FluentTutorial

TheDurhamFluentTutorial.
Introduction.
ThisprovidesashortstepbystepguidetomodellinganaerofoilusingtheFluentpackage.Theaim
beingtointroduceyoutheimportantfeaturesofFluentintheshortestpossiblespaceoftime.
AdditionaltutorialsareavailablefromtheHelpmenuinfluentandgambitformorecomplex
geometries.

MeshingtheAerofoil.
CreatingtheGeometry.

Startgambit

ObtaintheNACA5012coordinatesfile(availablefrom
www.dur.ac.uk/g.l.ingram/teaching/fluent)

File>Import>VertexData(thenselectthefileyoujustdownloaded)

YoushouldhaveascreenthatlookslikeFigure1:

Nowwewanttocreatetwoedgesfromthesepoints.Selectthe2ndiconinthe2ndrowofbuttons
atthetoprightofthescreen.Rightclickonitandholdthemousebuttondownamenuwill
popupfromwhichyoucanselectNURBS.

Figure1:PointInputtoGambit.

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Usethepointpicker,mouseandNURBStooltomaketwoedges,oneofthebottomandoneof
thetopsurfaceoftheaerofoil.Ideallywe'dmakejustonebutcreatingafaceoutofthatlateris
tricky!Gambitisverysensitiveabouttheorderthatthepointsarereadinfromthefileandthe
orderinwhichyouselectthem.Thefilehasthepointsarrangedinasuitablemanner.Toselect
thepointsinthecorrectorder:

selectfromthetrailingedgetotheleadingedgeforthetopsurface

selectfromtheleadingedgetothetrailingedgeforthelowersurface

Youcandeterminewhichorderthepointsarereadinbymakingthevertexlabelsvisible.

Thenwewanttocreatethesurfaceonwhichwewillcalculatethefluidflow.Todothiswewill
createadomainaround1chordlengthsaboveandbelowtheaerofoiland1.5chordlengths
beforeandafter.Thisisslightlyarbitraryandwemaywanttochangethisafterwelookatthe
results!

Addpointsat(1.5,1),(1.5,1),(2,1)and(2,1)

Jointhesepointstogetherwithstraightlines.YourscreenshouldlooklikeFigure2:

Figure2:EdgesinGambit.

Wenowhavesixedgesfromwhichweconstructoursurface.Wearegoingtoconstructtwo
surfaceswhichwewillthensubtracttogiveusourfinalface.

Jointheouteredgesintoawireframeface(GeometryButton>FaceButton>Wireframe
ButtonYoumayhavetorightclickandholdtofindit!)
2

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Jointheinneredges(theaerofoil)intoawireframeface

Subtractthetwofaces.(GeometryButton>FaceButton>SubtractButton.Youwillfindthis
byrightclickingonthethirdiconfromtheleftinthefacegroup)Makesurethatthesecondface
youselectistheaerofoilotherwiseyouwillendupmeshingtheinsideoftheaerofoilnotthe
outside!
MeshingtheSurface.

Forsimplicitywearegoingtouseanunstructuredmesh.Thismaynotbethebestmeshforthe
problem!Todothiswewillapplyanedgemeshtoalltheedgesyouhavecreatedandthenput
anunstructuredmeshontothesurface.

Someshtheinletandtheoutletwitharoundtwentypoints.(MeshButton>EdgeButton)

Thenumberofpointsiscontrolledbytheintervalcountoption(fourthdivisiondownfromthe
top)youwillhavetochangeitasthedefaultisintervalsize.

Youmaywanttoputinasuccessiveratiothataltersthespacingofthepointsasyougoalong
theedge.InthisexampleI'veconcentratedsomepointstowardsthecentreoftheedgeasthis
iswheretheinterestingfloweffectswillhappen.

Gambithassomeidiosyncrasiesinit'smeshingselection,afteryouhaveaskedittomesh
somethingyouhavetoreselecttheedgetomakefurtherchanges.

Meshthetopandbottomwitharoundtwentypointsaswell.

Meshthetopandbottomoftheaerofoilwitharoundfortypoints.

Meshtheface.(MeshButton>FaceButton)youwillneedtoselecttrielements.

YoushouldendupwithsomethinglikeFigure3:

Figure3:Themeshedaerofoil.

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Wenowneedtotellgambitaboutthephysicalnatureoftheproblemandthenwecanexportto
Fluent.

YouwillneedtotellGambitthatwearegoingtouseFluentatthisstage.UsetheSolverMenu
andselectFluent5/6.

HittheZoneButtonandthenyouhavetwootherbuttons:

SpecifyBoundaryTypesusethistospecifywhatisgoingtohappenateachedge.

SpecifyContinuumTypesusethistospecifyfluidsorsolids.

Puttheinletontheleftasapressureinlet,theoutletontherightasapressureoutlet.Makesure
youselectedgesastheentity.

Thetopandbottomedgesshouldbeasymmetryplane(whichisabitoftrickaswearenotreally
interestedinanysymmetry).

Theaerofoilshouldbeawallsurface.

SpecifyFluidastheContinuumtypefortheface.

Youarenowreadytoexportyourmesh:File>Export>Mesh(DontforgettoSaveyour
Gambitfilesaswell!)Pushthe2Dbuttonasthisisa2Dcase.

ComputingtheFlow.
Thenextstepismuchmorestraightforward.InCFDmodellingflowmostofyourtimewillbe
takenmeshingtheproblemandthenanalysingtheresults,computationistheeasybit.

StartfluentIfyouhavetroubledisplayinggraphics,useaterminaltostartusing:fluentdev
X11asthecommand

Select2D

File>Read>Caseandselectyourfile

Grid>Check(thisshouldreturnnoproblems)

Display>Grid(soyoucanlookatthegridifyouwantto)

Youmustthensetanumberofparameterstosolvetheflow:

Define>BoundaryConditions.I'dsuggest300Paforyourpressureinletvalue.

Solve>Initialise.Setthistocomputefrominlet.NotethatyouneedtohittheInitbutton
hittingapplydoesverylittle!

Define>Models>Viscous.Setthistoinviscidfornow.

Solve>Monitors>Residuals.Selectplot.

Solve>Iterate.Setthisto1000orsoandwatchthecomputerworkforyou!Theproblem
shouldconvergeinaround100iterationsorso.

YoucanthenviewyourresultsusingDisplay>Contoursandyoumightendupwith
somethinglikeFigure4.

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Figure4:TheInviscidFlowResults.

TurbulenceModels.
Theinviscidflowsolutionisfineforbulkpressurechanges,butifwewantedtoexaminetheflow
undermorerealisticconditionswecanusethissolutionasthebasisforthenextrun.

Define>Models>Viscous.ThenselectSpallartAllmaras.Thedefaultvalueswillbeo.k.for
now.

Solve>Iterate.Thenusestheinviscidvelocitydataetc.withthenewturbulencemodel.

Summary
Youhavenowsuccessfullymeshedupandcalculatedabasicgeometry.Otherthingsyoucouldtry
withthedata:

Extendtheprobleminto3D

Tilttheaerofoilandexaminethepredictionofseparation

Remeshtheproblemusingastructuredgrid.

FluentandGambithaveanextensivehelpsystemwhichyoushouldusewhenyougetstuck.
AlsonotethatthisisatutorialonhowtouseFluentandGambit.Theflowmodeloftheaerofoil
producedcapturesbulkfloweffectsbutforanythingmorerefinedyouwillhavetocarefully
considerhowtomodelthescenario!
GrantIngram
16October2008