ANSYS Inc.

Version: 7/31/17

ANSYS AIM Tutorial

Flow Over an Airfoil
Author(s): Sebastian Vecchi, ANSYS
Created using ANSYS AIM 18.1

Problem Specification

Start Up

Geometry
Import Geometry
Resize
Enclose
Suppress

Mesh
Set Mesh Size & Controls
Generate Mesh

Physics Set-Up
Boundary Conditions / Forces
Solver Options

Solution/Results

Verification
References
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Version: 7/31/17

Problem Specification
A wing with a NACA 0012 airfoil section has a chord of 1 meter, a span of 1 meter, and a
thickness of 0.01 meter. The wing is made of Aluminum 6061-T6. If air moves at 987.84
km/hour around the airfoil, find the velocity vectors of compressible flow over the airfoil.
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Start Up
A few words on the formatting in the following instructions:

1) Notes that require you to perform an action are colored in blue

2) General information is colored in black, but does not require any action
3) Words that are ​bolded ​are labels for items found in ANSYS AIM
4) Most important notes are colored in red

Open ANSYS AIM by going to ​Start ​> ​All Apps​ > ​ANSYS 18.1​ > ​ANSYS AIM 18.1​. Once you
are at the starting page of AIM, ​select the ​Fluid Flow​ template ​as shown below.

You will be prompted by the ​Fluid Flow​ template to either ​Define new geometry, Import
geometry file​, or ​Connect to active CAD session​. ​Select ​Import geometry file​ and press
Next​.
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Geometry
Import Geometry
For this problem, we are going to import the geometry from a CAD package. ​Download the part
file ​here​, then select and open the file in AIM​.

Once successfully imported, ​enable the C

​ ompressible flow (ideal gas)​ option and press
Finish​.
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Repair
The imported geometry contains only the curved surfaces of the airfoil. We need to close the
ends of the airfoil to create a solid body representing it. ​Select the ​Geometry​ task in the
Workflow​ and press ​Edit Geometry.​ ​After the Model Editor opens, ​select the ​Repair​ tab and
then ​Missing Faces​ in the ​Solidify​ section​. The ends of the airfoil will be highlighted in red.
Press the green check mark to create the missing faces and form the solid.

Resize
Since the airfoil that was imported is about 5m long, shortening it will likely speed up our mesh
generation and calculations down the line. ​Use the ​Pull ​tool, in the ​Edit​ section of the​ Design
tab, to shorten it to a more manageable size. Click to select the face on one end and drag it
2.4m toward the middle; repeat for the other end.

Rotate
The simulation that will be used as validation indicates that the angle of attack is 1.25 degrees.
Press the ​Move ​tool and then, using the ​Select​ ​Component ​tool, choose the airfoil. Press the
blue, curved arc and rotate the airfoil so that the input box appears, then input -1.25deg to rotate
it precisely.
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Enclose
In order to create an area around the airfoil where air will move, an enclosure must be made
around it. The ​Enclosure​ tool can be found in the ​Analysis ​section of the toolbar under the
Prepare ​tab. ​Activate the ​Enclosure​ tool, then select the airfoil body.​ A box will appear around
the airfoil. ​Enter 500% into the ​Default cushion​ box at left​. ​Select the distance from theairfoil
end to the enclosure and set it to 0m​. Use the picture below for guidance. ​Press the green
checkmark​ and the enclosure will be generated​.

Suppress
Now that the geometry of the flow volume has been created, we can suppress the airfoil from
the physics calculation. ​Right click on the ​Solid​ in the ​Geometry​ tree and select ​Suppress for
Physics​.
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Mesh
Close the modeling window, then initiate the meshing process by clicking on ​Mesh ​in the
Workflow​.

Set Mesh Controls

Under ​Boundary Layer Settings​, change C
​ ollision avoidance​ to use the ​Layer compression
setting.
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AIM will prompt you to fix the boundary layer before generating the mesh. ​Under ​Objects, ​click
on ​Mesh Controls​, then ​Boundary Layer​. ​Select the upper and lower faces of the airfoil inside
of the flow volume​.

Generate Mesh
Click ​Generate Mesh​ under ​Output ​or at the top of the screen by the status window for ​Mesh​.
AIM will detect that you are ready to generate the mesh and highlight the buttons in blue. Below
is what the mesh will look like.
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Physics Set-Up
Boundary Conditions / Forces
Select the ​Physics​ task in the ​Workflow​. ​First, the inlet must be defined within the ​Fluid Flow
Conditions​. ​In the ​Add ​drop down menu by ​Fluid Flow Conditions​, select ​Inlet​.​ ​Then, using
the ​Face selection​ tool, define an inlet at the rectangular face by the rounded end of the airfoil.
Make sure to input the ​Velocity magnitude​ as 987.84 [km hr^-1] and a ​Temperature ​of 0
degrees Celsius.

Once the inlet is defined, the outlet is next. ​In the same ​Add​ menu, choose ​Outlet​ to define an
outlet downstream of the airfoil. Assign a ​Gauge static pressure​ of 1 [atm], or 1.0133E+05
[Pa].
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Create openings above and below the airfoil by selecting ​Opening ​in the A
​ dd ​drop down menu.
Select the top and bottom faces of the flow volume. Input 1 [atm], or 1.0133E+05 [Pa], for the
Gauge entrainment pressure​ and 0 C ​Entrainment temperature​.

Add a ​Symmetry ​condition, from the ​Add d

​ rop down menu, to the two large sides of the flow
volume​.
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Next, a ​Wall ​condition must be added​ to all surfaces that are not already defined. ​Wall​ can be
found in the same ​Add​ menu as the previous conditions. ​Most of the time, AIM will automatically
create the walls once the option is selected; AIM selects every face that doesn't already have a
constraint on it.

Lastly, the operating pressure must be set to zero. ​Press on ​Physics Options​ in the main
Physics ​panel, expand ​Operating Conditions​ under ​Flow Model​, and then expand ​Operating
Pressure​. Change ​Value ​to 0 [Pa].
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Solution/Results
Press the ​Results ​button​ in the ​Workflow​ to extract information from the simulation. In order to
find information that can be readily used, first ​press ​Evaluate Results​. AIM will run the
calculations and evaluate the results. Once the evaluation is complete, AIM will automatically
output a velocity ​Vector​ in the ​Results s​ ection under ​Objects​.

By default, the velocity vector arrows are too far from the airfoil to observe the flow
characteristics. ​Select the ​Velocity Vector​ object to edit the settings with which the vectors are
defined. ​Change ​Symbol distribution​ to ​Based on mesh​ and input 3 for ​At every Nth item​.
Press ​Evaluate​ to update the display. Under ​Appearance​, change the ​Symbol sizing​ to 0.2 to
shorten the arrows, then zoom in to see the arrows near the airfoil.​ ​Press the ​Play ​button in the
model window to see how these velocity vectors develop over time​.

Pressure on the airfoil can be plotted by ​adding a ​Contour​ in the ​Add d​ rop down menu of the
Results​ panel​. ​Use ​Total Pressure ​as the ​Variable ​and then select the faces of the flow
volume touching the faces of the airfoil​.
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To plot the pressure change, a contour on the side of the flow volume will accurately represent a
2D pressure contour of the flow. ​Select ​Contour ​in the ​Add ​drop down menu, select one of the
large faces, and assign the ​Variable t​ o be ​Pressure​.
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Verification
In order to verify that the simulation is accurate, it must be compared to a study that is similar in
nature. We will compare the AIM results with results from Stanford University’s Aerospace
Design Lab. In that study, users were expected to become familiar with performing an optimal
space design in a 2D space. The airfoil used was also the NACA 0012, which makes this a
perfect example to compare ours to. Below is the pressure contour that was plotted as a result
of the Stanford tutorial, which can be directly compared to the pressure contour found in the
previous section.

Return to the ​Results ​panel in the ​Workflow​. ​Click on ​Results ​in the ​panel.
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Select the ​Pressure ​contour created in the Solution/Results section of this tutorial.

Below is the pressure contour plotted by AIM.

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To make the comparison easier, ​expand the ​Appearance​ options and change ​Coloring​ to
Banded​, then change ​Number of colors​ to 20
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By comparing this to the Stanford’s pressure contour, it is easy to see that they are similar.
Also, the numerical minimum and maximum values are significantly close, within 10%.
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Exercise - Mesh Refinement

Looking more closely at the Stanford results, we can see that they captured a shock
wave along the upper section of the wing, as indicated by the tight clustering of contour
lines in-between the blue and green bands. We need to refine the AIM mesh to capture
that same effect in as much detail.

Here is an image of the Stanford mesh.

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Notice that it is much more refined than our original AIM mesh.

Return to the ​Mesh task, then move the ​Mesh ​resolution slider to the maximum
position. Next, select ​Mesh Controls > ​Boundary Layer add increase the ​Maximum
layers to 10. Return to the ​Mesh panel, then press ​Add to the right of ​Size ​Controls​.
Choose ​Face Sizing​, then select the top and bottom surfaces of the wing and enter a
size of 0.005 [m].

Return to the ​Results task and update the results. Have the maximum and minimum
values gotten any more accurate as mesh was refined? Is the shock more easily
identifiable?

References
Copeland, Sean and Economon, Thomas. "Quick Start Tutorial - SU2 - ADL Software
Documentation." ​Aerospace Design Lab​. Stanford University, 1 July 2014. Web. 7 August 2017.