Introduction To FLUENT

David H. Porter Minnesota Supercomputer Institute University of Minnesota

Topics Covered in this Tutorial

What you can do with FLUENT

FLUENT is feature rich Summary of features and capabilities Hosts, X forwarding, environment, startup Basic steps for success Web documentation: User Guides & tutorials Help is available: helpline & forums

Using FLUENT at MSI

Essentials of working with FLUENT

User Resources at MSI

What You Can Do With FLUENT

Flow problems in 2D and 3D Compressible & Incompressible Steady state and time dependent Variety of material properties Complex physics & chemsitry Inviscid, viscous, and turbulence models Complex geometries & meshes Multiple and non-inertial reference frames Quantitative analysis & visualization

Flow Problems in 2D and 3D

2D

Planar Axisymmetric Axisymmetric with swirl

3D

Full 3D Complex boundaries

Compressible and Incompressible

Low subsonic

Incompressible or weakly compressible Constant or variable density Equation of state Strong compressibility Shock waves Inviscid model Euler discontinuities Strong shocks

Transonic

Supersonic & Hypersonic

Steady State and Time Dependent

Iterative convergence to steady state solutions Follow transient solutions Use steady state solution to initialize transient problems.

Material Properties

Newtonian & non-Newtonian fluids Phase changes

Melting and solidification

Porous media

Non-isotropic permeability Inertial resistance Solid heat conduction Porous-face pressure jump conditions
Porous media in a catalytic converter

Material properties database

Chemistry

Chemical Species

Mixing Reaction

Combustion models

Homogeneous Heterogeneous

Surface deposition/reaction models

Complex Physics

MHD Heat transfer

000

solid/fluid conjugate transfer Forced, natural & mixed convection

Natural Convection Velocity field

Volume sources of mass, momentum and energy Acoustic models: flow induced noise

Viscosity & Turbulence Models

Models for various flow regimes

Laminar (only for smooth flows) Viscous (Navier-Stokes) Large Eddy Simulations (LES) Detached Eddy Simulation Spalart-Allmaras (1 eqn) K-epsilon (standard & RNG) (2 eqn) K-omega (2 eqn) Reynolds Stress (7 eqn)

Turbulence models

Complex Geometries & Meshes

Various and mixed meshes

Structured, unstructured, & mixed

Sliding meshes Mixing-plane model

Time averaged mesh boundaries

Dynamic (deforming) meshes Free surfaces GAMBIT: mesh generation T-GRID: merge meshes

Reference Frames

Inertial

Stationary or moving

Non-inertial

Rotating Accelerating

Multiple reference frames

Meshes in relative motion

Quantitative Analysis

XY plots of values along lines

Primitive & derived quantities

Surface and volume integrals

Fluxes Averages

Temporal variation Fourier analysis

Flow Visualization

On surfaces

Contours Primitive and derived fields Particle paths Vector fields Colored with scalar fields Time dependent flows Moving viewpoint

In volumes

Animation

Using FLUENT at MSI

Hardware to run FLUENT on

Computational resources at MSI MSI maintains academic licenses from ANSYS Run locally in MSI labs SSH & X forwarding Environmental settings & modules Tutorial files & run directories GUIs for GAMBIT & FLUENT

Running remotely on core hardware

Getting Started

FLUENT Availability at MSI

Core hardware (remote access)

Altix (up to 256 processors) Regatta (up to 32 processors)

Labs (run locally or remotely)

BMSDL SDVL
http://www.msi.umn.edu/labs/

Running Remotely

GUI driven GAMBIT & FLUENT From your graphics & X11 enabled desktop

X11 is standard with Linux shells On Mac use an xterm shell & ssh -Y ... On Windows, need X server & SSH client

X server: XMing SSH client: PuTTY http://www.cs.caltech.edu/courses/cs11/misc/xwindows.html

Linux: SSH to remote host with X forwarding

Getting Started

Use the fluent module to set your environment

GAMBIT & FLUENT produce many files

Good idea to make a project directory

Tutorial resource files available on regatta

Meshes & example output Zipped files for each tutorial

Essentials of Working with FLUENT

Dream up a problem Draw a picture with labels for consistency Use GAMBIT to generate mesh

Specify geometry & boundaries Specify solver, mesh type & resolution Specify models, boundaries, material properties Specify solver approx, monitors, & iterate ... Adapt/refine mesh Examine/compare results

Use FLUENT to generate flow solutions

Example Problem
Channel flow with backward-facing step

Classic problem from turbulence Our example: 2D for simplicity & speed Will solve for steady state solution Compare results from different models
Re = (2/3)U(2h)/nu = 500

Lambros, Kaiktsis, Karniadakis, & Orszag, 1991 JFM vol. 231, pp. 501-528

Rani, Sheu, & Tsai, 2007, JFM vol. 588, pp. 4358

Define Geometry
Y vip=(-1,1) Wall Inflow vi0=(-1,0) vmm=(0,-1) Wall vm0=(0,0) Wall vop=(10,1) Outflow X

Wall vom=(10,-1)

2D problem: Z=0 Walls can be free slip or no slip Use default MKS units

Mesh Generation: Outline

Setup & start GAMBIT Specify FLUENT 5/6 solver 0D: Vertices from point coordinates 1D: Edges from pairs of vertexes 2D: Domain from edges Specify 1D meshes on Edges Interior mesh (on face) from 1D meshes Associate boundary types & labels with edges Save work & export mesh

Setup GAMBIT

Project Directory

Make directory: Enter directory:

mkdir step cd step

Start GAMBIT

module load fluent gambit

Specify solver
menu: solver -> FLUENT 5/6

Specify Vertices

Vertexes from point coordinates

Operation: GEOMETRY button Geometry: VETREX button Vertex: CREATE VERTEX button Enter coordinates with labels & APPLY for each pair (-1,1) (-1,0) (0,0) vmm vom vop (0,-1) (10,-1) (10,1)

vip vim vm0

Resize view to see all

Global Control: FIT TO WINDOW button

Create 1D Edges & 2D Domain

Edges from pairs of vertices

Geometry: EDGE button Edge: CREATE EDGE button: strait edge (default) Select pairs of vertices, label, & Apply
in ibot step {vip, vim} {vim, vm0} {vm0, vmm} bot out top {vmm, vom} {vom, vop} {vop, vip}

Face from edges

Geometry: FACE button Face: FORM FACE button Select all edges, label domain, & Apply

Generate Mesh

1D Mesh on Edges (0.1 m mesh)

Operation: MESH button Mesh: EDGE button Mesh Edges dialog:

Spacing: 0.1 (interval size) Select all edges & Apply

Mesh 2D domain from edges

Mesh: FACE button Face: MESH FACES button Mesh faces dialog:

Select all edges Retain defaults for quad mesh & Apply

Boundary Types

Associate boundary types & labels with edges

Operation: ZONES button Zones: SPECIFY BOUNDARY TYPES button Specify Boundary Types dialog:

Edge, label , boundary type,

Apply

Save Work & Export Mesh

Good Idea to save GAMBIT session

Modify or fix mesh as needed Use as a starting point for another project
Menu: File -> Save As ...

Export mesh

Generates a mesh file: step.msh Will import this file into FLUENT
Menu: File -> Export -> Mesh ... Enable Export 2-D (X-Y) Mesh File name: step.msh Accept

Solve for Steady State Solution

Use FLUENT Import mesh Models: solver, viscous, source terms, ... Material properties Boundary conditions Operating conditions Solution controls & initialization Monitors Iterate ...

Setup FLUENT

Use step project directory

Contains file: step.msh Only need to do once per shell Can put module load ... in file: .bashrc

Set environment: module load fluent

Run FLUENT for 2D simulations

Import mesh from file step.msh

Check mesh: Grid -> Check

Choose Model

Solver framework
Define -> Models -> Solver

Retain defaults

Energy equation?
Define -> Models -> Energy ...

Simple, low Mach flow: Try energy eqn. off

Viscosity model
Define -> Models -> Viscous ...

Try Laminar option.

Materials & Boundaries

Select fluid
Define -> Materials ...

Can select from Database Can define your own Will keep default: air

Dynamic Viscosity: 1.7894e-05 [kg/m-s]

Boundaries: Define -> Bounary Conditions

Select Inlet (Velocity Inlet) & Set... Set Velocity Magnitude: 0.002435 m/s (Re ~ 500) Retain default settings for outlet (Pressure Outlet) Retain defaults for all other boundaries (Wall)

Operating Conditions & Solver Controls

Set operating conditions

Retain defaults

NOTE: panel entry fields adapt to model chosen.

Set solver controls Solve -> Controls -> Solution Discretization: Momentum: 2nd order Upwind Retain other defaults

Initialization & Monitors

Initialize flow on mesh

Compute From: inlet Init

Solution convergence monitors

Select Plot under Options Increase Storage & Plotting iterations to 10000 Keep Continuity, X-, & Y-velocity monitors

Iterative Solution to Steady State

Iterate
Solver -> Iterate ...

Set # of iterations to 1000 Iterate Low res. mesh Numerical Diff. Need Turb. Visc.

Laminar: unrealistic

Save settings & data

Try a Turbulence Model

Standard K-epsilon model

Select k-epsilon (2 eqn) Retain standard default settings

Solver for SGS fields

2nd order Upwind for TKE & TDR

Iterate ...

Examine Flow

Vector fields Contours Particle paths XY plots along lines or edges Quantitative reports Compare results from different models Hard copy output
File -> Hardcopy ...

I've used: JPEG & Color

Flow Visualization

Display -> Vectors

In subsets of full domain Colored by ... Zoom with middle mouse button

Display -> Contours ...

Select Filled under Options

Display -> Pathlines ...

Steps 200; Path skip 2 Release from default-interior

Quantitative Results

Pressure along a vertical cut

X0=X1=0.6; Y0=-1; Y1=1 Name: x=0.6 Plot Direction: (X,Y,Z)=(0,1,0) Surfaces: x=0.6 & Plot

Plot -> XY Plot ...

Quantitative reports
Report -> Fluxes ...

Select: Inlet & Outlet Retain Mass Flow Rate Compute

Mass Flow Rate inlet outlet Net

(kg/s) 0.0029828751 -0.0029837638 -8.887e-07

Compare Results from Different Models

Plot -> XY Plot ...

Select Write to File Write

Switch cases
File -> Write -> Case & Date File -> Read -> Case & Data

Plot -> XY Plot ...

Load File ...

Select file: keps_Vx_on_x=0.6.xy

Plot

Adapt/Refine Mesh

Reason: test & improve accuracy Refinement based on your choice of

Gradients Residual errors Domain X=[-1,10]; y=[-1,1] Adapt

Adapt -> Region

doubles mesh

Solver -> Iterate ...

Comparison of Vx from 3 Models

User Resources at MSI

User Guide & tutorials on the WEB:

GAMBIT: http://wwwr.msi.umn.edu/gambit/index.htm FLUENT: http://wwwr.msi.umn.edu/fluent/index.htm

MSI User Support

Email: [email protected] Phone: 6126260802 (8:30am 5pm)

MSI web portals & Forums

Still in planning stages Will be under MSI web site http://www.msi.umn.edu

Proposed: MSI Forum on Fluid Dynamics/Continuum Mech.

Interdisciplinary & interdepartmental

Theory, Experiment, Computation Facilitate access to local resources & opportunities Share knowhow Address questions & concerns with MSI resources Brainstorm projects leveraged by MSI resources Forums will be user driven Your input is crucial Email: [email protected]

Still in planning stages