Dear Sir:

Does the fluent (not Fidap) has the capacity of solving the governing equations in dimensaionless form? Where can I find the information in Fluent's associated manu/references. Is example available?

Thanks

SC Hu

I think that every program(or commercial package) can be non-dimensionalized by your selection of velocity, characteristic length, related properties and so on.

Consider the situation of flow in the channel with,

Vin = 10 m/sec, height=2m/sec, length=20m/sec, rho=2kg/m3, viscosity=1.e-05kg/m-sec

You can set the problem by nondimensional form such as,

Vin = 1, height = 1, length = 10, rho = 1, viscosity = 1/Re = (4*10^6)^(-1)

This is nondimensional form. I have experience for the simulation of natural convection in the square cavity by nondimensional form, by Flotran/CFD. I could not find that FLOTRAN/CFD has the capability of solving the governing equations in dimensaionless form in the manual.

So, I think that every code has capability of solving the governing equations in dimensaionless form for most problems.

Hoping that it will be helpful to you. Sincerely, Jinwook

Unlike some research codes, most multiphysics-based, general-purpose CFD softwares adopt dimensional form of the governing equations. There are many reasons for that. But I think the issue of usability is a major one. And yet, as Jin-Wook pointed out, you can basically do what amounts to using non-dimensional form of the governing equations, by scaling (non-dimensionalizing) both dependent and independent variables and adjusting physical properties so that you have the desired non-dimensional numbers (Reynolds, Prandtl, Rayleigh, etc.).