Turbulent Mixing of Propane and Air

FASTRAN Tutorial 6

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 Objectives
This tutorial covers the following subjects:
Setting a model name and title for the problem.
Reading a multi domain, DTF grid, and building a CFD-FASTRAN
model.
Setting fluid properties such as molecular weight.
Activating the turbulent mixing properties
Setting boundary values appropriate for inlets in turbulent mixing
flows.
Setting initial values for the flow field to perform a steady state
mixing simulation.
Choosing a suitable time-integration scheme and setting CFL
numbers.

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 Problem Description

The problem to be simulated consists of 2D turbulent mixing of

propane into an air stream as shown below.

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 Procedure:Model

To start CFD-FASTRAN,
type “CFD-FASTRAN” on
the screen. This action
launches the graphical user
interface.
Load the model
Select File/Open from the
Menu bar
The Open dialog panel opens.

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 Procedure:Model
Select the file named
“mixing.DTF” and press
the “Accept” button to
read the file.
The DTF file is read into
CFD-FASTRAN and a
model properties window
appears on the screen as
shown in the figure.
Wireframe outline of the
model appears in the
viewing window after press
OK on the model properties
panel

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 Procedure:Model

Fig 3: Model as shown in CFD-FASTRAN-GUI

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 Procedure:Problem Type
Ensure that the Problem
Type [PT] tab is active so
that the control panel is in
Problem Type setting
mode
Under the modules
activate the Compressible
Flow (Flow) Module and
Reacting/Mixing Fluids
(Chem).

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 Procedure:Model Options
Click on the Model
Options [MO] tab.
The Model Options panel
opens with a tab for setting
Global and Flow
parameters.

From the Global tab do

the following:
In the Title field enter
“Turbulent Mixing of Air and
Propane”.
Polar (Axisymmetric about
X-axis)  Non
Axisymmetric

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 Procedure:Model Options
Click on the Flow tab to
activate and set the
following parameters:
Gas Model: Species
Viscous Model: Turbulent
(Navier Stokes)
Viscosity : Kinetic Theory
Conductivity: Kinetic
Theory
Mass Diffusivity: Diffusivity
Model: Fick’s Law 
Schmidt Number = 0.5
Turbulent Conductivity =
0.9
Turbulence Model : K
Epsilon (Wall Function)

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 Procedure:Model Options
Click on the Chem tab to
activate and set the
following parameters:
Chemistry Model: Mixing
Solver For: Mixture
Fractions
Species Database: Low
Temp. (300K-6000K)

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 Procedure: Open Database
From the Menu Bar
select Tools Database
The Database Manager
pops up
The Database Manager
allows to select/create
species/mixtures and
volume/surface
reactions.

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 Procedure: Creating Species
Select Database → Species
You will have three folders in
the tree structure: mixing
(current DTF file name),
Local and ESI
We need 3 species: C3H8,
N2 and O2 (the last 2
representing air)
Since these species are
already present in the ESI
database, we will just copy
them to the current DTF
From the ESI folder, select
C3H8, N2 and O2. Copy it by
pressing Ctrl+C
Paste the copied species to
the mixing folder (Ctrl+V) Copy Paste

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 Procedure: Create Air Mixture
Select Database → Mixtures
Right Click on the Mixing
Folder to create a New
Mixture
In the Mixture Name field
enter “Mixture1”.
Input → Mass Fraction
From the species list select
O2
In the type-in field below
Mass fraction/Concentration,
type 0.232 and Click “Add”.
Similarly select and add N2
and type in 0.768 as the
mass fraction.
Click “Apply” to save “Mixture 1”.

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Procedure: Create Air Mixture

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 Procedure: Create Propane Mixture
Right Click on the Mixing
Folder to create a New Mixture
In the Mixture Name field enter
“Mixture2”.
Input → Mass Fraction
From the species list select
C3H8
In the type-in field below Mass
fraction/Concentration, type “1”
and press “Add”.
Click “Apply” to save Mixture 2.
Since this is a mixing problem,
we will not be defining
reactions
Close the Database Manager

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 Procedure:Boundary Conditions
Click on the Boundary
Condition [BC] tab.
The Boundary Condition
Page is presented and
the Model Explorer
changes to the BC mode
to list all of the boundary
conditions in the currently
active simulation.

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 Procedure:Boundary Conditions
In the explorer window
locate and, while holding
down the CTRL button,
select the following types
for each zone:
Zone 1: Patch # 1,2
Ensure that “Interface”
from the Boundary Menu
is selected. It should
already be selected by
default.

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 Procedure:Boundary Conditions
Set the Outlet Boundary
Condition
In the explorer window
locate and select the
following type:
Zone 1: Patch # 4

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 Procedure:Boundary Conditions
From the Flow Tab select
“Fixed Pressure” from the
Sub-Type menu and enter
a value of 10000 N/m^2 in
the type-in field
From the Chem Tab,
select “Mixture1” from the
Mixture Name menu.
Click “Apply”

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 Procedure:Boundary Conditions
Set the Symmetry
Boundary Condition
In the explorer window
locate and select the
following type:
Zone 1: Patch # 5
Zone 3: Patch # 2
Select “Symmetry” from
the Boundary Type Menu.

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 Procedure:Boundary Conditions
Set inlet boundary
conditions for Zone 2
In the explorer window
locate and select the
following type:
Zone 2: Patch # 1
Select the “Inlet” BC from
the Boundary Type Menu.

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 Procedure:Boundary Conditions
From the Flow tab, set the
parameters as shown in
the adjacent figure.
From the Chem tab,
select “Mixture1” from the
“Mixture Name” menu.
Click “Apply”

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 Procedure:Boundary Conditions
Set inlet boundary
conditions for Zone 3.
In the explorer window
locate and select the
following type:
Zone 3: Patch # 3
Select the “Inlet” BC from
the Boundary Type Menu.

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 Procedure:Boundary Conditions
From the Flow tab, set the
parameters as shown in
the adjacent figure.
From the Chem tab,
select “Mixture1” from the
“Mixture Name” menu.
Click “Apply”

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 Procedure:Initial Conditions
Click on the Initial Conditions
[IC] tab.
From the IC Global Setting
section select “Volume by
Volume” from the Initial
Condition option.
Pick all the volumes from the
IC list as shown in the figure.
From the Flow tab set the
parameters as shown in the
adjacent figure.
From the Chem tab, select
“Mixture1” from the Mixture
Name menu.
Click “Apply”

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 Procedure:Solver Controls
Press the Solver Control
[SC] tab to activate the
Solver Control setting
page.
There is a tab for each
major type of solver
control setting. There
are also tabs for the
solver output options
available from this page.

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 Procedure:Solver Controls
Under the Control tab for
Simulation do the
following:
Select “Steady State” as
the simulation as a steady
state analysis is being
performed.
Max. No. of Cycles = 1000
Zonal Subcycles = 1
Convergence Crit. = 1E-
008

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 Procedure:Solver Controls
Under the Control tab for
Time Step do the
following:
Time Step Size: Based On
CFL Number
Initial CFL = 0.1
Final CFL = 1
Ramping Cycles = 200

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 Procedure:Solver Controls
Under the Spatial Tab
set the following
parameters:
Flux Splitting: Roe’s FDS
Spatial Accuracy: First
Order
Entropy Fix
Linear Waves
0.2 (Default)
Nonlinear Waves
0.2 (Default)

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 Procedure:Solver Controls
Under the Solvers tab set
the following parameters:
Time Integration:Implicit
Implicit Scheme: Point Jacobi
(Fully Implicit)
Subiterations = 20
Tolerance = 0.0001
Discretization: Backward
Euler

There are no settings

under Relax and Adv.

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 Procedure:Output
Click Out tab to open the
Output control panel
Under the Output tab set
the following:
Specified Interval
Cycles/Steps = 100
Same File

There are no settings

under Print, Monitor and
Graphic for this case.

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 Procedure:Run
Click Run tab to open the
Run Control Panel
Press the “Start
Simulation” button to start
the solution process

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 Procedure:Run
Because we have modified
the simulation data during
the solution setup process,
the data must first be
saved to a DTF file before
the solver can start.
Press the “Submit Job
Under Current Name”
button to save the
information and to launch
CFD-FASTRAN using the
same file.

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 Procedure:View Residuals
We can press the “View
Residuals” and “View
Output” buttons to see
real-time displays of the
residual history and output
file contents.
We are looking for a three
to five-orders of magnitude
drop in the solution
residuals.

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 Post Processing

CFD-VIEW can be used to

post-process the results:
Maximum Mach Number =
0.215
Maximum Temperature = 305.9
K
Minimum Temperature = 274 K
This tutorial is now finished.

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