Fluent Workspaces Tutorials

ANSYS, Inc. Release 2024 R1

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Table of Contents
1. Fluent Icing Tutorials .............................................................................................................................. 1
1.1. In-Flight Icing Tutorial Using Fluent Icing ........................................................................................... 1
1.1.1. Fluent Airflow on a Rough NACA0012 Airfoil ............................................................................. 1
1.1.1.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1
1.1.1.2. Problem Description ........................................................................................................ 2
1.1.1.3. Setup and Solution .......................................................................................................... 2
1.1.1.3.1. Preparation ............................................................................................................. 2
1.1.1.3.2. Setup ..................................................................................................................... 3
1.1.1.3.3. Solution ................................................................................................................ 19
1.1.1.3.4. Post-processing .................................................................................................... 22
1.1.1.4. Summary ...................................................................................................................... 23
1.1.2. Droplet Impingement on the NACA0012 ................................................................................ 23
1.1.2.1. Monodispersed Calculation ........................................................................................... 24
1.1.2.2. Langmuir-D Distribution ................................................................................................ 28
1.1.2.3. Post-Processing Using Viewmerical ................................................................................ 33
1.1.3. Fluent Icing Ice Accretion on the NACA0012 ........................................................................... 43
1.1.4. Postprocessing an Ice Accretion Solution Using CFD-Post Macros ............................................ 50
1.1.5. Multi-Shot Ice Accretion with Automatic Remeshing ............................................................... 56
1.1.6. Multi-Shot Ice Accretion With Automatic Remeshing – Postprocessing Using CFD-Post ............ 63
1.1.7. FENSAP Airflow on the Clean NACA0012 Airfoil ....................................................................... 69
1.1.7.1. FENSAP Airflow Solution on a Clean NACA0012 Airfoil .................................................... 69
1.1.8. FENSAP Airflow Solution on the Rough NACA0012 Airfoil ........................................................ 73
1.1.9. Scheduling a Sequence of Runs With Fluent Icing ................................................................... 78
1.1.9.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 78
1.1.9.2. Problem Description ...................................................................................................... 78
1.1.9.3. Setup and Solution ........................................................................................................ 78
1.1.9.3.1. Preparation ........................................................................................................... 78
1.1.9.3.2. Setup ................................................................................................................... 79
1.1.9.3.3. Post-processing .................................................................................................. 112
1.1.9.4. Summary ..................................................................................................................... 117
1.2. Droplet Impingement Using Fluent Icing ....................................................................................... 117
1.2.1. Droplet Impingement on a Complete Aircraft ....................................................................... 117
1.2.1.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 118
1.2.1.2. Problem Description .................................................................................................... 118
1.2.1.3. Setup and Solution ...................................................................................................... 118
1.2.1.3.1. Preparation ......................................................................................................... 119
1.2.1.3.2. Setup .................................................................................................................. 119
1.2.1.3.3. Solution .............................................................................................................. 129
1.2.1.4. Summary ..................................................................................................................... 131
1.2.2. Splashing and Bouncing by Post-processing on a NACA23012 Airfoil ..................................... 131
1.2.2.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 131
1.2.2.2. Problem Description .................................................................................................... 131
1.2.2.3. Setup and Solution ...................................................................................................... 132
1.2.2.3.1. Preparation ......................................................................................................... 132
1.2.2.3.2. Setup .................................................................................................................. 133
1.2.2.3.3. Solution .............................................................................................................. 141
1.2.2.4. Summary ..................................................................................................................... 144
1.2.3. Splashing and Bouncing with Reinjection on a Three-Element Airfoil ..................................... 144
1.2.3.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 144

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1.2.3.2. Problem Description .................................................................................................... 144

1.2.3.3. Setup and Solution ...................................................................................................... 144
1.2.3.3.1. Preparation ......................................................................................................... 145
1.2.3.3.2. Setup .................................................................................................................. 145
1.2.3.3.3. Solution .............................................................................................................. 160
1.2.3.4. Summary ..................................................................................................................... 165
1.3. Ice Accretion Using Fluent Icing ..................................................................................................... 165
1.3.1. Ice Accretion at High Speed .................................................................................................. 165
1.3.1.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 165
1.3.1.2. Problem Description .................................................................................................... 166
1.3.1.3. Setup and Solution ...................................................................................................... 166
1.3.1.3.1. Preparation ......................................................................................................... 166
1.3.1.3.2. Setup .................................................................................................................. 167
1.3.1.3.3. Solution .............................................................................................................. 182
1.3.1.4. Summary ..................................................................................................................... 184
1.3.2. Ice Shedding on an Engine Fan Blade .................................................................................... 184
1.3.2.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 184
1.3.2.2. Limitations .................................................................................................................. 184
1.3.2.3. Problem Description .................................................................................................... 185
1.3.2.4. Setup and Solution ...................................................................................................... 185
1.3.2.4.1. Preparation ......................................................................................................... 185
1.3.2.4.2. Setup .................................................................................................................. 186
1.3.2.4.3. Solution .............................................................................................................. 217
1.3.2.5. Summary ..................................................................................................................... 223
1.4. Multishot Icing with Automatic Remeshing Tutorial ....................................................................... 223
1.4.1. Limitations ........................................................................................................................... 223
1.4.2. Multishot Glaze Ice with Automatic Remeshing Using Fluent Meshing ................................... 223
1.4.2.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 224
1.4.2.2. Problem Description .................................................................................................... 224
1.4.2.3. Setup and Solution ...................................................................................................... 226
1.4.2.3.1. Preparation ......................................................................................................... 226
1.4.2.3.2. Setup .................................................................................................................. 227
1.4.2.3.3. Solution .............................................................................................................. 247
1.4.2.3.4. Post-processing .................................................................................................. 249
1.4.2.4. Summary ..................................................................................................................... 251
1.4.3. Multishot Icing with Automatic Remeshing - Run in Batch Mode ........................................... 251
1.4.4. Multishot Glaze Ice with Automatic Remeshing - Postprocessing Using CFD-Post ................... 255
1.5. Anti-Icing CHT Using Fluent Icing Tutorial ...................................................................................... 263
1.5.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 264
1.5.2. Problem Description ............................................................................................................. 264
1.5.3. Setup and Solution ............................................................................................................... 265
1.5.3.1. Preparation ................................................................................................................. 265
1.5.3.2. Setup .......................................................................................................................... 265
1.5.3.3. Solution ...................................................................................................................... 291
1.5.4. Summary ............................................................................................................................. 294
2. Fluent Aero Tutorials ........................................................................................................................... 295
2.1. Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an ONERA M6 Wing at a Range of Angles of Attack ......... 295
2.2. Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients and Wall Heat Flux on a Re- Entry Capsule at Different Altitudes
in Earth and Mars Atmospheres Using Mixtures ................................................................................... 325
2.3. Introduction to Aircraft Component Groups and Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an Aircraft
at Different Flight Altitudes and Engine Regimes ................................................................................. 371

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2.4. Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an Aircraft Horizontal Tail Wing in a Wind Tunnel Domain
at Different Mass Flow Rates ................................................................................................................ 401
2.5. Fluent Aero AET – Creating a VBM Input File for Blade Sections ....................................................... 429
2.5.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 430
2.5.2. Prerequisites ........................................................................................................................ 430
2.5.3. Problem Description ............................................................................................................. 430
2.5.4. Setup and Solution ............................................................................................................... 431
2.5.4.1. Preparation ................................................................................................................. 431
2.5.4.2. Setup, Solution and Post-processing ............................................................................. 432
2.5.5. Appendix ............................................................................................................................. 459
2.5.5.1. Using the Results of the AET Workflow in the Fluent Virtual Blade Model ....................... 459
2.5.5.2. Using the Virtual Blade Model With Fluent Aero ............................................................ 461
2.5.6. Summary ............................................................................................................................. 466
2.5.7. Limitations ........................................................................................................................... 466
3. Fluent Material Processing Tutorials ................................................................................................... 467
3.1. 3D Polymer Extrusion .................................................................................................................... 467
3.1.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 467
3.1.2. Problem Description ............................................................................................................. 468
3.1.3. Setup and Solution ............................................................................................................... 469
3.1.3.1. Preparation ................................................................................................................. 469
3.1.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent ............................................................................................... 470
3.1.3.3. Setup Your Simulation ................................................................................................. 470
3.1.3.4. General Properties ....................................................................................................... 473
3.1.3.5. Material Properties ...................................................................................................... 473
3.1.3.6. Cell Zone Properties ..................................................................................................... 475
3.1.3.7. Boundary Condition Properties .................................................................................... 475
3.1.3.8. Mesh Deformation Properties ...................................................................................... 477
3.1.3.9. Solution ...................................................................................................................... 478
3.1.4. Results ................................................................................................................................. 479
3.1.5. Summary ............................................................................................................................. 484
3.2. Multiple Material Coextruded Tubing ............................................................................................ 484
3.2.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 484
3.2.2. Problem Description ............................................................................................................. 485
3.2.3. Setup and Solution ............................................................................................................... 486
3.2.3.1. Preparation ................................................................................................................. 486
3.2.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent ............................................................................................... 486
3.2.3.3. Setup Your Simulation ................................................................................................. 487
3.2.3.4. General Properties ....................................................................................................... 489
3.2.3.5. Material Properties ...................................................................................................... 490
3.2.3.6. Cell Zone Properties ..................................................................................................... 492
3.2.3.7. Boundary Condition Properties .................................................................................... 493
3.2.3.8. Mesh Deformation Properties ...................................................................................... 497
3.2.3.9. Solution ...................................................................................................................... 498
3.2.4. Results ................................................................................................................................. 500
3.2.5. Summary ............................................................................................................................. 503
3.3. 3D Polymer Blow Molding & Thermoforming ................................................................................. 503
3.3.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 503
3.3.2. Problem Description ............................................................................................................. 503
3.3.3. Setup and Solution ............................................................................................................... 506
3.3.3.1. Preparation ................................................................................................................. 506
3.3.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent ............................................................................................... 506

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3.3.3.3. Setup Your Simulation ................................................................................................. 507

3.3.3.4. General Properties ....................................................................................................... 509
3.3.3.5. Material Properties ...................................................................................................... 510
3.3.3.6. Cell Zone Properties ..................................................................................................... 513
3.3.3.7. Layer Properties ........................................................................................................... 516
3.3.3.8. Fluid Boundary Condition Properties ............................................................................ 518
3.3.3.9. Contact Boundary Conditions ...................................................................................... 519
3.3.3.10. Mesh Deformation Properties .................................................................................... 519
3.3.3.11. Adaptive Mesh Settings ............................................................................................. 520
3.3.3.12. Solution ..................................................................................................................... 520
3.3.4. Results ................................................................................................................................. 521
3.3.5. Summary ............................................................................................................................. 528
3.4. Injection Stretch Blow Molding (ISBM) ........................................................................................... 528
3.4.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 528
3.4.2. Problem Description ............................................................................................................. 529
3.4.3. Setup and Solution ............................................................................................................... 530
3.4.3.1. Preparation ................................................................................................................. 531
3.4.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent ............................................................................................... 531
3.4.3.3. Setup Your Simulation ................................................................................................. 531
3.4.3.4. General Properties ....................................................................................................... 534
3.4.3.5. Material Properties ...................................................................................................... 535
3.4.3.6. Cell Zone Properties ..................................................................................................... 535
3.4.3.7. Layer Properties ........................................................................................................... 540
3.4.3.8. Boundary Condition Properties .................................................................................... 540
3.4.3.9. Contact Boundary Conditions ...................................................................................... 541
3.4.3.10. Mesh Deformation Properties .................................................................................... 542
3.4.3.11. Adaptive Mesh Settings ............................................................................................. 543
3.4.3.12. Solution ..................................................................................................................... 544
3.4.4. Results ................................................................................................................................. 548
3.4.5. Summary ............................................................................................................................. 554
3.5. Glass Pressing ............................................................................................................................... 554
3.5.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 554
3.5.2. Problem Description ............................................................................................................. 554
3.5.3. Setup and Solution ............................................................................................................... 555
3.5.3.1. Preparation ................................................................................................................. 556
3.5.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent ............................................................................................... 556
3.5.3.3. Setup Your Simulation ................................................................................................. 556
3.5.3.4. General Properties ....................................................................................................... 559
3.5.3.5. Material Properties ...................................................................................................... 560
3.5.3.6. Cell Zone Properties ..................................................................................................... 560
3.5.3.7. Boundary Condition Properties .................................................................................... 562
3.5.3.8. Contact Boundary Conditions ...................................................................................... 564
3.5.3.9. Mesh Deformation Properties ...................................................................................... 565
3.5.3.10. Adaptive Mesh Settings ............................................................................................. 566
3.5.3.11. Solution ..................................................................................................................... 567
3.5.4. Results ................................................................................................................................. 570
3.5.5. Summary ............................................................................................................................. 576
3.6. 3D Inverse Extrusion ..................................................................................................................... 576
3.6.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 576
3.6.2. Problem Description ............................................................................................................. 576
3.6.3. Setup and Solution ............................................................................................................... 580

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3.6.3.1. Preparation ................................................................................................................. 580

3.6.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent ............................................................................................... 580
3.6.3.3. Setup Your Simulation ................................................................................................. 581
3.6.3.4. General Properties ....................................................................................................... 583
3.6.3.5. Boundary Condition Properties .................................................................................... 584
3.6.3.6. Solution ...................................................................................................................... 586
3.6.4. Results ................................................................................................................................. 588
3.6.5. Summary ............................................................................................................................. 599
3.7. Mesh Superposition Technique ..................................................................................................... 599
3.7.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 599
3.7.2. Problem Description ............................................................................................................. 600
3.7.3. Setup and Solution ............................................................................................................... 603
3.7.3.1. Preparation ................................................................................................................. 603
3.7.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent ............................................................................................... 604
3.7.3.3. Setup Your Simulation ................................................................................................. 604
3.7.3.4. General Properties ....................................................................................................... 607
3.7.3.5. Material Properties ...................................................................................................... 607
3.7.3.6. Cell Zone Properties ..................................................................................................... 609
3.7.3.7. Boundary Condition Properties .................................................................................... 611
3.7.3.8. Solution ...................................................................................................................... 614
3.7.4. Results ................................................................................................................................. 618
3.7.5. Summary ............................................................................................................................. 629
4. Fluent Material Processing Examples ................................................................................................. 631
4.1. Spinning Simulation of a Non-Symmetric Trilobal Viscoelastic Fiber ................................................ 631
4.1.1. Problem Description ............................................................................................................. 631
4.1.2. Setup and Solution ............................................................................................................... 633
4.1.2.1. Preparation ................................................................................................................. 633
4.1.2.2. Mesh ........................................................................................................................... 634
4.1.2.3. Simulation Settings ..................................................................................................... 634
4.1.2.4. Materials ..................................................................................................................... 634
4.1.2.5. Cell Zones .................................................................................................................... 634
4.1.2.6. Boundary Conditions ................................................................................................... 635
4.1.2.7. Mesh Deformations ..................................................................................................... 636
4.1.2.8. Solution Settings ......................................................................................................... 636
4.1.2.9. Postprocessing ............................................................................................................ 636
4.2. Reinforcements and Pantographing in Rubber Tire Molding ........................................................... 638
4.2.1. Problem Description ............................................................................................................. 638
4.2.1.1. Concepts Covered in this Example ................................................................................ 640
4.2.1.1.1. Orthotropic Fluid Model ...................................................................................... 640
4.2.1.1.2. Orientation of Reinforcements for Flat and Cylindrical Domains ........................... 641
4.2.1.1.3. Contact With a Solid Mold ................................................................................... 641
4.2.1.1.4. Adaptive Meshing ............................................................................................... 641
4.2.1.1.5. Expressions Utilized ............................................................................................ 641
4.2.2. Setup and Solution ............................................................................................................... 642
4.2.2.1. Preparation ................................................................................................................. 643
4.2.2.2. Mesh ........................................................................................................................... 643
4.2.2.3. Simulation Settings ..................................................................................................... 643
4.2.2.4. Materials ..................................................................................................................... 644
4.2.2.5. Cell Zones .................................................................................................................... 645
4.2.2.6. Fluid Boundary Conditions ........................................................................................... 647
4.2.2.7. Interface Boundary Conditions ..................................................................................... 650

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4.2.2.8. Contact Boundary Conditions ...................................................................................... 651

4.2.2.9. Mesh Deformations ..................................................................................................... 652
4.2.2.10. Adaptive Meshing ...................................................................................................... 653
4.2.2.11. Solution Settings ....................................................................................................... 654
4.2.2.12. Postprocessing .......................................................................................................... 654
4.3. 3D Non-isothermal Flow with a Non-conformal Mesh .................................................................... 656
4.3.1. Problem Description ............................................................................................................. 657
4.3.2. Setup and Solution ............................................................................................................... 659
4.3.2.1. Preparation ................................................................................................................. 660
4.3.2.2. Mesh ........................................................................................................................... 660
4.3.2.3. Simulation Settings ..................................................................................................... 660
4.3.2.4. Materials ..................................................................................................................... 660
4.3.2.5. Cell Zones .................................................................................................................... 661
4.3.2.6. Boundary Conditions ................................................................................................... 661
4.3.2.7. Solution Settings ......................................................................................................... 662
4.3.2.8. Postprocessing ............................................................................................................ 663
4.4. Extrusion of a Foamed Profile ........................................................................................................ 667
4.4.1. Problem Description ............................................................................................................. 667
4.4.2. Setup and Solution ............................................................................................................... 670
4.4.2.1. Preparation ................................................................................................................. 671
4.4.2.2. Mesh ........................................................................................................................... 671
4.4.2.3. Simulation Settings ..................................................................................................... 671
4.4.2.4. Materials ..................................................................................................................... 671
4.4.2.5. Cell Zones .................................................................................................................... 672
4.4.2.6. Boundary Conditions ................................................................................................... 672
4.4.2.7. Mesh Deformations ..................................................................................................... 673
4.4.2.8. Solution Settings ......................................................................................................... 674
4.4.2.9. Postprocessing ............................................................................................................ 674
4.5. Filling of a Sample ......................................................................................................................... 677
4.5.1. Problem Description ............................................................................................................. 677
4.5.2. Setup and Solution ............................................................................................................... 678
4.5.2.1. Preparation ................................................................................................................. 679
4.5.2.2. Mesh ........................................................................................................................... 679
4.5.2.3. Simulation Settings ..................................................................................................... 679
4.5.2.4. Materials ..................................................................................................................... 679
4.5.2.5. Cell Zones .................................................................................................................... 680
4.5.2.6. Boundary Conditions ................................................................................................... 680
4.5.2.7. Solution Settings ......................................................................................................... 680
4.5.2.8. Postprocessing ............................................................................................................ 681
4.6. 3D Structure Interaction for Die ..................................................................................................... 683
4.6.1. Problem Description ............................................................................................................. 683
4.6.2. Setup and Solution ............................................................................................................... 686
4.6.2.1. Preparation ................................................................................................................. 686
4.6.2.2. Mesh ........................................................................................................................... 686
4.6.2.3. Simulation Settings ..................................................................................................... 686
4.6.2.4. Materials ..................................................................................................................... 687
4.6.2.5. Cell Zones .................................................................................................................... 687
4.6.2.6. Boundary Conditions ................................................................................................... 688
4.6.2.7. Mesh Deformations ..................................................................................................... 689
4.6.2.8. Solution Settings ......................................................................................................... 690
4.6.2.9. Postprocessing ............................................................................................................ 690

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4.7. Thermal Simulation of the Internal Flow of a Fluid in a Channel with One Entry and Four Exits ........ 694
4.7.1. Problem Description ............................................................................................................. 695
4.7.2. Setup and Solution ............................................................................................................... 696
4.7.2.1. Preparation ................................................................................................................. 696
4.7.2.2. Mesh ........................................................................................................................... 697
4.7.2.3. Simulation Settings ..................................................................................................... 697
4.7.2.4. Materials ..................................................................................................................... 697
4.7.2.5. Cell Zones .................................................................................................................... 698
4.7.2.6. Boundary Conditions ................................................................................................... 698
4.7.2.7. Solution Settings ......................................................................................................... 700
4.7.2.8. Postprocessing ............................................................................................................ 700
4.8. Multilayer Film Casting .................................................................................................................. 702
4.8.1. Problem Description ............................................................................................................. 702
4.8.2. Setup and Solution ............................................................................................................... 705
4.8.2.1. Preparation ................................................................................................................. 706
4.8.2.2. Mesh ........................................................................................................................... 706
4.8.2.3. Simulation Settings ..................................................................................................... 706
4.8.2.4. General ....................................................................................................................... 707
4.8.2.5. Materials ..................................................................................................................... 707
4.8.2.6. Cell Zones .................................................................................................................... 709
4.8.2.7. Layers .......................................................................................................................... 709
4.8.2.8. Boundary Conditions ................................................................................................... 710
4.8.2.9. Mesh Deformations ..................................................................................................... 711
4.8.2.10. Solution Settings ....................................................................................................... 711
4.8.2.11. Postprocessing .......................................................................................................... 713
4.9. Extrusion of a Rubber Profile With a Metal Insert ............................................................................ 718
4.9.1. Problem Description ............................................................................................................. 718
4.9.2. Setup and Solution ............................................................................................................... 721
4.9.2.1. Preparation ................................................................................................................. 721
4.9.2.2. Mesh ........................................................................................................................... 721
4.9.2.3. Simulation Settings ..................................................................................................... 722
4.9.2.4. Materials ..................................................................................................................... 722
4.9.2.5. Cell Zones .................................................................................................................... 723
4.9.2.6. Boundary Conditions ................................................................................................... 723
4.9.2.7. Mesh Deformations ..................................................................................................... 725
4.9.2.8. Solution Settings ......................................................................................................... 725
4.9.2.9. Postprocessing ............................................................................................................ 726

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List of Figures
1.1. NACA0012 Structured C-Mesh Overview and Close-Up ............................................................................ 2
1.2. Fluent Icing Workspace ........................................................................................................................... 5
1.3. NACA0012 Mesh Display ......................................................................................................................... 7
1.4. Scaled Residuals ................................................................................................................................... 20
1.5. Convergence of Lift and Drag Coefficients of the Clean Airfoil ................................................................ 21
1.6. The Residual Values ............................................................................................................................... 22
1.7. Convective Heat Flux Over the Rough NACA0012 Airfoil ........................................................................ 22
1.8. Convergence of Residuals: Momentum, LWC and Average Residuals ....................................................... 25
1.9. Convergence of Total Beta and Change in Total Beta Curves ................................................................... 26
1.10. Collection Efficiency of Monodispersed Droplets over a NACA0012 ...................................................... 27
1.11. LWC of Monodispersed Droplets Around a NACA0012 ......................................................................... 28
1.12. Collection Efficiency of Droplets with Langmuir-D Distribution over a NACA0012 ................................. 31
1.13. LWC of Droplets with Langmuir-D Distribution Around a NACA0012 .................................................... 32
1.14. LWC of a Langmuir D Droplet Cloud over a NACA0012 at an AoA of 4 Degrees, Showing the Shadow
Zone (Blue Region) ..................................................................................................................................... 35
1.15. Collection Efficiency of a Langmuir D Droplet Cloud on the Surface of the Airfoil at an AoA of 4 De-
grees .......................................................................................................................................................... 35
1.16. Collection Efficiency of a Langmuir D Droplet Cloud on the Surface of the Airfoil at an AoA of 4 De-
grees .......................................................................................................................................................... 37
1.17. Collection Efficiency on the Surface of the Airfoil at an AoA of 4 Degrees, Langmuir D Droplet Solu-
tions ........................................................................................................................................................... 40
1.18. Collection Efficiency on the Surface, Langmuir D vs. Monodisperse ....................................................... 42
1.19. LWC Distribution and Shadow Zones for 44.4 Micron Droplets (Left) and 6.2 Micron Droplets (Right) .... 43
1.20. Mass Conservation Table Printed in the Log File of Fluent Icing ............................................................. 45
1.21. Ice View in Viewmerical Showing Shaded + Wireframe, -25 °C ............................................................... 46
1.22. Ice View in Viewmerical Showing Metallic + Smooth, -7.5 °C ................................................................. 47
1.23. Ice Shapes at -25, -10, and -7.5 C .......................................................................................................... 48
1.24. Film Height Variation Over the Ice at -25, -10, and -7.5 C ....................................................................... 49
1.25. Ice View with CFD-Post, Ice Cover ........................................................................................................ 52
1.26. Ice View in CFD-Post, Ice Cover with Display Mesh ................................................................................ 53
1.27. Ice View in CFD-Post, Instantaneous Ice Growth over Ice Cover Surface ................................................. 54
1.28. 2D-Plot in CFD-Post, Clean Wall Surface and Ice Cover Surface .............................................................. 55
1.29. 2D-Plot in CFD-Post, Ice Thickness Distribution .................................................................................... 56
1.30. 3-Shots Ice Shape at -7.5 C ................................................................................................................... 61
1.31. Ice Shapes at -7.5 C, Obtained Using One Shot and Three Shots Computations ..................................... 63
1.32. Ice View in CFD-Post, Final Ice Shape .................................................................................................... 65
1.33. Ice View in CFD-Post, Instantaneous Ice Growth over Ice Cover Surface, Final Ice Shape ......................... 66
1.34. 2D-Plot in CFD-Post, Ice Shapes of the Multishot Simulation ................................................................. 68
1.35. NACA0012 Structured C-Mesh Overview and Close-Up ........................................................................ 69
1.36. Scaled Residuals ................................................................................................................................. 71
1.37. Convergence of Lift and Drag Coefficients of the Rough Airfoil ............................................................. 72
1.38. The Residual Values ............................................................................................................................. 73
1.39. Convective Heat Flux Over the Clean NACA0012 Airfoil ........................................................................ 73
1.40. Scaled Residuals ................................................................................................................................. 75
1.41. Convergence of Lift and Drag Coefficients of the Rough Airfoil ............................................................. 76
1.42. The Residual Values ............................................................................................................................. 77
1.43. Convective Heat Flux Over the NACA0012 ........................................................................................... 77
1.44. Fluent Icing Workspace ....................................................................................................................... 81
1.45. Grid Mesh Display ............................................................................................................................... 84

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1.46. Ice Shape at 258K and 20 Microns ........................................................................................................ 99

1.47. DLR-F6 Mesh ..................................................................................................................................... 118
1.48. Fluent Icing Workspace ..................................................................................................................... 121
1.49. DLR Mesh Display ............................................................................................................................. 123
1.50. DLR-F6 Collection Efficiency Contours ............................................................................................... 130
1.51. Collection Efficiency Plots on the Wing Using Viewmerical: Root(Z=4m), Middle(Z=15m), Tip(
Z=22.5m) .................................................................................................................................................. 131
1.52. Fluent Icing Workspace ..................................................................................................................... 134
1.53. NACA23012 Mesh Display ................................................................................................................. 136
1.54. NACA23012 Collection Efficiency Contours ........................................................................................ 142
1.55. SLD Clipping Effect of Splashing (Red) And Bouncing (Blue) On the Collection Efficiency .................... 143
1.56. Fluent Icing Workspace ..................................................................................................................... 147
1.57. Three-Element Airfoil Mesh Display ................................................................................................... 149
1.58. NACA0012 Mesh ............................................................................................................................... 166
1.59. Fluent Icing Workspace ..................................................................................................................... 168
1.60. NACA0012 Mesh Display ................................................................................................................... 170
1.61. NACA0012 LWC Contours .................................................................................................................. 182
1.62. Beak Ice on the NACA0012 Airfoil ...................................................................................................... 183
1.63. 10-Degree Rotationally Periodic Section for a Simple Engine Fan Blade .............................................. 185
1.64. Fluent Icing Workspace ..................................................................................................................... 187
1.65. NACA0012 Mesh Display ................................................................................................................... 190
1.66. Air Residuals ..................................................................................................................................... 217
1.67. Particles Residuals ............................................................................................................................. 218
1.68. Collection Efficiency on the Blade and Splitter ................................................................................... 219
1.69. Ice Residuals ..................................................................................................................................... 220
1.70. ONERA M6 Swept Wing Geometry and Mesh ..................................................................................... 225
1.71. Fluent Icing Workspace ..................................................................................................................... 228
1.72. NACA0012 Clean Mesh Display .......................................................................................................... 230
1.73. Multishot Automatic Remeshing Ice Shape ........................................................................................ 250
1.74. Residuals of 1st Shot’s Air Flow Simulation (Left: Script Run; Right: Simulation from the Multishot Icing
with Automatic Remeshing on the Onera M6 Wing Tutorial) ...................................................................... 253
1.75. Instant. Ice Growth of 1st Shot Surface Icing Solution (Red: Script Run; Black: Simulation from the
Multishot Icing with Automatic Remeshing on the Onera M6 Wing Tutorial) ............................................... 254
1.76.Water Film of 1st Shot Surface Icing Solution (Red: Script Run; Black: Simulation from the Multishot Icing
with Automatic Remeshing on the Onera M6 Wing Tutorial) ...................................................................... 254
1.77.Wall Temperature of 1st Shot Surface Icing Solution (Red: Script Run; Black: Simulation from the Multishot
Icing with Automatic Remeshing on the Onera M6 Wing Tutorial) .............................................................. 255
1.78. Computed Ice Shape at the End of the 6th Shot (Left: Script Run; Right: Simulation from the Multishot
Icing with Automatic Remeshing on the Onera M6 Wing Tutorial) .............................................................. 255
1.79. Ice View in CFD-Post, Transparent Ice Cover of the Final Ice Shape ....................................................... 257
1.80. Ice View in CFD-Post, Instantaneous Ice Growth over the Final Ice ....................................................... 258
1.81. 2D-Plot in CFD-Post, 3rd Shot Ice Shape at Z=0.5 ................................................................................ 260
1.82. 2D-Plot in CFD-Post, Multishot Ice Shapes at a User-Defined Cutting Plane ......................................... 262
1.83. Fluent Icing Workspace ..................................................................................................................... 278
1.84. Piccolo CHT Mesh Display .................................................................................................................. 280
1.85. Liquid Water Content and Vapor Pressure .......................................................................................... 291
1.86. CH .................................................................................................................................................... 292
1.87. CHT Convergence and Monitor Plots ................................................................................................. 293
1.88. Final ice Solution ............................................................................................................................... 293
2.1. View of the Surface Mesh around the ONERA M6 Wing ........................................................................ 296
2.2. Boundary Surface Mesh of the ONERA M6 Domain .............................................................................. 296

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2.3. Initial Input:Design Points Table ........................................................................................................... 303

2.4. Convergence of Residuals for Design Point 1 ........................................................................................ 305
2.5. Convergence History of the Drag Coefficient for Design Point 1 ............................................................ 306
2.6. Input:Design Points Table after Calculation .......................................................................................... 306
2.7. Summary Table of the Flight Conditions and Convergence Information ................................................ 307
2.8. Results Table of Aerodynamic Coefficients ........................................................................................... 308
2.9. Results Table of Aerodynamic Forces ................................................................................................... 308
2.10. Results Table of Final Residuals .......................................................................................................... 309
2.11. Convergence History of the Lift Coefficient for Design Point 7 ............................................................ 309
2.12. Convergence History of the Drag Coefficient for Design Point 7 .......................................................... 310
2.13. Lift Coefficient vs. Design Point .......................................................................................................... 311
2.14. Drag Coefficient vs. Design Point ....................................................................................................... 311
2.15. Pitching Moment Coefficient vs. Design Point .................................................................................... 312
2.16. Lift Coefficient vs. Drag Coefficient ..................................................................................................... 313
2.17. Option to Modify Plot Settings .......................................................................................................... 313
2.18. Lift Coefficient vs Angle of Attack ...................................................................................................... 314
2.19. Comparing a Reference Dataset to the Lift Coefficient Curve .............................................................. 315
2.20. Distribution of the Wall Pressure Coefficient at Z=0.25m for DP-2 ....................................................... 317
2.21. Load a Reference Data to the Pressure Coefficient Plot of DP-2 at Z=0.25m ......................................... 318
2.22. Data Folder in the Project View After Creating a Cut Plot and Plotting Reference Results ..................... 319
2.23. Wall Static Pressure Contour of Design Point 2 ................................................................................... 321
2.24. Mach Number Cutting Plane Contour of Design Point 2 ..................................................................... 323
2.25. Solution of Design Point 2 in CFD-Post ............................................................................................... 324
2.26. Re-entry Capsule Problem Specification ............................................................................................. 326
2.27. View of the Mesh around the Capsule ................................................................................................ 327
2.28. Input:Design Points Table of a Custom Exploration With 3 Design Points ............................................. 334
2.29. Select Custom Outputs ..................................................................................................................... 334
2.30. Convergence of the Residuals for Design Point 1 ................................................................................ 336
2.31. Convergence History of the Drag Coefficient for Design Point 1 .......................................................... 336
2.32. Convergence of Species Mass Fractions for Design Point 1 ................................................................. 337
2.33. Input:Design Points Table after Calculation ........................................................................................ 337
2.34. Summary Table of the Flight Conditions and Convergence Information .............................................. 339
2.35. Results Table of the Aerodynamic Coefficients When Default Is Selected ............................................. 339
2.36. Results Table of the Aero Coefficients When Body-Fixed Axes Is Selected ............................................ 339
2.37. Results Table of the Aero Coefficients when Wind-Fixed Axes Is Selected ............................................ 340
2.38. Results Table of the Aero Coefficients when Body-Fixed+Wind-Fixed Axes Is Selected ......................... 340
2.39. Results Table of the Aerodynamic Forces when Default Is Selected ..................................................... 340
2.40. Results Table of Final Residuals .......................................................................................................... 340
2.41. Results Table of Custom Outputs ....................................................................................................... 341
2.42. Lift Coefficient vs. Design Point .......................................................................................................... 341
2.43. Distribution of the Wall Pressure Coefficient at Z = 0.1m for DP-2 ........................................................ 342
2.44. Distribution of the Wall Heat Flux at Z = 0.1m for DP-2 ....................................................................... 342
2.45. Wall Heat Flux Contour of DP-03 ........................................................................................................ 344
2.46. Wall Static Pressure Contour of DP-03 ................................................................................................ 345
2.47. Mach Number Cutting Plane Contour Plot ......................................................................................... 346
2.48. Convergence of Residuals for Design Point 1 Using Continue to Update ............................................. 348
2.49. Input:Design Points Table of a Custom Exploration With 2 Design Points ............................................. 354
2.50. Convergence of the Residuals for Design Point 1 ................................................................................ 356
2.51. Convergence History of the Drag Coefficient for Design Point 1 and 2 ................................................ 359
2.52. Contour Plot of Mach Number ........................................................................................................... 361
2.53. Contour Plot of Molar Concentration of Electron ................................................................................ 362

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2.54. Convergence of the Residuals for Design Point 1 ................................................................................ 368

2.55. Convergence History of the Drag Coefficient for Design Point 1 .......................................................... 369
2.56. Contour Plot of CO2 Mass Fraction ..................................................................................................... 371
2.57. View of the Mesh Around the Aircraft ................................................................................................ 372
2.58. Input:Design Points Table With 2 Design Points .................................................................................. 385
2.59. Convergence of Residuals for Design Point 1 (DP-1) ........................................................................... 388
2.60. Convergence History of the Lift Force from the Wing_01 for Design Point 1 ........................................ 388
2.61. Summary Table of the Flight Conditions and Convergence Information .............................................. 389
2.62. Results Table of Final Residuals .......................................................................................................... 390
2.63. Results Table of the Aerodynamic Coefficients ................................................................................... 390
2.64. Results Table of the Aerodynamic Forces ............................................................................................ 390
2.65. Lift Coefficient vs. Design Point .......................................................................................................... 391
2.66. Lift to Drag Ratio vs. Design Point ...................................................................................................... 392
2.67. Lift Coefficient vs. Drag Coefficient ..................................................................................................... 392
2.68. Distribution of the Wall Pressure Coefficient at Z=4m for DP-1 ............................................................ 394
2.69. Wall Static Pressure Contour of the Wing_01 and Engine_01 Components of Design Point 2 ............... 397
2.70. Wall Static Pressure Contour of the Wing_01 and Engine_01 Components of Design Point 1 ............... 398
2.71. Mach Number Cutting Plane Contour of Design Point 1 ..................................................................... 400
2.72. View of the Surface Mesh Around the Horizontal Stabilizer ................................................................. 402
2.73. Setup of the Boundary Surface Mesh ................................................................................................. 402
2.74. Initial Input:Design Points Table ......................................................................................................... 408
2.75. Convergence of Residuals for Design Point 1 ...................................................................................... 412
2.76. Convergence History of the Drag Coefficient for Design Point 1 .......................................................... 413
2.77. Input:Design Points Table After Calculation ........................................................................................ 413
2.78. Summary Table of the Flight Conditions and Convergence Information .............................................. 414
2.79. Results Table of Aerodynamic Coefficients ......................................................................................... 415
2.80. Results Table of Aerodynamic Forces ................................................................................................. 415
2.81. Results Table of Component Outputs ................................................................................................. 415
2.82. Results Table of Final Residuals .......................................................................................................... 416
2.83. Drag Coefficient vs. Design Point ....................................................................................................... 416
2.84. Wing Drag vs Wind Tunnel Inlet Mass Flow Rate ................................................................................. 417
2.85. Distribution of the Wall Pressure Coefficient at Z=-0.6m for DP-1 ........................................................ 419
2.86. Load a Reference Data to the Pressure Coefficient Plot of DP-1 at Z=-0.6m .......................................... 420
2.87. Wall Static Pressure Contour of Design Point 1 ................................................................................... 421
2.88. Mach Number Cutting Plane Contour of Design Point 1 ..................................................................... 424
2.89. Project View Panel After Calculation and Post-Processing ................................................................... 425
2.90. Table Summary of Airfoil-01 .............................................................................................................. 446
2.91. Table Coefficients of Airfoil-01 ....................................................................................................... 446
2.92. Convergence of Airfoil-01's DP-1 ....................................................................................................... 448
2.93. Convergence of Airfoil-01’s DP-2 ........................................................................................................ 450
2.94. Convergence of Airfoil-01’s DP-15 ...................................................................................................... 451
2.95. Updated Convergence of Airfoil-01’s DP-15 ........................................................................................ 453
2.96. Lift Curves of Airfoil-01 Profile ........................................................................................................... 456
2.97. AET Output Data File as VBM Input – Airfoil-01 Profile ........................................................................ 458
3.1. Problem Description ........................................................................................................................... 468
3.2. Boundary Sets for the Problem ............................................................................................................ 469
3.3. Contour Properties .............................................................................................................................. 480
3.4. Selecting Boundaries in the Surfaces Dialog ........................................................................................ 481
3.5. Contours of Velocity Magnitude .......................................................................................................... 482
3.6. Velocity Profiles at Cross-Sections ........................................................................................................ 484
3.7. Problem Description Inlet .................................................................................................................... 485

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3.8. Problem Description Exit ..................................................................................................................... 486

3.9. Contour Properties .............................................................................................................................. 501
3.10. Selecting Boundaries in the Surfaces Dialog ...................................................................................... 502
3.11. Contours of FLUIDFRACTION1 ........................................................................................................... 502
3.12. Thermoforming of a Blister, Sheet (blue) and Mold (red) ..................................................................... 504
3.13. Finite Element Mesh, Subdomains and Boundary Sets ........................................................................ 505
3.14. Thickness Contour Properties ............................................................................................................ 522
3.15. Selecting Boundaries in the Surfaces Dialog ...................................................................................... 523
3.16. Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS_1) ............................................................................................... 524
3.17. Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS_1): Timestep =1 ........................................................................... 525
3.18. Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS_1): Timestep =25 ......................................................................... 525
3.19. Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS_1): Timestep=50 .......................................................................... 526
3.20. Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS_2) ............................................................................................... 526
3.21. Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS_TOT) ........................................................................................... 527
3.22. Contours of Area Stretch (AREA_STRETCH) ......................................................................................... 528
3.23. Problem Description ......................................................................................................................... 529
3.24. Thickness Contour Properties ............................................................................................................ 548
3.25. Selecting Boundaries in the Surfaces Dialog ...................................................................................... 549
3.26. Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS) ................................................................................................... 549
3.27. Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS): Timestep =0 ............................................................................... 550
3.28. Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS): Timestep =208 ........................................................................... 551
3.29. Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS): Timestep=417 ............................................................................ 551
3.30. Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS): Timestep=625 ............................................................................ 552
3.31. Contours of Area Stretch (AREA_STRETCH) ......................................................................................... 553
3.32. Contours of Self-contact (SELF_CONTACT) ......................................................................................... 553
3.33. Problem Description ......................................................................................................................... 555
3.34. Contact Time Contour Properties ....................................................................................................... 570
3.35. Selecting Boundaries in the Surfaces Dialog ...................................................................................... 571
3.36. Contours of Contact Time (CONTACT_TIME_2) ................................................................................... 572
3.37. Contours of Contact Time (CONTACT_TIME_2): Timestep =1 ............................................................... 573
3.38. Contours of Contact Time (CONTACT_TIME_2): Timestep =42 ............................................................. 573
3.39. Contours of Contact Time (CONTACT_TIME_2): Timestep=84 .............................................................. 574
3.40. Contours of Contact Time (CONTACT_TIME_2): Timestep=126 ............................................................ 574
3.41. Contours of Initial Coordinate Y (COORDINI[Y]) .................................................................................. 575
3.42. Contours of Initial Coordinate X (COORDINI[X]) .................................................................................. 575
3.43. Problem Description ......................................................................................................................... 577
3.44. Boundaries ....................................................................................................................................... 578
3.45. Constant, Adaptive, and Fixed Walls ................................................................................................... 579
3.46. Extrudate Guide ................................................................................................................................ 579
3.47. Symmetries ....................................................................................................................................... 580
3.48. Contours of Normal Component of Velocity ....................................................................................... 588
3.49. Contours of Pressure ......................................................................................................................... 589
3.50. Contours of Temperature ................................................................................................................... 590
3.51. Contours of Temperature From +Y Direction ...................................................................................... 591
3.52. Contours of Temperature From +Z Direction ...................................................................................... 591
3.53. Contour Properties ............................................................................................................................ 592
3.54. Selecting Boundaries in the Surfaces Dialog ...................................................................................... 593
3.55. Die Lip Contours of Velocity Magnitude ............................................................................................. 593
3.56. Contours of Velocity Magnitude ........................................................................................................ 594
3.57. Contour Properties ............................................................................................................................ 595
3.58. Contours of Velocity-Z From +X Direction .......................................................................................... 596

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3.59. Contour Properties ............................................................................................................................ 596

3.60. Contours of Velocity-Z From +X Direction .......................................................................................... 597
3.61. Line Properties .................................................................................................................................. 597
3.62. XY Plot Properties ............................................................................................................................. 598
3.63. XY Plot .............................................................................................................................................. 599
3.64. Problem Description ......................................................................................................................... 600
3.65. Flow Domain Components ................................................................................................................ 600
3.66. Extruder Boundaries .......................................................................................................................... 602
3.67. Mesh of the Flow Domain .................................................................................................................. 603
3.68. Screw Mesh ...................................................................................................................................... 603
3.69. Temperature Contour Properties ....................................................................................................... 618
3.70. Selecting Boundaries in the Surfaces Dialog ...................................................................................... 619
3.71. Contours of Temperature ................................................................................................................... 619
3.72. Iso-Surface Properties ....................................................................................................................... 620
3.73. Iso-Clip x<0 Properties ...................................................................................................................... 621
3.74. Iso-Clip x>0 Properties ...................................................................................................................... 622
3.75. Temperature Contour Properties ....................................................................................................... 623
3.76. Contours of Temperature for Second Half of Flow Domain .................................................................. 624
3.77. Contours of Temperature for the First Half of the Extruder Wall ........................................................... 624
3.78. Screw Mesh Properties ...................................................................................................................... 625
3.79. Scene Properties ............................................................................................................................... 626
3.80. Contours of Temperature: Timestep = 1 .............................................................................................. 627
3.81. Contours of Temperature: Timestep = 20 ............................................................................................ 628
3.82. Contours of Temperature: Timestep= 40 ............................................................................................. 628
3.83. Contours of Temperature: Timestep = 60 ............................................................................................ 629
4.1. Non-symmetric Die Cross-section for a Tri-lobal Fiber ........................................................................... 632
4.2. Non-symmetric Tri-lobal Fiber Spinning: Calculation Domain and Boundaries ....................................... 633
4.3. Spinning of a Tri-lobal Viscoelastic Fiber - Velocity Distribution ............................................................. 637
4.4. Spinning of a Tri-lobal Viscoelastic Fiber - Distribution of the Axial Extra-stress Component .................. 638
4.5. Problem Description: The Open Mold (a) and the Initial Assembly (b) .................................................... 639
4.6. Problem Description - One Quarter Geometry ..................................................................................... 639
4.7. Progression of the Assembly Shape ..................................................................................................... 655
4.8. Cross Section of the Final Tire Assembly ............................................................................................... 655
4.9. Inspecting the Carcass and Belts .......................................................................................................... 656
4.10. Sub-domains for the 3D Non-conformal Mesh ................................................................................... 657
4.11. Boundaries for the 3D Non-conformal Mesh ...................................................................................... 658
4.12. Non-conformal Mesh on the Exit of the Predie and on the Entry of the Die ......................................... 659
4.13. Velocity Contours in the X=0 Plane ................................................................................................... 663
4.14. Temperature Contours in the X=0 Plane ............................................................................................. 664
4.15. Velocity Vectors in the X=0 Plane ....................................................................................................... 664
4.16. ROOT_PRESSURE Contours in the X=0 Plane ...................................................................................... 665
4.17. CONTACT_V Contours on the predieexit Boundary ............................................................................. 666
4.18. Velocity Contours on the predieexit Boundary ................................................................................... 667
4.19. Required Extrudate Profile ................................................................................................................ 669
4.20. Calculation Domain and Boundaries ................................................................................................. 670
4.21. Die Lip Shape Determination for the Foamed Material ....................................................................... 675
4.22. Die Lip Shape Determination for the Foamed Material (Velocity Distribution) ..................................... 675
4.23. Die Lip Shape Determination for the Foamed Material (Bubble Radius Distribution) ............................ 676
4.24. Die Lip Shape Determination for the Foamed Material (Density Distribution) ...................................... 677
4.25. Geometry of the Test Sample ............................................................................................................ 678
4.26. Fluid Fraction Contour (for Time = 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, and 7.0 seconds) ............................. 682

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4.27. Fluid Fraction Contour (for Time = 8.0, 9.0, 10.0, 11.0, 12.0, 13.0, 14.0, 15.0, and 15.84 seconds) .............. 682
4.28. Zones ............................................................................................................................................... 684
4.29. Boundaries ....................................................................................................................................... 685
4.30. Displacement Contours on the Die Surface ....................................................................................... 691
4.31. Displacement Vectors on the Die Channel Wall .................................................................................. 692
4.32. Die Lip .............................................................................................................................................. 692
4.33. Pressure Contours on the Fluid Domain ............................................................................................. 693
4.34. Free Surface ...................................................................................................................................... 694
4.35. Extrudate Exit ................................................................................................................................... 694
4.36. Example of a Internal Flow ................................................................................................................ 695
4.37. Temperature Field on the Wall of the Flow Channel With One Inlet and Four Outlets ........................... 701
4.38. Temperature Field at all Four Outlets of the Flow Channel .................................................................. 701
4.39. Example of a Multi-layer Film Casting ................................................................................................ 703
4.40. Film Casting: Finite Element Mesh ..................................................................................................... 704
4.41. Contours of Velocities ........................................................................................................................ 713
4.42. Contours of Temperature ................................................................................................................... 714
4.43. Contours of Thickness (1) ................................................................................................................... 715
4.44. Contours of Thickness (2) ................................................................................................................... 716
4.45. Contours of Extra Stresses (Layer 1) .................................................................................................... 717
4.46. Contours of Extra Stresses (Layer 2) .................................................................................................... 718
4.47. 3D Non-isothermal Extrusion of a Rubber Profile Reinforced With a Metal Insert. Left: Calculation Domain
With Die Region (Blue), Extrudate (Light Blue), Metal Insert (Grey) .............................................................. 719
4.48. Finite Element Discretization ............................................................................................................. 720
4.49. Velocity Magnitude on Outer Boundaries (Left) and on Some Cutting Planes and on the Metal Insert
(Right) ...................................................................................................................................................... 727
4.50. Contours of Local Shear-Rate on Outer Boundaries (Left) and on Some Cutting Planes and on the Metal
Insert (Right) ............................................................................................................................................. 727
4.51. Contours of Viscosity on Outer Boundaries (Left) and on Some Cutting Planes and on the Metal Insert
(Right) ...................................................................................................................................................... 728
4.52. Contours of Temperature on Outer Boundaries (Left) and on Some Cutting Planes and on the Metal Insert
(Right) ...................................................................................................................................................... 728
4.53. Contours of Temperature in Planes Cutting the Metal Insert ............................................................... 729

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List of Tables
1.1. Simulation In-Flight Icing Conditions ................................................................................................... 225
4.1. Relative Outlet Flow Rates at all Four Outlets ....................................................................................... 702
4.2. Properties of Both Fluids: Material Parameters for the Multi-mode DCPP Model .................................... 703
4.3. Properties of Both Fluids: Parameters for Momentum and Energy Equation .......................................... 704

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Chapter 1: Fluent Icing Tutorials
The following sections of this chapter are:
1.1. In-Flight Icing Tutorial Using Fluent Icing
1.2. Droplet Impingement Using Fluent Icing
1.3. Ice Accretion Using Fluent Icing
1.4. Multishot Icing with Automatic Remeshing Tutorial
1.5. Anti-Icing CHT Using Fluent Icing Tutorial

1.1. In-Flight Icing Tutorial Using Fluent Icing

The following sections of this tutorial are:
1.1.1. Fluent Airflow on a Rough NACA0012 Airfoil
1.1.2. Droplet Impingement on the NACA0012
1.1.3. Fluent Icing Ice Accretion on the NACA0012
1.1.4. Postprocessing an Ice Accretion Solution Using CFD-Post Macros
1.1.5. Multi-Shot Ice Accretion with Automatic Remeshing
1.1.6. Multi-Shot Ice Accretion With Automatic Remeshing – Postprocessing Using CFD-Post
1.1.7. FENSAP Airflow on the Clean NACA0012 Airfoil
1.1.8. FENSAP Airflow Solution on the Rough NACA0012 Airfoil
1.1.9. Scheduling a Sequence of Runs With Fluent Icing

1.1.1. Fluent Airflow on a Rough NACA0012 Airfoil

This tutorial is divided into the following sections:
1.1.1.1. Introduction
1.1.1.2. Problem Description
1.1.1.3. Setup and Solution
1.1.1.4. Summary

1.1.1.1. Introduction
The objective of this tutorial is to obtain an airflow solution around a rough NACA0012 airfoil, using
Fluent Icing, that is suitable for icing calculations.

This tutorial demonstrates how to do the following:

• Setup a rough Fluent airflow on an airfoil.

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• Compute the solution.

• Examine the results.

1.1.1.2. Problem Description

The problem considers the rough flow of air around a NACA0012 airfoil. Since the flow is viscous
and turbulent, grid points have been clustered around the airfoil to better capture the boundary
layer and wake.

Figure 1.1: NACA0012 Structured C-Mesh Overview and Close-Up

1.1.1.3. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
1.1.1.3.1. Preparation
1.1.1.3.2. Setup
1.1.1.3.3. Solution
1.1.1.3.4. Post-processing

1.1.1.3.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this tutorial:

1. Download the fluent_icing.zip file here.

2. Unzip fluent_icing.zip to your working directory.

3. The file, naca0012.cas.h5, can be found in the folder.

4. Use the Fluent Launcher to start Ansys Fluent.

5. In the Fluent Launcher, set the Capability Level to Enterprise, then select Icing.

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 In-Flight Icing Tutorial Using Fluent Icing

6. Set Solver Processes between 2 and 4.

7. Click Start.

Alternatively, Fluent Icing can be opened using the icing (on Linux) or icing.bat (on
Windows) file inside the fluent/bin/ folder.

8. Uncheck Use Custom Solver Launch Settings, Show Solution Workspace on Launch,
and Enable Solution Workspace Graphics.

Project → Workspaces → Options

The graphical user interface (GUI) of Fluent Icing is very similar to Fluent, however there are some
differences such as:

• The ribbon is reduced to only the File, Project, Results tabs and therefore most actions for
setting up your simulation will be performed in the Outline View.

• Individual settings are defined in the Properties window which is accessed by left-clicking an
item in the Outline View.

Note:

Settings in the Properties window are saved as you define them, unlike dialog
boxes which require you to click an OK button.

• The console allows for Python scripting, and can read Python commands from a journal / script
file.

1.1.1.3.2. Setup
1. Create a new project file.

File → New Project...

2. Enter Fluent_Icing_NACA0012 as the Project file name within the Select File dialog.

3. Select and import the naca0012.cas.h5 input grid.

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Project → Simulation → Import Case

A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name of the New Simulation as
naca0012_icing, and check to enable Load in Solver. Click OK.

A dialog will open asking you to set the operating pressure to 0 Pa. Press Yes to accept this
change.

Note:

Absolute pressure is recommended in all icing simulations. Therefore, Fluent Icing

will automatically detect the imported case file, whose operating pressure is not
equal to zero, when importing the case file. See Airflow in the Fluent Workspaces
User's Guide for more details.

A new simulation folder will be created in the Project View, and the naca0012.cas.h5
file will be imported.

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Figure 1.2: Fluent Icing Workspace

4. After the .cas.h5 file has been successfully loaded, a new Outline View tree appears under
naca0012_icing (loaded).

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5. The mesh is now displayed in the Graphics window to the right.

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 In-Flight Icing Tutorial Using Fluent Icing

Figure 1.3: NACA0012 Mesh Display

6. Define the Simulation Type.

Setup

Enable Airflow and disable Particles, Ice and CHT under Simulation Type within the Setup
panel.

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7. Set the Airflow properties for the simulation.

Setup → Airflow

• In the General section:

– Retain the default selection of Fluent for Airflow Solver.

• In the Reference Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 0.5334 for Characteristic Length [m].

– 102.797 for Speed [m/s].

– 265.67 for Temperature [K].

– 101325 for Pressure [Pa].

• In the Direction section, retain the following settings:

– Angle of attack for Vector Mode.

– Y+ for Lift Direction.

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– X+ for Drag Direction.

– 4 for AoA [deg.].

– 0 for Yaw [deg.].

– 102.797 for Vector Magnitude [m/s].

8. Set the Fluent properties for the simulation.

Setup → Airflow → Fluent Set to Default Air Properties

A dialog will open. Click OK to accept the air properties computed from the current airflow
temperature.

Note:

This automatically sets the air properties, suggested for icing simulations, from the
current reference air temperature. The values of air properties have been computed
using the equations presented in Airflow.

For simplicity, thermal conductivity and viscosity equations are shown below.

where refers to the ambient air static temperature, and , and are
equal to 0.00216176 W/m/K3/2, 288 K and 17.9*10-6 Pa.s, respectively.

Airflow properties under the Materials section are now automatically updated with values
computed from the Reference Conditions under Setup → Airflow.

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• In the Solver section:

– Retain the default selection of Pressure-based for Type.

• In the Models section, retain the following settings:

– Enable Energy.

– K-Omega 2-eqn for Turbulence.

– SST for k-omega Model.

– Disabled for Transition Model.

– Enable both Viscous Heating and Turb. Production Limiter.

• In the Materials section, retain the following settings:

– Air for Fluid.

– Ideal gas for Density - Option.

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– Constant for Cp - Option.

– 1004.69 for Cp [J/kg-K].

– Constant for Thermal Conductivity - Option.

– 0.0234394 for Thermal Conductivity [W/m-K].

– Constant for Dynamic Viscosity - Option.

– 1.68018e-5 for Dynamic Viscosity [kg/m-s].

9. Open the Fluent Workspace.

Project → Workspaces → Solution

A dialog will open advising you that the Fluent Solution Workspace will appear in another
window. Press OK to proceed.

10. Define the Viscous Model.

Setup → Models → Viscous (SST k-omega)

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• In the Model Constants section, retain the following settings:

– 0.9 for Energy Prandtl Number.

– 0.9 for Wall Prandtl Number.

Press OK to close this window.

11. Define the Reference Values.

Setup → Reference Values

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• In the Reference Values section:

– Retain all default values.

12. Define the Report Definitions.

Solution → Report Definitions

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• In the Report Definitions section:

– Select report-drag and press Edit... (To create a new drag report, you can select New
→ Force Report → Drag…)

– Retain the default values of 0.99756405, 0.069756474, and 0 for X, Y, and Z for
Force Vector.

– Familiarize yourself with the selections in the Drag Report Definition dialog. Press
Cancel to close this window.

– De-select report-drag, select report-lift, and press Edit... (To create a new lift report,
you can select New → Force Report → Lift…)

– Retain the default values of -0.069756474, 0.99756405, and 0 for X, Y, and Z for
Force Vector.

– Familiarize yourself with the selections in the Lift Report Definition dialog. Press Cancel
to close this window.

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Press Close to close the Report Definitions dialog.

13. Modify the Absolute Criteria for convergence.

Solution → Monitors → Residual

• In the Equations section, retain the following settings:

– 1e-06 for all Absolute Criteria entries.

– Enable Monitor and Check Convergence for all Residual fields.

Note:

Since this 3D simulation provides a 2D solution, ensure to uncheck z-velocity

under Monitor and keep Check Convergence enabled.

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– Enable Show Advanced Options.

– Enable Scale and Compute Local Scale.

– Set Report Option to local scaling.

Press OK to close this window.

14. Maximize the Fluent Icing graphical user interface and close the Fluent Workspace.

Project → Workspaces → Solution

15. Set the Boundary Conditions for your simulation.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Inlets → pressure-far-field-4

• In the Airflow section:

– Press Import Ref. Conditions to import the reference conditions of the case file.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Walls → wall-5

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• In the Airflow section:

– Retain the default selection of Temperature for Thermal Conditions.

– 280.929 for Temperature [K].

– Select High roughness for Icing under the Wall Roughness drop-down list.

– Set Roughness Height [m] to 0.0005.

– Press on Temp. Adiabatic+10 to ensure a temperature value (adiabatic temperature +

10 degree) is imposed on the wall.

– Repeat the steps above for wall-6 and wall-7.

Note:

To perform a simulation of a clean airflow solution:

Set Roughness Height [m] to 0.

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16. Set the Solution properties of your simulation.

Solution → Airflow

• In the Time Integration section:

– Set Number of Iterations to 400.

– Select CFL under the Method drop-down list.

– Retain the default value of 50 for Courant Number.

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• In the Initialization section:

– Select Hybrid under the Method drop-down list.

• In the Post-processing Output section:

– Retain the default selection of Disabled for Write Post-processing Files.

17. Launch the simulation.

Solution → Airflow → Calculate

A New run window will appear. Set the Name of the new run to flow_rough.

18. Once the computation is complete, the Airflow solution file, will be written inside the new
run directory, naca0012_icing/flow_rough.

1.1.1.3.3. Solution
1. Take a look at the convergence history of this simulation in the Plots window located at the
right of your screen. By default, the Plots window shows all Residuals of the governing
equations at each iteration. It is possible to show the residual of a given governing equation
by selecting the governing equation next to Curve located at the top of the Plots window.
If other reports Reports have been defined in the original case file, they will appear as an
option next to Curve. In this tutorial, the input case file contained lift and drag coefficient
reports. Examine the convergence of these coefficients listed as report-lift and report-drag.
Lift and drag coefficients have converged to 4.0570e-01 and 1.9850e-02 respectively.

The following three figures show the convergence of residuals and lift and drag coefficients.

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Figure 1.4: Scaled Residuals

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Figure 1.5: Convergence of Lift and Drag Coefficients of the Clean Airfoil

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Figure 1.6: The Residual Values

1.1.1.3.4. Post-processing
Access the Quick-View options to better visualize the results of your simulation.

Results → Quick-View

1. Visualize the convective heat flux over the NACA0012 airfoil.

Results → Quick-View → Contour → Heat Flux (Walls)

Figure 1.7: Convective Heat Flux Over the Rough NACA0012 Airfoil

2. A new quick-view-1 node is created in the Outline View which allows you to modify your
heat flux properties.

Results → Contours → quick-view-1

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3. Modify your heat flux properties until you are satisfied with your view. Press Display to display
the solution in the Graphics window. Press on Save Image... to save your solution to an image
file.

1.1.1.4. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated how to obtain an airflow solution around a rough NACA0012 airfoil,
using Fluent Icing, that is suitable for icing calculations.

1.1.2. Droplet Impingement on the NACA0012

The objectives of this tutorial are to compute the droplet concentration around the NACA0012 airfoil
and to compare the collection efficiency of a monodispersed droplet simulation to a statistically-dis-
tributed droplet diameter solution. Completion of Fluent Airflow on a Rough NACA0012 Airfoil (p. 1)
is required before continuing.

In a monodispersed droplet calculation, a single droplet diameter represents the icing cloud that the
aircraft is flying in. In reality, icing clouds never contain only one size of droplets but a distribution
of droplet sizes. When running a single droplet diameter, the median volumetric diameter (MVD) of
the droplets in the cloud is chosen as the monodispersed value. If a more accurate droplet solution
is needed, then a distribution of droplet sizes can be solved for, where the MVD of this distribution
matches that of the cloud.

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You are invited to read Setting-up a Fluent Icing Simulation for more information on how to set up
the input parameters of droplets and/or crystals.

Note:

If you closed your Fluent Icing session since the completion of the last tutorial, you must
reopen your project and load your previous simulation and settings. To do this, open Fluent
Icing, select Project → Open..., and navigate to and select your FLU-
ENT_ICING_NACA0012.flprj project file. Once the project is opened, right-click the
naca0012_icing simulation folder, and select Load in Solver. The simulation will be
opened, and your window display will switch to the Outline View, with a simulation tree
appearing under naca0012_icing (loaded). To ensure that you are working from the most
recent settings, go back to the Project View, right-click the flow_rough run, and select
Load Settings. Particle simulation requires an airflow solution, therefore, to ensure that
the solution of flow_rough is properly loaded into Fluent Icing, in Project View, right-click
the out.dat.h5 file under flow_rough and select Load. Finally, go back to the Project
tab to continue with the tutorial.

1.1.2.1. Monodispersed Calculation

In this section, you will learn how to set-up and launch a monodispersed droplet simulation using
Fluent Icing.

1. Select Project in the top ribbon and go to the Outline View. Select Setup under naca0012_icing
(loaded). In its Properties window, make sure that Airflow and Particles are checked. Uncheck
Ice and CHT.

Note:

Setup, Solution and Results settings of the airflow around the NACA0012 have
already been setup in In-Flight Icing Tutorial Using Fluent Icing (p. 1). Therefore,
they do not need to be updated.

2. Under Setup → Particles, activate Droplets in Type. Leave the other options unchecked.

3. Go to Droplets, inside Setup → Particles. In the properties window of Droplets,

• Under Droplet Conditions, set the LWC [kg/m3] to 0.00055 and the Droplet Diameter
[microns] to 20.

• Under Particles Distribution, keep Monodispersed since you will conduct a water catch
simulation using a single droplet size.

• Under Model, keep Water as the Droplet Drag Model. This is the default drag law for droplet
particles.

4. Under Setup → Boundary Conditions, expand Inlets and go to pressure-far-field-4. In its

properties window, under Particles, ensure From Ref. Conditions is selected and Droplet Ve-
locity Vector remains unchecked. The From Ref. Conditions option will apply the Droplet
Conditions, located inside the Droplets window, at the inlet of the pressure-far-field-4, in this

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case, the LWC and the MVD. If Droplet Velocity Vector remains unchecked, the airflow velocity
is imposed as the droplet velocity at the inlet. The relative velocity between air and droplets is
considered to be zero at far-field.

Note:

When configuring particle flow simulations, boundary conditions are only specified
at inlets.

5. Under Solution → Particles, set 300 as the Number of Iterations under Run Settings. Keep
the default settings in Solver and Initialization.

Note:

Inside Initialization, From Airflow conditions uses the airflow direction specified
in Setup → Airflow as the initial velocity of droplets.

6. Right-click Particles under Solution and choose Calculate to launch the droplet particle simu-
lation in standalone mode. A new window will appear requesting a name for the new run. Name
the new run droplets_mvd.

The calculation stops when the convergence level reaches the convergence limits set on the
Residual cut-off and on the Change in total beta. Otherwise, the simulation continues until
it reaches 300 iterations. In the Plots window, you can look at Residuals, Droplets – Residual
– Average, Droplets – Residual – LWC, Droplets – Residual – Momentum, etc. curves and
the Droplets -Total Beta and Droplets - Change in Total Beta convergence curves.

Figure 1.8: Convergence of Residuals: Momentum, LWC and Average Residuals

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Figure 1.9: Convergence of Total Beta and Change in Total Beta Curves

Often the solution in the wake of the droplet flow is still converging while the impingement at
the surfaces is fully converged. If you wish to converge the wake and the shadow zones further,
the Residual cut-off of the Particles panel under Solution should be reduced and the Number
of Iterations should be increased. The droplet wake is usually not of interest and it is sufficient
to achieve convergence of the total beta alone.

7. When calculations are completed, you may use Quick-View to view the results. Go to the ribbon
bar of your Fluent Icing window and, under Results → Quick-View → Contour, choose Collection

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Efficiency (Walls) to output the water catch of the monodispersed droplets over the NACA0012.
See Figure 1.10: Collection Efficiency of Monodispersed Droplets over a NACA0012 (p. 27).

Figure 1.10: Collection Efficiency of Monodispersed Droplets over a NACA0012

8. Repeat these steps to output the LWC around the NACA0012. Blue contours define the shadow
zone where there is an absence of water droplets. See Figure 1.11: LWC of Monodispersed
Droplets Around a NACA0012 (p. 28).

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Figure 1.11: LWC of Monodispersed Droplets Around a NACA0012

9. Select Project from the ribbon menu. Notice that naca0012_icing (loaded) simulation now
contains the droplets_mvd run which contains the final Droplets solution. In addition to Quick-
View, you can also open the results in Viewmerical from the Project View. Right-click the
Droplets solution and select View Results With… → Viewmerical. A Viewmerical window will
appear allowing you to further post-process the droplet results.

Note:

The Droplets solution, shown in the Project View, is a link to a file on the disk. This
link points to the filename naca0012.droplet. To show the filenames as they
appear on the disk, you may right-click Name under Project View and select Show
filenames. Repeat these steps to disable Show filenames before continuing with
this tutorial.

10. Move on to the next tutorial, go back to the Project tab.

Caution:

Do not close Fluent Icing.

1.1.2.2. Langmuir-D Distribution

There are several cloud droplet size distributions that have been published in the literature. The
distributions published by Langmuir have been used by NACA to determine the MVDs currently

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listed in Appendix C, which is used for icing certification of aircraft. Advisory Circular No 20-37A
from FAA suggests using Langmuir-D distribution for MVDs up to 50 microns. For more details on
these distributions, you can consult the Advisory Circular, and also the book by Irving Langmuir,
The Collected Works of Irving Langmuir (New York, Pergamon Press, 1960).

The most important reason for considering an analysis using a distribution is that there are droplets
larger than the MVD in the distribution, which can impinge further back on the top and bottom of
the airfoil, creating a thin but rough layer of ice that can have adverse effects on aerodynamics and
control. In this case, solutions for each droplet size of a given distribution are calculated separately.
The final solution is then created as a composite of all solutions using weights on each droplet size.

In this tutorial, you will use the set-up created in Monodispersed Calculation (p. 24) as a starting
point.

1. Without closing the previous Fluent Icing session (Monodispersed Calculation (p. 24)), in the
Outline View panel, go to Setup → Particles → Droplets. In the Droplets window, under
Particles Distribution, set Droplet Distribution to Langmuir D.

Note:

The current version of Fluent Icing supports pre-defined droplet size distributions
(Langmuir B to E). User defined distributions are not yet supported. Below is a repres-
entation of a Langmuir D distribution and the droplet diameters that are used to
represent this distribution.

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In the figure above, the droplet diameters are on the horizontal axis, and the weights (the per-
centage of droplets of a given diameter contained in the cloud) are on the vertical axis. The
individual weights are shown with the blue curve, and the overall sum, cumulative weight, is
shown with the red curve. On the red curve, the data points are plotted at the mid-range of
their cumulative weight intervals. For example, the 20 microns droplet, which happens to be
the MVD, covers the cumulative weight range of 35% to 65% and it is therefore plotted at 50%
cumulative weight on the red curve.

A Particle droplet simulation is run for each droplet size shown in the above table.

2. Go to Solution → Particles. In its properties window, check Save Distribution Solutions under
Output.

This will allow you to save a droplet solution for each droplet size simulated. Otherwise, only
the combined solution of the distribution is saved. Keep all the other settings the same.

3. Right-click Particles under Solution, choose Calculate to run the calculation. A window will
appear asking if you would like to continue the current run. Choose No. A new run window will

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appear. Set the Name of the new run to droplets_langd. Individual runs will be executed
one after the other, and the results will be combined.

4. When calculations are completed, you may use Quick-View to view the results. Go to the ribbon
bar of your Fluent Icing window and, under Results → Quick-View → Contour, choose Collection
Efficiency (Walls) to output the water catch of the Langmuir D droplet distribution over the
NACA0012. See Figure 1.12: Collection Efficiency of Droplets with Langmuir-D Distribution over
a NACA0012 (p. 31).

Figure 1.12: Collection Efficiency of Droplets with Langmuir-D Distribution over a NACA0012

5. Repeat these steps to easily output the LWC around the NACA0012. Blue contours define the
shadow zone, absence of water droplets. See Figure 1.13: LWC of Droplets with Langmuir-D
Distribution Around a NACA0012 (p. 32).

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Figure 1.13: LWC of Droplets with Langmuir-D Distribution Around a NACA0012

6. Select Project from the ribbon menu. Notice that naca0012_icing (loaded) simulation now
contains the droplets_langd run. This run has a combined Droplets solution as well as each
individual Droplets solution located in numbered folders d-01 to d-07.

7. To link each numbered droplet solution to a droplet size of the Langmuir D distribution, in the
Project ribbon, select Project → View Options → Select Columns.... A Project window appears.
Click the + sign beside Metadata to expand the list of parameters associated to each run and
solution. Scroll-down and select Droplets::D-Diam and click OK. A D-Diam column appears
next to Name inside the Project panel. This column clearly identifies the droplet diameter used
to obtain each solution.

Note:

In addition to Quick-View, you may open the results in Viewmerical from the Project
View. To display the combined droplet solution in Viewmerical, right-click the Droplets
solution file and select View Results With… → Viewmerical. Alternatively, to display
an individual droplet solution file, right-click the d-0*/Droplets file of your choice
and select View Results With… → Viewmerical. A Viewmerical window will appear
allowing you to further post-process the droplet results.

8. Before you move on to the next tutorial, go back to the Project panel.

Caution:

Do not close Fluent Icing if you would like to proceed with the next section.

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1.1.2.3. Post-Processing Using Viewmerical

To complement the built-in post-processing, Ansys distributes Viewmerical and CFD-Post with the
installation package. In this tutorial, you will use Viewmerical to post-process your droplet results.
In the next tutorial, you will use CFD-Post to post-process your icing results.

Viewmerical is a light-weight graphical display tool specifically designed for in-flight icing solutions
and applications. Viewmerical can display solution field contours, velocity vectors, planar cuts
through the volumes, 2D graphs of variables, streamlines, etc. This tutorial will demonstrate some
basic features of Viewmerical while comparing the two droplet solutions obtained in the previous
sections.

1. In Project View, right-click the naca0012_icing → droplets_langd → Droplets solution and

choose View Results With... → Viewmerical. A message may appear asking if you would like
to append this solution to a previously opened Viewmerical display. Click New Instance.

2. The program will launch and show an isometric display of the entire grid showing the first
solution field, Droplet LWC, of the combined Langmuir D solution.

3. Rename this dataset by double-clicking the original name, data-naca0012.droplet. A Rename

dataset window appears, write LangD in the text box.

4. Go to the Data tab and then change the Color range to Spectrum 2 – 16.

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5. Align the view angle with the Z-symmetry plane by right-clicking the 3D axes on the lower left,
and by choosing Top (Z). Alternatively, you can left-click the Z axis itself.

6. Zoom in on the airfoil. You can use Ctrl + left-click to draw a zoom box, or scroll the mouse
wheel to zoom in and middle-click to pan.

7. Change the font of your legend to bold. Click on the top left corner of the window and
select Command window; then type BIGFONTS in the command line of the 3dview console
and hit Enter. The legend fonts now become bold.

8. Using the Camera icon on the upper left corner, you can take a snapshot of the solution window
to capture the following image.

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Figure 1.14: LWC of a Langmuir D Droplet Cloud over a NACA0012 at an AoA of 4 Degrees,
Showing the Shadow Zone (Blue Region)

Examine the LWC distribution in the area close to the airfoil. The blue region is called the
shadow zone, where no droplets exist. In between the shadow zone and the free stream, there
are bands of high LWC concentrations which are the enrichment zones forming due to the
constriction of stream tubes in the continuum domain. These features can be of special interest
for downstream aircraft components.

9. Go to the Data tab and choose Collection efficiency-Droplet. Collection efficiency is only dis-
played on the walls of your geometry. Go to the Objects tab and uncheck BC_1004 and BC_4300
to display the collection efficiency distribution only on the walls (BC_2005, BC_2006, BC_2007,
and BC_2008).

Use the left mouse button to rotate, the middle mouse button to pan, and the right-mouse
button to zoom in the airfoil surface to obtain the following figure.

Figure 1.15: Collection Efficiency of a Langmuir D Droplet Cloud on the Surface of the
Airfoil at an AoA of 4 Degrees

10. For a more in-depth quantitative view, it would be possible to create 2D data plots using
Viewmerical. Click the Query tab and enable 2D Plot.

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Change the Cutting plane to Z and the horizontal axis to Y.

On the lower right corner of Viewmerical, you can directly modify data sets and solution fields.
Leave them as they are now.

11. The color and thickness of the data curve displayed in the graph can be changed by left-clicking
the cube menu located on the top right and by choosing Curve Settings. Set the curve color
to red and the curve widths to 2 and press OK.

Finally, the following 2D plot is generated.

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Figure 1.16: Collection Efficiency of a Langmuir D Droplet Cloud on the Surface of the
Airfoil at an AoA of 4 Degrees

The maximum beta occurs at the stagnation point, just below the leading edge in this case.
The points on the upper and lower surfaces where beta becomes zero are the impingement
limits. In rime icing cases, all the water that impinges is frozen instantly, therefore icing limits
are the same as the impingement limits. In glaze icing, water can runback and freeze past the
impingement limits. Maximum beta is usually no more than 1.0, and reduces as the droplet flow
becomes tangent to the surface.

12. To save data points of this collection efficiency distribution, go to the cube menu on the top
right and choose Save one file. A new window pops up to browse and name the file that should
contain these data points.

13. You can also open and compare several solution files using Viewmerical. Let’s display simultan-
eously all 7 droplet size solutions obtained in Langmuir-D Distribution (p. 28).

14. Go to Project View. Under the run droplets_langd, right-click its d-01/Droplets file and select
View Results with... → Viewmerical.

15. A message appears asking if you would like to append this solution to a previously opened
Viewmerical display. Click Append.

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16. Inside Viewmerical, rename this new object by double-clicking its original name in the Object
window and enter LangD-01-44.4um in the window Rename dataset, where 01 indicates
the droplet solution number and 44.4um is the droplet diameter of the droplet solution.

Note:

The droplet diameter of each droplet solution is shown in D-Diam column of

the Project panel of the naca0012_icing (loading) simulation. See step 6 of
Langmuir-D Distribution (p. 28).

17. Repeat steps 14 to 16 to load the remaining droplet solutions from d-02/Droplets to d-
07/Droplets.

Note:

Alternatively, it is possible to bring each droplet solution by going to the run

droplets_langd folder and by uploading each one of them from Viewmerical.
To do this in Viewmerical, perform the following steps:

• Click the button located at the right corner of the Object panel. A window
appears to load a pair of files, a grid file and its solution file.

• Click the folder icon of Grid file and select the naca0012.grid file
located inside your project and simulation directory FLU-
ENT_ICING_NACA0012/naca0012_icing/.

• Click the folder icon of Solution file (optional) and select the
naca0012.droplet.01 file located inside your project, simulation and run

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directories /FLU-
ENT_ICING_NACA0012/naca0012_icing/droplets_langd.

• Press the Load button. A new data set is added to the Object panel. Rename
this dataset by double-clicking its original name and enter LangD-01-44.4um
in the window Rename dataset, where 01 indicates the droplet solution
number and 44.4um is the droplet diameter of the droplet solution.

• Repeat these steps for the remaining droplet solutions from

naca0012.droplet.02 to naca0012.droplet.07.

18. In Viewmerical, go to the Objects panel, uncheck LangD.

19. Go to the Data panel and click Shared located under Color range. Switch the Data field to
Collection efficiency- Droplet.

20. Go to the Query tab, enable 2D plot, and switch the Cutting plane to Z. The graph should
display 8 individual beta distributions. Click LangD, to disable the LangD curve from the 2D
plot. You can change the color and thickness of the data curve displayed in the graph via the
cube menu on the top right and by choosing Curve Settings. You can also draw a zoom box
by Shift + left-click.

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Figure 1.17: Collection Efficiency on the Surface of the Airfoil at an AoA of 4 Degrees,
Langmuir D Droplet Solutions

The curve with the lowest beta corresponds to the smallest droplet size (LangD-07-6.2 µm),
and the one with the largest beta corresponds to the largest droplet size (LangD-01-44.4.µm).
Smallest droplets are less ballistic, tend to follow the air flow and avoid the aircraft therefore
reducing their collection efficiency and impingement limits. Larger droplets are more ballistic
and they do not tend to follow the airflow. Therefore, their collection efficiency and impingement
are usually higher than the smallest droplets. In general, this information is crucial to properly
design the IPS power requirements and coverage.

Note:

The difference between beta curves of different droplet sizes become more pro-
nounced as the aircraft surface size increases. The effect can be dramatic on large
blunt surfaces like fuselage noses or radomes where the contribution from the
smaller size droplets can be negligible if compared to the largest ones. As a result,
the composite or combined solution of a Langmuir simulation can be very different
from the solution of the MVD.

21. To compare the LangD result to that of the monodispersed (MVD), go to the Objects panel,
check LangD and uncheck all the other LangD-* objects.

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22. Go to Project View. Under the run droplets_mvd, right-click its Droplets file and select View
Results with... → Viewmerical.

23. A message appears asking if you would like to append this solution to a previously opened
Viewmerical display. Click Yes.

24. Inside Viewmerical, rename this new object by double-clicking its original name in the Object
window and enter MVD in the window Rename dataset.

25. Go to the Query tab, enable 2D plot, and switch the Cutting plane to Z. The graph should
display 9 individual beta distributions. click LangD-01-44.4um to LangD-07-6.2um to disable
these curves from the 2D plot. Change the color of the MVD to red and of the LangD to blue
via the cube menu on the top right and by choosing Curve Settings. Set their width to 2. You
can also draw a zoom box by Shift + left-click.

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Figure 1.18: Collection Efficiency on the Surface, Langmuir D vs. Monodisperse

The LangD solution is fairly close to that of the MVD. The impingement limits of the Langmuir
D solution will always be further back due to the inclusion of larger droplets in the distribution.
The maximum beta of the composite is lower than the MVD here. This is not always the case.
Based on the size and shape of the impingement surface, the Langmuir D solution can have a
maximum beta that is several times higher than the MVD. In this case, however, the results of
the MVD and the distribution are close.

26. You will now compare the LWC of the largest and smallest droplet of a Langmuir D distribution.
Go to the Objects panel, uncheck LangD and MVD objects and check LangD-01-44.4um (largest
droplets) and LangD-07-6.2um (smallest droplets).

27. On the lower right corner of Viewmerical, change Collection efficiency-Droplet to Droplet
LWC (kg/m^3).

28. Select LangD-01-44.4um in the Objects panel and choose Horizontal-Left under Split screen
menu.

29. Go to the Data tab and change the color range to Spectrum 2 –16.

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30. Align the view angle with the Z-symmetry plane and zoom in to capture the following image:

Figure 1.19: LWC Distribution and Shadow Zones for 44.4 Micron Droplets (Left) and 6.2
Micron Droplets (Right)

Observe the difference in the shadow zones. The smallest droplets follow the airfoil very closely
but avoiding it while the largest droplets barely change their path and hit almost straight on,
leaving a larger shadow zone.

1.1.3. Fluent Icing Ice Accretion on the NACA0012

The objective of this tutorial is to compute ice accretion and water runback on the NACA0012 airfoil
at different icing temperatures. Icing temperature refers to the free stream air temperature at which
the icing is to be computed. Inside Ice, this temperature can be different than what was used for the
airflow free stream temperature. Indeed, the formulation of the heat fluxes in Ice allows you to use
an air solution obtained at a temperature different than the intended icing temperature. In this
manner, several icing temperatures can be investigated using the same airflow solution.

Note:

The option to change icing air temperature in icing parameters is provided as a quick
method to obtain different ice shapes with different ambient temperatures. It should be
understood that this method is not identical in terms of accuracy to running air and droplet
flows independently for each of those temperatures. Change in ambient air temperature
would result in a proportional change in air density which would change the momentum
transfer between air and particles. This would ultimately affect particle flow paths and
collection efficiency. For internal flows, where particle thermal equation and/or vapor
transport is enabled, icing air temperature should be kept the same as the reference air
temperature.

You are invited to read Ice and Walls within the Fluent User's Guide for more information on how to
set up the input parameters of the Ice module.

This tutorial will begin as a continuation of Monodispersed Calculation (p. 24), so the monodispersed
droplet solution and settings must be loaded.

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1. Select Project from the top ribbon menu. To load the settings from the monodispersed run, right-
click the droplets_mvd folder and select Load Settings. To load the monodispersed solution,
from the left side panel, right-click the droplets_mvd → Droplets solution file and select Load.

Note:

If you closed your Fluent Icing session since the completion of the last tutorial, you
must reopen your project and load your previous simulation and settings. To do this,
open Fluent Icing, select Project → Open..., and navigate to and select your FLU-
ENT_ICING_NACA0012.flprj project file. Once the project is opened, right-click
the naca0012_icing simulation folder, and select Load in Solver. The simulation will
be opened, and your window display will switch to the Outline View, with a simulation
tree appearing under naca0012_icing (loaded). Once this is done, continue with step
1.

2. Under Outline View, select Setup under naca0012_icing (loaded). In its Setup window, make
sure that Airflow, Particles and Ice are checked.

3. Under Setup → Ice,

• In Ice Accretion Conditions,

– Check Specify Icing Air Temperature to simulate an icing temperature that is different than
the reference/far-field air temperature.

– Set the Icing Air Temperature [K] to 248.15 K (-25 °C).

• In Model,

– Make sure that Icing Model is set to Glaze.

• Leave the other settings as default.

4. In general, there is nothing to set in the Boundary Conditions of Ice unless icing is to be turned
off on certain surfaces to reduce computational effort or sink boundaries are to be declared. Ex-
amine the options available for each wall without making any changes.

5. Go to Solution and change Log Verbosity to Complete to output extra execution and post-
processed data in the Console window.

6. Go to the Solution → Ice,

• Under Time, keep the Total Time of Ice Accretion [s] at 420 seconds and the Automatic Time
Step option checked. The Ice feature in Fluent Icing is an explicit time-accurate code where
the stability of the solution strongly depends on the value of the time step. The automatic time
stepping option calculates the optimal stable time step at every iteration, which can change
greatly depending on the size of the geometry and the mesh density.

7. Right-click Ice under Solution and choose Calculate to run the calculation. A window will appear.
Name the new run ice_mvd_m25C.

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8. After the simulation is complete, an Ice solution will be saved in the ice_mvd_m25C run folder.

Note:

The Ice solution, shown in the Project View, inside the ice_mvd_m25c run, is a link
to a file on the disk. This link points to the filename naca0012.swimsol. To show
the filenames as they appear on disk, you may right-click Name under Project View
and select Show Filenames. Repeat these steps to disable Show Filenames before
continuing with this tutorial.

Look through the Console window of naca0012_icing. The accumulated time, value of the time
step, total impingement, film, and mass of ice are printed at selected iterations. Heat flux and ice
mass per wall boundary condition are listed in the following two tables. Finally, energy and mass
conservation tables are printed. Most of the items in these tables are self-explanatory except
perhaps mass of clipped film and runback flux. Clipped film refers to any film that is removed by
sink boundaries and on certain nodes which collect and shed water (trailing edges, wing and
blade tips, etc.) that are detected automatically. Runback flux is the sum of all edge fluxes in the
domain which will be equal to the film removed by sink boundaries, or close to zero (mass con-
servation).

Figure 1.20: Mass Conservation Table Printed in the Log File of Fluent Icing

9. Cycle through the Plots window. By changing the Curve type, you will observe the progress of
the total mass of ice, the change in instantaneous ice growth, water film thickness, and ice surface
temperature with time. Since the input flow and droplet solutions are steady-state solutions, the
icing solutions will eventually reach a steady-state where instantaneous ice growth, water film
thickness, and ice surface temperature do not change after a while.

10. Go to the Ribbon menu and select Results. In Quick-View, click Ice Cover → Ice Cover - View-
merical to see the ice shape and the original surface in Viewmerical. If a window appears asking
if you would like to append to a previously opened Viewmerical display, choose New instance.

Alternatively, the ice cover solution can be loaded by going to the Project View, right-clicking
Ice located in the ice_mvd_m25C run and selecting View Results With… → Viewmerical. A
window will appear, select Ice Cover as the view type. If a window appears asking if you would
like to append to a previously opened Viewmerical display, choose New Instance.

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You can change the Metallic + Smooth option to other choices in the Object box to see the
wireframe profiles and the surface meshes. In the Data panel, you can adjust the Ice thickness
threshold based on ice growth to reduce display interlacing due to the overlapping of iced and
clean surfaces.

Figure 1.21: Ice View in Viewmerical Showing Shaded + Wireframe, -25 °C

At -25 °C (248.15 K), the result is a pure rime ice shape.

11. Do not close the Fluent Icing session. You will now run two more calculations at warmer temper-
atures.

12. In the Outline View panel, select Setup → Ice and, in Ice Accretion Conditions, check Specify
Icing Air Temperature and set the Icing Air Temperature [K] value to 263.15 K (-10 °C).

13. Right-click Ice under Solution and click Calculate to run the calculation. A window will appear.
Name the new run ice_mvd_m10C.

14. Repeat steps 12 to 13 with an Icing Air Temperature [K] value of 265.67 K (-7.48 °C). The same
as the airflow Temperature [K] in Setup → Airflow → Conditions. Name this run
ice_mvd_m7p5C.

Note:

This -7.48 °C run is conducted at the same temperature as the airflow simulation. This
is the standard usage of Fluent Icing, and most icing simulations will be run in this
manner.

Since the icing air temperature is equivalent to the airflow simulation temperature, you
can alternatively uncheck Icing Air Temperature [K] to disable it and Fluent Icing will
use the airflow simulation temperature by default.

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15. Now that there are three different ice shapes computed, you will analyze them using Quick-View.
Go to the Ribbon menu and select Results. In Quick-View, click Ice Cover → Ice Cover – View-
merical. This opens the ice solution calculated in the previous simulation.

Figure 1.22: Ice View in Viewmerical Showing Metallic + Smooth, -7.5 °C

16. Rename this object by double-clicking its original name in the Object window and enter Ice -
7.5C in the window Rename dataset.

17. To load the -10 °C and -25 °C solutions, go to Project View. Under the ice_mvd_m10C run, right-
click Ice file and select View Results With... → Viewmerical.

18. A message appears asking if you would like to append this solution to a previously opened
Viewmerical display. Click Append.

19. A second message appears asking you to select the view type. In this case, select Ice cover as
you are going to compare the ice shapes produced by our simulations.

20. Inside Viewmerical, rename this new object by double-clicking its original name in the Object
window and enter Ice - 10C in the window Rename dataset.

21. Repeat steps 17 to 20 for the remaining ice shape, ice_mvd_m25C.

22. Click the Lock button at the bottom right of the data set list window located in the Objects
panel to enable all the grids in the 2D plot.

23. Go to the Query panel and enable the 2D plot. Change the Cutting plane to Z and Mode to
Geometry. At the bottom left of the 2D Plot window, set the horizontal axis to X. Change the

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color and thickness of the curves by right-clicking the cube menu on the top right and then by
choosing the Curve Settings menu.

Note:

In this case, since all simulations were executed using a single ice accretion quasi-steady
shot, each *-map curve represents the geometry of the NACA0012.

Figure 1.23: Ice Shapes at -25, -10, and -7.5 C

At -25 °C (248.15 K), the cooling effects are large, and all droplets freeze almost instantly producing
a rime ice shape. This shape generally resembles the original airfoil profile and can be considered
somewhat aerodynamic. As the icing temperature increases, more water can run back away from
the stagnation zone and freeze where cooling effects become more predominant. This mechanism
initiates the growth of ice horns on the upper and lower sides of the airfoil. These geometric
features are common in glaze icing conditions and induce flow separation. Therefore they dramat-
ically change the aerodynamic performance of the airfoil.

To properly capture the shape of the ice horns, a multishot computation is recommended where
the grid, air and droplet solutions are updated at certain time intervals.

24. Finally, you will compare the film height of the three solutions. To do this, uncheck all Ice* objects
located in the Objects panel of Viewmerical.

25. Go back to the Project View. Under the run ice_mvd_m7p5C, right-click its Ice file and select
View Results With... → Viewmerical.

26. A message appears asking if you would like to append this solution to a previously opened
Viewmerical display. Click New Instance. A new Viewmerical window will be used to compare the
solution values.

27. A second message appears asking you to select the view type. In this case, select Ice solution as
you are going to compare the solution fields of our ice simulations.

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28. Inside Viewmerical, rename this new object by double-clicking its original name in the Object
window and enter -7.5C in the window Rename dataset.

29. Repeat steps 25 to 28 for the remaining run folders, ice_mvd_m10C and ice_mvd_m25C. However,
this time select Yes to append these solutions to the previous solution.

30. In the Data panel, inside Files, choose Film Thickness as the Data field. Click Shared inside
Color range.

31. Go to the Query panel and activate the 2D plot. Set the Mode to Data and Cutting plane to Z.
Set the horizontal axis to Y. The three curves showing the film height for the 3 different temper-
atures should be visible. Change the curve colors and thickness using the Curve Settings in the
cube menu located at the top right.

Figure 1.24: Film Height Variation Over the Ice at -25, -10, and -7.5 C

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The film height and extent grow with increasing icing temperatures. At -25 °C, almost all droplets
freeze upon impact and there is no water runback on the surface. This temperature produces a
rime ice shape. In the contrary, the amount of film and water runback of the other two cases
clearly produce ice horns and form glaze ice shapes.

Caution:

Do not close Fluent Icing if you would like to proceed to the next section.

1.1.4. Postprocessing an Ice Accretion Solution Using CFD-Post Macros

In this tutorial, you will learn how to quickly post-process one-shot Ice results (ice shape and ice
solution fields) using two dedicated CFD-Post macros: Ice Cover – 3D-View and Ice Cover – 2D-Plot.
For this purpose, the icing solution of your icing simulation at -7.5 °C of Fluent Icing Ice Accretion on
the NACA0012 (p. 43) is used and, therefore, completion of Fluent Icing Ice Accretion on the
NACA0012 (p. 43) is required.

For more information regarding these macros, consult CFD-Post Macros within the FENSAP-ICE User
Manual.

Note:

CFD-Post only supports .h5 format files when beta features are enabled. Therefore, in
order to ensure full compatibility with CFD-Post, first load CFD-Post, go to Edit → Options....
Inside the Options window, go to CFD-Post → General → Beta Options and check Enable
Beta Features.

1. Inside your Fluent Icing window, go to the Ribbon menu and select Results. In Quick-View, click
Ice Cover → Ice Cover – CFD-Post.

2. After opening CFD-Post, a Domain Selector window will request confirmation to load the following
domains: ice swimsol, map grid, and map swimsol. Click OK to proceed.

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3. Go to the Calculators tab and double-click Macro Calculator. The Macro Calculator’s interface
panel will be activated and displayed.

Note:

The Macro Calculator can also be accessed by selecting Tools → Macro Calculator
from CFD-Post’s main menu.

4. Select the Ice Cover – 3D-View macro script from the Macro drop-down list. This will bring up
the user interface which contains all input parameters required to view ICE3D output solutions in
the CFD-Post 3D Viewer.

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5. The default settings inside the Macro Calculator panel will allow you to automatically output the
ice shape of a one-shot icing simulation by pressing Calculate. Figure 1.25: Ice View with CFD-
Post, Ice Cover (p. 52) shows the output of the default settings of the macro.

Figure 1.25: Ice View with CFD-Post, Ice Cover

Note:

To change the style of the ice shape display, go to the Display Mode and select one
of following options: Ice Cover, Ice Cover – shaded, Ice Cover – No Orig, Ice Cover
(only) or Ice Cover (only) - shaded. To output the surface mesh of the ice shape, go
to the Display Mesh and select Yes. Figure 1.26: Ice View in CFD-Post, Ice Cover with
Display Mesh (p. 53) shows the output of activating Ice Cover under Display Mode
by selecting Yes under Display Mesh and pressing Calculate at the bottom of the
Macro Calculator.

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Figure 1.26: Ice View in CFD-Post, Ice Cover with Display Mesh

6. To display the solution fields of your icing simulation, you can either select Ice Solution – Overlay,
Ice Solution or Surface Solution under Display Mode. In this case, you will output the ice accretion
rate over the ice layer. To do this, select Ice Solution – Overlay in Display Mode, Instant. Ice
Growth (kg s^-1 m^-2) in Display Variable and No in Display Mesh to turn off the displaying
surface mesh.

7. Click Calculate to view the instantaneous ice growth over the ice shape. Figure 1.27: Ice View in
CFD-Post, Instantaneous Ice Growth over Ice Cover Surface (p. 54) shows the output of the macro.

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Figure 1.27: Ice View in CFD-Post, Instantaneous Ice Growth over Ice Cover Surface

Note:

You are invited to modify the input parameter of Display Variable to view different
fields of the ICE3D solution.

8. You will now explore some quick post-processing capabilities of the Ice Cover – 2D-Plot macro.
In the Macro drop-down list of the Macro Calculator panel, change the macro to Ice Cover –
2D-Plot.

Note:

This switches the macro from Ice Cover – 3D-View to Ice Cover – 2D-Plot. Switch
back to Ice Cover – 3D-View in the same way if needed.

9. Change Plot’s Title from default, ICE SHAPE PLOT, to Ice Shape at -7.5 C, since you are
creating a 2D-plot of the ice shape.

10. Inside 2D-Plot (with),

• Set Mode to Geometry to output an ice shape. The other options output the ice solution fields.

• Set Cutting Plane By to Z Plane. Specify a Z=0 plane by setting X/Y/Z Plane to 0.

• Set the X-Axis to X and the Y-Axis to Y.

11. To center the 2D-Plot around the leading edge of the NACA0012, in 2D-Plot (with),

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• Change the (x)Range of the X-Axis from Global to User Specified. Specify values of 0.075
and -0.01 in the input boxes of (Usr.Specif.x)Max and (Usr.Specif.x)Min, respectively.

• Change the (y)Range of the Y-Axis from Global to User Specified. Specify values of 0.03 and
-0.03 in the input boxes of (Usr.Specif.y)Max and (Usr.Specif.y)Min, respectively.

12. Leave the other default settings unchanged and click Calculate to create a 2D-Plot of the ice
shape in ChartViewer. Adjust the output window’s size. Figure 1.28: 2D-Plot in CFD-Post, Clean
Wall Surface and Ice Cover Surface (p. 55) shows the output of the macro.

Figure 1.28: 2D-Plot in CFD-Post, Clean Wall Surface and Ice Cover Surface

13. To create a 2D-plot of an ice solution field, first change the name of the plot. In this case, enter
Ice Thickness at -7.5 C in the Plot’s Title field since you will create a water film 2D plot
along the thickness of the airfoil.

14. Inside 2D-Plot (with),

• Set Mode to Solution (on Map Surfaces) to output the water film over the NACA0012. Selecting
Solution (on Ice Surfaces) will output the ice field over the ice shape.

• Set Cutting Plane By to Z Plane. Specify a Z=0 plane by setting X/Y/Z Plane to 0.

• Set the X-Axis to Y.

• Set the Y-Axis to Ice Thickness (m).

15. To center the 2D-Plot around a meaningful scale to clearly see the water film distribution, in 2D-
Plot (with),

• Make sure that (x)Range of the X-Axis is set to User Specified. Enter values of 0.02 and
-0.04 for (Usr.Specif.x)Max and (Usr.Specif.x)Min, respectively.

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• Set (y)Range of the Y-Axis to Global. The macro will use the max./min. values of the water
film thickness to define the range of the Y-Axis.

16. Leave the other default settings unchanged and click Calculate to update the 2D plot in
ChartViewer. Figure 1.29: 2D-Plot in CFD-Post, Ice Thickness Distribution (p. 56) shows the output
of the macro.

Note:

You are invited to modify the input parameter of 2D-Plot (with) → Y-Axis to view
different fields of the ICE3D solution.

Figure 1.29: 2D-Plot in CFD-Post, Ice Thickness Distribution

1.1.5. Multi-Shot Ice Accretion with Automatic Remeshing

As ice grows, the geometric profile of the contaminated airfoil changes which modifies the flow of
air and water droplets around it. The quasi-steady multishot approach allows simulation of realistic
and accurate ice shapes. In this approach, the total time of ice accretion is divided into smaller steady-
state intervals (shots), where the mesh used to calculate the airflow, the droplet impingement, and
the ice accretion is updated at the end of each shot to account for the ice shape. In this tutorial, you
will use automatic remeshing with Fluent Meshing to rebuild a computational domain around the
ice shape generated at each shot.

Note:

Two approaches are supported in Fluent Icing to represent the computational domain at
each shot: the automatic mesh displacement approach and the automatic remeshing with
Fluent Meshing method.

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The automatic mesh displacement uses the initial surface mesh to represent the ice shape.
Surface nodes are moved inside the computational domain to represent the ice that forms
at each shot. This process keeps the number of nodes and cells constant. As the ice shape
grows, the total area covered by the boundary wall mesh increases which changes the size
and the aspect ratio of the cells near the ice. This may result in a less than optimal grid
spacing if the initial mesh is not fine enough. For complex ice shapes, manual remeshing
maybe required in order to continue the multishot process when using automatic mesh
displacement.

Alternatively, it is possible to use automatic remeshing with Fluent Meshing when simulating multi-
shot icing. Remeshing refines and reorganizes the mesh topology on and around the ice. This leads
to more stable and accurate air and droplet solutions for the next shot. Negative volume elements
that often form with large mesh deformations are avoided with remeshing. For more information
regarding automatic remeshing, consult Ice.

1. This tutorial is a continuation of the previous tutorial. The last run that was computed was the
ice_mvd_m7p5C run. The current settings setup in the simulation panel will be consistent with
the settings from that run. However, to be certain that you begin from those conditions, you may
right-click the ice_mvd_m7p5C run in the Project View panel and select Load settings.

2. In the Outline View, go to Setup → Ice. In its Properties window, check Beading under Model.
Beading is the roughness model of the Ice component. At the end of each shot, Beading will
produce a roughness distribution that is used by the airflow solver (Fluent or FENSAP) during the
next shot. This approach removes any arbitrary specification of roughness value. The first shot
always needs some initial roughness, 0.5 mm in In-Flight Icing Tutorial Using Fluent Icing (p. 1),
since Ice is not run a priori. However, the remaining shots will use the distribution obtained from
the beading model.

Note:

Alternatively, the initial shots could be conducted over small time intervals where the
surface roughness can be allowed to grow from 0 to a reasonable level, removing the
need to specify an initial roughness value. For internal flows, you should start with a
zero initial roughness instead. Roughness should be allowed to build progressively using
shorter icing shots.

3. Click Solution and, in its Properties window, under Multi-shot:

• Set Number of Shots to 3.

• Check Save Files at Each Shot to examine the steady-state solutions at the end of each shot.

At the start of each shot, the airflow can be initialized using the parameters defined in the case
file (Reinitialize) or the interpolated airflow solution from the previous shot (Continue). This
can be defined inside the Airflow Restart option. In the current simulation, leave it to Reinitial-
ize, which is the default option.

4. Under Solution → Ice,

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• In Time, change the Total Time of Ice Accretion [s] from 420 to 140 which corresponds to
1/3rd of the total time.

• Click Set-up Remeshing, located at the bottom of the Ice panel. This automatically sets Fluent
Meshing as the remeshing solver, and adds extra options, under Remeshing, to control the
type of mesh refinement at each shot.

• Below Remeshing, several options are available to control the surface mesh refinement as well
as hexas (boundary layer cells) and prisms that will compose the computational domain at each
shot. Enter the following settings as shown in the image below.

By selecting 2.5D under Dimension, you are indicating to Fluent Meshing to generate a 2.5D
mesh by extruding a surface mesh from one symmetry plane to the other. Therefore, there are
some requirements that the initial case file that is imported into Fluent Icing must have:

– Symmetry planes that represent the span of the airfoil must be Z planes. One of the two
symmetry planes must be located at Z=0 and the other should be placed at a Z+ location.

– Both symmetry planes must share the same zone name and type.

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– The material point must be located near the trailing edge and at half-span.

Below are some useful recommendations to consider based on the type of trailing edge that
your 2.5D airfoil has:

– Sharp trailing edge

Split the pressure and suction sides into two separated zone BCs. The trailing edge will be a
geometric edge that separates these two BCs.

– Blunt trailing edge

Put the blunt trailing edge surface in a separate zone BC.

For more information, consult Ice.

5. Right-click Solution and then select Reset to automatically remove previous airflow, particles and
ice solutions from memory.

6. Launch the multishot calculation by right-clicking Solution and then by selecting Run Multi-Shot.
A Warning message will appear highlighting the need to switch to Use ref. temperature in order
to proceed with this multishot simulation. Select Use ref. temperature since the icing temperature
must be identical to the airflow reference temperature when running a multishot simulation.

7. Another window will appear. Name the new run ice_mvd_m7p5C_multi and press OK.

8. Go to the Plots window and monitor the convergence of Airflow, Particles and Ice solvers. In
the Plots window, first select a shot and a solver next to Dataset, and then choose the residual
or report to output next to Curve. The image below shows the residuals of the 3rd shot of the
Airflow and Particles solvers.

9. Go to the Project View by clicking the Project tab in the top ribbon menu. Under the
naca0012_icing (loaded) simulation, a new run named ice_mvd_m7p5C_multi now appears
and is specified as (current). Expand the run by clicking the + icon to the left of
ice_mvd_m7p5C_multi to show the files associated with the run. A shot.** folder is created for
each shot of the icing calculation, and includes a two-digit number that links these folders to their
shot number. Once all calculations are complete, view the final ice shape by following these steps:

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a. Right-click shot.01/Ice and select Surface Grid → View With Viewmerical to load the clean
airfoil surface. Select New Instance if asked to append this solution to an existing Viewmerical
window.

b. Right-clicking shot.03/Ice and select View Results With... → Viewmerical to load the result
of computed ice shape. Click Append when a message appears asking if you would like to
append this to a previously opened Viewmerical display. A View Ice dialog will then open
asking you to select the view type, select Ice Cover to proceed.

c. In Viewmerical, click the loaded clean airfoil surface grid-naca0012.01.map.grid under the
Objects panel. In Object, select Metallic + Smooth and double-click Cell to open the Select
Color window. In this window, set the HTML color to #474747 and press OK.

d. Click the loaded ice shape ice-naca0012.03.swimsol under the Objects panel. Make sure that
Metallic + Smooth is selected in Object. Go to the Data panel and select Ice cover (only)
under the Display mode of ICE3D. Set the Ice Growth value to 0.1 kg/m^2 under Ice
thickness threshold.

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e. Go to the View panel. Set the Ambient light boost to a value of 20 % under Global display
settings.

Figure 1.30: 3-Shots Ice Shape at -7.5 C

After viewing this ice shape, close Viewmerical.

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10. Next, compare the ice shape of the multishot run to that of the single shot run. Go to the Project
View. Under the run ice_mvd_m7p5C_multi, right-click shot.01/Ice and select Surface Grid →
View With Viewmerical. This grid file represents the surface grid (called
naca0012.01.map.grid on disk) used to calculate the 1st shot of ice accretion.

11. Rename this object by double-clicking the grid-naca0012.01.map.grid object name and enter
Airfoil into the Rename dataset window.

12. Under the run ice_mvd_m7p5C_multi, right-click shot.03/Ice and select Iced grid → View with
View- merical. This grid file represents the ice surface grid (naca0012..03.ice.grid on disk)
calculated during the 3rd shot of ice accretion.

13. A message appears asking if you would like to append this to a previously opened Viewmerical
display. Choose Append.

14. Rename this object by double-clicking the grid-naca0012.03.ice.grid object name and enter Ice
-7p5C, 3 shots in the Rename dataset window.

15. Under the run ice_mvd_m7p5C, right-click Ice and select Iced grid → View with Viewmerical.
This grid file represents the ice surface grid calculated during the single shot run.

16. A message appears asking if you would like to append this to a previously opened Viewmerical
display. Choose Append.

17. Rename this object by double-clicking the grid-naca0012.ice.grid object name and enter Ice
-7p5C, 1 shot in the Rename dataset window.

18. Click the Lock icon at the lower right of the data set list in the Objects window.

19. Go to the Query panel and activate the 2D plot. Set the Mode to Geometry and Cutting plane
to Z. Set the horizontal axis to X. The three curves showing NACA0012 and the ice shapes should
be visible. Change the curve colors and thickness using the Curve Settings in the cube menu
located at the top right. You can also draw a zoom box by Shift + left-click.

Note:

The multishot simulation produces an upper horn that is more pronounced. This is
mainly due to the continuous increase in collection efficiency and convective heat
fluxes (cooling effects) as the upper horn curvature increases. The lower part of the ice
is also thicker where the roughness has grown beyond the initial 0.5mm to about 1mm
(average), which causes the water film to freeze sooner and show less runback compared
to the single shot solution.

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Figure 1.31: Ice Shapes at -7.5 C, Obtained Using One Shot and Three Shots Computations

1.1.6. Multi-Shot Ice Accretion With Automatic Remeshing – Postprocessing

Using CFD-Post
In this tutorial, you will learn how to quickly post-process and generate figures and animations of a
multishot ice accretion simulation (ice shape and ice solution fields) using two dedicated CFD-Post
macros: Ice Cover – 3D-View and Ice Cover – 2D-Plot. For this purpose, the multishot icing solution
of Multi-Shot Ice Accretion with Automatic Remeshing (p. 56) is used and, therefore, completion of
Multi-Shot Ice Accretion with Automatic Remeshing (p. 56) is required.

For more information regarding these macros, consult CFD-Post Macros within the FENSAP-ICE User
Manual.

1. Inside your Fluent Icing window, go to the Ribbon menu and select Results. In Quick-View, click
Ice Cover → Multi-shot Ice Cover – CFD-Post.

2. After opening CFD-Post, a Domain Selector window will request confirmation to load the following
domains: ice swimsol, map grid, and map swimsol. Click OK to proceed.

3. Go to the Calculators tab and double-click Macro Calculator. The Macro Calculator’s interface
panel will be activated and displayed.

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Note:

The Macro Calculator can also be accessed by selecting Tools → Macro Calculator
from the CFD-Post’s main menu.

4. Select the Ice Cover – 3D-View macro script from the Macro drop-down list. This will bring up
the user interface which contains all input parameters required to view ICE3D output solutions in
the CFD-Post 3D Viewer.

5. The default settings inside the Macro Calculator panel will allow you to automatically output the
ice shape for the first shot of the multishot simulation. Output the ice shape at the end of the
multishot simulation of Multi-Shot Ice Accretion with Automatic Remeshing (p. 56). This corresponds
to the ice shape of shot 3, by specifying 3 for Multi-shot # and clicking Calculate. Figure 1.32: Ice
View in CFD-Post, Final Ice Shape (p. 65) shows the output of the final ice shape.

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Figure 1.32: Ice View in CFD-Post, Final Ice Shape

Note:

To change the style of the ice shape display, go to Display Mode and select one of
following options: Ice Cover, Ice Cover – Shaded, Ice Cover – No Orig, Ice Cover
(only) or Ice Cover (only) - shaded. To output the surface mesh of the ice shape, go
to the Display Mesh and select Yes.

6. To display the solution fields of your icing simulation, you can either select Ice Solution – Overlay,
Ice Solution or Surface Solution under Display Mode. In this case, you will output the ice accretion
rate over the ice layer of the 3rd shot. To do this, select Ice Solution – Overlay in Display Mode,
Instant. Ice Growth (kg s^-1 m^-2) in Display Variable and No in Display Mesh to turn off the
displaying surface mesh.

7. Click Calculate to view the instantaneous ice growth over the ice shape. Figure 1.33: Ice View in
CFD-Post, Instantaneous Ice Growth over Ice Cover Surface, Final Ice Shape (p. 66) shows the
output of the macro.

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Figure 1.33: Ice View in CFD-Post, Instantaneous Ice Growth over Ice Cover Surface, Final
Ice Shape

8. You can also generate and save animations that highlight the ice shape evolution of your multishot
simulation. Follow these steps to create and save a custom animation.

• Set Multi-shot # to 1. The animation starts at the assigned shot number in Multi-shot # to the
last shot of the simulation.

• Set (Multi-shot) Movie to On and click Calculate to see the animation on the 3D Viewer
window.

• To save this animation, in (Multi-shot) Movie,

– Set Save to Yes.

– Select an export Format. Two formats are supported, wmv and MPEG4. The default is wmv.

– Specify a Filename.

• Click Calculate to generate and save the animation. A message will appear to notify you of the
location where the animation is saved and of the first shot used to generate the animation.

Note:

If CFD-Post was opened using Fluent Icing, the animation will be saved in your run
directory. If CFD-Post was opened in standalone mode, the animation will be saved in
the Window’s system default folder.

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9. Select Ice Cover – 2D-Plot from the Macro drop-down list to create 2D-plots of the multishot
simulation. You will create a 2D-Plot that contains all the ice shapes generated by the multishot
simulation.

10. Make sure that Multi-shot # is set to 1.

11. Change Plot’s Title from ICE SHAPE PLOT, to Multishot Ice Shape at -7.5 C (3
shots).

12. Select Multi-Shots in 2D-Plot (with). The macro will generate a series of 2D plot curves, starting
from the assigned shot number in Multi-shot # to the last shot of the simulation.

13. Inside 2D-Plot (with),

• Set Mode to Geometry to output an ice shape. The other options output the ice solution fields.

• Set Cutting Plane By to Z Plane. Specify a Z=0 plane by setting X/Y/Z Plane to 0.

• Set the X-Axis to X and the Y-Axis to Y.

14. To center the 2D-Plot around the leading edge of the NACA0012, in 2D-Plot (with),

• Change the (x)Range of the X-Axis from Global to User Specified. Specify values of 0.06 and
-0.025 in the input boxes of (Usr.Specif.x)Max and (Usr.Specif.x)Min, respectively.

• Change the (y)Range of the Y-Axis from Global to User Specified. Specify values of 0.025
and -0.035 in the input boxes of (Usr.Specif.y)Max and (Usr.Specif.y)Min, respectively.

15. Leave the other default settings unchanged and click Calculate to create a 2D-Plot of the multiple
ice shapes in ChartViewer of CFD-Post. Adjust the output window’s size. Figure 1.34: 2D-Plot in
CFD-Post, Ice Shapes of the Multishot Simulation (p. 68) shows the output of the macro.

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Figure 1.34: 2D-Plot in CFD-Post, Ice Shapes of the Multishot Simulation

Note:

To create 2D plots of the ice solution fields, go to 2D-Plot (with) → Mode and select
either Solution (on Ice Surfaces) or Solution (on Map Surfaces). Then go to 2D-Plot
(with) → Y-Axis and select the ice solution field of interest. Specify a (x)Range and a
(y)Range that are suitable. Click Calculate to output the 2D-Plot of the ice solution
field in ChartViewer.

16. The 2D-Plot macro can also export all plotted curves to .csv format file and simultaneously save
the plot as a figure. Keep all input parameters above unchanged and follow these steps.

• To export all plotted curves to a .csv file, set Export (to csv) to Yes and specify a file name
under Filename (csv).

• To save a figure of the 2D-Plot, set Save Figure to Yes, select a Format for the figure (PNG or
BMP) and specify a Filename to save the figure.

• Click Calculate to generate the 2D plot, export all data points to a .csv file and save the plot
into a figure file. A message will appear to notify you of the location where the .csv and figure
file are saved.

Note:

If CFD-Post was opened using Fluent Icing, both the .csv and figure files will be
saved in the working directory. If CFD-Post was opened in standalone mode, both
files will be saved in the Windows’ system default folder.

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1.1.7. FENSAP Airflow on the Clean NACA0012 Airfoil

The objective of this tutorial is to obtain an airflow solution around a clean NACA0012 airfoil using
FENSAP in Fluent Icing.

Note:

In this tutorial the FENSAP Airflow Solver is used. If you would like to instead use the
Fluent Airflow Solver, go to In-Flight Icing Tutorial Using Fluent Icing (p. 1).

FENSAP-ICE modules in Fluent Icing solve only 3D problems. In order to solve pure 2-D
problems, it is recommended to generate 3D grids by extruding these 2D domains along
their span or thickness. One single element is sufficient to represent the span or thickness
of the 3D domain. In this manner, Fluent Icing is always executed in 3-D mode.

Figure 1.35: NACA0012 Structured C-Mesh Overview and Close-Up

1.1.7.1. FENSAP Airflow Solution on a Clean NACA0012 Airfoil

1. Using the same grid file as In-Flight Icing Tutorial Using Fluent Icing (p. 1), launch Fluent Icing
on your computer. In the Fluent Launcher window, select Icing. Icing is only available if Capab-
ility Level → Enterprise is selected. The usage of the Icing feature requires a Fluent license
with Enterprise level. Set the number of processes to 2 to 4 CPUs. Click Start to launch Fluent
Icing.

2. Once Fluent Icing opens, the Project tab will be displayed by default. In the Project’s top ribbon
panel, select Project → New... and enter FLUENT_ICING_NACA0012_FENSAP to create a
new project folder.

3. In the Project’s top ribbon panel, select Simulation → Import Case, and browse to and select
the ../workshop_input_files/Input_Grid/Naca0012/naca0012.cas.h5 file
created in the previous section. A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name of the

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New Simulation as naca0012_icing, and check to enable Load in Solver. A new simulation
folder will be created in your project folder, and the naca0012.cas.h5 file will be imported.

Note:

The naca0012.cas.h5 input case file has already been setup properly in standalone
Fluent for use in Fluent Icing simulations.

4. After the .cas.h5 file has been successfully loaded, the Simulation tab is displayed, and a
new simulation tree appears under naca0012_icing (loaded) in the Outline View window.

5. Select Setup under naca0012_icing (loaded) and, in its Properties window, uncheck Particles
and Ice.

6. Inside the Outline View window, right-click the Airflow icon located under Setup and select
Update with Fluent Case Settings to make sure that the Fluent simulation settings are properly
transferred to Fluent Icing.

7. Left-click the Airflow icon to bring up the Airflow window. Under Setup → Airflow in the
General section, set the Airflow Solver to FENSAP.

8. Under Outline View, click Setup → Airflow → FENSAP. In the Turbulence section, set the
Turbulence Model to Spalart-Allmaras and Transition to No transition.

9. Under Setup → Boundary Conditions, expand Inlets and select pressure-far-field-4. In the
properties panel, Conditions is set to Case settings by default. This setting ensures that the
boundary conditions will be taken directly from the settings already applied in the case file. If
you would like to modify the boundary conditions for a particular run, Conditions can be set
to Edit, which causes all the boundary conditions for that boundary type to appear in the
properties panel. For now, keep Conditions set to Case settings.

10. Under Setup → Boundary Conditions, expand Walls and click the wall surfaces (wall-5, wall-
6 and wall-7). The wall boundary conditions have already been setup properly in the initial case
file. Notice that the Thermal Conditions are set to Temperature and the Temperature [K]
value is set to 280.929 K. This value is equivalent to 10 degrees higher than the adiabatic
stagnation air temperature, which is the classic method for performing icing simulations, and
can be set by right-clicking the wall surface name in the Outline View and then by selecting
Set Temperature to Adiabatic+10.

11. Under Solution → Airflow, increase the Number of Iterations to 500. Set the CFL to 100,
enable CFL Ramping and set the CFL Ramping Iterations to 300. A steady state simulation
will be executed.

12. Under the Output, set Forces to Drag-Custom direction. Set the Lift Axis to Y+. Set the Drag
- X, Drag - Y and Drag - Z values to 0.997564, 0.069756, and 0, respectively. Set the Refer-
ence Area to 0.05334 m2.

13. Right-click the Airflow icon under Solution and select Calculate to launch this simulation. A
new window will appear requesting a name for the new run. Name the new run flow_clean.

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14. Once the computation is complete, the Airflow solution will appear in the flow_clean run dir-
ectory.

15. Take a look at the convergence history of this simulation in the Plots window located at the
right of your screen. The following two figures show the convergence of residuals and lift and
drag coefficients. You can obtain these figures by selecting Residuals, Forces – Lift coefficient
and Forces – Drag coefficient respectively next to Curve which is located at the top of the
Plots window.

In the Console, the residuals and coefficients are provided at each iteration. Examine the con-
vergence of lift and drag coefficients listed as lift and drag. Lift and drag coefficients have
converged to 4.617600e-01 and 8.32458-03 respectively.

Figure 1.36: Scaled Residuals

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Figure 1.37: Convergence of Lift and Drag Coefficients of the Rough Airfoil

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Figure 1.38: The Residual Values

16. Go to the ribbon bar of your Fluent Icing window and, under Results → Quick-View → Contour,
choose Heat Flux (Walls) to output the convective heat flux over the rough NACA0012. See
Figure 1.39: Convective Heat Flux Over the Clean NACA0012 Airfoil (p. 73).

Figure 1.39: Convective Heat Flux Over the Clean NACA0012 Airfoil

17. Within the Project View, you will notice that the naca0012_icing (loaded) simulation now
contains the run folder flow_clean, which contains the Airflow solution.

1.1.8. FENSAP Airflow Solution on the Rough NACA0012 Airfoil

The objective of this tutorial is to obtain an airflow solution around a rough NACA0012 airfoil using
FENSAP, within the Fluent Icing framework, and to use this solution for water catch and ice accretion
simulations. Completion of the previous tutorial, FENSAP Airflow on the Clean NACA0012 Airfoil (p. 69),
is required before beginning this tutorial.

Ice forms surface roughness as it accretes. This roughness increases the momentum deficit and the
skin friction, which in turn thickens the boundary layer and increases drag. Convective heat flux is
also in- creased through additional turbulent conductivity within the boundary layer. It is therefore

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essential to properly model the roughness produced naturally by the ice accretion process to obtain
realistic ice shapes. Fluent Icing models such roughness by applying an appropriate sand-grain
roughness height distribution over iced walls. In Fluent Icing, this height can be specified on each
wall as a constant value, or as a distribution via empirical or analytical methods such as ice bead
modeling. See Surface Roughness within the FENSAP-ICE User Manual or the Set-up → Boundary
Conditions → Wall and Set-up → Ice sections within the Fluent User's Guide for more details on surface
roughness.

Note:

If you closed your Fluent Icing session since the completion of the last tutorial, you must
reopen your project and load your previous simulation and settings. To do this, open Fluent
Icing, select Project → Open..., and navigate to and select your FLU-
ENT_ICING_NACA0012_FENSAP.flprj project file. Once the project is open, right-
click the naca0012_icing simulation folder, and select Load in Solver. The simulation will
be opened, and your window display will switch to the simulation view, with a simulation
tree appearing under naca0012_icing (loaded). To ensure that you are working from the
most recent settings, go back to the Project View, right-click the flow_clean run, and select
Load Settings. Finally, go back to the simulation view to continue with the tutorial.

1. Select Setup under naca0012_icing (loaded) and, in its Properties window, make sure Particles
and Ice are unchecked.

2. Under Setup → Boundary Conditions, update the following wall surfaces:

• Select the wall-5 boundary. In the Wall Roughness section of Airflow, select High
roughness for Icing and set its Roughness Height [m] to 0.0005 m.

• Repeat this process for wall boundaries wall-6, and wall-7.

3. Under Solution, right-click Airflow from the side menu. Select Reset.

4. Right-click Airflow again and select Calculate to launch this simulation. A window may appear
asking if the current run should be continued. Select No. A New run window will then appear
requesting a name for the new run. Name the new run flow_rough.

Note:

If you closed Fluent Icing after the completion of the last tutorial, a window will appear
asking to create a new run once you click Calculate. Set the Name of the new run to
flow_rough and press OK.

5. Once the computation is complete, the Airflow solution will appear in the flow_rough run direct-
ory.

6. Take a look at the convergence history of this simulation in the Graphics window located at the
right of your screen. The following two figures show the convergence of residuals and lift and
drag coefficients. You can enlarge and move the legend box in the Graphics window by dragging
one side of the box.

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In the Console, the residuals and coefficients are provided at each iteration. As it is not possible
to zoom in on the graphs, the printed values in the log can be referred to if needed. Examine the
convergence of lift and drag coefficients listed as lift and drag. Lift and drag coefficients have
converged to 4.247817e-01 and 1.874172-02 respectively.

Figure 1.40: Scaled Residuals

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Figure 1.41: Convergence of Lift and Drag Coefficients of the Rough Airfoil

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Figure 1.42: The Residual Values

7. Go to the ribbon bar of your Fluent Icing window and, under Results → Quick-View → Contour,
choose Heat Flux (Walls) to output the convective heat flux over the rough NACA0012. See Fig-
ure 1.43: Convective Heat Flux Over the NACA0012 (p. 77).

Figure 1.43: Convective Heat Flux Over the NACA0012

This tutorial described the process of simulating the rough airflow over the NACA0012 airfoil using
the FENSAP Airflow Solver within Fluent Icing. This can be seen as an alternate tutorial to In-
Flight Icing Tutorial Using Fluent Icing (p. 1), where Fluent is used as the airflow solver. After
completing this alternate tutorial, you may continue with the droplet impingement and icing tu-

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torials, Droplet Impingement on the NACA0012 (p. 23) through Multi-Shot Ice Accretion With
Automatic Remeshing – Postprocessing Using CFD-Post (p. 63), as the procedure is similar.

Caution:

If you would like to continue with additional tutorials, do not close Fluent Icing.

1.1.9. Scheduling a Sequence of Runs With Fluent Icing

This tutorial is divided into the following sections:
1.1.9.1. Introduction
1.1.9.2. Problem Description
1.1.9.3. Setup and Solution
1.1.9.4. Summary

1.1.9.1. Introduction
The Run Sequence feature makes it possible to prepare several runs with different settings and
execute them in sequence without having to manually change settings between each runs. It is
available if Advanced Settings is enabled through File → Preferences... → Icing, and activated
by selecting File → Read Run Sequence…. A Select File dialog will open allowing you to select
the spreadsheet that contains the list of runs. The spreadsheet must be in .csv format and follow
a certain structure to be read correctly by Fluent Icing.

1.1.9.2. Problem Description

The goal of this tutorial is to explore different icing conditions using Fluent Icing's Run Sequence
feature which will allow you to find out the most critical icing condition, generate an ice shape in
that condition and compare the wing performance degradation due to ice at different angles of
attack.

1.1.9.3. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
1.1.9.3.1. Preparation
1.1.9.3.2. Setup
1.1.9.3.3. Post-processing

1.1.9.3.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this tutorial:

1. Download the fluent_icing_run_sequence.zip file here.

2. Unzip fluent_icing_run_sequence.zip to your working directory.

3. The file, grid.cas, can be found in the folder.

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4. Use the Fluent Launcher to start Ansys Fluent.

5. In the Fluent Launcher, set the Capability Level to Enterprise, then select Icing.

6. Set Solver Processes between 4 and 8.

7. Click Start.

Alternatively, Fluent Icing can be opened using the icing (on Linux) or icing.bat (on
Windows) file inside the fluent/bin/ folder.

8. Uncheck Use Custom Solver Launch Settings, Show Solution Workspace on Launch,
and Enable Solution Workspace Graphics.

Project → Workspaces → Options

1.1.9.3.2. Setup
1. Create a new project file.

File → New Project...

2. Enter Run_Sequence_Tutorial as the Project file name within the Select File dialog.

3. Select and import the grid.cas input grid.

Project → Simulation → Import Case

A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name of the New Simulation as grid,
and check to enable Load in Solver. Click OK.

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A new simulation folder will be created in the Project View, and the grid.cas file will be
imported.

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Figure 1.44: Fluent Icing Workspace

4. Enable Advanced Settings to expose advanced features.

File → Preferences... → Icing → Advanced Settings

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5. After the .cas file has been successfully loaded, a new Outline View tree appears under
grid (loaded).

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6. The mesh is now displayed in the Graphics window to the right.

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Figure 1.45: Grid Mesh Display

7. Define the Simulation Type.

Setup

Enable Airflow and Particles and Ice under Simulation Type.

8. In the Icing Domain section, retain the following setting:

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• Fixed for Reference Frame (Single Domain).

9. Set the Airflow properties for the simulation.

Setup → Airflow

• In the General section:

– Retain the default selection of Fluent for Airflow Solver.

• In the Reference Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 0.5334 for Characteristic Length [m].

– 128 for Speed [m/s].

– 268 for Temperature [K].

– 84312 for Pressure [Pa].

• In the Direction section, retain the following settings:

– Angle of attack for Vector Mode.

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– Y+ for Lift Direction.

– X+ for Drag Direction.

– 4 for AoA [deg.].

– 0 for Yaw [deg.].

– 128 for Vector Magnitude [m/s].

10. Set the Fluent properties for the simulation.

Setup → Airflow → Fluent

• In the Solver section:

– Retain the default selection of Pressure-based for Type.

• In the Models section, retain the following settings:

– Enable Energy.

– K-Omega 2-eqn for Turbulence.

– SST for k-omega Model.

– Disabled for Transition Model.

– Enable both Viscous Heating and Turb. Production Limiter.

• In the Materials section, retain the following setting:

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– Case settings for Fluid.

11. Set the Particles properties of the simulation.

Setup → Particles

Enable Droplets under Type.

12. Set the Droplets properties of the simulation.

Setup → Particles → Droplets

• In the Droplet Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 0.0024 for LWC [kg/m3].

– 20 for Droplet Diameter [microns].

– 1000 for Water Density [kg/m3].

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– Disable SLD.

– Disabled for Appendix Conditions.

• In the Particles Distribution section, retain the following setting:

– Monodispersed for Particles Distribution.

• In the Model section, retain the following settings:

– Water for Droplet Drag Model.

13. Set the Ice properties of the simulation.

Setup → Ice

• In the Ice Accretion Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 0.9 for Recovery Factor.

– Disable Specify Icing Air Temperature.

– 100 for Relative Humidity.

• In the Model section, retain the following settings:

– Glaze for Icing Model.

– Enable Beading.

– Disabled for Ice Shedding.

• In the Ice Properties section, retain the following settings:

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– Constant for Ice Density Type.

– 917 for Constant Ice Density [kg/m3].

14. Set the Boundary Conditions for your simulation.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Inlets → pressure-far-field-11

• In the Airflow section:

– Press Import Ref. Conditions to import the reference conditions of the case file.

– Select Vector components under the Direction drop-down list.

– 0.997564 for Flow Direction X.

– 0.0697565 for Flow Direction Y.

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– 0 for Flow Direction Z.

– Select Intensity and Viscosity Ratio under the Turbulence Specification drop-down
list.

– 0.08 for Turbulent Intensity [%].

– 1e-5 for Turbulent Viscosity Ratio.

Note:

Repeat the steps above for pressure-far-field-4.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Walls → zone2000

• In the Airflow section:

– Retain the default selection of Temperature for Thermal Conditions.

– Press on Temp. Adiabatic+10 to ensure a temperature value (adiabatic temperature +

10 degree) is imposed on the wall.

– Select High roughness for Icing under the Wall Roughness drop-down list.

– Set Roughness Height [m] to 0.0005.

– Repeat the steps above for zone2001 through zone2004.

15. Set the Solution properties of your simulation.

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Solution → Airflow

• In the Time Integration section:

– Set Number of Iterations to 1000.

– Select CFL under the Method drop-down list.

– Retain the default value of 50 for Courant Number.

• In the Initialization section:

– Select FMG under the Method drop-down list.

– Retain the default value of 0.75 for FMG Courant Number.

• In the Post-processing Output section:

– Retain the default selection of Disabled for Write Post-processing Files.

16. Solution → Particles

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• In the Run Settings section, retain the following setting:

– 200 for Number of Iterations.

• In the Solver section, retain the following settings:

– 20 for CFL.

– 1e-5 for Artificial Viscosity Coef.

– 1e-8 for Residual Cut-Off.

– 1e-10 for Change in Total Beta.

• In the Initialization section, retain the following settings:

– The Velocity settings will be set to From Airflow conditions. The settings imported
under the Airflow panel will be used.

– Disable Dry Initialization.

• In the Monitors section, retain the following settings:

– Enable Total Beta.

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– Enable Change in Total Beta.

– Disable Mass Deficit.

17. Solution → Ice

• In the Time section, retain the following setting:

– 140 for Total Time of Ice Accretion [s].

– Enable Automatic Time Step.

• In the Mesh section:

– Retain the default selection of Fluent Meshing for Remeshing.

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• In the Remeshing section, retain the following settings:

– [0.001, 0.1] for Global Sizing - Min/Max.

– 1.2 for Global Sizing - Growth Rate.

– 0.001 for Proximity Sizing - Min.

– [0.001, 0.01] for Curvature Sizing - Min/Max.

– 1.2 for Curvature Sizing - Growth Rate.

– 21 for Prism - Number of Layers.

– 1000 for Prism - First Cell Aspect Ratio.

– 1.2 for Prism - Growth Rate.

– [0.57, 0, 0.05] for Material Point.

– 2.5D for Dimension.

– 0.1 for Extrusion - Z Thickness.

18. Open the ice_parametric.csv file found within fluent_icing_run_sequence.zip.

The file contains mandatory columns consisting of specific keywords listed below pertaining
to settings within the Fluent Icing user interface Properties panel.

• Cell A2 - simulation: The .cas file used for the simulation.

• Cell B2 - run: The run name which will be displayed within the Project View after the
simulation completes.

• Cell C1 - keywords: The solver used for the specific run.

• – Cell C2 - solver

– Cell D2 - Pressure

– Cell E2 - Temperature

• Cell F1 - Walls

– Cell F2 - Temperature

• Cell G1 - Setup Particles

– Cell G2 - Droplet Diameter

• Cell H1 - Setup Particles

– Cell H2 - LWC

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The first run (flow_268K - B3) is a flow simulation at 5000 feet with a -10 degree temperature
deviation from standard atmosphere. The walls are at adiabatic temperature +10 degrees.

Note:

The Pressure and Temperature columns will overwrite everywhere you have
Pressure or Temperature defined in Fluent Icing (Reference Values, Inlets, Walls).
For example, Temperature will overwrite Temperature [K] (temperature at the
wall) found under Setup → Boundary Conditions → Walls → zone2000.
Therefore, columns using the Walls keyword have been added to use a different
temperature at the walls.

19. Review the Particles and Ice runs.

Following Appendix C conditions, 20 microns (Cell G4) is specified as your Droplet Diameter
and 0.0024 kg/m3 (Cell H4) as the LWC. These settings match those found under the
Droplets panel.

Row 5 contains your Ice run as shown in the figure above.

You would continue adding the same Particles and Ice conditions for 30 and 40 microns
with a LWC of 0.0017 and 0.00063 respectively.

20. The same steps are repeated for 10,000ft (flow_258K) and 15,000ft (flow_248K).

The final spreadsheet is shown below:

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Save this spreadsheet within your Run_Sequence_Tutorial.cffdb/grid project folder.

21. Launch the run sequence.

File → Read Run Sequence...

Select the ice_parametric.csv file from the Select File dialog. Press OK.

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A dialog will open advising you Fluent Icing will now execute 21 runs in sequence. Press OK
to proceed.

22. Once the computation is complete, the solution files will be written inside the Project View:

• grid

– flow

– particles

– ice

Project → Project View

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23. Under the grid (loaded) simulation, a list of run folders now appear. Expand each folder by
clicking the + icon to show the files associated with the run. Each folder contains either an
Airflow run, three Droplets runs, at different microns (20, 30, 40) and three Ice runs, also at
different microns (20, 30, 40).

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24. When reviewing the convergence of each run, you can see that the least ideal conditions are
at 258 K and 20 microns.

25. To view the final ice shape, right-click Ice located under ice_20micron_258k within the
Project View. Select View Results With... → Viewmerical. Choose Ice cover in the View Ice
dialog.

Figure 1.46: Ice Shape at 258K and 20 Microns

26. Load the ice_20micron_258K settings.

Project View → ice_20micron_258K Load Settings

27. Define the multi-shot run settings.

Solution → Ice

• In the Time section, retain the following settings:

– 60 for Total Time of Ice Accretion [s].

– Enable Automatic Time Step.

– Press on Set-Up Remeshing to enable remeshing using Fluent Meshing.

28. Launch the simulation.

Solution

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• In the Multi-shot section, retain the following settings:

– 4 for Number of Shots.

– Enable Save Files at Each Shot.

– Reinitialize for Airflow Restart.

– Uniform for Settings.

• In the Global Settings section, retain the following settings:

– Minimal for Log Verbosity.

– Default for Plotting.

Launch the simulation by pressing Run Multi-Shot.

A New run window will appear. Set the Name of the new run to multishot_ice_para-
metric and press OK.

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Note:

Alternatively, you can launch the multi-shot calculation using Solution Run
Multi-Shot

29. Once your multi-shot simulation ends, save your case.

Project → Simulation → Save Case

30. Once your case has been saved, close your simulation.

Project → Simulation → Close Simulation

A Information dialog will open asking if you would like to save the case before closing the
solver. Press Yes to proceed.

31. Close your project.

Project → Project → Close

32. Proceed with creating a new project file.

File → New Project...

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33. Enter Run_Sequence_Tutorial_Iced_Grid as the Project file name within the Select
File dialog.

34. Select and import the grid.05.cas file found under Run_Sequence_Tutorial.cff-
db/grid/multishot_ice_parametric/grid.05.cas.

Project → Import Case

A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name of the New Simulation as
iced_grid, and check to enable Load in Solver. Click OK.

An Information dialog opens advising you of different node mapping between the current
grid and previous solution files. Press OK to proceed since you will be creating new solution
files based on the newly imported grid.

35. After the grid.05.cas file has been successfully loaded, a new Outline View tree appears
under iced_grid (loaded).

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36. After importing the file, have a look at the pressure and temperature values under Setup
→ Airflow

• In the Reference Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 258 for Temperature [K].

– 69691 for Pressure [Pa].

37. Set the Boundary Conditions for your simulation.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Inlets → pressure-far-field-11

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• In the Airflow section:

– Press Import Ref. Conditions to import the reference conditions of the case file.

Note:

Repeat the steps above for pressure-far-field-4.

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Setup → Boundary Conditions → Walls → zone2000

• In the Airflow section:

– Retain the default selection of Temperature for Thermal Conditions.

– Press on Temp. Adiabatic+10 to ensure a temperature value (adiabatic temperature +

10 degrees) is imposed on the wall.

– Repeat the steps above for zone2001 through zone2004.

38. Save your case.

Project → Simulation → Save Case

39. Once your case has been saved, close your simulation.

Project → Simulation → Close Simulation

A Information dialog will open asking if you would like to save the case before closing the
solver. Press Yes to proceed.

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40. While in the same project, select and import the grid.cas input grid once again.

Project → Simulation → Import Case

A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name of the New Simulation as
clean_grid, and check to enable Load in Solver. Click OK.

A new simulation folder will be created in the Project View and the grid.cas file will be
imported.

41. Set the Airflow properties for the simulation.

Setup → Airflow

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• In the General section:

– Retain the default selection of Fluent for Airflow Solver.

• In the Reference Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 0.5334 for Characteristic Length [m].

– 128 for Speed [m/s].

– 258 for Temperature [K].

– 69691 for Pressure [Pa].

• In the Direction section, retain the following settings:

– Angle of attack for Vector Mode.

– Y+ for Lift Direction.

– X+ for Drag Direction.

– 4 for AoA [deg.].

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– 0 for Yaw [deg.].

– 128 for Vector Magnitude [m/s].

42. Set the Boundary Conditions for your simulation.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Inlets → pressure-far-field-11

• In the Airflow section:

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– Press Import Ref. Conditions to import the reference conditions of the case file.

Note:

Repeat the steps above for pressure-far-field-4.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Walls → zone2000

• In the Airflow section:

– Retain the default selection of Temperature for Thermal Conditions.

– Press on Temp. Adiabatic+10 to ensure a temperature value (adiabatic temperature +

10 degrees) is imposed on the wall.

– Repeat the steps above for zone2001 through zone2004.

43. Save your case.

Project → Simulation → Save Case

44. Close Fluent Icing.

File → Exit

A dialog will open asking you to save the clean_grid simulation case, press Yes to proceed.

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45. Reopen Fluent Icing, by selecting Icing, keeping Solver Processes at 4 and pressing Start.

46. Open your Run_Sequence_Tutorial_Iced_Grid project.

Project Library → Run_Sequence_Tutorial_Iced_Grid Open

47. Load your clean_grid project.

Project View → clean_grid Load in Solver

48. Open the perf_degradation.csv file found within fluent_icing_run_se-

quence.zip. You will notice a range of angles of attack. The goal of this .csv file is to run
a sweep across various angles of attack using the imported grids and looking at the final
performance degradation of the contaminated wing.

Two simulation are included in the angle of attack sweep, the clean_grid and iced_grid
simulation. Each consists of six sweeps, using specific keywords found within Fluent Icing's
Properties panels.

Review the various keywords and column titles. When ready, save this spreadsheet to your
Run_Sequence_Tutorial_Iced_Grid.cffdb project folder.

49. Launch the run sequence.

File → Read Run Sequence...

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Select the perf_degradation.csv file from the Select File dialog. Press OK.

A dialog will open advising you Fluent Icing will now execute 12 runs in sequence. Press OK
to proceed.

50. Once the computation is complete, the solution files will be written inside the Project View.

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1.1.9.3.3. Post-processing
1. You can verify the convergence of each Airflow run. You will notice that the iced grid related
to angles of attack 4, 6 and 8 have not converged well.

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You can rerun them using the following new settings:

Solution → Airflow

• In the Time Integration section:

– 3000 for Number of Iterations.

– 5 for Courant Number.

File → Read Run Sequence...

Use the same perf_degradation.csv file to rerun this sequence.

2. Fluent Icing will detect that some runs already exist, click Configure... and select
iced_AoA_4deg, iced_AoA_6deg and iced_AoA_8deg to be the only ones to rerun.

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Press OK to proceed.

3. Once the simulation has ended, you can extract lift coefficient from each simulation by selecting

the Airflow solution of each run and selecting View Convergence. Select report-lift from
the Curve drop-down and extract the value at 1000 iterations.

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Note:

Repeat the steps above for the other Airflow solutions found under iced_grid and
clean_grid. Use the lift_vs_aoa.xlsx file found within flu-
ent_icing_run_sequence.zip to plot your results.

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1.1.9.4. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated how to use Fluent Icing's Run Sequence feature to allow you to find
out the most critical icing condition, generate an ice shape in that condition and compare the wing
performance degradation due to ice at different angles of attack. The Run Sequence can be used
for different usages. It is able to modify any settings in the Outline View hence why parametric
studies can be performed for every property in Fluent Icing.

1.2. Droplet Impingement Using Fluent Icing

The following sections of this tutorial are:
1.2.1. Droplet Impingement on a Complete Aircraft
1.2.2. Splashing and Bouncing by Post-processing on a NACA23012 Airfoil
1.2.3. Splashing and Bouncing with Reinjection on a Three-Element Airfoil

1.2.1. Droplet Impingement on a Complete Aircraft

This tutorial is divided into the following sections:
1.2.1.1. Introduction
1.2.1.2. Problem Description

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1.2.1.3. Setup and Solution

1.2.1.4. Summary

1.2.1.1. Introduction
The objective of this tutorial is to simulate 3D droplet impingement on a realistic airplane configur-
ation using Fluent Icing. Next you will cover the SLD (supercooled large droplets) regime where
the large droplets can break-up, splash, and bounce based on their size and impact velocity,
changing the collection efficiency distribution.

This tutorial demonstrates the droplet impingement computation over the DLR-F6 aircraft
(wing/body) geometry. There is no yaw angle and the grid only contains one side of the symmetry
plane. The grid is unstructured, composed of 4.8 million cells approximately.

This tutorial is written with the assumption that you have completed the introductory tutorials
found in this manual and that you are familiar with the Ansys Fluent Outline View and Ribbon
structure, see The Outline View and The Ribbon for more details. Some steps in the setup and
solution procedure will not be shown explicitly.

1.2.1.2. Problem Description

The aircraft considered is the DLR-F6 which is a wing-body configuration. The flight condition used
in this tutorial represents example of an in-flight icing condition. The problem considers the droplet
impingement simulation over the aircraft’s wall boundaries. The grid is unstructured, composed of
4.8 million cells approximately. This mesh is very coarse, and therefore should be used for demon-
stration purposes only. The limits of the computational domain are defined by a hemispherical
boundary defined as a pressure-far-field boundary type, and a flat circular boundary defined as a
symmetry plane in the Z-direction.

Figure 1.47: DLR-F6 Mesh

1.2.1.3. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:

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1.2.1.3.1. Preparation
1.2.1.3.2. Setup
1.2.1.3.3. Solution

1.2.1.3.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this tutorial:

1. Download the fluent_icing_droplet_impingement.zip file here.

2. Unzip fluent_icing_droplet_impingement.zip to your working directory.

3. The file, DLR.cas.h5, can be found in the folder.

4. Use the Fluent Launcher to start Ansys Fluent.

5. In the Fluent Launcher, set the Capability Level to Enterprise, then select Icing.

6. Set Solver Processes between 4 and 16.

7. Click Start.

Alternatively, Fluent Icing can be opened using the icing (on Linux) or icing.bat (on
Windows) file inside the fluent/bin/ folder.

8. Uncheck Use Custom Solver Launch Settings, Show Solution Workspace on Launch,
and Enable Solution Workspace Graphics.

Project → Workspaces → Options

1.2.1.3.2. Setup
1. Create a new project file.

File → New...

2. Enter Droplet_Impingement_Complete_Aircraft as the Project file name within

the Select File dialog.

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3. Select and import the DLR.cas.h5 input grid.

Project → Simulation → Import Case

A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name of the New Simulation as DLR, and
check to enable Load in Solver. Click OK.

A new simulation folder will be created in the Project View, and the DLR.cas.h5 file will
be imported.

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Figure 1.48: Fluent Icing Workspace

4. After the .cas.h5 file has been successfully loaded, a new Outline View tree appears under
DLR (loaded).

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5. The mesh is now displayed in the Graphics window to the right.

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Figure 1.49: DLR Mesh Display

6. Define the Simulation Type.

Setup

Enable Airflow and Particles and disable Ice under Simulation Type.

7. Set the Airflow properties of the simulation.

Setup → Airflow

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• In the General section, retain the following setting:

– Fluent for Airflow Solver.

• In the Reference Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 5.54 for Characteristic Length [m].

– 241.625 for Speed [m/s].

– 258.46 for Temperature [K].

– 57173.2 for Pressure [Pa].

• In the Direction section, retain the following settings:

– Cartesian components for Vector Mode.

– 241.625 for X Velocity [m/s].

– 0 for Y Velocity [m/s].

– 0 for Z Velocity [m/s].

8. Set the Solution properties of the simulation.

Solution → Airflow

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 Droplet Impingement Using Fluent Icing

• In the Time Integration section, retain the following setting:

– 200 for Number of Iterations.

– Case settings for Method.

• In the Initialization section, retain the following setting:

– Case settings for Method.

• In the Post-processing Output section, retain the following setting:

– Disabled for Write Post-processing Files.

9. Launch the simulation.

Solution → Airflow → Calculate

A New run window will appear. Set the Name of the new run to airflow.

Once the computation is complete, the Airflow solution file will be written inside the new
run directory, dlr/airflow.

10. Set the Particles properties of the simulation.

Setup → Particles

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Enable Droplets under Type.

11. Set the Droplets properties of the simulation.

Setup → Particles → Droplets

• In the Droplet Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 0.001 for LWC [kg/m3].

– 80 for Droplet Diameter [microns].

– 1000 for Water Density [kg/m3].

– Disable SLD.

– Disabled for Appendix Conditions.

• In the Particles Distribution section, retain the following setting:

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 Droplet Impingement Using Fluent Icing

– Monodispersed for Particles Distribution.

• In the Model section, retain the following setting:

– Water for Droplet Drag Model.

12. Set the Boundary Conditions of the simulation.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Inlets → pressure-far-field-4

The inlet boundary condition, pressure-far-field-4, is based on the initial droplet velocity
and reference liquid water content which are both defined by enabling From Ref. Conditions.

13. Set the Solution properties of the simulation.

Solution → Particles

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• In the Run Settings section, retain the following setting:

– 120 for Number of Iterations.

• In the Solver section, retain the following settings:

– 20 for CFL.

– 1e-5 for Artificial Viscosity Coef.

– 1e-8 for Residual Cut-Off.

– 1e-10 for Change in Total Beta.

• In the Initialization section, retain the following settings:

– The Velocity settings will be set to From Airflow conditions. The settings imported
under the Airflow panel will be used.

– Disable Dry Initialization.

• In the Monitors section, retain the following settings:

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 Droplet Impingement Using Fluent Icing

– Enable Total Beta.

– Enable Change in Total Beta.

– Disable Mass Deficit.

14. Launch the simulation.

Solution → Particles → Calculate

A New run window will appear. Set the Name of the new run to particles.

Once the computation is complete, the Particles solution file will be written inside the new
run directory, dlr/particles.

1.2.1.3.3. Solution
1. In this example, Fluent Icing will calculate for 120 iterations. Once the simulation finishes, you
can view the collection efficiency distribution on the DLR-F6 aircraft.

Results → Quick-View → Contour → Collection Efficiency (Walls)

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Figure 1.50: DLR-F6 Collection Efficiency Contours

2. You can also use Viewmerical to view the collection efficiency plot.

Results → Quick-View → Contour → View With Viewmerical

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Figure 1.51: Collection Efficiency Plots on the Wing Using Viewmerical: Root(Z=4m),
Middle(Z=15m), Tip( Z=22.5m)

The peak in the collection efficiency increases towards the tip of the wing, due to the decrease
in the thickness of the leading edge as the wing gets tapered. As mentioned in Langmuir-D Dis-
tribution (p. 28), the droplets of same size are pushed away more by thicker sections of the aircraft,
while thinner sections receive more of the same size droplets.

1.2.1.4. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated the droplet impingement computation over a complete aircraft geometry
with no yaw angle and using symmetry allowed on only half of the aircraft to be modeled.

1.2.2. Splashing and Bouncing by Post-processing on a NACA23012 Airfoil

This tutorial is divided into the following sections:
1.2.2.1. Introduction
1.2.2.2. Problem Description
1.2.2.3. Setup and Solution
1.2.2.4. Summary

1.2.2.1. Introduction
This tutorial illustrates how to compute droplet impingement over a NACA23012 airfoil using the
splashing and bouncing by post-processing model developed for Supercooled Large Droplets (SLD).

1.2.2.2. Problem Description

When the supercooled droplets are larger than 40 microns, they start to exhibit complex phenomena.
They deform and break up into smaller droplets as they get close to aircraft surfaces, splash into
smaller droplets upon impact that can be lost from the collection efficiency, and bounce off the

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surface if the local impingement angle is too shallow. To properly calculate collection efficiency for
SLD, these phenomena should be accounted for.

1.2.2.3. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
1.2.2.3.1. Preparation
1.2.2.3.2. Setup
1.2.2.3.3. Solution

1.2.2.3.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this tutorial:

1. Download the fluent_icing_droplet_impingement.zip file here.

2. Unzip fluent_icing_droplet_impingement.zip to your working directory.

3. The files, naca23012.cas.h5 and naca23012.dat.h5, can be found in the folder.

4. Use the Fluent Launcher to start Ansys Fluent.

5. In the Fluent Launcher, set the Capability Level to Enterprise, then select Icing.

6. Set Solver Processes between 4 and 16.

7. Click Start.

Alternatively, Fluent Icing can be opened using the icing (on Linux) or icing.bat (on
Windows) file inside the fluent/bin/ folder.

8. Uncheck Use Custom Solver Launch Settings, Show Solution Workspace on Launch,
and Enable Solution Workspace Graphics.

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Project → Workspaces → Options

1.2.2.3.2. Setup
1. Create a new project file.

File → New Project...

2. Enter Splashing_Bouncing_Postprocessing_NACA23012 as the Project file name

within the Select File dialog.

3. Select and import the naca23012.cas.h5 input grid.

Project → Simulation → Import Case

A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name of the New Simulation as
naca23012,and check to enable Load in Solver and Import Airflow Solution (.dat). Click
OK.

A new simulation folder will be created in the Project View, and the naca23012.cas.h5
file will be imported.

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Figure 1.52: Fluent Icing Workspace

4. After the .cas.h5 file has been successfully loaded, a new Outline View tree appears under
naca23012 (loaded).

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5. The mesh is now displayed in the Graphics window to the right.

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Figure 1.53: NACA23012 Mesh Display

6. Define the Simulation Type.

Setup

Enable Airflow and Particles and disable Ice under Simulation Type.

7. Set the Airflow properties of the simulation.

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 Droplet Impingement Using Fluent Icing

Setup → Airflow

Note:

In this tutorial, all airflow properties are automatically imported when loading the
provided Fluent airflow solution input files, naca23012.cas.h5 and
naca23012.dat.h5.

8. Set the Particles properties of the simulation.

Setup → Particles

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Enable Droplets under Type.

9. Set the Droplets properties of the simulation.

Setup → Particles → Droplets

• In the Droplet Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 0.0005 for LWC [kg/m3].

– 111.106 for Droplet Diameter [microns].

– 1000 for Water Density [kg/m3].

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– Enable SLD.

– Disabled for Appendix Conditions.

• In the Particles Distribution section, retain the following setting:

– Monodispersed for Particles Distribution.

• In the Model section, retain the following settings:

– Water for Droplet Drag Model.

– None for Break-Up Model.

– By post-processing for Splashing and Bouncing.

– Mundo for Splashing Model.

– Disabled for Terminal Velocity.

10. Set the Boundary Conditions of the simulation.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Inlets → pressure-far-field-4

The inlet boundary condition, pressure-far-field-4, is based on the initial droplet velocity
and reference liquid water content which are both defined by enabling From Ref. Conditions.

11. Set the Solution properties of the simulation.

Solution → Particles

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• In the Run Settings section, retain the following setting:

– 300 for Number of Iterations.

• In the Solver section, retain the following settings:

– 20 for CFL.

– 1e-5 for Artificial Viscosity Coef.

– 1e-8 for Residual Cut-Off.

– 1e-10 for Change in Total Beta.

• In the Initialization section, retain the following settings:

– The Velocity settings will be set to From Airflow conditions. The settings imported
under the Airflow panel will be used.

– Disable Dry Initialization.

• In the Monitors section, retain the following settings:

– Enable Total Beta.

– Enable Change in Total Beta.

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– Disable Mass Deficit.

12. Launch the simulation.

Solution → Particles → Calculate

A New run window will appear. Set the Name of the new run to particles-splashing-
and-bouncing-on.

Once the computation is complete, the Particles solution file will be written inside the new
run directory particles-splashing-and-bouncing-on/Droplets.

1.2.2.3.3. Solution
1. In this example, Fluent Icing will calculate for 300 iterations. Once the simulation finishes, you
can view the collection efficiency distribution on the NACA23012.

Results → Quick-View → Contour → Collection Efficiency (Walls)

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Figure 1.54: NACA23012 Collection Efficiency Contours

2. You can also use Viewmerical to view the collection efficiency plot.

Results → Quick-View → Contour → View With Viewmerical

• In the Data section:

– Set Data to Collection efficiency-Droplet.

• In the Query section:

– Set 2D Plot to Enabled.

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– Set Target to Walls.

– Set Cutting plane to Z.

Figure 1.55: SLD Clipping Effect of Splashing (Red) And Bouncing (Blue) On the
Collection Efficiency

The graph above shows the difference in collection efficiency when splashing and bouncing are
enabled by post processing. Splashing effects remove some collection at the stagnation point
while bouncing removes collection past a certain chord-wise limit on the upper and lower surfaces.

Note:

To obtain the curve without splashing and bouncing, a separate particles run should
be performed by changing Splashing and Bouncing to None.

Setup → Particles → Droplets

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1.2.2.4. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated how to compute droplet impingement over a NACA23012 airfoil using
the splashing and bouncing by post-processing model developed for Supercooled Large Droplets
(SLD).

1.2.3. Splashing and Bouncing with Reinjection on a Three-Element Airfoil

This tutorial is divided into the following sections:
1.2.3.1. Introduction
1.2.3.2. Problem Description
1.2.3.3. Setup and Solution
1.2.3.4. Summary

1.2.3.1. Introduction
This tutorial illustrates how to compute droplet primary impingement and re-impingement over
the different components of a three-element airfoil using the splashing and bouncing model with
external reinjection developed for Supercooled Large Droplets (SLD).

1.2.3.2. Problem Description

When supercooled droplets reach a size of 40 microns, they begin to display complicated behaviors.
As they approach aircraft surfaces, they distort and break up into smaller droplets, splash into
smaller droplets upon impact, which can reduce collecting efficiency, and bounce off the surface
if the local impingement angle is too shallow. Small ejecta from splashing are reinjected into the
airflow and can hit the surface again, enhancing collecting efficiency at this new site. A slat element
(on the left), a main wing (in the middle), and a flap element (on the right) make up the three-ele-
ment airfoil. Large droplets will strike the slat element, while the main and flap components will
gather more droplets from the reinjection.

1.2.3.3. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
1.2.3.3.1. Preparation

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1.2.3.3.2. Setup
1.2.3.3.3. Solution

1.2.3.3.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this tutorial:

1. Download the fluent_icing_droplet_reinjection.zip file here.

2. Unzip fluent_icing_droplet_reinjection.zip to your working directory.

3. The files, 3element_airfoil_2.cas.h5, 3element_airfoil_2.dat.h5 and dis-

tri.csv can be found in the folder.

4. Use the Fluent Launcher to start Ansys Fluent.

5. In the Fluent Launcher, set the Capability Level to Enterprise, then select Icing.

6. Set Solver Processes between 4 and 16.

7. Click Start.

Alternatively, Fluent Icing can be opened using the icing (on Linux) or icing.bat (on
Windows) file inside the fluent/bin/ folder.

8. Uncheck Use Custom Solver Launch Settings, Show Solution Workspace on Launch,
and Enable Solution Workspace Graphics.

Project → Workspaces → Options

1.2.3.3.2. Setup
1. Create a new project file.

File → New Project...

2. Enter Reinjection_Three_Element_Airfoil as the Project file name within the

Select File dialog.

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3. Select and import the 3element_airfoil_2.cas.h5 input grid.

Project → Simulation → Import Case

A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name of the New Simulation as 3ele-
ment_airfoil_2,and check to enable Load in Solver and Import Airflow Solution (.dat).
Click OK.

A dialog will open asking you to set the operating pressure to 0 Pa. Press No to not accept
this change.

A new simulation folder will be created in the Project View, and the 3element_air-
foil_2.cas.h5 file will be imported.

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Figure 1.56: Fluent Icing Workspace

4. After the .cas.h5 file has been successfully loaded, a new Outline View tree appears under
naca23012 (loaded).

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5. The mesh is now displayed in the Graphics window to the right.

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Figure 1.57: Three-Element Airfoil Mesh Display

6. Define the Simulation Type.

Setup

Enable Airflow and Particles and disable Ice under Simulation Type.

7. Set the Airflow properties of the simulation.

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Setup → Airflow

Note:

In this tutorial, all airflow properties are automatically imported when loading the
provided Fluent airflow solution input files, 3element_airfoil_2.cas.h5
and 3element_airfoil_2.dat.h5.

8. Set the Particles properties of the simulation.

Setup → Particles

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Enable Droplets under Type.

9. Set the Droplets properties of the simulation.

Setup → Particles → Droplets

• In the Droplet Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 0.001 for LWC [kg/m3].

– 20 for Droplet Diameter [microns].

– 1000 for Water Density [kg/m3].

– Disable SLD.

– Disabled for Appendix Conditions.

• In the Particles Distribution section, retain the following setting:

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– Custom for Particles Distribution.

Beside Custom, click View followed by Import and import the distri.csv file.

• In the Model section, retain the following setting:

– Water for Droplet Drag Model.

10. Set the Boundary Conditions of the simulation.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Inlets → pressure-far-field-4

The inlet boundary condition, pressure-far-field-4, is based on the initial droplet velocity
and reference liquid water content which are both defined by enabling From Ref. Conditions.

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11. Set the Solution properties of the simulation.

Solution → Particles

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• In the Run Settings section, retain the following setting:

– 200 for Number of Iterations.

• In the Solver section, retain the following settings:

– 20 for CFL.

– 1e-5 for Artificial Viscosity Coef.

– 1e-8 for Residual Cut-Off.

– 1e-10 for Change in Total Beta.

• In the Initialization section, retain the following settings:

– The Velocity settings will be set to From Airflow conditions. The settings imported
under the Airflow panel will be used.

– Disable Dry Initialization.

• In the Output section, retain the following settings:

– Restart from Previous Diameter for Distribution Restart Mode.

– Enable Save Distribution Solutions.

• In the Monitors section, retain the following settings:

– Enable Total Beta.

– Enable Change in Total Beta.

– Disable Mass Deficit.

12. Launch the simulation.

Solution → Particles → Calculate

A New run window will appear. Set the Name of the new run to droplets-no-sld.

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Once the computation is complete, the Particles solution file will be written inside the new
run directory droplets-no-sld/Droplets and the Project View will be updated.

13. Go back to the Particles panel.

Setup → Particles

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• In the Model section, retain the following settings:

– Enable Particle Reinjection.

– 5 for Number of subdivisions.

– 2 Maximum reinjection loops.

14. Update the Droplets properties of the simulation.

Solution → Particles → Droplets

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• In the Model section, retain the following setting:

– Wright for Splashing Model.

15. Set the Boundary Conditions of the simulation.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Inlets → wall-5

• In the Particles section, retain the following setting:

– Enable Reinjection.

Note:

Repeat this step for all walls (wall-6 through wall-15).

16. Update the Solution properties of the simulation.

Solution → Particles

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• In the Run Settings section, retain the following setting:

– 200 for Number of Iterations.

– 100 for Reinj. Number of Iterations.

17. Launch the simulation.

Solution → Particles → Calculate

A New run window will appear. Set the Name of the new run to droplets-reinjection.

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Once the computation is complete, the Particles solution file will be written inside the new
run directory droplets-reinjection/Droplets and the Project View will be updated
with both Primary-Droplets and Droplets files.

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1.2.3.3.3. Solution
1. Compare the results of both combined solutions using Viewmerical.

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Right-click both Droplets file and select Project View → 3element_airfoil_2 →

Droplets View Results With... → Viewmerical

Pick the two imported objects in Viewmerical's Objects panel and choose Horizontal-Left
under Split screen.

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In the Data panel, select Droplet LWC (kg/m^3) for Data, Spectrum 2 - 64 for Color range.
Click on the Shared icon and change the maximum value to 0.0025 kg/m3.

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The image above shows the difference in LWC caused by considering (right) or without con-
sidering (left) droplet reinjection based on Wright's splashing model. When reinjection is
considered, the droplet concentration on the pressure side of the flap element and the main
wing increases.

2. In the Objects section, enable only the wall boundary conditions corresponding to the slat
element (BC_2009, BC_2014) and keep both solutions selected.

3. Plot the collection efficiency by by heading to the Data panel and selecting Collection effi-
ciency-Droplet. In the Query panel, set 2D Plot to Enabled, Target to Walls, Cutting plane
to Z and Distance in the drop-down list for the abscissa.

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Adjust the color of the curves under Curve Settings (green for the full primary collection case
and black for the reinjection case):

Repeat the same for the main wing (BC_2005, BC_2010, BC_2011, BC_2012, BC_2015).

Repeat the same for the main wing (BC_2006, BC_2007, BC_2008, BC_2013, ).

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You can examine the outcomes on the slat, main, and flap elements from top to bottom. It em-
phasizes the differences between collecting all of the SLD at the wall and using a splashing
model with reinjection. We can discern a peak displaying the mass collected after reinjection,
especially on the major wing.

1.2.3.4. Summary
This tutorial illustrated how to compute droplet primary impingement and re-impingement over
the different components of a three-element airfoil using the splashing and bouncing model with
external reinjection developed for Supercooled Large Droplets (SLD).

1.3. Ice Accretion Using Fluent Icing

The following sections of this tutorial are:
1.3.1. Ice Accretion at High Speed
1.3.2. Ice Shedding on an Engine Fan Blade

1.3.1. Ice Accretion at High Speed

This tutorial is divided into the following sections:
1.3.1.1. Introduction
1.3.1.2. Problem Description
1.3.1.3. Setup and Solution
1.3.1.4. Summary

1.3.1.1. Introduction
Icing calculations at high air speeds require special treatment when the total temperature of the
flow is very close or above freezing temperature. This condition may arise when the icing temper-
ature is low but the Mach number is in the mid- to transonic range. For these cases, an additional
feature called Extended Icing Data (EID) will be used, where Fluent Icing performs additional pre-
processing of the flow to improve the icing thermodynamics for this regime.

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1.3.1.2. Problem Description

The problem considers the icing computations around a NACA0012 airfoil at an angle of attack of
7° and a free-stream Mach number of 0.5912 at low icing temperature. The ice shapes encountered
in this flow regime, typically referred to as beak ice, are usually characterized by well-defined small
horns growing at a short distance from the stagnation point on a mostly uncontaminated surface.
This is a type of ice shape that is usually observed on the outboard sections of helicopter main rotor
blades.

Figure 1.58: NACA0012 Mesh

1.3.1.3. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
1.3.1.3.1. Preparation
1.3.1.3.2. Setup
1.3.1.3.3. Solution

1.3.1.3.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this tutorial:

1. Download the fluent_icing_ice_accretion.zip file here.

2. Unzip fluent_icing_ice_accretion.zip to your working directory.

3. The file, naca0012.cas.h5, can be found in the folder.

4. Use the Fluent Launcher to start Ansys Fluent.

5. In the Fluent Launcher, set the Capability Level to Enterprise, then select Icing.

6. Set Solver Processes between 4 and 16.

7. Click Start.

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Alternatively, Fluent Icing can be opened using the icing (on Linux) or icing.bat (on
Windows) file inside the fluent/bin/ folder.

8. Uncheck Use Custom Solver Launch Settings, Show Solution Workspace on Launch,
and Enable Solution Workspace Graphics.

Project → Workspaces → Options

1.3.1.3.2. Setup
1. Create a new project file.

File → New...

2. Enter Ice_Accretion_High_Speed as the Project file name within the Select File dialog.

3. Select and import the naca0012.cas.h5 input grid.

Project → Simulation → Import Case

A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name of the New Simulation as naca0012,
and check to enable Load in Solver. Click OK.

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A new simulation folder will be created in the Project View, and the naca0012.cas.h5
file will be imported.

Figure 1.59: Fluent Icing Workspace

4. After the .cas.h5 file has been successfully loaded, a new Outline View tree appears under
naca0012 (loaded).

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5. The mesh is now displayed in the Graphics window to the right.

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Figure 1.60: NACA0012 Mesh Display

6. Define the Simulation Type.

Setup

Enable Airflow and Particles and Ice under Simulation Type.

7. Set the Airflow properties of the simulation.

Setup → Airflow

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• In the General section, retain the following setting:

– Fluent for Airflow Solver.

• In the Reference Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 0.1524 for Characteristic Length [m].

– 190 for Speed [m/s].

– 257 for Temperature [K].

– 80800 for Pressure [Pa].

• In the Direction section, retain the following settings:

– Angle of attack for Vector Mode.

– Y+ for Lift Direction.

– X+ for Drag Direction.

– 7 for AoA [deg.].

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– 0 for Yaw [deg.].

– 190 for Velocity Magnitude [m/s].

8. Set the Fluent properties of the simulation.

Setup → Fluent

• In the Solver section, retain the following setting:

– Pressure-based for Type.

• In the Models section, retain the following settings:

– Enable Energy.

– K-Omega 2-eqn for Turbulence.

– SST for k-omega Model.

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– Disabled for Transition Model.

– Enable Viscous Heating.

– Enable Turb. Production Limiter.

• In the Materials section, retain the following settings:

– Air for Fluid.

– Ideal gas for Density - Option.

– Constant for Cp - Option.

– 1004.69 for Cp [J/kg-K].

– Constant for Thermal Conductivity - Option.

– 0.0228 for Thermal Conductivity [W/m-K].

– Constant for Dynamic Viscosity - Option.

– 1.6364e-5 for Dynamic Viscosity [kg/m-s].

9. Set the Particles properties of the simulation.

Setup → Particles

Enable Droplets under Type.

10. Set the Droplets properties of the simulation.

Setup → Particles → Droplets

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• In the Droplet Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 0.0002 for LWC [kg/m3].

– 20 for Droplet Diameter [microns].

– 1000 for Water Density [kg/m3].

– Disable SLD.

– Disabled for Appendix Conditions.

• In the Particles Distribution section, retain the following setting:

– Monodispersed for Particles Distribution.

• In the Model section, retain the following setting:

– Water for Droplet Drag Model.

11. Set the Ice properties of the simulation.

Setup → Ice

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• In the Ice Accretion Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 0.9 for Recovery Factor.

– Disable Specify Icing Air Temperature.

– 100 for Relative Humidity.

• In the Model section, retain the following settings:

– Glaze for Icing Model.

– Disable Beading.

– Disabled for Ice Shedding.

• In the Ice Properties section, retain the following settings:

– Constant for Ice Density Type.

– 917 for Constant Ice Density [kg/m3].

12. Set the Boundary Conditions of the simulation.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Inlets → pressure-far-field-4

The inlet boundary condition, pressure-far-field-4, is based on the initial droplet velocity
and reference liquid water content which are both defined by enabling From Ref. Conditions.

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Press on Import Ref. Conditions to import the reference conditions of the case file. All refer-
ence conditions are now imported to your boundary condition.

• In the Particles section, retain the following settings:

– Enable From Ref. Conditions.

– Disable Droplet Velocity Vector.

• In the Airflow section, retain the following settings:

– 257 for Temperature [K].

– 80800 for Pressure [Pa].

– Mach for Velocity Mode.

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– 0.591209 for Mach Number.

– Vector components for Direction.

– 0.992546 for Flow Direction X.

– 0.121869 for Flow Direction Y.

– 0 for Flow Direction Z.

– Intensity and Viscosity Ratio for Turbulence Specification.

– 0.08 for Turbulent Intensity [%].

– 1e-5 for Turbulent Viscosity Ratio.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Walls → wall-5

• In the Ice section, retain the following setting:

– Enabled for Icing.

• In the Airflow section, retain the following settings:

– Heat Flux for Thermal Conditions.

– 0 for Heat Flux [W/m2].

For the EID calculations, icing walls need to be set as adiabatic walls. Heat transfer
coefficients will be extracted later on as part of EID solution.

– High roughness for Icing for Wall Roughness.

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– 0.0005 for Roughness Height [m].

– Repeat the steps above for wall-6 and wall-7.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Walls → wall-8

• In the Ice section, retain the following setting:

– Sink for Icing.

Note:

Sink boundaries eliminate impingement and runback while also preventing

ice formation. In this case, you'll use it to keep runback water from reaching
the lower side's trailing edge.

13. Set the Solution properties of the simulation.

Solution → Airflow

• In the Time Integration section, retain the following settings:

– 500 for Number of Iterations.

– Pseudo Time for Method.

– 0.1 for Time Scale Factor.

Note:

Time Scale Factor is a case specific setting and may need to be reduced for
stability or increased for computational efficiency.

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• In the Initialization section, retain the following setting:

– Hybrid for Method.

• In the Post-processing Output section, retain the following setting:

– Disabled for Write Post-processing Files.

Solution → Particles

• In the Run Settings section, retain the following setting:

– 150 for Number of Iterations.

• In the Solver section, retain the following settings:

– 20 for CFL.

– 1e-5 for Artificial Viscosity Coef.

– 1e-8 for Residual Cut-Off.

– 1e-10 for Change in Total Beta.

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• In the Initialization section, retain the following settings:

– The Velocity settings will be set to From Airflow conditions. The settings imported
under the Airflow panel will be used.

– Disable Dry Initialization.

• In the Monitors section, retain the following settings:

– Enable Total Beta.

– Enable Change in Total Beta.

– Disable Mass Deficit.

Solution → Ice

• In the Time section, retain the following setting:

– 60 for Total Time of Ice Accretion [s].

– Enable Automatic Time Step.

14. Launch the simulation.

Solution → Airflow → Calculate

A New run window will appear. Set the Name of the new run to flow.

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Once flow is complete, follow the steps below.

Solution → Particles → Calculate

A New run window will appear. Set the Name of the new run to particles.

Once particles is complete, follow the steps below.

Solution → Ice → Calculate

A New run window will appear. Set the Name of the new run to ice.

Once the computation is complete, the solution files will be written inside the new run direct-
ory:

• naca0012

– flow

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– particles

– ice

1.3.1.3.3. Solution
1. In this example, Fluent Icing will calculate the airflow, particles and ice simulation. Once the
simulation finishes, you can view the liquid water content on the NACA0012 airfoil.

Results → Quick-View → Contour → LWC

Figure 1.61: NACA0012 LWC Contours

2. You can also use Viewmerical to view the ice cover.

Results → Quick-View → Ice Cover → Ice Cover - Viewmerical

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Figure 1.62: Beak Ice on the NACA0012 Airfoil

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1.3.1.4. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated the ice accretion at high-speed over a NACA0012 airfoil, which en-
countered a beak ice shape in this flow regime. In addition, EID feature was used to improve icing
thermodynamics.

1.3.2. Ice Shedding on an Engine Fan Blade

This tutorial is divided into the following sections:
1.3.2.1. Introduction
1.3.2.2. Limitations
1.3.2.3. Problem Description
1.3.2.4. Setup and Solution
1.3.2.5. Summary

1.3.2.1. Introduction
Ice that accretes on rotating components like helicopter rotors, propellers, and engine fan blades
can shed due to breakup under centrifugal forces. When shedding happens asymmetrically, rotors
experience vibrations which can be severe. Estimating when and how much ice will shed from a
rotor blade can help establish part of the parameters needed to analyze rotor vibrations and
structural analysis. The ice shedding feature is designed for the purpose of reporting the amount
of ice mass that shed during icing under the influence of rotational forces.

To compute ice delamination from the substrate and ice cracking, the ice volume is meshed internally
by ICE3D using the same surface mesh topology as the substrate. A stress analysis is then performed.
This operation takes place at a user-specified frequency which coincides with the solution output
of ICE3D. The stress analysis may reveal that multiple ice fragments delaminate and crack. These
fragments are reported in the log and the lost ice mass is removed from the solution. Icing time
steps for engine fans usually range between 1e-7 to 1e-4 seconds, while the stress analysis interval
can be set much higher, around 0.5 – 2 seconds.

For more details on the ice shedding model, consult Fluent User's Guide and Ansys FENSAP-ICE
User Manual.

1.3.2.2. Limitations
In this version, the stress analysis of the ice is done using a single CPU only. Large surface grids of
helicopter rotors and turbo-prop blades may take a long time to complete a single stress analysis.
Engine fan and rotor blades are more suited for use with the current version of the ice shedding
implementation.

Non-conformal rotational periodicity is not supported in Fluent Icing. The periodic boundaries on
either side need to be perfectly node-to-node matching.

Ice stress analysis is done on single shot ice shapes, with the ice volume mesh created as a single
layer between the starting surface and the final ice shape. Multi-shot ice shapes and multi-shot
workflows in general are not yet supported.

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1.3.2.3. Problem Description

In this tutorial, the ice shedding feature uses a simple fan blade shown in the figure below. The
structured computational mesh is 10-degree rotationally periodic. There is a tip gap between the
shroud and the fan blade. The exit is split into two sections, one for the bypass flow and one for
the engine core flow. The solution process will begin with airflow, followed with a particle solution
for droplets, and finally with an ice solution to compute ice accumulation and shedding.

Figure 1.63: 10-Degree Rotationally Periodic Section for a Simple Engine Fan Blade

1.3.2.4. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
1.3.2.4.1. Preparation
1.3.2.4.2. Setup
1.3.2.4.3. Solution

1.3.2.4.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this tutorial:

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1. Download the fluent_icing_ice_accretion.zip file here.

2. Unzip fluent_icing_ice_accretion.zip to your working directory.

3. The file, fan.cas.h5, can be found in the folder.

4. Use the Fluent Launcher to start Ansys Fluent.

5. In the Fluent Launcher, set the Capability Level to Enterprise, then select Icing.

6. Set Solver Processes between 4 and 16.

7. Click Start.

Alternatively, Fluent Icing can be opened using the icing (on Linux) or icing.bat (on
Windows) file inside the fluent/bin/ folder.

8. Uncheck Use Custom Solver Launch Settings, Show Solution Workspace on Launch,
and Enable Solution Workspace Graphics.

Project → Workspaces → Options

1.3.2.4.2. Setup
1. Create a new project file.

File → New...

2. Enter Ice_Shedding_on_Fan as the Project file name within the Select File dialog.

3. Select and import the fan.cas.h5 input grid.

Project → Simulation → Import Case

A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name of the New Simulation as fan, and
check to enable Load in Solver. Click OK.

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A new simulation folder will be created in the Project View, and the fan.cas.h5 file will
be imported.

Figure 1.64: Fluent Icing Workspace

4. Enable Advanced Settings to expose advanced features.

File → Preferences... → Icing → Advanced Settings

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5. After the .cas.h5 file has been successfully loaded, a new Outline View tree appears under
fan (loaded).

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6. The mesh is now displayed in the Graphics window to the right.

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Figure 1.65: NACA0012 Mesh Display

7. Define the Simulation Type.

Setup

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Enable Airflow and Particles and Ice under Simulation Type.

8. In the Icing Domain section, retain the following setting:

• Rotating for Reference Frame (Single Domain).

• 1800 for Speed [rev/min].

• 1 for Axis Direction X.

• 0 for Axis Direction Y.

• 0 for Axis Direction Z.

9. Set the Airflow properties of the simulation.

Setup → Airflow

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• In the General section, retain the following setting:

– Fluent for Airflow Solver.

• In the Reference Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 0.1 for Characteristic Length [m].

– 77 for Speed [m/s].

– 260 for Temperature [K].

– 65000 for Pressure [Pa].

• In the Direction section, retain the following settings:

– Cartesian components for Vector Mode.

– 77 for X Velocity [m/s].

– 0 for Y Velocity [m/s].

– 0 for Z Velocity [m/s].

10. Set the Fluent properties of the simulation.

Setup → Fluent

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 Ice Accretion Using Fluent Icing

• In the Solver section, retain the following setting:

– Pressure-based for Type.

• In the Models section, retain the following settings:

– Enable Energy.

– K-Omega 2-eqn for Turbulence.

– SST for k-omega Model.

– Disabled for Transition Model.

– Enable Viscous Heating.

– Enable Turb. Production Limiter.

• In the Materials section, retain the following settings:

– Air for Fluid.

– Ideal gas for Density - Option.

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– Constant for Cp - Option.

– 1004.5 for Cp [J/kg-K].

– Case settings for Thermal Conductivity - Option.

– Case settings for Dynamic Viscosity - Option.

11. Set the Particles properties of the simulation.

Setup → Particles

Enable Droplets and Vapor under Type.

12. Set the Droplets properties of the simulation.

Setup → Particles → Droplets

• In the Droplet Conditions section, retain the following settings:

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 Ice Accretion Using Fluent Icing

– 0.0001 for LWC [kg/m3].

– 20 for Droplet Diameter [microns].

– 1000 for Water Density [kg/m3].

– Disable SLD.

– Disabled for Appendix Conditions.

• In the Particles Distribution section, retain the following setting:

– Monodispersed for Particles Distribution.

• In the Model section, retain the following setting:

– Water for Droplet Drag Model.

13. Set the Vapor properties of the simulation.

Setup → Particles → Vapor

• In the Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– Relative Humidity for Vapor Initialization.

– 100 for Relative Humidity [%].

• In the Model section, retain the following setting:

– 0.7 for Turbulent Schmidt Number.

14. Set the Ice properties of the simulation.

Setup → Ice

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• In the Ice Accretion Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 0.9 for Recovery Factor.

– Disable Specify Icing Air Temperature.

– 100 for Relative Humidity.

• In the Model section, retain the following settings:

– Glaze for Icing Model.

– Enable Beading.

– Enabled for Ice Shedding.

• In the Ice Properties section, retain the following settings:

– Constant for Ice Density Type.

– 917 for Constant Ice Density [kg/m3].

– Ice-Aluminum for Ice - Surface Interface.

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– Principal Stress for Crack Detection Criteria.

– 40000 for Cohesive Tensile Strength [Pa].

– 100000 for Fracture Toughness [Pa.m^0.5].

– 8.5e+9 for Young's Modulus [Pa].

– 0.33 for Poisson's Ratio.

Note:

The Relative Humidity setting here is ineffective when vapor model is activated
as part of the particles simulation. The locally variable humidity on the wall will
instead be provided by the vapor transport solution.

The Icing Model is set to Glaze as there will be increased aerodynamic heating
from the root to the tip of the blade and conditions can change from rime to
glaze towards the tip.

Beading is enabled to find out the resulting ice surface roughness during ice
accretion.

Ice shedding is enabled to compute ice stress and crack propagation as part of
the simulation. Enabling this option will bring up a list of parameters that are
used in the ice stress analysis. Currently only two options are supported for Ice
– Surface Interface: Ice-Aluminum and Ice-Steel. This choice affects the normal
and shear adhesive strength between the ice and the substrate.

Crack Detection Criteria can be set to either Principle Stress or Fracture

Toughness. Fracture Toughnessis usually used for ductile materials, while
Principle Stress is better suited for brittle materials like ice. When Principle
Stress is chosen, the critical stress for crack initiation and propagation will be
the Cohesive Tensile Stress set in this panel.

15. Set the Boundary Conditions of the simulation.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Inlets → zone1004

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• In the Particles section, retain the following settings:

– Enable From Ref. Conditions.

Note:

When From Ref. Conditions is checked, the LWC and droplet diameter
values will be taken from the conditions defined in Droplets. Water vapor
boundary condition at the inlet is set to 100% relative humidity which
will apply the vapor saturation pressure at the air temperature set for this
boundary.

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– Disable Droplet Velocity Vector.

– Relative Humidity for Vapor Condition Mode.

– 100 for Relative Humidity [%].

• In the Airflow section, retain the following settings:

– Edit for Conditions.

– 260 for Temperature [K].

– Absolute for Reference Frame.

Note:

The Reference Frame determines if the velocity components are declared

in absolute or rotating frame of reference. In this case, the air is flowing
straight in the X direction onto the fan, while the fan is rotating as part
of the domain with it’s rotation set earlier in the Setup window. On the
other hand, if you had an inlet attached to a rotating assembly with the
air coming out of this inlet rotating with the same rate as the domain,
then you would need to set the reference frame to relative.

– Speed for Velocity Mode.

– 77 for Speed [m/s].

– Vector components for Direction.

– 1 for Flow Direction X.

– 0 for Flow Direction Y.

– 0 for Flow Direction Z.

– Intensity and Viscosity Ratio for Turbulence Specification.

– 1 for Turbulent Intensity [%].

– 1 for Turbulent Viscosity Ratio.

Note:

Turbulent intensity and viscosity ratio are set to 1 instead of quiescent

flow since this is a fan domain and incoming flow could already have
some turbulence in an actual situation.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Walls → zone2005

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Note:

All walls are to be set as adiabatic (heat flux = 0) with zero roughness. In turboma-
chinery icing problems, it is preferable to have zero surface roughness, allowing it
to be built up with the beading model. Otherwise, this artificial roughness setting
applied to all walls can strongly change flow dynamics.

• In the Particles section, retain the following setting:

– Disable Vapor Wet Wall.

• In the Ice section, retain the following setting:

Note:

To simplify the problem, only the fan blade and the splitter will be enabled
for icing, while hub and shroud will be disabled. Since the blade is connected
to the hub and the ice needs to grow at this intersection, the robust
method is to set the hub to Disabled-Sliding. This will allow blade ice to
follow the hub surface at the hub/blade intersection as it grows outward
from the blade.

– Disabled-Sliding for Icing.

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• In the Airflow section, retain the following settings:

– Heat Flux for Thermal Conditions.

– 0 for Heat Flux [W/m2].

– High roughness for Icing for Wall Roughness.

– 0 for Roughness Height [m].

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Walls → zone2006

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Note:

Zone2006 corresponds to the shroud, which is not needed for icing computations
and can be disabled. This is a static wall which does not rotate with the fan, and
needs to be set as counter rotating to the cell zone. This is set by enabling Rotating
Wall and applying the opposite rotation speed. Alternatively you could set it to
zero rotation in the absolute reference frame. The axis origin and direction will be
locked to the same values used for the cell zone.

• In the Particles section, retain the following setting:

– Disable Vapor Wet Wall.

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• In the Ice section, retain the following setting:

– Disabled for Icing.

• In the Airflow section, retain the following settings:

– Heat Flux for Thermal Conditions.

– 0 for Heat Flux [W/m2].

– High roughness for Icing for Wall Roughness.

– 0 for Roughness Height [m].

– Enable Rotating Wall.

– Relative to Cell Zone for Reference Frame.

– -1800 for Speed [rev/min]

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Walls → zone2007

Note:

The fan blade is zone2007. Icing will be enabled for this zone, with no additional
rotational settings.

• In the Particles section, retain the following setting:

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– Disable Vapor Wet Wall.

• In the Ice section, retain the following setting:

– Enabled for Icing.

• In the Airflow section, retain the following settings:

– Heat Flux for Thermal Conditions.

– 0 for Heat Flux [W/m2].

– High roughness for Icing for Wall Roughness.

– 0 for Roughness Height [m].

– Disable Rotating Wall.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Walls → zone2008

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Note:

The bypass/core splitter is zone2008 and is set as counter rotating since it's a
static component similar to zone2006. Icing is also enabled for this zone to visualize
the amount of ice that will accumulate on this boundary.

• In the Particles section, retain the following setting:

– Disable Vapor Wet Wall.

• In the Ice section, retain the following setting:

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– Enabled for Icing.

• In the Airflow section, retain the following settings:

– Heat Flux for Thermal Conditions.

– 0 for Heat Flux [W/m2].

– Case settings for Wall Roughness.

– 0 for Roughness Height [m].

– Enable Rotating Wall.

– Relative to Cell Zone for Reference Frame.

– -1800 for Speed [rev/min]

Note:

On counter rotating walls, the icing results will be circumferentially averaged akin
to the mixing plane approach. This modeling approach accounts for many instances
of blades rotating past this splitter section through the course of icing computed
for a much longer period than the passage of a single blade across the periodic
section.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Walls → zone2009

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Note:

Zone2009 is comprised of the trailing edge and the tip sections of the blade. Select
this boundary, then press Display to show it in the Graphics window:

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Note:

The tip and the trailing edge have been separated on purpose to apply Sink
boundary conditions and prevent ice from accumulating on these parts. The mesh
elements part of the structured grid are extremely thin with very high aspect ratios.
This severely decreases the solver performance of the stress analysis module used
for ice cracking. Water film flow requires extremely low time steps should there be
any runback reaching these elements. The loss in ice-shedding modeling accuracy
is negligible, while the gain in solver performance is quite significant. Therefore,
it is highly recommended preparing your grids in a similar way for icing and ice
shedding analysis on rotor blades.

• In the Particles section, retain the following setting:

– Disable Vapor Wet Wall.

• In the Ice section, retain the following setting:

– Sink for Icing.

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• In the Airflow section, retain the following settings:

– Heat Flux for Thermal Conditions.

– 0 for Heat Flux [W/m2].

– High roughness for Icing for Wall Roughness.

– 0 for Roughness Height [m].

– Disable Rotating Wall.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Outlets → zone3010

• In the Airflow section, retain the following settings:

– Relative to Cell Zone for Reference Frame.

– 300 for Backflow Total Temperature [K].

– 66456 for Pressure [Pa].

16. Reset Conditions to Case settings.

Note:

The Reference Frame is not used for outlet boundary conditions, therefore it can
remain as Relative to Cell Zone. The only other options currently available are
Backflow Total Temperature, in cases of flow reversal, and Pressure [Pa]. In ro-
tating flows, there will be a radial pressure increase in the fluid due to centrifugal
forces. The increase in pressure counters the centrifugal force on the fluid (radial
equilibrium). In engine aerodynamic simulations, it is important to include this effect
in the modeling process. Since this option is not present in Fluent Icing at this
time, it will have to be set in the Fluent Solution workspace instead.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Outlets zone3010 → Reset to Custom Settings

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17. Open the Fluent Workspace.

Project → Workspaces → Solution

A dialog will open advising you that the Fluent Solution Workspace will appear in another
window. Press OK to proceed.

18. Set the Boundary Conditions of the simulation.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Outlet → zone3010 (pressure-outlet, id=10)

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• In the Momentum section, retain the following settings:

– 66456 for Gauge Pressure [Pa].

– 1 for Pressure Profile Multiplier.

– Enable Prevent Reverse Flow.

– Enable Radial Equilibrium Pressure Distribution.

Press OK to close this window.

Note:

Apply the same settings for zone3011 (pressure-outlet, id=11).

Periodicity has already been set in the case, with one-to-one matching periodic
boundaries with a 10-degree angle. Refer to Setting Up Periodic Boundaries for
more information on setting periodicity for your domains.

19. Set the Solution properties of the simulation.

Solution

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• In the Multi-Shot section, retain the following settings:

– 1 for Number of Shots.

– Enable Save File at Each Shot.

– Reinitialize for Airflow Restart.

– Uniform for Settings.

• In the Global Settings section, retain the following settings:

– Complete for Log Verbosity.

– Default for Plotting.

Solution → Airflow

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• In the Time Integration section, retain the following settings:

– 100 for Number of Iterations.

– Select CFL under the Method drop-down list.

– 200 for Courant Number.

Note:

Time Scale Factor is a case specific setting and may need to be reduced for
stability or increased for computational efficiency.

• In the Initialization section:

– Select Hybrid under the Method drop-down list.

• In the Post-processing Output section:

– Retain the default selection of Disabled for Write Post-processing Files.

Solution → Particles

• In the Run Settings section, retain the following setting:

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– 40 for Number of Iterations.

• In the Solver section, retain the following settings:

– 20 for CFL.

– 1e-5 for Artificial Viscosity Coef.

– 1e-8 for Residual Cut-Off.

– 1e-10 for Change in Total Beta.

• In the Initialization section, retain the following settings:

– The Velocity settings will be set to From Airflow conditions. The settings imported
under the Airflow panel will be used.

– Disable Dry Initialization.

• In the Monitors section, retain the following settings:

– Enable Total Beta.

– Enable Change in Total Beta.

– Disable Mass Deficit.

– Disable Vapor Condensation.

Note:

This is a relatively simple case and 40 iterations will suffice to reach convergence.
For more complex flows and meshes with thinner elements, the Number of It-
erations should be increased. The best indicator in deciding whether your tur-
bomachinery problem has converged lies is the Mass Deficit. Collection efficiency
will converge before total mass balance since the shadow zones may not have
completely formed. It is important to converge the exit boundaries as well since
in multi-row turbo simulations these exit rows will dictate the inflow conditions
for subsequent rows.

Solution → Ice

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 Ice Accretion Using Fluent Icing

• In the Time section, retain the following setting:

– 60 for Total Time of Ice Accretion [s].

– Enable Automatic Time Step.

• In the Shedding Outputs section, retain the following settings:

– 2 for Shedding Interval [s].

Note:

The Shedding Interval [s] sets the frequency of ice stress and crack
propagation analysis. Since this is a relatively expensive operation, it should
not be set at every local time step. You can experiment with smaller and larger
time intervals to explore how it affects the overall ice shedding properties like
maximum shed-ice mass and the frequency of large shed events.

– Yes for Numbered Output Files.

20. Save the current simulation state.

Project → Simulation → Save Case

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21. Launch the simulation.

Solution → Airflow → Calculate

A New run window will appear. Set the Name of the new run to flow.

Once flow is complete, follow the steps below.

Solution → Particles → Calculate

A New run window will appear. Set the Name of the new run to particles.

Once particles is complete, follow the steps below.

Solution → Ice → Calculate

A New run window will appear. Set the Name of the new run to ice.

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 Ice Accretion Using Fluent Icing

Once the computation is complete, the solution files will be written inside the new run direct-
ory:

• fan

– flow

– particles

– ice

1.3.2.4.3. Solution
1. Take a look at the convergence history of this simulation in the Plots window located at the
right of your screen.

The following three figures show the convergence of residuals of the Airflow, Particles and
Ice runs.

Figure 1.66: Air Residuals

Note:

You can navigate to Results within the Outline View to display contour plots.
Static pressure and temperature plots are already included under Contours.

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Figure 1.67: Particles Residuals

You can create a new contour plot to visualize the droplet solution in the window.

Results → Quick-View → Contour → Collection Efficiency (Walls)

You can also open the results in Viewmerical from the Project View. Right-click the Droplets
solution and select View Results With… → Viewmerical. A Viewmerical window will appear
allowing you to further post-process the Droplets results.

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Figure 1.68: Collection Efficiency on the Blade and Splitter

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Figure 1.69: Ice Residuals

The image above shows the total ice mass history, and includes the ice accreting on the
spinner as well. The drops in value indicate some ice loss due to shedding. The largest shed
event occurs at t = 32s. The mass loss can be determined by clicking the curve at the two
ends of the discontinuity and comparing the values of ice mass:

More information is available in a log file, fan.iceshed.log, located in the run directory
on disk.

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The Ice shedding summary log file shows 9 ice fragments were shed, with the total shed
mass close to 50% of the total before shedding.

You can view the ice accumulation history as a sequence of results by right-clicking Ice under
ice (current) in the Project View and selecting Surface Grid → View With Viewmerical to
load the ice solution. Select New Instance if asked to append this solution to an existing
Viewmerical window.

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Using the – and + buttons in the top right corner, first remove this grid by clicking –, then
click + to load a new dataset.

Under Grid file, click the browse button , navigate to the ice directory, and select
fan.ice.grid.shed.00000001. Enable the File sequence option. For Solution file
(optional), click the browse button and select fan.swimsol.shed.00000001. When a
numbered solution file similar to this is chosen, enable the additional File Sequence option
that appears.

Press Load. You should now see the ice solution with Mass Caught displayed. Switch to the
Data tab on the right panel and select Ice Growth (kg/m^2) from its drop-down. Set the
Color range to Grayscale – 128 and set the maximum range to 0.3.

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 Multishot Icing with Automatic Remeshing Tutorial

By moving the slider bar back and forth, you will be able to visualize the ice accumulation
and mass loss due to shedding. The numbered files are saved at every 2 seconds of icing,
coinciding with the shedding analysis frequency.

1.3.2.5. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated ice that accretes on rotating components like helicopter rotors, propellers,
and engine fan blades which can shed due to breakup under centrifugal forces.

1.4. Multishot Icing with Automatic Remeshing Tutorial

The following sections of this tutorial are:
1.4.1. Limitations
1.4.2. Multishot Glaze Ice with Automatic Remeshing Using Fluent Meshing
1.4.3. Multishot Icing with Automatic Remeshing - Run in Batch Mode
1.4.4. Multishot Glaze Ice with Automatic Remeshing - Postprocessing Using CFD-Post

1.4.1. Limitations
For a list of limitations related to multi-shot, see Known Limitations in Fluent Icing 2024 R1.

1.4.2. Multishot Glaze Ice with Automatic Remeshing Using Fluent Meshing
This tutorial is divided into the following sections:
1.4.2.1. Introduction
1.4.2.2. Problem Description

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1.4.2.3. Setup and Solution

1.4.2.4. Summary

1.4.2.1. Introduction
This tutorial demonstrates Fluent Icing's capabilities in conducting a multi-shot ice accretion simu-
lation on the 3D Onera M6 swept wing under glaze icing conditions using automatic remeshing
with Fluent Meshing. Automatic remeshing will maintain and/or improve the mesh resolution over
the ice shape as it evolves at each shot. Therefore, it will enhance convergence, precision and ac-
curacy of the entire simulation process.

Through this tutorial, you will learn how Fluent Icing can be set up to perform an 18-minute multi-
shot ice accretion calculation divided into 6 quasi-steady shots of 3 minutes each. The automatic
remeshing approach uses Fluent Meshing to entirely remesh the new iced surface as well as the
volumetric mesh. It maintains a high level of mesh quality and precisely captures complex features
such as ice horns.

Note:

The automatic remeshing approach shown is different than the automatic mesh displace-
ment (ALE) method. In the ALE method, only the ice surface and cells around the ice
shape are displaced. This method maintains the same number of nodes and cells during
the entire multi-shot simulation. The disadvantage of the ALE method is the deterioration
of the mesh quality (coarsening, increase in aspect ratio of cells, etc.). This is especially
true for longer ice accretion times where the possibility of complex ice shapes such as
horns can develop.

You should have at least 64GB of RAM to run this multi-shot icing simulation since the mesh size
increases with the number of shots.

Multishot Icing with Automatic Remeshing - Run in Batch Mode (p. 251) shows how to run a multi-
shot icing simulation in Fluent Icing using batch mode and a journal file.

1.4.2.2. Problem Description

The problem considers the multishot ice accretion on the 3D Onera M6 swept wing under glaze
icing conditions using automatic remeshing with Fluent Meshing.

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 Multishot Icing with Automatic Remeshing Tutorial

Figure 1.70: ONERA M6 Swept Wing Geometry and Mesh

Table 1.1: Simulation In-Flight Icing Conditions

Characteristic Length 0.65 m

Speed 103 m/s
Angle of Attack 4°

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Pressure (Altitude = 5000 84312.727 Pa

ft)
Temperature 268 K (-5.15 °C)
MVD 20 μm
LWC Appendix C - Continuous
Maximum
Ice Accretion Time 18 minutes

1.4.2.3. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
1.4.2.3.1. Preparation
1.4.2.3.2. Setup
1.4.2.3.3. Solution
1.4.2.3.4. Post-processing

1.4.2.3.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this tutorial:

1. Download the fluent_multishot.zip file here.

2. Unzip fluent_multishot.zip to your working directory.

3. The file, oneram6-wing.cas.h5, can be found in the folder.

4. Use the Fluent Launcher to start Ansys Fluent.

5. In the Fluent Launcher, set the Capability Level to Enterprise, then select Icing.

6. Set Solver Processes between 2 and 4.

7. Click Start.

Alternatively, Fluent Icing can be opened using the icing (on Linux) or icing.bat (on
Windows) file inside the fluent/bin/ folder.

8. Uncheck Use Custom Solver Launch Settings, Show Solution Workspace on Launch,
and Enable Solution Workspace Graphics.

Project → Workspaces → Options

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 Multishot Icing with Automatic Remeshing Tutorial

1.4.2.3.2. Setup
1. Create a new project file.

File → New Project...

2. Enter Fluent_Icing_ONERAM6_Multishot as the Project file name within the Select

File dialog.

3. Select and import the oneram6-wing.cas.h5 input grid.

Project → Simulation → Import Case

A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name of the New Simulation as
oneram6_icing, and check to enable Load in Solver. Click OK.

A new simulation folder will be created in the Project View, and the oneram6-wing.cas.h5
file will be imported.

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Figure 1.71: Fluent Icing Workspace

4. After the .cas.h5 file has been successfully loaded, a new Outline View tree appears under
oneram6_icing (loaded).

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5. The mesh is now displayed in the Graphics window to the right.

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Figure 1.72: NACA0012 Clean Mesh Display

6. Define the Simulation Type.

Setup

The Airflow, Particles and Ice Simulation Type should automatically be enabled within the
Setup panel.

7. Set the Airflow properties for the simulation.

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Setup → Airflow

• In the General section:

– Retain the default selection of Fluent for Airflow Solver.

• In the Reference Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 0.65 for Characteristic Length [m].

– 103 for Speed [m/s].

– 268 for Temperature [K].

– 84312.7 for Pressure [Pa].

• In the Direction section, retain the following settings:

– Angle of attack for Vector Mode.

– Y+ for Lift Direction.

– X+ for Drag Direction.

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– 4 for AoA [deg.].

– 0 for Yaw [deg.].

– 103 for Vector Magnitude [m/s].

8. Set the Fluent properties for the simulation.

Setup → Airflow → Fluent Set to Default Air Properties

A dialog will open. Click OK to accept the air properties computed from the current airflow
temperature.

Note:

This automatically sets the air properties, suggested for icing simulations, from the
current reference air temperature. The values of air properties have been computed
using the equations presented in Airflow.

For simplicity, thermal conductivity and viscosity equations are shown below.

where refers to the ambient air static temperature, and , and are
equal to 0.00216176 W/m/K3/2, 288 K and 17.9*10-6 Pa.s, respectively.

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• In the Solver section:

– Retain the default selection of Pressure-based for Type.

• In the Models section, retain the following settings:

– Enable Energy.

– K-Omega 2-eqn for Turbulence.

– SST for k-omega Model.

– Disabled for Transition Model.

– Enable both Viscous Heating and Turb. Production Limiter.

• In the Materials section, retain the following settings:

– Select Air under the Fluid drop-down list.

– Ideal gas for Density - Option.

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– Constant for Cp - Option.

– 1004.69 for Cp [J/kg-K].

– Constant for Thermal Conductivity - Option.

– 0.0236106 for Thermal Conductivity [W/m-K].

– Constant for Dynamic Viscosity - Option.

– 1.69183e-5 for Dynamic Viscosity [kg/m-s].

9. Open the Fluent Workspace.

Project → Workspaces → Solution

A dialog will open advising you that the Fluent Solution Workspace will appear in another
window. Press OK to proceed.

10. Define the Viscous Model.

Setup → Models → Viscous (SST k-omega)

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• In the Model Constants section, retain the following settings:

– 0.9 for Energy Prandtl Number.

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– 0.9 for Wall Prandtl Number.

Press OK to close this window.

11. Define the Reference Values.

Setup → Reference Values

• In the Reference Values section:

– Set Area [m2] to 0.76.

12. Define the Report Definitions.

Solution → Report Definitions

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• In the Report Definitions section:

– Select report-cd and press Edit... (To create a new drag report, you can select New →
Force Report → Drag…)

– Retain the default values of 0.99756405, 0.069756474, and 0 for X, Y, and Z for
Force Vector.

– Familiarize yourself with the selections in the Drag Report Definition dialog. Press
Cancel to close this window.

– De-select report-cd, select report-cl, and press Edit... (To create a new lift report, you
can select New → Force Report → Lift…)

– Retain the default values of -0.069756474, 0.99756405, and 0 for X, Y, and Z for
Force Vector.

– Familiarize yourself with the selections in the Lift Report Definition dialog. Press Cancel
to close this window.

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Press Close to close the Report Definitions dialog.

13. Modify the Absolute Criteria for convergence.

Solution → Monitors → Residual

• In the Equations section, retain the following settings:

– Set 1e-10 for all Absolute Criteria entries.

– Monitor and Check Convergence.

– Enable Show Advanced Options.

– Enable Scale and Compute Local Scale.

– Set local scaling for Report Option.

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Press OK to close this window.

14. Maximize the Fluent Icing graphical user interface and close the Fluent Workspace.

Project → Workspaces → Solution

15. Set the Particles properties for the simulation.

Setup → Particles

Enable Droplets under Type in the Particles panel.

16. Set the Droplets properties for the simulation.

Setup → Particles → Droplets

• In the Droplet Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 20 for Droplet Diameter [microns].

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– 1000 for Water Density [kg/m3].

– Select Appendix C under the Appendix Conditions drop-down list and press Edit....

→ Toggle on Continuous maximum (Stratiform clouds) in the Appendix C - Atmospher-

ic Icing Conditions dialog and press OK.

The LWC [kg/m3] field automatically updates its value based on the previous selection.

• In the Particles Distribution section:

– Retain the default selection of Monodispersed for Particles Distribution.

• In the Model section:

– Retain the default selection of Water for Droplet Drag Model.

17. Set the Ice properties for the simulation.

Setup → Ice

• In the Ice Accretion Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 0.9 for Recovery Factor.

– 100 for Relative Humidity [%].

• In the Model section:

– Retain the default selection of Glaze for Icing Model.

• In the Ice Properties section, retain the following settings:

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– Constant for Ice Density Type.

– 917 for Constant Ice Density [kg/m3].

18. Set the Boundary Conditions for your simulation.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Inlets → pressure-far-field-4

• In the Airflow section:

– Press on Import Ref. Conditions to import the reference conditions of the case file. All
reference conditions are now imported to your boundary condition.

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– Retain all default selections under the Airflow section.

Note:

From Ref. Conditions will apply the droplet conditions at the inlet of the
pressure-far-field boundary, which in this case is the LWC and MVD. If Droplet
Velocity Vector remains unchecked, the airflow velocity is imposed as the droplet
velocity at the inlet. Therefore, the relative velocity between air and droplets is
zero at farfield.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Walls → wall-5

• In the Airflow section, retain the following settings:

– Temperature for Thermal Conditions.

– Click Temp. adiabatic+10 to enter 283.28 for Temperature [K].

– Select High roughness for Icing under the Wall Roughness drop-down list.

– Set Roughness Height [m] to 0.0005.

Note:

This is the initial roughness height applied to the first shot only. All other shots
will have a roughness distribution applied over their iced surfaces since
Beading was enabled under Setup → Ice

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– Repeat the steps above for wall-6 and wall-7.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → pressure-outlet-8

• In the Airflow section:

– Select Absolute under the Reference Frame drop-down list.

– Press on Import Ref. Conditions to import the reference conditions of the case file. All
reference conditions are now imported to your boundary condition.

– Retain all default selections under the Airflow section.

19. Set the Solution properties of your simulation.

Solution → Airflow

• In the Time Integration section, retain the following settings:

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– 300 for Number of Iterations.

– Select Pseudo Time under the Method drop-down list.

– 0.1 for Time Scale Factor.

Note:

Time Scale Factor is a case specific setting and may need to be reduced for
stability or increased for computational efficiency.

• In the Initialization section:

– Select Hybrid under the Method drop-down list.

• In the Post-processing Output section:

– Retain the default selection of Disabled for Write Post-processing Files.

Solution → Particles

• Retain all default selections under the Particles panel.

Solution → Ice

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• In the Time section:

– Retain the default value of 180 for Total Time of Ice Accretion [s].

– Press on Set-up Remeshing to gain access to all Remeshing options.

• In the Mesh section:

– Retain the default selection of Fluent Meshing for Remeshing.

• In the Remeshing section, retain the following settings:

– [0.002, 3] for Global Sizing - Min/Max.

– 1.2 for Global Sizing - Growth Rate.

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– 0.003 for Proximity Sizing - Min.

– [0.002, 0.02] for Curvature Sizing - Min/Max.

– 1.2 for Curvature Sizing - Growth Rate.

– 20 for Prism - Number of Layers.

– 1e-6 for Prism - First Cell Height.

– [1, 1, 0.05] for Material Point.

– 3D for Dimension.

Note:

– Large grids/meshes with small mesh sizing may run into memory problems
at the solver to meshing switch.

– A remesh_run.jou file is automatically created in the simulation folder.

This file contains the automatic remeshing steps used by Fluent Meshing
to create a new mesh at each shot. For advanced users of Fluent Meshing
who have specific needs, you can modify this script as needed, by going
to the Project View tab, right-clicking it and selecting Edit in Text Editor.
This provides more flexibility and allows you to adapt the journal file to
your specific needs.

20. Launch the simulation.

Solution

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• In the Multi-shot section, retain the following settings:

– 6 for Number of Shots.

– Enable Save Files at Each Shot.

– Reinitialize for Airflow Restart.

– Uniform for Settings.

• In the Global Settings section, retain the following settings:

– Minimal for Log Verbosity.

– Default for Plotting.

Note:

The airflow solver can be reinitialized at each shot or continued from an inter-
polated solution originating from a previous shot. This can be done by either
Reinitialize or Continue under Airflow Restart. For this tutorial, leave it to
Reinitialize.

Launch the simulation by pressing Run Multi-Shot.

A New run window will appear. Set the Name of the new run to multishot_remeshing
and press OK.

Note:

Alternatively, you can launch the multi-shot calculation using Solution Run
Multi-Shot

1.4.2.3.3. Solution
1. View your convergence history for all shots.

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Project View → multishot_remeshing View Convergence

2. You can look at the convergence history of this simulation in the Curve → Residuals window
located to the right of your screen. Dataset → ##-Air, ##--Particles, ##--Ice provide a quick
overview of the convergence history of all shots.

If your calculation stopped during the multishot simulation, you can resume it from a specific
step within a shot. Go to the Project View, right-click the shot.xx folder, and select Set Restart
Shot. Next, go to Solution. Inside its Solution panel, set the Step from where you would
like to resume your multi-shot simulation, Airflow, Particles, Ice, and Mesh Update. Then,
click Run Multi-Shot to relaunch your calculations. Click Yes to continue the current run.

Calculations will start at the beginning of the step that was selected.

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If you would like to restart your calculations with new settings, click Interrupt followed by
Reset Multi-Shot to reload the initial grid and reset all solutions. Make changes to your
multishot calculation inside the Outline View and click Run Multi-Shot.

Do not close Fluent Icing if you would like to further post-process the multi-shot ice solution.

1.4.2.3.4. Post-processing
1. Post-process your icing solution.

Project → Project View

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2. Under the oneram6_icing (loaded) simulation, a new run named multishot_remeshing now
appears. Expand the run by clicking the + icon to the left of multishot_remeshing to show
the files associated with the run. Each shot is represented by a folder and includes a two digit
number to specify the shot number. Each folder contains a mesh file (Case), and 3 solution
files (Airflow, Droplets and Ice).

3. Once all calculations are complete, you can view the final ice shape by right-clicking Ice located
under shot.06 within the Project View. Select View Results With... → Viewmerical. Choose
Ice cover in the View Ice dialog.

Figure 1.73: Multishot Automatic Remeshing Ice Shape

Note:

You are also invited to perform another icing simulation with the following finer
mesh settings. These settings will allow you to obtain a smooth representation of
the ice shape but will require more computing resources.

Within Solution → Ice, modify the following settings under Remeshing.

• Set Global Sizing - Min/Max to 0.001.

• Set Curvature Sizing - Min/Max to 0.001.

• Set Prism - Number of Layers to 25.

The figure below shows the ice shape obtained with these new conservative set-
tings. These settings do a better job of capturing ice horns as well as the convective
and viscous effects around the ice shape.

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1.4.2.4. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated how to obtain a multishot ice solution around a 3D Onera M6 swept
wing using Fluent Icing.

1.4.3. Multishot Icing with Automatic Remeshing - Run in Batch Mode

In this section, you will learn how to launch your icing simulation in Fluent Icing batch mode.

A python script that recorded all steps of the previous tutorial is used to demonstrate this capability.

Note:

The python script was generated following these steps:

1. Open Fluent Icing

2. Select File → Start Journal. In the Select File window, name your script oneram6-
multishots-auto-run.py. Click OK to start the recording.

3. Repeat all the steps of the previous tutorial and wait until the simulation is completed.

4. File → Stop Journal to finish the recording.

5. Open the script. Add the following few extra command lines at the beginning of the
script if you want to delete an old existing project. In this case, the old project name
is Fluent_multishot_oneram6:

• Project.erase('Fluent_multishot_oneram6')

• preferences.PrjApp.UseLauncher.setState(False)

• preferences.PrjApp.ShowFluentWindow.setState(False)

When running in batch mode, turn off the graphical user interface Launcher
and the Fluent client.

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1. Create a new working folder and name it FLUENT-ICING.

2. Download the fluent_multishot.zip file here. Extract all the files and copy oneram6-
wing.cas.h5 and oneram6-multishots-auto-run.py to the working folder ../FLUENT-
ICING/.

3. Open a terminal and navigate to the working folder ../FLUENT-ICING/. Execute the following
command to launch the run in batch mode within Fluent Icing on a Windows™ machine.

..\fluent\bin\icing.bat -R oneram6-multishots-auto-run.py -t 12 -N

To launch the run in batch mode on Linux machines, execute the following command:

../fluent/bin/icing -R oneram6-multishots-auto-run.py -t 12 -N

Replace the .. with the full path where the Ansys package is installed. The option -R in the
command means that Fluent Icing will execute the python script oneram6-multishots-auto-
run.py then exit. The option of -t 12 is the number of CPU assigned to this run, 12 CPUs in
this case. Use the -N option to set Fluent Icing in batch mode. See Python Console for more details
and available options.

Once the script is executed, it will automatically create a project name/folder, set up the icing
simulation, and launch the run. Fluent Icing will run in batch mode until the simulation completes.

Note:

You can also run the script to set up the icing simulation without launching the simu-
lation. To do so,

• Open the script with any text editor.

• Go to the end of the script, and comment out the last line to skip the execution step
of the command by adding # at the beginning of the line.
# Project.newRun('multishot','multishot_remeshing',-1)

• Save and close the script.

• Execute the script as mentioned in Step 3 above.

4. Launch Fluent Icing and go to File → Open Project..., or select Open... under the Project ribbon.
Navigate to the working folder ../FLUENT-ICING, and select the file Flu-
ent_multishot_oneram6.flprj to add the project to Fluent Icing’s Project Library.

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Note:

Fluent Icing will not automatically add new projects to its Project Library that are run
in batch mode. The new project can be accessed by using File → Open.

After the project is added, you will see it within the Project View:

5. Verify that the results below are similar to those obtained in Multishot Glaze Ice with Automatic
Remeshing Using Fluent Meshing (p. 223) by following the steps below:

• Right-click multishot_remeshing under Project View and select View Convergence to view
the simulation’s convergence. The figures below show the 1st shot Residuals of the airflow
simulations.

Figure 1.74: Residuals of 1st Shot’s Air Flow Simulation (Left: Script Run; Right: Simulation
from the Multishot Icing with Automatic Remeshing on the Onera M6 Wing Tutorial)

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• Right-click Ice under the shot.01 folder under Project View. Select View Results With... →
Viewmerical, and then click Ice solution from the View Ice dialog. The following shows the
ice surface solution of the 1st shot.

Figure 1.75: Instant. Ice Growth of 1st Shot Surface Icing Solution (Red: Script Run; Black:
Simulation from the Multishot Icing with Automatic Remeshing on the Onera M6 Wing
Tutorial)

Figure 1.76: Water Film of 1st Shot Surface Icing Solution (Red: Script Run; Black: Simulation
from the Multishot Icing with Automatic Remeshing on the Onera M6 Wing Tutorial)

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Figure 1.77: Wall Temperature of 1st Shot Surface Icing Solution (Red: Script Run; Black:
Simulation from the Multishot Icing with Automatic Remeshing on the Onera M6 Wing
Tutorial)

• To view the final ice shape, right-click the Ice icon located under shot.6 in the Project View.
Select View Results With... → Viewmerical. Choose New Instance from the Information window
to load the ice shape in a new Viewmerical window if you didn’t close the previous one. You
will then choose Ice cover in the View Ice dialog.

Figure 1.78: Computed Ice Shape at the End of the 6th Shot (Left: Script Run; Right:
Simulation from the Multishot Icing with Automatic Remeshing on the Onera M6 Wing
Tutorial)

You can now post-process these icing results with CFD-Post. Consult the next section for more
information.

1.4.4. Multishot Glaze Ice with Automatic Remeshing - Postprocessing Using

CFD-Post
In this tutorial, you will learn how to postprocess and generate figures and animations of a 3D Multishot
ice accretion calculation (ice shape and ice solution fields) using two dedicated CFD-Post macros: Ice
Cover – 3D-View and Ice Cover – 2D-Plot. For this purpose, the Multishot icing solutions of the
multishot_remeshing run are needed and, therefore, completion of Multishot Glaze Ice with Auto-
matic Remeshing Using Fluent Meshing (p. 223) is required.

For more information regarding these macros, consult the CFD-Post Macros section within the FENSAP-
ICE User Manual.

1. In your Fluent Icing window, go to the Project View and right-click multishot_remeshing. Select
View Results With CFD-Post.

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2. A dialog will open asking you to select the type of dataset. Press on Ice. A secondary window will
then open asking you to select the type of Ice dataset. Press on Ice cover.

3. After opening CFD-Post, a Domain Selector window will request confirmation to load the following
domains: ice swimsol, map grid, and map swimsol. Click OK to proceed.

4. Go to the Calculators tab and double-click on Macro Calculator. The Macro Calculator’s interface
panel will be activated and displayed.

Note:

The Macro Calculator can also be accessed by selecting Tools → Macro Calculator
from the CFD-Post’s main menu.

5. Select the Ice Cover – 3D-View macro script from the Macro drop-down list. This will bring up
the user interface which contains all input parameters required to view ICE3D output solutions in
the CFD-Post 3D Viewer.

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6. The default settings inside the Macro Calculator panel will allow you to automatically output the
ice shape of a first shot of the Multishot simulation. Output the ice shape at the end of the multi-
shot simulation of Multishot Glaze Ice with Automatic Remeshing Using Fluent Meshing (p. 223),
this corresponds to the ice shape of shot 6. Set Multi-shot # to 6.

7. Under Display Mode, enter 0.2 in Transparency to output a semi-transparent ice shape that
will allow you to see the swept wing beneath the ice shape.

8. Leave the other settings unchanged. Click Calculate to execute the macro and view the ice shape
in 3D Viewer.

Figure 1.79: Ice View in CFD-Post, Transparent Ice Cover of the Final Ice Shape

Note:

To change the style of the ice shape display, go to Display Mode and select one of
the following options: Ice Cover, Ice Cover – shaded, Ice Cover – No Orig, Ice Cover
(only) or Ice Cover (only) - shaded. To output the surface mesh of the ice shape, go
to Display Mesh and select Yes.

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9. To output the solution fields of your icing simulation, you can either select Ice Solution – Overlay,
Ice Solution or Surface Solution under Display Mode. In this case, you will output the ice accretion
rate over the ice layer without transparency.

10. To do this, select Ice Solution – Overlay in Display Mode.

11. Set a Transparency value of 0 under Display Mode as this will provide a more solid view on the
displayed surfaces.

12. Select Instant. Ice Growth (kg s^-1 m^-2) in the Display Variable drop-down list.

13. You will change the range and number of contours of the ice solution field. Under Display Variable,

• Set Number of Contours to 21.

• Change Range from Global to User Specified.

• Enter 0.03 and 0 in the (Usr. Specif.) Max and (Usr. Specif.) Min input boxes, respectively.

14. Click Calculate to view the instantaneous ice growth over the final ice shape.

Figure 1.80: Ice View in CFD-Post, Instantaneous Ice Growth over the Final Ice

15. Go to Save Figure to save this figure in a file,

• Select Yes beside Save Figure.

• Keep Screen Shot under By. If you select Size, you must specify width and height of the image.

• Keep the default Format. There are three types of format supported: PNG, JPEG, and BMP. The
default format is PNG.

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• Specify a Filename for the figure.

16. Click Calculate to generate and save the figure. A message will appear to notify the user of the
location where the figure is saved.

Note:

If CFD-Post was opened through Fluent Icing, the figure will be saved in the run folder.
If CFD-Post was opened in standalone mode, the figure will be saved in the Window’s
system default folder.

17. You can also generate and save animations that highlight the ice shape evolution of your Multishot
simulation while displaying an ice solution field over it. Follow these steps to create and save a
custom animation.

• Go to Save Figure and select No.

• Go to Multi-shot # and set it to 1. The animation starts at the assigned shot number in Multi-
shot # to the last shot of the simulation.

• Set (Multi-shot) Movie to On and click Calculate to see the animation on the 3D Viewer
window.

• To save this animation, in (Multi-shot) Movie,

– Set Save to Yes.

– Keep the default Format. Two formats are supported, wmv and MPEG4. The default is wmv.

– Specify a Filename.

• Click Calculate to generate and save the animation. A message will appear to notify the user
of the location where the animation is saved and at which shot the animation starts.

Note:

If CFD-Post was opened through Fluent Icing, the animation will be saved in the run
folder. If CFD-Post was opened in standalone mode, the animation will be saved in
the Window’s system default folder.

18. Select Ice Cover – 2D-Plot from the Macro drop-down list to create 2D-plots of the Multishot
simulation. You will create 2D-Plots at various locations along the swept wing using a single shot
solution or multiple shot solutions.

19. Set Multi-shot # to 3 since you will output the ice shape of the third shot.

20. Change the Plot’s Title to Multishot – Remeshing – Shot No.3.

21. Keep the default setting of 2D-Plot (with). The default setting is Single Shot. The other options
of 2D-Plot (with) allow the creation of multiple shot results within the same 2D-Plot.

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22. Under 2D-Plot (with),

• Keep the default setting of Mode. The default setting is Geometry to output the ice shape.

• Make sure Cutting Plane By is set to the default Z Plane.

• Set X/Y/Z Plane Point to 0.5. In this case, this corresponds to a Z=0.5 plane.

• Set the X-Axis to X and the Y-Axis to Y.

23. To center the 2D-Plot around the wing section at Z=0,

• Keep the (x)Range of the X-Axis to Global.

• Change the (y)Range of the Y-Axis from Global to User Specified. Specify values of 0.15 and
-0.15 in the input boxes of (Usr.Specif.y)Max and (Usr.Specif.y)Min, respectively.

24. Leave the other default settings unchanged and click Calculate to create a 2D-Plot of the 3rd
shot ice shape at Z=0.5 in ChartViewer. Adjust the output window’s size. The figure below shows
the cutting plane location in the 3D Viewer window and the output of the macro in ChartViewer.

Figure 1.81: 2D-Plot in CFD-Post, 3rd Shot Ice Shape at Z=0.5

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25. You will now create a 2D-Plot of all the ice shapes of the multishot simulation using a user-defined
cutting plane and save this image in a file. First, set Multi-shot # to 1.

26. Change the Plot’s Title to Multishot – Remeshing – All Shots.

27. Select Multi-Shots from the 2D-Plot (with) drop-down list. This will generate a series of 2D plot
curves, starting from the assigned shot number in Multishot Num. to the last shot of the multishot
simulation.

28. Under 2D-Plot (with),

• Keep the default setting of Mode. The default setting is Geometry to output the ice shape.

• Set the Cutting Plane By to Point and Normal to define an arbitrary cutting plane. The
normal does not need to be a unit vector.

• Set the coordinate of the point (0.533646, -0.022681, 0.898708) inside (Pt. &
Nml.)Pnt.X/Y/Z, respectively.

• Set the normal vector coordinates (0.5, 0, 0.866025) inside (Pt. & Nml.)Nml.X/Y/Z, re-
spectively.

• Set the X-Axis to X and the Y-Axis to Y.

29. To center the 2D-Plot around the leading edge of the wing section defined by the arbitrary cutting
plane,

• Change the (x)Range of the X-Axis from Global to User Specified. Specify values of 0.65 and
0.45 in the input boxes of (Usr.Specif.x)Max and (Usr.Specif.x)Min, respectively.

• Change the (y)Range of the Y-Axis from Global to User Specified. Specify values of 0.06 and
-0.06 in the input boxes of (Usr.Specif.y)Max and (Usr.Specif.y)Min, respectively.

30. To simultaneously save this 2D-Plot as a figure, go to Save Figure,

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• Select Yes beside Save Figure.

• Keep the default Format. There are three types of format supported: PNG, JPEG, and BMP. The
default format is PNG.

• Specify a Filename for the figure.

31. Leave the other default settings unchanged and click Calculate to create a 2D-Plot of all the ice
shapes at a user-defined cutting plane in ChartViewer. A message will appear to notify the user
of the location where the figure is saved. Adjust the output window’s size. The figure below shows
the cutting plane location in the 3D Viewer window and the output of the macro in ChartViewer.

Figure 1.82: 2D-Plot in CFD-Post, Multishot Ice Shapes at a User-Defined Cutting Plane

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 Anti-Icing CHT Using Fluent Icing Tutorial

1.5. Anti-Icing CHT Using Fluent Icing Tutorial

This chapter introduces Fluent Icing's Conjugate Heat transfer for anti-icing simulation. Anti-icing systems
are vital for assuring aircraft safety and performance, especially in inclement weather where ice accu-
mulation on critical surfaces such as wings, engine inlets, and sensors can compromise aerodynamic
performance and represent a safety risk. These systems often use heated surfaces, pneumatic boots, or
chemical de-icing to prevent or remove ice. This chapter provides a step-by-step lesson on a hot-air
piccolo tube anti-icing system on an aircraft wing.

The physics and thermodynamics of in-flight icing involve:

• Strong heat convection in fluids

• Heat conduction through solids

• Droplet impingement

• Surface water film flow

• Water evaporation

• Change of phase

• Ice formation

Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT) refers to the thermal transfer between fluid and solid domains. Anti-Icing
CHT is a steady-state simulation in which a heat balance on the target surfaces is achieved at the end
of convergence. This steady-state solution denotes the equilibrium condition in which the heat input
from the anti-icing system equals the heat loss due to convective cooling and ice formation.

Fluent Icing's anti-icing CHT simulation includes the following steps:

• Fluent CHT in dry air condition

• Particle impingement

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• Initial water film and ice accretion

• Wet air anti-icing

In Fluent, the dry air simulation can be configured in the same way as conventional intrinsic CHT. This
step should be done in Fluent rather than Fluent Icingg. To test the convergence of CHT computation,
proper heat transfer monitors can be established at fluid-solid interfaces. Once the dry air CHT has fully
converged and the solution has been confirmed, it can be imported into Fluent Icing for the next steps.
Wet air CHT computation requires particle impingement, an initial water film, and ice accretion. During
the initial Ice run, an extra step called EID will be performed internally to extract surface convective
heat transfer coefficients. You will then be able to evaluate the heat transfer coefficients and ensure
that they are within the acceptable range.

This tutorial is divided into the following sections:

1.5.1. Introduction
1.5.2. Problem Description
1.5.3. Setup and Solution
1.5.4. Summary

1.5.1. Introduction
This tutorial demonstrates how to simulate a hot air anti-icing system inside the leading edge of a
wing using Fluent Icing CHT. The metal skin at the leading edge separates the cold wet air that flows
over the external skin surface from the hot internal airflow. Hot air jet are discharged from the orifice
of the piccolo tube heating the metal skin of the leading edge to prevent ice accretion on the external
surface.

It is highly recommended that you study the relevant sections in Modeling Conductive and Convective
Heat Transfer in the Fluent User's Guide prior to working on this tutorial.

1.5.2. Problem Description

As an input to Fluent Icing CHT, an intrinsic Fluent CHT setup in dry air conditions should be configured
and prepared. It is highly recommended to run dry air conditions before wet air computations as it
is easier to adjust Fluent settings before moving on to Fluent Icing. In this tutorial, grids are separated
for the external, internal, and solid domains. Follow Piccolo Tube Anti-Icing in Wet Air Using Fluent
in the Ansys FENSAP-ICE Tutorial Guide for more information regarding the boundary conditions and
the material qualities employed in this case.

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1.5.3. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
1.5.3.1. Preparation
1.5.3.2. Setup
1.5.3.3. Solution

1.5.3.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this tutorial:

1. Download the fluent_icing_cht.zip file here.

2. Unzip fluent_icing_cht.zip to your working directory.

3. The file, FLUENT-piccolo-ext.cas.h5, can be found in the folder.

4. Launch Fluent 2024 R1 on your computer.

5. Within the Fluent Launcher, select Solution.

6. Set Solver Processes to 8 or more under Parallel (Local Machine).

7. Click Start.

1.5.3.2. Setup
1. Load the external flow case file.

File → Read → Case...

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Select FLUENT-piccolo-ext.cas.h5 as the Case File within the Select File dialog and
press OK.

2. Append the internal flow file FLUENT-piccolo-int.cas.h5.

Domain → Zones → Append → Append Case File...

A Warning dialog will appear regarding zone id changes due to the case file being appended.
Click OK to close this dialog.

Next, append the solid case file FLUENT-piccolo-solid.cas.h5. Fluid, solid cell zones
and their corresponding materials are now available in the Outline View.

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 Anti-Icing CHT Using Fluent Icing Tutorial

Note:

Model parameters such as operating pressure, boundary conditions and material

properties are already set in the .cas.h5 files as they are part of Piccolo Tube Anti-
Icing in Wet Air Using Fluent in the Ansys FENSAP-ICE Tutorial Guide. You can review
these settings to learn more about the simulation conditions.

3. Create the mesh interfaces between fluid and solid domains.

Setup → Mesh Interfaces

The thermal conditions will be exchanged between the three domains via non-conformal mesh
connections formed by pairing the overlapping wall boundaries. Fluent can automatically select
a pairing from a list of wall zones. The interfacing boundary zone names are prefixed with cht-
to facilitate this selection process. There are no constraints on what can be used as a prefix, and
there is no necessity to use one. It is recommended that you use a similar naming strategy so
that you can easily identify interfaced borders in your own simulations. Industrial scale simulations
will almost certainly contain dozens of boundary zones where a naming approach like this can
be useful.

Select all fluid-solid interface boundaries from the Wall list of Boundary Zones using the prefix
cht- and click Create. Fluent will automatically pair and generate mesh interfaces. There are
three Mesh Interfaces in this example:

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• intf:01:cht-1-solid::cht-1-ext - Interface between external fluid and solid.

• intf:02:cht-2-solid::cht-2-int - First interface between internal fluid and solid.

• intf:03:cht-3-solid::cht-3-int - Second interface between internal fluid and solid.

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 Anti-Icing CHT Using Fluent Icing Tutorial

The Console displays the percentage of matching area from both sides of the mesh in-
terface. A decent mesh interface pair will show an exact or almost 100% area percentage.

Press Close to proceed to the next step.

Note:

If the original grid contains conformal coupled walls between fluid and solid domains,
it is required to slit them into uncoupled walls first, then create non-conformal inter-
faces for Fluent Icing CHT simulation. This additional step can be done in Fluent
console with TUI command: /mesh/modify-zones/slit-face-zone.

4. Update the Reference Values.

Physics → Reference Values

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• In the Reference Values section, retain the following settings:

– pressure-far-field-ext-1 for Compute from.

– 1 for Area [m2].

– 1.341427 for Density [kg/m3].

– -33862.12 for Enthalpy [J/kg].

– 0.1603 for Length [m].

– 101325 for Pressure [Pa].

– 263.15 for Temperature [K].

– 51.02861 for Velocity [m/s].

– 1.667512e-05 for Viscosity [kg/(m s)].

– 1.4 for Ratio of Specific Heats.

– 300 for Yplus for Heat Tran. Coef.

– fluid-external for Reference Zone.

5. Specify the Solution Methods.

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Solution → Methods

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Select Global Time Step under Pseudo Time Method.

Note:

The CFL method can also be used for the air flow calculations and could lead to
better convergence, depending on the case. When you apply this CHT setup on a
different case, study both time integration methods to find out which leads to better
and more stable convergence. You should look at the convergence of total heat flux
monitors on boundaries of interest to gauge the performance of either method.

Although it is advised that Green-Gauss Node Based gradients be used in aero

computations, Green-Gauss Cell Based gradients are employed in this case to avoid
some oscillations in heat flow at the wall/symmetry plane intersection.

6. Create a new Flux Report at the CHT interfaces.

Solution → Report Definitions New → Flux Report → Total Heat Transfer Rate...

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• In the Flux Report Definition dialog, retain the following settings:

– total-heat-transfer-rate for Name.

– intf:01:cht-1-solid::cht-1-ext-shadow for Boundaries.

Note:

This boundary will experience droplet impingement and runback water film
outside of the wall surface while also experiencing strong conductive heating
through solid metal. The heat exchange in this case becomes very intense.
Therefore, it is more important to monitor this interface rather than others. The
total heat transfer rate at the interface will be used to verify the convergence
of CHT calculation. You are also encouraged to create your own reports that
cater to your own simulation.

Retain all other default values and settings and press OK.

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7. Initialize the solution.

Solution → Initialization → Hybrid Initialization

• Select Hybrid Initialization under Initialization Methods.

• Click More Settings... to change Number of Iterations to 20.

8. Set your Run Parameters.

Solution → Run Calculation

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• In the Solid Time Scale section, retain the following setting:

– 1 for Time Scale Factor

Note:

Time Scale Factor can remain at 1 for the fastest rate of convergence but
may need to be reduced as low as 0.01 for some cases that have a difficult
time converging the air flow.

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• In the Parameters section, retain the following setting:

– 600 for Number of Iterations.

Launch the run by clicking Calculate.

Important:

Verify the dry air solution before moving onto the wet air simulation. If needed, make
any adjustments and re-calculate the solution until you are satisfied with the results.

9. Save your solution.

File → Write → Case & Data...

Save and name both case and data files as piccolo-dry-air and close Fluent.

Creating a Fluent Icing Project and Simulation

After validating results calculated in Fluent, the .cas/.dat files can both be imported into Fluent
Icing for calculating wet air conditions.

1. Use the Fluent Launcher to start Ansys Fluent.

2. In the Fluent Launcher, set the Capability Level to Enterprise, then select Icing.

3. Set Parallel Processing Options to 8.

4. Click Start.

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Alternatively, Fluent Icing can be opened using the icing (on Linux) or icing.bat (on Win-
dows) file inside the fluent/bin/ folder.

5. Uncheck Use Custom Solver Launch Settings, Show Solution Workspace on Launch,
and Enable Solution Workspace Graphics.

Project → Workspaces → Options

6. Create a new project file.

File → New Project...

7. Enter piccolo-wet-air as the Project file name within the Select File dialog.

8. Select and import the piccolo-dry-air.cas.h5 input grid saved in the previous steps.

Project → Simulation → Import Case.

A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name of the New Simulation as piccolo-
wet-air-cht, and check to enable Load in Solver. Click OK.

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A new simulation folder will be created in the Project View, and the piccolo-dry-
air.cas.h5 file will be imported.

Figure 1.83: Fluent Icing Workspace

9. After the .cas.h5 file has been successfully loaded, a new Outline View tree appears under
piccolo-wet-air-cht (loaded).

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10. The mesh is now displayed in the Graphics window to the right.

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Figure 1.84: Piccolo CHT Mesh Display

11. Define the Simulation Type.

Setup

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• In the Simulation Type section, retain the following setting:

Enable Airflow, Particles, Ice and CHT under Simulation Type.

• In the Icing Domain section, retain the following setting:

– fluid-external for Fluid Cell Zones.

Note:

Particle impingement and water film calculations are computed on the external
domain only.

– Case Settings for Reference Frame (Single Domain).

• Click Load Domain to load the icing domain into the icing solver. Save your case.

Project → Simulation → Save Case

Note:

Only after pressing Load Domain can the solver identify the icing domain. A win-
dow will appear informing you that the current grid has a changed topology. Icing
computations will be performed on the chosen subdomain. Click OK. It's also a

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good idea to save the case after choosing an icing domain so that this information
is saved in the Fluent case file.

12. Set the Airflow properties of the simulation.

Setup → Airflow

• In the General section, retain the following setting:

– Fluent for Airflow Solver.

• In the Reference Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 0.1603 for Characteristic Length [m].

– 51 for Speed [m/s].

– 263.15 for Temperature [K].

– 101325 for Pressure [Pa].

• In the Direction section, retain the following settings:

– Cartesian components for Vector Mode.

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– 51 for X Velocity [m/s].

– 0 for Y Velocity [m/s].

– 0 for Z Velocity [m/s].

13. Set the Fluent properties of the simulation.

Setup → Fluent

• In the Solver section, retain the following setting:

– Pressure-based for Type.

• In the Models section, retain the following settings:

– Enable Energy.

– K-Omega 2-eqn for Turbulence.

– SST for k-omega Model.

– Enable Viscous Heating.

– Enable Turb. Production Limiter.

• In the Materials section, retain the following setting:

– Case settings for Fluid.

14. Set the Particles properties of the simulation.

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Setup → Particles

• In the General section, retain the following settings:

– Continuous for Particles Solver.

• In the Type section, retain the following settings:

– Enable Droplets and Vapor.

Note:

It is highly recommended to enable vapor for more accurate computation of local

vapor pressure. Vapor pressure is critical to evaporative heat flux calculation, which
is an important term in water film transport equations.

15. Set the Droplets properties of the simulation.

Setup → Particles → Droplets

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• In the Droplet Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 0.001 for LWC [kg/m3].

– 20 for Droplet Diameter [microns].

– 1000 for Water Density [kg/m3].

– Disable SLD.

– Disabled for Appendix Conditions.

• In the Particles Distribution section, retain the following setting:

– Monodispersed for Particles Distribution.

• In the Model section, retain the following setting:

– Water for Droplet Drag Model.

16. Set the Vapor properties of the simulation.

Setup → Particles → Vapor

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• In the Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– Relative Humidity for Vapor Initialization.

– 100 for Relative Humidity [%]

• In the Model section, retain the following setting:

– 0.7 for Turbulent Schmidt Number.

17. Set the Ice properties of the simulation.

Setup → Ice

• In the Ice Accretion Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– 0.9 for Recovery Factor.

– Disable Specify Icing Air Temperature.

– 100 for Relative Humidity.

• In the Model section, retain the following settings:

– Glaze for Icing Model.

– Disable Beading.

• In the Conditions section, retain the following settings:

– Constant for Ice Density Type.

– 917 for Constant Ice Density [kg/m3].

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18. Set the Boundary Conditions of the simulation.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Inlets

Note:

The inlet boundary conditions are the same as the initial conditions. Therefore, no
changes are required here.

19. Set the Solution properties of the simulation.

Solution → Particles

• In the Run Settings section, retain the following setting:

– 120 for Number of Iterations.

• In the Solver section, retain the following settings:

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– 50 for CFL.

– 1e-5 for Artificial Viscosity Coef.

– 1e-6 for Residual Cut-Off.

– 1e-6 for Change in Total Beta.

• In the Initialization section, retain the following settings:

– The Velocity settings will be set to From Airflow conditions. The settings imported under
the Airflow panel will be used.

– Disable Dry Initialization.

• In the Monitors section, retain the following settings:

– Enable Total Beta.

– Enable Change in Total Beta.

– Disable Mass Deficit.

– Disable Vapor Condensation.

Solution → Ice

– In the Time section, retain the following setting:

→ 30 for Total Time of Ice Accretion [s].

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→ Enable Automatic Time Step.

Note:

The icing total time entered here is not the anti-icing CHT simulation total time.
Anti-icing simulations are steady-state calculations that aim to achieve thermal
equilibrium. Because ICE3D is a transient solver, it takes some time to build the
water film distribution for each CHT iteration. The total icing duration entered
here is intended to assist ICE3D in reaching a steady-state solution within each
CHT iteration.

20. Launch the simulation.

Solution → Particles → Calculate

A New run window will appear. Set the Name of the new run to droplets-vapor.

Once droplets-vapor is complete, follow the steps below.

Solution → Ice → Calculate

A New run window will appear. Set the Name of the new run to ice.

Once ice is complete, follow the steps below.

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Solution → CHT

Note:

Before running CHT, ensure that the Airflow, Particles, and Ice have completed
successfully.

• In the Control section, retain the following settings:

– Full Navier-Stokes for Equations.

– 30 for Number of CHT Loops.

– 10 for Iterations per CHT Loop.

• In the Output section, retain the following setting:

– 5 for Output Interval.

Solution → CHT → Calculate

A New run window will appear. Set the Name of the new run to cht-wet-air.

Once the computation is complete, the solution files will be written inside the new run directory:

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• piccolo-wet-air-cht

– droplet-vapor

– ice

– cht-wet-air

1.5.3.3. Solution
1. Verify droplet and vapor solutions within Viewmerical

Project View → droplet-vapor → Droplets View Results With... → Viewmerical

Figure 1.85: Liquid Water Content and Vapor Pressure

2. You can also use Viewmerical to view the ice cover.

Project View → ice → Ice View Results With... → Viewmerical

When prompted, click Ice solution to view the ice solution on the walls.

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Figure 1.86: CH

3. The convergence of the CHT computation can be analyzed using convergence and monitor
plots. The residual curves show periodic rise in the convergence history, which indicates the
starting of each CHT loop. Once the CHT computation completes, the convergence curves
gradually becomes flat. The total heat transfer rate, maximum and minimum temperature at
CHT interfaces are all stabilized approaching the end of computation. From the Project View
on the left of the panel, each saved intermediate solution is available and can be viewed by
right-clicking the object.

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Figure 1.87: CHT Convergence and Monitor Plots

4. View the final ice solution.

Project View → cht-wet-air → loop.30 → Ice View Results With... → Viewmerical

Figure 1.88: Final ice Solution

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Verify the film thickness, instantaneous ice growth rate, and wall temperature. The anti-icing
power has led to a running wet condition at the leading edge. Some ice residual is seen at the
unprotected zone due to frozen of runback water.

1.5.4. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated Fluent Icing's CHT anti-icing capability on an aircraft wing’s hot-air piccolo
tube system.

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Chapter 2: Fluent Aero Tutorials
The following sections of this chapter are:
2.1. Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an ONERA M6 Wing at a Range of Angles of Attack
2.2. Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients and Wall Heat Flux on a Re- Entry Capsule at Different Altitudes in
Earth and Mars Atmospheres Using Mixtures
2.3. Introduction to Aircraft Component Groups and Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an Aircraft at
Different Flight Altitudes and Engine Regimes
2.4. Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an Aircraft Horizontal Tail Wing in a Wind Tunnel Domain at
Different Mass Flow Rates
2.5. Fluent Aero AET – Creating a VBM Input File for Blade Sections

2.1. Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an ONERA M6 Wing at a

Range of Angles of Attack
The objective of this tutorial is to use Fluent Aero to obtain lift, drag and moment coefficients on an
ONERA M6 swept wing geometry at a range of angles of attack.

Download the fluent_aero_tutorial.zip file here.

Unzip fluent_aero_tutorial.zip to your working directory.

1. Extract the oneram6-wing.msh.h5 file and the reference_data folder for this tutorial. The
reference_data folder contains several .csv formatted text files. Their content will be compared
to the CFD results of the current calculation. The reference data files are provided for demonstration
purposes only.

The oneram6-wing.msh.h5 file contains a grid of an ONERA-M6 swept wing that is an all-poly
mesh and consists of 478,848 nodes, and 114,219 cells. This is a very coarse grid. Its purpose is to
ease calculation time and resources while demonstrating the most common features of Fluent Aero.
Four layers of prisms are grown off the wing’s wall boundaries and are used to capture the boundary
layer. This number is insufficient if the goal is to obtain precise and accurate solutions. The limits
of the computational domain are defined by a hemispherical boundary that acts as a pressure-farfield,
and a flat circular boundary defined as a symmetry plane in the Z direction. This mesh follows the
Freestream domain type requirements of a Fluent Aero simulation. For a Freestream domain type,
the external boundary of the domain should be defined with a pressure-far-field zone, and can op-
tionally include a connected pressure-outlet zone. Refer Freestream or WindTunnel Domain Type
Requirements for more information.

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Figure 2.1: View of the Surface Mesh around the ONERA M6 Wing

Figure 2.2: Boundary Surface Mesh of the ONERA M6 Domain

2. Launch Fluent 2024 R1 on your computer. On the Fluent Launcher panel, set the Capacity Level
to Enterprise. Then select Aero. Set the number of Solver Processes to 4-8. Click Start.

Alternatively, Fluent Aero can be opened using the aero (on Linux) or aero.bat (on Windows)
file inside the fluent/bin/ folder.

3. In the Fluent Aero workspace, go to the Project ribbon. Click Workspaces → Options, and make
sure to uncheck Use Custom Solver Launch Settings, Show Solution Workspace on Launch, and
Enable Solution Workspace Graphics.

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 Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an ONERA M6 Wing at a Range of Angles
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4. In the Project ribbon panel, select Project → New… and enter Fluent_Aero_Tutorial_01 to
create a new project folder.

5. In the Project ribbon, select Simulation → New Aero Workflow, and browse to and select the
oneram6-wing.msh.h5 file. A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name of the New
Simulation as oneram6-aoa-exploration, and check Load in Solver. Click OK.

The case file will open and a background solver session will load. A new simulation folder will be
created in your project folder. Fluent Aero will convert the .msh.h5 grid file to a .cas.h5 format
case file and the latter will be imported in the simulation folder as oneram6-wing.cas.h5.

After the .cas.h5 file has been successfully loaded, a new Outline View tree appears under
oneram6_aoa_exploration (loaded).

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While importing, Fluent Aero will search for and find the pressure-far-field zone that defines the
external boundary of the domain. If present, this will cause Fluent Aero to determine that this case
is using a Freestream domain type, and the following message will be reported in the Console.

6. In the Outline View window, click Geometric Properties. A Properties - Geometric Properties
window appears below the Outline View window. At the top of this new properties window, notice
that the Domain Type has been automatically set to Freestream.

Define the orientation of the geometry within the computational domain, which will be used to
compute the aerodynamic forces.

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 Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an ONERA M6 Wing at a Range of Angles
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• Set Domain Dimension to 3D.

• Set Lift Direction at AoA = 0 Degrees to Y+.

• Set Drag Direction at AoA = 0 Degrees to X+.

• Set the Moment Center X, Y and Z Position [m] to 0.2, 0, and 0, respectively.

• Set the Reference Length [m] to 0.646, which corresponds to the mean chord length.

• Set the Reference Area [m^2] to 0.748827.

Alternatively, the reference area can be computed by enabling the Compute Projected Area option.
A Projected Surface Areas dialog will appear. Set the Projection Direction to Y and select all wall
surfaces. Click the Compute button and then click the Use as Ref. Area button to copy the computed
area to the Reference Area [m^2] box.

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7. In the Setup tree, go to Airflow Physics. A Properties – Airflow Physics window appears below
the Outline View window.

• In the Solver section:

– Set Type to Density based.

• In the Models section:

– Set Viscous to K-Omega SST.

– Set Reactions to Disabled.

– Set Two Temperature to Disabled.

– Set Knudsen Number Criterion to Disabled.

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• In the Materials section:

– Set Air Properties to Air default.

8. In the Setup tree, go to Simulation Conditions. In the Properties – Simulation Conditions window,
go to Flight Conditions.

• In the Flow Speed section,

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– Set Parameter to Mach.

– Set Distribution to Constant.

– Set the Mach Number to 0.65.

• In the Flow Direction section,

– Set Parameter to AoA.

– Set Distribution: Angle of Attack to Uniform.

– Set the Minimum Angle of Attack [deg] to 0.

– Set the Maximum Angle of Attack [deg] to 15.

– Set the Number of Points to 7.

• In the Pressure and Temperature section,

– Set Parameter to Static.

– Set Distribution: Pressure to Constant.

– Set the Atmospheric Static Pressure [Pa] to 80000.

– Set Distribution: Temperature to Constant.

– Set the Atmospheric Static Temperature [K] to 275.

• In the Turbulence section:

– Set Parameter to Intensity and Viscosity Ratio.

– Set both Distribution: Turbulent Intensity and Distribution: Turbulent Viscosity Ratio to
Constant.

– Set Turbulent Intensity [%] to 0.08.

– Set Turbulent Viscosity Ratio to 1e-5.

• In the Wall Conditions section:

– Enable Apply to All Walls.

– In the Thermal Conditions section:

→ Set Parameter to Heat Flux.

→ Set Distribution to Constant.

→ Set Heat Flux [W/m2] to 0.

An Input:Design Points table will be created in the Graphics window on the right-hand side of
the user interface. This table shows all the design points that will be simulated. The initial status of

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 Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an ONERA M6 Wing at a Range of Angles
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each design points (DP) has been set as Needs Update. The status can be set as Do Not Update
if you decide not to update one or several design points. In this tutorial, you will keep all design
points as Needs Update.

Figure 2.3: Initial Input:Design Points Table

9. Go to Component Groups. Two default Component Groups have been created after the simulation
is loaded.

• • The Freestream group contains the pressure-far-field zone that defines the external
boundary of the domain and is where the freestream atmospheric flight conditions for each
design point are defined as boundary conditions.

• The Other group contains the remainder of the boundary zones which are the walls of the
oneram6 wing geometry and the symmetry plane of the simulation domain.

10. In the Outline View, go to Solution → Files. This step allows you to control the output files written
per design point. Keep the default options.

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11. Under Solve, keep the default number of Iterations of 1000. Keep both Convergence Settings
and Convergence Criteria as Default.

12. Click the Update button at the bottom of the Properties - Solve panel.

The calculation will start, and the first design point, DP-1, featuring the minimum Angle of Attack,
will be simulated. A Convergence window will appear in place of the Graphics window and display
the residuals and monitors for DP-1.

Design point DP-1 will calculate until the total Iterations (1000) or the Residuals Convergence
Cutoff (1e-5) and Aero Coeff Conv. Cutoff (2e-5) are reached, whichever comes first. In this example,
DP-1 will calculate for about 350 iterations. At that point, the Angle of Attack will be updated for
the next design point and the calculation will resume. This process repeats until all design points
are simulated.

Moreover, in the Project View, a Results folder will be created after the calculation starts. A folder
for each design point along with an associated case file, data file, and convergence file will appear
inside the Results folder.

13. Examine the simulation's convergence history in the Convergence window, which is located on the
right side of your screen. Set the Dataset to DP-1 and the Curve to Residuals, to view the continuity,

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 Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an ONERA M6 Wing at a Range of Angles
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x-, y-, z-velocity, energy, and turbulence residuals for the first design point. You can left-click a residual
curve to show the iteration number and the corresponding residual value. Here, the residual con-
tinuity at iteration 356 is shown and equals to 2.6844e-8. Since this and all other residuals are less
than the residual convergence cutoff (1e-5), the calculation has ended at around 356 iterations.

Figure 2.4: Convergence of Residuals for Design Point 1

Note:

While all residuals in the image above meet the residual convergence cutoff criterion of
1e-5, it is still recommended for you to investigate your solutions to ensure that appro-
priate convergence levels have been achieved and that convergence remains stable. A
residual convergence cutoff of 1e-5 may be appropriate for some cases, but not for others,
and therefore care should be taken when selecting this value. If a stricter convergence
criterion is required, you can go to Solve, change Convergence Criteria to Custom and
set a lower value (1e-6 for example) next to Residuals Convergence Cutoff.

In the Convergence window, set Curve to drag-coefficient. The evolution of the drag coefficient
for DP-1 will be displayed. Left-click the last iteration of the drag-coefficient plot, to show the drag
coefficient value.

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Figure 2.5: Convergence History of the Drag Coefficient for Design Point 1

When the calculation of DP-1 is complete, the status column in row 1 of the Input:Design Points
table will be set to Updated, and the calculation of DP-2 will begin.

14. After all the design points have been updated, the status of the Input:Design Points table will be
set to Updated for all the design points.

Figure 2.6: Input:Design Points Table after Calculation

15. A Results node will be displayed in the Outline View tree after the simulation starts. This allows
you to quickly post-process design point solutions, by obtaining aerodynamic coefficient plots, cre-
ating contour plots of solution fields, comparing solution fields to experimental data, and more.

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16. The first element in the Results node is Tables. In the current tutorial, 4 different Tables will be
created automatically in the Graphics window area when the calculation is complete.

Click the Table:Summary, Table:Coefficients, Table:Forces and Table:Residuals tabs at the bottom
of the Graphics window to reveal each table.

• Table:Summary summarizes the flight conditions and convergence information for each design
point. In the current simulation, most design points have met or partially met the convergence
criteria.

Note:

Depending on the number of CPUs used to calculate the design points, there may be
some differences in the convergence achieved.

Figure 2.7: Summary Table of the Flight Conditions and Convergence Information

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• Table:Coefficients contains lift and drag coefficients calculated in wind-fixed coordinate systems,
as well as yaw, pitching, and rolling moment coefficients calculated in body-fixed coordinate
systems, which are highlighted in gray. Display Aero Forces in the Properties - Tables panel
can also be changed to show forces and moments in the body-fixed, wind-fixed, or both coordinate
systems at the same time. The convergence of the lift and drag coefficients is measured by the
Cl Conv. and Cd Conv. columns. These are used to determine whether or not the convergence
criteria have been met. The maximum value of the convergence of the yaw, pitching, and rolling
moments is shown in the last column, Max. Cm Conv..

Figure 2.8: Results Table of Aerodynamic Coefficients

• Table:Forces contains the lift, drag and moment forces. Coefficients, lift, and drag forces are
computed in the wind-fixed coordinate system, while moment forces are computed in the body-
fixed coordinate system.

Figure 2.9: Results Table of Aerodynamic Forces

• Table:Residuals shows the final residuals as well as the number of iterations run for each design
point.

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 Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an ONERA M6 Wing at a Range of Angles
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Figure 2.10: Results Table of Final Residuals

17. Based on the convergence status, you can continue to calculate selected design points from the
current results. Although the convergence criteria have been partially met for design points 6 and
7, which have high angle of attacks, the average residual and the residual of aerodynamic coefficients
are very low. The aerodynamic forces plateaued after 600 iterations, as shown in Figure 2.11: Conver-
gence History of the Lift Coefficient for Design Point 7 (p. 309) and Figure 2.12: Convergence History
of the Drag Coefficient for Design Point 7 (p. 310).

Figure 2.11: Convergence History of the Lift Coefficient for Design Point 7

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Figure 2.12: Convergence History of the Drag Coefficient for Design Point 7

18. Click Graphs in the Outline View to show the plots of the aerodynamic coefficients defined in
Fluent Aero. At the bottom of the Properties - Graphs window, click Plot Coefficients.

An X- Y plot of lift coefficient (Cl) vs. design point (DP) will appear in the Graphics window. The
drag and moment coefficients can be shown by selecting Cd and Cm-r/y/p from the Curve selection
drop-down list.

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Figure 2.13: Lift Coefficient vs. Design Point

Figure 2.14: Drag Coefficient vs. Design Point

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Figure 2.15: Pitching Moment Coefficient vs. Design Point

Click the Plot Drag Polar button. An X-Y plot of Lift Coefficient (Cl) vs. Drag Coefficient (Cd) will
appear in the Graphics window. Alternatively, you can simply change Dataset to Drag Polar from
the Graphics window to show the drag polar plot.

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Figure 2.16: Lift Coefficient vs. Drag Coefficient

19. Click the Plot Other Variables button. An X-Y plot AoA vs. DP will appear in the Graphics window.
Select Cl from the Curve drop-down. There is an […] option button located on the right of the
Dataset All Variables drop-down. This button can be used to modify some of the plot settings and
export the plot to the disk. Click […] the option button and select Plot settings → X Axis → Plot
by specified variable... to change the x variable to AoA. The plot of the lift coefficient vs the angle
of attack will be shown.

Figure 2.17: Option to Modify Plot Settings

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Figure 2.18: Lift Coefficient vs Angle of Attack

20. In the Properties – Graphs window, you can load and plot a reference dataset to compare with
the simulation results by using the Plot Ref. Data function. To compare the Cl vs AoA curve from
simulation with a reference data, set Dataset to All Variables and Curve to Cl from the Graphs
plot window. Ensure that AoA is the x-axis variable. Click Plot Ref. Data. A file browser will appear.
For this tutorial, you will use the results from a finer mesh to demonstrate this functionality. Browse
to the reference_data folder inside the tutorial folder and select the ref-onera-wing-Cl-
vs-AoA.csv file. The reference data will be loaded to the Cl curve.

Note:

The reference file should contain row data separated by commas. The first line contains
the x- and y- axis names of the plot that you want to compare to. The remaining lines
contain the data values you would like to plot. The format of the file used here is shown
in the image below:

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Figure 2.19: Comparing a Reference Dataset to the Lift Coefficient Curve

21. Click Results → Plots in the Outline View. The Plots options can be used to quickly display simple
2D plots of selected design points and solution variables. The Properties - Plots window will be
displayed.

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• Set Surfaces to Walls.

• Set Surface Cut Normal Direction to Z.

• Set Surface Cut Position [m] to 0.25.

• Set Field to Pressure Coefficient.

• Set Design Point to 2.

• Click Plot.

The pressure coefficient on the walls of DP-2 at Z=0.25m will be plotted in the Plots window.

A Plot Options panel will appear after clicking the Plot button. You can use this panel to customize
plot settings for both axes. Press Plot to apply these settings.

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A .csv file will be saved in the Results folder after clicking the Plot button, which is visible within
the DP-2/Data folder in the Project View.

Figure 2.20: Distribution of the Wall Pressure Coefficient at Z=0.25m for DP-2

Click the Plot Ref. Data button to load and plot a reference dataset in the current plot. In the dialog
window that appears, browse to the reference file ref-onera-wing-Cp-2.5deg-section-
0.25m.csv in the reference_data folder, and click OK. You can use the Save Plot button to

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export the current plot to a .png file on disk. The reference data will be imported in the DP-2/Data
folder in the Project View.

Figure 2.21: Load a Reference Data to the Pressure Coefficient Plot of DP-2 at Z=0.25m

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 Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an ONERA M6 Wing at a Range of Angles
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Figure 2.22: Data Folder in the Project View After Creating a Cut Plot and Plotting Reference
Results

22. The Contours options can be used to quickly display simple contour plots of selected design points
and solution variables. Left-click Contours from Outline View to display the Properties - Contours
setup window.

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• Set Surfaces to Walls.

• Set Field to Static Pressure.

• Set Design Point to 2.

• Enable Auto-Compute Range.

• In the ColorMap section:

– Enable Visible.

– Set Color Map to field-velocity.

– Enable Automatically Skip Labels.

• Click the Plot button.

The selected wall contour will be displayed in the Graphics window.

In the Graphics window, use the mouse to set the view of the contour. Click View… and change
Save Name to onera-wing-view-1. Click Save to save the current contour view. The saved view
can later be applied to other contour plots.

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Figure 2.23: Wall Static Pressure Contour of Design Point 2

Note:

The mesh used in this tutorial is very coarse. Its purpose is to quickly demonstrate a
typical workflow in Fluent Aero and should not be relied upon for precise and/or accurate
simulations. This mesh will not capture well viscous effects (such as viscous drag) or
complex flow features (such as separation or wake).

23. In the Properties - Contours area, click Save Image… and a Save Picture dialog will appear. From
this dialog, check Save All Updated DPs and set Format to JPEG. Click the Save… button. Set the
image name to onera-wing-static-pressure.jpg from the Select File dialog and the
contours of the static pressure for all the 7 design points will be saved to the Results folder as
onera-wing-static-pressure-DP-1 to 7.jpg.

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24. In the Properties - Contours area,

• Set Surfaces to Cutting Plane.

• Set Cutting Plane Normal Direction to Z.

• Set Cutting Plane Position [m] to 0.25.

• Set Field to Mach Number.

• Set the Design Point to 2.

• Click the Plot button to show the cutting plane contour in the Graphics window.

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Figure 2.24: Mach Number Cutting Plane Contour of Design Point 2

25. It is also possible to post-process Fluent Aero simulation results using an external post processing
tool such as CFD-Post and EnSight. By right-clicking a .dat.h5 file in the Project View, a View
Results With... menu appears with several post-processing options such as CFD-Post – Fluent
Solution and EnSight – Fluent Solution.

In this tutorial, you will use CFD-Post. Right-click out.0002.dat.h5 and select View Results
With... → CFD-Post – Fluent Solution to view the result file in CFD-Post. A CFD-Post window will
appear where the data file can be further post-processed.

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Figure 2.25: Solution of Design Point 2 in CFD-Post

26. After completing the post-processing of the current simulation, right-click oneram6_aoa_exploration
from the Outline View and then select Close Solver. An information panel will appear to ask you
if you want to save the case file or not. Click Yes to save the case file.

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 Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients and Wall Heat Flux on a Re- Entry Capsule at
Different Altitudes in Earth and Mars Atmospheres Using Mixtures

If you would like to create a new simulation, select Simulation → New Aero Workflow from the
Project ribbon. Browse and select a file to create a new simulation.

27. Once you have completed all your simulations, close the project and exit Fluent Aero by selecting
Project → Close followed by File → Exit.

2.2. Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients and Wall Heat Flux on a Re-

Entry Capsule at Different Altitudes in Earth and Mars Atmospheres Using
Mixtures
The main objective of this tutorial is to use Fluent Aero to compute the flow around an Earth re-entry
capsule in a range of hypersonic flight conditions. The flight conditions used in this tutorial correspond
to conditions experienced at different altitudes during an example flight path of a reference re-entry
capsule, at altitudes ranging from approximately 50-70 [km] (Part I – Earth Re-Entry Simulation (p. 326))
and 80-92 [km] (Part II – Earth Re-Entry Simulation at High Altitudes (p. 351)). To improve accuracy,
mixture representations of air are used in these simulations.

This tutorial also includes a demonstration case (Part III – Modeling the Flow Around an Entry Capsule
in Martian Atmosphere (p. 362)) of a capsule entering the Mars atmosphere while considering air mixture
properties and altitude conditions of the Martian atmosphere.

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Figure 2.26: Re-entry Capsule Problem Specification

Note:

In this tutorial, hypersonic flow conditions are simulated which make use of the Two Tem-
perature model for improved accuracy. This model is only available with access to the
cfd_hsf license increment and the hsf library. If you attempt to run this tutorial without
this license increment or the hsf library, the Two Temperature model will be Disabled and
the mixture representation of air cannot be used. Therefore, your results may differ from
what is shown here. If either the required license increment or the library are unavailable, a
message will be printed in your console log. Contact your Ansys representative to add these
resources if needed.

Part I – Earth Re-Entry Simulation

Download the fluent_aero_tutorial.zip file here.

Unzip fluent_aero_tutorial.zip to your working directory.

1. Extract the Capsule.msh.h5 file for this tutorial. The grid is an all-poly mesh which consists of
620,000 nodes and 180,000 cells. The limits of the computational domain are defined by a pressure-
far-field, pressure-outlet, and a symmetry plane in the Z direction.

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Figure 2.27: View of the Mesh around the Capsule

2. Launch Fluent 2024 R1 on your computer. On the Fluent Launcher panel that appears, set the
Capacity Level to Enterprise. Then select Aero. Set the number of Solver Processes to 4-16. Click
Start.

In the Fluent Aero workspace, go to the Project ribbon. Click Workspaces → Options, and make
sure to uncheck Use Custom Solver Launch Settings, Show Solution Workspace and Enable
Solution Workspace Graphics.

3. When Fluent Aero first opens, the Project tab will be displayed by default. In the Project ribbon
panel, select Project → New… and enter Fluent_Aero_Tutorial_02 to create a new project
folder.

4. In the Project’ ribbon, select Simulations → New Aero Workflow, and browse to and select the
Capsule.msh.h5 file. A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name of the New Simu-
lation as Capsule_Custom_Exploration, and check Load in Solver.

5. The case file will open and a background solver session will load. A new simulation folder will be
created in your project folder. Fluent Aero will convert the .msh.h5 grid file to a .cas.h5 format
case file and the latter will be imported in the simulation folder as Capsule.cas.h5.

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After the .cas.h5 file has been successfully loaded, a new Outline View tree appears under
Capsule_Custom_Exploration (loaded).

While importing, Fluent Aero will search for and find the pressure-far-field zone that defines the
external boundary of the domain. Its presence will cause Fluent Aero to determine that this case is
using a Freestream Domain Type, and the following message will be reported in the Console.

6. From the Outline View window, go to Geometric Properties. At the top of the Properties – Geo-
metric Properties window, notice that the Domain Type has been automatically set to Freestream.

Define the orientation of the geometry within the computational domain. This is used to compute
the aerodynamic forces.

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• Set Domain Dimension to 3D.

• Set Lift Direction at AoA = 0 degree to Y+.

• Set Drag Direction at AoA = 0 degree to X+.

• The Pitching Moment Direction will automatically set to Z-.

• Set the Moment Center X-, Y- and Z-Position [m] to 0, 0, and 0, respectively.

• Set the Reference Length [m] to 3.5.

• Set the Reference Area [m^2] to 3.0129.

7. In the Setup tree, go to Airflow Physics. A Properties – Airflow Physics window appears below
the Outline View window.

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• In the Solver section:

– Set Type to Density based.

• In the Models section:

– Set Viscous to K-Omega SST.

– Set Reactions to Enabled. When enabled, you will be able to use a mixture representation
of air in the next step and the Two Temperature model will be automatically set to En-
abled.

Note:

The Two-Temperature model is used to improve the accuracy of hypersonic

flow simulations, like those used in this tutorial. It is only available if you have
access to the cfd_hsf license increment and the hsf library. If you are unable
to set the Two Temperature to Enabled, you may not have access to this license
increment or the hsf library. Contact your Ansys representative to add these
resources if needed.

– Set Knudsen Number Criterion to Disabled.

• In the Materials section:

– Set Air Properties to Air - 5 Species.

– Set Mass Fractions by clicking the Edit… button located on the right-hand side of the
mass fractions display box to the species fractions shown below.

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8. In the Setup tree, select Simulation Conditions. In the Properties – Simulation Conditions window.

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• Set the Number of Design Points to 3.

• In the Flow Speed section,

– Set Parameter to Mach.

– Set Distribution to Custom.

• For Flow Direction,

– Set Parameter to AoA.

– Set Distribution: Angle of Attack to Constant.

– Set Angle of Attack [degrees] to 18.4.

• In the Pressure and Temperature section,

– Set Parameter to Altitude.

– Set Distribution to Custom.

• In the Turbulence section,

– Set Parameter to Intensity and Viscosity Ratio.

– Set both Distribution: Turbulent Intensity and Turbulent Viscosity to Constant.

– Set Turbulent Intensity [%] to 0.08.

– Set Turbulent Viscosity Ratio to 1e-5.

• In the Wall Conditions section:

– Enable Apply to All Walls.

– In the Thermal Conditions section:

→ Set Parameter to Temperature.

→ Set Distribution to Constant.

→ Set Temperature [K] to 2000.

An empty Input:Design Points table will be created with 3 rows, one for each design point. You
can manually fill the Input:Design Points table by clicking each entry cell and entering a value.
Notice that there are 6 columns in the table. The first column specifies the Design Point number,
and cannot be edited. The second and third columns are for specifying the variable inputs of Mach
Number and Altitude [m], respectively. Since Altitude was selected under Pressure and Temper-
ature, Pressure [Pa] and Temperature [K] are also shown in the table. These columns cannot be
edited, as they will be automatically calculated and filled based on the Altitude input, which uses
the International Standard Atmosphere. The final column lists the Status of each design point calcu-
lation.

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Begin to manually fill the table by clicking the Mach Number cell of design point 1, and enter
20.65. Next, click the Altitude [m] cell and enter 67300. Notice that the Pressure [Pa] and Tem-
perature [K] cells are automatically filled with 7.0319 and 225.01, respectively.

Fill the remainder of the table by importing the data from a .csv file. Right-click the Simulation
Conditions and select Import Data File to DP Table from the drop-down list of commands.

Navigate to and load the Capsule_Input_3_Design_Points.csv from the FLUENT_AERO_TU-

TORIALS folder and the remainder of the Input:Design Points Table will be filled.

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Figure 2.28: Input:Design Points Table of a Custom Exploration With 3 Design Points

Note:

The Status of each design point (DP) is currently set to Needs Update, because they
have not yet been calculated.

9. From the Properties - Simulation Conditions window, enable Use Custom Output Parameters.

A selection panel will appear which contains a list of pre-defined custom-output variables. Select
dragPress (pressure induced drag force), dragVisc (wall shear stress induced drag force), and
maxWallTemp (maximum wall temperature), and click Update. Fluent Aero will create the selected
variables in the solver and the results of these output parameters will be shown in a table at the
end of the calculation. Refer to Fluent Aero for more details about the functionality of the custom
input/output parameters.

Figure 2.29: Select Custom Outputs

10. Go to Component Groups. Two default Component Groups have been created after the simulation
is loaded. The Freestream group contains a pressure-far-field and a pressure-outlet zone that

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define the external boundary of the domain, and is where the freestream atmospheric flight conditions
for each design point are defined as boundary conditions. The Other group contains the remainder
of the boundary zones which are the walls of re-entry capsule and a symmetry plane of the simulation
domain.

11. In the Outline View, go to Solution → Files. This step allows you to control the output files written
per design point. Keep the default options.

12. Under Solve, keep the default number of Iterations of 1500. Keep both Convergence Settings
and Convergence Criteria as Default.

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13. Click the Update button at the bottom of the Properties - Solve panel. The simulation will first
initialize using the flight conditions of DP-1 and then DP-1 will begin to iterate. The residuals plot
of DP-1 will appear in the Convergence window located on the right of the screen.

Figure 2.30: Convergence of the Residuals for Design Point 1

In the Convergence window, set Dataset to DP-1 and Curve to drag-coefficient. The evolution of
the drag coefficient for DP-1 will be displayed. You can query the value of the drag coefficient by
left-clicking the curve.

Figure 2.31: Convergence History of the Drag Coefficient for Design Point 1

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In the Convergence window, set Dataset to DP-1 and Curve to Mixture Species. The residuals of
species mass fractions for DP-1 will be displayed. You can query the value of a specific species by
left-clicking the curve.

Figure 2.32: Convergence of Species Mass Fractions for Design Point 1

After approximately 1300 iterations, the DP-1 calculation is complete, the Status column in row 1
of the Input:Design Points table is set to Updated, the results data file (.dat[.h5]) is saved, and
the DP-2 calculation begins.

14. After all the design points have been updated, the status of the Input:Design Points table will be
set to Updated for all the design points.

Figure 2.33: Input:Design Points Table after Calculation

15. A Results node will be displayed in the Outline View after the simulation starts. This allows you to
quickly postprocess all design point solutions, by obtaining aerodynamic coefficient plots, creating
contour plots of solution fields, comparing solution fields to experimental data, and more.

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16. The first element in the Results node is Tables. In the current tutorial, five different Tables will be
automatically created in the Graphics window area when the calculation is complete.

Note:

You can also click Tables → Export Results Tables button and the results tables will be
exported to the Results folder of the current simulation and they will be visible in the
Project View under the Summary folder.

Click the Table:Summary, Table:Coefficients, Table:Forces, Table:Residuals, and Table:Custom

Outputs tabs at the bottom of the Graphics window to reveal each table.

• Table:Summary summarizes the flight conditions and convergence information for each design
point.

Note:

You can see from the convergence curves that lift and drag plateaued. However, you
may notice in the final column of this table that all 3 design points have not fully met
the default residuals convergence criteria of 1e-5. To have the Conv. Criteria Met?
column set to yes, you could relax the convergence criteria by increasing the values
of Residuals Convergence Cutoff or calculate for more iterations until the default
convergence criteria is met. You can go to Solve, change Convergence Criteria to
Custom and Residuals Convergence Cutoff will be available within the Properties –
Solve panel.

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Figure 2.34: Summary Table of the Flight Conditions and Convergence Information

• When the Default option is selected from the Display Aero Forces dropdown list in the Properties
- Tables panel, Table:Coefficients contains the lift, drag, and moment coefficients. Moments are
typically calculated in the Body-Fixed Axes, therefore, body-fixed axes moments, in addition to
the lift and drag coefficients, which are Wind-Fixed Axes coefficients, have been added to the
default table. The body-fixed coefficients have been distinguished from the wind-fixed axes
coefficients by the use of gray color. The final three columns show convergence data for the lift
and drag coefficients, as well as the maximum convergence of the three moment coefficients.

Figure 2.35: Results Table of the Aerodynamic Coefficients When Default Is Selected

Fluent Aero currently supports the body-fixed and wind-fixed coordinate systems for displaying
aerodynamic forces, moments, and coefficients. Display Aero Forces in the Properties - Tables
panel allows you to display the forces and moments, as well as their coefficients, in the body-
fixed, wind-fixed, or both coordinate systems at the same time. The images below demonstrate
these options using the aerodynamic coefficients from this tutorial.

Figure 2.36: Results Table of the Aero Coefficients When Body-Fixed Axes Is Selected

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Figure 2.37: Results Table of the Aero Coefficients when Wind-Fixed Axes Is Selected

Figure 2.38: Results Table of the Aero Coefficients when Body-Fixed+Wind-Fixed Axes Is
Selected

• When Default is selected from Display Aero Forces in the Properties - Tables panel, Table:Forces
contains the lift and drag forces, as well as the moment, as shown in Figure 2.39: Results Table of
the Aerodynamic Forces when Default Is Selected (p. 340). The gray color is used to differentiate
between data from body-fixed axes and data from wind-fixed axes. Similar to Table:Coefficients,
you can select from the same dropdown list to display forces and moments in either the body-
fixed, wind-fixed, or both coordinate systems.

Figure 2.39: Results Table of the Aerodynamic Forces when Default Is Selected

Note:

When you right-click Tables in the Outline View and select Export Results Tables to
CSV, the displayed tables of forces and moments, along with their coefficients, will be
written to Table-Coefficients.csv and Table-Forces.csv.

• Table:Residuals summarizes the final residuals as well as the number of iterations run for each
design point.

Figure 2.40: Results Table of Final Residuals

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• Table:Custom Outputs shows the final values of the custom outputs.

Figure 2.41: Results Table of Custom Outputs

17. Click Graphs in the Outline View to show the plots of the aerodynamic coefficients defined in
Fluent Aero. At the bottom of the Properties - Graphs window, click Plot Coefficients. An X-Y plot
of lift coefficient (Cl) vs. design point (DP) will appear in the Graphics window. The drag and moment
coefficients can be shown by selecting Cd and Cm-y/p/r from the Curve selection drop-down list.

Figure 2.42: Lift Coefficient vs. Design Point

18. Click Results → Plots. The Plots options can be used to quickly display simple 2D plots of selected
design points and solution variables. The Properties - Plots window will be displayed.

• Set Surfaces to Walls.

• Set Surface Cut Normal Direction to Z.

• Set Surface Cut Position [m] to 0.1.

• Set Field to Pressure Coefficient.

• Set Design Point to 2.

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• Click Plot.

Since the solution for DP-2 at Z=0.1m will be plotted in the Plots window, a cut plot using default
plot options will be created and a popup panel which allows you to customize certain plot options
will appear. If the field is set to Pressure Coefficient, the Invert Range option for the y-axis will be
enabled.

From the Plot Options panel, set the Pattern in Curve Settings to points-square. Click Plot. The
2D cut plot in the Graphics window will be updated using these new settings.

Figure 2.43: Distribution of the Wall Pressure Coefficient at Z = 0.1m for DP-2

Then set Field to Heat Flux and click Plot to show the wall heat flux of DP-2 at Z=0.1m.

Figure 2.44: Distribution of the Wall Heat Flux at Z = 0.1m for DP-2

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19. The Contours options can be used to quickly display simple contour plots of selected design points
and solution variables. Left-click Contours from the Outline View to display the Properties –
Contours setup window.

• Set Surfaces to Walls.

• Set Field to Heat Flux.

• Set Design Point to 3.

• Uncheck to disable Auto-Compute Range.

• Set the Minimum and Maximum Value to -400000 and -30000 respectively.

• Check to enable Draw Mesh.

• Click to expand Color Map.

• Change Color Map to flame.

• Uncheck Automatically Skip Labels and set Skip to 15.

• Click the Plot button.

The selected wall contour will be displayed in the Graphics window. In the Graphics window, use
the mouse to set the view of the contour. Click Views… and change Save Name to capsule-
view-1. Click Save to save the current contour view.

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Note:

To change graphics display settings, you can go to File → Preferences → Graphics. For
example, in the Lighting section, you can set Headlight to On, and set appropriate values
to both Headlight intensity and Ambient light intensity to personalize the graphics
object rendering.

Figure 2.45: Wall Heat Flux Contour of DP-03

• Next, set Surfaces to Walls.

• Set Field to Static Pressure.

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• Set Design Point to 3.

• Check to enable Auto-Compute Range.

• Uncheck the Draw Mesh option.

• Change Color Map to field-velocity.

• Click Plot.

After the contour is created, click Views.... From the Views panel, select capsule-view1 and click
Apply. Close the Views panel. Click Save Image… and a Save Picture option panel will appear.
From this panel, check Save All Updated DPs and set Format to JPEG. Click the Save… button.
Set image name to capsule-static-pressure from the Select File dialog and the contours
of the static pressure for all the 3 design points will be saved to the Results folder as capsule-
static-pressure-DP-1, 2 and 3.jpg.

Figure 2.46: Wall Static Pressure Contour of DP-03

In this solution, notice the high pressure region around the stagnation point located towards the
front of the capsule (left side in image), and the low pressure region in the backside of the capsule,
which is surrounded by the wake.

20. In the Properties - Contours area, set Surfaces to Cutting Plane, Cutting Plane Normal Direction
to Z, Cutting Plane Position [m] to 0.1 and Field to Mach Number. Click the Plot button to show
the cutting plane contour in the Graphics window.

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Figure 2.47: Mach Number Cutting Plane Contour Plot

21. To further improve the convergence, you can continue to calculate the design points from the current
results.

22. Go to the Input:Design Points table. Set the Status of design points that have not fully met the
convergence criteria to Continue To Update. This operation can also be performed by using com-
mands in the Design Points ribbon.

• Click Design Points in the top ribbon.

• Click Status → Set Status.

• A Set Status of Design Points dialog opens which can be used to set the status of a group of
design points.

• Set Select DPs to Convergence Criteria.

• Set Filter By to Not or Partially Met.

• Set Choose a Status → Status to Continue To Update.

• Click Apply.

• The status of all the design points will be set to Continue To Update.

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In the Outline View, under Solution → Solve, set the Iterations to 250 and click Update.

Note:

Other commands available in the Design Points ribbon can be useful to manage your
calculation activities. For example, an alternative option to perform the Continue to
Update procedure outlined above would be to use the Solve → Continue... command.
This allows you to update a group of design points without needing to set their status.
If you select Continue... and then select DPs – Conv. Criteria Not or Partially Met, all
design points that have not met their convergence criteria will immediately Continue to
Update.

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Figure 2.48: Convergence of Residuals for Design Point 1 Using Continue to Update

Notice that after completing a Continue To Update calculation, the convergence of residuals have
improved and the Conv. Criteria Met? of some design points might now be set to yes in
Table:Summary.

Note:

In the above tutorial, Fluent Aero’s default solver convergence settings are used to calcu-
late the first 1500 iterations of each design point. However, in some cases, it is possible
to start the calculation with different solver settings in order to improve convergence.

For example, you could repeat the above tutorial using more aggressive solver settings
by performing the steps below.

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• Create a New Aero Workflow simulation, set up the Geometric Properties, Airflow
Physics and Simulation Conditions as previously described in the above steps. Altern-
atively, you can duplicate the previous simulation, including all setups, by right-clicking
the Capsule_Custom_Exploration project folder located in the Outline View and se-
lecting Duplicate. You only need to change the solver settings.

• In the Outline View, go to Solution → Solve. In the Properties - Solve panel, enter
the following alternate settings:

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– Set the Iterations to 1500.

– Set Convergence Settings to Custom. This will reveal additional options that can
be useful to modify to attempt to improve the convergence or the speed of conver-
gence.

– Set the Convergence Criteria to Custom. This will reveal the convergence cutoff
values for residuals and aero coefficients, which can be modified to either improve
or relax the convergence. Change the Flow Range from Automatic to Hypersonic.
This will reveal solution steering settings.

– Right-click Solve from the Outline View and select the Show Default Settings
command.

– From the Show Default Settings panel, change Flow Range to Hypersonic and
press Apply. This will show the Convergence Settings set as Default that have
been previously applied in the first part of this tutorial inside the Properties - Solve
panel.

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– Increase the Initial Courant Number from 1 to 4.

• Press Update to launch the calculation. With these more aggressive settings, the cal-
culations will converge faster.

23. After completing the current simulation, you can close the solver by right-clicking Capsule_Cus-
tom_Exploration from the Outline View and selecting Close Solver. An information panel will
appear to ask you if you want to save the case file or not. Click Yes to save the case file.

24. Close the project and exit Fluent Aero. From the ribbon, select Project → Close to close a project.
Next, select File → Exit and the Fluent Aero workspace will be closed.

Part II – Earth Re-Entry Simulation at High Altitudes

In this section, you will simulate a re-entry mission at high altitudes where flight conditions of a design
point are in the transitional flow regime of rarefied gases. To enhance the accuracy of simulations at
these conditions, an 11-species air mixture is used to account for ionization.

1. Open the project created in Part I – Earth Re-Entry Simulation (p. 326).

2. In the Project ribbon, select Simulations → New Aero Workflow and browse to and select the
Capsule.msh.h5 file. A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name of the New Simu-
lation as High_Altitude_ReEntry and check Load in Solver.

3. Set the Geometry Properties as in Part I – Earth Re-Entry Simulation (p. 326).

4. In the Setup tree, go to Airflow Physics. A Properties – Airflow Physics window appears below
the Outline View window. Go to the File → Preferences… → Aero and enable Advanced Settings.
This will reveal the Transitional Regime Threshold above which the transitional regime for rarefied
gases starts.

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• In the Solver section:

– Set Type to Density based.

• In the Models section:

– Set Viscous to K-Omega SST.

– Set Reactions to Enabled. When enabled, you will be able to use a mixture representation of
Earth's atmosphere in Materials and the Two Temperature model will be automatically set to
Enabled.

Note:

The Two Temperature model is used to improve accuracy of hypersonic flow simu-
lations, like those used in this tutorial. It is only available if you have access to the
cfd_hsf license increment and the hsf library. If you are unable to set the Two
Temperature model to Enabled, you may not have access to this license increment
or the hsf library. Contact your Ansys representative to add these resources if
needed.

– Set Knudsen Number Criterion to Enabled.

– Set Transitional Regime Threshold to 0.01.

• In the Materials section:

– Set Air Properties to Air - 11 Species (Park).

– Set Mass Fractions to [0, 0.233, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0.767] by clicking

the Edit… button located on the right-hand side of the mass fractions display box. Set the
species fractions within the panel that appears.

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5. In the Setup tree, select Simulation Conditions. A Properties – Simulation Conditions window
appears below the Outline View window.

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Enter the Mach Number and Altitude [m] cells from DP-1 and DP-2 into the table, as shown in
Figure 2.49: Input:Design Points Table of a Custom Exploration With 2 Design Points (p. 354). When
you enter the conditions for DP-2, a Knudsen Number column appears automatically because its
Knudsen number is greater than the default threshold of 0.01 for the rarefied gas transitional flow
regime. The orange color indicates that the Knudsen Number Criterion in Airflow Physics will be
used for DP-2.

Figure 2.49: Input:Design Points Table of a Custom Exploration With 2 Design Points

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6. Keep the default settings in the Component Groups section.

7. Go to Solution → Files in the Outline View.

• Keep the default settings.

8. Select Solve.

• Set Convergence Settings to Robust. Iterations automatically sets to 2000.

• Keep Convergence Criteria to Default.

9. Click the Update button. The simulation will begin with DP-1 and then progress to DP-2 once
completed. The DP-1 residuals plot will appear in the Convergence window on the right side of
the screen.

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Figure 2.50: Convergence of the Residuals for Design Point 1

10. The convergence curves of the Residuals and Mixture Species groups will now be combined. In
the Convergence window, select [...] → Plot settings → Add to plot. You can now select and add
curves to Curve → Residuals.

In the Add curve dialog, select Mixture Species under Add curve to plot and press OK. This will
add all the species residuals under Mixture Species to Residuals.

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11. In the New curve dialog, under New curve name as Residuals – All and press OK.

Set Dataset to DP-2 in the Convergence window and repeat the steps to create the combined re-
siduals plot for DP-2.

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12. In the Convergence window, set Dataset to DP-2 and Curve to drag-coefficient. Select […] →
Plot settings → Add File. This allows you to select a file and append its data to the current curves.

In the Open File dialog, navigate to and select out.0001.fconverg in the Results folder of the
current simulation. On the second panel that appears, enter DP-1 as Tag for the new dataset.

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13. You can now use the […] → Plot settings → Add to plot to combine the history of the drag coef-
ficient from these two design points in the same plot.

Figure 2.51: Convergence History of the Drag Coefficient for Design Point 1 and 2

14. In the Graphics window area, select Table:Summary where flight conditions and convergence in-
formation can be found. You can see from the convergence curves that the convergence of lift and
drag plateaued. However, you may notice in the final column of this table that both design points
have not fully met the default residuals convergence criteria of 1e-5. You could relax the convergence
criteria by increasing the values of Residuals Convergence Cutoff to have the Conv. Criteria Met?
column set to yes or run the calculations for more iterations until the default convergence criteria
is met.

15. Select Table:Residuals to verify the final residuals as well as number of iterations run for each design
point. Notice that the columns of k and omega are empty for DP-2 since laminar flow was imposed
by the Knudsen Number Criterion.

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16. The Results node in the Outline View allows you to quickly post-process results by obtaining
aerodynamic coefficient plots, creating contour plots of solution fields, comparing solution fields to
experimental data, and more. For more information, refer to Part I – Earth Re-Entry Simulation (p. 326).
In this section, you will only generate contour plots of Mach number and molar concentration of
electron. Left-click Contours from the Outline View to display the Properties – Contours window.

• Set Surfaces to Selected Surfaces.

• Set Selected Surfaces to sym and capsule.

• Set Field to Mach Number.

• Set Design Point to 2.

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• In the Color Map section:

– Set Color Map to cyan-yellow.

– Uncheck Automatically Skip Labels and set Skip to 15.

– Click the Plot button and adjust your view within the Graphics window.

Figure 2.52: Contour Plot of Mach Number

In the Properties – Contours panel, change only Field to Species – Molar Concentration of e.
Click the Plot button. Contours of the electron molar concentration will be displayed. The electron
concentration is in the area behind the shock and the maximum electron molar density is 7.58e-9
kmol/m3, which is about 4.56e18 of electrons per cubic meter.

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Figure 2.53: Contour Plot of Molar Concentration of Electron

17. After completing the current simulation, you can close the solver by right-clicking High_Alti-
tude_ReEntry from the Outline View and selecting Close Solver. An Information dialog box will
appear asking you to save the case file, click Yes.

Part III – Modeling the Flow Around an Entry Capsule in Martian Atmosphere
In this section, you will simulate a Mars entry condition based on the flight path of the Viking lander
mission 2 using the same capsule geometry as in Part I – Earth Re-Entry Simulation (p. 326). In this case,
to improve accuracy of simulations, the air mixture of the Martian atmosphere is used.

1. Open the project created in Part I – Earth Re-Entry Simulation (p. 326).

2. In the Project’s ribbon, select Simulations → New Aero Workflow, and browse to and select the
Capsule.msh.h5 file. A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name of the New Simu-
lation as Mars_Entry_Mission, and check Load in Solver.

3. Set the Geometry Properties as in Part I – Earth Re-Entry Simulation (p. 326).

4. In the Setup tree, go to Airflow Physics. A Properties – Airflow Physics window appears below
the Outline View window. Go to the File → Preferences… → Aero and enable Advanced Settings.
This will reveal the Transitional Regime Threshold above which the transitional regime for rarefied
gases starts.

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• In the Solver section:

– Set Type to Density based.

• In the Models section:

– Set Viscous to K-Omega SST.

– Set Reactions to Enabled. When enabled, you will be able to use a mixture representation of
the Martian atmosphere in Materials and the Two Temperature model will be automatically
set to Enabled.

Note:

The Two Temperature model is used to improve accuracy of hypersonic flow simu-
lations, like those used in this tutorial. It is only available if you have access to the
cfd_hsf license increment and the hsf library. If you are unable to set the Two
Temperature model to Enabled, you may not have access to this license increment
or the hsf library. Contact your Ansys representative to add these resources if
needed.

– Set Knudsen Number Criterion to Enabled.

– Set Transitional Regime Threshold to 0.01.

• In the Materials section:

– Set Air Properties to Mars - 8 Species.

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– Set Mass Fractions to [0, 0, 0, 0, 0.97, 0, 0, 0.03] by clicking the Edit… button
located on the right-hand side of the mass fractions display box. Set the species fractions
within the panel that appears.

5. In the Setup tree, select Simulation Conditions. A Properties – Simulation Conditions window
appears below the Outline View window.

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• Set the Number of Design Points to 1.

• In the Flow Speed section:

– Set Parameter to True Airspeed.

– Set Distribution to Constant.

– Set True Airspeed [m/s] to 4563.1.

• In the Flow Direction section:

– Set Parameter to AoA.

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– Set Distribution: Angle of Attack to Constant.

– Set Angle of Attack [deg] to 18.4.

• In the Pressure and Temperature section:

– Set Parameter to Altitude.

– Set Distribution to Constant.

– Set Flight Altitude [m] to 47419. The Atmospheric Static Pressure [Pa] and Atmospheric
Static Temperature [K] will be automatically computed based on the analytical altitude profiles
created from the Viking lander re-entry profiles.

• In the Turbulence section:

– Set Parameter to Intensity and Viscosity Ratio.

– Set both Distribution: Turbulent Intensity and Turbulent Viscosity to Constant.

– Set Turbulent Intensity [%] to 0.08.

– Set Turbulent Viscosity Ratio to 1e-5.

• In the Wall Conditions section:

– Enable Apply to All Walls.

– In the Thermal Conditions section:

→ Set Parameter to Temperature.

→ Set Distribution to Constant.

→ Set Temperature [K] to 2000.

6. After setting the Simulation Conditions, Fluent Aero automatically calculates the Knudsen number
(Kn). If any design point has a Knudsen number above the threshold of the transitional flow regime
of rarefied gases, it will automatically be displayed in the input table. You can also manually show
Knudsen number by right-clicking Simulation Conditions and selecting the Show Knudsen Number.
The Knudsen number of the current simulation is grayed out, indicating it is below the default
threshold of 0.01 for the transitional regime. Consequently, the Knudsen Number Criterion that
imposes laminar flow and partial slip wall conditions will not be applied to the current design point.

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7. Keep the default Component Groups settings.

8. Go to Solution → Files in the Outline View.

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• Keep the default settings.

9. Select Solve.

• Set Iterations to 1000.

• Keep Convergence Settings and Convergence Criteria to Default.

10. Click the Update button located at the bottom of the Properties - Solve panel. The simulation will
first initialize using the flight conditions of DP-1 and then DP-1 will begin to iterate. The residuals
plot of DP-1 will appear in the Convergence window located on the right of the screen.

Figure 2.54: Convergence of the Residuals for Design Point 1

In the Convergence window, set Dataset to DP-1 and Curve to drag-coefficient. The evolution of
the drag coefficient for DP-1 will be displayed. You can query the value of the drag coefficient by
left-clicking the curve.

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Figure 2.55: Convergence History of the Drag Coefficient for Design Point 1

11. Go to the Graphics window area and select Table:Summary where flight conditions and convergence
information can be found. You can see from the convergence curves that the convergence of lift
and drag plateaued. However, you may notice in the final column of this table that DP-1 has not
fully met the default residuals convergence criteria of 1e-5. You could relax the convergence criteria
by increasing the values of Residuals Convergence Cutoff to have the Conv. Criteria Met? column
set to yes or calculate for more iterations until the default convergence criteria is met.

12. The Results node in the Outline View allows you to quickly post-process results by obtaining
aerodynamic coefficient plots, creating contour plots of solution fields, comparing solution fields to
experimental data, and more. For more information, refer to Part I – Earth Re-Entry Simulation (p. 326).

You will generate a contour plot of the CO2 mass fraction below. Left-click Contours from the
Outline View to display the Properties – Contours window.

• Set Surfaces to Selected Surfaces.

• Set sym and capsule as Selected Surfaces.

• Set Field to Species – Mass Fraction of co2.

• Set Design Point to 1.

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• Click to expand Color Map.

• Set Color Map to field-temperature.

• Uncheck Automatically Skip Labels and set Skip to 15.

• Click the Plot button. From the Graphics window, adjust the view.

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Figure 2.56: Contour Plot of CO2 Mass Fraction

13. After completing the current simulation, you can close the solver by right-clicking
Mars_Entry_Mission from the Outline View and selecting Close Solver. An Information dialog
box will appear asking you to save the case file, click Yes.

14. Close the project and exit Fluent Aero by selecting Project → Close followed by File → Exit to close
the Fluent Aero workspace.

2.3. Introduction to Aircraft Component Groups and Computing Aerody-

namic Coefficients on an Aircraft at Different Flight Altitudes and Engine
Regimes
The objective of this tutorial is to introduce the aircraft Component Groups feature in Fluent Aero and
to compute the flow around a common commercial aircraft at different flight Altitudes, Mach and engine
regimes. The aircraft considered is the NASA Common Research Model (CRM) in the wing-body-nacelle-
pylon (WBNP) configuration. The flight conditions used in this tutorial represent examples of climb and
nominal cruise conditions and are for demonstration purposes only.

Download the fluent_aero_tutorial.zip file here.

Unzip fluent_aero_tutorial.zip to your working directory.

Extract the CRM_WBNP_Aircraft.msh.h5 file for this tutorial. The grid consists of 1.2M nodes and
2.4M cells. Five layers of prisms are grown off the aircraft’s wall boundaries and the remainder of the
computational domain is filled with tetrahedral cells. The limits of the computational domain are defined
by a hemispherical boundary defined as a pressure-farfield boundary type, and a flat circular boundary
defined as a symmetry plane in the Z direction. This .msh file therefore meets the General Case File or
Mesh File Requirements. However, the mesh is very coarse, and therefore should be used for demon-
stration purposes only.

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Figure 2.57: View of the Mesh Around the Aircraft

1. Launch Fluent on your computer. On the Fluent Launcher panel that appears, set the Capacity
Level to Enterprise. Then select Aero. Set the number of Solver Processes to 4-8. Click Start.

2. In the Fluent Aero workspace, go to File → Preferences.... In the Preferences window, go to the
Aero menu and ensure Use Custom Solver Launch Settings, Show Solution Workspace and Enable
Solution Workspace Graphics are disabled. Disabling these settings is the preferred approach for
running Fluent Aero simulations on your local machine.

3. When Fluent Aero first opens, the Project tab will be displayed by default. In the Project ribbon
panel, select Project → New… and enter Fluent_Aero_Tutorial_03 to create a new project
folder.

4. In the Project ribbon, select Simulations → New Aero Workflow, and browse to and select the
CRM_WBNP_Aircraft.msh.h5 file. A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name of
the New Simulation as CRM_WBNP_Aircraft, and check Load in Solver.

5. The case file will open and a background solver session will load. A new simulation folder will be
created in your project folder. Fluent Aero will convert the .msh.h5 grid file to a .cas.h5 format
case file and the latter will be imported in the simulation folder as CRM_WBNP_Aircraft.cas.h5.

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6. After the case file has been successfully loaded, a new Setup tree appears under CRM_WBNP_Aircraft
(loaded) in the Outline View window.

While importing, Fluent Aero will search for and find the pressure-far-field zone that defines the
external boundary of the domain. Its presence will cause Fluent Aero to determine that this case is
using a Freestream domain type, and the following message will be reported in the Console.

7. In the Outline View window, under the Setup tree, go to Geometric Properties. A Properties –
Geometric Properties window appears below the Outline View. Define the orientation of the
geometry within the computational domain, which is used to compute the aerodynamic forces.

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• Set Domain Dimension to 3D.

• Set Lift Direction at AoA = 0 degree to Y+.

• Set Drag Direction at AoA = 0 degree to X+.

• Set the Moment Center X-, Y- and Z-Position [m] to 33.678, 4.520, and 0, respectively.

• Set the Reference Length [m] to 7.005

• Set the Reference Area [m^2] to 167.513 which is the reference wing area.

• Alternatively, you can use Compute Projected Area to calculate the reference area.

– Enable Compute Projected Area.

– From the Projected Surface Areas panel

→ Set Projection Direction to Y.

→ Keep Min Feature Size [m] as 0.001.

→ In the Walls section, select all walls staring with wing-.

→ Press Compute. The reference wing area will be computed and displayed.

→ Press Use as Ref. Area to use the computed area as the Reference Area [m^2] in the
Properties – Geometric Properties panel.

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8. In the Setup tree, go to Airflow Physics.

• In the Solver section:

– Set Type to Density based.

• In the Models section:

– Set Viscous to K-Omega SST.

– Set Reactions to Disabled.

– Set Two Temperature to Disabled.

– Set Knudsen Number Criterion to Disabled.

• In the Materials section:

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– Set Air Properties to Air default.

9. You will now set up the Freestream flight conditions. Two design points will be created. The first
DP represents an example of a climb condition and the second DP corresponds to a nominal cruise
condition and they are for demonstration purposes only. In the Setup tree, go to Simulation Con-
ditions. In the Properties – Simulation Conditions window,

• Set the Number of Design Points to 2

• In the Flow Speed section,

– Set Parameter to Mach.

– Set Distribution to Custom. An empty column will appear in the Input: Design Points
table where you can set the Mach Number for each design point.

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• In the Flow Direction section,

– Set Parameter to AoA.

– Set Distribution: Angle of Attack to Custom An empty column will appear in the
Input: Design Points table where you can set the Angle of Attack for each design
point. You will enter these conditions in the next step.

• In the Pressure and Temperature section,

– Set Parameter to Altitude.

– Set Distribution to Custom. An empty column will appear in the Input: Design Points
table where you can set the Altitude for each design point.

• Fill the Mach Number, Angle of Attack [deg] and Altitude [m] columns with the values
shown below. The Pressure [Pa] and Temperature [K] columns will be automatically com-
puted from the International Standard Atmosphere model at the altitude of each design point.

• In the Turbulence section,

– Set Parameter to Intensity and Viscosity Ratio.

– Set both Distribution: Turbulent Intensity and Turbulent Viscosity to Constant.

– Set Turbulent Intensity [%] to 0.08.

– Set Turbulent Viscosity Ratio to 1e-5.

• In the Wall Conditions section:

– Enable Apply to All Walls.

– In the Thermal Conditions section:

→ Set Parameter to Heat Flux.

→ Set Distribution to Constant.

→ Set Heat Flux [W/m2] to 0.

10. You will now create several aircraft components which will allow you to define some component
specific inputs and outputs. In the Setup tree, go to Component Groups. In the Properties –

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Component Groups window, click Manage Components. The Component Manager panel will
appear.

11. Use the Component Manager to create an Engine type component:

• In the New Component section, set Type to Engine and a default group name Engine_01
will appear.

• Use Create>> to add Engine_01 into Existing Components.

All the boundary zones that have not been assigned to any group are listed under Available Zones.
An Engine type group is a specific type of group which contains three different Component Parts:

• Exhaust

• Intake

• Nacelle

At least one boundary zone must be added to the Exhaust and Intake Component Parts.

• From Available Zones, select engine-inlet and use the Add>> button to add it to the Intake
component part.

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• Select and add engine-nozzle to the Exhaust part.

• Select and add all the remaining boundary zones starting with engine- to the Nacelle part.

The Engine_01 component group is now successfully created.

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12. Use the Component Manager to create a Wing type component:

• From the New Component section, change Type to Wing.

• Use Create>> to add Wing_01 to the Existing Components.

• From Available Zones, select all the boundary zones that start with wing and use Add>>
to add them to the Walls component parts.

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13. Use the Component Manager to create a General type component:

• Change Type in the New Component to General.

• Change Name to Fuselage.

• Use Create>> to add the Fuselage group to Existing Components.

• From the Available Zones, select all the boundary zones with the fuselage- prefix and use Add>>
to add them to the All component part.

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14. Click OK to close the Component Manager. The three new Component Groups will appear in the
Outline View in addition to the default Freestream and Other groups.

15. From Outline View → Component Groups, expand the Engine_01 component and select engine-
inlet which is a pressure-outlet type boundary zone. You will now set up the engine conditions.

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on an Aircraft at Different Flight Altitudes and Engine Regimes

• In the Properties – engine-inlet window:

– Change Conditions to Edit.

– Set Static Pressure to Custom to apply different Static Pressure [Pa] for each design
point.

– Change the default Parameter Name to inlet_P.

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A custom expression for the Static Pressure [Pa] will be created in the solution workspace with the
name inlet_P. A column named inlet_P [Pa] will be added to the Input:Design Points table. You
will enter the values of inlet_P [Pa] in a later step.

16. Select engine-nozzle to set boundary conditions at the engine exhaust.

Note:

The engine exhaust surface in this tutorial is a single flat circular disk that accounts
for the fan and the core airflow and therefore cannot well represent the double-flow
design of a typical aircraft engine. In this manner, the engine thrust computed in
the current tutorial is for demonstration purposes only.

• In the Properties – engine-nozzle window:

– Change Conditions to Edit.

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– Change Static Pressure, Total Temperature and Mass Flow Rate to Custom to apply
different Static Pressure [Pa], Total Temperature [K] and Mass Flow [kg/s] for each
design point.

– Change the default parameter names to nz_P, nz_T0 and nz_mf respectively. Three
custom expressions will be created in the solution workspace and will appear in the In-
put:Design Points table. Fill the table with the values as shown below.

Figure 2.58: Input:Design Points Table With 2 Design Points

– Keep the default turbulence settings.

17. Notice that there are 2 design points and 11 columns in the table. The first and second design points
represent an example of climb and nominal cruise conditions respectively. Their flight conditions
are provided for demonstration purposes only. The first column specifies the design point number
and cannot be edited. The second to fourth columns contain the Mach Number, Angle of Attack
[deg] and Altitude [m] and can be edited since these are custom parameters. Pressure [Pa] and
Temperature [K] columns cannot be edited, as they will be automatically calculated from Altitude
[m]. The next four columns define the boundary conditions of the Engine_01 group. They allow
you to input conditions corresponding to different engine regimes. The last column is set to Needs
Update for both design points since they have not yet been calculated.

18. Next, enable additional output variables relevant to your components.

• In the Setup tree, go to Component Groups.

• In the Properties – Component Groups window:

– Click the Manage Outputs button to enable component specific output parameters.

• From the Manage Component Outputs panel:

– Check the Active box of the Freestream, Fuselage, Wing_01 and Engine_01 components.

– Check the Monitor? box of the Wing_01 component.

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Because Active is enabled, the mass flow balance of the Freestream group, the lift and drag
forces of the Fuselage and Wing_01 components as well as the thrust and mass flow balance
of Engine_01 will be calculated and summarized in Table:Component Outputs when the
calculation terminates. Since Monitor? is enabled, the evolution of the Wing_01 Lift and
Drag outputs will be plotted in the Convergence plot.

Click OK to close this panel.

19. Go to Solution → Files in the Outline View. This step allows you to control the output files that
are written per design point. Keep the default options.

20. Go to Solution → Solve.

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• Set Iterations to 500.

• Keep Convergence Settings to Default.

• Set Convergence Criteria to Custom.

• Set Residuals Convergence Cutoff to 3e-5.

• Set Aero Coeff Conv. Cutoff to 2e-5.

• Keep Aero Coeff Conv. Previous Values as 10.

21. Click the Update button at the bottom of the Properties - Solve panel.

The calculation will start, and the first design point, DP-1 will be simulated. A Convergence window
will appear in place of the Graphics window and display the residuals and monitors for DP-1.

Design point DP-1 will run until the total number of Iterations (500) or the Residuals Convergence
Cutoff (3e-5) and Aero Coeff Conv. Cutoff (2e-5) values have been satisfied, whichever comes first.

22. Look at the convergence history of the simulation in the Convergence window on the right of your
screen. Set Dataset to DP-1 and the Curve to Residuals to view the continuity, x-, y-, z-velocity,
energy, and turbulence residuals for the first design point. You can left-click a residual curve to show
the iteration number and the corresponding residual value. The residual of x-velocity at iteration
365 is shown and equals to 2.93936e-5 which is below the Residuals Convergence Cutoff (3e-5).
The remaining residuals of the DP- 1 have also met the Residuals Convergence Cutoff criteria.

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Figure 2.59: Convergence of Residuals for Design Point 1 (DP-1)

23. In the Convergence window, set Curve to report_wing_01_lift. The evolution of the lift force on
Wing_01 for DP-1 will be displayed. Left-click the last iteration of the lift-force plot, to show the
value of the lift at the last iteration.

Figure 2.60: Convergence History of the Lift Force from the Wing_01 for Design Point 1

When the calculation of DP-1 is complete, the status column in row 1 of the Input:Design Points
table will be set to Updated, and the calculation of DP-2 will begin.

After all the design points have been updated, the status of the Input:Design Points table will be
set to Updated for all the design points.

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 Introduction to Aircraft Component Groups and Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients
on an Aircraft at Different Flight Altitudes and Engine Regimes

24. A Results node will be displayed in the Outline View tree after the simulation starts. This allows
you to quickly post-process all design point solutions, by obtaining aerodynamic coefficient plots,
creating contour plots of solution fields, comparing solution fields to experimental data, and more.

25. The first element in the Results node is Tables. In the current tutorial, five different Tables will be
automatically created in the Graphics window area when the calculation is complete.

Click the Table:Summary, Table:Coefficients, Table:Forces, Table:Residuals and Table:Component

Outputs tabs at the bottom of the Graphics window to reveal each table.

• Table:Summary summarizes the flight conditions and convergence information for each design
point. In the current simulation, although both design points have met the convergence criteria
(yes) as shown in the Conv. Criteria Met? column, it is still recommended to investigate your
solutions to ensure that appropriate convergence levels have been achieved.

Figure 2.61: Summary Table of the Flight Conditions and Convergence Information

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• Table:Residuals summarizes the final residuals as well as the number of iterations run for each
design point. For each design point, all residuals have met the Residuals Convergence Cutoff
criteria.

Figure 2.62: Results Table of Final Residuals

• Table:Coefficients contains the lift and drag calculated in the wind-fixed coordinate systems and
moment coefficients calculated in the body-fixed coordinate systems which are highlighted in
gray. The last three columns (Cl Conv., Cd Conv., Max Cm Conv.) show information related to
the convergence of lift and drag coefficients and the maximum value among the three moment
coefficients.

Figure 2.63: Results Table of the Aerodynamic Coefficients

Note:

While all residuals and convergence of the aerodynamic coefficients meet the conver-
gence cutoff criterion of 3e-5 and 2e-5, it is still recommended for you to investigate
your solutions to ensure that appropriate convergence levels have been achieved and
that convergence remains stable. The default convergence cutoff criteria may be ap-
propriate for some cases, but not for others, and therefore care should be taken when
selecting this value.

• Table:Forces contains the dimensional forces of lift, drag and moment. Similar to the results in
Tables: Coefficients, lift and drag forces are computed in the wind-fixed coordinate system while
moment forces are calculated in the body-fixed coordinate system.

Figure 2.64: Results Table of the Aerodynamic Forces

• Table:Component Outputs contains the lift and drag of the wing and fuselage groups, the mass
flow balance of the freestream and engine groups and the thrust of the engine group.

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 Introduction to Aircraft Component Groups and Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients
on an Aircraft at Different Flight Altitudes and Engine Regimes

26. Click Graphs in the Outline View to show the plots of the aerodynamic coefficients defined in
Fluent Aero.

• At the bottom of the Properties - Graphs window, click Plot Coefficients. An X- Y plot of
lift coefficient (Cl) vs. design point (DP) will appear in the Graphics window.

Figure 2.65: Lift Coefficient vs. Design Point

• The drag and moment coefficients can be shown by selecting Cd and Cm-r/y/p from the
Curve selection drop-down list.

• Select Cl/Cd from the Curve to show the lift to drag ratio as a function of the design point.

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Figure 2.66: Lift to Drag Ratio vs. Design Point

• Click the Plot Drag Polar button. An X-Y plot of Lift Coefficient (Cl) vs. Drag Coefficient (Cd) will
appear in the Graphics window. Alternatively, you can simply change Dataset to Drag Polar
from the Graphics window to show the drag polar plot.

Figure 2.67: Lift Coefficient vs. Drag Coefficient

27. The Plots options can be used to quickly display simple 2D plots of selected design points and
solution variables.

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• Left-click Plots. The Properties - Plots window will be displayed.

• Set Surfaces to Component Group.

• Change Select Component Groups to Wing_01.

• Set Surface Cut Normal Direction to Z.

• Set Surface Cut Position [m] to 4 which is a position close to the fuselage.

• Set Field to Pressure Coefficient.

• Set Design Point to 1.

• Click Plot and the pressure coefficient on the walls of DP-1 at Z=4m will be plotted in the
Plots window.

A Plot Options panel will appear after clicking the Plot button. You can use this panel to personalize
some plot settings for both axes.

• Set Axis to X.

• Uncheck Auto Range.

• Set Range/Minimum and Maximum to 25.5 and 37.5 respectively.

• Set Number Format/Type to general.

• Set Precision to 3.

• Set Pattern to line--dash-dotted from Curve Settings.

• Click Plot from the Plot Options panel.

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Figure 2.68: Distribution of the Wall Pressure Coefficient at Z=4m for DP-1

A .csv file will be saved in the Results folder after clicking the Plot button, which is visible within
the DP-1/Data folder in the Project View.

28. Repeat the above step for Surface Cut Position [m] of 16 and 28 which are positions close to the
mid-range and the tip of the wing respectively. After plotting the pressure-coefficient at these wing-
span positions, set the Design Point to 2 and create the same plots for DP-2. After completing
these plots, the corresponding .csv files are saved to the DP-1/Data and DP-2/Data folder in the
Results directory.

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 Introduction to Aircraft Component Groups and Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients
on an Aircraft at Different Flight Altitudes and Engine Regimes

29. The Contours options can be used to quickly display simple contour plots of selected design points
and solution variables.

• Left-click Contours from Outline View to display the Properties - Contours window.

– Set Surfaces to Component Group.

– For Select Component Groups, select both the Wing_01 and Engine_01 groups.

– Set Field to Static Pressure.

– Set Design Point to 2.

– Uncheck the Auto-Compute Range option.

– Set the Minimum and Maximum Value to 12500 and 26000 respectively.

– In the ColorMap section, uncheck Automatically Skip Labels, set Skip to 15 and set
Color Map to field-velocity.

– Click the Plot button.

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The selected contour will be displayed in the Graphics window where you can use the mouse to
set the view of the contour. As you can see from the contour, some of the common flow features
are captured. Due to the flow on the suction side between the fuselage and the nacelle, a strong
flow acceleration is present. Flow encounters adverse pressure gradient moving downstream to the
trailing edge. At the wing tip, the pressure is higher on the outer region than on the inner region
which indicates the presence of transverse flow.

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 Introduction to Aircraft Component Groups and Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients
on an Aircraft at Different Flight Altitudes and Engine Regimes

Figure 2.69: Wall Static Pressure Contour of the Wing_01 and Engine_01 Components of Design
Point 2

30. Move the view into a favorable position. Then, click Views… and change Save Name to crm-wing-
view-1. Click Save to save the current contour view.

31. Create a new Contour plot.

• Set Field to Static Pressure.

• Set Design Point to 1.

• Uncheck the Auto-Compute Range option.

• Set the Minimum and Maximum Value to 42500 and 52500 respectively.

• In the ColorMap section, uncheck Automatically Skip Labels, set Skip to 15 and set Color
Map to field-velocity.

• Click the Plot button to create the contour.

• Click View… and Apply the crm-wing-view-1 to the contour.

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Figure 2.70: Wall Static Pressure Contour of the Wing_01 and Engine_01 Components of Design
Point 1

Note:

The mesh used in this tutorial is very coarse. Its purpose is to quickly demonstrate a
typical workflow in Fluent Aero and should not be relied upon for accurate simulations.
For instance, this mesh may not capture well viscous effects (such as boundary layer and
viscous forces) or complex flow features (such as flow separation). This should be con-
sidered while you investigate the solutions. For more accurate simulations, a finer mesh
appropriate for external aerodynamic simulations, featuring more prism layers, higher
mesh surface refinement, and increased mesh density in the wake region, should be used.

32. In the Properties - Contours area,

• Set Surfaces to Cutting Plane.

• Set Cutting Plane Normal Direction to Z.

• Set Cutting Plane Position [m] to 9.89 which corresponds to the pylon installation position.

• Set Field to Mach Number.

• Set the Design Point to 1.

• Enable Auto-Compute Range.

• In the ColorMap section, uncheck Automatically Skip Labels and set Skip to 15.

• Click the Plot button.

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The solution of design point 1 (DP-1) will be loaded, and the cutting plane contour will be displayed
in the Graphics window.

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Figure 2.71: Mach Number Cutting Plane Contour of Design Point 1

33. In the Properties - Contours area, click Save Image… and a Save Picture option panel will appear.

• Check to enable Save All Updated DPs.

• Set Format to JPEG.

• Click the Save… button.

• From the Select File dialog, set the name to CRM-engine-mach-Z9.89m.jpg.

The contours of the static pressure for all the 2 design points will be saved to the Results folder as
CRM-engine-mach-Z9.89m-DP-1 and 2.jpg.

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 Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an Aircraft Horizontal Tail Wing in a Wind
Tunnel Domain at Different Mass Flow Rates

2.4. Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an Aircraft Horizontal Tail

Wing in a Wind Tunnel Domain at Different Mass Flow Rates
The objective of this tutorial is to introduce the workflow of the WindTunnel domain type simulation
in Fluent Aero and to compute the flow around a horizontal stabilizer installed in a wind tunnel at dif-
ferent mass flow rates.

Download the fluent_aero_tutorial.zip file here.

Unzip fluent_aero_tutorial.zip to your working directory.

1. Extract the IRT-Swept-Tail-Wing.cas.h5 file and the reference_data folder for this tu-
torial. The reference_data folder contains several .csv formatted text files that will be compared
to the results from the current calculation. These reference data files have been generated for
demonstration purposes only.

The IRT-Swept-Tail-Wing.cas.h5 file contains a NACA64A008 swept tail placed inside a

1.8m high by 2.7m wide by 15.2m long test section. The chord line at the root is aligned with the
center line of the wall floor of the tunnel. Thus, the airflow inside the test section is aligned with
the chord of the 3D model. The objective of this simulation is to capture the wall-effects associated
with the wind tunnel test section. The grid consists of 585,742 nodes, and 1,596,549 cells. This is a
coarse mesh, and is used for demonstration purposes only. Tetrahedral cells define most of the
computational domain. Eighteen layers of prisms are grown off the horizontal stabilizer walls. A
mass-flow-inlet boundary is used to define the wind tunnel inlet flow upstream of the stabilizer. A
pressure-outlet type boundary represents the wind tunnel outlet condition. The remaining four
surrounding boundary zones are defined as wall and symmetry boundary types.

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This mesh follows the WindTunnel domain type requirements of a Fluent Aero simulation. Refer
Freestream or WindTunnel Domain Type Requirements for more information.

Figure 2.72: View of the Surface Mesh Around the Horizontal Stabilizer

Figure 2.73: Setup of the Boundary Surface Mesh

2. Launch Fluent 2024 R1 on your computer. On the Fluent Launcher panel, set the Capacity Level to
Enterprise. Then select Aero. Set the number of Solver Processes to 4-16. Click Start.

Alternatively, Fluent Aero can be opened using the aero (on Linux) or aero.bat (on Windows)
file inside the fluent/bin/ folder.

3. In the Fluent Aero workspace, go to the Project ribbon. Click Workspaces → Options, and check
Use Custom Solver Launch Settings, Show Solution Workspace on Launch and Enable Solution
Workspace Graphics should remain unchecked.

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 Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an Aircraft Horizontal Tail Wing in a Wind
Tunnel Domain at Different Mass Flow Rates

When this option is enabled, a Fluent Launcher window will open when loading a case file. This
allows you to schedule a calculation on a server and/or to specify a different number of solver Pro-
cesses to use in your simulation. Alternatively, if this setting is disabled, Fluent Aero will load the
case file in a solver session on your local machine.

4. In the Project ribbon panel, select Project → New… and enter Fluent_Aero_Tutorial_04 to
create a new project folder.

5. In the Project ribbon, select Simulation → New Aero Workflow, and browse to and select the
IRT-Swept-Tail-Wing.cas.h5 file. A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name
of the New Simulation as IRT-Swept-Tail-Wing, check to enable Load in Solver and Use
Custom Solver Launch Settings. Click OK.

6. A Fluent Launcher window will appear, set the Solver Processes to 4-16 and click Start. The case
file will open and a background solver session will load. A new simulation folder will be created in
your project folder, and the IRT-Swept-Tail-Wing.cas.h5 file will be imported.

After the .cas.h5 file has been successfully loaded, a new Outline View tree appears under IRT-
Swept-Tails-Wing (loaded).

While importing, Fluent Aero will attempt to automatically determine if a WindTunnel domain type
is being used. It will search for any boundary that has windtunnel in its name and add those
boundaries to the WindTunnel group. If all the required boundaries are identified to create a valid

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windtunnel group, Fluent Aero will set the domain type as WindTunnel, and the following message
will be reported in the Console.

7. In the Outline View window, click Geometric Properties. A Properties - Geometric Properties
window appears below the Outline View window. At the top of this new properties window, notice
that the Domain Type has been automatically set to WindTunnel.

8. Define the orientation of the geometry within the computational domain, which will be used to
compute the aerodynamic forces.

• Set Domain Dimension to 3D.

• Set Lift Direction at AoA = 0 Degrees to Y+.

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 Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an Aircraft Horizontal Tail Wing in a Wind
Tunnel Domain at Different Mass Flow Rates

• Set Drag Direction at AoA = 0 Degrees to X+.

• Pitching Moment Direction will automatically be set to Z-.

• Set the Moment Center X-, Y- and Z-Position [m] to 0, 0, and 0, respectively.

• Set the Reference Length [m] to 1, which corresponds to the mean chord length.

• Set the Reference Area [m^2] to 1.16031.

Alternatively, the reference area can be computed by enabling the Compute Projected Area
option. A pop-up panel will appear. Set the Projection Direction to Y and select all the surfaces
of the swept wing geometry. Click the Compute button and then click the Use as Ref. Area
button to copy the computed area to the Reference Area [m^2] box.

9. In the Setup tree, go to Airflow Physics. In the Properties – Airflow Physics window, apply the
following settings:

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• In the Solver section:

– Set Type to Density based.

• In the Models section:

– Set Viscous to K-Omega SST.

– Set Reactions to Disabled.

– Set Two Temperature to Disabled.

– Set Knudsen Number Criterion to Disabled.

• In the Materials section:

– Set Air Properties to Air default.

10. In the Setup tree, go to Simulation Conditions.

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 Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an Aircraft Horizontal Tail Wing in a Wind
Tunnel Domain at Different Mass Flow Rates

• In the Properties – Simulation Conditions window:

– Set the Number of Design Points to 4.

– In the Flow Speed section:

→ Set Parameter to Mass Flow Rate.

→ Set Distribution to Custom.

– Go to the Pressure and Temperature section:

→ Set Parameter to Static.

→ Set Distribution: Pressure to Constant.

→ Set the Atmospheric Static Pressure [Pa] to 101325.

→ Set Distribution: Temperature to Constant.

→ Set the Atmospheric Static Temperature [K] to 288.15.

– In the Turbulence section,

→ Set Parameter to Intensity and Viscosity Ratio.

→ Set both Distribution: Turbulent Intensity and Turbulent Viscosity to Constant.

→ Set Turbulent Intensity [%] to 0.08.

→ Set Turbulent Viscosity Ratio to 1e-5.

– In the Wall Conditions section:

→ Enable Apply to All Walls.

→ In the Thermal Conditions section:

• Set Parameter to Heat Flux.

• Set Distribution to Constant.

• Set Heat Flux [W/m2] to 0.

11. An Input:Design Points table will be created in the Graphics window on the right-hand side of
the user interface. This table shows all the design points that will be simulated.

• Set the Mass Flow Rate [kg/s] for each DP as shown below.

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Figure 2.74: Initial Input:Design Points Table

The Mach Number corresponding to the Mass Flow Rate of each design point will automatically
be calculated and displayed in the input design point table. The initial status of each design point
(DP) has been set as Needs Update.

Go to Component Groups. Two default Component Groups have been created after the simulation
is loaded. The WindTunnel group contains the inlet and outlet zones that define the inflow and
outflow conditions of the wind tunnel and 4 boundary zones used to represent the wind tunnel
wall. The Other group contains the remainder of the boundary zones which are the walls of the
wing geometry.

12. Create a Wing type component group from these boundary zones.

• In the Properties – Component Groups window, click Manage Components. The component
groups manager panel will appear.

• To create a Wing type component:

– Set Type to Wing in the New Component section and a default group name Wing_01 will
appear.

– Change the Name to Wing.

– Use Create>> to add Wing into Existing Components. All the boundary zones that have not
been assigned to any group are listed in the Available Zones. A Wing type group is a specific
type of group which contains a Component Parts such as Walls.

– From Available Zones, select all the boundary zones that start with wing and use Add>> to
add them to the Walls component parts.

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13. Next, enable additional output variables relevant to your components.

• In the Setup tree, go to Component Groups.

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• In the Properties – Component Groups window:

– Click the Manage Outputs button to enable component specific output parameters.

• From the Manage Component Outputs panel:

– Check the Active box of the WindTunnel and Wing components.

– Check the Monitor? box of the WindTunnel component.

Because Active is enabled, the mass flow rate of the WindTunnel inlet and the lift and drag forces
of the Wing component will be calculated and summarized in Table:Component Outputs after
the calculation is complete. Since Monitor? is enabled, the evolution of the mass flow rate of the
WindTunnel inlet will be plotted in the Convergence plot.

• Click OK to close this panel.

14. Go to Solution → Files.

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 Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an Aircraft Horizontal Tail Wing in a Wind
Tunnel Domain at Different Mass Flow Rates

• In the Post-Processing section,

– Set Write Post Files to Enabled.

15. Go to Solution → Solve.

• Set Iterations to 1000.

• Keep Convergence Settings and Convergence Criteria to Default.

16. Click the Update button at the bottom of the Properties - Solve panel.

The calculation will start, and the first design point, DP-1, will be simulated. A Convergence window
will appear in place of the Graphics window and display the residuals and monitors for DP-1.

Design point DP-1 will continue until the total Iterations (1000) or the Residuals Convergence
Cutoff (1e-5) and Aero Coeff Conv. Cutoff (2e-5) are reached, whichever comes first.

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In this example, DP-1 will calculate for 1000 iterations. At that point, the conditions will be updated
for the next design point and the calculation will resume. This process repeats until all design points
are simulated.

17. Look at the convergence history of the simulation in the Convergence window located on the right
of your screen. Set the Dataset to DP-1 and the Curve to Residuals, to view the continuity, x-, y-,
z-velocity, energy, and turbulence residuals for the first design point. You can left-click a residual
curve to show the iteration number and the corresponding residual value. Here, the residual of k at
iteration 1000 is shown and is roughly 4.35494e-5 which is still higher than the residual convergence
cutoff (1e-5). The remaining residuals of DP-1 have met the Residuals Convergence Cutoff criteria
after 1000 iterations.

Figure 2.75: Convergence of Residuals for Design Point 1

Note:

While only the residual of k does not meet the residual convergence cutoff criterion of
1e-5, it is still recommended for you to investigate your solutions to ensure that appro-
priate convergence levels have been achieved and that convergence remains stable.

18. In the Convergence window, set Curve to drag-coefficient. The evolution of the drag coefficient
for DP-1 will be displayed. Left-click the last iteration of the drag-coefficient plot, to show the drag
coefficient value at the end of this simulation.

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 Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an Aircraft Horizontal Tail Wing in a Wind
Tunnel Domain at Different Mass Flow Rates

Figure 2.76: Convergence History of the Drag Coefficient for Design Point 1

When the calculation of DP-1 is complete, the status column in row 1 of the Input:Design Points
table will be set to Updated, and the calculation of DP-2 will begin.

19. After all design points have been updated, the status of the Input:Design Points table will be set
to Updated for all the design points.

Figure 2.77: Input:Design Points Table After Calculation

20. A Results node will be displayed in the Outline View tree after the simulation starts. This allows
you to quickly post-process design point solutions, by obtaining aerodynamic coefficient plots, cre-
ating contour plots of solution fields, comparing solution fields to experimental data, and more.

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21. The first element in the Results node is Tables. In the current tutorial, five different Tables will
automatically be created in the Graphics window area when the calculation is complete.

Click the Table:Summary, Table:Coefficients, Table:Forces, Table:Component Outputs and

Table:Residuals tabs at the bottom of the Graphics window to reveal each table.

• Table:Summary summarizes the flight conditions and convergence information for each design
point. In the current simulation, all design points have partially met the convergence criteria.
However, all simulations provide stable aerodynamic coefficients that do not vary after ~500 iter-
ations and all residuals satisfy the convergence criteria except for the k-turbulence equation.
Therefore, all design point results are considered as fully converged solutions.

Figure 2.78: Summary Table of the Flight Conditions and Convergence Information

• Table:Coefficients contains the lift and drag calculated in the wind-fixed coordinate systems,
yaw moment, pitching moment and rolling moment coefficients, calculated in the body-fixed
coordinate systems which are highlighted in gray. The Cl Conv. and Cd Conv. columns measure
the convergence of the lift and drag coefficients, which are used to determine if the convergence
criteria are met. The last column shows the maximum value of the convergence of the yaw,
pitching and rolling moments.

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 Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an Aircraft Horizontal Tail Wing in a Wind
Tunnel Domain at Different Mass Flow Rates

Figure 2.79: Results Table of Aerodynamic Coefficients

• Table:Forces contains the lift, drag and moment forces. Similar to the results in Tables: Coeffi-
cients, lift and drag forces are computed in the wind-fixed coordinate system while moment
forces are calculated in the body-fixed coordinate system.

Figure 2.80: Results Table of Aerodynamic Forces

• Table:Component Outputs shows the results of the selected component specific output para-
meters. In this tutorial, the lift and drag forces of the Wing component and the mass-flow rate
of the wind tunnel inlet section are shown.

Figure 2.81: Results Table of Component Outputs

• Table:Residuals shows the final residuals as well as the number of iterations run for each design
point.

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Figure 2.82: Results Table of Final Residuals

22. Click Graphs in the Outline View to show the plots of the aerodynamic coefficients and other results
defined in Fluent Aero:

• At the bottom of the Properties - Graphs window, click Plot Coefficients. An XY plot of lift
coefficient (Cl) vs. design point (DP) will appear in the Graphics window.

• Select Cd from the drop-down list of the Curve menu to plot the drag coefficient as a function
of the design point.

• The moment coefficients can be shown by selecting Cm-r/y/p from the Curve selection drop-
down list.

Figure 2.83: Drag Coefficient vs. Design Point

23. Click the Plot Other Variables button. An X-Y plot will appear in the Graphics window. There is an
[…] option button located on the right of the Dataset All Variables drop-down. This button can
be used to modify some of the plot settings and export the plot to the disk.

• Select Wing_Drag [N] from the Curve drop-down menu.

• Click the […] option button.

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 Computing Aerodynamic Coefficients on an Aircraft Horizontal Tail Wing in a Wind
Tunnel Domain at Different Mass Flow Rates

• Select Plot settings → X Axis → Plot by specified variable and change the x variable to MassFlow
[kg/s].

• Select Plot settings → X Axis (and Y Axis) → Custom range to adjust the range for the x and y
axis, if required.

• The plot of the drag force of the wing vs the inlet mass-flow rate of the wind tunnel will be shown.

Figure 2.84: Wing Drag vs Wind Tunnel Inlet Mass Flow Rate

24. The Plots options can be used to quickly display simple 2D plots of selected design points and
solution variables.

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• Left-click Plots. The Properties - Plots window will be displayed.

• Set Surfaces to Walls.

• Set Surface Cut Normal Direction to Z.

• Set Surface Cut Position [m] to -0.6.

• Set Field to Pressure Coefficient.

• Set Design Point to 1.

• Click Plot and the pressure coefficient on the walls of DP-1 at Z=-0.6m will be plotted in the Plots
window.

A Plot Options panel will appear after clicking the Plot button. You can use this panel to customize
plot settings for both axes. Notice that when the pressure coefficient is selected in Field, the range
of the y-axis will be inverted with higher value on the bottom and lower value on the top.

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A .csv file will be saved in the Results folder after clicking the Plot button, which is visible within
the DP-1/Data folder in the Project View.

Figure 2.85: Distribution of the Wall Pressure Coefficient at Z=-0.6m for DP-1

25. Click the Plot Ref. Data button to load and plot a reference dataset in the current plot. In the dialog
window that appears, browse to the reference file ref-irt-swept-wing-Cp-massflow-313-
section-z0.6m.csv in the reference_data folder, and click OK. You can use the Save Plot
button to export the current plot to a .png file on disk. The reference data will be imported in the
DP-1/Data folder in the Project View. The same plot settings will be applied to the Fluent Aero
results and black dots will be used to plot the reference data.

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Figure 2.86: Load a Reference Data to the Pressure Coefficient Plot of DP-1 at Z=-0.6m

26. The Contours options can be used to quickly display simple contour plots of selected design points
and solution variables.

• Left-click Contours from Outline View to display the Properties - Contours setup window.

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– Set Surfaces to Component Group.

– Set the Select Component Group to Wing.

– Set the Field to Static Pressure.

– Set Design Point to 1.

– Uncheck Auto-Compute Range and set Minimum Value to 101000 and Maximum Value to
101600.

– Click to expand the ColorMap options. Uncheck Automatically Skip Labels and set Skip to
15.

– Click the Plot button.

The selected wall contour will be displayed in the Graphics window.

In the Graphics window, use the mouse to set the view of the contour. Click View… and change
Save Name to swept-wing-view-1. Click Save to save the current contour view. The saved view
can later be applied to other contour plots.

Figure 2.87: Wall Static Pressure Contour of Design Point 1

27. In the Properties - Contours area, click Save Image… and a Save Picture dialog will appear.

• Check to enable Save All Updated DPs.

• Set Format to JPEG.

• Click the Save… button.

• Set the image name to swept-wing-static-pressure.jpg from the Select File dialog.

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The contours of the static pressure for all 4 design points will be saved to the Results folder as
swept-wing-static-pressure-DP-1 to 4.jpg.

28. Under Properties - Contours

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• Set Surfaces to Cutting Plane.

• Set Cutting Plane Normal Direction to Z.

• Set Cutting Plane Position [m] to -0.6.

• Set Field to Mach Number.

• Uncheck Auto-Compute Range and set Minimum Value to 0.08 and Maximum Value to 0.16.

• Uncheck Automatically Skip Labels and set Skip to 15.

• Click the Plot button to show the cutting plane contour in the Graphics window.

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Figure 2.88: Mach Number Cutting Plane Contour of Design Point 1

29. In the Project View menu, a Results folder is created after the calculation starts. A folder for each
design point along with an associated case file, data file, and convergence file will appear inside
the Results folder. A Data folder which contains the results (a .csv formatted file) of the 2-D plot
of the pressure coefficient is created.

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Figure 2.89: Project View Panel After Calculation and Post-Processing

30. The results can be further investigated using the Post-Analysis (Beta) tool. Right-click
out.0001.dat.h5 and select View Results – Post Solution. This command will load the Post-Ana-
lysis (Beta) viewer. Post-Analysis (Beta) is a Beta feature that makes use of the Post-Analysis
(Beta) post-processing functionality and is directly displayed in Fluent Aero’s Graphics area. A Post-
Analysis (Beta) tree node appears in the Outline View, where you can continue post-processing.

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Note:

The Post-Analysis (Beta) option is still a beta feature. Therefore, you may experience
some limitations during use.

Two different types of solution files can be loaded into Post-Analysis (Beta) using View
Results:

• Fluent Solution, which is represented by the out.0001.dat.h5 file.

• Post Solution, which is represented by the out.0001.dat.post file.

When using the Post-Analysis (Beta) functionality, it is preferred to use the Post Solution.
The Post Solution contains selected variables for post-processing and is formatted spe-
cifically for use with the Post-Analysis (Beta) tool.

31. Create a Contour plot using the Post-Analysis (Beta) tool:

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• Right-click Contours in the Post-Analysis (Beta) tree and select New….

• In the Properties panel that appears, change the Name to Contour_Pressure.

• Change the Field to Absolute Pressure.

• In the Surfaces selection panel, select windtunnel-wall, wing-main, wing-te, and wing-tip.

• Enable Contour Lines.

• Disable Auto-Compute Range.

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• Set the Minimum Value [Pa] and Maximum Value [Pa] to 100500 Pa and 103000 Pa, respect-
ively.

• Expand the Color Map section to reveal more options.

• Set the Precision of the legend to 4.

• Click Display (Full Window).

The Contour_Pressure will be displayed in the Post-Analysis tab of the Graphics window.

32. Once you are finished, you can close the dataset under Post-Analysis (Beta) by right-clicking the
dataset name, Results – out.0001.dat.h5 in the Outline View and selecting Delete.

2.5. Fluent Aero AET – Creating a VBM Input File for Blade Sections
This tutorial is divided into the following sections:
2.5.1. Introduction
2.5.2. Prerequisites
2.5.3. Problem Description
2.5.4. Setup and Solution
2.5.5. Appendix
2.5.6. Summary
2.5.7. Limitations

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2.5.1. Introduction
The objective of this tutorial is to show how to use Fluent Aero's AET (Aerodynamic Extraction Tool)
to automatically compute the aerodynamic performance of airfoil sections defined along a blade’s
span. The input to the workflow is a 3D blade CAD geometry. The output of the workflow are per-
formance lookup table files (airfoil.dat) containing lift and drag coefficients across a range of
Mach, Reynolds and AoA conditions, which can be used as input to Fluent’s Virtual Blade Model in
the Fluent User's Guide.

2.5.2. Prerequisites
The input to this tutorial is a clean 3D blade geometry file (in SpaceClaim’s native .scdoc format)
that has been prepared for use with the AET workflow. Since it has already been prepared for use in
the tutorial, no special instructions are provided here. However, when using your own geometry with
the AET workflow, you must prepare the geometry to meet certain requirements. Refer to AET
Workflow – Preparing the Input Geometry File in the Fluent Workspaces User's Guide for more details.

Because the CAD generation step requires Ansys SpaceClaim, which is only supported on the Windows
platform, the current tutorial should be completed on a Windows platform. To complete this tutorial,
make sure Ansys SpaceClaim is installed (typically C:/Program Files/ANSYS Inc/v241/scdm).

Finally, this tutorial is written with the assumption that you have completed the introductory tutorials
found in this manual and are familiar with the Ansys Fluent Aero Outline View and ribbon structure.
Some steps in the setup and solution procedure will not be explicitly shown.

2.5.3. Problem Description

The Aerodynamic Extraction Tool (AET) is an automated workflow that extracts the performance char-
acteristics of multiple spanwise sections of a 3D blade geometry using Ansys Fluent Aero's project
and simulation capabilities, as well as the CAD capabilities of Ansys SpaceClaim and meshing capab-
ilities of Ansys Fluent Meshing. The workflow walks you through the steps below:

• Import Blade Geometry:

– Select the 3D blade CAD geometry of the rotor blade that will be analyzed.

– Alternatively, AET can select a 2D Points definition file of a single airfoil section to extract the
performance of a single airfoil.

• Extract airfoil section CADs (using SpaceClaim):

– Perform multiple spanwise cuts of the 3D blade CAD to extract multiple airfoil sections using
Ansys SpaceClaim as a background process.

• Create Airfoil Section Meshes (Using Fluent Meshing):

– Generate 2.5D meshes of each airfoil section using Ansys Fluent Meshing as a background process.

• Calculate Aerodynamic Performance of Airfoil Sections:

– Calculate the aerodynamic performance of each airfoil using a range of conditions using Ansys
Fluent Aero’s simulations and design points.

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 Fluent Aero AET – Creating a VBM Input File for Blade Sections

• Output Performance Lookup Table Files:

– Output and save performance lookup table files containing coefficients of lift and drag computed
over a wide range of Mach, Reynolds and AoA. These files will be in a format that can be used
to define a rotor directly in Fluent’s Virtual Blade Model in the Fluent User's Guide.

The steps to extract the airfoil section CADs and generate the airfoil section meshes use highly
automated background processes. Additional details on how each of these processes work can be
found in AET: Aerodynamic Extraction Tool in the Fluent Workspaces User's Guide.

2.5.4. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
2.5.4.1. Preparation
2.5.4.2. Setup, Solution and Post-processing

2.5.4.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this tutorial:

1. Download the fluent_aero_aet_tutorial.zip file here.

2. Unzip fluent_aero_aet_tutorial.zip to your working directory.

3. The file, 3D-Blade.scdoc, can be found in the folder.

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4. Launch Fluent 2024 R1 on your computer.

5. Within the Fluent Launcher, set the Capability Level to Enterprise, then select Aero.

6. Set Solver Processes to 4-8 under Parallel Processing Options.

Note:

You may notice slightly different convergence behavior for some design points de-
pending on the number of CPUs used.

7. Click Start

Alternatively, Fluent Aero can be opened using the aero (on Linux) or aero.bat (on Windows)
file inside the fluent/bin/ folder.

2.5.4.2. Setup, Solution and Post-processing

1. Enabling beta features will give you access to the Aerodynamic Coefficients Averaging option
which will be used during this tutorial.

File → Preferences... → Aero → Beta Features

Note:

It is possible to run this tutorial with beta features disabled, and without using the
Aerodynamic Coefficients Averaging feature. However, your results will not contain
averaged values for design points that feature oscillating solutions. Therefore, the
workflow and results may be slightly different than those shown in this tutorial.

2. Create a new project file.

File → New Project...

3. Enter Fluent_Aero_Tutorial_AET as the Project file name within the Select File dialog.

4. Create a new AET workflow.

File → AET Workflow → New...

5. Select Input CAD Mode → 3D Blade from the New AET Workflow dialog box.

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 Fluent Aero AET – Creating a VBM Input File for Blade Sections

Keep all other default settings. This default configuration instructs the AET workflow to automat-
ically proceed to the airflow simulation setup step, where the airflow simulations for each airfoil
will be created and ready to launch. Click OK to close the window.

Note:

If you are already familiar with the AET workflow, you can enable all steps. The AET
workflow will then automatically work through all its steps and output the final VBM
required lift/drag tables in *.dat file format.

The CAD Generation step uses SpaceClaim which is only supported on the Windows
platform. Therefore, this step must be done on Windows. All other steps are supported
on both Linux or Windows platform.

If you would like to perform the remaining steps on the Linux platform (for example,
to access additional CPUs to calculate your airflow simulations more efficiently), you
could break down the AET steps as follows:

a. Execute 1: Select Input Geometry to 4: Setup Airflow Simulations on

Windows.

b. Zip your entire project folder and project file (projectname.flprj,

projectname.cffdb).

c. Transfer the zip folder to Linux.

d. Unzip and use File → AET Workflow → Continue... to restart from

5: Run Airflow Simulations and continue on to later steps.

6. Navigate to select the input CAD file, 3D-Blade.scdoc, from the Select File dialog box.

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7. Define section locations along the 3D blade through the Define Blade Sections dialog box.

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 Fluent Aero AET – Creating a VBM Input File for Blade Sections

• In the Options section,

– Set Section Distribution to Custom.

– Set Number of Sections to 5.

– Set Position [%] to 30, 50, 70, 80, and 90, respectively.

Note:

When setting up the section positions, it’s important to ensure that the minimum
and maximum position percentages are defined such that they intersect a blade
section of the geometry. The 0% position corresponds to the center of rotation and
100% position corresponds to the blade tip position. In this case, 30% is used as the
minimum position and corresponds to an airfoil section nearest to the root of the
blade.

8. Set up airflow simulations through the Define Airflow Simulation Settings dialog box.

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• In the Options section,

– Set Section Distribution to Custom.

– Set Number of Sections to 5.

– Set Position [%] to 30, 50, 70, 80, and 90, respectively.

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Click OK to close the window.

Note:

The Select Distribution of Airflow Conditions section defines the design points
that will be simulated. All combinations of Mach Number and Angle of Attack
[degrees] will be represented in the table due to the use of Uniform and Piece-
wise-Uniform distributions, resulting in 24 design points for each airfoil profile.
All of these points were chosen with the goal of providing a complete and sufficient
set of aerodynamic performance data for Fluent's Virtual Blade Mode (VBM). Some
thoughts on the selection of these design elements.

– Two Mach Numbers (0.1 and 0.3) are used to evaluate the aerodynamic per-
formance of the blade section under different flow ranges that the airfoil could
encounter. More Mach numbers could be used to evaluate additional flow ranges.

– A total of 12 design points will be used to simulate the angles of attack (between
-20 and 20 degrees) that will most frequently be experienced by the blade sec-
tion. In the current demonstration, this results in a step size of 5 degrees between
consecutive angles of attack. This is a relatively high step size and is used in this
tutorial to reduce its computational cos. For increased precision, this section
could be further refined or expanded to evaluate more points. For example, you
could consider evaluating a step size of 1-2 degrees or a range of angles between
-30 and 30 to offer a more complete set of design points.

Three design points will be used to simulate very large angles of attacks, notably
at 180, 90 and -90 degrees. These angles will create the set of design points allowing
Fluent’s VBM to have a complete set of data that can be used to interpolate all
possible angles of attack of the blade section. It is required to provide Fluent’s
VBM with data that covers the entire range of angles of attack as it is essential to
simulate at least the 180 degrees angle of attack.

9. The AET workflow will begin:

a. Extracting a section profile from the input 3D blade geometry.

b. Generating a 2.5D mesh for each airfoil profile.

c. Setting up the airflow simulations.

When complete, you’ll see the output files listed in the Project View.

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Despite the fact that you are extracting five airfoil sections from the 3D blade geometry (30%,
50%, 70%, 80%, and 90% span), only two CAD and mesh files have been generated (airfoil-
01.cas.h5, airfoil-02.cas.h5, and airfoil-01.msh.h5, airfoil-02.msh.h5). This occurs after Fluent
Aero determined that some of the sections share the same underlying airfoil shape (they may
simply differ in chord length or twist), and therefore, the performance calculations are only re-
quired for one of the shared sections. The 50%, 70%, 80%, and 90% spanwise blade sections all
have the same shape in this case. More information about the blade sections can be found in
the CAD folder's 2D-section-geometry-params.csv file.

Note:

a. You can review the different outputs of the AET workflow CAD generation step
from the …/CAD/ directory.

• sc-script.log

Contains detail printouts of SpaceClaim generating the 2.5D CADs. You can
refer to this file for more information should there be any failure in the CAD
generation step.

• sc-script.png

Contains a figure which shows the sections defined along the input 3D blade
geometry.

• sc-script.scdoc

CAD file containing all related geometries during the generation of 2.5D CADs.

• 2D-section-meshing-params.txt

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 Fluent Aero AET – Creating a VBM Input File for Blade Sections

Input file to the AET workflow Fluent Meshing step.

• 2D-section-geometry-params.csv

Contains summaries of the 3D blade geometry and 2.5D sections. This file
contains information helpful in setting up the definition of the blade in Fluent’s
VBM model.

• airfoil-*.pmdb

SpaceClaim outputs of 2.5D CADs extracted airfoil profiles used as inputs in

the Fluent Meshing step.

b. You can also review the outputs of the AET workflow mesh generation step from
the …/Mesh/ directory.

• airfoil-*.msh.h5

Fluent Meshing 2.5D mesh used for the airflow simulation in later steps.

• airfoil-*-fluentMeshing.log

Fluent Meshing log file for a specific airfoil profile generated by the 2.5D mesh.
You can refer to this file for more information should there be any failure in
the mesh generation step.

• airfoil-*-2D-remeshing.jou

Script executed by Fluent Meshing to generate the 2.5D mesh for a specific
airfoil profile.

• airfoil-*-2D-meshingSizes.scm

Contains mesh settings for a specific airfoil profile.

The following files are templates that define the meshing parameters and
boundary geometry provided by the AET workflow:

– 2D-meshingSizes.scm

– 2D-remeshing.jou

– create-2.5D-mesh.bin

– FARFIELD-SYMMS.msh.h5

– DENSITY-BOX-01.pmdb

– DENSITY-BOX-02.pmdb

– DENSITY-BOX-03.pmdb

c. Before launching airflow calculations, you can load simulations for a specific airfoil
to review its list of design points and settings and make any necessary changes.

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For example, with Project View → Airflow.airfloil-02 selected, go to

Project → Simulation → Load Simulation.

The design point table and airflow settings will be visible within Fluent Aero's
graphical user interface.

Close the Airflow.airfloil-02 simulation once your changes are applied. Click Yes
to save the case file when closing the simulation.

Project → Simulation → Close Simulation

After making a change to an individual airflow simulation, you can copy the up-
dated settings to all other airflow simulations by right-clicking the newly modified
simulation.

Project View → Airflow.airfloil-0* Copy Settings to All New Simulations

in Project

10. [Optional] If you want to run your airflow calculations on another machine (for example, a
computer cluster), copy your project files to the cluster machine and follow the steps below.
Skip this step if you want to continue with the airflow calculations on the same machine you
used for steps 1-9.

i. Close both your project and Fluent Aero on your local machine.

ii. Copy the project file, folder and contents (Fluent_Aero_Tutorial_AET.cffdb and
Fluent_Aero_Tutorial_AET.flprj) to your cluster machine.

iii. On your cluster machine, launch Fluent Aero, and import your project using File →
Open Project... and selecting the Fluent_Aero_Tutorial_AET.flprj file.

iv. Continue with the remaining steps in this tutorial.

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 Fluent Aero AET – Creating a VBM Input File for Blade Sections

11. Continue the AET workflow to perform airflow simulations and export the VBM .dat files.

File → AET Workflow → Continue... and selecting the Fluent_Aero_Tutori-

al_AET.flprj

Under Restart from Step, select 5: Run Airflow Simulations from the Continue AET Workflow
dialog box. Enable 6: Output Files to automatically export the VBM .dat files at the end of
the airflow calculations.

Note:

If necessary, you can use the Continue AET Workflow dialog box to restart from
any previous step.

12. Click OK to launch the airflow simulations of all extracted airfoil profiles.

The AET workflow will start the airflow calculations and simulate the first design point, DP-1
under Airflow.airfoil-01. The residuals and monitors for DP-1 will be displayed in the Conver-
gence window.

DP-1 will run until the default convergence criteria for all residuals (1e-5) and lift and drag
monitors (1e-4) are met, or until the maximum number of Iterations (1000) is reached, whichever
comes first.

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The calculation of simulation Airflow.airfoil-01 will continue until all design points have been
calculated. After each design point has been updated, the Status column of the Input:Design
Points table will be set to Updated.

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When all of Airflow.airfoil-01's design points have been calculated successfully, the simulation
will close and Airflow.airfoil-02 will be loaded and its design points calculated. This procedure
will be repeated until all design points of all airfoil simulations have been completed. It can
take a few hours to complete this process.

Note:

When you use File → AET Workflow → Continue... to continue the airflow
simulations, only design points that are not set to Updated are calculated. If all
design points in a single airfoil simulation are updated, the airfoil simulation is skipped
entirely. If you want to force a rerun of the updated design points, open the airfoil
simulation manually and set the Status of all design points to Needs Update with
the command below.

Solution → Solve Set Status of Design Points

Next, select Save Status of Design Points to save this status to the project.

Solution → Solve Save Status of Design Points

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The design points will be recalculated the next time you continue the AET workflow.

13. The AET workflow will export the aerodynamic coefficients to airfoil-*.dat files in the
output directory once all design point calculations for all airfoil simulations are completed. These
files are in a format that Fluent's Virtual Blade Model can read.

However, you should review all calculations at this point to ensure that all design points have
properly converged. You can validate these results by using the tables that summarize the
convergence of all design points in all airfoil simulations, or by opening individual airfoil simu-
lations to investigate further.

Note:

Some Fluent Aero airflow solver settings have been used as default settings in AET
workflow airflow simulations and are suitable for most cases, with the exception of
specific airfoil geometries and airflow conditions, particularly in simulations for high
degree angle of attack sweeps or angles near stall. Large airflow separation and
transient flow may not converge within the computational domain. Before using the
design point output tables, always check the convergence of your design points and
make any necessary adjustments or recalculations. This procedure is further explained
in the sections that follow.

14. After the output step is completed, three tabs appear in the Graphics area. Convergence,
Table:All DPs Summary, and Table:All Simulations Summary.

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• The Convergence tab displays the convergence of any design point for all airfoil simulations.

• The Table:All DPs Summary tab summarizes the input parameters and convergence residuals
of all design points for all airfoil simulations and is similar to Table: Summary available when
an individual airfoil simulation is loaded.

• The Table:All Simulations Summary tab displays design points related to all simulations
which have met the convergence criteria.

Click Table:All Simulations Summary to display its contents. Notice that for airfoil 1, 16 of the
24 design points met the convergence criteria (that is, the solver residuals and aerodynamic
coefficients converged below the default cutoff condition), 1 partially met the convergence
criteria, and 7 did not. Design points that did not meet or met only partially the convergence
criteria should be investigated.

As shown in Table:All DPs Summary, these design points correspond to angles of attack of -
90, 90, and -20 degrees for the Mach 0.1 condition and angles of attack of -90, 90, 15, 15, and
20 degrees for the Mach 0.3 condition. Large angles of attack are more likely to have large
separation zones and difficulty converging, or have solutions with unsteady flow, such as oscil-
lating behavior. If a design point exhibits unsteady flow-like oscillating behavior, the performance
characteristics of that design point can be summarized using Aerodynamic Coefficients Aver-
aging, see Fluent Aero - Aerodynamic Coefficients Averaging in the Fluent Beta Features Manual
for more details. If not, the design point must be recalculated with more robust solver settings.
This procedure is detailed in the following steps.

15. Select Airflow.airfoil-01 under the Project View and open its airfoil-01 simulation file.

Project → Simulation → Load Simulation

All airfoil-01 related simulations will be loaded. To examine the convergence result of each
design point, go to the Conv Criteria Met? column in Table:Summary and the Avg. Coeffs?
column in Table:Coefficients.

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Figure 2.90: Table Summary of Airfoil-01

Figure 2.91: Table Coefficients of Airfoil-01

Follow the guidelines below to examine the convergence of each design point.

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 Fluent Aero AET – Creating a VBM Input File for Blade Sections

i. Examine if a design point reaches convergence criteria under the Conv Criteria Met? column
within Table:Summary.

ii. If Conv Criteria Met? is yes, the airflow solution reached a steady state and the calculation
met the converge criteria. For example, DP-1’s Residuals and lift-coefficient are shown
below. Since this design points has sufficiently converged, further calculations are not re-
quired.

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Figure 2.92: Convergence of Airfoil-01's DP-1

iii. If Conv Criteria Met? is no or partially, the airflow solution did not reach a steady state
and the converge criteria is not met for all or part of the criteria. The airflow can be diverged

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 Fluent Aero AET – Creating a VBM Input File for Blade Sections

or oscillating within the domain. In this case, it is recommended to further investigate the
design point.

iv. Next, examine if the airflow solution is oscillating and if coefficient averaging has been ap-
plied. Go to the Avg. Coeffs? column within Table:Coefficients. This column is displayed
when the Aero Coefficient Averaging model is enabled, which is the default setting of the
AET workflow. The Aero Coefficients Averaging model will be applied and average the
post processed aero coefficients if the airflow solution is oscillating in a stable pattern for
more than four periods. See Fluent Aero - Aerodynamic Coefficients Averaging in the Fluent
Beta Features Manual for more details. By using this model, you can extract the average value
of the lift and drag coefficients when a solution features oscillating unsteady behavior in
the steady state solution which may be common for design points featuring high angles of
attack. While these averaged lift and drag values may not necessarily be the same as the
averages of full unsteady flow calculations, they may be sufficient for use in the performance
look-up tables of Fluent’s VBM model. By using this model, you will not need to rerun the
design point to achieve a steady state solution, which may be unattainable for some very
high angles of attack.

v. If Avg. Coeffs? is yes, the airflow solution is oscillating and the average model is applied
successfully. The aero coefficient is averaged and displayed. For example, DP-2 indicates
that it has not met its convergence criteria. However, Aero Coefficient Averaging has been
applied. Its Residuals and lift-coefficient curves are shown below. Notice that the lift
coefficient is oscillating in a repeated way for more than 4 periods. Therefore, the average
lift coefficient (Cl) is presented as the value of -9.944e-02 inside the table. Because the av-
eraging was successful, you can keep the results of this design point and proceed to invest-
igate the other DPs.

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Figure 2.93: Convergence of Airfoil-01’s DP-2

vi. If Avg. Coeffs? is no, the Aero Coefficient Averaging model was not applied. In this case,
you need to investigate this design point further. For example, DP-15 indicates that its has

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 Fluent Aero AET – Creating a VBM Input File for Blade Sections

not met its convergence criteria and the averaging model is not able to average the aero
coefficient. Its Residuals and lift-coefficient curves are shown as below.

Figure 2.94: Convergence of Airfoil-01’s DP-15

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This design point must be rerun with Convergence Settings set to Robust. Go to In-
put:Design Points and set DP-15’s Status from Updated to Needs Update.

vii. Set your Solve settings.

Solution → Solve

• Set Iterations to 5000.

• Set Convergence Settings to Robust.

• Set Convergence Criteria to Default.

Click Update to re-calculate DP-15’s airflow.

Wait for the simulation to be completed. DP-15’s status will automatically be updated. The
updated Residuals and lift-coefficient curves are shown below.

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Figure 2.95: Updated Convergence of Airfoil-01’s DP-15

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From the lift -coefficient monitor, a stable oscillation has been achieved, the Avg. Coeffs? of
DP-15 is now set to yes and the averaged lift-coefficient (Cl) is presented as -2.1489e-03 inside
Table:Coefficients.

Repeat the guideline above to examine each design point of Airflow.airfoil-01 to ensure the
convergence criteria has been met or the aerodynamic coefficients averaging features has been
applied for all design points.

In this tutorial, only DP-15 from Airflow.airfoil-01, and DP-17 from Airflow.airfoil-02 were
required to be recalculated using more robust convergence settings.

Note:

For more efficient recalculation of many design points, it is possible recalculate a

group of design points from multiple sections sequentially (For example, DP-15 from
Airflow.airfoil-01, and DP-17 from Airflow.airfoil-02) by following the steps below.

a. Load to the first airflow simulation.

Project View → Airflow.airfoil-01 Load in Solver.

b. In the Input:Design Points table, change the Status of any design points you
would like to recalculate to Needs Update, in this case, DP-15.

c. Set your Solve settings.

Solution → Solve

• Set Iterations to 5000.

• Set Convergence Settings to Robust.

• Set Convergence Criteria to Default.

d. Set your Simulation Conditions

Setup → Simulation Conditions Save Status of Design Points.

e. Close the simulation and save the case.

Project → Close Simulation

In the Information dialog box, press Yes to save the case.

f. Load the next airflow simulations and repeat steps 1 through 5 for any other
design points you would like to recalculate, in this case, Airflow.airfoil-02 and
DP-17.

g. Once the above steps have been completed for all design points you would like
to recalculate, select File → AET Workflow → Continue...

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 Fluent Aero AET – Creating a VBM Input File for Blade Sections

In the Continue AET Workflow dialog box, set Restart from Step to 5: Run
Airflow Simulations. Fluent Aero will sequentially connect to each airfoil simula-
tion and recalculate any of the design points set to Needs Update.

If you are still having difficulty with convergence for a specific design point, you have
a few options to consider in order to finish your project.

• To begin, change Convergence Settings to Custom and experiment with

different custom solver settings to try and improve the convergence of the
design point. Use the CFL approach, for example, with a range of 10 to 50
to allow the airflow solver to converge.

• Second, if you are unable to converge the design point, you can delete it from
the airfoil simulation and essentially remove that angle of attack point from
the final aerodynamic performance look-up table file. All design points may
not be required to generate a sufficient dataset for all airfoil sections.

16. Next, create a Parametric Graph to further post-process the design point results.

Results → Graphs → Parametric Graph

• In the Curve Settings section,

– Set Color to red.

– Keep all other default settings.

Click Plot. The curves of lift vs. AoA will be plotted as shown.

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Figure 2.96: Lift Curves of Airfoil-01 Profile

The results for Mach 0.1 and Mach 0.3 calculations are similar, with the exception that the
stalling angle of attack appears to be lower for Mach 0.3 than for Mach 0.1. A larger difference
between the curves would most likely be seen if a higher Mach number was used. This,
however, was not required for the current tutorial.

17. Repeat Step 14 to examine the results of Airflow.airfoil-02’s simulations. The lift curve of Air-
flow.airfoil-02 will be plotted as shown.

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18. Now that a new solution has been obtained for Airfoil-01's DP-15, the output files should be
updated. Use File → AET Workflow → Continue... to restart from the 6: Output Files
step.

The AET workflow will update its output files automatically. After that, go to the AET project
directory ../Output/ and open airfoil-*.dat. The final AET output files for the Air-
flow.airfoil-01 profile are shown below.

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Figure 2.97: AET Output Data File as VBM Input – Airfoil-01 Profile

If design points from multiple airfoil simulations are required to be rerun with Robust settings,
it may be easier to update them all together instead of calculating each individual airfoil simu-
lation manually as shown above.

• First, set and save the status of all design points required to be rerun with Robust settings
from each airfoil section to Needs Update. For example, if DP-15 from each airfoil needs to
be updated:

– Load to the first airflow simulation.

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 Fluent Aero AET – Creating a VBM Input File for Blade Sections

Project View → Airflow.airfoil-01 Load in Solver.

– In the Input:Design Points table, change the Status of any design points you would like
to recalculate to Needs Update, in this case, DP-15.

– Set your Simulation Conditions

Setup → Simulation Conditions Save Status of Design Points.

– Close the simulation and save the case.

Project → Close Simulation

In the Information dialog box, press Yes to save the case.

– Load Airflow.airfoil-02 and repeat steps 1 through 5.

– Once the above steps have been completed for all design points you would like to recalcu-
late, select File → AET Workflow → Continue...

In the Continue AET Workflow dialog box, set Restart from Step to 5: Run Airflow Sim-
ulations and ensure 6: Output Files is also selected under Execute the Following Steps.
Click OK.

– When 5: Run Airflow Simulations is executed, Fluent Aero will identify that Airflow.airfoil-
01 and Airflow.airfoil-02 have a single design point that Needs Update and will sequen-
tially connect to each airfoil simulation and recalculate that particular design point (DP-
15). Since no other design points require update (the Status of all other design points is
Updated), no other design points will be recalculated.

– When 6: Output Files is executed, the output files will be recreated and the Summary and
Convergence tables will appear. Investigate these tables to ensure Airlfow.airfoil-01:DP-
15 and Airlfow.airfoil-02:DP-15 have now converged.

2.5.5. Appendix
The following sections describe how to visualize your results within the Fluent Virtual Blade Model:
2.5.5.1. Using the Results of the AET Workflow in the Fluent Virtual Blade Model
2.5.5.2. Using the Virtual Blade Model With Fluent Aero

2.5.5.1. Using the Results of the AET Workflow in the Fluent Virtual Blade Model
After completing the AET workflow, the next step is to run a Fluent simulation with the Virtual
Blade Model. If you only want to simulate a single flight condition, you can do so in the classic
Fluent Solution workspace. Fluent’s Virtual Blade Model Tutorials in the Fluent Tutorials contain
instructions on how to run a VBM simulation using the Fluent Solution workspace. In this setup
process, the following files produced by the current AET workflow tutorial can be used:

• Output/3D-Blade.airfoil-0*.dat

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These files define the performance of each airfoil and should be used in the Geometry panel
under the VBM Rotor Inputs dialog box.

• CAD/2D-section-geometry-params.csv

This file contains geometric information about each section’s position and orientation along the
3D blade. Information in this file could be helpful in setting up the Geometry panel under the
VBM Rotor Inputs dialog box.

You have two airfoil performance files based on the results of the current tutorial:

And the contents of 2D-section-geometry-params.csv are as follows:

These inputs can be used in the Geometry panel under the VBM Rotor Inputs dialog box, as
shown below:

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 Fluent Aero AET – Creating a VBM Input File for Blade Sections

2.5.5.2. Using the Virtual Blade Model With Fluent Aero

Fluent Aero can be used to utilize the Virtual Blade Model with a parametric sweep of design points.
However, because the Virtual Blade Model is not yet directly available in Fluent Aero and, therefore,
would need to open a Fluent Solution workspace via the Fluent Aero graphical user interface to
start the setup process.

Project → Workspaces → Solution

This should be considered beta functionality and a basic guide to this process is provided below.

1. Create a new project file.

File → New Project...

2. Enter VBM_helicopter_tutorial as the Project file name within the Select File dialog.

3. Select and import the VBM_helicopter_tutorial-setup.cas.h5 input grid found inside

your fluent_aero_aet_tutorial.zip folder.

Note:

This file was produced by following the steps in Fluent’s Virtual Blade Model Helicopter
Tutorial in the Fluent Tutorials, with minor changes to the boundary names to ensure
the WindTunnel Component Group is setup automatically by Fluent Aero (the inlet,
exit and wall boundaries are renamed to windtunnel-inlet, windtunnel-outlet and

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windtunnel-wall, respectively, and the Named Expressions are updated to match the
new boundary names).

Project → Simulation → New Aero Workflow

A New Simulation window will appear. Enter the Name of the New Simulation as
VBM_helicopter_tutorial_custominput.

Your Project View will now contain an input folder and file.

4. Define the Airflow Physics of the simulation.

Setup → Airflow Physics.

• In the Solver section:

– Set Type to Pressure based. (Currently, Fluent’s Virtual Blade Model only supports the
Pressure based solver.)

– Keep all other default settings.

5. Set your solver settings.

Solution → Solve Apply Solver Settings.

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 Fluent Aero AET – Creating a VBM Input File for Blade Sections

This will apply the Pressure based solver condition and any other conditions that were set up
in the Fluent Aero workspace and the Fluent Solution workspace.

6. Copy all airfoil performance lookup table files, such as 3D-Blade.airfoil-0*.dat, to the
simulation folder. They will now be located inside the same directory as your primary case file,
for example, VBM_helicopter_tutorial-setup.cas.h5.

7. Launch the Fluent Solution workspace.

Project → Workspaces → Solution

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8. Enable the Virtual Blade Model from the Fluent Solution workspace window.

• In the Console, type the following:

– /define/models/virtual-blade-model/enable? yes

9. Initialize the airflow calculation using standard initialization. This allows VBM access to the surfaces
objects for use in defining the rotor surfaces.

• In the Console, type the following:

– /solve/initialize/initialize-flow

10. Set up all required VBM Rotor Inputs to define your rotor inputs.

Setup → Models → Virtual Blade Model

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 Fluent Aero AET – Creating a VBM Input File for Blade Sections

Refer to Fluent’s Virtual Blade Model Tutorials in the Fluent Tutorials for more information on
this step. After finishing your setup, click Change/Create to save the changes. Press OK to close
the panel.

11. Apply the Virtual Blade Model.

• In the Console, type the following:

– /define/models/virtual-blade-model/apply

12. Run your calculation in the Fluent Aero workspace

Solution → Solve

• Set Iterations to 1000.

• Set Convergence Settings to Default.

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• Set Convergence Criteria to Default.

• Click Update.

The Virtual Blade Model conditions that were set up in the Fluent Solution workspace will be
used for all design points.

2.5.6. Summary
This tutorial demonstrated how to use Fluent Aero's AET workflow to extract the aerodynamic per-
formance from sections defined along a 3D blade geometry and to export that data to a performance
lookup table file suitable for use with Fluent’s Virtual Blade Model.

2.5.7. Limitations
• No comma characters "," can be used in the full path of the working directory. This will cause the
CAD generation step to fail.

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Chapter 3: Fluent Material Processing Tutorials
This chapter include several Material Processing Tutorials for Ansys Fluent.

The information in this chapter is divided into the following sections:

3.1. 3D Polymer Extrusion
3.2. Multiple Material Coextruded Tubing
3.3. 3D Polymer Blow Molding & Thermoforming
3.4. Injection Stretch Blow Molding (ISBM)
3.5. Glass Pressing
3.6. 3D Inverse Extrusion
3.7. Mesh Superposition Technique

3.1. 3D Polymer Extrusion

This tutorial is divided into the following sections:
3.1.1. Introduction
3.1.2. Problem Description
3.1.3. Setup and Solution
3.1.4. Results
3.1.5. Summary

3.1.1. Introduction
This tutorial illustrates the simulation of a 3D extrusion process using the Fluent Materials Processing
workspace (Fluent Materials Processing Workspace). The workspace will allow you to set up and solve
a polymer extrusion problem so you can easily obtain an accurate prediction of the extrudate shape
for a given die geometry under prescribed operating conditions.

In this tutorial you will learn how to use the Fluent Materials Processing workspace to:

• Easily set up your extrusion simulation

• Calculate a solution

• Analyze the results.

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3.1.2. Problem Description

This problem deals with the flow of a Newtonian fluid through a three-dimensional die. Due to the
symmetry of the problem (the cross-section of the die is a square), the computational domain is
defined for a quarter of the geometry and two planes of symmetry are defined.

The melt enters the die as shown in Figure 3.1: Problem Description (p. 468) at a flow rate of Q = 10
cm3/s (a quarter of the actual flow rate) and the extrudate is obtained at the exit. At the end of the
computational domain, it is assumed that the extrudate is fully deformed and that it will not deform
any further. It is assumed that subdomain 2 is long enough to account for all the deformation of the
extrudate.

Figure 3.1: Problem Description

The incompressibility and momentum equations are solved over the computational domain. The
domain for the problem is divided into two subdomains (as shown in Figure 3.1: Problem Descrip-
tion (p. 468)) so that the remeshing algorithm can be applied only to the portion of the mesh that
will be deformed. The subdomain 1 represents the die where the fluid is confined. The subdomain 2
corresponds to the extrudate that is in contact with the air and can deform freely. The main aim of
the calculation is to find the location of the free surface (the skin of the extrudate).

The boundary sets for the problem are shown in Figure 3.2: Boundary Sets for the Problem (p. 469),
and the conditions at the boundaries of the domains are as follows.

• boundary 1: flow inlet, volumetric flow rate Q = 10 cm3/s

• boundary 2: zero velocity

• boundary 3: symmetry plane

• boundary 4: symmetry plane

• boundary 5: free surface

• boundary 6: flow exit

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Figure 3.2: Boundary Sets for the Problem

3.1.3. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
3.1.3.1. Preparation
3.1.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent
3.1.3.3. Setup Your Simulation
3.1.3.4. General Properties
3.1.3.5. Material Properties
3.1.3.6. Cell Zone Properties
3.1.3.7. Boundary Condition Properties
3.1.3.8. Mesh Deformation Properties
3.1.3.9. Solution

3.1.3.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this tutorial:

1. Prepare a working folder for your simulation.

2. Download the 3d_extrusion.zip file here.

3. Unzip the 3d_extrusion.zip file you have downloaded to your working folder.

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4. The mesh file ext3d.msh can be found in the unzipped folder.

3.1.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent

1. Use the Fluent Launcher to start Ansys Fluent.

2. Select Materials Processing in the list of Fluent workspaces.

3. Click Start.

3.1.3.3. Setup Your Simulation

Clicking Start in the Fluent Launcher opens the Fluent Materials Processing workspace.

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 3D Polymer Extrusion

The workspace is a version of Ansys Fluent that utilizes the power of the Ansys Polyflow solver to
simulate polymer flows such as extrusion, blow molding, pressing, and so forth.

1. Open an extrusion geometry by reading in a Polyflow mesh file.

a. In the Setup properties, under Read, click the Mesh... button.

You can also use the File menu, and choose Read > Polyflow Mesh....

b. Locate and select the mesh file from your working folder (ext3d.msh)

c. Set the Mesh Length Unit to cm, and close the dialog box.

2. Set up an extrusion simulation (using the Simulation category of the Setup Ribbon).

Setup → Simulation → Use Template...

This will display the Simulation Template dialog.

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a. Set the Type to Extrusion.

b. Set the Goal to be Predict extrudate shape.

c. Keep the Number of fluids as 1.

d. Click Apply.

This will instruct the workspace to set up the appropriate objects and settings based on
your selections.

Note:

Notice the Outline View's use of status icons. A green check mark indicates the
properties of that object are satisfactory. A red 'x' indicates that attention is re-
quired for that object.

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You can progress down the Outline View (or across the Ribbon) to complete your simulation
settings using each object's property pages.

3.1.3.4. General Properties

Click the General node in the Outline View to display general settings for the problem setup.

1. Select General in the Outline View to review general properties of the simulation.

2. Review the settings in the properties page.

3. Make sure that Steady is selected for the Calculation Type.

4. Enter 3D die swell for the Task Name.

3.1.3.5. Material Properties

Fluent indicates which material properties are relevant by graying out the irrelevant properties. For this
model you will only define the viscosity of the material.

Even though the default material's (fluid) properties are up-to-date, you will change how that ma-
terial's viscosity is defined.

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1. Select fluid under Materials in the Outline View to review material properties of the simulation.

2. In the Properties - fluid panel, click the icon to the left of the Viscosity Law category to define
the viscosity properties of the fluid.

3. For Shear Rate Dependence, select Cross.

The Cross law exhibits shear-thinning (the decrease in viscosity as the shear rate increases) that is
a characteristic of many polymers. The viscosity in this tutorial is given by the Cross law:

(3.1)

where:

= zero shear-rate viscosity = 85000 poise

= natural time = 0.2 s

= Cross law index = 0.3

= shear rate

4. For Zero Shear Viscosity [Pa s], enter 85000.

5. For Time Constant [s], enter 0.2.

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6. For Cross Law Index, enter 0.3.

3.1.3.6. Cell Zone Properties

In this portion of the tutorial, you will assign your fluid cell zones.

1. Select fluid-zone under Cell Zones in the Outline View to review cell zone properties of the
simulation.

2. For Zones, select the field to open the ZoneId dialog.

3. In the ZoneId dialog, select both subdomain1 and subdomain2 and click OK to keep your
selections and close the dialog.

3.1.3.7. Boundary Condition Properties

In the following steps you will set the conditions at each of the boundaries of the simulation.

1. Set inlet conditions.

a. Select inlet under Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View to review inlet boundary
conditions for the simulation.

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b. Select boundary1 as the Boundary Zone.

c. Select Volume Flow as the Flow Specification.

d. Select fluid as the Incoming material.

e. Enter 0.00001 m^3/s (10 cm^3/s) as the Volume Flow Rate.

2. Set outlet conditions.

a. Select extrudate-exit under Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View to review exit
boundary conditions for the simulation.

b. Select boundary6 as the Boundary Zone.

3. Set symmetry conditions.

a. Select Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View, and click the New... button in its
properties window, or right-click in the tree and add a new condition to the tree.

b. Rename the new condition to Symmetry.

c. Set the Type to Symmetry.

d. Select boundary3-subdomain1, boundary3-subdomain2, boundary4-subdomain1, and

boundary4-subdomain2 as the Boundary Zone.

4. Set free surface conditions.

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a. Select free-surface under Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View to review free
surface boundary conditions for the simulation.

b. Select boundary5 as the Boundary Zone.

c. Select boundary2 as the Fixed Part.

5. Set wall conditions.

At a solid-liquid interface, the velocity of the liquid is that of the solid surface. Hence the fluid is as-
sumed to stick to the wall. This is known as the no-slip condition because the liquid is assumed to
adhere to the wall, and hence, has no velocity relative to the wall.

a. Select wall under Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View to review wall boundary
conditions for the simulation.

b. Select boundary2 as the Boundary Zone.

3.1.3.8. Mesh Deformation Properties

This model involves a free surface, whose shape is unknown a priori, which will be calculated together
with the flow equations. A portion of the mesh is affected by the relocation of this boundary, so a
remeshing technique is applied on this part of the mesh. The free surface is entirely contained within
subdomain 2, therefore only subdomain 2 is affected by the relocation of the free surface.

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1. Under Mesh Deformations, select extrudate to edit the default properties of the extrudate
exit for your simulation.

2. Select subdomain2 for Zones.

3. Select Optimesh-3D for the Extrudate Deformation Method.

4. Select subdomain2-subdomain1 for the Inlet Section.

5. Select boundary6 for the Outlet Section.

The purpose of the remeshing technique is to relocate internal nodes according to the displacement of
boundary nodes due to the motion of the free surface, since a part of the mesh is deformed. For 3D ex-
trusion problems where large deformations of the extrudate are expected, the optimesh remeshing
technique is recommended

The optimesh remeshing technique requires the direction of extrusion to be parallel to the , , or
axis, and all slices into which the remeshing domain is cut must be perpendicular to the extrusion axis.

The domain to be remeshed is cut into a series of 2D slices (planes) in a direction perpendicular to the
direction of extrusion, and each plane is remeshed independently. For this process, Polyflow requires the
selection of the initial plane and the final plane. In this problem, the initial plane is the intersection of
subdomain 2 with subdomain 1, and the final plane is the intersection of subdomain 2 with the flow
exit (boundary 6).

3.1.3.9. Solution
Open the Solution branch of the Outline View (or use the Ribbon). Here, you can review problem
setup and other solution properties. Most items indicate that current default values are appropriate.

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1. Review your problem setup.

a. Select Run Calculation to see available options.

b. Click Check to review your simulation settings. Fluent will inform you as to whether or not
your setup contains any problems and will provide guidance to solve any issues.

2. Calculate a solution.

a. Click Calculate to begin the computing a solution.

b. Once the calculations are complete, check the solution's listing in the Transcript tab, at the
bottom of the Graphics window, to confirm its success. You can confirm that the solution
proceeded as expected by looking for the following printed at the bottom of the listing file:
The computation succeeded.

3. Save the work.

Your work can be preserved using a "session" file - a Materials Processing workspace-specific case
file (*.mprcas) that contains your settings and your results.

File → Write → Session..., entering extrusion-3D as the name of the session.

3.1.4. Results
Review results using the various tools in the Results section of the Outline View or the Ribbon where
you can setup contours, vectors, and so on.

1. Display the velocity distribution on the boundaries.

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Results → Graphics → Contour → New

Figure 3.3: Contour Properties

a. Keep the default Name (contour-1).

b. For the Field, select VELOCITIES[].

c. For the Surfaces, select the field to open the Surfaces dialog where you can select the relevant
boundaries. Once your selections are complete, click OK to close the dialog.

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Figure 3.4: Selecting Boundaries in the Surfaces Dialog

d. Keep the remaining defaults and click Display to see the velocity magnitude contour plot in
the Graphics window.

Use the toolbars in the Graphics window to adjust the display so that it is in an isometric
orientation, and fits the window.

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Figure 3.5: Contours of Velocity Magnitude

2. Display contours of velocity in cross-sectional planes, at Z = 0, 0.08, 0.15, and 0.45 m.

a. Create a cross-section planes at Z = 0 m.

Results → Surfaces → Plane → New

In the Properties - plane-1 panel, under Plane Settings, select XY Plane for the Creation
Mode, enter 0 for Z, and click Display.

b. Create additional cross-section planes for Z = 0.08, 0.15, and 0.45 m.

Once complete, you should have four separate plane surfaces available.

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You could also have used the Create Multiple Surface dialog to easily create multiple surfaces.

c. Display contours of velocity in the cross-sectional planes.

Results → Graphics → Contour → New

In the properties of contour-2, select VELOCITIES[] for the Field, and for the Surfaces, select
the four plane surfaces you just created, keep the remaining defaults, and click Display..

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Figure 3.6: Velocity Profiles at Cross-Sections

3.1.5. Summary
This tutorial introduced the concept of a 3D extrusion problem using the Fluent Materials Processing
workspace. You solved the problem using a specific 3D geometry for the die and made suitable as-
sumptions about the physics of the problem. You analyzed the factors affecting the extrudate shape.
In addition you learned how to use the optimesh remeshing method, which is recommended for 3D
extrusion problems.

3.2. Multiple Material Coextruded Tubing

This tutorial is divided into the following sections:
3.2.1. Introduction
3.2.2. Problem Description
3.2.3. Setup and Solution
3.2.4. Results
3.2.5. Summary

3.2.1. Introduction
This tutorial demonstrates the simulation of a multiple material coextrusion process using the Fluent
Materials Processing workspace. A coextrusion process allows for two or more different polymer ma-
terials to be combined into a single product. Depending on the materials used, the process allows
for the creation of products with unique properties, such as increased strength, resistance to corrosion,

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or insulation. The versatility of coextruded plastic profiles and tubing makes coextrusion an ideal
manufacturing process for a wide range of products.

In this tutorial you will learn how to use the Fluent Materials Processing workspace to set up a coex-
trusion simulation using multiple materials, calculate the solution, and analyze the results.

3.2.2. Problem Description

This tutorial considers the flow of two different isothermal polymer materials through a three-dimen-
sional die. The problem consists of two inlets, one for each material, which are coextruded through
the die to produce a multi-layered tubing structure at the exit.

Figure 3.7: Problem Description Inlet

The domain for the problem is divided into two parts, the first part is the die where the two fluid
materials are confined between the inner wall and outer wall, as can be seen in Figure 3.7: Problem
Description Inlet (p. 485). The second part corresponds to the multi-material extrudate tubing which
is in contact with the air and can deform freely along the inner and outer surfaces, as can be seen in
Figure 3.8: Problem Description Exit (p. 486).

The first inlet (inlet1) is positioned at the top of the die where the first material, high density poly-
ethylene, enters into the domain at a flow rate of Q = 175 * 10 -6 m 3 / s. The second inlet (inlet 2) is
positioned at the bottom of the die where the second material, linear low density polyethylene, enters
-6
into the domain at a flow rate of Q = 25 * 10 m 3 / s.

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Figure 3.8: Problem Description Exit

At the end of the computational domain, it is assumed that the motion of the multi-material extruded
tubing is fully developed and that it will not deform any further. It is assumed that the extrusion domain
is long enough to account for the entire deformation of the extrudate.

3.2.3. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
3.2.3.1. Preparation
3.2.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent
3.2.3.3. Setup Your Simulation
3.2.3.4. General Properties
3.2.3.5. Material Properties
3.2.3.6. Cell Zone Properties
3.2.3.7. Boundary Condition Properties
3.2.3.8. Mesh Deformation Properties
3.2.3.9. Solution

3.2.3.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this tutorial:

1. Prepare a working folder for your simulation.

2. Download the coextrusion.zip file here.

3. Unzip the coextrusion.zip file you have downloaded to your working folder.

4. The mesh file coextruded_tubing.msh can be found in the unzipped folder.

3.2.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent

1. Use the Fluent Launcher to start Ansys Fluent.

2. Select Materials Processing in the list of Fluent workspaces.

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3. Click Start.

3.2.3.3. Setup Your Simulation

Clicking Start in the Fluent Launcher opens the Fluent Materials Processing workspace.

1. Open the geometry by reading in a Polyflow mesh file.

a. In the Setup properties, under Read, click the Mesh... button.

You can also use the File menu, and choose Read > Polyflow Mesh....

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b. Locate and select the mesh file from your working folder (coextruded_tubing.msh)

c. Set the Mesh Length Unit to m, and close the dialog box.

2. Set up an extrusion simulation (using the Simulation category of the Setup Ribbon).

Setup → Simulation → Use Template...

This will display the Simulation Template dialog.

a. Set the Type to Extrusion.

b. Set the Goal to be Predict extrudate shape.

c. Enter 2 for the Number of fluids.

d. Click Apply.

This will instruct the workspace to set up the appropriate objects and settings based on
your selections.

Note:

Notice the Outline View's use of status icons. A green check mark indicates the
properties of that object are satisfactory. A red 'x' indicates that attention is re-
quired for that object.

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You can progress down the Outline View (or across the Ribbon) to complete your simulation
settings using each object's property pages.

3.2.3.4. General Properties

Display and review the general settings for the problem setup.

1. Select General in the Outline View to review general properties of the simulation.

2. Review the settings in the properties page.

3. Make sure that Steady is selected for the Calculation Type.

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3.2.3.5. Material Properties

For this tutorial, you will replace the two fluids that were created for you with two materials imported
from an installed material library.

1. Import a new material from the materials library.

Click the Import from library button in the Materials property page. Alternatively, you can
right-click on the Materials node, and select Import from library from the context menu.

Materials Import from library

This displays the Library of Materials dialog box.

a. Select Extrusion for the Family.

b. Select Extrusion_HDPE_isothermal_463K for the Material.

c. Click OK to close the dialog.

The new material will be added to the list of materials in the Outline View.

2. Import another material from the library by repeating the same procedure.

a. Select Extrusion for the Family

b. Select Extrusion_LLDPE_isothermal_463K for the Material.

c. Click OK to close the dialog.

The new material will be added to the list of materials in the Outline View.

3. Remove the original fluid materials (fluid-1 and fluid-2).

a. Select fluid-1 in the Outline View, right-click and select Delete from the context menu.

Setup → Materials → fluid-1 Delete

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You will be prompted to make sure you want to remove the material. Click Yes to remove the
material.

b. Perform the same operation for fluid-2 to remove it from your setup.

4. Review material properties.

a. Select Extrusion_HDPE_isothermal_463K under Materials in the Outline View to review

material properties of the simulation.

b. Review the density and the viscosity settings for the first material.

c. Review the density and the viscosity settings for the Extrusion_LLDPE_isothermal_463K
material.

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3.2.3.6. Cell Zone Properties

In this portion of the tutorial, you will assign your fluid cell zones.

1. Select fluid-zone under Cell Zones in the Outline View to review cell zone properties of the
simulation.

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2. For Zones, select the field to open a selection dialog.

3. In the selection dialog, select both available zones: die and extrudate and click OK to keep
your selections and close the dialog.

4. For Fluid Material(s), select the field to open a selection dialog.

5. In the selection dialog, select the two materials previously created: Extrusion_HDPE_isotherm-
al_463K and Extrusion_LLDPE_isothermal_463K and click OK to keep your selections and
close the dialog.

3.2.3.7. Boundary Condition Properties

In the following steps you will set the conditions at each of the boundaries of the simulation.

1. Set outlet conditions.

a. Select extrudate-exit under Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View to review the
exit boundary conditions for the simulation.

b. Select exit as the Boundary Zone.

c. Select Take-up Velocity as the Flow Specification.

d. Enter 0 m/s for Vx.

e. Enter 0 m/s for Vy.

f. Enter 0.5 m/s for Vz.

2. Set free surface conditions.

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a. Select free-surface under Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View to review free
surface boundary conditions for the simulation.

b. Select innersurface as the Boundary Zone.

c. Select innerwall as the Fixed Part.

3. Define a new free surface boundary.

Click the New... button in the Fluid Boundary Conditions property page. Alternatively, you
can right-click on the Fluid Boundary Conditions node, and select New... from the context
menu.

Fluid Boundary Conditions New...

a. Enter outer-free-surface for the Name.

b. Select Free surface for the Type.

c. Select outersurface for the Boundary Zone.

d. Select outerwall for the Fixed Part.

4. Set inlet conditions for the Extrusion_HDPE_isothermal_463K material.

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a. Select inlet-for-fluid-1 under Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View to review
inlet boundary conditions for the simulation.

b. Select inlet1 for the Boundary Zone.

c. Select Volume Flow for the Flow Specification.

d. For the Incoming Material, select Extrusion_HDPE_isothermal_463K.

e. Enter 175e-6 m^3/s for the Volume Flow Rate.

5. Set inlet conditions for the Extrusion_LLDPE_isothermal_463K material.

a. Select inlet-for-fluid-2 under Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View to review
inlet boundary conditions for the simulation.

b. Select inlet2 for the Boundary Zone.

c. Select Volume Flow for the Flow Specification.

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d. For the Incoming Material, select Extrusion_LLDPE_isothermal_463K.

e. Enter 25e-6 m^3/s for the Volume Flow Rate.

6. Set wall surface conditions.

a. Select wall under Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View to review free surface
boundary conditions for the simulation.

b. Select innerwall as the Boundary Zone.

c. Select Partial slip for the Slip Specification.

d. Retain the selection of Navier law for the Slip Model.

e. Enter 1e6 kg/(m^2 s) for the Friction Coefficient.

7. Define a new wall boundary.

Click the New... button in the Fluid Boundary Conditions property page. Alternatively, you
can right-click on the Fluid Boundary Conditions node, and select New... from the context
menu.

Fluid Boundary Conditions New...

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a. Enter outer-wall for the Name.

b. Select Wall for the Type.

c. Select outerwall for the Boundary Zone.

d. Select Partial slip for the Slip Specification.

e. Retain the selection of Navier law for the Slip Model.

f. Enter 1e6 kg/(m^2 s) for the Friction Coefficient.

3.2.3.8. Mesh Deformation Properties

This model involves two free surfaces, whose shape is unknown a priori, which will be calculated together
with the flow equations. A portion of the mesh is affected by the relocation of these boundaries, so a
mesh deformation technique is applied on this part of the mesh. The extrudate is entirely contained
between the inner and outer surfaces, therefore this will be the only zone affected by the mesh deform-
ation algorithm.

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1. Under Mesh Deformations, select extrudate to edit the default properties of the extrudate
exit for your simulation.

2. Select extrudate for Zones.

3. Select Streamwise for the Extrudate Deformation Method.

4. Select extrudate-die for the Inlet Section.

5. Select exit for the Outlet Section.

3.2.3.9. Solution
Open the Solution branch of the Outline View (or use the Ribbon). Here, you can review problem
setup and specify other solution properties.

1. Define the Calculation Activities.

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a. The number of processors is set to 4 by default, which is sufficient for most cases. However,
for this problem we will increase the number of processors to 7 which will moderately increase
the marginal speedup. Note that the value specified for the processor count does not need
to be a power of 2.

i. Enter 7 for the Number of Processors.

b. The primary source of non-linearity in a coextrusion flow originates from the transport of
immiscible materials and their respective properties. At each location in the calculation do-
main, equations must be inspected for the appropriate properties assignment. For facilitating
the calculation, convergence strategies are available. Next to convergence strategy for multiple
materials, which is often recommended for coextrusion flow calculations, we also enable
convergence strategies for free surfaces and moving interfaces as well as for viscosity and
slip.

i. Enable the Multiple Materials option.

ii. Enable the Free Surfaces and Moving interfaces option.

iii. Enable the Viscosity and Slip option.

2. Review your problem setup.

a. Select Run Calculation to see available options.

b. Click Check to review your simulation settings. The Fluent Materials Processing workspace
will inform you as to whether or not your setup contains any problems and will provide
guidance to solve any issues.

3. Calculate the solution.

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a. Click Calculate to begin the computation of the solution.

Depending on your machine, the calculation should take approximately 20 to 25 minutes to

complete.

b. Once the calculations are complete, check the solution's listing in the Transcript tab to
confirm its success. You can confirm that the solution proceeded as expected by looking for
the following printed at the bottom of the listing file:
The computation succeeded.

4. Save the work.

Your work can be preserved using a "session" file - a Materials Processing workspace-specific case
file (*.mprcas) that contains your settings and your results.

File → Write → Session..., entering coextruded-tubing as the name of the session.

3.2.4. Results
Review results using the various tools in the Results section of the Outline View or the Ribbon where
you can setup contours, vectors, and so on.

1. Display the fluid fraction distribution on the boundaries.

Results → Graphics → Contour → New

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Figure 3.9: Contour Properties

The fluid fraction distibution (FLUIDFRACTION1) represents the proportion or fraction of fluid material
within the multi-layered tubing.

a. For the Name, enter coextrusion-fluid-fraction.

b. For the Field, select FLUIDFRACTION1.

c. For the Surfaces, select the field to open the Surfaces dialog where you can select the relevant
boundaries. Once your selections are complete, click OK to close the dialog.

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Figure 3.10: Selecting Boundaries in the Surfaces Dialog

d. Keep the remaining defaults and click Display to see the fluid fraction contour plot in the
graphics window.

Figure 3.11: Contours of FLUIDFRACTION1

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In Figure 3.11: Contours of FLUIDFRACTION1 (p. 502) we can see the high density polyethylene in blue,
and the linear low density polyethylene in red. The interface between these two polymers is shown
in green. A more refined mesh in the zone where the fluid fraction varies will improve the interface
location.

3.2.5. Summary
This tutorial introduced the concept of a 3D coextrusion problem with multiple materials using the
Fluent Materials Processing workspace. You solved the problem using a specific 3D geometry for the
die and made suitable assumptions about the physics of the problem.

3.3. 3D Polymer Blow Molding & Thermoforming

This tutorial is divided into the following sections:
3.3.1. Introduction
3.3.2. Problem Description
3.3.3. Setup and Solution
3.3.4. Results
3.3.5. Summary

3.3.1. Introduction
This tutorial illustrates the simulation of a 3D blow molding process using the Fluent Materials Pro-
cessing workspace (Fluent Materials Processing Workspace). The workspace will allow you to set up
and solve a polymer blow molding problem so you can easily obtain an accurate prediction of the
shaped object for a given mold geometry under prescribed operating conditions.

In this tutorial you will learn how to use the Fluent Materials Processing workspace to:

• Easily set up your blow molding / thermoforming simulation

• Calculate a solution

• Analyze the results, such as generating thickness-based contour plots and running transient anim-
ations.

3.3.2. Problem Description

This tutorial simulates a typical thermoforming situation for a blister. Figure 3.12: Thermoforming of
a Blister, Sheet (blue) and Mold (red) (p. 504) shows a view of the process in the initial configuration.

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Figure 3.12: Thermoforming of a Blister, Sheet (blue) and Mold (red)

To reduce the computational run time, and utilizing the symmetric nature of the blister, only one
quarter of the blister/mold is modeled, Figure 3.12: Thermoforming of a Blister, Sheet (blue) and Mold
(red) (p. 504). From a geometric point of view, the initial (1/4) film has the following dimensions:

• Length = 0.015 m

• Width = 0.05 m

• Initial thickness = 0.0005 m

This tutorial demonstrates the modeling of a polymer sheet made up of several layers, as it is often
the case for packaging food or medication, where one layer provides mechanical resistance and an-
other layer provides a humidity barrier.

The thickness of the layer, when compared to the length/width of the blister, is rather small. This allows
for the use of the membrane (shell) element, which is suited for the analysis of 3D blow molding and
thermoforming simulations. The use of the membrane element is presently restricted to time-dependent
flows and is combined with Lagrangian representation (each mesh node is a material point). Node
displacement results from the time integration of nodal velocity.

The finite element mesh and the boundary conditions are displayed in Figure 3.13: Finite Element
Mesh, Subdomains and Boundary Sets (p. 505). A 3D surface mesh has been generated for both the
mold and the film. The most important aspect is the proper description of the inner mold surfaces
that will shape the blister.

The film has the following material properties:

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• First layer: Viscosity = 5500 Pa -s

Second layer: Viscosity = 4000 Pa -s

• First layer: Density = 975 kg/m3

Second layer: Density = 1100 kg/m3

• First layer: Initial thickness = 0.0002 m

Second layer: Initial thickness = 0.0003 m

Figure 3.13: Finite Element Mesh, Subdomains and Boundary Sets

As seen in Figure 3.13: Finite Element Mesh, Subdomains and Boundary Sets (p. 505), the topology
involves two subdomains:

• Subdomain 1 = film

• Subdomain 2 = mold

and four boundary sets:

• Boundary 1: will be fixed (clamped boundary)

• Boundary 2: will be fixed (clamped boundary)

• Boundary 3: symmetry boundary condition with respect to the x-axis

• Boundary 4: symmetry boundary condition with respect to the y-axis

The inflation pressure will be defined on the subdomain representing the film (Subdomain 1).

When considering contact with a mold, typically, two cases may be encountered:

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• The moving mold comes in contact with the shell and the shell acquires the mold velocity.

• The shell is inflated according to a certain rate and eventually comes into contact with the mold,
acquiring its shape.

Often, both types of contact are encountered in a given application.

3.3.3. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
3.3.3.1. Preparation
3.3.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent
3.3.3.3. Setup Your Simulation
3.3.3.4. General Properties
3.3.3.5. Material Properties
3.3.3.6. Cell Zone Properties
3.3.3.7. Layer Properties
3.3.3.8. Fluid Boundary Condition Properties
3.3.3.9. Contact Boundary Conditions
3.3.3.10. Mesh Deformation Properties
3.3.3.11. Adaptive Mesh Settings
3.3.3.12. Solution

3.3.3.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this tutorial:

1. Prepare a working folder for your simulation.

2. Download the 3d_thermo_blister.zip file here.

3. Unzip the 3d_thermo_blister.zip file you have downloaded to your working folder.

The mesh file blister.msh can be found in the unzipped folder.

3.3.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent

1. Use the Fluent Launcher to start Ansys Fluent.

2. Select Materials Processing in the list of Fluent workspaces.

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3. Click Start.

3.3.3.3. Setup Your Simulation

Clicking Start in the Fluent Launcher opens the Fluent Materials Processing workspace.

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The workspace is a version of Ansys Fluent that utilizes the power of the Ansys Polyflow solver to
simulate polymer flows such as extrusion, blow molding, pressing, and so forth.

1. Open a blow molding geometry by reading in a Polyflow mesh file.

a. In the Setup properties, under Read, click the Mesh... button.

You can also use the File menu, and choose Read > Polyflow Mesh....

b. Locate and select the mesh file from your working folder (blister.msh)

c. In this case, the mesh file does not contain any unit information, so you are prompted to
provide the units through the Define Mesh Unit dialog. Set the Mesh Length Unit to mm,
and close the dialog box.

Note:

The Fluent Materials Processing workspace always performs the setup and the
calculations in MKS. If the mesh is provided in other units, then the coordinates
are converted to meters prior to the calculation.

2. Set up a blow molding simulation (using the Simulation category of the Setup Ribbon).

Setup → Simulation → Use Template...

This will display the Simulation Template dialog.

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a. Set the Type to Blow Molding / Thermoforming.

b. Keep the Number of Fixed Molds as 0.

c. Set the Number of Moving Molds to 1.

d. Set the Number of Layers to 2.

e. Set the Duration to 0.5 seconds.

f. Click Apply.

This will instruct the workspace to set up the appropriate objects and settings based on
your selections.

Note:

Notice the Outline View's use of status icons. A green check mark indicates the
properties of that object are satisfactory. A red 'x' indicates that attention is re-
quired for that object.

You can progress down the Outline View (or across the Ribbon) to complete your simulation
settings using each object's property pages.

3.3.3.4. General Properties

Click the General node in the Outline View to display general settings for the problem setup. For
this tutorial, you can keep the default settings.

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3.3.3.5. Material Properties

For this tutorial, you will replace the two fluids that were created for you with two special materials
imported from an installed material library.

1. Import a new material from the materials library.

Click the Import from library button in the Materials property page. Alternatively, you can
right-click on the Materials node, and select Import from library from the context menu.

Materials Import from library

This displays the Library of Materials dialog box.

a. Select Blow molding for the Family

b. Select BlowMolding_HDPE_isothermal_463K for the Material.

c. Click OK to close the dialog.

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The new material will be added to the list of materials in the Outline View.

2. Import another material from the library by repeating the same procedure.

a. Select Blow molding for the Family

b. Select BlowMolding_PP_isothermal_493K for the Material.

c. Click OK to close the dialog.

The new material will be added to the list of materials in the Outline View.

3. Remove the original fluid materials (fluid-1 and fluid-2).

a. Select fluid-1 in the Outline View, right-click and select Delete from the context menu.

Setup → Materials → fluid-1 Delete

You will be prompted to make sure you want to remove the material. Click Yes to remove the
material.

b. Perform the same operation for fluid-2 to remove it from your setup.

4. Review material properties.

a. Select BlowMolding_HDPE_isothermal_463K under Materials in the Outline View to review

material properties of the simulation.

When you select an item in the Outline View, you can see and edit its properties and settings in
the separate Properties View window. There are numerous material properties available for your
materials using the workspace. Material properties are listed by category and you can expand
the properties of the categories you are interested in by clicking the icon to the left of the category.

b. Review the density and the viscosity settings for the first material.

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c. Review the density and the viscosity settings for the second material.

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3.3.3.6. Cell Zone Properties

In this portion of the tutorial, you will assign which cell zone is the fluid which is the moving mold, and
prescribe the motion of the mold using an expression.

1. Set the cell zone conditions for the fluid zone.

a. Select fluid-zone under Cell Zones in the Outline View to review cell zone properties of
the simulation.

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b. For Zones, select the field to open a selection dialog. In the selection dialog, select subdo-
main1 and click OK to keep your selections and close the dialog.

c. Set the Inflation Pressure to 10000 Pa.

Click Display to visualize arrows on the fluid zone that demonstrate the orientation of the
pressure.

d. Select expression from the Time Dependency drop-down list, then enter IF(time <=
0.1, 0.0, IF(time >= 0.11, 1.0, (time-0.1)/(0.11-0.1))) for the time
dependency.

2. Set the cell zone conditions for the moving mold zone.

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a. Select moving-mold under Cell Zones in the Outline View to review cell zone properties
of the simulation.

b. For Zones, select the field to open a selection dialog. In the selection dialog, select subdo-
main2 and click OK to keep your selections and close the dialog.

c. Check the orientation.

Click Display to visualize arrows on the moving mold zone that demonstrate the orientation,
and to confirm that the arrows are pointing to the mold body.

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d. Under Translation Velocity, select expression from the Vz drop-down list and enter 0.01
* IF(time <= 0.097, 1.0, IF(time >= 0.103, 0.0, 17.167 - time *
166.67)) for Vz.

3.3.3.7. Layer Properties

Using the blow molding simulation template, this tutorial defined two layers. In the following steps you
will further define the various layers of the simulation, each having its own material properties and initial
thickness (which can be defined as a constant, or a linear function of X, Y, Z coordinates. Layers can
overlap (partly or entirely), but they are not required to do so. Here, each layer is defined on the same
fluid-zone. The solver will model the deformation of the polymer sheet that combines (the resistance of)
the two layers. The layers are meant to stick together, so the deformation of each layer is identical, since
the area stretch can only be computed once.

1. Set conditions for the first layer.

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a. Select layer-of-fluid-1 under Layers in the Outline View to review this layer's settings
for the simulation.

b. Select BlowMolding_HDPE_isothermal_463K as the Material.

c. Select subdomain1 as the Zones.

d. Select f(X,Y,Z) under Option.

e. The layer's thickness H is defined by the polynomial: A*(1+B*x+C*y+D*z). All that

is required for this tutorial is a value for the first coefficient, A, so enter 0.0002 m.

2. Set conditions for the second layer.

a. Select layer-of-fluid-2 under Layers in the Outline View to review this layer's settings
for the simulation.

b. Select BlowMolding_PP_isothermal_493K as the Material.

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c. Select subdomain1 as the Zones.

d. Select f(X,Y,Z) under Option.

e. Enter 0.0003 m for the thickness coefficient A.

3.3.3.8. Fluid Boundary Condition Properties

In the following steps you will set the conditions at each of the boundaries of the simulation.

1. Set conditions for the fixed edges.

a. Select fixed-edges under Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View to review this
boundary condition for the simulation.

b. Select boundary1 and boundary2 as the Boundary Zone.

2. Set two symmetry conditions.

a. Select Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View, and click the New... button in its
properties window, or right-click in the tree and add a new condition to the tree.

b. Rename the new condition to symmetry-1.

c. Set the Type to Symmetry.

d. Select boundary3 as the Boundary Zone.

e. Select Normal direction along X axis as the Plane of Symmetry.

f. Repeat the process and assign a symmetry boundary called symmetry-2 to boundary4,
assigning its plane of symmetry to be Normal direction along Y axis.

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3.3.3.9. Contact Boundary Conditions

Contact between the fluid film and the solid mold can be accounted for using contact conditions.

1. Under Contact Boundary Conditions, select contact-with-moving-mold to edit the default

properties of this contact condition for your simulation.

2. Select subdomain1 for the Fluid Zone of Contact.

3. Select subdomain2 for the Mold Zone of Contact.

3.3.3.10. Mesh Deformation Properties

Here, we'll assign the film cell zone to be a deforming fluid.

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1. Under Mesh Deformations, select fluid-deformation to edit the default properties of the fluid
deformation zone for your simulation.

2. Select subdomain1 for Zones.

3.3.3.11. Adaptive Mesh Settings

In many practical cases, the use of adaptive meshing based on contact, remeshing, or both may be
useful to selectively and automatically refine the mesh during the solution. The blow molding simulation
template automatically includes adaptive mesh refinement, however, it is not necessary for this tutorial.

Select Adaptive Meshing in the Outline View and disable it in the properties window.

3.3.3.12. Solution
Open the Solution branch of the Outline View (or use the Ribbon). Here, you can review problem
setup and other solution properties. Most items indicate that current default values are appropriate.

1. Review the derived quantities.

a. Select Derived Quantities to see available options.

b. Under Extension, leave the Area Stretch Ratio enabled and retain all other default settings.

2. Review your problem setup.

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a. Select Run Calculation to see available options.

b. Click Check to review your simulation settings. Fluent will inform you as to whether or not
your setup contains any problems and will provide guidance to solve any issues.

3. Calculate a solution.

a. Click Calculate to start the calculation.

b. Once the calculations are complete, check the solution's listing in the Transcript tab to
confirm it's success. You can confirm that the solution proceeded as expected by looking
for the following printed at the bottom of the listing file:
The computation succeeded.

4. Save the work.

Your work can be preserved using a "session" file - a Materials Processing workspace-specific case
file (*.mprcas) that contains your settings and your results.

File → Write → Session..., entering blister as the name of the session

3.3.4. Results
Review results using the various tools in the Results section of the Outline View or the Ribbon where
you can setup contours, vectors, and so on.

1. Improve the view of the geometry using mirror planes.

a. Open the Results tab of the Ribbon and, under Graphics, select Mirror Planes... to open the
Mirror Planes dialog.

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Results → Graphics → Mirror Planes...

b. In the Mirror Planes dialog, select X and Y and click Close to close the dialog.

2. Display contours of thickness (THICKNESS_1) in the fluid region (subdomain1).

Results → Graphics → Contour → New

Figure 3.14: Thickness Contour Properties

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a. Specify a new Name (Thickness1).

b. For the Field, select THICKNESS_1.

c. For the Surfaces, select the field to open the Surfaces dialog where you can select the relevant
boundaries. Select subdomain1 from the list, and click OK to close the dialog.

Figure 3.15: Selecting Boundaries in the Surfaces Dialog

d. For the contour properties, keep the remaining defaults and click Display to see the thickness
contour plot in the Graphics window.

Use the toolbars in the Graphics window to adjust the display so that it is in an isometric
orientation, and fits the window.

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Figure 3.16: Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS_1)

e. Review an animation of the contour.

Results → Timestep

i. To reset the timesteps, change the Current animation time step value to 1. Alternat-
ively, you can also move the slider all the way to the left, or click the Jump to Start
button ( ).

ii. To start the animation., click the Play button ( ) to start the animation.

iii. To stop the animation., click the Stop button ( ).

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Figure 3.17: Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS_1): Timestep =1

Figure 3.18: Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS_1): Timestep =25

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Figure 3.19: Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS_1): Timestep=50

3. Display contours of thickness (THICKNESS_2) in the fluid region (subdomain1).

Results → Graphics → Contour → New

Repeat the previous steps to create a new contour over the subdomain1 surface with the Name
of Thickness2 with the Field set to THICKNESS_2.

Figure 3.20: Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS_2)

Repeat the previous steps to review an animation of the contour.

4. Display contours of thickness (THICKNESS_TOT) in the fluid region (subdomain1).

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Results → Graphics → Contour → New

Repeat the previous steps to create a new contour over the subdomain1 surface with the Name
of Thickness with the Field set to THICKNESS_TOT.

Figure 3.21: Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS_TOT)

Repeat the previous steps to review an animation of the contour.

5. Display contours of area stretch (AREA_STRETCH) in the fluid region (subdomain1).

Results → Graphics → Contour → New

Repeat the previous steps to create a new contour over the subdomain1 surface with the Name
of AreaStretch with the Field set to AREA_STRETCH.

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Figure 3.22: Contours of Area Stretch (AREA_STRETCH)

Repeat the previous steps to review an animation of the contour.

3.3.5. Summary
This tutorial introduced the concept of a 3D blow molding problem using the Fluent Materials Pro-
cessing workspace. You solved the problem using a 3D shell geometry for the mold and the film and
made suitable assumptions about the physics of the problem. The mold moved into contact with the
film, where a constant pressure was applied to the film. This blew the film into the mold where it
assumed the shape of the mold.

3.4. Injection Stretch Blow Molding (ISBM)

This tutorial is divided into the following sections:
3.4.1. Introduction
3.4.2. Problem Description
3.4.3. Setup and Solution
3.4.4. Results
3.4.5. Summary

3.4.1. Introduction
This tutorial illustrates the simulation of a 3D injection stretch blow molding (ISBM) process using the
Fluent Materials Processing workspace (Fluent Materials Processing Workspace). The workspace will
allow you to set up and solve a polymer ISBM problem so you can easily obtain an accurate prediction
of the shaped object for a given mold geometry under prescribed operating conditions.

In this tutorial you will learn how to use the Fluent Materials Processing workspace to:

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• Easily set up your injection stretch blow molding (ISBM) simulation.

• Calculate a solution.

• Analyze the results, such as generating thickness-based contour plots and running transient anim-
ations.

3.4.2. Problem Description

This tutorial covers the injection stretch blow molding (ISBM) process for a 3D bottle. A preform is
first set into a mold and stretched by means of a moving rod. Once the rod has reached the desired
position (near the bottom of the mold), an internal pressure is applied to the preform to obtain the
desired bottle shape. The initial configuration of the model is shown in Figure 3.23: Problem Descrip-
tion (p. 529) and consists of the following three domains:

• preform (displayed in orange)

• mold (displayed in light blue)

• rod (displayed in light blue)

Figure 3.23: Problem Description

The dimensions of the domains listed above are as follows:

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• Rod diameter = 0.02 m

• Rod height = 0.1 m

• Mold diameter = 0.097 m

• Mold height = 0.3 m

• Preform initial thickness = 0.005 m

The grooves which are visible on the mold suggest that the model does not involve any geometric
symmetry.

For this problem, contact release between the preform and the rod is assumed upon application of
the shaping pressure. During the tutorial setup, the contact release will be defined using contact
boundary conditions and cell zone and fluid boundary conditions will be specified to account for the
following:

1. The velocity-driven motion of the rod during a prescribed time interval (until the rod has reached
the specified displacement).

2. The applied shaping pressure.

Additionally, the following properties will be specified during the tutorial setup:

• Downward velocity of the rod = 0.246 m/s

This velocity ensures that the rod reaches a position of 0.2 m into the mold within 0.8 s, prior to ap-
plying the internal pressure to the preform.

• Preform material density = 1000 kg/m3

• Applied shaping pressure = 106 Pa

The shaping pressure will be defined to apply after 0.86 seconds, once the rod reaches the desired
position within the preform.

• Adhesion Force = 10 Pa

This value will be used to express the contact release of the preform from the rod.

• Viscosity = 105 Pa s

3.4.3. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
3.4.3.1. Preparation
3.4.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent
3.4.3.3. Setup Your Simulation
3.4.3.4. General Properties
3.4.3.5. Material Properties

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3.4.3.6. Cell Zone Properties

3.4.3.7. Layer Properties
3.4.3.8. Boundary Condition Properties
3.4.3.9. Contact Boundary Conditions
3.4.3.10. Mesh Deformation Properties
3.4.3.11. Adaptive Mesh Settings
3.4.3.12. Solution

3.4.3.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this tutorial:

1. Download the ISBM.zip file here.

2. Unzip ISBM.zip to your working directory.

3. The file, ISBM.msh can be found in the folder.

3.4.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent

1. Use the Fluent Launcher to start Ansys Fluent.

2. Select Materials Processing in the list of Fluent workspaces.

3. Click Start.

3.4.3.3. Setup Your Simulation

Clicking Start in the Fluent Launcher opens the Fluent Materials Processing workspace.

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The workspace is a version of Ansys Fluent that utilizes the power of the Ansys Polyflow solver to
simulate polymer flows such as extrusion, blow molding, pressing, and so forth.

1. Load the provided mesh file.

a. In the Setup properties, under Read, click the Mesh... button.

You can also use the File menu, and choose Read > Polyflow Mesh....

b. Locate and select the mesh file from your working folder (ISBM.msh).

c. Set the Mesh Length Unit to m, and click Accept to close the dialog box.

2. Set up a blow molding simulation (using the Simulation category of the Setup Ribbon).

Setup → Simulation → Use Template...

This will display the Simulation Template dialog.

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a. Set the Type to Blow Molding / Thermoforming.

b. Set the Number of Fixed Molds to 1.

c. Set the Number of Moving Molds to 1.

d. Keep the Number of Layers as 1.

e. Set the Duration to 1.05 seconds.

f. Click Apply.

This will instruct the workspace to set up the appropriate objects and settings based on
your selections.

Note:

Notice the Outline View's use of status icons. A green check mark indicates the
properties of that object are satisfactory. A red 'x' indicates that attention is re-
quired for that object.

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You can progress down the Outline View (or across the Ribbon) to complete your simulation
settings using each object's property pages.

3.4.3.4. General Properties

Click the General node in the Outline View to display general settings for the problem setup. For
this tutorial, you can keep the default settings.

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3.4.3.5. Material Properties

1. Edit the density and viscosity settings for the fluid material.

Setup → Materials → fluid

a. Expand the Density Law and Viscosity Law categories.

b. In the Density Law category, enter 1000 kg/m3 for the Density.

c. In the Viscosity Law category, enter 1e5 Pa s for the Viscosity.

3.4.3.6. Cell Zone Properties

In this portion of the tutorial, you will assign your fluid cell zones.

1. Define the cell zone properties for the fluid-zone.

Setup → Cell Zones → fluid-zone

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a. For Zones, select the field to open a selection dialog.

b. In the selection dialog, select preform and click OK to keep the selection and close the
dialog.

c. Retain the default selection of Generalized newtonian for Fluid Model .

d. Enter -1e6 Pa for the Inflation Pressure.

e. Click the arrow next to the Time Dependency entry and select Expression from the drop-
down list, then enter the following expression for the time dependency:

IF(time <= 0.86, 0., IF(time >= 0.9, 1., 0.+(1.-0.)/(0.9-

0.86)*(time-0.86)))

This expression corresponds to a ramp function which increases from 0 to 1 within the time in-
terval of 0.86 to 0.9.

f. Click Display to visualize arrows on the fluid zone.

The arrows displayed on the fluid-zone show the orientation of the pressure.

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2. Define the cell zone properties for the fixed-mold.

Setup → Cell Zones → fixed-mold

a. For Zones, select mold.

b. Click Display to visualize arrows on the fixed mold.

The arrows displayed on the fixed-mold show that the direction is pointing to the mold
body side.

3. Define the cell zone properties for the moving-mold.

Setup → Cell Zones → moving-mold

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a. For Zones, select rod.

b. Click Display to visualize the arrows on the rod (moving-mold).

c. In the Graphics window, rotate the rod to view the arrows from the +Y direction.

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The arrows displayed on the moving-mold point away from the rod, they should point to
the rod axis.

d. Enable the Flip Darts Orientation option to make the arrows point towards the rod.

In the above image, the darts may appear to still be facing away from the rod. However, the
darts are pointing towards the rod axis, but are overlapping with the rod geometry due to
scaling.

e. Click the arrow next to the Vy entry and select Expression from the drop-down list, then
enter the following expression for Vy:

IF(time <= 0.8, -0.246, IF(time >= 0.85, 0., -

0.246+(0.+0.246)/(0.85-0.8)*(time-0.8)))

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This expression corresponds to a ramp function which increases from -0.246 to 0 within the
time interval of 0.8 to 0.85.

3.4.3.7. Layer Properties

1. Define the layer-of-fluid properties.

Setup → Layers → layer-of-fluid

a. For Zones, select the field to open a selection dialog.

b. In the selection dialog, select preform and click OK to keep the selection and close the
dialog.

c. Enter 0.005 m as the thickness for A.

3.4.3.8. Boundary Condition Properties

1. Set the conditions for the fixed-edges boundary.

a. Select fixed-edges under Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View to review this
boundary condition for the simulation.

b. Select preformedge as the Boundary Zone.

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3.4.3.9. Contact Boundary Conditions

Contact between the preform and the solid and moving molds can be accounted for using contact
conditions.

1. Define the contact between the preform and the fixed mold.

a. Under Contact Boundary Conditions, select contact-with-fixed-mold to edit the default

properties of this contact condition for your simulation.

b. Select preform for the Fluid Zone of Contact.

c. Select mold for the Mold Zone of Contact.

d. Enter 1e-4 m for the Penetration Accuracy.

2. Define the contact between the preform and the moving mold.

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a. Under Contact Boundary Conditions, select contact-with-moving-mold to edit the default

properties of this contact condition for your simulation.

b. Select preform for the Fluid Zone of Contact.

c. Select rod for the Mold Zone of Contact.

d. Enter 1e-4 m for the Penetration Accuracy.

e. Enable the Allow Contact Release option.

f. Enter 10 Pa for Adhesion Force per Unit Area.

3.4.3.10. Mesh Deformation Properties

Here, we will assign the preform cell zone to be a deforming fluid.

1. Under Mesh Deformations, select fluid-deformation to edit the default properties of the fluid
deformation zone for your simulation.

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2. Retain the selection of Lagrangian as the deformation Type.

3. Select preform for Zones.

3.4.3.11. Adaptive Mesh Settings

Define the conditions and settings for adaptive meshing that will be used to refine the mesh during the
solution.

1. Define the adaptive meshing condition (condition-1).

Setup → Adaptive Meshing → Conditions → condition-1

a. Select preform for Zones.

b. Select mold for Mold Surfaces of Contact.

c. Retain the selection of angle and curvature for Method.

d. Enter 0.005 m for Minimum Size.

e. Enter 0.2 m for Maximum Size.

f. Enter 0.001 m for Tolerance.

g. Enter 0.02 m for Critical Distance.

2. Edit the adaptive meshing properties.

Setup → Adaptive Meshing

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a. Enter 5 for the Number of Steps.

3.4.3.12. Solution
Open the Solution branch of the Outline View (or use the Ribbon). Here, you can review problem
setup and other solution properties. Most items indicate that current default values are appropriate.

1. Edit the Derived Quantities.

Solution → Derived Quantities

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a. Under Extension, enable the Track Vectors option to expose the additional options.

b. For Initial Orientation, select initially parallel to D and initially perpendicular to D.

c. Retain the entry of 0 m for reference points Px, Py, and Pz.

d. Enter 0 for reference direction Dir-x.

e. Enter 1 for reference direction Dir-y.

f. Enter 0 for reference direction Dir-z.

g. Enable Self-Contact and retain the selection of Warning for Action if Self-Contact Detected

2. Edit the Calculation Activities.

Solution → Calculation Activities

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a. Select Calculation Activities to see available options.

b. From the Convergence Criterion drop-down list, select User specified.

c. Enter 0.0001 for the Convergence Tolerance.

d. Enter 1e-4 seconds for the Initial Time Step.

e. Enter 1e-6 seconds for the Minimum Time Step.

f. Enter 1e-2 seconds for the Maximum Time Step.

g. Enter 0.001 for the Tolerance.

3. Review your problem setup.

Solution → Run Calculation

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a. Click Check to review your simulation settings. Fluent will inform you as to whether or not
your setup contains any problems and will provide guidance to solve any issues.

4. Calculate a solution.

a. Click Calculate to start the calculation.

b. Click the Plots tab to view the plot of the convergence monitors.

c. Once the calculations are complete, check the solution's listing in the Transcript tab to
confirm it's success. You can confirm that the solution proceeded as expected by looking
for the following printed at the bottom of the listing file:
The computation succeeded.

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5. Save the work.

Your work can be preserved using a "session" file - a Materials Processing workspace-specific case
file (*.mprcas) that contains your settings and your results.

File → Write → Session..., entering ISBM as the name of the session

3.4.4. Results
Review results using the various tools in the Results section of the Outline View or the Ribbon where
you can setup contours, vectors, and so on.

1. Display contours of thickness (THICKNESS) for the preform surface.

Results → Graphics → Contour → New

Figure 3.24: Thickness Contour Properties

a. Specify a new Name (Thickness).

b. For the Field, select THICKNESS.

c. For the Surfaces, select the field to open the Surfaces dialog where you can select the relevant
boundaries. Select preform from the list, and click OK to close the dialog.

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Figure 3.25: Selecting Boundaries in the Surfaces Dialog

d. For the contour properties, keep the remaining defaults and click Display to see the thickness
contour plot in the graphics window.

Figure 3.26: Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS)

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2. Review an animation of the contour of THICKNESS.

Results → Timestep

i. To reset the timesteps, change the Current animation time step value to 0. Alternatively,
you can also move the slider all the way to the left, or click the Jump to Start button
( ).

ii. To start the animation, click the Play button ( ).

iii. To stop the animation, click the Stop button ( ).

Figure 3.27: Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS): Timestep =0

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Figure 3.28: Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS): Timestep =208

Figure 3.29: Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS): Timestep=417

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Figure 3.30: Contours of Thickness (THICKNESS): Timestep=625

3. Display contours of area stretch (AREA_STRETCH) for the preform surface.

Results → Graphics → Contour → New...

Repeat the previous steps to create a new contour over the preform surface with the Name of
AreaStretch with the Field set to AREA_STRETCH.

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Figure 3.31: Contours of Area Stretch (AREA_STRETCH)

Repeat the previous steps to review an animation of the contour.

4. Display contours of self-contact (SELF_CONTACT) for the preform surface.

Results → Graphics → Contour → New...

Repeat the previous steps to create a new contour over the preform surface with the Name of
Self-contact with the Field set to SELF_CONTACT.

Figure 3.32: Contours of Self-contact (SELF_CONTACT)

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Repeat the previous steps to review an animation of the contour.

3.4.5. Summary
This tutorial introduced the concept of a 3D injection stretch blow molding problem using the Fluent
Materials Processing workspace. You solved the problem using a 3D geometry for the mold, the
preform, and the moving rod and made suitable assumptions about the physics of the problem. The
preform was lowered into a 3D mold using a moving rod, then an internal pressure was applied to
obtain the desired bottle shape.

3.5. Glass Pressing

This tutorial is divided into the following sections:
3.5.1. Introduction
3.5.2. Problem Description
3.5.3. Setup and Solution
3.5.4. Results
3.5.5. Summary

3.5.1. Introduction
This tutorial illustrates the simulation of a glass pressing process using the Fluent Materials Processing
workspace (Fluent Materials Processing Workspace). The workspace will allow you to set up and solve
a glass pressing problem so you can easily obtain an accurate prediction of the shaped glass object
for a given mold geometry under prescribed operating conditions.

In this tutorial you will learn how to use the Fluent Materials Processing workspace to:

• Easily set up your pressing simulation.

• Calculate a solution.

• Analyze the results, such as generating contour plots and running transient animations.

3.5.2. Problem Description

In this tutorial, we simulate a simple isothermal glass pressing process. In particular, deformations
undergone by the fluid as well as contact evolution are investigated. Due to the large deformations
involved in the pressing process, adaptive remeshing will also be applied for the fluid zone.

The number of steps between each mesh adaption will be set to 5. This value is chosen to allow the
time step adaption algorithm to reduce or increase the time step according to the accuracy of the
transient scheme.

Figure 3.33: Problem Description (p. 555) shows a sketch of the geometry in the initial configuration,
before pressing the fluid. A gob of material is placed onto a mold and at a specified time, the plunger
moves downwards and presses the fluid volume. Due to the symmetry of the molds and the fluid
gob, only a quarter of the geometry is modelled.

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Figure 3.33: Problem Description

From a geometrical point of view, the mesh within three volumes is made of tetrahedra. In the initial
configuration, the plunger is at rest and has a mass of 100 kg. At the start of the process, a constant
downward force of 10 N is applied. As the process progresses, the downward velocity of the plunger
varies to maintain the applied force against the viscous forces of the fluid, which resist deformation.
Additionally, the plunger has a maximum displacement of 0.027 m.

The fluid has a constant viscosity of 500 Pa s and density of 2500 kg/m3. It is assumed that the fluid
material sticks on walls while establishing contact with the plunger and the fixed mold. The contact
condition between the fluid and both the plunger and fixed mold will be defined with a penetration
accuracy of 1e-4 m.

3.5.3. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
3.5.3.1. Preparation
3.5.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent
3.5.3.3. Setup Your Simulation
3.5.3.4. General Properties
3.5.3.5. Material Properties
3.5.3.6. Cell Zone Properties
3.5.3.7. Boundary Condition Properties
3.5.3.8. Contact Boundary Conditions
3.5.3.9. Mesh Deformation Properties
3.5.3.10. Adaptive Mesh Settings
3.5.3.11. Solution

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3.5.3.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this tutorial:

1. Download the glass_pressing.zip file here.

2. Unzip glass_pressing.zip to your working directory.

3. The file, glass_pressing.msh can be found in the folder.

3.5.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent

1. Use the Fluent Launcher to start Ansys Fluent.

2. Select Materials Processing in the list of Fluent workspaces.

3. Click Start.

3.5.3.3. Setup Your Simulation

Clicking Start in the Fluent Launcher opens the Fluent Materials Processing workspace.

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 Glass Pressing

The workspace is a version of Ansys Fluent that utilizes the power of the Ansys Polyflow solver to
simulate flows of complex rheology fluids and covers processes such as extrusion, blow molding,
pressing, and so forth.

1. Load the provided mesh file.

a. In the Setup properties, under Read, click the Mesh... button.

You can also use the File menu, and choose Read > Polyflow Mesh....

b. Locate and select the mesh file from your working folder (glass_pressing.msh).

c. Set the Mesh Length Unit to cm, and click Accept to close the dialog box.

2. Set up a pressing simulation (using the Simulation category of the Setup Ribbon).

Setup → Simulation → Use Template...

This will display the Simulation Template dialog.

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a. Set the Type to Pressing.

b. Set the Number of Fixed Molds to 1.

c. Set the Number of Moving Molds to 1.

d. Click Apply.

This will instruct the workspace to set up the appropriate objects and settings based on
your selections.

Note:

Notice the Outline View's use of status icons. A green check mark indicates the
properties of that object are satisfactory. A red 'x' indicates that attention is re-
quired for that object.

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You can progress down the Outline View (or across the Ribbon) to complete your simulation
settings using each object's property pages.

3.5.3.4. General Properties

Click the General node in the Outline View to display general settings for the problem setup. For
this tutorial, you can keep the default settings.

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3.5.3.5. Material Properties

1. Edit the density and viscosity settings for the fluid material.

Setup → Materials → fluid

a. Enter glass for the Name.

b. Expand the Density Law and Viscosity Law categories.

c. In the Density Law category, enter 2500 kg/m3 for the Density.

d. In the Viscosity Law category, enter 500 Pa s for the Viscosity.

3.5.3.6. Cell Zone Properties

1. Define the cell zone properties for the fluid-zone.

Setup → Cell Zones → fluid-zone

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a. For Zones, select the field to open a selection dialog.

b. In the selection dialog, select glass and click OK to keep the selection and close the dialog.

c. Retain the default selection of Generalized newtonian for Fluid Model .

2. Define the cell zone properties for the fixed-mold.

Setup → Cell Zones → fixed-mold

a. For Zones, select the field to open a selection dialog.

b. In the selection dialog, select mold and click OK to keep the selection and close the dialog.

3. Define the cell zone properties for the moving-mold.

Setup → Cell Zones → moving-mold

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a. For Zones, select the field to open a selection dialog.

b. In the selection dialog, select plunger and click OK to keep the selection and close the
dialog.

c. From the Motion Type drop-down list, select Translation force imposed.

d. Enter 100 kg for Mass of the Mold.

e. Enable the Limit Mold Displacement option.

f. Enter 0.027 m for Maximum Displacement.

g. Enter -10 N for Fy.

3.5.3.7. Boundary Condition Properties

1. Set the conditions for the free-surface boundary.

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a. Select free-surface under Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View to review this
boundary condition for the simulation.

b. Select freesurface as the Boundary Zone.

2. Click Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View, then click New... in the properties window.

a. Enter Symmetry-1 for Name.

b. From the Type drop-down list, select Symmetry.

c. Select symmetry1 as the Boundary Zone.

3. Click Fluid Boundary Conditions in the outline view, then click New... in the properties window.

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a. Enter Symmetry-2 for Name.

b. From the Type drop-down list, select Symmetry.

c. Select symmetry2 as the Boundary Zone.

3.5.3.8. Contact Boundary Conditions

Contact between the glass and the solid and moving molds can be accounted for using contact conditions.

1. Define the contact between the fluid zone and the fixed mold.

a. Under Contact Boundary Conditions, select contact-with-fixed-mold to edit the default

properties of this contact condition for your simulation.

b. Select freesurface for the Fluid Zone of Contact.

c. Select moldcontact for the Mold Zone of Contact.

d. Enter 1e-4 m for the Penetration Accuracy.

2. Define the contact between the fluid zone and the moving mold.

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a. Under Contact Boundary Conditions, select contact-with-moving-mold to edit the default

properties of this contact condition for your simulation.

b. Select freesurface for the Fluid Zone of Contact.

c. Select plungercontact for the Mold Zone of Contact.

d. Enter 1e-4 m for the Penetration Accuracy.

3.5.3.9. Mesh Deformation Properties

Here, we will assign the glass to be a deforming fluid.

1. Under Mesh Deformations, select fluid-deformation to edit the default properties of the fluid
deformation zone for your simulation.

2. Retain the selection of Lagrangian as the deformation Type.

3. Select glass for Zones.

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3.5.3.10. Adaptive Mesh Settings

Define the conditions and settings for adaptive meshing that will be used to refine the mesh during the
solution.

1. Define the adaptive meshing condition (condition-1).

Setup → Adaptive Meshing → Conditions → condition-1

a. Select glass for Zones.

b. Select moldcontact and plungercontact for Mold Surfaces of Contact.

c. Select distance from the Method drop-down list.

d. Enter 0.001 m for Minimum Size.

e. Enter 0.001 m for Minimum Distance.

f. Enter 0.002 m for Maximum Size.

g. Enter 0.002 m for Maximum Distance.

2. Edit the adaptive meshing properties.

Setup → Adaptive Meshing

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a. Enter 5 for the Number of Steps.

3.5.3.11. Solution
Open the Solution branch of the Outline View (or use the Ribbon). Here, you can review problem
setup and other solution properties. Most items indicate that current default values are appropriate.

1. Edit the Calculation Activities.

Solution → Calculation Activities

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a. From the Convergence Criterion drop-down list, select User specified.

b. Enter 0.0001 for the Convergence Tolerance.

2. Review your problem setup.

Solution → Run Calculation

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a. Click Check to review your simulation settings. Fluent will inform you as to whether or not
your setup contains any problems and will provide guidance to solve any issues.

3. Calculate a solution.

a. Click Calculate to start the calculation.

b. Click the Plots tab to view the plot of the convergence monitors.

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c. Once the calculations are complete, check the solution's listing in the Transcript tab to
confirm it's success. You can confirm that the solution proceeded as expected by looking
for the following printed at the bottom of the listing file:
The computation succeeded.

4. Save the work.

Your work can be preserved using a "session" file - a Materials Processing workspace-specific case
file (*.mprcas) that contains your settings and your results.

File → Write → Session..., entering glass_pressing as the name of the session

3.5.4. Results
Review results using the various tools in the Results section of the Outline View or the Ribbon where
you can setup contours, vectors, and so on.

1. Display contours of contact time (CONTACT_TIME_2) for the freesurface, symmetry1, and
symmetry2 surfaces.

The CONTACT_TIME_2 field corresponds with the length of time that the plunger is in contact with
the fluid.

Results → Graphics → Contour → New

Figure 3.34: Contact Time Contour Properties

a. Specify a new Name (contact-time-2).

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b. For the Field, select CONTACT_TIME_2.

c. For the Surfaces, select the field to open the Surfaces dialog where you can select the relevant
boundaries. Select freesurface, symmetry1, and symmetry2 from the list, and click OK to
close the dialog.

Figure 3.35: Selecting Boundaries in the Surfaces Dialog

d. For the contour properties, keep the remaining defaults and click Display to see the thickness
contour plot in the graphics window.

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Figure 3.36: Contours of Contact Time (CONTACT_TIME_2)

2. Review an animation of the contour of CONTACT_TIME_2.

Results → Timestep

i. To reset the timesteps, change the Current animation time step value to 1. Alternatively,
you can also move the slider all the way to the left, or click the Jump to Start button
( ).

ii. To start the animation, click the Play button ( ) to start the animation.

iii. To stop the animation, click the Stop button ( ).

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Figure 3.37: Contours of Contact Time (CONTACT_TIME_2): Timestep =1

Figure 3.38: Contours of Contact Time (CONTACT_TIME_2): Timestep =42

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Figure 3.39: Contours of Contact Time (CONTACT_TIME_2): Timestep=84

Figure 3.40: Contours of Contact Time (CONTACT_TIME_2): Timestep=126

3. Display contours of initial coordinate y (COORDINI[Y]).

Results → Graphics → Contour → New

Repeat the previous steps to create a new contour over the freesurface, symmetry1, and sym-
metry2 surfaces with the Name of initial-coordinate-y and the Field set to COORDINI[Y].

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Figure 3.41: Contours of Initial Coordinate Y (COORDINI[Y])

Repeat the previous steps to review an animation of the contour.

4. Display contours of initial coordinate x (COORDINI[X]).

Results → Graphics → Contour → New

Repeat the previous steps to create a new contour over the freesurface, symmetry1, and sym-
metry2 surfaces, with Name of initial-coordinate-x, Field set to COORDINI[X], and the
Use Global Range option disabled.

Figure 3.42: Contours of Initial Coordinate X (COORDINI[X])

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Repeat the previous steps to review an animation of the contour.

3.5.5. Summary
This tutorial introduced the concept of a 3D pressing problem using the Fluent Materials Processing
workspace. You solved the problem using a 3D geometry for the fixed mold and the plunger and
made suitable assumptions about the physics of the problem. The plunger moves downward and
presses the fluid against a fixed 3D mold to obtain the desired shape.

3.6. 3D Inverse Extrusion

This tutorial is divided into the following sections:
3.6.1. Introduction
3.6.2. Problem Description
3.6.3. Setup and Solution
3.6.4. Results
3.6.5. Summary

3.6.1. Introduction
This tutorial illustrates the simulation of an extrusion process with adaption of a die geometry to
obtain the desired extrudate shape, using the Fluent Materials Processing workspace (Fluent Materials
Processing Workspace).

In this tutorial you will learn how to use the Fluent Materials Processing workspace to:

• Easily set up your inverse extrusion simulation.

• Calculate a solution.

• Analyze the results.

3.6.2. Problem Description

This tutorial covers the simulation of a non-isothermal extrusion process to predict the shape of a
die for a given extrudate shape. The initial configuration of the die and extrudate geometry is shown
in Figure 3.43: Problem Description (p. 577), which consists of four distinct cell zones:

• extrudate

Cell zone for the extrudate geometry.

• constant

Cell zone for the constant portion of the die.

• adaptive

Cell zone for the adaptive portion of the die.

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• fixed

Cell zone for the fixed portion of the die.

Figure 3.43: Problem Description

The extrudate cell zone contains the following boundaries:

• extrudate-exit (Type = Extrudate exit). See Figure 3.44: Boundaries (p. 578).

• free-surface (Type = Free surface). See Figure 3.44: Boundaries (p. 578).

The free-surface will be fixed to the wall-constant boundary (shown in Figure 3.45: Constant, Ad-
aptive, and Fixed Walls (p. 579)) by means of a Free Surface Condition.

• guide (Type = Wall). See Figure 3.46: Extrudate Guide (p. 579).

• symmetry-extrudate (Type = Symmetry). See Figure 3.47: Symmetries (p. 580).

The constant cell zone contains the following boundaries:

• wall-constant (Type = Wall). See Figure 3.45: Constant, Adaptive, and Fixed Walls (p. 579).

• symmetry-constant (Type = Symmetry). See Figure 3.47: Symmetries (p. 580).

The adaptive cell zone contains the following boundaries:

• wall-adaptive (Type = Wall). See Figure 3.45: Constant, Adaptive, and Fixed Walls (p. 579).

• symmetry-adaptive (Type = Symmetry). See Figure 3.47: Symmetries (p. 580).

The fixed cell zone contains the following boundaries:

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• wall-fixed (Type = Wall). See Figure 3.45: Constant, Adaptive, and Fixed Walls (p. 579).

• symmetry-fixed (Type = Symmetry). See Figure 3.47: Symmetries (p. 580).

• inlet (Type = Inflow). See Figure 3.44: Boundaries (p. 578).

The figures below show the relevant boundaries for the extrudate, constant, adaptive, and fixed cell
zones.

Figure 3.44: Boundaries

Figure 3.44: Boundaries (p. 578) shows the free-surface displayed in pink and the extrudate-exit and
inlet displayed with red arrows and blue arrows, respectively. Note that walls (displayed in gray)
consists of the wall-constant, wall-adaptive, and wall-fixed boundaries.

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Figure 3.45: Constant, Adaptive, and Fixed Walls

Figure 3.45: Constant, Adaptive, and Fixed Walls (p. 579) shows boundaries wall-constant, wall-adaptive,
and wall-fixed.

Figure 3.46: Extrudate Guide

Figure 3.46: Extrudate Guide (p. 579) shows the guide within the extrudate cell zone.

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Figure 3.47: Symmetries

Figure 3.47: Symmetries (p. 580) shows the boundaries that support a symmetry condition: symmetry-
extrudate, symmetry-constant, symmetry-adaptive, and symmetry-fixed.

Convergence can be difficult to achieve when computing inverse extrusion problems, especially for
non-isothermal cases. However, the Fluent Materials Processing workspace is equipped with conver-
gence strategies for handling such difficulties. The appropriate convergence strategies are activated
automatically by the wizard, used in this tutorial.

3.6.3. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
3.6.3.1. Preparation
3.6.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent
3.6.3.3. Setup Your Simulation
3.6.3.4. General Properties
3.6.3.5. Boundary Condition Properties
3.6.3.6. Solution

3.6.3.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this tutorial:

1. Prepare a working folder for your simulation.

2. Download the inverse_extrusion.zip file here.

3. Unzip the inverse_extrusion.zip file you have downloaded to your working folder.

4. The polyflow mesh file invext.poly can be found in the unzipped folder.

3.6.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent

1. Use the Fluent Launcher to start Ansys Fluent.

2. Select Materials Processing in the list of Fluent workspaces.

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3. Click Start.

3.6.3.3. Setup Your Simulation

Clicking Start in the Fluent Launcher opens the Fluent Materials Processing workspace.

The workspace is a version of Ansys Fluent that utilizes the power of the Ansys Polyflow solver to
simulate polymer flows such as extrusion, blow molding, pressing, and so forth.

1. Open an extrusion geometry by reading in a Polyflow mesh file.

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a. In the Setup properties, under Read, click the Mesh... button.

You can also use the File menu, and choose Read > Polyflow Mesh....

b. Locate and select the polyflow mesh file from your working folder (invext.poly).

2. Use the wizard to set up an inverse extrusion simulation (using the Simulation category of the
Setup Ribbon).

Setup → Simulation → Use Wizard...

This will display the Wizard dialog.

a. Set the Type to Simple inverse extrusion.

b. For Fluid Material select Extrusion_PS_thermal_453K.

c. Enter 0.085 kg/s for the Mass Flow Rate.

d. For Die Type select Fixed/Adaptive/Constant Sections.

e. Enable the Thermal option.

f. Enter 423 K and 373 K for the Inlet Temperature and Wall Temperature, respectively.

g. Click Apply.

This will instruct the workspace to set up the appropriate objects and settings based on
your selections.

Note:

Notice the Outline View's use of status icons. A green check mark indicates the
properties of that object are satisfactory. A red 'x' indicates that attention is re-
quired for that object.

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You can progress down the Outline View (or across the Ribbon) to complete your simulation
settings using each object's property pages.

3.6.3.4. General Properties

Click the General node in the Outline View to display general settings for the problem setup.

1. Select General in the Outline View to review general properties of the simulation.

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2. Review the settings in the properties page.

3.6.3.5. Boundary Condition Properties

In the following steps you will set the conditions at each of the boundaries of the simulation.

1. Set the free surface conditions.

a. Select free-surface under Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View to review free
surface boundary conditions for the simulation.

b. Select Convection for the thermal condition Option.

c. Enter 5 W/(m2K) for the Heat Transfer Coefficient.

d. Enter 303 K for the Convection Temperature.

2. Set the wall conditions.

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a. Select wall under Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View to review wall boundary
conditions for the simulation.

b. Select Partial Slip for Slip Specification as the Boundary Zone.

c. Enter 7e6 kg/(m2s) for the Friction Coefficient.

d. Select Convection for the thermal condition Option.

e. Enter 15 W/(m2K) for the Heat Transfer Coefficient.

f. Enter 373 K for the Convection Temperature.

3. Create the boundary condition for the guide.

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a. Select Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View, and click the New... button in the
properties window, or right-click in the tree and add a new condition to the tree.

b. Rename the new condition to guide.

c. Set the Type to Wall.

d. Select guide as the Boundary Zone.

e. Select Free slip for Slip Specification.

f. Select Convection for the thermal condition Option.

g. Enter 10 W/(m2K) for the Heat Transfer Coefficient.

h. Enter 323 K for the Convection Temperature.

3.6.3.6. Solution
Open the Solution branch of the Outline View (or use the Ribbon). Here, you can review problem
setup and other solution properties. Most items indicate that current default values are appropriate.

1. Review your problem setup.

a. Select Run Calculation to see available options.

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b. Click Check to review your simulation settings. The workspace will inform you as to whether
or not your setup contains any problems and will provide guidance to solve any issues.

2. Calculate a solution.

a. Click Calculate to start the calculation.

b. Click the Plots tab to view the plot of the convergence monitors.

c. Once the calculations are complete, check the solution's listing in the Transcript tab to
confirm its success. You can confirm that the solution proceeded as expected by looking for
the following printed at the bottom of the listing file:
The computation succeeded.

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3. Save the work.

Your work can be preserved using a "session" file - a Materials Processing workspace-specific case
file (*.mprcas) that contains your settings and your results.

File → Write → Session..., entering inverse_extrusion as the name of the session.

3.6.4. Results
Review results using the various tools in the Results section of the Outline View or the Ribbon where
you can setup contours, vectors, and so on.

1. Click the Graphics tab to display the graphics window.

2. Display an isometric view of the geometry by clicking the button in the graphics toolbar,
then select Isometric from the drop-down.

3. Display the velocity distribution for the fluid zone.

Results → Quick-View → Velocity → fluid-zone

Figure 3.48: Contours of Normal Component of Velocity

4. Repeat the previous step to create a Pressure contour for the fluid zone using the Quick-View
in the ribbon.

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Figure 3.49: Contours of Pressure

5. Repeat the previous steps to create a Temperature contour for the fluid zone using the Quick-
View in the ribbon.

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Figure 3.50: Contours of Temperature

The temperature plot shows that the temperature of the fluid has increased due to viscous dissip-
ation. Additionally, heat exchange with the wall has caused the fluid to cool in the corners of the
channel.

6. Display the geometry from the +Y direction by clicking the button in the graphics toolbar,
then select From +Y Direction from the drop-down.

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Figure 3.51: Contours of Temperature From +Y Direction

From the +Y direction, the deformation of the die and the free jet can be seen.

7. Display the geometry from the +Z direction by clicking the button in the graphics toolbar,
then select From +Z Direction from the drop-down.

Figure 3.52: Contours of Temperature From +Z Direction

8. Display contours of velocity magnitude for the die lip.

Results → Graphics → Contour → New

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Figure 3.53: Contour Properties

a. Enter Die_lip for Name.

b. For the Field, select VELOCITIES[].

c. For Surfaces, select the field to open the Surfaces dialog where you can select the relevant
boundaries. Select extrudate-constant from the list and click OK to close the dialog.

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Figure 3.54: Selecting Boundaries in the Surfaces Dialog

d. Click the Display button in the properties panel to view the die lip.

Figure 3.55: Die Lip Contours of Velocity Magnitude

e. In the properties panel, enable Draw Mesh, then select Mesh Outline from the Overlayed
Mesh drop-down.

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f. Click Display.

g. Use the Graphics window to adjust the view as shown in the following figure.

Figure 3.56: Contours of Velocity Magnitude

The plot shows that the left part of the die has been enlarged and the right part has been
reduced, relative to the extrudate shape. This is due to the slower fluid velocity in the left
portion of the die and higher fluid velocity in the right portion. Additionally, the fluid in the
left portion of the die is accelerated leading to the geometry reduction, while the fluid in the
right portion of the die is slowed leading to geometry enlargement.

9. Create a YZ plane for observing the fluid velocity in the left portion of the die.

Results → Surfaces → Plane → New

a. Select YZ Plane for Creation Mode.

b. Enter 0.01 m for X.

10. Create an additional YZ plane for observing the fluid velocity in the right portion of the die.

a. Select YZ Plane for Creation Mode.

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b. Enter 0.075 m for X.

11. Display contours of velocity to observe the fluid velocity in the left portion of the die.

Results → Graphics → Contour → New

Figure 3.57: Contour Properties

a. Enter velocity-left-block for Name.

b. For the Field, select VELOCITIES[Z].

c. For the Surfaces, select plane-1.

d. Click Display.

e. View the geometry from the +X direction by clicking the button in the graphics toolbar,
then select From +X Direction from the drop-down.

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Figure 3.58: Contours of Velocity-Z From +X Direction

12. Display contours of velocity to observe the fluid velocity in the right portion of the die.

Results → Graphics → Contour → New

Figure 3.59: Contour Properties

a. Enter velocity-right-block for Name.

b. For the Field, select VELOCITIES[Z].

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c. For the Surfaces, select plane-2.

d. Click Display.

Figure 3.60: Contours of Velocity-Z From +X Direction

13. Create a line surface for the left portion of the die.

Results → Surfaces → Line → New

Figure 3.61: Line Properties

a. Set First Points as 0.01, 0.0125, and -0.2 m for X, Y, and Z, respectively.

b. Set Second Points as 0.01, 0.0125, and 0.35 m for X, Y, and Z, respectively.

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14. Repeat the previous procedure to create a line surface for the right portion of the die, by entering
0.075, 0.005, -0.2, 0.075, 0.005, and 0.35 for First Point X, First Point Y, First Point Z,
Second Point X, Second Point Y, and Second Point Z, respectively.

15. Create an XY plot to observe the fluid acceleration in the left and right portions of the die.

Results → Plots → XY Plot → New

Figure 3.62: XY Plot Properties

a. Select line-1 and line-2 for Lines.

b. Select Velocities[Z] for the Field.

c. Set the Plot Direction as 0, 0, and 1 for X Component, Y Component, and Z Component,
respectively.

d. Expand the Curves category and select - - - - from the Pattern drop-down list.

e. Select * from the Symbol drop-down list, then enter 0.4 for the Size.

f. Click Plot.

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Figure 3.63: XY Plot

From the plot it can be seen that the fluid accelerates in the extrudate along line-1 (corres-
ponding to the left block of the die), while the fluid slows down in the extrudate along line-2
(corresponding to the right block of the die).

3.6.5. Summary
This tutorial introduced the concept of a 3D inverse extrusion problem using the Fluent Materials
Processing workspace. You solved the problem using a simple geometry for the extrudate, made
suitable assumptions about the physics of the problem, and analyzed the factors affecting the predicted
die shape.

3.7. Mesh Superposition Technique

This tutorial is divided into the following sections:
3.7.1. Introduction
3.7.2. Problem Description
3.7.3. Setup and Solution
3.7.4. Results
3.7.5. Summary

3.7.1. Introduction
This tutorial describes how to use the mesh superposition technique within the Fluent Materials
Processing workspace (Fluent Materials Processing Workspace).

In this tutorial you will learn how to use the Fluent Materials Processing workspace to:

• Easily set up your simulation using the mesh superposition technique.

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• Calculate the solution.

• Analyze the results and generate a scene of the fluid temperature distribution.

3.7.2. Problem Description

This tutorial demonstrates the use of the mesh superposition technique in the Fluent Materials Pro-
cessing workspace to analyze the flow of a non-isothermal fluid through a single rotating screw ex-
trusion device.

Figure 3.64: Problem Description

The flow domain consists of an extruder wall, screw, screw shaft, one inlet, and one outlet. These
components are shown below in Figure 3.65: Flow Domain Components (p. 600). For the purpose of
this description, a clipped surface of the extruder wall is displayed.

Figure 3.65: Flow Domain Components

The fluid enters into the extruder through an inlet shown below in Figure 3.66: Extruder Boundar-
ies (p. 602) at a volume flow rate of Q = 3 * 10-5 m3 / s, before encountering the solid steel rotating
screw. The fluid has the following material properties:

• Viscosity: Bird-Carreau

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with,

• Density = 1200 kg / m3

• Thermal conductivity = 1 W / m / K

• Heat capacity (Cp) = 1700 J / kg / K

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Figure 3.66: Extruder Boundaries

For simplicity, the screw is defined as an overlapping part by use of the mesh superposition technique.
The mesh of the flow domain can be seen below in Figure 3.67: Mesh of the Flow Domain (p. 603).

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Figure 3.67: Mesh of the Flow Domain

All nodes of the flow domain inside the screw will be constrained and their velocity will be imposed.
The density, thermal conductivity, and heat capacity for solid steel will be applied on nodes of the
flow domain that overlap with the screw, which is shown below in Figure 3.68: Screw Mesh (p. 603).

Figure 3.68: Screw Mesh

3.7.3. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
3.7.3.1. Preparation
3.7.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent
3.7.3.3. Setup Your Simulation
3.7.3.4. General Properties
3.7.3.5. Material Properties
3.7.3.6. Cell Zone Properties
3.7.3.7. Boundary Condition Properties
3.7.3.8. Solution

3.7.3.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this tutorial:

1. Download the SSE_thermal.zip file here.

2. Unzip SSE_thermal.zip to your working directory.

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3. The file, sse_thermal.msh can be found in the folder.

3.7.3.2. Launching Ansys Fluent

1. Use the to start Ansys Fluent.

2. In the Fluent Launcher, set the Capability Level to Enterprise.

The mesh superposition technique (MST) in the Fluent Materials Processing workspace is only available
with the Enterprise licensing level.

3. Select Materials Processing in the list of Fluent workspaces.

4. Click Start.

3.7.3.3. Setup Your Simulation

Clicking Start in the Fluent Launcher opens the Fluent Materials Processing workspace.

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1. Load the provided mesh file.

a. In the Setup properties, under Read, click the Mesh... button.

You can also use the File menu, and choose Read > Polyflow Mesh....

b. Locate and select the mesh file from your working folder (sse_thermal.msh).

c. Set the Mesh Length Unit to mm, and click Accept to close the dialog box.

2. Set up an extrusion simulation (using the Simulation category of the Setup Ribbon).

Setup → Simulation → Use Template...

This will display the Simulation Template dialog.

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a. Set the Type to Compounding / Mixing.

b. Set the Mode to Extruder.

c. Set the Number of Moving Parts to 1.

d. Set the Duration to 3 seconds.

e. Enable the Thermal option.

f. Click Apply.

This will instruct the workspace to set up the appropriate objects and settings based on
your selections.

Note:

Notice the Outline View's use of status icons. A green check mark indicates the
properties of that object are satisfactory. A red 'x' indicates that attention is re-
quired for that object.

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You can progress down the Outline View (or across the Ribbon) to complete your simulation
settings using each object's property pages.

3.7.3.4. General Properties

Click the General node in the Outline View to display general settings for the problem setup. For
this tutorial, you can keep the default settings.

3.7.3.5. Material Properties

1. Edit the density and viscosity settings for the fluid material.

Setup → Materials → fluid

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a. Expand the Density Law category.

a. Enter 1200 kg/m3 for the Density.

b. Expand the Thermal Properties category.

a. Under Thermal Conductivity, enter 1 W/(m K) for K.

b. Under Heat Capacity per Unit Mass, enter 1700 J/(kg K) for Cp.

c. Expand the Viscosity Law category.

a. Select Bird-Carreau from the Shear Rate Dependence drop-down list.

b. Under Bird-Carreau Law, enter 100000 Pa s for Zero Shear Viscosity, 1 s for Time
Constant, and 0.7 for the Power Law Index.

2. Import a new material for the screw.

Click the Import from library button in the Materials property page. Alternatively, you can
right-click on the Materials node, and select Import from library from the context menu.

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Materials Import from library

a. Select Miscellaneous for the Family

b. Select Steel_Solid_300K for the Material.

c. Click OK to close the dialog.

The new material will be added to the list of materials in the Outline View.

3. Remove the original solid material solid.

a. Select solid in the Outline View, right-click and select Delete from the context menu.

Setup → Materials → solid Delete

You will be prompted to make sure you want to remove the material. Click Yes to remove the
material.

3.7.3.6. Cell Zone Properties

In this portion of the tutorial, you will assign the fluid and moving part cell zones.

1. Define the cell zone properties for the fluid-zone.

Setup → Cell Zones → fluid-zone

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a. For Zones, select the field to open a selection dialog.

b. In the selection dialog, select fluid and click OK to keep the selection and close the dialog.

c. Retain the default selection of Generalized newtonian for Fluid Model .

2. Define the cell zone properties for the moving-part.

Setup → Cell Zones → moving-part

a. For Zones, select screw.

b. For the Solid Material, select Solid Steel.

c. Under Angular Velocity, enter -60 rpm for Omega.

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3.7.3.7. Boundary Condition Properties

1. Set the conditions for the inlet boundary.

a. Select inlet under Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View.

b. Select Volume flow for the Flow Specification.

c. For the Method, select Computed dynamically.

Due to the rotation of the extruder wall, computed dynamically is specified for the inflow condition,
which will search the normal force to the inlet that must be set in order to obtain the prescribed
volumetric flow rate.

d. For the Volume Flow Rate, enter 3e-5 m3/s.

e. Under Thermal Condition, enter 353.15 K for the Temperature.

2. Set the conditions for the outlet boundary.

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a. Select outlet under Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View.

b. Select outlet for the Boundary Zone.

3. Set the conditions for the wall boundary.

a. Select wall under Fluid Boundary Conditions in the Outline View.

b. Select wall for the Boundary Zone.

c. Under Thermal Condition, select Convection for the Option.

d. Enter 300 W/(m2 K) for the Heat Transfer Coefficient.

e. Enter 383.15 K for the Convection Temperature.

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4. Create a new boundary condition for the screw shaft.

a. Click Fluid Boundary Conditions in the outline view, then click New... in the properties
window.

b. Enter shaft for the Name.

c. From the Type drop-down list, select Wall.

d. Select shaft as the Boundary Zone.

e. Select Moving for the Wall Velocity.

f. Under First Point of Axis, enter 0 m for X1, 0 m for Y1, and 0 m for Z1.

g. Under Second Point of Axis, enter 0 m for X2, 0 m for Y2, and 1 m for Z2.

h. Under Angular Velocity, enter -6.2832 rad/s for Omega.

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Although the shaft is rotating at the same angular velocity as the screw, the units of angular
velocity for rotating walls is specified in rpm while rad/s is used for moving parts.

i. Under Translation Velocity, enter 0 m/s for Vx, 0 m/s for Vy, and 0 m/s for Vz.

j. Under Thermal Condition, select Convection for the Option.

k. Enter 300 W/(m2 K) for the Heat Transfer Coefficient.

l. Enter 353.15 K for the Convection Temperature.

3.7.3.8. Solution
Open the Solution branch of the Outline View (or use the Ribbon). Here, you can review problem
setup and other solution properties. Most items indicate that current default values are appropriate.

1. Set the Temperature Initializations.

a. Click temperature-in-fluid-zone under Temperature Initialization in the Outline View.

b. Enter 353.15 K for A.

2. Edit the solution Methods.

Solution → Methods

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a. Enable the Decouple Computation of Temperature option.

b. Select Hybrid for Integration Rule for Transient Terms.

3. Edit the Calculation Activities.

Solution → Calculation Activities

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a. Under Launch Options, enter 5 for the Number of Processors.

b. Under Transient Controls, enter 0.05 s for the Initial Time Step.

4. Edit the solution Outputs.

Solution → Outputs

a. Enter 0.05 s for the Time Interval.

5. Review your problem setup.

Solution → Run Calculation

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a. Click Check to review your simulation settings. The workspace will inform you as to whether
or not your setup contains any problems and will provide guidance to solve any issues.

6. Calculate a solution.

a. Click Calculate to start the calculation.

b. Click the Plots tab to view the plot of the convergence monitors.

c. Once the calculations are complete, check the solution's listing in the Transcript tab to
confirm it's success. You can confirm that the solution proceeded as expected by looking
for the following printed at the bottom of the listing file:
The computation succeeded.

7. Save the work.

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Your work can be preserved using a "session" file - a Materials Processing workspace-specific case
file (*.mprcas) that contains your settings and your results.

File → Write → Session..., entering sse_thermal as the name of the session

3.7.4. Results
Review results using the various tools in the Results section of the Outline View or the Ribbon where
you can create new surfaces, setup contours, and create scenes.

1. Display the temperature distribution on the inlet, outlet, and extruder wall.

Results → Graphics → Contour → New

Figure 3.69: Temperature Contour Properties

a. Enter temperature for the Name.

b. For the Field, select TEMPERATURE.

c. For the Surfaces, select the field to open the Surfaces dialog where you can select the relevant
boundaries. Select inlet, outlet, and wall from the list, then click OK to close the dialog.

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 Mesh Superposition Technique

Figure 3.70: Selecting Boundaries in the Surfaces Dialog

d. For the contour properties, keep the remaining defaults and click Display to see the temper-
ature contour plot in the graphics window.

Figure 3.71: Contours of Temperature

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Fluent Material Processing Tutorials

In the following steps, you will create new surfaces for displaying the temperature field, which will then
be used to create a scene.

2. Create a new iso-surface on the domain.

Results → Sufaces New → Iso-Surface...

Figure 3.72: Iso-Surface Properties

a. Enter x=0 for the Name.

b. For the Field, select Coordinates[X].

c. For Iso-Value, enter 0 m.

3. Create a new iso-clip for one half of the extruder wall.

Results → Sufaces New → Iso-Clip...

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 Mesh Superposition Technique

Figure 3.73: Iso-Clip x<0 Properties

a. Enter x<0 for the Name.

b. For the Field, select Coordinates[X].

c. From the Surfaces list, select wall.

d. Enter -0.021 m for the Minimum.

e. Enter 0 m for the Maximum.

4. Repeat the previous step to create another iso-clip for the second half of the wall surface, with
the Name of x>0, the Minimum set to 0 m, and the Maximum set to 0.021 m.

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Figure 3.74: Iso-Clip x>0 Properties

5. Display the temperature distribution on the second half of the flow domain.

Results → Graphics → Contour → New

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 Mesh Superposition Technique

Figure 3.75: Temperature Contour Properties

a. Enter temperature-x-greater-than-0 for the Name.

b. For the Field, select TEMPERATURE.

c. For the Surfaces, select the field to open the Surfaces dialog where you can select the relevant
boundaries. Select x>0, x=0, inlet, and outlet from the list, then click OK to close the dialog.

d. Deselect the Auto-Compute Range option.

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Fluent Material Processing Tutorials

e. Enter 350 K and 440 K for the Minimum Value and Maximum Value, respectively.

f. Expand the Color Map category.

g. From the Type list, select float.

h. Enter 0 for the Precision.

i. Disable the Automatically Skip Labels option, then enter 11 for Skip.

j. Click Display to see the temperature contour plot in the graphics window.

Figure 3.76: Contours of Temperature for Second Half of Flow Domain

6. Repeat the previous step to create an additional contour plot for the other half of the extruder
wall, with the Name of temperature-x-less-than-0 and only x<0 selected for Surfaces.

Figure 3.77: Contours of Temperature for the First Half of the Extruder Wall

7. Create a new mesh object for the screw.

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 Mesh Superposition Technique

Results → Meshes New...

Figure 3.78: Screw Mesh Properties

a. Enter screw for the Name.

b. From the Surfaces list, select screwsurf and shaft.

c. Disable the Edges option.

8. Using the newly created graphics objects, create a scene of the temperature field.

Results → Scenes New...

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Fluent Material Processing Tutorials

Figure 3.79: Scene Properties

a. Deselect any objects that are enabled by default within the list of Graphics Objects.

b. Under the deformed category in the list of Graphics Objects, enable screw, temperature-
x>0, and temperature-x<0.

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 Mesh Superposition Technique

c. For temperature-x<0, set the Transparency to 80.

d. Click Display to view the scene in the Graphics window.

9. Play the animation for the new scene.

Results → Timestep

i. To reset the timesteps, change the Current animation timestep value to 1. Alternatively, you
can also move the slider all the way to the left, or click the Jump to Start button ( ).

ii. To start the animation, click the Play button ( ).

iii. To stop the animation, click the Stop button ( ).

Figure 3.80: Contours of Temperature: Timestep = 1

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Fluent Material Processing Tutorials

Figure 3.81: Contours of Temperature: Timestep = 20

Figure 3.82: Contours of Temperature: Timestep= 40

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 Mesh Superposition Technique

Figure 3.83: Contours of Temperature: Timestep = 60

The results displayed above show that the extruder wall and the screw experience the greatest
temperature rise and the temperature within the flow domain increases from inlet to outlet due
to the generated heat. The heat is generated almost exclusively within the thin layer adjacent to
the barrel wall, and it appears that the screw is the primary source heating the main stream of
fluid.

3.7.5. Summary
This tutorial introduced the use of the mesh superposition technique when using the Fluent Materials
Processing workspace. You solved the problem using a 3D geometry of a single screw extrusion device
and made suitable assumptions about the physics of the problem.

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Chapter 4: Fluent Material Processing Examples
This chapter include several Material Processing Examples for Ansys Fluent.

The information in this chapter is divided into the following sections:

4.1. Spinning Simulation of a Non-Symmetric Trilobal Viscoelastic Fiber
4.2. Reinforcements and Pantographing in Rubber Tire Molding
4.3. 3D Non-isothermal Flow with a Non-conformal Mesh
4.4. Extrusion of a Foamed Profile
4.5. Filling of a Sample
4.6. 3D Structure Interaction for Die
4.7.Thermal Simulation of the Internal Flow of a Fluid in a Channel with One Entry and Four Exits
4.8. Multilayer Film Casting
4.9. Extrusion of a Rubber Profile With a Metal Insert

4.1. Spinning Simulation of a Non-Symmetric Trilobal Viscoelastic Fiber

This example is divided into the following sections:
4.1.1. Problem Description
4.1.2. Setup and Solution

4.1.1. Problem Description

In the process of synthetic fiber spinning, a filament of polymer is stretched, usually at high speed,
in order to achieve a fiber with a very small cross-section area. For fibers with a circular cross-section,
the die shape is not an issue. Other fibers may have a more complex shape, presumably for the op-
tical properties that can be produced. The tri-lobal fiber has again a well-known level of symmetry.
For the purpose of generality, a fiber cross-section that has no symmetry is considered.

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Figure 4.1: Non-symmetric Die Cross-section for a Tri-lobal Fiber

Figure 4.1: Non-symmetric Die Cross-section for a Tri-lobal Fiber (p. 632), displays the cross section of
the die used for the production of the tri-lobal fiber. In the present case, the length of all three lobes,
measured from the center to the tip, are of 0.24, 0.27 and 0.30 mm, respectively for the vertical, the
horizontal and the sloped lobe. The lobes width is 0.12 mm, while the curvature radius is 0.06 mm.
In addition, the angular distribution of the lobes further enhances the (purposely selected) non-sym-
metric geometric shape.

This example is designed to illustrate the setup of a viscoelastic flow, and at the same time, to show
the effects of viscoelasticity on the fiber shape. For describing the rheology of the melt, the Oldroyd-
B model is purposely selected, which is known to exhibit a strong transient elongation viscosity. In
a single mode context, the model involves three parameters: the relaxation time, the zero-shear vis-
cosity, and the viscosity of a purely Newtonian component (solvent). For the relaxation time, the value
0.02 s is chosen. The value may appear low, but it is of a similar order of magnitude as the residence
time of a fluid particle in the calculation domain. By doing so, a visible development of viscoelastic
effects is allowed. For both viscosity factors, the values 80 and 20 Pa.s are selected, respectively.

The three-dimensional calculation domain is shown in Figure 4.2: Non-symmetric Tri-lobal Fiber
Spinning: Calculation Domain and Boundaries (p. 633), along with the named selections for all of the
boundaries. Note that zone and boundary names are intuitive, and this helps for setting up the case.
Other names are certainly possible, preferably as long as you can unambiguously identify the several
entities, for limiting the risk of mistakes. A flow rate Q is imposed at the inlet, slip conditions are applied
on the die wall, free surface conditions are imposed on the free jet, while a take-up force is imposed
at the outlet. It is also important to keep in mind that the geometric shape of the jet is a priori un-
known. In the initial configuration, the cross section of the extruded fiber coincides with that of the
die, while the jet would be straight.

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 Spinning Simulation of a Non-Symmetric Trilobal Viscoelastic Fiber

Figure 4.2: Non-symmetric Tri-lobal Fiber Spinning: Calculation Domain and Boundaries

With SI units, the following numerical values are selected for the various data involved. A flow rate
of 10-8 m3/s is imposed at the inlet while a take-up force of -10-3 N is applied at the exit of the com-
putational domain. Eventually, slipping obeying Navier's law is assumed along the die wall, where
the coefficient is set to 107 Pa.s/m

4.1.2. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this example:
4.1.2.1. Preparation
4.1.2.2. Mesh
4.1.2.3. Simulation Settings
4.1.2.4. Materials
4.1.2.5. Cell Zones
4.1.2.6. Boundary Conditions
4.1.2.7. Mesh Deformations
4.1.2.8. Solution Settings
4.1.2.9. Postprocessing

4.1.2.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this example:

1. Download the Trilobal_VE.zip file here.

2. Unzip Trilobal_VE.zip to your working directory.

The file, Trilobal_VE.poly, can be found in the folder.

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Fluent Material Processing Examples

3. Use Fluent Launcher to start the Fluent Materials Processing workspace, with the Capability
Level set to Enterprise.

4.1.2.2. Mesh
Read in the mesh file.

Setup → Read → Mesh...

4.1.2.3. Simulation Settings

For this example, choose a simulation template for extrusion. When using a template, the Fluent
Materials Processing workspace creates a skeleton based on your choice, so that usually you only
need to fill in the few fields. Typically, fluid material data need to be provided. Cell zones must be
defined, boundary conditions must be assigned, mesh deformation algorithm (for the fiber part)
must be specified, and the calculation of derived quantities must be activated as appropriate.
Eventually, solver options have to be selected before running the calculation.

Setup → Simulation → Use Template...

This displays the Simulation Template dialog box, where you can specify particular details for the
type of simulation.

1. Set the Type to Extrusion.

2. Set the Goal to Predict extrudate shape.

3. Click Apply to close the dialog box. The workspace will set up the various requirements for the
specified simulation type.

4.1.2.4. Materials
Define the differential viscoelastic material properties for the fluid.

Setup → Materials → fluid

1. Expand the Differential Viscoelastic Properties in the properties view.

2. Set the Model to Oldroyd-B.

3. Set the Number of Relaxation Modes to 1.

4. Set the Additional Viscosity to 20 Pa s.

5. Set the Relaxation Time to 0.02 s.

6. Set the Partial Viscosity to 80 Pa s.

4.1.2.5. Cell Zones

Define the cell zone properties for the fluid-zone.

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 Spinning Simulation of a Non-Symmetric Trilobal Viscoelastic Fiber

Setup → Cell Zones → fluid-zone

1. Set the Zones to include die and fiber.

2. Set the Fluid Model to Differential viscoelastic.

3. Set the Fluid Material(s) to fluid.

4.1.2.6. Boundary Conditions

Define the conditions for the various boundaries in the simulation.

1. Define conditions at the extrudate-exit.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → extrudate-exit

a. Set the Boundary Zone to exit.

b. Set the Flow Specification to Take-up force.

c. Set the Take-up Force components Fx, Fy, and Fz to 0 N, 0 N, and -0.001 N, respectively.

2. Define conditions at the free-surface.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → free-surface

a. Set the Boundary Zone to freesurface.

b. Set the Fixed Part to wall (the attachment line of the free surface).

3. Define conditions at the inlet.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → inlet

a. Set the Boundary Zone to inlet.

b. Set the Flow Specification to Volume flow.

c. Set the Incoming Material to fluid.

d. Set the Volume Flow Rate to 1e-8 m3/s.

4. Define conditions at the wall.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → wall

a. Set the Boundary Zone to wall.

b. Set the Slip Specification to Partial slip.

c. Set the Slip Model to Navier law.

d. Set the Friction Coefficient to 1e7 kg/m2s.

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4.1.2.7. Mesh Deformations

Define the conditions for the various mesh deformations in the simulation, that is, the extrudate.

Setup → Mesh Deformations → extrudate

1. Set the Zones to fiber.

2. Set the Extrudate Deformation Method to Streamwise.

3. Set the Inlet Section to fiber-die.

4. Set the Outlet Section to exit.

4.1.2.8. Solution Settings

Define any particular solution-based settings in the simulation.

1. Define any derived quantities.

Solution → Derived Quantities

a. Select Stress if you want to have access to the total extra-stress tensor for subsequent ex-
amination.

b. Select any other quantities that are of interest.

2. Define any calculation activities.

Solution → Calculation Activities

a. Set the Number of Processors to 4.

b. For Convergence Strategies, select Free Surfaces and Moving Interfaces and Viscoelasti-
city.

3. Run the calculations.

The setup is now ready and it can now be checked, and the calculation can start.

Solution → Run Calculation

a. Click Check to perform a final check of the setup and the coherence of the data.

b. If there are no errors or warnings, click Calculate.

With the current mesh, the calculation requires approximately one hour, and eight continuation
steps until completion.

4.1.2.9. Postprocessing
In this example, it is assumed that you are already familiar the graphical analysis tools of the
workspace. Figure 4.3: Spinning of a Tri-lobal Viscoelastic Fiber - Velocity Distribution (p. 637) displays

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 Spinning Simulation of a Non-Symmetric Trilobal Viscoelastic Fiber

contours of the velocity magnitude with a log scale together with the fiber shape. You can see that
the velocity on the die wall is very low, resulting from the selected friction coefficient. Under the
application of a take-up force of -10-3 N, a fiber velocity of about 0.48 m/s is obtained at the end
of the computational domain. Under the application of the same force, an inelastic material with
identical viscosity would exhibit a velocity of about 1.8 m/s at the end of the computational domain.
This visible reduction of the take-up velocity results from the fast-growing transient elongational
viscosity of the Oldroyd-B model.

Figure 4.3: Spinning of a Tri-lobal Viscoelastic Fiber - Velocity Distribution

A further inspection of the results reveals that the local shear rate reaches values up to approximately
165 s-1 along the die wall. In the fiber itself, the largest value is of about 100 s-1. Here it has to be
understood as an image of the actual (and local) strain rate. An examination of the stress tensor
component along the z-axis (main flow direction) also reveals that large values are encountered.
When the relaxation time decreases, therefore when strain hardening decreases, a smaller fiber
cross-section is observed, and this can be accompanied by larger elongation (normal) stress in the
fiber. Figure 4.4: Spinning of a Tri-lobal Viscoelastic Fiber - Distribution of the Axial Extra-stress
Component (p. 638) displays the distribution of the axial component of the extra-stress tensor on
the entire boundary of the computational domain. In the present context, this component is a fin-
gerprint of the first normal stress difference along the die wall, and of the take-up stress in the
fiber at some distance from the die exit.

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Figure 4.4: Spinning of a Tri-lobal Viscoelastic Fiber - Distribution of the Axial Extra-stress
Component

4.2. Reinforcements and Pantographing in Rubber Tire Molding

This example is divided into the following sections:
4.2.1. Problem Description
4.2.2. Setup and Solution

4.2.1. Problem Description

This example demonstrates a simple simulation for the shaping of a rubber tire. A relatively simple
geometric model is considered for the rubber assembly and for the mold. The assembly consists of
four layers: the reinforced carcass, the sidewalls, the reinforcement belts, and the tread. For all four
layers, a simple rheological model is considered for the rubber matrix. The carcass is reinforced with
fabric cords while the reinforcement belts are merged into a single belt reinforced with two sets of
wires. For modeling the fabric cords and wires, an orthotropic fluid model is used.

The concept of reinforced or orthotropic fluid model consists of an isotropic fluid matrix, which is
reinforced by means of one or several systems of cords or wires. This reinforcement structure confers
a specific orthotropic viscosity to the matrix: since the deformation is hindered along the direction
of orthotropy. When deformations of the fluid system are significant, it may be necessary to update
the orientation of the reinforcement system accordingly.

For the present purpose, tread patterns are omitted, and a simple mold geometry is proposed to
enable a relatively fast simulation for a complex industrial application. In Figure 4.5: Problem Description:
The Open Mold (a) and the Initial Assembly (b) (p. 639), both mold parts and the assembly are displayed
in their respective initial configurations.. A cross section is made in the assembly for easily identifying
the four layers considered. It is here assumed that the assembly is completed before being placed
into the mold.

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 Reinforcements and Pantographing in Rubber Tire Molding

Figure 4.5: Problem Description: The Open Mold (a) and the Initial Assembly (b)

The mold and assembly are displayed with different scales. The four layers presently considered are the
carcass (grey), the sidewalls (orange), the reinforcement belts (blue) and the tread (green).

In terms of reinforcements, fabric cords are embedded into the carcass along the axial direction. Two
sets of wires are considered in the reinforcement belts with a well-defined initial relative angle. During
shaping, the distribution of relative angle will change along with the deformation of the assembly.
This mechanism is often referred to as pantographing.

In the present application, the outer diameter of the tire, the height and the width are of 736, 155
and 218 mm, respectively. Following the ETRTO norm (European Tyre and Rim Technical Organization)
used in the rubber tire industry, the present tire model would be assigned the classification number
215/70R17.

For computational reasons, only a quarter of the geometry shown in Figure 4.5: Problem Description:
The Open Mold (a) and the Initial Assembly (b) (p. 639) is considered and is displayed in Figure 4.6: Prob-
lem Description - One Quarter Geometry (p. 639).

Figure 4.6: Problem Description - One Quarter Geometry

A quarter of the geometry displays the open mold and the assembly, both mold and assembly are displayed
with the same scale.

For all four layers considered here, the same rubber matrix is selected. Since the primary focus is the
prediction of pantographing that occurs during tire molding, a simple Newtonian model is purposely
selected for describing the fluid behavior. The rubber is characterized by a constant (Newtonian) vis-
cosity of 105 Pa.s and a density of 1200 kg/m3.

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Fluent Material Processing Examples

The fabric cords in the carcass are initially oriented along the axis of the cylinder, and a reinforcement
magnitude of 107 Pa.s is considered. The sets of cords in the reinforcement belts have an initial ori-
entation of +40° and -40° with respect to the traveling direction, respectively. A reinforcement mag-
nitude of 107 Pa.s is also considered.

The process starts by shaping a pre-tire: this is performed by applying an axial motion to both ex-
tremities of the assembly via an appropriate time-dependent velocity boundary condition. For this,
velocities of -0.028 and +0.028 m/s are assigned respectively at the top and at the bottom ring, and
which linearly decreases to 0 within the time interval [2.95, 3.05].

Upon completion of this phase, the pre-tire is virtually inserted into the mold, which is then closed.
Both molds are initially at a distance of 0.4 m with each other. Mold motion is imposed within the
time interval [3.5, 4.05], with velocities of -0.4 and +0.4 m/s assigned respectively to the upper and
lower mold within the time interval [3.55, 4.0] and with a linear variation from and to 0, respectively
within the intervals [3.5, 3.55] and [4.0, 4.05]. For the contact treatment, default values of 1012 are
kept for the penalty and slipping coefficients while the penetration accuracy is set to 10-3 m.

Together with these velocity conditions, a slight pre-blowing pressure is applied on the inner surface
of the assembly to prevent possible buckling. Subsequently the blowing pressure is applied in order
to shape the tire. More precisely, a pre-blowing pressure of 20,000 Pa is applied until time t=2.5 s.
During the time interval [2.6, 4.7], there is zero pressure and eventually, the shaping pressure increases
from 0 up to 7 105 Pa within the time interval [4.7, 5.8], and keeps this value afterwards.

From the modeling point of view, four sub-domains are defined for the layers of the assembly, and
two additional domains are created for the molds. Interface conditions are defined between successive
layers of the assembly. Free surface boundary conditions with a time-dependent inflation pressure
are considered for the inner surface of the assembly, while free surface conditions with contact are
considered for the outer surface. At both extremities of the assembly, half of the area is treated as a
free surface, while a time-dependent velocity is imposed on the other half.

The initial calculation domain for the assembly is discretized by means of 16000 elements (all layers
considered). Both molds are discretized by means of about 6000 elements each. Since relatively large
deformations are expected, adaptive meshing will be invoked after each sequence of 5 steps, this is
set by default. A minimum element size of 0.01 m is selected.

4.2.1.1. Concepts Covered in this Example

4.2.1.1.1. Orthotropic Fluid Model
With the concept of reinforced fluid model or orthotropic fluid model, the following can be un-
derstood. A matrix of isotropic fluid is considered, that is reinforced along a given direction by
means of rigid rods, fibers, fabric cords or wires. From this, it is quite natural to consider a con-
stitutive model, which consists of a part for the unreinforced matrix and a part for the reinforce-
ment structure. Hence, within the context of a fluid model, the reinforcement structure is described
by means of the direction of orthotropy and a reinforcement magnitude along this direction. The
reinforcement magnitude has the units of a viscosity and can be, for example, 100 times the zero-
shear viscosity of the matrix. The reinforcement structure confers a specific orthotropic viscosity
to the system. With one set of oriented reinforcement rods, deformation is hindered along the
selected direction, while the matrix can still deform along the other directions. With two sets of
reinforcement rods, the global behavior will be more intricate.

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 Reinforcements and Pantographing in Rubber Tire Molding

4.2.1.1.2. Orientation of Reinforcements for Flat and Cylindrical Domains

For an object whose initial configuration is flat, specifying the initial orientation of the reinforce-
ment cords or wires is relatively straightforward. This is also the case for a cylindrical object when
the reinforcement cords or wires are initially oriented along its axis. For cylindrical objects involving
helix-like reinforcement cords or wires, the orientation will be defined with respect to a plane
perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder.

4.2.1.1.3. Contact With a Solid Mold

Simulation of pressing case necessarily involves the prediction of contact that occurs between
the processed material and a mold. Next to a mesh supporting the fluid domain, a mesh must
also be defined for the mold. In isothermal situations, the mesh is needed for the geometry only,
and the discretization can be coarse. When a heat exchange between fluid and mold is calculated,
care must also be taken for the discretization of the mold.

4.2.1.1.4. Adaptive Meshing

A Lagrangian representation is used for performing the simulation of pressing cases. In other
words, finite elements will deform on the same way as the fluid, and at regular interval, a new
finite element mesh has to be recreated. This is the purpose of adaptive meshing: it is activated
by default with a set of parameters that you can adjust accordingly.

4.2.1.1.5. Expressions Utilized

Based on the original problem description, you can see that five input data are a function of time.
There is the axial velocity imposed at both extremities of the assembly, the velocity applied on
both molds, and the shaping pressure. This section reviews these time-dependences.

The process starts by shaping a pre-tire: this is performed by applying an axial motion to both
extremities of the assembly via an appropriate time-dependent velocity boundary condition. For
this, ramp expressions are defined on the y-component of the velocity, which vary from -0.028
and +0.028 m/s respectively at the top and at the bottom ring to 0 within the time interval [2.95,
3.05]. The corresponding expressions for the upper and lower extremities of the assembly are
respectively given by expression-1:
IF(time <= 2.95, -0.028,
IF(time >= 3.05, 0.,
-0.028+(0.+0.028)/(3.05-2.95)*(time-2.95)
)
)

and expression-2:
IF(time <= 2.95, 0.028,
IF(time >= 3.05, 0.,
0.028+(0.-0.028)/(3.05-2.95)*(time-2.95)
)
)

Time dependent functions are also used for describing the motion assigned to the molds. Both
molds are initially at a distance of 0.4 m with each other. Here, double-ramp expressions are
defined on the y-velocity component of the molds: velocities vanish before time=3.5 s and beyond
time=4.05 s, they are set to -0.4 and +0.4 m/s respectively to the upper and lower mold within
the time interval [3.55, 4.0] s, while they linearly vary from 0 and to 0 within the remaining time

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Fluent Material Processing Examples

intervals [3.5, 3.55] and [4.0, 4.05] s, respectively. The corresponding expressions for the upper
and lower molds are respectively given by expression-3:
IF( time <= 3.5, 0.,
IF( time <= 3.55, 0.+(-0.4-0.)/(3.55-3.5)*(time-3.5),
IF( time <= 4., -0.4,
IF( time <= 4.05, -0.4+(0.+0.4)/(4.05-4.)*(time-4.),
0.
)
)
)
)

and expression-4:
IF( time <= 3.5, 0.,
IF( time <= 3.55, 0.+(0.4-0.)/(3.55-3.5)*(time-3.5),
IF( time <= 4., 0.4,
IF( time <= 4.05, 0.4+(0.-0.4)/(4.05-4.)*(time-4.),
0.
)
)
)
)

Eventually, a slight pre-blowing pressure is applied on the inner surface of the assembly to prevent
possible buckling, and the blowing pressure is subsequently applied in order to shape the tire.
More precisely, a pre-blowing pressure of 20,000 Pa is applied until time t=2.5 s where it then
decreases down to 0 at time=2.6 s. At time=4.7 s, it increases again until time=5.8 s where it
reaches a value of 7 105 Pa, which is then maintained. The corresponding expression for the
pressure is given by the expression-5:
IF( time <= 2.5, 0.2e5,
IF( time <= 2.6, 0.2e5+(0.-0.2e5)/(2.6-2.5)*(time-2.5),
IF( time <= 4.7, 0.,
IF( time <= 5.8, 0.+(7.e5-0.)/(5.8-4.7)*(time-4.7),
7.e5
)
)
)
)

4.2.2. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this example:
4.2.2.1. Preparation
4.2.2.2. Mesh
4.2.2.3. Simulation Settings
4.2.2.4. Materials
4.2.2.5. Cell Zones
4.2.2.6. Fluid Boundary Conditions
4.2.2.7. Interface Boundary Conditions
4.2.2.8. Contact Boundary Conditions
4.2.2.9. Mesh Deformations

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 Reinforcements and Pantographing in Rubber Tire Molding

4.2.2.10. Adaptive Meshing

4.2.2.11. Solution Settings
4.2.2.12. Postprocessing

4.2.2.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this example:

1. Download the Tire_Manufacturing.zip file here.

2. Unzip Tire_Manufacturing.zip to your working directory.

The file, tire_manufacturing.poly can be found in the folder.

3. Use Fluent Launcher to start the Fluent Materials Processing workspace, with the Capability
Level set to Enterprise.

4.2.2.2. Mesh
Read in the mesh file.

Setup → Read → Mesh...

4.2.2.3. Simulation Settings

For this example, choose a simulation template for pressing. When using a template, the Fluent
Materials Processing workspace creates a skeleton based on your choice, so that usually you only
need to fill in the few fields. In view of the complexity of the present pressing case, you will have
to create several new fields and fill them accordingly. Typically, fluid material data need to be
provided. Cell zones must be defined for the layers of the assembly as well as for the molds, including
the motion of the molds, boundary, interface and contact conditions must be assigned, mesh de-
formation algorithm and adaptive meshing (for the assembly) must be specified, and the calculation
of derived quantities must be activated as appropriate. Eventually, solver options must be selected
before running the calculation.

Setup → Simulation → Use Template...

This displays the Simulation Template dialog box, where you can specify particular details for the
type of simulation.

1. Set the Type to Pressing.

2. Set the Number of Moving Molds to 2.

3. Set the Duration to 6 seconds.

4. Click Apply to close the dialog box. The workspace will set up the various requirements for the
specified simulation type.

In particular, entries are created for the cell zones (including both molds), the fluid boundary conditions
and contact conditions, as well as for the mesh deformations and the adaptive meshing.

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4.2.2.4. Materials
Here, you will define the materials for the simulation.

1. Define the material properties for the existing fluid (fluid).

Setup → Materials → fluid

a. Set the Name to carcass.

b. Expand the Density Law and set the Density to 1200 kg/m3.

c. Expand the Viscosity Law and set the Viscosity to 100000 (or 1e5) Pa s.

d. Expand the Reinforcement Properties and set the Number of Reinforcements to 1.

For the 1-st Reinforcement, set the following properties:

i. Set the Magnitude to 1e7 Pa s.

ii. Set the X-component of Reinforcement to 0.

iii. Set the Y-component of Reinforcement to 1.

2. Create a new material for the sidewall.

Setup → Materials New...

a. Set the Name to sidewall.

b. Expand the Density Law and set the Density to 1200 kg/m3.

c. Expand the Viscosity Law and set the Viscosity to 100000 (or 1e5) Pa s.

3. Create a new material for the belts.

Setup → Materials New...

a. Set the Name to belts.

b. Expand the Density Law and set the Density to 1200 kg/m3.

c. Expand the Viscosity Law and set the Viscosity to 100000 (or 1e5) Pa s.

d. Expand the Reinforcement Properties and set the Number of Reinforcements to 2.

e. For the 1-st Reinforcement, set the following properties:

i. Set the Magnitude to 1e7 Pa s.

ii. Set the Orientation to Cylindrical domain.

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 Reinforcements and Pantographing in Rubber Tire Molding

iii. Set the Cylinder Axis to Y-axis.

iv. Set the Angle of Reinforcement to 40.

f. For the 2-nd Reinforcement, set the following properties:

i. Set the Magnitude to 1e7 Pa s.

ii. Set the Orientation to Cylindrical domain.

iii. Set the Cylinder Axis to Y-axis.

iv. Set the Angle of Reinforcement to -40.

4. Create a new material for the tread.

Setup → Materials New...

a. Set the Name to tread.

b. Expand the Density Law and set the Density to 1200 kg/m3.

c. Expand the Viscosity Law and set the Viscosity to 100000 (or 1e5) Pa s.

4.2.2.5. Cell Zones

Here, you will define specific cell zones in the simulation.

1. Define the cell zone properties for the existing fluid cell zone (fluid-zone).

Setup → Cell Zones → fluid-zone

a. Change the Name to Carcass.

b. Set the Zones to carcass.

c. Set the Fluid Material(s) to carcass.

d. Expand the Volume Conservation and deactivate it.

e. Expand the Matrix Reinforcement and activate it.

2. Define the cell zone properties for the first moving mold (moving-mold-1).

Setup → Cell Zones → moving-mold-1

a. Change the Name to Mold-down.

b. Set the Zones to molddown.

c. Expand Mold Motion and Translation Velocity and for Vy, and select expression from
the drop-down list.

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Fluent Material Processing Examples

d. Enter the contents of expression-4.

IF( time <= 3.5, 0.,
IF( time <= 3.55, 0.+(0.4-0.)/(3.55-3.5)*(time-3.5),
IF( time <= 4., 0.4,
IF( time <= 4.05, 0.4+(0.-0.4)/(4.05-4.)*(time-4.),
0.
)
)
)
)

3. Define the cell zone properties for the second moving mold (moving-mold-2).

Setup → Cell Zones → moving-mold-2

a. Change the Name to Mold-up.

b. Set the Zones to moldup.

c. Expand Mold Motion and Translation Velocity and for Vy, and select expression from
the drop-down list.

d. Enter the contents of expression-3.

IF( time <= 3.5, 0.,
IF( time <= 3.55, 0.+(-0.4-0.)/(3.55-3.5)*(time-3.5),
IF( time <= 4., -0.4,
IF( time <= 4.05, -0.4+(0.+0.4)/(4.05-4.)*(time-4.),
0.
)
)
)
)

4. Define a new cell zone for the sidewall and set its properties.

Setup → Cell Zones New...

a. Change the Name to Sidewall.

b. Set the Zones to sidewall.

c. Set the Fluid Material(s) to sidewall.

d. Expand the Volume Conservation and deactivate it.

5. Define a new cell zone for the belts and set its properties.

Setup → Cell Zones New...

a. Change the Name to Belts.

b. Set the Zones to belts.

c. Set the Fluid Material(s) to belts.

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 Reinforcements and Pantographing in Rubber Tire Molding

d. Expand the Volume Conservation and deactivate it.

e. Expand the Matrix Reinforcement and activate it.

6. Define a new cell zone for the tread and set its properties.

Setup → Cell Zones New...

a. Change the Name to Tread.

b. Set the Zones to tread.

c. Set the Fluid Material(s) to tread.

d. Expand the Volume Conservation and deactivate it.

4.2.2.6. Fluid Boundary Conditions

Define the conditions for the various fluid boundaries in the simulation.

1. Define conditions at the free-surface.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → free-surface

a. Change the Name to Inner.

b. Set the Boundary Zone to inner.

c. Expand Free Surface Conditions, and for Gauge Pressure, select expression from the drop-
down list.

d. Enter the contents of expression-5.

IF( time <= 2.5, 0.2e5,
IF( time <= 2.6, 0.2e5+(0.-0.2e5)/(2.6-2.5)*(time-2.5),
IF( time <= 4.7, 0.,
IF( time <= 5.8, 0.+(7.e5-0.)/(5.8-4.7)*(time-4.7),
7.e5
)
)
)
)

2. Define a new fluid boundary condition for the bottom free surface and set its properties.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions New...

a. Change the Name to FSbot.

b. Set the Type to Free surface.

c. Set the Boundary Zone to ringbot-carcass.

3. Define a new fluid boundary condition for the top free surface and set its properties.

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Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions New...

a. Change the Name to FStop.

b. Set the Type to Free surface.

c. Set the Boundary Zone to ringtop-carcass.

4. Define a new fluid boundary condition for the outer sidewall free surface and set its properties.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions New...

a. Change the Name to FSsidewall.

b. Set the Type to Free surface.

c. Set the Boundary Zone to outer-sidewall.

5. Define a new fluid boundary condition for the outer tread free surface and set its properties.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions New...

a. Change the Name to FStread.

b. Set the Type to Free surface.

c. Set the Boundary Zone to outer-tread.

6. Define a new fluid boundary condition for yz symmetry plane and set its properties.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions New...

a. Change the Name to Symm-x.

b. Set the Type to Symmetry.

c. Set the Boundary Zone to symmx-belts, symmx-carcass, symmx-sidewall, and symmx-

tread.

7. Define a new fluid boundary condition for xy symmetry plane and set its properties.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions New...

a. Change the Name to Symm-z.

b. Set the Type to Symmetry.

c. Set the Boundary Zone to symmz-belts, symmz-carcass, symmz-sidewall, and symmz-

tread.

8. Define a new fluid boundary condition for the bottom ring of the sidewall and set its properties.

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 Reinforcements and Pantographing in Rubber Tire Molding

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions New...

a. Change the Name to Ringbot.

b. Set the Type to Wall.

c. Set the Boundary Zone to ringbot-sidewall.

d. Under Wall Condition, set the Wall Velocity to Moving.

e. Under First Point of Axis, set the X1, Y1, and Z1 to (0,0,0) respectively.

f. Under Second Point of Axis, set the X2, Y2, and Z2 to (0,1,0) respectively.

g. Set the Angular Velocity to 0.

h. Under Translation Velocity:

i. Set Vx to 0.

ii. For Vy, select expression from the drop-down list, and enter the contents of ex-
pression-2:
IF(time <= 2.95, 0.028,
IF(time >= 3.05, 0.,
0.028+(0.-0.028)/(3.05-2.95)*(time-2.95)
)
)

iii. Set Vz to 0.

9. Define a new fluid boundary condition for the top ring of the sidewall and set its properties.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions New...

a. Change the Name to Ringtop.

b. Set the Type to Wall.

c. Set the Boundary Zone to ringtop-sidewall.

d. Under Wall Condition, set the Wall Velocity to Moving.

e. Under First Point of Axis, set the X1, Y1, and Z1 to (0,0,0) respectively.

f. Under Second Point of Axis, set the X2, Y2, and Z2 to (0,1,0) respectively.

g. Set the Angular Velocity to 0.

h. Under Translation Velocity:

i. Set Vx to 0.

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ii. For Vy, select expression from the drop-down list, and enter the contents of ex-
pression-1:
IF(time <= 2.95, -0.028,
IF(time >= 3.05, 0.,
-0.028+(0.+0.028)/(3.05-2.95)*(time-2.95)
)
)

iii. Set Vz to 0.

4.2.2.7. Interface Boundary Conditions

Here, you will define the conditions at the interface boundaries.

1. Create a new interface boundary condition between the sidewall and the carcass.

Setup → Interface Boundary Conditions New...

a. Set the Name to Int_carcass_sidewall.

b. Set the Type to Fluid-Fluid.

c. Set the Interface Zone to sidewall-carcass.

2. Create a new interface boundary condition between the sidewall and the belts.

Setup → Interface Boundary Conditions New...

a. Set the Name to Int_sidewall_belts.

b. Set the Type to Fluid-Fluid.

c. Set the Interface Zone to belts-sidewall.

3. Create a new interface boundary condition between the sidewall and the tread.

Setup → Interface Boundary Conditions New...

a. Set the Name to Int_sidewall_tread.

b. Set the Type to Fluid-Fluid.

c. Set the Interface Zone to tread-sidewall.

4. Create a new interface boundary condition between the belts and the tread.

Setup → Interface Boundary Conditions New...

a. Set the Name to Int_belts_tread.

b. Set the Type to Fluid-Fluid.

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 Reinforcements and Pantographing in Rubber Tire Molding

c. Set the Interface Zone to belts-tread.

4.2.2.8. Contact Boundary Conditions

Here, you will define various contact boundary conditions for the simulation.

1. Define contact boundary conditions at the first moving mold contact-with-moving-mold-1.

Setup → Contact Boundary Conditions → contact-with-moving-mold-1

a. Change the Name to Sidewall_up.

b. Set the Fluid to Sidewall.

c. Set the Fluid Zone of Contact to outer-sidewall.

d. Set the Mold to Mold-up.

e. For the Mold Zone of Contact, select cup.

f. Set the Penetration Accuracy to 0.001 m.

2. Define contact boundary conditions at the second moving mold contact-with-moving-mold-

2.

Setup → Contact Boundary Conditions → contact-with-moving-mold-2

a. Change the Name to Tread_up.

b. Set the Fluid to Tread.

c. Set the Fluid Zone of Contact to outer-tread.

d. Set the Mold to Mold-up.

e. For the Mold Zone of Contact, select cup.

f. Set the Penetration Accuracy to 0.001 m.

3. Create a new contact boundary condition for the outer sidewall and the mold.

Setup → Contact Boundary Conditions New...

a. Set the Name to Sidewall_down.

b. For the Fluid, select Sidewall.

c. For the Fluid Zone of Contact, select outer-sidewall.

d. For the Mold, select Mold-down.

e. For the Mold Zone of Contact, select cbottom.

f. Set the Penetration Accuracy to 0.001 m.

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Fluent Material Processing Examples

4. Create a new contact boundary condition for the outer tread and the mold.

Setup → Contact Boundary Conditions New...

a. Set the Name to Tread_down.

b. For the Fluid, select Tread.

c. For the Fluid Zone of Contact, select outer-tread.

d. For the Mold, select Mold-down.

e. For the Mold Zone of Contact, select cbottom.

f. Set the Penetration Accuracy to 0.001 m.

4.2.2.9. Mesh Deformations

Define the conditions for the various mesh deformations in the simulation.

1. Define conditions at the existing fluid deformation (fluid-deformation).

Setup → Mesh Deformations → fluid-deformation

a. Change the Name to Carcass.

b. Set the Zones to carcass.

2. Create a new mesh deformation for the sidewall.

Setup → Mesh Deformations New...

a. Set the Name to Sidewall.

b. For the Type, select Lagrangian.

c. For the Zones, select sidewall.

3. Create a new mesh deformation for the belts.

Setup → Mesh Deformations New...

a. Set the Name to Belts.

b. For the Type, select Lagrangian.

c. For the Zones, select belts.

4. Create a new mesh deformation for the tread.

Setup → Mesh Deformations New...

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 Reinforcements and Pantographing in Rubber Tire Molding

a. Set the Name to Tread.

b. For the Type, select Lagrangian.

c. For the Zones, select tread.

4.2.2.10. Adaptive Meshing

Here, you will set various adaptive meshing criteria.

Setup → Adaptive Meshing

1. Under the main properties for Adaptive Meshing, disable the Mapping feature.

2. Edit the existing adaptive meshing condition (condition-1).

a. Change the Name to condition-carcass.

b. For the Zones, select carcass.

c. Under Condition on Mesh Quality, set the Size to 0.01 m.

d. Disable the Condition on Contact by clearing the Enabled check box.

3. Create a new adaptive meshing condition for the sidewall.

Setup → Adaptive Meshing → Conditions New...

a. Set the Name to condition-sidewall.

b. For the Zones, select sidewall.

c. Enable the Condition on Mesh Quality by checking the Enabled check box, and set the
Size to 0.01 m.

4. Create a new adaptive meshing condition for the belts.

Setup → Adaptive Meshing → Conditions New...

a. Set the Name to condition-belts.

b. For the Zones, select belts.

c. Enable the Condition on Mesh Quality by checking the Enabled check box, and set the
Size to 0.01 m.

5. Create a new adaptive meshing condition for the tread.

Setup → Adaptive Meshing → Conditions New...

a. Set the Name to condition-tread.

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b. For the Zones, select tread.

c. Enable the Condition on Mesh Quality by checking the Enabled check box, and set the
Size to 0.01 m.

4.2.2.11. Solution Settings

Define any particular solution-based settings in the simulation.

1. Define specific solution methods.

Solution → Methods

Under Contact Parameters, set the Element Dilitation to User value, and set the User Dilitation
to 1e-5 m.

2. Define any calculation activities.

Solution → Calculation Activities

Set the Number of Processors to 5.

3. Run the calculations.

The setup is now ready and it can now be checked, and the calculation can start.

Solution → Run Calculation

a. Click Check to perform a final check of the setup and the coherence of the data.

b. If there are no errors or warnings, click Calculate.

With the current mesh, the calculation requires approximately one hour, and about 130 time
steps are needed until completion.

4.2.2.12. Postprocessing
Figure 4.7: Progression of the Assembly Shape (p. 655),displays a sequence of snapshots of the as-
sembly at several instants during shaping of the toroidal pre-tire until final shaping in the mold
achieved at time t=6 s. Carcass, sidewall and tread are displayed in grey, orange and green, respect-
ively. The reinforcement belts are not visible since they are located under the tread.

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 Reinforcements and Pantographing in Rubber Tire Molding

Figure 4.7: Progression of the Assembly Shape

The shape of the assembly at various time steps during the simulation from the cylindrical assembly to
the final tire (the mold is not displayed). The four layers presently considered are the carcass (grey), the
sidewalls (orange), the reinforcement belts (blue – not displayed) and the tread (green).

Figure 4.8: Cross Section of the Final Tire Assembly (p. 655) displays a cross section in the final tire,
where you also see the location and the final shape of the reinforcement belts shown in blue.

Figure 4.8: Cross Section of the Final Tire Assembly

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Fluent Material Processing Examples

The assembly tire shape at the end of the molding phase with a cross-section through the several layers.
The four layers shown are the carcass (grey), the sidewalls (orange), the reinforcement belts (blue) and
the tread (green).

Figure 4.9: Inspecting the Carcass and Belts (p. 656) displays the configuration of the fabric cords
and of the reinforcement cords on a quarter of the tire upon molding completion. Figure 4.9: In-
specting the Carcass and Belts (p. 656) (a) shows a few cords in the carcass and in the reinforcement
belts. The lines suggesting the cords have been created as surface streamlines obtained by integ-
rating the anisotropy vector. It is important here to understand that these lines are not actual cords.
A macroscopic model is used for predicting the orientations of cords, and these lines are only a
sampling out of a continuum. Figure 4.9: Inspecting the Carcass and Belts (p. 656) (b) displays the
relative angle between both sets of cords embedded in the reinforcement belts. It is obtained from
the scalar product between two vectors a and b:
(4.1)

In the initial configuration of the assembly, the reinforcement cords embedded in the belts have
a relative angle of 80°. Upon completion of molding, the relative angle exhibits a distribution ranging
between 46° and 62°. A non-uniform pantographing has occurred, which originates from the de-
formation undergone by the belts. In particular, the diameter increase naturally leads to a reduction
of the angle between the sets of cords. The slightly rugged aspect of the distribution of relative
angle displayed in Figure 4.9: Inspecting the Carcass and Belts (p. 656) (b) is a consequence of the
moderate discretization that was selected for the purpose of limiting the calculation time.

Figure 4.9: Inspecting the Carcass and Belts

Fabric cords in the carcass and reinforcement cords in the belts (a). Relative angle between both sets of
reinforcement cords in the belts (b). For clarity, the carcass (grey) and sidewalls (orange) are shown as
well as the tread (transparent green).

4.3. 3D Non-isothermal Flow with a Non-conformal Mesh

This example is divided into the following sections:
4.3.1. Problem Description
4.3.2. Setup and Solution

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 3D Non-isothermal Flow with a Non-conformal Mesh

4.3.1. Problem Description

This example illustrates a non-isothermal flow of a Newtonian liquid using a non-conformal mesh
technique. This technique allows you to create a connected simulation domain out of geometrically
coincident but disconnected parts. This approach facilitates the meshing of the geometry as different
parts can be meshed independently.

Figure 4.10: Sub-domains for the 3D Non-conformal Mesh

The geometry representing the three-dimensional calculation domain is depicted in Figure 4.10: Sub-
domains for the 3D Non-conformal Mesh (p. 657) and consists of two disconnected sub-domains: the
predie (in blue) and the die (in orange).

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Figure 4.11: Boundaries for the 3D Non-conformal Mesh

The different named selections and boundaries are shown in Figure 4.11: Boundaries for the 3D Non-
conformal Mesh (p. 658). The inlet is dark blue, the wall is light blue, the predieexit is yellow, the wall2
boundary is light orange, the dieexit in green, and the mesh is visible on dieentry Note that zone and
boundary names are intuitive, and this helps for setting up the case.

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 3D Non-isothermal Flow with a Non-conformal Mesh

Figure 4.12: Non-conformal Mesh on the Exit of the Predie and on the Entry of the Die

Figure 4.12: Non-conformal Mesh on the Exit of the Predie and on the Entry of the Die (p. 659) displays
the mesh on the exit of the predie (in yellow) and on the entry of the die (in thick blue), clearly
demonstrating a non-conformal nature.

A flow rate Q is imposed at the inlet, no slip conditions are applied on the predie and die walls, an
outlet is defined on the die outlet.

With SI units, the following numerical values are selected for the various data involved. A flow rate
of 3 10-6 m3/s is imposed at the inlet. A temperature of 373.15 K is imposed at the inlet and along
the wall of the predie. A heat flux by convection is imposed along the wall of the die with a transfer
coefficient of 50 W/m^2 K and a convection temperature of 353.15 K. A vanishing velocity is imposed
along the walls of the predie and the die. The temperature is initialized to 373.15 K on the whole
calculation domain.

4.3.2. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this example:
4.3.2.1. Preparation
4.3.2.2. Mesh
4.3.2.3. Simulation Settings
4.3.2.4. Materials
4.3.2.5. Cell Zones
4.3.2.6. Boundary Conditions
4.3.2.7. Solution Settings
4.3.2.8. Postprocessing

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4.3.2.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this example:

1. Download the nonconformal3D.zip file here.

2. Unzip nonconformal3D.zip to your working directory.

The file, nonconformal3D.poly, can be found in the folder.

3. Use Fluent Launcher to start the Fluent Materials Processing workspace, with the Capability
Level set to Enterprise.

4.3.2.2. Mesh
Read in the mesh file.

Setup → Read → Mesh...

4.3.2.3. Simulation Settings

For this example, choose a simulation template for internal flow. When using a template, the Fluent
Materials Processing workspace creates a skeleton based on your choice, so that usually you only
need to fill in the few fields. Typically, fluid material data need to be provided. Cell zones must be
defined, boundary conditions must be assigned, and the calculation of derived quantities must be
activated as appropriate. Eventually, solver options have to be selected before running the calculation.

Setup → Simulation → Use Template...

This displays the Simulation Template dialog box, where you can specify particular details for the
type of simulation.

1. Set the Type to Internal Flow.

2. Enable the Thermal option.

3. Click Apply to close the dialog box. The workspace will set up the various requirements for the
specified simulation type.

4.3.2.4. Materials
Define the material properties for the fluid.

Setup → Materials → fluid

1. Expand the Density Law in the properties view.

2. Set the Density to 1000 kg/m3.

3. Expand the Thermal Properties in the properties view.

4. Set the Thermal Conductivity coefficient K to 0.75 W/(m K).

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5. Set the Heat Capacity per Unit Mass coefficient Cp to 2.5 J/(kg K).

6. Expand the Viscosity Law in the properties view.

7. Set the Viscosity constant value to 200 Pa s.

4.3.2.5. Cell Zones

Define the cell zone properties for the fluid-zone.

Setup → Cell Zones → fluid-zone

1. Set the Zones to include predie.

Define the cell zone properties for a new fluid cell zone fluid-zone-1 (added using the Ribbon).

Setup → Cell Zones → Cell zone → New → Fluid zone

1. Set the Zones to include die.

2. Set the Fluid Material(s) to fluid.

4.3.2.6. Boundary Conditions

Define the conditions for the various boundaries in the simulation.

1. Define conditions at the inlet.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → inlet

a. Set the Boundary Zone to inlet.

b. Set the Flow Specification to Volume flow.

c. Set the Volume flow rate to 3e-6 m3/s.

d. Set the Temperature to 373.15 K.

2. Define conditions at the outlet.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → outlet

a. Set the Boundary Zone to outlet.

3. Define conditions at the wall.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → wall

a. Set the Boundary Zone to wall.

b. Set the Thermal Condition to Temperature.

c. Set the Temperature to 373.15 K.

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4. Add a new fluid boundary condition wall-1 (using the Ribbon).

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Fluid → New → Wall

a. Set the Boundary Zone to wall2.

b. Set the Thermal Condition to Heat flux and convection.

c. Set the Heat Transfer Coefficient to 50 W/(m2 K).

d. Set the Convection Temperature to 353.15 K.

5. Add a new interface fluid-fluid-1 (using the Ribbon).

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Interface → New → Fluid-Fluid (non-conformal)

a. Set the Cell Zone 1 to fluid-zone.

b. Set the Boundary Zone 1 to predieexit.

c. Set the Cell Zone 2 to fluid-zone-1.

d. Set the Boundary Zone 2 to dieentry.

4.3.2.7. Solution Settings

Define any particular solution-based settings in the simulation.

1. Define the initial temperature.

Solution → Temperature Initializations → temperature-in-fluid-zone

a. Set the Cell Zones to fluid-zone.

b. Set the coefficient A to 373.15 K.

2. Add a new initial temperature initial-temperature-1 (using the Ribbon).

Solution → Initializations → Initialize Temperature → New

a. Keep the name as initial-temperature-1

b. Set the Cell Zones to fluid-zone-1.

c. Set the coefficient A to 373.15 K.

3. Define any derived quantities.

Solution → Derived Quantities

a. Review the pre-selected derived quantities.

b. Select any other quantities that are of interest.

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 3D Non-isothermal Flow with a Non-conformal Mesh

4. Check the solution methods.

Solution → Methods

a. Make sure that the Upwinding in Energy Equation option is enabled.

5. Define any calculation activities.

Solution → Calculation Activities

a. Set the Number of Processors to 4.

b. For Convergence Strategies, keep the default settings.

6. Run the calculations.

The setup is now ready and it can now be checked, and the calculation can start.

Solution → Run Calculation

a. Click Check to perform a final check of the setup and the coherence of the data.

b. If there are no errors or warnings, click Calculate.

4.3.2.8. Postprocessing
In this example, it is assumed that you are already familiar the graphical analysis tools of the
workspace.

Figure 4.13: Velocity Contours in the X=0 Plane

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Figure 4.13: Velocity Contours in the X=0 Plane (p. 663) displays contours of the velocity magnitude
in the center of the die

Figure 4.14: Temperature Contours in the X=0 Plane

Figure 4.14: Temperature Contours in the X=0 Plane (p. 664) shows temperature contours on the
same cutting plane. It can be observed that the velocity and the temperature are continuous through
the non-conformal interface.

Figure 4.15: Velocity Vectors in the X=0 Plane

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 3D Non-isothermal Flow with a Non-conformal Mesh

Figure 4.15: Velocity Vectors in the X=0 Plane (p. 664) displays velocity vectors. Again, note that the
non-conforming mesh has no visible impact on the velocity field.

Figure 4.16: ROOT_PRESSURE Contours in the X=0 Plane

Figure 4.16: ROOT_PRESSURE Contours in the X=0 Plane (p. 665) displays the pressure. As there are
two defined fluid zones, there are two PRESSURE fields, one for the predie and a second for the
die. The ROOT_PRESSURE field is an assembly of these two fields. A pressure overshoot along the
border of the actual predie exit is an expected result, as well as the small pressure undershoot
along the edge of the die entry.

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Figure 4.17: CONTACT_V Contours on the predieexit Boundary

Eventually, Figure 4.17: CONTACT_V Contours on the predieexit Boundary (p. 666) shows that the
portion of the predie exit that is overlapped by the die entry, whose border is visible in black, is
actually seen in contact. The nodes not belonging to that portion of the boundary receive a vanishing
velocity condition as can be seen in Figure 4.18: Velocity Contours on the predieexit Boundary (p. 667)

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 Extrusion of a Foamed Profile

Figure 4.18: Velocity Contours on the predieexit Boundary

4.4. Extrusion of a Foamed Profile

This example is divided into the following sections:
4.4.1. Problem Description
4.4.2. Setup and Solution

4.4.1. Problem Description

Foamed polyethylene is extruded to obtain very light insulation parts. Polyethylene with dissolved
gas enters through the inlet section and flows through the converging section and the die land. Next,
throughout the extrudate, the material is free to deform. The physical foaming process occurs as soon
as the mixture leaves the die or at least when the pressure is low enough for allowing the gas bubbles
to grow and the dissolved gas to migrate towards the microscopic bubbles.

The Arefmanesh model ([1] (p. 677)) is used for predicting the bubble growth. The model assumes a
purely viscous material, and that the time scale of gas diffusion is longer than that of bubble expansion.
The model is such that all physics is lumped in a single transport equation that dictates the bubble
radius R:

(4.2)

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where pg is the gas pressure and p is the matrix pressure. The parameter may play the role of surface
tension and hence prevent a possibly infinite bubble growth. The quantity is a macroscopic viscosity
of the foam. The power index a may add some non-linearities to the model but is set to 1 in this ex-
ample. Eventually, parameter b is a booster if the foaming is not as large as expected: it is also set to
1 in this example.

On the other hand, the density ρ of the mixture is given by:

(4.3)

where ρp is the density of the polymer matrix (without blowing agent, that is, with R equivalent to
0), and N is the number of cells per unit volume of gas/polymer mixture. Also, while foaming progresses,
the macroscopic viscosity of our mixture decreases since the volume increase results only from gas
expansion. Hence, with the bubble growth, the workspace assumes that the zero-shear viscosity of
the mixture decreases in the same way as the density:

(4.4)

where is the zero-shear viscosity of the polymer matrix (without blowing agent, that is, with R
equivalent to 0).

The model does not necessarily predict an equilibrium bubble size: gas pressure decreases with in-
creasing bubble radius but does not vanish. In actual cases, however, bubbles do not grow infinitely,
since only a finite supply of gas is available for their growth, and bubbles attain equilibrium once the
gas gets depleted in the polymer. Also, surface tension may eventually dominate over the remaining
gas pressure.

In this example, this model is to be used for the determination of die lips shape used for the extrusion
of foamed profiles. For this, a 3D profile is considered and is displayed in Figure 4.19: Required Extrudate
Profile (p. 669). The objective is to calculate the die shape lips which will enable the extrusion of the
required profile. The primary ingredient of the present example is physical foaming. In such an extrusion
flow process, gas is dissolved in the polymer matrix, and will start to expand as soon as the polymer
leaves the die, or at least as soon as the pressure in the polymer is low enough for the gas bubbles
to expand. In order to achieve this, die lands are usually very short.

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 Extrusion of a Foamed Profile

Figure 4.19: Required Extrudate Profile

Figure 4.20: Calculation Domain and Boundaries (p. 670) illustrates the initial computational domain.
It consists of two subdomains, a short subdomain for the die land and a long subdomain for the ex-
trudate. Four boundaries are considered: the inlet, the die wall, the extrudate surface and the exit of
the calculation domain. The corresponding boundary conditions are a volumetric flow rate of 1.4e-5
m3 /s at the inlet, partial slipping along the die wall and obeying Navier's law with a coefficient of
1e7 kg/m2 s, free surface conditions on the extrudate surface, and vanishing forces at the exit. Addi-
tional geometric information can be useful: the box surrounding the entire computational domain
has the dimensions 80.5 mm x 50 mm x 212 mm, the length of the die land is 12 mm, the depth of
the left- and right-hand grooves are 12 mm and 9.5 mm, respectively, while the width of the three
horns are from left to right of 11 mm, 12 mm, and 12 mm.

Since physical foaming is being considered, a mixture of a polymer matrix and a (massless) blowing
agent or gas is also to be considered. The viscosity of the polymer matrix obeys the Bird-Carreau
law given by
(4.5)

where = 17450 Pa s, = 1 s and n = 0.45. Also, the density ρp of the polymer matrix is 920 kg/m3.
Physical foaming originates from the inflation of a sufficiently large number of initially tiny gas bubbles
under a pressure higher than the surrounding pressure in the matrix. One can assume that 2000 gas
bubbles with an initial radius of 0.027 mm are injected into each volume unit (mm3) of the matrix
(leading to the initial astronomic number of 2e12 cells per m3).

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Figure 4.20: Calculation Domain and Boundaries

This example uses the Extrusion template, with the goal set to Determine die lip shape, in order
to generate most of the objects needed for the simulation. For the fluid material, you should specify
the density and the viscosity law of the polymer matrix, in addition to the foaming properties described
above (initial gas radius, initial gas pressure, number of cells, etc.).

Initially, for the fluid zone, you specify the fluid domain and activate the foaming.

Next, you specify the boundary conditions as for any extrusion simulation. Note that you should also
provide the initial bubble radius at the inlet condition. In the extrudate-exit object, all the edges have
already been fixed (as an effect of the template's goal (of determining the die lip shape).

From there, you must update data for the mesh deformations (for the constant die section and ex-
trudate) and delete the adaptive-die-section object (created by the template, but not required in this
example).

Lastly, you should also activate the convergence strategies in order to handle all non-linearities present
in this simulation: free surfaces and moving interfaces, viscosity and slip, and foaming.

4.4.2. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this example:
4.4.2.1. Preparation
4.4.2.2. Mesh
4.4.2.3. Simulation Settings
4.4.2.4. Materials
4.4.2.5. Cell Zones

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 Extrusion of a Foamed Profile

4.4.2.6. Boundary Conditions

4.4.2.7. Mesh Deformations
4.4.2.8. Solution Settings
4.4.2.9. Postprocessing

4.4.2.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this example:

1. Download the foamed_profile.zip file here.

2. Unzip foamed_profile.zip to your working directory.

The mesh file, foamed_profile.poly, can be found in the folder.

3. Use Fluent Launcher to start the Fluent Materials Processing workspace, with the Capability
Level set to Enterprise.

4.4.2.2. Mesh
Read in the mesh file.

Setup → Read → Mesh...

4.4.2.3. Simulation Settings

For this example, choose a simulation template for extrusion. When using a template, the Fluent
Materials Processing workspace creates a skeleton based on your choice, so that usually you only
need to fill in the few fields. Typically, fluid material data need to be provided. Cell zones must be
defined, boundary conditions must be assigned, and the calculation of derived quantities must be
activated as appropriate. Eventually, solver options have to be selected before running the calculation.

Setup → Simulation → Use Template...

This displays the Simulation Template dialog box, where you can specify particular details for the
type of simulation.

1. Set the Type to Extrusion.

2. Set the Goal to Determine die lip shape.

3. Click Apply to close the dialog box. The workspace will set up the various requirements for the
specified simulation type.

4.4.2.4. Materials
Define the material properties for the fluid.

Setup → Materials → fluid

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1. Expand the Density Law in the properties view.

2. Set the Density to 920 kg/m3.

3. Expand the Viscosity Law in the properties view.

4. Set the Shear Rate Dependence to Bird-Carreau.

5. Set the Zero Shear Viscosity to 17450 Pa s.

6. Set the Time Constant to 1 s.

7. Set the Power Law Index to 0.45.

8. Expand the Foaming Properties in the properties view.

9. Set the Initial Bubble Radius to 2.7e-5 m.

10. Set the Initial Gas Pressure to 2e5 Pa.

11. Set the Number of Cells per Unit Volume to 2e12.

12. Set the Surface Tension to 0.03 N/m.

13. Set the Viscosity to 500 Pa s.

4.4.2.5. Cell Zones

Define the cell zone properties for the fluid-zone.

Setup → Cell Zones → fluid-zone

1. Set the Zones to include die and extrudate.

2. Under Foaming, click the Activation check box.

4.4.2.6. Boundary Conditions

Define the conditions for the various boundaries in the simulation.

1. Define conditions at the extrudate-exit.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → extrudate-exit

a. Set the Boundary Zone to exit.

2. Define conditions at the free-surface.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → free-surface

a. Set the Boundary Zone to freesurf.

b. Set the Fixed Part to wall (the attachment line of the free surface).

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 Extrusion of a Foamed Profile

3. Define conditions at the inlet.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → inlet

a. Set the Boundary Zone to inlet.

b. Set the Flow Specification to Volume flow.

c. Set the Volume flow rate to 1.4e-5 m3/s.

d. Set the Bubble Radius to 2.7e-5 m.

4. Define conditions at the wall.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → wall

a. Set the Boundary Zone to wall.

b. Set the Slip Specification to Partial Slip.

c. Set the Friction Coefficient to 1e7 kg/m2 s.

4.4.2.7. Mesh Deformations

Define the conditions for the various mesh deformations in the simulation, that is, the constant die
section and the extrudate. But first, the extra mesh deformation for the adaptive die section can
be removed from the set up.

1. Remove the extra mesh deformation object.

Setup → Mesh Deformations → adaptive-die-section

Click the Delete button to remove this particular mesh deformation.

2. Set the conditions for the constant die section.

Setup → Mesh Deformations → constant-die-section

a. Set the Zones to die.

b. Set the Inlet Section to inlet.

c. Set the Outlet Section to extrudate-die (the interface between the die and the extrudate
zones).

3. Set the conditions for the extrudate.

Setup → Mesh Deformations → extrudate

a. Set the Zones to extrudate.

b. Set the Inlet Section to extrudate-die.

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c. Set the Outlet Section to exit.

4.4.2.8. Solution Settings

Define any particular solution-based settings in the simulation.

1. Define any derived quantities.

Solution → Derived Quantities

a. Review the pre-selected derived quantities.

b. Select any other quantities that are of interest.

2. Define any calculation activities.

Solution → Calculation Activities

a. Enable the Use Double-Precision Buffer option.

b. Under Continuation Controls, set the Minimum Step Size to 0.0001, the Maximum Step
Size to 0.1, and the Maximum Number of Steps to 30.

c. Under Convergence Strategies, select Free Surfaces and Moving Interfaces, Viscosity
and Slip, and Foaming.

3. Run the calculations.

The setup is now ready and it can now be checked, and the calculation can start.

Solution → Run Calculation

a. Click Check to perform a final check of the setup and the coherence of the data.

b. If there are no errors or warnings, click Calculate. With the current mesh, the calculation
requires approximately one hour, and fourteen continuation steps until completion.

4.4.2.9. Postprocessing
With the help of convergence strategies, the calculation of the solution is relatively standard.

Figure 4.21: Die Lip Shape Determination for the Foamed Material (p. 675) displays the shape of the
die lips that would be needed for extruding the desired extrudate profile for the foamed material.
At first, you can see that the cross section of the die is significantly smaller than the initial section;
the ratio of area cross sections is of about 1 to 7. This is a consequence of the foaming which es-
sentially occurs after the material has exited the die. As expected, sharp angles are suggested in
order to obtain the re-entrant corners of the profile. Also, you can observe the large cross-sections
needed for obtaining the three horns of the profile. This is expected, since the average velocity in
these regions is rather low. Of course, the calculated profile must be interpreted within the light
of the selected rheological model and the slipping boundary conditions.

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 Extrusion of a Foamed Profile

Figure 4.21: Die Lip Shape Determination for the Foamed Material

In Figure 4.21: Die Lip Shape Determination for the Foamed Material (p. 675), the die profile is black
while the required extrudate profile is blue.

Another instructive result may be seen in Figure 4.22: Die Lip Shape Determination for the Foamed
Material (Velocity Distribution) (p. 675) that displays the velocity distribution on the boundary of
the computational domain as obtained at the end of the continuation scheme. As can be seen, the
magnitude of the velocity is significantly larger for the foamed material (exit section of the extrudate)
than for the dense material (inlet section of the die); in particular, the maximum value of the velocity
is of about 0.14 m/s.

Figure 4.22: Die Lip Shape Determination for the Foamed Material (Velocity Distribution)

You can also examine the other calculated quantities. The first quantity is the bubble radius, which
is displayed in Figure 4.23: Die Lip Shape Determination for the Foamed Material (Bubble Radius
Distribution) (p. 676). As can be seen, the bubble radius increases from 0.027 mm (the value at the
inlet) until approximately 0.22 mm at the exit of the calculation domain. In fact, the bubble radius

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exhibits a non-uniform distribution at the exit of the computational domain, ranging from approx-
imately 0.16 to 0.22 mm, with an area-average value of about 0.17 mm. As suggested in Fig-
ure 4.22: Die Lip Shape Determination for the Foamed Material (Velocity Distribution) (p. 675), you
can observe that the largest bubbles are found close to the three horns of the profile. Indeed, the
long residence time of particles flowing in those regions allows for the significant growth of the
bubbles.

This significant change of bubble radius is obviously accompanied by a visible change in the
density of the foamed material. This is visible in Figure 4.24: Die Lip Shape Determination for the
Foamed Material (Density Distribution) (p. 677) that displays the distribution of the density on the
boundary of the domain. At the entry, you can identify the value of 790 kg/m3), while at the exit
there is the density ranging between 10 and 25 kg/m3, with an average value of 22.5 kg/m3. The
density ratio of the dense material to that of the foamed material is around 35. The calculation
suggests that the bubble growth will cease beyond some distance with respect to the die exit. In
actual industrial process, the limited amount of available foaming gas as well as thermal effects
will obviously play a further role in bound the foaming.

Figure 4.23: Die Lip Shape Determination for the Foamed Material (Bubble Radius Distribution)

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 Filling of a Sample

Figure 4.24: Die Lip Shape Determination for the Foamed Material (Density Distribution)

References
[1] A. Arefmanesh, S. G. Advani, and E. E. Michaelides. “A numerical study of bubble growth during low
pressure structural foam molding process”. Polym. Eng. Sci.. 30. 1330–1337. 1990.

4.5. Filling of a Sample

This example is divided into the following sections:
4.5.1. Problem Description
4.5.2. Setup and Solution

4.5.1. Problem Description

This example demonstrates the simulation of the isothermal filling of a simple 2D part using the
Volume of Fluid (VOF) technique. As a reminder, this technique offers a means of simulating a fluid
flow with one or several free surfaces and is popular for injection and filling-type problems. The VOF
technique uses a time-dependent approach, which is applied on a fixed mesh, that is, the kinematic
condition is not tracked, and the simulation domain is not deformed or remeshed.

Theoretically, a drawback of such a technique is that the location where the zero-force condition is
applied does not correspond to a region on which natural boundary conditions apply. Consequently,
additional approximations are required, beyond those typically employed as part of the finite element
method. Because of the explicit nature of VOF algorithms, a so-called Courant type of limitation always
occurs, and the time step is limited to a fraction of the time it takes to transport information through
an individual element (or cell). It is common to require hundreds of time steps to compute an entire
simulation. Because each of these time steps are performed on a fixed domain with an inexpensive

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numerical technique, a VOF model can still require less CPU time than a simulation involving moving
or deforming fluid domain, such as the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) approach. The VOF model
implemented here is intrinsically more robust than the ALE approach when modeling free surfaces
that merge, separate, or are convoluted, and allows you to simulate problems that a deformation-
based technique simply could not attack (for example, a complex cavity filling).

The volume of fluid method tracks a liquid fluid on a domain using material property variable, namely
the fluid fraction. This variable is used to identify where the fluid is present, and is governed by a
transport equation.

In the current example, consider the following material properties for the polymer, with ρ = 1000
kg/m3; η = 1000 Pa s. Inertia is taken into account. The geometry (see Figure 4.25: Geometry of the
Test Sample (p. 678)) is similar to a test sample generally used in traction tests. The width is 2cm and
the total length is 20.5 cm. The cavity is empty at the start of the simulation. The inlet of the compu-
tation domain is Boundary1 with a volume flow of 1.5e-04 m3/s is imposed. The outlet is Boundary4
where a zero pressure is applied: it corresponds to a vent from where the air escapes from the cavity
in the actual process (but not simulated) and from where some polymer will escape in the last stage
of filling. The walls are defined by Boundary2 and Boundary3 where one can assume no slippage along
the walls. The filling of the sample should last less than 20 seconds. The simulation will stop as soon
as the cavity is filled.

Figure 4.25: Geometry of the Test Sample

4.5.2. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this example:
4.5.2.1. Preparation
4.5.2.2. Mesh
4.5.2.3. Simulation Settings
4.5.2.4. Materials
4.5.2.5. Cell Zones
4.5.2.6. Boundary Conditions
4.5.2.7. Solution Settings
4.5.2.8. Postprocessing

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 Filling of a Sample

4.5.2.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this example:

1. Download the filling_sample.zip file here.

2. Unzip filling_sample.zip to your working directory.

The file, filling_sample.msh, can be found in the folder.

3. Use Fluent Launcher to start the Fluent Materials Processing workspace, with the Capability
Level set to Enterprise.

4.5.2.2. Mesh
Read in the mesh file.

Setup → Read → Mesh...

When reading the mesh file, the Define Mesh Unit dialog box appears where you can set the Mesh
Length Unit to cm. Click Accept to apply the new setting and dismiss the dialog box.

4.5.2.3. Simulation Settings

For this example, choose a simulation template for filling. When using a template, the Fluent Ma-
terials Processing workspace creates a skeleton based on your choice, so that usually you only
need to fill in the few fields. When using the template, you will note that under the General
properties, the Calculation Type has been set to Volume of Fluid. To fulfill the setup, fluid mater-
ial data must be provided, cell zones must be defined, and boundary conditions must be assigned.
Eventually, solver options have to be selected before running the calculation.

Setup → Simulation → Use Template...

This displays the Simulation Template dialog box, where you can specify particular details for the
type of simulation.

1. Set the Type to Filling.

2. Set the Number of Inlets to 1.

3. Set the Number of Vents to 1.

4. Set the Duration to 20 s.

5. Click Apply to close the dialog box. The workspace will set up the various requirements for the
specified simulation type.

4.5.2.4. Materials
Define the material properties for the fluid.

Setup → Materials → fluid

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1. Expand the Density Law in the properties view.

2. Set the Density to 1000 kg/m3.

3. Expand the Viscosity Law in the properties view.

4. Set the Viscosity (of the Constant Law) to 1000 Pa s.

4.5.2.5. Cell Zones

Define the cell zone properties for the fluid-zone.

Setup → Cell Zones → fluid-zone

1. Set the Zones to include subdomain1 and subdomain2.

4.5.2.6. Boundary Conditions

Define the conditions for the various boundaries in the simulation.

1. Define conditions at the inlet.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → inlet

a. Set the Boundary Zone to boundary1.

b. Set the Flow Specification to Volume flow.

c. Set the Volume flow rate to 1.5e-4 m3/s.

2. Define conditions at the vent.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → vent

a. Set the Boundary Zone to boundary4.

3. Define conditions at the wall.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → wall

a. Set the Boundary Zone to boundary2-subdomain1, boundary2-subdomain2, boundary3-

subdomain1, and boundary3-subdomain2.

4.5.2.7. Solution Settings

Define any particular solution-based settings in the simulation.

1. Define any derived quantities.

Solution → Derived Quantities

a. Review the pre-selected derived quantities.

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 Filling of a Sample

b. Select any other quantities that are of interest.

2. Define any calculation activities.

Solution → Calculation Activities

a. Under Transient Controls, set the Initial Time Step to 0.1 s, the Minimum Time Step to
0.0001 s, the Maximum Time Step to 1 s, the Maximum Number of Steps to 1500, the
Accuracy to 0.25, and the Filtering Threshold on Fluid Fraction to 0.1. The Stop Run
When Cavity Full option should already be enabled.

3. Run the calculations.

The setup is now ready and it can now be checked, and the calculation can start.

Solution → Run Calculation

a. Click Check to perform a final check of the setup and the coherence of the data.

b. If there are no errors or warnings, click Calculate. With the current mesh, the calculation
requires approximately ten minutes, and 500 transient steps until completion.

4.5.2.8. Postprocessing
Figure 4.26: Fluid Fraction Contour (for Time = 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, and 7.0
seconds) (p. 682) and Figure 4.27: Fluid Fraction Contour (for Time = 8.0, 9.0, 10.0, 11.0, 12.0, 13.0,
14.0, 15.0, and 15.84 seconds) (p. 682) show the progressive filling of the cavity. The time required
to fill it up completely is 15.84 s and is coherent with its volume (actually surface) and the imposed
flow rate.

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Fluent Material Processing Examples

Figure 4.26: Fluid Fraction Contour (for Time = 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, and 7.0
seconds)

Figure 4.27: Fluid Fraction Contour (for Time = 8.0, 9.0, 10.0, 11.0, 12.0, 13.0, 14.0, 15.0, and
15.84 seconds)

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 3D Structure Interaction for Die

4.6. 3D Structure Interaction for Die

This example is divided into the following sections:
4.6.1. Problem Description
4.6.2. Setup and Solution

4.6.1. Problem Description

This example illustrates the Fluid Solid Interaction capability of the Fluent Materials Processing
workspace by modeling the deformation of an extrusion die. Some dies do indeed deform, especially
when extruding thin polymer sheet.

The geometry is depicted in Figure 4.28: Zones (p. 684) and consists of three zones - diechannel for
the fluid in the die, extrudate for the free jet and soliddie for the steel die itself.

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Figure 4.28: Zones

The different boundaries are shown in Figure 4.29: Boundaries (p. 685).

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 3D Structure Interaction for Die

Figure 4.29: Boundaries

A flow rate Q is imposed at the inlet of the die channel, no slip conditions are applied on the wall of
the die channel, an extrudate-exit is defined on the end of the free jet, symmetry conditions are im-
posed on the vertical and the horizontal planes of symmetry and a free border is defined on the steel
die surface.

With SI units, the following numerical values are selected for the various data involved.

A flow rate of 3 x 10-7 m3/s is imposed at the inlet.

The viscosity of the Newtonian fluid is 10000 Pa s.

The Young modulus of the steel die is 2.1 x 1011 Pa, while its Poisson coefficient is 0.3

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Note that there is the assumption that inertia and gravity forces can be neglected.

4.6.2. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this example:
4.6.2.1. Preparation
4.6.2.2. Mesh
4.6.2.3. Simulation Settings
4.6.2.4. Materials
4.6.2.5. Cell Zones
4.6.2.6. Boundary Conditions
4.6.2.7. Mesh Deformations
4.6.2.8. Solution Settings
4.6.2.9. Postprocessing

4.6.2.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this example:

1. Download the fsi3D.zip file here.

2. Unzip fsi3D.zip to your working directory.

The file, fsi3D.msh, can be found in the folder.

3. Use Fluent Launcher to start the Fluent Materials Processing workspace, with the Capability
Level set to Enterprise.

4.6.2.2. Mesh
Read in the mesh file.

Setup → Read → Mesh...

When reading the mesh file, the Define Mesh Unit dialog box appears where you can set the Mesh
Length Unit to mm. Click Accept to apply the new setting and dismiss the dialog box.

4.6.2.3. Simulation Settings

For this example, choose a simulation template for extrusion. When using a template, the Fluent
Materials Processing workspace creates a skeleton based on your choice, so that usually you only
need to fill in the few fields. Typically, fluid material data need to be provided, cell zones must be
defined, boundary conditions must be assigned, and the calculation of derived quantities must be
activated as appropriate. Eventually, solver options have to be selected before running the calculation.

Setup → Simulation → Use Template...

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 3D Structure Interaction for Die

This displays the Simulation Template dialog box, where you can specify particular details for the
type of simulation.

1. Set the Type to Extrusion.

2. Set the Goal to Predict extrudate shape.

3. Click Apply to close the dialog box. The workspace will set up the various requirements for the
specified simulation type.

4.6.2.4. Materials
Define the materials for the simulation.

1. Define the material properties for the fluid.

Setup → Materials → fluid

a. Expand the Viscosity Law in the properties view.

b. Set the Viscosity (of the Constant Law) to 10000 Pa s.

2. Add another material from the materials library. In this case, you will use the Ribbon, but you
can also use the Outline View context menu or by clicking a button in the Properties View.

Setup → Materials → Material → New → Import from library

This displays the Library of Materials dialog box.

a. Set the Family to Miscellaneous.

b. Set the Material to Steel_Solid_300K.

c. Click OK to close the dialog box.

Check the properties for Solid Steel and confirm that under the material's Elastic Properties,
the Young Modulus is 2.1e+11 Pa and that the Poisson Coefficient is set to 0.3.

4.6.2.5. Cell Zones

Define cell zone properties for your simulation.

1. Define the cell zone properties for the fluid-zone.

Setup → Cell Zones → fluid-zone

Set the Zones to include diechannel and extrudate.

2. Add a new solid cell zone using the Ribbon.

Setup → Cell Zones → Cell zone → New → Solid zone

Set the properties for the new solid cell zone (solid-zone-1)

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Fluent Material Processing Examples

a. Set the Zones to soliddie.

b. Set the Solid Model to Elastic.

c. Set the Solid Material to Solid Steel.

4.6.2.6. Boundary Conditions

Define the conditions for the various boundaries in the simulation.

1. Define conditions at the extrudate-exit.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → extrudate-exit

a. Set the Boundary Zone to exit.

2. Define conditions at the free-surface.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → free-surface

a. Set the Boundary Zone to freesurface.

b. Set the Fixed Part to soliddie-diechannel (the die channel wall and the interface between
the fluid and the steel die).

3. Define conditions at the inlet.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → inlet

a. Set the Boundary Zone to inlet-diechannel.

b. Set the Flow Specification to Volume flow.

c. Set the Volume flow rate to 3.7e-7 m3/s.

4. Remove the extra wall fluid boundary condition (wall).

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → wall

Click the Delete button to remove this particular condition.

5. Define a new fluid boundary condition (symmetry-1, using the Ribbon) and set its properties.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Fluid → New → Symmetry

Set the properties for the new fluid boundary condition (symmetry-1)

a. Set the Boundary Zone to symmetry1-diechannel, and symmetry1-extrudate.

6. Define a new fluid boundary condition (symmetry-2, using the Ribbon) and set its properties.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Fluid → New → Symmetry

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 3D Structure Interaction for Die

Set the properties for the new fluid boundary condition (symmetry-2)

a. Set the Boundary Zone to symmetry2-diechannel, and symmetry2-extrudate.

7. Define a new solid boundary condition (free-1, using the Ribbon) and set its properties.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Solid → New → Free

Set the properties for the new solid boundary condition (free-1)

a. Set the Boundary Zone to diesurface.

8. Define a new solid boundary condition (symmetry-1, using the Ribbon) and set its properties.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Solid → New → Symmetry

Set the properties for the new solid boundary condition (symmetry-1)

a. Set the Boundary Zone to symmetry1-soliddie, and symmetry2-soliddie.

9. Define a new solid boundary condition (normal-displacement-1, using the Ribbon) and set its
properties.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Solid → New → Normal Displacement

Set the properties for the new solid boundary condition (normal-displacement-1)

a. Set the Boundary Zone to inlet-soliddie.

b. Set the Normal Displacement to 0 m.

c. Enable the Allow Non-Zero Tangential Displacement option.

10. Define a new interface boundary condition (fluid-solid-1, using the Ribbon) and set its properties.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Interface → New → Fluid-Solid (conformal)

Set the properties for the new interface boundary condition (fluid-solid-1)

a. Set the Interface Zone to soliddie-diechannel.

4.6.2.7. Mesh Deformations

Define the conditions for the two mesh deformation regions.

1. Define the conditions on the extrudate.

Setup → Mesh Deformations → extrudate

a. Set the Zones to extrudate.

b. Set the Inlet Section to extrudate-diechannel.

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c. Set the Outlet Section to exit.

2. Define a new mesh deformation (extrudate-1, using the Ribbon) and set its properties.

Setup → Mesh Deformations → Mesh deformation → New → Extrudate

Set the properties for the new mesh deformation (extrudate-1)

a. Set the Zones to diechannel.

b. Set the Inlet Section to inlet-diechannel.

c. Set the Outlet Section to extrudate-diechannel.

4.6.2.8. Solution Settings

Define any particular solution-based settings in the simulation.

1. Define any derived quantities.

Solution → Derived Quantities

a. Review the pre-selected derived quantities.

b. Select any other quantities that are of interest.

2. Define any calculation activities.

Solution → Calculation Activities

a. Under Convergence Strategies, enable both the Free Surfaces and Moving Interfaces
and the Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) options.

3. Run the calculations.

The setup is now ready and it can now be checked, and the calculation can start.

Solution → Run Calculation

a. Click Check to perform a final check of the setup and the coherence of the data.

b. If there are no errors or warnings, click Calculate.

4.6.2.9. Postprocessing
In this example, it is assumed that you are already familiar the graphical analysis tools of the
workspace. Figure 4.30: Displacement Contours on the Die Surface (p. 691) displays the magnitude
of deformation on the outer surface of the steel die, while Figure 4.31: Displacement Vectors on
the Die Channel Wall (p. 692) shows the deformation of the fluid-solid interface.

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 3D Structure Interaction for Die

Figure 4.30: Displacement Contours on the Die Surface

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Figure 4.31: Displacement Vectors on the Die Channel Wall

Figure 4.32: Die Lip (p. 692) compares the die lip before and after deformation (undeformed in yellow
deformed in black).

Figure 4.32: Die Lip

Figure 4.33: Pressure Contours on the Fluid Domain (p. 693) displays the pressure drop in the die
and allows you to visualize the shape of the free jet. Its deformation results from the velocity re-
arrangement after the die exit and the deformation of the die lip itself.

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 3D Structure Interaction for Die

Figure 4.33: Pressure Contours on the Fluid Domain

Lastly, Figure 4.34: Free Surface (p. 694) and Figure 4.35: Extrudate Exit (p. 694) compares the free
surface and the extrudate final cross section with their shape before and after the calculation, the
latter being also the initial die lip shape (undeformed in yellow deformed in black).

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Figure 4.34: Free Surface

Figure 4.35: Extrudate Exit

4.7. Thermal Simulation of the Internal Flow of a Fluid in a Channel with

One Entry and Four Exits
This example is divided into the following sections:
4.7.1. Problem Description
4.7.2. Setup and Solution

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 Thermal Simulation of the Internal Flow of a Fluid in a Channel with One Entry and
Four Exits

4.7.1. Problem Description

Internal flows of high-viscosity materials are often characterized by important pressure drops and
temperature rise, the latter originating from viscous heating. The simulation of such internal flows
can therefore be useful, for example, in order to evaluate the stresses that will be applied to a given
flow device. This example demonstrates the thermal simulation of the internal flow of a high-viscosity
fluid into a distributor with one inlet and four outlets. The pressure field is examined and one will
note that the four outlet flow rates will not be identical, despite the apparent symmetry of the flow.
Indeed, under well-known conditions, it can reasonably be assumed that the distribution of material
is well balanced. However, geometric effects may affect the temperature distribution, and consequently,
the ideal balance of material distribution is no longer guaranteed.

Figure 4.36: Example of a Internal Flow

First consider the bifurcations channel as represented in Figure 4.36: Example of a Internal Flow (p. 695),
that consists of one inlet (I) and four outlets (O1 to O4). The box surrounding the geometry has the
dimensions 88 x 26 x 4 mm. In particular, the radius of the channel is 2 mm. The path along the
central geometric line is identical from the inlet to each outlet. However, when considering the paths
close to the wall, differences are found, affecting the global flow, and consequently, the flow rates
at the individual outlets.

One can assume that the fluid obeys the behavior of a generalized Newtonian material, and its shear-
rate and temperature dependences of the viscosity are respectively described by means of the Bird-
Carreau and Arrhenius laws, with the following parameters:

• Shear-rate dependence: Bird-Carreau: = 104 Pa s, = 0.5 s, and n = 0.4

• Arrhenius, vertical and horizontal shifts:

= 3000 K, = 453.15 K

• For the other parameters of the fluid, there are

– density = 103 kg/m3

– thermal conductivity k = 0.5 W/m/K

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Fluent Material Processing Examples

– heat capacity = 2000 J/kg/K

Fluid enters through the inlet at a rate of 1.5x10-6 m3/s, and with a temperature of 453.15 K. Standard
outflow boundary conditions are selected at all four exits. Slipping is imposed along the wall, and it
obeys the asymptotic law characterized by upper shear stress. Temperature dependence is defined
on the upper shear stress value and is described by the Arrhenius law. One can write the following
relationship for the tangential force as a function of the tangential velocity and the temperature
T:
(4.6)

In this relationship, you can identify the asymptotic law for the dependence with respect to the tan-
gential velocity: it actually bounds the tangential stress. You can also see the Arrhenius function for
the temperature dependence, that suggests a decrease of the upper tangential stress limit when
temperature increases. The following numerical values are selected for the several parameters:

k = 105 Pa, = 0.002 m/s

= 3000 K, and = 453.15 K

4.7.2. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this example:
4.7.2.1. Preparation
4.7.2.2. Mesh
4.7.2.3. Simulation Settings
4.7.2.4. Materials
4.7.2.5. Cell Zones
4.7.2.6. Boundary Conditions
4.7.2.7. Solution Settings
4.7.2.8. Postprocessing

4.7.2.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this example:

1. Download the Bifurcations.zip file here.

2. Unzip Bifurcations.zip to your working directory.

The file, Bifurcations_channel.msh, can be found in the folder.

3. Use Fluent Launcher to start the Fluent Materials Processing workspace, with the Capability
Level set to Enterprise.

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 Thermal Simulation of the Internal Flow of a Fluid in a Channel with One Entry and
Four Exits

4.7.2.2. Mesh
Read in the mesh file.

Setup → Read → Mesh...

When reading the mesh file, the Define Mesh Unit dialog box appears where you can set the Mesh
Length Unit to m. Click Accept to apply the new setting and dismiss the dialog box.

4.7.2.3. Simulation Settings

For this example, choose a simulation template for internal flow. When using a template, the Fluent
Materials Processing workspace creates a skeleton based on your choice, so that usually you only
need to fill in the few fields. Typically, fluid material data need to be provided. Cell zones must be
defined, boundary conditions must be assigned, and the calculation of derived quantities must be
activated as appropriate. Eventually, solver options have to be selected before running the calculation.

Setup → Simulation → Use Template...

This displays the Simulation Template dialog box, where you can specify particular details for the
type of simulation.

1. Set the Type to Internal Flow.

2. Enable the Thermal option.

3. Click Apply to close the dialog box. The workspace will set up the various requirements for the
specified simulation type.

4.7.2.4. Materials
Define the thermal generatlized Newtonian material properties for the fluid.

Setup → Materials → fluid

1. Expand the Density Law in the properties view.

2. Set the Density to 1000 kg/m3.

3. Expand the Thermal Properties in the properties view.

4. Set the Thermal Conductivity coefficient K to 0.5 W/(m K).

5. Set the Heat Capacity per Unit Mass coefficient Cp to 2000 J/(kg K).

6. Expand the Viscosity Law in the properties view.

7. Set the Shear Rate Dependence to Bird-Carreau.

8. Set the Temperature Dependence to Arrhenius .

9. Set the Zero Shear Viscosity to 10000 Pa s.

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10. Set the Time Constant to 0.5 s.

11. Set the Power Law Index to 0.4.

12. Set the Ea/R to 3000 K.

13. Set the Reference Temperature to 453.15 K.

14. Set the Shift to Vertical and horizontal.

4.7.2.5. Cell Zones

Define the cell zone properties for the fluid-zone.

Setup → Cell Zones → fluid-zone

1. Set the Zones to include channel.

2. Set the Fluid Model to Generalized newtonian.

3. Set the Fluid Material(s) to fluid.

4.7.2.6. Boundary Conditions

Define the conditions for the various boundaries in the simulation.

1. Define conditions at the inlet.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → inlet

a. Set the Boundary Zone to inlet.

b. Set the Flow Specification to Volume flow.

c. Set the Incoming Material to fluid.

d. Set the Volume Flow Rate to 1.5e-6 m3/s.

e. Set the Temperature to 453.15 K.

2. Define conditions at the outlet.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → outlet

a. Set the Boundary Zone to outlet1.

b. Set the Flow Specification to Pressure.

c. Set the Gauge Pressure to 0 Pa.

d. Under Thermal Condition, set the Option to Vanishing heat flux.

3. Add a new fluid boundary condition (outlet-2).

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 Thermal Simulation of the Internal Flow of a Fluid in a Channel with One Entry and
Four Exits

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions New...

a. Change the Name to outlet-2.

b. Set the Type to Outflow.

c. Set the Boundary Zone to include outlet2.

d. Set the Flow Specification to Pressure.

e. Set the Gauge Pressure to 0 Pa.

f. Under Thermal Condition, set the Option to Vanishing heat flux.

4. Add a new fluid boundary condition (outlet-3).

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions New...

a. Change the Name to outlet-3.

b. Set the Type to Outflow.

c. Set the Boundary Zone to include outlet3.

d. Set the Flow Specification to Pressure.

e. Set the Gauge Pressure to 0 Pa.

f. Under Thermal Condition, set the Option to Vanishing heat flux.

5. Add a new fluid boundary condition (outlet-4).

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions New...

a. Change the Name to outlet-4.

b. Set the Type to Outflow.

c. Set the Boundary Zone to include outlet4.

d. Set the Flow Specification to Pressure.

e. Set the Gauge Pressure to 0 Pa.

f. Under Thermal Condition, set the Option to Vanishing heat flux.

6. Define conditions at the wall.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → wall

a. Set the Boundary Zone to wall.

b. Set the Slip Specification to Partial slip.

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c. Set the Slip Model to Asymptotic law .

d. Set the Friction Coefficient to 100000 Pa.

e. Set the Scaling Factor to 0.002.

f. Set the Temperature Dependence to Arrhenius law.

g. Set the Ea/R to 3000 K.

h. Set the Reference Temperature to 453.15 K.

i. Set the Wall Velocity to Stationary.

j. Under Thermal Condition, set the Option to Insulated.

4.7.2.7. Solution Settings

Define any particular solution-based settings in the simulation.

1. Define the initial temperature.

Solution → Temperature Initializations → temperature-in-fluid-zone

a. Set the Cell Zones to fluid-zone.

b. Set the coefficient A to 453.15 K.

2. Define any calculation activities.

Solution → Calculation Activities

a. Set the Number of Processors to 4.

b. For Convergence Strategies, select Flow at Inlet.

3. Run the calculations.

The setup is now ready and it can now be checked, and the calculation can start.

Solution → Run Calculation

a. Click Check to perform a final check of the setup and the coherence of the data.

b. If there are no errors or warnings, click Calculate. With the current mesh, the calculation
requires approximately four minutes, and six continuation steps until completion.

4.7.2.8. Postprocessing
In this example, it is assumed that you are already familiar the graphical analysis tools of the
workspace.

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 Thermal Simulation of the Internal Flow of a Fluid in a Channel with One Entry and
Four Exits

Figure 4.37: Temperature Field on the Wall of the Flow Channel With One Inlet and Four Out-
lets (p. 701) displays the temperature distribution on the domain boundary, as obtained at the end
of the calculation. The first striking observation is that one does not find a similar temperature de-
velopment along the four branches of the flow domain. The rational for this is that the flow paths
differ. At the first bifurcation, high wall temperature is convected on the upper part of the wall,
while lower center temperature is convected on the lower part of the wall. A similar mechanism is
found for the subsequent bifurcations. As a result, the highest temperature is found at the outside
exits, while the inner exits exhibit a lower average temperature.

Figure 4.37: Temperature Field on the Wall of the Flow Channel With One Inlet and Four
Outlets

Figure 4.38: Temperature Field at all Four Outlets of the Flow Channel (p. 701) displays the temper-
ature distributions at all four outlet sections. One can see that the outlet sections 1 and 4 exhibit
the highest average temperature, respectively 457.6 and 457.2 K, while the outlet sections 2 and 3
exhibit the lowest average temperature, respectively 456.6 and 455.5 K. Also, to some extent, the
distribution at each outlet is the fingerprint of the flow splitting. For example, a close inspection
of the distribution at outlet 1 suggests that the fluid on the left-hand side has undergone the
longest path, thus with the longest viscous heating, while the fluid on the right-hand side has un-
dergone one flow splitting, at the last bifurcation. A similar comment can be made for the temper-
ature distribution at outlet 4. For outlets 2 and 3, the average temperatures are lower, because the
fluid that flows through them has mainly seen two stream splittings.

Figure 4.38: Temperature Field at all Four Outlets of the Flow Channel

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Fluent Material Processing Examples

It is expected for all exit flow rates to be identical, for example, a quarter of the inlet flow rate.
However, when viewing the temperature dependence of the viscosity, the flow distribution among
the four exits is also affected. In the transcript, at the end of each continuation step, you can find
the actual flow rate calculated along each boundary surface. When inspecting the values for the
last continuation step, you will see that the flow rate at the second outlet is less than the flow rate
at the first outlet and the flow rate at the third outlet is less than the flow rate at the fourth outlet.
This is seen in Table 4.1: Relative Outlet Flow Rates at all Four Outlets (p. 702) which lists the ratio
of all exit flow rates to the expected ideal one defined as a quarter of the inlet flow rate. You can
see a relative difference of up to 6% between the flow rate at outlet 1 with respect to outlet 3.

Table 4.1: Relative Outlet Flow Rates at all Four Outlets

Outlet Relative Flow Rate

(%)
1 103.13
2 100.00
3 97.35
4 99.52

4.8. Multilayer Film Casting

This example is divided into the following sections:
4.8.1. Problem Description
4.8.2. Setup and Solution

4.8.1. Problem Description

This example describes how to setup and solve a multi-layer film casting simulation where the rheology
of the fluid layers is governed by multi-mode Double-Convected Pom-Pom models [DCPP] and the
thermal effects are considered.

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 Multilayer Film Casting

Figure 4.39: Example of a Multi-layer Film Casting

As shown in Figure 4.39: Example of a Multi-layer Film Casting (p. 703)., the calculation domain is a
square whose side length is 1 m. The other quantities are provided in the MKS system of units. As
can be seen at first, next to velocity and thickness unknowns, temperature field is also calculated,
since entry temperature and cooling are incorporated into the model. Here, it is considered that both
fluid layers exit the slit die with an average velocity (V) of 0.1 m/s, and with a temperature (T) of
473.15 K. The thickness of both layers (h1, h2) is of 0.002 m and 0.001 m, respectively. Along the
outlet section, a normal velocity of 0.8m/s is imposed. To help convergence, an expression is defined
to make this velocity to progressively increase from 0.1 to 0.8 m/s.

A specific attribute of the DCPP model is that it involves the simultaneous calculation of macromolec-
ular orientation and stretch. These quantities obey first-order differential equations and thus require
boundary conditions at the inlet of the calculation domain, which describe the melt state when
leaving the slit die of the film casting process. The present situation considers that the individual
layers exhibit a moderate amount of anisotropy (S1, S2) and stretch (Λ1, Λ2) at the slit die exit.

The rheology of both fluid layers is described respectively with two and three modes. The linear and
non-linear data for both modes are listed in Table 4.2: Properties of Both Fluids: Material Parameters
for the Multi-mode DCPP Model (p. 703). For both fluid layers, a purely viscous component ( ) is added
to the extra-stress tensor. Since cooling is involved in the present calculation, the temperature de-
pendence of the rheological properties is invoked, as well as other relevant parameters. They are listed
in Table 4.3: Properties of Both Fluids: Parameters for Momentum and Energy Equation (p. 704).

Table 4.2: Properties of Both Fluids: Material Parameters for the Multi-mode DCPP Model

Mode Layer 1 Layer 1

1 2 1 2 3
G [Pa] 601 60.1 402 40.2 4.02
[s] 2.1 0.21 2.2 0.22 0.022

[s] 0.81 0.081 0.82 0.082 0.0082

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Mode Layer 1 Layer 1

1 2 1 2 3
q 4.1 2.1 4.1 2.2 1.2
0.151 0.251 0.252 0.262 0.272

[Pa 20.1 20.2

s]

Table 4.3: Properties of Both Fluids: Parameters for Momentum and Energy Equation

Layer Layer
1 1
Density: [kg/m3] 1000 1100
Heat Conductivity: k 0.5 0.55
W/m/°C]
Heat Capacity: [J/kg/°C] 2000 2300
4000 5000
Activation Energy / R:
Ref. Temperature: [°C] 473.15 473.15

For performing the numerical simulation, the mesh shown in Figure 4.40: Film Casting: Finite Element
Mesh (p. 704) is used, and it is characterized by 180 elements, with small elements in the vicinity of
the starting point of the free border.

Figure 4.40: Film Casting: Finite Element Mesh

Streamline upwinding is used for integrating the convective terms in the constitutive and energy
equations, as well as for integrating the kinematic equation of the free border. As shown in Fig-
ure 4.39: Example of a Multi-layer Film Casting (p. 703), evolution schemes are applied on the take-up
velocity as well as on the heat transfer coefficient. A linear function is applied to the heat transfer
coefficient, while a ramp function is applied on the take-up velocity which increases from 0.1 to 0.8:
(4.7)

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Stretching and anisotropy boundary conditions

For the case of the DCPP model used within a film casting simulation, care is required when imposing
the boundary conditions for the viscoelastic variables at the inlet of the calculation domain. The inlet
is identified as the border where the thickness condition is imposed. Here, instead of imposing values
for all components of the orientation tensor, anisotropy described in terms of orientation and factor
is given, as well as stretching amplitude. Imposing boundary conditions for the viscoelastic unknowns
(orientation and stretching) is optional. If conditions are imposed, three data are required:

• the direction of anisotropy of the orientation tensor (x or y),

• the anisotropy factor ranging between 0 (isotropic) and 1 (anisotropic),

• the inlet stretching.

By default, the anisotropy direction is along the x-axis, the anisotropy factor is 0, while the stretching
is 1. This corresponds to a situation where the melt has not undergone deformation in the die before
being extended in the film drawing. Actually, the flow in a die is dominated by shear, which may
certainly affect the orientation tensor, while stretching will remain close to unity. Therefore, a typical
inlet boundary condition for film casting would involve a non-zero anisotropy factor and a unit
stretching. You can change this according to your needs.

On the basis of the value entered for the anisotropy direction and anisotropy factors, the value of
the orientation tensor S at the inlet can be evaluated and assigned as Saa=(2s+1)/3, Sbb=Szz=(1-s)/3
(where a is the selected direction of anisotropy, while b is perpendicular to it in the plane of the film).
The component Sxy=0. If s=0 (isotropic), all three components of S are set to 1/3. If s=1 (100% aniso-
tropy), then Saa=1, while the other components vanish. Any value between 0 and 1 is valid.

For the stretching variable, recommended values should be at least equal to unity. Values lower than
unity are of course permitted but would probably not match the physics undergone in the die.

When a multi-layer system is defined, inlet boundary conditions can be defined independently for
each layer, as it is already the case for the thickness. In the case of multi-mode model for a given
layer, all modes will undergo the same selected inlet conditions.

Stress condition at the inlet of the calculation domain

It is worth mentioning that the solver exhibits better performances when reasonable inlet boundary
conditions are selected for the viscoelastic unknowns of the DCPP model in film casting. Some situations
have been reported to perform better when stresses are not imposed at the inlet of the calculation
domain. In particular, this is the case when the rheology does not involve any additional purely viscous
component.

4.8.2. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this example:
4.8.2.1. Preparation
4.8.2.2. Mesh
4.8.2.3. Simulation Settings
4.8.2.4. General

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4.8.2.5. Materials
4.8.2.6. Cell Zones
4.8.2.7. Layers
4.8.2.8. Boundary Conditions
4.8.2.9. Mesh Deformations
4.8.2.10. Solution Settings
4.8.2.11. Postprocessing

4.8.2.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this example:

1. Download the Film_VE.zip file here.

2. Unzip Film_VE.zip to your working directory.

The file, Film_VE.msh, can be found in the folder.

3. Use Fluent Launcher to start the Fluent Materials Processing workspace, with the Capability
Level set to Enterprise.

4.8.2.2. Mesh
Read in the mesh file.

Setup → Read → Mesh...

When reading the mesh file, the Define Mesh Unit dialog box appears where you can set the Mesh
Length Unit to m. Click Accept to apply the new setting and dismiss the dialog box.

4.8.2.3. Simulation Settings

For this example, choose a simulation template for film casting. When using a template, the Fluent
Materials Processing workspace creates a skeleton based on your choice, so that usually you only
need to fill in the few fields. Typically, fluid material data for each layer need to be provided. Cell
zones must be defined, boundary conditions must be assigned, mesh deformations must be defined,
and the calculation of derived quantities must be activated as appropriate. Eventually, solver options
have to be selected before running the calculation.

Setup → Simulation → Use Template...

This displays the Simulation Template dialog box, where you can specify particular details for the
type of simulation.

1. Set the Type to Film Casting.

2. Set the Number of Layers to 2.

3. Enable the Thermal option.

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4. Click Apply to close the dialog box. The workspace will set up the various requirements for the
specified simulation type.

4.8.2.4. General
Define some general properties for the simulation.

Setup → General

• Set the Calculation Type to Continuation.

4.8.2.5. Materials
Define the thermal differential viscoelastic material properties for first layer (fluid-1).

Setup → Materials → fluid-1

1. Expand the Density Law in the properties view.

2. Set the Density to 1000 kg/m3.

3. Expand the Thermal Properties in the properties view.

4. Set the Thermal Conductivity property K to 0.5 W/(m K).

5. Set the Heat Capacity per Unit Mass property Cp to 2000 J/(kg K).

6. Expand the Differential Viscoelastic Properties in the properties view.

7. Set the Model to POMPOM.

8. Set the Number of Relaxation Modes to 2 .

9. Set the Additional Viscosity to 20.1 Pa s.

10. Under Mode 1:

a. Set the Relaxation Time for Reorientation to 2.1 s.

b. Set the Relaxation Time for Stretching to 0.81.

c. Set the Shear Modulus to 601 Pa.

d. Set the Number of Arms to 4.1.

e. Set the Xi to 0.151.

11. Under Mode 2:

a. Set the Relaxation Time for Reorientation to 0.21 s.

b. Set the Relaxation Time for Stretching to 0.081.

c. Set the Shear Modulus to 60.1 Pa.

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d. Set the Number of Arms to 2.1.

e. Set the Xi to 0.251.

12. Under Thermal Dependency:

a. Set the Temperature Dependence to Arrhenius.

b. Set the Ea/R to 4000 K.

c. Set the Reference Temperature to 453.15 K.

Define the thermal differential viscoelastic material properties for second layer (fluid-2).

Setup → Materials → fluid-2

1. Expand the Density Law in the properties view.

2. Set the Density to 1100 kg/m3.

3. Expand the Thermal Properties in the properties view.

4. Set the Thermal Conductivity property K to 0.55 W/(m K).

5. Set the Heat Capacity per Unit Mass property Cp to 2300 J/(kg K).

6. Expand the Differential Viscoelastic Properties in the properties view.

7. Set the Model to POMPOM.

8. Set the Number of Relaxation Modes to 3 .

9. Set the Additional Viscosity to 20.2 Pa s.

10. Under Mode 1:

a. Set the Relaxation Time for Reorientation to 2.2 s.

b. Set the Relaxation Time for Stretching to 0.82.

c. Set the Shear Modulus to 402 Pa.

d. Set the Number of Arms to 4.2.

e. Set the Xi to 0.252.

11. Under Mode 2:

a. Set the Relaxation Time for Reorientation to 0.22 s.

b. Set the Relaxation Time for Stretching to 0.082.

c. Set the Shear Modulus to 40.2 Pa.

d. Set the Number of Arms to 2.2.

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e. Set the Xi to 0.262.

12. Under Mode 3:

a. Set the Relaxation Time for Reorientation to 0.022 s.

b. Set the Relaxation Time for Stretching to 0.0082.

c. Set the Shear Modulus to 4.02 Pa.

d. Set the Number of Arms to 1.2.

e. Set the Xi to 0.272.

13. Under Thermal Dependency:

a. Set the Temperature Dependence to Arrhenius.

b. Set the Ea/R to 5000 K.

c. Set the Reference Temperature to 473.15 K.

4.8.2.6. Cell Zones

Define the cell zone properties for the fluid-zone.

Setup → Cell Zones → fluid-zone

1. Set the Zones to include subdomain1.

2. Set the Fluid Model to Differential viscoelastic.

3. Set the Surface Heat Source to Convection.

4. Set the Heat Transfer Coefficient to expression and enter 100*time W/(m2 K).

5. Set the Convection Temperature to 283.15 K.

4.8.2.7. Layers
Define the properties for the various layers in the simulation.

1. Define layer properties for layer-of-fluid-1.

Setup → Layers → layer-of-fluid-1

a. Set the Zones to include boundary4.

b. Set A to 0.002 m.

c. Enable Stress Condition Activation.

d. Set Direction of Anisotropy to X.

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e. Set Anisotropy Factor to 0.1.

f. Set Stretching to 1.05.

2. Define layer properties for layer-of-fluid-2.

Setup → Layers → layer-of-fluid-2

a. Set the Zones to include boundary4.

b. Set A to 0.001 m.

c. Select Stress Condition Activation.

d. Set Direction of Anisotropy to X.

e. Set Anisotropy Factor to 0.05.

f. Set Stretching to 1.025.

4.8.2.8. Boundary Conditions

Define the conditions for the various boundaries in the simulation.

1. Define fluid boundary conditions at the inlet.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → inlet

a. Set the Boundary Zone to boundary4.

b. Under Inflow Condition:

i. Set the Normal Velocity to 0.1 m/s.

ii. Deselect the Allow Non-Zero Tangential Velocity option.

c. Under Thermal Condition:

a. Set the Option to Temperature.

b. Set the Temperature to 473.15 K.

2. Define conditions at the outlet.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → outlet

a. Set the Boundary Zone to boundary2.

b. Under Outflow Condition:

i. Set the Flow Specification to Velocity.

ii. Set the Normal Velocity drop-down menu to expression, and enter the following:
IF(time <= 0, 0.1, IF(time >= 1, 0.8, 0.1 + 0.7 * time)).

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iii. Select the Allow Non-Zero Tangential Velocity option.

c. Under Thermal Condition, set the Option to Vanishing heat flux.

3. Define conditions for free-surface-1.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → free-surface-1

a. Set the Boundary Zone to boundary1.

b. Under Free Surface Condition:

i. Set the Fixed Part to boundary4.

ii. Set the Direction of Displacement to Y.

c. Under Thermal Condition, set the Option to Insulated.

4. Define conditions for free-surface-2.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → free-surface-2

a. Change the Name to Symmetry.

b. Set the Type to Symmetry.

c. Set the Boundary Zone to boundary3.

4.8.2.9. Mesh Deformations

Define the conditions for the various mesh deformations in the simulation.

1. Set the conditions for the fluid deformation.

Setup → Mesh Deformations → fluid-deformation

a. Set the Zones to subdomain1.

b. Set the Inlet Section to boundary4.

c. Set the Outlet Section to boundary2.

4.8.2.10. Solution Settings

Define any particular solution-based settings in the simulation.

1. Define the initial temperature.

Solution → Temperature Initializations → temperature-in-fluid-zone

a. Set the Cell Zones to fluid-zone.

b. Set the coefficient A to 473.15 K.

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2. (optional) Define a probe for the lower right side of the domain.

Solution → Probes New...

a. Set the Name to Neck.

b. Set the X to 1.

c. Set the Mode to moving node.

3. (optional) Define a probe for the upper right side of the domain.

Solution → Probes New...

a. Set the Name to Symm.

b. Set the X to 1.

c. Set the Y to 1.

d. Set the Mode to fixed geometric location.

4. Define any calculation activities.

Solution → Calculation Activities

a. Set the Number of Processors to 4.

b. Set the Initial Step Size to 0.01.

5. Define the outputs.

Solution → Outputs

Set the Fields Visualization to Standard + special fields.

6. Run the calculations.

The setup is now ready and it can now be checked, and the calculation can start.

Solution → Run Calculation

a. Click Check to perform a final check of the setup and the coherence of the data.

b. If there are no errors or warnings, click Calculate.

Ten continuation steps are needed for reaching the desired take-up velocity. In particular,
the first continuation steps involve a relatively small step, which eventually increases until
the upper-limit is reached.

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4.8.2.11. Postprocessing
In this example, some graphical analysis tools will be set up to assist in studying the results of the
simulation. Of interest in this example are the simulation results as obtained at the end of the
continuation scheme when the required take-up velocity is reached as well as the required heat
flux on the film surface.

1. Define graphics LIC settings.

Results → Graphics → LIC Settings

Set the Vector Field to VELOCITIES.

2. Define contour plots of horizontal velocity.

Results → Graphics → Contours New...

a. Set the Name to Horizontal Velocity.

b. Set the Field to VELOCITY[X].

c. Set the Surfaces to subdomain1.

d. Select the Contour Lines option.

e. Deselect the Auto-Compute Range option.

f. Set the Minimum Value to 0.1 m/s.

g. Expand the Color Map settings and set the Size to 20.

h. Click the Display button to see the contour plot in the Graphics window.

Figure 4.41: Contours of Velocities

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Figure 4.41: Contours of Velocities (p. 713) displays the horizontal velocity distribution at the end
of the continuation scheme. As can be seen, it starts from 0.1 and increases until the assigned
value of 0.8. Also, this result shows the shape of the film as well with the resulting neck-in. It is
important to note that both fluid layers obey a unique velocity field and undergo thus the same
shape deformation.

3. Define contour plots of temperature.

Results → Graphics → Contours New...

a. Set the Name to Temperature.

b. Set the Field to TEMPERATURE.

c. Set the Surfaces to subdomain1.

d. Select the Contour Lines option.

e. Expand the Color Map settings:

i. Set the Size to 20.

ii. Set the Precision to 4.

f. Click the Display button to see the contour plot in the Graphics window.

Figure 4.42: Contours of Temperature

Figure 4.42: Contours of Temperature (p. 714) displays the temperature distribution obtained at
the end of the continuation scheme. It shows a decrease of about 20.7 °K. The temperature field
is also unique for both fluid layers.

4. Define contour plots of the first layer thickness.

Results → Graphics → Contours New...

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 Multilayer Film Casting

a. Set the Name to Thickness Layer-1.

b. Set the Field to THICKNESS_1.

c. Set the Surfaces to subdomain1.

d. Select the Contour Lines option.

e. Under Range:

i. Deselect the Auto-Compute Range option.

ii. Set the Minimum Value to 0.0 m.

iii. Set the Maximum Value to 0.002 m.

f. Expand the Color Map settings and set the Size to 20.

g. Click the Display button to see the contour plot in the Graphics window.

Figure 4.43: Contours of Thickness (1)

5. Define contour plots of the second layer thickness.

Results → Graphics → Contours → Thickness-Layer-1 Copy...

a. Change the Name to Thickness Layer-2.

b. Change the Field to THICKNESS_2.

c. Under Range:

i. Set the Minimum Value to 0.0 m.

ii. Set the Maximum Value to 0.002 m.

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d. Click the Display button to see the contour plot in the Graphics window.

Figure 4.44: Contours of Thickness (2)

Each fluid layer carries its own thickness distribution. Figure 4.43: Contours of Thickness (1) (p. 715)
and Figure 4.44: Contours of Thickness (2) (p. 716) display the thickness distribution of each layer,
obtained at the end of the continuation scheme. As can be seen, the thickness decreases along
the horizontal direction. In the present situation, both thickness distributions exhibit a similar
development. This originates from the fact that they start with uniform boundary conditions at
the inlet to the calculation domain, with different values. As is typical in film casting, the thickness
distribution exhibits higher values along the free border; in the literature this is referred to as
edge-beading or dog-bone effect. It is interesting to note that the thickness distributions are
essentially free of oscillations.

6. Define contour plots of the first layer extra stress.

Results → Graphics → Contours New...

a. Set the Name to st11 Layer-1.

b. Set the Field to STRESSES_1_XX.

c. Set the Surfaces to subdomain1.

d. Select the Contour Lines option.

e. Under Range:

i. Deselect the Auto-Compute Range option.

ii. Set the Minimum Value to 0.0 Pa.

iii. Set the Maximum Value to 5500 Pa.

f. Expand the Color Map settings and set the Size to 20.

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g. Click the Display button to see the contour plot in the Graphics window.

Figure 4.45: Contours of Extra Stresses (Layer 1)

7. Define contour plots of the second layer extra stress.

Results → Graphics → Contours → st11 Layer-1 Copy...

a. Change the Name to st11 Layer-2.

b. Change the Field to STRESSES_2_XX.

c. Under Range:

i. Set the Minimum Value to 0.0 Pa.

ii. Set the Maximum Value to 5500 Pa.

d. Click the Display button to see the contour plot in the Graphics window.

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Figure 4.46: Contours of Extra Stresses (Layer 2)

Eventually, it is interesting to examine the development of the extra-stress component along

the horizontal direction (corresponding to the stretching). Since each layer is characterized by
its individual rheology, each layer also sees its own stress development. Figure 4.45: Contours
of Extra Stresses (Layer 1) (p. 717) and Figure 4.46: Contours of Extra Stresses (Layer 2) (p. 718)
display the distribution of the extra-stress component along the stretching direction, for both
layers. As can be observed, the stress-component increases along the stretching direction; this
results from the simultaneous neck-in and thickness decrease.

4.9. Extrusion of a Rubber Profile With a Metal Insert

This example is divided into the following sections:
4.9.1. Problem Description
4.9.2. Setup and Solution

4.9.1. Problem Description

You will simulate the 3D non-isothermal extrusion of a rubber profile reinforced with a metal insert
in this example. The heat transfer that occurs between the extruded rubber and the moving insert is
the focus. Because rubber has a high viscosity, the heat effect may play a visible part in the process.
Consider a small-sized object reinforced with a flat n-shaped metal insert as an example. The flow
simulation including conjugated heat transfer with a moving element does not include any special
difficulties: it is a steady simulation in which convection is added to the heat conduction problem for
the metal insert.

The computational domain for the fluid and the metal insert is shown in Figure 4.47: 3D Non-isothermal
Extrusion of a Rubber Profile Reinforced With a Metal Insert. Left: Calculation Domain With Die Region
(Blue), Extrudate (Light Blue), Metal Insert (Grey) (p. 719). Geometrically, the computation domain is
encompassed by a box with dimensions of 13 x 4.3 x 50 mm.

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 Extrusion of a Rubber Profile With a Metal Insert

Figure 4.47: 3D Non-isothermal Extrusion of a Rubber Profile Reinforced With a Metal Insert.
Left: Calculation Domain With Die Region (Blue), Extrudate (Light Blue), Metal Insert (Grey)

The calculation domain is divided into two subdomains: one for the rubber flow (within the die and
free jet) and one for the metal insert. Boundaries and boundary conditions are straightforward to
define. The rubber enters the domain at a velocity of 40 mm/s (0.04 m/s) at a temperature of 50 °C,
whereas the metal insert enters at a velocity of 1500 mm3/s (1.5 E-6 m3/s). The rubber slips along the
die wall and the metal insert; we suppose the sliding follows the asymptotic law with an upper shear
stress of 0.4 MPa and a critical velocity parameter of 1 mm/s (0.001 m/s); the velocity of the metal
insert is, of course, taken into account at the interface. Assume the die temperature is regulated by
a heat transmission coefficient of 200 W/m2/°C and a remote temperature of 60 °C. We further suppose
that the extrudate is quickly cooled into water and that the heat exchange is represented by a heat
transfer coefficient of 1000 W/m2/°C and a distant temperature of 20 °C. At the interface between
the rubber and the metal insert, normal conditions are eventually imposed.

Consider the following statistics for rubber material qualities. For rheology, it is assumed that the
shear-rate and temperature dependences of viscosity obey the Bird-Carreau and Arrhenius laws, re-
spectively:
(4.8)

with
(4.9)
(4.10)

You will eventually end up with

(4.11)
(4.12)
(4.13)

For the metal insert, only properties involved into the energy equation are needed:
(4.14)

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(4.15)
(4.16)
The discretization for the rubber domain and the metal insert is shown in Figure 4.48: Finite Element
Discretization (p. 720). The rubber region's finite element mesh has around 27000 hex and wedge
elements, whereas the metal insert has approximately 8800 hex elements.

Figure 4.48: Finite Element Discretization

In this example, you will utilize the Extrusion Type Simulation Template using the Predict extrudate
shape Goal to build the majority of the objects required for the simulation.

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 Extrusion of a Rubber Profile With a Metal Insert

You must provide the density and viscosity law of the polymer matrix under Setup → Materials
→ fluid. The foaming properties stated above are also specified at the same location (starting gas
radius, initial gas pressure, number of cells, etc.)

Set the fluid domain and initiate foaming in the Setup → Cell Zones → fluid-zone.

Then, like with any extrusion simulation, provide the boundary conditions. However, remember to
include the original bubble radius at the inlet condition. All of the edges in the extrudate-exit object
have already been fixed (effect of the template's Predict extrudate shape Goal).

Data for the mesh deformations (for the constant die section and extrudate) should be updated, and
the adaptive-die-section object (made by the template but irrelevant in this example) should be deleted.

Finally, don't forget to activate the convergence algorithms to handle all of the non-linearities in this
simulation such free surfaces and moving interfaces, viscosity and slip, and foaming.

4.9.2. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this example:
4.9.2.1. Preparation
4.9.2.2. Mesh
4.9.2.3. Simulation Settings
4.9.2.4. Materials
4.9.2.5. Cell Zones
4.9.2.6. Boundary Conditions
4.9.2.7. Mesh Deformations
4.9.2.8. Solution Settings
4.9.2.9. Postprocessing

4.9.2.1. Preparation
To prepare for running this example:

1. Download the metal_insert.zip file here.

2. Unzip metal_insert.zip to your working directory.

The file, metal_insert.poly, can be found in the folder.

3. Use Fluent Launcher to start the Fluent Materials Processing workspace, with the Capability
Level set to Enterprise.

4.9.2.2. Mesh
Read in the mesh file.

Setup → Read → Mesh...

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4.9.2.3. Simulation Settings

Select an extrusion simulation template for this example. When you choose a template, the Fluent
Materials Processing workspace generates a skeleton based on your selection, so you typically
only need to fill up a few fields. Typically, fluid material data must be supplied. Cell zones must be
created, boundary constraints provided, and a mesh deformation method (for extrudate section)
specified. Before conducting the calculation, solver options must be selected.

Setup → Simulation → Use Template...

This displays the Simulation Template dialog box, where you can specify particular details for the
type of simulation.

1. Set the Type to Extrusion.

2. Set the Goal to Predict extrudate shape.

3. Enable the Conjugate Heat Transfer option.

4. Click Apply to close the dialog box. The workspace will set up the various requirements for the
specified simulation type.

4.9.2.4. Materials
Define the material properties for the fluid.

Setup → Materials → fluid

1. Expand the Thermal Properties in the properties view.

2. Set the Thermal Conductivity property K to 0.5 W/(m K).

3. Set the Heat Capacity per Unit Mass property Cp to 2000 J/(kg K).

4. Expand the Viscosity Law in the properties view.

5. Set the Shear Rate Dependence to Bird-Carreau.

6. Set the Temperature Dependence to Arrhenius.

7. Set the Zero Shear Viscosity to 1000000 Pa s.

8. Set the Time Constant to 10 s.

9. Set the Power Law Index to 0.2.

10. Set Ea/R to 2500 K.

11. Set the Reference Temperature to 383 K.

Define the material properties for the solid.

Setup → Materials → solid

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 Extrusion of a Rubber Profile With a Metal Insert

1. Expand the Density Law in the properties view.

2. Set the Density to 7500 kg/m3.

3. Expand the Thermal Properties in the properties view.

4. Set the Thermal Conductivity property K to 100 W/(m K).

5. Set the Heat Capacity per Unit Mass property Cp to 1000 J/(kg K).

4.9.2.5. Cell Zones

Define the cell zone properties for the fluid-zone.

Setup → Cell Zones → fluid-zone

1. Set the Zones to include die and extr.

Define the cell zone properties for the solid-zone.

Setup → Cell Zones → solid-zone

1. Set the Zones to include insert.

2. Enable Activation under Solid Motion.

3. Set Vz to 0.04 m/s.

4.9.2.6. Boundary Conditions

Define the fluid boundary conditions.

1. Define fluid boundary conditions at the extrudate-exit.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → extrudate-exit

a. Set the Boundary Zone to outlet-extr.

2. Define conditions for free-surface.

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → free-surface

a. Set the Boundary Zone to frees.

b. Set the Fixed Part to wall (the attachment line of the free surface).

c. Set the Thermal Condition to Convection.

d. Set the Heat Transfer Coefficient to 1000 W/(m2 K).

e. Set the Convection Temperature to 293 K.

3. Define conditions at the inlet.

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Fluent Material Processing Examples

Setup → Fluid Boundary Conditions → inlet

a. Set the Boundary Zone to inlet-die.

b. Set the Flow Specification to Volume flow.

c. Set the Method to Computed dynamically to compute the inflow in the same solver se-
quence as the main flow.

d. Set the Volume flow rate to 1.5e-6 m3/s.

e. Set the Temperature to 383 K.

4. Define a new fluid boundary condition.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Fluid → New → Wall

a. Change the Name to wall.

b. Set the Boundary Zone to wall.

c. Set the Slip Specification to Partial slip.

d. Set the Slip Model to Asymptotic law.

e. Set the Friction Coefficient to 400000 Pa.

f. Set the Scaling Factor to 0.001 m/s.

g. Set Thermal Condition to Convection.

h. Set the Heat Transfer Coefficient to 200 W/(m2 K).

i. Set the Convection Temperature to 333 K.

Define the solid boundary conditions.

1. Define a new solid boundary condition.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Solid → New → Temperature

a. Change the Name to inlet.

b. Set the Boundary Zone to inlet-insert.

c. Set the Temperature to 323 K.

2. Define a new solid boundary condition.

Setup → Boundary Conditions → Solid → New → Insulated

a. Change the Name to outlet.

b. Set the Boundary Zone to outlet-insert.

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 Extrusion of a Rubber Profile With a Metal Insert

Define the interface boundary conditions.

1. Define condition at the interface.

Setup → Interface Boundary Conditions → fluid-solid-interface

a. Set the Interface Zone to insert-die and insert-extr.

b. Set the Wall Condition to Partial slip.

c. Set the Slip Model to Asymptotic law.

d. Set the Friction Coefficient to 400000 Pa.

e. Set the Scaling Factor to 0.001 m/s.

4.9.2.7. Mesh Deformations

Define the conditions for the various mesh deformations in the simulation.

1. Define the mesh deformation conditions for the extrudate.

Setup → Mesh Deformations → extrudate

a. Set the Zones to extr.

b. Set the Extrudate Deformation Method to Elastic.

c. Set the Inlet Section to extr-die.

d. Set the Outlet Section to outlet-extr.

e. Set the No Displacement on Section to insert-extr.

4.9.2.8. Solution Settings

Define any particular solution-based settings in the simulation.

1. Define the initial temperature.

Solution → Temperature Initializations → temperature-in-fluid-zone

a. Set the coefficient A to 383 K.

2. Define the initial temperature.

Solution → Temperature Initializations → temperature-in-solid-zone

a. Set the coefficient A to 323 K.

3. Define the derived quantities.

Solution → Derived Quantities

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Fluent Material Processing Examples

a. Select any quantities that are of interest.

4. Decouple the temperature calculation.

Solution → Methods

a. Enable the Decouple Computation of Temperature.

5. Define any calculation activities.

Solution → Calculation Activities

a. Set the Solver Type to AMF direct solver + secant (as the decoupling of the temperature
calculation will increase the number of iterations, one chooses cheaper iterations).

b. For Convergence Strategies, select Free Surfaces and Moving Interfaces, Viscosity and
Slip and Thermal Effects.

6. Run the calculations.

The setup is now ready and it can now be checked, and the calculation can start.

Solution → Run Calculation

a. Click Check to perform a final check of the setup and the coherence of the data.

b. If there are no errors or warnings, click Calculate.

With the current mesh, the calculation takes around an hour and six continuation steps to
complete.

4.9.2.9. Postprocessing
The calculation of the solution is relatively straightforward when using convergence algorithms.

In Figure 4.49: Velocity Magnitude on Outer Boundaries (Left) and on Some Cutting Planes and on
the Metal Insert (Right) (p. 727), the velocity contours on the outer boundaries of the calculation
domain are shown, and on the other side, the velocity contours on several cross-section planes
(Z=-0.01 (inlet), -0.005, 0.000 (die exit), 0.005, 0.0125, 0.023, and 0.04 (extrudate exit)) and the metal
insert are shown.

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 Extrusion of a Rubber Profile With a Metal Insert

Figure 4.49: Velocity Magnitude on Outer Boundaries (Left) and on Some Cutting Planes and
on the Metal Insert (Right)

Figure 4.50: Contours of Local Shear-Rate on Outer Boundaries (Left) and on Some Cutting Planes
and on the Metal Insert (Right) (p. 727) displays local shear-rate contours on the same surfaces as
Figure 4.49: Velocity Magnitude on Outer Boundaries (Left) and on Some Cutting Planes and on the
Metal Insert (Right) (p. 727)

Figure 4.50: Contours of Local Shear-Rate on Outer Boundaries (Left) and on Some Cutting
Planes and on the Metal Insert (Right)

Figure 4.51: Contours of Viscosity on Outer Boundaries (Left) and on Some Cutting Planes and on
the Metal Insert (Right) (p. 728) shows rubber viscosity contours on the same surfaces as the prior
images.

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Fluent Material Processing Examples

Figure 4.51: Contours of Viscosity on Outer Boundaries (Left) and on Some Cutting Planes
and on the Metal Insert (Right)

Figure 4.52: Contours of Temperature on Outer Boundaries (Left) and on Some Cutting Planes and
on the Metal Insert (Right) (p. 728) displays the temperature contours.

Figure 4.52: Contours of Temperature on Outer Boundaries (Left) and on Some Cutting Planes
and on the Metal Insert (Right)

Figure 4.53: Contours of Temperature in Planes Cutting the Metal Insert (p. 729) shows temperature
contours appearing on a series of cross-sections with a spacing of 5 mm.

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 Extrusion of a Rubber Profile With a Metal Insert

Figure 4.53: Contours of Temperature in Planes Cutting the Metal Insert

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