MID TERM REPORT

Submitted By:
Fouzia Begum
PT-TF-05)

(10-MS-

Kishwat Ijaz Malik

FT-TF-04)

(10-MS-

UET Taxila
Submitted to:
Respected Sir Dr. Shehryar

Date of Submission:
6th April 2015

Project:
Characteristics of micronozzle gas flows

Project Supervisor:

Dr. Shehryar

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENIGINEERING

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
TAXILA
April, 2015

Table Of Content

CHAPTER 1

Introduction to CFD and Literature Review:

Definition of CFD
Computational fluid dynamics is the branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical
methods and algorithms to solve and analyze problems related to fluid flow. CFD
simulations are run on high speed computers with excellent computational power to
get better results.
CFD Simulation
Simulation is the reproduction of the operation of a real-world process or system
over time. Validation of these simulations is done by experiments.
Background and History
The base of all the CFD problems is Navier-stokes equations which define any single
phase fluid flow (gas or liquid but not both). The computer power available speed
up development of three-dimensional methods. The first paper with threedimensional model was published by John Hess and Smith of Douglas Aircraft in
1967. This method discretized the face of the geometry with panels, giving rise to
this group of programs being called Panel Methods. Developers turned to Full
Potential codes, as panel methods could not calculate the non-linear flow present
at transonic speeds. The first description of a means of using the Full Potential
equations was published by Earll Murman and Julian Cole of Boeing in 1970. The
NavierStokes equations were the ultimate target of developers. Two-dimensional
codes, such as NASA Ames' ARC2D code first emerged. A number of threedimensional codes were developed (ARC3D, OVERFLOW, CFL3D are three successful
NASA contributions), leading to numerous commercial packages.[1]
CFD Process
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

Geometry of problem is defined.

Volume occupied by fluid cells is divided into discreet cells.
Physical modeling is defined.
Boundary conditions are defined.
Analysis and visualization of resulting solution.

CFD model of a convergent divergent nozzle problem

Importance of micro-nozzle in fluid flows
A nozzle is a basic device that offers thrust for the aerocraft system, and many
small thrust nozzle systems have been used to maintain or adjust the orbit of space
satellites.
Since microsatellites appeared, they have needed a very fine control, which
generally comes from small (mm) or micro (m) nozzle systems. Therefore, the
inner gas flows of micronozzles have become a focus, and it has been hoped that
the understanding of the fluid characteristics could be helpful to the design of high
performance. For the whole nozzle flows (in space), the gaseous fluids pass through
all regimes, namely from continuum (chamber and convergent part of the Nozzle) to
free molecular flow (far from the exit of the Nozzle), and it challenges the simulative
capacity.[2]
History of convergent divergent nozzle
The converging-diverging nozzle is perhaps the most important piece of engineering
hardware associated with propulsion and the high speed flow of gases. It was
invented by a Swedish engineer Gustaf de Laval in 1888 and is thus often referred
to as the 'de Laval' nozzle. This principle was first used in a rocket engine by Robert
Goddard. Very nearly all modern rocket engines that employ hot gas combustion
use de Laval nozzles.[3]
Literature on micro-nozzle
As for the experimental investigation, Rothe[4] used electron-beam techniques to
measure the flow density and rotational temperature at some inner and outer points
of the nozzle, and visualized the external flow structure. Boyd et al.[5,6] used
coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering technique
to measure the velocity and translational temperature of the selected positions of
the nozzle, and at the same time measured the thrust of the nozzle. In particular,
they simulated the whole flow field, and the agreement proved that the DSMC could
be applied to small nozzle flows. Then Broc et al.[7] gained the temperature and
density of outer jet flows with laser-induced fluorescence technique, and Jamison et
al.[8] measured the thrust with and without a divergent part versus Reynolds
number. Because of the difficulty in the measurement of the micronozzle, now we

can only get some data about its total performance. Bayt et al.[9] manufactured
micronozzles with throat height of about 2030 _m, and by
testing they pointed out that the viscous resistance affected flows mightily. Hao et
al.[10] also manufactured micronozzles (throat height 20 m), and determined the
dependence of the
mass flux from the pressure difference (inlets pressure minus back pressure) by
keeping pressure at the inlet and decreasing the environmental pressure (back
pressure) that connected with the outlet of the nozzle.

CHAPTER 2
Generation of mesh in Gambit
Introduction to Gambit
GAMBIT is a software package designed to help analysts and designers build and
mesh models for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and other scientific
applications. GAMBIT receives user input by means of its graphical user interface
(GUI). The GAMBIT GUI makes the basic steps of building, meshing, and assigning
zone types to a model simple and intuitive, yet it is versatile enough to
accommodate a wide range of modeling applications.
Generation of Nozzle mesh in Gambit
Step 1
First of all set the appropriate coordinates upon which we have to build our nozzle.
Geometry Command Button
Vertex
Set the coordinates as:
(0,0)
(0,10)
(95,0)
(95,17)
(-50,34)
(-50,0)

----> Vertex Command Button

---->Create

Step 2
In 2nd step we have to join our coordinate points to create the edges.
Geometry Command Button

---->Edge command button

---->Create Edge

By pressing shift button and clicking left by mouse on coordinate. It will appear red.
Then click on second coordinate. Then click on apply command in the open window.
Then an edge will appear. As shown in following figure,

By repeating the above procedure create all the faces, as shown in following,

Step 3
In this step we have to create all edges as one face, so computer can understand it
that there is also something in this area except edges.

Geometry Command Button

---->Face command button

---->Form face

By pressing shift button click left button of mouse on all edges to create the face.
First edge will appear red. By clicking on all edges then click on apply command in
the open window. Then all edges will appear as one face, as shown in following,

Step 4
In this step we have to divide all our edges in to number of nodes. One thing should
be kept in mind that all the opposite faces must have equal number of nodes.
Otherwise mesh will not be formed.
Mesh command button
---->Edge command button
Then following window will appear

---->Mesh Edges

Change interval size to interval count and then click on the edge. And then give the
appropriate number of nodes, after that click on apply. As shown in following,

Step 5
In this step we have to mesh our face by doing the following steps,
Mesh command button
---->Face command button
The following window will open

---->Mesh face

By pressing shift button click left mouse button on one of the edge. Then all the
edges will appear as red. The click on apply button. Mesh will be appear as follows,

Individual element should be approximately square for better calculations just like
as follows,

And vertical lines should be parallel. Specially in throat section, as follows,

Step 6

In this step we have to examine our mesh. That it is following the criteria so that our
solutions should be converged while doing calculations. For the examination of our
mesh following are criterias,
Criteria for mesh examination
a) Aspect ratio should be less than one
b) Worst element should not be in throat section
c) Total elements should not exceed from 0.1million
For examination of mesh do the following steps in Gambit,
Click on Examine Mesh

. Following window will open,

For examination, check Range in Display Type. Check as 2D Element. And in Quality
Type check as Aspect Ratio. As seen from the figure total elements are 64000. And
Aspect Ratio is 3.
Examination of Worst Element

As seen from the figure the worst element is on left wall. So it is acceptable that
worst element is not in throat section.
Step 7
In this step we have to apply the necessary boundary condition on our particular
problem. As in our case,
Left Wall is pressure inlet
Right Wall is pressure outlet.
Upper two walls are chosen as Wall.
Lower wall is chose as symmetric wall.
For Boundary Conditions do the following in Gambit,
Zones Command Button
following window will open.

---->Specify Boundary Type Command

---->then

First of all click on edge and then check the type from above command and then
click on apply button. After applying boundary conditions this window will open as,

Step 8
In this we will export our file as mesh file to solve the problem in Fluent.

Go to File Menu Bar---->Export---->mesh. A window will open, click on accept. Our

mesh file will be saved in our directory.
After this our work in Gambit will be finished. Whenever we have to work on Gambit,
we have to follow the above 8 steps for generation of our mesh.

CHAPTER 3
Simulation in Fluent
Introduction to Fluent
ANSYS fluent is engineering simulation software. By using this software one can
solve the problem in a virtual environment. By using fluent we can do the following
Flow problems in 2D and 3D
Compressible & Incompressible
Steady state and time dependent
Variety of material properties
Complex physics & chemistry
Inviscid, viscous, and turbulence models
Complex geometries & meshes
Multiple and non-inertial reference frames
Quantitative analysis & visualization
Following are the steps by which we can run our simulation in fluent for our nozzle
problem.
Step 1
First of all open your mesh file in fluent.
Go to File Menu Bar---->Read---->Mesh.
This will open your mesh file in fluent. As Shown in following,

Step 2
In this step we have to choose what is our problem nature and type.
In our particular problem,
Type = Pressure Based
Problem Nature = Steady
2D Space = Planner
As shown in following,

Step 3
In this step we have to choose our model. Basically it is our mathematical model
which will be solved from one node to another node.
As shown in following,

Step 4
In this step we have to choose our material as solid/fluid.
In our particular case fluid is entered as air and solid is as aluminum. Because our
wall of nozzle are solids and we have choose them as aluminum.
Following figure shows in fluent,

Step 5
In this step we have to apply our boundary conditions and their values.
In our particular case,
Pressure inlet = 101325 Pa
Pressure Outlet= 65000 Pa
Do it in fluent by clicking on boundary conditions and then select particular
boundary condition and then click on create/edit. A window will open as shown in
following,

Similarly do it for outlet boundary condition.

Step 6
In this step we have to choose our solution method, as shown in following,

Step 7
In this step we have run our calculation.
Number of iterations = 1000
And then click on run calculation. Fluent will calculate all the results until our
solution converges. If our solution will not converge then fluent will show a message
that solutions are going to diverge at particular node then we have to check our
meshing criteria and again follow the above steps.
Following window is to run the calculations,

CHAPTER 4
Results and Validation
Article Results
We have to validate results of the article which has been assigned to us in class.
Following are the authors generated results which we have to validate through
ANSYS Fluent.

Description of Authors Results

H3 is the height of nozzle at outlet. Back pressure is applied at outlet. Knudsen
number (Kn2) is at throat section and Knudsen number (Kn 3) is at nozzle outlet. is
the mean free path of the gas molecules. Re 2 is the Reynolds number at throat
section. Re3 is the Reynolds number at nozzle outlet.
Formulas for the Calculations

Kn=

=
Fluent Results

UH m

16 kT
5 2 m P

References
1. M. Raciti Castelli, P. Cioppa and E. Benini,Numerical simulation of the flow
field around the 30 degree flat plate World Academy of Science, Engineering
and Technology 63 2012.
2. Xie, Chong. "Characteristics of micronozzle gas flows." Physics of Fluids
(1994-present) 19.3 (2007): 037102.
3. http://cfdblogvienna.blogspot.com/p/computational-fluid-dynamics-advanceda.html
4. Rothe, Dietmar E. "Electron-beam studies of viscous flow in supersonic
nozzles." AIAA Journal 9.5 (1971): 804-811.
5. Boyd, Iain D., et al. "Experimental and numerical investigations of low-density
nozzle and plume flows of nitrogen." AIAA journal 30.10 (1992): 2453-2461.
6. Boyd, Iain D., Douglas B. VanGilder, and Edward J. Beiting. "Computational
and experimental investigations of rarefied flows in small nozzles." AIAA
journal 34.11 (1996): 2320-2326.
7. Broc, Alain, et al. "Experimental and numerical investigation of an O $ _ {2}
$/NO supersonic free jet expansion." Journal of Fluid Mechanics 500 (2004):
211-237.
8. Jamison, A. D., and A. D. Ketsdever. "Low Reynolds number performance of an
underexpanded orifice and a Delaval nozzle." Rarefied Gas Dynamics 23rd,
edited by AD Ketsdever and EP Muntz (AIP, New York, 2003) (2003).
9. Bayt, Robert L. Analysis, fabrication and testing of a MEMS-based
micropropulsion system. Aerospace Computational Design Laboratory, Dept.
of Aeronautics & Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1999.
10.Hao, Peng-Fei, et al. "Size effect on gas flow in micro nozzles." Journal of
Micromechanics and Microengineering 15.11 (2005): 2069.