Fluid Flow Around a Wavy Tape in a Tube CFD Simulation, Ansys Fluent Software

Overview of Fluid Flow Around a Wavy Tape in a Tube CFD Simulation

Project Description

This study studies fluid flow through a circular tube including a wavy tape as a thermal insulating barrier using ANSYS Fluent. The research focuses on heat transfer analysis within the tube.

Assumptions

Using a pressure-based solver, the simulation is steady-state; gravitational influences are ignored.

Geometry & Mesh

Designed in Design Modeller, the 3D model has a semi-cylinder with wavy boundaries indicating the symmetrical tube.  Using an unstructured mesh with 653,307 components, ANSYS Meshing performs meshing.

CFD Simulation Procedure

Models and Boundary Conditions

• Viscous Model: Laminar
• Energy Equation: Enabled
• Inlet: Velocity of 0.0110334 m/s, Temperature of 293.15 K
• Outlet: Pressure set to 0 Pa
• Wall: Wave wall with heat flux of 0 W/m², Outer wall temperature at 360 K

Solution Methods

• Pressure-velocity coupling using SIMPLE
• Second-order upwind discretization for pressure, momentum, and energy equations

Initialization

• Standard initialization with z-velocity set at -0.0110334 m/s, Temperature at 293.15 K

Results

The simulation produces 3D and 2D contours of pressure, temperature, and velocity as well as flow lines and velocity vectors in both 2D and 3D formats post-solution, therefore offering thorough knowledge of the fluid dynamics and heat transfer properties around the wavy tape.