Workshop 14 – DEM-CFD Two-Way

Coupling with ANSYS Fluent

Part C: Post-Processing in Rocky
R4.3

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OBJECTIVES

The main purpose of this Workshop is to post-process in Rocky the two-way coupling
simulation we completed in Part B.
As a reminder, the scenario considered is that of a Fluidized Bed being injected with
air from below.
You will learn how to: And you will use these features:
Evaluate particle segregation User Processes, including:
Analyze the mixing efficiency Cube
Property
Divisions Tagging Particle Calculations
Graphs and Plots, including:
Histograms
Time Plots
Table Time Plots

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PREREQUISITES

This workshop assumes that you are already familiar with the Rocky user
interface (UI), and with the Rocky project workflow.
If this is not the case, please refer to Workshop 01 – Transfer Chute for a basic
introduction about Rocky usage before beginning this workshop.
Also, please ensure you have a Rocky Professional license as some features
covered in this Workshop are not enabled for Rocky Designer.
Tip: If you are unsure which version of Rocky you have, ask your IT department, or
contact Rocky Support for assistance.

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OPEN PROJECT
If you completed Part B of this workshop, ensure that Rocky project is open and has
completed processing. (Part C will continue from where Part B left off.)
If you did not complete Part B, do all of the following:
Ensure you have a valid Fluent license on the same machine upon which you are
running Rocky. (This is required in order to validate the mesh within the linked CAS file.)
Ensure that you have downloaded and extracted the workshop_14_input_files folder
that was provided along with this PDF.
Open Rocky 4. (Look for Rocky 4 in the Program Menu or use the desktop shortcut.)
From the Rocky program, click the Open Project button, find the
workshop_14_input_files folder, and then from the
workshop_14_B_pre-processing-rocky folder, open the
workshop_14_B_pre-processing-rocky-restart.rocky file.
Process the simulation. (From the Data panel, select Solver and then from the Data
Editors panel, click the Start button.)
Note: ANSYS Fluent will open automatically, and both Rocky and Fluent will begin
processing your coupled simulation.
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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING

Now that the project has completed processing, we can begin to

analyze it. Let’s start by looking at particle segregation.
Press Ctrl+D to open a new 3D View window.
From the Data panel, click Particles.
From the Data Editors panel, select the Colorings tab and then
under Nodes, select Particle Group from the Property list (as
shown).

Using the buttons on the

Time toolbar, you can view
how particles in the bed
segregate as they are
moved by the air injected
from below. (Results shown
on the next slide).

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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING

Segregation: The bigger particles settle to the bottom while the smaller particles
rise to the top of the bed.

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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING

Besides looking at segregation, you can also visualize how well particles in different
regions of the container mix as the simulation progresses.
For this kind of analysis, we can use a Cube User Process along with Divisions
Tagging to color the particles by the regional layers in which they were originally
located.
To start this analysis, do all of the following:
From the Time toolbar, select the very first timestep (0.00 s).
From the Data panel, right-click Particles, point to Processes, and then select Cube.
A new Cube <01> entry appears under User Processes on the Data panel.
With this new Cube entity selected, adjust it by following the instructions on next slide.

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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING

From the Data Editors panel, select the Cube tab and then enter the Orientation,
Center, and Magnitude values (as shown).
Use the Data panel eye icon to hide Particles (as shown) and make sure that this
cube is big enough to encompass all the particles at the beginning of the simulation.

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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING – DIVISIONS TAGGING
From the Data panel, right-click Particles, point to Calculations,
point to Divisions Tagging, and then select Cube <01>.
From the Data panel, under Particles Calculations, click the new
Divisions Tagging (Cube <01) entry.
From the Data Editors panel, select the Tagging tab, and then
define Height Divisions and Depth Divisions (as shown).

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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING – DIVISIONS TAGGING

Particles inside the Cube have now been subdivided into 5 different axial divisions
based on their position at t=0s.
From the Coloring tab, under Faces, change the Property to be colored by the
Divisions Tagging entry you just created (as shown).

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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING – DIVISIONS TAGGING
Use the Data panel eye icons to hide Divisions Tagging(Cube <01>), hide Cube
<01>, and show Particles.
From the Data panel, select Particles.
From the Data Editors panel, select the Coloring tab, and then under Nodes, select
Division Tagging as the Property to be colored (as shown).
Notice how particles are distributed at the beginning of the simulation and advance in
time to observe mixing (as shown on the next slide).

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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING – DIVISIONS TAGGING

Observe mixing: Based upon the particles’ initial position (t=0), you can watch
how they move around the bed as time advances.

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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING – CREATING A NEW CUBE

Rather than looking at the entire bed as a whole, you can also focus your analysis on
a single segment.
For this analysis, we will create another Cube in the middle of the bed and visualize
how particles that originated from other segments are moved into that particular
segment over time.
To start this new analysis, do all of the following:
From the Time toolbar, select the very first timestep (0.00 s).
From the Data panel, right-click Particles, point to Processes, and then click Cube.
A new Cube <02> entry appears under User Processes on the Data panel.
With this new Cube entity selected, adjust it by following the instructions on next slide.

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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING – CREATING A NEW CUBE

From the Data Editors panel, select the Cube tab and then enter the Orientation,
Center, and Magnitude values (as shown).
This new Cube should encompass the 4th axial division and should therefore contain
only particles with Division Tagging equal to 4 at the beginning of the simulation.

Let’s verify.
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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING – CREATING A HISTOGRAM
From the Data panel, under User Processes, right-click Cube <02>, point to Show
in new, point to Histogram, and then select Divisions Tagging.
From the upper left of the Histogram <01> window, click the
Configure histogram button.
From the Configure Histogram dialog, define Number of Bins,
Percent Values, and Limits for the Divisions Tagging Property (as
shown). Click OK.
Note that at initial time (t=0), the 4th bin contains 100% of the particles.

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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING

Use the Time toolbar

to advance the time
and verify that particles
coming from different
initial positions move
into this second cube,
reducing the
percentage of particles
with tagging = 4.
Then, observe how
particles are distributed
at the final time step.
(Shown on next slide.)

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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING

At the final timestep (t=3), particles that originated from other divisions are more
evenly distributed into the 4th axial segment of the bed.

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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING – CREATING A PROPERTY

You can also use a Property User Process to further

visualize and calculate the number of particles that enter and
exit the segment of the bed we defined earlier (Cube <02>).
For this analysis, do all of the following:
From the Time toolbar, select the very first timestep (0.00 s).
From the Data panel, right-click Cube <02>, point to
Processes, and then click Property.

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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING – CREATING A PROPERTY

From the Data Editors panel, on the Property tab, define Property and Cut value
(as shown).
From the Data panel, use the eye icons to show only this new Property <01> entry.
View the 3D View window to see the changes.
Only the particles inside Cube <02> with Divisions Tagging equal to 4 (i.e., particles
that were located in the 4th axial layer at t=0s) are now shown.

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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING – CREATING A TIME PLOT

From the Data panel, right-click Cube <02>, point to Show in new, point to Time
Plot, and then select Particle Mass.
This creates a time plot of the total particle mass inside Cube <02> regardless
of the particles’ initial position at t=0.

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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING – CREATING A TIME PLOT

From the Data panel, right-click Property <01>, point to Show in current, point to
Time Plot, and then select Particles Mass.
The updated plot shows the total mass of particles that have the divisions tagging
equal to 4 inside the cube at each time step (orange), along with the total mass of
particles inside the cube (brown).
At the start of fluidization, particles in section 4 were pushed out of their initial region,
but moved back as time progressed and mixing continued.

TIP: Right-click the

plot and select By
Quantity (under Axis
Layout) to view the
plot as shown.

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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING – CREATING A TIME PLOT

From the upper left corner of the Time Plot window, select the Table tab, and then
click Add Formula.
In the Add Expression dialog, define Curve Caption and Curve Expression (as
shown).
Click OK.
This expression represents the ratio between the mass of particles that were
initially in the 4th axial bin (Tagging = 4) and the current mass of particles inside
that same bin area.

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ROCKY – POST-PROCESSING – CREATING A TIME PLOT

From the upper left corner of the Time Plot window, select the Plot tab and
observe how the mass fraction of particles with Tagging 4 inside the Cube <02>
has changed with time.

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HELP – USER MANUAL

This concludes Part C of this workshop.

For more information about the tagging and divisions tagging tools, review this
post on the customer portal: Tagging and Divisions Tagging.
For further information on any topic presented, we suggest searching the User
Manual, which provides in-depth descriptions of the tools and parameters.
To access it, from the main Toolbar click Help, point to Manuals, and then click
User Manual.

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HELP – USER MANUAL

In the User Manual, use the Search tab to quickly find the topic you are interested in:

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CONCLUSIONS

Rocky was used to post-process the Fluent Two-Way simulation that we ran in
Part B.
During this workshop, it was possible to:
Use the Particle Group property to analyze segregation.
Use User Processes and Divisions Tagging to analyze the mixing efficiency over
time in discrete areas of the particle bed.
What’s Next?
If you completed this workshop successfully, you are ready to move on to the next
workshop.

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