Time Step and CEL expressions for Mesh Deformation

rbarrett · July 1, 2011, 05:10

Hi all,

I am relatively new to CFX and I was just wondering if anyone could help me with a few problems that I have been having with a mesh deformation problem. I am modelling the compression of a piston within a cylinder. The actual geometry consists of two pistons within one cylinder, so there is a line of symmetry at mid chamber location. My model is also axisymmetric.

The problem that I am having is that the simulation deformation is over predicting the applied displacement and I was wondering if there is an issue with (i) my CEL expressions or (ii) my time step.

(i) The CEL expressions that I am using are ('WeightFunction' is a linear weighting function and 'Li' is the total length of the compression chamber):

Disp = sDisp*WeightFunction
Li = 0.178 [m]
WeightFunction = 1-((z-sDisp)/(Li-sDisp))
sDisp = velCV*t
velCV = 8 [m/s]

(ii) The time step that I am using is 5.2e-4 s for a total compression time of 16.6 ms.

Any help with this issue is greatly appreciated.

ghorrocks · July 2, 2011, 07:50

You seem to be describing a strange motion. Doesn't your function describe a displacement proportional to z height? That means the piston will pivot, not slide.

The best way to debug mesh motion stuff is to do a test run with all the solvers turned off using the expert parameters, and saving a result file (including the mesh!) every time step. Then you can quickly run the mesh motion and check you are getting the motion you intend.

stumpy · July 4, 2011, 10:16

There might be a problem with your weighting function here. Instead of using sDisp in WeightFunction use a callback to get the piston position, e.g areaAve(zGlobal)@movingend.
The callback is lagged to the previous timestep, but sDisp is not, which may be causing the unexpected behaviour.

rbarrett · July 6, 2011, 11:13

The issue was related to sDisp in the weighting function. I have now replaced this with a function based on t-tStep and the model is deforming as desired. Thanks a million for your help.

July 1, 2011, 05:10	Time Step and CEL expressions for Mesh Deformation	#1
rbarrett New Member Richard Barrett Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 14 Rep Power: 15	Hi all, I am relatively new to CFX and I was just wondering if anyone could help me with a few problems that I have been having with a mesh deformation problem. I am modelling the compression of a piston within a cylinder. The actual geometry consists of two pistons within one cylinder, so there is a line of symmetry at mid chamber location. My model is also axisymmetric. The problem that I am having is that the simulation deformation is over predicting the applied displacement and I was wondering if there is an issue with (i) my CEL expressions or (ii) my time step. (i) The CEL expressions that I am using are ('WeightFunction' is a linear weighting function and 'Li' is the total length of the compression chamber): Disp = sDispWeightFunction Li = 0.178 [m] WeightFunction = 1-((z-sDisp)/(Li-sDisp)) sDisp = velCVt velCV = 8 [m/s] (ii) The time step that I am using is 5.2e-4 s for a total compression time of 16.6 ms. Any help with this issue is greatly appreciated.

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July 2, 2011, 07:50		#2
ghorrocks Super Moderator Glenn Horrocks Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 17,844 Rep Power: 144	You seem to be describing a strange motion. Doesn't your function describe a displacement proportional to z height? That means the piston will pivot, not slide. The best way to debug mesh motion stuff is to do a test run with all the solvers turned off using the expert parameters, and saving a result file (including the mesh!) every time step. Then you can quickly run the mesh motion and check you are getting the motion you intend.

July 4, 2011, 10:16		#3
stumpy Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 531 Rep Power: 21	There might be a problem with your weighting function here. Instead of using sDisp in WeightFunction use a callback to get the piston position, e.g areaAve(zGlobal)@movingend. The callback is lagged to the previous timestep, but sDisp is not, which may be causing the unexpected behaviour.

July 6, 2011, 11:13		#4
rbarrett New Member Richard Barrett Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 14 Rep Power: 15	The issue was related to sDisp in the weighting function. I have now replaced this with a function based on t-tStep and the model is deforming as desired. Thanks a million for your help.