Numerical Fluid Mechanics II Problem Sheet 1 Prof. Dr.

Marc Avila
SS 2014 Discussion: 08.05.2014 M. Sc. Nan Chen

Curvilinear grids: heat transfer between cylinders

Introduction. In CFD we often have to deal with complex geometries, for which Cartesian grids
are not well suited. We thus typically use body-fitted grids be means of general curvilinear coor-
dinates. Here the governing equations have to be transformed from Physical to Computational
space, where they are solved.
Problem description. The aim of this exercise is to compute the power (in W) needed to cool
a warm cylinder of radius r1 =1cm and height h=10cm by using silicon oil.

The temperature at the inner boundary is varying about 80◦ C, and we cool the outer cylinder,
of radius r2 =2cm, at 20◦ C:

T (r1 , θ) = 80 + 5 cos(4θ) + 10 sin(8θ) (1)

T (r2 , θ) = 20 (2)

The thermal conducitvity of the silicone oil is κ=0.1W/(m·K), and here we assume that the
cooling is purely conductive, i.e. there is no fluid motion. Thus, the task consists of finding
the temperature distribution T (r, θ) in the gap between the two cylinders by solving the heat
equation in cylindrical coordinates (r, θ), where

x = r cos(θ) (3)
y = r sin(θ). (4)

Task 1.1 (Computational space r, θ)

a) Make a sketch of the domain and grid to be used in Computational Space.

~
b) Write down the boundary conditions for T in the azimuthal direction θ.

c) Discretize the one-dimensional equation

1 ∂2T
= 0,
rα2 ∂θ2

where rα is a constant, with the boundary conditions in b) and CDS of second order.
What are the possible solutions?

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Numerical Fluid Mechanics II Problem Sheet 1 Prof. Dr. Marc Avila
SS 2014 Discussion: 08.05.2014 M. Sc. Nan Chen

Task 1.2 (Laplace equation in cylindrical coordinates)

Transform the two-dimensional Laplace equation

∂2T ∂2T
+ =0
∂x2 ∂y 2

from Cartesian to cylindrical coordinates.

Task 1.3 (Heat transfer in an annulus)

a) Discretize the Laplacian equation obtained in 1.2 using CDS of second order.

b) Apply the boundary conditions (1)–(2), together with the boundary condition you have
obtained in 1.1b, and using octave/matlab solve for the temperature distribution T (r, θ).
Produce a colormap plot of T using pcolor or contourf.

Task 1.4 (Power)

a) Using the program

R developed in 1.3 obtain the power Q applied at the outer cylinder.
Hint: Q = κ∇T · ~n dS

b) Ensure that your solution is sufficiently resolved by checking how the value of Q changes as
the grid spacing is reduced.

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