Basics of CFD Modeling for Beginners

Table of Contents

  Introduction to Flow Analysis Techniques

o Theoretical or analytical Analysis
o Experimental Analysis
o Modeling and Simulation
 What is Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
o Definition of CFD
o Essential Subjects for CFD Modeling
 Scope of CFD Modeling
o Comparison of Simulation (CFD) and Experimental Analysis
o  Advantage of CFD Analysis
 Applications of CFD Modeling
 Classification of Fluid Flow
o  Laminar and Turbulent flow
o Regime for Laminar and turbulent Internal Flow 
o  Forced Flow vs Natural (free) Flow
o  Compressible Flow vs In-compressible Flow
o Fluid Flow with  Fixed vs Moving Boundary
o  Single vs Multi-phase flow
o Passive Flow vs Reactive Flow
 Transport Equation for CFD Modeling
o Physical transport phenomenon
o A caricature of physical transport phenomenon:
o Momentum and heat mechanism
o  General form of governing equation 
o General form of governing equation (in compact form)
 Numerical Solution Procedure
o  Overview of CFD or Numerical Modeling
o  Steps for CFD Modelling
 CFD Software
o Comprehensive CFD Software
o Semi-Comprehensive CFD Soft wares
  Discretization of Computational Domain (Meshing)
o  Elements of Meshing
o Structured vs non-structured meshing
o Assessment of Mesh Quality in CFD 
 Discretization Methods for CFD
o Finite difference method (FDM)
o Finite Volume  Methods (FVM)
o Finite  Element Methods (FEM)
 o Which method (FDM/FEM/FVM) is the best suited for CFD Modeling?
o Interpolation Scheme in CFD Solver
o  Unsteady Term discretization
o  Solution of Linear Equations Systems
o 1) Direct methods
o 2) Indirect or iterative methods:
  Grid based Coupling of Pressure and Velocity
o Colocated grid
o  Staggered grid
 Pressure Velocity Coupling – Algorithm
o SIMPLE Algorithm
o Pressure Velocity Coupling in OpenFOAM
o Flow solvers available in ANSYS FLUENT 
  Properties of Fluid
  Boundary Conditions
 Example of CFD Modeling : Pipe Flow
o CFD Analysis of Laminar Flow Through the Circular Pipe
o  ANSYS FLUENT Set up
o CFD Results and Analysis
o Validation of CFD Results
 Conclusion
 References

An Introduction To

Computational Fluid Dynamics

(CFD)
by

Dr. Sharad N. Pachpute (PhD, IIT Delhi)

 Introduction to Flow Analysis Techniques

In general, science and engineering have been traditionally divided into two parts; experimental
and theoretical disciplines.

Theoretical or analytical Analysis

 
o Theory is based  on assumptions, postulations and laws of actions
o In physics, chemistry and other science subjects, many theorems are studied  and
mathematics helps in quantification and understanding
o These theorems are presented  in terms of independent and dependent parameters
o Analytical analysis helps to provide physical dependency of parameters but it
difficult to solve complex real world problem  example: weather prediction, flows
of rives, testing of large airships etc.

Experimental Analysis


o Using theory and mathematical formulation we can solve simple problems in our
real life and nature
o Experiment is conducted for simple cases to understand the details of objectives
o Carrying out experiments is expensive, risky and time consuming
o  There are many limitations  to get solutions for complex problems either by
theory and experiments

Modeling and Simulation

 
o Modeling and simulation has emerged as a third pillar in many fields like
engineering, molecular dynamics and astronomy
o Modeling and simulation is a technique to prediction the science and explore new
knowledge
o It is useful  to  solve real world problems which can not be solved by theory and
may be expensive by experimental analysis
o Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is  a technique of modeling and
simulation based on numerical modeling for fluid flow
o Using the CFD technique, heat and mass transfer, reactive flow, multi-phase
flow and combustion can be analyzed using various numerical models
o  Modelings and Simulation is called as a third pillar of science and technology in
the 21st century.

What is Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Definition of CFD

 Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is  a technique of flow predictions by 

numerical solving governing equations of fluid flows. Governing equations are
conservation of mass, momentum, heat and mass transfer. Numerical methods are
used to convert partial differential equations in to algebraic set of equations. After solving
 iteratively using computer programs, engineers visualize predicted velocity, pressure and
temperature.
 Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) comprises majorly three  steps:
o Pre-processing: Creation of geometry and meshing
o Simulation: Solving governing equations over a meshed model
o Post-processing and results analysis: Predicted physical quantities need to be
analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively
 Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is an interdisciplinary subject. Hence, CFD users
have to be familiar with the following subjects as per their specific requirement.

Essential Subjects for CFD Modeling

1) Mathematics:


o
 Partial differential equations, integration
 Numerical Methods:  finite volume method (FVM), finite element method
(FEM), finite difference method (FDM)

2) Flow Physics:


o
 Fluid mechanics: Proerties of fluid, Laminar and Turbulent Flow
 Heat and mass transfer
 Reaction: reactive or passive flow in combustion
 Phases of material: single or multi-phase flow
 Other flow physics: Magnetic or electric field acting on fluid

(click here for theory guide: ANSYS_FLUENT_THEORY_GUIDE )

3) Computer science:

Programming tools like C or C++ need to be learnt by CFD users initially. Familiarity with CFD
software is essential for geometry, meshing,  simulation and post-processing. Parallel computing
may need for complex industrial problems,  large eddy simulations (LES ) and DNS.

 Hardware : Laptop, PC, HPC, Supercomputer

 Programming tools: C, C++, Python etc
 CFD software: ANSYS FLUENT, OpenFOAM, Star CCM, COMSOL

4) Experimental data for validation:

 Validation of CFD results is essential for credibility of numerical models

   Results of CFD simulations need to be reliable and consistent with experimental results

Scope of CFD Modeling

Comparison of Simulation (CFD) and Experimental Analysis

 As discussed above, simulation and experiment are two commonly used methods for
design and analysis
 Simulations provide a thorough analysis at a lower cost compared to experimental
analysis
 Hence CFD is used in a wide range of industrial applications where fluid flow is involved
like automotive, aerospace, power generation, etc
 CFD is used for design and optimization of industrial problems
• CFD has a large potential to solve industrial problems at bigger scale due to continuous
improvement in computational power  and numerical models

 Advantage of CFD Analysis

 The cost of analysis is low compared to experiments

 Provide detailed information
 It can applied to a variety of problems
  CFD analysis requires less time to get results compared to experimental for most of
complex cases. Hence, wind tunnels are replaced with CFD simulations in many
universities and industries as shown below
 CFD analysis is an effective method for design optimization in many automobile,
aerospace and chemical industries
 To carry out a wind tunnel test is expensive and it requires a lot time for experimental set
up
 For measurement in experiments, we can not fix the probes or sensors to measure
velocity and pressure at all locations.

Applications of CFD Modeling

• Simulations provide insight into physical parameters (e.g. velocity, temperature, pressure,
pollution level,.etc.) that are difficult to study using traditional (experimental) techniques.

i) To find the impact of Smoke and pollution level:  Flow pattern for an oil fire
ii) Turbo machinery Analysis

 Flow pattern for Turbo-machinery is shown below

 First step of CFD is to Identify the flow physics involved in pump:turbo-
machinery, turbulent flow, multi-phase flow  (water and air)
iii) To predict the temperature distribution in boiler

 CFD analysis of boiler is shown below:Temperature  for Turbulent Combustion

of a coal fired boiler
  First step of CFD is to Identify the flow physics involved in boiler: turbulent flow,
heat transfer (conduction, convection and radiation), multi-phase flow (particle
and flue gas), reactive flow (combustion)

Classification of Fluid Flow

  Fluid flow is classified based on type of physics involved in a particular flow. CFD user
has to select correct CFD Models as per flow physics 
 For each flow physics, different numerical models have been developed based on
assumptions and mathematics. All models are to be consistent with experiments
 A variety of numerical models are available in most of commercial CFD solvers. Read
the follwoing articles for complex flow modeling.
o Viscous Models and Fluid Dynamics
o Turbulent Flow Modeling
o Turbulent Heat Transfer Modeling
 o Types of Multiphase and Its CFD Modeling
o Turbulent Combustion Modeling
o CFD Modeling of Turbo-machinery

 Laminar and Turbulent flow

• In general, the Reynolds number is used to determine the flow whether it is laminar or turbulent
 
o Re < Recr:  Laminar flow
o Re > Recr : Turbulent Flow flow

 The transition from laminar to turbulent flow depends on the surface geometry, surface
roughness, free-stream velocity, surface temperature, and type of fluid, among other
things.
  If flow becomes turbulent for the small sectional area, then CFD user has to select an
appropriate turbulence model  while modeling the flows
 To simulate complex turbulent flow, turbulence models are used for numerical simulation

 
Regime for Laminar and turbulent Internal Flow 


o Example 1: Buoyant flow from a cigarette  shows that laminar and turbulent
regions are formed in fluid flow


o Example 2:  Water falling from a tap  Water falling from a tap 
  Example 3:  Water channel flows show that laminar flows in the channel and turbulent
around the gate due to increase in velocity

 Forced Flow vs Natural (free) Flow

  Forced flow: the flow is driven by external means like fan, pump and blower etc.

 Natural (free) flow: the Flow is driven by the density difference between hot and cold
fluids

 Compressible Flow vs In-compressible Flow

Fluid Flow with  Fixed vs Moving Boundary

 Fixed/stationary boundary :boundaries/ walls are fixed

 Example (1) of a fixed wall boundary: for flow through a circular pipe , the pipe wall is
fixed and stationary (no-slip)
 Example (2) of a fixed wall boundary: for flow through a control valve , the pipe wall
is fixed and stationary (no-slip)

 Example of a moving wall boundary: Moving/dynamic boundary : the boundaries/ wall

move relative to the fluid: (a) Air flow over a moving car, (b) Air flow over a wind mill
 In flow over a windmill, air flows over blades  which  rotate about its axis. The lift force
created due to pressure difference causes torque for rotation of blades.
  For flow through the pump, impeller rotates and push the fluid through outlet pipe. Due
to a change in boundaries, the flow physics and CFD models are also changed compared
to a simple pipe flow problems
 Single vs Multi-phase flow

 Single Phase flow : only one phase exits in the fluid system Examples: water through a
pipe, air flow over a surface etc.

Fig.11 Examples of a single phase flow

 Multi-phase flow : more than two or more phases interact each other.
 Examples of multi-phase flows: Boiling flow, condensation, bubble column etc..
 Water evaporation and boiling consists of two phases water and steam
  Condensation consists of two phases water and steam

 To model the flow when two  (inter penetrating or separated)phases, multiphase models
are used based on approximation and cost of simulations

Passive Flow vs Reactive Flow

 Non-reactive flows: no chemical reaction takes place between the species
 Reactive flows : chemical reaction takes place between the species
(a) Liquid combustion
 (b) Flame from a match stick

 For details of reactive flow modeling, read basics of combustion in this website. Majority
of flow in combustion is turbulent for good mixing of fuel and air. It can lead to stable
flames. Turbulent combustion modeling need to be studied in details before CFD
modeling.

Transport Equation for CFD Modeling

Physical transport phenomenon

• In fluid flow, transport of various physical quantities such as mass, momentum, energy and
species is involved.
• CFD user must know the governing equations and the physical meaning of various
terms in equations. 

A caricature of physical transport phenomenon:

  Transport of water is used  from source point to  the location of fire
extinguishing

• CFD user must know the governing equations and the physical meaning of various terms in
equations.

1) Conduction (diffusion): need a medium for transfer of mass, momentum, heat and species at
molecular level.

2) Advection: need a medium for transfer of mass, momentum, heat and specie at bulk level.

Convection = Advection + Diffusion

3) Radiation: no need a medium for heat (Not applicable for mass, momentum and species)

• In general, the conservation equation for any physical conserved variable is written as:

Unsteady term + Advection term = Diffusion term + Source /sink terms

Momentum and heat mechanism

 General form of governing equation 

General form of governing equation (in compact form)

Numerical Solution Procedure

 Overview of CFD or Numerical Modeling

  Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is the science of predicting fluid flow, heat and
mass transfer, chemical reactions, and related phenomena by solving numerically the set
 of governing mathematical equations• Governing (PDE) equations are Conservation of
fluid flow, heat and mass transfer and species, etc.
 Generally, CFD works based on the Finite volume methods (Conservative Method).

 Fluid region of pipe flow is discretized into a finite set of control volumes (mesh/cells).
 Partial differential equations (PDEs) are discretized into a system of algebraic equations
using finite volume method or finite element method
 Fig.13 Computational domain defined for a circular pipe

 Steps for CFD Modelling

 Pre-processing comprises making geometry and meshing

 Solver: selection of physical models,  governing equations, solution procedures
CFD Software
 Most commonly used CFD software and tools for numerical simulations  are shown
below

Comprehensive CFD Software


o These CFD solvers have been developed a wide varieties of complex flows like
turbulent , multiphase and combustion etc.
o These solvers have been used in many industries and  well practiced numerical
models are available there
o Many industries have compared their plant (practical) data with CFD results
o Example: ANSYS FLUENT and STAR CCM

Semi-Comprehensive CFD Soft wares


o
 Some CFD solvers are developed for certain applications but not 
practiced on large scales of industrial problems
 These solvers need to expand their scope of applications for large scale
industries
 Example: COMSOL Multiphysics, CONVEREG
 Discretization of Computational Domain (Meshing)
 Elements of Meshing

Computational is divided into to finite number of volumes or elements in meshing. Meshing

consists of  following important identitites.

 Cell : control volume into which domain is broken up

 Node : grid point
 Cell center :  center of a cell
 Edge: boundary of a face
 Face : boundary of a cell
o Face defines the cell zones (solid or fluid region) for two dimensional (2D)
computational domain. Hecne, CFD users has to define fluid zone for face
o For, 3D domain, face can as boundary like inlet, outlet or wall etc.
o All essential faces should be named in meshing before exporting to CFD solver
 Zone:
o It is grouping of nodes faces, and cells
o For, 3D domain, volume region defines fluid or solid regions
o All essential cell zones should be named  either solid or fluid in meshing before
exporting to CFD solver
 Domain : It is a group of node, face and cell zones

Structured vs non-structured meshing

 The process of mesh generation is generally classified into two categories based on the
topology of the elements that fill the domain
   After the selection of CFD domain, next step is to divide the domain into finite number
of volumes or cell based on the physics to be resolved.
 Types of Meshes for Computational domain.

Assessment of Mesh Quality in CFD 

 Mesh quality is essential for correct CFD simulations. Three ways are to  measure of the
quality of mesh
 Skewness /Orthogonal quality:
o The skewness of mesh should low as much as possible
o Higher skewness can slow down the convergence of simulation and incorrect
computations fluxes near walls.
 o Skewness and orthogonal both are opposite each other. Higher orthogonal quality
means lower the skewness of mesh
o For complete Hexahedral elements, skewness is zero. It is non-zero value for
inclined faces.
 Smoothness (change in size):
o Sudden jumping in mesh should be avoided in high gradient region
o The growth factor of  1.2 is recommended
o Smoothness in mesh is very essential near wall boundaries.
 Aspect ratio:
o Select it as per need of simulation
o In the direction of high gradient region, aspect ratio should be less ( < 20)
o In the direction of no gradient region,higher aspect ratio (  ~ 250)  is enough to
reduce the mesh size.

Discretization Methods for CFD

The governing equation like mass, momentum and energy are expressed in terms of partial
differential equations (PDEs). These equations are space and time-dependent. We can not solve
PDEs like ordinary differential equations. However, partial differential equations are boundary
value problems.  After discrertizing with a numerical method, we can compute values based on
initial and boundary conditions.
Discretization  convert the transport equation (mass, momentum and energy) in partial
differential form to set of algebraic equations. Three numerical methods are widely used to
discretize the partial differential equations namely:

 Finite Difference Method (FDM)

 Finite Element Method (FEM)
 Finite Volume Method (FVM)

The discretization methods approximate the PDEs  of fluid flows with numerical model
equations, which are solved using different numerical methods.

Finite difference method (FDM)

 The computational domain is usually divided into hexahedral  elements (grids) and the
numerical solution is obtained at each node .
 The finite difference method (FDM) is simple to understand when the physical elements
are defined in the Cartesian co-ordinate system, but  the use of curvilinear transforms the
method can be extended to domains that can not be easily represented using  brick-shaped
elements
 The discretization results in a system of equations of the variable for grid points, and
once a solution is obtained  then a  discrete representation of the solution is obtained.
 Note the following points for FDM:
o It is applicable only for regular grid (equal size of meshing).
o This method is based on Taylor series of differentiation. Finite difference methods
for spatial derivatives with different order of accuracies is obtained using Taylor
expansions like first or second order upwind difference scheme (UDS), central
differences schemes (CDS), etc.
o The FDM  is difficult to use for non-uniform grid. Hence it is rarely used for CFD
solvers
o This method is not easy to implement conservation of mass, momentum and
energy
 Taylor series of expansion dicretizes diferential terms in partial differential equations
 

 Forward, backward and central schemes are commonly used finite difference schemes to
discretize partial differential equations
 Discretization is carried out over all the nodes of computational doain
Finite Volume  Methods (FVM)

 This approach is suitable for both irregular or irregular meshes. is based upon an integral
form of the PDE to be solved (e.g. conservation of mass, momentum, or energy).
  The governing equations are solved for a given finite volume (or cell) using finite
volume methods
 The computational domain is discretized into finite volumes and then for every volume
the governing equations are solved.
 The final forms equations after discretiazion involves fluxes of the conserved variable
(mass, momentum and energy), and thus the calculation of fluxes is essential in this
method

 
Note:The Finite volume method is conservative (for mass, momentum and energy etc).
Hence, the FVM discretization is widely used for many CFD solvers (e.g. ANSYS FLUENT,
OpenFOAM.

  For ANSYS FLUENT  click here:  FLUENT_NUMERICAL_ METHODS

  For OpenFOAM, click here: OpenFOAM_Numerical_Schem

Finite  Element Methods (FEM)

 The FDM is based upon a piece wise representation of the solution in terms of specified
basis functions.
 The computational domain is divided up into smaller domains (finite elements) and the
solution in each element is constructed from the basis functions.
  This can be a double-edged situation, as the section of basis functions is essential and
boundary conditions can be more difficult to formulate for complex geometries. A set of
equations is obtained (for nodal values) are solved to get a solution.
 To get numerical solutions, a  set of  equations are obtained using the conservation
equation: Field variables are written as the basis functions, the equation is multiplied with
appropriate test functions, and then integrated over an element. Since the FEM solution is
defined in terms of specific  functions, a significant solution is obtained by solving the
equations algebraically.
 The finite element method (FEM) is used to compute such approximations.Take, for
example, a function u that may be the dependent variable in a PDE (i.e., temperature,
electric potential, pressure, etc.) The function u can be approximated by a
function uh using linear combinations of basis functions according to the following
expressions:
  The FEM discretization is  used by some CFD solvers (e.g. COMSOL). For
COMSOL CFD solver, click here: COMSOL_NUMERICAL_METHOD

Which method (FDM/FEM/FVM) is the best suited for CFD Modeling?

  The comparison of the three methods is not straightforward due to different in numerical
procedures
 Finite volume method (FVM) and finite difference method (FDM) provide discrete
solutions, but the finite element method (FEM) provides a continuous (up to a point)
solution.
 FVM and FDM are generally considered to be easier for programming compared to FEM.
This point may be vary user to user
 Most of research scholar adopt the FVM method for numerical modeling of fluid flows.
 The FVM  easily provide better conservation properties for mass, momentum and energy,
If you are interested  to decide which method is more suitable, then go through the
literatures on three methods

Interpolation Scheme in CFD Solver

 The domain of interest is divided into finite number of cells or volumes 

 Based on on the spatial information of nodal point, area faces and volume cells,
governing equations (mass, momentum and energy) are dicretized for both space and
time
 Different numerical techniques are used for each term in governing equations like
unsteady term,  convection term, diffusion, viscous and  body forces

1) Upwind Differentiating Scheme (UDS) 

 Flow direction dependent Øe

 This approximation is of first order (O(Δx))
   Numerically diffusive
2) Central Difference Scheme (CDS):  
• Linear interpolation between the two nearest nodes

• This interpolation is of second order, O(Δx2)

3) Quadratic Upwind Interpolation (QUICK):

•To construct a parabola for interpolation three points are necessary
• This quadratic interpolation is of  third order, O(Δx3).
 Unsteady Term discretization

 Temporal derivatives can be integrated either by the explicit method  or implicit method
 Explipit Method: Euler, Runge-Kutta
 Implicit method : Beam-Warming method

Methods for time integration:

1) Explicit or forward Euler method: accuracy in order O(Δt),

2) Implicit or backward Euler method:: accuracy in order O(Δt)

3) Leapfrog method (midpoint rule): explicit method, accuracy in order O(¢t2)

4)Crank-Nicolson method (trapezoidal rule):

Summary of standard time stepping schemes are given below:

        

Explicit Method

Advantages:
• direct computation without solving a system of equations
• easy to programme  and parallel computing
• few number of operations per time step
Disadvantage: strong conditions on the time step for stability

Implicit Method

Advantage: much larger time steps possible, always stable

Disadvantages:
• every time step require the solution of a system of equations
• more number of operations
• difficult to programme  and parallel computing

 Solution of Linear Equations Systems

•summing all the approximated integrals we produce an algebraic equation at each

control volume
•the index l runs over the neighbor nodes involved, and the system of equations for the whole
domain has the matrix form

where the matrix A is always sparse.

Two types of methods for solving the system of linear algebraic equations

1) Direct methods


o Gauss elimination
o LU decomposition
o Trid-iagonal matrix algorithm (TDMA)

2) Indirect or iterative methods:


o Jacobi method
o Gauss-Seidel method
o Successive over-relaxation (SOR)
o Conjugate gradient method (CG)
o Multi-grid methods

 Grid based Coupling of Pressure and Velocity

Colocated grid

 Node for pressure and velocity components at the control volume (CV) center.
 Same CV for all variables.
 Possible oscillations of pressure
 Staggered grid

 The different unknown variables are located at different grid nodes.

 Pressure located in the cell centers, velocities at cell faces.
 Strong coupling between the velocities and pressure helps to avoid  oscillations
 Other staggering method is the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE).

Pressure Velocity Coupling – Algorithm

After the discretised form of the governing equation (Navier-Stokes system), we get a set of
equations with  linear dependence of  pressure and velocity, or  vice-versa. This inter-equation
coupling is called a pressure -velocity coupling. A special numerical treatment is necessary in
order to the pressure-velocity  coupling. This is achieved by following algorithm such as
SIMPLE, SIMPLEC, PISO, Coupled solver.

SIMPLE Algorithm
  Semi-implicit method for Pressure-linked Equations

1.
1. 1.Advance to the next iteration t(n)=t(n+1)
2. Initialize u(n+1) and p(n+1) using latest available values of u and p
3. Construct the momentum equations
4. Under-relax the momentum matrix
5. Solve the momentum equations to obtain a prediction for u (n+1)
6. Construct the Pressure equation
7. Solve the pressure equation for p(n+1)
8. Under-relax p(n+1)
9. Correct the velocity for u(n+1)
10. If not converged, go back to step 2
11. Correct the fluxes for ϕ(n+1)

b) SIMPLEC:Semi-Implicit Method for Pressure Linked Equations-Consistent

 The pressure-correction under-relaxation factor is generally set to 1.0, which helps for
faster  convergence
 This method is suitable for turbulent flow with pressure varying fields

C) PISO: Pressure–Implicit with Splitting of Operators (PISO)

 PISO  consist of one predictor step and two corrector steps

 This methods helps to check the  mass conservation in each iteration using predictor-
corrector steps

d) Fractional step method

 
o
 This method solves  the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations with 
primitive variables by  block LU decomposition.
 This method helps to solve issues of  boundary conditions for the
intermediate flow variables and the pressure

Pressure Velocity Coupling in OpenFOAM

For details of OpenFOAM schemes and algorithm refer the post.

 simpleFoam:  based on SIMPLE algorithm

 pisoFoam: based on PISO formulation
 pimpleFoam: combination of SIMPLE and PISO

Flow solvers available in ANSYS FLUENT 

 
 Properties of Fluid
• A  CFD user must be familiar with what fluid/solid properties are given to the CFD solver (e.g.
FLUENT, OpenFOAM and COMSOL etc.) as input data and what properties will be calculated
by the CFD solver
 Boundary Conditions
The following boundary conditions which are commonly used in a variety of  CFD domains:

1) Inflow (inlet)condition:

 Convective flux is prescribed like velocity or mass flow rate inlet

 Input to be specified at he inlet: Momentum (velocity, mass flow rate, pressure, turbulent
conditions), Thermal (temperature, emissivity and shell conduction), Species
( mole/mass fraction), Multi-phase (volume fraction of phase, particle size or
distribution.

2) Wall: 

 No fluid penetrates the boundary, i.e. convective flux is zero.

 Two types of wall condition: no-slip (fluid is at rest at the wall) or free-slip (no frictional
loses at the boundary).
 Wall can be slip or no-slip type
 Wall can be stationary or moving wall (like rotor for turbo-machinery)
 Input to be specified at the wall: Momentum (velocity, roughness), Thermal
(temperature, convective HTC, emissivity and shell conduction), Species, Multi-phase
3) Outflow (outlet) condition:

 Convective flux independent of the coordinate

 Normal to the boundary. zero gradient BC for all variables except pressure
 It is more suitable for a longer  pipe flow with a fully developed profiles of velocity or
temperature
 It is also called zero-gradient BC  for (U,T,Y except P) in  OpenFOAM 

4) Symmetry condition:

 This boundary is used when flow does not cross the boundary
 Across the boundary all gradient are zero

5) Periodic (cyclic) condition:

 Repetitive boundary conditions

 It can be transnational or angular
 Boundary conditions used for pipe flow or free stream flow over a circular cylinder

 Boundary conditions for flow through a pipe or duct is shown below. Inlet is specified
with a fixed velocity
  Initial Boundary conditions for flow over a cylinder are defined as below
 Most of boundary conditions are defined based on fixed value and fixed gradients of
velocity, pressure and temperature. That understanding will help decoding open FOAM
CFD solver: Adiabatic wall ( dT/dx =0) and  Outlet (dT/dx=0)

Example of CFD Modeling : Pipe Flow

CFD Analysis of Laminar Flow Through the Circular Pipe

(a) Pipe flow for physical understanding

(b) CFD domain for pipe flow

 ANSYS FLUENT Set up

 Solver setting : Pressure based incompressible solver

 Physical Model: Viscous Laminar
 Boundary Conditions
o Inlet: fixed mass flow rate or velocity
o Outlet: outflow (zero gradient for velocity)
 Pressure Velocity Coupling: SIMPLE
 Numerical Discretization Schemes
o Pressure : Standard
o Momentum: QUICK
 Convergence criterion: 10^-06
CFD Results and Analysis

Qualitative results: Contours and velocity vectors

Validation of CFD Results

 Comparison of CFD results with theory/ experiment

 To get credibility of  CFD models, results obtained for numerical simulations need to be
validated against theoretical or experimental data
  In the follwing figure, the pressure drop and fully developed velocity profiles  are  same
with that of CFD simulations and theoretical datafor lamiar flow through pipe
Conclusion
 Computational fluid Dyanmic (CFD) is a flow prediction technqiues
 It is useful for design and optimization of problems in fluid mechanics, heat transfer,
multiphase flows
 Due to low cost of flow analysis, CFD modeling is popular in many industries

 
References
For CFD Beginners:

 Jiyuan Tu Guan Heng Yeoh Chaoqun Liu, Computational Fluid Dynamics: A Practical
Approach,Butterworth-Heinemann, Elsevier Publication,. 2018

For  Intermediate CFD users:

 Henk Kaarle Versteeg, WeeratungeMalalasekera, An Introduction to Computational

Fluid Dynamics: The Finite Volume Method,Pearson Education Limited, 2007
 Petrila, Titus, Trif, Damian, Basics of Fluid Mechanics and Introduction to
Computational Fluid Dynamics,  Springer Publication, 2012