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This model describes how to calculate the turbulent flow field around a simple car-like geometry using the CFD Module’s Turbulent Flow, k- interface. Detailed instructions guide you through the different steps of the modeling process in COMSOL Multiphysics.
Model Definition
The Ahmed body represents a simplified, ground vehicle geometry of a bluff body type. Its shape is simple enough to allow for accurate flow simulation but retains some important practical features relevant to automobile bodies. The geometry was first defined by Ahmed, who also measured its aerodynamic properties in wind-tunnel experiments (Ref. 1). Further experiments have also been performed by Lienhart and Becker (Ref. 2). The Ahmed body has become a popular benchmark case for RANS models (Ref. 3).
G E O M E T R Y
The Ahmed body is presented in Figure 1. The total length (L) of the body is 1.044 m from front to end. It is 0.288 m in height and 0.389 m in width. Cylindrical legs 0.05 m in length are attached to the bottom surface. The angle of the rear slanting
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surface is typically varied between 0 and 40 degrees. This particular geometry has a slant angle of 25 degrees which is the same slant angle used in Ref. 3.
Length
Width
Height
Figure 1: Ahmed body with 25 degree slant of the rear face.
The body is placed in a flow domain that is 8L-by-2L-by-2L (length-by-width-by-height), with its front positioned 2L from the flow inlet face. Mirror symmetry reduces the computational domain by half, as shown in Figure 2.
8L
2L
L
2L
Inlet
Outlet
Wall function
Slip
Symmetry
Figure 2: The size of the computational domain is reduced by mirror symmetry.
TU R B U L E N C E M O D E L
The Reynolds number base on the length of the body, L, and the inlet velocity is 2.77·106 which means that the flow is turbulent. The k- turbulence model will be applied to account for the turbulence. The k- turbulence model is describe in Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces in the CFD Module User’s Guide.
A common mesh size in Ref. 3 is half a million cells for simulations with wall functions. However, those simulations do not include the stilts (the legs that support the body), and the computational domains are smaller. Hence, you can expect to need an even larger mesh in this simulation to resolve the flow. How large is however difficult to know in advance. To avoid using a prohibitively large mesh, the modeling is carried out in a series of simulations were the Reynolds number is initially 25 times lower than the experiments and then gradually increased. After each simulation, the result is investigated to determine if it is likely that the mesh is able to sustain a higher Reynolds number. If not, the mesh must be refined before the Reynolds number is increased.
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The flow is considered to be incompressible. The temperature is assumed to be 293 K and the reference pressure is 1 atm.
B O U N D A R Y C O N D I T I O N S
Air enters the computational domain at a velocity of 40 m/s normal to the inlet surface. The turbulence intensity in the free stream is set to 0.5%. A turbulent length scale is also needed at the inlet. Upstream of the test section in a wind tunnel is equipment, for example honeycombs and screens, to reduce and homogenize the turbulence. Any turbulent structures that remain can therefore be expected to have a length scale in the same order of magnitude as the holes in the honeycombs and screens, that is in the order of a centimeter.
At the outlet, a Pressure condition is applied. The floor of the flow domain and surface of the Ahmed body are described by wall functions. Wall functions could also be applied to the outer wall and the ceiling of the wind tunnel. Their main effect on the flow around the body is however to keep the flow contained, and it will therefore suffice to model them as slip walls.
Results and Discussion
A key figure for the Ahmed body is the total drag coefficient, CD, which is defined as
(1)
where F is the total drag force on the body, Ap is area of the body projected on a plane perpendicular to the flow direction (that is the xz-plane), is the density and u is the freestream velocity. Evaluating the quantities in Equation 1 gives a drag coefficient equal to 0.279 which compares well to the experimental value of 0.285. The error is hence 2.2 and is fairly low since errors in order of 10 is not uncommon for simulations using wall functions (Ref. 3). A possible explanation to why CD is underestimated is that wall functions are not very good at predicting the transition that in the experiments takes place on the front of the body. This makes the turbulence levels too low which in turn results in a too low viscous drag (Ref. 4).
Figure 3 shows streamlines behind the ahmed body. The thickness of the lines is given by the turbulent kinetic energy. The most notable feature of the flow field is a large “empty” region behind the body. The streamlines on the edge of the region are thick but with low velocity magnitude. This region is a recirculation region. The low pressure in the recirculation region is the main contribution to the total drag on the
body. The region ends when vortices from the trailing edges of the body merge into two counter rotating vortices (only one vortex is visible since the other is on the other side of the symmetry plane).
Figure 3: Streamlines behind the Ahmed Body. The streamlines are colored by the velocity magnitude and their thickness is proportional to the turbulent kinetic energy.
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More details are visible in Figure 4 and Figure 5 which show arrow plots of the velocity in the xz-plane 80 mm and 200 mm downstream of the body respectively.
Figure 4: Velocity in the xz-plane at yL0.08 m.
The flow pattern 80 mm downstream of the body shows two major vortices, one emanating from the outer edge of the slant and one emanating from the interaction between the floor and the stilts. The flow is qualitatively equal to the experimental results (Ref. 2). There are however quantitative differences. The upper vortex is smaller
compared to experiments while the lower vortex is more pronounced than in the experiments.
Figure 5: Velocity in the xz-plane at yL0.20 m.
The flow pattern 200 mm downstream of the body shows that one major vortex is beginning to form but remains of the separate vortices can still be detected. The formation is however not proceeded as far as in the experiments where only one large vortex can be seen at this position.
In conclusion, the major features of the flow is well captured by the k- model, but there are details that deviate from experimental data. This finding is in agreement with other RANS simulations of the Ahmed body (Ref. 3).
References
1. S.R. Ahmed and G. Ramm, “Some Salient Features of the Time-Averaged Ground Vehicle Wake,” SAE-Paper 840300, 1984.
2. H. Lienhart and S. Becker, “Flow and Turbulence Structure in the Wake of a Simplified Car Model”, SAE 2003 World Congress, SAE Paper 2003-01-0656, Detroit, Michigan, USA, 2003.
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3. 9th ERCOFTAC/IAHR Workshop on Refined Turbulence Modelling, Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany, 2001.
4. A.C Benim, M.Cagan, A. Nahavandi, and E. Pasqualotto, “RANS Predictions of Turbulent Flow Past a Circular Cylinder over the Critical Regime”, Proceedings of the 5th IASME/WSEAS International Conference on Fluid Mechanics and Aerodynamics, Athens, Greece, 2007.
Model Library path: CFD_Module/Single-Phase_Benchmarks/ahmed_body
Modeling Instructions
M O D E L W I Z A R D
1 Go to the Model Wizard window.
2 Click Next.
3 In the Add physics tree, select Fluid Flow>Single-Phase Flow>Turbulent Flow>Turbulent
Flow, k- (spf).
4 Click Next.
5 In the Studies tree, select Preset Studies>Stationary.
6 Click Finish.
G L O B A L D E F I N I T I O N S
Parameters1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Global Definitions and choose Parameters.
2 Go to the Settings window for Parameters.
3 Locate the Parameters section. In the Parameters table, enter the following settings:
G E O M E T R Y 1
Import 11 In the Model Builder window, right-click Model 1>Geometry 1 and choose Import.
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Model 1>Materials and choose Open Material
Browser.
2 Go to the Material Browser window.
3 Locate the Materials section. In the Materials tree, select Built-In>Air.
4 Right-click and choose Add Material to Model from the menu.
5 In the Model Builder window’s toolbar, click the Show button and select Advanced
Physics Interface Options in the menu.
Turbulent Flow, k-
1 In the Model Builder window, click Model 1>Turbulent Flow, k-.
2 Go to the SettingsTurbulent Flow, k- window for .
3 Click to expand the Advanced Settings section.
4 From the CFL number expression list, select Manual.
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5 In the CFLloc edit field, type 1.3^min(niterCMP-1,9)+if(niterCMP>30,1.5*1.3^min(niterCMP-30,9),0
)+if(niterCMP>60,2.5*1.3^min(niterCMP-60,9),0).
The automatic formula for the local CFL number is too optimistic in this case. The delicate balance of complicated flow structures behind the body needs a more conservative ramping of the local CFL number to prevent the calculation from diverging.
Fluid Properties 11 In the Model Builder window, expand the Turbulent Flow, k- node, then click Fluid
Properties 1.
2 Go to the Settings window for Fluid Properties.
3 Locate the Fluid Properties section. From the list, select User defined. In the associated edit field, type 5e-4[Pa*s].
Wall 21 In the Model Builder window, right-click Turbulent Flow, k- and choose Wall.
2 Go to the Settings window for Wall.
3 Locate the Boundary Condition section. From the Boundary condition list, select Slip.
4 Select Boundaries 4, 12, 24, and 25 only.
Symmetry 11 In the Model Builder window, right-click Turbulent Flow, k- and choose Symmetry.
2 Select Boundaries 1 and 10 only.
Inlet 11 In the Model Builder window, right-click Turbulent Flow, k- and choose Inlet.
2 Select Boundary 2 only.
3 Go to the Settings window for Inlet.
4 Locate the Velocity section. In the U0 edit field, type u_in.
5 Locate the Boundary Condition section. In the IT edit field, type 0.005.
Outlet 11 In the Model Builder window, right-click Turbulent Flow, k- and choose Outlet.
Investigate the lift-off in viscous units to verify that the wall resolution is sufficient.
Wall Resolution (spf)1 In the Model Builder window, click Results>Wall Resolution (spf).
2 Go to the Settings window for 3D Plot Group.
3 Click the Plot button.
There is no need to refine the surface mesh since the wall lift-off is 11.06 almost everywhere (the exact result depends on the computational platform).
Figure 6: Wall lift-off in viscous units for 5e4 Pa·s.
Velocity (spf)1 In the Model Builder window, expand the Results>Velocity (spf) node, then click Slice
1.
2 Go to the Settings window for Slice.
3 Locate the Plane Data section. From the Entry method list, select Coordinates.
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4 In the x-coordinate edit field, type 0.15.
5 Click the Plot button.
The slice plot of the velocity shows that the flow for this Reynolds number is well resolved except perhaps in the wake. The main Reynolds number effect in the wake is expected to be the thickness of the shear layers and those seem well resolved all together. It is therefore probable that the resolution in the wake will suffice to converge a simulation at a higher Reynolds number.
Figure 7: Slice plot at x=0.15 m of the velocity magnitude for =5e4 Pa·s.
Turbulent Flow, k-
Fluid Properties 11 In the Model Builder window, click Model 1>Turbulent Flow, k->Fluid Properties 1.
2 Go to the Settings window for Fluid Properties.
3 Locate the Fluid Properties section. In the edit field, type 1e-4[Pa*s].
M O D E L W I Z A R D
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Untitled.mph and choose Add Study.
2 Go to the Model Wizard window.
3 In the Studies tree, select Preset Studies>Stationary.
The wall lift-off is now larger than 11.06 at several locations. It is hence not likely that the current mesh will suffice to converge a simulation with five times higher Reynolds number.
Figure 8: Wall lift-off in viscous units for =1e4 Pa·s.
M E S H 4
In the Model Builder window, right-click Model 1>Meshes and choose Mesh.
Reference 11 In the Model Builder window, right-click Model 1>Meshes>Mesh 4 and choose More
Operations>Reference.
2 Go to the Settings window for Reference.
3 Locate the Reference section. From the Mesh list, select Mesh 1.
Size1 Right-click Reference 1 and choose Expand.
2 In the Model Builder window, click Size.
3 Go to the Settings window for Size.
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4 Locate the Element Size Parameters section. In the Minimum element size edit field, type 0.0025.
5 In the Maximum element growth rate edit field, type 1.1.
Size 21 In the Model Builder window, click 2.
2 Go to the Settings window for Size.
3 Locate the Element Size Parameters section. In the Maximum element size edit field, type 0.02.
Size 31 In the Model Builder window, click Size 3.
2 Go to the Settings window for Size.
3 Locate the Element Size Parameters section. In the Maximum element size edit field, type 0.0025.
Distribution 11 In the Model Builder window, click Distribution 1.
2 Go to the Settings window for Distribution.
3 Locate the Distribution section. In the Number of elements edit field, type 60.
4 In the Element ratio edit field, type 3.5.
Distribution 11 In the Model Builder window, expand the Swept 1 node, then click Distribution 1.
2 Go to the Settings window for Distribution.
3 Locate the Distribution section. In the Number of elements edit field, type 23.
Boundary Layer Properties 11 In the Model Builder window, expand the Boundary Layers 1 node, then click
Boundary Layer Properties 1.
2 Go to the Settings window for Boundary Layer Properties.
3 Locate the Boundary Layer Properties section. In the Thickness adjustment factor edit field, type 1.
4 In the Number of boundary layers edit field, type 6.
5 In the Model Builder window, right-click Mesh 4 and choose Build All.
6 In the Model Builder window, collapse the Mesh 4 node.