[IGG]

Hi all,

I have been reading this site for some weeks even I haven't been registered. So first of all, thank you for making this site possible.

As you can read the title, I'm not even a begginer. I'm mechanical engineer and I'm researcher on building envelopes in a technological center. Next October I'm starting my phd classes so i have to admit i'm quit happy.

The point is that I have no idea about CFDs, not even about Fluid Dynamics. I studied some things in the career but not much. However, i know this is where i want to work and make my phd. Thanks to my job I'm a FEM expert. I would like to simulate on CFD the effect of the wind pressure on tall buildings. Same as some researchers make on a wind tunnel.

I would be very pleased if someone would tell me how could i start (books, articles,...) learning about this wonderful and complicated science.

What kind of books, programs, code, do you recommend? Does anybody work with CFDs aplied to buildings?

Thank you very much!!!

IGG

[jntan]

hey IGG,

Personally I think <numerical heat transfer and fluid flow> by Suhas Patankar is a great CFD book for beginners. I googled this book and found that there's a free online version. I don't know if it's proper to put the link here but I'm sure you can find it easily using goole. Good luck!

[lenvoi]

Personnally I also think "Fundamentals Aerodynamics" by Anderson is good book for engineers. Hope it's helpful for you.

[IGG]

Thank you very much, jntan and lenvoi!!!

I'll try to find those books. I know my phd will be hard, because I start from my begginer level, but i also know it will be very gratifying.

I have another question. I 've been searching all the forum, and have checked that OpenFOAM is a free open software and works on c++ language. I like this because i think i must learn the very basic concepts of fluid dynamics to use this software properly. Fluent can be used as a black box, and i think that is dangeorus.

My questions are:

- Do you think starting with openFOAM is good for a begginer like me? I have been working with c++ for two years, i have forgotten this a little bit, but will manage.

- Is openFOAM a valid open free software to work on wind engineering applied to determine pressures on buildings?

- This one is just in case : Any university department works in this fields of wind engineer? Has anyone phd offer? Could i make a phd from the distance (i can't leave my city in spain, family stuff)?

Thank you very much!!!

IGG

[sbaffini]

As a starting point in fluid mechanics i suggest you to read:

Kundu, Cohen: Fluid Mechanics - Elsevier
Panton: Incompressible Flow - Wiley

both of them are very basic and easy to read. Then switch to some bluff body oriented fluid mechanics book or paper (ann. rev. or similars).

As a CFD book i'd choose one of the following:

Hirsch: Numerical Computation of Internal & External Flows - Butterworth & Heinman
Tannehill, Anderson, Pletcher: Computational Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer - Taylor & Francis
Ferziger, Peric : Computational Methods for Fluid Dynamics - Springer

As long as regards the turbulence modeling in this specific field, it seems to me that there is a growing interest (not just in academic environments) toward Large Eddy Simulation so the next logical step is

Sagaut : Large Eddy Simulation for Incompressible Flows - Springer

OpenFoam will give you a lot of flexibility and is more than approapriate as a cfd tool to start with (and you will not pass to anything else!)

[RSeeley]

IGG,

I've just been accepted to a masters program in computational science and engineering through Georgia Tech's distance learning program. This is one of the few programs that I was able to find that offered a degree program that could be completed entirely through distance learning. They do offer a PhD, but unfortunately that is not offered through distance learning.

For a general overview of CFD I would suggest using computational fluid dynamics by C.T. Shaw. It is available as a PDF on the web. It doesn't go into a lot of depth, but it does give a good general overview of the topic.

If you are completely new to CFD you might also want to do what I did. Having been out of school for some time, there was some question regarding how rusty my technical skills had become, and also regarding my lack of background in CFD. To close this gap, I took a couple of courses from Dr. A.J. Baker at the University of Tennessee CFD lab. He has an upper level undergrad course in FEA that does a good job of introducing many of the concepts of computational modeling. If, like me, you have been out of school for a while, this is also a good way to brush up the math skills again.

Hope some of that is helpful.

Robert

[IGG]

Good morning!!

You are being very helpful for me. Thank you very much, SReeley and sbaffini!!! I think I have enough material to start with. I'll find these books you suggest me and I expect starting this summer studying fluid-dynamics.

Thak you very much again!