www.mbr-network.

eu

AnOverviewof
ComputationalFluid
Dynamics
JoelDucoste
AssociateProfessor
DepartmentofCivil,Construction,
andEnvironmentalEngineering

MBRTrainingSeminar
GhentUniversity
July1517,2008

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Outline
CFD? Whats that?
Modeling fluid flow and associated processes

Geometry and grid selection

Equations
Numerical methods
Solution techniques
multiphase

Example
Secondary clarifier

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ComputationalFluidDynamics(CFD)
CFD is the science of determining a solution to fluid flow
through space and time.
CFD models include
a description of the flow geometry,
a set of coupled differential equations describing the physics and
chemistry of the flow,
boundary and initial conditions, and
a structured mesh of points at which these equations are solved

The equations of motion are solved by a finite difference,

finite element, or finite volume technique.

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Role of CFD

Researchers, engineers, and educators can use CFD as a

Design Tool

Troubleshooting Tool

Evaluate design alternatives

Retrofit alternatives

Explain strange flow phenomena

Explain poor process performance

A tool to better understand the process dynamics

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Impact of alternative piping configuration on UV

reactor performance

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Microbial transport in UV Reactor

Design A

Design B

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Chemical Mixing in a flow through

Reactor involving chlorine and ammonia

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Result of Flow Field and Chlorine decay

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Modeling Grease interceptor

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Velocity

Modeling Grease
Interceptors

Oil concentration

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Modeling Spatial Variation in Floc Size in

Reactors

Axial Flow Impeller

Radial Flow Impeller

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CommonandtraditionalusesofCFD?
Biomedical

Aerospace

F18 Store Separation

Temperature and natural

convection currents in the eye
following laser heating.

Automotive

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CommonandtraditionalusesofCFD?
Chemical Processing

Polymerization reactor vessel - prediction

of flow separation and residence time
effects.

Hydraulics

HVAC
Streamlines for workstation
ventilation

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DucostesAreasofResearchInterest
Disinfection
Chemical disinfectants
UV

Biological nutrient removal

Anaerobic digestion

Secondary Clarifiers

Advance oxidation
processes

Fat, oil, grease, removal and

roots control

Wetlands

Bioremediation

Chemical mixing
Flocculation
DAF
Biosystems/bioinformatics

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Modelingfluidflowand
associatedprocesses
Modeling includes:
Geometry, domain, grid specification
Governing equations
Initial and boundary conditions
Selection of models for different applications

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Geometry, domain, grid specification

Simple geometries can be easily created by few geometric

parameters (e.g. circular pipe)

Complex geometries must be created by the partial differential
equations or importing the database of the geometry (e.g. Multilamp UV reactor, complex MBR configuration) into commercial
software
Domain: size and shape

Typical approaches
Geometry approximation
CAD/CAE integration: use of industry standards such as
Parasolid, ACIS, STEP, or IGES, etc.

The three coordinates: Cartesian system (x,y,z), cylindrical

system (r, , z), and spherical system (r, , )

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Modeling(coordinates)
z

Cartesian
(x,y,z)

Cylindrical
(r,,z)

z Spherical
(r,,)

z
y
x

y
x

Coordinates should be chosen for a better

resolution of the geometry (e.g. cylindrical for
circular pipe).

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GridSpecification

Grids can either be structured or unstructured. Depends upon type of

discretization scheme and application
Scheme
Finite differences: structured
Finite volume or finite element: structured or unstructured
Application
Unstructured grids useful for complex geometries
Unstructured grids permit automatic adaptive refinement
based on the pressure gradient, or regions interested
(FLUENT, Comsol, AEA, Flow 3D, etc.)

The grid selection/distribution can impact the accuracy of

the flow field/turbulence and scalar variable field.

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unstructured

j
i

structured

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GridSpecification

It is important to make sure that the flow domain is properly

discretized with an appropriate grid distribution.

The accuracy of a solution and its associated cost due to

computing time and hardware are dependent in part on the

grid density.

Some cost savings can be achieved by optimizing the grid or

cell distribution within the flow domain (i.e., making the cell
size non-uniform).

For non-uniform grid density, the cells are finer in areas

where large variations or gradients occur from point to point

and coarser in regions with relatively small variations in the
solved variables.

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GridSpecification

The user must still decide on the grid density that is needed to
capture the specific process and flow characteristics and
produce a stable numerical (also known as a grid independent)
solution.
A stable numerical solution is achieved when solved variables
at all discrete cell locations do not significantly change (i.e., less
than 0.1 percent) with increasing grid density.
The user should utilize some kind of grid checker to safeguard
against distorted cells (i.e., long thin cells) .
Grid cell distortion will lead to a poorly converged solution.

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1.

Governingequations
Governing equations (2D in Cartesian coordinates)
Navier-Stokes Equations
2u 2u
u
u
u
p
+ u
+ v
=
+ 2 + 2 + g x

t
x
y
x
y
x
2v 2v
v
v
v
p
+ u
+ v
=
+ 2 + 2 + g y

t
x
y
y
y
x

Convection
2.

Pressure gradient

Viscous terms

Continuity equation
( u ) ( v ) ( w )
+
+
+
=0
t
x
y
z

3.

Equation of state

p = RT


(U j C )
C
v C
+
=
ui c

t
x j
x j Pr (C ) x j

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U i
=0
xi

U i 1 P U i
v
Uj
=
+
ui u j

x j
xi x j x j

C
ui c=
PrT (C ) xi

k vt k U i U j U i
+vt
Ui
=
+

xi xi k xi x j xi x j
2
vi
U i U j U i

+C1 vt
=
+
C2
Ui

k x j
k
xi x j
xi xi xi

U i U j
ui u j =vt
+
x x
i
j

2
k ij
3

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Governing equations
Based on the physics of the fluids phenomena, CFD
can be distinguished into different categories using
different criteria

Viscous vs. inviscid

External flow or internal flow
Turbulent vs. laminar
Incompressible vs. compressible
Single- vs. multi-phase
Thermal/density effects
Free-surface flow and surface tension
Chemical reactions and combustion
and so on.

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TurbulentFlow

Above a certain range of Reynolds No., a Laminar Flow will become

unstable and turn turbulent

Most of the environmental flows we deal with are turbulent

Turbulence Characteristics :
9

General randomness in pressure and velocity

Turbulence in 3-D

Turbulence contains a range of Eddy Sizes or scales of motion

Eddy Fluid Particles moving laterally and longitudinally
Eddy idea helps us think about stretching, turning, .

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TurbulentFlow(EddiesAction)

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ReynoldsAveraging

In turbulent flows, there are velocity fluctuations in all directions

u2
u3
u1, u2, u3 Total Velocity

u1

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ReynoldsAveraging

Since u1, u2, u3 are all non-zero we have to keep all three Navier Stokes
Equations. Represent Velocity as :

u1 = U1 + u1'
u 2 = U 2 + u '2
u 3 = U 3 + u 3' where U mean velocities and
u ' Random Fluctuating Velocities
Lets take a time average of u1
1
T

t 0 +T

t0

1
u{1 dt =
T

t 0 +T

t +T

1 0 '
t U1dt + T t u1dt
0
0
1
42
4
3

u1 = U1

Similary u '2 = u 3' = 0

u1' = 0

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ReynoldsAveraging

The example above demonstrates that time averaging may reduce the
complexity of our equations

Reynolds Average Continuity Equations :

u = 0 Assumes
u1 u 2 u 3
+
+
=0
x1 x 2 x 3
Substituti ng u1 , u 2 , u3 and time averaging :
1
0=
T

t 0 +T

t0

1
(U1 + u1' )dt +
x1
T

t 0 +T

t0

1
(U 2 + u 2' )dt +
x 2
T

t 0 +T

t0

(U 3 + u3' )dt
x 3

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ReynoldsStresses

The Reynolds average of Navier Stokes :

u i = U i + u i'
= + '
2 Ui

U i
U i
P

( u i' u 'j )
+ U k
=
+

123
t
x k
x i
x jx j x j
Reynold Stresses

This is a problem. How many unknowns ? How many equations ?

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TurbulenceClosureProblem

Most Common Approach : Eddy Viscosity

ij = u i' u 'j = t

U i
where t = Turbulent eddy viscosity
x j

Does units match ?

Ui
U i
1 P
2 Ui
+ Uk
=
+ ( + t )
t
x k
x i
x jx j
How do we describe v t ?
t Property of Flow
Property of Fluid
Second-moment (more sophisticated, accurate, and substantially more
costly in terms of computing)

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TurbulenceClosureProblem

Most Common Approach : Eddy Viscosity

three Eddy viscosity model categories are zero-equation,

one-equation, and two-equation models

most widely used are standard k-, RNG k- and Chen Kim
k-, and Realizable k-

Second-moment (more sophisticated, accurate, and substantially

more costly in terms of computing)

9the turbulent fluxes of momentum are not described by simple
constitutive relationships, but are now described by their own transport
equations

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TwoEquationTurbulentModel

The standard k- is the most popular two-equation turbulence model and

available in every commercial software
U i U j
t k
k
k

+ t
+
+Ui
=
x j
xi
t
xi xi k xi

U i

x j

2
U i U j U i

+ c1 t
c2
+Ui
=
+

k
k
t
xi xi e xi
xi x j
x j
2
k
t = C

C = 0.09

The standard k- is the most popular two-equation turbulence model

and available in every commercial software. Model constants are:
e = 1.3

c2 = 1.92

k = 1.0

c1 = 1.44

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TwoEquationTurbulentModel

The RNG k- is derived from mathematical methods employing

complex space-time Fourier transforms where the turbulence being
modeled is governed by the long-time large scale behavior of the system
The energy equation contains an additional production term. This new
term changes the value of C1 in the standard k- turbulence model and
reduces the level of dissipation through these additional terms

c = c2 +
*
2

C 3 (1 / 0 )
1 +

k = 0.72 e = 0.72 C

= 0.0845

= (2 E
c1 = 1.42

ij

Eij

1/ 2

c2 = 1.68 = 0.012 0 = 4.38

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TwoEquationTurbulentModel

The Chen Kim k- model introduces an additional time scale term to

improve the dynamic response of the standard k- model (Chen and Kim,
1987). The additional source term is introduced into the equation. This
extra term represents the energy transfer rate from large scale to smallscale turbulence controlled by the production range time scale and the
dissipation range time scale.

S =

c4
(Eij Eij )2
k

The model constants for Chen Kim k- are:

c4 = .25 e = 1.15 k = 0.75 c1 = 1.15 c2 = 1.9

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TwoEquationTurbulentModel

The Realizable k- incorporates a time-scale realizability (Tt) and an

additional source term (E) in the equation for improved performance in
flows containing averse pressure gradients (i.e., flow separation)
(Goldberg et al., 1998). The revised energy dissipation equation is as
follows:

U i U j
t

+ c1 t
=
+
+Ui

xi xi e xi k
xi
t
x j
2
k
t = C f

V = max k

Rt =

1/ 2

Tt = max 1,

, ( )

1/ 4

k2
=
C2

k
= max
,0
x x
j

2
1
U i

c2
+ E Tt
x
k

E = AE V Tt
k

f =

1 e

A Rt

1 e

Rt

max 1, 1

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TwoEquationTurbulentModel
The values of the constants for the realizable k- model are:
C = 0.09 k = 1.0 c1 = 1.44
C = 2

e = 1.3

c2 = 1.92

AE = 0.3

A = 0.01

The constants used in these k- models are the default values typically
used in commercial CFD software.

It is possible to fine-tune the model constants to achieve better

agreement between model predictions and experimental results.
However, since the velocity and turbulence data is typically not
available for most reactors at the different operating conditions, this
method of tweaking results is discouraged and default values are
recommended.

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Turbulence
Model

Model Selection, Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

Disadvantages

Two-Equation (standard k-,

RNG k-, Chen Kim k- and
Realizable k-)

Simplest turbulence models that

only require initial/boundary
conditions
Most widely tested models that
have performed reasonably well
for many types of flow
conditions

Have been found to poorly

perform for the following cases:
some unconfined flows
flows with curved boundary
layers or swirling flows
rotating flows
fully developed flows in noncircular ducts

Second moment (RSTM/ASTM)

Most general of traditional

turbulence models that only
require initial/boundary
conditions
More accurate representation of
Reynolds stresses that have
better characterize the turbulent
flow properties in
wall jets
flows with curved boundary
layers or swirling flows
rotating flows
fully developed flows in noncircular ducts

Significantly higher computing

cost
Has not been widely tested
compared to the two equation
models
Still has flow conditions that it
has been found to behave poorly:
axis-symmetric jets
unconfined recirculating flows

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TurbulentFlowmeasurementswithinaUV
Reactor(ModelComparisons)

flow
3

4 measurement locations were performed using DPIV

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TurbulentFlowmeasurementswithinaUVReactor
(VelocityProfile)
1
2

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TurbulentFlowmeasurementswithinaUVReactor
(KineticenergyProfile)
1
2

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Boundary Conditions
y
Slip-free: u=0,v=?

Slip-free: u=?,v=0

No-slip walls: u=0,v=0

Outlet

Inlet
r

v=0, dp/dr=0,du/dr=0

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Boundary Conditions
Boundary conditions in turbulence modeling involve specifications for

inlet and outlet conditions as well as wall boundary conditions.

For inlet conditions, the average mean velocity normal to the inlet plane

must be specified. All tangential velocities are set to zero. The turbulent
kinetic energy and energy dissipation rate inlet conditions are defined as
follows:
kinlet = (I U)2

inlet = kinlet1.5/(0.1 D)
where I is the turbulence intensity whose value ranges from 0.01-0.07, U
is the normal average velocity at the inlet, and D is a characteristic
dimension. U is calculated as the flow rate divided by the cross sectional
area of the inlet plane. D is typically taken as the inlet pipe diameter.

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Boundary Conditions

For the outlet conditions:

Gradients of all variables are zero in the flow direction
with the exception of the pressure. The pressure is set to the
external pressure or zero.
The outlet boundary should be placed far from any flow
obstructions so that the flow occurs in one direction and no
recirculating flow regions are produced at part of the outlet
boundary.
If a recirculating region does develop at the outlet
boundary, the outlet region should be placed further
downstream by extending the flow domain with a straight
section.

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Boundary Conditions
For the wall boundary conditions:
No slip condition (i.e., velocities equal to zero) is applied to
all solid surfaces.
At very small distances near the solid wall, a viscous sublayer exists followed by an intermediate layer and turbulent
core.
In the viscous sub-layer, the flow is influenced by viscous
forces and does not depend on free stream turbulent
parameters.
The velocity in this sub-layer only depends on the distance
normal to the wall, fluid density, viscosity, and the wall
shear stress.

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Boundary Conditions
For the wall boundary conditions:
The intermediate sub-layer is bridged by utilizing empirical
wall functions to provide near-wall boundary conditions for
the mean-flow and turbulence transport equations.
The purpose of these empirical functions is to connect the
wall shear stress to the dependent variables at the near-wall
grid node. This grid node must lie outside this sub-layer and
reside in the fully-turbulent zone.
There are two types of wall function provided in
commercial CFD codes: a) equilibrium log-law wall
functions and non-equilibrium log- law wall functions.

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Boundary Conditions
For the wall boundary conditions:
The non-equilibrium log- law wall functions should be used
when the turbulent transport of heat, and also species, at a
reattachment point is required.
The equilibrium wall functions are those appropriate to a
near wall layer in local equilibrium. The velocity, turbulent
kinetic energy, and energy dissipation rate in the equilibrium
wall functions are as follows:
u + / u = Ln ( Ey + ) /

k = u / C
2

= C 0.75 k 1.5 /(Y )

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Boundary Conditions
For the wall boundary conditions:
u+ is the absolute value of the resultant velocity parallel to
the wall at the first grid node,
ut is the resultant friction velocity ( u = w / ),
Y is the normal distance of the first grid point from the
wall,
y+ is the dimensionless wall distance ( y + = u Y / ),
Cm is a constant based on the two-equation turbulence
model selection, is the von Karman constant and
E is a roughness parameter. = 0.41 and E = 8.6, which is
appropriate for smooth walls.

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Boundary Conditions
For the wall boundary conditions:
These wall functions are known as the wall logarithmic law
and should only be used when the y+ value range between
30 and 500.
Deviation from this y+ value range may cause poor
prediction of the pressure drop through the reactor.
If the y+ value falls outside this range, grid refinement must
be performed to correct for these deviated values.
In some commercial CFD codes, the refinement procedure
can occur automatically during the model execution.

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SOLUTION TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA
The solution technique and convergence criteria are essential
components of the numerical process to ensure that a stable
converged solution has been achieved.
There are many equations that must be solved in order to
determine the local value of the specific variable. In addition to
being numerous, these sets of equations are often non-linear and
strongly coupled.
The solution procedure involves an iterative technique, where
the purpose is to reduce the imbalance between the left and right
hand sides of every equation so that the magnitude of the
difference negligible.

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SOLUTION TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA
The method for solving the equations describing the target
variables will be based on the type of commercial CFD code and
the method used to discretize these variables (i.e., finite element,
finite difference, and finite volume).
FDM-simplest and requires structured mesh
FEM-similar to FD but requires interpolation functions
FVM-FD method directly associated with conservation
laws
Focus on solvers associated with finite volume technique since
it is used by several commercial CFD codes
There are several iterative solvers that are available in
commercial CFD codes. These solvers can be divided into two
groups: coupled solvers and sequential or segregated solvers.

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SOLUTION TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA
For the coupled solver approach, discretized equations are
placed into one large global matrix equation system that will be
solved with a specific numerical approach.
For the segregated approach, no global matrix is built. As an
alternative, the discretized equations for each flow variable are
assembled into smaller equation systems where they are solved
iteratively.
In the coupled solver category, methods that are typically
found in commercial codes include but are not limited to the
following: Jacobi, Gauss Seidel, Successive Over-relaxation
(SOR), and Stone.

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SOLUTION TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA
The Jacobi method is considered the simplest iterative
approach that solves the system of equations from a point by
point method.
The Jacobi technique has been found to lead to slow
convergence due to a reduced link between grid cells from a
slow propagation of change through the flow domain.
This slow propagation can be useful when different variables
are tightly coupled and the value of solved variable in a cell is
more dependent on other variables in the same cell than on the
value of the variable in neighboring cells.
However, the Jacobi method is not recommended for 3-D
problems.

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA
The Gauss Seidel approach is similar to the Jacobi method but
utilizes an updated iterative value for a specific variable as soon
as it becomes available. It is twice as fast as the Jacobi method
due to a reduction in the storage for unknowns.

SOR differs from the Gauss Seidel approach by multiplying the

change in the variable from successive iterations with a constant
called an over-relaxation factor. It reverts back to the Gauss
Seidel approach when the over-relaxation constant is one.
Determining the correct value for this over-relaxation constant
is important to the rate of convergence. An optimized value can
be determined but not without significant computational cost.
SOR is considered the most widely used method for solving
non-linear sets of simultaneous equations.

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA

The Stone solver (also known as the strongly implicit

procedure) is designed to solve a system of algebraic equations
that were developed from the discretization of partial differential
equations as in fluid mechanics problems.
The main idea behind Stones approach is that the convergence
can be improved by the addition of cell values at the corners in
the iterative solution process.
The Stone approach usually converges in a smaller number of
iterations than SOR mentioned earlier.

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA

For incompressible fluid flow we are in the business of

solving:

u
x

1
1

u
+
x

2
2

u
+
x

= 0

1 P
Ui
U i
2Ui
=
+ ( + t )
+ Uk
x i
x jx j
t
x k

If the flow is compressible:

The continuity equation can be used to compute density.
Temperature follows from the enthalpy equation.
Pressure can then be calculated from the equation of state
p=p(,T).

What to do with the pressure field which is a scalar

quantity with no other equation to compute its value

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA

So-called pressure-velocity coupling algorithms are used to derive

equations for the pressure from the momentum equations and the
continuity equation.
The most commonly used algorithm is the SIMPLE (SemiImplicit Method for Pressure-Linked Equations). An algebraic
equation for the pressure correction p is derived, in a form similar
to the equations derived for the convection-diffusion equations:

a P p ' = anb p ' + b'

nb

Each iteration, the pressure field is updated by applying the

pressure correction. The source term b is the continuity
imbalance. The other coefficients depend on the mesh and the flow
field.

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA

SIMPLE:
It is based on the premise that fluid flows from regions with
high pressure to low pressure.
Start with an initial pressure field.
Look at a cell.
If continuity is not satisfied because there is more mass flowing into
that cell than out of the cell, the pressure in that cell compared to the
neighboring cells must be too low.
Thus the pressure in that cell must be increased relative to the
neighboring cells.
The reverse is true for cells where more mass flows out than in.
Repeat this process iteratively for all cells.

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA

SIMPLE is the default algorithm in most commercial finite

volume codes.
Improved versions are:
SIMPLER (SIMPLE Revised).
SIMPLEC (SIMPLE Consistent).
PISO (Pressure Implicit with Splitting of Operators).

All these algorithms can speed up convergence because they

allow for the use of larger underrelaxation factors than
SIMPLE.
The differences are in speed and stability.

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA

The segregated solver approach consists of decoupling the

nonlinear equations describing velocity, pressure, and
turbulence using either a pressure projection (PP) or pressure
correction (PC) technique
PC is essentially the same as SIMPLE, PP is similar to
SIMPLER,
Of the two methods, the PP segregated approach was the most
efficient when evaluated based on CPU time and storage.
Typically, the segregated solver needs less CPU storage and
significantly less computation time per iteration.

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA

The conjugate gradient (CG) approach is based on the idea

that the solution to a system of non-linear equations can be
determined in a simultaneous manner as oppose to a sequential
manner as done in the Jacobi, SOR, or Stone approach.
It is a method used traditionally to minimize a function using
the functions gradient and can be considered a type of
segregated solver.
The CG approach may produce more rapid convergence than
Jacobi, SOR, or Stone approaches.

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA

The selection of the most appropriate solver will depend on

the following items: 1) size of the problem, 2) amount of
computing resources (i.e., available RAM), 3) problem physics,
and 4) specific program capabilities.
For large three dimensional problems, solvers based on the
segregated approach should be used due to its reduced
computing resource requirement.

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA

In converting the equations of motion into algebraic equations,

discretization schemes must be used to describe a variable in
one cell as a function of the variable in nearby cells.
The accuracy and stability of the final solution will depend in
part on the selection of the discretization scheme. There are
several discretization methods used by commercial CFD codes.
These discretization methods differ in how the variable is
calculated on the cell surface. The discretization schemes can be
divided into order of accuracy (i.e., 1st, 2nd, or higher).
1st and 2nd order accurate discretization methods are called
upwind-differencing scheme (UDS) and central differencing
scheme (CDS).

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA

Both UDS and CDS have been shown to be numerically stable

with CDS displaying only a higher degree of accuracy than
UDS.
UDS has been shown to suffer from numerical diffusion (i.e.,
additional transport due only to numerical formulation and not
fluid flow) while CDS is only appropriate for low cell Peclet
(Pe) number conditions (i.e., Pe < 2). When dealing with 1st and
2nd order discretization schemes, the value of the Pe number
becomes important in determining the influence of upstream
computational cells on the current cell. At higher Pe values, the
CDS calculation becomes unstable.
Some CFD codes utilize a Hybrid scheme, which uses CDS for
cells that satisfy the Pe number restriction and uses UDS for
cells where Pe 2.

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA

The two approaches used to reduce numerical diffusion

include refining the grid density or utilizing higher order
discretization schemes.
While refining the grid density may be a simple solution, it is
generally not recommended since significant refinement would
be necessary to achieve small reduction in numerical diffusion.
The preferred approach to reducing numerical diffusion is to
apply higher order discretization schemes.

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Scheme
SMART

H-QUICK

Non-Linear Schemes
B(r)
max(0,min(2r, 0.75r+0.25, 4))

2 (r+|r|)/(r+3)

UMIST

max( 0, min(2r, 0.25+0.75r, 0.75+0.25r, 2)

)

CHARM

r(3r+1)/(r+1)2 for r > 0;

B(r) = 0.
for r <= 0

MUSCL

max( 0, min( 2r, 0.5+0.5r, 2) )

Van-Leer
harmonic

(r+|r|)/(r+1)

OSPRE
van Albada [1982]

3 (r2+r)/{2.(r2+r+1)}
(r2+r)/(r2+1)

Notes
Gaskell & Lau [1988]):
bounded QUICK, piecewise
linear
Waterson & Deconinck [1995];
harmonic based on QUICK,
smooth
Lien & Leschziner [1994];
bounded QUICK, piecewise
linear
Zhou [1995]; bounded QUICK,
smooth
van Leer [1979]; bounded
Fromm
bounded Fromm
Waterson & Deconinck [1995];
bounded Fromm
van Albada [1982]; bounded
Fromm

Superbee

max( 0, min(2r,1), min(r,2) )

Roe [1986], Hirsch [1990]

Minmod

max( 0, min(r, 1) )

Roe [1986], Hirsch [1990]

H-CUS

1.5 (r+|r|)/(r+2)

Koren

max( 0, min( 2r, 2r/3+1/3, 2) )

Waterson & Deconinck [1995];

bounded CUS
Koren [1993]; bounded CUS

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA

The non-linear schemes in the previous table are used along

with Equation 1 below, which calculates the cell-face value of
the convected variable.
f = c + 0.5B(r) (c - u)
f is the variable across the control-volume face f, c is the
variable value at the cell center, u represents the upstream
value, and d represents the downstream value. B(r) is termed a
limiter function, and the gradient ratio r, which is defined as:
r = (d - c)/( c -u)

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA

The linear schemes can be compactly expressed as follows:

UDS upwind difference B(r) = 0
CDS central difference B(r) = r
B(r) = 0.5*{ (1+K)*r + (1-K) } where
LUS linear-upwind K = -1
QUICK quadratic upwind K = 0.5
FROMM Fromm's upwind scheme K = 0
CUS cubic upwind scheme K = 0.3333

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PerformanceofSchemes

Simulation of a scalar variable downstream of

a point source in a stream of uniform velocity
as shown. The two points to examine are:
Does the band spread unduly?
Do the values lie within the range from
10.5 to 0?

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Exact

Upwind DS

Central DS

Quick

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LUS

CUS

FROMM

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SMART

HQUICK

KOREN

Quick

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA

Numerical convergence is also important for the stability of

the model and consists of reducing the error associated with
performing guesses for the variables in the flow domain.
The convergence of the numerical solution can be based on two
requirements:
the magnitude of the residuals
the difference in the values for solved variables between
successive iterations.

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA

Residuals are essentially imbalances caused by the guesses

made at each iteration. In order to understand the concept of
residuals, an example is presented in terms of steady, singlephase flow.
The species transport equation (constant density,
incompressible flow) is given by:
c
c
+
(ui c ) =
D
+S
t xi
xi xi

Here c is the concentration of the chemical species and D is the

diffusion coefficient. S is a source term.
c
We will discretize this equation (convert
it to a solveable algebraic form) for the
c
c
c
simple flow field shown on the right,
assuming steady state conditions.
N

cS

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA
The balance over the control volume is given by:
Aeue ce Awuwcw + An vn cn As vs cs =
dc
dc
dc
dc
DAe
DAw
+ DAn
DAs
+ Sp
dx e
dx w
dy n
dy s

This contains values at the faces, which need to be determined from

interpolation from the values at the cell centers.
Notation
Aw , An , Ae , As : areas of the faces

cN

cW

An,cn
cP
Aw,cw
As,cs

j,y,v
i,x,u

cS

cE
Ae,ce

cw , cn , ce , cs : concentrations at the faces

cW , cN , cE , cS : concentrations at the cell centers
uw , un , ue , us , vw , vn , ve , vs : velocities at the faces
uW , u N , uE , uS , vW , vN , vE , vS : velocities at the cell centers
S P : source in cell P
D: diffusion coefficient

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA
The simplest way to determine the values at the faces is by using first
order upwind differencing. Here, lets assume that the value at the face is
equal to the value in the center of the cell upstream of the face. Using
that method results in:

AeuP cP AwuW cW + An vP cP As vS cS = DAe (cE cP ) / xe

DAw (cP cW ) / xw + DAn (cN cP ) / yn DAs (cP cS ) / ys + S P
This equation can then be rearranged to provide an expression for the
concentration at the center of cell P as a function of the concentrations in
the surrounding cells, the flow field, and the grid.

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Rearranging the previous equation results in:

cP ( An vP + AeuP + DAw / xw + DAn / y p + DAe / xe + DAs / ys ) = cW ( AwuW + DAw / xw ) +
cN (DAn / yn ) +
cE (DAe / xe ) +
cS ( As vS + DAs / ys ) +
SP

This equation can now be simplified to:

a P c P = aW cW + a N c N + a E c E + a S c S + b
=

c +b

nb nb

nb

Here nb refers to the neighboring cells. The coefficients anb and b will be
different for every cell in the domain at every iteration. The species
concentration field can be calculated by recalculating cP iteratively

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA

ap and an are the convection-diffusion coefficients obtained

from the UDS: p is the cell-average value of stored at the cell
center; and the summation is over the adjacent nodes n. The
residual Rp at a specific location is then computed as follows
Rp = app -(ann) - Sp - Bp
Bp is the deferred-correction source term. The goal of the
iteration process is to minimize the value of Rp with successive
iterations. The process of convergence consists of summing the
absolute residual sources over the whole solution domain as
Residual = Rp

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SOLUTION

TECHNIQUE AND CONVERGENCE

CRITERIA

Overall Procedure: (put convergence residual plot

here)

Spot Values

Residual
error

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MultiphaseFlow

PHOENICS

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MultiphaseFlow
Multiphase flow describes
Flow with different phases( i.e. solid, liquid or gas).
Flow with different chemical substances but same phase (i.e. liquidliquid like oil-water).

Primary and secondary phases

One of the phases is considered continuous (primary) and others
(secondary) are considered to be dispersed within the continuous
phase.
A diameter has to be assigned for each secondary phase to calculate
its interaction (drag) with the primary phase (except for VOF model).

Dilute phase vs. Dense phase;

Refers to the volume fraction of secondary phase(s)

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MultiphaseFlow
Multiphase flow can be divided into the following
regimes:
Particle flow: Discrete solid particles in a continuous
fluid
Bubbly flow: Discrete gaseous or fluid bubbles in a
continuous fluid
Droplet flow: Discrete fluid droplets in a continuous gas
Slug flow: Large bubbles (nearly filling cross-section) in
a continuous fluid
Stratified/free-surface flow: Immiscible fluids
separated by a clearly-defined interface

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LagrangianMultiphaseModel
Good for modeling particles, droplets, or bubbles dispersed at
volume fractions less than 10%) in continuous fluid phase
Computes trajectories of particle streams in continuous
phase.
Can allow for heat, mass, and momentum transfer between
dispersed and continuous phases.
Neglects particle-particle interaction.

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LagrangianMultiphaseModel

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CouplingBetweenPhases
One-Way Coupling
Fluid phase influences particulate phase via drag and
turbulence transfer.
Particulate phase have no influence on the gas phase.
Two-Way Coupling
Fluid phase influences particulate phase via drag and
turbulence transfer.
Particulate phase influences fluid phase via source terms of
mass, momentum, and energy.

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ParticleTrajectory(LagrangianModels)
the fluid phase is treated separately from the particle phase
and are coupled through interphase source terms in the
particle momentum equation:
mp

du p , i
dt

= D p , i (u i u p , i ) + m p g i

D p = 0 .5 A p C D u u p

CD =

i = 1,2,3

24
0.42
1 + 0.15 Re 0.687 +
Re
1 + 4.25 x10 4 Re 1.16

where subscript i represents the projection values of a

variable in dimensional axis i, mp is the particle mass, Dp,i is
a drag function, ui is the carrier phase instantaneous
velocity, up,i is the particle velocity, and g is the gravitational
acceleration. The source terms on the right hand side are
drag force and gravitational force. Other forces as needed
can be included (i.e., lift, virtual mass)

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EulerianMultiphaseModels(IPSA)

Appropriate for modeling gas-liquid or liquid-liquid or solid-liquid

flows where:
Phases mix or separate
Large range of bubble/droplet/solid volume fractions
Inappropriate for modeling stratified or free-surface flows.
Two approaches:
Interphase Slip Algorithm (IPSA)
Algebraic Slip Model (ASM)

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EulerianMultiphaseModels(IPSA)

Each phase is regarded as having its own distinct velocity components.

Phase velocities are linked by interphase momentum transfer - droplet drag, film
surface friction etc.

Each phase may have its own temperature, enthalpy, and mass fraction of
chemical species.
Phase temperatures are linked by interphase heat transfer.
Phase concentrations are linked by interphase mass transfer.

Each phase can be characterized by a 'fragment size'.

droplet or bubble diameter, film thickness or volume/surface area.
Phase 'fragment sizes' are influenced by mass transfer, coalescence,
disruption, stretching etc.

Each phase may have its own pressure - surface tension raises the pressure
inside bubbles, and interparticle forces prevent tight packing, by raising
pressure.

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EulerianMultiphaseModels(IPSA)

Phase continuity
regarded as the equations governing the phase
volume fractions.
d(rii)/dt + div( riiVi - rigrad(ri) ) = ji
Transient Convection Phase Diffusion Mass Source
ri = phase volume fraction, m3/m3
i = phase density, kg/m3
Vi = phase velocity vector, m/s
ri = phase diffusion coefficient, Ns/m2
ji = net rate of mass entering phase i from phase j,
kg/(m3s)

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EulerianMultiphaseModels(IPSA)

Phase conservation equations

d(riii)/dt+div( riiVii -rii grad(i)-iri grad(ri) )
= Si+Sip
Transient Convection Within-phase and Phase
Diffusion Sources

i = any variable
ri = phase volume fraction, m3/m3
i = phase density, kg/m3
Vi = phase velocity vector, m/s
i = within-phase diffusion coefficient, Ns/m2
ri = phase diffusion coefficient, Ns/m2
Si = within-phase volumetric sources, kg/(m3s)
Sip = interphase volumetric sources, kg/(m3s)

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EulerianMultiphaseModels(ASM)

The mixture model is a multiphase flow model, particularly

well suited for suspensions, that is, mixtures of solid particles
and liquid. Based on momentum balance and mass
conservation of each phase, the mixture model uses the
following equations:

Here u denotes mixture velocity (m/s), mixture density

(kg/m3), p pressure (Pa), cd mass fraction of the solid phase
(kg/kg). Furthermore, uslip is the relative velocity between the
two phases (m/s), Gm the sum of viscous and turbulent
stress (kg/(ms2)), and g the gravity vector (m/s2).

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EulerianMultiphaseModels(ASM)

The mixture velocity (m/s) is defined as

Where c and d denote the volume fractions of the liquid
(continuous) phase and the solid (dispersed) phase (m3/m3),
respectively, uc the liquid-phase velocity (m/s), ud the solidphase velocity (m/s), c the liquid-phase density (kg/m3), d
the solid-phase density (kg/m3), and the mixture density
(kg/m3).
The relationship between the velocities of the two phases is
defined by

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EulerianMultiphaseModels(ASM)

For the slip velocity, the Hadamard-Rybczynski drag can be

used for the slip velocity and is defined as:

where dd denotes the diameter of the solid particles (m). For

the mixture density and kinematic viscosity:

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MultiphaseModels

Choosing a Multiphase Model

Assess volume fraction
Less than 10%: LPM (no aggregation/breakup or
particle/particle interaction
All volume fractions: Eulerian approaches (IPSA: two
phase only), (ASM: 3 or more phases)
Aggregation/breakup can be included with user defined
subroutines

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CFD Process

Geometry

Physics

Mesh

Solve

Select Geometry

Heat Transfer
ON/OFF

Unstructured
(automatic/
manual)

Steady/
Unsteady

Structured
(automatic/
manual)

Iterations/
Steps

XY Plot

Vectors

Flow properties

Convergent
Limit

Verification

Streamlines

Viscous Model

Precisions
(single/
double)

Validation

Boundary
Conditions

Numerical
Scheme

Geometry
Parameters

Domain Shape
and Size

Compressible
ON/OFF

Initial Conditions

Reports

Forces Report

PostProcessing

Contours

(lift/drag, shear
stress, etc)

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Example(SecondaryClarifier)

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Example(SecondaryClarifier)

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Example(SecondaryClarifier)
The Mixture Model was used to solve this problem. Physical
properties of the two phases according to the following table:
Var

VALUE

DESCRIPTION

1000 kg/m3 Liquid phase density

110-3 Pas

1100 kg/m3 Solid phase density

dd

210-4 m

Diameter of solid particles (Constant)

gz

-9.82 m/s2

z-component of gravity vector

max

0.62

Solid phase maximum packing concentration

vin

1.25 m/s

Inlet velocity

vout

-0.05 m/s

Outlet velocity

in

0.003

Volume fraction of solid phase of incoming

sludge

Liquid phase viscosity

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Results(SecondaryClarifier)

Velocity Contour

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Results(SecondaryClarifier)
Sludge Mass Contour

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Results(SecondaryClarifier)
Sludge Mass Contour