27-04-2023

Cross flow and free surface

flow over a cylinder using
OpenFOAM
Guided By, Presented by,
Dr. D. D. Ebenezer & Nazla Alwan P B
Mr. Akram P A S4 MTech CASAD
Reg No: 45721008
Dept.Of Ship Technology
Dept.of Ship Technology
CUSAT CUSAT
CONTENTS
▪ INTRODUCTION
▪ OBJECTIVE
▪ SCOPE
▪ METHODOLOGY
▪ SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEWS
▪ PRELIMINARY WORKS
▪ FLOW OVER FLAT PLATE
▪ 2D CROSS FLOW OVER A CIRCULAR CYLINDER
▪ CROSS FLOW OVER A CIRCULAR CYLINDER AT 100 TO 1e6 REYNOLDS
NUMBER
▪ FREE SURFACE FLOW WITHOUT BODY
▪ FREE SURFACE FLOW WITH A CIRCULAR CYLINDER

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INTRODUCTION
 What is cross flow?
• Flow of fluid normal to objects or groups of objects such as cylinders.
• A crossflow is usually considered an External Flow.
• For objects inside a duct, or groups of objects, there will be an overall pressure
gradient and the flow may have some features of an internal flow.
 What is free surface flow?
• Free surface flows are flows that involve a mobile interface between a liquid and
the surrounding immiscible atmosphere
• Computation of free surfaces is complex because of the continuous change in the
location of the interface
• Free surface flow problems are conducted to gain insight into flow physics to improve
designs, increase the efficiency and safety of marine vehicles

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INTRODUCTION
• Cross flow over a cylinder refers to the flow of a fluid across a cylinder that is oriented
perpendicular to the direction of the fluid flow
• OpenFOAM is a free, open source CFD software package that can be used to
simulate and analyze cross flow over a cylinder.
• Using OpenFOAM, complex flow patterns and forces that occur in cross flow over a
cylinder can be studied
• In free surface flow over a cylinder, the fluid is flowing over a cylinder that is
partially submerged in the fluid.
• The movement of the fluid surface, and the forces and flow patterns that result, can be
analyzed using OpenFOAM in a similar way as for cross flow over a cylinder.

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INTRODUCTION

Crossflow over the circular cylinder Free surface flow over a cylinder
(Source. White, 2011) domain

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OBJECTIVE
▪ To lay the foundation to study ship hydrodynamics using openfoam

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SCOPE
▪ Flow over flatplate

▪ Flow through the elbow

▪ Cross flow over the cylinder with 100 to 1e6 Reynolds number

▪ Steady flow over a cylinder.

▪ Free surface flow without body

▪ Free surface flow over a fixed cylinder

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METHODOLOGY
• Use open-source CFD software OpenFOAM to analyze the cross flow and free surface
flow.
• OpenFOAM release version V2106
• Numerical simulations are carried out using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

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SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW
 Researchers used various computational methods, such as RANS Navier-Stokes
equations and finite volume methods, as well as software tools such as ANSYS Fluent
and OpenFOAM.
 Some of the studies also focused on using mesh refinement to improve the accuracy of
the simulations.
 The research studies aimed to understand the forces acting on the bodies and the
reactions experienced by the bodies in the flow, and to improve the accuracy of
numerical simulations of fluid flow in different contexts.

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PRELIMINARY WORKS
• To familiarise the software: flow in an elbow as taken as an example, then from the
tutorial got a first hands-on glimpse into the workflow of cfd simulations with
OpenFOAM and learn about.
• The basic case setup of OpenFOAM
• Running the simulation of the flow in a 2d elbow case with three different meshes
• Elbow Tri-Mesh
• Elbow Quad-Mesh
• Elbow Quad-Refined

• As post-processing: Imported the simulation to paraview, extract data to make two

diagrams of pressure and velocity magnitude along a line between two tubes and did the
same for all three simulations.

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PRELIMINARY WORKS

Elbow Tri-Mesh Elbow Quad-Mesh

No of cells : 3290 No of cells: 8938

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PRELIMINARY WORKS

Elbow Quad-Refined
No of cells : 35522

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FLOW OVER FLAT PLATE
The flow is studied for 2 different flow conditions
• NASA turbulent flat plate validation benchmark (CFL3D and FUN3D).
• NASA turbulent flat plate validation benchmark using TCFD.
Condition 1
• NASA turbulent flat plate validation benchmark (CFL3D and FUN3D).
• Four cases of different near wall thickness is studied that is of 0.5 micron, 1 micron, 2
micron and 4 micron.

• No of cells remains the same

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FLOW OVER FLAT PLATE
Condition 2
• NASA turbulent flat plate validation benchmark using TCFD.
• Flow is studied for near wall thickness of 0.5 micron.

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GEOMETRY

2.25m

outlet
Inlet
1m

Flat plate

0.25m 2m

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MESH
Mesh is generated using the blockMeshDict in OpenFOAM

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BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
● Condition 1: NASA turbulent flat plate validation benchmark (CFL3D and FUN3D)
● Condition 2: NASA turbulent flat plate validation benchmark using TCFD

Condition 1: Condition 2:

Inlet velocity (m/s) 68.815 Inlet velocity (m/s) 50

Outlet pressure (Pa) 0 Outlet pressure (Pa) 0
No-slip condition at surface of flat plate No-slip condition at surface of flat plate

Medium used Air

Medium used Air
Kinematic viscosity 1.3728 E-5
(𝒎𝟐 /s) Kinematic viscosity (𝒎𝟐 /s) 1.5 E-5
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CONDITION 1
● NASA turbulent flat plate validation benchmark (CFL3D and FUN3D).
● Flow is studied for different near-wall thickness of 0.5 micron, 1 micron, 2 micron, and
4 micron
Grid size Adjacent wall Average 𝒀+
𝒘
layer
thickness (m)

225x97 0.5 x 10-6 0.04

(finest)

225x97 1 x 10-6 0.09

225x97 2 x 10-6 0.19

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225x97 4 x 10-6 0.37
VELOCITY CONTOUR
Inlet velocity (m/s) = 68.6m

Velocity contour for flat plate

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PRESSURE CONTOUR

Pressure contour for flat plate

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VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION
 Numerical analysis of the flat plate having 2m length, with a reference area of 2m2 , for
the given turbulent flow condition is compared with the analytical results for the same
conditions.

 Verification and validation are done for the following

● Wall shear stress
● Skin friction coefficient

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WALL SHEAR STRESS

Wall shear stress for turbulent condition

(analytical value)
1 6 13
0.0135𝜇7𝜌7 𝑈 7
𝜏𝑤 = 1 (white 2011)
𝑋7

𝜌 is the density = 1 kg/𝑚3

𝜇 =1.372e-5 Pa s

U= velocity

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ERROR % (WALL SHEAR STRESS)
Dist. Anyl. 0.5 micron 1 micron 2 micron 4 micron
from Wall
leading shear Num. Error Num. Error Num. Error Num. Error
edge stress value % value % value % value %
(m)
0.25 8.5507 7.7697 9.1342 7.7317 9.5788 7.6578 10.4425 7.6593 11.8267

0.5 7.7445 6.9834 9.8273 6.9523 10.2295 6.8963 11.303 6.7937 12.2775

0.75 7.3086 6.5766 10.015 6.5503 10.3772 6.4946 11.1384 6.4066 12.3423

1 7.0143 6.3114 10.215 6.2869 10.7312 6.2364 11.0911 6.1530 12.2799

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SKIN FRICTION
Skin friction (analytical value)
𝜏𝑤
𝐶𝑓 = 1
𝜌𝑈 2
2

𝜌 is the density = 1 kg/𝑚3

U= velocity

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ERROR %(SKIN FRICTION) WITH
ANALYTICAL VALUES

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ERROR % (SKIN FRICTION) WITH CFL3D

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ERROR % (SKIN FRICTION) WITH FUN3D

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𝑈 + 𝑌 + GRAPH
The velocity profiles in the boundary layer at distances of 0.5m, 0.97m and 1.5m from
the leading edge of the plate are plotted as non-dimensional velocities (u +) against
non-dimensional distances from wall to cell centroids (y +)
𝑈
 𝑈+ = 𝑈
𝜏

𝜏𝑤
 𝑈𝜏 = 𝜌

𝑈𝜏 𝑌
 𝑌+ = 𝜈

Where,

U = X – component of velocity

𝜏𝑤 = Wall shear stress

ρ = density of fluid

Y = distance from wall to cell centroid

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ν= kinematic viscosity
 + +
𝑈 𝑌 GRAPH
 Condition 1

0.5 micron mesh 1 micron mesh

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𝑈 + 𝑌 + GRAPH
 Condition 1

2 micron mesh 4 micron mesh

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CONCLUSION FOR FLAT PLATE
CONDITION 1
 The simulations over all 4 different meshing schemes are generated.
 Values are getting more accurate as the mesh adjacent wall thickness gets smaller.
 O.5 micron mesh is selected for the stimulation of NASA TCFD problem.

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FLAT PLATE CONDITION 2
 NASA turbulent flat plate validation benchmark using TCFD.
 Flow is studied for a near wall thickness of 0.5 micron(lesser error from previous study)
 The geometry is created using blockMeshDict in OpenFOAM.

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BOUNDARY
Flow Steady

Viscous regime Turbulent

Governing equation RANS

Turbulent Model k-omega SST

Inlet velocity (m/s) 50

Outlet pressure (Pa) 0

Kinematic viscosity (𝒎𝟐 /s) 1.5 E-5

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WALL SHEAR STRESS

1 6 13
0.0135𝜇7𝜌7 𝑈 7
𝜏𝑤 = 1 (white 2011)
𝑋7

𝜌 is the density = 1 kg/𝑚3

𝜇 =1.372e-5 Pa s

U= velocity

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ERROR % (WALL SHEAR STRESS)

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SKIN FRICTION

𝜏𝑤
𝐶𝑓 = 1
𝜌𝑈 2
2

𝜌 is the density = 1 kg/𝑚3

U= velocity

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ERROR %(SKIN FRICTION) WITH
ANALYTICAL VALUES

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𝑈 + 𝑌 + GRAPH
 Condition 2

0.5 micron mesh

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CONCLUSION (FLAT PLATE)
 The flow was studied for two conditions and was verified and validated with analytical
values and benchmarks by NASA.
 It was found that the mesh with a lower wall adjacent layer thickness of 0.5 microns
gives the most accurate value in all.
 The results of wall shear stress and skin friction is valid with the NASA TCFD results.

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2D CROSS FLOW OVER A CIRCULAR
CYLINDER

Rectangular domain for the cylinder.

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MESH
 Mesh is generated using blockMechDict in openFOAM.
 To generate the domain using blockMeshDict in OpenFOAM, the domain is divided
into six parts
 Maximum size of wall adjacent layer is found to be 2.37e-05 m.

Dividing the computational domain into 6 blocks 41

MESH
 The blocks on the both upstream and downstream side is divided into 30 divisions.
 The middle portion of the domain is made of four blocks.
 The domain around the cylinder surface is divided into concentric rings.
 Radial direction it is divided into 30 divisions.
 In radial segments from the cylinder surface to the end of the block is divided by the
simpleGrading of 350

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CONDITIONS FOR SIMULATION OF
CIRCULAR CYLINDER CROSS FLOW
Conditions for simulation of cylinder cross flow
Domain 2D
Fluid Incompressible air
Type Turbulent
Flow k-omega SST
Re 1e6
Density of fluid 1.2kg/𝑚3
Dynamic viscosity of the 1.8e-5 Pa s
fluid (μ)
Kinematic viscosity of the 1.5e-5 m2/s
fluid (ν)
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Solver SimpleFoam
PRESSURE CONTOURS

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VELOCITY CONTOURS

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DRAG ON CYLINDER CROSS FLOW
Pressure Viscous Total drag Coefficient Coefficient Coefficient
drag (N) drag (N) (N) of pressure of frictional of total drag
drag (for drag (for (for
reference reference reference
frontal area frontal area frontal area
of 1𝑚2 ) of 1𝑚2 ) of 1𝑚2 )
48.011 1.105 49.1166 0.416 0.001 0.424

• Catalano et al (2003) from his studies got a 𝐶𝑑 value of 0.39 for RANS.
• It has an error percentage of 7.6.

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SIZES OF WALL ADJACENT CELLS
CYLINDER CROSS FLOW

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PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION ON THE
CYLINDER

p−p∞
Pressure coefficient, Cp= 1
2
ρU2

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SKIN FRICTION DISTRIBUTION ON THE
CYLINDER

𝛕
Skin friction coefficient, 𝐶𝑓 = 1 w2
2
ρU

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WALL SHEAR STRESS ON CYLINDER
WALL

X-wall shear stress on cylinder wall Y-wall shear stress on cylinder wall

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COMPARISON WITH STAR-CCM+ RESULTS

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CONCLUSION

 Steady flow around a cylinder has been conducted for a Reynolds number 1e6.
 It was conducted to study the meshing details and also the geometry
 The obtained values are in good agreement and with results of Catalano and
STAR-CCM+ results.

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CROSS FLOW OVER A CIRCULAR CYLINDER
AT 100 TO 1e6 REYNOLDS NUMBER

 Flow over cylinder with the following Reynolds number was stimulated
 100, 1000,1e4,1e5,1e6.
ρ𝑣𝑑
 Re =
μ
 Here ρ, 𝑑, μ values are fixed.
 ρ = 1.2 kg/𝑚3 for air and ρ = 998.21 kg/𝑚3
 Velocity values are changed to stimulate the results in different Reynolds number.
 Velocities of 0.0015m/s, 0.015m/s, 0.15m/s, 1.5m and 15m/s are used to simulate flow in
case of air.
 Velocities of 0.0001004 m/s, 0.001004m/s, 0.01004m/s, 0.1004m/s, 1.004m/s are used to
simulate flow in case of water.

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CONDITIONS FOR SIMULATION OF
CYLINDER IN WATER AND AIR

Conditions of simulation in air Conditions of simulation in water

Density of fluid 1.2(kg/𝑚3 ) Density of fluid 998.21(kg/𝑚3 )

Dynamic viscosity 1.8e-5(Pa s) Dynamic viscosity 0.001002(Pa s)

Kinematic viscosity 1.5e-5(m2/s) Kinematic viscosity 1.0034e-6(m2/s)

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DRAG COEFFICIENT ON CIRCULAR CYLINDER IN
CROSS FLOW AT DIFFERENT REYNOLDS
NUMBER
Coefficient of drag dependence on Re
Re 𝐶𝑑 value 𝐶𝑑 value STAR- 𝐶𝑑 Openfoam 𝐶𝑑 Openfoam
CCM+
(Yuce & (Hoerner results (air) (water)
Kareem 2016) 1965)
(Josna 2022)
100 1.24 1.15 1.14 1.23
1000 1.31 1 0.82 0.8438 0.844
1e4 0.89 1.05 0.78 0.799 0.796
1e5 0.64 1.4 0.583 0.6055 0.6096
1e6 0.51 0.38 0.395 0.424 0.439
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CONCLUSION
 The cross flow over a cylinder at different Reynolds numbers for OpeFOAM is
studied in air and water medium.
 𝐶𝑑 values obtained for both air and water is almost similar.

 When comparing the obtained results with that of Hoerner (1965), Yuce & Kareem
(2016) and Josna (2022) the results are almost in agreement.

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FREE SURFACE FLOW WITHOUT BODY
 A rectangular domain of 4m in height and 8m in length is considered.
 A layer of water 2 m deep and air 2 m deep above the water surface are created.
 The air and water are each 8 m in length.

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CONDITIONS FOR SIMULATION OF FREE
SURFACE
Domain 2D
Fluid Type
Liquid Density -999.1026 kg/m3

-dynamic viscosity-0.00114
Air --Density -1.225 kg/m3

-Dynamic viscosity-1.802 e-5

Flow Steady state
Viscous regime Multiphase flow
Input conditions Inflow- Velocity inlet: 1 (m/s)

Outflow -Pressure outlet: 0 [Pa]

Solver kω- SST
Governing equation RANS
Software SimpleFoam
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MESH
 Mesh is generated using blockMeshDict in OpenFOAM

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CONCLUSION OF FREE SURFACE FLOW

 Free surface flow is generated using OpenFOAM.

 Mesh is generated and flow conditions are inputted.
 In the next scope free surface flow with a circular cylinder is studied

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FREE SURFACE FLOW WITH A CIRCULAR
CYLINDER
 A cylinder of diameter 1 m in a rectangular domain is placed at its center.
 A layer of water 2 m deep and air of 2 m deep above the water surface are created.
 Both air and water are of 8 m length.

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MESH FOR FREE SURFACE FLOW OVER
CYLINDER
• Mesh is generated using blockMeshDict in OpenFOAM

• To capture the free surface a refined mesh is needed at the free

surface
• It is made using topoSetDict.

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MESH FOR FREE SURFACE FLOW OVER
CYLINDER

Mesh with refinement at free surface

63
RESIDUAL GRAPH FOR FREE SURFACE
FLOW OVER CYLINDER

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PRESSURE CONTOUR

65
VELOCITY CONTOUR

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RESULTS OF FREE SURFACE FLOW OVER A
CYLINDER.
Sum of forces x-direction y-direction z-direction

Total force 29.5644 348.841 3.663e-14

Pressure force 29.5263 348.866 3.6648e-14
Viscous force 0.01345 -0.024 -1.706e-17

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CONCLUSION OF FREE SURFACE FLOW OVER
CYLINDER
 Free surface flow over a cylinder was studied.
 Meshing is done and velocity contour and pressure contour are obtained.

68
CONCLUSION
 In the case of flow over a flat plate the simulations over all 4 different meshing schemes
are generated.
 Mesh with a lower wall adjacent layer thickness of 0.5 microns gives the most accurate
value in all and was used in condition 2.
 Results of wall shear stress and skin friction is valid with the NASA TCFD results.
 In case of cross flow over the cylinder 𝐶𝑑 values obtained for both air and water is
almost similar.
 When comparing the obtained results with that of Hoerner (1965), Yuce & Kareem
(2016) and Josna (2022) the results are almost in agreement.
 In the case of free surface flow over a cylinder, the presence of the air-water interface
introduces additional complexity to the flow.
 The mesh and flow conditions for free surface flow was generated
 The simulations using OpenFOAM provide valuable insights into the flow
characteristics of cross flow and free surface flow over a cylinder.
69
REFERENCES
 Yuce, M.I. and Kareem, D.A., 2016. A numerical analysis of fluid flow around circular
and square cylinders. Journal‐American Water Works Association, 108(10), pp.E546-
E554.
 Catalano,P., Wang, M., Iaccarino, G., Moin, P. (2003). Numerical simulation of the flow
around a circular cylinder at high Reynolds numbers. International Journal of Heat and
Fluid Flow, 24 pp.463–469.
 Cheeseman, I.C., 1976. Fluid-Dynamic Drag: Practical Information on Aerodynamic
Drag and Hydrodynamic Resistance. SF Hoerner. Hoerner Fluid Dynamics, Brick
Town, New Jersey. 1965. 455 pp. Illustrated. $24.20. The Aeronautical
Journal, 80(788), pp.371-371.
 Kumar, A.S., Singh, A., Gaur, N. and Kannan, B.T., 2020, November. Study of various
mesh strategies for flow over a square cylinder using OpenFOAM®. In AIP Conference
Proceedings (Vol. 2277, No. 1, p. 230001). AIP Publishing LLC.
 Ozaki, H. and Aoyagi, T., 2022. Prediction of steady flows passing fixed cylinders
using deep learning. Scientific reports, 12(1), pp.1-12.
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REFERENCES
 Hoerner SF. (1965). Fluid-dynamic drag: practical information on aerodynamic drag
and hydrodynamic resistance. 2nd ed. Author. Bakersfield, CA: Hoerner Fluid
Dynamics.
 ITTC Recommended Procedures and Guidelines- Fresh Water and Seawater Properties,
(2011).Report No.7.5-02 -01-03 , Rev.02
 Rakesh M. S. (2022), CFD analysis of flow around a ship hull to estimate viscous
resistance. M-Tech Thesis. Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi.
 Josna John (2022), CFD analysis of flow over a deeply submerged spade rudder at zero
angle of attack. M-Tech Thesis. Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi.
 Anjali Krishna. C.(2022), CFD analysis of free surface flows. M-Tech Thesis. Cochin
University of Science and Technology, Kochi.

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Thank you

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