Tutorial: Flow in a 3D Manifold

Introduction
This tutorial illustrates the setup and solution of an unsteady manifold calculation using
FLUENT. Flows within intake and exhaust manifolds are of great interest to automotive
engineers. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can provide valuable information about
the nature of the manifold flow field, including total pressure losses and flow splits for the
manifold runners.
Very often, the flows of interest are also unsteady. A typical example would be an exhaust
manifold for which the runner inlet flows vary with the engine cycle. In this situation, the
losses and flow splits vary as a function of time, and it is possible for the time-averaged
unsteady flow to be different from a steady-state solution using average inlet/outlet conditions.
The analysis of an unsteady manifold calculation will be carried out in two phases:
1. Setup and solve a steady-state solution using constant inlet or outlet boundary conditions. This solution will serve as the initial condition for the unsteady calculation.
2. Setup and solve for the unsteady solution.
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Read an existing grid file into FLUENT.
Setup and run a 3D steady-state problem with multiple inlets/outlets.
Use tabulated profile data to apply unsteady boundary conditions.
Setup and run an unsteady solution using the previous steady-state result as an initial
condition.

Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes that you are familiar with the FLUENT interface and have completed
Tutorial 1 from FLUENT 6.2 Tutorial Guide.
Some of the basic steps in the setup and solution procedures will not be shown explicitly.

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Problem Description
The manifold considered in this tutorial has two inlets for which a uniform velocity normal
to the boundary will be prescribed. The outlet is at a fixed pressure (0 gauge, relative
to the environment). For the unsteady problem, the velocity is specified as a function of
time through the use of tabulated data using the transient profile. A user-defined function
(UDF) can also be used and is required to define a varying transient profile.
A 3D tetrahedral mesh containing 14184 cells was created for this problem. The mesh
size was kept small in this case in order to minimize the computational effort required for
the unsteady solution. However, all of the elements necessary to perform a more detailed
analysis on a larger mesh are available in the present example.

Preparation
1. Copy the mesh file, manifold.msh.gz and the profile file, tab data.prof to your
working directory.
2. Start the 3D version of FLUENT.

Setup and Solution

Step 1: Grid
1. Read the grid file manifold.msh.gz.
File Read Case...
(a) Select the file manifold.msh by clicking on it under Files and then click OK.
As FLUENT reads the grid file, messages will appear in the console window reporting
the progress of the conversion. FLUENT will report that 14184 wedge cells have been
read.
2. Check the grid.
Grid Check
FLUENT will perform various checks on the mesh and will report the progress in the
console window. Pay attention to the reported minimum volume and make sure this
is a positive number.
3. Scale the grid.
Grid Scale...
(a) Under Unit Conversion, select mm from the drop-down list to complete the phrase
Grid Was Created In mm (millimeters).
(b) Click Change Length Units to set millimeters as the working units for length.

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(c) Click Scale to scale the grid to millimeters.

Confirm that the maximum x, y, and z values are 302.405 mm, 125.613 mm, and
17.7843 mm respectively.

The grid is now sized correctly, and the working units for length are set to millimeters.
(d) Close the panel.
Note: There is no need to change any other units in this problem because the
default SI units will be used. The choice of millimeters for the unit of length
has been made by the actions you have just taken. If you want to change the
working units for length to something other than millimeters (say, inches),
you would have to use the Set Units panel in the Define pull-down menu.
4. Display the grid (Figure 1).
Display Grid...

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(a) Click Display.

Y
Z

Grid

FLUENT 6.2 (3d, segregated, lam)

Figure 1: The Tetrahedral Grid for the Manifold

Extra: You can use the right mouse button to check which zone number corresponds
to each boundary. If you click the right mouse button on one of the boundaries
in the graphics window, its zone number, name, and type will be printed in the
FLUENT console window. This feature is useful when you have several zones of
the same type and you want to distinguish between them quickly.

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Step 2: Models
1. Keep the default solver settings.
Define Models Solver...

In this application we assume incompressible flow. Hence we choose the segregated

solver. For the initial run we calculate a steady-state solution. So all parameters take
their default values.
2. Enable the energy equation.
Define Models Energy...

(a) Enable Energy Equation and click OK to close the panel.

3. Enable the standard k- turbulence model.
Define Models Viscous...

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(a) Select k-epsilon (2 eqn) in the Model list.

The original Viscous Model panel will expand when you do so.

(b) Accept the default Standard model by clicking OK.

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Step 3: Materials
1. Define the material data for the incompressible fluid.
Define Materials...
For this tutorial, you will model air as an incompressible fluid. Assume that the
kinematic and thermodynamic properties are constant. So no change is required in
the materials panel.

Extra: You can modify the fluid properties for the default material displayed in the
Materials panel, or copy a material from the materials database. The materials
database is opened by clicking Fluent Database... in the Materials panel. If the
properties in the database are different from those you wish to use, you can still
edit the values under Properties and click Change/Create to update your local
copy. (The database will not be affected.)
2. Close the Materials panel.

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Step 4: Boundary Conditions

The manifold has two velocity inlet zones, velocity-inlet-1 and velocity-inlet-2, and a single
pressure outlet zone, pressure-outlet-1. The walls of the domain are contained in the zone
wall-17. You will set up the problem for a steady-state solution as described below.
Define Boundary Conditions...

1. Set the conditions for the fluid.

(a) Select fluid-79 under Zone.
(b) Click Set... to open the Fluid panel.

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(c) Click OK to accept the default option, air, for Material Name.
2. Set the boundary conditions at the inlets.
(a) Select velocity-inlet-1 under Zone and click the Set... button.
Hint: If you are not sure of which inlet zone corresponds to the main inlet, probe
the grid display with the right mouse button. The zone ID will be displayed
in the FLUENT console window and the zone will automatically be selected
in the Zone list. In 2D simulations, it may be helpful to return to the Grid
Display panel and deselect the display of the fluid and interior zones before
probing with the mouse button for zone names.
(b) Set the conditions for velocity-inlet-1 as shown in the Velocity Inlet panel.

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(c) Click OK to select the values.

3. Repeat the above operations for velocity-inlet-2. Enter the values as shown in the
panel.

4. Set the boundary conditions for pressure-outlet-1.

(a) In the Boundary Conditions panel, select pressure-outlet-1.
(b) Enter values as shown in the panel.

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(c) Enter a value of 0.05 for the Backflow Turbulence Intensity (fraction) and 30 mm
for Backflow Hydraulic Diameter.
(d) Click OK.
FLUENT will use the backflow conditions only if the fluid is flowing into the computational domain through the outlet. Backflow might occur at some point during the
solution process. You should set reasonable backflow conditions to prevent convergence
from being adversely affected.
5. Keep the default boundary conditions for wall-17.
This makes the assumption that there is no heat loss through the walls of the manifold.
6. Close the Boundary Conditions panel.

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Step 5: Steady-State Solution

The manifold model works best when you start from a good initial flow field. So, first
calculate the steady-state flow field.
1. Set the solution parameters.
Solve Controls Solution...

(a) Retain the default values for the Under-Relaxation Factors.

Note: For this problem, the default under-relaxation factors are satisfactory. If
the solution diverges or the residuals display large oscillations, you may need
to have the under-relaxation factors from their default values. See the FLUENT Users Guide for tips on how to adjust the under-relaxation parameters
for different situations.
(b) Under Discretization, choose the Standard scheme for Pressure, Second Order Upwind for Momentum, and First Order Upwind for Energy.
(c) Select SIMPLE for the Pressure-Velocity Coupling.
This results in better convergence behavior.
(d) Click OK to accept the settings.

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2. Enable the display of residuals during the solution process.

Solve Monitors Residual...

(a) Select Plot under Options and click OK.

For this calculation, the convergence tolerance of the continuity equation was kept
at 0.001. You can reduce this value if necessary, depending on the behavior of
the solution.
3. Define the monitoring parameters to enable the plotting of mass flow rate and areaweighted average static temperature at the outflow boundary.
Solve Monitors Surface...

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(a) Increase the value of Surface Monitors to 2.

The top two rows of selections will be activated.
(b) Activate the Plot, Print, and Write options for monitor-1.
Note: When the Write option is selected in the Surface Monitors panel, the mass
flow rate history will be written to a file. If you do not select the Write option,
the history information will be lost when you exit FLUENT.
(c) In the drop-down list under Every, select Iteration.
(d) Click on Define... to specify the surface monitor parameters in the Define Surface
Monitor panel.

i. Select Mass Flow Rate from the Report Type drop-down list.
ii. Select pressure-outlet-1 under the Surfaces list.

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iii. Click OK to define the monitor.

(e) In the Surface Monitors panel, activate Plot, Print, and Write options for monitor2.
(f) Define the values for the second monitor as shown in the following panel.

(g) Click OK in the Surface Monitors panel to enable the monitors.

4. Save the case file.
File Write Case...
(a) Enter manifold-ss.cas.gz under Case File and click OK.
!

Always save your case file before beginning a calculation.

Note: While specifying the name, if you give the gz extension, FLUENT automatically saves the file in compressed format.
5. Initialize the flow field at velocity-inlet-1.
Solve Initialize Initialize...
(a) Choose velocity-inlet-1 from the Compute From list and enter the values for the
velocity components as shown in the following panel.
(b) Click Init and close the panel.

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6. Request for 150 iterations.

Solve Iterate...

The solution should be sufficiently converged after about 100 iterations (Figure 2,
Figure 3 and Figure 4).
7. Check the mass flux balance.
Report Fluxes...
!

The residual history plot only indicates the solution convergence. Check the net
mass fluxes through the domain to ensure that mass is being conserved.
(a) Select velocity-inlet-1, velocity-inlet-2 and pressure-outlet-1 under Boundaries. Keep
the default Mass Flow Rate under Options and click on Compute.

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Residuals
continuity
x-velocity
y-velocity
z-velocity
energy
k
epsilon

1e+02
1e+01
1e+00
1e-01
1e-02
1e-03
1e-04
1e-05
1e-06
1e-07
0

Y
Z

20

40

60

80

100

120

Iterations

Scaled Residuals

FLUENT 6.2 (3d, segregated, ske)

Figure 2: Residual History for the Steady-State Manifold Calculation

Monitors
monitor-1
-0.0200
-0.0250
-0.0300
-0.0350

Mass
Flow
Rate
(kg/s)

-0.0400
-0.0450
-0.0500
-0.0550
-0.0600
0

Y
Z

20

40

60

80

100

120

Iteration

Convergence history of Mass Flow Rate on presure-outlet-1

FLUENT 6.2 (3d, segregated, ske)

Figure 3: Mass Flow Rate History

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Monitors
monitor-2
500.0000
480.0000
460.0000
440.0000
420.0000

Area
Weighted
Average
(k)

400.0000
380.0000
360.0000
340.0000
320.0000
300.0000
0

Y
Z

20

40

60

80

100

120

Iteration

Convergence history of Static Temperature on presure-outlet-1

FLUENT 6.2 (3d, segregated, ske)

Figure 4: Static Temperature History

The net mass imbalance should be a small fraction (say, 0.5%) of the total flux
through the system. If a significant imbalance occurs, decrease the residual tolerances by at least an order of magnitude and continue iterating.
8. Save the data file.
File Write Data...
(a) Enter manifold-ss.dat.gz under Data File and click OK.

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Step 6: Postprocessing for Steady-State Solution

1. Display filled contours of static pressure.
Display Contours...

(a) Select Pressure... and Static Pressure from the Contours of drop-down lists.
(b) Select Filled under Options.
(c) Select all surfaces except interior-80 under Surfaces.
(d) Click on Display to view the contours of static pressure (Figure 5) and close the
panel.
Use the left mouse button to manipulate the default view as shown in Figure 5.
To know the exact value of the pressure at a particular point, click with the
right mouse at that point and the values will be displayed in the FLUENT console
window.

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9.86e+02
8.94e+02
8.02e+02
7.09e+02
6.17e+02
5.25e+02
4.33e+02
3.41e+02
2.49e+02
1.57e+02
6.52e+01
-2.69e+01
-1.19e+02
-2.11e+02
-3.03e+02
-3.95e+02
-4.87e+02
-5.79e+02
-6.71e+02
-7.63e+02
-8.55e+02

Y
Z

Contours of Static Pressure (pascal)

FLUENT 6.2 (3d, segregated, ske)

Figure 5: Static Pressure for the Steady-State Manifold Solution

2. Display the pathlines.
Display Path Lines...
Pathlines are the lines traveled by neutrally buoyant particles in equilibrium with the
fluid motion. They are an excellent tool for visualization of complex 3D flows.
(a) Select Particle Variables... and Particle ID from the Color by drop-down lists.
(b) Select velocity-inlet-1 and velocity-inlet-2 under Release from Surfaces.
(c) Set Step Size to 1 mm.
(d) Click Display (Figure 6) and close the panel.

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2.79e+02
2.65e+02
2.51e+02
2.37e+02
2.23e+02
2.09e+02
1.95e+02
1.81e+02
1.67e+02
1.53e+02
1.40e+02
1.26e+02
1.12e+02
9.77e+01
8.37e+01
6.98e+01
5.58e+01
4.18e+01
2.79e+01
1.39e+01
0.00e+00

Y
Z

Path Lines Colored by Particle ID

FLUENT 6.2 (3d, segregated, ske)

Figure 6: Path Lines plot for the Steady-State Manifold Solution

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Step 7: Unsteady Solution

After the steady-state solution, you will now set up the unsteady manifold problem. The
time dependent boundary data can be defined either by a user defined function (UDF) or
by the use of a transient boundary profile. A UDF must be used if you are interested in
defining spatial variations at the boundary. Two different transient profile data formats can
be used. The tabulated format would be the simplest to read and write.
1. Create the tabulated transient profile file.
For this problem the tab data.prof file is provided for you. It can be easily understood
by viewing the contents of the file in a text editor. A boolean is included at the end of
the first line to denote whether or not the behavior at the boundary is periodic.
2. Read the transient profile file.
(a) In the FLUENT console, click <Enter> to view the text commands list.
(b) Type f or file.
(c) Type read-transient-table or rtt and click <Enter>.
FLUENT will prompt you to enter a filename.
(d) Enter the filename, tab data.prof and click <Enter>.
FLUENT will respond with a message indicating that the data is being read.
The profiles are shown in Figure 7. The velocity and temperature vary sinusoidally
and the cycles repeat every 0.08 seconds.

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Figure 7: (a) Inlet Velocity Versus Time for Inlet-1 and Inlet-2 (b) Inlet Temperature Versus
Time for Inlet-1 and Inlet-2

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3. Enable the unsteady solver.

Define Models Solver...

(a) Under Time, select Unsteady.

(b) Under Transient Controls, enable Non-Iterative Time Advancement.
The non-iterative solver increases speed and efficiency of calculations. It provides
control over the maximum number of sub-iterations for each individual equation.
For details about Non-Iterative Time Advancement Scheme (NITA), please refer
to Section 26.3.4 of FLUENT 6.2 Users Guide.
4. Enable the profiles in the velocity inlet boundary conditions.
The names of the profiles defined in tabulated data list can now be accessed in the
boundary condition panel.
Define Boundary Conditions...

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(a) Select velocity-inlet-1 under Zone in the Boundary Conditions panel and click the
Set... button.
(b) Select tab data vel1 in the Velocity Magnitude drop-down list.
The data profile name will now appear to the right of the input line, indicating
that the profile will be used to provide the value of the velocity magnitude rather
than the input value.
(c) Select tab data temp1 in the Temperature drop-down list.
(d) Repeat the above two steps for velocity-inlet-2 using the appropriate data profile
names tab data vel2 and tab data temp2.
5. Set the solution parameters.
Solve Controls Solution...

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(a) Retain the default setting of PISO for Pressure-Velocity Coupling.

(b) Set the Relaxation Factor for Pressure, Turbulence Kinetic Energy, and Turbulence
Dissipation Rate to 0.8.
6. Set up two surface monitors for the unsteady solution.
(a) Open the Surface Monitors panel.
Solve Monitors Surface...
(b) Change the number of Surface Monitors to 4.
i. Activate Plot, Print, and Write for monitor-3.
ii. Change the update mode under Every to Iteration.
iii. Click on the Define... button and define properties as shown in the panel.

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This monitor will check the mass flow rate through the pressure outlet for
each iteration. Ideally, this value should level off to a constant value prior
to the next time step.
iv. Activate Plot, Print, and Write for monitor-4.
v. Change the update mode under Every to Time Step.
vi. Click on the Define... button and define properties as shown in the panel.

vii. Click OK in the Surface Monitors panel.

This monitor checks the average static temperature at the pressure outlet for each
time step.

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7. Save case file and data files for the unsteady calculation (at specified time step intervals) using the Autosave option.
File Write Autosave...

(a) Set Autosave Data File Frequency to 10.

(b) Specify the Filename as manifold.gz.
By default, the filenames will have an integer appended to them indicating the time
step. This gives them unique names.
8. Save the case file.
File Write Case...
(a) Enter manifold-unst.cas.gz under Case File and click OK.
9. Set up the calculation parameters for the unsteady solution.
Solve Iterate...
Select a time step based on the period of unsteadiness of the inlet conditions. From
the plots presented earlier, it is observed that the period of the pulsating flow is 0.08
seconds. The time step size should be small enough to resolve the features of the unsteadiness. For this tutorial, you will use a time step size of 0.001 seconds resulting in
80 steps per period. This value is sufficiently small such that the number of iterations
required to achieve convergence per each time step is on the order of 20 to 30.
(a) Enter 0.001 sec for the Time Step Size.
(b) Enter 240 for the Number of Time Steps.
This will provide enough time steps to simulate three full cycles. Ideally, the
number of time steps should be large enough to allow the periodic nature of the
flow to be evident.

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(c) Enter 50 for Max Iterations per Time Step.

(d) Click on the Iterate button to begin the unsteady solution.
Plots of the unsteady mass flow rate and averaged static temperature at the manifold outlet for approximately six cycles are shown in Figure 8 and Figure 9.
Note: The solution will take some time to complete. Observe a sawtooth pattern
in the residual history. It is the characteristic of the subiteration scheme
used by the solver. Make sure that the solution converges before the solver
advanced to the next time step.
10. Save the data file.
File Write Data...
(a) Enter manifold-unst.dat.gz under Data File and click OK to save the data for
unsteady calculations.

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Monitors
monitor-3
0.0000
-0.0050
-0.0100
-0.0150
-0.0200
-0.0250

Mass
Flow
Rate
(kg/s)

-0.0300
-0.0350
-0.0400
-0.0450
-0.0500
-0.0550
100

Y
Z

125

150

175

200

225

250

275

300

325

350

Iteration

Convergence history of Mass Flow Rate on presure-outlet-1 (Time=2.4000e-01)

FLUENT 6.2 (3d, segregated, ske, unsteady)

Figure 8: Mass Flow Rate History

Monitors
monitor-4
700.0000

650.0000

600.0000

Area
Weighted
Average
(k)

550.0000

500.0000

450.0000

400.0000
0

Y
Z

25

50

75

100

125

150

175

200

225

250

Time Step

Convergence history of Static Temperature on presure-outlet-1 (Time=2.4000e-01)

FLUENT 6.2 (3d, segregated, ske, unsteady)

Figure 9: Average Static Temperature History

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11. Perform postprocessing for the unsteady solution.

(a) Display filled contours of static pressure.
Display Contours...

i. Select Pressure... and Static Pressure from the Contours of drop-down lists.
ii. Select Filled under Options.
iii. Select all surfaces except interior-80 under Surfaces.
iv. Click on Display to view the contours of static pressure (Figure 10) and close
the panel.
Use the left mouse button to manipulate the default view as shown in Figure 10. To know the exact value of the pressure at a particular point, click
with the right mouse at that point and the values will be displayed in the
FLUENT console window.

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1.29e+03
1.19e+03
1.08e+03
9.79e+02
8.75e+02
7.71e+02
6.67e+02
5.64e+02
4.60e+02
3.56e+02
2.53e+02
1.49e+02
4.53e+01
-5.84e+01
-1.62e+02
-2.66e+02
-3.70e+02
-4.73e+02
-5.77e+02
-6.81e+02
-7.84e+02

Y
Z

Contours of Static Pressure (pascal) (Time=2.4000e-01)

FLUENT 6.2 (3d, segregated, ske, unsteady)

Figure 10: Static Pressure for the Unsteady-State Manifold Solution

(b) Display the pathlines.
Pathlines are the lines traveled by neutrally buoyant particles in equilibrium with
the fluid motion. They are an excellent tool for visualization of complex 3D
flows.
Display Path Lines...
i. Select Particle Variables... and Particle ID from the Color by drop-down lists.
ii. Select velocity-inlet-1 and velocity-inlet-2 under Release From Surfaces.
iii. Set Step Size to 1 mm.
iv. Click Display (Figure 11) and close the panel.
Postprocessing can be performed for all the time steps in which the data set was saved
(as well as for the current data set). In addition, other postprocessing commands can
be issued at regular intervals using Execute Commands panel.
Solve Execute Commands...

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2.79e+02
2.65e+02
2.51e+02
2.37e+02
2.23e+02
2.09e+02
1.95e+02
1.81e+02
1.67e+02
1.53e+02
1.40e+02
1.26e+02
1.12e+02
9.77e+01
8.37e+01
6.98e+01
5.58e+01
4.18e+01
2.79e+01
1.39e+01
0.00e+00

Y
Z

Path Lines Colored by Particle ID (Time=2.4000e-01)

FLUENT 6.2 (3d, segregated, ske, unsteady)

Figure 11: Path Lines plot for the Unsteady-State Manifold Solution

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