Search results

The detailed flow behaviour around a four—hole Cobra Pitot pressure probe, developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia, (CSIRO), to determine the pressure and the velocity components in three dimensional single‐phase/multi‐phase fluid flow, is investigated computationally. The incompressible steady state Navier—Stokes equations are solved numerically using a general purpose computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code developed at CANCES. Computational results are presented for representative probe pitch and yaw angles at a Reynolds number = 2 × 10³, emphasising the pressure distribution and flow separation patterns on the probe tip adjacent to the pressure ports. Quantitative comparison of the computational simulation to experimental results is done by comparing experimental calibration data to numerically computed pressure responses. The topological features of the near tip flow behaviour are visualised using critical point concepts and three dimensional streamlines. Additional qualitative comparison to experiment is discussed using data from a preliminary experimental investigation using surface oil film visualisation techniques, where available. Conclusions are drawn concerning the near tip flow behaviour, the good level of agreement between the numerical results and experimental data and the effectiveness of using a computational analysis to provide accurate detail useful for engineering design purposes.

This paper presents a unified numerical method able to address a wide class of fluid flow problems of engineering interest. Arbitrary fluids are treated specifying totally arbitrary equations of state, either in analytical form or through look‐up tables. The most general system of the unsteady Navier–Stokes equations is integrated with a coupled implicit preconditioned method. The method can stand infinite CFL number and shows the efficiency of a quasi‐Newton method independent of the multi‐block partitioning on parallel machines. Computed test cases ranging from inviscid hydrodynamics, to natural convection loops of liquid metals, and to supersonic gasdynamics, show a solution efficiency independent of the class of fluid flow problem.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a novel universal error estimator and the adaptive time-stepping process in the generalized single-step single-solve (GS4-1) computational framework, applied for the fluid dynamics with illustrations to incompressible Navier–Stokes equations.

The proposed error estimator is universal and versatile that it works for the entire subsets of the GS4-1 framework, encompassing the nondissipative Crank–Nicolson method, the most dissipative backward differential formula and anything in between. It is new and novel that the cumbersome design work of error estimation for specific time integration algorithms can be avoided. Regarding the numerical implementation, the local error estimation has a compact representation that it is determined by the time derivative variables at four successive time levels and only involves vector operations, which is simple for numerical implementation. Additionally, the adaptive time-stepping is further illustrated by the proposed error estimator and is used to solve the benchmark problems of lid-driven cavity and flow past a cylinder.

The proposed computational procedure is capable of eliminating the nonphysical oscillations in GS4-1(1,1)/Crank–Nicolson method; being CPU-efficient in both dissipative and nondissipative schemes with better solution accuracy; and detecting the complex physics and hence selecting a suitable time step according to the user-defined error threshold.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, for the first time, this study applies the general purpose GS4-1 family of time integration algorithms for transient simulations of incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in fluid dynamics with constant and adaptive time steps via a novel and universal error estimator. The proposed computational framework is simple for numerical implementation and the time step selection based on the proposed error estimation is efficient, benefiting to the computational expense for transient simulations.

The paper aims to develop an efficient data-driven modeling approach for the hydroelastic analysis of a semi-circular pipe conveying fluid with elastic end supports. Besides the structural displacement-dependent unsteady fluid force, the steady one related to structural initial configuration and the variable structural parameters (i.e. the variable support stiffness) are considered in the modeling.

The steady fluid force is treated as a pipe preload, and the elastically supported pipe-fluid model is dealt with as a prestressed hydroelastic system with variable parameters. To avoid repeated numerical simulations caused by parameter variation, structural and hydrodynamic reduced-order models (ROMs) instead of conventional computational structural dynamics (CSD) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solvers are utilized to produce data for the update of the structural, hydrodynamic and hydroelastic state-space equations. Radial basis function neural network (RBFNN), autoregressive with exogenous input (ARX) model as well as proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) algorithm are applied to modeling these two ROMs, and a hybrid framework is proposed to incorporate them.

The proposed approach is validated by comparing its predictions with theoretical solutions. When the steady fluid force is absent, the predictions agree well with the “inextensible theory”. The pipe always loses its stability via out-of-plane divergence first, regardless of the support stiffness. However, when steady fluid force is considered, the pipe remains stable throughout as flow speed increases, consistent with the “extensible theory”. These results not only verify the accuracy of the present modeling method but also indicate that the steady fluid force, rather than the extensibility of the pipe, is the leading factor for the differences between the in- and extensible theories.

The steady fluid force and the variable structural parameters are considered in the data-driven modeling of a hydroelastic system. Since there are no special restrictions on structural configuration, steady flow pattern and variable structural parameters, the proposed approach has strong portability and great potential application for other hydroelastic problems.

This paper aims to present a three‐dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model that simulates the fluid flow, species transport and electric current flow in PEM fuel cells.

The model makes use of a general‐purpose CFD software as a basic tool incorporating fuel cell specific submodels for multi‐component species transport, electrochemical kinetics, water management and electric phase potential analysis in order to simulate various processes that occur in a PEM fuel cell.

Three dimensional results for the flow field, species transport, including waster formations, and electric current distributions are presented for two test flow configurations in the PEM fuel cell. For the two cases presented, reasonable predictions have been obtained, and this provides an insight into the effect of the flow designs to the operation of the fuel cell.

It is appreciated that the CFD modeling of fuel cells is, in general, still facing significant challenges due to the limited understanding of the complex physical and chemical processes existing within the fuel cell. The model is now under further development to improve its capabilities and undergoing further validations.

The model simulations can provide detailed information on some of the key fluid dynamics, physical and chemical/electro‐chemical processes that exist in fuel cells which are crucial for fuel cell design and optimization.

The model can be used to understand the operation of the fuel cell and provide and alternative to experimental investigations in order to improve the performance of the fuel cell.

When simulating fluid-structure interaction (FSI), it is often essential that the no-slip condition is accurately enforced at the wetted boundary of the structure. This paper aims to evaluate the relative strengths and limitations of the penalty and Lagrange multiplier methods, within the context of modelling FSI, through a comparative analysis.

In the immersed boundary method, the no-slip condition is typically imposed by augmenting the governing equations of the fluid with an artificial body force. The relative accuracy and computational time of the penalty and Lagrange multiplier formulations of this body force are evaluated by using each to solve three test problems, namely, flow through a channel, the harmonic motion of a cylinder through a stationary fluid and the vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of a cylinder.

The Lagrange multiplier formulation provided an accurate solution, especially when enforcing the no-slip condition, and was robust as it did not require “tuning” of problem specific parameters. However, these benefits came at a higher computational cost relative to the penalty formulation. The penalty formulation achieved similar levels of accuracy to the Lagrange multiplier formulation, but only if the appropriate penalty factor was selected, which was difficult to determine a priori.

Both the Lagrange multiplier and penalty formulations of the immersed boundary method are prominent in the literature. A systematic quantitative comparison of these two methods is presented within the same computational environment. A novel application of the Lagrange multiplier method to the modelling of VIV is also provided.

The purpose of this paper is to perform two-dimensional numerical simulation involving fluid-structure interaction of flexible filament. The filament is tethered to the bottom of a rectangular channel with oscillating fluid flow inlet conditions at low Reynolds number. The simulations are performed using a temporal second-order finite volume-based immersed boundary method (IBM). Further, to understand the relation between different aspect ratios i.e. ratio of filament length to channel height (Len/H) and fixed channel geometry ratio, i.e. ratio of channel height to channel length (H/Lc) on mixing and pumping capabilities.

The discretization of governing continuity and Navier–Stokes equation is done by finite-volume method on a staggered Cartesian grid. SIMPLE algorithm is used to solve fluid velocity and pressure terms. Two cases of oscillatory flow conditions are used with the flexible filament tethered at the center of bottom channel wall. The first case is sinusoidal oscillatory flow with phase shift (SOFPS) and second case is sinusoidal oscillatory flow without phase shift (SOF). The simulation results are validated with filament dynamics studies of previous researchers. Further, parametric analysis is carried to study the effect of filament length (aspect ratio), filament bending rigidity and Reynolds number on the complex deformation and behavior of flexible filament interacting with nearby oscillating fluid motion.

It is found that selection of right filament length and bending rigidity is crucial for fluid mixing scenarios. The phase shift in fluid motion is also found to critically effect filament displacement dynamics, especially for rigid filaments. Aspect ratio, suitable for mixing applications is dependent on channel geometry ratio. Symmetric deformation is observed for filaments subjected to SOFPS condition irrespective of bending rigidity, whereas medium and low rigidity filaments placed in SOF condition show severe asymmetric behavior. Two key findings of this study are: symmetric filament conformity without appreciable bending produces sweeping motion in fluid flow, which is highly suited for mixing application; and asymmetric behavior shown by the filament depicts antiplectic metachronism commonly found in beating cilia. As a result, it is possible to pin point the type of fluid motion governing fluid mixing and fluid pumping. The developed computational model can, thus, successfully demonstrate filament-fluid interaction for a wide variety of similar problems.

The present study uses a temporal second-order finite volume-based IBM to examine flexible filament dynamics for various applications such as fluid mixing. Also, it highlights the relationship between channel geometry ratio and filament aspect ratio and its effect on filament sweep patterns. The study further reports the effect of filament displacement dynamics with or without phase shift for inlet oscillating fluid flow condition.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the effect of airflow dynamics on vortices for different flow rates using the human nose three-dimensional model.

Olfaction originates with air particles travelling from an external environment to the upper segment of the human nose. This phenomenon is generally understood by using the nasal airflow dynamics, which enhances the olfaction by creating the vortices in the human nose. An anatomical three-dimensional model of the human nasal cavity from computed tomography (CT) scan images using the MIMICS software (Materialise, USA) was developed in this study. Grid independence test was performed through volume flow rate, pressure drop from nostrils and septum and average velocity near the nasal valve region using a four computational mesh model. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to examine the flow pattern and influence of airflow dynamics on vortices in the nasal cavity. Numerical simulations were conducted for the flow rates of 7.5, 10, 15 and 20 L/min using numerical finite volume methods.

At coronal cross-sections, dissimilar nasal airflow patterns were observed for 7.5, 10, 15 and 20 L/min rate of fluid flow in the human nasal cavity. Vortices that are found at the boundaries with minimum velocity creates deceleration zone in the nose vestibule region, which is accompanied by flow segregation. Maximum vortices were observed in the nasal valve region and the posterior end of the turbinate region, which involves mixing and recirculation and is responsible for enhancing the smelling process.

The proposed analysis is applicable to design the sensor chamber for electronic noses.

In this paper, the influence of airflow dynamics on vortices in the human nasal cavity is discussed through numerical simulations.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new simplified numerical model, based on a very compact semi-empirical formulation, able to simulate the fluid dynamics behaviors of an electrohydraulic servovalve taking into account several effects due to valve geometry (e.g. flow leakage between spool and sleeve) and operating conditions (e.g. variable supply pressure or water hammer).

The proposed model simulates the valve performance through a simplified representation, deriving from the linearized approach based on pressure and flow gains, but able to evaluate the mutual interaction between boundary conditions, pressure saturation and leak assessment. Its performance was evaluated comparing with other fluid dynamics numerical models (a detailed physics-based high-fidelity one and other simplified models available in the literature).

Although still showing some limitations attributable to its simplified formulation, the proposed model overcomes several deficiencies typical of the most common fluid dynamic models available in the literature, describing the water hammer and the nonlinear dependence of the delivery differential pressure with the spool displacement.

Although still based on a simplified formulation with reduced computational costs, the proposed model introduces a new nonlinear approach that, approximating with suitable precision the pressure-flow fluid dynamic characteristic of a servovalve, overcomes the shortcomings typical of such models.

ARDENT Computer Corporation and Intelligent Aerodynamics, Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, have completed an agreement to jointly market the first computational fluid dynamics software featuring Ardent's integrated, dynamic graphics visualisation package. The FLO87 software, created for use in aircraft design, will be ported to Ardent's new Titan graphics supercomputer.