Tutorial Two

Built in Mesh

6th edition, April 2023

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 OpenFOAM® Basic Training

Tutorial Two

Editorial board: Contributors:

 Bahram Haddadi  Bahram Haddadi
 Christian Jordan  Clemens Gößnitzer
 Michael Harasek  Jozsef Nagy
Compatibility:  Vikram Natarajan
 OpenFOAM® v10  Sylvia Zibuschka
 Yitong Chen
Cover picture from:
 Bahram Haddadi

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ISBN 978-3-903337-02-2
Publisher: chemical-engineering.at
Available from: www.fluiddynamics.at
 OpenFOAM® Basic Training

Tutorial Two

Background

1. What is mesh?
The partial differential equations that describe fluid flow and heat transfer are
the conservation equations of mass, energy and momentum. However, we are
usually unable to solve them analytically, except in very simple cases. This is
when discretization comes in. The flow region is broken up into smaller sub-
regions, with the equations solved in each sub-region. One of the methods used
to solve the equations is the finite volume method, which we will cover in detail
below. The sub-regions are later on referred to as grid cells, with a collection of
grid cells forming a mesh.

2. Finite volume method

As discussed in Tutorial One, OpenFOAM® uses finite volume method. The
starting point of this method is the transport equation for a conserved fluid
property φ, for example pressure and flow velocity. It is shown below as:
𝜕(𝜌𝜑)
+ ∇ ∙ (𝜌𝜑𝒖) = ∇ ∙ (𝛤∇𝜑) + 𝑆𝜑
𝜕𝑡
Rate of change Net rate of flow
Rate of change of Rate of change of φ
of φ inside fluid + of φ out of fluid = +
φ due to diffusion due to sources
element element

As you can see, the transport equation is essentially a manifestation of

conservation of a fluid flow property within the problem domain.
The key step of the finite volume method is the integration of the transport
equation over a three-dimensional control volume (CV). At discrete places,
values are calculated on a meshed geometry. The small volume, which
surrounds each node of the mesh, is the grid cell.
In each grid cell, the volume integral of the divergence term is replaced by a
surface integral, using the Gauss divergence theorem. These terms are then
evaluated as fluxes at the surfaces. This not only ensures the conservation of
fluxes entering and exiting the grid cell, but also allows for easy formulation of
the balances on unstructured meshes.
In time-dependent problems, it is also necessary to integrate with respect to
time t over a small interval ∆t from, say, t until t+∆t. This yields the most general
integrated form of the transport equation.
𝜕
∫ (∫ 𝜌𝜑 𝑑𝑉) 𝑑𝑡 + ∫ ∫ 𝒏 ∙ (𝜌𝜑𝒖) 𝑑𝐴𝑑𝑡
∆𝑡 𝜕𝑡 𝐶𝑉 ∆𝑡 𝐴

= ∫ ∫ 𝒏 ∙ (𝛤∇𝜑) 𝑑𝐴𝑑𝑡 + ∫ ∫ 𝑆𝜑 𝑑𝑉 𝑑𝑡
∆𝑡 𝐴 ∆𝑡 𝐶𝑉
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Tutorial Two

3. Discretization of transport equations

Discretization of the transport equations is critical to the finite volume method,
as it provides a more cost-effective and rapid approach to numerical evaluation
on digital computers. Discretization is done using the mesh, which involves
dividing the domain into smaller regions.
The mesh used in OpenFOAM® can be simple grid structures based on the
Cartesian co-ordinate system, or complex unstructured grid arrangement that
can handle curvature and geometric complexity. The mesh is generated using
the in-house OpenFOAM® tool (blockMesh and snappyHexMesh) or external
software, such as GAMBIT®. In this tutorial, we are going to learn how to use
the blockMesh tool in OpenFOAM®. Refer to Tutorial Twelve for information on
the snappyHexMesh tool.
For this tutorial, we chose to run the sonicFoam solver, which is slightly more
complicated than icoFoam, as it analyses the flow of a compressible gas/fluid.

4. rhoPimpleFoam solver
rhoPimpleFoam is a transient solver. It solves trans-sonic/supersonic, turbulent
flow of a compressible gas/fluid.
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Tutorial Two

rhoPimpleFoam – forwardStep

Tutorial outline
Using rhoPimpleFoam solver, simulate 10 s of flow over a forward step.

Objectives
• Understand blockMesh
• Define vertices via coordinates as well as surfaces and volumes via
vertices.

Data processing
Import your simulation into ParaView, and examine the mesh and the results in
detail.
 OpenFOAM® Basic Training

Tutorial Two

1. Pre-processing

1.1. Copying tutorial

Copy the tutorial from the following folder to your working directory:

$FOAM_TUTORIALS/compressible/rhoPimpleFoam/laminar/forwar
dStep

1.2. Case structure

1.2.1. 0 directory
The file T includes the initial temperature values. Internal pressure and
temperature fields are set to 1, and the initial velocity in the domain as well as
the inlet boundary is set to 3.
Note: As it can be seen, the p unit is the same as the pressure unit (kg m-1 s-2),
because rhoPimpleFoam/sonicFoam is a compressible solver.
Note: Do not forget that, this example is a purely numeric example (you might
have noticed this from the pressure values).
1.2.2. constant directory
By checking physicalProperties file, different properties of a compressible gas
can be set:
// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * *//
thermoType
{
type hePsiThermo;
mixture pureMixture;
transport const;
thermo hConst;
equationOfState perfectGas;
specie specie;
energy sensibleInternalEnergy;
}
// Note: these are the properties for a “normalized” inviscid gas
// for which the speed of sound is 1 m/s at a temperature of 1K
// and gamma = 7/5
mixture
{
specie
{
molWeight 11640.3;
}
thermodynamics
{
Cp 2.5;
Hf 0;
}
transport
{
mu 0;
Pr 1;
}
}

// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * *//
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Tutorial Two

In the thermoType, the models for calculating thermo physical properties of gas
are set:
- type: Specifies the underlying thermos-physical model.
- mixture: Is the model which is used for the mixture, whether it is a pure
mixture, a homogeneous mixture, a reacting mixture or ….
- transport: Defines the used transport model. In this example a
constant value is used.
- thermo: It defines the method for calculating heat capacities, e.g. in this
example constant heat capacities are used.
- equationOfState: Shows the relation which is used for the
compressibility of gases. Here ideal gas model is applied by selecting
perfectGas.
- energy: This key word lets the solver decide which type of energy
equation it should solve, enthalpy or internal energy.
After defining the models for different thermos-physical properties of gas, the
constants and coefficients of each model are defined in the sub-dictionary
mixture. E.g. molWeight shows the molecular weight of gas, Cp stands for
heat capacity, Hf is the heat of fusion, mu is the dynamic viscosity and Pr shows
the Prandtl number.
By opening the momentumProperties the appropriate turbulent mode can be
set (in this case it is laminar):
simulationType laminar;

1.2.3. system directory

In this tutorial the mesh is not imported from other programs (e.g. GAMBIT®). It
will be created inside OpenFOAM®. For this purpose the blockMesh tool is
used. blockMesh reads the geometry and mesh properties from the
blockMeshDict file (found in the system directory):

>nano blockMeshDict
// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * *//
convertToMeters 1;
vertices
(
(0 0 -0.05)
(0.6 0 -0.05)
(0 0.2 -0.05)
(0.6 0.2 -0.05)
(3 0.2 -0.05)
(0 1 -0.05)
(0.6 1 -0.05)
(3 1 -0.05)
(0 0 0.05)
(0.6 0 0.05)
(0 0.2 0.05)
(0.6 0.2 0.05)
(3 0.2 0.05)
(0 1 0.05)
(0.6 1 0.05)
(3 1 0.05)
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Tutorial Two

);
blocks
(
hex (0 1 3 2 8 9 11 10) (25 10 1) simpleGrading (1 1 1)
hex (2 3 6 5 10 11 14 13) (25 40 1) simpleGrading (1 1 1)
hex (3 4 7 6 11 12 15 14) (100 40 1) simpleGrading (1 1 1)
);
defaultPatch
{
type empty;
}
boundary
(
inlet
{
type patch;
faces
(
(0 8 10 2)
(2 10 13 5)
);
}
outlet
{
type patch;
faces
(
(4 7 15 12)
);
}
bottom
{
type symmetryPlane;
faces
(
(0 1 9 8)
);
}
top
{
type symmetryPlane;
faces
(
(5 13 14 6)
(6 14 15 7)
);
}
obstacle
{
type patch;
faces
(
(1 3 11 9)
(3 4 12 11)
);
}
);

// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * *//

As noted before units in OpenFOAM® are SI units. If the vertex coordinates

differ from SI, they can be converted with the convertToMeters command. The
number in the front of convertToMeters shows the constant, which should be
multiplied with the dimensions to change them to meter (SI unit of length). For
example:
convertToMeters 0.001;
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Tutorial Two

shows that the dimensions are in millimeter, and by multiplying them by 0.001
they are converted into meters.
In the vertices part, the coordinates of the geometry vertices are defined, the
vertices are stored and numbered from zero, e.g. vertex (0 0 -0.05) is
numbered zero, and vertex (0.6 1 -0.05) points to number 6.
In the block part, blocks are defined. The array of numbers in front each block
shows the block building vertices, e.g. the first block is made of vertices (0 1
3 2 8 9 11 10).
After each block, the mesh is defined in every direction. e.g. (25 10 1) shows
that this block is divided into:
- 25 parts in x direction
- 10 parts in y direction
- 1 part in z direction
As it was explained before, even for 2D simulations the mesh and geometry
should be 3D, but with one cell in the direction, which is not going to be solved,
e.g. here number of cells in z direction is one and it’s because of that it’s a 2D
simulation in x-y plane.
The last part, simpleGrading(1 1 1) shows the size function.
In the boundary part, each boundary is defined by the vertices it is made of,
and its type and name are defined.
Note: For creating a face, the vertices should be chosen clockwise when
looking at the face from inside of the geometry.
2. Running simulation
Before running the simulation, the mesh has to be created. In the previous step,
the mesh and the geometry data were set. For creating it, the following
command should be executed from the case main directory (e.g. forwardStep):

>blockMesh

After that, the mesh is created in the constant/polyMesh folder. For running the
simulation, type the solver name form case directory and execute it:

>rhoPimpleFoam

3. Post-processing
The mesh is presented in the following way in ParaView, and you can easily
see the three blocks, which were created.
 OpenFOAM® Basic Training

Tutorial Two

Mesh generated by blockMesh

Note: When a cut is created by default in ParaView, the program shows the
mesh on that plane as a triangular mesh even if it is a hex mesh. In fact,
ParaView changes the mesh to a triangular mesh for visualization, where every
square is represented by two triangles. For avoiding this when creating a cut in
ParaView in the Slice properties window, uncheck “Triangulate the Slice”.
The simulation results are as follows:

Time Pressure Velocity Temperature

0.5 s

1s

10 s

Pressure, velocity and temperature contours at different time steps

OpenFOAM® Basic Training

Tutorial Two