CEP Short Term Course on “Finite Elements in Analysis and Design Using ANSYS”, Dr.J.M.

Mallikarjuna,
Department of Mechanical Engineering; Indian Institute of Technology Madras

2D Flow Analysis around a Cylinder

Problem: Consider an ideal flow of air around a cylinder as shown in Figure below. The radius
of the cylinder is 5 cm and the velocity of the approach is 10 cm/s. Determine the velocity
distribution around the cylinder. Assume that the free-stream velocity remains constant at a
distance of five diameters downstream and upstream of the cylinder. Solve problem using
ANSYS.

GUI Solution :

1. Starting:
Click → start → ANSYS → ANSYS product launcher:
Launch – ANSYS Multiphysics
File management → browse the directory for saving and retrieving the files.
Click → run

2. Preferences → tick → thermal → select h-method → ok

3. Title:
Utility menu → File → Change title → “Flow around cylinder” → ok.
Utility menu → plot → replot

4. Elements:
Main menu → Preprocessor → element type → add → add → thermal → solid → quad
8node → ok

5. Material Properties:
Main menu → Preprocessor → material properties → material models → material model 1
→ thermal → conductivity → isotropic → enter KXX = 1→ ok

6. Modeling:
Main menu → Preprocessor → Modeling → create → area → rectangle → by centr &
corner → enter 0,0,50,50 → ok
Main menu → Preprocessor → Modeling → create → circle → solid circle → enter 0,0,5 →
ok

1
CEP Short Term Course on “Finite Elements in Analysis and Design Using ANSYS”, Dr.J.M.Mallikarjuna,
Department of Mechanical Engineering; Indian Institute of Technology Madras

Main menu → Preprocessor → Modeling → operate → boolean → subtract → area →

select base area → ok → select subtracting area → ok
Main menu → Preprocessor → Meshing → size cntrl → manual size → global → size →
enter ESIZE as 2 → ok
Main menu → Preprocessor → Meshing → mesh tool → mesh → areas → pick all → ok

7. Boundary Conditions:
Main menu → solution → define loads → apply → thermal → heat flux → on lines →
select by cursor → left vertical line → ok → enter 10 → ok
Main menu → solution → define loads → apply → thermal → heat flux → on lines →
select by cursor → right vertical line → ok → enter -10 → ok
Utility menu → select → everything
Utility menu → plot → lines

8. Solution:
Utility menu → select → everything
Main menu → Solution → solve → current LS.

9. Post Processing:
Gen. post processor → plot results → vector plots → predefined → flux & gradient →
thermal flux → enter VRATIO = 0.75 → OK
Path Operations:
Gen. post processor → path operations → define path → on working plane → arbitrary path
→ ok → select two points on the working plane to define the path → ok → enter NAME as
path-AA → ok
Gen. post processor → path operations → map onto path → enter Lab as VELOCITY →
flux & grad → TFSUM → ok
Gen. post processor → path operations → plot path items → on graph → select VELOCITY
→ ok

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