to provide a single consistent code and user interface to the specification of
physical properties in both single-phase and multi-phase solvers. This redesign
simplifies usage and reduces code duplication in run-time selectable solver
options such as 'functionObjects' and 'fvModels'.
* physicalProperties
Single abstract base-class for all fluid and solid physical property classes.
Physical properties for a single fluid or solid within a region are now read
from the 'constant/<region>/physicalProperties' dictionary.
Physical properties for a phase fluid or solid within a region are now read
from the 'constant/<region>/physicalProperties.<phase>' dictionary.
This replaces the previous inconsistent naming convention of
'transportProperties' for incompressible solvers and
'thermophysicalProperties' for compressible solvers.
Backward-compatibility is provided by the solvers reading
'thermophysicalProperties' or 'transportProperties' if the
'physicalProperties' dictionary does not exist.
* phaseProperties
All multi-phase solvers (VoF and Euler-Euler) now read the list of phases and
interfacial models and coefficients from the
'constant/<region>/phaseProperties' dictionary.
Backward-compatibility is provided by the solvers reading
'thermophysicalProperties' or 'transportProperties' if the 'phaseProperties'
dictionary does not exist. For incompressible VoF solvers the
'transportProperties' is automatically upgraded to 'phaseProperties' and the
two 'physicalProperties.<phase>' dictionary for the phase properties.
* viscosity
Abstract base-class (interface) for all fluids.
Having a single interface for the viscosity of all types of fluids facilitated
a substantial simplification of the 'momentumTransport' library, avoiding the
need for a layer of templating and providing total consistency between
incompressible/compressible and single-phase/multi-phase laminar, RAS and LES
momentum transport models. This allows the generalised Newtonian viscosity
models to be used in the same form within laminar as well as RAS and LES
momentum transport closures in any solver. Strain-rate dependent viscosity
modelling is particularly useful with low-Reynolds number turbulence closures
for non-Newtonian fluids where the effect of bulk shear near the walls on the
viscosity is a dominant effect. Within this framework it would also be
possible to implement generalised Newtonian models dependent on turbulent as
well as mean strain-rate if suitable model formulations are available.
* visosityModel
Run-time selectable Newtonian viscosity model for incompressible fluids
providing the 'viscosity' interface for 'momentumTransport' models.
Currently a 'constant' Newtonian viscosity model is provided but the structure
supports more complex functions of time, space and fields registered to the
region database.
Strain-rate dependent non-Newtonian viscosity models have been removed from
this level and handled in a more general way within the 'momentumTransport'
library, see section 'viscosity' above.
The 'constant' viscosity model is selected in the 'physicalProperties'
dictionary by
viscosityModel constant;
which is equivalent to the previous entry in the 'transportProperties'
dictionary
transportModel Newtonian;
but backward-compatibility is provided for both the keyword and model
type.
* thermophysicalModels
To avoid propagating the unnecessary constructors from 'dictionary' into the
new 'physicalProperties' abstract base-class this entire structure has been
removed from the 'thermophysicalModels' library. The only use for this
constructor was in 'thermalBaffle' which now reads the 'physicalProperties'
dictionary from the baffle region directory which is far simpler and more
consistent and significantly reduces the amount of constructor code in the
'thermophysicalModels' library.
* compressibleInterFoam
The creation of the 'viscosity' interface for the 'momentumTransport' models
allows the complex 'twoPhaseMixtureThermo' derived from 'rhoThermo' to be
replaced with the much simpler 'compressibleTwoPhaseMixture' derived from the
'viscosity' interface, avoiding the myriad of unused thermodynamic functions
required by 'rhoThermo' to be defined for the mixture.
Same for 'compressibleMultiphaseMixture' in 'compressibleMultiphaseInterFoam'.
This is a significant improvement in code and input consistency, simplifying
maintenance and further development as well as enhancing usability.
Henry G. Weller
CFD Direct Ltd.
The MomentumTransportModels library now builds of a standard set of
phase-incompressible and phase-compressible models. This replaces most
solver-specific builds of these models.
This has been made possible by the addition of a new
"dynamicTransportModel" interface, from which all transport classes used
by the momentum transport models now derive. For the purpose of
disambiguation, the old "transportModel" has also been renamed
"kinematicTransportModel".
This change has been made in order to create a consistent definition of
phase-incompressible and phase-compressible MomentumTransportModels,
which can then be looked up by functionObjects, fvModels, and similar.
Some solvers still build specific momentum transport models, but these
are now in addition to the standard set. The solver does not build all
the models it uses.
There are also corresponding centralised builds of phase dependent
ThermophysicalTransportModels.
The new fvModels is a general interface to optional physical models in the
finite volume framework, providing sources to the governing conservation
equations, thus ensuring consistency and conservation. This structure is used
not only for simple sources and forces but also provides a general run-time
selection interface for more complex models such as radiation and film, in the
future this will be extended to Lagrangian, reaction, combustion etc. For such
complex models the 'correct()' function is provided to update the state of these
models at the beginning of the PIMPLE loop.
fvModels are specified in the optional constant/fvModels dictionary and
backward-compatibility with fvOption is provided by reading the
constant/fvOptions or system/fvOptions dictionary if present.
The new fvConstraints is a general interface to optional numerical constraints
applied to the matrices of the governing equations after construction and/or to
the resulting field after solution. This system allows arbitrary changes to
either the matrix or solution to ensure numerical or other constraints and hence
violates consistency with the governing equations and conservation but it often
useful to ensure numerical stability, particularly during the initial start-up
period of a run. Complex manipulations can be achieved with fvConstraints, for
example 'meanVelocityForce' used to maintain a specified mean velocity in a
cyclic channel by manipulating the momentum matrix and the velocity solution.
fvConstraints are specified in the optional system/fvConstraints dictionary and
backward-compatibility with fvOption is provided by reading the
constant/fvOptions or system/fvOptions dictionary if present.
The separation of fvOptions into fvModels and fvConstraints provides a rational
and consistent separation between physical and numerical models which is easier
to understand and reason about, avoids the confusing issue of location of the
controlling dictionary file, improves maintainability and easier to extend to
handle current and future requirements for optional complex physical models and
numerical constraints.
providing the shear-stress term in the momentum equation for incompressible and
compressible Newtonian, non-Newtonian and visco-elastic laminar flow as well as
Reynolds averaged and large-eddy simulation of turbulent flow.
The general deviatoric shear-stress term provided by the MomentumTransportModels
library is named divDevTau for compressible flow and divDevSigma (sigma =
tau/rho) for incompressible flow, the spherical part of the shear-stress is
assumed to be either included in the pressure or handled separately. The
corresponding stress function sigma is also provided which in the case of
Reynolds stress closure returns the effective Reynolds stress (including the
laminar contribution) or for other Reynolds averaged or large-eddy turbulence
closures returns the modelled Reynolds stress or sub-grid stress respectively.
For visco-elastic flow the sigma function returns the effective total stress
including the visco-elastic and Newtonian contributions.
For thermal flow the heat-flux generated by thermal diffusion is now handled by
the separate ThermophysicalTransportModels library allowing independent run-time
selection of the heat-flux model.
During the development of the MomentumTransportModels library significant effort
has been put into rationalising the components and supporting libraries,
removing redundant code, updating names to provide a more logical, consistent
and extensible interface and aid further development and maintenance. All
solvers and tutorials have been updated correspondingly and backward
compatibility of the input dictionaries provided.
Henry G. Weller
CFD Direct Ltd.
The old separate incompressible and compressible libraries have been removed.
Most of the commonly used RANS and LES models have been upgraded to the
new framework but there are a few missing which will be added over the
next few days, in particular the realizable k-epsilon model. Some of
the less common incompressible RANS models have been introduced into the
new library instantiated for incompressible flow only. If they prove to
be generally useful they can be templated for compressible and
multiphase application.
The Spalart-Allmaras DDES and IDDES models have been thoroughly
debugged, removing serious errors concerning the use of S rather than
Omega.
The compressible instances of the models have been augmented by a simple
backward-compatible eddyDiffusivity model for thermal transport based on
alphat and alphaEff. This will be replaced with a separate run-time
selectable thermal transport model framework in a few weeks.
For simplicity and ease of maintenance and further development the
turbulent transport and wall modeling is based on nut/nuEff rather than
mut/muEff for compressible models so that all forms of turbulence models
can use the same wall-functions and other BCs.
All turbulence model selection made in the constant/turbulenceProperties
dictionary with RAS and LES as sub-dictionaries rather than in separate
files which added huge complexity for multiphase.
All tutorials have been updated so study the changes and update your own
cases by comparison with similar cases provided.
Sorry for the inconvenience in the break in backward-compatibility but
this update to the turbulence modeling is an essential step in the
future of OpenFOAM to allow more models to be added and maintained for a
wider range of cases and physics. Over the next weeks and months more
turbulence models will be added of single and multiphase flow, more
additional sub-models and further development and testing of existing
models. I hope this brings benefits to all OpenFOAM users.
Henry G. Weller
