Hello, I am a student working on my senior design project. I need to model a simple fluids problem: cold engine oil being sucked out of an oil pan through a hose (or pipe) by a vacuum.

The volume (~5 quarts) and viscosity of the oil are set, the drain hole is of set diameter (0.3"), the pipe is 0.5" in diameter and of set length (5'). The pressure drop from the vacuum is going to vary, and I want to determine the flow rate out of the pipe due to the vacuum (in order to find the total time for oil removal). If I cannot get a relationship graph of flow rate vs. pressure drop, it is ok to set the pressure drop to, say 5 psi.

I need this for validation purposes of the hand-calculations, but I have no experience in CFD. I tried using the Fluent/GAMBIT software provided on campus and learning how to use it online, but I got practically nowhere. I desperately need a CFD model of this ASAP, if someone could please help me with this. I would really appreciate it.

Thanks

- Naoman

What you want to do is anything but EASY (but since you do not have much idea of CFD i can understant why you said so.)

OK then... How difficult would this be? How long might it take for someone experienced in CFD? I need to know if it is even worth attempting at this point. Thanks.

Nothing is easy in cfd and you can do something.

it will take some time to learn fluent

try this tutorial

http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/fluent/

good luck

siva