FluentTutorial

TheDurhamFluentTutorial.
Introduction.
ThisprovidesashortstepbystepguidetomodellinganaerofoilusingtheFluentpackage.Theaim beingtointroduceyoutheimportantfeaturesofFluentintheshortestpossiblespaceoftime. AdditionaltutorialsareavailablefromtheHelpmenuinfluentandgambitformorecomplex geometries.

MeshingtheAerofoil.
CreatingtheGeometry.

Startgambit ObtaintheNACA5012coordinatesfile(availablefrom www.dur.ac.uk/g.l.ingram/teaching/fluent) File>Import>VertexData(thenselectthefileyoujustdownloaded) YoushouldhaveascreenthatlookslikeFigure1:

Figure1:PointInputtoGambit.

Nowwewanttocreatetwoedgesfromthesepoints.Selectthe2ndiconinthe2ndrowofbuttons atthetoprightofthescreen.Rightclickonitandholdthemousebuttondownamenuwill popupfromwhichyoucanselectNURBS. 1

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Usethepointpicker,mouseandNURBStooltomaketwoedges,oneofthebottomandoneof thetopsurfaceoftheaerofoil.Ideallywe'dmakejustonebutcreatingafaceoutofthatlateris tricky!Gambitisverysensitiveabouttheorderthatthepointsarereadinfromthefileandthe orderinwhichyouselectthem.Thefilehasthepointsarrangedinasuitablemanner.Toselect thepointsinthecorrectorder:

selectfromthetrailingedgetotheleadingedgeforthetopsurface selectfromtheleadingedgetothetrailingedgeforthelowersurface Youcandeterminewhichorderthepointsarereadinbymakingthevertexlabelsvisible.

Thenwewanttocreatethesurfaceonwhichwewillcalculatethefluidflow.Todothiswewill createadomainaround1chordlengthsaboveandbelowtheaerofoiland1.5chordlengths beforeandafter.Thisisslightlyarbitraryandwemaywanttochangethisafterwelookatthe results! Addpointsat(1.5,1),(1.5,1),(2,1)and(2,1) Jointhesepointstogetherwithstraightlines.YourscreenshouldlooklikeFigure2:

Figure2:EdgesinGambit.

Wenowhavesixedgesfromwhichweconstructoursurface.Wearegoingtoconstructtwo surfaceswhichwewillthensubtracttogiveusourfinalface. Jointheouteredgesintoawireframeface(GeometryButton>FaceButton>Wireframe ButtonYoumayhavetorightclickandholdtofindit!) 2

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Jointheinneredges(theaerofoil)intoawireframeface Subtractthetwofaces.(GeometryButton>FaceButton>SubtractButton.Youwillfindthis byrightclickingonthethirdiconfromtheleftinthefacegroup)Makesurethatthesecondface youselectistheaerofoilotherwiseyouwillendupmeshingtheinsideoftheaerofoilnotthe outside! MeshingtheSurface.

Forsimplicitywearegoingtouseanunstructuredmesh.Thismaynotbethebestmeshforthe problem!Todothiswewillapplyanedgemeshtoalltheedgesyouhavecreatedandthenput anunstructuredmeshontothesurface. Someshtheinletandtheoutletwitharoundtwentypoints.(MeshButton>EdgeButton)

Thenumberofpointsiscontrolledbytheintervalcountoption(fourthdivisiondownfromthe top)youwillhavetochangeitasthedefaultisintervalsize. Youmaywanttoputinasuccessiveratiothataltersthespacingofthepointsasyougoalong theedge.InthisexampleI'veconcentratedsomepointstowardsthecentreoftheedgeasthis iswheretheinterestingfloweffectswillhappen. Gambithassomeidiosyncrasiesinit'smeshingselection,afteryouhaveaskedittomesh somethingyouhavetoreselecttheedgetomakefurtherchanges.

Meshthetopandbottomwitharoundtwentypointsaswell. Meshthetopandbottomoftheaerofoilwitharoundfortypoints. Meshtheface.(MeshButton>FaceButton)youwillneedtoselecttrielements. YoushouldendupwithsomethinglikeFigure3:

Figure3:Themeshedaerofoil.

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Wenowneedtotellgambitaboutthephysicalnatureoftheproblemandthenwecanexportto Fluent. YouwillneedtotellGambitthatwearegoingtouseFluentatthisstage.UsetheSolverMenu andselectFluent5/6. HittheZoneButtonandthenyouhavetwootherbuttons:

SpecifyBoundaryTypesusethistospecifywhatisgoingtohappenateachedge. SpecifyContinuumTypesusethistospecifyfluidsorsolids.

Puttheinletontheleftasapressureinlet,theoutletontherightasapressureoutlet.Makesure youselectedgesastheentity. Thetopandbottomedgesshouldbeasymmetryplane(whichisabitoftrickaswearenotreally interestedinanysymmetry). Theaerofoilshouldbeawallsurface. SpecifyFluidastheContinuumtypefortheface. Youarenowreadytoexportyourmesh:File>Export>Mesh(DontforgettoSaveyour Gambitfilesaswell!)Pushthe2Dbuttonasthisisa2Dcase.

ComputingtheFlow.
Thenextstepismuchmorestraightforward.InCFDmodellingflowmostofyourtimewillbe takenmeshingtheproblemandthenanalysingtheresults,computationistheeasybit.

StartfluentIfyouhavetroubledisplayinggraphics,useaterminaltostartusing:fluentdev X11asthecommand Select2D File>Read>Caseandselectyourfile Grid>Check(thisshouldreturnnoproblems) Display>Grid(soyoucanlookatthegridifyouwantto) Youmustthensetanumberofparameterstosolvetheflow:

Define>BoundaryConditions.I'dsuggest300Paforyourpressureinletvalue. Solve>Initialise.Setthistocomputefrominlet.NotethatyouneedtohittheInitbutton hittingapplydoesverylittle! Define>Models>Viscous.Setthistoinviscidfornow. Solve>Monitors>Residuals.Selectplot. Solve>Iterate.Setthisto1000orsoandwatchthecomputerworkforyou!Theproblem shouldconvergeinaround100iterationsorso. YoucanthenviewyourresultsusingDisplay>Contoursandyoumightendupwith somethinglikeFigure4.

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Figure4:TheInviscidFlowResults.

TurbulenceModels. Theinviscidflowsolutionisfineforbulkpressurechanges,butifwewantedtoexaminetheflow undermorerealisticconditionswecanusethissolutionasthebasisforthenextrun.

Define>Models>Viscous.ThenselectSpallartAllmaras.Thedefaultvalueswillbeo.k.for now. Solve>Iterate.Thenusestheinviscidvelocitydataetc.withthenewturbulencemodel.

Summary
Youhavenowsuccessfullymeshedupandcalculatedabasicgeometry.Otherthingsyoucouldtry withthedata:

Extendtheprobleminto3D Tilttheaerofoilandexaminethepredictionofseparation Remeshtheproblemusingastructuredgrid.

FluentandGambithaveanextensivehelpsystemwhichyoushouldusewhenyougetstuck. AlsonotethatthisisatutorialonhowtouseFluentandGambit.Theflowmodeloftheaerofoil producedcapturesbulkfloweffectsbutforanythingmorerefinedyouwillhavetocarefully considerhowtomodelthescenario! GrantIngram 16October2008