Fluids Dynamics

Simulations

Stephen McCormick
Technical Services
ANSYS UK

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 Content

A simple question
Guest presenter: Karl Else, Hurley Palmer
Flatt
Guest presenter: Dan Jestico & Ben Abel,
Hilson Moran Partnership
Some examples
Solar loads simple or not
External flows the next step in turbulence
Conclusions

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 A Simple Question

ANSYS CFD offers cutting edge tools...

But do you need it?

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 Airflow is predictable?

Complex and non-intuitive

Depends on the interaction of multiple
features

Which situation will see the

highest velocity?
A B

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1m/s 4
1m/s ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
 And the answer is.

Which situation will see the

highest velocity?

A B

1m/s 1m/s

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 Karl Else

Dan Jestico & Ben Abel

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 Some Examples...

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 Internal Ventilation

Occupant comfort
Natural, forced,
mixed mode
Air freshness
Humidity control
Odour control
Equipment
performance

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 External Flow

Pedestrian comfort
Pressure mapping
Structural loading
Natural ventilation
Intake/ outlet siting
Exhaust dispersion

Courtesy: Peter Brett Associates

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 Data Centres
The Cooling Approach

21oC
45% RH But,
+10-20oC
too often
CRAC cabinet

cabinet

cabinet
Cold Hot Cold
aisle aisle aisle

fan

14oC Floor Plenum

CRAC units supply cold air to a floor plenum

Cold air distributed to cold aisle inlets to computer
racks/ cabinets
Racks exhaust heated air to hot aisles

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 Two rack layouts:
different performance

Maximum Intake Temperature per Rack

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 What is happening in the plenum?

Plenum Airflow Patterns Static Pressure Distribution

Tile Airflow
Distribution

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 Ducting
Optimisation

Courtesy of Arup

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 Nature of the problem

Stadium bowl cooling

65000 seat semi-outdoor stadium

Air delivery system design
Middle-East location

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 The challenge

Equalisation of the flow rates

at the seat supply nozzles
36 types of plenums => 36
individual solutions
each serving 300-1000 slots
High cost for each evaluation
Mesh size ~ 3 - 6 million cells
Run time ~ 2 - 6 hrs on 8
CPUs

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 Solution approach

Pressure equalisation using diffusing

plates
Geometry and the position of the plates
have big influence on performance
Computational optimisation study is
required
Definition of plate geometry, size,
location creates 2-6 parameter
optimisation problem

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 Optimisation strategy

Goal of optimisation is to minimise

standard deviation of nozzle flow rates
Use of statistical models to approximate
response surface
Search using standard methods
(genetic algorithms)
Statistical model guides selection of
new evaluation points (consolidate or
explore)
Vastly reduces number of evaluations

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 Results
Results

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 Summary

Benefit to Arups Client: Significant cost reduction

as pressure balancing grilles at the slots (65,000)
are not required anymore
No other feasible way than optimization
algorithms to find the optimum plate
configurations
Run time: 36 different plenum types each
requiring 30-50 CFD models
Each CFD model requires
1-2 hours meshing time
2-6 hours CFD simulation time

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 Solar Load Modelling

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 Solar Loads:
The Challenge

Potentially dominant heat source

Strong spatial influence
Radiation models are expensive

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 Solar Loads:
The Solution

Solar Load Model

Simple ray-trace
approach
Local heat flux
Calculates in seconds

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 Glazed Facades
Glass Properties - IGDB
Window v Glazing System Thermal and Optical Properties
ID : 45
.
.
Layer Data for Glazing System '45 CFD SHGC Single Clear'
ID Name D( ") Tsol 1 Rsol 2 Tvis 1 Rvis 2 Tir 1 Emis 2 Keff
------ --------------- ----- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Outside
103 CLEAR_6.DAT #0.225 .771 .070 .070 .884 .080 .080 .000 .840 .840 .578
Inside
.
.
Angle 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Hemis
Vtc : 0.884 0.883 0.882 0.879 0.872 0.852 0.804 0.688 0.427 0.000 0.805
Rf : 0.080 0.080 0.081 0.083 0.089 0.106 0.152 0.267 0.528 1.000 0.144
Rb : 0.080 0.080 0.081 0.083 0.089 0.106 0.152 0.267 0.528 1.000 0.144
Tsol : 0.771 0.770 0.767 0.761 0.750 0.727 0.680 0.575 0.346 0.000 0.689
Rf : 0.070 0.070 0.070 0.072 0.077 0.093 0.134 0.239 0.484 1.000 0.128
Rb : 0.070 0.070 0.070 0.072 0.077 0.093 0.134 0.239 0.484 1.000 0.128
Abs1 : 0.159 0.160 0.163 0.167 0.173 0.180 0.185 0.186 0.170 0.000 0.173
SHGCc : 0.818 0.817 0.815 0.811 0.801 0.781 0.735 0.630 0.396 0.000 0.740
.
.

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 Glass Properties
IR: =0.84?

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 Resulting Temperatures (oC)

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 Flow Velocity (m/s)

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 Dealing with Solar Gains

ANSYS CFD Solar Load Model: practical solution

Uses standard manufacturers data
Spatial heat gains calculated in seconds

Can be coupled with full radiation models

E.g. detailed glazed unit analysis
Full physics response
Need to be confident in supplied properties

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 External Atmospheric Flows

Courtesy: Peter Brett Associates

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 Atmospheric Flows are Turbulent

Small Large
structures structures

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 Turbulence Models

Increasing Accuracy, Increasing Cost

Zero Equation
RANS (inc Unsteady)
RSM
LES
DNS

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 Embedded LES:
Making LES Practical

ELES Region Box

Full Model Size: 1000m x 1000m x 200m

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 Outer Domain:
Non-Conformal Interface

LES region
requires finer
mesh resolution
than the outer
RANS region

Flow Domain decomposed into

two regions with either
conformal or non-conformal
mesh interface in between
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 Inner Embedded LES Box Region
Boundaries are located sufficiently far away from the building of
interest so that:
- the synthetic turbulence can be developed
- wake from the upstream building is resolved using LES

Main Building
Upstream Building
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 Resolved Flow Velocity

Contours of Velocity Magnitude (m/s)

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 Resolved Pressure and Velocity

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 Key Facts:

Embedded LES (ELES) can be used for urban built

environment
Typical time to purge flow through LES region 30s
~1 week to compute (4s per day)

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 Conclusions

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 Conclusions

CFD is a proven technology

Influences
Verifies
Explains
New challenges keep coming
Capabilities keep evolving

ANSYS CFD offers cutting edge tools

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 And the answer is.

Adverse
pressure
gradient

Velocity Pressure
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