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CFD News/Conferences/Competitions update

Updates

ASME / FEDSM 2012 is now open: Submit abstracts

More details can be found at http://www.asmeconferences.org/FEDSM2012/

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Presentations on Multiphase Flow

Its always nice to keep a directory loaded with presentations that contain valuable information such as modeling basics, some applications, discussions that we come across quite frequently. Sometimes, when I run out of ideas as to what kind of modeling should I consider or concerns regarding the physical approximations, an quick glimpse of some presentation slides provide me with the much needed break.

I am trying to load the blog with some presentations that I came across recently

An workshop conducted in Michigan State on MP flows with discussions and applications is available here

http://www.iihr.uiowa.edu/~istue/Workshop_michigan state.ppt

CFD usage in particle separation etc (from Alstom site)

http://www.chalmers.se/am/SV/forskning/forskningsavdelningar/stromningslara/siamuf/seminarium-arkiv/seminarium-maj-2006/downloadFile/attachedFile_9_f0/CDF_usage_in_Alstom_ECS.pdf?nocache=1202896312.71

the above site clearly shows the industrial CFD procedures - what the industrial CFDers really want to look at etc..its more of a perspective based presentation ..not too much tech :)

A nice presentation by Dr. Pannala (MFIX guy)

http://www.caer.uky.edu/presentations/seminar-Pannala-CAER2009.pdf

Another work by Dr. Syamlal - (The guy from Syamlal - Obrien model in Gas-Solid flows)
http://www.rpsea.org/attachments/contentmanagers/1932/Madhava.Syamlal.pdf

A general publication on mixing layers and particle dispersion : www.lc.leidenuniv.nl/lc/web/2006/191/presentations/Lakehal1.ppt

An presentation on Solid phase systems (transport of solid particles) http://www.netl.doe.gov/publications/proceedings/09/mfs/11%20P%20Chapman%2042209.pdf

CFD code validation study from Canada: http://www.acfda.org/docs/gtc_presentation_agranat.pdf
(has some nice modeling part inside !!)

CFD Presentation on multi-poly-dispersed flows : http://www.cfdoil.com.br/pdf/presentations/18_2_1445.pdf

 CFD in Bio-Respiratory work: www.imagwiki.org/mediawiki/images/6/61/APS2006.ppt 


Multiphase CFD applications in Fluidized beds (a nice one ..I will probably use this later ?)
http://www.aka.fi/Tiedostot/Tiedostot/ENERGIA/Vuosiseminaari%202009/Timo%20Hypp%C3%A4nen_Multiphase%20fluidized%20bed%20processes.ppt.pdf 




Friday, January 22, 2010

CFD multiphase simulations : Cavitation Modeling Papers

Many multiphase CFD studies such as those of bubbly flows find extensive industrial applications which in turn induces higher interest among researchers to push for achieving higher level of details. It wouldnt be wrong if we call 'cavitation' as one of the most sought physical phenomena involving multiphase flow that has attracted so many academicians and industrial research fellows all around the world.


Cavitation, for its part, find applications right from your house pump to complicated industrial mixing devices, such as spray applicators, injectors in automotive units, in ultrasonics industry (sono-luminescence) to just quote a few.

The interest has been so over whelming...that conferences among the world have started dedicating separate sessions on cavitation - experiments, numerical simulations, modeling...

Having worked with this unique multiphase flow application myself, I have often wondered how everytime I dig into the fundamental nature of this process, it unveils a completely different nature that keeps me wandering around the topic..so far, having done some serious numerical computations (using incompressible, compressible, analytical modeling ..just not experiments yet...well wait..i did produce cavitation using airfoils in a simple lab experiment..nope that doesnt count? ), I thought this special topic requires some nice postings so that people can find it useful to reference and compare their own work with peers.


Several colleagues have come over to my desk inquiring .."hey, do you have any information / notes concerning bubble dynamics? " and i go, wow..there is an entire book available on this topic ..for FREE !

The cavitation and bubble dynamics book by Dr. Brennan should be your first reference to cite and read !

http://caltechbook.library.caltech.edu/1/

The book is available as html , pdf etc...Nice images of cavitating process - vortex type, chain, cloud cavitation are alllll available !!

1. Find multiphase modeling of super cavitating flows here: Publication text by Kunz et al.

http://ftp.rta.nato.int/public//PubFullText/RTO/EN/RTO-EN-010///EN-010-13.pdf

2. On Propellar sheet cavitation:

http://www.ichd2010.org.cn/ICHD-EC/ICHD/eighth/papers/ICHD2008_2B-03_53.pdf

http://www.marinepropulsors.com/proceedings/TB4-1-Salvatore%20-%20Propeller%20Cavitation%20Modelling%20by%20CFD%20-%20Results%20from.pdf

3. By the way, I find a complete list of papers to follow, read, quote / reference and use for my own work from the listing of CAV2001 symposium !!

http://cav2001.library.caltech.edu/view/subjects/

Its free for download based on category (within cavitation ofcourse !) : bubbly flows, erosion, turbomachinery, vortex type...

4. Cavitation in Pumps:

http://turbolab.tamu.edu/uploads/files/papers/p23/P23Lec06.pdf

http://khzs.fme.vutbr.cz/iahrwg2009/docs/D3.pdf

5. Cavitation Simulation : Shock Emission

http://www.lhm.mw.tu-muenchen.de/gd/veroeffentlichungen/8th%20ETC%20Graz%202009.pdf

6. Dispersion in Cavitating Flows

http://proceedings.europeanmixing13.org/data/Baldyga_et_al.pdf

7. Dr. Kunz's work on Pump Cavitation

http://www.personal.psu.edu/rfk102/PROF/ASMEFEDSM01/finalpaper.pdf

8. Here is an article on Vortex Cavitation !

http://www.hitachi-pt.com/products/si/pump/pdf/pump_09.pdf

If you notice the commercial CFD vendors, here is my take on their release versions:

Everytime, a new release is made by the software...from version v.x to v.y etc, notice that, on most occasions, there is some type of enhancement to cavitation prediction claimed by the software developers! Now, that should shed a lot of light on how much the industrial expectation out of these vendors to predict most accurate results !!! Experimentally, work on cavitation has been quite extensive as well. However, I fail to report their stand owing to my strong belief in numerical modeling ;)

Some other cavitation models other than the conventional (familiar ones) can be accessed here

a recent article on tracking cavitation as a scalar: doi:10.1016/j.apm.2008.02.005 

Homogeneous equilibrium modeling approaches:

1. http://ta.twi.tudelft.nl/users/vuik/Heu00VW.pdf

2. http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~rutland/research.dir/nozzle_cavitation.dir/sae971597.pdf (Dr. Schmidt's work)

3. Found one in the cav2001 symposium : http://cav2001.library.caltech.edu/257/00/cav2001.pdf

4. Found another one but not able to link it from ICLASS 2006 based on HEM

Title: "Computational investigation of cavitating injectors flows using Homogeneous Equilibrium Model supplemented with a pressure correction equation" using openFOAM
Paper 06-087, ICLASS 06, Kyoto, Japan, 2006.

While looking for cavitation and corrosion, I found this book link: useful i guess

http://www.corrosioncenter.ohiou.edu/nesic/papers/FullText/book-5.pdf


Happy Cavitating !!!!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

CFD Publications : Download, Share and Reference

On several occasions, I come across listing of publications/ conference papers available for free download for educational purpose and would try to mark the website for future reference. But, however, in time, I lose track of such nice websites and the link to those papers I wanted to download and read then. This has been a constant challenge to me and I hope, by creating this blog, I can put several listings on lectures / journals etc together and make them freely accessible to others.

Papers from NETL - the Energy Lab workshop on multiphase flow science (Fundamentals of Multiphase Flow) is available for download

http://www.netl.doe.gov/publications/proceedings/09/mfs/index.html

The NETL workshop has some exciting papers on transport phenomena such as fluidisation CFD, discussions regarding MFIX, multi-scale CFD simulations ..to count a few.

Publications from the Institue for corrosion and multiphase technology can be found at

http://www.corrosioncenter.ohiou.edu/publications.htm

The Ohio site has listings of patents - particularly in the area of slug flow, sediment transport etc. Interested people can take a look at these drafts at

http://www.corrosioncenter.ohiou.edu/Patents.htm

Dr. Pai's site has some nice listings on modeling of droplet dispersion, DNS, LES, Sprays etc..

http://www.stanford.edu/~mpai/publications.html (only few papers are available for download)

Several part of his work such as spray modeling (DNS, LES etc) are very famous and definitely be in my reference list while publishing in these areas.

Also, the website http://www.cfd.com.au/index.html provides a comprehensive list of CFD conference proceedings from 1997 to 2008 !!! Publications of varying interest in the CFD area such as Electromagnetic processes, Mixing and turbulence, power generation, flash melting, numerical methods, fluidised beds, stirred tanks, casting, combustion / particle flows are available by categories. One can choose the papers to download by organizing by authorship as well.

For example, Papers on Mixing and Turbulence from 1997 CFD conference proceedings can be downloaded from

http://www.cfd.com.au/cfd_conf97/mixing_and_turbulence.htm

Download the proceedings of openSource CFD International Conference 2008 from here

http://www.opensourcecfd.com/conference2008/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3&Itemid=30

Download complete listings of Univ Iowa based researcher Dr. Becker's papers on phase change modeling !!

http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/~becker/documents.dir/

Also, http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/~becker/phasefield.htm provides the list directly.

Dr. Kirby's work (univ of Delaware) can be obtained from http://chinacat.coastal.udel.edu/papers/

The website http://www.scansims.org/sims2001/SIMS2001/Papers/  can be used to download publications from the 42nd conference on simulation and modeling organized by the Scandinavian Simulation Society. The complete list organized by session is available for download.

More archival publication listings (complete from 1998 - present) of the society of petroleum engineers can be accessed through  http://www.spe.org/jpt/print/archives/

The publication has nice discussions ranging from energy to technical issues in modeling / simulation (Principles of Modeling and Simulation: A Multidisciplinary Approach, Theory of Modeling and Simulation, Second Edition).

I will be adding some more listings for easy access to fellow CFDers and Fluid dynamics researchers :)

Monday, January 18, 2010

CFD Simulations: Matlab Usage / Coding / Applications ...

Over time, there has been increasing discussions on whether or not other commercial softwares be used to program CFD and post process calculations...for example: use of Matlab (Matlab: A Practical Introduction to Programming and Problem Solving). In this blog, I will try to post links and articles - which uses matlab for CFD (/ general numerical) calculations.

Website maintained in the mech and material science dept., oregon

http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~gerry/class/ME448/codes/

has some nice listing of matlab codes for 1D, 2D finite volume based calculations !! A nice start for beginners and others who look to use Matlab for their scientific needs.

Discussions in the good groups on whether or not Matlab could be used in the CFD world was interesting:

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.soft-sys.matlab/browse_thread/thread/09dae3365cd4fa39

How about some nice shallow water modeling (CFD) using matlab: The file is available for download from the matlab central server

http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/17716

I found a paper on

1. CFD graphical interface using Matlab: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.90.3658&rep=rep1&type=pdf

2. 2D Airfoil optimization using CFD (matlab based) : http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.108.854&rep=rep1&type=pdf

3. Thesis work: CFD program to model pressure distribution of melt flow using Matlab

http://www.me.umn.edu/~td/Lewandowski-Thesis.pdf

4. Discussions on SIMPLE algorithm in Matlab

http://www.mathworks.de/matlabcentral/newsreader/view_thread/246199


In the pre-processing segment, the use of matlab has been extensive as well:

1. DistMesh: a simple mesh generator using matlab can be found here (http://www-math.mit.edu/~persson/mesh/) . Nice application for unstructured triangular and tetrahedral meshes.

2. Gridgen: a matlab based orthogonal grid generator to construct orthogonal curvilinear grids is available here.

http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/modeling/gridgen/

The gridgen site has tutorials and details for download and installation.

3. The cornell based QMG package does finite element mesh generation in two and three dimensions

http://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/vavasis/qmg-home.html

For some fundamental functions usage and programming for coding the entire CFD structure or in parts (pre / post processing) these books may be helpful.

1. MATLAB Programming for Engineers
2. An Introduction to Programming and Numerical Methods in MATLAB
3. Engineering Analysis: Interactive Methods and Programs with FORTRAN, QuickBASIC, MATLAB, and Mathematica

Multiphase Modeling: Eulerian-Eulerian simulations / applications

Simulation of multi-fluid flows (Multiphase Phenomena and Cfd Modeling and Simulation in Materials Processes) are often complex and requires complex mathematical treatment at the interfaces defining the fluid boundaries. Modeling the interfacial effects have been the core research for multi-fluid researchers. Often, a typical multi-scale phenomena that needs to be simulated is broken down into different zones identified by the acting scales and then "modeled" based on the acting physics. The work is still on-going but has definitely met with a lot of success and is often the default setting in major industrial practices [Comparison of different model approaches for the simulation of multiphase processes [An article from: Atmospheric Environment]).

I have come across the smash-project some time ago and thought this post on multifluid modeling will get a good facelift starting with a decent description of this modeling project.

http://ralyx.inria.fr/2006/Raweb/smash/uid7.html

As stated in their website: "Smash is a common project between INRIA and the University of Provence. The main topic of our project focuses on problems related to mathematical and numerical modeling of heterogeneous flows such as multiphase media, granular materials or reactive flows with mass transfer" presents a good description of the team goal. The website contains in-depth details of the applied methods (with assumptions yes..., mathematical treatment and aspects of parallel / grid computing)

Theses work following this project are listed here

http://ralyx.inria.fr/2006/Raweb/smash/uid70.html

and publication description: http://ralyx.inria.fr/2006/Raweb/smash/bibliography.html

With reference to multi-fluid flow modeling and numerical analysis, the work of the Center for Risk studies and safety is a must read.

Their website http://www.crss.ucsb.edu/ gives a complete picture of the their code MUSIC and associated publications and presentations made at major conferences and journals.

The link: http://www.crss.ucsb.edu/music/LEVEL0/ lists all their publications and reports...i had bookmarked their information several years back and continue to look at their recent development in numerical analysis.

The papers (on multifluid analysis) from the 6th int. conf on CFD (Norway) can be downloaded from

http://www.sintef.no/Projectweb/CFD2008/Papers-from-CFD2005/Multifluid-flow-analyses/

I noted some papers which can be used for referencing and for extracting some finer numeric details while performing multifluid calculations include

1. Simulation of flow behavior in bubble column:
http://www.sintef.no/project/CFD2008/CFD2005_papers/36_Zhang_Deen_Kuipers.pdf

2. CFD modeling in gas fluidized beds

http://www.sintef.no/project/CFD2008/CFD2005_papers/42_Yusuf_Melaaen_Mathiesen.pdf

(Take a look at another papers on CFD work on fluidized bed:
http://www.scansims.org/sims2001/SIMS2001/Papers/Paper01-%20B.Halvorsen%20(SIMS_BrittHalvorsen).doc)


3. 2D/3D investigations of dispersion and mass transfer coefficients in a Eulerian multifluid model

http://www.sintef.no/project/CFD2008/CFD2005_papers/53_Guenther_Breault.pdf

4. Evaluation of num methods for solving population balance eqn

http://www.sintef.no/project/CFD2008/CFD2005_papers/45_Dorao_Jakobsen.pdf

There are several other nice papers available in the area of Environment/Combustion, fundamental methods and validation, some aspects of industrial CFD, oil and gas systems..

Nice application : Cyclone separators (gas-liquid) type

http://tustp.org/publications/cfd_bubble_carry_under_98.pdf

I normally tend to download the entire directory and keep it in my repository for future references ..even if i dont need them now. These papers are worth looking at and most of the time saves us lot of times when modeling similar to these are required to be computed.

For all those looking at ( or working with ) multifluid methods, the following paper can definitely be considered as a bible ;)

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA410325&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

Also, Kunz's paper: http://www.personal.psu.edu/rfk102/PROF/JCPpaper/jcpfinal.pdf

Other publications of interest

1. http://www.cimec.org.ar/ojs/index.php/mc/article/view/2827/2764 (CFD in Trickle bed reactor)

2. http://www.sintef.no/units/matek/2420/242025/ (Nice presentations on multifluid - granular flow etc!)

3. http://www.opensourcecfd.com/conference2008/media/proceedings/OSCIC-08_CarneiroJoao.pdf (openFoam based polydispersed flow modeling)

4. http://www.cfd.com.au/cfd_conf99/papers/030LIOV.PDF (free surface flows in metallurgical vessels)

5. http://www.nea.fr/html/nsd/reports/2007/nea6298/Technical_Session_B1_Advanced_Reactors/7-Kanghs_PWR.pdf (CFD : subcooled flow under high steam flux)

I would post some more research articles that is focused on 1. Numerics 2. Applications.

Some nice books for reference on MP flows validation and application:
1. Improvements in multiphase flow measurement.(Measurement Matters)(Column): An article from: Pipeline & Gas Journal
2. Fundamentals of Multiphase Flow
3. Computational Methods for Multiphase Flow
4. Multiphase Flow Dynamics 3

If you have any queries or publications that you think should be posted in this regard, kindly let me know. Sharing the knowledge is the only way to excellence !!

Friday, January 15, 2010

CFD Simulations (Animations ?)

I came across nice animations of free surface flows from the CFD team of Dr. Veldman (http://www.math.rug.nl/~veldman/)

The familiar droplet bouncing problem treated by the CFD group is shown below.




The work on 3D dambreaking problem is shown below.



The website for downloading some impressive videos on Free surface flows can be found at
http://www.math.rug.nl/~veldman/cfd-gallery.html


Sample simulations of Free surface modeling is also available in the Univ Iowa website
http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/fluidslab/gallery/ani-num-sim.html

A sample video downloaded from their site is posted here.

Flow over a Weir



An fire simulation is also available in the groups' site







Materials on : An introduction to CFD is available in their main page
http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/%7Efluids/Lab/CFD_lecture_2003.ppt

Other handouts can be downloaded from
http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/fluidslab/numsim/handouts.html


An virtual album of fluid flow can be viewed at : http://www.featflow.de/album/contents.html

These videos are copyrighted and have been posted here for educational purposes only. You can contact the respective institutions for further information.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Fluent UDF Programming : Guides / References to User Defined Function Implementation

An guide to programming in Fluent can be found from the Stanford site

http://www.stanford.edu/class/me469b/handouts/programming.pdf

with details of data structure (Data Structures Using C), variable macro description and usage, journal files, batch execution, automatic adaptation, optimization (including procedure). A good reference that comes handy.

The complete Fluent 6.3 manual for UDFs can be downloaded from

http://www.hipecc.wichita.edu/pdfs/fludf.pdf

With this file, it should be straightforward to create and work on your own physical/numerical modeling.

I came across this CFD FAQ in

http://old.blog.edu.cn/user2/bubujia/archives/2006/1429952.shtml#My_UDF_won.27t_interpret_or_compile_-_what_is_wrong.3F

describing typical user conversations on errors, not able to interpret/compile UDFs similar to CFD-online discussions. Some details are nicely explained and makes sure that we know what we are doing !

Found this thesis: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04182004-190446/unrestricted/etd.pdf#109
with some nice UDF implementation for properties and coupling with FIDAP.

udf Usage for modeling evaporation (Assessment of convection, conduction, and evaporation in nucleate boiling (NASA technical note)), mass transfer etc : http://scholarsmine.mst.edu/thesis/pdf/Vusirikala_09007dcc80446043.pdf

udf usage for particle trapping: http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-10072005-095941/unrestricted/03appendicesG-H.pdf

udf usage for momentum source : http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-01242006-100142/unrestricted/06back.pdf

udf for predicting particle deposition frequency: http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?idn=987091190&dok_var=d1&dok_ext=pdf&filename=987091190.pdf

udf for predefined pictch heave motion : http://www.esru.strath.ac.uk/Documents/MSc_2006/glynn.pdf

udf for calculation of second law of thermodynamics (really nice one!)

http://txspace.tamu.edu/bitstream/handle/1969/1324/etd-tamu-2004C-2-AERO-Chambers.pdf?sequence=1

UDF for varying CFD boundary conditions + stratified energy storage:
: http://130.15.126.37/bitstream/1974/5178/1/Rysanek_Adam_M_200909_MScE.pdf


UDF : setting target mass flow rate in pressure outlet, and some matlab data processing routines.
https://qspace.library.queensu.ca/bitstream/1974/5128/1/Hu_ZhengYu_200909_Master.pdf

UDF listings for source terms implementation:

http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/ETD/Available/etd-010907-142804/unrestricted/StRock.pdf


UDF's for calculating temperature dependent properties of single species and mixture

http://e-collection.ethbib.ethz.ch/eserv/eth:29781/eth-29781-01.pdf

Nice UDF implementation for Chemical Vapor deposition modeling !

http://dspace.library.drexel.edu/bitstream/1860/344/8/iskenderova_thesis.pdf

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

CFD Softwares: Other than Standard Commercial ones...

Among the list of several CFD vendors / Application programs that we normally come across the internet, few programs caught my attention with respect to its user-friendly nature and ease with which it can be incorporated into a fundamental CFD curriculum.

1. EasyCFD (http://www.easycfd.net/)

Quicknote: An simple CFD software tool for the numerical simulation of two-dimensional fluid flows in a boundary fitted structured grid. (predictions like Two-Dimensional Separated Flows, Study Of Abrupt Transitions in Two-Dimensional Flows: A Singular Perturbation Approach etc can be done)

The code is mainly oriented for didactic or educational purposes, it may become a valuable tool for a first analysis in practical situations. Contact and Download available in the home page.

Some features listed in the website include

· Laminar or turbulent flow
. Conduction in solids and conjugate heat transfer ( Theory of Periodic Conjugate Heat Transfer)
· Isothermal or non-isothermal flow (Incompressible Flow and the Finite Element Method, Volume 1, Advection-Diffusion and Isothermal Laminar Flow)
. Multicomponent fluid flow (Multicomponent Flow Modeling (Modeling and Simulation in Science, Engineering and Technology))
· Steady-state or transient flow
. Transport of passive scalars (eg. smoke, Transport of passive scalars in turbulent channel flow (SuDoc NAS 1.15:89463) )
· Numerical grid generation(Geometry and Topology for Mesh Generation (Cambridge Monographs on Applied and Computational Mathematics))
. Geometry import from DXF or point data files

Pre-processing (meshing, import of files..) and post-processing (contour plots, vectorial rep,
statistical data extraction features) are nicely done.

2. FluidFlow (http://www.fluidflowinfo.com/FluidFlow/FluidFlow.asp)



original software program for the design and optimization of pipe networks, transporting compressible, incompressible, gas-liquid two phase, settling slurries or non-Newtonian fluids.



The code looks pretty effective for product is used succesfully in many diverse industries to model new and existing systems, size pipes, select boosters, controllers and other fluid equipment (Fluid Dynamics Of Industrial Equipment: Flow Distribution Design Methods).

This is a definite piece of software - designers - should be looking at!! New release information and contact info are available in the website .

3. ChannelFlow

http://www.channelflow.org/dokuwiki/doku.php

A C++ based software system for numerical analysis of the incompressible Navier-Stokes flow in channel geometries. Core idea is based on Spectral CFD algorithm for integrating NS eqns (Spectral/hp Element Methods for CFD (Numerical Mathematics and Scientific Computation)) . It is based on Flexible Object oriented programming concept. Classes act as building blocks for presenting particular channel flow models, and associated data analysis.

Nice description of the code set up is avaiable in the home page.


4. Enzo (an open-source cosmological simulation code that uses an adaptive mesh)

http://lca.ucsd.edu/portal/software/enzo

an adaptive mesh refinement (AMR), grid-based hybrid code (hydro + N-Body) which is designed to do simulations of cosmological structure formation (For those astro-physicists / computational /mechanical engineers !)Cosmological Inflation and Large-Scale Structure

The code - Enzo - has been parallelized using the MPI message-passing library and can run on any shared or distributed memory parallel supercomputer or PC cluster. Simulations using as many as 1024 processors have been successfully carried out on the San Diego Supercomputing Center's Blue Horizon, an IBM SP.

5. FLASH (free for non-commercial use, adaptive mesh, compressible solver for astrophysical flows)

http://flash.uchicago.edu/website/home/

Code support/mailing lists and research pages are available in the website.

Take a look at the movie based on convection simulation below (available in their website).



(http://flash.uchicago.edu/website/groups/compphys/dns_burn/movies/chaos_v01.mpg)

Other nice problems on flame propagation, burning in shear flow etc are well noted.

6. CFD Studio (Educational program to study CFD Problems)

http://www.sinmec.ufsc.br/cfd/doc/uk/uk/index.html

is an application to solve 2D CFD problems. It contains a basic mesh generator, a numeric method that solves the conservation equations and it has also a data visualization. The software uses the finite volumes method in generic coordinates. A snapshot of the website is shown here.

Suite contains:
. CFD Studio solver
. CSFL-Lib - CFD C++ classes
. CFD Mesh - 2D mesh creator from complex geometries
. CFD Grid Editor - Edit 2D simple mesh using easy click approach.
. CFD SciView - visualization of meshes, scalar, vector fields obtained by the runs.

Several emerging codes, similar to those discussed here, have already started making some good impressions among the researchers in both academia and industry with some good comparisons in the results produced (Data for Validation of Cfd Codes (Fed; Vol. 146)). Its now a matter of when would these "opensource" applications would take over the commercial ones !

I am looking for similar opensource codes for adding to my repository...kindly advice me on something that you come across..happy openSourcing !!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

CFD Simulations : Boiling Channel Flows Num Simulations / Experiments

Boiling channel/tube flows is one of the foremost process where use of multiphase modeling comes in handy. Several researchers have devoted their time and money in developing/adjusting the existing MP models specifically suited for their specific needs such as - to simulate MP flows in boiling chambers, nuclear reactors, tubes and containers to name a few (Boiling Heat Transfer And Two-Phase Flow (Series in Chemical and Mechanical Engineering), Boiling Heat Transfer and Two-Phase Flow). As a result, there are numerous publications in this area and to add, most of them are unique in their own way, in a sense that, each article provides a different insight into the modeling criteria and the assumptions used to treat the process.

Modeling in convective-in-tube systems: http://www.tibtd.org.tr/2009-1/107-116.pdf

MP Boiling applications find extensive use in microscale heat transfer flows and eventually help in designing systems to relieve vapor clot, removing bubbly flow altogether or enhancing it, modulating the curvature of the flow for better heat transfer characteristics etc..(Heat Transfer in Boiling Metals by Natural Convection, Boiling Heat Transfer: Modern Developments and Advances)

The article http://www.d43d.com/D43D_09_presentations/Thome_Tutorial.pdf?PHPSESSID=5adc3d3f7d7c3d481c15730a0a9a7dcd
presents a good review of the fundamentals of microscale flow heat transfer.

Also, note, a experimental study for one's numerical validation: Experimental work on saturated flow boiling in micro channels

ftp://131.204.110.10/pub/hejingl/Course/Boiling%20and%20Condensation/Research%20paper/EXPERIMENTAL%20STUDY%20ON%20SATURATED%20FLOW%20BOILING%20CRITICAL%20HEAT%20FLUX%20in%20MC.pdf

I found the work by Dr. Mudawar on flow boiling heat transfer in microchannels : development of two-phase flow model quite interesting..Take a look here

http://www.me.hawaii.edu/Qu_res/paper%20pdf/P-J-07.pdf

PhD work by Dr. Geisler in the area of buoyancy driven 2phase flow and boiling heat transfer in channels,

http://www.me.umn.edu/~kgeisler/Geisler_PhD_abstract_contents.pdf

gives a nice review of the modeling and experiments.

Also, find a good review of flow instabilities arising in boiling 2phase flow in natural circulation systems

downloads.hindawi.com/journals/stni/2008/573192.pdf

Find Several Journal papers of Dr. Kandlikar's group doing heat transfer studies (multiphase experiments)

http://www.rit.edu/kgcoe/mechanical/taleme/Papers/

Find multiple journal articles available for download from the Multiphase lab from Israel inst of tech.

http://multiphaselab.technion.ac.il/2000.htm


I am quite thrilled by the use of mp models for boiling purposes. For ex. treatment of wall heat flux using RPI boiling model, to convert Q to Twall is a nice procedure. These are modeling innovations one must definitely appreciate.

For a quick review on boiling heat transfer models / applications: I, on most occasions, look to the WLV handbook. It has been quite useful in providing you with quick information that one would otherwise have to obtain using advanced text books.

http://www.wlv.com/products/databook/db3/data/db3ch9.pdf
(Chapter on boiling heat transfer on external surfaces)

Another favorite handbook of mine is

http://www.unene.ca/un702-2005/lectures/C-HeatTransferandFluidFlow.pdf

- has nice descriptions of boiling heat transfer with quick graphs, plots, brief theories, heat transfer correlations and schematics for easy understanding..

Other applications of boiling heat transfer:

http://serve.me.nus.edu.sg/mpelps/Publications/Lee_Garimella_IJHMT_2007.pdf
(boiling heat transfer in silicon microchannel arrays)

CFD modeling of subcooled flow boiling in nuclear sector (CFX software) - the article contains description of the forces, numerical treatment of the heat transfer problem etc..

http://www.djs.si/proc/bled2005/htm/pdf/0140.pdf
http://www.nea.fr/html/nsd/reports/2007/nea6298/Technical_Session_A7_Boiling_Models/37-Koncar.pdf
(contains forced convective boiling in channels)



Subcooled boiling near wall http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/821308-lStCwl/native/821308.pdf

Modeling liquid velocity near wall during boiling flow ftp://ftp1.cadhome.cn/CAE/HEAT/ASME2005/HT2005-72182.pdf

If you have any specific paper/work that you would like me to add here, kindly let me know.

CFD multiphase simulations : Eulerian-Lagrangian type

Modeling of multi-fluid flows is a complex task. Especially, identifying if the presented multiphase system can
be modeled with dilute particle or otherwise, can sometimes be a daunting task. Lagrangian type flows are normally encountered in spray simulations, in fluidized bed or even in snow transport applications as pointed out by a CFD-Online user.(Information on the treatment can be found in Intermediate Dynamics for Engineers: A Unified Treatment of Newton-Euler and Lagrangian Mechanics and/or Theory & Problems of Lagrangian Dynamics With a Treatment of Euler's Equations of Motion, Hamilton's Equations, & Hamilton's Principles, )

http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/fluent/71643-discrete-phase-modeling-coupled-uncoupled.html

The formulation of Eulerian multi-fluid approach is much complex in comparison to the Euler-Lagrangian type work.This is primarily due to the fact that more interaction at the continuum level is expected out of the former,and in the latter, complexities may occur based on the coupling that one seeks: one-way to four-way coupling.


For those who are working on model-picking and in the stage of deciding to go with Euler-euler or Euler-
Lagrangian type: This observation may be of help.

http://www.netl.doe.gov/events/06conferences/mfr_workshop/SummaryT3.pdf

The issues in Eulerian-Lagrangian simulation of complex transport of multiphase flow is elaborated in the following presentation.

http://wiki.siam.org/siag-gs/images/d/df/Russell.pdf

In particular, the presenation above discusses the use of Lagrangian advection, and adjoint characteristics of the variables. Detailed conceptualtopics are well dealt. Nice to have this reference while writing a journal!

Several aspects of dealing with the multiple scales in Multiphase flows while modeling using Euler-Lag type situation is presented here.

http://www.cmla.ens-cachan.fr/fileadmin/Documentation/Prepublications/2009/CMLA2009-10.pdf


A nice research article on Euler-Lagrangian modeling to simulate particulate flows can be found from
the archives of stanford research division:

http://ctr.stanford.edu/ResBriefs03/apte_mahesh_lundgren.pdf

Details of atomization simulations  using Eul-Lag methods can be obtained from Atomization simulations using an Eulerian-VOF-Lagrangian method (SuDoc NAS 1.26:201983) or A coupled Eulerian/Lagrangian method for the solution of three-dimensional vortical flows (SuDoc NAS 1.26:196785)

Presentation on modeling multi-phase flows with underlying assumptions is also available.


http://www.chalmers.se/am/SV/forskning/forskningsavdelningar/stromningslara/siamuf/seminarium-arkiv/seminarium-oktober-2006/downloadFile/attachedFile_9_f0/Modelling_of_multiphase_flows.pdf?nocache=1202900513.0

The multiflow : a fully coupled multiphase flow solver provides some introduction to multiphase applications

http://www.multiflow.org/node/3


similar to a STAR intro: http://www.cd-adapco.com/press_room/dynamics/18/eulerian.html

Fluent stuff: www.bakker.org/dartmouth06/engs150/14-multi.ppt


For someone trying to use Euler-Lagrangian type particulate affair: this publication may be a good reference.

http://www.iahr.org/publications/assets/jhr38-5/Yeganeh_Gotoh_Sakai.pdf

Influence of Eulerian multiphase model parameters on the runs for a spouted bed grain dryer ? is nicely available from this journal article

http://www.task.gda.pl/files/quart/TQ2008/01-02/tq112e-e.pdf

For those industrial guys looking at CFD as an option, the article here may suggest why?

http://www.processinnovation.com/pdf/Multiphase_CFD.pdf

This book Multiphase reacting flows: modelling and simulation (CISM International Centre for Mechanical Sciences) provides a good understanding of the reacting multiphase flows with elaborate simulation examples.

Applications of Eulerian-Lagrangian modeling is quite prominent in the industrial settings where a compromise has to be made between the computational time vs computer resources in order to make quick decisions.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Fluid Mechanics / Dynamics : Lecture Notes, Applets..

I came across this 350+ page lecture notes "Fluid Mechanics for Civil Engineers" by Bruce Hunt of Univ of Canterbury and straightaway, having read a few chapters, included it in my important online book list.

http://www.civil.canterbury.ac.nz/pubs/FM4CE.pdf

The chapters listed in the book include
1. Fundamental eqns of fluid motion (such as Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics)
2. Fluid Statics
3. Control Volume Methods (There you go..nice fundamental description)
4. Differential eqn methods
5. Irrotational Flow
6. Laminar / Turb flow
7. Boundary layer aspects
8. Drag / Lift theories and discussions
9. Dimensional analysis and model similitude (now im gathering my undergrad works...wow)
10. Steady pipe / open channel flows
11. unsteady pipe and open channel flows

I kinda liked the overall description provided in the notes..its pretty easy to understand and numerics are well organized.

Another nice lecture notes I found in the web:

http://www.icaen.uiowa.edu/~fluids/

This is the Univ Iowa's Dr. Stern's course on mechanics of fluids and transport processes. Contains some nice
chapters and discussions.

Applets / Calculators

This is an yet another fluid applet that I recently came across. An Rotating U-tube Applet !!
Check it out here

http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/kinnas/319LAB/Applets/RotatingTubes/RotatingTubes.html

Another Water-Mercury Manometer applet developed by UT Austin guys

http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/kinnas/319LAB/Applets/Manometer1.html

Some more sweet applets !!

Looking at the impulse-momentum principle using Applets (from UT austin again)

http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/kinnas/319LAB/Applets/Momentum/Momentum.html

Hydrofoil flow Applet: http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/kinnas/319LAB/Applets/Hydrofoil/

I just listed a few applets that I was viewing...Find more applets and cool fluid stuff from Prof. Kinnas lab here.

http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/kinnas/319LAB/toolindex.html

With some knowledge in JAVA, the fundamental fluid mechanics (An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics) can be churned into nice movie type models....I guess, these java applets induce more curiosity among the undergrad/grad students to learn more about fluid systems ..conventional chalk boards definitely need to be replaced ?

Let me know if this information (the lecture notes / online applets) were helpful.

Books to read: Fluid Flow Handbook, Introduction to Mathematical Fluid Dynamics (Dover Books on Physics)

Sunday, January 10, 2010

VOF Simulations : Waves, Bubbles, Spillways....

Use of Volume-of-Fluid methods in wide environment has helped researchers gather tonnes of test cases / simulation studies that one could now use to enhance the interface capturing or try comparing the influence of other parameters such as turbulence in estimating the over all flow field.

This is particularly useful feature which encourages VOFers to try things that they werent sure before..since their random tests cannot be validated quite effectively. Being more towards the multiphase front, tests with VOF has intrigued me for a while and still does...Whenever, I come across tests / cases on multiphase modeling, Eulerian, VOF with advanced turbulence modeling, I tend to mark them for more in-depth analysis.

I am posting some of the VOF studies that once again found in my research directory. Hope it helps in providing someone with case study or for further analysis.

Anyone, having  developed a VOF method or trying its capability, has always come across the typical DAM breaking problem...tiring one ..appears in the to-do list all the time. The ERCOFTAC community has a typical 3D dam  case for readers

http://wiki.manchester.ac.uk/spheric/images/SPHERIC_Test2_v1p1.pdf

Find droplet deformation studies using PROST VOF code here:
http://www.math.vt.edu/people/renardyy/Research/Publications/56114.pdf

Some sample cases / validation studies: Hydraulic jump free surface modeling

http://www.iahr.org/publications/assets/jhr39-5/P2045.pdf

FLOW3D work on droplet based Microfluidics problem using VOF methods is available here

http://www.flow3d.com/pdfs/tp/micro_tp/FloSci-Bib12-09.pdf

Interestingly, recently I came across a similar question in CFD-online
http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/fluent/71563-behavior-two-phase-flow-pipe.html#post242061

Similar discussions on mixing of gas / liquid flows invoking the question: should we use VOF or other Eulerian strategies...
My view is : its a case-by-case situation. Based on what one would like to capture and the refinement of the grids that one would like to achieve, VOF or other Eulerian methods can be appropriately put to test.

A presentation of combined VOF/ Level Set methods (which are becoming sort of popular these days ...)

http://www.ahd.tudelft.nl/~bendiks/nwo/cs.pdf

These methods try combining the effective mass conservation of VOF type schemes with production of sharp interfaces using the distance function based LEVEL set methods. I really havent tried exploring this option (implementing this idea) yet.

And, how about simulating WaterFalls for a change...hello Niagara !
http://www2.et.lut.fi/ttd/twophaseflow/Seminars/Multiphase_seminar_Waterfall_21_11_2006.pdf

LES/VOF studies of liquid jet breakup:
http://www.stanford.edu/group/ctr/Summer/SP08/3_3_Herrmann.pdf
http://pdf.aiaa.org/preview/CDReadyMFDC06_1188/PV2006_3730.pdf

Also, take a look at the study of liquid-metal flows
http://www.fusion.ucla.edu/apex/ISFNT6/simFNT.pdf

A more numerical study on "total volume conservation during free surface flows" can be found here
http://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/engineering/issues/muh-07-31-5/muh-31-5-6-0704-8.pdf

Collection of bubbles simulated using VOF ! Wow, now thats resource-intensive study !!
http://www.ahd.tudelft.nl/academy/abstracts/abstract_iwata.pdf

Comparisons of various CFD models in simulating flow field near tailrace zones : A nice report presented by US army corps.

http://www.pnl.gov/main/publications/external/technical_reports/pnnl-13467.pdf

btw, the report compares VOF methods in STAR, FLOW3D and they explain what other softwares were considered for this project and details on choosing STAR and FLOW3D !!!

Friday, January 8, 2010

CFD Simulations : Volume-of-Fluid Methods / Articles / Comparison Tests

As most of multiphase guys are aware: the VOF model is a surface-tracking technique applied to a fixed Eulerian mesh - designed for two or more immiscible fluids where the position of the interface between the fluids is of interest.

Importantly, in the VOF model, a single set of momentum equations is shared by the operating fluids, and the volume fraction of each of the fluids in each computational cell is tracked throughout the domain. Applications of the VOF model include stratified flows, free-surface flows, filling, sloshing, the motion of large bubbles in a liquid, the motion of liquid aftera dam break, the prediction of fluid jet breakup due to surface tension effects, and the transient tracking of any liquid-gas interface leading to steady state approximation.

The VOF methods are particularly suited when the interface needs to be correctly determined. Clearly, this denotes that operating flow scales would then be interest as well. Vast applications of VOF listed above are very frequently seen in industries and the methodology has gained far acceptance and is included in almost every discussion based on multiphase flows.

The only disadvantage - based on current computing trends - is that it requires a fine mesh to resolve the scales - in essence - DNS like privileges...which may or may not be possible in typical industrial settings...

a quickk Lecture on introduction to multiphase modeling can be used to get acquainted with the topic

1. http://www.chmltech.com/cfd/multiphase.pdf

2. http://www.ae.uiuc.edu/~loth/CUP/Ch1text.pdf

Some recent studies based on VOF is listed here:

1. VOF methods to simulate wavy falling film flow : http://boiling.seas.ucla.edu/Publications/GMD2003.pdf

2. Flow3D VOF runs: http://www.flow3d.com/pdfs/tp/micro_tp/FloSci-Bib12-09.pdf
(Nice comparisons with experiments - visual images ...)

3. VOF using ADINA software : http://www.adina.com/adinadownloads/primer/prob32.pdf

4. Numerical methods: Height function based Contact angle formulation

http://individual.utoronto.ca/afkhami/conferences/SCA2006.pdf

5. nice publication on modeling surfzone bubbles using VOF

http://chinacat.coastal.udel.edu/papers/shi-etal-icce08.pdf

6. Article on VOF methods applied to non-linear problems on body-fitted grids

http://www.iwwwfb.org/Abstracts/iwwwfb11/iwwwfb11_17.pdf

7. An article presenting the computational results achieved by performing CFD analysis of bubble columns using VOF model can be downloaded from

http://www.aidic.it/cet/09/18/098.pdf

In particular, the article provides comparison of the commercial and opensource solvers with experiments. Some experimental images provided in the article can be used as reference.

8. Work on PLIC-VOF

http://www.brunel.ac.uk/controls/common/getImage.aspx?imageId=69


Some comparison articles:

1. CICSAM vs HRIC : http://www.ptmts.org.pl/Waclaw-Koron-2-08.pdf

2. STACS vs rest :http://webfea-lb.fea.aub.edu.lb/CFD/pdfs/publications2/STACS-Complete.pdf

3. CICSAM vs STACS : I found a link in ASME proceedings but was unable to download the paper.

http://link.aip.org/link/abstract/ASMECP/v2007/i42894/p347/s1

An wonderful lecture I came across detailing several aspects of moving boundary problems with elaborate discussions on methods and applications

http://www.ims.nus.edu.sg/Programs/fluiddynamic/files/Lecture1-basics.pdf

Again, the publications posted here are merely those i came across in recently and in time, ill try to post several other articles of interest in this area...

Keep VOFing !

Thursday, January 7, 2010

CFD Notes : Basic CFD ?

At some point of time in a CFDist career, they must have wondered if there were better notes/course lectures available from other professors / universities to guide them ...better? Well, we are past that ..but definitely it is worth refreshing time to time to augment one's understanding of the basics...what if ....we had got it all wrong so far..may be a good time to restart from scratch, eh ?

1. CFD notes from Stefan Walin
http://www2.mech.kth.se/~stefanw/AppliedCFD/notes.pdf

Some additional computer resource information available from

http://www2.mech.kth.se/~stefanw/AppliedCFD/

2. Applied CFD course with some cases - discussions on numerical diffusion etc..

http://www.face.aau.dk/courses/face8/applied_cfd/face8-appliedCFD.htm

3. Flow3D site providing some basics-
http://www.flow3d.com/cfd101/cfd101_main.html

4. Notes from Dr. Xue: Nice chapters on fundamental to PDE, Finite Difference, Hyperbolic/elliptic eqn solvers, Semi-lagrangian methods, Spectral methods..

http://twister.caps.ou.edu/CFD2007/

5. Neat diary of dimensional analysis, non-viscous, real fluids with elements of aerodynamics, compressible flows studies..
http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/311/notes/notes.html

6. Mich. State course on Computer aided design of thermal systems...
http://www.egr.msu.edu/classes/me416/


ofcourse, searching the web, one could find better course notes for sure...More updates on advanced course notes will be made available later in this blog...

CFD Tools : Online Calculators

I came across this nice posting wherein the author provides users with cool calculators for fluid mechanics applications.

Link: http://www.ajdesigner.com/index_fluid_mechanics.php

Some of the calculations possible with this calculator include acoustic flow meter, bernoulli eqn, cavitation, cauchy formulation, darcy's eqn, manning effects, friction head loss computation, prandtl design calc, venturi -pump-water hammer effects..just to name a few....I would definitely like to bookmark such pages as they come in handy when I require quick estimation of flow parameters !!

Also, I found quite good fluid flow estimators with applets in the efluid site

http://www.efluids.com/efluids/pages/calculators.htm

Other websites containing such nice calculators for quick-off the shelf numbers....

Especially for venturi, orifice, pipe calculations

FreeCalc.com

Flowmeterdirectory.com/flowmeter_flow_calc.html

LmnoEng.com/darcy.htm

eFunda.com/formulae/fluids/calc_orifice_flowmeter.cfm

EngineersEdge.com/calculators.htm

Flow estimation

AOE.vt.edu/~devenpor/aoe5104/ifm/ifminfo.html - the famous ideal flow machine with online java applet

Combustion, Fuels - Thermal estimations

Depcik.com/eduprograms/aftp.htm

CES.ca.uky.edu/energy/calculators/Energy.../index.htm

For compressible flow calculations

ChEresources.com/high_dp_orifice_flow.shtml

While initializing a domain estimations like hydraulic diameter, continuity, venturi effects are very important to obtain nice solutions. Ofcourse, one could make a big error in initializing and the solution can correct itself ..but how about providing a nice initial estimation - close to the actual numbers !

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Fluent applications / queries : Airfoils, Waves in tanks,...

I try posting some interesting queries / how-to-do's using Fluent - Fluent Files etc here. Recently, I came across this thread "trying to generate a wave inside an enclosure containing liquid - gas interfaces". Nice application.







(Img src: http://www.fluent.com/software/sf_mesh_and_tutorials/tutorial_wave.htm)


Student tutorial is available for this purpose with links to download wave.zip tutorial files:

http://www.fluent.com/software/sf_mesh_and_tutorials/tutorial_wave.htm
PDF version of the set up is available here:
http://willem.engen.nl/uni/fluent/documents/external/wave.pdf

Also, I found this thread helpful:
http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/fluent/62766-how-generate-wave-fluent.html


2. Flow over Airfoil problem is elaborated here - including meshing attributes and Fluent runs















http://www.me.psu.edu/cimbala/Learning/Fluent/fluent_airfoil.htm

Nice discussion thread on comparing the airfoil simulation data and simulation results
http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/fluent/69598-comparison-airfoil-0012-experimental-result-simulation-result.html



3. For people who have tried to convert Ansys CFX to Fluent files this thread could be helpful:

http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/fluent/43405-converting-ansys-cfx-files-fluent-files.html

4. For species simulations, how about an thread for modeling biomass combustion with species transport model

http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/fluent/45261-modelling-biomass-combustion-via-species-transport.html


Ofcourse, many can find what they are looking for in various CFD threads. I rather, try accumulating all the important topics / discussions from all the sources I come across so that other CFD researchers can simply use that time for something better !

CFD Code comparisons

Evolution and development of opensource codes have certainly invited a much need comparison of their performances with the commercial ones. The comparisons are definitely based on the applicability, in-built tools and solution accuracy.

There has been a number of articles, discussion threads in cfd-online and elsewhere detailing these differences. I came across one such thread wherein CFD'ists evaluated the opensource codes with commercials guys like Fluent, CFX in terms of portability, industrial applicability, multi-physics capability and use in research activities...

http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/main/14872-openfoam-vs-fluent-cfx.html

In particular, aspects of geometry environment, CAD import, Meshing, Pre/Post processing, physical model implementation to name a few were brought into the conversation which drew very wide interest among several visitors to the popular cfd site. Inclusion of "professional" items within opensource codes, indeed, dominated the discussion. Several authors unanimously pointed to the primary differences between the opensource and commercial codes as being

1. ease of use
2. pre / post processing input and output data resp.
3. portability
4. accuracy of simulations
5. simulation speed and scalability
6. additional priorities in handling industrial needs
7. availability and applicability of physical models

In my opinion, opensource codes such as OF provide, to a large extent, flexibility to the user (if the user is more towards model development and numerics) while still requiring some definite help from other opensource / commercial tools for pre/post processing (which is of more importance for an application engineers / decision makers...:) ). Certainly, in the recent times, open source codes have been well embraced by several research institutions and industries and they have started exploring the idea of fine tuning the code to suit their specific needs - a scenario not quite possible or may take long time to establish using commercial codes.

A note by Nelson of innovative-CFD on several other opensource development and application presents interesting overview of the CFD consulting world.

http://www.innovative-cfd.com/free-cfd.html


I came across some comparison tests between OF and other codes.

A nice presentation of the simulation of the implementation of Rotor-Stator interfaces in openFoam and comparisons with Numeca and CFX from the openFoam workshop held in 2008.

http://www.openfoamworkshop.org/08/presentations/Turbomachinery/BlaimBormFrobelKau1.pdf


An recent journal article on the comparison of openFoam with commercial code fluent in capturing bubble columns is a good starting point for multiphase researchers.

http://www.aidic.it/cet/09/18/098.pdf

an cfd-online thread on comparison tests including turbulent effects

http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/openfoam-solving/59318-comparison-openfoam-fluent-experiment.html

Basic comparisons: flow past cylinder cases
http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/openfoam-solving/58189-openfoam-vs-fluent-cylinder-re-3d150.html

STARCD vs OF : http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/openfoam-solving/59753-starcd-vs-openfoam.html

The search for the "perfect" software which does not drill into our pockets is still on....

Multiphase Codes - SOLA VOF for interface tracking

In one way or other, researchers in the multiphase area, especially those seeking to identify and capture distinct interface between liquid / liquid or liquid -gas, have come across the SOLA VOF code.


A publication on the computational method for free surface hydrodynamics (SOLA VOF method) can be found here.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/lanl/lib-www/la-pubs/00229032.pdf

Discussions in the cfd-online forum pertaining to the availability of the free VOF code - SOLA VOF is linked here

http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/main/16383-sola-vof-report.html

In particular, one of the guests posts the link to the download of the report containing the SOLA VOF code -in an as-is basis. The LANL server hosts the file (link below)

http://library.lanl.gov/cgi-bin/getfile?00313507.pdf

The report above, contains the complete description of the solution derivation of the transient fluid flow with free boundaries (2D computer program)

CFD Online / FLUENT Discussions