Ansys Fluent Multiphase

Fuel Tank Sloshing

Release 2020 R2

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 Introduction

• The purpose of this tutorial is to investigate the free surface movement of liquid fuel in
a tank under varying acceleration scenarios and to ensure continuous fuel supply
through the pick-up pipe.
• A fuel tank with internal baffles is considered. This tutorial demonstrates how to do the
following:
‐ Set up and solve a transient problem using the pressure-based solver and the volume of fluid (VOF)
model.
‐ Use the hybrid-NITA (non-iterative time advancement) scheme to speed-up the simulation.

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 Prerequisites

• This tutorial is written with the assumption that you have completed Tutorial 1 from
ANSYS Fluent Tutorial Guide, 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.
• In this tutorial, you will use VOF model. If you have not used this model before, refer to
section 25.3, Setting Up the VOF Model in ANSYS Fluent User's Guide.

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 Problem Description
Pick-up Pipe
• A fuel tank, having internal baffles, is filled
with fuel to a height of 20 [mm].
Tank Walls
• The tank is subjected a constant acceleration
of 0.5g [m/s2] in the -X direction for 0.5 [s].
As the tank accelerates in the -X direction,
the liquid experiences an equal and opposite
reaction in the +X direction.
• After 0.5 [s], the acceleration drops to zero Tank
and the fuel level settles back. Acceleration
Baffles
(-X direction)
• Objective of this simulation is to find the
fuel volume fraction available at the suction
end of the pick-up pipe during this sloshing
phenomenon.

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 Pre-processing: Meshing

• Polyhedral meshing is done using

Watertight Workflow in Fluent Meshing
• One prism layer is generated on wall
surfaces including baffles
• Mesh count is 128,914 cells

Prisms on Baffles

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 Setup: Fluent Launcher and Reading Mesh File

• Preparation
‐ Copy the mesh file (fueltank_slosh.msh.gz) to
the working folder.
‐ Use Fluent Launcher to start the 3D version of
ANSYS Fluent.
‐ Enable Double-Precision in the Options list.
• Note : It is recommended that run this tutorial in parallel
(4 CPU) for faster processing. In Serial Processing the
tutorial can take more time to run.

• Read the mesh file fueltank_slosh.msh.gz

File → Read → Mesh...
‐ As the mesh file is read, ANSYS Fluent will report
the progress in the console.

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 General Settings

• General
Physics → Solver → General
‐ Select the Pressure-Based, Transient solver
• Check the mesh
Domain → Mesh → Check
• Note : 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.

• Display the mesh

Domain → Mesh → Display…
‐ Review the mesh and zone names

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 …General Settings

• Enable Gravity
‐ Tank motion is prescribed as a time-dependent
acceleration in X-direction. Acceleration due to
motion can be added to the respective “gravitational
acceleration” components. Therefore, it is provided
as an expression in the “X” direction as
IF(t<0.5 [s], 0.5*g, 0 [m s^-2])
‐ Acceleration due to gravity is specified in “Y”
direction as -9.81 [m/s2]
• Close and reopen the
Expression Editor to
get the Plot options
Click here and select • Enter the “Max” time
“Expression” as 1 (s) and click on
Then click on f(x) to the space here to get
open the Expression the expression plot
Editor

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 Materials

• Define material properties for air

Physics → Materials → Create/Edit...
‐ Change density to ideal-gas
‐ Retain other properties unchanged
‐ Click Change/Create and Close the
Create/Edit Materials dialog box.

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 …Materials

• Define another material fuel

Physics → Materials → Create/Edit...
‐ Edit name as fuel
‐ Set a constant density value of 850 (kg/m3)
‐ Set a constant viscosity of 0.0015 (kg/m-s)
‐ Thermal properties are retained as is
• Since an isothermal flow will be solved, the
thermal properties will not be relevant to this
simulation. They are invoked due to the ideal-gas
law specified for air.
‐ Click Change/Create
• If a dialog box opens prompting to “Overwrite Air”,
click No
‐ Close the Create/Edit Materials panel

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 Models

• Define the multiphase model

Physics → Models → Multiphase…
‐ Select Volume of Fluid from the Model list
‐ Select Implicit from the Scheme group box
‐ Enable Implicit Body Force
‐ Click Apply
• An Information box open about changes in material
properties and settings. Click OK to proceed.
• Shift to the Phases tab under the Multiphase Model
panel

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 Phases

• Define the primary phase

‐ Enter air for Name
‐ Ensure that air is selected in the Phase Material drop-down list
• Similarly, define the secondary phase
‐ Specify liq-fuel for Name and select fuel from the Phase Material drop-down list
• Click on Apply and Close the Multiphase Model panel

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 General Settings: Operating Conditions

• Keep the default Operating Conditions

Physics → Operating Conditions…
• Note: Operating Density Method is set by
default as minimum-phase-averaged. It will
automatically consider an operating-density
value of 0 in this case, as air-phase is set as a
compressible (ideal-gas) material

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 Boundary Conditions

• Set the boundary type for the outlet-

suction
Physics → Zones → Boundaries
‐ Select outlet-suction from zone list
‐ Select pressure-outlet from the Type drop-
down list
‐ Retain the default settings and Close the
dialog box
• Set the type as interior of interior-
suction
‐ Select interior-suction from zone list
‐ Select interior from the Type drop-down list
‐ Close the dialog box

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 Solution

• Set the solution methods

Solution → Solution → Methods…
‐ In the Pressure-Velocity Coupling group-box, select
PISO from the Scheme drop-down list
‐ Select Green-Gauss Node Based from the Gradient
drop-down list in the Spatial Discretization group box
‐ Select Body Force Weighted from the Pressure drop-
down list
‐ Retain the selections of Second Order Upwind for
the Momentum, Compressive for Volume Fraction
and First Order in Turbulence
‐ Select Bounded Second Order Implicit from the
Transient Formulation drop-down list.

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 …Solution (Enabling Hybrid-NITA)

• While still in Solution Methods…

‐ Enable Non-Iterative Time Advancement
‐ In the Console Window, type the following command
solve set nita hyb
‐ Type “yes” to the question on enable hybrid nita settings?
‐ Type “2” to invoke conservative settings

• You will see that Solution Methods window reflects

some changes

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 …Solution

• Set the solution controls

Solution → Solution → Controls…
‐ Note: It is recommended to keep
the default Under-relaxation
Factors (automatically setup based
on the hybrid-NITA scheme)
‐ Disable the solution of Energy
Equation
• Click on Equations…
• Deselect Energy
• Click OK

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 Initialization

• Initialize the solution

Solution → Initialization → Initialize →
Options…
‐ Enter Turbulent Kinetic Energy as 0.01
‐ Enter Specific Dissipation Rate as 10
‐ Click on Initialize
• Note: Solution Initialization is necessary before
going to the next step of creating a patch register
based on Field Variable limits

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 Marking Patch Register

• Create an adaption register for

patching
Domain → Adapt → Refine/Coarsen…
‐ Click on Cell Register > New > Field
Variable…
‐ Name the register as fuel_level
‐ Select Field value of Mesh… > Y-Coordinate
‐ Select type as Cells Less Than
‐ Enter Cells having value less than 0.02
• Note: This corresponds to the free surface height of
20 [mm] from the base of the tank
‐ Click Save/Display to preview the marked
cells in GUI
• Click OK if a warning box opens
‐ Close the dialog boxes

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 Patching the Liquid Phase

• Patch the liquid volume

fraction
Solution → Initialization →
Patch...
‐ Select liq-fuel from the Phase
drop-down list
‐ Select Volume Fraction from
the Variable list
‐ Enter 1 for the Value
‐ Select fuel_level from the
Registers to Patch list
‐ Click on Patch
‐ Click on Smooth
‐ Close the Patch dialog box

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 Surface Report Definitions

• Create a Report Definition for

average volume fraction of liquid
at the inlet of pick-up line
• In the Outline View tree, right
click on Report Definition
Report Definition → New → Surface
Report →Area-Weighted Average…
‐ Select Field Variable as Phases … >
Volume Fraction of liq-fuel
‐ Select interior-suction under Surfaces
‐ Enable Report Plot
‐ Enter name as fuel-vof-pickup-inlet
‐ Click OK

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 Volume Report Definitions

• Create a Report Definition for fuel

mass in the pickup line
• In Outline View tree, right click on
Report Definition
Report Definition → New → Volume Report
→ Mass…
‐ Select the Phase as liq-fuel
‐ Select fluid-fuelpickup from Cell Zones list
‐ Enable Report Plot
‐ Enter Name as fuel-mass-in-pickup
‐ Click OK

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 Force Report Definitions

• Create a Report Definition to

monitor the X-component of the
force exerted by the sloshing liquid
on the tank walls
• In Outline View tree, right click on
Report Definition
Report Definition → New → Force Report
→ Force…
‐ Select walls-tank from the Wall Zones list
‐ Retain the default Force Vector
‐ Enable Report Plot
‐ Enter Name as force-on-tankwalls
‐ Click OK

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 Report File

• Create a single Report File to

write out data of all three plots
created before
• In the Outline View tree, go to,
Solution → Monitor → Report Files
→ New
‐ Select the report definitions force-
on-tankwalls, fuel-mass-in-pickup,
fuel-vof-pickup-inlet under
Available Report Definitions
‐ Click on Add>> to add the selected
reports to the Selected Report
Definition group box
‐ Click OK

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 Iso-Surface (Interface)

• Create an iso-surface for volume

fraction of liq-fuel
Domain → Surface → Create → Iso-
Surface...
‐ Select Phases... and Volume fraction
from the Surface of Constant drop-down
lists
‐ Select liq-fuel from the Phase drop-down
list
‐ Enter 0.5 for Iso-Values
‐ Enter vof-interface for New Surface
Name
‐ Click Create and Close the Iso-Surface
dialog box.

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 Iso-Clip (Wetted) Surfaces

• Create Iso-clip of surfaces that will be

wetted by the fuel using volume fraction of
liq-fuel between 0.5 to 1
Surface → Iso-Clip...
‐ Select Phases... and Volume fraction from the
Clip to Values of drop-down lists
‐ Select liq-fuel from the Phase drop-down list
‐ Enter 0.5 and 1 for Min and Max, respectively
‐ Select walls-tank from the Clip Surface list
‐ Enter vof-clip for Name of the iso-clip surface
‐ Click Save and Close the Iso-Clip dialog box
• Note: As many iso-clips need to be created as the
number of wetted surface, one for each surface.
Although in this case, a single iso-clip on walls-tank
is sufficient to capture the desired animation.

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 Scene Display: Create Mesh Objects

• Create mesh object to display tank

walls
Results → Graphics → Mesh → New…
‐ Give mesh object name as tank
‐ Deselect Edges from Options
‐ Select walls-tank from Surfaces list
‐ Select Manual from Coloring and set
light gray color for Faces
‐ Click on Save/Display to preview the
selected mesh object and Close the
Mesh Display dialog box

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 Scene Display: Create Mesh Objects

• Create another new mesh object to

display the fuel using iso-clip and
iso-surface
Results → Graphics → Mesh → New…
‐ Give mesh object name as fuel
‐ Deselect Edges from Options
‐ Select the iso-clip and iso-surface
created earlier from the Surfaces list
‐ Select Manual from Coloring
‐ Select orange color for Faces
‐ Click on Save/Display to preview the
selected mesh object and Close the
Mesh Display dialog box

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 Scene Display: Create Mesh Objects

• Similarly, create another mesh

object to display baffles and fuel
pickup line
Results → Graphics → Mesh → New…
‐ Give mesh object name as baffle-
fuelline
‐ Select walls-baffles and walls-fuelline
from Surfaces list
‐ Select dark gray for color of Faces
‐ Click on Save/Display and Close the
Mesh Display dialog box

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 Scene Display

• Create a scene object from Outline View tree, right

click on Scene
Result → Scene → New…
‐ Enable all three Graphics Objects and set their transparency
to get the desired effect
‐ Click on Save & Display to preview the scene object created
‐ Close the Scene dialog box

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 Solution Animation

• Create animation of scene object

Solution → Activities → Create → Solution
Animations…
‐ Record after every 0.002(s) flow-time
‐ Set storage type as JPEG Image
‐ Set Storage Directory as current working
directory using a period "."
‐ Select scene-1 from Animation Object list and
click on Preview next to Animation View
‐ Set the desired view and click on Use Active to
select current view for this animation
‐ Click OK

view-0

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 …Solution Animation

• Create new animation by

re-orienting the view and
using it as the Active View

view-1
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 Animation of Fuel Volume Fraction on the Midplane (optional)

• To create contours at XY plane, first we need

to create a plane
‐ Create a mid-plane by selecting XY-Plane Method
in the Plane tool with Z = 0.1 (m)
• Create a contour of liq-fuel volume fraction
on mid-plane
• Set a new animation of this contour object
‐ This animation will be helpful in visualizing the
rise/fall of fuel level inside the fuel pick-up line

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 Autosave Data

• Enable saving of intermediate data files

Solution → Activities → Autosave…
‐ Save data with Flow Time after every 0.2 (s)
‐ Click OK and close the tab

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 Run Calculation: Time-Step Setup

• Run the calculation using Adaptive

time-stepping
Solution → Run Calculation
‐ Select Time Advancement Type as Adaptive
‐ Duration is set using Total Time specification
‐ Set Total Time as 1.5 (s)
‐ Set Global Courant Number as 5
‐ Click on Settings…
• Min Time Step Size 0.0002
• Max time Step Size 0.002
• Click on Save
• Click on OK if an Information message box opens

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 Save Initial Files and Monitor the Progress

• Save the initial case and data files

(fueltank_slosh_init.cas.h5/dat.h5)
File → Write → Case & Data...
• Start solution calculation
‐ Click on Calculate
‐ The simulation will take about 3 [hours] to
complete 1.5 (s) on 4 cores
‐ Residuals are observed to converge well
within every time-step

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 Post Processing: Liquid-fuel Interface

• Check the saved images/animations to verify the liquid interface motion

t = 0 (s) t = 0.5 (s)

t = 1 (s) t = 1.5 (s)

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 Post Processing: Liquid-fuel Interface

• Check the saved images/animations to verify the liquid interface motion

t = 0.15 (s) t = 0.5 (s)

t = 1 (s) t = 1.5 (s)

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 Post-Processing: Contours of Fuel Volume Fraction

• If saved, check the contours of liq-fuel Volume Fraction on the mid plane
‐ It clearly gives the visualization of fuel levels dropping inside the pick-up line until t = 0.5 (s)

Pick-up line just

about to run dry!

t = 0.15 (s) t = 0.5 (s)

t = 1.0 (s) t = 1.5 (s)

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 Report Plot: Fuel @ Pick-up Suction Line

• It is observed that from t = 0 (s) up to t =1.5 (s), pick-up line does not run completely
dry at any time instant, although the fuel volume fraction drops below 1

Average Volume Fraction of Fuel at the Suction Mass of Fuel in the Pick-up Line
Surface of Pick-up Line

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 Report Plot: Fluid Force on Tank Walls

• It is observed that fluid force exerted on the tank walls increase with time until
acceleration drops to zero at t = 0.5 (s). It then starts dropping and is reaching the
stable hydrostatic values as the fluid stabilizes back at t = 1.5 (s).

Net Fluid Forces on Tank Wall in the X-direction

(Direction of Slosh Motion)
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Appendix
 Additional Exercise: Sloshing in Tank without Baffles

• Read the case file (fueltank_slosh_init.cas.h5)

• Change the boundary condition type for walls-baffles surface from wall to interior
• Initialize the solution and patch liq-fuel volume fraction as 1 in the Cell Register
fuel_level
• Save the files as fueltank_slosh_nobaffles_init.cas.h5/dat.h5
• Re-run the simulation using the same settings as the previous case
• Analyze and compare the slosh patterns and fuel mass in the suction line
‐ This will clearly show the necessity of having baffles in this tank design to avoid stoppage of fuel
suction at low levels of fuel in the tank

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 Summary

• In this tutorial, liquid-fuel interface and contours of its volume-fraction are examined.
It was seen that the baffles created recirculation zones at the lower z plane where the
intake of the pick-up pipe was located. This prevented liquid-fuel from escaping the
lower Z-plane, causing the pick-up pipe intake to be always submerged in liquid-fuel.
• However, higher acceleration like 1.5g to 2g may result in pickup running dry for the
same acceleration cycle and needs to be examined!

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End of presentation