Applying CFD to Study

Boundary Layer Flow

Conference Paper · July 2012
 Trieu Van Nguyen
Osaka Prefecture University
32 PUBLICATIONS 65 CITATIONS

OTHER PROJECTS:
 Development of Air Cavity Tank
 Reduce Wind Resistance acting on Large Container Ship
 Development of CFD Turbulence Models
 Development of High Lift Rudder
“ ABSTRACT:

by
This paper presents the study of flow inside the boundary layer

applying CFD method. The commercial software Star-CCM+ is applied

to solve the flow over a flat plate. The results obtained such as velocity
distribution, pressure distribution along the length of flat plate, friction
coefficients show a good agreement with exact solution.

SOFTWARE USED: CFD; Star-CCM+ ”

STAR-CCM+ provides the world’s most comprehensive
engineering
physics simulation inside a single integrated packed. Much more
than a
CFD code, STAR-CCM+ provides an engineering process for
solving
problems involving flow (of fluids and solids), heat transfer and
stress.
STAR-CCM+ is unrivalled in its ability to tackle problems
Boundary Layer Flow
When fluid flows past an immersed body, a thin boundary layer will be
developed near the solid body due to the no-slip condition (i.e., fluid is
stuck to the solid boundary). The flow can be treated as inviscid flow
outside of this boundary layer, while viscous effects are important
inside of this boundary layer.
MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS
Laminar Boundary Layer Flow over Flat Plate

Blasius Velocity Profile for Laminar

Boundary Layer
COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS METHOD
(CFD)

 Computational Fluid Dynamics, usually abbreviated as CFD, is a branch of

fluid mechanics that uses numerical methods and algorithms to solve and
analyse problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the
calculations required to simulate the interaction of liquid and gases with
surfaces defined by boundary conditions. With high-speed supercomputers,
better solutions can be achieved.
The basic principle of the CFD modelling method is simple.
The flow regime is divided into small cells within each of which the
flow either kept constant or varies smoothly (the smooth variation is
normally assumed for modern techniques that normally have order of
accuracy above one). The differential equations of momentum,
energy, and mass balance are discretized and represented in term of
the variables at the cell centres (collocated variables arrangement) or
at a predetermined position within the cells (normally cell walls for
velocities – staggered variable arrangement). These equations are
solved until the solution reaches the desired accuracy.
Steps to stimulate boundary layer flow
 Creating the Geometry
 Creating the Mesh
 Setting up the physics model and values

Physical conditions for simulation

 Fluid: Water
 Density: 997.56 kg/m3
 Dynamic viscosity: 8.89E-04 Pa-s
 Length of plate: 10 m
 Reynolds number: 10000
 BL thickness (formula): 0.5 m
 BL thickness (Simulation): 0.5 m
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The picture below show the pressure distribution and
velocity distribution of the flow over flat plate, respectively. The higher pressure
located near the leading edge and lower at the far field. The lower velocity near
the plate surface and become uniform at the far field.
Velocity at the outlet Velocity at the mid-section

The above graph plot the comparison of velocities between numerical results
and exact solution at two positions: mid-section and outlet section. At
the mid-section the velocity values from Star-CCM+ are very close to
the Blasius solution. However, this is not true at the outlet section. At
the outlet section, the numerical results show a higher value. Especially
near the plate, the error becomes larger. The reason is still unknown
and need to explain clearly.
CONCLUSION

The laminar boundary flow over flat plate is studied numerically by

applying CFD tool. The results obtained such as velocity distribution , pressure
distribution along the length of flat plate, friction coefficients show a good
agreement with Blasius solution. In further, we will study on the transition and
turbulent flow over flat plate.