Nodal boundary condition

Unknown
edited September 2023 in Community Q&A

Hi experts,

 

Could you please explain the significance of nodal boundary condition on a single node only? I have grabbed the following picture from acusolve validation manual.

https://help.altair.com/hwcfdsolvers/acusolve/topics/acusolve/turbulent_flow_through_a_pipe.htm

When I checked the model, I could see that there's fixed pressure only at a single node 8908. How does this work? 

image

Best Answer

  • acupro
    acupro
    Altair Employee
    edited September 2023 Answer ✓

    The concept of the 'FixedPressureNode' typically applies to cases where there are no other pressure boundary conditions - and is used to set a base pressure.  For a case with an inlet and outlet - the outlet is typically set as outflow BC with a specified pressure.  That sets all other pressures in the solution relative to that pressure at the outflow boundary.  In internal flows (no inlet/outlet) there is no pressure boundary condition, so the resultant pressures can 'vary' with no relation to previous time steps / iterations.  One would still get the same pressure difference, but the values could vary.  That single node with a fixed pressure helps ground the pressure to a given level.  One would normally want to set that in a location where there is not much action in the flow.  This is not so important in a steady-state case, but can be quite important in a transient as all the time steps should be related.

Answers

  • Ioannis Makris_22013
    Ioannis Makris_22013
    Altair Employee
    edited September 2023

    Hello Prabin,

    I would suggest searching SimLab Help (F1 key) for more information regarding this tool. This is a screenshot directly taken from there.

    image

    I suspect this option is available in cases like having already some results and you wish to map them into your existing solution. Of course, other applications as well.

    I hope this helps.

    Kindly,

    Ioannis Makris

  • acupro
    acupro
    Altair Employee
    edited September 2023 Answer ✓

    The concept of the 'FixedPressureNode' typically applies to cases where there are no other pressure boundary conditions - and is used to set a base pressure.  For a case with an inlet and outlet - the outlet is typically set as outflow BC with a specified pressure.  That sets all other pressures in the solution relative to that pressure at the outflow boundary.  In internal flows (no inlet/outlet) there is no pressure boundary condition, so the resultant pressures can 'vary' with no relation to previous time steps / iterations.  One would still get the same pressure difference, but the values could vary.  That single node with a fixed pressure helps ground the pressure to a given level.  One would normally want to set that in a location where there is not much action in the flow.  This is not so important in a steady-state case, but can be quite important in a transient as all the time steps should be related.