List of Figures

Figure 1-1 Surface impingement of a single round impinging jet (1).............................................. 10

Figure 2-2-1 Heat loss curve ........................................................................................................... 14
Figure 2-2 Constructional details of the synthetic jet assembly ...................................................... 15
Figure 2-3 Velocity-time trace of synthetic jet during experiment .................................................. 16
Figure 2-4 Velocity-time trace of synthetic jet plot in ansys ........................................................... 16
Figure 2-5 a)heat transfer experimental setup b) 2d geometry in ansys .......................................... 17
Figure 2-6 3d view of the same geometry ....................................................................................... 17
Figure 3-1 Three approaches to solve the problem ......................................................................... 18
Figure 3-2 CFD overview ............................................................................................................... 19
Figure 3-3 Finite Volume method ................................................................................................... 20
Figure 3-4 Finite Volume method ................................................................................................... 21
Figure 3-5 Uniform rectangular mesh ............................................................................................. 24
Figure 3-6 Non-uniform rectangular mesh ...................................................................................... 25
Figure 3-7 Staircase like stepped mesh ........................................................................................... 26
Figure 3-8 Body fitted mesh ........................................................................................................... 26
Figure 3-9 Unstructured mesh......................................................................................................... 27
Figure 3-10 Pressure based algorithms ........................................................................................... 30
Figure 3-11 Iterative process followed ............................................................................................ 31
Figure 3-12 Boundary conditions for an internal flow problem ...................................................... 34
Figure 3-13 Ansys workbench UI ................................................................................................... 39
Figure 3-14 Selecting the Fluid Flow (Fluent) Analysis System in ANSYS Workbench................ 40
Figure 3-15 ANSYS Workbench with a New Fluent-Based Analysis System ................................ 41
Figure 3-16 Units ............................................................................................................................ 42
Figure 3-17 Selecting the plane for sketching ................................................................................. 43
Figure 3-18 Dimensions.................................................................................................................. 43
Figure 3-19 Sketch .......................................................................................................................... 44
Figure 3-20 ‘Surfaces to sketches’ command ................................................................................. 44
Figure 3-21 Surface ........................................................................................................................ 45

5
Figure 3-22 Project workflow ......................................................................................................... 45
Figure 3-23 Meshing user interface ................................................................................................ 46
Figure 3-24 Details of ‘Mesh’ ......................................................................................................... 46
Figure 3-25 Details of ‘Automatic Method’.................................................................................... 47
Figure 3-26 Meshing....................................................................................................................... 47
Figure 3-27 Files ............................................................................................................................. 48
Figure 3-28 Project workflow ......................................................................................................... 48
Figure 3-29 Fluent launcher ............................................................................................................ 50
Figure 3-30 Ansys Fluent user interface ......................................................................................... 50
Figure 3-31 Defining UDF.............................................................................................................. 51
Figure 3-32 Compiling an UDF ...................................................................................................... 51
Figure 3-33 General settings ........................................................................................................... 52
Figure 3-34 Enabling the Energy equation...................................................................................... 52
Figure 3-35 Viscous model ............................................................................................................. 53
Figure 3-36 Materials...................................................................................................................... 53
Figure 3-37 Materials in Fluent database ........................................................................................ 54
Figure 3-38 Cell zone condition...................................................................................................... 54
Figure 3-39 ‘Boundary conditions’ console .................................................................................... 55
Figure 3-40 Velocity inlet ............................................................................................................... 55
Figure 3-41 Physical conditions at heated block ............................................................................. 56
Figure 3-42 ‘Solution Methods’ consol .......................................................................................... 57
Figure 3-43 Report definitions. ....................................................................................................... 60
Figure 3-44 ‘Surface report definition’ console .............................................................................. 58
Figure 3-45 Residual Monitors dialog box...................................................................................... 59
Figure 3-46 Initializing the solution ................................................................................................ 60
Figure 3-47 Autosaving the calculation data ................................................................................... 60
Figure 3-48 Defining an animation ................................................................................................. 61
Figure 3-49 Defining the animation ................................................................................................ 61
Figure 3-50 Velocity contour .......................................................................................................... 62
Figure 3-51 Setting up the calculation parameters .......................................................................... 62

6
Figure 3-52 Residuals’ plot ............................................................................................................. 63
Figure 3-53 Velocity contour .......................................................................................................... 63
Figure 3-54 Velocity variation plot ................................................................................................. 64
Figure 3-.3-55 Velocity variation plot............................................................................................. 64
Figure 3-56 average heat transfer coefficient vs time ..................................................................... 64
Figure 3-57 average Nusselt number vs time .................................................................................. 65
Figure 3-58 58 Problem schematic ................................................................................................. 65
Figure 3-59 Duplicating the system ................................................................................................ 66
Figure 3-60 Duplicate and original Fluent Fluid flow system ......................................................... 67
Figure 4-1 Surface Nusselt number (continuous jet) ....................................................................... 68
Figure 4-2 Surface Nusselt number (synthetic jet) .......................................................................... 69
Figure 4-3 Wall Temperature (continuous jet) ................................................................................ 69
Figure 4-4 Wall Temperature (synthetic jet) ................................................................................... 70
Figure 4-5 Variation of temperature at 8 mm nozzle diameter with Z/D ........................................ 71
Figure 4-6 Variation of heat transfer coefficient at 8 mm diameter with Z/D ................................. 72
Figure 4-7 Variation of average Nusselt number at 8 mm diameter with Z/D ................................ 72
Figure 4-8 Variation of heat transfer coefficient at 10 mm diameter with Z/D ............................... 74
Figure 4-9 Variation of average Nusselt number at 10 mm diameter with Z/D............................... 74
Figure 4-10 Variation of heat transfer coefficient at 12 mm diameter with Z/D ............................. 76
Figure 4-11 Variation of average Nusselt number at 12 mm diameter with Z/D............................. 76
Figure 4-12 Variation of temperature at 14 mm nozzle diameter with Z/D..................................... 77
Figure 4-13 Variation of heat transfer coefficient at 14 mm diameter with Z/D ............................. 78
Figure 4-14 Variation of average Nusselt number at 14 mm diameter with Z/D............................. 79
Figure 4-15 Variation average heat transfer coefficient at different diameter with Z ...................... 80
Figure 4-16 Variation average Nusselt number at different diameter with Z .................................. 80
Figure 4-17 Variation of temperature with angle (keeping Z/D constant) ....................................... 81
Figure 4-18 Variation of heat transfer coefficient with angle (keeping Z/D constant) .................... 82
Figure 4-19 Variation of Nusselt number with angle (keeping Z/D constant) ................................. 82
Figure 5-1 Schematic of location of jet for optimal jet inclination angle (Ѳ) (6) ............................ 83

7
List of tables

Table 4-4-1 Results of nozzle diameter of 8mm ............................................................................ 71

Table 4-4-2 Results for nozzle diameter of 10mm ......................................................................... 73
Table 4-3 Results of 12 mm diameter ............................................................................................. 75
Table 4-4 Results of 14 mm diameter ............................................................................................. 77

8
 Chapter 1
Introduction

Electronic cooling equipment plays a vital role in many areas of technology. The size of the
components has been reduced over the years. This has resulted in high density of components
in smaller volumes. As these devices consume electric power, this power needs to be
dissipated or otherwise it will result in accumulation of heat and the rise in temperature of
the device to dangerous levels. That is why the thermal management of the electronic
components plays an important role. Common methods of cooling are the use of active heat
sinks and the passive heat sinks. The major passive cooling solutions are obtained through
conduction (heat spreaders, thermal interface materials), natural convection (heat sinks,
liquid immersion), radiation (coating, surface treatments) or phase change (heat pipes, phase
change materials). However, the high-power systems require active techniques, which
require input power but have larger heat removal capacity. The major active techniques are
forced convection (fans, active heat sinks), pumped loops (heat exchanger, liquid cold plates,
micro-channels, jet spray), thermoelectric cooling (TEC) and refrigeration. In active cooling,
one type of device raises up the cooling flow and, thus, enhances heat transfer. Piezoelectric
fans and synthetic jets are common examples of active heat cooling.

1.1 Motivation

Passive cooling techniques have low cooling performance requiring a large device size. In
that case, jet impingement cooling is also an attractive and promising cooling mechanism
due to the capability of achieving higher heat transfer rates. Synthetic jet impingement is
another innovative method for active cooling. In a simple structure and with a low power
requirement, the synthetic jet can produce unsteady, turbulent impinging flow. We will see
about in the following sections.

9
1.2 Objectives

● To study the heat transfer in electronic cooling devices using impinging continuous and
synthetic jet.
● Numerical analysis of heat transfer coefficient, Nusselt number and wall temperature for
geometry with different dimensions.
● To find optimum geometry dimensions for effective cooling.
● To find scope of modification in geometry.

1.3 Impinging Jet Technique

Jet impingement cooling is a mechanism of heat transfer by means of collision of fluid

molecules on to a surface. The impinging jet is defined as a high-velocity jet of cooling fluid
forced through a hole or slot which impinges on the surface to be cooled, which results in
high heat transfer between the wall and the fluid. There are three distinctive flow areas in an
impinging jet configuration – The free jet region, the stagnation region, and the wall jet
region.(1)

Figure 1-1 Surface impingement of a single round impinging jet (1)

10
The free jet region is the region over which the conditions are unaffected by the impingement
surface. The entrainment of mass momentum and energy occur due to the shear driven
interaction in the total mass low rate. Further in the free region, we see a region called as the
potential core. It is the region where the uniform velocity is obtained. At the point where the
jet strikes the face is called the stagnation region, where the flow is influenced by the target
surface. Upon impingement, the jet flows radially outwards and thus forms a wall jet along
the target surface. The wall jet flows in the direction parallel to the plate. Initially the flow
accelerates, then it decelerates. The deceleration happens, because in this region too, the flow
continues to entrain zero momentum fluid from the ambient surroundings.

Single jet impingement is effective where localised cooling is required. Multiple jets are used
in applications with large surface areas. The same regions are observed in the case of multi-
jet impingement. Additionally, secondary stagnation regions are observed where the wall
jets of neighbouring nozzles impinge upon each other. In most applications, arrays of jets
are used in a range of configurations and shapes with the objective of optimizing the heat
transfer rates. Convective heat transfer to impinging jets is known to yield high local and
area average heat transfer coefficients. A jet impingement device can produce a flow field
that can achieve relatively high local heat transfer rates over a surface to be cool or heated.
Jets have wide applications in industry because of some attractive features like simplicity of
equipment, flexibility of control of mass flow rate and attainment of high heat transfer rates.
In many applications a turbulent jet of liquid or gas is directed on to the target area of interest.
Thus, impinging jets are often used where high rates of heat transfer are recommended. There
have been a number of ideas of complimenting jet impingement with other techniques such
as cross-flow fin cooling, ribs and turbulators. Attempts have been made to optimize each
method in order to obtain effective heat transfer with low pressure losses, in order to augment
the heat transfer, the boundary layer has to be thinned or partially broken and restarted.(2)

1.4 Synthetic Jet

Synthetic jet is an innovative and simple method for active cooling. It produces unsteady and
turbulent impinging flow with low power requirement. (3) is one of the first researchers to
11
systematically study the fluidic characteristics of synthetic jets. Synthetic jets work on the
simple principle that human lungs are used for respiration. Lungs contract and expand when
the air is sucked through the nose and out through the mouth. This same principle is used to
design synthetic jets.

Figure 1-2 Synthetic Jet(4)

They are produced by periodic ejection and suction of fluid from an orifice induced by
movement of a diaphragm inside a cavity among other ways. Synthetic jet is composed of
surrounding fluid. The fluid cyclically moves over the boundary resulting in zero net mass
flux. As it does not require external fluid, it is light and compact in construction. A synthetic
jet generally consists of a cavity with a driver attached on one side and an orifice on the
opposite side. When the driver moves forward and backward, the jet is formed with an
unsteady flow through the orifice. The flow will move downstream to a surface forming an
impinging flow. When the jet is in the ejection cycle, the diaphragm will expel flow out from
the orifice and form a vortex near the orifice. If the propulsion is large enough, the vortex
will move downstream before the jet orifice flow reverses and starts to suck in flow. The
vortices that found are used to enhance mixing and turbulence according to (4)

12
 Chapter 2
Literature Review

In this chapter we have done the literature review.

In(5), we can see a review of the thermal enhancements using synthetic jets along with the
parameters that influence its flow-field and cooling performance. The paper provides an insight on
the effect of parameters like the optimum distance between the nozzle and the heated plate,
excitation frequency, number of jets and geometrical parameters on the heat transfer characteristics
of the jet. The paper also shows a brief discussion on the inclined synthetic jets. Finally, the paper
discusses the gaps and challenges regarding the synthetic jets for thermal enhancement.

In (6), also, the heat transfer characteristics for synthetic impinging jets are studied. The paper
studies the behaviour of the average heat transfer coefficient of the impinged heat surface with the
variation in the axial distance between the jet and the heat source. Also, it has been observed that
the maximum heat transfer coefficient with the synthetic jet is found to be up to 11 times more that
the heat transfer coefficient for natural convection. Additionally, a direct comparison is made with
the continuous jet. The results of the studies have found to be comparable under similar sets of
conditions.

In(6), it is shown that over a wide range of operating conditions of the synthetic jet are governed
by the Strouhal number.

In (4), Utturkar et al.studied the effect of jet location and orientation on the cooling performance
of synthetic jets by using time-dependent numerical simulations and compared the same with
experimental results. The power measurements in this study indicated a high coefficient of
performance, approximately 10 for a synthetic jet, which highlights its high cooling efficiency.

In(7), they have compared the experimental analysis of heat transfer coefficient with normal
impinging synthetic jet issuing from a circular orifice over a heated copper block with that of
inclined synthetic jet in order to study the effect of jet inclination angle. They also compared the
effect of z/d ratio over Nusselt number, heat transfer coefficient experimentally.

13
Experimentation details in (7):

The heater is supported by a bakelite plate to provide proper surface contact between the heater
and copper block. The power supplied to the heater is controlled by a rheostat and a step-down
transformer. The voltage and current are measured for calculation of input power. The copper
block is insulated by glass-wool below the bakelite plate and sides of the heater in order to
minimize heat loss from side and bottom surfaces. Constant voltage and current are supplied to the
heater. The copper plate surface temperature is measured using pre-calibrated K-type
thermocouples. A separate thermocouple is used away from the heated surface for measurement
of the ambient air temperature.
The heat loss (Qloss) is calculated by insulating the top surface of the copper block; different power
input to the heater is supplied and the resulting temperature of the copper block is measured. The
heat loss curve obtained from the experimental data is shown in Fig.

Figure 2-2-1 Heat loss curve

Considering that maximum temperature difference between the block surface and ambience is 40 o.

...Qloss = 0.062 X 40 + 0.105 = 2.585W

...heat flux = Qloss/Asurface = 1207 W/m2.

14
But for additional safety it is considered as 1500 W/m 2

● An acoustic actuator is used for creating the synthetic jet flow. The constructional details of
the synthetic jet assembly are shown in Fig. below.

Figure 2-2 Constructional details of the synthetic jet assembly

A tungsten platinum coated single-wire probe (Model 1210-T1.5 with temperature coefficient of
resistance of 0.0042/oC, diameter of wire 3.8 mm, length of sensing element 1.27 mm) is used for
the velocity measurement.
A sample of velocity-time trace obtained at the exit of synthetic jet is shown in Fig. ‘Velocity-time
trace of synthetic jet’, shown below. It is clear from the figure that for one cycle two peak velocities
are observed. The higher peak corresponds to the ejection stroke and the lower peak to the suction
stroke.

Problem specifications:

The heater block, constructed from a copper block (size: 40 X 40 mm 2, thickness: 5 mm), is heated
by a nichrome foil heater of the same size, attached below it. Constant heat flux from the block =
1500 W/m2. Temperature of the block is to be maintained at 300K.

15
 An acoustic actuator is used for creating the synthetic jet flow.

Figure 2-3 Velocity-time trace of synthetic jet during experiment

Figure 2-4 Velocity-time trace of synthetic jet plot in ansys

Geometrical parameters:

d: diameter of the orifice, through which the synthetic jet impinges on the block

z: Axial distance between the orifice and the block

16
Figure 2-5a)heat transfer experimental setup b) 2d geometry in ansys

Figure 2-6 3d view of the same geometry

17
 Chapter 3
CFD: Geometry, Meshing and Numerical methods

In this chapter we have discussed in brief the geometry, meshing types and the numerical methods.

There are three different approaches when it comes to solving a problem based on fluid mechanics
and heat transfer.

Figure 3-1 Three approaches to solve the problem

Within CFD, there are two different approaches:

1. Write your own CFD code to solve a specific problem, or a type of problem. For example, you
can write your own MATLAB program to solve an incompressible pipe flow.
2. There is some commercial CFD software package. Some of them are very useful & popular.
Example: ANSYS FLUENT, STAR-CD, CFX, OpenFOAM, and COMSOL

CFD has certainly become a new branch integrating the disciplines of fluid mechanics, Difficulties
in other approaches:

● Theoretical approach: This approach gives exact solution which is a great advantage. But
analytical solutions are only possible for a limited number of problems, usually formulated in
an artificial, idealized way.

18
● Experimental approach: These approaches are reliable, and depict real world situations. For
example, in aerospace industries Wind Tunnel experiments are very reliable. But sometimes
these are very expensive, and sometimes these also have some technical difficulties
(Sometimes it takes several years before an experiment is set up and all technical problems are
resolved).

mathematics and computer science. CFD is particularly dedicated to fluid dynamicsi.e. fluids that
are in motion, and influence of the fluid flow behaviour on the processes that may include heat
transfer and possibly chemical reactions in combusting flows. Additionally, the physical
characteristics of the fluid motion can usually be described through fundamental mathematical
equations, usually in partial differential form, which govern a process of interest and are often
called governing equations in CFD. In order to solve these mathematical equations, they are
converted by computer scientists using high-level computer programming languages into
computer programs or software packages. The computational part simply means the study of the
fluid flow through numerical simulations, which involves employing computer programs or
software packages performed on high-speed digital computers to attain the numerical solutions.

Figure 3-2 CFD overview

CFD computation usually involves the generation of a set of numbers or digits that will hopefully
provide a realistic approximation of a real-life fluid system. Nevertheless, the main outcome of
any CFD exercise is that the reader acquires an improved understanding of the flow behaviour for
the system under consideration.

19
CFD has also become one of the three basic methods or approaches that can be employed to solve
problems in fluid dynamics and heat transfer, which are the fundamental concepts in synthetic jet
cooling.

CFD codes are structured around the numerical algorithms that can tackle fluid flow problems. In
order to provide easy access to their solving power all commercial CFD packages include
sophisticated user interfaces to input problem parameters and to examine the results. Hence all
codes contain three main elements:

1. Pre-processor: This step includes creating Geometry and Mesh.

2. Solver: This part is to numerically solve the fluid flow equations in the computational domain.
3. Post-Processor: In these steps, the result of simulation is analyzed, or represented in useful
form.

There are three basic methods to solve problem in CFD:

1. Finite difference method

2. Finite element method
3. Spectral methods
Finite Volume Method is a special case of Finite difference method.

Figure 3-3 Finite Volume method

20
Ansys Fluent:

Ansys is one among many commercial software packages which carry out Computational Fluid
Dynamics with its own personalized set of equations, trying to achieve more efficiency and
effectiveness.

ANSYS FLUENT CFD Solver is based on the Finite Volume method

Figure 3-4 Finite Volume method

Domain is discretized into a finite number of control volumes. General conservation

(transport)equations for mass, momentum, energy, species, etc. are solved on this set of control
volumes.

3.1 Geometrical modeling

Geometrical modelling can be done in any CAD software like Autodesk Fusion 360, PTC Creo,
Solidworks, CATIA, etc owing to the simple geometry. Although, if not all features, ‘Ansys Fluent
Geometry’ has atleast sufficient features required for this geometry.

Geometry can be modelled in Ansys, either in Design Modeler or in SpaceClaim Direct

Modeler.Both DesignModeler and SpaceClaim can do the Fill operation to create a solid model of
the fluid domain, but an important difference was revealed. DesignModeler and SOLIDWORKS
both use the Parasolid geometry modeling kernel, while SpaceClaim uses the ACIS kernel. That
means moving data from SOLIDWORKS to DesignModeler is just a write and read operation,
while moving data from SOLIDWORKS to SpaceClaim is a write, read and translate operation.

Distinct features of DesignModeler:

✔ Geometry Creation

21
 ✔ Geometry Modification
✔ Geometry Cleanup
✔ 2D Sketches Generation
✔ 2D Sketches to 2D or 3D Models
✔ CAD Geometry Import
✔ Line Bodies Generation
✔ Surface Bodies Production
✔ Assemblies Modeling
✔ Parameters Utility

Distinct features of SpaceClaim:

✔ 3D Geometry Creation
✔ STL File Manipulation
✔ File Conversion
✔ Automated Model Repair
✔ Import & Export

3.2 Meshing
The second step, ‘mesh generation’ is one of the most important steps during the pre-process stage
after the domain geometry is defined. The majority of the time spent in industry on a CFD project
is usually devoted to successfully generating a mesh for the domain geometry. So, the quest to
yield a well-constructed mesh deserves as much attention as prescribing the necessary physics to
the flow problem.

3.2.1 Mesh in context of CFD:

CFD requires the subdivision of the domain into a number of smaller, non-overlapping subdomains
in order to solve the flow physics within the domain geometry that has been created; this results in
the generation of a mesh (or grid) of cells (elements or control volumes) covering the entire
geometry.

22
By definition, a mesh in itself consists of an arrangement of discrete number of points overlaying
the whole domain geometry. Through the subdivision of this domain, a number of smaller mesh
or grid cells are thereby generated. It is therefore generally expected that the discretized domain is
required to adequately resolve the important physics and to capture all the geometrical details of
the domain within the flow region. The essential fluid flows that are described in each of the cells
are usually solved numerically so that the discrete values of the flow properties (such as the
velocity, temperature, and other parameters of interest are determined). This yields the CFD
solution to the flow problem that is being solved.

Grid generation is an important numerical issue where the specific mesh for a given flow problem
can determine the success or failure in obtaining a computational solution. Principally, it must be
fine enough to provide an adequate resolution in capturing the important flow features.
Furthermore, the quality of the mesh has significant implications on the convergence and stability
of the numerical simulation and accuracy of the computational result.

The accuracy of a CFD solution is governed by the number of cells in the mesh within the
computational domain. In general, the provision of a large number of cells leads to the attainment
of an accurate solution. In retrospective, grid generation represents only a means to an end. It forms
a necessary tool for the computational simulation of physical flow phenomena. For complex
geometries, the meshing by triangular cells allows the flexibility of mesh generation for geometries
having complicated shape boundaries. In some cases, there is a need of a combination of structured
and unstructured meshes for more realistic simulations within flow domains, that may include
complex geometry

3.2.2 Types of Mesh:

1. Structured mesh
Of all the techniques for grid generation, the simplest one is the creation of a structured mesh.
Considering a fluid flowing within a rectangular conduit. In the first instance, a uniformly
distributed Cartesian mesh can be conveniently generated where the spacing of the grid points
along the x direction is uniform and the spacing of the points along the y direction is also uniform
such as illustrated in the figure below. An exploded view of a section of the discrete mesh in the

23
x–y plane is also drawn to further demonstrate the arrangement of the discrete points within the
domain.

Figure 3-5 Uniform rectangular mesh

A finely spaced mesh in the x direction can be generated to adequately resolve the viscous
boundary layer of the flow in the vicinity of the wall geometry, whilst a uniformly spaced mesh is
retained in the y direction as shown in the figure below.
This particular positioning is usually called as a ‘stretched’ or ‘concentrated’ mesh where the grid
points could be considered of being biased towards the wall boundaries.

24
 Figure 3-6 Non-uniform rectangular mesh

2. Body-fitted mesh
Consider a flow inside a 90o bend. In order to apply an orthogonal mesh such as a structured mesh
to the geometry, compromises are required to be made especially on the curved section. Such an
approach raises some problems. Firstly, such an approximate boundary description is tedious and
rather time-consuming. Secondly, the steps at the boundary may introduce errors in computations.
This example clearly shows that mesh systems that are based on Cartesian coordinate systems have
severe limitations, it would therefore be more advantageous to work with meshes that can handle
curvature and geometrical complexity more naturally.

25
 Figure 3-7 Staircase like stepped mesh

The transformation of the 90° bend geometry should be defined such that there is a one-to-one
correspondence between the rectangular mesh in the computational domain and the curvilinear
mesh in the physical domain.

Figure 3-8 Body fitted mesh

The mesh construction of the internal region of the 90° bend geometry can normally be
achieved via two approaches. On one hand, the Cartesian coordinates may be algebraically
determined through interpolation from the boundary values, known as the transfinite
interpolation method. On the other hand, a system of partial differential equations of the

26
 respective Cartesian coordinates may be solved numerically with the set of boundary values as
boundary conditions in order to yield a highly smooth mesh in the physical domain, known as
the elliptic grid generation method.

3. Unstructured mesh
In addition to the use of a body-fitted mesh, an unstructured mesh could be constructed to fill
the interior region of the 90° bend geometry. In the figure shown, there appears to be no
regularity to the arrangement of the cells in the mesh.

Figure 3-9 Unstructured mesh

Herein, the cells are totally unstructured oriented, and there are no coordinate lines that correspond
to the curvilinear directions ξ and η such as in a body-fitted mesh. Thus, maximum flexibility is
allowed in matching the cells especially with highly curved boundaries. Also, required cells can
be purposefully inserted to resolve the flow regions where they matter most such as in areas of
high gradients. Triangle and tetrahedral meshing are by far the most common forms of unstructured
grid generation.

27
3.2.3 Detail comparison between structured and unstructured mesh

Application of a structured mesh in any aspect of grid generation has certain advantages and
disadvantages. The advantage of such a mesh is that the points of an elemental cell can be easily
addressed by a double of indices (i, j) in two dimensions or a triple of indices (i, j, k) in three
dimensions. Also, the connectivity is straightforward. The disadvantage of adopting such a mesh
particularly for more complex geometries is the increase in grid nonorthogonality or skewness that
can cause unphysical solutions due to the transformation of the governing equations. The
transformed equations that accommodate the non-orthogonality acts as the link between the
structured coordinate system (such as Cartesian coordinates) and the body-fitted coordinate
system. This affects the accuracy and efficiency of the solution.

On the other hand, the use of an unstructured mesh has become more prevalent and widespread.
Herein the cells are allowed to be assembled freely within the computational domain. The
connectivity information for each face thus requires appropriate storage in some form of a table.
(The most typical shape of an unstructured element is a triangle in two dimensions or a tetrahedron
in three dimensions. Nevertheless, any other elemental shape including quadrilateral or hexahedral
cells is also possible.) Unstructured meshes are certainly well suited for handling arbitrary shape
geometries especially for domains having high-curvature boundaries. Inspite of these favourable
features, unstructured mesh also carries some disadvantages. In comparison with structured mesh,
the points of an elemental cell for an unstructured mesh generally cannot be simply treated or
addressed by a indices. An elemental cell may have an arbitrary number of neighbouring cells
attaching to it making the data treatment and connection arduously complicated. More importantly,
triangular (two-dimensional) or tetrahedral (three-dimensional) cells in comparison with
quadrilateral (two-dimensional) or hexahedral (three-dimensional) cells are usually ineffective to
resolve wall boundary layers

As a common practice, grid quality is usually enhanced through the placement of quadrilateral or
hexahedral elements in resolving boundary layers near solid walls, whilst triangular or tetrahedral
elements or polyhedral cells are generated for the rest of the flow domain. This generally leads to
both accurate solutions and better convergence for the numerical solution methods.

28
3.2.4 Finalizing mesh
The grid quality of a generated mesh that depends on the consideration of the cell shape: aspect
ratio, skewness, warp angle, or included angle of adjacent faces.

Taking into consideration the geometry for this particular project. After meshing the geometry
with 0.7mm mesh size utilizing different methods like edge sizing, face meshing, multizone, etc,
and getting satisfactory results, it was decided to finalize ‘Automatic meshing’ method.

3.3 Numerical Modelling

3.3.1 Solver
A. Single-Precision and Double-Precision Solvers:

Both single-precision and double-precision versions of ANSYS Fluent are available on all
computer platforms. For most cases, the single-precision solver will be sufficiently accurate, but
certain types of problems may benefit from the use of a double-precision version. Several examples
are listed below:

● If your geometry has features of very disparate length scales (for example, a very long, thin
pipe), single-precision calculations may not be adequate. Note that nodal coordinates are
always stored in double precision (even for the single-precision version of ANSYS Fluent), so
they are not a concern in this regard.
● If your geometry involves multiple enclosures connected via small-diameter pipes (for
example, automotive manifolds), mean pressure levels in all but one of the zones can be quite
large (since you can set only one global reference pressure location). Double-precision
calculations may therefore be necessary to resolve the pressure differences that drive the flow,
since these will typically be much smaller than the pressure levels.
● For conjugate problems involving high thermal-conductivity ratios and/or high-aspect-ratio
meshes, convergence and/or accuracy may be impaired with the single-precision solver, due
to inefficient transfer of boundary information.

B. The setup further has two kinds of solver 1) Pressure-based solver and 2) Density-based solver.

29
1. Pressure Based Solver: In the pressure-based solver, the governing equations are solved
sequentially i.e., Governing equation for the variables such as u, v, w, p, T, k etc. are solved
one after another. Unlike sequential pressure-based solver, there is another pressure-based
solver which is called coupled solver. In coupled pressure-based solver the momentum and
continuity equations are solved simultaneously as the governing equations are solved in
coupled manner and other scalar equations are solved in segregated manner. The solution
convergence rate is greatly enhanced when compared to sequentially pressure algorithm. But
in terms of memory, the coupled need more memory requirement than sequential. the pressure-
based solver is the widely used solver and it is more suitable for incompressible flows but can
also be used for slightly compressible flows.

Figure 3-10 Pressure based algorithms

2. Density Based Solver: In density-based solver, the energy, momentum, continuity and species
transport equations are solved simultaneously. To design both incompressible and
compressible fluid flows, the equations are altered in density-based solver, time plays an

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