Force of Jet Simulation ME 323-Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Dr.

Ghamari

ME 323: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory

Simulation Assignment 02: Force of Jet
The objective of this exercise is to introduce the basics of modeling multiphase flow. In this
exercise, we will used Ansys Fluent to simulate a jet of water impinging on a circular flat plate and
transferring momentum to it. From conservation of momentum we know that the amount of force
applied to a plate by a jet striking normal to it is equal to

𝐹$%&'. = 𝑚̇ 𝑢
where 𝑚̇ is the mass flow rate and u is fluid velocity. In Fluid Mechanics Lab, we measured the
amount of this force too (let’s call it Fexp.). In this exercise, we will determine this force using
computational fluid dynamics and will call it Fcomp..

Getting Started
- Open ANSYS Workbench 2020 R1 (you may have a newer or older version on your computer).
- Select Fluid Flow (Fluent) from the toolbox on the left and drag it into the area labeled as
“Project Schematic”.
- Right-click on Geometry and then click Properties to open a menu to the right titled
“Properties of Schematic A2: Geometry”. Under “Advanced Geometry Options”, select Analysis
Type: 2D.
- Go to File > Save to save your project on your computer.
By default, your analysis is named “Fluid Flow (Fluent)”. Feel free to double-click on it and change
the name to something more meaningful.

Creating the Geometry

The geometry we would like to build and the proposed computational domain are shown in Figure
1.

Axis of Symmetry
Circular Plate

75 mm

Computational
Domain 35 mm

10 mm

Nozzle

Figure 1. Schematic of geometry and the proposed computational domain.

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Force of Jet Simulation ME 323-Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Dr. Ghamari

This geometry is axisymmetric; hence we will only build a 2D model of its half cross-section as
shown by the computational domain in Figure 1. The computational domain is basically a rectangle
with the dimension of 35 mm along the axis and 37.5 mm normal to the axis (parallel to the plate).
- Double-click Geometry to open SpaceClaim software.
- Go to File > SpaceClaim Options > Units and make sure Metric system is selected for
dimension and lengths will be created in Millimeter.

- Click Select New Sketch Plane and then click on XY plane.

- Click Plane View to change your view to normal to XY plane.

- Create a rectangle as shown by arrow 1 in Figure 2. You can use the “tab” key on your keyboard
to toggle between the dimensions and enter the desired length. Note the 90-degree clockwise
rotation of computational domain, shown in Figure 1. This is required in order to align axis of
rotation (the 35-mm side) with x-axis.

Figure 2. Drawing rectangle in SpaceClaim

- Click 3D Mode to create a surface from your sketch as shown by arrow 2 in Figure 2.
The left edge of the rectangle is still one piece and we must split it into two pieces, a lower 5-mm
(nozzle exit) and an upper 32.5 mm. To do so:

- Select the left edge of the rectangle and then click Split. Your mouse will change to a “hand saw”
that you can hover over the selected edge and cut it into desired length. Split the edge from 5
mm above the x-axis, as shown in Figure 3.
- Save your design and close SpaceClaim.

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Force of Jet Simulation ME 323-Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Dr. Ghamari

Figure 3. Splitting left edge into 2 pieces

Generating Mesh
- Back in the Workbench, double-click Mesh to open the Meshing software.

- Click Generate Mesh to let the software create the mesh using its default setting. You will
see that the default mesh is very coarse and will not reveal much information in the flow field.
- Make sure Metric (mm, kg, N, s, mV, mA) is selected in Unit menu located in the Status Bar.
- Go to the Outline pane on the left and right-click Mesh > Insert > Sizing.
- Click anywhere on the surface geometry to activate it and then click Apply.
- Change the Element Size to 0.5 mm and click Generate. You will need to click Mesh on the
Outline pane to see the new mesh. Figure 4 displays the refined mesh.

Figure 4. Generated mesh with 0.5-mm element size

- Right-click on each of the 5 edges to Create Named Selection as show in Figure 5.

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Force of Jet Simulation ME 323-Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Dr. Ghamari

- Select File > Save Project and exit the Meshing window.

Figure 5. Named Selections

- Back in the Workbench window, you will see a “lightning bolt” icon next to the Mesh. This
means that the mesh needs to be updated in the project globally, so click Update Project in the
top panel or Right-Click on Mesh > Update Project.

Setting Up the Flow Solver

- In Workbench, double-click Setup to open Fluent Launcher window. The Dimension should
be preselected as 2D since we had set already that before creating the geometry. Select the
Double Precision option to improve the precision of calculations and then click OK.
- Under Setup > General pane
o Select Axisymmetric in Solver options.
o Check Gravity and enter -9.8 in front of X (m/s2). Gravity in y-direction must be left 0.
o It may also be convenient to change the Length Unit by selecting Scale… and switching
units to mm. Note that changing units will not affect your calculation and is just a matter
of preference.
- Under Setup > Materials pane,
o Click Fluid in the Materials pane to open “Create/Edit Materials” dialogue box. Click
Fluent Database to open “Fluent Database Materials” window. Make sure that Fluid is
selected in Material Type. Scroll down in Fluent Fluid Materials and select water-liquid
(h2o<l>). Click Copy and close this window. Take a note of water density and viscosity on
a piece of paper as you may need them later.
- Under Setup > Models pane,
o Double-click Viscous and select Laminar. You will be asked at the end of this assignment
to verify this assumption.
o Double-click Multiphase and select Volume of Fluid. Then select Implicit Formulation
under Volume Fraction Parameters and check Implicit Body Force under Body Force
Formulation.
o Go to Phase tab and take note of “Phase Material” for both Primary and Secondary Phase,
as shown in Figure 6.

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Force of Jet Simulation ME 323-Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Dr. Ghamari

Figure 6. Primary and Secondary phase materials

- Under Setup > Boundary Conditions pane, you should see the 5 Named Selection you created
in Meshing software as well as interior zone. You may need to change the Type of each
boundary condition to meet the following conditions:
o axis: axis
o inlet: velocity-inlet. Use Magnitude, Normal to Boundary for Velocity Specification
Method and enter 4.4139 as Velocity Magnitude (m/s). This is a sample velocity that
produces volumetric flow rate of 20.8 L/min. You can enter any velocity corresponding to
one of your experimental cases. Remember that you did force measurement at several
flow rates and will be required to run this simulation for 5 cases (minimum flow rate,
maximum flow rate, and another three flow rates between them). Here is the velocity
calculation:
∀̇ ∀̇ 20.8𝐿/𝑚𝑖𝑛 × 10?@ 𝑚 @ /𝐿
∀̇= 𝑉𝐴 → 𝑉 = = = = 4.4139 𝑚/𝑠
𝐴 𝜋𝑅7 𝜋(0.005𝑚 )7 (60𝑠/𝑚𝑖𝑛)
Also, make sure the volume fraction of water (phase 2 in this simulation) is 1 as shown in
Figure 7. Since it is a 2-phase flow, volume fraction of phase 1 will be calculated as:
(𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛)M%NO& P = 1 − (𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛)M%NO& 7

Figure 7. Setting Volume Fraction at inlet boundary condition

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Force of Jet Simulation ME 323-Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Dr. Ghamari

o outlet: pressure-outlet. This is the 32.5-mm side next to the water inlet with a pressure
equal to outside pressure. Since there is no water coming in or going out of this side, for
phase-2 Volume Fraction Specification Method should be selected as Backflow
Volume Fraction, and its value should be entered as 0.
o side-outlet: pressure-outlet. This is the side of computational domain from which water
leaves after striking the plate. However, since neither of air or water volume fraction at
this boundary is known, From Neighboring Cell should be selected for phase-2 Volume
Fraction Specification Method (see Figure 8).

Figure 8. Setting Volume Fraction at pressure-outlet boundary condition

o wall: wall.
o Click on Operating Conditions… and enter 101325 for “Operating Pressure (pascal)” at a
reference location with X = 0 mm and Y = 37.5 mm (You can enter the coordinates of any
point within computational domain that has a pressure equal to the set Operating
Pressure.)
- Under Solution > Methods, select PISO as “Pressure-Velocity Coupling Scheme”. See Figure 9
for other parameters.

Figure 9. Solution Methods

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Force of Jet Simulation ME 323-Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Dr. Ghamari

- Under Solution > Controls, change Under-Relaxation Factor for Momentum equation to 0.1.
Keep other factors unchanged (pressure: 0.3; Density: 1; Body Forces: 1; Volume Fraction: 0.5).
- Under Solution > Monitors > Residuals, change the Absolute Criteria for all Equations
Residuals to 1e-06.
- Under Solution > Initialization, select Standard Initialization for “Initialization Method” and
inlet from the drop-down menu under “Compute from”. click Initialize to set the initial values
to all computational nodes.
- Under Solution > Calculation Activities > Run Calculation, enter 10,000 as Number of
Iterations and click Calculate, and wait until you see the “Calculation complete” Message.
This specific case should reach convergence at around 6,200 iterations. In case the simulation
did not lead to a converged solution within the preset umber of iteration, we should continue
the calculation.

Viewing and Plotting the Results

Go to Results > Graphics and check result such as velocity and pressure distribution. The
stagnation point is clearly visible in the velocity contour (can you detect it?). You can also look at
the jet of water and its deflection upon striking the flat plate by displaying contour of phase-2
Volume Fraction. This contour is shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10. Contour of water volume fraction

Finally, you can determine the force exerted on flat plate. Go to Results > Reports > Forces and set
Direction Vector to (1 , 0) to compute forces in X-direction (normal to plate). Click Print to see a
report of all forces (pressure and viscous).

Forces - Direction Vector (1 0 0)

Forces (n) Coefficients
Zone Pressure Viscous Total Pressure Viscous Total
Wall 1.4603262 0.001839058 1.4621653 2.3842061 0.0030025437 2.3872086


The number highlighted in yellow is Fcomp. and you can compare it with Ftheo. and Fexp...

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Force of Jet Simulation ME 323-Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Dr. Ghamari

Running More Simulations

You are required to run your simulation for 5 different flow rates selected from your experimental
work: ∀̇STU , ∀̇SNV , and another three ∀̇ between ∀̇STU and ∀̇SNV . Make sure to choose the three
middle flow rates such that they are as evenly as possible distributed between the minimum and
maximum flow rates. To prepare each simulation:
- In Workbench and from your current Fluid Flow case, right-click Setup and select Duplicate.
- Double-click Setup to open Fluent.
- Setup > Boundary Conditions: Change the velocity in inlet Boundary Condition.
- Solution > Initialization: Initialize
- Solution > Calculation Activities > Run Calculation: Calculate

Questions
You are expected to run simulations for 5 measurements you performed in Fluid Mechanics lab (5
simulations in total). Answer the following questions once you are done with all of the simulations.
1- Determine Fcomp. for each flow rate and summarize them in the following table:

Case ∀̇ (𝐿/ min 𝑜𝑟 𝑚 @ /𝑠) 𝐹Z'SM . (𝑁)
1
2
3
4
5

2- Plot 𝐹Z'SM ., 𝐹$%&' ., and 𝐹&VM . as a function of volumetric flow rate on the same diagram.
3- Perform error analysis between all three forces and discuss the source(s) of error or any
deviation observed between them.
4- By calculating maximum Reynolds number on the plate verify whether considering laminar
flow was a correct assumption. To do so, determine Reynolds number at the edge of the
plate where velocity becomes maximum.
You report must be typed and include the following sections: Abstract, Introduction (summary of
problem), Method (assumptions, summary of different cases, boundary conditions etc.), and Result.
Feel free to include figures (contours, vectors, etc.) to support your result. At the end, you have to
answer all of the above questions in a neat and concise summary, supported by the requested data
and diagrams.