Fluent Tutorial Flow Through PIPE

Problem Specification


Consider fluid flowing through a circular pipe of constant radius as illustrated above. The pipe
diameter D = 0.2 m and length L = 8 m. The inlet velocity
z
= 1 m/s. Consider the velocity to be
constant over the inlet cross-section. The fluid exhausts into the ambient atmosphere which is at
a pressure of 1 atm. Take density = 1 kg/ m
3
and coefficient of viscosity = 2 x 10
-3
kg/(ms).
The Reynolds number Re based on the pipe diameter is

where
z
is the average velocity at the inlet, which is 1 m/s in this case.
Solve this problem using FLUENT via ANSYS Workbench. Plot the velocity and pressure
variation within the pipe. Validate your results.
Note: The values used for the inlet velocity and flow properties are chosen for convenience
rather than to reflect reality. The key parameter value to focus on is the Reynolds number.
tep 1: Pre-Analysis & Start-up
Preliminary Analysis
We expect the viscous boundary layer to grow along the pipe starting at the inlet. It will
eventually grow to fill the pipe completely (provided that the pipe is long enough). When this
happens, the flow becomes fully-developed and there is no variation of the velocity profile in the
axial direction, x (see figure below). One can obtain a closed-form solution to the governing
equations in the fully-developed region. You should have seen this in the Introduction to Fluid
Mechanics course. We will compare the numerical results in the fully-developed region with the
corresponding analytical results. So it's a good idea for you to go back to your textbook in the
Intro course and review the fully-developed flow analysis. What values would you expect for the
centerline velocity and the friction factor in the fully-developed region based on the analytical
solution? What is the solution for the velocity profile?



We'll create the geometry and mesh in ANSYS 12.1 which is the preprocessor for FLUENT, and
then read the mesh into FLUENT and solve for the flow solution.
Start ANSYS FLUENT
Prior to opening ANSYS, create a folder called pipe in a convenient location. We'll use this as
the working folder in which files created during the session will be stored. For this simulation
Fluent will be run within the ANSYS Workbench Interface. Start ANSYS workbench:
Start>All Programs>Ansys 12.1>Workbench
The following figure shows the workbench window.


Management of Screen Real Estate
This tutorial is specially configured, so the user can have both the tutorial and ANSYS open at
the same time as shown below. It will be beneficial to have both ANSYS and your internet
browser displayed on your monitor simultaneously. Your internet browser should consume
approximately one third of the screen width while ANSYS should take the other two thirds as
shown below.


Click Here for Higher Resolution
If the monitor you are using is insufficient in size, you can press the Alt and Tab keys
simultaneously to toggle between ANSYS and your internet browser.
Step 2: Geometry
Care to skip the geometry and meshing steps? README
If you would prefer to skip the geometry and mesh steps, then you can download the
necessary files here. Download the "zip" file, then extract the files to your working directory.
In order to load the necessary files, go to the Workbench Project Page, then (Click) File >
Open >"pipe_laminar.wbpj". Lastly, click here to skip ahead to Step 4 of the tutorial.
Saving
It would be of best interest, to save the project at this point. Click on the "Save As.." button,
, which is located on the top of the Workbench Project Page. Save the project as
"LaminarPipeFlow" in your working directory. When you save in ANSYS a file and a folder will
be created. For instance if you save as "LaminarPipeFlow", a "LaminarPipeFlow" file and a
folder called "LaminarPipeFlow_files" will appear. In order to reopen the ANSYS files in the
future you will need both the ".wbpj" file and the folder. If you do not have BOTH, you will not
be able to access your project.
Fluid Flow (FLUENT) Project Selection
On the left hand side of the workbench window, you will see a toolbox full of various analysis
systems. To the right, you see an empty work space. This is the place where you will organize
your project. At the bottom of the window, you see messages from ANSYS.
Left click (and hold) on Fluid Flow (FLUENT), and drag the icon into the empty space in the
Project Schematic. Your ANSYS window should now look comparable to the image below.


Since we selected Fluid Flow (FLUENT), each cell of the system corresponds to a step in the
process of performing CFD analysis using FLUENT. Rename the project to Laminar Pipe.
We will work through each step from top down to obtain the solution to our problem.
Analysis Type
In the Project Schematic of the Workbench window, right click on Geometry and select
Properties, as shown below.



The properties menu will then appear to the right of the Workbench window. Under Advance
Geometry Options, change the Analysis Typeto 2D as shown in the image below.


Launch Design Modeler
In the Project Schematic, double click on Geometry to start preparing the geometry.
At this point, a new window, ANSYS Design Modeler will be opened. You will be asked to
select desired length unit. Use the default meter unit and click OK.
Creating a Sketch
Start by creating a sketch on the XYPlane. Under Tree Outline, select XYPlane, then click on
Sketching right before Details View. This will bring up the Sketching Toolboxes.
Click Here for Select Sketching Toolboxes Demo
Click on the +Z axis on the bottom right corner of the Graphics window to have a normal look
of the XY Plane.
Click Here for Select Normal View Demo
In the Sketching toolboxes, select Rectangle. In the Graphics window, create a rough Rectangle
by clicking once on the origin and then by clicking once somewhere in the positive XY plane.
(Make sure that you see a letter P at the origin before you click. The P implies that the cursor is
directly over a point of intersection.) At this point you should have something comparable to the
image below.


Dimensions:- At this point the rectangle will be properly dimensioned.
Under Sketching Toolboxes, select Dimensions tab, use the default dimensioning tools.
Dimension the geometry as shown in the following image.



Under the Details View table (located in the lower left corner), set V1=0.1m and set H2=8m, as
shown in the image below.


Surface Body Creation
In order to create the surface body, first (Click )Concept >Surface From Sketches as shown in
the image below.


This will create a new surface SurfaceSK1. Under Details View, select Sketch1 as Base Objects
and then under Surface body select the thickness to 0.1m and click Apply. Finally click Generate
to generate the surface.
At this point, you can close the Design Modeler and go back to Workbench Project Page. Save
your work thus far in the Workbench Project Page.
Step 3: Mesh
In this section the geometry will be meshed with 500 elements. That is, the pipe will be divided
into 100 elements in the axial direction and 5 elements in the radial direction.
Launch Mesher
In order to begin the meshing process, go to the Workbench Project Page, then (Double Click)
Mesh.
Default Mesh
In this section the default mesh will be generated. This can be carried out two ways. The first
way is to (Right Click) Mesh >Generate Mesh, as shown in the image below.



The second way in which the default mesh can be generated is to (Click) Mesh >Generate Mesh
as can be seen below.



Either method should give you the same results. The default mesh that you generate should look
comparable to the image below.


Note that in Workbench there is generally at least two ways to implement actions as has been
shown above. For, simplicity's sake the "menu" method of implementing actions will be solely
used for the rest of the tutorial.
Mapped Face Meshing
As can be seen above, the default mesh has irregular elements. We are interested in creating a
grid style of mesh that can be mapped to a rectangular domain. This meshing style is called
Mapped Face Meshing. In order to incorporate this meshing style (Click) Mesh Control >
Mapped Face Meshing as can be seen below.



Now, the Mapped Face Meshing still must be applied to the pipe geometry. In order to do so,
first click on the pipe body which should then highlight green. Next, (Click) Apply in the Details
of Mapped Face Meshing table, as shown below.



This process is shown here
Now, generate the mesh by using either method from the "Default Mesh" section above. You
should obtain a mesh comparable to the following image.



Edge Sizing
The desired mesh has specific number of divisions along the radial and the axial direction. In
order to obtain the specified number of divisions Edge Sizing must be used. The divisions along
the axial direction will be specified first. Now, an Edge Sizing needs to be inserted. First, (Click)
Mesh Control >Sizing as shown below.


Now, the geometry and the number of divisions need to be specified. First (Click) Edge
Selection Filter, . Then hold down the "Control" button and then click the bottom and top
edge of the rectangle. Both sides should highlight green. Next, hit Apply under the Details of
Sizing table as shown below.

Now, change Typeto Number of Divisions as shown in the image below.


Then, set Number of Divisions to 100 as shown below.



Follow the same procedure as for the edge sizing in the radial direction, except select the left and
right side instead of the top and bottom and set the Number of Division to 5. Then, generate the
mesh by using either method from the "Default Mesh" section above. You should obtain the
following mesh.



As it turns out, in the mesh above there are 540 elements, when there should be only 500. Mesh
statistics can be found by clicking on Mesh in the Tree and then by expanding Statistics under
the Details of Mesh table. In order to get the desired 500 element mesh the Behavior needs to be
changed from Soft to Hard for both Edge Sizing's. In order to carry this out first Expand Mesh
in the tree outline then click Edge Sizing and then change Behavior to Hard under the Details of
Edge Sizing table, as shown below.


Then set the Behavior to Hard for Edge Sizing 2. Next, generate the mesh using either method
from the "Default Mesh" section above. You should then obtain the following 500 element mesh.



Radial Sizing

Create Named Selections
Here, the edges of the geometry will be given names so one can assign boundary conditions in
Fluent in later steps. The left side of the pipe will be called "Inlet" and the right side will be
called "Outlet". The top side of the rectangle will be called "PipeWall" and the bottom side of the
rectangle will be called "CenterLine" as shown in the image below.


In order to create a named selections first (Click) Edge Selection Filter, . Then click on the
left side of the rectangle and it should highlight green. Next, right click the left side of the
rectangle and choose Create Named Selection as shown below.



Select the left edge and right click and select Create Named Selection. Enter Inlet and click OK,
as shown below.



Now, create named selections for the remaining three sides and name them according to the
diagram.
Save, Exit & Update
First save the project. Next, close the Mesher window. Then, go to the Workbench Project Page
and click the Update Project button, .
Step 4: Setup (Physics)
Your current Workbench Project Pageshould look comparable to the following image.
Regardless of whether you downloaded the mesh and geometry files or if you created them
yourself, you should have checkmarks to the right of Geometry and Mesh.



Next, the mesh and geometry data need to be read into FLUENT. To read in the data (Right
Click) Setup >Refresh in the Workbench Project Pageas shown in the image below.



After you click Update, a question mark should appear to the right of the Setup cell. This
indicates that the Setup process has not yet been completed.
Launch Fluent
Double click on Setup in the Workbench Project Pagewhich will bring up the FLUENT
Launcher. When the FLUENT Launcher appears change the options to "Double Precision", and
then click OK as shown below.The Double Precision option is used to select the double-precision
solver. In the double-precision solver, each floating point number is represented using 64 bits in
contrast to the single-precision solver which uses 32 bits. The extra bits increase not only the
precision, but also the range of magnitudes that can be represented. The downside of using
double precision is that it requires more memory.


Twiddle your thumbs a bit while the FLUENT interface starts up. This is where we'll specify the
governing equations and boundary conditions for our boundary-value problem. On the left-hand
side of the FLUENT interface, we see various items listed under Problem Setup.
We will work from top to bottom of the Problem Setup items to setup the physics of our
boundary-value problem. On the right hand side, we have the Graphics pane and, below that, the
Command pane.
Check and Display Mesh
First, the mesh will be checked to verify that it has been properly imported from Workbench. In
order to obtain the statistics about the mesh (Click) Mesh >I nfo >Size, as shown in the image
below.



Then, you should obtain the following output in the Command pane.



The mesh that was created earlier has 500 elements(5 Radial x 100 Axial). Note that in FLUENT
elements are called cells. The output states that there are 500 cells, which is a good sign. Next,
FLUENT will be asked to check the mesh for errors. In order to carry out the mesh checking
procedure (Click) Mesh >Check as shown in the image below.



You should see no errors in the Command Pane. Now, that the mesh has been verified, the mesh
display options will be discussed. In order to bring up the display options (Click) General >
Mesh >Display as shown in the image below.



The previous step should cause the Mesh Display window to open, as shown below. Note that
the Named Selections created in the meshing steps now appear.



You should have all the surfaces shown in the above snapshot. Clicking on a surface name in the
Mesh Display menu will toggle between select and unselect. Clicking Display will show all the
currently selected surface entities in the graphics pane. Unselect all surfaces and then select each
one in turn to see which part of the domain or boundary the particular surface entity corresponds
to (you will need to zoom in/out and translate the model as you do this). For instance, if you
select wall, outlet, and centerlineand then click Display you should then obtain the following
output in the graphics window.



Now, make sure all 5 items under Surfaces are selected. The button next to Surfaces
selects all of the boundaries while the button deselects all of the boundaries at once. Once, all
the 5 boundaries have been selected click Display, then close the Mesh Display window. The
long, skinny rectangle displayed in the graphics window corresponds to our solution domain.
Some of the operations available in the graphics window to interrogate the geometry and mesh
are:

Translation: The model can be translated in any direction by holding down the Left Mouse
Button and then moving the mouse in the desired direction.

Zoom In: Hold down the Middle Mouse Button and drag a box from the Upper Left Hand
Corner to the Lower Right Hand Corner over the area you want to zoom in on.

Zoom Out: Hold down the Middle Mouse Button and drag a box anywhere from the Lower
Right Hand Corner to the Upper Left Hand Corner.

Use these operations to zoom in and interrogate the mesh.
Define Solver Properties
In this section the various solver properties will be specified in order to obtain the proper
solution for the laminar pipe flow. First, the axisymmetric nature of the geometry must be
specified. Under General >Solver >2D Spaceselect Axisymmetric as shown in the image
below.


Next, the Viscous Model parameters will be specified. In order to open the Viscous Model
Options Models >Viscous - Laminar >Edit.... By default, the Viscous Model options are set to
laminar, so no changes are needed. Click Cancel to exit the menu.
Now, the Energy Model parameters will be specified. In order to open the Energy Model Options
Models >Energy-Off >Edit.... For incompressible flow, the energy equation is decoupled from
the continuity and momentum equations. We need to solve the energy equation only if we are
interested in determining the temperature distribution. We will not deal with temperature in this
example. So leave the Energy Equation set to off and click Cancel to exit the menu.
Define Material Properties
Now, the properties of the fluid that is being modeled will be specified. The properties of the
fluid were specified in the Problem Specification section. In order to create a new fluid (Click)
Materials >Fluid >Create/Edit... as shown in the image below.



In the Create/Edit Materials menu set the Density to 1kg/m^3 (constant) and set the Viscosity to
2e-3 kg/(ms) (constant) as shown in the image below.


Click Change/Create. Close the window.
Define Boundary Conditions
At this point the boundary conditions for the four Named Selections will be specified. The
boundary condition for the inlet will be specified first.
Inlet Boundary Condition
In order to start the process (Click) Boundary Conditions >inlet >Edit... as shown in the
following image.


Note that the Boundary Condition Typeshould have been automatically set to velocity-inlet.
Now, the velocity at the inlet will be specified. In the Velocity I nlet menu set the Velocity
Specification Method to Components, and set the Axial-Velocity (m/s) to 1 m/s, as shown
below.


Then, click OK to close the Velocity I nlet menu.
Outlet Boundary Condition
First, select outlet in the Boundary Conditions menu, as shown below.


As can be seen in the image above the Typeshould have been automatically set to pressure-
outlet. If the Typeis not set to pressure-outlet, then set it to pressure-outlet. Now, no further
changes are needed for the outlet boundary condition.
Centerline Boundary Condition
Select centerline in the Boundary Conditions menu, as shown below.


As can be seen in the image above the Typehas been automatically set to wall which is not
correct. Change the Type to axis, as shown below.


When the dialog boxes appear click Yes to change the boundary type. Then click OK to accept
"centerline" as the zone name.
Pipe Wall Boundary Condition
First, select pipe_wall in the Boundary Conditions menu, as shown below.


As can be seen in the image above the Typeshould have been automatically set to wall. If the
Typeis not set to wall, then set it to wall. Now, no further changes are needed for the pipe_wall
boundary condition.
Save

In order to save your work (Click)File >Save Project as shown in the image below.


Step 5: Solution
Second Order Scheme
A second-order discretization scheme will be used to approximate the solution. In order to
implement the second order scheme click on Solution Methods then click on Momentumand
select Second Order Upwind as shown in the image below.



Set I nitial Guess
Here, the flow field will be initialized to the values at the inlet. In order to carry out the
initialization click on Solution Initialization then click on Compute fromand select inlet as
shown below.


Then, click the I nitializebutton, . This completes the initialization.
Set Convergence Criteria
FLUENT reports a residual for each governing equation being solved. The residual is a measure
of how well the current solution satisfies the discrete form of each governing equation. We'll
iterate the solution until the residual for each equation falls below 1e-6. In order to specify the
residual criteria (Click) Monitors >Residuals >Edit..., as shown in the image below.


Next, change the residual under Convergence Criterion for continuity, x-velocity,and y-velocity,
all to 1e-6, as can be seen below.


Lastly, click OK to close the Residual Monitors menu.
Execute Calculation
Prior, to running the calculation the maximum number of iterations must be set. To specify the
maximum number of iterations click on Run Calculation then set the Number of I terations to
100, as shown in the image below.


As a safeguard save the project now. Now, click on Calculatetwo times in order to run the
calculation. The residuals for each iteration are printed out as well as plotted in the graphics
window as they are calculated. After running the calculation, you should obtain the following
residual plot.


The residuals fall below the specified convergence criterion of 1e-6 in about 48 iterations, as
shown below. Actual number of convergence steps may vary slightly.



At this point, save the project once again.
tep 6: Results
The results steps shown below are for the CFD-Post postprocessor that is included in ANSYS
Workbench. For instructions to view the results in the traditional FLUENT post-processor, click
here.
Velocity Vectors
The following video shows how to visualize velocity vectors.
Video here..
Velocity Magnitude Contours
The following video shows how to plot velocity magnitude contours. In order to get a better view
of the contours, the video also shows how to stretch the domain in the radial direction as well as
reflect it about the axis.
Video here..
Velocity Profile at the Outlet
The following video shows how to plot the velocity profile at the outlet.
Video here..
Tip: You can increase the number of Samples along the "Pipe Outlet location" to get a smoother
curve (though it might not make a difference here since the radial mesh is very coarse). See
snapshot below.


Axial Variation of Pressure
The following video shows how to plot the pressure variation along the wall and the axis.
Video here..
You can increase the number of Samples for "Centerline" and "Pipe Wall" locations to get
smoother curves.
Step 7: Verification & Validation
It is very important that you take the time to check the validity of your solution. This section
leads you through some of the steps you can take to validate your solution.
Refine Mesh
Let's repeat the solution on a finer mesh. For the finer mesh, we will increase the number of
radial divisions from 5 to 10. In the Workbench Project Pageright click on Mesh then click
Duplicateas shown below.


Rename the duplicate project to Laminar Pipe Flow (mesh 2). You should have the following
two projects in your Workbench Project Page.


Next, double click on the Mesh cell of the Laminar Pipe Flow (mesh 2) project. A new ANSYS
Mesher window will open. Under Outline, expand Mesh and click on Edge Sizing, as shown
below.



Under Details of "Edge Sizing", enter 10 for Number of Divisions, as shown below.




Sometimes, you need to turn-off "Advanced Size Function" under "Details of Mesh" to get the
mesher to accept the modified settings. That way the Advanced Size Function feature will not
over-ride your settings (this feature is useful for meshing complex geometries). Click Mesh in
the tree and turn off Advanced Size Function under "Details of Mesh" as shown below.


Then, click Updateto generate the new mesh.



The mesh should now have 1000 elements (10 x 100). A quick glance of the mesh statistics
reveals that there are indeed 1000 elements.


Compute the Solution
Close the ANSYS Mesher to go back to the Workbench Project Page. Under Laminar Pipe
Flow (mesh 2), right click on Fluid Flow (FLUENT) and click on Update, as shown below.




Now, wait a few minutes for FLUENT to obtain the solution for the refined mesh. After
FLUENT obtains the solution, save your project.

It is necessary to check that the solution iterations have converged. Launch FLUENT by double
clicking on Solution of the "Laminar Pipe Flow (mesh 2)" project in the Workbench Project
Page. After FLUENT launches, select Monitors >Residuals >Edit... and then Plot, as shown in
the images below.





It looks like my solution hasn't converged, so I need to run more iterations by selecting Run
Calculation. You may want to increase the number of iterations to, say, 1000. Ensure that you
have a converged solution and save the project.



If you double-click on Results for mesh 2 in the project page, you'll see that all results have been
updated for the new mesh. Also, you can drag Solution for the original mesh on to Results for
mesh 2 in the project page. CFD-Post will automatically add the results from the original mesh to
the plots for mesh 2. For instance, you will get the velocity profiles for both meshes in the same
plot and you can export that to Excel and compare with the full-developed analytical solution.

For instructions to compare results in the traditional FLUENT post-processor, click here and
scroll down.
Further Verification
The plot below shows the results of a further refined mesh ( 20 radial x 100 axial ) and the
theoretical results.


Notice that for the further refined mesh, the results are almost indistinguishable from theory. -----
--------------------------------------------------All the Best--------------------------------------------