Finite volume method analysis of heat transfer problem using adapted strongly implicit procedure

Abel Rouboa,Eliseu Monteiro,Regina de Almeida 대한기계학회 2009 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.23 No.6

In most issues representing physical problems, the complex geometry cannot be represented by a Cartesian grid. The multi-block grid technique allows artificially reducing the complexity of the geometry by breaking down the real domain into a number of sub-domains with simpler geometry. The main aim of this article is to show the usefulness of simple solvers in complex geometry problems, when using curvilinear coordinates combined with multi-block grids. This requires adapted solvers to a nine nodes computational cell instead of the five nodes computational cell used with Cartesian coordinates for two-dimensional cases. These developments are presented for the simple iterative methods Jacobi and Gauss-Seidel and also for the incomplete factorization method strongly implicit procedure (SIP). These adapted solvers are tested in two cases: a simple geometry (heat transfer in a circular cross-section) and a complex geometry (solidification case). Results of the simple geometry case show that all the adapted solvers have good performance with a slight advantage for the SIP solver. For increasing the complexity of the geometry, the results showed that Jacobi and Gauss-Seidel solvers are not suitable. However, the SIP method has a reasonable performance. A conclusion could be drawn that the SIP method could be used in complex geometry problems using multi-block grid technique when high precision results are not required.

Computational fluid dynamics analysis of greenhouse microclimates by heated underground tubes

Abel Rouboa,Eliseu Monteiro 대한기계학회 2007 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.21 No.12

One of the main problems of Mediterranean climates is the large diurnal amplitude of temperature, with too low temperature during winter nights and too high temperatures during summer days. This is particularly felt in the north of Portugal, where the low temperature during winter nights can be compensated by the introduction of a heat source. The objective of this is work is to simulate the effects in the temperature and velocity fields by the introduction of hot water tubes along a greenhouse in night conditions. Three different situations are simulated: natural convective heating (case A), artificial heating tubes (case B), artificial heating tubes, and natural ventilation (case C). The commercial CFD package ANSYS® (FLOTRAN module) is used for this propose. The turbulence is modelled by the RNG turbulence model. The numerical results are compared with experimental values, the procedure for which is also presented. The average increase in air temperature for cases A, B and C was 2.2℃, 6.7℃ and 3.5℃, respectively. Turbulence is lower in case A, increases slightly when the heating system is introduced (case B), and increases significantly in case C due to the effect of natural ventilation. A very good agreement between experimental and numerical temperature values was verified. This allows validating the RNG turbulence model as suitable to simulate arch-shaped greenhouse micro-climates. Some improvements can be done to this work: introduction of night-time crop transpiration, 3D simulations, or optimizing the size of the element mesh in order to reduce the computation time.

Numerical Simulation of the Aluminum Alloys Solidification in Complex Geometries

Monteiro Eliseu,Rouboa Abel The Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers 2005 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.19 No.9

The process of mould design in the foundry industry has been based on the intuition and experience of foundry engineers and designers. To bring the industry to a more scientific basis the design process should be integrated with scientific analysis such as heat transfer. The production by foundry techniques is influenced by the geometry configuration, which affects the solidification conditions and subsequent cooling. Numerical simulation and/or experiments make possible the selection of adequate materials, reducing cycle times and minimizing production costs. The main propose of this work is to study the heat transfer phenomena in the mould considering the phase change of the cast-part. Due to complex geometry of the mould, a block unstructured grid and a generalized curvilinear formulation engaged with the finite volume method is described and applied. Two types of boundary conditions, diffusive and Newtonian, are used and compared. The developed numerical code is tested in real case and the main results are compared with experimental data. The results showed that the solidification time is about 6 seconds for diffusive boundary conditions and 14.8 seconds for Newtonian boundary conditions. The use of the block unstructured grid in combination with a generalized curvilinear formulation works well with the finite volume method and allows the development of more efficient algorithms with better capacity to describe the part contours through a lesser number of elements.

Numerical Simulation of the Aluminum Alloys Solidification in Complex Geometries

Eliseu Monteiro,Abel Rouboa 대한기계학회 2005 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.19 No.9

The process of mould design in the foundry industry has been based on the intuition and experience of foundry engineers and designers. To bring the industry to a more scientific basis the design process should be integrated with scientific analysis such as heat transfer. The production by foundry techniques is influenced by the geometry configuration, which affects the solidification conditions and subsequent cooling. Numerical simulation and/or experiments make possible the selection of adequate materials, reducing cycle times and minimizing production costs. The main propose of this work is to study the heat transfer phenomena in the mould considering the phase change of the cast-part. Due to complex geometry of the mould, a block unstructured grid and a generalized curvilinear formulation engaged with the finite volume method is described and applied. Two types of boundary conditions, diffusive and Newtonian, are used and compared. The developed numerical code is tested in real case and the main results are compared with experimental data. The results showed that the solidification time is about 6 seconds for diffusive boundary conditions and 14.8 seconds for Newtonian boundary conditions. The use of the block unstructured grid in combination with a generalized curvilinear formulation works well with the finite volume method and allows the development of more efficient algorithms with better capacity to describe the part contours through a lesser number of elements.

Numerical investigation of effects of buoyancy around a heated circular cylinder in parallel and contra flow

Armando A. Soares,Nuno D. Couto,M. Duarte Naia,Norberto J. Gonçalves,Abel Rouboa 대한기계학회 2012 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.26 No.5

"Two-dimensional, steady, incompressible Navier-Stokes and energy equations are expressed in the stream function/vorticity formulation and solved numerically by finite difference method to study effects of buoyancy on fluid flow and heat transfer from a horizontal circular cylinder. The cylinder is exposed to approaching flow stream, for parallel (parallel flow) and opposing (contra flow) directions to the buoyant force. Two different thermal boundary conditions were considered at the cylinder surface: constant temperature (CT) and constant heat flux (CHF). The results elucidating the dependence of the flow and heat transfer characteristics on the Richardson number 0≤ Ri ≤2, Prandtl number 0≤ Pr ≤100 and Reynolds number 0 ≤ Re ≤ 40 are presented. Overall, for parallel flow regime, an increase in the Ri led to a raise in both Nusselt number and drag coefficient. However, for contra flow regime, these trends were reversed. For both regimes, the aforementioned behaviors were more pronounced for CT boundary condition than that for the CHF boundary condition."