Introduction to CFD
Introduction
Computational Fluid Dynamics or CFD is simply a tool used to analyze and
simulate fluid flow, heat transfer, or other transport problems.
Fundamental Principles of CFD:
Conservation of Mass
Conservation of Momentum (Navier-Stokes Equation)
Conservation of Energy
Introduction
Complete Navier-Stokes Equation
Unsteady, 3-D, compressible and viscous flow
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Approaches for solving any
engineering problems:
Analytical
Experimental
Numerical
Introduction
Approach Advantages Disadvantages
Analytical · Very clean and closed · Only simple and
form solution which linear problems can
gives instant insight of be solved by these
the problem. techniques.
Experimental · Capable of being the · Costly Equipment.
most realistic approach. · Measurement
problems.
· Scaling problems.
Numerical · Handle complex · Truncation and
geometry and physics. round-off errors.
· Low cost and high · Boundary condition
speed of computation. problems.
Advantages of CFD
It complements experimental and theoretical fluid dynamics by providing an
alternative cost-effective means of simulating real flows.
Insight: Better visualization and enhanced understanding of designs.
Foresight: We can test many variations until we arrive at an optimal result
before physical prototyping and testing. Practically unlimited level of detail
of results at no added expense.
Efficiency: Compression of design and development cycle.
Ability to study systems where controlled experiments are difficult or
impossible to perform.
Ability to study systems under hazardous conditions and beyond their normal
performance limits.
Applications of CFD
Aerodynamics of aircraft.
Automotive: External flow around a vehicle, internal flow through engines,
combustion, engine cooling, etc.
Flow and heat transfer in thermal and nuclear power plants.
HVAC: Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning.
Meteorology: Weather prediction.
Hydrology and Oceanography: Flow in rivers and oceans.
Biomedical Engineering: Flow in arteries, blood vessels, heart, inhalers, etc.
Marine Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Chemical
Engineering.
Methodology
Pre-processing
Geometry generation and cleanup.
Meshing.
Solving
Problem Specification.
Modelling.
Boundary Conditions.
Numerical Computation.
Post-processing
Lines and Contour Data.
Charts and average values.
Report Generation.
Prerequisites: Identification and
formulation of flow problem
Users must decide the physical and chemical phenomenon that needed to be
considered.
2D or 3D.
Incompressible or compressible.
Laminar or turbulent.
Steady or unsteady.
Single phase or multi phase.
To make right choices require good skills and experience.
Assumptions are required to reduce the complexity to a manageable level
while preserving the important features of the problem.
Approximations in CFD Simulations
Dimension Reduction: Reducing the degrees of freedom of the problem for
simplifying the governing equations. Ex: Steady-state solutions.
Flow Behavior Approximation: Idealizing fluid flow in the system. Ex: Laminar
or turbulent flow.
Geometry Simplification: Simplifying the unnecessarily complex geometry in
the domain.
Pre-Processing
Definition of the geometry of the region of interest: the computational
domain.
Grid Generation: Division of the domain into many smaller, non-overlapping
sub-domains.
Creating surface boundary names, regions of fluid flow, solid regions.
Accuracy of the solution, calculation time, and cost in terms of necessary
computer hardware are dependent on the fineness of the grid.
Over 50% of time spent on any CFD project in an industry is devoted to pre-
processing.
Solving
Selecting the type of solver.
Selecting the appropriate model.
Defining the boundary conditions.
Choosing suitable methods and controls of the solver.
Initializing the solution.
Establishing convergence criteria.
Calculating the solution.
Post-Processing
Domain geometry and grid display.
Vector plots showing direction and magnitude of the flow.
Line and shaded contour plots.
Charts showing graphical plots or variables.
Animation for dynamic result display.
Data exporting and report generation.
Validation and Verification
Validation means “Solving the right equations”.
Is the simulation matching with the experimental data?
Verifications means “Solving the chosen equations correctly”.
Whatever techniques you have implemented are correct or not.
While using any commercial CFD software like Ansys FLUENT, validation is
required, whereas when we choose to write our CFD code, verification is
required.
Summary
Fundamental principles of CFD.
Approaches toward solving engineering problems.
Advantages and Applications of CFD.
Methodology: Pre-processing, Solving, Post-processing.
Pre-requisites and Approximations in CFD Simulations.
Validation and Verification.
