Tutorial: Dam-Break Simulation Using Volume of Fluid Model of ANSYS FLUENT

Introduction
This tutorial examines the dam-break problem using the volume of uid (VOF) multiphase model. This tutorial demonstrates how to do the following: Set up a dam-break problem. Choose the time step by estimating the maximum possible velocity of the interface and the mesh cell dimension. Solve the problem using the VOF model. Manipulate the solution parameters.

Prerequisites
This tutorial is written with the assumption that you have completed Tutorial 1 from ANSYS FLUENT 13.0 Tutorial Guide, and that you are familiar with the ANSYS FLUENT navigation pane and menu structure. Some steps in the setup and solution procedure will not be shown explicitly. For more information on VOF multiphase model, refer to Section 26.3, Setting Up the VOF Model in ANSYS FLUENT 13.0 Users Guide.

Problem Description
The initial setup of the dam-break problem is shown in Figure 1. In this problem, a rectangular column of water, in hydrostatic equilibrium, is conned between two walls. Gravity is acting downwards with a magnitude of -9.81 m/s2 . At the beginning of the calculation, the right wall is removed and the water is allowed to ow out to the horizontal wall.

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Dam-Break Simulation Using Volume of Fluid Model of ANSYS FLUENT

Figure 1: Initial Setup of the Problem

Setup and Solution Preparation

1. Copy the mesh le (dambreak.msh.gz) to your working folder. 2. Use FLUENT Launcher to start the 2DDP version of ANSYS FLUENT. For more information about FLUENT Launcher see Section 1.1.2, Starting ANSYS FLUENT Using FLUENT Launcher in ANSYS FLUENT 13.0 Users Guide. The Display Options are enabled by default. Therefore, after you read in the mesh, it will be displayed in the embedded graphics window. Step 1: Mesh 1. Read the mesh le (dambreak.msh). File Read Mesh... As the mesh le is read, ANSYS FLUENT will report the progress in the console. Step 2: General Settings 1. Dene the solver settings. General Transient

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Dam-Break Simulation Using Volume of Fluid Model of ANSYS FLUENT

2. Check the mesh. General Check 3. Display the mesh. General Display... (a) Click the Colors... to open the Mesh Colors dialog box. i. Select Color By ID. This assigns a dierent color to each zone in the domain, rather than to each type of zone. ii. Close the Mesh Colors dialog box. (b) Click Display (see Figure 2). (c) Close the Mesh Display dialog box.

Figure 2: Mesh Display Step 3: Models 1. Dene the multiphase model. Models Multiphase Edit...

(a) Select the Volume of Fluid multiphase model. (b) Enable Implicit Body Force. (c) Click OK to close the Multiphase Model dialog box.

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Dam-Break Simulation Using Volume of Fluid Model of ANSYS FLUENT

Step 3: Materials Materials Create/Edit... 1. Retain the default settings for air. 2. Dene the new material by copying water-liquid (h2o<l>) from FLUENT Database.... 3. Click Change/Create and close the Create/Edit Materials dialog box. Step 4: Phases 1. Dene air as primary phase. Phases phase-1-Primary Phase Edit...

(a) Select air in the Phase Material drop-down list. (b) Enter air for Name. (c) Click OK to close the Primary Phase dialog box. 2. Dene water-liquid as the secondary phase. Phases phase-2-Secondary Phase Edit...

(a) Select water-liquid in the Phase Material drop-down list. (b) Enter water-liquid for Name. (c) Click OK to close the Secondary Phase dialog box. Step 5: Boundary Conditions 1. Set the boundary conditions for poutlet. Boundary Conditions poutlet

2. Select water-liquid from the Phase drop-down list. 3. Click Edit... to open Pressure Outlet dialog box. (a) Click Multiphase tab and ensure that Backow Volume Fraction is 0. (b) Click OK to close the Pressure Outlet dialog box. Step 6: Operating Conditions Boundary Conditions Operating Conditions... 1. Enable Gravity. 2. Enter -9.81 m/s2 for Gravitational Acceleration in the Y direction. 3. Enable Specied Operating Density and retain the default value for Operating Density. 4. Click OK to close the Operating Conditions dialog box.

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Dam-Break Simulation Using Volume of Fluid Model of ANSYS FLUENT

Step 7: Solution 1. Set the solution method parameters. Solution Methods (a) Select PRESTO! from the Pressure drop-down list. (b) Select First Order Upwind from the Momentum drop-down list in the Spatial Discretization group box. (c) Select PISO from the Scheme drop-down list in Pressure-Velocity Coupling group box. PISO is recommended for transient ow simulations. 2. Set the solution control parameters. Solution Controls (a) Ensure that the Under-Relaxation Factors for the parameters is as follows: Parameter Pressure Density Body Forces Momentum Value 0.9 1 1 0.7

(b) Set the termination criteria for Pressure. Solution Controls Advanced...

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Dam-Break Simulation Using Volume of Fluid Model of ANSYS FLUENT

i. Enter 0.001 for Termination for the Pressure. ii. Click OK to close the Advanced Solution Controls dialog box. 3. Retain the default values for all parameters and click Initialize. Solution Initialization 4. Patch the initial distribution of the water-liquid. Solution Initialization Patch... (a) Select water-liquid from the Phase drop-down list. (b) Select Volume Fraction from the Variable list. (c) Enter 1 for the Value. (d) Select water from the Zones to Patch list. (e) Click Patch and close the Patch dialog box. 5. Set the time step parameters. For the calculation of Time Step Size, refer to the Appendix. Run Calculation (a) Enter 0.01 (s) for Time Step Size. (b) Enter 20 for Number of Time Steps. (c) Enter 40 for Max Iterations/Time Step. (d) Save the initial case and data les (dambreak.cas/dat.gz). (e) Click Calculate. 6. Save the case and data les (dambreak-20.cas/dat.gz).

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Dam-Break Simulation Using Volume of Fluid Model of ANSYS FLUENT

Step 8: Postprocessing 1. Display velocity vectors after 20 time steps. Graphics and Animations Vectors Set Up...

(a) Select Velocity from the Vectors of drop-down list. (b) Select mixture from the Phase drop-down list. (c) Select Velocity... and Velocity Magnitude from the Color by drop-down lists. (d) Click Display (see Figure 3).

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Dam-Break Simulation Using Volume of Fluid Model of ANSYS FLUENT

Figure 3: Velocity Vectors Colored by Velocity Magnitude After 20 Time Steps 2. Display lled contours of Volume fraction of water-liquid after 20 time steps. Graphics and Animations Contours Set Up...

(a) Select Phases... and Volume fraction from the Contours of drop-down lists.

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Dam-Break Simulation Using Volume of Fluid Model of ANSYS FLUENT

(b) Select water-liquid from the Phase drop-down list. (c) Click Display (see Figure 4).

Figure 4: Contours of Volume Fraction After 20 Time Steps 3. Run the calculation further for 30 Number of Time Steps. 4. Save the case and data les (dambreak-50.cas/dat.gz). 5. Display velocity vectors after 50 time steps (see Figure 5).

Figure 5: Velocity Vectors Colored by Velocity Magnitude After 50 Time Steps

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Dam-Break Simulation Using Volume of Fluid Model of ANSYS FLUENT

6. Display lled contours of Volume fraction of water-liquid after 50 time steps (see Figure 6).

Figure 6: Contours of Volume Fraction After 50 Time Steps

7. Similarly, run the calculation successively for 30 and 20 Number of Time Steps and save the case and data les as (dambreak-80.cas/dat.gz) and (dambreak-100.cas/dat.gz) respectively. This helps in viewing the progress of the VOF simulation. 8. Display the velocity vectors and contours after 80 and 100 time steps. See Figures 7, 9 for velocity vectors and Figures 8, 10 for contours of volume fraction, after 80 and 100 Number of Time Steps respectively.

Figure 7: Velocity Vectors Colored by Velocity Magnitude After 80 Time Steps

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Dam-Break Simulation Using Volume of Fluid Model of ANSYS FLUENT

Figure 8: Contours of Volume Fraction After 80 Time Steps

Figure 9: Velocity Vectors Colored by Velocity Magnitude After 100 Time Steps

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Dam-Break Simulation Using Volume of Fluid Model of ANSYS FLUENT

Figure 10: Contours of Volume Fraction After 100 Time Steps

Step 8: Solution Parameters Manipulation 1. Solve the problem by manipulating dierent solution parameters. Use interface tracking scheme. Enable/Disable PISO. Use pressure interpolation scheme. Use discretization scheme for momentum, volume fraction. Change the time step size.

Appendix
Calculate the time step by estimating the maximum possible velocity of the interface and the mesh cell dimension using the following equations: Courant = t xcell vf luid

gh =

2 v 2 f luid

vf luid =

2gh 10m/s

t= 12

xcell /vf luid 0.01sec

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Dam-Break Simulation Using Volume of Fluid Model of ANSYS FLUENT

Summary
In this tutorial, a dam-break problem was solved using the volume of uid (VOF) model in ANSYS FLUENT.

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