DescriptionThis study simulates well drilling and cuttings (sludge) transport using ANSYS Fluent. The wellbore is modeled as a cylindrical annulus containing a rotating inner cylinder (100 rpm). A non-Newtonian drilling fluid (CMC) flows through the cavity, entraining and lifting solid mud particles. An Eulerian multiphase framework is adopted: the primary phase is the CMC base fluid and the secondary phase comprises drilling solids.The Eulerian approach is suitable for high dispersed-phase loadings (>10%), slurry and liquid–solid transport, and deposition studies. Here, the base fluid volume fraction is 0.87 and the solids (drilling particles) volume fraction is 0.13. Viscosity behavior is non-Newtonian for the CMC phase (contrast to Newtonian fluids, whose shear stress varies linearly with strain rate).Geometry & MeshThe 3D domain consists of two eccentric coaxial cylinders, each 10 m long. The inner cylinder diameter is 0.128 m and the outer cylinder diameter is 0.444 m. Meshing is performed in ANSYS Meshing with an unstructured grid totaling 179,820 elements.Simulation SetupA pressure-based, transient (unsteady) solver is used. Gravity is included with a magnitude of −9.81 m/s². Because the well axis is inclined by 30° relative to gravity, the gravitational acceleration resolves to 4.9 m/s² in the xxx direction and 8.5 m/s² in the zzz direction. The inner cylinder’s rotation is prescribed at 100 rpm to promote solids lifting and separation within the annulus.Results & DiscussionPost-processing yields 2D and 3D contours of pressure, CMC velocity, drilling-solids velocity, CMC volume fraction, drilling-solids volume fraction, and turbulent kinetic energy. These fields characterize the coupling between rotation-induced shear and buoyancy components, illustrating how the non-Newtonian carrier mobilizes and transports the cuttings while mitigating deposition within the inclined wellbore.

Rampressor, ANSYS Fluent CFD Simulation TrainingDescriptionThis project simulates air compression inside a Rampressor using ANSYS Fluent — a distinctive type of supersonic compressor rotor capable of achieving high pressure ratios through ramjet-style supersonic shock wave compression.The operating principle relies on gas flow passing between a fixed outer housing and an angled inner surface, or "ramp." As this inner ramp surface rotates relative to the fixed outer body, it progressively narrows or widens the gas passage. This changing cross-section triggers shock wave formation and alters the local Mach number, ultimately compressing the gas.In this simulation, the Rampressor's inner wall rotates about its central (z) axis at 40,000 rpm, modeled using the frame motion technique: the shroud wall itself is assigned zero rotational velocity, while the surrounding computational region containing the rotating ramp is assigned the full 40,000 rpm rotational speed within the frame motion setup. Given the compressive nature of the device, pressure boundary conditions were applied at the inlet and outlet, set to relative pressures of 104,600 Pa and 350,000 Pa respectively. Since the internal airflow is fully compressible, a density-based solver was used throughout.Geometry & MeshThe 3D geometry was designed in Design Modeler as a three-dimensional ring structure, with the sides defined as inlet and outlet sections. The outer wall was defined as static, while the inner wall — featuring several angled ramp surfaces — was defined as rotating.The domain was meshed in ANSYS Meshing using an unstructured grid totaling 1,785,931 elements.MethodologySeveral assumptions were applied to the simulation: a density-based solver was used, the flow was treated as steady-state, and gravitational effects were excluded.Key simulation settings included:Viscous model: Standard k-epsilon with standard wall functions; energy equation enabledBoundary conditions: Pressure inlet at 104,600 Pa gauge total pressure and 300 K total temperature; pressure outlet at 350,000 Pa gauge pressure; shroud and inner wall defined as rotating walls with 0 rpm assigned directly to the wall motion (rotation handled via the frame motion region) and zero heat fluxSolution methods: Implicit formulation, with first-order upwind schemes applied to flow, turbulent kinetic energy, and turbulent dissipation rateInitialization: Hybrid methodConclusionResults include 2D and 3D contours of pressure, velocity, density, temperature, and Mach number. The results show a clear pressure increase at the Rampressor outlet, along with elevated Mach numbers in the gap between the ramp surfaces and the surrounding equipment body — consistent with the shock-compression mechanism driving this device's operation.

DescriptionThis project investigates noise generation from a ceiling fan in a room using ANSYS Fluent, comparing two distinct acoustic modeling approaches: the Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings (FW-H) integral method and a method based directly on the wave equation. The room is a 3D square domain measuring 4 m × 3 m × 4 m, with the fan centered in the room at a height of 2.7 m. Two square openings serve as inlet and outlet, with wind entering at 3 m/s. The geometry is built in Design Modeler and meshed in ANSYS Meshing, with 720,783 cells for the FW-H case and 534,016 cells for the wave equation case; given the inherently time-dependent nature of noise generation, both cases are run transient.MethodologyIn the first configuration, the fan is set rotating at 240 rpm using the Mesh Motion method, and noise is predicted using the FW-H integral method, with several receiver points placed at different locations in the room to sample the resulting sound field. In the second configuration, the fan is held fixed while wind continues to blow through the room at 3 m/s, and the noise generated purely from the wind colliding with the stationary fan blades is captured instead through a method based on the wave equation, isolating that collision-driven noise mechanism from the rotational one modeled in the first case.AnalysisThe results include 2D and 3D contours and plots of room pressure, temperature, and velocity, along with sound pressure and amplitude plots at the defined receiver points, generated in CFD Post. Temperature and velocity fields are shown as 3D contours throughout the room, while acoustic quantities are reported both on the fan surfaces and throughout the surrounding room environment. Comparing the two methods highlights how the fan's rotation versus the wind's direct impact on a stationary fan each contribute to the overall noise generated, giving two complementary perspectives on the same acoustic problem.

DescriptionThis project investigates the airflow over a Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) using ANSYS Fluent, with the aim of studying the velocity and pressure distribution across the blade surfaces and body. As the dominant technology in modern wind power, the HAWT is a cornerstone of renewable energy engineering, where analyzing blade aerodynamics is essential to maximizing the energy captured from the wind.The 3D model was created in SOLIDWORKS and imported into Design Modeler. The turbine consists of three blades, a rotary axis, and a surrounding flow domain. Meshing was performed in ANSYS Meshing using a structured grid of 4,270,222 elements.MethodologyThe simulation aims to examine the effect of the wind on the turbine blades and to calculate the drag and lift forces acting on the blade surfaces. The blades rotate about the horizontal axis at a rotational speed of 72 rad/s, while the air surrounding them is treated as stationary.Using the Multiple Reference Frame (MRF) method, the blades are held fixed and the air region around them is assigned a rotating frame turning at the same 72 rad/s about the y-axis. Because this is an external-flow problem, the k-omega SST model is used; this hybrid formulation blends the k-omega model in the near-wall regions with the k-epsilon model in the free stream beyond the boundary layer. Air enters the domain at a velocity of 15 m/s and exits through a pressure-outlet boundary at atmospheric pressure.ConclusionOn completion of the solution, contours of velocity, streamlines, and velocity vectors were obtained. The velocity contour clearly reveals the radial distribution of the airflow produced by the rotating blades, while the velocity vectors near the blade surfaces show, in detail, the interaction between the wind and the turbine blade. Together, these results illustrate how the blade extracts energy from the incoming wind — the fundamental aerodynamic behavior that governs the performance of a wind turbine in renewable energy applications.

H-Type Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT), Mesh Motion — ANSYS Fluent CFD SimulationDescriptionThis project presents a CFD simulation of an H-type vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) using ANSYS Fluent's Mesh Motion method. Turbines are a reliable, clean source of electricity generated by wind-induced rotation, but wind farms face challenges such as the low efficiency of horizontal axis turbines (HAWTs) at smaller diameters, the disruption of natural landscape views, and low wind conditions. Vertical axis turbines (VAWTs) address these issues: they avoid the very large diameters (up to 200 m) common in HAWTs, are widely used offshore where they don't disrupt valley views, and benefit from the more predictable, reliable wind of offshore sites. The H-type turbine analyzed here has six blades, with three positioned closer to the center of rotation.MethodologyThe geometry is drawn in Design Modeler and meshed in ANSYS Meshing with an unstructured grid of 1,546,624 cells. In this simulation, the rotational motion of the turbine blades must be defined — but rather than applying rotation to the blades themselves, the rotation is applied to the field around them, which requires separating a distinct moving zone from the overall computational domain. Because a vertical axis turbine's flow is time-dependent, as the blade positions vary over time, the Mesh Motion method is used in the cell zone conditions, with the rotation axis and rotation speed defined. The turbine rotates in the −Z direction at an angular velocity of 14.17 rad/s, and the air enters the domain at 5.3 m/s. The simulation is carried out as an unsteady (transient) analysis.AnalysisAfter the simulation, contours of velocity and pressure are obtained, along with velocity vectors and pathlines around the turbine blades. The results show that the airflow around the blades has a rotational movement, dominated by the turbine's rotation, with a maximum air velocity of 45 m/s captured downstream of the turbine and an inlet air mass flow rate of 272.685 kg/s. The blade tip speed ratio (TSR) is almost 6, with a tip speed of 30 m/s against a free-stream velocity of 5.3 m/s. A stagnation point forms in the −Y direction of the turbine — the maximum pressure zone — set by the combination of rotation and free-stream direction. The combined effect of the free-stream flow and the rotation-induced flow differs between the inner and outer blades: the pressure difference is smaller on the inner blades than on the outer ones, a result of the outer blades' higher linear velocity. By the end of this project, you'll be able to set up a transient Mesh Motion simulation of an H-type VAWT, define a rotating zone around the blades with the correct axis and speed, and interpret the velocity, pressure, TSR, and mass-flow results that characterize vertical-axis turbine aerodynamics.

DescriptionThis project uses ANSYS Fluent to simulate a Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) with the Dynamic Mesh 6DOF method, a core application of the dynamic mesh module for modeling rotation driven by fluid forces rather than a prescribed motion. The turbine's curved blades keep them in tension at high rotational speeds, and a helical blade arrangement helps distribute torque evenly across the revolution, reducing pulsation. In this case, a 6-blade Darrieus turbine is exposed to wind at 23 m/s, with turbine rotation resolved based on the moment generated by the flow itself.MethodologyThe 3D domain is built in DesignModeler, consisting of a flow domain and a body-of-influence region around the turbine, with a velocity inlet, pressure outlet, and ground wall boundary. The domain is meshed in ANSYS Meshing using an unstructured grid of 2,966,928 elements and 720,300 nodes. Turbine rotation is captured using the Dynamic Mesh 6DOF method, allowing the blades to rotate in response to the aerodynamic moment acting on them, rather than a fixed prescribed rotational speed.ConclusionResults show clear turbine rotation driven by the flow, with velocity contours revealing vortices — including Von Kármán vortex shedding — generated by the interaction between the flow and the rotating blades. Pressure contours show the highest pressure gradient at the blade leading edge, consistent with the flow velocity dropping to zero at that point. Streamline vectors resolve the wake region flow quality, a key challenge in this type of aerodynamic simulation, while the turbulence contour accurately captures the resulting turbulent structures.

DescriptionThis study investigates water flow over the blades of a Horizontal Axis Water Turbine (HAWT) using ANSYS Fluent, with the goal of examining the velocity and pressure distribution across the blade surfaces. Turbines of this kind are central to marine and hydrokinetic energy engineering, where they harness the kinetic energy of moving water to generate power.Two regions are defined around the blades: a cylindrical zone immediately surrounding them, and a larger domain enclosing that cylinder. In the outer domain, the water behaves as an ordinary free stream, while in the inner cylindrical region the rotational motion of the blades induces a swirling, rotational flow.Several assumptions underpin the simulation. The analysis is steady-state, since the turbine is of the horizontal-axis type and time therefore has no bearing on the drag and lift forces. A pressure-based solver is used, and gravitational force is neglected.MethodologyThe model was built in 3D, with the blade cross-section based on an S814 airfoil whose coordinates were taken from the Airfoil Tools website and exported as a text file. Because the airfoil section scales up or down along the blade span, Excel was used to define the coordinates at each spanwise station. Each section was then drawn in SOLIDWORKS at the appropriate angle and position and imported into Design Modeler to construct the blades and turbine shaft. Within Design Modeler, the rotational water region around the blades and the larger free-stream domain were both created.Meshing was performed in ANSYS Meshing using an unstructured grid. To improve accuracy, a boundary-layer mesh was applied to the blade surfaces, and the final cell count reached 4,270,222.The rotation of the blades is modeled using the Frame Motion (MRF) method. The turbine blades rotate at 191 rpm while the surrounding water is treated as stationary; under this approach, the blades are held fixed and the water region around them is assigned a rotating frame turning at the same 191 rpm about the Z-axis. Because the simulation is steady-state, the Mesh Motion option is disabled — it applies only when time-dependent effects must be captured, whereas here the objective is simply to impose the rotational speed on the blades.The solution setup is summarized below:Viscous model — SST k-omegaBoundary conditions — velocity inlet at 1 m/s; pressure outlet at 0 Pa gauge; all walls set as stationarySolution methods — SIMPLE pressure-velocity coupling; second-order upwind discretization for pressure, momentum, turbulent kinetic energy, and turbulent dissipation rateInitialization — standard method, with an initial velocity of −1 m/s in the Z-directionConclusionOn completion of the solution, the velocity and pressure distributions over the turbine blades can be examined in detail through the corresponding contours. These results reveal how the water loads the blade surfaces and how the rotational flow develops within the cylindrical zone, providing the basis for evaluating the hydrodynamic performance of the horizontal-axis water turbine.

Kaplan Turbine CFD Simulation, ANSYS Fluent TrainingDescriptionThis project simulates a Kaplan turbine using ANSYS Fluent. Turbomachines, also known as fluid machines, are widely used across industry, making it essential to understand their behavior in a fluid environment. Turbomachines generally fall into two categories: the first group — such as fans and compressors — takes energy and transfers it to the fluid, while the second group extracts energy from the fluid and transfers it to the system, as seen in wind and water turbines. Kaplan turbines belong to this second category.Kaplan turbines are a type of inward-flow reaction turbine, among the most widely used turbine designs in industry, operating through a combination of axial and radial flow concepts. Water enters through an inlet tube that rotates around guide vanes, flowing tangentially through these vanes before being redirected into a spiral pattern by the runner's propeller blades — ultimately driving the runner's rotation.This project investigates water flow passing through a Kaplan turbine rotating at 3300 rpm. The geometry was designed in Design Modeler and meshed in ANSYS Meshing using an unstructured grid totaling 919,824 cells.MethodologyTurbine rotation was modeled using the MRF (Moving Reference Frame) approach, applied through the Frame Motion option. Rather than rotating the turbine blades themselves, the surrounding fluid is treated as rotating at a velocity matching the turbine's own rotational speed, implemented through the MRF tool within Cell Zone Conditions.ConclusionResults include 2D and 3D contours of pressure, velocity, and surface pressure, along with velocity vector fields illustrating the fluid's rotational motion around the turbine blades.The surface pressure contour reveals localized regions on the turbine blades experiencing notably reduced pressure — these areas represent potential sites where cavitation could occur, and warrant closer examination in subsequent, more detailed analysis to assess cavitation risk and its potential impact on turbine performance and blade integrity.

Kaplan Hydro Turbine Evaluation, ANSYS Fluent CFD Simulation TutorialDescriptionThis project evaluates a Kaplan hydro turbine using ANSYS Fluent. The Kaplan turbine is a propeller-type water turbine featuring adjustable blades, classified as an inward-flow reaction turbine — meaning the working fluid undergoes a pressure change as it passes through the turbine, giving up its energy in the process. Power is recovered from both the hydrostatic head and the kinetic energy of the flowing water, with the Kaplan design combining characteristics of both radial and axial turbines.This project studies the turbine's hydrodynamic behavior, with the rotor set to an angular velocity of 16.5 rpm. Boundary conditions include a constant mass flow rate of 1000 kg/s at the inlet, zero gauge pressure at the outlet, and symmetry conditions applied to all side walls, given their distance from the region of primary interest. The study also evaluates turbine performance through the resulting drag force.The geometry — a small-scale Kaplan turbine — was designed in Design Modeler and meshed in ANSYS Meshing using an unstructured grid totaling 9,861,922 cells.MethodologyTurbine rotation was modeled using the MRF (Moving Reference Frame) approach via the Frame Motion option, treating the fluid surrounding the turbine blades as rotating rather than the blades themselves. Given the turbomachinery nature of this simulation, a dedicated cylindrical zone was separated from the broader computational domain, with the fluid within this zone assigned a rotational velocity matching the turbine's own, implemented through the MRF tool within Cell Zone Conditions.ConclusionResults include 2D and 3D contours of pressure, velocity, and surface pressure, along with velocity vectors and streamlines illustrating the fluid's rotational motion around the turbine blades.The lowest pressure occurs at the turbine's leading edge, consistent with the highest velocity values occurring at the blade tip. Velocity contours further show that rotational velocity — and the influence of the associated source terms — increases with distance from the turbine axis. The pressure distribution along the turbine walls forms two distinct regions: a high-pressure zone upstream, before the flow interacts with the turbine, and a corresponding low-pressure zone downstream, behind the turbine geometry.The flow vectors also capture the wake region's resolved behavior — a central challenge in aerodynamic simulation of this kind — revealing a suction mechanism active at the turbine's lower sections and a blowing mechanism at the upper sections. A core vortex adjacent to the turbine body is likewise captured, offering insight into how the flow field is reshaped in close proximity to the rotating walls.

DescriptionThis project uses ANSYS Fluent to simulate a Darrieus-type vertical axis water turbine (VAWT) submerged in flowing water, applying the Dynamic Mesh method to capture rotation driven by the surrounding flow — a relevant application in marine renewable energy and hydrokinetic power generation. Unlike wind-based VAWTs, this turbine extracts kinetic energy directly from water flow, with its rotational axis perpendicular to the flow direction. The three-bladed turbine rotates freely in response to the fluid forces acting on it, allowing its performance under water flow conditions to be evaluated.MethodologyThe 3D geometry is built in DesignModeler, consisting of a large computational domain containing a three-bladed Darrieus turbine (0.5 m blade height), with the turbine center positioned 3 m from the inlet, 10 m from the outlet, and 0.75 m from the top and bottom domain surfaces. The domain is meshed in ANSYS Meshing using a hybrid grid — unstructured around the turbine body and structured elsewhere — totaling 7,422,668 elements.Water enters the domain at 1 m/s along the horizontal axis, with a pressure outlet at atmospheric conditions and symmetry conditions applied to the top and lateral surfaces. The turbine's rotation is captured using the Dynamic Mesh model, with a cylindrical sub-region isolating the turbine blades as rigid bodies. Rotational motion is defined with one degree of freedom (1-DOF), using a blade mass of 1 kg and moment of inertia of 3.09 kg·m². The simulation is run transient, over 50 seconds with a 0.05 second time step, consistent with the dynamic mesh approach.ConclusionResults include 2D contours of velocity, pressure, and turbulent kinetic energy, along with pathlines and velocity vectors on a plane through the turbine center. Turbine torque and other performance characteristics are also analyzed, providing insight into the turbine's power extraction behavior — relevant to marine hydrokinetic energy system design and evaluation.