Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Course Leader: Yousef H. Zurigat

Home Institution: University of Jordan 

Course pre-requisite(s): Engineering Numerical Methods, Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer

 

Course Overview

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) course is designed to give the fundamental concepts of the CFD methods and algorithms that enable students to develop their own CFD computer programs or use available public domain or commercial software and interpret the results. The course starts with the mathematical descriptions of fluid flow and the associated phenomena (heat and mass transfer) for incompressible flows at laminar and turbulent flow regimes. Then, the formulation of the numerical solution methodology is discussed in details using explicit and implicit finite-volume methods.  Students will run source codes available in public domain or licensed educational, if available.  Homework assignments and a course project will be given.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

  1. Use numerical methods for solving various fluid and heat transfer problems.
  2. Have better understanding of fluid mechanics and heat transfer
  3. Formulate steady and unsteady Finite-Difference & Finite-Volume numerical methods and develop solution algorithms.
  4. Program and simulate simple CFD problems
  5. Understand the CFD role in industrial design applications and its limitations

Course Content

The course content covers the following topics: 

  1. Conservation Laws (Mass, Momentum, and Energy) of Fluid Flow & Heat Transfer
    • Conservation laws in integral form
    • Conservation laws in differential form
    • The primitive variables (non-conservative) and conservative forms of the governing equations.
    • Navier-Stokes equations and vorticity stream function formulation  
  2. Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer Partial Differential Equations and their Classifications
  3. The Finite Volume Method for Heat Conduction Problems and Convection-Diffusion (Advection) Problems
  4. The First Order and Second Order Upwind Difference Discretization Schemes
  5. The Boundary Conditions & Discretization
  6. Solution Algorithms (SIMPLE, SIMPLER, SIMPLEC, and PISO) for Pressure-Velocity Coupling in Steady Flows
  7. Solution of Discretized Equations
    • The tri-diagonal matrix algorithm (TDMA)/Thomas algorithm
    • Application of TDMA to two-dimensional and three-dimensional problems
  8. The Finite Volume Method for Unsteady Flows
    • One-dimensional unsteady heat conduction with explicit and implicit formulations
    • Discretization of unsteady convection-diffusion equation
    • Extension of implicit method to 2-D and 3-D problems
    • The unsteady SIMPLE and pressure implicit with splitting of operators (PISO) algorithms
  9. Major commercial software packages. Problem solving demonstrations using student version (normally, free).

Instructional Method

The course involves the following activities:

  1. Lectures and presentations/seminars
  2. Reading and problem solving assignments involving analysis, formulation, and programming (MATLAB or any language of their choice).
  3. Course project assignment (in 2-student groups)
  4. Solving example problems using CFD software, analysis of results, and discussions.

Note: To orient lectures proportionally, on day one the students will be given an assessment questionnaire to gauge their background in numerical methods.

Required Course Materials

  1. Course notes and presentations
  2. Simple CFD source codes in MATLAB
  3. Textbooks:
    • Patankar, S.V. (1980), Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow, Hemisphere Publishing Co.
    • Versteeg, H.K. and Malalasekera, W. (1995), An introduction to computational fluid dynamics: The finite-volume method, Longman Scientific & Technical (in USA, by John Wiley and Sons Inc.).

Assessment

The student assessment will include (it is assumed that students take only one summer course):

  1. Homework assignments on key CFD concepts (40 points)
  2. Project (group of 2 students) to encourage discussion and group learning as well as get hands on experience in coding and running available CFD software in engineering applications (20 points).
  3. Research assignment and presentation (10)
  4. Final exam on announced selected topics that need further comprehension (30 points)