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.
and only needed if there is a name clash between entries in the source
specification and the set specification, e.g. "name":
{
name rotorCells;
type cellSet;
action new;
source zoneToCell;
sourceInfo
{
name cylinder;
}
}
With this change both
blockMesh -dict fineBlockMeshDict
blockMesh -dict system/fineBlockMeshDict
are supported, if the system/ path is not specified it is assumed
When using 'simple' or 'hierarchical' decomposition it is useful to slightly rotate a
coordinate-aligned block-mesh to improve the processor boundaries by avoiding
irregular cell distribution at those boundaries. The degree of slight rotation
is controlled by the 'delta' coefficient and a value of 0.001 is generally
suitable so to avoid unnecessary clutter in 'decomposeParDict' 'delta' now
defaults to this value.
The FOAM file format has not changed from version 2.0 in many years and so there
is no longer a need for the 'version' entry in the FoamFile header to be
required and to reduce unnecessary clutter it is now optional, defaulting to the
current file format 2.0.
the previous naming tan1, tan2, normal was non-intuitive and very confusing.
It was not practical to maintain backward compatibility but all tutorials and
example refineMeshDict files have been updated to provide examples of the
change.
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.
This function gives a value of one during a user-specified duration, and
zero at all other times. It is useful for defining the time range in
which an injection or ignition heat source or similar operates.
Example usage, scaling a value:
<name>
{
type scale;
scale squarePulse;
start 0;
duration 1;
value 100;
}
This function has been utilised in a number of tutorial fvOption
configurations to provide a specific window in which the fvOption is
applied. This was previously achieved by "timeStart" and "duration"
controls hard coded into the fvOptions themselves.
A new run-time selectable interface compression scheme framework has been added
to the two-phase VoF solvers to provide greater flexibility, extensibility and
more consistent user-interface. The previously built-in interface compression
is now in the standard run-time selectable surfaceInterpolationScheme
interfaceCompression:
Class
Foam::interfaceCompression
Description
Interface compression corrected scheme, based on counter-gradient
transport, to maintain sharp interfaces during VoF simulations.
The interface compression is applied to the face interpolated field from a
suitable 2nd-order shape-preserving NVD or TVD scheme, e.g. vanLeer or
vanAlbada. A coefficient is supplied to control the degree of compression,
with a value of 1 suitable for most VoF cases to ensure interface integrity.
A value larger than 1 can be used but the additional compression can bias
the interface to follow the mesh more closely while a value smaller than 1
can lead to interface smearing.
Example:
\verbatim
divSchemes
{
.
.
div(phi,alpha) Gauss interfaceCompression vanLeer 1;
.
.
}
\endverbatim
The separate scheme for the interface compression term "div(phirb,alpha)" is no
longer required or used nor is the compression coefficient cAlpha in fvSolution
as this is now part of the "div(phi,alpha)" scheme specification as shown above.
Backward-compatibility is provided by checking the specified "div(phi,alpha)"
scheme against the known interface compression schemes and if it is not one of
those the new interfaceCompression scheme is used with the cAlpha value
specified in fvSolution.
More details can be found here:
https://cfd.direct/openfoam/free-software/multiphase-interface-capturing
Henry G. Weller
CFD Direct Ltd.
Following the generalisation of the TurbulenceModels library to support
non-Newtonian laminar flow including visco-elasticity and extensible to other
form of non-Newtonian behaviour the name TurbulenceModels is misleading and does
not properly represent how general the OpenFOAM solvers now are. The
TurbulenceModels now provides an interface to momentum transport modelling in
general and the plan is to rename it MomentumTransportModels and in preparation
for this the turbulenceProperties dictionary has been renamed momentumTransport
to properly reflect its new more general purpose.
The old turbulenceProperties name is supported for backward-compatibility.
This implicit isotropic damping function relaxes the velocity field towards a
specified uniform value which can be set to (0 0 0) if no flow is required.
This is particularly appropriate to damp the waves in a closed wave tank with no
mean flow.
Testing on the interFoam wave has shown that for this simple case with uniform
mean flow the new isotropicDamping fvOption provides more rapid and complete
damping than the original verticalDamping.
With the inclusion of boundary layer modelling in the gas, the
separation of wave perturbation from and mean flow became less useful,
and potentially prevents further extension to support similar boundary
layer modelling in the liquid.
The mean velocity entry, UMean, is now needed in the
constant/waveProperties file rather than in the waveVelocity boundary
condition.
In order to increase the flexibility of the wave library, the mean flow
handling has been removed from the waveSuperposition class. This makes
waveSuperposition work purely in terms of perturbations to a mean
background flow.
The input has also been split, with waves now defined as region-wide
settings in constant/waveProperties. The mean flow parameters are sill
defined by the boundary conditions.
The new format of the velocity boundary is much simpler. Only a mean
flow velocity is required.
In 0/U:
boundaryField
{
inlet
{
type waveVelocity;
UMean (2 0 0);
}
// etc ...
}
Other wave boundary conditions have not changed.
The constant/waveProperties file contains the wave model selections and
the settings to define the associated coordinate system and scaling
functions:
In constant/waveProperties:
origin (0 0 0);
direction (1 0 0);
waves
(
Airy
{
length 300;
amplitude 2.5;
phase 0;
angle 0;
}
);
scale table ((1200 1) (1800 0));
crossScale constant 1;
setWaves has been changed to use a system/setWavesDict file rather than
relying on command-line arguments. It also now requires a mean velocity
to be specified in order to prevent ambiguities associated with multiple
inlet patches. An example is shown below:
In system/setWavesDict:
alpha alpha.water;
U U;
liquid true;
UMean (1 0 0);
This is to make it clear that the value supplied is the scalar mean
velocity normal to the patch, and to distinguish it from other instances
of the keyword "UMean" which take a vector quantity.
The Scaled Function1 removes the need for classes to hold both a value
and a ramping function. If it is desired to ramp up a velocity up to
(10 0 0) over the space of 5 seconds, that can be achieved as follows:
velocity
{
type scale;
scale
{
type halfCosineRamp;
duration 5;
}
value (10 0 0);
}
Also, as a result of this change, the velocityRamping fvOption has
become a general acceleration source, based on a velocity Function1. It
has therefore been renamed accelerationSource.
The onset of vertical damping can now be graduated over a distance. The
user specifies an origin and a direction along which the graduation
occurs, and a ramping function to specify the form of the graduation. An
example specification for the fvOption is:
verticalDamping1
{
type verticalDamping;
selectionMode all;
origin (1200 0 0);
direction (1 0 0);
ramp
{
type halfCosineRamp;
start 0;
duration 600;
}
lambda [0 0 -1 0 0 0 0] 1; // Damping coefficient
timeStart 0;
duration 1e6;
}
If the origin, direction or ramp entries are omitted then the fvOption
functions as before; applying the damping to the entire volume or the
specified cell set.
This work was supported by Jan Kaufmann and Jan Oberhagemann at DNV GL.
