Lecture 3

Single Rotating Frame Modeling (SRF):

Part 1 14.5 Release

Advanced Rotating Machinery

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. June 18, 2013 1 Release 14.5

 Outline
• Introduction to SRF
• SRF Modeling
– Solvers
– Physical Models
– Material Properties
• Summary of Part 1
• Appendix

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 Introduction
• Many problems which involve rotating components
can be modeled using a Single (moving) Reference
Frame (SRF)
• Why use a single moving reference frame?
– Flow field which is unsteady with respect to the stationary
frame becomes steady with respect to the moving frame
• Easy to set up and solve!
• We will discuss issues related to SRF setup and
modeling in this lecture, but most concepts will also
apply to other modeling approaches

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 Common Features of SRF Models
• Moving reference frame is associated with a single fluid
domain
– In FLUENT, you may divide this domain up into several connected
fluid zones, but each fluid zone must have the same frame speed
and axis specifications
• Domain moves with user-prescribed frame speed w.r.t.
frame origin and axis of rotation
– Typical steady-state simplification Constant rotational speed, no
translation
• Fluent permits specification of time-dependent rotational
and translational frame speeds through profile files and
UDFs
– The problem becomes unsteady by definition, and thus you must
enable the transient solution mode in FLUENT

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. June 18, 2013 4 Release 14.5

 Moving Reference Frame Illustration

Y
axis of y
rotation
CFD domain

r
r
r R
frame origin ro r translation
Vt
z moving x
frame

stationary r
ω
rotation
frame
Z X

Note: R is perpendicular
to axis of rotation

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 Geometry for SRF Models
• Domain boundaries typically consist of
– Inlets and outlets
– Walls
– Periodic boundaries (rotational)
• Periodic boundaries assume spatial periodicity of the flow field
• Periodic angle should be evenly divisible into 360 deg.
• Important rules for boundary shapes:
1. Boundaries which move with the fluid domain may assume any
shape.
2. Boundaries which are stationary (with respect to the laboratory or
fixed frame) must be surfaces of revolution
• Surface of revolution is about the moving reference frame axis of
rotation.
• This rule applies to both walls and flow boundaries (inlets, outlets)

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 Illustration of a Typical SRF Model
shroud/casing
surface

inlet outlet
y

rotating
reference x
axis of rotation
frame

hub surface

blade surface
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 Stationary Walls in SRF Models (Mixing
Tank)

baffle
stationary wall

rotor

Correct Wrong!
Wall with baffles not a surface
of revolution!
© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. June 18, 2013 8 Release 14.5
 SRF Problem Setup

We will focus on aspects of model setup directly related

to SRF problems in FLUENT
Topics
• SRF Geometry Definition (2-D, 3-D)
• Solver Choices
• Physical Models
• Material Properties
• Cell Zone and Boundary Conditions
• Solver Settings Covered in Part 2
• Initialization

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 SRF Geometries: 2-D
• 2-D planar
– Geometries rotate about axis normal to x-y plane with specified
origin (periodic boundaries are permitted)
• 2-D axisymmetric, axisymmetric with swirl
– Geometries rotate about the x-axis
y

Planar Axisymmetric

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 SRF Geometries: 3-D
• Need to define both
rotational axis origin and
direction for the fluid
domain
• Rotationally periodic
boundaries applicable if
geometry and flow are
periodic
– Permits smaller origin
computational domain

rotational axis

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 2-D, 3-D Axisymmetric Geometries
Moving walls

• You do NOT need to use SRF

for 2-D and 3-D axisymmetric
geometries!

• Define fluid zones in the stationary

frame and prescribe tangential wall
motion for all moving walls
Stationary fluid zone
• Moving wall velocity is a valid BC in
a stationary zone provided that the
wall motion is purely tangential
w.r.t. the cell zone
– No BC velocity normal to the wall is
permitted!

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 SRF – General Settings
Solver Type
• Pressure-Based Solver
– Recommended for incompressible, low speed
compressible flows
– Examples: Fans, blowers, pumps
• Density-Based Solver
– Recommended for high speed compressible
flows (transonic, supersonic)
– Examples: high pressure axial compressors,
turbines, turbochargers
• Solver choice may be dictated by
physical models
– Examples: combustion and multiphase
models require pressure-based solver

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 SRF - Velocity Formulation
Use AVF when inflow comes from a
stationary domain
– Absolute total pressure, total temperature, or
absolute velocities are known
Use RVF with closed domains (all surfaces
are moving) or if inflow comes from a
rotating domain
– Relative total pressure, relative total temperature
or relative velocities are known in this case

• As noted previously, RVF and AVF are equivalent,

and therefore either can be used successfully for
many problems
• Differences between solutions should disappear
with suitable mesh refinement

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 Physical Models and Materials
• The Moving Reference Frame
model is compatible with most
physical models in FLUENT,
including…
– Turbulence models (RANS,
LES/DES/SAS)
– Heat transfer (conduction, convection)
– Multiphase flows
• DPM
• Mixture and Eulerian multiphase
(including cavitation)
– Material properties
• Ideal and real gas models
• Temperature dependent properties

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 Turbulence Models
• Wide range of turbulence models
from RANS LES
– All are compatible with moving reference
frames

• LES is best suited for highly

unsteady flows where high
resolution is important
– Acoustics
– Combustion
• RANS models provide good
accuracy for most steady-state and
some unsteady flows
– Work best with structured meshes which
resolve the boundary layers on wall surfaces

• Recommended RANS models

– Spalart-Allmaras
– Realizible k-εε
ω
– SST k-ω

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 Turbulence – Transition Models
• Turbulence transition models
– Can potentially provide improved
predictions over standard RANS
turbulence models, which assume
fully-developed turbulent flow
• Available models Airfoil at 13.3o angle of attack
– ω transition model
SST k-ω
– ω transition model
Walters k-kl-ω Experimental
transition
– User access to model constants location x/c=0.12

– UDF access to SST transition

correlations

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 Heat Transfer
• Energy model is activated
– This occurs automatically when compressibility is enabled in Materials panel
• Thermal BCs (temperature, heat flux) can be activated for all surfaces
in SRF zones
– Note: BCs for stationary walls in an SRF model must be
circumferentially uniform
• Convection is predicted based on the heat fluxes, temperature
distributions relative to the rotating frame
• Conduction and radiation modeling can also be carried out with SRF
modeling
– Multi-mode and conjugate heat transfer

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 Heat Transfer and Moving Solid Zones
• For heat conduction in solids which
are contained in or adjacent to a
moving reference frame, you
should NOT activate the Moving
Reference Frame option!
– Reason – MRF option activates
convection terms in the solid, which
aren’t relevant to SRF modeling
– Example: Frame Motion remains off
• Rotating turbine blade with
internal cooling
• Jet engine disc cavity with
conjugate heat transfer modeling
of the structure

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 The Moving Solids Model
• Moving solids model adds a solid “convection” term to account
for heat conduction for planar and axisymmetric solid shapes
‒ Treats solid motion in an Eulerian frame work
• Solid moves “through” stationary mesh
• Example: Heated spinning disk
– Enable “Frame Motion” option here…
∂
( )
r
(ρCT ) + ∇ ⋅ ρVsCT = ∇ ⋅ (k∇T ) + S
∂t
r Solid motion “convection” term
Vs = solid velocity

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. June 18, 2013 20 Release 14.5

 DPM and Pathline Modeling
• You can use DPM and pathline
models for SRF problems
• Particle paths are computed in the
relative frame
• If you want to see particle paths in
the absolute frame, you can select
this option in the Pathlines GUI
• Note that particles moving in
absolute frame may hit wall
surfaces, since the rotation of the
frame is not accounted for

Relative particle pathlines

Particle injection at fan blade tips

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 Relative Pathline Option

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 Multiphase and Multispecies Models
• Full suite of mulitphase and
multispecies models can be
used with SRF (and MRF,
Sliding Mesh) modeling in
FLUENT
– Passive species, reacting flows
– Mixture model (including cavitation
submodels)
– Eulerian model (including granular)
– VOF model
– DPM, DDPM models

• Example applications
– Reacting gas flows in high pressure
turbines
– Chemical mixing tanks
– Cavitating pumps
– Particle erosion
Cavitating Centrifugal Pump

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 Real Gas Models
• Real Gas Model permits non-
ideal gas equation of state for
density
– Available options
• Three Redlich-Kwong equations
of state
– Standard, Soave, Aungier
• Peng-Webb-Robinson equation
of state
• NIST Library (REFPROP)
• User-Defined Function
– User can implement custom real gas
property library
– Example UDFs provided in the Fluent
12 User’s Guide
– Example applications –
refrigerant compressors,
cryogenic pumps.

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. June 18, 2013 24 Release 14.5

 Summary (Part 1)

• SRF modeling is the simplest modeling approach for rotating

machinery
• Applications typically involve a single passage of a rotating
machine (e.g. single compressor blade row)
• FLUENT provides two formulations of the Navier-Stokes
equations for rotating reference frames
– Absolute Velocity Formulation
– Relative Velocity Formulation
• Fluent also has wide range of physical models which are
compatible with SRF modeling
• Boundary conditions and solver settings will be discussed in
Part 2

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. June 18, 2013 25 Release 14.5