[Sam Phillips]

Hi,

I am trying to simulate the flow through a circular pipe using rhoSimpleFoam. I am using a k-w SST model and have exported my mesh from Pointwise. When I try to run the simulation it crashes after 1-2 iterations due to a floating point exception. From analysing the results I have in paraview, I believe the problem may be coming from how I am specifying my boundary conditions. The only boundary conditions I know are that there is a pressure of 100,000 Pa at the inlet of the pipe and a pressure of 95,000 Pa at the outlet. I set up my p file using a totalPressure boundary type at the inlet and a fixedValue type at the outlet. For U, I used a pressureInletOutletVelocity type at inlet and a inletOutlet type at outlet. I thought these boundary conditions would be suitable but the simulation is still crashing, can anyone advise me on what boundary conditions I should be using when I know the pressure at inlet and outlet? I have attached my p, U and T files for reference.

Many thanks for your help,
Sam

[fedez91]

If it crashes after one or two iterations it may be the initial conditions for k or omega. What do you have for those variables?

[Sam Phillips]

Hi Federico,

I've attached my k and omega files.

I have a k value at the inlet of 1e-3 and an omega value at the inlet of 1. I obtained these values from OpenFOAM's tutorial case of the NACA Aerofoil. I was under the impression that I didn't need to worry too much about the initial values of the turbulence parameters as the simulation will update these values as it runs. If these values aren't suitable, could you advise on how to go about selecting more appropriate values for k and omega?

Many thanks for your help,
Sam

[fedez91]

After some time they should update and they should not cause any trouble, but sometimes if the values at the beginning of the simulation are too big or too small, the run crashes really fast. I thought that maybe you set k=0 in the domain, leading to issues when calculating nut. I generally use this turbulence calculator to set initial conditions (https://www.cfd-online.com/Tools/turbulence.php). Try it out and see if that improves the results.

Another thing I was thinking is maybe to set one BC with a fixed velocity (in case you know it) and the other one with a pressure. The pressure drop along the pipe should come out of the simulation itself.

Have you check the mesh quality after you exported it?

[shock77]

I think this error usually comes, when you divide by 0. So I guess your temperature BCs might be the problem. I think you should try totalTemperature with totalPressure and at the outlet you can use zeroGradient or inletOutlet. If that doesnt help you should post your fvSchemes.

[Sam Phillips]

Hi all,

Thanks for your suggestions! I have tried changing the Temperature BC type at the inlet to totalTemperature and will let you know what impact this has.

I have checked the mesh quality after exporting it. I do have some high aspect ratio cells and non-orthogonality in the mesh, but I developed the mesh with a distributor from Pointwise and he assures me that the mesh should be good enough to run in OpenFOAM. I have attached the checkMesh result from OpenFOAM.

In the meantime please find my attached fvSchemes file in case some errors are found in there. Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Sam