Customer Training Material

Lecture 5

Solver Settings

Introduction to
ANSYS FLUENT

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Solver Settings

Solver Settings - Introduction Customer Training Material

• So far we have looked at how to setup a basic flow simulation in FLUENT.

• However you should not assume that just because you have ‘an answer’
that that is the ‘correct answer’.

• By modifying the solver settings you can improve both:

– The rate of convergence of the simulation
– The accuracy of the computed result.

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Solution Procedure Overview Customer Training Material

• The sketch opposite shows

Set the solution parameters
the basic workflow for any
simulation.
Initialize the solution

• This lecture will look at: Enable the solution monitors of interest

– the choice of solver

Modify solution
– discretisation schemes Calculate a solution parameters or grid

– checking convergence
– assessing accuracy Check for convergence

Yes No

Check for accuracy No

Yes
Stop

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Available Solvers Customer Training Material

• There are two kinds of solvers available

in FLUENT: Pressure-Based Pressure-Based Density-Based
– Pressure based (segregated) (coupled) (coupled)
– Density based
Solve U-Momentum

• The pressure-based solvers take Solve V-Momentum Solve Mass,

momentum and pressure (or pressure Solve Mass Momentum,
Energy,
correction) as the primary variables. Solve -Momentum & Momentum
Species
– Pressure-velocity coupling algorithms
Solve Mass
are derived by reformatting the Continuity;
continuity equation Update Velocity

• Two algorithms are available with the

Solve Energy
pressure-based solvers:
– Segregated solver – Solves for
pressure correction and momentum Solve Species
sequentially.
– Coupled Solver (PBCS) – Solves Solve Turbulence Equation(s)
pressure and momentum
simultaneously.
Solve Other Transport Equations as required

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Available Solvers Customer Training Material

• Density-Based Coupled Solver

– Equations for continuity, momentum,
energy and species (if required) are
solved in vector form.
– Pressure is obtained through an equation
of state.
– Additional scalar equations are solved in a
segregated fashion.

• The DBCS can be run either explicit or

implicit.
– Implicit – Uses a point-implicit Gauss-
Seidel / symmetric block Gauss-Seidel /
ILU method to solve for variables.
– Explicit: uses a multi-step Runge-Kutta
explicit time integration method

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Choosing a Solver Customer Training Material

• The pressure-based solver is applicable for a wide range of flow regimes from
low speed incompressible flow to high-speed compressible flow.
– Requires less memory (storage).
– Allows flexibility in the solution procedure.

• The pressure-based coupled solver (PBCS) is applicable for most single phase
flows, and yields superior performance to the standard pressure-based solver.
– Not available for multiphase (Eulerian), periodic mass-flow and NITA cases.
– Requires 1.5–2 times more memory than the segregated solver.

• The density-based coupled solver (DBCS) is applicable when there is a strong

coupling, or interdependence, between density, energy, momentum, and/or
species.
– Examples: High speed compressible flow with combustion, hypersonic flows, shock
interactions.
– The implicit option is generally preferred over explicit since it has a very strict limit on
time step size
– The explicit approach is used for cases where the characteristic time scale of the flow is
on the same order as the acoustic time scale. (e.g. propagation of high-Ma shock
waves).

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Discretisation Customer Training Material

•In FLUENT, solver variables are stored at the centre of the grid cells (control
volumes).

• Recall the general form of the transport equations

shown in an earlier lecture:

•To implement these equations, we need to know the

values of this quantity  at the faces of the control
volumes, and the gradients of  for the grid cell.

•The following slides show the options available for

interpolating the cell-centre data, and these are set
as ‘Solution Methods’

Value (e.g. Velocity) computed here

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Discretisation (Interpolation Methods) Customer Training Material

• Field variables (stored at cell centers) must be interpolated to the faces of the
control volumes.
Value (e.g. Velocity) computed here

But solver must estimate the value

at each face so the flux can be
computed

• Interpolation schemes for the convection term:

– First-Order Upwind – Easiest to converge, only first-order accurate.
– Power Law – More accurate than first-order for flows when Recell < 5 (typ. low Re flows)
– Second-Order Upwind – Uses larger stencils for 2nd order accuracy, essential with
tri/tet mesh or when flow is not aligned with grid; convergence may be slower.
– Monotone Upstream-Centered Schemes for Conservation Laws (MUSCL) – Locally 3rd
order convection discretisation scheme for unstructured meshes; more accurate in
predicting secondary flows, vortices, forces, etc.
– Quadratic Upwind Interpolation (QUICK) – Applies to quad/hex and hybrid meshes,
useful for rotating/swirling flows, 3rd-order accurate on uniform mesh.
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Interpolation Methods (Gradients) Customer Training Material

• Gradients of solution variables are required in order to evaluate diffusive fluxes,

velocity derivatives, and for higher-order discretisation schemes.

• The gradients of solution variables at cell centers can be determined using three
approaches:
– Green-Gauss Cell-Based – Least computationally intensive. Solution may have false
diffusion.
– Green-Gauss Node-Based – More accurate/computationally intensive; minimizes false
diffusion; recommended for unstructured meshes.
– Least-Squares Cell-Based – Default method; has the same accuracy and properties as
Node-based Gradients and is less computationally intensive.

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Solver Settings

Interpolation Methods for Pressure Customer Training Material

• Interpolation schemes for calculating cell-face pressures when using the

pressure-based solver in FLUENT are available as follows:

– Standard – The default scheme; reduced accuracy for flows exhibiting large
surface-normal pressure gradients near boundaries (but should not be used
when steep pressure changes are present in the flow – PRESTO! scheme
should be used instead.)
– PRESTO! – Use for highly swirling flows, flows involving steep pressure
gradients (porous media, fan model, etc.), or in strongly curved domains
– Linear – Use when other options result in convergence difficulties or
unphysical behavior
– Second-Order – Use for compressible flows; not to be used with porous
media, jump, fans, etc. or VOF/Mixture multiphase models
– Body Force Weighted – Use when body forces are large, e.g., high Ra natural
convection or highly swirling flows

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Solver Settings

Pressure-Velocity Coupling Customer Training Material

• Pressure-velocity coupling refers to the numerical algorithm which uses a

combination of continuity and momentum equations to derive an equation
for pressure (or pressure correction) when using the pressure-based
solver.

• Five algorithms are available in FLUENT.

Semi-Implicit Method for Pressure-Linked Equations (SIMPLE)
• The default scheme, robust
– SIMPLE-Consistent (SIMPLEC)
• Allows faster convergence for simple problems (e.g., laminar flows with no physical
models employed).
– Pressure-Implicit with Splitting of Operators (PISO)
• Useful for unsteady flow problems or for meshes containing cells with higher than
average skewness
– Fractional Step Method (FSM) for unsteady flows.
• Used with the NITA scheme; similar characteristics as PISO.
– Coupled (this is how the pressure-based coupled solver, described previously,
is enabled)

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Standard Initialization Customer Training Material

• The solver works in an iterative manner.

• Therefore before the very first iteration, a

value must exist for every quantity in every
grid cell.

• Setting this value is called ‘Initialization’

• The more realistic the value, the better

(quicker) convergence will be.

• It is possible to mark some cells (using the

adaption tools, or having different cell zones)
and patch specific values into certain cells.
– Free jet flows (high velocity for jet)
– Combustion problems (high temperature
region to initialize reaction)

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FMG Initialization Customer Training Material

• Full MultiGrid (FMG) Initialization solves the flow problem on a sequence

of coarser meshes, before transferring the solution onto the actual mesh

• FMG can be used to create a better initialization of the flow field.

– FMG Initialization is useful for complex flow problems involving large pressure
and velocity gradients on large meshes.
– Euler equations are solved with first-order accuracy on the coarse-level
meshes.
– It can be used with both pressure and density based solvers, but only in steady
mode.

• To enable FMG initialization:

– Pressure-based solver: /solve/init/fmg-initialization
– Density-based solver: Enabled in the GUI if using density-based solver.

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Hybrid Initialization Customer Training Material

• A new feature at R13 is Hybrid

Initialization.
• This can be selected in the GUI from the
Initialization menu.
• This provides a quick approximation of
the flow field, by a collection of methods.

• It solves Laplace's equation to determine

the velocity and pressure fields.

• All other variables, such as temperature,

turbulence, species fractions, volume
fractions, etc., will be automatically
patched based on domain averaged
values or a particular interpolation
method.
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Solver Settings

Starting from a Previous Solution Customer Training Material

• Convergence rates are dependent

on how good the starting point is.

• Therefore if you already have a

similar result from another
simulation, you can save time by
interpolating that result into the new
simulation.

• First use the ‘Write’ option on the

old model to save the required
values to disk.

• Then use the ‘Read and

Interpolate’ option on the new
model.
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Solver Settings

Case Check Customer Training Material

• Case Check is a utility in FLUENT which searches for common setup

errors and inconsistencies.
– Provides guidance in selecting
case parameters and models.

• Tabbed sections contain

recommendations which the
user can optionally apply or
ignore.

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Convergence Customer Training Material

• The solver should be given sufficient iterations such that the problem is
converged

• At convergence, the following should be satisfied:

– The solution no longer changes with subsequent iterations.
– Overall mass, momentum, energy, and scalar balances are achieved.
– All equations (momentum, energy, etc.) are obeyed in all cells to a specified
tolerance

• Monitoring convergence using residual history:

– Generally, a decrease in residuals by three orders of magnitude indicates at
least qualitative convergence. At this point, the major flow features should be
established.
– Scaled energy residual should decrease to 10-6 (for the pressure-based solver).
– Scaled species residual may need to decrease to 10-5 to achieve species
balance.

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Convergence Monitors – Residuals Customer Training Material

• Residual plots show when the residual values have reached the specified
tolerance.

All equations
converged.

10-3

10-6

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Convergence Monitors – Forces and Surfaces Customer Training Material

• If there is a particular value you are interested

in (lift coefficient, average surface temperature
etc), it is useful to plot how that value is
converging.

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Checking Overall Flux Conservation Customer Training Material

• Another important metric to assess whether the model is converged is to

check the overall heat and mass balance.

• The net flux imbalance (shown in the GUI as Net Results) should be less
than 1% of the smallest flux through the domain boundary

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Tightening the Convergence Tolerance Customer Training Material

• If solution monitors indicate that the solution is converged, but the solution
is still changing or has a large mass/heat imbalance, this clearly indicates
the solution is not yet converged.

• In this case, you need to:

– Reduce values of Convergence Criterion or disable Check Convergence in the
Residual Monitors panel.
– Continue iterations until the solution converges.

• Selecting None under

Convergence Criterion
disables convergence
checking for all equations.

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Convergence Difficulties Customer Training Material

• Sometimes running for further iterations is not the answer:

– Either the solution is diverging (aka “blowing up”)
– Or the residuals are ‘stuck’ with a large imbalance still remaining.

Continuity equation convergence

trouble affects convergence of all
equations.
• Troubleshooting
– Ensure that the problem is well-posed.

– Compute an initial solution using a

first-order discretisation scheme.

– Alter the under-relaxation or Courant

numbers (see following slides)

– Check the mesh quality. It can only take one very skewed grid cell to prevent
the entire solution converging [This is why you should ALWAYS check the
mesh quality before spending time with the solver]

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Modifying Under-Relaxation Factors Customer Training Material

• Under-relaxation factor, α, is included to stabilize the iterative process for

the pressure-based solver.
• Use default under-relaxation factors to start a calculation.

• If value is too high, the model will be

unstable, and may fail to converge

• If value is much too low, it will take

longer (more iterations) to converge.
– Default settings are suitable for a
wide range of problems, you can
reduce the values when necessary.
– Appropriate settings are best learned
from experience!

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Modifying the Courant Number Customer Training Material

• The Courant number is the main control for stability when using the
coupled solvers.

• A transient term is included in the

density-based solver even for steady
state problems.
– The Courant number defines the
time step size.
• For density-based explicit solver:
– Stability constraints impose a
maximum limit on the Courant
number.
• Cannot be greater than 2
(default value is 1).
• For density-based implicit solver:
– The Courant number is not limited
by stability constraints.
• Default value is 5.
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Solution Accuracy Customer Training Material

• Remember, a converged solution is not necessarily a correct one!

– Always inspect and evaluate the solution by using available data, physical
principles and so on.
– Use the second-order upwind discretisation scheme for final results.
– Ensure that solution is grid-independent (see next slide)

• If flow features do not seem reasonable:

– Reconsider physical models and boundary conditions
– Examine mesh quality and possibly remesh the problem
– Reconsider the choice of the boundaries’ location (or the domain): inadequate
choice of domain (especially the outlet boundary) can significantly impact
solution accuracy

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Grid-Independent Solutions Customer Training Material

• It is important to verify that the mesh used was fit-for-purpose.

– Even if the grid metrics like skewness are showing the mesh is of a good
quality, there may still be too few grid cells to properly resolve the flow.

• To trust a result, it must be grid-independent. In other words, if the

mesh is refined further, the solution does not change.

• Typically you will perform this test once for your class of problem.

• Either:
– Go back to the meshing tool and modify the settings to give a finer mesh.
– Or use the ‘Adaption’ tools in FLUENT to refine the mesh you already have.
Make sure you save the model first
– Run on your simulation (remember you can start from your past result) and
assess whether the grid refinement has changed the result.

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Mesh Adaption Customer Training Material

• Although a mesh must be refined where flow features change rapidly,

sometimes the location cannot be determined during the initial meshing.
• Examples include:
– Refinement around shock waves
– Refinement around free-surface boundaries.

• FLUENT can refine localised regions of the mesh, selected by:

– Regions where parameters (eg density) change rapidly
– Regions selected manually by the user drawing a bounding-box.

Original mesh, with Result from 1 level of Result from 2 levels of

highlighted cells to be adaption on marked adaption on originally
adapted cells marked cells
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Mesh Adaption – Supersonic Projectile [1] Customer Training Material

• Example: The location of the shock wave is not known when the mesh is
first created

Large pressure gradient

indicating a shock (poor
resolution on coarse
mesh)

Initial Mesh (Generated by Preprocessor) Pressure Contours on Initial Mesh

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Mesh Adaption – Supersonic Projectile [2] Customer Training Material

• Solution-based mesh adaption allows better resolution of the bow shock

and expansion wave.
Mesh adaption yields
much better resolution
of the bow shock.
Adapted cells
in locations of
large pressure
gradients

Adapted Mesh (Multiple Adaptions Pressure Contours on Adapted Mesh

Based on Gradients of Pressure)
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Summary Customer Training Material

• Make sure your final results are computed with the optimal numerical
schemes (the FLUENT defaults aim to give a stable solution, not
necessarily the most accurate one).

• All solvers provide tools for judging and improving convergence and
ensuring stability.

• All solvers provide tools for checking and improving accuracy.

• Solution procedure for both the pressure-based and density-based solvers

is identical.
– Calculate until you get a converged solution
– Obtain a second-order solution (recommended)
– Refine the mesh and recalculate to verify grid-independence of the result

• Solution accuracy will depend on the appropriateness of the physical

models that you choose and the boundary conditions that you specify.
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 Appendix :
Additional notes

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Solver Settings

Mesh Adaption Customer Training Material

• Mesh adaption refers to refinement

and/or coarsening cells where needed to
resolve the flow field without returning to
the preprocessor.
– Mark cells satisfying the adaption
criteria and store them in a “register.”
– Display and modify the register if
desired.
– Click Adapt to adapt the cells listed in the
register.
Refine Threshold should
• Registers can be defined based on: be set to 10% of the value
– Gradients or isovalues of all variables reported in the Max field.
– All cells on a boundary
– All cells in a region with a defined shape
– Cell volumes or volume changes
– y+ in cells adjacent to walls

• To assist adaption process, you can:

– Combine adaption registers
– Draw contours of adaption function
– Display cells marked for adaption
– Limit adaption based on cell size
and number of cells

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