Chapter 7: Butterfly Valve

This tutorial demonstrates how to perform a coupled fluid-structure analysis of a butterfly valve in a
pipe using ANSYS AIM. The simulation demonstrates the ease of setting up and solving a coupled,
multiphysics analysis.

In this tutorial you will learn how to

• Launch ANSYS AIM.

• Import the geometry.

• Create a computational mesh.

• Set up the simulation which includes setting the material properties and boundary conditions.

• Calculate a solution.

• Examine the results.

7.1. Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes that you have limited experience with ANSYS AIM so each step will be explicitly
described.

7.2. Problem Description

The goals are to demonstrate the ability of ANSYS AIM to import a CAD model, perform a fluid-structure
analysis, and evaluate design changes using the Workbench Parameter Manager.

You will import a CAD model of a butterfly valve in a pipe with a reed flow sensor, (see Figure 7.1: Problem
Schematic (p. 2)). The geometry for the butterfly valve, pipe, elbow and reed sensor were prepared
for simulation using ANSYS SpaceClaim. To simplify the steps required for the tutorial, the full geometry
was simplified. The fluid volume was extracted from the solid geometry, and the components not required
for the simulation were suppressed in SpaceClaim.

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Butterfly Valve

Figure 7.1: Problem Schematic

In this tutorial you will then mesh the geometry, define materials, and solve a fluid-structure analysis.
You will then use the Parameter Manager to evaluate how changing the angle of the valve will affect
the flow and displacement.

7.3. Setup And Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
7.3.1. Preparation
7.3.2. Starting AIM
7.3.3. Geometry
7.3.4. Mesh
7.3.5. Flow
7.3.6. Results

7.3.1. Preparation
1. Create a working folder on your computer.

2. Copy the file ValveDemo.scdoc to the working folder.

7.3.2. Starting AIM

In this step you will start ANSYS AIM and set up a simulation process.

• From the Windows Start menu, select Start > All Programs > ANSYS 16.0 > ANSYS AIM 16.0 to start a
new ANSYS AIM session.

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 Setup And Solution

The ANSYS AIM application window will appear. The various Simulation Process Templates are
displayed in the Study panel at the left. The Help window is displayed on the right-hand side. It
contains links to instructional videos and the Help menu. The Workflow tab is displayed at the
bottom.

7.3.3. Geometry
1. In the Study panel click on Fluid-Structure Interaction under Simulation Process Templates.

a. In the Fluid-Structure Interaction Template panel retain the selection of select Represents the
structure and the flow volume.

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Butterfly Valve

b. Under Options deselect Detect contact automatically (since you will be configuring the geometry
and will only be using a single part for the structural simulation) and select Allow configuration.

c. Click Create Simulation Process.

d. Select the file ValveDemo.scdoc from your working folder and click Open.

The geometry is loaded and you can see what is happening in the lower right corner in the
progress bar. In the Simulation Process panel Geometry and Configuration are marked as
up to date.

You can see that you have two simulation processes in the workflow, each represented by a
row of tasks, one for the fluid flow and one for the structural analysis. You can see an arrow
after Flow going to Structural. This indicates the sharing of fluid results information with the
structural analysis.

2. There is a reed on the pipe (as shown in Figure 7.2: Reed (p. 5)) which is not required for the flow simu-
lation. So you will be suppressing this.

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 Setup And Solution

Figure 7.2: Reed

a. Click on the upper Configuration task in the Workflow tab.

b. Enable Body selection ( ) and select the reed as shown in Figure 7.2: Reed (p. 5).

c. Right click and select Add > Configure Controls > Suppress Control.

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d. Right click and select Configure from the context menu.

This will update the Configuration task and the reed will now be suppressed and not visible.

3. For the structural simulation you will not be requiring the pipe. So for structural analysis you will suppress
the pipe.

a. Click on the lower Configuration task in the Workflow tab.

b. Enable Body selection ( ) and select the pipe.

c. Right click and select Add > Configure Controls > Suppress Control.

d. Right click and select Configure from the context menu.

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 Setup And Solution

This will update the Configuration task and the pipe will now be suppressed and only the
reed is visible.

4. Save the project Butterfly_valve.

Home( ) > File > Save

7.3.4. Mesh
1. Click on the upper Mesh task in the Workflow tab. You will now set up the fluid flow simulation.

2. The Mesh panel indicates the Attention required status.

3. Right click on the graphics window and select Fix > Inflation from the context menu.

a. Select all visible faces by pressing the Shift key and dragging a box over the geometry.

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b. Press Ctrl and click on the circular faces at the pipe ends to deselect them.

Note

Specifying an inflation mesh control will allow you to create layers of prism elements
adjacent to the fluid wall, which are useful for accurately capturing the boundary
layer region for your flow simulation. You do not need to inflate the mesh where
the fluid enters and exits the flow domain.

c. Add the selected faces to Location by clicking on the blue + button next to it

4. Return to the Mesh panel.

5. Retain Fluid flow from the Engineering intent drop-down list.

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 Setup And Solution

6. Move the slider bar for Mesh resolution towards Low one point.

Note

You can easily adjust the trade-off between speed and accuracy by simply dragging the
slider. The defaults are tuned to give good accuracy for most simulations, but in the
interest of time, you will reduce it for the purposes of this tutorial.

7. Generate the mesh by clicking on the Generate Mesh button (with a lightning bolt) in the panel (top and
next to Output), or Workflow tab or you can right-click and select Generate Mesh from the context
menu.

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7.3.5. Flow
Click on the Flow cell in the Workflow tab. You will now provide inputs for the flow simulation.

1. Click on Material Assignments in the Flow panel.

• Select Water (Material Samples) from the Material drop-down list in the Air Assignment panel.

Note

Air was selected as a default material. You will change it to water.

2. Return to Flow panel and click Add next to Boundary Conditions and select Inlet from the drop down
list.

Figure 7.3: Inlet Boundary Condition

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 Setup And Solution

a. Enable Face Selection ( ) and select the face at the short end of the pipe for inlet as shown in
Figure 7.3: Inlet Boundary Condition (p. 10) and add to Location.

b. Select Pressure from the Flow specification drop-down list.

c. Enter 5000 Pa for Gauge total pressure.

Note

The Inlet panel now shows Up-to-date status.

d. Retain the default settings for others.

3. Enable Face Selection ( ) and select the other face of the pipe (at the long end) as shown in Fig-
ure 7.4: Outlet Boundary Conditions (p. 11), RMB and select Add > Boundary Conditions > Outlet from
the context menu.

Figure 7.4: Outlet Boundary Conditions

a. Retain the selection of Pressure for Flow specification.

b. Enter 0 Pa for Gauge static pressure.

Note

The Outlet panel now shows Up-to-date status.

4. Right click in the graphics window and select Add > Boundary Conditions > Wall from the context menu.

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Butterfly Valve

a. The remaining faces of the pipe are automatically selected for Location.

b. Retain No slip for Option and Stationary for Wall velocity under Flow Specification.

5. Return to Flow panel. Retain the other default options.

6. The Flow task is now ready to be updated. You can update it by either clicking blue lightning bolt next
to the Out-of-date message near the top of the Flow panel, the blue lightning bolt next to the Output
tab near the bottom of the Flow panel, by selecting Update under the Workflow tab, or by RMB within
the graphics window and selecting Solve Physics from the context menu.

You can check the Solution Quality tab which shows the iteration plot.

7.3.6. Results
Click on the upper Results task in the Workflow tab.

1. In the Results panel click Add next to Results and select Streamline from the drop-down list.

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 Setup And Solution

a. Select Inlet 1 from the Seed location drop-down list.

b. Click Update in the Streamline panel.

2. Now you will animate the streamlines.

a. Click Show faces icon .

b. Click the Enable translucency icon .

c. Right click in the graphics window and click Animate in the context menu.

Note

You can see the streamlines going from the inlet towards the outlet. You can also
rotate the model while the animation is progressing and observe.

d. Stop the animation when you have finished observing.

3. Return to Results panel. Click Add next to Results and select Calculated Value from the list.

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a. Select Inlet 1 from the Location drop-down list.

b. Select Sum from the Function drop-down list.

c. Select Simple from the Weight type drop-down list.

d. Select MassFlow from the Varaible drop-down list.

e. Click Update in the Calculated Value panel.

f. The Value evaluated is around 82.59 kg s^-1.

4. Now for structural analysis you will create a support for the reed base. Click on the Structural cell in the
Workflow tab.

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 Setup And Solution

Figure 7.5: Reed Support

a. Enable Face Selection ( ) and select the circular face of the reed as shown in Figure 7.5: Reed
Support (p. 15).

b. Right click and select Add > Boundary Conditions > Support from the context menu.

c. Retain the default settings.

Note

You have now added a fixed support to the end of the reed which is attached to
the pipe.

5. Right click and select Fix > Physics Coupling from the context menu.

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Butterfly Valve

Note

AIM automatically detects all possible fluid wall boundary conditions where a fluid force
could be supplied to the structural simulation. You will need to define the surfaces on
the structural model where you would like to apply the fluid forces to the structure.

• Select all visible faces by pressing the Shift key and dragging a box over the geometry. Deselect the
support face as shown in Figure 7.5: Reed Support (p. 15) and all the rest of the faces to the Location
under Target, by clicking on the blue + sign.

6. Return to the Structural panel and click on Material Assignments.

a. In the Structural Steel Assignments panel that opens up type Polyethylene under Material
and then select Polyethylene (Material Samples) from the list.

b. Retain the selection of Structural Physics Regions 2 for Location.

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 Setup And Solution

7. Now you can solve the structural analysis. Right click on the lower Results cell in the Workflow tab and
select Update from the context menu.

Note

AIM updates everything upstream till Results as needed. AIM automatically generates
the mesh, then solves for the stresses, then updates the results.

8. Click on the updated lower Results cell in the Workflow tab to open the Results panel. You can see that
two results, Displacement Magnitude and Equivalent Stress contours are generated.

a. Click on Displacement Magnitude.

You can see the contours of displacement. In the panel the minimum, maximum, as well as
the average displacement values are listed.

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b. Right click in the graphics area and click Animate from the context menu. You can click the square
stop button at the bottom of the window to stop animation.

c. Similarly you can check the Equivalent Stress.

9. Return to Geometry panel by clicking on the Geometry cell in the Workflow tab.

a. Click on Sources under Objects in the Geometry panel.

b. In the Geometry Import Source panel click on the triangular button next to the DSAngle text box
under Dimensions.

Note

This is the angle of the butterfly valve.

c. Click the Parametrize button. This will make the angle of the butterfly valve an input parameter.
You can vary it to study the effect of changing the valve angle on the flow.

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 Setup And Solution

10. Click on the upper Results cell in the Workflow tab.

• In the Results panel click on the triangular button next to Value at the bottom of the panel and then
click on the Parametrize button.

11. Similarly parameterize maximum reed displacement by clicking on the lower Results cell in the Workflow
tab.

12. Periodically save the project.

Home( ) > File > Save

13. Now return to the Workbench Project Schematic by clicking on the Project tab. You can see that the
Parameter Set is now in a closed loop. Double click on the Parameter Set to access Parameter Manager.

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Butterfly Valve

a. In the Outline of Parameters panel, you can now see one Input Parameter (DSAngle) and two
Output Parameters (Calculated Value and Displacement Magnitude Calculated maximum), are
defined.

b. In the Table of Design Points you can see all these in a row. In column B add 30, 60, -30, and -60
for DP 1DP 2, DP 3, and DP 4 respectively.

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 Setup And Solution

c. In column E, enable Retain.

Note

This will save the results for all design points.

d. Click on Update All Design Points.

Note

You can calculate the results for all valve angles by simply clicking this one button.

After all the design points are updated you will have the mass flow rate and maximum dis-
placement values for each valve angle.

14. Return to the ANSYS AIM interface by clicking on the Study tab.

• You can select the design point from the drop-down selection at the top right corner of the window.

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You can then check the result values and contours for the design point of interest.

7.4. Summary
With ANSYS AIM interface you can perform a static structural analysis. You learned how to:

1. Set-up a fluid-structural analysis in AIM using a template,

2. Import CAD geometry with parameters,

3. Create a mesh,

4. Assign materials from existing libraries,

5. Apply boundary conditions,

6. Solve the analysis,

7. Post-process results, and

8. Assess design changes using design points in the Workbench Parameter Manager.

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