first layer thickness & y+
 

Hey everybody!


My current project is the simulation of a heatet installation space that is filled with argon. For good results I want to do inflation meshing. Therefore I want to calculate the first layer thickness via y+. My problem is that I have only little information about the freestream velocity and the dynamic viscousity (because it is based on the temperature). If I estimate values that might be realistic I get very different results for the first layer thickness. Some of them are far to fine others are to coarse in comparison to the rest of my grid.


How can I deal with such a situation?


Thanks in advance!

What do you mean with unrealistic values?
Sometimes the boundary layer has to be very fine.

In general, I would take the minimal possible viscosity and the first estimation for your velocity and just build a first mesh. Test it, and calculate y+ from your turbulence model. Then you will see, if refinement is necessary.

Thanks for your reply!

For some parts I got fist layer thickness in the area of µm. I have a quit big model consisting of several bodies and I might get problems with the elements limitation of the licence.

In any case it is good practice to make a mesh dependency study. Start with a rather coarse mesh and have a look at the results: e.g. plot the velocity and temperature profile in the boundary layer. It may give you a more clear image of the number of layers needed to capture your physical boundary layer. After all the y+ is not the only value to look at.
Then you make two or more finer meshes and study the impact of the refinements.

It would be a pity if a limitation in the license would prevent you from performing a proper mesh dependency study. It might be good to look at alternatives that do not restrict the number of elements. Then you may still have limitations on the available CPU resources to take into account in how fine you can get.