Recent Posts
OpenFOAM Boundary Conditions Tips and Tricks
OpenFOAM is a powerful open source CFD toolbox that has proven itself as a competitive option for producing high quality results. While being extremely capable, accurate and comprehensive, it can also be challenging to learn as everything is controlled using text files via the command line. Without a user-interface there can be some challenges to learning, and using the program. This learning curve is exacerbated when navigating complex cases where many boundaries and boundary conditions …
High Speed Flows and Slow Speed Solutions – An Introduction to Under-Expanded Jets Modelling Challenges
Introduction Fluid jets are found in many engineering applications including rocket nozzles and cooling devices, but may also arise due to accidental leaks. When the fluid is a gas, relatively low pressures are required for the jet to reach the speed of sound (Mach 1) at the exit of the nozzle. As such, it’s important to consider compressibility effects on the behaviour of the jet. This results in what's commonly known as a choked flow …
Creating Block-Structured Meshes with blockMesh and ofblockmeshdicthelper
2/18/2021 Update -- The module discussed in this blog post has officially been renamed blockmeshbuilder as of February 15, 2021. It is still hosted on Github. The Meshing Process When using CFD to solve a problem, the analyst has many decisions to make which will determine the speed and accuracy of the solution. Arguably, the vast majority of these decisions are made when constructing the CFD mesh. More often than not, the majority of person-hours …
Virtual Tracer Tests Using CFD
Physical Tracer Testing A "tracer test" describes a general testing procedure wherein a passively transported substance (such as a dye or chemical) is used to probe the hydraulic characteristics of wastewater reactors. Many regulatory agencies request that tracer tests be done on contact basins to validate their hydraulic performance and ensure that adequate disinfection is attained. Many different compounds can be used as tracers, provided it meets a specified set of characteristics, as outlined in …
Understanding the OpenFOAM Case Structure
Introducing OpenFOAM Choosing a CFD program can be a challenging and sometimes confusing task. There are many options to choose from, including common commercial codes such as ANSYS Fluent and Siemens Star-CCM++. Commercial CFD codes typically come with a simple user interface and plenty of documentation provided by the software vendor. However, commercial CFD software also requires expensive licensing fees that can make these options inaccessible, especially for smaller companies or those that can only …
Introducing Maple Key Labs
Starting Up The founders of Maple Key Labs began working together at Western University (London, Canada) where they all obtained graduate degrees in computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Through our training and subsequent work experience, we recognized that numerical simulations are a powerful tool for product design and optimization in industrial applications. Maple Key Labs was born of our combined experience, offering the best of advanced simulation capabilities to our clients, especially those in industries without …