1.

INTRODUCTION TO CFD SPRING 2024

1.1 What is computational fluid dynamics?

1.2 Basic principles of CFD
1.3 Stages in a CFD simulation
1.4 Fluid-flow equations
1.5 The main discretisation methods
Appendices
Examples

1.1 What is Computational Fluid Dynamics?

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is the use of computers

and numerical methods to solve problems involving fluid flow.

CFD has been successfully applied in many areas of fluid mechanics. These include
aerodynamics of cars and aircraft, hydrodynamics of ships, flow through pumps and turbines,
combustion and heat transfer, chemical engineering. Applications in civil engineering include
wind loading, vibration of structures, wind and wave energy, ventilation, fire, explosion
hazards, dispersion of pollution, wave loading on coastal and offshore structures, hydraulic
structures such as weirs and spillways, sediment transport. More specialist CFD applications
include ocean currents, weather forecasting, plasma physics, blood flow, biofluidics, heat
transfer around electronic circuitry, metal casting.

These applications involve many different fluid phenomena. In particular, the CFD techniques
used for high-speed aerodynamics (where compressibility is significant, but viscous and
turbulence effects are often unimportant) are very different from those used to solve the
incompressible, turbulent flows typical of mechanical and civil engineering.

Although many elements of this course are widely applicable, the focus will be on simulating
viscous, incompressible flow by the finite-volume method.

CFD 1–1 David Apsley

1.2 Basic Principles of CFD

The approximation of a continuously-varying quantity in terms of values at a finite number of

points is called discretisation.

The following are common to any CFD simulation.

continuous discrete
curve approximation
(1) The flow field is discretised; i.e. field variables
(𝜌, 𝑢, 𝑣, 𝑤, 𝑝, …) are approximated by their
values at a finite number of nodes.

f
(2) The equations of motion are discretised:
2 d𝑓 Δ𝑓 𝑓2 − 𝑓1
derivatives → algebraic approximations ≈ =
(continuous) (discrete) f d𝑥 Δ𝑥 𝑥2 − 𝑥1
1
x
x

(3) The resulting system of algebraic equations is solved to give values at the nodes.

1.3 Stages in a CFD Simulation

The main stages in a CFD simulation are:

Pre-processing:
– formulate problem (geometry, equations, boundary conditions);
– computational mesh (set of control volumes).

Solving:
– discretise the governing equations;
– solve the resulting algebraic equations.

Post-processing:
– analyse (calculate derived quantities: forces, flow rates, ... );
– visualise (graphs and plots).

CFD 1–2 David Apsley

1.4 Fluid-Flow Equations

The equations of fluid flow are based on fundamental physical conservation principles:
• mass: change of mass = 0
• momentum: change of momentum = force × time
• energy: change of energy = work + heat
In fluid flow these are usually expressed as rate equations; i.e. rate of change = …

Additional equations may apply for non-homogeneous fluids (e.g. particle load, dissolved
chemicals, multiple species, …).

These conservation principles may be expressed mathematically as either:

• integral (control-volume) equations;
• differential equations.

1.4.1 Integral (Control-Volume) Approach

This describes how the total amount of a physical quantity (mass, V

momentum, energy, …) changes within a finite region of space
(control volume). Over an interval of time:
CHANGE = (AMOUNT ENTERING – AMOUNT LEAVING) + AMOUNT CREATED
In fluid mechanics this is usually expressed in rate form by dividing by the time interval (and
transferring net transfer through the boundary to the LHS):
TIME DERIVATIVE NET FLUX SOURCE
( ) + ( ) = ( ) (1)
of amount in V through boundary of V inside V

The flux (rate of transport through a surface) is further subdivided into:

advection1 – movement with the flow;
diffusion – net transport by random molecular or turbulent motion.

TIME DERIVATIVE ADVECTION+DIFFUSION SOURCE

( ) + ( ) = ( ) (2)
of amount in V through boundary of V inside V

This is a canonical equation, independent of whether the physical quantity is mass, momentum,
chemical content, etc. Thus, instead of lots of different equations, we can consider the
numerical solution of a generic scalar-transport equation (Section 4).

The finite-volume method is based on approximating control-volume equations.

1
Some authors – but not this one – prefer the term convection to advection.

CFD 1–3 David Apsley

1.4.2 Differential Equations

In regions without shocks, interfaces or other discontinuities, fluid-flow equations can also be
written in differential forms (Section 2). These describe what is going on at a point rather than
over a whole control volume. Mathematically, they can be derived by making the control
volumes infinitesimally small. There are many ways of writing these differential equations.

Finite-difference methods approximate some differential form of the governing equations.

1.5 The Main Discretisation Methods

i,j+1
(i) Finite-Difference Method
i-1,j i,j i+1,j
Discretise differential equations; e.g. for mass:
∂𝑢 ∂𝑣 𝑢𝑖+1,𝑗 − 𝑢𝑖−1,𝑗 𝑣𝑖,𝑗+1 − 𝑣𝑖,𝑗−1 i,j-1
0 = + ≈ +
∂𝑥 ∂𝑦 2Δ𝑥 2Δ𝑦

(ii) Finite-Volume Method

vn
Discretise integral (control-volume) equations; e.g. uw ue
0 = net mass outflow = (𝜌𝑢𝐴)𝑒 − (𝜌𝑢𝐴)𝑤 + (𝜌𝑣𝐴)𝑛 − (𝜌𝑣𝐴)𝑠 vs

(iii) Finite-Element Method

Express the solution as a weighted sum of shape functions 𝑆𝛼 (x); e.g. for velocity:

𝑢(x) = ∑ 𝑢𝛼 𝑆𝛼 (x)

Substitute into one of several forms of the governing equations and solve for the coefficients
(aka degrees of freedom, or weights) 𝑢𝛼 .

The finite-element method is popular in solid mechanics (geotechnics, structures) because:

• it has considerable geometric flexibility;
• general-purpose software can be used for a wide variety of physical problems.

The finite-volume method is popular in fluid mechanics because:

• it rigorously enforces conservation;
• it is flexible in terms of both geometry and fluid phenomena;
• it is directly relatable to physical quantities (mass flux, etc.).

This course will focus on the finite-volume method.

CFD 1–4 David Apsley

In the finite-volume method ...

(1) A flow geometry is defined.

(2) The flow domain is decomposed into a set of control

volumes or cells called a computational mesh or grid.

(3) The control-volume equations are discretised – i.e.

approximated in terms of values at nodes – to form a set of
algebraic equations.

(4) The discretised equations are solved numerically.  b

CFD 1–5 David Apsley

APPENDICES

A1. Notation

Position/time:
x ≡ (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) or (𝑥1 , 𝑥2 , 𝑥3 ) position; (𝑧 usually vertical when gravity is important)
𝑡 time

Field variables:
u ≡ (𝑢, 𝑣, 𝑤) or (𝑢1 , 𝑢2 , 𝑢3 ) velocity
𝑝 pressure
(𝑝– 𝑝atm is gauge pressure; 𝑝∗ = 𝑝 + 𝜌𝑔𝑧 is piezometric pressure)
𝑇 temperature
𝜙 concentration (amount per unit mass or volume)

Fluid properties:
𝜌 density
𝜇 (dynamic) viscosity
(𝜈 ≡ 𝜇/𝜌 is the kinematic viscosity)
Γ diffusivity

A2. Hydrostatics

At rest, pressure forces balance weight. This hydrostatic relation can be written
d𝑝
Δ𝑝 = −𝜌𝑔Δ𝑧 or = −𝜌𝑔 (3)
d𝑧
The same equation also holds in a moving fluid if vertical acceleration is much smaller than 𝑔.

If density is constant, (3) can be written as either

Δ(𝑝 + 𝜌𝑔𝑧) = 0

𝑝∗ ≡ 𝑝 + 𝜌𝑔𝑧 = constant (4)

𝑝∗ is the piezometric pressure. For a constant-density flow without a free surface, gravitational
forces can be eliminated entirely from the equations by working with the piezometric pressure.

A3. Equation of State

In compressible flow, pressure, density and temperature are connected by an equation of state.
The most common is the ideal gas law:
𝑝 = 𝜌𝑅𝑇, 𝑅 = 𝑅0 /𝑚 (5)
where 𝑅0 is the universal gas constant, 𝑚 is the molar mass and 𝑇 is the absolute temperature.
For ideal gases, temperature is related to internal energy 𝑒 or enthalpy ℎ (per unit mass) by
𝑒 = 𝑐𝑣 𝑇, ℎ = 𝑐𝑝 𝑇 (6)
𝑐𝑣 and 𝑐𝑝 are specific heat capacities at constant volume and constant pressure respectively.

CFD 1–6 David Apsley

Examples

The following simple examples develop the control-volume notation to be used in the rest of
the course.

Q1.
Water (density 1000 kg m–3) flows at 2 m s–1 45
o

10 cm
2 m/s
through a circular pipe of diameter 10 cm. What S1 S2
is the mass flux C across the surfaces 𝑆1 and 𝑆2 ?

D = 10 cm Q2.
A water jet strikes normal to a fixed plate as shown.
F Compute the force 𝐹 required to hold the plate fixed.
u = 8 m/s

Q3.
An explosion releases 2 kg of a toxic gas into a room of dimensions 30 m  8 m  5 m.
Assuming the room air to be well-mixed and to be vented at a speed of 0.5 m s–1 through an
aperture of 6 m2, calculate:
(a) the initial concentration of gas in ppm by mass;
(b) the time taken to reach a safe concentration of 1 ppm.
(Take the density of air as 1.2 kg m–3.)

Q4.
A burst pipe at a factory causes a chemical to seep into a river at a rate of 2.5 kg hr–1. The river
is 5 m wide, 2 m deep and flows at 0.3 m s–1. What is the average concentration of the chemical
(in kg m–3) downstream of the spill?

CFD 1–7 David Apsley