CFD-DEM coupled simulation for snow accumulation on a geometry

Kiran Purushothama Keshavan

Hello all,

I was going through the article given below to simulate snow accumulation on a car geometry.
Link

The methodology is a complete DEM approach, what would you suggest for a coupled solution through a CFD - DEM approach to the same snow accumulation on this geometry. I'm particularly thinking of meshing and how I need to setup the simulation.
My aim is to couple Ansys Fluent with Altair EDEM,
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Kiran

Stephen Cole

Hi Kiran,

 

From the DEM perspective the CFD solver is 'just' adding another force to the particles so a lot of the mesh considerations are independent of the EDEM solver.  You  could look at 1-way coupled solution if the flow field is not going to change over time in which case you can choose what mesh is best for the CFD or 2-way where you need to consider the mesh in a bit more detail.  If you use EDEM-Fluent you have to have the Fluent mesh larger than the particles or if you use EDEM-AcuSolve you can have smaller mesh cells on the CFD side.

We have some EDEM-Fluent e-learning here https://learn.altair.com/enrol/index.php?id=171

and EDEM-AcuSolve (shortly to be updated to show latest GUI) here - https://learn.altair.com/course/view.php?id=176