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NUMERICAL FLUID DYNAMICS 414/814 (2010)

Pra ti al #3
Obje tive and Out omes

The aim of this pra ti al is to enable students to set up and exe ute a simple three-dimensional numeri al
ow analysis. For this purpose the problem of developing laminar ow in an ellipti du t must be solved
numeri ally. The numeri al solution must be ompared with the analyti al solution for fully developed ow,
whi h is presented in the Appendix.
Students who have ompleted this turorial will be able to

Create unstru tured omputational meshes, using the


omputational domain with symmetry boundaries.




Exe ute the numeri al solution, using the three-dimensional version of the FLUENT solver.

Workben h prepro essor, for a three-dimensional

Quantify entran e e e ts for a developing du t ow by omparing it with the orresponding analyti al


solution for fully developed ow.

Geometry and Fluid

A ross-se tion through an ellipti al tube is shown s hemati ally in Figure 1. A highly vis ous oil is pumped
through the tube in the positive x-dire tion, and the ow is assumed to be fully developed.
You must determine your own set of modelling parameter values using your student number, whi h onsists of
8 digits in the format d8 d7 d6 d5 d4 d3 d2 d1 , together with the formulas given in Table 1. Che k that your values
are within the given ranges!.

y
a

Oil

x
z

b
Figure 1: Geometry of tube

Parameter [units

a
Tube major axis [ m:
b
Tube length [ m:
L
Mean axial velo ity [m/s:
U
Oil density [kg/m3 :

Oil dynami vis osity [kg/ms: 
Tube minor axis [ m:

Formula

Range

d
= 20 + d
16

240 + 10  d5

=
=
=

0:2  (1 + d6 )

880 + 10  (d1

1:8 + 0:1  (d3

! 16
[20 ! 24 21
[240 ! 330
[0:2 ! 2
[790 ! 970
[0:9 ! 2:7
[11 21

1
2 1
1
2 2

d2 )
d4 )

Table 1: Formulas for modelling parameters


Computational Mesh

Use the Workben h prepro essor to reate a omputational mesh for one quarter-se tion of the tube, as follows:

In DesignModeler:
{
{
{
{

Sket h an ellipse of the appropriate dimensions.


\Extrude" the ellipse to form an ellipti al ylinder.
\Freeze" the ellipti al ylinder, then \Sli e" it into quarters.
\Suppress" the three unwanted quarter-ellipti al ylinders.

In Meshing:
{ Right- li k on \Mesh" in the \Outline"; then in \Detail" ! \Sizing" set \Use Advan ed Sizing" to
\O ".
{ Apply edge sizings with \Number of Divisions" on the order of 8, 12 and 15 for the three edges of
the inlet fa e.
{ Mesh the three x-dire tion edges with a \Bias" su h that the ratio of su essive element lengths is
equal to 1.05 ( loser spa ing at the in ow fa e than at the out ow fa e) and \Number of Divisions"
equal to 25.
{ Mesh the entire volume using by right- li king on \Mesh" and then sele ting \Generate" - the inlet/outlet fa e meshes should look more or less like the one displayed in Figure 2.
{ Name the inlet fa e, the outlet fa e, the tube wall and the symmetry planes appropriately.

Figure 2: In ow/out ow boundary mesh

Flow simulation

Start the three-dimensional double pre ision version of


following non-default options:






FLUENT, and set up the simulation by spe ifying the

Oil as the uid, reated with the relevant set of values.


Velo ity inlet ondition set to \Magnitude, Normal to Boundary" and velo ity magnitude value set to
appropriate value.
Monitor onvergen e levels for residuals of all equations set to 1  10

16 .

Solver ontrols set as follows:


{ Gradient set to \Green-Gauss Node-Based".
{ Dis retization method set to \PRESTO!" for pressure and \Se ond Order Upwind" for momentum.
{ Pressure-velo ity oupling set to \SIMPLEC".

Set \Area-Weighted Average" surfa e monitors for stati pressure on the in ow and out ow planes (i.e.,
p0 and pL , respe tively).

Carry out the simulation, as follows:




Initialize the x- omponent of velo ity to the in ow value.

Adapt the grid using 10% of velo ity magnitude as re nement limit. Note down the hange in mesh
properties (number of ells, et .). Obtain the exa t value of p0 pL from the \Report/Surfa e Integrals..."
panel.

Repeat the previous step until p0

Run the simulation until p0 and pL have rea hed onstant values. Obtain the exa t values from the
\Report/Surfa e Integrals..." panel.

pL does not hange signi antly any more.

Postpro essing

Display the following distributions and then export them to text les:

The x- omponent of velo ity as well as the stati pressure along the x-axis ( reate a \Line/Rake" from
x = 0 to x = L at y = 0 and z = 0 rst).

The stati pressure and wall shear stress along the upper edge of the omputational domain ( reate a
\Line/Rake" from x = 0 to x = L at y = a and z = 0 rst).

The stati pressure and wall shear stress along the outer edge of the omputational domain ( reate a
\Line/Rake" from x = 0 to x = L at y = 0 and z = b rst).

The x- omponent of velo ity on the y -axis at the out ow plane ( reate a \Line/Rake" from y = 0 to y = a
at x = L and z = 0 rst).

The x- omponent of velo ity on the z -axis at the out ow plane ( reate a \Line/Rake" from z = 0 to z = b
at x = L and y = 0 rst).

Report

Your report must ontain at least the following entities:

A des ription of the omputational domain, in luding the a tual dimensions, preferably in the form of a
drawing to engineering drawing standards.






A des ription of the uid, a ompanied by a table of the uid properties.




Comparative graphs of the x- omponent of velo ity along the x-axis (see Fig. 3 for an example).

Comparative graphs of the x- omponent of velo ity along the y -axis at the out ow plane (see Fig. 5 for
an example).

Comparative graphs of the x- omponent of velo ity along the z -axis at the out ow plane (see Fig. 6 for
an example).

Comparative graphs of the wall shear stress along the two outer edges of the omputational domain (see
Fig. 7 for an example).

A tabular omparison of the mesh properties and area-averaged pressure di eren e between the in ow
and out ow planes for the progression of meshes used in the simulation (see Table 2 for an example).

An estimate of the inlet loss oe ient, i.e., the di eren e between the omputed pressure drop and the
analyti al value of the fully-developed pressure drop, non-dimensionalized with respe t to the dynami
pressure:

A des ription of the boundary onditions, with boundary values (mean inlet velo ity in this ase).
Parti ulars of the omputational mesh.
Parti ulars of the ontrol parameters and details of the numeri al simulation, i.e. relaxation fa tors,
onvergen e levels spe i ed and attained, and number of iterations.
Comparative graphs of the stati pressure along the x-axis and the two outer edges of the omputational
domain (see Fig. 4 for an example).

"

kinlet =

(p 0

pL )

4UL a2 + b2

#

a2 b2

 12  e U 2

A dis ussion of the results - omment on any obvious di eren es and the possible auses for these
di eren es.

You are wel ome to in lude additional information, e.g. the \ onvergen e history" graph of residuals, or ontour
and/or ve tor maps of the numeri al solution.
Mesh #

0 (Original)

Cells

1800

4537

11159

21274

28554

33188

35239

Fa es

5922

15264

37338

71550

95181

109794 116259

Nodes

2366

6284

15289

29457

38600

43933

46284

p0 pL [Pa

2869.1

2950.6

3017.2

3029.9

3036.7

3037.4

3037.6

Table 2: Mesh parti ulars and pressure drop

3.0

2.5

u [m/s]

2.0

1.5

1.0

Analytical (fully developed)


Numerical

0.5

0.0
0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

x [m]
Figure 3: Velo ity along tube axis

4.5

4.0

Analytical (fully developed)


Numerical (y = a)
Numerical (z = b)
Numerical (x-axis)

3.5

p-pL [Pa]

3.0

2.5

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0
0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

x [m]
Figure 4: Stati pressure distribution along tube

2.5

3.0

2.5

u [m/s]

2.0

1.5

1.0

Analytical (fully developed)


Numerical

0.5

0.0
0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

y [m]
Figure 5: Velo ity pro le at out ow plane along verti al axis

3.0

2.5

u [m/s]

2.0

1.5

1.0

Analytical (fully developed)


Numerical

0.5

0.0
0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

z [m]
Figure 6: Velo ity pro le at out ow plane along horizontal axis

0.25

200

Analytical (fully developed, y = a)


Analytical (fully developed, z = b)
Numerical (y = a)
Numerical (z = b)

w [Pa]

150

100

50

0
0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

x [m]
Figure 7: Wall shear stress distribution along tube

2.5

Appendix: Analyti al solution for fully developed laminar ow in an


ellipti al tube1
The x- omponent of velo ity is a fun tion of the ross-stream oordinates only:


u(y; z ) = 2U 1

y2
a2

z2
b2

(A.1)

The value of the energy orre tion fa tor (i.e. e ) asso iated with this velo ity distribution is equal to 2.
The stati pressure gradient along the tube is onstant:
4U a2 + b2

dp
=
dx

(A.2)

a2 b 2

The variation of shear stress around the tube perimeter is as follows:


s

y2 1
w = 4U w2 2
a a

1 See

for example F.M. White -

b2

z2 1
= 4U w2
b b2

b2

Vis ous Fluid Flow, third edition, M Graw-Hill, 2006.

a2

a2

(A.3)

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