Fluent Moving Frames

Chapter 12.
Swirling and Rotating Flows
Many important engineering ows involve swirl or rotation and FLUENT is well-equipped to model such ows. Swirling ows are common in combustion, with swirl introduced in burners and combustors in order to increase residence time and stabilize the ow pattern. Rotating ows are encountered in turbomachinery design, with rotating surfaces introducing rotation into the ow. The information in this chapter is divided into the following sections: Section 12.1: Section 12.2: Section 12.3: Section 12.4: Overview Swirling Flows and Flows with Rotation Flow in a Single Rotating Reference Frame Flow in Multiple Rotating Reference Frames
12.1 Overview
Rotating and swirling ows create a unique set of ow physics for which you must be aware of the special input requirements and solution techniques, as described in this chapter. First, it is essential to classify your problem into one of the following ve categories of ow: axisymmetric ows with swirl or rotation fully three dimensional swirling or rotating ows ows requiring a rotating reference frame ows requiring multiple rotating reference frames ows requiring sliding meshes
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Chapter 12 | Swirling and Rotating Flows
The rst two categories, which are easily recognizable, are discussed in Section 12.2. The remaining three, which all involve moving cell zones," are discussed in Sections 12.3, 12.4, and 13.1, respectively. Moving Cell Zone The moving cell zone capability in FLUENT provides a powerful set Methods of features for solving problems in which the domain or parts of the domain are in motion. Problems that can be addressed include the following: ow in a single rotating frame ow in multiple rotating reference frames ow requiring sliding meshes The single rotating frame option can be used to model ows in equipment such as turbomachinery and unba ed mixing tanks. The ow in these cases is unsteady in an inertial frame i.e., a domain xed in the laboratory frame because the rotor impeller blades sweep the domain periodically. However, in the absence of stators or ba es, it is possible to perform calculations in a domain moving with the rotating part. In this case, the ow is steady relative to the rotating non-inertial frame, which simpli es the analysis. In many cases, it is not possible to render the computational problem steady by choosing a calculation domain rotating with the impeller. These situations occur, for example, in turbomachinery applications where rotor-stator interaction is important, or in stirred tanks where impeller-ba e interactions predominate. Here, changing to a rotating frame attached to the impeller does not immobilize the stators and ba es, which sweep through the domain periodically, thereby making these problems inherently unsteady. Two di erent options, the sliding mesh approach and the multiple reference frame approach, have been provided to allow you to model this class of problem. With the sliding mesh approach, unsteady e ects can be modeled with complete delity. Here, the mesh attached to a single subdomain rotates with a non-zero speed relative to the mesh attached to another subdomain which is at rest. The two mesh regions are allowed to slide past each other using an unsteady calculation procedure. While the sliding mesh approach permits an accurate simulation of unsteady interactions, it can be computationally demanding. As
c Fluent Inc. May 10, 1997
12.2 Swirling Flows and Flows with Rotation
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an alternative, FLUENT provides the multiple reference frame option. Here, multiple subdomains, each rotating independently, are allowed to interact with each other through a steady transfer of information across pre-de ned interfaces. Since the ow eld is assumed to be steady, the computational e ort is smaller than for the sliding mesh approach.
Axisymmetric Your problem may be axisymmetric with respect to geometry and Flows with Swirl or ow conditions but still include swirl or rotation. In this type of Rotation problem, you can solve a two dimensional problem e.g., the axisym-
Three Dimensional Swirling Flows
Flows Requiring a Rotating Reference Frame Special Physics of Swirling Flows
metric problem but include prediction of the circumferential velocity. It is important to note that the assumption of axisymmetry implies that there are no circumferential gradients in the ow, but that there may be non-zero circumferential velocities with radial and or axial gradients. This type of model is de ned in FLUENT by rst de ning an axisymmetric geometry and grid and then activating the solution of the momentum equation in the circumferential direction by choosing the Swirl W Velocity option in the Models panel or by choosing the W-VELOCITY command in the DEFINE-MODELS text menu. Examples of axisymmetric ows involving swirl or rotation are depicted in Figure 12.2.1. When there are geometric changes and or ow gradients in the circumferential direction, your swirling ow prediction requires a three dimensional model. If you are planning a 3D FLUENT model including swirl or rotation, note the special setup constraints which are listed below. In addition, you may wish to consider simpli cations to the problem which might convert it into an equivalent axisymmetric problem, especially for your initial modeling e ort. Because of the complexity of swirling ows, an initial 2D study, in which you can quickly determine the e ects of various modeling and design choices, can be very bene cial. If your ow involves a rotating boundary which moves through the uid e.g. an impeller blade, a grooved or notched surface, etc., you will need to use a rotating reference frame to model the problem. Such applications are described in detail in Section 12.3. Swirling and rotating ows involve unique ow physics which are important to be aware of when attempting to simulate them using CFD. In swirling ows, conservation of angular momentum rv or r2 = constant tends to create a free vortex ow, in which the circumferential velocity, v , increases sharply as the radius, r, de-
Fluent Inc. May 10, 1997
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7.69E-03 7.29E-03 6.88E-03 6.48E-03 6.07E-03 5.67E-03 5.26E-03 4.86E-03 4.45E-03 4.05E-03 3.64E-03 3.24E-03 2.83E-03 2.43E-03 2.02E-03 1.62E-03 1.21E-03 8.09E-04 4.05E-04 -1.81E-07
Y Z X
2D Rotating Cavity - 41x41 grid Stream Function (M3/S) Max = 7.692E-03 Min = -1.814E-07
Jul 03 1996 Fluent 4.40 Fluent Inc.
a Rotating Flow in a Rotor Stator Cavity

2.22E-02 2.10E-02 1.99E-02 1.87E-02 1.76E-02 1.65E-02 1.53E-02 1.42E-02 1.30E-02 1.19E-02 1.07E-02 9.58E-03 8.43E-03 7.28E-03 6.14E-03 4.99E-03 3.84E-03 2.70E-03 1.55E-03 4.02E-04 -7.45E-04 -1.89E-03 -3.04E-03 -4.19E-03 -5.33E-03
Y Z X
Swirling Flow in an Axisymmetric Burner Stream Function (M3/S) Max = 2.219E-02 Min = -5.332E-03
Jul 03 1996 Fluent 4.40 Fluent Inc.
b Swirling Flow in a Gas Burner
Figure 12.2.1: Typical Swirling and Rotating Flows Predicted by FLUENT
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creases with v nally decaying to zero near r = 0 as viscous forces begin to dominate. Figure 12.2.2 depicts the radial distribution of v in a typical free vortex.
r axis
Figure 12.2.2: Typical Radial Distribution of V in a Free Vortex In a pure vortex, e.g. when there is no radial component of velocity, the centrifugal forces created by the circumferential motion are in equilibrium with the radial pressure gradient:
@p @r
2 v
r
12.2-1
Physics of Rotating Flows
Turbulence Modeling in Swirling Flows
As the distribution of angular momentum in a non-ideal vortex evolves, the form of this radial pressure gradient also changes, driving radial and axial ows in response to the highly non-uniform pressures that result. Thus as you compute the distribution of swirl in your FLUENT model, you will also note changes in the static pressure distribution and corresponding changes in the axial and radial ow velocities. It is this high degree of coupling between the swirl and the pressure eld that makes the modeling of swirling ows so complex. In ows which are driven by wall rotation, the motion of the wall tends to impart a forced vortex form to the uid v =r or = constant. An important component of such ows is the tendency of uid with more angular momentum than the surrounding uid e.g. the ow near the wall to be transported radially outward Figure 12.2.1a. If your FLUENT model involves a highly swirling ow, you may wish to use the Reynolds-Stress-Model or the RNG k- to obtain a more accurate ow prediction. Generally, these models improve accuracy in modeling devices such as cyclone separators or swirl nozzles in which the Swirl number, S , approaches or exceeds unity. The Swirl Number can be de ned as the ratio of the axial ux of angular momentum to the axial ux of axial momentum:
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rv v dA =R R uv dA
12.2-2
Using the Cylindrical Velocity Formulation
Setup Constraints for Swirling and Rotating Flows
Note that the standard k- model is not suited for the simulation of highly swirling ows, although it may be useful as a stable, low-cost turbulence model for the early stages of the calculation. In many problems involving swirling or rotating ows, you will want to select the option of solving the governing equations using cylindrical-polar velocity components instead of the default Cartesian components. This option is enabled by selecting the Cylindrical Velocities option in the Models panel or by choosing the CYLINDRICAL VELOCITIES command in the DEFINE-MODELS text menu. When cylindrical velocities are used for the solution process, your velocity inputs and outputs will also be in terms of cylindrical components and the solution process will invoke these velocities which are natural" to the problem physics. You should be aware that the choice of rotation axis is also impacted by selection of this option see Setup Constraints, below. Section 6.2 describes the use of the cylindrical velocity formulation in more detail. You must obey the following coordinate-system constraints when de ning problems that will include swirling or rotating ow: The axis of rotation must be the x-axis when your FLUENT model is axisymmetric. The axis of rotation must be the z-axis when your FLUENT model is two dimensional and non-axisymmetric e.g., Figure 12.3.2b. The axis of rotation may be the x-axis or z-axis when your FLUENT model is three dimensional. The x-axis should be adopted if the governing equations are to be solved using cylindrical velocity components. The z-axis should be used when the equations are to be solved using Cartesian velocity components. If you do not obey these constraints during the original de nition of the problem geometry and grid, tools are available in the MANIPULATE-GRID menu for swapping the coordinate axes. See Section 5.6.6 for details. You should also be aware of the following grid mapping constraint:
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Rotationally cyclic boundaries must be de ned at the rst and last planes of constant I index I =1 and I = Imax . If your grid is not set up in this manner, grid-index swapping tools are available see Section 5.6.7. Section 14.9 contains more information on setup of problems using rotationally cyclic boundary conditions. In addition to the setup constraints described above, you should be aware of the need for su cient resolution in your grid when solving ows which include swirl or rotation. Typically, rotating boundary layers may be very thin, and your FLUENT model will require a very ne grid near a rotating wall. In addition, swirling ows will often involve steep gradients in the circumferential velocity e.g. near the centerline of a free-vortex type ow which will require a ne grid for accurate resolution. You can de ne the rotational or swirling component of velocity, r , at inlets or at walls using one of the following procedures: In axisymmetric problems, or in three-dimensional problems using cylindrical velocities, you can input the W-VELOCITY, which takes on a unique de nition as the circumferential velocity. The W-VELOCITY can be de ned as a function of coordinate direction via pro le-setting, via a piecewise-linear input, or via patching. In axisymmetric or in three dimensional problems, you can patch the ANGULAR-VELOCITY e.g. radians second. In three-dimensional problems, you can input cylindrical velocity components vr ; v ; vaxial based on a local coordinate system.
Grid Sensitivity in Swirling and Rotating Flows
Boundary Condition Inputs for Rotating or Swirling Flows
See Sections 14.3.1 and 14.6.2 where these procedures for input of rotational velocities at inlets and at walls are described in more detail. Solution Strategies The di culties associated with solving swirling and rotating ows for Swirling and are a result of the high degree of coupling between the momentum Rotating Flows equations which is introduced when the in uence of the rotational terms is large. A high degree of rotation introduces a large radial pressure gradient, driving a ow in the axial and radial directions which in turn determines the distribution of the swirl or rotation in the eld. This coupling may lead to instabilities in the solution
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process and you may require special solution techniques in order to obtain a converged solution. In addition, if you choose to use the RSM for turbulence modeling, tight coupling between the momentum and turbulence quantities will complicate the solution. In general, solution techniques that may be bene cial in swirling or rotating ow calculations include: Decrease the underrelaxation parameter on the body forces to a value of 0.2 0.5 if a rotating reference frame is being used. Obtain a better solution to the pressure and velocity equations before proceeding to the next iteration. This is accomplished by increasing the number of sweeps for pressure and velocity if you are using the Line Gauss solver, or by decreasing the termination criterion to 0.01 or 0.001 if you are using the multigrid solver. Use a sequential or step-wise solution procedure, in which some equations are temporarily left inactive see below; If necessary, start the calculations using a low rotational speed, increasing the rotational speed gradually in order to reach the nal desired operating condition. If very high aspect ratio cells are created near the axis of the grid often found in cylindrical polar grids with zero inner radius, special settings for the multigrid solver can help to improve convergence.
See Chapter 16 of this manual for details on the procedures used to make these changes to the solution parameters. More detail on the step-wise procedure, the gradual increase of the rotational speed, and multigrid settings for high aspect ratio cells near the axis are described below. Step-Wise Solution Often, ows with a high degree of swirl or rotation will be easier Procedures for to solve if you use the following step-by-step solution procedure, in Rotating Flows which only selected equations are left active in each step. This approach allows you to establish the eld of angular momentum, then leave it xed while you update the velocity eld, and then nally to couple the two elds by solving all equations simultaneously. In this procedure, you will use the EXPERT SELECT-VARIABLES command to turn individual transport equations on and o between calculations. If your problem involves in ow out ow, begin by solving the ow without rotation or swirl e ects. This calculation would
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be performed before any rotating or swirling boundary conditions are de ned. The resulting oweld data can be used as a starting guess for the full problem. Begin the prediction of the rotating swirling ow by solving only the momentum equation describing the circumferential velocity. In axisymmetric problems or when you are using the cylindrical velocity formulation, this will be the W-VELOCITY equation. Let the rotation di use" throughout the ow eld, based on your boundary condition inputs and your input for the angular velocity of the reference frame. In a turbulent ow simulation, you may also want to leave the turbulence equations active during this step. This step will establish the eld of rotation throughout the domain. Next, turn o the momentum equations describing the circumferential motion. Leaving the velocity in the circumferential direction xed, solve the momentum and continuity equations in the other coordinate directions. This step will establish the axial and radial ows that are a result of the rotation in the eld. Again, if your problem involves turbulent ow, you should leave the turbulence equations active during this calculation. Finally, turn on all of the equations simultaneously to obtain a fully coupled solution. Note the underrelaxation and sweep controls suggested above. In addition to following these procedures, you may want to simplify your calculation by solving isothermal ow before adding heat transfer or by solving laminar ow before adding a turbulence model. Because the rotation de ned via boundary conditions can lead to large complex forces in the ow, your FLUENT calculations will be less stable as the speed of rotation and the magnitude of these forces increases. Hence, one of the most e ective controls you can exert on the solution is to solve your rotating ow problem starting with a low rotational speed and then slowly increasing the rotation up to the desired level. The procedure you use to accomplish this is as follows: 1. Set up the problem using a low rotational speed in your inputs for boundary conditions. The rotational speed in this rst attempt might be selected as 10 of the actual operating conditions.
Gradual Increase of the Rotational Speed to Improve Solution Stability
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2. Solve the problem at these conditions, perhaps using the stepwise solution strategy outlined above. 3. Save this initial solution data. 4. Modify your inputs boundary conditions. Increase the speed of rotation, perhaps doubling it. 5. Restart the calculation using the solution data saved in Step 3 as the initial guess for the new calculation. Save the new data. 6. Continue to increment the speed of rotation, following Steps 4 and 5, until you reach the desired operating condition. Note that you could use time-varying boundary conditions and a time marching solution strategy to accomplish this procedure. The use of a cylindrical polar grid for domains that include the grid centerline i.e., a grid with zero inner radius will result in prism-shaped cells near the axis. Such grids are generally not a problem if the axis" boundary condition is used at the centerline, but convergence can become a problem in cases where the cells near the centerline have a very high aspect ratio i.e., when there are many cells in the circumferential direction. In such cases, the following multigrid settings can be used to improve convergence: 1. Use multigrid for all equations except those related to turbulence. 2. Set the coarse grid spacing for the multigrid solver to the maximum possible value in the circumferential direction equal to the number of cells in that direction and to 1 for all other directions. 3. Set the maximum multigrid level to 2. 4. Select the termination criteria and residual reduction parameters so that the coarse grid is visited for each equation. See Chapter 16 for details. In cases where the cells also have a relatively long length in the axial direction, 1D block correction should be applied for the pressure equation along the axial direction only.
Multigrid Settings for High Aspect Ratio Cells Near the Axis
12.3 Flow in a Rotating Reference Frame Velocity Components in Rotating or Swirling Flows
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The velocity in your swirling or rotating ow simulations are input and reported using either cylindrical-polar or Cartesian coordinates. In axisymmetric problems, the x-component U-VELOCITY will be the axial component, the y-component V-VELOCITY will be the radial component, and z-component W-VELOCITY will be the circumferential component. In 3D, if you are using Cartesian velocities, the centerline must be along the z axis, so the z-component W-VELOCITY will be the axial component and the radial and circumferential components will be combinations of the Cartesian xand y- components. If you are interested in angular velocities, angular momentum, Swirl Numbers, etc., you may nd it helpful to create a Post File or Universal File and post-process these Cartesian components into axial, radial, and circumferential components. If you have selected to solve the 3D problem using cylindrical velocity components, the reported velocities will be axial U-VELOCITY, and radial V-VELOCITY, and circumferential W-VELOCITY components. No other special reporting issues arise in rotating ows, and you can examine shear forces, heat transfer coe cients, etc. in the normal fashion.
12.3 Flow in a Rotating Reference Frame

12.3.1 Overview
Generally, when you create a model using FLUENT, you are modeling the ow in an inertial reference frame e.g., in a non-accelerating coordinate system. FLUENT is also able to model ows in an accelerating reference frame, in which the acceleration of the coordinate system or reference frame is included in the equations of motion describing the ow. One common occurrence of an accelerating reference frame in engineering applications is that of a ow in rotating equipment. Such ows are usually most easily modeled in a coordinate system that is riding" on the rotating equipment and thus under constant acceleration in the radial direction. This class of rotating ows can be treated using the rotating reference frame capability in FLUENT. Figure 12.3.1 depicts an example of a ow in a rotating reference frame and illustrates the coordinate transformation from the stationary frame to the rotating frame. Applications You will need to use a rotating reference frame whenever your FLUInvolving Rotating ENT model involves a physical situation in which rotating boundReference Frames aries are moving through the uid unless viewed in a rotating reference frame. Figure 12.3.2 illustrates several examples of problems that can be modeled using a coordinate transformation to a rotating
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Stationary
Rotating at speed y
a Original Reference Frame

Rotating at speed -
-
Stationary
y1
x1
b Rotating Reference Frame
Figure 12.3.1: Transforming Coordinates to a Rotating Reference Frame

reference frame. As illustrated, typical applications include:
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Impellers in unba ed mixing tanks Rotating turbomachinery blades e.g. centrifugal fans or axial impellers Flows in rotating passages e.g. cooling ducts in rotating equipment such as impellers, generators, etc. Note that when such problems are de ned in the rotating reference frame, the rotating boundaries are represented as stationary in your FLUENT model. This boundary condition treatment is discussed in more detail below. Modeling Problems involving rotor stator interaction Figure 12.3.3a, imRotor-Stator pellers in a ba ed tank Figure 12.3.3b or other similar problems Interaction in which a transformation to the rotating reference frame implies that other geometric features are now rotating through the uid cannot be modeled by a simple coordinate transformation to a rotating reference frame. Such problems must be treated by simplifying or reducing the problem geometry so that a single rotational frame can be used, or by using FLUENT's multiple reference frame model see Section 12.4 or sliding mesh capability see Section 13.1.
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y x
a Rotating Impeller in a Mixing Tank
y x
b Centrifugal Fan Blades
Figure 12.3.2: Applications That Can Be Modeled by FLUENT in a Rotating Reference Frame
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z x
c Cooling Passages in a Spinning Rotor
x z y
d Axial Impeller Blades
Figure 12.3.2: Applications That Can Be Modeled by FLUENT in a Rotating Reference Frame
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Stationary
Rotating
a Rotor-Stator Interaction
Stationary baffles
Rotating impeller
b Rotating Impeller in a Ba ed Tank
Figure 12.3.3: Rotor-Stator Interaction Problems That Require Sliding Meshes or Multiple Reference Frames
c
12.3 Flow in a Rotating Reference Frame 12.3.2 Equations in Rotating Reference Frames
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When the equations of motion are solved in an accelerating frame of reference, the acceleration of the uid is augmented by the acceleration of the reference frame itself. In a rotating reference frame, this additional acceleration gives rise to the coriolis and centrifugal acceleration terms which appear in the revised momentum equations in the rotating frame 5 : 12.3-1 Here, vr is the velocity in the rotating frame and is related to the velocity in the non-rotating frame, v, as:
D r
v + 2 v + r r Dt v = vr + r
12.3-2
where is the rotation vector and r is the position vector in the rotating frame. When you solve problems using a rotating reference frame in FLUENT, you are solving the momentum equation in the form of 12.3-1 to predict the velocity vr as de ned by 12.3-2. Note that this velocity is the velocity that you would see if you were observing the uid while riding on" the rotating reference frame. Coriolis and The centrifugal acceleration term, r, when written in Centrifugal Forces a cylindrical coordinate system, leads to the following force in the in Cylindrical radial direction:
Component Form
The Coriolis term, 2 direction:
12.3-3 vr , yields a force in the circumferential

r1
2 in Cartesian tensor notation as:
vr
12.3-4
Forces in General In general Cartesian coordinates, where is de ned as !i3, the Coordinate Form additional acceleration terms arising due to rotation can be written
2i1 ,!u2 + i2 !u1 + i1 ,!2x1 + i2,!2 x2 12.3-5 The rst and second terms in Equation 12.3-5 are referred to as the coriolis and centrifugal acceleration terms, respectively.
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Time Dependent FLUENT allows you to de ne the rotational speed of the reference Rotational Speeds frame,
, as a function of time so that the time dependent acceler @ ation @t r of the reference frame is included in FLUENT's
formulation. Hence, you can model ows in which the acceleration e.g. angular velocity of the reference frame is changing in time.
12.3.3 Problem Setup for Rotating Reference Frames Setup Constraints You must obey the coordinate-system and grid generation con-
Reference Frames
straints noted in Section 12.2 when modeling problems in rotating reference frames. Modeling Inputs When you want to model a problem involving a rotating reference for Rotating frame, you will need to complete the following modeling inputs: Activate the rotating reference frame model; De ne the rotational speed of the reference frame; De ne the boundary conditions in the rotating frame of reference.
No other special input considerations are required. Details describing the menu command you will use for each input are provided below. Activating a You can enable FLUENT's rotating reference frame by setting a Rotating Reference YES input to the ENABLE STEADY CORIOLIS FORCE command in the Frame EXPERT OPTIONS table:
MAIN ,! EXPERT ,! OPTIONS

MODELING OPTIONS NO ALLOW LINK SETTING NO ALLOW PROFILE SETTING NO SET INLET TURBULENCE QUANTITIES NO ALLOW HEAT FLUX BOUNDARY CONDITIONS NO ALLOW EXTERNAL HEAT TRANSFER WALLS NO ALLOW WALL CONDUCTION NO ENABLE CONVECTION IN CONDUCTING WALLS NO ALLOW HEAT CONDUCTION FOR INLETS NO INCLUDE EXTERNAL RADIATION BC NO SET EMISSIVITY FOR INLETS OUTLET NO ENABLE BOUSSINESQ MODEL FOR BUOYANCY NO ENABLE POROUS FLOW MODEL NO ENABLE FAN RADIATOR MODEL NO ALLOW FIXED PRESSURE BOUNDARIES NO ALLOW SETTING FLOW ANGLES FOR PRESSURE-INLETS YES ENABLE STEADY CORIOLIS FORCE NO ENABLE MULTIPLE ROTATING REFERENCE FRAMES NO ENABLE SLIDING MESH CALCULATION NO ACTIVATE PHASE CHANGE MODELLING NO ENABLE DEFORMING MESH CALCULATION ACTION TOP,DONE,QUIT,REFRESH
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De ning the When the ENABLE STEADY CORIOLIS FORCE command is activated, Rotational Speed you will see table entries requesting the angular velocity of the refof the Reference erence frame in the EXPERT BODY-FORCES table: Frame MAIN ,! EXPERT ,! BODY-FORCES
BODY FORCES YES YES 0.0000E+00 0.0000E+00 0.0000E+00 NO 10.5 IMPROVED TREATMENT OF BODY FORCE IN DISCRETE EQNS. INCLUDE BODY FORCE TERMS IN VELOCITY INTERPOLATION GRAVITY ACCELERATION IN X-DIRN - M S2 GRAVITY ACCELERATION IN Y-DIRN - M S2 GRAVITY ACCELERATION IN Z-DIRN - M S2 USER DEFINED REFERENCE DENSITY ANGULAR VELOCITY ABOUT THE X AXIS RAD S ACTION TOP,DONE,QUIT,REFRESH
In the sample table above, the rotational speed of the reference frame has been de ned as 10.5 radians sec 100 rpm about the axis of rotation. Input of a Time To set up a problem with time-varying angular velocity, activate Varying Rotational the TIME-DEPENDENCE option in the EXPERT menu. Then, select the
Speed
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ENABLE TIME-DEPENDENT CORIOLIS FORCE command in the EXPERT MODELING-OPTIONS table as shown below: MAIN ,! EXPERT ,! OPTIONS
MODELING OPTIONS NO ALLOW LINK SETTING NO ALLOW PROFILE SETTING NO SET INLET TURBULENCE QUANTITIES NO ALLOW HEAT FLUX BOUNDARY CONDITIONS NO ALLOW EXTERNAL HEAT TRANSFER WALLS NO ALLOW WALL CONDUCTION NO ENABLE CONVECTION IN CONDUCTING WALLS NO ALLOW HEAT CONDUCTION FOR INLETS NO INCLUDE EXTERNAL RADIATION BC NO SET EMISSIVITY FOR INLETS OUTLET NO ENABLE BOUSSINESQ MODEL FOR BUOYANCY NO ENABLE POROUS FLOW MODEL NO ENABLE FAN RADIATOR MODEL NO ALLOW FIXED PRESSURE BOUNDARIES NO ALLOW SETTING FLOW ANGLES FOR PRESSURE-INLETS NO ENABLE STEADY CORIOLIS FORCE YES ENABLE TIME-DEPENDENT CORIOLIS FORCE NO ENABLE MULTIPLE ROTATING REFERENCE FRAMES NO ENABLE SLIDING MESH CALCULATION NO ACTIVATE PHASE CHANGE MODELLING NO ENABLE DEFORMING MESH CALCULATION ACTION TOP,DONE,QUIT,REFRESH
The next step is to input the angular velocity of the reference frame as a function of time, as described below. Input of the Angular velocity can be speci ed as a function of time using a polyTime-Varying nomial, piecewise linear, or harmonic sinusoidal function. The Angular Velocity piecewise linear pro le may be conveniently used in the situation of transient ow around an impeller starting up from rest. When the harmonic pro le is adopted, you will de ne a sinusoidal function via input of the amplitude and frequency. When the time-dependent Coriolis force term option is enabled, the BODY-FORCES command will prompt you for the angular velocity as a function of time when you exit the table, as illustrated below:
MAIN ,! EXPERT ,! BODY-FORCES

BODY FORCES YES YES 0.0000E+00 0.0000E+00 0.0000E+00 NO D ***II-1
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IMPROVED TREATMENT OF BODY FORCE IN DISCRETE EQNS. INCLUDE BODY FORCE TERMS IN VELOCITY INTERPOLATION GRAVITY ACCELERATION IN X-DIRN - M S2 GRAVITY ACCELERATION IN Y-DIRN - M S2 GRAVITY ACCELERATION IN Z-DIRN - M S2 USER DEFINED REFERENCE DENSITY ACTION TOP,DONE,QUIT,REFRESH
DEFINE ANGULAR VELOCITY RAD S AS A FUNCTION OF TIME S NUMBER OF COEFFICIENTS +VE = POLYNOM., -VE = P.W.LINEAR, -1 = HARMONIC ++DEFAULT -1++
Input of Boundary Conditions in the Rotating Reference Frame
Entering a positive integer for the NUMBER OF COEFFICIENTS will result in a polynomial function of time, with the coe cients requested next. If a negative value less than or equal to ,2 is entered, FLUENT will prompt for a piecewise linear pro le. Entering ,1 will cause FLUENT to prompt for a sinusoidal pro le. Section 14.12 provides details on the input of these pro le descriptions. After specifying the angular velocity, you will need to specify the velocity boundary conditions as well. One option is to enter the boundary values of the velocity components relative to the rotating coordinates. In this approach, boundaries that are rotating in the stationary frame and hence stationary in the rotating frame adopted, will be given an angular velocity of zero. On the other hand, boundaries that are stationary in the non-rotating frame of reference must now be given an angular velocity equal to that of the rotating frame and in the opposite direction. Your inputs for angular velocity will be in terms of:
W-VELOCITY
which is the circumferential velocity component in meter sec, when you are solving an axisymmetric problem; W-VELOCITY which is the circumferential velocity component in meters sec, when you are solving a 3D problem and the cylindrical formulation has been adopted see Section 6.2. ANGULAR-VELOCITY, accessed from the PATCH command, when you are solving 3D problems using the standard Cartesian formulation.
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Note that the W-VELOCITY inputs can be supplied either through the Boundary Conditions panel or the BOUNDARY-CONDITIONS command in the SETUP-1 text menu or through the PATCH command in the MAIN menu. You can also enter velocity boundary conditions with respect to the stationary coordinate system and let FLUENT do the transformation to the rotational reference frame for you. When this approach is used, boundaries that are rotating in the stationary frame are given the angular velocity of the reference frame including any time variation. On the other hand, boundaries that are stationary in the non-rotating frame of reference are given an angular velocity of zero. These conditions can be input as the W-VELOCITY or ANGULAR-VELOCITY, supplied either through the Boundary Conditions panel or through the BOUNDARY-CONDITIONS command in the text menu. You cannot transform boundary conditions that have been patched, because such values are always interpreted by FLUENT to be in the rotating frame of reference when you use the rotating reference frame model. You also cannot transform boundary conditions at pressure boundaries. Pressure boundary conditions are always applied in the rotating reference frame. After input of the velocities relative to the stationary frame you will need to instruct FLUENT to transform project these inputs to the rotating reference frame. This is accomplished using the PROJECT-VELOCITIES command in the SETUP-1 menu, as shown below. Be sure to save any patched boundary conditions or data prior to entering the SETUP-1 menu, as this information can be lost upon exit back to the MAIN menu.
MAIN ,! SETUP-1 ,! PROJECT-VELOCITIES
Automatic Transformation of Boundary Conditions to the Rotating Frame
! !
SETUP1PROJECT-VEL PROJECT VELOCITIES ONTO ROTATING COORDINATES NO W1 NO I1 ACTION TOP,DONE,QUIT,REFRESH
As shown, FLUENT prompts you to de ne the boundaries on which

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the velocities you have input should be transformed from the stationary frame to the rotational reference frame. You will have the option to transform your inputs at all WALL and INLET boundaries. The zone numbers of the boundaries that are to be transformed are stored internally. For steady rotation, the velocities de ned with respect to the inertial coordinates are transformed onto the rotating coordinates before the solution begins. For time-dependent rotation, a similar transformation is made at each time step so that the boundary conditions a ected by the time-varying angular velocity are updated accordingly.
12.3.4 Solution and Postprocessing for Rotating Reference Frames Solution Strategies The di culties associated with solving ows in rotating reference for Rotating frames are similar to those discussed in Section 12.2, describing Reference Frames swirling and rotating ows. The primary issue you must confront
is the high degree of coupling between the momentum equations which is introduced when the in uence of the rotational terms is large. A high degree of rotation introduces a large radial pressure gradient, driving a ow in the axial and radial directions which in turn determines the distribution of the swirl or rotation in the eld. This coupling may lead to instabilities in the solution process and you may require special solution techniques in order to obtain a converged solution. In general, techniques that may be bene cial include: Decrease the underrelaxation parameter on the body forces to a value of 0.2 0.5. Obtain a better solution to the pressure and velocity equations before proceeding to the next iteration. This is accomplished by increasing the number of sweeps for pressure and velocity if you are using the Line Gauss solver, or by decreasing the termination criterion to 0.01 or 0.001 if you are using the multigrid solver. Use a sequential or step-wise solution procedure, in which some equations are temporarily left inactive see below. Begin the calculations using a low rotational speed, increasing the rotational speed gradually in order to reach the nal desired operating condition see below. If very high aspect ratio cells are created near the axis of the grid often found in cylindrical polar grids with zero inner
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radius, special settings for the multigrid solver can help to improve convergence.
See Chapter 16 of this manual for details on the procedures used to make these changes to the solution parameters. More detail on the step-wise procedure, the gradual increase of the rotational speed, and multigrid settings for high aspect ratio cells near the axis are described below. Step-Wise Solution Often, ows with a high degree of swirl or rotation will be easier Procedures for to solve if you use the following step-by-step solution procedure, Rotating Flows in which only selected equations are left active in each step. This approach allows you to establish the eld of rotation, then leave it xed while you update the velocity eld, and then nally to couple the two elds by solving all equations simultaneously. In this procedure, you will use the EXPERT SELECT-VARIABLES command to turn individual transport equations on and o between calculations. If your problem involves in ow out ow, begin by solving the ow without rotational e ects. This calculation would be performed before the rotating reference frame option and any rotating boundary conditions are de ned. The resulting oweld data can be used as a starting guess for the full problem, with rotation. Begin the prediction of the rotating ow by solving only the momentum equation describing the circumferential velocity. In axisymmetric problems, this will be the W-VELOCITY equation. In 3D, if you are solving for velocities using the cylindrical formulation, the circumferential velocity is again the W-VELOCITY. Let the rotation di use" throughout the ow eld, based on your boundary condition inputs and your input for the angular velocity of the reference frame. In a turbulent ow simulation, you may also want to leave the turbulence equations active during this step. This step will establish the eld of rotation throughout the domain. Next, turn o the momentum equations describing the circumferential motion. Leaving the velocity in the circumferential direction xed, solve the momentum and continuity equations in the other coordinate directions. This step will establish the axial and radial ows that are a result of the rotation in the eld. Again, if your problem involves turbulent ow, you should leave the turbulence equations active during this calculation.
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Finally, turn on all of the equations simultaneously to obtain a fully coupled solution. Note the underrelaxation and sweep controls suggested above. In addition to following these procedures, you may want to simplify your calculation by solving isothermal ow before adding heat transfer or by solving laminar ow before adding a turbulence model. Perhaps the most e ective simpli cation you can make is to begin the problem solution at a lower rotational speed, as detailed below. Because the rotation of the reference frame and the rotation de ned via boundary conditions lead to large complex forces in the ow, your FLUENT calculations will be less stable as the speed of rotation and the magnitude of these forces increases. Hence, one of the most e ective controls you can exert on the solution is to solve your rotating ow problem starting with a low rotational speed and then slowly increasing the rotation up to the desired level. The procedure you use to accomplish this is as follows: 1. Set up the problem using a low rotational speed in your inputs for boundary conditions and for the angular velocity of the reference frame. The rotational speed in this rst attempt might be selected as 10 of the actual operating conditions. 2. Solve the problem at these conditions, perhaps using the stepwise solution strategy outlined above. 3. Save this initial solution data. 4. Modify your inputs boundary conditions and angular velocity of the reference frame. Increase the speed of rotation, perhaps doubling it. 5. Restart the calculation using the solution data saved in Step 3 as the initial guess for the new calculation. Save the new data. 6. Continue to increment the speed of rotation, following Steps 4 and 5, until you reach the desired operating condition. Note that you could use a time-varying speed of rotation to accomplish this incremental solution as described below. Multigrid Settings The use of a cylindrical polar grid for domains that include the for High Aspect grid centerline i.e., a grid with zero inner radius will result in Ratio Cells Near prism-shaped cells near the axis. Such grids are generally not a
Gradual Increase of the Rotational Speed to Improve Solution Stability
the Axis
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problem if the axis" boundary condition is used at the centerline, but convergence can become a problem in cases where the cells near the centerline have a very high aspect ratio i.e., when there are many cells in the circumferential direction. In such cases, the following multigrid settings can be used to improve convergence: 1. Use multigrid for all equations except those related to turbulence. 2. Set the coarse grid spacing for the multigrid solver to the maximum possible value in the circumferential direction equal to the number of cells in that direction and to 1 for all other directions. 3. Set the maximum multigrid level to 2. 4. Select the termination criteria and residual reduction parameters so that the coarse grid is visited for each equation. See Chapter 16 for details. In cases where the cells also have a relatively long length in the axial direction, 1D block correction should be applied for the pressure equation along the axial direction only.
Using a Time-Dependent Angular Velocity to Converge Steady-State Problems Reporting in Rotating Reference Frames
Transforming Results Back to the Stationary Frame
The ability to de ne a time-varying angular velocity can be useful to accelerate the convergence of simulations of ows involving a constant angular velocity. When a constant angular velocity is of interest, time-marching in combination with a linearly increasing angular velocity with time will generally help convergence by improving the stability of your calculations. This can be accomplished by ramping the angular velocity from an initially low value to the desired steady rotation speed over a period of time. When you examine the results of your calculation, FLUENT will report velocities as either cylindrical-polar or Cartesian components in the rotating reference frame. Cartesian components are reported when you have solved the problem in the default Cartesian components. Cylindrical-polar coordinates are reported when you have elected to solve using cylindrical velocities. No other special reporting issues arise in rotating ows, and you can examine shear forces, heat transfer coe cients, etc. in the normal fashion. After you have obtained a solution in the rotating reference frame, FLUENT provides the option to transform your results back to the stationary frame for post-processing. This option is available
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only if you are solving using cylindrical velocities in 3D or using an axisymmetric model. In these situations, you can use the TRANSFORM-W-VELOCITY command:
MAIN ,! OPTIONS ,! TRANSFORM-W-VELOCITY
COMMANDS AVAILABLE FROM *MAIN*- OPTIONS: WRITE-LOG READ-LOG LOG-OFF WRITE-POSTFILE WRITE-HISTORY TRANSFORM-W-VELOCITY QUIT HELP ENTER HELP COMMAND FOR MORE INFORMATION. *MAIN*- OPTIONSTW *- **WARNING! W-VELOCITY FIELD WILL BE ALTERED.** COMMANDS AVAILABLE FROM TRANSFORM-W: ROTATING-FRAME STATIONARY-FRAME HELP ENTER HELP COMMAND FOR MORE INFORMATION. QUIT
If you choose the STATIONARY-FRAME command, FLUENT simply alters the current W-VELOCITY v eld as:
v
= v + r
where is the angular velocity of the reference frame, v is the 0 circumferential velocity in the rotating frame, and v is the circumferential velocity in the stationary frame. After selecting the STATIONARY-FRAME command, the velocity in the stationary frame, 0 v , can be post-processed by referring to the W-VELOCITY eld variable in graphics or alphanumerics menus. You can revert to the velocity in the rotating frame, v , by choosing the ROTATING-FRAME command, which will restore the W-VELOCITY to v by subtracting r . Note that these functions must be used with care, as they simply add or subtract r from the current W-VELOCITY eld. Using one of the commands twice, for example, will add or subtract 2r from your velocity eld. Furthermore, you should take care not to overwrite your solution data with the transformed velocities, as these would be inappropriate for restart of the calculations in the rotating reference frame. Note that when you use the TRANSFORM-W-VELOCITY command, only the w velocity of the ow is modi ed. If you want to do particle
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tracking, you must disable the Coriolis force in the EXPERT OPTIONS table and rede ne the particle initial conditions to be correct for the stationary reference frame.
12.4 Flow in Multiple Reference Frames

12.4.1 Overview
For problems in which part of the geometry is rotating while another part remains stationary, FLUENT provides the capability to model multiple reference frames in steady state. Typical applications include rotor-stator interaction Figure 12.3.3a and impellers in ba ed mixing tanks Figure 12.3.3b. You can also use multiple reference frames to model problems in which several parts of the geometry are rotating, but at di erent speeds. This feature allows you to approximate an unsteady ow by modeling a time-averaged steady-state ow. The multiple reference frame option was developed as an alternative to the sliding mesh approach for modeling ow elds in geometries where there are parts that rotate relative to each other as in mixing tanks where the tank and ba es remain stationary and the impeller rotates. While a sliding mesh approach provides a more accurate simulation of these types of problems, it inherently involves a time-dependent calculation and, as such, can be computationally demanding. The multiple reference frame approach, in contrast, is more economical to use. It involves a steady-state computational method which permits multiple uid not grid regions to rotate relative to each other. Fluid motion in a rotating region is solved in a rotating frame, and the solution is matched at the interface between the rotating and stationary region via velocity transformations from one frame to the other. This velocity matching" step implicitly involves the assumption of steady ow conditions at the interface. Clearly the multiple reference frame approach is an approximation, but in many situations, such as those encountered in mixing tanks where the impeller-ba e interactions are relatively weak, an appropriately chosen interface may exist where large-scale transient e ects are not present. In such cases, the multiple reference frame approach can capture precise details of the ow eld in all parts of the geometry since all parts are modeled while keeping the computation time low compared with a full unsteady sliding mesh calculation.
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The multiple reference frame option should not be used if it is necessary to actually simulate the transients that may occur in strong impeller-ba e interactions. For such cases, the sliding mesh model see Section 13.1 should be used. Examples For a mixing tank with a single impeller, you can de ne a rotating reference frame that encompasses the impeller and the ow surrounding it, and use a stationary frame for the ow outside the impeller region. An example of this con guration is illustrated in Figure 12.4.1. The dashes denote the interface between the two reference frames. Steady-state ow conditions are assumed at the interface between the two reference frames. That is, the velocity at the interface must be the same in absolute terms for each reference frame. The grid does not move.
Figure 12.4.1: Geometry with One Rotating Impeller You can also model a problem that includes more than one rotating reference frame. Figure 12.4.2 shows a geometry that contains two rotating impellers side by side. This problem would be modeled using three reference frames: the stationary frame outside both impeller regions and two separate rotating reference frames for the two impellers. As noted above, the dashes denote the interfaces between reference frames.
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Figure 12.4.2: Geometry with Two Rotating Impellers
Restrictions The following restrictions apply to the use of multiple reference

frames: The boundaries separating a rotating region from an adjacent, stationary region must be circular in 2D or a surface of revolution, such as a cylinder in 3D. In general, the boundary shape must be such that the component of the frame velocity normal to the boundary is zero everywhere on the boundary. Strictly speaking, the use of multiple reference frames is meaningful only for steady ow. However, FLUENT will allow you to solve an unsteady ow when multiple reference frames are being used. In this case, unsteady terms as described in Section 6.9.1 are added to all the governing transport equations. You should carefully consider whether this will yield meaningful results for your application. Particle trajectories and pathlines drawn by FLUENT use the laboratory inertial-frame velocity. For massless particles, the resulting pathlines follow the streamlines based on the laboratory inertial-frame velocity and are meaningful. For particles with mass, however, the particle tracks displayed are meaningless. Similarly, coupled discrete-phase calculations are meaningless. You cannot use the multiple reference frame model for axisymmetric ows.
12.4 Flow in Multiple Reference Frames 12.4.2 Equations for Multiple Reference Frames
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In FLUENT's implementation of the multiple reference frame feature, the calculation domain is divided into subdomains, each of which may be rotating with respect to the laboratory inertial frame. The governing equations in each subdomain are written with respect to that subdomain's reference frame. The ow in rotating subdomains is governed by the equations presented in Section 12.3.2. At the boundary between two subdomains, the di usion and other terms in the governing equations in one subdomain require values for the velocities in the adjacent subdomain. FLUENT enforces the continuity of the absolute velocity v to provide the correct neighbor" values of velocity for the subdomain under consideration. This approach di ers from typical mixing plane" or circumferential averaging approaches found in the literature. Velocities in each subdomain are computed relative to the motion of the subdomain. After the momentum equations have been updated, velocities and velocity gradients are converted from a moving reference frame to the absolute inertial frame as described below. The position vector relative to the origin of the rotating frame is de ned as
r = x , xo
12.4-1
where x is the position in absolute Cartesian coordinates and xo is the origin of the rotating frame. The relative velocity in the rotating reference frame can be converted to the absolute stationary frame of reference using the following equation:
v = vr + r
12.4-2
where v is the velocity in the absolute stationary reference frame and vr is the velocity in the relative rotating reference frame. The velocity gradient is obtained using:
rv = rvr + r r
12.4-3
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12.4.3 Problem Setup for Multiple Reference Frames

When you want to model a problem involving multiple reference frames, you will need to complete the following modeling inputs. Only those steps relevant speci cally to the setup of a multiple reference frame problem are listed here. You will need to set up the rest of the problem as usual. The grid-setup constraints for rotating and swirling ows listed in Section 12.2 apply to multiple rotating reference frames as well. 1. 2. 3. 4. Enable the multiple reference frame model. De ne the reference frames. De ne the rotation speed for each rotating frame. De ne the velocity boundary conditions at walls and inlets.
Enabling Multiple The multiple reference frame model is enabled in the EXPERT OPTIONS Reference Frames table: MAIN ,! EXPERT ,!OPTIONS
EXPERTOP MODELING OPTIONS NO ALLOW LINK SETTING NO ALLOW PROFILE SETTING NO ENABLE NON-NEWTONIAN FLOW MODEL NO ENABLE POROUS FLOW MODEL NO ENABLE FAN RADIATOR MODEL NO ALLOW FIXED PRESSURE BOUNDARIES NO ALLOW SETTING FLOW ANGLES FOR PRESSURE-INLETS NO ENABLE STEADY CORIOLIS FORCE YES ENABLE MULTIPLE ROTATING REFERENCE FRAMES NO ENABLE SLIDING MESH CALCULATION NO ACTIVATE PHASE CHANGE MODELLING NO ENABLE DEFORMING MESH CALCULATION D ACTION TOP,DONE,QUIT,REFRESH
If you use the Set Cells panel to de ne the reference frames, you can skip this step: the multiple reference frames model will be activated automatically as soon as you de ne a reference frame.
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The multiple reference frames model requires the use of the steady coriolis force option, so when you turn on ENABLE MULTIPLE ROTATING REFERENCE FRAMES, FLUENT will automatically turn on ENABLE STEADY CORIOLIS FORCE for you after you type DO on the action line of the table. De ning the The default reference frame for all cells is the laboratory stationary Reference Frames frame M0. For each reference frame that is rotating, you will need to specify which cells comprise the reference frame. If your problem involves the stationary reference frame and one rotating reference frame, for example, you will de ne M1 as the rotating reference frame. If you have additional rotating reference frames, they will be M2, etc. To de ne the reference frames, you can use the Set Cells panel or the SET-CELLS text command. It is recommended that you set all of your cell types wall,inlet, etc. before de ning the reference frames; de ning reference frames at the same time that you are setting cell types may be confusing. You are not required to de ne the reference frame after the cell types, however. It is possible to de ne reference frames at any time. The procedure for de ning a rotating reference frame with the Set Cells panel is as follows: 1. Turn on the Show Reference Frames option and click Display. When this option is active, FLUENT will display the de ned rotating reference frames in a blue-green color. Note that the stationary reference frame M0 is not displayed in this color. If the Show Reference Frames option is grayed out, setting some cells to be in a di erent reference frame|following the steps below|will make it available. 2. Select all the cells to be placed in the rotating reference frame. Reference frame boundaries must be de ned such that the boundary between reference frames falls between cells of the same type. For example, cyclic cells next to a rotating frame must also be included in that frame; the boundary between frames cannot occur between live and cyclic cells. Figure 12.4.3 shows a close-up view of the cells on the left in Figure 12.4.5. Here, reference zone M1 extends all the way to the left of the domain. Starting the M1 frame to the right of the cyclic cells as shown in Figure 12.4.4 would place the reference frame boundary between the cyclic cells and the adjacent live cells,
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24 C 23 C 22 C 21 C 20 C 19 C 18 C 17 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M 16 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M 15 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M 14 M1 Multiple Impellers in a Cylindrical Tank Jun 05 1996

Computational Grid Fluent 4.40 Fluent Inc.
Figure 12.4.3: Correct De nition of the M1 Reference Frame

24 C 23 C 22 C 21 C 20 C 19 C 18 C 17 C M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M 16 C M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M 15 C M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M C M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M1 M 14 Multiple Jun 05 1996 Impellers in a Cylindrical Tank
Computational Grid Fluent 4.40 Fluent Inc.
Figure 12.4.4: Incorrect De nition of the M1 Reference Frame
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and would be incorrect. In the same manner, the boundaries of reference frames cannot be between a wall zone and live cells e.g., at the top of a mixing tank. The reference frame must either include the walls or be repositioned between two planes of live cells. Do not be concerned that you are selecting cells that you have already assigned a cell type such as wall" or inlet." The reference frame designation is an additional characteristic of a cell; it does not override the speci ed cell type. 3. In the Set Cells panel, choose MUL-FRAME in the Type list under Zone and the appropriate number 1 for the rst rotating reference frame you de ne, or a higher number if reference frame 1 has already been de ned in the ID list. 4. Click Apply to change the reference frame designation of the selected cells to the speci ed reference frame. The display will be updated to show that the selected cells are in a rotating reference frame. Figure 12.4.5 shows the display for a cylindrical tank with multiple impellers. In Figure 12.4.6, which shows the grid outline for this problem, the circle around the complete impeller and the arc to the right of the 1 4 impeller at the tank center indicate the boundaries between reference frames. The cells around the impeller at the center of the tank i.e., the cells inside the reference frame boundary for the 1 4 impeller in Figure 12.4.6 and at the bottom in Figure 12.4.5 have been placed in one rotating reference frame M1, and those surrounding the other impeller i.e., the cells inside the reference frame boundary for the complete impeller in Figure 12.4.6 and in the square region in Figure 12.4.5 have been placed in another rotating reference frame M2. The remaining cells, which are not colored blue-green, are in the stationary reference frame M0. Remember that the boundaries separating reference frames must be surfaces of revolution; that is, they must be de ned such that the component of the frame velocity normal to the boundary is zero. In the multiple-impeller tank example Figure 12.4.6, the physical boundaries are circular arcs, even though the boundaries are rectangular in the computational grid display in Figure 12.4.5. You can repeat these steps to de ne additional rotating reference frames. When you are done de ning reference frames, you can turn
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74 70 60
M2
50 40 30 20 10 1 J I1 10 20 30 40 50 60 72 70 Jun 05 1996 Fluent 4.40 Fluent Inc.
M1
Multiple Impellers in a Cylindrical Tank Computational Grid
Figure 12.4.5: Reference Frames for a Multiple-Impeller Tank
reference frame boundaries
M1
M2
Y Z X
Multiple Impellers in a Cylindrical Tank Outline
Jun 05 1996 Fluent 4.40 Fluent Inc.
Figure 12.4.6: Grid Outline for a Multiple-Impeller Tank
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o the Show Reference Frames option if you want to see the cell types that are underneath the reference frame designations. If you place some cells in a rotating reference frame and then decide that they actually belong in the stationary reference frame M0, you can follow the steps above and select 0 at the bottom of the ID list. Be careful not to select the letter O. When you apply this change, the selected cells will no longer be colored, indicating that they are once again in the stationary reference frame. You can also use the SET-CELLS command to de ne the reference frames use the MUL-FRAME command in the BOUNDS menu. See Section 5.3.1 for details about using the SET-CELLS command. When the multiple reference frame model is active and you select the LIST-CELLS command to show the cell types, FLUENT will ask you if you want to display reference frames:
SETUP1LC L- DISPLAY REFERENCE FRAMES? L- Y OR N ++DEFAULT-YES++ Y CELL TYPES: J I= 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 74 CW1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1W1 73 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2 62 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2 61 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2 60 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2 59 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2 58 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2M2 J I= 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 ACTION RETURN =NEXT,LEFT,RIGHT,UP,DOWN,QUIT,:
74 73 72 71 70 69 68 67 66 65 64 63 62 61 60 59 58
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De ning the To de ne a reference frame's rotation, you will use the Boundary Rotation of the Conditions panel or the BOUNDARY-CONDITIONS text menu. Reference Frame In the Boundary Conditions panel, select MUL-FRAME-1, MUL-FRAME2, etc. and set the components of angular velocity and the origin for the reference frame in the resulting Multiple Reference Frames
panel:
Set the origin of the reference frame under Reference Frame Origin. Then de ne the angular velocity components about the x, y, and z axes of the coordinate system with its origin at the Reference Frame Origin. Each of these axes is parallel to the corresponding axis of the domain coordinate system. In 2D nonaxisymmetric problems, the rotation will always be about the z axis only. In the BOUNDARY-CONDITIONS menu, select the appropriate MUL-FRAME and enter the angular velocity components and reference frame origin in the following table:

SETUP1BC MF 1 REFERENCE FRAME PARAMETERS 10 ANGULAR VELOCITY ABOUT Z AXIS DIM 0.0000E+00 X COORDINATE OF REFERENCE FRAME ORIGIN DIM 0.0000E+00 Y COORDINATE OF REFERENCE FRAME ORIGIN DIM ACTION TOP,DONE,QUIT,REFRESH
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if you are modeling impellers in a ba ed mixing tank with no in ow or out ow boundaries, using a rotating frame for the impellers and a stationary frame for all of the tank walls and ba es, no additional inputs will be required. Suppose, however, that your rotating frame extends from the top tank wall to the bottom tank wall, both of which are stationary. It will then be necessary to set the boundary conditions for these walls and inlets from the perspective of the rotating frame. As another example, consider a tank that is unbafed in the vicinity of the impeller. If you choose a rotating frame that extends to the outer stationary tank wall, you will need to set the velocity on the outer wall so that it will be stationary in the absolute frame. For pressure boundaries, the pressure boundary condition is always applied in the reference frame in which the pressure boundary cells lie. That is, the ow direction is relative to the reference frame's rotation, and the total pressure is based on velocities relative to the reference frame's rotation. For velocity inlets and walls, you may specify velocity boundary conditions in either relative or absolute terms. Speci cation of If you choose to enter the boundary values of the velocity compoRelative Velocity nents relative to the rotating coordinates, you must use the BoundComponents ary Conditions panel or the BOUNDARY-CONDITIONS text command in the SETUP-1 menu. You cannot use the PATCH text command in the MAIN menu to patch relative velocities because all patched boundary conditions are interpreted by FLUENT to be in the absolute frame of reference when you have multiple reference frames. Relative Cartesian velocity components can be de ned for all cases, but you cannot specify relative angular velocities. Speci cation of angular velocities is described later in this section.
Input of Velocity Depending on the nature of your problem and the location of the Boundary reference frame boundaries, you may or may not need to supply adConditions ditional boundary condition information at this point. For example,
12-40 Automatic Transformation of Absolute Velocity Components to the Rotating Frame

You can also enter velocity boundary conditions with respect to the stationary coordinate system and let FLUENT do the transformation to the rotational reference frame for you. If you choose to use this option, you must use the Boundary Conditions panel or the BOUNDARY-CONDITIONS text command in conjunction with the PROJECT-VELOCITIES text command. Note that if you use the PATCH text command in the MAIN menu to patch velocity boundary conditions, FLUENT interprets them to be in the absolute frame of reference and will automatically transform them to the rotating frame in the course of the calculation. The PROJECT-VELOCITIES command therefore has no e ect on patched boundary conditions. You cannot transform boundary conditions at pressure boundaries. Pressure boundary conditions are always applied in the rotating reference frame. After input of the absolute velocities i.e., velocities relative to the stationary frame you will need to instruct FLUENT to transform project these inputs to the rotating reference frame. This is accomplished using the PROJECT-VELOCITIES command in the SETUP-1 menu, as shown below.
MAIN ,! SETUP-1 ,! PROJECT-VELOCITIES
SETUP1PROJECT-VEL PROJECT VELOCITIES ONTO ROTATING COORDINATES NO W1 NO I1 ACTION TOP,DONE,QUIT,REFRESH
As shown, FLUENT prompts you to de ne the boundaries on which the velocities you have input should be transformed from the stationary frame to the rotational reference frame. You will have the option to transform your inputs at all WALL and INLET boundaries. The zone numbers of the boundaries that are to be transformed are stored internally. The velocities de ned with respect to the inertial coordinates are transformed onto the rotating coordinates before the solution begins. Speci cation of When you are using the multiple reference frame model, you canAngular Velocity not specify a relative angular velocity nor can you transform an absolute angular velocity to the rotating reference frame. You must
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instead determine the corresponding absolute circumferential velocity yourself i.e., compute v in Equation 12.4-2 and de ne it as the CIRCUMFERENTIAL-VELOCITY in local coordinates, accessed from the XTENDED-XOPTIONS menu for the PATCH command. In general, for a constant angular velocity you will need to set the circumferential velocity to be a function of the local radius. When this approach is used, boundaries that are rotating in the stationary frame are given the angular velocity of the reference frame. On the other hand, boundaries that are stationary in the non-rotating frame of reference are given an angular velocity of zero.
12.4.4 Solution and Postprocessing for Multiple Rotating Reference Frames Solution Strategies No special solution strategies are necessary for multiple reference
frames. You may want to look at the suggestions for single rotating frames in Section 12.3.4, and it is also recommended that you reduce the MINIMUM RESIDUAL SUM in the EXPERT SOLUTION-PARAMETERS table to 1.0E-4 or less. This will insure a more converged solution and better stress balance across the reference frame interface. Postprocessing In FLUENT, only the absolute laboratory frame velocities can be displayed. When you examine the results of your calculation, FLUENT will report velocities as either cylindrical or Cartesian components in the inertial reference frame. Cartesian velocities will be reported if you have solved the problem using the default Cartesian velocities, and cylindrical velocities will be reported if you chose to solve the problem using cylindrical velocities. No other special reporting issues arise in multiple rotating reference frames, and you can examine shear forces, heat transfer coe cients, etc. in the usual fashion.
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Chapter 13. Moving Mesh Simulations

This chapter describes the models in FLUENT that allow you to simulate ows in which physical boundaries are moving in time. These models are covered in the following sections: Section 13.1: The Sliding Mesh Model Section 13.2: The Deforming Mesh Model The sliding mesh model is ideally suited for problems involving rotor stator interactions and involves two mesh regions, one attached to the rotor and one attached to the stator, sliding relative to one another along slipping planes within the uid domain. This model is ideally suited for simulation of the detailed study of impeller performance in ba ed mixing vessels. The deforming mesh model allows the grid to deform in response to moving boundaries, as in applications involving valve motion or piston cylinder ows.
13.1 The Sliding Mesh Model

The sliding mesh modeling approach involves two mesh regions, one attached to a rotating geometry e.g., a rotor and one attached to stationary boundaries of the ow e.g., the stator, which slide relative to one another along slipping planes within the uid domain. When the ow situation involves an interaction of stationary stator and moving rotor parts such that the computational domain cannot be made stationary by using a rotating reference frame, a sliding mesh calculation is necessary. For example, in a mixing tank where the ba es are stationary and the impeller is moving, using a rotating reference frame will not immobilize the computational domain; a sliding mesh capability is needed to solve such problems. Figure 13.1.1 shows examples of rotor-stator interaction problems that can be modeled using the sliding mesh technique in FLUENT. Mixing of single and multi-phase uids in stirred tanks is very common in the chemical and biotechnology industries. A typical stirred tank is a cylindrical vessel with ba es along its periphery, in which the incoming reactants are mixed by one or more rotating impellers
Application of the Sliding Mesh Model to Stirred Tank Reactors
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Chapter 13 | Moving Mesh Simulations
Figure 13.1.1b. The ow patterns in mixing tanks are very complex and the presence of the stationary ba es makes the ow inherently unsteady. Since the computational domain cannot be immobilized by using a frame of reference rotating with the impeller, the mean quantities exhibit a periodic unsteadiness, due to the interaction of the stationary ba e and moving impeller parts. This unsteady interaction may be quite signi cant in many industrial ows and may play an important part in equipment design, process scale-up, energy conservation, and product quality control. FLUENT provides the capability to treat this rotor-stator interaction through the sliding mesh capability. The Sliding Mesh In the sliding mesh technique two grids are employed: one for the Technique stationary components and one for the rotating components. Figure 13.1.2a shows the initial position of the two grids. The rotor grid slides with respect to the stator grid along the slipping surface. Figure 13.1.2b shows the rotation of the rotor grid with respect to the stator grid. As the rotation takes place, alignment of the two grids along the slipping surface is not required. An arbitrary LagrangianEulerian method is used to describe the general transport equations in both of the grid regions. Since the ow is inherently unsteady, a time-dependent solution procedure must be used.
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Stationary
Rotating
a Rotor-Stator Interaction
Stationary baffles
Rotating impeller
b Rotating Impeller in a Ba ed Tank
Figure 13.1.1: Rotor-Stator Interaction Problems That Can Be Modeled Using the Sliding Mesh Technique
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a Initial Position of the Rotor and Stator Grids
b Sliding of the Rotor Mesh With Respect to the Stator Mesh
Figure 13.1.2: Sliding Mesh Used for Rotor-Stator Interaction

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Restrictions in the Since most rotor-stator interactions involve a cylindrical geometry, Sliding Mesh FLUENT employs a cylindrical-polar coordinate formulation for the Model sliding mesh calculations see Section 6.2. This does not imply that
the grid must be cylindrical in nature: any grid topology, including general curvilinear grids, may be employed as long as the radial slipping plane de nes an arc of constant radius see Section 13.1.2. The sliding mesh model can be used with most FLUENT models, with the following restrictions: Species transport and reaction can be modeled but the multicomponent species di usion law cannot be used see Section 7.6. The PDF di usion model and the premixed ame front model are also not available as modeling options when the sliding mesh model is active. Radiation heat transfer cannot be included in sliding mesh simulations. The RSM turbulence model cannot be included in sliding mesh simulations. Phase change Chapter 8 and the Eulerian multiphase model Chapter 9 cannot be included. Note that the VOF free surface model Chapter 10 can be included, however, allowing you to simulate free surfaces in stirred tank reactors. Compressible ow cannot be modeled with sliding mesh. Higher order numerical schemes QUICK, the second order upwind scheme, and second order density interpolation are not available with the sliding mesh model. The multigrid solver cannot be used with sliding mesh. You will be able to use all of the commands in the MANIPULATEGRID menu only if the grid is at the initial position at time t = 0; once iterations have been performed, only the SWAP-X-Y-Z, SWAP-I-J-K, and COPY-CYCLIC-PLANES commands will be available. Note, in addition, that the sliding mesh model is inherently timedependent and is thus incompatible with the Lagrangian particle tracking model in which the particles are assumed to traverse a steady ow.
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13.1.1 Theory of the Sliding Mesh Model Overview In the sliding mesh approach 101 the basic idea is to employ two
grids: one moves with the rotating geometry e.g., impeller while the other is xed to the stationary geometry e.g., tank walls. The two meshes interact along a surface of slip. The moving grid is allowed to slide relative to the stationary grid and grid lines are not required to align on the slip surface. A conservative interpolation is used to obtain ow variables and face uxes across this surface. Formulation The equations governing ow in the frame of reference of the moving mesh may be written in Cartesian tensor form as 135 1 1
d J dt J ui d J dt J @ + @x uj , vj = 0
13.1-1
t;ij + Sui
@ @p @ + @x uj , vj ui = , @x + @x ij +
1 where
J dt
+ @x uj , vj = @x ,
@ @
@ @xj
+S
13.1-2 13.1-3
is the uid density is the ow velocity component vj is the grid velocity component arising from mesh motion ij is the molecular stress tensor for Newtonian uids t;ij is the Reynolds stress tensor , is the di usion coe cient for the scalar quantity Su is the source term for the ui equation S is the source term for the equation These equations are the continuity, momentum, and scalar transport equations, respectively. d=dt is the total derivative and represents the time rate of change of a variable as seen by an observer riding on the moving mesh. J is a measure of the change of material volume as it travels with the moving grid. In the sliding mesh formulation, J is equal to unity, because the rotor mesh is assumed to move as a solid body and hence there is no mesh distortion. Equations 13.1-1 through 13.1-3, together with constitutive relations for a Newtonian uid, are written in strong-conservation-law form in generalized coordinates. Treatment of the Control volumes near the slip surface must be treated di erently Rotor-Stator from cells not bordering the slip surface. Those control volumes may Interface have an arbitrary number of neighbors and the number of neighbors
uj
i
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changes with time. The basic methodology depends on the construction of ctitious control volumes on both sides of the interface. For a node P in Zone 1 on the rotor side, the east E , west W , and south S neighbors are also in Zone 1 Figure 13.1.3. The north neighbor, however, is the ctitious node N in Zone 2 on the stator side as shown in Figure 13.1.3. The discrete equations for points in each zone involve these ctitious neighbors.
Fictitious Control Volume
Zone 2 (Stator)
RotorStator Interface
Zone 1 (Rotor)
Figure 13.1.3: Treatment of the Rotor-Stator Interface
Calculation of the A conservative interpolation scheme is used to compute the conInterface Flux vective and di usive uxes for control volumes bordering the slip
surface. Conservation is guaranteed in both a local and a global sense. Imposition of On the rotor, the velocity of the impeller rotation is speci ed. A Boundary no-slip boundary condition is applied on all solid walls, and cyclic Conditions boundary conditions are applied on the lateral boundaries. When cyclic conditions are applied on the lateral boundaries, the neighbor nodes along the slip surface must be correctly identi ed to account for cyclicity on both the moving and stationary meshes. The procedure used is as follows: At time t=0, the rotor and stator meshes are aligned along the slip surface, as shown in Figure 13.1.2a.
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Over the time step t, the rotor mesh may rotate several mesh spacings past the stator mesh, as shown in Figure 13.1.2b, where the rotation is counter-clockwise. The stator neighbors of the over-hanging" rotor control volumes are identi ed by cyclic rearrangement of the mesh. This operation may be done either symbolically by the manipulation of linked lists or in actuality, by the physical rotation of the rotor mesh. Since the rotor mesh moves like a solid body, there is no mesh distortion. Thus, geometric parameters such as the Jacobian of transformation and the cell face areas need not be recalculated.
Sliding Mesh A modi ed line-by-line Tri-Diagonal Matrix Algorithm TDMA is Solution Procedure used for the solution of the nominally linear set of discrete equa-
tions. To account for the fact that line structure is not preserved across the slip surface, the LGS solver is applied sequentially to the rotor and stator grids until the values at the ctitious node points stabilize. At that point, the nominally linear set is assumed solved and the iteration loop continues. Since the sliding mesh option is inherently unsteady, a time-marching algorithm is used to reach periodic steady state. The time step can be de ned by you, as in any other transient calculation, or by the code, based on your input for the number of grid spaces the rotor grid will rotate per time step.
13.1.2 Problem Setup Using the Sliding Mesh Option

A detailed procedure for setting up a problem using the sliding mesh option, along with the user inputs, is described below. Overview of When setting up a problem to deal with rotor-stator interaction, Modeling Inputs you should follow the procedures below: Set up the grid using a rotationally cyclic grid. See Section 5.6.10 for information about ensuring that the cyclic planes are exact copies of one another. Make sure that the Cartesian x-axis is de ned as the axis of rotation. If necessary, swap the coordinate axes. Make sure that the axial direction is the K -direction, the radial direction is the J -direction, and the circumferential direction is the I -direction. The direction of the increasing K index must be in the positive x direction, and the direction
Using the Sliding Mesh
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of increasing J index must be in the positive radial direction. Note that the rotating elements are assumed to be those with J grid indices less than the J index de ning the radial slipping plane. De ne the moving inner wall e.g., the impeller blade as a Z-WALL and the stationary outer wall e.g., the ba ed wall as a W-WALL. De ne the I = 1 and I = Imax boundaries as cyclic planes. Use a slip wall symmetry to approximate a uid free surface or consider using the VOF multiphase model to simulate free surface e ects. Enable the cylindrical velocity formulation see below. Enable the sliding mesh calculation see below. Set the appropriate model parameters angular velocity of the rotor, and radial and axial locations of the slipping surfaces as detailed below. Calculate the rotational Reynolds number based on the tip velocity of the impeller to determine if the ow is laminar or turbulent. If the ow is turbulent, turn on either the standard k - model or the RNG k - model. Choose the time step determining scheme and de ne appropriate parameters for the scheme chosen. Note that when a sliding mesh approach is adopted, the ow becomes inherently unsteady and a time-dependent solution approach must be used see procedures below. Choose appropriate solver settings, bearing in mind that only the LGS solver is available for sliding mesh calculations.
Setup Constraints Some restrictions apply to the sliding mesh simulations: for Sliding Mesh Calculations 1. Constraints of using the cylindrical velocity formulation apply;
that is, the axis of rotation should be the Cartesian x-axis. 2. The problem must be modeled as three-dimensional, but you can perform two-dimensional simulations using a pseudo-3D approach. In this approach, three slices of a two-dimensional grid are created: the top and bottom slices are de ned as symmetry planes, while the middle slice is a live" plane. These
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so-called sandwich" domains are a convenient way of modeling the r , plane in a problem with no axial variation in the ow. No cell deformation is allowed along the slipping faces. The slipping plane in the radial direction is assumed to be an arc of a circle. Slip planes in the axial direction should be above and below the impeller region and should be placed several planes away from the walls at the axial ends of the domain. The grid on these axial slip planes should be cylindrical in nature, with the radial grid lines forming circular arcs about the centerline. The slipping planes both axial and radial should be set at least one computational cell away from any solid wall. The axial slipping planes should be located so that they are contained within a single uid phase when the multiphase VOF free surface model is used. The slipping plane should be below the free surface and the interface between phases should not cross the slipping plane. The cell types Z-WALL 1 to Z-WALL Z should be used to de ne the moving walls the rotor blades; W-WALL 1 to W-WALL Z should be used to de ne the stationary walls.
3.
4. 5.
6.
plane forms a circular arc about the centerline and that the axial slipping planes contain J-grid lines that are circular arcs about the centerline. See Figure 13.1.4. The rotating elements are assumed to be those with J grid indices less than the J index de ning the radial slipping plane. In addition, the sliding mesh formulation requires the Cartesian xaxis to be the axis of rotation. If the x-axis has not been de ned to be the axis of rotation, swapping of the coordinate axes will be necessary see Section 5.6.6. If the grid is created in FLUENT, and you have requested the cylindrical velocity formulation, the axis of rotation is the x-axis and swapping of axes is not necessary. Setting Cell Types The moving walls should be de ned using Z-WALL zones and the stationary walls should be de ned using W-WALL zones. The inner moving wall and impeller are designated, for example, as Z-WALL 1 and the stationary outer wall and ba e as W-WALL 1. The rst and last I -planes should be de ned as rotationally cyclic cells. When
Grid Generation The sliding mesh grid may be created in FLUENT or using the preRequirements processor of your choice. You must ensure that the radial slipping
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must be circular arcs on the radial slipping plane
must be circular arcs on the axial slipping planes
Figure 13.1.4: Grid Requirements on Slipping Planes the top surface of the domain represents a uid free surface, it may be modeled as a slip wall using SYMMETRY cells. Alternately, you may want to model the details of the free surface using the VOF multiphase model Chapter 10. Figures 13.1.5a and 13.1.5b show the cell type de nitions in a 60o sector of a ba ed three-dimensional tank with a rotating impeller. Selecting a When you QUIT from SETUP-1 or when you de ne cyclic cells using Rotationally Cyclic the GUI, FLUENT will ask whether the cyclic boundaries are roBoundary Type tationally or translationally cyclic. At this point, you should de ne the geometry to be ROTATIONALLY CYCLIC:
SETUP-1 ,! QUIT
*LLYES L-
DOMAIN HAS CYCLIC BOUNDARY. IS GEOMETRY ROTATIONALLY CYCLIC? ELSE TRANSLATIONALLY CYCLIC? Y OR N ++DEFAULT-YES++ DEFAULT ASSUMED
If you haven't de ned cyclic boundaries, FLUENT will give you a warning when you try to QUIT out of SETUP-1 or whenever grid checks are performed:
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Baffle and Outer Wall (W1)
Cyclic Planes (C)
Impeller (Z1) End Wall (W1)
a Outline of Geometry
Y X Z
b Surface Grid
Figure 13.1.5: Cell Type De nition

************************************************************** *** CYCLIC BOUNDARY CONDITION IS EXPECTED FOR **** *** SLIDING MESH CALCULATIONS. PLEASE CHECK. **** **********************************************************
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Using the When the sliding mesh technique is adopted, the cylindrical veCylindrical locity option must be used. You activate this option using the Velocity CYLINDRICAL-VELOCITIES command in the DEFINE-MODELS text Formulation menu or in the Models panel in the GUI. When this option is en-
abled, all velocity inputs and outputs will be in terms of cylindrical velocity components. When the cylindrical velocity formulation is chosen, FLUENT issues a warning message:
****-
!! WARNING !! WHEN USING CYLINDRICAL VELOCITIES, THE CENTERLINE AXIS MUST BE X AXIS. PLEASE VERIFY YOUR COORDINATE SYSTEM AND SWAP AXES IF NECESSARY.
Reynolds Number
As indicated in the warning message, the x-axis should be de ned as the axis of rotation. This is easily achieved by swapping the xand z-coordinates, if required, using the SWAP-X-Y-Z command in the MANIPULATE-GRID menu. Computing the To determine whether the ow regime is laminar or turbulent, you Rotational should calculate the rotational Reynolds number:
Rerot
2
2 Dt
13.1-4
is the rotor speed in radians per second Dt is the diameter of the impeller tip is the density of the uid is the viscosity of the uid In the mixing community, a more commonly used de nition of the rotational Reynolds number is as follows:
Rerot
where
t = ND
13.1-5
where
is the rotor speed in rotations per second Dt is the diameter of the impeller tip is the density of the uid is the viscosity of the uid
N
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When this exceeds the transition Reynolds number for your impeller, you should enable a turbulence model noting that the RSM is not available for modeling turbulence in sliding mesh simulations. The Reynolds number at which transition occurs will, however, depend on the impeller type that you are considering. Aerodynamically shaped impellers may transition at a Reynolds number of 10,000, while more chaotic mixers e.g., a simple Rushton turbine may transition much earlier e.g., at Re = 200 500. Enabling the The sliding mesh model is enabled using the Models panel or using Sliding Mesh the EXPERT OPTIONS table in the text interface. In the GUI, begin Model by opening the Models panel and enabling time dependence and the cylindrical velocity formulation by selecting the Time Dependent Flow and Cylindrical Velocities check boxes. Next, enable the sliding mesh model using the drop-down list in the Moving Mesh eld: De ne ,! Models...
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Click Apply to enable your selection of the sliding mesh model. In the text interface, you enable the sliding mesh model by selecting the ENABLE SLIDING MESH CALCULATION command in the EXPERT OPTIONS table:
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MODELING OPTIONS NO ALLOW LINK SETTING NO ALLOW PROFILE SETTING NO ENABLE NON-NEWTONIAN FLOW MODEL NO ENABLE POROUS FLOW MODEL NO ENABLE FAN RADIATOR MODEL NO ALLOW FIXED PRESSURE BOUNDARIES NO ALLOW SETTING FLOW ANGLES FOR PRESSURE-INLETS NO ENABLE STEADY CORIOLIS FORCE NO ENABLE TIME-DEPENDENT CORIOLIS FORCE YES ENABLE SLIDING MESH CALCULATION NO ACTIVATE PHASE CHANGE MODELLING NO ENABLE DEFORMING MESH CALCULATION ACTION TOP,DONE,QUIT,REFRESH
De ning the Rotor You supply information describing the rotor-stator grid interaction Parameters using the Moving Mesh Parameters panel or using the ROTOR-PARAMETERS
command in the text interface. In the GUI, after enabling the sliding mesh model, click the Moving Mesh Parameters button in the Models panel in order to access the Moving Mesh Parameters panel:
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The parameters you enter in this table for the sliding mesh model are described below. In the text interface, the ROTOR-PARAMETERS command results in the table shown below. Note that the ROTOR-PARAMETERS command is available only in the SETUP-1 EXPERT MENU, and not in the MAIN EXPERT menu.
SETUP-1 ,! EXPERT ,! ROTOR-PARAMETERS
EXPERTROTOR-PARAMETERS ROTOR PARAMETERS 100 ROTOR ANGULAR VELOCITY RAD S 10 SLIP LINE IN RADIAL DIRECTION 9 SLIP PLANE 1 IN AXIAL DIRECTION 15 SLIP PLANE 2 IN AXIAL DIRECTION 1 NUMBER OF GRID SPACES PER TIME STEP D ACTION TOP,DONE,QUIT,REFRESH L- AUTOMATIC TIME STEP ADJUSTMENT? NO=MANUAL? L- Y OR N ++DEFAULT-NO++
The rotor parameters that you input either through the GUI or through the text interface are:
AUTOMATIC TIME STEP ADJUSTMENT
time step adjustment scheme will be used. The automatic time step option adjusts the time step so that the grid motion at the sliding planes traverses the number of grid spaces set by the NUMBER OF GRID SPACES PER TIME STEP Grid Space Increment input. If you don't select the automatic time step option, the time step must be explicitly de ned by you. Note that even if you do not choose automatic time stepping, the NUMBER OF GRID SPACES PER TIME STEP must be non-zero | since a zero value sets the time step to zero i.e., no mesh motion. Time marching options for sliding mesh are described in more detail in Section 13.1.3. ROTOR ANGULAR VELOCITY Angular Velocity: The angular velocity of the rotor must be speci ed in radians second. The sign of angular velocity follows the conventional right-hand
Auto Time Step Adjustment: Selection of this option implies that the automatic
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rule, based on the Cartesian coordinate system. Thus, positive values correspond to counterclockwise rotation about the x-axis. SLIP LINE IN RADIAL DIRECTION Radial Slip Line: The slip line is the radial face J -coordinate along which the rotor and stator meshes slide. SLIP PLANE 1 and 2 IN AXIAL DIRECTION Axial Slip Line 1 and 2: The slip planes in the axial direction are the planes that enshroud the moving components: they de ne the axial length of the rotor grid. Figure 13.1.6 shows the two slip planes that de ne the rotor grid. The impeller should be contained in it. The K -coordinates of the slip planes in the axial direction must be speci ed. For a pseudo-3D simulation, the two slip planes in the axial direction are de ned to be planes 2 and 3. NUMBER OF GRID SPACES PER TIME STEP Grid Space Increment: If you want automatic adjustment of time steps, as discussed below, you can specify the number of averaged cell spaces that the rotor blade should traverse within each time step with this entry. If automatic time stepping is not used, this input should still be non-zero, since a value of zero will stop the blade rotation i.e., will set the time step to zero.
Setting Time When you have completed entries in the ROTOR-PARAMETERS table, Marching the TIME DEPENDENT FLOW SOLUTION PARAMETERS table appears: Parameters
TIME DEPENDENT FLOW SOLUTION PARAMETERS 100 MAX. NO. ITNS PER TIME STEP 1.0000E-03 MIN. RESIDUAL SUM DIMENSIONLESS 1.0000E-03 SET TIME STEP SECONDS NO AUTOMATIC SAVING NO ENABLE TIME VARYING GRAVITY VECTOR ACTION TOP,DONE,QUIT,REFRESH
In the GUI, these parameters are input in the Time Dependent Flow Parameters panel, accessed using the Time Parameters... button in the Models panel. Except for the automatic time stepping option described in Section 13.1.3, the time dependence inputs required for sliding mesh calculations are the same as those for any other unsteady calculation. See Section 6.9.
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Slip Plane 2 (K = 10)
Slip Plane 1 (K = 5)
Figure 13.1.6: Slip Planes in the Axial Direction
Reference Pressure When the sliding mesh model is used, FLUENT will ensure that Location the reference pressure location is in the stator part of the mesh by
setting it to 2,JMAX-1,2. See Section 15.10 for more information about reference pressure. Saving Case and FLUENT's automatic saving of data les during transient calculaData Files tions can be used with the sliding mesh model see Section 6.9.2. This provides a convenient way for you to save results at successive time steps for later postprocessing. You do not have to save a Case File each time you save a Data File; you only need to save the Case File once. Calculations can be restarted using your initial case le and the latest solution data obtained. ! Note that you must read the case le prior to reading a data le when the sliding mesh model is used. The sliding mesh approach is an inherently unsteady ow calculation, performed on the time scale of the ows induced by the rotorstator interactions. FLUENT provides two alternatives for you to de ne the desired time step for time marching: Automatic time step adjustment User-de ned time step
13.1.3 Solution Procedures for Sliding Mesh Simulations
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You may use one or both of these options to solve a given problem, as described below. In the sliding mesh calculations, a time-marching scheme is used to reach periodic steady state. A period may be de ned as the time taken by the rotor mesh to start from its initial position and come back to the same position. The time period e.g., seconds can be calculated by dividing the sector angle of the domain radians by the rotor speed radians sec. When the solution eld does not change from one period to the next for example, if the change is less than 5, a periodic steady state has been reached. Note that the average ow quantities will achieve periodic steady state faster than individual variables. The nal periodic steady-state solution is independent of the time steps taken in the initial stages of the solution procedure, so you can de ne large" time steps in the initial stages. As the solution approaches periodic steady state, you should reduce the time step. If a user-de ned time step is used, then the number of time steps in a period can be determined by dividing the time period by the time step. To determine an order of magnitude estimate for the number of periods or cycles needed to achieve periodic steady state, it is possible to use an analog of a dissipation time scale. For example, for a mixing tank problem, if Rt is the radius of the tip of the impeller blade, is the angular velocity of the impeller, and is the kinematic viscosity of the uid, then n = Rt can give an order of magnitude estimate of the number of cycles needed to achieve periodic steady state. If you choose to use the automatic time step adjustment, you will also specify the number of averaged cell spaces that the rotor blade should traverse within each time step. For example, an input of 3 for Grid Space Increment NUMBER OF GRID SPACES PER TIME STEP implies that the rotor grid will rotate 3 grid spaces in each time step. So if there are 18 grid spaces in the circumferential I direction, then the rotor will come back to the initial position after 6 time steps. FLUENT then automatically calculates the corresponding time step. Although the solver provides unconditionally stable calculations for time marching, you should not allow the rotor mesh to traverse more than 10 averaged cell spaces per time step. Note that when you are using the automatic time step adjustment, you can ignore the Time Step entry in the Models panel or the SET TIME STEP query in the TIME DEPENDENT FLOW SOLUTION PARAMETERS
Periodic Steady State
Time Steps in a Period Estimating the Number of Cycles Needed
Automatic Time Step Adjustment
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table. User-De ned Time When you want to de ne the time step manually, disable the Auto Step Time Step Adjustment option in the Moving Mesh Parameters panel or respond NO to AUTOMATIC TIME STEP ADJUSTMENT text query when exiting the ROTOR-PARAMETERS table:
L- AUTOMATIC TIME STEP ADJUSTMENT? NO=MANUAL? L- Y OR N ++DEFAULT-YES++ NO
Next, input the Time Step you want to use in the Models panel or using the SET TIME STEP entry in the TIME DEPENDENT FLOW SOLUTION PARAMETERS table:
SETUP-1 ,! EXPERT ,! TIME-DEPENDENCE
TIME DEPENDENT FLOW SOLUTION PARAMETERS 15 MAX. NO. ITNS PER TIME STEP 1.0000E-03 MIN. RESIDUAL SUM DIMENSIONLESS 0.5 SET TIME STEP SECONDS NO AUTOMATIC SAVING NO ENABLE TIME VARYING GRAVITY VECTOR ACTION TOP,DONE,QUIT,REFRESH
Accelerating the Sliding mesh simulations are intrinsically time-dependent calculaTime Marching tions and may require a long time to reach periodic steady state. Procedure You can accelerate the calculation by using large time steps during
the early phase of the time marching procedure. This approach involves using a large time step to march through the initial transient time period in order to quickly establish the major ow characteristics. During the nal stages of the calculation, small time steps are again used in order to ensure time accuracy of the periodic transient ow. The nal periodic ow is independent of the time step taken during the early transient stage. This initial transient calculation can also be accelerated, in some cases, by starting from an initial steady ow obtained on a nonsliding mesh. In this approach, the rotor is modeled in its own frame of reference using a rotating reference frame without the presence of the stator. After obtaining an initial ow solution in the rotating frame, the solution can be transformed back to the stationary frame using the RELATIVE-TO-ABS-CONVERT command in the EXPERT menu. Starting from this steady ow solution, the stator
Starting Sliding Mesh Calculations From Rotating Reference Frame Solutions
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and the sliding mesh model are added. This approach provides an initial condition in which the ba es, rather than the impeller, are impulsively added when the sliding mesh simulation is started. Iterations per Time The maximum number of iterations per time step should be deterStep mined by you such that convergence is achieved within each time step, as in the case of any unsteady calculation. If the startup transient ow eld i.e., the ow eld before it has reached periodic steady state is not of interest, absolute convergence of the early time steps is not critical. Adequate convergence is required, however, to avoid the accumulation of errors that may eventually cause divergence. When the initial period of the ow is of interest e.g., in the of study of formation and decay of tip vortices the number of iterations for each time step should be set such that tight convergence is achieved at each time step.
Use of the LGS The multigrid linear equation solver is currently not availSolver able for sliding mesh calculations. Thus, all of the equations
use the LGS solver and the options for using the multigrid solver do not appear in the LINEAR-EQN-SOLVER menu. When using the LGS solver, it is advisable to use multiple sweeps for each equation to facilitate information updates across the sliding faces. For example, the following inputs might be used:
MAIN ,! EXPERT ,! LINEAR-EQN-SOLVER
,! SWEEPS-OF-SOLVER
NUMBER OF SWEEPS SWEEP DIRECTION 15 PRESSURE-CORRECTION 4 U-VELOCITY 4 V-VELOCITY 4 W-VELOCITY 3 SOLVER MARCHING DIRECTION I=1, J=2, K=3 1 SWEEP DIRECTION I=1, J=2, K=3 YES ALTERNATE SWEEP DIRECTION WITHIN MARCHING PLANE ACTION TOP,DONE,QUIT,REFRESH
Resetting the Data If, after doing a few calculations, you enter the SETUP-1 menu and and Grid then QUIT back to the *MAIN* menu, the following messages will
appear in sequence:
L- DISCARD EXISTING SOLUTION DATA? L- Y OR N ++DEFAULT-NO++ L- RESET GRID? L- Y OR N ++DEFAULT-NO++
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These questions have the following meanings: DISCARD EXISTING SOLUTION DATA clears the existing data eld and allows you to start from scratch. RESET GRID clears the current grid topology and resets the rotor grid to the initial unmoved" position. This should be used whenever the data is reset and you intend to restart the calculation from time t = 0.
13.1.4 Postprocessing Sliding Mesh Results

During the time dependent calculation procedure, you will have stored many data les containing the rotor-stator ow eld results. When you are ready to view these results you will read individual data les and perform any required postprocessing. Note, however, that whenever you read a sliding mesh data le, the command to read the le must be preceded by the command to read the case le in which the sliding mesh information is stored. This is most easily accomplished using the READ-CASE-DATA text command or via the Read Case & Data... command in the File pull-down menu. Vector Display in The sliding mesh formulation is written with respect to the inertial the Rotating Frame or laboratory frame of reference. FLUENT calculates and reports the velocity components based on this inertial frame. However, from time to time it is of interest to display velocity vectors in the rotating frame of reference. FLUENT provides this option in the VECTOR-PARAMETERS command:
VIEW-GRAPHICS
,! VECTOR-PARAMETERS
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VIEW-GRAPHICSVP
VECTOR DRAWING PARAMETERS 1.0000E+00 VECTOR SCALING FACTOR DIM YES DRAW ARROWHEADS YES DRAW U-COMPONENT OF VECTORS YES DRAW V-COMPONENT OF VECTORS YES DRAW W-COMPONENT OF VECTORS 1 DRAW VECTORS ON EACH NTH I DIRECTION CELL GIVE N 1 DRAW VECTORS ON EACH NTH J DIRECTION CELL GIVE N 1 DRAW VECTORS ON EACH NTH K DIRECTION CELL GIVE N NO COLOR CODE VECTORS WITH A SCALAR NO SET VECTOR RANGE NO CONSTANT LENGTH VECTORS NO USE ROTATING REFERENCE FRAME
The default input of NO for USE ROTATING REFERENCE FRAME implies that vectors will be plotted in the stationary or laboratory frame. Setting this option to YES results in a vector display in the rotating frame of the impeller. Figure 13.1.7a shows a velocity eld in the rotating reference frame and Figure 13.1.7b shows the same velocity eld in the stationary reference frame. Note that this option to control the reference frame for vector plotting is only available in the text interface. To get a complete picture of the full cross-section of the mixing tank, use the CYCLIC command in the MANIPULATE VIEW menu or the Cyclic Repeats input in the Views panel. For example, if your model represents one quadrant of the a cylindrical geometry, 3 cyclic repeats will display the full geometry. Figure 13.1.8a shows a grid on a quarter of the geometry and Figure 13.1.8b shows the full cross-section of the mixing tank generated using cyclic repeats.
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Y Z X
a Rotating Frame
Y Z X
b Stationary Frame
Figure 13.1.7: Velocity Vector Display in Rotating and Stationary Frames
13-26
Y Z X
a Single Sector Model
Y Z X
b Graphical Display of 4 Cyclic Repeats
Figure 13.1.8: Illustration of Cyclic Repeats
13.2 The Deforming Mesh Model
13-27

The deforming mesh model allows you to model ows in domains whose shape changes in time. In this model, a prescribed boundary and grid deformation is provided as part of the problem de nition. The motion induced by the boundary motion contributes to the time varying ow prediction. Applications of the Applications of the deforming mesh model are widespread, and inDeforming Mesh clude:
Model
Valve opening closing Piston motion in a cylinder Motion of submerged objects Note that these applications include moving boundaries which cannot be converted to stationary boundaries through a transformation of the reference frame. Hence the boundary motion must be explicitly included in the problem solution procedure and the solution becomes inherently time dependent in nature. Figure 13.2.1 shows an application of the deforming mesh model for the simulation of the closing of a poppet valve.
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1.32E+00 1.26E+00 1.20E+00 1.14E+00 1.08E+00 1.03E+00 9.67E-01 9.08E-01 8.50E-01 7.91E-01 7.32E-01 6.74E-01 6.15E-01 5.56E-01 4.98E-01 4.39E-01 3.80E-01 3.22E-01 2.63E-01 2.04E-01 1.46E-01 8.70E-02 2.83E-02 -3.04E-02 -8.91E-02 -1.48E-01 -2.06E-01 -2.65E-01 -3.24E-01 -3.82E-01
Y Z X
POPPET Stream Function (M2/S) Max = 1.319E+00 Min = -3.824E-01 Time = 3.335E-03
Dec 16 1994 Fluent 4.30 Fluent Inc.
a Streamlines at t = 0.003 seconds

1.37E+00 1.29E+00 1.20E+00 1.11E+00 1.03E+00 9.39E-01 8.52E-01 7.65E-01 6.78E-01 5.91E-01 5.04E-01 4.17E-01 3.30E-01 2.43E-01 1.56E-01 6.91E-02 -1.79E-02 -1.05E-01 -1.92E-01 -2.79E-01 -3.66E-01 -4.53E-01 -5.40E-01 -6.27E-01 -7.14E-01 -8.01E-01 -8.88E-01 -9.75E-01 -1.06E+00 -1.15E+00
Y Z X
POPPET Stream Function (M2/S) Max = 1.374E+00 Min = -1.149E+00 Time = 2.001E-02
Dec 16 1994 Fluent 4.30 Fluent Inc.
b Streamlines at t = 0.02 seconds
Figure 13.2.1: Instantaneous Streamlines at Two Times During Closing of a Poppet Valve
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Limitations of the When you use the deforming mesh model, the boundary motion and Deforming Mesh the grid deformation are prescribed. The deforming mesh model is Model unable to predict the boundary motion and is consequently unable
to solve problems involving uid-structure interaction, where the boundary motion must be predicted based on the uid ow and vice versa. Similarly, the motion of a free-surface cannot be predicted using the deforming mesh model but can be predicted using the VOF model described in Chapter 10. In addition, the deforming mesh model is incompatible with the following FLUENT models: the sliding mesh model the phase change model the Eulerian multiphase model the Reynolds stress turbulence model dispersed phase particle tracking using the Lagrangian particle model since this model is applicable only in steady ows
Grid Deformation The deforming mesh model requires that the time variation of the During Deforming grid be prescribed as part of the problem de nition. This domain Mesh Simulations discretization at each time step can be prescribed by one of the
following methods: reading the grid positions from a le at each time step reading a series of grid les e.g., the starting, intermediate, and ending grid descriptions and allowing FLUENT to interpolate to nd the grid position at in-between times calculation of the grid position at each time point using userde ned subroutines. Note that new control volumes are not created as the boundary moves and the basic grid topology remains unaltered throughout the calculation. Thus the initial grid must deform as the physical boundaries move. This implies a practical limit on the degree of deformation that can be simulated, since the deformation of the mesh should not proceed so far as to generate a highly twisted or skewed mesh.
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13.2.1 Theory of the Deforming Mesh Model

When mesh deformation is included in your model, the conservation equations are modi ed so that the convective uxes are evaluated relative to the velocity of the control volume. The basic conservation equations for mass, momentum, and scalars become 135 : 1 1
d J dt J ui d J dt J @ + @x uj , vj = 0
13.2-1
t;ij + Sui
@ @p @ + @x uj , vj ui = , @x + @x ij +
1 where
J dt
+ @x uj , vj = @x ,
@ @
@ @xj
+S
13.2-2 13.2-3
V , V = v S = 13.2-4 i i @t t i where the superscripts n and n + 1 denote discrete time values, Si is the ith boundary segment of the control volume surface, and V is the volume of the deforming mesh element. The conservation equations are thus augmented by an additional conservation law describing the volume change of the system and relating it to the control volume boundary velocities 28 . @J
is the uid density uj is the ow velocity component vj is the grid velocity component arising from mesh motion ij is the molecular stress tensor for Newtonian uids t;ij is the Reynolds stress tensor , is the di usion coe cient for the scalar quantity Su is the source term for the ui equation S is the source term for the equation Here, d=dt is the total derivative and represents the time rate of change of a variable as seen by an observer riding on the moving mesh. J is a measure of the change of material volume as it travels with the moving grid:
i
n+1
13.2.2 Using the Deforming Mesh Model

The overall procedure that you will follow to set up and solve a deforming mesh problem in FLUENT is: Read the initial grid grid at t = 0 and de ne the problem boundary conditions and uid properties.
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De ne the moving wall boundaries as Z-WALL boundary zones and set their velocity using either Cartesian or cylindricalpolar velocity components. Grid-oriented velocity components e.g., normal velocities can also be de ned through patching of boundary conditions. The boundary velocity may vary in time if required. Enable time dependent ow Enable the deforming mesh capability De ne the time varying grid, either by reading a series of grid les containing instantaneous grid positions or by supplying a user-de ned subroutine Perform the transient simulation in the usual way, choosing a time step that is consistent with the number of instantaneous grid descriptions provided. Details regarding this input procedure are provided below. Enabling the The deforming mesh model is enabled using the Models panel or Deforming Mesh using the EXPERT OPTIONS table in the text interface. In the GUI, Model begin by opening the Models panel and enabling time dependence by selecting the Time Dependent Flow check box. Next, enable the deforming mesh model using the drop-down list in the Moving Mesh eld: De ne ,! Models...
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Click Apply to enable your selection of the deforming mesh model. In the text interface, you enable the deforming mesh model by selecting the OPTIONS command in the EXPERT menu:

MODELING OPTIONS NO ALLOW LINK SETTING NO ALLOW PROFILE SETTING NO SET INLET TURBULENCE QUANTITIES NO ENABLE POROUS FLOW MODEL NO ENABLE SETTING OF WALL ROUGHNESS NO ENABLE FAN RADIATOR MODEL NO ALLOW FIXED PRESSURE BOUNDARIES NO ALLOW SETTING FLOW ANGLES FOR PRESSURE-INLETS NO ENABLE STEADY CORIOLIS FORCE NO ENABLE TIME-DEPENDENT CORIOLIS FORCE NO ENABLE SLIDING MESH CALCULATION NO ACTIVATE PHASE CHANGE MODELLING YES ENABLE DEFORMING MESH CALCULATION ACTION TOP,DONE,QUIT,REFRESH
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Supplying the As noted above, the domain discretization i.e., the grid is required Time Variation of at each point in time during the deforming mesh calculation. You the Grid can supply this grid information using a user-de ned subroutine
Subroutine NEWMSH or through a series of les containing the instantaneous grid at successive time points. If you choose to describe the grid deformation using a series of grid les, you will be asked to supply the following pieces of information: The number of instantaneous grid les to be considered not including the grid description used to initiate the simulation. The name of each grid le The number of time steps grid interpolations which will be used between the preceding grid le and the grid description in the le. The grid les may be formatted or unformatted les: FLUENT will determine which they are when it reads them. Note that the grid les are labeled not by their time value but by the number of time steps to be considered between each pair of les. Hence, the number of time steps you input is uniquely tied to your choice of time step for the time-marching solution procedure. Each grid le or interpolated grid between les will de ne the geometry at successive time steps. The total number of instantaneous grid descriptions grid les and interpolated grids between les dictates the number of time values that can be considered. For example, if 2 grid les are considered, with 5 time steps speci ed between
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the les, only 5 time steps should be considered in the transient calculation. You supply the instantaneous grid information to FLUENT using the Moving Mesh Parameters panel or using the DEFORMING-MESH-OPTIONS command in the text interface. In the GUI, after enabling the deforming mesh model, click the Moving Mesh Parameters... button in the Models panel in order to access the Moving Mesh Parameters panel:
First, select the mode of grid input using the Read Grids From Files checkbox. If you intend to use a user-de ned subroutine to supply the instantaneous grid data, deselect this checkbox and then click Apply and close the panel. If the grid information will be accessed from grid les, keep this option selected. Next, input the total number of grid les you have used to de ne the mesh deformation using the Number of Grid Files input box. Note that this number should be the number of grid les that you will read, not including the initial grid le used to describe the domain at time t = 0. If the unit of length in the grid les is not meters, specify the Unit Conversion Factor Applied to Grid File. If the unit of length is meters,
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retain the default value of 1, since no conversion is required. For example, if the grid was created using millimeters as the length unit, you will need to enter 0.001 as the conversion factor. Similarly, if the unit of length in the grid les is inches, you will need to enter 0.0254. Next, enter the information about each grid le using the Grid Files eld entries in the Moving Mesh Parameters panel, as follows: Select the index of the grid le in the Grid File counter Type the lename of the grid le in the Grid File Name eld Enter the number of time steps that will precede this grid le description i.e., the number of interpolations of the grid which should be performed between the preceding grid and the grid in this le. Increment the Grid File counter and continue this process until the total number of grid les have been described. When you have entered all of the grid information, click Apply and close the Moving Mesh Parameters panel. In the text interface, the grid description is supplied using the DEFORMING-MESH-OPTIONS command:
MAIN ,! EXPERT ,! DEFORMING-MESH-OPTIONS
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EXPERTDEFORMING-MESH-OPTIONS
L- GRID WILL BE READ FROM FILES? L- Y OR N ++DEFAULT-NO++ Y I- NUMBER OF GRID FILES TO BE READ I- ++DEFAULT 1++ 2 *- CURRENT FLUENT UNITS FOR LENGTH ARE M L- APPLY UNIT CONVERSION TO GRID FILE? L- Y OR N ++DEFAULT-NO++ N 1ST GRID FILENAME? S- DEFAULTVALVE.GRID1 *- NUMBER OF TIMESTEPS BETWEEN INITIAL GRID I- AND VALVE.GRID1 I- ++DEFAULT 1++ 5 2ND GRID FILENAME? S- DEFAULTVALVE.GRID2 *- NUMBER OF TIMESTEPS BETWEEN INITIAL GRID I- AND VALVE.GRID2 I- ++DEFAULT 1++ 5
These inputs correspond to those in the Deforming Mesh Parameters panel described above.
13.2 The Deforming Mesh Model Choosing the Number of Time Steps Between Grid Files
13-37
The number of time steps considered between instantaneous grid les is explicitly tied to the time step you will use to solve the transient deforming ow eld. FLUENT requires a unique instantaneous grid description at each time step. If, for example, you have instructed FLUENT to perform 10 time steps between two grid les, and these les describe the grid at times which are 1.5 seconds apart, you must use a time step during this portion of the calculation of: t = 1:5=10 = 0:15sec Stated inversely, the time step you intend to use t uniquely determines the number of time steps used between grid les that describe the domain at two de ned instants in time. The number of time steps between grid les should also be based on the following guidelines: Use a minimum of 2 time steps between any pair of grid les. Start the transient calculation with a small time step use a relatively large number of time steps between the initial grid description and the rst grid le description. Increase the time step gradually with time.
Finally, the time step should be chosen so that the time accuracy of the calculation is adequate. For periodic ows with a period T this might imply a time step of T =50 seconds. Similarly if the time scale of your transient process is T , you might choose a time step equal to 1 50 of this. Example: Grid File Suppose that your deforming mesh will be represented by interpoInputs for a lating the mesh between instantaneous grids at the following time Deforming Mesh points:
Simulation
Grid 1: t = 0 Grid 2: t = 1.5 sec Grid 3: t = 2.0 sec Your inputs for this system would begin by de ning the total number of additional grid les equal to 2. The initial grid Grid 1 is used to de ne the problem at the starting point and would not be included in this total. Next, if you chose to solve the problem with a uniform time step value of 0.1 sec for example you would request the following grid le inputs:
13-38

Grid 2: 15 Time Steps Grid 3: 5 Time Steps Finally, the time step value of 0.1 second would be de ned using the Time Dependent Flow Parameters panel. In an alternate approach, the domain discretization given by the three grid les in the preceding example might be considered using variable time steps. Suppose, for example, that the time variation is expected to be more signi cant during the nal portion of the transient and you have decided to use the following time step values: t = 0.1 second during 0 t 1.5 seconds t = 0.05 second during 1.5 t 2.0 seconds In this case the number of time steps associated with each grid le would be: Grid 2: 15 Time Steps Grid 3: 10 Time Steps This example emphasizes that the number of time steps between grid les depends entirely on the time step you intend to use for solution during the interval of time described by the les. The time step used between two grid les need not be constant over the entire time interval between the two grids. You can change the time step at any point in time between two grid les, using the procedures detailed in the following section. When you intend to do this, the number of time steps you initially enter for the grid les should be based on the initial time step that you intend to use over the time interval in question. Suppose, for example, that you intend to perform the transient calculation between Grid 2 and Grid 3 of the preceding example by using the following time marching procedure: t = 0.05 seconds for 1.5 t t = 0.025 seconds for 1.75 1.75 5 time steps t 2.0 10 time steps
Selecting the Number of Time Steps with Non-Constant Time Steps
With this plan in mind, you would do the following:

13-39
Begin with an input of 10 time steps between the les in the Moving Mesh Parameters panel or in the DEFORMING-MESH-OPTIONS command. This input is based on using the initial time step value of 0.05 seconds over the entire period 0.5 seconds between the two les. Perform the transient calculation out to a time value of 1.75 seconds. Change the time step to 0.025 seconds using the TIME-DEPENDENCE command in the EXPERT text menu and resume the transient calculation. FLUENT will automatically complete the time period between the two les using the appropriate number of time steps 10.
13.2.3 Performing Deforming Mesh Calculations

Deforming mesh simulations are inherently time-dependent and use FLUENT's standard implicit time marching algorithm during the solution process. The time step value and the convergence criteria within each time step are set as for any time dependent ow but you should make special note of the relationship of the time step value to the number of time steps between grid les described in the preceding section. ! You should save your deforming mesh case le prior to performing any calculations. This is because the case le contains the current grid and the grid changes as the calculation proceeds. Thus the initial case le, containing the grid as it existed prior to any time stepping, is required if you want to restart the calculation at time t = 0. Monitoring the When desired, you can enable the monitor of the solver using the Deforming Mesh MONITOR SOLVER command in the EXPERT SOLUTION-PARAMETERS Calculation table and obtain information on the grid at the beginning of each time step. When the monitor is active, FLUENT will begin each time step with a report which includes the reading of the grid le if relevant and the number of time steps remaining between the current grid les:
13-40
*- *** CALCULATING GEOMETRICAL PARAMETERS...*** 9 1.273E-04 1.587E-05 1.570E-05 4.299E-04 4.488E-04 9 1.147E-04 1.433E-05 1.452E-05 4.138E-04 4.318E-04 *- NUMBER OF TIMESTEPS LEFT TO BE DONE UNTIL .. VALVE_T1.GRD *- IS EQUAL TO 10 **- *** CALCULATING GEOMETRICAL PARAMETERS...*** U-VELOCITY MAXIMUM RESIDUAL = 1.712E+00 AT 34, 16, 1 V-VELOCITY MAXIMUM RESIDUAL = 1.617E+00 AT 34, 14, 1 PRESSURE MAXIMUM RESIDUAL = 1.676E-02 AT 34, 16, 1 TURBULENCE K.E. MAXIMUM RESIDUAL = 1.027E+00 AT 34, 18, 1 DISSIPATION MAXIMUM RESIDUAL = 6.671E+03 AT 34, 18, 1 10 1.489E-02 8.907E-03 6.682E-03 2.103E-02 1.784E-02 10 1.333E-02 7.345E-03 5.763E-03 1.318E-02 1.218E-02
Since the monitor will yield copious information about residuals within each time step, you will want to use this report only for checking the time stepping procedure. Changing Time If you have completed some but not all of the time steps you reSteps Between quested between two grid les, you can alter the time step using Grid Files the TIME-DEPENDENCE command in the text interface. If there are remaining time steps before the next grid le, you will be asked if you want to alter the number of the time steps:
MAIN ,! EXPERT ,! TIME-DEPENDENCE

TIME DEPENDENT FLOW SOLUTION PARAMETERS 1 MAX. NO. ITNS PER TIME STEP 1.0000E-03 MIN. RESIDUAL SUM DIM 0.0005 SET TIME STEP S NO AUTOMATIC SAVING NO ENABLE TIME VARYING GRAVITY VECTOR D ACTION TOP,DONE,QUIT,REFRESH *- DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE *- NUMBER OF TIMESTEPS UNTIL VALVE.GRID2? L- Y OR N ++DEFAULT NO++ Y I- NUMBER OF TIMESTEPS UNTIL VALVE.GRID2 I- ++DEFAULT 9 18
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The default number of time steps remaining until the next grid le will be reported as the default. If you intend to reduce the time step by a factor of 2, you should request twice the default for the remaining number of time steps, as in the example dialogue above. FLUENT will then provide a message, telling you the new total number of time steps between the two grid les based on the new time step value over the entire interval:
*- TOTAL NUMBER OF TIMESTEPS BETWEEN VALVE.GRID1 *- AND VALVE.GRID2 IS RESET TO 19
Saving and Restoring Deforming Mesh Files
In this example, the user had initially requested 10 time steps between the two les. The time step was doubled after completing 1 of these time steps, yielding a total number of time steps between les of 1 completed + 18 remaining = 19. During the time dependent deforming mesh calculation, you can ask FLUENT to automatically store data les at every Nth time step. FLUENT will use its standard automatic transient data saving procedures to do this, as described in Section 6.9.2. You can also save time history les describing the variation of selected variables in time as described in that section. Note that in order to display the solution graphically at intermediate time points you will require that the data les were saved at these intermediate times. These data les can be those which you saved
13-42
manually or those that FLUENT saved using the automatic saving of transient data les. Only a single initial case le describing the deforming mesh problem setup is required. All restarting of calculations and all postprocessing can be accomplished by reading the initial case le and the appropriate data le which was stored at a speci ed time level. ! In addition to saving the data for postprocessing, you may decide to save a case le at selected time values and this can be done from the user interface at any time that the calculation has been interrupted. Note that the case le you save will contain the current grid, as it exists at the time that the le is saved. Therefore, you should take care not to overwrite the case le that you used to start the simulation at t = 0 or any other previous time les that you may want to revert to. Determining the If you have saved a case le at a particular instant in time during a Time Value of Case deforming mesh calculation, you may need to query FLUENT in orFiles der to determine the time value associated with the le. This can be accomplished by turning on the monitor of the solver and then entering the DEFORMING-MESH-OPTIONS command in the EXPERT menu. When the monitor is on, FLUENT will then report the status of the grid in the current case le:
EXPERTDEFORMING-MESH L- GRID WILL BE READ FROM FILES? L- Y OR N ++DEFAULT YES++ Y *- LAST GRID READ: NUMBER = 1 NAME = GRID2.MSH *- NUMBER OF TIMESTEPS LEFT TO BE DONE UNTIL GRID3.MSH *- IS EQUAL TO 4 *-
In the example above, the case le was saved midway between grid les GRID2.MSH and GRID3.MSH. Four of the requested time steps between the les remain to be computed. This information allows you to compute the time value of the current case le if you are uncertain of it. This is very useful when you want to rede ne the grid les to be used for the remainder of the transient calculation, based on the current case le as the starting condition.
13.2 The Deforming Mesh Model 13.2.4 Postprocessing Deforming Mesh Simulations
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You can postprocess the results of deforming mesh simulations in the same way that you do any transient simulation i.e., by reading in a stored data le and then using relevant graphical or alphanumeric reporting options. The velocities reported are those observed by a stationary observer.
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Fluent Moving Frames

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Chapter 12.

Swirling and Rotating Flows

Chapter 12 | Swirling and Rotating Flows

12.2 Swirling Flows and Flows with Rotation

12.2 Swirling Flows and Flows with Rotation

Three Dimensional Swirling Flows

Flows Requiring a Rotating Reference Frame Special Physics of Swirling Flows

Fluent Inc. May 10, 1997

Chapter 12 | Swirling and Rotating Flows

Jul 03 1996 Fluent 4.40 Fluent Inc.

a Rotating Flow in a Rotor Stator Cavity

Jul 03 1996 Fluent 4.40 Fluent Inc.

b Swirling Flow in a Gas Burner

Figure 12.2.1: Typical Swirling and Rotating Flows Predicted by FLUENT

Fluent Inc. May 10, 1997

12.2 Swirling Flows and Flows with Rotation

Physics of Rotating Flows

Turbulence Modeling in Swirling Flows

Fluent Inc. May 10, 1997

Chapter 12 | Swirling and Rotating Flows

Using the Cylindrical Velocity Formulation

Setup Constraints for Swirling and Rotating Flows

Fluent Inc. May 10, 1997

12.2 Swirling Flows and Flows with Rotation

Grid Sensitivity in Swirling and Rotating Flows

Boundary Condition Inputs for Rotating or Swirling Flows

Chapter 12 | Swirling and Rotating Flows

12.2 Swirling Flows and Flows with Rotation

Gradual Increase of the Rotational Speed to Improve Solution Stability

Chapter 12 | Swirling and Rotating Flows

Fluent Inc. May 10, 1997

12.3 Flow in a Rotating Reference Frame

Chapter 12 | Swirling and Rotating Flows

a Original Reference Frame

b Rotating Reference Frame

Figure 12.3.1: Transforming Coordinates to a Rotating Reference Frame

Fluent Inc. May 10, 1997

12.3 Flow in a Rotating Reference Frame

Fluent Inc. May 10, 1997

Chapter 12 | Swirling and Rotating Flows

a Rotating Impeller in a Mixing Tank

b Centrifugal Fan Blades

12.3 Flow in a Rotating Reference Frame

c Cooling Passages in a Spinning Rotor

d Axial Impeller Blades

Fluent Inc. May 10, 1997

Chapter 12 | Swirling and Rotating Flows

a Rotor-Stator Interaction

b Rotating Impeller in a Ba ed Tank

Fluent Inc. May 10, 1997

The Coriolis term, 2 direction:

12.3-3 vr , yields a force in the circumferential

2 in Cartesian tensor notation as:

Fluent Inc. May 10, 1997

Chapter 12 | Swirling and Rotating Flows

Fluent Inc. May 10, 1997

12.3 Flow in a Rotating Reference Frame

Fluent Inc. May 10, 1997

Chapter 12 | Swirling and Rotating Flows

Fluent Inc. May 10, 1997

12.3 Flow in a Rotating Reference Frame

Input of Boundary Conditions in the Rotating Reference Frame

Fluent Inc. May 10, 1997

Chapter 12 | Swirling and Rotating Flows

a Rotating Flow in a Rotor Stator Cavity

b Swirling Flow in a Gas Burner

a Original Reference Frame

b Rotating Reference Frame

a Rotating Impeller in a Mixing Tank

b Centrifugal Fan Blades

c Cooling Passages in a Spinning Rotor

d Axial Impeller Blades

a Rotor-Stator Interaction

b Rotating Impeller in a Ba ed Tank

12.3-3 vr , yields a force in the circumferential

SETUP1PROJECT-VEL PROJECT VELOCITIES ONTO ROTATING COORDINATES NO W1 NO I1 ACTION TOP,DONE,QUIT,REFRESH

SETUP1PROJECT-VEL PROJECT VELOCITIES ONTO ROTATING COORDINATES NO W1 NO I1 ACTION TOP,DONE,QUIT,REFRESH

a Rotor-Stator Interaction

b Rotating Impeller in a Ba ed Tank

a Initial Position of the Rotor and Stator Grids