ANSYS Fluent Tutorial Guide PDF

ANSYS Fluent Tutorial Guide
ANSYS, Inc. Release 16.0

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Table of Contents
Using This Manual ...................................................................................................................................... xiii
1. Whats In This Manual ........................................................................................................................ xiii
2.The Contents of the Fluent Manuals ................................................................................................... xiii
3. Where to Find the Files Used in the Tutorials ....................................................................................... xv
4. How To Use This Manual ..................................................................................................................... xv
4.1. For the Beginner ....................................................................................................................... xv
4.2. For the Experienced User ........................................................................................................... xv
5. Typographical Conventions Used In This Manual ................................................................................ xvi
1. Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent in ANSYS Workbench: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing
Elbow .......................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Prerequisites ..................................................................................................................................... 2
1.3. Problem Description ......................................................................................................................... 2
1.4. Setup and Solution ........................................................................................................................... 3
1.4.1. Preparation .............................................................................................................................. 4
1.4.2. Creating a Fluent Fluid Flow Analysis System in ANSYS Workbench ........................................... 4
1.4.3. Creating the Geometry in ANSYS DesignModeler ...................................................................... 9
1.4.4. Meshing the Geometry in the ANSYS Meshing Application ...................................................... 20
1.4.5. Setting Up the CFD Simulation in ANSYS Fluent ...................................................................... 27
1.4.6. Displaying Results in ANSYS Fluent and CFD-Post .................................................................... 51
1.4.7. Duplicating the Fluent-Based Fluid Flow Analysis System ........................................................ 60
1.4.8. Changing the Geometry in ANSYS DesignModeler .................................................................. 61
1.4.9. Updating the Mesh in the ANSYS Meshing Application ........................................................... 63
1.4.10. Calculating a New Solution in ANSYS Fluent .......................................................................... 65
1.4.11. Comparing the Results of Both Systems in CFD-Post .............................................................. 67
1.5. Summary ........................................................................................................................................ 72
2. Parametric Analysis in ANSYS Workbench Using ANSYS Fluent ........................................................... 73
2.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 73
2.2. Prerequisites ................................................................................................................................... 74
2.3. Problem Description ....................................................................................................................... 74
2.4. Setup and Solution ......................................................................................................................... 77
2.4.1. Preparation ............................................................................................................................ 78
2.4.2. Adding Constraints to ANSYS DesignModeler Parameters in ANSYS Workbench ...................... 78
2.4.3. Setting Up the CFD Simulation in ANSYS Fluent ...................................................................... 87
2.4.4. Defining Input Parameters in ANSYS Fluent and Running the Simulation ................................. 92
2.4.5. Postprocessing and Setting the Output Parameters in ANSYS CFD-Post ................................. 101
2.4.6. Creating Additional Design Points in ANSYS Workbench ........................................................ 113
2.4.7. Postprocessing the New Design Points in CFD-Post ............................................................... 116
2.4.8. Summary ............................................................................................................................. 122
3. Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow ...................... 123
3.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 123
3.2. Prerequisites ................................................................................................................................. 123
3.3. Problem Description ..................................................................................................................... 123
3.4. Setup and Solution ....................................................................................................................... 124
3.4.1. Preparation .......................................................................................................................... 125
3.4.2. Launching ANSYS Fluent ...................................................................................................... 125
3.4.3. Reading the Mesh ................................................................................................................ 128
3.4.4. General Settings ................................................................................................................... 133
3.4.5. Models ................................................................................................................................. 135
3.4.6. Materials .............................................................................................................................. 138
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3.4.7. Cell Zone Conditions ............................................................................................................ 140

3.4.8. Boundary Conditions ............................................................................................................ 142
3.4.9. Solution ............................................................................................................................... 147
3.4.10. Displaying the Preliminary Solution .................................................................................... 157
3.4.11. Using the Coupled Solver ................................................................................................... 172
3.4.12. Adapting the Mesh ............................................................................................................. 175
3.5. Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 191
4. Modeling Periodic Flow and Heat Transfer ......................................................................................... 193
4.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 193
4.2. Prerequisites ................................................................................................................................. 193
4.4.1. Preparation .......................................................................................................................... 195
4.4.2. Mesh .................................................................................................................................... 195
4.4.4. Models ................................................................................................................................. 198
4.4.5. Materials .............................................................................................................................. 199
4.4.7. Periodic Conditions .............................................................................................................. 201
4.4.9. Solution ............................................................................................................................... 203
4.4.10. Postprocessing ................................................................................................................... 207
4.5. Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 218
4.6. Further Improvements .................................................................................................................. 219
5. Modeling External Compressible Flow ............................................................................................... 221
5.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 221
5.2. Prerequisites ................................................................................................................................. 221
5.4.1. Preparation .......................................................................................................................... 222
5.4.2. Mesh .................................................................................................................................... 223
5.4.4. Models ................................................................................................................................. 226
5.4.5. Materials .............................................................................................................................. 227
5.4.7. Operating Conditions ........................................................................................................... 231
5.4.8. Solution ............................................................................................................................... 232
5.4.9. Postprocessing ..................................................................................................................... 249
5.5. Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 255
6. Modeling Transient Compressible Flow .............................................................................................. 257
6.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 257
6.2. Prerequisites ................................................................................................................................. 257
6.4.1. Preparation .......................................................................................................................... 258
6.4.2. Reading and Checking the Mesh ........................................................................................... 259
6.4.3. Specifying Solver and Analysis Type ...................................................................................... 261
6.4.4. Specifying the Models .......................................................................................................... 263
6.4.5. Editing the Material Properties ............................................................................................. 264
6.4.6. Setting the Operating Conditions ......................................................................................... 265
6.4.7. Creating the Boundary Conditions ........................................................................................ 266
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6.4.8. Setting the Solution Parameters for Steady Flow and Solving ................................................ 267
6.4.9. Enabling Time Dependence and Setting Transient Conditions ............................................... 281
6.4.10. Specifying Solution Parameters for Transient Flow and Solving ............................................ 284
6.4.11. Saving and Postprocessing Time-Dependent Data Sets ....................................................... 287
6.5. Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 301
7. Modeling Radiation and Natural Convection ..................................................................................... 303
7.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 303
7.2. Prerequisites ................................................................................................................................. 303
7.4.1. Preparation .......................................................................................................................... 304
7.4.2. Reading and Checking the Mesh ........................................................................................... 305
7.4.3. Specifying Solver and Analysis Type ...................................................................................... 306
7.4.4. Specifying the Models .......................................................................................................... 307
7.4.5. Defining the Materials .......................................................................................................... 310
7.4.6. Specifying Boundary Conditions ........................................................................................... 312
7.4.7. Obtaining the Solution ......................................................................................................... 316
7.4.8. Postprocessing ..................................................................................................................... 322
7.4.9. Comparing the Contour Plots after Varying Radiating Surfaces .............................................. 338
7.4.10. S2S Definition, Solution, and Postprocessing with Partial Enclosure ...................................... 350
7.5. Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 354
8. Using the Discrete Ordinates Radiation Model ................................................................................... 355
8.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 355
8.2. Prerequisites ................................................................................................................................. 355
8.4.1. Preparation .......................................................................................................................... 357
8.4.2. Mesh .................................................................................................................................... 357
8.4.4. Models ................................................................................................................................. 361
8.4.5. Materials .............................................................................................................................. 362
8.4.8. Solution ............................................................................................................................... 375
8.4.9. Postprocessing ..................................................................................................................... 379
8.4.10. Iterate for Higher Pixels ....................................................................................................... 386
8.4.11. Iterate for Higher Divisions ................................................................................................. 390
8.4.12. Make the Reflector Completely Diffuse ............................................................................... 397
8.4.13. Change the Boundary Type of Baffle ................................................................................... 399
8.5. Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 400
9. Using a Non-Conformal Mesh ............................................................................................................. 401
9.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 401
9.2. Prerequisites ................................................................................................................................. 401
9.4.1. Preparation .......................................................................................................................... 403
9.4.2. Mesh .................................................................................................................................... 404
9.4.4. Models ................................................................................................................................. 409
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9.4.5. Materials .............................................................................................................................. 411

9.4.7. Operating Conditions ........................................................................................................... 413
9.4.9. Mesh Interfaces .................................................................................................................... 423
9.4.10. Solution ............................................................................................................................. 425
9.4.11. Postprocessing ................................................................................................................... 428
9.5. Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 440
10. Modeling Flow Through Porous Media ............................................................................................. 441
10.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 441
10.2. Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................... 441
10.3. Problem Description ................................................................................................................... 442
10.4. Setup and Solution ..................................................................................................................... 442
10.4.1. Preparation ........................................................................................................................ 443
10.4.2. Mesh .................................................................................................................................. 443
10.4.3. General Settings ................................................................................................................. 445
10.4.4. Models ............................................................................................................................... 446
10.4.5. Materials ............................................................................................................................ 447
10.4.6. Cell Zone Conditions .......................................................................................................... 449
10.4.7. Boundary Conditions .......................................................................................................... 452
10.4.8. Solution ............................................................................................................................. 454
10.4.9. Postprocessing ................................................................................................................... 459
10.5. Summary .................................................................................................................................... 473
10.6. Further Improvements ................................................................................................................ 473
11. Using a Single Rotating Reference Frame ......................................................................................... 475
11.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 475
11.2. Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................... 475
11.4.1. Preparation ........................................................................................................................ 477
11.4.2. Mesh .................................................................................................................................. 478
11.4.4. Models ............................................................................................................................... 481
11.4.5. Materials ............................................................................................................................ 482
11.4.8. Solution Using the Standard k- Model ............................................................................... 486
11.4.9. Postprocessing for the Standard k- Solution ...................................................................... 495
11.4.10. Solution Using the RNG k- Model .................................................................................... 504
11.4.11. Postprocessing for the RNG k- Solution ........................................................................... 506
11.5. Summary .................................................................................................................................... 511
11.7. References .................................................................................................................................. 511
12. Using Multiple Reference Frames ..................................................................................................... 513
12.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 513
12.2. Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................... 514
12.4.1. Preparation ........................................................................................................................ 515
12.4.2. Reading and Checking the Mesh and Setting the Units ........................................................ 516
12.4.3. Specifying Solver and Analysis Type .................................................................................... 518
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12.4.4. Specifying the Models ........................................................................................................ 518

12.4.5. Specifying Materials ........................................................................................................... 519
12.4.6. Specifying Cell Zone Conditions .......................................................................................... 520
12.4.7. Setting Boundary Conditions .............................................................................................. 523
12.4.8. Defining Mesh Interfaces .................................................................................................... 525
12.4.9. Obtaining the Solution ....................................................................................................... 526
12.4.10. Step 9: Postprocessing ...................................................................................................... 532
12.5. Summary .................................................................................................................................... 538
13. Using the Mixing Plane Model .......................................................................................................... 541
13.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 541
13.2. Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................... 541
13.4.1. Preparation ........................................................................................................................ 542
13.4.2. Mesh .................................................................................................................................. 543
13.4.4. Models ............................................................................................................................... 546
13.4.5. Mixing Plane ...................................................................................................................... 547
13.4.6. Materials ............................................................................................................................ 549
13.4.9. Solution ............................................................................................................................. 561
13.4.10. Postprocessing ................................................................................................................. 570
13.5. Summary .................................................................................................................................... 578
14. Using Sliding Meshes ........................................................................................................................ 579
14.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 579
14.2. Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................... 579
14.4.1. Preparation ........................................................................................................................ 580
14.4.2. Mesh .................................................................................................................................. 581
14.4.4. Models ............................................................................................................................... 585
14.4.5. Materials ............................................................................................................................ 585
14.4.8. Operating Conditions ......................................................................................................... 593
14.4.9. Mesh Interfaces .................................................................................................................. 594
14.4.10. Solution ........................................................................................................................... 595
14.4.11. Postprocessing ................................................................................................................. 616
14.5. Summary .................................................................................................................................... 624
15. Using Dynamic Meshes ..................................................................................................................... 627
15.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 627
15.2. Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................... 627
15.4.1. Preparation ........................................................................................................................ 628
15.4.2. Mesh .................................................................................................................................. 629
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15.4.4. Models ............................................................................................................................... 632

15.4.5. Materials ............................................................................................................................ 633
15.4.7. Solution: Steady Flow ......................................................................................................... 636
15.4.8. Time-Dependent Solution Setup ......................................................................................... 641
15.4.9. Mesh Motion ...................................................................................................................... 642
15.4.10.Time-Dependent Solution ................................................................................................. 648
15.4.11. Postprocessing ................................................................................................................. 658
15.5. Summary .................................................................................................................................... 662
16. Modeling Species Transport and Gaseous Combustion ................................................................... 663
16.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 663
16.2. Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................... 663
16.4. Background ................................................................................................................................ 664
16.5.1. Preparation ........................................................................................................................ 665
16.5.2. Mesh .................................................................................................................................. 665
16.5.4. Models ............................................................................................................................... 669
16.5.5. Materials ............................................................................................................................ 672
16.5.7. Initial Reaction Solution ...................................................................................................... 682
16.5.8. Postprocessing ................................................................................................................... 688
16.5.9. NOx Prediction ................................................................................................................... 698
16.6. Summary .................................................................................................................................... 712
17. Using the Non-Premixed Combustion Model ................................................................................... 715
17.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 715
17.2. Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................... 715
17.4.1. Preparation ........................................................................................................................ 717
17.4.2. Reading and Checking the Mesh ......................................................................................... 718
17.4.5. Defining Materials and Properties ....................................................................................... 731
17.4.6. Specifying Boundary Conditions ......................................................................................... 732
17.4.7. Specifying Operating Conditions ........................................................................................ 740
17.4.8. Obtaining Solution ............................................................................................................. 741
17.4.9. Postprocessing ................................................................................................................... 744
17.4.10. Energy Balances Reporting ............................................................................................... 748
17.5. Summary .................................................................................................................................... 750
17.6. References .................................................................................................................................. 750
18. Modeling Surface Chemistry ............................................................................................................. 753
18.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 753
18.2. Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................... 753
18.4.1. Preparation ........................................................................................................................ 755
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18.4.5. Defining Materials and Properties ....................................................................................... 761
18.4.6. Specifying Boundary Conditions ......................................................................................... 771
18.4.7. Setting the Operating Conditions ....................................................................................... 778
18.4.8. Simulating Non-Reacting Flow ............................................................................................ 779
18.4.9. Simulating Reacting Flow ................................................................................................... 781
18.4.10. Postprocessing the Solution Results .................................................................................. 788
18.5. Summary .................................................................................................................................... 795
19. Modeling Evaporating Liquid Spray ................................................................................................. 797
19.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 797
19.2. Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................... 797
19.4.1. Preparation ........................................................................................................................ 798
19.4.2. Reading the Mesh .............................................................................................................. 799
19.4.5. Materials ............................................................................................................................ 806
19.4.7. Initial Solution Without Droplets ......................................................................................... 813
19.4.8. Create a Spray Injection ...................................................................................................... 823
19.4.9. Solution ............................................................................................................................. 831
19.4.10. Postprocessing ................................................................................................................. 836
19.5. Summary .................................................................................................................................... 848
20. Using the VOF Model ......................................................................................................................... 851
20.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 851
20.2. Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................... 851
20.4.1. Preparation ........................................................................................................................ 853
20.4.2. Reading and Manipulating the Mesh ................................................................................... 854
20.4.4. Models ............................................................................................................................... 862
20.4.5. Materials ............................................................................................................................ 862
20.4.6. Phases ................................................................................................................................ 864
20.4.8. User-Defined Function (UDF) .............................................................................................. 867
20.4.10. Solution ........................................................................................................................... 871
20.4.11. Postprocessing ................................................................................................................. 878
20.5. Summary .................................................................................................................................... 884
21. Modeling Cavitation .......................................................................................................................... 887
21.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 887
21.2. Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................... 887
21.4.1. Preparation ........................................................................................................................ 888
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21.4.4. Models ............................................................................................................................... 892
21.4.5. Materials ............................................................................................................................ 894
21.4.6. Phases ................................................................................................................................ 897
21.4.9. Solution ............................................................................................................................. 905
21.4.10. Postprocessing ................................................................................................................. 910
21.5. Summary .................................................................................................................................... 915
22. Using the Mixture and Eulerian Multiphase Models ......................................................................... 917
22.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 917
22.2. Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................... 917
22.4.1. Preparation ........................................................................................................................ 919
22.4.2. Mesh .................................................................................................................................. 919
22.4.4. Models ............................................................................................................................... 922
22.4.5. Materials ............................................................................................................................ 924
22.4.6. Phases ................................................................................................................................ 925
22.4.9. Solution Using the Mixture Model ....................................................................................... 932
22.4.10. Postprocessing for the Mixture Solution ............................................................................ 937
22.4.11. Higher Order Solution using the Mixture Model ................................................................ 940
22.4.12. Setup and Solution for the Eulerian Model ........................................................................ 942
22.4.13. Postprocessing for the Eulerian Model .............................................................................. 946
22.5. Summary .................................................................................................................................... 949
23. Using the Eulerian Multiphase Model for Granular Flow .................................................................. 951
23.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 951
23.2. Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................... 951
23.4.1. Preparation ........................................................................................................................ 952
23.4.2. Mesh .................................................................................................................................. 953
23.4.4. Models ............................................................................................................................... 961
23.4.5. Materials ............................................................................................................................ 963
23.4.6. Phases ................................................................................................................................ 965
23.4.7. User-Defined Function (UDF) .............................................................................................. 968
23.4.9. Solution ............................................................................................................................. 972
23.4.10. Postprocessing ................................................................................................................. 985
23.5. Summary .................................................................................................................................... 989
24. Modeling Solidification ..................................................................................................................... 991
24.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 991
24.2. Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................... 991
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24.4.1. Preparation ........................................................................................................................ 993

24.4.5. Defining Materials .............................................................................................................. 998
24.4.6. Setting the Cell Zone Conditions ....................................................................................... 1000
24.4.7. Setting the Boundary Conditions ...................................................................................... 1001
24.4.8. Solution: Steady Conduction ............................................................................................. 1010
24.4.9. Solution: Transient Flow and Heat Transfer ......................................................................... 1020
24.5. Summary .................................................................................................................................. 1031
24.6. Further Improvements .............................................................................................................. 1032
25. Using the Eulerian Granular Multiphase Model with Heat Transfer ............................................... 1033
25.1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1033
25.2. Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................. 1033
25.3. Problem Description ................................................................................................................. 1034
25.4. Setup and Solution .................................................................................................................... 1034
25.4.1. Preparation ...................................................................................................................... 1035
25.4.2. Mesh ................................................................................................................................ 1036
25.4.3. General Settings ............................................................................................................... 1036
25.4.4. Models ............................................................................................................................. 1038
25.4.5. UDF .................................................................................................................................. 1039
25.4.6. Materials .......................................................................................................................... 1039
25.4.7. Phases .............................................................................................................................. 1041
25.4.8. Boundary Conditions ........................................................................................................ 1043
25.4.9. Solution ........................................................................................................................... 1050
25.4.10. Postprocessing ............................................................................................................... 1062
25.5. Summary .................................................................................................................................. 1065
25.6. Further Improvements .............................................................................................................. 1065
25.7. References ................................................................................................................................ 1066
26. Postprocessing ................................................................................................................................ 1067
26.1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1067
26.2. Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................. 1068
26.4.1. Preparation ...................................................................................................................... 1069
26.4.2. Reading the Mesh ............................................................................................................. 1070
26.4.3. Manipulating the Mesh in the Viewer ................................................................................ 1070
26.4.4. Adding Lights ................................................................................................................... 1072
26.4.5. Creating Isosurfaces ......................................................................................................... 1077
26.4.6. Generating Contours ........................................................................................................ 1079
26.4.7. Generating Velocity Vectors .............................................................................................. 1085
26.4.8. Creating an Animation ...................................................................................................... 1092
26.4.9. Displaying Pathlines ......................................................................................................... 1097
26.4.10. Overlaying Velocity Vectors on the Pathline Display ......................................................... 1103
26.4.11. Creating Exploded Views ................................................................................................ 1106
26.4.12. Animating the Display of Results in Successive Streamwise Planes ................................... 1112
26.4.13. Generating XY Plots ........................................................................................................ 1114
26.4.14. Creating Annotation ....................................................................................................... 1117
26.4.15. Saving Picture Files ......................................................................................................... 1119
26.4.16. Generating Volume Integral Reports ............................................................................... 1120
26.5. Summary .................................................................................................................................. 1121
27. Parallel Processing .......................................................................................................................... 1123
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27.1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1123

27.2. Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................. 1123
27.4.1. Preparation ...................................................................................................................... 1124
27.4.2. Starting the Parallel Version of ANSYS Fluent ..................................................................... 1125
27.4.2.1. Multiprocessor Machine ........................................................................................... 1125
27.4.2.2. Network of Computers ............................................................................................. 1127
27.4.3. Reading and Partitioning the Mesh ................................................................................... 1129
27.4.4. Solution ........................................................................................................................... 1136
27.4.5. Checking Parallel Performance .......................................................................................... 1136
27.4.6. Postprocessing ................................................................................................................. 1137
27.5. Summary .................................................................................................................................. 1140
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Using This Manual
This preface is divided into the following sections:
1. Whats In This Manual
2.The Contents of the Fluent Manuals
3. Where to Find the Files Used in the Tutorials
4. How To Use This Manual
5.Typographical Conventions Used In This Manual
1. Whats In This Manual

The ANSYS Fluent Tutorial Guide contains a number of tutorials that teach you how to use ANSYS Flu-
ent to solve different types of problems. In each tutorial, features related to problem setup and postpro-
cessing are demonstrated.
The tutorials are written with the assumption that you have completed one or more of the introductory
tutorials found in this manual:
Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent in ANSYS Workbench: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing El-
bow (p. 1)
Parametric Analysis in ANSYS Workbench Using ANSYS Fluent (p. 73)
Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow (p. 123)
and that you are familiar with the ANSYS Fluent navigation pane and menu structure. Some steps in
the setup and solution procedure will not be shown explicitly.
All of the tutorials include some postprocessing instructions, but Postprocessing (p. 1067) is devoted entirely
to postprocessing.
2. The Contents of the Fluent Manuals

The manuals listed below form the Fluent product documentation set. They include descriptions of the
procedures, commands, and theoretical details needed to use Fluent products.
Fluent Getting Started Guide contains general information about getting started with using
Fluent and provides details about starting, running, and exiting the program.
Fluent Migration Manual contains information about transitioning from the previous release of Fluent,
including details about new features, solution changes, and text command list changes.
Fluent User's Guide contains detailed information about running a simulation using the solution
mode of Fluent, including information about the user interface, reading and writing files, defining
boundary conditions, setting up physical models, calculating a solution, and analyzing your results.
ANSYS Fluent Meshing User's Guide contains detailed information about creating 3D meshes
using the meshing mode of Fluent.
Fluent in Workbench User's Guide contains information about getting started with and using Fluent
within the Workbench environment.
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. xiii
Using This Manual
Fluent Theory Guide contains reference information for how the physical models are implemented in
Fluent.
Fluent Customization Manual contains information about writing and using user-defined functions
(UDFs).
Fluent Tutorial Guide contains a number of examples of various flow problems with detailed instructions,
commentary, and postprocessing of results.
ANSYS Fluent Meshing Tutorials contains a number of examples of general mesh-generation techniques
used in ANSYS Fluent Meshing.
Tutorials for release 16.0 are available on the ANSYS Customer Portal. To access tutorials and
their input files on the ANSYS Customer Portal, go to http://support.ansys.com/training.
Fluent Text Command List contains a brief description of each of the commands in Fluents solution
mode text interface.
ANSYS Fluent Meshing Text Command List contains a brief description of each of the commands in
Fluents meshing mode text interface.
ANSYS Fluent Advanced Add-On Modules contains information about the usage of the different advanced
Fluent add-on modules, which are applicable for specific modeling needs.
Part I: ANSYS Fluent Adjoint Solver contains information about the background and usage of Fluent's
Adjoint Solver Module that allows you to obtain detailed sensitivity data for the performance of a
fluid system.
Part II: ANSYS Fluent Battery Module contains information about the background and usage of Fluent's
Battery Module that allows you to analyze the behavior of electric batteries.
Part III: ANSYS Fluent Continuous Fiber Module contains information about the background and usage
of Fluent's Continuous Fiber Module that allows you to analyze the behavior of fiber flow, fiber
properties, and coupling between fibers and the surrounding fluid due to the strong interaction that
exists between the fibers and the surrounding gas.
Part IV: ANSYS Fluent Fuel Cell Modules contains information about the background and the usage
of two separate add-on fuel cell models for Fluent that allow you to model polymer electrolyte
membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), and electrolysis with Fluent.
Part V: ANSYS Fluent Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) Module contains information about the back-
ground and usage of Fluent's Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) Module that allows you to analyze the
behavior of electrically conducting fluid flow under the influence of constant (DC) or oscillating (AC)
electromagnetic fields.
Part VI: ANSYS Fluent Population Balance Module contains information about the background and
usage of Fluent's Population Balance Module that allows you to analyze multiphase flows involving
size distributions where particle population (as well as momentum, mass, and energy) require a balance
equation.
Fluent as a Server User's Guide contains information about the usage of Fluent as a Server which allows
you to connect to a Fluent session and issue commands from a remote client application.
Running ANSYS Fluent Using a Load Manager contains information about using third-party load managers
with ANSYS Fluent.
xiv of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
How To Use This Manual
Part I: Running ANSYS Fluent Under LSF contains information about using Fluent with Platform
Computings LSF software, a distributed computing resource management tool.
Part II: Running ANSYS Fluent Under PBS Professional contains information about using Fluent with
Altair PBS Professional, an open workload management tool for local and distributed environments.
Part III: Running ANSYS Fluent Under SGE contains information about using Fluent with Univa Grid
Engine (formerly Sun Grid Engine) software, a distributed computing resource management tool.
3. Where to Find the Files Used in the Tutorials

Each of the tutorials uses an existing mesh file. (Tutorials for mesh generation are provided with the
mesh generator documentation.) You will find the appropriate mesh file (and any other relevant files
used in the tutorial) on the ANSYS Customer Portal. The Preparation step of each tutorial will tell you
where to find the necessary files. (Note that Tutorials Postprocessing (p. 1067) and Parallel Processing (p. 1123)
use existing case and data files.)
Some of the more complex tutorials may require a significant amount of computational time. If you
want to look at the results immediately, without waiting for the calculation to finish, final solution files
are provided in a solution_files folder that you can access after extracting the tutorial input
archive.
4. How To Use This Manual

Depending on your familiarity with computational fluid dynamics and the ANSYS Fluent software, you
can use this tutorial guide in a variety of ways.
4.1. For the Beginner

If you are a beginning user of ANSYS Fluent you should first read and solve Tutorial 1, in order to famil-
iarize yourself with the interface and with basic setup and solution procedures. You may then want to
try a tutorial that demonstrates features that you are going to use in your application. For example, if
you are planning to solve a problem using the non-premixed combustion model, you should look at
Using the Non-Premixed Combustion Model (p. 715).
You may want to refer to other tutorials for instructions on using specific features, such as custom field
functions, mesh scaling, and so on, even if the problem solved in the tutorial is not of particular interest
to you. To learn about postprocessing, you can look at Postprocessing (p. 1067), which is devoted entirely
to postprocessing (although the other tutorials all contain some postprocessing as well).
4.2. For the Experienced User

If you are an experienced ANSYS Fluent user, you can read and/or solve the tutorial(s) that demonstrate
features that you are going to use in your application. For example, if you are planning to solve a
problem using the non-premixed combustion model, you should look at Using the Non-Premixed
Combustion Model (p. 715).
You may want to refer to other tutorials for instructions on using specific features, such as custom field
functions, mesh scaling, and so on, even if the problem solved in the tutorial is not of particular interest
to you. To learn about postprocessing, you can look at Postprocessing (p. 1067), which is devoted entirely
to postprocessing (although the other tutorials all contain some postprocessing as well).
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. xv
Using This Manual
5. Typographical Conventions Used In This Manual

Several typographical conventions are used in the text of the tutorials to facilitate your learning process.
Different type styles are used to indicate graphical user interface menu items and text interface menu items
(e.g., Zone Surface dialog box, surface/zone-surface command).
The text interface type style is also used when illustrating exactly what appears on the screen or exactly
what you must type in the text window or in a dialog box.
Instructions for performing each step in a tutorial will appear in standard type. Additional information about
a step in a tutorial appears in italicized type.
A mini flow chart is used to guide you through the navigation pane, which leads you to a specific task page
or dialog box. For example,
Models Multiphase Edit...
indicates that Models is selected in the navigation pane, which then opens the corresponding task
page. In the Models task page, Multiphase is selected from the list. Clicking the Edit... button opens
the Multiphase dialog box.
Also, a mini flow chart is used to indicate the menu selections that lead you to a specific command
or dialog box. For example,
Define Injections...
indicates that the Injections... menu item can be selected from the Define pull-down menu.
The words surrounded by boxes invoke menus (or submenus) and the arrows point from a specific
menu toward the item you should select from that menu.
xvi of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
Chapter 1: Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent in ANSYS Workbench:
Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow
This tutorial is divided into the following sections:
1.1. Introduction
1.2. Prerequisites
1.3. Problem Description
1.4. Setup and Solution
1.5. Summary
1.1. Introduction
This tutorial illustrates using ANSYS Fluent fluid flow systems in ANSYS Workbench to set up and solve
a three-dimensional turbulent fluid-flow and heat-transfer problem in a mixing elbow. It is designed to
introduce you to the ANSYS Workbench tool set using a simple geometry. Guided by the steps that
follow, you will create the elbow geometry and the corresponding computational mesh using the
geometry and meshing tools within ANSYS Workbench. You will use ANSYS Fluent to set up and solve
the CFD problem, then visualize the results in both ANSYS Fluent and in the CFD-Post postprocessing
tool. Some capabilities of ANSYS Workbench (for example, duplicating fluid flow systems, connecting
systems, and comparing multiple data sets) are also examined in this tutorial.
This tutorial demonstrates how to do the following:
Launch ANSYS Workbench.
Create a Fluent fluid flow analysis system in ANSYS Workbench.
Create the elbow geometry using ANSYS DesignModeler.
Create the computational mesh for the geometry using ANSYS Meshing.
Set up the CFD simulation in ANSYS Fluent, which includes:
Setting material properties and boundary conditions for a turbulent forced-convection problem.
Initiating the calculation with residual plotting.
Calculating a solution using the pressure-based solver.
Examining the flow and temperature fields using ANSYS Fluent and CFD-Post.
Create a copy of the original Fluent fluid flow analysis system in ANSYS Workbench.
Change the geometry in ANSYS DesignModeler, using the duplicated system.
Regenerate the computational mesh.
Recalculate a solution in ANSYS Fluent.
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 1
Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent in ANSYS Workbench: Fluid Flow and Heat
Transfer in a Mixing Elbow
Compare the results of the two calculations in CFD-Post.
1.2. Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes that you have little to no experience with ANSYS Workbench, ANSYS DesignModeler,
ANSYS Meshing, ANSYS Fluent, or CFD-Post, and so each step will be explicitly described.

The problem to be considered is shown schematically in Figure 1.1: Problem Specification (p. 3). A
cold fluid at 293.15 K flows into the pipe through a large inlet and mixes with a warmer fluid at 313.15 K
that enters through a smaller inlet located at the elbow. The mixing elbow configuration is encountered
in piping systems in power plants and process industries. It is often important to predict the flow field
and temperature field in the area of the mixing region in order to properly design the junction.
Note
Because the geometry of the mixing elbow is symmetric, only half of the elbow must be
modeled.
2 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
Setup and Solution
Figure 1.1: Problem Specification
Note
The functionality to create named selections exists in both ANSYS DesignModeler and ANSYS
Meshing. For the purposes of this tutorial, named selections are created in ANSYS Meshing
since the meshing application provides more comprehensive and extensive named selection
functionality.

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
1.4.1. Preparation
1.4.2. Creating a Fluent Fluid Flow Analysis System in ANSYS Workbench
1.4.3. Creating the Geometry in ANSYS DesignModeler
1.4.4. Meshing the Geometry in the ANSYS Meshing Application
1.4.5. Setting Up the CFD Simulation in ANSYS Fluent
1.4.6. Displaying Results in ANSYS Fluent and CFD-Post
1.4.7. Duplicating the Fluent-Based Fluid Flow Analysis System
1.4.8. Changing the Geometry in ANSYS DesignModeler
1.4.9. Updating the Mesh in the ANSYS Meshing Application
1.4.10. Calculating a New Solution in ANSYS Fluent
1.4.11. Comparing the Results of Both Systems in CFD-Post
1.4.1. Preparation
1. Set up a working folder on the computer you will be using.
2. Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal, https://support.ansys.com/training.
Note
If you do not have a login, you can request one by clicking Customer Registration on
the log in page.
3. Enter the name of this tutorial into the search bar.
4. Narrow the results by using the filter on the left side of the page.
a. Click ANSYS Fluent under Product.
b. Click 16.0 under Version.
5. Select this tutorial from the list.
6. Click the elbow-workbench_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip elbow-workbench_R160.zip to your working folder. This file contains a folder, elbow-
workbench, that holds the following items:
two geometry files, elbow_geometry.agdb and elbow_geometry.stp
an ANSYS Workbench project archive, elbow-workbench.wbpz
Tip
The Workbench project archive contains the project as it will be once you have
completed all of the steps of the tutorial and is included for reference. If you want to
extract the project archive, start Workbench and select the File Restore Archive...
menu item. You will be prompted with a dialog box to specify a location in which to
extract the project and its supporting files. You may choose any convenient location.
Note
ANSYS Fluent tutorials are prepared using ANSYS Fluent on a Windows system. The screen
shots and graphic images in the tutorials may be slightly different than the appearance on
your system, depending on the operating system or graphics card.
1.4.2. Creating a Fluent Fluid Flow Analysis System in ANSYS Workbench

In this step, you will start ANSYS Workbench, create a new Fluent fluid flow analysis system, then review
the list of files generated by ANSYS Workbench.
Setup and Solution
1. From the Windows Start menu, select Start > All Programs > ANSYS 16.0 > Workbench 16.0 to start a
new ANSYS Workbench session.
This displays the ANSYS Workbench application window, which has the Toolbox on the left and the
Project Schematic to its right. Various supported applications are listed in the Toolbox and the
components of the analysis system will be displayed in the Project Schematic.
Note
Depending on which other products you have installed, the analysis systems that appear
may differ from those in the figures that follow in this tutorial.
Note
When you first start ANSYS Workbench, the Getting Started pop-up window is displayed,
offering assistance through the online help for using the application. You can keep the
window open, or close it by clicking the X icon in the upper right-hand corner. If you
need to access the online help at any time, use the Help menu, or press the F1 key.
2. Create a new Fluent fluid flow analysis system by double-clicking the Fluid Flow (Fluent) option under
Analysis Systems in the Toolbox.
Tip
You can also drag-and-drop the analysis system into the Project Schematic. A green
dotted outline indicating a potential location for the new system initially appears in the
Project Schematic. When you drag the system to one of the outlines, it turns into a red
box to indicate the chosen location of the new system.
Figure 1.2: Selecting the Fluid Flow (Fluent) Analysis System in ANSYS Workbench
Setup and Solution
Figure 1.3: ANSYS Workbench with a New Fluent-Based Fluid Flow Analysis System
3. Name the analysis.
a. Double-click the Fluid Flow (Fluent) label underneath the analysis system (if it is not already highlighted).
b. Enter elbow for the name of the analysis system.
4. Save the project.
a. Select the Save option under the File menu in ANSYS Workbench.
File Save
This displays the Save As dialog box, where you can browse to your working folder and enter
a specific name for the ANSYS Workbench project.
b. In your working directory, enter elbow-workbench as the project File name and click the Save
button to save the project. ANSYS Workbench saves the project with a .wbpj extension and also saves
supporting files for the project.
Note that the fluid flow analysis system is composed of various cells (Geometry, Mesh, etc.) that
represent the workflow for performing the analysis. ANSYS Workbench is composed of multiple
data-integrated and native applications in a single, seamless project flow, where individual cells
can obtain data from other cells and provide data to other cells. As a result of this constant flow
of data, a cells state can quickly change. ANSYS Workbench provides a visual indication of a
cells state at any given time via icons on the right side of each cell. Brief descriptions of the
various states are provided below:
Unfulfilled ( ) indicates that required upstream data does not exist. For example, when you first
create a new Fluid Flow (Fluent) analysis system, all cells downstream of the Geometry cell appear
as Unfulfilled because you have not yet specified a geometry for the system.
Refresh Required ( ) indicates that upstream data has changed since the last refresh or update.
For example, after you assign a geometry to the geometry cell in your new Fluid Flow (Fluent)
analysis system, the Mesh cell appears as Refresh Required since the geometry data has not yet
been passed from the Geometry cell to the Mesh cell.
Attention Required ( ) indicates that the current upstream data has been passed to the cell, however,
you must take some action to proceed. For example, after you launch ANSYS Fluent from the Setup
cell in a Fluid Flow (Fluent) analysis system that has a valid mesh, the Setup cell appears as Attention
Required because additional data must be entered in ANSYS Fluent before you can calculate a
solution.
Update Required ( ) indicates that local data has changed and the output of the cell must be re-
generated. For example, after you launch ANSYS Meshing from the Mesh cell in a Fluid Flow (Fluent)
analysis system that has a valid geometry, the Mesh cell appears as Update Required because the
Mesh cell has all the data it must generate an ANSYS Fluent mesh file, but the ANSYS Fluent mesh
file has not yet been generated.
Up To Date ( ) indicates that an update has been performed on the cell and no failures have occurred
or that an interactive calculation has been completed successfully. For example, after ANSYS Flu-
ent finishes performing the number of iterations that you request, the Solution cell appears as Up-
to-Date.
Interrupted, Update Required ( ) indicates that you have interrupted an update (or canceled an
interactive calculation that is in progress). For example, if you select the Cancel button in ANSYS
Fluent while it is iterating, ANSYS Fluent completes the current iteration and then the Solution cell
appears as Interrupted, Update Required.
Input Changes Pending ( ) indicates that the cell is locally up-to-date, but may change when
next updated as a result of changes made to upstream cells. For example, if you change the Mesh
in an Up-to-Date Fluid Flow (Fluent) analysis system, the Setup cell appears as Refresh Required,
and the Solution and Results cells appear as Input Changes Pending.
Pending ( ) indicates that a batch or asynchronous solution is in progress. When a cell enters the
Pending state, you can interact with the project to exit Workbench or work with other parts of the
project. If you make changes to the project that are upstream of the updating cell, then the cell will
not be in an up-to-date state when the solution completes.
For more information about cell states, see Understanding Cell States.
5. View the list of files generated by ANSYS Workbench.
ANSYS Workbench allows you to easily view the files associated with your project using the Files
view. To open the Files view, select the Files option under the View menu at the top of the ANSYS
Workbench window.
View Files
Setup and Solution
Figure 1.4: ANSYS Workbench Files View for the Project After Adding a Fluent-Based Fluid
Flow Analysis System
In the Files view, you will be able to see the name and type of file, the ID of the cell that the file is
associated with, the size of the file, the location of the file, and other information. For more inform-
ation about the Files view, see Files View.
Note
The sizes of the files listed may differ slightly from those portrayed in Figure 1.4: ANSYS
Workbench Files View for the Project After Adding a Fluent-Based Fluid Flow Analysis
System (p. 9).
From here, you will create the geometry described in Figure 1.1: Problem Specification (p. 3), and
later create a mesh and set up a fluid flow analysis for the geometry.
1.4.3. Creating the Geometry in ANSYS DesignModeler

For the geometry of your fluid flow analysis, you can create a geometry in ANSYS DesignModeler, or
import the appropriate geometry file. In this step, you will create the geometry in ANSYS DesignModeler,
then review the list of files generated by ANSYS Workbench.
Important
Note the Attention Required icon ( ) within the Geometry cell for the system. This
indicates that the cell requires data (for example, a geometry). Once the geometry is
defined, the state of the cell will change accordingly. Likewise, the state of some of the
remaining cells in the system will change.
Note
If you would rather not create the geometry in ANSYS DesignModeler, you can import a pre-
existing geometry by right-clicking the Geometry cell and selecting the Import Geometry
option from the context menu. From there, you can browse your file system to locate the
elbow_geometry.agdb geometry file that is provided for this tutorial. If you do not have
access to ANSYS DesignModeler, you can use the elbow_geometry.stp file instead.
To learn how to create a mesh from the geometry you imported, go to Meshing the Geometry
in the ANSYS Meshing Application (p. 20).
1. Start ANSYS DesignModeler.
In the ANSYS Workbench Project Schematic, double-click the Geometry cell in the elbow fluid
flow analysis system. This displays the ANSYS DesignModeler application.
Tip
You can also right-click the Geometry cell to display the context menu, then select New
Geometry...
2. Set the units in ANSYS DesignModeler.
When ANSYS DesignModeler first appears, you should select desired system of length units to work
from. For the purposes of this tutorial (where you will create the geometry in millimeters and perform
the CFD analysis using SI units) set the units to Millimeter.
Units Millimeter
3. Create the geometry.
The geometry for this tutorial (Figure 1.1: Problem Specification (p. 3)) consists of a large curved
pipe accompanied by a smaller side pipe. ANSYS DesignModeler provides various geometry primitives
that can be combined to rapidly create geometries such as this one. You will perform the following
tasks to create the geometry:
Create the bend in the main pipe by defining a segment of a torus.
Extrude the faces of the torus segment to form the straight inlet and outlet lengths.
Create the side pipe by adding a cylinder primitive.
Use the symmetry tool to reduce the model to half of the pipe assembly, thus reducing computa-
tional cost.
a. Create the main pipe:
i. Create a new torus for the pipe bend by choosing the Create Primitives Torus menu item
from the menubar.
A preview of the torus geometry will appear in the graphics window. Note that this is a preview
and the geometry has not been created yet. First you must specify the parameters of the torus
primitive in the next step.
ii. In the Details View for the new torus (Torus1), set Base Y Component to -1 by clicking the 1 to
the right of FD10, Base Y Component, entering -1, and pressing Enter. This specifies the direction
vector from the origin to the center of the circular cross-section at the start of the torus. In the same
manner, specify Angle; Inner Radius; and Outer Radius as shown below.
Note
Enter only the value without the units of mm. They will be appended automatically
because you specified the units previously.
Setup and Solution
iii. To create the torus segment, click the Generate button that is located in the ANSYS
DesignModeler toolbar.
iv. Ensure that the selection filter is set to Faces. This is indicated by the Faces button appearing
depressed in the toolbar and the appearance of the Face selection cursor, when you mouse
over the geometry.
v. Select the top face (in the positive Y direction) of the elbow and click the Extrude button
from the 3D Features toolbar.
vi. In the Details View for the new extrusion (Extrude1), click Apply to the right of Geometry. This
accepts the face you selected as the base geometry of the extrusion.
vii. Click None (Normal) to the right of Direction Vector. Again, ensure that the selection filter is set
to Faces, select the same face on the elbow to specify that the extrusion will be normal to the face
and click Apply.
Setup and Solution
viii.Enter 200 for FD1, Depth (>0) and click Generate.
ix. In a similar manner, create an extrusion of the other face of the torus segment to create the 200
mm inlet extension. You will probably find it helpful to rotate the view so that you can easily select
the other face of the bend.
You can use the mouse buttons to change your view of the 3D image. The following table
describes mouse actions that are available:
Table 1.1: DesignModeler View Manipulation Instructions
Action Using Graphics Toolbar Buttons and the Mouse

Rotate view
(vertical, After clicking the Rotate icon, , press and hold the left mouse button and
horizontal) drag the mouse. Dragging side to side rotates the view about the vertical axis,
and dragging up and down rotates the view about the horizontal axis.
Translate or
After clicking the Pan icon, , press and hold the left mouse button and
pan view
drag the object with the mouse until the view is satisfactory.
Zoom in and
After clicking the Zoom icon, , press and hold the left mouse button and
out of view
drag the mouse up and down to zoom in and out of the view.
Setup and Solution

Box zoom
After clicking the Box Zoom icon, , press and hold the left mouse button
and drag the mouse diagonally across the screen. This action will cause a
rectangle to appear in the display. When you release the mouse button, a new
view will be displayed that consists entirely of the contents of the rectangle.
Clicking the Zoom to Fit icon, , will cause the object to fit exactly and be centered in the
window.
After entering the extrusion parameters and clicking Generate, the geometry should appear
as in Figure 1.5: Elbow Main Pipe Geometry (p. 15).
Figure 1.5: Elbow Main Pipe Geometry
b. Next you will use a cylinder primitive to create the side pipe.
i. Choose Create Primitives Cylinder from the menubar.
ii. In the Details View, set the parameters for the cylinder as follows and click Generate:
Tab Setting Value

Details of BasePlane XYPlane
Cylinder1 FD3, Origin X Coordinate 137.5
FD4, Origin Y Coordinate -225
FD5, Origin Z Coordinate 0
FD6, Axis X Component 0
FD7, Axis Y Component 125
FD8, Axis Z Component 0
FD10, Radius (>0) 12.5
The Origin Coordinates determine the starting point for the cylinder and the Axis Components determine
the length and orientation of the cylinder body.
Setup and Solution
c. The final step in creating the geometry is to split the body on its symmetry plane which will halve the
computational domain.
i. Choose Tools Symmetry from the menu bar.
ii. Select the XYPlane in the Tree Outline.
iii. Click Apply next to Symmetry Plane 1 in the Details view.
iv. Click Generate.
The new surface created with this operation will be assigned a symmetry boundary condition
in Fluent so that the model will accurately reflect the physics of the complete elbow geometry
even though only half of it is meshed.
d. Specify the geometry as a fluid body.
i. In the Tree Outline, open the 1 Part, 1 Body branch and select Solid.
ii. In the Details View of the body, change the name of the Body from Solid to Fluid.
iii. In the Fluid/Solid section, select Fluid.
Setup and Solution
iv. Click Generate.
Tip
In addition to the primitives you used in this tutorial, ANSYS DesignModeler offers a full
suite of 2D sketching and 3D solid modeling tools for creating arbitrary geometry. Refer
to ANSYS DesignModeler User's Guide for more information.
4. Close ANSYS DesignModeler by selecting File Close DesignModeler or by clicking the X icon in the
upper right-hand corner. ANSYS Workbench automatically saves the geometry and updates the Project
Schematic accordingly. The question mark in the Geometry cell is replaced by a check mark, indicating
that there is a geometry now associated with the fluid flow analysis system.
5. View the list of files generated by ANSYS Workbench by selecting View Files.
Figure 1.6: ANSYS Workbench Files View for the Project After Creating the Geometry
Note the addition of the geometry file (FFF.agdb, where FFF indicates a Fluent-based fluid flow
system) to the list of files. If you had imported the geometry file provided for this tutorial rather
than creating the geometry yourself, the elbow_geometry.agdb (or the elbow_geometry.stp)
file would be listed instead.
1.4.4. Meshing the Geometry in the ANSYS Meshing Application
Now that you have created the mixing elbow geometry, you must generate a computational mesh
throughout the flow volume. For this section of the tutorial, you will use the ANSYS Meshing application
to create a mesh for your CFD analysis, then review the list of files generated by ANSYS Workbench.
Important
Note the Refresh Required icon ( ) within the Mesh cell for the system. This indicates
that the state of the cell requires a refresh and that upstream data has changed since
the last refresh or update (such as an update to the geometry). Once the mesh is defined,
the state of the Mesh cell will change accordingly, as will the state of the next cell in
the system, in this case the Setup cell.
1. Open the ANSYS Meshing application.
In the ANSYS Workbench Project Schematic, double-click the Mesh cell in the elbow fluid flow
analysis system (cell A3). This displays the ANSYS Meshing application with the elbow geometry
already loaded. You can also right-click the Mesh cell to display the context menu where you can
select the Edit... option.
Setup and Solution
Figure 1.7: The ANSYS Meshing Application with the Elbow Geometry Loaded
2. Create named selections for the geometry boundaries.
In order to simplify your work later on in ANSYS Fluent, you should label each boundary in the
geometry by creating named selections for the pipe inlets, the outlet, and the symmetry surface
(the outer wall boundaries are automatically detected by ANSYS Fluent).
a. Select the large inlet in the geometry that is displayed in the ANSYS Meshing application.
Tip
Use the Graphics Toolbar buttons and the mouse to manipulate the image until you can
easily see the pipe openings and surfaces.
To select the inlet, the Single select ( ) mode must be active.
b. Right-click and select the Create Named Selection option.
Figure 1.8: Selecting a Face to Name
This displays the Selection Name dialog box.
Setup and Solution
Figure 1.9: Applying a Name to a Selected Face
c. In the Selection Name dialog box, enter velocity-inlet-large for the name and click OK.
d. Perform the same operations for:
The small inlet (velocity-inlet-small)
The large outlet (pressure-outlet)
The symmetry plane (symmetry).
Important
It is important to note that by using the strings velocity inlet and pressure outlet
in the named selections (with or without hyphens or underscore characters), ANSYS
Fluent automatically detects and assigns the corresponding boundary types accordingly.
3. Create a named selection for the fluid body.
a. Change the selection filter to Body in the Graphics Toolbar ( )
b. Click the elbow in the graphics display to select it.
c. Right-click, select the Create Named Selection option and name the body Fluid.
By creating a named selection called Fluid for the fluid body you will ensure that ANSYS Fluent
automatically detects that the volume is a fluid zone and treats it accordingly.
4. Set basic meshing parameters for the ANSYS Meshing application.
For this analysis, you will adjust several meshing parameters to obtain a finer mesh.
a. In the Outline view, select Mesh under Project/Model to display the Details of Mesh view below
the Outline view.
Important
Note that because the ANSYS Meshing application automatically detects that you
are going to perform a CFD fluid flow analysis using ANSYS Fluent, the Physics
Preference is already set to CFD and the Solver Preference is already set to
Fluent.
b. Expand the Sizing node by clicking the + sign to the left of the word Sizing to reveal additional sizing
parameters.
i. Change Relevance Center to Fine by clicking on the default value, Coarse, and selecting Fine from
the drop-down list.
ii. Change Smoothing to High
c. Add a Body Sizing control.
i. With Mesh still selected in the Outline tree, click the elbow in the graphics display to select it.
ii. Right click in the graphics area and select Insert Sizing from the context menu.
Setup and Solution
A new Body Sizing entry appears under Mesh in the project Outline tree
iii. Click the new Body Sizing control in the Outline tree.
iv. Enter 6e-3 for Element Size and press Enter.
d. Click again on Mesh in the Outline view and expand the Inflation node in the Details of Mesh view
to reveal additional inflation parameters. Change Use Automatic Inflation to Program Controlled.
5. Generate the mesh.
Right-click Mesh in the project Outline tree, and select Update in the context menu.
Figure 1.10: The Computational Mesh for the Elbow Geometry in the ANSYS Meshing Application
Important
Using the Generate Mesh option creates the mesh, but does not actually create the
relevant mesh files for the project and is optional if you already know that the mesh
is acceptable. Using the Update option automatically generates the mesh, creates
the relevant mesh files for your project, and updates the ANSYS Workbench cell that
references this mesh.
Note
Once the mesh is generated, you can view the mesh statistics by opening the Statistics
node in the Details of Mesh view. This will display information such as the number of
nodes and the number of elements.
Setup and Solution
6. Close the ANSYS Meshing application.
You can close the ANSYS Meshing application without saving it because ANSYS Workbench automat-
ically saves the mesh and updates the Project Schematic accordingly. The Refresh Required icon
in the Mesh cell has been replaced by a check mark, indicating that there is a mesh now associated
with the fluid flow analysis system.
View Files
Figure 1.11: ANSYS Workbench Files View for the Project After Mesh Creation
Note the addition of the mesh files (FFF.msh and FFF.mshdb) to the list of files. The FFF.msh
file is created when you update the mesh, and the FFF.mshdb file is generated when you close
the ANSYS Meshing application.

Now that you have created a computational mesh for the elbow geometry, in this step you will set up
a CFD analysis using ANSYS Fluent, then review the list of files generated by ANSYS Workbench.
1. Start ANSYS Fluent.
In the ANSYS Workbench Project Schematic, double-click the Setup cell in the elbow fluid flow
analysis system. You can also right-click the Setup cell to display the context menu where you can
select the Edit... option.
When ANSYS Fluent is first started, the Fluent Launcher is displayed, enabling you to view and/or
set certain ANSYS Fluent start-up options.
Note
The Fluent Launcher allows you to decide which version of ANSYS Fluent you will use,
based on your geometry and on your processing capabilities.
Figure 1.12: Fluent Launcher
a. Ensure that the proper options are enabled.
Important
Note that the Dimension setting is already filled in and cannot be changed, since
ANSYS Fluent automatically sets it based on the mesh or geometry for the current
system.
i. Ensure that Serial from the Processing Options list is enabled.
ii. Select Double Precision under Options.
iii. Ensure that the Display Mesh After Reading, Embed Graphics Windows, and Workbench Color
Scheme options are enabled.
Note
An option is enabled when there is a check mark in the check box, and disabled
when the check box is empty. To change an option from disabled to enabled (or
vice versa), click the check box or the text.
Note
Fluent will retain your preferences for future sessions.
Setup and Solution
b. Click OK to launch ANSYS Fluent.
Note
The ANSYS Fluent settings file (FFF.set) is written as soon as ANSYS Fluent opens.
Figure 1.13: The ANSYS Fluent Application
2. Set general settings for the CFD analysis.
Click General in the tree to open the General task page where you can perform the mesh-related
activities and to choose a solver.
Setup General
Note
Many of the common setup, solution and results commands are also accessible through
the submenus that open by right-clicking the tree items under the relevant tree branches.
a. Change the units for length.
Because you want to specify and view values based on a unit of length in millimeters from
within ANSYS Fluent, change the units of length within ANSYS Fluent from meters (the default)
to millimeters.
Important
Note that the ANSYS Meshing application automatically converts and exports
meshes for ANSYS Fluent using meters (m) as the unit of length regardless of
what units were used to create them. This is so you do not have to scale the
mesh in ANSYS Fluent under ANSYS Workbench.
Setup General Units...
This displays the Set Units dialog box.
Setup and Solution
i. Select length in the Quantities list.
ii. Select mm in the Units list.
iii. Close the dialog box.
Note
Now, all subsequent inputs that require a value based on a unit of length can be
specified in millimeters rather than meters.
b. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
Note
ANSYS Fluent will report the results of the mesh check in the console.
Domain Extents:
x-coordinate: min (m) = -2.000000e-01, max (m) = 2.000000e-01
y-coordinate: min (m) = -2.250000e-01, max (m) = 2.000000e-01
z-coordinate: min (m) = 0.000000e+00, max (m) = 5.000000e-02
Volume statistics:
minimum volume (m3): 1.144763e-10
maximum volume (m3): 5.871098e-08
total volume (m3): 2.511309e-03
Face area statistics:
minimum face area (m2): 2.051494e-07
maximum face area (m2): 3.429518e-05
Checking mesh..........................
Done.
Note
The minimum and maximum values may vary slightly when running on different
platforms. The mesh check will list the minimum and maximum x and y values from
the mesh in the default SI unit of meters. It will also report a number of other mesh
features that are checked. Any errors in the mesh will be reported at this time. Ensure
that the minimum volume is not negative as ANSYS Fluent cannot begin a calculation
when this is the case.
c. Review the mesh quality.
Setup General Report Quality
Note
ANSYS Fluent will report the results of the mesh quality below the results of the mesh
check in the console.
Mesh Quality:
Minimum Orthogonal Quality = 1.77384e-01
(Orthogonal Quality ranges from 0 to 1, where values close to 0 correspond to low quality.)
Maximum Ortho Skew = 7.60448e-01
(Ortho Skew ranges from 0 to 1, where values close to 1 correspond to low quality.)
Maximum Aspect Ratio = 1.92111e+01
Note
The quality of the mesh plays a significant role in the accuracy and stability of the
numerical computation. Checking the quality of your mesh is, therefore, an important
step in performing a robust simulation. Minimum cell orthogonality is an important
indicator of mesh quality. Values for orthogonality can vary between 0 and 1 with
lower values indicating poorer quality cells. In general, the minimum orthogonality
should not be below 0.01 with the average value significantly larger. The high aspect
ratio cells in this mesh are near the walls and are a result of the boundary layer inflation
applied in the meshing step. For more information about the importance of mesh
quality refer to Mesh Quality in the Users Guide.
3. Set up your models for the CFD simulation.
Setup Models
Setup and Solution
a. Enable heat transfer by activating the energy equation.
In the tree, right-click Energy under Models and from the submenu that opens, click On.
Setup Models Energy On
Note
You can also double-click a tree item and enable the energy equation in the Energy
dialog box.
b. Enable the - turbulence model.
Setup Models Viscous Edit...
i. Select k-epsilon from the Model list.
Note
The Viscous Model dialog box will expand.
ii. Use the default Standard from the k-epsilon Model list.
iii. Select Enhanced Wall Treatment for the Near-Wall Treatment.
Note
The default Standard Wall Functions are generally applicable if the first cell center
adjacent to the wall has a y+ larger than 30. In contrast, the Enhanced Wall
Setup and Solution
Treatment option provides consistent solutions for all y+ values. Enhanced Wall
Treatment is recommended when using the k-epsilon model for general single-
phase fluid flow problems. For more information about Near Wall Treatments in
the k-epsilon model refer to Setting Up the k- Model in the Users Guide.
iv. Click OK to accept the model and close the Viscous Model dialog box.
4. Set up your materials for the CFD simulation.
Setup Materials
a. Create a new material called water using the Create/Edit Materials dialog box (Figure 1.14: The Cre-
ate/Edit Materials Dialog Box (p. 36)).
Setup Materials Fluid Create/Edit...
i. Type water for Name.
ii. Enter the following values in the Properties group box:
Property Value
Density 1000
Property Value
(Specific Heat) 4216
Thermal Conductivity 0.677
Viscosity 8e-04
Figure 1.14: The Create/Edit Materials Dialog Box
iii. Click Change/Create.
Note
A Question dialog box will open, asking if you want to overwrite air. Click No so
that the new material water is added to the Fluent Fluid Materials list of mater-
ials that originally contained only air.
Setup and Solution
Extra
You could have copied the material water-liquid (h2o < l >) from the materials
database (accessed by clicking the ANSYS Fluent Database... button). If the
properties in the database are different from those you want to use, you can edit
the values in the Properties group box in the Create/Edit Materials dialog box
and click Change/Create to update your local copy. The original copy will not be
affected.
iv. Ensure that there are now two materials (water and air) defined locally by examining the Fluent
Fluid Materials drop-down list.
Note
Both the materials will also be listed under Fluid in the Materials task page.
v. Close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
5. Set up the cell zone conditions for the CFD simulation.
Setup Cell Zone Conditions
a. Set the cell zone conditions for the fluid zone.
i. In the Cell Zone Conditions task page, in the Zone list, select fluid and click Edit... to open the
Fluid dialog box.
Note
You can also double-click a list or tree item in order to open the corresponding
dialog box.
Setup and Solution
ii. In the Fluid dialog box, select water from the Material Name drop-down list.
iii. Click OK to close the Fluid dialog box.
6. Set up the boundary conditions for the CFD analysis.
Setup Boundary Conditions
a. Set the boundary conditions at the cold inlet (velocity-inlet-large).
Setup Boundary Conditions velocity-inlet-large Edit...
This opens the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
Tip
If you are unsure of which inlet zone corresponds to the cold inlet, you can use the
mouse to probe for mesh information in the graphics window. If you click the right
mouse button with the pointer on any node in the mesh, information about the asso-
ciated zone will be displayed in the ANSYS Fluent console, including the name of the
zone. The zone you probed will be automatically selected from the Zone selection
list in the Boundary Conditions task page.
Alternatively, you can click the probe button ( ) in the graphics toolbar and click
the left mouse button on any node. This feature is especially useful when you have
several zones of the same type and you want to distinguish between them quickly.
The information will be displayed in the console.
Setup and Solution
i. Select Components from the Velocity Specification Method drop-down list.
Note
The Velocity Inlet dialog box will expand.
ii. Enter 0.4 for X-Velocity.
iii. Retain the default value of 0 for both Y-Velocity and Z-Velocity.
iv. In the Turbulence group box, from the Specification Method drop-down list, select Intensity and
Hydraulic Diameter.
v. Retain the default of 5 for Turbulent Intensity.
vi. Enter 100 mm for Hydraulic Diameter.
Note
The hydraulic diameter is defined as:
where is the cross-sectional area and is the wetted perimeter.
vii. Click the Thermal tab.
viii.Enter 293.15 for Temperature.
ix. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
b. In a similar manner, set the boundary conditions at the hot inlet (velocity-inlet-small), using the values
in the following table:
Setup Boundary Conditions velocity-inlet-small Edit...
Velocity Specification Method Components

X-Velocity 0
Y-Velocity 1.2
Z-Velocity 0
Setup and Solution
Velocity Specification Method Components

Specification Method Intensity & Hydraulic Diameter
Turbulent Intensity 5
Hydraulic Diameter 25 mm
Temperature 313.15
c. Set the boundary conditions at the outlet (pressure-outlet), as shown in the Pressure Outlet dialog
box.
Setup Boundary Conditions pressure-outlet Edit...
Note
ANSYS Fluent will use the backflow conditions only if the fluid is flowing into the
computational domain through the outlet. Since backflow might occur at some point
during the solution procedure, you should set reasonable backflow conditions to
prevent convergence from being adversely affected.
7. Set up solution parameters for the CFD simulation.
Note
In the steps that follow, you will set up and run the calculation using the task pages listed
under the Solution branch in the tree.
a. Change the Gradient method.
Solution Solution Methods
In the Spatial Discretization section of the Solution Methods pane, change the Gradient to
Green-Gauss Node Based. This gradient method is suggested for tetrahedral meshes.
b. Examine the convergence criteria for the equation residuals.
Solution Monitors Residuals Edit...
Setup and Solution
i. Ensure that Plot is enabled in the Options group box.
ii. Keep the default values for the Absolute Criteria of the Residuals, as shown in the Residual
Monitors dialog box.
iii. Click OK to close the Residual Monitors dialog box.
Note
By default, all variables will be monitored and checked by ANSYS Fluent as a means
to determine the convergence of the solution.
c. Create a surface monitor at the outlet (pressure-outlet)
It is good practice to monitor physical solution quantities in addition to equation residuals when as-
sessing convergence.
Solution Monitors Surface New...
i. Retain the default entry of surf-mon-1 for the Name of the surface monitor.
ii. Enable the Plot option for surf-mon-1.
iii. Set Get Data Every to 3 by clicking the up-arrow button.
This setting instructs ANSYS Fluent to update the plot of the surface monitor and write data to a
file after every 3 iterations during the solution.
iv. Select Facet Maximum from the Report Type drop-down list.
v. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Field Variable drop-down lists.
vi. Select pressure-outlet from the Surfaces selection list.
vii. Click OK to save the surface monitor settings and close the Surface Monitor dialog box.
The name and report type of the surface monitor you created will be displayed under the Surface
tree item.
d. Initialize the flow field.
Setup and Solution
Solution Solution Initialization
i. Keep the default of Hybrid Initialization from the Initialization Methods group box.
ii. Click Initialize.
e. Check to see if the case conforms to best practices.
Solution Run Calculation Check Case
i. Click the Models and Solver tabs and examine the Recommendation in each. These recommend-
ations can be ignored for this tutorial. The issues they raise will be addressed in later tutorials.
ii. Close the Case Check dialog box.
8. Calculate a solution.
a. Start the calculation by requesting 300 iterations.
Solution Run Calculation
i. Enter 300 for Number of Iterations.
ii. Click Calculate.
Important
Note that the ANSYS Fluent settings file (FFF.set) is updated in the Files view
of the ANSYS Workbench before the calculation begins.
Important
Note that while the program is calculating the solution, the states of the Setup
and Solution cells in the fluid flow ANSYS Fluent analysis system in ANSYS
Workbench are changing. For example:
The state of the Setup cell becomes Up-to-Date and the state of the Solution cell
becomes Refresh Required after the Run Calculation task page is visited and the
number of iterations is specified.
The state of the Solution cell is Update Required while iterations are taking place.
Setup and Solution
The state of the Solution cell is Up-to-Date when the specified number of iterations
are complete (or if convergence is reached).
Note
As the calculation progresses, the surface monitor history will be plotted in the
graphics window (Figure 1.15: Convergence History of the Maximum Temperature at
Pressure Outlet (p. 49)).
Note
The solution will be stopped by ANSYS Fluent when the residuals reach their specified
values or after 300 iterations. The exact number of iterations will vary depending on
the platform being used. An Information dialog box will open to alert you that the
calculation is complete. Click OK in the Information dialog box to proceed.
Because the residual values vary slightly by platform, the plot that appears on your
screen may not be exactly the same as the one shown here.
Figure 1.15: Convergence History of the Maximum Temperature at Pressure Outlet
You can display the residuals history (Figure 1.16: Residuals for the Converged Solution (p. 50)), by
selecting it from the graphics window drop-down list.
Figure 1.16: Residuals for the Converged Solution
b. Examine the plots for convergence (Figure 1.16: Residuals for the Converged Solution (p. 50) and Fig-
ure 1.15: Convergence History of the Maximum Temperature at Pressure Outlet (p. 49)).
Note
There are no universal metrics for judging convergence. Residual definitions that are
useful for one class of problem are sometimes misleading for other classes of problems.
Therefore it is a good idea to judge convergence not only by examining residual
levels, but also by monitoring relevant integrated quantities and checking for mass
and energy balances.
There are three indicators that convergence has been reached:
The residuals have decreased to a sufficient degree.
The solution has converged when the Convergence Criterion for each variable
has been reached. The default criterion is that each residual will be reduced to a
value of less than , except the energy residual, for which the default criterion
is .
The solution no longer changes with more iterations.
Sometimes the residuals may not fall below the convergence criterion set in the
case setup. However, monitoring the representative flow variables through iterations
Setup and Solution
may show that the residuals have stagnated and do not change with further itera-
tions. This could also be considered as convergence.
The overall mass, momentum, energy, and scalar balances are obtained.
You can examine the overall mass, momentum, energy and scalar balances in the
Flux Reports dialog box. The net imbalance should be less than 0.2 of the net
flux through the domain when the solution has converged. In the next step you
will check to see if the mass balance indicates convergence.
View Files
Note that the status of the Solution cell is now up-to-date.
1.4.6. Displaying Results in ANSYS Fluent and CFD-Post

In this step, you will display the results of the simulation in ANSYS Fluent, display the results in CFD-
Post, then review the list of files generated by ANSYS Workbench.
1. Display results in ANSYS Fluent.
With ANSYS Fluent still running, you can perform a simple evaluation of the velocity and temperature
contours on the symmetry plane. Later, you will use CFD-Post (from within ANSYS Workbench) to
perform the same evaluation.
a. Display filled contours of velocity magnitude on the symmetry plane (Figure 1.17: Velocity Distribution
Along Symmetry Plane (p. 53)).
Results Graphics Contours Edit...
Note
You can also double-click a tree item in order to open the corresponding dialog box.
i. In the Contours dialog box, enable Filled in the Options group box.
ii. Ensure that Node Values is enabled in the Options group box.
iii. Select Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude from the Contours of drop-down lists.
iv. Select symmetry from the Surfaces selection list.
v. Click Display to display the contours in the active graphics window.
Setup and Solution
Figure 1.17: Velocity Distribution Along Symmetry Plane
b. Display filled contours of temperature on the symmetry plane (Figure 1.18: Temperature Distribution
i. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Contours of drop-down lists.
ii. Click Display and close the Contours dialog box.
Setup and Solution
Figure 1.18: Temperature Distribution Along Symmetry Plane
c. Close the ANSYS Fluent application.
File Close Fluent
Important
Note that the ANSYS Fluent case and data files are automatically saved when you exit
ANSYS Fluent and return to ANSYS Workbench.
d. View the list of files generated by ANSYS Workbench.
View Files
Note the addition of the compressed ANSYS Fluent case and data files to the list of files. These
will have names like FFF-1.cas.gz and FFF-1-00222.dat.gz. Note that the digit(s) fol-
lowing FFF may be different if you have had to restart the meshing or calculation steps for any
reason and that the name of the data file is based on the number of iterations. Thus your file
names may be slightly different than those shown here.
2. Display results in CFD-Post.
a. Start CFD-Post.
In the ANSYS Workbench Project Schematic, double-click the Results cell in the elbow fluid
flow analysis system (cell A6). This displays the CFD-Post application. You can also right-click the
Results cell to display the context menu where you can select the Edit... option.
Note
The elbow geometry is already loaded and is displayed in outline mode. ANSYS Fluent
case and data files are also automatically loaded into CFD-Post.
Figure 1.19: The Elbow Geometry Loaded into CFD-Post
b. Reorient the display.
Click the blue Z axis on the axis triad in the bottom right hand corner of the graphics display to
orient the display so that the view is of the front of the elbow geometry.
Setup and Solution
c. Ensure that Highlighting ( ) is disabled.
d. Display filled contours of velocity magnitude on the symmetry plane (Figure 1.20: Velocity Distribution
i. Insert a contour object using the Insert menu item at the top of the CFD-Post window.
Insert Contour
This displays the Insert Contour dialog box.
ii. Keep the default name of the contour (Contour 1) and click OK to close the dialog box. This dis-
plays the Details of Contour 1 view below the Outline view in CFD-Post. This view contains all of
the settings for a contour object.
iii. In the Geometry tab, from the Domains drop-down list, select fluid.
iv. Select symmetry in the Locations list.
v. Select Velocity in the Variable list.
vi. Click Apply.
Figure 1.20: Velocity Distribution Along Symmetry Plane
e. Display filled contours of temperature on the symmetry plane (Figure 1.21: Temperature Distribution
i. Under User Locations and Plots, clear the check box beside the Contour 1 object to disable the
Contour 1 object and hide the first contour display.
ii. Insert a contour object.
Insert Contour
iii. Keep the default name of the contour (Contour 2) and click OK to close the dialog box. This dis-
plays the Details of Contour 2 view below the Outline view.
iv. In the Geometry tab, from the Domains drop-down list, select fluid.
Setup and Solution
v. Select symmetry in the Locations list.
vi. Select Temperature in the Variable list.
vii. Click Apply.
Figure 1.21: Temperature Distribution Along Symmetry Plane
3. Close the CFD-Post application by selecting File Close ANSYS CFD-Post or by clicking the X in the top
right corner of the window.
Important
Note that the CFD-Post state files are automatically saved when you exit CFD-Post
and return to ANSYS Workbench.
4. Save the elbow-workbench project in ANSYS Workbench.
View Files
Note the addition of the CFD-Post state file (elbow.cst) to the list of files. For more information
about CFD-Post (and the files associated with it), see the CFD-Post documentation.
1.4.7. Duplicating the Fluent-Based Fluid Flow Analysis System

At this point, you have a completely defined fluid flow system that is comprised of a geometry, a
computational mesh, a CFD setup and solution, and corresponding results. In order to study the effects
upon the flow field that may occur if you were to alter the geometry, another fluid flow analysis is re-
quired. One approach would be to use the current system and change the geometry, however you
would overwrite the data from your previous simulation. A more suitable and effective approach would
be to create a copy, or duplicate, of the current system, and then make the appropriate changes to the
duplicate system.
In this step, you will create a duplicate of the original Fluent-based fluid flow system, then review the
list of files generated by ANSYS Workbench.
1. In the Project Schematic, right-click the title cell of the Fluid Flow (Fluent) system and select Duplicate
from the context menu.
Figure 1.22: Duplicating the Fluid Flow System
Setup and Solution
Figure 1.23: The Original Fluid Flow System and Its Duplicate
Note
Notice that in the duplicated system, the state of the Solution cell indicates that the cell
requires an update while the state of the Results cell indicates that the cell requires at-
tention. This is because when a system is duplicated, the case and data files are not
copied to the new system, therefore, the new system does not yet have solution data
associated with it.
2. Rename the duplicated system to new-elbow.
1.4.8. Changing the Geometry in ANSYS DesignModeler

Now that you have two separate, but equivalent, Fluent-based fluid flow systems to work from, you
can make changes to the second system without impacting the original system. In this step, you will
make a slight alteration to the elbow geometry in ANSYS DesignModeler by changing the diameter of
the smaller inlet, then review the list of files generated by ANSYS Workbench.
1. Open ANSYS DesignModeler.
Double-click the Geometry cell of the new-elbow system (cell B2) to display the geometry in
ANSYS DesignModeler.
2. Change the diameter of the small inlet (velocity-inlet-small).
a. Select Cylinder1 to open the Details View of the small inlet pipe.
b. In the Details View, change the FD10, Radius (>0) value from 12.5 millimeters to 19 millimeters.
c. Click the Generate button to generate the geometry with your new values.
Setup and Solution
Figure 1.24: Changing the Diameter of the Small Inlet in ANSYS DesignModeler
3. Close ANSYS DesignModeler.
View Files
Note the addition of the geometry, mesh, and ANSYS Fluent settings files now associated with the
new, duplicated system.
1.4.9. Updating the Mesh in the ANSYS Meshing Application

The modified geometry now requires a new computational mesh. The mesh settings for the duplicated
system are retained in the duplicated system. In this step, you will update the mesh based on the mesh
settings from the original system, then review the list of files generated by ANSYS Workbench.
In the Project Schematic, right-click the Mesh cell of the new-elbow system (cell B3) and select Update
from the context menu. This will update the mesh for the new geometry based on the mesh settings
you specified earlier in the ANSYS Meshing application without having to open the ANSYS Meshing
editor to regenerate the mesh.
Figure 1.25: Updating the Mesh for the Changed Geometry
It will take a few moments to update the mesh. Once the update is complete, the state of the Mesh
cell is changed to up-to-date, symbolized by a green check mark.
For illustrative purposes of the tutorial, the new geometry and the new mesh are displayed below.
Setup and Solution
Figure 1.26: The Updated Geometry and Mesh in the ANSYS Meshing Application
Inspecting the files generated by ANSYS Workbench reveals the updated mesh file for the duplicated
system.
View Files
1.4.10. Calculating a New Solution in ANSYS Fluent

Now that there is an updated computational mesh for the modified geometry in the duplicated system,
a new solution must be generated using ANSYS Fluent. In this step, you will revisit the settings within
ANSYS Fluent, calculate another solution, view the new results, then review the list of files generated
by ANSYS Workbench.
1. Open ANSYS Fluent.
In the Project Schematic, right-click the Setup cell of the new-elbow system (cell B4) and select
Edit... from the context menu. Since the mesh has been changed, you are prompted as to whether
you want to load the new mesh into ANSYS Fluent or not. Click Yes to continue, and click OK when
Fluent Launcher is displayed in order to open ANSYS Fluent.
Figure 1.27: ANSYS Workbench Prompt When the Upstream Mesh Has Changed
2. Ensure that the unit of length is set to millimeters.
3. Check the mesh (optional).
Setup General Check
4. Revisit the boundary conditions for the small inlet.
Setup Boundary Conditions velocity-inlet-small Edit...
Here, you must set the hydraulic diameter to 38 mm based on the new dimensions of the small
inlet.
5. Re-initialize the solution.
Keep the default Hybrid Initialization and click Initialize.
6. Recalculate the solution.
Keep the Number of Iterations set to 300 and click Calculate.
7. Close ANSYS Fluent.
8. Revisit the results of the calculations in CFD-Post.
Double-click the Results cell of the new-elbow fluid flow system to re-open CFD-Post where you
can review the results of the new solution.
9. Close CFD-Post.
Setup and Solution
View Files
Note the addition of the solution and state files now associated with new duplicated system.
1.4.11. Comparing the Results of Both Systems in CFD-Post

In this step, you will create a new Results system in ANSYS Workbench, use that system to compare
the solutions from each of the two Fluent-based fluid flow analysis systems in CFD-Post at the same
time, then review the list of files generated by ANSYS Workbench.
1. Create a Results system.
In ANSYS Workbench, drag a Results system from the Component Systems section of the Toolbox
and drop it into the Project Schematic, next to the fluid flow systems.
Figure 1.28: The New Results System in the Project Schematic
2. Add the solutions of each of the systems to the Results system.
a. Select the Solution cell in the first Fluid Flow analysis system (cell A5) and drag it over the Results cell
in the Results system (cell C2). This creates a transfer data connection between the two systems.
Figure 1.29: Connecting the First Fluid Flow System to the New Results System
b. Select the Solution cell in the second Fluid Flow analysis system (cell B5) and drag it over the Results
cell in the Results system (cell C2). This creates a transfer data connection between the two systems.
Figure 1.30: Connecting the Second Fluid Flow System to the New Results System
3. Open CFD-Post to compare the results of the two fluid flow systems.
Now that the two fluid flow systems are connected to the Results system, double-click the Results
cell in the Results system (cell C2) to open CFD-Post. Within CFD-Post, both geometries are displayed
side by side.
Figure 1.31: CFD-Post with Both Fluid Flow Systems Displayed
a. Re-orient the display.
Setup and Solution
In each view, click the blue Z axis on the axis triad in the bottom right hand corner of the
graphics display to orient the display so that the view is of the front of the elbow geometry.
Important
Alternatively, you can select the synchronization tool ( ) in the 3D Viewer

Toolbar to synchronize the views, so that when you re-orient one view, the
other view is automatically updated.
b. Display filled contours of velocity magnitude on the symmetry plane.
i. Insert a contour object.
Insert Contour
ii. Keep the default name of the contour (Contour 1) and click OK to close the dialog box. This dis-
plays the Details of Contour 1 view below the Outline view in CFD-Post. This view contains all of
the settings for a contour object.
iii. In the Geometry tab, select fluid in the Domains list.
iv. Select symmetry in the Locations list.
v. Select Velocity in the Variable list.
vi. Click Apply. The velocity contours are displayed in each view.
Note
To better visualize the velocity display, you can clear the Wireframe view option under
User Locations and Plots in the Outline tree view.
Figure 1.32: CFD-Post Displaying Velocity Contours for Both Geometries
c. Display filled contours of temperature on the symmetry plane.
i. Deselect the Contour 1 object under User Locations and Plots in CFD-Post to hide the first contour
display.
ii. Insert another contour object.
Insert Contour
iii. Keep the default name of the contour (Contour 2) and click OK to close the dialog box. This dis-
plays the Details of Contour 2 view below the Outline view in CFD-Post.
Setup and Solution
iv. In the Geometry tab, select fluid in the Domains list.
v. Select symmetry in the Locations list.
vi. Select Temperature in the Variable list.
vii. Click Apply. The temperature contours are displayed in each view.
Figure 1.33: CFD-Post Displaying Temperature Contours for Both Geometries
4. Close the CFD-Post application.
6. View the list of files associated with your project using the Files view.
View Files
Note the addition of the Results system and its corresponding files.
1.5. Summary
In this tutorial, portions of ANSYS Workbench were used to compare the fluid flow through two slightly
different geometries. ANSYS DesignModeler was used to create a mixing elbow geometry, ANSYS
Meshing was used to create a computational mesh, ANSYS Fluent was used to calculate the fluid flow
throughout the geometry using the computational mesh, and CFD-Post was used to analyze the results.
In addition, the geometry was altered, a new mesh was generated, and a new solution was calculated.
Finally, ANSYS Workbench was set up so that CFD-Post could directly compare the results of both cal-
culations at the same time.
Chapter 2: Parametric Analysis in ANSYS Workbench Using ANSYS
Fluent
2.1. Introduction
2.2. Prerequisites
2.1. Introduction
This tutorial illustrates using an ANSYS Fluent fluid flow system in ANSYS Workbench to set up and
solve a three-dimensional turbulent fluid flow and heat transfer problem in an automotive heating,
ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) duct system. ANSYS Workbench uses parameters and design
points to allow you to run optimization and what-if scenarios. You can define both input and output
parameters in ANSYS Fluent that can be used in your ANSYS Workbench project. You can also define
parameters in other applications including ANSYS DesignModeler and ANSYS CFD-Post. Once you have
defined parameters for your system, a Parameters cell is added to the system and the Parameter Set
bus bar is added to your project. This tutorial is designed to introduce you to the parametric analysis
utility available in ANSYS Workbench.
The tutorial starts with a Fluid Flow (Fluent) analysis system with pre-defined geometry and mesh
components. Within this tutorial, you will redefine the geometry parameters created in ANSYS Design-
Modeler by adding constraints to the input parameters. You will use ANSYS Fluent to set up and solve
the CFD problem. While defining the problem set-up, you will also learn to define input parameters in
ANSYS Fluent. The tutorial will also provide information on how to create output parameters in ANSYS
CFD-Post.
Add constraints to the ANSYS DesignModeler input parameters.
Create an ANSYS Fluent fluid flow analysis system in ANSYS Workbench.
Set up the CFD simulation in ANSYS Fluent, which includes:
Setting material properties and boundary conditions for a turbulent forced convection problem.
Defining input parameters in Fluent
Define output parameters in CFD-Post
Create additional design points in ANSYS Workbench.
Run multiple CFD simulations by updating the design points.
Parametric Analysis in ANSYS Workbench Using ANSYS Fluent
Analyze the results of each design point project in ANSYS CFD-Post and ANSYS Workbench.
Important
The mesh and solution settings for this tutorial are designed to demonstrate a basic paramet-
erization simulation within a reasonable solution time-frame. Ordinarily, you would use addi-
tional mesh and solution settings to obtain a more accurate solution.
2.2. Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes that you are already familiar with the ANSYS Workbench interface and its project
workflow (for example, ANSYS DesignModeler, ANSYS Meshing, ANSYS Fluent, and ANSYS CFD-Post).
This tutorial also assumes that you have completed Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent in ANSYS
Workbench: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow (p. 1), and that you are familiar with the
ANSYS Fluent graphical user interface. Some steps in the setup and solution procedure will not be
shown explicitly.

In the past, evaluation of vehicle air conditioning systems was performed using prototypes and testing
their performance in test labs. However, the design process of modern vehicle air conditioning (AC)
systems improved with the introduction of Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Aided Engineering
(CAE) and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM). The AC system specification will include minimum
performance requirements, temperatures, control zones, flow rates, and so on. Performance testing
using CFD may include fluid velocity (air flow), pressure values, and temperature distribution. Using
CFD enables the analysis of fluid through very complex geometry and boundary conditions.
As part of the analysis, a designer can change the geometry of the system or the boundary conditions
such as the inlet velocity, flow rate, and so on, and view the effect on fluid flow patterns. This tutorial
illustrates the AC design process on a representative automotive HVAC system consisting of both an
evaporator for cooling and a heat exchanger for heating requirements. This HVAC system is symmetric,
so the geometry has been simplified using a plane of symmetry to reduce computation time.
Problem Description
Figure 2.1: Automotive HVAC System
Figure 2.2: HVAC System Valve Location Details
Figure 2.1: Automotive HVAC System (p. 75) shows a representative automotive HVAC system. The system
has three valves (as shown in Figure 2.2: HVAC System Valve Location Details (p. 76)), which control the
flow in the HVAC system. The three valves control:
Flow over the heat exchanger coils
Flow towards the duct controlling the flow through the floor vents
Flow towards the front vents or towards the windshield
Air enters the HVAC system at 310 K with a velocity of 0.5 m/sec through the air inlet and passes to
the evaporator and then, depending on the position of the valve controlling flow to the heat exchanger,
flows over or bypasses the heat exchanger. Depending on the cooling and heating requirements, either
the evaporator or the heat exchanger would be operational, but not both at the same time. The position
of the other two valves controls the flow towards the front panel, the windshield, or towards the floor
ducts.
The motion of the valves is constrained. The valve controlling flow over the heat exchanger varies
between 25 and 90. The valve controlling the floor flow varies between 20 and 60. The valve con-
trolling flow towards front panel or windshield varies between 15 and 175.
The evaporator load is about 200 W in the cooling cycle. The heat exchanger load is about 150 W.
This tutorial illustrates the easiest way to analyze the effects of the above parameters on the flow pat-
tern/distribution and the outlet temperature of air (entering the passenger cabin). Using the parametric
Setup and Solution
analysis capability in ANSYS Workbench, a designer can check the performance of the system at various
design points.
Figure 2.3: Flow Pattern for the Cooling Cycle

2.4.1. Preparation
2.4.2. Adding Constraints to ANSYS DesignModeler Parameters in ANSYS Workbench
2.4.4. Defining Input Parameters in ANSYS Fluent and Running the Simulation
2.4.5. Postprocessing and Setting the Output Parameters in ANSYS CFD-Post
2.4.6. Creating Additional Design Points in ANSYS Workbench
2.4.7. Postprocessing the New Design Points in CFD-Post
2.4.8. Summary
2.4.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this tutorial:
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the workbench-parameter-tutorial_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip the workbench-parameter-tutorial_R160.zip file to your working folder.
The extracted workbench-parameter-tutorial folder contains a single archive file fluent-

workbench-param.wbpz that includes all supporting input files of the starting ANSYS Workbench
project and a folder called final_project_files that includes the archived final version of the
project. The final result files incorporate ANSYS Fluent and ANSYS CFD-Post settings and all already
defined design points (all that is required is to update the design points in the project to generate cor-
responding solutions).
Note
2.4.2. Adding Constraints to ANSYS DesignModeler Parameters in ANSYS

Workbench
In this step, you will start ANSYS Workbench, open the project file, review existing parameters, create
new parameters, and add constraints to existing ANSYS DesignModeler parameters.
1. From the Windows Start menu, select Start > All Programs > ANSYS 16.0 > Workbench 16.0 to start
ANSYS Workbench.
Setup and Solution
This displays the ANSYS Workbench application window, which has the Toolbox on the left and the
Project Schematic to its right. Various supported applications are listed in the Toolbox, and the
components of the analysis system are displayed in the Project Schematic.
Note
When you first start ANSYS Workbench, the Getting Started message window is displayed,
offering assistance through the online help for using the application. You can keep the
window open, or close it by clicking OK. If you need to access the online help at any
time, use the Help menu, or press the F1 key.
2. Restore the archive of the starting ANSYS Workbench project to your working directory.
File Restore Archive...
The Select Archive to Restore dialog box appears.
a. Browse to your working directory, select the project archive file fluent-workbench-param.wbpz,
and click Open.
The Save As dialog box appears.
b. Browse, if necessary, to your working folder and click Save to restore the project file, fluent-work-
bench-param.wbpj, and a corresponding project folder, fluent-workbench-param_files,
for this tutorial.
Now that the project archive has been restored, the project will automatically open in ANSYS
Workbench.
Figure 2.4: The Project Loaded into ANSYS Workbench
The project (fluent-workbench-param.wbpj) already has a Fluent-based fluid flow analysis

system that includes the geometry and mesh, as well as some predefined parameters. You will first
examine and edit parameters within Workbench, then later proceed to define the fluid flow model
in ANSYS Fluent.
3. Open the Files view in ANSYS Workbench so you can view the files associated with the current project and
are written during the session.
View Files
Setup and Solution
Figure 2.5: The Project Loaded into ANSYS Workbench Displaying Properties and Files View
Note the types of files that have been created for this project. Also note the states of the cells for the
Fluid Flow (Fluent) analysis system. Since the geometry has already been defined, the status of the Geo-
metry cell is Up-to-Date ( ). Since the mesh is not complete, the Mesh cells state is Refresh Required
( ), and since the ANSYS Fluent setup is incomplete and the simulation has yet to be performed, with
no corresponding results, the state for the Setup, Solution, and Results cells is Unfulfilled ( ). For more
information about cell states, see Understanding Cell States.
4. Review the input parameters that have already been defined in ANSYS DesignModeler.
a. Double-click the Parameter Set bus bar in the ANSYS Workbench Project Schematic to open the
Parameters Set tab.
Note
To return to viewing the Project Schematic, click the Project tab.
b. In the Outline of All Parameters view (Figure 2.6: Parameters Defined in ANSYS DesignModeler (p. 82)),
review the following existing parameters:
The parameter hcpos represents the valve position that controls the flow over the heat exchanger.
When the valve is at an angle of 25, it allows the flow to pass over the heat exchanger. When the
angle is 90, it completely blocks the flow towards the heat exchanger. Any value in between allows
some flow to pass over the heat exchanger giving a mixed flow condition.
The parameter ftpos represents the valve position that controls flow towards the floor duct. When
the valve is at an angle of 20, it blocks the flow towards the floor duct and when the valve angle is
60, it unblocks the flow.
The parameter wsfpos represents the valve position that controls flow towards the windshield and
the front panel. When the valve is at an angle of 15, it allows the entire flow to go towards the
windshield. When the angle is 90, it completely blocks the flow towards windshield as well as the
front panel. When the angle is 175, it allows the flow to go towards the windshield and the front
panel.
Figure 2.6: Parameters Defined in ANSYS DesignModeler
5. Create three new input parameters.
In the row that contains New input parameter, click the parameter table cell under the Parameter
Name column (the cell with New name) to create a new named input parameter. Create three new
parameters named input_hcpos, input_ftpos, and input_wsfpos. Note the ID of the
parameter that appears in column A of the table. For the new input parameters, the parameter IDs
would be P4, P5, and P6, respectively. In the Values column, enter values for each new parameter
of 15, 25, and 90, respectively.
Setup and Solution
Figure 2.7: New Parameters Defined in ANSYS Workbench
6. Select the row or any cell in the row that corresponds to the hcpos parameter. In the Properties of Outline
view, change the value of the hcpos parameter in the Expression field from 90 to the expression
min(max(25,P4),90). This puts a constraint on the value of hcpos, so that the value always remains
between 25 and 90. The redefined parameter hcpos is automatically passed to ANSYS DesignModeler.
Alternatively the same constraint can also be set using the expression max(25, min(P4,90)). After
defining this expression, the parameter becomes a derived parameter that is dependent on the value of
the parameter input_hcpos having the parameter ID of P4. The derived parameters are unavailable for
editing in the Outline of All Parameters view and could be redefined only in the Properties of Outline
view.
Figure 2.8: Constrained Parameter hcpos
7. Select the row or any cell in the row that corresponds to the ftpos parameter and create a similar expression
for ftpos: min(max(20,P5),60).
Setup and Solution
Figure 2.9: Constrained Parameter ftpos
8. Create a similar expression for wsfpos: min(max(15,P6),175).
Figure 2.10: Constrained Parameter wsfpos
9. Click the X on the right side of the Parameters Set tab to close it and return to the Project Schematic.
Note the new status of the cells in the Fluid Flow (Fluent) analysis system. Since we have changed
the values of hcpos, ftpos, and wsfpos to their new expressions, the Geometry and Mesh cells
now indicates Refresh Required ( ).
10. Update the Geometry and Mesh cells.
a. Right-click the Geometry cell and select the Update option from the context menu.
b. Likewise, right-click the Mesh cell and select the Refresh option from the context menu. Once the cell
is refreshed, then right-click the Mesh cell again and select the Update option from the context menu.
11. Save the project in ANSYS Workbench.
In the main menu, select File Save
Setup and Solution

Now that you have edited the parameters for the project, you will set up a CFD analysis using ANSYS
Fluent. In this step, you will start ANSYS Fluent, and begin setting up the CFD simulation.
1. Start ANSYS Fluent.
In the ANSYS Workbench Project Schematic, double-click the Setup cell in the ANSYS Fluent fluid
flow analysis system. You can also right-click the Setup cell to display the context menu where you
can select the Edit... option.
When ANSYS Fluent is first started, Fluent Launcher is displayed, allowing you to view and/or set
certain ANSYS Fluent start-up options.
Fluent Launcher allows you to decide which version of ANSYS Fluent you will use, based on your geometry
and on your processing capabilities.
Figure 2.11: ANSYS Fluent Launcher
a. Ensure that the proper options are enabled.
Important
Note that the Dimension setting is already filled in and cannot be changed, since
ANSYS Fluent automatically sets it based on the mesh or geometry for the current
system.
i. Ensure that the Display Mesh After Reading, Embed Graphics Windows, and Workbench Color
Scheme options are enabled.
Note
An option is enabled when there is a check mark in the check box, and disabled
when the check box is empty. To change an option from disabled to enabled (or
vice versa), click the check box or the text.
ii. Ensure that Serial is selected from the Processing Options list.
Note
Parallel processing offers a substantial reduction in computational time. Refer to

Parallel Processing (p. 1123) in this manual and Starting Parallel ANSYS Fluent Using
Fluent Launcher in the Users Guide for further information about using the parallel
processing capabilities of ANSYS Fluent.
iii. Ensure that the Double Precision option is disabled.
Note
b. Click OK to launch ANSYS Fluent.
Setup and Solution
Figure 2.12: The ANSYS Fluent Application
2. Reorder the mesh.
Mesh Reorder Domain
This is done to reduce the bandwidth of the cell neighbor number and to speed up the computations.
This is especially important for large cases involving 1 million or more cells. The method used to reorder
the domain is the Reverse Cuthill-McKee method.
3. Set up your models for the CFD simulation.
a. Enable heat transfer by turning on the energy model.
Right-click Energy and select On.
b. Enable the - turbulence model.
Setup and Solution
i. Select k-epsilon (2 eqn) from the Model list.
ii. Select Enhanced Wall Treatment from the Near-Wall Treatment group box.
The default Standard Wall Functions are generally applicable when the cell layer adjacent
to the wall has a y+ larger than 30. In contrast, the Enhanced Wall Treatment option provides
consistent solutions for all y+ values. Enhanced Wall Treatment is recommended when using
the k-epsilon model for general single-phase fluid flow problems. For more information
about Near Wall Treatments in the k-epsilon model refer to Wall Treatment for RANS Models
in the Users Guide.
iii. Click OK to retain the other default settings, enable the model, and close the Viscous Model dialog
box.
2.4.4. Defining Input Parameters in ANSYS Fluent and Running the Simulation
You have now started setting up the CFD analysis using ANSYS Fluent. In this step, you will define input
parameters for the velocity inlet, define heat source boundary conditions for the evaporator, then cal-
culate a solution.
1. Define an input parameter called in_velocity for the velocity at the inlet boundary.
Setup Boundary Conditions inlet-air Edit...
This displays the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
a. Select New Input Parameter... from the Velocity Magnitude drop-down list in the Velocity
Inlet dialog box.
This displays the Input Parameter Properties dialog box.
Setup and Solution
b. Enter in_velocity for the Name, and enter 0.5 m/s for the Current Value in the Input
Parameter Properties dialog box.
c. Click OK to close the Input Parameter Properties dialog box.
d. Select Intensity and Hydraulic Diameter from the Specification Method drop-down list in the
Turbulence group box of the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
e. Retain the value of 5 for Turbulent Intensity.
f. Enter 0.061 for Hydraulic Diameter (m).
2. Define an input parameter called in_temp for the temperature at the inlet boundary.
a. In the Thermal tab of the Velocity Inlet dialog box, select New Input Parameter... from the
Temperature drop-down list.
b. Enter in_temp for the Name and enter 310 K for the Current Value in the Input Parameter
Properties dialog box.
c. Click OK to close the Input Parameter Properties dialog box.
d. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
3. Set the turbulence parameters for backflow at the front outlets and foot outlets.
Setup Boundary Conditions outlet-front-mid Edit...
a. Select Intensity and Hydraulic Diameter from the Specification Method drop-down list in the Tur-
bulence group box of the Pressure Outlet dialog box.
b. Retain the value of 5 for Backflow Turbulent Intensity (%).
c. Enter 0.044 for Backflow Hydraulic Diameter (m).
These values will only be used if reversed flow occurs at the outlets. It is a good idea to set reasonable
values to prevent adverse convergence behavior if backflow occurs during the calculation.
d. Click OK to close the Pressure Outlet dialog box.
e. Copy the boundary conditions from outlet-front-mid to the other front outlet.
Setup Boundary Conditions outlet-front-mid Copy...
Setup and Solution
i. Confirm outlet-front-mid is selected in the From Boundary Zone selection list.
ii. Select outlet-front-side-left in the To Boundary Zones selection list.
iii. Click Copy to copy the boundary conditions.
Fluent will display a dialog box asking you to confirm that you want to copy the boundary con-
ditions.
iv. Click OK to confirm.
v. Close the Copy Conditions dialog box.
f. In a similar manner, set the backflow turbulence conditions for outlet-foot-left using the values in the
following table:
Parameter Value
Specification Method Intensity and Hydraulic Diameter
Backflow Turbulent Intensity (%) 5
Backflow Hydraulic Diameter (m) 0.052
g. To see all of the input and output parameters that you have defined in ANSYS Fluent, expand Input
Parameters under the Parameters & Customization>Parameters branches of the tree.
Parameters & Customization Parameters Input Parameters
Figure 2.13: The Input Parameters Sub-Branch in ANSYS Fluent
These parameters are passed to ANSYS Fluent component system in ANSYS Workbench and are
available for editing in ANSYS Workbench (see Figure 2.14: The Parameters View in ANSYS
Workbench (p. 96)).
Figure 2.14: The Parameters View in ANSYS Workbench
4. Define a heat source boundary condition for the evaporator volume.
Setup Cell Zone Conditions fluid-evaporator Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. In the Fluid dialog box, enable Source Terms.
b. In the Source Terms tab, scroll down to Energy, and click the Edit... button.
c. In the Energy sources dialog box, change the Number of Energy sources to 1.
d. For the new energy source, select constant from the drop-down list, and enter -787401.6
W/m3 based on the evaporator load (200 W) divided by the evaporator volume (0.000254 m3)
that was computed earlier.
e. Click OK to close the Energy Source dialog box.
f. Click OK to close the Fluid dialog box.
5. Set the Solution Methods
Setup and Solution
a. Select Coupled in the Scheme drop-down list.
The pressure-based coupled solver is the recommended choice for general fluid flow simulations.
b. Select PRESTO! for Pressure and First Order Upwind for Momentum and Energy in the Spatial
Discretization group box.
This tutorial is primarily intended to demonstrate the use of parameterization and design points
when running Fluent from Workbench. Therefore, you will run a simplified analysis using first
order discretization, which will yield faster convergence. These settings were chosen to speed up
solution time for this tutorial. Usually, for cases like this, we would recommend higher order
discretization settings to be set for all flow equations to ensure improved results accuracy.
6. Initialize the flow field.
a. Retain the default selection of Hybrid Initialization.
b. Click the Initialize button.
7. Run the simulation in ANSYS Fluent.
a. For Number of Iterations, enter 1000.
b. Click the Calculate button.
The solution converges within approximately 60 iterations.
Setup and Solution
Throughout the calculation, Fluent displays a warning in the console regarding reversed flow at the
outlets. This behavior is expected in this case since air is redirected to the outlets, creating small regions
of recirculation.
Note
The warning message can be switched off by setting the solve/set/flow-warnings

text user interface (TUI) command to no in the console.
8. Close Fluent.
File Close Fluent
File Save
2.4.5. Postprocessing and Setting the Output Parameters in ANSYS CFD-Post

In this step, you will visualize the results of your CFD simulation using ANSYS CFD-Post. You will plot
vectors that are colored by pressure, velocity, and temperature, on a plane within the geometry. In ad-
dition, you will create output parameters within ANSYS CFD-Post for later use in ANSYS Workbench.
In the ANSYS Workbench Project Schematic, double-click the Results cell in the ANSYS Fluent fluid
flow analysis system to start CFD-Post. You can also right-click the Results cell to display the context
menu where you can select the Edit... option.
The CFD-Post application appears with the automotive HVAC geometry already loaded and displayed
in outline mode. Note that ANSYS Fluent results (that is, the case and data files) are also automatically
loaded into CFD-Post.
Figure 2.15: The Automotive HVAC Geometry Loaded into CFD-Post
1. Edit some basic settings in CFD-Post (for example, changing the background color to white).
Edit Options...
a. In the Options dialog box, select Viewer under CFD-Post in the tree view.
Setup and Solution
b. Select Solid from the Color Type drop-down list.
c. Click the Color sample bar to cycle through common color swatches until it displays white.
Tip
You can also click the ellipsis icon to bring up a color selector dialog box from
which you can choose an arbitrary color.
d. Click OK to set the white background color for the display and close the Options dialog box.
2. Adjust the color-map legend to show the numbers in floating format.
a. Double-click Default Legend View 1 in the tree view to display the Details view for the default
legend to be used for your plots.
b. Select Variable from the Title Mode drop-down list in the Definition tab of the Details view
for Default Legend View 1.
c. In the Appearance tab, set the Precision to 2 and Fixed.
d. Click Apply to set the display.
3. Plot vectors colored by pressure.
a. From the main menu, select Insert Vector or click Vector in the ANSYS Workbench toolbar.
This displays the Insert Vector dialog box.
b. Keep the default name of Vector 1 by clicking OK.
c. In the Details view for Vector 1, under the Geometry tab, configure the following settings.
Setup and Solution
i. Ensure All Domains is selected from the Domains drop-down list.
ii. Select symmetry central unit from the Locations drop-down list.
iii. Select Equally Spaced from the Sampling drop-down list.
iv. Set the # of Points to 10000.
v. Select Tangential from the Projection drop-down list.
d. In the Details view for Vector 1, under the Color tab, configure the following settings.
i. Select Variable from the Mode drop-down list.
ii. Select Pressure from the Variable drop-down list.
e. In the Details view for Vector 1, under the Symbol tab, configure the following settings.
i. Set the Symbol Size to 0.05.
ii. Enable Normalize Symbols.
f. Click Apply.
Vector 1 appears under User Locations and Plots in the Outline tree view.
In the graphics display window, note that symmetry-central-unit shows the vectors colored by
pressure. Use the controls in CFD-Post to rotate the geometry (for example, clicking the dark blue
axis in the axis triad of the graphics window). Zoom into the view as shown in Figure 2.16: Vectors
Colored by Pressure (p. 107).
Note
To better visualize the vector display, you can deselect the Wireframe view option
under User Locations and Plots in the Outline tree view.
Setup and Solution
Figure 2.16: Vectors Colored by Pressure
4. Plot vectors colored by velocity.
a. In the Details view for Vector 1, under the Color tab, configure the following settings.
i. Select Velocity from the Variable drop-down list.
ii. Click Apply.
The velocity vector plot appears on the symmetry-central-unit symmetry plane.
Figure 2.17: Vectors Colored by Velocity
5. Plot vectors colored by temperature.
a. In the Details view for Vector 1, under the Color tab, configure the following settings.
i. Select Temperature from the Variable drop-down list.
ii. Select User Specified from the Range drop-down list.
iii. Enter 273 K for the Min temperature value.
iv. Enter 310 K for the Max temperature value.
v. Click Apply.
The user-specified range is selected much narrower than the Global and Local ranges in order
to better show the variation.
Setup and Solution
Figure 2.18: Vectors Colored by Temperature
Note the orientation of the various valves and how they impact the flow field. Later in this tutorial, you
will change these valve angles to see how the flow field changes.
6. Create two surface groups.
Surface groups are collections of surface locations in CFD-Post. In this tutorial, two surface groups
are created in CFD-Post that will represent all of the outlets and all of the front outlets. Once created,
specific commands (or expressions) will be applied to these groups in order to calculate a particular
numerical value at that surface.
a. Create a surface group consisting of all outlets.
i. With the Outline tab open in the CFD-Post tree view, open the Insert Surface Group dialog box.
Insert Location Surface Group
ii. Enter alloutlets for the Name of the surface group, and close the Insert Surface Group dialog
box.
iii. In the Details view for the alloutlets surface group, in the Geometry tab, click the ellipsis icon
next to Locations to display the Location Selector dialog box.
iv. Select all of the outlet surfaces (outlet foot left, outlet front mid, outlet front
side left, and outlet windshield) in the Location Selector dialog box and click OK.
v. Click Apply in the Details view for the new surface group.
alloutlets appears under User Locations and Plots in the Outline tree view.
b. Create a surface group for the front outlets.
Perform the same steps as described above to create a surface group called frontoutlets
with locations for the front outlets (outlet front mid and outlet front side left).
Setup and Solution
7. Create expressions in CFD-Post and mark them as ANSYS Workbench output parameters.
In this tutorial, programmatic commands or expressions are written to obtain numerical values for
the mass flow rate from all outlets, as well as at the front outlets, windshield, and foot outlets. The
surface groups you defined earlier are used to write the expressions.
a. Create an expression for the mass flow from all outlets.
i. With the Expressions tab open in the CFD-Post tree view, open the Insert Expression dialog box.
Insert Expression
ii. Enter floutfront for the Name of the expression and click OK to close the Insert Expression
dialog box.
iii. In the Details view for the new expression, enter the following in the Definition tab.
-(massFlow()@frontoutlets)*2
The sign convention for massFlow() is such that a positive value represents flow into the domain
and a negative value represents flow out of the domain. Since you are defining an expression for
outflow from the ducts, you use the negative of the massFlow() result in the definition of the
expression.
iv. Click Apply to obtain a Value for the expression.
Note the new addition in the list of expressions in the Expressions tab in CFD-Post.
In this case, there is a small net backflow into the front ducts.
v. Right-click the new expression and select Use as Workbench Output Parameter from the context
menu. A small P with a right-pointing arrow appears on the expressions icon.
b. Create an expression for the mass flow from the wind shield.
Perform the same steps as described above to create an expression called floutwindshield
with the following definition:
-(massFlow()@outlet windshield)*2
Right-click the new expression and select Use as Workbench Output Parameter from the context
menu.
c. Create an expression for the mass flow from the foot outlets.
Perform the same steps as described above to create an expression called floutfoot with the
following definition:
-(massFlow()@outlet foot left)*2
menu.
d. Create an expression for the mass weighted average outlet temperature.
Perform the same steps as described above to create an expression called outlettemp with
the following definition:
massFlowAveAbs(Temperature)@alloutlets
menu.
8. Close ANSYS CFD-Post.
In the main menu, select File Close CFD-POST to return to ANSYS Workbench.
9. In the Outline of All Parameters view of the Parameter Set tab (double-click Parameter Set), review the
newly-added output parameters that you specified in ANSYS CFD-Post and when finished, click the Project
tab to return to the Project Schematic.
10. If any of the cells in the analysis system require attention, update the project by clicking the Update Project
button in the ANSYS Workbench toolbar.
11. Optionally, review the list of files generated by ANSYS Workbench. If the Files view is not open, select View
Files from the main menu.
You will notice additional files associated with the latest solution as well as those generated by CFD-
Post.
Setup and Solution
Figure 2.19: The Updated Project Loaded into ANSYS Workbench Displaying the Files View
In the main menu, select File Save
Note
You can also select the Save Project option from the CFD-Post File menu.
2.4.6. Creating Additional Design Points in ANSYS Workbench

Parameters and design points are tools that allow you to analyze and explore a project by giving you
the ability to run optimization and what-if scenarios. Design points are based on sets of parameter
values. When you define input and output parameters in your ANSYS Workbench project, you are es-
sentially working with a design point. To perform optimization and what-if scenarios, you create multiple
design points based on your original project. In this step, you will create additional design points for
your project where you will be able to perform a comparison of your results by manipulating input
parameters (such as the angles of the various valves within the automotive HVAC geometry). ANSYS
Workbench provides a Table of Design Points to make creating and manipulating design points more
convenient.
1. Open the Table of Design Points.
a. In the Project Schematic, double-click the Parameter Set bus bar to open the Table of Design
Points view. If the table is not visible, select Table from the View menu in ANSYS Workbench.
View Table
The table of design points initially contains the current project as a design point (DP0),
along with its corresponding input and output parameter values.
Figure 2.20: Table of Design Points (with DP0)
From this table, you can create new design points (or duplicate existing design points) and
edit them (by varying one or more input parameters) to create separate analyses for future
comparison of data.
2. Create a design point (DP1) by duplicating the current design point (DP0).
a. Right-click the Current design point and select Duplicate Design Point from the context menu.
The cells autofill with the values from the Current row.
b. Scroll over to the far right to expose the Retain column in the table of design points, and ensure
the check box in the row for the duplicated design point DP 1 (cell N4) is selected.
This allows the data from this new design point to be saved before it is exported for future
analysis.
3. Create another design point (DP2) by duplicating the DP1 design point.
a. Right-click the DP1 design point and select Duplicate Design Point from the context menu.
Since this is a duplicate of DP1, this design point will also have its data retained.
4. Edit values for the input parameters for DP1 and DP2.
For DP1 and DP2, edit the values for your input parameters within the Table of Design Points
as follows:
input_hcpos input_ftpos input_wsfpos in_velocity in_temp

DP1 45 45 45 0.6 300
DP2 90 60 15 0.7 290
Setup and Solution
Figure 2.21: Table of Design Points (with DP0, DP1, and DP2 Defined)
For demonstration purposes of this tutorial, in each design point, you are slightly changing the
angles of each of the valves, and increasing the inlet velocity and the inlet temperature. Later,
you will see how the results in each case vary.
5. Update all of your design points.
Click the Update all Design Points button in the ANSYS Workbench toolbar. Alternatively, you
can also select one or more design points, right-click, and select Update Selected Design
Points from the context menu. Click OK to acknowledge the information message notifying
you that some open editors may close during the update process. By updating the design
points, ANSYS Workbench takes the new values of the input parameters for each design point
and updates the components of the associated system (for example, the geometry, mesh, set-
tings, solution, and results), as well as any output parameters that have been defined.
Note
It may take significant time and/or computing resources to re-run the simulations
for each design point.
6. Select the three design points, DP0, DP1, and DP2 (hold shift for multiple selection).
7. Right-click the selected design points and select Export Selected Design Points.
Note the addition of three more ANSYS Workbench project files (and their corresponding folders)
in your current working directory (fluent-workbench-param_dp0.wbpj, fluent-
workbench-param_dp1.wbpj and fluent-workbench-param_dp2.wbpj). You can
open each of these projects up separately and examine the results of each parameterized sim-
ulation.
8. Inspect the output parameter values in ANSYS Workbench.
Once all design points have been updated, you can use the table of design points to inspect
the values of the output parameters you created in CFD-Post (for example, the mass flow
parameters at the various outlets: floutfront, floutfoot, floutwindshield, and
outlettemp). These, and the rest of the output parameters are listed to the far right in the
table of design points.
Figure 2.22: Table of Design Points (Showing Output Parameters for DP0, DP1, and
DP2)
9. Click the Project tab, just above the ANSYS Workbench toolbar to return to the Project Schematic.
10. View the list of files generated by ANSYS Workbench (optional).
View Files
The additional files for the new design points are stored with their respective project files since
you exported them.
11. Save the project in the current state in ANSYS Workbench.
In the main menu, select File Save.
12. Quit ANSYS Workbench.
In the main menu, select File Exit.
2.4.7. Postprocessing the New Design Points in CFD-Post

In this section, you will open the ANSYS Workbench project for each of the design points and inspect
the vector plots based on the new results of the simulations.
1. Study the results of the first design point (DP1).
a. Open the ANSYS Workbench project for the first design point (DP1).
In your current working folder, double-click the fluent-workbench-param_dp1.wbpj

file to open ANSYS Workbench.
b. Open CFD-Post by double-clicking the Results cell in the Project Schematic for the Fluid Flow
(Fluent) analysis system.
c. View the vector plot colored by temperature. Ensure that Range in the Color tab is set to User
Specified and the Min and Max temperature values are set to 273 K and 310 K, respectively.
Setup and Solution
Figure 2.23: Vectors Colored by Temperature (DP1)
d. View the vector plot colored by pressure. Ensure that Range in the Color tab is set to Global.
Figure 2.24: Vectors Colored by Pressure (DP1)
e. View the vector plot colored by velocity. Ensure that Range in the Color tab is set to Global.
Setup and Solution
Figure 2.25: Vectors Colored by Velocity (DP1)
f. When you are finished viewing results of the design point DP1 in ANSYS CFD-Post, select File
Close CFD-Post to quit ANSYS CFD-Post and return to the ANSYS Workbench Project Schematic,
and then select File Exit to exit from ANSYS Workbench.
2. Study the results of the second design point (DP2).
a. Open the ANSYS Workbench project for the second design point (DP2).
In your current working folder, double-click the fluent-workbench-param_dp2.wbpj

file to open ANSYS Workbench.
b. Open CFD-Post by double-clicking the Results cell in the Project Schematic for the Fluid Flow
(Fluent) analysis system.
c. View the vector plot colored by temperature. Ensure that Range in the Color tab is set to User
Specified and the Min and Max temperature values are set and the Min and Max temperature
values are set to 273 K and 310 K, respectively.
Figure 2.26: Vectors Colored by Temperature (DP2)
d. View the vector plot colored by pressure. Ensure that Range in the Color tab is set to Global.
Setup and Solution
Figure 2.27: Vectors Colored by Pressure (DP2)
e. View the vector plot colored by velocity. Ensure that Range in the Color tab is set to Global.
Figure 2.28: Vectors Colored by Velocity (DP2)
3. When you are finished viewing results in ANSYS CFD-Post, select File Close CFD-Post to quit ANSYS
CFD-Post and return to the ANSYS Workbench Project Schematic, and then select File Exit to exit
from ANSYS Workbench.
2.4.8. Summary
In this tutorial, input and output parameters were created within ANSYS Workbench, ANSYS Fluent, and
ANSYS CFD-Post in order to study the airflow in an automotive HVAC system. ANSYS Fluent was used
to calculate the fluid flow throughout the geometry using the computational mesh, and ANSYS CFD-
Post was used to analyze the results. ANSYS Workbench was used to create additional design points
based on the original settings, and the corresponding simulations were run to create separate projects
where parameterized analysis could be performed to study the effects of variable angles of the inlet
valves, velocities, and temperatures. Also, note that simplified solution settings were used in this tutorial
to speed up the solution time. For more improved solution accuracy, you would typically use denser
mesh and higher order discretization for all flow equations.
Chapter 3: Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Prerequisites
3.5. Summary
3.1. Introduction
This tutorial illustrates the setup and solution of a three-dimensional turbulent fluid flow and heat
transfer problem in a mixing elbow. The mixing elbow configuration is encountered in piping systems
in power plants and process industries. It is often important to predict the flow field and temperature
field in the area of the mixing region in order to properly design the junction.
Launch ANSYS Fluent.
Read an existing mesh file into ANSYS Fluent.
Use mixed units to define the geometry and fluid properties.
Set material properties and boundary conditions for a turbulent forced-convection problem.
Set up a surface monitor and use it as a convergence criterion.
Calculate a solution using the pressure-based solver.
Visually examine the flow and temperature fields using the postprocessing tools available in ANSYS Fluent.
Change the solver method to coupled in order to increase the convergence speed.
Adapt the mesh based on the temperature gradient to further improve the prediction of the temperature
field.
3.2. Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes that you have little or no experience with ANSYS Fluent, and so each step will be
explicitly described.

cold fluid at 20 C flows into the pipe through a large inlet, and mixes with a warmer fluid at 40 C that
Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow
enters through a smaller inlet located at the elbow. The pipe dimensions are in inches and the fluid
properties and boundary conditions are given in SI units. The Reynolds number for the flow at the larger
inlet is 50,800, so a turbulent flow model will be required.
Note
Since the geometry of the mixing elbow is symmetric, only half of the elbow must be modeled
in ANSYS Fluent.

3.4.1. Preparation
3.4.2. Launching ANSYS Fluent
3.4.3. Reading the Mesh
3.4.4. General Settings
3.4.5. Models
3.4.6. Materials
3.4.7. Cell Zone Conditions
3.4.8. Boundary Conditions
3.4.9. Solution
3.4.10. Displaying the Preliminary Solution
Setup and Solution
3.4.11. Using the Coupled Solver

3.4.12. Adapting the Mesh
3.4.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the introduction_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip the introduction_R160.zip file you downloaded to your working directory. This file contains
a folder, introduction, that holds the file elbow.msh that you will use in this tutorial. The intro-
duction directory also contains a solution_files sub-folder that contains the solution files created
during the preparation of this tutorial.
Note
3.4.2. Launching ANSYS Fluent

1. From the Windows Start menu, select Start > All Programs > ANSYS 16.0 > Fluent 16.0 to start the Fluent
Launcher.
The Fluent Launcher allows you to decide which version of ANSYS Fluent you will use, based on
your geometry and on your processing capabilities.
2. Ensure that the proper options are enabled.
a. Select 3D from the Dimension list by clicking the radio button or the text.
b. Select Serial from the Processing Options list.
c. Enable the Display Mesh After Reading, Embed Graphics Windows, and Workbench Color Scheme
options.
Note
An option is enabled when there is a check mark in the check box, and disabled when
the check box is empty. To change an option from disabled to enabled (or vice versa),
click the check box or the text.
d. Ensure that the Double-Precision option is disabled.
Note
Extra
You can also restore the default settings by clicking the Default button.
3. Set the working path to the directory created when you unzipped introduction_R160.zip.
Setup and Solution
a. Click the Show More Options button to reveal additional options.
b. Enter the path to your working directory for Working Directory by double-clicking the text box and
typing.
Alternatively, you can click the browse button ( ) next to the Working Directory text box
and browse to the directory, using the Browse For Folder dialog box.
4. Click OK to launch ANSYS Fluent.

1. Read the mesh file elbow.msh.
File Read Mesh...
Select Read from the File menu, then select Mesh... to open the Select File dialog box.
Setup and Solution
a. Select the mesh file by clicking elbow.msh in the introduction directory created when you un-
zipped the original file.
b. Click OK to read the file and close the Select File dialog box.
As the mesh file is read by ANSYS Fluent, messages will appear in the console reporting the progress
of the conversion. ANSYS Fluent will report that 13,852 hexahedral fluid cells have been read, along
with a number of boundary faces with different zone identifiers.
After having completed reading mesh, ANSYS Fluent displays the mesh in the graphics window.
Extra
You can use the mouse to probe for mesh information in the graphics window. If you
click the right mouse button with the pointer on any node in the mesh, information
about the associated zone will be displayed in the console, including the name of the
zone.
Alternatively, you can click the probe button ( ) in the graphics toolbar and click the
left mouse button on any node. This feature is especially useful when you have several
zones of the same type and you want to distinguish between them quickly.
For this 3D problem, you can make it easier to probe particular nodes by changing the
view. The following table describes how to manipulate objects in the graphics window:
Table 3.1: View Manipulation Instructions

Rotate view
(vertical, After clicking the Rotate icon, , press and hold the left mouse button
horizontal) and drag the mouse. Dragging side to side rotates the view about the
vertical axis, and dragging up and down rotates the view about the
horizontal axis.
Translate or
After clicking the Pan icon, , press and hold the left mouse button and
pan view
drag the object with the mouse until the view is satisfactory.
Zoom in and
After clicking the Zoom in/Out icon, , press and hold the left mouse
out of view
button and drag the mouse up and down to zoom in and out of the view.
Zoom to
After clicking the Zoom to Area icon, , press and hold the left mouse
selected area
button and drag the mouse diagonally to the right. This action will cause
a rectangle to appear in the display. When you release the mouse button,
a new view will be displayed that consists entirely of the contents of the
rectangle. Note that to zoom in, you must drag the mouse to the right,
and to zoom out, you must drag the mouse to the left.
Clicking the Fit to Window icon, , will cause the object to fit exactly and be centered
in the window.
After you have clicked a button in the graphics toolbar, you can return to the default
mouse button settings by clicking .
Note that you can change the default mouse button actions using the Mouse Buttons
dialog box dialog box which you can access by selecting Display/Mouse Buttons from
the main menu. For more information, see Controlling the Mouse Button Functions in
the Fluent User's Guide.
2. Manipulate the mesh display using the Views dialog box to obtain a front view as shown in Figure 3.2: The
Hexahedral Mesh for the Mixing Elbow (p. 132).
In the tree, under the Results branch, right-click Graphics, and select Views... in the menu that
opens.
Results Graphics View...
Setup and Solution
a. Select front from the Views selection list.
Note
A list item is selected if it is highlighted, and deselected if it is not highlighted.
b. Click Apply and close the Views dialog box.
Figure 3.2: The Hexahedral Mesh for the Mixing Elbow
Extra
You can also change the orientation of the objects in the graphics window using the
axis triad as follows:
Left-click an axis to point it in the positive direction.
Right-click an axis to point it in the negative direction.
Left-click the iso-ball to set the isometric view.
Setup and Solution

In the tree, select General to perform the mesh-related activities and to choose a solver.
1. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
ANSYS Fluent will report the results of the mesh check in the console.
Domain Extents:
x-coordinate: min (m) = -8.000000e+000, max (m) = 8.000000e+000
y-coordinate: min (m) = -9.134633e+000, max (m) = 8.000000e+000
z-coordinate: min (m) = 0.000000e+000, max (m) = 2.000000e+000
Volume statistics:
minimum volume (m3): 5.098270e-004
maximum volume (m3): 2.330737e-002
total volume (m3): 1.607154e+002
Face area statistics:
minimum face area (m2): 4.865882e-003
maximum face area (m2): 1.017924e-001
Checking mesh.......................
Done.
The mesh check will list the minimum and maximum and values from the mesh in the default
SI unit of meters. It will also report a number of other mesh features that are checked. Any errors
in the mesh will be reported at this time. Ensure that the minimum volume is not negative, since
ANSYS Fluent cannot begin a calculation when this is the case.
Note
The minimum and maximum values may vary slightly when running on different platforms.
2. Scale the mesh.
Setup General Scale...
a. Ensure that Convert Units is selected in the Scaling group box.
b. Select in from the Mesh Was Created In drop-down list by first clicking the down-arrow button and
then clicking the in item from the list that appears.
c. Click Scale to scale the mesh.
Warning
Be sure to click the Scale button only once.
Domain Extents will continue to be reported in the default SI unit of meters.
d. Select in from the View Length Unit In drop-down list to set inches as the working unit for length.
e. Confirm that the domain extents are as shown in the dialog box above.
f. Close the Scale Mesh dialog box.
The mesh is now sized correctly and the working unit for length has been set to inches.
Note
Because the default SI units will be used for everything except length, there is no need
to change any other units in this problem. The choice of inches for the unit of length has
been made by the actions you have just taken. If you want a different working unit for
Setup and Solution
length, other than inches (for example, millimeters), click Units... in the General task
page and make the appropriate change, in the Set Units dialog box.
3. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
Note
It is a good idea to check the mesh after you manipulate it (that is, scale, convert to
polyhedra, merge, separate, fuse, add zones, or smooth and swap). This will ensure that
the quality of the mesh has not been compromised.
4. Retain the default settings of pressure-based steady-state solver in the Solver group box of the General
task page.
3.4.5. Models
You need to define the physical models for your simulation. In the tree, expand the Models branch.
1. Enable heat transfer by activating the energy equation.
In the tree, right-click Energy under Models and from the submenu that opens, click On.
Setup Models Energy ON
Note
You can also double-click the Energy tree item and enable the energy equation in the
Energy dialog box.
2. Enable the - turbulence model.
Setup and Solution
a. Select k-epsilon from the Model list.
b. Retain the default selection of Standard in the k-epsilon Model group box.
c. Select Enhanced Wall Treatment in the Near-Wall Treatment group box.
Note
adjacent to the wall has a y+ larger than 30. In contrast, the Enhanced Wall Treatment
option provides consistent solutions for all y+ values. Enhanced Wall Treatment is
recommended when using the k-epsilon model for general single-phase fluid flow
problems. For more information about Near Wall Treatments in the k-epsilon model
refer to Setting Up the k- Model in the Users Guide.
d. Click OK to accept all the other default settings and close the Viscous Model dialog box.
3.4.6. Materials
Set up the materials for your simulation. In the tree, click Materials to open the Materials task page.
1. Create a new material called water.
Setup and Solution
a. Type water for Name.
b. Enter the following values in the Properties group box:
Property Value
Density 1000
4216
Thermal Conductivity 0.677
Viscosity 8e-04
c. Click Change/Create.
A Question dialog box will open, asking if you want to overwrite air. Click No so that the new mater-
ial water is added to the list of materials that originally contained only air.
Extra
You could have copied the material water-liquid (h2o<l>) from the materials database
(accessed by clicking the Fluent Database... button). If the properties in the database
are different from those you want to use, you can edit the values in the Properties
group box in the Create/Edit Materials dialog box and click Change/Create to update
your local copy. The original copy will not be affected.
d. Ensure that there are now two materials (water and air) defined locally by examining the Fluent Fluid
Materials drop-down list.
Both the materials will also be listed under Fluid in the Materials task page.
e. Close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.

Set up the cell zone conditions. Under the Setup tree branch, click Cell Zone Conditions to open the
corresponding task page.
Setup and Solution
1. Set the cell zone conditions for the fluid zone (fluid).
Setup Cell Zone Conditions fluid Edit...
a. Select water from the Material Name drop-down list.
b. Click OK to close the Fluid dialog box.
Note
You can also access the Fluid dialog box by double-clicking fluid under Setup/Cell Zone
Conditions tree branch.

Add the boundary conditions for the inlets, outlet, and walls. Under the Setup tree branch, click
Boundary Conditions to open the corresponding task page.
Setup and Solution
1. Set the boundary conditions at the cold inlet (velocity-inlet-5).
Setup Boundary Conditions velocity-inlet-5 Edit...
Note
Here the inlets have names with numerical identifying tags. It is good practice to give
boundaries meaningful names in a meshing application to help in model set up. You can
also change boundary labels in Fluent by simply editing the boundary and alter the label
in the Zone Name text box.
Tip
If you are unsure of which inlet zone corresponds to the cold inlet, you can probe
the mesh display using the right mouse button or the probe toolbar button ( ) as
described previously in this tutorial. The information will be displayed in the ANSYS
Fluent console, and the zone you probed will be automatically selected from the
Zone selection list in the Boundary Conditions task page.
a. Select Magnitude, Normal to Boundary from the Velocity Specification Method drop-down list.
The Velocity Inlet dialog box will expand.
b. Enter 0.4 for Velocity Magnitude.
c. Select Intensity and Hydraulic Diameter from the Specification Method drop-down list in the Tur-
bulence group box.
d. Retain the default value of 5 for Turbulent Intensity.
e. Enter 4 for Hydraulic Diameter.
The hydraulic diameter is defined as:
where is the cross-sectional area and is the wetted perimeter.
f. Click the Thermal tab.
Setup and Solution
g. Enter 293.15 for Temperature.
h. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
Note
You can also access the Velocity Inlet dialog box by double-clicking velocity-inlet-5
under Setup/Boundary Conditions tree branch.
2. In a similar manner, set the boundary conditions at the hot inlet (velocity-inlet-6), using the values in the
following table:
Boundary Conditions velocity-inlet-6 Edit...
Setting Value
Velocity Specification Method Magnitude, Normal to Boundary
Velocity Magnitude 1.2
Specification Method Intensity and Hydraulic Diameter
Turbulent Intensity 5
Setting Value
Hydraulic Diameter 1
Temperature 313.15
3. Set the boundary conditions at the outlet (pressure-outlet-7), as shown in the Pressure Outlet dialog
box.
Setup Boundary Conditions pressure-outlet-7 Edit...
Note
You do not need to set a backflow temperature in this case because the material properties
are not functions of temperature. If they were, a flow weighted average of the inlet conditions
would be a good starting value.
ANSYS Fluent will use the backflow conditions only if the fluid is flowing into the computa-
tional domain through the outlet. Since backflow might occur at some point during the
solution procedure, you should set reasonable backflow conditions to prevent convergence
from being adversely affected.
4. For the wall of the pipe (wall), retain the default value of 0 for Heat Flux in the Thermal tab.
Setup Boundary Conditions wall Edit...
Setup and Solution
3.4.9. Solution
In the steps that follow, you will set up and run the calculation using the Solution tree branch.
1. Select a solver scheme.
Under the Solution tree branch, click Solution Methods to open the corresponding task page.
Leave the Scheme and Spatial Discretisation at the default values for this calculation.
2. Enable the plotting of residuals during the calculation.
Setup and Solution
Note
You can also access the Residual Monitors dialog box by double-clicking Residual under
the Solution/Monitors tree branch.
a. Ensure that Plot is enabled in the Options group box.
b. Leave the Absolute Criteria of continuity at the default level of 0.001 as shown in the Residual
Monitors dialog box.
c. Click OK to close the Residual Monitors dialog box.
Note
By default, all variables will be monitored and checked by ANSYS Fluent as a means to
determine the convergence of the solution. It is a good practice to also define a surface
monitor that can help evaluate whether the solution is truly converged. You will do this
in the next step.
3. Define a surface monitor of average temperature at the outlet (pressure-outlet-7).
Solution Monitors Create... (Surface Monitors)
Note
You can also access the Surface Monitors dialog box by double-clicking Surface under
the Solution/Monitors tree branch.
a. Enter outlet-temp-avg for the Name of the surface monitor.
b. Enable the Plot and Write options for outlet-temp-avg.
c. Enter outlet-temp-avg.out for File Name.
d. Set Get Data Every to 3 by clicking the up-arrow button.
This setting instructs ANSYS Fluent to update the plot of the surface monitor and write data to
a file after every 3 iterations during the solution.
e. Select Mass-Weighted Average from the Report Type drop-down list.
f. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Field Variable drop-down lists.
g. Select pressure-outlet-7 from the Surfaces selection list.
Setup and Solution
h. Click OK to save the surface monitor settings and close the Surface Monitor dialog box.
The name and report type of the surface monitor you created will be displayed in the Surface
Monitors selection list in the Monitors task page and under the Surface tree item.
4. Set a convergence monitor for outlet-temp-avg.
Monitors Convergence Manager...
a. Activate the convergence criterion on outlet temperature by selecting the Active check box next to
outlet-temp-avg.
a. Enter 1e-5 for Stop Criterion.
b. Enter 20 for Initial Iterations to Ignore.
c. Enter 15 for Previous Iterations to Consider.
d. Enable Print.
e. Enter 3 for Every Iteration
f. Click OK to save the convergence monitor settings and close the Convergence Manager dialog box.
These settings will cause Fluent to consider the solution converged when the monitor value for
each of the previous 15 iterations is within 0.001% of the current value. Convergence of the monitor
values will be checked every 3 iterations. The first 20 iterations will be ignored allowing for any initial
solution dynamics to settle out. Note that the value printed to the console is the deviation between
the current and previous iteration values only.
a. Leave the Initialization Method at the default Hybrid Initialization.
b. Click Initialize.
6. Save the case file (elbow1.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
a. (optional) Indicate the directory in which you would like the file to be saved.
By default, the file will be saved in the directory from which you read in elbow.msh (that is,
the introduction directory). You can indicate a different directory by browsing to it or by
creating a new directory.
Setup and Solution
b. Enter elbow1.cas.gz for Case File.
Adding the extension .gz to the end of the file name extension instructs ANSYS Fluent to save
the file in a compressed format. You do not have to include .cas in the extension (for example,
if you enter elbow1.gz, ANSYS Fluent will automatically save the file as elbow1.cas.gz).
The .gz extension can also be used to save data files in a compressed format.
c. Ensure that the default Write Binary Files option is enabled, so that a binary file will be written.
d. Click OK to save the case file and close the Select File dialog box.
7. Start the calculation by requesting 150 iterations.
a. Enter 150 for Number of Iterations.
b. Click Calculate.
Note
By starting the calculation, you are also starting to save the surface monitor data at
the rate specified in the Surface monitors dialog box. If a file already exists in your
working directory with the name you specified in the Define Surface Monitor dialog
box, then a Question dialog box will open, asking if you would like to append the
new data to the existing file. Click No in the Question dialog box, and then click OK
in the Warning dialog box that follows to overwrite the existing file.
As the calculation progresses, the surface monitor history will be plotted in graphics window 2
(Figure 3.3: Convergence History of the Mass-Weighted Average Temperature (p. 154)).
Figure 3.3: Convergence History of the Mass-Weighted Average Temperature
Similarly, the residuals history will be plotted in window 1 in the background. You can display
the residuals history by selecting window 1 from the graphics window drop-down list (Fig-
ure 3.4: Residuals (p. 155)).
Setup and Solution
Figure 3.4: Residuals
Since the residual values vary slightly by platform, the plot that appears on your screen may not
be exactly the same as the one shown here.
The solution will be stopped by ANSYS Fluent when any of the following occur:
the surface monitor converges to within the tolerance specified in the Convergence Manager
dialog box
the residual monitors converge to within the tolerances specified in the Residual Monitors
dialog box
the number of iterations you requested in the Run Calculation task page has been reached
In this case, the solution is stopped when the convergence criterion on outlet temperature is
satisfied, after approximately 75 iterations. The exact number of iterations for convergence will
vary, depending on the platform being used. An Information dialog box will open to alert you
that the calculation is complete. Click OK in the Information dialog box to proceed.
8. Examine the plots for convergence (Figure 3.3: Convergence History of the Mass-Weighted Average Tem-
perature (p. 154) and Figure 3.4: Residuals (p. 155)).
Note
There are no universal metrics for judging convergence. Residual definitions that are
useful for one class of problem are sometimes misleading for other classes of problems.
Therefore it is a good idea to judge convergence not only by examining residual levels,
but also by monitoring relevant integrated quantities and checking for mass and energy
balances.
There are three indicators that convergence has been reached:
The residuals have decreased to a sufficient degree.
The solution has converged when the Convergence Criterion for each variable has
been reached. The default criterion is that each residual will be reduced to a value of
less than , except the energy residual, for which the default criterion is .
The solution no longer changes with more iterations.
Sometimes the residuals may not fall below the convergence criterion set in the case
setup. However, monitoring the representative flow variables through iterations may
show that the residuals have stagnated and do not change with further iterations. This
could also be considered as convergence.
The overall mass, momentum, energy, and scalar balances are obtained.
You can examine the overall mass, momentum, energy and scalar balances in the Flux
Reports dialog box. The net imbalance should be less than 0.2 of the net flux through
the domain when the solution has converged. In the next step you will check to see
if the mass balance indicates convergence.
9. Examine the mass flux report for convergence.
Results Reports Fluxes Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Ensure that Mass Flow Rate is selected from the Options list.
b. Select pressure-outlet-7, velocity-inlet-5,and velocity-inlet-6 from the Boundaries selection list.
c. Click Compute.
The individual and net results of the computation will be displayed in the Results and Net Results
boxes, respectively, in the Flux Reports dialog box, as well as in the console.
The sum of the flux for the inlets should be very close to the sum of the flux for the outlets. The net
results show that the imbalance in this case is well below the 0.2 criterion suggested previously.
d. Close the Flux Reports dialog box.
10. Save the data file (elbow1.dat.gz).
File Write Data...
In later steps of this tutorial you will save additional case and data files with different suffixes.
3.4.10. Displaying the Preliminary Solution

In the steps that follow, you will visualize various aspects of the flow for the preliminary solution using
the Results tree branch.
1. Display filled contours of velocity magnitude on the symmetry plane (Figure 3.5: Predicted Velocity Distri-
bution after the Initial Calculation (p. 159)).
a. Enable Filled in the Options group box.
b. Ensure that Node Values is enabled in the Options group box.
c. Select Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude from the Contours of drop-down lists.
d. Select symmetry from the Surfaces selection list.
e. Click Display to display the contours in the active graphics window. Clicking the Fit to Window icon,
, will cause the object to fit exactly and be centered in the window.
Note
If you cannot see the velocity contour display, select the appropriate window from the
graphics window drop-down list.
Extra
When you probe a point in the displayed domain with the right mouse button or the
probe tool, the level of the corresponding contour is highlighted in the colormap in the
graphics window, and is also reported in the console.
Setup and Solution
Figure 3.5: Predicted Velocity Distribution after the Initial Calculation
2. Display filled contours of temperature on the symmetry plane (Figure 3.6: Predicted Temperature Distribution
after the Initial Calculation (p. 161)).
a. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Contours of drop-down lists.
b. Click Display and close the Contours dialog box.
Setup and Solution
Figure 3.6: Predicted Temperature Distribution after the Initial Calculation
3. Display velocity vectors on the symmetry plane (Figure 3.9: Magnified View of Resized Velocity Vec-
tors (p. 165)).
Results Graphics Vectors Edit...
a. Select symmetry from the Surfaces selection list.
b. Click Display to plot the velocity vectors.
Setup and Solution
Figure 3.7: Velocity Vectors Colored by Velocity Magnitude
The Auto Scale option is enabled by default in the Options group box. This scaling sometimes
creates vectors that are too small or too large in the majority of the domain. You can improve
the clarity by adjusting the Scale and Skip settings, thereby changing the size and number of
the vectors when they are displayed.
c. Enter 4 for Scale.
d. Set Skip to 2.
e. Click Display again to redisplay the vectors.
Figure 3.8: Resized Velocity Vectors
f. Close the Vectors dialog box.
g. Zoom in on the vectors in the display.
To manipulate the image, refer to Table 3.1: View Manipulation Instructions (p. 130). The image will
be redisplayed at a higher magnification (Figure 3.9: Magnified View of Resized Velocity Vectors (p. 165)).
Setup and Solution
Figure 3.9: Magnified View of Resized Velocity Vectors
h. Zoom out to the original view.
You also have the option of selecting the original view in the Views dialog box:
Results Graphics View...
Select front from the Views selection list and click Apply, then close the Views dialog box.
4. Create a line at the centerline of the outlet. For this task, you will use the Surface command that is at the
top of the ANSYS Fluent window.
Surface Iso-Surface...
a. Select Mesh... and Z-Coordinate from the Surface of Constant drop-down lists.
b. Click Compute to obtain the extent of the mesh in the direction.
The range of values in the direction is displayed in the Min and Max boxes.
c. Retain the default value of 0 for Iso-Values.
d. Select pressure-outlet-7 from the From Surface selection list.
Setup and Solution
e. Enter z=0_outlet for New Surface Name.
f. Click Create.
The new line surface representing the intersection of the plane z=0 and the surface pressure-
outlet-7 is created, and its name z=0_outlet appears under From Surface in the Iso-Surface
dialog box.
After the line surface z=0_outlet is created, a new entry will automatically be generated for New
Surface Name, in case you would like to create another surface.
g. Close the Iso-Surface dialog box.
5. Display and save an XY plot of the temperature profile across the centerline of the outlet for the initial
solution (Figure 3.10: Outlet Temperature Profile for the Initial Solution (p. 168)).
Results Plots XY Plot Edit...
a. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Y Axis Function drop-down lists.
b. Select the z=0_outlet surface you just created from the Surfaces selection list.
c. Click Plot.
d. Enable Write to File in the Options group box.
The button that was originally labeled Plot will change to Write....
e. Click Write....
i. In the Select File dialog box, enter outlet_temp1.xy for XY File.
ii. Click OK to save the temperature data and close the Select File dialog box.
f. Close the Solution XY Plot dialog box.
Figure 3.10: Outlet Temperature Profile for the Initial Solution
6. Define a custom field function for the dynamic head formula ( ).
For this task, you will use the Parameters & Customization tree branch.
Parameters & Customization Custom Field Functions New...
Setup and Solution
a. Select Density... and Density from the Field Functions drop-down lists, and click the Select button
to add density to the Definition field.
b. Click the X button on the dialog box to add the multiplication symbol to the Definition field.
c. Select Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude from the Field Functions drop-down lists, and click the
Select button to add |V| to the Definition field.
d. Click y^x to raise the last entry in the Definition field to a power, and click 2 for the power.
e. Click the / button to add the division symbol to the Definition field, and then click 2.
f. Enter dynamic-head for New Function Name.
g. Click Define and close the Custom Field Function Calculator dialog box.
The dynamic-head tree item appears under the Custom Field Functions tree subbranch.
7. Display filled contours of the custom field function (Figure 3.11: Contours of the Dynamic Head Custom
Field Function (p. 171)).
a. Select Custom Field Functions... and dynamic-head from the Contours of drop-down lists.
Tip
Custom Field Functions... is at the top of the upper Contours of drop-down

list.
b. Ensure that symmetry is selected from the Surfaces selection list.
c. Click Display and close the Contours dialog box.
Setup and Solution
Figure 3.11: Contours of the Dynamic Head Custom Field Function
Note
You may need to change the view by zooming out after the last vector display, if you
have not already done so.
8. Save the settings for the custom field function by writing the case and data files (elbow1.cas.gz and
elbow1.dat.gz).
File Write Case & Data...
a. Ensure that elbow1.cas.gz is entered for Case/Data File.
Note
When you write the case and data file at the same time, it does not matter whether
you specify the file name with a .cas or .dat extension, as both will be saved.
b. Click OK to save the files and close the Select File dialog box.
c. Click OK to overwrite the files that you made earlier.
3.4.11. Using the Coupled Solver

The elbow solution computed in the first part of this tutorial used the SIMPLE solver scheme for Pressure-
Velocity coupling. For many general fluid-flow problems, convergence speed can be improved by using the
Coupled solver. You will now change the Solution Method to a coupled scheme and compare the convergence
speed of the SIMPLE and Coupled solvers.
1. Change the solver settings.
Setup and Solution
a. Select Coupled from the Scheme drop-down list.
b. Leave the Spatial Discretization options at their default settings.
2. Re-initialize the flow field.
a. Leave the Initialization Method at the default Hybrid Initialization.
3. Run the solution for an additional 90 iterations.
Run Calculation
b. Click Calculate.
A dialog box will appear asking if you want to append data to outlet-temp-avg.out. Click
No. Another dialog box will appear asking whether to Overwrite outlet-temp-avg.out.
Click OK.
The solution will converge in approximately 35 iterations (Figure 3.12: Residuals for the Coupled
Solver Calculation (p. 174)). Note that this is faster than the convergence rate using the SIMPLE
pressure-velocity coupling. The convergence history is shown in Figure 3.13: Convergence History
of Mass-Weighted Average Temperature (p. 175).
Figure 3.12: Residuals for the Coupled Solver Calculation
Setup and Solution
Figure 3.13: Convergence History of Mass-Weighted Average Temperature
3.4.12. Adapting the Mesh

For the first two runs of this tutorial, you have solved the elbow problem using a fairly coarse mesh.
The elbow solution can be improved further by refining the mesh to better resolve the flow details.
ANSYS Fluent provides a built-in capability to easily adapt (locally refine) the mesh according to solution
gradients. In the following steps you will adapt the mesh based on the temperature gradients in the
current solution and compare the results with the previous results.
1. Adapt the mesh in the regions of high temperature gradient. For this task, you will use the Adapt command
that is at the top of the ANSYS Fluent window.
Adapt Gradient...
a. Ensure that Refine is enabled in the Options group box.
ANSYS Fluent will not coarsen beyond the original mesh for a 3D mesh. Hence, it is not necessary to
deselect Coarsen in this instance.
b. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Gradients of drop-down lists.
c. Click Compute.
ANSYS Fluent will update the Min and Max values to show the minimum and maximum temperature
gradient.
d. Enter 0.003 for Refine Threshold.
A general rule is to use 10 of the maximum gradient when setting the value for Refine Threshold.
e. Click Mark.
ANSYS Fluent will report in the console that approximately 1304 cells were marked for refinement.
f. Click Manage... to open the Manage Adaption Registers dialog box.
Setup and Solution
i. Click Display.
ANSYS Fluent will display the cells marked for adaption in the graphics window (Figure 3.14: Cells
Marked for Adaption (p. 178)).
Figure 3.14: Cells Marked for Adaption
Extra You can change the way ANSYS Fluent displays cells marked for adaption (Fig-
ure 3.15: Alternative Display of Cells Marked for Adaption (p. 180)) by performing the following
steps:
A. Click Options... in the Manage Adaption Registers dialog box to open the Adaption
Display Options dialog box.
Setup and Solution
B. Enable Wireframe in the Refine group box.
C. Enable Filled in the Options group box.
D. Enable Draw Mesh in the Options group box.
The Mesh Display dialog box will open.
E. Ensure that only the Edges option is enabled in the Options group box.
F. Select Feature from the Edge Type list.
G. Select all of the items except default-interior and z=0_outlet from the Surfaces selection
list.
H. Click Display and close the Mesh Display dialog box.
I. Click OK to close the Adaption Display Options dialog box.
J. Click Display in the Manage Adaption Registers dialog box.
K. Rotate the view and zoom in to get the display shown in Figure 3.15: Alternative Display
of Cells Marked for Adaption (p. 180).
Figure 3.15: Alternative Display of Cells Marked for Adaption
L. After viewing the marked cells, rotate the view back and zoom out again.
ii. Ensure that gradient-r0 is selected from the Registers selection list.
iii. Click Adapt in the Manage Adaption Registers dialog box.
A Question dialog box will open, confirming your intention to adapt the mesh. Click Yes to pro-
ceed.
Setup and Solution
iv. Close the Manage Adaption Registers dialog box.
g. Close the Gradient Adaption dialog box.
2. Display the adapted mesh (Figure 3.16: The Adapted Mesh (p. 182)).
Setup General Display...
a. Select All in the Edge Type group box.
b. Deselect all of the highlighted items from the Surfaces selection list except for symmetry.
Tip
To deselect all surfaces click the far-right unshaded button at the top of the Surfaces
selection list, and then select the desired surfaces from the Surfaces selection list.
c. Click Display and close the Mesh Display dialog box.
Figure 3.16: The Adapted Mesh
3. Request an additional 90 iterations.
Run Calculation
Click Calculate.
Setup and Solution
The solution will converge after approximately 35 additional iterations (Figure 3.17: The Complete Residual
History (p. 183) and Figure 3.18: Convergence History of Mass-Weighted Average Temperature (p. 184)).
Figure 3.17: The Complete Residual History
Figure 3.18: Convergence History of Mass-Weighted Average Temperature
4. Save the case and data files for the Coupled solver solution with an adapted mesh (elbow2.cas.gz and
elbow2.dat.gz).
a. Enter elbow2.gz for Case/Data File.
b. Click OK to save the files and close the Select File dialog box.
The files elbow2.cas.gz and elbow2.dat.gz will be saved in your default directory.
5. Examine the filled temperature distribution (using node values) on the revised mesh (Figure 3.19: Filled
Contours of Temperature Using the Adapted Mesh (p. 185)).
Setup and Solution
Figure 3.19: Filled Contours of Temperature Using the Adapted Mesh
6. Display and save an XY plot of the temperature profile across the centerline of the outlet for the adapted
solution (Figure 3.20: Outlet Temperature Profile for the Adapted Coupled Solver Solution (p. 187)).
a. Disable Write to File in the Options group box.
The button that was originally labeled Write... will change to Plot.
b. Ensure that Temperature... and Static Temperature are selected from the Y Axis Function drop-down
lists.
c. Ensure that z=0_outlet is selected from the Surfaces selection list.
d. Click Plot.
Setup and Solution
Figure 3.20: Outlet Temperature Profile for the Adapted Coupled Solver Solution
e. Enable Write to File in the Options group box.
The button that was originally labeled Plot will change to Write....
f. Click Write....
i. In the Select File dialog box, enter outlet_temp2.xy for XY File.
ii. Click OK to save the temperature data.
g. Close the Solution XY Plot dialog box.
7. Display the outlet temperature profiles for both solutions on a single plot (Figure 3.21: Outlet Temperature
Profiles for the Two Solutions (p. 190)).
Results Plots File Edit...
a. Click the Add... button to open the Select File dialog box.
i. Click once on outlet_temp1.xy and outlet_temp2.xy.
Setup and Solution
Each of these files will be listed with their directory in the XY File(s) list to indicate that they have
been selected.
Tip
If you select a file by mistake, simply click the file in the XY File(s) list and
then click Remove.
ii. Click OK to save the files and close the Select File dialog box.
b. Select the directory path ending in outlet_temp1.xy from the Files selection list.
c. Enter Before Adaption in the lowest text-entry box on the right (next to the Change Legend Entry
button).
d. Click the Change Legend Entry button.
The item in the Legend Entries list for outlet_temp1.xy will be changed to Before Adaption. This
legend entry will be displayed in the upper-left corner of the XY plot generated in a later step.
e. In a similar manner, change the legend entry for the directory path ending in outlet_temp2.xy to be
Adapted Mesh.
f. Click Plot and close the File XY Plot dialog box.
Figure 3.21: Outlet Temperature Profiles for the Two Solutions (p. 190) shows the two temperature profiles
at the centerline of the outlet. It is apparent by comparing both the shape of the profiles and the predicted
outer wall temperature that the solution is highly dependent on the mesh and solution options. Specifically,
further mesh adaption should be used in order to obtain a solution that is independent of the mesh.
Figure 3.21: Outlet Temperature Profiles for the Two Solutions
Note
When reading and writing data values, Fluent always uses SI units. Therefore when you
read in the xy data files and plot them, the position and temperature values will be
plotted in SI units, regardless of the settings made in the Units... dialog box earlier in
the tutorial.
Extra
You can perform additional rounds of mesh adaption based on temperature gradient
and run the calculation to see how the temperature profile changes at the outlet. A case
and data file (elbow3.cas.gz and elbow3.dat.gz) have been provided in the
solution_files directory, in which the mesh has undergone three more levels of
adaption. The resulting temperature profiles have been plotted with outlet_temp1.xy
and outlet_temp2.xy in Figure 3.22: Outlet Temperature Profiles for Subsequent Mesh
Adaption Steps (p. 191).
Summary
Figure 3.22: Outlet Temperature Profiles for Subsequent Mesh Adaption Steps
It is evident from Figure 3.22: Outlet Temperature Profiles for Subsequent Mesh Adaption
Steps (p. 191) that as the mesh is adapted further, the profiles converge on a mesh-inde-
pendent profile. The resulting wall temperature at the outlet is predicted to be 300.6
after mesh independence is achieved. If the adaption steps had not been performed, the
wall temperature would have incorrectly been estimated at 299.1 .
If computational resources allow, it is always recommended to perform successive rounds

of adaption until the solution is independent of the mesh (within an acceptable tolerance).
Typically, profiles of important variables are examined (in this case, temperature) and
compared to determine mesh independence.
3.5. Summary
A comparison of the convergence speed for the SIMPLE and Coupled pressure-velocity coupling schemes
indicates that the latter converges much faster. With more complex meshes, the difference in speed
between the two schemes can be significant.
Chapter 4: Modeling Periodic Flow and Heat Transfer
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Prerequisites
4.5. Summary
4.6. Further Improvements
4.1. Introduction
Many industrial applications, such as steam generation in a boiler or air cooling in the coil of an air
conditioner, can be modeled as two-dimensional periodic heat flow. This tutorial illustrates how to set
up and solve a periodic heat transfer problem, given a pre-generated mesh.
The system that is modeled is a bank of tubes containing a flowing fluid at one temperature that is
immersed in a second fluid in cross flow at a different temperature. Both fluids are water, and the flow
is classified as laminar and steady, with a Reynolds number of approximately 100. The mass flow rate
of the cross flow is known and the model is used to predict the flow and temperature fields that result
from convective heat transfer.
Due to symmetry of the tube bank and the periodicity of the flow inherent in the tube bank geometry,
only a portion of the geometry will be modeled in ANSYS Fluent, with symmetry applied to the outer
boundaries. The resulting mesh consists of a periodic module with symmetry. In the tutorial, the inlet
boundary will be redefined as a periodic zone, and the outflow boundary defined as its shadow.
Create periodic zones.
Define a specified periodic mass flow rate.
Model periodic heat transfer with specified temperature boundary conditions.
Calculate a solution using the pressure-based, pseudo-transient, coupled solver.
Plot temperature profiles on specified isosurfaces.
4.2. Prerequisites
This tutorial is written with the assumption that you have completed one or more of the introductory
bow (p. 1)
Modeling Periodic Flow and Heat Transfer
and that you are familiar with the ANSYS Fluent tree and menu structure. Some steps in the setup and
solution procedure will not be shown explicitly.

This problem considers a 2D section of a tube bank. A schematic of the problem is shown in Fig-
ure 4.1: Schematic of the Problem (p. 194). The bank consists of uniformly-spaced tubes with a diameter
of 1 cm, which are staggered across the cross-fluid flow. Their centers are separated by a distance of 2
cm in the direction, and 1 cm in the direction. The bank has a depth of 1 m.
Figure 4.1: Schematic of the Problem
Because of the symmetry of the tube bank geometry, only a portion of the domain must be modeled.
The computational domain is shown in outline in Figure 4.1: Schematic of the Problem (p. 194). A mass
flow rate of 0.05 kg/s is applied to the inlet boundary of the periodic module. The temperature of the
tube wall ( ) is 400 K and the bulk temperature of the cross flow water ( ) is 300 K. The properties
of water that are used in the model are shown in Figure 4.1: Schematic of the Problem (p. 194).

4.4.1. Preparation
4.4.2. Mesh
4.4.4. Models
4.4.5. Materials
Setup and Solution

4.4.7. Periodic Conditions
4.4.9. Solution
4.4.10. Postprocessing
4.4.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the periodic_flow_heat_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip periodic_flow_heat_R160.zip to your working folder.
The file tubebank.msh can be found in the periodic_flow_heat folder created after unzipping
the file.
8. Use Fluent Launcher to start the 2D version of ANSYS Fluent.
Fluent Launcher displays your Display Options preferences from the previous session.
For more information about Fluent Launcher, see Starting ANSYS Fluent Using Fluent Launcher in the
Users Guide.
9. Ensure that the Display Mesh After Reading, Embed Graphics Windows, and Workbench Color Scheme
options are enabled.
10. Ensure that you are running in single precision (disable Double Precision).
11. Select Serial under Processing Options.
4.4.2. Mesh
1. Read the mesh file tubebank.msh.
File Read Mesh...
2. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
ANSYS Fluent will perform various checks on the mesh and report the progress in the ANSYS Fluent
console window. Ensure that the minimum volume reported is a positive number.
3. Scale the mesh.
a. Select cm (centimeters) from the Mesh Was Created In drop-down list in the Scaling group box.
b. Click Scale to scale the mesh.
c. Close the Scale Mesh dialog box.
4. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
Note
It is a good idea to check the mesh after you manipulate it (scale, convert to polyhedra,
merge, separate, fuse, add zones, or smooth and swap.) This will ensure that the quality
of the mesh has not been compromised.
5. Examine the mesh (Figure 4.2: Mesh for the Periodic Tube Bank (p. 197)).
Setup and Solution
Figure 4.2: Mesh for the Periodic Tube Bank
Quadrilateral cells are used in the regions surrounding the tube walls and triangular cells are used for
the rest of the domain, resulting in a hybrid mesh (see Figure 4.2: Mesh for the Periodic Tube Bank (p. 197)).
The quadrilateral cells provide better resolution of the viscous gradients near the tube walls. The remainder
of the computational domain is filled with triangular cells for the sake of convenience.
Tip
You can use the right mouse button to probe for mesh information in the graphics win-
dow. If you click the right mouse button on any node in the mesh, information will be
displayed in the ANSYS Fluent console about the associated zone, including the name of
the zone. This feature is especially useful when you have several zones of the same type
and you want to distinguish between them quickly.
6. Create the periodic zone.
The inlet (wall-9) and outflow (wall-12) boundaries currently defined as wall zones need to be redefined
as periodic using the text user interface. The wall-9 boundary will be redefined as a translationally peri-
odic zone and wall-12 as a periodic shadow of wall-9.
a. Press Enter in the console to get the command prompt (>).
b. Enter the text command and input the responses to the prompts as shown. Press Enter after each entry.
> mesh/modify-zones/make-periodic Enter
You will be prompted to enter the zones corresponding to the periodic boundaries and specify
the configuration of the periodicity.
Periodic zone [()] 9 Enter

Shadow zone [()] 12 Enter
Rotational periodic? (if no, translational) [yes] no Enter
Create periodic zones? [yes] yes Enter
Auto detect translation vector? [yes] yes Enter
zone 12 deleted
created periodic zones.

1. Retain the default settings for the solver.
Setup General
4.4.4. Models
1. Enable heat transfer.
Setup and Solution
4.4.5. Materials
The default properties for water defined in ANSYS Fluent are suitable for this problem. In this step, you will
make sure that this material is available for selecting in future steps.
1. Add water to the list of fluid materials by copying it from the ANSYS Fluent materials database.
a. Click Fluent Database... in the Create/Edit Materials dialog box to open the Fluent Database Mater-
ials dialog box.
i. Select water-liquid (h2o<l>) in the Fluent Fluid Materials selection list.
Scroll down the list to find water-liquid (h2o<l>). Selecting this item will display the default
properties in the dialog box.
ii. Click Copy and close the Fluent Database Materials dialog box.
The Create/Edit Materials dialog box will now display the copied properties for water-liquid.
b. Click Change/Create and close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.

1. Set the cell zone conditions for the continuum fluid zone (fluid-16).
Setup Cell Zone Conditions fluid-16 Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Select water-liquid from the Material Name drop-down list.
4.4.7. Periodic Conditions

1. Define the periodic flow conditions.
Setup Boundary Conditions periodic-9 Periodic Conditions...
a. Select Specify Mass Flow in the Type list.
This will allow you to specify the Mass Flow Rate.
b. Enter 0.05 kg/s for Mass Flow Rate.
c. Click OK to close the Periodic Conditions dialog box.

1. Set the boundary conditions for the bottom wall of the left tube (wall-21).
Setup Boundary Conditions wall-21 Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Enter wall-bottom for Zone Name.
b. Click the Thermal tab.
i. Select Temperature in the Thermal Conditions list.
ii. Enter 400 K for Temperature.
These settings will specify a constant wall temperature of 400 K.
c. Click OK to close the Wall dialog box.
2. Set the boundary conditions for the top wall of the right tube (wall-3).
a. Enter wall-top for Zone Name.
i. Select Temperature from the Thermal Conditions list.
4.4.9. Solution
1. Set the solution parameters.
a. Select Coupled from the Scheme drop-down list in the Pressure-Velocity Coupling group box.
b. Retain the default setting of Least Squares Cell Based for the Gradient in the Spatial Discretization
group box.
c. Retain the default setting of Second Order for the Pressure drop-down list.
d. Retain the default setting of Second Order Upwind in the Momentum and Energy drop-down lists.
e. Enable Pseudo Transient.
The Pseudo Transient option enables the pseudo transient algorithm in the coupled pressure-based
solver. This algorithm effectively adds an unsteady term to the solution equations in order to improve
stability and convergence behavior.
2. Set the solution controls.
Solution Solution Controls
Setup and Solution
a. Retain the default values in the Pseudo Transient Explicit Relaxation Factors group box.
In some cases, the default Pseudo Transient Explicit Relaxation Factors may need to be reduced in
order to prevent oscillation of residual values or stabilization of residual values above the convergence
criteria. For additional information about setting Pseudo Transient Explicit Relaxation Factors, see
Setting Pseudo Transient Explicit Relaxation Factors in the Fluent User's Guide.
a. Ensure Plot is enabled in the Options group box.
b. Click OK to close the Residual Monitors dialog box.
4. Initialize the solution.
You will first use the default Hybrid initialization method and then patch the fluid zone with the upstream
temperature value.
a. Initialize using the default settings.
Solution Solution Initialization Initialize
b. Patch the fluid zone with the bulk upstream temperature value.
The Hybrid Initialization method computes the initial flow field based on inlet and outlet boundary
conditions. In this case we have periodic boundary conditions with a specified upstream bulk temper-
ature. You will patch the initialized solution with this temperature value in order to improve conver-
gence.
Solution Solution Initialization Patch...
i. Select Temperature in the Variable selection list.
ii. Enter 300 for Value (k).
Recall that the upstream bulk temperature, , is specified as 300 K.
iii. Select fluid-16 in the Zones to Patch selection list.
iv. Click Patch and close the Patch dialog box.
5. Save the case file (tubebank.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
Setup and Solution
b. Click Calculate.
The solution will converge in approximately 111 iterations.
7. Save the case and data files (tubebank.cas.gz and tubebank.dat.gz).
1. Display filled contours of static pressure (Figure 4.3: Contours of Static Pressure (p. 209)).
Results Graphics Contours Set Up...
b. Retain the default selection of Pressure... and Static Pressure from the Contours of drop-down lists.
c. Click Display.
Setup and Solution
Figure 4.3: Contours of Static Pressure
d. Change the view to mirror the display across the symmetry planes (Figure 4.4: Contours of Static Pressure
with Symmetry (p. 211)).
Results Graphics Views...
i. Select all of the symmetry zones (symmetry-18, symmetry-13, symmetry-11, and symmetry-24)
in the Mirror Planes selection list by clicking in the upper right corner.
Note
There are four symmetry zones in the Mirror Planes selection list because the top
and bottom symmetry planes in the domain are each comprised of two symmetry
zones, one on each side of the tube centered on the plane. It is also possible to
generate the same display shown in Figure 4.4: Contours of Static Pressure with
Symmetry (p. 211) by selecting just one of the symmetry zones on the top symmetry
plane, and one on the bottom.
ii. Click Apply and close the Views dialog box.
iii. Translate the display of symmetry contours so that it is centered in the graphics window by using
the left mouse button (Figure 4.4: Contours of Static Pressure with Symmetry (p. 211)).
Setup and Solution
Figure 4.4: Contours of Static Pressure with Symmetry
The pressure contours displayed in Figure 4.4: Contours of Static Pressure with Symmetry (p. 211) do
not include the linear pressure gradient computed by the solver. Thus, the contours are periodic at
the inlet and outflow boundaries.
2. Display filled contours of static temperature (Figure 4.5: Contours of Static Temperature (p. 213)).
a. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Contours of drop-down lists.
Setup and Solution
Figure 4.5: Contours of Static Temperature
The contours in Figure 4.5: Contours of Static Temperature (p. 213) reveal the temperature increase in the
fluid due to heat transfer from the tubes. The hotter fluid is confined to the near-wall and wake regions,
while a narrow stream of cooler fluid is convected through the tube bank.
3. Display the velocity vectors (Figure 4.6: Velocity Vectors (p. 215)).
Results Graphics Vectors Set Up...
a. Enter 2 for Scale.
This will increase the size of the displayed vectors, making it easier to view the flow patterns.
b. Retain the default selection of Velocity from the Vectors of drop-down list.
c. Retain the default selection of Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude from the Color by drop-down lists.
d. Click Display and close the Vectors dialog box.
e. Zoom in on the upper right portion of one of the left tubes to get the display shown in (Figure 4.6: Ve-
locity Vectors (p. 215)), by using the middle mouse button in the graphics window.
The magnified view of the velocity vector plot in Figure 4.6: Velocity Vectors (p. 215) clearly shows the re-
circulating flow behind the tube and the boundary layer development along the tube surface.
Setup and Solution
Figure 4.6: Velocity Vectors
4. Create an isosurface on the periodic tube bank at = 0.01 m (through the first column of tubes).
This isosurface and the ones created in the steps that follow will be used for the plotting of temperature
profiles.
a. Select Mesh... and X-Coordinate from the Surface of Constant drop-down lists.
b. Enter 0.01 for Iso-Values.
c. Enter x=0.01m for New Surface Name.
d. Click Create.
5. In a similar manner, create an isosurface on the periodic tube bank at = 0.02 m (halfway between the
two columns of tubes) named x=0.02m.
6. In a similar manner, create an isosurface on the periodic tube bank at = 0.03 m (through the middle of
the second column of tubes) named x=0.03m, and close the Iso-Surface dialog box.
7. Create an XY plot of static temperature on the three isosurfaces (Figure 4.7: Static Temperature at x=0.01,
0.02, and 0.03 m (p. 218)).
Results Plots XY Plot Set Up...
Setup and Solution
a. Enter 0 for X and 1 for Y in the Plot Direction group box.
With a Plot Direction vector of (0,1), ANSYS Fluent will plot the selected variable as a function of
. Since you are plotting the temperature profile on cross sections of constant , the temperature
varies with the direction.
b. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Y-Axis Function drop-down lists.
c. Select x=0.01m, x=0.02m, and x=0.03m in the Surfaces selection list.
Scroll down to find the x=0.01m, x=0.02m, and x=0.03m surfaces.
d. Click the Curves... button to open the Curves - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
This dialog box is used to define plot styles for the different plot curves.
i. Select from the Symbol drop-down list.
Scroll up to find the item.
ii. Click Apply to assign the symbol to the = 0.01 m curve.
iii. Set the Curve # to 1 to define the style for the = 0.02 m curve.
iv. Select x from the Symbol drop-down list.
Scroll up to find the x item.
v. Enter 0.5 for Size.
vi. Click Apply and close the Curves - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
Since you did not change the curve style for the = 0.03 m curve, the default symbol will be used.
e. Click Plot and close the Solution XY Plot dialog box.
Figure 4.7: Static Temperature at x=0.01, 0.02, and 0.03 m
4.5. Summary
In this tutorial, periodic flow and heat transfer in a staggered tube bank were modeled in ANSYS Fluent.
The model was set up assuming a known mass flow through the tube bank and constant wall temper-
atures. Due to the periodic nature of the flow and symmetry of the geometry, only a small piece of the
full geometry was modeled. In addition, the tube bank configuration lent itself to the use of a hybrid
mesh with quadrilateral cells around the tubes and triangles elsewhere.
The Periodic Conditions dialog box makes it easy to run this type of model with a variety of operating
conditions. For example, different flow rates (and hence different Reynolds numbers) can be studied,
Further Improvements
or a different inlet bulk temperature can be imposed. The resulting solution can then be examined to
extract the pressure drop per tube row and overall Nusselt number for a range of Reynolds numbers.
For additional details about modeling periodic heat transfer, see Modeling Periodic Heat Transfer in the
Fluent User's Guide.

This tutorial guides you through the steps to reach an initial solution. You may be able to obtain a more
accurate solution by adapting the mesh. Mesh adaption can also ensure that the solution is independent
of the mesh. These steps are demonstrated in Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat
Transfer in a Mixing Elbow (p. 123).
Chapter 5: Modeling External Compressible Flow
5.1. Introduction
5.2. Prerequisites
5.5. Summary
5.1. Introduction
The purpose of this tutorial is to compute the turbulent flow past a transonic airfoil at a nonzero angle
of attack. You will use the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model.
Model compressible flow (using the ideal gas law for density).
Set boundary conditions for external aerodynamics.
Use the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model.
Use Full Multigrid (FMG) initialization to obtain better initial field values.
Calculate a solution using the pressure-based coupled solver with the pseudo transient option.
Use force and surface monitors to check solution convergence.
Check the near-wall mesh resolution by plotting the distribution of .
5.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)
Modeling External Compressible Flow

The problem considers the flow around an airfoil at an angle of attack and a free stream Mach
number of ( ). The flow is transonic, and has a fairly strong shock near the mid-chord
( ) on the upper (suction) side. The chord length is 1 m. The geometry of the airfoil is shown
in Figure 5.1: Problem Specification (p. 222).

5.4.1. Preparation
5.4.2. Mesh
5.4.4. Models
5.4.5. Materials
5.4.7. Operating Conditions
5.4.8. Solution
5.4.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
Setup and Solution
6. Click the external_compressible_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip external_compressible_R160.zip to your working folder.
The file airfoil.msh can be found in the external_compressible folder created after unzipping
the file.
For more information about Fluent Launcher, see Starting ANSYS Fluent Using Fluent Launcher in
the Users Guide.
10. Enable Double Precision.
11. Ensure Serial is selected under Processing Options.
5.4.2. Mesh
1. Read the mesh file airfoil.msh.
File Read Mesh...
2. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
ANSYS Fluent will perform various checks on the mesh and will report the progress in the console. Make
sure that the reported minimum volume is a positive number.
Note
ANSYS Fluent will issue a warning concerning the high aspect ratios of some cells
and possible impacts on calculation of Cell Wall Distance. The warning message in-
cludes recommendations for verifying and correcting the Cell Wall Distance calcula-
tion. In this particular case the cell aspect ratio does not cause problems so no further
action is required. As an optional activity, you can confirm this yourself after the
solution is generated by plotting Cell Wall Distance as noted in the warning message.
3. Examine the mesh (Figure 5.2: The Entire Mesh (p. 224) and Figure 5.3: Magnified View of the Mesh Around
the Airfoil (p. 225)).
Figure 5.2: The Entire Mesh
Quadrilateral cells were used for this simple geometry because they can be stretched easily to account
for different flow gradients in different directions. In the present case, the gradients normal to the airfoil
wall are much greater than those tangent to the airfoil. Consequently, the cells near the surface have
high aspect ratios. For geometries that are more difficult to mesh, it may be easier to create a hybrid
mesh comprised of quadrilateral and triangular cells.
Setup and Solution
Figure 5.3: Magnified View of the Mesh Around the Airfoil
A parabola was chosen to represent the far-field boundary because it has no discontinuities in slope,
enabling the construction of a smooth mesh in the interior of the domain.
Extra
Mesh Reorder Domain
This is done to reduce the bandwidth of the cell neighbor number and to speed up the computations.
This is especially important for large cases involving 1 million or more cells. The method used to reorder
the domain is the Reverse Cuthill-McKee method.

1. Set the solver settings.
a. Retain the default selection of Pressure-Based from the Type list.
The pressure-based solver with the Coupled option for the pressure-velocity coupling is a good altern-
ative to density-based solvers of ANSYS Fluent when dealing with applications involving high-speed
aerodynamics with shocks. Selection of the coupled algorithm is made in the Solution Methods task
page in the Solution step.
5.4.4. Models
1. Select the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model.
Setup and Solution
a. Select Spalart-Allmaras (1eqn) in the Model list.
b. Select Strain/Vorticity-Based in the Spalart-Allmaras Production list.
c. Retain the default settings in the Model Constants group box.
d. Click OK to close the Viscous Model dialog box.
Note
The Spalart-Allmaras model is a relatively simple one-equation model that solves a modeled
transport equation for the kinematic eddy (turbulent) viscosity. This embodies a relatively
new class of one-equation models in which it is not necessary to calculate a length scale
related to the local shear layer thickness. The Spalart-Allmaras model was designed spe-
cifically for aerospace applications involving wall-bounded flows and has been shown to
give good results for boundary layers subjected to adverse pressure gradients.
5.4.5. Materials
The default Fluid Material is air, which is the working fluid in this problem. The default settings need to be
modified to account for compressibility and variations of the thermophysical properties with temperature.
1. Set the properties for air, the default fluid material.
Setup Materials air Create/Edit...
a. Select ideal-gas from the Density drop-down list.
The Energy Equation will be enabled.
b. Select sutherland from the Viscosity drop-down list to open the Sutherland Law dialog box.
Scroll down the Viscosity drop-down list to find sutherland.
i. Retain the default selection of Three Coefficient Method in the Methods list.
ii. Click OK to close the Sutherland Law dialog box.
The Sutherland law for viscosity is well suited for high-speed compressible flows.
Setup and Solution
c. Click Change/Create to save these settings.
d. Close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
While Density and Viscosity have been made temperature-dependent, Cp (Specific Heat) and Thermal
Conductivity have been left constant. For high-speed compressible flows, thermal dependency of the
physical properties is generally recommended. For simplicity, Thermal Conductivity and Cp (Specific
Heat) are assumed to be constant in this tutorial.
1. Set the boundary conditions for pressure-far-field-1.
Setup Boundary Conditions pressure-far-field-1 Edit...
a. Retain the default value of 0 Pa for Gauge Pressure.
Note
The gauge pressure in ANSYS Fluent is always relative to the operating pressure, which
is defined in a separate input (see below).
b. Enter 0.8 for Mach Number.
c. Enter 0.997564 and 0.069756 for the X-Component of Flow Direction and Y-Component of Flow
Direction, respectively.
These values are determined by the angle of attack: and .
d. Retain Turbulent Viscosity Ratio from the Specification Method drop-down list in the Turbulence
group box.
e. Retain the default value of 10 for Turbulent Viscosity Ratio.
The viscosity ratio should be between 1 and 10 for external flows.
f. Click the Thermal tab and retain the default value of 300 K for Temperature.
Setup and Solution
g. Click OK to close the Pressure Far-Field dialog box.

1. Set the operating pressure.
Setup Boundary Conditions Operating Conditions...
The Operating Conditions dialog box can also be accessed from the Cell Zone Conditions task page.
a. Retain the default value of 101325 Pa for Operating Pressure.
The operating pressure should be set to a meaningful mean value in order to avoid round-off errors.
The absolute pressure must be greater than zero for compressible flows. If you want to specify
boundary conditions in terms of absolute pressure, you can make the operating pressure zero.
b. Click OK to close the Operating Conditions dialog box.
For information about setting the operating pressure, see Operating Pressure in the User's Guide.
5.4.8. Solution
b. Retain the default selection of Least Squares Cell Based from the Gradient drop-down list in the
Spatial Discretization group box.
c. Retain the default selection of Second Order from the Pressure drop-down list.
d. Select Second Order Upwind from the Modified Turbulent Viscosity drop-down list.
Setup and Solution
stability and convergence behavior. Use of this option is recommended for general fluid flow problems.
a. Enter 0.5 for Density in the Pseudo Transient Explicit Relaxation Factors group box.
Under-relaxing the density factor is recommended for high-speed compressible flows.
b. Enter 0.9 for Modified Turbulent Viscosity.
Larger under-relaxation factors (that is, closer to 1) will generally result in faster convergence. However,
instability can arise that may need to be eliminated by decreasing the under-relaxation factors.
3. Enable residual plotting during the calculation.
a. Ensure that Plot is enabled in the Options group box and click OK to close the Residual Monitors
dialog box.
a. Retain the default selection of Hybrid Initialization from the Initialization Methods group box.
b. Click Initialize to initialize the solution.
c. Run the Full Multigrid (FMG) initialization.
FMG initialization often facilitates an easier start-up, where no CFL (Courant Friedrichs Lewy) ramping
is necessary, thereby reducing the number of iterations for convergence.
i. Press Enter in the console to get the command prompt (>).
Setup and Solution
ii. Enter the text commands and input responses as shown in the boxes. Accept the default values by
pressing Enter when no input response is given:
solve/initialize/set-fmg-initialization
Customize your FMG initialization:

set the number of multigrid levels [5]
set FMG parameters on levels ..
residual reduction on level 1 is: [0.001]

number of cycles on level 1 is: [10] 100

number of cycles on level 2 is: [50] 100

number of cycles on level 3 is: [100]

residual reduction on level 5 [coarsest grid] is: [0.001]

Number of FMG (and FAS geometric multigrid) levels: 5

* FMG customization summary:
* residual reduction on level 0 [finest grid] is: 0.001
* number of cycles on level 0 is: 1
* residual reduction on level 1 is: 0.001
* residual reduction on level 5 [coarsest grid] is: 0.001
* FMG customization complete
set FMG courant-number [0.75]
enable FMG verbose? [no] yes
solve/initialize/fmg-initialization
Enable FMG initialization? [no] yes
Note
Whenever FMG initialization is performed, it is important to inspect the FMG initialized

flow field using the postprocessing tools of ANSYS Fluent. Monitoring the normalized
residuals, which are plotted in the console window, will give you an idea of the conver-
gence of the FMG solver. You should notice that the value of the normalized residuals
decreases. For information about FMG initialization, including convergence strategies,
see Full Multigrid (FMG) Initialization in the Users Guide.
5. Save the case and data files (airfoil.cas.gz and airfoil.dat.gz).
It is good practice to save the case and data files during several stages of your case setup.
b. Click Calculate.
By performing some iterations before setting up the force monitors, you will avoid large initial transients
in the monitor plots. This will reduce the axes range and make it easier to judge the convergence.
7. Set the reference values that are used to compute the lift, drag, and moment coefficients.
Setup Reference Values
The reference values are used to non-dimensionalize the forces and moments acting on the airfoil. The
dimensionless forces and moments are the lift, drag, and moment coefficients.
a. Select pressure-far-field-1 from the Compute from drop-down list.
ANSYS Fluent will update the Reference Values based on the boundary conditions at the far-field
boundary.
Setup and Solution
8. Define a force monitor to plot and write the drag coefficient for the walls of the airfoil.
Solution Monitors (Residuals, Statistic and Force Monitors) Create Drag...
a. Enable Plot in the Options group box.
b. Enable Write to save the monitor history to a file.
Note
If you do not enable the Write option, the history information will be lost when you
exit ANSYS Fluent.
c. Retain the default entry of cd-1-history for File Name.
d. Select wall-bottom and wall-top in the Wall Zones selection list.
e. Enter 0.9976 for X and 0.06976 for Y in the Force Vector group box.
These X and Y values ensure that the drag coefficient is calculated parallel to the free-stream flow,
which is off of the global coordinates.
f. Click OK to close the Drag Monitor dialog box.
9. Similarly, define a force monitor for the lift coefficient.
Solution Monitors (Residuals, Statistic and Force Monitors) Create Lift...
Enter the values for X and Y shown in the Lift Monitor dialog box.
The X and Y values shown ensure that the lift coefficient is calculated normal to the free-stream flow,
which is off of the global coordinates.
10. In a similar manner, define a force monitor for the moment coefficient.
Solution Monitors (Residuals, Statistic and Force Monitors) Create Moment...
Setup and Solution
Enter the values for the Moment Center and Moment Axis shown in the Moment Monitor dialog
box.
11. Display filled contours of pressure overlaid with the mesh in preparation for defining a surface monitor
(Figure 5.4: Pressure Contours After 50 Iterations (p. 241) and Figure 5.5: Magnified View of Pressure Contours
Showing Wall-Adjacent Cells (p. 242)).
b. Enable Draw Mesh to open the Mesh Display dialog box.
i. Retain the default settings.
ii. Close the Mesh Display dialog box.
Setup and Solution
Figure 5.4: Pressure Contours After 50 Iterations
The shock is clearly visible on the upper surface of the airfoil, where the pressure jumps to a higher
value downstream of the low pressure area.
Note
The color indicating a high pressure area near the leading edge of the airfoil is ob-
scured by the overlaid green mesh. To view this contour, simply disable the Draw
Mesh option in the Contours dialog box and click Display.
d. Zoom in on the shock wave, until individual cells adjacent to the upper surface (wall-top boundary)
are visible, as shown in Figure 5.5: Magnified View of Pressure Contours Showing Wall-Adjacent
Cells (p. 242).
Figure 5.5: Magnified View of Pressure Contours Showing Wall-Adjacent Cells
The magnified region contains cells that are just downstream of the shock and adjacent to the upper
surface of the airfoil. In the following step, you will create a point surface inside a wall-adjacent cell,
which you will use to define a surface monitor.
12. Create a point surface just downstream of the shock wave.
Surface Point...
Setup and Solution
a. Enter 0.53 m for x0 and 0.051 m for y0 in the Coordinates group box.
b. Retain the default entry of point-4 for New Surface Name.
c. Click Create and close the Point Surface dialog box.
Note
You have entered the exact coordinates of the point surface so that your convergence
history will match the plots and description in this tutorial. In general, however, you will
not know the exact coordinates in advance, so you will need to select the desired location
in the graphics window. You do not have to apply the following instructions at this point
in the tutorial; they are added here for your information:
a. In the Point Surface dialog box, click the Select Point with Mouse button. A Working
dialog box will open telling you to Click on a location in the graphics window with the
MOUSE-PROBE mouse button.
b. Position the mouse pointer at a point located inside one of the cells adjacent to the upper
surface (wall-top boundary), downstream of the shock (see Figure 5.6: Pressure Contours
after Creating a Point with the Mouse (p. 244)).
c. Click the right mouse button.
d. Click Create to create the point surface and then close the Point Surface dialog box.
Figure 5.6: Pressure Contours after Creating a Point with the Mouse
Solution Monitors Residual Edit...
Setup and Solution
b. Select none from the Convergence Criterion drop-down list so that automatic convergence checking
does not occur.
14. Define a surface monitor for tracking the velocity magnitude value at the point created in the previous
step.
Since the drag, lift, and moment coefficients are global variables, indicating certain overall conditions,
they may converge while local conditions at specific points are still varying from one iteration to the
next. To account for this, define a monitor at a point (just downstream of the shock) where there is likely
to be significant variation, and monitor the value of the velocity magnitude.
Solution Monitors (Surface Monitors) Create...
a. Enable Plot and Write.
b. Select Vertex Average from the Report Type drop-down list.
Scroll down the Report Type drop-down list to find Vertex Average.
c. Select Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude from the Field Variable drop-down list.
d. Select point-4 in the Surfaces selection list.
e. Click OK to close the Surface Monitor dialog box.
15. Save the case and data files (airfoil-1.cas.gz and airfoil-1.dat.gz).
16. Continue the calculation for 200 more iterations.
Solution Run Calculation Calculate
The force monitors (Figure 5.8: Drag Coefficient Convergence History (p. 247) and Figure 5.9: Lift Coefficient
Convergence History (p. 248)) show that the case is converged after approximately 200 iterations.
Setup and Solution
Figure 5.7: Velocity Magnitude History
Figure 5.8: Drag Coefficient Convergence History
Figure 5.9: Lift Coefficient Convergence History
Figure 5.10: Moment Coefficient Convergence History
17. Save the case and data files (airfoil-2.cas.gz and airfoil-2.dat.gz).
Setup and Solution
1. Plot the distribution on the airfoil (Figure 5.11: XY Plot of y+ Distribution (p. 250)).
a. Disable Node Values in the Options group box.
b. Select Turbulence... and Wall Yplus from the Y Axis Function drop-down list.
Wall Yplus is available only for cell values.
c. Select wall-bottom and wall-top in the Surfaces selection list.
d. Click Plot and close the Solution XY Plot dialog box.
Note
The values of are dependent on the resolution of the mesh and the Reynolds number
of the flow, and are defined only in wall-adjacent cells. The value of in the wall-adjacent
cells dictates how wall shear stress is calculated. When you use the Spalart-Allmaras
model, you should check that of the wall-adjacent cells is either very small (on the
order of ), or approximately 30 or greater. Otherwise, you should modify your mesh.
The equation for is

(5.1)
where is the distance from the wall to the cell center, is the molecular viscosity, is
the density of the air, and is the wall shear stress.
Figure 5.11: XY Plot of y+ Distribution (p. 250) indicates that, except for a few small regions
(notably at the shock and the trailing edge), and for much of these regions it does
not drop significantly below 30. Therefore, you can conclude that the near-wall mesh
resolution is acceptable.
Figure 5.11: XY Plot of y+ Distribution
2. Display filled contours of Mach number (Figure 5.12: Contour Plot of Mach Number (p. 251)).
a. Ensure Filled is enabled in the Options group box.
b. Select Velocity... and Mach Number from the Contours of drop-down list.
d. Zoom in on the region around the airfoil, as shown in Figure 5.12: Contour Plot of Mach Number (p. 251).
Setup and Solution
Figure 5.12: Contour Plot of Mach Number
Note the discontinuity, in this case a shock, on the upper surface of the airfoil in Figure 5.12: Contour
Plot of Mach Number (p. 251) at about .
3. Plot the pressure distribution on the airfoil (Figure 5.13: XY Plot of Pressure (p. 252)).
a. Enable Node Values.
b. Select Pressure... and Pressure Coefficient from the Y Axis Function drop-down lists.
c. Click Plot.
Figure 5.13: XY Plot of Pressure
Notice the effect of the shock wave on the upper surface in Figure 5.13: XY Plot of Pressure (p. 252).
4. Plot the component of wall shear stress on the airfoil surface (Figure 5.14: XY Plot of x Wall Shear
Stress (p. 253)).
a. Disable Node Values.
b. Select Wall Fluxes... and X-Wall Shear Stress from the Y Axis Function drop-down lists.
c. Click Plot and close the Solution XY Plot dialog box.
As shown in Figure 5.14: XY Plot of x Wall Shear Stress (p. 253), the large, adverse pressure gradient induced
by the shock causes the boundary layer to separate. The point of separation is where the wall shear stress
vanishes. Flow reversal is indicated here by negative values of the x component of the wall shear stress.
Setup and Solution
Figure 5.14: XY Plot of x Wall Shear Stress
5. Display filled contours of the component of velocity (Figure 5.15: Contour Plot of x Component of Velo-
city (p. 254)).
a. Ensure Filled is enabled in the Options group box.
b. Select Velocity... and X Velocity from the Contours of drop-down lists.
Note the flow reversal downstream of the shock in Figure 5.15: Contour Plot of x Component of Velo-
city (p. 254).
Figure 5.15: Contour Plot of x Component of Velocity
6. Plot velocity vectors (Figure 5.16: Plot of Velocity Vectors Downstream of the Shock (p. 255)).
b. Click Display and close the Vectors dialog box.
c. Zoom in on the flow above the upper surface at a point downstream of the shock, as shown in Fig-
ure 5.16: Plot of Velocity Vectors Downstream of the Shock (p. 255).
Figure 5.16: Plot of Velocity Vectors Downstream of the Shock
Flow reversal is clearly visible in Figure 5.16: Plot of Velocity Vectors Downstream of the Shock (p. 255).
5.5. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated how to set up and solve an external aerodynamics problem using the pressure-
based coupled solver with pseudo transient under-relaxation and the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence
model. It showed how to monitor convergence using force and surface monitors, and demonstrated
the use of several postprocessing tools to examine the flow phenomena associated with a shock wave.

accurate solution by using an appropriate higher-order discretization scheme and by adapting the mesh.
Mesh adaption can also ensure that the solution is independent of the mesh. These steps are demon-
strated in Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow (p. 123).
Chapter 6: Modeling Transient Compressible Flow
6.1. Introduction
6.2. Prerequisites
6.5. Summary
6.1. Introduction
In this tutorial, ANSYS Fluents density-based implicit solver is used to predict the time-dependent flow
through a two-dimensional nozzle. As an initial condition for the transient problem, a steady-state
solution is generated to provide the initial values for the mass flow rate at the nozzle exit.
Calculate a steady-state solution (using the density-based implicit solver) as an initial condition for a transient
flow prediction.
Define a transient boundary condition using a user-defined function (UDF).
Use dynamic mesh adaption for both steady-state and transient flows.
Calculate a transient solution using the second-order implicit transient formulation and the density-based
implicit solver.
Create an animation of the transient flow using ANSYS Fluents transient solution animation feature.
6.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)
Modeling Transient Compressible Flow

The geometry to be considered in this tutorial is shown in Figure 6.1: Problem Specification (p. 258).
Flow through a simple nozzle is simulated as a 2D planar model. The nozzle has an inlet height of 0.2 m,
and the nozzle contours have a sinusoidal shape that produces a 20% reduction in flow area. Symmetry
allows only half of the nozzle to be modeled.

6.4.1. Preparation
6.4.2. Reading and Checking the Mesh
6.4.3. Specifying Solver and Analysis Type
6.4.4. Specifying the Models
6.4.5. Editing the Material Properties
6.4.6. Setting the Operating Conditions
6.4.7. Creating the Boundary Conditions
6.4.8. Setting the Solution Parameters for Steady Flow and Solving
6.4.9. Enabling Time Dependence and Setting Transient Conditions
6.4.10. Specifying Solution Parameters for Transient Flow and Solving
6.4.11. Saving and Postprocessing Time-Dependent Data Sets
6.4.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
Setup and Solution
6. Click the unsteady_compressible_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip the unsteady_compressible_R160.zip file you downloaded to your working folder.
The files nozzle.msh and pexit.c can be found in the unsteady_compressible folder created
after unzipping the file.
the Getting Started Guide.
10. Ensure that Serial is selected under Processing Options.
11. Disable the Double Precision option.

1. Read the mesh file nozzle.msh.
File Read Mesh...
The mesh for the half of the geometry is displayed in the graphics window.
2. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
ANSYS Fluent will perform various checks on the mesh and will report the progress in the console. Ensure
that the reported minimum volume is a positive number.
3. Verify that the mesh size is correct.
Close the Scale Mesh dialog box.
4. Mirror the mesh across the centerline (Figure 6.2: 2D Nozzle Mesh Display with Mirroring (p. 261)).
a. Select symmetry in the Mirror Planes selection list.
b. Click Apply to refresh the display.
c. Close the Views dialog box.
Setup and Solution
Figure 6.2: 2D Nozzle Mesh Display with Mirroring

1. Select the solver settings.
Setup General
a. Select Density-Based from the Type list in the Solver group box.
The density-based implicit solver is the solver of choice for compressible, transonic flows without
significant regions of low-speed flow. In cases with significant low-speed flow regions, the pressure-
based solver is preferred. Also, for transient cases with traveling shocks, the density-based explicit
solver with explicit time stepping may be the most efficient.
b. Retain the default selection of Steady from the Time list.
Note
You will solve for the steady flow through the nozzle initially. In later steps, you will
use these initial results as a starting point for a transient calculation.
2. For convenience, change the unit of measurement for pressure.
The pressure for this problem is specified in atm, which is not the default unit in ANSYS Fluent. You must
redefine the pressure unit as atm.
Setup and Solution
a. Select pressure in the Quantities selection list.
Scroll down the list to find pressure.
b. Select atm in the Units selection list.
c. Close the Set Units dialog box.

1. Enable the energy equation.
2. Select the k-omega SST turbulence model.
Setup Models Viscous Model SST k-omega
6.4.5. Editing the Material Properties

1. Define the settings for air, the default fluid material.
Setup and Solution
a. Select ideal-gas from the Density drop-down list in the Properties group box, so that the ideal gas
law is used to calculate density.
Note
ANSYS Fluent automatically enables the solution of the energy equation when the
ideal gas law is used, in case you did not already enable it manually in the Energy
dialog box.
b. Retain the default values for all other properties.
c. Click the Change/Create button to save your change.
d. Close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.

1. Define the operating pressure.
a. Enter 0 atm for Operating Pressure.
Since you have set the operating pressure to zero, you will specify the boundary condition inputs for
pressure in terms of absolute pressures when you define them in the next step. Boundary condition inputs
for pressure should always be relative to the value used for operating pressure.
6.4.7. Creating the Boundary Conditions
1. Define the boundary conditions for the nozzle inlet (inlet).
Setup Boundary Conditions inlet Edit...
a. Enter 0.9 atm for Gauge Total Pressure.
b. Enter 0.7369 atm for Supersonic/Initial Gauge Pressure.
The inlet static pressure estimate is the mean pressure at the nozzle exit. This value will be used during
the solution initialization phase to provide a guess for the nozzle velocity.
c. Retain Intensity and Viscosity Ratio from the Specification Method drop-down list in the Turbulence
group box.
d. Enter 1.5% for Turbulent Intensity.
e. Retain the setting of 10 for Turbulent Viscosity Ratio.
f. Click OK to close the Pressure Inlet dialog box.
Setup and Solution
2. Define the boundary conditions for the nozzle exit (outlet).
Setup Boundary Conditions outlet Edit...
a. Enter 0.7369 atm for Gauge Pressure.
b. Retain Intensity and Viscosity Ratio from the Specification Method drop-down list in the Turbulence
group box.
c. Enter 1.5% for Backflow Turbulent Intensity.
d. Retain the setting of 10 for Backflow Turbulent Viscosity Ratio.
If substantial backflow occurs at the outlet, you may need to adjust the backflow values to levels
close to the actual exit conditions.
e. Click OK to close the Pressure Outlet dialog box.
6.4.8. Setting the Solution Parameters for Steady Flow and Solving
In this step, you will generate a steady-state flow solution that will be used as an initial condition for the
time-dependent solution.
1. Define the solution parameters.
a. Retain the default selection of Least Squares Cell Based from the Gradient drop-down list in the
b. Select Second Order Upwind from the Turbulent Kinetic Energy and Specific Dissipation Rate drop-
down lists.
Second-order discretization provides optimum accuracy.
2. Modify the Courant Number.
Setup and Solution
a. Enter 50 for the Courant Number.
Note
The default Courant number for the density-based implicit formulation is 5. For relat-
ively simple problems, setting the Courant number to 10, 20, 100, or even higher
value may be suitable and produce fast and stable convergence. However, if you en-
counter convergence difficulties at the startup of the simulation of a properly set up
problem, then you should consider setting the Courant number to its default value
of 5. As the solution progresses, you can start to gradually increase the Courant
number until the final convergence is reached.
b. Retain the default values for the Under-Relaxation Factors.
3. Enable the plotting of residuals.
b. Select none from the Convergence Criterion drop-down list.
4. Enable the plotting of mass flow rate at the flow exit.
Setup and Solution
Note
When Write is enabled in the Surface Monitor dialog box, the mass flow rate history
will be written to a file. If you do not enable the write option, the history information
will be lost when you exit ANSYS Fluent.
b. Enter noz_ss.out for File Name.
c. Select Mass Flow Rate in the Report Type drop-down list.
d. Select outlet in the Surfaces selection list.
5. Save the case file (noz_ss.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
7. Set up gradient adaption for dynamic mesh refinement.
You will enable dynamic adaption so that the solver periodically refines the mesh in the vicinity of the
shocks as the iterations progress. The shocks are identified by their large pressure gradients.
Adapt Gradient...
a. Select Gradient from the Method group box.
The mesh adaption criterion can either be the gradient or the curvature (second gradient). Because
strong shocks occur inside the nozzle, the gradient is used as the adaption criterion.
b. Select Scale from the Normalization group box.
Mesh adaption can be controlled by the raw (or standard) value of the gradient, the scaled value (by
its average in the domain), or the normalized value (by its maximum in the domain). For dynamic
Setup and Solution
mesh adaption, it is recommended that you use either the scaled or normalized value because the
raw values will probably change strongly during the computation, which would necessitate a read-
justment of the coarsen and refine thresholds. In this case, the scaled gradient is used.
c. Enable Dynamic in the Dynamic group box.
d. Enter 100 for the Interval.
For steady-state flows, it is sufficient to only seldomly adapt the meshin this case an interval of
100 iterations is chosen. For time-dependent flows, a considerably smaller interval must be used.
e. Retain the default selection of Pressure... and Static Pressure from the Gradients of drop-down lists.
f. Enter 0.3 for Coarsen Threshold.
g. Enter 0.7 for Refine Threshold.
As the refined regions of the mesh get larger, the coarsen and refine thresholds should get smaller.
A coarsen threshold of 0.3 and a refine threshold of 0.7 result in a medium to strong mesh refine-
ment in combination with the scaled gradient.
h. Click Apply to store the information.
i. Click the Controls... button to open the Mesh Adaption Controls dialog box.
i. Retain the default selection of fluid in the Zones selection list.
ii. Enter 20000 for Max # of Cells.
To restrict the mesh adaption, the maximum number of cells can be limited. If this limit is violated
during the adaption, the coarsen and refine thresholds are adjusted to respect the maximum
number of cells. Additional restrictions can be placed on the minimum cell volume, minimum
number of cells, and maximum level of refinement.
iii. Click OK to save your settings and close the Mesh Adaption Controls dialog box.
j. Click Close to close the Gradient Adaption dialog box.
b. Click Calculate to start the steady flow simulation.
Figure 6.3: Mass Flow Rate History
Setup and Solution
9. Save the case and data files (noz_ss.cas.gz and noz_ss.dat.gz).
Note
When you write the case and data files at the same time, it does not matter whether you
specify the file name with a .cas or .dat extension, as both will be saved.
10. Click OK in the Question dialog box to overwrite the existing file.
11. Review a mesh that resulted from the dynamic adaption performed during the computation.
Results Graphics Mesh Edit...
a. Ensure that only the Edges option is enabled in the Options group box.
b. Select Feature from the Edge Type list.
c. Ensure that all of the items are selected from the Surfaces selection list.
d. Click Display and close the Mesh Display dialog box.
The mesh after adaption is displayed in the graphics window (Figure 6.4: 2D Nozzle Mesh after
Adaption (p. 276))
Figure 6.4: 2D Nozzle Mesh after Adaption
e. Zoom in using the middle mouse button to view aspects of your mesh.
Notice that the cells in the regions of high pressure gradients have been refined.
12. Display the steady flow contours of static pressure (Figure 6.5: Contours of Static Pressure (Steady
Flow) (p. 278)).
Setup and Solution
Figure 6.5: Contours of Static Pressure (Steady Flow)
The steady flow prediction in Figure 6.5: Contours of Static Pressure (Steady Flow) (p. 278) shows the ex-
pected pressure distribution, with low pressure near the nozzle throat.
13. Display the steady-flow velocity vectors (Figure 6.6: Velocity Vectors Showing Recirculation (Steady
Flow) (p. 280)).
Setup and Solution
a. Enter 50 under Scale.
b. Click Display and close the Vectors dialog box.
The steady flow prediction shows the expected form, with a peak velocity of approximately 300 m/s
through the nozzle.
You can zoom in on the wall in the expansion region of the nozzle to view the recirculation of the
flow as shown in Figure 6.6: Velocity Vectors Showing Recirculation (Steady Flow) (p. 280) .
Figure 6.6: Velocity Vectors Showing Recirculation (Steady Flow)
14. Check the mass flux balance.
Important
Although the mass flow rate history indicates that the solution is converged, you should
also check the mass flux throughout the domain to ensure that mass is being conserved.
Setup and Solution
a. Retain the default selection of Mass Flow Rate.
b. Select inlet and outlet in the Boundaries selection list.
c. Click Compute and examine the values displayed in the dialog box.
Important
The net mass imbalance should be a small fraction (for example, 0.1%) of the
total flux through the system. The imbalance is displayed in the lower right field
under Net Results. If a significant imbalance occurs, you should decrease your
residual tolerances by at least an order of magnitude and continue iterating.
6.4.9. Enabling Time Dependence and Setting Transient Conditions

In this step you will define a transient flow by specifying a transient pressure condition for the nozzle.
1. Enable a time-dependent flow calculation.
Setup General Analysis Type Transient
2. Read the user-defined function (pexit.c), in preparation for defining the transient condition for the
nozzle exit.
The pressure at the outlet is defined as a wave-shaped profile, and is described by the following equation:
(6.1)
where
= circular frequency of transient pressure (rad/s)

= mean exit pressure (atm)
In this case, rad/s, and atm.
A user-defined function (pexit.c) has been written to define the equation (Equation 6.1 (p. 281)) required
for the pressure profile.
Note
To input the value of Equation 6.1 (p. 281) in the correct units, the function pexit.c has
to be written in SI units.
More details about user-defined functions can be found in the Fluent Customization Manual.
Define User-Defined Functions Interpreted...
a. Enter pexit.c for Source File Name.
If the UDF source file is not in your working directory, then you must enter the entire directory path
for Source File Name instead of just entering the file name.
b. Click Interpret.
The user-defined function has already been defined, but it must be compiled within ANSYS Fluent before
it can be used in the solver.
c. Close the Interpreted UDFs dialog box.
3. Define the transient boundary conditions at the nozzle exit (outlet).
Setup and Solution
a. Select udf transient_pressure (the user-defined function) from the Gauge Pressure drop-down list.
b. Click OK to close the Pressure Outlet dialog box.
4. Update the gradient adaption parameters for the transient case.
Adapt Gradient...
a. Enter 10 for Interval in the Dynamic group box.
For the transient case, the mesh adaption will be done every 10 time steps.
b. Enter 0.3 for Coarsen Threshold.
c. Enter 0.7 for Refine Threshold.
The refine and coarsen thresholds have been changed during the steady-state computation to meet
the limit of 20000 cells. Therefore, you must reset these parameters to their original values.
d. Click Apply to store the values.
e. Click Controls... to open the Mesh Adaption Controls dialog box.
i. Enter 8000 for Min # of Cells.
ii. Enter 30000 for Max # of Cells.
You must increase the maximum number of cells to try to avoid readjustment of the coarsen and
refine thresholds. Additionally, you must limit the minimum number of cells to 8000, because you
should not have a coarse mesh during the computation (the current mesh has approximately
20000 cells).
iii. Click OK to close the Mesh Adaption Controls dialog box.
f. Close the Gradient Adaption dialog box.
6.4.10. Specifying Solution Parameters for Transient Flow and Solving

1. Modify the plotting of the mass flow rate at the nozzle exit.
Because each time step requires 10 iterations, a smoother plot will be generated by plotting at every time
step.
Solution Monitors Surface surf-mon-1 Edit...
a. Set Window to 3.
b. Enter noz_uns.out for File Name.
c. Select Time Step from the X Axis drop-down list.
d. Select Time Step from the Get Data Every drop-down list.
Setup and Solution
2. Save the transient solution case file (noz_uns.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
3. Modify the plotting of residuals.
b. Ensure none is selected from the Convergence Criterion drop-down list.
c. Set the Iterations to Plot to 100.
d. Click OK to close the Residual Monitors dialog box.
4. Define the time step parameters.
The selection of the time step is critical for accurate time-dependent flow predictions. Using a time step
of 2.85596 x 10-5 seconds, 100 time steps are required for one pressure cycle. The pressure cycle begins
and ends with the initial pressure at the nozzle exit.
a. Enter 2.85596e-5 s for Time Step Size.
b. Enter 600 for Number of Time Steps.
c. Enter 10 for Max Iterations/Time Step.
d. Click Calculate to start the transient simulation.
Warning
Calculating 600 time steps will require significant CPU resources. Instead of calculating
the solution, you can read the case and data files (noz_uns.cas.gz and
noz_uns.dat.gz) with the precalculated solution. These files can be found in the
solution_files sub-folder that was created when you extracted the archive for
this tutorial.
By requesting 600 time steps, you are asking ANSYS Fluent to compute six pressure cycles. The mass flow
rate history is shown in Figure 6.7: Mass Flow Rate History (Transient Flow) (p. 286).
Figure 6.7: Mass Flow Rate History (Transient Flow)
5. Optionally, you can review the effect of dynamic mesh adaption performed during transient flow compu-
tation as you did in steady-state flow case.
6. Save the transient case and data files (noz_uns.cas.gz and noz_uns.dat.gz).
Setup and Solution
6.4.11. Saving and Postprocessing Time-Dependent Data Sets

At this point, the solution has reached a time-periodic state. To study how the flow changes within a single
pressure cycle, you will now continue the solution for 100 more time steps. You will use ANSYS Fluents
solution animation feature to save contour plots of pressure and Mach number at each time step, and the
autosave feature to save case and data files every 10 time steps. After the calculation is complete, you will
use the solution animation playback feature to view the animated pressure and Mach number plots over
time.
1. Request the saving of case and data files every 10 time steps.
Solution Calculation Activities Autosave (Every Time Steps) Edit...
a. Enter 10 for Save Data File Every.
b. Select Each Time for Save Associated Case Files.
c. Retain the default selection of time-step from the Append File Name with drop-down list.
d. Enter noz_anim.gz for File Name.
When ANSYS Fluent saves a file, it will append the time step value to the file name prefix (noz_anim).
The standard extensions (.cas and .dat) will also be appended. By adding the optional extension
.gz to the end of the file name, you instruct ANSYS Fluent to save the case and data files in com-
pressed format. This will yield file names of the form noz_anim-1-00640.cas.gz and
noz_anim-1-00640.dat.gz, where 00640 is the time step number.
e. Click OK to close the Autosave dialog box.
Tip
If you have constraints on disk space, you can restrict the number of files saved by
ANSYS Fluent by enabling the Retain Only the Most Recent Files option and setting
the Maximum Number of Data Files to a nonzero number.
2. Create animation sequences for the nozzle pressure and Mach number contour plots.
Solution Calculation Activities Solution Animations Edit...
a. Set Animation Sequences to 2.
b. Enter pressure for the Name of the first sequence and mach-number for the second sequence.
c. Select Time Step from the When drop-down lists for both sequences.
The default value of 1 in the Every integer number entry box instructs ANSYS Fluent to update the
animation sequence at every time step.
d. Click the Define... button for pressure to open the associated Animation Sequence dialog box.
Setup and Solution
i. Select In Memory from the Storage Type group box.
The In Memory option is acceptable for a small 2D case such as this. For larger 2D or 3D cases,
saving animation files with either the Metafile or PPM Image option is preferable, to avoid using
too much of your machines memory.
ii. Enter 4 for Window and click the Set button.
iii. Select Contours from the Display Type group box to open the Contours dialog box.
A. Ensure that Filled is enabled in the Options group box.
B. Disable Auto Range.
C. Retain the default selection of Pressure... and Static Pressure from the Contours of drop-down
lists.
D. Enter 0.25 atm for Min and 1.25 atm for Max.
This will set a fixed range for the contour plot and subsequent animation.
E. Click Display and close the Contours dialog box.
Figure 6.8: Pressure Contours at t=0.017136 s (p. 290) shows the contours of static pressure in
the nozzle after 600 time steps.
Figure 6.8: Pressure Contours at t=0.017136 s
iv. Click OK to close the Animation Sequence dialog box associated with the pressure sequence.
Setup and Solution
Note that the Active option is automatically enabled in the Solution Animation dialog box after
you have defined the sequence.
e. Click the Define... button for mach-number to open the associated Animation Sequence dialog box.
i. Ensure that In Memory is selected in the Storage Type list.
ii. Enter 5 for Window and click the Set button.
iii. Select Contours in the Display Type group box to open the Contours dialog box.
A. Ensure that Filled is enabled from the Options group box.
B. Disable Auto Range.
C. Select Velocity... and Mach Number from the Contours of drop-down lists.
D. Enter 0.00 for Min and 1.30 for Max.
E. Click Display and close the Contours dialog box.
Figure 6.9: Mach Number Contours at t=0.017136 s (p. 292) shows the Mach number contours
in the nozzle after 600 time steps.
Figure 6.9: Mach Number Contours at t=0.017136 s
iv. Click OK to close the Animation Sequence dialog box associated with the mach-number sequence.
f. Click OK to close the Solution Animation dialog box.
3. Continue the calculation by requesting 100 time steps.
By requesting 100 time steps, you will march the solution through an additional 0.0028 seconds, or
roughly one pressure cycle.
With the autosave and animation features active (as defined previously), the case and data files will be
saved approximately every 0.00028 seconds of the solution time; animation files will be saved every
0.000028 seconds of the solution time.
Setup and Solution
Enter 100 for Number of Time Steps and click Calculate.
When the calculation finishes, you will have ten pairs of case and data files and there will be 100 pairs
of contour plots stored in memory. In the next few steps, you will play back the animation sequences
and examine the results at several time steps after reading in pairs of newly saved case and data files.
4. Check the display options to verify that double buffering is enabled.
Double buffering will allow for a smoother transition between the frames of the animations.
Results Animations Options...
a. Retain the Double Buffering option in the Rendering group box.
b. Enter 4 for Active Window and click the Set button.
Note
Alternatively, you can change the active window using the drop-down list at the top
of the graphics window.
c. Click Apply and close the Display Options dialog box.
5. Play the animation of the pressure contours.
Results Animations Solution Animation Playback Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Retain the default selection of pressure in the Sequences selection list.
Ensure that window 4 is visible in the graphics window. If it is not, select it from the drop-down
list at the top left of the graphics window.
b. Click the play button (the second from the right in the group of buttons in the Playback group box).
c. Close the Playback dialog box.
Examples of pressure contours at s (the 630th time step) and s (the 670th time
step) are shown in Figure 6.10: Pressure Contours at t=0.017993 s (p. 296) and Figure 6.11: Pressure Contours
at t=0.019135 s (p. 297).
6. In a similar manner to steps 4. and 5., select the appropriate active window and sequence name for the
Mach number contours.
Examples of Mach number contours at s and s are shown in Figure 6.12: Mach
Number Contours at t=0.017993 s (p. 298) and Figure 6.13: Mach Number Contours at t=0.019135 s (p. 299).
Setup and Solution
Setup and Solution
Tip
ANSYS Fluent gives you the option of exporting an animation as an MPEG file or as a
series of files in any of the hardcopy formats available in the Save Picture dialog box
(including TIFF and PostScript).
To save an MPEG file, select MPEG from the Write/Record Format drop-down list in the
Playback dialog box and then click the Write button. The MPEG file will be saved in your
working folder. You can view the MPEG movie using an MPEG player (for example, Win-
dows Media Player or another MPEG movie player).
To save a series of TIFF, PostScript, or other hardcopy files, select Picture Frames in the
Write/Record Format drop-down list in the Playback dialog box. Click the Picture Op-
tions... button to open the Save Picture dialog box and set the appropriate parameters
for saving the hardcopy files. Click Apply in the Save Picture dialog box to save your
modified settings. Click Save... to select a directory in which to save the files. In the
Playback dialog box, click the Write button. ANSYS Fluent will replay the animation,
saving each frame to a separate file in your working folder.
If you want to view the solution animation in a later ANSYS Fluent session, you can select
Animation Frames as the Write/Record Format and click Write.
Warning
Because the solution animation was stored in memory, it will be lost if you exit
ANSYS Fluent without saving it in one of the formats described previously. Note
that only the animation-frame format can be read back into the Playback dialog
box for display in a later ANSYS Fluent session.
7. Read the case and data files for the 660th time step (noz_anim100660.cas.gz and noz_an-
im100660.dat.gz) into ANSYS Fluent.
8. Plot vectors at s (Figure 6.14: Velocity Vectors at t=0.018849 s (p. 301)).
a. Ensure Auto Scale is enabled under Options.
Summary
b. Enter 50 under Scale.
c. Enter 50 under Skip.
Figure 6.14: Velocity Vectors at t=0.018849 s
The transient flow prediction in Figure 6.14: Velocity Vectors at t=0.018849 s (p. 301) shows the expected
form, with peak velocity of approximately 260 m/s through the nozzle at seconds.
9. In a similar manner to steps 7. and 8., read the case and data files saved for other time steps of interest and
display the vectors.
6.5. Summary
In this tutorial, you modeled the transient flow of air through a nozzle. In doing so, you learned how
to:
generate a steady-state solution as an initial condition for the transient case.
set solution parameters for implicit time-stepping and apply a user-defined transient pressure profile
at the outlet.
use mesh adaption to refine the mesh in areas with high pressure gradients to better capture the shocks.
automatically save solution information as the transient calculation proceeds.
create and view solution animations of the transient flow.

This tutorial guides you through the steps to generate a second-order solution. You may be able to
increase the accuracy of the solution even further by using an appropriate higher-order discretization
scheme and by adapting the mesh further. Mesh adaption can also ensure that the solution is independ-
ent of the mesh. These steps are demonstrated in Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and
Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow (p. 123).
Chapter 7: Modeling Radiation and Natural Convection
7.1. Introduction
7.2. Prerequisites
7.5. Summary
7.1. Introduction
In this tutorial, combined radiation and natural convection are solved in a three-dimensional square
box on a mesh consisting of hexahedral elements.
Use the surface-to-surface (S2S) radiation model in ANSYS Fluent.
Set the boundary conditions for a heat transfer problem involving natural convection and radiation.
Display velocity vectors and contours of wall temperature, surface cluster ID, and radiation heat flux.
7.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)

The problem to be considered is shown schematically in Figure 7.1: Schematic of the Problem (p. 304).
A three-dimensional box has a hot wall of aluminum at 473.15 K. All other
walls are made of an insulation material and are subject to radiative and convective heat transfer to
the surroundings, which are at 293.15 K. Gravity acts downwards. The medium contained in the box is
assumed not to emit, absorb, or scatter radiation. All walls are gray. The objective is to compute the
Modeling Radiation and Natural Convection
flow and temperature patterns in the box, as well as the wall heat flux, using the surface-to-surface
(S2S) model available in ANSYS Fluent.
The working fluid has a Prandtl number of approximately 0.71, and the Rayleigh number based on
(0.25) is . This means the flow is most likely laminar. The Planck number is 0.006,
and measures the relative importance of conduction to radiation.

7.4.1. Preparation
7.4.5. Defining the Materials
7.4.6. Specifying Boundary Conditions
7.4.7. Obtaining the Solution
7.4.9. Comparing the Contour Plots after Varying Radiating Surfaces
7.4.10. S2S Definition, Solution, and Postprocessing with Partial Enclosure
7.4.1. Preparation
Setup and Solution
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the radiation_natural_convection_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip radiation_natural_convection_R160.zip to your working folder.
The mesh file rad.msh.gz can be found in the radiation_natural_convection folder created
after unzipping the file.
8. Use Fluent Launcher to start the 3D, single precision (disable Double Precision) version of ANSYS Fluent.
the Users Guide.

1. Read the mesh file rad.msh.gz.
File Read Mesh...
As the mesh is read, messages will appear in the console reporting the progress of the reading and the
mesh statistics. The mesh size will be reported as 64,000 cells. Once reading is complete, the mesh will
be displayed in the graphics window.
Figure 7.2: Graphics Display of Mesh
2. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
ANSYS Fluent will perform various checks on the mesh and report the progress in the console. Make sure

1. Confirm the solver settings and enable gravity.
Setup General
Setup and Solution
a. Retain the default settings of pressure-based steady-state solver in the Solver group box.
b. Enable the Gravity option.
c. Enter -9.81 m/s2 for Y in the Gravitational Acceleration group box.

2. Set up the Surface to Surface (S2S) radiation model.
Setup Models Radiation Model Surface to Surface (S2S)
The surface-to-surface (S2S) radiation model can be used to account for the radiation exchange in an
enclosure of gray-diffuse surfaces. The energy exchange between two surfaces depends in part on their
size, separation distance, and orientation. These parameters are accounted for by a geometric function
called a view factor.
The S2S model assumes that all surfaces are gray and diffuse. Thus according to the gray-body model,
if a certain amount of radiation is incident on a surface, then a fraction is reflected, a fraction is absorbed,
and a fraction is transmitted. The main assumption of the S2S model is that any absorption, emission,
or scattering of radiation by the medium can be ignored. Therefore only surface-to-surface radiation
is considered for analysis.
For most applications the surfaces in question are opaque to thermal radiation (in the infrared spectrum),
so the surfaces can be considered opaque. For gray, diffuse, and opaque surfaces it is valid to assume
that the emissivity is equal to the absorptivity and that reflectivity is equal to 1 minus the emissivity.
When the S2S model is used, you also have the option to define a partial enclosure. This option allows
you to disable the view factor calculation for walls with negligible emission/absorption or walls that
have uniform temperature. The main advantage of this option is to speed up the view factor calculation
and the radiosity calculation.
a. Click the Settings... button to open the View Factors and Clustering dialog box.
You will define the view factor and cluster parameters.
Setup and Solution
i. Retain the value of 1 for Faces per Surface Cluster for Flow Boundary Zones in the Manual group
box.
ii. Click Apply to All Walls.
The S2S radiation model is computationally very expensive when there are a large number of
radiating surfaces. The number of radiating surfaces is reduced by clustering surfaces into surface
clusters. The surface clusters are made by starting from a face and adding its neighbors and
their neighbors until a specified number of faces per surface cluster is collected.
For a small problem, the default value of 1 for Faces per Surface Cluster for Flow Boundary
Zones is acceptable. For a large problem you can increase this number to reduce the memory
requirement for the view factor file that is saved in a later step. This may also lead to some reduc-
tion in the computational expense. However, this is at the cost of some accuracy. This tutorial il-
lustrates the influence of clusters.
iii. Ensure Ray Tracing is selected from the Method list in the View Factors group box.
iv. Click OK to close the View Factors and Clustering dialog box.
b. Click the Compute/Write/Read... button in the View Factors and Clustering group box to open the
Select File dialog box and to compute the view factors.
The file created in this step will store the cluster and view factor parameters.
i. Enter rad_1.s2s.gz as the file name for S2S File.
ii. Click OK in the Select File dialog box.
Note
The size of the view factor file can be very large if not compressed. It is highly
recommended to compress the view factor file by providing .gz or .Z extension
after the name (that is, rad_1.gz or rad_1.Z). For small files, you can provide
the .s2s extension after the name.
ANSYS Fluent will print an informational message describing the progress of the view factor cal-
culation in the console.
c. Click OK to close the Radiation Model dialog box.
7.4.5. Defining the Materials

1. Set the properties for air.
a. Select incompressible-ideal-gas from the Density drop-down list.
b. Enter 1021 J/kg-K for Cp (Specific Heat).
Setup and Solution
c. Enter 0.0371 W/m-K for Thermal Conductivity.
d. Enter 2.485e-05 kg/m-s for Viscosity.
e. Retain the default value of 28.966 kg/kmol for Molecular Weight.
f. Click Change/Create and close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
2. Define the new material, insulation.
Setup Materials Solid Create/Edit...
a. Enter insulation for Name.
b. Delete the entry in the Chemical Formula field.
c. Enter 50 kg/m3 for Density.
d. Enter 800 J/kg-K for Cp (Specific Heat).
e. Enter 0.09 W/m-K for Thermal Conductivity.
f. Click Change/Create.
g. Click No when the Question dialog box appears, asking if you want to overwrite aluminum.
The Create/Edit Materials dialog box will be updated to show the new material, insulation, in the
Fluent Solid Materials drop-down list.
h. Close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.

1. Set the boundary conditions for the front wall (w-high-x).
Setup Boundary Conditions w-high-x Edit...
The Wall dialog box appears.
a. Click the Thermal tab and select Mixed from the Thermal Conditions list.
b. Select insulation from the Material Name drop-down list.
c. Enter 5 W/m2-K for Heat Transfer Coefficient.
d. Enter 293.15 K for Free Stream Temperature.
Setup and Solution
e. Enter 0.75 for External Emissivity.
f. Enter 293.15 K for External Radiation Temperature.
g. Enter 0.95 for Internal Emissivity.
h. Enter 0.05 m for Wall Thickness.
i. Click OK to close the Wall dialog box.
2. Copy boundary conditions to define the side walls w-high-z and w-low-z.
Setup Boundary Conditions w-high-x Copy...
a. Ensure w-high-x is selected in the From Boundary Zone selection list.
b. Select w-high-z and w-low-z from the To Boundary Zones selection list.
c. Click Copy.
d. Click OK when the Question dialog box opens asking whether you want to copy the boundary conditions
of w-high-x to all the selected zones.
e. Close the Copy Conditions dialog box.
3. Set the boundary conditions for the heated wall (w-low-x).
Setup Boundary Conditions w-low-x Edit...
a. Click the Thermal tab and select Temperature from the Thermal Conditions list.
b. Retain the default selection of aluminum from the Material Name drop-down list.
c. Enter 473.15 K for Temperature.
d. Enter 0.95 for Internal Emissivity.
e. Click OK to close the Wall dialog box.
4. Set the boundary conditions for the top wall (w-high-y).
Setup Boundary Conditions w-high-y Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Click the Thermal tab and select Mixed from the Thermal Conditions list.
b. Select insulation from the Material Name drop-down list.
c. Enter 3 W/m2-K for Heat Transfer Coefficient.
d. Enter 293.15 K for Free Stream Temperature.
e. Enter 0.75 for External Emissivity.
f. Enter 293.15 K for External Radiation Temperature.
g. Enter 0.95 for Internal Emissivity.
h. Enter 0.05 m for Wall Thickness.
i. Click OK to close the Wall dialog box.
5. Copy boundary conditions to define the bottom wall (w-low-y) as previously done in this tutorial.
Setup Boundary Conditions w-high-y Copy...
a. Ensure w-high-y is selected in the From Boundary Zone selection list.
b. Select w-low-y from the To Boundary Zones selection list.
c. Click Copy.
d. Click OK when the Question dialog box opens asking whether you want to copy the boundary conditions
of w-high-y to all the selected zones.
e. Close the Copy Conditions dialog box.

Setup and Solution
b. Select Body Force Weighted from the Pressure drop-down list in the Spatial Discretization group
box.
c. Retain the default selection of Second Order Upwind from the Momentum and Energy drop-down
lists.
d. Enable the Pseudo Transient option.
a. Retain the default selection of Hybrid Initialization from the Initialization Methods list.
3. Define a surface monitor to aid in judging convergence.
It is good practice to use monitors of physical solution quantities together with residual monitors when
determining whether a solution is converged. In this step you will set up a surface monitor of the average
temperature on the z=0 plane.
a. Create the new surface, zz_center_z.
i. Select Mesh... and Z-Coordinate from the Surface of Constant drop-down lists.
ii. Click Compute and retain the default value of 0 for Iso-Values.
Setup and Solution
iii. Enter zz_center_z for New Surface Name.
Note
If you want to delete or otherwise manipulate any surfaces, click Manage... to

open the Surfaces dialog box.
iv. Click Create and close the Iso-Surface dialog box.
b. Create the surface monitor.
i. Retain the default entry of surf-mon-1 for the Name of the surface monitor.
ii. Enable the Plot option.
Note
Unlike residual values, data from other monitors is not saved as part of the solution
set when the ANSYS Fluent data file is saved. If you want to access the surface
monitor data in future ANSYS Fluent sessions, you can enable the Write option
and enter a File Name for the monitor output.
iii. Select Area-Weighted Average from the Report Type drop-down list.
iv. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Field Variable drop-down lists.
v. Select zz_center_z from the Surfaces selection list.
vi. Click OK to save the surface monitor settings and close the Surface Monitor dialog box.
4. Save the case file (rad_a_1.cas.gz)
File Write Case...
a. Select User Specified from the Time Step Method list.
b. Retain the default value of 1 for Pseudo Time Step.
Setup and Solution
c. Enter 300 for Number of Iterations.
d. Click Calculate.
Figure 7.3: Temperature Surface Monitor
The surface monitor history shows that the average temperature on zz_center_z has stabilized, thus
confirming that the solution has indeed reached convergence. You can view the behavior of the residuals
(Figure 7.4: Scaled Residuals (p. 322)) by selecting Scaled Residuals from the graphics window drop-down
list.
Figure 7.4: Scaled Residuals
1. Enable the postprocessing view by clicking in the objects toolbar and selecting Post Processing.
2. Disable lighting.
Results Graphics Lights...
a. Disable Light On and click Apply.
b. Close the Lights dialog box.
3. Create a new surface, zz_x_side, which will be used later to plot wall temperature.
Surface Line/Rake...
Setup and Solution
a. Enter (-0.125, 0, 0.125) for (x0, y0, z0), respectively.
b. Enter (0.125, 0, 0.125) for (x1, y1, z1), respectively.
c. Enter zz_x_side for New Surface Name.
Note
If you want to delete or otherwise manipulate any surfaces, click Manage... to open
the Surfaces dialog box.
d. Click Create and close the Line/Rake Surface dialog box.
4. Display contours of static temperature.
a. Enable the Filled option in the Options group box.
b. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Contours of drop-down lists.
c. Select zz_center_z from the Surfaces selection list.
d. Enable the Draw Mesh option in the Options group box to open the Mesh Display dialog box.
i. Ensure Outline is selected in the Edge Type group box.
e. Disable the Auto Range option.
f. Enter 421 K for Min and 473.15 K for Max.
g. Click Display, rotate the view as shown in Figure 7.5: Contours of Static Temperature (p. 325), and close
the Contours dialog box.
Setup and Solution
A regular check for most buoyant cases is to look for evidence of stratification in the temperature field.
This is observed as nearly horizontal bands of similar temperature. These may be broken or disturbed by
buoyant plumes. For this case you can expect reasonable stratification with some disturbance at the
vertical walls where the air is driven around. Inspection of the temperature contours in Figure 7.5: Contours
of Static Temperature (p. 325) reveals that the solution appears as expected.
5. Display contours of wall temperature (surfaces in contact with the fluid).
Results Graphics Contours New...
a. Enter wall-temperature for Contour Name.
b. Ensure that the Filled option is enabled in the Options group box.
c. Disable the Node Values option.
d. Select Temperature... and Wall Temperature from the Contours of drop-down lists.
e. Select all surfaces except default-interior and zz_x_side in the Surfaces selection list.
f. Enter 413 K for Min and 473.15 K for Max.
g. Click Save/Display, and rotate the view as shown in Figure 7.6: Contours of Wall Temperature (p. 327).
Setup and Solution
Figure 7.6: Contours of Wall Temperature
6. Display contours of radiation heat flux.
a. Ensure that the Filled option is enabled in the Options group box.
b. Enable Auto Range.
c. Select Wall Fluxes... and Radiation Heat Flux from the Contours of drop-down list.
d. Make sure that all surfaces except default-interior and zz_x_side are selected in the Surfaces selection
list.
e. Click Display.
f. Close the Contours dialog box.
Figure 7.7: Contours of Radiation Heat Flux (p. 329) shows the radiating wall (w-low-x) with positive
heat flux and all other walls with negative heat flux.
Setup and Solution
Figure 7.7: Contours of Radiation Heat Flux
7. Display vectors of velocity magnitude.
a. Retain the default selection of Velocity from the Vectors of drop-down list.
b. Retain the default selection of Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude from the Color by drop-down lists.
c. Select zz_center_z from the Surfaces selection list.
d. Enable the Draw Mesh option in the Options group box to open the Mesh Display dialog box.
i. Ensure that Outline is selected from the Edge Type list.
ii. Click Display and close the Mesh Display dialog box.
e. Enter 7 for Scale.
f. Click Display and rotate the view as shown in Figure 7.8: Vectors of Velocity Magnitude (p. 331).
g. Close the Vectors dialog box.
Setup and Solution
Figure 7.8: Vectors of Velocity Magnitude
8. Compute view factors and radiation emitted from the front wall (w-high-x) to all other walls.
In the main menu, select Report S2S Information...
a. Ensure that the View Factors option is enabled in the Report Options group box.
b. Enable the Incident Radiation option.
c. Select w-high-x from the From selection list.
d. Select all zones except w-high-x from the To selection list.
e. Click Compute and close the S2S Information dialog box.
The computed values of the view factors and incident radiation are displayed in the console. A view
factor of approximately 0.2 for each wall is a good value for the square box.
9. Compute the total heat transfer rate.
Setup and Solution
a. Select Total Heat Transfer Rate from the Options list.
b. Select all boundary zones except default-interior from the Boundaries selection list.
c. Click Compute.
Note
The energy imbalance is approximately 0.04%.
10. Compute the total heat transfer rate for w-low-x.
a. Retain the selection of Total Heat Transfer Rate from the Options list.
b. Deselect all boundary zones and select w-low-x from the Boundaries selection list.
c. Click Compute.
Note
The net heat load is approximately 63 W.
11. Compute the radiation heat transfer rate.
Setup and Solution
a. Select Radiation Heat Transfer Rate from the Options list.
c. Click Compute.
Note
The heat imbalance is approximately -0.014 W.
12. Compute the radiation heat transfer rate for w-low-x.
a. Retain the selection of Radiation Heat Transfer Rate from the Options list.
b. Deselect all boundary zones and select w-low-x from the Boundaries selection list.
c. Click Compute and close the Flux Reports dialog box.
The net heat load is approximately 51 W. After comparing the total heat transfer rate and radiation heat
transfer rate, it can be concluded that radiation is the dominant mode of heat transfer.
13. Display the temperature profile for the side wall.
Setup and Solution
a. Select Temperature... and Wall Temperature from the Y Axis Function drop-down lists.
b. Retain the default selection of Direction Vector from the X Axis Function drop-down list.
c. Select zz_x_side from the Surfaces selection list.
d. Click Plot (Figure 7.9: Temperature Profile Along the Outer Surface of the Box (p. 338)).
e. Enable the Write to File option and click the Write... button to open the Select File dialog box.
i. Enter tp_1.xy for XY File.
f. Disable the Write to File option.
g. Close the Solution XY Plot dialog box.
Figure 7.9: Temperature Profile Along the Outer Surface of the Box
14. Save the case and data files (rad_b_1.cas.gz and rad_b_1.dat.gz).
7.4.9. Comparing the Contour Plots after Varying Radiating Surfaces

1. Increase the number of faces per cluster to 10.
Setup Models Radiation Edit...
i. Enter 10 for Faces per Surface Cluster for Flow Boundary Zones in the Manual group box.
ii. Click Apply to All Walls.
iii. Click OK to close the View Factors and Clustering dialog box.
b. Click the Compute/Write/Read... button to open the Select File dialog box and to compute the view
factors.
Specify a name for the S2S file that will store the cluster and view factor parameters.
i. Enter rad_10.s2s.gz for S2S File.
Setup and Solution
c. Click OK to close the Radiation Model dialog box.
2. Right-click Solution Initialization and select Initialize.
4. Save the case and data files (rad_10.cas.gz and rad_10.dat.gz).
5. In a similar manner described in the steps 13.a 13.g of Postprocessing (p. 322), display the temperature
profile for the side wall and write it to a file named tp_10.xy.
6. Repeat the procedure, outlined in steps 1 5 of this section, for 100, 400, 800, and 1600 faces per surface
cluster and save the respective S2S files (for example, rad_100.s2s.gz), case and data files (for example,
rad_100.cas.gz), and temperature profile files (for example, tp_100.xy).
7. Display contours of wall temperature for all six cases, in the manner described in step 3 of Postpro-
cessing (p. 322).
Results Graphics Contours wall-temperature Display
Figure 7.10: Contours of Wall Temperature: 1 Face per Surface Cluster
Setup and Solution
Figure 7.11: Contours of Wall Temperature: 10 Faces per Surface Cluster
Setup and Solution
Setup and Solution
8. Display contours of surface cluster ID for 1600 faces per surface cluster (Figure 7.16: Contours of Surface
Cluster ID1600 Faces per Surface Cluster (FPSC) (p. 347)).
a. Ensure that the Filled option is enabled in the Options group box.
b. Ensure that the Node Values option is disabled.
c. Enable the Auto Range option.
d. Select Radiation... and Surface Cluster ID from the Contours of drop-down lists.
e. Ensure that all surfaces except default-interior and zz_x_side are selected in the Surfaces selection
list.
f. Click Display and rotate the view as shown in Figure 7.16: Contours of Surface Cluster ID1600 Faces
per Surface Cluster (FPSC) (p. 347).
g. Close the Contours dialog box.
Setup and Solution
Figure 7.16: Contours of Surface Cluster ID1600 Faces per Surface Cluster (FPSC)
9. Read rad_400.cas.gz and rad_400.dat.gz and, in a similar manner to the previous step, display
contours of surface cluster ID (Figure 7.17: Contours of Surface Cluster ID400 FPSC (p. 348)).
Figure 7.17: Contours of Surface Cluster ID400 FPSC
Figure 7.17: Contours of Surface Cluster ID400 FPSC (p. 348) shows contours of Surface Cluster ID for
400 FPSC. This case shows better clustering compared to all of the other cases.
10. Create a plot that compares the temperature profile plots for 1, 10, 100, 400, 800, and 1600 FPSC.
Results Plots File Edit...
a. Click the Add... button to open the Select File dialog box.
i. Select the file tp_1.xy that you created in step 11 of Postprocessing (p. 322).
ii. Click OK to close the Select File dialog box.
b. Change the legend entry for the data series.
Setup and Solution
i. Enter Faces/Cluster in the Legend Title text box.
ii. Enter 1 in the text box to the left of the Change Legend Entry button.
iii. Click Change Legend Entry.
ANSYS Fluent will update the Legend Entry text for the file tp_1.xy.
c. Load the files tp_10.xy, tp_100.xy, tp_400.xy, tp_800.xy, and tp_1600.xy and change
their legend entries accordingly, in a manner similar to the previous two steps (a and b).
d. Click the Axes... button to open the Axes dialog box.
i. Ensure X is selected from the Axis list.
ii. Enter 3 for Precision in the Number Format group box and click Apply.
iii. Select Y from the Axis list.
iv. Enter 2 for Precision and click Apply.
v. Close the Axes dialog box.
e. Click Plot (Figure 7.18: A Comparison of Temperature Profiles along the Outer Surface of the Box (p. 350))
and close the File XY Plot dialog box.
Figure 7.18: A Comparison of Temperature Profiles along the Outer Surface of the Box
7.4.10. S2S Definition, Solution, and Postprocessing with Partial Enclosure

As mentioned previously, when the S2S model is used, you also have the option to define a partial enclosure;
that is, you can disable the view factor calculation for walls with negligible emission/absorption, or walls
that have uniform temperature. Even though the view factor will not be computed for these walls, they will
still emit radiation at a fixed temperature called the partial enclosure temperature. The main advantage
of this is to speed up the view factor and the radiosity calculation.
In the steps that follow, you will specify the radiating wall (w-low-x) as a boundary zone that is not particip-
ating in the S2S radiation model. Consequently, you will specify the partial enclosure temperature for the
wall. Note that the partial enclosure option may not yield accurate results in cases that have multiple wall
boundaries that are not participating in S2S radiation and that each have different temperatures. This is
because a single partial enclosure temperature is applied to all of the non-participating walls.
1. Read the case file saved previously for the S2S model (rad_b_1.cas.gz).
File Read Case...
2. Set the partial enclosure parameters for the S2S model.
Setup Boundary Conditions w-low-x Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Click the Radiation tab.
b. Disable the Participates in View Factor Calculation option in the S2S Parameters group box.
Click OK to close the dialog box informing you that you must recompute viewfactors.
3. Compute the view factors for the S2S model.
b. Click the Select... button to open the Participating Boundary Zones dialog box.
i. Enter 473.15 K for Non-Participating Boundary Zones Temperature.
ii. Click OK to close the Participating Boundary Zones dialog box.
Click OK to close the dialog box informing you that you must recompute viewfactors.
c. Click OK to close the View Factors and Clustering dialog box.
d. Click the Compute/Write/Read... button to open the Select File dialog box and to compute the view
factors.
The view factor file will store the view factors for the radiating surfaces only. This may help you control
the size of the view factor file as well as the memory required to store view factors in ANSYS Fluent.
Furthermore, the time required to compute the view factors will be reduced, as only the view factors
for radiating surfaces will be calculated.
i. Enter rad_partial.s2s.gz for S2S File.
e. Click OK to close the Radiation Model dialog box.
4. Right-click Solution Initialization and select Initialize.
Setup and Solution
6. Save the case and data files (rad_partial.cas.gz and rad_partial.dat.gz).
a. Ensure that Radiation Heat Transfer Rate is selected from the Options list.
The Flux Reports dialog box does not report any heat transfer rate for the radiating wall (w-low-x),
because you specified that it not participate in the view factor calculation. The remaining walls report
similar rates to those obtained in step 9 of Postprocessing (p. 322), indicating that in this case the use of
a partial enclosure saved computation time without significantly affecting the results.
8. Compare the temperature profile for the side wall to the profile saved in tp_1.xy.
a. Display the temperature profile for the side wall, zz_x_side, and write it to a file named tp_par-
tial.xy, in a manner similar to the instructions shown in step 11 of Postprocessing (p. 322).
b. Click Load File... to open the Select File dialog box.
i. Select tp_1.xy.
c. Click Plot.
d. Close the Solution XY Plot dialog box.
Figure 7.19: Wall Temperature Profile Comparison
Figure 7.19: Wall Temperature Profile Comparison (p. 354) further confirms that the use of a partial enclosure
did not significantly affect the results.
7.5. Summary
In this tutorial you studied combined natural convection and radiation in a three-dimensional square
box and compared how varying the settings of the surface-to-surface (S2S) radiation model affected
the results. The S2S radiation model is appropriate for modeling the enclosure radiative transfer without
participating media, whereas the methods for participating radiation may not always be efficient.
For more information about the surface-to-surface (S2S) radiation model, see Modeling Radiation in the
Users Guide.

Chapter 8: Using the Discrete Ordinates Radiation Model
8.1. Introduction
8.2. Prerequisites
8.5. Summary
8.1. Introduction
This tutorial illustrates the setup and solution of flow and thermal modeling of a headlamp. The discrete
ordinates (DO) radiation model will be used to model the radiation.
Read an existing mesh file into ANSYS Fluent.
Set up the DO radiation model.
Set up material properties and boundary conditions.
Solve for the energy and flow equations.
Initialize and obtain a solution.
Postprocess the resulting data.
Understand the effect of pixels and divisions on temperature predictions and solver speed.
8.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)
Using the Discrete Ordinates Radiation Model

The problem to be considered is illustrated in Figure 8.1: Schematic of the Problem (p. 356), showing a
simple two-dimensional section of a headlamp construction. The key components to be included are
the bulb, reflector, baffle, lens, and housing. For simplicity, the heat output will only be considered from
the bulb surface rather than the filament of the bulb. The radiant load from the bulb will cover all
thermal radiationthis includes visible (light) as well as infrared radiation.
The ambient conditions to be considered are quiescent air at 20C. Heat exchange between the lamp
and the surroundings will occur by conduction, convection and radiation. The rear reflector is assumed
to be well insulated and heat losses will be ignored. The purpose of the baffle is to shield the lens from
direct radiation. Both the reflector and baffle are made from polished metal having a low emissivity
and mirror-like finish; their combined effect should distribute the light and heat from the bulb across
the lens. The lens is made from glass and has a refractive index of 1.5.

8.4.1. Preparation
8.4.2. Mesh
8.4.4. Models
8.4.5. Materials
8.4.8. Solution
Setup and Solution
8.4.10. Iterate for Higher Pixels

8.4.11. Iterate for Higher Divisions
8.4.12. Make the Reflector Completely Diffuse
8.4.13. Change the Boundary Type of Baffle
8.4.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the do_rad_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip do_rad_R160.zip to your working folder.
The mesh file do.msh.gz can be found in the do_rad folder created after unzipping the file.
the Users Guide.
10. Run in single precision (disable Double Precision).
8.4.2. Mesh
1. Read the mesh file do.msh.gz.
File Read Mesh...
As the mesh file is read, ANSYS Fluent will report the progress in the console.

1. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
ANSYS Fluent will perform various checks on the mesh and report the progress in the console. Ensure
2. Scale the mesh.
a. Select mm from the View Length Unit In drop-down list.
The Domain Extents will be reported in mm.
b. Select mm from the Mesh Was Created In drop-down list.
c. Click Scale and close the Scale Mesh dialog box.
Reordering the mesh can improve computation speed and convergence, particularly for large cases.
Mesh Reorder Domain
4. Check the mesh.
Setup and Solution
Setup General Check
Note
It is good practice to check the mesh after manipulating it (scale, convert to polyhedra,
merge, separate, fuse, add zones, or smooth and swap).
5. Examine the mesh.
Tip
Because you have scaled the mesh, it may be helpful to click the Fit to Window icon
in the toolbar to resize the display of the mesh appropriately.
Figure 8.2: Graphics Display of Mesh
6. Change the unit of temperature to centigrade.
a. Select temperature from the Quantities selection list.
b. Select c from the Units selection list.
7. Confirm the solver settings and enable gravity.
Setup General
Setup and Solution
a. Retain the default selections in the Solver group box.
b. Enable Gravity.
c. Enter -9.81 for Gravitational Acceleration in the Y direction.
8.4.4. Models
2. Enable the DO radiation model.
a. Select Discrete Ordinates (DO) in the Model list.
The Radiation Model dialog box expands to show the related inputs.
b. Set the Energy Iterations per Radiation Iteration to 1.
As radiation will be the dominant mode of heat transfer, it is beneficial to reduce the interval between
calculations. For this small 2D case we will reduce it to 1.
c. Retain the default settings for Angular Discretization.
In later steps you will adjust the angular discretization settings and compare the results.
d. Click OK to close the Radiation Model dialog box.
An Information dialog box will appear, indicating that material properties have changed.
e. Click OK in the Information dialog box.
8.4.5. Materials
1. Set the properties for air.
Setup and Solution
a. Select incompressible-ideal-gas from the Density drop-down list.
Since pressure variations are insignificant compared to temperature variation, we choose incompress-
ible-ideal-gas law for density.
b. Retain the default settings for all other parameters.
c. Click Change/Create and close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
2. Create a new material, lens.
Setup Materials Solid Create/Edit...
a. Enter lens for Name and delete the entry in the Chemical Formula field.
b. Enter 2200 for Density.
c. Enter 830 J/Kg-K for Cp (Specific Heat).
d. Enter 1.5 W/m-K for Thermal Conductivity.
e. Enter 200 1/m for Absorption Coefficient.
f. Enter 1.5 for Refractive Index.
g. Click Change/Create.
A Question dialog box will open, asking if you want to overwrite aluminum.
h. Click No in the Question dialog box to retain aluminum and add the new material (lens) to the mater-
ials list.
The Create/Edit Materials dialog box will be updated to show the new material, lens, in the ANSYS
Fluent Solid Materials drop-down list.
Setup and Solution
i. Close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
1. Ensure that air is selected for fluid.
a. Retain the default selection of air from the Material Name drop-down list.
2. Set the cell zone conditions for the lens.
Setup Cell Zone Conditions lens Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Select lens from the Material Name drop-down list.
b. Enable Participates In Radiation.
c. Click OK to close the Solid dialog box.
1. Set the boundary conditions for the baffle.
Setup Boundary Conditions baffle Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Click the Thermal tab and enter 0.1 for Internal Emissivity.
b. Click the Radiation tab and enter 0 for Diffuse Fraction.
2. Set the boundary conditions for the baffle-shadow.
Setup Boundary Conditions baffle-shadow Edit...
3. Set the boundary conditions for the bulb-outer.
Setup Boundary Conditions bulb-outer Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Click the Thermal tab and enter 150000 W/m2 for Heat Flux.
The circumference of bulb-outer is approximately 0.004 m. Therefore the 600 W/m lineal heat flux
specified in the problem description corresponds to 150000 W/m2.
b. Retain the value of 1 for Internal Emissivity.
4. Set the boundary conditions for the housing.
Setup Boundary Conditions housing Edit...
a. Click the Thermal tab and select Mixed in the Thermal Conditions group box.
b. Enter 10 W/m2K for Heat Transfer Coefficient.
c. Enter 20 C for Free Stream Temperature.
d. Retain the value of 1 for External Emissivity.
e. Enter 20 C for External Radiation Temperature.
f. Enter 0.5 for Internal Emissivity.
g. Click OK to close the Wall dialog box.
5. Set the boundary conditions for the lens-inner.
Setup Boundary Conditions lens-inner Edit...
The inner and outer surface of the lens will be set to semi-transparent conditions. This allows radiation
to be transmitted through the wall between the two adjacent participating cell zones. It also calculates
the effects of reflection and refraction at the interface. These effects occur because of the change in re-
fractive index (set through the material properties) and are a function of the incident angle of the radiation
and the surface finish. In this case, the lens is assumed to have a very smooth surface so the diffuse
fraction will be set to 0.
On the internal walls (wall/wall-shadows) it is important to note the adjacent cell zone: this is the zone
the surface points into and may influence the settings on the diffuse fraction (these can be different on
both sides of the wall).
Setup and Solution
b. Select semi-transparent from the BC Type drop-down list.
c. Enter 0 for Diffuse Fraction.
d. Click OK to close the Wall dialog box.
6. Set the boundary conditions for the lens-inner-shadow.
Setup Boundary Conditions lens-inner-shadow Edit...
b. Retain the selection of semi-transparent from the BC Type drop-down list.
c. Enter 0 for Diffuse Fraction.
7. Set the boundary conditions for the lens-outer.
Boundary Conditions lens-outer Edit...
The surface of the lamp cools mainly by natural convection to the surroundings. As the outer lens is
transparent it must also lose radiation to the surroundings, while the surroundings will supply a small
source of background radiation associated with the temperature. For the lens, a semi-transparent condition
is used on the outside wall. A mixed thermal condition provides the source of background radiation as
well as calculating the convective cooling on the outer lens wall. For a semi-transparent wall, the source
of background radiation is added directly to the DO radiation rather than to the energy equation; an
external emissivity of 1 is used, in keeping with the assumption of a small object in a large enclosure. As
the background radiation is supplied from the thermal conditions, there is no need to supply this as a
source of irradiation under the Radiation tab for the wall boundary condition. The only other setting
required here is the surface finish of the outer surface of the lens; the diffuse fraction should be set to 0
as the lens is assumed to be smooth.
a. Click the Thermal tab and select Mixed in the Thermal Conditions group box.
b. Enter 10 W/m2K for Heat Transfer Coefficient.
c. Enter 20 C for Free Stream Temperature.
d. Retain the value of 1 for External Emissivity.
For a semi-transparent wall the internal emissivity has no effect as there is no absorption or emission
on the surface. So the set value is irrelevant.
e. Enter 20 C for External Radiation Temperature.
f. Leave aluminum selected in the Material Name drop-down list.
Because lens-outer is modeled as a zero-thickness wall, the choice of material is unimportant.
g. Click the Radiation tab.
Setup and Solution
h. Select semi-transparent from the BC Type drop-down list.
i. Enter 0 for Diffuse Fraction.
j. Click OK to close the Wall dialog box.
8. Set the boundary conditions for the reflector.
Setup Boundary Conditions reflector Edit...
Like the baffles, the reflector is made of highly polished aluminum, giving it highly reflective surface
property; about 90% of incident radiation reflects from this surface so only about 10% gets absorbed.
Based on Kirchhoffs law, we can assume emissivity equals absorptivity. Therefore, we apply internal
emissivity = 0.1. We also assume a clean reflector (diffuse fraction = 0).
8.4.8. Solution
a. Select Body Force Weighted from the Pressure drop-down list in the Spatial Discretization group
box.
The Body Force Weighted pressure scheme is recommended for all natural convection models.
2. Reduce the convergence criteria.
Setup and Solution
a. Enter 1e-4 for Absolute Criteria for continuity.
b. Ensure that Print to Console and Plot are enabled.
3. Initialize the solution using the default Hybrid Initialization method.
4. Save the case file (do.cas.gz)
File Write Case...
b. Click Calculate.
Figure 8.3: Residuals
6. Save the case and data files (do.cas.gz and do.dat.gz).
Setup and Solution
1. Create a velocity vector plot.
Results Graphics Vectors New...
a. Enter velocity for Vector Name.
b. Enter 10 for Scale.
c. Retain the default selection of Velocity from the Vectors of drop-down list.
d. Retain the default selection of Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude from the Color by drop-down list.
e. Click Save/Display (Figure 8.4: Vectors of Velocity Magnitude (p. 380)).
f. Close the Vectors dialog box.
Tip
You may need to click the Fit to Window button to center the vector graphic in your
graphics window.
Figure 8.4: Vectors of Velocity Magnitude
2. Create the new surface, lens.
Surface Zone...
Setup and Solution
a. Select lens from the Zone selection list.
b. Click Create and close the Zone Surface dialog box.
3. Create a contour plot of static temperature.
a. Enter temperature for Contour Name.
b. Enable Filled in the Options group box.
c. Disable Global Range in the Options group box.
d. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Contours of drop-down lists.
e. Select lens from the Surfaces selection list.
f. Click Display (Figure 8.5: Contours of Static Temperature (p. 382)).
g. Close the Contours dialog box.
4. Display temperature profile for the lens-inner.
Setup and Solution
a. Disable both Node Values and Position on X Axis in the Options group box.
b. Enable Position on Y Axis.
c. Enter 0 and 1 for X and Y, respectively, in the Plot Direction group box.
d. Retain the default selection of Direction Vector from the Y Axis Function drop-down list.
e. Select Temperature... and Wall Temperature from the X Axis Function drop-down lists.
f. Select lens-inner from the Surfaces selection list.
g. Click the Axes... button to open the Axes - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
i. Ensure that X is selected in the Axis list.
ii. Enter Temperature on Lens Inner for Label.
iii. Select float from the Type drop-down list in the Number Format group box.
iv. Set Precision to 0.
v. Click Apply.
vi. Select Y in the Axis list.
vii. Enter Y Position on Lens Inner for Label.
viii.Select float from the Type drop-down list in the Number Format group box.
Setup and Solution
ix. Set Precision to 0.
x. Click Apply and close the Axes - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
h. Click the Curves... button to open the Curves - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
i. Select the line pattern as shown in the Curves - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
ii. Select the symbol pattern as shown in the Curves - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
iii. Click Apply and close the Curves - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
i. Click Plot (Figure 8.6: Temperature Profile for lens-inner (p. 385)).
Figure 8.6: Temperature Profile for lens-inner
j. Enable Write to File and click the Write... button to open the Select File dialog box.
i. Enter do_2x2div_1x1pix.xy for XY File.
k. Close the Solution XY Plot dialog box.
5. Save the case and data files (do.cas.gz and do.dat.gz).
8.4.10. Iterate for Higher Pixels

1. Increase pixelation for accuracy.
For semi-transparent and reflective surfaces, increasing accuracy by increasing pixelation is more efficient
than increasing theta and phi divisions.
a. Set both Theta Pixels and Phi Pixels to 2.
b. Click OK to close the Radiation Model dialog box.
2. Request 1500 more iterations.
Run Calculation Calculate
The solution will converge in approximately 500 additional iterations.
3. Save the case and data files (do_2x2div_2x2pix.cas.gz and do_2x2div_2x2pix.dat.gz).
Setup and Solution
a. Disable Write to File.
b. Retain the default settings and plot the temperature profile.
c. Enable Write to File and click the Write... button to open the Select File dialog box.
i. Enter do_2x2div_2x2pix.xy for XY File.
d. Click the Load File... button to open the Select File dialog box.
i. Select do_2x2div_1x1pix.xy.
e. Click the Curves... button to open Curves - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
i. Set Curve # to 1.
ii. Select the line pattern as shown in the Curves - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
iii. Select the symbol pattern as shown in the Curves - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
iv. Click Apply and close the Curves - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
f. Disable Write to File.
g. Click Plot (Figure 8.7: Temperature Profile for lens-inner (p. 388)).
Figure 8.7: Temperature Profile for lens-inner
h. Close the Solution XY Plot dialog box.
5. Increase both Theta Pixels and Phi Pixels to 3.
6. Continue iterations.
a. Ensure that Write to File is disabled.
b. Ensure that all files are deselected from the File Data selection list.
c. Ensure that lens-inner is selected from the Surfaces selection list.
d. Click Plot.
Setup and Solution
e. Enable Write to File and save the file as do_2x2div_3x3pix.xy.
9. Repeat the procedure for 10 Theta Pixels and Phi Pixels and save the case and data files
(do_2x2div_10x10pix.cas.gz and do_2x2div_10x10pix.dat.gz).
a. Plot the temperature on lens-inner and save the file as do_2x2div_10x10pix.xy.
10. Read in all the files and plot them.
a. Disable Write to File.
b. Click the Load File... button to open the Select File dialog box.
i. Select all the xy files in the order that you created them and close the Select File dialog box.
Note
Selected files will be listed in the XY File(s) selection list.
Make sure you deselect lens-inner from the Surfaces list so that there is no duplicated plot.
c. Click the Curves... button to open Curves - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
i. Select the line pattern as shown in the Curves - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
ii. Select the symbol pattern as shown in the Curves - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
iii. Click Apply to save the settings for curve zero.
iv. Set Curve # to 1 and follow the same steps.
v. Repeat for curves 2, and 3.
vi. Click Apply and close the Curves - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
d. Click Plot (Figure 8.8: Temperature Profile (p. 390)).
e. Close the Solution XY Plot dialog box.
Figure 8.8: Temperature Profile
8.4.11. Iterate for Higher Divisions

You will now calculate the solution using different settings for Theta Divisions and Phi Divisions. For
each setting, you will use a setting of 3 for Theta Pixels and Phi Pixels.
1. Read the case and data files that you saved earlier for 3 Theta Pixels and 3 Phi Pixels
(do_2x2div_3x3pix.cas.gz and do_2x2div_3x3pix.dat.gz).
File Read Case & Data...
2. Change Theta Divisions and Phi Divisions to 3 and continue the calculation.
a. Plot the temperature distribution as before and save the file as do_3x3div_3x3pix.xy.
4. Repeat the procedure for 5 Theta Divisions and Phi Divisions.
a. Save the file as do_5x5div_3x3pix.xy.
5. Read in all the files for Theta Divisions and Phi Divisions of 2, 3, and 5 and display temperature profiles.
Make sure you deselect lens-inner from the Surfaces list so that no plots are duplicated.
Setup and Solution
Figure 8.9: Temperature Profiles for Various Theta Divisions
7. Compute the total heat transfer rate.
Results Reports Fluxes Set Up...
a. Select Total Heat Transfer Rate in the Options group box.
b. Select all zones from the Boundaries selection list.
c. Click Compute.
Note
The net heat load is -0.0180 W, which equates to an imbalance of approximately 0.003%
when compared against the heat load of the bulb.
Setup and Solution
a. Select Radiation Heat Transfer Rate in the Options group box.
b. Retain the selection of all boundary zones from the Boundaries selection list.
Note
The net heat load is approximately 154 W.
9. Compute the radiation heat transfer rate incident on the surfaces.
Results Reports Surface Integrals Set Up...
a. Select Integral from the Report Type drop-down list.
b. Select Wall Fluxes... and Surface Incident Radiation from the Field Variable drop-down lists.
c. Select all surfaces except air-interior and lens-interior from the Surfaces selection list.
d. Click Compute.
10. Compute the reflected radiation flux.
Resuts Reports Surface Integrals Set Up...
Setup and Solution
a. Retain the selection of Integral from the Report Type drop-down list.
b. Select Wall Fluxes... and Reflected Radiation Flux from the Field Variable drop-down lists.
c. Select all surfaces except air-interior and lens-interior from the Surfaces selection list.
d. Click Compute.
Reflected radiation flux values are printed in the console for all the zones. The zone baffle is facing the
filament and its shadow (baffle-shadow) is facing the lens. There is much more reflection on the filament
side than on the lens side, as expected.
lens-inner is facing the fluid and lens-inner-shadow is facing the lens. Due to different refractive indexes
and nonzero absorption coefficient on the lens, there is some reflection at the interface. Reflection on
lens-inner-shadow is the reflected energy of the incident radiation from the lens side. Reflection on lens-
inner is the reflected energy of the incident radiation from the fluid side.
11. Compute the transmitted radiation flux.
b. Select Wall Fluxes... and Transmitted Radiation Flux from the Field Variable drop-down lists.
c. Ensure that all surfaces are selected except air-interior and lens-interior from the Surfaces selection
list.
d. Click Compute.
Transmitted radiation flux values are printed in the console for all the zones. All surfaces are opaque
except lens. Zero transmission for all surfaces indicate that they are opaque.
12. Compute the absorbed radiation flux.
Setup and Solution
b. Select Wall Fluxes... and Absorbed Radiation Flux from the Field Variable drop-down lists.
c. Ensure that all surfaces are selected except air-interior and lens-interior from the Surfaces selection
list.
d. Click Compute.
e. Close the Surface Integrals dialog box.
Absorption will only occur on opaque surface with a nonzero internal emissivity adjacent to participating
cell zones. Note that absorption will not occur on a semi-transparent wall (irrespective of the setting for
internal emissivity). In semi-transparent media, absorption and emission will only occur as a volumetric
effect in the participating media with nonzero absorption coefficients.
8.4.12. Make the Reflector Completely Diffuse

1. Read in the case and data files (do_3x3div_3x3pix.cas.gz and do_3x3div_3x3pix.dat.gz).
2. Increase the diffuse fraction for reflector.
Setup Boundary Conditions reflector Edit...
a. Click the Radiation tab and enter 1 for Diffuse Fraction.
b. Click OK to close the Wall dialog box.
3. Request another 1500 iterations.
4. Plot the temperature profiles with the increased diffuse fraction for the reflector.
a. Save the file as do_3x3div_3x3pix_df1.xy.
b. Save the case and data files as do_3x3div_3x3pix_df1.cas.gz and

do_3x3div_3x3pix_df1.dat.gz.
Setup and Solution
Figure 8.10: Temperature Profile for Higher Diffuse Fraction
8.4.13. Change the Boundary Type of Baffle

1. Read in the case and data files (do_3x3div_3x3pix.cas.gz and do_3x3div_3x3pix.dat.gz).
2. Change the boundary type of baffle to interior.
Setup Boundary Conditions baffle (wall) Type interior
3. Reduce the under-relaxation factors.
4. Request another 2500 iterations.
5. Plot the temperature profile for lens-inner based on the modified baffle.
a. Save the file as do_3x3div_3x3pix_baf_int.xy.
b. Save the case and data files as do_3x3div_3x3pix_baf_int.cas.gz and

do_3x3div_3x3pix_baf_int.dat.gz.
Figure 8.11: Temperature Profile of baffle interior
8.5. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated the modeling of radiation using the discrete ordinates (DO) radiation model
in ANSYS Fluent. In this tutorial, you learned the use of angular discretization and pixelation available
in the discrete ordinates radiation model and solved for different values of Pixels and Divisions. You
studied the change in behavior for higher absorption coefficient. Changes in internal emissivity, refractive
index, and diffuse fraction are illustrated with the temperature profile plots.

Chapter 9: Using a Non-Conformal Mesh
9.1. Introduction
9.2. Prerequisites
9.5. Summary
9.1. Introduction
Film cooling is a process that is used to protect turbine vanes in a gas turbine engine from exposure
to hot combustion gases. This tutorial illustrates how to set up and solve a film cooling problem using
a non-conformal mesh. The system that is modeled consists of three parts: a duct, a hole array, and a
plenum. The duct is modeled using a hexahedral mesh, and the plenum and hole regions are modeled
using a tetrahedral mesh. These two meshes are merged together to form a hybrid mesh, with a non-
conformal interface boundary between them.
Due to the symmetry of the hole array, only a portion of the geometry is modeled in ANSYS Fluent,
with symmetry applied to the outer boundaries. The duct contains a high-velocity fluid in streamwise
flow (Figure 9.1: Schematic of the Problem (p. 402)). An array of holes intersects the duct at an inclined
angle, and a cooler fluid is injected into the holes from a plenum. The coolant that moves through the
holes acts to cool the surface of the duct, downstream of the injection. Both fluids are air, and the flow
is classified as turbulent. The velocity and temperature of the streamwise and cross-flow fluids are
known, and ANSYS Fluent is used to predict the flow and temperature fields that result from convective
heat transfer.
Merge hexahedral and tetrahedral meshes to form a hybrid mesh.
Create a non-conformal mesh interface.
Model heat transfer across a non-conformal interface with specified temperature and velocity boundary
conditions.
Plot temperature profiles on specified isosurfaces.
9.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)
Using a Non-Conformal Mesh

This problem considers a model of a 3D section of a film cooling test rig. A schematic of the problem
is shown in Figure 9.1: Schematic of the Problem (p. 402). The problem consists of a duct, 49 inches long,
with cross-sectional dimensions of 0.75 inches 5 inches. An array of uniformly-spaced holes is located
at the bottom of the duct. Each hole has a diameter of 0.5 inches, is inclined at 35 degrees, and is
spaced 1.5 inches apart laterally. Cooler injected air enters the system through the plenum having cross-
sectional dimensions of 3.3 inches 1.25 inches.
Only a portion of the domain must be modeled because of the symmetry of the geometry. The bulk
temperature of the streamwise air ( ) is 450 K, and the velocity of the air stream is 20 m/s. The bottom
wall of the duct that intersects the hole array is assumed to be a completely insulated (adiabatic) wall.
The secondary (injected) air enters the plenum at a uniform velocity of 0.4559 m/s. The temperature of
the injected air ( ) is 300 K. The properties of air that are used in the model are also mentioned in
Figure 9.1: Schematic of the Problem (p. 402).
Setup and Solution

9.4.1. Preparation
9.4.2. Mesh
9.4.4. Models
9.4.5. Materials
9.4.9. Mesh Interfaces
9.4.10. Solution
9.4.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the non_conformal_mesh_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip non_conformal_mesh_R160.zip to your working folder.
The input files film_hex.msh and film_tet.msh can be found in the non_conformal_mesh
folder created after unzipping the file.
Fluent Getting Started Guide.
11. Ensure that Meshing Mode is disabled.
12. Ensure you are running in Serial under Processing Options.
9.4.2. Mesh
1. Read the hex mesh file film_hex.msh.
File Read Mesh...
2. Append the tet mesh file film_tet.msh.
Mesh Zone Append Case File...
The Append Case File... functionality allows you to combine two mesh files into one single mesh file.
3. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
4. Scale the mesh and change the unit of length to inches.
a. Ensure that Convert Units is selected in the Scaling group box.
Setup and Solution
b. Select in from the Mesh Was Created In drop-down list by first clicking the down-arrow button and
then clicking the in item from the list that appears.
c. Click Scale to scale the mesh.
Domain Extents will continue to be reported in the default SI unit of meters.
d. Select in from the View Length Unit In drop-down list to set inches as the working unit for length.
e. Close the Scale Mesh dialog box.
5. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
Note
polyhedra, merge, separate, fuse, add zones, or smooth and swap.) This will ensure that
6. Display an outline of the 3D mesh.
a. Retain the default selections in the Surfaces list.
b. Ensure Edges is the only option enabled in the Options group box.
c. Click Display.
d. Close the Mesh Display dialog box.
7. Manipulate the mesh display to obtain a front view as shown in Figure 9.2: Hybrid Mesh for Film Cooling
Problem (p. 407).
a. Select front in the Views list.
b. Click Apply.
c. Close the Views dialog box.
Setup and Solution
Figure 9.2: Hybrid Mesh for Film Cooling Problem
8. Zoom in using the middle mouse button to view the hole and plenum regions (Figure 9.3: Hybrid Mesh
(Zoomed-In View) (p. 408)).
Figure 9.3: Hybrid Mesh (Zoomed-In View)
In Figure 9.3: Hybrid Mesh (Zoomed-In View) (p. 408), you can see the quadrilateral faces of the hexahedral
cells that are used to model the duct region and the triangular faces of the tetrahedral cells that are used
to model the plenum and hole regions, resulting in a hybrid mesh.
Extra
You can use the right mouse button to check which zone number corresponds to each
boundary. If you click the right mouse button on one of the boundaries in the graphics
window, its zone number, name, and type will be printed in the ANSYS Fluent console.
This feature is especially useful when you have several zones of the same type and you
want to distinguish between them quickly.

1. Retain the default solver settings.
Setup and Solution
Setup General
9.4.4. Models
1. Enable heat transfer by enabling the energy equation.
Setup Models Energy Edit...
a. Click OK to close the Energy dialog box.
2. Enable the standard - turbulence model.
a. Select k-epsilon (2eqn) in the Model list.
The Viscous Model dialog box will expand to show the additional input options for the - model.
b. Select Enhanced Wall Treatment for the Near-Wall Treatment.
Note
adjacent to the wall has a y+ larger than 30. In contrast, the Enhanced Wall Treatment
option provides consistent solutions for all y+ values. Enhanced Wall Treatment is
recommended when using the k-epsilon model for general single-phase fluid flow
problems. For more information about Near Wall Treatments in the k-epsilon model
refer to Setting Up the k- Model in the Users Guide.
Setup and Solution
c. Retain the default settings for the remaining parameters.
9.4.5. Materials
1. Define the material properties.
a. Retain the selection of air from the Fluent Fluid Materials drop-down list.
b. Select incompressible-ideal-gas law from the Density drop-down list.
The incompressible ideal gas law is used when pressure variations are small but temperature variations
are large. The incompressible ideal gas option for density treats the fluid density as a function of
temperature only. If the above condition is satisfied, the incompressible ideal gas law generally gives
better convergence compared to the ideal gas law, without sacrificing accuracy.
c. Retain the default values for all other properties.
d. Click Change/Create and close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.

1. Set the conditions for the fluid in the duct (fluid-9).
a. Change the Zone Name from fluid-9 to fluid-duct.
b. Retain the default selection of air from the Material Name drop-down list.
c. Click OK to close the Fluid dialog box.
2. Set the conditions for the fluid in the first plenum and hole (fluid-8).
a. Change the Zone Name from fluid-8 to fluid-plenum1.
3. Set the conditions for the fluid in the second plenum and hole (fluid-9.1).
Setup Cell Zone Conditions fluid-9.1 Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Change the Zone Name from fluid-9.1 to fluid-plenum2.
1. Retain the default operating conditions.
2. Click OK to close the Operating Conditions dialog box.
For the incompressible-ideal-gas law selected here for air, the constant pressure used for the density
calculation is the Operating Pressure specified in this dialog box. So, make sure that the Operating
Pressure is close to the mean pressure of the domain.

1. Set the boundary conditions for the streamwise flow inlet (velocity-inlet-1).
a. Change the Zone Name from velocity-inlet-1 to velocity-inlet-duct.
b. Enter 20 m/s for the Velocity Magnitude.
bulence group box.
d. Enter 1% and 5 in for the Turbulent Intensity and the Hydraulic Diameter, respectively.
e. Click the Thermal tab and enter 450 K for the Temperature.
f. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
2. Set the boundary conditions for the first injected stream inlet (velocity-inlet-5).
Setup and Solution
a. Change the Zone Name from velocity-inlet-5 to velocity-inlet-plenum1.
b. Enter 0.4559 m/s for the Velocity Magnitude.
group box.
d. Enter 1% for Turbulent Intensity and retain the default setting of 10 for Turbulent Viscosity Ratio.
e. Click the Thermal tab and retain the setting of 300 K for Temperature.
In the absence of any identifiable length scale for turbulence, the Intensity and Viscosity Ratio method
should be used.
For more information about setting the boundary conditions for turbulence, see Modeling Turbulence
in the User's Guide.
3. Copy the boundary conditions set for the first injected stream inlet.
Setup Boundary Conditions velocity-inlet-plenum1 Copy...
a. Select velocity-inlet-plenum1 in the From Boundary Zone selection list.
b. Select velocity-inlet-6 in the To Boundary Zones selection list.
c. Click Copy.
A Question dialog box will open, asking if you want to copy velocity-inlet-plenum1 boundary
conditions to (velocity-inlet-6). Click OK.
d. Close the Copy Conditions dialog box.
Warning
Copying a boundary condition does not create a link from one zone to another.
If you want to change the boundary conditions on these zones, you will have
to change each one separately.
4. Set the boundary conditions for the second injected stream inlet (velocity-inlet-6).
Setup and Solution
a. Change the Zone Name from velocity-inlet-6 to velocity-inlet-plenum2.
b. Verify that the boundary conditions were copied correctly.
c. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
5. Set the boundary conditions for the flow exit (pressure-outlet-1).
a. Change the Zone Name from pressure-outlet-1 to pressure-outlet-duct.
b. Retain the default setting of 0 Pa for Gauge Pressure.
group box.
d. Enter 1% for Backflow Turbulent Intensity and retain the default setting of 10 for Backflow Turbulent
Viscosity Ratio.
e. Click the Thermal tab and enter 450 K for Backflow Total Temperature.
f. Click OK to close the Pressure Outlet dialog box.
Note
The settings you specify at the pressure outlet will be used only if flow enters the domain
through this boundary. It is important to set reasonable values for these downstream
scalar values, in case flow reversal occurs at some point during the calculation.
6. Retain the default boundary conditions for the plenum and hole walls (wall-4 and wall-5).
Setup and Solution
7. Verify that the symmetry planes are set to the correct type in the Boundary Conditions task page.
a. Select symmetry-1 in the Zone list.
b. Ensure that symmetry is selected from the Type drop-down list.
c. Similarly, verify that the zones symmetry-5, symmetry-7, symmetry-tet1, and symmetry-tet2 are set
to the correct type.
8. Define the zones on the non-conformal boundary as interface zones by changing the Type for wall-1,
wall-7, and wall-8 to interface.
The non-conformal mesh interface contains three boundary zones: wall-1, wall-7, and wall-8. wall-1 is
the bottom surface of the duct, wall-7 and wall-8 represent the holes through which the cool air is injected
from the plenum (Figure 9.4: Mesh for the wall-1 and wall-7 Boundaries (p. 422)). These boundaries were
defined as walls in the original mesh files (film_hex.msh and film_tet.msh) and must be redefined
as interface boundary types.
a. Open the Mesh Display dialog box.
Setup and Solution
i. Deselect all surfaces by clicking to the far right of Surfaces.
ii. Collapse the list of surfaces by clicking .
iii. Expand the wall branch by Ctrl + left-clicking +wall- [5,0] in the Surfaces group box.
iv. Select wall-1, wall-7, and wall-8 from the Surfaces selection list.
Use the scrollbar to access the surfaces that are not initially visible.
v. Click Display and close the Mesh Display dialog box.
b. Display the bottom view.
i. Select bottom in the Views list and click Apply.
ii. Close the Views dialog box.
Zoom in using the middle mouse button. Figure 9.4: Mesh for the wall-1 and wall-7 Boundar-
ies (p. 422) shows the mesh for the wall-1 and wall-7 boundaries (that is, hole-1). Similarly, you
can zoom in to see the mesh for the wall-1 and wall-8 boundaries (that is, hole-2).
Figure 9.4: Mesh for the wall-1 and wall-7 Boundaries
c. Select wall-1 in the Zone list and select interface as the new Type.
Setup and Solution
A Question dialog box will open, asking if it is OK to change the type of wall-1 from wall to interface.
Click Yes in the Question dialog box.
The Interface dialog box will open and give the default name for the newly-created interface zone.
i. Change the Zone Name to interface-duct.
ii. Click OK to close the Interface dialog box.
d. Similarly, convert wall-7 and wall-8 to interface boundary zones, specifying interface-hole1 and
interface-hole2 for Zone Name, respectively.

In this step, you will create a non-conformal mesh interface between the hexahedral and tetrahedral meshes.
Setup Mesh Interfaces Create/Edit...
1. Select interface-hole1 and interface-hole2 in the Interface Zone 1 selection list.
Warning
When one interface zone is smaller than the other, choose the smaller zone as Inter-
face Zone 1.
2. Select interface-duct from the Interface Zone 2 selection list.
3. Enter junction for Mesh Interface.
4. Click Create.
In the process of creating the mesh interface, ANSYS Fluent will create three new wall boundary zones:
wall-24, wall-25, and wall-26.
wall-24 and wall-25 are the non-overlapping regions of the interface-hole1 and interface-hole2 zones
that result from the intersection of the interface-hole1, interface-hole2, and interface-duct boundary
zones. They are listed under Boundary Zone 1 in the Create/Edit Mesh Interfaces dialog box. These wall
boundaries are empty, since interface-hole1 and interface-hole2 are completely contained within the in-
terface-duct boundary.
wall-26 is the non-overlapping region of the interface-duct zone that results from the intersection of the
three interface zones, and is listed under Boundary Zone 2 in the Create/Edit Mesh Interfaces dialog box.
Setup and Solution
You will not be able to display these walls.
Warning
You need to set boundary conditions for wall-26 (since it is not empty). In this case,
the default settings are used.
5. Close the Create/Edit Mesh Interfaces dialog box.
9.4.10. Solution
For many general fluid-flow problems, convergence speed can be improved by using the coupled
solver.
b. Select Second Order Upwind from the Turbulent Kinetic Energy and Turbulent Dissipation Rate
drop-down lists in the Spatial Discretization group box.
2. Enable the plotting of residuals.
b. Click OK to close the Residual Monitors panel.
Setup and Solution
Note
For flows in complex topologies, hybrid initialization will provide better initial velocity
and pressure fields than standard initialization. This will help to improve the conver-
gence behavior of the solver.
4. Save the case file (filmcool.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
a. Enter 250 for the Number of Iterations.
b. Click Calculate.
The solution converges after approximately 45 iterations.
6. Save the case and data files (filmcool.cas.gz and filmcool.dat.gz).
Note
If you choose a filename that already exists in the current directory, ANSYS Fluent will
prompt you for confirmation to overwrite the file.
1. Display and save filled contours of static pressure (Figure 9.5: Contours of Static Pressure (p. 429)).
a. Change the Contour Name to contour-pressure.
c. Ensure that Pressure... and Static Pressure are selected from the Contours of drop-down lists.
d. Select interface-duct, interface-hole1, interface-hole2, symmetry-1, symmetry-tet1, symmetry-

tet2, wall-4, and wall-5 in the Surfaces selection list.
Use the scroll bar to access the surfaces that are not initially visible in the Contours dialog box.
e. Click Save/Display and close the Contours dialog box.
Setup and Solution
The maximum pressure change (see Figure 9.5: Contours of Static Pressure (p. 429)) is only 232 Pa.
Compared to a mean pressure of 1.013e5 Pa, the variation is less than 0.3%, therefore the use of the
incompressible ideal gas law is appropriate.
f. Reset the view to the default view if you changed the default display of the mesh.
i. Click Default in the Actions group box and close the Views dialog box.
g. Zoom in on the view to display the contours at the holes (Figure 9.6: Contours of Static Pressure at the
First Hole (p. 431) and Figure 9.7: Contours of Static Pressure at the Second Hole (p. 432)).
Setup and Solution
Figure 9.6: Contours of Static Pressure at the First Hole
Figure 9.7: Contours of Static Pressure at the Second Hole
Note the high/low pressure zones on the upstream/downstream sides of the coolant hole, where the
jet first penetrates the primary flow in the duct.
2. Display and save filled contours of static temperature (Figure 9.8: Contours of Static Temperature (p. 434)
and Figure 9.9: Contours of Static Temperature (Zoomed-In View) (p. 435)).
Setup and Solution
a. Change the Contour Name to contour-temperature.
c. Disable Auto Range in the Options group box so that you can change the maximum and minimum
temperature gradient values to be plotted.
d. Enter 300 for Min and 450 for Max.
e. Disable Clip to Range in the Options group box.
f. Ensure that interface-duct, interface-hole1, interface-hole2, symmetry-1, symmetry-tet1, symmetry-

tet2, wall-4, and wall-5 are selected from the Surfaces selection list.
g. Click Save/Display and close the Contours dialog box.
h. Zoom in on the view to get the display shown in Figure 9.9: Contours of Static Temperature (Zoomed-
In View) (p. 435).
Setup and Solution
Figure 9.9: Contours of Static Temperature (Zoomed-In View)
Figure 9.8: Contours of Static Temperature (p. 434) and Figure 9.9: Contours of Static Temperature
(Zoomed-In View) (p. 435) clearly show how the coolant flow insulates the bottom of the duct from
the higher-temperature primary flow.
3. Display and save the velocity vectors (Figure 9.10: Velocity Vectors (p. 437)).
a. Change the Vector Name to vector-velocity.
b. Ensure that Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude are selected from the Color by drop-down lists.
c. Ensure that Auto Range is enabled in the Options group box.
d. Enter 2 for the Scale.
This enlarges the displayed vectors, making it easier to view the flow patterns.
e. Select interface-duct, interface-hole1, interface-hole2, symmetry-1, symmetry-tet1, symmetry-

tet2, wall-4, and wall-5 from the Surfaces selection list.
Use the scroll bar to access the surfaces that are not initially visible in the dialog box.
f. Click Save/Display and close the Vectors dialog box.
g. Zoom in on the view to get the display shown in Figure 9.10: Velocity Vectors (p. 437).
In Figure 9.10: Velocity Vectors (p. 437), the flow pattern in the vicinity of the coolant hole shows the level
of penetration of the coolant jet into the main flow. Note that the velocity field varies smoothly across
the non-conformal interface.
Setup and Solution
4. Create an iso-surface along a horizontal cross-section of the duct, 0.1 inches above the bottom, at = 0.1
inches.
a. Select Mesh... and Y-Coordinate from the Surface of Constant drop-down lists.
b. Enter 0.1 for Iso-Values.
c. Enter y=0.1in for New Surface Name.
d. Click Create.
e. Close the Iso-Surface dialog box.
5. Create an XY plot of static temperature on the iso-surface created (Figure 9.11: Static Temperature at y=0.1
in (p. 440)).
Setup and Solution
a. Retain the default values in the Plot Direction group box.
b. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Y-Axis Function drop-down lists.
c. Select y=0.1in in the Surfaces selection list.
Scroll down using the scroll bar to access y=0.1in.
d. Click Plot.
In Figure 9.11: Static Temperature at y=0.1 in (p. 440), you can see how the temperature of the fluid
changes as the cool air from the injection holes mixes with the primary flow. The temperature is
coolest just downstream of the holes. You can also make a similar plot on the lower wall to examine
the wall surface temperature.
e. Close the Solution XY Plot dialog box.
Figure 9.11: Static Temperature at y=0.1 in
9.5. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated how the non-conformal mesh interface capability in ANSYS Fluent can be
used to handle hybrid meshes for complex geometries, such as the film cooling hole configuration ex-
amined here. One of the principal advantages of this approach is that it allows you to merge existing
component meshes together to create a larger, more complex mesh system, without requiring that the
different components have the same node locations on their shared boundaries. Thus, you can perform
parametric studies by merging the desired meshes, creating the non-conformal interface(s), and solving
the model. For example, in the present case, you can do the following:
Use a different hole/plenum mesh.
Reposition the existing hole/plenum mesh.
Add additional hole/plenum meshes to create aligned or staggered multiple-hole arrays.

Chapter 10: Modeling Flow Through Porous Media
10.1. Introduction
10.2. Prerequisites
10.5. Summary
10.1. Introduction
Many industrial applications such as filters, catalyst beds and packing, involve modeling the flow through
porous media. This tutorial illustrates how to set up and solve a problem involving gas flow through
porous media.
The industrial problem solved here involves gas flow through a catalytic converter. Catalytic converters
are commonly used to purify emissions from gasoline and diesel engines by converting environmentally
hazardous exhaust emissions to acceptable substances. Examples of such emissions include carbon
monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and unburned hydrocarbon fuels. These exhaust gas emissions
are forced through a substrate, which is a ceramic structure coated with a metal catalyst such as platinum
or palladium.
The nature of the exhaust gas flow is a very important factor in determining the performance of the
catalytic converter. Of particular importance is the pressure gradient and velocity distribution through
the substrate. Hence CFD analysis is used to design efficient catalytic converters. By modeling the exhaust
gas flow, the pressure drop and the uniformity of flow through the substrate can be determined. In
this tutorial, ANSYS Fluent is used to model the flow of nitrogen gas through a catalytic converter
geometry, so that the flow field structure may be analyzed.
Set up a porous zone for the substrate with appropriate resistances.
Calculate a solution for gas flow through the catalytic converter using the pressure-based solver.
Plot pressure and velocity distribution on specified planes of the geometry.
Determine the pressure drop through the substrate and the degree of non-uniformity of flow through cross
sections of the geometry using X-Y plots and numerical reports.
10.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)
Modeling Flow Through Porous Media

The catalytic converter modeled here is shown in Figure 10.1: Catalytic Converter Geometry for Flow
Modeling (p. 442). The nitrogen flows through the inlet with a uniform velocity of 22.6 m/s, passes
through a ceramic monolith substrate with square-shaped channels, and then exits through the outlet.
Figure 10.1: Catalytic Converter Geometry for Flow Modeling
While the flow in the inlet and outlet sections is turbulent, the flow through the substrate is laminar
and is characterized by inertial and viscous loss coefficients along the inlet axis. The substrate is imper-
meable in other directions. This characteristic is modeled using loss coefficients that are three orders
of magnitude higher than in the main flow direction.

10.4.1. Preparation
10.4.2. Mesh
10.4.4. Models
10.4.5. Materials
10.4.8. Solution
Setup and Solution
10.4.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the porous_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip porous_R160.zip to your working folder.
The mesh file catalytic_converter.msh can be found in the porous directory created after
unzipping the file.
8. Use the Fluent Launcher to start the 3D Double-Precision version of ANSYS Fluent.
the Users Guide.
10. Ensure you are running in Serial under Processing Options.
10.4.2. Mesh
1. Read the mesh file (catalytic_converter.msh).
File Read Mesh...
2. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
3. Scale the mesh.
a. Select mm from the Mesh Was Created In drop-down list.
b. Click Scale.
c. Select mm from the View Length Unit In drop-down list.
All dimensions will now be shown in millimeters.
d. Close the Scale Mesh dialog box.
4. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
Note
Rotate the view and zoom in to get the display shown in Figure 10.2: Mesh for the Catalytic Converter
Geometry (p. 445). The hex mesh on the geometry contains a total of 34,580 cells.
Setup and Solution
Figure 10.2: Mesh for the Catalytic Converter Geometry
Setup General
10.4.4. Models
1. Select the standard - turbulence model.
Setup and Solution
The original Viscous Model dialog box will now expand.
b. Retain the default settings for k-epsilon Model and Near-Wall Treatment and click OK to close the
Viscous Model dialog box.
10.4.5. Materials
1. Add nitrogen to the list of fluid materials by copying it from the Fluent Database of materials.
Setup Materials Air Create/Edit...
a. Click the Fluent Database... button to open the Fluent Database Materials dialog box.
Setup and Solution
i. Select nitrogen (n2) in the Fluent Fluid Materials selection list.
ii. Click Copy to copy the information for nitrogen to your list of fluid materials.
iii. Close the Fluent Database Materials dialog box.
1. Set the cell zone conditions for the fluid (fluid).
a. Select nitrogen from the Material Name drop-down list.
2. Set the cell zone conditions for the substrate (substrate).
Setup Cell Zone Conditions substrate Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Select nitrogen from the Material Name drop-down list.
b. Enable Porous Zone to activate the porous zone model.
c. Enable Laminar Zone to solve the flow in the porous zone without turbulence.
d. Click the Porous Zone tab.
i. Ensure that the principal direction vectors are set as shown in Table 10.1: Values for the Principle
Direction Vectors (p. 452).
ANSYS Fluent automatically calculates the third (Z direction) vector based on your inputs for the
first two vectors. The direction vectors determine which axis the viscous and inertial resistance
coefficients act upon.
Table 10.1: Values for the Principle Direction Vectors
Axis Direction-1 Vector Direction-2 Vector

X 1 0
Y 0 1
Z 0 0
Use the scroll bar to access the fields that are not initially visible in the dialog box.
ii. For the viscous and inertial resistance directions, enter the values in Table 10.2: Values for the Viscous
and Inertial Resistance (p. 452) Viscous Resistance and Inertial Resistance.
Direction-2 and Direction-3 are set to arbitrary large numbers. These values are several orders
of magnitude greater than that of the Direction-1 flow and will make any radial flow insignificant.
Scroll down to access the fields that are not initially visible in the panel.
Table 10.2: Values for the Viscous and Inertial Resistance
Direction Viscous Resistance (1/m2) Inertial Resistance (1/m)

Direction-1 3.846e+07 20.414
Direction-2 3.846e+10 20414
Direction-3 3.846e+10 20414
e. Click OK to close the Fluid dialog box.
1. Set the velocity and turbulence boundary conditions at the inlet (inlet).
Setup and Solution
a. Enter 22.6 m/s for Velocity Magnitude.
b. In the Turbulence group box, select Intensity and Hydraulic Diameter from the Specification
Method drop-down list.
c. Enter 10% for the Turbulent Intensity.
d. Enter 42 mm for the Hydraulic Diameter.
e. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
2. Set the boundary conditions at the outlet (outlet).
a. Retain the default setting of 0 for Gauge Pressure.
b. In the Turbulence group box, select Intensity and Hydraulic Diameter from the Specification
c. Retain the default value of 5% for the Backflow Turbulent Intensity.
d. Enter 42 mm for the Backflow Hydraulic Diameter.
3. Retain the default boundary conditions for the walls (substrate-wall and wall).
10.4.8. Solution
Setup and Solution
b. Retain the default selection of Least Squares Cell Based from the Gradient drop-down list in the
c. Retain the default selection of Second Order Upwind from the Momentum drop-down list.
d. Enable Pseudo Transient.
2. Enable the plotting of the mass flow rate at the outlet.
b. Select Mass Flow Rate from the Report Type drop-down list.
c. Select outlet in the Surfaces selection list.
d. Click OK to close the Surface Monitor dialog box.
3. Initialize the solution from the inlet.
Setup and Solution
a. Select Standard Initialization from the Initialization Methods group box.
Warning
Standard Initialization is the recommended initialization method for porous media

simulations. The default Hybrid initialization method does not account for the porous
media properties, and depending on boundary conditions, may produce an unrealistic
initial velocity field. For porous media simulations, the Hybrid initialization method
can only be used with the Maintain Constant Velocity Magnitude option.
b. Select inlet from the Compute from drop-down list.
c. Retain the default settings for Standard Initialization method.
d. Click Initialize.
4. Save the case file (catalytic_converter.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
5. Run the calculation by requesting 100 iterations.
b. Click Calculate to begin the iterations.
The solution will converge in approximately 65 iterations. The mass flow rate monitor flattens out,
as seen in Figure 10.3: Surface Monitor Plot of Mass Flow Rate with Number of Iterations (p. 459).
Setup and Solution
Figure 10.3: Surface Monitor Plot of Mass Flow Rate with Number of Iterations
6. Save the case and data files (catalytic_converter.cas.gz and catalytic_converter.dat.gz).
Note
If you choose a filename that already exists in the current folder, ANSYS Fluent will prompt
you for confirmation to overwrite the file.
1. Create a surface passing through the centerline for postprocessing purposes.
b. Click Compute to calculate the Min and Max values.
c. Retain the default value of 0 for Iso-Values.
d. Enter y=0 for New Surface Name.
e. Click Create.
Note
To interactively place the surface on your mesh, use the slider bar in the Iso-Surface
dialog box.
2. Create cross-sectional surfaces at locations on either side of the substrate, as well as at its center.
Setup and Solution
a. Select Mesh... and X-Coordinate from the Surface of Constant drop-down lists.
b. Click Compute to calculate the Min and Max values.
c. Enter 95 for Iso-Values.
d. Enter x=95 for the New Surface Name.
e. Click Create.
f. In a similar manner, create surfaces named x=130 and x=165 with Iso-Values of 130 and 165, re-
spectively.
g. Close the Iso-Surface dialog box after all the surfaces have been created.
3. Create a line surface for the centerline of the porous media.
a. Enter the coordinates of the end points of the line in the End Points group box as shown.
b. Enter porous-cl for the New Surface Name.
c. Click Create to create the surface.
d. Close the Line/Rake Surface dialog box.
4. Display the two wall zones (substrate-wall and wall).
Results Graphics Mesh Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Disable Edges and ensure Faces is enabled in the Options group box.
b. Deselect inlet and outlet in the Surfaces selection list, and make sure that only substrate-wall and
wall are selected.
5. Set the lighting for the display.
Results Graphics Options...
a. Disable Double Buffering in the Rendering group box.
b. Ensure Lights On is enabled in the Lighting Attributes group box.
c. Select Gouraud from the Lighting drop-down list.
d. Click Apply and close the Display Options dialog box.
6. Set the transparency parameter for the wall zones (substrate-wall and wall).
Results Graphics Scene...
a. Select substrate-wall and wall in the Names selection list.
b. Click the Display... button in the Geometry Attributes group box to open the Display Properties
dialog box.
i. Ensure that Red, Green, and Blue sliders are set to the maximum position (that is, 255).
ii. Set the Transparency slider to 70.
iii. Click Apply and close the Display Properties dialog box.
c. Click Apply and close the Scene Description dialog box.
7. Display velocity vectors on the y=0 surface (Figure 10.4: Velocity Vectors on the y=0 Plane (p. 466)).
Setup and Solution
a. Enable Draw Mesh in the Options group box to open the Mesh Display dialog box.
i. Ensure that substrate-wall and wall are selected in the Surfaces selection list.
b. Enter 5 for Scale.
c. Set Skip to 1.
d. Select y=0 in the Surfaces selection list.
e. Click Display and close the Vectors dialog box.
Figure 10.4: Velocity Vectors on the y=0 Plane
The flow pattern shows that the flow enters the catalytic converter as a jet, with recirculation on either
side of the jet. As it passes through the porous substrate, it decelerates and straightens out, and exhibits
a more uniform velocity distribution. This allows the metal catalyst present in the substrate to be more
effective.
8. Display filled contours of static pressure on the y=0 plane (Figure 10.5: Contours of Static Pressure on the
y=0 plane (p. 468)).
Setup and Solution
c. Ensure that Pressure... and Static Pressure are selected from the Contours of drop-down lists.
d. Select y=0 in the Surfaces selection list.
e. Click Display and close the Contours dialog box.
The pressure changes rapidly in the middle section, where the fluid velocity changes as it passes through
the porous substrate. The pressure drop can be high, due to the inertial and viscous resistance of the
porous media. Determining this pressure drop is one of the goals of the CFD analysis. In the next step,
you will learn how to plot the pressure drop along the centerline of the substrate.
Figure 10.5: Contours of Static Pressure on the y=0 plane
9. Plot the static pressure across the line surface porous-cl (Figure 10.6: Plot of Static Pressure on the porous-
cl Line Surface (p. 469)).
Setup and Solution
a. Ensure that Pressure... and Static Pressure are selected from the Y Axis Function drop-down lists.
b. Select porous-cl in the Surfaces selection list.
Figure 10.6: Plot of Static Pressure on the porous-cl Line Surface
As seen in Figure 10.6: Plot of Static Pressure on the porous-cl Line Surface (p. 469), the pressure drop
across the porous substrate is approximately 300 Pa.
10. Display filled contours of the velocity in the X direction on the x=95, x=130, and x=165 surfaces (Fig-
ure 10.7: Contours of the X Velocity on the x=95, x=130, and x=165 Surfaces (p. 471)).
c. Disable Global Range in the Options group box.
d. Select Velocity... and X Velocity from the Contours of drop-down lists.
e. Select x=130, x=165, and x=95 in the Surfaces selection list.
f. Click Display and close the Contours dialog box.
Setup and Solution
Figure 10.7: Contours of the X Velocity on the x=95, x=130, and x=165 Surfaces
The velocity profile becomes more uniform as the fluid passes through the porous media. The velocity is
very high at the center (the area in red) just before the nitrogen enters the substrate and then decreases
as it passes through and exits the substrate. The area in green, which corresponds to a moderate velocity,
increases in extent.
11. Use numerical reports to determine the average, minimum, and maximum of the velocity distribution before
and after the porous substrate.
Results Reports Surface Integrals Edit...
a. Select Mass-Weighted Average from the Report Type drop-down list.
b. Select Velocity and X Velocity from the Field Variable drop-down lists.
c. Select x=165 and x=95 in the Surfaces selection list.
d. Click Compute.
e. Select Facet Minimum from the Report Type drop-down list and click Compute.
f. Select Facet Maximum from the Report Type drop-down list and click Compute.
The numerical report of average, maximum and minimum velocity can be seen in the main ANSYS
Fluent console.
g. Close the Surface Integrals dialog box.
The spread between the average, maximum, and minimum values for X velocity gives the degree to which
the velocity distribution is non-uniform. You can also use these numbers to calculate the velocity ratio (that
is, the maximum velocity divided by the mean velocity) and the space velocity (that is, the product of the
mean velocity and the substrate length).
Custom field functions and UDFs can be also used to calculate more complex measures of non-uniformity,
such as the standard deviation and the gamma uniformity index.
Mass-Weighted Average
X Velocity (m/s)
-------------------------------- --------------------
x=165 4.0394797
x=95 5.2982398
---------------- --------------------
Net 4.6757967
Minimum of Facet Values

X Velocity (m/s)
-------------------------------- --------------------
x=165 2.3443742
x=95 0.88216984
---------------- --------------------
Net 0.88216984
Maximum of Facet Values

X Velocity (m/s)
-------------------------------- --------------------
x=165 6.37113
x=95 8.0291166
---------------- --------------------
Net 8.0291166
10.5. Summary
In this tutorial, you learned how to set up and solve a problem involving gas flow through porous media
in ANSYS Fluent. You also learned how to perform appropriate postprocessing. Flow non-uniformities
were rapidly discovered through images of velocity vectors and pressure contours. Surface integrals
and xy-plots provided purely numeric data.
For additional details about modeling flow through porous media (including heat transfer and reaction
modeling), see Porous Media Conditions in the User's Guide.

Chapter 11: Using a Single Rotating Reference Frame
11.1. Introduction
11.2. Prerequisites
11.5. Summary
11.7. References
11.1. Introduction
This tutorial considers the flow within a 2D, axisymmetric, co-rotating disk cavity system. Understanding
the behavior of such flows is important in the design of secondary air passages for turbine disk cooling.
Set up a 2D axisymmetric model with swirl, using a rotating reference frame.
Use the standard - and RNG - turbulence models.
Display velocity vectors and contours of pressure.
Set up and display XY plots of radial velocity and wall distribution.
Restart the solver from an existing solution.
11.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)
Using a Single Rotating Reference Frame

The problem to be considered is shown schematically in Figure 11.1: Problem Specification (p. 476). This
case is similar to a disk cavity configuration that was extensively studied by Pincombe [1].
Air enters the cavity between two co-rotating disks. The disks are 88.6 cm in diameter and the air enters
at 1.146 m/s through a circular bore 8.86 cm in diameter. The disks, which are 6.2 cm apart, are spinning
at 71.08 rpm, and the air enters with no swirl. As the flow is diverted radially, the rotation of the disk
has a significant effect on the viscous flow developing along the surface of the disk.
As noted by Pincombe [1], there are two nondimensional parameters that characterize this type of disk
cavity flow: the volume flow rate coefficient, , and the rotational Reynolds number, . These
parameters are defined as follows:
(11.1)
(11.2)
where is the volumetric flow rate, is the rotational speed, is the kinematic viscosity, and is
the outer radius of the disks. Here, you will consider a case for which = 1092 and = .
Setup and Solution

11.4.1. Preparation
11.4.2. Mesh
11.4.4. Models
11.4.5. Materials
11.4.8. Solution Using the Standard k- Model
11.4.9. Postprocessing for the Standard k- Solution
11.4.10. Solution Using the RNG k- Model
11.4.11. Postprocessing for the RNG k- Solution
11.4.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the single_rotating_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip single_rotating_R160.zip to your working folder.
The file disk.msh can be found in the single_rotating folder created after unzipping the file.
8. Use Fluent Launcher to start the 2D single precision (disable Double Precision) version of ANSYS Fluent.
10. Run in Serial under Processing Options.
11.4.2. Mesh
1. Read the mesh file (disk.msh).
File Read Mesh...
As ANSYS Fluent reads the mesh file, it will report its progress in the console.
Note
The Fluent console will display a warning that the current setup for the boundary condi-
tions is not appropriate for a 2D/3D flow problem.
You will resolve this issue when you modify the solver settings in a subsequent step.

1. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
Note
ANSYS Fluent will issue a warning concerning the high aspect ratios of some cells and
possible impacts on calculation of Cell Wall Distance. The warning message includes re-
commendations for verifying and correcting the Cell Wall Distance calculation. In this
particular case the cell aspect ratio does not cause problems so no further action is re-
quired. As an optional activity, you can confirm this yourself after the solution is generated
by plotting Cell Wall Distance as noted in the warning message.
2. Examine the mesh (Figure 11.2: Mesh Display for the Disk Cavity (p. 479)).
Setup and Solution
Figure 11.2: Mesh Display for the Disk Cavity
Extra
window, information will be displayed in the ANSYS Fluent console about the associated
zone, including the name of the zone. This feature is especially useful when you have
several zones of the same type and you want to distinguish between them quickly.
3. Define new units for angular velocity and length.
In the problem description, angular velocity and length are specified in rpm and cm, respectively, which
is more convenient in this case. These are not the default units for these quantities.
a. Select angular-velocity from the Quantities list, and rpm in the Units list.
b. Select length from the Quantities list, and cm in the Units list.
4. Specify the solver formulation to be used for the model calculation and enable the modeling of axisymmetric
swirl.
Setup General
a. Retain the default selection of Pressure-Based in the Type list.
b. Retain the default selection of Absolute in the Velocity Formulation list.
Setup and Solution
For a rotating reference frame, the absolute velocity formulation has some numerical advantages.
c. Select Axisymmetric Swirl in the 2D Space list.
11.4.4. Models
1. Enable the standard - turbulence model with the enhanced near-wall treatment.
a. Select k-epsilon (2 eqn) in the Model list.
b. Retain the default selection of Standard in the k-epsilon Model list.
c. Select Enhanced Wall Treatment in the Near-Wall Treatment list.
The ability to calculate a swirl velocity permits the use of a 2D mesh, so the calculation is simpler
and more economical to run. This is especially important for problems where the enhanced wall
treatment is used. The near-wall flow field is resolved through the viscous sublayer and buffer zones
(that is, the first mesh point away from the wall is placed at a of the order of 1).
For details, see Enhanced Wall Treatment -Equation (EWT-) of the Theory Guide.
11.4.5. Materials
For the present analysis, you will model air as an incompressible fluid with a density of 1.225 kg/ and a
dynamic viscosity of 1.7894 kg/m-s. Since these are the default values, no change is required in the
Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
1. Retain the default properties for air.
Extra
You can modify the fluid properties for air at any time or copy another material from the
database.
2. Click Close to close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
For details, see Physical Properties in the User's Guide.
Setup and Solution

Set up the present problem using a rotating reference frame for the fluid. Then define the disk walls to rotate
with the moving frame.
1. Define the rotating reference frame for the fluid zone (fluid-7).
a. Enable Frame Motion.
b. Enter 71.08 rpm for Speed in the Rotational Velocity group box.
1. Set the following conditions at the flow inlet (velocity-inlet-2).
a. Select Components from the Velocity Specification Method drop-down list.
b. Enter 1.146 m/s for Axial-Velocity.
c. Retain the default selection of Intensity and Viscosity Ratio from the Specification Method drop-
down list in the Turbulence group box.
d. Retain the default value of 5 % for Turbulent Intensity.
Setup and Solution
e. Enter 5 for Turbulent Viscosity Ratio.
2. Set the following conditions at the flow outlet (pressure-outlet-3).
a. Select From Neighboring Cell from the Backflow Direction Specification Method drop-down list.
Note
ANSYS Fluent will use the backflow conditions only if the fluid is flowing into the
computational domain through the outlet. Since backflow might occur at some point
during the solution procedure, you should set reasonable backflow conditions to
prevent convergence from being adversely affected.
3. Confirm that the wall boundary condition settings for the disk walls (wall-6) are as shown below.
Note
A Stationary Wall condition implies that the wall is stationary with respect to the adjacent
cell zone. Hence, in the case of a rotating reference frame a Stationary Wall is actually
rotating with respect to the absolute reference frame. To specify a non-rotating wall in
this case you would select Moving Wall (that is, moving with respect to the rotating ref-
erence frame). Then you would specify an absolute rotational speed of 0 in the Motion
group box.
a. Click OK to close the Wall dialog box.
11.4.8. Solution Using the Standard k- Model

Setup and Solution
b. Retain the default selection of Least Squares Cell Based from the Gradient list in the Spatial Discret-
ization group box.
c. Select PRESTO! from the Pressure drop-down list in the Spatial Discretization group box.
The PRESTO! scheme is well suited for steep pressure gradients involved in rotating flows. It provides
improved pressure interpolation in situations where large body forces or strong pressure variations
are present as in swirling flows.
d. Select Second Order Upwind from the Turbulent Kinetic Energy and Turbulent Dissipation Rate
drop-down lists.
Use the scroll bar to access the discretization schemes that are not initially visible in the task page.
a. Retain the default values in the Pseudo Transient Explicit Relaxation Factors group box.
Note
For this problem, the default explicit relaxation factors are satisfactory. However, if
the solution diverges or the residuals display large oscillations, you may need to reduce
the relaxation factors from their default values.
For tips on how to adjust the explicit relaxation parameters for different situations, see Setting
Pseudo Transient Explicit Relaxation Factors in the Users Guide.
Setup and Solution
Note
For this calculation, the convergence tolerance on the continuity equation is kept at
0.001. Depending on the behavior of the solution, you can reduce this value if necessary.
a. Enable the Plot and Write options for surf-mon-1.
Note
When the Write option is selected in the Surface Monitor dialog box, the mass flow
rate history will be written to a file. If you do not enable the Write option, the history
information will be lost when you exit ANSYS Fluent.
b. Select Mass Flow Rate from the Report Type drop-down list.
c. Select pressure-outlet-3 from the Surfaces selection list.
d. Click OK in the Surface Monitor dialog box to enable the monitor.
Setup and Solution
Note
and pressure fields than standard initialization. This in general will help in improving
the convergence behavior of the solver.
6. Save the case file (disk-ke.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
Run Calculation
a. Enter 600 for the Number of Iterations.
b. Click Calculate.
Throughout the calculation, ANSYS Fluent will report reversed flow at the exit. This is reasonable for
the current case. The solution should be sufficiently converged after approximately 550 iterations.
The mass flow rate history is shown in Figure 11.3: Mass Flow Rate History (k- Turbulence Mod-
el) (p. 493).
Setup and Solution
Figure 11.3: Mass Flow Rate History (k- Turbulence Model)
Extra
Here we have retained the default Timescale Factor of 1 in the Run Calculation panel.
When performing a Pseudo Transient calculation, larger values of Timescale Factor may
speed up convergence of the solution. However, setting Timescale Factor too large may
cause the solution to diverge and fail to complete. As an optional activity, you can re-
initialize the solution and try running the calculation with Timescale Factor set to 2.
Observe the convergence behavior and the number of iterations before convergence.
Then try the same again with Timescale Factor set to 4. For more information on setting
Timescale Factor and the Pseudo Transient solver settings, refer to Solving Pseudo-Tran-
sient Flow in the Fluent User's Guide.
Warning
Although the mass flow rate history indicates that the solution is converged, you
should also check the net mass fluxes through the domain to ensure that mass is
being conserved.
a. Select velocity-inlet-2 and pressure-outlet-3 from the Boundaries selection list.
b. Retain the default Mass Flow Rate option.
Warning
The net mass imbalance should be a small fraction (for example, 0.5%) of the total
flux through the system. If a significant imbalance occurs, you should decrease the
residual tolerances by at least an order of magnitude and continue iterating.
9. Save the case and data files (disk-ke.cas.gz and disk-ke.dat.gz).
Click OK to overwrite disk-ke.cas.gz.
Note
It is always prudent to save both case and data files in case anything has changed.
Setup and Solution
11.4.9. Postprocessing for the Standard k- Solution

1. Display the velocity vectors.
a. Enter 50 for Scale
b. Set Skip to 1.
c. Click the Vector Options... button to open the Vector Options dialog box.
i. Disable Z Component.
This allows you to examine only the non-swirling components.
ii. Click Apply and close the Vector Options dialog box.
d. Click Display in the Vectors dialog box to plot the velocity vectors.
A magnified view of the velocity field displaying a counter-clockwise circulation of the flow is shown
in Figure 11.4: Magnified View of Velocity Vectors within the Disk Cavity (p. 496).
Figure 11.4: Magnified View of Velocity Vectors within the Disk Cavity
e. Close the Vectors dialog box.
2. Display filled contours of static pressure.
Setup and Solution
b. Retain the selection of Pressure... and Static Pressure from the Contours of drop-down lists.
The pressure contours are displayed in Figure 11.5: Contours of Static Pressure for the Entire Disk Cav-
ity (p. 498). Notice the high pressure that occurs on the right disk near the hub due to the stagnation of
the flow entering from the bore.
Figure 11.5: Contours of Static Pressure for the Entire Disk Cavity
3. Create a constant -coordinate line for postprocessing.
Setup and Solution
b. Click Compute to update the minimum and maximum values.
c. Enter 37 in the Iso-Values field.
This is the radial position along which you will plot the radial velocity profile.
d. Enter aaa_y=37cm for the New Surface Name.
Using a prefix such as aaa or zzz allows you to keep all postprocessing surfaces together.
e. Click Create to create the isosurface.
Note
The name you use for an isosurface can be any continuous string of characters (without
spaces).
f. Close the Iso-Surface dialog box.
4. Plot the radial velocity distribution on the surface aaa_y=37cm.
Results Plots XY plot Edit...
a. Select Velocity... and Radial Velocity from the Y Axis Function drop-down lists.
b. Select the y-coordinate line aaa_y=37cm from the Surfaces selection list.
c. Click Plot.
Figure 11.6: Radial Velocity DistributionStandard k- Solution (p. 501) shows a plot of the radial
velocity distribution along .
Setup and Solution
Figure 11.6: Radial Velocity DistributionStandard k- Solution
d. Enable Write to File in the Options group box to save the radial velocity profile.
e. Click the Write... button to open the Select File dialog box.
i. Enter ke-data.xy in the XY File text entry box and click OK.
Be sure to double check the location where the files are being saved to ensure they will be saved
where you intend.
5. Plot the wall y+ distribution on the rotating disk wall along the radial direction (Figure 11.7: Wall Yplus
Distribution on wall-6 Standard k- Solution (p. 504)).
b. Select Turbulence... and Wall Yplus from the Y Axis Function drop-down lists.
c. Deselect aaa_y=37cm and select wall-6 from the Surfaces selection list.
d. Enter 0 and 1 for X and Y respectively in the Plot Direction group box.
Note
The change in Plot Direction is required because we are plotting y+ along the radial
dimension of the disk, which is oriented with Y axis.
e. Click the Axes... button to open the Axes - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
Setup and Solution
i. Retain the default selection of X from the Axis group box.
ii. Disable Auto Range in the Options group box.
iii. Retain the default value of 0 for Minimum and enter 43 for Maximum in the Range group box.
iv. Click Apply and close the Axes - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
f. Click Plot in the Solution XY Plot dialog box.
Figure 11.7: Wall Yplus Distribution on wall-6 Standard k- Solution (p. 504) shows a plot of wall
y+ distribution along wall-6.
Figure 11.7: Wall Yplus Distribution on wall-6 Standard k- Solution
g. Enable Write to File in the Options group box to save the wall y+ profile.
h. Click the Write... button to open the Select File dialog box.
i. Enter ke-yplus.xy in the XY File text entry box and click OK.
Note
Ideally, while using enhanced wall treatment, the wall y+ should be in the order of 1
(at least less than 5) to resolve the viscous sublayer. The plot justifies the applicability
of enhanced wall treatment to the given mesh.
i. Close the Solution XY Plot dialog box.
11.4.10. Solution Using the RNG k- Model

Recalculate the solution using the RNG - turbulence model.
1. Enable the RNG - turbulence model with the enhanced near-wall treatment.
Setup and Solution
a. Select RNG in the k-epsilon Model list.
b. Enable Differential Viscosity Model and Swirl Dominated Flow in the RNG Options group box.
The differential viscosity model and swirl modification can provide better accuracy for swirling flows
such as the disk cavity.
For more information, see RNG Swirl Modification of the Theory Guide.
c. Retain Enhanced Wall Treatment as the Near-Wall Treatment.
2. Continue the calculation by requesting 300 iterations.
The solution converges after approximately 230 additional iterations.
3. Click Yes in the Question dialog box to append the data to surf-mon-1.out.
4. Save the case and data files (disk-rng.cas.gz and disk-rng.dat.gz).
11.4.11. Postprocessing for the RNG k- Solution

1. Plot the radial velocity distribution for the RNG - solution and compare it with the distribution for the
standard - solution.
a. Enter 1 and 0 for X and Y respectively in the Plot Direction group box.
b. Select Velocity... and Radial Velocity from the Y Axis Function drop-down lists.
c. Select aaa_y=37cm and deselect wall-6 from the Surfaces selection list.
d. Disable the Write to File option.
e. Click the Load File... button to load the - data.
i. Select the file ke-data.xy in the Select File dialog box.
ii. Click OK.
f. Click the Axes... button to open the Axes - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
i. Enable Auto Range in the Options group box.
Setup and Solution
ii. Click Apply and close the Axes - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
g. Click the Curves... button to open the Curves - Solution XY Plot dialog box, where you will define a
different curve symbol for the RNG - data.
i. Retain 0 for the Curve #.
ii. Select x from the Symbol drop-down list.
iii. Click Apply and close the Curves - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
h. Click Plot in the Solution XY Plot dialog box (Figure 11.8: Radial Velocity Distribution RNG k- and
Standard k- Solutions (p. 507)).
Figure 11.8: Radial Velocity Distribution RNG k- and Standard k- Solutions
The peak velocity predicted by the RNG - solution is higher than that predicted by the standard
- solution. This is due to the less diffusive character of the RNG - model. Adjust the range of
the axis to magnify the region of the peaks.
i. Click the Axes... button to open the Axes - Solution XY Plot dialog box, where you will specify the
-axis range.
i. Disable Auto Range in the Options group box.
ii. Retain the value of 0 for Minimum and enter 1 for Maximum in the Range dialog box.
iii. Click Apply and close the Axes - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
j. Click Plot.
The difference between the peak values calculated by the two models is now more apparent.
Setup and Solution
Figure 11.9: RNG k- and Standard k- Solutions (x=0 cm to x=1 cm)
2. Plot the wall y+ distribution on the rotating disk wall along the radial direction Figure 11.10: wall-6 RNG
k- and Standard k- Solutions (x=0 cm to x=43 cm) (p. 510).
a. Select Turbulence... and Wall Yplus from the Y Axis Function drop-down lists.
b. Deselect aaa_y=37cm and select wall-6 from the Surfaces selection list.
c. Enter 0 and 1 for X and Y respectively in the Plot Direction group box.
d. Select any existing files that appear in the File Data selection list and click the Free Data button to
remove the file.
e. Click the Load File... button to load the RNG - data.
i. Select the file ke-yplus.xy in the Select File dialog box.
ii. Click OK.
f. Click the Axes... button to open the Axes - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
i. Retain the default selection of X from the Axis group box.
ii. Retain the default value of 0 for Minimum and enter 43 for Maximum in the Range group box.
iii. Click Apply and close the Axes - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
g. Click Plot in the Solution XY Plot dialog box.
Figure 11.10: wall-6 RNG k- and Standard k- Solutions (x=0 cm to x=43 cm)
References
11.5. Summary
This tutorial illustrated the setup and solution of a 2D, axisymmetric disk cavity problem in ANSYS Fluent.
The ability to calculate a swirl velocity permits the use of a 2D mesh, thereby making the calculation
simpler and more economical to run than a 3D model. This can be important for problems where the
enhanced wall treatment is used, and the near-wall flow field is resolved using a fine mesh (the first
mesh point away from the wall being placed at a y+ on the order of 1).
For more information about mesh considerations for turbulence modeling, see Model Hierarchy in the
User's Guide.

The case modeled in this tutorial lends itself to parametric study due to its relatively small size. Here
are some things you may want to try:
Separate wall-6 into two walls.
Mesh Separate Faces...
Specify one wall to be stationary, and rerun the calculation.
Use adaption to see if resolving the high velocity and pressure-gradient region of the flow has a significant
effect on the solution.
Introduce a nonzero swirl at the inlet or use a velocity profile for fully-developed pipe flow. This is probably
more realistic than the constant axial velocity used here, since the flow at the inlet is typically being supplied
by a pipe.
Model compressible flow (using the ideal gas law for density) rather than assuming incompressible flow
text.
11.7. References
1. Pincombe, J.R.,Velocity Measurements in the Mk II - Rotating Cavity Rig with a Radial Outflow, Thermo-
Fluid Mechanics Research Centre, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK, 1981.
Chapter 12: Using Multiple Reference Frames
12.1. Introduction
12.2. Prerequisites
12.5. Summary
12.1. Introduction
Many engineering problems involve rotating flow domains. One example is the centrifugal blower unit
that is typically used in automotive climate control systems. For problems where all the moving parts
(fan blades, hub and shaft surfaces, and so on) are rotating at a prescribed angular velocity, and the
stationary walls (for example, shrouds, duct walls) are surfaces of revolution with respect to the axis of
rotation, the entire domain can be referred to as a single rotating frame of reference. However, when
each of the several parts is rotating about a different axis of rotation, or about the same axis at different
speeds, or when the stationary walls are not surfaces of revolution (such as the volute around a centri-
fugal blower wheel), a single rotating coordinate system is not sufficient to immobilize" the computa-
tional domain so as to predict a steady-state flow field. In such cases, the problem must be formulated
using multiple reference frames.
In ANSYS Fluent, the flow features associated with one or more rotating parts can be analyzed using
the multiple reference frame (MRF) capability. This model is powerful in that multiple rotating reference
frames can be included in a single domain. The resulting flow field is representative of a snapshot of
the transient flow field in which the rotating parts are moving. However, in many cases the interface
can be chosen in such a way that the flow field at this location is independent of the orientation of the
moving parts. That is, if an interface can be drawn on which there is little or no angular dependence,
the model can be a reliable tool for simulating time-averaged flow fields. It is therefore very useful in
complicated situations where one or more rotating parts are present.
This tutorial illustrates the procedure for setting up and solving a problem using the MRF capability. As
an example, the flow field on a 2D section of a centrifugal blower will be calculated. Although this is a
general methodology that can be applied to cases where more than one reference frame is moving,
this example will be limited to a single rotating reference frame.
Create mesh interfaces from interface-zones defined during meshing.
Specify different frames of reference for different fluid zones.
Set the relative velocity of each wall.
Using Multiple Reference Frames
12.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)
This tutorial also assumes that you are familiar with the ANSYS Fluent tree and menu structure. Some
steps in the setup and solution procedure will not be shown explicitly.
In general, to solve problems using the MRF feature, you should be familiar with the concept of creating
multiple fluid zones in your mesh generator.

This problem considers a 2D section of a generic centrifugal blower. A schematic of the problem is
shown in Figure 12.1: Schematic of the Problem (p. 514). The blower consists of 32 blades, each with a
chord length of 13.5 mm. The blades are located approximately 56.5 mm (measured from the leading
edge) from the center of rotation. The radius of the outer wall varies logarithmically from 80 mm to
146.5 mm. You will simulate the flow under no load, or free-delivery conditions when inlet and outlet
pressures are at ambient conditions (0 Pa gauge). This corresponds to the maximum flow-rate of the
blower when sitting in free air. The blades are rotating with an angular velocity of 2500 rpm. The flow
is assumed to be turbulent.
Setup and Solution

12.4.1. Preparation
12.4.2. Reading and Checking the Mesh and Setting the Units
12.4.5. Specifying Materials
12.4.6. Specifying Cell Zone Conditions
12.4.7. Setting Boundary Conditions
12.4.8. Defining Mesh Interfaces
12.4.10. Step 9: Postprocessing
12.4.1. Preparation
To access tutorials and their input files on the ANSYS Customer Portal, go to http://support.ansys.com/
training.
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the multiple_rotating_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip the multiple_rotating_R160.zip file you have downloaded to your working folder.
The file, blower-2d.msh can be found in the multiple_rotating directory created after unzipping
the file.
8. Use Fluent Launcher to start the 2D Double Precision version of ANSYS Fluent.
10. Ensure that the Serial processing option is selected.
12.4.2. Reading and Checking the Mesh and Setting the Units
1. Read the mesh file (blower-2d.msh).
File Read Mesh...
The geometry and mesh are displayed in graphics window (Figure 12.2: Mesh of the 2D Centrifugal
Blower (p. 517))
2. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
sure that the reported minimum volume is a positive number. It will also issue warnings about unassigned
interface zones. You do not need to take any action now. You will set up the mesh interfaces in a later
step.
The mesh consists of three fluid zones, fluid-casing, fluid-inlet, and fluid-rotor. These are reported in
the console when the mesh is read. In the Mesh Display dialog box, the fluid zones are reported as in-
terior zones default-interior, default-interior:013, and default-interior:015 respectively. The fluid zone
containing the blades will be solved in a rotational reference frame.
Setup and Solution
Figure 12.2: Mesh of the 2D Centrifugal Blower
The fluid zones are bounded by interface zones that appear in the mesh display in yellow. These interface
boundaries were used in the mesh generator to separate the fluid zones, and will be used to create mesh
interfaces between adjacent fluid zones when the boundary conditions are set later in this tutorial.
4. Set the units for angular velocity.
In the problem description, angular velocity is specified in rpm rather than in the default unit of rad/s.
a. Select angular-velocity from the Quantities list and rpm in the Units list.
b. Close the Set Units dialog box.

1. Retain the default settings of the pressure-based steady-state solver in the Solver group box.
Setup General

Setup and Solution
b. Select Enhanced Wall Treatment in the Near-Wall Treatment list.
c. Click OK to close the Viscous Model dialog box.
12.4.5. Specifying Materials

Tip
If needed, you could modify the fluid properties for air or copy another material from
the database.
2. Click Close to close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
For details, see Physical Properties in the User's Guide.
12.4.6. Specifying Cell Zone Conditions
1. Define the boundary conditions for the rotational reference frame (fluid-rotor).
Setup Cell Zone Conditions fluid-rotor Edit...
Setup and Solution
The dialog box will expand to show the relevant inputs.
b. Under the Reference Frame tab, retain the Rotation-Axis Origin default setting of (0,0).
This is the center of curvature for the circular boundaries of the rotating zone.
c. Enter -2500 rpm for Speed in the Rotational Velocity group box.
Note
The speed is entered as a negative value because the rotor is rotating clockwise, which
is in the negative sense about the Z axis.
d. Click OK to close the Fluid dialog box.
Note
Since the other fluid zones are stationary, you do not need to set any boundary conditions
for them. If one or more of the remaining fluid zones were also rotating, you would need
to set the appropriate rotational speed for them.
Tip
In this example, the names of the fluid-zones in the mesh file leave no ambiguity as to
which is the rotating fluid zone. In the event that you have a mesh without clear names,
you may have difficulty identifying the various fluid-zones. Unlike interior zones, the fluid-
zones cannot be individually selected and displayed from the Mesh Display dialog box.
However, you can use commands in the text interface to display them.
Setup Cell Zone Conditions Display Mesh...
i. Click the interior zones, default-interior, default-interior:013, and default-interior:015

in the Surfaces selection list to deselect them.
ii. Click Display.
Only the domain boundaries and interface zones will be displayed.
iii. Press Enter to get the > prompt.
iv. Type the commands, in the console, as shown.

> display
/display> zone-mesh
()
zone id/name(1) [()] 4
zone id/name(2) [()] <Enter>
The resulting display shows that the zone with ID 4 (in this case fluid-rotor) corresponds
to the rotating region.
v. Close the Mesh Display dialog box.
Setup and Solution
12.4.7. Setting Boundary Conditions
1. Set the boundary conditions for the flow inlet (inlet) as specified in the problem description (see Fig-
ure 12.1: Schematic of the Problem (p. 514)).
a. Review the boundary condition definition for the pressure-inlet type. Leave the settings at their defaults.
b. Click OK to close the Pressure Inlet dialog box.
Note
All pressures that you specify in ANSYS Fluent are gauge pressures, relative to the oper-
ating pressure specified in the Operating Conditions dialog box. By default, the operating
pressure is 101325 Pa.
For details, see Operating Pressure in the User's Guide.
2. Review and retain the default values for the boundary conditions for the flow outlet (outlet) so that the
backflow turbulence parameters for the flow outlet (outlet) are set to the same values used for inlet.
Note
The backflow values are used only if reversed flow occurs at the outlet, but it is a good
idea to use reasonable values, even if you do not expect any backflow to occur.
3. Define the velocity of the wall zone representing the blades (blades) relative to the moving fluid zone.
Setup Boundary Conditions blades Edit...
Setup and Solution
With fluid-rotor set to a rotating reference frame, blades becomes a moving wall.
a. Select Moving Wall in the Wall Motion group box.
The Wall dialog box will expand to show the wall motion parameters.
b. Retain the default selection of Relative to Adjacent Cell Zone and select Rotational in the Motion
group box.
c. Retain the default value of 0 rpm for (relative) Speed.
The Rotation-Axis Origin should be located at = 0 m and = 0 m. With these settings, the blades
will move at the same speed as the surrounding fluid.
12.4.8. Defining Mesh Interfaces

Recall that the fluid domain is defined as three distinct fluid zones. You must define mesh interfaces between
the adjacent fluid zones so that ANSYS Fluent can solve the flow equations across the interfaces.
1. Set up the mesh interface between fluid-inlet and fluid-rotor.
Setup Mesh Interfaces New...
a. Enter int1 under Mesh Interface to name this interface definition.
b. Select interface-1 for Interface Zone 1 and interface-2 for Interface Zone 2.
You can use the Draw button to help identify the interface-zones.
c. Click Create in order to create the mesh interface, int1.
d. In a similar manner, define a mesh interface called int2 between interface-3 and interface-
4.
e. Close the Create/Edit Mesh Interfaces dialog box.

Setup and Solution
b. Select Second Order Upwind for Turbulent Kinetic Energy and Turbulent Dissipation Rate in the
The second-order scheme will provide a more accurate solution.
2. Enable that plotting of residuals during the calculation.
b. Enter 5e-5 under Absolute Criteria for the continuity equation.
For this problem, the default value of 0.001 is insufficient for the flow rate in the blower to fully
converge. All other settings should remain at their default values.
3. Create a surface monitor and plot the volume flow rate at the flow outlet.
Setup and Solution
a. Enable the Plot and Write options for surf-mon-1.
Note
When the Write option is selected in the Surface Monitor dialog box, the mass flow
rate history will be written to a file. If you do not enable the Write option, the history
information will be lost when you exit ANSYS Fluent.
b. Select Volume Flow Rate from the Report Type drop-down list.
c. Select outlet from the Surfaces selection list.
d. Click OK in the Surface Monitor dialog box to enable the monitor.
a. Retain the default selection of Hybrid Initialization in the Initialization Methods group box.
b. Click Initialize to initialize the solution.
Note
and pressure fields than standard initialization. This in general will help in improving
5. Save the case file (blower.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
Setup and Solution
b. Click Calculate.
Early in the calculation, ANSYS Fluent will report that there is reversed flow occurring at the exit. This
is due to the sudden expansion, which results in a recirculating flow near the exit.
The solution will converge in approximately 120 iterations (when all residuals have dropped
below their respective criteria).
Figure 12.3: History of Volume Flow Rate the Outlet
The surface monitor history indicates that the flow rate at the outlet has ceased changing significantly,
further indicating that the solution has converged. The volume flow rate is approximately 3.49 m3/s.
Note
You can examine the residuals history by selecting it from the graphics window drop-
down list.
7. Save the case and data files (blower2.cas.gz and blower2.dat.gz).
Note
It is good practice to save the case file whenever you are saving the data. This will ensure
that the relevant parameters corresponding to the current solution data are saved accord-
ingly.
12.4.10. Step 9: Postprocessing

1. Display filled contours of static pressure (Figure 12.4: Contours of Static Pressure (p. 533)).
b. Ensure Pressure... and Static Pressure are selected from the Contours of drop-down lists.
c. Click Display and close the Contours dialog box (see Figure 12.4: Contours of Static Pressure (p. 533)).
Pressure distribution in the flow domain is plotted in graphics window.
Setup and Solution
2. Display absolute velocity vectors (Figure 12.5: Velocity Vectors (p. 535)).
By default, Auto Scale is chosen. This will automatically scale the length of velocity vectors relative
to the size of the smallest cell in the mesh. To increase the length of the scaled" vectors, set the Scale
factor to a value greater than 1.
b. Retain the default selection of Velocity from the Vectors of drop-down list.
c. Retain the default selection of Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude from the Color by drop-down list.
d. Click Display and close the Vectors dialog box (see Figure 12.5: Velocity Vectors (p. 535)).
Setup and Solution
The velocity vectors show an area of flow separation near the bottom of the outlet duct. You can zoom
in on this area and see the flow recirculation.
3. Display relative velocity vectors with respect to the rotational reference frame (fluid-rotor).
a. In the Reference Values task page, select fluid-rotor from the Reference Zone drop-down list.
Setup Reference Values
b. In the Vectors dialog box, select Relative Velocity from the Vectors of drop-down list.
c. Select Velocity... and Relative Velocity Magnitude from the Color by drop-down list.
d. Set Scale to 2.
The relative air velocity vectors viewed in the frame of reference rotating with the rotor are dis-
played.
f. Zoom in on the rotor blade region as shown in Figure 12.6: Relative Velocity Vectors (p. 537) and examine
the air flow through the rotor blade passages.
Setup and Solution
Figure 12.6: Relative Velocity Vectors
4. Report the mass flux at inlet and outlet.
a. Retain the selection of Mass Flow Rate in the Options group box.
b. Select inlet and outlet in the Boundaries selection list.
c. Click Compute.
The net mass imbalance should be no more than a small fraction (say, 0.5%) of the total flux through
the system. If a significant imbalance occurs, you should decrease your residual tolerances by at least
an order of magnitude and continue iterating.
The flux report will compute fluxes only for boundary zones.
Note
You can use the Surface Integrals option to report fluxes on surfaces or planes.
12.5. Summary
This tutorial illustrates the procedure for setting up and solving problems with multiple reference frames
using ANSYS Fluent. Although this tutorial considers only one rotating fluid zone, extension to multiple
rotating fluid zones is straightforward as long as you delineate each fluid zone.
Note that this tutorial was solved using the default absolute velocity formulation. For some problems
involving rotating reference frames, you may want to use the relative velocity formulation. See the
ANSYS Fluent User's Guide for details.

Chapter 13: Using the Mixing Plane Model
13.1. Introduction
13.2. Prerequisites
13.5. Summary
13.1. Introduction
This tutorial considers the flow in an axial fan with a rotor in front and stators (vanes) in the rear. This
configuration is typical of a single-stage axial flow turbomachine. By considering the rotor and stator
together in a single calculation, you can determine the interaction between these components.
Use the standard - model with enhanced wall treatment.
Use a mixing plane to model the rotor-stator interface.
Compute and display circumferential averages of total pressure on a surface.
13.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)

The problem to be considered is shown schematically in Figure 13.1: Problem Specification (p. 542). The
rotor and stator consist of 9 and 12 blades, respectively. A steady-state solution for this configuration
using only one rotor blade and one stator blade is desired. Since the periodic angles for the rotor and
stator are different, a mixing plane must be used at the interface.
Using the Mixing Plane Model
The mixing plane is defined at the rotor outlet / stator inlet. The mesh is set up with periodic boundaries
on either side of the rotor and stator blades. A pressure inlet is used at the upstream boundary and a
pressure outlet at the downstream boundary. Ambient air is drawn into the fan (at 0 Pa gauge total
pressure) and is exhausted back out to the ambient environment (0 Pa static pressure). The hub and
blade of the rotor are assumed to be rotating at 1800 rpm.

13.4.1. Preparation
13.4.2. Mesh
13.4.4. Models
13.4.5. Mixing Plane
13.4.6. Materials
13.4.9. Solution
13.4.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
Setup and Solution
6. Click the mixing_plane_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip mixing_plane_R160.zip to your working folder.
The file fanstage.msh can be found in the mixing_plane directory created after unzipping the
file.
Copy the fanstage.msh file into your working directory.
the User's Guide.
13.4.2. Mesh
1. Read the mesh file fanstage.msh.
File Read Mesh...
As ANSYS Fluent reads the mesh file, it will report its progress in the console.

1. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
that the reported minimum volume is a positive number. You will notice that ANSYS Fluent issues several
warning messages concerning translation vectors with suggestions to check periodic setup. These arise
because you have not yet specified the periodicity for zones 11 and 22. You can ignore these warnings
because you will specify the periodicity in a later step.
2. Display the mesh (Figure 13.2: Mesh Display for the Multistage Fan (p. 545)).
a. Select only rotor-blade, rotor-hub, rotor-inlet-hub, stator-blade, and stator-hub from the Surfaces
selection list.
b. De-select Faces in the Options group box.
Setup and Solution
Figure 13.2: Mesh Display for the Multistage Fan
Extra
Setup General
4. Define new units for angular velocity.
The angular velocity for this problem is known in rpm, which is not the default unit for angular velocity.
You will need to redefine the angular velocity units as rpm.
a. Select angular-velocity from the Quantities selection list and rpm from the Units selection list.
13.4.4. Models
1. Enable the standard - turbulence model with enhanced wall treatment.
Setup and Solution
a. Select k-epsilon (2 eqn) from the Model list.
b. Retain the default selection of Standard from the k-epsilon Model list.
c. Select Enhanced Wall Treatment from the Near-Wall Treatment list.
13.4.5. Mixing Plane

Define Mixing Planes...
In this step, you will create the mixing plane between the pressure outlet of the rotor and the pressure inlet
of the stator.
1. Select pressure-outlet-rotor from the Upstream Zone selection list.
2. Select pressure-inlet-stator from the Downstream Zone selection list.
3. Retain the selection of Area from the Averaging Method list.
4. Click Create and close the Mixing Planes dialog box.
ANSYS Fluent will name the mixing plane by combining the names of the zones selected as the Upstream
Zone and Downstream Zone. This new name will be displayed in the Mixing Plane list.
The essential idea behind the mixing plane concept is that each fluid zone (stator and rotor) is solved as
a steady-state problem. At prescribed iteration intervals, the flow data at the mixing plane interface is
averaged in the circumferential direction on both the rotor outlet and the stator inlet boundaries. ANSYS
Fluent uses these circumferential averages to define profiles of flow properties. These profiles are then
used to update boundary conditions along the two zones of the mixing plane interface.
In this example, profiles of averaged total pressure ( ), static pressure ( ), direction cosines of the local
flow angles in the radial, tangential, and axial directions ( ), turbulent kinetic energy ( ), turbulent
dissipation rate ( ), and radius ( ) are computed at the rotor exit and used to update boundary conditions
at the stator inlet. Likewise, the same profiles (except for that of total pressure) are computed at the
stator inlet and used as a boundary condition on the rotor exit.
The default method for calculating mixing plane profiles uses an area-weighted averaging approach.
This method allows reasonable profiles of all variables to be created, regardless of the mesh topology.
In some cases, a mass flow-weighted averaging may be appropriate (for example, with compressible
turbomachinery flows). For such cases, Mass should be selected from the Averaging Method list. A third
averaging approach (the Mixed-Out average) is also available for flows with ideal gases. Refer to
Choosing an Averaging Method in the Theory Guide for more information on these averaging methods.
You can view the profiles computed at the rotor exit and stator inlet in the Profiles dialog box.
Define Profiles...
Setup and Solution
You will also see that these profiles appear in the boundary conditions dialog boxes for the rotor exit
and stator inlet.
For more information on mixing planes, see The Mixing Plane Model in the Users Guide.
13.4.6. Materials
a. Review the default properties for air.
For the present analysis, you will model air as an incompressible fluid with a density of 1.225 kg/m3
and a dynamic viscosity of 1.7894 10-5 kg/m-s. Since these are the default values, no change is re-
quired in the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
b. Close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
1. Set the conditions for the rotor fluid (fluid-rotor).
Setup and Solution
b. Enter -1 for Z in the Rotation-Axis Direction group box.
According to the right-hand rule (see Figure 13.1: Problem Specification (p. 542)), the axis of rotation
is the axis.
c. Enter 1800 rpm for Speed in the Rotational Velocity group box.
d. Click OK to close the Fluid dialog box.
2. Set the conditions for the stator fluid (fluid-stator).
Setup Cell Zone Conditions fluid-stator Edit...
a. Enter -1 for Z in the Rotation-Axis Direction group box. Even though Frame Motion is not enabled
for the fluid-stator zone, the rotational axis specification must be consistent between zones.
Setup and Solution
1. Specify rotational periodicity for the periodic boundary of the rotor (periodic-11).
Setup Boundary Conditions periodic-11 Edit...
a. Select Rotational from the Periodic Type list.
b. Click OK to close the Periodic dialog box.
2. Specify rotational periodicity for the periodic boundary of the stator (periodic-22).
Setup Boundary Conditions periodic-22 Edit...
a. Select Rotational from the Periodic Type list.
3. Set the conditions for the pressure inlet of the rotor (pressure-inlet-rotor).
Setup Boundary Conditions pressure-inlet-rotor Edit...
a. Select Direction Vector from the Direction Specification Method drop-down list.
b. Enter 0 for X-Component of Flow Direction.
Setup and Solution
c. Enter -1 for Z-Component of Flow Direction.
d. Retain the selection of Intensity and Viscosity Ratio from the Specification Method drop-down list.
e. Retain the default, 5% for Turbulence Intensity and enter 5 for Turbulent Viscosity Ratio.
f. Click OK to close the Pressure Inlet dialog box.
4. Retain the default settings for the pressure inlet of the stator (pressure-inlet-stator).
Setup Boundary Conditions pressure-inlet-stator Edit...
The profiles computed at the rotor outlet are used to update the boundary conditions at the stator inlet.
These profiles were set automatically when the mixing plane was created. Therefore, you do not need to
set any parameters in this dialog box.
a. Verify that the settings are defined by the fields of the pressure-outlet-rotor profile.
b. Click OK to close the Pressure Inlet dialog box.
5. Retain the default settings for the pressure outlet of the rotor (pressure-outlet-rotor).
Setup Boundary Conditions pressure-outlet-rotor Edit...
The Backflow Direction Specification Method was set to Direction Vector when you created the
mixing plane, and the Coordinate System to Cylindrical (as for the stator inlet). The values for the dir-
ection cosines are taken from the profiles at the stator.
a. Verify that the settings are defined by the fields of the pressure-inlet-stator profile.
6. Set the conditions for the pressure outlet of the stator (pressure-outlet-stator).
Setup Boundary Conditions pressure-outlet-stator Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Retain the default selection of Normal to Boundary from the Backflow Direction Specification
In problems where a backflow exists at the pressure outlet boundary (for example, a torque-converter),
you can use this option to specify the direction of the backflow.
b. Enable the Radial Equilibrium Pressure Distribution option.
This option accounts for the pressure distribution that results from rotation by calculating the pressure
gradient according to
where is the tangential velocity. This option is appropriate for axial flow configurations with relat-
ively straight flow paths (that is, little change in radius from inlet to exit).
c. Retain the default selection of Intensity and Viscosity Ratio from the Specification Method drop-
down list.
d. Enter 1% for Backflow Turbulent Intensity.
e. Enter 1 for Backflow Turbulent Viscosity Ratio.
f. Click OK to close the Pressure Outlet dialog box.
7. Retain the default conditions for the rotor-hub.
Setup Boundary Conditions rotor-hub Edit...
For a rotating reference frame, ANSYS Fluent assumes by default that walls rotate with the rotating ref-
erence frame, and hence are stationary with respect to it. Since the rotor-hub is rotating, you should
retain the default settings.
a. Verify that Stationary Wall is selected from the Wall Motion list.
b. Click OK to accept the default settings and close the Wall dialog box.
8. Set the conditions for the inlet hub of the rotor (rotor-inlet-hub).
Setup Boundary Conditions rotor-inlet-hub Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Select Moving Wall from the Wall Motion list.
The Wall dialog box will expand to show the wall motion inputs.
b. Select Absolute and Rotational in the Motion group box.
c. Enter -1 for Z in the Rotation-Axis Direction group box.
These conditions set the rotor-inlet-hub to be a stationary wall in the absolute frame.
9. Set the conditions for the shroud of the rotor inlet (rotor-inlet-shroud).
Setup Boundary Conditions rotor-inlet-shroud Edit...
c. Enter -1 for Z in the Rotation-Axis Direction group box.
These conditions will set the rotor-inlet-shroud to be a stationary wall in the absolute frame.
10. Set the conditions for the rotor shroud (rotor-shroud).
Setup Boundary Conditions rotor-shroud Edit...
Setup and Solution
c. Enter -1 for Z in Rotation-Axis Direction group box.
These conditions will set the rotor-shroud to be a stationary wall in the absolute frame.
13.4.9. Solution
b. Ensure that Second Order Upwind is selected from the Momentum drop-down list in the Spatial
Discretization group box.
c. Ensure that Second Order Upwind is selected from the Turbulent Kinetic Energy drop-down list.
d. Ensure that Second Order Upwind is selected from the Turbulent Dissipation Rate drop-down list.
e. Enable the Pseudo Transient option.
Setup and Solution
a. Enter 0.2 for Pressure in the Pseudo Transient Explicit Relaxation Factors group box.
b. Enter 0.5 for Turbulent Kinetic Energy.
c. Enter 0.5 for Turbulent Dissipation Rate.
Scroll down to find the Turbulent Dissipation Rate number-entry box.
Note
For this problem, it was found that these under-relaxation factors worked well.
For tips on how to adjust the under-relaxation parameters for different situations, see Setting Under-
Relaxation Factors in the User's Guide.
a. Ensure that the Plot option is enabled in the Options group box.
Setup and Solution
a. Retain surf-mon-1 for Name.
b. Enable the Plot and Write options.
c. Retain surf-mon-1.out for File Name.
d. Select Mass Flow Rate from the Report Type drop-down list.
e. Select pressure-outlet-stator from the Surfaces selection list.
f. Click OK to close the Surface Monitor dialog box.
a. Retain the default selection of Hybrid Initialization from the Initialization Methods list.
Note
A warning is displayed in the console stating that the convergence tolerance of

1.000000e-06 has not been reached during Hybrid Initialization. This means that the
default number of iterations is not enough. You will increase the number of iterations
and re-initialize the flow. For more information refer to Hybrid Initialization in the
User's Guide.
c. Click More Settings... to open the Hybrid Initialization dialog box.
Setup and Solution
i. Increase the Number of Iterations to 15.
ii. Click OK to close the Hybrid Initialization dialog box.
d. Click Initialize once more.
Note
Click OK in the Question dialog box to discard the current data. After completing 15 it-
erations, the console displays a message that hybrid initialization is done.
Note
and pressure fields than standard initialization. This will help to improve the convergence
behavior of the solver.
6. Save the case file (fanstage.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
a. Select User Specified from the Time Step Method list.
Note
While the Automatic method is suitable for most cases, for this problem you will
specify a pseudo time step that is larger than the default value, in order to accelerate
the convergence. For information on how the pseudo time step is automatically set,
see Automatic Pseudo Transient Time Step in the Theory Guide.
b. Enter 0.01 s for Pseudo Time Step.
c. Enter 200 for Number of iterations.
d. Click Calculate.
The solution will converge after approximately 150 iterations, as shown in Figure 13.3: Mass Flow Rate
History (p. 568). However, the residual history plot is only one indication of solution convergence.
Figure 13.3: Mass Flow Rate History
8. Save the case and data files (fanstage-1.cas.gz and fanstage-1.dat.gz).
Setup and Solution
Warning
Although the mass flow rate history indicates that the solution is converged, you
should also check the mass fluxes through the domain to ensure that mass is being
conserved.
a. Retain the default selection of Mass Flow Rate from the Options list.
b. Click pressure-inlet-rotor, pressure-inlet-stator, pressure-outlet-rotor, and pressure-outlet-stator

in the Boundaries selection list.
c. Click Compute.
Warning
The net mass imbalance should be a small fraction (approximately 0.5%) of the
total flux through the system. If a significant imbalance occurs, you should de-
crease your residual tolerances by at least an order of magnitude and continue
iterating.
Note
The fluxes are different for the portions of the rotor and stator that have been modeled.
However, the flux for the whole rotor and the whole stator are both approximately
equal to 0.2292 kg/s (that is, 0.02547 9 rotor blades, and 0.01910 12 stator blades).
1. Create an isosurface at =0.12 m.
The surface =0.12 m is a midspan slice through the mesh. This view is useful for looking at the blade-
to-blade flow field.
c. Enter 0.12 m for Iso-Values.
d. Enter y=0.12 for New Surface Name.
2. Create an isosurface at m.
The surface m is an axial plane downstream of the stator. This will be used to plot circumferentially
averaged profiles.
c. Enter -0.1 m for Iso-Values.
Setup and Solution
d. Enter z=-0.1 for New Surface Name.
Note
The default name that ANSYS Fluent displays in the New Surface Name field (that is,
z-coordinate-17) indicates that this is surface number 17. This fact will be used later
in the tutorial when you plot circumferential averages.
3. Display and save velocity vectors on the midspan surface (Figure 13.4: Velocity Vectors on y=0.12
Near the Stator Blade (p. 572)).
a. Change the Vector Name to vector-velocity.
b. Retain the default selection of arrow from the Style drop-down list.
d. Set Skip to 2.
e. Select y=0.12 from the Surfaces selection list.
f. Click Save/Display to plot the velocity vectors.
g. Rotate and zoom the view to get the display shown in Figure 13.4: Velocity Vectors on y=0.12 Near the
Stator Blade (p. 572).
Figure 13.4: Velocity Vectors on y=0.12 Near the Stator Blade
Plotting the velocity field in this manner gives a good indication of the midspan flow over the stator.
For the rotor, it is instructive to similarly plot the relative velocity field.
h. Close the Vectors dialog box.
4. Plot a circumferential average of the total pressure on the plane .
Setup and Solution
a. Type the text commands in the console as follows:

>plot
/plot> circum-avg-radial
averages of> total-pressure
on surface [] 17
number of bands [5] 15
Note
Surface 17 is the surface z=-0.1 you created earlier. For increased resolution, 15 bands
are used instead of the default 5.
b. Enter the name of the output file as circum-plot.xy when prompted.

Computing r-coordinate ...
Clipping to r-coordinate ... done.
Computing "total-pressure" ...
Computing averages ... done.
Creating radial-bands surface (32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18).
filename [""] "circum-plot.xy"
c. Retain the default of no when asked to order points.

order points? [no] no
d. Display the circumferential average.
Results Plots File Set Up...
i. Click Add... and select the file circum-plot.xy in the Select File dialog box.
ii. Click Plot and close the File XY Plot dialog box.
The radial variation in the total pressure is very non-uniform, as shown in Figure 13.5: Plot of Circum-
ferential Average of the Total Pressure on z=-0.1 Plane (p. 574). The losses are largest near the hub.
Figure 13.5: Plot of Circumferential Average of the Total Pressure on z=-0.1 Plane
5. Display and save filled contours of total pressure.
Setup and Solution
a. Change the Contour Name to contour-pressure.
c. Select Pressure... and Static Pressure from the Contours of drop-down lists.
d. Select rotor-blade and rotor-hub from the Surfaces selection list.
e. Click Compute.
f. Click Save/Display and close the Contours dialog box.
g. Rotate the view to get the display as shown in Figure 13.6: Contours of Total Pressure for the Rotor
Blade and Hub (p. 576).
The pressure contours are displayed in Figure 13.6: Contours of Total Pressure for the Rotor Blade and
Hub (p. 576). Notice the high pressure that occurs on the leading edge of the rotor blade due to the motion
of the blade.
Figure 13.6: Contours of Total Pressure for the Rotor Blade and Hub
6. Display the total pressure profiles at the outlet of the rotor.
Results Plots Profile Data Set Up...
Setup and Solution
a. Ensure that pressure-outlet-rotor is selected from the Profile selection list.
b. Ensure that p0 is selected from the Y Axis Function selection list.
c. Click Plot and close the Plot Profile Data dialog box.
Figure 13.7: Profile Plot of Total Pressure for the Rotor
Note
The profiles shown are area-averaged profiles computed by the mixing plane model.
13.5. Summary
This tutorial has demonstrated the use of the mixing plane model for a typical axial flow turbomachine
configuration. The mixing plane model is useful for predicting steady-state flow in a turbomachine
stage, where local interaction effects (such as wake and shock wave interaction) are secondary. If local
effects are important, then a transient, sliding mesh calculation is required.

accurate solution by adapting the mesh. Adapting the mesh can also ensure that your solution is inde-
pendent of the mesh. These steps are demonstrated in Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow
and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow (p. 123).
Chapter 14: Using Sliding Meshes
14.1. Introduction
14.2. Prerequisites
14.5. Summary
14.1. Introduction
The analysis of turbomachinery often involves the examination of the transient effects due to flow in-
teraction between the stationary components and the rotating blades. In this tutorial, the sliding mesh
capability of ANSYS Fluent is used to analyze the transient flow in an axial compressor stage. The rotor-
stator interaction is modeled by allowing the mesh associated with the rotor blade row to rotate relative
to the stationary mesh associated with the stator blade row.
Create periodic zones.
Set up the transient solver and cell zone and boundary conditions for a sliding mesh simulation.
Set up the mesh interfaces for a periodic sliding mesh model.
Sample the time-dependent data and view the mean value.
14.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)

The model represents a single-stage axial compressor comprised of two blade rows. The first row is the
rotor with 16 blades, which is operating at a rotational speed of 37,500 rpm. The second row is the
stator with 32 blades. The blade counts are such that the domain is rotationally periodic, with a periodic
Using Sliding Meshes
angle of 22.5 degrees. This enables you to model only a portion of the geometry, namely, one rotor
blade and two stator blades. Due to the high Reynolds number of the flow and the relative coarseness
of the mesh (both blade rows are comprised of only 13,856 cells total), the analysis will employ the in-
viscid model, so that ANSYS Fluent is solving the Euler equations.
Figure 14.1: Rotor-Stator Problem Description

14.4.1. Preparation
14.4.2. Mesh
14.4.4. Models
14.4.5. Materials
14.4.10. Solution
14.4.1. Preparation
Setup and Solution
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the sliding_mesh_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip sliding_mesh_R160.zip to your working folder.
The mesh file axial_comp.msh can be found in the sliding_mesh directory created after unzipping
the file.
the User's Guide.
10. Enable single precision (disable Double Precision).
11. Do not enable Meshing Mode.
14.4.2. Mesh
1. Read in the mesh file axial_comp.msh.
File Read Mesh...

1. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
Warnings will be displayed regarding unassigned interface zones, resulting in the failure of the mesh
check. You do not need to take any action at this point, as this issue will be rectified when you define
the mesh interfaces in a later step.
2. Examine the mesh (Figure 14.2: Rotor-Stator Display (p. 582)).
Orient the view to display the mesh as shown in Figure 14.2: Rotor-Stator Display (p. 582). The inlet of the
rotor mesh is colored blue, the interface between the rotor and stator meshes is colored yellow, and the
outlet of the stator mesh is colored red.
Figure 14.2: Rotor-Stator Display
3. Use the text user interface to change zones rotor-per-1 and rotor-per-3 from wall zones to peri-
odic zones.
Setup and Solution
a. Press Enter in the console to get the command prompt (>).
b. Type the commands as shown below in the console:

> mesh
/mesh> modify-zones
/mesh/modify-zones> list-zones
id name type material kind

---- ------------------------- ------------------ -------------------- ----
13 fluid-rotor fluid air cell
28 fluid-stator fluid air cell
2 default-interior:0 interior face
15 default-interior interior face
3 rotor-hub wall aluminum face
4 rotor-shroud wall aluminum face
7 rotor-blade-1 wall aluminum face
8 rotor-blade-2 wall aluminum face
16 stator-hub wall aluminum face
17 stator-shroud wall aluminum face
20 stator-blade-1 wall aluminum face
5 rotor-inlet pressure-inlet face
19 stator-outlet pressure-outlet face
10 rotor-per-1 wall aluminum face
24 stator-per-2 wall aluminum face
6 rotor-interface interface face
18 stator-interface interface face
/mesh/modify-zones> make-periodic
Periodic zone [()] 10
Shadow zone [()] 9
Rotational periodic? (if no, translational) [yes] yes
Create periodic zones? [yes] yes
zone 9 deleted
created periodic zones.
4. Similarly, change the following wall zone pairs to periodic zones:
Zone Pairs Respective Zone IDs

rotor-per-2 and rotor-per-4 12 and 11
stator-per-1 and stator-per-3 26 and 27
stator-per-2 and stator-per-4 24 and 25
5. Define the solver settings.
Setup General
b. Select Transient in the Time list.
6. Define the units for the model.
a. Select angular-velocity from the Quantities selection list.
b. Select rpm from the Units selection list.
c. Select pressure from the Quantities selection list.
Scroll down the Quantities list to find pressure.
d. Select atm from the Units selection list.
Setup and Solution
e. Close the Set Units dialog box.
14.4.4. Models
1. Enable the inviscid model.
a. Select Inviscid in the Model list.
b. Click OK to close the Viscous Model dialog box.
14.4.5. Materials
1. Specify air (the default material) as the fluid material, using the ideal gas law to compute density.
a. Retain the default entry of air in the Name text entry field.
b. Select ideal-gas from the Density drop-down list in the Properties group box.
c. Retain the default values for all other properties.
As reported in the console, ANSYS Fluent will automatically enable the energy equation, since this is re-
quired when using the ideal gas law to compute the density of the fluid.
Setup and Solution
1. Set the cell zone conditions for the fluid in the rotor (fluid-rotor).
a. Enable Mesh Motion.
b. Click the Mesh Motion tab.
c. Retain the default values of (0, 0, 1) for X, Y, and Z in the Rotation-Axis Direction group box.
d. Enter 37500 rpm for Speed in the Rotational Velocity group box.
e. Click OK to close the Fluid dialog box.
2. Set the cell zone conditions for the fluid in the stator (fluid-stator).
Setup Cell Zone Conditions fluid-stator Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Retain the default values of (0, 0, 1) for X, Y, and Z in the Rotation-Axis Direction group box.
1. Set the boundary conditions for the inlet (rotor-inlet).
Setup Boundary Conditions rotor-inlet Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Enter 1.0 atm for Gauge Total Pressure.
b. Enter 0.9 atm for Supersonic/Initial Gauge Pressure.
For information about the Supersonic/Initial Gauge Pressure, see Defining Static Pressure in the
Fluent User's Guide.
c. Click the Thermal tab and enter 288 K for Total Temperature.
d. Click OK to close the Pressure Inlet dialog box.
2. Set the boundary conditions for the outlet (stator-outlet).
Setup Boundary Conditions stator-outlet Edit...
a. Enter 1.08 atm for Gauge Pressure.
b. Enable Radial Equilibrium Pressure Distribution.
c. Click the Thermal tab and enter 288 K for Backflow Total Temperature.
Setup and Solution
d. Click OK to close the Pressure Outlet dialog box.
Note
The momentum settings and temperature you input at the pressure outlet will be used
only if flow enters the domain through this boundary. It is important to set reasonable
values for these downstream scalar values, in case flow reversal occurs at some point
during the calculation.
3. Retain the default boundary conditions for all wall zones.
Setup Boundary Conditions rotor-blade-1 Edit...
Note
For wall zones, ANSYS Fluent always imposes zero velocity for the normal velocity com-
ponent, which is required whether or not the fluid zone is moving. This condition is all
that is required for an inviscid flow, as the tangential velocity is computed as part of the
solution.

a. Enter 0 atm for Operating Pressure.
Since you have specified the boundary condition inputs for pressure in terms of absolute pressures, you
have to set the operating pressure to zero. Boundary condition inputs for pressure should always be rel-
ative to the value used for operating pressure.

1. Create a periodic mesh interface between the rotor and stator mesh regions.
Setup Mesh Interfaces New...
Setup and Solution
a. Enter int for Mesh Interface.
b. Enable Periodic Repeats in the Interface Options group box.
Enabling this option, allows ANSYS Fluent to treat the interface between the sliding and non-sliding
zones as periodic where the two zones do not overlap.
c. Select rotor-interface from the Interface Zone 1 selection list.
Note
In general, when one interface zone is smaller than the other, it is recommended that
you choose the smaller zone as Interface Zone 1. In this case, since both zones are
approximately the same size, the order is not significant.
d. Select stator-interface from the Interface Zone 2 selection list.
e. Click Create and close the Create/Edit Mesh Interfaces dialog box.
2. Check the mesh again to verify that the warnings displayed earlier have been resolved.
Setup General Check
14.4.10. Solution
a. Select Coupled from the Pressure-Velocity Coupling group box.
For many general fluid-flow problems, convergence speed can be improved by using the coupled
solver.
2. Change the Solution Controls
Setup and Solution
a. Enter 0.5 for Momentum and Pressure in the Explicit Relaxation Factors group box.
b. Enter 0.9 for Temperature in the Under-Relaxation Factors group box.
a. Ensure that the Plot is selected in the Options group box.
b. Select relative from the Convergence Criterion drop-down list.
c. Enter 0.01 for Relative Criteria for each Residual (continuity, x-velocity, y-velocity, z-velocity, and
energy).
d. Click OK to close the Residual Monitors dialog box.
4. Enable the plotting of mass flow rate at the inlet (rotor-inlet).
Setup and Solution
a. Retain the default entry of surf-mon-1 for Name.
b. Enable Plot and Write.
c. Retain the default entry of surf-mon-1.out for File Name.
d. Select Flow Time from the X Axis drop-down list.
e. Select Time Step from the Get Data Every drop-down list.
f. Select Mass Flow Rate from the Report Type drop-down list.
g. Select rotor-inlet from the Surfaces selection list.
h. Click OK to close the Surface Monitor dialog box.
5. Enable the plotting of mass flow rate at the outlet (stator-outlet).
f. Select Mass Flow Rate from the Report Type drop-down list.
g. Select stator-outlet from the Surfaces selection list.
6. Enable the plotting of the area-weighted average of the static pressure at the interface (stator-interface).
Setup and Solution
f. Select Area-Weighted Average from the Report Type drop-down list.
g. Retain the default selection of Pressure... and Static Pressure from the Field Variable drop-down
lists.
h. Select stator-interface from the Surfaces selection list.
i. Click OK to close the Surface Monitor dialog box.
7. Initialize the solution using the values at the inlet (rotor-inlet).
a. Select rotor-inlet from the Compute from drop-down list.
b. Select Absolute in the Reference Frame list.
c. Click Initialize.
8. Save the initial case file (axial_comp.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
9. Run the calculation for one revolution of the rotor.
Setup and Solution
a. Enter 6.6667e-6 s for Time Step Size.
The time step is set such that the passing of a single rotor blade is divided into 15 time steps. There
are 16 blades on the rotor. Therefore, in each time step the rotor rotates 360/16/15=1.5 degrees. With
a rotational speed of 37,500 rpm (225,000 deg/sec), 1.5 degrees of rotation takes 1.5 / 2.25e5 =
6.6667e-6 sec.
There are 16 blades on the rotor, and each rotor blade period corresponds to 15 time steps (see
above). Therefore, a complete revolution of the rotor will take 16*15=240 time steps.
c. Retain the default setting of 20 for Max Iterations/Time Step.
d. Click Calculate.
The calculation will run for approximately 4,200 iterations.
The residuals jump at the beginning of each time step and then fall at least two to three orders of mag-
nitude. Also, the relative convergence criteria is achieved before reaching the maximum iteration limit
(20) for each time step, indicating the limit does not need to be increased.
Figure 14.3: Residual History for the First Revolution of the Rotor
10. Examine the monitor histories for the first revolution of the rotor (Figure 14.4: Mass Flow Rate at the Inlet
During the First Revolution (p. 605), Figure 14.5: Mass Flow Rate at the Outlet During the First Revolu-
tion (p. 606), and Figure 14.6: Static Pressure at the Interface During the First Revolution (p. 607)).
Setup and Solution
Figure 14.4: Mass Flow Rate at the Inlet During the First Revolution
Figure 14.5: Mass Flow Rate at the Outlet During the First Revolution
Setup and Solution
Figure 14.6: Static Pressure at the Interface During the First Revolution
The monitor histories show that the large variations in flow rate and interface pressure that occur early
in the calculation are greatly reduced as time-periodicity is approached.
11. Save the case and data files (axial_comp-0240.cas.gz and axial_comp-0240.dat.gz).
Note
It is a good practice to save the case file whenever you are saving the data file espe-
cially for sliding mesh model. This is because the case file contains the mesh inform-
ation, which is changing with time.
Note
For transient-state calculations, you can add the character string %t to the file name so
that the iteration number is automatically appended to the name (for example, by entering
axial_comp-%t for the File Name in the Select File dialog box, ANSYS Fluent will save
files with the names axial_comp-0240.cas and axial_comp-0240.dat).
12. Rename the monitor files in preparation for further iterations.
Solution Monitors surf-mon-1 Edit...
By saving the monitor histories under a new file name, the range of the axes will automatically be set
to show only the data generated during the next set of iterations. This will scale the plots so that the
fluctuations are more visible.
a. Enter surf-mon-1b.out for File Name.
b. Click OK to close the Surface Monitor dialog box.
13. Similarly, rename surf-mon-2.out and surf-mon-3.out to surf-mon-2b.out and surf-mon-3b.out,

respectively.
14. Continue the calculation for 720 more time steps to simulate three more revolutions of the rotor.
Setup and Solution
Note
Calculating three more revolutions will require some additional CPU time. If you choose,
instead of calculating the solution, you can read a data file (axial_comp-0960.dat.gz)
with the precalculated solution for this tutorial. This data file can be found in the slid-
ing_mesh directory.
The calculation will run for approximately 11,600 more iterations.
15. Examine the monitor histories for the next three revolutions of the rotor to verify that the solution is time-
periodic (Figure 14.7: Mass Flow Rate at the Inlet During the Next 3 Revolutions (p. 610) Figure 14.8: Mass
Flow Rate at the Outlet During the Next 3 Revolutions (p. 611), and Figure 14.9: Static Pressure at the Interface
During the Next 3 Revolutions (p. 612)).
Note
If you read the provided data file instead of iterating the solution for three revolutions,
the monitor histories can be displayed by using the File XY Plot dialog box.
Results Plots File Set Up...
Click the Add button in the File XY Plot dialog box to select one of the monitor histories
from the Select File dialog box, click OK, and then click Plot. To obtain a better view of
the data, you may want to manually change the ranges of the axes.
Figure 14.7: Mass Flow Rate at the Inlet During the Next 3 Revolutions
Setup and Solution
Figure 14.8: Mass Flow Rate at the Outlet During the Next 3 Revolutions
Figure 14.9: Static Pressure at the Interface During the Next 3 Revolutions
17. Change the file names for surf-mon-1b.out, surf-mon-2b.out, and surf-mon-3b.out to surf-mon-
1c.out, surf-mon-2c.out, and surf-mon-3c.out, respectively (as described in a previous step),
in preparation for further iterations.
18. Add a point at the interface of the stator.
Surface Point...
Setup and Solution
a. Enter -0.02 for x0, -0.08 for y0, and -0.036 for z0 in the Point Surface dialog box.
b. Retain the default, point-1 for New Surface Name.
19. Enable plotting of the static pressure at a point on the stator interface (point-1).
f. Select Vertex Average from the Report Type drop-down list.
g. Retain the defaults of Pressure and Static Pressure for Field Variable.
h. Select point-1 from the Surfaces selection list.
i. Click OK to close the Surface Monitor dialog box.
20. Continue the calculation for one final revolution of the rotor, while saving data samples for the postpro-
cessing of the time statistics.
Run Calculation
Setup and Solution
a. Enter 240 for Number of Time Steps.
b. Enable Data Sampling for Time Statistics in the Options group box.
Enabling Data Sampling for Time Statistics causes ANSYS Fluent to calculate and store mean and
root-mean-square (RMS) values of various quantities and field functions over the calculation interval.
c. Click Calculate.
The calculation will run for approximately 3,800 more iterations.
Figure 14.10: Static Pressure at a Point on The Stator Interface During the Final Revolution
In the next three steps you will examine the time-averaged values for the mass flow rates at the inlet and
the outlet during the final revolution of the rotor. By comparing these values, you will verify the conservation
of mass on a time-averaged basis for the system over the course of one revolution.
1. Examine the time-averaged mass flow rate at the inlet during the final revolution of the rotor (as calculated
from surf-mon-1c.out).
Results Plots FFT Set Up...
Setup and Solution
a. Click the Load Input File... button to open the Select File dialog box.
i. Select All Files from the files of type: drop-down list.
ii. Select surf-mon-1c.out from the list of files.
iii. Click OK to close the Select File dialog box.
b. Click the Plot/Modify Input Signal... button to open the Plot/Modify Input Signal dialog box.
i. Examine the values for Min, Max, Mean, and Variance in the Signal Statistics group box.
ii. Close the Plot/Modify Input Signal dialog box.
c. Select the directory path ending in surf-mon-1c.out from the Files selection list.
d. Click the Free File Data button.
2. Examine the time-averaged mass flow rate at the outlet during the final revolution of the rotor (as calculated
from surf-mon-2c.out), and plot the data.
i. Select All Files from the files of type: drop-down list.
ii. Select surf-mon-2c.out from the list of files.
Setup and Solution
i. Examine the values for Min, Max, and Variance in the Signal Statistics group box.
ii. Click Set Defaults.
iii. Click Apply/Plot to display the area-weighted average of mass flow rate at the outlet (Fig-
ure 14.11: Area-Weighted Average Mass Flow Rate at the Outlet During the Final Revolution (p. 620)).
Figure 14.11: Area-Weighted Average Mass Flow Rate at the Outlet During the Final
Revolution
iv. Close the Plot/Modify Input Signal dialog box.
3. Examine the vertex-averaged static pressure at the stator during the final revolution of the rotor (as calculated
from surf-mon-4.out), and plot the data.
i. Select All Files from the Files of type: drop-down list.
ii. Select surf-mon-4.out from the list of files.
Setup and Solution
i. Enable Subtract Mean Value in the Options group box.
ii. Click Apply/Plot.
iii. Close the Plot/Modify Input Signal dialog box.
c. Click Plot FFT in the Fourier Transform dialog box.
d. Click Axes... to open the Axes - Fourier Transform dialog box.
e. Select exponential from the Type drop-down list, and set Precision to 1 in the Number Format group
box.
f. Click Apply and close the Axes - Fourier Transform dialog box.
g. Click Plot FFT and close the Fourier Transform dialog box.
Figure 14.12: FFT of Static Pressure at the Stator
Setup and Solution
The FFT plot clearly shows that the pressure fluctuations due to interaction at the interface are
dominated by the rotor and stator blade passing frequencies (which are 10 kHz and 20 kHz, respect-
ively) and their higher harmonics.
4. Display contours of the mean static pressure on the walls of the axial compressor.
b. Select Unsteady Statistics... and Mean Static Pressure from the Contours of drop-down lists.
c. Select wall from the Surface Types selection list.
Scroll down the Surface Types selection list to find wall.
d. Click Display and close the Contours dialog box.
e. Rotate the view to get the display as shown in Figure 14.13: Mean Static Pressure on the Outer Shroud
of the Axial Compressor (p. 624).
Shock waves are clearly visible in the flow near the outlets of the rotor and stator, as seen in the areas
of rapid pressure change on the outer shroud of the axial compressor.
Figure 14.13: Mean Static Pressure on the Outer Shroud of the Axial Compressor
14.5. Summary
This tutorial has demonstrated the use of the sliding mesh model for analyzing transient rotor-stator
interaction in an axial compressor stage. The model utilized the coupled pressure-based solver in con-
junction with the transient algorithm to compute the inviscid flow through the compressor stage. The
solution was calculated over time until the monitored variables displayed time-periodicity (which required
several revolutions of the rotor), after which time-averaged data was collected while running the case
for the equivalent of one additional rotor revolution (240 time steps).
The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) utility in ANSYS Fluent was employed to determine the time averages
from stored monitor data. You also used the FFT utility to examine the frequency content of the transient
monitor data. The observed peak corresponds to the passing frequency and the higher harmonics of
the passing frequency, which occurred at approximately 10,000 Hz.

This tutorial guides you through the steps to reach a second-order solution. You may be able to obtain
a more accurate solution by adapting the mesh. Adapting the mesh can also ensure that your solution
is independent of the mesh. These steps are demonstrated in Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid
Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow (p. 123).
Chapter 15: Using Dynamic Meshes
15.1. Introduction
15.2. Prerequisites
15.5. Summary
15.1. Introduction
In ANSYS Fluent, the dynamic mesh capability is used to simulate problems with boundary motion,
such as check valves and store separations. The building blocks for dynamic mesh capabilities within
ANSYS Fluent are three dynamic mesh schemes, namely, smoothing, layering, and remeshing. A com-
bination of these three schemes is used to tackle the most challenging dynamic mesh problems. However,
for simple dynamic mesh problems involving linear boundary motion, the layering scheme is often
sufficient. For example, flow around a check valve can be simulated using only the layering scheme. In
this tutorial, such a case will be used to demonstrate the layering feature of the dynamic mesh capab-
ility in ANSYS Fluent.
Check valves are commonly used to allow unidirectional flow. For instance, they are often used to act
as a pressure-relieving device by only allowing fluid to leave the domain when the pressure is higher
than a certain level. In such a case, a ball is connected to a spring that acts to push the ball to the valve
seat and to shut the flow. But when the pressure force on the ball is greater than the spring force, the
ball will move away from the valve seat and allow fluid to leave, thus reducing the pressure upstream.
Gravity could be another factor in the force balance, and can be considered in ANSYS Fluent. The de-
formation of the ball is typically neglected, thus allowing for a rigid body Fluid Structure Interaction
(FSI) calculation, for which a user-defined function (UDF) is provided.
This tutorial provides information for performing basic dynamic mesh calculations by demonstrating
how to do the following:
Use the dynamic mesh capability of ANSYS Fluent to solve a simple flow-driven rigid-body motion problem.
Set boundary conditions for internal flow.
Compile a User-Defined Function (UDF) to specify flow-driven rigid-body motion.
15.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)
Using Dynamic Meshes

The check valve problem to be considered is shown schematically in Figure 15.1: Problem Specifica-
tion (p. 628). A 2D axisymmetric valve geometry is used, consisting of a mass flow inlet on the left, and
a pressure outlet on the right, driving the motion of a valve ball. In this case, the transient motion of
the valve ball due to spring force, gravity, and hydrodynamic force is studied. Note, however, that the
valve in this case is not completely closed. Since dynamic mesh problems require that at least one layer
remains in order to maintain the topology, a small gap will be created between the valve ball and the
valve seat.

15.4.1. Preparation
15.4.2. Mesh
15.4.4. Models
15.4.5. Materials
15.4.7. Solution: Steady Flow
15.4.8.Time-Dependent Solution Setup
15.4.9. Mesh Motion
15.4.10.Time-Dependent Solution
15.4.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
Setup and Solution
6. Click the dynamic_mesh_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip dynamic_mesh_R160.zip to your working folder.
The mesh and source files valve.msh and valve.c can be found in the dynamic_mesh directory
created after unzipping the file.
A user-defined function will be used to define the rigid-body motion of the valve geometry. This function
has already been written (valve.c). You will only need to compile it within ANSYS Fluent.
8. Use the Fluent Launcher to start the 2D version of ANSYS Fluent.
Note that this tutorial has been generated using single precision, so you should ensure that Double
Precision is disabled if you want to match the tutorial setup exactly.
the Users Guide.
15.4.2. Mesh
1. Read the mesh file valve.msh.
File Read Mesh...

1. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
Note
You should always make sure that the cell minimum volume is not negative, since ANSYS
Fluent cannot begin a calculation if this is the case.
2. Change the display units for length to millimeters.
a. In the Set Units dialog box, select length under Quantities and mm under Units.
3. Display the mesh (Figure 15.2: Initial Mesh for the Valve (p. 631)).
a. Deselect axis-inlet, axis-move, inlet, and outlet from the Surfaces selection list.
b. Click Display.
Setup and Solution
Figure 15.2: Initial Mesh for the Valve
c. Close the Mesh Display dialog box.
4. Enable an axisymmetric steady-state calculation.
Setup General
Select Axisymmetric from the 2D Space list.
15.4.4. Models
Setup and Solution
a. Select k-epsilon (2 eqn) from the Model list and retain the default selection of Standard in the k-ep-
silon Model group box.
b. Select Enhanced Wall Treatment for the Near-Wall Treatment.
15.4.5. Materials
1. Apply the ideal gas law for the incoming air stream.
a. Select ideal-gas from the Density drop-down list.
b. Click Change/Create.
c. Close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
Note that the energy equation is automatically enabled based on your change to the material density
method.

Dynamic mesh motion and all related parameters are specified using the items in the Dynamic Mesh task
page, not through the Boundary Conditions task page. You will set these conditions in a later step.
1. Set the conditions for the mass flow inlet (inlet).
Setup and Solution
Since the inlet boundary is assigned to a wall boundary type in the original mesh, you will need to explicitly
assign the inlet boundary to a mass flow inlet boundary type in ANSYS Fluent.
Setup Boundary Conditions inlet Type mass-flow-inlet
a. Enter 0.0116 kg/s for Mass Flow Rate.
b. Select Normal to Boundary from the Direction Specification Method drop-down list.
bulence group box.
d. Retain 5% for Turbulent Intensity.
e. Enter 20 mm for the Hydraulic Diameter.
f. Click OK to close the Mass-Flow Inlet dialog box.
2. Set the conditions for the exit boundary (outlet).
Since the outlet boundary is assigned to a wall boundary type in the original mesh, you will need to
explicitly assign the outlet boundary to a pressure outlet boundary type in ANSYS Fluent.
Setup Boundary Conditions outlet Type pressure-outlet
b. Select Intensity and Hydraulic Diameter from the Specification Method drop-down list in the Tur-
bulence group box.
c. Retain 5% for Backflow Turbulent Intensity.
d. Enter 50 mm for Backflow Hydraulic Diameter.
3. Set the boundary type to axis for the axis-inlet boundary.
Since the axis-inlet boundary is assigned to a wall boundary type in the original mesh, you will need to
explicitly assign this boundary to an axis boundary type in ANSYS Fluent.
Setup Boundary Conditions axis-inlet Type axis
4. Set the boundary type to axis for the axis-move boundary.
Setup Boundary Conditions axis-move Type axis
15.4.7. Solution: Steady Flow

In this step, you will generate a steady-state flow solution that will be used as an initial condition for the
time-dependent solution.
Setup and Solution
b. Select PRESTO! from the Pressure drop-down list.
c. Retain the default of Second Order Upwind in the Density drop-down list.
d. Retain the default of Second Order Upwind in the Momentum drop-down list.
e. Retain the defaults of First Order Upwind in the Turbulent Kinetic Energy and Turbulent Dissipation
Rate drop-down lists.
f. Retain the default of Second Order Upwind in the Energy drop-down list.
2. Set the relaxation factors.
Retain the default values for Under-Relaxation Factors in the Solution Controls task page.
Setup and Solution
a. Retain the default Hybrid Initialization in the Initialization Methods group box.
b. Click Initialize in the Solution Initialization task page.
Note
A warning is displayed in the console stating that the convergence tolerance of

1.000000e-06 was not reached during hybrid initialization. This means that the default
number of iterations is not enough. You will increase the number of iterations and
re-initialize the flow. For more information refer to Hybrid Initialization in the User's
Guide.
c. Click More Settings....
i. Increase the Number of Iterations to 20.
ii. Click OK to close the Hybrid Initialization dialog box.
d. Click Initialize once more.
Note
Click OK in the Question dialog box, where it asks to discard the current data. The console
will display that hybrid initialization is done.
Note
5. Save the case file (valve_init.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
Setup and Solution
b. Click Calculate to start the steady flow simulation.
The solution converges in approximately 120 iterations.
7. Save the case and data files (valve_init.cas.gz and valve_init.dat.gz).
15.4.8. Time-Dependent Solution Setup

1. Enable a time-dependent calculation.
Setup General
Select Transient from the Time list in the General task page.
15.4.9. Mesh Motion

1. Select and compile the user-defined function (UDF). This UDF will be used to calculate the location and
velocity of the valve ball (represented in the mesh by the boundary zone named valve) based on a spring
force, gravity, and hydrodynamic forces.
Define User-Defined Functions Compiled...
a. Click Add... under the Source Files list.
The Select File dialog box will open.
i. Select the source code valve.c in the Select File dialog box.
Setup and Solution
b. Click Build in the Compiled UDFs dialog box.
The UDF is already defined, but it must be compiled within ANSYS Fluent before it can be used in the
solver. Here you will create a library with the default name of libudf in your working folder. If you
want to use a different name, you can enter it in the Library Name field; you would then need to
make sure that you open the correct library in the next step.
A dialog box will appear warning you to make sure that the UDF source files are in the directory that
contains your case and data files. Click OK in the Question dialog box.
c. Click Load to load the UDF library you just compiled.
When the UDF is built and loaded, it is available to hook to your model. Its name will appear as
valve::libudf and can be selected from drop-down lists of various dialog boxes.
2. Hook your model to the UDF library.
Define User-Defined Function Hooks...
a. Click the Edit... button next to Read Data to open the Read Data Functions dialog box.
i. Select reader::libudf from the Available Read Data Functions selection list.
ii. Click Add to add the selected function to the Selected Read Data Functions selection list.
iii. Click OK to close the Read Data Functions dialog box.
b. Click the Edit... button next to Write Data to open the Write Data Functions dialog box.
i. Select writer::libudf from the Available Write Data Functions selection list.
ii. Click Add to add the selected function to the Selected Write Data Functions selection list.
iii. Click OK to close the Write Data Functions dialog box.
These two functions will read / write the position of the center of gravity (CG) and velocity in the X
direction of the valve ball (represented in the mesh by the boundary zone named valve) to the data
file. The location of the CG and the velocity are necessary for restarting a case. When starting from
an intermediate case and data file, ANSYS Fluent needs to know the location of the CG and velocity,
which are the initial conditions for the motion calculation. Those values are saved in the data file
using the writer UDF and will be read in using the reader UDF when reading the data file.
c. Click OK to close the User-Defined Function Hooks dialog box.
3. Enable dynamic mesh motion and specify the associated parameters.
Setup Dynamic Mesh
Setup and Solution
a. Enable Dynamic Mesh in the Dynamic Mesh task page.
For more information on the available models for moving and deforming zones, see Modeling
Flows Using Sliding and Dynamic Meshes in the User's Guide.
b. Disable Smoothing and enable Layering in the Mesh Methods group box.
Note
ANSYS Fluent will automatically flag the existing mesh zones for use of the different
dynamic mesh methods where applicable.
c. Click the Settings... button to open the Mesh Method Settings dialog box.
i. Click the Layering tab.
ii. Select Ratio Based in the Options group box.
iii. Retain the default settings of 0.4 and 0.2 for Split Factor and Collapse Factor, respectively.
iv. Click OK to close the Mesh Method Settings dialog box.
4. Specify the dynamic mesh zone motion for the fluid cell zone in which the valve ball moves (fluid-move).
The valve ball motion and the motion of the fluid region are specified by means of the UDF valve.c.
Setup Dynamic Mesh Create/Edit...
a. Select fluid-move from the Zone Names drop-down list.
b. Retain the default selection of Rigid Body from the Type list.
c. Ensure that valve::libudf is selected from the Motion UDF/Profile drop-down list in the Motion At-
tributes tab to hook the UDF to your model.
d. Retain the default settings of (0,0) mm for the Center of Gravity Location, and 0 for the Center of
Gravity Orientation.
Specifying the CG location and orientation is not necessary in this case, because the valve ball motion
and the initial CG position of the valve ball are already defined by the UDF.
e. Click Create.
5. Specify the meshing options for the boundary zone named int-layering in the Dynamic Mesh Zones
dialog box. This boundary zone acts as a layering interface between the stationary inlet cell zone and the
cell zone in which the valve ball moves.
Setup and Solution
a. Select int-layering from the Zone Names drop-down list.
b. Select Stationary in the Type group box.
c. Click the Meshing Options tab.
i. Enter 0.5 mm for the Cell Height of the fluid-move Adjacent Zone.
ii. Retain the default value of 0 mm for the Cell Height of the fluid-inlet Adjacent zone.
d. Click Create.
6. Specify the meshing options for the boundary zone named outlet in the Dynamic Mesh Zones dialog
box. This boundary zone acts as a stationary outlet for the cell zone in which the valve ball moves.
a. Select outlet from the Zone Names drop-down list.
b. Retain the previous selection of Stationary in the Type group box.
c. Click the Meshing Options tab and enter 1.9 mm for the Cell Height of the fluid-move Adjacent
Zone.
d. Click Create.
7. Specify the meshing options for the boundary zone named seat-valve in the Dynamic Mesh Zones dialog
box. This boundary zone acts as the stationary valve seat.
a. Select seat-valve from the Zone Names drop-down list.
b. Retain the previous selection of Stationary in the Type group box.
c. Click the Meshing Options tab and enter 0.5 mm for the Cell Height of the fluid-move Adjacent
Zone.
d. Click Create.
8. Specify the motion of the boundary zone named valve in the Dynamic Mesh Zones dialog box. This
boundary zone surrounds the valve ball that moves relative to the valve seat.
a. Select valve from the Zone Names drop-down list.
b. Select Rigid Body in the Type group box.
c. Click the Motion Attributes tab.
i. Ensure that valve::libudf is selected from the Motion UDF/Profile drop-down list to hook the UDF
to your model.
ii. Retain the default settings of (0,0) mm for the Center of Gravity Location, and 0 for the Center
of Gravity Orientation.
d. Click the Meshing Options tab and enter 0 mm for the Cell Height of the fluid-move Adjacent
zone.
e. Click Create and close the Dynamic Mesh Zones dialog box.
In many moving / deforming mesh (MDM) problems, you may want to preview the mesh motion before
proceeding. In this problem, the mesh motion is driven by the pressure exerted by the fluid on the valve ball
and acting against the inertia of the valve ball. Hence, for this problem, mesh motion in the absence of a
flow field solution is meaningless, and you will not use this feature here.
15.4.10. Time-Dependent Solution

Setup and Solution
a. Select PISO from the Scheme drop-down list in Pressure-Velocity Coupling group box.
b. Enter 0 for Skewness Correction.
c. Retain all of the other previously set schemes and defaults.
2. Set the relaxation factors.
a. Enter 0.6 for Pressure in the Under-Relaxation Factors group box.
b. Enter 0.4 for Turbulent Kinetic Energy.
c. Scroll down and enter 0.4 for Turbulent Dissipation Rate.
3. Request that case and data files are automatically saved every 50 time steps.
Solution Calculation Activities Autosave Every (Time Steps) On
Setup and Solution
a. Enter 50 for Save Data File Every (Time Steps).
b. Enter valve_tran.gz in the File Name field.
c. Select flow-time from the Append File Name with drop-down list.
When ANSYS Fluent saves a file, it will append the flow time value to the file name prefix
(valve_tran). The gzipped standard extensions (.cas.gz and .dat.gz) will also be appended.
d. Click OK to close the Autosave dialog box.
4. Create animation sequences for the static pressure contour plots and velocity vectors plots for the valve.
Use the solution animation feature to save pressure contour plots and velocity vector plots every five
time steps. After the calculation is complete, you will use the solution animation playback feature to view
the animated plots over time.
a. Set Animation Sequences to 2.
b. Enter pressure in the Name field for the first animation.
c. Enter vv in the Name field for the second animation.
d. Set Every to 5 for both animation sequences.
The default value of 1 instructs ANSYS Fluent to update the animation sequence at every time step.
For this case, this would generate a large number of files.
e. Select Time Step from the When drop-down list for pressure and vv.
f. Click the Define... button next to pressure to open the Animation Sequence dialog box.
Setup and Solution
i. Retain the default selection of Metafile in the Storage Type group box.
Note
If you want to store the plots in a folder other than your working folder, enter the
folder path in the Storage Directory field. If this field is left blank (the default),
the files will be saved in your working folder (that is, the folder where you started
ANSYS Fluent).
ii. Set Window to 1 and click Set.
iii. Select Contours from the Display Type list to open the Contours dialog box.
A. Enable Filled in the Options group box.
B. Retain the default selection of Pressure... and Static Pressure from the Contours of drop-down
lists.
C. Click Display (Figure 15.3: Contours of Static Pressure at t=0 s (p. 654)).
D. Close the Contours dialog box.
Figure 15.3: Contours of Static Pressure at t=0 s
iv. Click OK in the Animation Sequence dialog box.
The Animation Sequence dialog box will close, and the check box in the Active column next
to pressure in the Solution Animation dialog box will be enabled.
g. Click the Define... button next to vv to open the Animation Sequence dialog box.
i. Retain the default selection of Metafile in the Storage Type group box.
ii. Set Window to 2 and click Set.
iii. Select Vectors in the Display Type group box to open the Vectors dialog box.
Setup and Solution
A. Retain all the default settings.
B. Click Display (Figure 15.4: Vectors of Velocity at t=0 s (p. 656)).
C. Close the Vectors dialog box.
Figure 15.4: Vectors of Velocity at t=0 s
iv. Click OK in the Animation Sequence dialog box.
The Animation Sequence dialog box will close, and the check box in the Active column next
to vv in the Solution Animation dialog box will be enabled.
h. Click OK to close the Solution Animation dialog box.
5. Set the time step parameters for the calculation.
Setup and Solution
a. Enter 0.0001 s for Time Step Size.
b. Retain 20 for Max Iterations/Time Step.
In the accurate solution of a real-life time-dependent CFD problem, it is important to make sure that
the solution converges at every time step to within the desired accuracy. Here, the first few time steps
will only come to a reasonably converged solution.
6. Save the initial case and data files for this transient problem (valve_tran-0.000000.cas.gz and
valve_tran-0.000000.dat.gz).
7. Request 150 time steps and calculate a solution.
Extra
If you decide to read in the case file that is provided for this tutorial on the Customer Portal,
you will need to compile the UDF associated with this tutorial in your working folder. This
is necessary because ANSYS Fluent will expect to find the correct UDF libraries in your
working folder when reading the case file.
The UDF (valve.c) that is provided can be edited and customized by changing the para-
meters as required for your case. In this tutorial, the values necessary for this case were
preset in the source code. These values may be modified to best suit your model.
1. Inspect the solution at the final time step.
a. Inspect the contours of static pressure in the valve (Figure 15.5: Contours of Static Pressure After 150
Time Steps (p. 659)).
Note
You may need to switch to Window 1 (using the drop-down list at the upper left
corner of the graphics window) to view the contour plot.
Setup and Solution
Figure 15.5: Contours of Static Pressure After 150 Time Steps
b. Inspect the velocity vectors near the point where the valve ball meets the valve seat (Figure 15.6: Velocity
Vectors After 150 Time Steps (p. 660)).
Figure 15.6: Velocity Vectors After 150 Time Steps
2. Play the animation of the pressure contours.
Results Animations Solution Animation Playback Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Select pressure from the Sequences list in the Animation Sequences group box of the Playback
dialog box.
If the Sequences list is empty, click Read... to select the pressure.cxa sequence file from your
working directory.
The playback control buttons will become active.
b. Set the slider bar above Replay Speed about halfway between Slow and Fast.
c. Retain the default settings in the rest of the dialog box and click the button.
You may have to change the window to see the animation. In the drop-down list at the top of the
graphics window, set the window number to 1, which corresponds to the Window that you set for
pressure in the Animation Sequence dialog box.
3. Play the animation of the velocity vectors.
a. Select vv from the Sequences list in the Animation Sequences box of the Playback dialog box.
If the Sequences list does not contain vv, click Read... to select the vv.cxa sequence file from your
working directory.
b. Retain the default settings in the rest of the dialog box and click the button.
You may have to change the window to see the animation. In the drop-down list at the top of the
graphics window, set the window number to 2, which corresponds to the Window that you set for
vv in the Animation Sequence dialog box.
For additional information on animating the solution, see Modeling Transient Compressible
Flow (p. 257) and see Animating the Solution of the User's Guide.
c. Close the Playback dialog box.
4. You can also inspect the solution at different intermediate time steps.
a. Read the corresponding case and data files (for example, valve_tran-1-0.010000.cas.gz and
valve_tran-1-0.010000.dat.gz).
b. Display the desired contours and vectors.
15.5. Summary
In this tutorial, a check valve is used to demonstrate the dynamic layering capability within ANSYS
Fluent, using one of the three dynamic mesh schemes available. You were also shown how to perform
a one degree of freedom (1DOF) rigid body FSI by means of a user-defined function (UDF). ANSYS Fluent
can also perform a more general six degrees of freedom (6DOF) rigid body FSI using a built-in Six DOF
solver.
If you decide to run this tutorial in parallel, make sure you use Principal Axes as the partitioning
method.

This tutorial guides you through the steps to generate an initial first-order solution. You may be able
to increase the accuracy of the solution further by using an appropriate higher-order discretization
scheme. For a more accurate solution, you can increase the number of layers across the valve seat area.
This can be achieved either by using a finer mesh at the valve seat area and/or using a non-constant
layer height instead of a constant layer height, as demonstrated in this tutorial.
Chapter 16: Modeling Species Transport and Gaseous Combustion
16.1. Introduction
16.2. Prerequisites
16.4. Background
16.6. Summary
16.1. Introduction
This tutorial examines the mixing of chemical species and the combustion of a gaseous fuel.
A cylindrical combustor burning methane ( ) in air is studied using the eddy-dissipation model in
ANSYS Fluent.
Enable physical models, select material properties, and define boundary conditions for a turbulent flow with
chemical species mixing and reaction.
Initiate and solve the combustion simulation using the pressure-based solver.
Examine the reacting flow results using graphics.
Predict thermal and prompt NOx production.
Use custom field functions to compute NO parts per million.
16.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)
Modeling Species Transport and Gaseous Combustion
To learn more about chemical reaction modeling, see Modeling Species Transport and Finite-Rate
Chemistry in the User's Guide and Species Transport and Finite-Rate Chemistry in the Theory Guide.
Otherwise, no previous experience with chemical reaction or combustion modeling is assumed.

The cylindrical combustor considered in this tutorial is shown in Figure 16.1: Combustion of Methane
Gas in a Turbulent Diffusion Flame Furnace (p. 664). The flame considered is a turbulent diffusion flame.
A small nozzle in the center of the combustor introduces methane at 80 . Ambient air enters the
combustor coaxially at 0.5 . The overall equivalence ratio is approximately 0.76 (approximately 28
excess air). The high-speed methane jet initially expands with little interference from the outer wall,
and entrains and mixes with the low-speed air. The Reynolds number based on the methane jet diameter
is approximately .
Figure 16.1: Combustion of Methane Gas in a Turbulent Diffusion Flame Furnace
16.4. Background
In this tutorial, you will use the generalized eddy-dissipation model to analyze the methane-air combus-
tion system. The combustion will be modeled using a global one-step reaction mechanism, assuming
complete conversion of the fuel to and . The reaction equation is
(16.1)
This reaction will be defined in terms of stoichiometric coefficients, formation enthalpies, and parameters
that control the reaction rate. The reaction rate will be determined assuming that turbulent mixing is
the rate-limiting process, with the turbulence-chemistry interaction modeled using the eddy-dissipation
model.

16.5.1. Preparation
16.5.2. Mesh
16.5.4. Models
16.5.5. Materials
16.5.7. Initial Reaction Solution
16.5.9. NOx Prediction
Setup and Solution
16.5.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the species_transport_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip species_transport_R160.zip to your working folder.
The file gascomb.msh can be found in the species_transport folder created after unzipping
the file.
10. Enable Double-Precision.
16.5.2. Mesh
1. Read the mesh file gascomb.msh.
File Read Mesh...
After reading the mesh file, ANSYS Fluent will report that 1615 quadrilateral fluid cells have been read,
along with a number of boundary faces with different zone identifiers.

1. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
that the reported minimum volume reported is a positive number.
Note
ANSYS Fluent will issue a warning concerning the high aspect ratios of some cells and
possible impacts on calculation of Cell Wall Distance. The warning message includes re-
commendations for verifying and correcting the Cell Wall Distance calculation. In this
particular case the cell aspect ratio does not cause problems so no further action is re-
quired. As an optional activity, you can confirm this yourself after the solution is generated
by plotting Cell Wall Distance as noted in the warning message.
2. Scale the mesh.
Since this mesh was created in units of millimeters, you will need to scale the mesh into meters.
a. Select mm from the Mesh Was Created In drop-down list in the Scaling group box.
b. Click Scale.
c. Ensure that m is selected from the View Length Unit In drop-down list.
d. Ensure that Xmax and Ymax are set to 1.8 m and 0.225 m respectively.
Setup and Solution
The default SI units will be used in this tutorial, hence there is no need to change any units in this
problem.
e. Close the Scale Mesh dialog box.
3. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
Note
You should check the mesh after you manipulate it (scale, convert to polyhedra, merge,
separate, fuse, add zones, or smooth and swap). This will ensure that the quality of the
mesh has not been compromised.
4. Examine the mesh with the default settings.
Figure 16.2: The Quadrilateral Mesh for the Combustor Model
Extra
5. Select Axisymmetric in the 2D Space list.
Setup General
Setup and Solution
16.5.4. Models
2. Select the standard - turbulence model.
a. Select k-epsilon in the Model list.
The Viscous Model dialog box will expand to provide further options for the k-epsilon model.
b. Retain the default settings for the k-epsilon model.
3. Enable chemical species transport and reaction.
Setup Models Species Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Select Species Transport in the Model list.
The Species Model dialog box will expand to provide further options for the Species Transport
model.
b. Enable Volumetric in the Reactions group box.
c. Select methane-air from the Mixture Material drop-down list.
Scroll down the list to find methane-air.
Note
The Mixture Material list contains the set of chemical mixtures that exist in the ANSYS
Fluent database. You can select one of the predefined mixtures to access a complete
description of the reacting system. The chemical species in the system and their
physical and thermodynamic properties are defined by your selection of the mixture
material. You can alter the mixture material selection or modify the mixture material
properties using the Create/Edit Materials dialog box (see Materials (p. 672)).
d. Select Eddy-Dissipation in the Turbulence-Chemistry Interaction group box.
The eddy-dissipation model computes the rate of reaction under the assumption that chemical kinetics
are fast compared to the rate at which reactants are mixed by turbulent fluctuations (eddies).
e. Click OK to close the Species Model dialog box.
An Information dialog box will open, reminding you to confirm the property values before continuing.
Click OK to continue.
Prior to listing the properties that are required for the models you have enabled, ANSYS Fluent will display
a warning about the symmetry zone in the console. You may have to scroll up to see this warning.
Warning: It appears that symmetry zone 5 should actually be an axis
(it has faces with zero area projections).
Unless you change the zone type from symmetry to axis,
you may not be able to continue the solution without
encountering floating point errors.
In the axisymmetric model, the boundary conditions should be such that the centerline is an axis type
instead of a symmetry type. You will change the symmetry zone to an axis boundary in Boundary Condi-
tions (p. 675).
16.5.5. Materials
In this step, you will examine the default settings for the mixture material. This tutorial uses mixture properties
copied from the Fluent Database. In general, you can modify these or create your own mixture properties
for your specific problem as necessary.
1. Confirm the properties for the mixture materials.
Setup Materials Mixture methane-air Edit...
The Create/Edit Materials dialog box will display the mixture material (methane-air) that was selected
in the Species Model dialog box. The properties for this mixture material have been copied from the
Fluent Database... and will be modified in the following steps.
Setup and Solution
a. Click the Edit... button to the right of the Mixture Species drop-down list to open the Species dialog
box.
You can add or remove species from the mixture material as necessary using the Species dialog box.
i. Retain the default selections from the Selected Species selection list.
The species that make up the methane-air mixture are predefined and require no modification.
ii. Click OK to close the Species dialog box.
b. Click the Edit... button to the right of the Reaction drop-down list to open the Reactions dialog box.
The eddy-dissipation reaction model ignores chemical kinetics (the Arrhenius rate) and uses only the
parameters in the Mixing Rate group box in the Reactions dialog box. The Arrhenius Rate group
box will therefore be inactive. The values for Rate Exponent and Arrhenius Rate parameters are
included in the database and are employed when the alternate finite-rate/eddy-dissipation model is
used.
i. Retain the default values in the Mixing Rate group box.
ii. Click OK to close the Reactions dialog box.
c. Retain the selection of incompressible-ideal-gas from the Density drop-down list.
d. Retain the selection of mixing-law from the Cp (Specific Heat) drop-down list.
e. Retain the default values for Thermal Conductivity, Viscosity, and Mass Diffusivity.
Setup and Solution
f. Click Change/Create to accept the material property settings.
g. Close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
The calculation will be performed assuming that all properties except density and specific heat are con-
stant. The use of constant transport properties (viscosity, thermal conductivity, and mass diffusivity
coefficients) is acceptable because the flow is fully turbulent. The molecular transport properties will play
a minor role compared to turbulent transport.
1. Convert the symmetry zone to the axis type.
Setup Boundary Conditions symmetry-5
The symmetry zone must be converted to an axis to prevent numerical difficulties where the radius reduces
to zero.
a. Select axis from the Type drop-down list.
The Axis dialog box will open and display the default name for the newly created axis zone. Click
OK to continue.
2. Set the boundary conditions for the air inlet (velocity-inlet-8).
Setup and Solution
To determine the zone for the air inlet, display the mesh without the fluid zone to see the boundaries.
Use the right mouse button to probe the air inlet. ANSYS Fluent will report the zone name (velocity-inlet-
8) in the console.
a. Enter air-inlet for Zone Name.
This name is more descriptive for the zone than velocity-inlet-8.
b. Enter 0.5 for Velocity Magnitude.
bulence group box.
d. Enter 10 for Turbulent Intensity.
e. Enter 0.44 for Hydraulic Diameter.
f. Click the Thermal tab and retain the default value of 300 for Temperature.
g. Click the Species tab and enter 0.23 for o2 in the Species Mass Fractions group box.
3. Set the boundary conditions for the fuel inlet (velocity-inlet-6).
Setup and Solution
a. Enter fuel-inlet for Zone Name.
This name is more descriptive for the zone than velocity-inlet-6.
b. Enter 80 for the Velocity Magnitude.
bulence group box.
d. Enter 10 for Turbulent Intensity.
e. Enter 0.01 for Hydraulic Diameter.
f. Click the Thermal tab and retain the default value of 300 for Temperature.
g. Click the Species tab and enter 1 for ch4 in the Species Mass Fractions group box.
4. Set the boundary conditions for the exit boundary (pressure-outlet-9).
a. Retain the default value of 0 for Gauge Pressure.
b. Select Intensity and Hydraulic Diameter from the Specification Method drop-down list in the Tur-
bulence group box.
c. Enter 10 for Backflow Turbulent Intensity.
d. Enter 0.45 for Backflow Hydraulic Diameter.
e. Click the Thermal tab and retain the default value of 300 for Backflow Total Temperature.
f. Click the Species tab and enter 0.23 for o2 in the Species Mass Fractions group box.
g. Click OK to close the Pressure Outlet dialog box.
The Backflow values in the Pressure Outlet dialog box are utilized only when backflow occurs at the
pressure outlet. Always assign reasonable values because backflow may occur during intermediate itera-
tions and could affect the solution stability.
5. Set the boundary conditions for the outer wall (wall-7).
Use the mouse-probe method described for the air inlet to determine the zone corresponding to the
outer wall.
Setup and Solution
a. Enter outer-wall for Zone Name.
This name is more descriptive for the zone than wall-7.
i. Select Temperature in the Thermal Conditions list.
ii. Retain the default value of 300 for Temperature.
6. Set the boundary conditions for the fuel inlet nozzle (wall-2).
a. Enter nozzle for Zone Name.
This name is more descriptive for the zone than wall-2.
i. Retain the default selection of Heat Flux in the Thermal Conditions list.
ii. Retain the default value of 0 for Heat Flux, so that the wall is adiabatic.
16.5.7. Initial Reaction Solution

You will first calculate a solution for the basic reacting flow neglecting pollutant formation. In a later step,
you will perform an additional analysis to simulate NOx.
1. Select the Coupled Pseudo Transient solution method.
Setup and Solution
b. Retain the default selections in the Spatial Discretization group box.
c. Enable Pseudo Transient.
2. Modify the solution controls.
a. Enter 0.25 under Density in the Pseudo Transient Explicit Relaxation Factors group box.
The default explicit relaxation parameters in ANSYS Fluent are appropriate for a wide range of general
fluid flow problems. However, in some cases it may be necessary to reduce the relaxation factors to
stabilize the solution. Some experimentation is typically necessary to establish the optimal values.
For this tutorial, it is sufficient to reduce the density explicit relaxation factor to 0.25 for stability.
b. Click Advanced... to open the Advanced Solution Controls dialog box and select the Expert tab.
The Expert tab in the Advanced Solution Controls dialog box allows you to individually specify the
solution method and Pseudo Transient Time Scale Factors for each equation, except for the flow
equations. When using the Pseudo Transient method for general reacting flow cases, increasing the
species and energy time scales is recommended.
Setup and Solution
i. Enable the pseudo-transient method for ch4, o2, co2, h2o, and Energy in the Expert tab, by selecting
each one under On/Off.
ii. Enter 10 for the Time Scale Factor for ch4, o2, co2, h2o, and Energy.
iii. Click OK to close the Advanced Solution Controls dialog box.
3. Ensure the plotting of residuals during the calculation.
4. Initialize the field variables.
a. Click Initialize to initialize the variables.
5. Save the case file (gascomb1.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
a. Enter gascomb1.cas.gz for Case File.
b. Ensure that Write Binary Files is enabled to produce a smaller, unformatted binary file.
c. Click OK to close the Select File dialog box.
Setup and Solution
6. Run the calculation by requesting 200 iterations.
a. Select Aggressive from the Length Scale Method drop-down list.
When using the Automatic Time Step Method ANSYS Fluent computes the Pseudo Transient time step
based on characteristic length and velocity scales of the problem. The Conservative Length Scale
Method uses the smaller of two computed length scales emphasizing solution stability. The Aggressive
Length Scale Method uses the larger of the two which may provide faster convergence in some cases.
b. Enter 5 for the Timescale Factor.
The Timescale Factor allows you to further manipulate the computed Time Step calculated by ANSYS
Fluent. Larger time steps can lead to faster convergence. However, if the time step is too large it can
lead to solution instability.
d. Click Calculate.
The solution will converge after approximately 160 iterations.
7. Save the case and data files (gascomb1.cas.gz and gascomb1.dat.gz).
Note
If you choose a file name that already exists in the current folder, ANSYS Fluent will ask
you to confirm that the previous file is to be overwritten.
Review the solution by examining graphical displays of the results and performing surface integrations at
the combustor exit.
1. Report the total sensible heat flux.
a. Select Total Sensible Heat Transfer Rate in the Options list.
b. Select all the boundaries from the Boundaries selection list (you can click the select-all button ( ).
Note
The energy balance is good because the net result is small compared to the heat of
reaction.
Setup and Solution
2. Display filled contours of temperature (Figure 16.3: Contours of Temperature (p. 689)).
a. Ensure that Filled is enabled in the Options group box.
b. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature in the Contours of drop-down lists.
c. Click Display.
Figure 16.3: Contours of Temperature
The peak temperature is approximately 2310 .
3. Display velocity vectors (Figure 16.4: Velocity Vectors (p. 691)).
a. Change Vector Name to vector-velocity
b. Enter 0.01 for Scale.
c. Click the Vector Options... button to open the Vector Options dialog box.
i. Enable Fixed Length.
The fixed length option is useful when the vector magnitude varies dramatically. With fixed length
vectors, the velocity magnitude is described only by color instead of by both vector length and
color.
ii. Click Apply and close the Vector Options dialog box.
Setup and Solution
4. Display filled contours of stream function (Figure 16.5: Contours of Stream Function (p. 692)).
a. Select Velocity... and Stream Function from the Contours of drop-down lists.
b. Click Display.
Figure 16.5: Contours of Stream Function
The entrainment of air into the high-velocity methane jet is clearly visible in the streamline display.
5. Display filled contours of mass fraction for (Figure 16.6: Contours of CH4 Mass Fraction (p. 693)).
a. Select Species... and Mass fraction of ch4 from the Contours of drop-down lists.
b. Click Display.
Setup and Solution
Figure 16.6: Contours of CH4 Mass Fraction
6. In a similar manner, display the contours of mass fraction for the remaining species , , and (Fig-
ure 16.7: Contours of O2 Mass Fraction (p. 694), Figure 16.8: Contours of CO2 Mass Fraction (p. 695), and
Figure 16.9: Contours of H2O Mass Fraction (p. 696)) Close the Contours dialog box when all of the species
have been displayed.
Figure 16.7: Contours of O2 Mass Fraction
Setup and Solution
Figure 16.8: Contours of CO2 Mass Fraction
Figure 16.9: Contours of H2O Mass Fraction
7. Determine the average exit temperature.
Setup and Solution
b. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Field Variable drop-down lists.
The mass-averaged temperature will be computed as:
(16.2)
c. Select pressure-outlet-9 from the Surfaces selection list, so that the integration is performed over this
surface.
d. Click Compute.
The Mass-Weighted Average field will show that the exit temperature is approximately 1840 .
8. Determine the average exit velocity.
a. Select Area-Weighted Average from the Report Type drop-down list.
b. Select Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude from the Field Variable drop-down lists.
The area-weighted velocity-magnitude average will be computed as:
(16.3)
c. Click Compute.
The Area-Weighted Average field will show that the exit velocity is approximately 3.30 .
d. Close the Surface Integrals dialog box.
16.5.9. NOx Prediction

In this section you will extend the ANSYS Fluent model to include the prediction of NOx. You will first calculate
the formation of both thermal and prompt NOx, then calculate each separately to determine the contribution
of each mechanism.
1. Enable the NOx model.
Setup Models NOx Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Enable Thermal NOx and Prompt NOx in the Pathways group box.
b. Select ch4 from the Fuel Species selection list.
c. Click the Turbulence Interaction Mode tab.
i. Select temperature from the PDF Mode drop-down list.
This will enable the turbulence-chemistry interaction. If turbulence interaction is not enabled, you
will be computing NOx formation without considering the important influence of turbulent fluc-
tuations on the time-averaged reaction rates.
ii. Retain the default selection of beta from the PDF Type drop-down list and enter 20 for PDF Points.
The value for PDF Points is increased from 10 to 20 to obtain a more accurate NOx prediction.
iii. Select transported from the Temperature Variance drop-down list.
d. Select partial-equilibrium from the [O] Model drop-down list in the Formation Model Parameters
group box in the Thermal tab.
The partial-equilibrium model is used to predict the O radical concentration required for thermal
NOx prediction.
e. Click the Prompt tab.
Setup and Solution
i. Retain the default value of 1 for Fuel Carbon Number.
ii. Enter 0.76 for Equivalence Ratio.
All of the parameters in the Prompt tab are used in the calculation of prompt NOx formation.
The Fuel Carbon Number is the number of carbon atoms per molecule of fuel. The Equivalence
Ratio defines the fuel-air ratio (relative to stoichiometric conditions).
f. Click Apply to accept these changes and close the NOx Model dialog box.
2. Enable the calculation of NO species only and temperature variance.
Solution Solution Controls Equations...
a. Deselect all variables except Pollutant no and Temperature Variance from the Equations selection
list.
b. Click OK to close the Equations dialog box.
You will predict NOx formation in a postprocessing mode, with the flow field, temperature, and
hydrocarbon combustion species concentrations fixed. Hence, only the NO equation will be computed.
Prediction of NO in this mode is justified on the grounds that the NO concentrations are very low
and have negligible impact on the hydrocarbon combustion prediction.
3. Modify the solution controls for Pollutant no and Temperature Variance.
Setup and Solution
a. Click Advanced... to open the Advanced Solution Controls dialog box.
i. Enable the pseudo-transient method for Pollutant no and Temperature Variance, by selecting
them under On/Off in the Expert tab of the Advanced Solution Controls dialog box.
ii. Enter 10 for Time Scale Factor for Pollutant no and Temperature Variance.
iii. Click OK to close the Advanced Solution Controls dialog box.
b. Enter 1 for Pollutant no and Temperature Variance in the Pseudo Transient Explicit Relaxation
Factors group box.
4. Confirm the convergence criterion for the NO species equation.
a. Ensure that the Absolute Criteria for pollut_no is set to 1e-06.
6. Save the new case and data files (gascomb2.cas.gz and gascomb2.dat.gz).
7. Review the solution by displaying contours of NO mass fraction (Figure 16.10: Contours of NO Mass Fraction
Prompt and Thermal NOx Formation (p. 705)).
a. Disable Filled in the Options group box.
b. Select NOx... and Mass fraction of Pollutant no from the Contours of drop-down lists.
Setup and Solution
Figure 16.10: Contours of NO Mass Fraction Prompt and Thermal NOx Formation
8. Calculate the average exit NO mass fraction.
b. Select NOx... and Mass fraction of Pollutant no from the Field Variable drop-down lists.
c. Ensure that pressure-outlet-9 is selected from the Surfaces selection list.
d. Click Compute.
The Mass-Weighted Average field will show that the exit NO mass fraction is approximately 0.00421.
9. Disable the prompt NOx mechanism in preparation for solving for thermal NOx only.
a. Click the Formation tab and disable Prompt NOx.
b. Click Apply and close the NOx Model dialog box.
10. Request 25 iterations.
11. Review the thermal NOx solution by viewing contours of NO mass fraction (Figure 16.11: Contours of NO
Mass FractionThermal NOx Formation (p. 707)).
Setup and Solution
a. Ensure that NOx... and Mass fraction of Pollutant no are selected from the Contours of drop-down
list.
Figure 16.11: Contours of NO Mass FractionThermal NOx Formation
Note that the concentration of NO is slightly lower without the prompt NOx mechanism.
12. Compute the average exit NO mass fraction with only thermal NOx formation.
Tip
Follow the same procedure you used earlier for the calculation with both thermal
and prompt NOx formation.
The Mass-Weighted Average field will show that the exit NO mass fraction with only thermal
NOx formation (without prompt NOx formation) is approximately 0.004174.
13. Solve for prompt NOx production only.
a. Disable Thermal NOx in the Pathways group box.
b. Enable Prompt NOx.
c. Click Apply and close the NOx Model dialog box.
14. Request 25 iterations.
15. Review the prompt NOx solution by viewing contours of NO mass fraction (Figure 16.12: Contours of NO
Mass FractionPrompt NOx Formation (p. 709)).
Setup and Solution
Figure 16.12: Contours of NO Mass FractionPrompt NOx Formation
The prompt NOx mechanism is most significant in fuel-rich flames. In this case the flame is lean and
prompt NO production is low.
16. Compute the average exit NO mass fraction only with prompt NOx formation.
Tip
Follow the same procedure you used earlier for the calculation with both thermal
and prompt NOx formation.
The Mass-Weighted Average field will show that the exit NO mass fraction with only prompt
NOx formation is approximately 9.975e-05.
Note
The individual thermal and prompt NO mass fractions do not add up to the levels predicted
with the two models combined. This is because reversible reactions are involved. NO
produced in one reaction can be destroyed in another reaction.
17. Use a custom field function to compute NO parts per million (ppm).
The NOppm will be computed from the following equation:
(16.4)
Note
This is the dry ppm. Therefore, the value is normalized by removing the water mole
fraction in the denominator.
Define Custom Field Functions...
a. Select NOx... and Mole fraction of Pollutant no from the Field Functions drop-down lists, and click
the Select button to enter molef-pollut-pollutant-0 in the Definition field.
b. Click the appropriate calculator buttons to enter

*106/(1-
Setup and Solution
in the Definition field, as shown in the previous dialog box.
Tip
If you make a mistake, click the DEL button on the calculator pad to delete the
last item you added to the function definition.
For more explicit instructions on using the Custom Field Function calculator buttons, see Intro-
duction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow (p. 123).
c. Select Species... and Mole fraction of h2o from the Field Functions drop-down lists, and click the
Select button to enter molef-h2o in the Definition field.
d. Click the ) button to complete the field function.
e. Enter no-ppm for New Function Name.
f. Click Define to add the new field function to the variable list and close the Custom Field Function
Calculator dialog box.
18. Display contours of NO ppm (Figure 16.13: Contours of NO ppm Prompt NOx Formation (p. 712)).
a. Select Custom Field Functions... and no-ppm from the Contours of drop-down lists.
Scroll up the list to find Custom Field Functions....
Figure 16.13: Contours of NO ppm Prompt NOx Formation
The contours closely resemble the mass fraction contours (Figure 16.12: Contours of NO Mass Frac-
tionPrompt NOx Formation (p. 709)), as expected.
16.6. Summary
In this tutorial you used ANSYS Fluent to model the transport, mixing, and reaction of chemical species.
The reaction system was defined by using a mixture-material entry in the ANSYS Fluent database. The
procedures used here for simulation of hydrocarbon combustion can be applied to other reacting flow
systems.
The NOx production in this case was dominated by the thermal NO mechanism. This mechanism is very
sensitive to temperature. Every effort should be made to ensure that the temperature solution is not
overpredicted, since this will lead to unrealistically high predicted levels of NO.

Further improvements can be expected by including the effects of intermediate species and radiation,
both of which will result in lower predicted combustion temperatures.
The single-step reaction process used in this tutorial cannot account for the moderating effects of inter-
mediate reaction products, such as CO and . Multiple-step reactions can be used to address these
species. If a multi-step Magnussen model is used, considerably more computational effort is required
to solve for the additional species. Where applicable, the nonpremixed combustion model can be used
to account for intermediate species at a reduced computational cost.
For more details on the nonpremixed combustion model, see Modeling Non-Premixed Combustion in
the User's Guide.
Radiation heat transfer tends to make the temperature distribution more uniform, thereby lowering the
peak temperature. In addition, radiation heat transfer to the wall can be very significant (especially here,
with the wall temperature set at 300 ). The large influence of radiation can be anticipated by computing
the Boltzmann number for the flow:
where is the Boltzmann constant (5.729 ) and is the adiabatic flame temperature.
For a quick estimate, assume , , and (the majority of the
inflow is air). Assume . The resulting Boltzmann number is Bo = 1.09, which shows that
radiation is of approximately equal importance to convection for this problem.
For details on radiation modeling, see Modeling Radiation in the User's Guide.
This tutorial guides you through the steps to reach an initial set of solutions. You may be able to obtain
a more accurate solution by using an appropriate higher-order discretization scheme and by adapting
the mesh. Mesh adaption can also ensure that the solution is independent of the mesh. These steps
are demonstrated in Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing El-
bow (p. 123).
Chapter 17: Using the Non-Premixed Combustion Model
17.1. Introduction
17.2. Prerequisites
17.5. Summary
17.6. References
17.1. Introduction
The goal of this tutorial is to accurately model the combustion processes in a 300 KW BERL combustor.
The reaction can be modeled using either the species transport model or the non-premixed combustion
model. In this tutorial you will set up and solve a natural gas combustion problem using the non-premixed
combustion model for the reaction chemistry.
Define inputs for modeling non-premixed combustion chemistry.
Prepare the PDF table in ANSYS Fluent.
Solve a natural gas combustion simulation problem.
Use the Discrete Ordinates (DO) radiation model for combustion applications.
Use the - turbulence model.
The non-premixed combustion model uses a modeling approach that solves transport equations for
one or two conserved scalars (mixture fractions). Multiple chemical species, including radicals and inter-
mediate species, may be included in the problem definition. Their concentrations will be derived from
the predicted mixture fraction distribution.
Property data for the species are accessed through a chemical database, and turbulence-chemistry in-
teraction is modeled using a -function for the PDF. For details on the non-premixed combustion
modeling approach, see Modeling Non-Premixed Combustion in the User's Guide.
17.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)
Using the Non-Premixed Combustion Model

The flow considered is an unstaged natural gas flame in a 300 kW swirl-stabilized burner. The furnace
is vertically-fired and of octagonal cross-section with a conical furnace hood and a cylindrical exhaust
duct. The furnace walls are capable of being refractory-lined or water-cooled. The burner features 24
radial fuel ports and a bluff centerbody. Air is introduced through an annular inlet and movable swirl
blocks are used to impart swirl. The combustor dimensions are described in Figure 17.1: Problem De-
scription (p. 716), and Figure 17.2: Close-Up of the Burner (p. 717) shows a close-up of the burner assuming
2D axisymmetry. The boundary condition profiles, velocity inlet boundary conditions of the gas, and
temperature boundary conditions are based on experimental data [1].
Figure 17.1: Problem Description
Setup and Solution
Figure 17.2: Close-Up of the Burner

17.4.1. Preparation
17.4.5. Defining Materials and Properties
17.4.7. Specifying Operating Conditions
17.4.8. Obtaining Solution
17.4.10. Energy Balances Reporting
17.4.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the non_premix_combustion_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip non_premix_combustion_R160.zip to your working folder.
The files, berl.msh and berl.prof, can be found in the non_premix_combustion folder,
which will be created after unzipping the file.
The mesh file, berl.msh, is a quadrilateral mesh describing the system geometry shown in Fig-
ure 17.1: Problem Description (p. 716) and Figure 17.2: Close-Up of the Burner (p. 717).
the Getting Started Guide.

1. Read the mesh file berl.msh.
File Read Mesh...
The ANSYS Fluent console will report that the mesh contains 9784 quadrilateral cells. A warning will be
generated informing you to consider making changes to the zone type, or to change the problem defin-
ition to axisymmetric. You will change the problem to axisymmetric swirl in Specifying Solver and Ana-
lysis Type (p. 722).
2. Check the mesh.
Setup and Solution
Setup General Check
3. Scale the mesh.
a. Select mm from the View Length Unit In drop-down list.
All dimensions will now be shown in millimeters.
b. Select mm from the Mesh Was Created In drop-down list in the Scaling group box.
c. Click Scale and verify that the domain extents are as shown in the Scale Mesh dialog box.
d. Close the Scale Mesh dialog box.
4. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
Note
5. Examine the mesh (Figure 17.3: 2D BERL Combustor Mesh Display (p. 720)).
Figure 17.3: 2D BERL Combustor Mesh Display
Due to the mesh resolution and the size of the domain, you may find it more useful to display just the
outline, or to zoom in on various portions of the mesh display.
Extra
You can use the mouse zoom button (middle button, by default) to zoom in to the display
and the mouse probe button (right button, by default) to find out the boundary zone
labels. The zone labels will be displayed in the console.
6. Mirror the display about the symmetry plane.
Setup and Solution
a. Select axis-2 from the Mirror Planes selection list.
The full geometry is displayed, as shown in Figure 17.4: 2D BERL Combustor Mesh Display Including the
Symmetry Plane (p. 722)
Figure 17.4: 2D BERL Combustor Mesh Display Including the Symmetry Plane

1. Retain the default settings of pressure-based steady-state solver in the Solver group box.
Setup General
The non-premixed combustion model is available only with the pressure-based solver.
2. Change the spatial definition to axisymmetric swirl by selecting Axisymmetric Swirl in the 2D Space list.
Setup and Solution

1. Enable the Energy Equation.
Setup Models Energy ON
Since heat transfer occurs in the system considered here, you will have to solve the energy equation.
2. Select the standard k-epsilon turbulence model.
For axisymmetric swirling flow, the RNG k-epsilon model can also be used, but for this case you will
retain the default Standard, k-epsilon model.
b. Retain the default Standard Wall Functions in the Near-Wall Treatment group box.
c. Click OK to accept all other default settings and close the Viscous Model dialog box.
3. Select the Discrete Ordinates (DO) radiation model.
The DO radiation model provides a high degree of accuracy, but it can be CPU intensive. In cases where
the computational expense of the DO model is deemed too great, the P1 model may provide an acceptable
solution more quickly.
For details on the different radiation models available in ANSYS Fluent, see Modeling Heat Transfer
a. Select Discrete Ordinates (DO) in the Model list.
Setup and Solution
The dialog box will expand to show related inputs.
b. Enter 1 for Energy Iterations per Radiation Iteration.
c. Click OK to accept all other default settings and close the Radiation Model dialog box.
The ANSYS Fluent console lists the properties that are required for the model you have enabled. An
Information dialog box opens, reminding you to confirm the property values.
d. Click OK to close the Information dialog box.
4. Select the Non-Premixed Combustion model.
a. Select Non-Premixed Combustion in the Model list.
The dialog box will expand to show the related inputs. You will use this dialog box to create the PDF
table.
When you use the non-premixed combustion model, you need to create a PDF table. This table contains
information on the thermo-chemistry and its interaction with turbulence. ANSYS Fluent interpolates
the PDF during the solution of the non-premixed combustion model.
b. Enable Inlet Diffusion in the PDF Options group box.
The Inlet Diffusion option enables the mixture fraction to diffuse out of the domain through inlets
and outlets.
c. Define chemistry models.
i. Retain the default selection of the Chemical Equilibrium state relation and the Non-Adiabatic
energy treatment.
In most non-premixed combustion simulations, the Chemical Equilibrium model is recommended.

The Steady Diffusion Flamelet option can model local chemical non-equilibrium due to turbulent
strain.
ii. Retain the default value for Operating Pressure.
iii. Enter 0.064 for Fuel Stream Rich Flammability Limit.
Setup and Solution
The Fuel Stream Rich Flammability Limit enables you to perform a partial equilibrium calcu-
lation, suspending equilibrium calculations when the mixture fraction exceeds the specified rich
limit. This increases the efficiency of the PDF calculation, allowing you to bypass the complex
equilibrium calculations in the fuel-rich region. This is also more physically realistic than the as-
sumption of full equilibrium.
For combustion cases, a value 10% 50% larger than the stoichiometric mixture fraction can be
used for the rich flammability limit of the fuel stream. In this case, the stoichiometric fraction is
0.058, therefore a value that is 10% greater is 0.064.
d. Click the Boundary tab to add and define the boundary species.
i. Enter c2h6 in the Boundary Species text-entry field and click Add.
The c2h6 species appears at the bottom of the table.
ii. Similarly, add c3h8, c4h10, and co2.
All the added species will appear in the table.
iii. Select Mole Fraction in the Specify Species in list.
iv. Retain the default values for n2 and o2 for Oxid.
The oxidizer (air) consists of 21% and 79% by volume.
v. Specify the fuel composition by entering the following values for Fuel:
The fuel composition is entered in mole fractions of the species, c2h6, c3h8, c4h10, and co2.
Species Mole Fraction

ch4 0.965
n2 0.013
c2h6 0.017
c3h8 0.001
c4h10 0.001
co2 0.003
Tip
Scroll down to see all the species.
Note
All boundary species with a mass or mole fraction of zero will be ignored.
vi. Enter 315 K for Fuel and Oxid in the Temperature group box.
e. Click the Control tab and retain default species to be excluded from the equilibrium calculation.
f. Click the Table tab to specify the table parameters and calculate the PDF table.
Setup and Solution
i. Ensure that Automated Grid Refinement is enabled.
ii. Retain the default values for all the parameters in the Table Parameters group box.
The maximum number of species determines the number of most preponderant species to consider
after the equilibrium calculation is performed.
iii. Click Calculate PDF Table to compute the non-adiabatic PDF table.
iv. Click the Display PDF Table... button to open the PDF Table dialog box.
A. Retain the default parameters and click Display (Figure 17.5: Non-Adiabatic Temperature Look-
Up Table on the Adiabatic Enthalpy Slice (p. 730)).
B. Close the PDF Table dialog box.
Figure 17.5: Non-Adiabatic Temperature Look-Up Table on the Adiabatic Enthalpy

Slice
The 3D look-up tables are reviewed on a slice-by-slice basis. By default, the slice selected corresponds
to the adiabatic enthalpy values. You can also select other slices of constant enthalpy for display.
Setup and Solution
The maximum and minimum values for mean temperature and the corresponding mean mixture
fraction is also reported in the console. The maximum mean temperature is reported as 2246 K at a
mean mixture fraction of 0.058.
g. Save the PDF output file (berl.pdf).
File Write PDF...
i. Retain berl.pdf for PDF File name.
ii. Click OK to write the file.
By default, the file will be saved as formatted (ASCII, or text). To save a binary (unformatted) file,
enable the Write Binary Files option in the Select File dialog box.
h. Click OK to close the Species Model dialog box.

1. Specify the continuous phase (pdf-mixture) material.
Setup Materials pdf-mixture Create/Edit...
All thermodynamic data for the continuous phase, including density, specific heat, and formation enthal-
pies are extracted from the chemical database when the non-premixed combustion model is used. These
properties are transferred to the pdf-mixture material, for which only transport properties, such as vis-
cosity and thermal conductivity, need to be defined. The Density and Cp (Specific Heat) laws cannot
be altered: these properties are stored in the non-premixed combustion look-up tables.
Under Properties, you can click the View... button next to Mixture Species to view the species included
in the pdf-mixture material. These are the species included during the system chemistry setup.
a. Under Properties, from the Absorption Coefficient drop-down list, select wsggm-domain-based.
Tip
Scroll down to view the Absorption Coefficient option.
This specifies a composition-dependent absorption coefficient, using the weighted-sum-of-gray-gases

model. WSGGM-domain-based is a variable coefficient that uses a length scale, based on the geometry
of the model.
For more details, see Radiation in Combusting Flows of the Theory Guide.
ANSYS Fluent uses the gas law to compute the mixture density and a mass-weighted mixing law to
compute the mixture . When the non-premixed combustion model is used, do not alter the properties
of the individual species. This will create an inconsistency with the PDF look-up table.

1. Read the boundary conditions profile file.
File Read Profile...
a. Select berl.prof from the Select File dialog box.
b. Click OK.
The CFD solution for reacting flows can be sensitive to the boundary conditions, in particular the incoming
velocity field and the heat transfer through the walls. Here, you will use profiles to specify the velocity at
air-inlet-4, and the wall temperature for wall-9. The latter approach of fixing the wall temperature to
measurements is common in furnace simulations, to avoid modeling the wall convective and radiative
heat transfer. The data used for the boundary conditions was obtained from experimental data [1].
2. Set the boundary conditions for the pressure outlet (poutlet-3).
Setup Boundary Conditions poutlet-3 Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Under Turbulence, from the Specification Method drop-down list, select Intensity and Hydraulic
Diameter.
b. Retain 5% for Backflow Turbulent Intensity.
c. Enter 600 mm for Backflow Hydraulic Diameter.
d. Click the Thermal tab and enter 1300 K for Backflow Total Temperature.
The exit gauge pressure of zero defines the system pressure at the exit to be the operating pressure. The
backflow conditions for scalars (temperature, mixture fraction, turbulence parameters) will be used only
if flow is entrained into the domain through the exit. It is a good idea to use reasonable values in case
flow reversal occurs at the exit at some point during the solution process.
3. Set the boundary conditions for the velocity inlet (air-inlet-4).
Setup Boundary Conditions air-inlet-4 Edit...
a. From the Velocity Specification Method drop-down list, select Components.
b. From the Axial-Velocity drop-down list, select vel-prof u.
c. From the Swirl-Velocity drop-down list, select vel-prof w.
d. Under Turbulence, from the Specification Method drop-down list, select Intensity and Hydraulic
Diameter.
e. Enter 17% for Turbulent Intensity.
f. Enter 29 mm for Hydraulic Diameter.
Turbulence parameters are defined based on intensity and length scale. The relatively large turbulence
intensity of 17% may be typical for combustion air flows.
g. Click the Thermal tab and enter 312 K for Temperature.
h. Click the Species tab. For the non-premixed combustion calculation, you have to define the inlet Mean
Mixture Fraction and Mixture Fraction Variance. In this case, the gas phase air inlet has a zero mixture
fraction. Therefore, you can retain the zero default settings.
i. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
4. Set the boundary conditions for the velocity inlet (fuel-inlet-5).
Setup and Solution
Setup Boundary Conditions fuel-inlet-5 Edit...
b. Enter 157.25 m/s for Radial-Velocity.
c. Under Turbulence, from the Specification Method drop-down list, select Intensity and Hydraulic
Diameter.
d. Retain 5% for Turbulent Intensity.
e. Enter 1.8 mm for Hydraulic Diameter.
The hydraulic diameter has been set to twice the height of the 2D inlet stream.
f. Click the Thermal tab and enter 308 K for Temperature.
g. Click the Species tab and enter 1 for Mean Mixture Fraction for the fuel inlet.
5. Set the boundary conditions for wall-6.
a. Click the Thermal tab.
i. In the Thermal Conditions list, select Temperature.
iii. Enter 0.5 for Internal Emissivity.
6. Similarly, set the boundary conditions for wall-7 through wall-13 using the following values:
Zone Name Temperature Internal Emissivity

wall-7 312 0.5
wall-8 1305 0.5
wall-9 temp-prof t (from the drop-down list) 0.5
wall-10 1100 0.5
wall-11 1273 0.5
wall-12 1173 0.5
wall-13 1173 0.5
7. Plot the profile of temperature for the wall furnace (wall-9).
Results Plots Profile Data Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. From the Profile selection list, select temp-prof.
b. Retain the selection of t and x from the Y Axis Function and X Axis Function selection lists, respectively.
c. Click Plot (Figure 17.6: Profile Plot of Temperature for wall-9 (p. 737)).
Figure 17.6: Profile Plot of Temperature for wall-9
8. Plot the profiles of velocity for the swirling air inlet (air-inlet-4).
a. Plot the profile of axial-velocity for the swirling air inlet.
i. From the Profile selection list, select vel-prof.
ii. From the Y Axis Function selection list, retain the selection of u.
iii. From the X Axis Function selection list, select y.
iv. Click Plot (Figure 17.7: Profile Plot of Axial-Velocity for the Swirling Air Inlet (air-inlet-4) (p. 738)).
Figure 17.7: Profile Plot of Axial-Velocity for the Swirling Air Inlet (air-inlet-4)
Setup and Solution
b. Plot the profile of swirl-velocity for swirling air inlet.
i. From the Profile selection list, retain the selection of vel-prof.
ii. From the Y Axis Function selection list, select w.
iii. From the X Axis Function selection list, retain the selection of y.
iv. Click Plot (Figure 17.8: Profile Plot of Swirl-Velocity for the Swirling Air Inlet (air-inlet-4) (p. 740)) and
close the Plot Profile Data dialog box.
Figure 17.8: Profile Plot of Swirl-Velocity for the Swirling Air Inlet (air-inlet-4)
17.4.7. Specifying Operating Conditions

1. Retain the default operating conditions.
The Operating Pressure was already set in the PDF table generation in Specifying the Models (p. 723).
Setup and Solution
17.4.8. Obtaining Solution

a. Under Pressure-Velocity Coupling, from the Scheme drop-down list, select Coupled.
b. Under Spatial Discretization, from the Pressure drop-down list, select PRESTO!.
c. Retain the other default selections and settings.
a. Enter 70 for Flow Courant Number.
b. Set the following parameters in the Under-Relaxation Factors group box:
Under-Relaxation Factor Value

Density 0.2
Body Forces 0.8
The default under-relaxation factors are considered to be too aggressive for reacting flow cases with
high swirl velocity.
3. Enable the display of residuals during the solution process.
Setup and Solution
a. Ensure that the Plot is enabled in the Options group box.
5. Save the case file (berl-1.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
7. Save the converged solution (berl-1.dat.gz).
File Write Data...
1. Display the predicted temperature field (Figure 17.9: Temperature Contours (p. 746)).
Setup and Solution
c. Click Display.
The peak temperature in the system is 1981 K.
Figure 17.9: Temperature Contours
2. Display contours of velocity (Figure 17.10: Velocity Contours (p. 747)).
a. Select Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude from the Contours of drop-down lists.
b. Click Display.
Setup and Solution
Figure 17.10: Velocity Contours
3. Display the contours of mass fraction of O2 (Figure 17.11: Contours of Mass Fraction of o2 (p. 748)).
a. Select Species... and Mass fraction of o2 from the Contours of drop-down lists.
Figure 17.11: Contours of Mass Fraction of o2
17.4.10. Energy Balances Reporting

ANSYS Fluent can report the overall energy balance and details of the heat and mass transfer.
1. Compute the gas phase mass fluxes through the domain boundaries.
Setup and Solution
a. Retain the default selection of Mass Flow Rate in the Options group box.
b. Select air-inlet-4, fuel-inlet-5, and poutlet-3 from the Boundaries selection list.
c. Click Compute.
The net mass imbalance should be a small fraction of the total flux through the system. If a significant
imbalance occurs, you should decrease your residual tolerances by at least an order of magnitude and
continue iterating.
2. Compute the fluxes of heat through the domain boundaries.
a. Select Total Heat Transfer Rate in the Options group box.
b. Select all the zones from the Boundaries selection list.
c. Click Compute, examine the resulting values, and close the Flux Reports dialog box.
The value will be displayed in the console. Positive flux reports indicate heat addition to the domain.
Negative values indicate heat leaving the domain. Again, the net heat imbalance should be a small
fraction (for example, 0.5% or less) of the total energy flux through the system. The reported value
may change for different runs.
3. Compute the mass weighted average of the temperature at the pressure outlet.
b. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Field Variable drop-down lists.
c. Select poutlet-3 from the Surfaces selection list.
d. Click Compute.
A value of approximately 1465 K will be displayed in the console.
17.5. Summary
In this tutorial you learned how to use the non-premixed combustion model to represent the gas phase
combustion chemistry. In this approach the fuel composition was defined and assumed to react according
to the equilibrium system data. This equilibrium chemistry model can be applied to other turbulent,
diffusion-reaction systems. You can also model gas combustion using the finite-rate chemistry model.
You also learned how to set up and solve a gas phase combustion problem using the Discrete Ordinates
radiation model, and applying the appropriate absorption coefficient.
17.6. References
1. A. Sayre, N. Lallement, J. Dugu, and R. Weber Scaling Characteristics of Aerodynamics and Low-NOx
Properties of Industrial Natural Gas Burners, The SCALING 400 Study, Part IV: The 300 KW BERL Test Results,
IFRF Doc No F40/y/11, International Flame Research Foundation, The Netherlands.

This tutorial guides you through the steps to first generate an initial solution, and then to reach a more
accurate second-order solution. You may be able to increase the accuracy of the solution even further
by using an appropriate higher-order discretization scheme and by adapting the mesh. Mesh adaption
can also ensure that your solution is independent of the mesh. These steps are demonstrated in Intro-
duction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow (p. 123).
Chapter 18: Modeling Surface Chemistry
18.1. Introduction
18.2. Prerequisites
18.5. Summary
18.1. Introduction
In chemically reacting laminar flows, such as those encountered in chemical vapor deposition (CVD)
applications, accurate modeling of time-dependent hydrodynamics, heat and mass transfer, and
chemical reactions (including wall surface reactions) is important.
In this tutorial, surface reactions are considered. Modeling the reactions taking place at gas-solid interfaces
is complex and involves several elementary physico-chemical processes like adsorption of gas-phase
species on the surface, chemical reactions occurring on the surface, and desorption of gases from the
surface back to the gas phase.
Create new materials and set the mixture properties.
Model surface reactions involving site species.
Enable physical models and define boundary conditions for a chemically reacting laminar flow involving
wall surface reactions.
Calculate the deposition solution using the pressure-based solver.
Examine the flow results using graphics.
18.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)
Modeling Surface Chemistry
Before beginning with this tutorial, see Modeling Species Transport and Finite-Rate Chemistry in the
User's Guide for more information about species transport, chemically reacting flows, wall surface reaction
modeling, and chemical vapor deposition. In particular, you should be familiar with the Arrhenius rate
equation, as this equation is used for the surface reactions modeled in this tutorial.

A rotating disk CVD reactor for the growth of Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) shown in Figure 18.1: Schematic
of the Reactor Configuration (p. 754) will be modeled.
Figure 18.1: Schematic of the Reactor Configuration
The process gases, Trimethyl Gallium ( ) and Arsine ( ) enter the reactor at 293 K through
the inlet at the top. These gases flow over the hot, spinning disk depositing thin layers of gallium and
arsenide on it in a uniform, repeatable manner. The disk rotation generates a radially pumping effect,
which forces the gases to flow in a laminar manner down to the growth surface, outward across the
disk, and finally to be discharged from the reactor.
The semiconductor materials Ga(s) and As(s) are deposited on the heated surface governed by the fol-
lowing surface reactions.
(18.1)
(18.2)
The inlet gas is a mixture of Trimethyl Gallium, which has a mass fraction of 0.15, and Arsine, which has
a mass fraction of 0.4, the remainder is hydrogen. The mixture velocity at the inlet is 0.02189 m/s. The
disk rotates at 80 rad/sec. The top wall (wall-1) is heated to 473 K and the sidewalls (wall-2) of the reactor
are maintained at 343 K. The susceptor (wall-4) is heated to a uniform temperature of 1023 K and the
bottom wall (wall-6) is at 303 K. These CVD reactors are typically known as cold-wall reactors, where
Setup and Solution
only the wafer surface is heated to higher temperatures, while the remaining reactor walls are maintained
at low temperatures.
In this tutorial, simultaneous deposition of Ga and As is simulated and examined. The mixture properties
and the mass diffusivity are determined based on kinetic theory. Detailed surface reactions with multiple
sites and site species, and full multi-component/thermal diffusion effects are also included in the simu-
lation.
The purpose of this tutorial is to demonstrate surface reaction capabilities in ANSYS Fluent. Convective
heat transfer is considered to be the dominant mechanism compared to radiative heat transfer, thus
radiation effects are ignored.

18.4.1. Preparation
18.4.8. Simulating Non-Reacting Flow
18.4.9. Simulating Reacting Flow
18.4.10. Postprocessing the Solution Results
18.4.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the surface_chem_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip the surface_chem_R160.zip file you have downloaded to your working folder.
The file surface.msh can be found in the surface_chem folder created after unzipping the file.
the Users Guide.

1. Read in the mesh file surface.msh.
File Read Mesh...
2. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
3. Scale the mesh.
Scale the mesh to meters as it was created in centimeters.
Setup and Solution
a. Select cm (centimeters) from the Mesh Was Created In drop-down list in the Scaling group box.
b. Click Scale and verify that the domain extents are as shown in the Scale Mesh dialog box.
The default SI units will be used in this tutorial, hence there is no need to change any units.
c. Close the Scale Mesh dialog box.
4. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
Note
It is a good practice to check the mesh after manipulating it (scale, convert to polyhedra,
merge, separate, fuse, add zones, or smooth and swap). This will ensure that the quality
of the mesh has not been compromised.
5. Examine the mesh (Figure 18.2: Mesh Display (p. 758)).
Figure 18.2: Mesh Display
Extra
You can use the left mouse button to rotate the image and view it from different angles.
Use the right mouse button to check which zone number corresponds to each boundary.
If you click the right mouse button on one of the boundaries in the graphics window, its
name and type will be printed in the ANSYS Fluent console. This feature is especially
useful when you have several zones of the same type and you want to distinguish between
them quickly. Use the middle mouse button to zoom the image.

1. Retain the default solver settings of pressure-based steady-state solver in the Solver group box.
Setup General
Setup and Solution

In this problem, the energy equation and the species conservation equations will be solved, along with the
momentum and continuity equations.
1. Enable heat transfer by turning on the energy equation.
2. Enable chemical species transport.
The Species Model dialog box will expand to show relevant input options.
b. Retain the selection of mixture-template from the Mixture Material drop-down list.
You will modify the mixture material later in this tutorial.
c. Retain the default setting for Diffusion Energy Source.
This includes the effect of enthalpy transport due to species diffusion in the energy equation, which
contributes to the energy balance, especially for the case of Lewis numbers far from unity.
d. Enable Full Multicomponent Diffusion and Thermal Diffusion.
The Full Multicomponent Diffusion activates Stefan-Maxwells equations and computes the diffusive
fluxes of all species in the mixture to all concentration gradients. The Thermal Diffusion effects cause
heavy molecules to diffuse less rapidly, and light molecules to diffuse more rapidly, toward heated
surfaces.
The ANSYS Fluent console will display a list of the properties that are required for the models that
you have enabled.
An Information dialog box will open reminding you to confirm the property values that have been
extracted from the database.
Setup and Solution
f. Click OK in the Information dialog box.

In the following steps you will copy the gas-phase species (AsH3 , Ga(CH3)3 , CH3 , and H2 ) from the ANSYS
Fluent database, specify the mixture materials, setup the reactions, and modify the material properties. You
will also create the site species (Ga_s and As_s) and the solid species (Ga and As).
1. Copy arsenic-trihydride, hydrogen, methyl-radical, and trimethyl-gallium from the ANSYS Fluent material
database to the list of fluid materials and modify their properties.
ials dialog box.
b. In the Fluent Database Materials dialog box, select fluid from the Material Type drop-down list.
c. From the Fluent Fluid Materials selection list, select arsenic-trihydride (ash3), hydrogen (h2), methyl-
radical (ch3), and trimethyl-gallium (game3) by clicking each species once.
Scroll down the Fluent Fluid Materials list to locate each species.
d. Click Copy to copy the selected species to your model.
e. Click Close to close the Fluent Database Materials dialog box.
The Create/Edit Materials dialog box is updated to show the new materials, arsenic-trihydride
(ash3), hydrogen (h2), methyl-radical (ch3), and trimethyl-gallium (game3), in the Fluent
Fluid Materials drop-down list. The species are also listed under Fluid in the Materials task page.
2. Create the site species (Ga_s and As_s) and the solid species (Ga and As).
a. Select air from the Fluent Fluid Materials drop-down list.
b. Enter ga_s for the Name text entry field.
c. Enter ga_s for the Chemical Formula text entry field.
d. Click Change/Create to create the new material.
e. Click No in the Question dialog box when asked if you want to overwrite air.
The new material ga_s is added to your model and listed under Fluid in the Materials task page.
Setup and Solution
f. Create As_s, Ga, and As following the same procedure as for Ga_s and close the Create/Edit Materials
dialog box.
Extra
To enter complex formulae such as Ga(CH3)3 in the text entry box, use < and > instead
of ( and ), respectively.
3. Set the mixture species.
Setup Materials mixture-template Create/Edit...
a. Enter gaas_deposition for Name.
b. Click Change/Create.
c. Click Yes in the Question dialog box to overwrite the mixture-template.
d. Set the Selected Species.
i. In Properties group box, click the Edit... button to the right of the names drop-down list for Mixture
Species to open the Species dialog box.
ii. Set the Selected Species from the Available Materials selection list as shown in Table 18.1: Selected
Species (p. 764)
Table 18.1: Selected Species
Selected Species
ash3
game3
ch3
h2
Warning
Ensure that h2 is at the bottom in the Selected Species selection list as shown
in Table 18.1: Selected Species (p. 764). ANSYS Fluent will interpret the last species
in the list as the bulk species.
Note
Add arsenic-trihydride (ash3), trimethyl-gallium (game3), methyl-radical (ch3),

and hydrogen (h2) to the Selected Species list before removing h2o, o2, and
n2.
To add/remove the species:
To add a particular species to the list, select the required species from the Available Materials selection
list and click Add in the corresponding species selection list (Selected Species, Selected Site Species,
or Selected Solid Species). The species will be added to the end of the relevant list and removed from
the Available Materials list.
To remove an unwanted species from the selection list, select the species from the selection list (Selected
Species, Selected Site Species, or Selected Solid Species) and click Remove in the corresponding
selection list. The species will be removed from the list and added to the Available Materials list.
iii. Click OK to close the Species dialog box.
iv. Click Change/Create and close the Creat/Edit Materials dialog box.
4. Enable chemical species transport reaction.
Although you enable reactions, you still run a non-reacting flow to produce an initial solution. You will
run a reacting flow in Simulating Reacting Flow (p. 781).
Setup and Solution
a. Enable Volumetric and Wall Surface in the Reactions group box.
b. Retain the selection of gass_deposition from the Mixture Material drop-down list.
c. Disable Heat of Surface Reactions and enable Mass Deposition Source.
d. Click OK to close the Species Model dialog box.
you have enabled.
you have enabled.
An Information dialog box will open reminding you to confirm the property values that have been
extracted from the database.
f. Click OK in the Information dialog box.
5. Set the site and solid species and the mixture reactions.
Setup Materials gaas_deposition Create/Edit...
a. Click the Edit... button to the right of the names drop-down list for Mixture Species in the Properties
group box.
Specify the Selected Site Species and the Selected Solid Species as shown in Table 18.2: Selected
Site and Solid Species (p. 766).
Table 18.2: Selected Site and Solid Species
Selected Site Species Selected Solid Species

ga_s ga
as_s as
b. Click OK to close the Species dialog box.
c. Click the Edit... button to the right of the Reaction drop-down list to open the Reactions dialog box.
d. Increase the Total Number of Reactions to 2, and define the following reactions using the parameters
in Table 18.3: Reaction Parameters (p. 767) :
(18.3)
Setup and Solution
(18.4)
Table 18.3: Reaction Parameters
Parameter For Equation 18.3 (p. 766) For Equation 18.4 (p. 767)
Reaction Name gallium-dep arsenic-dep
Reaction ID 1 2
Reaction Type Wall Surface Wall Surface
Number of Reactants 2 2
Species ash3, ga_s game3, as_s
Stoich. Coefficient ash3= 1, ga_s= 1 game3= 1, as_s= 1
Rate Exponent ash3= 1, ga_s= 1 game3= 1, as_s= 1
Arrhenius Rate PEF= 1e+06, AE= 0, TE= 0.5 PEF= 1e+12, AE= 0, TE= 0.5
Number of Products 3 3
Species ga, as_s, h2 as, ga_s, ch3
Stoich. Coefficient ga= 1, as_s= 1, h2= 1.5 as= 1, ga_s= 1, ch3= 3
Rate Exponent as_s= 0, h2= 0 ga_s= 0, ch3= 0
Here, PEF = Pre-Exponential Factor, AE = Activation Energy, and TE = Temperature Exponent.
Set the ID to 2 in order to set the parameters for the second reaction.
e. Click OK to save the data and close the Reactions dialog box.
f. Set the reaction mechanisms for the mixture.
i. Click the Edit... button to the right of the Mechanism drop-down list to open the Reaction Mech-
anisms dialog box.
ii. Retain Number of Mechanisms as 1.
iii. Enter gaas-ald for Name.
iv. Select Wall Surface in the Reaction Type group box.
v. Select gallium-dep and arsenic-dep from the Reactions selection list.
vi. Set Number of Sites to 1.
vii. Enter 1e-08 kgmol/m2 for Site Density for site-1.
viii.Click the Define... button to the right of site-1 to open the Site Parameters dialog box.
A. Set Total Number of Site Species to 2.
B. Select ga_s as the first site species and enter 0.7 for Initial Site Coverage.
C. Select as_s as the second site species and enter 0.3 for Initial Site Coverage.
D. Click Apply and close the Site Parameters dialog box.
ix. Click OK to close the Reaction Mechanisms dialog box.
g. Retain the default selection of incompressible-ideal-gas from the Density drop-down list.
h. Retain the default selection of mixing-law from the Cp (Specific Heat) drop-down list.
i. Select mass-weighted-mixing-law from the Thermal Conductivity drop-down list.
j. Select mass-weighted-mixing-law from the Viscosity drop-down list.
k. Retain the default selection of kinetic-theory from the Mass Diffusivity drop-down list.
l. Retain the default selection of kinetic-theory from the Thermal Diffusion Coefficient drop-down list.
m. Click Change/Create and close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
Setup and Solution
6. Specify the material properties for arsenic-trihydride, hydrogen, methyl-radical, trimethyl-gallium, site
species (Ga_s and As_s), and solid species (Ga and As).
Setup Materials Mixture (arsenic-trihydride) Create/Edit...
a. In the Properties group box, modify the arsenic-trihydride properties as shown in Table 18.4: Properties
of Species (p. 769).
Important
Ensure Mixture is set to gaas_deposition
Tip
Scroll down in the Properties group box to see all the parameters.
Table 18.4: Properties of Species
Parameter AsH_3 Ga(CH_3)_3 CH_3 H_2

Name arsenic-tri- trimethyl- methyl-radic- hydrogen
hydride gallium al
Chemical Formula ash3 game3 ch3 h2
Parameter AsH_3 Ga(CH_3)_3 CH_3 H_2

Cp (Specific Heat) piecewise-polynomial
piecewise-polynomial
Thermal kinetic-theory kinetic-theory kinetic-theory kinetic-theory
Conductivity
Viscosity kinetic-theory kinetic-theory kinetic-theory kinetic-theory
Molecular Weight 77.95 114.83 15 2.02
Standard State 0 0 2.044e+07 0
Enthalpy
Standard State 130579.1 130579.1 257367.6 130579.1
Entropy
Reference 298.15 298.15 298.15 298.15
Temperature
L-J Characteristic 4.145 5.68 3.758 2.827
Length
L-J Energy 259.8 398 148.6 59.7
Parameter
b. When finished, click Change/Create to update your local copy of the species material.
Note
When you modify the properties of the material local copy, the original copy in Fluent
material database stays intact.
c. In a similar way, modify the properties of trimethyl-gallium (game3), methyl-radical (ch3), and hy-
drogen (h2).
Note
Make sure to click Change/Create each time you modify the properties for the mater-
ial to apply the changes to the local copy.
d. Select ga_s from the Fluent Fluid Materials drop-down list.
e. Enter the parameter values for the ga_s species as shown in Table 18.5: Properties of Species (p. 770)
Table 18.5: Properties of Species
Parameter Ga_s As_s Ga As

Name ga_s as_s ga as
Chemical Formula ga_s as_s ga as
Cp (Specific Heat) 520.64 520.64 1006.43 1006.43
Thermal 0.0158 0.0158 kinetic-theory kinetic-theory
Conductivity
Setup and Solution
Parameter Ga_s As_s Ga As

Viscosity 2.125e-05 2.125e-05 kinetic-theory kinetic-theory
Molecular Weight 69.72 74.92 69.72 74.92
Standard State -3117.71 -3117.71 0 0
Enthalpy
Standard State 154719.3 154719.3 0 0
Entropy
Reference 298.15 298.15 298.15 298.15
Temperature
L-J Characteristic 0 0 0 0
Length
L-J Energy 0 0 0 0
Parameter
f. Modify the material properties for As_s, Ga, and As as shown in Table 18.5: Properties of Species (p. 770).
g. Close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
1. Set the conditions for velocity-inlet.
Setup Boundary Conditions velocity-inlet Edit...
a. Retain the default selection of Magnitude, Normal to Boundary from the Velocity Specification
b. Retain the default selection of Absolute from the Reference Frame drop-down list.
c. Enter 0.02189 m/s for Velocity Magnitude.
d. Click the Thermal tab and enter 293 K for Temperature.
e. Under the Species tab, set the Species Mass Fractions for ash3 to 0.4, game3 to 0.15, and ch3 to
0.
The mass fraction of hydrogen is 0.45, but there is no need to specify this since it is the last species
in the mixture.
Setup and Solution
2. Set the boundary conditions for outlet.
a. Retain the default settings under the Momentum tab.
b. Under the Thermal tab, enter 400 K for Temperature.
c. Under the Species tab, set the Species Mass Fractions for ash3 to 0.32, game3 to 0.018, and ch3
to 0.06.
Since a certain amount of backflow is expected in the flow regions around the rotating shaft,
you should set the realistic backflow species mass fractions to minimize convergence difficulties.
d. Click OK to accept the remaining default settings.
Setup and Solution
i. Select Temperature in the Thermal Conditions group box.
The Wall dialog box will expand to wall motion inputs and options.
c. Enter 80 rad/s for Speed.
d. Retain the other default settings.
e. Click the Thermal tab.
f. Click the Species tab.
Setup and Solution
i. Enable Reaction.
ii. Retain the selection of gaas-ald from the Reaction Mechanisms drop-down list.
g. Click OK to close the Wall dialog box.
c. Enter 80 rad/s for Speed.
d. Click the Thermal tab.

1. Specify the operating conditions.
a. Enter 10000 Pa for Operating Pressure.
b. Enable Gravity.
The dialog box will expand to show related gravitational inputs.
c. Enter 9.81 m/s2 for Gravitational Acceleration in the Z direction.
d. Enter 303 K for Operating Temperature.
e. Click OK to close the Operating Conditions dialog box.
Setup and Solution
The Operating Conditions dialog box can be accessed from the Cell Zone Conditions task page as well
as the Boundary Conditions task page.
18.4.8. Simulating Non-Reacting Flow

1. Disable Volumetric for solving non-reacting flow.
a. Disable Volumetric in the Reactions group box.
b. Click OK to close the Species Model dialog box.
You will first run a non-reacting solution to establish the flow.
2. Select the Coupled solver method.
b. Retain the default selections in the Spatial Discretization group box.
3. Examine Solution Controls and retain the default settings.
a. Retain the default settings and close the Residual Monitors dialog box.
Setup and Solution
6. Save the case file (surface-non-react.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
a. Enter 200 for Number of Iterations and click Calculate.
18.4.9. Simulating Reacting Flow

1. Enable Volumetric for the reacting flow solution.
a. Enable Volumetric and Wall Surface in the Reactions group box.
b. Ensure that Mass Deposition Source is enabled in the Wall Surface Reaction Options group box.
c. Click OK to close the Species Model dialog box.
2. Retain the default convergence criteria for calculation.
Setup and Solution
4. Compute the mass fluxes.
b. Select outlet, velocity-inlet, and wall-4 from the Boundaries selection list.
In order to properly assess the mass balance, you must account for the mass deposition on the spinning
disk. Hence you select wall-4 in addition to the inlet and outlet boundaries.
c. Click Compute, examine the values displayed in the Results and Net Results boxes, and close the Flux
Reports dialog box.
The net mass imbalance should be a small fraction (for example, 0.5% or less) of the total flux
through the system. If a significant imbalance occurs, you should decrease your residual tolerances
by at least an order of magnitude and continue iterating.
5. Display contours of surface deposition rate of ga (Figure 18.3: Contours of Surface Deposition Rate of
Ga (p. 785)).
b. Select Species... and Surface Deposition Rate of ga from the Contours of drop-down lists.
c. Select wall-4 from the Surfaces selection list.
Rotate the display with the mouse to obtain the view as shown in (Figure 18.3: Contours of Surface De-
position Rate of Ga (p. 785)).
Setup and Solution
Figure 18.3: Contours of Surface Deposition Rate of Ga
6. Reduce the convergence criteria.
a. Enter 5e-06 for Absolute Criteria for continuity.
Setup and Solution
8. Check the mass fluxes.
b. Retain the selection of outlet and velocity-inlet and, wall-4 from the Boundaries selection list.
c. Click Compute, examine the values displayed in the Results and Net Results boxes, and close the Flux
Reports dialog box.
Again, the net mass imbalance should be a small fraction (for example, 0.5% or less) of the total
flux through the system.
9. Save the case and data files (surface-react1.cas.gz and surface-react1.dat.gz).
18.4.10. Postprocessing the Solution Results

1. Create an iso-surface near wall-4.
b. Click Compute.
The Min and Max fields display the z-extent of the domain.
c. Enter 0.075438 m for Iso-Values.
d. Enter z=0.07 for New Surface Name.
Note
the Surfaces dialog box.
Setup and Solution
e. Click Create and close the Iso-Surface dialog box.
The new surface z=0.07 is added to the surfaces selection list.
2. Display contours of temperature on the plane surface created. (Figure 18.5: Temperature Contours Near
wall-4 (p. 790)).
c. Deselect wall-4 from the Surfaces selection list.
d. Select z=0.07 from the Surfaces selection list.
e. Click Display.
Figure 18.5: Temperature Contours Near wall-4
Figure 18.5: Temperature Contours Near wall-4 (p. 790) shows the temperature distribution across a plane
just above the rotating disk. You can see that the disk has a temperature of 1023 K.
3. Display contours of surface deposition rates of ga (Figure 18.6: Contours of Surface Deposition Rate of
ga (p. 791)).
a. Select Species... and Surface Deposition Rate of ga from the Contours of drop-down lists.
b. Select wall-4 from the Surfaces selection list.
c. Deselect z=0.07 from the Surfaces selection list.
d. Click Display.
You may need to use the left mouse button to rotate the image so that you can see the contours on the
top side of wall-4 where the deposition takes place.
Figure 18.6: Contours of Surface Deposition Rate of ga (p. 791) shows the gradient of surface deposition
rate of ga. The maximum deposition is seen at the center of the disk.
Setup and Solution
Figure 18.6: Contours of Surface Deposition Rate of ga
4. Display contours of surface coverage of ga_s (Figure 18.7: Contours of Surface Coverage of ga_s (p. 792)).
a. Select Species... and Surface Coverage of ga_s from the Contours of drop-down lists.
b. Retain the selection of wall-4 in the Surfaces selection list.
Figure 18.7: Contours of Surface Coverage of ga_s
Figure 18.7: Contours of Surface Coverage of ga_s (p. 792) shows the rate of surface coverage of the site
species ga_s.
5. Create a line surface from the center of wall-4 to the edge.
Setup and Solution
a. Enter the values for x0, x1, y0, y1, z0, and z1 as shown in the Line/Rake Surface dialog box.
You can also select the points by clicking Select Points with Mouse. Then, in the graphic display,
click at the center of wall-4 and at the edge using the right mouse button.
b. Click Create to accept the default name of line-9 for the New Surface Name.
Note
the Surfaces dialog box
c. Close the Line/Rake Surface dialog box.
6. Plot the surface deposition rate of Ga versus radial distance (Figure 18.8: Plot of Surface Deposition Rate
of Ga (p. 795)).
a. Disable Node Values in the Options group box.
b. Select Species... and Surface Deposition Rate of ga from the Y Axis Function drop-down lists.
The source/sink terms due to the surface reaction are deposited in the cell adjacent to the wall cells,
so it is necessary to plot the cell values and not the node values.
c. Select line-9 you just created from the Surfaces selection list.
d. Click Plot and close the Solution XY Plot dialog box.
The peak surface deposition rate occurs at the center of wall-4 (where the concentration of the mixture
is highest).
Figure 18.8: Plot of Surface Deposition Rate of Ga
Extra
You can also perform all the postprocessing steps to analyze the deposition of As.
7. Save the case and data files (surface-react2.cas.gz and surface-react2.dat.gz).
18.5. Summary
The main focus of this tutorial is the accurate modeling of macroscopic gas flow, heat and mass transfer,
species diffusion, and chemical reactions (including surface reactions) in a rotating disk CVD reactor. In
this tutorial, you learned how to use the two-step surface reactions involving site species, and computed
simultaneous deposition of gallium and arsenide from a mixture of precursor gases on a rotating sus-
ceptor. Note that the same approach is valid if you are simulating multi-step reactions with multiple
sites/site species.

Chapter 19: Modeling Evaporating Liquid Spray
19.1. Introduction
19.2. Prerequisites
19.5. Summary
19.1. Introduction
In this tutorial, the air-blast atomizer model in ANSYS Fluent is used to predict the behavior of an
evaporating methanol spray. Initially, the air flow is modeled without droplets. To predict the behavior
of the spray, the discrete phase model is used, including a secondary model for breakup.
Define a spray injection for an air-blast atomizer.
Calculate a solution using the discrete phase model in ANSYS Fluent.
19.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)

The geometry to be considered in this tutorial is shown in Figure 19.1: Problem Specification (p. 798).
Methanol is cooled to C before being introduced into an air-blast atomizer. The atomizer contains
an inner air stream surrounded by a swirling annular stream. To make use of the periodicity of the
problem, only a section of the atomizer will be modeled.
Modeling Evaporating Liquid Spray

19.4.1. Preparation
19.4.5. Materials
19.4.7. Initial Solution Without Droplets
19.4.8. Create a Spray Injection
19.4.9. Solution
19.4.1. Preparation
Setup and Solution
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the evaporate_liquid_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip evaporate_liquid_R160.zip to your working folder.
The mesh file sector.msh can be found in the evaporate_liquid directory created after unzipping
the file.
8. Use the ANSYS Fluent Launcher to start the 3D version of ANSYS Fluent.
For more information about the ANSYS Fluent Launcher, see Starting ANSYS Fluent Using Fluent
Launcher in the Users Guide.
11. Ensure that Double Precision is disabled.

1. Read in the mesh file sector.msh.
File Read Mesh...
2. Change the periodic type of periodic-a to rotational.
Setup Boundary Conditions periodic-a Edit...
a. Select Rotational in the Periodic Type group box.
3. In a similar manner, change the periodic type of periodic-b to rotational.

1. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
2. Display the mesh.
a. Ensure that Faces is enabled in the Options group box.
Setup and Solution
b. Select only atomizer-wall, central_air, and swirling_air from the Surfaces selection list.
Tip
To deselect all surfaces click the far-right unshaded button ( ) at the top of the Sur-
faces selection list, and then select the desired surfaces from the Surfaces selection
list.
c. Click the Colors... button to open the Mesh Colors dialog box.
i. Select wall from the Types selection list.
ii. Select pink from the Colors selection list.
iii. Close the Mesh Colors dialog box.
d. Click Display and close the Mesh Display dialog box.
The graphics display will be updated to show the mesh. Zoom in with the mouse to obtain the view
shown in Figure 19.2: Air-Blast Atomizer Mesh Display (p. 802).
Figure 19.2: Air-Blast Atomizer Mesh Display
3. Reorder the mesh using the Mesh menu that is found at the top of the ANSYS Fluent window.
Mesh Reorder Domain
To speed up the solution procedure, the mesh should be reordered, which will substantially reduce the
bandwidth.
ANSYS Fluent will report the progress in the console:

Reordering domain using Reverse Cuthill-McKee method:
zones, cells, faces, done.
Bandwidth reduction = 30882/741 = 41.68
Done.
4. Retain the default solver settings of pressure-based steady-state solver in the Solver group box.
Setup and Solution
Setup General

2. Enable the Realizable - turbulence model.
b. Select Realizable in the k-epsilon Model list.
The Realizable - model gives a more accurate prediction of the spreading rate of both planar and
round jets than the standard - model.
c. Retain the default selection of Standard Wall Functions in the Near-Wall Treatment list.
3. Enable chemical species transport and reaction.
Setup and Solution
b. Select methyl-alcohol-air from the Mixture Material drop-down list.
The Mixture Material list contains the set of chemical mixtures that exist in the ANSYS Fluent database.
When selecting an appropriate mixture for your case, you can review the constituent species and the
reactions of the predefined mixture by clicking View... next to the Mixture Material drop-down list.
The chemical species and their physical and thermodynamic properties are defined by the selection
of the mixture material. After enabling the Species Transport model, you can alter the mixture ma-
terial selection or modify the mixture material properties using the Create/Edit Materials dialog
box. You will modify your local copy of the mixture material later in this tutorial.
c. Click OK to close the Species Model dialog box.
In the console window, ANSYS Fluent lists the properties that are required for the models you have
enabled. An Information dialog box opens, reminding you to confirm the property values that have
been extracted from the database.
d. Click OK in the Information dialog box to continue.
19.4.5. Materials
Setup Materials
1. Remove water vapor and carbon dioxide from the Mixture Species list.
Setup Materials Mixture Create/Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Click the Edit button next to the Mixture Species drop-down list to open the Species dialog box.
i. Select carbon dioxide (co2) from the Selected Species selection list.
ii. Click Remove to remove carbon dioxide from the Selected Species list.
iii. In a similar manner, remove water vapor (h2o) from the Selected Species list.
iv. Click OK to close the Species dialog box.
Note
It is good practice to click the Change/Create button whenever changes are made
to material properties even though it is not necessary in this case.
1. Set the boundary conditions for the inner air stream (central_air).
Setup Boundary Conditions central_air Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Enter 9.167e-5 kg/s for Mass Flow Rate.
b. Enter 0 for X-Component of Flow Direction.
c. Retain the default value of 0 for Y-Component of Flow Direction.
d. Enter 1 for Z-Component of Flow Direction.
e. Select Intensity and Hydraulic Diameter from the Specification Method drop-down list.
f. Enter 10 for Turbulent Intensity.
g. Enter 0.0037 m for Hydraulic Diameter.
h. Click the Thermal tab and enter 293 K for Total Temperature.
i. Click the Species tab and enter 0.23 for o2 in the Species Mass Fractions group box.
j. Click OK to close the Mass-Flow Inlet dialog box.
2. Set the boundary conditions for the air stream surrounding the atomizer (co-flow-air).
Setup Boundary Conditions co-flow-air Edit...
a. Enter 1 m/s for Velocity Magnitude.
b. Select Intensity and Hydraulic Diameter from the Specification Method drop-down list.
c. Retain the default value of 5 for Turbulent Intensity.
d. Enter 0.0726 m for Hydraulic Diameter.
e. Click the Thermal tab and enter 293 K for Temperature.
g. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
3. Set the boundary conditions for the exit boundary (outlet).
Setup and Solution
b. Retain Intensity and Viscosity Ratio from the Specification Method drop-down list.
c. Retain the default value of 5 for Backflow Turbulent Intensity (%).
d. Enter 5 for Backflow Turbulent Viscosity Ratio.
e. Click the Thermal tab and enter 293 K for Backflow Total Temperature.
g. Click OK to close the Pressure Outlet dialog box.
4. Set the boundary conditions for the swirling annular stream (swirling_air).
Setup Boundary Conditions swirling_air Edit...
a. Select Magnitude and Direction from the Velocity Specification Method drop-down list.
b. Enter 19 m/s for Velocity Magnitude.
c. Select Cylindrical (Radial, Tangential, Axial) from the Coordinate System drop-down list.
d. Enter 0 for Radial-Component of Flow Direction.
e. Enter 0.7071 for Tangential-Component of Flow Direction.
f. Enter 0.7071 for Axial-Component of Flow Direction.
g. Select Intensity and Hydraulic Diameter from the Specification Method drop-down list.
h. Retain the default value of 5 for Turbulent Intensity.
i. Enter 0.0043 m for Hydraulic Diameter.
j. Click the Thermal tab and enter 293 K for Temperature.
k. Click the Species tab and enter 0.23 for o2 in the Species Mass Fractions group box.
l. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
Setup and Solution
5. Set the boundary conditions for the outer wall of the atomizer (outer-wall).
Setup Boundary Conditions outer-wall Edit...
a. Select Specified Shear in the Shear Condition list.
b. Retain the default values for the remaining parameters.
19.4.7. Initial Solution Without Droplets

The airflow will first be solved and analyzed without droplets.
1. Set the solution method.
b. Enable Pseudo Transient.
The message appears in the console informing you of changing AMG cycle type for Volume Fraction,
Turbulent Kinetic Energy, and Turbulent Dissipation Rate to F-cycle.
2. Retain the default under-relaxation factors.
Setup and Solution
a. Retain the default Hybrid Initialization from the Initialization Methods group box.
b. Click Initialize to initialize the variables.
Note
5. Save the case file (spray1.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
a. Select User Specified from the Time Step Method group box.
b. Retain 1 s for Pseudo Time Step.
d. Click Calculate.
Setup and Solution
7. Save the case and data files (spray1.cas.gz and spray1.dat.gz).
Note
ANSYS Fluent will ask you to confirm that the previous case file is to be overwritten.
8. Create a clip plane to examine the flow field at the midpoint of the atomizer section.
a. Select Mesh... and Angular Coordinate from the Surface of Constant drop-down lists.
b. Click Compute to obtain the minimum and maximum values of the angular coordinate.
c. Enter 15 for Iso-Values.
d. Enter angle=15 for New Surface Name.
9. Review the current state of the solution by examining contours of velocity magnitude (Figure 19.4: Velocity
Magnitude at Mid-Point of Atomizer Section (p. 820)).
Setup and Solution
a. Enable Filled in the Options group box
b. Select Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude from the Contours of drop-down lists.
c. Enable Draw Mesh.
i. Retain the current mesh display settings.
d. Select angle=15 from the Surfaces selection list.
f. Use the mouse to obtain the view shown in Figure 19.4: Velocity Magnitude at Mid-Point of Atomizer
Section (p. 820).
Figure 19.4: Velocity Magnitude at Mid-Point of Atomizer Section
10. Modify the view to include the entire atomizer.
Setup and Solution
a. Click the Define... button to open the Graphics Periodicity dialog box.
i. Select fluid from the Cell Zones selection list.
ii. Retain the selection of Rotational in the Periodic Type list.
iii. Retain the value of 12 for Number of Repeats.
iv. Click Set and close the Graphics Periodicity dialog box.
The graphics display will be updated to show the entire atomizer.
11. Display pathlines of the air in the swirling annular stream (Figure 19.5: Pathlines of Air in the Swirling An-
nular Stream (p. 823)).
Results Graphics Pathlines Set Up...
a. Increase the Path Skip value to 5.
b. Select swirling_air from the Release from Surfaces selection list.
You will need to scroll down the list to access this item.
c. Enable Draw Mesh in the Options group box.
i. Retain the current mesh display settings.
d. Click Display and close the Pathlines dialog box.
e. Use the mouse to obtain the view shown in Figure 19.5: Pathlines of Air in the Swirling Annular
Stream (p. 823).
Setup and Solution
Figure 19.5: Pathlines of Air in the Swirling Annular Stream
19.4.8. Create a Spray Injection

1. Define the discrete phase modeling parameters.
Setup Models Discrete Phase Edit...
a. Select Interaction with Continuous Phase in the Interaction group box.
This will include the effects of the discrete phase trajectories on the continuous phase.
b. Retain the value of 10 for Number of Continuous Phase Iterations per DPM Iteration.
c. Select Mean Values in the Contour Plots for DPM Variables group box.
This will make the cell-averaged variables available for postprocessing activities.
d. Select the Unsteady Particle Tracking option in the Particle Treatment group box.
e. Enter 0.0001 for Particle Time Step Size.
Setup and Solution
f. Enter 10 for Number of Time Steps.
g. Under the Physical Models tab, select the Temperature Dependent Latent Heat.
h. Select the Breakup option in the Options group box.
i. Under the Numerics tab, select Linearize Source Terms.
Enabling this option will allow you to run the simulation with more aggressive setting for the
Discrete Phase Sources under-relaxation factor to speed up the solution convergence.
j. Click Injections... to open the Injections dialog box.
In this step, you will define the characteristics of the atomizer.
k. Click the Create button to create the spray injection.
i. In the Set Injection Properties dialog box, select air-blast-atomizer from the Injection Type drop-
down list.
ii. Enter 600 for Number of Particle Streams.
Setup and Solution
This option controls the number of droplet parcels that are introduced into the domain at every
time step.
iii. Select Droplet in the Particle Type group box.
iv. Select methyl-alcohol-liquid from the Material drop-down list.
v. In the Point Properties tab, retain the default values of 0 and 0 for X-Position and Y-Position.
vi. Enter 0.0015 for Z-Position.
Scroll down the list to see the remaining point properties.
vii. Retain the default values of 0, 0, and 1 for X-Axis, Y-Axis, and Z-Axis, respectively.
viii.Enter 263 K for Temperature.
ix. Enter 8.5e-5 kg/s for Flow Rate.
This is the methanol flow rate for a 30-degree section of the atomizer. The actual atomizer flow
rate is 12 times this value.
x. Retain the default Start Time of 0 s and enter 100 s for the Stop Time.
For this problem, the injection should begin at and not stop until long after the time period
of interest. A large value for the stop time (for example, 100 s) will ensure that the injection will
essentially never stop.
xi. Enter 0.0035 m for the Injector Inner Diameter and 0.0045 m for the Injector Outer Diameter.
xii. Enter -45 degrees for Spray Half Angle.
The spray angle is the angle between the liquid sheet trajectory and the injector centerline. In this
case, the value is negative because the sheet is initially converging toward the centerline.
xiii. Enter 82.6 m/s for the Relative Velocity.
The relative velocity is the expected relative velocity between the atomizing air and the liquid
sheet.
xiv. Retain the default Azimuthal Start Angle of 0 degrees and enter 30 degrees for the Azimuthal
Stop Angle.
This will restrict the injection to the 30-degree section of the atomizer that is being modeled.
xv. Click the Physical Models tab to specify the breakup model and drag parameters.
xvi.Ensure that Enable Breakup and TAB are enabled in the Breakup group box.
xvii.Retain the default values of 0 for y0 and 2 for Breakup Parcels in the Breakup Constants group
box.
xviii.Select dynamic-drag from the Drag Law drop-down list in the Drag Parameters group box.
The dynamic-drag law is available only when the Breakup model is used.
xix. Click the Turbulent Dispersion tab to define the turbulent dispersion.
Setup and Solution
xx. Enable Discrete Random Walk Model and Random Eddy Lifetime in the Stochastic Tracking
group box.
These models will account for the turbulent dispersion of the droplets.
xxi. Click OK to close the Set Injection Properties dialog box.
An Information dialog box appears reminding you to confirm the property values before
continuing. Click OK in the Information dialog box to continue.
Note
To modify the existing injection, select its name in the Injections list and click
Set..., or simply double-click the injection of interest.
xxii.Close the Injections dialog box.
Note
In the case that the spray injection would be striking a wall, you should specify
the wall boundary conditions for the droplets. Though this tutorial does have wall
zones, they are a part of the atomizer apparatus. You need not change the wall
boundary conditions any further because these walls are not in the path of the
spray droplets.
l. Click OK to close the Discrete Phase Model dialog box.
2. Specify the droplet material properties.
Setup Materials methyl-alcohol-liquid Create/Edit...
When secondary atomization models (such as Breakup) are used, several droplet properties need to be
specified.
a. Ensure droplet-particle is selected in the Material Type drop-down list.
b. Enter 0.0056 kg/m-s for Viscosity in the Properties group box.
c. Ensure that piecewise-linear is selected from the Saturation Vapor Pressure drop-down list.
Scroll down to find the Saturation Vapor Pressure drop-down list.
d. Click the Edit... button next to Saturation Vapor Pressure to open the Piecewise-Linear Profile dialog
box.
i. Review the default values and click OK to close the Piecewise-Linear Profile dialog box.
e. Select convection/diffusion-controlled from the Vaporization Model drop-down list.
f. Click Change/Create to accept the change in properties for the methanol droplet material and close
the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
Setup and Solution
19.4.9. Solution
1. Increase the under-relaxation factor for Discrete Phase Sources.
In the Pseudo Transient Explicit Relaxation Factors group box, change the under-relaxation factor
for Discrete Phase Sources to 0.9.
2. Remove the convergence criteria.
a. Select none from the Convergence Criterion drop-down list.
3. Enable the plotting of mass fraction of ch3oh.
Setup and Solution
a. Retain surf-mon-1 for Name.
b. Enable Plot.
c. Select Mass-Weighted Average from the Report Type drop-down list.
d. Select Species... and Mass fraction of ch3oh from the Field Variable drop-down lists.
e. Select outlet from the Surfaces selection list.
f. Click OK to close the Surface Monitor dialog box.
4. Enable the plotting of the sum of the DPM Mass Source.
Solution Monitors (Volume Monitors) Create...
a. Retain vol-mon-1 for Name.
b. Enable Plot.
c. Click the Axes... button to open the Axes - volume Monitor Plot dialog box.
i. Select Y in the Axis list.
ii. Select exponential from the Type drop-down list.
Setup and Solution
iii. Set Precision to 2.
iv. Click Apply and close the Axes - volume Monitor Plot dialog box.
d. Select Sum from the Report Type drop-down list.
e. Select Discrete Phase Sources... and DPM Mass Source from the Field Variable drop-down lists.
f. Select fluid from the Cell Zones selection list.
g. Click OK to close the Volume Monitor dialog box.
5. Request 200 more iterations (Figure 19.6: Convergence History of Mass Fraction of ch3oh on Fluid (p. 835)
and Figure 19.7: Convergence History of DPM Mass Source on Fluid (p. 836)).
It can be concluded that the solution is converged because the number of particle tracks are constant
and the monitors are flat.
Figure 19.6: Convergence History of Mass Fraction of ch3oh on Fluid
Figure 19.7: Convergence History of DPM Mass Source on Fluid
1. Display the trajectories of the droplets in the spray injection (Figure 19.8: Particle Tracks for the Spray Injec-
tion (p. 838)).
This will allow you to review the location of the droplets.
Results Graphics Particle Tracks Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Enable Draw Mesh in the Options group box.
i. Retain the current display settings.
b. Retain the default selection of point from the Track Style drop-down list.
c. Select Particle Variables... and Particle Diameter from the Color by drop-down lists.
This will display the location of the droplets colored by their diameters.
d. Select injection-0 from the Release from Injections selection list.
e. Click Display. As an optional exercise, you can increase the particle size by clicking the Attributes... button
in the Particle Tracks dialog box and adjusting the Marker Size value in the Track Style Attributes dialog
box.
f. Close the Particle Tracks dialog box.
g. Restore the 30degree section to obtain the view as shown in Figure 19.8: Particle Tracks for the Spray
Injection (p. 838).
i. Click the Define button to open Graphics Periodicity dialog box.
ii. Click Reset and close the Graphics Periodicity dialog box.
iii. Close the Views dialog box.
h. Use the mouse to obtain the view shown in Figure 19.8: Particle Tracks for the Spray Injection (p. 838).
Figure 19.8: Particle Tracks for the Spray Injection
The air-blast atomizer model assumes that a cylindrical liquid sheet exits the atomizer, which then disin-
tegrates into ligaments and droplets. Appropriately, the model determines that the droplets should be
input into the domain in a ring. The radius of this disk is determined from the inner and outer radii of
the injector.
Note
The maximum diameter of the droplets is about 104 m or 0.1 mm. This is slightly smaller
than the film height. The inner diameter and outer diameter of the injector are 3.5 mm
and 4.5 mm, respectively. Hence the film height is 0.5 mm. The range in the droplet sizes
is due to the fact that the air-blast atomizer automatically uses a distribution of droplet
sizes.
Setup and Solution
Also note that the droplets are placed a slight distance away from the injector. Once the
droplets are injected into the domain, their behavior will be determined by secondary
models. For instance, they may collide/coalesce with other droplets depending on the
secondary models employed. However, once a droplet has been introduced into the do-
main, the air-blast atomizer model no longer affects the droplet.
2. Display the mean particle temperature field (Figure 19.9: Contours of DPM Temperature (p. 840)).
a. Ensure that Filled is enabled in the Options group box
b. Disable Draw Mesh.
c. Select Discrete Phase Variables... and DPM Temperature from the Contours of drop-down lists.
d. Disable Auto Range.
The Clip to Range option will automatically be enabled.
e. Click Compute to update the Min and Max fields.
f. Enter 260 for Min.
g. Select angle=15 from the Surfaces selection list.
h. Click Display and close the Contours dialog box.
i. Use the mouse to obtain the view shown in Figure 19.9: Contours of DPM Temperature (p. 840).
Figure 19.9: Contours of DPM Temperature
3. Display the mean Sauter diameter (Figure 19.10: Contours of DPM Sauter Diameter (p. 841)).
a. Enable Filled in the Options group box
b. Select Discrete Phase Variables... and DPM Mean Sauter Diam from the Contours of drop-down
lists.
c. Select angle=15 from the Surfaces selection list.
Setup and Solution
Figure 19.10: Contours of DPM Sauter Diameter
4. Display vectors of DPM mean velocity colored by DPM velocity magnitude (Figure 19.11: Vectors of DPM
Mean Velocity Colored by DPM Velocity Magnitude (p. 843)).
a. Select dpm-mean-velocity from the Vectors of drop-down lists.
b. Select Discrete Phase Variables... and DPM Velocity Magnitude from the Color by drop-down lists.
d. Select angle=15 from the Surfaces selection list.
Setup and Solution
Figure 19.11: Vectors of DPM Mean Velocity Colored by DPM Velocity Magnitude
5. Create an isosurface of the methanol mass fraction.
a. Select Species... and Mass fraction of ch3oh from the Surface of Constant drop-down lists.
c. Enter 0.002 for Iso-Values.
d. Enter methanol-mf=0.002 for the New Surface Name.
e. Click Create and then close the Iso-Surface dialog box.
6. Display the isosurface you just created (methanol-mf=0.002).
Setup and Solution
a. Deselect atomizer-wall and select methanol-mf=0.002 in the Surfaces selection list.
b. Click the Colors... button to open the Mesh Colors dialog box.
i. Select surface in the Types list and green in the Colors list.
Scroll down the Types list to locate surface. The isosurface will now be displayed in green, which
contrasts better with the rest of the mesh.
ii. Close the Mesh Colors dialog box.
c. Click Display in the Mesh Display dialog box.
The graphics display will be updated to show the isosurface.
7. Modify the view to include the entire atomizer.
a. Click Define... to open the Graphics Periodicity dialog box.
i. Select fluid from the Cell Zones list.
ii. Ensure that Rotational is selected from the Periodic Type list and the Number of Repeats is set
to 12.
iii. Click Set and close the Graphics Periodicity dialog box.
d. Use the mouse to obtain the view shown in Figure 19.12: Full Atomizer Display with Surface of Constant
Methanol Mass Fraction (p. 847).
Setup and Solution
Figure 19.12: Full Atomizer Display with Surface of Constant Methanol Mass Fraction
e. This view can be improved to resemble Figure 19.13: Atomizer Display with Surface of Constant Meth-
anol Mass Fraction Enhanced (p. 848) by changing some of the following variables:
Disable Edges in the Mesh Display dialog box
Select only atomizer-wall and methanol-mf=0.002 in the Surfaces list of the Mesh Display
dialog box
Change the Number of Repeats to 6 in the Graphics Periodicity dialog box
Change Lighting Method to Flat in the Lights dialog box
Check the Headlight On check box in the Lights dialog box
Figure 19.13: Atomizer Display with Surface of Constant Methanol Mass Fraction Enhanced
19.5. Summary
In this tutorial, a spray injection was defined for an air-blast atomizer and the solution was calculated
using the discrete phase model in ANSYS Fluent. The location of methanol droplet particles after exiting
the atomizer and an isosurface of the methanol mass fraction were examined.

Chapter 20: Using the VOF Model
20.1. Introduction
20.2. Prerequisites
20.5. Summary
20.1. Introduction
This tutorial examines the flow of ink as it is ejected from the nozzle of a printhead in an inkjet printer.
Using ANSYS Fluents volume of fluid (VOF) multiphase modeling capability, you will be able to predict
the shape and motion of the resulting droplets in an air chamber.
Set up and solve a transient problem using the pressure-based solver and VOF model.
Copy material from the property database.
Define time-dependent boundary conditions with a user-defined function (UDF).
Patch initial conditions in a subset of the domain.
Automatically save data files at defined points during the solution.
Examine the flow and interface of the two fluids using volume fraction contours.
20.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)
Using the VOF Model

The problem considers the transient tracking of a liquid-gas interface in the geometry shown in Fig-
ure 20.1: Schematic of the Problem (p. 852). The axial symmetry of the problem enables a 2D geometry
to be used. The computation mesh consists of 24,600 cells. The domain consists of two regions: an ink
chamber and an air chamber. The dimensions are summarized in Table 20.1: Ink Chamber Dimen-
sions (p. 852).
Table 20.1: Ink Chamber Dimensions
Ink Chamber, Cylindrical Region: Radius (mm) 0.015

Ink Chamber, Cylindrical Region: Length (mm) 0.050
Ink Chamber, Tapered Region: Final Radius (mm) 0.009
Setup and Solution
Ink Chamber, Tapered Region: Length (mm) 0.050

Air Chamber: Radius (mm) 0.030
Air Chamber: Length (mm) 0.280
The following is the chronology of events modeled in this simulation:
At time zero, the nozzle is filled with ink, while the rest of the domain is filled with air. Both fluids are assumed
to be at rest. To initiate the ejection, the ink velocity at the inlet boundary (which is modeled in this simulation
by a user-defined function) suddenly increases from 0 to 3.58 m/s and then decreases according to a cosine
law.
After 10 microseconds, the velocity returns to zero.
The calculation is run for 30 microseconds overall, that is, three times longer than the duration of the
initial impulse.
Because the dimensions are small, the double-precision version of ANSYS Fluent will be used. Air will
be designated as the primary phase, and ink (which will be modeled with the properties of liquid water)
will be designated as the secondary phase. Patching will be required to fill the ink chamber with the
secondary phase. Gravity will not be included in the simulation. To capture the capillary effect of the
ejected ink, the surface tension and prescription of the wetting angle will be specified. The surface inside
the nozzle will be modeled as neutrally wettable, while the surface surrounding the nozzle orifice will
be non-wettable.

20.4.1. Preparation
20.4.2. Reading and Manipulating the Mesh
20.4.4. Models
20.4.5. Materials
20.4.6. Phases
20.4.8. User-Defined Function (UDF)
20.4.10. Solution
20.4.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
Using the VOF Model
6. Click the vof_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip vof_R160.zip file you downloaded to your working folder.
The files inkjet.msh and inlet1.c can be found in the vof directory created on unzipping the
file.
Note
The double precision solver is recommended for modeling multiphase flows simulation.
20.4.2. Reading and Manipulating the Mesh

1. Read the mesh file inkjet.msh.
File Read Mesh...
A warning message will be displayed twice in the console. You need not take any action at this point,
as the issue will be resolved when you define the solver settings in General Settings (p. 859).
2. Examine the mesh (Figure 20.2: Default Display of the Nozzle Mesh (p. 855)).
Setup and Solution
Figure 20.2: Default Display of the Nozzle Mesh
Tip
By zooming in with the middle mouse button, you can see that the interior of the model
is composed of a fine mesh of quadrilateral cells (see Figure 20.3: The Quadrilateral
Mesh (p. 856)).
Using the VOF Model
Figure 20.3: The Quadrilateral Mesh
3. Set graphics display options
Setup and Solution
a. Ensure that All is selected from the Animation Option drop-down list.
Selecting All will allow you to see the movement of the entire mesh as you manipulate the Camera
view in the next step.
4. Click Apply and close the Display Options dialog box.
5. Manipulate the mesh display to show the full chamber upright.
Using the VOF Model
a. Select front from the Views selection list.
b. Select axis from the Mirror Planes selection list.
c. Click Apply.
The mesh display is updated to show both sides of the chamber.
d. Click the Camera... button to open the Camera Parameters dialog box.
Note
You may notice that the scale of the dimensions in the Camera Parameters dialog
box appear very large given the problem dimensions. This is because you have not
yet scaled the mesh to the correct units. You will do this in a later step.
i. Drag the indicator of the dial with the left mouse button in the clockwise direction until the upright
view is displayed (Figure 20.4: Mesh Display of the Nozzle Mirrored and Upright (p. 859)).
Setup and Solution
Figure 20.4: Mesh Display of the Nozzle Mirrored and Upright
ii. Close the Camera Parameters dialog box.
e. Close the Views dialog box.

1. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
2. Scale the mesh.
Using the VOF Model
a. Select Specify Scaling Factors from the Scaling group box.
b. Enter 1e-6 for X and Y in the Scaling Factors group box.
c. Click Scale and close the Scale Mesh dialog box.
3. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
Note
4. Define the units for the mesh.
Setup and Solution
a. Select length from the Quantities list.
b. Select mm from the Units list.
c. Select surface-tension from the Quantities list.
d. Select dyn/cm from the Units list.
e. Close the Set Units dialog box.
5. Retain the default setting of Pressure-Based in the Solver group box.
Setup General
6. Select Transient from the Time list.
Using the VOF Model
7. Select Axisymmetric from the 2D Space list.
20.4.4. Models
1. Enable the Volume of Fluid multiphase model.
Setup Models Multiphase Edit...
a. Select Volume of Fluid from the Model list.
The Multiphase Model dialog box expands to show related inputs.
b. Retain the default settings and click OK to close the Multiphase Model dialog box.
20.4.5. Materials
The default properties of air and water defined in ANSYS Fluent are suitable for this problem. In this step,
you will make sure that both materials are available for selection in later steps.
1. Add water to the list of fluid materials by copying it from the ANSYS Fluent materials database.
Setup and Solution
ials dialog box.
Using the VOF Model
i. Select water-liquid (h2o < l >) from the Fluent Fluid Materials selection list.
Scroll down the Fluent Fluid Materials list to locate water-liquid (h2o < l >).
ii. Click Copy to copy the information for water to your list of fluid materials.
20.4.6. Phases
In the following steps, you will define water as the secondary phase. When you define the initial solution,
you will patch water in the nozzle region. In general, you can specify the primary and secondary phases
whichever way you prefer. It is a good idea to consider how your choice will affect the ease of problem setup,
especially with more complicated problems.
Setup Models Multiphase Phases Edit...
Setup and Solution
1. Specify air (air) as the primary phase.
In the Phases dialog box, select phase 1 Primary Phase and click Edit... to open the Primary
Phase dialog box.
a. Enter air for Name.
b. Retain the default selection of air in the Phase Material drop-down list.
c. Click OK to close the Primary Phase dialog box.
2. Specify water (water-liquid) as the secondary phase.
In the Phases dialog box, select phase 2 Secondary Phase and click Edit... to open the Secondary
Phase dialog box.
Using the VOF Model
a. Enter water-liquid for Name.
b. Select water-liquid from the Phase Material drop-down list.
c. Click OK to close the Secondary Phase dialog box.
3. Specify the interphase interaction.
In the Phases dialog box, click Interaction... to open the Phase Interaction dialog box.
a. Click the Surface Tension tab.
b. Enable Surface Tension Force Modeling.
The surface tension inputs is displayed and the Continuum Surface Force model is set as the default.
c. Enable Wall Adhesion so that contact angles can be prescribed.
d. Select constant from the Surface Tension Coefficient drop-down list.
e. Enter 73.5 dyn/cm for Surface Tension Coefficient.
f. Click OK to close the Phase Interaction dialog box.
4. Close the Phases dialog box.
Setup and Solution

1. Set the operating reference pressure location.
You will set the Reference Pressure Location to be a point where the fluid will always be 100 air.
a. Enter 0.10 mm for X.
b. Enter 0.03 mm for Y.
c. Click OK to close the Operating Conditions dialog box.

1. Interpret the UDF source file for the ink velocity distribution (inlet1.c).
Define User-Defined Functions Interpreted...
a. Enter inlet1.c for Source File Name.
Using the VOF Model
If the UDF source file is not in your working directory, then you must enter the entire directory path
for Source File Name instead of just entering the file name. Alternatively, click the Browse... button
and select inlet1.c in the vof directory that was created after you unzipped the original file.
b. Click Interpret.
The UDF defined in inlet1.c is now visible and available for selection as udf membrane_speed in the
drop-down lists of relevant graphical user interface dialog boxes.
c. Close the Interpreted UDFs dialog box.

1. Set the boundary conditions at the inlet (inlet) for the mixture by selecting mixture from the Phase drop-
down list in the Boundary Conditions task page.
a. Select udf membrane_speed from the Velocity Magnitude drop-down list.
b. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
2. Set the boundary conditions at the inlet (inlet) for the secondary phase by selecting water-liquid from
the Phase drop-down list in the Boundary Conditions task page.
Setup and Solution
a. Click the Multiphase tab and enter 1 for the Volume Fraction.
b. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
3. Set the boundary conditions at the outlet (outlet) for the secondary phase by selecting water-liquid from
the Phase drop-down list in the Boundary Conditions task page.
a. Click the Multiphase tab and retain the default setting of 0 for the Backflow Volume Fraction.
4. Set the conditions at the top wall of the air chamber (wall_no_wet) for the mixture by selecting mixture
from the Phase drop-down list in the Boundary Conditions task page.
Setup Boundary Conditions wall_no_wet Edit...
Using the VOF Model
a. Enter 175 degrees for Contact Angles.
Note
This angle affects the dynamics of droplet formation. You can repeat this simulation
to find out how the result changes when the wall is hydrophilic (that is, using a small
contact angle, say 10 degrees).
5. Set the conditions at the side wall of the ink chamber (wall_wet) for the mixture.
Setup Boundary Conditions wall_wet Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Retain the default setting of 90 degrees for Contact Angles.
20.4.10. Solution
1. Set the solution methods.
Using the VOF Model
a. Enable Non-Iterative Time Advancement.
The non-iterative time advancement (NITA) scheme is often advantageous compared to the iterative
schemes as it is less CPU intensive. Although smaller time steps must be used with NITA compared
to the iterative schemes, the total CPU expense is often smaller. If the NITA scheme leads to convergence
difficulties, then the iterative schemes (for example, PISO, SIMPLE) should be used instead.
b. Select Fractional Step from the Scheme drop-down list in the Pressure-Velocity Coupling group
box.
c. Retain the default selection of Least Squares Cell Based from the Gradient drop-down list in the
d. Retain the default selection of PRESTO! from the Pressure drop-down list.
e. Select QUICK from the Momentum drop-down list.
f. Select Compressive from the Volume-Fraction drop-down list.
Setup and Solution
a. Ensure Plot is selected in the Options group box.
3. Initialize the solution using the default initial values.
Using the VOF Model
a. Retain the default settings for all the parameters and click Initialize.
4. Define a register for the ink chamber region.
Adapt Region...
Setup and Solution
a. Retain the default setting of 0 mm for X Min and Y Min in the Input Coordinates group box.
b. Enter 0.10 mm for X Max.
c. Enter 0.03 mm for Y Max.
d. Click Mark.
ANSYS Fluent will report in the console that 1500 cells were marked for refinement while zero cells
were marked for coarsening.
Tip
You can display and manipulate adaption registers, which are generated using the
Mark command, using the Manage Adaption Registers dialog box. Click the Man-
age... button in the Region Adaption dialog box to open the Manage Adaption
Registers dialog box. For details, see Adapting the Mesh (p. 175).
e. Close the Region Adaption dialog box.
5. Patch the initial distribution of the secondary phase (water-liquid).
Using the VOF Model
a. Select water-liquid from the Phase drop-down list.
b. Select Volume Fraction from the Variable list.
c. Enter 1 for Value.
d. Select hexahedron-r0 from the Registers to Patch selection list.
e. Click Patch and close the Patch dialog box.
6. Request the saving of data files every 200 steps.
Solution Calculation Activities (Autosave Every (Time Steps)) Edit....
Setup and Solution
a. Enter 200 for Save Data File Every (Time Steps).
b. Ensure that time-step is selected from the Append File Name with drop-down list.
c. Enter inkjet for the File Name.
ANSYS Fluent will append the time step value to the file name prefix (inkjet). The standard .dat
extension will also be appended. This will yield file names of the form inkjet-1-00200.dat,
where 200 is the time step number.
Optionally, you can add the extension .gz to the end of the file name (for example, inkjet.gz),
which instructs ANSYS Fluent to save the data files in a compressed format, yielding file names of the
form inkjet-1-00200.dat.gz.
d. Click OK to close the Autosave dialog box.
7. Save the initial case file (inkjet.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
8. Run the calculation.
Using the VOF Model
a. Enter 1.0e-8 seconds for the Time Step Size (s).
Note
Small time steps are required to capture the oscillation of the droplet interface and
the associated high velocities. Failure to use sufficiently small time steps may cause
differences in the results between platforms.
b. Enter 3000 for the Number of Time Steps.
c. Retain the default selection of Fixed in the Time Stepping Method drop-down list.
d. Click Calculate.
The solution will run for 3000 iterations.
1. Read the data file for the solution after 6 microseconds (inkjet-1-00600.dat.gz).
File Read Data...
Setup and Solution
2. Create and display a filled contour of water volume fraction after 6 microseconds (Figure 20.5: Contours
of Water Volume Fraction After 6 s (p. 880)).
a. Change the Contour Name to contour-volume-fraction.
c. Select Phases... and Volume fraction from the Contours of drop-down lists.
d. Select water-liquid from the Phase drop-down list.
e. Click Save/Display.
Tip
In order to display the contour plot in the graphics window, you may need to click the
Fit to Window button.
Using the VOF Model
3. Display contours of water volume fraction after 12, 18, 24, and 30 microseconds (Figure 20.6: Contours of
Water Volume Fraction After 12 s (p. 881) Figure 20.9: Contours of Water Volume Fraction After 30
s (p. 884)).
a. Read the data file for the solution after 12 microseconds (inkjet-1-01200.dat.gz).
File Read Data...
b. Reload the contour graphic saved in the previous step.
Results Graphics Contours contour-volume-fraction Display
c. Repeat these steps for the 18, 24, and 30 microseconds files.
Figure 20.5: Contours of Water Volume Fraction After 6 s
Setup and Solution
Using the VOF Model
Setup and Solution
Using the VOF Model
20.5. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated the application of the volume of fluid method with surface tension effects.
The problem involved the 2D axisymmetric modeling of a transient liquid-gas interface, and postpro-
cessing showed how the position and shape of the surface between the two immiscible fluids changed
over time.
For additional details about VOF multiphase flow modeling, see Volume of Fluid (VOF) Model Theory
of the Theory Guide.

Chapter 21: Modeling Cavitation
21.1. Introduction
21.2. Prerequisites
21.5. Summary
21.1. Introduction
This tutorial examines the pressure-driven cavitating flow of water through a sharp-edged orifice. This
is a typical configuration in fuel injectors, and brings a challenge to the physics and numerics of cavit-
ation models because of the high pressure differentials involved and the high ratio of liquid to vapor
density. Using the multiphase modeling capability of ANSYS Fluent, you will be able to predict the
strong cavitation near the orifice after flow separation at a sharp edge.
Use the mixture model with cavitation effects.
Calculate a solution using the pressure-based coupled solver.
21.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)

The problem considers the cavitation caused by the flow separation after a sharp-edged orifice. The
flow is pressure driven, with an inlet pressure of 5 x 105 Pa and an outlet pressure of 9.5 x 104 Pa. The
orifice diameter is 4 x 103 m, and the geometrical parameters of the orifice are D/d = 2.88 and L/d =
Modeling Cavitation
4, where D, d, and L are the inlet diameter, orifice diameter, and orifice length respectively. The geometry
of the orifice is shown in Figure 21.1: Problem Schematic (p. 888).
Figure 21.1: Problem Schematic

21.4.1. Preparation
21.4.4. Models
21.4.5. Materials
21.4.6. Phases
21.4.9. Solution
21.4.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
Setup and Solution
6. Click the cavitation_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip the cavitation_R160.zip file you downloaded to your working folder.
The mesh file cav.msh can be found in the cavitation directory created after unzipping the file.
8. Use the Fluent Launcher to start the 2D version of ANSYS Fluent.
the Users Guide.
Note
The double precision solver is recommended for modeling multiphase flows simulation.

1. Read the mesh file cav.msh.
File Read Mesh...
As ANSYS Fluent reads the mesh file, it will report the progress in the console. You can disregard the
warnings about the use of axis boundary conditions, as you will make the appropriate change to the
solver settings in the next step.
2. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
3. Check the mesh scale.
Modeling Cavitation
a. Retain the default settings.
b. Close the Scale Mesh dialog box.
4. Examine the mesh (Figure 21.2: The Mesh in the Orifice (p. 891)).
Setup and Solution
Figure 21.2: The Mesh in the Orifice
As seen in Figure 21.2: The Mesh in the Orifice (p. 891), half of the problem geometry is modeled, with an
axis boundary (consisting of two separate lines) at the centerline. The quadrilateral mesh is slightly graded
in the plenum to be finer toward the orifice. In the orifice, the mesh is uniform with aspect ratios close
to , as the flow is expected to exhibit two-dimensional gradients.
When you display data graphically in a later step, you will mirror the view across the centerline to obtain
a more realistic view of the model.
Since the bubbles are small and the flow is high speed, gravity effects can be neglected and the problem
can be reduced to axisymmetrical. If gravity could not be neglected and the direction of gravity were not
coincident with the geometrical axis of symmetry, you would have to solve a 3D problem.

1. Specify an axisymmetric model.
Modeling Cavitation
Setup General
The pressure-based solver must be used for multiphase calculations.
b. Select Axisymmetric in the 2D Space list.
Note
A computationally intensive, transient calculation is necessary to accurately simulate the

irregular cyclic process of bubble formation, growth, filling by water jet re-entry, and
break-off. In this tutorial, you will perform a steady-state calculation to simulate the
presence of vapor in the separation region in the time-averaged flow.
21.4.4. Models
1. Enable the multiphase mixture model.
Setup and Solution
a. Select Mixture in the Model list.
The Multiphase Model dialog box will expand.
b. Clear Slip Velocity in the Mixture Parameters group box.
In this flow, the high level of turbulence does not allow large bubble growth, so gravity is not important.
It is also assumed that the bubbles have same velocity as the liquid. Therefore, there is no need to
solve for the slip velocity.
c. Click OK to close the Multiphase Model dialog box.
2. Enable the realizable - turbulence model with standard wall functions.
Modeling Cavitation
b. Select Realizable in the k-epsilon Model list.
c. Retain the default of Standard Wall Functions in the Near-Wall Treatment list.
21.4.5. Materials
For the purposes of this tutorial, you will be modeling the liquid and vapor phases as incompressible.
Note that more comprehensive models are available for the densities of these phases, and could be
used to more fully capture the affects of the pressure changes in this problem.
1. Create a new material to be used for the primary phase.
Setup and Solution
a. Enter water for Name.
b. Enter 1000 kg/m3 for Density.
c. Enter 0.001 kg/ms for Viscosity.
d. Click Change/Create.
A Question dialog box will open, asking if you want to overwrite air. Click Yes.
2. Copy water vapor from the materials database and modify the properties of your local copy.
a. In the Create/Edit Materials dialog box, click the Fluent Database... button to open the Fluent
Database Materials dialog box.
Modeling Cavitation
i. Select water-vapor (h2o) from the Fluent Fluid Materials selection list.
Scroll down the list to find water-vapor (h2o).
ii. Click Copy to include water vapor in your model.
water-vapor appears under Fluid in the Materials task page
Setup and Solution
b. Enter 0.02558 kg/m3 for Density.
c. Enter 1.26e-06 kg/ms for Viscosity.
21.4.6. Phases
Setup Models Multiphase (Mixture) Phases Edit...
Modeling Cavitation
1. Specify liquid water as the primary phase.
In the Phases dialog box, select phase 1 Primary Phase and click Edit... to open the Primary
Phase dialog box.
a. Enter liquid for Name.
b. Retain the default selection of water from the Phase Material drop-down list.
2. Specify water vapor as the secondary phase.
In the Phases dialog box, select phase 2 Secondary Phase and click Edit... to open the Secondary
Phase dialog box.
Setup and Solution
a. Enter vapor for Name.
b. Select water-vapor from the Phase Material drop-down list.
c. Click OK to close the Secondary Phase dialog box.
3. Enable the cavitation model.
In the Phases dialog box, click Interaction... to open the Phase Interaction dialog box.
a. Click the Mass tab.
The dialog box expands to show relevant modeling parameters.
i. Set Number of Mass Transfer Mechanisms to 1.
Click OK in the dialog box that appears to inform you that Linearized-Mass-Transfer UDF is on.
ii. Ensure that liquid is selected from the From Phase drop-down list in the Mass Transfer group
box.
iii. Select vapor from the To Phase drop-down list.
iv. Select cavitation from the Mechanism drop-down list.
The Cavitation Model dialog box will open to show the cavitation inputs.
Modeling Cavitation
A. Retain the default settings.
B. Retain the value of 3540 Pa for Vaporization Pressure.
The vaporization pressure is a property of the working liquid, which depends mainly on the
temperature and pressure. The default value is the vaporization pressure of water at 1 atmo-
sphere and a temperature of 300 K.
C. Click OK to close the Cavitation Model dialog box.
b. Click OK to close the Phase Interaction dialog box.
4. Close the Phases dialog box.

For the multiphase mixture model, you will specify conditions for the mixture (that is, conditions that apply
to all phases) and the conditions that are specific to the primary and secondary phases. In this tutorial,
boundary conditions are required only for the mixture and secondary phase of two boundaries: the pressure
inlet (consisting of two boundary zones) and the pressure outlet. The pressure outlet is the downstream
boundary, opposite the pressure inlets.
Setup and Solution
1. Set the boundary conditions at inlet_1 for the mixture. Ensure that mixture is selected from the Phase
drop-down list in the Boundary Conditions task page.
Setup Boundary Conditions inlet_1 Edit...
Modeling Cavitation
a. Enter 500000 Pa for Gauge Total Pressure.
b. Enter 449000 Pa.
If you choose to initialize the solution based on the pressure-inlet conditions, the Supersonic/Initial
Gauge Pressure will be used in conjunction with the specified stagnation pressure (the Gauge Total
Pressure) to compute initial values according to the isentropic relations (for compressible flow) or
Bernoullis equation (for incompressible flow). Otherwise, in an incompressible flow calculation, ANSYS
Fluent will ignore the Supersonic/Initial Gauge Pressure input.
c. Retain the default selection of Normal to Boundary from the Direction Specification Method drop-
down list.
d. Select K and Epsilon from the Specification Method drop-down list in the Turbulence group box.
e. Enter 0.02 m2/s2 for Turbulent Kinetic Energy.
f. Retain the value of 1 m2/s3 for Turbulent Dissipation Rate.
g. Click OK to close the Pressure Inlet dialog box.
2. Set the boundary conditions at inlet-1 for the secondary phase.
Setup Boundary Conditions inlet_1
a. Select vapor from the Phase drop-down list.
b. Click Edit... to open the Pressure Inlet dialog box.
Setup and Solution
i. Click the Multiphase tab and retain the default value of 0 for Volume Fraction.
ii. Click OK to close the Pressure Inlet dialog box.
3. Copy the boundary conditions defined for the first pressure inlet zone (inlet_1) to the second pressure
inlet zone (inlet_2).
Setup Boundary Conditions inlet_1
a. Select mixture from the Phase drop-down list.
b. Click Copy... to open the Copy Conditions dialog box.
i. Select inlet_1 from the From Boundary Zone selection list.
ii. Select inlet_2 from the To Boundary Zones selection list.
iii. Click Copy.
A Question dialog box will open, asking if you want to copy inlet_1 boundary conditions to in-
let_2. Click OK.
Modeling Cavitation
iv. Close the Copy Conditions dialog box.
4. Set the boundary conditions at outlet for the mixture.
a. Enter 95000 for Gauge Pressure.
b. Select K and Epsilon from the Specification Method drop-down list in the Turbulence group box.
c. Enter 0.02 m2/s2 for Backflow Turbulent Kinetic Energy.
d. Retain the value of 1 m2/s3 for Backflow Turbulent Dissipation Rate.
5. Set the boundary conditions at outlet for the secondary phase.
Setup Boundary Conditions outlet
a. Select vapor from the Phase drop-down list.
b. Click Edit... to open the Pressure Outlet dialog box.
Setup and Solution
i. Click the Multiphase tab and retain the default value of 0 for Volume Fraction.
ii. Click OK to close the Pressure Outlet dialog box.

a. Enter 0 Pa for Operating Pressure.
21.4.9. Solution
Modeling Cavitation
b. Retain the selection of PRESTO! from the Pressure drop-down list in the Spatial Discretization group
box.
c. Select QUICK for Momentum and Volume Fraction.
d. Retain First Order Upwind for Turbulent Kinetic Energy and Turbulent Dissipation Rate.
f. Enable High Order Term Relaxation.
The message appears in the console informing you of changing AMG cycle type for Volume Fraction,
Turbulent Kinetic Energy, and Turbulent Dissipation Rate to F-cycle.
The relaxation of high order terms will help to improve the solution behavior of flow simulations
when higher order spatial discretizations are used (higher than first).
Setup and Solution
a. Set the pseudo transient explicit relaxation factor for Volume Fraction to 0.3.
Modeling Cavitation
b. Enter 1e-05 for the Absolute Criteria of continuity, x-velocity, y-velocity, k, and epsilon.
Decreasing the criteria for these residuals will improve the accuracy of the solution.
a. Select Hybrid Initialization from the Initialization Methods group box.
b. Click More Settings... to open the Hybrid Initialization dialog box.
c. Enable Use Specified Initial Pressure on Inlets in the Initialization Options group box. The velocity
will now be initialized to the Initial Gauge Pressure value that you set in the Pressure Inlet Boundary
Setup and Solution
Condition dialog box. For more information on initialization options, see Steps in Using Hybrid Initial-
ization in the Fluent User's Guide.
d. Click OK to close the Hybrid Initialization dialog box.
e. Click Initialize to initialize the solution.
Note
and pressure fields than standard initialization. This will help to improve the conver-
gence behavior of the solver.
5. Save the case file (cav.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
b. Click Calculate.
Modeling Cavitation
7. Save the data file (cav.dat.gz).
File Write Data...
1. Plot the pressure in the orifice (Figure 21.3: Contours of Static Pressure (p. 911)).
a. Change Contour Name to contour-static-pressure
c. Retain the default selection of Pressure... and Static Pressure from the Contours of drop-down lists.
d. Click Save/Display and close the Contours dialog box.
Setup and Solution
Note the dramatic pressure drop at the flow restriction in Figure 21.3: Contours of Static Pressure (p. 911).
Low static pressure is the major factor causing cavitation. Additionally, turbulence contributes to cavitation
due to the effect of pressure fluctuation (Figure 21.4: Mirrored View of Contours of Static Pressure (p. 913))
and turbulent diffusion (Figure 21.5: Contours of Turbulent Kinetic Energy (p. 914)).
2. Mirror the display across the centerline (Figure 21.4: Mirrored View of Contours of Static Pressure (p. 913)).
Mirroring the display across the centerline gives a more realistic view.
Modeling Cavitation
a. Select symm_2 and symm_1 from the Mirror Planes selection list.
Setup and Solution
Figure 21.4: Mirrored View of Contours of Static Pressure
3. Plot the turbulent kinetic energy (Figure 21.5: Contours of Turbulent Kinetic Energy (p. 914)).
a. Change Contour Name to contour-tke
b. Select Turbulence... and Turbulent Kinetic Energy(k) from the Contours of drop-down lists.
c. Click Save/Display.
Modeling Cavitation
Figure 21.5: Contours of Turbulent Kinetic Energy
In this example, the mesh used is fairly coarse. However, in cavitating flows the pressure distribution is
the dominant factor, and is not very sensitive to mesh size.
4. Plot the volume fraction of water vapor (Figure 21.6: Contours of Vapor Volume Fraction (p. 915)).
a. Change Contour Name to contour-vf-vapor
b. Select Phases... and Volume fraction from the Contours of drop-down lists.
c. Select vapor from the Phase drop-down list.
Summary
Figure 21.6: Contours of Vapor Volume Fraction
The high turbulent kinetic energy region near the neck of the orifice in Figure 21.5: Contours of Turbulent
Kinetic Energy (p. 914) coincides with the highest volume fraction of vapor in Figure 21.6: Contours of
Vapor Volume Fraction (p. 915). This indicates the correct prediction of a localized high phase change
rate. The vapor then gets convected downstream by the main flow.
21.5. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated how to set up and resolve a strongly cavitating pressure-driven flow through
an orifice, using multiphase mixture model of ANSYS Fluent with cavitation effects. You learned how
to set the boundary conditions for an internal flow. A steady-state solution was calculated to simulate
the formation of vapor in the neck of the flow after the section restriction at the orifice. A more compu-
tationally intensive transient calculation is necessary to accurately simulate the irregular cyclic process
of bubble formation, growth, filling by water jet re-entry, and break-off.
Modeling Cavitation

Chapter 22: Using the Mixture and Eulerian Multiphase Models
22.1. Introduction
22.2. Prerequisites
22.5. Summary
22.1. Introduction
This tutorial examines the flow of water and air in a tee junction. Initially you will solve the problem
using the less computationally intensive mixture model. You will then switch to the more accurate Eu-
lerian model and compare the results of these two approaches.
Use the mixture model with slip velocities.
Calculate a solution using the pressure-based coupled solver with the mixture model.
Use the Eulerian model.
Calculate a solution using the multiphase coupled solver with the Eulerian model.
Display the results obtained using the two approaches for comparison.
22.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)
Using the Mixture and Eulerian Multiphase Models

This problem considers an air-water mixture flowing upwards in a duct and then splitting in a tee
junction. The ducts are 25 mm in width, the inlet section of the duct is 125 mm long, and the top and
the side ducts are 250 mm long. The schematic of the problem is shown in Figure 22.1: Problem Spe-
cification (p. 918).

22.4.1. Preparation
22.4.2. Mesh
22.4.4. Models
22.4.5. Materials
22.4.6. Phases
22.4.9. Solution Using the Mixture Model
22.4.10. Postprocessing for the Mixture Solution
22.4.11. Higher Order Solution using the Mixture Model
Setup and Solution
22.4.12. Setup and Solution for the Eulerian Model

22.4.13. Postprocessing for the Eulerian Model
22.4.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the mix_eulerian_multiphase_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip mix_eulerian_multiphase_R160.zip to your working folder.
The file tee.msh can be found in the mix_eulerian_multiphase folder created after unzipping
the file.
8. Use Fluent Launcher to enable Double Precision and start the 2D version of ANSYS Fluent.
the Users Guide.
Note
The double precision solver is recommended for modeling multiphase flow simulations.
22.4.2. Mesh
1. Read the mesh file tee.msh.
File Read Mesh...
As ANSYS Fluent reads the mesh file, it will report the progress in the console.

1. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
Extra
Setup and Solution
3. Retain the default settings for the pressure-based solver.
Setup General
22.4.4. Models
1. Select the mixture multiphase model with slip velocities.
a. Select Mixture in the Model list.
The Multiphase Model dialog box will expand to show the inputs for the mixture model.
b. Ensure that Slip Velocity is enabled in the Mixture Parameters group box.
Setup and Solution
You need to solve the slip velocity equation because there will be significant difference in velocities
for the different phases.
c. Enable Implicit Body Force in the Body Force Formulation group box.
This treatment improves solution convergence by accounting for the partial equilibrium of the pressure
gradient and body forces in the momentum equations. It is used in VOF and mixture problems, where
body forces are large in comparison to viscous and convective forces.
d. Click OK to close the Multiphase Model dialog box.
2. Select the realizable - turbulence model with standard wall functions.
a. Select k-epsilon in the Model list.
b. Select Realizable under in the k-epsilon Model list.
The realizable - model is recommended in cases where flow separation around sharp corners or
over bluff bodies can be expected.
c. Retain Standard Wall Functions in the Near-Wall Treatment list.
This problem does not require a particularly fine mesh, and standard wall functions will be used.
22.4.5. Materials
1. Copy the properties for liquid water from the materials database so that it can be used for the primary
phase.
i. Select water-liquid (h2o < l >) from the Fluent Fluid Materials selection list.
Scroll down the list to find water-liquid (h2o < l >).
ii. Click Copy to copy the properties for liquid water to your model.
Setup and Solution
b. Close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
22.4.6. Phases
In the following steps you will define the liquid water and air phases that flow in the tee junction.
1. Specify liquid water as the primary phase.
Setup Models Multiphase Phases phase-1 Edit...
2. Specify air as the secondary phase.
Setup Models Multiphase Phases phase-2 Edit...
b. Retain the default selection of air from the Phase Material drop-down list.
c. Enter 0.001 m for Diameter.
d. Click OK to close the Secondary Phase dialog box.
3. Check that the drag coefficient is set to be calculated using the Schiller-Naumann drag law.
Setup Models Multiphase Phases Phases Interactions Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Click on the Drag tab.
b. Retain the default selection of schiller-naumann from the Drag Coefficient drop-down list.
The Schiller-Naumann drag law describes the drag between the spherical particle and the surrounding
liquid for a wide range of conditions provided the bubbles remain approximately spherical. In this
case, the bubbles have a diameter of 1 mm which is within the spherical regime.
c. Click OK to close the Phase Interaction dialog box.
For this problem, you need to set the boundary conditions for three boundaries: the velocity inlet and the
two outflows. Since this is a mixture multiphase model, you will set the conditions at the velocity inlet that
are specific for the mixture (conditions that apply to all phases) and also conditions that are specific to the
primary and secondary phases.
1. Set the boundary conditions at the velocity inlet (velocity-inlet-4) for the mixture.
Setup and Solution
a. Select Intensity and Viscosity Ratio from the Specification Method drop-down list.
b. Retain the default of 5 % for Turbulent Intensity.
c. Retain the default of 10 for Turbulent Viscosity Ratio.
d. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
2. Set the boundary conditions at the velocity inlet (velocity-inlet-4) for the primary phase (water).
Setup Boundary Conditions velocity-inlet-4
a. Select water from the Phase drop-down list.
b. Click Edit... to open the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
Note
Note that you can also open the Velocity Inlet dialog box from the tree by going to
Setup/Boundary Conditions/velocity-inlet-4/water and double-clicking water.
i. Retain the default selection of Magnitude, Normal to Boundary from the Velocity Specification
ii. Retain the default selection of Absolute from the Reference Frame drop-down list.
iii. Enter 1.53 m/s for Velocity Magnitude.
iv. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
3. Set the boundary conditions at the velocity inlet (velocity-inlet-4) for the secondary phase (air).
Setup Boundary Conditions velocity-inlet-4
a. Select air from the Phase drop-down list.
b. Click Edit... to open the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
Note
Note that you can also open the Velocity Inlet dialog box from the tree by going to
Setup/Boundary Conditions/velocity-inlet-4/air and double-clicking air.
ii. Retain the default selection of Absolute from the Reference Frame drop-down list.
iii. Enter 1.53 m/s for Velocity Magnitude.
In multiphase flows, the volume rate of each phase is usually known. Volume rate divided by the
inlet area gives the superficial velocity, which is the product of the inlet physical velocity and the
volume fraction. When you have two phases, you must enter two physical velocities and the
volume fraction of the secondary phase. Here it is assumed that bubbles at the inlet are moving
at the same physical speed as the water.
iv. Click the Multiphase tab and enter 0.02 for Volume Fraction.
Setup and Solution
v. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
4. Set the boundary conditions at outflow-5 for the mixture.
Setup Boundary Conditions outflow-5
b. Click Edit... to open the Outflow dialog box.
i. Enter 0.62 for Flow Rate Weighting.
ii. Click OK to close the Outflow dialog box.
5. Set the boundary conditions at outflow-3 for the mixture.
Setup Boundary Conditions outflow-3 Edit...
a. Enter 0.38 for Flow Rate Weighting.
b. Click OK to close the Outflow dialog box.

1. Set the gravitational acceleration.
a. Enable Gravity.
The Operating Conditions dialog box will expand to show additional inputs.
b. Enter -9.81 m/s2 for Y in the Gravitational Acceleration group box.
c. Enable Specified Operating Density.
d. Enter 0 kg/m3 for Operating Density.
ANSYS Fluent redefines the fluid pressure by removing the hydrostatic component based on an average
density in the domain or a user-specified operating density. By setting the operating density to 0 you
force the hydrostatic pressure to appear explicitly in the postprocessed results. For more information,
refer to Operating Density in the Fluent User's Guide.
e. Click OK to close the Operating Conditions dialog box.
22.4.9. Solution Using the Mixture Model

You will begin by calculating a preliminary solution using first-order discretization for momentum,
volume fraction and turbulence quantities. You will then change to higher-order methods to refine the
solution.
Setup and Solution
b. Confirm that PRESTO! is selected from the Pressure drop-down list.
The PRESTO! method for pressure is a good choice when buoyancy and inertial forces are present.
b. Enter 0.4 for Volume Fraction in the Under-Relaxation Factors group box.
Setup and Solution
b. Enter 1e-05 for Absolute Criteria for continuity.
a. Select Hybrid Initialization from the Initialization Methods group box.
Note
and pressure fields than standard initialization. In general, this will help in improving
5. Save the case file (tee_1a.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
7. Save the case and data files (tee_1a.cas.gz and tee_1a.dat.gz).
8. Check the total mass flow rate for each phase.
a. Retain the default selection of Mass Flow Rate in the Options list.
b. Select water from the Phase drop-down list.
c. Select outflow-3, outflow-5, and velocity-inlet-4 from the Boundaries selection list.
d. Click Compute.
Note that the net mass flow rate of water is a small fraction of the inlet and outlet flow rates (<0.1%),
indicating that mass is conserved.
e. Select air from the Phase drop-down list and click Compute again.
Again, note that the net mass flow rate of air is small compared to the inlet and outlet flow rates.
Setup and Solution
f. Close the Flux Reports dialog box.
22.4.10. Postprocessing for the Mixture Solution

1. Display the static pressure field in the tee (Figure 22.3: Contours of Static Pressure (p. 938)).
b. Retain the default selection of Pressure... and Static Pressure from the Contours of drop-down lists.
c. Click Display.
In Figure 22.3: Contours of Static Pressure (p. 938) the hydrostatic pressure gradient is readily apparent in
the vertical arm a result of setting the Operating Density to 0.
2. Display contours of velocity magnitude (Figure 22.4: Contours of Velocity Magnitude (p. 939)).
b. Select water from the Phase drop-down list.
c. Click Display.
Setup and Solution
Figure 22.4: Contours of Velocity Magnitude
3. Display the volume fraction of air (Figure 22.5: Contours of Air Volume Fraction (p. 940)).
a. Select Phases... and Volume fraction from the Contours of drop-down lists.
b. Select air from the Phase drop-down list.
Figure 22.5: Contours of Air Volume Fraction
When gravity acts downwards, it induces stratification in the side arm of the tee junction. In Fig-
ure 22.5: Contours of Air Volume Fraction (p. 940), you can see that the gas (air) tends to concentrate on
the upper part of the side arm. In this case, gravity acts against inertia that tends to concentrate gas on
the low pressure side, thereby creating gas pockets. In the vertical arm, both the gas and the water have
velocities in the same direction, and therefore there is no separation. The outflow split modifies the relation
between inertia forces and gravity to a large extent, and has an important role in flow distribution and
on the gas concentration.
22.4.11. Higher Order Solution using the Mixture Model

In this step you will change to higher order discretization schemes and continue the calculation to refine
the solution.
1. Revisit the Solution Methods task page and make the following selections
Setup and Solution
Setting Value
Spatial Pressure PRESTO!
Discretization Momentum Third-Order MUSCL
Volume Fraction QUICK
Turbulent Kinetic Energy Third-Order MUSCL
Turbulent Dissipation Rate Third-Order MUSCL
2. Run the calculation for an additional 1400 iterations.
3. Save the case and data files as tee_1b.cas.gz and tee_1b.dat.gz
4. Plot the contours of air volume fraction using the higher order method on the same scale as in Fig-
ure 22.5: Contours of Air Volume Fraction (p. 940).
c. Disable Auto Range and Clip to Range.
d. Enter 0 and 3.70e-1 for Min and Max, respectively.
Figure 22.6: Contours of Air Volume Fraction Higher Order Solution
22.4.12. Setup and Solution for the Eulerian Model

The mixture model is a simplification of the Eulerian model and is valid only when bubble inertia can be
neglected. This assumption can be violated in the recirculation pattern. The Eulerian model also offers
models for various non-drag forces that are not available when using the mixture model. As a result, the
Eulerian model is expected to make a more realistic prediction in this case. You will use the solution obtained
using the mixture model as an initial condition for the calculation using the Eulerian model. Because you
have already computed a reasonable initial solution, you will continue with the higher order discretization
methods.
1. Select the Eulerian multiphase model.
Setup and Solution
a. Select Eulerian in the Model list.
b. Click OK to close the Multiphase Model dialog box.
2. Specify the drag and lift laws to be used for computing the interphase momentum transfer.
Setup Models Multiphase Phases Phases Interactions Edit...
a. In the Drag tab, retain the default selection of schiller-naumann from the Drag Coefficient drop-
down list.
b. In the Lift tab, select legendre-magnaudet from the Lift Coefficient drop-down list.
Lift forces can arise when the gradient of the primary phase velocity field has a component normal
to the bubble flow.
Note
For this problem, there are no parameters to be set for the individual phases other than
those that you specified when you set up the phases for the mixture model calculation.
If you use the Eulerian model for a flow involving a granular secondary phase, you will
need to set additional parameters. There are also other options in the Phase Interaction
dialog box that may be relevant for other applications.
For details on setting up an Eulerian multiphase calculation, see Steps for Using a Multiphase Model
in the Users Guide.
3. Select the multiphase turbulence model.
a. Retain the default selection of Mixture in the Turbulence Multiphase Model list.
In this case the dispersed phase volume concentration is relatively small so the mixture turbulence
model is sufficient to capture the important features of the turbulent flow.
b. Click OK to close the Viscous Model dialog box.
4. Confirm that the solution parameters are set to use the higher-order discretization schemes.
Revisit the Solution Methods task page and verify that the settings are as follows:
Setting Value
Pressure-Velocity Scheme Coupled
Coupling
Spatial Momentum Third-Order MUSCL
Discretization Volume Fraction QUICK
Turbulent Kinetic Energy Third-Order MUSCL
Turbulent Dissipation Rate Third-Order MUSCL
Setup and Solution
5. Set the solution controls
Solution Controls
b. Enter 0.5 for Momentum and for Pressure in the Explicit Relaxation Factors group box.
c. Confirm that Volume Fraction is set to 0.4 in the Under-Relaxation Factors group box.
6. Continue the solution by requesting 1400 additional iterations.
Run Calculation
7. Check that the mass imbalance is small (less than about 0.2 %) using the Flux Reports dialog box
as for the Mixture model solution.
8. Save the case and data files (tee_2.cas.gz and tee_2.dat.gz).
22.4.13. Postprocessing for the Eulerian Model

1. Display the static pressure field in the tee for the mixture (Figure 22.7: Contours of Static Pressure Eulerian
Model (p. 947)).
a. Select Pressure... from the Contours of drop-down list.
By default, Dynamic Pressure will be displayed in the lower Contours of drop-down list. This will
automatically change to Static Pressure after you select the appropriate phase in the next step.
b. Select mixture from the Phase drop-down list.
The lower Contours of drop-down list will now display Static Pressure.
c. As before, disable Auto Range (Clip to Range will be enabled) and set the Min and Max values to
match those in Figure 22.3: Contours of Static Pressure (p. 938).
d. Click Display.
Setup and Solution
Figure 22.7: Contours of Static Pressure Eulerian Model
2. Display contours of velocity magnitude for water (Figure 22.8: Contours of Water Velocity Magnitude
Eulerian Model (p. 948)).
b. Retain the selection of water from the Phase drop-down list.
Since the Eulerian model solves individual momentum equations for each phase, you can choose the
phase for which solution data is plotted.
c. Set the scale to match that in Figure 22.4: Contours of Velocity Magnitude (p. 939).
d. Click Display.
Figure 22.8: Contours of Water Velocity Magnitude Eulerian Model
3. Display the volume fraction of air (Figure 22.9: Contours of Air Volume Fraction Eulerian model (p. 949)).
c. Set the scale to match that in Figure 22.5: Contours of Air Volume Fraction (p. 940).
Summary
Figure 22.9: Contours of Air Volume Fraction Eulerian model
Compare the volume fraction plot in Figure 22.9: Contours of Air Volume Fraction Eulerian model (p. 949)
with the volume fraction plot using the mixture model in Figure 22.6: Contours of Air Volume Fraction
Higher Order Solution (p. 942). Notice that the path of the concentrated air stream in the side arm
extends farther into the side arm before drifting to the top surface. As is apparent from the velocity plots,
there is a substantial velocity gradient across the side arm as a result of the recirculation near the lower
corner of the tee junction. As the dispersed phase bubbles travel along the side arm with the flow, this
velocity gradient induces a lift force which tends to oppose the buoyancy force thereby delaying the ac-
cumulation of the air concentration along the top surface of the side arm.
22.5. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated how to set up and solve a multiphase problem using the mixture model and
the Eulerian model. You learned how to set boundary conditions for the mixture and both phases. The
solution obtained with the mixture model was used as a starting point for the calculation with the Eu-
lerian model. After completing calculations for each model, you displayed the results to allow for a
comparison of the two approaches. For more information about the mixture and Eulerian models, see
Modeling Multiphase Flows in the Users Guide.

a more accurate solution by adapting the mesh. Mesh adaption can also ensure that the solution is in-
dependent of the mesh. These steps are demonstrated in Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid
Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow (p. 123).
Chapter 23: Using the Eulerian Multiphase Model for Granular Flow
23.1. Introduction
23.2. Prerequisites
23.5. Summary
23.1. Introduction
Mixing tanks are used to maintain solid particles or droplets of heavy fluids in suspension. Mixing may
be required to enhance reaction during chemical processing or to prevent sedimentation. In this tutorial,
you will use the Eulerian multiphase model to solve the particle suspension problem. The Eulerian
multiphase model solves momentum equations for each of the phases, which are allowed to mix in any
proportion.
Use the granular Eulerian multiphase model.
Specify fixed velocities with a user-defined function (UDF) to simulate an impeller.
Solve a time-accurate transient problem.
23.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)
Using the Eulerian Multiphase Model for Granular Flow

The problem involves the transient startup of an impeller-driven mixing tank. The primary phase is
water, while the secondary phase consists of sand particles with a 111 micron diameter. The sand is
initially settled at the bottom of the tank, to a level just above the impeller. A schematic of the mixing
tank and the initial sand position is shown in Figure 23.1: Problem Specification (p. 952). The domain is
modeled as 2D axisymmetric.
The fixed-values option will be used to simulate the impeller. Experimental data are used to represent
the time-averaged velocity and turbulence values at the impeller location. This approach avoids the
need to model the impeller itself. These experimental data are provided in a user-defined function.

23.4.1. Preparation
23.4.2. Mesh
23.4.4. Models
23.4.5. Materials
23.4.6. Phases
23.4.9. Solution
23.4.1. Preparation
Setup and Solution
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the eulerian_multiphase_granular_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip eulerian_multiphase_granular_R160.zip to your working folder.
The files, mixtank.msh and fix.c can be found in the eulerian_multiphase_granular

the Users Guide.
Note
23.4.2. Mesh
1. Read the mesh file mixtank.msh.
File Read Mesh...
A warning message will be displayed twice in the console. You need not take any action at this point,
as the issue will be rectified when you define the solver settings in General Settings (p. 954).

1. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
Extra
Setup and Solution
window, its zone number, name, and type will be printed in the console. This feature is
especially useful when you have several zones of the same type and you want to distin-
guish between them quickly.
3. Modify the mesh colors.
a. Click the Colors... button to open the Mesh Colors dialog box.
You can control the colors used to draw meshes by using the options available in the Mesh Colors
dialog box.
i. Select Color by ID in the Options list.
This will assign a different color to each zone in the domain, rather than to each type of zone.
ii. Close the Mesh Colors dialog box.
b. Click Display and close the Mesh Display dialog box.
The graphics display will be updated to show the mesh.
Figure 23.3: Mesh Display Using the Color by ID Option
4. Modify the view of the mesh display to show the full tank upright.
Setup and Solution
a. Select axis from the Mirror Planes selection list and click Apply.
The mesh display will be updated to show both sides of the tank.
b. Click Auto Scale.
This option is used to scale and center the current display without changing its orientation (Fig-
ure 23.4: Mesh Display of the Tank, Mirrored and Scaled (p. 958)).
Figure 23.4: Mesh Display of the Tank, Mirrored and Scaled
c. Open the Display Options dialog box and select All from the Animation Option drop-down list. Click
Apply and close the Display Options dialog box.
Results Graphics Options....
This will ensure that the 2D geometry remains visible while you manipulate the camera view in the
next step.
d. Click the Camera... button in the Views dialog box to open the Camera Parameters dialog box.
Setup and Solution
i. Drag the indicator of the dial with the left mouse button in the counter-clockwise direction until
the upright view is displayed (Figure 23.5: Mesh Display of the Upright Tank (p. 960)).
ii. Click Apply and close the Camera Parameters dialog box.
e. Close the Views dialog box.
Note
While modifying the view, you may accidentally lose the view of the geometry in the
display. You can easily revert to the default (front) view by clicking the Default button
in the Views dialog box.
Figure 23.5: Mesh Display of the Upright Tank
5. Specify a transient, axisymmetric model.
Setup General
Setup and Solution
a. Retain the default Pressure-Based solver.
b. Select Transient in the Time list.
c. Select Axisymmetric in the 2D Space list.
a. Enable Gravity.
b. Enter -9.81 m/ for the Gravitational Acceleration in the X direction.
23.4.4. Models
1. Enable the Eulerian multiphase model.
a. Select Eulerian in the Model list.
b. Retain the default setting of 2 for Number of Eulerian Phases.
c. Click OK to close the Multiphase Model dialog box.
Tip
In cases like this where you will use the default settings you can use a shortcut to enable
the Eulerian model by right-clicking on the Multiphase node in the Tree:
Setup Models Multiphase Eulerian
2. Enable the - turbulence model with standard wall functions.
Setup and Solution
b. Retain Standard Wall Functions in the Near-Wall Treatment list.
This problem does not require a particularly fine mesh hence, standard wall functions can be used.
c. Select Dispersed in the Turbulence Multiphase Model list.
The dispersed turbulence model is applicable in this case because there is clearly one primary continu-
ous phase and the material density ratio of the phases is approximately 2.5. Furthermore, the Stokes
number is much less than 1. Therefore, the kinetic energy of the particle will not differ significantly
from that of the liquid. For more information, see Model Comparisons in the Theory Guide.
23.4.5. Materials
In this step, you will add liquid water to the list of fluid materials by copying it from the ANSYS Fluent mater-
ials database and create a new material called sand.
1. Copy liquid water from the Fluent materials database so that it can be used for the primary phase.
b. Select water-liquid (h2o<l>) from the Fluent Fluid Materials selection list.
Scroll down the Fluent Fluid Materials list to locate water-liquid (h2o<l>).
c. Click Copy to copy the information for liquid water to your model.
d. Close the Fluent Database Materials dialog box.
2. Create a new material called sand.
Setup and Solution
a. Enter sand for Name and delete the entry in the Chemical Formula field.
b. Enter 2500 kg/ for Density in the Properties group box.
c. Click Change/Create.
A Question dialog box will open, asking if you want to overwrite water-liquid.
d. Click No in the Question dialog box to retain water-liquid and add the new material (sand) to the list.
The Create/Edit Materials dialog box will be updated to show the new material, sand, in the Fluent
Fluid Materials drop-down list.
3. Close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
23.4.6. Phases
Open the Phases dialog box by right-clicking on the Phases node in the tree and selecting Edit....
Setup Models Multiphase Phases Edit...
1. Specify water (water-liquid) as the primary phase.
Phases phase-1 - Primary Phase Edit...
2. Specify sand (sand) as the secondary phase.
Phases phase-2 - Secondary Phase Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. Enter sand for Name.
b. Select sand from the Phase Material drop-down list.
c. Enable Granular.
d. Retain the selection of Phase Property in the Granular Temperature Model list.
e. Enter 0.000111 m for Diameter.
f. Select syamlal-obrien from the Granular Viscosity drop-down list.
g. Select lun-et-al from the Granular Bulk Viscosity drop-down list.
h. Enter 0.6 for Packing Limit.
Scroll down in the Properties group box to locate Packing Limit.
i. Click OK to close the Secondary Phase dialog box.
j. Close the Phases dialog box.
3. Specify the interaction terms between the phases.
Phases Interaction...
a. In the Drag tab, select gidaspow from the Drag Coefficient drop-down list.
b. In the Turbulence Interaction tab, select simonin-et-al from the Turbulence Interaction drop-down
list.
The Simonin-et-al Model dialog box will appear. Click OK to retain the default model settings.

A UDF is used to specify the fixed velocities that simulate the impeller. The values of the time-averaged impeller
velocity components and turbulence quantities are based on experimental measurement. The variation of
these values may be expressed as a function of radius, and imposed as polynomials according to:
The order of polynomial to be used depends on the behavior of the function being fitted. For this tutorial,
the polynomial coefficients shown in Table 23.1: Impeller Profile Specifications (p. 968)
Table 23.1: Impeller Profile Specifications
Variable A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6
u velocity -7.1357e-2 54.304 -3.1345e+3 4.5578e+4 -1.966e+5
v velocity 3.1131e-2 -10.313 9.5558e+2 -2.0051e+4 1.186e+5
kinetic energy 2.2723e-2 6.7989 -424.18 9.4615e+3 -7.725e+4 1.8410e+5
dissipation -6.5819e-2 88.845 -5.3731e+3 1.1643e+5 -9.120e+5 1.9567e+6
For more information about setting up a UDF using the DEFINE_PROFILE macro, refer to the separate
Fluent Customization Manual. Though this macro is usually used to specify a profile condition on a
boundary face zone, it is used in fix.c to specify the condition in a fluid cell zone. Hence, the arguments
of the macro have been changed accordingly.
1. Interpret the UDF source file fix.c.
Parameters & Customization User Defined Functions Interpreted...
Setup and Solution
a. Enter fix.c for Source File Name.
If the UDF source file is not in your working folder, you must enter the entire folder path for Source
File Name instead of just entering the file name. Alternatively, click Browse... and select fix.c in the
eulerian_multiphase_granular folder that was created after you unzipped the original file.
b. Enable Display Assembly Listing.
The Display Assembly Listing option displays the assembly language code in the console as the
function compiles.
c. Click Interpret to interpret the UDF.
d. Close the Interpreted UDFs dialog box.
Note
The name and contents of the UDF are stored in the case file when you save the case
file.
For this problem, you do not have to specify any conditions for outer boundaries. Within the domain, there
are three fluid zones, representing the impeller region, the region where the sand is initially located, and the
rest of the tank. There are no conditions to be specified in the latter two zones, so you need to set conditions
only in the zone representing the impeller.
1. Set the cell zone conditions for the fluid zone representing the impeller (fix-zone) for the primary phase.
Setup Cell Zone Conditions fix-zone
You will specify the conditions for water and sand separately using the UDF. The default conditions for
the mixture (that is, the conditions that apply to all phases) are acceptable.
a. Select water from the Phase drop-down list.
b. Click the Edit... button to open the Fluid dialog box.
Setup and Solution
i. Enable Fixed Values.
The Fluid dialog box will expand to show the related inputs.
ii. Click the Fixed Values tab and set the following fixed values:
Parameter Value
Axial Velocity udf fixed_u
Radial Velocity udf fixed_v
Turbulence Kinetic Energy udf fixed_ke
Turbulence Dissipation Rate udf fixed_diss
2. Set the cell zone conditions for the fluid zone representing the impeller (fix-zone) for the secondary phase.
Setup Cell Zone Conditions fix-zone
a. Select sand from the Phase drop-down list.
b. Click the Edit... button to open the Fluid dialog box.
i. Enable Fixed Values.
The Fluid dialog box will expand to show the related inputs.
ii. Click the Fixed Values tab and set the following fixed values:
Parameter Value
Axial Velocity udf fixed_u
Radial Velocity udf fixed_v
23.4.9. Solution
1. Set the under-relaxation factors.
a. Enter 0.5 for Pressure, 0.2 for Momentum, and 0.8 for Turbulent Viscosity.
Setup and Solution
Tip
Scroll down in the Under-Relaxation Factors group box to locate Turbulent

Viscosity.
a. Ensure that the Plot is enabled in the Options group box.
3. Initialize the solution using the default initial values.
4. Patch the initial sand bed configuration.
a. Select sand from the Phase drop-down list.
Setup and Solution
b. Select Volume Fraction from the Variable selection list.
c. Enter 0.3 for Value.
d. Select initial-sand from the Zones to Patch selection list.
5. Save the initial case and data files (mixtank.cas.gz and mixtank.dat.gz).
The problem statement is now complete. As a precaution, you should review the impeller velocity fixes
and sand bed patch after running the calculation for a single time step. Since you are using a UDF for
the velocity profiles, perform one time step in order for the profiles to be calculated and available for
viewing.
6. Set the time stepping parameters and run the calculation for 0.005 seconds.
a. Enter 0.005 for Time Step Size.
d. Click Calculate.
7. Examine the initial velocities and sand volume fraction.
In order to display the initial fixed velocities in the fluid zone (fix-zone), you need to create a surface for
this zone.
a. Create a surface for fix-zone.
Surface Zone...
i. Select fix-zone from the Zone selection list and click Create.
The default name is the same as the zone name. ANSYS Fluent automatically assign the default
name to the new surface when it is created. The new surface is added to the Surfaces selection
list in the Zone Surface dialog box.
ii. Close the Zone Surface dialog box.
b. Display a vector plot of the initial impeller velocities for water (Figure 23.6: Initial Impeller Velocities for
Water (p. 978)).
Setup and Solution
i. Retain the selection of Velocity from the Vectors of drop-down list.
ii. Retain the selection of water from the Phase drop-down list below the Vectors of drop-down list.
iii. Retain the selection of Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude from the Color by drop-down lists.
iv. Retain the selection of water from the Phase drop-down list below the Color by drop-down lists.
v. Select fix-zone from the Surfaces selection list and click Display.
ANSYS Fluent will display the water velocity vectors fixes at the impeller location, as shown in
Figure 23.6: Initial Impeller Velocities for Water (p. 978).
Figure 23.6: Initial Impeller Velocities for Water
c. Display the impeller velocities for sand (Figure 23.7: Initial Impeller Velocities for Sand (p. 979)).
i. Select sand from the Phase drop-down lists (below the Vectors of drop-down list and Color by
drop-down lists).
ii. Click Display and close the Vectors dialog box.
Setup and Solution
Figure 23.7: Initial Impeller Velocities for Sand
d. Create and display contours of sand volume fraction (Figure 23.8: Initial Settled Sand Bed (p. 981)).
i. Enable Filled in the Options group box.
ii. Select sand from the Phase drop-down list.
iii. Select Phases... and Volume fraction from the Contours of drop-down lists.
iv. Click Display and close the Contours dialog box.
ANSYS Fluent will display the initial location of the settled sand bed, as shown in Figure 23.8: Initial
Settled Sand Bed (p. 981).
Setup and Solution
Figure 23.8: Initial Settled Sand Bed
8. Run the calculation for 1 second.
b. Click Calculate.
After a total of 200 time steps have been computed (1 second of operation), you will review the results
before continuing.
9. Save the case and data files (mixtank1.cas.gz and mixtank1.dat.gz).
10. Examine the results of the calculation after 1 second.
Here you will use the right-click context menu in the tree to create persistent post-processing objects that
are saved with the case.
a. Create and display a velocity vector plot for water in the whole tank (Figure 23.9: Water Velocity Vectors
after 1 s (p. 983)).
i. Enter velocity-water for Vector Name.
ii. Select water from the Phase drop-down lists (below the Vectors of drop-down list and Color by
drop-down lists).
iii. Ensure that no surfaces are selected in the Surfaces selection list.
This will cause vectors to be plotted throughout the domain.
iv. Click Save/Display.
Figure 23.9: Water Velocity Vectors after 1 s (p. 983) shows the water velocity vectors after 1 second
of operation. The circulation is confined to the region near the impeller, and has not yet had time to
develop in the upper portions of the tank.
Setup and Solution
Figure 23.9: Water Velocity Vectors after 1 s
b. Create and display a plot of the velocity vectors for the sand (Figure 23.10: Sand Velocity Vectors after
1 s (p. 984)).
i. Enter velocity-sand for Vector Name.
ii. Select sand from the Phase drop-down lists (below the Vectors of drop-down list and Color by
drop-down lists).
iii. Click Save/Display and close the Vectors dialog box.
Figure 23.10: Sand Velocity Vectors after 1 s
Figure 23.10: Sand Velocity Vectors after 1 s (p. 984) shows the sand velocity vectors after 1 second of
operation. The circulation of sand around the impeller is significant, but note that no sand vectors
are plotted in the upper part of the tank, where the sand is not yet present.
c. Create and display a contour plot of sand volume fraction (Figure 23.11: Contours of Sand Volume
Fraction after 1 s (p. 985)).
i. Enter volfrac-sand for Contour Name.
ii. Enabled Filled in the Options group box.
iii. Select Phases... and Volume fraction from the Contours of drop-down lists.
iv. Select sand from the Phase drop-down list.
v. Click Save/Display and close the Contours dialog box.
Notice that the action of the impeller draws clear fluid from above the originally settled bed and
mixes it into the sand. To compensate, the sand bed is lifted up slightly. The maximum sand volume
fraction has decreased as a result of the mixing of water and sand.
Setup and Solution
Figure 23.11: Contours of Sand Volume Fraction after 1 s
12. Continue the calculation for another 99 seconds.
a. Set the Time Step Size to 0.05.
The initial calculation was performed with a very small time step size to stabilize the solution. After
the initial calculation, you can increase the time step to speed up the calculation.
c. Click Calculate.
The transient calculation will continue up to 100 seconds.
You will now examine the progress of the sand and water in the mixing tank after a total of 100 seconds.
The mixing tank has nearly, but not quite, reached a steady flow solution.
1. Display the velocity vectors for water (Figure 23.12: Water Velocity Vectors after 100 s (p. 986)).
Results Graphics Vectors velocity-water Display
Figure 23.12: Water Velocity Vectors after 100 s (p. 986) shows the water velocity vectors after 100 seconds
of operation. The circulation of water is now very strong in the lower portion of the tank, though modest
near the top.
Figure 23.12: Water Velocity Vectors after 100 s
2. Display the velocity vectors for sand (Figure 23.13: Sand Velocity Vectors after 100 s (p. 987)).
Results Graphics Vectors velocity-sand Display
Figure 23.13: Sand Velocity Vectors after 100 s (p. 987) shows the sand velocity vectors after 100 seconds
of operation. The sand has now been suspended much higher within the mixing tank, but does not reach
the upper region of the tank. The water velocity in that region is not sufficient to overcome the gravity
force on the sand particles.
Setup and Solution
Figure 23.13: Sand Velocity Vectors after 100 s
3. Display contours of sand volume fraction (Figure 23.14: Contours of Sand Volume Fraction after 100 s (p. 988)).
Results Graphics Contours volfrac-sand Display
Figure 23.14: Contours of Sand Volume Fraction after 100 s
4. Display filled contours of static pressure for the mixture (Figure 23.15: Contours of Pressure after 100
s (p. 989)).
a. Enter static-pressure for Contour Name.
b. Select mixture from the Phase drop-down list.
c. Select Pressure... and Static Pressure from the Contours of drop-down lists.
Figure 23.15: Contours of Pressure after 100 s (p. 989) shows the pressure distribution after 100 seconds
of operation. The pressure field represents the hydrostatic pressure except for some slight deviations
due to the flow of the impeller near the bottom of the tank.
Figure 23.15: Contours of Pressure after 100 s
23.5. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated how to set up and solve a granular multiphase problem using the Eulerian
multiphase model. The problem involved the 2D modeling of particle suspension in a mixing tank and
postprocessing showed the near-steady-state behavior of the sand in the mixing tank, under the as-
sumptions made.

Chapter 24: Modeling Solidification
24.1. Introduction
24.2. Prerequisites
24.5. Summary
24.1. Introduction
This tutorial illustrates how to set up and solve a problem involving solidification and will demonstrate
how to do the following:
Define a solidification problem.
Define pull velocities for simulation of continuous casting.
Define a surface tension gradient for Marangoni convection.
Solve a solidification problem.
24.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)

This tutorial demonstrates the setup and solution procedure for a fluid flow and heat transfer problem
involving solidification, namely the Czochralski growth process. The geometry considered is a 2D
axisymmetric bowl (shown in Figure 24.1: Solidification in Czochralski Model (p. 992)), containing liquid
metal. The bottom and sides of the bowl are heated above the liquidus temperature, as is the free
surface of the liquid. The liquid is solidified by heat loss from the crystal and the solid is pulled out of
the domain at a rate of 0.001 and a temperature of 500 . There is a steady injection of liquid at
Modeling Solidification
the bottom of the bowl with a velocity of and a temperature of 1300 . Material
properties are listed in Figure 24.1: Solidification in Czochralski Model (p. 992).
Starting with an existing 2D mesh, the details regarding the setup and solution procedure for the solid-
ification problem are presented. The steady conduction solution for this problem is computed as an
initial condition. Then, the fluid flow is enabled to investigate the effect of natural and Marangoni
convection in a transient fashion.
Figure 24.1: Solidification in Czochralski Model
In the above figure, is the mushy zone constant. For details on modeling the solidification/melting
process, refer to Momentum Equations in the Fluent Theory Guide.

24.4.1. Preparation
Setup and Solution

24.4.5. Defining Materials
24.4.6. Setting the Cell Zone Conditions
24.4.7. Setting the Boundary Conditions
24.4.8. Solution: Steady Conduction
24.4.9. Solution: Transient Flow and Heat Transfer
24.4.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the solidification_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip the solidification_R160.zip file you downloaded to your working folder.
The file solid.msh can be found in the solidification directory created after unzipping the
file.
8. Use Fluent Launcher to start the 2D single precision (disable Double Precision) version of ANSYS Fluent.
Getting Started Guide.

1. Read the mesh file solid.msh.
File Read Mesh...
As the mesh is read by ANSYS Fluent, messages will appear in the console reporting the progress of the
reading.
A warning about the use of axis boundary conditions is displayed in the console. You are asked to consider
making changes to the zone type or change the problem definition to axisymmetric. You will change the
problem to axisymmetric swirl later in this tutorial.
2. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
sure that the minimum volume is a positive number.
Setup and Solution

1. Select Axisymmetric Swirl from the 2D Space list.
Setup General
The geometry comprises an axisymmetric bowl. Furthermore, swirling flows are considered in this problem,
so the selection of Axisymmetric Swirl best defines this geometry.
Also, note that the rotation axis is the X axis. Hence, the X direction is the axial direction and the Y direction
is the radial direction. When modeling axisymmetric swirl, the swirl direction is the tangential direction.
2. Add the effect of gravity on the model.
Setup General Gravity
Setup and Solution
a. Enable Gravity.
b. Enter -9.81 for X in the Gravitational Acceleration group box.

1. Define the solidification model.
Setup Models Solidification & Melting Edit...
a. Enable the Solidification/Melting option in the Solidification and Melting dialog box.
The Solidification and Melting dialog box will expand to show the related parameters.
b. Retain the default value of 100000 for the Mushy Zone Constant.
This default value is acceptable for most cases.
c. Enable the Include Pull Velocities option.
By including the pull velocities, you will account for the movement of the solidified material as it is
continuously withdrawn from the domain in the continuous casting process.
When you enable this option, the Solidification and Melting dialog box will expand to show the
Compute Pull Velocities option. If you were to enable this additional option, ANSYS Fluent would
compute the pull velocities during the calculation. This approach is computationally expensive and
is recommended only if the pull velocities are strongly dependent on the location of the liquid-solid
interface. In this tutorial, you will patch values for the pull velocities instead of having ANSYS Flu-
ent compute them.
For more information about computing the pull velocities, see Setup Procedure in the User's
Guide.
d. Click OK to close the Solidification and Melting dialog box.
An Information dialog box opens, telling you that available material properties have changed for
the solidification model. You will set the material properties later, so you can click OK in the dialog
box to acknowledge this information.
Note
ANSYS Fluent will automatically enable the energy calculation when you enable the so-
lidification model, so you need not visit the Energy dialog box.
24.4.5. Defining Materials

In this step, you will create a new material and specify its properties, including the melting heat, solidus
temperature, and liquids temperature.
1. Define a new material.
Setup Materials Fluid New...
Setup and Solution
a. Enter liquid-metal for Name.
b. Select polynomial from the Density drop-down list in the Properties group box.
c. Configure the following settings In the Polynomial Profile dialog box:
i. Set Coefficients to 2.
ii. In the Coefficients group box, enter 8000 for 1 and -0.1 for 2.
As shown in Figure 24.1: Solidification in Czochralski Model (p. 992), the density of the material is
defined by a polynomial function: .
iii. Click OK to close the Polynomial Profile dialog box.
d. In the Question dialog box, click Yes to overwrite fluid-1 and add the new material (liquid-metal) to
the Fluent Fluid Materials drop-down list.
e. Click OK in the information dialog box.
f. Select liquid-metal from the Fluent Fluid Materials drop-down list to set the other material properties.
g. Enter 680 for Cp (Specific Heat).
h. Enter 30 for Thermal Conductivity.
i. Enter 0.00553 for Viscosity.
j. Enter 100000 for Pure Solvent Melting Heat.
Scroll down the group box to find Pure Solvent Melting Heat and the properties that follow.
k. Enter 1150 for Solidus Temperature.
l. Enter 1150 for Liquidus Temperature.
m. Click Change/Create and close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.
24.4.6. Setting the Cell Zone Conditions

1. Set the cell zone conditions for the fluid (fluid).
Setup and Solution
a. Select liquid-metal from the Material Name drop-down list.
24.4.7. Setting the Boundary Conditions

1. Set the boundary conditions for the inlet (inlet).
a. Enter 0.00101 for Velocity Magnitude.
b. Click the Thermal tab and enter 1300 for Temperature.
c. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
2. Set the boundary conditions for the outlet (outlet).
Here, the solid is pulled out with a specified velocity, so a velocity inlet boundary condition is used with
a positive axial velocity component.
Setup and Solution
The Velocity Inlet dialog box will change to show related inputs.
b. Enter 0.001 for Axial-Velocity.
c. Enter 1 for Swirl Angular Velocity.
d. Click the Thermal tab and enter 500 for Temperature.
e. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
3. Set the boundary conditions for the bottom wall (bottom-wall).
Setup Boundary Conditions bottom-wall Edit...
Setup and Solution
ii. Enter 1300 for Temperature.
4. Set the boundary conditions for the free surface (free-surface).
Setup Boundary Conditions free-surface Edit...
The specified shear and Marangoni stress boundary conditions are useful in modeling situations in which
the shear stress (rather than the motion of the fluid) is known. A free surface condition is an example of
such a situation. In this case, the convection is driven by the Marangoni stress and the shear stress is
dependent on the surface tension, which is a function of temperature.
a. Select Marangoni Stress in the Shear Condition group box.
The Marangoni Stress condition allows you to specify the gradient of the surface tension with respect
to temperature at a wall boundary.
b. Enter -0.00036 for Surface Tension Gradient.
c. Click the Thermal tab to specify the thermal conditions.
Setup and Solution
i. Select Convection from the Thermal Conditions group box.
ii. Enter 100 for Heat Transfer Coefficient.
iii. Enter 1500 for Free Stream Temperature.
5. Set the boundary conditions for the side wall (side-wall).
Setup Boundary Conditions side-wall Edit...
i. Select Temperature from the Thermal Conditions group box.
ii. Enter 1400 for the Temperature.
6. Set the boundary conditions for the solid wall (solid-wall).
Setup Boundary Conditions solid-wall Edit...
Setup and Solution
a. From the Wall Motion group box, select Moving Wall.
The Wall dialog box is expanded to show additional parameters.
b. in the Motion group box, in the lower box, select Rotational.
The Wall dialog box is changed to show the rotational speed.
c. Enter 1.0 for Speed.
d. Click the Thermal tab to specify the thermal conditions.
i. Select Temperature from the Thermal Conditions selection list.
ii. Enter 500 for Temperature.
24.4.8. Solution: Steady Conduction

In this step, you will specify the discretization schemes to be used and temporarily disable the calculation of
the flow and swirl velocity equations, so that only conduction is calculated. This steady-state solution will
be used as the initial condition for the time-dependent fluid flow and heat transfer calculation.
Setup and Solution
b. Select PRESTO! from the Pressure drop-down list in the Spatial Discretization group box.
The PRESTO! scheme is well suited for rotating flows with steep pressure gradients.
c. Retain the default selection of Second Order Upwind from the Momentum, Swirl Velocity, and Energy
drop-down lists.
d. Enable Pseudo Transient.
2. Enable the calculation for energy.
a. Deselect Flow and Swirl Velocity from the Equations selection list to disable the calculation of flow
and swirl velocity equations.
3. Confirm the Relaxation Factors.
Retain the default values.
Setup and Solution
a. Ensure Plot is enabled in the Options group box.
b. Click OK to accept the remaining default settings and close the Residual Monitors dialog box.
a. Retain the default of Hybrid Initialization from the Initialization Methods group box.
For flows in complex topologies, hybrid initialization will provide better initial velocity and pressure
field than standard initialization. This in general will help in improving the convergence behavior of
the solver.
6. Define a custom field function for the swirl pull velocity.
In this step, you will define a field function to be used to patch a variable value for the swirl pull velocity
in the next step. The swirl pull velocity is equal to , where is the angular velocity, and is the radial
coordinate. Since = 1 rad/s, you can simplify the equation to simply . In this example, the value of
is included for demonstration purposes.
a. From the Field Functions drop-down lists, select Mesh... and Radial Coordinate.
b. Click the Select button to add radial-coordinate in the Definition field.
If you make a mistake, click the DEL button on the calculator pad to delete the last item you added
to the function definition.
c. Click the button on the calculator pad.
d. Click the 1 button.
e. Enter omegar for New Function Name.
f. Click Define.
Note
To check the function definition or delete the custom field function, click Manage....
Then in the Field Function Definitions dialog box, from the Field Functions selection
list, select omegar to view the function definition.
g. Close the Custom Field Function Calculator dialog box.
7. Patch the pull velocities.
Setup and Solution
As noted earlier, you will patch values for the pull velocities, rather than having ANSYS Fluent compute
them. Since the radial pull velocity is zero, you will patch just the axial and swirl pull velocities.
a. From the Variable selection list, select Axial Pull Velocity.
b. Enter 0.001 for Value.
c. From the Zones to Patch selection list, select fluid.
d. Click Patch.
You have just patched the axial pull velocity. Next you will patch the swirl pull velocity.
e. From the Variable selection list, select Swirl Pull Velocity.
Scroll down the list to find Swirl Pull Velocity.
f. Enable the Use Field Function option.
g. Select omegar from the Field Function selection list.
h. Ensure that fluid is selected from the Zones to Patch selection list.
i. Click Patch and close the Patch dialog box.
8. Save the initial case and data files (solid0.cas.gz and solid0.dat.gz).
a. Select User Specified for the Time Step Method in both the Fluid Time Scale and the Solid Time
Scale group boxes.
b. Retain the default values of 1 and 1000 for the Pseudo Time Step (s) in the Fluid Time Scale and the
Solid Time Scale group boxes, respectively.
d. Click Calculate.
Setup and Solution
10. Display filled contours of temperature (Figure 24.3: Contours of Temperature for the Steady Conduction
Solution (p. 1018)).
a. Enter temperature for Contour Name.
b. Enable the Filled option.
c. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Contours of drop-down lists.
d. Click Save/Display (Figure 24.3: Contours of Temperature for the Steady Conduction Solution (p. 1018)).
Figure 24.3: Contours of Temperature for the Steady Conduction Solution
11. Display filled contours of temperature to determine the thickness of mushy zone.
Setup and Solution
a. Disable Auto Range in the Options group box.
The Clip to Range option is automatically enabled.
b. Enter 1100 for Min and 1200 for Max.
c. Click Display (See Figure 24.4: Contours of Temperature (Mushy Zone) for the Steady Conduction
Solution (p. 1020)) and close the Contours dialog box.
Figure 24.4: Contours of Temperature (Mushy Zone) for the Steady Conduction Solution
12. Save the case and data files for the steady conduction solution (solid.cas.gz and solid.dat.gz).
24.4.9. Solution: Transient Flow and Heat Transfer

In this step, you will turn on time dependence and include the flow and swirl velocity equations in the calcu-
lation. You will then solve the transient problem using the steady conduction solution as the initial condition.
1. Enable a time-dependent solution.
Setup General
Setup and Solution
a. Select Transient from the Time list.
a. Retain the default selection of First Order Implicit from the Transient Formulation drop-down list.
b. Ensure that PRESTO! is selected from the Pressure drop-down list in the Spatial Discretization group
box.
3. Enable calculations for flow and swirl velocity.
Setup and Solution
a. Select Flow and Swirl Velocity and ensure that Energy is selected from the Equations selection list.
Now all three items in the Equations selection list will be selected.
4. Set the Under-Relaxation Factors.
a. Enter 0.1 for Liquid Fraction Update.
b. Retain the default values for other Under-Relaxation Factors.
5. Save the initial case and data files (solid01.cas.gz and solid01.dat.gz).
6. Run the calculation for 2 time steps.
Setup and Solution
a. Enter 0.1 s for Time Step Size.
b. Set the Number of Time Steps to 2.
c. Retain the default value of 20 for Max Iterations/Time Step.
d. Click Calculate.
7. Display filled contours of the temperature after 0.2 seconds.
Results Graphics Contours temperature Display
Figure 24.5: Contours of Temperature at t=0.2 s
8. Display contours of stream function (Figure 24.6: Contours of Stream Function at t=0.2 s (p. 1027)).
a. Enter stream-function for Contour Name.
b. Disable Filled in the Options group box.
c. Select Velocity... and Stream Function from the Contours of drop-down lists.
d. Click Save/Display.
Setup and Solution
Figure 24.6: Contours of Stream Function at t=0.2 s
As shown in Figure 24.6: Contours of Stream Function at t=0.2 s (p. 1027), the liquid is beginning to circulate
in a large eddy, driven by natural convection and Marangoni convection on the free surface.
9. Display contours of liquid fraction (Figure 24.7: Contours of Liquid Fraction at t=0.2 s (p. 1028)).
a. Enter liquid-fraction for Contour Name.
c. Select Solidification/Melting... and Liquid Fraction from the Contours of drop-down lists.
Figure 24.7: Contours of Liquid Fraction at t=0.2 s
The liquid fraction contours show the current position of the melt front. Note that in Figure 24.7: Contours
of Liquid Fraction at t=0.2 s (p. 1028), the mushy zone divides the liquid and solid regions roughly in half.
10. Continue the calculation for 48 additional time steps.
b. Click Calculate.
After a total of 50 time steps have been completed, the elapsed time will be 5 seconds.
11. Display filled contours of the temperature after 5 seconds (Figure 24.8: Contours of Temperature at t=5
s (p. 1029)).
Setup and Solution
Results Graphics Contours temperature Display
Figure 24.8: Contours of Temperature at t=5 s
As shown in Figure 24.8: Contours of Temperature at t=5 s (p. 1029), the temperature contours are fairly
uniform through the melt front and solid material. The distortion of the temperature field due to the re-
circulating liquid is also clearly evident.
In a continuous casting process, it is important to pull out the solidified material at the proper time. If
the material is pulled out too soon, it will not have solidified (that is, it will still be in a mushy state). If
it is pulled out too late, it solidifies in the casting pool and cannot be pulled out in the required shape.
The optimal rate of pull can be determined from the contours of liquidus temperature and solidus tem-
perature.
12. Display contours of stream function (Figure 24.9: Contours of Stream Function at t=5 s (p. 1030)).
Results Graphics Contours stream-function Display
As shown in Figure 24.9: Contours of Stream Function at t=5 s (p. 1030), the flow has developed more fully
by 5 seconds, as compared with Figure 24.6: Contours of Stream Function at t=0.2 s (p. 1027) after 0.2
seconds. The main eddy, driven by natural convection and Marangoni stress, dominates the flow.
To examine the position of the melt front and the extent of the mushy zone, you will plot the contours
of liquid fraction.
Figure 24.9: Contours of Stream Function at t=5 s
13. Display filled contours of liquid fraction (Figure 24.10: Contours of Liquid Fraction at t=5 s (p. 1031)).
Results Graphics Contours liquid-fraction Display
The introduction of liquid material at the left of the domain is balanced by the pulling of the solidified
material from the right. After 5 seconds, the equilibrium position of the melt front is beginning to be es-
tablished (Figure 24.10: Contours of Liquid Fraction at t=5 s (p. 1031)).
Summary
Figure 24.10: Contours of Liquid Fraction at t=5 s
14. Save the case and data files for the solution at 5 seconds (solid5.cas.gz and solid5.dat.gz).
24.5. Summary
In this tutorial, you studied the setup and solution for a fluid flow problem involving solidification for
the Czochralski growth process.
The solidification model in ANSYS Fluent can be used to model the continuous casting process where
a solid material is continuously pulled out from the casting domain. In this tutorial, you patched a
constant value and a custom field function for the pull velocities instead of computing them. This ap-
proach is used for cases where the pull velocity is not changing over the domain, as it is computationally
less expensive than having ANSYS Fluent compute the pull velocities during the calculation.
For more information about the solidification/melting model, see Modeling Solidification and Melting

a more accurate solution by using an appropriate higher-order discretization scheme and by adapting
the mesh. Mesh adaption can also ensure that the solution is independent of the mesh. These steps
are demonstrated in Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing El-
bow (p. 123).
Chapter 25: Using the Eulerian Granular Multiphase Model with
Heat Transfer
25.1. Introduction
25.2. Prerequisites
25.5. Summary
25.7. References
25.1. Introduction
This tutorial examines the flow of air and a granular solid phase consisting of glass beads in a hot gas
fluidized bed, under uniform minimum fluidization conditions. The results obtained for the local wall-
to-bed heat transfer coefficient in ANSYS Fluent can be compared with analytical results [1].
Use the Eulerian granular model.
Compile a User-Defined Function (UDF) for the gas and solid phase thermal conductivities.
25.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)
In order to complete the steps to compile the UDF, you will need to have a working C compiler installed
on your machine.
Using the Eulerian Granular Multiphase Model with Heat Transfer

This problem considers a hot gas fluidized bed in which air flows upwards through the bottom of the
domain and through an additional small orifice next to a heated wall. A uniformly fluidized bed is ex-
amined, which you can then compare with analytical results [1]. The geometry and data for the problem
are shown in Figure 25.1: Problem Schematic (p. 1034).
Figure 25.1: Problem Schematic

25.4.1. Preparation
25.4.2. Mesh
25.4.4. Models
25.4.5. UDF
25.4.6. Materials
25.4.7. Phases
25.4.9. Solution
Setup and Solution
25.4.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the eulerian_granular_heat_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip eulerian_granular_heat_R160.zip to your working folder.
The files, fluid-bed.msh and conduct.c, can be found in the eulerian_granular_heat

8. Use Fluent Launcher to enable Double Precision and start the 2D version of ANSYS Fluent.
the Users Guide.
10. Run in Serial by selecting Serial under Processing Options.
11. Ensure that Set up Compilation Environment for UDF is enabled in the Environment tab of the Fluent
Launcher window. This will allow you to compile the UDF.
Note
25.4.2. Mesh
1. Read the mesh file fluid-bed.msh.
File Read Mesh...
As ANSYS Fluent reads the mesh file, it will report the progress in the console.
Setup General
1. Check the mesh.
Setup General Check
sure that the reported minimum volume is a positive number.
2. Examine the mesh (Figure 25.2: Mesh Display of the Fluidized Bed (p. 1037)).
Extra
Setup and Solution
Figure 25.2: Mesh Display of the Fluidized Bed
3. Enable the pressure-based transient solver.
Setup General
a. Retain the default selection of Pressure-Based from the Type list.
b. Select Transient from the Time list.
Setup General Gravity
a. Enter -9.81 m/s2 for the Gravitational Acceleration in the Y direction.
25.4.4. Models
1. Enable the Eulerian multiphase model for two phases.
You will use the default settings for the Eulerian model, so you can enable it directly from the Tree by
right-clicking the Multiphase node and choosing Eulerian from the context menu.
Setup Models Multiphase Eulerian
3. Retain the default laminar viscous model.
Experiments have shown negligible three-dimensional effects in the flow field for the case modeled,
suggesting very weak turbulent behavior.
Setup Models Viscous Model Laminar
Setup and Solution
25.4.5. UDF
1. Compile the user-defined function, conduct.c, that will be used to define the thermal conductivity for
the gas and solid phase.
Parameters & Customization User Defined Functions Compiled...
a. Click the Add... button below the Source Files option to open the Select File dialog box.
i. Select the file conduct.c and click OK in the Select File dialog box.
b. Click Build.
ANSYS Fluent will create a libudf folder and compile the UDF. Also, a Warning dialog box will
open asking you to make sure that UDF source file and case/data files are in the same folder.
c. Click OK to close the Warning dialog box.
d. Click Load to load the UDF.
Extra
If you decide to read in the case file that is provided for this tutorial on the Customer
Portal, you will need to compile the UDF associated with this tutorial in your working
folder. This is necessary because ANSYS Fluent will expect to find the correct UDF libraries
in your working folder when reading the case file.
25.4.6. Materials
1. Modify the properties for air, which will be used for the primary phase.
The properties used for air are modified to match data used by Kuipers et al. [1]
a. Enter 1.2 kg/m3 for Density.
b. Enter 994 J/kg-K for Cp.
c. Select user-defined from the Thermal Conductivity drop-down list to open the User Defined Functions
dialog box.
i. Select conduct_gas::libudf from the available list.
ii. Click OK to close the User Defined Functions dialog box.
d. Click Change/Create.
2. Define a new fluid material for the granular phase (the glass beads).
Setup and Solution
a. Enter solids for Name.
b. Enter 2660 kg/m3 for Density.
c. Enter 737 J/kg-K for Cp.
d. Retain the selection of user-defined from the Thermal Conductivity drop-down list.
e. Click the Edit... button to open the User Defined Functions dialog box.
i. Select conduct_solid::libudf in the User Defined Functions dialog box and click OK.
A Question dialog box will open asking if you want to overwrite air.
ii. Click No in the Question dialog box.
f. Select solids from the Fluent Fluid Materials drop-down list.
g. Click Change/Create and close the Materials dialog box.
25.4.7. Phases
You will now configure the phases.
1. Define air as the primary phase.
Setup Multiphase Phases phase-1 - Primary Phase Edit...
b. Ensure that air is selected from the Phase Material drop-down list.
2. Define solids (glass beads) as the secondary phase.
Setup Multiphase Phases phase-2 - Secondary Phase Edit...
a. Enter solids for Name.
b. Select solids from the Phase Material drop-down list.
Setup and Solution
c. Enable Granular.
d. Retain the default selection of Phase Property in the Granular Temperature Model group box.
e. Enter 0.0005 m for Diameter.
f. Select syamlal-obrien from the Granular Viscosity drop-down list.
g. Select lun-et-al from the Granular Bulk Viscosity drop-down list.
h. Select constant from the Granular Temperature drop-down list and enter 1e-05.
i. Enter 0.6 for the Packing Limit.
j. Click OK to close the Secondary Phase dialog box.
3. Define the interphase interactions formulations to be used.
Setup Multiphase Phase Interactions Edit...
a. Click the Drag tab, and select syamlal-obrien from the Drag Coefficient drop-down list.
b. Click the Heat tab, and select gunn from the Heat Transfer Coefficient drop-down list.
The interphase heat exchange is simulated, using a drag coefficient, the default restitution coefficient
for granular collisions of 0.9, and a heat transfer coefficient. Granular phase lift is not very relevant
in this problem, and in fact is rarely used.

For this problem, you need to set the boundary conditions for all boundaries.
1. Set the boundary conditions for the lower velocity inlet (v_uniform) for the primary phase.
Setup Boundary Conditions v_uniform
For the Eulerian multiphase model, you will specify conditions at a velocity inlet that are specific to the
primary and secondary phases.
b. Click the Edit... button to open the Velocity Inlet dialog box.
Setup and Solution
ii. Enter 0.25 m/s for the Velocity Magnitude.
iii. Click the Thermal tab and enter 293 K for Temperature.
2. Set the boundary conditions for the lower velocity inlet (v_uniform) for the secondary phase.
Setup Boundary Conditions v_uniform
a. Select solids from the Phase drop-down list.
i. Retain the default Velocity Specification Method and Reference Frame.
ii. Retain the default value of 0 m/s for the Velocity Magnitude.
iv. Click the Multiphase tab and retain the default value of 0 for Volume Fraction.
3. Set the boundary conditions for the orifice velocity inlet (v_jet) for the primary phase.
Setup Boundary Conditions v_jet
ii. Enter 0.25 m/s for the Velocity Magnitude.
In order for a comparison with analytical results [1] to be meaningful, in this simulation you will
use a uniform value for the air velocity equal to the minimum fluidization velocity at both inlets
on the bottom of the bed.
4. Set the boundary conditions for the orifice velocity inlet (v_jet) for the secondary phase.
Setup Boundary Conditions v_jet
ii. Retain the default value of 0 m/s for the Velocity Magnitude.
Setup and Solution
iv. Click the Multiphase tab and retain the default value of 0 for the Volume Fraction.
5. Set the boundary conditions for the pressure outlet (poutlet) for the mixture phase.
Setup Boundary Conditions poutlet
For the Eulerian granular model, you will specify conditions at a pressure outlet for the mixture and for
both phases.
The thermal conditions at the pressure outlet will be used only if flow enters the domain through this
boundary. You can set them equal to the inlet values, as no flow reversal is expected at the pressure
outlet. In general, however, it is important to set reasonable values for these downstream scalar values,
in case flow reversal occurs at some point during the calculation.
b. Click the Edit... button to open the Pressure Outlet dialog box.
i. Retain the default value of 0 Pascal for Gauge Pressure.
6. Set the boundary conditions for the pressure outlet (poutlet) for the primary phase.
i. Click the Thermal tab and enter 293 K for Backflow Total Temperature.
7. Set the boundary conditions for the pressure outlet (poutlet) for the secondary phase.
i. Click the Thermal tab and enter 293 K for the Backflow Total Temperature.
ii. Click the Multiphase tab and retain default settings.
iii. Click OK to close the Pressure Outlet dialog box.
8. Set the boundary conditions for the heated wall (wall_hot) for the mixture.
Setup Boundary Conditions wall_hot
For the heated wall, you will set thermal conditions for the mixture, and momentum conditions (zero
shear) for both phases.
b. Click the Edit... button to open the Wall dialog box.
Setup and Solution
i. Click the Thermal tab.
A. Select Temperature from the Thermal Conditions list.
B. Enter 373 K for Temperature.
ii. Click OK to close the Wall dialog box.
9. Set the boundary conditions for the heated wall (wall_hot) for the primary phase.
b. Click the Edit... button to open the Wall dialog box.
c. Retain the default No Slip condition and click OK to close the Wall dialog box.
10. Set the boundary conditions for the heated wall (wall_hot) for the secondary phase (solids) same as that
of the primary phase.
For the secondary phase, you will retain the default no slip condition as for the primary phase.
11. Set the boundary conditions for the adiabatic wall (wall_ins).
Setup Boundary Conditions wall_ins
For the adiabatic wall, retain the default thermal conditions for the mixture (zero heat flux), and the
default momentum conditions (no slip) for both phases.
25.4.9. Solution
1. Select the second order implicit transient formulation and higher-order spatial discretization schemes.
a. Select Second Order Implicit from the Transient Formulation drop-down list.
b. Modify the discretization methods in the Spacial Discretization group box.
i. Select Second Order Upwind for Momentum.
ii. Select Quick for Volume Fraction and Energy.
Setup and Solution
a. Enter 0.5 for Pressure.
b. Enter 0.2 for Momentum.
3. Ensure that the plotting of residuals is enabled during the calculation.
4. Define a custom field function for the heat transfer coefficient.
Initially, you will define functions for the mixture temperature, and thermal conductivity, then you will
use these to define a function for the heat transfer coefficient.
a. Define the function t_mix.
i. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Field Functions drop-down lists.
ii. Ensure that air is selected from the Phase drop-down list and click Select.
iii. Click the multiplication symbol in the calculator pad.
iv. Select Phases... and Volume fraction from the Field Functions drop-down list.
v. Ensure that air is selected from the Phase drop-down list and click Select.
vi. Click the addition symbol in the calculator pad.
vii. Similarly, add the term solids-temperature * solids-vof.
viii.Enter t_mix for New Function Name.
ix. Click Define.
b. Define the function k_mix.
Setup and Solution
i. Select Properties... and Thermal Conductivity from the Field Functions drop-down lists.
ii. Select air from the Phase drop-down list and click Select.
iii. Click the multiplication symbol in the calculator pad.
iv. Select Phases... and Volume fraction from the Field Functions drop-down lists.
v. Ensure that air is selected from the Phase drop-down list and click Select.
vi. Click the addition symbol in the calculator pad.
vii. Similarly, add the term solids-thermal-conductivity-lam * solids-vof.
viii.Enter k_mix for New Function Name.
ix. Click Define.
c. Define the function ave_htc.
i. Click the subtraction symbol in the calculator pad.
ii. Select Custom Field Functions... and k_mix from the Field Functions drop-down lists.
iii. Use the calculator pad and the Field Functions lists to complete the definition of the function.
iv. Enter ave_htc for New Function Name.
v. Click Define and close the Custom Field Function Calculator dialog box.
5. Define the point surface in the cell next to the wall on the plane .
Surface Point...
a. Enter 0.28494 m for x0 and 0.24 m for y0 in the Coordinates group box.
Setup and Solution
b. Enter y=0.24 for New Surface Name.
6. Define a surface monitor for the heat transfer coefficient.
a. Enable Plot, and Write for surf-mon-1.
b. Enter htc-024.out for File Name.
c. Select Flow Time from the X Axis drop-down list.
d. Select Time Step from the Get Data Every drop-down list.
e. Select Facet Average from the Report Type drop-down list.
f. Select Custom Field Functions... and ave_htc from the Field Variable drop-down lists.
g. Select y=0.24 from the Surfaces selection list.
a. Select all-zones from the Compute from drop-down list.
b. Retain the default values and click Initialize.
8. Define an adaption register for the lower half of the fluidized bed.
Adapt Region...
This register is used to patch the initial volume fraction of solids in the next step.
Setup and Solution
a. Enter 0.3 m for Xmax and 0.5 m for Ymax in the Input Coordinates group box.
b. Click Mark.
c. Click the Manage... button to open the Manage Adaption Registers dialog box.
i. Ensure that hexahedron-r0 is selected from the Registers selection list.
ii. Click Display and close the Manage Adaption Registers dialog box.
After you define a region for adaption, it is a good practice to display it to visually verify that it
encompasses the intended area.
Figure 25.3: Region Marked for Patching
d. Close the Region Adaption dialog box.
9. Patch the initial volume fraction of solids in the lower half of the fluidized bed.
Setup and Solution
b. Select Volume Fraction from the Variable selection list.
c. Enter 0.598 for Value.
d. Select hexahedron-r0 from the Registers to Patch selection list.
At this point, it is a good practice to display contours of the variable you just patched, to ensure that the
desired field was obtained.
10. Display contours of Volume Fraction of solids (Figure 25.4: Initial Volume Fraction of Granular Phase
(solids). (p. 1060)).
b. Select Phases... from the upper Contours of drop-down list.
c. Select solids from the Phase drop-down list.
d. Ensure that Volume fraction is selected from the lower Contours of drop-down list.
Figure 25.4: Initial Volume Fraction of Granular Phase (solids).
11. Save the case file (fluid-bed.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
12. Start calculation.
Setup and Solution
a. Set 0.00015 for Time Step Size(s).
b. Set 12000 for Number of Time Steps.
d. Click Calculate.
Note
If you do not want to wait for the solution to run the full 12000 time steps you can stop
the calculation and read in the completed case/data files from the solution-files
subdirectory in the eulerian_granular_heat.zip file.
The plot of the value of the mixture-averaged heat transfer coefficient in the cell next to the heated wall
versus time is in excellent agreement with results published for the same case [1].
Figure 25.5: Plot of Mixture-Averaged Heat Transfer Coefficient in the Cell Next to the Heated
Wall Versus Time
13. Save the case and data files (fluid-bed.cas.gz and fluid-bed.dat.gz).
1. Display the pressure field in the fluidized bed (Figure 25.6: Contours of Static Pressure (p. 1064)).
Setup and Solution
a. Select mixture from Phase drop-down list.
b. Select Pressure... and Static Pressure from the Contours of drop-down lists.
c. Click Display.
Note the build-up of static pressure in the granular phase.
2. Display the volume fraction of solids (Figure 25.7: Contours of Volume Fraction of Solids (p. 1065)).
b. Select Phases... and Volume fraction from the Contours of drop-down lists.
d. Zoom in to show the contours close to the region where the change in volume fraction is the greatest.
Note that the region occupied by the granular phase has expanded slightly, as a result of fluidization.
Figure 25.7: Contours of Volume Fraction of Solids
25.5. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated how to set up and solve a granular multiphase problem with heat transfer,
using the Eulerian model. You learned how to set boundary conditions for the mixture and both phases.
The solution obtained is in excellent agreement with analytical results from Kuipers et al. [1].

accurate solution by using an appropriate higher-order discretization scheme and by adapting the mesh
further. Mesh adaption can also ensure that the solution is independent of the mesh. These steps are
demonstrated in Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing El-
bow (p. 123).
25.7. References
1. J. A. M. Kuipers, W. Prins, and W. P. M. Van Swaaij Numerical Calculation of Wall-to-Bed Heat Transfer
Coefficients in Gas-Fluidized Beds", Department of Chemical Engineering, Twente University of Technology,
in AIChE Journal, July 1992, Vol. 38, No. 7.
Chapter 26: Postprocessing
26.1. Introduction
26.2. Prerequisites
26.5. Summary
26.1. Introduction
This tutorial demonstrates the postprocessing capabilities of ANSYS Fluent using a 3D model of a flat
circuit board with a heat generating electronic chip mounted on it. The flow over the chip is laminar
and involves conjugate heat transfer.
The heat transfer involves conduction in the chip and conduction and convection in the surrounding
fluid. The physics of conjugate heat transfer such as this are common in many engineering applications,
including the design and cooling of electronic components.
In this tutorial, you will read the case and data files (without doing the calculation) and perform a
number of postprocessing exercises.
Add lights to the display at multiple locations.
Create surfaces for the display of 3D data.
Display filled contours of temperature on several surfaces.
Display velocity vectors.
Mirror a display about a symmetry plane.
Create animations.
Display results on successive slices of the domain.
Display pathlines.
Plot quantitative results.
Overlay and explode a display.
Annotate the display.
Postprocessing
26.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)

The problem considered is shown schematically in Figure 26.1: Problem Specification (p. 1068). The con-
figuration consists of a series of side-by-side electronic chips, or modules, mounted on a circuit board.
Air flow, confined between the circuit board and an upper wall, cools the modules. To take advantage
of the symmetry present in the problem, the model will extend from the middle of one module to the
plane of symmetry between it and the next module.
As shown in the figure, each half-module is assumed to generate 2.0 Watts and to have a bulk conduct-
ivity of 1.0 -K. The circuit board conductivity is assumed to be one order of magnitude lower:
0.1 -K. The air flow enters the system at 298 K with a velocity of 1 m/s. The Reynolds number of
the flow, based on the module height, is about 600. The flow is therefore treated as laminar.

26.4.1. Preparation
26.4.3. Manipulating the Mesh in the Viewer
Setup and Solution
26.4.4. Adding Lights

26.4.5. Creating Isosurfaces
26.4.6. Generating Contours
26.4.7. Generating Velocity Vectors
26.4.8. Creating an Animation
26.4.9. Displaying Pathlines
26.4.10. Overlaying Velocity Vectors on the Pathline Display
26.4.11. Creating Exploded Views
26.4.12. Animating the Display of Results in Successive Streamwise Planes
26.4.13. Generating XY Plots
26.4.14. Creating Annotation
26.4.15. Saving Picture Files
26.4.16. Generating Volume Integral Reports
26.4.1. Preparation
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the postprocess_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip the postprocess_R160.zip file you downloaded to your working folder.
The files chip.cas.gz and chip.dat.gz can be found in the postprocess folder created after
unzipping the file.
the Fluent Getting Started Guide.
Postprocessing
11. Ensure that the Double Precision option is disabled.

1. Read in the case and data files chip.cas.gz and chip.dat.gz.
When you select the case file, ANSYS Fluent will read the data file automatically.
26.4.3. Manipulating the Mesh in the Viewer

1. Display the mesh surfaces board-top and chip.
a. Retain the default enabling of the Edges option and disable the Faces option in the Options group
box.
b. Deselect all surfaces and select board-top and chip from the Surfaces selection list.
To deselect all surfaces click the far-right unshaded button at the top of the Surfaces selection list,
and then select the desired surfaces from the Surfaces selection list.
c. Click the Colors... button to open the Mesh Colors dialog box.
i. Select Color by ID in the Options group box.
Setup and Solution
ii. Click Reset Colors to reset the mesh colors to the default settings and close the Mesh Colors dialog
box.
d. Click Display.
2. Rotate and adjust the magnification of the view.
Use the left mouse button to rotate the view. Use the middle mouse button to adjust the magnification
until you obtain an enlarged display of the circuit board in the region of the chip, as shown in Fig-
ure 26.2: Mesh Display of the Chip and Board Surfaces (p. 1071).
Figure 26.2: Mesh Display of the Chip and Board Surfaces
Extra
You can click the right mouse button on one of the mesh boundaries displayed in the
graphics window and its surface group, ID, and name will be displayed in the console.
Postprocessing
want to distinguish between them.
3. Display the mesh faces.
a. Disable Edges and enable Faces in the Options group box.
b. Click Display and close the Mesh Display dialog box.
The surfaces run together with no shading to separate the chip from the board.
26.4.4. Adding Lights

1. Add lighting effects.
The default light settings add a white light at the position (1,1,1). The default light is defined in the Lights
dialog box by the Light ID 0 with Direction vectors (X, Y, Z) as (1, 1, 1).
a. Disable Double Buffering in the Rendering group box.
Setup and Solution
Double Buffering can dramatically reduce screen flicker during graphics updates, but will use extra
memory if your display hardware does not support it.
b. Make sure that the Lights On option is enabled in the Lighting Attributes group box.
c. Select Gouraud from the Lighting drop-down list.
Flat is the most basic lighting whereas Gouraud gives better color gradiation. Note that Gouraud
rounds off corners, and so should be used with caution on highly angular geometries.
d. Click Apply and close the Display Options dialog box.
Shading will be added to the surface mesh display (Figure 26.3: Graphics Window with Default
Lighting (p. 1073)).
Figure 26.3: Graphics Window with Default Lighting
2. Add lights in two directions, (-1, 1, 1) and (-1, 1, -1).
Postprocessing
Results Graphics Lights...
You can also open the Lights dialog box by clicking the Lights... button in the Display Options dialog
box.
a. Set Light ID to 1.
b. Enable Light On.
c. Enter -1, 1, and 1 for X, Y, and Z respectively in the Direction group box.
d. Retain the selection of Gouraud in the Lighting Method drop-down list.
e. Make sure that the Headlight On option is enabled.
The Headlight On option provides constant lighting effect from a light source directly in front of the
model, in the direction of the view. You can turn off the headlight by disabling the Headlight On
option (the results of this action are shown in Figure 26.4: Display with Additional Lighting: - Headlight
Off (p. 1075)).
Setup and Solution
Figure 26.4: Display with Additional Lighting: - Headlight Off
f. Click Apply.
g. Similarly, add a second light (Light ID= 2 with Light On enabled) with a Direction of (-1, 1, -1).
The result will be more softly shaded display (Figure 26.5: Display with Additional Lighting (p. 1076)).
Postprocessing
Figure 26.5: Display with Additional Lighting
h. Close the Lights dialog box.
Extra
You can use the left mouse button to rotate the ball in the Active Lights window to gain a
perspective view on the relative locations of the lights that are currently active, and see the
shading effect on the ball at the center.
You can also change the color of one or more of the lights by selecting the color from the
Color drop-down list or by moving the Red, Green, and Blue sliders.
Setup and Solution
26.4.5. Creating Isosurfaces

To display results in a 3D model, you will need surfaces on which the data can be displayed. ANSYS Fluent
creates surfaces for all boundary zones automatically. Several surfaces have been renamed after reading the
case file. Examples are board-sym and board-ends, which correspond to the side and end faces of the circuit
board.
You can define additional surfaces for viewing the results, such as a plane in Cartesian space. In this exercise,
you will create a horizontal plane cutting through the middle of the module with a Y value of 0.25 inches.
You can use this surface to display the temperature and velocity fields.
1. Create a surface of constant Y coordinate.
b. Click Compute.
The Min and Max fields display the Y extents of the domain.
c. Enter 0.25 for Iso-Values.
d. Enter y=0.25in for New Surface Name.
Tip
When you are creating multiple postprocessing surfaces, it can be helpful to keep
them together in the various lists in the Fluent graphical user interface. An easy way
to accomplish this is to use a prefix such as aa_ or zz_ when naming them.
e. Click Create and close the Iso-Surface dialog box.
Postprocessing
2. Create a clipped surface for the X coordinate of the fluid (fluid-sym).
Surface Iso-Clip...
a. Select Mesh... and X-Coordinate from the Clip to Values of drop-down lists.
b. Select fluid-sym from the Clip Surface selection list.
c. Click Compute.
The Min and Max fields display the X extents of the domain.
d. Enter 1.9 and 3.9 for Min and Max respectively.
This will isolate the area around the chip.
e. Enter fluid-sym-x-clip for New Surface Name.
f. Click Clip.
3. Create a clipped surface for the Y coordinate of the fluid (fluid-sym).
Surface Iso-Clip...
Setup and Solution
a. Select Mesh... and Y-Coordinate from the Clip to Values of drop-down lists.
b. Retain the selection of fluid-sym from the Clip Surface selection list.
c. Click Compute.
The Min and Max fields display the Y extents of the domain.
d. Enter 0.1 and 0.5 for Min and Max respectively.
This will isolate the area around the chip.
e. Enter fluid-sym-y-clip for New Surface Name.
f. Click Clip and close the Iso-Clip dialog box.
26.4.6. Generating Contours

1. Display filled contours of temperature on the symmetry plane (Figure 26.6: Filled Contours of Temperature
on the Symmetry Surfaces (p. 1081)).
Postprocessing
a. Retain the default settings in the Options group box.
c. Select board-sym, chip-sym, and fluid-sym from the Surfaces selection list.
d. Click Display.
e. Rotate and adjust the magnification of the view using the left and middle mouse buttons, respectively,
to obtain the view as shown in Figure 26.6: Filled Contours of Temperature on the Symmetry Sur-
faces (p. 1081).
Tip
If the model disappears from the graphics window at any time, or if you are having
difficulty manipulating it with the mouse, do one of the following:
Click the Fit to Window button in the graphics toolbar.
Open the Views dialog box by right-clicking Graphics in the tree and selecting
Views... in the menu that opens, and then use the Default button to reset the
view. You could also click Camera... in this dialog box to open the Camera
Parameters dialog box, where you could select orthographic from the Projection
drop-down list to reduce the likelihood of zooming through the geometry.
Press the Ctrl + L to revert to a previous view.
The peak temperatures in the chip appear where the heat is generated, along with the higher temperatures
in the wake where the flow is recirculating.
Setup and Solution
Figure 26.6: Filled Contours of Temperature on the Symmetry Surfaces
2. Display filled contours of temperature for the clipped surface (Figure 26.7: Filled Contours of Temperature
on the Clipped Surface (p. 1082)).
a. Deselect all surfaces from the Surfaces selection list and then select fluid-sym-x-clip and fluid-sym-
y-clip.
b. Click Display.
A clipped surface appears, colored by temperature (Figure 26.7: Filled Contours of Temperature on
the Clipped Surface (p. 1082)).
Postprocessing
Figure 26.7: Filled Contours of Temperature on the Clipped Surface
3. Display filled contours of temperature on the plane, y=0.25in (Figure 26.8: Temperature Contours on the
Surface, Y= 0.25 in. (p. 1085)).
a. Deselect all surfaces from the Surfaces selection list and then select y=0.25in.
The filled temperature contours will be displayed on the y=0.25in plane.
c. Orient the view to display the contours.
4. Change the location of the colormap in the graphics window.
Setup and Solution
a. Disable Axes in the Layout group box.
b. Select Bottom from the Colormap Alignment drop-down list.
5. Change the display of the colormap labels.
Results Graphics Colormap...
Postprocessing
a. Ensure that Show All is disabled.
b. Set Skip to 4.
If the contour labels displayed next to the colormap are crowding the graphics window, you can use
the skip-label function to control the number of labels displayed.
c. Click Apply and close the Colormap dialog box.
d. Orient the view as shown in Figure 26.8: Temperature Contours on the Surface, Y= 0.25 in. (p. 1085).
Setup and Solution
Figure 26.8: Temperature Contours on the Surface, Y= 0.25 in.
In Figure 26.8: Temperature Contours on the Surface, Y= 0.25 in. (p. 1085), the high temperatures in the
wake of the module are clearly visible. You can also display other quantities such as velocity magnitude
or pressure using the Contours dialog box.
26.4.7. Generating Velocity Vectors

Velocity vectors provide an excellent visualization of the flow around the module, depicting details of the
wake structure.
1. Display velocity vectors on the symmetry plane through the module centerline (Figure 26.9: Velocity Vectors
in the Module Symmetry Plane (p. 1088)).
Postprocessing
a. Enter 1.9 for Scale.
b. Deselect all surfaces from the Surfaces selection list and then select fluid-sym.
c. Click Display and close the Vectors dialog box.
d. Orient the view to display the vectors.
Extra
You can display velocity vectors for the clipped surfaces.
a. Deselect all surfaces from the Surfaces selection list and then select fluid-sym-x-clip and
fluid-sym-y-clip.
b. Click Display.
2. Change the colormap layout.
Setup and Solution
a. Enable Axes in the Layout group box.
b. Select Left from the Colormap Alignment drop-down list.
d. Rotate and adjust the magnification of the view to observe the vortex near the stagnation point and
in the wake of the module (Figure 26.9: Velocity Vectors in the Module Symmetry Plane (p. 1088)).
Postprocessing
Figure 26.9: Velocity Vectors in the Module Symmetry Plane
Note
The vectors in Figure 26.9: Velocity Vectors in the Module Symmetry Plane (p. 1088) are
shown without arrowheads. You can modify the arrow style in the Vectors dialog box
by selecting a different option from the Style drop-down list.
Extra
If you want to decrease the number of vectors displayed, then increase the Skip factor
to a nonzero value.
3. Plot velocity vectors in the horizontal plane intersecting the module (Figure 26.10: Velocity Vectors Inter-
secting the Surface (p. 1090)).
Setup and Solution
i. Ensure that Faces is enabled in the Options group box.
ii. Retain the selection of board-top and chip from the Surfaces selection list.
iii. Click the Colors... button to open the Mesh Colors dialog box.
A. Select Color by Type in the Options group box.
B. Select wall from the Types selection list.
C. Select light blue from the Colors selection list and close the Mesh Colors dialog box.
iv. Click Display and close the Mesh Display dialog box.
Postprocessing
c. Deselect all surfaces by clicking the far-right unshaded button at the top of the Surfaces selection list.
d. Select y=0.25in from the Surfaces selection list.
f. Rotate the view and reduce the magnification to obtain the view as shown in Figure 26.10: Velocity
Vectors Intersecting the Surface (p. 1090).
Figure 26.10: Velocity Vectors Intersecting the Surface
4. Mirror the image about the chip symmetry plane (Figure 26.11: Velocity Vectors After Mirroring (p. 1092)).
Setup and Solution
a. Select symmetry-18 from the Mirror Planes selection list.
Note
This zone is the centerline plane of the module and its selection will create a mirror
of the entire display about the centerline plane.
The display will be updated in the graphics window (Figure 26.11: Velocity Vectors After Mirror-
ing (p. 1092)).
Postprocessing
Figure 26.11: Velocity Vectors After Mirroring
26.4.8. Creating an Animation

Using ANSYS Fluent, you can animate the solution and also a scene. For information on animating the
solution, see Using Dynamic Meshes (p. 627). In this tutorial, you will animate a scene between two static
views of the graphics window.
You will display the surface temperature distribution on the module and the circuit board by selecting the
corresponding boundaries. You will also create the key frames and view the transition between the key
frames, dynamically, using the animation feature.
1. Display filled contours of surface temperature on the board-top and chip surfaces. (Figure 26.12: Filled
Temperature Contours on the Chip and Board Top Surfaces (p. 1094)).
Setup and Solution
b. Retain the selection of Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Contours of drop-down lists.
c. Deselect all surfaces by clicking the far-right unshaded button at the top of the Surfaces list.
d. Select board-top and chip from the Surfaces selection list.
f. Reorient the display as needed to obtain the view shown in Figure 26.12: Filled Temperature Contours
on the Chip and Board Top Surfaces (p. 1094).
Figure 26.12: Filled Temperature Contours on the Chip and Board Top Surfaces (p. 1094) shows the high
temperatures on the downstream portions of the module and relatively localized heating of the circuit
board around the module.
Postprocessing
Figure 26.12: Filled Temperature Contours on the Chip and Board Top Surfaces
2. Create the key frames by changing the point of view.
Results Animations Scene Animation Edit...
Setup and Solution
You will use the current display (Figure 26.12: Filled Temperature Contours on the Chip and Board Top
Surfaces (p. 1094)) as the starting view for the animation (Frame = ).
a. Click Add in the Key Frames group box to create the first frame for your animation.
This will store the current display as Key-1.
b. Magnify the view to focus on the module region.
c. Enter 100 for Frame in the Key Frames group box.
d. Click Add to create the tenth frame for your animation.
This will store the new display as Key-100.
The magnified view will be the one-hundredth key frame of the animation, with intermediate displays
(2 through 99) to be filled in during the animation.
Postprocessing
e. Rotate the view and adjust the magnification so that the downstream side of the module is in the
foreground (Figure 26.13: Filled Temperature Contours on the Chip and Board Top Surfaces (p. 1096)).
Figure 26.13: Filled Temperature Contours on the Chip and Board Top Surfaces
f. Enter 200 for Frame.
g. Click Add to create the two-hundredth frame for your animation.
This will store the new display as Key-200.
Note
You can check the display view of any of your saved key frames by selecting it in the
Keys list.
Setup and Solution
3. View the scene animation by clicking the play button ( ) in the Playback group box.
Note
If your computer is having difficulty displaying the animation with 200 frames, you can
increase the increment to 50.
While effective animation is best conducted on high-end graphics workstations, you can view scene
animations on any workstation. If the graphics display speed is slow, the animation playback will take
some time and will appear choppy, with the redrawing very obvious. On fast graphics workstations, the
animation will appear smooth and continuous and will provide an excellent visualization of the display
from a variety of spatial orientations. On many machines, you can improve the smoothness of the anim-
ation by enabling the Double Buffering option in the Display Options dialog box.
To produce a slower animation, increase the number of frames between the key frames. The more sparsely
you place your key frames, the more transition frames ANSYS Fluent creates between the key frames and
thus stretching out your animation.
Note
You can also make use of animation tools of ANSYS Fluent for transient cases as
demonstrated in Modeling Transient Compressible Flow (p. 257).
Extra
You can change the Playback Mode if you want to auto repeat or auto reverse the
animation. When you are in either of these modes, you can click the stop button ( )
to stop the continuous animation.
4. Close the Animate dialog box.
26.4.9. Displaying Pathlines

Pathlines are the lines traveled by neutrally buoyant particles in equilibrium with the fluid motion. Pathlines
are an excellent tool for visualization of complex three-dimensional flows. In this example, you will use
pathlines to examine the flow around and in the wake of the module.
1. Create a rake from which the pathlines will emanate.
Postprocessing
a. Select Rake from the Type drop-down list.
A rake surface consists of a specified number of points equally spaced between two specified endpoints.
A line surface (the other option in the Type drop-down list) is a line that includes the specified end-
points and extends through the domain; data points on a line surface will not be equally spaced.
b. Retain the default value of 10 for Number of Points.
This will generate 10 pathlines.
c. Enter a starting coordinate of (1.0, 0.105, 0.07) and an ending coordinate of (1.0, 0.25,
0.07) in the End Points group box.
This will define a vertical line in front of the module, about halfway between the centerline and edge.
d. Enter pathline-rake for New Surface Name.
You will refer to the rake by this name when you plot the pathlines.
e. Click Create and close the Line/Rake Surface dialog box.
2. Draw the pathlines (Figure 26.14: Pathlines Display (p. 1100)).
Results Graphics Pathlines Edit...
Setup and Solution
i. Ensure that Faces is enabled in the Options group box.
ii. Retain the selection of board-top and chip from the Surfaces selection list.
These surfaces should already be selected from the earlier exercise where the mesh was displayed
with velocity vectors.
iii. Close the Mesh Display dialog box.
b. Enter 0.001 inch for Step Size.
c. Enter 6000 for Steps.
Note
A simple rule of thumb to follow when you are setting these two parameters is that
if you want the particles to advance through a domain of length , the Step Size
times the number of Steps should be approximately equal to .
d. Set Path Coarsen to 5.
Coarsening the pathline simplifies the plot and reduces the plotting time. The coarsening factor spe-
cified for Path Coarsen indicates the interval at which the points are plotted for a given pathline in
any cell.
e. Select pathline-rake from the Release from Surfaces selection list.
f. Click Display.
Postprocessing
The pathlines will be drawn on the surface.
g. Rotate and magnify the view so that the flow field is in front and the wake of the chip is visible as shown
in Figure 26.14: Pathlines Display (p. 1100).
Figure 26.14: Pathlines Display
3. Write the pathlines to a file.
a. Enable Write to File in the Options group box.
The Display button changes to a Write... button.
b. Select Fieldview from the Type drop-down list.
c. Click the Write... button to open the Select File dialog box.
i. Enter chip-pathline for Fieldview File.
Setup and Solution
ANSYS Fluent will save the file in the Fieldview format with a .fvp extension.
4. Display pathlines as spheres.
Results Graphics Pathlines Edit...
b. Select sphere from the Style drop-down list.
c. Click the Attributes... button to open the Path Style Attributes dialog box.
i. Enter 0.0005 for Diameter.
ii. Click OK to close the Path Style Attributes dialog box.
Postprocessing
d. Enter 1 inch for Step Size and 1000 for Steps respectively.
e. Set Path Skip to 2 and Path Coarsen to 1.
f. Retain the selection of pathline-rake in the Release from Surfaces selection list.
g. Click Display.
The spherical pathlines will be drawn along the surface.
Figure 26.15: Sphere Pathlines Display
h. Select Surface ID from the lower Color by drop-down list.
i. Click Display and close the Pathlines dialog box.
This will color the pathlines by the surface they are released from (Figure 26.16: Sphere Pathlines
Colored by Surface ID (p. 1103)).
Setup and Solution
Figure 26.16: Sphere Pathlines Colored by Surface ID
Note
As an optional exercise, you can create solution animations for pathlines using the Animation
Sequence dialog box.
26.4.10. Overlaying Velocity Vectors on the Pathline Display

The overlay capability, provided in the Scene Description dialog box, allows you to display multiple results
on a single plot. You can demonstrate this capability by adding a velocity vector display to the pathlines
just plotted.
1. Enable the overlays feature.
Postprocessing
a. Enable Overlays in the Scene Composition group box.
b. Click Apply and close the Scene Description dialog box.
2. Add a plot of vectors on the chip centerline plane.
Setup and Solution
a. Disable Draw Mesh in the Options group box.
b. Retain the value of 3.8 for Scale.
c. Deselect all surfaces by clicking the far-right unshaded button at the top of the Surfaces list.
d. Select fluid-sym from the Surfaces selection list.
Because the mesh surfaces are already displayed and overlaying is active, there is no need to redisplay
the mesh surfaces.
f. Use the mouse to obtain the view that is shown in Figure 26.17: Overlay of Velocity Vectors and Pathlines
Display (p. 1106).
Postprocessing
Figure 26.17: Overlay of Velocity Vectors and Pathlines Display
Note
The final display (Figure 26.17: Overlay of Velocity Vectors and Pathlines Display (p. 1106)) does
not require mirroring about the symmetry plane because the vectors obscure the mirrored
image. You may disable the mirroring option in the Views dialog box at any stage during
this exercise.
26.4.11. Creating Exploded Views

The Scene Description dialog box stores each display that you request and allows you to manipulate the
displayed items individually. This capability can be used to generate exploded views, in which results are
translated or rotated out of the physical domain for enhanced display. As shown in the Scene Description
dialog box, you can experiment with this capability by displaying side-by-side velocity vectors and temper-
ature contours on a streamwise plane in the module wake.
1. Delete the velocity vectors and pathlines from the current display.
Setup and Solution
a. Select the pathlines path-8-surface-id and the velocity vectors vv-0-velocity-magnitude from the
Names selection list.
b. Click Delete Geometry.
The Names selection list of the Scene Description dialog box should then contain only the two mesh
surfaces (board-top and chip).
2. Create a plotting surface at X = 3 inches (named x=3.0in), just downstream of the trailing edge of the
module.
Postprocessing
Tip
For details on creating an isosurface, see Creating Isosurfaces (p. 1077).
3. Add the display of filled temperature contours on the x=3.0in surface.
Setup and Solution
a. Ensure that Draw Mesh is disabled in the Options group box.
b. Deselect all surfaces by clicking the far-right unshaded button at the top of the Surfaces list.
c. Select x=3.0in from the Surfaces selection list.
The filled temperature contours will be displayed on the x=3.0in surface.
4. Add the velocity vectors on the x=3.0in plotting surface.
Postprocessing
a. Enable the Draw Mesh option in the Options group box to open the Mesh Display dialog box.
i. Retain the default settings.
c. Set Skip to 2.
d. Deselect all surfaces by clicking the far-right unshaded button at the top of the Surfaces list.
e. Select x=3.0in from the Surfaces selection list.
f. Click Display and close the Vectors dialog box.
The display will show the vectors superimposed on the contours of temperature at =3.0 in.
5. Create the exploded view by translating the contour display, placing it above the vectors (Figure 26.18: Ex-
ploded Scene Display of Temperature and Velocity (p. 1112)).
a. Select contour-9-temperature from the Names selection list.
b. Click the Transform... button to open the Transformations dialog box.
Setup and Solution
i. Enter 1 inch for Y in the Translate group box.
ii. Click Apply and close the Transformations dialog box.
The exploded view allows you to see the contours and vectors as distinct displays in the final scene
(Figure 26.18: Exploded Scene Display of Temperature and Velocity (p. 1112)).
c. Deselect Overlays.
d. Click Apply and close the Scene Description dialog box.
e. Magnify the view, as shown in Figure 26.18: Exploded Scene Display of Temperature and Velocity (p. 1112).
Postprocessing
Figure 26.18: Exploded Scene Display of Temperature and Velocity
26.4.12. Animating the Display of Results in Successive Streamwise Planes

You may want to march through the flow domain, displaying a particular variable on successive slices of
the domain. While this task could be accomplished manually, plotting each plane in turn, or using the Scene
Description and Animate dialog boxes, here you will use the Sweep Surface dialog box to facilitate the
process. To illustrate the display of results on successive slices of the domain, you will plot contours of velocity
magnitude on planes along the axis.
1. Delete the vectors and temperature contours from the display.
a. Select contour-9-temperature and vv-9-velocity-magnitude from the Names selection list.
b. Click Delete Geometry.
Setup and Solution
The dialog box and graphics window will be updated to contain only the mesh surfaces.
2. Use the mouse to reduce the magnification of the view in the graphics window so that the entire board
surface is visible.
3. Generate contours of velocity magnitude and sweep them through the domain along the X axis.
Results Animations Sweep Surface Edit...
a. Retain the default settings in the Sweep Axis group box.
b. Retain the default value of 0 m for Initial Value in the Animation group box.
c. Retain 0.1651 m for Final Value.
Warning
The units for the initial and final values are in meters, regardless of the length
units being used in the model. Here, the initial and final values are set to the
Min Value and Max Value, to generate an animation through the entire domain.
d. Enter 20 for Frames.
e. Select Contours from the Display Type list to open the Contours dialog box.
Postprocessing
i. Select Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude from the Contours of drop-down lists.
ii. Click OK to close the Contours dialog box.
f. Click Animate and close the Sweep Surface dialog box.
You will see the velocity contour plot displayed at 20 successive streamwise planes. ANSYS Fluent will
automatically interpolate the contoured data on the streamwise planes between the specified end points.
Especially on high-end graphics workstations, this can be an effective way to study how a flow variable
changes throughout the domain.
Note
You can also make use of animation tools of ANSYS Fluent for transient cases as demonstrated
in Modeling Transient Compressible Flow (p. 257).
26.4.13. Generating XY Plots

XY plotting can be used to display quantitative results of your CFD simulations. Here, you will complete the
review of the module cooling simulation by plotting the temperature distribution along the top centerline
of the module.
1. Define the line along which to plot results.
Setup and Solution
a. Select Line from the Type drop-down list.
b. Enter the coordinates of the line using a starting coordinate of (2.0, 0.4, 0.01) and an ending co-
ordinate of (2.75, 0.4, 0.01) in the End Points group box.
These coordinates define the top centerline of the module.
c. Enter top-center-line for New Surface Name.
d. Click Create and close the Line/Rake Surface dialog box.
2. Plot the temperature distribution along the top centerline of the module (Figure 26.19: Temperature Along
the Top Centerline of the Module (p. 1117)).
Postprocessing
a. Retain the default Plot Direction of (1, 0, 0).
b. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Y Axis Function drop-down lists.
c. Select top-center-line from the Surfaces selection list.
This will plot temperature vs. the X coordinate along the selected line (top-center-line).
d. Click the Axes... button to open the Axes - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
i. Retain the selection of X in the Axis list.
ii. Disable Auto Range in the Options group box.
Setup and Solution
iii. Enter 2.0 for Minimum and 2.75 for Maximum in the Range group box.
iv. Click Apply and close the Axes - Solution XY Plot dialog box.
e. Click Plot and close the Solution XY Plot dialog box.
The temperature distribution (Figure 26.19: Temperature Along the Top Centerline of the Module (p. 1117))
shows the temperature increase across the module surface as the thermal boundary layer develops
in the cooling air flow.
Figure 26.19: Temperature Along the Top Centerline of the Module
26.4.14. Creating Annotation

You can annotate the display with the text of your choice.
Results Graphics Annotate...
Postprocessing
1. Enter the text describing the plot (for example, Temperature Along the Top Centerline) in the
Annotation Text field.
2. Select 20 from the Size drop-down list in the Font Specification group box.
3. Click Add.
A Working dialog box will appear telling you to select the desired location of the text using the mouse-
probe button.
4. Click the right mouse button in the graphics window where you want the text to appear, and you will see
the text displayed at the selected location (Figure 26.20: A Display with Annotation (p. 1119)).
Extra
If you want to move the text to a new location on the screen, select the text in the Names
selection list, click Delete Text, and click Add once again, defining a new position with
the mouse.
Note
Depending on the size of the graphics window and the picture file format you choose,
the font size of the annotation text you see on the screen may be different from the font
size in a picture file of that graphics window. The annotation text font size is absolute,
while the rest of the items in the graphics window are scaled to the proportions of the
picture file.
Setup and Solution
Figure 26.20: A Display with Annotation
5. Close the Annotate dialog box.
26.4.15. Saving Picture Files

You can save picture files of the graphics window in many different formats, including PostScript, encapsulated
PostScript, TIFF, PNG, PPM, JPEG, VRML and window dumps. Here, the procedure for saving a color PostScript
file is shown.
File Save Picture...
1. Select PostScript from the Format list.
2. Retain the default selection of Color from the Coloring list.
Postprocessing
3. Select Vector from the File Type list.
4. Click the Save... button to open the Select File dialog box.
a. Enter a name for Hardcopy File.
b. Click OK to close the Select File dialog box.
5. Close the Save Picture dialog box.
26.4.16. Generating Volume Integral Reports

Reports of volume integrals can be used to determine the volume of a particular fluid region (that is, a fluid
zone), the sum of quantities, or the maximum and minimum values of particular variables. Here we will use
the volume integral reports to determine the maximum and minimum temperature in the chip, board, and
the airflow.
Results Reports Volume Integrals Edit...
1. Select Maximum from the Report Type list.
2. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Field Variable drop-down lists.
3. Select solid-1 from the Cell Zones selection list.
4. Click Compute to calculate the maximum temperature.
The maximum temperature in the solid-1 cell zone (the chip) is displayed.
5. Select Minimum in the Report Type group box and click Compute.
The minimum temperature in the solid-1 cell zone (the chip) is displayed.
6. Repeat the operations to determine the maximum and minimum temperatures in the solid-2 and fluid-8
cell zones, corresponding to the board and fluid volume, respectively.
Summary
26.5. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated the use of many of the extensive postprocessing features available in ANSYS
Fluent.
For more information on these and related features, see Reporting Alphanumeric Data and Displaying
Graphics in the User's Guide.
Chapter 27: Parallel Processing
27.1. Introduction
27.2. Prerequisites
27.5. Summary
27.1. Introduction
This tutorial illustrates the setup and solution of a simple 3D problem using the parallel processing
capabilities of ANSYS Fluent. In order to be run in parallel, the mesh must be divided into smaller, evenly
sized partitions. Each ANSYS Fluent process, called a compute node, will solve on a single partition, and
information will be passed back and forth across all partition interfaces. The solver of ANSYS Fluent
enables parallel processing on a dedicated parallel machine, or a network of workstations running
Windows or Linux.
The tutorial assumes that both ANSYS Fluent and network communication software have been correctly
installed (see the separate installation instructions and related information for details). The case chosen
is the mixing elbow problem you solved in Tutorial 3.
Start the parallel version of ANSYS Fluent using either Windows or Linux.
Partition a mesh for parallel processing.
Use a parallel network of workstations.
Check the performance of the parallel solver.
27.2. Prerequisites
bow (p. 1)
Parallel Processing

cold fluid at 20 C flows into the pipe through a large inlet, and mixes with a warmer fluid at 40 C that
enters through a smaller inlet located at the elbow. The pipe dimensions are in inches, and the fluid
properties and boundary conditions are given in SI units. The Reynolds number for the flow at the larger
inlet is 50,800, so a turbulent flow model will be required.

27.4.1. Preparation
27.4.2. Starting the Parallel Version of ANSYS Fluent
27.4.3. Reading and Partitioning the Mesh
27.4.4. Solution
27.4.5. Checking Parallel Performance
27.4.1. Preparation
Setup and Solution
Note
the log in page.
6. Click the parallel_process_R160.zip link to download the input and solution files.
7. Unzip parallel_process_R160.zip to your working folder.
The case file elbow2.cas.gz can be found in the parallel_process directory created after
unzipping the file.
You can partition the mesh before or after you set up the problem (define models, boundary conditions,
and so on). It is best to partition after the problem is set up, since partitioning has some model depend-
encies (for example, sliding-mesh and shell-conduction encapsulation). Because you have already followed
the procedure for setting up the mixing elbow in Tutorial 3, elbow2.cas.gz is provided to save you
the effort of redefining the models and boundary conditions.
27.4.2. Starting the Parallel Version of ANSYS Fluent

Since the procedure for starting the parallel version of ANSYS Fluent is dependent upon the type of machine(s)
you are using, two versions of this step are provided here.
27.4.2.1. Multiprocessor Machine

Use ANSYS Fluent Launcher to start the 3D parallel version of ANSYS Fluent on a Windows or Linux
machine using 2 processes.
1. Specify 3D single precision (disable Double Precision).
2. Select Parallel (Local Machine) under Processing Options.
3. Set Number of Processes to 2.
To show details of the parallel settings, click Show More Options, then go to the Parallel Settings tab.
Note that your Run Types will be Shared Memory on Local Machine.
4. Click OK.
Parallel Processing
To start ANSYS Fluent on a Linux machine, type at the command prompt

fluent 3d -t2
If you type fluent at the command prompt, then Fluent Launcher will appear.
For additional information about parallel command line options, see Parallel Processing in the User's
Guide.
Setup and Solution
27.4.2.2. Network of Computers

You can start the 3D parallel version of ANSYS Fluent on a network of Windows or Linux machines using
2 processes and check the network connectivity by performing the following steps:
1. In Fluent Launcher, restore the default settings by clicking the Default button.
2. Specify 3D for Dimension.
3. Select Parallel (Local Machine) under Processing Options.
4. Set the Number of Processes to 2.
5. Click the Show More Options button and select the Parallel Settings tab.
Retain the selection of default in the Interconnects and MPI Types drop-down lists.
Note
On Windows platforms, default is the only available selection for Interconnects.
Select Distributed Memory on a Cluster.
Ensure that File Containing Machine Names is selected to specify the file.
Type the name and location of the hosts text file in the text box below File Containing Machine Names,
or browse and select it using the Browsing Machine File dialog box.
Alternatively, you can select Machine Names and type the names of the machines in the text box.
6. Click OK.
Note
If you are using a Windows platform, you will need to enter your password for MPI the
first time you run ANSYS Fluent using Distributed Memory on a Cluster.
Parallel Processing
You can also start parallel ANSYS Fluent by typing the following at the command prompt:
fluent 3d -t2 -cnf=fluent.hosts
where -cnf indicates the location of the hosts text file. The hosts file is a text file that contains a
list of the computers on which you want to run the parallel job. If the hosts file is not located in the
directory where you are typing the startup command, you will need to supply the full pathname to
the file.
For example, the fluent.hosts file may look like the following:
Setup and Solution
my_computer
another_computer
For additional information about hosts files and parallel command line options, see Parallel Processing
7. Check the network connectivity information.
Although ANSYS Fluent displays a message confirming the connection to each new compute node and
summarizing the host and node processes defined, you may find it useful to review the same information
at some time during your session, especially if more compute nodes are spawned to several different
machines.
Parallel Network Show Connectivity...
a. Set Compute Node to 0.
For information about all defined compute nodes, you will select node 0, since this is the node from
which all other nodes are spawned.
b. Click Print.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ID Comm. Hostname O.S. PID Mach ID HW ID Name
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
host net my_computer Windows-x64 10256 0 620 Fluent Host
n1 pcmpi another_computer Windows-x64 2892 0 1 Fluent Node
n0* pcmpi my_computer Windows-x64 9412 0 0 Fluent Node
Selected system interconnect: default

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ID is the sequential denomination of each compute node (the host process is always host), Comm.
is the communication library (that is, MPI type), Hostname is the name of the machine hosting the
compute node (or the host process), O.S. is the architecture, PID is the process ID number, Mach ID
is the compute node ID, and HW ID is an identifier specific to the communicator used.
c. Close the Parallel Connectivity dialog box.
27.4.3. Reading and Partitioning the Mesh

When you use the parallel solver, you need to subdivide (or partition) the mesh into groups of cells that can
be solved on separate processors. If you read an unpartitioned mesh into the parallel solver, ANSYS Fluent will
automatically partition it using the default partition settings. You can then check the partitions to see if you
need to modify the settings and repartition the mesh.
1. Inspect the automatic partitioning settings.
Parallel Auto Partition...
Parallel Processing
If the Case File option is selected (the default setting), and there exists a valid partition section in the
case file (that is, one where the number of partitions in the case file divides evenly into the number of
compute nodes), then that partition information will be used rather than repartitioning the mesh. You
need to disable the Case File option only if you want to change other parameters in the Auto Partition
Mesh dialog box.
a. Retain the Case File option.
When the Case File option is selected, ANSYS Fluent will automatically select a partitioning method
for you. This is the preferred initial approach for most problems. In the next step, you will inspect the
partitions created and be able to change them, if required.
b. Click OK to close the Auto Partition Mesh dialog box.
2. Read the case file elbow2.cas.gz.
File Read Case...
3. Examine the front view of the symmetry mesh zone (Figure 27.2: Mesh Along the Symmetry Plane for the
Mixing Elbow (p. 1131)).
Setup and Solution
Figure 27.2: Mesh Along the Symmetry Plane for the Mixing Elbow
4. Check the partition information.
Parallel Partitioning and Load Balancing...
Parallel Processing
a. Click Print Active Partitions.
ANSYS Fluent will print the active partition statistics in the console.
2 Active Partitions:
P Cells I-Cells Cell Ratio Faces I-Faces Face Ratio Neighbors Load
0 11109 218 0.020 36197 253 0.007 1 1
1 11801 192 0.016 39201 253 0.006 1 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Collective Partition Statistics: Minimum Maximum Total
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cell count 11109 11801 22910
Mean cell count deviation -3.0% 3.0%
Partition boundary cell count 192 218 410
Partition boundary cell count ratio 1.6% 2.0% 1.8%
Face count 36197 39201 75145

Mean face count deviation -4.0% 4.0%
Partition boundary face count 253 253 253
Partition boundary face count ratio 0.6% 0.7% 0.3%
Partition neighbor count 1 1

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Partition Method Metis
Stored Partition Count 2
Note
ANSYS Fluent distinguishes between two cell partition schemes within a parallel
problemthe active cell partition, and the stored cell partition. Here, both are set to
the cell partition that was created upon reading the case file. If you repartition the
mesh using the Partition Mesh dialog box, the new partition will be referred to as
Setup and Solution
the stored cell partition. To make it the active cell partition, you need to click the Use
Stored Partitions button in the Partition Mesh dialog box. The active cell partition
is used for the current calculation, while the stored cell partition (the last partition
performed) is used when you save a case file. This distinction is made mainly to allow
you to partition a case on one machine or network of machines and solve it on a
different one.
For details, see Parallel Processing in the User's Guide.
b. Review the partition statistics.
An optimal partition should produce an equal number of cells in each partition for load balancing,
a minimum number of partition interfaces to reduce interpartition communication bandwidth, and
a minimum number of partition neighbors to reduce the startup time for communication. Here, you
will be looking for relatively small values of mean cell and face count deviation, and total partition
boundary cell and face count ratio. Values less than 5% are considered reasonable in most cases.
However, with very large core counts and/or especially complex cases, larger values may be unavoid-
able.
c. Close the Partitioning and Load Balancing dialog box.
5. Examine the partitions graphically.
a. Initialize the solution using the default values.
In order to use the Contours dialog box to inspect the partition you just created, you have to initialize
the solution, even though you are not going to solve the problem at this point. The default values
are sufficient for this initialization.
b. Display the cell partitions (Figure 27.3: Cell Partitions (p. 1135)).
Parallel Processing
i. Ensure Filled is selected in the Options group box.
ii. Select Cell Info... and Active Cell Partition from the Contours of drop-down lists.
iii. Select symmetry from the Surfaces selection list.
iv. Set Levels to 2, which is the number of compute nodes.
v. Click Display and close the Contours dialog box.
Setup and Solution
Figure 27.3: Cell Partitions
As shown in Figure 27.3: Cell Partitions (p. 1135), the cell partitions are acceptable for this problem. The
position of the interface reveals that the criteria mentioned earlier will be matched. If you are dissat-
isfied with the partitions, you can use the Partition Mesh dialog box to repartition the mesh. Recall
that, if you want to use the modified partitions for a calculation, you will need to make the Stored
Cell Partition the Active Cell Partition by either clicking the Use Stored Partitions button in the
Partition Mesh dialog box, or saving the case file and reading it back into ANSYS Fluent.
For details about the procedure and options for manually partitioning a mesh, see Partitioning
the Mesh Manually and Balancing the Load in the Users Guide.
6. Save the case file with the partitioned mesh (elbow3.cas.gz).
File Write Case...
Parallel Processing
27.4.4. Solution
a. Right-click Solution Initialization (default method is Hybrid Initialization) and select Initialize.
A Question dialog box will open, asking if you want to discard the data generated during the first
initialization, which was used to inspect the cell partitions.
b. Click OK in the Warning dialog box to discard the data.
4. Save the data file (elbow3.dat.gz).
File Write Data...
27.4.5. Checking Parallel Performance

Generally, you will use the parallel solver for large, computationally intensive problems, and you will want
to check the parallel performance to determine if any optimization is required. Although the example in this
tutorial is a simple 3D case, you will check the parallel performance as an exercise.
For details, see Parallel Processing in the User's Guide.
Parallel Timer Usage

Performance Timer for 39 iterations on 2 compute nodes
Average wall-clock time per iteration: 0.117 sec
Global reductions per iteration: 61 ops
Global reductions time per iteration: 0.000 sec (0.0%)
Message count per iteration: 806 messages
Data transfer per iteration: 0.378 MB
LE solves per iteration: 4 solves
Setup and Solution
LE wall-clock time per iteration: 0.051 sec (43.4%)

LE global solves per iteration: 6 solves
LE global wall-clock time per iteration: 0.000 sec (0.2%)
LE global matrix maximum size: 18
AMG cycles per iteration: 9.872 cycles
Relaxation sweeps per iteration: 570 sweeps
Relaxation exchanges per iteration: 576 exchanges
Total wall-clock time: 4.572 sec
The most accurate way to evaluate parallel performance is by running the same parallel problem on CPU
and on CPUs, and comparing the Total wall-clock time (elapsed time for the iterations) in both cases.
Ideally you would want to have the Total wall-clock time with CPUs be times the Total wall-clock
time with CPU. In practice, this improvement will be reduced by the performance of the communication
subsystem of your hardware, and the overhead of the parallel process itself.
Note
The wall clock time and the ratio of iterations to convergence time may differ depending on
the type of computer you are running (for example, Windows 64, Linux 64, and so on).
See Tutorial 3 for complete postprocessing exercises for this example. Here, two plots are generated so that
you can confirm that the results obtained with the parallel solver are the same as those obtained with the
serial solver.
1. Display an XY plot of temperature along the centerline of the outlet (Figure 27.4: Temperature Distribution
at the Outlet (p. 1138)).
a. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Y Axis Function drop-down lists.
Parallel Processing
b. Select z=0_outlet from the Surfaces selection list.
Figure 27.4: Temperature Distribution at the Outlet
Compare the plot of Temperature at the Outlet with the serial solution shown in Figure 3.20: Outlet
Temperature Profile for the Adapted Coupled Solver Solution (p. 187).
2. Display filled contours of the custom field function dynamic-head (Figure 27.5: Contours of the Custom
Field Function, Dynamic Head (p. 1140)).
Setup and Solution
a. Select Custom Field Functions... from the Contours of drop-down list.
The custom field function you created in Tutorial 3 (dynamic-head) will be selected in the lower
drop-down list.
b. Enter 80 for Levels.
c. Select symmetry from the Surfaces selection list.
Parallel Processing
Figure 27.5: Contours of the Custom Field Function, Dynamic Head
27.5. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated how to solve a simple 3D problem using the parallel solver of ANSYS Fluent.
Here, the automatic mesh partitioning performed by ANSYS Fluent when you read the mesh into the
parallel version was found to be acceptable. You also learned how to check the performance of the
parallel solver to determine if optimizations are required.
For additional details about using the parallel solver, see Checking and Improving Parallel Performance

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ANSYS Fluent Tutorial Guide

ANSYS, Inc. Release 16.0

ANSYS, Inc. is certified to ISO 9001:2008.

U.S. Government Rights

Published in the U.S.A.

3.4.7. Cell Zone Conditions ............................................................................................................ 140

9.4.5. Materials .............................................................................................................................. 411

12.4.4. Specifying the Models ........................................................................................................ 518

15.4.4. Models ............................................................................................................................... 632

18.4.3. Specifying Solver and Analysis Type .................................................................................... 758

21.4.3. General Settings ................................................................................................................. 891

24.4.1. Preparation ........................................................................................................................ 993

27.1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1123

1. Whats In This Manual

Parametric Analysis in ANSYS Workbench Using ANSYS Fluent (p. 73)

2. The Contents of the Fluent Manuals

3. Where to Find the Files Used in the Tutorials

4. How To Use This Manual

4.1. For the Beginner

4.2. For the Experienced User

5. Typographical Conventions Used In This Manual

Models Multiphase Edit...

This tutorial demonstrates how to do the following:

Launch ANSYS Workbench.

Create a Fluent fluid flow analysis system in ANSYS Workbench.

Create the elbow geometry using ANSYS DesignModeler.

Set up the CFD simulation in ANSYS Fluent, which includes:

Initiating the calculation with residual plotting.

Calculating a solution using the pressure-based solver.

Change the geometry in ANSYS DesignModeler, using the duplicated system.

Regenerate the computational mesh.

Recalculate a solution in ANSYS Fluent.

1.3. Problem Description

Figure 1.1: Problem Specification

1.4. Setup and Solution

2. Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal, https://support.ansys.com/training.

3. Enter the name of this tutorial into the search bar.

a. Click ANSYS Fluent under Product.

b. Click 16.0 under Version.

5. Select this tutorial from the list.

two geometry files, elbow_geometry.agdb and elbow_geometry.stp

an ANSYS Workbench project archive, elbow-workbench.wbpz

1.4.2. Creating a Fluent Fluid Flow Analysis System in ANSYS Workbench

3. Name the analysis.

b. Enter elbow for the name of the analysis system.

4. Save the project.

5. View the list of files generated by ANSYS Workbench.

1.4.3. Creating the Geometry in ANSYS DesignModeler

1. Start ANSYS DesignModeler.

2. Set the units in ANSYS DesignModeler.

3. Create the geometry.

Create the bend in the main pipe by defining a segment of a torus.

Create the side pipe by adding a cylinder primitive.

a. Create the main pipe:

viii.Enter 200 for FD1, Depth (>0) and click Generate.

Table 1.1: DesignModeler View Manipulation Instructions

Action Using Graphics Toolbar Buttons and the Mouse

Action Using Graphics Toolbar Buttons and the Mouse

Figure 1.5: Elbow Main Pipe Geometry