OpenFOAM : flow around a sphere at low Reynold number

maxou1993 · July 2, 2015, 19:51

Hi,
I meet several problems solving horizontal laminar flow (I'm not considering eddies and turbulence) around a sphere with OpenFOAM, so I have several questions :
1) for both icoFoam and simpleFoam solvers, the term (v.grad)(v) is included in the Navier-Stokes equation. Is there a not too dificult (I'm not experienced in OpenFOAM and i'm new on this forum

) means to definitely delete this convective term from Navier-Stokes by modifying these solvers ? Indeed, I would like to get the symmetrical (to the median vertical plane) steady state u solution of the horizontal Stokes flow but I only get a slightly assymetric solution (due to the (v.grad)(v) term I think). I have already decreased the Reynolds number as much as possible (so as to neglect the convective term relatively to the diffusive viscous term) but I would like to fix the problem more properly.
2) Then, I read on this website that this "Stokes steady-state flow around a sphere" can be solved by icoFoam . Unfortunately it is not the case for me (i get an unrealistic solution after a while, even if some time steps after the beginning of the simulation, u and p space distributions seem relevant) ... Do you have any idea of the origin of the problem ? Could the problem come from the term $\rho$ *dv/dt taken into account in the NS of the icoFoam solver (the theoretical Stokes equation neglects this temporal term) ?
Here are the main parameters I used for my simulation :
Re=0.002; Cubic mesh edge size : 2; Sphere diameter : 0.2; Viscosity : 10
In 0 files :
Inlet : Velocity=0.1m/s Pressure=zeroGradient
Outlet : Fixed pressure=0 Velocity=zeroGradient
Top, Bottom, Back, Front : cyclic
Sphere : automatically set as a wall by snappyHexMesh, Velocity=0, pressure: zeroGradient
internalfield : 0.1m/s for the velocity and a value for p/\rho calculated by using the pressure loss for a Poiseuille flow.
4) Are there best boundaries and initial conditions (for instance, setting my inlet velocity equal to 0 makes my model wrong since) that i could use (in addition to increase the cubicmeshedgesize/spherediameter ratio for example, for the inlet velocity condition) ?
5) A question more general about patches and walls which are generated in OpenFOAM in order to model our fluid boundaries (if i well understood) : when we fix a conditon for the pressure (respectively the velocity) on a fluid boundary, is it possible not to have to fix a condition for the velocity (respectively the pressure) for this fluid boundary ? (i would have liked to fix only velocity inlet and pressure outlet for my Stokes problem; fortunately, for the sphere boundary it can be shown theoretically that the zeroGradient condition for the pressure is true)
Thank you in advance.

maxou1993 · July 7, 2015, 06:13

I recognize that my previous post was long but it would be great if i had an answer to the main following question :
About patches and walls which are generated in OpenFOAM in order to model our fluid boundaries (if i well understood) : when we fix a condition for the pressure (respectively the velocity) on a fluid boundary, is it possible not to have to fix a condition for the velocity (respectively the pressure) for this fluid boundary ? (i would have liked to fix only velocity inlet and pressure outlet for my Stokes problem: are there options to have this type of boundary conditions if we can't fix only pressure on a patch or onyl velocity ?). Thank you in advance.

July 2, 2015, 19:51	OpenFOAM : flow around a sphere at low Reynold number	#1
maxou1993 New Member maxime Join Date: Jul 2015 Posts: 8 Rep Power: 11	Hi, I meet several problems solving horizontal laminar flow (I'm not considering eddies and turbulence) around a sphere with OpenFOAM, so I have several questions : 1) for both icoFoam and simpleFoam solvers, the term (v.grad)(v) is included in the Navier-Stokes equation. Is there a not too dificult (I'm not experienced in OpenFOAM and i'm new on this forum ) means to definitely delete this convective term from Navier-Stokes by modifying these solvers ? Indeed, I would like to get the symmetrical (to the median vertical plane) steady state u solution of the horizontal Stokes flow but I only get a slightly assymetric solution (due to the (v.grad)(v) term I think). I have already decreased the Reynolds number as much as possible (so as to neglect the convective term relatively to the diffusive viscous term) but I would like to fix the problem more properly. 2) Then, I read on this website that this "Stokes steady-state flow around a sphere" can be solved by icoFoam . Unfortunately it is not the case for me (i get an unrealistic solution after a while, even if some time steps after the beginning of the simulation, u and p space distributions seem relevant) ... Do you have any idea of the origin of the problem ? Could the problem come from the term $\rho$ *dv/dt taken into account in the NS of the icoFoam solver (the theoretical Stokes equation neglects this temporal term) ? Here are the main parameters I used for my simulation : Re=0.002; Cubic mesh edge size : 2; Sphere diameter : 0.2; Viscosity : 10 In 0 files : Inlet : Velocity=0.1m/s Pressure=zeroGradient Outlet : Fixed pressure=0 Velocity=zeroGradient Top, Bottom, Back, Front : cyclic Sphere : automatically set as a wall by snappyHexMesh, Velocity=0, pressure: zeroGradient internalfield : 0.1m/s for the velocity and a value for p/\rho calculated by using the pressure loss for a Poiseuille flow. 4) Are there best boundaries and initial conditions (for instance, setting my inlet velocity equal to 0 makes my model wrong since) that i could use (in addition to increase the cubicmeshedgesize/spherediameter ratio for example, for the inlet velocity condition) ? 5) A question more general about patches and walls which are generated in OpenFOAM in order to model our fluid boundaries (if i well understood) : when we fix a conditon for the pressure (respectively the velocity) on a fluid boundary, is it possible not to have to fix a condition for the velocity (respectively the pressure) for this fluid boundary ? (i would have liked to fix only velocity inlet and pressure outlet for my Stokes problem; fortunately, for the sphere boundary it can be shown theoretically that the zeroGradient condition for the pressure is true) Thank you in advance.

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July 7, 2015, 06:13		#2
maxou1993 New Member maxime Join Date: Jul 2015 Posts: 8 Rep Power: 11	I recognize that my previous post was long but it would be great if i had an answer to the main following question : About patches and walls which are generated in OpenFOAM in order to model our fluid boundaries (if i well understood) : when we fix a condition for the pressure (respectively the velocity) on a fluid boundary, is it possible not to have to fix a condition for the velocity (respectively the pressure) for this fluid boundary ? (i would have liked to fix only velocity inlet and pressure outlet for my Stokes problem: are there options to have this type of boundary conditions if we can't fix only pressure on a patch or onyl velocity ?). Thank you in advance.