Transient Simulations
Introduction to CFX
8-1
Transient Simulations
Motivation
Training Manual
8-2
Transient Simulations
Training Manual
Natural unsteadiness
Unsteady flow due to growth of instabilities within the fluid or a non-equilibrium
initial fluid state
Examples: natural convection flows, turbulent eddies of all scales, fluid waves
(gravity waves, shock waves)
Forced unsteadiness
Time-dependent boundary conditions, source terms drive the unsteady flow field
Examples: pulsing flow in a nozzle, rotor-stator interaction in a turbine stage
Transient Simulations
Training Manual
Your goal may also be simply to analyze the flow over a prescribed time
interval.
Free surface flows
Moving shock waves
Etc.
8-4
Transient Simulations
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Timestep = 2 s
Initial Time = 0 s
Total Time = 20 s
Coefficient Loops = 5
5 coefficient
Loops
Time (seconds)
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.
Training Manual
8-5
Transient Simulations
Training Manual
8-6
Transient Simulations
1. Analysis Type
Training Manual
Edit Analysis Type in the Outline tree and set the option to Transient
8-7
Transient Simulations
Training Manual
Options are:
Total Time
When restarting this time carriers over
8-8
Transient Simulations
Training Manual
Options are:
Timesteps / Timesteps for the Run
Adaptive
Timestep size will change dynamically within
specified limits depending on specified
convergence criteria or Courant number
8-9
Transient Simulations
Training Manual
True solution
Variable of
interest
t
Time
A smaller time step can
resolve the true solution
Variable of
interest
t
Time
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.
8-10
Transient Simulations
Training Manual
Velocity t
Courant Number
Element Size
This gives the number of mesh elements the fluid passes through in one
timestep
Typical values are 2 10, but in some cases higher values are acceptable
The average and maximum Courant number is reported in the Solver out
file each timestep
8-11
Transient Simulations
3. Boundary Conditions
Training Manual
8-12
Transient Simulations
4. Initialization
Training Manual
8-13
Residuals
4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Time (seconds)
Transient Simulations
5. Solver Control
Training Manual
8-14
Transient Simulations
5. Solver Control
Training Manual
8-15
Transient Simulations
6. Output Control
Training Manual
Transient Results
By default only a final res file is written
No information about the transient solution
Smallest
Writes the smallest file which can still be
used for a restart (still quiet large)
Selected Variables
Pick only the variables of interest to give
smaller files
Output Frequency
Controls how often results are written
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.
8-16
Transient Simulations
6. Output Control
Training Manual
Transient Statistics
Used to generate running statistics for
solution variables
8-17
Transient Simulations
6. Output Control
Training Manual
8-18
Transient Simulations
7. Solver Output
Training Manual
8-19