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Week 5.1 - Non-Conformal Meshing and Solving a Cold plate model
AIM The objective of the project is to perform CFD analysis for the Cold plate and also create the non conformal mesh for the model. TASK Create non-conformal mesh assembly. Solve for Flow and Temperature model & choose zero equation turbulent model and setup gravity vector. Setup transient simulation with an initial…
Aravind Subramanian
updated on 28 May 2021
AIM
The objective of the project is to perform CFD analysis for the Cold plate and also create the non conformal mesh for the model.
TASK
- Create non-conformal mesh assembly.
- Solve for Flow and Temperature model & choose zero equation turbulent model and setup gravity vector.
- Setup transient simulation with an initial velocity of 0.005 m /s in antigravity direction and create monitor points.
- Post process the results using the Plane cut, Vector plot, Temperature contour and object face.
MODEL
The following objects are created in Icepak using the design specification.
Cabinet : It creates a fluid region around the model for which the governing equations are solved.
i) Geometry
Shape - Prism.
Specified By - Start/end.
Start Xs - 0
Start Ys - 0
Start Zs - 0
End Xe - 400 mm.
End Ye - 300mm.
End Ze - 200mm.
ii) Properties - The wall type for the cabinet is defined.
Min X - Opening.
Max X - Opening.
Min Y - Default.
Max Y - Default.
Min Z - Default.
Max Z - Default.
Block 1
i) Geometry
Shape - Prism.
Specified By - Start/end.
Start Xs - 50 mm.
Start Ys - 80 mm.
Start Zs - 70 mm.
End Xe - 350 mm.
End Ye - 220mm.
End Ze - 130mm.
ii) Properties
Block type - Solid.
Solid Material - Default.
Block 2
Geometry
Shape - Prism.
Specified By - Start/end.
Start Xs - 60 mm.
Start Ys - 90 mm.
Start Zs - 80 mm.
End Xe - 340 mm.
End Ye - 210mm.
End Ze - 120mm.
ii) Properties
Block type - Fluid.
Fluid Material - Water.
Plate 1
Geometry
Shape - Rectangular.
Plane - X-Y.
Specified By - Start/end.
Start Xs - 70 mm.
Start Ys - 100 mm.
Start Zs - 60 mm.
End Xe - 330 mm.
End Ye - 200mm.
ii) Properties
Thermal model - Conducting thick.
Thickness - 10mm.
Solid Material - Default.
Total power - 200W.
Plate 2
Geometry
Shape - Rectangular.
Plane - X-Y.
Specified By - Start/end.
Start Xs - 70 mm.
Start Ys - 100 mm.
Start Zs - 130 mm.
End Xe - 330 mm.
End Ye - 200mm.
ii) Properties
Thermal model - Conducting thick.
Thickness - 10mm.
Solid Material - Default.
Total power - 200W.
Inlet Pipe
Geometry
Shape - Cylinder.
Plane - X-Z.
Center xC - 100 mm.
Center yC - 0 mm.
Center zC - 100 mm.
Height - 90mm.
Radius - 20mm.
Int Radius - 15mm.
ii) Properties
Block type - Solid.
Solid Material - Default.
Inlet Fluid region
Geometry
Shape - Cylinder.
Plane - X-Z.
Center xC - 100 mm.
Center yC - 0 mm.
Center zC - 100 mm.
Height - 90mm.
Radius - 15mm.
ii) Properties
Block type - Fluid.
Fluid Material - Water.
Inlet Opening
Geometry
Shape - Circular.
Plane - X-Z.
Center xC - 100 mm.
Center yC - 0 mm.
Center zC - 100 mm.
Radius - 15mm.
Properties
Temperature - Ambient.
Y velocity - 0.2m/s.
Outlet Pipe
Geometry
Shape - Cylinder.
Plane - X-Z.
Center xC - 300 mm.
Center yC - 0 mm.
Center zC - 100 mm.
Height - 90mm.
Radius - 20mm.
Int Radius - 15mm.
ii) Properties
Block type - Solid.
Solid Material - Default.
Outlet fluid region
Geometry
Shape - Cylinder.
Plane - X-Z.
Center xC - 300 mm.
Center yC - 0 mm.
Center zC - 100 mm.
Height - 90mm.
Radius - 15mm.
ii) Properties
Block type - Fluid.
Fluid Material - Water.
Outlet Opening
Geometry
Shape - Circular.
Plane - X-Z.
Center xC - 300 mm.
Center yC - 0 mm.
Center zC - 100 mm.
Radius - 15mm.
Properties
Temperature - Ambient.
The Non conformal mesh for the model is created by creating 3 assemble.
Assemble - 1
Select inlet pipe, inlet fluid region and inlet opening, create --> assembly.
Under the meshing tab choose Mesh separately,
i) Slack setting
Min X - 2 mm.
Max X - 2 mm.
Min Y - 0.
Max Y - 0.
Min Z - 2mm.
Max Z - 2mm.
ii) Mesh type
Max element size X - 2mm.
Max element size Y - 5mm.
Max element size Z - 2mm.
Min Gap X - 0.02 mm.
Min Gap Y - 0.05 mm.
Min Gap Z - 0.02 mm.
Assemble - 2
Select outlet pipe, outlet fluid region and outlet opening, create --> assembly.
Under the meshing tab choose Mesh separately,
i) Slack setting
Min X - 2 mm.
Max X - 2 mm.
Min Y - 0.
Max Y - 0.
Min Z - 2mm.
Max Z - 2mm.
ii) Mesh type
Max element size X - 2mm.
Max element size Y - 5mm.
Max element size Z - 2mm.
Min Gap X - 0.02 mm.
Min Gap Y - 0.05 mm.
Min Gap Z - 0.02 mm.
Assemble - 3
Select block 1, block 2, plate 1, plate 2, assemble 1 & assemble 2, create --> assemble.
Under the meshing tab choose Mesh separately,
i) Slack setting
Min X - 2 mm.
Max X - 2 mm.
Min Y - 0.
Max Y - 2 mm.
Min Z - 2mm.
Max Z - 2mm.
ii) Mesh type
Max element size X - 10mm.
Max element size Y - 7.5mm.
Max element size Z - 5mm.
Min Gap X - 0.1 mm.
Min Gap Y - 0.075 mm.
Min Gap Z - 0.05 mm.
- Macros --> Productivity --> Validation --> Automatic case check tool - It checks the assembly interface between the varies objects and assembly.
Mesh Control
Mesh along X plane
Mesh along Y plane
Mesh along Z plane
Mesh Verification
Face alignment
- It is the measure of mesh quality defined by face alignment index = C0C1.f
- C0 & C1 are the centroids of two adjacent elements are normal vector to the face between the two elements.
- Range of face alignment 0 (bad) to 1 (good) & value greater than 0.1 (preferred) & value greater than 0.15 provide better results.
The min value of the model is 0.6 which provide better results.
Volume
- Preferable volume of mesh to be greater than 1e-13 for single precision solver & greater than 1e-15 for double precision.
- Max / Min cell volume should be less than 10^7 for single precision & must be less than 10^12 for double precicion since very small volume create divergence of the solution.
The volume of the mesh greater than 10^-13 & Max / Min cell ratio is around 1000 which is in required range & the single precision is used for this model.
Skewness
It determines how close to the ideal & based on the equilateral volume. The value greater than 0.5 provide good cell quality.
The min value of the skewness is 0.44 and it produce good cell quality.
Solver
The three dimensional steady state Navier stokes equations for the model are solved within the computational domain.
General Setup
- Variables solved - flow and temperature.
- Radiation - Off.
- Flow regime - Turbulent - The zero equation are solved for the turbulent model.
Natural convection are consider for this model.
Gravity vector for the y axis is set to -9.81 m/s2.
The defaults value of the parameters are set to default.
Transient Setup
- Time variation - Steady
Solution Initialization
X velocity - 0.
Y velocity - 0.005 m/s.
Z velocity -0.
Temperature - ambient.
Basic settings
No of iterations - 500.
Convergence criteria
Flow - 0.001.
Energy - 1e-7.
Joule heating - 1e-7.
Parallel Settings
Configuration - parallel.
Parallel options - 4 processors.
Advance Solver Setup
Results
The residuals for the following equations are plotted against the number of iterations:
- Continuity equation.
- X-momentum equation.
- Y-momentum equation.
- Z-momentum equation.
- Energy equation.
The solution gets converged around 125 iterations and the contiuity and momemtum equation gets converged.
Plot
Temperature Contour
Y cut plane
Z cut plane
X cut plane
The maximum temperature within the computational domain is 31.247 degC. The plate provide the heat source of the model interacts with the aluminium block due to the heat transfer from them and the fluid region inside the block and the fluid flows from the inlet to the fluid block & to the outlet. The temperature at the other end of the model is at the ambient condition.
Velocity Contour
The contour plot of the velocity is highest around 0.238 m/s. The initial velocity is set to 0.005 m/s & the maximum velocity is at outlet since it in the direction of the gravity.
Object contour
The maximum temp is at the center of the plate in 31.28 degC. The inlet is at 20 degC & the outlet is at 22 degC.
Particle tracer plots
The vector plots for the velocity for the air at 100 points distributed uniformly through the X plane. The vectors the water achieves maximum velocity at the outlet. The velocity vector are able to capture the recirculation zones established on the Z plane.
Conclusion
In this project the given model of the cold plate was meshed using ANSYS Icepak using the non-conformal meshing, per-object meshing parameters and multi-level meshing. The three dimensional steady-state governing equations for the model were solved for flow and temperature within the computational domain in the Icepak.
- The maximum temperature within the computational domain is 31.247 deg.C.
- The maximum air velocity within the computational domain is 0.238 m/s.
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