DescriptionThis project uses ANSYS Fluent to simulate two-phase open channel flow, modeling the interaction between water and air inside a channel — a core problem in hydraulic and open-channel flow engineering. Open channels, whether natural (rivers) or artificial (canals, irrigation channels, water transmission systems), are widely used for water conveyance, transport, and irrigation. Water enters the channel at a mass flow rate of approximately 60 kg/s, and its interface behavior with the air phase above it is resolved using Fluent's open channel flow modeling capability.MethodologyThe geometry is built in DesignModeler and meshed in ANSYS Meshing using a structured grid of 214,560 elements. The simulation uses a pressure-based, steady-state solver, with gravity applied at -9.81 m/s² in the Y direction. Turbulence is modeled using the standard k-omega model with shear flow correction, while the VOF multiphase model with the open channel sub-model captures the water-air interface, with air as the primary phase and water as the secondary phase.Boundary conditions specify a mass flow inlet for water (60.071524 kg/s), with an open channel free surface level of 0.24 m and bottom level of 0 m, using density interpolation from neighboring cells. The outlet is set as a pressure outlet, and walls are treated as stationary. The solution uses the SIMPLE scheme for pressure-velocity coupling, PRESTO! for pressure discretization, second-order upwind for momentum, a compressive scheme for volume fraction, and first-order upwind for turbulent kinetic energy and dissipation rate. Standard initialization is applied with zero gauge pressure, zero velocity, and a water volume fraction of 0.ConclusionResults include 3D and 2D contours of velocity, pressure, and water volume fraction, characterizing the flow behavior and free-surface interaction within the open channel.

Open Channel with a Side Outlet — ANSYS Fluent CFD SimulationDescriptionThis project simulates free-surface flow through an open channel using ANSYS Fluent, with the open-channel flow model as its central theme. An open channel is a waterway — natural or artificial — used to convey water for purposes such as transport, service-water supply, and irrigation; in effect, an engineered version of a river. Canals of this kind are widely used in industry, from water-transmission systems to air ducts, and their shape and dimensions are dictated by their intended use. The defining feature of such flows, and the core of this study, is the presence of a free surface between water and the air above it, which must be tracked accurately as the flow develops. Within the Free Surface Flow: Beginner CFD Training Package, this project adds a branch to the open-channel progression, introducing flow diversion into a side outlet.MethodologyThe configuration studied here is an open channel with a 180° bend and a side outlet. Water enters the canal at a mass flow rate of 45 kg/s, and partway through the bent section a set of obstacles reduces the flow pressure and diverts a portion of the incoming water into the side outlet — representing water drawn off to irrigate an adjacent farm. The aim is to understand how the bend, the obstacles, and the side outlet together govern the flow distribution, pressure field, and water level within the channel. The geometry was created in Gambit and meshed in ANSYS Meshing with an unstructured grid of 178,093 cells. Because two phases — water and air — are present with a sharp, well-defined interface between them, the simulation uses a multiphase approach built on the Volume of Fluid (VOF) model. VOF is the natural choice for open-channel flow precisely because the phase boundary is distinct: it tracks the fraction of each cell occupied by water versus air and so resolves the free surface directly. To set up the problem, the initial water level is specified, with water filling the channel to a depth of 0.15 m and air occupying the region above it.AnalysisAfter solving, the simulation yields contours of velocity, pressure, and the volume fraction of water and air. The pressure field shows elevated pressure in the lower part of the channel, where the water column stands to its defined level, consistent with the expected hydrostatic behavior. The volume-fraction contours correctly capture the stratified arrangement of the two phases — water occupying the lower portion of the channel and air flowing above it — confirming that the VOF model reproduces the free surface faithfully. By the end of this project, you'll be able to set up an open-channel VOF simulation with a defined initial water level, model flow diversion into a side outlet, and interpret the velocity, pressure, and volume-fraction fields to analyze flow distribution and water levels in practical canal and irrigation applications.

DescriptionThis project simulates two-phase flow of water and air inside an open channel with a 180-degree bend using ANSYS Fluent. This is fundamentally a free-surface flow problem: the water moves with an open, deformable interface between the liquid and the air above it, and accurately capturing the position and shape of that free surface is the central modeling challenge. To handle it, the multiphase VOF (Volume of Fluid) model is used — the standard approach for free-surface currents — with air defined as the primary phase and water as the secondary phase. Because the water flows with a free surface inside the channel, the open channel flow sub-model is also employed, with the water level set at 0.2 m.A stream of water 0.2 m deep, with a mass flow rate of 94.83 kg/s, enters the channel and, after traveling through the 180-degree arc, exits the outlet at atmospheric pressure. For the upper boundary of the channel — where air passes — a relative pressure condition of 0 Pa is applied.Geometry & MeshThe model was built in 3D using Design Modeler. It is a channel with a rectangular cross-section following a 180-degree arc; the cross-section is 1 m wide and 0.7 m high. Meshing was performed in ANSYS Meshing using a structured grid of 2,316,480 elements, shown in the figure below.MethodologySeveral assumptions underpin the simulation: a pressure-based solver is used, the simulation is steady, and gravity acts at −9.81 m/s² along the vertical axis.Viscous model — RNG k-epsilon with standard wall functionsMultiphase model — VOF with 2 Eulerian phases (air and water), implicit formulation, the open channel flow sub-model, and sharp interface modelingBoundary conditions — Inlet: mass flow inlet with a free-surface water level of 0.2 m, bottom level of 0 m, water mass flow rate of 94.83 kg/s, and air mass flow rate of 0 kg/s; Outlet and top: pressure outlet at 0 Pa gauge; inner, outer, and bottom walls: stationaryMethods — SIMPLE pressure-velocity coupling; second-order for pressure; second-order upwind for momentum; compressive scheme for volume fraction; first-order upwind for turbulent kinetic energy and turbulent dissipation rateInitialization — standard method, with 0 Pa gauge pressure, zero velocity in all directions, water volume fraction 0, and air volume fraction 1ConclusionOn completion of the solution, three-dimensional contours of pressure, velocity, turbulent kinetic energy, and the volume fractions of water and air within the 180-degree bend were obtained. Because the VOF model tracks the free surface directly, the results reveal how the water surface deforms as the flow negotiates the curve — including the superelevation of the water on the outer wall of the bend, where the centripetal effect raises the free surface, and the corresponding drop along the inner wall. This redistribution of water depth and velocity around the arc is precisely the behavior that free-surface modeling is designed to capture, making the VOF and open-channel approach essential to obtaining physically meaningful results.

Wide-Edge (Broad-Crested) Spillway — ANSYS Fluent CFD Simulation TrainingIntroductionA wide-edge (broad-crested) spillway is a cascading structure with a long horizontal crown aligned with the flow direction, such that the error arising from the hydrostatic pressure distribution can be neglected thanks to the acceleration of the radial flow. These spillways operate so that the upstream flow is subcritical while the flow over the spillway itself becomes supercritical, creating a flow-control section above the crown. One characteristic of these structures is that, a short distance from the crown, the flow lines run nearly parallel.In this type of spillway, the crest is wide and substantial relative to the other dimensions. The crowns may be wide, horizontal, or follow a specific curvature. Although they can be used to measure discharge, they serve most often as dam spillways — and sometimes as the dam itself, when water is allowed to pass through — and can store large volumes of water when needed.Project DescriptionThis project investigates the flow inside a wide-edge spillway using ANSYS Fluent. There is a deliberate elevation difference between the main channel and the sub-channel, in part to store a portion of the flowing water. The RNG k-epsilon model solves the turbulent flow equations, while the multiphase VOF model captures the two phases of water and air within the open channel. Water enters the channel at a mass flow rate of 65 kg/s and passes into the second channel after striking the middle section of the spillway.Geometry & MeshThe geometry was created in ANSYS Design Modeler and meshed in ANSYS Meshing using a structured grid, for a total of 981,900 elements.MethodologySeveral key assumptions underpin the model. The simulation uses a pressure-based solver and is run as steady-state, so the results do not vary with time. Gravity is applied at −9.81 m/s² in the Y direction.Turbulence is modeled with the RNG k-epsilon model using standard wall functions, and the two phases — air as the primary phase and water as the secondary phase — are handled with the VOF approach. Water enters through a mass-flow inlet (65 kg/s) defined as an open-channel boundary, with a free-surface level of 0.08 m, a bottom level of 0 m, and density interpolation taken from the neighboring cell. The outlets are set as pressure outlets, and the walls are treated as stationary.For the solution methods, pressure–velocity coupling uses the SIMPLE scheme. Pressure is discretized with PRESTO! and momentum with second-order upwind, while volume fraction, turbulent kinetic energy, and turbulent dissipation rate all use first-order upwind. The solution is initialized with the standard method: gauge pressure 0 Pa, velocity 0 m/s, turbulent kinetic energy 1 m²/s², turbulent dissipation rate 1 m²/s³, and water volume fraction 0.ResultsThe water volume fraction contour shows that, because of the height difference and the absence of any inlet flow in the sub-channel, the water volume fraction takes nonzero values in the upper part of the sub-channel. Once the solution is complete, 3D contours of pressure, velocity, volume fractions, and related quantities are extracted and presented.

DescriptionA spillway is a hydraulic structure designed to regulate the water level stored behind a dam or levee, typically discharging excess flow into a downstream riverbed. Several spillway configurations exist, each suited to different site and capacity requirements.As incoming water raises the reservoir level beyond the dam's storage capacity, the surplus volume must be safely released downstream through the spillway. This project simulates a labyrinth spillway positioned at the center of a channel, designed to manage and control the stored water height behind it.The 3D geometry was built in Design Modeler, and an unstructured mesh was generated in ANSYS Meshing, producing 464,175 elements. Using ANSYS Fluent's Make Polyhedral function, this element count was later reduced to 99,248, improving computational efficiency without sacrificing accuracy.MethodologyThe simulation is run as a transient (unsteady) case to properly capture the time-dependent behavior of the fluid. A pressure-based solver is used, appropriate for the incompressible working fluid. Gravitational effects are included by applying an acceleration of 9.81 m/s² in the negative Y-direction. Multiphase behavior is captured using the VOF (Volume of Fluid) model to track the interacting fluid phases throughout the simulation.ConclusionThe water level retained behind the spillway stabilizes at a height equal to the spillway's own height, while any inflow exceeding the dam's storage capacity is directed over it. This excess water passes through the labyrinth spillway and continues downstream, helping maintain a controlled reservoir level.The contours and animations reveal turbulent behavior as incoming water pushes the stored fluid toward the downstream side. Once the flow overtops the dam structure, it accelerates noticeably before reaching the outlet.

DescriptionThis project simulates pollution transport in a meandering river using ANSYS Fluent, investigated through CFD analysis. Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies — usually the result of human activity — in a way that harms their legitimate uses. Such pollution prevents a body of water from delivering the ecosystem services it would otherwise provide, and it is broadly classified as either surface water pollution or groundwater pollution.The model was built in 3D using Design Modeler. The river's width at the inlet is 14.035 m, and the pollutant enters through two circular profiles, each 3 m in diameter. Meshing was performed in ANSYS Meshing, producing 762,433 elements. Because of the time-dependent nature of the problem, a transient solver was used.MethodologyThis study employs the VOF (Volume of Fluid) multiphase model to solve the two-phase flow field. To represent the free surface of the river, the open channel option within the multiphase module was enabled, allowing the air–water interface and the gravity-driven surface flow to be captured accurately.Pollutant enters the river through two circular inlet profiles near its start and then diffuses into the water. Because the pollutant is less dense than water, it accumulates at the river's surface, and the flow carries it downstream, spreading the contamination along the channel.The Realizable k-epsilon viscous model with scalable wall functions was used to resolve the turbulent flow. Pressure-velocity coupling was handled with the SIMPLE scheme. A second-order upwind scheme was applied to the momentum equations, while a first-order upwind scheme was used for the turbulent kinetic energy and turbulent dissipation rate. Water enters the domain at 35 m/s, and the pollutant enters at 5 m/s.ConclusionOnce the solution was complete, contours of velocity, pressure, pollutant volume fraction, water volume fraction, eddy viscosity, and streamlines were extracted and presented across different time steps.As the results show, the pollutant enters the river through the two circular inlet profiles and gradually diffuses across the water surface over time. Driven by the river's flow, the pollution spreads along the free surface and ultimately leads to widespread contamination of the channel.

Pollution Spread in a Stagnant River, ANSYS Fluent TrainingDescriptionThis project simulates the entry and spread of a pollutant into a stagnant river using ANSYS Fluent.The core of this case is open-channel flow — flow in a channel or river whose upper surface is open to the atmosphere and free to deform, rather than being fully enclosed by walls. In open-channel problems the position and shape of the free surface is part of the solution, and gravity governs how the water and anything riding on it settle and move. A river receiving a discharge is a natural example: the pollutant enters at the surface and spreads across it, so tracking that free surface is essential, which is exactly what the open-channel (free-surface VOF) approach is built for.The application itself is an environmental one. Water pollution from industrial waste is a serious concern: chemical by-products discharged into rivers endanger aquatic life and can enter the human food chain through it, causing disease. Simulating how a pollutant disperses once it reaches a river helps predict how far and how fast contamination travels.The 3-D geometry was built in Design Modeler, with a river inlet width of 11.05 m. The domain was meshed in ANSYS Meshing with 161,562 elements, and because the spreading process evolves in time, a transient solver is used.Simulation MethodologyThe two phases — water and pollutant — are handled with the VOF multiphase model. The pollutant enters through a non-uniform profile partway along the river and diffuses into the water. Because its density is lower than that of water, it floats and spreads along the free surface. Turbulence is solved with the realizable k-ε model using scalable wall functions, pressure-velocity coupling is SIMPLE, and momentum and the volume fraction use second-order upwind discretization. The river water itself is initially stagnant, and the pollutant enters at 8 m/s.Results & ConclusionAfter solving, contours of velocity, pressure, and pollutant volume fraction were obtained. The results show the pollutant progressively diffusing into the river water over time, with the pressure near the pollutant inlet higher than elsewhere. The cross-sectional pressure contour also shows pressure increasing with depth, as expected for a body of water under gravity.

Greenhouse Ventilation — ANSYS Fluent CFD SimulationDescriptionThis project simulates air ventilation inside a greenhouse using ANSYS Fluent, with particular attention to how internal fans and floor heating drive air circulation. A greenhouse must maintain the right temperature and air movement for the plants inside, and this is achieved through a combination of heating and fan-driven ventilation. The simulation captures how heat from the floor and airflow from the fans together set up the circulation that distributes warmth through the space. Within the Fan: Beginner CFD Training Package, this project applies fan-driven ventilation to a large enclosed space, combining fans, floor heating, convection, and radiation in a single case.MethodologyThe three-dimensional geometry — 10 m long, 3.15 m high, and 4 m wide — is built in SpaceClaim and meshed in ANSYS Meshing with 216,456 elements. Given the time-dependent nature of the circulation process, a transient solver is used throughout. Ventilation is driven by two small fans, each 5 cm in radius, rotating at 100 rad/s inside the greenhouse. The floor is heated with a fixed heat flux of 250 W/m², while the side walls exchange heat with the outside air through convection, defined by a heat-transfer coefficient of 30 W/m²K and a free-stream temperature of 300 K. A radiation model is also activated to capture radiative heat transfer alongside convection. Turbulence and temperature distribution are resolved using the realizable k-epsilon model together with the energy equation, and air density is allowed to follow the ideal-gas law so that the buoyancy effects from heating are captured rather than assumed away.AnalysisThe resulting velocity and temperature contours show the expected buoyancy-driven behavior: air near the greenhouse floor heats up and becomes less dense over time, while the surrounding cooler air, being denser, sinks and displaces it. This density difference sets up a natural circulation pattern, which the two fans reinforce and accelerate, sustaining a continuous cycle of heat transport through the greenhouse volume. From these results you can evaluate how effectively the fans and floor heating together ventilate and warm the greenhouse, and how the temperature and airflow distribute through the space. By the end of this project, you'll be able to set up a transient greenhouse-ventilation simulation combining fans, floor heating, convection, and radiation, apply the ideal-gas model to capture buoyancy, and interpret the velocity and temperature fields that describe the circulation sustaining a healthy growing environment.

Horizontal Fluidized Bed Simulation for Soil Drying in ANSYS FluentIntroductionSolid particles, when sufficiently small, can behave like a fluid under vertical flow conditions—a phenomenon known as fluidization. By applying an upward flow to a bed of fine particles, the drag force exerted by the fluid on the particles can balance the gravitational force acting on them, causing the particles to levitate and exhibit fluid-like behavior. This phenomenon is widely used in industrial applications, including increasing residence time for burning waste biofuels and supporting catalytic processes in petroleum production. This project simulates a horizontal fluidized bed designed to dry incoming soil containing moisture. Soil enters the bed at a mass flow rate of 1 kg/s with a water mole fraction of 0.1, while air flows in from the bottom at 1.7 m/s and 393 K, driving evaporation of the moisture contained within the soil as it passes through the fluidized bed.Geometry and MeshThe geometry is two-dimensional, with a fluidizer height of 0.5 m and a length of 2 m. It was designed in SpaceClaim and meshed using ANSYS Meshing with a structured mesh totaling 22,000 elements.MethodologyThe simulation was solved as unsteady, with gravity activated to capture its effect on the soil particles and the energy equation enabled to resolve thermal behavior. The Eulerian multiphase approach was used to model the two-phase system, with each phase containing two species defined through the species transport model. The primary phase is a gas composed of air and water vapor, while the secondary phase is granular, with a particle size of 0.0018 m, containing soil and liquid water as its constituent species. Mass transfer between liquid water and vapor was captured using the evaporation-condensation method with the Lee model. Viscous effects were modeled using the standard k-ε model with standard wall functions, chosen for its robustness and relatively low computational cost.Results and ConclusionContours of temperature and species mass concentration illustrate the progressive evaporation of soil moisture within the fluidized bed, showing a decrease in liquid water concentration accompanied by a corresponding increase in vapor concentration. The air temperature drops to the saturation temperature of water by the outlet, while the soil temperature remains essentially constant throughout the bed, indicating that the heat lost by the gas phase is consumed by the evaporation process rather than by heating the soil. The gas-phase pressure drop across the fluidized bed was calculated as 284.8 Pa. Key quantitative results are summarized below:LocationArea-weighted avg. vapor concentration [kg/m³]Mass-weighted avg. vapor concentration [kg/m³]Temperature [K]Inlet gas0.00170393Outlet gas0.01081.85×10⁻⁵372.4Inlet soil0.00587.92373Outlet soil0.016141.91373.37These results confirm that the horizontal fluidized bed effectively facilitates moisture removal from the soil through convective drying, with the coupled heat and mass transfer behavior consistent with the physical expectations of an evaporation-driven fluidization process.

DescriptionThis project investigates combustion inside an industrial biomass waste incinerator using ANSYS Fluent, with the goal of understanding how fluid flow, heat transfer, and chemical reactions interact to produce uniform combustion across the waste surface, a key factor in waste-to-energy efficiency. The geometry includes a trapezoidal waste pile, multiple air and fuel inlets, two exhaust gas outlets, and a cooling system, built in Design Modeler and meshed in ANSYS Meshing with 513,233 elements.MethodologyThe simulation runs steady-state with a pressure-based solver, using the Realizable k-epsilon model with standard wall functions to resolve the complex flow patterns inside the incinerator. The energy equation is enabled to capture the thermal behavior driving and resulting from combustion. Chemistry is represented through the Species Transport model, defining two primary reactions, CH4 + O2 and H2 + O2, with the eddy-dissipation model handling turbulence-chemistry interaction under the fast-chemistry assumption typical of industrial combustion. Since the waste itself continuously generates combustible gases as it burns, fixed source terms for CO and H2 mass fraction are applied directly at the rubbish surface boundary to represent this ongoing gas release.AnalysisThe results show a strong temperature gradient through the incinerator, rising from a 300 K inlet to an average zone temperature of 2619.4 K and an outlet chamber temperature of 4042.636 K, confirming substantial heat generation in the main combustion region. Velocity contours reveal complex internal flow patterns reaching up to 33.25 m/s, which govern how effectively air and fuel mix and how heat distributes through the chamber. Static temperature contours show peaks above 4000 K in the core combustion zone, with the waste surface itself showing higher temperatures near the fuel inlets and in areas of stronger air-fuel mixing. CH4 and CO2 mass fraction contours trace the reaction's progress directly, with CH4 concentrated near the fuel inlets and CO2 building up downstream in the post-combustion zones, while temperature-colored pathlines show recirculation zones forming as air and fuel streams interact, which enhances mixing and helps drive more complete combustion. Together these results indicate the current inlet layout achieves good overall combustion performance, though adjusting inlet positions and flow rates could further even out the temperature distribution across the waste surface, a change that would likely improve combustion efficiency and reduce emissions.