-40.
Mele, B., Ostieri, M., Tognaccini, R., Aircraft lift and drag decomposition in transonic flows (2017), Journal of Aircraft, 54 (5), pp. 1933-1944.
Luchini, P., Tognaccini, R., Viscous and inviscid simulations of the start-up vortex (2017), Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 813, pp. 53-69.
Mele, B., Ostieri, M., Tognaccini, R., Vorticity based breakdown of the aerodynamic force in three-dimensional compressible flows (2016), AIAA Journal, 54 (4), pp. 1198-1208.
Mele, B., Tognaccini, R., Catalano, P.. Performance assessment of a transonic wing-body configuration with riblets installed (2016), Journal of Aircraft, 53 (1), pp. 129-140.
Catalano, P., Mele, B., Tognaccini, R., On the implementation of a turbulence model for low Reynolds number flows (2015), Computers and Fluids, 109, pp. 67-71.
Lanzetta, M., Mele, B., Tognaccini, R., Advances in aerodynamic drag extraction by far-field methods (2015), Journal of Aircraft, 52 (6), pp. 1873-1886.
Mele, B., Tognaccini, R., Aerodynamic force by Lamb vector integrals in compressible flow (2014), Physics of Fluids, 26 (5), art. no. 056104.
Marongiu, C., Tognaccini, R., Ueno, M., Lift and lift-induced drag computation by lamb vector integration (2013), AIAA Journal, 51 (6), pp. 1420-1430.
Ueno, M., Yamamoto, K., Tanaka, K., Murayama, M., Tognaccini, R., Far-field drag analysis of NASA common research model simulation (2013), Journal of Aircraft, 50 (2), pp. 388-397.
Pozzi, A., Tognaccini, R., The effect of the Eckert number on impulsively started pipe flow (2012), European Journal of Mechanics, B/Fluids, 36, pp. 120-127.
Catalano, P., Tognaccini, R., RANS analysis of the low-Reynolds number flow around the SD7003 airfoil (2011), Aerospace Science and Technology, 15 (8), pp. 615-626.
Pozzi, A., Tognaccini, R., Conjugated heat transfer in unsteady channel flows (2011), International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 54 (17-18), pp. 4019-4027.
Marongiu, C., Tognaccini, R., Far-field analysis of the aerodynamic force by lamb vector integrals (2010), AIAA Journal, 48 (11), pp. 2543-2555.
Catalano, P., Tognaccini, R., Turbulence modeling for low-Reynolds-number flows (2010), AIAA Journal, 48 (8), pp. 1673-1685.
Pozzi, A., Tognaccini, R., Thermo-fluid dynamics of the unsteady channel flow (2009), European Journal of Mechanics, B/Fluids, 28 (2), pp. 299-308.
Pozzi, A., Quaranta, G., Tognaccini, R., A self-similar unsteady flow with conjugated heat transfer (2008), International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 51 (7-8), pp. 1804-1809.
Pozzi, A., Tognaccini, R., Time singularities in conjugated thermo-fluid-dynamic phenomena(2005), Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 538, pp. 361-376.
Pozzi, A., Tognaccini, R., Influence of the prandtl number on the unsteady thermo-fluid dynamic field around a thick plate (2005), Meccanica, 40 (3), pp. 251-266.
Tognaccini, R., Drag computation and breakdown in power-on conditions (2005), Journal of Aircraft, 42 (1), pp. 245-252.
Pozzi, A., Tognaccini, R., On the thermal field in the impulsive Rayleigh flow (2004), Physics of Fluids, 16 (12), pp. 4539-4542.
Paparone, L., Tognaccini, R., Computational fluid dynamics-based drag prediction and decomposition (2003), AIAA Journal, 41 (9), pp. 1647-1657.
Luchini, P., Tognaccini, R., The start-up vortex issuing from a semi-infinite flat plate (2002), Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 455, pp. 175-193.
Pozzi, A., Tognaccini, R., Symmetrical impulsive thermo-fluid dynamic field along a thick plate (2001), International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 44 (17), pp. 3281-3293.
de Nicola, C., Tognaccini, R., Puoti, V., Local block relaxation method for the solution of equations of Gasdynamics (2000), AIAA journal, 38 (8), pp. 1377-1384.
Pozzi, A., Tognaccini, R., Coupling of conduction and convection past an impulsively started semi-infinite flat plate (2000), International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 43 (7), pp. 1121-1131.
de Nicola, C., Pinto, G., Tognaccini, R., Stability of two-dimensional model problems for multiblock structured fluid-dynamics calculations (1997), Computers and Fluids, 26 (1), pp. 43-58.
Luchini, P., Tognaccini, R., Direction-adaptive nonreflecting boundary conditions (1996), Journal of Computational Physics, 128 (1), pp. 121-133.
de Nicola, C., Iaccarino, G., Tognaccini, R., Efficient computations using upwind biased schemes (1996), International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids, 22 (12), pp. 1153-1167.
de Nicola, C., Iaccarino, G., Tognaccini, R., Rotating dissipation for accurate shock capture (1996), AIAA Journal, 34 (6), pp. 1289-1291.
de Nicola, C., Pinto, G., Tognaccini, R., A normal mode stability analysis of multiblock algorithms for the solution of fluid-dynamics equations (1996), Applied Numerical Mathematics, 19 (4), pp. 419-431.
de Nicola, C., Tognaccini, R., Visingardi, P., Paparone, L., Estimation of supersonic leading-edge thrust by a Euler flow model (1995), Journal of Aircraft, 32 (3), pp. 684-686.
de Nicola, C., Pinto, G., Tognaccini, R., On the conditional consistency of an explicit numerical scheme (1995), Journal of Computational Physics, 120 (2), pp. 378-382.
de Nicola, C., Pinto, G., Tognaccini, R., On the numerical stability of block structured algorithms with applications to 1-D advection-diffusion problems (1995), Computers and Fluids, 24 (1), pp. 41-54.