Getting Started Guide : Intensive Training programme in CFD Analysis

Welcome to the course on “Intensive Training programme in CFD Analysis”. As you have just begun this course, here is a short document which will guide you on how to proceed with this course. This course could be typically finished in 12 weeks.Below is a week by week planner which will help you to get the best out of this course!!

If you have any queries during any of the lecture, feel free to contact me on mytutor@learncax.com. You can also schedule a live WebEx/Skype sessions with me to resolve your queries.

This is the overall plan designed based on my experience with previous students. The timelines are rough estimation about how much time is necessary for this course. This does not mean that you should complete your course in given timeline only. The idea is to get correct knowledge of the subject. So do not hesitate to modify this plan and extend the timeline if necessary. It is also assumed that you are not going to have any long break in-between the course. I also suggest you not to do this as you may need to repeat few lessons in that case.

Week 1

Following are the tasks you can try to achieve in the first week. The main objective is to get familiar with our Learning Management System (LMS) and to get and overview of what CFD is?

  • Get yourself familiar with LearnCAx LMS 
  • Read the course guide 
  • Watch & Understand the ‘Introduction to CFD’ lecture videos 
  • Solve the Unit Test -1 
  • Solve the Unit Test -2 
  • Watch & Understand the ‘CFD equations and numerical solutions’ lecture videos

Week 2

The objective of second week of learning is to complete CFD foundation module. After completing this module you would have good understanding of CFD and three important steps in CFD viz. pre-processing, solution and post-processing. 

This week you can also keep the target of knowing more about pre-processing software ANSYS ICEM CFD. As compared to first week, these are bit heavy target to keep, but I believe that you have already accelerated your learning process.

  • Watch & Understand the ‘Finite Volume Method’ lecture videos 
  • Watch & Understand ‘CFD Analysis – The software perspective’ lecture videos 
  • Watch & Understand ‘Introduction to Preprocessor ANSYS ICEM CFD’ lecture video 
  • Watch & Understand ‘Geometry in ICEM CFD’ lecture videos 
  • Watch & Understand 'demos on geometry creation in ICEM CFD' lecture videos 
  • Watch & Understand 'ICEMCFD geometry cleanup' video tutorial

Week 3

The objective of this week is to develop understanding and expertise in multiblock hexahedral meshing in ANSYS ICEMCFD. This method is one of the critical methods to learn and needs lot of practice to get comfortable with.Make sure that after understanding the concepts, you practice those on simple geometries. Do not try this on complicated geometries at first.This is one of the difficult methods to understand, so try to allocate more time as compared to what you have allocated in first two weeks.

  • Watch & Understand ‘Hexameshing’ lecture videos 
  • Solve objective test on ‘ICEMCFDHexa Blocking’ 
  • Watch & Understand Demo on ‘Hexa meshing of a sample cylinder in ICEM CFD’
  • Watch & Understand ‘ICEMCFDhexa meshing’ video tutorial 
  • Practice the standard ANSYS ICEM CFD tutorial on meshing a 2D pipe junction using (This is standard tutorial available with ANSYS ICEM CFD; you can download it from ANSYS Customer portal.) 
  • Practice the standard ANSYS ICEM CFD tutorial on meshing a 3D pipe junction using (This is standard tutorial available with ANSYS ICEM CFD; you can download it from ANSYS Customer portal.) 
  • Practice the standard ANSYS ICEM CFD tutorial on Hexa mesh generation for an elbow part(This is standard tutorial available with ANSYS ICEM CFD; you can download it from ANSYS Customer portal.) 

Week 4

The main objective of week 4 is to get around unstructured meshing technique in ANSYS ICEM CFD. For complex geometries, this is the most regularly used meshing method. As mutliblock method takes lot of practice, this method would come really handy if you want to get the feel of complete CFD process. You can easily create a mesh for simple geometry and try your knowledge on solver quickly.
At the end of week, you can also plan to get introduced to ANSYS FLUENT software. The target is to understand the user interface and overall workflow.

Most of the required basic learning of hexa meshing is finished by end of Week 3. The knowledge you have till know would be sufficient to work on the assignment.
I will share problem definition and geometry file of the assignment at the start of this week. You can start working on it.

  • Watch & Understand ‘ICEM CFD shell meshing’ lecture videos 
  • Watch & Understand ‘ICEM CFD Tetra volume meshing’ lecture videos 
  • Watch & Understand ‘ICEM CFD Tetra prism’ lecture videos 
  • Watch & Understand demo video on tetra meshing of a sample cylinder in ICEM CFD
  • Watch & Understand the tetra meshing video tutorial 
  • Practice the standard ANSYS ICEM CFD tutorial on Tetra meshing of a helicopter geometry (This is standard tutorial available with ANSYS ICEM CFD; you can download it from ANSYS Customer portal.)
  • Complete the course assignment on ‘Mesh generation of 2D profile geometry’
  • Watch & Understand The UI of ANSYS FLUENT lecture videos 

Week 5

You can plan to finish ANSYS FLUENT model setup learning in this week. This includes details about physics boundary setup and solver settings. The objective is just to learn how to conceptualize a CFD problem and setup this problem in FLUENT.
In last week you have learned tetrahedral and prism meshing. This knowledge is sufficient to start working on meshing assignment of tetrahedral meshing.

I will share problem definition and geometry files of the assignments at the start of this week. You can start working on it.

  • Watch & Understand Before first simulation lecture videos
  • Watch & Understand Solver basics lecture videos
  • Watch & Understand demo videos on FLUENT
  • Watch & Understand Turbulence modeling lecture videos
  • Watch & Understand Boundary and Cell Zone conditions lecture videos 
  • Practice the standard ANSYS tutorial on Introduction to Using ANSYS FLUENT: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Mixing Elbow  (This is standard tutorial available with ANSYS ICEM CFD; you can download it from ANSYS Customer portal.)
  •  Complete the course assignment on ‘Mesh generation for Catalytic convertor geometry’
  • Complete the course assignment on ‘Meshing generation for Heat exchanger geometry’

Week 6

Most of the required basic learning is finished by end of Week 5. In this week you will learn how to analyse and represent your CFD simulation results using ANSYS Fluent. You will learn and practice the procedure needed to extract CFD simulation results both in qualitative and quantitative format. The knowledge you have till know would be sufficient to work on the project. You need to do some practice and work on few projects to apply the modeling knowledge effectively.

I will share a course project definition at the start of this week with you. You can spend some time to understand the project details and start the project execution.

  • Watch & Understand Solver math and Post processing lecture videos
  • Practice the standard ANSYS tutorial on Post processing (This is standard tutorial available with ANSYS ICEM CFD; you can download it from ANSYS Customer portal.)
  • Complete and submit a short report through email (word document or presentation or PDF) on the project ‘CFD modeling of turbulent flow through nozzle geometry’.

Week 7

This week you will be learning heat transfer modeling in ANSYS Fluent. You will understand how to model conduction and convection in ANSYS Fluent. You will also watch a video tutorial of ‘heat transfer around a fin section’.

  • Watch & Understand ‘Introduction to Heat Transfer in Fluent’ lecture videos
  • Watch & Understand ‘Heat Transfer modeling - Conduction and Convection’ lecture videos
  • Watch & Understand ‘Heat Transfer around a fin section’  video tutorial

Week 8

The objective of this week is to develop understanding in radiation modeling and solar load model in ANSYS Fluent. You will also get familiar with post-processing options especially used in thermal simulations. Most of the required basic learning is finished by end of this Week. The knowledge you have till know would be sufficient to work on the assignment.

I will share problem definition and mesh files for assignments of heat transfer modelling at the start of this week with you. You can spend some time to understand the assignment details and start the working on it.

  • Watch & Understand ‘Radiation Modeling in Fluent’ lecture videos
  • Watch & Understand ‘Solar Load Model in Fluent’ lecture videos
  • Watch & Understand ‘Post Processing of Thermal Simulations in Fluent’ lecture videos
  • Watch & Understand ‘Solar load model and solar calculator’ video tutorial
  • Complete the course assignment on ‘Heat transfer around array of heated cylinders’
  • Complete the course assignment on ‘Solar load model and solar calculator’

 Week 9

The objective of this week is to get introduced with multiphase flows. You will develop skills of modeling multiphase flows in ANSYS Fluent. This week you will also learn ‘Eulerian’ and ‘Volume of Fluid’ model in ANSYS Fluent. You will practice standard tutorial of ANSYS on Eulerian model and Volume of Fluid.

I will share problem definition and mesh files for the first assignment of multiphase flow modeling at the end of this week with you. You can spend some time to understand the assignment details.

  • Watch & Understand Introduction to Multiphase flow lecture videos
  • Watch & Understand Multiphase flow modeling in Fluent lecture videos
  • Watch & Understand ‘Eulerian multiphase flow model in Fluent’ lecture videos
  • Practice the standard ANSYS tutorial on Eulerian model (This is standard tutorial available with ANSYS Fluent; you can download it from ANSYS Customer portal.)
  • Watch & Understand ‘Volume of Fluid (VOF) model in Fluent’ lecture videos
  • Practice the standard ANSYS tutorial on VOF model (This is standard tutorial available with ANSYS Fluent; you can download it from ANSYS Customer portal.)
  • Complete the course assignment on ‘Modeling multiphase flow through channel’

 Week 10

The objective of this week is to develop understanding in ‘Discrete phase model’, ‘Mixture model’ and ‘Wet steam model’ in ANSYS Fluent. This week you will also lear how to model sloshing phenomenon in ANSYS Fluent. You will practice standard tutorial of ANSYS on Discrete Phase Model and Mixture model. Most of the required basic learning is finished by end of this Week. The knowledge you have till know would be sufficient to work on the assignment.

I will share problem definition and mesh files of the remaining assignments for multiphase flow modeling at the start of this week with you. You can start working on it.

  • Watch & Understand Discrete Phase Model (DPM) lecture videos
  • Watch & Understand Mixture model in FLUENT lecture videos
  • Practice the standard ANSYS tutorial on DPM and Mixture model (This is standard tutorial available with ANSYS Fluent; you can download it from ANSYS Customer portal.)
  • Watch & Understand Wet Steam model lecture videos
  • Watch & Understand  Video Tutorial on CFD simulation of sloshing phenomenon
  • Complete the course assignment on ‘Modeling flow of granular solid particles along a fluid stream’
  • Complete the course assignment on ‘Modeling particle-laden flow in a duct system’

 Week 11

This week you will develop your understanding in CFD of rotating machinery flows. You will also watch and understand the ‘Introduction to Single moving Reference Frame model’ lecture videos. Along with this you will also practice the standard ANSYS tutorial on Using a Single Rotating Reference Frame.

  • Watch & Understand ‘Introduction to CFD of Rotating Machinery flow’ lecture videos
  • Watch & Understand ‘Introduction to Single moving Reference Frame model’ lecture videos
  • Practice the standard ANSYS tutorial on Using a Single Rotating Reference Frame (This is standard tutorial available with ANSYS Fluent; you can download it from ANSYS Customer portal.)

 Week 12

This week your objective will be to learn ‘Multiple Rotating Reference Frame model’ and ‘Sliding Mesh Model’. Along with this you will also practice the standard ANSYS tutorial on Using Multiple Rotating Reference Frames and the standard ANSYS tutorial on Using Sliding Mesh.

I will share problem definition and mesh files for assignments of rotating machinery modelling at the start of this week with you. You can spend some time to understand the assignment details and start the working on it.

  • Watch & Understand ‘Introduction to Multiple Rotating Reference Frame model’ lecture videos
  • Practice the standard ANSYS tutorial on Using Multiple Rotating Reference Frames (This is standard tutorial available with ANSYS Fluent; you can download it from ANSYS Customer portal.)
  • Watch & Understand ‘Introduction to Sliding Mesh Model’ lecture videos
  • Practice the standard ANSYS tutorial on Using Sliding Meshes (This is standard tutorial available with ANSYS Fluent; you can download it from ANSYS Customer portal.)

Course Closure

By the end of twelve weeks, you should submit the all assignments and project for evaluation. I will review the files and if needed you may need to work for some more time to do the required modification.

For project you should submit your report and if needed you may need to work for some more time to do the required modification.

After completion of the review process, your course coordinator will send you the course certificate and hard copy of lecture notes. You can use these lecture notes for any further studies.