| Consultancy service CFD
The value in successful consulting is the significance of the information gathered and its usefulness in paving the way for future development. Over and above completing projects according to your brief, our philosophy is to translate this value into improved product performance, shortened design cycle times and reduced development costs.
It is this value added service as well as our ability to solve problems using commercial and open source codes a range of industrial applications, physical modelling and numerical methods that has forged customer relations for more than a decade.
A conscious decision not to align ourselves with any specific code gives us the independence to recommend, without prejudice, the most appropriate software to solve or validate a project.
Commercial and open source codes we have used for projects:
- ANSYS – Fluent, Gambit, CFX
- CD-adapco – STAR-CCM+, STAR-CD
- Numeca – FINE™/Turbo, AutoGrid™, HEXPRESS™, IGG™, AutoBlade™
- Open source software – Code_Saturne, OpenFOAM, SALOME and Paraview
| Industrial projects
Duct optimisation
Heat exchangers
Internal aerodynamics and porous media
Compressor inlet and valves optimisation
Thermal comfort of transportation systems: cars, trams, trains and offices
- Heat ventilation and cooling: ducts, fans, vanes
- Heat transfer by convection, conduction and radiation, including solar radiation
- Human body models including effects of perspiration and clothing
Water flow from rivers to drinking water for end users
External aerodynamics of vehicles
Atmospheric wind with Atmospheric Boundary Layer modelling
Smoke dispersion in the atmosphere and within constructions
Design and optimisation of steam turbine
Pumps and compressors
Water phase extraction from wet steam in power plants
Rain impact and vehicle soiling
Liquid film stripping
Multiphase flow modelling in petroleum pipe lines
Mixers and separators
Injection systems: convection and diffusion of gaseous chemical species
Pollutants formation and motion
Smoke dispersion
Detonation, explosions and blast waves
Steady state and transient, time-resolved flow
Stationary and moving bodies
Rotational flow
Incompressible, slow flows, and fast moving, compressible flow
Highly viscous, laminar, inviscid, and turbulent flow
Single phase and multiphase flow
Conjugate heat transfer through solids, coupled with thermal exchanges in the fluids
Heat transfer by convection, conduction, and radiation (thermal and solar)
Reactive flow
Porous media
Buoyant flow
Multi-species flow
Modelling is increasingly used as a tool in fire safety design and, as there is currently no forum in the UK where practitioners, researchers and AHJs have the opportuninty to discuss matters relating specifically to fire, the inaugural UK Fire and Smoke Modelling Forum (fsmf.uk) was held on the 3rd of November in London. EDF R&D was invited to participate in the forum and share their progress in fire modelling. Bertrand Sapa and Martin Ferrand, two men instrumental in the development of Code_Saturne’s combustion model, were unable to attend the forum resulting in Nicolas Tonello presenting Code_Saturne’s combustion model and its fire modelling capabilities, EDF’s approach to modelling, methodology, examples of industrial studies and planned work into the next decade.
Encouraged by the success of the first forum, organisers are aiming to arrange biannual forums and workshops.
On the 17th of October Renuda presented a paper, co-authored with Martin Ferrand and Yvan Fournier from EDF R&D, on the work currently under way to implement a new cooling tower module in the open source solver Code_Saturne at the 17th IAHR Conference in Lyon. The International IAHR Conference on Cooling Tower and Air Cooled Heat Exchangers, held every two years, was organised this year by EDF. The conference is an opportunity for industry experts to share ideas on new projects or commissioning, design methods, performance assessments, environmental issues and innovations.
Numerical tools are used to design cooling towers or to evaluate the impact of systems modifications through retrofitting or degradation. However, due to the complexity of the physical phenomena involved and the dimensions of the systems, numerical modelling of draft cooling towers in three dimensions represents a significant challenge. The ongoing work to implement a new cooling tower module in Code_Saturne’s version 5.0, aims to obtain significant accuracy and yet limit the number of flow equations which must be solved, the multiphase flow has been cast into the flow of liquid water and humid air using the drift flux model. The cooling tower model and preliminary verifications on a realistic 2D tower case were presented and extensions of the framework and validation against experimental data discussed.
Renuda, together with SNCF Réseau, presented a validation study based on measurements and 3D CFD simulations of the Grand Pissy-Poville rail tunnel during tunnelling works at ISOVFT 2017.
SNCF Réseau is the owner and operator of the French railway network and, along with other responsibilities, is accountable for maintaining, upgrading and updating the rail infrastructure, part of which is over 100 years old. Due to the ageing infrastructure, tunnel regeneration work is regularly conducted resulting in airborne pollution accumulating which may lead to concentrations exceeding safety limits for workers. Achieving an acceptable level of air quality requires a) limiting emissions and b) ensuring there is continuous airflow through the tunnel and, when natural ventilation is not sufficient, mechanical ventilation must be planned.
For simple tunnel shapes SNCF Réseau uses a 1D model to evaluate the fans required to reduce the concentration of machinery exhaust gases and has the advantage of producing good results in a few minutes. However, for more complex tunnel shapes, or for the inclusion of engines and trains, airflow estimates with 1D modelling becomes difficult or inaccurate, as a result SNCF Réseau is developing 3D CFD models to perform ventilation estimations of these more complex scenarios.
This validation study presented at the ISOVFT conference presents a series of velocity measurements carried out in an SNCF Réseau rail tunnel during construction work and took into account train shape, surface roughness and natural and forced ventilation settings. The results will be used to validate CFD models and help define recommendations for CFD modelling of complex tunnels and works configurations.
