FACULTY OF TECHNOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF JAFFNA

DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

Semester VII
Aerodynamics for Automobile Technology– ETA441TE2

Experiment 05: Drag estimation for various shapes using ANSYS Workbench.

AIM/ OBJECTIVES:

To learn computational fluid dynamics.

To familiar with ANSYS workbench.

To learn modelling of 2D shapes.

To learn about meshing of 2D shapes.

To learn how to apply boundary conditions and select appropriate equations in fluent.

INTRODUCTION:

Drag is a force which resists the forward motion of an object. There are several types of drag
force such as parasite drag, lift induced drag and wave drag. Parasite drag is affectingthe
road vehicle significantly when compared to other types of drag forces. Generally, 50 %of
the drag force in the ordinary car is due to the shape of the top surface. The drag force
directly influences the fuel consumption of the vehicle. To achieve an optimum solution,
there is a tradeoff between the size of the car and aerodynamic efficient. According to a
survey taken in 2006, the 11% in overall energy loss is due to aerodynamic drag in the high
way. So achieving a proper shape is significant to reduce this effect.

THEORY:

WHAT IS CFD?

CFD (Computational fluid dynamics) is a set of numerical methods applied to obtain

approximate solution of problems of fluid dynamics and heat transfer. The physical
characteristics of the fluid motion can usually be described through fundamental
mathematical equations, usually in partial differential form, which govern a process of
interest and are often called governing equations in CFD.

In order to solve mathematical equations, computer scientists convert them by using high-
level computer programming languages into computer programs or software packages. The
computational part simply means the study of the fluid flow through numerical simulations,
which involves employing computer programs or software packages performed on high
speed digital computers to attain the numerical solutions. It is an integration of fluid
mechanics, mathematics and computer science.

ADVANTAGES OF COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS?

Cost effective - simulating real fluid flows. Higher the accuracy. (But not like experimental
analysis). Easy to analyses complicated surfaces. CFD can provide rather detailed,
visualized, and comprehensive information when compared to analytical and experimental
fluid dynamics.

NUMERICAL METHOD:

All the CFD commercial packages available in the market have three basic elements, which
divide the complete analysis of the numerical experiment to be performed on the specific
domain or geometry. The three basic elements are,

o Pre-processor

o Solver

o Post-Process

The inter-connectivity functions of the three main elements within a CFD analysis framework

is shown in the figure below.

PRE-PROCESSOR:

The pre-processor is the link between the user and the solver.

To create geometry

This process involves several computer aided design (CAD) software like CATIA®, Solid
works®, Pro-E® and many more. The help of CAD software defines the topology of the fluid
flow region of interest. This software p lays a major part of the design and optimization
process in research analysis.

To mesh

Mesh generation constitutes one of the most important steps during the preprocess stage
after the definition of the domain geometry. CFD requires the subdivision of the domain into
a number of smaller, non-overlapping subdomains in order to solve the flow physics within
the domain geometry that has been created; this results in the generation of a mesh (or grid)
of cells (elements or control volumes) overlaying the whole domain geometry. The essential
fluid flows that are described in each of these cells are usually solved numerically so that
the discrete values of the flow properties such as the velocity, pressure, temperature, and
other transport parameters of interest are determined. This yields the CFD solution to the
flow problem that is being solved. The accuracy of a CFD solution is governed by the number
of cells in the mesh within the computational domain. In general, the provision of a large
number of cells leads to the attainment of an accurate solution. However, the accuracy of a
solution is strongly dependent on the imposed limitations dominated by the computational
costs and calculation turnover times.

Definition of fluid properties

Every surface or fluid domain has its own distinct property. The properties of the fluid used
in the CFD domain are defined at this stage of the CFD Process.

Boundary conditions

The complex nature of many fluid flow behaviors has important implications in which
boundary conditions are prescribed for the flow problem. A CFD user needs to define
appropriate conditions that mimic the real physical representation of the fluid flow into a
solvable CFD problem. Every different setup of the CFD domain needs to have an
initialization, which is fulfilled by the boundary conditions input. The CFD code usually has
this facility to define the boundary conditions of the CFD problem, where each cells at
specific boundary are given finite values.

NUMERICAL SOLVER:

In the current market, the solvers usually use three distinct ways of calculating the solutions,
namely, the finite difference method, finite element method and the finite volume method.
The finite difference and finite element method are usually suitable for stress and structure
analysis. On the other hand the finite volume method is the most suitable method for the
CFD process. As the name implies, finite volume method is the numerical algorithm
calculation process involving the use of finite volume cells. The steps involved in this solving
process are usually carried out in the following sequence:

o Formal integration of the governing equations of fluid flow over all the control volumes
or finite volumes of the solution domain.
 o The conversion of the integral forms of the equations into a system of algebraic
equations.
o Calculations of the algebraic equations by an iterative method.

POST PROCESSING

Commercial CFD codes such as ANSYS® Inc., CFX®, ANSYS Fluent®, STAR-CD®, and
others often incorporate impressive visualization tools within their userfriendly GUIs to allow
users to graphically view the results of a CFD calculation at the end of a computational
simulation. Those data visualization tools of the CFD solver to observe the following results
of the simulation:

o Domain geometry and Grid display

o Vector plots iii. Line and shaded contour plots
o 2D and 3D surface plots v. Particle tracking
o XY plots and graphs of results.
GENERAL INFORMATION

The flow over a vehicle is fully three-dimensional. Boundary layers are turbulent. Flow
separation is common and may be followed by reattachment. Large turbulent wakes are
formed at the rear and in many cases contain longitudinal trailing vortices. As is typical for
bluff bodies, drag (which is a key issue for most road vehicles--but far from the only one) is
mainly pressure drag. This is in contrast to aircraft and ships, which suffer primarily from
friction drag. The avoidance of separation or, if this is not possible, its control are among the
main objectives of vehicle aerodynamics.

With regard to their geometry, road vehicles comprise a large variety of configurations.
Passenger cars, vans, and buses are closed, single bodies. Trucks and race cars can be of
more than one body. Motorcycles and some race cars have open driver compartments. With
the race car being the only exception, the shape of a road vehicle is not primarily determined
by the need to generate specific aerodynamic effects----as, for instance, an airplane is
designed to produce lift.
History of road vehicle shapes and Cd (coefficient of drag)

APPARATUS:

ANSYS workbench

PROCEDURE:

I. Create geometry

II. Mesh generation

III. Solver

IV. Post processing.

OBSERVATIONS:

Check the residual plots and check at which iteration the solution converge.

SPECIMEN CALCULATIONS:

Square
100mm
Circle
D=100mm
Ellipse
a= 100mm
b=50mm

RESULTS:

Guidelines for results representation

DISCUSSION:

Calculate and compare the drag force for each shapes

Discuss about circulations and wake around the shapes

REFERENCES:

Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles from Fluid Mechanics to Vehicle Engineering- Wolf-

Heinrich Hucho-1987

Author: inz. G. Daisan MSc (Aerospace Eng.) University of Jaffna