Fluid flow and heat transfer test problems for non‐orthogonal grids: Bench‐mark solutions

Natural convection in a square cavity containing a nanofluid and an adiabatic square block at the center

The modelling of uncoupled fluid flow and heat transfer problems of a district heating network using the finite element method (FEM) is presented. Since the standard thermo-hydraulic pipe elements cannot be directly used for modelling insulation, the main attention was paid to discretisation of multilayered structure of pipes and surrounding by one-dimensional thermal elements. In addition, validity of the finite element method was verified numerically by solving fluid flow and heat transfer problems in district heating pipelines. Verification analysis involves standard single pipe problems and simulation of fragment of district heating in Vilnius. Pressure and temperature results obtained by finite element method are compared with those by other approaches.

The main goal of this paper is to demonstrate the general characteristics of the educational
user-friendly CFD Studio package for CFD teaching. The package was designed for
teaching 2D fluid mechanics and heat transfer process, including conduction, coupled
conduction/convection, natural and forced convection, external and internal flows, among
other phenomena. The finite volume methodology and its related topics can also be taught
using the software. Therefore, general aspects of the three main modules, pre-processor,
solver and post-processor are discussed aiming to show the generality of the tool. These
modules are integrated in the application by a so-called “numerical problem project”
which guide the student through the steps to obtain the solution. To approximate the
partial differential equations the finite volume approach is employed using a fully-implicit
formulation with the interpolation schemes CDS, UDS and WUDS. Mesh editing and nonorthogonal
boundary-fitted mesh generation, using algebraic interpolation and elliptic
equations, are important features of the package. Coupled heat transfer problems are
handled using the “solid-block” formulation and the pressure-velocity coupling uses the
SIMPLE and SIMPLEC methods with non-staggered grids. To demonstrate the
capabilities two fluid flow and heat transfer “problem projects” are presented.

Chapter IX - Elliptical Ducts

Analysis, presentation, and understanding in experimental fluid flow studies: A colourful evolutionary story

A primary goal of the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program is to develop the next generation of simulations tools to support the design and deployment of commercial nuclear power. The mission of the NEAMS Center of Excellence for Thermal-fluids Applications in Nuclear Energy is to advance this goal by providing leadership, best practices, research, and support and training for computational thermal-fluids applications in nuclear energy. This is accomplished by leveraging expertise in the NEAMS tools to solve challenging problems in fluid flow and heat transfer. The NEAMS tools provide simulation capabilities covering a range of temporal and spatial scales and the Center connects stakeholders in industry with the expertise to use these tools to their fullest. This addresses a pressing need, facilitating advanced reactor development and commercialization.

Numerical evaluation of the latent heat thermal energy storage performance enhancement by installing longitudinal fins

A review of nearly a century’s research on the effects of heating a fluid from below in a body force field reveals many unusual aspects of the resulting flow which had previously been of meteorological interest only. For horizontal fluid layers, the flow was found to depend on a single parameter (the Rayleigh number). Below certain critical values of the Rayleigh number the configuration is in stable equilibrium; for Rayleigh numbers exceeding the critical either columnar or cellular flows occur with increased heat-transfer rates. It is pointed out herein that configurations with heating from below also are encountered in present-day problems in various fields. A recent experiment and an analysis of fluids heated from below in a vertical enclosure (which more closely simulates current configurations) are discussed and there appears to be a correlation between the previous research for meteorological purposes and new problems of current interest in fluid mechanics and heat transfer.

A Meshless Radial Basis Function Method for Fluid Flow with Heat Transfer K Nagamani Devi1, D.W. Pepper2 Summary Over the past few years, efforts have been made to solve fluid flow and heat transfer problems using radial basis functions. This approach is meshless, easy to understand, and simple to implement. Preliminary results indicate accuracies on the order of finely meshed conventional techniques, but with considerably less computational effort. In this study, a projection-based technique is used to solve the primitive equations of motion and energy using radial basis functions. Three benchmark test cases are examined: (1) lid-driven cavity flow, (2) natural convection in a square enclosure, and (3) flow with forced convection over backward facing step. Results are compared with COMSOL and FLUENT – two popular commercial CFD packages.

A comparative analysis of thermal models in the lattice Boltzmann method(LBM) for the simulation of laminar natural convection in a square cavity is presented. A HYBRID method, in which the thermal equation is solved by the Navier-Stokes equation method while the mass and momentum conservation are resolved by the lattice Boltzmann method, is introduced and its merits are explained. All the governing equations are discretized on a cell-centered, non-uniform grid using the finite-volume method. The convection terms are treated by a second-order central-difference scheme with a deferred correction method to ensure stability of the solutions. The HYBRID method and the double-population method are applied to the simulation of natural convection in a square cavity and the predicted results are compared with the benchmark solutions given in the literatures. The predicted results are also compared with those by the conventional Navier-Stokes equation method. In general, the present HYBRID method is as accurate as the Navier-Stokes equation method and the double-population method. The HYBRID method shows better convergence and stability than the double-population method. These observations indicate that this HYBRID method is an efficient and economic method for the simulation of incompressible fluid flow and heat transfer problem with the LBM.

An adaptive nonlinear elimination preconditioned inexact Newton algorithm for highly local nonlinear multicomponent PDE systems

A numerical study has been carried out for slot jet impinging on flat and concave surfaces. Five turbulence models are employed for the predictions of these strongly strained turbulent flows, namely linear eddy viscosity model (LEVM), low-Re explicit algebraic Reynolds stress model (EASM) and three different V2F models. A bounded formulation for Cμ was also introduced to account for the better prediction of the wall jet development. The studied Reynolds numbers vary from 8,000 to 20,000, and nozzle-to-surface distance (H) is in the range of 1≤H/B≤8. Detailed comparison is made between the results from the models and available experimental data to test the ability of the models in predicting these fluid flow and heat transfer problems.

We present here our experiences with using the spectral element methodology to solve convection-dominated problems. Different polynomial approximations are used inside the spectral elements and both conforming and non-conforming interface conditions are investigated. The three spectral element methods that we explore can all be considered to be special cases of the more general mortar element method. We compare the methods for solving incompressible fluid flow and heat transfer problems. Particular attention is given to the convection treatment. The numerical results can be strongly dependent upon whether a conforming or a non-conforming method is used as well as the particular form of the discrete convection operator (convective form versus skew-symmetric form).

Implementation of an efficient segregated algorithm-IDEAL on 3D collocated grid system

A hybrid grid system that combines the Chimera overset grid scheme and an unstructured grid method is developed to study fluid flow and heat transfer problems. With the proposed method, the solid structural region, in which only the heat conduction is considered, can be easily represented using an unstructured grid method. As for the fluid flow region external to the solid material, the Chimera overset grid scheme has been shown to be very flexible and efficient in resolving complex configurations. The numerical analyses require the flow field solution and material thermal response to be obtained simultaneously. A continuous transfer of temperature and heat flux is specified at the interface, which connects the solid structure and the fluid flow as an integral system. Numerical results are compared with analytical and experimental data for a flat plate and a C3X cooled turbine cascade. A simplified drum-disk system is also simulated to show the effectiveness of this hybrid grid system.