Supersonic Flow Over a Blunt Body with

Chemical Reaction
FASTRAN Tutorial 7

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 Objectives
This tutorial covers the following subjects:
Setting a model name and title for the problem.
Reading a single domain, DTF grid, and building a CFD-
FASTRAN model.
Setting fluid properties such as density and molecular weight.
Activating and setting mixture properties.
Setting chemical reactions parameters.
Setting initial values for the flow field to perform a steady state
simulation.
Setting appropriate boundary conditions for supersonic chemically
reacting flow problem.
Setting solution iterations and cycles.
Choosing a suitable time-integration scheme and setting CFL
numbers.
Requesting output to be post-processed with CFD-VIEW.
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 Problem Description

The problem to be simulated is inviscid, supersonic flow of air past a

blunt body.
A line sketch of the computational domain employed is shown in Fig
1.
The numerical model employs only one half of the body due to the
symmetry of the flow pattern.
The flow has a free-stream Mach number, M, of 23.5.
Due to high free stream Mach Number, the flow develops high
temperature which initiates chemical reactions between the various
components of air.
These reactions include 1) dissociation of diatomic Oxygen, 2)
dissociation of diatomic Nitrogen, 3) dissociation of Nitrous Oxide 4)
reaction of diatomic Nitrogen with oxygen and 5) reaction of Nitrous
Oxide with Oxygen.

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 Problem Description

Figure 1: Computational Domain for Simulation of Flow

Past a Blunt Body with Chemical Reaction
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 Procedure:Model

To start CFD-FASTRAN,
type “CFD-FASTRAN-GUI”
on the screen. This action
launches the graphical user
interface.
Load the model
Select File/Open from the
Menu bar
The Open dialog panel opens.

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 Procedure:Model
Select the file named
“forebody.DTF” and
press the “Accept”
button to read the file.
The DTF file is read into
CFD-FASTRAN and a
model properties window
appears on the screen as
shown in the figure.
Wireframe outline of the
model appears in the
viewing window after press
OK on the model properties
panel

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 Procedure:Model

Fig 3: Model as shown in CFD-FASTRAN-GUI

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 Procedure:Problem Type
Ensure that the Problem
Type [PT] tab is active
so that the control panel
is in Problem Type
setting mode
Under the modules
activate the
Compressible Flow
(Flow) Module and
Reacting/Mixing Fluids
(Chem).

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 Procedure:Model Options
Click on the Model
Options [MO] tab.
The Model Options panel
opens with a tab for setting
Global and Flow
parameters.

From the Global tab do

the following:
In the Title field enter
“Hypersonic Flow Over a
Blunt Body”.
Polar (Axisymmetric about
X-axis)  Non
Axisymmetric

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 Procedure:Model Options
Click on the Flow tab to
activate and set the
following properties:
Gas Model: Species
Viscous Model: Inviscid
(Euler)

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 Procedure:Model Options
Click on the Chem tab to
activate and set the following
properties:
Chemistry Type: Reacting
(Finite Rate)
Solver For : Species Mass
Fractions
Reaction Name is set to None,
click on Define.
This will pop-up the Database
Manager as shown in the next
slide.
Thermal State : Two
Temperature Non-Equilibrium
Thermo Properties
Species Database: Molecular

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Procedure:Open Database Manager

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 Procedure: Specifying Species
Select Database → Species
You will have three folders in
the tree structure: forebody
(current DTF file name), Local
and ESI
We need 6 species: M, N, N2,
NO, O and O2
Since these species are
already present in the ESI
database, we will just copy
them to the current DTF
From the ESI folder, select M,
N, N2, NO, O and O2. Use Ctrl
to make multiple selections.
Copy it by pressing Ctrl+C
Paste the copied species to
the “forebody” folder (Ctrl+V)

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 Procedure: Specifying Mixtures
Select Database → Mixtures
Right Click on the Mixing
Folder to create a New Mixture
In the Mixture Name field enter
“Mixture1”.

Input → Mass Fraction

From the species list select N
In the type-in field below Mass
fraction/Concentration, type
0.001 and Click “Add”.
Similarly add the following
species to the mixture
N2 = 0.747
NO = 0.001
O = 0.001
O2 = 0.25
Click “Apply” to save “Mixture 1”.

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 Procedure: Specifying Reactions
Select Database → Volume
Reactions
Select the “forebody” folder and
right click to create a new volume
reaction
In the “Mechanism Name” field
enter “forebody_reactions”.
The “Mechanism Type” is
automatically set to Finite-Rate
Select the “Mass Action” option for
“Action Type”
In the Equation field, enter the
following reaction:
N2+M <-> 2N+M
Additional parameters appear
where you can enter values for
Forward or Backward Reaction
Rates.

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 Procedure: Specifying Reactions
Click the “Define Third
Body Efficiencies” button.
From the ThirdBody
Efficiencies panel, enter
“5” in the Number of
Species type-in field and
click “OK”.
Enter the species and
efficiency values as
shown in the figure.
Click “Close” to accept
setting and close the
panel.

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 Procedure: Specifying Reactions
In the Forward Reaction
Rate section at the
bottom of the Reaction
Manager, enter the
following values in the
respective fields:
A: 3.6E+18
n: -1.6
E/R: 113200

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 Procedure: Specifying Reactions
Add reaction step 2:
Click the Add Step button
located beneath the reaction
step list.
Enter the following reaction in
the Equation field:
O2+M<->2O+M
Click the “Define Third Body
Efficiencies” button.
In the Third Body Efficiencies
panel enter the species and
values as shown.
Click “OK” when finished to
accept the settings.

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 Procedure: Specifying Reactions
In the Forward Reaction
Rate section at the
bottom of the Reaction
Manager, enter the
following values in the
respective fields:
A: 2.75E+16
n: -1
E/R: 59500

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 Procedure: Specifying Reactions
Add reaction step 3:
Click the Add Step button
located beneath the reaction
step list.
Enter the following reaction in
the Equation field:
NO+M<->N+O+M
Click the “Define Third Body
Efficiencies” button.
In the Third Body Efficiencies
panel enter the species and
values as shown.
Click “OK” when finished to
accept the settings.

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 Procedure: Specifying Reactions
In the Forward Reaction
Rate section at the
bottom of the Reaction
Manager, enter the
following values in the
respective fields:
A: 2.3E+14
n: -0.5
E/R: 75500

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 Procedure: Specifying Reactions
Add reaction step 4:
Click the Add Step button
located beneath the reaction
step list.
Enter the following reaction in
the Equation field:
N2+O<->NO+N
In the Forward Reaction Rate
section at the bottom of the
Reaction Manager, enter the
following values in the
respective fields:
A:3.18E+10
n:0.1
E/R:37700

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 Procedure: Specifying Reactions
Add reaction step 5:
Click the Add Step button
located beneath the reaction
step list.
Enter the following reaction in
the Equation field:
NO+O<->O2+N
Select the “Backward Rate By
Equilibrium” option
In the Forward Reaction Rate
section at the bottom of the
Reaction Manager, enter the
following values in the
respective fields:
A:216000
n:1.29
E/R:19220

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 Procedure: Specifying Reactions
After entering the five
reaction steps, the
Database Manager should
resemble as shown.
Close the Database
Manager.
Under MO→Chem →
Reaction Name: Pick
“forebody_reactions” as
the volumetric reaction
name.

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 Procedure:Volume Conditions
Click on the Volume
Condition [VC] tab
Select the Volume
Condition from the VC
explorer list.
Make sure that under the
VC Setting Mode the
Properties is set to “Fluid”

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 Procedure:Boundary Conditions
Click on the Boundary
Condition [BC] tab.
The Boundary Condition
Page is presented and
the Model Explorer
changes to the BC mode
to list all of the boundary
conditions in the currently
active simulation.

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 Procedure:Boundary Conditions
Set symmetry boundary
conditions.
In the explorer window
locate and, while holding
down the CTRL button,
select the following types
for each zone:
Zone 1: Patch # 1
Ensure that “Symmetry” is
selected from the
Boundary Type.
Click “Apply”

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 Procedure:Boundary Conditions
Set outlet boundary
conditions.
In the explorer window
locate and, while holding
down the CTRL button,
select the following types
for each zone:
Zone 1: Patch # 2
Ensure that “Outlet” is
selected from the
Boundary Type.
From the Flow tab
selected “Extrapolated”
from the Sub-Type menu.
Click “Apply”
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 Procedure:Boundary Conditions
Set Inflow/Outflow boundary
conditions.
In the explorer window locate
and, while holding down the
CTRL button, select the
following types for each zone:
Zone 1: Patch # 4
Ensure that “Inflow/Outflow” is
selected from the Boundary
Type.
From the Flow tab, enter the
parameter values as shown in
the adjacent figure.
Click “Apply”

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 Procedure:Boundary Conditions
Set Inflow/Outflow
boundary conditions.
From the Chem tab, enter
the following:
Tinternal: 219.7K
Mixture Name Select
“Mixture1” from the drop
down menu.
Click “Apply”

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 Procedure:Initial Conditions
Click on the Initial Conditions
[IC] tab.
From the IC Global Setting
section select “Volume by
Volume” from the Initial
Condition option.
From the Flow tab set the
parameters as shown in the
adjacent figure.
From the Chem tab, enter the
following:
T (Internal): 219.7
Mixture Name: Mixture1

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 Procedure:Solver Controls
Press the Solver Control
[SC] tab to activate the
Solver Control setting
page.
There is a tab for each
major type of solver
control setting. There
are also tabs for the
solver output options
available from this page.

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 Procedure:Solver Controls
Under the Control tab for
Simulation do the
following:
Select “Time Accurate” as
the simulation as a
transient state analysis is
being performed.
Max. No. of Cycles = 5000
Start Time = 0
Max Time = 1

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 Procedure:Solver Controls
Under the Control tab for
Time Step do the
following:
Time Step Size: Based On
CFL Number
Initial CFL = 0.1
Final CFL = 1
Ramping Cycles = 2000

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 Procedure:Solver Controls
Under the Spatial Tab
set the following
parameters:
Flux Splitting: Roe’s FDS
Spatial Accuracy: First
Order
Entropy Fix
Linear Waves
0.30000001192
Nonlinear Waves
0.30000001192

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 Procedure:Solver Controls
Under the Solvers tab set
the following parameters:
Time Integration:Implicit
Implicit Scheme: Point Jacobi
(Fully Implicit)
Subiterations = 20
Tolerance = 0.0001
Discretization: Backward
Euler

There are no settings

under Relax and Adv.

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 Procedure:Output
Click Out tab to open the
Output control panel
Under the Output tab set
the following:
Specified Interval
Cycles/Steps = 100
Same File

There are no settings

under Print, Monitor and
Graphic for this case.

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 Procedure:Run
Click Run tab to open the
Run Control Panel
Press the “Start
Simulation” button to start
the solution process

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 Procedure:Run
Because we have modified
the simulation data during
the solution setup process,
the data must first be
saved to a DTF file before
the solver can start.
Press the “Submit Job
Under Current Name”
button to save the
information and to launch
CFD-FASTRAN using the
same file.

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 Procedure:View Residuals
We can press the “View
Residuals” and “View
Output” buttons to see
real-time displays of the
residual history and output
file contents.

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 Post Processing

CFD-VIEW can be used to

post-process the results:
Maximum Mach Number = 23.5
Minimum Internal Temperature
= 10830
This tutorial is now finished.

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