CFDExercise#1:

LaminarFlowthroughaPipe

ProblemDescription
Inthisexercise,youwillcompletealaminarpipeflowanalysis

CreatingtheProject
1. Importtheprojectbyclickingonthepubliclinkbelow

https://www.simscale.com/workbench?publiclink=c76c68bb86624fb6a8cf5cea32e706f9

2. TheprojectwillopendirectlyinyourSimScaleWorkbenchwiththeCADmodelincluded.

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MeshingtheGeometry
3. CreateanHexdominantautomaticmeshforPipe_junctionwiththefollowingsettings:

4. ClickSaveatthetopandthenStarttobegintheMeshingOperation.Therewillbea
popuptoconfirmyouwouldliketostarttheoperation.ClickYes

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5. Whenthemeshisfinished,youwillseethecompletedmeshintheviewer.

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SettinguptheSimulation
6. Forsettingupthesimulation,switchtotheSimulationDesignertabandclick+Newto
createanewsimulation.Giveyoursimulationaname.

7. SelecttheAnalysisTypeIncompressible.UnderProperties,settheTurbulencemodel
toLaminarwithSteadystatebehaviorandSIMPLEsolver.Youwillnoticethatth e
descriponofeachphysicsandsolvertypeisexplainedtohelpyouchoosetheexact
condionstobechosen.

8. Saveyourselection.YouwillnoticethatmorefieldsareaddedtotheProjectTreeonthe
leftsectionofthescreen.Theitemsinredmustbecompleted.

9. AssignthePipe_junctionmeshastheDomainandclickSave.Themeshwillthen
automaticallyloadintheviewer.

10. Now,changetherendermodeintheviewertoS urfacesinthetopmenubar.Thiswill

allowustointeractwiththemeshmoreeasilywhenweapplytheboundaryconditions.

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11. GototheMaterialsitemintheProjectTree.UsetheImportfromMaterialL ibraryoption

toaddthefluidWatera
ndassignittheentirepipevolume.

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12. NextspecifytheBoundaryConditions

Boundary Type Comments

Inlet1 Velocityinlet Fixedvalue,Ydirecon,value=0.01ms1

Inlet2 Velocityinlet Fixedvalue,Ydirecon,value=0.015m/s1

Outlet Pressureoutlet Fixedvalue=0m2

s2

Walls Wall Noslipvelocitycondion

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Inlet1

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Inlet2

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Outlet

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Walls

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13. WewillnotchangetheNumericalSettingsforthisanalysis.F orsimpleanalysessuchas

thisonethedefaultsettingsaresufficient.

14. InSimulationControl,wewillincreasethenumberofcomputingcoresto8andincrease
themaximumruntimeofthesimulationto10000seconds.

15. NowwearedonewiththeSimulationSetup.ClickonSimulationRunsintheProjectTree
andcreateasimulationrun.ClicktheStartbuttontorunthesimulation.Waitforthe
simulationtoreach100%completion.

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Postprocessing:visualizingtheresults

16. GotothePostProcessortabandselectSolutionfields

17. ThenaddaClipfilter

18. DeselectShowPlaneandclickApply

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19. SettheF ieldtovelocity(U)[pointd ata]andclicktherulersothatthescaleisvisible

20. Nowyoucanseethevelocityprofileofthepipe.

(a) Investigatetheeffectofmeshdensity(2Coarse,3Moderate,4Fine).Usethesamesteps
providedabovetohowusingdifferentmesheswillaffectthesolution.

The accuracy of the solution generally improves when the cell size is decreased up to a certain point.
Mesh convergence de nes the neness at which the results dont change appreciably, thus further
re nement should not be added as it will no longer improve the solution but only increase the
computing costs. In order to ef ciently use the resources, it is the best practice to perform a mesh
convergence test where meshes of differing degrees of re nement are compared.

(b) It is seen from theimageoftheresultsbelowthatthenemeshcapturesspecicphysicslike
the ow separaon and vorciesmoreaccuratelythanthecoarsemeshcase.Canyouthink
ofwhythisis?

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