[squanto773]

Hi all

I used OpenFoam (simpleFoam with RAS turbulence model komegaSST) to calculate the drag coefficient of a car.
For calculating the drag coefficient I am using the tool forceCoeffs.so and execut it after the simulation by using:

execFlowFunctionObjects -latestTime

That this works I added

functions
{
    #include "forceCoeffs"
}

to system/controlDict

and

forces
{
    type        forceCoeffs;
    functionObjectLibs ( "libforces.so" );
    outputControl timeStep;
    outputInterval 1;

    patches     ( "car" );
    pName       p;
    UName       U;
    rhoName     rhoInf;      // Indicates incompressible
    log         true;
    rhoInf      1;           // Redundant for incompressible
    liftDir     (0 0 1);
    dragDir     (-1 0 0);
    CofR        (0.72 0 0);  // Axle midpoint on ground
    pitchAxis   (1 0 0);
    magUInf     27.8;
    lRef        1.0;        // Wheelbase length
    Aref        0.94293;        // Estimated

To dictionary forceCoeffs.

Since the car is in air I changed rhoInf to 1.188. However this did not have any effect to the drag coefficient. Actually changing rhoInf to any value you'd like does not have any effect on the drag coefficient. However from my point of view this should directly influence the drag coeff.

Is this a bug or did I miss something?

BTW: I am using 2.0.1

Regards
squanto

[squanto773]

Ah, I think I got it:
For incompressible calculations the pressure and the viscous forces are already divided by the density because kinetic viscosity is used.
see here http://openfoamwiki.net/index.php/Ma...ble_solvers.3F

Therefore the density should be set to one because no further normalization is required for the calculation of Cd.
Thus also to display the correct pressure I have to multiply it by the density.. correct?

Could anyone comment on this to ensure that I am on the right track?

Thanks and regards

squanto773