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Model Topology - Fan with Housing

The computational mesh is divided into three sections and made separately. Such mesh can be used for both single-region and multi-region simulation. In the former case the parts will be merged using mergeMesh and connected directly by cyclic boundaries. In the latter case the parts will be separated by an averaging interface of the type mixing plane. In this tutorial we focus on the single-region approach.

fan parts 1

Figure: Parts of the mesh, from left to right: wheel, volute, inflow. The parts have been shifted from their original positions for better clarity of the picture.

The three parts (regions) of the mesh are shown in the figure crossref 1 1 and they are the following:

  • Inflow part (light brown): It ranges from the inlet to the interface between the inflow part and the wheel. The purpose of this artificial part is purely computational – it allows specification of an asymptotic boundary condition on the inlet patch.
  • Wheel part (light blue): Contains the whole set of blades. This is the part of the mesh that will be rotating (either by MRF or SBM method). It needs to encompass at least all rotating parts that are not axially symmetric. The flat interface between the inflow part and this part is called wheel inlet. Analogously, the round interface between the volute part and this part is called wheel outlet.
  • Volute part (magenta): Contains the rest of the mesh, namely the volute of the fan and the artificially prolonged outflow area.