Fluent uid dynamic software

Thomas Zwinger
Thomas.Zwinger@csc.

luent is a Finite Volume based code for uid ow simulations. Currently there are two different versions installed on CSCs SGI Origin 2000 platform cedar.csc.fi:

1. Fluent5.5: Fluent 5.5 is computer program for modeling uid ow and heat transfer. The code is capable of dealing with unstructured meshes. This makes Fluent 5.5 a strong tool for examining ows in or around complex geometries. 2. Fluent4.5: Contrary to Fluent 5.5, the 4.5 version is restricted to structured grid analysis. Nevertheless, this version includes special models like for instance multiphase, combustion ows, moving and deforming grids that are not implemented in Fluent 5.5 for the time being. Thus, it is a powerful tool what comes to problems with difcult physics in not too complex geometries. Since the presentation of sophisticated models would go beyond the scope of this article, we restrict ourselves in taking a look upon the general capabilities of Fluent 5.5, that in this range also apply on the 4.5 version. Thus, the purpose of these few pages is to provide information for scientists being not familiar with CFD packages rather than presenting detailed features of the program.

lled implicitly. Numerical implementations appear to be very robust and depending on the applied discretization scheme economical regarding the CPU time. For more detailed information on the nite volume method and its numerical implementation, we would like to refer to standard literature, such as given by Patankar [4] or Andersson et.al. [1].

Solution procedure using Fluent

As in every CFD-package, the solution procedure of Fluent can be divided into three parts: 1. pre-processing 2. calculation 3. post processing The most important part of a CFD analysis is the preprocessing of the problem. This is not simply done by setting up a geometry and activating some toggleswitches in the GUI (Graphical User Interface) of the program. Before turning on the workstation, one should be concerned about the physics of the problem. This determines the models (turbulent/laminar ow, compressible/incompressible ow, transient/stationary ow, inclusion of energy balance, etc.) as well and this cannot be emphasized sufciently the boundary conditions at the borders of the calculation domain. In this stage of the analysis also the decision whether a specic solver like for instance Fluent 5.5 is capable of the requirements resulting from this previous assessment has to be made.

The Finite Volume method

Although Finite Element methods have more recently gained popularity in the eld of CFD applications, most of the commercial CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) software is still based on the Finite Volume method. In this technique, the equations of motion are treated in balance form [5] for nite sized control volumes (CV). Formal the balance of a property transported with the uid can be expressed by Rate of change of Net convection ux of = in CV per time-unit through surface of CV + Net rate of production of . in CV A benet of writing the governing equation in this particular form is that the conservation laws are fulNet diffusion ux of through surface of CV +

Pre-processing with Fluent

The steps of setting up a simulation in Fluent are roughly given by: 1. Dening geometry 2. Creating the grid 3. Importing and checking the grid 4. Selection of solver formulation and equations to be solved (laminar/turbulent, heat transfer, multiple species, etc.)

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5. Specication of operation conditions (material properties) 6. Specication of boundary conditions 7. Specication of numerical properties (underrelaxation factors, etc.) 8. Initialization of variables

Before using Fluent on Cedar, one should provide the user environment with the needed denitions of variables by typing
use fluent

The rst two steps of the pre-processing part require additional software for geometry and/or grid generation. Fluent can handle grid topologies provided by the following packages: Gambit, TGrid, GeoMesh, preBFC, ICEMCFD, I-DEAS, NASTRAN, PATRAN, ARIES, and ANSYS. Since Gambit and TGrid also are products provided by Fluent Inc., the communication between these two packages and Fluent is quite uncomplicated. In fact you are even able to dene boundary types already in Gambit, a task that normally has to be done in the Fluent preprocessor. Fluent can use unstructured as well as body tted structured meshes with all types of mesh elements, such as triangular and quadrilateral elements (or a combination of the two) in two dimensional, and tetrahedral, hexahedral, pyramid, and wedge elements (or a combination of these) in three dimensional analysis. Furthermore and this is a necessary feature when dealing with unstructured grids it is capable of adapting all types of meshes during the solution. This allows one to rene the resolution in areas of signicant gradients in order to prevent high numerical errors.

The GUI then can be launched by the command

fluent [version] [options]

Implemented Models
Without going into details we want to give an overview of the programs capabilities. The implemented features are: analysis of incompressible or compressible, steady-state or transient, inviscid, laminar, and turbulent ows Newtonian as well as non-Newtonian rheology
Fig.1 Screenshot of the graphical user interface.

convective (natural and forced), coupled conduction/convective and radiation heat transfer multiple moving reference frames, including sliding mesh interfaces and mixing planes for rotor/stator interaction modeling chemical species mixing and reaction, including combustion submodels and surface deposition reaction models arbitrary volumetric sources of heat, mass, momentum, turbulence, and chemical species Lagrangian trajectory calculations for a dispersed phase of particles/droplets/bubbles, including coupling with the continuous phase (drag, lift-forces on particles) ow through porous media two-phase ows, including cavitation

The version can be set explicitly at the start or later in the Solver Setting Panel of the GUI. The possible versions to be chosen are: 2d two dimensional, single precision solver 2dd two dimensional, double precision solver 3d three dimensional, single precision solver 3dd three dimensional, double precision solver The most important command-line options are: -g run without GUI and graphics (for batch jobs) -post run post processing version only -tn enable parallel processing with n procs. Thus, typing fluent 3d -g at the prompt runs Fluent in the shell (without GUI and graphics) enabling the 3-dimensional, single precision solver. For pre-processing purpose you probably want to have the GUI switched on. An overview of the possible options is given by typing fluent -help.

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 free-surface ows with complex surface shapes one-dimensional fan/heat-exchanger performance models As mentioned earlier, one can choose between different solvers for two and three dimensional analysis (referred to as solver version) and different precisions (single as well as double). It is also possible to perform parallel simulations. However, there can be restrictions what comes to the application of certain physical models. The formulation of the solver can be either segregated (i.e. sequential solution of the equations) or coupled. The linearization of the equations can either be chosen to be explicit or implicit in time. Also different time-discretization schemes (rst and second order) are implemented. The choice of the physical models as well as the solver really depends on the specic problem that is examined and thus should be part of the previous assessment. Unfortunately there exists no simple strategy and some basic knowledge of the applied models and numerical techniques is required.

hod for uid calculations in this particular eld. This shortcoming is rather caused by the strict separation between the eld of CFD and computational structural analysis in the past. For registered Fluent-users there is an online documentation available on Cedar. You can nd it under the le:
$FLUENTDIR/manuals/fluent5/index.html. The environment variable $FLUENTDIR is set by calling the use fluent command. The -

les needed to recalculate the cases presented in the tutorial are accessible under the directory $FLUENTDIR/tut5.0.The similar documentation is available also for the 4.5 version under the le: $FLUENTDIR/manuals/fluent4/index.html. Information on capabilities of Fluent and examples can be downloaded from Fluents homepage [3].

Service provided by CSC

Besides the instructions provided on CSCs homepage and by the online documentation, you may get in contact with CSC directly (see address below). It is possible to organize short introductory courses to Fluent and Gambit (grid generation) for new Fluent users as well as workshops for advanced users in the Finnish academic society. If you wish to utilize these services, please do not hesitate to contact Thomas Zwinger, tel: 09-457-2183, e-mail:

Performing calculations with Fluent

After the pre-processing part being nished the simulation setup can be stored in a so called case-le (les with extension *.CAS). This le includes information on the grid le, the boundary conditions and the physical as well as computational models of the run. Contrary to the strategy to perform the simulation in the GUI suggested by Fluent, it is recommended to do this via a batch job on Cedar in order to enable the system to balance the load. This is simply done by submitting a uent batch job without graphical output (as described in the rst chapter) to the queuing system providing a script that contains the commands for uent. This procedure in detail is described on the CSC homepage [2].

Thomas.Zwinger@csc.fi.

Kirjallisuutta
[1] Andersson D, Tannehill J, Pletcher R. Computational uid mechanics and heat transfer. Hemisphere Publishing, 1984. [2] CSC homepage URL:
http://www.csc.fi/cschelp/ sovellukset/fluid/fluent

[3] Fluent

Inc.

homepage

URL:

http://www.fluent.com

[4] Patankar S. Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow. McGraw-Hill, 1980.

Who should use Fluent?

If your investigations include problems in aero- or hydrodynamics, reactive ows or combustion as well as heat and mass transfer in uids, then in principle you can utilize Fluent. If you are dealing with uid-structure interaction you are better off using a CFD-package based on the Finite Element Method, like FIDAP. These kind of solvers can deal with both, uid mechanical and solid phase problems. There would be no principle restriction upon an application of Finite Volume met-

[5] Versteeg HK, Malalasekera W. An introduction to computational uid dynamics - The nite volume method. Addison Wesley Longman Ltd., 1995.

Thomas Zwinger, Dr. techn. (Mech. Eng.), started as an application scientist in the computational engineering group in February. He has the main responsibility for support concerning computational uid mechanics (CFD) at CSC. This includes maintenance of CSCs commercial CFD-packages and customer training and consulting as well as involvement in scientic projects.

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