Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T17:00:25.564Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - 2D Convection – Complex Domains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Anil W. Date
Affiliation:
Indian Institute of Technology
Get access

Summary

Introduction

In practical applications of CFD, one often encounters complex domains. A domain is called complex when it cannot be elegantly described (or mapped) by a Cartesian grid. By way of illustration, we consider a few examples.

Figure 6.1 shows the smallest symmetry sector of a nuclear rod bundle placed inside a circular channel of radius R. There are nineteen rods: one rod at the channel center, six rods (equally spaced) in the inner rod ring of radius b1, and twelve rods in the outer ring of radius b2. The rods are circumferentially equispaced. The radius of each rod is r0. The fluid (coolant) flow is in the x3 direction. The flow convects away the heat generated by the rods and the channel wall is insulated. It is obvious that a Cartesian grid will not fit the domain of interest because the lines of constant x1 or x2 will intersect the domain boundaries in an arbitrary manner. In such circumstances, it proves advantageous to adopt alternative means for mapping a complex domain.

These alternatives are to use

  1. curvilinear grids or

  2. finite-element-like unstructured grids.

Curvilinear Grids

It is possible to map a complex domain by means of curvilinear grids (ξ1, ξ2) in which directions of ξ1 and ξ2 may change from point to point. Also, curvilinear lines of constant ξ1 and constant ξ2 need not intersect orthogonally either within the domain or at the boundaries. Figure 6.2 shows the nineteen-rod domain of Figure 6.1 mapped by curvilinear grids.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×