Lecture 08

Introduction to the CFD

Methodology and CFX

14. 5 Release

Introduction to ANSYS
CFD Professional
2012 ANSYS, Inc.

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Introduction
All CFD simulations follow the same key stages. This lecture will explain:
The basics of what CFD is and how it works
The different steps involved in a successful CFD Project
How to work with CFX

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What is CFD
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is the science of predicting fluid flow,
heat and mass transfer, chemical reactions, and related phenomena

The equations used ensure the conservation of mass, momentum, energy,

etc.

CFD is used in all stages of the design process:

Conceptual studies of new designs

Detailed product development
Troubleshooting
Redesign

CFD analysis complements testing and experimentation by reducing total

effort and cost required for experimentation and data acquisition

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How Does CFD Work?

ANSYS CFD solvers are based on the finite
volume method

Domain is discretized into a set of control volumes

General conservation (transport) equations for

Control
Volume*

mass, momentum, energy, species, etc. are solved

on this set of control volume

Unsteady

Advection

Diffusion

Generation

Partial differential equations are discretized into a

system of algebraic equations
All algebraic equations are then solved numerically
to render the solution field
NOTE: in CFD-Professional the Unsteady term = 0

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Equation

Continuity
X momentum
Y momentum
Z momentum
Energy

1
u
v
w
h

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Step 1 Define Your Modeling Goals

What results are you looking for (i.e. pressure drop, mass flow rate) and
how will they be used?

What are your modeling options?

What physical models will need to be included in your analysis?
What simplifying assumptions do you have to make?
What simplifying assumptions can you make (i.e. symmetry, periodicity)?

What degree of accuracy is required?

How quickly do you need the results?
Is CFD an appropriate tool?

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Step 2 Identify the Domain to Model

How will you isolate a piece of the

Domain of Interest
as Part of a Larger
System (not modeled)

complete physical system?

Where will the computational domain

begin and end?

Do you have boundary condition information

at these locations?
Can the boundary condition types
accommodate that information?
Can you extend the domain to a point
where reasonable data exists?

Can the problem be simplified or approximated as a 2D

or axisymmetric problem?

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Domain of interest
isolated and meshed
for CFD simulation.

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Step 3 Create a Solid Model

How will you obtain a model of the fluid region?
Make use of existing CAD models?
Extract the fluid region from a solid part?
Create from scratch?

Can you simplify the geometry?

Remove unnecessary features that would complicate

meshing (fillets, bolts)?

Make use of symmetry or periodicity if both the
solution and boundary conditions are symmetric /
periodic?

Do you need to split the model so that boundary

conditions or domains can be created?

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Step 4 Design and Create the Mesh

What degree of mesh resolution is required in each
region of the domain?

Can you predict regions of high gradients?

The mesh must resolve geometric features of interest
and capture gradients of concern, e.g. velocity,
pressure, temperature gradients

What type of mesh is most appropriate?

How complex is the geometry?
Can you use a quad/hex mesh or is tri/tet more suitable?

Do you have sufficient computer resources?

How many cells/nodes are required?
How many physical models will be used?

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Step 5 Set up the Solver

For a given problem you will need to:
Define material properties
Fluid
Solid

Select appropriate physical models

Turbulence, heat transfer etc.

Prescribe boundary conditions on all external

Provide initial conditions

For complex problems solving a

simplified or 2D problem will provide
faces valuable experience with the models
and solver settings for your problem in
a short amount of time

Set up solver controls

Set up convergence monitors

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Step 6 Compute the Solution

The discretized conservation equations are solved
iteratively until convergence

Convergence is reached when:

Changes in solution variables from one iteration to the

next are negligible

Residuals provide a mechanism to help monitor this
trend
Overall property conservation is achieved
Imbalances measure global conservation
Quantities of interest (e.g. drag, pressure drop) have
reached steady values
Monitor points track quantities of interest

A converged and mesh-independent

solution on a well-posed problem will
provide useful engineering results!

The accuracy of a converged solution depends on

Appropriateness and accuracy of physical models
Mesh resolution and independence
Numerical errors
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Step 7 Examine the Results

Examine the results to review solution and extract
useful data

Visualization tools can be used to answer such

questions as:

What is the overall flow pattern?

Are key flow features being resolved?

Numerical reporting tools can be used to

calculate quantitative results:

Forces and moments

Average heat transfer coefficients
Surface and volume integrated quantities
Flux balances

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Examine results to ensure property conservation

and correct physical behavior. High residuals may
be caused by just a few poor quality cells.

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Step 8 Consider Model Revisions

Are the physical models appropriate?
Is the flow turbulent?

Are the boundary conditions correct?

Is the computational domain large enough?
Are boundary conditions appropriate?
Are boundary values reasonable?

Is the mesh adequate?

Can the mesh be refined to improve results?
Does the solution change significantly with a refined

mesh, or is the solution mesh independent?

Does the mesh resolution of the geometry need to be
improved?

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High residuals may be caused by

just a few poor quality cells

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Introduction to CFX
The remainder of the lecture will now focus on CFX, covering the following
topics

Launching CFX, either inside or outside of ANSYS Workbench

A typical CFD study workflow performed with CFX
A summary of files and file types

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CFX-Pre - Workspace
CFX-Pre

Main Menu

CFX-Solver

CFD-Post

Main Toolbar

Viewer Toolbar

Outline Tree
Viewer Window

Message Window

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CFX-Pre - Workflow
Mesh and region
control
Import, delete,
transform meshes
View & edit mesh
regions
Analysis Type
Steady State /
Transient
Domain
Right-click to insert
boundary conditions

CFXPre

Boundary Conditions

Initialisation
Starting point for the
solver in the absence of a
previous solution
Solver settings
Convergence controls
Results files controls
Numerical schemes
Monitor points

CFD-Post

CFXSolver

To define your simulation,

generally follow the Outline
tree from top to bottom

Double-click entries in the

Outline tree to edit

Right-click on entries in the

Outline tree to insert new
items or perform
operations

Some items are optional,

depending on your
simulation

Library objects
Optional. Referenced elsewhere in the setup
Import Materials & Reactions from libraries provided
Insert Expressions, AVs, Fortran routines

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CFX-Pre Workflow Example

Load Mesh

CFX-Pre

Right-click on Mesh

CFX-Solver

CFD-Post

A Default Domain is automatically

created when the mesh is imported. It
contains all 3D regions in the mesh.
Every domain contains a default
boundary condition.

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CFX-Pre Workflow Example

Define Domain Properties

CFX-Pre

CFD-Post

CFX-Solver

Right-click on the domain and pick Edit

Or right-click on Flow Analysis 1 to insert a new domain
When editing an item a new tab panel
opens containing the properties. You
can switch between open tabs.

Sub-tabs contain
various different
properties
Complete the
required fields on
each sub-tab to
define the domain

Optional fields are

activated by
enabling a check
box

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CFX-Pre Workflow Example

Create Boundary Conditions

CFX-Pre

CFX-Solver

CFD-Post

Right-click on the domain to insert BCs

After completing
the boundary
condition, it
appears in the
Outline tree
below its domain

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CFX-Pre Workflow Example

Define Solver Settings

CFX-Pre

CFX-Solver

CFD-Post

Right-click on Solver Control and pick Edit

All solver
controls have
default values

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CFX-Pre Workflow Example

Start Solver

CFX-Pre

CFX-Solver

CFD-Post

Just close CFX-Pre

Files are automatically saved

Check mark shown next to Setup
Right-click on Solution and select Edit or Refresh
Refresh runs the solver with default settings
Edit opens the Solver Manager

Right-click
to solve

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CFX Solver Manager

Defining a Run

CFX-Pre

CFX-Solver

CFD-Post

CFX-Pre will have written a .def file

and this is automatically selected as

the Solver Input File
Can enable Initial Values check box if
you have a previous solution to use as
the starting point
Parallel settings are defined here
Allows you to divide a large CFD
problem so that it can run on more
than one processor/machine
Start Run

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CFX Solver Manager

Workspace

CFX-Pre

Create new monitors

Text output from the Solver

Lots of info in here
Can also view the .out file in
a text editor

Solution Monitors
Monitor the convergence of
the solver
Plot residuals, imbalances,
monitor points, forces,
fluxes

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CFD-Post

CFX-Solver

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CFX Solver Manager

CFX-Pre

CFX-Solver

CFD-Post

When the Solver finishes, start CFD-Post

Just close the CFX Solver Manager

Check mark shown next to Solution

Right-click on Results and select Edit to start
CFD-Post

Right-click
to start
CFD-Post

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CFD-Post
Workspace

CFX-Pre

CFX-Solver

CFD-Post

Editor Tabs

Outline
Variables
Expressions
Calculators

Outline tree
displays all postprocessing objects.
Right-click or
double-click to edit
in the Details Pane

Outline Tree

Details Pane
Viewer Window

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CFD-Post
CFX-Pre

General Workflow
Prepare locations where data will

CFD-Post

CFX-Solver

Generate qualitative data at

locations

be extracted from, or plots

generated

E.g. Planes, Isosurface

Generate quantitative data at

locations

Create variables/expressions which

will be used to extract data (if
necessary)

E.g. Drag, pressure ratio

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Generate Reports

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Common File Types

.wbpj (Workbench Project File)
Import Mesh
.cmdb, .cfx5, .def, .res,
Open
.cfx, .def, .res

CFX-Pre

.cfx (CFX-Pre Database)

.def (Solver Input or Definition File)

.res

.out (Solver Output File)

CFX-Solver
.res (Results File)

.def, .cmdb
(Mesh Files)

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.cst (CFD-Post State File)

.cse (CFD-Post Session File)

CFD-Post

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Workshop 01 Mixing Tee

Introductory tutorial for CFX
Starting from existing mesh
generated in earlier tutorial during the DM / Meshing session

Model set-up, solution and post-processing

Mixing of cold and hot water in a T-piece
How well do the fluids mix?
What are the pressure drops?

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