Tutorial Three

Patching Fields

Bahram Haddadi

7th edition, March 2025

 OpenFOAM® Basic Training

Tutorial Three

Contributors:
• Bahram Haddadi
• Christian Jordan Technische Universität Wien
• Michael Harasek Institute of Chemical, Environmental

• Clemens Gößnitzer & Bioscience Engineering

• Sylvia Zibuschka
• Yitong Chen
• Vikram Natarajan
• Jozsef Nagy

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 OpenFOAM® Basic Training

Tutorial Three

Background

1. Initial and Boundary Conditions

Before running a numerical simulation, it is crucial to correctly define initial and
boundary conditions for the problem. Poorly defined boundary conditions can
lead to non-convergence or incorrect results. Understanding and applying
these conditions properly ensures that the simulation behaves realistically and
produces accurate and reliable results.
Initial conditions define the starting state of the simulation. These values are
(usually) assigned to the center of every cell in the computational domain before
the solver begins calculations. As the simulation progresses, the solver updates
these values at each iteration based on the governing equations.
Key Points about Initial Conditions:
• Importance: They provide a reference point for the solver and influence
how quickly the solution converges.
• Transient problems: The solution evolves over time from the specified
initial state.
• Steady-state problems: The solver will iterate until a stable solution is
found, regardless of the initial values, but the initial value might affect the
speed of convergence and solution stability.
In OpenFOAM®, non-uniform initial conditions can be specified using the
setFields utility, which allows defining non-uniform distributions of properties in
the computational domain. This approach is especially useful when different
regions of the domain require different starting values.
Boundary conditions define how the simulation domain interacts with its
surroundings. They specify fixed values or behavior at the domain’s
boundaries, ensuring that the flow variables (such as velocity, pressure, or
temperature) remain well-defined at these locations and represent the real
physics at these boundaries. Types of Boundary Conditions:
• Dirichlet Boundary Conditions (Fixed Value): the variable (e.g.,
velocity or temperature) is assigned a fixed value at the boundary, e.g.
specifying a constant temperature at a heated wall.
• Neumann Boundary Conditions (Fixed Gradient): instead of a fixed
value, the gradient of the variable is specified at the boundary, e.g. a
heat flux condition at a surface where the temperature gradient is
controlled.
• Mixed Boundary Conditions: a combination of both Dirichlet and
Neumann conditions, often used for heat transfer and fluid dynamics
problems.
• Periodic Boundary Conditions: the solution at one boundary is linked
to the opposite boundary, creating a repeating or cyclic condition useful
for modeling infinite domains.
• Symmetry: used when a boundary behaves like a mirror, preventing
flow normal to it.
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Tutorial Three

In OpenFOAM®, boundary and initial conditions are defined in configuration

files located in the 0 directory, where users can specify different types of
conditions depending on the physical problem being modeled.
Setting appropriate boundary and initial conditions ensures that the simulation
correctly represents the physical problem and achieves accurate, stable, and
realistic results.

2. Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) Condition

When performing numerical simulations, stability is a key concern. The
Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) condition is an essential mathematical criterion
that ensures numerical schemes remain stable and that information propagates
correctly within the computational domain.
Numerical solvers work by advancing the solution through a series of small time
steps. However, for the solution to be physically meaningful, the information
carried by waves or particles within the fluid must not move faster than the
numerical grid can capture it. If this condition is violated, the simulation may
become unstable, leading to numerical errors or divergence. To achieve this
CFL condition is used which is mathematically expressed as:
𝑢∆𝑡
𝐶𝑜 = ≤1
∆𝑥
Where:
• u = Velocity magnitude in the considered direction
• Δt = Simulation time step size
• Δx = Mesh cell size in the corresponding direction
How the CFL Condition Affects Simulations:
• Co > 1: The simulation becomes unstable because the numerical
scheme cannot properly capture the flow information moving between
cells.
• Co ≤ 1: The information is correctly captured within the computational
grid, ensuring stability and accuracy.
A finer mesh (smaller Δx) requires a smaller time step (Δt) to maintain stability,
while higher velocity (larger u) also requires a smaller Δt to satisfy the CFL
condition.
One of the most effective ways to determine a suitable Δt is to maintain the
Courant number close to 1 (to have the biggest stable time step), using the
maximum velocity in the domain and the smallest cell size. By using this
approach, the solver will run efficiently while maintaining stability.
 OpenFOAM® Basic Training

Tutorial Three

fluid Solver – shockTube

Tutorial outline
Use the “fluid” solver; simulate 0.007 s of flow inside a shock tube, with a mesh
with 100, 1000 and 10000 cells in one dimension, for initial values 1 bar/0.1 bar
and 10 bar/0.1 bar.

Objectives
• To understand the setFields utility
• Learn how to specify initial and boundary conditions
• Investigate effect of grid resolution.

Data processing
Import your simulation into ParaView, and compare results.
 OpenFOAM® Basic Training

Tutorial Three

1. Pre-processing

1.1. Copying tutorial

Copy the tutorial from the following directory to your working directory

$FOAM_TUTORIALS/fluid/shockTube

1.2. Mesh and setting fields

Looking at the blockMeshDict file (in system directory), it is obvious that it is a
1D mesh, because of the number of mesh cells in y and z directions is one, and
also in boundary section, plates vertical to these directions are defined as
empty. The mesh density can be set in the blocks part by changing x direction
mesh size (e.g. change it from 1000 to 100 or 10000).
Another important file is setFieldsDict (in the system directory), which is used
by the tool setFields for patching (assigning an amount to a region) in the
simulation. For example, here a pressure of 105 Pa is set as the default value
for the entire region (in the defaultFieldValues), then half of the region (from
0 to 5) is patched with a pressure of 104 Pa.
// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * *//

defaultFieldValues ( volVectorFieldValue U ( 0 0 0 ) volScalarFieldValue T

348.432 volScalarFieldValue p 100000 );

regions ( boxToCell { box ( 0 -1 -1 ) ( 5 1 1 ) ; fieldValues (

volScalarFieldValue T 278.746 volScalarFieldValue p 10000 ) ; } );

// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * *//

In the defaultFieldValues, a value is assigned to the whole domain, for

example here, the velocity has been set everywhere to zero, the temperature
to 348.432 K, and the pressure to 100000 Pa. In the regions, a specific value
is patched to a certain region of the domain. In this example the region is
defined as a cube, by the coordinates of one of its diagonals in boxToCell.
After choosing the region, the new values are assigned to the parameters (e.g.
temperature at 278.746 K and pressure at 10000 Pa).
2. Running simulation
First the mesh needs to be created:

>blockMesh

In order to assign the values which were set in the setFieldDict:

>setFields

Then run:

>foamRun -solver fluid

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Tutorial Three

Note: Checking the information printed to the terminal (or log file) you can see
how by decreasing the cell size (e.g. by increasing the number of cells) or by
increasing the velocity (changing the pressure values) the Co number is
increasing at a constant time step. In case the Co is getting bigger than one,
the deltaT needs to be adopted accordingly to keep the Co below one.
Note: After running setFields for the first time, the files in the 0 directory are
overwritten. If the mesh is changed these files are not compatible with the new
mesh and the simulation will fail. To solve this problem replace the files in the
0 directory with the files in the [Link] or the files with suffix “.orig”, e.g. [Link] in
the 0 directory. In the OpenFOAM® files or directories with suffix “.orig”
(“original”) usually contain the backup files. If a command changes the original
files these files can be replaced.
3. Post-processing
The simulation results are as follows:
 OpenFOAM® Basic Training

Tutorial Three

Velocities for different configurations along tube at t = 0.007 s

Velocity along tube axis for 10 bar/0.1bar and 10000 cells case at t = 0.007s
 OpenFOAM® Basic Training

Tutorial Three

Pressures for different configurations along tube at t = 0.007 s

Pressure along tube axis for 10 bar/0.1bar and 10000 cells case at
t = 0.007s
 OpenFOAM® Basic Training

Tutorial Three

Temperature for different configurations along tube at t = 0.007 s

Temperature along tube axis for 10 bar/0.1bar and 10000 cells case at
t = 0.007 s