Example 108

EXAMPLE 108
SLIDING MESH FOR A SINGLE SCREW EXTRUDER

DESCRIPTION

In this example, we determine the flow rate generated by a conveying element in a single
screw extruder whose dimensions are given in Table 1. The flow domain is limited to one
pitch. We added small entry and exit sections to surround the conveying element. The fluid
is Newtonian and isothermal. The sliding mesh technique is used to handle the change of
flow domain configuration due to the rotation of the screw (see fig. 1). In this example, we
wish to know the flow rate generated by the combination of an imposed pressure drop
between inlet and outlet sections and by the rotation of the screw. We assume no slippage
along barrel wall and screw surface.

Screw pitch: 40.0 mm

Barrel bore diameter: 42.0 mm
Flight depth: 7.3 mm
Clearance 1.08 mm
Table 1. Dimensions of the screw element and barrel.

Fig. 1. Meshes of the flow domain.

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KEYWORDS

sliding mesh technique, non-conforming mesh, transient, flow rate, single screw extruder.

FILENAMES

slidingmesh_SSE.msh, slidingmesh_SSE.dat, slidingmesh_SSE.cons,

slidingmesh_SSE.lst, slidingmesh_SSE.res, ...

NEW CONCEPT

Sliding mesh technique

When using the sliding mesh technique, one must decompose the flow domain in two parts,
as this can be seen in Fig. 1: the first one, attached to the barrel wall, is fixed. The second one,
attached to the screw surface, will rotate with the same angular rotation than the screw itself.
The volume of the screw is not meshed (contrary to what we do in the mesh superposition
technique). In order to get accurate results with the sliding mesh technique, the user must
pay particularly attention to the two boundaries that are tangential: the inner cylinder of the
“fixed” domain and the outer cylinder of the “rotating” domain. Those two boundaries will
be connected so that fluid flowing out of one boundary will be flowing in the other boundary.
It is recommended to mesh in the same way (same sizes and same element types) these two
boundaries. Moreover, as we rotate the mesh attached to the screw, the time step must be
selected so that the displacement per time step of a node on the outer cylinder is smaller or
equal to the element size. The sliding mesh technique is only available for generalized
Newtonian fluids and for heat conduction problems in transient tasks.

SYSTEM OF UNITS

Millimeter-gram-second.

MATERIAL PROPERTIES

Model: Gen. Newtonian isothermal flow problem.

- Viscosity: 1000 Pa.s

- Density: 0.001 g/mm^3
- Inertia taken into account

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OPERATING CONDITIONS

Flow domain composed of sub-domains 1 and 2:

- sub-domain 1 : fixed domain

- sub-domain 2 : rotating domain with  = 6.2832 rad/s (= 60 rpm) around Z axis.

Boundary conditions:

- Boundary 1: normal and tangential forces (fn, fs)=(0, 0) (entry)

- Boundary 2: normal and tangential forces (fn, fs)=(100000, 0) (exit)
- Boundary 3: Target of connected condition.
- Boundary 4: Source of connected condition.
- Boundary 5:  = 6.2832 rad/s (= 60 rpm) around Z axis (screw surface)
- Boundary 6: zero wall velocity (barrel wall)

Note: Boundary 1 (Boundary 2) has faces adjacent to both sub-domains, as we want to

impose same normal force on the whole inlet (outlet) of the flow domain.

SPECIAL COMMENTS

As we connect two boundaries, due to the imperfect mapping between faces of these two
boundaries, some loss of fluid may occur. One way to reduce this mass loss is to modify the
stabilization factor in the “target of connected condition on Boundary 3” menu: by reducing
it, one improves the mass conservation, but at the price of a system becoming gradually
stiffer! Let us note that another way to improve the situation is to use the mesh refinement; in
that case, the simulation becomes more expensive (both memory and CPU requirements will
increase). In order to reduce this cost, a linear interpolation for the velocities can be selected.
The pressure then becomes constant per element.

POLYDATA SESSION

- Read a mesh file: slidingmesh_SSE.msh

- Create a new task: 3D, transient state
- Create a subtask: Generalized Newtonian isothermal flow problem
Domain: Subdomain 1+Subdomain 2
Material Data:
Viscosity:
Constant law: fac = 1000
Density: 0.001
Inertia taken into account
No gravity.

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Flow Boundary Conditions:

Boundary 1: (fn, fs) = (0, 0)
Boundary 2: (fn, fs) = (100000, 0)
Boundary 3: Target of connected condition see note 1
Source: Boundary 4
Options:
Stabilization factor = 1e-6
Overlap mode: complete
Print level: print summary + stop
Boundary 4: Source of connected condition
Boundary 5: Cartesian Velocity imposed: Vxyz imposed
point 1 = (0, 0, 0)
point 2 = (0, 0, 1)
angular velocity,  = 6.2832 rad/s.
Boundary 6: Zero wall velocity (vn, vs) = (0, 0)
Define sliding mesh:
Sliding mesh #1:
Domain: Subdomain 2
Motion:
point of rotation axis: (0, 0, 0)
orientation of axis: (0, 0, 1)
angular velocity: 6.2832 rad/s.
Numerical parameters
Transient iterative parameters
T init = 0
T final = 1.0
Dt init = 0.04
Dt min = 0.004
Dt max = 0.04
Tolerance = 10000 see note 2
- Outputs:
- Default output: CFD-Post
- System of units for CFD-POST: metric_mm/g/s/mA+Celsius
- Max. listing
- Save and Exit:
- Field management:
- View Contact_V see note 3
- File management:
- Polyflow datafile: slidingmesh_SSE.dat
- Polyflow resultfile: slidingmesh_SSE.res
- CFD-Post: slidingmesh_SSE.cfx.res

Note 1: How to connect sub-domains for the flow.

First, specify which boundary is the source of the connection. Next, when specifying the
target condition, Polydata will present the list of “source”: select one of them in the list.

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In the next menu (options for connected boundaries), we can specify the overlap mode :
partial or complete. “Complete” means that all nodes of source and target are in contact with
the other boundary. In this example, select “complete”. Indeed, in sliding mesh technique, it
is assumed that there is a 100 % overlap between the two boundaries (one attached to the
fixed mesh, the other to the rotating mesh).

Eventually, we can specify the print level : by default, there is no information in the listing
about the algorithm of contact detection; if “print summary” is selected, the number of
connections will be printed; with “print summary + warning”, an additional warning is
printed if the algorithm of contact detects that some nodes are not in contact. Eventually, if
with “print summary + stop”, a warning is also printed if the contact detection is not
complete but the solver is stopped! In case of a sliding mesh simulation, it is better to choose
this last option! Indeed, if during the run, some nodes are not seen in contact, some local
fluid leakage may occur! In order to avoid this situation, we have to adapt the numerical
parameters in the “Options for connected boundaries” menu: we have to increase
progressively (in several trials) the amplitude of volume generation and/or the element
dilatation. Note that a CFD-Post file (Outputs/crash.cfx.res) is generated if the Polyflow
solver is stopped; by this way, we can see the nodes that are not constrained.

In this example, we lower the stabilisation factor in order to improve velocity fields on either
sides of the connected boundaries.

Note 2. Tolerance for transient scheme.

We put the tolerance to a high value in order to force the time step to be constant and equal to
Dt init (= Dt max = 0. 04 sec). Moreover, in this simulation, the final time (1 second)
corresponds to a single rotation of the screw.

Note 3: Visualisation of contact field.

You can visualise the contact field for the velocities in CFD-Post: ask to view the Contact_V
field in the Field Management menu. Along the connected boundaries, a value of 1.0 means
that the node is in contact (or is part of a conformity constraint), while a 0.0 value means that
the node is not in contact. If you observe that a node is not in contact while it should, you
have to adapt the numerical parameters in the “Options for connected boundaries” menu:
you should increase progressively (in several trials) the amplitude of volume generation
and/or the element dilatation.

POLYFLOW RUN

polyflow < slidingmesh_SSE.dat > slidingmesh_SSE lst &

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GRAPHIC POST-PROCESSING

The flow rates at entry and exit vary between 7370 mm3/s. and 7530 mm3/s depending on the
angular position of the screw. In average, we have a flow rate of 7460 mm3/s. In Fig. 2, we
present not only the evolution of the flow rates in entry and exit section, but also the relative
error in flow rate conservation (Qin-Qout)/Qin. This error is less than 2%.

Fig. 2. – Evolution on flow rates at entry and exit sections, and relative error.

In Fig. 3, we can see the pressure field in a cutting plane parallel to rotation axes (y=16 mm),
for two time steps, while in Fig. 4, the pressure distribution is displayed on the screw surface.
As expected, the pressure is high on the side of the screw pushing matter, while it is lower on
the other side.

Finally in Fig. 5 and 6, we observe the local shear rate in the plane y = 16 and along the barrel
wall. The highest values of the shear rate are found, without surprise, in the clearance areas.

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Fig. 3. Pressure field in plane y = 16 mm, at steps #15 (time=0.6 s) and #25 (time=1.0 s).

Fig. 4. Pressure field along screw surface at step #25 (time=1.0 s).

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Fig. 5. Local shear rate in plane y = 16 mm, at steps #15 (time=0.6 s) and #25 (time=1.0 s).

Fig. 6. Local shear rate along barrel wall at step #25 (time=1.0 s).

We can also check the contact between the connected boundaries: in figure 7, we can see the
Contact_V field at first step. All nodes of faces that are (at least) partly in geometric contact
have a value of 1.0.

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Fig. 7. Iso-values of Contact_V field.

Eventually, in figure 8, we present the Contact_V field obtained when the connections are not
complete. To present such result, the setup has been modified: the amplitude of volume
generation is lowered to 0.018 and the print level is set to “print summary + stop”. With these
values, the solver stops at first step and generates the crash.cfx.res (file that must be used for
visualisation). We observe that most nodes are not in contact.

Fig. 8. Iso-values of Contact_V field (obtained with a too low value for the amplitude of
volume generation).

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