NUMERICAL STUDY USING FLUENT OF

THE SEPARATION AND REATTACHMENT

POINTS FOR LAMINAR FLOW IN A
BACKWARDS-FACING STEP
by
Abhiroop Das(BME IV Roll001011201105 Sec B-2-2)
Final year project submitted to Sir
Himadri Chatterjee of
Mechanical Engineering department of
Jadavpur University

What is a Backward
Facing Step?
A backward facing step in 3D has been
shown in the following figure.Basically a
fluid (air in our case) enters through the
inlet and encounters a step leading to flow
separation and reattachment.

Why is the study of Backward

facing step important?
To aid in study of flow in channels with
reversals.For example
Heat exchangers
Ducts for industrial use.
Microelectronic circuit boards.
Flow around buildings.
Combustors and afterburners in
some engines.

1)Flow in ducts

2) Flow around buildings

3)Afterburners

What will we be doing?

The aim of my project is numerically study
of the separation and reattachment points
for laminar flow in a Backward Facing Step
using Ansys 13 and compare the results
with the experimental research conducted
by Armaly et al. on the same topic.
For comparision purposes the geometry
used by us is the exact replica of that
adopted by Armaly et al and the geometry
has been specified below.

The Geometry Used

h=Inlet height, Xe =inlet length , Xo=outlet

length, s= step height , H=Outlet height=h + s
Expansion ratio=H/h, Re=Reynolds
No.=u.2h/(from this equation we calculated the inlet
velocity u)

u=inlet velocity , =kinematic viscosity

The values of dimensions and parameters used

DESCRIPTIO
N
Height of inlet
channel
Height of outlet
channel
Step height
Inlet channel length
Outlet channel
Parame Symbol
length

ters
Density
Dynamic
viscosity
Expansio
n
ratio(H/h

ER

SYMBOL

DIMENSION(m)

5.2

10.1

s
Xe
Xs
Values

Dimensio
ns

1.225
Kg/m^3
1.7894x1 Kg/m-s
0^-3
1.942
-

4.9
200
500

Some previous research(by

Armaly) on Backward facing step
Flow can be considered laminar for Re<1200 and
turbulent for Re > 6600
For laminar flow multiple separation and reattachment
points were obtained .As the Reynolds number
increases from zero the first separation occurs on the
bottom wall at a distance of x1.Next the second region
of separation occurs between x4 and x5 on the top
wall.As the Reynolds number increases a third
separation region occurs between x2 and x3 on the
bottom wall.Theoretically,recirculation zones will
continue to develop as the Reynolds number increases
and the flow remains laminar but this has not been
observed experimentally and the flow eventually
becomes turbulent
For turbulent flows only single reattachment point is
observed and the reattachment length is fairly

For laminar flow

multiple reattachment
and separation

For turbulent flow

single reattachment a
nd separation

Methodology used in Ansys

The Reynolds number is varied from 100 to
1000 in steps of 100 and the separation and
reattachment points are determined from the
minimum values of skin friction coefficent.
Skin friction coefficient is defined by

and changes it sign at the

separation and reattachment points.
X1=distance of first separation point at
bottom wall; x4=distance of second
separation point at upper wall; x5=distance
of second reattachment point at upper wall

 The following boundary conditions were

used: no slip walls, zero gauge pressure
outlet, and constant normal inlet velocity
that does not vary along the inlet height.
A coupled pressure and velocity algorithm
has been used for laminar flows,which
solves the continuity and momentum
equations in a simultaneous fashion
.Coupled algorithm does not provide
solution accuracy imptovement over
segregated solvers ,rather it provides
improvement in stability and ability to
converge.

 A convergence criterion of 1x 10^-5

is used for continuity, x- velocity and
y velocity. All solutions converged
with second order pressure and third
order MUSCL(Monotone Upstream
Centered Shemes for Conservation
Laws) momentum interpolation
schemes for laminar flow.
Adequate grid independence is
satisfied with quadrilateral mesh of
123302 nodes consisting of 121800
elements.

Observations and discussion

The plot below shows a closer view for
Re<1000 to compare present results with
the experimental data of Armaly et al.
24
22
20
18
16
14

X/S

12
10
8
6
4
2
0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Reynolds number

800

900

1000

x1/s
(present
scheme)
x1/s(Arm
aly)
x4/s
(present
scheme)
x4/s(Arm
aly)
x5/s
(present
scheme)

 We can observe from the plot that

good agreement has been found with
the experimental values , although
the present values are slightly lower
and no flow separation has been
observed for Re values less than 100.

Effect of mesh refinement on results

To demonstrate grid independence , the grid
refinement was adapted for multiple times and
the summary is provided in the Table below:
No. of
X1/S
X4/S
X5/S
elemen
ts
30151
10.83
8.44
19.26
59251
11.12
9.24
19.82
123302 11.40
9.62
20.13
The third adaptation of mesh provides
reasonably accurate results and very little
changes are observed over further refinement
and thus the third one has been used for all
flows.

Comparision with some other authors

The Table below summarizes the

values for separation and
reattachment points at Re=800
determined
various
Autho X1/S by
X4/S
X5/S authors.
(X5-X4)/S
r
Presen
t study
Lima
Armaly
et al.
Guj
and
Stella

11.4

9.62

20.13

10.51

11.97
14.00

9.51
11.11

20.40
19.33

10.89
8.22

12.05

9.70

20.20

10.50

The results of the present study are

lower than the average of values
obtained by various authors ,but are
still within the data range . The
largest difference between present
results and average literature value
is the lower reattachment point
,X1/S=11.4, while the average value
from various authors is 12.67.

ANSYS FLUENT PLOTS/CONTOURS

FOR VARIOUS PARAMETERS

Contours of velocity
magnitude for Re=800

Contours of stream function for

Re=800

A plot of skin friction coefficient vs x positions for

Re=800 for various locations which was used to
obtain the reattachment points is given in the
following Figure

CONCLUSI
ON

The values for separation and reattachment points

obtained in this study compare well with published data .
The present values begin to differ from experimental
data at Reynolds number Re> 400 where 3-D effects i.e
side separation become important .A general trend in the
laminar results of this analysis is slightly lower values for
separation and reattachment points than compared with
other numerical studies . This difference with present
results for laminar flow can be attributed to the range of
methods and grid used to perform numerical calculations
. Unsteady methods iterated over a large time span are
typically used for laminar case because of convergence
issues; however, this study used a steady state method
with a coupled pressure-velocity algorithm.

REFERENC
1.Computational fluid
dynamics-A practical
ES

approach Jiyuan Tu ,Heng Yeoh ,Chaoquin lee

2. Experimental and theoretical investigation
of
backward-facing step flow BF Armaly,F.
Dursts,JC Pereira
3.Fluid mechanics-Dr AK Jain

4.www.google.co.in