Modelling Pressure Drop Using an Actuator Disk

Hi,

I am currently modelling a concept aircraft and a major part of my project is to analyse the behaviour of its engines. From my research, I found that previous studies model them using an actuator disk and use it to apply a pressure drop where the fans of the engines are.

I am having troubles in trying to figure out if this sort of an actuator disk model is even possible in SimScale. I found a way to model an actuator disk but I’m unsure if this is what I need since it’s only letting me control the velocities. There is also an option to model a rotating volume here but I don’t quite understand if I’ll be able to replicate their simulations using this approach.

A more recent study also used a source distribution model and inlet-outlet boundaries for modelling the engines but I have never came across these approaches during my studies.

These are the papers I’m looking at:

  1. Hall, DK, Greitzer, EM, Uranga, A, Drela, M, & Pandya, SA. “Inlet Flow Distortion in an Advanced Civil Transport Boundary Layer Ingesting Engine Installation.” Proceedings of the ASME Turbo Expo 2021: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition . Volume 1: Aircraft Engine; Fans and Blowers; Marine; Wind Energy; Scholar Lecture . Virtual, Online. June 7–11, 2021. V001T01A010.

  2. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-0991

In case the papers are still unavailable to the public here’s their explanation of the actuator disk used in the comparison study:

If you have any ideas please let me know. I’ve been using SimScale since I started my Master’s project and I wouldn’t want to switch at this stage.

Regards,

Jakub

Hello Jakub,
do you have an image of the geometry you want to simulate? Is this just a disc? or a more specific model?

Maybe you can have a look at the custom boundary condition. To apply your formula.

Best regards
Sebastian

Hi Sebastian,

Thanks for your reply, I attached one of the figures from the paper I’m focusing on. I have a very similar geometry of the engines, it’s just a matter of inserting a disk or a thin cylinder like the one here. Do you think any of the advanced concepts from SimScale could be applied? I will definitely look into creating a custom boundary condition. It might be helpful.

Regards,

Jakub

Hi, if you don’t have the geometry a custom boundary condition can for sure be used.
For example, here we use it to model the pressure drop from a fan without using the correct geometry.

Best regards
Sebastian