Workshop

Coriolis Flow Meter

15. 0 Release

Solving FSI Applications Using ANSYS

Mechanical and ANSYS Fluent
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2011 ANSYS, Inc.

June 26, 2014

Release 15.0

Introduction
Workshop Description:
This example considers flow through a vibrating Coriolis flow meter. Fluid flow
causes a phase shift between the inlet and outlet arms of the meter which is
used to measure mass flow rate.

Learning Aims:
This workshop shows how to prepare a modal analysis and a 2-way coupled FSI
analysis in workbench. This includes:

Set up of the modal analysis for the flow meter

Set up of the Transient Structural case for the flow meter piping
Set up of the transient Fluent case including coupling effects
Set up and solution of the coupled flow case

Learning Objectives:
To understand the key steps in setting up a modal analysis and to use
information obtained from the modal analysis for a 2-way coupled FSI simulation
within Workbench.
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Simulation to be performed
In a Coriolis mass flow meter fluid passes though a U-shaped or similar tube. A forcing displacement is
applied to the centre of the U-bend. The elbows upstream and downstream of the centre are displaced
accordingly, but there is a phase shift between the upstream and downstream sides which is related to
the fluid mass flow through the tubes. Typically two counter vibrating tubes are used so that external
vibrations do not affect the measuring device. In this workshop, only one tube will be modelled since
there will be no external vibrations acting on the flow meter.
The displacements and phase shifts are highly exaggerated in the animations below. Also see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_flow_meter to view the animations.
Tube vibrations with no flow

Tube vibrations with flow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_flow_meter
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Simulation to be performed
The forcing displacement applied to the tubes should be at the natural frequency required to excite
the appropriate mode shape for the system. In the first part of this workshop we will find the
frequency of interest using a Modal analysis. We must consider that the tubes are filled with fluid
when calculating this frequency.
In the second part of the workshop the forcing displacement is applied at the correct frequency to
the tubes in a Transient Structural analysis. The fluid flow is modelled in Fluent. The structural and
fluid systems are connected via System Coupling to facilitate a 2-way FSI analysis.

2011 ANSYS, Inc.

June 26, 2014

Release 15.0

Starting Workbench
1.

Start ANSYS Workbench (R15.0) and select

File > Restore Archive:
a) Select CoriolisFlowMeter.wbpz
b) Save to your working directory (save
to a local hard disk, not a USB
memory stick)
The restored archive contains a Modal
block, a Transient Structural block, and a
Fluent block with the geometry and
meshes already created.

2011 ANSYS, Inc.

June 26, 2014

Release 15.0

Modal Analysis
1.

Double-click on the Modal Setup cell (A5)

The mesh has already been generated. This modal analysis will include both the solid
and fluid regions. The fluid region will be modelled using FLUID30 elements. This
element is often used to model acoustics but also includes acceleration effects and
motion at the fluid-solid interface. The element type, material properties and
identification of the fluid-solid interface must be completed in a Commands object.

2.

In the Model tree, expand Geometry and Part then

right-click on fluid and select Insert > Commands

3.

In the Units menu select Metric (m, kg, N, s, V, A)

4.

Enter the commands as shown (they are not case

sensitive)
These commands will first delete the structural material
properties (mpdele), then switch the element type to
FLUID30 (et). Material properties are then defined for the
fluid density (mp,DENS) and the speed of sound (mp,SONC).
See Using Coupled Field Elements.pptx for general
background information on changing element types.

2011 ANSYS, Inc.

June 26, 2014

Release 15.0

Modal Analysis

5.

Right-click on Modal (A5) and select Insert > Fixed Support

6.

Using the edge filter, select both outer pipe edges then click Apply in the
Geometry field

2011 ANSYS, Inc.

June 26, 2014

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Modal Analysis
7.

Right-click on Modal (A5) in the Outline tree select Insert > Commands

8.

Enter the commands as shown

These commands set the FSI interface flag on the
FLUID30 elements that touch the tube. The cmsel
command selects the nodes associated with the
Named Selection interface. The esel commands
then selects only the FLUID30 elements attached
to these nodes. The sf commands then set the FSI
interface flag.

9.

Click Analysis Settings and under Solver Controls, change Solver Type to
Unsymmetric
The documentation for FLUID30 elements notes that when coupled to structural
elements an unsymmetric modal analysis is necessary.

10. Right-click Solution (A6) and solve the system

2011 ANSYS, Inc.

June 26, 2014

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Modal Analysis
11. Click Solution Information and scroll down to the PARTICIPATION FACTOR
CALCULATION tables

Mode 3 has a significant participation factor in the Y direction and is likely the
mode of interest (this is the direction we want to excite).
12. Right-click on Solution (A6) branch and select Insert > Deformation > Total
13. Select Mode 3, then right-click on Total Deformation and select Evaluate All
Results. Play the animation to view the mode shape.
14. Check the other mode shapes in a similar way

2011 ANSYS, Inc.

June 26, 2014

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Modal Analysis
Mode 3 at 50.4 Hz is the mode of
interest. Note how it matches the
animations at the start of the
workshop.
15. Close the Mechanical window and
save the project

Mode 3, 50.4 Hz

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Transient Structural
1.

Double click the Setup cell in the Transient

Structural system (B5)

2.

Check the Metric Units system is still selected

3.

Right-click Transient (B5) and select Insert > Fixed

Support, using the same two edges as in the
Modal analysis

4.

Right-click Transient (B5) and select Insert >

Displacement

5.

Using the face selection filter, and select the face

shown and click Apply in the Geometry field

6.

In the Y Component field click the arrow to select

Function

7.

Type the function:

0.000025*sin(50.4*360*time)
A 25 m amplitude sine wave with a frequency of
50.4 Hz is applied

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June 26, 2014

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Transient Structural
8.

Click Analysis Settings and change Define By to Substeps and turn Auto Time
Stepping to Off

9.

Change the Number of Substeps to 1

10. Right-click Transient (B5) and select Insert > Fluid Solid Interface
11. Change Scoping Method to Named Selection and select fsi_solid
12. Right-click Solution Information and select Insert > Deformation
13. Change Scoping Method to Named Selection and select Node1

14. Change the Orientation to Y Axis

15. Duplicate this deformation tracker and change the selection to Node2
These two Results Trackers will provide the y-direction displacement history
for the two pipe elbows. A chart can also be added to plot both
displacements.

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Transient Structural
16. Insert a Chart using the toolbar icon shown,
and select the two Directional Deformation
objects in the Outline Selection field

The locations for the two displacement

trackers are the upstream and downstream
bends of the meter. We expect a phase
shift between these two displacement
trackers.
17. Type in X-Axis and Y-Axis labels as shown
18. Close Mechanical and save the project

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Steady State Fluent

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1.

Edit the Fluent Setup cell (C4), select the Double Precision option and click OK

2.

Select Models from the tree, edit Viscous Laminar and change to k-omega
(2 eqn) with the SST model and Curvature Correction enabled. Click OK.

3.

Select Materials, click Create/Edit followed by Fluent Database...

4.

Locate water-liquid and click Copy then Close

5.

Change the Density (kg/m3) to 1000 then click Change/Create and Close

6.

Select Cell Zone Conditions, click Edit... for the fluid zone and change the
Material Name to water-liquid then hit OK

7.

Select Boundary Conditions, edit inlet and

enter a Velocity Magnitude of 20 m/s

8.

Change the Turbulence to Intensity and Length

Scale with a Turbulence Intensity (%) of 1 and
the Turbulent Length Scale (m) to 0.02. Click OK

2011 ANSYS, Inc.

June 26, 2014

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Steady State Fluent

9.

Edit the outlet, leaving the Gauge Pressure at 0 Pa and changing the turbulence
settings to the same as the inlet

10. Select Solution Methods, change the Pressure-Velocity Coupling Scheme to Coupled
and enable the Pseudo Transient and High Order Term Relaxation check boxes
11. Select Solution Controls and set the Pressure and Momentum relaxation factors to 1
12. Select Run Calculation and change the Number of Iterations to 200
13. Click Calculate and click yes when prompted to initialize the case

14. Close the Fluent window when the solution has finished and save the project

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2011 ANSYS, Inc.

June 26, 2014

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Project Schematic
1.

Right-click on the Fluent Setup cell (C4) and select Duplicate. Rename the new
Fluent system to Fluent Coupling.
Performing the Duplicate operation from the Setup cell copies setup information to
the new Fluent system

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2.

Connect C5 to D5 to provide the initial solution to the Fluent Coupling system

3.

Drag a System Coupling component system onto the Project Schematic and drop it
on the Setup cell (B5) of the Transient Structural system. Connect the Fluid
Coupling Setup cell (D4) to the System Coupling Setup cell (E2) as well.

2011 ANSYS, Inc.

June 26, 2014

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Fluent Coupling

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1.

Edit the Fluent Coupling Solution cell (D5)

2.

Select General from the tree and change the Time option
to Transient

3.

Select Dynamic Mesh from the tree and enable the

Dynamic Mesh check box

4.

Under Mesh Methods select Settings... then pick the

Diffusion method and set a Diffusion Parameter of 1.
Click OK

5.

Under Dynamic Mesh Zones click Create/Edit. Select

fsi_fluid from the Zone Names drop-down menu, pick the
System Coupling option then click Create and close the
window

2011 ANSYS, Inc.

June 26, 2014

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Fluent Coupling
6.

Select Solution Methods and set the Transient Formulation to Second Order
Implicit

7.

Under Run Calculation, change the Number of Time Steps to 1 and the Max
Iterations/Time Step to 5
The Number of Time Steps and Time Step Size are controlled by System
Coupling

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8.

Close Fluent and notice the Setup cell has a check mark for Fluent Coupling
but not for Transient Structural

9.

Right click the Transient Structural Setup cell (B5) and click Update

2011 ANSYS, Inc.

June 26, 2014

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System Coupling
1.

Edit the System Coupling Setup cell (E2) and click Yes at the prompt

2.

Under Analysis Settings, set the End Time [s] to 0.1 and the Step Size [s] to
0.0005

3.

Multi-select Fluid Solid Interface under Transient Structural and fsi_fluid

under Fluent Coupling using the CTRL key, then right-click and select Create
Data Transfer

4.

Save the project, then right-click Solution and select

Update
The solution will take about 1.5 hours to complete

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System Coupling
5.

When the solution is complete return to the Project page and then open the
Transient Structural Results cell (B7)

6.

Select the previously created Chart

The outlet arm (green) leads the inlet arm (red) after start up effect have died
out. The phase shift is very small and is difficult to see on this chart. It can be
calculated by determining the difference between the times that the inlet and
outlet arm have a displacement of 0.

Small phase shift seen in tracked displacements

Note that the outlet arm has a vertical phase shift so this would have to be
accounted for when determining the 0 displacement time. Alternatively, the
time difference between peaks can be used to determine the phase shift.
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Further Work
Simulations can be run at different flow velocities and the phase shift calculated for
each flow velocity. The results can be used to create a calibration curve where mass
flow rate can be determined given a specific phase shift. Simulation results are shown
below for this flow meter
0.7

Mass flow rate (kg/s)

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0

Phase shift (degrees)

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June 26, 2014

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Wrap-up

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This workshop has demonstrated how to set up a modal analysis and use the
results from this analysis in a 2-way coupled FSI simulation

The displacement applied on the flow meter tube and the observed phase
shift between the inlet and outlet arms is small but can still be seen through
simulation

A steady-state fluid simulation is used to initialize the FSI simulation so that a

shock is not applied to the system which could cause instability

Different flow velocities can be used resulting in different phase shifts, which
can be used to create a calibration curve

2011 ANSYS, Inc.

June 26, 2014

Release 15.0