UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN

Faculty : Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Unit Code : UEME3112

Engineering and Science
Course : Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) Unit Title : Fluid Mechanics II
Mechanical/Civil/Chemical
Engineering
Year/ : 2/1, 2/2, 3/1 Lecturer : Dr. Jaslyn Low Foon Siang /
Semester Lee Sze Shin
Session : 2017/05

CFD Assignment: Laminar Pipe Flow

Form a group of 5 students to run CFD simulations for laminar circular pipe flow to answer the
following questions. The pipe diameter is 0.2 m and length is 8 m. Take fluid density = 1 kg/m and
coefficient of viscosity = 3 x 10 kg/(ms) and the inlet velocity is 4.0 m/s. Make necessary
assumptions in this simulation. Consider the velocity to be constant over the inlet cross-section. Set the
residuals for all equations to 1e-6 and run the calculation with 1000 iterations.

a) Evaluate the Reynolds number of the flow. Is the flow laminar or turbulent?

b) Conduct Grid Independence Test:

i. Run simulations with three mesh sizes, 805 elements (80 elements in the axial
direction and 5 elements in the radial direction), 16010 and 80020. Determine the
maximum velocity of fluid at the pipe outlet from these simulations.
ii. Evaluate the maximum velocity of fluid at pipe outlet using theoretical calculations.
iii. Compare and discuss on the percentage difference of maximum velocity between the
three simulated results with theoretical calculation.
iv. Recommend and use only the simulated result with lowest percentage difference to
answer the following questions.

c) Plot the centerline velocity against axial distance with Solution XY Plot. Discuss on the
changes in centerline velocity from inlet to outlet.

d) Evaluate the entry length from simulated result. Compare and discuss with entry length
evaluated using theoretical calculation.

e) Plot the flow velocity against radial distance at inlet, developing region, developed region and
outlet. Compare and discuss on the changes of velocity profile at these locations.
(Hints: Identify the location of developing and developed region. Draw vertical lines at the
regions with Line/Rake Surface. Plot the velocity profile with Solution XY Plot)

f) Show the velocity contour plots and discuss the growth of the boundary layers.

g) Repeat the simulations with inlet velocities of 1, 2 and 3 m/s. Discuss the influences of inlet
velocity on maximum velocity of fluid at the pipe outlet.
Report Contents

The report should include:

1) Introduction and Objectives
2) Results and Discussion
3) Conclusion and Recommendations
4) Report Presentation (References, appearance, organization, writing style, spelling, and grammar)

Submit only the hardcopy of the assignment. Marks will be deducted for late submission or any failure
to follow the template/format. The due date of report submission is 4 pm on 3th August 2017 (Week
10 Thursday), venue is Level 3, room GE45.

You should use ANSYS Fluent only for the assignment. The software is available at KB Block Level
6 computer labs.

Assignment Format Guidelines

1. Type setting
Font Time New Roman
Font size 12
Line spacing 1.5 lines

2. Page margin
-Left margin: 3.0 cm
-Right, Top, Bottom margins: 2 cm

3. Pages 30 (max), including assignment cover, contents, and references

4. Printing double sided printing

5. Binding Type Stapling