Using Fluent to Modeling 2d subsonic flow over a NACA 2412 airfoil at AOA = 4

[deg].
Fluent
Depending on if you are using a UNIX or Windows machine opening Fluent 6.1.22 will differ.

UNIX
Type – fluent 2ddp in the command window

Windows – CAE Account

Start Æ CAE Application Æ Engineering Applications Æ Fluent 6.1 Æ Fluent 6.1

Before Fluent is opened the FLUENT Version window opens.

Left Click the 2ddp option and Left Click Run

At this point running Fluent of Windows and UNIX machines becomes identical

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The following start up screen for Fluent should appear

Open the model/mesh NACA2412.msh just created in Gambit

File Æ Read Æ Case

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Locate the NACA2412.msh file just created in Gambit and Left Click Ok

The NACA2412.msh file will be read into Fluent, and when this is completed, Done will appear at the bottom the
window.

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Next the grid created in Gambit needs to be checked for errors
Grid Æ Check

If no errors occur the screen will look similar to the following after the grid check. The word Grid Check will
appear at the top of the screen, and the word Done will appear at the bottom of the screen.

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If there is an error Fluent will inform you at the bottom of the screen.
The errors may look something like this.

If these errors occur Gambit needs to be re-opened and a new mesh needs to be created for the airfoil simulation.

Now that the mesh is loaded into Fluent, the problem needs to be initialized properly.
The first thing to do is to define this airfoil model as a viscous flow. Do this by selecting the following menus.
Define Æ Models Æ Viscous

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When this option is selected the Viscous Model window will appear.

1. Left Click the k-epsilon (2 eqn) option

2. Then in the k-epsilon Model field Left Click Realizable

3. Next in the Near-Wall Treatment field Left Click on Enhanced Wall Treatment

4. Leave all other fields at their default settings

5. Left Click on OK to close the window and confirm the model settings.

Next the free stream velocity of the airflow around the wing needs to be set.
In order to do select the following menus
Define Æ Materials…

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The Materials window will appear. On this screen the material properties of the substances in the simulation can be
defined. In this case air is the default, and air is what is needed for this simulation. Therefore Left Click on Close.

Next the Boundary Conditions for the problem need to be defined

Select the following
Define Æ Boundary Conditions…

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The Boundary Conditions window will appear

Left Click on velocity_inlet and Left Click on Set…

This will cause the Velocity Inlet window to appear

1. Enter the free stream velocity desired in the Velocity Magnitude (m/s) field. For the purposes of this simulation
choose 80 m/s (Re ~ 5.7e6).

2. Leave all other fields at their default settings.

3. Left Click on OK.

4. Left Click on Close on the Boundary Conditions window.

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Next the numerical solution method for the simulation needs to be selected.
To select the method complete the following
Solve Æ Controls Æ Solution…

This will open the Solution Controls window

1. Click the black downward arrow in the Momentum field. Select Second Order Upwind

2. Click the black downward arrow in the Turbulence Kinetic Energy field. Select Second Order Upwind

3. Click the black downward arrow in the Turbulence Dissipation Rate field. Select Second Order Upwind

4. Keep all other fields set to their default values

5. Left Click on OK

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Now the freestream velocity needs to be initialize
To do this complete the following commands
Solve Æ Initialize Æ Initialize…

This will open the Solution Initialization window

1. Left Click the black downward arrow in the Compute From field

2. Select velocity_inlet

3. Left Click on Init

4. Left Click on Close

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Next the convergence parameters of the solution need to be chosen.
To do this complete the following
Solve Æ Monitors Æ Residual…

This will open the Residual Monitors window

1. In the Options field make sure Print and Plot are selected

2. Change the Convergence Criterion for Continuity to 1e-5

3. Left Click on OK to close the Residual Monitors window

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Next the simulation can be started.
To do this select the following
Solve Æ Iterate…

This will open the Iterate Window

1. Change Number of Iterations to 2500

2. Left Click on Iterate

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If all goes well Fluent will iterate the solution until is has converged.
Several parameters for the flow are plotted in the Fluent [0] Fluent Inc. window

The same parameters are printed out of the Fluent display screen

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Once the Continuity value falls below 1e-5, the simulation will have converged, and the Fluent display will look as
follows.

NOTE: If the continuity value does not drop below 1e-5, and the plots in the Fluent [0] Fluent Inc. window have
leveled out, then cancel the iteration process and continue to next step.

There are now a variety of ways to look at the results Fluent has calculated. General categories of result reporting
include: integral quantities (forces and moments); contour plots; X-Y plots . For the contour and XY-plot options, a
distinction must be made between the 2-D and the 3-D cases: in 2-D, all the data lie in a plane and are ready for
being displayed in either of the two formats; in 3-D the data lie in space and, to produce a contour plot or an XY-
plot, one must first identify the subdomain from which to display the data (see the “4.Fluent Tips” tutorial).

The appropriate form to report integral quantities (forces and moments) is through the corresponding
dimensionless coefficients. Thus, the data must first of all be appropriately normalized. To do this select the
following menu
Report Æ Reference Values…

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The Reference Value window will appear.

The Reference Value window allows the entry of all the normalizing values into Fluent. In other words it will
transform Lift and Drag forces into coefficients. For the purposes of this simulation the Velocity and Area (chord
length) needs to be changed.

1. First change the Velocity field to 80 [m/s].

2. Next change the Area field to 1 [m^2].

3. Left Click on OK.

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Now that the forces have been normalized, Fluent is ready to report the correct coefficients.
To display lift and drag coefficient start by selecting the following menus
Report Æ Forces…

This will open the Force Reports window.

In order to display drag complete the following steps.

1. Under the Options field Left Click on Forces.

2. In the Force Vector field change X=1, Y=0.

3. Left Click on Print

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This will cause the drag data to appear in Fluent’s main window. Scroll the window all the way the right, and the
final number displayed on the bottom row, labeled total coefficient, is the drag coefficient. Record this coefficient,
and continue. Drag = 0.0119

1. To find lift open the Force Reports window.

2. Make sure Forces is selected under the Options field

3. In the Force Vector field change X=0, Y=1.

4. Left Click on Print

This will cause the lift data to appear in Fluent’s main window. Scroll the window all the way the right, and the
final number displayed on the bottom row, labeled total coefficient, is the lift coefficient. Record this coefficient,
and continue. Lift = 0.647

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Now that the force coefficients have been reported, you are ready to report the pitching moment coefficient.
To display it start by selecting the following menus Report Æ Forces…

1. Make sure that Moments is selected under the Options field.

2. Under Wall Zones, select the appropriate wall name (you only want contributions coming from the surface of the
wing).

2. In the Moment Center field, enter the coordinates of the point about which you want to calculate the pitching
moment and its coefficient.

3. Left Click on Print

This will cause the moment data to appear in Fluent’s main window. Scroll the window all the way the right, and
the final number displayed on the bottom row, labeled total coefficient, is the pitching moment coefficient.
Record this coefficient. Note that, in 2-D, only the moment component perpendicular to the plane of the airfoil is
reported. In 3-D, on the other hand, you must enter three coordinates for the point about which you want the
moment to be evaluated and three moment components are reported.

To display contours of calculated quantities (e.g. the streamfunction), in 2-D it's sufficient to

1. Left Click on Display

2. Left Click on Contours

3. Left Click on the down-arrow to the right of Contours of... and select Velocity

4. Left Click on the down-arrow to the right of Velocity and select Magnitude stream function

5. Left Click on OK

To generate an XY-plot of the distribution of one quantity (e.g. tangential velocity or pressure) vs.
a running variable in 2-D, it's sufficient to

1. Left Click on Plot

2. Left Click on XY Plot...

3. Select a surface, e.g. one of the walls corresponding to the profile

4. Left Click on Plot

Then you can explore all sorts of options under the Axes... and Curves... options that allow you to adjust the
plotting style in every detail.

It is possible to export the graphics generated within Fluent(both XY-plots and contour plots) to files to be used later
(for audio-visual presentations or for a written report). To export the current graphics window:

1. Left Click on File

2. Left Click on Hardcopy

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3. Select the format you want (TIFF is very portable and will open quickly using any software with TIFF
capabilities; postscript will take FOREVER to open using software like ghostscript);

4. Select color or black & white;

5. Select the preferred orientation (landscape or not);

6. Select the reverse foreground/background option (e.g. if the graphics windows displayed on the monitor has a
black background, reversing it will generate an output file with a white background);

7. Left Click on Save...

8. Choose a name for your output file.

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Using Fluent for 3D models
Using Fluent-3D is almost identical to using Fluent-2D. There are a few differences, but not enough to warrant a
new tutorial. However, several of these differences have been pointed out in the Fluent Tips handout available on
the class website. Therefore before using Fluent-3D make sure to read the Fluent Tips handout to avoid any
confusion.

Problems with Low Velocity Flows (Low Reynolds Number)

Reynolds number is one of the most significant dimensionless quantities if fluid analysis. In Applied Aerodynamics
it is important because experimental and numerical data can only be compared if the Reynolds number for both of
the systems in equivalent. This means that the data obtained from with wind tunnel needs to be run at the same
Reynolds number as that of the numerical simulations. Without this Reynolds equivalence both sets of data could
not be meaningfully compared.

Sometimes, in order to make both experimental and numerical Reynolds numbers match it may be necessary to
choose a low velocity value in Fluent. Unfortunately, this is a problem because Fluent has trouble modeling low
velocity flows (Free stream velocity < 5 [m/s]) with the k-ε model presented in this tutorial. There are several things
that might be done to fix this problem (Low Velocity), but none of them have yet to be proven satisfactory. In fact
all methods shown here have been put through preliminary testing, and all have output larger than expected values
of drag. I will list them as ideas for the student to try, in the hope that someone will take the ideas past preliminary
testing, and correctly figure out how to model all low Reynolds number flows for Applied Aerodynamics.

In order to increase velocity while keeping Reynolds number constant there are two options. First, lower the
kinematic viscosity (density/viscosity) of the fluid in which the wing is being tested. In Fluent this can be done by
changing the material properties of the fluid under Define Æ Materials. The kinematic viscosity can be altered by
lowering the density. In order to keep the same Reynolds number, raise the velocity to compensate for a drop in
kinematic viscosity. For example, if the kinematic viscosity if halved, then double the free stream velocity to keep
the same Reynolds number. This increase in velocity should allow Fluent to better model the flow Once the fluid is
altered make sure to update the Reference Values that are used in calculating the lift and drag on the airfoil. This
means changing both the density and free stream velocity to the correct values. As a note, it is probably not a good
idea to alter the density of the flow too much (more that a factor of three).

The second option is to shrink the chord length of the wing. This can be done by altering the mesh created in
Gambit. Begin by changing the chord length of wing before it is entered into Gambit. In other words when creating
the journal file make sure the ‘x’ and ‘y’ coordinates of the wing correspond to an airfoil of chord length less that 1
[m]. Once this new file is imported into Gambit, follow all of the same steps presented in the 2D tutorial to
complete the wing mesh. The only difference this time is that the wing will take up less space in the wind tunnel
section of the model because its chord length has been reduced. In order to keep the same Reynolds number, raise
the velocity to compensate for a drop in chord length. As before, if the chord length if halved, then double the free
stream velocity keep the same Reynolds number. Once again this increase in velocity should help Fluent to better
model the flow.

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