Flu Gs
Flu Gs
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Preface
This preface is divided into the following sections:
1.The Contents of This Manual
2.The Contents of the Other Manuals
3.Technical Support
• The User's Guide contains detailed information about how to use ANSYS FLUENT, including information
about the user interface, reading and writing files, defining boundary conditions, setting up physical
models, calculating a solution, and analyzing your results.
• The Theory Guide contains reference information for how the physical models are implemented in ANSYS
FLUENT.
• The Tutorial Guide contains a number of example problems with detailed instructions, commentary,
and postprocessing of results.
• The UDF Manual contains information about writing and using user-defined functions (UDFs).
• The Text Command List provides a brief description of each of the commands in ANSYS FLUENT’s text
interface.
• The following addon module manuals offer additional applications within ANSYS FLUENT:
– Continuous Fiber Module Manual
– Fuel Cell Modules Manual
– Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) Module Manual
– Population Balance Module Manual
3. Technical Support
If you encounter difficulties while using ANSYS FLUENT, please first refer to the section(s) of the manual
containing information on the commands you are trying to use or the type of problem you are trying to
solve. The product documentation is available from the online help, or from the ANSYS Customer Portal
(www.ansys.com/customerportal).
If you encounter an error, please write down the exact error message that appeared and note as much in-
formation as you can about what you were doing in ANSYS FLUENT.
Technical Support for ANSYS, Inc. products is provided either by ANSYS, Inc. directly or by one of our certified
ANSYS Support Providers. Please check with the ANSYS Support Coordinator (ASC) at your company to de-
termine who provides support for your company, or go to www.ansys.com and select Support> Technical
Support> Designated Service Providers. The direct URL is: http://www1.ansys.com/customer/public/sup-
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Preface
portlist.asp. Follow the on-screen instructions to obtain your support provider contact information. You will
need your customer number. If you don't know your customer number, contact the ASC at your company.
If your support is provided by ANSYS, Inc. directly, Technical Support can be accessed quickly and efficiently
from the ANSYS Customer Portal, which is available from the ANSYS Website (www.ansys.com) under Support>
Technical Support where the Customer Portal is located. The direct URL is: http://www.ansys.com/custom-
erportal.
One of the many useful features of the Customer Portal is the Knowledge Base Search, where you can find
solutions to various types of problems, like FAQ. The Knowledge Base Search feature is located under Online
Support> Search Options> Solutions Search.
Systems and installation Knowledge Resources and FAQs are easily accessible via the Customer Portal under
Online Support > Installation/System FAQs. These Knowledge Resources provide a plethora of solutions and
direction on how to get installation and licensing issues resolved quickly and efficiently.
NORTH AMERICA
All ANSYS, Inc. Products
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
Toll-Free Telephone: 1.800.711.7199
Telephone:1.724.514.3600
Fax: 1.724.514.5096
For installation and licensing questions, visit our Knowledge Resources and FAQs on the Customer Portal.
Support for University customers is provided only through the ANSYS Customer Portal.
GERMANY
ANSYS Mechanical Products
Telephone: +49 (0) 8092 7005-55
Fax: +49 (0) 8092 7005-5
Email: support@cadfem.de
CFX Products
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
Telephone: +49 (0) 8024 9054-44
Fax: +49 (0) 8024 9054-17
Email: cfx-support-germany@ansys.com
FLUENT Products
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
Telephone: +49 (0) 6151 3644-0
Fax: +49 (0) 6151 3644-44
Email: fluent-support-germany@ansys.com
ICEM CFD Products
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3.Technical Support
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
Telephone: +49 (0) 511 288696-4
Fax: +49 (0) 511 288696-66
Email: icemcfd-support-germany@ansys.com
UNITED KINGDOM
All ANSYS, Inc. Products
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
Telephone: +44 (0) 870 142 0300
Fax: +44 (0) 870 142 0302
Email: support-uk@ansys.com
Support for University customers is provided only through the ANSYS Customer Portal.
JAPAN
CFX , ICEM CFD and Mechanical Products
Telephone: +81-3-5324-8333
Fax: +81-3-5324-7308
Email: CFX: japan-cfx-support@ansys.com; Mechanical: japan-ansys-support@ansys.com
FLUENT Products
Email: FLUENT: japan-fluent-support@ansys.com;POLYFLOW: japan-polyflow-support@ansys.com;FfC: japan-
ffc-support@ansys.com; FloWizard: japan-flowizard-support@ansys.com
Licensing and Installation
Telephone: +81-3-5324-7305
Email: japan-license-support@ansys.com
INDIA
ANSYS Products (including FLUENT, CFX, ICEM-CFD)
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
Telephone: +91 1 800 233 3475 (toll free) or +91 1 800 209 3475 (toll free)
Fax: +91 80 2529 1271
Email: FEA products: feasup-india@ansys.com;CFD products: cfdsup-india@ansys.com;Installation: installation-
india@ansys.com
FRANCE
ANSYS, CFX, FLUENT, and ICEM CFD Products
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
Telephone: +33 (0) 820 480 240
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Preface
BELGIUM
All ANSYS Products
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
Telephone: +32 (0) 10 45 28 61
Email: support-belgium@ansys.com
Support for University customers is provided only through the ANSYS Customer Portal.
SWEDEN
All ANSYS Products
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
Telephone: +44 (0) 870 142 0300
Email: support-sweden@ansys.com
Support for University customers is provided only through the ANSYS Customer Portal.
ITALY
All ANSYS Products
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
Telephone: +39 02 89013378
Email: support-italy@ansys.com
Support for University customers is provided only through the ANSYS Customer Portal.
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viii of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
Chapter 1: Introduction to ANSYS FLUENT
ANSYS FLUENT is a state-of-the-art computer program for modeling fluid flow, heat transfer, and chemical
reactions in complex geometries.
ANSYS FLUENT is written in the C computer language and makes full use of the flexibility and power offered
by the language. Consequently, true dynamic memory allocation, efficient data structures, and flexible
solver control are all possible. In addition, ANSYS FLUENT uses a client/server architecture, which allows it
to run as separate simultaneous processes on client desktop workstations and powerful compute servers.
This architecture allows for efficient execution, interactive control, and complete flexibility between different
types of machines or operating systems.
ANSYS FLUENT provides complete mesh flexibility, including the ability to solve your flow problems using
unstructured meshes that can be generated about complex geometries with relative ease. Supported mesh
types include 2D triangular/quadrilateral, 3D tetrahedral/hexahedral/pyramid/wedge/polyhedral, and mixed
(hybrid) meshes. ANSYS FLUENT also allows you to refine or coarsen your mesh based on the flow solution.
After a mesh has been read into ANSYS FLUENT, all remaining operations are performed within ANSYS
FLUENT. These include setting boundary conditions, defining fluid properties, executing the solution, refining
the mesh, and postprocessing and viewing the results.
The ANSYS FLUENT serial solver manages file input and output, data storage, and flow field calculations using
a single solver process on a single computer. ANSYS FLUENT also uses a utility called cortex that manages
ANSYS FLUENT’s user interface and basic graphical functions. ANSYS FLUENT’s parallel solver allows you to
compute a solution using multiple processes that may be executing on the same computer, or on different
computers in a network.
Parallel processing in ANSYS FLUENT involves an interaction between ANSYS FLUENT, a host process, and a
set of compute-node processes. ANSYS FLUENT interacts with the host process and the collection of compute
nodes using the cortex user interface utility.
Figure 1.1 (p. 2) and Figure 1.2 (p. 3) illustrate the serial and parallel ANSYS FLUENT architectures.
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Chapter 1: Introduction to ANSYS FLUENT
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Figure 1.2 Parallel ANSYS FLUENT Architecture
For more information about ANSYS FLUENT’s parallel processing capabilities, message passing interfaces
(MPI), etc., please refer to "Parallel Processing" in the User's Guide.
All functions required to compute a solution and display the results are accessible in ANSYS FLUENT through
an interactive interface.
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Chapter 1: Introduction to ANSYS FLUENT
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1.2.1. Accessing the ANSYS FLUENT Documentation
ANSYS FLUENT is ideally suited for incompressible and compressible fluid-flow simulations in complex geo-
metries. ANSYS FLUENT’s parallel solver allows you to compute solutions for cases with very large meshes
on multiple processors, either on the same computer or on different computers in a network. ANSYS, Inc. also
offers other solvers that address different flow regimes and incorporate alternative physical models. Addi-
tional CFD programs from ANSYS, Inc. include CFX, Airpak, ANSYS Icepak, and ANSYS POLYFLOW.
To view the documentation, you can use the help viewer, the PDF files available from the installation area,
or the HTML and PDF files available from the User Services Center (www.fluentusers.com).
1.2.1. Accessing the ANSYS FLUENT Documentation
1.2.2. Viewing and Printing the PDF Documentation
1.2.3. Viewing the Documentation on the User Services Center
1.2.1.1. Accessing the Documentation Files Using the ANSYS Help Viewer
To start the ANSYS help viewer, go to the following location from the Windows Start menu:
Start > Program Files > ANSYS 13.0 > Help > ANSYS Help
The ANSYS help viewer provides access to documentation for most ANSYS products.
Note
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Chapter 1: Introduction to ANSYS FLUENT
Note
Index entries that partially match your typing will be displayed. You can continue typing,
or scroll through the list to find specific entries.
For more information about using the ANSYS help viewer, see Using Help in the ANSYS on-line help.
On Windows:
where path is the folder in which you have installed ANSYS FLUENT (by default, the path is C: ∖ Program
Files).
On UNIX/Linux:
path/ansys_inc/v130/commonfiles/help//en-us/pdf/
where path is the directory in which you have installed ANSYS FLUENT.
If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download it (at no cost) from www.fluentusers.com.
1.2.2.1. Navigating the PDF Files
1.2.2.2. Printing the PDF Files
Note that you can select the paper size to which you are printing in Adobe Acrobat Reader by selecting the
File/Print Setup... menu item and choosing the desired Paper size. If the page is too large to fit on your
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1.2.3. Viewing the Documentation on the User Services Center
paper size, you can reduce it by selecting the File/Print... menu item and choosing the Reduce to Printer
Margins option under Page Scaling.
To view the ANSYS FLUENT documentation on the USC, follow the Documentation link from the ANSYS
FLUENT product page and click the appropriate link on the ANSYS FLUENT Documentation page.
1.2.3.1. Viewing the PDF Files on the USC
1.2.3.2. Navigating the HTML Files on the USC
1.2.3.3. Finding Information in the HTML Files on the USC
1.2.3.4. Printing Information from the HTML Files on the USC
1.2.3.5. Modifying the Appearance of the HTML Files on the USC
Prev
The Prev link takes you to the page just before the current one in the manual. Note that this is not the
same function as the “Back” button of your browser.
Up
The Up link takes you to the first page of the current manual division (chapter or section).
Contents
The Contents link takes you to the table of contents for the manual.
Home
The Home link takes you to a page that contains links to the complete ANSYS documentation set (to
locate the ANSYS FLUENT documentation, select the “Fluid Dynamics” tab in the page).
Next
The Next link takes you to the next page in the manual. Note that this is not the same function as the
“Forward” button of your browser.
Note that these links do not necessarily appear on all pages. Sometimes they appear but are inactive; in
such cases they are “grayed out”.
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Chapter 1: Introduction to ANSYS FLUENT
Index
The index gives an alphabetical list of keywords, each linked to the relevant section(s) of the manual.
You can access the index by navigating to the end of the manual to locate the index HTML file. Note
that some of the smaller manuals do not have an index.
Table of Contents
The table of contents gives a list of the titles of the chapters, sections, and subsections of the manual
in the order in which they appear. Each title is linked to the corresponding chapter or section. You can
access the table of contents by clicking the Contents link that appears at the bottom of the page.
Browser Search
A full text search engine is available on the User Services Center which allows you to search the HTML
manuals for either single or multiple keywords.
You can also use the search capability provided by your browser to find words or expressions on a single
page. For example, you can use the Edit/Find (on This Page)... menu item in Internet Explorer to search
for the word “turbulence” on an HTML page.
Font Size
The absolute size of the text that you see when viewing your ANSYS FLUENT documentation is dependent
on a number of factors, including the resolution of your monitor screen. You can adjust the text size by
changing the default font size of your browser. In Internet Explorer, for example, you can change the
font size by selecting an option from the View/Text Size menu. Try several sizes to see the effect on
the appearance of the manuals, and choose the one that is best for you.
Page Width
While reading a manual, you may find a figure that is wider than your browser’s window. As a result,
part of the figure will be hidden from view. To see all of the figure, you can use the horizontal scroll bar
at the bottom of your browser’s window, or increase your browser’s window size.
You might also want to adjust the window size to increase or decrease the page width to a comfortable
reading width.
Tool Tips
When viewing the manuals with certain browsers, information about a figure will be displayed if you
put your cursor over it. However, this information is not meaningful for most users, and you might find
it somewhat distracting. On some browsers, you can disable the display of “Tool Tips” in the preferences
menu.
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Chapter 2: Basic Steps for CFD Analysis using ANSYS FLUENT
Before you begin your CFD analysis using ANSYS FLUENT, careful consideration of the following issues will
contribute significantly to the success of your modeling effort. Also, when you are planning a CFD project,
be sure to take advantage of the customer support available to all ANSYS FLUENT users.
Step 2 of the solution process requires a geometry modeler and mesh generator. You can use the geometry
and meshing capabilities within ANSYS Workbench, or a separate CAD system for geometry modeling and
mesh generation. Alternatively, you can use supported CAD packages to generate volume meshes for import
into ANSYS FLUENT (see the User’s Guide). For more information on creating geometry and generating
meshes using each of these programs, please refer to their respective manuals.
The details of the remaining steps are covered in the User’s Guide.
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Chapter 2: Basic Steps for CFD Analysis using ANSYS FLUENT
ANSYS FLUENT uses unstructured meshes in order to reduce the amount of time you spend generating
meshes, to simplify the geometry modeling and mesh generation process, to allow modeling of more
complex geometries than you can handle with conventional, multi-block structured meshes, and to let
you adapt the mesh to resolve the flow-field features. ANSYS FLUENT can also use body-fitted, block-
structured meshes (e.g., those used by ANSYS FLUENT 4 and many other CFD solvers). ANSYS FLUENT is
capable of handling triangular and quadrilateral elements (or a combination of the two) in 2D, and
tetrahedral, hexahedral, pyramid, wedge, and polyhedral elements (or a combination of these) in 3D.
This flexibility allows you to pick mesh topologies that are best suited for your particular application,
as described in the User’s Guide.
You can adapt all types of meshes (except for polyhedral) in ANSYS FLUENT in order to resolve large
gradients in the flow field, but you must always generate the initial mesh (whatever the element types
used) outside of the solver, or one of the CAD systems for which mesh import filters exist.
The following questions should be considered when you are generating a mesh:
– Can you benefit from other ANSYS, Inc. products such as CFX, ANSYS Icepak, or Airpak?
– Can you use a quad/hex mesh or should you use a tri/tet mesh or a hybrid mesh?
→ How complex is the geometry and flow?
→ Will you need a non-conformal interface?
– What degree of mesh resolution is required in each region of the domain?
→ Is the resolution sufficient for the geometry?
→ Can you predict regions with high gradients?
→ Will you use adaption to add resolution?
– Do you have sufficient computer memory?
→ How many cells are required?
→ How many models will be used?
• Setting Up the Solver and Physical Models
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2.2. Planning Your CFD Analysis
Examine the results to review the solution and extract useful data.
– Visualization tools can be used to answer such questions as:
→ What is the overall flow pattern?
→ Is there separation?
→ Where do shocks, shear layers, etc. form?
→ Are key flow features being resolved?
– Numerical reporting tools can be used to calculate the following quantitative results:
→ Forces and moments
→ Average heat transfer coefficients
→ Surface and volume integrated quantities
→ Flux balances
• Revising Your Model
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Chapter 2: Basic Steps for CFD Analysis using ANSYS FLUENT
Once your solution is converged, the following questions should be considered when you are analyzing
the solution:
– Are physical models appropriate?
→ Is flow turbulent?
→ Is flow unsteady?
→ Are there compressibility effects?
→ Are there 3D effects?
– Are boundary conditions correct?
→ Is the computational domain large enough?
→ Are boundary conditions appropriate?
→ Are boundary values reasonable?
– Is the mesh adequate?
→ Can the mesh be adapted to improve results?
→ Does the solution change significantly with adaption, or is the solution mesh independent?
→ Does boundary resolution need to be improved?
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Chapter 3: Guide to a Successful Simulation Using ANSYS FLUENT
The following guidelines can help you make sure your CFD simulation is a success. Before logging a technical
support request, make sure you do the following:
There are two basic things that you should do before you start a simulation:
• Perform a mesh check to avoid problems due to incorrect mesh connectivity, etc.
• Look at maximum cell skewness (e.g., using the Compute button in the Contours dialog box). As
a rule of thumb, the skewness should be below 0.98.
If there are mesh problems, you may have to re-mesh the problem.
2. Scale the mesh and check length units.
In ANSYS FLUENT, all physical dimensions are initially assumed to be in meters. You should scale the
mesh accordingly. Other quantities can also be scaled independently of other units used. ANSYS FLU-
ENT defaults to SI units.
3. Employ the appropriate physical models.
4. Set the energy under-relaxation factor between 0.95 and 1.
For problems with conjugate heat transfer, when the conductivity ratio is very high, smaller values of
the energy under-relaxation factor practically stall the convergence rate.
5. Use node-based gradients with unstructured tetrahedral meshes.
The node-based averaging scheme is known to be more accurate than the default cell-based scheme
for unstructured meshes, most notably for triangular and tetrahedral meshes.
6. Monitor convergence with residuals history.
Residual plots can show when the residual values have reached the specified tolerance. After the
−
simulation, note if your residuals have decreased by at least 3 orders of magnitude to at least .
−
For the pressure-based solver, the scaled energy residual must decrease to . Also, the scaled
−
species residual may need to decrease to to achieve species balance.
You can also monitor lift, drag, or moment forces as well as pertinent variables or functions (e.g., surface
integrals) at a boundary or any defined surface.
7. Run the CFD simulation using second order discretization for better accuracy rather than a faster
solution.
A converged solution is not necessarily a correct one. You should use the second-order upwind discret-
ization scheme for final results.
8. Monitor values of solution variables to make sure that any changes in the solution variables from one
iteration to the next are negligible.
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Chapter 3: Guide to a Successful Simulation Using ANSYS FLUENT
After the simulation, note if overall property conservation has been achieved. In addition to monitoring
residual and variable histories, you should also check for overall heat and mass balances. At a minimum,
the net imbalance should be less than 1% of smallest flux through domain boundary.
10. Check for mesh dependence.
You should ensure that the solution is mesh-independent and use mesh adaption to modify the mesh
or create additional meshes for the mesh-independence study.
11. Check to see that the solution makes sense based on engineering judgment.
If flow features do not seem reasonable, you should reconsider your physical models and boundary
conditions. Reconsider the choice of the boundary locations (or the domain). An inadequate choice of
domain (especially the outlet boundary) can significantly impact solution accuracy.
You are encouraged to collaborate with your technical support engineer in order to develop a solution
process that ensures good results for your specific application. This type of collaboration is a good investment
of time for both yourself and the ANSYS FLUENT support engineer.
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Glossary of Terms
This glossary contains a listing of terms commonly used throughout the documentation.
case files Files that contain the mesh, boundary conditions, and solution parameters
for a problem. A case file also contains the information about the user interface
and graphics environment.
cell types The various shapes or units that constitute the base elements of a mesh.
ANSYS FLUENT can use meshes comprised of tetrahedral, hexahedral, pyramid,
wedge, or polyhedral cells (or a combination of these).
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Glossary of Terms
computational fluid dynam- The science of predicting fluid flow, heat transfer, mass transfer (as in perspir-
ics (CFD) ation or dissolution), phase change (as in freezing or boiling), chemical reaction
(e.g., combustion), mechanical movement (e.g., fan rotation), stress or deform-
ation of related solid structures (such as a mast bending in the wind), and
related phenomena by solving the mathematical equations that govern these
processes using a numerical algorithm on a computer.
console The console is part of the ANSYS FLUENT application window that allows for
text command input and the display of information.
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Glossary of Terms
convergence The point at which the solution is no longer changing with each successive
iteration. Convergence criteria, along with a reduction in residuals, also help
in determining when a solution is complete. Convergence criteria are pre-set
conditions on the residuals that indicate that a certain level of convergence
has been achieved. If the residuals for all problem variables fall below the
convergence criteria but are still in decline, the solution is still changing to a
greater or lesser degree. A better indicator occurs when the residuals flatten
in a traditional residual plot (of residual value vs. iteration). This point, some-
times referred to as convergence at the level of machine accuracy, takes time
to reach, however, and may be beyond your needs. For this reason, alternative
tools such as reports of forces, heat balances, or mass balances can be used
instead.
cortex A utility that manages ANSYS FLUENT’s user interface and basic graphical
functions.
data files Files that contain the values of the flow field in each grid element and the
convergence history (residuals) for that flow field.
dialog boxes The separate windows that are used like forms to perform input tasks. Each
dialog box is unique and employs various types of input controls that make
up the form.
discretization The act of replacing the differential equations that govern fluid flow with a
set of algebraic equations that are solved at distinct points.
GUI The graphical user interface, which consists of the main ANSYS FLUENT applic-
ation window, dialog boxes, graphics windows, etc.
mesh A collection of points representing the flow field, where the equations of
fluid motion (and temperature, if relevant) are calculated.
node The distinct points of a mesh (p. 17) at which the equations of fluid motion
are solved..
postprocessing The act of analyzing the numerical results of your CFD simulation using reports,
integrals, and graphical analysis tools such as contour plots, animations, etc.
residuals The small imbalance that is created during the course of the iterative solution
algorithm. This imbalance in each cell is a small, non-zero value that, under
normal circumstances, decreases as the solution progresses.
skewness The difference between the shape of the cell and the shape of an equilateral
cell of equivalent volume. Highly skewed cells can decrease accuracy and
destabilize the solution.
solvers ANSYS FLUENT has two distinct solvers, based on numerical precision (single-
precision vs. double-precision). Within each of these categories, there are
solver formulations: pressure based; density based explicit; and density based
implicit.
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Glossary of Terms
TUI The text user interface, which consists of textual commands that can be
entered into the terminal emulator.
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