A

Project Report on

1D and 2D Ablation Code

Submitted in the partial fulfillment of the

Requirement for the award of the degree

Bachelor of Technology
in
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Submitted By

Bula Lohith (14119018)

A.R.C.P. Shailesh (14117006)

Under the guidance of

Dr.Ankit Bansal
Assistant Professor
MIED, IIT Roorkee

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL & INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, ROORKEE
ROORKEE – 247667 (INDIA)
May 2018
 INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROORKEE
CANDIDATE'S DECLARATION

We hereby declare that the work, which is being presented in this project report entitled

"1D and 2D Ablation Code" in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the

degree of Bachelor of Technology in Production and Industrial Engineering, and

submitted in the department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering of Indian Institute of

Technology Roorkee, India is an authentic record of our own work carried out during the

period from august 2017 to April 2018, under the supervision of Dr. Ankit Bansal,

Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Indian institute

of Technology Roorkee, India.

The matter embodied in the report has not been submitted by us for the award of any

other degree of this or any other Institute/University.

Date:

Place:

(Bula Lohith) (Shailesh)

 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the report submitted by Mr. Bula Lohith and Mr. Shailesh on "1D

and 2D Ablation Code" in partial fulfilment for the degree of Bachelor of Technology in

Production and Industrial Engineering is an authentic record of their project work which

they have satisfactorily completed under my supervision.

Dr. Ankit Bansal

Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We express our deep sense of gratitude and indebtedness to our revered guide Dr.

Ankit Bansal, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering,

Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India. Who provided whole hearted co-

operation, never ending inspirations and guidance, all blended with personal touch

throughout the duration of this work. His in valuable suggestions and through

discussions have immensely contributed towards the completion of this work.

We take this opportunity to put in record our respect to Dr. Dinesh Kumar, Head of

Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology,

Roorkee, for providing various facilities during course of the present investigation.

I would like to thank my colleagues for their valuable suggestions and help as when

required and all others for their enthusiastic support, encouragement and help.

The last but not least we are grateful to our family members for their love, suggestions

and moral support without which we would not have achieved this goal.

Bula Lohith Shailesh

 Table of Contents

ABSTRACT

1. INTRODUCTION 2

1.1 Macroscopic description of ablation 4

2. LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Heat Conduction 21

2.2 Sublimation 22

2.3 Derivation of Sublimation for Camphor 24

2.4 The Governing Equation for Porous Medium 29

2.5 Boundary Condition 8

2.6 Porous-Material Analysis Toolbox based on OpenFOAM and Application 8

3. OPENFOAM 10

3.1 File Structure 11

3.2 Running Application 12

3.3 Mesh Description 14

3.3.1 PolyMesh Description

3.4 Model and Physical Properties 15

3.4.1 Boundary Conditions

3.5 Solving 17

3.5.1 Time and Data Input/Output Control

3.5.2 Numerical Schemes

3.6 Post Processing 18

 3.6.1 Overview of ParaView

4. CONDUCTION AND SUBLIMATION OF CAMPHOR 21

4.4 Laplacian Foam 25

4.5 Laplacian Foam to Sublimation Foam 27

4.6 Results 28

5. POROUS MEDIUM 29

5.2 rhoPorousSimpleFoam 30

5.3 SonicFoam 31

6. AblationFOAM 33

7. Test Case Simulation 35

8. Results 37

8.1 Temperature 37

8.2 Density 38

9. Conclusion 39

10. IMPROVEMENTS 40

11. References 41

12 Appendix 42
 List of Figures and Tables

Fig 1.1 Schematic of heat and mass transfer for an ablating material 3

Fig 2.1 Surface energy balance at the material fluid interface 8

Fig 4.1 Phase diagram for camphor 22

Fig 3.1 Overview of OpenFOAM structure 10

Fig 3.2 Case Directory Structure 11

Fig 3.3 Overview of ParaView 19

Fig 4.2 Temperature at end of simulation 28

Fig 4.3 Density at the end of simulation 28

Fig 7.1 Test Case 35

Table 7.1 Properties of camphor 36

Fig 8.1 Plot of temperature at initial Position 37

Fig 8.2 Plot of temperature at end of simulation 37

Fig 8.3 Density at initial position 38

Fig 8.4 Density at end of simulation 38

 ABSTARCT

Heat transfer solvers have been used for decades for solving and simulating various real

life problems such as heat exchangers, thermo-elastic problems, turbines, etc. But these solvers

fail to simulate problems such as entry of space vehicles where we have to choose best material

to meet missile constraints of weight, volume, handling, storage, thermal conductivity and

ablation.

Our project aims at taking the sublimation energy of the diffused gases into Laplace

equation. Here we include the Sublimation energy term in the Laplace equation to calculate

density and temperature variation over time of the ablative materials. We use governing

equations such as Conservation of mass, Conservation of momentum, Conservation of energy.

1
 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

Faster velocities and longer flight durations of missiles require external thermal

protection to prevent excessive propellant temperatures. Results from an investigation to

determine the best material to meet missile constraints of weight, volume, handling, storage,

thermal conductivity and ablation. Therefore, a software is needed to be developed which takes

into account ablation phenomena for accurate results and performance of the material.

Usually materials used in rocket motor applications pyrolyze and or ablate at high

temperatures and heat fluxes usually expected in rocket motor applications. In addition to heat

transfer by conduction, convection, and radiation, heat generation or absorption due to a

chemical reaction of the material must be modeled. Figure 1 is a schematic of an ablating

material. As the material is heated, the original virgin material pyrolyzes and yields a pyrolysis

gas that diffuses to the surface. (Pyrolysis is a chemical reaction involving heat.)

Char is left after pyrolysis. The surface of the char layer may then withdraw, a process

known as ablation. This ablation model is one-dimensional. The different layers of material are

split into nodes, and a finite-difference approach is used to calculate the temperature change

through the depth of the system as modeled in Fig. 1.

Thermal protection material may be classified into pyrolysing and non-pyrolysing type.

In non-pyrolysing material such as carbon-carbon and graphite, mass loss only occurs at the

surface due to thermo-chemical and mechanical erosion. On the other hand, the pyrolysing

material are composites made of fiber reinforcement in a resin matrix (e.g. carbon-phenolic,

silica-phenolic etc.). When heated, the resin undergo a series of chemical reactions that release

2
gaseous products (pyrolysis), leaving a layer of char or reside. The char itself can withdraw due

to chemical or mechanical action by the boundary layer.

Numerous codes have been developed for ablation modelling. The most basic ablation

code models the core phenomena of the pyrolysis-ablation process however, momentum

conservation equation is not implemented and the internal pressure is arbitrarily specified. These

types of model gave have been successfully implemented in one-dimensional, quasi-steady-state

and equilibrium frozen chemistry conditions.

1.1 Macroscopic description of ablation

The ablative material loses mass when subjected to high thermal loads. The TPS

(Thermal Protective Shield) may be a single or multilayer composite. The inner surface of

TPS is bonded to a structural component. There can be different causes of mass loss such as

phase change, erosion and chemical reaction. In addition some type of ablators called

charring ablators experience physical pyrolysis that involves the decomposition of the

3
material and the generation of pyrolysis gas, which diffuse through the porous medium. The

ablation products, that includes char and pyrolysis gas, are then partially injected into the

boundary layer resulting in the modification of the surface heat transfer .The various physical

process occurring at the surface and inner layers of an ablative material are shown in fig 1.

The polymer in the heat shield is thermally decomposed and successively carbonized into a

low-density static graphite, losing mass while letting out pyrolysis gases. The pyrolysis gas

percolate through the porous structure of the material and diffuse to the surface through the

network of pores. Reactions with in the pyrolysis gas mixture and the char take place with

possible coking effects. Mixing of pyrolysis gases may take place with the gases piercing

from the boundary layer. After charring and coking of the ablative material, the material is

removed by ablation and the initial surface withdraws. Ablation may be caused by

heterogeneous chemical reactions, such as nitridation and oxidation, Phase change

(sublimation) and mechanical erosion. The thickness of the ablation layer depends on the

thermo-chemical conditions and micro-structure of the virgin materials.

4
 Chapter 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Heat Conduction

Conduction is a transfer through solids or stationery fluids. When you come in contact

with a hot body, the heat you feel is transferred through your skin by conduction. The heat is

flowed or transferred because of the temperature difference between hot body and your skin.

Heat transfer by conduction is mainly caused by particle collision and lattice or molecular

vibration. Heat is conducted through immobile fluids primarily by molecular collisions.

The law of thermal heat conduction, also known as Fourier's law that is the rate of heat

transfer through the body is directly proportional to the negative gradient in the temperature and

to the area at right angles, to that gradient, through which the heat is flowing:

Q
 k  T  dS (2.1)
t s

Where:

Q is the amount of heat transferred,

t is the time taken for heat transfer,
k is the material's thermal conductivity through which heat is flowing
S is the surface area through which the heat is flowing,
T is the temperature.

5
2.2 Sublimation

Sublimation, or volatization, is the process of changing from a solid phase to a gaseous

phase, without forming a liquid. Sublimation is one type of vaporization. As with evaporation,

sublimation is possible within the whole range of temperatures T and pressures p over which the

solid and gaseous phases coexist. It is well known that any substance can exist in one of the

three states of aggregation: solid, liquid or gas. Two phase conditions can correspond to the solid

state: crystal and amorphous; therefore, the notion "phase condition" is broader than the

"aggregate" one. Below, however, the term "phase transition" implies exactly the change of the

state of aggregation

Figure 2.1. Phase diagrams for camphor

The curves of phase equilibrium on the p-T plane intersect at the triple point, where

all three states of aggregation of the substance (solid, liquid and gas) take place

6
simultaneously. The change from a solid state to a liquid state is called "melting": the

process of changing from a solid state to a gaseous one is called "sublimation" and from a

liquid to a gaseous one is called "evaporation". The reverse process to evaporation and

sublimation is called "condensation". The pressure at which the gaseous and condensed

(liquid or solid) phases coexist is called the "saturated vapor pressure". For any substance

relation between and T is close to exponential

Qv mv
pvH  exp[k  ] (2.2)
RTW

Where ΔQv is the heat of sublimation, vapour molecular mass, R the universal gas

constant, and k is the experimentally defined constant. The heat of sublimation depends weakly

on the temperature Tw.

According to the molecular-kinetic concept, sublimation and evaporation are continuous

processes of molecular emission from the interface between the gas and condensed phases, the

rate of emission being governed by the thermal motion of molecules. The velocity of the reverse

process (condensation) is proportional to the number of molecules per unit volume, i.e., to the

partial pressure pv of the molecular species condensing on the interface. In sublimation

(evaporation), a state of dynamic equilibrium is established in a closed cavity when the

condensation rate is equal to the sublimation rate. The appropriate, partial pressure is called the

saturated vapour pressure, pv = (T).

According to this model, the mass flow rate of substance during sublimation is the result

for two counter processes, i.e., it is defined by the difference between the saturated vapour

7
pressure which applies at the interface, and the partial pressure in the bulk vapour, pv the

interface temperature

a( pH  p )
G  (2.3)
2 RTw
M

This relation is known as the Knudsen-Langmuir equation. The factor a is called

the evaporation coefficient. More accurate investigations based on the methods of the molecular-

kinetic theory of gases, show that in Eq. (4.3) the coefficient before the brackets is in the form

2a/(2 − a). This takes into account the transverse constituent of the mass velocity in the function

of distribution of gas molecule velocity near the evaporation surface.

2.3 Derivation of Sublimation for camphor

As discussed above when camphor is subjected to heat flux, sublimation takes place.

Now due to the heat flux and temperature change in the camphor cube heat conduction takes

place and sublimation takes place. Now consider a small square element in the camphor cube,

let the energy contained in it be E. Heat conducted into the element is qconduction , given by the

equation (). Heat taken away by the sublimated camphor is given by qsublimation. So, the change in

the energy of the camphor square element is given by the following equation.

E
 kAT  mhs (2.4)
t
Energy contained in square element is given by

E  msT (2.5)

8
Differentiating both sides with time

E T
 ms (2.6)
t t
From equation (1) and (2)

T
ms  kAT  mhs (2.7)
t
Dividing by V on both sides, we get

T 1 2
s   (kT )   hs (2.8)
t V
Dividing by on both sides, we get

T 
  ( T ) 
2
h (2.9)
t s s
As we can see, the above equation is similar to Laplacian equation, with an additional

sublimation term and the rate of sublimation is also derived from

initial   final   hs (2.10)

Where hs is the heat of sublimation and is the rate of sublimation.

2.4 The Governing Equations for Porous medium

Porous media is modeled by attenuating the time derivative and by adding a sink term to

the Navier-Stokes equations.

9
 (2.1)

The value of γ should be between 0 and 1, where the latter is a complete porosity. The

source term, S i , is composed of two parts, a viscous loss term and an inertial loss term, creating

a pressure drop that is proportional to the velocity and velocity squared, respectively.

(2.2)

This equation is known as the Darcy-Forchheimer equation. In the case of simple

homogeneous porous media it becomes

(2.3)

Where Di j and Fi j are represented as the scalars D and F

The source term can also be modeled as a power law of the velocity magnitude,

(2.4)

Where C0 and C1 are user defined empirical coefficients

The implementation of the porosity equations are found in the file

porousZoneTemplates.C. The member function used to modify the time-dependent term with the

value, γ, is named modifyDdt. The viscous and inertial source terms from eqn. 2, are defined in

the addViscousInertialResistance member function and the power law from eqn. 4, is defined in

the addPowerLawResistance member function. Those two member functions used for calculating

10
the source term are overloaded for explicit and implicit use. The first one that appears in the

template is used for explicit calculations and the second one for implicit.

2.5 Boundary condition

The conditions at the ablating surface are determined by the aero thermal environment

and by chemical interaction between the boundary layer gas, the pyrolysis gas, the ablation

product and the chemical constituents of the surface material. At the bond line conservative and

adiabatic impermeable boundary conditions are usually used the ablative boundary condition at

the interface between flow and the material is return in the terms of surface energy balance and

surface mass balance.

Fig.2.1 Surface energy balance at the material fluid interface

2.6 Porous-material Analysis Toolbox based on OpenFOAM and Applications

The Porous-material Analysis Toolbox based on OpenFOAM (PATO) is a fully portable

OpenFOAM library. It is implemented to test innovative multi-scale physics-based models for

reacting porous materials that undergo recession. The governing equations are volume-averaged

forms of the gas-mass-, gas-species-, solid-mass, gas-momentum, and energy-conservation

11
equations. It may also simply be used as a state-of-the-art ablation model when the right model

options are chosen. As application, three physical analyses are presented:

(1) Volume-average study of the oxidation of a carbon-fiber preform under dry air

(2) Three-dimensional analysis of the pyrolysis-gas flow in a porous ablative-material sample

facing an arc-jet

(3) Comparison of a state-of-the-art and a high-fidelity model for the thermal and chemical

response of a carbon/phenolic ablative material.

12
 Chapter 3
OPENFOAM
OpenFOAM also known as "Open source Field Operation and Manipulation" is a C++

toolbox for the development of customized numerical solvers, and pre-/post-processing utilities

for the solution of continuum mechanics problems, including computational fluid dynamics

(CFD). The code is released as free and open-source software under the GNU General Public

License.

OpenFOAM is first and foremost a C++ library, used primarily to create executables, known

as applications. The applications fall into two categories: solvers, that are each designed to solve

a specific problem in continuum mechanics; and utilities, that are designed to perform tasks that

involve data manipulation. New solvers and utilities can be created by its users with some

prerequisite knowledge of the underlying method, physics and programming techniques

involved.

Figure 3.1: Overview of OpenFOAM structure

13
 OpenFOAM is supplied with pre- and post-processing environments. The interface to the

pre- and post-processing are themselves OpenFOAM utilities, thereby ensuring consistent data

handling across all environments. The overall structure of OpenFOAM is shown in Figure 3.1

3.1 File Structure

The basic directory structure for a OpenFOAM case, that contains the minimum set of

files required to run an application, is shown in Figure and described as follows:

Figure 3.2 Case Directory Structure

● A constant directory that contains a full description of the case mesh in a

subdirectory polyMesh and files specifying physical properties for the application

concerned, e.g.transportProperties.

● A system directory for setting parameters associated with the solution procedure itself. It

contains at least the following 3 files: controlDict where run control parameters are set

14
 including start/end time, time step and parameters for data output; fvSchemes where

discretisation schemes used in the solution may be selected at run-time;

and, fvSolution where the equation solvers, tolerances and other algorithm controls are

set for the run.

● The time directories containing individual files of data for particular fields. The data can

be: either, initial values and boundary conditions that the user must specify to define the

problem; or, results written to file by OpenFOAM.

3.2 RUNNING APPLICATION

OpenFOAM is a C++ library used primarily to create executables, known as applications.

OpenFOAM is distributed with a large set of precompiled applications but users also have the

freedom to create their own or modify existing ones. Applications are split into two main

categories:

● Solvers that are each designed to solve a specific problem in computational continuum

mechanics;

● Utilities that perform simple pre-and post-processing tasks, mainly involving data

manipulation and algebraic calculations.

OpenFOAM is divided into a set of precompiled libraries that are dynamically linked during

compilation of the solvers and utilities. Libraries such as those for physical models are supplied

as source code so that users may conveniently add their own models to the libraries.

15
3.3 Mesh Description

The mesh is an integral part of the numerical solution and must satisfy certain criteria to

ensure a valid, and hence accurate, solution. During any run, OpenFOAM checks that the mesh

satisfies a fairly stringent set of validity constraints and will cease running if the constraints are

not fulfilled. The consequence is that a user may experience some frustration in ‘correcting’ a

large mesh generated by third-party mesh generators before OpenFOAM will run using it. This is

unfortunate but we make no apology for OpenFOAM simply adopting good practice to ensure

the mesh is valid; otherwise, the solution is flawed before the run has even begun.

3.3.1 The Polymesh Description

The constant directory contains a full description of the case polyMesh in a

subdirectory polyMesh. The polyMesh description is based around faces and, as already

discussed, internal cells connect 2 cells and boundary faces address a cell and a boundary patch.

Each face is therefore assigned an ‘owner’ cell and ‘neighbor’ cell so that the connectivity across

a given face can simply be described by the owner and neighbor cell labels. In the case of

boundaries, the connected cell is the owner and the neighbor is assigned the label ‘-1’. With this

in mind, the I/O specification consists of the following files:

● Points
a list of vectors describing the cell vertices, where the first vector in the list represents

vertex 0, the second vector represents vertex 1, etc.;

● Faces
a list of faces, each face being a list of indices to vertices in the points list, where again,

the first entry in the list represents face 0, etc.;

16
 ● owner
a list of owner cell labels, the index of entry relating directly to the index of the face, so

that the first entry in the list is the owner label for face 0, the second entry is the owner

label for face 1, etc.; neighbor ,a list of neighbour cell labels;

● boundary
a list of patches, containing a dictionary entry for each patch, declared using the patch

name, e.g.movingWall

{
type patch;
nFaces 20;
startFace 760;
}

3.4 Models and physical properties

OpenFOAM includes a large range of solvers each designed for a specific class of

problem. The equations and algorithms differ from one solver to another so that the selection of a

solver involves the user making some initial choices on the modelling for their particular case.

The choice of solver typically involves scanning through their descriptions to find the one

suitable for the case. It ultimately determines many of the parameters and physical properties

required to define the case but leaves the user with some modelling options that can be specified

at runtime through the entries in dictionary files in the constant directory of a case.

3.4.1 Boundary conditions

Setting appropriate boundary conditions is vital for a successful simulation. Ill-posed

boundary conditions will lead to physically incorrect predictions, and in many cases solver

17
 failure. Users must specify the boundary conditions for each solved field. The tutorials provided

with OpenFOAM show examples of good practice in terms of selection and application for

various cases.

Boundary conditions are organized into categories for easier navigation, comprising:

● Basic
Basic types are
● fixedValue
● fixedGradient
● mixed
● Constraint
● Geometrical constraints

● Symmetry

● Wedge
● Derived
Specialised conditions

● fixedProfile: to specify a profile of a variable

● inletOutlet: outlet condition with handling of reverse flow
● codedFixedValue: fixed value set by user coding

3.5 Solving
Solving involves managing OpenFOAM cases including options to control the time and

output behavior, numerical schemes, solvers, and how to monitor solution progress.

3.5.1 Time and data input/output control

The OpenFOAM solvers begin all runs by setting up a database. The database controls

I/O and, since output of data is usually requested at intervals of time during the run, time is an

inextricable part of the database. The controlDict dictionary sets input parameters essential for

18
the creation of the database. Only the time control and writeInterval entries are truly compulsory,

with the database taking default values indicated for any of the optional entries that are omitted.

3.5.2 Numerical schemes

The fvSchemes dictionary in the system directory sets the numerical schemes for terms,

such as derivatives in equations that appear in applications being run. This section describes how

to specify the schemes in the fvSchemes dictionary.

3.6 Post-processing
OpenFOAM is supplied with a post-processing utility ParaFoam that uses Para View, an

open source visualisation application. ParaFoam is strictly a script that launches Para View, by

default using the reader module supplied with OpenFOAM. The term ParaFoam may thus

sometimes be used synonymously for the OpenFOAM reader module itself.

3.6.1 Overview of ParaView

Figure 3.3 Overview of ParaView

19
 After ParaView is launched and opens, the window shown in Figure 3.3 is displayed. The

case is controlled from the left panel, which contains the following:

● Pipeline Browser
Lists the modules opened in ParaView, where the selected modules are highlighted in blue and

the graphics for the given module can be enabled/disabled by clicking the eye button

alongside;

● Properties panel
Contains the input selections for the case, such as times, regions and fields;

● Display panel
Controls the visual representation of the selected module, e.g. colors

● Information panel
Gives case statistics such as mesh geometry and size.

20
 Chapter 4
Conduction and Sublimation of Camphor
When camphor is subjected to heat flux, heat passes through layers of camphor by

conduction, convection and radiation. When a layer of camphor reaches saturation temperature it

absorbs the heat energy and sublimates, this heat energy absorbed is called sublimation energy.

In this project, we are neglecting heat transfer through convection and radiation.

4.1 Laplacian Foam

Laplacian Foam is a solver in OpenFOAM that solves a simple laplacian equation, e.g. for

thermal diffusion in a solid. Laplacian foam doesn’t consider the heat generation. Where the heat

conduction is given by the following equation:

T
   (T ) (4.11)
t
The above equation is solved in laplacianFoam.C

while (simple.correctNonOrthogonal())
{
fvScalarMatrix TEqn
(
fvm::ddt(T) - fvm::laplacian(DT, T)
==
fvOptions(T)
);

fvOptions.constrain(TEqn);
TEqn.solve();
fvOptions.correct(T);
}

21
The variable DT represents the thermal diffusivity α and it is specified in the constant/transport

properties file.

FoamFile
{
version 2.0;
format ascii;
class dictionary;
location "constant";
object transportProperties;
}
// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * //

DT DT [0 2 -1 0 0 0 0] 4e-05; // thermal diffusivity m^2/s

4.5 LaplacianFoam to SublimationFoam

SublimationFoam will be the modification of laplacianFoam. As we have seen from the

above equations, sublimation term will be added to laplacianFoam. Which is nothing but the rate

of change of density. The equation for the sublimationFoam is solved as

solve
(
fvm::ddt(rho) + drho/sqrt(T)
);

while (simple.correctNonOrthogonal())
{
fvScalarMatrix TEqn
(
fvm::ddt(T) - fvm::laplacian(DT, T)+H*drho/(rho*S*sqrt(T))
==
fvOptions(T)
);
}

22
4.6 Results

The temperature profile at the end of the simulation with boundary conditions as 350k at right

and left sides and 300k at top and the bottom side of the body.

Figure 4.1 Temperature at end of simulation

Density profile at the end of the simulation with the same boundary conditions and we can see

that the density at high temperature is low

Figure 4.2 Density at the End of Simulation

23
 Chapter 5

POROUS MEDIUM

All the test cases in this project are considered for camphor. So, porous medium should

be considered but in OpenFOAM porosity model is not included for all types of flows. So

porosity should be added to the solver best suitable for the project test case flow conditions.

5.2 rhoPorousSimpleFoam

In OpenFOAM-1.5, the use of the porousZones class is exemplified by the

rhoPorousSimpleFoam solver, which is based on the rhoSimpleFoam solver as the name

indicates. It is a steady-state solver for turbulent flow of compressible fluids with implicit or

explicit porosity treatment. The implicit porosity solver is supposed to be more robust and is

needed if the resistances are large, heavily anisotropic or not aligned with the global coordinates.

The rhoPorousSimpleFoam solver consists of the following files:

● rhoPorousSimpleFoam.C
● initConvergenceCheck.H
● convergenceCheck.H
● createFields.H
● UEqn.H
● PEqn.H
In UEqn.H the momentum equation is constructed and the source term, S i , is added by

calling the member function addResistance, taking in different number of input variables

depending on which solver is supposed to be used, explicit or implicit. The member function

addResistance invokes the member functions addViscousInertialResistance and

addPowerLawResistance from the file porousZoneTemplate.C

24
5.3 SonicFoam

SonicFoam is a transient solver for trans-sonic/supersonic, turbulent flow of a

compressible gas. In sonicFoam, a non-iterative method for handling the coupling of implicitly

discretized time dependent fluid flow equations is utilized. The method, known as PISO (for

pressure implicit with splitting of operators), is based on the use of pressure and velocity as

dependent variables and is applicable to both the incompressible and compressible versions of

the transport equations.

The sonicFoam is a solver with all the requirements for the test cases. So, it should be

modified to porous medium by adding the porosity member functions addResistance and

addViscousInertialResistance and further modifying UEqn.H and PEqn.H by adding the source

term. After all the modifications the equations are

UEqn.relax();

tmp<volScalarField> trAU;
tmp<volTensorField> trTU;

pZones.addResistance(UEqn);

fvOptions.constrain(UEqn);

Where volScalarField and volTensorField are redefined according to the porosity Fields

and addResistance function is called for UEqn.

25
 if (pressureImplicitPorosity)
{
tHbyA = constrainHbyA(trTU()&UEqn.H(), U, p);
}
else
{
tHbyA = constrainHbyA(trAU()*UEqn.H(), U, p);
}

As you can see, here volVectorField is now calculated according to the pressureImplicitPorosity,

which varies with the value of nUcorrector.

26
 Chapter 6
AblationFoam

AblationFoam is the final solver for solving ablation. So, all the equations and properties

required for ablation should be considered. SublimationFoam which is explained in chapter-4,

consists of all the heat conduction and sublimation equations, which should be considered and

the sonicFoam which is explained in chapter-5 adds porosity to the transient flow. So, to create

an ablation solver we need to combine both the solvers and along with that we need to add

conservation of energy equations to the solver.

In SublimationFoam, vapour pressure is considered to be constant. But for more precise

calculations Antoine equation is used to solve the vapour pressure for varying temperature.

Antoine equation is given by

B
log10 p  A  (6.1)
C T
Where p is the vapor pressure, T is temperature and A, B and C are

component-specific constants.

Now, the equation for the rate of sublimation is modified. Where ratio term is

added, which is the vapour pressure is calculated for varying temperature and this ratio term is

included into the sublimation term in the laplacian equation. The modified equation is

27
 forAll(ratio,i)
{
coeff=3.30967-1096.29/(T[i]-148.579);
ratio[i]=pow(10,coeff)/534e-5;
}

solve
(
fvm::ddt (rho) + drho*ratio/sqrt(T)
);

The energy carried by the gases released during ablation is neglected because it is

negligible when compared to the energy carried in the solid.

{
Solve
(
fvm::ddt (T) - fvm::laplacian (DT, T)
+ hoS*drho*ratio/(rho*s*sqrt(T))
);
}

28
 Chapter 7
Test Case Simulation
In this project, the case considered for the testing of the ablation code consists of a cube of

dimensions as (100cm x 100cm x 1cm)

Figure 7.1: Test case

The boundary conditions around the cube is given with initial temperature at the top and the

bottom faces are maintained at 300k and the right and the left faces are maintained at 350k.

The other main consideration taken is that the cube is made up of camphor, it is a terpenoid with

the chemical formula C10H16O. It is found in wood of the camphor laurel, a large evergreen tree

found in Asia. It is used for its scent, as an embalming fluid for the medical purposes and in this

project the main reason is for consideration is its sublimation capabilities.

29
Some of the physical properties of camphor at room temperature are given as

Property Value

Density (solid) 990 kg/m3

Heat of Sublimation (H) 244.530 KJ/kg

Heat capacity (solid) 1.86 KJ/kg

Thermal conductivity 4.01 x 10-1 J/m sec K

Normal Boiling Point 477 K

Antoine Parameters A=3.309,B=1096.2,C=-148.5

Table 7.1 Properties of Camphor

30
 Chapter 8
Results
8.1 Temperature
Initial Position of the temperature profile with a plot of temperature along the line parallel
to x axis is shown in the figure 7.1, where we can observe the temperature along the side walls is
at high with a sudden drop as the process of ablation did not take place and the peak temperature
at the side walls is due to initial boundary conditions.

Figure 8.1 Plot of temperature at initial position

Figure 8.2 Plot of temperature at End of simulation

31
8.2 DENSITY
The Density at initial state is uniform all over the body and when the simulation starts the

density changes more along the face with high temperatures. So, the density at right and left

faces is low than the top and bottom faces

Figure 8.3 Density profile at initial position

Figure 8.4 Density at the end of the simulation

32
 FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS

1) To extend the solver, so that it would be capable enough to deal with pyrolysis and other

chemical reactions occurring during ablation.

2) To extend the solver code to include heat convection, radiation and enthalpy carried away

by the diffused gases through porous medium.

3) To develop a solver for conservation of mass, momentum and energy, gaseous species, in

three dimensional porous media.

4) During heat influx, sometimes surface erosion takes place during ablation. To develop a

solver to deal with the erosion would be helpful.

33
 CONCLUSION

SublimationFoam was developed from the LaplacianFoam by adding sublimation energy term to

the Laplacian equation. AblationFoam was developed from the sublimationFoam by modifying

the energy equation and by adding Antoine equation for the calculations of vapor pressure for

varying temperature for accurate results. AblationFoam was used to solve the camphor problem.

Using the AblationFoam solver, temperature and density profiles variation were obtained over

time. and shown in Temperature vs time and density vs time graphs respectively. AblationFoam

solver developed in this study, can be used to solve the Porous media problems more accurately

compared to earlier, when Sublimation energy term was not included.

34
 References

1. Jean Lachaud* and Nagi N. Mansour "A pyrolysis and ablation toolbox based on

OpenFOAM" Sponsored by NASA’s Fundamental Aeronautics Program - Hypersonics

Project (2003)

2. Jean Lachaud Nagi N. Mansou "Porous-material Analysis Toolbox based on OpenFOAM

and Applications" American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

3. Alexandre Martin, Ioana Cozmuta and Bernie Laub* "Ablation Workshop Test Case" 4th

Ablation Workshop,(2011)

4. Cherly YL L. Resch "Ablation Models Of Thermal Protection Material" (1992)

5. Mark E. Ewing,* Travis S. Laker,† and David T. Walker‡ "Numerical Modeling of

Ablation Heat Transfer " ATK Aerospace Group (2017)

6. OpenFOAM User Guide v1712 by OpenCFD in 2016

7. Pavlyukevich, Nikolay V , Polezhaev, Yury V. “ Sublimation” Thermopedia AtoZ Guide

to Thermodynamics in 2016

8. Haukur Elvar Hafsteinsson “Porous Media in OpenFOAM” Chalmers Spring 2009

9. Susumu Miyamoto “A Theory of Rate of Sublimation” by Hiroshima University in 1933

10. A.F. Charwat “Exploratory study on the Sublimation of slender camphor” Memorandum
July 1968

35
 APPENDIX

Code Snippet 1: AblationFoam code which solves all the equations

while (runTime.loop())
{
Info<< "Time = " << runTime.timeName() << nl <<
endl;
double coeff;

forAll(ratio,i)
{
coeff=3.30967-1096.29/(T[i]-148.579);
ratio[i]=pow(10,coeff)/534e-5;
}

solve
(
fvm::ddt(rho) + drho*ratio/sqrt(T)
);

#include "rhoEqn.H"

while (simple.loop())
{
#include "UEqn.H"
#include "EEqn.H"

// --- Pressure corrector loop

while (simple.correct())
{
#include "pEqn.H"
}

rhog = thermo.rho();

runTime.write();
}

36
Code Snippet 2: Pressure equation of AblationFoam

while (simple.correctNonOrthogonal())
{
fvScalarMatrix pEqn
(
fvm::ddt(psi, p)
+ fvm::div(phid, p)
- fvm::laplacian(rhorAUf, p)
==
fvOptions(psi, p, rhog.name())
);

pEqn.solve();

if (simple.finalNonOrthogonalIter())
{
phi = pEqn.flux();
}
}

Code Snippet 3: Momentum equation for AblationFoam

fvVectorMatrix UEqn
(
fvm::ddt(rho, U)
+ fvm::div(phi, U)
==
fvOptions(rho, U)
);

UEqn.relax();

fvOptions.constrain(UEqn);

if (simple.momentumPredictor())
{
solve(UEqn == -fvc::grad(p));

fvOptions.correct(U);
K = 0.5*magSqr(U);
}
Code Snippet 4: Density equations for AblationFoam

37
 fvScalarMatrix rhoEqn
(
fvm::ddt(rhog)
+ fvc::div(phi)
- drho/sqrt(T)
==
fvOptions(rhog)
);

fvOptions.constrain(rhoEqn);

rhoEqn.solve();

fvOptions.correct(rhog);

Code Snippet 5: Energy equation for AblationFoam

solve
(
fvm::ddt(T) - fvm::laplacian(DT,
T)+hoS*drho*ratio/(rho*s*sqrt(T))
);

38