Can I use the Subsonic solver in simulations where temperature variations in the flow are of interest?

The answer is yes, you definitely can. However, there are a few things that you should be aware of:

  • You can simulate only convective heat transfer

  • Temperature conditions are only assigned on the flow inlet and outlet boundaries

  • The walls are considered adiabatic in the simulation

If your simulation setup fits those conditions, then you can do the following:

  1. Toggle Compressible ON

  2. In the material definition choose the appropriate equation of state (relevant only if you’re simulating a gas):

    • If the temperature variations are expected to be small In the simulation, meaning temperature won’t have large effect on the density → then choose the “Rho const” model. Otherwise, you can choose either from a perfect gas model or a real gas model. More information on the equation of states can be found here

      • Choosing the “Rho const” model in this case, would be like simulating an incompressible flow simulation with the addition of incorporating temperature information into it. (of course, this sentence is valid only if Mach < 0.3 and temperature variations are small)
  3. Define boundary conditions as usual and run the simulation!

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