Lecture 9

Immersed Solids in CFX

14. 5 Release

Solving FSI Applications Using

ANSYS Mechanical and ANSYS CFX
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 Overview
Fluid domain
A way to represent a moving solid Cartesian mesh shown in the example, but
without deforming the mesh can be any mesh in general
Fluid nodes covered by immersed solid
Fluid mesh is created that covers (IMS) are forced to satisfy V = Vsolid
both the fluid and solid regions

Overlapping solid mesh is created

that represent the initial position of
the solid

The solver locates the fluid nodes

that overlap with the solid mesh

Fluid velocity at overlapping nodes

set equal to solid body velocity,
capturing the influence of the solid
Immersed Solid Domain
Mesh to represent the
immersed solid
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 Comparison to Mesh Resolved Method
Immersed Solid Method
Stationary background fluid mesh
Moving solid mesh
Fluid nodes covered by immersed solid
are forced to satisfy V = Vsolid
Limited boundary layer resolution

Mesh resolved method

Boundary of body is resolved in fluid mesh
Mesh deforms as body moves, using
smoothing method
Body boundary nodes are forced to satisfy
V = Vsolid
Can create mesh to resolve boundary
layer
Dont need mesh for solid region
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 Overview

The solid body mesh is only used to find overlapping fluid

nodes
No solution on the solid mesh
No direct influence of the solid on the fluid
Solid boundary mesh should accurately represent solid
body, but solid mesh quality doesnt matter
Principle advantage no need for remeshing or mesh
morphing
Arbitrary motion easily handled
Robust and simple to set up

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 Limitations

Viscous forces on rigid body are not well resolved, especially for
turbulent flows
Mesh usually doesnt resolve the boundary layer
No Wall Functions
Immersed solid approach is applicable when forces on immersed body are
pressure-dominated

Does not work with variable density flows for transient runs
Transient runs should be incompressible, single phase, no cavitation
But variable density can occur away from the immersed solid

Physics Limitations
No interaction with particles
No combustion, radiation, heat transfer, additional variables, CHT
No automatic replication of immersed solids across periodic boundaries

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 When can it be used?
Include Blockage Without Meshing Permit Large Relative Motion of Bodies

Internal Flows Positive displacement pumps and

Electronics enclosure blowers
Automotive Underhood Gear pump
Engine Nacelle Roots blower
Vane pump
HVAC Ge-rotor pump
Debris in ducts
Valve shutting and opening
Occupants, furniture or other
obstructions in a room

External flows
Tree placement near a building
Body passing across the path of a car
or aircraft

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 When should it not be used?

Accurate prediction of drag around bodies

Requires accurate boundary layer prediction
Vessels or objects floating in water
Variable density not correctly handled
Positive displacement compressors
Compressible flow
Screw and scroll compressors
Compressible flow
Piston compressors (use mesh morphing instead)
Compressible flow
But can use immersed solid to allow valve to close
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 Basic Solver Implementation

At the beginning of each time step, the solver:

Updates the position of the immersed solid
Cannot update IMS position each Coefficient Loop
Determines which fluid nodes lie inside the immersed solids

The velocity in the fluid region that overlaps the immersed solid
is enforced through a body force in the momentum equations:
S = -aC (V VIMS)
C come from the coefficients in the momentum equation
a is the Momentum Source Scaling Factor
Pressure field inside the immersed body may look unphysical due
to the forcing momentum source terms
Unimportant; can be manually set using inside( ) function if desired
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 Immersed Solid Domains

The fluid and immersed solid domains

have independent overlapping meshes
No domain interface between immersed
solid domain and regular domains

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 Domain Basic Settings
Insert a domain as usual, use
Domain Type = Immersed Solid

Local Coordinate Frame

Local frame can be created to facilitate
the representation of the domain
motion

Domain Motion types

Stationary
Speed and Direction
Specified Displacement
Rotating
General Motion
Rigid Body Solution
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 Domain Motion Types General Motion
General Motion
Chasles Theorem: The general displacement
of a rigid body is a linear motion of a origin
point plus a rotation around the origin point

Origin Motion
Describes the three translatory degrees of
freedom for the linear motion of the origin
point

Body Rotation
Describes the three rotating degrees of
freedom for the angular motion of the rigid
body around the origin point

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 Domain Motion Types Rigid Body
Motion
Rigid Body Motion
Immersed Solid motion is determined
by 6-DOF Rigid Body Solver
Immersed Solid position is updated
when the Rigid Body solution is
updated
See Lecture 6 for details

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 Domain Solver Control
Fluid velocity wont be exactly equal
to the solid body velocity
Will be closer for larger values of
Momentum Source Scaling Factor

Can set the Momentum Source Scaling

Factor for each immersed solid
domain
Also set on the usual Solver Control panel
Numerical system can be stiff as forcing term becomes large
More likely for Solver to fail

For Momentum Source Scaling Factors > 10, may need to activate the
expert parameter: smooth inside ims = t

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 Domain Solver Control

A scaling factor of 0 turns off the

influence of the immersed solid
Can be combined with step( ) functions to
turn on and off immersed solid

Results observed for a gear pump:

Flow Rate Error vs Momentum Source Scaling Factor

Experiment
55% 10
13% 50
9% 100

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 Solver Control Boundary Model

In the global Solver Control settings a

Boundary Model option is available:
None default treatment
Modified Forcing
The Immersed Solid boundary is modeled
using a modified forcing term based on a
constant shear assumption for laminar
flow and wall functions for turbulent flow
The modified force is applied at the fluid
nodes near the immersed solid boundary
these need to be located:
Boundary Face Extrusion: a virtual volume is formed by extruding the immersed solid
boundary faces by the specified distance, then expanding the volume by the tolerance.
Fluid nodes are projected accurately to the immersed solid faces.
Search Through Elements: no inputs required, but a less accurate association of the near-
immersed-boundary fluid nodes with the immersed solid elements

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 Initialization

There is no physics defined in

immersed solid domains, so
theres no variables to initialize

In the fluid domain can use the

inside( ) function to initialize fluid
velocity to a different value at
nodes covered by the immersed
solid

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 Mesh Considerations
Roots Blower Geometry
Need relatively fine background fluid mesh along
the swept path of the solid boundary
If the swept path is known, design mesh accordingly
Solid mesh need only be fine at surface in order to
resolve geometry

Fluid Mesh Immersed Solid Mesh

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 Examples: Forward-Facing Step

Comparison of a forward- Mesh Resolved Approach

facing step using standard
mesh-resolved approach and
immersed solid approach

No motion here, the

immersed solid is just used to
block-off the step region Immersed Solid Approach

Compare boundary layer and

flow pattern
Note recirculation region after
the step

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 Examples: Forward-Facing Step

Mesh Resolved Approach

Recirculation in front of the

step is properly captured

Reattachment downstream
of the step is not captured
(no Boundary Model used
here)
Immersed Solid Approach

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 Examples: Forward-Facing Step

With the Boundary Model set to

Modified Forcing significant
improvements in the near-boundary Mesh Resolved Approach

flow are observed

Better separation prediction over a
forward facing step shown
In other cases, particularly at
transitional Reynolds numbers, Immersed Solid (default)

results have not shown

improvements and can be less robust
when using the Boundary Model

Immersed Solid with Boundary Model

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 Examples: Gear Pump Tutorial
Ge-rotor tutorial from CFX
documentation
Inner immersed solid rotates at 7 rev/s
Rotating fluid domain at 6 rev/s

Fine fluid mesh to resolve the flow

in the gap between the rotors

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 Examples: Gear Pump Tutorial
Momentum Source Scaling Factor = 10

Flow rate shown for two different

scaling factors

Scaling factor of 100 shows a

larger amplitude of the mass flow
rate but a lower mean mass flow
rate
Consistent with some leakage Momentum Source Scaling Factor = 100
occurring through the immersed
solid at the lower scaling factor

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 Examples: Roots Blower

Positive displacement blower

Fine mesh to resolve the
leakage path and the solid
boundary path
Accurate leakage prediction
unlikely with IMS approach

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 Examples: Free Surface Initialization

A novel application of
immersed solids
Create IMS to represent
desired liquid region
Set Momentum Source
Scaling Factor = 0
Set liquid volume
fraction = inside()@IMS

Note that in general multiphase simulation do not interact

with immersed solids in the current release, but here we
are just initializing a variable in a multiphase simulation

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 Examples: Avoid Mesh Pinching

In moving mesh cases that would normally result in the mesh

pinching off (e.g. valve closing/opening), and immersed solid can
provide a sink region for the mesh to move into
Can be combined with FSI, so that contact occurs on the structural side
(assuming one side of the contact is rigid)

Flexible flap: Initially the flap is in contact with a wall. As the upstream
pressure increases it deforms and allows flow to pass to the downstream side.
The black region is an immersed solid. Meshes are shown on the next slide.

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 Examples: Avoid Mesh Pinching
Immersed solid region

Fluid domain mesh get pulled down

and allows the flap to move away
from the wall

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