Introduction

Lecture Theme: Part 3.

Transient
The problem definition for all Calculations
CFD simulations includes boundary conditions,
cell zone conditions and material properties. The accuracy of the simulation
results depends on defining these properly.

Learning Aims:
You will learn:
• How to define material properties.
• The different boundary condition types in FLUENT and how to use them.
• How to define cell zone conditions in FLUENT including solid zones and
porous media.
• How to specify well–posed boundary conditions.

Learning Objectives:
You will know how to perform these essential steps in setting up a CFD
analysis.

Introduction Material Properties Cell Zone Conditions Boundary Conditions Summary

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 Introduction
Lecture Theme:
Performing a transient calculation is in some ways similar to performing a
steady state calculation, but there are additional considerations. More
data is generated and extra inputs are required. This lecture will explain
these inputs and describe transient data post–processing.
Learning Aims:
You will learn:
•How to set up and run transient calculations in Fluent.
•How to choose the appropriate time step size for your calculation.
•How to post–process transient data and make animations.

Learning Objectives:
Transient flow calculations are becoming increasingly common due to
advances in High Performance Computing (HPC) and reductions in
hardware costs. You will understand what transient calculations involve
and be able to perform them with confidence.
Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary
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 Motivation
• Nearly all flows in nature are unsteady!
– Steady–state assumption is possible if we:
• Ignore unsteady fluctuations.
• Employ ensemble/time–averaging to remove unsteadiness.
– This is what is done in modeling RANS turbulence.

• In CFD, steady–state methods are preferred.

– Lower computational cost.
– Easier to post–process and analyze.

• Many applications require resolution of unsteady flow:

– Aerodynamics (aircraft, land vehicles, etc.) – vortex shedding.
– Rotating Machinery – rotor/stator interaction, stall, surge.
– Multiphase Flows – free surfaces, bubble dynamics.
– Deforming Domains – in–cylinder combustion, store separation.
– Unsteady Heat Transfer – transient heating and cooling.
– Many more …

Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary

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 Origins of Unsteady Flow
• 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.

Kelvin–Helmholtz Cloud Instability. Rotor–Stator Interaction in an Axial Compressor.

Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary

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 Unsteady CFD Analysis [1]
• Simulate a transient flow field over a specified time period.
– Solution may approach:
• Steady–state solution: Flow variables stop changing with time.
• Time–periodic solution: Flow variables fluctuate with repeating pattern.
– Your goal may also be simply to analyze the flow over a prescribed time interval.
• Free surface flows.
• Moving shock waves.
• …
• Extract quantities of interest.
– Natural frequencies (e.g. Strouhal Number).
– Time–averaged and/or RMS values.
– Time–related parameters (e.g. time required to cool a hot solid, residence time
of a pollutant).
– Spectral data – Fourier Transform (FT).

Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary

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 Unsteady CFD Analysis [2]
Time step size = 2 [s]
• Transient simulations are solved by computing
a solution for many discrete points in time. Initial Time = 0 [s]
Total Time = 20 [s]

• At each time point we must iterate & converge Number of time steps = 10
to the solution.
Residual

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Time (seconds) Several iterations per time step.
Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary
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 Convergence Behavior
• Residual plots for transient simulations are not always indicative of a converged
solution.
• You should select the time step size such that the residuals reduce by around three
orders of magnitude within one time step.
– This will ensure accurate resolution of transient behavior.
– For smaller time steps, residuals may only drop by 1–2 orders of magnitude – look for a
monotonic decrease throughout the time step.
• A residual plot for a simple transient calculation is shown here.

Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary

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 Selecting the Transient Time Step Size [1]
• The time step size is an important parameter in transient simulations.
– t must be small enough to resolve time–dependent features …

True solution. Time step too large to resolve transient changes.

– Note the solution points generally will not lie on the true
solution because the true behaviour has not been resolved.
Variable of
interest.

t
Time

Variable of A smaller time step can

resolve the true solution.
interest. – At least, 10–20 t per period.

t
Time
Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary
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 Selecting the Transient Time Step Size [2]
• … and it must be small enough to maintain solver stability.
– The quantity of interest may be changing very slowly (e.g. temperature in a solid),
but you may not be able to use a large time step if other quantities (e.g. velocity)
have smaller timescales.

• The Courant Number is often used to estimate a time step:

Characteristic flow velocity  t
Courant Number 
Typical Cell Size

– This gives the number of mesh elements the fluid passes through in one time step.
– Typical values are 1÷10, but in some cases higher values are acceptable.

Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary

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 Selecting the Transient Time Step Size [3]
• Tips & Tricks for the estimation of the time step:
1 L
• Usual Case: t  .
3 V
– Restrictive but safe for convergence with L=cell characteristic size, V=characteristic velocity.

1 Number of Blades
• Turbomachinery: t  .
10 Rotational Velocity
L
• Natural Convection: t 
(g.  . T.L)1/2

L2
• Conduction in solids: t 
  
  L = Characteristic length
  .Cp 
V = Characteristic velocity

• A smaller time step will typically improve convergence.

Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary

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 Transient Flow Modeling Workflow
• Similar set–up as steady–state simulation, then:
1. Enable the unsteady solver.
2. Set up physical models and boundary conditions as usual.
• Transient boundary conditions are possible – you can use either a UDF or profile to
accomplish this.
3. Prescribe initial conditions, according to the type of transient flow:
• Time History : Cannot be any guess; must be what is the situation at time t=0 [s].
• Steady–State or Cyclic: Best to use a physically realistic initial condition, such as a
steady solution.
4. Assign solver settings and configure solution monitors.
5. Configure animations and data output/sampling options.
6. Select time step size and max iterations per time step.
7. Prescribe the number of time steps.
8. Run the calculations (Iterate).

Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary

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 Enabling the Transient Solver
• To enable the unsteady solver, select the Transient button on the General
problem setup form.

Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary

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 Set Up Time Step Size
• Set the time step size.
– This controls the spacing in time
between the solution points.

• Options are:
– Number of time steps.
– Maximum number of iterations
per time step.

Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary

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 Non–Iterative Time Advancement
• Non–iterative Time Advancement
(NITA) is available for faster
computation time (not always
guaranteed).

– NITA runs about 2x to 10x as fast as ITA

scheme.

• Limitations: Available with pressure–

based solvers only.
• NITA schemes are not available for
multiphase (except VOF), reacting
flows, radiation models, porous
media, fan models, etc.

• Consult the Appendix and Fluent

Documentation for additional details.

Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary

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 Unsteady Flow Modeling Options
• Adaptive Time Stepping.
– Automatically adjusts time–step size
based on local truncation error analysis.
– Customization possible via UDF.

• Extrapolate Variables.
– Speed up the transient solution by reducing required sub–
iteration.
• Using Taylor series expansion solution will be
extrapolated to the next time level to improve the
predicted initial value.

• Data Sampling for Time Statistics.

– Particularly useful for LES turbulence calculations.

Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary

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 Initialization
• Physically realistic initial conditions should be
used.
– A converged steady state solution is often used as the
starting point (for cyclic or steady–state flows).

• If a transient simulation is started from an

Residuals
approximate initial guess, the initial transient
will not be accurate.
– The first few time steps may not converge.
– A smaller time step may be needed initially to
maintain solver stability.
– For cyclic behavior the first few cycles can be ignored
until a repeatable pattern is obtained.
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Time (seconds)

Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary

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 Tips for Success in Transient Flow Modeling
• With Pressure–based Solvers, use PISO scheme for Pressure–Velocity Coupling:
this scheme provides faster convergence for unsteady flows than the standard
SIMPLE approach.

• Select the number of iterations per time step to be around 20.

– It is better (faster) to reduce the time step size than to do too many iterations per time
step.

• Remember that accurate initial conditions are as important as boundary

conditions for unsteady problems.
– Initial condition should always be physically realistic!

• To iterate without advancing in time, specify zero time steps.

– This will instruct the solver to converge the current time step only.

Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary

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 Unsteady Flow Modeling – Animations [1]
• You must set up any animations BEFORE performing iterations.
– Animation frames are written/stored on–the–fly during calculations.

Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary

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 CFD–Post: Fourier Transform
• FT can be applied to signals to extract frequency
data.

Original Signal.

FT of Signal Showing
Dominant Frequency.

Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary

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 Summary
• No matter what solver is being used.
– The time step size will be determined by the minimum of:
• The value at which the solution will converge.
• The value needed to resolve mean flow physical time scales (e.g. vortex
shedding frequency given by Strouhal number) and/or turbulent eddies
(Courant number 1).
– The solution must converge at every time step.
• Non–convergence within the very first steps may be acceptable when there is
a non–physical initial condition.
• If the solution is not converging, it is almost always more efficient to reduce
the time step size.
– Solution monitors are an important tool for ensuring the solution is correct.
• Watch out for physically unrealistic behavior of monitored variables.
– Second order temporal discretization is almost always preferred.

Introduction Unsteady Flow Time Step Setup Post–Processing Summary

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