Theory

The two experiments were done on different bodies virtually in ANSYS fluent and physically in wind
tunnel to analyze the drag coefficient on the different shapes which are cylinder, semi sphere, and the
flat surface.

CFD applications and basics

● CFD is used in a wide variety of applications few of them are taken as examples to show the use
of CFD in industry. This simulation shown below is performed by using fluent software.
● CFD can be used to simulate flow over the vehicle and can be used analyzing lift, drag and other
factors on vehicle as well as the aircraft the following figure shows the flow passing over the
vehicle and different area of pressure on it.

Figure 1

● The temperature distribution can be obtained by using CFD in various heat applications the
figure below shows the heat distribution on an EGR cooler.
 Figure 2

● CFD is also used in biomedical engineering to the respiratory systems and blood circulatory
system, the figure below is showing the respiratory tract heat transfer of air.

Figure 3

● The basics of CFD includes the geometry creation and mesh creation and setting up the fluent to
analyze the different properties. In set up we can solve the problems by using different methods
and discretization orders which are discussed further in the report.
Math behind ANSYS fluent (finite volume method)

● Ansys fluent uses the finite volume method to solve the partial differential equations, which is
based on the irregular unstructured mesh, so it is suitable irregular and complex geometries and
the advantage of using this method is that it is based on integral form of conservation laws
rather than differential form, these conservation laws can be written in the PDEs system show in
figure 4, this method divides domain into finite number of elements (structured and
unstructured), the discretization of the domain can be done by vertex center approach ( this is
where the every node of the cell is the center of finite volume and there boundaries are
obtained by connecting centroid of each element and midpoint of every edge shown in figure 4
below after the domain decomposition the integral formulation of balanced equation is needed
for each finite volume, than the FVM discretize the balance equation by using divergence
theorem (figure 5), than these set integrated equations are assembled (figure 6) and written
unique quadratic equations, which are then solved by using gaussian elimination method, in
which unknow are calculated by eliminating the some other known or unknown quantity to
convert whole equation suitable one unknown and after finding the value for one unknown
quantity the calculated value is then used to find another one and this process doesn’t ends
until everything is found.

Figure 4
 Figure 5

Figure 6 assembly of discreate equation

● There are two governing equations in CFD which conservation of momentum and continuity
equation shown in figure 5, continuity equation can be perceived as the non-leaner diffusion
equation that can be used in applications of various fields for example aerospace for predicted
the space debris cloud evolution , and in biomedical engineering, the equation can be treated as
either initial boundary problem or the Cauchy problem, in the fundal physics (fluid dynamics)
the continuity equation is the principle of conservation of mass proposed by Lavoisier the
 conservation can be explained as the rate of change of mass in the CV is equal to the rate of
change of flowing into the CV figure 7.
● The momentum equation comes from the second law of newton which states that the force of
moving object is equal to the rate of change of linear momentum shown in figure 7

Navier stokes or
conservation of mass

Figure 7 governing equations

Continuity equation

Figure 8 divergence theorem

● Discretization is a process of transferring continues function, model and variable into discrete
form, in CFD discretization methods are used to cut continues functions into the discrete
function, where the solution values are defined at each point of time and space, it simply means
putting the space in the each point of your solution, in CFD there different orders of
discretization which are specified for different problems, but in this assignment we used default
which is second order (comparison of different discretization orders is done further in this
report)
● In different orders and methods of discretization numerical efficiency varies, for example, if we
are if want to calculate quantities more then we will use couple discretization, while for larger
number of equations we must select another option, and if we will use higher order the
efficiency and accuracy will increase.
● In this course work we are focusing more on the drag as compared to the lift, but these
quantities are interrelated to each other, drag is usually a force that a fluid exert on body in the
direction of flow when flow, while lift is defined as the component of aerodynamics
perpendicular to the flow direction.
● When the flow passes from the shape, there is a point where it detaches form the body the
leaving behind the wake turbulence shown in the figure, the wake turbulence is increased by
increased angle attack which also results increased lift, also results increased drag and wake
turbulence

Figure 9

Figure 10
 ● We can in two figures with different shapes that show how separation affect the lift and drag
and turbulence it also shows that the more turbulence more drag, the drag force can be
calculated by equation show in the figure.

Wind tunnel experiment

The wind tunnel consists of inlet cone which is connected which is further connected with the test
section, diffuser, fan and silencer, which further connected with the two manometers with the help of
two pitot (calculates the pressure and set the velocity according to that) which are used to control the
velocity of the flow and the manometers adjusted with help potentiometer shown in figure 11&12

Figure 11 wind tunnel

 Figure 12 controls

Aim: to analyze the drag force on different velocities 5 and 25 m/s

Procedure
● Check the all the connection of the wind tunnel.

● Wear security gear such eye protection and ears cover.

● Open the test panel and place the shape inside in center at 90 degrees.

● Switch on the fan and set the velocity to 25 m/s using the manometer at height of 39.06mm and
for 5m/s height is 1.56mm
● Then collect the force value shown on the digital meter o the wind tunnel.

● Repeat the process for each shape

How to set the velocity in wind tunnel

● Essure that the pitot is fitted to the front passion nearest to the inlet, check that the mechanism
allows the probe to transverse the entire section, adjust the screw holding pitot if not adjusted
● Connect the pitot tube and wall tapping to the manometer p1.

● Start the fan and adjust the value of manometer according to the calculation shown below in
figure 13,14&15
Figure 13 calculations
 Figure 14

Figure 15 calculations

● The values of p1 for the 25 and 5 m/s are calculated as 1.56 mm for 5 m/s and 39.06mm for 25
m/s in the manometer.
Calculating drag coefficient
● The drag coefficient is calculated form the drag force that was obtained form the experiment for
the different shapes, calculations for drag coefficient are shown in figure 16,17&18

Figure 16 calculations
Figure 17
 Figure 18

Comparing the results of the different shapes

● The table below show the drag coefficient of different shape at two different velocities

Drag coefficient

Velocity (m/s) Sphere Semi sphere Flat surface

5 0.015304 0 0.04591

25 0.04591 0.037956 0.07346

Table 1
 Figure 19

● It is evident from figure that the flat surface is experiencing maximum drag force, followed by
the sphere, while the semi spherical surface is experiencing least amount of drag, this is due the
reason that the for semi spherical surface the flow remains in contact with surface for longer
time, as compare to the flat surface in which flow is in contact with surface for very time due to
its sharp edges or we can say that the hemisphere is leaving less wage turbulence, other two
surface does more than that.
● Error sources while performing the experiments due the, the adjustment of angle of attack, it
has and another can be instrumental error, environmental error