Acoustics and Turbulence:

Aerodynamics Applications of STAR-

CCM+

Milovan Peri!
Use of STAR-CCM+ for aerodynamics applications
Which turbulence model for which application?
Simulation of acoustics phenomena with STAR-CCM+
Best-practice guidelines
Examples of application
Future developments
Introduction
This presentation is based on reports prepared by CD-adapco experts
for Vehicle Aerodynamics (Fred Ross), Defence and Aerospace
(Deryl Snyder) and Acoustics (Fred Mendonca).
Vehicle aerodynamics (cars, trucks, sport vehicles)
Train aerodynamics
Aerodynamics of aircraft and rotorcraft
Military applications (airplanes, missiles)
Flow around buildings etc.
Main aims of simulation:
Predict mean forces and moments (optimize geometry)
Predict unsteady loads (reduce vibrations)
Predict turbulence structure (minimize noise)
Use of STAR-CCM+ for Aerodynamics
STAR-CCM+ offers many turbulence models (eddy-viscosity
type, Reynolds-stress, transition, LES/DES)
CD-adapco collaborates with experts in academia to further
develop turbulence models
Optimal model choice depends on flow under consideration
and the aim of simulation
Eddy-viscosity type models are usually suitable to predict
mean forces and moments
Reynolds-stress model predicts better flows with swirling
and turbulence-driven secondary flows
LES/DES type models are capable of predicting all flow
details (including acoustics), but are more costly
Which Turbulence Model?
Coupled and segregated solver in STAR-CCM+ differ in
discretization (results not the same)
Coupled solver is recommended for steady-state flows
exhibiting strong coupling between variables (compressi-
bility, buoyancy).
For transient flows, segregated solver is usually more
efficient
It is also more accurate when computing propagation of
acoustic waves
Double precision is sometimes important for acoustics
computations
Which Solver Type?
Steady-state computations often do not fully converge
The reason is usually inherent local flow unsteadiness
Fine grids resolving details of geometry and 2
nd
-order
discretization capture the flow instability
Averaging intermediate solutions over a range of iterations
is unreliable (especially if residuals are high).
Recommended approach:
Switch to transient segregated solver;
Select time step to resolve the fluctuations of interest;
Average the result over few periods of oscillation
Which Set-Up?
Overview of acoustics tools in STAR-CCM+
Acoustics in STAR-CCM+, I
AeroacousticsSimulationOptions
Steadystate Transient
Broadband
Correlations
Synthesized
FluctuationsSNGR
CURLEsurface
PROUDMANvolume
GOLDSTEIN2D-axi
LEE
Lilley
MeshFrequencyCut-off
LES
DES
TransientRANS
Point/SurfaceFFTsandiFFTs
AutoandCrossSpectracoherenceandphase
FW-H
Exporttopropagationcodes
Exportto
Propagationcodes
DirectNoisePropagation
1D(and2D)Wavenumberanalysis
Essential features for transient analysis in STAR-CCM+:
Suitable turbulence models (LES, DES)
Non-reflecting boundary conditions (inlet, outlet, far field)
Accurate computation of compressible flow at low Mach no.
Reliable estimate of cut-off frequency on given mesh (a guide
for mesh resolution)
Spectral analysis:
FFT at points and surfaces
Auto- and cross-spectra
Frequency and wavenumber Fourier analysis
Acoustics in STAR-CCM+, II
Validation: Generic side view mirror (Daimler; Univ. of Southampton)
Acoustic Sources From DES, I
Volume shape used to control
grid refinement in the wake of
mirror for a DES-study
Validation: Generic side view mirror, grid at bottom plate
Acoustic Sources From DES, II
Validation: Generic side view mirror, grid in symmetry plane (2 mm
resolution in the near-mirror zone)
Acoustic Sources From DES, III
Validation: Generic side view mirror, flow visualization
Acoustic Sources From DES, IV
Wavenumber Analysis
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1D wavenumber-frequency diagram:
- Separated wake region (upper)
- Attached wake region (lower)
2D wavenumber analysis Power Spectral
Density (PSD) in wavenumber space:
- Advection ridge (left)
- Acoustic circle (right)
Under-relaxation in segregated solver can be interpreted as
marching in a pseudo-time (one iteration per step)
For Implicit Euler time integration, the relation is:



A constant under-relaxation factor corresponds to a variable
time step and vice versa
Sometimes one can obtain steady-state solution easier by
marching in physical time (using transient method and 1-2
iterations per time step) than in steady mode
Time Step and Under-Relaxation, I
When solving transient problems with sufficiently small time
steps, under-relaxation is not needed
For typical aero-acoustic studies using segregated solver,
the recommended under-relaxation settings are:
For all transport equations (velocities, temperature and other
scalar equations): 1.0
For the pressure-correction equation: 0.5 to 1.0 (smaller
values for highly non-orthogonal grids).
The recommended number of iterations per time step is 2 to
4 (depending on time-step size and grid quality).
Time Step and Under-Relaxation, II
The reduction of residuals is not a suitable measure for
convergence of iterations within time step
For small enough time steps, iterations are not necessary (explicit
methods)
One can verify by numerical experiments how many iterations are
needed
Number of Iterations per Time Step
10 It/dt
2 It/dt
Propagation of an acoustic wave (20 cells per wavelength,
20 time steps per period)
Steady-state RANS computations provide results suitable for
optimization studies:
Mean forces and moments
Effects of shape change
Parametric studies (speed, angle etc.)
Best practice developed for different vehicle types (F1,
commercial cars, trucks, motocycles):
Grid design (refinement zones, cell size distribution, prism
layer parameters)
Turbulence model
Solver setup
Vehicle Aerodynamics: Steady RANS, I
Personal recommendation for fine grids:
Design the finest grid according to requirements and available
resources, using Base Size as the parameter.
Increase the base size by a factor of 8 and generate the coarse
grid first; start computation on this grid using default set-up
parameters (under-relaxation, CFL-number) and a reasonable
limit on the number of iterations.
Then reduce the base size by a factor of 2, generate finer grid
and continue computation (the solution will be automatically
mapped to the new grid), but increase under-relaxation or CFL-
number.
Repeat until the base size of the original fine grid is reached.
Vehicle Aerodynamics: Steady RANS, II
Computation on a series of grids requires substantially less
computing time (2-4 times less) and provides a set of
solutions on different grids, allowing error estimate
Instead of a factor of 2, one can use any fixed number
between 1.5 and 2.
For a second-order method, the error on the finest grid can
be estimated as

If the base size ratio between coarser and finer grid is not 2,
the actual ratio should be used instead of 2.
Vehicle Aerodynamics: Steady RANS, III
Vehicle Aerodynamics: Steady RANS, IV
Example: Flow around a 3D wing attached to a wall
4 grid levels, base size ratio 2
Finest grid 460000 polyhedral cells
Section parallel to wall
Section normal
to wall
Wall
Vehicle Aerodynamics: Steady RANS, V
Example: Flow around a 3D wind attached to a wall
Segregated solver Coupled solver
Vehicle Aerodynamics: Steady RANS, VI
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15
Exp
STAR-
CCM+
Effect of yaw angle on
drag of a truck
Effect of underbody
geometry on drag of
a car
DES-analysis provides:
Insight into flow features and unsteady phenomena (separation,
vortex shedding, pulsation)
Noise sources
DES is the most accurate approach, but too costly for parametric
studies
Vehicle Aerodynamics: DES, I
Vehicle Aerodynamics: DES, II
DES of flow around a truck: details of flow structure in one vertical
and one horizontal section (vorticity)
Comparison with experiment is often difficult
Boundary conditions need to be matched for a fair comparison
Vehicle Aerodynamics: DES, III
Wind tunnel
effects
University of Washington wind tunnel
test configuration
Excellent agreement between
simulation and experiment for all flap
configurations
F16 Validation Study
Mach 0.2, transition model, 34 million poly-cells, 25 prism layers
AIAA HiLiftWS1-Configuration, I
Comparison of measured and predicted lift
AIAA HiLiftWS1-Configuration, II
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Workshop conclusions:
Modeling laminar-turbulent transition is important - simple RANS
models do not produce good enough results
Local grid refinement at wing tip is important - otherwise tip vortex is
not well captured
AIAA HiLiftWS1-Configuration, II
Transition AoA=13
AoA=21
Hub drag is 30% of the total
Need good resolution of geometry details CAD to mesh in
a day for each of two geometries
Need transient simulation to account for rotation
Rotorcraft Hub Drag, I
Sikorsky UH-60A Hub Sikorsky S-92A Hub
Surface-wrapper provides high geometric fidelity
Rotorcraft Hub Drag, II
Trimmed grid with prism layers and a sliding interface, ca.
15 million cells
Rotorcraft Hub Drag, III
DES, time step 5 (too large for acoustics, but enough for
forces).
Rotorcraft Hub Drag, IV
Pressure
Velocity Magnitude
UH-60A S-92A
UH-60A S-92A
Studied were variations in drag
with adding complexity
Results good for optimization
purposes
Rotorcraft Hub Drag, V
S-92A
UH-60A
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May1-3,2012.
Simulation of store separation using overset grids a validation
study
Store Separation, I
Good agreement between simulation and experiment
Store Separation, II
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Real application
Store Separation, III
Acoustics Application, Vehicles
Surface FFT (dB) at 500Hz
(top) and 1000Hz (bottom)
Acoustics Application, Airplanes
Noise generation during landing by:
- Wings
- Landing gear
Pressure fluctuation around airfoil Velocity variation around landing gear
Numerics:
Higher-order discretization
Automatic adaptive mesh refinement
Turbulence:
Improvements to RANS-models (curvature correction, law of
the wall)
Improvements to DES-model (transition from RANS to LES)
Vibro-acoustics:
Wavenumber analysis
Coupling of flow and structure
Possibly solving special set of equations for noise propagation
Future Developments