[andreasp]

Hi everyone!

I want to compute an incompressible flow profile round a sphere in a box (see attached PNG).

The mesh is generated with ICEM, stored in Fluent format, and converted to OF with fluent3DMeshToFoam without any problems. Most important converter output:

....

FINISHED LEXING

Creating patch 0 for zone: 12 name: SURFS type: wall
Creating patch 1 for zone: 13 name: SPHERE type: wall
Creating cellZone 0 name: CREATED_MATERIAL_6 type: fluid
Creating cellZone 1 name: CREATED_MATERIAL_7 type: fluid
Creating faceZone 0 name: int_CREATED_MATERIAL_6 type: interior
Creating faceZone 1 name: int_CREATED_MATERIAL_7 type: interior
faceZone from Fluent indices: 0 to: 7430 type: interior
faceZone from Fluent indices: 7431 to: 7757 type: interior
patch 0 from Fluent indices: 7758 to: 8317 type: wall
patch 1 from Fluent indices: 8318 to: 8407 type: wall

Since other people in our group use the same mesh also for computing mass transport inside the sphere, it is also meshed. However, I am only interested in the flow profile *around* the sphere, i.e. its surface == impermeable walls.

I have not yet tried to run a simulation (with simpleFoam), but I have a few general questions in advance:

How does OF treat such multidomain problems in general? Will it treat the two cellZones as one, or will it just ignore the second, or what else?
Or how can I tell OF to ignore the cells inside inside the sphere?

I'd appreciate any information on that!
Andreas

[alberto]

I would remove the cells inside the sphere. You can do this defining a cellSet and deleting the elements belonging to it. Take a look at cellSet/setSet tools.

[andreasp]

Alberto,

thanks for your reply.

After fixing the boundary conditions at inlet and outlet, I now got simpleFoam to compute a solution. It works, but the solver includes the cells inside the sphere. Since these are completely surrounded by walls, nothing happens there. But I should definitely get rid of the cells for larger realistic problems...

I did some googling on cellSet and setSet, but didn't really come up with useful documentation. Am I missing any important docu site? Or maybe could anyone shed some light on how to use these tools?

Thanks again!
Andreas