Ansys Forte Best Practices

Forte Best Practices
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Table of Contents
1. Forte Best Practices Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1
2. Best Practices .......................................................................................................................................... 3
2.1. Operating Environment .................................................................................................................... 3
2.2. DI Diesel Engine Case (Typically, Sector Mesh) ................................................................................... 3
2.2.1. Initial Set-up ............................................................................................................................ 3
2.2.1.1. Sector Mesh Generation .................................................................................................. 3
2.2.1.1.1. Bowl Profile ............................................................................................................ 4
2.2.1.1.2. Topology Selection, Mesh Control Points, and Size Parameters ................................. 4
2.2.1.2. Evaluating Initial (IVC) Gas Composition ........................................................................... 5
2.2.1.2.1. Initial (IVC) NOx for High EGR Cases ......................................................................... 5
2.2.1.3. Fuel Mass for Direct Injection Cases .................................................................................. 6
2.2.2. Basic Calibration Procedures ..................................................................................................... 6
2.2.2.1. IVC Pressure and Temperature ......................................................................................... 6
2.2.2.2. Injection Timing .............................................................................................................. 7
2.2.3. Advanced Calibration ............................................................................................................... 7
2.2.4. Comparing to Experimental Data .............................................................................................. 9
2.2.4.1. Calculating Apparent Heat Release Rate from Experimental Pressure ................................ 9
2.2.4.2. Read Data Arrays into Forte Monitor ............................................................................... 10
2.2.4.3. Review Spray Behavior ................................................................................................... 10
2.2.4.4. Emissions and Performance Data ................................................................................... 11
2.2.4.4.1. Conversion to Mass per Time Units ........................................................................ 11
2.3. Setting Up Automatic Mesh Generation Cases With Valve Motion ..................................................... 12
2.3.1. Read In and Process the Surface Mesh .................................................................................... 12
2.3.1.1. Selecting the Source of Surface Meshes ......................................................................... 12
2.3.1.2. Splitting the Geometry .................................................................................................. 13
2.3.1.3. Normals ........................................................................................................................ 15
2.3.2. Set Up Mesh Size and Mesh Refinement .................................................................................. 15
2.3.2.1. Material Point ................................................................................................................ 15
2.3.2.2. Global Mesh Size ........................................................................................................... 16
2.3.2.3. Mesh Refinement .......................................................................................................... 16
2.3.2.4. Modeling the Crevice ..................................................................................................... 20
2.3.2.5. Modeling Sector Geometry Using Automatic Mesh Generation ...................................... 20
2.3.2.6. Multi-Cylinder Simulations ............................................................................................. 21
2.3.3. Models ................................................................................................................................... 21
2.3.3.1. Turbulence Model .......................................................................................................... 21
2.3.3.2. Flame Speed Model for SI Engine Simulations ................................................................ 21
2.3.3.2.1. SAM Settings for Flame Propagation ...................................................................... 24
2.3.3.3. Spray Model .................................................................................................................. 25
2.3.3.3.1. SAM Settings for Spray Vaporization ...................................................................... 26
2.3.3.4. Spark Model .................................................................................................................. 26
2.3.3.5. Soot Model .................................................................................................................... 26
2.3.4. Boundary Conditions ............................................................................................................. 27
2.3.4.1. Boundary Profiles .......................................................................................................... 27
2.3.4.2. Valves ............................................................................................................................ 27
2.3.4.3. Valve Angles .................................................................................................................. 28
2.3.4.4. Valve Lift ....................................................................................................................... 28
2.3.4.5. Movement Type ............................................................................................................. 29
2.3.5. Initial Conditions .................................................................................................................... 29
2.3.5.1. Initialization Order ......................................................................................................... 30
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Best Practices
2.3.5.2. Simulation Controls ....................................................................................................... 30

2.3.5.3. Output Controls ............................................................................................................ 33
2.3.5.4. Preview Simulation ........................................................................................................ 33
2.3.5.5. Forte Engine Simulation Checklist .................................................................................. 33
2.4. Setting Up Two-stroke Engine Cases ................................................................................................ 34
2.4.1. Piston/Cylinder Wall Gap ........................................................................................................ 34
2.4.2. Locating the Piston and Defining Motion ................................................................................ 37
2.4.3. Surface Mesh Topology and Other Considerations .................................................................. 39
2.4.4. Runtime Port Open/Close Considerations ............................................................................... 40
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List of Figures
2.1. Sector mesh bowl profile and topology control points ............................................................................. 5
2.2. STL dialog when reading STL files into Forte .......................................................................................... 14
2.3. Green region is the valve, pink is the port. Note the donut surface around the intersection of the two ..... 14
2.4. Suggested refinements for typical engine cases ..................................................................................... 17
2.5. SAM control for resolving flow fields ...................................................................................................... 18
2.6. SAM control for resolving reactive regions ............................................................................................. 19
2.7. Turbulent flame-speed input parameters ............................................................................................... 22
2.8. Example of a Flame Library for a TRF gasoline ........................................................................................ 23
2.9. SAM settings for flame propagation ...................................................................................................... 24
2.10. Copy and Paste buttons located at the top of Editor panels .................................................................. 25
2.11. SAM settings for spray vaporization ..................................................................................................... 26
2.12. Valve stem split off from the valve face ................................................................................................ 27
2.13. Valve tilt angles ................................................................................................................................... 28
2.14. Indicating the marker point location for a region ................................................................................. 30
2.15. Turbulent Kinetics Interaction Model (TKI) panel .................................................................................. 31
2.16. Dynamic Adaptive Chemistry (DAC) panel ........................................................................................... 32
2.17. Sample geometry with gap demonstration .......................................................................................... 35
2.18. Gap too large ...................................................................................................................................... 35
2.19. Gap too small ..................................................................................................................................... 36
2.20. Acceptable gap ................................................................................................................................... 36
2.21. Mismatch in angular resolution causing self-intersections .................................................................... 37
2.22. BDC position translated to TDC ............................................................................................................ 38
2.23. Motion Type set as Sliding Interface ..................................................................................................... 39
2.24. Directions of normal vectors ............................................................................................................... 39
2.25. Geometry with enclosed piston ........................................................................................................... 40
2.26. Geometry with moveable piston ......................................................................................................... 40
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List of Tables
2.1. Parameters providing secondary impacts on engine behavior ................................................................. 7
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Chapter 1: Forte Best Practices Introduction
Ansys Forte best practices are presented in this book on these topics:
• Diesel engine simulation
• Automatic mesh generation (AMG)
• Two-stroke engine simulation
Further information about Ansys Forte is available in the Forte Quick Start Guide, Forte User's Guide,
Forte Theory Manual, and Forte Tutorials. Documentation and tutorials are availalable from the Ansys
Help site.
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 1
2 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
Chapter 2: Best Practices
This chapter presents the current best practice recommendations for Ansys Forte, covering the following
topics:
2.1. Operating Environment
2.2. DI Diesel Engine Case (Typically, Sector Mesh)
2.3. Setting Up Automatic Mesh Generation Cases With Valve Motion
2.4. Setting Up Two-stroke Engine Cases
2.1. Operating Environment

For specific hardware and operating system specifications, see the Platform Support page at ansys.com.
Recommended configurations for Ansys Forte installations:
• For chemistry-intensive simulations with a large mechanism (>300 species), we recommend 8–16
CPUs per job.
• Processor: 64-bit with recommended memory. Intel is recommended over AMD. The faster the pro-
cessor, the better.
• Memory: 6 GB per core.
• Parallel operation: Intel MPI is required; MPICH2 may be compatible but is untested and is not officially
supported.
• A large hard disk is required for saving solution files.
2.2. DI Diesel Engine Case (Typically, Sector Mesh)
2.2.1. Initial Set-up

• Units:
Pay special attention to units. Be sure you enter units correctly as specified for the case, and do all
the conversions correctly or allow the Simulation Interface to convert values for you whenever
possible.
2.2.1.1. Sector Mesh Generation
These comments apply to using the Sector Mesh Generator , which opens into its own window
from the Geometry Editor panel.
Best Practices
2.2.1.1.1. Bowl Profile

Obtain the bowl profile data. Sometimes these are given in the form of spline segments that
have been extracted from CAD drawings or another mesh. You must order these coordinate
points and then convert these to X, Z pairs. The X-Z coordinate frame must be defined as follows:
1. X is the radial direction from the center axis of the cylinder toward the cylinder wall (liner).
A value of X=0 is at the cylinder center axis. At the cylinder wall, the value of X should be
Bore/2.
2. Z is the vertical distance from the face of the piston lip in the direction of the cylinder head.
The value of Z=0 must be at the outer edge of the piston face (closest to the cylinder wall).
Z coordinates into the piston bowl will be negative.
3. The first point in the bowl profile should be the outer point on the piston face nearest to the
cylinder wall (Z=0, X= Bore/2 - crevice_width). If the X coordinate is smaller than Bore/2 -
crevice_width, the mesh generator will automatically extend the profile to this point. The ac-
tual first point will be set to (Z=0, X= Bore/2 - crevice_width).
4. If you have no information about the crevice, start with the default crevice values (1 cm long,
0.1 cm wide).
Note that the “crevice width” cannot be set to 0, even if the Include crevice volume option
is unchecked. Similarly, the radial cell count corresponding to the crevice width cannot be
0. In other words, even if you do not want to include the crevice block, the topological block
above the crevice must always be retained.
If you do not want to mesh the crevice volume, the Include crevice volume option should
be unchecked, and the Axial cell count corresponding to the crevice volume should be set
to 0.
Only include points that describe the profile from the piston face outer edge to the tip of the
bowl at the center axis. Do not include points on the cylinder head.
The Sector Mesh Generator will assume a flat cylinder head. If this is not desired, you must gen-
erate the mesh using ICEM CFD or K3PREP, or consider using a 360° mesh instead of a sector
mesh. Forte also is able to model sector engine geometry using Automatic Mesh Generation,
which can also handle sector geometry with a non-flat cylinder head.
2.2.1.1.2. Topology Selection, Mesh Control Points, and Size Parameters

Once you have defined and saved the profile, the next step is to determine which topology is
most appropriate for your profile. Look at the different topology options and select the one that
looks the most like yours.
Determining Mesh Control Points and Size Parameters is an iterative trial-and-error process. The
Mesh Control Point “fractions” are fractional distances along the entire length of the bowl profile.
So if you think about stretching out the profile into a straight line and scaling it to a distance of
1.0, the control-point location parameters are the distance where each control point lies along
this line, starting from the outer edge (Z=0, X=Bore/2-crevice_width). Make your best guesses,
since it is easy and quick to iterate once you create an initial mesh. For example, for Topology
#1, you might have 0.25,0.3,0.4, 0.7, for your starting locations for Control Points 1,2,3,4, respect-
ively.
DI Diesel Engine Case (Typically, Sector Mesh)
Cell counts are estimated based on trying to make the side size of any cell somewhere between
1 and 2 mm, where ~1.3 would be better for production runs, but ~2 might be better for initial
setup verification (that is, the coarser mesh will run faster).
Figure 2.1: Sector mesh bowl profile and topology control points
2.2.1.2. Evaluating Initial (IVC) Gas Composition

Use the Composition Calculator utility to calculate the following compositions:
1. Intake port/inlet composition for engine cases with valves and ports.
2. Exhaust port initial composition for engines cases with valves and ports.
3. In-cylinder initial composition at IVC for engine cases that are in-cylinder only.
The Composition Calculator can be accessed from the Utility menu or the Composition Calculator
button on the toolbar. Please refer to the Forte User's Guide, for further details of how to use
the Composition Calculator utility.
2.2.1.2.1. Initial (IVC) NOx for High EGR Cases

When high EGR is present and the engine is expected to generate a lot of NOx in the engine-out
exhaust, then it may be necessary to adjust the initial gas composition to include some small
Best Practices
fraction of NO in the initial conditions. This can be important as significant amounts of NO (that
is, greater than ~50 ppm) can impact the ignition process through NOx-fuel sensitization effects.
In addition, with high EGR, the presence of NOx in the exhaust can feed back to the overall
measured exhaust of NO.
The molecular weight of NO (30 g/mole) is about the same as air or vitiated air (~29 g/mole). For
this reason, adding 25 ppm (0.000025 mole fraction) of NO is approximately equivalent to adding
0.000025 mass fraction. For a more exact calculation, you would need to convert the mass fractions
of the initial composition to mole fractions, add the ppm NOx, re-normalize, then convert back
to mass fractions.
2.2.1.3. Fuel Mass for Direct Injection Cases

Ansys Forte requires the total mass of fuel injected, which is assumed to be per cylinder, and per
cycle. In contrast, often the data available is per engine or per stroke. If data are provided per engine,
then you need to divide by the number of engine cylinders for the input to Forte. If the data is
provided per stroke, then the conversion is as follows:
If the per-stroke fuel data [mg/stroke] is given for one cylinder, then the Forte input is:
Injected fuel mass [mg/cycle/cylinder] = fuel [mg/stroke/cylinder] * <number of strokes(4 or 2)>
If the per-stroke fuel data [mg/stroke] is for the whole engine, that is, for a multi-cylinder engine,
then the input to Forte is:
2.2.2. Basic Calibration Procedures
2.2.2.1. IVC Pressure and Temperature

With IVC pressures and temperatures, there are typically uncertainties in these values. The temper-
ature value is typically a derived value, based on the measured pressure, mass of air + EGR in the
cylinder at IVC, and the ideal-gas relation. The pressure measured at IVC has higher uncertainty
than the pressure measured after compression has begun, prior to fuel injection. For this reason,
the standard procedure is to do one round of iteration to determine the pressure, as follows:
1. Use the given initial Pand T and run the case to ~2 CA before start of injection.
2. Compare the predicted pressure profile up to this point with the measured values. If the pressure
is too low or too high just before start of injection (SOI), adjust the IVC pressure value. However,
this adjustment should be no more than ~3 PSI, which is less than ~0.2 bar.
3. Since the measured temperature is derived from the pressure and it is important to keep the
total mass in the system consistent with measured values, also scale up the IVC temperature
according to the adjustment made to pressure. In other words, if you change the initial pressure
from 1.0 bar to 1.1 bar, also increase the initial temperature by a factor of 1.1 (that is, if it was
400 K, it should now be 440 K).
2.2.2.2. Injection Timing

Possibly due to inadequacies of the surrogate-fuel model used, adjusting the injection timing as
much as ~1–2 degrees CA to get reasonable timing for ignition is considered acceptable. The total
mass of the fuel into the system, however, is accurately measured, as is the total air in the system,
so these should not be adjusted. The main reason to make this adjustment is for comparison of
emissions (in addition to ignition) with a focus on trends, rather than just seeking how well a par-
ticular mechanism provides ignition. Note that if you do not have the pressure trace close to
agreement with experiment, there is little reason to compare emissions, because they will be at
least as wrong as the pressure profile (which is an indicator of the temperature profile in the simu-
lation).
The best way to judge the injection timing is to compare the heat-release rate between prediction
and experiment. Both are usually derived from the pressure trace, but this comparison shows more
clearly the ignition timing than the pressure trace itself. The initial ignition behavior will be strongly
dependent on the injection timing. The following adjustments may be acceptable:
1. If your heat-release peak is shifted by a couple of crank angle degrees relative to experiment,
then you can shift the SOI of injection accordingly. This assumes that the width of the HRR curve
is about the same as the data.
2. If the predicted HRR curve shows a higher peak and skinnier profile than the data, you might
need to adjust the duration of injection. (Or, conversely, a low peak with an overly fat HRR may
need a shorter duration.)
3. If there are multiple injection events, then this problem becomes more complicated. You may
be able to see the HRR signature from the different injections, depending on how much heat
is released as a result, but it may be hard to justify independently moving one peak relative to
another or changing fuel splits. One would expect that the timing delay between actuator and
fuel injection would not be different for different injection events, so the safest bet would usually
be to shift all events together.
2.2.3. Advanced Calibration

In general, we don't want to be calibrating beyond the basics. However, it is possible that some of
the standard spray or turbulence parameters might need to be adjusted in the case of the engine
conditions or fuel properties being outside of conventional heavy-duty diesel-engine operation. Only
a few such parameters typically have noticeable impact on the results. The following provide some
guidelines as to the effects to expect and the degree to which a parameter has an impact on the
observed engine behavior. Here the degree of the effect (High, Medium, Low) indicates the effect
relative to other parameters listed. All of these parameters have a secondary, minor effect compared
to the basic calibration described above. Note that while the Discharge Coefficient has the largest
effect of these, it may not be considered an "adjustable" parameter, if some attempt has been made
to estimate it based on a nozzle-flow model, for example.
Table 2.1: Parameters providing secondary impacts on engine behavior
Typical observed effect of

increasing this parameter on:
Best Practices
Relative Parameter Recommended Default Physical effect of Peak Expansion Ignition

effect label range value increase pressure pressure timing
(H,M,L)
H Nozzle 0.7–1.0 0.7 Decreases the -- Lower Delayed;
Discharge injection velocity; lower
Coefficient increases initial HRR
droplet size. Effect slope
on droplet size is
typically
dominant, which
leads to slower
vaporization rate,
delayed ignition.
M to RT Distance 1.7–2.5 1.9 Delays secondary -- -- Delayed
H Factor breakup and
therefore
vaporization
M KH Time 20–80 40 Delays spray -- -- Delayed;
constant breakup near lower
nozzle HRR
slope
M Entrainment 0.3–0.7 0.5 Enhances Lower Lower Lower
constant entrainment of air slope of
into fuel jet HRR
M Fuel droplet 350–500 400 Increases enthalpy Increase Increase Earlier;
temperature of fuel jet Increase
(K) HRR
slope
L KH size 1.0 1.0 Delays spray -- -- --
constant breakup near
nozzle
L RT size 0.1–0.2 0.15 Delays breakup -- -- --
constant away from nozzle
L RT time 1.0 1.0 “” -- -- --
constant
L Collision 0.2 0.2 Collision model -- -- --
radius of range
influence
L Cylinder head -- -- Could reduce -- -- --
temperature liquid on head
L Chemistry Defaults 10 K, Resolution of -- -- --
solver: DCC 0.05 clusters
parameters phi
L # Particles 2000–5000 2000 Resolution of -- -- --
injected per droplets
nozzle hole
2.2.4. Comparing to Experimental Data
2.2.4.1. Calculating Apparent Heat Release Rate from Experimental Pressure

Ansys Forte will calculate apparent heat-release rate automatically from the predicted pressure
profile. This data is stored in the Forte solution file as Net HRR. In some cases, however, the exper-
imental data provided only include the pressure measurement and not the derived heat-release
rate. In other cases the heat-release rate is provided, but because there are some uncertainties in
how that data was derived from the pressure profile, it may be better to calculate it so that the
method is consistent with the model data and the comparison between simulation and experimental
data is consistent.
The HRR profile can be calculated directly from the pressure vs. CA data in Excel, using the following
formulation:
Here Q is the heat-release, and is the heat-release rate, which is usually desired in J/degree
units. CA is the crank-angle, gamma is the specific heat ratio of the gas, which we take to be 1.35,
V is the in-cylinder volume, and p is pressure. Note that Forte uses this same formula in the calcu-
lation of the HRR in the thermo.csv file.
If the volume of the chamber is not available, it can be calculated from the crank angle and engine
parameters. First calculate the position of the piston, which will require the connecting-rod length
(L) and the crank radius (R). Then, use that along with the engine Bore and the clearance volume
to calculate the total volume in the cylinder at each crank angle. The calculations are as follows:
1. Piston position, is defined as follows:
2. Volume can then be calculated as:
3. At the first CA point: dQ=0
4. At CA point n, where n = 1, .., last:
5. Be careful with unit conversions! …It’s a good idea to compare the calculated volume
profile with that calculated by Forte to make sure no mistakes have been made in steps
1 & 2.
Note: You can create a placeholder thermo.csv in a folder that resides as a parallel-level directory
to your run directory and put the CA vs. AHRR data into that file for direct comparisons during run-
time using the Monitor plotting. For example, create a directory called xData_Run1 and place it
Best Practices
in the same parent directory of the Run001 directory, then copy any thermo.csv file into the
xData_Run1 folder; edit it and replace the CA, P, and AHRR columns with the experimental data
(with the units expected in thermo.csv), but zero out all other columns. Now your plot will show
your run-time comparison in the Monitor window.
2.2.4.2. Read Data Arrays into Forte Monitor

Once you have the Pressure and HRR data in Excel, you can easily import it into the Ansys Forte
Monitor for direct comparisons with predictions. First, create a separate sheet that has just the
values of CA, P, V, and HRR in separate columns. Create column headers that indicate the label and
give the units in Forte-recognizable units-strings. These could be, for example:
1. Crank angle (deg)
2. Pressure (MPa)
3. In-cylinder volume (cm3)
4. Apparent heat release rate (J/deg)
With the columns of data set up in this way, save the sheet as a comma-separated-values text file
(.csv) using Excel’s “save as … other format” option and name it thermo.csv.
From the Ansys Forte Monitor, you can now read the data. To compare them against the simulated
results, create an empty file named MONITOR and place it next to the newly modified .csv files.
Group them in a folder and place it next to the Nominal folder of your simulation. Next, launch
Forte Monitor and choose the working directory as the one containing the two sets of results. Allow
the software to read the labels from the CSV file. It will parse the unit strings in parentheses and
then will know the units context, so that conversions can be made using the Units Preferences
options.
2.2.4.3. Review Spray Behavior

To make sure everything was set up correctly, always review the spray injection and vaporization
behavior in a visualization tool, such as Ansys EnSight. Make sure that the injection timing aligns
with the SOI/DOI values provided in the setup, and that the spray is pointed into the piston bowl.
For a "good engine" we’d expect the combustion to be taking place primarily in the bowl and that
the droplets are getting consumed before they hit the wall. If spray seems to be impinging on the
wall (undesirable) this could point to issues with the spray model, such as the discharge coefficient
being too high, for example. If spray droplets are migrating out of the bowl and persisting into the
expansion stroke, then the vaporization or fuel model may not be the best for this case. While it is
possible these types of phenomena are real, it is good to first check whether inputs are reasonable
and that the results are not sensitive to some estimated parameter.
Another good check is to confirm that the total mass of fuel injected, as reported at the end of the
Forte log file, matches the value input in the spray injection data. This should be the total fuel in-
jected for all nozzles (that is, not just the one nozzle represented in the sector), since that is what
is measured and Forte takes care of the periodicity internally.
2.2.4.4. Emissions and Performance Data

The emissions and engine-performance data can be found in summary form at the end of the
FORTE.log file in the working directory of each run directory. Since these are single-point data,
they are not otherwise accessible from a visualization tool. The Forte log contains the following
example of summary data:
• IMEP (Indicated Mean Effective Pressure)
1. ISFC (Indicated Specific Fuel Consumption)
2. Thermal Efficiency
3. Emissions indices for NOx, CO, UHC (unburned hydrocarbons), and soot, in the units of g/kg-
fuel. These values are at the end of simulation, usually exhaust-valve opening, so they are
engine-out conditions, not exhaust-system-out.
In addition, species emissions in the units of PPM can be determined from the molefraction.csv
file found in the working directory of each parameter-study run. To get EVO emissions numbers,
scroll down to the EVO crank angle (last row) and then go to the column for the molecule of interest.
Note that the fraction of NOx is the sum of the fractions of NO + NO2. PPM is 106 times mole
fraction.
Note that, for an in-cylinder-only simulation, the IMEP and ISFC are calculated based on integrating
the P-V curve for the compression and expansion strokes (that is, -180 CA ATDC to 180 CA ATDC,
where 0 CA ATDC is the firing TDC), which is different from what is measured. Typically, an in-cylinder-
only simulation starts from IVC and ends at EVO. The P-V curve between IVC and EVO is integrated
directly. The integrations for “-180 CA ATDC to IVC” and “EVO to 180 CA ATDC” are approximated.
For example, the work for “EVO to 180 CA ATDC” is approximated as 0.5*(PIVC+PEVO)*(VEVO-VBDC),
in which PIVC and PEVO are the pressures at IVC and EVO, respectively; VEVO and VBDC are the volumes
at EVO and BDC, respectively. Also, measurements are usually based on brake power, rather than
indicated power. So we expect these to be approximate rather than an exact match, relative to the
data; however, we do expect the predicted results to follow the correct trends.
2.2.4.4.1. Conversion to Mass per Time Units

In some cases, units of [g/hour] are preferred to the emission indices that are in [g/kg-fuel]. The
conversion accounts for the fact that the total fuel injected into the engine system is “per cycle”
and a cycle is two revolutions of the crank. As discussed in SAM Settings for Spray Vaporiza-
tion (p. 26), the fuel input to Forte is “per cylinder” and “per cycle.” In this way, knowing the total
fuel injected per cycle per cylinder and knowing the revolutions-per-minute speed of the engine
as well as the number of engine cylinders, we can obtain the [g/h] units as follows:
Emissions [g/h] = Emissions [g/kg-fuel]
* Total_fuel_injected [kg/cylinder/cycle]
* (RPM/Revolution_per_cycle) * 60 [cycle/h]
* <number of cylinders> [cylinder/engine]
where Revolution_per_cycle is 2 for a four-stroke engine and 1 for a two-stroke engine.
Best Practices
2.3. Setting Up Automatic Mesh Generation Cases With Valve Motion

You must pay attention to several considerations when working with a geometry that includes valve
motion.
General notes on the use of Ansys Forte and configuring it for your use:
• The geometry units must be cm. If the surface mesh does not use cm units, please choose the correct
unit in the Import dialog and Forte will automatically scale the geometry to use cm units. If you forget
to specify the correct unit, simply select all the surfaces in the Geometry tree, right-click, select
Transform and specify the correct scaling factor for the X, Y, and Z direction.
• Units are completely configurable in Forte. Units can be modified inline in the input panels, or by
going to Edit > Preferences > Units Preferences. You can chose from CGS, SI, British, or create your
own Custom unit preferences.
• Have the surface mesh file written from the CAD program so that the surfaces are different parts inside
the surface mesh file, or so each unique boundary is a separate surface mesh file. This saves time
since you will not need to split the geometry.
• The geometry should be watertight in Forte. If the surface mesh is not watertight, Forte will identify
the region where the issue occurs in red.
• The surface mesh file should have the piston at TDC.
• The valves should be closed with a very small gap, but not coincident.
• Specify approximately 10 GB of memory for Forte Simulate (if generating preview meshes) and for
the Visualizer. Use the Launcher Preferences in the Forte Launcher.
2.3.1. Read In and Process the Surface Mesh
2.3.1.1. Selecting the Source of Surface Meshes

The best surface mesh data include surface topology information. The Fluent mesh format and
CGNS format include topological information about the surface and are good choices for import.
Whenever possible, STL files should be a last choice as a source of surface mesh data. STL files lack
surface topology information. As different programs may infer different topologies from the same
source file, there is no way to reliably confirm or test whether an STL is, for example, watertight.
Currently, the best alternatives to STL files supported by Ansys Forte are Fluent mesh format and
CGNS format. Both of these formats encode topological information about the surface.
A recommended procedure for generating a surface mesh for importing to Forte is:
1. Create a "Mesh" object in Ansys Workbench and import your geometry, then launch the mesher.
2. Configure the mesher to CFD, Fluent, and specify these options:
a. Defaults:
Setting Up Automatic Mesh Generation Cases With Valve Motion
Physics Preference = CFD
Solver Preference = Fluent
b. Sizing:
Transition = Slow
c. Defeaturing:
Automatic Mesh Based Defeaturing = ON
Other settings may also be adjusted for good results.
3. Generate just the surface mesh by right-clicking the Mesh object > Preview > Surface mesh.
4. Go to File > Export and save the .mesh file.
5. In Ansys Forte, import the surface mesh using the From Fluent mesh import option; select
meters as the units.
6. When the import gets to the “Checking surface” phase, cancel it with the red X. (Otherwise the
surface checker will report problems because the normals are reversed; see the next step.)
7. Reverse the normals for the imported surface—everything should go from dull to shiny.
8. Run the surface checker manually (from the Geometry toolbar). It should now pass.
2.3.1.2. Splitting the Geometry

If the geometry comes into Forte as one complete surface, you will first need to split it into major
components. This can usually be accomplished with a simple application of the Split utility in the
Geometry Workflow tree, using the default feature angle.
• If you end up with some small pieces, try to collect those and merge them into the bigger pieces,
using the Merge utility.
• If you need to split surfaces further, consider using the cut-plane option or adjusting the feature
angle that was used for the Split utility.
Ultimately, you want to end up with the following surfaces that are separated and free of holes:
1. Individual valves
2. Exhaust port wall
3. Intake port wall
4. Cylinder head
5. Cylinder liner
6. Piston surface (usually including bowl)
7. Inlet boundary
Best Practices
8. Outlet boundary
It is easiest if the separate boundaries, such as ports, valves, etc., are written as separate parts in
the surface mesh file or as separate surface mesh files all together. You can select multiple surface
mesh files to read into Ansys Forte. (The surface mesh must be watertight.) Once again, the geometry
should be in units of cm in Forte. If the geometry is not in cm, specify the unit used for the geometry
and Forte will convert the geometry to cm units upon reading it into the user interface.
Figure 2.2: STL dialog when reading STL files into Forte
The valve stems should be cut and flush at the location where they meet the port (at the end of
the valve stem/port connection).
Figure 2.3: Green region is the valve, pink is the port. Note the donut surface around the
intersection of the two
Note:
If the crevice volume is included in the geometry, this volume should be resolved suffi-
ciently using surface refinement such that there is at least one layer of cells between
the two walls of the crevice gap. However, resolving the crevice gap using tiny cells will
increase the cell count of the mesh and potentially affect solution speed. Therefore, it
is desirable to not include the crevice region in the geometry unless it is absolutely ne-
cessary.
2.3.1.3. Normals
In the surface mesh geometry, the normals all need to be consistent. The normals should all point
to the solid region, so for the valves, the normal should point to the center of the valve.
If the normals for some triangles are not consistent, the geometry is not considered to be watertight
and these triangles will be highlighted with a red outline.
• To separate these inverted triangles, go to the Workflow tree and select the surface that contains
the inverted triangles. Split Mesh and select the Feature Angle option. On the Feature Angle
dialog, specify a Feature Angle of 175 as shown in the figure below.
• This will split off all inverted triangles, and you can then use the Reverse Normal tool to
correct the normal.
• Note that the geometry will not be watertight at this point since the triangles are not considered
to share vertices. To fix this, the final step is to use the Join Meshes (not to be confused with the
Mesh Merge) tool to join all the surfaces back together. At this point, the red outline of the of-
fending triangles should disappear.
Note:
If you get a mesh-generation failure during preview, an incorrect surface normal

is a very likely cause.
2.3.2. Set Up Mesh Size and Mesh Refinement
2.3.2.1. Material Point

The Material Point marks the location where Forte will generate the mesh, that is, marks what is
considered inside and outside of the geometry where the surfaces mark the boundaries of the do-
main.
Select a point that will be inside the cylinder at all times during the cycle. Usually this means
just below the head, at the cylinder axis, above the highest point of the piston bowl at TDC. Be
sure the material point is not placed in-line with any of the valves.
Best Practices
2.3.2.2. Global Mesh Size

The Global Mesh Size provides the overall background mesh size. The Global Mesh Size is used
everywhere a refinement is not specified. In Ansys Forte, a suggested global mesh size of 2 – 2.5
mm is suggested. Mesh size and simulation turn-around time requirements are often competing
forces, thus one must balance these two.
A Small Feature Deactivation Factor can be used to remove very tiny features from consideration
during the computation. This factor is applied globally to the geometry. The value ranges from 0
to 1, where a higher value will filter out more small features. The default is 0.25 and it is suggested
that this option be left at the default value.
A recommended global mesh size is 2 mm. But for large-bore diesel engines, it may be acceptable
to use 3 mm for the flow portion of the cycle, while for a smaller-bore gasoline engine 1.5 mm may
be more appropriate. You can then use region-based refinement to set a smaller mesh size (for
example, 1/2) in-cylinder during spray/combustion.
2.3.2.3. Mesh Refinement

Ansys Forte uses automatic meshing using Cartesian cells to mesh the geometry. The actual
meshing is done automatically on the fly by the Forte solver, however, the user needs to specify
refinements to the mesh to resolve the shape and features of the geometry.
Mesh refinements are used to resolve both surfaces and regions within the computational geometry.
Note that refinements should be added to sufficiently resolve all crevices in the geometry, that is,
small physical gaps in the geometry, otherwise robustness may be affected. In all cases, refinements
are added in 1/2!, which would be 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, and 1/16.
Each of the mesh-size controls can be specified as static (Always active) or dynamic (active only
During specified time or crank-angle intervals). For example, refinement in the squish region near
a moving piston boundary may only be necessary when the piston is near top-dead-center (TDC)
position. For simulation of a full cycle, this may mean setting two controls for the two intervals (for
example, 350 to 370 CA, 710 to 730 CA) during the cycle of a 4-stroke engine while the squish region
is most active.
Ansys Forte has several refinement types that are useful for resolving the geometry. They fall in
two main categories: (1) surface refinement, and (2) volume refinement. Volume refinement is further
divided into two categories: (2a) fixed volume refinement, and (2b) Solution Adaptive Meshing
(SAM). Surface refinement should be used in every case. SAM with limited fixed volume refinements
is recommended for volumes.
1. Surface Refinements:
Applied to surfaces to refine the shape. Certain areas of a surface, such as complex geometries,
open boundaries, and valves, require additional attention to accurately resolve the geometry
and moving surfaces.
Figure 2.4: Suggested refinements for typical engine cases (p. 17) shows the suggested refine-
ments to be used for most engine cases. Details of each refinement are given.
Figure 2.4: Suggested refinements for typical engine cases
• all_walls: Surface refinement applied to all wall boundaries as a base setting. Typically,
½ refinement is used (Active = Always).
• open_boundaries: Surface refinement applied to the inlets and outlets of the domain.
Typically, ½ refinement is used and the number of layers to extend is specified as 2
(Active = Always).
• squish_ftdc and squish_ltdc : Surface refinement applied to the head, piston, and liner
surfaces for the TDC events. Typically, ¼ refinement must be added such that the TDC
clearance height is resolved (Active = During).
• valves: Surface refinement applied to the intake and exhaust valves. Typically, ¼ refine-
ment is required on the valve. The valve may be split into two parts, stem and face, to
save a mesh count with deeper refinement applied only to the face near the seating
area. If more refinement is desired near the valve seating area, ¼ refinement can be ap-
plied to the head or port regions.
• crevice: If a crevice volume is included between the piston edge and the liner wall, this
area should be resolved sufficiently using surface refinements such that there are 2 cells
across the crevice gap. Typically, 1/8 refinement is needed with multiple layers to fill the
crevice gap. To reduce the mesh count, the piston or liner surface can be split to apply
deeper refinement only to surfaces that form the crevice (Active = Always). (See Modeling
the Crevice (p. 20)).
• spark_plug: Point refinement applied to the spark plug. Typically, 1/8 refinement is used
to sufficiently resolve the geometry and the spark gap, but this will depend on the spark
plug geometry. The point refinement radius is typically specified such that 6 to 10 layers
will resolve the region around the spark plug and the resulting flame front. The refinement
should result in about 3 cells across the spark gap (Active = Always).
• Injector and glow plug: Surface refinement applied to the injector tip. Typically, ¼ re-
finement is used to sufficiently resolve the geometry and the number of layers to extend
refinement is typically 2 (Active = Always).
Best Practices
• Feature refinement: This type of refinement can be specified on single or multiple sur-
faces. A feature angle is specified to identify features on surfaces (smaller angle =
greater feature refinement). The user also specifies a radius that is applied to each iden-
tified location. This option is useful when refining oddly shaped geometry.
2. Volume Refinements:
Volume refinement is important to achieve mesh-independent results. SAM is recommended

as it does not require prior knowledge of the solution field and it saves time and mesh count
while producing accurate results. In addition to SAM, some fixed-volume refinement is recom-
mended for certain cases.
(2a) SAM controls:
SAM should be used to resolve the flow field and reactive zone. Recommended options are
using velocity gradients and temperature gradients with statistical sigma threshold of 0.5, and
¼ refinement (for global mesh size ~2 mm). Velocity control should be active always and be
applied to the entire domain (Figure 2.5: SAM control for resolving flow fields (p. 18)). Temper-
ature control can be limited to the cylinder region and be activated prior to TDC for the com-
bustion duration, as shown in Figure 2.6: SAM control for resolving reactive regions (p. 19).
Figure 2.5: SAM control for resolving flow fields
Figure 2.6: SAM control for resolving reactive regions
Additional SAM controls should be used for accurately capturing the flame front and spray va-
porization. These are described in Models (p. 21). Additional SAM controls on species such as
CO or soot precursors (like acetylene and pyrene) may be used to better resolve emissions but
they are not necessary.
(2b) Fixed volume refinements:
Fixed volume refinement should be used to provide some level of initial refinement in the regions
involving combustion and spray. Following these fixed refinement recommendations should
provide a good base mesh and help to achieve high fidelity results when used together with
SAM.
• Secondary Region:
Best Practices
Under the Geometry node, secondary regions can be defined by selecting geometry to encap-
sulate a region. Under the Mesh Controls, the secondary regions can be used to refine an
entire region (in other words, the chamber). Typically, this is a secondary volume encapsulating
the in-cylinder volume that can be created by selecting the surface that includes liner, piston,
and head. The refinement level for the in-cylinder region should be set to ½ or ¼ to achieve
a cell size no larger than 1 mm and set to Always Active.
• Line Refinement:
The end points of a line and a radius are specified to define a cylinder where all locations
inside the cylinder are refined to the specified refinement level. Line refinement of ½ to ¼
should be used to resolve near-nozzle regions during spray duration. Point refinement may
be used instead of line refinement depending on the geometry.
2.3.2.4. Modeling the Crevice

While it is recommended against modeling long narrow crevices (unless there is some engineering
reason to do so) due to the computational overhead, such crevices may be included if necessary.
The best approach to model the crevice is to do the following:
1. Have a separate surface for the bottom of the crevice
2. Split the piston so the side of the piston becomes a separate surface
3. Apply 1/8 or 1/16 refinement to the crevice bottom surface and the piston-side surface. The
crevice thickness will determine the refinement level to be used, but 1/8 or 1/16 is typically
used to resolve the thickness.
4. If possible, modify the geometry such that the crevice thickness can be greater while capturing
the same volume, to avoid many highly refined cells.
2.3.2.5. Modeling Sector Geometry Using Automatic Mesh Generation

Forte allows cylindrical sector geometry (with periodic boundary conditions) to be meshed using
automatic mesh generation. This is complementary to the body-fitted sector mesh feature described
in Sector Mesh Generation (p. 3). Since the automatic mesh generation in Forte uses the Cartesian
mesh with immersed boundary method, it is necessary to make sure that the background Cartesian
mesh cells near the geometry boundaries are sufficiently refined, especially near the axis of the
sector.
To avoid display artifacts in post-processing, we recommend that a line refinement be applied along
the sector axis. The following are recommended settings for this line refinement:
• End Points: This line refinement should cover the full length of the axis when the piston is at
the BDC position. The end points can be set to (X=0, Y=0, Z1) and (X=0, Y=0, Z2), in which Z1 is
the Z-coordinate of the top end of the axis on the cylinder head, and Z2 equals the Z-coordinate
of the piston center at the TDC position minus engine stroke (assuming the piston moves towards
the negative Z direction from TDC to BDC).
• Radius of Application: The radius should be larger than half of the global mesh size. Recommen-
ded practice is to set the radius equal to the global mesh size.
• Size as Fraction of Global Size: The cell size of this refinement should be equal or smaller than
the cell sizes from other refinements. The goal is to maintain uniform cell size within the range
of this line refinement.
• Active: This refinement should be set to be Always active.
2.3.2.6. Multi-Cylinder Simulations
Note:
Best practices for multi-cylinder simulations are described by the tutorial in the Forte
Tutorials: Multi-Cylinder Four-Stroke Engine Simulation.
2.3.3. Models
2.3.3.1. Turbulence Model

In modeling turbulent flows in internal combustion engines, the Reynolds-Averaged-Navier-Stokes
(RANS) approach is most efficient. It simulates the ensemble average of turbulent flow and transport
processes. The default option, RNG k-ε model, is recommended for most of the engine flow and
combustion problems. In general, there is no need to adjust the default model parameters.
The Large-eddy simulation (LES) approach is intended to simulate individual flow realizations rather
than the ensemble average. It is useful when simulating cycle-to-cycle variations of flows and
combustion outcomes in engines. The LES Smagorinsky model with its default model parameters
is recommended, due to its numerical stability in cases where complex engine geometry is con-
sidered. When the LES approach is used, we suggest turning on the option of using central difference
for momentum convection, due to its better resolution in solving the large-scale momentum
transport.
In general, LES requires finer mesh resolution than RANS to better resolve the turbulent transport
processes.
2.3.3.2. Flame Speed Model for SI Engine Simulations

The Flame Speed Model under the Chemistry node can be used to control the flame propagation
process for a spark-ignited engine simulation. Using the Table Library option for the flame speed
model is recommended.
Typical values for the parameters that control flame speeds are shown in Figure 5 (p. 22).
Best Practices
Figure 2.7: Turbulent flame-speed input parameters
The turbulent flame speed is a function of the laminar flame speed. The Table Library model contains
Chemkin-based laminar flame speeds and computes flame speeds for the multi-component fuel
on the fly. It captures the influence of fuel composition, pressure, temperature, AFR, and EGR on
the laminar flame speed. A Flame Library should be created that includes fuel components when
premixed or direct-injection fuel surrogate are used in the chemistry. An example flame library for
a TRF gasoline are shown in Figure 2.8: Example of a Flame Library for a TRF gasoline (p. 23).
Figure 2.8: Example of a Flame Library for a TRF gasoline
The Turbulent Flame-Speed Ratio (b1) and the Stretch Factor Coefficient are the two inputs that
may require adjustment to match the pressure curve. See the tooltips and the Forte User's Guide
for more details on these inputs. Since the model formulation for the stretch factor is very sensitive
to its input parameters, including laminar flame speed, laminar flame thickness, and turbulence
parameters, the stretch factor may show strong fluctuation under strong turbulence and low lam-
inar flame speed conditions. Thus, it is recommended to keep the default setting of 0 for the stretch
factor coefficient, and adjust only b1. In the turbulent flame-speed correlation used by Forte, b1 is
closed using experimental data and thus can be adjusted for model calibration. A larger b1 will
result in higher turbulent flame speeds and faster flame propagation, and it has an impact
throughout the flame propagation process. If unable to match the pressure curve during flame
propagation by adjusting b1, the Flame Development Coefficient (FDC), which is another parameter
available on the Spark Ignition Editor panel, can be adjusted to improve flame propagation prediction.
A larger FDC can result in faster growth of the flame from ignition kernel flame stage to fully-de-
veloped turbulent flame, which in turn leads to faster burn rate. FDC typically has larger impact on
the early stage of flame propagation than the later stage. For the other settings, default values are
appropriate for most cases.
Best Practices
2.3.3.2.1. SAM Settings for Flame Propagation

For achieving accurate and mesh-insensitive flame propagation, we recommend using SAM
(solution adaptive mesh) controls with the absolute range solution variable “G” as shown in Fig-
ure 2.9: SAM settings for flame propagation (p. 24). This setting will help refine the region around
the flame front as defined by G=0. This refinement should be activated typically at spark ignition
and typically for 60 degrees longer until combustion is complete. The recommended cell size for
accurately capturing the flame front is no larger than 0.6 mm. On the other hand, the G-equation
model does not require cells in the flame front zone to be deeply refined. Therefore, if the global
mesh size is about 2 mm, the best practice is to use ¼ refinement in the G-based SAM for the
whole flame propagation process. During the ignition kernel stage, if the spark ignition zone is
not well-resolved using fixed refinement, you can consider applying a second SAM-G refinement
with 1/8 refinement and apply it only for a short duration, for example, 10 CA degrees after spark
timing.
In the G-equation model, the non-reacting scalar G is defined at each mesh vertex for the purpose
of marking the mean flame front location. The G value at a vertex is tracked as the signed normal
distance from the vertex to the nearest flame front surface. G < 0 in the unburned zone, G > 0
in the burned zone, and the G=0 iso-surface marks the flame front location. Since Forte uses the
CGS unit system, the default unit for G is cm, although G is handled as a dimensionless quantity
in the code and it involves no unit conversion. In the example shown in Figure 2.9: SAM settings
for flame propagation (p. 24), the range of [−0.3, 0.3] means that the SAM refinement is applied
within a band surrounding the flame front. The bandwidths on the unburned side and burned
side are 0.3 cm and 0.3 cm, respectively.
Figure 2.9: SAM settings for flame propagation
In addition, it may be productive to use additional SAM controls with gradients of either/both
temperature and of CO. Using temperature/CO control can be helpful for high compression
conditions where there could be a possibility of autoignition or reactivity ahead of the flame
front. We suggest statistical bounds with a Sigma Threshold of 0.5 to 0.75 for temperature. Using
a smaller sigma value results in more refinement. This refinement should be activated at or slightly
prior to spark timing.
2.3.3.3. Spray Model

In general, most of the defaults can be used for the spray model for the injector. The default Collision
Mesh model for droplet collision is suggested for better computational speed. For solid cone injectors,
a Droplet Density option with a value of 1 is recommended. When nozzle dimensions are available,
using the Nozzle Flow model may provide better spray initialization at the nozzle exit. However,
for gasoline sprays using Rosin-Rammler or Log-Normal droplet size distribution, explicitly specifying
the discharge coefficient should provide better representation of the injector exit. The discharge
coefficient for multi-bore high pressure injectors can be as low as 0.5, which is lower than that for
most diesel injectors.
For diesel fuel, specifying Uniform Size for the droplet size distribution is suggested. For gasoline
sprays, Rosin-Rammler distribution is more commonly used than log normal distribution. The Initial
Sauter Mean Diameter should be specified. For most gasoline cases, this is typically between
10–30 micron. The actual droplet distribution is subject to an upper limit, which is the (nozzle
diameter * Cd0.5).
For solid cone breakup, time constants for the KH model (primary breakup) can be adjusted within
the range suggested in the tool tip. The check box to Impose SMR Conservation in KH breakup
should be left unchecked for most conditions. However, it can be turned on for certain conditions
such as low-load low-temperature combustion diesel engines, for improving the pressure curve
and emissions predictions.
The RT model for secondary breakup is important for most conditions. The RT distance constant
can be adjusted to improve the prediction of both spray penetration and combustion. A lower
value of the RT distance constant, such as 0.2, will activate the secondary breakup model closer to
the nozzle. This may be important for gasoline atomizers where spray breakup occurs very close
to nozzle. For most diesel engines, the RT distance constant typically varies within 40% of the
suggested default value of 1.9. Refer to Table 1 (p. 7) for the typical qualitative impact on engine
behavior.
When creating nozzles, first create one nozzle and specify all its settings, and then Copy it and
Paste repeatedly to create the remaining nozzles, modifying the copied settings as needed. This
saves time and only one parameter needs to be adjusted to change the orientation. The Copy and
Paste buttons are located at the top of appropriate Editor panels.
Figure 2.10: Copy and Paste buttons located at the top of Editor panels
Best Practices
2.3.3.3.1. SAM Settings for Spray Vaporization

Spray vaporization can be quite sensitive to cell size. Therefore, it is advisable to use finer mesh
to accurately account for vapor distribution and mixing. As shown in Figure 2.11: SAM settings
for spray vaporization (p. 26), SAM controls should use the gradient of solution field on variable
FuelVaporMassFraction with statistical sigma threshold between 0.5 to 0.75. Smaller sigma value
result in more refinement. Recommended cell size for accurately capturing the vaporization is
no larger than 0.5 mm. For example, if the global mesh size is around 2 mm, the refinement level
can be set to ¼.
Figure 2.11: SAM settings for spray vaporization
2.3.3.4. Spark Model

For the discrete particle ignitoin kernel (DPIK) spark model, the duration of the spark is typically
about 10 CA degrees, the energy release rate is about 30 J/sec, the energy transfer efficiency is 0.5,
and the initial kernel radius is about 0.5 mm. The initial kernel radius should be sufficiently small
to fit in the spark gap, but remember that the spark gap should also be sufficiently mesh-refined.
For the arc channel tracking (ACT) spark model, if the electric circuit discharge model is used to
compute the spark energy discharge rate, the default values for the electric circuit configuration
parameters should be a good starting point. This model requires the surface geometry to contain
the anode and cathode structure of the spark plug because the motion of the flame particles on
the two ends of the arch channel will be constrained to slide along the anode and cathode walls.
During ignition, the spark gap region should be sufficiently refined so that at least 5 layers of cells
can fit inside the spark gap.
2.3.3.5. Soot Model

Forte has three options for modeling soot:
1. The 2-step soot model: The Soot model in Forte where only acetylene (C2H2) is the precursor
to soot formation. Several values are available for adjusting the soot formation and oxidation.
This option should be selected if acetylene is the only precursor for soot. Note that the gas-
phase chemistry mechanism must contain soot as a species when this soot model option is
used.
2. Pseudo-gas soot model: The pseudo-gas soot model was developed by Ansys and is included
with the gas-phase chemistry set. A gasoline and diesel surrogate and mechanism are provided
with the Forte installation. If you are using the pseudo–gas-phase soot model, the Soot Model
option in Forte should not be selected since all soot-related chemistry is included in the gas-
phase chemistry file.
3. Method of Moments: The most detailed option for modeling soot is particle tracking. Ansys
Forte will predict the average particle size and number density for every cell in the computation.
To use this option, choose the Method of Moments. There are two mechanisms for particle
tracking included with Forte, one for gasoline and one for diesel fuel. The Method of Moments
option requires specifying the soot surface chemistry mechanism.
2.3.4. Boundary Conditions
2.3.4.1. Boundary Profiles

In Ansys Forte, it is very easy to use profiles for time-varying boundary conditions, for example,
valve lifts. When specifying time-varying profiles for engine cases in Forte, the profile should go
from 0 to 720 CA for a four-stroke engine and from 0 to 360 CA for a two-stroke engine. By specifying
the profile in this manner, it is easy to then run multi-cycle engine simulations. Profiles can be
copied from Excel and pasted in the Profile Editor.
2.3.4.2. Valves
In this section, the setup of the intake valve is described. The same setup and procedure would be
used for the exhaust valves. We suggest that you set up one valve, then Copy and Paste it to create
the other valves.
In this setup, the valve stem has been split off from the valve face, as shown in the figure below.
This has been done to improve the speed in the calculation where Forte determines if the valve is
open or closed, that is, the specified gap between the valve and valve seat has been obtained.
Splitting off the valve face from the stem is not required, but it may improve simulation time since
the refinement for the valve opening gap is only applied to the valve face and not the entire valve.
Figure 2.12: Valve stem split off from the valve face
Best Practices
2.3.4.3. Valve Angles

The easiest way to specify valve tilt angles (orientation) is to use spherical coordinate systems. This
will be explained using one example shown in Figure 2.13: Valve tilt angles (p. 28) . In this example,
the engine geometry is oriented such that the engine valves are tilted in the X-Z plane. When
looking from the negative Y direction, the intake valves are on the right and the exhaust valves are
on the left. In this configuration, the spherical coordinate system for each valve requires two angular
inputs, θ and φ, where θ is the valve angle to be specified and φ can be left as zero. The valve angles
will be:
Figure 2.13: Valve tilt angles
• Intake Valve Angle(θ) = 180 + valve_angle, for example, if the valves are canted 13 degrees, then
the resulting angle would be 193 degrees.
• Exhaust Valve Angle(θ) = 180−valve_angle, for example, if the valves are canted 12.6 degrees,
then the resulting angle would be 167.4 degrees.
2.3.4.4. Valve Lift

For each valve, copy and paste its lift profile into the profile editor. Make sure the profile goes from
0 to 720 degrees and also be sure the units for the profile are correct.
2.3.4.5. Movement Type

In boundary conditions where wall motion is activated, the user has three options for the movement
sub-type:
• Moving Surface: Used for the piston
• Valve: As the name indicates, this is used for valves
• Sliding Interface: Used in ported engine cases where the piston covers/uncovers port openings
to the cylinder
For the Valve movement sub-type, the user needs to specify the valve seat and the surface it contacts.
The valve seat is the stationary portion that may be a part of the head or intake/exhaust port surface
and the surface it contacts is the valve itself.
In this case, some portions of the intake port (similarly for the exhaust port) have been split off and
labeled as the “seat”. This splitting is not a requirement, but has been done in this case to help
with the calculation speed of the valve opening/closing events (see Notes in the Valves section
above). The splitting is accomplished with a cut plane in the Geometry tree.
Select both the “seat” portion and the “valve” from the list by holding down the Ctrl key and
clicking with the left mouse button to multi-select.
Now that the Valve movement subtype surfaces have been selected, you need to specify the Valve
Motion Activation Threshold, that is, the minimum gap before the valve is considered open or
closed. It is suggested to start with a 0.5 mm gap in the first simulation, and then you can use a
smaller gap if you are not satisfied with the results. The other required input is the Approximate
Cells in the Gap at Minimum Lift and this should be 2. If high accuracy of valve timing is needed,
you can consider setting the Valve Motion Activation Threshold to 0.2 mm and setting Approx-
imate Cells in the Gap at Minimum Lift to 1.5. The ratio of these two parameters determines the
smallest cell size needed in the valve gap at minimum lift. For example, if the activation threshold
is 0.2 mm and the number of cell layers in the gap at minimum lift is 1.5, the cells in the gap need
to be smaller than 0.2 mm /1.5 = 0.133 mm. In this case, if the global cell size is 2 mm, 1/16 refine-
ment (0.125 mm cell) is needed in the valve gap region at minimum valve lift. Note that Forte
automatically refines the valve gap such that the specified number of cell layers can fit in the gap,
so no special refinements are required for resolving the gap.
2.3.5. Initial Conditions

In engine simulations, there are unique regions that need to be initialized with different conditions,that
is, the intake, exhaust, and the cylinder. In Forte, there is always a “Default Initialization” which will
apply to the entire geometry unless other initial conditions are created to “override” the default
condition.
To add a new Initial Condition, right-click Initial Conditions and select Add > Secondary Region. You
will need to add a total of two secondary regions, one for the intake, and one for the exhaust. The
default initialization will be applied to the cylinder, which is the region not marked by either the intake
or the exhaust secondary regions.
In the Secondary Regions, a location needs to be specified to mark the different regions. This is like
a Material Point for each unique region, so in this case there would be a marker point for the intake
Best Practices
and exhaust regions. The location of these marker points does not need to be exact, but they must
be completely inside the port (region). The figure below shows where to input the location information
for the marker points in the initial condition panel of a secondary region.
Figure 2.14: Indicating the marker point location for a region
2.3.5.1. Initialization Order

In Forte, an initialization order is needed to help define region ID values on cells and vertices at
the interfaces of different regions, especially when the regions are connected by flow. As a rule of
thumb, the orders should be specified in the direction of flow, so they would be:
• Intake: Initialization order = 1
• Default Initialization: Initialization order = 2
• Exhaust: Initialization order = 3
If you are running a sector mesh, or a combustion/expansion stroke only and the valves are not
included, you will only have one initialization (the default) and the initialization order for that region
would equal 1.
2.3.5.2. Simulation Controls

• Time Step
• Ansys Forte uses an adaptive time stepping approach where the user specifies a maximum time-
step size. The maximum time-step size in Forte can be a constant value or a profile, that is, a
function of time or crank angle. The following are suggestions for maximum time-step size:
– Sector Mesh Cases: 8E-06s during compression, 5E-06s during injection, combustion and expan-
sion (Note, it may be possible to increase the time-step size back to 8E-06s late in the expansion
stroke)
– Automatic Mesh Generation Case: Prior to injection or combustion, a maximum time-step size
of 1E-05s can be used, during injection and combustion a maximum of time-step of 5E-06s
should be used.
• Chemistry
• There are several options for reducing the simulation time for chemistry or modulating chemical
heat release rate by considering turbulent mixing effects. Below are suggestions for these options:
– Turbulent Kinetics Interaction (TKI): Sub-cell scale turbulence chemistry interaction can be ac-
counted for with the TKI model. This mixing time-scale model considers that the combustion
chemistry should be partly controlled by the breakup of turbulent eddies due to the imperfect
mixing of fuel and oxidizer in an actual engine process. The TKI model is recommended for
use with high-load cases only; for low-load cases the impact of the TKI model is expected to
be much less. Also, the TKI model is recommended only for cases with in-cylinder fuel injection,
for which the TKI model would consider the effects of imperfect mixing of fuel and oxidizer.
A value of 1.5 is recommended for the mixing time coefficient setting under the TKI model.
While a larger value of this input increases the turbulent mixing effect on reaction rates, a very
high value would also suppress chemistry for post-injection expansion stroke conditions.
Figure 2.15: Turbulent Kinetics Interaction Model (TKI) panel
– Dynamic Adaptive Chemistry (DAC): This option performs a mechanism reduction on the fly
during the simulation. It should only be considered when there are 500+ species in the reaction
mechanism. For the initial species, all fuel species, important radicals (such as OH, HO2), NO,
NO2, and soot precursor species (C2H2, soot). In the example below, the fuel n-heptane (nc7h16),
and the soot precursors acetylene (c2h2) and benzene (c6h6) are included.
For the search tolerance, the default value of 0.0001 is recommended. The Size threshold for
activating DAC acts as a trigger for activating DAC. This value represents the ratio of species
in the reduced mechanism to the number of species in the full mechanism. DAC will be enabled
when this ratio is smaller than the threshold set here. A value of 1.0 will result in DAC being
always enabled. Depending on the size of the full mechanism, this value can be set between
0 and 1.
– Dynamic Cell Clustering (DCC): This option lumps together kinetically similar cells, thus reducing
the size of the chemistry problem to solve. This option should always be activated and the
settings kept at the default.
Best Practices
– Activating Chemistry: By default, chemistry is always solved, but this is not necessarily needed
prior to injection or spark timing. Use the Conditional option and activate the chemistry at the
combustion event, that is, injection or spark, and use the Threshold Temperature option.
Note:
The chemistry activation controls using spark timing or injection timing will be ig-
nored after the first engine cycle. Because of this, we recommend using controls
based on crank-angle intervals for multicycle simulations. In a crank-angle-inter-
val–based control, both the user-specified starting and ending crank angles will be
converted to fit in the range of [0, 720) or [0, 360) CA degrees for four-stroke or
two-stroke engines, respectively. The chemistry activation/deactivation events will
consequently be examined in those engine cycle ranges.
Figure 2.16: Dynamic Adaptive Chemistry (DAC) panel
• Transport Terms
• Typically, these never need to be adjusted. If you are having convergence issues, please contact
the Ansys support team at support@ansys.com.
2.3.5.3. Output Controls

Spatially Resolved Data
Spatially resolved data is written to every cell during the calculation. While the user specifies the
frequency, keep in mind that the amount of disk space required will go up with a higher frequency.
Typically, solutions are written every 10 CA degrees and the User Defined outputs option is used
to write data out more frequently during important points in the cycle, such as injection, spark,
combustion.
For File Size Control, there are three options:
• – One File: All the data is written to a single file. This is not the desired option since the file will
become very large and this requires more time during file I/O and in rendering in the post-
processor.
– File Size: This option allows you to specify a file size in megabytes for the maximum file size
before another file is written.
– Solution Count: This is the best option since you can control how many solutions are written
to a single file. A value of 1 means one solution per file. This is the preferred option.
• Spatially Averaged Data
• Spatially averaged data is data that is averaged over the domain. Since this is X-Y data, the data
can be written more frequently, such as every 1 CA degree, or even more frequently.
• Restart Data
• Restart points can be written at certain frequencies in Forte. It is suggested a restart be written
on the last simulation time-step, and also during the simulation prior to events occurring, such
as IVO, injection, spark. You specify the times to write out restart points.
2.3.5.4. Preview Simulation

• Prior to submitting the simulation to the Forte solver, you should preview the motion of all the
boundaries to be sure all the moving parts are moving correctly. In addition, it is suggested to
preview the mesh before submitting the run. This will provide some information on the number
of cells used and allow you to visualize the mesh to be sure it is not too coarse and not too fine.
Some points of interest are: TDC, injection timing, spark timing, IVO, peak intake valve lift, EVO.
2.3.5.5. Forte Engine Simulation Checklist

During an IC engine simulation, there are certain points and items to check to ensure the best
possible results are achieved. The following checklist can be used as a guideline:
1. Check CR compression ratio by running no-hydro case from -180 to 0 CA:
Three options are available to adjust compression ratio:
a. Clearance (squish) height
b. Crevice width (for sector case, use between 1.0 and 1.5 mm, avoid a long skinny crevice)
Best Practices
c. Crevice height (can be adjusted for sector case)
2. Run simulation to SOI or spark timing, check compression pressure:
• Adjust intake pressure and temperature to match pressure at SOI or spark timing (scale both
P and T by same %)
3. Check A/F ratio in the simulation vs. experimental:
a. Check IVC mass to be sure A/F ratio computed mass is consistent with P & T for the IVC
condition for sector case.
b. IVC total mass can be computed from the ideal gas equation.
c. If needed, adjust P or T up or down to match IVC mass.
4. Check ignition timing by looking at heat release rate (HRR):
a. Be sure you compare apparent HRR and NOT chemical HRR with engine data; apparent HRR
takes heat losses (computed from P curve).
b. You can adjust SOI +/−1CA deg. (typical uncertainty) to match the ignition timing.
5. Check expansion pressure:
• If expansion pressure is low, there could be several possible reasons:
a. Fuel amount is incorrect.
b. Too much heat transfer through the walls, typically the liner.
6. Check emissions:
a. NOx is very important; if NOx is not predicted accurately, there is little confidence in other
emissions, such as soot.
b. NOx is highly dependent on temperature and can be dominated by local temperatures.
2.4. Setting Up Two-stroke Engine Cases

This section describes the recommended settings for a two-stroke engine simulation. Information from
the section, Setting Up Automatic Mesh Generation Cases With Valve Motion (p. 12), is also relevant.
2.4.1. Piston/Cylinder Wall Gap

Two-stroke engine geometries require some extra care to set up correctly. The extra complexity arises
from the difference in the method used to isolate in-cylinder cells from other portions of the fluid
domain. In a valved engine, valve motion explicitly triggers fluid regions in ports to connect or dis-
connect from the in-cylinder regions. In a typical two-stroke configuration, ports are connected or
disconnected from the in-cylinder regions as the piston slides past openings in the cylinder wall. To
account for this behavior, the geometry must provide a very tight but non-zero gap between the
piston skirt and the cylinder wall. In other words, the piston must fit just inside of the cylinder wall
without any edge intersecting the cylinder wall.
Setting Up Two-stroke Engine Cases
• If the gap is too large, columns of cells will be created in the crevice, potentially connecting
the ports to the cylinder prematurely. See Figure 2.18: Gap too large (p. 35).
• If the gap is so small as to allow piston edges to bleed through the cylinder wall, the surface
topology becomes invalid and automatic mesh generation will fail, causing the run to abort.
See Figure 2.19: Gap too small (p. 36).
To avoid these issues, the rim of the piston should be resolved at a similar angular resolution as the
cylinder wall, and the gap between the piston and cylinder wall should be no more than 0.5% the
cylinder bore (ideally < 0.25%). See Figure 2.21: Mismatch in angular resolution causing self-intersec-
tions (p. 37).
Figure 2.17: Sample geometry with gap demonstration
Figure 2.18: Gap too large
Best Practices
Figure 2.19: Gap too small
Figure 2.20: Acceptable gap
Figure 2.21: Mismatch in angular resolution causing self-intersections
2.4.2. Locating the Piston and Defining Motion

Just as with four-stroke valved engines, Forte requires the piston to be at the TDC location with respect
to the initial surface mesh state. However, unlike a typical four-stroke setup where the piston “stretches”
the liner mesh from TDC to BDC, elongating the cylinder wall as it travels, a two-stroke piston must
“squeeze” an existing piston skirt mesh as it travels from TDC to BDC. Since Forte only translates
vertices located strictly on the piston, the skirt mesh must be capable of being compressed without
causing the surface topology to become invalid. This means the piston skirt should contain no inter-
mediate vertices in the space between BDC and TDC.
Tip:
Thus, the easiest way to create piston geometry compatible with two-stroke motion is to
generate the surface mesh with the piston in the BDC position and translate the piston to
TDC after importing the geometry into Forte.
Figure 2.22: BDC position translated to TDC (p. 38), demonstrates the geometry in the initial configur-
ation on the left, and after translating the piston to TDC on the right. The skirt mesh lines are shown.
Note that no intermediate vertices exist between TDC and BDC positions so this skirt mesh can
compress without upsetting the topology of the surface mesh.
Best Practices
Figure 2.22: BDC position translated to TDC
When defining the piston boundary condition, the Motion Type parameter should be set to Sliding
Interface. In the subpanel associated with this selection, select the outer cylinder wall and inner wall
that define the piston skirt as the stationary and sliding surfaces in the selection control. The piston
skirt should be given its own boundary condition separate from the piston, and it should be defined
with Wall Motion unchecked.
Figure 2.23: Motion Type set as Sliding Interface
2.4.3. Surface Mesh Topology and Other Considerations

Pay special attention to the orientation of the surface normals of the piston, skirt, and walls. The dir-
ection of normal vectors should be as shown in Figure 2.24: Directions of normal vectors (p. 39). This
image shows the most common topology configuration for two-stroke cases, but other topologies
are possible.
Figure 2.24: Directions of normal vectors
For example, the piston can be defined as a completely enclosed surface anchored at the bottom of
the cylinder (with a gap between piston bottom and lower with similar constraints as the skirt-liner
Best Practices
gap described previously), with the top of the piston defined as the sole moving surface, as shown
in Figure 2.25: Geometry with enclosed piston (p. 40)
Figure 2.25: Geometry with enclosed piston
It’s also possible to define an entirely moveable piston, in which case all surfaces are defined as part
of the piston boundary condition.
Figure 2.26: Geometry with moveable piston
2.4.4. Runtime Port Open/Close Considerations

Due to the interaction of the solver time step with the piston skirt and cylinder wall location, the
precise timing of when a port opens or closes may vary slightly from cycle to cycle or run to run. This
can be minimized by refining the geometry near the port openings. A feature angle refinement control
set to ¼ mesh size is often a good choice.

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Forte Best Practices

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2.3.5.2. Simulation Controls ....................................................................................................... 30

• Diesel engine simulation

• Automatic mesh generation (AMG)

• Two-stroke engine simulation

2.1. Operating Environment

Recommended configurations for Ansys Forte installations:

• Memory: 6 GB per core.

• A large hard disk is required for saving solution files.

2.2. DI Diesel Engine Case (Typically, Sector Mesh)

2.2.1. Initial Set-up

2.2.1.1. Sector Mesh Generation

2.2.1.1.1. Bowl Profile

2.2.1.1.2. Topology Selection, Mesh Control Points, and Size Parameters

2.2.1.2. Evaluating Initial (IVC) Gas Composition

2.2.1.2.1. Initial (IVC) NOx for High EGR Cases

2.2.1.3. Fuel Mass for Direct Injection Cases

Injected fuel mass [mg/cycle/cylinder] = fuel [mg/stroke/cylinder] * <number of strokes(4 or 2)>

2.2.2. Basic Calibration Procedures

2.2.2.1. IVC Pressure and Temperature

2.2.2.2. Injection Timing

2.2.3. Advanced Calibration

Table 2.1: Parameters providing secondary impacts on engine behavior

Typical observed effect of

Relative Parameter Recommended Default Physical effect of Peak Expansion Ignition

2.2.4. Comparing to Experimental Data

2.2.4.1. Calculating Apparent Heat Release Rate from Experimental Pressure

1. Piston position, is defined as follows:

2. Volume can then be calculated as:

3. At the first CA point: dQ=0

4. At CA point n, where n = 1, .., last:

2.2.4.2. Read Data Arrays into Forte Monitor

1. Crank angle (deg)

3. In-cylinder volume (cm3)

4. Apparent heat release rate (J/deg)

2.2.4.3. Review Spray Behavior

2.2.4.4. Emissions and Performance Data

• IMEP (Indicated Mean Effective Pressure)

1. ISFC (Indicated Specific Fuel Consumption)

2.2.4.4.1. Conversion to Mass per Time Units

Emissions [g/h] = Emissions [g/kg-fuel]

* <number of cylinders> [cylinder/engine]

where Revolution_per_cycle is 2 for a four-stroke engine and 1 for a two-stroke engine.

2.3. Setting Up Automatic Mesh Generation Cases With Valve Motion

• The surface mesh file should have the piston at TDC.

the Visualizer. Use the Launcher Preferences in the Forte Launcher.

2.3.1. Read In and Process the Surface Mesh

2.3.1.1. Selecting the Source of Surface Meshes

2. Configure the mesher to CFD, Fluent, and specify these options:

Physics Preference = CFD

Solver Preference = Fluent

Automatic Mesh Based Defeaturing = ON

Other settings may also be adjusted for good results.

4. Go to File > Export and save the .mesh file.

2.3.1.2. Splitting the Geometry

2. Exhaust port wall

3. Intake port wall

6. Piston surface (usually including bowl)

If you get a mesh-generation failure during preview, an incorrect surface normal