Investigation of Differences in Ansys Solvers CFX and Fluent

Abstract: This thesis aims at presenting Computational Fluid Dynamics studies conducted on an axisymmetric model of the Siemens SGT-800 burner using Ansys Fluent, Ansys CFX and Ansys ICEM. The goal is to perform a mesh study and turbulence model study for isothermal flow. The result will show the differences observed while using the two solvers by Ansys, Fluent and CFX. Two different meshes, A, coarse and B, optimal have been used for the mesh study. This will reveal the mesh dependency of the different parameters and if any differences are observed between the solver’s convergence and mesh independency performance. To further validate the mesh independency, a simplified test case is simulated for turbulent flow for 32 different cases testing the numerical algorithms and spatial discretization available in Ansys Fluent and finding the optimal method to achieve convergence and reliable results. Turbulence model study has been performed where k-ε, k-ω and k-ω Shear Stress Transport (SST) model have been simulated and the results between solvers and models are compared to see if the solvers’ way of handling the different models varies.Studies from this thesis suggest that both solvers implement the turbulence models differently. Out of the three models compared, k-ω SST is the model with least differences between solvers. The solution looks alike and therefore it could be suggested to use this model, whenever possible, for future studies when both solvers are used. For the models k-ε and k-ω significant differences were found between the two solvers when comparing velocity, pressure and turbulence kinetic energy. Different reasons for its occurrence are discussed in the thesis and also attempts have been made to rule out few of the reasons to narrow down the possible causes. One of the goals of the thesis was to also discuss the differences in user-interface and solver capabilities which have been presented in the conclusions and discussions section of the report. Questions that still remain unanswered after the thesis are why these differences are present between solvers and which of the solvers’ results are more reliable when these differences have been found.