Tutorial: Solving Transonic Flow over a Turbine Blade with Turbo-Specic NRBCs

Introduction
The standard pressure boundary conditions for compressible ow x specic ow variables at the boundary (e.g., static pressure at an outlet boundary). As a result, pressure waves incident on the boundary will reect in an unphysical manner, leading to local errors. The eects are more pronounced for internal ow problems where boundaries are usually close to geometry inside the domain, such as compressor or turbine blade rows. The turbo-specic non-reecting boundary conditions (NRBCs) permit waves to pass through the boundaries without spurious reections. The method used in FLUENT is based on the Fourier transformation of solution variables at the non-reecting boundary. This tutorial demonstrates how to do the following: Set up and solve the turbine blade ow eld using the standard pressure outlet boundary treatment. Activate the turbo-specic NRBCs and solve the problem again. Compare the results for the standard and non-reecting pressure boundaries.

Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes that you are familiar with the FLUENT interface, and have a good understanding of basic setup and solution procedures. In this tutorial, you will use turbospecic NRBCs, so you should have some experience with them. This tutorial will not cover the mechanics of using this feature. Instead, it will focus on the application of turbo-specic NRBCs to a turbine blade ow eld. If you have not used this feature before, Refer section 7.23.1 : Turbo-specic Non-Reecting Boundary Conditions in the FLUENT 6.3 Users Guide

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Solving Transonic Flow over a Turbine Blade with Turbo-Specic NRBCs

Problem Description
This tutorial considers the transonic ow around a turbine blade cascade with a shortened exit boundary. This conguration is frequently encountered in stage analyses where the spacing between adjacent blade rows is small, and hence, the exit boundary of the upstream row must be placed very close to the trailing edge of the blade. Using the traditional pressure outlet boundary treatment can lead to spurious pressure distributions on the blade surface since the exit pressure is typically being assumed to be uniform in the blade-to-blade direction. NRBCs can eliminate this problem by permitting pressure waves to pass through the boundary without reection, thereby leading to a more accurate solution. Note: Non-reecting boundary conditions can only be used with the density-based solver.

Figure 1: 2D Stator Blade

Preparation
1. Copy the mesh le 2d-stator.msh to the working folder. 2. Start the 2D (2d) version of FLUENT.

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Solving Transonic Flow over a Turbine Blade with Turbo-Specic NRBCs

Setup and Solution: Standard Boundary Conditions Case

Step 1: Grid 1. Read in the mesh le (2d-stator.msh). 2. Check and display the grid (Figure 2).

Grid

FLUENT 6.3 (2d, dbns exp, ske)

Figure 2: 2D Stator Mesh Display

Step 2: Units 1. Dene the units for pressure. Dene Units... (a) Select pressure from the Quantities list. (b) Select atm from the Units list. (c) Close the Set Units panel. Step 3: Models 1. Dene the solver settings. Dene Models Solver... (a) Select Density Based from the Solver list. (b) Select Explicit in the Formulation list. (c) Click OK to close the Solver panel. 2. Enable the standard k- turbulence model with standard wall functions. Dene Models Viscous...

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Solving Transonic Flow over a Turbine Blade with Turbo-Specic NRBCs

Step 4: Materials 1. Modify the properties of air. Dene Materials... (a) Select uid from the Material Type drop-down list. (b) Select ideal-gas from the Density drop-down list under Properties. Note: FLUENT will automatically enable solution of the energy equation when the ideal gas law is used. (c) Retain the default values for all other properties. (d) Click Change/Create and close the Materials panel. Step 5: Operating Conditions 1. Set the operating conditions. Dene Operating Conditions... Here, you will set the operating pressure is set to zero and the boundary condition inputs for pressure will be dened in terms of absolute pressures. Boundary conditions for pressure should always be relative to the value of operating pressure. (a) Enter 0 for Operating Pressure. (b) Click OK to close the Operating Conditions panel. Step 6: Boundary Conditions 1. Set the conditions for the inlet (pressure-inlet). Dene Boundary Conditions... (a) Enter 1.5 atm for the Gauge Total Pressure. (b) Enter 1.0 atm for the Supersonic/Initial Gauge Pressure. (c) Enter 1.0 for the X-Component of Flow Direction. (d) Enter 0 for the Y-Component of Flow Direction. Note: You must use the Direction Vector specication method for the pressure inlet in order to use the NRBCs. (e) Select Intensity and Viscosity Ratio from the Specication Method drop-down list under Turbulence. (f) Enter 1% for the Turbulent Intensity. (g) Enter 1.0 for the Turbulent Viscosity Ratio. (h) Click the Thermal tab and enter 300 K for Total Temperature. (i) Click OK to close the Pressure Inlet panel.

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Solving Transonic Flow over a Turbine Blade with Turbo-Specic NRBCs

2. Set the conditions for the outlet (pressure-outlet). (a) Enter 0.8 atm for the Gauge Pressure. (b) Select Intensity and Viscosity Ratio from the Specication Method drop-down list. (c) Enter 1% for the Backow Turbulent Intensity. (d) Enter 1.0 for the Backow Turbulent Viscosity Ratio. (e) Click the Thermal tab and enter 300 K for the Backow Total Temperature. (f) Click OK to close the Pressure Outlet panel. 3. Close the Boundary Conditions panel. Step 7: Solution 1. Set the solution parameters. Solve Controls Solution... (a) Enter 0.8 for the Turbulent Kinetic Energy and Turbulent Dissipation Rate in the Under-Relaxation Factors group box. (b) Select First Order Upwind for all the discretizations under Discretization. (c) Enter 0.5 for the Courant Number under the Solver Parameters. (d) Set the Multigrid Levels to 4. (e) Click OK to close the Solution Controls panel. 2. Enable the plotting of residuals during the calculation. Solve Monitors Residual... (a) Enable Plot in the Options list. (b) Enter 0.0001 for Absolute Criteria for continuity. (c) Click OK to close the Residual Monitors panel. 3. Enable monitors for lift and drag coecients. Solve Monitors Force... (a) Select Drag from the Coecient drop-down list. (b) Select stator-blade from the Wall Zones list. (c) Enable Plot and Write in the Options list. (d) Enter cd-history for the File Name. If you do not select the Write option, the history information will be lost when you exit FLUENT. (e) Click Apply.

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Solving Transonic Flow over a Turbine Blade with Turbo-Specic NRBCs

(f) Similarly dene the parameters for Lift and enter cl-history as the File Name. (g) Close the Force Monitors panel. 4. Initialize the solution. Solve Initialize Initialize... (a) Select inlet from the Compute From drop-down list. (b) Click Init and close the Solution Initialization panel. 5. Save the case le (nrbc-1.cas.gz). File Write Case... 6. Iterate the solution. (a) Enter 2000 for Number of Iterations. (b) Click Iterate.
Residuals continuity x-velocity y-velocity energy k epsilon

1e+01 1e+00 1e-01 1e-02 1e-03 1e-04 1e-05 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

Iterations

Scaled Residuals

FLUENT 6.3 (2d, dbns exp, ske)

Figure 3: Scaled Residuals (c) Close the Iterate panel. 7. Save the data le (nrbc-1.dat.gz). File Write Data...

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Solving Transonic Flow over a Turbine Blade with Turbo-Specic NRBCs

27500.0000 25000.0000 22500.0000 20000.0000 17500.0000 15000.0000 Cd 12500.0000 10000.0000 7500.0000 5000.0000 2500.0000 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

Iterations

Drag Convergence History

FLUENT 6.3 (2d, dbns exp, ske)

Figure 4: Drag Coecient Convergence History

16000.0000 14000.0000 12000.0000 10000.0000

Cl
8000.0000 6000.0000 4000.0000 2000.0000 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

Iterations

Lift Convergence History

FLUENT 6.3 (2d, dbns exp, ske)

Figure 5: Lift Coecient Convergence History

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Solving Transonic Flow over a Turbine Blade with Turbo-Specic NRBCs

Step 8: Postprocessing 1. Display lled contours of static pressure (Figure 6). Display Contours... (a) Enable Filled in the Options list. (b) Select Pressure... and Static Pressure in the Contours of drop-down lists. (c) Click Display.

1.50e+00 1.44e+00 1.39e+00 1.34e+00 1.28e+00 1.23e+00 1.17e+00 1.12e+00 1.07e+00 1.01e+00 9.58e-01 9.04e-01 8.50e-01 7.96e-01 7.42e-01 6.88e-01 6.34e-01 5.80e-01 5.26e-01 4.72e-01 4.18e-01

Contours of Static Pressure (atm)

FLUENT 6.3 (2d, dbns exp, ske)

Figure 6: Contours of Static Pressure

2. Display lled contours of Mach number (Figure 7). (a) In the Contours panel, select Velocity... and Mach Number in the Contours Of drop-down lists. (b) Make sure that Filled is selected under Options. (c) Click Display.

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Solving Transonic Flow over a Turbine Blade with Turbo-Specic NRBCs

1.40e+00 1.34e+00 1.27e+00 1.20e+00 1.13e+00 1.06e+00 9.89e-01 9.20e-01 8.51e-01 7.82e-01 7.13e-01 6.44e-01 5.74e-01 5.05e-01 4.36e-01 3.67e-01 2.98e-01 2.29e-01 1.59e-01 9.02e-02 2.11e-02

Contours of Mach Number

FLUENT 6.3 (2d, dbns exp, ske)

Figure 7: Contours of Mach Number

3. Close the Contours panel. 4. Create an XY plot of the static pressure distribution on the blade surface. Plot XY Plot... (a) Select Pressure... and Static Pressure in the Y Axis Function drop-down lists. (b) Select stator-blade, in the Surfaces list. (c) Retain the default Plot Direction of X. This will plot temperature vs. the x coordinate along the selected surface (statorblade). (d) Click Plot (Figure 8).

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Solving Transonic Flow over a Turbine Blade with Turbo-Specic NRBCs

stator-blade
1.60e+00 1.40e+00 1.20e+00

Static 1.00e+00 Pressure (atm)

8.00e-01 6.00e-01 4.00e-01 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06

Position (m)

Static Pressure

FLUENT 6.3 (2d, dbns exp, ske)

Figure 8: XY Plot of Static Pressure Distribution on Stator Blade (e) Save the plot data to a le. i. Select the Write to File option and click the Write... button to open the Select File dialog box. ii. Enter pdata-std-bc.xy in the XY File text entry box and click OK to close the Select File dialog box. (f) Close the Solution XY Plot panel.

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Solving Transonic Flow over a Turbine Blade with Turbo-Specic NRBCs

Setup and Solution: Non-Reecting Boundary Conditions Case

Step 1: Turbo-Specic Non-Reecting Boundary Conditions 1. Enable the turbo-specic NRBC using the commands shown in boxes:
> /define/boundary-conditions/non-reflecting-bc>turbo-specific-nrbc /define/boundary-conditions/non-reflecting-bc>turbo-specific-nrbc> enable enable non-reflecting b.c.s [no] yes

Step 2: Solution 1. Set the turbo-specic NRBC under-relaxation factor to 0.5 using the commands in boxes: (a) In the FLUENT console window, type the following command:
/define/boundary-conditions/non-reflecting-bc/turbo-specific-nrbc/set> under non-reflecting b.c. under-relaxation factor [0.75] 0.5

2. Perform turbo-specic NRBC initialization using the initialize TUI command:

/define/boundary-conditions/non-reflecting-bc/turbo-specific-nrbc> initialize

FLUENT will display the following summary in the console window.

2D Initialize_Non_Reflecting_Boundaries pressure-inlet-2: l = 0, kmax = 1 x extents : -1.29761e-01 -> -1.29761e-01 r extents : -3.81080e-02 -> 3.81283e-02 q extents : 0.00000e+00 -> 0.00000e+00 pressure-outlet-4: l = 1, kmax = 1 x extents : 6.38378e-02 -> 6.38378e-02 r extents : -9.90170e-02 -> -2.27807e-02 q extents : 0.00000e+00 -> 0.00000e+00 pressure-inlet-2: Pitch = 7.62364e-02 (m) pressure-outlet-4: Pitch = 7.62363e-02 (m)

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Solving Transonic Flow over a Turbine Blade with Turbo-Specic NRBCs

3. Save the case le (nrbc-2.cas.gz). File Write Case... 4. Iterate the solution. (a) Enter 1000 for Number of Iterations. (b) Click Iterate. (c) Close the Iterate panel.
Residuals continuity x-velocity y-velocity energy k epsilon

1e+00

1e-01

1e-02

1e-03

1e-04

1e-05 0 250 500 750 1000 1250 1500 1750 2000 2250 2500

Iterations

Scaled Residuals

FLUENT 6.3 (2d, dbns exp, ske)

Figure 9: Scaled Residuals

5. Save the data le (nrbc-2.dat.gz). File Write Data...

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Solving Transonic Flow over a Turbine Blade with Turbo-Specic NRBCs

27500.0000 25000.0000 22500.0000 20000.0000 17500.0000 15000.0000 Cd 12500.0000 10000.0000 7500.0000 5000.0000 2500.0000 0 250 500 750 1000 1250 1500 1750 2000 2250 2500

Iterations

Drag Convergence History

FLUENT 6.3 (2d, dbns exp, ske)

Figure 10: Drag Coecient Convergence History

16000.0000 14000.0000 12000.0000 10000.0000

Cl
8000.0000 6000.0000 4000.0000 2000.0000 0 250 500 750 1000 1250 1500 1750 2000 2250 2500

Iterations

Lift Convergence History

FLUENT 6.3 (2d, dbns exp, ske)

Figure 11: Lift Coecient Convergence History

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Solving Transonic Flow over a Turbine Blade with Turbo-Specic NRBCs

Step 3: Postprocessing 1. Display lled contours of static pressure (Figure 12). Display Contours... (a) Enable Filled in the Options list. (b) Select Pressure... and Static Pressure in the Contours of drop-down lists. (c) Click Display.

1.50e+00 1.45e+00 1.40e+00 1.36e+00 1.31e+00 1.26e+00 1.22e+00 1.17e+00 1.12e+00 1.08e+00 1.03e+00 9.83e-01 9.36e-01 8.89e-01 8.43e-01 7.96e-01 7.49e-01 7.02e-01 6.56e-01 6.09e-01 5.62e-01

Contours of Static Pressure (atm)

FLUENT 6.3 (2d, dbns exp, ske)

Figure 12: Contours of Static Pressure 2. Display lled contours of Mach number (Figure 13). (a) Select Velocity... and Mach Number in the Contours of drop-down lists. Make sure that Filled is selected under Options. (b) Click Display.

1.25e+00 1.18e+00 1.12e+00 1.06e+00 1.00e+00 9.40e-01 8.78e-01 8.17e-01 7.56e-01 6.95e-01 6.33e-01 5.72e-01 5.11e-01 4.50e-01 3.88e-01 3.27e-01 2.66e-01 2.05e-01 1.43e-01 8.21e-02 2.08e-02

Contours of Mach Number

FLUENT 6.3 (2d, dbns exp, ske)

Figure 13: Contours of Mach Number

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Solving Transonic Flow over a Turbine Blade with Turbo-Specic NRBCs

3. Create an XY plot of the static pressure distribution on the blade surface. Plot XY Plot... (a) Select Pressure... and Static Pressure in the Y Axis Function drop-down lists. (b) Select stator-blade, in the Surfaces list. (c) Keep the default Plot Direction of X. This will plot temperature vs. the x coordinate along the selected surface (statorblade). (d) Click Plot. The resulting XY plot for static pressure distribution is displayed in Figure 14.
stator-blade
1.50e+00 1.40e+00 1.30e+00 1.20e+00 1.10e+00

Static 1.00e+00 Pressure (atm) 9.00e-01

8.00e-01 7.00e-01 6.00e-01 5.00e-01 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06

Position (m)

Static Pressure

FLUENT 6.3 (2d, dbns exp, ske)

Figure 14: XY Plot of Static Pressure Distribution on Stator Blade (e) Save the plot data to a le. i. Select the Write to File option and click the Write... button to open the Select File dialog box. ii. Enter pdata-nrbc.xy in the XY File text entry box and click OK to close the dialog box. 4. Read the plot les you saved for the two solutions and compare them in a single plot (Figure 15). Notice that the shock wave position for the NRBC case is moved closer to the trailing edge of the vane. This is due to the fact that pressure variations in the vicinity of the shock are permitted to pass through the exit boundary without being articially constrained by assuming a constant (uniform) exit pressure, as is the case when the NRBCs are disabled.

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Solving Transonic Flow over a Turbine Blade with Turbo-Specic NRBCs

Standard BC NRBC

1.60e+00 1.40e+00 1.20e+00

Static 1.00e+00 Pressure (atm)

8.00e-01 6.00e-01 4.00e-01 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06

Position (m)

Static Pressure

FLUENT 6.3 (2d, dbns exp, ske)

Figure 15: Comparison of XY Plots

Summary
This tutorial demonstrated the salient points of setting up and solving of a problem with FLUENTs turbo-specic NRBCs. It was shown that the location of the shockwave is dramatically dierent when standard pressure BCs are used. This is not surprising since you are forcing the static pressure at the exit to be uniform. With NRBCs, the pressure waves are not constrained and are permitted to vary along the boundary such that waves are not spuriously reected. NRBCs can be used in 2D or 3D and with FLUENT 6.3 can be used with the coupled implicit solver.

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