Chapter 1: Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat

Transfer in a Mixing Elbow

This tutorial is divided into the following sections:
1.1. Introduction
1.2. Prerequisites
1.3. Problem Description
1.4. Setup and Solution
1.5. Summary

1.1. Introduction
This tutorial illustrates the setup and solution of a three-dimensional turbulent fluid flow and heat
transfer problem in a mixing elbow. The mixing elbow configuration is encountered in piping systems
in power plants and process industries. It is often important to predict the flow field and temperature
field in the area of the mixing region in order to properly design the junction.

This tutorial demonstrates how to do the following:

• Launch ANSYS Fluent.

• Read an existing mesh file into ANSYS Fluent.

• Use mixed units to define the geometry and fluid properties.

• Set material properties and boundary conditions for a turbulent forced-convection problem.

• Set up a surface monitor and use it as a convergence criterion.

• Calculate a solution using the pressure-based solver.

• Visually examine the flow and temperature fields using the postprocessing tools available in ANSYS Fluent.

• Change the solver method to coupled in order to increase the convergence speed.

• Adapt the mesh based on the temperature gradient to further improve the prediction of the temperature
field.

1.2. Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes that you have little or no experience with ANSYS Fluent, and so each step will be
explicitly described.

1.3. Problem Description

The problem to be considered is shown schematically in Figure 1.1: Problem Specification (p. 2). A
cold fluid at 20° C flows into the pipe through a large inlet, and mixes with a warmer fluid at 40° C that

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Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow

enters through a smaller inlet located at the elbow. The pipe dimensions are in inches and the fluid
properties and boundary conditions are given in SI units. The Reynolds number for the flow at the larger
inlet is 50,800, so a turbulent flow model will be required.

Note

Since the geometry of the mixing elbow is symmetric, only half of the elbow must be modeled
in ANSYS Fluent.

Figure 1.1: Problem Specification

1.4. Setup and Solution

The following sections describe the setup and solution steps for this tutorial:
1.4.1. Preparation
1.4.2. Launching ANSYS Fluent
1.4.3. Reading the Mesh
1.4.4. General Settings
1.4.5. Models
1.4.6. Materials
1.4.7. Cell Zone Conditions
1.4.8. Boundary Conditions
1.4.9. Solution
1.4.10. Displaying the Preliminary Solution

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 Setup and Solution

1.4.11. Using the Coupled Solver

1.4.12. Adapting the Mesh

1.4.1. Preparation
1. Set up a working folder on the computer you will be using.

2. Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal, https://support.ansys.com/training.

Note

If you do not have a login, you can request one by clicking Customer Registration on
the log in page.

3. Enter the name of this tutorial into the search bar.

4. Narrow the results by using the filter on the left side of the page.

a. Click ANSYS Fluent under Product.

b. Click 15.0 under Version.

5. Select this tutorial from the list.

6. Click Files to download the input and solution files.

7. Unzip the introduction_R150.zip file you downloaded to your working directory. This file contains
a folder, introduction, that holds the file elbow.msh that you will use in this tutorial. The intro-
duction directory also contains a solution_files sub-folder that contains the solution files created
during the preparation of this tutorial.

Note

ANSYS Fluent tutorials are prepared using ANSYS Fluent on a Windows system. The screen
shots and graphic images in the tutorials may be slightly different than the appearance on
your system, depending on the operating system or graphics card.

1.4.2. Launching ANSYS Fluent

1. Open the Fluent Launcher by clicking the Windows Start menu, then selecting Fluent 15.0 in the Fluid
Dynamics sub-menu of the ANSYS 15.0 program group.

The Fluent Launcher allows you to decide which version of ANSYS Fluent you will use, based on
your geometry and on your processing capabilities.

Start → All Programs → ANSYS 15.0 → Fluid Dynamics → Fluent 15.0

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Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow

2. Ensure that the proper options are enabled.

a. Select 3D from the Dimension list by clicking the radio button or the text.

b. Select Serial from the Processing Options list.

c. Enable the Display Mesh After Reading, Embed Graphics Windows, and Workbench Color Scheme
options.

Note

An option is enabled when there is a check mark in the check box, and disabled when
the check box is empty. To change an option from disabled to enabled (or vice versa),
click the check box or the text.

d. Ensure that the Double-Precision option is disabled.

Note

Fluent will retain your preferences for future sessions.

Extra

You can also restore the default settings by clicking the Default button.

3. Set the working path to the directory created when you unzipped introduction_R150.zip.

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 Setup and Solution

a. Click the Show More Options button to reveal additional options.

b. Enter the path to your working directory for Working Directory by double-clicking the text box and
typing.

Alternatively, you can click the browse button ( ) next to the Working Directory text box
and browse to the directory, using the Browse For Folder dialog box.

4. Click OK to launch ANSYS Fluent.

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Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow

1.4.3. Reading the Mesh

1. Read the mesh file elbow.msh.

File → Read → Mesh...

Select Read from the File menu, then select Mesh... to open the Select File dialog box.

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 Setup and Solution

a. Select the mesh file by clicking elbow.msh in the introduction directory created when you
unzipped the original file.

b. Click OK to read the file and close the Select File dialog box.

As the mesh file is read by ANSYS Fluent, messages will appear in the console reporting the progress
of the conversion. ANSYS Fluent will report that 13,852 hexahedral fluid cells have been read, along
with a number of boundary faces with different zone identifiers.

After having completed reading mesh, ANSYS Fluent displays the mesh in the graphics window.

Extra

You can use the mouse to probe for mesh information in the graphics window. If you
click the right mouse button with the pointer on any node in the mesh, information
about the associated zone will be displayed in the console, including the name of the
zone.

Alternatively, you can click the probe button ( ) in the graphics toolbar and click the
left mouse button on any node. This feature is especially useful when you have several
zones of the same type and you want to distinguish between them quickly.

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Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow

For this 3D problem, you can make it easier to probe particular nodes by changing the
view. The following table describes how to manipulate objects in the graphics window:

Table 1.1: View Manipulation Instructions

Action Using Graphics Toolbar Buttons and the Mouse

Rotate view
(vertical, hori- After clicking the Rotate icon, , press and hold the left mouse button
zontal) and drag the mouse. Dragging side to side rotates the view about the
vertical axis, and dragging up and down rotates the view about the hori-
zontal axis.
Translate or
After clicking the Pan icon, , press and hold the left mouse button and
pan view
drag the object with the mouse until the view is satisfactory.
Zoom in and
After clicking the Zoom in/Out icon, , press and hold the left mouse
out of view
button and drag the mouse up and down to zoom in and out of the view.
Zoom to se-
After clicking the Zoom to Area icon, , press and hold the left mouse
lected area
button and drag the mouse diagonally to the right. This action will cause
a rectangle to appear in the display. When you release the mouse button,
a new view will be displayed that consists entirely of the contents of the
rectangle. Note that to zoom in, you must drag the mouse to the right,
and to zoom out, you must drag the mouse to the left.

Clicking the Fit to Window icon, , will cause the object to fit exactly and be centered
in the window.

After you have clicked a button in the graphics toolbar, you can return to the default
mouse button settings by clicking .

2. Manipulate the mesh display using the Views dialog box to obtain a front view as shown in Figure 1.2: The
Hexahedral Mesh for the Mixing Elbow (p. 10).

Select Graphics and Animations in the navigation pane, then click Views... in the Graphics and
Animations task page.

Graphics and Animations → Views...

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 Setup and Solution

a. Select front from the Views selection list.

Note

A list item is selected if it is highlighted, and deselected if it is not highlighted.

b. Click Apply and close the Views dialog box.

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Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow

Figure 1.2: The Hexahedral Mesh for the Mixing Elbow

Extra

You can also change the orientation of the objects in the graphics window using the

axis triad as follows:

• Left-click an axis to point it in the positive direction.

• Right-click an axis to point it in the negative direction.

• Left-click the iso-ball to set the isometric view.

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 Setup and Solution

1.4.4. General Settings

Select General in the navigation pane to perform the mesh-related activities and to choose a solver.

1. Check the mesh.

General → Check

ANSYS Fluent will report the results of the mesh check in the console.
Domain Extents:
x-coordinate: min (m) = -8.000000e+000, max (m) = 8.000000e+000
y-coordinate: min (m) = -9.134633e+000, max (m) = 8.000000e+000
z-coordinate: min (m) = 0.000000e+000, max (m) = 2.000000e+000
Volume statistics:
minimum volume (m3): 5.098270e-004
maximum volume (m3): 2.330737e-002
total volume (m3): 1.607154e+002
Face area statistics:
minimum face area (m2): 4.865882e-003
maximum face area (m2): 1.017924e-001
Checking mesh.......................
Done.

The mesh check will list the minimum and maximum and values from the mesh in the default
SI unit of meters. It will also report a number of other mesh features that are checked. Any errors

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Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow

in the mesh will be reported at this time. Ensure that the minimum volume is not negative, since
ANSYS Fluent cannot begin a calculation when this is the case.

Note

The minimum and maximum values may vary slightly when running on different platforms.

2. Scale the mesh.

General → Scale...

a. Ensure that Convert Units is selected in the Scaling group box.

b. Select in from the Mesh Was Created In drop-down list by first clicking the down-arrow button and
then clicking the in item from the list that appears.

c. Click Scale to scale the mesh.

Warning

Be sure to click the Scale button only once.

Domain Extents will continue to be reported in the default SI unit of meters.

d. Select in from the View Length Unit In drop-down list to set inches as the working unit for length.

e. Confirm that the domain extents are as shown in the dialog box above.

f. Close the Scale Mesh dialog box.

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 Setup and Solution

The mesh is now sized correctly and the working unit for length has been set to inches.

Note

Because the default SI units will be used for everything except length, there is no need
to change any other units in this problem. The choice of inches for the unit of length has
been made by the actions you have just taken. If you want a different working unit for
length, other than inches (for example, millimeters), click Units... in the General task
page and make the appropriate change, in the Set Units dialog box.

3. Check the mesh.

General → Check

Note

It is a good idea to check the mesh after you manipulate it (that is, scale, convert to
polyhedra, merge, separate, fuse, add zones, or smooth and swap). This will ensure that
the quality of the mesh has not been compromised.

4. Retain the default settings of pressure-based steady-state solver in the Solver group box of the General
task page.

1.4.5. Models

1. Enable heat transfer by activating the energy equation.

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Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow

Models → Energy → Edit...

a. Enable the Energy Equation option.

b. Click OK to close the Energy dialog box.

2. Enable the - turbulence model.

Models → Viscous → Edit...

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 Setup and Solution

a. Select k-epsilon from the Model list.

The Viscous Model dialog box will expand.

b. Retain the default selection of Standard in the k-epsilon Model group box.

c. Select Enhanced Wall Treatment in the Near-Wall Treatment group box.

Note

The default Standard Wall Functions are generally applicable if the first cell center
adjacent to the wall has a y+ larger than 30. In contrast, the Enhanced Wall Treatment
option provides consistent solutions for all y+ values. Enhanced Wall Treatment is
recommended when using the k-epsilon model for general single-phase fluid flow
problems. For more information about Near Wall Treatments in the k-epsilon model
refer to Setting Up the k-ε Model in the User’s Guide.

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Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow

d. Click OK to accept all the other default settings and close the Viscous Model dialog box.

1.4.6. Materials

1. Create a new material called water.

Materials → Fluid → Create/Edit...

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 Setup and Solution

a. Type water for Name.

b. Enter the following values in the Properties group box:

Property Value
Density 1000
4216
Thermal Conductivity 0.677
Viscosity 8e-04

c. Click Change/Create.

A Question dialog box will open, asking if you want to overwrite air. Click No so that the new mater-
ial water is added to the list of materials that originally contained only air.

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Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow

Extra

You could have copied the material water-liquid (h2o<l>) from the materials database
(accessed by clicking the Fluent Database... button). If the properties in the database
are different from those you want to use, you can edit the values in the Properties
group box in the Create/Edit Materials dialog box and click Change/Create to update
your local copy. The original copy will not be affected.

d. Ensure that there are now two materials (water and air) defined locally by examining the Fluent
Fluid Materials drop-down list.

Both the materials will also be listed under Fluid in the Materials task page.

e. Close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box.

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 Setup and Solution

1.4.7. Cell Zone Conditions

1. Set the cell zone conditions for the fluid zone (fluid).

Cell Zone Conditions → fluid → Edit...

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Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow

a. Select water from the Material Name drop-down list.

b. Click OK to close the Fluid dialog box.

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 Setup and Solution

1.4.8. Boundary Conditions

1. Set the boundary conditions at the cold inlet (velocity-inlet-5).

Boundary Conditions → velocity-inlet-5 → Edit...

Tip

If you are unsure of which inlet zone corresponds to the cold inlet, you can probe
the mesh display using the right mouse button or the probe toolbar button ( ) as
described previously in this tutorial. The information will be displayed in the ANSYS
Fluent console, and the zone you probed will be automatically selected from the
Zone selection list in the Boundary Conditions task page.

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Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow

a. Select Components from the Velocity Specification Method drop-down list.

The Velocity Inlet dialog box will expand.

b. Enter 0.4 for X-Velocity.

c. Retain the default value of 0 for both Y-Velocity and Z-Velocity.

d. Select Intensity and Hydraulic Diameter from the Specification Method drop-down list in the
Turbulence group box.

e. Retain the default value of 5 for Turbulent Intensity.

f. Enter 4 for Hydraulic Diameter.

The hydraulic diameter is defined as:

where is the cross-sectional area and is the wetted perimeter.

g. Click the Thermal tab.

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 Setup and Solution

h. Enter 293.15 for Temperature.

i. Click OK to close the Velocity Inlet dialog box.

2. In a similar manner, set the boundary conditions at the hot inlet (velocity-inlet-6), using the values in
the following table:

Boundary Conditions → velocity-inlet-6 → Edit...

Velocity Specification Components

Method
X-Velocity 0
Y-Velocity 1.2
Z-Velocity 0
Specification Method Intensity and Hydraulic Diameter
Turbulent Intensity 5
Hydraulic Diameter 1
Temperature 313.15

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Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow

3. Set the boundary conditions at the outlet (pressure-outlet-7), as shown in the Pressure Outlet dialog
box.

Boundary Conditions → pressure-outlet-7 → Edit...

Note

ANSYS Fluent will use the backflow conditions only if the fluid is flowing into the compu-
tational domain through the outlet. Since backflow might occur at some point during
the solution procedure, you should set reasonable backflow conditions to prevent con-
vergence from being adversely affected.

4. For the wall of the pipe (wall), retain the default value of 0 for Heat Flux in the Thermal tab.

Boundary Conditions → wall → Edit...

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 Setup and Solution

1.4.9. Solution
In the steps that follow, you will set up and run the calculation using the task pages listed under the Solution
heading in the navigation pane.

1. Select a solver scheme.

Solution Methods

Leave the Scheme at the default SIMPLE for this calculation.

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Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow

2. Enable the plotting of residuals during the calculation.

Monitors → Residuals → Edit...

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 Setup and Solution

a. Ensure that Plot is enabled in the Options group box.

b. Leave the Absolute Criteria of continuity at the default level of 0.001 as shown in the Residual
Monitors dialog box.

c. Click OK to close the Residual Monitors dialog box.

Note

By default, all variables will be monitored and checked by ANSYS Fluent as a means to
determine the convergence of the solution. It is a good practice to also define a surface
monitor that can help evaluate whether the solution is truly converged. You will do this
in the next step.

3. Define a surface monitor of average temperature at the outlet (pressure-outlet-7).

Monitors → Create... (Surface Monitors)

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Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow

a. Enter outlet-temp-avg for the Name of the surface monitor.

b. Enable the Plot and Write options for outlet-temp-avg.

c. Enter outlet-temp-avg.out for File Name.

d. Set Get Data Every to 3 by clicking the up-arrow button.

This setting instructs ANSYS Fluent to update the plot of the surface monitor and write data to
a file after every 3 iterations during the solution.

e. Select Mass-Weighted Average from the Report Type drop-down list.

f. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Field Variable drop-down lists.

g. Select pressure-outlet-7 from the Surfaces selection list.

h. Click OK to save the surface monitor settings and close the Surface Monitor dialog box.

The name and report type of the surface monitor you created will be displayed in the Surface
Monitors selection list in the Monitors task page.

4. Set a convergence monitor for outlet-temp-avg.

Monitors → Convergence Manager...

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 Setup and Solution

a. Activate the convergence criterion on outlet temperature by checking the Active box next to outlet-
temp-avg.

a. Enter 1e-5 for Stop Criterion.

b. Enter 20 for Initial Iterations to Ignore.

c. Enter 15 for Previous Iterations to Consider.

d. Enable Print.

e. Enter 3 for Every Iteration

f. Click OK to save the convergence monitor settings and close the Convergence Manager dialog box.

These settings will cause Fluent to consider the solution converged when the monitor value for
each of the previous 15 iterations is within 0.001% of the current value. Convergence of the monitor
values will be checked every 3 iterations. The first 20 iterations will be ignored allowing for any initial
solution dynamics to settle out. Note that the value printed to the console is the deviation between
the current and previous iteration values only.

5. Initialize the flow field.

Solution Initialization

a. Leave the Initialization Method at the default Hybrid Initialization.

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Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow

b. Click Initialize.

6. Save the case file (elbow1.cas.gz).

File → Write → Case...

a. (optional) Indicate the directory in which you would like the file to be saved.

By default, the file will be saved in the directory from which you read in elbow.msh (that is,
the introduction directory). You can indicate a different directory by browsing to it or by
creating a new directory.

b. Enter elbow1.cas.gz for Case File.

Adding the extension .gz to the end of the file name extension instructs ANSYS Fluent to save
the file in a compressed format. You do not have to include .cas in the extension (for example,
if you enter elbow1.gz, ANSYS Fluent will automatically save the file as elbow1.cas.gz).
The .gz extension can also be used to save data files in a compressed format.

c. Ensure that the default Write Binary Files option is enabled, so that a binary file will be written.

d. Click OK to save the case file and close the Select File dialog box.

7. Start the calculation by requesting 150 iterations.

Run Calculation

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 Setup and Solution

a. Enter 150 for Number of Iterations.

b. Click Calculate.

Note

By starting the calculation, you are also starting to save the surface monitor data at
the rate specified in the Surface monitors dialog box. If a file already exists in your
working directory with the name you specified in the Define Surface Monitor dialog
box, then a Question dialog box will open, asking if you would like to append the
new data to the existing file. Click No in the Question dialog box, and then click OK
in the Warning dialog box that follows to overwrite the existing file.

As the calculation progresses, the surface monitor history will be plotted in graphics window 2
(Figure 1.3: Convergence History of the Mass-Weighted Average Temperature (p. 32)).

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Introduction to Using ANSYS Fluent: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow

Figure 1.3: Convergence History of the Mass-Weighted Average Temperature

Similarly, the residuals history will be plotted in window 1 in the background. You can display
the residuals history by selecting window 1 from the graphics window drop-down list (Fig-
ure 1.4: Residuals (p. 33)).

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 Setup and Solution

Figure 1.4: Residuals

Since the residual values vary slightly by platform, the plot that appears on your screen may not
be exactly the same as the one shown here.

The solution will be stopped by ANSYS Fluent when any of the following occur:

• the surface monitor converges to within the tolerance specified in the Convergence Manager
dialog box

• the residual monitors converge to within the tolerances specified in the Residual Monitors
dialog box

• the number of iterations you requested in the Run Calculation task page has been reached

In this case, the solution is stopped when the convergence criterion on outlet temperature is
satisfied, after approximately 75 iterations. The exact number of iterations for convergence will
vary, depending on the platform being used. An Information dialog box will open to alert you
that the calculation is complete. Click OK in the Information dialog box to proceed.

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8. Examine the plots for convergence (Figure 1.3: Convergence History of the Mass-Weighted Average
Temperature (p. 32) and Figure 1.4: Residuals (p. 33)).

Note

There are no universal metrics for judging convergence. Residual definitions that are
useful for one class of problem are sometimes misleading for other classes of problems.
Therefore it is a good idea to judge convergence not only by examining residual levels,
but also by monitoring relevant integrated quantities and checking for mass and energy
balances.

There are three indicators that convergence has been reached:

• The residuals have decreased to a sufficient degree.

The solution has converged when the Convergence Criterion for each variable has
been reached. The default criterion is that each residual will be reduced to a value of
less than , except the energy residual, for which the default criterion is .

• The solution no longer changes with more iterations.

Sometimes the residuals may not fall below the convergence criterion set in the case
setup. However, monitoring the representative flow variables through iterations may
show that the residuals have stagnated and do not change with further iterations. This
could also be considered as convergence.

• The overall mass, momentum, energy, and scalar balances are obtained.

You can examine the overall mass, momentum, energy and scalar balances in the Flux
Reports dialog box. The net imbalance should be less than 0.2 of the net flux through
the domain when the solution has converged. In the next step you will check to see
if the mass balance indicates convergence.

9. Examine the mass flux report for convergence.

Reports → Fluxes → Set Up...

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 Setup and Solution

a. Ensure that Mass Flow Rate is selected from the Options list.

b. Select pressure-outlet-7, velocity-inlet-5,and velocity-inlet-6 from the Boundaries selection list.

c. Click Compute.

The individual and net results of the computation will be displayed in the Results and Net Results
boxes, respectively, in the Flux Reports dialog box, as well as in the console.

The sum of the flux for the inlets should be very close to the sum of the flux for the outlets. The net
results show that the imbalance in this case is well below the 0.2 criterion suggested previously.

d. Close the Flux Reports dialog box.

10. Save the data file (elbow1.dat.gz).

File → Write → Data...

In later steps of this tutorial you will save additional case and data files with different suffixes.

1.4.10. Displaying the Preliminary Solution

In the steps that follow, you will visualize various aspects of the flow for the preliminary solution, using the
task pages listed under the Results heading in the navigation pane.

1. Display filled contours of velocity magnitude on the symmetry plane (Figure 1.5: Predicted Velocity Dis-
tribution after the Initial Calculation (p. 37)).

Graphics and Animations → Contours → Set Up...

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a. Enable Filled in the Options group box.

b. Ensure that Node Values is enabled in the Options group box.

c. Select Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude from the Contours of drop-down lists.

d. Select symmetry from the Surfaces selection list.

e. Click Display to display the contours in the active graphics window. Clicking the Fit to Window icon,
, will cause the object to fit exactly and be centered in the window.

Extra

When you probe a point in the displayed domain with the right mouse button or the
probe tool, the level of the corresponding contour is highlighted in the colormap in the
graphics window, and is also reported in the console.

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Figure 1.5: Predicted Velocity Distribution after the Initial Calculation

2. Display filled contours of temperature on the symmetry plane (Figure 1.6: Predicted Temperature Distri-
bution after the Initial Calculation (p. 39)).

Graphics and Animations → Contours → Set Up...

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a. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Contours of drop-down lists.

b. Click Display and close the Contours dialog box.

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Figure 1.6: Predicted Temperature Distribution after the Initial Calculation

3. Display velocity vectors on the symmetry plane (Figure 1.9: Magnified View of Resized Velocity Vec-
tors (p. 43)).

Graphics and Animations → Vectors → Set Up...

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a. Select symmetry from the Surfaces selection list.

b. Click Display to plot the velocity vectors.

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 Setup and Solution

Figure 1.7: Velocity Vectors Colored by Velocity Magnitude

The Auto Scale option is enabled by default in the Options group box. This scaling sometimes
creates vectors that are too small or too large in the majority of the domain. You can improve
the clarity by adjusting the Scale and Skip settings, thereby changing the size and number of
the vectors when they are displayed.

c. Enter 4 for Scale.

d. Set Skip to 2.

e. Click Display again to redisplay the vectors.

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Figure 1.8: Resized Velocity Vectors

f. Close the Vectors dialog box.

g. Zoom in on the vectors in the display.

To manipulate the image, refer to Table 1.1: View Manipulation Instructions (p. 8). The image will
be redisplayed at a higher magnification (Figure 1.9: Magnified View of Resized Velocity Vectors (p. 43)).

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 Setup and Solution

Figure 1.9: Magnified View of Resized Velocity Vectors

h. Zoom out to the original view.

You also have the option of selecting the original view in the Views dialog box:

Graphics and Animations → Views...

Select front from the Views selection list and click Apply, then close the Views dialog box.

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4. Create a line at the centerline of the outlet. For this task, you will use the Surface command that is at
the top of the ANSYS Fluent window.

Surface → Iso-Surface...

a. Select Mesh... and Z-Coordinate from the Surface of Constant drop-down lists.

b. Click Compute to obtain the extent of the mesh in the direction.

The range of values in the direction is displayed in the Min and Max boxes.

c. Retain the default value of 0 for Iso-Values.

d. Select pressure-outlet-7 from the From Surface selection list.

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 Setup and Solution

e. Enter z=0_outlet for New Surface Name.

f. Click Create.

The new line surface representing the intersection of the plane z=0 and the surface pressure-
outlet-7 is created, and its name z=0_outlet is added to the From Surface list in the dialog box.

After the line surface z=0_outlet is created, a new entry will automatically be generated for New
Surface Name, in case you would like to create another surface.

g. Close the Iso-Surface dialog box.

5. Display and save an XY plot of the temperature profile across the centerline of the outlet for the initial
solution (Figure 1.10: Outlet Temperature Profile for the Initial Solution (p. 46)).

Plots → XY Plot → Set Up...

a. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Y Axis Function drop-down lists.

b. Select the z=0_outlet surface you just created from the Surfaces selection list.

c. Click Plot.

d. Enable Write to File in the Options group box.

The button that was originally labeled Plot will change to Write....

e. Click Write... to open the Select File dialog box.

i. Enter outlet_temp1.xy for XY File.

ii. Click OK to save the temperature data and close the Select File dialog box.

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f. Close the Solution XY Plot dialog box.

Figure 1.10: Outlet Temperature Profile for the Initial Solution

6. Define a custom field function for the dynamic head formula ( ). For this task, you will use the
Define menu that is at the top of the ANSYS Fluent window.

Define → Custom Field Functions...

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 Setup and Solution

a. Select Density... and Density from the Field Functions drop-down lists, and click the Select button
to add density to the Definition field.

b. Click the X button to add the multiplication symbol to the Definition field.

c. Select Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude from the Field Functions drop-down lists, and click the
Select button to add |V| to the Definition field.

d. Click y^x to raise the last entry in the Definition field to a power, and click 2 for the power.

e. Click the / button to add the division symbol to the Definition field, and then click 2.

f. Enter dynamic-head for New Function Name.

g. Click Define and close the Custom Field Function Calculator dialog box.

7. Display filled contours of the custom field function (Figure 1.11: Contours of the Dynamic Head Custom
Field Function (p. 49)).

Graphics and Animations → Contours → Set Up...

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a. Select Custom Field Functions... and dynamic-head from the Contours of drop-down lists.

Tip

Custom Field Functions... is at the top of the upper Contours of drop-down

list.

b. Ensure that symmetry is selected from the Surfaces selection list.

c. Click Display and close the Contours dialog box.

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 Setup and Solution

Figure 1.11: Contours of the Dynamic Head Custom Field Function

Note

You may need to change the view by zooming out after the last vector display, if you
have not already done so.

8. Save the settings for the custom field function by writing the case and data files (elbow1.cas.gz and
elbow1.dat.gz).

File → Write → Case & Data...

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a. Ensure that elbow1.cas.gz is entered for Case/Data File.

Note

When you write the case and data file at the same time, it does not matter whether
you specify the file name with a .cas or .dat extension, as both will be saved.

b. Click OK to save the files and close the Select File dialog box.

c. Click OK to overwrite the files that you made earlier.

1.4.11. Using the Coupled Solver

The elbow solution computed in the first part of this tutorial used the SIMPLE solver scheme for Pressure-
Velocity coupling. For many general fluid-flow problems, convergence speed can be improved by using the
Coupled solver. You will now change the Solution Method to a coupled scheme.

1. Change the solver settings.

Solution Methods

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 Setup and Solution

a. Select Coupled from the Scheme drop-down list.

b. Leave the Spatial Discretization options at their default settings.

2. Re-initialize the flow field.

Solution Initialization

a. Leave the Initialization Method at the default Hybrid Initialization.

b. Click Initialize.

3. Run the solution for an additional 90 iterations.

Run Calculation

a. Ensure that 90 is entered for Number of Iterations.

b. Click Calculate.

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A dialog box will appear asking if you want to append data to outlet-temp-avg.out. Click
No. Another dialog box will appear asking whether to Overwrite outlet-temp-avg.out.
Click OK.

The solution will converge in approximately 35 iterations (Figure 1.12: Residuals for the Coupled
Solver Calculation (p. 52)). Note that this is faster than the convergence rate using the SIMPLE
pressure-velocity coupling. The convergence history is shown in Figure 1.13: Convergence History
of Mass-Weighted Average Temperature (p. 53).

Figure 1.12: Residuals for the Coupled Solver Calculation

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 Setup and Solution

Figure 1.13: Convergence History of Mass-Weighted Average Temperature

1.4.12. Adapting the Mesh

For the first two runs of this tutorial, you have solved the elbow problem using a fairly coarse mesh.
The elbow solution can be improved further by refining the mesh to better resolve the flow details.
ANSYS Fluent provides a built-in capability to easily adapt the mesh according to solution gradients.
In the following steps you will adapt the mesh based on the temperature gradients in the current
solution and compare the results with the previous results.

1. Adapt the mesh in the regions of high temperature gradient. For this task, you will use the Adapt com-
mand that is at the top of the ANSYS Fluent window.

Adapt → Gradient...

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a. Ensure that Refine is enabled in the Options group box.

ANSYS Fluent will not coarsen beyond the original mesh for a 3D mesh. Hence, it is not necessary to
deselect Coarsen in this instance.

b. Select Temperature... and Static Temperature from the Gradients of drop-down lists.

c. Click Compute.

ANSYS Fluent will update the Min and Max values to show the minimum and maximum temperature
gradient.

d. Enter 0.003 for Refine Threshold.

A general rule is to use 10 of the maximum gradient when setting the value for Refine Threshold.

e. Click Mark.

ANSYS Fluent will report in the console that approximately 1304 cells were marked for refinement.

f. Click Manage... in the Gradient Adaptation panel to open the Manage Adaption Registers dialog
box.

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 Setup and Solution

i. Click Display.

ANSYS Fluent will display the cells marked for adaption in the graphics window (Figure 1.14: Cells
Marked for Adaption (p. 56)).

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Figure 1.14: Cells Marked for Adaption

Extra You can change the way ANSYS Fluent displays cells marked for adaption (Fig-
ure 1.15: Alternative Display of Cells Marked for Adaption (p. 58)) by performing the following
steps:

A. Click Options... in the Manage Adaption Registers dialog box to open the Adaption
Display Options dialog box.

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 Setup and Solution

B. Enable Wireframe in the Refine group box.

C. Enable Filled in the Options group box in the Adaption Display Options dialog box.

D. Enable Draw Mesh in the Options group box.

The Mesh Display dialog box will open.

E. Ensure that only the Edges option is enabled in the Options group box.

F. Select Feature from the Edge Type list.

G. Select all of the items except default-interior from the Surfaces selection list.

H. Click Display and close the Mesh Display dialog box.

I. Click OK to close the Adaption Display Options dialog box.

J. Click Display in the Manage Adaption Registers dialog box.

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K. Rotate the view and zoom in to get the display shown in Figure 1.15: Alternative Display
of Cells Marked for Adaption (p. 58).

Figure 1.15: Alternative Display of Cells Marked for Adaption

L. After viewing the marked cells, rotate the view back and zoom out again.

ii. Ensure that gradient-r0 is selected from the Registers selection list.

iii. Click Adapt in the Manage Adaption Registers dialog box.

A Question dialog box will open, confirming your intention to adapt the mesh. Click Yes to pro-
ceed.

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 Setup and Solution

iv. Close the Manage Adaption Registers dialog box.

g. Close the Gradient Adaption dialog box.

2. Display the adapted mesh (Figure 1.16: The Adapted Mesh (p. 60)).

General → Display...

a. Select All in the Edge Type group box.

b. Deselect all of the highlighted items from the Surfaces selection list except for symmetry.

Tip

To deselect all surfaces click the far-right unshaded button at the top of the Surfaces
selection list, and then select the desired surfaces from the Surfaces selection list.

c. Click Display and close the Mesh Display dialog box.

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Figure 1.16: The Adapted Mesh

3. Request an additional 90 iterations.

Run Calculation

Click Calculate.

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 Setup and Solution

The solution will converge after approximately 35 additional iterations (Figure 1.17: The Complete Residual
History (p. 61) and Figure 1.18: Convergence History of Mass-Weighted Average Temperature (p. 62)).

Figure 1.17: The Complete Residual History

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Figure 1.18: Convergence History of Mass-Weighted Average Temperature

4. Save the case and data files for the Coupled solver solution with an adapted mesh (elbow2.cas.gz
and elbow2.dat.gz).

File → Write → Case & Data...

a. Enter elbow2.gz for Case/Data File.

b. Click OK to save the files and close the Select File dialog box.

The files elbow2.cas.gz and elbow2.dat.gz will be saved in your default directory.

5. Examine the filled temperature distribution (using node values) on the revised mesh (Figure 1.19: Filled
Contours of Temperature Using the Adapted Mesh (p. 63)).

Graphics and Animations → Contours → Set Up...

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 Setup and Solution

Figure 1.19: Filled Contours of Temperature Using the Adapted Mesh

6. Display and save an XY plot of the temperature profile across the centerline of the outlet for the adapted
solution (Figure 1.20: Outlet Temperature Profile for the Adapted Coupled Solver Solution (p. 65)).

Plots → XY Plot → Set Up...

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a. Disable Write to File in the Options group box.

The button that was originally labeled Write... will change to Plot.

b. Ensure that Temperature... and Static Temperature are selected from the Y Axis Function drop-
down lists.

c. Ensure that z=0_outlet is selected from the Surfaces selection list.

d. Click Plot.

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 Setup and Solution

Figure 1.20: Outlet Temperature Profile for the Adapted Coupled Solver Solution

e. Enable Write to File in the Options group box.

The button that was originally labeled Plot will change to Write....

f. Click Write... to open the Select File dialog box.

i. Enter outlet_temp2.xy for XY File.

ii. Click OK to save the temperature data.

g. Close the Solution XY Plot dialog box.

7. Display the outlet temperature profiles for both solutions on a single plot (Figure 1.21: Outlet Temperature
Profiles for the Two Solutions (p. 68)).

Plots → File → Set Up...

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a. Click the Add... button to open the Select File dialog box.

i. Click once on outlet_temp1.xy and outlet_temp2.xy.

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 Setup and Solution

Each of these files will be listed with their directory in the XY File(s) list to indicate that they have
been selected.

Tip

If you select a file by mistake, simply click the file in the XY File(s) list and
then click Remove.

ii. Click OK to save the files and close the Select File dialog box.

b. Select the directory path ending in outlet_temp1.xy from the Files selection list.

c. Enter Before Adaption in the lowest text-entry box on the right (next to the Change Legend
Entry button).

d. Click the Change Legend Entry button.

The item in the Legend Entries list for outlet_temp1.xy will be changed to Before Adaption. This
legend entry will be displayed in the upper-left corner of the XY plot generated in a later step.

e. In a similar manner, change the legend entry for the directory path ending in outlet_temp2.xy to
be Adapted Mesh.

f. Click Plot and close the File XY Plot dialog box.

Figure 1.21: Outlet Temperature Profiles for the Two Solutions (p. 68) shows the two temperature profiles
at the centerline of the outlet. It is apparent by comparing both the shape of the profiles and the predicted
outer wall temperature that the solution is highly dependent on the mesh and solution options. Specifically,
further mesh adaption should be used in order to obtain a solution that is independent of the mesh.

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Figure 1.21: Outlet Temperature Profiles for the Two Solutions

Note

When reading and writing data values, Fluent always uses SI units. Therefore when you
read in the xy data files and plot them, the position and temperature values will be
plotted in SI units, regardless of the settings made in the Units... dialog box earlier in
the tutorial.

Extra

You can perform additional rounds of mesh adaption based on temperature gradient
and run the calculation to see how the temperature profile changes at the outlet. A case
and data file (elbow3.cas.gz and elbow3.dat.gz) have been provided in the
solution_files directory, in which the mesh has undergone three more levels of
adaption. The resulting temperature profiles have been plotted with outlet_temp1.xy
and outlet_temp2.xy in Figure 1.22: Outlet Temperature Profiles for Subsequent Mesh
Adaption Steps (p. 69).

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 Summary

Figure 1.22: Outlet Temperature Profiles for Subsequent Mesh Adaption Steps

It is evident from Figure 1.22: Outlet Temperature Profiles for Subsequent Mesh Adaption
Steps (p. 69) that as the mesh is adapted further, the profiles converge on a mesh-inde-
pendent profile. The resulting wall temperature at the outlet is predicted to be 300.6
after mesh independence is achieved. If the adaption steps had not been performed, the
wall temperature would have incorrectly been estimated at 299.1 .

If computational resources allow, it is always recommended to perform successive rounds

of adaption until the solution is independent of the mesh (within an acceptable tolerance).
Typically, profiles of important variables are examined (in this case, temperature) and
compared to determine mesh independence.

1.5. Summary
A comparison of the convergence speed for the SIMPLE and Coupled pressure-velocity coupling schemes
indicates that the latter converges much faster. With more complex meshes, the difference in speed
between the two schemes can be significant.

In this problem, the flow field is decoupled from temperature, since all properties are constant. For such
cases, it is more efficient to compute the flow-field solution first (that is, without solving the energy
equation) and then solve for energy (that is, without solving the flow equations). You will use the
Equations dialog box to turn the solution of the equations on and off during such a procedure.

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