For laminar and low-Reynolds turbulence model, the temperature of the fluid and the solid

at the wall corresponds to the same degree of freedom so they are updated
simultaneously which makes the temperature profile continuous.
For turbulence model with wall functions the fluid temperature close to the wall is modeled
and we use a degree of freedom to compute the fluid temperature close to the wall (but
not at the wall). Hence in this case, on boundaries at the interface between a fluid and a
solid, the fluid and solid temperatures differ and correspond to different degrees of
freedom. The heat transfer between them is determine by the wall function. It is evaluated
at every solver iteration so that the temperature at the interface follows the wall function
model at every time step.

The nonisothermal flow node couples the heat and the flow interfaces and provides
options to account for viscous dissipation and pressure work. It is possible to define these
couplings manually but using the predefined coupling is simpler. In addition the
nonisothermal flow node tunes the stabilization of the flow and the heat interfaces for the
coupling. Finally, it defines the thermal wall functions when wall functions are used by the
turbulent flow model.

COMSOL imposes temperature continuity at the fluid-structure boundary in a conjugate

heat transfer problem. There is no need for a different thermal boundary condition there.
That boundary condition accounts directly for heat loss from the solid through conduction
and the fluid flow that results accounts for convection.

The turbulent flow near a flat wall can be divided into four regions. At the wall, the
fluid velocity is zero, and in a thin layer above this, the flow velocity is linear with
distance from the wall. This region is called the viscous sublayer, or laminar
sublayer. Further away from the wall is a region called the buffer layer. In the buffer
region, turbulence stresses begin to dominate over viscous stresses and it
eventually connects to a region where the flow is fully turbulent and the average
flow velocity is related to the log of the distance to the wall. This is known as
the log-law region. Even further away from the wall, the flow transitions to the free-
stream region. The viscous and buffer layers are very thin and if the distance to the
end of the buffer layer is , then the log-law region will extend about away
from the wall.
It is possible to use a RANS model to compute the flow field in all four of these
regions. However, since the thickness of the buffer layer is so small, it can be
advantageous to use an approximation in this region. Wall functions ignore the
flow field in the buffer region and analytically compute a nonzero fluid velocity at
the wall. By using a wall function formulation, you assume an analytic solution for
the flow in the viscous layer and the resultant models will have significantly lower
computational requirements. This is a very useful approach for many practical
engineering applications.

If you need a level of accuracy beyond what the wall function formulations provide,
then you will want to consider a turbulence model that solves the entire flow
regime as described for the low Reynolds number models above. For example, you
may want to compute lift and drag on an object or compute the heat transfer
between the fluid and the wall.

Automatic Wall Treatment

The automatic wall treatment functionality, which is new in COMSOL Multiphysics
version 5.3, combines benefits from both wall functions and low Reynolds number
models. Automatic wall treatment adapts the formulation to the mesh available in
the model so that you get both robustness and accuracy. For instance, for a coarse
boundary layer mesh, the feature will utilize a robust wall function formulation.
However, for a dense boundary layer mesh, the automatic wall treatment will use a
low Reynolds number formulation to resolve the velocity profile completely to the
wall.
Going from a low Reynolds number formulation to a wall function formulation is a
smooth transition. The software blends the two formulations in the boundary
elements. Then, the software calculates the wall distance of the boundary elements’
grid points (this is in viscous units given by a liftoff). The combined formulations are
then used for the boundary conditions.
All turbulence models in COMSOL Multiphysics, except the k-ε model, support
automatic wall treatment. This means that the low Reynolds number models can be
used for industrial applications and that their low Reynolds number modeling
capability is only invoked when the mesh is fine enough.

Wall-bounded turbulent flows display extreme gradient close to the walls. The most
accurate way to treat these gradients is to resolve them using a low Reynolds
number model, which is computationally expensive. Industrial applications use wall
functions, which model the flow closest to the wall rather than resolving it. Wall
functions are robust and efficient, but not particularly accurate. New automatic wall
treatment functionality in the COMSOL® software combines the benefits of wall
functions and the low Reynolds number model.

How Automatic Wall Treatment Works

The new automatic wall treatment functionality in COMSOL Multiphysics version 5.3
combines the robustness of wall functions with the accuracy of low Reynolds
number models by adapting the formulation to the mesh available in the model. If
the boundary layer mesh is coarse, a robust wall function formulation is used. If the
boundary layer mesh is dense, a low Reynolds number formulation is used, which
resolves the velocity profile all the way to the wall.
The transition between the low Reynolds number formulation and the wall function
formulation is smooth and is done by blending the two formulations in the
boundary elements. By calculating the wall distance of the boundary elements’ grid
points in viscous units given by a liftoff, the combination of the two formulations is
used for the boundary conditions.
The figure below exemplifies the transition between the low Reynolds number
formulation and the logarithmic wall functions for the low Re k-ε turbulence model.
The wall distance in viscous units, y+, is plotted against the turbulence dissipation
rate, ε. The green curve represents the low Re formulation of ε, the blue curve is the
wall function representation, while the red curve is the Wolfshtein model that is
used for the automatic wall treatment. Observe the smooth transition obtained with
the Wolfshtein model (red) for y+ values ranging from 1 to 20; i.e., in the buffer
layer.
Low Re formulation (green), wall functions (blue), and automatic wall treatment (red).
In order to verify the definition of a model, we can investigate how the walls are
treated by plotting the y+ variable at the boundaries, as shown in the figure below.
For this pipe elbow benchmark model, we can see that the low Reynolds number
formulation dominates at the inner curved surface of the bend, while at the straight
sections of the pipe, the wall function formulation dominates.
The deep red regions have a value of y+, or around 20, while the blue regions are at
around 1.

Addressing a Wide Range of Problems with

Automatic Wall Treatment
The functionality for automatic wall treatment allows the use of low Reynolds
number models for a wider range of problems. Examples are coupled problems
where certain surfaces are subjected to flux of heat, chemical reactions, or fluid-
structure interactions. Instead of having to use a dense mesh on all surfaces, which
could be very computationally expensive, we can apply a dense mesh only on the
relevant surfaces where we need to accurately resolve the boundary layer.
The figure below shows the boundary layer mesh for the solar panel model in the
Application Library. We can see that the mesh on the surface of the panels is dense
with tight boundary elements. On these surfaces, we need the forces exerted by the
fluid on the structure with high accuracy in order to compute the stresses and
strains as well as the displacements. The concrete base is not influenced by the
forces of the wind and the forces on these surfaces do not require the same
accuracy. The automatic wall treatment functionality allows for the solution of this
problem by just clicking the Compute button, while a conventional low Reynolds
number model would require a dense boundary layer mesh on all boundaries in
order to converge.
In this fluid-structure interaction tutorial of a solar panel, we can use a coarse
boundary layer mesh for the ground and the concrete foundation and a fine mesh on
the surface of the panels, where the forces need to be calculated with accuracy.

Simplified Model Development

The new functionality is also of great use in model development. In order to iron
out the proper assumptions and boundary conditions, we may need quick results
 on a coarse mesh as a first step. Once we have verified our model formulation, we
can refine the mesh in order to obtain more accurate results. The automatic wall
treatment functionality allows for this type of model development with a minimum
number of obstacles and operations: the “only” thing we need to do is to refine the
mesh.
The robustness that this new functionality provides also simplifies the use of low
Reynolds number turbulence models in general. A common procedure is to solve
the model equations using wall functions with high Reynolds number models and
then use this solution as the starting guess in the low Reynolds number models.
The adaptive wall treatment reduces this procedure to the sequential solution of
the model equations for a coarse and fine mesh; i.e., it eliminates the need for the
formulation and solution of a high Reynolds number model as a first step.

Heat Transfer by Solids and Fluids

Heat Transfer in a Solid

In most cases, heat transfer in solids, if only due to conduction, is described by
Fourier’s law defining the conductive heat flux, q, proportional to the temperature
gradient: .
For a time-dependent problem, the temperature field in an immobile solid verifies
the following form of the heat equation:

Heat Transfer in a Fluid

Due to the fluid motion, three contributions to the heat equation are included:

1. The transport of fluid implies energy transport too, which appears in the heat equation as
the convective contribution. Depending on the thermal properties on the fluid and on the
flow regime, either the convective or the conductive heat transfer can dominate.
2. The viscous effects of the fluid flow produce fluid heating. This term is often neglected,
nevertheless, its contribution is noticeable for fast flow in viscous fluids.
3. As soon as a fluid density is temperature-dependent, a pressure work term contributes to
the heat equation. This accounts for the well-known effect that, for example, compressing
air produces heat.

Accounting for these contributions, in addition to conduction, results in the

following transient heat equation for the temperature field in a fluid: