CFD Module

User’s Guide
CFD Module User’s Guide
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Part number: CM021301

C o n t e n t s

Chapter 1: Introduction

About the CFD Module 24

Why CFD Is Important for Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
How the CFD Module Helps Improve Your Modeling . . . . . . . . . 25
Where Do I Access the Documentation and Application Libraries? . . . . 26

Overview of the User’s Guide 30

Chapter 2: Quick Start Guide

Modeling and Simulations of Fluid Flow 34

Modeling Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Geometric Complexities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Material Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Defining the Physics Interfaces and Features . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Meshing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
The Choice of Solver and Solver Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
The CFD Module Physics Interface Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Common Physics Interface and Feature Settings and Nodes . . . . . . 53
The Liquids and Gases Materials Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Chapter 3: Single-Phase Flow Interfaces

Modeling Single-Phase Flow 56

Selecting the Right Physics Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
The Single-Phase Flow Interface Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Coupling to Other Physics Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

The Creeping Flow, Laminar Flow, Turbulent Flow, and Large

CONTENTS |3
 Eddy Simulation Interfaces 63
The Creeping Flow Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
The Laminar Flow Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
The Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
The Turbulent Flow, L-VEL Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
The Turbulent Flow, k-ε Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
The Turbulent Flow, Realizable k-ε Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
The Turbulent Flow, k-ω Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
The Turbulent Flow, SST Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
The Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
The Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras Interface . . . . . . . . . . . 81
The Turbulent Flow, v2-f Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
The LES RBVM Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
The LES RBVMWV Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
The LES Smagorinsky Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
The Viscoelastic Flow Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Fluid Properties (Viscoelastic Flow) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Fluid Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Volume Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Initial Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Inlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Outlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Open Boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Boundary Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Vacuum Pump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Periodic Flow Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Interior Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Interior Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Grille . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Flow Continuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Pressure Point Constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Point Mass Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Line Mass Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Generate New Turbulence Model Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . 125

4 | CONTENTS
Gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

The Rotating Machinery, Laminar and Turbulent Flow

Interfaces 128
Moving Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
The Rotating Machinery, Laminar Flow Interface . . . . . . . . . . 129
The Rotating Machinery, Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus Interface . . . 131
The Rotating Machinery, Turbulent Flow, L-VEL Interface . . . . . . 132
The Rotating Machinery, Turbulent Flow, k-ε Interface . . . . . . . 133
Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Rotating
Machinery Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Stationary Free Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Contact Angle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Theory for the Single-Phase Flow Interfaces 138

General Single-Phase Flow Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Compressible Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Weakly Compressible Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
The Mach Number Limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Incompressible Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
The Reynolds Number. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Non-Newtonian Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Theory for the Viscoelastic Flow Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Theory for the Wall Boundary Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Prescribing Inlet and Outlet Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Mass Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Fully Developed Flow (Inlet) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Fully Developed Flow (Outlet). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
No Viscous Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Normal Stress Boundary Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Pressure Boundary Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Vacuum Pump Boundary Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Fan Defined on an Interior Boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Fan and Grille Boundary Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Screen Boundary Condition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Mass Sources for Fluid Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Numerical Stability — Stabilization Techniques for Fluid Flow . . . . . 174

CONTENTS |5
 Solvers for Laminar Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Pseudo Time Stepping for Laminar Flow Models . . . . . . . . . . 179
Discontinuous Galerkin Formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Particle Tracing in Fluid Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
References for the Single-Phase Flow, Laminar Flow Interfaces . . . . 182

Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces 184

Turbulence Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
The Algebraic yPlus Turbulence Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
The L-VEL Turbulence Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
The k-ε Turbulence Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
The Realizable k-ε Turbulence Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
The k-ω Turbulence Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
The SST Turbulence Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
The Low Reynolds Number k-ε Turbulence Model . . . . . . . . . 210
The Spalart-Allmaras Turbulence Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
The v2-f Turbulence Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Inlet Values for the Turbulence Length Scale and Turbulent Intensity . . 223
Theory for Buoyancy-Induced Turbulence . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Theory for the Pressure, No Viscous Stress Boundary Condition . . . 225
Initial Values for Generate New Turbulence Model Interfaces . . . . . 225
Solvers for Turbulent Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Pseudo Time Stepping for Turbulent Flow Models . . . . . . . . . 228
References for the Single-Phase Flow, Turbulent Flow Interfaces . . . . 228

Theory for the Large Eddy Simulation Interfaces 231

References for LES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Theory for the Rotating Machinery Interfaces 234

Frozen Rotor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Setting Up a Rotating Machinery Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Chapter 4: Heat Transfer and Nonisothermal Flow

6 | CONTENTS
 Interfaces

Modeling Heat Transfer in the CFD Module 240

Selecting the Right Physics Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Coupling to Other Physics Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

The Nonisothermal Flow and Conjugate Heat Transfer,

Laminar Flow, Turbulent Flow and LES Interfaces 244
Advantages of Using the Multiphysics Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . 244
The Nonisothermal Flow, Laminar Flow and Turbulent Flow
Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
The Conjugate Heat Transfer, Laminar Flow and Turbulent Flow
Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Settings for Physics Interfaces and Coupling Features . . . . . . . . 247
Coupling Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Physics Interface Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Nonisothermal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Marangoni Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Theory for the Nonisothermal Flow and Conjugate Heat

Transfer Interfaces 258
The Nonisothermal Flow and Conjugate Heat Transfer Equations . . . 258
Turbulent Nonisothermal Flow Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Theory for the Nonisothermal Flow, LES Interfaces. . . . . . . . . 265
The Boussinesq Approximation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Theory for the Nonisothermal Screen Boundary Condition. . . . . . 268
Theory for the Interior Fan Boundary Condition . . . . . . . . . . 268
References for the Nonisothermal Flow and Conjugate Heat Transfer
Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Chapter 5: High Mach Number Flow Interfaces

The High Mach Number Flow Interfaces 272

The High Mach Number Flow, Laminar Interface . . . . . . . . . . 273
The High Mach Number Flow, k-ε Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . 274

CONTENTS |7
 The High Mach Number Flow, Spalart-Allmaras Interface . . . . . . 276
Domain, Boundary, Edge, Point, and Pair Nodes for the High Mach
Number Flow Laminar and Turbulent Interfaces. . . . . . . . . 278
Initial Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Fluid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Inlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Outlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

The Compressible Euler Equations Interface 286

Domain, Boundary, Edge, Point, and Pair Nodes for the
Compressible Euler Equations Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Fluid Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Initial Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Volume Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Heat Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Inlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Outlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Interior Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Continuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Theory for the High Mach Number Flow Interfaces 295

Compressible Flow for All Mach Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Sutherland’s Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Consistent Inlet and Outlet Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Pseudo Time Stepping for High Mach Number Flow Models . . . . . 302
References for the High Mach Number Flow Interfaces . . . . . . . 303

Theory for the Compressible Euler Equations Interface 304

The Compressible Euler Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
The Numerical Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Shock Capturing and Positivity-Preserving Limiters . . . . . . . . . 307
References for the Compressible Euler Equations Interface . . . . . . 307

8 | CONTENTS
Chapter 6: Multiphase Flow Interfaces

Modeling Multiphase Flow 311

Selecting the Right Physics Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
The Multiphase Flow Interface Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
The Relationship Between the Physics Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . 312
Coupling to Other Physics Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

The Two-Phase Flow, Level Set and Phase Field Interfaces 322
The Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Level Set Interface . . . . . . . . . 322
The Turbulent Two-Phase Flow, Level Set Interfaces . . . . . . . . 323
The Two-Phase Flow, Level Set Coupling Feature . . . . . . . . . 325
The Wetted Wall Coupling Feature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
The Interior Wetted Wall Coupling Feature . . . . . . . . . . . 330
The Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface . . . . . . . . 333
The Turbulent Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interfaces . . . . . . . 334
The Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field Coupling Feature. . . . . . . . . 335
Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Laminar and
Turbulent Flow, Two-Phase, Level Set and Phase Field Interfaces . . 338

The Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface 339

The Laminar Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface . . . . . . . . 339
The Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Coupling Feature . . . . . . . . 340
Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Laminar
Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

The Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Moving Mesh Interface 344

Select Laminar Flow Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Deforming Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Fluid-Fluid Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
External Fluid Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Wall-Fluid Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

The Bubbly Flow Interfaces 351

The Laminar Bubbly Flow Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
The Bubbly Flow, Algebraic yPlus Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
The Bubbly Flow, L-VEL Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

CONTENTS |9
 The Bubbly Flow, k-ε Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
The Bubbly Flow, Realizable k-ε Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
The Bubbly Flow, k-ω Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
The Bubbly Flow, SST Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
The Bubbly Flow, Low Re k-ε Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
The Bubbly Flow, Spalart-Allmaras Interface . . . . . . . . . . . 365
The Bubbly Flow, v2-f Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Domain and Boundary Nodes for Bubbly Flow . . . . . . . . . . 369
Fluid Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
Mass Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
Initial Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
Inlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
Outlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
Periodic Flow Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Interior Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Flow Continuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Gas Boundary Condition Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

The Mixture Model Interfaces 387

The Mixture Model, Laminar Flow Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . 387
The Mixture Model, Algebraic yPlus Interface . . . . . . . . . . . 391
The Mixture Model, L-VEL Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
The Mixture Model, k-ε Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
The Mixture Model, Realizable k-ε Interface . . . . . . . . . . . 397
The Mixture Model, k-ω Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
The Mixture Model, SST Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
The Mixture Model, Low Re k-ε Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
The Mixture Model, Spalart-Allmaras Interface . . . . . . . . . . 404
The Mixture Model, v2-f Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
Domain and Boundary Nodes for the Mixture Model Interfaces . . . . 408
Mixture Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Mass Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
Gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
Initial Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

10 | C O N T E N T S
Inlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Outlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Periodic Flow Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Interior Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
Mixture Continuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

The Euler-Euler Model Interfaces 427

The Euler-Euler Model, Laminar Flow Interface . . . . . . . . . . 427
The Euler-Euler Model, Turbulent Flow Interface. . . . . . . . . . 430
Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Euler-Euler Model
Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
Phase Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
Initial Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
Mass Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
Gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
Volume Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
Inlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
Outlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
Interior Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
Flow Continuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

The Phase Transport Interface 446

The Phase Transport Mixture Model Interfaces 447

The Phase Transport Mixture Model, Laminar Flow and Turbulent
Flow Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
Coupling Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
Physics Interface Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
Mixture Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Theory for the Two-Phase Flow Interfaces 456

Level Set and Phase Field Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
Conservative and Nonconservative Formulations . . . . . . . . . 459
Phase Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
Numerical Stabilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
References for the Level Set and Phase Field Interfaces . . . . . . . 461

CONTENTS | 11
 Theory for the Three-Phase Flow Interface 463
Governing Equations of the Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface . . 463
Reference for the Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface . . . . . . 466

Theory for the Bubbly Flow Interfaces 467

The Bubbly Flow Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
Turbulence Modeling in Bubbly Flow Applications . . . . . . . . . 471
References for the Bubbly Flow Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . 472

Theory for the Mixture Model Interfaces 474

The Mixture Model Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
Dispersed Phase Boundary Conditions Equations . . . . . . . . . 478
Turbulence Modeling in Mixture Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
Slip Velocity Models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
References for the Mixture Model Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . 483

Theory for the Euler-Euler Model Interfaces 484

The Euler-Euler Model Equations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
Some Notes on Boundary Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494
Turbulent Two-Phase Flow Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494
References for the Euler-Euler Model Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . 499

Theory for the Phase Transport Mixture Model Interfaces 500

Mixture Viscosity Models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
Slip Velocity Models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
Coupled Interfaces: Equations and Coupled Quantities . . . . . . . 505
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505

Chapter 7: Porous Media and Subsurface Flow

Interfaces

Modeling Porous Media and Subsurface Flow 508

Selecting the Right Physics Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
The Porous Media Flow Interface Options . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
Coupling to Other Physics Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511

12 | C O N T E N T S
The Darcy’s Law Interface 513
Domain, Boundary, Edge, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Darcy’s
Law Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
Fluid and Matrix Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
Mass Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520
Initial Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520
Storage Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
Richards’ Equation Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
Poroelastic Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
Gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
Porous Electrode Coupling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
Electrode Surface Coupling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
Mass Flux. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
Line Mass Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
Point Mass Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526
Inlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526
Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
No Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
Flux Discontinuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
Outlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
Precipitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
Cross Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
Thickness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
Interior Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
Thin Barrier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
Pressure Head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
Hydraulic Head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
Atmosphere/Gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
Pervious Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
Well . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
Fracture Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534

The Brinkman Equations Interface 535

Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Brinkman
Equations Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
Fluid and Matrix Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538
Mass Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540

CONTENTS | 13
 Volume Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540
Initial Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540
Fluid Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541

The Free and Porous Media Flow Interface 543

Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Free and Porous
Media Flow Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
Fluid Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
Fluid and Matrix Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546
Mass Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
Volume Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
Initial Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
Microfluidic Wall Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548

The Two-Phase Darcy’s Law Interface 550

Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Two-Phase Darcy’s Law
Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551
Fluid and Matrix Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
Initial Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
No Flux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
Pressure and Saturation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
Mass Flux. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
Inlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
Outlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556
Interior Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556
Thin Barrier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556

The Phase Transport in Porous Media Interface 557

The Phase Transport Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
Domain, Boundary, Edge, and Point Nodes for the Phase Transport
and Phase Transport in Porous Media Interfaces . . . . . . . . 560
Phase and Transport Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560
Turbulent Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
Phase and Porous Media Transport Properties . . . . . . . . . . 561
Gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
Initial Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563

14 | C O N T E N T S
Mass Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564
No Flux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564
Volume Fraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564
Mass Flux. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
Outflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
Interior Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
Porous Medium Discontinuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566
Continuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566

The Multiphase Flow in Porous Media Interface 568

Multiphase Flow in Porous Media (Multiphysics Coupling) . . . . . . 569

Theory for the Darcy’s Law Interface 571

About Darcy’s Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571
Darcy’s Law — Equation Formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572
Storage Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573
Hydraulic Head, Pressure Head, and Elevation Head . . . . . . . . 574
Average Linear Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575
Permeability Models and Non-Darcian Flow . . . . . . . . . . . 575
References for the Darcy’s Law Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . 579

Theory for the Brinkman Equations Interface 581

About the Brinkman Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
Brinkman Equations Theory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582
References for the Brinkman Equations Interface. . . . . . . . . . 583

Theory for the Free and Porous Media Flow Interface 584
Reference for the Free and Porous Media Flow Interface. . . . . . . 584

Theory for the Two-Phase Darcy’s Law Interface 585

Capillary Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586
References for the Two-Phase Darcy’s Law Interface . . . . . . . . 587

Theory for the Phase Transport Interface 588

Phase Transport in Free Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588
Turbulent Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
Phase Transport in Porous Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
Predefined Capillary Pressure and Relative Permeability Models . . . . 590

CONTENTS | 15
 Porous Medium Discontinuity Boundary Condition . . . . . . . . . 591
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592

Theory for the Multiphase Flow in Porous Media Interface 593

Pressure-Saturation Formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593
Mass Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595
Boundary Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596

Chapter 8: Chemical Species Transport Interfaces

Modeling Chemical Species Transport 598

Selecting the Right Physics Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
Coupling to Other Physics Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
Adding a Chemical Species Transport Interface . . . . . . . . . . 601

The Transport of Diluted Species Interface 603

The Transport of Diluted Species in Porous Media Interface . . . . . 607
Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Transport of Diluted
Species Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
Transport Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610
Turbulent Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
Initial Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
Mass-Based Concentrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
Reactions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
No Flux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
Inflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
Outflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616
Concentration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616
Flux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618
Flux Discontinuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618
Partition Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619
Periodic Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620
Line Mass Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620
Point Mass Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621

16 | C O N T E N T S
Open Boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
Thin Diffusion Barrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
Thin Impermeable Barrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
Equilibrium Reaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
Surface Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624
Surface Equilibrium Reaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624
Fast Irreversible Surface Reaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624
Porous Electrode Coupling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
Reaction Coefficients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
Electrode Surface Coupling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626
Porous Media Transport Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626
Adsorption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629
Partially Saturated Porous Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
Volatilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633
Reactive Pellet Bed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634
Reactions (Reactive Pellet Bed) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636
Species Source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
Hygroscopic Swelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638
Fracture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639

The Transport of Concentrated Species Interface 640

Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Transport of
Concentrated Species Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
Transport Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
Porous Media Transport Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651
Electrode Surface Coupling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654
Turbulent Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
Reaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656
Reaction Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658
Initial Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658
Mass Fraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659
Flux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660
Inflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
No Flux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662
Outflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662
Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
Flux Discontinuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
Open Boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663

CONTENTS | 17
 Equilibrium Reaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664
Surface Equilibrium Reaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665

The Reacting Flow Multiphysics Interfaces 666

The Reacting Laminar Flow Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666
The Reacting Turbulent Flow, k-ε Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . 667
The Reacting Turbulent Flow, k-ω Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . 668
The Reacting Turbulent Flow, SST Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . 668
The Reacting Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε Interface. . . . . . . . . 669
The Reacting Flow Coupling Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670
Physics Interface Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673

The Reacting Flow in Porous Media Interfaces 674

The Reacting Flow in Porous Media, Transport of Diluted Species
Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674
The Reacting Flow in Porous Media, Transport of Concentrated
Species Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675
The Reacting Flow, Diluted Species Coupling Feature . . . . . . . . 675
The Reacting Flow Coupling Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676
Physics Interface Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676

Theory for the Transport of Diluted Species Interface 677

Mass Balance Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678
Equilibrium Reaction Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679
Convective Term Formulation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681
Solving a Diffusion Equation Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
Mass Sources for Species Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
Adding Transport Through Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
Supporting Electrolytes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
Crosswind Diffusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686
Danckwerts Inflow Boundary Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687
Mass Balance Equation for Transport of Diluted Species in Porous
Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
Convection in Porous Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
Diffusion in Porous Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
Dispersion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692
Adsorption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
Reactions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696

18 | C O N T E N T S
 Mass Transport in Fractures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698
About Turbulent Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699

Theory for the Transport of Concentrated Species Interface 700

Multicomponent Mass Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700
Multicomponent Diffusion: Mixture-Averaged Approximation . . . . . 701
Multispecies Diffusion: Fick’s Law Approximation . . . . . . . . . 703
Multicomponent Thermal Diffusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704
Turbulent Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705
Regularization of Reaction Rate Expression . . . . . . . . . . . . 705
References for the Transport of Concentrated Species Interface . . . . 706

Theory for the Reacting Flow Interfaces 707

Pseudo Time Stepping for Mass Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . 707
The Stefan Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708
The Chemical Reaction Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709
Turbulent Mass Transport Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710
Mass Transport Wall Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
Turbulent Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714
The Reaction Source Term for Turbulent Flow . . . . . . . . . . 717
Theory for the Interior Fan Boundary Condition . . . . . . . . . . 717
References for the Reacting Flow Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . 717

Chapter 9: Thin-Film Flow Interfaces

The Thin-Film Flow Interfaces 720

The Thin-Film Flow, Shell Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720
The Thin-Film Flow, Domain Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723
The Thin-Film Flow, Edge Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
Domain, Boundary, Edge, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Thin-Film
Flow Branch Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725
Fluid-Film Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725
Border. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730
Perforations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
Initial Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732

CONTENTS | 19
 Inlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
Outlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734

Theory for the Thin-Film Flow Interfaces 735

Thin-Film Flow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
The Reynolds Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736
Flow Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740
The Modified Reynolds Equation — Gas Flows . . . . . . . . . . 747
Flow Models for Rarefied Gases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748
Frequency-Domain Formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751
Boundary Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753
Cavitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754
References for the Thin-Film Flow Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . 756

Chapter 10: Mathematics, Moving Interface Branch

The Level Set Interface 760

Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Level Set Interface . . . . 762
Level Set Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762
Initial Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763
Inlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764
Initial Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764
No Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764
Thin Barrier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765
Continuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765

The Phase Field Interface 766

Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Phase Field Interface . . . . 767
Phase Field Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 768
Initial Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769
Inlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770
Initial Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771
Wetted Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771
Interior Wetted Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772

20 | C O N T E N T S
 Continuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772

The Ternary Phase Field Interface 773

Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Ternary Phase Field
Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 774
Mixture Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 774
Initial Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776
Inlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776
Outlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776
Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777
Wetted Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777

Theory for the Level Set Interface 779

The Level Set Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779
Conservative and Nonconservative Form . . . . . . . . . . . . 781
Initializing the Level Set Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 782
Variables For Geometric Properties of the Interface . . . . . . . . 782
Reference for the Level Set Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783

Theory for the Phase Field Interface 784

About the Phase Field Method. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784
The Equations for the Phase Field Method . . . . . . . . . . . . 784
Conservative and Nonconservative Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . 786
Additional Sources of Free Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
Initializing the Phase Field Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
Variables and Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788
Reference for the Phase Field Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788

Theory for the Ternary Phase Field Interface 790

About the Phase Field Method. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 790
The Equations of the Ternary Phase Field Method . . . . . . . . . 790
Reference for the Ternary Phase Field Interface . . . . . . . . . . 792

Chapter 11: Glossary

Glossary of Terms 794

CONTENTS | 21
22 | C O N T E N T S
 2

Introduction

This guide describes the CFD Module, an optional add-on package for COMSOL
Multiphysics® that provides you with tools for computational fluid dynamics, CFD.
The modeling of fluid flow is an increasingly important part in development of new
equipment and processes.

This chapter introduces you to the capabilities of the module. A summary of the
physics interfaces and where you can find documentation and model examples is
also included. The last section is a brief overview with links to each chapter in this
guide.

• About the CFD Module

• Overview of the User’s Guide

23
 About the CFD Module
In this section:

• Why CFD Is Important for Modeling

• How the CFD Module Helps Improve Your Modeling
• Where Do I Access the Documentation and Application Libraries?

Why CFD Is Important for Modeling

Computational fluid dynamics, CFD, is an integral part in a constantly growing
number of development processes, and is a well established field within many different
engineering disciplines; mechanical, chemical, civil, aeronautical, and also in more
specialized areas such as biomedical engineering.

Often the flow itself is not the main focus in a simulation. Instead it is how the flow
affects other process and application parameters that is important. The transport of
species through the different parts of a chemical reactor, the effective cooling of a
computer’s hard drive and electronics, the dispersion of energy within the damping
film of an accelerometer, the extent of nuclear waste spreading from a subterranean
repository — all of these are applications for which the flow must be fully understood
and is an integral part of the process’s description and simulation.

In many situations, while the flow can add necessary operational parameters to a
process or application, it is also affected by them. For example, a chemical reactor
creates a pressure which disturbs the flow, the electronic heat affects the fluid’s density
and flow properties, the accelerometer elasticity imposes an oscillation on the flow,
while the subterranean environment’s poroelasticity changes the course of the flow.

A description combining several physics fields is often required to produce accurate

models of real world applications involving fluid flow. Being able to effectively simulate
such models increases the understanding of the studied processes and applications,
which in turn leads to optimization of the flow and other parameters.

Historically, a sophisticated modeling tool was a privilege that only large companies
could afford, for which the savings made in bulk production justified the computer
software costs and need for CFD specialists. Today’s engineers are educated in the use
of software modeling tools, and are often expected to create realistic models of

24 | CHAPTER 2: INTRODUCTION
advanced systems on their personal computers. This is where COMSOL Multiphysics
can improve your modeling capabilities.

How the CFD Module Helps Improve Your Modeling

The CFD Module is an optional package that extends the COMSOL Multiphysics
modeling environment with customized physics interfaces and functionality optimized
for the analysis of all types of fluid flow. It is developed for a wide variety of users
including researchers, developers, teachers, and students. It is not just a tool for CFD
experts; it can be used by all engineers and scientists who work with systems in which
momentum transport through fluid flow is an important part of a process or
application.

The module uses the latest research possible to simulate fluid flow and it provides the
most user-friendly simulation environment for CFD applications. The solvers and
meshes are optimized for fluid-flow applications and have built-in robust stabilization
methods.

The readily available coupling of heat and mass transport to fluid flow enables
modeling of a wide range of industrial applications such as heat exchangers, turbines,
separation units, and ventilation systems.

Ready-to-use interfaces enable you to model laminar and turbulent single- or

multiphase flow. Functionality to treat coupled free and porous media flow, stirred
vessels, and fluid structure interaction is also included.

Together with COMSOL Multiphysics and its other optional packages, the CFD
Module takes flow simulations to a new level, allowing for arbitrary coupling to physics
interfaces describing other physical phenomena, such as structural mechanics,
electromagnetics, or even user-defined transport equations. This allows for
unparalleled modeling capabilities for multiphysics applications involving fluid flow.

Like all COMSOL modules, the interfaces described in this guide include all the steps
available for the modeling process, which are described in detail in the COMSOL
Multiphysics Reference Manual:

• Definitions of parameters and component variables

• Creating, importing and manipulating the geometry
• Specifying the materials to include in the component
• Defining the physics of the fluid flow in domains and on boundaries, and coupling
it to other physics

ABOUT THE CFD MODULE | 25

 • Set up an appropriate mesh for the modeling domain with consideration given to the
fluid-flow system’s behavior
• Solving the equations that describe a system for stationary or dynamic behavior, or
as a parametric or optimization study
• Collecting and analyzing results to present for further use in other analyses.

Once a model is defined, you can go back and make changes in all of the branches
listed, while maintaining consistency in the other definitions throughout. You can
restart the solver, for example, using the existing solution as an initial guess or even
alter the geometry, while the equations and boundary conditions are kept consistent
through the associative geometry feature.

Where Do I Access the Documentation and Application Libraries?

A number of internet resources have more information about COMSOL, including
licensing and technical information. The electronic documentation, topic-based (or
context-based) help, and the application libraries are all accessed through the
COMSOL Desktop.

If you are reading the documentation as a PDF file on your computer,

the blue links do not work to open an application or content
referenced in a different guide. However, if you are using the Help
system in COMSOL Multiphysics, these links work to open other
modules, application examples, and documentation sets.

THE DOCUMENTATION AND ONLINE HELP

The COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual describes the core physics interfaces
and functionality included with the COMSOL Multiphysics license. This book also has
instructions about how to use COMSOL Multiphysics and how to access the
electronic Documentation and Help content.

Opening Topic-Based Help

The Help window is useful as it is connected to the features in the COMSOL Desktop.
To learn more about a node in the Model Builder, or a window on the Desktop, click
to highlight a node or window, then press F1 to open the Help window, which then

26 | CHAPTER 2: INTRODUCTION
displays information about that feature (or click a node in the Model Builder followed
by the Help button ( ). This is called topic-based (or context) help.

To open the Help window:

• In the Model Builder, Application Builder, or Physics Builder click a node or

window and then press F1.
• On any toolbar (for example, Home, Definitions, or Geometry), hover the
mouse over a button (for example, Add Physics or Build All) and then
press F1.
• From the File menu, click Help ( ).
• In the upper-right corner of the COMSOL Desktop, click the Help ( )
button.

To open the Help window:

• In the Model Builder or Physics Builder click a node or window and then
press F1.
• On the main toolbar, click the Help ( ) button.
• From the main menu, select Help>Help.

Opening the Documentation Window

To open the Documentation window:

• Press Ctrl+F1.
• From the File menu select Help>Documentation ( ).

To open the Documentation window:

• Press Ctrl+F1.
• On the main toolbar, click the Documentation ( ) button.
• From the main menu, select Help>Documentation.

ABOUT THE CFD MODULE | 27

 THE APPLICATION LIBRARIES WINDOW
Each model or application includes documentation with the theoretical background
and step-by-step instructions to create a model or application. The models and
applications are available in COMSOL Multiphysics as MPH files that you can open
for further investigation. You can use the step-by-step instructions and the actual
models as templates for your own modeling. In most models, SI units are used to
describe the relevant properties, parameters, and dimensions, but other unit systems
are available.

Once the Application Libraries window is opened, you can search by name or browse
under a module folder name. Click to view a summary of the model or application and
its properties, including options to open it or its associated PDF document.

The Application Libraries Window in the COMSOL Multiphysics

Reference Manual.

Opening the Application Libraries Window

To open the Application Libraries window ( ):

• From the Home toolbar, Windows menu, click ( ) Applications

Libraries.
• From the File menu select Application Libraries.

To include the latest versions of model examples, from the File>Help

menu, select ( ) Update COMSOL Application Library.

Select Application Libraries from the main File> or Windows> menus.

To include the latest versions of model examples, from the Help menu
select ( ) Update COMSOL Application Library.

CONTACTING COMSOL BY EMAIL

For general product information, contact COMSOL at info@[Link].

COMSOL ACCESS AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT

To receive technical support from COMSOL for the COMSOL products, please
contact your local COMSOL representative or send your questions to

28 | CHAPTER 2: INTRODUCTION
support@[Link]. An automatic notification and a case number are sent to you by
email. You can also access technical support, software updates, license information, and
other resources by registering for a COMSOL Access account.

COMSOL ONLINE RESOURCES

COMSOL website [Link]

Contact COMSOL [Link]/contact
COMSOL Access [Link]/access
Support Center [Link]/support
Product Download [Link]/product-download
Product Updates [Link]/support/updates
COMSOL Blog [Link]/blogs
Discussion Forum [Link]/community
Events [Link]/events
COMSOL Video Gallery [Link]/video
Support Knowledge Base [Link]/support/knowledgebase

ABOUT THE CFD MODULE | 29

 Overview of the User’s Guide
The CFD Module User’s Guide gets you started with modeling CFD systems using
COMSOL Multiphysics. The information in this guide is specific to this module.
Instructions on how to use COMSOL in general are included with the COMSOL
Multiphysics Reference Manual. For theory relating to the physics interfaces, see the
end of each chapter.

As detailed in the section Where Do I Access the Documentation and

Application Libraries? this information can also be searched from the
COMSOL Multiphysics software Help menu.

TABLE OF CONTENTS, GLOSSARY, AND INDEX

To help you navigate through this guide, see the Contents, Glossary, and Index.

QUICK START GUIDE

The Quick Start Guide includes some basic modeling strategies to get you started
modeling fluid flow in your particular application area. For example, it gives some tips
about how to control your material properties and how to set the optimal mesh to
make solving the model easier and quicker. It also includes a summary of all the physics
interfaces included with the CFD Module.

THE PHYSICS INTERFACES

The CFD Module both extends physics interfaces available with COMSOL
Multiphysics and provides additional physics interfaces. As a result, the module
contains a wide range of physics interfaces for modeling various types of momentum
transport. You can simulate laminar and turbulent flow, Newtonian and
non-Newtonian flow, isothermal and nonisothermal flow, multiphase flow, and flow in
porous media. The CFD Module also provides interfaces for modeling flows that occur
in thin-films or in bounded regions, and in stationary and rotating domains.

On top of this, the CFD Module includes physics interfaces for modeling heat transfer,
and transport and reactions of chemical species. These are typical phenomena that
occur in fluid flow and are strongly coupled to the flow field.

30 | CHAPTER 2: INTRODUCTION
Single-Phase Flow
The Single-Phase Flow Interfaces chapter describes the many physics interfaces
available for laminar and turbulent flow. Modeling Single-Phase Flow helps you choose
the best Fluid Flow interface for your particular application.

Heat Transfer and Nonisothermal Flow

The CFD Module includes physics interfaces for the simulation of heat transfer in fluid
flow. As with all other physics models simulated in COMSOL Multiphysics, any
description involving heat transfer can be directly coupled to any other physical
process. This is particularly relevant for systems with fluid flow and mass transfer. The
interfaces also allow you to account for heat sources and sinks, such as energy evolving
from chemical reactions.

The Heat Transfer and Nonisothermal Flow Interfaces chapter describes these physics
interfaces in greater detail. To help you select which physics interface to use see
Modeling Heat Transfer in the CFD Module.

High Mach Flow

The High Mach Number Flow Interfaces chapter describes three versions of the same
predefined multiphysics interface used to model laminar and turbulent compressible
flows at high Mach numbers.

Multiphase Flow
The Multiphase Flow Interfaces chapter describes physics interfaces to model flows
with more than one phase, for example flows with two fluids or flows with dispersed
droplets or particles. To help you select which physics interface to use see Modeling
Multiphase Flow.

Porous Media and Subsurface Flow

The Porous Media and Subsurface Flow Interfaces chapter describes the Darcy’s Law,
Brinkman Equations, and Free and Porous Media Flow interfaces. To help you select
which physics interface to use see Modeling Porous Media and Subsurface Flow.

Thin-Film Flow
The Thin-Film Flow Interfaces chapter describes physics interfaces that model flow in
thin regions such as lubrication shells and fluid bearings.

Chemical Species Transport

The Chemical Species Transport Interfaces chapter describes physics interfaces that are
used for the simulation of chemical reactions, and mass or material transport through
diffusion and convection. Modeling Chemical Species Transport helps you select the
best physics interface to use.

OVERVIEW OF THE USER’S GUIDE | 31

 The Mathematics Interfaces
Mathematics, Moving Interface Branch describes the Phase Field and Level Set
interfaces found under the Mathematics>Moving Interface branch. In the CFD Module
these physics features are integrated into the relevant physics interfaces.

32 | CHAPTER 2: INTRODUCTION
 3

Quick Start Guide

This chapter has some basic modeling strategies to get you started modeling fluid
flow in your application area.

In this chapter:

• Modeling and Simulations of Fluid Flow

| 33
 Modeling and Simulations of Fluid
Flow
In this section:

• Modeling Strategy
• Geometric Complexities
• Material Properties
• Defining the Physics Interfaces and Features
• Meshing
• The Choice of Solver and Solver Settings
• The CFD Module Physics Interface Guide
• Common Physics Interface and Feature Settings and Nodes
• The Liquids and Gases Materials Database

The Physics Interfaces and Building a COMSOL Multiphysics Model in

the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual

Modeling Strategy
Modeling and simulating fluid flow is a cost-effective way for engineers and scientists
to understand, develop, optimize, and control designs and processes.

One of the most important things to consider before setting up a model is the accuracy
that is required in the simulation results. This determines the level of complexity in the
model.

Since fluid flow simulations are often computationally demanding, a multistage

modeling strategy is usually required. This implies using a simplified model as a
starting point in the project. Complexities can then be introduced gradually so that the
effect of each refinement of the model description is well understood before
introducing new complexities.

Complexities in the modeling process can be introduced at different stages in order to

achieve the desired accuracy. They can be introduced in the description of the

34 | CHAPTER 3: QUICK START GUIDE

geometry, the physical properties, and in the governing equations. The Model Builder,
which shows the sequence of operations in the model tree, is designed with this
strategy in mind.

In addition to fluid flow, COMSOL Multiphysics and the CFD Module have
predefined multiphysics couplings for fluid flow and other phenomena. Examples of
these couplings are heat transfer for free convection and transport of chemical species
in simulations of reacting flows. You can also set up your own couplings by defining
mathematical expressions of the dependent variables (velocity, pressure, temperature,
and so forth) in the physics interfaces for arbitrary multiphysics combinations.

Geometric Complexities
A complicated 3D CAD drawing is usually not the best starting point for the modeling
process. A 2D representation of a cross section of the geometry can give valuable initial
estimates of the flow field that can be used when setting up the full 3D model. For
example, you might be able to determine the pressure variations and the nature of the
flow, or whether or not a turbulence model is needed. This provides information about
where in the final geometry the most amount of “change” occurs, if a more advanced
fluid-flow model or better resolution is required, and what parts of the modeling
process are more sensitive than others.

Simplifying the geometry reduces the simulation time. Making use of symmetry planes
can cut down the geometry to one half or even less of the original size. Rounding-off
corners is another way to reduce mesh resolution. Resolving small geometric parts
requires a fine mesh, but the parts themselves can have a negligible effects on the fluid
field as a whole.

Geometry Modeling and CAD Tools in the COMSOL Multiphysics

Reference Manual

Material Properties
Depending on the accuracy required in a simulation, the effort put in acquiring data
for the fluid properties can also vary. In many cases, the dependencies of the fluid
properties on pressure and temperature have to be taken into account.

For a pressure-driven flow, it is usually a good approach to first set up a model using
constant density and viscosity, to get a first estimate of the flow and pressure fields.

MODELING AND SIMULATIONS OF FLUID FLOW | 35

 Once the model works with constant properties it can be extended by adding the
accurate expressions for density and viscosity.

For free convection the density variations drive the flow. The fluid properties’
dependencies on the modeled variables, for example temperature, then have to be
accounted for from the beginning. In difficult cases, with large temperature variations,
it can be beneficial to run a time-dependent simulation even if the purpose of the
simulation is to get the results at steady-state.

Defining the Physics Interfaces and Features

The CFD Module has physics interfaces for laminar and turbulent single-phase flow,
multiphase flow, nonisothermal flow, high Mach number flow, thin-film flow, and
porous media flow.

The choice of physics interface and features depends on the accuracy required in a
simulation. A fluid that is weakly compressible could be approximated as
incompressible if the required accuracy allows for it. A complex turbulence model can
be replaced by a much simpler one, again if the resulting accuracy is sufficient. A first
step to set up the physics is to start by making the model as simple as possible. The
results from such a simulation can reveal useful pieces of information that help later
when more complex steps are added to the physics.

The Fluid Flow interfaces can also be coupled to any other physics interface in a
multiphysics model. When setting up such a complex multiphysics component
involving fluid flow and other coupled physics, it is a good strategy to first define and
solve one physics interface at a time. This allows for verification of the model setup, for
example to check if the intended domain and boundary settings are reflected in the
solution of each decoupled physics interface. The alternative, to debug the model
setup with several coupled physics interfaces, can be time-consuming.

In steady-state multiphysics simulations, it can also be a good strategy to start by

solving the model for each physics interface in a decoupled setup. The solutions from
the decoupled models can then be used as initial guesses for the fully coupled model.
This is especially recommended for highly nonlinear models. The Study node is
designed for this modeling strategy.

Building a COMSOL Multiphysics Model and Studies and Solvers in the

COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual

36 | CHAPTER 3: QUICK START GUIDE

Meshing
The mesh used in a fluid-flow simulation depends on the fluid-flow model and on the
accuracy required in the simulation. A fluid-flow model can inherently require a fine
resolution in order to converge, even though the results might not require a
correspondingly high accuracy. In such cases, it can be a good idea to change the fluid
flow model. An example is the low-Reynolds number k-ε model which gives a very
accurate description of the flow near solid walls, but requires a very fine mesh there.
In many cases, the standard k-ε model with wall functions can deliver an accurate
enough result at a much lower computational cost. In other cases, the requirement of
accuracy in the results can limit the maximum element size.

There are a number of different mesh types and meshing strategies for fluid flow
modeling in COMSOL Multiphysics.

UNSTRUCTURED MESHES
Free-meshing techniques generate unstructured meshes that can be used for most
types of geometries. The mesh-generating algorithms are highly automated, often
creating a good quality mesh from minimal user input. This mesh type is therefore a
good choice when the geometry of the domain is evident but the behavior of the
mathematical model in it is unknown. Yet, unstructured meshes tend to be isotropic
or homogeneous in nature, so that they fail to take advantage of the different
resolution requirements in the streamwise and cross-stream directions.

STRUCTURED MESHES
In many ways, the properties of structured meshes complement those of the
unstructured type. Structured meshes provide high quality meshes with few elements
for sufficiently simple geometries. The properties of a structured mesh can
furthermore be used to create very efficient numerical methods. Finally, it is often
easier to control the mesh when high anisotropy or large variations in mesh size and
distribution is required, as the size of a structured mesh can be easily increased linearly
or geometrically with the dimensions of the computational domain.

SWEPT MESHES
Swept meshes are a particular form of structured meshes, sometimes denoted
semistructured. These are generated in 3D by creating a mesh at a source face and then
sweeping it along the domain to a destination face, such as from a cut in the cylindrical
part of a polymerization reactor to its outlet face. A swept mesh is structured in the
sweep direction, while the mesh at the source and destination faces can be either

MODELING AND SIMULATIONS OF FLUID FLOW | 37

 structured or unstructured. As is the case for structured meshes, the model geometry
determines if a swept mesh is applicable. Swept meshes are typically ideal when the
cross section in the sweep direction is constant, which is the case for channels and
pipes, for example. Revolving a mesh around a symmetry axis is another useful sweep
operation.

BOUNDARY LAYER MESHES

A boundary layer mesh is a mesh with an element distribution that is stacked or dense
in the direction normal to a boundary. It is created by inserting structured layers of
elements along specific boundaries and merging the outer layer with the surrounding
structured or unstructured mesh. This type of mesh is useful for many fluid flow
applications especially when coupled to mass and energy transfer, where thin boundary
layers need to be resolved. This is also the default physics-induced mesh for fluid flow.

MESH CONVERGENCE
Ideally, a mesh convergence analysis should be performed in order to estimate the
accuracy of a simulation. This means that the mesh should be made twice as fine in each
spatial direction and the simulation carried out once again on the refined mesh. If the
change in critical solution parameters for the original mesh and the finer mesh is within
the required tolerance, the solution can be regarded as being mesh-converged. For
practical reasons, it is seldom possible to make the mesh twice as fine in each direction.
Instead, some critical regions can be identified and the mesh is refined only there.

Meshing in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual

The Choice of Solver and Solver Settings

The default solver for the Fluid Flow interfaces is optimized for a large variety of fluid
flow conditions and applications. The suggested solver depends on the physics
interface and the study type.

The default solver settings is a tradeoff between performance and robustness. The
more advanced the model, the more the solver can need tuning to obtain a solution.
This is another reason why it is good to start with a reduced model description rather
than the complete description.

2D models and small 3D models get so-called direct-solver suggestions. Direct solvers
are robust but the memory requirement scales somewhere between N1.5and N2 where

38 | CHAPTER 3: QUICK START GUIDE

 N is the number of degrees of freedom in the model. This means that a direct solver
becomes prohibitively expensive for large problems. Large 3D models therefore get
iterative solver suggestions per default. The memory requirement for an iterative solver
optimally scales as N. The drawback with iterative solvers is that they are less robust
than direct solvers. A model can converge with a direct solver but fail with an iterative
solver. Large models therefore require more care when being set up than small models
do.

For well-posed models, there are possibilities to tune the default solvers to gain
performance. This is especially true for time-dependent models with a variety of solver
settings providing options to reduce the computational time.

Studies and Solvers in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual

The CFD Module Physics Interface Guide

The CFD Module extends the functionality of the physics interfaces of the base
package for COMSOL Multiphysics. The details of the physics interfaces and study
types for the CFD Module are listed in the table. The functionality of the COMSOL
Multiphysics base package is listed in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual:

• Studies and Solvers

• The Physics Interfaces
• For a list of all the core physics interfaces included with a COMSOL
Multiphysics license, see Physics Interface Guide.

PHYSICS INTERFACE ICON TAG SPACE AVAILABLE STUDY TYPE

DIMENSION

Chemical Species Transport

Transport of Diluted tds all dimensions stationary; time dependent

Species1

MODELING AND SIMULATIONS OF FLUID FLOW | 39

 PHYSICS INTERFACE ICON TAG SPACE AVAILABLE STUDY TYPE
DIMENSION

Transport of tcs all dimensions stationary; time dependent

Concentrated Species
Reacting Flow

Laminar Flow — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent

axisymmetric
Laminar Flow, Diluted — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Species1 axisymmetric
Turbulent Flow

Turbulent Flow, k-ε — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent

axisymmetric
Turbulent Flow, k-ω — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
axisymmetric
Turbulent Flow, SST — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with
axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization
Turbulent Flow, Low — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with
Re k-ε axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization
Reacting Flow in Porous Media

Transport of Diluted rfds 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent

Species axisymmetric
Transport of rfcs 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Concentrated Species axisymmetric
Fluid Flow

Single-Phase Flow

Creeping Flow spf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent

axisymmetric

40 | CHAPTER 3: QUICK START GUIDE

PHYSICS INTERFACE ICON TAG SPACE AVAILABLE STUDY TYPE
DIMENSION

Laminar Flow1 spf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent

axisymmetric
Viscoelastic Flow vef 3D,2D stationary; time dependent

Turbulent Flow

Turbulent Flow, spf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with

Algebraic yPlus axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization
Turbulent Flow, L-VEL spf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with
axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization
Turbulent Flow, k-ε spf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
axisymmetric
Turbulent Flow, spf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Realizable k-ε axisymmetric
Turbulent Flow, k-ω spf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
axisymmetric
Turbulent Flow, SST spf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with
axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization
Turbulent Flow, Low spf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with
Re k-ε axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization
Turbulent Flow, spf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with
Spalart-Allmaras axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization
Turbulent Flow, v2-f spf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with
axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization

MODELING AND SIMULATIONS OF FLUID FLOW | 41

 PHYSICS INTERFACE ICON TAG SPACE AVAILABLE STUDY TYPE
DIMENSION

Large Eddy Simulation

LES RBVM spf 3D time dependent

LES RBVMWV spf 3D time dependent

LES Smagorinsky spf 3D time dependent

Rotating Machinery, Fluid Flow

Rotating Machinery, spf 3D, 2D frozen rotor; time

Laminar Flow dependent
Rotating Machinery, spf 3D, 2D frozen rotor with
Turbulent Flow, initialization; time
Algebraic yPlus dependent with
initialization
Rotating Machinery, spf 3D, 2D frozen rotor with
Turbulent Flow, L-VEL initialization; time
dependent with
initialization
Rotating Machinery, spf 3D, 2D frozen rotor; time
Turbulent Flow, k-ε dependent
Thin-Film Flow

Thin-Film Flow, Shell tffs 3D stationary; time dependent;

frequency domain;
eigenfrequency
Thin-Film Flow, tff 2D stationary; time dependent;
Domain frequency domain;
eigenfrequency
Thin-Film Flow, Edge tffs 2D and 2D stationary; time dependent;
axisymmetric frequency domain;
eigenfrequency

42 | CHAPTER 3: QUICK START GUIDE

PHYSICS INTERFACE ICON TAG SPACE AVAILABLE STUDY TYPE
DIMENSION

Multiphase Flow

Bubbly Flow

Laminar Bubbly Flow bf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent

axisymmetric
Bubbly Flow, Turbulent Flow

Bubbly Flow, Algebraic bf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent

yPlus axisymmetric
Bubbly Flow, L-VEL bf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
axisymmetric
Bubbly Flow, k-ε bf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
axisymmetric
Bubbly Flow, Realizable bf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
k-ε axisymmetric
Bubbly Flow, k-ω bf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
axisymmetric
Bubbly Flow, SST bf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
axisymmetric
Bubbly Flow, Low Re bf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
k-ε axisymmetric
Bubbly Flow, bf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Spalart-Allmaras axisymmetric
Bubbly Flow, v2-f bf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
axisymmetric
Mixture Model

Mixture Model, mm 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent

Laminar Flow axisymmetric
Mixture Model, Turbulent Flow

MODELING AND SIMULATIONS OF FLUID FLOW | 43

 PHYSICS INTERFACE ICON TAG SPACE AVAILABLE STUDY TYPE
DIMENSION

Mixture Model, mm 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent

Algebraic yPlus axisymmetric
Mixture Model, L-VEL mm 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
axisymmetric
Mixture Model, k-ε mm 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
axisymmetric
Mixture Model, mm 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Realizable k-ε axisymmetric
Mixture Model, k-ω mm 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
axisymmetric
Mixture Model, SST mm 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
axisymmetric
Mixture Model, Low mm 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Re k-ε axisymmetric
Mixture Model, mm 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Spalart-Allmaras axisymmetric
Mixture Model, v2-f mm 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
axisymmetric
Euler-Euler Model

Euler-Euler Model, ee 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent

Laminar Flow axisymmetric
Euler-Euler Model, ee 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Turbulent Flow axisymmetric
Two-Phase Flow, Level Set

Laminar Two-Phase — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase

Flow, Level Set axisymmetric initialization
Two-Phase Flow, Level — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase
Set, Algebraic yPlus axisymmetric initialization
Two-Phase Flow, Level — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase
Set, L-VEL axisymmetric initialization

44 | CHAPTER 3: QUICK START GUIDE

PHYSICS INTERFACE ICON TAG SPACE AVAILABLE STUDY TYPE
DIMENSION

Two-Phase Flow, Level — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase

Set, k-ε axisymmetric initialization
Two-Phase Flow, Level — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase
Set, Realizable k-ε axisymmetric initialization
Two-Phase Flow, Level — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase
Set, k-ω axisymmetric initialization
Two-Phase Flow, Level — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase
Set, SST axisymmetric initialization
Two-Phase Flow, Level — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase
Set, Low Re k-ε axisymmetric initialization
Two-Phase Flow, Level — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase
Set, Spalart-Allmaras axisymmetric initialization
Two-Phase Flow, Level — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase
Set, v2-f axisymmetric initialization
Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field

Laminar Two-Phase — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase

Flow, Phase Field axisymmetric initialization
Two-Phase Flow, Phase — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase
Field, Algebraic yPlus axisymmetric initialization
Two-Phase Flow, Phase — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase
Field, L-VEL axisymmetric initialization
Two-Phase Flow, Phase — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase
Field, k-ε axisymmetric initialization
Two-Phase Flow, Phase — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase
Field, Realizable k-ε axisymmetric initialization
Two-Phase Flow, Phase — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase
Field, k-ω axisymmetric initialization
Two-Phase Flow, Phase — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase
Field, SST axisymmetric initialization
Two-Phase Flow, Phase — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase
Field, Low Re k-ε axisymmetric initialization

MODELING AND SIMULATIONS OF FLUID FLOW | 45

 PHYSICS INTERFACE ICON TAG SPACE AVAILABLE STUDY TYPE
DIMENSION

Two-Phase Flow, Phase — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase

Field, Spalart-Allmaras axisymmetric initialization
Two-Phase Flow, Phase — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent with phase
Field, v2-f axisymmetric initialization
Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field

Laminar, Three-Phase — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent

Flow, Phase Field axisymmetric
Two-Phase Flow, Moving Mesh

Laminar Two-Phase — 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent

Flow, Moving Mesh axisymmetric
Phase Transport

Phase Transport phtr 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent

axisymmetric
Phase Transport, — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Mixture Model, axisymmetric
Laminar Flow
Phase Transport, — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Mixture Model, axisymmetric
Algebraic yPlus
Phase Transport, — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Mixture Model, L-VEL axisymmetric
Phase Transport, — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Mixture Model, k-ε axisymmetric
Phase Transport, — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Mixture Model, axisymmetric
Realizable k-ε
Phase Transport, — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Mixture Model, k-ω axisymmetric
Phase Transport, — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Mixture Model, SST axisymmetric

46 | CHAPTER 3: QUICK START GUIDE

PHYSICS INTERFACE ICON TAG SPACE AVAILABLE STUDY TYPE
DIMENSION

Phase Transport, — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent

Mixture Model, Low axisymmetric
Re k-ε
Phase Transport, — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Mixture Model, axisymmetric
Spalart-Allmaras
Phase Transport, — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Mixture Model, v2-f axisymmetric
Porous Media and Subsurface Flow

Brinkman Equations br 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent

axisymmetric
Darcy’s Law dl all dimensions stationary; time dependent

Multiphase Flow in — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent

Porous Media axisymmetric
Two-Phase Darcy’s Law tpdl 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
axisymmetric
Free and Porous Media fp 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Flow axisymmetric
Phase Transport in phtr 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
Porous Media axisymmetric
Nonisothermal Flow

Laminar Flow(1,2) — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent;

axisymmetric Stationary, one-way
coupled NITF; time
dependent, one-way
coupled NITF

MODELING AND SIMULATIONS OF FLUID FLOW | 47

 PHYSICS INTERFACE ICON TAG SPACE AVAILABLE STUDY TYPE
DIMENSION

Turbulent Flow

Turbulent Flow, — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with

Algebraic yPlus(2) axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization; Stationary,
one-way coupled NITF;
time dependent, one-way
coupled NITF
Turbulent Flow, — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with
L-VEL(2) axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization; Stationary,
one-way coupled NITF;
time dependent, one-way
coupled NITF
Turbulent Flow, k-ε (2) — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent;
axisymmetric Stationary, one-way
coupled NITF; time
dependent, one-way
coupled NITF
Turbulent Flow, — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent;
Realizable k-ε (2) axisymmetric Stationary, one-way
coupled NITF; time
dependent, one-way
coupled NITF
Turbulent Flow, k-ω (2) — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent;
axisymmetric Stationary, one-way
coupled NITF; time
dependent, one-way
coupled NITF
Turbulent Flow, SST(2) — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with
axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization; Stationary,
one-way coupled NITF;
time dependent, one-way
coupled NITF

48 | CHAPTER 3: QUICK START GUIDE

PHYSICS INTERFACE ICON TAG SPACE AVAILABLE STUDY TYPE
DIMENSION

Turbulent Flow, Low — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with

Re k-ε (2) axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization; Stationary,
one-way coupled NITF;
time dependent, one-way
coupled NITF
Turbulent Flow, — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with
Spalart-Allmaras(2) axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization; Stationary,
one-way coupled NITF;
time dependent, one-way
coupled NITF
Turbulent Flow, v2-f (2) — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with
axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization; Stationary,
one-way coupled NITF;
time dependent, one-way
coupled NITF
Large Eddy Simulation

LES RBVM — 3D time dependent

LES RBVMWV — 3D time dependent

LES Smagorinsky — 3D time dependent

High Mach Number Flow

High Mach Number hmnf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent

Flow axisymmetric
Compressible Euler cee 3D, 2D time dependent
Equations
Turbulent Flow, k-ε hmnf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent
axisymmetric

MODELING AND SIMULATIONS OF FLUID FLOW | 49

 PHYSICS INTERFACE ICON TAG SPACE AVAILABLE STUDY TYPE
DIMENSION

Turbulent Flow, hmnf 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with

Spalart-Allmaras axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization
Heat Transfer

Heat Transfer in Fluids1 ht all dimensions stationary; time dependent

Heat Transfer in Solids and ht all dimensions stationary; time dependent

Fluids1
Conjugate Heat Transfer

Laminar Flow(1,2) — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent;

axisymmetric Stationary, one-way
coupled NITF; time
dependent, one-way
coupled NITF
Turbulent Flow

Turbulent Flow, — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with

Algebraic yPlus(2) axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization; Stationary,
one-way coupled NITF;
time dependent, one-way
coupled NITF
Turbulent Flow, — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with
L-VEL(2) axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization; Stationary,
one-way coupled NITF;
time dependent, one-way
coupled NITF
Turbulent Flow, k-ε (2) — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent;
axisymmetric Stationary, one-way
coupled NITF; time
dependent, one-way
coupled NITF

50 | CHAPTER 3: QUICK START GUIDE

PHYSICS INTERFACE ICON TAG SPACE AVAILABLE STUDY TYPE
DIMENSION

Turbulent Flow, — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent;

Realizable k-ε (2) axisymmetric Stationary, one-way
coupled NITF; time
dependent, one-way
coupled NITF
Turbulent Flow, k-ω (2) — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary; time dependent;
axisymmetric Stationary, one-way
coupled NITF; time
dependent, one-way
coupled NITF
Turbulent Flow, SST (2) — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with
axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization; Stationary,
one-way coupled NITF;
time dependent, one-way
coupled NITF
Turbulent Flow, Low — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with
Re k-ε (2) axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization; Stationary,
one-way coupled NITF;
time dependent, one-way
coupled NITF
Turbulent Flow, — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with
Spalart-Allmaras (2) axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization; Stationary,
one-way coupled NITF;
time dependent, one-way
coupled NITF
Turbulent Flow, v2-f (2) — 3D, 2D, 2D stationary with
axisymmetric initialization; time
dependent with
initialization; Stationary,
one-way coupled NITF;
time dependent, one-way
coupled NITF
Heat Transfer in Porous ht all dimensions stationary; time dependent
Media

MODELING AND SIMULATIONS OF FLUID FLOW | 51

 PHYSICS INTERFACE ICON TAG SPACE AVAILABLE STUDY TYPE
DIMENSION

Thermal Stress, Layered — 3D stationary; time dependent

Shell2, 4
Layered Shell lshell 3D stationary; eigenfrequency;
eigenfrequency,
prestressed; mode analysis;
time dependent; time
dependent, modal; time
dependent, prestressed,
modal; time dependent,
modal reduced-order
model; frequency domain;
frequency domain, modal;
frequency domain,
prestressed; frequency
domain, prestressed,
modal; frequency domain,
modal reduced-order
model; frequency domain,
AWE reduced-order
model; random vibration
(PSD); linear buckling
Piezoelectricity, Layered — 3D stationary; eigenfrequency;
Shell2, 3 time dependent; frequency
domain
Mathematics

Moving Interface

Level Set ls all dimensions time dependent with phase

initialization
Phase Field pf all dimensions time dependent; time
dependent with phase
initialization
Ternary Phase Field terpf 3D, 2D, 2D time dependent
axisymmetric
This physics interface is a predefined multiphysics coupling that automatically adds all the
physics interfaces and coupling features required.

52 | CHAPTER 3: QUICK START GUIDE

PHYSICS INTERFACE ICON TAG SPACE AVAILABLE STUDY TYPE
DIMENSION

Requires the addition of the AC/DC Module.

1 This physics interface is included with the core COMSOL package but has added
functionality for this module.
2
This physics interface is a predefined multiphysics coupling that automatically adds all the
physics interfaces and coupling features required.

Common Physics Interface and Feature Settings and Nodes

There are several common settings and sections available for the physics interfaces and
feature nodes. Some of these sections also have similar settings or are implemented in
the same way no matter the physics interface or feature being used. There are also some
physics feature nodes that display in COMSOL Multiphysics.

In each module’s documentation, only unique or extra information is included;

standard information and procedures are centralized in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual see Table 2-4 for

links to common sections and Table 2-5 to common feature nodes.
You can also search for information: press F1 to open the Help
window or Ctrl+F1 to open the Documentation window.

The Liquids and Gases Materials Database

The CFD Module includes an additional Liquids and Gases material database with
temperature-dependent fluid properties.

For detailed information about materials and the Liquids and Gases
Materials Database, see Materials in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

MODELING AND SIMULATIONS OF FLUID FLOW | 53

54 | CHAPTER 3: QUICK START GUIDE
 4

Single-Phase Flow Interfaces

There are several fluid flow physics interfaces available as listed in The CFD
Module Physics Interface Guide. This chapter describes the physics interfaces
found under the Fluid Flow>Single-Phase Flow branch ( ). The section Modeling
Single-Phase Flow helps to choose the best physics interface to start with.

In this chapter:

• The Creeping Flow, Laminar Flow, Turbulent Flow, and Large Eddy Simulation
Interfaces
• The Rotating Machinery, Laminar and Turbulent Flow Interfaces
• Theory for the Single-Phase Flow Interfaces
• Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces
• Theory for the Large Eddy Simulation Interfaces
• Theory for the Rotating Machinery Interfaces
• The Wall Distance Interface is also available and described in the COMSOL
Multiphysics Reference Manual including the theory and how it relates to fluid
flow.

55
 Modeling Single-Phase Flow
The descriptions in this section are structured based on the order displayed in the Fluid
Flow branch. All the physics interfaces described in this section are found under the
Fluid Flow>Single-Phase Flow branch ( ). Because most of the physics interfaces are
integrated with each other, many physics features described cross reference to other
physics interfaces. For example, nodes are usually available in both the laminar flow
(Creeping Flow and Laminar Flow) and turbulent flow (Algebraic yPlus, L-VEL, k-ε,
k-ω, SST, low Reynolds number k-ε, Spalart-Allmaras and v2-f turbulence models)
interfaces.

In this section:

• Selecting the Right Physics Interface

• The Single-Phase Flow Interface Options
• Coupling to Other Physics Interfaces

The Wall Distance Interface in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference

Manual

Selecting the Right Physics Interface

The Single-Phase Flow branch included with the CFD Module has a number of
subbranches with physics interfaces that describe different types of single-phase fluid
flow. One or more of these physics interfaces can be added, either singularly or in
combination with other physics interfaces for mass transport and heat transfer, for
example.

Different types of flow require different equations to describe them. If the type of flow
to model is already known, then select it directly. However, when you are uncertain of
the flow type, or because it is difficult to reach a solution easily, you can start instead
with a simplified model and add complexity as the model is built. Then test your way
forward and compare models and results. For single-phase flow, the Laminar Flow
interface is a good place to start if this is the case.

In other cases, you may know exactly how a fluid behaves and which equations,
models, or physics interfaces best describe it, but because the model is so complex it is
difficult to reach an immediate solution. Simpler assumptions may need to be made to

56 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 solve the problem, and other physics interfaces might be better to fine-tune the
solution process for the more complex problem. The next section gives you an
overview of each of the Single-Phase Flow interfaces to help you choose.

The Single-Phase Flow Interface Options

Several of the physics interfaces vary only by one or two default settings (see Table 4-1)
in the Physical Model and Turbulence sections, which are selected either from a check
box or drop-down list. For the Single-Phase Flow branch, all except the Rotating
Machinery interfaces have the same Name (spf). The differences are based on the
default settings required to model that type of flow as described in Table 4-1.
Figure 4-1 shows the Settings window for Laminar Flow where you choose the type of
compressibility (incompressible, weakly compressible or compressible at Mach
numbers below 0.3) and the turbulence type and model (or none for laminar flow),
and a check box to model Stokes flow by neglecting the inertial term.
TABLE 4-1: THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW DEFAULT SETTINGS.

PHYSICS INTERFACE NAME COMPRESSIBILITY TURBULENT TURBULENCE NEGLECT

LABEL MODEL TYPE MODEL INERTIAL TERM
(STOKES
FLOW)

Creeping Flow spf Incompressible None n/a Stokes Flow

flow
Laminar Flow spf Incompressible None n/a None
flow
Turbulent Flow, spf Incompressible RANS Algebraic None
Algebraic yPlus flow yPlus
Turbulent Flow, spf Incompressible RANS L-VEL None
L-VEL flow
Turbulent Flow, k-ε spf Incompressible RANS k-ε None
flow
Turbulent Flow, spf Incompresible RANS Realizable None
Realizable k-ε flow k-ε
Turbulent Flow, k-ω spf Incompressible RANS k-ω None
flow
Turbulent Flow, SST spf Incompressible RANS SST None
flow
Turbulent Flow, Low spf Incompressible RANS Low None
Re k-ε flow Reynolds
number k-ε

MODELING SINGLE-PHASE FLOW | 57

 TABLE 4-1: THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW DEFAULT SETTINGS.

PHYSICS INTERFACE NAME COMPRESSIBILITY TURBULENT TURBULENCE NEGLECT

LABEL MODEL TYPE MODEL INERTIAL TERM
(STOKES
FLOW)

Turbulent Flow, spf Incompressible RANS Spalart- None

Spalart-Allmaras flow Allmaras
Turbulent Flow, v2-f spf Incompressible RANS v2-f None
flow
LES RBVM spf Incompressible LES RBVM None
flow
LES RBVMWV spf Incompressible LES RBVMWV None
flow
LES Smagorinsky spf Incompressible LES Smagorinsk None
flow y
Rotating Machinery, spf Incompressible None None None
Laminar Flow flow
Rotating Machinery, spf Incompressible RANS Algebraic None
Turbulent Flow, flow yPlus
Algebraic yPlus
Rotating Machinery, spf Incompressible RANS L-VEL None
Turbulent Flow, flow
L-VEL
Rotating Machinery, spf Incompressible RANS k-ε None
Turbulent Flow, k-ε flow

CREEPING FLOW
The Creeping Flow Interface ( ) models the Navier-Stokes equations without the
contribution of the inertia term. This is often referred to as Stokes flow and is
appropriate for flow at small Reynolds numbers, such as in very small channels or in
microfluidic applications.

The Creeping Flow interface can also be activated by selecting a check box in the
Laminar Flow interface. This physics interface can also model non-Newtonian fluids,
using the predefined non-Newtonian models, but not turbulence.

LAMINAR FLOW
The Laminar Flow Interface ( ) is used primarily to model flow at small to
intermediate Reynolds numbers. The physics interface solves the Navier-Stokes
equations, and by default assumes the flow to be incompressible; that is, the density is
assumed to be constant.

58 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Compressible flow is possible to model in this physics interface but you have to
maintain control of the density and any of the mass balances that are deployed to
accomplish this.

The Laminar Flow Interface allows you to model porous media flow or even mixed
free- and porous media flow. A volume force due to gravity can optionally be included.

This physics interface also allows you to simulate flows of the inelastic non-Newtonian
fluids. You can model the fluid using the Power law, Carreau, Bingham-Papanastasiou,
Herschel-Bukley-Papanastasiou, and Casson-Papanastasiou models.

You can also describe other material properties such as density by entering equations
for its dependence on fluid composition and pressure (for compressible flow), or
temperature. Many materials in the material libraries use temperature- and
pressure-dependent property values. If the density is affected by temperature, a

MODELING SINGLE-PHASE FLOW | 59

 nonisothermal flow interface may be applicable (see The Nonisothermal Flow and
Conjugate Heat Transfer, Laminar Flow, Turbulent Flow and LES Interfaces).

Figure 4-1: The Settings window for the Laminar Flow interface. Model incompressible or
compressible flow, laminar or turbulent flow, Stokes flow and/or porous media flow.
Combinations are also possible.

60 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

TURBULENT FLOW
The various forms of the Single-Phase Flow, Turbulent Flow interfaces ( ) model
flow of large Reynolds numbers. The interfaces solve the Reynolds-averaged
Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations for the filtered velocity field and filtered pressure as
well as models for the turbulent viscosity. See The Creeping Flow, Laminar Flow,
Turbulent Flow, and Large Eddy Simulation Interfaces for links to the physics interface
information.

There are several turbulence models available: two algebraic turbulence models, the
Algebraic yPlus and L-VEL models, and six transport-equation models, including a
standard k-ε model, the Realizable k-ε model, a k-ω model, an SST model, a Low
Reynolds number k-ε model, the Spalart-Allmaras model, and the v2-f model. Each
model has its merits and weaknesses. See the Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces
for more details.

Similarly to the Laminar Flow interface, incompressible flow is selected by default. If

required, this can be changed to compressible flow. Non-Newtonian fluid models are
not available for the Turbulent Flow interfaces

LARGE EDDY SIMULATION

The Single-Phase Flow, Large Eddy Simulation (LES) interfaces ( ) also model flow
at large Reynolds numbers. The LES interfaces are designed for resolving the larger
three-dimensional unsteady eddies whereas the effect of the smaller eddies are
modeled. Hence, simulations with these interfaces must be three-dimensional and
time-dependent.

There are three LES models: the Residual-Based Variational Multiscale (RBVM)
model, the Residual-Based Variational Multiscale with Viscosity (RBVMWV) model,
and the Smagorinsky model. Of these three, the first two use consistent modeling for
the unresolved scales. This means that the modeled stresses in the momentum
equation vanish in the limit when all scales are resolved. They can therefore also be
used to study laminar or transitional flow.

The current formulations are only applicable to incompressible flow of Newtonian

fluids.

ROTATING MACHINERY
The Rotating Machinery, Laminar and Turbulent Flow Interfaces ( ) model fluid
flow in geometries with rotating parts. For example, stirred tanks, mixers, propellers
and pumps.

MODELING SINGLE-PHASE FLOW | 61

 When the Rotating Machinery, Fluid Flow interfaces are added using the Model
Wizard, a Rotating Domain is added under the Definitions node. These interfaces
support compressible, weakly compressible and incompressible flow, the flow of
non-Newtonian fluids, as well as turbulence. They also support creeping flow.

Coupling to Other Physics Interfaces

Often, you may want to simulate applications that couple fluid flow to another type of
phenomenon described in another physics interface. Although this is not often another
type of flow, it can still involve physics interfaces supported in the CFD Module and in
the COMSOL Multiphysics base package. This is often the case for applications that
include chemical reactions and mass transport (see Chemical Species Transport
Interfaces), or energy transport, found in the Heat Transfer and Nonisothermal Flow
Interfaces chapter.

More extensive descriptions of heat transfer, including radiation, can be found in the
Heat Transfer Module, while a wider variety of tools for modeling chemical reactions
and mass transport are found in the Chemical Reaction Engineering Module. Fluid
flow is an important component for cooling electromagnetic phenomena, such as heat
created through induction and microwave heating, which are simulated using the
AC/DC Module and RF Module, respectively. Many applications involve the effect of
fluid-imposed loads on structural applications, for example, fluid-structure interaction
(FSI). The Structural Mechanics Module and MEMS Module have physics interfaces
specifically for these multiphysics applications.

You can easily couple a 1D pipe segment modeled with the Pipe Flow interface with a
3D single phase flow using a Pipe Connection multiphysics coupling. This feature is
available with a license for the Pipe Flow Module. For details, see the section Pipe
Connection in the in the Pipe Flow Module User’s Guide.

62 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 The Creeping Flow, Laminar Flow,
T ur bule nt Flo w , an d Large E d d y
S i m ula t i o n Interfaces
In this section:

• The Creeping Flow Interface

• The Laminar Flow Interface
• The Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus Interface
• The Turbulent Flow, L-VEL Interface
• The Turbulent Flow, k-ε Interface
• The Turbulent Flow, k-ω Interface
• The Turbulent Flow, SST Interface
• The Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε Interface
• The Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras Interface
• The Turbulent Flow, v2-f Interface
• The LES RBVM Interface
• The LES RBVMWV Interface
• The LES Smagorinsky Interface
• The Viscoelastic Flow Interface
• Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow

• Theory for the Single-Phase Flow Interfaces

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual, see Table 2-4 for links to common
sections such as Discretization, Consistent Stabilization, Inconsistent Stabilization, and
Advanced Settings sections, some of them accessed by clicking the Show button ( )
and choosing the applicable option. You can also search for information: press F1 to
open the Help window or Ctrl+F1 to open the Documentation window.

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 63
 The Creeping Flow Interface
The Creeping Flow (spf) interface ( ) is used for simulating fluid flows at very low
Reynolds numbers for which the inertial term in the Navier-Stokes equations can be
neglected. Creeping flow, also referred to as Stokes flow, occurs in systems with high
viscosity or small geometrical length scales (for example, in microfluidics and MEMS
devices). The fluid can be compressible or incompressible, as well as Newtonian or
non-Newtonian.

The equations solved by the Creeping Flow interface are the Stokes equations for
conservation of momentum and the continuity equation for conservation of mass.

The Creeping Flow interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent analyses.

The main feature is the Fluid Properties node, which adds the Stokes equations and
provides an interface for defining the fluid material and its properties. Except where
noted below, see The Laminar Flow Interface for all other settings.

PHYSICAL MODEL
By default, the Neglect inertial term (Stokes flow) check box is selected. If unchecked,
or, if the Turbulence model type is changed to RANS, the inertial terms are included in
the computations.

DISCRETIZATION
By default, the Creeping Flow interface uses P2+P1 elements. Contrary to general
laminar and turbulent single-phase flow simulations employing purely linear P1+P1
elements, P2+P1 elements are well suited for most creeping flow simulations but are
not in general fully conservative. Full conservation properties and high accuracy is
obtained by selecting P2+P2 or P3+P3 elements.

Note that P1+P1, P2+P2, and P3+P3 discretizations (the so-called equal order
interpolations) require streamline diffusion to be active.

• The Laminar Flow Interface

• Theory for the Single-Phase Flow InterfacesTheory for the
Single-Phase Flow InterfacesTheory for the Single-Phase Flow
InterfacesTheory for the Single-Phase Flow Interfaces

64 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 The Laminar Flow Interface
The Laminar Flow (spf) interface ( ) is used to compute the velocity and pressure
fields for the flow of a single-phase fluid in the laminar flow regime. A flow remains
laminar as long as the Reynolds number is below a certain critical value. At higher
Reynolds numbers, disturbances have a tendency to grow and cause transition to
turbulence. This critical Reynolds number depends on the model, but a classical
example is pipe flow, where the critical Reynolds number is known to be approximately
2000.

The physics interface supports incompressible flow, weakly compressible flow (the
density depends on temperature but not on pressure), and compressible flow at low
Mach numbers (typically less than 0.3). It also supports flow of non-Newtonian fluids.

The equations solved by the Laminar Flow interface are the Navier-Stokes equations
for conservation of momentum and the continuity equation for conservation of mass.

The Laminar Flow interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent analyses.
Time-dependent studies should be used in the high-Reynolds number regime as these
flows tend to become inherently unsteady.

When the Laminar Flow interface is added, the following default nodes are also added
in the Model Builder: Fluid Properties, Wall (the default boundary condition is No slip),
and Initial Values. Other nodes that implement, for example, boundary conditions and
volume forces, can be added from the Physics toolbar or from the context menu
displayed when right-clicking Laminar Flow.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Physics interface variables can be referred to using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is spf.

About the Physics Interface Label Names

The label for a single-phase flow interface (the node name in the Model Builder) is
dynamic and is reset according to the turbulence model and the neglect inertial term

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 65
 (Stokes flow) property set at the physics interface level. The availability also depends
on the software license.

For example, a Laminar Flow interface is added to the Model Tree. If the Low Reynolds
number k-ε turbulence model is selected, the interface Label changes to Turbulent Flow,
Low Re k-ε, which is the same Label that displays when the corresponding interface is
added from the Model Wizard or Add Physics window.

If the Neglect inertial term (Stokes flow) check box is selected, then the Label changes
to Creeping Flow, which is the same Label that displays when that interface is added
from the Model Wizard or Add Physics window.

PHYSICAL MODEL

Compressibility
Depending of the fluid properties and the flow regime, three options are available for
the Compressibility option. In general the computational complexity increases from
Incompressible flow to Weakly compressible flow to Compressible flow (Ma<0.3) but the
underlying hypotheses are increasingly more restrictive in the opposite direction.

When the Incompressible flow option (default) is selected, the incompressible form of
the Navier-Stokes and continuity equations is applied. In addition, the fluid density is
evaluated at the Reference pressure level defined in this section. The Reference
temperature is set to 293.15 K.

The Weakly compressible flow option models compressible flow when the pressure
dependency of the density can be neglected. When selected, the compressible form of
the Navier-Stokes and continuity equations is applied. In addition, the fluid density is
evaluated at the Reference pressure level defined in this section.

When the Compressible flow (Ma<0.3) option is selected, the compressible form of the
Navier-Stokes and continuity equations is applied. Ma < 0.3 indicates that the inlet and
outlet conditions, as well as the stabilization, may not be suitable for transonic and
supersonic flow. For more information, see The Mach Number Limit.

Swirl Flow
The velocity component, u ϕ , in the azimuthal direction can be included for 2D
axisymmetric components by selecting the Swirl flow check box. While u ϕ can be
nonzero, there can be no gradients in the ϕ direction. Also see General Single-Phase
Flow Theory.

66 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 Neglect Inertial Term (Stokes Flow)
For low Reynolds number flows, the inertial terms in the Navier-Stokes equations may
be neglected.

Porous Media Domains

With the addition of various modules, the Enable porous media domains check box is
available. Selecting this option, a Fluid and Matrix Properties node, a Mass Source node,
and a Forchheimer Drag subnode are added to the physics interface. These are described
for the Brinkman Equations interface in the respective module’s documentation. The
Fluid and Matrix Properties can be applied on all domains or on a subset of the domains.

Include gravity
When the Include gravity check box is selected, a global Gravity feature is shown in the
interface model tree, and the buoyancy force is included in the Navier-Stokes
equations.

Also, when the Include gravity check box is selected, the Use reduced pressure option
changes the pressure formulation from using the total pressure (default) to using the
reduced pressure. This option is suitable for configurations where the density changes
are very small; otherwise, the default formulation can be used. For more information,
see Gravity.

Natural convection is induced by variations in magnitude of the buoyancy

force that is defined from the density. For incompressible flow, the density
is constant; hence the buoyancy force is homogeneous and natural
convection cannot be modeled. Nevertheless, using the Nonisothermal
Flow multiphysics coupling, the buoyancy force is defined using the
thermal expansion coefficient and the temperature. Hence, in this case
natural convection is accounted for following Boussinesq approximation.

Use Shallow Channel Approximation

For 2D components, selecting the Use shallow channel approximation check box enables
modeling of fluid flow in shallow channels in microfluidics applications. Such channels
often have an almost rectangular cross section where the Channel thickness dz is much
smaller than the channel width. Simple 2D components often fail to give correct results
for this type of problems because they exclude the boundaries that have the greatest
effect on the flow. The shallow channel approximation takes the effect of these
boundaries into account by adding a drag term as a volume force to the momentum
equation. The form of this term is

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 67
 μu
F μ = – 12 --------2 (4-1)
dz

where μ is the fluid’s dynamic viscosity, u is the velocity field, and dz is the channel
thickness. This term represents the resistance that the parallel boundaries impose on
the flow; however, it does not account for any changes in velocity due to variations in
the cross-sectional area of the channel.

Reference values
Reference values are global quantities used to evaluate the density of the fluid when
the Incompressible flow or the Weakly compressible flow option is selected and to define
the gravity force.

Reference pressure level There are generally two ways to include the pressure in fluid
flow computations: either to use the absolute pressure pA=p+pref, or the gauge
pressure p. When pref is nonzero, the physics interface solves for the gauge pressure
whereas material properties are evaluated using the absolute pressure. The reference
pressure level is also used to define the reference density.

Reference temperature The reference temperature is used to define the reference

density.

Reference position When Include gravity is selected, the reference position can be
defined. It corresponds to the location where the total pressure (that includes the
hydrostatic pressure) is equal to the Reference pressure level.

TURBULENCE

Turbulence Model Type

Turbulent flow can be simulated by changing the Turbulence model type to RANS
(Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes) or to LES (Large Eddy Simulation).

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface — the
Velocity field u and its components, and the Pressure p.

If required, the names of the field, component, and dependent variable can be edited.
Editing the name of a scalar dependent variable changes both its field name and the
dependent variable name. If a new field name coincides with the name of another field
of the same type, the fields share degrees of freedom and dependent variable names. A
new field name must not coincide with the name of a field of another type or with a

68 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 component name belonging to some other field. Component names must be unique
within a model except when two fields share a common field name.

CONSISTENT STABILIZATION
To enable this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Stabilization
in the Show More Options dialog box.

There are two consistent stabilization methods: Streamline diffusion and Crosswind
diffusion. Usually, both check boxes for these methods are selected by default and
should remain selected for optimal performance. Consistent stabilization methods do
not perturb the original transport equation. Streamline diffusion must be selected
when using equal-order interpolation for pressure and velocity.

Select the Use dynamic subgrid time scale check box to approximate the time-scale
tensor in time dependent problems from projections of weak expressions. This check
box is selected by default. When not selected the actual time-step is used.

INCONSISTENT STABILIZATION
To enable this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Stabilization
in the Show More Options dialog box.

There is usually just one inconsistent stabilization method — Isotropic diffusion. This
method is equivalent to adding a term to the diffusion coefficient in order to dampen
the effect of oscillations by making the system somewhat less dominated by
convection. If possible, minimize the use of the inconsistent stabilization method
because by using it you no longer solve the original problem. By default, the Isotropic
diffusion check box is not selected because this type of stabilization adds artificial
diffusion and affects the accuracy of the original problem. However, this option can be
used to get a good initial guess for underresolved problems.

If required, select the Isotropic diffusion check box and enter a Tuning parameter δid as
a scalar positive value. The default value is 0.25 (a reasonable value to start with is
roughly 0.5 divided by the element order). A higher value adds more isotropic
diffusion.

• Numerical Stability — Stabilization Techniques for Fluid Flow

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 69
 ADVANCED SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box. Normally these settings do not
need to be changed.

The Use pseudo time stepping for stationary equation form is per default set to Automatic
from physics. This option can add pseudo time derivatives to the equation when the
Stationary equation form is used in order to speed up convergence. Pseudo time
stepping is triggered when the Laminar Flow interface is selected in some multiphysics
coupling features and for turbulent flows. Set Automatic from physics to On to apply
pseudo time stepping also for laminar flows. Set it to Off to disable pseudo time
stepping completely.

When Use pseudo time stepping for stationary equation form is set to Automatic from
physics or On, a CFL number expression should also be defined. For the default Automatic
option, the local CFL number (from the Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy condition) is
determined by a PID regulator.

• Pseudo Time Stepping for Laminar Flow Models

• Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow
• Theory for the Single-Phase Flow Interfaces

DISCRETIZATION
The default discretization for Laminar Flow is P1+P1 elements — that is, piecewise
linear interpolation for velocity and pressure. This is suitable for most flow problems.

Some higher-order interpolations are also available, and they can be cost-effective
options to obtain high accuracy for flows with low Reynolds numbers.

The P2+P2 and P3+P3 options, the equal-order interpolation options, are the preferred
higher-order options because they have higher numerical accuracy than the
mixed-order options P2+P1 and P3+P2. The equal-order interpolation options do,
however, require streamline diffusion to be active.

Flow Past a Cylinder: Application Library path

COMSOL_Multiphysics/Fluid_Dynamics/cylinder_flow

70 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 The Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus Interface
The Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus (spf) interface ( ) is used for simulating
single-phase flows at high Reynolds numbers. The physics interface is suitable for
incompressible flows, weakly compressible flows, and compressible flows at low Mach
numbers (typically less than 0.3).

The equations solved by the Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus interface are the
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations for conservation of momentum,
the continuity equation for conservation of mass, and an algebraic equation for the
scaled wall distance. Turbulence effects are included using an enhanced viscosity model
based on the scaled wall distance, and the physics interface therefore includes a wall
distance equation. When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are
also added in the Model Builder — Fluid Properties, Wall (the default boundary
condition is No slip), and Initial Values.

Except where included below, see The Laminar Flow Interface and The Turbulent
Flow, k-ε Interface for all the other settings.

PHYSICAL MODEL

Porous Media Domains

With the addition of various modules, the Enable porous media domains check box is
available. Selecting this option, a Fluid and Matrix Properties node, a Mass Source node,
and a Forchheimer Drag subnode are added to the physics interface. These are described
for the Brinkman Equations interface in the respective module’s documentation.
Applying the Fluid and Matrix Properties on a subset of the domains enables studies of
coupled porous-media flow and turbulent flow.

TURBULENCE
A different turbulence model can be selected under Turbulence model. Laminar or
creeping flow may simulated by changing the Turbulence model type to None.

Wall Treatment
Algebraic yPlus employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which switches
between a low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function formulation
depending on how well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The automatic wall
treatment gives a robust formulation that makes the most out of the available
resolution. Select the Low Re option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to
the wall. This can be more accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that
the mesh is fine enough.

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 71
 Edit Turbulence Model Parameters
The turbulence model parameters for the Algebraic yPlus model, κa and Ba, have been
optimized for turbulent pipe flow. For certain cases, better performance can be
obtained by tuning the model parameters. The turbulence model parameters can be
tuned when the Edit turbulence model parameters check box is selected.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface:

• Velocity field u
• Pressure p
• Reciprocal wall distance G
• Wall distance in viscous units yPlus (dimensionless)

The Algebraic yPlus interface requires a Wall Distance Initialization study step in the
study previous to the Stationary or Time Dependent study step.

For study information, see Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with
Initialization, and Wall Distance Initialization in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

The Turbulent Flow, L-VEL Interface

The Turbulent Flow, L-VEL (spf) interface ( ) is used for simulating single-phase flows
at high Reynolds numbers. The physics interface is suitable for incompressible flows,
weakly compressible flows, and compressible flows at low Mach number (typically less
than 0.3).

The equations solved by the Turbulent Flow, L-VEL interface are the
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations for conservation of momentum
and the continuity equation for conservation of mass. Turbulence effects are included
using an enhanced viscosity model based on the local wall distance, and the physics
interface therefore includes a wall distance equation. When this physics interface is
added, the following default nodes are also added in the Model Builder — Fluid
Properties, Wall (the default boundary condition is No slip), and Initial Values. Except
where included below, see The Laminar Flow Interface and The Turbulent Flow, k-ε
Interface for all the other settings.

72 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 PHYSICAL MODEL

Porous Media Domains

With the addition of various modules, the Enable porous media domains check box is
available. Selecting this option, a Fluid and Matrix Properties node, a Mass Source node,
and a Forchheimer Drag subnode are added to the physics interface. These are described
for the Brinkman Equations interface in the respective module’s documentation.
Applying the Fluid and Matrix Properties on a subset of the domains enables studies of
coupled porous-media flow and turbulent flow.

TURBULENCE
A different turbulence model can be selected under Turbulence model. Laminar or
creeping flow may simulated by changing the Turbulence model type to None.

Wall Treatment
L-VEL employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which switches between a
low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function formulation depending on how
well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The automatic wall treatment gives a robust
formulation that makes the most out of the available resolution. Select the Low Re
option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to the wall. This can be more
accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that the mesh is fine enough.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters, κl and El, have been optimized for internal flow. For
certain cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model parameters.
The turbulence model parameters can be tuned when the Edit turbulence model
parameters check box is selected.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface:

• Velocity field u and its components

• Pressure p
• Reciprocal wall distance G
• Tangential velocity in viscous units uPlus (dimensionless)

The L-VEL interface requires a Wall Distance Initialization study step in the study
previous to the Stationary or Time Dependent study step.

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 73
 For study information, see Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with
Initialization, and Wall Distance Initialization in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

The Turbulent Flow, k-ε Interface

The Turbulent Flow, k-ε (spf) interface ( ) is used for simulating single-phase flows
at high Reynolds numbers. The physics interface is suitable for incompressible flows,
weakly compressible flows, and compressible flows at low Mach numbers (typically less
than 0.3).

The equations solved by the Turbulent Flow, k-ε interface are the Reynolds-averaged
Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations for conservation of momentum and the continuity
equation for conservation of mass. Turbulence effects are modeled using the standard
two-equation k-ε model with realizability constraints. The flow near walls is modeled
using wall functions.

The Turbulent Flow, k-ε interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent
analyses. The main feature is Fluid Properties, which adds the RANS equations and the
transport equations for k and ε, and provides an interface for defining the fluid material
and its properties. When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are
also added in the Model Builder: Fluid Properties, and Initial Values.

Except where included below, see The Laminar Flow Interface for all the other
settings.

TURBULENCE
A different turbulence model can be selected under Turbulence model. Laminar or
creeping flow may be simulated by changing the Turbulence model type to None.

Wall treatment for the k-ε model can only be set to Wall functions. More options
becomes available by selecting another option under Turbulence model.

The Turbulence model property disables the Neglect inertial term (Stokes flow) check
box, and for 2D components also the Shallow Channel Approximation check box.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters.

For this physics interface the parameters are Ce1, Ce2, Cμ, σk, σe, κv, and B.

74 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface:

• Velocity field u and its components

• Pressure p
• Turbulent kinetic energy k
• Turbulent dissipation rate ep

ADVANCED SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box. The Turbulence variables scale
parameters subsection is available when the Turbulence model type is set to RANS.

In addition to the settings described for the Laminar Flow interface, enter a value for
Uscale and Lfact under the Turbulence variables scale parameters subsection.

The Uscale and Lfact parameters are used to calculate absolute tolerances for the
turbulence variables. The scaling parameters must only contain numerical values, units
or parameters defined under Global Definitions. The scaling parameters cannot contain
variables. The parameters are used when a new default solver for a transient study step
is generated. If you change the parameters, the new values take effect the next time you
generate a new default solver

• The Laminar Flow Interface

• Pseudo Time Stepping in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual
• Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces

• Airflow over an Ahmed Body: Application Library path

CFD_Module/Verification_Examples/ahmed_body
• Pipe Erosion due to Contaminant Particles: Application Library path
CFD_Module/Particle_Tracing/pipe_elbow_erosion

Turbulent Flow over a Backward-Facing Step: Application Library path

Heat_Transfer_Module/Verification_Examples/turbulent_backstep

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 75
 The Turbulent Flow, Realizable k-ε Interface
The Turbulent Flow, Realizable k-ε (spf) interface ( ) is used for simulating
single-phase flows at high Reynolds numbers. The physics interface is suitable for
incompressible flows, weakly compressible flows, and compressible flows at low Mach
numbers (typically less than 0.3).

The equations solved by the Turbulent Flow, Realizable k-ε interface are the
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations for conservation of momentum
and the continuity equation for conservation of mass. Turbulence effects are modeled
using the realizable two-equation k-ε model. The flow near walls is modeled using wall
functions.

The Turbulent Flow, Realizable k-ε interface can be used for stationary and
time-dependent analyses. The main feature is Fluid Properties, which adds the RANS
equations and the transport equations for k and ε, and provides an interface for
defining the fluid material and its properties. When this physics interface is added, the
following default nodes are also added in the Model Builder: Fluid Properties, and Initial
Values.

Except where included below, see The Turbulent Flow, k-ε Interface for all the other
settings.

TURBULENCE

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters.

For this physics interface the parameters are C2, A0, σk, σe, κv, and B.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface:

• Velocity field u and its components

• Pressure p
• Turbulent kinetic energy k
• Turbulent dissipation rate ep

76 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 The Turbulent Flow, k-ω Interface
The Turbulent Flow, k-ω (spf) interface ( ) is used for simulating single-phase flows
at high Reynolds numbers. The physics interface is suitable for incompressible flows,
weakly compressible flows, and compressible flows at low Mach numbers (typically less
than 0.3).

The equations solved by the Turbulent Flow, k-ω interface are the Reynolds-averaged
Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations for conservation of momentum and the continuity
equation for conservation of mass. Turbulence effects are modeled using the Wilcox
revised two-equation k-ω model with realizability constraints. The k-ω model is a
so-called low-Reynolds number model, which means that it can resolve the flow all the
way down to the wall.

The Turbulent Flow, k-ω interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent
analyses. The main feature is Fluid Properties, which adds the RANS equations and the
transport equations for the turbulent kinetic energy k and the specific dissipation ω,
and provides an interface for defining the fluid material and its properties. When this
physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the Model
Builder: Fluid Properties, Wall, and Initial Values.

Except where included below, see The Laminar Flow Interface and The Turbulent
Flow, k-ε Interface for all the other settings.

TURBULENCE
A different turbulence model can be selected under Turbulence model. Laminar or
creeping flow may be simulated by changing the Turbulence model type to None.

The Turbulence model property disables the Neglect inertial term (Stokes flow) check
box, and for 2D components also the Shallow Channel Approximation check box.

Wall Treatment
The k-ω model employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which switches
between a low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function formulation
depending on how well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The automatic wall
treatment gives a robust formulation that makes the most out of the available
resolution. The most robust, but least accurate option is select the Wall functions
option.

Select the Low Re option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to the wall.
This can be more accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that the mesh

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 77
 is fine enough. Observe that the Low Re formulation requires the wall distance to be
solved for prior to the flow.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters.

For this physics interface the parameters are α, σk∗, σw, β0, β0∗, κv, and B.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface:

• Velocity field u and its components

• Pressure p
• Turbulent kinetic energy k
• Specific dissipation rate om

• Reciprocal wall distance G

Flow Through a Pipe Elbow: Application Library path

CFD_Module/Verification_Examples/pipe_elbow

The Turbulent Flow, SST Interface

The Turbulent Flow, SST (spf) interface ( ) is used for simulating single-phase flows
at high Reynolds numbers. The physics interface is suitable for incompressible flows,
weakly compressible flows, and compressible flows at low Mach numbers (typically less
than 0.3).

The equations solved by the Turbulent Flow, SST interface are the Reynolds-averaged
Navier-Stokes (RANS) equation for conservation of momentum and the continuity
equation for conservation of mass. Turbulence effects are modeled using the Menter
shear-stress transport (SST) two-equation model from 2003 with realizability
constraints. The SST model is a so-called low-Reynolds number model, which means
that it can resolve the flow all the way down to the wall. The SST model depends on
the distance to the closest wall. The physics interface therefore includes a wall distance
equation.

78 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 The Turbulent Flow, SST interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent
analyses.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder: Fluid Properties, Wall (the default boundary condition is No slip), and
Initial Values.

Except where included below, see The Laminar Flow Interface and The Turbulent
Flow, k-ε Interface for all the other settings.

TURBULENCE
A different turbulence model can be selected under Turbulence model. Laminar or
creeping flow may simulated by changing the Turbulence model type to None.

The Turbulence model property disables the Neglect inertial term (Stokes flow) check
box, and for 2D components also the Shallow Channel Approximation check box.

Wall Treatment
The SST model employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which switches
between a low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function formulation
depending on how well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The automatic wall
treatment gives a robust formulation that makes the most out of the available
resolution.

Select the Low Re option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to the wall.
This can be more accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that the mesh
is fine enough.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters. For this physics interface the parameters are a1, β0∗, β1, β2, γ1, γ2, σk1, σk2,
σw1,and σw2.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface:

• Velocity field u and its components

• Pressure p
• Turbulent kinetic energy k

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 79
 • Specific dissipation rate om
• Reciprocal wall distance G

The SST interface requires a Wall Distance Initialization study step in the study previous
to the Stationary or Time Dependent study step.

For study information, see Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with
Initialization, and Wall Distance Initialization in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

The Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε Interface

The Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε (spf) interface ( ) is used for simulating single-phase
flows at high Reynolds numbers. The physics interface is suitable for incompressible
flows, weakly compressible flows, and compressible flows at low Mach numbers
(typically less than 0.3).

The equations solved by the Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε interface are the
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations for conservation of momentum
and the continuity equation for conservation of mass. Turbulence effects are modeled
using the AKN two-equation k-ε model with realizability constraints. The AKN model
is a so-called low-Reynolds number model, which means that it can resolve the flow all
the way down to the wall. The AKN model depends on the distance to the closest wall.
The physics interface therefore includes a wall distance equation.

The Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε interface can be used for stationary and
time-dependent analyses.

Except where included below, see The Laminar Flow Interface and The Turbulent
Flow, k-ε Interface for all the other settings.

TURBULENCE
A different turbulence model can be selected under Turbulence model. Laminar or
creeping flow may simulated by changing the Turbulence model type to None.

The Turbulence model property disables the Neglect inertial term (Stokes flow) check
box, and for 2D components also the Shallow Channel Approximation check box.

Wall Treatment
The AKN model employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which switches
between a low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function formulation
depending on how well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The automatic wall

80 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 treatment gives a robust formulation that makes the most out of the available
resolution.

Select the Low Re option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to the wall.
This can be more accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that the mesh
is fine enough.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters.

For this physics interface the parameters are Ce1, Ce2, Cμ, σk, σe, and κv.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface:

• Velocity field u and its components

• Pressure p
• Turbulent kinetic energy k
• Turbulent dissipation rate ep
• Reciprocal wall distance G

The Low Reynolds number k-ε interface requires a Wall Distance Initialization study
step in the study previous to the Stationary or Time Dependent study step.

For study information, see Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with
Initialization, and Wall Distance Initialization in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

• The Laminar Flow Interface

• Pseudo Time Stepping in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual
• Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces

The Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras Interface

The Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras (spf) interface ( ) is used for simulating
single-phase flows at high Reynolds numbers. The physics interface is suitable for

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 81
 incompressible flows, weakly compressible flows, and compressible flows at low Mach
numbers (typically less than 0.3).

The equations solved by the Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras interface are the
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equation for conservation of momentum
and the continuity equation for conservation of mass. Turbulence effects are modeled
using the Spalart-Allmaras one-equation model. The Spalart-Allmaras model is a
so-called low-Reynolds number model, which means that it can resolve the flow all the
way down to the wall. The Spalart-Allmaras model depends on the distance to the
closest wall. The physics interface therefore includes a wall distance equation.

The Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras interface can be used for stationary and
time-dependent analyses. The main feature is Fluid Properties, which adds the RANS
equations and the transport equations for the undamped turbulent kinematic velocity
ν̃ , and provides an interface for defining the fluid material and its properties. When
this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the Model
Builder — Fluid Properties, Wall, and Initial Values.

Except where included below, see The Laminar Flow Interface and The Turbulent
Flow, k-ε Interface for all the other settings.

TURBULENCE
A different turbulence model can be selected under Turbulence model. Laminar or
creeping flow may simulated by changing the Turbulence model type to None.

The Turbulence model property disables the Neglect inertial term (Stokes flow) check
box, and for 2D components also the Shallow Channel Approximation check box.

Wall Treatment
The Spalart-Allmaras model employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which
switches between a low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function
formulation depending on how well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The
automatic wall treatment gives a robust formulation that makes the most out of the
available resolution.

Select the Low Re option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to the wall.
This can be more accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that the mesh
is fine enough.

82 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 Edit Turbulence Model Parameters
Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters.

For this physics interface the parameters are Cb1, Cb2, Cv1, σv, Cw2, Cw3, κv, and Crot.

ADVANCED SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box. Under the Turbulence variables
scale parameters subsection, the default νscale is of the same order of magnitude as the
kinematic viscosity of air at room temperature.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface:

• Velocity field u and its components

• Pressure p
• Reciprocal wall distance G
• Undamped turbulent kinematic viscosity υ

The Spalart-Allmaras interface requires a Wall Distance Initialization study step in the
study previous to the Stationary or Time Dependent study step.

For study information, see Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with
Initialization, and Wall Distance Initialization in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

The Turbulent Flow, v2-f Interface

The Turbulent Flow, v2-f (spf) interface ( ) is used for simulating single-phase flows
at high Reynolds numbers. The physics interface is suitable for incompressible flows,
weakly compressible flows, and compressible flows at low Mach numbers (typically less
than 0.3).

The equations solved by the Turbulent Flow, v2-f interface are the Reynolds-averaged
Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations for conservation of momentum and the continuity
equation for conservation of mass. Turbulence effects are modeled using the v2-f
transport-equation model with realizability constraints. The v2-f model is a so-called
low-Reynolds number model, which means that it can resolve the flow all the way
down to the wall. The physics interface includes a wall distance equation.

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 The Turbulent Flow, v2-f interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent
analyses.

Except where included below, see The Laminar Flow Interface and The Turbulent
Flow, k-ε Interface for all the other settings.

TURBULENCE
A different turbulence model can be selected under Turbulence model. Laminar or
creeping flow may simulated by changing the Turbulence model type to None.

The Turbulence model property disables the Neglect inertial term (Stokes flow) check
box, and for 2D components also the Shallow Channel Approximation check box.

Wall Treatment
The v2-f model employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which switches
between a low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function formulation
depending on how well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The automatic wall
treatment gives a robust formulation that makes the most out of the available
resolution.

Select the Low Re option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to the wall.
This can be more accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that the mesh
is fine enough.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters.

For this physics interface the parameters are Cμv2f, Cτ, Cη, CL, C1, C2, Cε1v2f, Cε2v2f,
A1, σkv2f, σεv2f, σζv2f, κv, and B.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface:

• Velocity field u and its components

• Pressure p
• Turbulent kinetic energy k
• Turbulent dissipation rate ep
• Turbulent relative fluctuations zeta

84 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 • Elliptic blending function alpha
• Reciprocal wall distance G

The v2-f interface requires a Wall Distance Initialization study step in the study
previous to the Stationary or Time Dependent study step.

For study information, see Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with
Initialization, and Wall Distance Initialization in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

• The Laminar Flow Interface

• Pseudo Time Stepping in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual
• Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces

The LES RBVM Interface

The LES RBVM (spf) interface ( ) is used for simulating single-phase flows at high
Reynolds numbers by resolving the larger three-dimensional unsteady eddies and
modeling the effect of the smaller eddies. The physics interface is currently only
suitable for incompressible flows.

The equations solved by the LES RBVM interface are the continuity equation for
conservation of mass and the Navier-Stokes equation, augmented by additional stress
terms, for conservation of momentum. Consistent modeling is used for the additional
stresses. The interface is thus also applicable to laminar and transitional flows.

The LES RBVM interface should only be used for three-dimensional, time-dependent
analyses. The main feature is Fluid Properties, which adds the Navier-Stokes and
continuity equations, and provides an interface for defining the fluid material and its
properties. When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also
added in the Model Builder: Fluid Properties, Initial Values, and Wall.

Except where included below, see The Laminar Flow Interface for all the other
settings.

TURBULENCE
A different LES model can be selected under Turbulence model. A RANS turbulence
model can be selected by changing the Turbulence model type to RANS. Laminar or
creeping flow may be simulated by changing the Turbulence model type to None.

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 The Turbulence model property disables the Neglect inertial term (Stokes flow) check box
and Enable porous media domains check box.

Use dynamic subgrid time scale

Enable this check box to use the time derivative from the previous time step to estimate
temporal changes in the unresolved scales.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface:

• Velocity field u and its components

• Pressure p

• The Laminar Flow Interface

• Theory for the Large Eddy Simulation Interfaces

The LES RBVMWV Interface

The LES RBVMWV (spf) interface ( ) is used for simulating single-phase flows at high
Reynolds numbers by resolving the larger three-dimensional unsteady eddies and
modeling the effect of the smaller eddies. The physics interface is currently only
suitable for incompressible flows.

The equations solved by the LES RBVMWV interface are the continuity equation for
conservation of mass and the Navier-Stokes equation, augmented by additional stress
terms, for conservation of momentum. Similar modeling as for the LES RBVM model
is applied but the effect of the Reynolds stress is enhanced by adding a turbulent
viscosity term. Since the modeling is consistent, the interface is also applicable to
laminar and transitional flows.

The LES RBVMWV interface should only be used for three-dimensional,

time-dependent analyses. The main feature is Fluid Properties, which adds the
Navier-Stokes and continuity equations, and provides an interface for defining the fluid
material and its properties. When this physics interface is added, the following default
nodes are also added in the Model Builder: Fluid Properties, Initial Values, and Wall.

Except where included below, see The Laminar Flow Interface for all the other
settings.

86 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 TURBULENCE
A different LES model can be selected under Turbulence model. A RANS turbulence
model can be selected by changing the Turbulence model type to RANS. Laminar or
creeping flow may be simulated by changing the Turbulence model type to None.

The Turbulence model property disables the Neglect inertial term (Stokes flow) check box
and Enable porous media domains check box.

Use dynamic subgrid time scale

Enable this check box to use the time derivative from the previous time step to estimate
temporal changes in the unresolved scales.

Edit LES Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters.
˜
For this physics interface the turbulent viscosity parameter is C .

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface:

• Velocity field u and its components

• Pressure p

• The Laminar Flow Interface

• Theory for the Large Eddy Simulation Interfaces

The LES Smagorinsky Interface

The LES Smagorinsky (spf) interface ( ) is used for simulating single-phase flows at
high Reynolds numbers by resolving the larger three-dimensional unsteady eddies and
modeling the effect of the smaller eddies. The physics interface is currently only
suitable for incompressible flows.

The equations solved by the LES Smagorinsky interface are the continuity equation for
conservation of mass and the Navier-Stokes equation, augmented by a turbulent
viscosity term. The modeled term is inconsistent, which means that it does not vanish
for a fully resolved flow.

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 The LES Smagorinsky interface should only be used for three-dimensional,
time-dependent analyses. The main feature is Fluid Properties, which adds the
Navier-Stokes and continuity equations, and provides an interface for defining the fluid
material and its properties. When this physics interface is added, the following default
nodes are also added in the Model Builder: Fluid Properties, Initial Values, and Wall.

Except where included below, see The Laminar Flow Interface for all the other
settings.

TURBULENCE
A different LES model can be selected under Turbulence model. A RANS turbulence
model can be selected by changing the Turbulence model type to RANS. Laminar or
creeping flow may be simulated by changing the Turbulence model type to None.

The Turbulence model property disables the Neglect inertial term (Stokes flow) check box
and Enable porous media domains check box.

Use dynamic subgrid time scale

Enable this check box to use the time derivative from the previous time step to estimate
temporal changes in the unresolved scales.

Edit LES Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters.

For this physics interface the Smagorinsky parameter is C s .

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface:

• Velocity field u and its components

• Pressure p

• The Laminar Flow Interface

• Theory for the Large Eddy Simulation Interfaces

The Viscoelastic Flow Interface

The Viscoelastic Flow (vef) interface ( ) is used for simulating single-phase flows of
viscoelastic fluids. The physics interface is only suitable for incompressible flows.

88 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 The equations solved by the Viscoelastic Flow interface are the continuity equation for
conservation of mass, the Navier-Stokes equations, augmented by an elastic stress
tensor term, and a constitutive equation that defines the extra elastic stress
contribution.

The Viscoelastic Flow interface is available for 2D and 3D stationary and

time-dependent analyses. The main feature is Fluid Properties, which adds the
Navier-Stokes equations, continuity equations, and the constitutive relations between
the extra elastic stress term and the velocity gradient. The Fluid Properties feature
provides an interface for defining the fluid material and its properties. Viscoelastic,
Newtonian, and Inelastic non-Newtonian constitutive relations are available.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder:

• Fluid Properties
• Initial Values
• Wall

Except where included below, see The Laminar Flow Interface for all the other
settings.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface:

• Velocity field u and its components

• Pressure p

If the Viscoelastic constitutive relation is selected, the Fluid Properties node also adds as
variables the components of the elastic stress tensor.

Fluid Properties (Viscoelastic Flow)

The Fluid Properties node adds the momentum and continuity equations solved by the
physics interface. The node also provides an interface for defining the material
properties of the fluid.

Except where included below, see Fluid Properties for all the other settings.

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 Constitutive Relation
Viscoelastic, Newtonian and Inelastic non-Newtonian constitutive relations are
available. If Viscoelastic constitutive relation is selected, the Fluid Properties node also
adds the variables and equations for the components of the elastic stress tensor.

For Viscoelastic constitutive relation, specify Solvent viscosity μs and select a Material
model — Oldroyd-B, Giesekus, or FENE-P. Then see the setting for each option that
follows.

Oldroyd-B
For Oldroyd-B in the table enter the model parameters. In each Branch raw enter the
polymer viscosity μ em in the Viscosity column, and the relaxation time λ em in the
Relaxation time column.

Giesekus
For Giesekus enter the polymer viscosity μ em in the Viscosity column, the relaxation
time λ em in the Relaxation time column, and the mobility factor α em in the Mobility
column.

FENE-P
For FENE-P enter the polymer viscosity μ em in the Viscosity column, the relaxation time
λ em in the Relaxation time column, and the extensibility parameter L em in the
Extensibility column.

DISCRETIZATION
• To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box. Select shape function type for
the components of the auxiliary viscoelastic tensor. The default setting is Linear.

90 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow
The following nodes, listed in alphabetical order, are available from the Physics ribbon
toolbar (Windows users), Physics context menu (Mac or Linux users), or by
right-clicking to access the context menu (all users).

• Boundary Stress • Open Boundary

2
• External Fluid Interface • Outlet
• Fan • Periodic Flow Condition
• Flow Continuity • Point Mass Source1
• Fluid-Fluid Interface2 • Pressure Point Constraint
• Fluid Properties • Screen
• Generate New Turbulence Model • Stationary Free Surface
Interface • Symmetry
• Grille • Vacuum Pump
• Gravity • Volume Force
• Initial Values • Wall
• Inlet
• Interior Fan
• Interior Wall
• Line Mass Source1
1
A feature that may require an additional license
2
See documentation for The Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Moving Mesh Interface

For 2D axisymmetric components, COMSOL Multiphysics takes the axial

symmetry boundaries (at r = 0) into account and adds an Axial Symmetry
node that is valid on the axial symmetry boundaries only.

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual, see Table 2-4 for links to common
sections and Table 2-5 to common feature nodes. You can also search for information:
press F1 to open the Help window or Ctrl+F1 to open the Documentation window.

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 Fluid Properties
The Fluid Properties node adds the momentum and continuity equations solved by the
physics interface, except for volume forces, which are added by the Volume Force
feature. The node also provides an interface for defining the material properties of the
fluid.

For the Turbulent Flow interfaces, the Fluid Properties node also adds the equations
for the turbulence transport equations.

For the Viscoelastic Flow interface, the Fluid Properties node also adds the equations
for the components of the elastic stress tensor.

MODEL INPUTS
Fluid properties, such as density and viscosity, can be defined through user inputs,
variables, or by selecting a material. For the latter option, additional inputs, for
example temperature or pressure, may be required to define these properties.

Temperature
By default, the Temperature model input is set to Common model input, and the
temperature is controlled from Default Model Inputs under Global Definitions or by a
locally defined Model Input. If a Heat Transfer interface is included in the component,
it controls the temperature Common model input. Alternatively, the temperature field
can be selected from another physics interface. All physics interfaces have their own
tags (Name). For example, if a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface is included in the
component, the Temperature (ht) option is available for T.

You can also select User defined from the Temperature model input in order to manually
prescribe T.

Absolute Pressure
This input appears when a material requires the absolute pressure as a model input.
The absolute pressure is used to evaluate material properties, but it also relates to the
value of the calculated pressure field. There are generally two ways to calculate the
pressure when describing fluid flow: either to solve for the absolute pressure or for a
pressure (often denoted gauge pressure) that relates to the absolute pressure through
a reference pressure.

The choice of pressure variable depends on the system of equations being solved. For
example, in a unidirectional incompressible flow problem, the pressure drop over the
modeled domain is probably many orders of magnitude smaller than the atmospheric
pressure, which, when included, may reduce the stability and convergence properties

92 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 of the solver. In other cases, such as when the pressure is part of an expression for the
gas volume or the diffusion coefficients, it may be more convenient to solve for the
absolute pressure.

The default Absolute pressure pA is p+pref, where p is the dependent pressure variable
from the Navier-Stokes or RANS equations, and pref is from the user input defined at
the physics interface level. When pref is nonzero, the physics interface solves for a
gauge pressure. If the pressure field instead is an absolute pressure field, pref should be
set to 0.

The Absolute pressure field can be edited by clicking Make All Model Inputs Editable
( ) and entering the desired value in the input field.

Model Inputs and Multiphysics Couplings in the COMSOL Multiphysics

Reference Manual

FLUID PROPERTIES

Density
The density can either be specified by a material, or by a User defined expression. The
density in a material can depend on temperature and/or pressure and these
dependencies are automatically replaced by pref for weakly compressible flows and pref
and Tref for incompressible flows (as specified by the Compressibility setting at the
physics interface level). If density variations with respect to pressure are to be included
in the computations, Compressibility must be set to compressible. Any dependencies in
the density on quantities other than temperature and pressure must be consistent with
the Compressibility setting at the interface level.

Constitutive Relation
For laminar flow, Newtonian and Inelastic non-Newtonian constitutive relations are
available. Newtonian fluids have a linear relationship between the shear stress and the
shear rate.

Dynamic Viscosity
The Dynamic viscosity μ describes the relationship between the shear rate and the shear
stresses in a fluid. Intuitively, water and air have low viscosities, and substances often
described as thick (such as oil) have higher viscosities.

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 93
 Inelastic non-Newtonian
Non-newtonian fluids are encountered in everyday life and wide range of the industrial
processes. Examples of non-Newtonian fluids include yogurt, paper pulp, and polymer
suspensions. Such fluids have a non-linear relationship between the shear stress and the
share rate. Following inelastic non-Newtonian models are available: Power law,
Carreau, Bingham-Papanastasiou, Herschel-Bukley-Papanastasiou, and
Casson-Papanastasiou.

The following model parameters are required for the Power law:

• Fluid consistency coefficient m

• Flow behavior index n
·
• Lower shear rate limit γ min

For the Carreau model, the following parameters are required:

• Zero shear rate viscosity μ0

• Infinite shear rate viscosity μinf
• Model parameter λ and n

For the Bingham-Papanastasiou model, the following parameters are required:

• Plastic viscosity μp
• Yield stress τy
• Model parameter mp

For the Herschel-Bukley-Papanastasiou model, the following parameters are required:

• Fluid consistency coefficient m

• Flow behavior index n
• Yield stress τy
• Model parameter mp

For the Casson-Papanastasiou model, the following parameters are required:

• Plastic viscosity μp

94 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 • Yield stress τy
• Model parameter mp.

• Non-Newtonian Flow in the CFD Module User’s Guide

MIXING LENGTH LIMIT

For the Turbulent Flow, k-ε, Turbulent Flow, k-ω, and Rotating Machinery, Turbulent
Flow k-ε interfaces, an upper limit on the mixing length is required.

When the Mixing length limit lmix,lim is set to Automatic, it is evaluated to the shortest
side of the geometry bounding box. If the geometry is, for example, a complicated
system of slim entities, this measure can be too high. In such cases, it is recommended
that the mixing length limit is defined manually.

DISTANCE EQUATION
For the Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε; Turbulent flow, Algebraic yPlus; Turbulent Flow,
L-VEL; Turbulent Flow, SST; Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras; and Turbulent Flow,
v2-f interfaces, a Wall Distance interface is included.

When the Reference length scale lref is set to Automatic, it is evaluated to one tenth of
the shortest side of the geometry bounding box. The solution to the wall distance
equation is controlled by the parameter lref. The distance to objects larger than lref is
represented accurately, while objects smaller than lref are effectively diminished by
appearing to be farther away than they actually are. This is a desirable feature in
turbulence modeling because small objects would have too large an impact on the
solution if the wall distance were measured exactly. The automatic value is usually a
good choice but the value can become too high if the geometry consists of several slim
entities. In such cases, it is recommended that the reference length scale is defined
manually.

Volume Force
The Volume Force node specifies the volume force F on the right-hand side of the
momentum equation.

∂u T 2
ρ + ρ ( u ⋅ ∇ )u = ∇ ⋅ – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) ) – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I + F
∂t 3

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 95
 If several volume-force nodes are added to the same domain, then the sum of all
contributions are added to the momentum equation.

Initial Values
The initial values serve as initial conditions for a transient simulation or as an initial
guess for a nonlinear solver in a stationary simulation. Note that for a transient
compressible-flow simulation employing a material for which the density depends on
the pressure (such as air), discontinuities in the initial values trigger pressure waves
even when the Mach number is small. The pressure waves must be resolved and this
puts a restriction on the time step.

INITIAL VALUES
Initial values or expressions should be specified for the Velocity field u and the Pressure
p.

When Include gravity is selected and Use reduced pressure not selected in the interface
Physical model section, the Compensate for hydrostatic pressure approximation (named
Compensate for hydrostatic pressure for compressible flows) check box is available and
selected by default. When it is selected, the hydrostatic pressure is automatically added
to the pressure entered in p user input.

In the Turbulent Flow interfaces, initial values for the turbulence variables should also
specified. Depending on the turbulent flow interface being used, additional initial
values may be required for:

• Turbulent kinetic energy k

• Turbulent dissipation rate ep
• Reciprocal wall distance G
• Specific dissipation rate om
• Undamped turbulent kinematic viscosity υ0
• Wall distance in viscous units yPlus (dimensionless). Under normal circumstances
the default value need not be changed.
• Tangential velocity in viscous units uPlus (dimensionless). Under normal
circumstances the default value need not be changed.
• Turbulent relative fluctuations zeta
• Elliptic blending function alpha

96 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 Wall
The Wall node includes a set of boundary conditions describing fluid-flow conditions
at stationary, moving, and leaking walls. For turbulent flow, the description may
involve wall functions and asymptotic expressions for certain turbulence variables.

BOUNDARY CONDITION
Select a Boundary condition for the wall.

• No Slip • Leaking Wall

• Slip • Navier Slip
• Slip Velocity

No Slip
No slip is the default boundary condition to model solid walls. A no slip wall is a wall
where the fluid velocity relative to the wall velocity is zero. For a stationary wall that
means that u = 0.

For turbulent flows, the no slip condition may either be prescribed exactly or modeled
using automatic wall treatment or wall functions depending on the Wall Treatment
setting in the Turbulence section of the interface settings.

When Wall Treatment is set to Wall functions, the Apply wall roughness option becomes
available. When Apply wall roughness is selected, a Sand roughness model, derived from
the experiments by Nikuradse, is applied. Select Generic roughness in order to specify
more general roughness types.

• For Sand roughness an Equivalent sand roughness height kseq should be specified.
• For Generic roughness a Roughness height ks and a dimensionless Roughness parameter
Cs should be specified.

Slip
The Slip option prescribes a no-penetration condition, u·n=0. It is implicitly assumed
that there are no viscous effects at the slip wall and hence, no boundary layer develops.
From a modeling point of view, this can be a reasonable approximation if the main
effect of the wall is to prevent fluid from leaving the domain.

Slip Velocity
In the microscale range, the flow condition at a boundary is seldom strictly no slip or
slip. Instead, the boundary condition is something in between, and there is a Slip

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 97
 velocity at the boundary. Two phenomena account for this velocity: noncontinuum
effects and the flow induced by a thermal gradient along the boundary.

When the Use viscous slip check box is selected, the default Slip length Ls is User defined.
Another value or expression may be entered if the default value is not applicable. For
Maxwell’s model values or expressions for the Tangential momentum accommodation
coefficient av and the Mean free path λ should be specified. Tangential accommodation
coefficients are typically in the range of 0.85 to 1.0 and can be found in G. Kariadakis,
A. Beskok, and N. Aluru, Microflows and Nanoflows, Springer Science and Business
Media, 2005.

When the Use thermal creep check box is selected, a thermal creep contribution with
Thermal slip coefficient σT is activated. Thermal slip coefficients are typically between
0.3 and 1.0 and can be found in G. Kariadakis, A. Beskok, and N. Aluru, Microflows
and Nanoflows, Springer Science and Business Media, 2005.

Slip velocity is available when Turbulence Model in the Turbulence section of the interface
is set to None.

Navier Slip
This boundary condition enforces no-penetration at the wall, u ⋅ n wall = 0 , and adds
a friction force of the form

μ
F fr = – --- u tan g
β

where β is a slip length, and u tan g = u – ( u ⋅ n wall )n wall is the velocity tangential to
the wall. The boundary condition does not set the tangential velocity component to
zero; however, the extrapolated tangential velocity component is 0 at a distance β
outside of the wall.

The Slip Length setting is per default set to Factor of minimum element length. The slip
length β is then defined as β = f h h min , where h min is the smallest element side
(corresponds to the element size in the wall normal direction for boundary layer
elements) and f h is a user input. Select User defined from Slip Length selection list in
order to manually prescribe β (SI unit: m).

In cases where the wall movement is nonzero, check Account for the translational wall
velocity in the friction force to use ( u – u bnd – ( ( u – u bnd ) ⋅ n wall )n wall ) instead of
u tan g in the friction force. Then, the extrapolated tangential velocity component is
u bnd at a distance β outside of the wall. Note that the Velocity of sliding wall uw is
always accounted for in the friction force.

98 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 The Navier Slip option is not available when selecting a turbulence model.

Leaking Wall
This boundary condition may be used to simulate a wall where fluid is leaking into or
leaving the domain with the velocity u = ul through a perforated wall. The
components of the Fluid velocity ul on the leaking wall should be specified.

Leaking Wall is available when Turbulence Model in the Turbulence section of the
interface is set to None.

WALL MOVEMENT
This section contains controls to describe the wall movement relative to the lab (or
spatial) frame.

The Translational velocity setting controls the translational wall velocity, utr. The list is
per default set to Automatic from frame. The physics automatically detects if the spatial
frame moves. This can for example happen if an ALE interface is present in the model
component. If there is no movement utr = 0. If the frame moves, utr becomes equal
to the frame movement. utr is accounted for in the actual boundary condition
prescribed in the Boundary condition section.

Select Zero (Fixed wall) from Translational velocity selection list to prescribe utr = 0.

Select Manual from Translational velocity selection list in order to manually prescribe
Velocity of moving wall, utr. This can for example be used to model an oscillating wall
where the magnitude of the oscillations are very small compared to the rest of the
model. Specifying translational velocity manually does not automatically cause the
associated wall to move. An additional Moving Mesh interface needs to be added to
physically track the wall movement in the spatial reference frame.

The Sliding wall option is appropriate if the wall behaves like a conveyor belt; that is,
the surface is sliding in its tangential direction. A velocity is prescribed at the wall and
the boundary itself does not have to actually move relative to the reference frame.

• For 3D components, values or expressions for the Velocity of sliding wall uw should
be specified. If the velocity vector entered is not in the plane of the wall, COMSOL
Multiphysics projects it onto the tangential direction. Its magnitude is adjusted to
be the same as the magnitude of the vector entered.
• For 2D components, the tangential direction is unambiguously defined by the
direction of the boundary. For this reason, the sliding wall boundary condition has

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 99
 different definitions in different space dimensions. A single entry for the Velocity of
the tangentially moving wall Uw should be specified in 2D.
• For 2D axisymmetric components when Swirl flow is selected in the physics interface
properties, the Velocity of moving wall, ϕ component vw may also be specified.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
This section is displayed by clicking the Show More Options button ( ) and selecting
Advanced Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box. The Constraints settings
can be set to Default, Use pointwise constraints, Use DG constraints, or Use weak
constraints. Use mixed constraints can be selected when imposing a no slip condition
exactly.

Depending on the constraint method selected, the following settings are available:

• Apply reaction terms on can be set to Individual dependent variables (default) or All
physics (symmetric). This setting is not available when Use DG constraints is selected.
• Select Elemental (default) or Nodal under Constraint method. This setting is not
available for Use DG constraints or Use weak constraints.

• Theory for the Wall Boundary Condition

• The Moving Mesh Interface in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual

Inlet
This condition should be used on boundaries for which there is a net flow into the
domain. To obtain a numerically well-posed problem, it is advisable to also consider
the Outlet conditions when specifying an Inlet condition. For example, if the pressure
is specified at the outlet, the velocity may be specified at the inlet, and vice versa.
Specifying the velocity vector at both the inlet and the outlet may cause convergence
difficulties.

BOUNDARY CONDITION
The available Boundary condition options for an inlet are Velocity, Fully developed flow,
Mass flow, and Pressure. After selecting a Boundary Condition from the list, a section with
the same or a similar name displays underneath. For example, if Velocity is selected, a
Velocity section, where further settings are defined, is displayed.

100 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 VELOCITY
The Normal inflow velocity is specified as u = −nU0, where n is the boundary normal
pointing out of the domain and U0 is the normal inflow speed.

The Velocity field option sets the velocity vector to u = u0. The components of the inlet
velocity vector u0 should be defined for this choice.

PRESSURE CONDITIONS
This option specifies the normal stress, which in most cases is approximately equal to
the pressure. If the reference pressure pref, defined at the physics interface level, is
equal to 0, the value of the Pressure p0, at the boundary, is the absolute pressure.
Otherwise, p0 is the relative pressure at the boundary.

When Include gravity is selected and Use reduced pressure not selected in the interface
Physical model section, the Compensate for hydrostatic pressure approximation (named
Compensate for hydrostatic pressure for compressible flows) check box is available and
selected by default. When it is selected, the hydrostatic pressure is automatically added
to the pressure entered in p0 user input.

• The Suppress backflow option adjusts the inlet pressure locally in order to prevent
fluid from exiting the domain through the boundary. If you clear the suppress
backflow option, the inlet boundary can become an outlet depending on the
pressure field in the rest of the domain.
• Flow direction controls in which direction the fluid enters the domain.
- For Normal flow, it prescribes zero tangential velocity component.
- For User defined, an Inflow velocity direction du (dimensionless) should be
specified. The magnitude of du does not matter, only the direction. du must
point into the domain.

MASS FLOW
The mass flow at an inlet can be specified by the Mass flow rate, the Pointwise mass flux,
the Standard flow rate, or the Standard flow rate (SCCM).

Mass Flow Rate

The Mass flow rate option sets the integrated mass flow across the entire boundary, the
Normal mass flow rate to a specific value, m. The mass flow is assumed to be parallel to
the boundary normal, and the tangential flow velocity is set to zero.

For 2D components, the Channel thickness dbc is used to define the area across which
the mass flow occurs. This setting is not applied to the whole model. Line or surface

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 101
 integrals of the mass flow over the boundary evaluated during postprocessing or used
in integration coupling operators do not include this scaling automatically. Such results
should be appropriately scaled when comparing them with the specified mass flow.

Pointwise Mass Flux

The Pointwise mass flux sets the mass flow parallel to the boundary normal. The
tangential flow velocity is set to zero. The mass flux is a model input, which means that
COMSOL Multiphysics can take its value from another physics interface when
available. When User defined is selected a value or function Mf should be specified for
the Mass flux.

Standard Flow Rate

The Standard flow rate Qsv sets a standard volumetric flow rate, according to the SEMI
standard E12-0303. The mass flow rate is specified as the volumetric flow rate of a gas
at standard density — the Mean molar mass Mn divided by a Standard molar volume Vm
(that is, the volume of one mole of a perfect gas at standard pressure and standard
temperature). The flow occurs across the whole boundary in the direction of the
boundary normal and is computed by a surface (3D) or line (2D) integral. The
tangential flow velocity is set to zero.

The standard density can be defined directly, or by specifying a standard pressure and
temperature, in which case the ideal gas law is assumed. The options in the
Standard flow rate defined by list are:

• Standard density, for which the Standard molar volume Vm should be specified.
• Standard pressure and temperature, for which the Standard pressure Pst and the
Standard temperature Tst should be defined.

For 2D components, the Channel thickness dbc is used to define the area across which
the mass flow occurs. This setting is not applied to the whole model. Line or surface
integrals of the mass flow over the boundary evaluated during postprocessing or used
in integration coupling operators do not include this scaling automatically. Such results
should be appropriately scaled when comparing them with the specified mass flow.

Standard Flow Rate (SCCM)

The Standard flow rate (SCCM) boundary condition is equivalent to the Standard flow
rate boundary condition, except that the flow rate is entered directly in SCCMs
(standard cubic centimeters per minute) without the requirement to specify units.
Here, the dimensionless Number of SCCM units Qsccm should be specified.

102 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 TURBULENT FLOW SETTINGS
No additional inlet conditions are required for the algebraic turbulence models:
Algebraic yPlus and L-VEL.

For the Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras interface, a value or expression for the
Undamped turbulent kinematic viscosity υ0 should be specified.

For transport-equation turbulence models, apart from the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence

model, the following settings are available under the Specify turbulence length scale and
intensity option (see Table 4-2 for the default values):

• Turbulent intensity IT
• Turbulence length scale LT
• Reference velocity scale Uref

For the v2-f turbulence model, the additional choice between Isotropic_turbulence and
Specify turbulence anisotropy appears. For Specify turbulence anisotropy, a value for the
turbulent relative fluctuations at the inlet, ζ0, may be specified. When Specify
turbulence variables is selected, values or expressions for the dependent turbulence
variables should be defined. Availability is based on the physics interface and the
boundary condition chosen.

• Turbulent kinetic energy k0

• Turbulent dissipation rate, ε0
• Specific dissipation rate ω0

• Turbulent relative fluctuations ζ0

• Elliptic blending function α0

TABLE 4-2: DEFAULT VALUES FOR THE TURBULENT INTERFACES

NAME AND UNIT VARIABLE INLET OPEN BOUNDARY

BOUNDARY STRESS

Turbulent intensity IT 0.05 0.005 0.01

(dimensionless)
Turbulence length scale (m) LT 0.01 0.1 0.1
Reference velocity scale (m/s) Uref 1 1 1
-3
Turbulent kinetic energy k0 0.005 2.5·10 1·10-2
(m2/s2)

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 TABLE 4-2: DEFAULT VALUES FOR THE TURBULENT INTERFACES

NAME AND UNIT VARIABLE INLET OPEN BOUNDARY

BOUNDARY STRESS

Turbulent dissipation rate ε0 0.005 1.1·10-4 1·10-3

(m2/s3)
Specific dissipation rate (1/s) ω0 20 0.5 0.5
Undamped turbulent υ0 3*[Link]
kinematic viscosity (m2/s)
About the Turbulent Intensity and Turbulence Length Scale Parameters
The Turbulent intensity IT and Turbulence length scale LT values are related to the
turbulence variables via the following equations, Equation 4-2 for the Inlet and
Equation 4-3 for the Open Boundary:

3 2 3 ⁄ 4 k3 / 2
Inlet k = --- ( U I T ) , ε = Cμ ----------- (4-2)
2 LT

3
3⁄4 2 ---
3 2 C μ  3 ( I T U ref )  2
Open Boundary k = --- ( I T U ref ) , ε = ------------  ---------------------------- (4-3)
2 LT  2 

For the Open Boundary and Boundary Stress options, and with any Turbulent Flow
interface, inlet conditions for the turbulence variables also need to be specified. These
conditions are used on the parts of the boundary where u·n < 0, that is, where flow
enters the computational domain.

For the k-ω and SST turbulence models the Turbulent intensity IT and Turbulence length
scale LT values are related to the turbulence variables via the following equations,
Equation 4-4 for the Inlet and Equation 4-5 for the Open Boundary:

3 2 k
Inlet k = --- ( U I T ) , ω = -------------------------- (4-4)
2 ( β 0* ) 1 / 4 L T

2
3 2 1  3 ( I T U ref ) 
Open Boundary k = --- ( I T U ref ) , ω = --------------------------
/
 ---------------------------- (4-5)
2 ( β0 ) LT 
* 1 4 2 

FULLY DEVELOPED FLOW

The Fully developed flow option adds contributions to the inflow boundary, which force
the flow towards the solution for a fully developed channel flow. The channel can be
thought of as a virtual extrusion of the inlet cross section. The inlet boundary must

104 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 hence be flat in order for the fully developed flow condition to work properly. In 2D
axisymmetric models, the inlet normal must be parallel to the symmetry axis.

Select an option to control the flow rate at the inlet:

• Average velocity, Uav.

• Flow rate, V0. Two-dimensional models also require an Entrance thickness, Dz,
which is the out-of-plane thickness of the extruded entrance channel.
• Average pressure, Pav. Observe that Pav is the average pressure on the inflow
boundary.

The fully developed flow condition requires any volume force to be approximately
aligned with the normal of the inlet boundary. The exception is gravity when the
Include gravity setting is selected in the physics interface settings. Unless Use reduced
pressure is also selected, an option to Compensate for hydrostatic pressure or
Compensate for hydrostatic pressure approximation becomes available. It is selected per
default and should only be deselected if the inlet normal is aligned with the gravity
force and you want to specify an average pressure that includes the hydrostatic
pressure.

Fully developed inflow can be used in conjunction with the turbulence models. No
additional inputs are required for the turbulence variables. They are instead solved for
on the inlet boundary to be consistent with the fully developed flow profile.

A fully developed flow boundary cannot be adjacent to any Interior Wall feature.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
This section is displayed by clicking the Show button ( ) and selecting Advanced
Physics Options.

• Prescribing Inlet and Outlet Conditions

• Normal Stress Boundary Condition

For recommendations of physically sound values for the Turbulent

intensity IT and Turbulence length scale LT, see Inlet Values for the
Turbulence Length Scale and Turbulent Intensity.

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 105
 Non-Newtonian Flow (inlet): Application Library path
CFD_Module/Single-Phase_Flow/non_newtonian_flow

Outlet
This condition should be used on boundaries for which there is a net outflow from the
domain. To obtain a numerically well-posed problem, it is advisable to also consider
the Inlet conditions when specifying an Outlet condition. For example, if the velocity
is specified at the inlet, the pressure may be specified at the outlet, and vice versa.
Specifying the velocity vector at both the inlet and the outlet may cause convergence
difficulties. Selecting appropriate outlet conditions for the Navier-Stokes equations is
a nontrivial task. Generally, if there is something interesting happening at an outflow
boundary, the computational domain should be extended to include this
phenomenon.

BOUNDARY CONDITION
The available Boundary condition options for an outlet are Pressure, Fully developed flow,
and Velocity.

PRESSURE CONDITIONS
This option specifies the normal stress, which in most cases is approximately equal to
the pressure. The tangential stress component is set to zero. If the reference pressure
pref, defined at the physics interface level, is equal to 0, the value of the Pressure p0, at
the boundary, is the absolute pressure. Otherwise, p0 is the relative pressure at the
boundary.

When Include gravity is selected and Use reduced pressure not selected in the interface
Physical model section, the Compensate for hydrostatic pressure approximation (named
Compensate for hydrostatic pressure for compressible flows) check box is available and
selected by default. When it is selected, the hydrostatic pressure is automatically added
to the pressure entered in p0 user input.

• The Normal flow option changes the no tangential stress condition to a no tangential
velocity condition. This forces the flow to exit (or enter) the domain perpendicularly
to the outlet boundary.
• The Suppress backflow check box is selected by default. This option adjusts the outlet
pressure in order to prevent fluid from entering the domain through the boundary.

106 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 VELOCITY
See the Inlet node Velocity section for the settings.

FULLY DEVELOPED FLOW

This boundary condition is applicable when the flow exits the domain into a long pipe
or channel, at the end of which a flow profile is fully developed.

The channel can be thought of as a virtual extrusion of the outlet cross section. The
outlet boundary must hence be flat in order for the fully developed flow condition to
work properly. In 2D axisymmetric models, the outlet normal must be parallel to the
symmetry axis.

Select an option to control the flow rate at the outlet:

• Average velocity, Uav.

• Flow rate, V0. Two-dimensional models also require an Entrance thickness, Dz,
which is the out-of-plane thickness of the extruded entrance channel.
• Average pressure, Pav. Observe that Pav is the average pressure on the outflow.

The fully developed flow condition requires any volume force to be approximately
aligned with the normal of the outlet boundary. The exception is gravity when the
Include gravity setting is selected in the physics interface settings. Unless Use reduced
pressure is also selected, an option to Compensate for hydrostatic pressure or
Compensate for hydrostatic pressure approximation becomes available. It is selected per
default and should only be deselected if the outlet normal is aligned with the gravity
force and you want to specify an average pressure that includes the hydrostatic
pressure.

Fully developed outflow can be used in conjunction with the turbulence models. No
additional inputs are required for the turbulence variables. They are instead solved for
on the outlet boundary to be consistent with the fully developed flow profile.

A fully developed flow boundary cannot be adjacent to any Interior Wall feature.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
This section is displayed by clicking the Show button ( ) and selecting Advanced
Physics Options.

Prescribing Inlet and Outlet Conditions

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 Symmetry
The Symmetry boundary condition prescribes no penetration and vanishing shear
stresses. The boundary condition is a combination of a Dirichlet condition and a
Neumann condition:

u ⋅ n = 0,  – pI +  μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – 2
--- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I  n = 0
  3 

u ⋅ n = 0, ( – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) )n = 0

for the compressible and incompressible formulations. The Dirichlet condition takes
precedence over the Neumann condition, and the above equations are equivalent to
the following equation for both the compressible and incompressible formulations:

u ⋅ n = 0, K – ( K ⋅ n )n = 0
K = μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T )n

BOUNDARY SELECTION
For 2D axial symmetry, a boundary condition does not need to be defined for the
symmetry axis at r = 0. The software automatically provides a condition that prescribes
ur = 0 and vanishing stresses in the z direction and adds an Axial Symmetry node that
implements these conditions on the axial symmetry boundaries only.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
This section is displayed by clicking the Show button ( ) and selecting Advanced
Physics Options.

Open Boundary
The Open Boundary condition describes boundaries in contact with a large volume of
fluid. Fluid can both enter and leave the domain on boundaries with this type of
condition.

BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
The Boundary condition options for open boundaries are Normal stress and No viscous
stress.

Normal Stress
The Normal stress f0 condition implicitly imposes p ≈ f 0 .

108 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 When Include gravity is selected and Use reduced pressure not selected in the interface
Physical model section, the Compensate for hydrostatic pressure approximation (named
Compensate for hydrostatic pressure for compressible flows) check box is available and
selected by default. When it is selected, the hydrostatic pressure is automatically added
to the pressure entered in f0 user input.

No Viscous Stress
The No Viscous Stress condition specifies vanishing viscous stress on the boundary. This
condition does not provide sufficient information to fully specify the flow at the open
boundary and must at least be combined with pressure constraints at adjacent points.

The No viscous stress condition prescribes:

 μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – 2
--- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I n = 0
 3 

μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T )n = 0

for the compressible and the incompressible formulations. This condition can be useful
in some situations because it does not impose any constraint on the pressure. A typical
example is a model with volume forces that give rise to pressure gradients that are hard
to prescribe in advance. To make the model numerically stable, this boundary
condition should be combined with a point constraint on the pressure.

TURBULENCE CONDITIONS
See Turbulent Flow Settings.

Boundary Stress
The Boundary Stress node adds a boundary condition that represents a general class of
conditions also known as traction boundary conditions.

BOUNDARY CONDITION
The Boundary condition options for the boundary stress are General stress, Normal
stress, and Normal stress, normal flow.

General Stress
When General stress is selected, the components for the Stress F should be specified.
The total stress on the boundary is set equal to the given stress F:

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  – pI +  μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – 2
--- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I  n = F
  3 

( – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) )n = F

for the compressible and the incompressible formulations.

This boundary condition implicitly sets a constraint on the pressure that for 2D flows is

∂u n
p = 2μ ---------- – n ⋅ F (4-6)
∂n

If ∂un/∂n is small, Equation 4-6 states that p ≈ −n·F.

Normal Stress
Normal Stress is described for the Open Boundary node.

Normal Stress, Normal Flow

For Normal stress, normal flow, the magnitude of the Normal stress f0 should be
specified. The tangential velocity is set to zero on the boundary:

n  – pI +  μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I  n = – f 0 ,
T 2
t⋅u = 0
3

T
n ( – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) )n = – f 0 , t⋅u = 0

for the compressible and the incompressible formulations.

This boundary condition implicitly sets a constraint on the pressure that for 2D flows is

∂u n
p = 2μ ---------- + f 0 (4-7)
∂n

If ∂un/∂n is small, Equation 4-7 states that p ≈ f0.

When Include gravity is selected and Use reduced pressure not selected in the interface
Physical model section, the Compensate for hydrostatic pressure approximation (named
Compensate for hydrostatic pressure for compressible flows) check box is available and
selected by default. When it is selected, the hydrostatic pressure is automatically added
to the pressure entered in f0 or phydron is added to F depending of the selected option.

110 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 Turbulent Boundary Type
The Turbulent boundary type options for this boundary condition are Open boundary,
Inlet, and Outlet.

• For Open boundary parts of the boundary are expected to be outlets and other parts
are expected to be to be inlets.
• The Inlet option should be selected when the whole boundary is expected to be an
inlet.
• The Outlet option should be used when the whole boundary is expected to be an
outflow boundary. In this case, homogeneous Neumann conditions are applied for
the turbulence variables, that is, for k and ε

∇k ⋅ n = 0 ∇ε ⋅ n = 0

and additionally for the v2-f model

∇α ⋅ n = 0 ∇ζ ⋅ n = 0

for k and ω
∇k ⋅ n = 0 ∇ω ⋅ n = 0

or for the Spalart-Allmaras model

∇ν̃ ⋅ n = 0

TURBULENCE CONDITIONS
See Turbulent Flow Settings.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
This section is displayed by clicking the Show button ( ) and selecting Advanced
Physics Options.

If Normal Stress, Normal Flow is selected as the Boundary condition, then to Apply
reaction terms on all dependent variables, the All physics (symmetric) option should be
selected. Alternatively, the Individual dependent variables could be selected to restrict
the reaction terms as needed.

Screen
The Screen condition models interior wire-gauzes, grilles, or perforated plates as thin
permeable barriers. Common correlations are included for resistance and refraction

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 coefficients. The Screen boundary condition can only be applied on interior
boundaries.

SCREEN TYPE
The available options for the Screen type are Wire gauze, Square mesh, Perforated plate,
and User defined. The settings are defined by the equations shown based on the
selection (excluding User defined) which in turn adjusts what is available in the
Parameters section.

PARAMETERS
If Wire gauze, Square mesh, or Perforated plate is selected as the Screen type, values or
expressions for the Solidity σs (ratio of blocked area to total area of the screen) should
be specified.

• For Wire gauze a value or expression for the Wire diameter d should also be specified.
• The User defined options requires the dimensionless Resistance coefficient K.
• For all screen types, the Refraction defaults to Wire gauze. With the User defined
option, a different Refraction coefficient η (dimensionless) can be specified.

LOCATION IN USER INTERFACE

Context Menus
Right click the physics interface and select Rotating Machinery>Screen

Ribbon
Physics tab with the physics interface selected:

Boundaries>Rotating Machinery>Screen

• Screen Boundary Condition

• Theory for the Nonisothermal Screen Boundary Condition

Vacuum Pump
The Vacuum Pump node models the effective outlet pressure created by a vacuum pump
device that is attached to the outlet.

112 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 PARAMETERS
The Static pressure curve option defines a lumped curve — Linear, Static pressure curve
data, or User defined.

Linear
For the Linear option, values or expressions should be specified for the Static pressure
at no flow pnf and the Free delivery flow rate V0,fd.

The static pressure curve value is equal to the static pressure at no flow rate when
V0 < 0 and equal to 0 when the flow rate is larger than the free delivery flow rate.

Static Pressure Curve Data

The Static pressure curve data option can be used to enter or load data under the Static
Pressure Curve Data section below. The interpolation between points given in the Static
Pressure Curve Data table is defined using the Interpolation function type list in the Static
Pressure Curve Interpolation section.

User Defined
The User defined option can be used to enter a different value or expression. The flow
rate across the selection where this boundary condition is applied is defined by
phys_id.V0 where phys_id is the name (for example, phys_id is spf by default for
this physics interface). In order to avoid unexpected behavior, the function used for
the fan curve is the maximum of the user-defined function and 0.

STATIC PRESSURE CURVE DATA

This section displays when Static pressure curve data is selected as the Static pressure
curve. In the table, values or expressions for the Flow rate and Static pressure curve
should be specified. Alternatively, a text file can be imported by clicking the Load from
file button ( ) under the table.

UNITS
This section is available when Static pressure curve data is selected as the Static pressure
curve. Units can be specified here for the Flow rate and Static pressure curve.

STATIC PRESSURE CURVE INTERPOLATION

This section is available when Static pressure curve data is selected as the Static pressure
curve. The available options for the Interpolation function type are Linear, Piecewise
cubic, and Cubic spline.

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 113
 The extrapolation method always returns a constant value. In order to avoid problems
with undefined data, the function used for the boundary condition is the maximum of
the interpolated function and 0.

LOCATION IN USER INTERFACE

Context Menus
Right click the physics interface and select Rotating Machinery>Vacuum Pump

Ribbon
Physics tab with the physics interface selected:

Boundaries>Rotating Machinery>Vacuum Pump

Vacuum Pump Boundary Condition

Periodic Flow Condition

The Periodic Flow Condition splits its selection into a source group and a destination
group. Fluid that leaves the domain through one of the destination boundaries enters
the domain through the corresponding source boundary. This corresponds to a
situation where the geometry is a periodic part of a larger geometry. If the boundaries
are not parallel to each other, the velocity vector is automatically transformed.

If the boundaries are curved, the orientation of the source must be specified manually
(see Orientation of Source).

No input is required when Compressible flow (Ma<0.3) is selected for Compressibility

under the Physical Model section for the physics interface. Typically when a periodic
boundary condition is used with a compressible flow, the pressure is the same at both
boundaries and the flow is driven by a volume force.

PRESSURE DIFFERENCE
This section is available when Incompressible flow is selected for Compressibility under
the Physical Model section for the physics interface.

A value or expression should be specified for the Pressure difference, psrc − pdst. This
pressure difference can, for example, drive the fully developed flow in a channel.

114 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 To set up a periodic boundary condition, both boundaries must be selected in the
Periodic Flow Condition node. COMSOL Multiphysics automatically assigns one
boundary as the source and the other as the destination. To manually set the
destination selection, a Destination Selection subnode is available from the context
menu (by right-clicking the parent node) or from the Physics toolbar, Attributes menu.
All destination sides must be connected.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
This section is displayed by clicking the Show button ( ) and selecting Advanced
Physics Options.

ORIENTATION OF SOURCE
For information about the Orientation of Source section, see Orientation of Source and
Destination in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

Fan
The Fan condition is used to define the flow direction (inlet or outlet) and the fan
parameters on exterior boundaries. The Interior Fan condition is available on interior
boundaries.

FLOW DIRECTION
The Flow direction can be set to Inlet or Outlet. When a boundary has been selected, an
arrow displays in the Graphics window to indicate the selected flow direction. The
arrow can be updated if the selection changes by clicking any node in the Model Builder
and then clicking the Fan node again to update the Graphics window.

The Inlet Flow direction controls in which direction the fluid enters the domain.

• For Normal flow it sets the tangential velocity component to zero.

• For User defined an Inflow velocity direction du (dimensionless) should be specified.
The magnitude of du does not matter, only the direction. du must point into the
domain.
• For Swirl flow (which is available for 3D or 2D axisymmetric when the Swirl flow
check box in the Physical Model section is checked) it specifies a swirl flow on the
downstream side of the fan based on the Rotation axis base point rbp, Revolutions per
time f, Rotational direction and Swirl ratio csf.

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 PARAMETERS
When Inlet is selected as the Flow direction, the Input pressure pinput defines the
pressure at the fan inlet.

When Outlet is selected as the Flow direction, the Exit pressure pexit defines the pressure
at the fan outlet.

When Include gravity is selected and Use reduced pressure is not selected in the
interface’s Physical model section, the Compensate for hydrostatic pressure (named
Compensate for hydrostatic pressure approximation for weakly compressible or
compressible flow) check box is available and selected by default. When it is selected,
the hydrostatic pressure is automatically added to the pressure entered in pinput or
pexit user input.

For either flow direction, Static pressure curve specifies a fan curve — Linear, Static
pressure curve data, or User defined.

Linear
For both Inlet and Outlet flow directions, if Linear is selected, values or expressions for
the Static pressure at no flow pnf and the Free delivery flow rate V0,fd should be
specified. The static pressure curve is equal to the static pressure at no flow rate when
V0 < 0 and equal to 0 when the flow rate is larger than the free delivery flow rate.

User Defined
With the User defined option, a different value or expression for the Static pressure
curve can be specified. The flow rate across the selection where this boundary
condition is applied is defined by phys_id.V0 where phys_id is the name (for
example, phys_id is spf by default for laminar single-phase flow). In order to avoid
unexpected behavior, the function used for the fan curve returns the maximum of the
user-defined function and 0.

Static Pressure Curve Data

The Static pressure curve data can be entered or loaded under the Static Pressure Curve
Data section that displays for this option. The interpolation between points given in the
table is defined using the Interpolation function type list in the Static Pressure Curve
Interpolation section.

UNITS
This section is available when Static pressure curve data is selected as the Static pressure
curve. Units can be specified for the Flow rate and Static pressure.

116 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 STATIC PRESSURE CURVE DATA
When Static pressure curve data is selected as the Static pressure curve, a table appears,
where values or expressions the Flow rate and Static pressure can be specified or
imported from a text file by clicking the Load from file button ( ) under the table.
Units can be specified for the Flow rate and the Static pressure curve.

STATIC PRESSURE CURVE INTERPOLATION

This section is available when Static pressure curve data is selected as the Static pressure
curve. The available options for the Interpolation function type are Linear, Piecewise
cubic, and Cubic spline.

The extrapolation method always returns a constant value. In order to avoid problems
with undefined data, the function used for the boundary condition returns the
maximum of the interpolated function and 0.

TURBULENCE CONDITIONS ON FAN OUTLET

When Inlet is selected as the Flow direction and the Turbulence model has transport
equations for the turbulent kinetic energy, k, and turbulent dissipation rate, ε, specific
dissipation rate, ω, or turbulent relative fluctuations, ζ, the values of the Turbulent
kinetic energy, Turbulent relative fluctuations (for the v2-f turbulence model) and the
Turbulent dissipation rate or Specific dissipation rate on the downstream side of the fan
should be specified. Alternatively, the Reference velocity scale can be used to specify
default values.

LOCATION IN USER INTERFACE

Context Menus
Right click the physics interface and select Rotating Machinery>Fan

Ribbon
Physics tab with the physics interface selected:

Boundaries>Rotating Machinery>Fan

Fan and Grille Boundary Conditions

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 Interior Fan
The Interior Fan condition represents interior boundaries where a fan condition is set
using a fan pressure curve to avoid an explicit representation of the fan. The Interior
Fan defines a boundary condition on a slit for laminar flow. That means that the
pressure and the velocity can be discontinuous across this boundary.

One side represents a flow inlet; the other side represents the fan outlet. The fan
boundary condition ensures that the mass flow rate is conserved between its inlet and
outlet:

 ρu ⋅ n +  ρu ⋅ n = 0
inlet outlet

This boundary condition acts like a Pressure Conditions boundary condition on each
side of the fan. The pressure at the fan outlet is fixed so that the mass flow rate is
conserved. On the fan inlet the pressure is set to the pressure at the fan outlet minus
the pressure drop induced by the fan. The pressure drop is defined from the static
pressure curve, and is usually a function of the flow rate. To define a fan boundary
condition on an exterior boundary, the Fan condition should be used instead.

INTERIOR FAN
The Flow direction can be defined by selecting Along normal vector or Opposite to
normal vector. This defines which side of the boundary is the fan’s inlet and which side
is the fan’s outlet.

TURBULENCE CONDITIONS ON FAN OUTLET

When Inlet is selected as the Flow direction and the Turbulence model has transport
equations for the turbulent kinetic energy, k, and turbulent dissipation rate, ε, specific
dissipation rate, ω, or turbulent relative fluctuations, ζ, the values of the Turbulent
kinetic energy, Turbulent relative fluctuations (for the v2-f turbulence model) and the
Turbulent dissipation rate or Specific dissipation rate on the downstream side of the fan
should be specified. Alternatively, the Reference velocity scale can be used to specify
default values

After a boundary has been selected, an arrow displays in the Graphics window to
indicate the selected flow direction. If the selection changes, the arrow can be updated
by clicking any node in the Model Builder and then clicking the Interior fan node again
to update the Graphics window.

118 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 The rest of the settings for this section are the same as for the Fan node. See Linear
and Static Pressure Curve Data for details.

LOCATION IN USER INTERFACE

Context Menus
Right click the physics interface and select Rotating Machinery>Interior Fan

Ribbon
Physics tab with the physics interface selected:

Boundaries>Rotating Machinery>Interior Fan

Fan Defined on an Interior Boundary

Interior Wall
The Interior Wall boundary condition can only be applied on interior boundaries.

It is similar to the Wall boundary condition available on exterior boundaries except

that it applies on both sides of an interior boundary. It allows discontinuities (velocity,
pressure, and turbulence variables) across the boundary. The Interior Wall boundary
condition can be used to avoid meshing thin structures by applying no-slip conditions
on interior curves and surfaces instead. Slip conditions and conditions for a moving
wall can also be prescribed. It is compatible with laminar and turbulent flow.

BOUNDARY CONDITION
The following Boundary condition options are available.

No Slip
The No slip condition models solid walls. No slip walls are walls where the fluid velocity
relative to the wall is zero. For a interior stationary wall this means that u = 0 on both
sides of the wall.

For turbulent flows, the no slip conditions may either be prescribed exactly or modeled
using automatic wall treatment or wall functions depending on the Wall Treatment
setting in the Turbulence section of the interface settings.

When Wall Treatment is set to Wall functions, the Apply wall roughness option becomes
available. When Apply wall roughness is selected, a Sand roughness model, derived from

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 119
 the experiments by Nikuradse, is applied. Select Generic roughness in order to specify
more general roughness types.

• For Sand roughness an Equivalent sand roughness height kseq should be specified.
• For Generic roughness a Roughness height ks and a dimensionless Roughness parameter
Cs should be specified.

Slip
The Slip condition prescribes a no-penetration condition, u·n=0. It implicitly assumes
that there are no viscous effects on either side of the slip wall and hence, no boundary
layer develops. From a modeling point of view, this can be a reasonable approximation
if the important effect is to prevent the exchange of fluid between the regions separated
by the interior wall.

Navier Slip
The Navier slip condition enforces no-penetration at the wall, u ⋅ n wall = 0 , and adds
a friction force of the form

μ
F fr = – --- u
β

where β is a slip length. For more information, see the Navier Slip option in the Wall
feature.

WALL MOVEMENT
This section contains controls to describe the wall movement relative to the lab (or
spatial) frame.

The Translational velocity setting controls the translational wall velocity, utr. The list is
per default set to Automatic from frame. The physics automatically detects if the spatial
frame moves. This can for example happen if an ALE interface is present in the model
component. If there is no movement utr = 0. If the frame moves, utr becomes equal
to the frame movement. utr is accounted for in the actual boundary condition
prescribed in the Boundary condition section.

Select Zero (Fixed wall) from Translational velocity selection list to prescribe utr = 0.

Select Manual from Translational velocity selection list in order to manually prescribe
Velocity of moving wall, utr. This can for example be used to model an oscillating wall
where the magnitude of the oscillations are very small compared to the rest of the
model. Specifying translational velocity manually does not automatically cause the

120 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 associated wall to move. An additional Moving Mesh interface needs to be added to
physically track the wall movement in the spatial reference frame.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
This section is displayed by clicking the Show button ( ) and selecting Advanced
Physics Options. The Constraints settings can be set to Default, Use pointwise constraints,
or Use DG constraints. Use mixed constraints can be selected when imposing a no slip
condition exactly.

• Wall
• The Moving Mesh Interface in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual

Grille
The Grille boundary condition models the pressure drop caused by having a grille that
covers the inlet or outlet.

PARAMETERS
When Inlet is selected as the Flow direction, the Input pressure pinput defines the
pressure at the fan inlet.

When Outlet is selected as the Flow direction, the Exit pressure pexit defines the pressure
at the fan outlet.

When Include gravity is selected and Use reduced pressure not selected in the interface
Physical model section, the Compensate for hydrostatic pressure approximation (named
Compensate for hydrostatic pressure for compressible flows) check box is available and
selected by default. When it is selected, the hydrostatic pressure is automatically added
to the pressure entered in pinput or pexit user input.

When Quadratic loss is selected for the Static pressure curve, the Quadratic loss
coefficient qlc should be specified. qlc defines the static pressure curve which is a
piecewise quadratic function equal to 0 when the flow rate is < 0, equal to V02⋅qlc
when the flow rate is > 0. See Fan for other settings for the Laminar Flow interface.
Note that for the Turbulent Flow interfaces, Quadratic loss is the only available option
for Static pressure curve.

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 TURBULENCE CONDITIONS
When Inlet is selected as the Flow direction and the Turbulence model has transport
equations for the turbulent kinetic energy, k, and turbulent dissipation rate, ε, specific
dissipation rate, ω, or turbulent relative fluctuations, ζ, the Specify turbulent length scale
and intensity and Specify turbulence variables options are available for the turbulence
conditions on the downstream side of the grille. Alternatively, the Reference velocity
scale can be used to specify default values.

LOCATION IN USER INTERFACE

Context Menus
Right click the physics interface and select Rotating Machinery>Grille

Ribbon
Physics tab with the physics interface selected:

Boundaries>Rotating Machinery>Grille

Fan and Grille Boundary Conditions

Flow Continuity
The Flow Continuity condition is suitable for pairs where the boundaries match; it
prescribes that the flow field is continuous across the pair.

A Wall subnode is added by default and it applies to the parts of the pair boundaries
where a source boundary lacks a corresponding destination boundary and vice versa.
The Wall feature can be overridden by any other boundary condition that applies to
exterior boundaries. By right-clicking the Flow Continuity node, additional Fallback
feature subnodes can be added.

The Wall fallback condition is incompatible with the Low Re wall treatment for the k-ω,
SST, and Low Reynolds number k-ε turbulence models.

Pressure Point Constraint

The Pressure Point Constraint condition can be used to specify the pressure level. If it
is not possible to specify the pressure level using a boundary condition, the pressure

122 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 level must be set in some other way, for example, by specifying a fixed pressure at a
point.

PRESSURE CONSTRAINT
The relative pressure value is set by specifying the Pressure p0. Or, if the reference
pressure pref defined at the physics interface level is equal to zero, p0 represents the
absolute pressure.

When Include gravity is selected and Use reduced pressure not selected in the interface
Physical model section, the Compensate for hydrostatic pressure approximation (named
Compensate for hydrostatic pressure for compressible flows) check box is available and
selected by default. When it is selected, the hydrostatic pressure is automatically added
to the pressure entered in p0 user input.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
This section is displayed by clicking the Show button ( ) and selecting Advanced
Physics Options.

The Apply reaction terms on setting is set per default to Individual dependent variables.
All physics (symmetric) cannot be used together with a segregated solver when fluid
flow is coupled with Moving Mesh, Level Set, or Phase Field.

Point Mass Source

This feature requires at least one of the following licenses: Batteries & Fuel Cells
Module, CFD Module, Chemical Reaction Engineering Module, Corrosion Module,
Electrochemistry Module, Electrodeposition Module, Microfluidics Module, Pipe
Flow Module, or Subsurface Flow Module.

The Point Mass Source feature models mass flow originating from an infinitely small
domain centered around a point

For the Reacting Flow in Porous Media, Diluted Species interface, which is available
with the CFD Module, Chemical Reaction Engineering Module, or Batteries & Fuel
Cells Module, there are two nodes: one for the fluid flow (Fluid Point Source) and one
for the species (Species Point Source).

SOURCE STRENGTH
·
The source Mass flux, q p should be specified. A positive value results in mass being
ejected from the point into the computational domain. A negative value results in mass
being removed from the computational domain.

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 Point sources located on a boundary or on an edge affect the adjacent computational
domains. This has the effect, for example, that a point source located on a symmetry
plane has twice the given strength.

Mass Sources for Fluid Flow in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference

Manual

Line Mass Source

This feature requires at least one of the following licenses: Batteries & Fuel Cells
Module, CFD Module, Chemical Reaction Engineering Module, Corrosion Module,
Electrochemistry Module, Electrodeposition Module, Microfluidics Module, Pipe
Flow Module, or Subsurface Flow Module.

The Line Mass Source feature models mass flow originating from a tube region with
infinitely small radius.

For the Reacting Flow in Porous Media, Diluted Species interface, which is available
with the CFD Module, Chemical Reaction Engineering Module, or Batteries & Fuel
Cells Module, there are two nodes, one for the fluid flow (Fluid Line Source) and one
for the species (Species Line Source).

SELECTION
The Line Mass Source feature is available for all dimensions, but the applicable selection
differs between the dimensions.

MODEL DIMENSION APPLICABLE GEOMETRICAL ENTITY

2D Points
2D Axisymmetry Points not on the axis of symmetry
3D Edges

SOURCE STRENGTH
·
The source Mass flux, q l , should be specified. A positive value results in mass being
ejected from the line into the computational domain and a negative value means that
mass is removed from the computational domain.

124 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 Line sources located on a boundary affect the adjacent computational domains. This,
for example, has the effect that a line source located on a symmetry plane has twice the
given strength.

Mass Sources for Fluid Flow in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference

Manual

Generate New Turbulence Model Interface

This global feature requires a CFD Module license. It can be used to create a new
turbulent flow interface based on the current laminar or turbulent flow interface. The
new interface inherits the property values from the original interface except for the
turbulence related ones. All the features in the original interface are also inherited by
the newly created interface except for the Generate New Turbulence Model Interface
feature itself and the Initial Values feature. The initial values of the new interface are
either default values or estimates from the solution of the original interface depending
on the settings in the Generate New Turbulence Model Interface feature. Note that the
parameters and expressions in edit fields in all the features, except for Initial Values and
the Name column in Global Equation, get exactly the same expressions as in the original
model. Therefore, any dependencies on expressions and/or dependent variables from
the physics interface must be reviewed and updated manually if necessary.

MODEL GENERATION
This section contains a boolean input, Copy only active settings, which is selected by
default. When selected, the disabled features and settings in the original model are not
transferred to the new interface.

The Create button generates the new interface.

TURBULENCE MODEL INTERFACE

All available turbulence models can be selected from the drop-down list:

• Turbulent Flow, k-ε

• Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus
• Turbulent Flow, L-VEL
• Turbulent Flow, k-ω
• Turbulent Flow, SST
• Turbulent Flow, Low Reynolds number k-ε

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 125
 • Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras
• Turbulent Flow, v2-f

STUDY
The Study section contains two drop-down lists: Study type and Initial value from study.
When Turbulent Flow, k-ε or Turbulent Flow, k-ω is selected as the Turbulence Model
Interface, the Study type contains the following two options:

• Stationary
• Time-dependent

The default value is Stationary. For all other turbulence models, the available Study type
options are:

• Stationary with initialization

• Time dependent with initialization

with default value Stationary with initialization. Note that the created new study only
solves for the new turbulence interface.

Initial value from study contains a list of the studies that are currently in the model. It
can also be set to None. If there is no study available, the default option is None. If there
are available studies, the first study is the default option.

Gravity
This feature requires at least one of the following licenses: CFD Module, Heat Transfer
Module.

The Gravity global feature is automatically added when Include gravity is selected at the
interface level in the Physical Model settings. It defines the gravity forces from the
Acceleration of gravity value. When a turbulence model that solves for the turbulent
kinetic energy, k, is used, the option Include buoyancy-induced turbulence is available.
When selected, the Buoyancy contribution is by default set to Automatic from
multiphysics. Contributions are only obtained from multiphysics couplings that
support buoyancy-induced turbulence, such as Nonisothermal Flow. If the Buoyancy
contribution is switched to User defined, an edit field for the Turbulent Schmidt number
appears. See also Theory for Buoyancy-Induced Turbulence in the CFD Module
User’s Guide.

126 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 ACCELERATION OF GRAVITY
The Acceleration of gravity (SI unit m/s, default value −gconstez in 2D axial symmetry
and 3D and −gconstey in 2D) is used to define the gravity forces. It should be a global
quantity.

THE CREEPING FLOW, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW, AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 127
 The Rotating Machinery, Laminar and
Turbulent Flow Interfaces
The Rotating Machinery, Laminar Flow (spf) and Rotating Machinery, Turbulent Flow (spf)
interfaces, found under the Single-Phase Flow>Rotating Machinery branch ( ) when
adding a physics interface, are used for modeling flow where one or more of the
boundaries rotate in a periodic fashion. This is used for mixers and propellers.

The physics interfaces support compressible, weakly compressible and incompressible

flow, the flow of non-Newtonian fluids described by the Power Law, Carreau
Bingham-Papanastasiou, Herschel-Bukley-Papanastasiou, and Casson-Papanastasiou
models, as well as turbulent flow. In addition, the physics interfaces support creeping
flow, although the shallow channel approximation is redundant.

In this section:

• Moving Mesh
• The Rotating Machinery, Laminar Flow Interface
• The Rotating Machinery, Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus Interface
• The Rotating Machinery, Turbulent Flow, L-VEL Interface
• The Rotating Machinery, Turbulent Flow, k-ε Interface
• Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Rotating Machinery Interfaces

Moving Mesh
The Rotating Machinery, Fluid Flow interfaces rely on ALE (Arbitrary Lagrangian
Eulerian) moving mesh functionality for their rotating domain and free surface
implementation.

ROTATING DOMAINS
When a Rotating Machinery, Fluid Flow interface is added using the Model Wizard, a
Rotating Domain node is added automatically in the Model Builder under the
Definitions>Moving Mesh node. It contains settings for specifying the rotation of one or
several domains. By default, All domains are selected. Under the Rotating Domain, you
can exclude any non-rotating fluid domains. For both 3D and 2D components, the
Rotation type should be set to Specified rotational velocity.

128 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Select a Rotational velocity expression — General revolutions per time (the default),
Constant revolutions per time, General angular velocity, or Constant angular velocity.

• For Constant revolutions per time, or General revolutions per time, enter a value or
expression respectively in the Revolutions per time input field and optionally an Initial
angle. The angular velocity in this case is defined as the input multiplied by 2·π.
• For Constant angular velocity, or General angular velocity enter a value or an
expression respectively in the Angular velocity input field and optionally an Initial
angle.

3D Components
For 3D components, select the Rotation axis base point, rax. The default is the origin.
Select the Rotation axis, urot, the z-axis is the default. If the x-axis is selected, it
corresponds to a rotational axis (1, 0, 0) with the origin as the base point, and
correspondingly for the y-axis and z-axis.

2D Components
For 2D components, enter coordinates for the Rotation axis base point, rax. The
default is the origin (0, 0).

The Rotating Machinery, Laminar Flow Interface

The Rotating Machinery, Laminar Flow (spf) interface ( ), found under the
Single-Phase Flow>Rotating Machinery branch ( ), is used to simulate flow at low to
moderate Reynolds numbers in geometries with one or more rotating parts. The
physics interface supports incompressible, weakly compressible and compressible flows
at low Mach numbers (typically less than 0.3). It also supports modeling of
non-Newtonian fluids. The physics interface is available for 3D and 2D components.

There are two study types available for this physics interface. Using the Time Dependent
study type, rotation is achieved through moving mesh functionality, also known as
sliding mesh. Using the Frozen Rotor study type, the rotating parts are kept frozen in
position, and rotation is accounted for by the inclusion of centrifugal and Coriolis
forces. In both types, the momentum balance is governed by the Navier-Stokes
equations, and the mass conservation is governed by the continuity equation. See
Theory for the Rotating Machinery Interfaces .

When this physics interface is added, the following default physics nodes are also added
in the Model Builder under Laminar Flow — Fluid Properties, Wall and Initial Values. A
Moving Mesh interface with a Rotating Domain node is added automatically in the Model
Builder under the Definitions node. Then, from the Physics toolbar, add other nodes

THE ROTATING MACHINERY, LAMINAR AND TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 129

 that implement, for example, boundary conditions and volume forces. You can also
right-click Laminar Flow to select physics features from the context menu. See Domain,
Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

Pseudo Time Stepping for Laminar Flow Models

Laminar Flow in a Baffled Stirred Mixer: Application Library path

CFD_Module/Fluid-Structure_Interaction/baffled_mixer

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is spf.

In addition to the settings described below, see The Creeping Flow, Laminar Flow,
Turbulent Flow, and Large Eddy Simulation Interfaces for all the other settings
available. See Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Rotating Machinery
Interfaces for links to all the physics nodes.

ADVANCED SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box. Normally these settings do not
need to be changed.

Pseudo time stepping

Select the Use pseudo time stepping for stationary equation form check box to add
pseudo time derivatives to the equation when the Frozen Rotor equation form is used.
(Frozen rotor is a pseudo stationary formulation.) When selected, also choose a CFL
number expression — Automatic (the default) or Manual. Automatic sets the local CFL
number (from the Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy condition) to the built-in variable
CFLCMP which in turn triggers a PID regulator for the CFL number. For Manual enter
a Local CFL number CFLloc (dimensionless).

130 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The Rotating Machinery, Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus Interface
The Rotating Machinery, Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus (spf) interface ( ), found
under the Single-Phase Flow>Rotating Machinery branch ( ) when adding a physics
interface, is used to simulate flow at high Reynolds numbers in geometries with one or
more rotating parts. The physics interface is suitable for incompressible, weakly
compressible and compressible flows at low Mach numbers (typically less than 0.3).

The equations solved by the Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus interface are the
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations for conservation of momentum,
the continuity equation for conservation of mass, and an algebraic equation for the
scaled wall distance. Turbulence effects are included using an enhanced viscosity model
based on the scaled wall distance, and the physics interface therefore includes a wall
distance equation.

Two study types are available for this physics interface. Using the Time Dependent with
Initialization study type, the rotation is achieved through moving mesh functionality,
also known as sliding mesh. Using the Frozen Rotor with Initialization study type, the
rotating parts are kept frozen in position, and the rotation is accounted for by the
inclusion of centrifugal and Coriolis forces. Both study types includes an initial Wall
Distance Initialization step in order to compute the wall distance. See Theory for the
Rotating Machinery Interfaces .

When this physics interface is added, the following physics nodes are also added in the
Model Builder under Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus — Fluid Properties, Wall and Initial
Values. A Moving Mesh interface with a Rotating Domain node is added automatically in
the Model Builder under the Definitions node. Then, from the Physics toolbar, add other
nodes that implement, for example, boundary conditions and volume forces. You can
also right-click Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus to select physics features from the
context menu. For information about the available physics features, see Domain,
Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Rotating Machinery Interfaces.

A part for the settings below, see the advanced settings for The Rotating Machinery,
Laminar Flow Interface, and The Creeping Flow, Laminar Flow, Turbulent Flow, and
Large Eddy Simulation Interfaces.

TURBULENCE MODEL PARAMETERS

The turbulence model parameters for the Algebraic yPlus model, κa and Ba, have been
optimized for turbulent pipe flow. For certain cases, better performance can be
obtained by tuning the model parameters.

THE ROTATING MACHINERY, LAMINAR AND TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 131

 DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface:

• Velocity field u
• Pressure p
• Reciprocal wall distance G
• Wall distance in viscous units yPlus (dimensionless)

The Rotating Machinery, Turbulent Flow, L-VEL Interface

The Rotating Machinery, Turbulent Flow, L-VEL (spf) interface ( ), found under the
Single-Phase Flow>Rotating Machinery branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is
used to simulate flow at high Reynolds numbers in geometries with one or more
rotating parts. The physics interface is suitable for incompressible, weakly compressible
and compressible flows at low Mach numbers (typically less than 0.3).

The equations solved by the Turbulent Flow, L-VEL interface are the
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations for conservation of momentum,
the continuity equation for conservation of mass, and an algebraic equation for the
scaled fluid flow velocity tangential to the nearest wall. Turbulence effects are included
using an enhanced viscosity model based on the scaled wall distance, and the physics
interface therefore includes a wall distance equation.

Two study types available for this physics interface. Using the Time Dependent with
Initialization study type, the rotation is achieved through moving mesh functionality,
also known as sliding mesh. Using the Frozen Rotor with Initialization study type, the
rotating parts are kept frozen in position, and the rotation is accounted for by the
inclusion of centrifugal and Coriolis forces. Both study types includes an initial Wall
Distance Initialization step in order to compute the wall distance. See Theory for the
Rotating Machinery Interfaces .

When this physics interface is added, the following physics nodes are also added in the
Model Builder under Turbulent Flow, L-VEL — Fluid Properties, Wall, and Initial Values. A
Moving Mesh interface with a Rotating Domain node is added automatically in the Model
Builder under the Definitions node. Then, from the Physics toolbar, add other nodes
that implement, for example, boundary conditions and volume forces. You can also
right-click Turbulent Flow, L-VEL to select physics features from the context menu. For
information about the available physics features, see Domain, Boundary, Point, and
Pair Nodes for the Rotating Machinery Interfaces.

132 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

A part for the interface settings defined below, see the advanced settings for The
Rotating Machinery, Laminar Flow Interface, and the settings in The Creeping Flow,
Laminar Flow, Turbulent Flow, and Large Eddy Simulation Interfaces.

TURBULENCE MODEL PARAMETERS

The turbulence model parameters for the L-VEL model, κl and El, have been
optimized for internal flow. For certain cases, better performance can be obtained by
tuning the model parameters.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface:

• Velocity field u
• Pressure p
• Reciprocal wall distance G
• Tangential velocity in viscous units uPlus (dimensionless)

The Rotating Machinery, Turbulent Flow, k-ε Interface

The Rotating Machinery, Turbulent Flow, k-ε (spf) interface ( ), found under the
Single-Phase Flow>Rotating Machinery branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is
used to simulate flow at high Reynolds numbers in geometries with one or more
rotating parts. The physics interface is suitable for incompressible, weakly compressible
and compressible flows at low Mach numbers (typically less than 0.3).

The momentum balance is governed by the Navier-Stokes equations, and the mass
conservation is governed by the continuity equation. Turbulence effects are modeled
using the standard two-equation k-ε model with realizability constraints. Flow close to
walls is modeled using wall functions.

There are two study types available for this physics interface. Using the Time Dependent
study type, the rotation is achieved through moving mesh functionality, also known as
sliding mesh. Using the Frozen Rotor study type, the rotating parts are kept frozen in
position, and the rotation is accounted for by the inclusion of centrifugal and Coriolis
forces. See Theory for the Rotating Machinery Interfaces .

When this physics interface is added, the following physics nodes are also added in the
Model Builder under Turbulent Flow, k-ε — Fluid Properties, Wall and Initial Values. A
Moving Mesh interface with a Rotating Domain node is added automatically in the Model
Builder under the Definitions node. Then, from the Physics toolbar, add other nodes

THE ROTATING MACHINERY, LAMINAR AND TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 133

 that implement, for example, boundary conditions and volume forces. You can also
right-click Turbulent Flow, k-ε to select physics features from the context menu. For
information about the available physics features, see Domain, Boundary, Point, and
Pair Nodes for the Rotating Machinery Interfaces.

A part for the defined settings below, see the advanced settings for The Rotating
Machinery, Laminar Flow Interface, and the settings in The Creeping Flow, Laminar
Flow, Turbulent Flow, and Large Eddy Simulation Interfaces.

TURBULENCE MODEL PARAMETERS

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters.

For this physics interface the parameters are Ce1, Ce2, Cμ, σk, σe, κv, and B.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface:

• Velocity field u and its components

• Pressure p
• Turbulent kinetic energy k
• Turbulent dissipation rate ep

Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Rotating

Machinery Interfaces
All versions of the Rotating Machinery, Fluid Flow interfaces use the following
domain, boundary, point, and pair physics nodes.

• Contact Angle
• Stationary Free Surface

The nodes are available under the option Rotating Machinery from the Physics ribbon
toolbar (Windows users), Physics context menu (Mac or Linux users), or right-click to
access the context menu (all users).

134 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The following nodes, available in the Fluid Flow interfaces, are described for the
Laminar Flow interface:

• Initial Values • Open Boundary

• Wall • Outlet
• Interior Wall • Periodic Flow Condition
• No Viscous Stress • Point Mass Source
• Flow Continuity • Pressure Point Constraint
• Fluid Properties • Screen
• Inlet • Symmetry
• Line Mass Source • Volume Force

References for the Single-Phase Flow, Turbulent Flow Interfaces

Stationary Free Surface

This postprocessing feature is used to estimate the deformation of a free surface from
the pressure distribution on the boundary when using the Frozen Rotor or Frozen Rotor
with Initialization study types. When computing the flow field, a slip condition together
with a constant pressure level pext is applied on the boundary. The free surface
deformation ηFS is evaluated from the linearized free surface condition in a separate
study step, Stationary Free Surface, using the pressure from the Frozen Rotor study
step.

ˆ ⋅ ∇p
p ( x 0 ) – p ext + n η FS = – σ ∇ S2 η FS (4-8)
x = x0

σ is the surface tension coefficient, x = x0 represents the position of the undisturbed

ˆ is its unit normal. The correct study sequence
surface - the feature selection, and n
can be triggered by toggling the study window once a selection for the Stationary Free
Surface feature has been made.

THE ROTATING MACHINERY, LAMINAR AND TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 135

 The Stationary Free Surface feature is supported by laminar and turbulent flow, and is
applicable for small surface deformations (ηFS and its gradient should be small
compared to the dimensions of the computational domain).

Iterative solvers are necessary to reduce the cost of models with large number of
degrees of freedom. The fluid flow interfaces use a Smoothed aggregation AMG solver
per default. When the Stationary Free Surface feature is active and has a nonempty
selection in a frozen rotor or stationary study step, a Geometric multigrid solver is used
instead to ensure robustness of the model.

The Choice of Solver and Solver Settings in the CFD Module User’s
Guide and Studies and Solvers in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual

STATIONARY FREE SURFACE

Enter an External pressure pext corresponding to the average pressure level on the free
surface.

SURFACE TENSION
Select the Include surface tension force in momentum equation check box to include the
surface tension force in the momentum equation.

The Surface tension coefficient σ (SI unit: N/m) can be specified from predefined
libraries, by selecting Library coefficient, liquid/gas interface (the default) or Library
coefficient, liquid/liquid interface, or be set to User defined.

• For Library coefficient, liquid/gas interface select an option from the list — Water/Air
(the default), Acetone/Air, Acetic acid/Air, Ethanol/Air, Ethylene glycol/Ethylene glycol
vapor, Diethyl ether/Air, Glycerol/Air, Heptane/Nitrogen, Mercury/Mercury vapor, or
Toluene/Air.
• For Library coefficient, liquid/liquid interface select an option from the list —
Benzene/Water, 20°C, Corn oil/Water, 20°C, Ether/Water, 20°C, Hexane/Water, 20°C,
Mercury/Water, 20°C, or Olive oil/Water, 20°C.

Only one Stationary Free Surface feature can be applied in a Rotating Machinery, Fluid
Flow interface, and it requires the study to be stationary (Frozen Rotor).

LOCATION IN USER INTERFACE

Right click the physics interface and select Rotating Machinery>Stationary Free Surface

136 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Ribbon
Physics tab with the physics interface selected:

Boundaries>Rotating Machinery>Stationary Free Surface

Contact Angle
This feature specifies the contact angle between the free surface and a solid [Link]
Contact Angle feature is a subfeature to, and added under a Stationary Free Surface
feature.

Note that the contact angle can only be enforced when the surface tension force is
included in the momentum equation in the parent feature.

CONTACT ANGLE
Select an option from the Specify contact angle list — Directly (the default) or Through
Young’s equation.

• For Directly enter a Contact angle θw (SI unit: rad). The default is π/2.
• For Through Young’s equation enter values or expressions for Phase 1-Solid surface
energy density γs1 (SI unit: J/m2) and Phase 2-Solid surface energy density γs2 (SI
unit: J/m2).

THE ROTATING MACHINERY, LAMINAR AND TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 137

 Theory for the Single-Phase Flow
Interfaces
Also see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces and Theory for the
Rotating Machinery Interfaces.

The theory for the Single-Phase Flow, Laminar Flow and Viscoelastic Flow interfaces
is described in this section:

• General Single-Phase Flow Theory

• Compressible Flow
• Weakly Compressible Flow
• The Mach Number Limit
• Incompressible Flow
• The Reynolds Number
• Non-Newtonian Flow
• Theory for the Viscoelastic Flow Interface
• Gravity
• The Boussinesq Approximation
• Theory for the Wall Boundary Condition
• Prescribing Inlet and Outlet Conditions
• Mass Flow
• Fully Developed Flow (Inlet)
• Fully Developed Flow (Outlet)
• No Viscous Stress
• Normal Stress Boundary Condition
• Vacuum Pump Boundary Condition
• Fan Defined on an Interior Boundary
• Fan and Grille Boundary Conditions
• Screen Boundary Condition
• Mass Sources for Fluid Flow

138 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

• Numerical Stability — Stabilization Techniques for Fluid Flow
• Solvers for Laminar Flow
• Pseudo Time Stepping for Laminar Flow Models
• Discontinuous Galerkin Formulation
• Particle Tracing in Fluid Flow
• References for the Single-Phase Flow, Laminar Flow Interfaces

The theory about most boundary conditions is found in Ref. 2.

General Single-Phase Flow Theory

The Single-Phase Fluid Flow interfaces are based on the Navier-Stokes equations,
which in their most general form read

∂ρ
------ + ∇ ⋅ ( ρu ) = 0 (4-9)
∂t

∂u
ρ ------- + ρ ( u ⋅ ∇ )u = ∇ ⋅ [ – pI + τ ] + F (4-10)
∂t

∂T T ∂ρ ∂p
ρC p  ------- + ( u ⋅ ∇ )T = – ( ∇ ⋅ q ) + τ:S – ---- -------  ------ + ( u ⋅ ∇ )p + Q (4-11)
 ∂t  ρ ∂T p  ∂t 

where

• ρ is the density (SI unit: kg/m3)

• u is the velocity vector (SI unit: m/s)
• p is pressure (SI unit: Pa)
• τ is the viscous stress tensor (SI unit: Pa)
• F is the volume force vector (SI unit: N/m3)
• Cp is the specific heat capacity at constant pressure (SI unit: J/(kg·K))
• T is the absolute temperature (SI unit: K)
• q is the heat flux vector (SI unit: W/m2)
• Q contains the heat sources (SI unit: W/m3)
• S is the strain-rate tensor:

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 139

 1
S = --- ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T )
2

The operation “:” denotes a contraction between tensors defined by

a:b =   anm bnm (4-12)

n m

This is sometimes referred to as the double dot product.

Equation 4-9 is the continuity equation and represents conservation of mass.

Equation 4-10 is a vector equation which represents conservation of momentum.
Equation 4-11 describes the conservation of energy, formulated in terms of
temperature. This is an intuitive formulation that facilitates boundary condition
specifications.

To close the equation system, Equation 4-9 through Equation 4-11, constitutive
relations are needed. For a Newtonian fluid, which has a linear relationship between
stress and strain, Stokes (Ref. 1) deduced the following expression:

2
τ = 2μS – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I (4-13)
3

The dynamic viscosity, μ (SI unit: Pa·s), for a Newtonian fluid is allowed to depend on
the thermodynamic state but not on the velocity field. All gases and many liquids can
be considered Newtonian. Examples of non-Newtonian fluids are honey, mud, blood,
liquid metals, and most polymer solutions. With the CFD Module, you can model
flows of non-Newtonian fluids using the predefined constitutive models. The
following models which describe the stress-strain relationship for non-Newtonian
fluids are available: Power law, Carreau, Bingham-Papanastasiou,
Herschel-Bukley-Papanastasiou, and Casson-Papanastasiou. The Heat Transfer
Module treats all fluids as Newtonian according to Equation [Link] commonly
used constitutive relations are Fourier’s law of heat conduction and the ideal gas law.

140 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

In theory, the same equations describe both laminar and turbulent flows. In practice,
however, the mesh resolution required to simulate turbulence with the Laminar Flow
interface makes such an approach impractical.

There are several books where derivations of the Navier-Stokes equations

and detailed explanations of concepts such as Newtonian fluids can be
found. See, for example, the classical text by Batchelor (Ref. 3) and the
more recent work by Panton (Ref. 4).

Many applications describe isothermal flows for which Equation 4-11 is decoupled
from Equation 4-9 and Equation 4-10. Nonisothermal flow and the temperature
equation are described in the Heat Transfer and Nonisothermal Flow Interfaces
chapter.

2D AXISYMMETRIC FORMULATIONS
A 2D axisymmetric formulation of Equation 4-9 and Equation 4-10 requires ∂ ⁄ ∂φ to
be zero. That is, there must be no gradients in the azimuthal direction. A common
additional assumption is, however, that u φ = 0 . In such cases, the φ -equation can be
removed from Equation 4-10. The resulting system of equations is both easier to
converge and computationally less expensive compared to retaining the φ -equation.
The default 2D axisymmetric formulation of Equation 4-9 and Equation 4-10
therefore assumes that

∂ ⁄ ∂φ = 0
uφ = 0

You can activate the Swirl Flow property which reduces the above assumptions to
∂ ⁄ ∂φ = 0 and reintroduces the φ -equation into Equation 4-10.

Compressible Flow
The equations of motion for a single-phase fluid are the continuity equation:

∂ρ-
----- + ∇ ⋅ ( ρu ) = 0 (4-14)
∂t

and the momentum equation:

∂u
ρ ------- + ρu ⋅ ∇u = – ∇p + ∇ ⋅  μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I + F
2
(4-15)
∂t 3

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 141

 These equations are applicable for incompressible as well as for compressible flow with
density and viscosity variations.

Weakly Compressible Flow

The same equations as for Compressible Flow are applied for weakly compressible flow.
The only difference is that the density is evaluated at the reference pressure. The
density may be a function of other quantities, in particular it may be temperature
dependent.

The weakly compressible flow equations are valid for incompressible as well as
compressible flow with density variations independent of the pressure.

Provided that the densities dependency pressure is specified through model inputs, the
density is automatically evaluated at the reference pressure level.

The Mach Number Limit

An important dimensionless number in fluid dynamics is the Mach number, Ma,
defined by

u
Ma = -------
a

where a is the speed of sound. A flow is formally incompressible when Ma = 0. This is

theoretically achieved by letting the speed of sound tend to infinity. The Navier-Stokes
equations then have the mathematical property that pressure disturbances are
instantaneously propagated throughout the entire domain. This results in a parabolic
equation system.

The momentum equation, Equation 4-15, is parabolic for unsteady flow and elliptic
for steady flow, whereas the continuity equation, Equation 4-14, is hyperbolic for both
steady and unsteady flow. The combined system of equations is thus hybrid
parabolic-hyperbolic for unsteady flow and hybrid elliptic-hyperbolic for steady flow.
An exception occurs when the viscous term in Equation 4-15 becomes vanishingly
small, such as at an outflow boundary, in which case the momentum equation becomes
locally hyperbolic. The number of boundary conditions to apply on the boundary then
depends on the number of characteristics propagating into the computational domain.
For the purely hyperbolic system, the number of characteristics propagating from the
boundary into the domain changes as the Mach number passes through unity. Hence,
the number of boundary conditions required to obtain a numerically well-posed

142 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

system must also change. The compressible formulation of the laminar and turbulent
interfaces uses the same boundary conditions as the incompressible formulation, which
implies that the compressible interfaces are not suitable for flows with a Mach number
larger than or equal to one.

The practical Mach number limit is lower than one, however. The main reason is that
the numerical scheme (stabilization and boundary conditions) of the Laminar Flow
interface does not recognize the direction and speed of pressure waves. The fully
compressible Navier-Stokes equations do, for example, start to display very sharp
gradients already at moderate Mach numbers. But the stabilization for the single-phase
flow interface does not necessarily capture these gradients. It is impossible to give an
exact limit where the low Mach number regime ends and the moderate Mach number
regime begins, but a rule of thumb is that the Mach number effects start to appear at
Ma = 0.3. For this reason, the compressible formulation is referred to as Compressible
flow (Ma<0.3) in COMSOL Multiphysics. To model high Mach number flows, use
one of The High Mach Number Flow Interfaces.

Incompressible Flow
When the temperature variations in the flow are small, a single-phase fluid can often
be assumed incompressible; that is, ρ is constant or nearly constant. This is the case for
all liquids under normal conditions and also for gases at low velocities. For constant ρ,
Equation 4-14 reduces to

ρ∇ ⋅ u = 0 (4-16)

and Equation 4-15 becomes

∂u T
ρ + ρ ( u ⋅ ∇ )u = ∇ ⋅ [ – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) ) ] + F (4-17)
∂t

Provided that the densities dependency on temperature and pressure is specified

through model inputs, the density is evaluated at the reference pressure level and at the
reference temperature. However, if the density is a function of other quantities such as
a concentration field, or if the density is specified by a user defined expression, the user
has to make sure that the density is defined as constant when the incompressible flow
formulation is used.

The Reynolds Number

A fundamental characteristic in analyses of fluid flow is the Reynolds number:

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 143

 ρUL
Re = ------------
μ

where U denotes a velocity scale, and L denotes a representative length. The Reynolds
number represents the ratio between inertial and viscous forces. At low Reynolds
numbers, viscous forces dominate and tend to damp out all disturbances, which leads
to laminar flow. At high Reynolds numbers, the damping in the system is very low,
giving small disturbances the possibility to grow by nonlinear interactions. If the
Reynolds number is high enough, the flow field eventually ends up in a chaotic state
called turbulence.

Observe that the Reynolds number can have different meanings depending on the
length scale and velocity scale. To be able to compare two Reynolds numbers, they
must be based on equivalent length and velocity scales.

The Fluid Flow interfaces automatically calculate the local cell Reynolds number
Rec = ρ|u|h/(2μ) using the element length h for L and the magnitude of the velocity
vector u for the velocity scale U. This Reynolds number is not related to the character
of the flow field, but to the stability of the numerical discretization. The risk for
numerical oscillations in the solution increases as Rec grows. The cell Reynolds
number is a predefined quantity available for visualization and evaluation (typically it
is available as: [Link]).

Non-Newtonian Flow
For the Newtonian fluid, the viscous stress tensor is proportional to the strain rate
tensor, and the constitutive relation is written as:

2
τ = 2μS – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I
3

τ = 2μS

using the compressible and incompressible formulations. Here S denotes the

strain-rate tensor defined by:

1
S = --- ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T )
2

Its magnitude, the shear rate, is:

·
γ = 2S:S

144 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

where the contraction operator “:” is defined by

a:b =   anm bnm

n m

For non-Newtonian fluids, viscous stress versus shear rate curve is nonlinear or does
not pass through the origin. The Laminar Flow interfaces provides five predefined
inelastic non-Newtonian constitutive models: Power law, Carreau,
Bingham-Papanastasiou, Herschel-Bukley-Papanastasiou, and Casson-Papanastasiou.

POWER LAW
The Power law model is an example of a generalized Newtonian model. It prescribes

·
τ = 2mγ n – 1 S (4-18)

where m and n are scalars that can be set to arbitrary values. For n > 1, the power law
describes a shear thickening (dilatant) fluid. For n < 1, it describes a shear thinning
(pseudoplastic) fluid. A value of n equal to one gives the expression for a Newtonian
fluid.

Equation 4-18 predicts an infinite viscosity at zero shear rate for n < 1. This is however
never the case physically. Instead, most fluids have a constant viscosity for shear rates
smaller than 10−2 s−1 (Ref. 21). Since infinite viscosity also makes models using
Equation 4-18 difficult to solve, COMSOL Multiphysics implements the Power law
model as

· ·
τ = 2mmax ( γ, γ min ) n – 1 S (4-19)
·
where γ min is a lower limit for the evaluation of the shear rate magnitude. The default
·
value for γ min is 10−2 s−1, but can be given an arbitrary value or expression using the
corresponding text field.

CARREAU MODEL
The Carreau model defines the viscosity in terms of the following four-parameter
expression

(n – 1)
 · -----------------
τ = 2  μ ∞ + ( μ 0 – μ inf ) [ 1 + ( λγ ) 2 ] 2  S (4-20)
 

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 145

 where λ is a parameter with the unit of time, μ0 is the zero shear rate viscosity, μinf is
the infinite shear-rate viscosity, and n is a dimensionless parameter. This expression is
able to describe the viscosity for most stationary polymer flows.

BINGHAM-PAPANASTASIOU
Viscoplastic fluid behavior is characterized by existence of the yield stress τy — a limit
which must be exceeded before significant deformation can occur. To model the
stress-deformation behavior of viscoplastic materials, different constitutive equations
have been propose. The Bingham plastic model is written as

τ y
τ = 2  μ p + ----
·- S, τ > τ y
 γ

where μp is the plastic viscosity.

To allow computation in both yielded and unyielded region, the Papanastasiou

continuous regularization for the viscosity function is used:

τy · 
τ = 2  μ p + ----
·- [ 1 – exp ( – m p γ ) ] S (4-21)
 γ

where mp is a scale that controls the exponential growth of stress.

HERSCHEL-BULKLEY-PAPANASTASIOU
The Herschel-Bulkley -Papanastasiou model combines the effects of the Power law and
Bingham behavior:

· τy · 
τ = 2  mγ n – 1 + ----
·- [ 1 – exp ( – m p γ ) ] S (4-22)
 γ

where m and n are scalars that can be set to arbitrary values. For a value of n equal to
one, the Bingham-Papanastasiou model is recovered. This equation is valid in both
yielded and unyielded regions. The exponent mp controls the smoothness of the
viscosity function.

CASSON-PAPANASTASIOU
The Casson-Papanastasiou model combines Casson eqaution with Papanastasiou
regularization:

2
 τy · 
τ = 2  μ p + ----
·- [ 1 – exp ( – m p γ ) ] S (4-23)
 γ 

146 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The equation is valid in both yielded and unyielded regions.

Theory for the Viscoelastic Flow Interface

The Viscoelastic Flow Interface is used to simulate incompressible and isothermal flow
of viscoelastic fluids. It solves the continuity equation, the momentum balance
equation, and a constitutive equation that defines the extra elastic stress contribution.
Equation 4-9 and Equation 4-10 become

ρ∇ ⋅ u = 0 (4-24)

∂u
ρ ------- + ρ ( u ⋅ ∇ )u = ∇ ⋅ [ – pI + τ ] + F (4-25)
∂t

where the stress tensor is split on a viscous and an elastic contribution as

τ = 2μ s S + T e (4-26)

where μs is the solvent viscosity, S is the strain-rate tensor, and Te is the elastic stress
tensor. To adequately describe a flow of fluid with a complex rheological behavior,
symmetric stress tensor Te is represented as a sum of the individual modes

Te =  Tem (4-27)
m

To close the equation system, the constitutive relation for each mode is required.
Several commonly used constitutive models can be written as a hyperbolic partial
differential transport equation of the forms

1 - λ em ∇
------------- f ( ) + -------------
- = f pm ( T e )S (4-28)
2μ em rm T em 2μ em T em m

where the relaxation function f rm and the viscosity factor f pm are model specific
functions of stress, λ em is a relaxation time, μ em is a polymer viscosity, and the upper
convective derivative operator is defined as

∇ ∂T T
T≡ + ( u ⋅ ∇ )T – [ ( ∇u )T + T ( ∇u ) ] (4-29)
∂t

The first two terms on the left-hand side of Equation 4-29 represent the material
derivative, and the other two terms represent the deformation. For more information,
see Ref. 7

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 147

 OLDROYD-B MODEL
For the Oldroyd B model, the relaxation function and the viscosity factor are given by

f rm = T e , f pm = 1 (4-30)
m

The Oldroyd-B model can be derived form the kinetic theory representing the
polymer molecules as a suspensions of the Hookean spring in a Newtonian solvent.
While demonstrating some basic features of viscoelasticity, the model can only predict
a constant shear viscosity and gives unrealistic results for purely extensional flows due
to the lack of a mechanism that limits the extensibility.

FENE-P MODEL
The finitely extensible nonlinear elastic model (FENE) is based on the kinetic theory
that describes the polymer chains as a non-linear elastic springs and account for finite
extension of the polymers monoculars. The FENE model with Peterlin closure
(FENE-P) shows a finite extensibility and a shear-thinning behavior. The expressions
for the relaxation function and the viscosity factor are given by

1  3 λ em  1
f rm = 1 + ----------
-  --------------------------- + ---------- tr ( T e ) T e , f pm = --------------------------- (4-31)
L em  1 – 3 ⁄ L em μ em
2 2 2
m
 m
1 – 3 ⁄ L em

where L em is the extensibility.

GIESEKUS MODEL
The Giesekus model is often used to model the flow of the semi-diluted and
concentrated polymers. It adds the quadratic nonlinearity that is attributed to the
effect of the hydrodynamic drag induced by the polymer-polymer interactions. The
corresponding relaxation function and the viscosity factor are given by

λ em
f rm =  1 + α em ---------
-  , f pm = 1 (4-32)
μ e T em T em
m

where α em is the dimensionless mobility factor.

148 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Gravity

DEFINITION
The gravity force is defined from the acceleration of gravity vector, g, and the density,
ρ. Under usual conditions and in Cartesian coordinates with the z-axis in the vertical
direction,

 0 
 
g =  0 .
 
 – g const 

When gravity is considered, a volume force equal to ρg is included in the momentum

equation. For example, for laminar weakly compressible flow, it reads:

∂u
ρ ------- + ρu ⋅ ∇u = ∇ ⋅  – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I + F + ρg
2
(4-33)
∂t 3

Introducing a constant reference density ρref, and assuming that g is homogeneous,

this equation is equivalently written:

∂u
ρ ------- + ρu ⋅ ∇u=
∂t
(4-34)
∇ ⋅  – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I + ρ ref g ⋅ ( r – r ref ) + F + ( ρ – ρ ref )g
2
3

where r is the position vector and rref is an arbitrary reference position vector.

From this equation, it is convenient to define the reduced pressure which accounts for
the hydrostatic pressure, p˜ = p – ρ ref g ⋅ ( r – r ref )

∂u
ρ ------- + ρu ⋅ ∇u = ∇ ⋅  – p˜ I + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I +
2
∂t  3  (4-35)
F + ( ρ – ρ ref )g

In Equation 4-35, the gravity force is written ( ρ – ρ ref )g .

INCOMPRESSIBLE FLOW
For incompressible flow the fluid density is assumed to be constant. Hence it is natural
to define the reference density, ρref, such that ρ = ρref = ρ (Τref,pref ) which makes it
possible to simplify equation Equation 4-35:

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 149

 ∂u
ρ ref ------- + ρ ref u ⋅ ∇u = ∇ ⋅ ( – p˜ I + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) ) + F
∂t

In some cases, even when the flow is modeled as incompressible, buoyancy should be
accounted for. Using the approximation of the gravity force based on the thermal
expansion coefficient (which is relevant in this case: since the density changes are small,
the first order approximation is reasonably accurate), it is possible to rewrite the
momentum equation with constant density and a buoyancy force:

∂u
ρ ref ------- + ρ ref u ⋅ ∇u = ∇ ⋅ ( – p˜ I + μ ref ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) ) + F
∂t
– ρ ref α p ( T ref ) ( T – T ref )g

WEAKLY COMPRESSIBLE FLOW

For weakly compressible flow the assumption is that the density depends only on the
temperature. In particular, the pressure dependency of the density is neglected, and the
density is evaluated at the reference pressure: ρ = ρ(Τ, pref). With the relative pressure
as dependent variable, Equation 4-33 is used

∂u
ρ ------- + ρu ⋅ ∇u = ∇ ⋅  – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I + F + ρg
2
∂t  3 

With the reduced pressure as dependent variable, Equation 4-35 is used:

∂u
ρ ------- + ρu ⋅ ∇u = ∇ ⋅  – p˜ I + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I + F + ( ρ – ρ ref )g
2
∂t 3

COMPRESSIBLE FLOW
For compressible flow the density may depend on any other variable, in particular on
the temperature and the pressure. Similar equations are used as for the Weakly
Compressible Flow case except that the density is not evaluated at the reference
pressure.

NONISOTHERMAL FLOW COUPLING

For consistency, when the Nonisothermal Flow coupling is active, the assumptions made
for the single phase flow interface are also made in the heat transfer interface:

• Incompressible flow: the Boussinesq approximation implies that the thermal

conductivity and heat capacity are also constant.

150 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

• Weakly Compressible flow: the density is evaluated at pref in the heat interface too.
• Compressible flow: no change.

PRESSURE FORMULATION
When the relative pressure is used (default option) the interface dependent variable
represents the relative pressure and the absolute pressure is defined as p A = p ref + p .
When the pressure is used to define a boundary condition (for example when p0
defines the pressure condition at an outlet), it represents the relative pressure. Hence
defining the outlet pressure as p hydro, approx = – ρ ref g ⋅ ( r – r ref ) compensates for the
gravity force for an ambient reference pressure of 0 Pa when the density is constant,
there is no external force, and provided pref, g and r0 are defined consistently.

When the reduced pressure is used, the interface dependent variable (named p by
default) represents the reduced pressure. The absolute pressure is then defined as
p A = p ref – ρ ref g ⋅ ( r – r ref ) + p . In this case when the pressure is used to define a
boundary condition (for example to define a pressure condition at an outlet), its value
corresponds to the reduced pressure. Hence, the prescribed pressure compensates for
an approximate hydrostatic pressure, p hydro, approx = – ρ ref g ⋅ ( r – r ref ) which is exact
only when the density is constant and there is no external force.

PRESSURE BOUNDARY CONDITION

For an immobile fluid the momentum equation simplifies to ∇ ⋅ ( pI ) = F + ρg or

∇ ⋅ ( – p˜ I ) = F + ( ρ – ρ ref )g depending on the pressure formulation.

For incompressible flow, assuming there are no external forces, this leads respectively
to p = – ρ ref g ⋅ ( r – r ref ) + p 0 or p˜ = p 0 .

For weakly compressible flow and compressible flow, since the density varies, there is
no corresponding explicit expression. We have

r r
p = r ρg ⋅ dr + p 0 and p˜ = r ( ρ – ρ ref )g ⋅ dr + p 0 .
ref ref

In practice, these integrals can be problematic to evaluate. Hence, whenever possible,

it is recommended to locate the pressure boundary in a region where the approximate
definition of the hydrostatic pressure is applicable, or to define a boundary that is
perpendicular to the gravity vector.

If it is not possible and if the pressure conditions cannot be determined, you can use a
no viscous stress condition (available in the Open Boundary feature).

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 151

 Theory for the Wall Boundary Condition
See Wall for the node settings.

SLIP
The Slip condition assumes that there are no viscous effects at the slip wall and hence,
no boundary layer develops. From a modeling point of view, this is a reasonable
approximation if the important effect of the wall is to prevent fluid from leaving the
domain. Mathematically, the constraint can be formulated as:

u ⋅ n = 0, ( – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) )n = 0

The no-penetration term takes precedence over the Neumann part of the condition
and the above expression is therefore equivalent to

u ⋅ n = 0, K – ( K ⋅ n )n = 0
K = μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T )n

expressing that there is no flow across the boundary and no viscous stress in the
tangential direction.

For a moving wall with translational velocity utr, u in the above equations is replaced
by the relative velocity urel = u−utr.

For turbulent flow, turbulence variables are in general subject to homogeneous

Neumann conditions. For example

∇k ⋅ n = 0 ∇ε ⋅ n = 0

for the k-ε model.

SLIDING WALL
The sliding wall option is appropriate if the wall behaves like a conveyor belt; that is,
the surface is sliding in its tangential direction. The wall does not have to actually move
in the coordinate system.

• In 2D, the tangential direction is unambiguously defined by the direction of the

boundary, but the situation becomes more complicated in 3D. For this reason, this
boundary condition has slightly different definitions in the different space
dimensions.
• For 2D and 2D axisymmetric components, the velocity is given as a scalar Uw and
the condition prescribes

152 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 u ⋅ n = 0, u ⋅ t = Uw

where t = (ny , −nx) for 2D and t = (nz, −nr) for axial symmetry.
• For 3D components, the velocity is set equal to a given vector uw projected onto
the boundary plane:
u w – ( n ⋅ u w )n
u = -------------------------------------------- u w
u w – ( n ⋅ u w )n

The normalization makes u have the same magnitude as uw even if uw is not exactly
parallel to the wall.

SLIP VELOCITY
In the microscale range, the flow at a boundary is seldom strictly no slip or slip.
Instead, the boundary condition is something in between, and there is a slip velocity
at the boundary. Two phenomena account for this velocity: violation of the continuum
hypothesis for the viscosity and flow induced by a thermal gradient along the
boundary.

The following equation relates the viscosity-induced jump in tangential velocity to the
tangential shear stress along the boundary:

1
Δu = --- τ n, t
β

For gaseous fluids, the coefficient β is given by

μ
β = -------------------------
2 – α v
 ---------------
 αv  λ

where μ is the fluid’s dynamic viscosity (SI unit: Pa·s), αv represents the tangential
momentum accommodation coefficient (TMAC) (dimensionless), and λ is the
molecules’ mean free path (SI unit: m). The tangential accommodation coefficients are
typically in the range of 0.85 to 1.0 and can be found in Ref. 17.

A simpler expression for β is

μ
β = ------
Ls

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 153

 where Ls, the slip length (SI unit: m), is a straight channel measure of the distance
from the boundary to the virtual point outside the flow domain where the flow profile
extrapolates to zero. This equation holds for both liquids and gases.

Thermal creep results from a temperature gradient along the boundary. The following
equation relates the thermally-induced jump in tangential velocity to the tangential
gradient of the natural logarithm of the temperature along the boundary:

μ
Δu = σ T --- ∇ t log T
ρ

where σT is the thermal slip coefficient (dimensionless) and ρ is the density of the fluid.
The thermal slip coefficients range between 0.3 and 1.0 and can be found in Ref. 17.

Combining the previous relationships results in the following equation:

Ls μ
u – u w, t = ------ τ n, t + σ T ------- ∇ t T
μ ρT

Relate the tangential shear stress to the viscous boundary force by

τ n, t = K – ( n ⋅ K )n

where the components of K are the Lagrange multipliers that are used to implement
the boundary condition. Similarly, the tangential temperature gradient results from the
difference of the gradient and its normal projection:

∇ t T = ∇T – ( n ⋅ ∇T )n

Use Viscous Slip

When viscous slip is used, select Maxwell’s model to calculate Ls using:

2 – αv
L s =  --------------- λ
 αv 

Also see Wall for the node settings.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
The wall feature uses three different techniques to constraint the velocity field:

• Pointwise constraints is the standard technique to enforce strong constraints in the

finite element method. The desired value of the velocity is prescribed at each node
point in the mesh. Since the constraint is enforced locally at each node, only local
values are affected by the constraint and the constraints are independent of each

154 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 other. The solvers can therefore eliminate both the constrained degrees of freedom
and the constraint force terms, effectively reducing the number of degrees of
freedom being solved for.
The main advantage of pointwise constraints is that they enforce the constraint
exactly pointwise. This means that they do not introduce any leakage of the velocity
across the wall, unless specified. The main disadvantage of pointwise constraints is
that they introduce locking effects when trying to impose a no penetration
condition for the velocity, u · n = 0, on curved walls or walls with sharp corners.
• Using Weak constraints is an alternative method to prescribe the velocity. It consists
on enforcing the boundary condition for the velocity via Lagrange multipliers.
Their main advantage is that the Lagrange multiplier can provide an accurate
representation of the reaction flux at the wall. Their main disadvantage is that they
introduce extra unknowns, and are usually difficult to combine with other constraint
methods on adjacent boundaries. Moreover, they may require extra constraints for
the Lagrange multipliers. For more information, see Weak Constraints in the
COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.
• Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) constraints use a numerical flux to prescribe the
velocity at the wall. They impose the constraint in a integral sense rather than
pointwise, and do not suffer from the locking effects introduced by pointwise
constraints when trying to prescribe a no penetration condition for the velocity.
They are also better behaved when prescribing nonlinear constraints. Their main
disadvantage is that the constraint is only imposed approximately, and may produce
small leaks. For more information, see Discontinuous Galerkin Formulation.

The following combination of Constraint techniques can be selected in the Constraint

Setting sections of Wall boundary conditions:

• Use default settings. The default settings use different constraint methods
depending on whether only the normal component of the velocity is prescribed,
such as in the no penetration condition, u · n = 0, imposed for example in Slip walls
or No Slip walls using Wall Functions or Automatic Wall Treatment, or both
tangential and normal components are prescribed, as is the case of No Slip walls in
laminar flow.
DG constraints are used to impose the no penetration condition for Slip walls. When
a No Slip condition is prescribed, pointwise constraints are used except for moving
walls where DG constraints are used.
• Use Pointwise constraints.
• Use DG constraints.

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 155

 • Use Weak constraints. Weak constraints are not available on Interior Walls.
• Use Mixed constraints. This option is only available when both the tangential and
normal components of the velocity need to be prescribed. The velocity on the wall
normal direction is imposed via pointwise constraints. The constraint for the
tangential directions is relaxed, and DG constraints are used instead. This provides
improved accuracy and performance when working with coarse boundary layer
meshes. For more information, see Ref. 22.

Prescribing Inlet and Outlet Conditions

The Navier-Stokes equations can show large variations in mathematical behavior,
ranging from almost completely elliptic to almost completely hyperbolic. This has
implications when it comes to prescribing admissible boundary conditions. There is
also a discrepancy between mathematically valid boundary conditions and practically
useful boundary conditions. See Inlet and Outlet for the node settings.

INLET CONDITIONS
An inlet requires specification of the velocity components. The most robust way to do
this is to prescribe a velocity field using a Velocity condition.

A common alternative to prescribing the complete velocity field is to prescribe a

pressure and all but one velocity component. The pressure cannot be specified
pointwise because this is mathematically over-constraining. Instead the pressure can be
specified via a stress condition:

∂u n
– p + 2μ --------- = F n (4-36)
∂n

where ∂un/∂n is the normal derivative of the normal velocity component.

Equation 4-36 is prescribed by the Pressure condition in the Inlet and Outlet features
and the Normal stress condition in the Open Boundary and Boundary Stress features.
Equation 4-36 is mathematically more stringent compared to specifying the pressure
pointwise and at the same time cannot guarantee that p obtains the desired value. In
practice, p is close to Fn, except for low Reynolds number flows where viscous effects
are the only effects that balance the pressure. In addition to Equation 4-36, all but one
velocity component must be specified. For low Reynolds numbers, this can be specified
by a vanishing tangential stress condition:

∂u t
μ -------- = 0
∂n

156 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

which is what the Normal stress condition does. Vanishing tangential stress becomes a
less well-posed inlet condition as the Reynolds number increases. The Pressure
condition in the Inlet feature therefore requires a flow direction to be prescribed,
which provides a well-posed condition independent of Reynolds number.

OUTLET CONDITIONS
The most common approach is to prescribe a pressure via a normal stress condition on
the outlet. This is often accompanied by a vanishing tangential stress condition:

∂u t
μ -------- = 0
∂n

where ∂ut/∂n is the normal derivative of the tangential velocity field. It is also possible
to prescribe ut to be zero. The latter option should be used with care since it can have
a significant effect on the upstream solution.

The elliptic character of the Navier-Stokes equations mathematically permit specifying

a complete velocity field at an outlet. This can, however, be difficult to apply in
practice. The reason being that it is hard to prescribe the outlet velocity so that it is
consistent with the interior solution at each point. The adjustment to the specified
velocity then occurs across an outlet boundary layer. The thickness of this boundary
layer depends on the Reynolds number; the higher the Reynolds number, the thinner
the boundary layer.

ALTERNATIVE FORMULATIONS
COMSOL provides several specialized boundary conditions that either provide
detailed control over the flow at the boundary or that simulate specific devices. In
practice they often prescribe a velocity or a pressure, but calculate the prescribed values
using for example ODEs.

Normal Stress Boundary Condition

Mass Flow
The Mass flow boundary condition constrains the mass flowing into the domain across
an inlet boundary. The mass flow can be specified in a number of ways.

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 157

 POINTWISE MASS FLUX
The pointwise mass flux sets the velocity at the boundary to:

mf
u = – ------- n
ρ

where mf is the normal mass flux and ρ is the density.

MASS FLOW RATE

The mass flow rate boundary condition sets the total mass flow through the boundary
according to:

–  dbc ρ ( u ⋅ n ) dS = m
∂Ω

where dbc (only present in the 2D Cartesian axis system) is the boundary thickness
normal to the fluid-flow domain and m is the total mass flow rate.

In addition to the constraint on the total flow across the boundary, the tangential
velocity components are set to zero on the boundary

u×n = 0 (4-37)

STANDARD FLOW RATE

The standard flow rate boundary condition specifies the mass flow as a standard
volumetric flow rate. The mass flow through the boundary is set by the equation:

ρ
–  dbc ρ-------st ( u ⋅ n ) dS = Q sv
∂Ω

where dbc (only present in the 2D component Cartesian axis system) is the boundary
thickness normal to the fluid-flow domain, ρst is the standard density, and Qsv is the
standard flow rate. The standard density is defined by one of the following equations:

Mn
ρ st = --------
Vn

p st M n
ρ st = -----------------
RT st

158 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

where Mn is the mean molar mass of the fluid, Vn is the standard molar volume, pst is
the standard pressure, R is the universal molar gas constant, and Tst is the standard
temperature.

Equation 4-37 or Equation 4-38 is also enforced for compressible and incompressible
flow, respectively, ensuring that the normal component of the viscous stress and the
tangential component of the velocity are zero at the boundary.

Fully Developed Flow (Inlet)

The Fully developed flow boundary condition can be understood from the following
figure:

pinl Ω

The flow to the domain Ω is assumed to enter through a straight channel of length L.
The channel is a virtual extrusion of the inlet cross section and a pressure constant
pressure Pinl is applied on the inlet of the virtual channel.

The Fully Developed Flow boundary condition prescribes that the tangential flow
component on the boundary is zero:

u – ( u ⋅ n )n = 0

The momentum equation for a fully developed flow in the virtual extrusion of the inlet
cross section can then be projected onto the inlet boundary with the following weak
equation as the result:

( – μ ( ∇tu + ( ∇tu ) T ) + p ) ∇tûL – P inl ( n ⋅ û )

The exact value of L is somewhat arbitrary as long as it is not too high or too low. L is
therefore set to ten times the inlet edge length in 2D and to ten times the square root
of the inlet area in 2D axisymmetry and in 3D.

The fact that the velocity profile is not prescribed, but rather the solution of a projected
weak contribution, means that the actual velocity profile that is obtained on the inlet
can deviate from the analytical fully developed flow profile (in cases such an analytical
solution exists) if required by the solution inside the computational domain, Ω. This is
most notably if the flow is strongly curved just downstream of the inlet. This can for

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 159

 example be the case if an object is positioned just downstream of the inlet or if the
adjacent boundaries are not orthogonal to the inlet. The analytical solution can in
these cases be recovered by including a little bit of the inlet channel in the
computational domain.

The inlet pressure, Pinl, must be solved for and the its equation is a discrete algebraic
equation (DAE) for Pinl. When, for example, the average velocity is specified, the DAE
reads

(  u ⋅ n + U av )P̂ inl

where <⋅> denotes the average over the inlet. Since the equation for Pinl is a DAE (the
equation for Pinl does not contain Pinl), it must be solved coupled to Navier-Stokes
and it must be treated by a Vanka pre- and post-smoother if iterative solvers are
employed.

The boundary conditions for the virtual inlet channel are inherited from the
boundaries adjacent to the inlet channel. Virtual boundaries adjacent to walls (except
slip walls) are treated as no-slip walls. Virtual boundaries adjacent to any other type of
boundary are treated as slip-walls (or equivalently as symmetry boundaries). So in the
figure above, if the lower boundary of Ω is a no-slip wall and the top boundary is a
symmetry boundary, the lower boundary of the virtually extruded channel becomes a
no-slip wall and the upper boundary a symmetry boundary.

Algebraic turbulence models need to additional equations or constraints. For all other
turbulence models, their weak equations in the virtual inlet channel are projected onto
the inlet of the computational domain. The projections are regularized to prevent the
production to fall to zero, so the solutions of the projects can show slight deviation
from the correct solutions close to no-slip walls.

Fully Developed Flow (Outlet)

The Fully developed flow boundary condition can be understood from the following
figure:

Ω pexit

160 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The flow to the domain Ω is assumed to enter through a straight channel of length L.
The channel is a virtual extrusion of the inlet cross section and a pressure constant
pressure Pexit is applied on the inlet of the virtual channel.

The Fully Developed Flow boundary condition prescribes that the tangential flow
component on the boundary is zero:

u – ( u ⋅ n )n = 0

The momentum equation for a fully developed flow in the virtual extrusion of the inlet
cross section can then be projected onto the inlet boundary with the following weak
equation as the result:

( – μ ( ∇tu + ( ∇tu ) T ) + p ) ∇tûL – P exit ( n ⋅ û )

The exact value of L is somewhat arbitrary as long as it is not too high or too low. L is
therefore set to ten times the inlet edge length in 2D and to ten times the square root
of the inlet area in 2D axisymmetry and in 3D.

The fact that the velocity profile is not prescribed, but rather the solution of a projected
weak contribution, means that the actual velocity profile that is obtained on the outlett
can deviate from the analytical fully developed flow profile (in cases such an analytical
solution exists) if required by the solution inside the computational domain, Ω. The
inlet pressure, Pexit, must be solved for and the its equation is a discrete algebraic
equation (DAE) for Pexit. When, for example, the average velocity is specified, the
DAE reads

(  u ⋅ n + U av )P̂ exit

where <⋅> denotes the average over the inlet. Since the equation for Pext is a DAE, it
must be solved coupled to Navier-Stokes and it must be treated by a Vanka pre- and
post-smoother if iterative solvers are employed.

The boundary conditions for the virtual outlet channel are inherited from the
boundaries adjacent to the outlet channel. Virtual boundaries adjacent to walls (except
slip walls) are treated as no-slip walls. Virtual boundaries adjacent to any other type of
boundary are treated as slip-walls (or equivalently as symmetry boundaries).

No Viscous Stress
For this module, and in addition to the Pressure, No Viscous Stress boundary
condition, the viscous stress condition sets the viscous stress to zero:

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 161

  μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – 2
--- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I n = 0
 3 

( μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) )n = 0

using the compressible/weakly compressible and the incompressible formulation,

respectively.

The condition is not a sufficient outlet condition since it lacks information about the
outlet pressure. It must hence be combined with pressure point constraints on one or
several points or lines surrounding the outlet.

This boundary condition is numerically the least stable outlet condition, but can still
be beneficial if the outlet pressure is nonconstant due to, for example, a nonlinear
volume force.

Normal Stress Boundary Condition

The total stress on the boundary is set equal to a stress vector of magnitude f0, oriented
in the negative normal direction:

 – pI +  μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – 2
--- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I  n = – f 0 n
  3 

( – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) )n = – f 0 n

using the compressible/weakly compressible and the incompressible formulation,

respectively.

This implies that the total stress in the tangential direction is zero. This boundary
condition implicitly sets a constraint on the pressure which for 2D flows is

∂u n
p = 2μ ---------- + f 0 (4-38)
∂n

If ∂un/∂n is small, Equation 4-38 states that p ≈ f0.

The Normal Stress condition is the mathematically correct version of the Pressure
Conditions condition (Ref. 4), but it is numerically less stable.

162 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Pressure Boundary Condition
For single-phase flow, a mathematically correct natural boundary condition for outlets
is

 – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – 2
--- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I n = – p 0 n (4-39)
 3 

( – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) )n = – p 0 n (4-40)

using the compressible/weakly compressible and the incompressible formulation,

respectively.

This is a normal stress condition together with a no-tangential-stress condition. When

μ > 0, Equation 4-39 or Equation 4-40 can be supplemented with a tangential velocity
condition

u⋅t = 0 (4-41)

If so, the no-tangential-stress condition is overridden. An issue with Equation 4-39 or

Equation 4-40 is that it does not strongly enforce unidirectional flow on the boundary.
If the prescribed pressure on an outlet is too high, parts of the outlet can actually have
inflow. This is not as much of an issue for the Navier-Stokes equations as it is an issue
for scalar transport equations solved along with the Navier-Stokes equations. Hence,
when applying the Pressure boundary condition at an outlet or inlet you can further
constrain the flow. With the Suppress backflow option

--- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I n = – pˆ 0 n
 – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – 2
 3 
, (4-42)
( – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) )n = – pˆ 0 n
pˆ ≤ p
0 0

the normal stress is adjusted to keep

u⋅n≥0 (4-43)

Equation 4-42 effectively means that the prescribed pressure is p0 if u⋅n ≥ 0, but
smaller at locations where u⋅n < 0. This means that Equation 4-42 does not completely
prevent backflow, but the backflow is substantially reduced. Backflow is suppressed
also when external forces are acting on the fluid, provided the magnitude of these
forces are of the same order as the dynamic pressure at the outlet.

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 163

 A pressure condition can also be applied at an inlet. In this case, either the normal stress
is prescribed

n  – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I n = – pˆ 0
T 2
 3 
(4-44)
n ( – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) )n = – pˆ 0
T

pˆ ≥ p
0 0

together with the tangential condition in Equation 4-41, or, a general flow direction
is prescribed.

--- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I n = – pˆ 0 ( r ⋅ n )
T  – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – 2
ru
 3  u
ˆ (r ⋅ n)
T ( – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) )n = – p
ru 0 u
(4-45)
ˆp ≥ p
0 0
du
u – ( u ⋅ r u )r u = 0, r u = -------------
du

The “>” option is used with suppress backflow to have u ⋅ n ≤ 0 or u ⋅ r u ≥ 0 .

See Inlet, Outlet, Open Boundary, and No Viscous Stress for the individual node
settings. Note that some modules have additional theory sections describing options
available with that module.

Vacuum Pump Boundary Condition

Vacuum pumps (devices) can be represented using lumped curves implemented as
boundary conditions. These simplifications also imply some assumptions. In particular,
it is assumed that a given boundary can only be either an inlet or an outlet. Such a
boundary should not be a mix of inlets/outlets nor switch between them during a
simulation.

Manufacturers usually provide curves that describe the static pressure as a function of
flow rate for a vacuum pump. Also see Vacuum Pump for the node settings.

DEFINING A DEVICE AT AN OUTLET

In this case (see Figure 4-2), the device’s inlet is the interior face situated between the
blue (cube) and green (circle) domains while its outlet is an external boundary, here

164 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

the circular boundary of the green domain. The lumped curve gives the flow rate as a
function of the pressure difference between the interior face and the external
boundary. This boundary condition implementation follows the Pressure Boundary
Condition for outlets with the Suppress backflow option:

--- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I n = – pˆ 0 n
 – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – 2
 3  (4-46)
pˆ 0 ≤ p vacuum pump ( V 0 ) – p ref

Here, V0 is the flow rate across the boundary and pvacuum pump(V0) is the static
pressure function of flow rate for the vacuum pump. pref is the reference pressure that
ensure that the absolute pressure is set to pvacuum pump. In vacuum pump models the
reference pressure is usually set to 0 Pa since the absolute pressure is close to 0 Pa by
opposition to ambient conditions where pref is often set to 1 atm. Equation 4-46
corresponds to the compressible formulation. For incompressible flows, the term
−(2/3)μ(∇ ⋅ u) vanishes. In 2D the thickness in the third direction, Dz, is used to define
the flow rate. Vacuum pumps are modeled as rectangles in this case.

Figure 4-2: A vacuum pump at the outlet. The arrow represents the flow direction, the
green circle represents the vacuum pump (that should not be part of the model), and the
blue cube represents the modeled domain with an outlet boundary condition described by
a lumped curve for the attached vacuum pump.

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 165

 Fan Defined on an Interior Boundary
In this case, the inlet and outlet of the device are both interior boundaries (see
Figure 4-3). The boundaries are called dev_in and dev_out. The boundary
conditions are described as follows:

• The inlet of the device is an outlet boundary condition for the modeled domain. For
this outlet side, on dev_in, a pressure condition is set. The value of the pressure is
set to the sum of the mean value of the pressure on dev_out and the pressure drop
across the device. The pressure drop is calculated from a lumped curve using the
flow rate evaluated on dev_in.
• For the inlet side, on dev_out, a pressure boundary condition is defined. The
pressure value is set so that the flow rate is equal on dev_in and dev_out. An ODE
is added to compute the pressure value.
• When a turbulence model with transport equations for the turbulence quantities is
applied, the turbulent kinetic energy, k, and dissipation rate, ε, specific dissipation
rate, ω, or turbulent relative fluctuations, ζ, must be specified on the downstream
side of the fan. The turbulence conditions are specific to the design and operating
conditions of the fan. A reference velocity scale Uref is available in order to set
default values.

C μ3/4 k 0init 3/2

2 ,
k 0init = 0.015U ref ε 0init = -------------------------- (4-47)
l ref

In both cases, the boundary condition implementation follows the

Pressure Boundary Condition for outlet or inlet with the Suppress
backflow option.

See Interior Fan for node settings.

166 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Figure 4-3: A device between two boundaries. The red arrows represent the flow direction,
the cylindrical part represents the device (that should be not be part of the model), and the
two cubes are the domain that are modeled with a particular inlet boundary condition to
account for the device.

Fan and Grille Boundary Conditions

Fans, pumps, or grilles (devices) can be represented using lumped curves implemented
as boundary conditions. These simplifications also imply some assumptions. In
particular, it is assumed that a given boundary can only be either an inlet or an outlet.
Such a boundary should not be a mix of inlets/outlets, nor switch between them
during a simulation.

Manufacturers usually provide curves that describe the static pressure as a function of
flow rate for a fan. See Fan and Grille for the node settings.

DEFINING A DEVICE AT AN INLET

In this case, the device’s inlet is an external boundary, represented by the external
circular boundary of the green domain on Figure 4-4. The device’s outlet is an interior
face situated between the green and blue domains in Figure 4-4. The lumped curve
gives the flow rate as a function of the pressure difference between the external
boundary and the interior face. This boundary condition implementation follows the
Pressure Boundary Condition for inlets with the Suppress backflow option:

n  – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I n = – pˆ 0
T 2
3 (4-48)
pˆ 0 ≥ p input + Δp fan ( V 0 )

The Grille boundary condition sets the following conditions:

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 167

 n  – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I n = – pˆ 0
T 2
 3  (4-49)
pˆ 0 ≥ p input + Δp grille ( V 0 )

Here, V0 is the flow rate across the boundary, pinput is the pressure at the device’s inlet,
and Δpfan(V0) and Δpgrille(V0) are the static pressure functions of flow rate for the fan
and the grille. Equation 4-48 and Equation 4-49 correspond to the compressible
formulation. For incompressible flows, the term −(2/3)μ(∇ ⋅ u) vanishes. When a
turbulence model with a transport equation for the turbulent kinetic energy is applied,
the term −(2/3)ρk appears on the left-hand sides of Equation 4-48 and Equation 4-49.
In such cases the turbulent kinetic energy, k, the turbulent relative fluctuations, ζ (for
the v2-f turbulence model), and dissipation rate, ε, or specific dissipation rate, ω, must
be specified on the downstream side. The turbulence conditions are specific to the
design and operating conditions of the fan or grille. For the Fan condition, a reference
velocity scale Uref is available in order to set default values according to Equation 4-47.
For the Grille boundary condition the turbulence quantities on the downstream side
are specified by defining a loss coefficient K = 2Δp grille ⁄ ρ ( u ⋅ n ) 2 , from which a
refraction coefficient is derived using Equation 4-62. Equation 4-55 through
Equation 4-57 are then used to relate upstream and downstream turbulence
quantities.

When an algebraic turbulence model, such as the Algebraic yPlus or L-VEL model, is
used, the turbulence is only implicitly affected by the device through the change in the
local Reynolds number.

The flow direction is enforced to be normal to the boundary by default. However, it

is possible to define an arbitrary inflow velocity direction. In such case, Equation 4-48
and Equation 4-49 are modified similarly to Equation 4-45. In 2D, the thickness in
the third direction, Dz, is used to define the flow rate. Fans are modeled as rectangles
in this case.

For 3D and 2D axisymmetry when the swirl flow is included, it is possible to define a
swirl on the downstream side of the fan. It sets the following boundary conditions:

--- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I n = – pˆ 0
 – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – 2
 3 
u ⋅ t = u swirl = c sf 2πfn × ( r – r bp )
pˆ ≥ p
0 input + Δp fan

168 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Here, the swirl ratio csf is a positive number less than 1, defining the ratio of the
rotation transferred from the fan to the flow, f is the number of revolutions per time
for the fan, and rbp is the rotation axis base point.

Figure 4-4: A device at the inlet. The arrow represents the flow direction, the green circle
represents the device (that should not be part of the model), and the blue cube represents the
modeled domain with an inlet boundary condition described by a lumped curve for the
attached device.

DEFINING A DEVICE AT AN OUTLET

In this case (see Figure 4-14), the fan’s inlet is the interior face situated between the
blue (cube) and green (circle) domain while its outlet is an external boundary, here the
circular boundary of the green domain. The lumped curve gives the flow rate as a
function of the pressure difference between the interior face and the external
boundary. This boundary condition implementation follows the Pressure Boundary
Condition for outlets with the Suppress backflow option:

--- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I n = – pˆ 0 n
 – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – 2
 3  (4-50)
pˆ 0 ≤ p exit – Δp fan ( V 0 )

The Grille boundary condition sets the following conditions:

--- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I n = – pˆ 0 n
 – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – 2
 3  (4-51)
pˆ 0 ≤ p exit – Δp grille ( V 0 )

Here, V0 is the flow rate across the boundary, pexit is the pressure at the device outlet,
and Δpfan(V0) and Δpgrille(V0) are the static pressure function of flow rate for the fan
and the grille. Equation 4-50 and Equation 4-51 correspond to the compressible

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 169

 formulation. For incompressible flows, the term −(2/3)μ(∇ ⋅ u)n vanishes. When a
turbulence model with a transport equation for the turbulence kinetic energy is
applied, the term −(2/3)ρkn appears on the left-hand sides of Equation 4-50 and
Equation 4-51. In 2D the thickness in the third direction, Dz, is used to define the
flow rate. Fans are modeled as rectangles in this case.

Figure 4-5: A fan at the outlet. The arrow represents the flow direction, the green circle
represents the fan (that should not be part of the model), and the blue cube represents the
modeled domain with an outlet boundary condition described by a lumped curve for the
attached fan.

Screen Boundary Condition

The word “screen” refers to a barrier with distributed perforations such as a wire
gauze, grille, or perforated plate. The screen is assumed to have a width, which is small
compared to the resolved length-scales of the flow field and can thus be modeled as an
edge (in 2D) or surface (in 3D). This idea permits an economic implementation of the
screen, where the details of the barrier need not be resolved. A limitation to this type
of modeling may be observed when there is an appreciable velocity component parallel
to the screen. In such cases the pressure may become discontinuous across streamlines,
which may lead to convergence problems. If this occurs, a better approach is to model
the screen as a thin domain with distributed momentum-loss terms.

The general influence of a screen on the flow field is a loss in the normal momentum
component, a change in direction (related to a suppression of the tangential velocity
component), attenuation of the turbulence kinetic energy and preservation of the
turbulence length scale (Ref. 18). The conditions across the screen are expressed as,

[ ρu ⋅ n ] -+ = 0 (4-52)

170 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 +
 
ρ ( u ⋅ n ) 2 + p – n T  ( μ + μ T )  ∇u + ( ∇u ) T – --- ( ∇ ⋅ u )I – --- ρkI n
2 2
 3  3
  - (4-53)
K
= – ---- ρ - ( u - ⋅ n ) 2
2

n × u+ = η ( n × u- ) (4-54)

k+ = η2 k- (4-55)

and, depending on the turbulence model in use, either,

ε+ = η3 ε- (4-56)

or,

ω + = ηω - (4-57)

− and + refer to the upstream and downstream side of the screen. K is the dimensionless
resistance coefficient, which parameterizes the magnitude of the drag exerted by the
screen on the flow. η is the dimensionless refraction coefficient, which parameterizes
the extent to which the screen causes the flow to change direction to align parallel to
the normal downstream direction from the plane of the screen. The refraction
coefficient should be between 0 and 1. Isotropic turbulence is expected on the
downstream side of the screen, hence,

2
ζ + = --- (4-58)
3

is enforced when the v2-f turbulence model is used.

The attenuation of the turbulence kinetic energy (Equation 4-55) is based on the
suppression of the tangential velocity (Equation 4-54) and the changes in ε and ω are
determined by the assumption of preservation of the turbulence length-scale across the
screen.

When an algebraic turbulence model, such as the Algebraic yPlus or L-VEL model, is
used, the turbulence is only implicitly affected by the device through the change in the
local Reynolds number.

The Screen feature provides three commonly used correlations for K (Ref. 19). The
following correlation is valid for wire gauzes

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 171

 K = ( 0.52 + 0.66/Re d4 / 3 ) ( ( 1 – σ s ) –2 – 1 ), Re d = u d ⁄ ν (4-59)

Here σs is the solidity (ratio of blocked area to total area of the screen) and d is the
diameter of the wires. For a square mesh, the following correlation is applied,

K = 0.98 ( ( 1 – σ s ) – 2 – 1 ) 1.09 (4-60)

and for a perforated plate,

K = 0.94 ( ( 1 – σ s ) – 2 – 1 ) 1.28 (4-61)

These correlations are based on common shapes for meshes and perforated plates
encountered in engineering contexts, and it is assumed that the wire gauze, square
mesh or perforated plate is thin compared to the mixing length scale up- and
downstream of the screen. The following correlation for wire gauzes (Ref. 20) gives
reasonable values for η for a wide range of applications and has been included in the
implementation,

K 2
η = ------- + 1 – K
---- (4-62)
16 4

See Screen for the node settings. Also see Theory for the Nonisothermal
Screen Boundary Condition for the nonisothermal version of these
physics interfaces.

Mass Sources for Fluid Flow

There are two types of mass sources in a Single-Phase Flow interface: point sources and
line sources.

These features require at least one of the following licenses: Batteries &
Fuel Cells Module, CFD Module, Chemical Reaction Engineering
Module, Corrosion Module, Electrochemistry Module,
Electrodeposition Module, Microfluidics Module, Pipe Flow Module, or
Subsurface Flow Module.

172 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

POINT SOURCE
·
A point source is theoretically formed by taking a mass injection/ejection, Q (SI unit:
3
kg/(m ·s)), in a small volume δV and then letting the size of the volume tend to zero
while keeping the total mass flux constant. Given a point source strength, q· p (SI unit:
kg/s), this can be expressed as

·
lim Q = q· p (4-63)
δV → 0
δV

An alternative way to form a point source/sink is to assume that mass is

injected/extracted through the surface of a small object. Letting the object surface
area tend to zero while keeping the mass flux constant, results in the same point source.
For this alternative approach, effects resulting from the physical object volume, such
as drag and fluid displacement, need to be neglected.

The weak contribution

q· p test ( p )
·
is added to a point in the geometry. As can be seen from Equation 4-63, Q must tend
to plus or minus infinity as δV tends to zero. This means that in theory the pressure
also tends to plus or minus infinity.

Observe that “point” refers to the physical representation of the source. A point source
can therefore only be added to points in 3D components and to points on the
symmetry axis in 2D axisymmetry components. Other geometrical points in 2D
components represent physical lines.

The finite element representation of Equation 4-63 corresponds to a finite pressure in

a point with the effect of the point source spread out over a region around the point.
The size of the region depends on the mesh and on the strength of the source. A finer
mesh gives a smaller affected region, but also a more extreme pressure value. It is
important not to mesh too finely around a point source since the resulting pressure can
result in unphysical values for the density, for example. It can also have a negative effect
on the condition number for the equation system.

LINE SOURCE
·
A line source can theoretically be formed by assuming a source of strength Q (SI unit:
3
kg/(m ·s)), located within a tube with cross-sectional area δS and then letting δS tend
to zero, while keeping the total mass flux per unit length constant. Given a line source
strength, q· l (SI unit: kg/(m·s)), this can be expressed as

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 173

 · ·
lim
δS → 0  Q = ql (4-64)
δS

As in the point source case, an alternative approach is to assume that mass is

injected/extracted through the surface of a small object. This results in the same mass
source, but requires that effects on the fluid resulting from the physical object volume
are neglected.

The weak contribution

q· l test ( p )

is added to lines in 3D or to points in 2D (which represent cut-through views of lines).

Line sources can also be added to the axisymmetry line in 2D axisymmetry
components. It cannot, however, be added to geometrical lines in 2D because they
represent physical planes.

As with a point source, it is important not to mesh too finely around the line source.

For feature node information, see Line Mass Source and Point Mass
Source in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

For the Reacting Flow in Porous Media, Diluted Species interface, which
is available with the CFD Module, Chemical Reaction Engineering
Module, or Batteries & Fuel Cells Module, these shared physics nodes are
renamed as follows:

• The Line Mass Source node is available as two nodes, one for the fluid
flow (Fluid Line Source) and one for the species (Species Line Source).
• The Point Mass Source node is available as two nodes, one for the fluid
flow (Fluid Point Source) and one for the species (Species Point Source).

Numerical Stability — Stabilization Techniques for Fluid Flow

The momentum equation (Equation 4-15 or Equation 4-17) is a (nonlinear)
convection-diffusion equation. Such equations can easily become unstable if
discretized using the Galerkin finite element method. Stabilized finite element
methods are usually necessary in order to obtain physical solutions. The stabilization
settings are found in the main Fluid Flow interface features. To display this section,

174 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Stabilization in the Show More
Options dialog box.

There are three types of stabilization methods available for Navier-Stokes —

streamline diffusion, crosswind diffusion, and isotropic diffusion. Streamline
diffusion and crosswind diffusion are consistent stabilization methods, whereas
isotropic diffusion is an inconsistent stabilization method.

For optimal functionality, the exact weak formulations of and constants in the
streamline diffusion and crosswind diffusion methods depend on the order of the
shape functions (basis functions) for the elements. The values of constants in the
streamline diffusion and crosswind diffusion methods follow Ref. 5 and Ref. 6.

STREAMLINE DIFFUSION
For strongly coupled systems of equations, the streamline diffusion method must be
applied to the system as a whole rather than to each equation separately. These ideas
were first explored by Hughes and Mallet (Ref. 8) and were later extended to Galerkin
least-squares (GLS) applied to the Navier-Stokes equations (Ref. 9). This is the
streamline diffusion formulation that COMSOL Multiphysics supports. The time-scale
tensor is the diagonal tensor presented in Ref. 10.

The time-scale tensors for time-dependent problems should in theory depend on a

time-scale that many references just set to the time-step taken by the time-solver, Δt
(see for example Ref. 9 and Ref. 10). This simple approach doesn’t however necessarily
reflect on the actual time-scales in the physics. A typical example is reacting flows where
the time-step is often guided by fast reactions, while the flow develops relatively slowly.
COMSOL Multiphysics can therefore replace Δt2 in the time scale tensor with
measures of type ( 1 ⁄ ( Δt̃ ) 2 ) – 1 which are calculated from projections of weak
expressions in a fashion similar to those in Ref. 11. These measures of the time scale
are used when Use dynamic subgrid timescale check box is selected. Streamline diffusion
is active by default because it is necessary when convection is dominating the flow.

The governing equations for incompressible flow are subject to the Babuška-Brezzi
condition, which states that the shape functions (basis functions) for pressure must be
of lower order than the shape functions for velocity. If the incompressible
Navier-Stokes equations are stabilized by streamline diffusion, it is possible to use
equal-order interpolation. Hence, streamline diffusion is necessary when using
first-order elements for both velocity and pressure. This applies also if the model is
solved using geometric multigrid (either as a solver or as a preconditioner) and at least
one multigrid hierarchy level uses linear Lagrange elements.

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 175

 CROSSWIND DIFFUSION
Crosswind diffusion can also be formulated for systems of equations, and when applied
to the Navier-Stokes equations it becomes a shock-capturing operator. COMSOL
Multiphysics supports the formulation in Ref. 9 with a shock-capturing viscosity of the
Hughes-Mallet type Ref. 8.

Incompressible flows do not contain shock waves, but crosswind diffusion is still useful
for introducing extra diffusion in sharp boundary layers and shear layers that otherwise
would require a very fine mesh to resolve.

Crosswind diffusion is active by default as it makes it easier to obtain a solution even if

the problem is fully resolved by the mesh. Crosswind diffusion also enables the iterative
solvers to use inexpensive presmoothers. If crosswind diffusion is deactivated, more
expensive preconditioners must be used instead.

ISOTROPIC DIFFUSION
Isotropic diffusion adds diffusion to the Navier-Stokes equations. Isotropic diffusion
significantly reduces the accuracy of the solution but does a very good job at reducing
oscillations. The stability of the continuity equation is not improved.

Numerical Stabilization and Iterative in the COMSOL Multiphysics

Reference Manual

Solvers for Laminar Flow

The Navier-Stokes equations constitute a nonlinear equation system. A nonlinear
solver must hence be applied to solve the problem. The nonlinear solver iterates to
reach the final solution. In each iteration, a linearized version of the nonlinear system
is solved using a linear solver. In the time-dependent case, a time marching method
must also be applied. The default suggestions for each of these solver elements are
discussed below.

NONLINEAR SOLVER
The nonlinear solver method depends on if the model solves a stationary or a
time-dependent problem.

Stationary Solver
In the stationary case, a fully coupled, damped Newton method is applied. The initial
damping factor is low since a full Newton step can be harmful unless the initial values

176 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

are close to the final solution. The nonlinear solver algorithm automatically regulates
the damping factor in order to reach a converged solution.

For advanced models, the automatically damped Newton method might not be robust
enough. A pseudo time-stepping algorithm can then be invoked. See Pseudo Time
Stepping for Laminar Flow Models.

Time-Dependent Solver
In the time-dependent case, the initial guess for each time step is (loosely speaking) the
previous time step, which is a very good initial value for the nonlinear solver. The
automatic damping algorithm is then not necessary. The damping factor in the
Newton method is instead set to a constant value slightly smaller than one. Also, for
the same reason, it suffices to update the Jacobian once per time-step.

It is seldom worth the extra computational cost to update the Jacobian more than once
per time step. For most models it is more efficient to restrict the maximum time step
or possibly lower the damping factor in the Newton method.

LINEAR SOLVER
The linearized Navier-Stokes equation system has saddle point character, unless the
density depends on the pressure. This means that the Jacobian matrix has zeros on the
diagonal. Even when the density depends on the pressure, the equation system
effectively shares many numerical properties with a saddle point system.

For small 2D and 3D models, the default solver suggestion is a direct solver. Direct
solvers can handle most nonsingular systems and are very robust and also very fast for
small models. Unfortunately, they become slow for large models and their memory
requirement scales as somewhere between N1.5and N2, where N is the number of
degrees of freedom in the model. The default suggestion for large 2D and 3D models
is therefore the iterative GMRES solver. The memory requirement for an iterative
solver optimally scales as N.

GMRES is accelerated by a multigrid method, per default the Smoothed Aggregation

Algebraic Mutligrid (SAAMG) method. The cost of SAAMG is typically very low
compared to the number of GMRES iterations necessary if no multigrid method is
used. As the name implies, SAAMG builds its coarser meshes algebraically, so the
application requires no additional meshes in order to employ SAAMG. In contrast,
Geometric Multigrid (GMG) requires actual meshes. If a sufficient number of
multigrid levels can be constructed, GMG is often faster than SAAMG. GMG is also
superior for cluster computations and for shared memory computations with many

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 177

 cores. When the default linear solver is GMRES, an optional, but deactivated, linear
solver node is available where GMRES is accelerated by GMG.

Multigrid methods need smoothers, but the saddle point character of the linear system
restricts the number of applicable smoothers. The choices are further restricted by the
anisotropic meshes frequently encountered in fluid-flow problems. The efficiency of
the smoothers is highly dependent on the numerical stabilization. Iterative solvers
perform at their best when both Streamline Diffusion and Crosswind Diffusion are
active.

The default smoother for P1+P1 elements is SCGS. This is an efficient and robust
smoother specially designed to solve saddle point systems on meshes that contain
anisotropic elements. The SCGS smoother works well even without crosswind
diffusion. SCGS can sometimes work for higher-order elements, especially if Method in
the SCGS settings is set to Mesh element lines. But there is no guarantee for this, so the
default smoother for higher order elements is an SOR Line smoother. SOR Line
handles mesh anisotropy but does not formally address the saddle point character. It
does, however, function in practice provided that streamline diffusion and crosswind
diffusion are both active.

A different kind of saddle point character can arise if the equation system contains
ODE variables. Some advanced boundary conditions, for example Fully Developed
Flow (Inlet), can add equations with such variables. These variables must be treated
with the Vanka algorithm. SCGS includes an option to invoke Vanka. Models with
higher-order elements must apply SCGS or use the Vanka smoother. The latter is the
default suggestion for higher-order elements, but it does not work optimally for
anisotropic meshes.

TIME-DEPENDENT SOLVERS
The default time-dependent solver for Navier-Stokes is the BDF method with
maximum order set to two. Higher BDF orders are not stable for transport problems
in general nor for Navier-Stokes in particular.

BDF methods have been used for a long time and are known for their stability.
However, they can have severe damping effects, especially the lower-order methods.
Hence, if robustness is not an issue, a model can benefit from using the generalized-α
method instead. Generalized-α is a solver which has properties similar to those of the
second-order BDF solver but it is much less diffusive.

Both BDF and generalized-α are per default set to automatically adjust the time step.
While this works well for many models, extra efficiency and accuracy can often be

178 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

gained by specifying a maximum time step. It is also often beneficial to specify an initial
time step to make the solver progress smoothly in the beginning of the time series.

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual:

• Time-Dependent Solver
• Multigrid, Direct, Iterative, SCGS, SOR Line, and Vanka
• Stationary Solver

Pseudo Time Stepping for Laminar Flow Models

A stationary formulation has per definition no time derivatives and Equation 4-17
reduces to:

T
ρ ( u ⋅ ∇ )u = ∇ ⋅ [ – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) ) ] + F (4-65)

Solving Equation 4-65 requires a starting guess that is close enough to the final
solution. If no such guess is at hand, the fully transient problem can be solved instead.
This is, however, a rather costly approach in terms of computational time. An
intermediate approach is to add a fictitious time derivative to Equation 4-65:

u – nojac ( u ) T
ρ --------------------------------- + ρ ( u ⋅ ∇ )u = ∇ ⋅ [ – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) ) ] + F
Δt̃

where Δt̃ is a pseudo time step. Since u−nojac(u) is always zero, this term does not
affect the final solution. It does, however, affect the discrete equation system and
effectively transforms a nonlinear iteration into a step of size Δt̃ of a time-dependent
solver.

Pseudo time stepping is not active per default. The pseudo time step Δt̃ can be chosen
individually for each element based on the local CFL number:

h
Δt̃ = CFL loc -------
u

where h is the mesh cell size. A small CFL number means a small time step. It is
practical to start with a small CFL number and gradually increase it as the solution
approaches steady state.

If the automatic expression for CFLloc is set to the built-in variable CFLCMP, then the
automatic setting suggests a PID regulator for the pseudo time step in the default

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 179

 solver. The PID regulator starts with a small CFL number and increases CFLloc as the
solution comes closer to convergence.

The default manual expression is

1.3 min ( niterCMP, 9 ) +

if ( niterCMP > 20, 9 ⋅ 1.3 min ( niterCMP – 20, 9 ), 0 ) + (4-66)
if ( niterCMP > 40, 90 ⋅ 1.3 min ( niterCMP – 40, 9 ), 0)

The variable niterCMP is the nonlinear iteration number. It is equal to one for the first
nonlinear iteration. CFLloc starts at 1.3 and increases by 30% each iteration until it
reaches 1.3 9 ≈ 10.6 . It remains there until iteration number 20 at which it starts to
increase until it reaches approximately 106. A final increase after iteration number 40
then takes it to 1060. Equation 4-66 can, for some advanced flows, increase CFLloc
too slowly or too quickly. CFLloc can then be tuned for the specific application.

For details about the CFL regulator, see Pseudo Time Stepping in the
COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

Discontinuous Galerkin Formulation

Some boundary conditions are implemented using a discontinuous Galerkin
formulation. These boundary conditions include

• Wall — Slip, sliding walls, and moving walls (that is, walls with nonzero translational
velocity).
• Periodic Flow Condition
• Flow Continuity

The formulation used in the Fluid Flow interfaces in COMSOL Multiphysics is the
Symmetric Interior Penalty Galerkin method (SIPG). The SIPG method can be
regarded to satisfy the boundary conditions in an integral sense rather than pointwise.
More information on SIPG can be found in Ref. 15.

In particular, the SIPG formulation includes a penalty parameter that must be large
enough for the formulation to be coercive. The higher the value, the better the
boundary condition is fulfilled, but a too high value results in an ill-conditioned
equation system. The penalty parameter in COMSOL Multiphysics is implemented
according to Ref. 16.

180 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Particle Tracing in Fluid Flow
The Particle Tracing Module is available to assist with these types of modeling
problems.

It is possible to model particle tracing with COMSOL Multiphysics provided that the
impact of the particles on the flow field is negligible. First compute the flow field, and
then, as an analysis step, calculate the motion of the particles. The motion of a particle
is defined by Newton’s second law

2
= F  t, x, 
d x dx
m
dt2  dt 

where x is the position of the particle, m the particle mass, and F is the sum of all forces
acting on the particle. Examples of forces acting on a particle in a fluid are the drag
force, the buoyancy force, and the gravity force. The drag force represents the force
that a fluid exerts on a particle due to a difference in velocity between the fluid and the
particle. It includes the viscous drag, the added mass, and the Basset history term.
Several empirical expressions have been suggested for the drag force. One of those is
the one proposed by Khan and Richardson (Ref. 13). That expression is valid for
spherical particles for a wide range of particle Reynolds numbers. The particle
Reynolds number is defined as

u – u p 2rρ
Re p = ------------------------------
μ

where u is the velocity of the fluid, up the particle velocity, r the particle radius, ρ the
fluid density, and μ the dynamic viscosity of the fluid. The empirical expression for the
drag force according to Khan and Richardson is

2 -0.31 3.45
F = πr ρ u – u p ( u – u p ) [ 1.84Re p + 0.293Re p0.06 ]

The model Flow Past a Cylinder (Application Library path

COMSOL_Multiphysics/Fluid_Dynamics/cylinder_flow) demonstrates how to
add and set up particle tracing in a plot group using the Particle Tracing
with Mass node. It uses the predefined Khan-Richardson model for the
drag force and neglects gravity and buoyancy forces.

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 181

 References for the Single-Phase Flow, Laminar Flow Interfaces
1. G.G. Stokes, Trans. Camb. Phil. Soc., 8, pp. 287–305, 1845

2. P.M. Gresho and R.L. Sani, Incompressible Flow and the Finite Element Method,
Volume 2: Isothermal Laminar Flow, John Wiley & Sons, 2000.

3. G.K. Batchelor, An Introduction To Fluid Dynamics, Cambridge University Press,

1967.

4. R.L. Panton, Incompressible Flow, 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons, 1996.

5. I. Harari and T.J.R. Hughes, “What are C and h? Inequalities for the Analysis and
Design of Finite Element Methods”, Comp. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engrg, vol. 97,
pp. 157–192, 1992.

6. Y. Bazilevs, V.M. Calo, T.E. Tezduyar, and T.J.R. Hughes, “YZβ Discontinuity
Capturing for Advection-dominated Processes with Application to Arterial Drug
Delivery”, [Link]. Meth. Fluids, vol. 54, pp. 593–608, 2007.

7. R.B. Bird,W.E. Stewart, and E.N. Lightfoot, Transport Phenomena, 2nd ed., John
Wiley&Sons, 2007.

8. T.J.R. Hughes and M. Mallet, “A New Finite Element Formulation for

Computational Fluid Dynamics: III. The Generalized Streamline Operator for
Multidimensional Advective-Diffusive System”, Comp. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engrg,
vol. 58, pp. 305–328, 1986.

9. G. Hauke and T.J.R. Hughes, “A Unified Approach to Compressible and

Incompressible Flows”, Comp. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engrg, vol. 113, pp. 389–395,
1994.

10. G. Hauke, “Simple Stabilizing Matrices for the Computation of Compressible

Flows in Primitive Variables”, Comp. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engrg, vol. 190, pp. 6881–
6893, 2001.

11. M.-C. Hsu, Y. Bazilevs, V.M. Cali, T.E. Tezduyar, and T.J.R. Hughes, “Improving
stability of stabilized and multiscale formulations in flow simulations at small time
steps”, Comp. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engrg, vol. 199, pp. 828–840, 2010.

12. D.J. Tritton, Physical Fluid Dynamics, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 1988.

13. J.M. Coulson and J.F. Richardson, “Particle Technology and Separation
Processes”, Chemical Engineering, Volume 2, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2002.

182 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

14. J.L. Guermond, P. Minev, and J. Shen, “An overview of projection methods for
incompressible flows”, Comp. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engrg, vol. 195, pp. 6011–6045,
2006.

15. B. Rivière, Discontinuous Galerkin Methods for Solving Elliptic and Parabolic
Equations, SIAM, 2008.

16. Y. Epshteyn and B. Rivière, “Estimation of penalty parameters for symmetric

interior penalty Galerkin methods”, J. Computational and Applied Mathematics,
vol. 206, pp. 843–872, 2007.

17. G. Kariadakis, A. Beskok, and N. Aluru, Microflows and Nanoflows, Springer

Science and Business Media, 2005.

18. G.B. Schubauer, W.G. Spangenberg, and P.S. Klebanoff, “Aerodynamic

Characteristics of Damping Screens”, NACA Technical note 2001, Jan. 1950.

19. P.E. Roach, “The Generation of Nearly Isotropic Turbulence by Means of Grids”,
Int. J. Heat and Fluid Flow, vol. 8, pp. 82–92, 1986.

20. J.C. Gibbings, “The Pyramid Gauze Diffuser”, Ing. Arch., vol. 42, pp. 225–233,
1973.

21. R.P. Chhabra and J.F. Richardson, Non-Newtonian Flow and Applied Rheology,
2nd ed., Elsevier, 2008.

22. Y. Bazilevs and T.J.R. Hughes, “Weak imposition of Dirichlet boundary conditions
in fluid mechanics”, Computers and Fluids, vol. 36, pp. 12–26, 2007.

23. G. Kariadakis, A. Beskok, and N. Aluru, Microflows and Nanoflows, Springer

Science and Business Media, 2005.

THEORY FOR THE SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 183

 Theory for the Turbulent Flow
Interfaces
The theory for the Single-Phase Flow, Turbulent Flow interfaces is described in this
section:

• Turbulence Modeling
• The Algebraic yPlus Turbulence Model
• The L-VEL Turbulence Model
• The k-ε Turbulence Model
• The k-ω Turbulence Model
• The SST Turbulence Model
• The Low Reynolds Number k-ε Turbulence Model
• The Spalart-Allmaras Turbulence Model
• The v2-f Turbulence Model
• Inlet Values for the Turbulence Length Scale and Turbulent Intensity
• Theory for the Pressure, No Viscous Stress Boundary Condition
• Initial Values for Generate New Turbulence Model Interfaces
• Solvers for Turbulent Flow
• Pseudo Time Stepping for Turbulent Flow Models
• References for the Single-Phase Flow, Turbulent Flow Interfaces

Theory for the Single-Phase Flow Interfaces

Turbulence Modeling
Turbulence is a property of the flow field and it is characterized by a wide range of flow
scales: the largest occurring scales, which depend on the geometry, the smallest,
quickly fluctuating scales, and all the scales in between. The propensity for an
isothermal flow to become turbulent is measured by the Reynolds number

184 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 ρUL
Re = ------------ (4-67)
μ

where μ is the dynamic viscosity, ρ the density, and U and L are velocity and length
scales of the flow, respectively. Flows with high Reynolds numbers tend to become
turbulent. Most engineering applications belong to this category of flows.

The Navier-Stokes equations can be used for turbulent flow simulations, although this
would require a large number of elements in order to capture the wide range of scales
in the flow. An alternative approach is to divide the flow quantities into mean values
and fluctuations. When solving for the mean-flow quantities, the effect of the
fluctuations is modeled using a turbulence closure. The idea behind this approach is
that solving the model for the turbulence closure is numerically less expensive than
resolving all the turbulence scales. Different turbulence closures invoke different
assumptions on the modeled fluctuations, resulting in various degrees of accuracy for
different flow cases.

This module includes turbulence models based on the Reynolds-averaged

Navier-Stokes (RANS) model, which is the model type most commonly used in
industrial flow applications.

REYNOLDS-AVERAGED NAVIER-STOKES (RANS) EQUATIONS

The following assumes that the fluid is incompressible and Newtonian in which case
the Navier-Stokes equations take the form:

∂u T
ρ + ρ ( u ⋅ ∇ )u = ∇ ⋅ [ – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) ) ] + F
∂t (4-68)
ρ∇ ⋅ u = 0

Once the flow has become turbulent, all quantities fluctuate in time and space. It is
seldom worth the extreme computational cost to obtain detailed information about
the fluctuations. An averaged representation often provides sufficient information
about the flow.

The Reynolds-averaged representation of turbulent flows divides the flow quantities

into an averaged value and a fluctuating part,

φ = φ + φ′

where φ can represent any scalar quantity of the flow. In general, the mean value can
vary in space and time. This is exemplified in Figure 4-6, which shows time averaging
of one component of the velocity vector for nonstationary turbulence. The unfiltered

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 185

 flow has a time scale Δt1. After a time filter with width Δt2 >> Δt1 has been applied,
there is a fluctuating part, u′i, and an average part, Ui. Because the flow field also varies
on a time scale longer than Δt2, Ui is still time-dependent but is much smoother than
the unfiltered velocity ui.

Figure 4-6: The unfiltered velocity component ui, with a time scale Δt1, and the averaged
velocity component, Ui, with time scale Δt2.

Decomposition of the flow field into an averaged part and a fluctuating part, followed
by insertion into the Navier-Stokes equation, and averaging, gives the
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations:

∂U T
ρ + ρU ⋅ ∇ U + ∇ ⋅ ( ρu' ⊗ u' ) = – ∇P + ∇ ⋅ μ ( ∇U + ( ∇U ) ) + F
∂t (4-69)
ρ∇ ⋅ U = 0

where U is the averaged velocity field and ⊗ is the outer vector product. A comparison
with Equation 4-68 indicates that the only difference is the appearance of the last term
on the left-hand side of Equation 4-69. This term represents the interaction between
the fluctuating parts of the velocity field and is called the Reynolds stress tensor. This
means that to obtain the mean flow characteristics, information about the small-scale
structure of the flow is needed. In this case, that information is the correlation between
fluctuations in all three directions.

EDDY VISCOSITY
The most common way to model turbulence is to assume that the turbulence is of a
purely diffusive nature. The deviating part of the Reynolds stress is then expressed as

186 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 ρ T
ρ ( u' ⊗ u' ) – --- trace ( u' ⊗ u' )I = – μ T ( ∇U + ( ∇U ) )
3

where μT is the eddy viscosity, also known as the turbulent viscosity. The spherical part
can be written

ρ 2
--- trace ( u' ⊗ u' )I = --- ρk
3 3

where k is the turbulent kinetic energy. In simulations of incompressible flows, this

term is included in the pressure, but when the absolute pressure level is of importance
(in compressible flows, for example) this term must be explicitly included.

TURBULENT COMPRESSIBLE FLOW

If the Reynolds average is applied to the compressible form of the Navier-Stokes
equations, terms of the form

ρ′u′

appear and need to be modeled. To avoid this, a density-based average, known as the
Favre average, is introduced:

t+T

u˜i = --- lim ----

1 1
ρ T → ∞T  ρ (x,τ)u i (x,τ) dτ (4-70)
t

It follows from Equation 4-70 that

ρũ i = ρu i (4-71)

and a variable, ui, is decomposed into a mass-averaged component, ũ i , and a

fluctuating component, ui″, according to

u i = u˜ i + u i ″ (4-72)

Using Equation 4-71 and Equation 4-72 along with some modeling assumptions for
compressible flows (Ref. 7), Equation 4-14 and Equation 4-15 can be written on the
form

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 187

 ∂ρ ∂
------ + ------- ( ρũ i ) = 0
∂t ∂x i
(4-73)
∂ũ i ∂u˜ i ∂p
˜
∂   ∂u i ∂u j 2 ∂u k
˜ ˜ 
ρ -------- + ρũ j -------- = – ------- + -------  μ  -------- + -------- – --- μ --------- δ ij – ρu j ″u i ″ + F i
∂t ∂x j ∂x i ∂x j   ∂x j ∂x i  3 ∂x k 

The Favre-averaged Reynolds stress tensor is modeled using the same argument as for
incompressible flows:

 ∂u˜ i ∂u˜ j 2  ∂u˜ k 

– ρu j ″u i ″ = μ T  -------- + -------- – ---  μ T --------- + ρk δ ij
 ∂x j ∂x i  3  ∂x k 

where k is the turbulent kinetic energy. Comparing Equation 4-73 to its

incompressible counterpart (Equation 4-69), it can be seen that except for the term

– ( 2 ⁄ 3 )ρkδ ij

the compressible and incompressible formulations are exactly the same, except that the
free variables are u˜ i instead of

Ui = ui

More information about modeling turbulent compressible flows can be found in

Ref. 1 and Ref. 7.

The turbulent transport equations are used in their fully compressible formulations
(Ref. 8).

The Algebraic yPlus Turbulence Model

The algebraic yPlus turbulence model is an algebraic turbulence model based on the
distance to the nearest wall. The model is based on Prandtl’s mixing-length theory and
is suitable for internal flows. It is less mesh sensitive than transport-equation models
like Spalart-Allmaras or the k-ε model. In what follows, let y be the coordinate normal
to the wall, and U the velocity parallel to the wall. Using a mixing length formulation,
the balance for the shear stress in the wall layer may be approximated as

 μ + ρl 2 ∂U  ∂U- = ρu 2
 mix --------  ------- τ
∂y ∂y

which, expressed on dimensionless form, reduces to

188 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

  +  ∂u +
 1 + l mix ∂u
+2
---------  ---------+ = 1 (4-74)
 ∂y  ∂y
+

where y+ = yuτ/ν, u+ = U/uτ and u τ = τ w ⁄ ρ is the friction velocity. Close to the

wall, the mixing length must be zero such that u+ = y+, and far away from the wall,
+ +
l mix ≈ κy such that u+ = (1/κ)log(y+) + B. To obtain the correct behavior, the mixing
length is chosen to be


 +
y ≤ y*
l mix =  0
+
(4-75)
 κ ( y+ – y * ) y+ > y *


where y* is to be determined. Inserting Equation 4-75 into Equation 4-74


+
 1 +
y ≤ y*
∂u 
--------- =  + 2 (4-76)
∂y
+ 1 + 4κ 2 ( y – y * ) – 1 +
 ---------------------------------------------------------- y > y*
 2κ 2 ( y+ – y* )2


Integrating Equation 4-76

 + +
y y ≤ y*


+  * 1 – 1 + 4κ 2 ( y – y * )
+ 2
u =  y + ---------------------------------------------------------- (4-77)
+
 2κ 2 ( y – y * )

 1 +
+ --- log ( 1 + 4κ 2 ( y – y * ) + 2κ ( y – y * ) )
2 + +
y > y*
 κ


For large values of y+, Equation 4-77 reduces to

+ 1 + 1
u = --- log ( y ) + --- ( log ( 4κ ) – 1 ) + y *
κ κ

Comparing the above expression with the logarithmic law of the wall

+ 1 +
u = --- log ( y ) + B
κ

the value of the constant y* is obtained as

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 189

 1
y * = B – --- ( log ( 4κ ) – 1 )
κ

The dimensionless effective viscosity can be evaluated from

 +
 1 y ≤ y*
+ 
ν =  + 2 (4-78)
 1 + κ 2 ( y + – y * ) 2 ∂u
+ 1 + 1 + 4κ 2 ( y – y * ) +
--------- = ----------------------------------------------------------- y > y*
 ∂y
+ 2


This requires the local value of y+, which is obtained from the Reynolds number

Uy U yu τ + +
Re = -------- = ----- --------- = u y =
ν uτ ν

 y +2 +
y ≤ y*

 (4-79)
 
 y  y * + ---------------------------------------------------------- + --- log ( 1 + 4κ 2 ( y – y * ) + 2κ ( y – y * ) )
+ 1 – 1 + 4κ 2 ( y+ – y * ) 2 1 + 2 +
  + κ 
 2κ 2 ( y – y * )
 +
 y > y*

The nonlinear algebraic Equation 4-79 has to be solved at each node point to evaluate
the effective viscosity from Equation 4-78. The local Reynolds number Re = Uy/ν is
formed with the local absolute value of the velocity and the distance to the nearest wall.
This implicitly assumes that the main flow direction is parallel to the wall.

WALL DISTANCE
The wall distance, y is provided by a mathematical Wall Distance interface that is
included when using the Algebraic yPlus model. The solution to the wall distance
equation is controlled using the parameter lref. The distance to objects larger than lref
is represented accurately, while objects smaller than lref are effectively diminished by
appearing to be farther away than they actually are. This is a desirable feature in
turbulence modeling since small objects would get too large an impact on the solution
if the wall distance were measured exactly.

The most convenient way to handle the wall distance variable is to solve for it in a
separate study step. A Wall Distance Initialization study type is provided for this
purpose and should be added before the actual Stationary or Time Dependent study
step.

190 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

WALL BOUNDARY CONDITION

Low Reynolds Number Wall Treatment

The Algebraic yPlus turbulence model is consistent with a no slip boundary condition,
that is u = 0. Since the turbulence model is algebraic, no additional boundary
condition is needed. This boundary conditions is applied for Wall Treatment equal to
Low Re.

The low-Reynolds-number formulation of the Algebraic yPlus model can be

considered to be well resolved at a wall if l c+ is of order unity. l c+ is the distance,
measured in viscous units, from the wall to the center of the wall adjacent cell and can
be evaluated as the boundary variable: lplus_cc.

Automatic Wall Treatment

The default boundary treatment for Algebraic yPlus is the Automatic wall treatment.
The automatic wall treatment assumes that there is a small gap, δw = hw/2, between
the computational domain and the physical wall. Here, hw is the height of the mesh
cell adjacent to the wall. wall (see Figure 4-7).

Mesh cells
hw

δw

Solid wall

Figure 4-7: The computational domain is located a distance δw from the wall.

The boundary conditions for the velocity is a no-penetration condition u ⋅ n = 0 and

a shear stress condition

2 u
n ⋅ σ – ( n ⋅ σ ⋅ n )n = – ρu τ -------
u

where

σ = μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T )

and

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 191

 u
u τ = -----+-
u

The automatic wall treatment tends to the low-Reynolds-number formulation when

hw tends to zero, and it becomes a wall function formulation when the resolution in
viscous units, Δw+ increases. The resolution in viscous units is available as a
postprocessing variable, Delta_wPlus.

See also Wall for boundary condition details.

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual:

• The Wall Distance Interface

• Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with Initialization, and
Wall Distance Initialization

The L-VEL Turbulence Model

The L-VEL (Length-VELocity) turbulence model is an algebraic turbulence model
often used in electronic cooling applications. It is less mesh sensitive than
transport-equation models like Spalart-Allmaras or the k-ε model. It was developed by
Agonafer et al. (Ref. 23) for internal flows and uses an extension of the logarithmic law
of the wall which applies all the way down to the wall

+ 2 + 3 + 4
+ ( κu ) ( κu ) ( κu )
y = u + ----  e – 1 – κu – ----------------- – ----------------- – -----------------
+ + 1 κu +
E 2 6 24  (4-80)
+ +
where y = yu τ ⁄ ν , u = U ⁄ u τ , U is the local flow speed, y is the distance to the
nearest wall, ν is the kinematic viscosity and u τ is the friction velocity. κ is the von
Kàrman constant and E=8.6 is another constant needed to fit the logarithmic law of
the wall. The shear stress in the wall layer is given by

∂U ν T u τ2 1 1
ρ ( ν + ν T ) -------- = ρu τ2  1 + ------ = ------ ------------------ = --------------------------------------------------- 
∂y ν ν ∂U ⁄ ∂y ∂ ( U ⁄ u τ ) ⁄ ∂ ( yu τ ⁄ ν )
+ 1 -
ν = ----------------------
+ +
∂u ⁄ ∂y

Differentiating Equation 4-80 with respect to y+, the dimensionless effective viscosity
is obtained as

192 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 + 2 + 3
κ κu + + ( κu ) ( κu )
ν = 1 + ----  e – 1 – κu – ----------------- – -----------------
+
E 2 6  (4-81)

If the local value of u+ is known, the effective viscosity can be evaluated from
Equation 4-81. The value of u+ is obtained by forming a local Reynolds number

Uy U yu τ + +
Re = -------- = ----- --------- = u y =
ν uτ ν
+ 2 + 3 + 4
(4-82)
+ ( κu ) ( κu ) ( κu )
= u  u + ----  e – 1 – κu – ----------------- – ----------------- – ----------------- 
+ + 1 κu +
 E 2 6 24

where the last expression follows from Equation 4-80. Hence, the nonlinear algebraic
Equation 4-82 has to be solved at each node point to evaluate the effective viscosity.
The local Reynolds number Re = Uy/ν is formed with the local absolute value of the
velocity and the distance to the nearest wall. This implicitly assumes that the main flow
direction is parallel to the wall.

WALL DISTANCE
The wall distance, y is provided by a mathematical Wall Distance interface that is
included when using the L-VEL model. The solution to the wall distance equation is
controlled using the parameter lref. The distance to objects larger than lref is
represented accurately, while objects smaller than lref are effectively diminished by
appearing to be farther away than they actually are. This is a desirable feature in
turbulence modeling since small objects would get too large an impact on the solution
if the wall distance were measured exactly.

The most convenient way to handle the wall distance variable is to solve for it in a
separate study step. A Wall Distance Initialization study type is provided for this
purpose and should be added before the actual Stationary or Time Dependent study
step.

WALL BOUNDARY CONDITION

Low Reynolds Number Wall Treatment

The L-VEL turbulence model is consistent with a no slip boundary condition; that is,
u = 0. Since the turbulence model is algebraic, no additional boundary condition is
needed. This boundary conditions is applied for Wall Treatment equal to Low Re.

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 193

 The L-VEL model can be considered to be well resolved at a wall if l c+ is of order unity.
l c+ is the distance, measured in viscous units, from the wall to the center of the wall
adjacent cell and can be evaluated as the boundary variable: lplus_cc.

Automatic Wall Treatment

The default boundary treatment for Algebraic yPlus is the Automatic wall treatment.
The details are described in Wall Boundary Condition for The Algebraic yPlus
Turbulence Model.

See also Wall for boundary condition details.

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual:

• The Wall Distance Interface

• Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with Initialization, and
Wall Distance Initialization

The k-ε Turbulence Model

The k-ε model is one of the most used turbulence models for industrial applications.
This module includes the standard k-ε model (Ref. 1). The model introduces two
additional transport equations and two dependent variables: the turbulent kinetic
energy, k, and the turbulent dissipation rate, ε. The turbulent viscosity is modeled as

k2
μ T = ρC μ ------ (4-83)
ε

where Cμ is a model constant.

The transport equation for k reads:

∂k μT
ρ ------ + ρ u ⋅ ∇k = ∇ ⋅   μ + ------ ∇k + P k – ρε (4-84)
∂t   σk 

where the production term is

P k = μ T  ∇u: ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – --- ( ∇ ⋅ u ) 2 – --- ρk∇ ⋅ u

2 2
(4-85)
3 3

The transport equation for ε reads:

194 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 ∂ε μT ε ε2
ρ ----- + ρ u ⋅ ∇ε = ∇ ⋅   μ + ------ ∇ε + C ε1 --- P – C ε2 ρ ----- (4-86)
∂t   σε   k k k

The model constants in Equation 4-83, Equation 4-84, and Equation 4-86 are
determined from experimental data (Ref. 1) and the values are listed in Table 4-3.
TABLE 4-3: MODEL CONSTANTS

CONSTANT VALUE

Cμ 0.09
Cε1 1.44
Cε2 1.92
σk 1.0
σε 1.3

MIXING LENGTH LIMIT

Equation 4-84 and Equation 4-86 cannot be implemented directly as written. There
is, for example, nothing that prevents division by zero. The equations are instead
implemented as suggested in Ref. 10. The implementation includes an upper limit on
lim :
the mixing length, l mix

3/2
l mix = max  C μ -----------, l mix
lim 
k
 (4-87)
ε

lim should not be

The mixing length is used to calculated the turbulent viscosity. l mix
active in a converged solution but is merely a tool to obtain convergence.

REALIZABILITY CONSTRAINTS
The eddy-viscosity model of the Reynolds stress tensor can be written

2
ρu i u j = – 2μ T S ij + --- ρkδ ij
3

where δij is the Kronecker delta and Sij is the strain-rate tensor. The diagonal elements
of the Reynolds stress tensor must be nonnegative, but calculating μT from
Equation 4-83 does not guarantee this. To assert that

ρu i u i ≥ 0 ∀i

the turbulent viscosity is subjected to a realizability constraint. The constraint for 2D

and 2D axisymmetry without swirl is:

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 195

 ρk 2
μ T ≤ ----------------------- (4-88)
3 S ij S ij

and for 3D and 2D axisymmetry with swirl flow it reads:

ρk
μ T ≤ --------------------------- (4-89)
6 S ij S ij

Combining equation Equation 4-88 with Equation 4-83 and the definition of the
mixing length gives a limit on the mixing length scale:

k
l mix ≤ 2
--- ------------------- (4-90)
3 S ij S ij

Equivalently, combining Equation 4-89 with Equation 4-83 and Equation 4-87 gives:

1 k
l mix ≤ ------- ------------------- (4-91)
6 S ij S ij

This means there are two limitations on lmix: the realizability constraint and the
imposed limit via Equation 4-87.

The effect of not applying a realizability constraint is typically excessive turbulence

production. The effect is most clearly visible at stagnation points. To avoid such
artifacts, the realizability constraint is always applied for the RANS models. More
details can be found in Ref. 4, Ref. 5, and Ref. 6.

MODEL LIMITATIONS
The k-ε turbulence model relies on several assumptions, the most important of which
is that the Reynolds number is high enough. It is also important that the turbulence is
in equilibrium in boundary layers, which means that production equals dissipation.
These assumptions limit the accuracy of the model because they are not always true. It
does not, for example, respond correctly to flows with adverse pressure gradients and
can result in under-prediction of the spatial extent of recirculation zones (Ref. 1).
Furthermore, in simulations of rotating flows, the model often shows poor agreement
with experimental data (Ref. 2). In most cases, the limited accuracy is a fair tradeoff for
the amount of computational resources saved compared to using more complicated
turbulence models.

196 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

WALL FUNCTIONS
The flow close to a solid wall is for a turbulent flow very different from the free stream.
This means that the assumptions used to derive the k-ε model are not valid close to
walls. While it is possible to modify the k-ε model so that it describes the flow in wall
regions (see The Low Reynolds Number k-ε Turbulence Model), this is not always
desirable because of the very high resolution requirements that follow. Instead,
analytical expressions are used to describe the flow near the walls. These expressions
are known as wall functions.

When using wall functions in COMSOL Multiphysics, a theoretical lift-off from the
physical wall is assumed as shown in Figure 4-7. Expressed in viscous units, the wall
lift-off is defined as

ρC μ1 / 4 k
+ = max  h
δw --- ----------------------- , 11.06
2 μ 

The first argument is derived from the law of the wall. The second argument is the
distance from the wall, in viscous units, where the logarithmic layer meets the viscous
sublayer (or rather would meet it if there were no buffer layer in between). This lower
limit ensures that the wall functions remain non-singular for all Reynolds numbers.

The wall lift-off, δw, is defined as

δw +μ
δ w = ----------
ρu τ

where the friction velocity, uτ, is defined by

u τ = max  C μ1 / 4 k, --------
u
 u+ 
1
u + = ----- log ( δ w
+) +B
κv

where in turn, κv, is the von Kárman constant (default value 0.41) and B is a constant
that by default is set to 5.2. The two arguments for uτ are under some addition
assumptions theoretically identical in the logarithmic layer (Ref. 1), but deviate in
stagnation points and when the local Reynolds number becomes low. The definition
of δw is such that it becomes h/2 when δ w + > 11.06 , but it can become larger when the

lower limit for δ w , 11.06, takes effect.

+

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 197

 Wall functions give reasonable predictions as long as δ w
+ is lower than some upper limit

that depends on the turbulent Reynolds number (Ref. 28). The upper limit is hardly
ever lower than 50, and in many practical applications as high as a few hundred.
Highest accuracy is obtained if δ w
+ is also everywhere larger than 25, which

approximately corresponds to the beginning of the logarithmic layer. It can also be

worthwhile to check that δw is small compared to the dimensions of the geometry,
especially if δ w
+ = 11.06 for a significant fraction of the wall area.

The boundary conditions for the velocity is a no-penetration condition u ⋅ n = 0 and

a shear stress condition

u
n ⋅ σ – ( n ⋅ σ ⋅ n )n = – ρu τ -----+-
u

where

σ = μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T )

is the viscous stress tensor.

The turbulent kinetic energy is subject to a homogeneous Neumann condition

n ⋅ ∇k = 0 and the boundary condition for ε reads:

C μ3 / 4 k 3 / 2
ε = -----------------------
κv δw

See Ref. 10 and Ref. 11 for further details.

WALL FUNCTIONS FOR ROUGH WALLS

The physics interfaces Wall and Interior Wall have an option to apply wall roughness
by modifying the wall functions. Cebeci (Ref. 21) suggested a model which adjusts the
friction velocity for surface roughness,

u
u τ = ------------------------------------------- (4-92)
1
----- ln δ w + B – ΔB
+
κv

where

198 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

  0 k s+ ≤ 2.25

 k s+ – 2.25
 1-
---- ln ------------------------ + C s k s+ sin [ 0.4258 ( ln k s+ – 0.811 ) ] 2.25 ≤ k s+ ≤ 90
ΔB =  κv 87.75

 1
 ----- ln ( 1 + C s k + ) k s+ ≥ 90
 κv s

k s+ is the roughness height in viscous units,

ρC μ1 / 4 k
k s+ = ----------------------- k s
μ

The roughness height, ks, is the peak-to-peak value of the surface variations and the
wall is relocated to their mean level.

Figure 4-8: Definitions of the roughness height and the modified wall location.

Hence, when Equation 4-92 is used the lift-off is modified according to,

+
δw
+ = max { 11.06, k + ⁄ 2, h ⁄ 2 }
s

where h+ is the height of the boundary mesh cell in viscous units. Cs is a parameter
that depends on the shape and distribution of the roughness elements. When the
turbulence parameters κν and B have the values 0.41 and 5.2, respectively, and
Cs = 0.26, ks corresponds to the equivalent sand roughness height, kseq, as
introduced by Nikuradse (Ref. 22). A few characteristic values of the equivalent sand
roughness height are given in Table 4-4 below,
TABLE 4-4: EQUIVALENT SAND ROUGHNESS HEIGHTS kseq
SURFACE TYPE EQUIVALENT SAND ROUGHNESS HEIGHT

Steel, new 50 μm
Galvanized steel 0.13 mm
Riveted steel 0.9-9 mm
Cast iron, new 0.25 mm
Galvanized iron 0.15-0.30 mm

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 199

 TABLE 4-4: EQUIVALENT SAND ROUGHNESS HEIGHTS kseq
SURFACE TYPE EQUIVALENT SAND ROUGHNESS HEIGHT

Cast iron, rusted 1.0-1.5 mm

Bituminized steel or iron, new 30-50 μm
Glass 0.3 μm
Drawn tubing 1.5 μm
Wood, new 0.5 mm
Concrete, new 0.3-3 mm

Use other values of the roughness parameter Cs and roughness height ks to specify
generic surface roughnesses.

INITIAL VALUES
The default initial values for a stationary simulation are (Ref. 10),

u=0
p=0
 10 ⋅ μ  2
k =  -------------------------------
lim )
ρ ( 0.1 ⋅ l mix
C μ k init 3/2
ε = ----------------------
-
0.1 ⋅ l mix lim

lim is the mixing length limit. For time-dependent simulations, the initial value
where l mix
for k is instead

μ
k =  -------------------------------2
 ρ ( 0.1 ⋅ l lim )
mix

SCALING FOR TIME-DEPENDENT SIMULATIONS

The k-ε equations are derived under the assumption that the flow has a high enough
Reynolds number. If this assumption is not fulfilled, both k and ε have very small
magnitudes and behave chaotically in the manner that the relative values of k and ε can
change by large amounts due to small changes in the flow field.

A time-dependent simulation of a turbulent flow can include a period when the flow
is not fully turbulent. A typical example is the startup phase when for example an inlet
velocity or a pressure difference is gradually increased. To sort out numerical

200 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

fluctuations in k and ε during such periods, the default time-dependent solver for the
k-ε model employs unscaled absolute tolerances for k and ε. The tolerances are set to

k scale = ( 0.01U scale ) 2

(4-93)
3/2 ⁄ (L
ε scale = 0.09k sclae fact ⋅ l bb, min )

where Uscale and Lfact are input parameters available in the Advanced Settings section
of the physics interface node. Their default values are 1 m/s and 0.035 respectively.
lbb,min is the shortest side of the geometry bounding box. Equation 4-93 is closely
related to the expressions for k and ε on inlet boundaries (see Equation 4-156).

The practical implication of Equation 4-93 is that variations in k and ε smaller than
kscale and εscale respectively, are regarded as numerical noise.

The Realizable k-ε Turbulence Model

The Realizable k-ε turbulence model (Ref. 14) is an extension to the standard k-ε
model with built-in realizability conditions,

2
ui ≥ 0
2 (4-94)
ui uj
-------------
-≤1
2 2
ui uj

The transport equation for the turbulent kinetic energy is the same as for the standard
k-ε model, Equation 4-84, while Equation 4-95 is solved for the turbulent dissipation
rate,

∂ε μT ε2
ρ ----- + ρ u ⋅ ∇ε = ∇ ⋅   μ + ------ ∇ε + C 1 ρSε – C ε2 ρ -------------------- (4-95)
∂t  σε   k + νε

where,

 η  Sk 1  ∂u i ∂u j
C 1 = max  0.43, ------------- , η = -------, S= 2S ij S ij, S ij = ---  -------- + -------- (4-96)
 5 + η ε 2  ∂x j ∂x i 

The turbulent viscosity is given by Equation 4-83, but Cμ is not constant for the
realizable k-ε model,

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 201

 1
C μ = ----------------------------------- (4-97)
(*) k
A 0 + A s U ---
ε

with,

2 2S ij S jk S ki
6 cos  --- acos ( 6W ) ,
1 (4-98)
As = W = ------------------------------------
-
3  3
S

and,

(*) 1  ∂u i ∂u j (4-99)
U = S ij S ij + Ω ij Ω ij, Ω ij = ---  -------- – --------
2  ∂x j ∂x i 

Sij and Ωij are the mean strain- and rotation-rate tensors respectively. The default
constants for the Realizable k-ε model are,

C ε2 = 1.9 A 0 = 4 σ k = 1 σ ε = 1.2 (4-100)

MODEL PROPERTIES
Compared to the standard k-ε model, the realizable k-ε model yields better predictions
for certain flows. One example is the round jet, for which the standard k-ε model
overestimates the spreading rate. In general, since the realizability conditions in
Equation 4-94 are approached asymptotically, the turbulence characteristics are more
consistent than for the standard k-ε model. The realizable k-ε model uses wall
functions and has the same default initial conditions and scalings as the standard k-ε
model (see Wall Functions, Initial Values and Scaling for Time-Dependent
Simulations).

The k-ω Turbulence Model

The k-ω model solves for the turbulent kinetic energy, k, and for the dissipation per
unit turbulent kinetic energy, ω. ω is also commonly know as the specific dissipation
rate. The CFD Module has the Wilcox revised k-ω model (Ref. 1)

∂k
ρ ------ + ρu ⋅ ∇k = P k – ρβ * kω + ∇ ⋅ ( ( μ + σ * μ T ) ∇k )
∂t (4-101)
∂ω ω
ρ ------- + ρu ⋅ ∇ω = α ---- P k – ρβω 2 + ∇ ⋅ ( ( μ + σμ T ) ∇ω )
∂t k

202 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

where

k
μ T = ρ ---- (4-102)
ω

13 1 1
α = ------ β = β 0 f β β * = β 0* f β σ = --- σ * = ---
25 2 2

13 1 + 70χ ω Ω ij Ω jk S ki
β 0 = ---------- f β = ----------------------- χ ω = --------------------------
125 1 + 80χ ω ( β 0* ω ) 3

 1 χk ≤ 0

β 0* = ---------- f β * =  1 + 680χ 2
9 1
χ k = ------3- ( ∇k ⋅ ∇ω ) (4-103)
100  -------------------------k- ω
 1 + 400χ 2 χ k > 0
 k

where in turn Ωij is the mean rotation-rate tensor

1  ∂u i ∂u j
Ω ij = ---  -------- – --------
2  ∂x j ∂x i 

and Sij is the mean strain-rate tensor

1  ∂u i ∂u j
S ij = ---  -------- + --------
2  ∂x j ∂x i 

Pk is given by Equation 4-85. The following auxiliary relations for the dissipation, ε,
and the turbulent mixing length, l∗, are also used:

k (4-104)
ε = β * ωk l mix = -------
ω

MIXING LENGTH LIMIT AND REALIZABILITY CONSTRAINTS

The implementation of the k-ω model relies on the same concepts as the k-ε model
(Ref. 10). This means that the following approximations have been used:

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 203

 ω ρ
---- ≈ ---------------------------------
k max ( μ T, eps )

k - l-------- ρl mix 2 ρ
l mix
1- -----------
--- = =
mix
- = l mix  ------------
- ≈ ---------------------------------
ω ω k k  μ T  max ( μ T, eps )

l mix = min  -------, l mix

k lim 
, l r
ω

where lr is the limit given by the realizability constraints (Equation 4-90 and
Equation 4-91).

WALL BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

Automatic Wall Treatment

The automatic wall treatment is a way to obtain an accurate low-Reynolds-number
formulation when the mesh allows it, and to fall back on a wall function formulation
when the mesh is coarse. It is a blending between the solutions in the linear sublayer
and the logarithmic layer respectively. For the specific dissipation, these solutions read

6ν uτ
ω visc = ------------2- ω log = ----------------------- (4-105)
β0 δw β0 κv δw
*

The corresponding expressions for the velocity is

νU || U ||
u τvisc = ----------- u τlog = ------------------------------------- (4-106)
δw 1-
---- log ( δ w +)+B
κv

where δw is the distance to the nearest wall, κv, is the von Kárman constant (default
value 0.41), U|| is the velocity parallel to the wall and B is a constant that by default is
set to 5.2. Menter et al. (Ref. 9) suggested the following smooth blending expressions
for ω and uτ:

ω = ω visc
2 + ω2
log (4-107)

and

uτ = 4 ( u τvisc ) 4 + ( u τlog ) 4 (4-108)

204 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

These expression can be combined with the lift-off concept shown in Figure 4-7 which
gives δw = hw/2. The wall condition for ω is given by Equation 4-107 and the
conditions for the momentum equations are a no-penetration condition u ⋅ n = 0 and
a shear stress condition

u
n ⋅ σ – ( n ⋅ σ ⋅ n )n = – ρu τ -----+- (4-109)
u

The k-equation formally fulfills ∇k ⋅ n = 0 both at the wall and in the log-layer, so
this condition is applied for all δw+.

The system given byEquation 4-92 through Equation 4-109 are, however, nonlinear
in uτ and not very stable. To circumvent this, a variable u∗, log is introduced (see
Ref. 10 and Ref. 11) such that

u *, log = 4 β 0* k (4-110)

This is then used in an alternative expression for the friction velocity:

u* = 4 ( u τvisc ) 4 + ( u *, log ) 4 (4-111)

Equation 4-111 is in turn is used to calculate an alternative dimensionless wall distance

u* δw
* = ------------
δw - (4-112)
ν

Equation 4-111 is used instead of uτ in the expression for ωlog and Equation 4-112 is
used instead of δw+ in the expression for uτlog. The traction condition in
Equation 4-109 is replaced by

u
n ⋅ σ – ( n ⋅ σ ⋅ n )n = – ρu * -----+- (4-113)
u

Observe that the variable u+ is calculated using equation Equation 4-108.

The resulting wall resolution, δw+, is available as the postprocessing variable

Delta_wPlus.

Wall Functions
When Wall Treatment is set to Wall functions, wall boundaries are treated with the same
type of boundary conditions as for the k-ε model (see Wall Functions) with Cμ replaced
by β 0* and the boundary condition for ω given by

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 205

 ρk -
ω w = ------------- (4-114)
κδ w +μ

Low Reynolds Number

The k-ω turbulence model can be integrated all the way down to the wall and is
consistent with the no-slip condition u = 0. Since all velocities must disappear on the
wall, so must k. Hence, k=0 on the wall.

The corresponding boundary condition for ω is

6μ
lim ω = ---------------
- (4-115)
lw → 0 ρβ 0 l w 2

To avoid the singularity at the wall, ω is not solved for in the cells adjacent to a solid
wall. Instead, its value is prescribed by Equation 4-115 (using the variable ωw, which
only exists in those cells). Accurate solutions in the near-wall region require that,

+ = ρu l ⁄ μ ∼ 1
lw (4-116)
τ w

where uτ is the friction velocity which is calculated from the wall shear-stress τw,

uτ = τw ⁄ ρ (4-117)

The boundary variable Distance to cell center in viscous units, lplus_cc, is available to
ensure that the mesh is fine enough. According to Equation 4-116, l c+ should be
about 0.5. Observe that very small values of l c+ can reduce the convergence rate.

Since the ωw requires the wall distance, a wall distance equation must be solved prior
to solving a k-ω model with low-Reynolds-number wall treatment.

INITIAL VALUES
The default initial values are the same as for the k-ε model (see Initial Values) but with
the initial value of ω given by

k init
ω init = ----------------------
-
0.1 ⋅ l mix lim

SCALING FOR TIME-DEPENDENT SIMULATIONS

The k-ω model applies absolute scales of the same type as the k-ε model (see Scaling
for Time-Dependent Simulations) except that the scale for ω is given by

206 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 k scale
ω scale = ---------------------------------
L fact ⋅ l bb, min

MODEL PROPERTIES
The k-ω model can in many cases give results that are superior to those obtained with
the k-ε model (Ref. 1). It behaves, for example, much better for flat plate flows with
adverse or favorable pressure gradients. However, there are two main drawbacks. The
first is that the k-ω model can display a relatively strong sensitivity to free stream inlet
values of ω. The other is that the k-ω model is numerically less robust than the k-ε
model.

The SST Turbulence Model

To combine the superior behavior of the k-ω model in the near-wall region with the
robustness of the k-ε model, Menter (Ref. 18) introduced the SST (Shear Stress
Transport) model which interpolates between the two. The version of the SST model
in the CFD Module includes a few well-tested (Ref. 17, Ref. 19) modifications, such
as production limiters for both k and ω, the use of S instead of Ω in the limiter for μT
and a sharper cut-off for the cross-diffusion term.

It is also a low Reynolds number model, that is, it does not apply wall functions. “Low
Reynolds number” refers to the region close to the wall where viscous effects
dominate. The model equations are formulated in terms k and ω,

∂k
ρ ------ + ρu ⋅ ∇k = P – ρβ 0* kω + ∇ ⋅ ( ( μ + σ k μ T ) ∇k )
∂t
(4-118)
∂ω ργ ρσ ω2
ρ ------- + ρu ⋅ ∇ω = ------ P – ρβω 2 + ∇ ⋅ ( ( μ + σ ω μ T ) ∇ω ) + 2 ( 1 – f v1 ) ------------- ∇ω ⋅ ∇k
∂t μT ω

where,

P = min ( P k, 10ρβ 0* kω ) (4-119)

and Pk is given in Equation 4-85. The turbulent viscosity is given by,

ρa 1 k
μ T = ---------------------------------------- (4-120)
max ( a 1 ω, Sf v2 )

where S is the characteristic magnitude of the mean velocity gradients,

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 207

 S = 2S ij S ij (4-121)

The model constants are defined through interpolation of appropriate inner and outer
values,

φ = f v1 φ 1 + ( 1 – f v1 )φ 2 for φ = β, γ, σ k, σ ω (4-122)

The interpolation functions fv1 and fv2 are defined as,

f v1 = tanh ( θ 14 )
 k 500μ 4ρσ ω2 k
θ 1 = min max  ---------------- , -------------- , --------------------- (4-123)
β
 0 w * ωl ρωl 2 CD l 2
w kω w

2ρσ ω2
CD kω = max  ----------------- ∇ω ⋅ ∇k, 10 -10
 ω 

and,

f v2 = tanh ( θ 22 )
 2 k 500μ (4-124)
θ 2 = max  ---------------- , -------------
-
 β 0* ωl w ρωl w 2


where lw is the distance to the closest wall.

Realizability Constraints are applied to the SST model.

WALL DISTANCE
The wall distance variable, lw, is provided by a mathematical Wall Distance interface
that is included when using the SST model. The solution to the wall distance equation
is controlled using the parameter lref. The distance to objects larger than lref is
represented accurately, while objects smaller than lref are effectively diminished by
appearing to be farther away than they actually are. This is a desirable feature in
turbulence modeling since small objects would get too large an impact on the solution
if the wall distance were measured exactly.

The most convenient way to handle the wall distance variable is to solve for it in a
separate study step. A Wall Distance Initialization study type is provided for this
purpose and should be added before the actual Stationary or Time Dependent study
step.

208 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The default model constants are given by,

β 1 = 0.075, γ 1 = 5 ⁄ 9, σ k1 = 0.85, σ ω1 = 0.5

β 2 = 0.0828, γ 2 = 0.44, σ k2 = 1.0, σ ω2 = 0.856 (4-125)
β 0* = 0.09, a 1 = 0.31

WALL BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

Automatic Wall Treatment

When Wall Treatment is set to Automatic the same type of formulation described for the
k-ω model is applied at the boundary but with β1 instead of β0. See Automatic Wall
Treatment for more details.

Low Reynolds Number

The SST model is low-Reynolds-number model, so the equations can be integrated all
the way through the boundary layer to the wall, which allows for a no slip condition
to be applied to the velocity, that is u=0.

Since all velocities must disappear on the wall, so must k. Hence, k=0 on the wall.

The corresponding boundary condition for ω is

6μ
lim ω = ---------------
- (4-126)
lw → 0 ρβ 1 l w 2

To avoid the singularity at the wall, ω is not solved for in the cells adjacent to a solid
wall. Instead, its value is prescribed by Equation 4-115 (using the variable ωw, which
only exists in those cells). Accurate solutions in the near-wall region require that,

+ = ρu l ⁄ μ ∼ 1
lw (4-127)
τ w

where uτ is the friction velocity which is calculated from the wall shear-stress τw,

uτ = τw ⁄ ρ (4-128)

The boundary variable Distance to cell center in viscous units, lplus_cc, is available to
ensure that the mesh is fine enough. According to Equation 4-116, l c+ should be
about 0.5. Observe that very small values of l c+ can reduce the convergence rate.

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 209

 INLET VALUES FOR THE TURBULENCE LENGTH SCALE AND INTENSITY
The guidelines given in Inlet Values for the Turbulence Length Scale and Turbulent
Intensity for selecting the turbulence length scale, LT, and the turbulence intensity, IT,
apply also to the SST model.

FAR-FIELD BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

The SST model was originally developed for exterior aerodynamic simulations. The
recommended far-field boundary conditions (Ref. 18) can be expressed as,

10 -5 U ∞2 0.1U ∞ 2
-------------------- < k ∞ < -----------------
Re L Re L
(4-129)
U U
-------∞- < ω ∞ < 10 -------∞-
L L

where L is the approximate length of the computational domain.

INITIAL VALUES
The SST model has the same default initial guess as the standard k-ω model (see Initial
lim replaced by l .
Values) but with l mix ref

The default initial value for the wall distance equation (which solves for the reciprocal
wall distance) is 2/lref.

SCALING FOR TIME-DEPENDENT SIMULATIONS

The SST model applies absolute scales of the same type as the k-ω model (see Scaling
for Time-Dependent Simulations).

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual:

• The Wall Distance Interface

• Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with Initialization, and
Wall Distance Initialization

The Low Reynolds Number k-ε Turbulence Model

When the accuracy provided by wall functions in the k-ε model is not enough, a so
called low Reynolds number model can be used. “Low Reynolds number” refers to the
region close to the wall where viscous effects dominate.

210 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Most low Reynolds number k-ε models adapt the turbulence transport equations by
introducing damping functions. This module includes the AKN model (after the
inventors Abe, Kondoh, and Nagano; Ref. 12). The AKN k-ε model for compressible
flows reads (Ref. 8 and Ref. 12):

∂k μT
ρ ------ + ρ u ⋅ ∇k = ∇ ⋅   μ + ------ ∇k + P k – ρε
∂t   σk 
(4-130)
∂ε μT ε ε2
ρ ----- + ρ u ⋅ ∇ε = ∇ ⋅   μ + ------ ∇ε + C ε1 --- P – f ε C ε2 ρ -----
∂t   σε   k k k

where

P k = μ T  ∇u: ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – --- ( ∇ ⋅ u ) 2 – --- ρk∇ ⋅ u

2 2
 3  3
k2
μ T = ρf μ C μ ------
ε
(4-131)
f μ = ( 1 – e –l ⁄ 14 ) ⋅  1 + -----------
* 2 5 - – ( Rt ⁄ 200 ) 2
e
R t3 / 4 
2
fε = ( 1 – e –l ⁄ 3.1 ) 2 ⋅ ( 1 – 0.3e –( R t ⁄ 6.5 ) )
*

l * = ( ρu ε l w ) ⁄ μ R t = ρk 2 ⁄ ( με ) u ε = ( με ⁄ ρ ) 1 / 4

and

C ε1 = 1.5 C ε2 = 1.9 C μ = 0.09 σ k = 1.4 σ ε = 1.4 (4-132)

lw is the distance to the closest wall.

Realizability Constraints are applied to the low Reynolds number k-ε model.

WALL DISTANCE
The wall distance variable, lw, is provided by a mathematical Wall Distance interface
that is included when using the low Reynolds number k-ε model. The solution to the
wall distance equation is controlled using the parameter lref. The distance to objects
larger than lref is represented accurately, while objects smaller than lref are effectively
diminished by appearing to be farther away than they actually are. This is a desirable
feature in turbulence modeling since small objects would get too large an impact on
the solution if the wall distance were measured exactly.

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 211

 The most convenient way to handle the wall distance variable is to solve for it in a
separate study step. A Wall Distance Initialization study type is provided for this
purpose and should be added before the actual Stationary or Time Dependent study
step.

WALL BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

Automatic Wall Treatment

The automatic wall treatment is a way to obtain an accurate low-Reynolds-number
formulation when the mesh allows it, and to fall back on a wall function formulation
when the mesh is coarse. It is a blending between the solutions in the linear sublayer
and the logarithmic layer respectively. A formulation for ω-based methods was
described by Menter et al. in Ref. 9. The Low-Reynolds number model uses a similar
formulation and defines

νU ||
u τvisc = ----------- u *, log = 4 Cμ k (4-133)
δw

and

u* = 4 ( u τvisc ) 4 + ( u *, log ) 4 (4-134)

δw is the distance to the closest wall. The boundary conditions for the momentum
equations are a no-penetration condition u ⋅ n = 0 and a shear stress condition

u
n ⋅ σ – ( n ⋅ σ ⋅ n )n = – ρu * -----+- (4-135)
u

In Equation 4-135, u+ = U||/uτ with

uτ = 4 ( u τvisc ) 4 + ( u τlog ) 4 (4-136)

where in turn

U ||
u τlog = ------------------------------------- (4-137)
1-
---- log ( δ w +)+B
κv

Here, κv, is the von Kárman constant (default value 0.41), U|| is the velocity parallel to
the wall and B is a constant that by default is set to 5.2.

212 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

These expression can be combined with the lift-off concept shown in Figure 4-7 which
gives δw = hw/2. The k-equation formally fulfills ∇k ⋅ n = 0 both at the wall and in
the log-layer, so this condition is applied for all δw+.

The conditions for the turbulent dissipation, ε, is given by the Wolfshtein model, which
is commonly employed in two-layer k-ε implementations (Ref. 13):

k3 / 2
ε = -----------
lε
– Re δw ⁄ A ε
lε = Cl δw ( 1 – e ) C l = κ v C μ– 3 ⁄ 4 (4-138)

δw k
A ε = 2C l Re y = --------------
ν

The resulting wall resolution, δw+, is available as the postprocessing variable.

Delta_wPlus.

Low Reynolds Number Wall Treatment

The damping terms in the equations for k and ε allow for a no slip condition to be
applied to the velocity, that is u=0 which is the case when Wall Treatment is set to Low
Re.

Since all velocities must disappear on the wall, so must k. Hence, k=0 on the wall.

The correct wall boundary condition for ε is

2 ( μ ⁄ ρ ) ( ∂ k ⁄ ∂n ) 2

where n is the wall normal direction. This condition is however numerically very
unstable. Therefore, ε is not solved for in the cells adjacent to a solid wall and instead
the analytical relation

μk
ε = 2 --- ----- (4-139)
ρ lw 2

is prescribed in those cells (using the variable εw, which only exists in those cells).
Equation 4-139 can be derived as the first term in a series expansion of

2 ( μ ⁄ ρ ) ( ∂ k ⁄ ∂n ) 2

For the expansion to be valid, it is required that

l c+ < 0.5

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 213

 l c+ is the distance, measured in viscous units, from the wall to the center of the wall
adjacent cell. The boundary variable Distance to cell center in viscous units, lplus_cc,
is available to ensure that the mesh is fine enough. Observe that it is unlikely that a
solution is obtained at all if

l c+ » 0.5

INLET VALUES FOR THE TURBULENCE LENGTH SCALE AND INTENSITY

The guidelines given in Inlet Values for the Turbulence Length Scale and Turbulent
Intensity for selecting the turbulence length scale, LT, and the turbulence intensity, IT,
apply also to the low-Reynolds number k-ε model.

INITIAL VALUES
The low-Reynolds number k-ε model has the same default initial guess as the standard
lim replaced by l .
k-ε model (see Initial Values) but with l mix ref

The default initial value for the wall distance equation (which solves for the reciprocal
wall distance) is 2/lref.

In some cases, especially for stationary solutions, a fast way to convergence is to first
solve the model using the ordinary k-ε model and then to use that solution as an initial
guess for the low-Reynolds number k-ε model. The procedure is then as follows:

1 Solve the model using the k-ε model.

2 Switch to the low-Reynolds number k-ε model.
3 Add a new Stationary with Initialization study.
4 In the Wall Distance Initialization study step, set Values of variables not solved for to
Solution from the first study. This is to propagate the solution from the first study
down to the second step in the new study.
5 Solve the new study.

214 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

SCALING FOR TIME-DEPENDENT SIMULATIONS
The low-Reynolds number k-ε model applies absolute scales of the same type as the
k-ε model (see Scaling for Time-Dependent Simulations).

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual:

• The Wall Distance Interface

Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with Initialization, and
Wall Distance Initialization

The Spalart-Allmaras Turbulence Model

The Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model is a one-equation turbulence model
designed mainly for aerodynamic applications. It is a low Reynolds number model, that
is, it does not utilize wall functions. “Low Reynolds number” refers to the region close
to the wall where viscous effects dominate.

The model gives satisfactory results for many engineering applications, in particular for
airfoil and turbine blade applications for which it is calibrated. It is however not
appropriate for applications involving jet-like free shear regions. It also has some
nonphysical properties. For example, it predicts zero decay rate for the eddy viscosity
in a uniform free-stream (Ref. 1).

Compared to the low Reynolds number k-ε model, the Spalart-Allmaras model is
generally considered more robust and is often used as a way to obtain an initial solution
for more advanced models. It can give reasonable results on relatively coarse meshes
for which the low Reynolds number k-ε model does not converge or even diverges.

This module includes the standard version of the Spalart-Allmaras model without the
trip term (see Ref. 1 and Ref. 15). The model solves for the undamped turbulent
kinematic viscosity, ν̃ :

∂-----
ν̃- ν̃ 2 1 c b2
+ u ⋅ ∇ν̃ = c b1 S̃ν˜ – c w1 f w  ----- + --- ∇ ⋅ ( ( ν + ν̃ ) ∇ν̃ ) + -------- ∇ν̃ ⋅ ∇ν̃ (4-140)
∂t lw σ σ

The model includes the following auxiliary variables

c b1 1 + c b2 ν̃ χ3 -
- + -----------------,
c w1 = ------- χ = ---, f v1 = -------------------
κ v2 σ ν χ 3 + c v1 3

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 215

 1/6
χ  1 + c w3 6 
f v2 = 1 – --------------------, f w = g  --------------------
- , g = r + c w2 ( r 6 – r )
1 + χf v1 6
 g + c w3 6


ν̃ ν̃ -
r = min  -----------------, 10 , ˜ = max  Ω + C min ( 0, S – Ω ) + -----------
S f , 0.3Ω
S˜ κ 2l 2  Rot
κ 2 l 2 v2 
v w v w

S= 2S ij S ij Ω= 2Ω ij Ω ij

where

S ij = 0.5 ( ∇u + ∇u T ) Ω ij = 0.5 ( ∇u – ∇u T )

are the mean strain rate and mean rotation rate tensors, lw, is the distance to the closest
wall and ν=μ/ρ is the kinematic viscosity. The turbulent viscosity is calculated by

μ T = ρν̃f v1

The default values for the modeling parameters are:

c b1 = 0.1355 c b2 = 0.622 c v1 = 7.1 σ = 2⁄3

c w2 = 0.3 c w3 = 2 κ v = 0.41 C Rot = 2.0

The implementation of the production term S ˜ includes the rotation correction

˜ are furthermore regularized
suggested in Ref. 15. See also Ref. 16. The terms r and S
according to Ref. 15.

Pseudo Time Stepping for Turbulent Flow Models is by default applied to the
stationary form of the Spalart-Allmaras model.

WALL BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

Automatic Wall Treatment

For the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model, the following relation is valid from the wall
all the way through the log layer (Ref. 25):

+ ν̃ κ v δ w u τ + (4-141)
ν̃ = κ v δ w u τ ⇔ ν̃ = --- = ------------------ = κ v δ w
ν ν

216 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

δw+ from Equation 4-141 can be used in Equation 4-106 to calculate uτlog which in
turn gives uτ through Equation 4-108. With uτ, the boundary condition for ν̃ is given
by ν̃ = κ δ u .
v w τ

These relations are applied to the lift-off concept shown in Figure 4-7, which gives
δw = hw/2. The boundary conditions for the momentum equations are a
no-penetration condition, u·n = 0 and the traction condition given by
Equation 4-109.

The resulting wall resolution, δw+, is available as the postprocessing variable.

Delta_wPlus.

Low Reynolds Number Wall Treatment

The Spalart-Allmaras model is consistent with a no-slip boundary condition; that is,
u=0. Since there can be no fluctuations on the wall, the boundary condition for ν̃ is
ν̃ = 0 .

The Spalart-Allmaras model can be considered to be well resolved at a wall if l c+ is of

order unity. l c+ is the distance, measured in viscous units, from the wall to the center
of the wall adjacent cell and can be evaluated as the boundary variable:
Distance to cell center in viscous units, lplus_cc. See also Wall for boundary condition
details.

INITIAL VALUES
The default initial values for the Spalart-Allmaras version of the physics interface are:

u=0
p=0
μ
ν̃ = ---
ρ

SCALING FOR TIME-DEPENDENT SIMULATIONS

The Spalart-Allmaras model applies absolute scales of the same type as the k-ε model
(see Scaling for Time-Dependent Simulations) except that the scale for ν̃ is given
directly by the νscale parameter available in the advanced section of the physics
interface node. The default value for νscale is 5·10−6 m2/s.

The v2-f Turbulence Model

2
For the v2-f model, the turbulent viscosity is based on the velocity fluctuations, v ,
normal to the streamlines. This makes it possible to model turbulence anisotropy, and

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 217

 to separate between low-Reynolds number effects and wall blockage. Nonlocal effects
of the pressure fluctuations on the turbulent fields are included by applying elliptic
relaxation to the pressure strain term (Ref. 26, Ref. 27). The formulation
implemented in COMSOL Multiphysics, solves for the normalized velocity
fluctuations,

2
v
ζ = ----- (4-142)
k

and an elliptic blending function, α, which is used to combine near-wall effects with
those in the far-field. The complete model for compressible flow reads,

∂k μT
ρ ------ + ρ u ⋅ ∇k = ∇ ⋅   μ + ------------ ∇k + P k – ρε
∂t  σ kv2f 
∂ε μT
ρ ----- + ρ u ⋅ ∇ε = ∇ ⋅   μ + ------------ ∇ε + --- ( C' ε1 P k – C' ε2 ρε )
1
∂t   σ εv2f  τ
∂ζ μT μT
ρ ----- + ρu ⋅ ∇ζ = ∇ ⋅   μ + ------------ ∇ζ + ---  α μ + ------------ ∇k ⋅ ∇ζ
2 3 (4-143)
∂t   σ ζv2f   k  σ kv2f
ζ 3 3
– --- P k + α f h + ( 1 – α )f w
k
2 α–1
∇ α = ------------
2
-
L

where

P k = μ T  ∇u: ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – --- ( ∇ ⋅ u ) 2 – --- ρk∇ ⋅ u

2 2
3 3
μ T = ρC μv2f kζτ
ρ Pk
f h = – ---  C 1 – 1 + C 2 ------  ζ – ---
2
τ ρε   3 (4-144)
ζ
f w = – ρ --- ε
k
3/2 3 1/4
ν ν
L = C L max -----------, C η  -----
k k
τ = max ---, C τ ---
ε  ε ε ε

where ν = μ ⁄ ρ . The modified coefficients in the ε-equation are given by

218 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 C' ε1 = C ε1v2f  1 + A 1 ( 1 – α ) -------
3 1
ζ
(4-145)
3  μT ∇2 k 
3/2
C' ε2 = C ε2v2f + α ( 1 – C ε2v2f ) tanh  -----------------
- 
 ρε 

with the default turbulence parameters

C ε1v2f = 1.44 C ε2v2f = 1.83 C μv2f = 0.22 σ kv2f = σ ζv2f = 1

σ ε = 1.22 C 1 = 1.7 C 2 = 1.2 C η = 86 (4-146)
Cτ = 6 A 1 = 0.04

Realizability Constraints are applied to the turbulent viscosity.

WALL DISTANCE
The wall distance variable, lw, is provided by a mathematical Wall Distance interface
that is included when using the v2-f model. The solution to the wall distance equation
is controlled using the parameter lref. The distance to objects larger than lref is
represented accurately, while objects smaller than lref are effectively diminished by
appearing to be farther away than they actually are. This is a desirable feature in
turbulence modeling since small objects would get too large an impact on the solution
if the wall distance were measured exactly.

The most convenient way to handle the wall distance variable is to solve for it in a
separate study step. A Wall Distance Initialization study type is provided for this
purpose and should be added before the actual Stationary or Time Dependent study
step.

WALL BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

Automatic Wall Treatment

The automatic wall treatment is a way to obtain an accurate low-Reynolds-number
formulation when the mesh allows it, and to fall back on a wall function formulation
when the mesh is coarse. It is a blending between the solutions in the linear sublayer
and the logarithmic layer respectively. A formulation for ω-based methods was
described by Menter et al. in Ref. 9. The v2-f model uses a similar formulation and
defines

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 219

 νU ||
u τvisc = ----------- u *, log = 4 C μv2f ζ k (4-147)
δw

and

u* = 4 ( u τvisc ) 4 + ( u *, log ) 4 (4-148)

δw is the distance to the closest wall. The boundary conditions for the momentum
equations are a no-penetration condition u ⋅ n = 0 and a shear stress condition

u
n ⋅ σ – ( n ⋅ σ ⋅ n )n = – ρu * -----+- (4-149)
u

In Equation 4-149, u+ = U||/uτ with

uτ = 4 ( u τvisc ) 4 + ( u τlog ) 4 (4-150)

where in turn

U ||
u τlog = ------------------------------------- (4-151)
1-
---- log ( δ w +)+B
κv

Here, κv, is the von Kárman constant (default value 0.41), U|| is the velocity parallel to
the wall and B is a constant that by default is set to 5.2.

These expression can be combined with the lift-off concept shown in Figure 4-7 which
gives δw = hw/2. The k-equation formally fulfills ∇k ⋅ n = 0 both at the wall and in
the log-layer, so this condition is applied for all δw+.

The conditions for the turbulent dissipation rate, ε, is similar to that in the Wolfshtein
model which is commonly employed in two-layer k-ε implementations (Ref. 13):

3/4 3 / 2
( C μv2f ζ 0 ) k
ε = --------------------------------------------
lε
2 (4-152)
lε = L ( 1 – e– Re L ( δ w ⁄ L ) )

3/4
( C μv2f ζ 0 ) kL
Re y = ---------------------------------------------
2ν

where

220 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 ζ 0 = ---  1 – --------------------
2 1
(4-153)
3 C 1 + C 2

The boundary conditions applied on ζ and α are given by

2
δw –δw ⁄ L
ζ = ζ 0 ------------------
2
-
2
α = 1–e (4-154)
δw + L

The resulting wall resolution, δw+, is available as the postprocessing variable.

Delta_wPlus.

Low Reynolds Number Wall Treatment

The no slip condition, that is u=0 is applied when Wall Treatment is set to Low Re.
2
Since all velocities must disappear on the wall, so must k and ζ (since k ∼ y and
2 4
v ∼ y ). Hence, k=0 and ζ=0 on the wall. By definition, α=0 on the wall.

The correct wall boundary condition for ε is

2 ( μ ⁄ ρ ) ( ∂ k ⁄ ∂n ) 2

where n is the wall normal direction. This condition is however numerically very
unstable. Therefore, ε is not solved for in the cells adjacent to a solid wall and instead
the analytical relation

μk
ε = 2 --- ----- (4-155)
ρ lw 2

is prescribed in those cells (using the variable εw, which only exists in those cells).
Equation 4-139 can be derived as the first term in a series expansion of

2 ( μ ⁄ ρ ) ( ∂ k ⁄ ∂n ) 2

For the expansion to be valid, it is required that

l c+ < 0.5

l c+ is the distance, measured in viscous units, from the wall to the center of the wall
adjacent cell. The boundary variable Distance to cell center in viscous units, lplus_cc,
is available to ensure that the mesh is fine enough. Observe that it is unlikely that a
solution is obtained at all if

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 221

 l c+ » 0.5

INLET VALUES FOR THE TURBULENCE LENGTH SCALE AND INTENSITY

The guidelines given in Inlet Values for the Turbulence Length Scale and Turbulent
Intensity for selecting the turbulence length scale, LT, and the turbulence intensity, IT,
apply also to the v2-f model.

INITIAL VALUES
The v2-f model has the same default initial guess as the standard k-ε model (see Initial
lim replaced by l . The default initial values for ζ and α are 2/3 and
Values) but with l mix ref
1 respectively.

The default initial value for the wall distance equation (which solves for the reciprocal
wall distance) is 2/lref.

In some cases, especially for stationary solutions, a fast way to convergence is to first
solve the model using the ordinary k-ε model and then to use that solution as an initial
guess for the v2-f model. The procedure is then as follows:

1 Solve the model using the k-ε model.

2 Switch to the v2-f model.
3 Add a new Stationary with Initialization study.
4 In the Wall Distance Initialization study step, set Values of variables not solved for to
Solution from the first study. This is to propagate the solution from the first study
down to the second step in the new study.
5 Solve the new study.

SCALING FOR TIME-DEPENDENT SIMULATIONS

The v2-f model applies absolute scales of the same type as the k-ε model (see Scaling
for Time-Dependent Simulations).

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual:

• The Wall Distance Interface

• Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with Initialization, and
Wall Distance Initialization

222 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Inlet Values for the Turbulence Length Scale and Turbulent Intensity
If inlet data for the turbulence variables are not available, crude approximations for k,
ε, ω and ζ can be obtained from the following formulas:

3 2
k = --- ( U I T )
2
3 ⁄ 4 k3 / 2
ε = Cμ -----------
LT
(4-156)
k
ω = --------------------------
( β 0* ) 1 / 4 L T
2
ζ = ---
3

where IT is the turbulent intensity and LT is the turbulence length scale.

A value of 10−3 (0.1%) is a low turbulent intensity IT. Good wind tunnels can produce
values as low as 5·10−4 (0.05%). Fully turbulent flows usually have intensities between
0.05 (5%) and 0.1 (10%).

The turbulence length scale LT is a measure of the size of the eddies that are not
resolved. For free-stream flows these are typically very small (on the order of
centimeters). The length scale cannot be zero, however, because that would imply
infinite dissipation. Use Table 4-5 as a guideline when specifying LT (Ref. 3) where lw
is the wall distance, and

+
lw = lw ⁄ l*

TABLE 4-5: TURBULENCE LENGTH SCALES FOR TWO-DIMENSIONAL FLOWS

FLOW CASE LT L
Mixing layer 0.07L Layer width
Plane jet 0.09L Jet half width
Wake 0.08L Wake width
Axisymmetric jet 0.075L Jet half width
Boundary layer (∂p/∂x = 0) +
κl w ( 1 – exp ( – l w ⁄ 26 ) )
– Viscous sublayer and log-layer Boundary layer
– Outer layer 0.09L thickness

Pipes and channels 0.07L Pipe diameter or

(fully developed flows) hydraulic diameter
or channel width

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 223

 Theory for Buoyancy-Induced Turbulence
When the flow is compressible or weakly compressible, an additional contribution to
the production of turbulent kinetic energy may be added. This contribution can be
expressed in terms of Favre averaged fluctuations or conventional time-filtered
fluctuations according to,

∂p ρ′u i ′ ∂p
P kb = – u i ″ ------- = ------------ ------- ≈ ρ′u i ′g i (4-157)
∂x i ρ ∂x i

where gi is the gravitational acceleration and the last approximation is applicable for
small Froude numbers. Applying a gradient-diffusion modeling approach,
Equation 4-157 can be recast into,

μ T g i ∂ρ
P kb = – ------- ----- -------- (4-158)
σ T ρ ∂x i

where σT is the turbulent Schmidt number. The production term in the ε equation is
derived from the production term in the k equation. Hence, the corresponding term
in the ε equation becomes,

ε
P εb = C ε1 --- max ( P kb, 0 ) sin θ (4-159)
k

where θ is the angle between u and g, accounting for the difference between buoyant
vertical shear layers and buoyant horizontal shear layers. Using the relation between k,
ε, and ω, the buoyancy production term in the w equation can be derived as,

ω
P ωb = ---- [ ( α + 1 )max ( P kb, 0 ) sin θ – P kb ] (4-160)
k

The expressions for the various ε based and ω based turbulence models differ only in
terms of constants and damping functions. Note that the v2-f turbulence model uses
the wall distance to determine the relation between the wall-normal turbulent
fluctuations and the acceleration of gravity. When the buoyancy contribution is
determined from a multiphysics node, density variations with respect to the variable in
the coupled physics interface are considered. For example, in nonisothermal flow the
coupled interface is a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface, and, Equation 4-158 is
replaced by,

μ T ∂T ˜
P kb = α p ---------- g i -------- (4-161)
Pr T ∂x i

224 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Theory for the Pressure, No Viscous Stress Boundary Condition
For this module, the turbulent intensity IT, turbulence length scale LT, and reference
velocity scale Uref values are related to the turbulence variables via

3
3⁄4 2 ---
3 2 C μ  3 ( I T U ref )  2 3 I T U ref 2
k = --- ( I T U ref ) , ε = ------------  ---------------------------- , ω= --- -------------------------- , ζ = ---
2 LT  2  2 ( β 0* ) 1 / 4 L T 3

For recommendations of physically sound values see Inlet Values for the
Turbulence Length Scale and Turbulent Intensity.

Also see Inlet and Outlet for the node settings.

Initial Values for Generate New Turbulence Model Interfaces

A major advantage with the Generate New Turbulence Model Interface feature is that it
can express initial values for the new turbulence model in terms of the original model.
This makes it possible to first solve a problem using a simple, but robust, turbulence
model, such as the k-ε model, and then switch to a more advanced model.

Unless the Initial value from study is None, the Generate New Turbulence Model Interface
initial values for velocity and pressure are taken directly from the solution of the parent
model. The initial values of turbulent dependent variables are estimated using the
solution from the selected study:

• When the parent model is a Laminar Flow model, or when Initial value from study
is None, turbulent dependent variables get their default initial values.
• Initial values of dependent variables that exist in both the parent model and the
generated model are taken directly from the selected study.
• When the parent model is Turbulent Flow, k-ε or Turbulent Flow, Low Reynolds
k-ε or v2-f and the generated model is Turbulent Flow, k-ω or SST, the initial value
of ω is
ω init = ρk ⁄ μ T

• When the parent model is k-ω or SST, and the generated model is k-ε or Low
Reynolds k-ε or v2-f (for v2-f C μ is replaced by 2 ⁄ 3 C μ-v2f ), the initial value of ε is
2
ε init = C μ ρk ⁄ μ T

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 225

 • When the parent model is Algebraic yPlus, and the generated model is k-ε, Low
Reynolds k-ε or v2-f (for v2-f C μ is replaced by 2 ⁄ 3 C μ-v2f ), the initial values of k
and ε are:

2 2
k init = υ T ⁄ ( C μ L T )

3/4 3⁄2
ε init = ( C μ ⁄ L T )k init

y∗ υ
where L T = max  κ a y ,--------- and u τ = u ⁄ u .
+
 uτ 
• When the parent model is Algebraic yPlus and the generated model is k-ω or SST,
the initial values of k and ω are

2 * 2
k init = υ T ⁄ ( β 0 L T )

*1 ⁄ 4
ω init = k init ⁄ ( β 0 LT )

• When the parent model is L-VEL, and the generated model is k-ε, Low Reynolds
k-ε or v2-f (for v2-f C μ is replaced by 2 ⁄ 3 C μ-v2f ), the initial values of k and ε are

2 2
k init = υ T ⁄ ( C μ L T )

3/4 3⁄2
ε init = ( C μ ⁄ L T )k init

where L T = max ( κ l y ,( κ l υE l ) ⁄ u τ ) .
• When the parent model is L-VEL, and the generated model is k-ω and SST, the
initial values of k and omega are

2 * 2
k init = υ T ⁄ ( β 0 L T )

*1 ⁄ 4
ω init = k init ⁄ ( β 0 LT )

• When the parent model is Spalart-Allmaras and the generated model is k-ε, Low
Reynolds k-ε or v2-f (for v2-f C μ is replaced by 2 ⁄ 3 C μ-v2f ), the initial value of k
and ε are:

226 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 2
f ν1 ν̃ 2
k init = ----------- ⋅ min   --------- ,ν Ω 
Cμ κν y

8
χ 1 ν̃ 4
ε init = ---------------------------3- ⋅ min  ---  --------- ,ν Ω 
2
3 3 ν κν y
( χ + c ν1 )

• When the parent model is Spalart-Allmaras and the generated model is k-ω or SST
the initial values of k and ω are

2
f ν1 ν̃ 2
k init = ---------- ⋅ min   --------- ,ν Ω 
* κν y
β0

2
χ 1 ν̃ 2
⋅ min  ---  --------- , Ω 
1
ω init = ---------- --------------------
3 3  ν  κ ν y 
β 0 χ + c ν1
*

• When the generated model is Spalart-Allmaras turbulent mode, and the parent
model any turbulence model but Spalart-Allmaras, the initial value of the dependent
variable is ν̃ init = μ T ⁄ ρ .

Solvers for Turbulent Flow

The nonlinear system that the Navier-Stokes (RANS) and turbulence transport
equations constitute can become ill-conditioned if solved using a fully coupled solver.
Turbulent flows are therefore solved using a segregated approach (Ref. 20):
Navier-Stokes in one group and the turbulence transport equations in another.

For each iteration in the Navier-Stokes group, two or three iterations are performed
for the turbulence transport equations. This is necessary to make sure that the very
nonlinear source terms in the turbulence transport equations are in balance before
performing another iteration for the Navier-Stokes group.

The default iterative solver for the turbulence transport equations is a damped Newton
method with constant damping factor. In each iteration, a linearized version of the
nonlinear system is solved using GMRES accelerated by Smoothed Aggregated
Algebraic Multigrid (SAAMG). The default smoother is SOR Line.

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 227

 As the name implies, SAAMG builds its coarser meshes algebraically, so the application
requires no additional meshes in order to employ SAAMG. In contrast, Geometric
Multigrid (GMG) requires actual meshes. If a sufficient number of multigrid levels can
be constructed, GMG is often faster than SAAMG. GMG is also superior for cluster
computations and for shared memory computations with many cores. When the
default linear solver is GMRES, an optional, but deactivated, linear solver node is
available where GMRES is accelerated by GMG.

• Pseudo Time Stepping for Turbulent Flow Models

• Multigrid, Stationary Solver, Iterative, and SOR Line in the COMSOL
Multiphysics Reference Manual

Pseudo Time Stepping for Turbulent Flow Models

The default stationary solver applies pseudo time stepping for both 2D and 3D models.
This improves the robustness of the nonlinear iterations as well as the condition
number for the linear equation system. The latter is especially important for large 3D
models where iterative solvers must be applied. The turbulence equations use the same
Δt̃ as the momentum equations.

The default manual expression for CFLloc is, for 2D models:

1.3 min ( niterCMP-1, 9 ) +

if ( niterCMP > 25, 9 ⋅ 1.3 min ( niterCMP – 25, 9 ), 0 ) +
if ( niterCMP > 50, 90 ⋅ 1.3 min ( niterCMP – 50, 9 ), 0 )

and for 3D models:

1.3 min ( niterCMP-1, 9 ) +

if ( niterCMP > 30, 9 ⋅ 1.3 min ( niterCMP – 30, 9 ), 0 ) +
if ( niterCMP > 60, 90 ⋅ 1.3 min ( niterCMP – 60, 9 ), 0 )

References for the Single-Phase Flow, Turbulent Flow Interfaces

1. D.C. Wilcox, Turbulence Modeling for CFD, 2nd ed., DCW Industries, 1998.

2. D.M. Driver and H.L. Seegmiller, “Features of a Reattaching Turbulent Shear Layer
in Diverging Channel Flow”, AIAA Journal, vol. 23, pp. 163–171, 1985.

228 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

3. H.K. Versteeg and W. Malalasekera, An Introduction to Computational Fluid
Dynamics, Prentice Hall, 1995.

4. A. Durbin, “On the k-ε Stagnation Point Anomality”, Int. J. Heat and Fluid Flow,
vol. 17, pp. 89–90, 1986.

5. A, Svenningsson, Turbulence Transport Modeling in Gas Turbine Related

Applications”, doctoral dissertation, Department of Applied Mechanics, Chalmers
University of Technology, 2006.

6. C.H. Park and S.O. Park, “On the Limiters of Two-equation Turbulence Models”,
Int. J. Computational Fluid Dynamics, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 79–86, 2005.

7. J. Larsson, Numerical Simulation of Turbulent Flows for Turbine Blade Heat

Transfer, doctoral dissertation, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, 1998.

8. L. Ignat, D. Pelletier, and F. Ilinca, “A Universal Formulation of Two-equation

Models for Adaptive Computation of Turbulent Flows”, Computer Methods in
Applied Mechanics and Engineering, vol. 189, pp. 1119–1139, 2000.

9. F. Menter, J.C. Ferreira, T. Esch, and B. Konno, “The SST Turbulence Model with
Improved Wall Treatment for Heat Transfer Predictions in Gas Turbines”, Proceedings
of the International Gas Turbine Congress, IGTC2003-TS-059, Nov. 2–7, 2003.

10. D. Kuzmin, O. Mierka, and S. Turek, “On the Implementation of the k-ε
Turbulence Model in Incompressible Flow Solvers Based on a Finite Element
Discretization”, Int.J. Computing Science and Mathematics, vol. 1, no. 2–4,
pp. 193–206, 2007.

11. H. Grotjans and F.R. Menter, “Wall Functions for General Application CFD
Codes”, ECCOMAS 98, Proceedings of the Fourth European Computational Fluid
Dynamics Conference, John Wiley & Sons, pp. 1112–1117, 1998.

12. K. Abe, T. Kondoh, and Y. Nagano, “A New Turbulence Model for Predicting
Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in Separating and Reattaching Flows — I. Flow Field
Calculations”, Int. J. Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 139–151, 1994.

13. H.C. Chen and V.C. Patel, “Near-Wall Turbulence Models for Complex Flows
Including Separation”, AIAA Journal, Vol. 26, No. 6, pp. 641–648, 1988.

14. T.H. Shih, W.W. Liou, A. Shabir, Z. Yang and J. Zhu, “A New k-e Eddy Viscosity
Model for High Reynolds Number Turbulent Flows-Model Development and
Validation”, NASA Technical Memorandum 106721, ICOMP-94-21,
CMOTT-94-6, 1994

THEORY FOR THE TURBULENT FLOW INTERFACES | 229

 15. “The Spalart-Allmaras Turbulence Model”,
[Link]

16. J. Dacles-Mariani, G.G. Zilliac and J.S. Chow, “Numerical/Experimental Study of

a Wingtip Vortex in the Near Field”, AIAA Journal, vol. 33, no. 9, 1995.

17. “The Menter Shear Stress Transport Turbulence Model”,

[Link]

18. F.R. Menter, “Two-Equation Eddy-Viscosity Turbulence Models for Engineering

Applications”, AIAA Journal, vol. 32, no. 8, 1994.

19. F.R. Menter, M. Kuntz, and R. Langtry, “Ten Years of Industrial Experience with
the SST Turbulence Model”, Turbulence Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 4, 2003.

20. M. Vázquez, M. Ravachol, F. Chalot, and M. Mallet, “The Robustness Issue on

Multigrid Schemes Applied to the Navier-Stokes Equations for Laminar and
Turbulent, Incompressible and Compressible Flows”, Int. [Link] Numerical Methods
in Fluids, vol. 45, pp. 555–579, 2004.

21. T. Cebeci, Analysis of Turbulent Flows, 2nd ed., Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2004.

22. J. Nikuradse, “Strömungsgesetze in rauhen Rohren”, Forschg. Arb. Ing.-Wes., no.

361, 1933 (in German).

23. D. Agonafer, L. Gan-Li and D.B. Spalding, “LVEL turbulence model for
conjugate heat transfer at low Reynolds numbers”, EEP 6, ASME International
Mechanical Congress and Exposition, Atlanta, 1996.

24. L. Prandtl, “Über die ausgebildete Turbulenz”, ZAMM 5, 1925 (in German).

25. P.R. Spalart and S.R. Allmaras, “A one-equation turbulence model for
aerodynamic flows”, La Aerospatiale, no. 1, pp. 5–21, 1994.

26. P.A. Durbin, “Application of a near-wall turbulence model to boundary layers and
heat transfer”, Int. J. Heat and Fluid Flow, vol. 14, no. 4, 1993.

27. K. Hanjalic, M. Popovac and M. Hadziabdic, “A robust near-wall

elliptic-relaxation eddy-viscosity turbulence model for CFD”, Int. J. Heat and Fluid
Flow, vol. 25, no. 6, 2004.

28. S.B. Pope, Turbulent Flow, Cambridge University Press, 2000.

230 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

T he o r y f o r t he Large E d d y Si mu l at i on
Interfaces
Large Eddy Simulations offer an alternative approach to turbulent flow simulations as
compared to the RANS approach (see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces). In
LES, the larger three-dimensional, unsteady eddies are resolved, whereas the effect of
the smaller eddies is modeled. This requires the simulations to be three-dimensional
and time dependent. The current implementation of the LES interfaces is suitable for
incompressible flow only. The velocity and pressure fields are divided into resolved and
unresolved scales. Denoting the fields containing all scales with capital letters, the
decomposition can be expressed as,

U = u + u' (4-162)
P = p + p'

Inserting Equation 4-162 into the incompressible form of the Navier-Stokes equation
and the continuity equation yields,

∂u
ρ  ------- + ( u + u' ) ⋅ ∇u + ∇p – ∇ ⋅ [ μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) ] = (4-163)
∂t
∂u'
– ρ  -------- + ( u + u' ) ⋅ ∇u' – ∇p' + ∇ ⋅ [ μ ( ∇u' + ( ∇u' ) T ) ]
 ∂t 

∇ ⋅ u = – ∇ ⋅ u'

Next, Equation 4-163 is projected onto the finite element sub-spaces of the resolved
velocity and pressure scales. Denoting the test functions for these scales by v and q,
respectively, the projection can be expressed as,

∂u
(v, ρ ------- ) – (∇ ⋅ v, p) Ω + (∇v, μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T )) Ω + (q, ∇ ⋅ u) Ω – (v, f) ∂Ω =(4-164)
∂t Ω
( ∇ ⋅ v, p' ) Ω + (∇q, u') Ω + (∇v, ρ ( u ⊗ u + u ⊗ u' + u' ⊗ u + u' ⊗ u' ) ) Ω

In Equation 4-164, f is the applied traction force on the boundary ∂Ω of the spatial
domain Ω, and the stresses in the last term on the right-hand side are the resolved
nonlinear advection term, the two cross-stresses, and the Reynolds stress. By assuming
that the unresolved scales are orthogonal to the inner-product space of the resolved

THEORY FOR THE LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 231

 scales, the unresolved time derivative and viscous terms vanish. Another assumption
made in the derivation of Equation 4-164 is that u' vanishes on ∂Ω (see Ref. 1 for
further details).

In the Residual Based Variational Multiscale (RBVM) method, the unresolved velocity
and pressure scales are modeled in terms of the equation residuals for the resolved
scales,

u' = – τ m res m (4-165)

p' = – τ c res c

where the momentum and continuity equation residuals are given by,

∂u
res m = ρ  ------- + u ⋅ ∇u + ∇p – ∇ ⋅ [ μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) ] (4-166)
 ∂t 

res c = ρ∇ ⋅ u

and the intrinsic time-scales are given by,

1
τ m = ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (4-167)
C ρ
 ----------
1 
2
2 2
 Δt  + 4ρ u ⋅ Gu + C 2 μ G:G
–1
τ c = C 3 ( ρτ m trace ( G ) )

Here, C1 is a constant depending on the temporal scheme, C2 a constant depending

on the shape of the element, and C3 a constant depending on both the order of the
shape functions and the shape of the element. G is the covariant metric tensor. When
the Use dynamic subgrid time scale option is selected, the first term under the
square-root in Equation 4-167 is replaced by an estimate of the time-derivative based
on the resolved scales.

In certain cases, the residual-based Reynolds-stress contribution has been found to be

too small (see Ref. 2). For this reason, the Residual Based Variational Multiscale with
Viscosity (RBVMWV) method adds a residual based viscosity term to the right-hand
side of Equation 4-164,

˜
– (∇v, ρC u' h ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T )) Ω (4-168)
˜
where C is a model constant, and h is a measure of the element size.

232 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

For the Smagorinsky model, the Reynolds stress term is replaced by,

– (∇v, ρC s S ⁄ trace ( G ) ( S – S )) Ω (4-169)

where,

1
S = --- ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) (4-170)
2

and S is the projection of S onto the space of constant shape functions. This
corresponds to a further decomposition of the resolved scales into large resolved scales
and small resolved scales, in which only the latter are affected by the Reynolds stress
(see Ref. 3).

Note that all three models require equal-order interpolation for velocity and pressure.

Furthermore, adequate resolution of wall-layers, u τ h w ⁄ ν < 1 , and convective time

scales, UΔt ⁄ h U < 0.5 , is essential in order to obtain accurate results in LES. Here, uτ
is the friction velocity, hw the thickness of the first mesh-cell next to the wall, and hU
the mesh size in the streamline direction.

References for LES

1. Y. Bazilevs, V.M. Calo, J.A. Cottrell, T.J.R. Hughes, A. Reali, and G. Scovazzi,
“Variational multiscale residual-based turbulence modeling for large eddy simulation
of incompressible flows,” Comput. Methods Appl Mech. Engrg., 197 (2007),
173-201.

2. J. Liu. “Residual-based variational multiscale models for large eddy simulations of

compressible and incompressible flows,” Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Ph.D.
Thesis, 2012.

3. J. Volker and K. Songul, “A finite element variational multiscale method for the
Navier-Stokes equations,” SIAM J. Sci. Comput., vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 1485–1503,
2005.

THEORY FOR THE LARGE EDDY SIMULATION INTERFACES | 233

 Theory for the Rotating Machinery
Interfaces
Both the Rotating Machinery, Laminar Flow and Rotating Machinery, Turbulent Flow
interfaces model flow in geometries with rotating parts. For example, stirred tanks,
mixers, and pumps.

The Navier-Stokes equations formulated in a rotating coordinate system read (Ref. 1

and Ref. 2)

∂ρ
------ + ∇ ⋅ ( ρv ) = 0 (4-171)
∂t

∂v
ρ ------ + ρ ( v ⋅ ∇ )v + 2ρΩ × v =
∂t
(4-172)
∂Ω
∇ ⋅ [ – pI + τ ] + F – ρ  ------- × r + Ω × ( Ω × r )
∂t

where v is the velocity vector in the rotating coordinate system, r is the position vector,
and Ω is the angular velocity vector. The relation between v and the velocity vector in
the stationary coordinate system is

∂r
u = v + ------
∂t

The Rotating Machinery, Fluid Flow interfaces solve Equation 4-171 and
Equation 4-172, but reformulated in terms of a nonrotating coordinate system; that
is, they solve for u. This is achieved by invoking the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian
Formulation (ALE) machinery. In rotating domains, x = x(Ω, t) as prescribed in the
Rotating Domain under Definitions. The Navier-Stokes equations on rotating
domains then read

∂ρ- ------
∂x
------ – - ⋅ ∇ρ + ∇ ⋅ ( ρu ) = 0 (4-173)
∂T ∂T

∂u ∂x
ρ  ------- – ------- ⋅ ∇u + ρ ( u ⋅ ∇ )u = ∇ ⋅ [ – pI + τ ] + F (4-174)
∂T ∂T

234 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The derivative operator ∂ρ ⁄ ∂T is the mesh time derivative of the density and appears
in the equation view as d([Link],TIME). Analogously, ∂u ⁄ ∂T is the mesh time
derivative of the velocity. The variable TIME replaces t as the variable for time.

The user input for a rotating domain prescribes the angular frequency, w. To calculate
Ω, the physics interfaces set up an ODE variable for the angular displacement ω. The
equation for ω is

dω
-------- = w (4-175)
dt

Ω, is defined as w times the normalized axis of rotation. In 2D, the axis of rotation is
the z direction while it in 3D is specified in the Rotating Domain features. If the model
contains several rotating domains, each domain has its own angular displacement ODE
variable.

In nonrotating domains, the ordinary Navier-Stokes equations are solved. The

rotating and fixed parts need to be coupled together by an identity pair, where a
continuity boundary condition is applied.

Wall and Interior Wall boundary conditions apply in the rotating domain provided that
the Translational velocity under Wall Movement uses the default Automatic from
frame option.

Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian Formulation (ALE) in the COMSOL

Multiphysics Reference Manual

Frozen Rotor
Equation 4-173 through Equation 4-175 must be solved using a Time Dependent
study. This can be computationally expensive. The Rotating Machinery, Fluid Flow
interfaces therefore support the so-called frozen rotor approach. The frozen rotor
approach assumes that the flow in the rotating domain, expressed in the rotating
coordinate system, is fully developed. Equation 4-171 then reduces to

∇ ⋅ ( ρv ) = 0 (4-176)

and Equation 4-172 to

ρ ( v ⋅ ∇ )v + 2ρΩ × v = (4-177)
∇ ⋅ [ – pI + τ ] + F – ρΩ × ( Ω × r )

THEORY FOR THE ROTATING MACHINERY INTERFACES | 235

 Frozen rotor is both a study type and an equation form. When solving a rotating
machinery model using a Frozen Rotor study step, the Rotating Machinery, Fluid
Flow interfaces effectively solve Equation 4-177 and Equation 4-177 in a “rotating”
domain, but “rotating” domains do not rotate at all. Boundary conditions remain
transformed as if the domains were rotating, but the domains remain fixed, or frozen,
in position. As in the time-dependent case, the Rotating Machinery, Fluid Flow
interfaces solve for the velocity vector in the stationary coordinate system, u, rather
than for v.

To make Equation 4-173 and Equation 4-174 equivalent to Equation 4-176 and
Equation 4-177, the Frozen Rotor study step defines a parameter TIME, which by
default is set to zero (TIME appears in the Parameters node under Global Definitions).
Equation 4-175 is replaced by

ω = wTIME

Since TIME is a parameter and x is a function of TIME, ∂x ⁄ ∂T evaluates to its correct

value. Finally, ∂ρ ⁄ ∂T = 0 and the mesh time derivative of the velocity is replaced by

∂u-
------ = Ω×u
∂T

In nonrotating domains, the ordinary, stationary Navier-Stokes equations are solved.

The Frozen Rotor study step invokes a stationary solver to solve the resulting equation
system.

The frozen rotor approach can in special cases give the same solution as solving
Equation 4-173 through Equation 4-175 to steady state. This is the case if, for
example, the whole geometry is rotating, or if the model is invariant with respect to
the position of the rotating domain relative to the nonrotating domain. The latter is
the case for a fan placed in the middle of a straight, cylindrical duct.

In most cases, however, there is no steady-state solution to the rotating machinery

problem. Only a pseudo-steady state where the solution varies periodically around
some average solution. In those cases, the frozen rotor approach gives an approximate
solution to the pseudo-steady state. The approximation depends on the position in
which the rotor is frozen, and the method cannot capture transient effects (see Ref. 3
and Ref. 4). An estimate of the effect of the rotor position can be obtained by making
a parametric sweep over TIME.

The frozen rotor approach is very useful for attaining initial values for time-dependent
simulations. Starting from a frozen rotor solution, the pseudo-steady state can be

236 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

reached within a few revolutions, while starting from u = 0 can require tens of
revolutions. See, for example, Ref. 5.

Only interfaces that explicitly support frozen rotors are included in a Frozen Rotor
study step.

Studies and Solvers in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual

Setting Up a Rotating Machinery Model

The Rotating Machinery, Fluid Flow interfaces primarily handle two types of
geometries with rotating parts.

The first type is where the whole geometry rotates. Typical examples are individual
parts in turbo machinery and lab-on-a-chip devices. For such cases, the selection for
the Rotating Domain under the Definitions node should be all domains in the
geometry.

The other type is geometries where it is possible to divide the modeled device into
rotationally invariant geometries. The operation can be, for example, to rotate an
impeller in a baffled tank, as in Figure 4-9 where the impeller rotates from position 1
to 2.

The first step to set up these type of models is to divide the geometry into two parts,
as shown in Step 1a. Draw the geometry using separate domains for fixed and rotating
parts. If you intend to do a time-dependent simulation, activate the assembly (using an
assembly instead of a union, see Geometry Modeling and CAD Tools in the COMSOL
Multiphysics Reference Manual) and create identity pairs, which makes it possible to
treat the domains as separate parts in an assembly.

The second step is to remove the non rotating domains from the Rotating Domain
selection (Step 1b).

Once this is done, proceed to the usual steps of setting the fluid properties, boundary
conditions. Apply a Flow Continuity to assembly pairs (Step 2a). Then mesh and solve
the problem.

THEORY FOR THE ROTATING MACHINERY INTERFACES | 237

 1 2

1a 1b 2a

Figure 4-9: The modeling procedure in the Rotating Machinery, Fluid Flow interface.

References
1. H.P. Greenspan, The Theory of Rotating Fluids, Breukelen Press, 1990.

2. G.K. Batchelor, An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics, Cambridge University Press,

2000.

3. CFD Online, Best practice guidelines for turbomachinery CFD,

[Link]
FD.

4. A. Brucato, M. Ciofalo, F. Grisafi, and G. Micale, “Numerical Prediction of Flow

Fields in Baffled Stirred Vessels: A Comparison of Alternative Modelling Approaches”,
Chemical Engineering Science, vol. 53, no. 21, pp. 3653–3684, 1998.

5. J.-P. Torré, D.F. Fletcher, T. Lasuye, and C. Xuereb, “Single and Multiphase CFD
Approaches for Modelling Partially Baffled Stirred Vessels: Comparison of
Experimental Data with Numerical Predictions”, Chemical Engineering Science, vol.
62, no. 22, pp. 6246–6262, 2007.

238 | CHAPTER 4: SINGLE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 5

Heat Transfer and Nonisothermal Flow

Interfaces
There are several physics interfaces included in the CFD Module to model heat
transfer and nonisothermal flow. This chapter describes the physics interfaces found
under the Heat Transfer branch ( ) as well as those under the
Fluid Flow>Nonisothermal Flow branch ( ). The Modeling Heat Transfer in the
CFD Module section helps you choose the best physics interface to start with.

• Modeling Heat Transfer in the CFD Module

• The Nonisothermal Flow and Conjugate Heat Transfer, Laminar Flow,
Turbulent Flow and LES Interfaces
• Theory for the Nonisothermal Flow and Conjugate Heat Transfer Interfaces
The documentation of all features in the Heat Transfer in Porous Media interface
is now found in the Heat Transfer Module User’s Guide, specifically in the
following sections:

• The Heat Transfer Module Interfaces

• The Heat Transfer in Porous Media Interface
• Theory for the Heat Transfer Module
• Theory for Heat Transfer in Porous Media

239
 Modeling Heat Transfer in the CFD
Module
Heat transfer is an important phenomenon in many industrial processes. Often, a fluid
plays a major role in transporting the heat and a detailed description of the flow field
is necessary to accurately describe such processes. Typical examples are heating and
cooling operations. Chemical reactions and phase changes are other commonly
occurring phenomena. The temperature, in turn, affects the fluid properties and can
alter the flow field. Natural convection is an example of this.

In this section:

• Selecting the Right Physics Interface

• Coupling to Other Physics Interfaces

Selecting the Right Physics Interface

The Heat Transfer branch ( ) included with this module has a number of physics
interfaces that can be used to model energy transport. One or more of these can be
added; either by themselves or together with other physics interfaces, typically flow
physics interfaces.

While the standard COMSOL Multiphysics package includes physics interfaces for
simulating heat transfer through conduction and convection, this module provides
extra functionality within the standard Heat Transfer interfaces. The CFD Module also
includes additional Heat Transfer interfaces such as The Heat Transfer in Porous
Media Interface.

For heat transfer in single-phase flows, the CFD Module provides several turbulent
(RANS) versions of the Nonisothermal Flow ( ) (located under the Fluid Flow branch)
and Conjugate Heat Transfer ( ) (located under the Heat Transfer branch)
multiphysics interfaces as well as three turbulent (LES) versions of the Nonisothermal
Flow ( ) multiphysics interfaces, in addition to the laminar version available with the
standard COMSOL Multiphysics package. The multiphysics interfaces automatically
couple the flow and heat equations and they also provide functionality, such as support
for turbulent heat transfer, that is not readily available when adding the interfaces
separately.

240 | CHAPTER 5: HEAT TRANSFER AND NONISOTHERMAL FLOW INTERFACES

HEAT TRANSFER IN SOLIDS OR FLUIDS, AND JOULE HEATING
The Heat Transfer in Solids ( ), Heat Transfer in Fluids ( ) (general convection and
conduction), and Electromagnetic Heating>Joule Heating interfaces ( ), all belong to
the COMSOL Multiphysics base package.

HEAT TRANSFER IN POROUS MEDIA

The Heat Transfer in Porous Media interface ( ) is an extension of a the generic heat
transfer interface that includes modeling heat transfer through convection, conduction
and radiation, conjugate heat transfer, and nonisothermal flow. The ability to define
material properties, boundary conditions, and more for porous media heat transfer is
also activated by selecting the Heat transfer in porous media check box on any heat
transfer interface.

NONISOTHERMAL FLOW AND CONJUGATE HEAT TRANSFER

The Nonisothermal Flow ( ) and Conjugate Heat Transfer ( ) interfaces solve the
Navier-Stokes equations together with an energy balance. They can also solve for heat
transfer in solids.

Nonisothermal Flow and Conjugate Heat Transfer differ by their default features. The
default heat transfer domain feature for Nonisothermal Flow is a Heat Transfer in
Fluids node while Conjugate Heat Transfer has a Heat Transfer in Solids node as its
default domain feature.

The Laminar Flow versions of the physics interfaces are used primarily to model slowly
flowing fluids in environments where energy transport is also an important part of the
system and application, and must be coupled or connected to the fluid flow in some
way. Stokes’ law (creeping flow) can be activated from the Nonisothermal Flow,
Laminar Flow and Conjugate Heat Transfer, Laminar Flow interfaces if wanted. If you
expect the flow to become turbulent, select one of the versions of the turbulent flow
interfaces. Each physics interface includes a RANS or LES turbulence model to
calculate the turbulence and algebraic models for the turbulent Prandtl number.

The Nonisothermal Flow and Conjugate Heat Transfer laminar and turbulent (RANS)
flow interfaces can solve the fully compressible form of the Navier-Stokes equations.
But boundary conditions and stabilizations are provided for Mach numbers less than
0.3. If you expect the Mach number in your model to become higher than 0.3, use

MODELING HEAT TRANSFER IN THE CFD MODULE | 241

 The High Mach Number Flow Interfaces. The Nonisothermal Flow, LES interfaces
are only applicable to incompressible flow.

• Theory for the Heat Transfer Module in the Heat Transfer Module
User’s Guide
• The Joule Heating Interface in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual

Coupling to Other Physics Interfaces

Often, you are simulating applications that couple heat transfer in turbulent flow to
another type of phenomenon described by another physics interface. This can, for
example, include chemical reactions and mass transport, as covered by the physics
interfaces in the Chemical Species Transport branch.

Furthermore, the Chemical Reaction Engineering Module includes, not only support
for setting up and simulating chemical reactions, but also for simulating reaction
kinetics through the temperature-dependent Arrhenius Expression and Mass Action
Law. This physics interface also includes support for including and calculating
thermodynamic data as temperature-dependent expressions, for both reaction kinetics
and fluid-flow.

In addition, if you also have the Heat Transfer Module, it includes more detailed
descriptions and tools for simulating energy transport, such as surface-to-surface and
participating media radiation.

Viscous Heating in a Fluid Damper: Application Library path

CFD_Module/Nonisothermal_Flow/fluid_damper

A variety of modeling techniques are discussed in the following sections of the Heat
Transfer Module User’s Guide:

• Heat Transfer Variables

• Using the Boundary Conditions for the Heat Transfer Interfaces
• Handling Frames in Heat Transfer
• Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow Coupling
• Solver Settings

242 | CHAPTER 5: HEAT TRANSFER AND NONISOTHERMAL FLOW INTERFACES

Also see The Heat Transfer Module Interfaces and Theory for the Heat Transfer
Module.

MODELING HEAT TRANSFER IN THE CFD MODULE | 243

 The Nonisothermal Flow and
Conjugate Heat Transfer, Laminar
Flow, Turbulent Flow and LES
Interfaces
In this section:

• Advantages of Using the Multiphysics Interfaces

• The Nonisothermal Flow, Laminar Flow and Turbulent Flow Interfaces
• The Conjugate Heat Transfer, Laminar Flow and Turbulent Flow Interfaces
• Settings for Physics Interfaces and Coupling Features
• Coupling Feature
• Physics Interface Features
• Nonisothermal Flow
• Marangoni Effect

Advantages of Using the Multiphysics Interfaces

The Nonisothermal Flow and Conjugate Heat Transfer interfaces combine the heat
equation with either laminar flow or turbulent flow and use either a Heat Transfer in
Fluids or Heat Transfer in Solids domain model. The advantage of using the multiphysics
interfaces is that predefined couplings are available in both directions. In particular,
physics interfaces use the same definition of the density, which can therefore be a
function of both pressure and temperature. Solving this coupled system of equations
usually requires numerical stabilization accounting for the couplings, which the
predefined multiphysics interfaces also set up.

See also Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow Coupling in the Heat Transfer
Module User’s Manual for more information.

244 | CHAPTER 5: HEAT TRANSFER AND NONISOTHERMAL FLOW INTERFACES

 The Nonisothermal Flow, Laminar Flow and Turbulent Flow
Interfaces
When a multiphysics interface is added from the Fluid Flow>Nonisothermal Flow branch
of the Model Wizard or Add Physics windows, one of the Single-Phase Flow interfaces
(laminar or turbulent flow) and Heat Transfer are added to the Model Builder.

In addition, the Multiphysics node is added, which automatically includes the

multiphysics coupling feature Nonisothermal Flow.

The Multiphysics Branch in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference

Manual.

• The Laminar Flow interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface with
a Laminar Flow interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in
Fluids interface with a Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, L-VEL interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in Fluids
interface with a Turbulent Flow, L-VEL interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, k-ε interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface
with a Turbulent Flow, k-ε interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, Realizable k-ε interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in Fluids
interface with a Turbulent Flow, Realizable k-ε interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, k-ω interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface
with a Turbulent Flow, k-ω interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, SST interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface
with a Turbulent Flow, SST interface.

THE NONISOTHERMAL FLOW AND CONJUGATE HEAT TRANSFER, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW AND LES INTERFACES
 • The Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in Fluids
interface with a Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in
Fluids interface with a Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras interface.

• The Turbulent Flow, v2-f interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface
with a Turbulent Flow, v2-f interface.

• The LES RBVM interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface with an
LES RBVM interface.

• The LES RBVMWV interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface with
an LES RBVMWV interface.

• The LES Smagorinsky interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface

with an LES Smagorinsky interface.

The Conjugate Heat Transfer, Laminar Flow and Turbulent Flow

Interfaces
When a multiphysics interface is added from the Heat Transfer>Conjugate Heat Transfer
branch of the Model Wizard or Add Physics windows, Heat Transfer and one of the
Single-Phase Flow interfaces (laminar or turbulent flow) are added to the Model Builder.

In addition, the Multiphysics node is added, which automatically includes the

multiphysics coupling feature Nonisothermal Flow.

The Multiphysics Branch in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference

Manual.

• The Laminar Flow interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in Solids interface with
a Laminar Flow interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in
Solids interface with a Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, L-VEL interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in Solids
interface with a Turbulent Flow, L-VEL interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, k-ε interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in Solids interface
with a Turbulent Flow, k-ε interface.

246 | CHAPTER 5: HEAT TRANSFER AND NONISOTHERMAL FLOW INTERFACES

 • The Turbulent Flow, Realizable k-ε interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in Solids
interface with a Turbulent Flow, Realizable k-ε interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, k-ω interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in Solids interface
with a Turbulent Flow, k-ω interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε interface ( )combines a Heat Transfer in Solids
interface with a Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, SST interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in Solids interface
with a Turbulent Flow, SST interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in
Solids interface with a Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras interface.

• The Turbulent Flow, v2-f interface ( ) combines a Heat Transfer in Solids interface
with a Turbulent Flow, v2-f interface.

Settings for Physics Interfaces and Coupling Features

When physics interfaces are added using the predefined couplings, specific settings are
included with the physics interfaces and the coupling features.

However, if physics interfaces are added one at a time, followed by the coupling
features, these modified settings may not be automatically included.

For example, if single Heat Transfer in Fluids and Laminar Flow interfaces are added,
COMSOL Multiphysics adds an empty Multiphysics node. When you right-click this
node, you can add the Nonisothermal Flow coupling feature, but the modified settings
are not included. To get all the modified settings presented below automatically, you

THE NONISOTHERMAL FLOW AND CONJUGATE HEAT TRANSFER, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW AND LES INTERFACES
 may instead right-click the component node, select Add Multiphysics, and add the
Nonisothermal Flow coupling feature from the Add Multiphysics window.

TABLE 5-1: MODIFIED SETTINGS FOR THE NONISOTHERMAL FLOW INTERFACES

PHYSICS OR COUPLING INTERFACE MODIFIED SETTINGS (IF ANY)

Heat Transfer in Solids Discretization order from temperature Lagrange

shape function is 1.
A Heat Transfer in Fluids feature is added with a
default editable selection set to All domains. The
Absolute pressure, pA (Model Input section) and
the Velocity field, u (Heat Convection section)
are automatically set to the variables from the
Nonisothermal Flow multiphysics coupling
feature.
Heat Transfer in Fluids The Absolute pressure, pA (Model Input section)
and the Velocity field, u (Heat Convection
section) are automatically set to the variables
from the Nonisothermal Flow multiphysics
coupling feature.
Nonisothermal Flow The Fluid flow and Heat transfer interfaces are
preselected
The Compressibility option of the fluid flow
interface is set to Weakly Compressible for the
laminar and turbulent (RANS) flow interfaces
and to Incompressible for the LES interfaces.

Coupling Feature
The Nonisothermal Flow multiphysics coupling node is described in this section.

Use the online help in COMSOL Multiphysics to locate and search all the
documentation. All these links also work directly in COMSOL
Multiphysics when using the Help system.

248 | CHAPTER 5: HEAT TRANSFER AND NONISOTHERMAL FLOW INTERFACES

 Physics Interface Features
Physics nodes are available from the Physics ribbon toolbar (Windows users), Physics
context menu (Mac or Linux users), or right-click to access the context menu (all
users).

In general, to add a node, go to the Physics toolbar, no matter what

operating system you are using.

HEAT TRANSFER IN FLUIDS (NONISOTHERMAL FLOW)

The available physics features for The Heat Transfer in Fluids Interface are listed in the
section Feature Nodes for the Heat Transfer in Fluids Interface. Also see Fluid for
details about that feature.

HEAT TRANSFER IN SOLIDS (CONJUGATE HEAT TRANSFER)

The available physics features for The Heat Transfer in Solids Interface are listed in the
section Feature Nodes for the Heat Transfer in Solids Interface. Also see Solid for
details about that feature.

LAMINAR FLOW
The available physics features for The Laminar Flow Interface are listed in the section
Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

TURBULENT FLOW, ALGEBRAIC YPLUS

The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus Interface are
listed in the section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

TURBULENT FLOW, L-VEL

The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, L-VEL Interface are listed in
the section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

T U R B U L E N T F L O W , k-ε
The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, k-ε Interface are listed in the
section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

T U R B U L E N T F L O W , R E A L I Z A B L E k-ε
The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, Realizable k-ε Interface are
listed in the section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

THE NONISOTHERMAL FLOW AND CONJUGATE HEAT TRANSFER, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW AND LES INTERFACES
 T U R B U L E N T F L O W , k-ω
The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, k-ω Interface are listed in the
section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

TURBULENT FLOW, SST

The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, SST Interface are listed in the
section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

T U R B U L E N T F L O W , L O W R E k-ε
The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε Interface are listed
in the section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

TURBULENT FLOW, SPALART-ALLMARAS

The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras Interface are
listed in the section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

TURBULENT FLOW, V2-F

The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, v2-f Interface are listed in the
section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

LES RBVM
The available physics features for The LES RBVM Interface are listed in the section
Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

LES RBVMWV
The available physics features for The LES RBVMWV Interface are listed in the section
Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

LES SMAGORINSKY
The available physics features for The LES Smagorinsky Interface are listed in the
section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

Nonisothermal Flow
Use the Nonisothermal Flow ( ) multiphysics coupling to simulate fluid flows where
the fluid properties depend on temperature. Models can also include heat transfer in
solids or in porous media as well as surface-to-surface radiation and radiation in
participating media, with the Heat Transfer Module. The laminar and turbulent

250 | CHAPTER 5: HEAT TRANSFER AND NONISOTHERMAL FLOW INTERFACES

 (RANS) physics interface supports low Mach numbers (typically less than 0.3). The
LES interfaces only support incompressible flow

The Nonisothermal Flow, Laminar Flow interface solves for conservation of energy,
mass and momentum in fluids and porous media and for conservation of energy in
solids.

It defines p and u variables in order to set the Absolute pressure in the Model Input
section and the Velocity field in the Heat Convection section of the Fluid and Porous
Medium features in the Heat Transfer interface. In addition it provides all the fluids
quantities that may be needed by the Heat Transfer interface (for example, viscosity,
turbulence parameters).

In the Fluid Flow interface, it sets the Temperature in the Model Input section and
defines the Density in the Fluid Properties section of the Fluid Properties and Fluid and
Matrix Properties features.

It synchronizes also the definition of the reference temperature to be used for

incompressible flows, and the features from the Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow interfaces
when a turbulent flow regime is defined. It also complements the Screen and Interior
Fan feature from the flow interface to account for thermal effects.

In addition, it also accounts for the multiphysics stabilization terms, for the heat
transfer changes in the turbulent regime (for example, thermal wall functions), for
work due to pressure forces and viscous dissipation, and for natural convection,
including a Boussinesq approximation

Nonisotermal Flow and Conjugate Heat Transfer trigger pseudo time

stepping when Use pseudo time stepping for stationary equation form in the
Fluid Flow interface is set to Automatic from physics.

THE NONISOTHERMAL FLOW AND CONJUGATE HEAT TRANSFER, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW AND LES INTERFACES
 The multiphysics stabilizations (streamline diffusion and crosswind
diffusion) are controlled by the Fluid Flow interface. For example, the
multiphysics streamline diffusion can be disabled in a Laminar Flow physics
node, in the Stabilization section. The stabilization selected in the Heat
Transfer physics interface has no effect if the multiphysics coupling
stabilization is active, but remains active if not. However, the isotropic
diffusion is not a multiphysics stabilization and is controlled by each
physics interface. The crosswind diffusion stabilization is turned off for
the LES interfaces.

Finally, when one of the physics interfaces or the multiphysics coupling is

not solved in a study step, then the stabilization of each solved physics is
used instead of the coupled stabilization, and the solver suggestions are
uncoupled.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default multiphysics coupling feature name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the coupling node.
Refer to such variables in expressions using the pattern <name>.<variable_name>. In
order to distinguish between variables belonging to different coupling nodes or physics
interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and underscores (_)
are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first multiphysics coupling feature in the model) is nitf1.

DOMAIN SELECTION
When nodes are added from the context menu, you can select Manual (the default)
from the Selection list to choose specific domains to define the nonisothermal flow, or
select All domains as needed.

COUPLED INTERFACES
This section defines the physics involved in the multiphysics coupling. The Fluid flow
and Heat transfer lists include all applicable physics interfaces.

252 | CHAPTER 5: HEAT TRANSFER AND NONISOTHERMAL FLOW INTERFACES

 The default values depend on how this coupling node is created.

• If it is added from the Physics ribbon (Windows users), Physics contextual toolbar
(Mac and Linux users), or context menu (all users), then the first physics interface
of each type in the component is selected as the default.
• If it is added automatically when a multiphysics interface is chosen in the Model
Wizard or Add Physics window, then the two participating physics interfaces are
selected.

You can also select None from either list to uncouple the node from a physics interface.
If the physics interface is removed from the Model Builder, for example Heat Transfer in
Fluids is deleted, then the Heat transfer list defaults to None as there is nothing to couple
to.

HEAT TRANSFER TURBULENCE MODEL

This section is available when the fluid flow interface uses a turbulence model. When
a RANS turbulence model is used, select an option from the Heat transport turbulence
model list: Kays-Crawford (the default), Extended Kays-Crawford, or User-defined
turbulent Prandtl number.

For Extended Kays-Crawford, enter a Reynolds number at infinity Reinf (dimensionless).

For User-defined turbulent Prandtl number, enter a Turbulent Prandtl number PrT
(dimensionless).

When the flow interface uses a RANS turbulence model, the conductive heat flux is
defined as

q = – ( k + k T ) ∇T

with the turbulent thermal conductivity defined as

μT Cp
k T = --------------
Pr T

where μT is defined by the flow interface, and PrT depends on the Heat transport
turbulence model. See Turbulent Conductivity for details.

This section is also available when either of the LES interfaces RBVMWV or
Smagorinsky is used. For these two LES models, additional diffusion terms,
corresponding to the ones in the momentum equation, appear in the energy equation.
The magnitude of these terms can be controlled by a turbulent Prandtl number.

THE NONISOTHERMAL FLOW AND CONJUGATE HEAT TRANSFER, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW AND LES INTERFACES
 The Turbulence model type used by the fluid flow interface can be displayed by selecting
the Show or Hide Physics Property Settings button at the right of the Fluid flow list.

MATERIAL PROPERTIES
When the Compressibility setting in the fluid flow interface is set to Incompressible,
select the Boussinesq approximation check box in order to use material data evaluated
at the reference temperature and reference pressure. If gravity is included in the
physics, it is linearized with respect to temperature.

Select an option from the Specify density list — From heat transfer interface (the
default), From fluid flow interface, Custom, linearized density or Custom.

For Custom, linearized density, enter the Reference density ρref (SI unit: kg/m3) and the
Coefficient of thermal expansion αp (SI unit:1/K), or select From material, or select a
variable in the list if available. When Custom, linearized density is selected, regardless
how the properties are defined they should be constant. If material properties are not
constant you should consider using any of the other options to define the density. Also,
if Custom, linearized density is used for incompressible flow, the density ρ is evaluated
to ρref. In this case αp is not used unless Boussinesq approximation is selected.

For Custom, enter a Density ρ (SI unit: kg/m3), or select a density in the list if available.

The density definition in the Nonisothermal Flow node ensures that the same definition
of the density is used on the fluid flow and heat transfer interfaces. When Include gravity
is selected and the Compressibility is set to Incompressible flow in the fluid interface
properties, the gravity forces are defined using the coefficient of thermal expansion.
Along with the fact that the material properties are evaluated for a constant
temperature and pressure, this gravity force definition corresponds to Boussinesq
approximation. Unless the density is defined as Custom, linearized density the
coefficient of thermal expansion is evaluated from the fluid density.

Select an option from the Specify reference temperature list — From heat transfer
interface, From fluid flow interface (the default), or User defined.

For From heat transfer interface, set the Reference temperature Tref (SI unit: K) in the
Physical Model section of the interface selected in the Heat transfer list of the Coupled
Interfaces section. The Reference temperature input in the Fluid flow interface is
synchronized to the same value or expression, and is not editable.

For From fluid flow interface, set the Reference temperature Tref (SI unit: K) in the
Physical Model section of the interface selected in the Fluid flow list of the Coupled

254 | CHAPTER 5: HEAT TRANSFER AND NONISOTHERMAL FLOW INTERFACES

 Interfaces section. The Reference temperature input in the Heat transfer interface is
synchronized to the same value or expression, and is not editable.

For User defined, set a value or expression. The Reference temperature inputs in the
Physical Model sections of the Heat transfer and Fluid flow interfaces are synchronized
to the same value or expression, and are not editable.

FLOW HEATING
The Include viscous dissipation check box is selected by default to account for the heat
source corresponding to viscous heating. Because it may induce an extra
computational cost it should be only selected in application where such effect is
expected. If no information on this is available, selecting the option ensures that the
energy balance for the heat and the flow equation is respected.

When an interface is selected from the Heat transfer list, some of its model
inputs are forced with values from the Nonisothermal Flow node. In
addition, it defines how the turbulence has to be accounted for,
depending on the Fluid flow interface’s turbulence settings. Therefore,
each heat transfer or fluid flow interface should be used in at most one
Nonisothermal Flow node. In cases where multiple fluid flow interfaces are
used, an equal number of heat transfer interfaces and Nonisothermal Flow
nodes are needed to define proper multiphysics couplings.

If a physics interface is deleted and then added to the model again, then
in order to reestablish the coupling, you need to choose the physics
interface again from the Fluid flow or Heat transfer lists. This is applicable
to all multiphysics coupling nodes that would normally default to the
once present interface. See Multiphysics Modeling Workflow in the
COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

Marangoni Effect
The Marangoni Effect multiphysics coupling ( ) accounts for Marangoni convection.
Marangoni convection occurs when the surface tension of an interface (generally
liquid-air) depends on the concentration of a species or on the temperature
distribution. In the case of temperature dependence, the Marangoni effect is also called
thermo-capillary convection. It is of primary importance in the fields of welding,
crystal growth, and electron beam melting of metals.

THE NONISOTHERMAL FLOW AND CONJUGATE HEAT TRANSFER, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW AND LES INTERFACES
 The Marangoni effect is a shear stress which depends on the tangential temperature
gradient and should be implemented as such. It has the following contribution
described by forces induced on the fluid/fluid interface:

T 2
– pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) ) – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I n = γ∇ t T
3

where γ is the temperature derivative of the surface tension σ (N/(m·K)). Note that
this formulation is intended for laminar flow regimes only.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default multiphysics coupling feature name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the coupling node.
Refer to such variables in expressions using the pattern <name>.<variable_name>. In
order to distinguish between variables belonging to different coupling nodes or physics
interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and underscores (_)
are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first multiphysics coupling feature in the model) is me1.

SURFACE TENSION
Select a Surface tension coefficient type — Library coefficient, liquid/gas interface or User
defined (the default).

• For Library coefficient, liquid/gas interface choose an option from the Library surface
tension coefficient list.
• For User defined enter a Surface tension coefficient σ (SI unit: N/m).

MARANGONI EFFECT
This section defines the physics involved in the multiphysics coupling. The Fluid flow
and Heat transfer lists include all applicable physics interfaces.

The default values depend on how this coupling node is created.

• If it is added from the Physics ribbon (Windows users), Physics contextual toolbar
(Mac and Linux users), or context menu (all users), then the first physics interface
of each type in the component is selected as the default.
• If it is added automatically when a multiphysics interface is chosen in the Model
Wizard or Add Physics window, then the two participating physics interfaces are
selected.

256 | CHAPTER 5: HEAT TRANSFER AND NONISOTHERMAL FLOW INTERFACES

 You can also select None from either list to uncouple the node from a physics interface.
If the physics interface is removed from the Model Builder, for example Heat Transfer in
Fluids is deleted, then the Heat transfer list defaults to None as there is nothing to couple
to.

If a physics interface is deleted and then added to the model again, then
in order to re-establish the coupling, you need to choose the physics
interface again from the Fluid flow or Heat transfer lists. This is applicable
to all multiphysics coupling nodes that would normally default to the
once present interface. See Multiphysics Modeling Workflow in the
COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

THE NONISOTHERMAL FLOW AND CONJUGATE HEAT TRANSFER, LAMINAR FLOW, TURBULENT FLOW AND LES INTERFACES
 Theory for the Nonisothermal Flow
and Conjugate Heat Transfer
Interfaces
In this section:

• The Nonisothermal Flow and Conjugate Heat Transfer Equations

• Turbulent Nonisothermal Flow Theory
• Theory for the Nonisothermal Flow, LES Interfaces
• The Boussinesq Approximation
• Theory for the Nonisothermal Screen Boundary Condition
• Theory for the Interior Fan Boundary Condition
• References for the Nonisothermal Flow and Conjugate Heat Transfer Interfaces

The Nonisothermal Flow and Conjugate Heat Transfer Equations

In industrial applications it is common that the density of a process fluid varies. These
variations can have a number of different sources but the most common one is the
presence of an inhomogeneous temperature field. This module includes the
Nonisothermal Flow predefined multiphysics coupling to simulate systems in which
the density varies with temperature.

Other situations where the density might vary includes chemical reactions, for instance
where reactants associate or dissociate.

The Nonisothermal Flow and Conjugate Heat Transfer interfaces contain the fully
compressible formulation of the continuity and momentum equations:

∂ρ
------ + ∇ ⋅ ( ρu ) = 0
∂t
(5-1)
∂u
ρ ------- + ρu ⋅ ∇u = – ∇p + ∇ ⋅  μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I + F
2
∂t  3 

where

• ρ is the density (SI unit: kg/m3)

258 | CHAPTER 5: HEAT TRANSFER AND NONISOTHERMAL FLOW INTERFACES

• u is the velocity vector (SI unit: m/s)
• p is the pressure (SI unit: Pa)
• μ is the dynamic viscosity (SI unit: Pa·s)
• F is the body force vector (SI unit: N/m3)

It also solves the heat equation, which for a fluid is given by

∂T T ∂ρ ∂p
ρC p  ------- + ( u ⋅ ∇ )T = – ( ∇ ⋅ q ) + τ:S – ---- -------  ------ + ( u ⋅ ∇ )p + Q (5-2)
 ∂t  ρ ∂T p  ∂t 

where in addition to the quantities above

• Cp is the specific heat capacity at constant pressure (SI unit: J/(kgK))

• T is the absolute temperature (SI unit: K)
• q is the heat flux by conduction (SI unit: W/m2)
• τ is the viscous stress tensor (SI unit: Pa)
• S is the strain-rate tensor (SI unit: 1/s)
1
S = --- ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T )
2

• Q contains heat sources other than viscous heating (SI unit: W/m3)

The work done by pressure changes term

∂p 1 ∂ρ
α p T  ------ + u ⋅ ∇ p with α p = – --- ------- .
 ∂t  ρ ∂T p

and the viscous heating term

τ:S

are not included by default because they are usually negligible. These terms can,
however, be added by selection corresponding check-boxes in the Nonisothermal Flow
feature. Observe that the pressure in the pressure work term always is the absolute
pressure even if a reduced pressure is used in the momentum equation. For a detailed
discussion of the fundamentals of heat transfer in fluids, see Ref. 3.

The physics interface also supports heat transfer in solids:

THEORY FOR THE NONISOTHERMAL FLOW AND CONJUGATE HEAT TRANSFER INTERFACES | 259
 ∂T
ρC p ------- = – ( ∇ ⋅ q ) + Q + Q ted
∂t

where Qted is the thermoelastic damping heat source (SI unit: W/(m3)). This term is
not included by default but must be added by selecting corresponding check-box.

• Theory for Heat Transfer in Fluids in the Heat Transfer Module

User’s Manual.
• Turbulent Nonisothermal Flow Theory
• References for the Nonisothermal Flow and Conjugate Heat Transfer
Interfaces

Turbulent Nonisothermal Flow Theory

Turbulent energy transport is conceptually more complicated than energy transport in
laminar flows since the turbulence is also a form of energy.

Equations for compressible turbulence are derived using the Favre average. The Favre
˜
average of a variable T is denoted T and is defined by

˜ ρT
T = -------
ρ

where the bar denotes the usual Reynolds average. The full field is then decomposed as

˜
T = T + T''

With this notation the equation for total internal energy, e, becomes

˜ ˜ u˜ i u˜ i ρu i''u i''
∂-----   ˜ u i u i ρu i''u i'' ------ ∂
ρ e + ----------- + ------------------- + -  ρũ j  h˜ + ----------- + u˜ j ------------------- =
∂t   2  2  ∂x j  2  2
(5-3)
∂ ρu j''u i''u i'' ∂ ˜
-------  – q j – ρu j''h'' + τ ij u i'' – --------------------------
- + ------- ( u i ( τ ij – ρu i''u j'' ) )
∂x j  2  ∂x j

where h is the enthalpy. The vector

∂T
q j = – λ ------- (5-4)
∂x j

260 | CHAPTER 5: HEAT TRANSFER AND NONISOTHERMAL FLOW INTERFACES

is the laminar conductive heat flux and

2 ∂u k
τ ij = 2μS ij – --- μ --------- δ ij
3 ∂x k

is the laminar, viscous stress tensor. Notice that the thermal conductivity is denoted λ.

The modeling assumptions are in large part analogous to those for incompressible
turbulence modeling. The stress tensor

– ρu i''u'' j

is modeled using the Boussinesq approximation:

˜ ˜
1 ∂u k  2
– ρu i''u'' j = ρτ T ij = 2μ T  S ij – --- --------- δ ij – --- ρkδ ij (5-5)
 3 ∂x k  3

where k is the turbulent kinetic energy, which in turn is defined by

1
ρk = --- ρu i''u i'' (5-6)
2

The correlation between u j'' and h'' in Equation 5-3 is the turbulent transport of
heat. It is modeled analogously to the laminar conductive heat flux

˜ μ T C p ∂T ˜
∂T
ρu j''h'' = q T j = – λ T ------- = – -------------- ------- (5-7)
∂x j Pr T ∂x j

The molecular diffusion term,

τ ij u i''

and turbulent transport term,

ρu j''u i''u i'' ⁄ 2

are modeled by a generalization of the molecular diffusion and turbulent transport

terms found in the incompressible k equation

ρu j''u i''u i'' μ T ∂k

τ ij u i'' – --------------------------- =  μ + ------ ------- (5-8)
2  σ k  ∂x j

Inserting Equation 5-4 through Equation 5-8 into Equation 5-3 gives

THEORY FOR THE NONISOTHERMAL FLOW AND CONJUGATE HEAT TRANSFER INTERFACES | 261
 ˜ ˜ u˜ i u˜ i
∂-----   ˜ u i u i ∂
ρ e + ----------- + k  + -------  ρũ j  h˜ + ----------- + k  =
∂t   2   ∂x j   2 
(5-9)
∂ μ T ∂k  ∂ ˜
-------  – q j – q T j +  μ + ------ ------- + ------- ( u ( τ + ρτ T ij ) )
∂x j   σ k  ∂x j ∂x j i ij

The Favre average can also be applied to the momentum equation, which, using
Equation 5-5, can be written

∂----- ∂ ∂p ∂
( ρũ i ) + ------- ( ρũ j u˜ i ) = – ------- + ------- ( τ ij + ρτ T ij ) (5-10)
∂t ∂x j ∂x j ∂x j

Taking the inner product between u˜ i and Equation 5-10 results in an equation for the
resolved kinetic energy, which can be subtracted from Equation 5-9 with the following
result:

∂----- ∂ ∂u˜ j
( ρ ( e˜ + k ) ) + ------- ( ρũ j ( e˜ + k ) ) = – p -------- +
∂t ∂x j ∂x j
(5-11)
∂ - μ T ∂k ∂
------
 – q j – q T j +  μ + ------ ------- + ------- ( u˜ i ( τ ij + ρτ T ij ) )
∂x j  σ k  ∂x j ∂x j

where the relation

h˜ = e˜ + p ⁄ ρ

has been used.

According to Wilcox (Ref. 1), it is usually a good approximation to neglect the

contributions of k for flows with Mach numbers up to the supersonic range. This gives
the following approximation of Equation 5-11 is

∂----- ∂ ∂u˜ j ∂ ∂
( ρẽ ) + ------- ( ρũ j e˜ ) = – p -------- + ------- ( – q j – q T j ) + ------- ( u˜ i ( τ ij + ρτ T ij ) ) (5-12)
∂t ∂x j ∂x j ∂x j ∂x j

Larsson (Ref. 2) suggests to make the split

τ ij = τ̃ ij + τ ij''

Since

262 | CHAPTER 5: HEAT TRANSFER AND NONISOTHERMAL FLOW INTERFACES

 τ̃ ij » τ ij''

for all applications of engineering interest, it follows that

τ ij ≈ τ̃ ij

and consequently

˜
∂----- ∂ ∂u˜ j ∂  ∂T  ∂
( ρẽ ) + ------- ( ρũ j e˜ ) = – p -------- + -------  ( λ + λ T ) ------- + ------- ( u˜ i τ̃ ij
Tot
) (5-13)
∂t ∂x j ∂x j ∂x j  ∂x j ∂x j

where

 ˜ ˜
Tot 2 ∂u k 
τ̃ ij = ( μ + μ T )  2S ij – --- --------- δ ij
 3 ∂x k 

Equation 5-13 is completely analogous to the laminar energy equation and can be
expanded using the same theory (see for example Ref. 3):

 ∂T ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
∂T  ∂  ∂T  ˜ T ∂ρ ∂p ∂p
ρC p  ------- + u˜ j ------- = -------  ( λ + λ T ) ------- + τ̃ ij S ij – ---- -------  ------ + u˜ j -------
 ∂ t ∂ x j ∂ x j ∂ x j ρ ∂T ˜ ∂ t ∂ xj
p

which is the temperature equation solved in the turbulent Nonisothermal Flow and
Conjugate Heat Transfer interfaces.

TURBULENT CONDUCTIVITY

Kays-Crawford
This is a relatively exact model for PrT, while still quite simple. In Ref. 4, it is compared
to other models for PrT and found to be a good approximation for most kinds of
turbulent wall bounded flows except for turbulent flow of liquid metals. The model is
given by

 1 0.3 C p μ T Cp μT 2  –1
Pr T =  ----------------- + ------------------ -------------- –  0.3 -------------- ( 1 – e –λ ⁄ ( 0.3C p μT Pr T∞ ) )
 (5-14)
 2Pr T∞ Pr T∞ λ  λ  

where the Prandtl number at infinity is PrT∞ = 0.85 and λ is the conductivity.

THEORY FOR THE NONISOTHERMAL FLOW AND CONJUGATE HEAT TRANSFER INTERFACES | 263
 Extended Kays-Crawford
Weigand and others (Ref. 5) suggested an extension of Equation 5-14 to liquid metals
by introducing

100λ
Pr T∞ = 0.85 + -------------------------------
-
C p μRe ∞0.888

where Re∞, the Reynolds number at infinity must be provided either as a constant or
as a function of the flow field. This is entered in the Model Inputs section of the Fluid
feature.

TEMPERATURE CONDITION FOR AUTOMATIC WALL TREATMENT AND

WALL FUNCTIONS
Both automatic wall treatment and wall functions introduce a theoretical gap between
the solid wall and the computational domain for the fluid and temperature fields. See
Wall Boundary Conditions described for The Algebraic yPlus Turbulence Model and
The k-ε Turbulence Model). This theoretical gap applies also to the temperature fields
but is most often ignored when the computational geometry is drawn.

The heat flux between the fluid with temperature Tf and a wall with temperature Tw, is:

ρC p u * ( T w – T f )
q wf = -----------------------------------------
-
T+

where ρ is the fluid density, Cp is the fluid heat capacity, u∗ is the friction velocity given
by the wall treatment (u∗ for two-equation RANS models with automatic wall
treatment and uτ for all other cases). T+ is the dimensionless temperature and is given
by (Ref. 6):

+
Prδ w for δ w
+ < δ+
w1

 15Pr 2 / 3 – 500
---------- + ≤ δ+ < δ+
for δ w1
T+ =  δ +2  w w2
w
Pr T
--------- lnδ w
+ +β for δ w2
+ ≤ δ+
κ w

where in turn

264 | CHAPTER 5: HEAT TRANSFER AND NONISOTHERMAL FLOW INTERFACES

 δ w ρ C μ1 / 2 k 10 -
+ = ------------------------------
δw + = ------------
δ w1
μ Pr 1 / 3
κ Cp μ
+ = 10 10 --------
δ w2 - Pr = ----------
Pr T λ
Pr T κ
β = 15Pr 2 / 3 – ---------  1 + ln  1000 --------- 
2κ Pr T

λ is the thermal conductivity, and κ is the von Karman constant equal to 0.41.

The distance between the computational fluid domain and the wall, δw, is always hw/2
for automatic wall treatment where hw is the height of the mesh cell adjacent to the
wall. hw/2 is almost always very small compared to any geometrical quantity of interest,
at least if a boundary layer mesh is used. For wall functions, δw is at least hw/2 and can
be bigger if necessary to keep δw+ higher than 11.06. So the computational results for
wall functions should be checked so that the distance between the computational fluid
domain and the wall, δw, is everywhere small compared to any geometrical quantity of
interest. The distance δw is available for evaluation on boundaries.

Theory for the Nonisothermal Flow, LES Interfaces

The current versions of the Nonisothermal Flow, LES interfaces only support
incompressible flow. When gravity is active in the model, buoyancy effects may be
taken into account using The Boussinesq Approximation. For large eddy simulations
(LES) of nonisothermal flow, the temperature field is divided up into resolved and
unresolved scales, T + T' in the same way as is done for the velocity and pressure fields
(see Theory for the Large Eddy Simulation Interfaces). For incompressible flow, the
energy equation can be projected onto the resolved scales, w, producing the following
weak form equation,

∂T-
 w, ρC ------
 p ∂t  + ( ∇w, K ∇T ) Ω – ( w, τ:S + Q ) Ω + ( w, q ) ∂Ω =
Ω (5-15)
( ∇w, ρC p ( uT + uT' + u'T + u'T' ) ) Ω

where q is the inward heat flux on the boundary ∂Ω of the spatial domain Ω . The
unresolved temperature scales are modeled in terms of the residual to the energy
equation and the intrinsic time-scale,

T' = – τ e res e (5-16)

THEORY FOR THE NONISOTHERMAL FLOW AND CONJUGATE HEAT TRANSFER INTERFACES | 265
 with,

∂T
res e = ρC p  ------- + u ⋅ ∇T – ∇ ⋅ ( K ∇T ) – τ:S – Q
 ∂t 
1 (5-17)
τ e = -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C 1 ρC
 -----------------p
2
2 2
- + 4ρ C p2 u ⋅ Gu + C 4 K G:G
 Δt 

Here, C4 is a constant depending on the shape of the element and G is the covariant
metric tensor.

For the RBVMWV LES models, an additional heat-diffusion term is added to the
right-hand side of the energy equation,

˜
ρC p C u' h
– (∇w, ---------------------------- ∇T) (5-18)
Pr T Ω

For the Smagorinsky LES model, the last term on the right-hand side is replaced by,

ρC p C s S
– (∇w, -------------------------------------- ( ∇T – ∇T )) (5-19)
2Pr T trace ( G ) Ω

For further details, see Theory for the Large Eddy Simulation Interfaces.

The Boussinesq Approximation

The Boussinesq approximation assumes that density variations only contribute to
buoyancy effects, of which thermal effects are considered herein

ρ = ρ0 ( 1 – αp ( T0 ) ( T – T0 ) ) (5-20)

where ρ0, α and T0 are constants and T is the temperature. All other material
properties are assumed to be constant. Provided that αp and T − T0 are small enough,
Equation 5-1 and Equation 5-2 reduce to

266 | CHAPTER 5: HEAT TRANSFER AND NONISOTHERMAL FLOW INTERFACES

 ρ0 ∇ ⋅ u = 0
∂u
ρ 0 ------- + ρ 0 u ⋅ ∇u = – ∇p + μ 0 ∇ ⋅ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) + F (5-21)
∂t
∂T
ρ 0 C p0  ------- + ( u ⋅ ∇ )T = ( ∇ ⋅ K 0 ∇T ) + τ:S + Q
 ∂t 

where K0 is the constant thermal conductivity.

The Boussinesq approximation is commonly used to simulate buoyancy-driven flows.

In this case

F = ( ρ 0 + Δρ )g = – ρ 0 ( 1 – α p ( T 0 ) ( T – T 0 ) )g (5-22)

where g is the gravity vector. A further useful simplification is possible by writing

Equation 5-22 in terms of a potential, Φ:

F = – ∇ ( ρ 0 Φ ) + Δρg

The first part can be canceled out by splitting the true pressure, p, into a hydrodynamic
component, P, and a hydrostatic component, −ρ0Φ such that P = p + ρ0Φ. This
reduced Equation 5-21 to:

ρ0 ∇ ⋅ u = 0
∂u
ρ 0 ------- + ρ 0 u ⋅ ∇u = – ∇P + μ 0 ∇ ⋅ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) + ρ 0 α p ( T 0 ) ( T – T 0 )g(5-23)
∂t
∂T
ρ 0 C p0  ------- + ( u ⋅ ∇ )T = ( ∇ ⋅ K 0 ∇T ) + τ:S + Q
 ∂t 

The gravity force is added on the form given by Equation 5-22 if Include gravity is
selected in the fluid flow interface. The form in Equation 5-23 is obtained when
selecting the Use reduced pressure option.

When an LES turbulence model is applied, an additional contribution,

ρ 0 α p ( T 0 )T'g

is added to the buoyancy force in Equation 5-22 and Equation 5-23. See Theory for
the Nonisothermal Flow, LES Interfaces for more information.

The main assumption in the Boussinesq approximation is that the density fluctuations
must be small; that is, Δρ/ρ0 << 1. There are also some more subtle constraints that,

THEORY FOR THE NONISOTHERMAL FLOW AND CONJUGATE HEAT TRANSFER INTERFACES | 267
 for example, make the Boussinesq approximation unsuitable for systems of very large
dimensions. It can also be observed the energy equation in Equation 5-23 retains both
the viscous heating term and the pressure work term. These can, however, almost
always be neglected in situations when the Boussinesq approximation is valid (see, for
example, Ref. 7). But there are situations where they need to be retained (Ref. 8). In
particular, the pressure work term can be of importance for liquids where Cp ≠ Cv
(Ref. 9). An excellent discussion of the Boussinesq approximation and its limitations
appears in Chapter 14 of Ref. 7.

Theory for the Nonisothermal Screen Boundary Condition

When the Nonisothermal Flow multiphysics coupling feature is active, the conditions
that apply across a screen in isothermal flow are complemented by:

[ H 0 ] -+ = 0 (5-24)

where H0 is the total enthalpy.

• See Screen for the feature node details.

• Also see Screen Boundary Condition described for the single-phase
flow interfaces.

Theory for the Interior Fan Boundary Condition

When the Nonisothermal Flow multiphysics coupling feature is active, the temperature
field is discontinuous over the fan and the conditions that apply across an interior fan
are complemented by:

• If direction is Along normal vector, the outlet temperature Tavg is defined by:

 

 up ( u ⋅ nρC p ) dS T avg =
   down ( u ⋅ nρCp T ) dS
Γ Γ

• If the direction is opposite to normal vector, the outlet temperature Tavg is defined
by:

 

 down ( u ⋅ nρC p ) dS T avg =
   up ( u ⋅ nρCp T ) dS
Γ Γ

268 | CHAPTER 5: HEAT TRANSFER AND NONISOTHERMAL FLOW INTERFACES

References for the Nonisothermal Flow and Conjugate Heat Transfer
Interfaces
1. D.C. Wilcox, Turbulence Modeling for CFD, 2nd ed., DCW Industries, 1998.

2. J. Larsson, Numerical Simulation of Turbulent Flows for Turbine Blade Heat

Transfer, Doctoral Thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Chalmers
University of Technology, Sweden, 1998.

3. R.L. Panton, Incompressible Flow, 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons, 1996.

4. W.M. Kays, “Turbulent Prandtl Number — Where Are We?”, ASME Journal of
Heat Transfer, vol. 116, pp. 284–295, 1994.

5. B. Weigand, J.R. Ferguson, and M.E. Crawford, “An Extended Kays and Crawford
Turbulent Prandtl Number Model”, Int. J. Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 40, no. 17,
pp. 4191–4196, 1997.

6. D. Lacasse, È. Turgeon, and D. Pelletier, “On the Judicious Use of the k-ε Model,
Wall Functions and Adaptivity”, Int. J. Thermal Sciences, vol. 43, pp. 925–938, 2004.

7. D.J. Tritton, Physical Fluid Dynamics, 2nd ed., Clarendon Press, 1988.

8. D.D. Gray and A. Giorgini, “The Validity of the Boussinesq Approximation for
Liquids and Gases”, Int. J. Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 19, pp. 545–551, 1967.

9. P.G. Drazin and W.H. Reid, Hydrodynamic stability, Cambridge University Press,
1981.

THEORY FOR THE NONISOTHERMAL FLOW AND CONJUGATE HEAT TRANSFER INTERFACES | 269
270 | CHAPTER 5: HEAT TRANSFER AND NONISOTHERMAL FLOW INTERFACES
 6

High Mach Number Flow Interfaces

This chapter discusses physics interfaces found under the Fluid Flow>High Mach
Number Flow branch ( ).

In this chapter:

• The High Mach Number Flow Interfaces

• The Compressible Euler Equations Interface
• Theory for the High Mach Number Flow Interfaces
• Theory for the Compressible Euler Equations Interface

271
 The High Mach Number Flow
Interfaces
There are three versions of the same predefined multiphysics interface (all with the
name hmnf) that combine the heat equation with either the laminar or turbulent flow
equations. The advantage of using the multiphysics interfaces — compared to adding
the individual physics interfaces separately — is that a set of two-way couplings has
been predefined. In particular, the physics interfaces use the same definition of the
density, which can therefore be a function of both pressure and temperature. Solving
this coupled system of equations usually requires numerical stabilization, which the
predefined multiphysics interface also sets up.

These physics interfaces vary only by one or two default settings (see Table 6-1) or
selections from check boxes or lists under the Physical Model and Turbulence sections
for the physics interface.
TABLE 6-1: THE HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW DEFAULT SETTINGS

PHYSICS INTERFACE LABEL NAME TURBULENCE TURBULENCE HEAT

MODEL TYPE MODEL TRANSPORT
TURBULENCE
MODEL

High Mach Number Flow, hmnf None N/A N/A

Laminar
High Mach Number Flow, hmnf RANS k-ε Kays-Crawford
k-ε
High Mach Number Flow, hmnf RANS Spalart-Allmaras Kays-Crawford
Spalart- Allmaras

Most of the other physics nodes share the same setting options as
described in this section and in Domain, Boundary, Edge, Point, and Pair
Nodes for the High Mach Number Flow Laminar and Turbulent
Interfaces. See also The Heat Transfer in Solids Interface in the Heat
Transfer Module User’s Guide for details about the Heat Transfer in
Solids physics node.

272 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

 • The High Mach Number Flow, Laminar Interface
• The High Mach Number Flow, k-ε Interface
• The High Mach Number Flow, Spalart-Allmaras Interface
• Theory for the High Mach Number Flow Interfaces

The High Mach Number Flow, Laminar Interface

The High Mach Number Flow, Laminar (hmnf) interface ( ), found under the Fluid
Flow>High Mach Number Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used to
model gas flows at low and moderate Reynolds number where the velocity magnitude
is comparable to the speed of sound, that is, laminar flows in the transonic and
supersonic range. This state is often connected to very low pressures.

The physics interface solves for conservation of energy, mass and momentum. The
interface also supports heat transfer in solids as well as surface-to-surface radiation.

This physics interface is a predefined multiphysics coupling consisting of a Laminar

Flow interface, applied to compressible flow, in combination with a Heat Transfer
interface.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder — Fluid, Wall, Thermal Insulation, and Initial Values. Then, from the
Physics toolbar, add other nodes that implement, for example, boundary conditions,
volume forces, and heat sources. You can also right-click the node to select physics
features from the context menu.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is hmnf.

PHYSICAL MODEL
The Reference temperature Tref is used to define the reference enthalpy Href which is
set to 0 J/kg at pref (1 atm) and Tref.

THE HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES | 273

 TURBULENCE

Turbulence Model Type

By definition, no turbulence model is needed when studying laminar flows. The
default is None. See The High Mach Number Flow, k-ε Interface or The High Mach
Number Flow, Spalart-Allmaras Interface for the settings if RANS is chosen as the
Turbulence model type.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variables (field variables) are the Velocity field u (SI unit: m/s), the
Pressure p (SI unit: Pa), and the Temperature T (SI unit: K). The names can be changed
but the names of fields and dependent variables must be unique within a component.

ADVANCED SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box. Normally these settings do not
need to be changed.

Select the Use pseudo time stepping for stationary equation form check box to add
pseudo time derivatives to the equation when the Stationary equation form is used.
When selected, also choose a CFL number expression — Automatic (the default) or
Manual. Automatic calculates the local CFL number (from the Courant–Friedrichs–
Lewy condition) from a built-in expression. For Manual enter a Local CFL number
CFLloc.

By default the Enable conversions between material and spatial frames check box is
selected.

• Domain, Boundary, Edge, Point, and Pair Nodes for the High Mach
Number Flow Laminar and Turbulent Interfaces
• The Heat Transfer Module Interfaces
• The High Mach Number Flow, k-ε Interface
• The High Mach Number Flow, Spalart-Allmaras Interface

The High Mach Number Flow, k-ε Interface

The High Mach Number Flow, k-ε (hmnf) interface ( ), found under the High Mach
Number Flow>Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used to

274 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

model gas flows at high Reynolds number where the velocity magnitude is comparable
to the speed of sound, that is, turbulent flows in the transonic and supersonic range.

The physics interface solves for conservation of energy, mass, and momentum.
Turbulence effects are modeled using the standard two-equation k-ε model with
realizability constraints. Flow and heat transfer close to walls are modeled using wall
functions. The physics interface also supports heat transfer in solids as well as
surface-to-surface radiation.

This is a predefined multiphysics coupling consisting of a Turbulent Flow k-ε interface,

applied to compressible flow, in combination with a heat transfer interface. As shown
in Table 6-1, the turbulent versions of the physics interfaces differ by where they are
selected when adding a physics interface and the default turbulence model selected —
k-ε for this physics interface.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder — Fluid, Wall, Thermal Insulation, and Initial Values. Then, from the
Physics toolbar, add other nodes that implement, for example, boundary conditions,
volume forces, and heat sources. You can also right-click the node to select physics
features from the context menu.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is hmnf.

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS, the default Turbulence model is k-ε, and the
default Heat transport turbulence model is Kays-Crawford. Alternatively, select
User-defined turbulent Prandtl number. The turbulent Prandtl number model describes
the influence of the turbulent fluctuations on the temperature field. It is always
possible to have a user-defined model for the turbulence Prandtl number. Enter the
user-defined value or expression for the turbulence Prandtl number in the Model Inputs
section of the Fluid feature node.

THE HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES | 275

 Edit Turbulence Model Parameters
Edit the model parameters of the k-ε model as needed. Turbulence model parameters
are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but for some special cases, better
performance can be obtained by tuning the model parameters. For a description of the
turbulence model and the included model parameters see Theory for the Turbulent
Flow Interfaces.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variables (field variables) are the Velocity field u (SI unit: m/s), the
Pressure p (SI unit: Pa), and the Temperature T (SI unit: K). For turbulence modeling
and heat radiation, the Turbulent kinetic energy k (SI unit: m2/s2) and Turbulent
dissipation rate ep (SI unit: m2/s3) variables are also available.

The names can be changed but the names of fields and dependent variables must be
unique within a model.

• The Heat Transfer Module Interfaces in the Heat Transfer Module

User’s Guide
• Domain, Boundary, Edge, Point, and Pair Nodes for the High Mach
Number Flow Laminar and Turbulent Interfaces
• The High Mach Number Flow, Laminar Interface
• The High Mach Number Flow, Spalart-Allmaras Interface

The High Mach Number Flow, Spalart-Allmaras Interface

The High Mach Number Flow, Spalart-Allmaras (hmnf) interface ( ), found under the
High Mach Number Flow>Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics interface,
is used to model gas flows at high Reynolds number where the velocity magnitude is
comparable to the speed of sound, that is, turbulent flows in the transonic and
supersonic range.

The physics interface solves for conservation of energy, mass, and momentum.
Turbulence effects are modeled using the one-equation Spalart-Allmaras turbulence
model. The Spalart-Allmaras model is a so-called low-Reynolds number model, which
means that it resolves the velocity, pressure, and temperature fields all the way down
to the wall. The Spalart-Allmaras model depends on the distance to the closest wall.
The physics interface therefore includes a wall distance equation. It also supports heat
transfer in solids as well as surface-to-surface radiation.

276 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

This is a predefined multiphysics coupling consisting of a Turbulent Flow,
Spalart-Allmaras interface, applied to compressible flow, in combination with a Heat
Transfer interface. As shown in Table 6-1, the turbulent versions of the physics
interfaces differ by where they are selected when adding a physics interface and the
default Turbulence model selected — Spalart-Allmaras for this physics interface.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder — Fluid, Wall, Thermal Insulation, and Initial Values. Then, from the
Physics toolbar, add other nodes that implement, for example, boundary conditions,
volume forces, and heat sources. You can also right-click the node to select physics
features from the context menu.

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS, the default Turbulence model is
Spalart-Allmaras., and the default Heat transport turbulence model is Kays-Crawford.
Alternatively, select User-defined turbulent Prandtl number. The turbulent Prandtl
number model describes the influence of the turbulent fluctuations on the temperature
field. It is always possible to have a user-defined model for the turbulence Prandtl
number. Enter the user-defined value or expression for the turbulence Prandtl number
in the Model Inputs section of the Fluid feature node.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variables (field variables) are the Velocity field u (SI unit: m/s), the
Pressure p (SI unit: Pa), and the Temperature T (SI unit: K). For turbulence modeling
and heat radiation, the Reciprocal wall distance G (SI unit: 1/m) and Undamped
turbulent kinematic viscosity nutilde (SI unit: m2/s) variables are also available.

• The Heat Transfer Module Interfaces in the Heat Transfer Module

User’s Guide
• Domain, Boundary, Edge, Point, and Pair Nodes for the High Mach
Number Flow Laminar and Turbulent Interfaces
• The High Mach Number Flow, Laminar Interface
• The High Mach Number Flow, k-ε Interface

Transonic Flow in a Sajben Diffuser: Application Library path

CFD_Module/High_Mach_Number_Flow/sajben_diffuser

THE HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES | 277

 Domain, Boundary, Edge, Point, and Pair Nodes for the High Mach
Number Flow Laminar and Turbulent Interfaces
The High Mach Number Flow Interfaces has these domain, boundary, edge, point,
and pair nodes available from the Physics ribbon toolbar (Windows users), Physics
context menu (Mac or Linux users), or right-click to access the context menu (all
users).

In general, to add a node, go to the Physics toolbar, no matter what

operating system you are using. Subnodes are available by clicking the
parent node and selecting it from the Attributes menu.

The following nodes are slightly different from those in the other physics interfaces and
are described in this section (listed in alphabetical order):

• Fluid • Outlet
• Initial Values • Symmetry
• Inlet

The following nodes (listed in alphabetical order) are described for the Laminar Flow
interface:

• Volume Force • Interior Wall

• Wall • Pressure Point Constraint

The Interior Wall feature requires appropriate conditions for the

temperature. Use a Thermal Insulation or Temperature node together
with Interior Wall to get appropriate boundary conditions for all the flow
and heat variables.

For The High Mach Number Flow, k-ε Interface, the same nodes are selected from the
Turbulent Flow, k-ε submenus. For The High Mach Number Flow, Spalart-Allmaras
Interface, the same nodes are selected from the Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras
submenus.

278 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

The following physics nodes and subnodes (listed in alphabetical order) are described
for the Heat Transfer interfaces in the Heat Transfer Module User’s Guide.
Additional features can also be available when you have additional licenses:

• Boundary Heat Source • Point Heat Source

• Heat Flux • Diffuse Surface (Surface-to-Surface
• Heat Source Radiation Interface)

• Solid • Temperature

• Line Heat Source • Thermal Insulation

• Periodic Condition (Heat Transfer • Thin Layer (Heat Transfer Interface)

Interface) and Solid (Heat Transfer in Shells
Interface)

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual see Table 2-4 for links
to common sections and Table 2-5 to common feature nodes. You can
also search for information: press F1 to open the Help window or Ctrl+F1
to open the Documentation window.

Initial Values
The Initial Values node adds initial values for the velocity field, the pressure and the
temperature that can serve as initial conditions for a transient simulation or as an initial
guess for a nonlinear solver. For turbulent flow there are also initial values for the
turbulence model variables. The surface radiosity is only applicable for
surface-to-surface radiation.

INITIAL VALUES
Enter values or expressions for the initial value of the Velocity field u (SI unit: m/s),
the Pressure p (SI unit: Pa), and the Temperature T (SI unit: K). The default values are
0 m/s for the velocity, 1 atm for the pressure, and 293.15 K for the temperature.

In a turbulent flow interface, initial values for the turbulence variables are also
specified. By default these are specified using the predefined variables defined by the
expressions described in Theory for the High Mach Number Flow Interfaces under
Initial Values.

THE HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES | 279

 Fluid
The Fluid node adds the continuity, momentum and temperature equations for an ideal
gas but omits volume forces and heat sources. Volume forces and heat sources can be
added as separate physics features. Viscous heating and pressure work terms are added
by default to the temperature equation.

When the turbulence model type is set to RANS, the Fluid node also adds the equations
for k and ε, or the undamped turbulent kinematic viscosity, depending on the
turbulence model used.

The thermal conductivity describes the relationship between the heat flux vector q and
the temperature gradient ∇T as in q = −k∇T, which is Fourier’s law of heat
conduction. Enter this quantity as power per length and temperature.

HEAT CONDUCTION
Select a Thermal conductivity k (SI unit: W/(m·K)) from the list — Sutherland’s Law
(the default), From material, or User defined. For User defined select Isotropic, Diagonal,
Symmetric, or Full based on the characteristics of the thermal conductivity and enter
another value or expression in the field or matrix.

Sutherland’s Law
For Sutherland’s Law enter the following model parameters:

• Conductivity at reference temperature kref (SI unit: W/(m·K))

• Reference temperature Tk,ref (SI unit: K)
• Sutherland constant Sk (SI unit: K)
Sutherland’s law describes the relationship between the thermal conductivity and the
total temperature of an ideal fluid according to

T 3 / 2 T k, ref + S k
k = k ref  -------------- ---------------------------
T k, ref T + Sk

THERMODYNAMICS
The High Mach Number Flow interface is applicable for ideal gases. Specify the
thermodynamics properties by selecting a gas constant type and selecting between
entering the heat capacity at constant pressure or the ratio of specific heats. For an ideal
gas the density is defined as

280 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

 Mn pA pA
ρ = ---------------- = -----------
RT Rs T

where pA is the absolute pressure, and T is the temperature.

• Select a Gas constant type — Specific gas constant Rs (SI unit: J/(kg·K)) or Mean
molar mass Mn (SI unit: kg/mol). The default setting is to use the property value
From material. For User defined enter another value or expression for either material
property. For Mean molar mass the universal gas constant R = 8.314 J/(mol·K),
which is a built-in physical constant, is also used.

• From the Specify Cp or γ list, select Heat capacity at constant pressure Cp

(SI unit: J/(kg·K)) or Ratio of specific heats γ (dimensionless). The default setting is
to use the property value From material. For User defined enter another value or
expression for either material property.

DYNAMIC VISCOSITY
The dynamic viscosity describes the relationship between the shear rate and the shear
stresses in a fluid.

Select a Dynamic viscosity μ (SI unit: Pa·s) from the list — Sutherland’s Law (the
default), From material, or User defined.

Sutherland’s Law
For Sutherland’s Law enter the following model parameters:

• Dynamic viscosity at reference temperature μref (SI unit: Pa·s)

• Reference temperature Tμ,ref (SI unit: K)
• Sutherland constant Sμ (SI unit: K)

Sutherland’s law describes the relationship between the dynamic viscosity and the total
temperature of an ideal fluid according to

T 3 / 2 T μ, ref + S μ
μ = μ ref  -------------- ---------------------------
 T μ, ref T + Sμ

MIXING LENGTH LIMIT

This section is available for the Turbulent Flow, k-ε model.

THE HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES | 281

 The k-ε turbulence model needs an upper limit on the mixing length to be numerically
robust. Select a Mixing length limit — Automatic (the default) or Manual.

• For Automatic this limit is automatically evaluated as:

lim = 0.5l
l mix (6-1)
bb

where lbb is the shortest side of the geometry bounding box. If the geometry is a
complicated system of very slender entities, for example, Equation 6-1 tends to give
lim manually.
a result that is too large. In such cases, define l mix
lim (SI unit: m).
• For Manual enter a value or expression for the Mixing length limit l mix

DISTANCE EQUATION
This section is available for Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras since a Wall Distance
interface is then included.

Select how the Reference length scale lref (SI unit: m) is defined — Automatic (default)
or Manual:

• For Automatic the wall distance is automatically evaluated to one tenth of the
shortest side of the geometry bounding box. This is usually quite accurate but it can
sometimes give a too high value if the geometry consists of several slim entities. In
such cases, define the reference length scale manually.
• For Manual it defines a different value or expression for the length scale. The default
is 1 m.

lref controls the result of the distance equation. Objects that are much smaller than lref
are effectively be diminished while the distance to objects much larger than lref are
accurately represented.

Inlet
The Inlet node includes a set of boundary conditions describing the fluid flow and
temperature conditions at an inlet. The applied conditions are controlled by the Flow
Condition.

FLOW CONDITION
Select a Flow condition — Characteristics based (the default) or Supersonic.

For Characteristics based the current flow situation is analyzed using the inviscid flow
characteristics at the inlet. This can be used to specify either a subsonic (Ma < 1) inlet
or a supersonic inlet (Ma > 1).

282 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

For Supersonic the inlet flow is assumed to be supersonic.

FLOW PROPERTIES
Specify the flow properties at the inlet in terms of the static or total pressure, static or
total temperature, Mach number, and flow direction. By default Static input variables
are used.

Select an Input state — Static (the default) or Total. For either selection also enter
values or expressions for the Mach number Ma0 (dimensionless) at the inlet. The default
is 1.5.

• For Static enter values or expressions for the Static pressure p0,stat (SI unit: Pa) and
Static temperature T0,stat (SI unit: K).
• For Total enter values or expressions for the Total pressure p0,tot (SI unit: Pa) and
Total temperature T0,tot (SI unit: K).

The relationships between the static and total states are:

γ
-----------
p tot  γ–1 2 γ–1
- = 1 + ----------- Ma 
---------
p stat  2  (6-2)
T tot  γ–1
- = 1 + ----------- Ma 
2
----------
T stat  2 

Select a Flow direction — Normal inflow (the default) or User defined to specify an
arbitrary flow direction. Then enter the components of the direction normal nM
(dimensionless).

TURBULENCE PROPERTIES
This section displays when RANS is selected as Turbulence model type.

Using a turbulence model, specify the turbulence properties at an inlet. For the
Turbulent Flow, k-ε model, specify turbulence quantities according to one of the
following options:

• Select Specify turbulence length scale and intensity to enter values or expressions for
the Turbulent intensity IT (dimensionless) and Turbulence length scale LT
(SI unit: m). IT and LT values are related to the turbulence variables via

THE HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES | 283

 3 2 3 ⁄ 4 k3 / 2
k = --- ( U I T ) , ε = Cμ -----------
2 LT

• For Specify turbulence variables enter values or expressions for the Turbulent kinetic
energy k0 (SI unit: m2/s2) and Turbulent dissipation rate, ε0 (SI unit: m2/s3).

For The High Mach Number Flow, Spalart-Allmaras Interface, enter a

value or expression for the Undamped turbulent kinematic viscosity υ0 (SI
unit: m2/s).

For background on the derivation and implementation of the conditions,

see Theory for the High Mach Number Flow Interfaces.

For recommendations of physically sound values see Inlet Values for the
Turbulence Length Scale and Turbulent Intensity.

Outlet
The Outlet node includes a set of boundary conditions describing fluid flow and
temperature conditions at an outlet. The applied conditions are controlled by the Flow
Condition.

FLOW CONDITION
Select a Flow condition — Hybrid (the default), Supersonic, or Subsonic.

• Using a Hybrid condition, both subsonic (Ma < 1) and supersonic flow (Ma > 1)
conditions at the outlet are supported.
• Select Supersonic when the flow at the outlet is known to be supersonic.
• Select Subsonic when the flow at the outlet is known to be subsonic.

FLOW PROPERTIES
This section displays when the Hybrid or Subsonic flow condition is selected.

284 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

Hybrid
For Hybrid an outlet pressure is specified. This pressure is enforced at the outlet when
the flow is subsonic. Select an Input state — Static (the default) or Total. The relation
between the static and total pressure is defined in Equation 6-2.

• For Static enter a value or expression for the Static pressure p0,stat (SI unit: Pa). The
default is 1 atm.
• For Total enter a value or expression for the Total pressure p0,tot (SI unit: Pa). The
default is 1 atm.

Subsonic
For Subsonic select the Boundary condition — Normal Stress (the default) or Pressure.
Then enter a value or expression for the Normal stress f0 (SI unit: N/m2) or Pressure
p0 (SI unit: Pa). The defaults are 1 atm for both.

Symmetry
The Symmetry boundary condition prescribes no heat flux, no penetration and
vanishing shear stresses. The boundary condition is a combination of Dirichlet
conditions and a Neumann condition.

q ⋅ n = 0, u ⋅ n = 0,   – pI +  μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T ) – 2
--- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I  n = 0
  3  

These conditions correspond to the ones for the Single-Phase Flow,

Laminar Flow interface. See Inlet and Outlet.

For a background on the derivation and implementation of the

conditions, see Theory for the High Mach Number Flow Interfaces.

Selecting appropriate outlet conditions for the Navier-Stokes equations is

not a trivial task. Generally, if there is something interesting happening at
an outflow boundary, extend the computational domain to include this
phenomenon.

THE HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES | 285

 The Compressible Euler Equations
Interface
The Compressible Euler Equations (cee) interface ( ), found under the Fluid Flow>High
Mach Number Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used to model
transient isentropic gas flows where the velocity magnitude is comparable to the speed
of sound, that is, compressible flows in the transonic and supersonic range. This state
is often connected to very low pressures.

The interface is based on the discontinuous Galerkin method (DG-FEM) and uses a
time-explicit solver. The method is very memory lean. The physics interface solves for
conservation of mass, momentum, and energy neglecting dissipation effects. The
dependent variables are the density, momentum, and total energy. Simulations using
the Compressible Euler Equations interface are always time dependent.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder — Fluid Properties, Initial Values, and Wall. Then, from the Physics
toolbar, add other nodes that implement, for example, boundary conditions, volume
forces, and heat sources. You can also right-click the Compressible Euler Equations node
to select physics features from the context menu.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is cee.

PHYSICAL MODEL
When the Include gravity check box is selected, a global Gravity feature is shown in the
interface model tree, and the buoyancy force is included in the Euler equations.

286 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

NUMERICAL FLUX
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Stabilization
in the Show More Options dialog box. Normally these settings do not need to be
changed.

Select the Numerical flux — Lax-Friedrichs (the default) or Osher-Solomon Riemann

solver.

LIMITER
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Stabilization
in the Show More Options dialog box. Normally these settings do not need to be
changed. Note that these settings are ignored when the discretization is set to
Constant.

If the WENO limiter is selected from the Limiter list, the following settings are available:

• Choose the Trouble cell indicator: TVB (default) or Off. If TVB is selected, provide a
TVB constant (default: 10). The TVB method is used to limit the elements where the
WENO limiter is applied. This will reduce the cost of the limiter. A larger value of
the TVB constant means that a smaller number of cells will use WENO.
• Select the Positivity-preserving limiter for density and pressure check box to maintain
the positivity of pressure and density and prevent numerical blow-ups.

Shock Capturing and Positivity-Preserving Limiters

ADVANCED SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box. Normally these settings do not
need to be changed.

Select the CFL number. This CFL number will be used when defining the Cell time scale
expression [Link] used in the Time-Explicit Solver if the Time stepping is set to From
expressions. Note that the method will be unstable for CFL numbers larger than 1.

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual:

• Time Explicit Solver

THE COMPRESSIBLE EULER EQUATIONS INTERFACE | 287

 DISCRETIZATION
In this section you can select the order of the shape function of the dependent
variables. The Compressible Euler Equations interfaces uses Nodal discontinuous
Lagrange functions. Select the Element order — Linear (default) or Constant.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variables (field variables) are the Density rho (SI unit: kg/m3), the
Momentum m (SI unit: kg/(m2 s)), and the Total energy etot (SI unit: J/m3). The
names can be changed but the names of fields and dependent variables must be unique
within a component.

Theory for the Compressible Euler Equations Interface

Domain, Boundary, Edge, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Compressible
Euler Equations Interface
The following nodes, listed in alphabetical order, are available from the Physics ribbon
toolbar (Windows users), Physics context menu (Mac or Linux users), or by
right-clicking to access the context menu (all users):

• Continuity • Interior Wall

• Fluid Properties • Outlet
• Gravity • Symmetry
• Heat Source • Volume Force
• Initial Values • Wall
• Inlet

For 2D axisymmetric components, COMSOL Multiphysics takes the axial

symmetry boundaries (at r = 0) into account and adds an Axial Symmetry
node that is valid on the axial symmetry boundaries only.

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual, see Table 2-4 for links to common
sections and Table 2-5 to common feature nodes. You can also search for information:
press F1 to open the Help window or Ctrl+F1 to open the Documentation window.

288 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

Fluid Properties
The Fluid Properties node adds the continuity, momentum, and energy equations
solved by the physics interface, except for volume forces and heat sources, which are
added by the Volume Force and Heat Source features. Gravity is added by a Gravity
global feature when Include gravity is selected in the Physical Model settings. The Fluid
Properties node also provides an interface for defining the material properties of the
fluid.

THERMODYNAMICS
The Compressible Euler Equations interface is applicable for ideal gases. Specify the
thermodynamics properties by selecting a ratio of specific heats and selecting between
entering the specific gas constant, the heat capacity at constant pressure, or the mean
molar mass. For an ideal gas the density is defined as

Mn pA pA
ρ = ---------------- = -----------
RT Rs T

where pA is the absolute pressure, and T is the temperature.

Enter a value for the Ratio of specific heats γ (dimensionless). The ratio of specific heats
must be a real number larger than 1.

Select a Gas constant type — Specific gas constant Rs (SI unit: J/(kg·K)), Heat capacity
at constant pressure Cp (SI unit: J/(kg·K)), or Mean molar mass Mn (SI unit: kg/mol).
The default setting is to use the property value From material. For User defined enter
another value or expression for either material property. For Mean molar mass the
universal gas constant R = 8.314 J/(mol·K), which is a built-in physical constant, is
also used.

Initial Values
The Initial Values node adds initial values for the transient simulation.

THE COMPRESSIBLE EULER EQUATIONS INTERFACE | 289

 INITIAL VALUES
You can provide initial values for the Primitive Variables (default) or Conservative
Variables.

• If Primitive Variables is selected, provide a value for the density ρ (SI unit: kg/m3),
velocity u (SI unit: m/s), and pressure p (SI unit: Pa).
• If Conservative Variables is selected, provide a value for the density ρ (SI unit:
kg/m3), momentum m (SI unit: kg/(m2 s), and total energy e (SI unit: J/m3).

Volume Force
The Volume Force node specifies the volume force F on the right-hand side of the
momentum equation, and a source term on the right-hand side of the energy equation.

∂ ( ρu ) + ∇ ⋅ [ ρ ( u ⊗ u ) + pI ] = F
∂t

∂e tot
+ ∇ ⋅ [ ( e tot + p )u ] = F ⋅ u
∂t

If several volume-force nodes are added to the same domain, then the sum of all
contributions are added to the momentum and energy equations.

VOLUME FORCE
Enter a value for the volume force F (SI unit: N/m3).

Heat Source
This node describes heat generation within the domain. You express heating and
cooling with positive and negative values, respectively. Add one or more nodes as
needed — all heat sources within a domain contribute to the total heat source.

A source term Q is added to the right-hand side of the energy equation.

∂e tot
+ ∇ ⋅ [ ( e tot + p )u ] = Q
∂t

HEAT SOURCE
Enter a value for the heat source Q (SI unit: W/m3).

290 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

Wall
The Wall node includes a set of boundary conditions describing fluid-flow conditions
at walls. A no-penetration condition, u ⋅ n = 0 , is enforced. Since viscous effects are
neglected, no boundary layer develops.

The no-penetration condition is imposed weakly setting the following flux:

Γρ ⋅ n = 0

– Γ m ⋅ n = pn

Γe ⋅ n = 0

Inlet
This condition provides the fluxes to describe the flow conditions at an inlet. The
applied conditions are controlled by the Flow Condition.

This condition uses the Osher-Solomon Riemann Solver (Ref. 4) to determine the
incoming and outgoing characteristics and provide the appropriate flux.

FLOW CONDITION
Select a Flow condition — Supersonic (the default) or Subsonic.

• For Subsonic, a subsonic (Ma < 1) inlet is specified. The imposed flux uses the
imposed density and velocity, and computes the pressure from the interior of the
domain.
• For Supersonic the inlet flow is assumed to be supersonic (Ma > 1). A full set of
variables must be provided in Flow Properties. The numerical flux can determine
which characteristics are entering and leaving the domain, and can use values from
inside the domain when the condition requires it.

In transonic flows (0.8 < Ma < 1.2), or in cases where the flow may range from
subsonic to supersonic, it is safer to use the Supersonic condition and let the numerical
flux determine the values used when computing the inlet flux.

FLOW PROPERTIES
Specify the flow properties at the inlet. If the inlet is Subsonic, enter values or
expressions for the Static density ρ0,stat (SI unit: Pa) and Velocity u0 (SI unit: m/s).

THE COMPRESSIBLE EULER EQUATIONS INTERFACE | 291

 In Supersonic inlets, the inlet can be specified in terms of primitive variables,
conservative variables, or a combination of static or total primitive variables and Mach
number. Select an Input state — Primitive variables (the default), Conservative variables,
Static state, or Total state.

• For Primitive variables enter values or expressions for the Static density ρ0,stat
(SI unit: kg/m3), Velocity u0 (SI unit: m/s), and Static pressure p0,stat
(SI unit: Pa).
• For Conservative variables enter values or expressions for the Static density ρ0,stat
(SI unit: kg/m3), Momentum m0 (SI unit: kg/(m2 s), and Total energy etot
(SI unit: J/m3).

• For Static state enter values or expressions for the Static pressure p0,stat
(SI unit: Pa), Static temperature T0,stat (SI unit: K), and Mach number Ma0
(dimensionless).
• For Total enter values or expressions for the Total pressure p0,tot (SI unit: Pa) and
Total temperature T0,tot (SI unit: K), and Mach number Ma0 (dimensionless).

The relationships between the static and total states are:

γ
-----------
p tot  2 γ–1
- = 1 + γ----------- Ma 
–1
---------
p stat  2  (6-3)
T tot  γ–1
- = 1 + ----------- Ma 
2
----------
T stat  2 

Select a Flow direction — Normal inflow (the default) or User defined to specify an
arbitrary flow direction. Then enter the components of the direction normal nM
(dimensionless).

Outlet
This condition provides the fluxes to describe the flow conditions at an outlet. The
applied conditions are controlled by the Flow Condition.

This condition uses the Osher-Solomon Riemann Solver (Ref. 4) to determine the
incoming and outgoing characteristics, and provide the appropriate flux.

292 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

FLOW CONDITION
Select a Flow condition — Subsonic (the default) or Supersonic.

• For Subsonic, a subsonic (Ma < 1) outlet is specified. The imposed flux computes
the density and velocity from inside the domain, and uses the pressure specified in
Flow Properties.
• For Supersonic the outlet flow is assumed to be supersonic (Ma > 1). All the
characteristics are assumed to be leaving the domain, and no variable needs to be
specified.

In transonic flows (0.8 < Ma < 1.2) or in cases where the flow may range from
subsonic to supersonic, it is safer to use the Subsonic condition and let the numerical
flux determine the values used when computing the outlet flux.

FLOW PROPERTIES
This section is available when Subsonic is selected. Enter a value or expression for the
Static pressure p0,stat (SI unit: Pa).

Symmetry
The Symmetry boundary condition prescribes a no-penetration, u ⋅ n = 0 , condition.

BOUNDARY SELECTION
For 2D axial symmetry, a boundary condition does not need to be defined for the
symmetry axis at r = 0 . The software automatically provides an Axial Symmetry node
prescribing u ⋅ n = 0 on the axial symmetry boundaries.

Interior Wall
The Interior Wall boundary condition can only be applied on interior boundaries.

It is similar to the Wall boundary condition available on exterior boundaries except that
it applies on both sides of an interior boundary. It allows discontinuities of the
dependent variables across the boundary. The Interior Wall condition can be used to
avoid meshing thin structures by applying a no-penetration condition on interior
curves and surfaces instead.

THE COMPRESSIBLE EULER EQUATIONS INTERFACE | 293

 Continuity
The Continuity condition is suitable for pairs where the boundaries match; it prescribes
that the flow field is continuous across the pair.

A Wall subnode is added by default and it applies to the parts of the pair boundaries
where a source boundary lacks a corresponding destination boundary and vice versa.
The Wall feature can be overridden by any other boundary condition that applies to
exterior boundaries. By right-clicking the Continuity node, additional Fallback feature
subnodes can be added.

Gravity
The Gravity global feature is automatically added when Include Gravity is selected at the
interface level in the Physical Model settings. A volume force and source term are added
on the right-hand side of the momentum and energy equations, respectively.

∂ ( ρu ) + ∇ ⋅ [ ρ ( u ⊗ u ) + pI ] = ρg
∂t

∂e tot
+ ∇ ⋅ [ ( e tot + p )u ] = ρg ⋅ u
∂t

ACCELERATION OF GRAVITY
The Acceleration of gravity (SI unit m/s2, default value −gconstez in 2D axial symmetry
and 3D and −gconstey in 2D) is used to define the gravity forces. It should be a global
quantity.

294 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

Theory for the High Mach Number
Flow Interfaces
In some industrial applications involving fluid flow, the flow velocity is large enough
to introduce significant changes in the density and temperature of the fluid. This
occurs because the thermodynamic properties of the fluid are coupled. Appreciable
changes in the fluid properties are encountered as the flow velocity approaches, or
exceeds, the speed of sound. As a rule of thumb, velocities greater than 0.3 times the
speed of sound are considered to be high Mach number flows.

The High Mach Number Flow interface theory is described in this section:

• Compressible Flow for All Mach Numbers

• Sutherland’s Law
• Consistent Inlet and Outlet Conditions
• Pseudo Time Stepping for High Mach Number Flow Models
• References for the High Mach Number Flow Interfaces

Compressible Flow for All Mach Numbers

The High Mach Number Flow interfaces solve the following equations

∂ρ
------ + ∇ ⋅ ( ρu ) = 0 (6-4)
∂t

∂u
ρ ------- + ρ ( u ⋅ ∇ )u = ∇ ⋅ [ – pI + τ ] + F (6-5)
∂t

∂T T ∂ρ ∂p
ρC p  ------- + ( u ⋅ ∇ )T = – ( ∇ ⋅ q ) + τ:S – ---- -------  ------ + ( u ⋅ ∇ )p + Q (6-6)
 ∂t  ρ ∂T p  ∂t 

where

• ρ is the density (SI unit: kg/m3)

• u is the velocity vector (SI unit: m/s)
• p is the pressure (SI unit: Pa)
• τ is the viscous stress tensor (SI unit: Pa)

THEORY FOR THE HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES | 295

 • F is the volume force vector (SI unit: N/m3)
• Cp is the specific heat capacity at constant pressure (SI unit: J/(kg·K))
• T is the absolute temperature (SI unit: K)
• q is the heat flux vector (SI unit: W/m2)
• Q contains the heat sources (SI unit: W/m3)
• S is the strain-rate tensor:

1
S = --- ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) T )
2

These are the fully compressible Navier-Stokes equations for a simple compressible
fluid. As can be seen, the same set of equations can be assembled using, for example,
a Nonisothermal Flow interface or by manually coupling a Single-Phase Flow interface
with a Heat Transfer interface. The difference is that the High Mach Number Flow
interface can handle flow of any Mach numbers, while the other physics interfaces are
subject to The Mach Number Limit. The Mach number is defined as

u
Ma = -------
a

where a is the speed of sound. Equation 6-4 is hyperbolic whereas Equation 6-5 and
Equation 6-6 are parabolic for time-dependent flow and elliptic for stationary flow. If
diffusive effects can be neglected, as is usually the case for high-speed flows, the entire
system of equations becomes hyperbolic. When the Mach number passes through
unity, the direction of the characteristics associated with the hyperbolic system
changes. This means that new phenomena not observed for incompressible flows, such
as shock waves and expansion fans, can occur (Ref. 2). The stabilization and boundary
conditions must be adapted to the change in direction of the characteristics.

Note that the diffusive effects do not disappear entirely unless these terms are explicitly
excluded from the equations. Instead, they are confined to either boundary layers or
to “shock-waves”, which are really thin regions with steep gradients. In the High Mach
Number Flow interfaces these thin regions are assumed to be underresolved, and the
stabilization takes this into account. If the details of these regions are of physical
interest they must be adequately resolved.

The physics interface assumes that the fluid is an ideal gas. This is necessary for the
formulation of the Consistent Inlet and Outlet Conditions. The ideal gas law relates
density and specific heats to the pressure and temperature. The viscosity and thermal

296 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

conductivity of an ideal gas can be accurately approximated using Sutherland’s Law,
which is included as an option in the High Mach Number Flow interface.

The Mach Number Limit

Sutherland’s Law
Sutherland’s law, or Sutherland’s formula, is an approximation for how the viscosity of
gases depends on the temperature. This law is based on an idealized
intermolecular-force potential and reads (Ref. 5)

μ T 3 / 2 T 0 + S μ-
------ =  ------ ------------------- (6-7)
μ0  T 0 T + Sμ

where Sμ is an effective temperature called the Sutherland constant. Each gas has its
own Sutherland constant. Equation 6-7 is strictly valid only for single-component
gases at low pressure. It does, however, work well for air because air is mainly
composed of nitrogen and oxygen, which have very similar properties. Parameter
values for some common gases are given in Table 6-2 (Ref. 5).
TABLE 6-2: SUTHERLAND’S LAW PARAMETERS FOR DYNAMIC VISCOSITY

GAS μ0 T0 Sμ

Air 1.716·10-5 273 111

Argon 2.125·10-5 273 114
C02 1.370·10-5 273 222
CO 1.657·10-5 273 136
N2 1.663·10-5 273 107
O2 1.919·10-5 273 139
H2 8.411·10-5 273 97
Steam 1.12·10-5 350 1064

The SI unit for μ0 in Table 6-2 is N·s/m2. The SI unit for T0 and Sμ is kelvin (K).

Sutherland’s law can also be formulated for thermal conductivity (Ref. 5):

T 3 / 2 T0 + Sk
=  ------ -------------------
k-
----- (6-8)
k0  T 0 T + Sk

THEORY FOR THE HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES | 297

 Values for k0, T0, and Sk for some common gases are given in Table 6-3(Ref. 5).
TABLE 6-3: SUTHERLAND’S LAW PARAMETERS FOR THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY

GAS K0 T0 S,k

Air 0.0241 273 K 194

Argon 0.0163 273 170
C02 0.0146 273 1800
CO 0.0232 273 180
N2 0.0242 273 150
O2 0.0244 273 240
H2 0.168 273 120
Steam 0.0181 300 2200

The unit for k0 in Table 6-3 is W/(m·K). The unit for T0 and Sk is kelvin (K).

Consistent Inlet and Outlet Conditions

In order to provide consistent inlet and outlet conditions for high Mach number flow,
the flow situation needs to be monitored at the boundary. Because all flow properties
are coupled, the number and combinations of boundary conditions needed for well
posedness depend on the flow state — that is, with which speeds the different flow
quantities are propagated at the boundary. For a detailed specification on the number
of physical boundary conditions needed for well posedness, see Ref. 1.

PLANE WAVE ANALYSIS OF INVISCID FLOW

On inlets a plane wave analysis of the inviscid part of the flow is used in order to apply
a consistent number of boundary conditions. The method used here is described in
Ref. 3.

Inviscid flow is governed by Euler’s equations, which, provided that the solution is
smooth and neglecting the gravity terms, can be written as

∂Q ∂F j ∂Q
+ --------- -------- = 0
∂t ∂Q ∂x j

Considering a small region close to a boundary, the Jacobian matrices can be regarded
as constant, which leads to a system of linear equations

∂Q  ∂F j ∂Q
+ --------- -------- = 0
∂ t  ∂Q  0 ∂x j

298 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

where the subscript 0 denotes a reference state at the boundary. Assuming that the
state at the boundary, described by a surface normal vector αi (pointing out from the
domain), is perturbed by a plane wave, the linear system of equations can be
transformed to

∂Q ∂Q
+ A 0 ------- = 0
∂t ∂ξ

where

∂F j
A 0 = α j  ---------
∂Q 0

and ξ corresponds to the direction normal to the boundary. In the unsteady case,
Euler’s equations are known to be hyperbolic in all flow regimes: subsonic, sonic, and
supersonic flow (Ref. 4). This implies that A0 has real-valued eigenvalues and
corresponding eigenvectors, and it can therefore be diagonalized according to

–1
TA 0 T = Λ, Λ ii = { λ 1, λ 2, λ 3, λ 4, λ 5 }

The matrix T contains the (left) eigenvectors, and the matrix Λ is a diagonal matrix
containing the eigenvalues. The eigenvalues are given exactly by

λ1 = α i u i
λ2 = λ1
λ3 = λ1
λ4 = λ1 + cs
λ5 = λ1 – cs

where cs is the speed of sound. Using the primitive variables

ρ
u
Q = v
w
p

The characteristic variables on the boundary are

THEORY FOR THE HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES | 299

 p
w 1 = ρ – ---------------2-
A
( cs )
α1 v – α2 u
w 2 = -------------------------------------
α1 α1 + α2 α2

1  α1 u + α2 v 
w 3 = --------------- ( w α 1 α 1 + α 2 α 2 ) – α 3  ------------------------------------- (6-9)
αi αi  α 1 α 1 + α 2 α 2

1  ρ αi ui p 
A
w 4 = ---  -------A- --------------- + ---------------2-
2c αi αi ( c A ) 
s s

1  ρ αi ui p 
A
w 5 = ---  – -------A- --------------- + ---------------2-
2 c αi αi ( c A ) 
s s

Each characteristic can be interpreted to describe a wave transporting some quantity.

The first one is an entropy wave while the next two correspond to vorticity waves. The
fourth and fifth, in turn, are sound waves.

Evaluating the primitive variables in Equation 6-9, the values are taken from the
outside (specified values) or from the inside (domain values) depending on the sign of
the eigenvalue corresponding to that characteristic variable. At inlets, a negative
eigenvalue implies that the characteristic is pointing into the domain and hence outside
values are used. Correspondingly, for a positive eigenvalue the inside values are used.

Variables in Equation 6-9 with a superscript A are computed as averages of the inside
and outside values.

The characteristic variables are then transformed to consistent face values of the
primitive variables on the boundary in the manner of

300 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

 ρb = w1 + w4 + w5
A
α2 w2 α1  α3 w3 cs 
u 1, b = – ------------------------------------- – ---------------  ------------------------------------- – -------
A
- ( w 4 – w 5 )
α1 α1 + α2 α2 αi αi  α1 α1 + α2 α2 ρ 
A
α1 w2 α2  α3 w3 cs 
u 2, b = ------------------------------------- – ---------------  ------------------------------------- – -------
A
- ( w 4 – w 5 ) (6-10)
α1 α1 + α2 α2 αi αi  α1 α1 + α2 α2 ρ 
A
1  cs 
u 3, b = ---------------  w 3 α 1 α 1 + α 2 α 2 + α 3 -------
A
- ( w 4 – w 5 )
αi αi  ρ 
A 2
pb = ( cs ) ( w4 + w5 )

Characteristics Based Inlets

Applying this condition implies using the plane wave analysis described in Consistent
Inlet and Outlet Conditions. With this condition, a varying flow situation at the inlet
can be handled. This means that changes due to prescribed variations at the boundary,
due to upstream propagating sound waves or spurious conditions encountered during
the nonlinear solution procedure, can be handled in a consistent manner. The full flow
condition at the inlet is specified by the following properties

M in, p in, T in (6-11)

from which the density is computed using the ideal gas law. The dependent variables
defined in Equation 6-11 are applied as the outside values used in Equation 6-9, and
the boundary values of the dependent variables are obtained from Equation 6-10.

Supersonic Inlets
Applying a supersonic inlet, the full flow at the inlet is specified using the inlet
properties in Equation 6-11. Because the flow is supersonic, all characteristic at the
inlet are known to be directed into the domain, and the boundary values of the
dependent variables are computed directly from the inlet properties.

Hybrid Outlet
When building a model, it is recommended that it is constructed so that as little as
possible happens at the outlet. In the high Mach number flow case this implies keeping
the conditions either subsonic or supersonic at the outlet. This is, however, usually not
possible. For example, often one boundary adjacent to the outlet consists of a no slip
wall, in which case a boundary layer containing a subsonic region is present. The
hybrid outlet feature adds the following weak expression:

THEORY FOR THE HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES | 301

  0.5 ( – p – p )n ⋅ û Ma < 1
ΓW NS =  out
 ( – p )n ⋅ û else

where û is the test function for the velocity vector. This corresponds to a pressure, no
viscous stress condition in regions with subsonic flow and a no viscous stress condition
in regions with supersonic flow. When the static pressure at the outlet is not known
beforehand, it is recommended that it is set to the inlet pressure. When a converged
solution has been reached, the solution can be analyzed to find the pressure level just
outside the sonic point (Ma = 1) along the boundary. You can then apply this pressure
level instead.

Supersonic Outlet
When the outlet condition is known to be fully supersonic, the viscous stress is
specified in accordance with the equations and hence no physical condition is applied.
This is done by prescribing the boundary stress using the full stress vector:

T 2
W NS = – pI + μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) ) – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I ( n ⋅ û )
3

It is often possible to use the supersonic condition at outlets that are not strictly
supersonic but mainly supersonic (the main part of the outlet boundary contains
supersonic flow).

Pseudo Time Stepping for High Mach Number Flow Models

Pseudo time stepping is per default applied to all governing equations for stationary
problems, for 2D component models as well as 3D component models. The
momentum, continuity, energy and turbulence equations (when present) use the same
expression for the pseudo time step symbol Δt̃ .

For laminar models the automatic expression for CFLloc is

1+
if ( niterCMP > 10, 1.2 min ( niterCMP – 10, 12 ), 0 ) +
if ( niterCMP > 32, 9 ⋅ 1.3 min ( niterCMP – 32, 9 ), 0 ) +
if ( niterCMP > 60, 40 ⋅ 1.3 min ( niterCMP – 60, 9 ), 0 )

while for models with turbulent flow it is

302 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

 1+
if ( niterCMP > 10, 1.2 min ( niterCMP – 10, 12 ), 0 ) +
if ( niterCMP > 120, 1.3 min ( niterCMP – 120, 9 ), 0 ) +
if ( niterCMP > 220, 1.3 min ( niterCMP – 220, 9 ), 0 )

Pseudo Time Stepping for Laminar Flow Models

References for the High Mach Number Flow Interfaces

1. T. Poinsot and D. Veynante, Theoretical and Numerical Combustion, 2nd ed.,
Edwards, 2005.

2. J.D. Anderson, Modern Compressible Flow, 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, 2003.

3. J. Larsson, Numerical Simulation of Turbulent Flows for Turbine Blade Heat

Transfer Applications, Ph.D thesis, Chalmers University of Technology, 1998.

4. J.D. Tannehill, D.A. Anderson, and R.H. Pletcher, Computational Fluid

Mechanics and Heat Transfer, 2nd ed., Taylor & Francis, 1997.

5. F.M. White, Viscous Fluid Flow, 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, 2006.

THEORY FOR THE HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES | 303

 Theory for the Compressible Euler
Equations Interface
In this section:

• The Compressible Euler Equations

• The Numerical Method
• Shock Capturing and Positivity-Preserving Limiters
• References for the Compressible Euler Equations Interface

The Compressible Euler Equations

The Euler equations are a set of hyperbolic equations governing inviscid and adiabatic
flow. The Compressible Euler Equations interface solves the transient compressible
version of the Euler equations assuming an ideal gas

∂ρ
------ + ∇ ⋅ ( ρu ) = 0 (6-12)
∂t

∂ ( ρu ) + ∇ ⋅ [ ρ ( u ⊗ u ) + pI ] = F + ρg
(6-13)
∂t

∂e tot
+ ∇ ⋅ [ ( e tot + p )u ] = Q + F ⋅ u + ρg ⋅ u (6-14)
∂t

where

• ρ is the density (SI unit: kg/m3)

• u is the velocity vector (SI unit: m/s)
• ρu is the momentum vector (SI unit: kg/(m2 s))
• p is the absolute pressure (SI unit: Pa)
• etot is the total energy (SI unit: J/m3)
• F is the volume force vector (SI unit: N/m3)
• Q contains the heat sources (SI unit: W/m3)
• g is the acceleration of gravity (SI unit: m/s2)
• I is the identity matrix

304 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

The volume force and heat source terms can be added using the Volume Force and
Heat Source features, respectively. The gravity terms are added when Include Gravity is
selected at the interface level in the Physical Model settings.

The physics interface assumes that the fluid is an ideal gas. This is used in the definition
of the Inlet and Outlet fluxes and the positivity-preserving limiter. The equation of
state for the internal energy per unit volume e is

p
e = -----------
γ–1

Where γ is the ratio of specific heats (dimensionless), which is assumed constant. The
total energy is expressed as the sum of the internal energy and the kinetic energy

p 1 2
e tot = ----------- + --- ρu
γ–1 2

The physics interface solves for the conservative dependent variables, which are the
density, momentum, and total energy. Some features use the primitive variables,
density, velocity, and pressure, to impose initial or boundary conditions.

The absolute temperature T (SI unit: K) can be obtained from the equation of state
for an ideal gas

p
T = ----------
Rs ρ

where Rs is the specific gas constant (SI unit: J/(kg·K)).

The Numerical Method

The physics interface solves the compressible Euler equations using the Discontinuous
Galerkin (DG) method in space and explicit time stepping. The computations are
restricted to transient problems. The basis functions are given by the nodal
discontinuous Lagrange shape functions.

The numerical method used solves wave problems of the form

∂w
da + ∇ ⋅ Γ(w) = f
∂t

In the compressible Euler equations, da is an identity matrix, w is the vector of

conservative variables, Γ includes the conservative fluxes, and f includes the volumetric
forces, heat sources, and gravity terms;

THEORY FOR THE COMPRESSIBLE EULER EQUATIONS INTERFACE | 305

 ρ
w = ρu
e tot

Γρ ρu
T

Γ ( w ) = Γm = ρ ( u ⊗ u ) + pI
T
Γe ( e tot + p )u

0
f = F + ρg
Q + F ⋅ u + ρg ⋅ u

Γ ρ , Γ m , and Γ e represent the fluxes of the continuity, momentum, and energy

equations, respectively.

Discontinuous Galerkin methods use shape functions that are continuous in the
interior of each mesh element, but discontinuous across the element boundaries. A
numerical flux defining how elements are connected and the continuity of the
dependent variables is required on faces between adjacent mesh elements. The default
numerical flux is the Lax-Friedrichs flux, which uses an average of the physical fluxes
and a penalty term. The Osher-Solomon flux is also available (see Ref. 4).

After discretization in space, the system of equations is integrated in time. The

standard procedure is to use an explicit Runge-Kutta method. The physics interface
uses the third-order SSP (strong stability preserving) Runge-Kutta per default.

The time step in explicit computations is limited by the CFL condition; see Time
Explicit Integrator in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual. The maximum
stable time step is proportional to the smallest mesh element size h, and inversely
proportional to the maximum wave speed in the domain. On unstructured meshes
with local refinement regions only a few elements are small, yet these dictate the overall
time step for the whole problem. In such cases, the use of Local Time Stepping is
advisable. COMSOL Multiphysics provides the Adams-Bashforth 3 (local) time stepping
method.

Theory for the Wave Form PDE in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual.

306 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

Shock Capturing and Positivity-Preserving Limiters
The compressible Euler equations are a system of hyperbolic conservation laws that can
develop discontinuous solutions even starting from a continuous initial solution. These
discontinuous solutions appear in the form of shocks waves or contact waves, and arise
spurious oscillations and instabilities when shape functions other than constant are
used. The control of oscillations around discontinuities requires the use of a limiter to
preserve the order of accuracy and achieve sharp, non-oscillatory solutions.

The compressible Euler equations interface includes a weighted essentially

nonoscillatory (WENO) limiter for use in the discontinuous Galerkin method, which
is applied in each inner stage of the time-explicit solver. The WENO limiter
reconstructs the polynomial of the DG solution in a troubled element from a convex
combination of the polynomials in the current element and its immediate neighbors
based on smoothness indicators and nonlinear weights, and includes adjustments to
guarantee conservation. A total variation bounded (TVB) troubled cell indicator is
available to limit the use of WENO to the elements where it is needed and reduce
computational costs. The TVB constant can be set by the user and a larger value means
that a smaller number of elements will use WENO. For more information on the
WENO limiter, see Ref. 2.

The compressible Euler equations are well posed only if both density and pressure are
positive. When using constant interpolations, the positivity of density and pressure is
guaranteed if the CFL condition for the time step is satisfied. If the dependent variables
are discretized with linear shape functions, the positivity of density and pressure is not
ensured even when satisfying the CFL condition and using the WENO limiter.
Therefore, the physics interface includes a positivity-preserving limiter for density and
pressure which can be used together with WENO to prevent numerical blow-ups. See
Ref. 3 for more information.

References for the Compressible Euler Equations Interface

1. J.D. Anderson, Modern Compressible Flow, 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, 2003.

2. J. Zhu, X. Zhong, C.W. Shu, and J. Qiu, Runge-Kutta discontinuous Galerkin

method using a new type of WENO limiters on unstructured meshes, J. Comput.
Phys., vol. 248, pp. 200–220, 2013.

3. X. Zhang, Y. Xia, and C.W. Shu, Maximum-principle-satisfying and

positivity-preserving high order discontinuous Galerkin schemes for conservation
laws on triangular meshes, J. Sci. Comput., vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 29–62, 2012.

THEORY FOR THE COMPRESSIBLE EULER EQUATIONS INTERFACE | 307

 4. J. Felcman & P. Šolín, On the Construction of the Osher-Solomon Scheme for 3D
Euler Equations, East-West J. Num. Math., vol. 6, pp. 43 - 64, 1998

308 | CHAPTER 6: HIGH MACH NUMBER FLOW INTERFACES

 7

Multiphase Flow Interfaces

This chapter discusses the physics interfaces found under the Fluid Flow>Multiphase
Flow branch ( ). The section Modeling Multiphase Flow helps you choose the
best physics interface to start with.

In this chapter:

• The Two-Phase Flow, Level Set and Phase Field Interfaces

• The Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface
• The Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Moving Mesh Interface
• The Bubbly Flow Interfaces
• The Mixture Model Interfaces
• The Euler-Euler Model Interfaces
• The Phase Transport Interface
• The Phase Transport Mixture Model Interfaces
• Theory for the Two-Phase Flow Interfaces
• Theory for the Three-Phase Flow Interface
• Theory for the Bubbly Flow Interfaces
• Theory for the Mixture Model Interfaces

309
 • Theory for the Euler-Euler Model Interfaces
• Theory for the Phase Transport Mixture Model Interfaces

310 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Modeling Multiphase Flow
In this section:

• Selecting the Right Physics Interface

• The Multiphase Flow Interface Options
• The Relationship Between the Physics Interfaces
• Coupling to Other Physics Interfaces

Certain types of multiphase flow can be described using the Phase Field
and Level Set interfaces found under the Mathematics>Moving Interface
branch ( ).

• The Physics Interfaces in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference

Manual
• Mathematics, Moving Interface Branch

Selecting the Right Physics Interface

The Multiphase Flow branch ( ) included with this module has a number of
subbranches to describe momentum transport for multiphase flow. One or more
physics interfaces can be added; either singularly or in combination with other physics
interfaces for applications such as mass transfer and energy (heat) transfer.

Different types of flow require different equations to describe them. If you know the
type of flow to model, then select it directly. However, when you are not certain of the
flow type, or when it is difficult to obtain a solution, you can instead start with a
simplified model and add complexity as you build the model. Then you can
successively advance forward, comparing models and results.

The Bubbly Flow, Mixture Model, Euler-Euler Model, and Phase Transport Mixture
Model interfaces are appropriate when you want to simulate a flow with many particles,
droplets, or bubbles immersed in a liquid. With these physics interfaces, you do not
track each particle in detail. Instead you solve for the averaged volume fraction. If you
are interested in the exact motion of individual bubbles, including how the fluid

MODELING MULTIPHASE FLOW | 311

 interface deforms due to, for instance, surface tension, use any of the Two-Phase Flow
interfaces.

To model the detailed dynamics of fluid interfaces, either use the level set method, the
phase field method, or by a moving mesh, respectively. For problems involving
topological changes (for example, jet breakup), use either the Level Set or Phase Field
[Link] techniques use an auxiliary function (the level set and phase field
functions, respectively) to track the location of the interface, which is necessarily
diffuse. The Level Set interface does not include surface tension force per default, and
is recommended for use in larger scale problems with larger velocities, or when the
effects of the gradient of the surface tension coefficient are relevant. The phase field
method is physically motivated and is usually more numerically stable than the level set
method. It is can also be extended to more phases and is compatible with
fluid-structure interactions (requires the MEMS Module or the Structural Mechanics
Module). In general, it is not obvious which one of these to use when the flow is
convection dominated. However, when the flow is diffusion dominated, for example,
in the case of phase separation, only phase field should be used.

The moving mesh method represents the interface as a boundary condition along a
line or surface in the geometry. Because the physical thickness of phase boundaries is
usually very small, for most practical meshes The Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Moving
Mesh Interface describes the two-phase boundary the most accurately. However, it
cannot accommodate topological changes in the boundary.

Three-phase flow can be simulated using the Laminar Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field
interface.

The Multiphase Flow Interface Options

For any of the Multiphase Flow interfaces, you can assume either laminar or turbulent
flow as the starting point. This enables you to make the appropriate mathematical
model assumptions required to solve the flow.

The Relationship Between the Physics Interfaces

Several of the interfaces vary only by one or two default settings (see Table 7-1,
Table 7-2, Table 7-4, and Table 7-5) in the Physical Model and Turbulence sections,
which are selected either from a check box or a list. For the Multiphase Flow branch, the
Bubbly Flow (bf), Mixture Model (mm), Euler-Euler Model (ee), and Phase Transport
subbranches have several physics interfaces each depending on the turbulence model

312 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 used. All the Two-Phase Flow interfaces contain a multiphysics coupling feature with
a name as (tpf). The Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field branch contains a single interface for
laminar flow.

BUBBLY FLOW

TABLE 7-1: BUBBLY FLOW DEFAULT SETTINGS

PHYSICS INTERFACE LABEL NAME LOW GAS TURBULENT TURBULENT SOLVE FOR
CONCENTRATION MODEL TYPE MODEL INTERFACIAL AREA

Laminar Bubbly Flow bf Yes None n/a No

Bubbly Flow, Algebraic bf Yes RANS Algebraic No
yPlus yPlus
Bubbly Flow, L-VEL bf Yes RANS L-VEL No
Bubbly Flow, k-ε bf Yes RANS k-ε No
Bubbly Flow, Realizable bf Yes RANS Realizable No
k-ε k-ε
Bubbly Flow, k-ω bf Yes RANS k-ω No
Bubbly Flow, SST bf Yes RANS SST No
Bubbly Flow, Low Re bf Yes RANS Low No
k-ε Reynolds
number
k-ε
Bubbly Flow, bf Yes RANS Spalart-All No
Spalart-Allmaras maras
Bubbly Flow, v2-f bf Yes RANS v2-f No
The Bubbly Flow ( ) branch interfaces are used primarily to model two-phase flow
where the fluids are gas-liquid mixtures, and gas content is less than 10%. The Laminar
Bubbly Flow Interface ( ) solves the Navier-Stokes equations with the momentum
equation corrected by a term induced by the slip velocity. The slip velocity can be
described by the Hadamard-Rybczynski drag law for small spherical bubbles, a
nonlinear drag law taking surface tension into account for larger bubbles, or by
defining it on your own.

The various forms of the Bubbly Flow, Turbulent Flow interfaces ( ) solve the
RANS equations for the filtered velocity field and filtered pressure as well as models for
the turbulent viscosity. The Bubbly Flow, Turbulent Flow interfaces include all the
turbulence models available in the Single-Phase Flow, Turbulent Flow interfaces. See
The Bubbly Flow Interfaces for links to the physics interface information.

MODELING MULTIPHASE FLOW | 313

 By default, the physics interfaces assume that the volume fraction of the gas is less than
0.1. It is then valid to approximate the liquid velocity as incompressible. This is
significantly easier to solve numerically. It is possible, though, to use the complete
continuity equation.

The physics interfaces also allow you to define your own relations for the density of
both phases and for the dynamic viscosity of the liquid phase. You can also model mass
transfer between the two phases, using the two-film theory or your own expression for
interfacial mass transfer.

MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES

TABLE 7-2: MIXTURE MODEL DEFAULT SETTINGS

PHYSICS INTERFACE NAME DISPERSED SLIP MODEL TURBULENCE TURBULENCE SOLVE FOR
LABEL PHASE MODEL TYPE MODEL INTERFACIAL
AREA

Mixture Model, mm Solid Homogeneous None n/a No

Laminar Flow particles flow
Mixture Model, mm Solid Homogeneous RANS Algebraic No
Algebraic yPlus particles flow yPlus
Mixture Model, mm Solid Homogeneous RANS L-VEL No
L-VEL particles flow
Mixture Model, mm Solid Homogeneous RANS k-ε No
k-ε particles flow
Mixture Model, mm Solid Homogeneous RANS Realizable No
Realizable k-ε particles flow k-ε
Mixture Model, mm Solid Homogeneous RANS k-ω No
k-ω particles flow
Mixture Model, mm Solid Homogeneous RANS SST No
SST particles flow
Mixture Model, mm Solid Homogeneous RANS Low No
Low Re k-ε particles flow Reynolds
number k-ε
Mixture Model, mm Solid Homogeneous RANS Spalart-All No
Spalart-Allmaras particles flow maras
Mixture Model, mm Solid Homogeneous RANS v2-f No
v2-f particles flow
The Mixture Model ( ) branch interfaces are similar to the Bubbly Flow interfaces
except that both phases are assumed to be incompressible. Examples include solid
particles dispersed in a liquid, and liquid droplets dispersed in another liquid when the
two liquids are immiscible.

314 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Like the Bubbly Flow interfaces, The Mixture Model, Laminar Flow Interface ( )
and Mixture Model, Turbulent Flow interfaces ( ) solve the flow equations,
whether described by the Navier-Stokes equations or the RANS equations with
different turbulence models, and where the momentum equation is corrected by a
term induced by the slip velocity. The slip velocity can be described by the
Hadamard-Rybczynski, Schiller-Naumann or Haider-Levenspiel method, or by
defining it on your own.

These physics interfaces also allow you to define your own relations for the dynamic
viscosity and density of both phases. The dynamic viscosity of the mixture can either
be of Krieger type (which uses a maximum packing concentration), volume-averaged
(for gas-liquid, liquid-liquid systems), or a user-defined expression.

You can also describe other material properties such as density by entering equations
that describe this term as a function of other parameters like material concentration,
pressure, or temperature. The physics interfaces also enable you to model mass transfer
between the two phases, using the two-film theory or your own expression for
interfacial mass transfer.

EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES

TABLE 7-3: EULER-EULER MODEL DEFAULT SETTINGS

PHYSICS INTERFACE LABEL NAME DIPERSED DRAG MODEL TURBULENCE

PHASE MODEL TYPE

Euler-Euler Model, ee Solid Schiller-Naumann None

Laminar Flow particles
Euler-Euler Model, ee Solid Schiller-Naumann RANS, k-ε
Turbulent Flow particles

The Euler-Euler Model ( ) branch interfaces are used to model the flow of two
continuous and fully interpenetrating phases. For both phases the conservation
equations are averaged over volumes, which are small compared to the computational
domain, but large compared to the dispersed phase particles, droplets or bubbles. The
Euler-Euler Model, Laminar Flow Interface solves two sets of conservation equations,
one for each phase. The Euler-Euler Model, Turbulent Flow Interface additionally
solves transport equations for the turbulence quantities, either using a mixture
averaged turbulence models or solving separate transport equations for the turbulence
quantities of each phase. The drag model can be described by the
Hadamard-Rybczynski, Schiller-Naumann, Haider-Levenspiel or Gidaspow method,
or by defining it on your own.

MODELING MULTIPHASE FLOW | 315

 These physics interfaces also allow you to define your own relations for the dynamic
viscosity and density of both phases. Predefined expressions for the dynamic viscosity
of Krieger type (which uses a maximum packing concentration), are available.

You can also describe other material properties such as density by entering equations
that describe this term as a function of other parameters like material concentration,
pressure, or temperature.

PHASE TRANSPORT MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES

TABLE 7-4: PHASE TRANSPORT MIXTURE MODEL DEFAULT SETTINGS

PHYSICS INTERFACE LABEL DISPERSED SLIP MODEL TURBULENCE TURBULENCE

PHASE MODEL TYPE MODEL

Phase Transport Mixture Solid Homogeneous None n/a

Model, Laminar Flow particles flow
Phase Transport Mixture Solid Homogeneous RANS Algebraic
Model, Algebraic yPlus particles flow yPlus
Phase Transport Mixture Solid Homogeneous RANS L-VEL
Model, L-VEL particles flow
Phase Transport Mixture Solid Homogeneous RANS k-ε
Model, k-ε particles flow
Phase Transport Mixture Solid Homogeneous RANS Realizable
Model, Realizable k-ε particles flow k-ε
Phase Transport Mixture Solid Homogeneous RANS k-ω
Model, k-ω particles flow
Phase Transport Mixture Solid Homogeneous RANS SST
Model, SST particles flow
Phase Transport Mixture Solid Homogeneous RANS Low
Model, Low Re k-ε particles flow Reynolds
number k-ε
Phase Transport Mixture Solid Homogeneous RANS Spalart-All
Model, Spalart-Allmaras particles flow maras
Phase Transport Mixture Solid Homogeneous RANS v2-f
Model, v2-f particles flow

The Phase Transport Mixture Model ( ) branch interfaces are similar to the Mixture
Model interfaces. The main difference is that the Phase Transport Mixture Model
interfaces are multiphysics interfaces that couple a single-phase flow interface with a
Phase Transport interface, allowing for multiple dispersed phases.

316 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Like the Mixture Model interfaces, The Phase Transport Mixture Model, Laminar
Flow and Turbulent Flow Interfaces solve the flow equations, whether described by
the Navier-Stokes equations or the RANS equations with different turbulence models,
and where the dispersed phase velocities are determined by the slip velocity. The slip
velocity can be described by the Hadamard-Rybczynski, Schiller-Naumann or
Haider-Levenspiel method, or by defining it on your own.

These physics interfaces also allow you to define your own relations for the dynamic
viscosity and density of both phases. The dynamic viscosity of the mixture can either
be of Krieger type (which uses a maximum packing concentration), volume-averaged
(for gas-liquid, liquid-liquid systems), or a user-defined expression.

You can also describe other material properties such as density by entering equations
that describe this term as a function of other parameters like material concentration,
pressure, or temperature. The physics interfaces also enable you to model mass transfer
between the two phases.

TWO-PHASE FLOW AND THREE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES

TABLE 7-5: TWO-PHASE FLOW, LEVEL SET DEFAULT SETTINGS

PHYSICS NAME MULTIPHASE TURBULENCE TURBULENCE NEGLECT

INTERFACE LABEL FLOW MODEL MODEL TYPE MODEL INERTIAL
TERM
(STOKES
FLOW)

Laminar, - Two-phaseflow, None n/a False

Two-Phase Flow, level set
Level Set
Two-Phase Flow, - Two-phaseflow, RANS Algebraic False
Level Set, level set yPlus
Algebraic yPlus
Two-Phase Flow, - Two-phaseflow, RANS L-VEL False
Level Set, L-VEL level set
Two-Phase Flow, - Two-phaseflow, RANS k-ε False
Level Set, k-ε level set
Two-Phase Flow, - Two-phaseflow, RANS Realizable False
Level Set, level set k-ε
Realizable k-ε
Two-Phase Flow, - Two-phaseflow, RANS k-ω False
Level Set, k-ω level set
Two-Phase Flow, - Two-phaseflow, RANS SST False
Level Set, SST level set

MODELING MULTIPHASE FLOW | 317

 TABLE 7-5: TWO-PHASE FLOW, LEVEL SET DEFAULT SETTINGS

PHYSICS NAME MULTIPHASE TURBULENCE TURBULENCE NEGLECT

INTERFACE LABEL FLOW MODEL MODEL TYPE MODEL INERTIAL
TERM
(STOKES
FLOW)

Two-Phase Flow, - Two-phaseflow, RANS Low False

Level Set, Low level set Reynolds
Re k-ε number k-ε
Two-Phase Flow, - Two-phaseflow, RANS Spalart- False
Level Set, level set Allmaras
Spalart-Allmaras
Two-Phase Flow, - Two-phaseflow, RANS v2f False
Level Set, v2f level set
TABLE 7-6: TWO-PHASE FLOW, PHASE-FIELD AND THREE-PHASE FLOW DEFAULT SETTINGS

PHYSICS NAME MULTIPHASE TURBULENCE TURBULENCE NEGLECT

INTERFACE LABEL FLOW MODEL MODEL TYPE MODEL TYPE INERTIAL
TERM
(STOKES
FLOW)

Laminar, - Two-phaseflow, None n/a False

Two-Phase Flow, phase field
Phase Field
Two-Phase Flow, - Two-phaseflow, RANS Algebraic False
Phase Field, phase field yPlus
Algebraic yPlus
Two-Phase Flow, - Two-phaseflow, RANS L-VEL False
Phase Field, phase field
L-VEL
Two-Phase Flow, - Two-phaseflow, RANS k-ε False
Phase Field, k-ε phase field
Two-Phase Flow, - Two-phaseflow, RANS Realizable False
Phase Field, phase field k-ε
Realizable k-ε
Two-Phase Flow, - Two-phaseflow, RANS k-ω False
Phase Field, k-ω phase field
Two-Phase Flow, - Two-phaseflow, RANS SST False
Phase Field, SST phase field
Two-Phase Flow, - Two-phaseflow, RANS Low False
Phase Field, Low phase field Reynolds
Re k-ε number k-ε

318 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

TABLE 7-6: TWO-PHASE FLOW, PHASE-FIELD AND THREE-PHASE FLOW DEFAULT SETTINGS

PHYSICS NAME MULTIPHASE TURBULENCE TURBULENCE NEGLECT

INTERFACE LABEL FLOW MODEL MODEL TYPE MODEL TYPE INERTIAL
TERM
(STOKES
FLOW)

Two-Phase Flow, - Two-phaseflow, RANS Spalart- False

Phase Field, phase field Allmaras
Spalart-Allmaras
Two-Phase Flow, - Two-phaseflow, RANS v2f False
Phase Field, v2f phase field
Laminar - Three-phase None n/a False
Three-Phase flow, phase field
Flow, Phase Field
TABLE 7-7: TWO-PHASE FLOW, MOVING MESH PHYSICAL MODEL DEFAULT SETTINGS

PHYSICS INTERFACE NAME MULTIPHASE COMPRESSIBILITY NEGLECT

LABEL FLOW MODEL INERTIAL TERM
(STOKES FLOW)

Laminar, Two-Phase spf not applicable Incompressible None

Flow, Moving Mesh flow
Two-Phase Flow, Level Set
The Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Level Set Interface ( ) and The Turbulent
Two-Phase Flow, Level Set Interfaces ( ), found under the Two-Phase Flow, Level Set
branch ( ), are used primarily to model two fluids separated by a fluid interface. The
moving interface is tracked in detail using the level set method. Surface tension acting
on the fluid interface can be included in the fluid-flow equations.

Like for other Fluid Flow interfaces, compressible flow is possible to model for speeds
less than Mach 0.3 in the Two-Phase Flow, Level Set interface. You can also choose to
model incompressible flow, and simplify the equations to be solved. Stokes’ law is an
option.

Specify the density for each of the two fluids. For any of the two fluids, you can easily
use Newtonian or predefined non-Newtonian constitutive models.

Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field

The Laminar Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface ( ) and The Turbulent
Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interfaces ( ) found under the Two-Phase Flow, Phase
Field branch ( ), also model two fluids separated by a fluid interface. You can easily
switch between the physics interfaces, which can be useful if you are not sure which
physics interface provides the best description. Surface tension acting on the fluid

MODELING MULTIPHASE FLOW | 319

 interface are per default included in the fluid-flow equations. Library surface tension
coefficients between a number of common substances are also available.

Like for other Fluid Flow interfaces, compressible flow is possible to model for speeds
less than Mach 0.3 in the Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field interfaces. You can also model
incompressible flow and simplify the equations to be solved. Stokes flow is also an
option.

Specify the density for each of the two fluids. For any of the two fluids, you can easily
use Newtonian or predefined non-Newtonian constitutive models.

Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field

The Laminar Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface found under the Three-Phase
Flow, Phase Field branch ( ) models flows of three incompressible fluids separated by
sharp interfaces. Library surface tension coefficients between a number of common
substances are also available.

Specify the density for each of the three fluids. For any of the two fluids, you can easily
use Newtonian or predefined non-Newtonian constitutive models.

Two-Phase Flow, Moving Mesh

The Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Moving Mesh Interface , ( ) found under the
Multiphase Flow>Two-Phase Flow, Moving Mesh branch ( ), is used primarily to model
two fluids separated by a fluid interface. The moving interface is tracked as a boundary
condition along a line or surface in the geometry. However, the method cannot
accommodate topological changes in the boundary. Surface tension acting on the fluid
interface are per default included in the fluid-flow equations. Library surface tension
coefficients between a number of common substances are also available.

Like for other Fluid Flow interfaces, compressible flow is possible to model for speeds
less than Mach 0.3 in the Two-Phase Flow, Moving Mesh interface. You can also
choose to model incompressible flow, and simplify the equations to be solved. Stokes’
law is an option.

Specify the density for each of the two fluids. For any of the two fluids, you can easily
use Newtonian or predefined non-Newtonian constitutive models.

Coupling to Other Physics Interfaces

Often, you are simulating applications that couple fluid flow to another type of
phenomenon described in another physics interface. Although this is not often another
type of flow, it can still involve physics interfaces supported in the CFD Module or in

320 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

the COMSOL Multiphysics base package. This typically occurs in cases where
applications include chemical reactions and mass transport, as included in Chemical
Species Transport Interfaces, or energy transport, found in the Heat Transfer and
Nonisothermal Flow Interfaces chapter.

More extensive descriptions of heat transfer, such as those involving radiation, can be
found in the Heat Transfer Module, while tools for modeling chemical reactions and
mass transport are available in the Chemical Reaction Engineering Module.

MODELING MULTIPHASE FLOW | 321

 The Two-Phase Flow, Level Set and
Phase Field Interfaces
The following sections list all the physics interfaces and the physics features associated
with them under the Multiphase Flow branch ( ). The descriptions follow a
structured order as defined by the order in the branch. Because many of the physics
interfaces are integrated with each other, some nodes described also cross reference to
other physics interfaces.

Selecting the Right Physics Interface

This section includes the following topics:

• The Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Level Set Interface

• The Turbulent Two-Phase Flow, Level Set Interfaces
• The Two-Phase Flow, Level Set Coupling Feature
• The Wetted Wall Coupling Feature
• The Interior Wetted Wall Coupling Feature
• The Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface
• The Turbulent Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interfaces
• The Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field Coupling Feature
• Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Laminar and Turbulent Flow,
Two-Phase, Level Set and Phase Field Interfaces

Mathematics, Moving Interface Branch

The Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Level Set Interface

The Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Level Set interface ( ) found under the Multiphase
Flow>Two-Phase Flow, Level Set branch ( ), is a multiphysics interface designed to
track the interface between two immiscible fluids. The flow is assumed to be laminar,

322 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

that is, to be of low to moderate Reynolds number. The fluids can be incompressible
or compressible.

When adding the Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Level Set multiphysics interface, a Laminar
Flow and a Level Set interface are added to the Model Builder. In addition, a
multiphysics coupling feature, The Two-Phase Flow, Level Set Coupling Feature, is
added automatically under the Multiphysics node. Other multiphysics coupling
features, The Wetted Wall Coupling Feature and The Interior Wetted Wall Coupling
Feature, can be added when needed to model walls.

Simulations using the Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Level Set interface are always
time-dependent since the position of an interface is almost always dependent of its
history.

INTERFACE PROPERTIES

Turbulence Model
By default the Turbulence model type selected is None.

Discretization
By default the fluid flow discretization is set to P1+P1, and the level set discretization
is set to Linear. This combination provides exact conservation of the integral of the level
set variable when using the nonconservative form of the level set equation.

• Theory for the Two-Phase Flow Interfaces

• Theory for the Single-Phase Flow Interfaces

The Turbulent Two-Phase Flow, Level Set Interfaces

The Turbulent Two-Phase Flow, Level Set interfaces ( ) found under the Multiphase
Flow>Two-Phase Flow, Level Set branch ( ), are multiphysics interfaces designed to
track the interface between two immiscible fluids. The flow is assumed to be turbulent,
that is, to be of high Reynolds number. The fluids can be incompressible or
compressible.

When adding a Turbulent Two-Phase Flow, Level Set multiphysics interface, a Turbulent
Flow interface and a Level Set interface are added in the Model Builder. In addition, a
multiphysics coupling feature, The Two-Phase Flow, Level Set Coupling Feature, is

THE TWO-PHASE FLOW, LEVEL SET AND PHASE FIELD INTERFACES | 323
 automatically added under the Multiphysics node. Another multiphysics coupling
feature, The Wetted Wall Coupling Feature, can be added when needed.

• The Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus interface ( ) combines a Level Set interface
with a Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, L-VEL interface ( ) combines a Level Set interface with a
Turbulent Flow, L-VEL interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, k-ε interface ( ) combines a Level Set interface with a
Turbulent Flow, k-ε interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, Realizable k-ε interface ( ) combines a Level Set interface
with a Turbulent Flow, Realizable k-ε interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, k-ω interface ( ) combines a Level Set interface with a
Turbulent Flow, k-ω interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, SST interface ( ) combines a Level Set interface with a
Turbulent Flow, SST interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε interface ( ) combines a Level Set interface with
a Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras interface ( ) combines a Level Set interface
with a Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, v2-f interface ( ) combines a Level Set interface with a
Turbulent Flow, v2-f interface.

Simulations using the Turbulent Two-Phase Flow, Level Set interfaces are always
time-dependent since the position of an interface almost always depends on its history.

INTERFACE PROPERTIES

Turbulence Model
By default the Turbulence model type selected is RANS. Turbulent flow can be simulated
by changing the Turbulence model type to RANS.

• Theory for the Two-Phase Flow Interfaces

• Theory for the Single-Phase Flow Interfaces

324 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The Two-Phase Flow, Level Set Coupling Feature
The Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Level Set, ( ) and Turbulent Two-Phase Flow, Level Set,
( ) interfaces contain a multiphysics coupling feature, Two-Phase Flow, Level Set,
which is added automatically.

The Two-Phase Flow, Level Set multiphysics coupling feature defines the density and
dynamic viscosity of the fluid used in the Laminar Flow or Turbulent Flow interface, and
it defines the surface tension on the interface in form of a volume force used in the
momentum equation. It also enables the Level Set interface to use the velocity field
calculated from the Laminar Flow or Turbulent Flow interface to transport the interface.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default multiphysics coupling feature name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the coupling node.
Refer to such variables in expressions using the pattern <name>.<variable_name>. In
order to distinguish between variables belonging to different coupling nodes or physics
interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and underscores (_)
are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first multiphysics coupling feature Two-Phase Flow, Level Set
in the model) is tpf1.

DOMAIN SELECTION
When nodes are added from the context menu, you can select All domains (the default)
or select Manual from the Selection list to choose specific domains.

COUPLED INTERFACES
This section controls which individual interfaces are coupled by the current coupling
feature. If a physics interface is deleted and then added to the model again, then in
order to reestablish the coupling, you need to choose the correct physics interface
again from the Fluid flow or Moving interfaces lists.

MODEL INPUTS
Fluid properties of each phase, such as density, viscosity, or the surface tension
coefficient, can be defined through user inputs, variables, or by selecting a material.
For the latter option, additional inputs, for example temperature or pressure, may be
required to define these properties.

THE TWO-PHASE FLOW, LEVEL SET AND PHASE FIELD INTERFACES | 325
 Temperature
By default, the Temperature model input is set to Common model input, and the
temperature is controlled from Default Model Inputs under Global Definitions or by a
locally defined Model Input. If a Heat Transfer interface is included in the component,
it controls the temperature Common model input. Alternatively, the temperature field
can be selected from another physics interface. All physics interfaces have their own
tags (Name). For example, if a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface is included in the
component, the Temperature (ht) option is available for T.

You can also select User defined from the Temperature model input in order to manually
prescribe T.

Absolute Pressure
This input appears when a material requires the absolute pressure as a model input.
The default Absolute pressure pA is p + pref, where p is the dependent pressure variable
from the Navier-Stokes or RANS equations, and pref is from the user input defined at
the fluid flow physics interface level.

The Absolute pressure field can be edited by clicking Make All Model Inputs Editable
( ) and entering the desired value in the input field.

Model Inputs and Multiphysics Couplings in the COMSOL Multiphysics

Reference Manual

FLUID PROPERTIES
Use the corresponding section to specify the properties of the two fluids. The fluids
are denoted Fluid 1 and Fluid 2 respectively.

To specify the properties of Fluid 1from a material, select the appropriate material in
the Fluid 1 list. Also make sure that the Density of fluid 1 ρ1 and Dynamic viscosity of
fluid 1 μ1 are both set to From Material.

The density in a material can depend on temperature and/or pressure and these
dependencies are automatically replaced by pref and Tref for incompressible flows (as
specified by the Compressibility setting of the fluid flow interface).

The non-Newtonian power-law and Carreau models can alternatively be used to

specify the dynamic viscosities of the two fluids.

326 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

To instead apply a variable or expression for the density or dynamic viscosity for Fluid
A, select User defined in the Density of fluid 1 ρ1 or the Dynamic viscosity of fluid 1 μ1
drop down list and enter the expression in the corresponding edit field.

Similarly, the properties of Fluid 2 can be specified.

Care should be taken when using the Domain Material setting for the
material properties for Fluid 1 and Fluid 2.

The material properties are obtained from the domain irrespective of the location of
the interface. If two different materials are selected in domains 1 and 2, with the phase
boundary initially coincident with the domain boundary, the model has convergence
issues once the phase boundary moves away from the domain boundary. This is
because a density discontinuity and a viscosity discontinuity occurs at the boundary
separating the two fluids. For this reason selecting the material directly is
recommended when setting the material properties for Fluid 1 and Fluid 2.

SURFACE TENSION
Select the Include surface tension force in momentum equation check box to include the
surface tension force in the momentum equation.

Select a Surface tension coefficient σ (SI unit: N/m):

• To use a predefined expression, select Library coefficient, liquid/gas interface or

Library coefficient, liquid/liquid interface. Then select an option from the list that
displays below (for example, Water/Air, Glycerol/Air and so forth).
• For User defined enter a value or expression for the surface tension coefficient σ (SI
unit: N/m).

The Wetted Wall Coupling Feature

The Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Level Set ( ) and Turbulent Two-Phase Flow, Level Set,
( ) interfaces contain an optional multiphysics coupling boundary feature, Wetted
Wall. It is an exclusive feature which overrides the Wall feature in the Laminar or
Turbulent Flow interface as well as the No Flow feature in the Level Set interface. It is
available for laminar flow and turbulent flow with wall functions or automatic wall
treatment.

THE TWO-PHASE FLOW, LEVEL SET AND PHASE FIELD INTERFACES | 327
 The Wetted Wall boundary condition is suitable for walls in contact with the fluid-fluid
interface. When this boundary condition is used, the fluid-fluid interface can move
along the wall.

For laminar flow, this boundary condition enforces the no-penetration condition u ⋅
nwall = 0 and adds a frictional force on the form

μ
F fr = – --- u
β

where β is the slip length. For numerical calculations, a suitable choice is β = h, where
h is the mesh element size. The boundary condition does not set the tangential velocity
component to zero. However, the extrapolated tangential velocity component is 0 at
a distance β outside the wall (see Figure 7-1).

For turbulent flow, the wall is modeled using automatic wall treatment or wall
functions depending on the Wall Treatment setting in the Turbulence section of the
turbulent flow interface settings.

If the surface tension force is included in the momentum equation in The Two-Phase
Flow, Level Set Coupling Feature, the Wetted Wall boundary condition also adds the
following boundary force to enforce the contact angle:

F θ = σδ ( n wall ⋅ n – cos θ w )n

The contact angle θw is defined as the angle between the fluid interface and the wall
(see Figure 7-1). For more information, see Ref. 4 and Ref. 5.

The contact angle θw can be defined directly or from Young's equation, which
considers the components of the forces in the plane of the surface:

σ cos ( θ w ) + γ s2 = γ s1 (7-1)

328 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

where γs1 is the surface energy density on the fluid 1 — solid (wall) interface and γs2
is the surface energy density on the fluid 2 — solid (wall) interface.

Fluid 1

u Wall
Wall
θ

Fluid 2
β

Figure 7-1: Definition of the contact angle θ at interface/wall contact points (left) and
an illustration of the slip length β (right).

SETTINGS
The Label is the default multiphysics coupling feature name.

The default Name (for the first Wetted Wall multiphysics coupling feature in the model)
is ww1.

BOUNDARY SELECTION
When nodes are added from the context menu, select All boundaries (the default) or
select Manual from the Selection list to choose specific boundaries.

COUPLED INTERFACES
This section controls which individual interfaces are coupled by the current coupling
feature. If a physics interface is deleted and then added to the model again, then in
order to reestablish the coupling, you need to choose the correct physics interface
again from the Fluid flow or Moving interfaces lists.

WALL MOVEMENT
This section contains controls to describe the wall movement relative to the lab (or
spatial) frame.

The Translational velocity setting controls the translational wall velocity, utr. The list is
per default set to Automatic from frame. The physics automatically detects if the spatial
frame moves. This can for example happen if an ALE interface is present in the model
component. If there is no movement utr = 0. If the frame moves, utr becomes equal
to the frame movement.

THE TWO-PHASE FLOW, LEVEL SET AND PHASE FIELD INTERFACES | 329
 Select Manual from Translational velocity selection list in order to manually prescribe
Velocity of moving wall, utr. This can for example be used to model an oscillating wall
where the magnitude of the oscillations are very small compared to the rest of the
model. Specifying translational velocity manually does not automatically cause the
associated wall to move. An additional Moving Mesh interface needs to be added to
physically track the wall movement in the spatial reference frame. For 2D axisymmetric
components when Swirl flow is selected in the physics interface properties, the ϕ
component of utr may also be specified.

WETTED WALL
Specify the following two properties for the wetted wall:

• The Slip Length setting is per default set to Factor of minimum element length. The
slip length β is then defined as β = f h h min , where h min is the smallest element
side (corresponds to the element size in the wall normal direction for boundary layer
elements) and f h is a user input. Select User defined from Slip Length selection list in
order to manually prescribe β (SI unit: m).
• Select an option from the Specify contact angle list — Directly (the default) or
Through Young’s equation. For Directly enter a Contact angle θw (SI unit: rad). The
default is π/2 radians. For Through Young’s equation enter values or expressions for
Phase 1-Solid surface energy density γs1 (SI unit: J/m2) and Phase 2-Solid surface
energy density γs2 (SI unit: J/m2).

Theory for the Two-Phase Flow Interfaces

The Interior Wetted Wall Coupling Feature

The Interior Wetted Wall, multiphysics coupling boundary feature can only be applied
on interior boundaries.

It is similar to The Wetted Wall Coupling Feature available on exterior boundaries of

the Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Level Set ( ) and Turbulent Two-Phase Flow, Level Set,
( ) multiphysics interfaces, except that it applies on both sides of an interior
boundary. It is an exclusive feature which overrides the Interior Wall feature in the
Laminar or Turbulent Flow interface as well as the Thin Barrier feature in the Level Set
interface. It is available for laminar flow and turbulent flow with wall functions or
automatic wall treatment.

330 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The Interior Wetted Wall coupling feature allows discontinuities (velocity, pressure,
level set variable, and turbulence variables) across the boundary and can be used to
avoid meshing thin structures in contact with the fluid-fluid interface. When this
boundary condition is used, the fluid-fluid interface can move along the wall.

For laminar flow, this boundary condition enforces the no-penetration condition
u ⋅ nwall = 0 on both sides of the wall, and adds a frictional force on the form

μ
F fr = – --- u
β

where β is the slip length. For numerical calculations, a suitable choice is β = h, where
h is the mesh element size.

For turbulent flow, the wall is modeled using automatic wall treatment or wall
functions depending on the Wall Treatment setting in the Turbulence section of the
turbulent flow interface settings.

If the surface tension force is included in the momentum equation, the Interior Wetted
Wall boundary condition also adds the following boundary force on both sides of the
walls to enforce the contact angle:

F θ = σδ ( n wall ⋅ n – cos θ w )n

For more information, see The Wetted Wall Coupling Feature.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default multiphysics coupling feature name.

The default Name (for the first Interior Wetted Wall multiphysics coupling feature in the
model) is iww1.

COUPLED INTERFACES
This section controls which individual interfaces are coupled by the current coupling
feature. If a physics interface is deleted and then added to the model again, then in
order to reestablish the coupling, you need to choose the correct physics interface
again from the Fluid flow or Moving interfaces lists.

WALL MOVEMENT
This section contains controls to describe the wall movement relative to the lab (or
spatial) frame.

THE TWO-PHASE FLOW, LEVEL SET AND PHASE FIELD INTERFACES | 331
 The Translational velocity setting controls the translational wall velocity, utr. The list is
per default set to Automatic from frame. The physics automatically detects if the spatial
frame moves. This can for example happen if an ALE interface is present in the model
component. If there is no movement utr = 0. If the frame moves, utr becomes equal
to the frame movement.

Select Manual from Translational velocity selection list in order to manually prescribe
Velocity of moving wall, utr. This can for example be used to model an oscillating wall
where the magnitude of the oscillations are very small compared to the rest of the
model. Specifying translational velocity manually does not automatically cause the
associated wall to move. An additional Moving Mesh interface needs to be added to
physically track the wall movement in the spatial reference frame. For 2D axisymmetric
components when Swirl flow is selected in the physics interface properties, the ϕ
component of utr may also be specified.

BOUNDARY SELECTION
When nodes are added from the context menu, select All boundaries (the default) or
select Manual from the Selection list to choose specific boundaries.

WETTED WALL
Specify the following two properties for the interior wetted wall:

• The Slip Length setting is per default set to Factor of minimum element length. The
slip length β is then defined as β = f h h min , where h min is the smallest element
side (corresponds to the element size in the wall normal direction for boundary layer
elements) and f h is a user input. Select User defined from Slip Length selection list in
order to manually prescribe β (SI unit: m).
• Select an option from the Specify contact angle list — Directly (the default) or
Through Young’s equation. For Directly enter a Contact angle θw (SI unit: rad). The
default is π/2 radians. For Through Young’s equation enter values or expressions for
Phase 1-Solid surface energy density γs1 (SI unit: J/m2) and Phase 2-Solid surface
energy density γs2 (SI unit: J/m2).

The Wetted Wall Coupling Feature

332 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface
The Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field interface ( ) found under the Multiphase
Flow>Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field branch ( ), is a multiphysics interface designed to
track the interface between two immiscible fluids. The flow is assumed to be laminar,
that is, to be of low to moderate Reynolds number. The fluids can be incompressible
or compressible.

When adding the Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field multiphysics interface, a Laminar
Flow and a Phase Field interface are added to the Model Builder. In addition, a
multiphysics coupling feature, The Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field Coupling Feature, is
added automatically under the Multiphysics node. Note that unlike the Two-Phase
Flow, Level Set interfaces, the wetted wall function here is not implemented as a
separated multiphase coupling boundary feature but as the default Wetted Wall feature
of the Phase Field interface.

Wetted Wall

Simulations using the Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field interface are always
time-dependent since the position of an interface almost always depends on its history.

INTERFACE PROPERTIES

Turbulence Model
By default the Turbulence model type selected is None. Turbulent flow can be simulated
by changing the Turbulence model type to RANS.

Discretization
By default the fluid flow discretization is set to P1+P1, and the phase field discretization
is set to Linear. This combination provides improved conservation of the integral of the
phase field variable when using the nonconservative form of the phase field equations.

Theory for the Two-Phase Flow Interfaces

THE TWO-PHASE FLOW, LEVEL SET AND PHASE FIELD INTERFACES | 333
 The Turbulent Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interfaces
The Turbulent Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field interfaces ( ) found under the Multiphase
Flow>Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field branch ( ), are multiphysics interfaces designed to
track the interface between two immiscible fluids. The flow is by default assumed to be
turbulent. The fluids can be incompressible or compressible.

When adding a Turbulent Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field multiphysics interface, a Turbulent
Flow and a Phase Field interface are added in the Model Builder. In addition, a
multiphysics coupling feature, The Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field Coupling Feature, is
automatically added under the Multiphysics node. Note that unlike the Two-Phase
Flow, Level Set interfaces, the wetted wall feature here is not implemented as a separate
multiphase coupling boundary feature but as a default feature in the Phase Field
interface.

Wetted Wall

• The Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus interface ( ) combines a Phase Field interface
with a Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, L-VEL interface ( ) combines a Phase Field interface with a
Turbulent Flow, L-VEL interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, k-ε interface ( ) combines a Phase Field interface with a
Turbulent Flow, k-ε interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, Realizable k-ε interface ( ) combines a Phase Field interface
with a Turbulent Flow, Realizable k-ε interface
• The Turbulent Flow, k-ω interface ( ) combines a Phase Field interface with a
Turbulent Flow, k-ω interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, SST interface ( ) combines a Phase Field interface with a
Turbulent Flow, SST interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε interface ( ) combines a Phase Field interface with
a Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras interface ( ) combines a Phase Field interface
with a Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, v2-f interface ( ) combines a Phase Field interface with a
Turbulent Flow, v2-f interface.

334 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Simulations using the Turbulent Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field interfaces are always
time-dependent since the position of an interface almost always depends on its history.

INTERFACE PROPERTIES

Turbulence Model
By default the Turbulence model type selected is RANS. If None is selected for Turbulence
model type, the model becomes laminar.

Theory for the Two-Phase Flow Interfaces

The Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field Coupling Feature

The Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field, ( ) and Turbulent Two-Phase Flow, Phase
Field, ( ) interfaces contain a multiphysics coupling feature, Two-Phase Flow, Phase
Field, which is added automatically.

The Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field multiphysics coupling feature defines the density and
dynamic viscosity of the fluid used in the Laminar Flow and Turbulent Flow interfaces,
and it defines the surface tension on the interface in form of a volume force used in the
momentum equation. It also enables the Phase Field interface to use the velocity field
calculated from the Laminar Flow or Turbulent Flow interface to transport the interface.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default multiphysics coupling feature name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the coupling node.
Refer to such variables in expressions using the pattern <name>.<variable_name>. In
order to distinguish between variables belonging to different coupling nodes or physics
interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and underscores (_)
are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first multiphysics coupling feature Two-Phase Flow, Phase
Field in the model) is tpf1.

DOMAIN SELECTION
When nodes are added from the context menu, you can select All domains (the default)
or select Manual from the Selection list to choose specific domains.

THE TWO-PHASE FLOW, LEVEL SET AND PHASE FIELD INTERFACES | 335
 COUPLED INTERFACES
This section controls which individual interfaces are coupled by the current coupling
feature. If a physics interface is deleted and then added to the model again, then in
order to reestablish the coupling, you need to choose the correct physics interface
again from the Fluid flow or Moving interfaces lists.

MODEL INPUTS
Fluid properties of each phase, such as density, viscosity, or the surface tension
coefficient, can be defined through user inputs, variables, or by selecting a material.
For the latter option, additional inputs, for example temperature or pressure, may be
required to define these properties.

Temperature
By default, the Temperature model input is set to Common model input, and the
temperature is controlled from Default Model Inputs under Global Definitions or by a
locally defined Model Input. If a Heat Transfer interface is included in the component,
it controls the temperature Common model input. Alternatively, the temperature field
can be selected from another physics interface. All physics interfaces have their own
tags (Name). For example, if a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface is included in the
component, the Temperature (ht) option is available for T.

You can also select User defined from the Temperature model input in order to manually
prescribe T.

Absolute Pressure
This input appears when a material requires the absolute pressure as a model input.
The default Absolute pressure pA is p+pref, where p is the dependent pressure variable
from the Navier-Stokes or RANS equations, and pref is from the user input defined at
the fluid flow physics interface level.

The Absolute pressure field can be edited by clicking Make All Model Inputs Editable
( ) and entering the desired value in the input field.

Model Inputs and Multiphysics Couplings in the COMSOL Multiphysics

Reference Manual

FLUID PROPERTIES
Use the corresponding section to specify the properties of the two fluids. The fluids
are denoted Fluid 1 and Fluid 2, respectively.

336 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

To specify the properties of Fluid 1from a material, select the appropriate material in
the Fluid 1 list. Also make sure that the Density of fluid 1ρ1 and Dynamic viscosity of fluid
1μ1 are both set to From Material.

The density in a material can depend on temperature and/or pressure and these
dependencies are automatically replaced by pref and Tref for incompressible flows (as
specified by the Compressibility setting of the fluid flow interface).

The non-Newtonian power-law and Carreau models can alternatively be used to

specify the dynamic viscosities of the two fluids.

To instead apply a variable or expression for the density or dynamic viscosity for Fluid
A, select User defined in the Density of fluid 1 ρ1 or the Dynamic viscosity of fluid 1 μ1
drop down list and enter the expression in the corresponding edit field.

Similarly, the properties of Fluid 2 can be specified.

Care should be taken when using the Domain Material setting for the
material properties for Fluid 1 and Fluid 2.

The material properties are obtained from the domain irrespective of the location of
the interface. If two different materials are selected in domains 1 and 2, with the phase
boundary initially coincident with the domain boundary, the model has convergence
issues once the phase boundary moves away from the domain boundary. This is
because a density discontinuity and a viscosity discontinuity occurs at the boundary
separating the two fluids. For this reason selecting the material directly is
recommended when setting the material properties for Fluid 1 and Fluid 2.

The fluid defined as Fluid 1 affects the wetting characteristics on wetted walls. See the
Wetted Wall node for details.

SURFACE TENSION
Select the Include surface tension force in momentum equation check box to include the
surface tension force in the momentum equation. If the surface tension force is
included, select Include surface tension gradient effects in surface tension force to
account for the Marangoni effect due to gradients in the surface tension coefficient.

THE TWO-PHASE FLOW, LEVEL SET AND PHASE FIELD INTERFACES | 337
 Select a Surface tension coefficient σ (SI unit: N/m):

• To use a predefined expression, select Library coefficient, liquid/gas interface or

Library coefficient, liquid/liquid interface. Then select an option from the list that
displays below (for example, Water/Air, Glycerol/Air and so forth).
• For User defined, enter a value or expression for the surface tension coefficient σ (SI
unit: N/m).

Theory for the Two-Phase Flow Interfaces

Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Laminar and
Turbulent Flow, Two-Phase, Level Set and Phase Field Interfaces
The Two-Phase Flow, Level Set and Phase Field Interfaces are multiphysics interfaces
combining Laminar Flow or Turbulent Flow interfaces together with Level Set or
Phase Field interfaces.

LAMINAR FLOW
The available physics features for the Laminar Flow interface are listed in the section
Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

TURBULENT LOW
The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow Interface are also listed in the
section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

LEVEL SET
The available physics features for the Level Set Interface are listed in the section
Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Level Set Interface.

PHASE FIELD
The available physics features for the Phase Field Interface are listed in the section
Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Phase Field Interface.

All domain, boundary, point, and pair nodes are available from the Physics ribbon
toolbar (Windows users), Physics context menu (Mac or Linux users), or by
right-clicking to access the context menu (all users).

338 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field
Interface
This section includes the following topics:

• The Laminar Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface

• The Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Coupling Feature
• Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Laminar Three-Phase Flow,
Phase Field Interface

Mathematics, Moving Interface Branch

The Laminar Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface

The Laminar Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field interface ( ), found under the Multiphase
Flow>Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field branch ( ), is a multiphysics interface designed
to track the interfaces between three immiscible and incompressible fluids. The flow is
assumed to be laminar, that is, to be of low to moderate Reynolds number. The density
of each fluid is assumed to be constant, but the there is no restriction on the density
differences between the separate fluids.

When adding the Laminar Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field multiphysics interface, a
Laminar Flow and a Ternary Phase Field interface are added to the Model Builder. In
addition the Multiphysics node, including the multiphysics coupling feature Three-Phase
Flow, Phase Field is added.

The Multiphysics Branch in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference

Manual.

Simulations using the Laminar Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field interface are always
time-dependent since the position of an interface is almost always dependent of its
history.

THE THREE-PHASE FLOW, PHASE FIELD INTERFACE | 339

 INTERFACE PROPERTIES

Turbulence Model
Since the Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field interface assumes laminar flow, the
Turbulence Model property in the Laminar Flow interface is deactivated when the
interface is added as a part of a multiphysics interface.

Multiphysics Coupling Option

Laminar Flow interfaces coupled to a Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field interface contains
a Multiphysics coupling option property to control the form of the continuity equation.
Adding the Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field interface Multiphysics coupling option is
automatically set to Ternary Phase Field. In this case the following form of the
continuity equation, appropriate for high density difference mixtures is used

∂ log ρ-
-------------- + ∇ ⋅ u + u ⋅ ∇ log ρ = 0 (7-2)
∂t

When Multiphysics coupling option is set to None, the form of the continuity equation
follows the definitions in Theory for the Single-Phase Flow Interfaces.

The Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Coupling Feature

Use the Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field ( ) multiphysics coupling to simulate the flow
of a three immiscible fluids while explicitly tracking the interface separating each pair
of the fluids.

The Three-Phase Flow interface solves Navier-Stokes equations for the conservation
of momentum, and a continuity equation for the conservation of mass. The positions
of the interfaces separating the fluid phases are tracked by solving four additional
transport equations: two equations governing phase field variables and two equations
for the corresponding generalized chemical potentials. The movement of the
fluid-fluid interfaces is determined by minimization of free energy.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default multiphysics coupling feature name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the coupling node.
Refer to such variables in expressions using the pattern <name>.<variable_name>. In
order to distinguish between variables belonging to different coupling nodes or physics
interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and underscores (_)
are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

340 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The default Name (for the first multiphysics coupling feature in the model) is tfpf1.

DOMAIN SELECTION
When nodes are added from the context menu, you can select Manual (the default)
from the Selection list to choose specific domains to define the three-phase flow, or
select All domains as needed.

MODEL INPUTS
Fluid properties of each phase, such as density and viscosity, can be defined through
user inputs, variables, or by selecting a material. For the latter option, additional
inputs, for example temperature or pressure, may be required to define these
properties.

Temperature
By default, the Temperature model input is set to Common model input, and the
temperature is controlled from Default Model Inputs under Global Definitions or by a
locally defined Model Input. If a Heat Transfer interface is included in the component,
it controls the temperature Common model input. Alternatively, the temperature field
can be selected from another physics interface. All physics interfaces have their own
tags (Name). For example, if a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface is included in the
component, the Temperature (ht) option is available for T.

You can also select User defined from the Temperature model input in order to manually
prescribe T.

Absolute Pressure
This input appears when a material requires the absolute pressure as a model input.
The default Absolute pressure pA is p+pref, where p is the dependent pressure variable
from the Navier-Stokes or RANS equations, and pref is from the user input defined at
the fluid flow physics interface level.

The Absolute pressure field can be edited by clicking Make All Model Inputs Editable
( ) and entering the desired value in the input field.

Model Inputs and Multiphysics Couplings in the COMSOL Multiphysics

Reference Manual

FLUID PROPERTIES
Use the corresponding section to specify the properties of all three fluids. The fluids
are denoted Fluid A, Fluid B, and Fluid C, respectively.

THE THREE-PHASE FLOW, PHASE FIELD INTERFACE | 341

 To specify the properties of Fluid A from a material, select the appropriate material in
the Fluid A list. Also make sure that the Density of fluid A ρA and Dynamic viscosity of
fluid A μA are both set to From material.

The density in a material can depend on temperature and/or pressure and these
dependencies are automatically replaced by pref and Tref for incompressible flows (as
specified by the Compressibility setting of the laminar flow interface).

The non-Newtonian power-law and Carreau models can alternatively be used to

specify the dynamic viscosities of the three fluids.

To instead apply a variable or expression for the density or dynamic viscosity for
Fluid A, select User defined in the Density of fluid A ρA or the Dynamic viscosity of fluid
A μA list and enter the expression in the corresponding edit field.

COUPLED INTERFACES
This section controls which individual interfaces are coupled by the current coupling
feature. If a physics interface is deleted and then added to the model again, then in
order to reestablish the coupling, you need to choose the correct physics interface
again from the Fluid flow or Moving interfaces lists.

• Theory for the Two-Phase Flow Interfaces

Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Laminar

Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface
The Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface is a multiphysics interface combining The
Laminar Flow Interface and The Ternary Phase Field Interface.

LAMINAR FLOW
The available physics features for The Laminar Flow Interface are listed in Domain,
Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow

TERNARY PHASE-FIELD
The available physics features for The Ternary Phase Field Interface are listed in
Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Ternary Phase Field Interface.

342 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

All domain, boundary, point, and pair nodes are available from the Physics ribbon
toolbar (Windows users), Physics context menu (Mac or Linux users), or by
right-clicking to access the context menu (all users).

THE THREE-PHASE FLOW, PHASE FIELD INTERFACE | 343

 T he L a m i na r T wo- Ph ase Fl ow, Mov i n g
M e s h I nte r f a c e
The Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Moving Mesh interface ( ), found under the Multiphase
Flow>Two-Phase Flow, Moving Mesh branch ( ), is a multiphysics interface designed
to model laminar two–phase flow of immiscible fluids separated by a moving interface.
The velocity field, pressure, and mesh deformation are solved for, and the location of
the interface is tracked by the deformed mesh.

When adding the Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Moving Mesh multiphysics interface, a
Laminar Flow interface is added to the component, and a Moving Mesh interface with a
Deforming Domain feature is added under the Definitions node. The Laminar Flow
interface adds the Navier–Stokes equations and provides a way of defining the
properties of the fluids. For each of the fluids the density and viscosity must be
specified (these are typically taken from the corresponding materials, but can be user
defined).

Simulations using the Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Moving Mesh interface are always
time-dependent since the position of an interface is almost always dependent of its
history. There are additional boundary conditions to describe how the fluid-fluid
interface moves from the Laminar Flow context menu under the option Two-Phase Flow,
Moving Mesh:

• Fluid-Fluid Interface
• External Fluid Interface
• Wall-Fluid Interface (as a subfeature to the two conditions above)

In previous versions of COMSOL Multiphysics (prior to version 5.4), a

specific physics interface called Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Moving Mesh
(tpfmm) was added to the Model Builder. Now, a predefined multiphysics
coupling approach is used, improving the flexibility and design options
for your modeling. For specific details, see The Multiphysics Branch and
Multiphysics Modeling Workflow in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

344 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Select Laminar Flow Properties
For a full list of available properties, see The Laminar Flow Interface.

PHYSICAL MODEL
This physics interface deforms the mesh within the domains on either side of the two
fluid interfaces to track its movement.

The Compressibility defaults to Incompressible flow to use the incompressible (constant

density) formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations. Select Compressible flow (Ma<0.3)
to use the compressible formulation.

If flow is occurring at very low Reynolds numbers, the inertial term in the
Navier-Stokes equations can be neglected and the linear Stokes equations can be solved
on the domain. This flow type is referred to as creeping flow or Stokes flow and can
occur in microfluidics and MEMS devices, where the flow length scales are very small.
To make this approximation select the Neglect inertial term (Stokes flow) check box,
which significantly improves the solver speed.

Enter a Reference pressure level pref (SI unit: Pa). The default value is 1[atm].

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variables (field variables) are for the Velocity field and Pressure. The
names can be changed in the corresponding fields, but the names of fields and
dependent variables must be unique within a model.

The following models are found at this Application Library path

CFD_Module/Multiphase_Flow>[filename]

• Drug Delivery System: viscous_catenary

• Electrowetting Lens: electrowetting_lens
• Viscous Catenary: viscous_catenary

Deforming Domain
When the Laminar Two-Phase Flow, Moving Mesh multiphysics interface is added using
the Model Wizard, a Deforming Domain node is added automatically in the Model Builder
under the Definitions>Moving Mesh node. This node serves to represent domains and
boundaries where the mesh can deform. By default, the selection is all domains. Under
the Deforming Domain, you can also choose the Mesh smoothing type, by default set to

THE LAMINAR TWO-PHASE FLOW, MOVING MESH INTERFACE | 345

 Yeoh with a default Stiffening factor of 10. More information of the smoothing type can
be found in the Deforming Domain chapter in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual.

By default, the mesh is fixed at all external boundaries of the geometry. Use the
Symmetry/Roller node to select the external boundaries, where the fluid-fluid
interface can slide along the boundary. You can also add other types of boundary
conditions for the mesh motion, for details see Moving Mesh Features in the
COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

Fluid-Fluid Interface
The Fluid-Fluid Interface node defines the initial position of a fluid-fluid interface and
includes equations to track the evolution of the interface. The Wall-Fluid Interface
subnode is added by default, and is also available from the context menu (right-click
the parent node) or from the Physics toolbar, Attributes menu.

MODEL INPUT
Enter a value for the Temperature T (SI unit: K). This option is only necessary when
the surface tension coefficient comes from a library of coefficients, as explained below.

SURFACE TENSION
Select the Include surface tension force in momentum equation check box to include the
surface tension force in the momentum equation.

The Surface tension coefficient σ (SI unit: N/m) can be User defined, or select Library
coefficient, liquid/gas interface (default) or Library coefficient, liquid/liquid interface.

• For Library coefficient, liquid/gas interface select an option from the list — Water/Air
(default), Acetone/Air, Acetic acid/Air, Ethanol/Air, Ethylene glycol/Ethylene glycol vapor,
Diethyl ether/Air, Glycerol/Air, Heptane/Nitrogen, Mercury/Mercury vapor, or
Toluene/Air.

• For Library coefficient, liquid/liquid interface select an option from the list —
Benzene/Water, 20°C, Corn oil/Water, 20°C, Ether/Water, 20°C, Hexane/Water, 20°C,
Mercury/Water, 20°C, or Olive oil/Water, 20°C.

MASS FLUX
The mass flux setting specifies the mass transfer across the boundary, due to processes
such as boiling. The default Mass Flux Mf (SI unit: kg/(m2·s)) is User defined, with a
value of 0.

346 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

NORMAL DIRECTION
The normal direction on the selected boundaries can be reversed by selecting Reverse
normal direction. The direction is indicated by a red arrow in the Graphics window.

LOCATION IN USER INTERFACE

Context Menus
Right click the physics interface and select Two-Phase Flow, Moving Mesh>Fluid-Fluid
Interface

Ribbon
Physics tab with Laminar Flow selected:

Boundaries>Two-Phase Flow, Moving Mesh>Fluid-Fluid Interface

The Fluid-Fluid Interface feature imposes a mesh deformation in the

normal direction. On adjacent boundaries, the mesh displacement parallel
to those boundaries cannot be fixed if the contact point is moving. In this
case a Mesh Slip, Symmetry/Roller, Prescribed Normal Mesh
Displacement, or Prescribed Normal Mesh Velocity boundary condition
under Definitions>Moving Mesh should be selected. A Mesh Slip condition
is automatically used on boundaries that are adjacent to the Fluid-Fluid
Interface and dot not have a prescribed Moving Mesh boundary
condition.

If a Fluid-Fluid Interface feature is in contact with a solid boundary, the

movement of the contact point is not compatible with the no slip
condition. For laminar flow the Wall boundary condition with the Navier
Slip option should be selected. For turbulence models with wall functions
or automatic wall treatment the Wall feature with the No Slip option can
be selected.

External Fluid Interface

The External Fluid Interface node defines the initial position of an external fluid
interface - that is, an interface in which the viscosity in the fluid outside the domain
can be neglected. It also includes equations to model the interface. The Wall-Fluid

THE LAMINAR TWO-PHASE FLOW, MOVING MESH INTERFACE | 347

 Interface subnode is available from the context menu (right-click the parent node) or
from the Physics toolbar, Attributes menu.

MODEL INPUT
Enter a value for the Temperature T (SI unit: K). This option is only necessary when
the surface tension coefficient comes from a library of coefficients, as explained below.

FREE SURFACE
Enter an External pressure pext (SI unit: Pa).

SURFACE TENSION
Select the Include surface tension force in momentum equation check box to include the
surface tension force in the momentum equation.

The default Surface tension coefficient σ (SI unit: N/m) can be User defined, or select
Library coefficient, liquid/gas interface (default) or Library coefficient, liquid/liquid
interface.

• For Library coefficient, liquid/gas interface select an option from the list — Water/Air
(default), Acetone/Air, Acetic acid/Air, Ethanol/Air, Ethylene glycol/Ethylene glycol vapor,
Diethyl ether/Air, Glycerol/Air, Heptane/Nitrogen, Mercury/Mercury vapor, or
Toluene/Air.

• For Library coefficient, liquid/liquid interface select an option from the list —
Benzene/Water, 20°C, Corn oil/Water, 20°C, Ether/Water, 20°C, Hexane/Water, 20°C,
Mercury/Water, 20°C, or Olive oil/Water, 20°C.

MASS FLUX
The mass flux setting specifies the mass transfer across the boundary, due to processes
such as boiling. The default Mass Flux Mf (SI unit: kg/(m2·s)) is User defined, with a
value of 0.

LOCATION IN USER INTERFACE

Context Menus
Laminar Flow>Two-Phase Flow, Moving Mesh>External Fluid Interface

Ribbon
Physics tab with Laminar Flow selected:

348 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Boundaries>Two-Phase Flow, Moving Mesh>External Fluid Interface

The External Fluid Interface feature imposes a mesh deformation in the

normal direction. On adjacent boundaries, the mesh displacement parallel
to those boundaries cannot be fixed if the contact point is moving. In this
case a Mesh Slip, Symmetry/Roller, Prescribed Normal Mesh
Displacement, or Prescribed Normal Mesh Velocity boundary condition
under Definitions>Moving Mesh should be selected. A Mesh Slip condition
is automatically used on boundaries that are adjacent to the External Fluid
Interface and dot not have a prescribed Moving Mesh boundary
condition.

If an External Fluid Interface feature is in contact with a solid boundary,

the movement of the contact point is not compatible with the no slip
condition. For laminar flow the Wall boundary condition with the Navier
Slip option should be selected. For turbulence models with wall functions
or automatic wall treatment the Wall feature with the No Slip option can
be selected.

Wall-Fluid Interface
The Wall Fluid Interface subnode is available from the context menu (right-click the
Fluid-Fluid Interface and External Fluid Interface parent node) or from the Physics
toolbar, Attributes menu. The condition applies forces on the wall that balance the
surface tension for the prescribed contact angle. Note that the contact angle can only
be enforced when the surface tension force is included in the momentum equation in
the parent feature.

For laminar flow, the Wall-Fluid Interface node should be used on edges or points where
a Wall feature with the Navier Slip option is prescribed adjacent to the free surface. In
this case, the Navier Slip option is required for the contact line to move along the wall.

The representation of the contact angle is dependent on the mesh resolution in the
region where the fluid-fluid interface attaches to the wall. If, during the simulation, the
contact angle is found to fluctuate around a given value, this indicates that the
resolution needs to be improved. This can for example be achieved by adding more
mesh boundary layers on the wall.

THE LAMINAR TWO-PHASE FLOW, MOVING MESH INTERFACE | 349

 WALL-FLUID INTERFACE
Select an option from the Specify contact angle list — Directly (the default) or Through
Young’s equation.

• For Directly enter a Contact angle θw (SI unit: rad). The default is π/2 radians.
• For Through Young’s equation enter values or expressions for Phase 1-Solid surface
energy density γs1 (SI unit: J/m2) and Phase 2-Solid surface energy density γs2 (SI
unit: J/m2).

NORMAL WALL VELOCITY

Select whether to Constrain the wall-normal velocity. This ensures that the fluid velocity
normal to the wall on the contact edge or point is exactly the desired value. This can
be helpful when the adjacent wall uses a Discontinuous Galerkin Formulation and the
no-penetration condition is satisfied in an integral sense rather than pointwise.
Moreover, constraining the wall-normal velocity simplifies the equilibrium of forces in
the wall-normal direction. This setting should not be selected when the adjacent
boundary has an unknown velocity.

The contact angle θw is defined between the fluid-fluid interface and the
surface of the wall adjacent to phase 1.

The moving mesh boundary condition must be compatible with the

motion of the wall for the problem to have a valid solution.

350 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The Bubbly Flow Interfaces
In this section:

• The Laminar Bubbly Flow Interface

• The Bubbly Flow, Algebraic yPlus Interface
• The Bubbly Flow, L-VEL Interface
• The Bubbly Flow, k-ε Interface
• The Bubbly Flow, Realizable k-ε Interface
• The Bubbly Flow, k-ω Interface
• The Bubbly Flow, SST Interface
• The Bubbly Flow, Low Re k-ε Interface
• The Bubbly Flow, Spalart-Allmaras Interface
• The Bubbly Flow, v2-f Interface
• Domain and Boundary Nodes for Bubbly Flow

The Laminar Bubbly Flow Interface

The Laminar Bubbly Flow (bf) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase Flow>Bubbly
Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used to model the flow of liquids
with dispersed bubbles at low and moderate Reynolds numbers.

It is assumed that the bubbles only occupy a small volume fraction and that they always
travel with their terminal velocity. It is thereby possible to solve only one set of
Navier-Stokes equations for the liquid phase and to let the velocity of the bubbles be
guided by a slip model. The pressure distribution is computed from a
mixture-averaged continuity equation. The volume fraction of bubbles is tracked by
solving a transport equation for the effective gas density.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, that is, the
number of bubbles per unit volume which in turn can be used to calculate the
interfacial area, useful when simulating chemical reactions in the mixture.

The main physics node is the Fluid Properties feature, which adds the equations for
laminar bubbly flow and provides an interface for defining the fluid materials for the
liquid and the gas and the slip velocity model to use.

THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 351

 When this physics interface is added, the following default physics nodes are also added
in the Model Builder — Laminar Bubbly Flow, Fluid Properties, Wall (the default boundary
types are No slip for the liquid and No gas flux for the gas), and Initial Values. Then, from
the Physics toolbar, add other nodes that implement, for example, boundary
conditions and volume forces. You can also right-click Laminar Bubbly Flow to select
physics features from the context menu.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is bf.

PHYSICAL MODEL
Specify if the gas concentration is low and whether or not to solve for the interfacial
area.

Low Gas Concentration

The Low gas concentration check box is selected by default. This approximation is valid
if the gas volume fraction is low ( φ g less than a few percent) and its density does not
have any significant effects on the continuity equation. It is then generally valid to
replace the continuity equation in The Bubbly Flow Equations see Equation 7-19 with
Equation 7-22).

Solve For Interfacial Area

To add a transport equation for the bubble density in order to determine the interfacial
area, select the Solve for interfacial area check box.

Reference values
Reference values are global quantities used to evaluate the density of the liquid and the
absolute pressure pA.

Reference pressure level There are generally two ways to include the pressure in fluid
flow computations: either to use the absolute pressure pA=p+pref, or the gauge
pressure p. When pref is nonzero, the physics interface solves for the gauge pressure
whereas material properties are evaluated using the absolute pressure. The reference

352 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

pressure level is also used to define the density of the liquid. The default Reference
pressure level pref (SI unit: Pa) is 1[atm].

Reference temperature The reference temperature is used to define the density of the
liquid. The default Reference temperature Tref (SI unit: K) is 293.15[K].

Swirl Flow
For 2D axisymmetric models, select the Swirl flow check box to include the swirl
velocity component — that is, the velocity component u ϕ in the azimuthal direction.
While u ϕ can be nonzero, there can be no gradients in the ϕ direction. Also see
General Single-Phase Flow Theory.

TURBULENCE

Turbulence Model Type

By default no turbulence model is used.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variables (field variables) are the Velocity field, liquid phase u (SI unit:
m/s), the Pressure p (SI unit: Pa), the Effective gas density rhogeff (SI unit: kg/m3),
and the Number density, gas phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3). The names can be changed but
the names of fields and dependent variables must be unique within a component.

CONSISTENT STABILIZATION AND INCONSISTENT STABILIZATION

To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Stabilization
in the Show More Options dialog box. This section contains the settings for stabilization
of the momentum transport (the fluid flow) in the Momentum transport area and
stabilization of the equation for the dispersed phase in the Gas phase transport area.

Consistent streamline and crosswind diffusion is applied by default to both gas and
momentum transport. Additional inconsistent stabilization terms may be added when
required as isotropic diffusion.

ADVANCED SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box. Normally these settings do not
need to be changed.

Select the Use pseudo time stepping for stationary equation form check box to add
pseudo time derivatives to the equation when the Stationary equation form is used.
When selected, also choose a CFL number expression — Automatic (the default) or

THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 353

 Manual. Automatic sets the local CFL number (from the Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy
condition) to the built-in variable CFLCMP which in turn triggers a PID regulator for
the CFL number. For Manual enter a Local CFL number CFLloc (dimensionless).

• Pseudo Time Stepping for Laminar Flow Models in this guide and
Pseudo Time Stepping in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual
• Domain and Boundary Nodes for Bubbly Flow
• Theory for the Bubbly Flow Interfaces

The Bubbly Flow, Algebraic yPlus Interface

The Bubbly Flow, Algebraic yPlus (bf) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase
Flow>Bubbly Flow>Bubbly Flow, Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics
interface, is used to model the flow of liquids with dispersed bubbles at high Reynolds
numbers.

It is assumed that the bubbles only occupy a small volume fraction and that they always
travel with their terminal velocity. It is thereby possible to solve only one set of
Navier-Stokes equations for the liquid phase and to let the velocity of the bubbles be
guided by a slip model. The pressure distribution is calculated from a mixture-averaged
continuity equation. The volume fraction of bubbles is tracked by solving a transport
equation for the effective gas density. Turbulence effects are included using an
enhanced viscosity model based on the scaled wall distance, and the physics interface
therefore includes a wall distance equation.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which can
be used to calculate the interfacial area, useful when simulating chemical reactions in
the mixture.

The main physics node is the Fluid Properties feature, which adds the equations for
turbulent bubbly flow and provides an interface for defining the fluid materials for the
liquid and the gas and the slip velocity model to use.

When this physics interface is added, the following default physics nodes are also added
in the Model Builder — Fluid Properties, Wall (the default boundary types are No slip for
the liquid and No gas flux for the gas), and Initial Values.

Except where indicated below, the nodes settings for this physics interface are the same
as for The Laminar Bubbly Flow Interface and The Bubbly Flow, k-ε Interface.

354 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS. A different turbulence model can be
selected under Turbulence model. The default turbulence model is Algebraic yPlus.

Wall Treatment
Algebraic yPlus employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which switches
between a low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function formulation
depending on how well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The automatic wall
treatment gives a robust formulation that makes the most out of the available
resolution. Select the Low Re option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to
the wall. This can be more accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that
the mesh is fine enough.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

The turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible,
but for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters. For a description of the turbulence model and the included model
parameters see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variables (field variables) are the Velocity field, liquid phase u (SI unit:
m/s), the Pressure p (SI unit: Pa), the Effective gas density rhogeff (SI unit: kg/m3),
the Reciprocal wall distance G (SI unit: 1/m), and the Wall distance in viscous units
yPlus (dimensionless), and the Number density, gas phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3).

The Bubbly Flow, Algebraic yPlus interface requires a Wall Distance Initialization
study step in the study previous to the Stationary or Time Dependent study step.

For study information, see Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with
Initialization, and Wall Distance Initialization in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

The Bubbly Flow, L-VEL Interface

The Bubbly Flow, L-VEL (bf) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase Flow>Bubbly
Flow>Bubbly Flow, Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used
to model the flow of liquids with dispersed bubbles at high Reynolds numbers.

It is assumed that the bubbles only occupy a small volume fraction and that they always
travel with their terminal velocity. It is thereby possible to solve only one set of
Navier-Stokes equations for the liquid phase and to let the velocity of the bubbles be

THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 355

 guided by a slip model. The pressure distribution is calculated from a mixture-averaged
continuity equation. The volume fraction of bubbles is tracked by solving a transport
equation for the effective gas density. Turbulence effects are included using an
enhanced viscosity model based on the local wall distance, and the physics interface
therefore includes a wall distance equation.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which can
be used to calculate the interfacial area, useful when simulating chemical reactions in
the mixture.

The main physics node is the Fluid Properties feature, which adds the equations for
turbulent bubbly flow and provides an interface for defining the fluid materials for the
liquid and the gas and the slip velocity model to use.

When this physics interface is added, the following default physics nodes are also added
in the Model Builder — Fluid Properties, Wall (the default boundary types are No slip for
the liquid and No gas flux for the gas), and Initial Values.

Except where indicated below, the nodes settings for this physics interface are the same
as for The Laminar Bubbly Flow Interface and The Bubbly Flow, k-ε Interface.

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS. A different turbulence model can be
selected under Turbulence model. The default turbulence model is L-VEL.

Wall Treatment
L-VEL employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which switches between a
low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function formulation depending on how
well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The automatic wall treatment gives a robust
formulation that makes the most out of the available resolution. Select the Low Re
option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to the wall. This can be more
accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that the mesh is fine enough.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

The turbulence model parameters are optimized for internal flow. For certain cases,
better performance can be obtained by tuning the model parameters. For a description
of the turbulence model and the included model parameters see Theory for the
Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variables (field variables) are the Velocity field, liquid phase u (SI unit:
m/s), the Pressure p (SI unit: Pa), the Effective gas density rhogeff (SI unit: kg/m3),

356 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

the Reciprocal wall distance G (SI unit: 1/m), and the Tangential velocity in viscous units
uPlus (dimensionless), and the Number density, gas phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3).

The Bubbly Flow, L-VEL interface requires a Wall Distance Initialization study step in
the study previous to the Stationary or Time Dependent study step.

For study information, see Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with
Initialization, and Wall Distance Initialization in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

The Bubbly Flow, k-ε Interface

The Bubbly Flow, k-ε(bf) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase Flow>Bubbly
Flow>Bubbly Flow, Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used
to model the flow of liquids with dispersed bubbles at high Reynolds numbers.

It is assumed that the bubbles only occupy a small volume fraction and that they always
travel with their terminal velocity. It is thereby possible to solve only one set of
Navier-Stokes equations for the liquid phase and to let the velocity of the bubbles be
guided by a slip model. The pressure distribution is calculated from a mixture-averaged
continuity equation. The volume fraction of bubbles is tracked by solving a transport
equation for the effective gas density. Turbulence effects are modeled using the
standard two-equation k-ε model with realizability constraints and bubble-induced
turbulence production. The flow near walls is modeled using wall functions.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which can
be used to calculate the interfacial area, useful when simulating chemical reactions in
the mixture.

The main physics node is the Fluid Properties feature, which adds the equations for
turbulent bubbly flow and provides an interface for defining the fluid materials for the
liquid and the gas and the slip velocity model to use.

When this physics interface is added, the following default physics nodes are also added
in the Model Builder — Fluid Properties, Wall (the default boundary types are No slip for
the liquid and No gas flux for the gas), and Initial Values.

Except where indicated below, the nodes settings for this physics interface are the same
as for The Laminar Bubbly Flow Interface.

THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 357

 TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS. A different turbulence model can be
selected under Turbulence model. The default turbulence model is k-ε.

Wall Treatment
Wall treatment for the k-ε model can only be set to Wall functions. More options
become available by selecting another option under Turbulence model.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters. For a description of the turbulence model and the included model
parameters see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variables (field variables) are the Velocity field, liquid phase u (SI unit:
m/s), the Pressure p (SI unit: Pa), the Effective gas density rhogeff (SI unit: kg/m3),
the Turbulent dissipation rate ep (SI unit: m2/s3), the Turbulent kinetic energy k
(SI unit: m2/s2), and the Number density, gas phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3).

The names of variables can be changed but the names of fields and dependent variables
must be unique within a component.

CONSISTENT AND INCONSISTENT STABILIZATION

To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Stabilization
in the Show More Options dialog box. The settings for this section are the same as for
The Laminar Bubbly Flow Interface with the addition of this section: stabilization for
the turbulence variables in the Turbulence equations area.

When using a turbulence model, streamline and crosswind diffusion are by default
applied to the turbulence equations.

ADVANCED SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box. The Turbulence variables scale
parameters subsection is available when the Turbulence model type is set to RANS.

In addition to the settings described for The Laminar Bubbly Flow Interface, enter a
value for Uscale and Lfact under the Turbulence variables scale parameters subsection.

The Uscale and Lfact parameters are used to calculate absolute tolerances for the
turbulence variables. The scaling parameters must only contain numerical values, units

358 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

or parameters defined under Global Definitions. The scaling parameters cannot contain
variables. The parameters are used when a new default solver for a transient study step
is generated. If you change the parameters, the new values take effect the next time you
generate a new default solver.

• Pseudo Time Stepping for Laminar Flow Models in this guide and
Pseudo Time Stepping in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual
• Domain and Boundary Nodes for Bubbly Flow
• Theory for the Bubbly Flow Interfaces

Flow in an Airlift Loop Reactor: path

CFD_Module/Multiphase_Benchmarks/airlift_loop_reactor

The Bubbly Flow, Realizable k-ε Interface

The Bubbly Flow, Realizable k-ε(bf) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase
Flow>Bubbly Flow>Bubbly Flow, Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics
interface, is used to model the flow of liquids with dispersed bubbles at high Reynolds
numbers.

It is assumed that the bubbles only occupy a small volume fraction and that they always
travel with their terminal velocity. It is thereby possible to solve only one set of
Navier-Stokes equations for the liquid phase and to let the velocity of the bubbles be
guided by a slip model. The pressure distribution is calculated from a mixture-averaged
continuity equation. The volume fraction of bubbles is tracked by solving a transport
equation for the effective gas density. Turbulence effects are modeled using the
realizable two-equation k-ε model and bubble-induced turbulence production. The
flow near walls is modeled using wall functions.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which can
be used to calculate the interfacial area, useful when simulating chemical reactions in
the mixture.

The main physics node is the Fluid Properties feature, which adds the equations for
turbulent bubbly flow and provides an interface for defining the fluid materials for the
liquid and the gas and the slip velocity model to use.

THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 359

 When this physics interface is added, the following default physics nodes are also added
in the Model Builder — Fluid Properties, Wall (the default boundary types are No slip for
the liquid and No gas flux for the gas), and Initial Values.

Except where indicated below, the nodes settings for this physics interface are the same
as for The Laminar Bubbly Flow Interface and The Bubbly Flow, k-ε Interface.

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS. A different turbulence model can be
selected under Turbulence model. The default turbulence model is Realizable k-ε.

Wall Treatment
Wall treatment for the Realizable k-ε model can only be set to Wall functions. More
options becomes available by selecting another option under Turbulence model.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters. For a description of the turbulence model and the included model
parameters see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variables (field variables) are the Velocity field, liquid phase u (SI unit:
m/s), the Pressure p (SI unit: Pa), the Effective gas density rhogeff (SI unit: kg/m3),
the Turbulent dissipation rate ep (SI unit: m2/s3), the Turbulent kinetic energy k
(SI unit: m2/s2), and the Number density, gas phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3).

The Bubbly Flow, k-ω Interface

The Bubbly Flow, k-ω (bf) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase Flow>Bubbly
Flow>Bubbly Flow, Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used
to model the flow of liquids with dispersed bubbles at high Reynolds numbers.

It is assumed that the bubbles only occupy a small volume fraction and that they always
travel with their terminal velocity. It is thereby possible to solve only one set of
Navier-Stokes equations for the liquid phase and to let the velocity of the bubbles be
guided by a slip model. The pressure distribution is calculated from a mixture-averaged
continuity equation. The volume fraction of bubbles is tracked by solving a transport
equation for the effective gas density. Turbulence effects are modeled using the Wilcox
revised two-equation k-ω model with realizability constraints and bubble-induced

360 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

turbulence production. The k-ω model is a so-called low-Reynolds number model,
which means that it can resolve the flow all the way down to the wall.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which can
be used to calculate the interfacial area, useful when simulating chemical reactions in
the mixture.

The main physics node is the Fluid Properties feature, which adds the equations for
turbulent bubbly flow and provides an interface for defining the fluid materials for the
liquid and the gas and the slip velocity model to use.

When this physics interface is added, the following default physics nodes are also added
in the Model Builder — Fluid Properties, Wall (the default boundary types are No slip for
the liquid and No gas flux for the gas), and Initial Values.

Except where indicated below, the nodes settings for this physics interface are the same
as for The Laminar Bubbly Flow Interface and The Bubbly Flow, k-ε Interface.

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS. A different turbulence model can be
selected under Turbulence model. The default turbulence model is k-ω.

Wall Treatment
The k-ω model employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which switches
between a low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function formulation
depending on how well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The automatic wall
treatment gives a robust formulation that makes the most out of the available
resolution. The most robust, but least accurate option is select the Wall functions
option.

Select the Low Re option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to the wall.
This can be more accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that the mesh
is fine enough. Observe that the Low Re formulation requires the wall distance to be
solved for prior to the flow.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters. For a description of the turbulence model and the included model
parameters see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 361

 DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variables (field variables) are the Velocity field, liquid phase u (SI unit:
m/s), the Pressure p (SI unit: Pa), the Effective gas density rhogeff (SI unit: kg/m3),
the Specific dissipation rate om (SI unit: 1/s), the Turbulent kinetic energy k (SI unit:
m2/s2), and the Number density, gas phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3).

The Bubbly Flow, SST Interface

The Bubbly Flow, SST (bf) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase Flow>Bubbly
Flow>Bubbly Flow, Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used
to model the flow of liquids with dispersed bubbles at high Reynolds numbers.

It is assumed that the bubbles only occupy a small volume fraction and that they always
travel with their terminal velocity. It is thereby possible to solve only one set of
Navier-Stokes equations for the liquid phase and to let the velocity of the bubbles be
guided by a slip model. The pressure distribution is calculated from a mixture-averaged
continuity equation. The volume fraction of bubbles is tracked by solving a transport
equation for the effective gas density. Turbulence effects are modeled using the Menter
shear-stress transport (SST) two-equation model from 2003 with realizability
constraints and bubble-induced turbulence production. The SST model is a so-called
low-Reynolds number model, which means that it can resolve the flow all the way
down to the wall. The SST model depends on the distance to the closest wall. The
physics interface therefore includes a wall distance equation.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which can
be used to calculate the interfacial area, useful when simulating chemical reactions in
the mixture.

The main physics node is the Fluid Properties feature, which adds the equations for
turbulent bubbly flow and provides an interface for defining the fluid materials for the
liquid and the gas and the slip velocity model to use.

When this physics interface is added, the following default physics nodes are also added
in the Model Builder — Fluid Properties, Wall (the default boundary types are No slip for
the liquid and No gas flux for the gas), and Initial Values.

Except where indicated below, the nodes settings for this physics interface are the same
as for The Laminar Bubbly Flow Interface and The Bubbly Flow, k-ε Interface.

362 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS. A different turbulence model can be
selected under Turbulence model. The default turbulence model is SST.

Wall Treatment
The SST model employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which switches
between a low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function formulation
depending on how well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The automatic wall
treatment gives a robust formulation that makes the most out of the available
resolution.

Select the Low Re option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to the wall.
This can be more accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that the mesh
is fine enough.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters. For a description of the turbulence model and the included model
parameters see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variables (field variables) are the Velocity field, liquid phase u (SI unit:
m/s), the Pressure p (SI unit: Pa), the Effective gas density rhogeff (SI unit: kg/m3),
the Specific dissipation rate om (SI unit: 1/s), the Turbulent kinetic energy k (SI unit:
m2/s2), the Reciprocal wall distance G (SI unit: 1/m), and the Number density, gas
phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3).

The Bubbly Flow, SST interface requires a Wall Distance Initialization study step in the
study previous to the Stationary or Time Dependent study step.

For study information, see Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with
Initialization, and Wall Distance Initialization in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

The Bubbly Flow, Low Re k-ε Interface

The Bubbly Flow, Low Re k-ε (bf) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase
Flow>Bubbly Flow>Bubbly Flow, Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics
interface, is used to model the flow of liquids with dispersed bubbles at high Reynolds
numbers.

THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 363

 It is assumed that the bubbles only occupy a small volume fraction and that they always
travel with their terminal velocity. It is thereby possible to solve only one set of
Navier-Stokes equations for the liquid phase and to let the velocity of the bubbles be
guided by a slip model. The pressure distribution is calculated from a mixture-averaged
continuity equation. The volume fraction of bubbles is tracked by solving a transport
equation for the effective gas density. Turbulence effects are modeled using the AKN
two-equation k-ε with realizability constraints and bubble-induced turbulence
production. The AKN model is a so-called low-Reynolds number model, which means
that it can resolve the flow all the way down to the wall. The AKN model depends on
the distance to the closest wall. The physics interface therefore includes a wall distance
equation.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which can
be used to calculate the interfacial area, useful when simulating chemical reactions in
the mixture.

The main physics node is the Fluid Properties feature, which adds the equations for
turbulent bubbly flow and provides an interface for defining the fluid materials for the
liquid and the gas and the slip velocity model to use.

When this physics interface is added, the following default physics nodes are also added
in the Model Builder — Fluid Properties, Wall (the default boundary types are No slip for
the liquid and No gas flux for the gas), and Initial Values.

Except where indicated below, the nodes settings for this physics interface are the same
as for The Laminar Bubbly Flow Interface and The Bubbly Flow, k-ε Interface.

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS. A different turbulence model can be
selected under Turbulence model. The default turbulence model is Low Reynolds number
k-ε.

Wall Treatment
The AKN model employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which switches
between a low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function formulation
depending on how well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The automatic wall
treatment gives a robust formulation that makes the most out of the available
resolution.

Select the Low Re option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to the wall.
This can be more accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that the mesh
is fine enough.

364 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters
Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters. For a description of the turbulence model and the included model
parameters see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variables (field variables) are the Velocity field, liquid phase u (SI unit:
m/s), the Pressure p (SI unit: Pa), the Effective gas density rhogeff (SI unit: kg/m3),
the Turbulent dissipation rate ep (SI unit: m2/s3), the Turbulent kinetic energy k
(SI unit: m2/s2), the Reciprocal wall distance G (SI unit: 1/m), and the Number density,
gas phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3).

The Bubbly Flow, Low Re k-ε interface requires a Wall Distance Initialization study
step in the study previous to the Stationary or Time Dependent study step.

For study information, see Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with
Initialization, and Wall Distance Initialization in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

The Bubbly Flow, Spalart-Allmaras Interface

The Bubbly Flow, Spalart-Allmaras (bf) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase
Flow>Bubbly Flow>Bubbly Flow, Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics
interface, is used to model the flow of liquids with dispersed bubbles at high Reynolds
numbers.

It is assumed that the bubbles only occupy a small volume fraction and that they always
travel with their terminal velocity. It is thereby possible to solve only one set of
Navier-Stokes equations for the liquid phase and to let the velocity of the bubbles be
guided by a slip model. The pressure distribution is calculated from a mixture-averaged
continuity equation. The volume fraction of bubbles is tracked by solving a transport
equation for the effective gas density. Turbulence effects are modeled using the
Spalart-Allmaras one-equation model. The Spalart-Allmaras model is a so-called
low-Reynolds number model, which means that it can resolve the flow all the way
down to the wall. The Spalart-Allmaras model depends on the distance to the closest
wall. The physics interface therefore includes a wall distance equation.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which can
be used to calculate the interfacial area, useful when simulating chemical reactions in
the mixture.

THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 365

 The main physics node is the Fluid Properties feature, which adds the equations for
turbulent bubbly flow and provides an interface for defining the fluid materials for the
liquid and the gas and the slip velocity model to use.

When this physics interface is added, the following default physics nodes are also added
in the Model Builder — Fluid Properties, Wall (the default boundary types are No slip for
the liquid and No gas flux for the gas), and Initial Values.

Except where indicated below, the nodes settings for this physics interface are the same
as for The Laminar Bubbly Flow Interface and The Bubbly Flow, k-ε Interface.

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS. A different turbulence model can be
selected under Turbulence model. The default turbulence model is Spalart-Allmaras.

Wall Treatment
The Spalart-Allmaras model employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which
switches between a low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function
formulation depending on how well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The
automatic wall treatment gives a robust formulation that makes the most out of the
available resolution.

Select the Low Re option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to the wall.
This can be more accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that the mesh
is fine enough.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters. For a description of the turbulence model and the included model
parameters see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variables (field variables) are the Velocity field, liquid phase u (SI unit:
m/s), the Pressure p (SI unit: Pa), the Effective gas density rhogeff (SI unit: kg/m3),
the Undamped turbulent kinematic viscosity nutilde (SI unit: m2/s), the Reciprocal
wall distance G (SI unit: 1/m), and the Number density, gas phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3).

The Bubbly Flow, Spalart-Allmaras interface requires a Wall Distance Initialization

study step in the study previous to the Stationary or Time Dependent study step.

366 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

For study information, see Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with
Initialization, and Wall Distance Initialization in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

The Bubbly Flow, v2-f Interface

The Bubbly Flow, v2-f (bf) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase Flow>Bubbly
Flow>Bubbly Flow, Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used
to model the flow of liquids with dispersed bubbles at high Reynolds numbers.

It is assumed that the bubbles only occupy a small volume fraction and that they always
travel with their terminal velocity. It is thereby possible to solve only one set of
Navier-Stokes equations for the liquid phase and to let the velocity of the bubbles be
guided by a slip model. The pressure distribution is calculated from a mixture-averaged
continuity equation. The volume fraction of bubbles is tracked by solving a transport
equation for the effective gas density. Turbulence effects are modeled using the v2-f
transport-equation model with realizability constraints. The v2-f model is a so-called
low-Reynolds number model, which means that it can resolve the flow all the way
down to the wall. The v2-f model depends on the distance to the closest wall. The
physics interface therefore includes a wall distance equation.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which can
be used to calculate the interfacial area, useful when simulating chemical reactions in
the mixture.

The main physics node is the Fluid Properties feature, which adds the equations for
turbulent bubbly flow and provides an interface for defining the fluid materials for the
liquid and the gas and the slip velocity model to use.

When this physics interface is added, the following default physics nodes are also added
in the Model Builder — Fluid Properties, Wall (the default boundary types are No slip for
the liquid and No gas flux for the gas), and Initial Values.

Except where indicated below, the nodes settings for this physics interface are the same
as for The Laminar Bubbly Flow Interface and The Bubbly Flow, k-ε Interface.

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS. A different turbulence model can be
selected under Turbulence model. The default turbulence model is v2-f.

THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 367

 Wall Treatment
The v2-f model employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which switches
between a low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function formulation
depending on how well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The automatic wall
treatment gives a robust formulation that makes the most out of the available
resolution.

Select the Low Re option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to the wall.
This can be more accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that the mesh
is fine enough.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters. For a description of the turbulence model and the included model
parameters see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variables (field variables) are the Velocity field, liquid phase u (SI unit:
m/s), the Pressure p (SI unit: Pa), the Effective gas density rhogeff (SI unit: kg/m3),
the Turbulent dissipation rate ep (SI unit: m2/s3), the Turbulent kinetic energy k
(SI unit: m2/s2), the Turbulent relative fluctuations zeta (dimensionless), the Elliptic
blending function alpha (dimensionless), the Reciprocal wall distance G (SI unit: 1/m),
and the Number density, gas phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3).

The Bubbly Flow, v2-f interface requires a Wall Distance Initialization study step in the
study previous to the Stationary or Time Dependent study step.

For study information, see Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with
Initialization, and Wall Distance Initialization in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

368 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Domain and Boundary Nodes for Bubbly Flow
The following domain and boundary nodes are available from the Physics ribbon
toolbar (Windows users), Physics context menu (Mac or Linux users), or right-click to
access the context menu (all users).

In general, to add a node, go to the Physics toolbar, no matter what

operating system you are using. Subnodes are available by clicking the
parent node and selecting it from the Attributes menu.

DOMAIN
• Fluid Properties
• Volume Force (described for The Laminar Flow Interface)
• Mass Transfer
• Gravity
• Initial Values

BOUNDARY

The sections describe the available boundary conditions for the liquid and
the gas. In all equations, n denotes the outward pointing unit vector
normal to the boundary.

The boundary types for the liquid flow variables, described in this section, are:

• Wall (the default boundary condition)

• Inlet
• Outlet
• Symmetry
• Periodic Flow Condition
• Interior Wall

PAIR
• Flow Continuity

THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 369

 In addition to the boundary conditions for the liquid, the following boundary
conditions for the gas are available for all boundary condition types except symmetry
and interior wall:

• Gas Concentration (the default condition for inlets)

• Gas Flux
• Gas Outlet (the default condition for outlets)
• No Gas Flux (the default condition for walls)
• Symmetry

Gas Boundary Condition Equations

For 2D axisymmetric components, COMSOL Multiphysics takes the axial

symmetry boundaries (at r = 0) into account and automatically adds an
Axial Symmetry node that is valid on the axial symmetry boundaries only.

Fluid Properties
The Fluid Properties node contains the material properties for the liquid and the gas. It
also contains settings for the slip model.

MODEL INPUTS
Fluid properties, such as the gas density and liquid viscosity, can be defined through
user inputs, variables, or by selecting a material. For the latter option, additional
inputs, for example temperature or pressure, may be required to define these
properties.

Temperature
By default, the Temperature model input is set to Common model input, and the
temperature is controlled from Default Model Inputs under Global Definitions or by a
locally defined Model Input. If a Heat Transfer interface is included in the component,
it controls the temperature Common model input. Alternatively, the temperature field
can be selected from another physics interface. All physics interfaces have their own
tags (Name). For example, if a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface is included in the
component, the Temperature (ht) option is available for T.

370 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

You can also select User defined from the Temperature model input in order to manually
prescribe T.

Absolute Pressure
This input appears when a material requires the absolute pressure as a model input.
The absolute pressure is used to evaluate material properties, but it also relates to the
value of the calculated pressure field. There are generally two ways to calculate the
pressure when describing fluid flow: either to solve for the absolute pressure or for a
pressure (often denoted gauge pressure) that relates to the absolute pressure through
a reference pressure.

The default Absolute pressure pA is p+pref, where p is the dependent pressure variable
from the Navier-Stokes or RANS equations, and pref is from the user input defined at
the physics interface level. When pref is nonzero, the physics interface solves for a
gauge pressure. If the pressure field instead is an absolute pressure field, pref should be
set to 0.

The Absolute pressure field can be edited by clicking Make All Model Inputs Editable
( ) and entering the desired value in the input field.

Model Inputs and Multiphysics Couplings in the COMSOL Multiphysics

Reference Manual

MATERIALS
Select the materials to use for the material properties of the liquid and the gas (when
they are set to take their value from the material). The default is to use the Domain
material for both the Liquid and the Gas. Select another material to use that material’s
properties for the liquid or gas as needed.

LIQUID PROPERTIES
The default Density, liquid phase ρl (SI unit: kg/m3) uses values From material. For User
defined enter another value or expression.

The density in a material can depend on temperature and/or pressure and these
dependencies are automatically replaced by pref and Tref, which are specified at the
physics interface level.

The default Dynamic viscosity, liquid phase μl (SI unit: Pa·s) uses values From material;
the value is then defined for the material selected in the Materials section for the
continuous phase. For User defined enter another value or expression.

THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 371

 The dynamic viscosity describes the relationship between the shear stresses and the
shear rate in a fluid. Intuitively, water and air have a low viscosity, and substances often
described as thick, such as oil, have a higher viscosity.

GAS PROPERTIES
The default Density, gas phase ρg (SI unit: kg/m3) uses values From material. For User
defined enter another value or expression. Alternatively, select Calculate from ideal gas
law and enter the Molecular weight M (SI unit: kg/mol) of the gas.

Enter the Bubble diameter db (SI unit: m). The default value is 10−3 m (1 mm).

SLIP MODEL
Select a Slip model — Homogeneous flow (the default), Pressure-drag balance, or User
defined.

Homogeneous flow assumes that the velocity of the two phases are equal; that is,
uslip = 0. For User defined enter different values or expressions for the components of
the Slip velocity uslip (SI unit: m/s).

For Pressure-drag balance it uses a model based on the assumption that the pressure
forces on a bubble are balanced by the drag force:

3 C
--- ------d- ρ l u slip u slip = – ∇p
4 db

Here db (SI unit: m) is the bubble diameter, and Cd (dimensionless) is the drag
coefficient.

Select a Drag coefficient model:

• Small spherical bubbles (Hadamard-Rybczynski) for bubbles with a diameter smaller

than 2 mm.
• Large bubbles for gas bubbles with a diameter larger than 2 mm. Then enter the
Surface tension coefficient σ (SI unit N/m). The default is 0.07 N/m.

372 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

• Air bubbles in tap water (Schwarz-Turner) for air bubbles of 1–10 mm mean diameter
in water.
• User defined to enter a different value or expression for the Drag coefficient Cd
(dimensionless). The default value is 1.

See the Slip Model theory section.

MIXING LENGTH LIMIT

This section is available for the Bubbly Flow, k-ε, Bubbly Flow, Realizable k-ε, and
Bubbly Flow, k-ω interfaces, where an upper limit on the mixing length is required.

When the Mixing length limit lmix,lim is set to Automatic, the mixing length limit is
evaluated as the shortest side of the geometry bounding box. If the geometry is, for
example, a complicated system of slim entities, this measure can be too high. In such
cases, it is recommended that the mixing length limit is defined manually. Select Manual
to enter a different value or expression.

DISTANCE EQUATION
This section is available for the Bubbly Flow, Low Re k-ε, Bubbly Flow, Algebraic
yPlus, Bubbly Flow, L-VEL, Bubbly Flow, SST, Bubbly Flow, Spalart-Allmaras, and
Bubbly Flow, v2-f interfaces.

When the Reference length scale lref is set to Automatic, it is evaluated one tenth of the
shortest side of the geometry bounding box. The solution to the wall distance
equation is controlled by the parameter lref. The distance to objects larger than lref is
represented accurately, while objects smaller than lref are effectively diminished by
appearing to be farther away than they actually are. This is a desirable feature in
turbulence modeling because small objects would have too large an impact on the
solution if the wall distance were measured exactly. The automatic value is usually a
good choice but the value can become too high if the geometry consists of several slim
entities. In such cases, it is recommended that the reference length scale is defined
manually. Select Manual to enter a different value or expression.

Mass Transfer
Add a Mass Transfer node to include mass transfer from the gas to the liquid.

THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 373

 MASS TRANSFER
Select a Mass transfer model — Two-film theory, Nonequilibrium model, or User defined.
For User defined enter a value or expression for the Mass transfer from gas to liquid mgl
(SI unit: kg/(m3·s)). The default is 0 kg/(m3·s).

Nonequilibrium Model
For Nonequilibrium model enter values or expressions for each of the following:

• Equilibrium volume fraction in dispersed phase φ eq. The default is 0.

• Inverse time scales fl and fg (SI unit: 1/s). The default is 0 s-1.
The mass transfer is modeled as

m gl = ρ g [ f l max ( φ g – φ eq ) – f g max ( φ eq – φ g ) ]

Two-film theory
For Two-film theory enter values for the Mass transfer coefficient k (SI unit: m/s),
Henry’s constant H (SI unit: Pa·m3/mol), the Dissolved gas concentration c (SI unit:
mol/m3), and the Molecular weight of species M (SI unit: kg/mol). Refer to the theory
below for more information.

Henry’s law gives the equilibrium concentration c* of gas dissolved in liquid:

p + p ref
c∗ = -------------------
H

where H is Henry’s constant. The molar flux per interfacial area, N (SI unit:
mol/(s·m2)), is determined by

N = k ( c∗ – c )

where k is the Mass transfer coefficient and c is the Dissolved gas concentration in
liquid.

The mass transfer from gas to liquid, mgl, is given by

m gl = NMa

where M is the Molecular weight of species and a is the interfacial area per volume
(SI unit: m2/m3).

Also see Theory for the Bubbly Flow Interfaces for details about how a is
computed.

374 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

For two-film theory, you also need to solve for the concentration of the dissolved gas;

∂c m gl
+ ∇ ⋅ ( cu l ) = ∇ ⋅ ( D∇c ) + ---------
∂t M

which can be done by adding a Transport of Diluted Species interface.

Gravity
The Gravity node adds the force ρg to the right-hand side of the momentum transport
equation. Gravity nodes are mutually exclusive, that is, there can only be one active
Gravity node per domain.

GRAVITY
Enter the components of the Gravity vector, g (SI unit: m/s2). For 2D components
the default Gravity vector is defined as (0, −g_const). Here g_const is a physical
constant equal to 9.8066 m/s2. For 3D and 2D axisymmetric components, the gravity
acts in the negative z direction by default.

Initial Values
The Initial Values node adds initial values for the flow variables and the effective gas
density that can serve as initial conditions for a transient simulation or as an initial guess
for a nonlinear solver.

INITIAL VALUES
Enter initial values or expressions for the Velocity field, liquid phase u (SI unit: m/s)
and for the Pressure p (SI unit: Pa). The default values are 0. Also enter a value or
expression for the Effective gas density rhogeff (SI unit: kg/m3). The default is
0 kg/m3.

If the Solve for interfacial area check box is selected, enter an initial value for the Number
density, gas phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3). The default is 0 1/m3.

For the Bubbly Flow, Turbulent Flow interfaces, initial values for the turbulence
variables should be also specified. Additional initial values may be required for:

• Turbulent kinetic energy k

• Turbulent dissipation rate ep
• Reciprocal wall distance G
• Specific dissipation rate om

THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 375

 • Undamped turbulent kinematic viscosity υ0
• Wall distance in viscous units yPlus
• Tangential velocity in viscous units uPlus
• Turbulent relative fluctuations zeta
• Elliptic blending function alpha

Wall
The Wall node adds a selection of boundary conditions that describe the existence of a
solid wall. The Wall node by default specifies no gas flux for the gas phase.

Gas Boundary Condition Equations

LIQUID BOUNDARY CONDITION

Select a Liquid boundary condition — No slip (the default) or Slip.

No Slip
No slip is the default boundary condition for the liquid. A no slip wall is a wall where
the liquid velocity relative to the wall velocity is zero. For stationary walls, it sets the
liquid velocity to zero at the wall:

ul = 0

For turbulent bubbly flows, the no slip condition may either be prescribed exactly or
modeled using automatic wall treatment or wall functions depending on the Wall
Treatment setting in the Turbulence section of the interface settings.

When Wall functions are selected, the Apply wall roughness option becomes available.
Click to select the Apply wall roughness check box to apply the roughness correction.
When the check box is selected, the default Roughness model is Sand roughness, which
is derived from the experiments by Nikuradse. Select Generic roughness to specify more
general roughness types.

• For Sand roughness enter an Equivalent sand roughness height kseq (SI unit: m). The
default is 3.2 micrometers.

376 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

• For Generic roughness enter a Roughness height ks (SI unit: m). The default is
3.2 micrometers. Then enter a Roughness parameters Cs (dimensionless). The
default is 0.26.

References for the Single-Phase Flow, Turbulent Flow Interfaces

Slip
Sets the velocity component normal to the wall to zero:

ul ⋅ n = 0

GAS BOUNDARY CONDITION

From the list, select a Gas boundary condition for the gas phase on the wall — No gas
flux (the default), Gas concentration, Gas outlet, Gas flux, or Symmetry.

Gas Concentration
For Gas concentration enter the Effective gas density ρ g φ g0 (SI unit: kg/m3). The
default is 0 kg/[Link] Solve for interfacial area is selected, also select either the Bubble
number density (the default) or the Bubble diameter and gas density button.

• For Bubble number density enter the Bubble number density n0 (SI unit: 1/m3). The
default is 1000 1/m3.
• For Bubble diameter and gas density enter the Bubble diameter db (SI unit: m) (the
default is 1 mm) and Density, gas phase ρg (SI unit: kg/m3) (the default is
1 kg/m3).

Gas Flux
For Gas flux enter the Gas mass flux N ρ g φ g (SI unit: kg/(m2·s)) (the default is
0 kg/(m2·s)) and if the Solve for interfacial area check box is selected on the physics
interface, the Number density flux Nn (SI unit: 1/(m2·s)). The default is 0 (1/(m2·s)).

WALL MOVEMENT
This section contains controls to describe the wall movement relative to the spatial
frame.

The Translational velocity setting controls the translational velocity, utr. The list is per
default set to Automatic from frame. When Automatic from frame is selected, the physics
automatically detects if the spatial frame moves. If there is no movement, utr is set to

THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 377

 0. If the frame moves, utr becomes equal to the frame movement. utr is accounted for
in the actual boundary condition prescribed in the Liquid boundary condition section.

When Manual is selected from Translational velocity selection list, the Velocity of moving
wall, utr can be prescribed manually. Specifying the translational velocity manually
does not automatically cause the associated wall to move. An additional Moving Mesh
interface needs to be added to physically track the wall movement in the spatial
reference frame.

The Sliding wall option is appropriate if the surface is sliding in its tangential direction.
A velocity is prescribed at the wall and the boundary itself does not have to actually
move relative to the reference frame.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
This section is displayed by clicking the Show More Options button ( ) and selecting
Advanced Physics Options.

Wall in the Single-Phase Flow interfaces

Inlet
The Inlet node adds a selection of boundary conditions that describe inlets in fluid-flow
simulations.

Gas Boundary Condition Equations

LIQUID BOUNDARY CONDITION

Select a Liquid boundary condition — Velocity (the default), Pressure, or Fully developed
flow.

VELOCITY
For Velocity click the Normal inflow velocity (the default) or Velocity field buttons.

• For Normal inflow velocity enter a value or expression for U0 (SI unit: m/s).
• For Velocity field specify that the velocity at the boundary is equal to a given u0 (SI
unit: m/s) and enter the components in the matrix:

378 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 ul = u0

PRESSURE
This condition specifies the normal stress which in most cases is approximately equal
to the pressure. Enter the Pressure p0 (SI unit: Pa) at the boundary. The default is 0 Pa.
Enter a relative pressure value in p0 (SI unit: Pa). Or if the reference pressure pref
defined at the physics interface level is equal to 0 Pa, enter an absolute pressure in p0.

• The Suppress backflow check box is selected by default. This option adjusts the inlet
pressure, pˆ 0 ≥ p 0 , locally in order to prevent fluid from exiting the domain through
the boundary. If suppress backflow is deselected, the inlet boundary can become an
outlet depending on the pressure field in the rest of the domain.
• Flow direction controls in which direction the fluid enters the domain.
- For Normal flow (the default) it prescribes zero tangential velocity component.
- For User defined define an Inflow velocity direction, du (dimensionless). The
magnitude of du does not matter, only the direction. du must point into the
domain.

FULLY DEVELOPED FLOW

The Fully developed flow option adds contributions to the inflow boundary, which force
the flow towards the solution for a fully developed channel flow. The channel can be
thought of as a virtual extrusion of the inlet cross section. The velocity is defined by
the boundary condition of the adjacent boundary in the model.

The boundary conditions for the virtual inlet channel are inherited from the
boundaries adjacent to the inlet channel. Virtual boundaries adjacent to walls (except
slip walls) are treated as no-slip walls. Virtual boundaries adjacent to any other type of
boundary are treated as slip-walls (or equivalently as symmetry boundaries).

Select a Fully developed flow option — Average velocity (the default), Flow rate, or
Average pressure.

The Fully developed flow option adds contributions to the inflow boundary, which force
the flow towards the solution for a fully developed channel flow.

Select an option to control the flow rate at the inlet:

• For Average velocity enter Uav .

THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 379

 • Flow rate, V0. Two-dimensional models also require an Entrance thickness, Dz,
which is the out-of-plane thickness of the extruded entrance channel.
• Average pressure, Pav. Observe that Pav is the average pressure on the inflow
boundary.

Fully developed inflow can be used in conjunction with the turbulence models. No
additional inputs are required for the turbulence variables. They are instead solved for
on the inlet boundary to be consistent with the fully developed flow profile.

A fully developed flow boundary cannot be adjacent to any Interior Wall feature

GAS BOUNDARY CONDITION

These settings are the same as for Wall. See Gas Boundary Condition. The only
difference is that Gas concentration is the default.

TURBULENCE CONDITIONS
This section is available for Bubbly Flow, Turbulent Flow interfaces. No additional
inputs are required for Fully developed flow.

No additional inlet conditions are required for the algebraic turbulence models:
Algebraic yPlus and L-VEL.

For the Bubbly Flow, Spalart-Allmaras interface, a value or expression for the Undamped
turbulent kinematic viscosity υ0 should be specified. The default value is 3*[Link].

For transport-equation turbulence models, apart from Spalart-Allmaras, the following

settings are available under the Specify turbulence length scale and intensity option (see
Table 4-2 for the default values):

• Turbulent intensity IT
• Turbulent length scale LT
• Reference velocity scale Uref
For the v2-f turbulence model, the additional choice between Isotropic turbulence and
Specify turbulence anisotropy appears. For Specify turbulence anisotropy, a value for the
turbulent relative fluctuations at the inlet, ζ0, may be specified. When Specify
turbulence variables is selected, values or expressions for the dependent turbulence
variables should be defined. Availability is based on the physics interface and the
boundary condition chosen.

• Turbulent kinetic energy k0

380 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

• Turbulent dissipation rate, ε0
• Specific dissipation rate ω0

• Turbulent relative fluctuations ζ0

• Elliptic blending function α0

The turbulent length scale LT and turbulence intensity IT are related to the turbulence
variables, see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

See Inlet in the Single-Phase Flow interfaces

Outlet
The Outlet node adds a set of boundary conditions that describe outlets in fluid-flow
simulations; that is, the conditions at boundaries where the fluid exits the domain.

LIQUID BOUNDARY CONDITION

Select a Liquid boundary condition — Pressure (the default), Velocity, or Fully developed
flow.

PRESSURE CONDITIONS
The Pressure condition specifies the normal stress which in most cases is approximately
equal to the pressure. The tangential stress component is set to 0 N/m2.

• Enter the Pressure p0 (SI unit: Pa) at the boundary. The default is 0 Pa. Enter a
relative pressure value in p0 (SI unit: Pa). Or if the reference pressure pref defined
at the physics interface level is equal to 0 Pa, enter an absolute pressure in p0.
• Select the Normal flow check box to change the no tangential stress condition to a
no tangential velocity condition. This forces the flow to exit (or enter) the domain
perpendicularly to the outlet boundary.
• The Suppress backflow check box is selected by default. This option adjusts the outlet
pressure in order to prevent fluid from entering the domain through the boundary.

VELOCITY
For Velocity click the Velocity field (the default) or Normal outflow velocity buttons.

• For Velocity field specify that the velocity at the boundary is equal to a given u0 (SI
unit: m/s) and enter the components in the matrix:

THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 381

 ul = u0

• For Normal outflow velocity enter a value or expression for U0 (SI unit: m/s).

FULLY DEVELOPED FLOW

This boundary condition is applicable when the flow exits the domain into a long pipe
or channel, at the end of which a flow profile is fully developed.

The boundary conditions for the virtual inlet channel are inherited from the
boundaries adjacent to the outlet channel. Virtual boundaries adjacent to walls (except
slip walls) are treated as no-slip walls. Virtual boundaries adjacent to any other type of
boundary are treated as slip-walls (or equivalently as symmetry boundaries).

Select a Fully developed flow option — Average velocity (the default), Flow rate, or
Average pressure.

GAS BOUNDARY CONDITION

The settings for the Gas boundary condition are the same as for Wall. See Gas Boundary
Condition.

When the Gas boundary condition is set to Gas outlet, the Exterior gas condition(s)
section contains an input field for the Effective gas density on the downstream side of
the outlet. If Solve for interfacial area is selected at the physics interface level, additional
input fields appear for the Bubble number density or the Bubble diameter and gas density
on the downstream side of the outlet.

See Outlet in the Single-Phase Flow interfaces

Symmetry
The Symmetry node adds boundary conditions that describe symmetry boundaries in
fluid-flow simulations. The boundary condition for symmetry boundaries prescribes
no penetration and vanishing shear stresses:

t T  φ l ( μ l + μ T )  ∇u l + ∇u l – --- ( ∇ ⋅ u l )I  n = 0
T 2
u l ⋅ n = 0,
3

BOUNDARY SELECTION
A boundary condition for 2D axial symmetry is not required.

382 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

For the symmetry axis at r = 0, the software automatically provides a condition that
prescribes ur = 0 and vanishing stresses in the z direction and adds an Axial Symmetry
node that is valid on the axial symmetry boundaries only.

Periodic Flow Condition

The Periodic Flow Condition splits its selection into a source group and a destination
group. Fluid that leaves the domain through one of the destination boundaries enters
the domain through the corresponding source boundary. This corresponds to a
situation where the geometry is a periodic part of a larger geometry. If the boundaries
are not parallel to each other, the velocity vector is automatically transformed.

If the boundaries are curved, the orientation of the source must be specified manually
(see Orientation of Source).

PRESSURE DIFFERENCE
A value or expression should be specified for the Pressure difference, psrc − pdst. This
pressure difference can, for example, drive the fully developed flow in a channel.

To set up a periodic boundary condition, both boundaries must be selected in the

Periodic Flow Condition node. COMSOL Multiphysics automatically assigns one
boundary as the source and the other as the destination. To manually set the
destination selection, a Destination Selection subnode is available from the context
menu (by right-clicking the parent node) or from the Physics toolbar, Attributes menu.
All destination sides must be connected.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
This section is displayed by clicking the Show More Options button ( ) and selecting
Advanced Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box.

ORIENTATION OF SOURCE
For information about the Orientation of Source section, see Orientation of Source and
Destination in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

Interior Wall
The Interior Wall node adds a wall boundary condition on interior boundaries. It is
similar to the Wall boundary condition available on exterior boundaries except that it
applies on both sides of an interior boundary. It allows discontinuities of the dependent

THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 383

 variables across the boundary. The Interior Wall node specifies no gas flux for the gas
phase.

Gas Boundary Condition Equations

LIQUID BOUNDARY CONDITION

Select a Liquid boundary condition — No slip (the default) or Slip.

No Slip
No slip is the default boundary condition for the liquid. A no slip wall is a wall where
the liquid velocity relative to the wall velocity is zero. For interior stationary walls, it
sets the liquid velocity to zero on both sides of the wall:

ul = 0

For turbulent bubbly flows, the no slip condition may either be prescribed exactly or
modeled using automatic wall treatment or wall functions depending on the Wall
Treatment setting in the Turbulence section of the interface settings.

Slip
The Slip condition prescribes a no-penetration condition. For an interior stationary
wall it sets the velocity component normal to the interior wall to zero on both sides of
the wall:

ul ⋅ n = 0

WALL MOVEMENT
This section contains controls to describe the wall movement relative to the spatial
frame.

The Translational velocity setting controls the translational velocity, utr. The list is per
default set to Automatic from frame. When Automatic from frame is selected, the physics
automatically detects if the spatial frame moves. If there is no movement, utr is set to
0. If the frame moves, utr becomes equal to the frame movement. utr is accounted for
in the actual boundary condition prescribed in the Liquid boundary condition section.

When Manual is selected from Translational velocity selection list, the Velocity of moving
wall, utr can be prescribed manually. Specifying the translational velocity manually
does not automatically cause the associated wall to move. An additional Moving Mesh

384 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

interface needs to be added to physically track the wall movement in the spatial
reference frame.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
This section is displayed by clicking the Show More Options button ( ) and selecting
Advanced Physics Options.

Wall

Flow Continuity
The Flow Continuity condition is suitable for pairs where the boundaries match; it
prescribes that the flow field is continuous across the pair.

A Wall subnode is added by default and it applies to the parts of the pair boundaries
where a source boundary lacks a corresponding destination boundary and vice versa.
The Wall feature can be overridden by any other boundary condition that applies to
exterior boundaries. By right-clicking the Flow Continuity node, additional Fallback
feature subnodes can be added.

Gas Boundary Condition Equations

In addition to the boundary conditions for the liquid, specify boundary conditions for
the gas on Wall, Inlet, Outlet and Interior Wall nodes. Select a Gas Boundary Condition:

Gas Concentration
Using this boundary condition, specify the effective gas density.

0
ρ̃ g = ρ̃ g

Gas Outlet
This boundary condition is appropriate for boundaries where the gas phase flows
outward with the gas velocity, ug, at the boundary.

Gas Flux
Using this boundary condition, specify the gas mass flux through the boundary:

– n ⋅ ( ρ̃ g u g ) = N ρg φ g

THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 385

 Symmetry
This boundary condition, which is useful on boundaries that represent a symmetry line
for the gas flow, sets the gas flux through the boundary to zero:

n ⋅ ( ρ̃ g u g ) = 0

No Gas Flux
This boundary condition represents boundaries where the gas flux through the
boundary is zero:

n ⋅ ( φg ug ) = 0

In walls moving with a boundary velocity u bnd , the gas flux through the boundary is:

n ⋅ ( φ g u g ) = n ⋅ ( φ g u bnd )

386 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The Mixture Model Interfaces
In this section:

• The Mixture Model, Laminar Flow Interface

• The Mixture Model, Algebraic yPlus Interface
• The Mixture Model, L-VEL Interface
• The Mixture Model, k-ε Interface
• The Mixture Model, Realizable k-ε Interface
• The Mixture Model, k-ω Interface
• The Mixture Model, SST Interface
• The Mixture Model, Low Re k-ε Interface
• The Mixture Model, Spalart-Allmaras Interface
• The Mixture Model, v2-f Interface
• Domain and Boundary Nodes for the Mixture Model Interfaces

The Mixture Model, Laminar Flow Interface

The Mixture Model, Laminar Flow (mm) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase
Flow>Mixture Model branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used to model the
flow at low and moderate Reynolds numbers of liquids containing a dispersed phase.
The dispersed phase can be bubbles, liquid droplets, or solid particles, which are
assumed to always travel with their terminal velocity.

The Mixture Model, Laminar Flow interface solves one set of Navier-Stokes equations
for the momentum of the mixture. The pressure distribution is calculated from a
mixture-averaged continuity equation and the velocity of the dispersed phase is
described by a slip model. The volume fraction of the dispersed phase is tracked by
solving a transport equation for the volume fraction.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which in
turn can be used to calculate the interfacial area, which is useful when simulating
chemical reactions in the mixture.

The main physics node is the Mixture Properties feature, which adds the equations for
the mixture and provides an interface for defining the fluid materials for the

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 387

 continuous and dispersed phases as well as which slip model and mixture viscosity
model to use.

When this physics interface is added, the following default physics nodes are also added
in the Model Builder — Mixture Properties, Wall, and Initial Values. Then, from the
Physics toolbar, add other nodes that implement, for example, boundary conditions
and volume forces. You can also right-click Mixture Model, Laminar Flow to select
physics features from the context menu.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is mm.

PHYSICAL MODEL
Specify the characteristics of the dispersed phase, the model for the slip velocity, and
whether or not to solve for the interfacial area.

Dispersed Phase
To characterize the Dispersed phase, select Solid particles (the default) or Liquid
droplets/bubbles.

The selection from this list is further defined for the Mixture Properties node under
the Mixture Model section.

Slip Model
To compute the slip velocity jslip (SI unit: m/s), select a Slip model — Homogeneous
flow (the default), Hadamard-Rybczynski, Schiller-Naumann, Haider-Levenspiel, or User
defined.

• The Homogeneous flow model assumes that the velocities of the two phases are equal,
that is, uslip = 0.

388 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

• In most cases there is a significant difference in the velocity fields due to the
buoyancy of the dispersed phase. Use one of the predefined slip models for such
cases.
• For User defined specify an arbitrary expression for the relative velocity. For example,
give a constant velocity based on experimental data. Enter the Slip velocity field uslip
(SI unit: m/s) or Slip flux jslip (SI unit: m/s) in the Mixture Properties node under
the Mixture Model section.

Solve For Interfacial Area

To add a transport equation for the number density of the dispersed particles, in order
to determine the interfacial area, select the Solve for interfacial area check box (by
default not selected).

For the Mass Transfer rate, use a two-film theory model, which includes the interfacial
area per unit volume between the two phases. It is possible to compute the interfacial
area per unit volume if the number density n (that is, the number of dispersed particles
per volume) is known. Select the Solve for interfacial area check box to add the
following equation for the number density n:

∂n
+ j ⋅ ∇n + ∇ ⋅ ( nu slip φ c ) = 0
∂t

This equation states that a dispersed phase particle cannot disappear, appear, or merge
with other particles, although it can expand or shrink.

The Mixture Model, Laminar Flow Interface calculates the interfacial area a
(SI unit: m2/m3) from

1⁄3 2⁄3
a = ( 4nπ ) ( 3φ d )

Reference values
Reference values are global quantities used to evaluate the density of both phases and
the absolute pressure pA.

Reference pressure level There are generally two ways to include the pressure in fluid
flow computations: either to use the absolute pressure pA=p+pref, or the gauge
pressure p. When pref is nonzero, the physics interface solves for the gauge pressure
whereas material properties are evaluated using the absolute pressure. The reference
pressure level is also used to define the density of both phases. The default Reference
pressure level pref (SI unit: Pa) is 1[atm].

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 389

 Reference temperature The reference temperature is used to define the density of
both phases. The default Reference temperature Tref (SI unit: K) is 293.15[K].

Swirl Flow
For 2D axisymmetric components, select the Swirl flow check box to include the swirl
velocity component — that is, the velocity component j ϕ in the azimuthal direction.
While j ϕ can be nonzero, there can be no gradients in the ϕ direction

General Single-Phase Flow Theory

TURBULENCE

Turbulence Model Type

The default selection is None.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
Enter values for the dependent variables (field variables):

• Velocity field, mixture j (SI unit: m/s)

• Pressure p (SI unit: Pa)
• Volume fraction, dispersed phase phid (dimensionless)
• Squared slip velocity slipvel
• Number density, dispersed phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3).

The names can be changed but the names of fields and dependent variables must be
unique within a component.

In previous versions of COMSOL Multiphysics (prior to version 5.4), the

Mixture Model interfaces solved for the mass-averaged mixture velocity
u. Now, the volume-averaged mixture velocity j is used. For specific
details, see Theory for the Mixture Model Interfaces and Mass averaged
mixture velocity.

CONSISTENT STABILIZATION AND INCONSISTENT STABILIZATION

To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Stabilization
in the Show More Options dialog box.

390 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The consistent stabilizations Streamline diffusion and Crosswind diffusion are by default
applied to the Navier-Stokes and dispersed phase transport equations. In addition, when
the flow is turbulent, the consistent stabilizations are also applied to the Turbulence.
Additional inconsistent stabilization terms may be added when required as isotropic
diffusion.

ADVANCED SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box. Normally these settings do not
need to be changed.

Penalty Diffusion can be used to suppress negative values of the dispersed volume
fraction. Including this term has been observed to slow down convergence and it is
therefore disabled by default.

Select the Use pseudo time stepping for stationary equation form check box to add
pseudo time derivatives to the equation when the Stationary equation form is used.
When selected, also choose a CFL number expression — Automatic (the default) or
Manual. Automatic sets the local CFL number (from the Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy
condition) to the built-in variable CFLCMP which in turn triggers a PID regulator for
the CFL number. For Manual enter a Local CFL number CFLloc (dimensionless).

• Pseudo Time Stepping for Laminar Flow Models in this guide and
Pseudo Time Stepping in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual
• Domain and Boundary Nodes for the Mixture Model Interfaces
• The Mixture Model, k-ε Interface
• Slip Velocity Models and Theory for the Mixture Model Interfaces

Two-Phase Flow Modeling of a Dense Suspension: path

CFD_Module/Multiphase_Benchmarks/dense_suspension

The Mixture Model, Algebraic yPlus Interface

The Mixture Model, Algebraic yPlus (mm) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase
Flow>Mixture Model>Mixture Model, Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics
interface, is used to model the flow at high Reynolds numbers of liquids containing a

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 391

 dispersed phase. The dispersed phase can be bubbles, liquid droplets, or solid particles,
which are assumed to always travel with their terminal velocity.

The Mixture Model, Algebraic yPlus interface solves one set of Navier-Stokes
equations for the momentum of the mixture. The pressure distribution is calculated
from a mixture averaged continuity equation and the velocity of the dispersed phase is
described by a slip model. The volume fraction of the dispersed phase is tracked by
solving a transport equation for the volume fraction. Turbulence effects are included
using and enhanced viscosity model based on the scaled wall distance, and the physics
interface therefore includes a wall distance equation.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which in
turn can be used to calculate the interfacial area, which is useful when simulating
chemical reactions in the mixture.

Except where indicated below, the settings for this physics interface are the same as for
The Mixture Model, Laminar Flow Interface and The Mixture Model, k-ε Interface.

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS. A different turbulence model can be
selected under Turbulence model. The default turbulence model is Algebraic yPlus.

Wall Treatment
Algebraic yPlus employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which switches
between a low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function formulation
depending on how well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The automatic wall
treatment gives a robust formulation that makes the most out of the available
resolution. Select the Low Re option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to
the wall. This can be more accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that
the mesh is fine enough.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized for turbulent pipe flow. For certain cases,
better performance can be obtained by tuning the model parameters. For a description
of the turbulence model and the included model parameters see Theory for the
Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
Enter values for the dependent variables (field variables):

• Velocity field, mixture j (SI unit: m/s)

392 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

• Pressure p (SI unit: Pa)
• Volume fraction, dispersed phase phid (dimensionless)
• Squared slip velocity slipvel
• Number density, dispersed phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3)
• Reciprocal wall distance G (SI unit: 1/m)
• Wall distance in viscous units yPlus (dimensionless)
The names can be changed but the names of fields and dependent variables must be
unique within a component.

The Mixture Model, Algebraic yPlus interface requires a Wall Distance Initialization
study step in the study previous to the Stationary or Time Dependent study step.

For study information, see Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with
Initialization, and Wall Distance Initialization in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

• Domain and Boundary Nodes for the Mixture Model Interfaces

• Slip Velocity Models
• Theory for the Mixture Model Interfaces

The Mixture Model, L-VEL Interface

The Mixture Model, L-VEL (mm) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase
Flow>Mixture Model>Mixture Model, Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics
interface, is used to model the flow at high Reynolds numbers of liquids containing a
dispersed phase. The dispersed phase can be bubbles, liquid droplets, or solid particles,
which are assumed to always travel with their terminal velocity.

The Mixture Model, L-VEL interface solves one set of Navier-Stokes equations for the
momentum of the mixture. The pressure distribution is calculated from a
mixture-averaged continuity equation, and the velocity of the dispersed phase is
described by a slip model. The volume fraction of the dispersed phase is tracked by
solving a transport equation for the volume fraction. Turbulence effects are included
using and enhanced viscosity model based on the local wall distance, and the physics
interface therefore includes a wall distance equation.

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 393

 The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which in
turn can be used to calculate the interfacial area, which is useful when simulating
chemical reactions in the mixture.

Except where indicated below, the settings for this physics interface are the same as for
The Mixture Model, Laminar Flow Interface and The Mixture Model, k-ε Interface.

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS. A different turbulence model can be
selected under Turbulence model. The default turbulence model is L-VEL.

Wall Treatment
L-VEL employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which switches between a
low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function formulation depending on how
well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The automatic wall treatment gives a robust
formulation that makes the most out of the available resolution. Select the Low Re
option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to the wall. This can be more
accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that the mesh is fine enough.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized for internal flow. For certain cases, better
performance can be obtained by tuning the model parameters. For a description of the
turbulence model and the included model parameters see Theory for the Turbulent
Flow Interfaces.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
Enter values for the dependent variables (field variables):

• Velocity field, mixture j (SI unit: m/s)

• Pressure p (SI unit: Pa)
• Volume fraction, dispersed phase phid (dimensionless)
• Squared slip velocity slipvel
• Number density, dispersed phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3)
• Reciprocal wall distance G (SI unit: 1/m)
• Tangential velocity in viscous units uPlus (dimensionless)
The names can be changed but the names of fields and dependent variables must be
unique within a component.

394 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The Mixture Model, L-VEL interface requires a Wall Distance Initialization study step
in the study previous to the Stationary or Time Dependent study step.

For study information, see Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with
Initialization, and Wall Distance Initialization in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

• Domain and Boundary Nodes for the Mixture Model Interfaces

• Slip Velocity Models
• Theory for the Mixture Model Interfaces

The Mixture Model, k-ε Interface

The Mixture Model, k-ε (mm) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase Flow>Mixture
Model>Mixture Model, Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is
used to model the flow at high Reynolds numbers of liquids containing a dispersed
phase. The dispersed phase can be bubbles, liquid droplets, or solid particles, which are
assumed to always travel with their terminal velocity.

The Mixture Model, k-ε interface solves one set of Navier-Stokes equations for the
momentum of the mixture. The pressure distribution is calculated from a mixture
averaged continuity equation and the velocity of the dispersed phase is described by a
slip model. The volume fraction of the dispersed phase is tracked by solving a transport
equation for the volume fraction. Turbulence effects are modeled using the standard
two-equation k-ε model with realizability constraints. Flow close to walls is modeled
using wall functions.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which in
turn can be used to calculate the interfacial area, which is useful when simulating
chemical reactions in the mixture.

Except where indicated below, the settings for this physics interface are the same as for
The Mixture Model, Laminar Flow Interface.

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS. A different turbulence model can be
selected under Turbulence model. The default turbulence model is k-ε.

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 395

 Wall Treatment
Wall treatment for the k-ε model can only be set to Wall functions. More options
become available by selecting another option under Turbulence model.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters. For a description of the turbulence model and the included model
parameters see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
Enter values for the dependent variables (field variables):

• Velocity field, mixture j (SI unit: m/s)

• Pressure p (SI unit: Pa)
• Volume fraction, dispersed phase phid (dimensionless)
• Squared slip velocity slipvel
• Number density, dispersed phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3)
• Turbulent kinetic energy k (SI unit: m2/s2)
• Turbulent dissipation rate ε (SI unit: m2/s3)

The names can be changed but the names of fields and dependent variables must be
unique within a component.

CONSISTENT AND INCONSISTENT STABILIZATION

To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select
Stabilization. The settings for this section are the same as for The Mixture Model,
Laminar Flow Interface with the addition of this section: stabilization for the
turbulence variables in the Turbulence equations area.

When using a turbulence model, streamline and crosswind diffusion are by default
applied to the turbulence equations.

ADVANCED SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options. The Turbulence variables scale parameters subsection is available when
the Turbulence model type is set to RANS.

396 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

In addition to the settings described for The Mixture Model, Laminar Flow Interface,
enter a value for Jscale and Lfact under the Turbulence variables scale parameters
subsection.

The Jscale and Lfact parameters are used to calculate absolute tolerances for the
turbulence variables. The scaling parameters must only contain numerical values, units
or parameters defined under Global Definitions. The scaling parameters cannot contain
variables. The parameters are used when a new default solver for a transient study step
is generated. If you change the parameters, the new values take effect the next time you
generate a new default solver.

• Pseudo Time Stepping for Laminar Flow Models in this guide and
Pseudo Time Stepping in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual
• Domain and Boundary Nodes for the Mixture Model Interfaces
• Slip Velocity Models
• Theory for the Mixture Model Interfaces

The Mixture Model, Realizable k-ε Interface

The Mixture Model, Realizable k-ε (mm) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase
Flow>Mixture Model>Mixture Model, Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics
interface, is used to model the flow at high Reynolds numbers of liquids containing a
dispersed phase. The dispersed phase can be bubbles, liquid droplets, or solid particles,
which are assumed to always travel with their terminal velocity.

The Mixture Model, Realizable k-ε interface solves one set of Navier-Stokes equations
for the momentum of the mixture. The pressure distribution is calculated from a
mixture averaged continuity equation and the velocity of the dispersed phase is
described by a slip model. The volume fraction of the dispersed phase is tracked by
solving a transport equation for the volume fraction. Turbulence effects are modeled
using the realizable two-equation k-ε model. Flow close to walls is modeled using wall
functions.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which in
turn can be used to calculate the interfacial area, which is useful when simulating
chemical reactions in the mixture.

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 397

 Except where indicated below, the settings for this physics interface are the same as for
The Mixture Model, Laminar Flow Interface and The Mixture Model, k-ε Interface.

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS. A different turbulence model can be
selected under Turbulence model. The default turbulence model is Realizable k-ε.

Wall Treatment
Wall treatment for the Realizable k-ε model can only be set to Wall functions. More
options become available by selecting another option under Turbulence model.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters. For a description of the turbulence model and the included model
parameters see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
Enter values for the dependent variables (field variables):

• Velocity field, mixture j (SI unit: m/s)

• Pressure p (SI unit: Pa)
• Volume fraction, dispersed phase phid (dimensionless)
• Squared slip velocity slipvel
• Number density, dispersed phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3)
• Turbulent kinetic energy k (SI unit: m2/s2)
• Turbulent dissipation rate ε (SI unit: m2/s3)

The names can be changed but the names of fields and dependent variables must be
unique within a component.

• Domain and Boundary Nodes for the Mixture Model Interfaces

• Slip Velocity Models
• Theory for the Mixture Model Interfaces

398 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The Mixture Model, k-ω Interface
The Mixture Model, Realizable k-ω (mm) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase
Flow>Mixture Model>Mixture Model, Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics
interface, is used to model the flow at high Reynolds numbers of liquids containing a
dispersed phase. The dispersed phase can be bubbles, liquid droplets, or solid particles,
which are assumed to always travel with their terminal velocity.

The Mixture Model, k-ω interface solves one set of Navier-Stokes equations for the
momentum of the mixture. The pressure distribution is calculated from a mixture
averaged continuity equation and the velocity of the dispersed phase is described by a
slip model. The volume fraction of the dispersed phase is tracked by solving a transport
equation for the volume fraction. Turbulence effects are modeled using the Wilcox
revised two-equation k-ω model with realizability constraints. The k-ω model is a
so-called low-Reynolds-number model, which means that it can resolve the flow all the
way down to the wall.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which in
turn can be used to calculate the interfacial area, which is useful when simulating
chemical reactions in the mixture.

Except where indicated below, the settings for this physics interface are the same as for
The Mixture Model, Laminar Flow Interface and The Mixture Model, k-ε Interface.

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS. A different turbulence model can be
selected under Turbulence model. The default turbulence model is k-ω.

Wall Treatment
The k-ω model employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which switches
between a low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function formulation
depending on how well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The automatic wall
treatment gives a robust formulation that makes the most out of the available
resolution. The most robust, but least accurate option is to select the Wall functions
option.

Select the Low Re option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to the wall.
This can be more accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that the mesh
is fine enough. Observe that the Low Re formulation requires the wall distance to be
solved for prior to the flow.

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 399

 Edit Turbulence Model Parameters
Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters. For a description of the turbulence model and the included model
parameters see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
Enter values for the dependent variables (field variables):

• Velocity field, mixture j (SI unit: m/s)

• Pressure p (SI unit: Pa)
• Volume fraction, dispersed phase phid (dimensionless)
• Squared slip velocity slipvel
• Number density, dispersed phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3)
• Turbulent kinetic energy k (SI unit: m2/s2)
• Specific dissipation rate ω (SI unit: 1/s)

The names can be changed but the names of fields and dependent variables must be
unique within a component.

• Domain and Boundary Nodes for the Mixture Model Interfaces

• Slip Velocity Models
• Theory for the Mixture Model Interfaces

The Mixture Model, SST Interface

The Mixture Model, SST (mm) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase Flow>Mixture
Model>Mixture Model, Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is
used to model the flow at high Reynolds numbers of liquids containing a dispersed
phase. The dispersed phase can be bubbles, liquid droplets, or solid particles, which are
assumed to always travel with their terminal velocity.

The Mixture Model, SST interface solves one set of Navier-Stokes equations for the
momentum of the mixture. The pressure distribution is calculated from a mixture
averaged continuity equation and the velocity of the dispersed phase is described by a
slip model. The volume fraction of the dispersed phase is tracked by solving a transport
equation for the volume fraction. Turbulence effects are modeled using the Menter
shear-stress transport (SST) two-equation model from 2003 with realizability

400 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

constraints. The SST model is a so-called low-Reynolds-number model, which means
that it can resolve the flow all the way down to the wall. The SST model depends on
the distance to the closest wall. The physics interface therefore includes a wall distance
equation.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which in
turn can be used to calculate the interfacial area, which is useful when simulating
chemical reactions in the mixture.

Except where indicated below, the settings for this physics interface are the same as for
The Mixture Model, Laminar Flow Interface and The Mixture Model, k-ε Interface.

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS. A different turbulence model can be
selected under Turbulence model. The default turbulence model is SST.

Wall Treatment
The SST model employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which switches
between a low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function formulation
depending on how well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The automatic wall
treatment gives a robust formulation that makes the most out of the available
resolution.

Select the Low Re option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to the wall.
This can be more accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that the mesh
is fine enough.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters. For a description of the turbulence model and the included model
parameters see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
Enter values for the dependent variables (field variables):

• Velocity field, mixture j (SI unit: m/s)

• Pressure p (SI unit: Pa)
• Volume fraction, dispersed phase phid (dimensionless)
• Squared slip velocity slipvel
• Number density, dispersed phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3)

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 401

 • Reciprocal wall distance G (SI unit: 1/m)
• Turbulent kinetic energy k (SI unit: m2/s2)
• Specific dissipation rate ω (SI unit: 1/s)

The names can be changed but the names of fields and dependent variables must be
unique within a component.

The Mixture Model, SST interface requires a Wall Distance Initialization study step in
the study previous to the Stationary or Time Dependent study step.

For study information, see Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with
Initialization, and Wall Distance Initialization in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

• Domain and Boundary Nodes for the Mixture Model Interfaces

• Slip Velocity Models
• Theory for the Mixture Model Interfaces

The Mixture Model, Low Re k-ε Interface

The Mixture Model, Low Re k-ε (mm) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase
Flow>Mixture Model>Mixture Model, Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics
interface, is used to model the flow at high Reynolds numbers of liquids containing a
dispersed phase. The dispersed phase can be bubbles, liquid droplets, or solid particles,
which are assumed to always travel with their terminal velocity.

The Mixture Model, Low Re k-ε interface solves one set of Navier-Stokes equations
for the momentum of the mixture. The pressure distribution is calculated from a
mixture averaged continuity equation and the velocity of the dispersed phase is
described by a slip model. The volume fraction of the dispersed phase is tracked by
solving a transport equation for the volume fraction. Turbulence effects are modeled
using the AKN two-equation k-ε model with realizability constraints. The AKN model
is a so-called low-Reynolds-number model, which means that it can resolve the flow all
the way down to the wall. The AKN model depends on the distance to the closest wall.
The physics interface therefore includes a wall distance equation.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which in
turn can be used to calculate the interfacial area, which is useful when simulating
chemical reactions in the mixture.

402 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Except where indicated below, the settings for this physics interface are the same as for
The Mixture Model, Laminar Flow Interface and The Mixture Model, k-ε Interface.

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS. A different turbulence model can be
selected under Turbulence model. The default turbulence model is Low Reynolds number
k-ε.

Wall Treatment
The AKN model employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which switches
between a low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function formulation
depending on how well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The automatic wall
treatment gives a robust formulation that makes the most out of the available
resolution.

Select the Low Re option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to the wall.
This can be more accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that the mesh
is fine enough.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters. For a description of the turbulence model and the included model
parameters see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
Enter values for the dependent variables (field variables):

• Velocity field, mixture j (SI unit: m/s)

• Pressure p (SI unit: Pa)
• Volume fraction, dispersed phase phid (dimensionless)
• Squared slip velocity slipvel
• Number density, dispersed phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3)
• Reciprocal wall distance G (SI unit: 1/m)
• Turbulent kinetic energy k (SI unit: m2/s2)
• Turbulent dissipation rate ε (SI unit: m2/s3)

The names can be changed but the names of fields and dependent variables must be
unique within a component.

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 403

 The Mixture Model, Low Re k-ε interface requires a Wall Distance Initialization study
step in the study previous to the Stationary or Time Dependent study step.

For study information, see Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with
Initialization, and Wall Distance Initialization in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

• Domain and Boundary Nodes for the Mixture Model Interfaces

• Slip Velocity Models
• Theory for the Mixture Model Interfaces

The Mixture Model, Spalart-Allmaras Interface

The Mixture Model, Spalart-Allmaras (mm) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase
Flow>Mixture Model>Mixture Model, Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics
interface, is used to model the flow at high Reynolds numbers of liquids containing a
dispersed phase. The dispersed phase can be bubbles, liquid droplets, or solid particles,
which are assumed to always travel with their terminal velocity.

The Mixture Model, Spalart-Allmaras interface solves one set of Navier-Stokes

equations for the momentum of the mixture. The pressure distribution is calculated
from a mixture averaged continuity equation and the velocity of the dispersed phase is
described by a slip model. The volume fraction of the dispersed phase is tracked by
solving a transport equation for the volume fraction. Turbulence effects are modeled
using the Spalart-Allmaras one-equation model. The Spalart-Allmaras model is a
so-called low-Reynolds-number model, which means that it can resolve the flow all the
way down to the wall. The Spalart-Allmaras model depends on the distance to the
closest wall. The physics interface therefore includes a wall distance equation.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which in
turn can be used to calculate the interfacial area, which is useful when simulating
chemical reactions in the mixture.

Except where indicated below, the settings for this physics interface are the same as for
The Mixture Model, Laminar Flow Interface and The Mixture Model, k-ε Interface.

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS. A different turbulence model can be
selected under Turbulence model. The default turbulence model is Spalart-Allmaras.

404 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Wall Treatment
The Spalart-Allmaras model employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which
switches between a low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function
formulation depending on how well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The
automatic wall treatment gives a robust formulation that makes the most out of the
available resolution.

Select the Low Re option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to the wall.
This can be more accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that the mesh
is fine enough.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters. For a description of the turbulence model and the included model
parameters see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
Enter values for the dependent variables (field variables):

• Velocity field, mixture j (SI unit: m/s)

• Pressure p (SI unit: Pa)
• Volume fraction, dispersed phase phid (dimensionless)
• Squared slip velocity slipvel
• Number density, dispersed phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3)
• Reciprocal wall distance G (SI unit: 1/m)
• Undamped turbulent kinematic viscosity nutilde (SI unit: m2/s)

The names can be changed but the names of fields and dependent variables must be
unique within a component.

The Mixture Model, Spalart-Allmaras interface requires a Wall Distance Initialization

study step in the study previous to the Stationary or Time Dependent study step.

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 405

 For study information, see Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with
Initialization, and Wall Distance Initialization in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

• Domain and Boundary Nodes for the Mixture Model Interfaces

• Slip Velocity Models
• Theory for the Mixture Model Interfaces

The Mixture Model, v2-f Interface

The Mixture Model, v2-f (mm) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase Flow>Mixture
Model>Mixture Model, Turbulent Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is
used to model the flow at high Reynolds numbers of liquids containing a dispersed
phase. The dispersed phase can be bubbles, liquid droplets, or solid particles, which are
assumed to always travel with their terminal velocity.

The Mixture Model, v2-f interface solves one set of Navier-Stokes equations for the
momentum of the mixture. The pressure distribution is calculated from a mixture
averaged continuity equation and the velocity of the dispersed phase is described by a
slip model. The volume fraction of the dispersed phase is tracked by solving a transport
equation for the volume fraction. Turbulence effects are modeled using the v2-f
transport-equation model with realizability constraints. The v2-f model is a so-called
low-Reynolds-number model, which means that it can resolve the flow all the way
down to the wall. The v2-f model depends on the distance to the closest wall. The
physics interface therefore includes a wall distance equation.

The physics interface can also model the distribution of the number density, which in
turn can be used to calculate the interfacial area, which is useful when simulating
chemical reactions in the mixture.

Except where indicated below, the settings for this physics interface are the same as for
The Mixture Model, Laminar Flow Interface and The Mixture Model, k-ε Interface.

TURBULENCE
The default Turbulence model type is RANS. A different turbulence model can be
selected under Turbulence model. The default turbulence model is v2-f.

406 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Wall Treatment
The v2-f model employs per default an Automatic wall treatment, which switches
between a low-Reynolds-number formulation and a wall function formulation
depending on how well resolved the flow is close to the wall. The automatic wall
treatment gives a robust formulation that makes the most out of the available
resolution.

Select the Low Re option in order to enforce resolution all the way down to the wall.
This can be more accurate than the automatic wall treatment provided that the mesh
is fine enough.

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters. For a description of the turbulence model and the included model
parameters see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
Enter values for the dependent variables (field variables):

• Velocity field, mixture j (SI unit: m/s)

• Pressure p (SI unit: Pa)
• Volume fraction, dispersed phase phid (dimensionless)
• Squared slip velocity slipvel
• Number density, dispersed phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3)
• Reciprocal wall distance G (SI unit: 1/m)
• Turbulent kinetic energy k (SI unit: m2/s2)
• Turbulent dissipation rate ε (SI unit: m2/s3)
• Turbulent relative fluctuations zeta (dimensionless)
• Elliptic blending function alpha (dimensionless)

The names can be changed but the names of fields and dependent variables must be
unique within a component.

The Mixture Model, v2-f interface requires a Wall Distance Initialization study step in
the study previous to the Stationary or Time Dependent study step.

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 407

 For study information, see Stationary with Initialization, Time Dependent with
Initialization, and Wall Distance Initialization in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual.

• Domain and Boundary Nodes for the Mixture Model Interfaces

• Slip Velocity Models
• Theory for the Mixture Model Interfaces

Domain and Boundary Nodes for the Mixture Model Interfaces

The following domain and boundary nodes are available from the Physics ribbon
toolbar (Windows users), Physics context menu (Mac or Linux users), or right-click to
access the context menu (all users).

In general, to add a node, go to the Physics toolbar, no matter what

operating system you are using. Subnodes are available by clicking the
parent node and selecting it from the Attributes menu.

DOMAIN
• Mixture Properties
• Mass Transfer
• Volume Force (described for The Laminar Flow Interface)
• Gravity
• Initial Values

BOUNDARY
The boundary types for the mixture flow variables, described in this section, are:

• Wall (the default boundary condition feature)

• Inlet
• Outlet
• Symmetry
• Periodic Flow Condition
• Interior Wall

408 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

PAIR
• Mixture Continuity
For the flow variables, the velocity and the pressure, the boundary conditions
correspond to those defined for single phase flow (see Domain, Boundary, Pair, and
Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow). There is also a point constraint for the pressure,
which is useful if no other boundary condition in the model includes a pressure level
constraint.

The following boundary conditions for the dispersed phase are available for all
boundary condition types except symmetry and interior wall. These are described in
more detail in the Theory for the Mixture Model Interfaces.

• Dispersed phase concentration (the default condition for inlets)

• Dispersed phase flux
• Dispersed phase outlet (the default condition for outlets)
• No dispersed phase flux (the default condition for walls)
• Symmetry

For 2D axisymmetric components, COMSOL Multiphysics takes the axial

symmetry boundaries (at r = 0) into account and automatically adds an
Axial Symmetry node to the component that is valid on the axial symmetry
boundaries only.

Mixture Properties
The Mixture Properties node contains the material properties for the continuous phase
and the dispersed phase. It also contains settings for the viscosity model. For the
Mixture Model, Turbulent Flow interfaces, the Mixture Properties node also adds the
equations for the turbulence transport equations.

MODEL INPUTS
The viscosity of each phase can be defined through user inputs, variables, or by
selecting a material. For the latter option, additional inputs, for example temperature
or pressure, may be required to define these properties.

Temperature
By default, the Temperature model input is set to Common model input, and the
temperature is controlled from Default Model Inputs under Global Definitions or by a

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 409

 locally defined Model Input. If a Heat Transfer interface is included in the component,
it controls the temperature Common model input. Alternatively, the temperature field
can be selected from another physics interface. All physics interfaces have their own
tags (Name). For example, if a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface is included in the
component, the Temperature (ht) option is available for T.

You can also select User defined from the Temperature model input in order to manually
prescribe T.

Absolute Pressure
This input appears when a material requires the absolute pressure as a model input.
The absolute pressure is used to evaluate material properties, but it also relates to the
value of the calculated pressure field. There are generally two ways to calculate the
pressure when describing fluid flow: either to solve for the absolute pressure or for a
pressure (often denoted gauge pressure) that relates to the absolute pressure through
a reference pressure.

The default Absolute pressure pA is p+pref, where p is the dependent pressure variable
from the Navier-Stokes or RANS equations, and pref is from the user input defined at
the physics interface level. When pref is nonzero, the physics interface solves for a
gauge pressure. If the pressure field instead is an absolute pressure field, pref should be
set to 0.

The Absolute pressure field can be edited by clicking Make All Model Inputs Editable
( ) and entering the desired value in the input field.

Model Inputs and Multiphysics Couplings in the COMSOL Multiphysics

Reference Manual

MATERIALS
Select the fluid materials to use for the material properties. The default material used
for both Continuous phase and Dispersed phase is the Domain material.

CONTINUOUS PHASE PROPERTIES

The default Density, continuous phase ρc (SI unit: kg/m3) uses values From material (as
selected in the Materials section). For User defined enter another value or expression. In
this case the default is 0 kg/m3.

410 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The density in a material can depend on temperature and/or pressure and these
dependencies are automatically replaced by pref and Tref, which are specified at the
physics interface level.

The default Dynamic viscosity, continuous phase μc (SI unit: Pa·s), uses values From
material. It describes the relationship between the shear stresses and the shear rate in a
fluid. Intuitively, water and air have a low viscosity, and substances often described as
thick, such as oil, have a higher viscosity. For User defined enter another value or
expression. In this case, the default is 0 Pa·s.

DISPERSED PHASE PROPERTIES

The default Density, dispersed phase ρd (SI unit: kg/m3) uses values From material (as
selected in the Materials section). For User defined enter another value or expression. In
this case, the default is 0 kg/m3.

The density in a material can depend on temperature and/or pressure and these
dependencies are automatically replaced by pref and Tref, which are specified at the
physics interface level.

Enter the Diameter of particles/droplets dd (SI unit: m). The default is 10−3 m (1 mm).
If Haider-Levenspiel is selected for the Slip model under Physical Model, enter a value
between 0 and 1 for the Sphericity (dimensionless). The default is 1.

If Liquid droplets/bubbles is selected from the Dispersed phase list in the interface, then
Dynamic viscosity, dispersed phase μd (SI unit: Pa·s) is also available. The default uses
values From material (as selected in the Materials section) or select User defined to enter
another value or expression. In this case, the default is 0 Pa·s.

MIXTURE MODEL
The options in this section are based on the selection made from the Dispersed phase
list for the Mixture Model interfaces.

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 411

 Slip Velocity Field
When a User defined Slip model is selected for the physics interface, specify an arbitrary
expression for the relative velocity. For example, give a constant velocity based on
experimental data.

• When Slip velocity is set to Specify slip velocity field, enter the slip velocity between
the two phases, uslip (SI unit: m/s).
• When Slip velocity is set to Specify slip flux, enter the slip flux jslip (SI unit: m/s).

• The Mixture Model Equations in Theory for the Mixture Model

Interfaces

Mixture Viscosity Model

Select the Mixture viscosity model.

• When Solid particles is the Dispersed phase, select either Krieger type (the default) or
User defined.
• When Liquid droplets/bubbles is the Dispersed phase, select Krieger type (the default),
User defined, or Volume averaged.

For User defined enter a value or expression for the Dynamic viscosity μ (SI unit: Pa⋅s).
The default is 0 Pa⋅s. When using this option, make sure to limit the viscosity to
bounded positive values.

When Krieger type is selected, enter a value or expression for the Maximum packing
concentration φmax (dimensionless). The default is 0.62.

Select Krieger type to model the most generally valid expression for the mixture
viscosity:

φ d – 2,5φ max μ∗
μ = μ c  1 – ------------
 φ max

where φmax is the maximum packing concentration, which for solid particles is
approximately 0.62. The dimensionless parameter μ* = 1 for solid particles and

μ d + 0,4μ c
μ∗ = ---------------------------
μd + μc

for droplets and bubbles. When applying the Krieger type viscosity model, φd is
replaced by min(φd, 0.999φmax) for better robustness.

412 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Select Volume averaged to model the mixture viscosity of liquid-liquid mixtures, which
uses the following equation for the viscosity:

μ = φd μd + φc μc

The Mixture Model interfaces always employ the mixture viscosity in the particle
Reynolds number expression used to calculate the slip velocity, thereby accounting for
the increase in viscous drag due to particle-particle interactions.

MIXING LENGTH LIMIT

This section is available for The Mixture Model, k-ε Interface, The Mixture Model,
Realizable k-ε Interface, and The Mixture Model, k-ω Interface, where an upper limit
on the mixing length is required.

When the Mixing length limit lmix,lim is set to Automatic, the mixing length limit is
evaluated as the shortest side of the geometry bounding box. If the geometry is, for
example, a complicated system of slim entities, this measure can be too high. In such
cases, it is recommended that the mixing length limit is defined manually. Select Manual
to enter a different value or expression. The default is 1 (that is, one unit length of the
model unit system).

DISTANCE EQUATION
This section is available for The Mixture Model, Algebraic yPlus Interface, The
Mixture Model, L-VEL Interface, The Mixture Model, SST Interface, The Mixture
Model, Low Re k-ε Interface, The Mixture Model, Spalart-Allmaras Interface, and The
Mixture Model, v2-f Interface.

When the Reference length scale lref is set to Automatic, it is evaluated one tenth of the
shortest side of the geometry bounding box. The solution to the wall distance
equation is controlled by the parameter lref. The distance to objects larger than lref is
represented accurately, while objects smaller than lref are effectively diminished by
appearing to be farther away than they actually are. This is a desirable feature in
turbulence modeling because small objects would have too large an impact on the
solution if the wall distance were measured exactly. The automatic value is usually a
good choice but the value can become too high if the geometry consists of several slim
entities. In such cases, it is recommended that the reference length scale is defined
manually. Select Manual to enter a different value or expression.

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 413

 Mass Transfer
Use the Mass Transfer node to include mass transfer from the dispersed phase to the
continuous phase.

MASS TRANSFER
Select a Mass transfer model — User defined (the default), Nonequilibrium model, or
Two-film theory. For User defined enter a value or expression for the Mass transfer from
dispersed to continuous phase mdc (SI unit: kg/(m3·s)). The default is 0 kg/(m3·s).

Nonequilibrium Model
For Nonequilibrium model enter values or expressions for each of the following:

• Equilibrium volume fraction in dispersed phase φ eq. The default is 0.

• Inverse time scales fc and fd (SI unit: 1/s). The default is 0 s-1.
The mass transfer is modeled as

m dc = ρ d [ f c max ( φ d – φ eq ) – f d max ( φ eq – φ d ) ]

Two-film Theory
For Two-film theory enter values or expressions for each of the following:

• Mass transfer coefficient k (SI unit: m/s). The default is 0 m/s.

• Species concentration in dispersed phase cd (SI unit: mol/m3). The default is
0 mol/m3.
• Species concentration in continuous phase cc (SI unit: mol/m3). The default is
0 mol/m3.
• Molecular weight of species M (SI unit: kg/mol). The default is 0 kg/mol.

The mass transfer is modeled as

m dc = k ( c d – c c )Ma

where k denotes the mass transfer rate, and cd and cc are the species concentrations in
the dispersed and the continuous phase, respectively. M is the species’ molecular
weight, and a is the interfacial area per unit volume between the two phases. The Mass
transfer model — Two-film theory is available when the Solve for interfacial area check
box is selected (under the Physical Model section).

414 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Gravity
The Gravity node adds the force ρg to the right-hand side of the momentum transport
equation.

GRAVITY
Enter the components of the Gravity vector, g (SI unit: m/s2). The default value is
(0,-g_const) where g_const is a physical constant equal to 9.8066 m/s2.

For 2D components, gravity acts in the negative y direction by default.

For example, in a 2D component, the y component is -g_const and the
other component is 0. In this setting, g_const is a predefined physical
constant for the standard gravity (acceleration due to gravity at sea level).

For 3D and 2D axisymmetric components, gravity acts in the negative z

direction by default. For example, in a 3D component, the z component
is -g_const and the other components are 0. In this setting, g_const is
a predefined physical constant for the standard gravity (acceleration due
to gravity at sea level).

Initial Values
The Initial Values node adds initial values for the mixture velocity, pressure, and volume
fraction of the dispersed phase, that can serve as an initial condition for a transient
simulation or as an initial guess for a nonlinear solver.

INITIAL VALUES
Enter values or expressions for the following dependent variables:

• Velocity field, mixture, the components of j (SI unit: m/s). The defaults are 0 m/s.
• Pressure p (SI unit: Pa). The default is 0 Pa.
• Volume fraction, dispersed phase (dimensionless). The default is 0.

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 415

 • If the Solve for interfacial area check box is selected for the physics interface, enter
an initial value for the Number density, dispersed phase nd (SI unit: 1/m3). The
default is 0 1/m3.
• If a Schiller-Naumann or a Haider-Levenspiel slip model is used in the physics interface,
enter an initial value for the Squared slip velocity slipvel (SI unit: m2/s2). The
default is 0.081 m2/s2.

For the Mixture Model, Turbulent Flow interfaces, initial values for the turbulence
variables should be also specified. Additional initial values may be required for:

• Turbulent kinetic energy k

• Turbulent dissipation rate ep
• Reciprocal wall distance G
• Specific dissipation rate om
• Undamped turbulent kinematic viscosity υ0
• Wall distance in viscous units yPlus
• Tangential velocity in viscous units uPlus
• Turbulent relative fluctuations zeta
• Elliptic blending function alpha

The following sections describe the available boundary conditions for the
mixture and the dispersed phase volume fraction. In all equations, n
denotes the outward pointing unit vector normal to the boundary.

Wall
The Wall node has boundary conditions available that describe the existence of a solid
wall.

MIXTURE BOUNDARY CONDITION

Select a Mixture boundary condition for the wall.

• No Slip
• Slip
• Navier Slip

416 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

No Slip
No slip is the default boundary condition for the liquid. A no slip wall is a wall where
the mixture velocity relative to the wall velocity is zero. For stationary walls, it sets the
mixture velocity to zero at the wall:

j = 0

For turbulent flows, the no slip condition may either be prescribed exactly or modeled
using automatic wall treatment or wall functions depending on the Wall Treatment
setting in the Turbulence section of the interface settings.

When Wall functions are selected, the Apply wall roughness option becomes available.
Click to select the Apply wall roughness check box to apply the roughness correction.
When the check box is selected, the default Roughness model is Sand roughness, which
is derived from the experiments by Nikuradse. Select Generic roughness to specify more
general roughness types.

• For Sand roughness enter an Equivalent sand roughness height kseq (SI unit: m). The
default is 3.2 micrometers.
• For Generic roughness enter a Roughness height ks (SI unit: m). The default is
3.2 micrometers. Then enter a Roughness parameters Cs (dimensionless). The
default is 0.26.

References for the Single-Phase Flow, Turbulent Flow Interfaces

Slip
Select Slip to set the velocity component normal to the wall to zero j ⋅ n wall = 0 .

Navier Slip
This boundary condition enforces no-penetration at the wall, j ⋅ n wall = 0 , and adds
a friction force of the form

μ
F fr = – --- j tan g
β

where β is a slip length, and j tan g = j – ( j ⋅ n wall )n wall is the velocity tangential to the
wall. The boundary condition does not set the tangential velocity component to zero;
however, the extrapolated tangential velocity component is 0 at a distance β outside of
the wall. In cases where the wall movement in non-zero, check Account for the
translational wall velocity in the friction force to use

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 417

 ( j – u bnd – ( ( j – u bnd ) ⋅ n wall )n wall ) instead of j tan g in the friction force. Then, the
extrapolated tangential velocity component is u bnd at a distance β outside of the wall.
Note that the Velocity of sliding wall uw is always accounted for in the friction force.

The Navier Slip boundary condition is suitable for walls adjacent to a free surface when
solving for laminar flow. Applying this boundary condition, the contact line
(fluid-fluid-solid interface) is free to move along the wall. Note that in problems with
contact lines, the tangential velocity of the wall typically represents the movement of
the contact line but the physical wall is not moving. In such cases, Account for the
translational wall velocity in the friction force should not be checked.

The Slip Length setting is per default set to Factor of minimum element length. The slip
length β is then defined as β = f h h min , where h min is the smallest element side
(corresponds to the element size in the wall normal direction for boundary layer
elements) and f h is a user input. Select User defined from Slip Length selection list in
order to manually prescribe β.

The Navier Slip option is not available when selecting a turbulence model.

DISPERSED PHASE BOUNDARY CONDITION

Select a Dispersed phase boundary condition — No dispersed phase flux (the default),
Dispersed phase concentration, Dispersed phase outlet, Dispersed phase flux, or Symmetry.

• For Dispersed phase concentration enter a Dispersed phase volume fraction φd0
(dimensionless). The default is 0. When Solve for interfacial area is selected under
the Physical Model section, click either the Dispersed phase number density n0
(SI unit: 1/m3) or Diameter of particles/droplets dd (SI unit: m) button and enter a
value or expression for n0 (the default is 5·106 1/m3) or dd (the default is 1 mm).
• For Dispersed phase flux enter values or expression for the Dispersed phase flux Νφd
(SI unit: m/s) and, if Solve for interfacial area is selected under the Physical Model
section, the Number density flux Νn (SI unit: 1/(m2⋅s)). The defaults are 0 m/s and
0 1/(m2⋅s), respectively.

Dispersed Phase Boundary Conditions Equations

WALL MOVEMENT
This section contains controls to describe the wall movement relative to the lab (or
spatial) frame.

418 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The Translational velocity setting controls the translational wall velocity, utr. The list is
per default set to Automatic from frame. The physics automatically detects if the spatial
frame moves. This can for example happen if an ALE interface is present in the model
component. If there is no movement utr = 0. If the frame moves, utr becomes equal
to the frame movement. utr is accounted for in the actual boundary condition
prescribed in the Boundary condition section.

Select Manual from Translational velocity selection list in order to manually prescribe
Velocity of moving wall, utr. This can for example be used to model an oscillating wall
where the magnitude of the oscillations are very small compared to the rest of the
model. Specifying translational velocity manually does not automatically cause the
associated wall to move. An additional Moving Mesh interface needs to be added to
physically track the wall movement in the spatial reference frame.

The Sliding wall option is appropriate if the wall behaves like a conveyor belt; that is,
the surface is sliding in its tangential direction. A velocity is prescribed at the wall and
the boundary itself does not have to actually move relative to the reference frame.

• For 3D components, values or expressions for the Velocity of sliding wall uw should
be specified. If the velocity vector entered is not in the plane of the wall, COMSOL
Multiphysics projects it onto the tangential direction. Its magnitude is adjusted to
be the same as the magnitude of the vector entered.
• For 2D components, the tangential direction is unambiguously defined by the
direction of the boundary. For this reason, the sliding wall boundary condition has
different definitions in different space dimensions. A single entry for the Velocity of
the tangentially moving wall Uw should be specified in 2D.
• For 2D axisymmetric components when Swirl flow is selected in the physics interface
properties, the Velocity of moving wall, ϕ component vw may also be specified.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
This section is displayed by clicking the Show More Options button ( ) and selecting
Advanced Physics Options.

Wall in the Single-Phase Flow interfaces

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 419

 Inlet
The Inlet node adds a set of boundary conditions that describe inlets in fluid-flow
simulations.

MIXTURE BOUNDARY CONDITION

Select a Mixture boundary condition for the inlet — Velocity (the default) or Pressure.

VELOCITY
For Velocity click the Normal inflow velocity (the default) or Velocity field buttons.

• For Normal inflow velocity enter a value or expression for J0 (SI unit: m/s).
• For Velocity field specify that the velocity at the boundary is equal to a given j0 (SI
unit: m/s) and enter the components in the matrix:
j = j0

PRESSURE
This condition specifies the normal stress which in most cases is approximately equal
to the pressure. Enter the Pressure p0 (SI unit: Pa) at the boundary. The default is 0 Pa.
Enter a relative pressure value in p0 (SI unit: Pa). Or if the reference pressure pref
defined at the physics interface level is equal to 0 Pa, enter an absolute pressure in p0.

• The Suppress backflow check box is selected by default. This option adjusts the inlet
pressure, pˆ 0 ≥ p 0 , locally in order to prevent fluid from exiting the domain through
the boundary. If suppress backflow is deselected, the inlet boundary can become an
outlet depending on the pressure field in the rest of the domain.
• Flow direction controls in which direction the fluid enters the domain.
- For Normal flow (the default) it prescribes zero tangential velocity component.
- For User defined define an Inflow velocity direction, dj (dimensionless). The
magnitude of dj does not matter, only the direction. dj must point into the
domain.

DISPERSED PHASE BOUNDARY CONDITION

The default is Dispersed phase concentration. See Wall > Dispersed Phase Boundary
Condition for the settings.

See Dispersed Phase Boundary Conditions Equations for more information.

420 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

TURBULENCE CONDITIONS
This section is available for Mixture Model, Turbulent Flow interfaces so that the inlet
conditions for the turbulence variables can be specified.

No additional inlet conditions are required for the algebraic turbulence models:
Algebraic yPlus and L-VEL.

For the Mixture Model, Spalart-Allmaras interface, a value or expression for the
Undamped turbulent kinematic viscosity υ0 should be specified. The default value is
3*[Link].

For transport-equation turbulence models, apart from Spalart-Allmaras, the following

settings are available under the Specify turbulence length scale and intensity option:

• Turbulent intensity IT
• Turbulent length scale LT

For the v2-f turbulence model, the additional choice between Isotropic turbulence and
Specify turbulence anisotropy appears. For Specify turbulence anisotropy, a value for the
turbulent relative fluctuations at the inlet, ζ0, may be specified. When Specify
turbulence variables is selected, values or expressions for the dependent turbulence
variables should be defined. Availability is based on the physics interface and the
boundary condition chosen.

• Turbulent kinetic energy k0

• Turbulent dissipation rate, ε0
• Specific dissipation rate ω0
• Turbulent relative fluctuations ζ0
• Elliptic blending function α0

The turbulent length scale LT and turbulence intensity IT are related to the turbulence
variables, see Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

See Inlet in the Single-Phase Flow interfaces

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 421

 Outlet
The Outlet node adds a selection of boundary conditions that describe outlets in
fluid-flow simulations; that is, the conditions at boundaries where the fluid exits the
domain.

MIXTURE BOUNDARY CONDITION

Select a Mixture boundary condition for the outlet — Pressure (the default) or Velocity.

PRESSURE CONDITIONS
The Pressure condition specifies the normal stress which in most cases is approximately
equal to the pressure. The tangential stress component is set to 0 N/m2.

• Enter the Pressure p0 (SI unit: Pa) at the boundary. The default is 0 Pa. Enter a
relative pressure value in p0 (SI unit: Pa). Or if the reference pressure pref defined
at the physics interface level is equal to 0 Pa, enter an absolute pressure in p0.
• Select the Normal flow check box to change the no tangential stress condition to a
no tangential velocity condition. This forces the flow to exit (or enter) the domain
perpendicularly to the outlet boundary.
• The Suppress backflow check box is selected by default. This option adjusts the outlet
pressure in order to prevent fluid from entering the domain through the boundary.

VELOCITY
For Velocity click the Normal outflow velocity (the default) or Velocity field buttons.

• For Normal outflow velocity enter a value or expression for J0 (SI unit: m/s).
• For Velocity field specify that the velocity at the boundary is equal to a given j0 (SI
unit: m/s) and enter the components in the matrix:
j = j0

DISPERSED PHASE BOUNDARY CONDITION

The default is Dispersed phase outlet. See Wall > Dispersed Phase Boundary Condition
for the settings.

When the Dispersed phase boundary condition is set to Dispersed phase outlet, the
Exterior dispersed phase condition(s) section contains an input field for the Dispersed
phase volume fraction on the downstream side of the outlet. If Solve for interfacial area
is selected at the physics interface level, additional input fields appear for the Dispersed

422 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

phase number density or the Diameter of particles/droplets on the downstream side of
the outlet.

See Dispersed Phase Boundary Conditions Equations for more information.

See Outlet in the Single-Phase Flow interfaces

Symmetry
The Symmetry node adds boundary conditions that describe symmetry boundaries in
fluid-flow simulations. The boundary condition for symmetry boundaries prescribes
no penetration and vanishing tangential stress:

T
j ⋅ n = 0, t T ( ( ρ c + ρ d – ρ )u slip j slip + τ Gm )n = 0

BOUNDARY SELECTION
A boundary condition for 2D axial symmetry is not required.

For the symmetry axis at r = 0, the program automatically provides a condition that
prescribes ur = 0 and vanishing stresses in the z direction and adds an Axial Symmetry
node that is valid on the axial symmetry boundaries only.

Periodic Flow Condition

The Periodic Flow Condition splits its selection into a source group and a destination
group. Fluid that leaves the domain through one of the destination boundaries enters
the domain through the corresponding source boundary. This corresponds to a
situation where the geometry is a periodic part of a larger geometry. If the boundaries
are not parallel to each other, the velocity vector is automatically transformed.

If the boundaries are curved, the orientation of the source must be specified manually
(see Orientation of Source).

PRESSURE DIFFERENCE
A value or expression should be specified for the Pressure difference, psrc − pdst. This
pressure difference can, for example, drive the fully developed flow in a channel.

To set up a periodic boundary condition, both boundaries must be selected in the

Periodic Flow Condition node. COMSOL Multiphysics automatically assigns one

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 423

 boundary as the source and the other as the destination. To manually set the
destination selection, a Destination Selection subnode is available from the context
menu (by right-clicking the parent node) or from the Physics toolbar, Attributes menu.
All destination sides must be connected.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
This section is displayed by clicking the Show More Options button ( ) and selecting
Advanced Physics Options.

ORIENTATION OF SOURCE
For information about the Orientation of Source section, see Orientation of Source and
Destination in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

Interior Wall
The Interior Wall node adds a wall boundary condition on interior boundaries. It is
similar to the Wall boundary condition available on exterior boundaries except that it
applies on both sides of an interior boundary. It allows discontinuities of the dependent
variables across the boundary. The Interior Wall node specifies no flux for the dispersed
phase.

Dispersed Phase Boundary Conditions Equations

MIXTURE BOUNDARY CONDITION

Select a Mixture boundary condition — No slip (the default), or Slip.

No Slip
No slip is the default boundary condition for the mixture. A no slip wall is a wall where
the mixture velocity relative to the wall velocity is zero. For a interior stationary wall,
it sets the mixture velocity to zero at the wall:

j = 0

For turbulent flows, the no slip condition may either be prescribed exactly or modeled
using automatic wall treatment or wall functions depending on the Wall Treatment
setting in the Turbulence section of the interface settings.

424 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

When Wall functions are selected, the Apply wall roughness option becomes available.
Click to select the Apply wall roughness check box to apply the roughness correction.
When the check box is selected, the default Roughness model is Sand roughness, which
is derived from the experiments by Nikuradse. Select Generic roughness to specify more
general roughness types.

• For Sand roughness enter an Equivalent sand roughness height kseq (SI unit: m). The
default is 3.2 micrometers.
• For Generic roughness enter a Roughness height ks (SI unit: m). The default is
3.2 micrometers. Then enter a Roughness parameters Cs (dimensionless). The
default is 0.26.

References for the Single-Phase Flow, Turbulent Flow Interfaces

Slip
Select Slip to set the velocity component normal to the wall to zero j ⋅ n = 0 .

Navier Slip
The Navier slip condition enforces no-penetration at the wall, j ⋅ n = 0 , and adds a
friction force of the form

μ
F fr = – --- j
β

where β is a slip length. For more information, see the Navier Slip option in the Wall
feature.

WALL MOVEMENT
This section contains controls to describe the wall movement relative to the lab (or
spatial) frame.

The Translational velocity setting controls the translational wall velocity, utr. The list is
per default set to Automatic from frame. The physics automatically detects if the spatial
frame moves. This can for example happen if an ALE interface is present in the model
component. If there is no movement utr = 0. If the frame moves, utr becomes equal
to the frame movement. utr is accounted for in the actual boundary condition
prescribed in the Boundary condition section.

Select Manual from Translational velocity selection list in order to manually prescribe
Velocity of moving wall, utr. This can for example be used to model an oscillating wall

THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 425

 where the magnitude of the oscillations are very small compared to the rest of the
model. Specifying translational velocity manually does not automatically cause the
associated wall to move. An additional Moving Mesh interface needs to be added to
physically track the wall movement in the spatial reference frame.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
This section is displayed by clicking the Show More Options button ( ) and selecting
Advanced Physics Options.

Wall

Mixture Continuity
The Mixture Continuity condition is suitable for pairs where the boundaries match; it
prescribes that the flow field is continuous across the pair.

A Wall subnode is added by default and it applies to the parts of the pair boundaries
where a source boundary lacks a corresponding destination boundary and vice versa.
The Wall feature can be overridden by any other boundary condition that applies to
exterior boundaries. By right-clicking the Mixture Continuity node, additional Fallback
feature subnodes can be added.

426 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The Euler-Euler Model Interfaces
In this section:

• The Euler-Euler Model, Laminar Flow Interface

• The Euler-Euler Model, Turbulent Flow Interface
• Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Euler-Euler Model Interfaces

The Euler-Euler Model, Laminar Flow Interface

The Euler-Euler Model, Laminar Flow (ee) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase
Flow>Euler-Euler Model branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, can be used to
simulate the flow of two continuous and fully interpenetrating incompressible phases
(see Ref. 1 under the Theory for the Euler-Euler Model Interfaces). The physics
interface can model flow at low and moderate Reynolds numbers. Typical applications
are fluidized beds (solid particles in gas), sedimentation (solid particles in liquid), or
transport of liquid droplets or bubbles in a liquid.

The physics interface solves two sets of Navier-Stokes equations, one for each phase,
in order to calculate the velocity field for each phase. The phases interchange
momentum as described by a drag model. The pressure is calculated from a
mixture-averaged continuity equation and the volume fraction of the dispersed phase
is tracked with a transport equation.

When this physics interface is added, the following default physics nodes are also added
in the Model Builder — Phase Properties, Wall, and Initial Values. Then, from the Physics
toolbar, add other nodes that implement, for example, boundary conditions and
volume forces. You can also right-click Euler-Euler Model, Laminar Flow to select physics
features from the context menu.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

THE EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES | 427

 The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is ee.

DISPERSED PHASE
Select a Dispersed phase — Solid particles or Liquid droplets/bubbles.

When Solid particles is selected, the Solid Pressure section is available in the Phase
Properties node. Also see Dispersed Phase in the theory section.

PHYSICAL MODEL

Dispersed Phase
Select a Dispersed phase — Solid particles or Liquid droplets/bubbles.

When Solid particles is selected, the Solid Pressure section is available in the Phase
Properties node. Also see Dispersed Phase in the theory section.

Reference values
Reference values are global quantities used to evaluate the density of the fluid and
define the absolute pressure.

Reference pressure level There are generally two ways to include the pressure in fluid
flow computations: either to use the absolute pressure pA=p+pref, or the gauge
pressure p. When pref is nonzero, the physics interface solves for the gauge pressure
whereas material properties are evaluated using the absolute pressure. The reference
pressure level is also used to define the density of incompressible fluids.

Reference temperature The reference temperature is used to define the reference

density.

TURBULENCE

Turbulence Model Type

Turbulent flow can be simulated by changing the Turbulence model type to RANS, k-ε
(Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes, k-ε).

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variables (field variables) are:

• Velocity field, continuous phase uc

• Velocity field, dispersed phase ud

428 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

• Pressure p
• Volume fraction, dispersed phase phid

The names can be changed but the names of fields and dependent variables must be
unique within a component.

CONSISTENT STABILIZATION
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Stabilization
in the Show More Options dialog box.

INCONSISTENT STABILIZATION
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Stabilization
in the Show More Options dialog box.

Inconsistent stabilization can be activated independently for the momentum equation

for the continuous phase, the momentum equation for the dispersed phase, and for the
dispersed phase transport equation respectively by selecting the corresponding check
box. Each inconsistent stabilization contribution has a tuning parameter.

ADVANCED SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box. Normally these settings do not
need to be changed.

The Residue volume fraction, continuous phase, φc,res, and Residue volume fraction,
dispersed phase, φd,res, set the smallest values used to avoid division by zero when
evaluating terms that involve 1/φc and 1/φd. Observe that this value does not prevent
φc or φd from becoming smaller than φc,res and φd,res respectively.

Select the Use pseudo time stepping for stationary equation form check box to add
pseudo time derivatives to the equation when the Stationary equation form is used.
When selected, also choose a CFL number expression — Automatic (the default) or
Manual. Automatic sets the local CFL number (from the Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy
condition) to the built-in variable CFLCMP which in turn triggers a PID regulator for
the CFL number. For Manual enter a Local CFL number CFLloc (dimensionless).

THE EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES | 429

 DISCRETIZATION
The Euler-Euler Model, Laminar Flow interface supports three options for the basis
functions: P1+P1 (the default option), P2+P1, and P3+P2. They all represent
Lagrangian basis functions of different orders:

• P1+P1 – Linear basis functions for all degrees of freedom. Linear basis functions are
computationally less expensive than the higher-order options and are also more
robust. This option requires that Streamline diffusion is activated for both of the
momentum equations.
• P2+P1 – Quadratic basis functions for all degrees of freedom except the pressure
which is described by linear basis functions. Higher order elements, as compared to
linear elements, are a computationally effective way to obtain high accuracy but only
if the flow is well resolved. This requirement is most likely fulfilled for flows with
very low velocities and/or small length scales.
• P3+P2 – Cubic basis functions for all degrees of freedom except the pressure which
is described by quadratic basis functions. This option is computationally very
expensive and the least robust one but it is also the option with the highest formal
accuracy.

To see all settings available in this section, click the Show More Options button ( )
and select Advanced Physics Options.

• Pseudo Time Stepping for Laminar Flow Models in this guide and
Pseudo Time Stepping in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual
• Isotropic Diffusion in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual
• Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Euler-Euler Model
Interfaces
• Theory for the Euler-Euler Model Interfaces

The Euler-Euler Model, Turbulent Flow Interface

The Euler-Euler Model, Turbulent Flow (ee) interface ( ), found under the Multiphase
Flow>Euler-Euler Model branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, can be used to
simulate high Reynolds number flow of a two-phase mixture containing a continuous
and a dispersed phase. The Euler-Euler model assumes that both phases are
continuous, fully interpenetrating, and incompressible (see Theory for the Euler-Euler
Model Interfaces). Typical applications for the interface are fluidized beds (solid

430 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

particles in gas), sedimentation (solid particles in liquid), or transport of liquid droplets
or bubbles in a liquid.

The physics interface solves two sets of Navier-Stokes equations, one for each phase,
in order to calculate the velocity field for each phase. The phases interchange
momentum as described by a drag model. The pressure is calculated from a
mixture-averaged continuity equation and the volume fraction of the dispersed phase
is tracked with a transport equation.

Two-phase turbulence is modeled using the standard two-equation k-ε model with
realizability constraints. The interface includes the possibility to solve one set of k-ε
equations for the two-phase mixture, or to solve two sets of k-ε equations, one for each
phase. Flow close to walls is modeled using wall functions.

Except where indicated below, the settings for this physics interface are the same as for
The Euler-Euler Model, Laminar Flow Interface.

TURBULENCE

Turbulence Model Type

The default Turbulence model type is RANS, k-ε.

Two-phase turbulence
By default the Two-Phase Turbulence is defined as Mixture. This implies that one set of
k-ε equations are solved for. To instead solve for two sets of k-ε equations, one for each
fluid phase, select Phase specific (see Turbulent Two-Phase Flow Modeling).

Edit Turbulence Model Parameters

Turbulence model parameters are optimized to fit as many flow types as possible, but
for some special cases, better performance can be obtained by tuning the model
parameters. For a description of the turbulence model and the included model
parameters see Turbulent Two-Phase Flow Modeling.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (field variables) are defined for this interface:

• Velocity field, continuous phase uc

• Velocity field, dispersed phase ud
• Pressure p
• Turbulent kinetic energy, mixture k
• Turbulent dissipation rate, mixture ep

THE EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES | 431

 • Turbulent kinetic energy, continuous phase kc
• Turbulent dissipation rate, continuous phase epc
• Turbulent kinetic energy, dispersed phase kd
• Turbulent dissipation rate, dispersed phase epd

The names can be changed but the names of fields and dependent variables must be
unique within a component.

ADVANCED SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options. The Turbulence variables scale parameters subsection is available when
the Turbulence model type is set to RANS, k-ε.

In addition to the settings described for the Laminar Flow interface, enter a value for
Uscale and Lfact under the Turbulence variables scale parameters subsection.

The Uscale and Lfact parameters are used to calculate absolute tolerances for the
turbulence variables. The scaling parameters must only contain numerical values, units
or parameters defined under Global Definitions. The scaling parameters cannot contain
variables. The parameters are used when a new default solver for a transient study step
is generated. If you change the parameters, the new values take effect the next time you
generate a new default solver.

Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Euler-Euler Model
Interfaces
The Euler-Euler Model Interfaces has the following domain, boundary, point, and pair
nodes available from the Physics ribbon toolbar (Windows users), Physics context menu
(Mac or Linux users), or right-click to access the context menu (all users).

• Flow Continuity • Mass Transfer

• Gravity • Outlet
• Initial Values • Phase Properties
• Inlet • Volume Force
• Interior Wall • Wall

The following nodes are described for the Laminar Flow interface:

• Pressure Point Constraint

432 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

• Symmetry

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual see Table 2-4 for links
to common sections and Table 2-5 to common feature nodes. You can
also search for information: press F1 to open the Help window or Ctrl+F1
to open the Documentation window.

Phase Properties
The Phase Properties node has the material properties settings for the pure continuous
and dispersed phases. It also has settings for the viscosity models for each of the two
interpenetrating phases and the drag model. When the dispersed phase consists of solid
particles, it also has settings for the solid pressure model.

MODEL INPUTS
Fluid properties, such as density and viscosity, can be defined through user inputs,
variables, or by selecting a material. For the latter option, additional inputs, for
example temperature or pressure, may be required to define these properties.

Temperature
By default, the Temperature model input is set to Common model input, and the
temperature is controlled from Default Model Inputs under Global Definitions or by a
locally defined Model Input. If a Heat Transfer interface is included in the component,
it controls the temperature Common model input. Alternatively, the temperature field
can be selected from another physics interface. All physics interfaces have their own
tags (Name). For example, if a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface is included in the
component, the Temperature (ht) option is available for T.

You can also select User defined from the Temperature model input in order to manually
prescribe T.

Absolute Pressure
This input appears when a material requires the absolute pressure as a model input.
The absolute pressure is used to evaluate material properties, but it also relates to the
value of the calculated pressure field. There are generally two ways to calculate the
pressure when describing fluid flow: either to solve for the absolute pressure or for a
pressure (often denoted gauge pressure) that relates to the absolute pressure through
a reference pressure.

THE EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES | 433

 The default Absolute pressure pA is p+pref, where p is the dependent pressure variable
from the Navier-Stokes or RANS equations, and pref is from the user input defined at
the physics interface level. When pref is nonzero, the physics interface solves for a
gauge pressure. If the pressure field instead is an absolute pressure field, pref should be
set to 0.

The Absolute pressure field can be edited by clicking Make All Model Inputs Editable
( ) and entering the desired value in the input field.

Model Inputs and Multiphysics Couplings in the COMSOL Multiphysics

Reference Manual

MATERIALS
Select the materials to use for the material properties of the continuous phase and the
dispersed phase respectively (when they are defined to take their values From material).
By default, both the Continuous phase and Dispersed phase use the Domain material.
This corresponds to the material currently applied to the domain in question.

Other materials present can be selected from the Continuous phase or Dispersed phase
list in order to use that material’s properties for the liquid or gas, respectively.

CONTINUOUS PHASE PROPERTIES

Density, Continuous Phase

The default Density, continuous phase ρc (SI unit: kg/m3) uses values From material.
For User defined enter another value or expression.

Dynamic Viscosity, Pure Continuous Phase

The dynamic viscosity describes the relationship between the shear stresses and the
shear rate in a fluid. Intuitively, water and air have a low viscosity, and substances often
described as thick, such as oil, have a higher viscosity. The dynamic viscosity of the pure
continuous phase refers to the viscosity the fluid would have in the absence of the
dispersed phase.

The default Dynamic viscosity, pure continuous phase μc (SI unit: Pa·s) uses values From
material. The value of the viscosity is then the value defined for the material selected in
the Materials section for the continuous phase. For User defined define a different value
or expression.

434 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

DISPERSED PHASE PROPERTIES
The default Density, dispersed phase ρd (SI unit: kg/m3) uses values From material. For
User defined enter another value or expression.

Enter a value or expression for the Diameter of particles/droplets dd (SI unit: m). The
default is 10−3 m (1 mm).

The Dynamic viscosity, pure dispersed phase μd (SI unit: Pa·s) field is
available when Liquid droplets/bubbles is selected as the Dispersed phase in
The Euler-Euler Model Interfaces.

The default uses values From material. The value of the viscosity is then
the value defined for the material selected in the Materials section for the
dispersed phase. For User defined define a different value or expression.

VISCOSITY MODEL
Select a model for the Mixture viscosity — Krieger type (the default), Volume average
(available for liquid droplets and bubbles) or User defined. Krieger type is appropriate
for dispersed phases that do not form any pure phase regions. Volume average is more
appropriate when the dispersed phase effectively can become the only phase in some
regions.

• For Krieger type, select an option for Maximum packing concentration. The default is
to use φ d,max = 1.0 for droplets and bubbles and φ d,max = 0.62 for particles. Select
User defined to enter another value or expression for φ d,max .
• For User defined enter a value or expression for the Mixture viscosity. The default
expression corresponds to the Krieger type viscosity with maximum packing equal
to 0.62.

Select a Dynamic viscosity model, continuous phase — Mixture viscosity (default), Pure
phase value or User defined. The Mixture viscosity option is appropriate when the
maximum packing is controlled by the mixture viscosity. The Pure phase value option
is more appropriate if the maximum packing is controlled in some other way, for
example by solid pressure. Select User defined to enter an expression for the Dynamic
viscosity model, continuous phase.

Select a Dynamic viscosity model, dispersed phase — Mixture viscosity (default), Pure
phase value (available for bubbles and droplets), Gidaspow (available for solid particles)
m
or User defined. The Gidaspow model prescribes μ d = 0.5φ d which basically
m
prescribes a small value for μ d and should be combined with a solid pressure model.

THE EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES | 435

 DRAG MODEL
The models are described in The Euler-Euler Model Equations. When the dispersed
phase corresponds to Solid particles, the Schiller-Naumann, Hadamard-Rybczynzki,
Ishii-Zuber, Gidaspow, and Haider-Levenspiel models are available. For Liquid
droplets/bubbles, the Schiller-Naumann, Hadamard-Rybczynzki, Ishii-Zuber, Tomiyama et
al. models are available. Select the User-defined drag coefficient option to specify an
expression for the drag coefficient CD.

• The Schiller-Naumann is valid for dispersed, rigid spheres and can be used for particle
Reynolds numbers less than approximately 2.5·105. The Schiller-Naumann model
is a general purpose model for diluted flows.
• The Hadamard-Rybczynzki is appropriate for diluted flows at low Reynolds numbers.
• The Ishii-Zuber model can for solid particles be regarded as a generalization of the
Schiller-Naumann model in that it can be used also for dense flows. For droplets and
bubbles, the Ishii-Zuber model also takes deformation of the fluid particles into
account. The deformation depends on the Surface tension coefficient, σ. Use a
predefined expression, select Library coefficient, liquid/gas interface or Library
coefficient, liquid/liquid interface. Then select an option from the list that displays
below (for example, Water/Air, Glycerol/Air and so forth). For User defined enter a
value or expression for the surface tension coefficient σ (SI unit: N/m).
• The Gidaspow model describes the drag force coefficient for dispersed phase flows
for all concentrations of the dispersed solid, including high concentrations.
• The Haider-Levenspiel model describes non-spherical particles for low and moderate
particle Reynolds numbers. Enter a value between 0 and 1 for the Sphericity Sp
(dimensionless).
• The Tomiyama et al. model describes the drag for diluted droplets and bubbles for
any particle Reynolds number. The correlation is available in three versions, Pure
fluid, Slightly contaminated fluid and Contaminated fluid. The Tomiyama et al. model
depends on the Surface tension coefficient, σ that is selected in the same way as for
the Ishii-Zuber model.

SOLID PRESSURE MODEL

The solid pressure models the particle dispersion due to collisions and friction between
the solid particles. Details of the implemented models are described in Solid Pressure.

436 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

This section is available when Solid particles is selected as the Dispersed phase in The
Euler-Euler Model Interfaces. Select a Solid pressure model ∇ps.

• The No solid pressure (the default) disables solid pressure and leaves the collision to
be described by a mixture viscosity. This option is appropriate for solid suspension,
typically solids suspended in liquids.
• The other options, Gidaspow-Ettehadieh, Gidaspow, Ettehadieh and User defined
modulus of elasticity describes particle-particle interaction for dispersed solids,
typically solid particles in gas flows. These options should be combined with the
m
Gidaspow model or a small user defined value for μ d .
• For User defined modulus of elasticity enter an expression for the Modulus of elasticity,
G (SI unit: N/m2).

MIXING LENGTH LIMIT

When the Mixing length limit lmix,lim is set to Automatic, the mixing length limit is
evaluated as the shortest side of the geometry bounding box. If the geometry is, for
example, a complicated system of slim entities, this measure can be too high. In such
cases, it is recommended that the mixing length limit is defined manually. Select Manual
to enter a different value or expression.

Initial Values
The Initial Values node adds initial values for the velocity fields for the continuous and
dispersed phases, the pressure, and the volume fraction of the dispersed phase that can
serve as initial conditions for a transient simulation or as an initial guess for a nonlinear
solver.

INITIAL VALUES
Enter initial values or expressions in the tables for each component of:

• Velocity field, continuous phase uc

• Velocity field, dispersed phase ud

Enter initial values or expressions for:

• Pressure p
• Volume fraction, dispersed phase phid

THE EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES | 437

 For The Euler-Euler Model, Turbulent Flow Interface, initial values are needed for the
turbulence variables. When Mixture is selected as Two-phase turbulence, enter values or
expressions for:

• Turbulent kinetic energy, mixture k

• Turbulent dissipation rate, mixture ep

When Phase specific is selected as Two-phase turbulence, enter values or expressions for:

• Turbulent kinetic energy, continuous phase kc

• Turbulent dissipation rate, continuous phase epc
• Turbulent kinetic energy, dispersed phase kd
• Turbulent dissipation rate, dispersed phase epd

Mass Transfer
Use the Mass Transfer node to include mass transfer from the dispersed phase to the
continuous phase.

MASS TRANSFER
Enter a value or expression for the Mass transfer from dispersed to continuous phase mdc
(SI unit: kg/(m3·s)). The default is 0 kg/(m3·s).

Gravity
The Gravity node adds the gravity force vector to the right-hand side of the momentum
equations; ρcg for the continuous phase and ρdg for the dispersed phase.

Gravity nodes are mutually exclusive, that is, there can only be one active Gravity node
per domain.

GRAVITY
Enter the components of the Gravity vector, g (SI unit: m/s2). For 2D components
the default Gravity vector is defined as (0,-g_const). Here g_const is a physical
constant equal to 9.8066 m/s2. For 3D and 2D axisymmetric components, the gravity
acts in the negative z direction by default.

438 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Volume Force
The Volume Force node specifies the volume forces on the right-hand side of the
momentum equations; Fc for the continuous phase and Fd for the dispersed phase. It
may for example be used to add user defined interaction forces (a part from the
interphase drag force).

If several volume force nodes are added to the same domain, the sum of all
contributions are added to the respective momentum equations.

Wall
The Wall node includes a set of boundary conditions to describe the flow conditions
at a solid wall. The conditions for each phase are selected separately.

CONTINUOUS PHASE BOUNDARY CONDITION

Select a Continuous Phase Condition — No slip (the default), or Slip.

No Slip
A No slip condition models a wall where the velocity of the continuous phase relative
to the wall velocity is zero. For a stationary wall, it sets the velocity of the continuous
phase to zero:

uc = 0

For turbulent flows, wall functions are used to model the thin region near solid (no
slip) walls with high gradients in the flow variables

Slip
The Slip option prescribes a no-penetration condition. For a stationary wall,
u c ⋅ n = 0 . It is implicitly assumed that there are no viscous effects at the slip wall and
hence, no boundary layer develops.

Leakage
·
Select the Leakage check box to specify an Inward continuous phase mass flux, m c (SI
·
unit: kg/(m2·s)). This option is intended for small values of m c . For large mass fluxes,
select us an Inlet feature instead.

DISPERSED PHASE BOUNDARY CONDITION

Select a Dispersed velocity boundary condition — No slip (the default), or Slip. The
conditions prescribed for the velocity of the dispersed phase correspond to those
described for the continuous phase above.

THE EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES | 439

 Dispersed Phase Boundary Condition
The Dispersed Phase Boundary Condition defines the condition at the wall for the
volume fraction of the dispersed phase.

• No dispersed phase flux prescribes a zero flux condition at the wall.

·
• Select Leakage to prescribe an Inward dispersed phase mass flux, m d (SI unit:
2 ·
kg/(m ·s)). This option is intended for small values of m d . For large mass fluxes,
select an Inlet feature instead.

WALL MOVEMENT
This section contains controls to describe the wall movement relative to the lab (or
spatial) frame.

The Translational velocity setting controls the translational wall velocity, utr. The list is
per default set to Automatic from frame. The physics automatically detects if the spatial
frame moves. This can for example happen if an ALE interface is present in the model
component. If there is no movement utr = 0. If the frame moves, utr becomes equal
to the frame movement. utr is accounted for in the actual boundary condition
prescribed in the Boundary condition section.

Select Manual from Translational velocity selection list in order to manually prescribe
Velocity of moving wall, utr. This can for example be used to model an oscillating wall
where the magnitude of the oscillations are very small compared to the rest of the
model. Specifying translational velocity manually does not automatically cause the
associated wall to move. An additional Moving Mesh interface needs to be added to
physically track the wall movement in the spatial reference frame.

The Sliding wall option is appropriate if the wall behaves like a conveyor belt; that is,
the surface is sliding in its tangential direction. A velocity is prescribed at the wall and
the boundary itself does not have to actually move relative to the reference frame.

• For 3D components, values or expressions for the Velocity of sliding wall uw should
be specified. If the velocity vector entered is not in the plane of the wall, COMSOL
Multiphysics projects it onto the tangential direction. Its magnitude is adjusted to
be the same as the magnitude of the vector entered.
• For 2D components, the tangential direction is unambiguously defined by the
direction of the boundary. For this reason, the sliding wall boundary condition has
different definitions in different space dimensions. A single entry for the Velocity of
the tangentially moving wall Uw should be specified in 2D.

440 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options.

• Wall in the Single-Phase Flow interfaces

• The Moving Mesh Interface in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual

Inlet
The Inlet node prescribes the flow and turbulence conditions (when applicable) at a
boundary where one or both phases enter the adjacent domain.

TWO-PHASE INLET TYPE

Selecting Mixture as the Two-Phase Inlet Type, inlet conditions are prescribed for both
phases. Selecting Continuous phase or Dispersed phase, inlet conditions are prescribed
for the corresponding phase, while wall conditions are applied to the remaining phase.

CONTINUOUS PHASE
The options available in this section are based on the Two-phase inlet type selected.

When Mixture or Continuous phase is selected as the Two-phase inlet typ the Velocity
field, continuous phase uc0 is prescribed.

When Dispersed phase is selected as the Two-phase inlet type, the conditions applied to
the continuous phase are No slip (uc=0) or Slip (uc·n=0, and no viscous stresses in the
tangential directions).

Using the Phase specific option for the Two-phase turbulence interface property, the
feature also prescribes inlet conditions for the continuous phase turbulence variables.

• Specify turbulent length scale and intensity defines the turbulence inlet conditions
using the Turbulent intensity IT,c (dimensionless) and the Turbulence length scale LT,c
(SI unit: m).
• Specify turbulence variables prescribes the Turbulent kinetic energy k0,c (SI unit:
m2/s2) and the Turbulent dissipation rate ε0,c (SI unit: m2/s3) at the inlet.

DISPERSED PHASE
The options available in this section are based on the Two-phase inlet type selected.

THE EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES | 441

 When Mixture or Dispersed phase is selected as the Two-phase inlet type, the Velocity
field, dispersed phase ud0.

The Dispersed phase boundary condition can be Volume fraction, Mass flux or No flux.

• For Volume fraction, specify the Dispersed phase volume fraction, φ d0, at the inlet.
This option locks the value of φ d, but the exact flux depends on the dispersed phase
velocity, ud0.
·
• For Mass flux, prescribe describe the Inward dispersed phase mass flux, m d (SI unit:
2
kg/(m ·s)). This option prescribes the flux for the dispersed phase, but the resulting
volume fraction at the inlet depends on the dispersed phase velocity, ud0.
When Continuous phase is selected as the Two-phase inlet type, the conditions applied
to the dispersed phase are No slip (ud=0) or Slip (ud·n=0, and no viscous stresses in the
tangential directions).

Using the Phase specific option for the Two-phase turbulence interface property, the
feature also prescribes inlet conditions for the dispersed phase turbulence variables.

• Specify turbulent length scale and intensity defines the turbulence inlet conditions
using the Turbulent intensity IT,d (dimensionless) and the Turbulence length scale
LT,d (SI unit: m).
• Specify turbulence variables prescribes the Turbulent kinetic energy k0,d (SI unit:
m2/s2) and the Turbulent dissipation rate ε0,d (SI unit: m2/s3) at the inlet.

TURBULENCE CONDITIONS
Using the Mixture option for the Two-phase turbulence interface property, the feature
also prescribes inlet conditions for the mixture turbulence variables.

• Specify turbulent length scale and intensity defines the turbulence inlet conditions
using the Turbulent intensity IT (dimensionless) and the Turbulence length scale LT
(SI unit: m).
• Specify turbulence variables prescribes the Turbulent kinetic energy k0 (SI unit:
m2/s2) and the Turbulent dissipation rate ε0 (SI unit: m2/s3) at the inlet.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options.

442 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Outlet
This node is used to prescribe conditions at boundaries where the two-phase mixture
exits the computational domain. The settings available in the node specifies conditions
for the entire mixture, as opposed to the Inlet, Outlet and Wall nodes where the
conditions for can be specified for each phase individually.

MIXTURE BOUNDARY CONDITION

Select Mixture boundary conditions — Pressure, no viscous stress, Pressure, normal flow,
Velocity, Degassing, or Filtration.

Pressure Conditions
When Pressure, no viscous stress or Pressure, normal flow is selected as the Mixture
boundary condition, specify the Pressure p0 (SI unit: Pa) at the outlet. Note that the
prescribed pressure should be consistent with the reference pressure level specified at
the interface level as well as consistent with present volume forces (including gravity).

Velocity
Select Velocity to specify the Velocity field, continuous phase uc0 (SI unit: m/s) together
with the Velocity field, dispersed phase ud (SI unit: m/s) at the outlet.

Degassing and Filtration

Selecting Degassing allows the dispersed phase to exit the domain but prevents the
continuous phase from exiting. This is achieved through a pressure (p0), no viscous
stress condition for the dispersed phase, in combination with a no penetration
condition for the continuous phase.

Selecting Filtration on the other hand allows the continuous phase to exit the domain
but prevents the dispersed phase from exiting. This is achieved through a pressure (p0),
no viscous stress condition for the continuous phase, in combination with a no
penetration condition for the dispersed phase.

Pressure, no viscous stress is the least constraining option and allows the
flow to exit the domain in non-normal directions.

Pressure, normal flow restricts the flow to be completely normal to the

outlet boundary. This option can influence the flow quite a bit upstream
of the inlet.

THE EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES | 443

 CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options.

Interior Wall
The Interior Wall boundary condition can only be applied on interior boundaries.

It is similar to the Wall boundary condition available on exterior boundaries except

that it applies on both sides of an interior boundary. It allows discontinuities of the
dependent variables across the boundary. The Interior Wall boundary condition can be
used to avoid meshing thin structures by applying no-slip conditions on interior curves
and surfaces instead. Slip conditions and conditions for a moving wall can also be
prescribed. It is compatible with laminar and turbulent flow. The conditions for each
phase are selected separately.

CONTINUOUS PHASE BOUNDARY CONDITION

Select a Continuous Phase Condition — No slip (the default), or Slip.

No Slip
A No slip condition models a wall where the velocity of the continuous phase relative
to the wall velocity is zero. For an interior stationary wall, it sets the velocity of the
continuous phase to zero on both sides of the wall:

uc = 0

For turbulent flows, wall functions are used to model the thin region near solid walls
with high gradients in the flow variables.

Slip
Slip prescribes a no-penetration condition. For a stationary interior wall, u c ⋅ n = 0
on both sides.

DISPERSED PHASE BOUNDARY CONDITION

Select a Dispersed velocity boundary condition — No slip (the default), or Slip. The
conditions prescribed for the velocity of the dispersed phase correspond to those
described for the continuous phase above.

Dispersed Phase Boundary Condition

The Dispersed phase boundary condition is set to No dispersed phase flux.

444 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

WALL MOVEMENT
This section contains controls to describe the wall movement relative to the lab (or
spatial) frame.

The Translational velocity setting controls the translational wall velocity, utr. The list is
per default set to Automatic from frame. The physics automatically detects if the spatial
frame moves. This can for example happen if an ALE interface is present in the model
component. If there is no movement utr = 0. If the frame moves, utr becomes equal
to the frame movement. utr is accounted for in the actual boundary condition
prescribed in the Boundary condition section.

Select Manual from Translational velocity selection list in order to manually prescribe
Velocity of moving wall, utr. This can for example be used to model an oscillating wall
where the magnitude of the oscillations are very small compared to the rest of the
model. Specifying translational velocity manually does not automatically cause the
associated wall to move. An additional Moving Mesh interface needs to be added to
physically track the wall movement in the spatial reference frame.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options.

• Wall
• The Moving Mesh Interface in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual

Flow Continuity
The Flow Continuity condition is suitable for pairs where the boundaries match; it
prescribes that the flow field is continuous across the pair.

A Wall Fallback feature subnode is added by default and it applies to the parts of the
pair boundaries where a source boundary lacks a corresponding destination boundary
and vice versa. The Wall feature can be overridden by any other boundary condition
that applies to exterior boundaries. By right-clicking the Flow Continuity node,
additional Fallback feature subnodes can be added.

THE EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES | 445

 The Phase Transport Interface
The Phase Transport (phtr) interface ( ), found under the Fluid Flow > Multiphase
Flow > Phase Transport branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used to
simulate the transport of multiple immiscible phases either in free flow or in flow
through a porous medium. The interface is the same as the Phase Transport in Porous
Media interface but it uses other defaults: a Phase and Transport Properties node is
added by default, instead of a Phase and Porous Media Transport Properties node.

The Phase Transport interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent analyses.

The main feature is the Phase and Transport Properties node, which provides an
interface for defining the phase materials along with the transporting properties.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder — Phase and Transport Properties, No Flux (the default boundary
condition), and Initial Values. Then, from the Physics toolbar, add other nodes that
implement, for example, boundary conditions and mass sources. You can also
right-click the Phase Transport node to select physics features from the context menu.

SETTINGS
The rest of the settings are the same as for the The Phase Transport in Porous Media
Interface.

The Phase Transport and Phase Transport in Porous Media interfaces have the following
domain, boundary, edge, and point nodes (listed in alphabetic order) available from
the Physics ribbon toolbar (Windows users), Physics context menu (Mac or Linux
users), or right-click to access the context menu (all users). For more details see the
section Domain, Boundary, Edge, and Point Nodes for the Phase Transport and Phase
Transport in Porous Media Interfaces.

• Gravity • Outflow
• Initial Values • Phase and Porous Media Transport
• Interior Wall Properties

• Mass Flux • Phase and Transport Properties

• Mass Source • Porous Medium Discontinuity

• No Flux • Volume Fraction

446 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

T he P ha s e T r a n sp ort Mi xt u re Mod el
Interfaces
The Phase Transport Mixture Model, Laminar Flow and Turbulent
Flow Interfaces
When a multiphysics interface is added from the Fluid Flow>Multiphase Flow>Phase
Transport>Phase Transport Mixture Model branch of the Model Wizard or Add Physics
windows, one of the Single-Phase Flow interfaces (laminar or turbulent flow) and the
Phase Transport interface are added to the Model Builder.

In addition, the Multiphysics node is added, which automatically includes the

multiphysics coupling feature Mixture Model.

The Multiphysics Branch in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference

Manual.

• The Laminar Flow interface ( ) combines a Phase Transport interface with a

Laminar Flow interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus interface ( ) combines a Phase Transport
interface with a Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, L-VEL interface ( ) combines a Phase Transport interface with
a Turbulent Flow, L-VEL interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, k-ε interface ( ) combines a Phase Transport interface with a
Turbulent Flow, k-ε interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, Realizable k-ε interface ( ) combines a Phase Transport
interface with a Turbulent Flow, Realizable k-ε interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, k-ω interface ( ) combines a Phase Transport interface with
a Turbulent Flow, k-ω interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, SST interface ( ) combines a Phase Transport interface with
a Turbulent Flow, SST interface.

THE PHASE TRANSPORT MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 447

 • The Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε interface ( ) combines a Phase Transport interface
with a Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε interface.
• The Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras interface ( ) combines a Phase Transport
interface with a Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras interface.

• The Turbulent Flow, v2-f interface ( ) combines a Phase Transport interface with
a Turbulent Flow, v2-f interface.

Coupling Feature
The Mixture Model multiphysics coupling node is described in this section.

Use the online help in COMSOL Multiphysics to locate and search all the
documentation. All these links also work directly in COMSOL
Multiphysics when using the Help system.

Physics Interface Features

Physics nodes are available from the Physics ribbon toolbar (Windows users), Physics
context menu (Mac or Linux users), or right-click to access the context menu (all
users).

In general, to add a node, go to the Physics toolbar, no matter what

operating system you are using.

PHASE TRANSPORT
The available physics features for The Phase Transport Interface are listed in the
section Domain, Boundary, Edge, and Point Nodes for the Phase Transport and Phase
Transport in Porous Media Interfaces.

LAMINAR FLOW
The available physics features for The Laminar Flow Interface are listed in the section
Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

TURBULENT FLOW, ALGEBRAIC YPLUS

The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, Algebraic yPlus Interface are
listed in the section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

448 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

TURBULENT FLOW, L-VEL
The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, L-VEL Interface are listed in
the section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

T U R B U L E N T F L O W , k-ε
The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, k-ε Interface are listed in the
section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

T U R B U L E N T F L O W , R E A L I Z A B L E k-ε
The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, Realizable k-ε Interface are
listed in the section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

T U R B U L E N T F L O W , k-ω
The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, k-ω Interface are listed in the
section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

TURBULENT FLOW, SST

The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, SST Interface are listed in the
section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

T U R B U L E N T F L O W , L O W R E k-ε
The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε Interface are listed
in the section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

TURBULENT FLOW, SPALART-ALLMARAS

The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, Spalart-Allmaras Interface are
listed in the section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

TURBULENT FLOW, V2-F

The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, v2-f Interface are listed in the
section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

Mixture Model
Use the Mixture Model ( ) multiphysics coupling to simulate the flow of liquids
containing one or more dispersed phases. The dispersed phases can be bubbles, liquid
droplets, or solid particles, which are assumed to travel always with their terminal
velocity.

THE PHASE TRANSPORT MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 449

 The Phase Transport and the single-phase flow interface, which are coupled by the
Mixture Model multiphysics coupling, solve together for conservation of mass of the
dispersed phases and conservation of total mass and momentum of the mixture.

The Mixture Model multiphysics coupling provides the mixture density and viscosity to
the single phase fluid flow interface.

In the Phase Transport interface, it sets the Absolute pressure in the Model Input section
and defines the densities in the Density section of the Phase and Transport Properties
feature. In addition it determines and provides the velocity fields for the dispersed
phases in the Velocity Field section.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default multiphysics coupling feature name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the coupling node.
Refer to such variables in expressions using the pattern <name>.<variable_name>. In
order to distinguish between variables belonging to different coupling nodes or physics
interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and underscores (_)
are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first multiphysics coupling feature in the model) is mfmm1.

DOMAIN SELECTION
When nodes are added from the context menu, you can select Manual (the default)
from the Selection list to choose specific domains to define the mixture model, or select
All domains as needed.

COUPLED INTERFACES
This section defines the physics involved in the multiphysics coupling. The Phase
transport and Fluid flow lists include all applicable physics interfaces.

The default values depend on how this coupling node is created.

• If it is added from the Physics ribbon (Windows users), Physics contextual toolbar
(Mac and Linux users), or context menu (all users), then the first physics interface
of each type in the component is selected as the default.
• If it is added automatically when a multiphysics interface is chosen in the Model
Wizard or Add Physics window, then the two participating physics interfaces are
selected.

450 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

You can also select None from either list to uncouple the node from a physics interface.
If the physics interface is removed from the Model Builder, for example Phase Transport
is deleted, then the Phase transport list defaults to None as there is nothing to couple to.

MODEL INPUTS
The viscosity and density of each phase can be defined through user inputs, variables,
or by selecting a material. For the latter option, additional inputs, for example
temperature or pressure, may be required to define these properties.

Temperature
By default, the Temperature model input is set to User defined. Alternatively, the
temperature field can be selected from another physics interface. All physics interfaces
have their own tags (Name). For example, if a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface is
included in the component, the Temperature (ht) option is available for T.

Absolute Pressure
This input appears when a material requires the absolute pressure as a model input.
The absolute pressure is used to evaluate material properties, but it also relates to the
value of the calculated pressure field. There are generally two ways to calculate the
pressure when describing fluid flow: either to solve for the absolute pressure or for a
pressure (often denoted gauge pressure) that relates to the absolute pressure through
a reference pressure.

The default Absolute pressure pA is p+pref, where p is the dependent pressure variable
from the Navier-Stokes or RANS equations, and pref is from the user input defined at
the physics interface level. When pref is nonzero, the physics interface solves for a
gauge pressure. If the pressure field instead is an absolute pressure field, pref should be
set to 0.

The Absolute pressure field can be edited by clicking Make All Model Inputs Editable
( ) and entering the desired value in the input field.

Model Inputs and Multiphysics Couplings in the COMSOL Multiphysics

Reference Manual

PHYSICAL MODEL
Specify the characteristics of the dispersed phase(s), the model for the slip velocity, and
the mixture viscosity model.

THE PHASE TRANSPORT MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 451

 Dispersed Phase
To characterize the Dispersed phase, select Solid particles (the default) or Liquid
droplets/bubbles.

Slip Model
To compute the slip velocity uslip,i (SI unit: m/s), select a Slip model — Homogeneous
flow (the default), Hadamard-Rybczynski, Schiller-Naumann, Haider-Levenspiel, or User
defined.

• The Homogeneous flow model assumes that the velocities of the continuous and
dispersed phases are equal, that is, uslip,i = 0.
• In most cases there is a significant difference in the velocity fields due to the
buoyancy of the dispersed phase. Use one of the predefined slip models for such
cases.
• For User defined specify an arbitrary expression for the relative velocity. For example,
give a constant velocity based on experimental data. Enter the Slip velocity field
uslip,i (SI unit: m/s) in the Dispersed phase properties sections.

Mixture Viscosity Model

Select the Mixture viscosity model.

• When Solid particles is the Dispersed phase, select either User defined (the default) or
Krieger type (which is only available when there is only one dispersed phase present).
• When Liquid droplets/bubbles is the Dispersed phase, select User defined (the default),
Volume averaged, or Krieger type (which is only available when there is only one
dispersed phase present).

For User defined enter a value or expression for the Dynamic viscosity, mixture μ
(SI unit: Pa⋅s). The default is 0 Pa⋅s. When using this option, make sure to limit the
viscosity to bounded positive values.

When Krieger type is selected, enter a value or expression for the Maximum packing
concentration φmax (dimensionless). The default is 0.62.

Select Krieger type to model the most generally valid expression for the mixture
viscosity:

φ d – 2,5φ max μ∗
μ = μ c  1 – ------------
 φ max

where φmax is the maximum packing concentration, which for solid particles is
approximately 0.62. The dimensionless parameter μ* = 1 for solid particles and

452 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 μ d + 0,4μ c
μ∗ = ---------------------------
μd + μc

for droplets and bubbles. When applying the Krieger type viscosity model, φd is
replaced by min(φd, 0.999φmax) for better robustness.

Select Volume averaged to model the mixture viscosity of liquid-liquid mixtures, which
uses the following equation for the viscosity:

μ =  si μi
i=1

The Mixture Model interfaces always employ the mixture viscosity in the particle
Reynolds number expression used to calculate the slip velocity, thereby accounting for
the increase in viscous drag due to particle-particle interactions.

CONTINUOUS PHASE PROPERTIES

Select the fluid materials to use for the material properties. The default material used
for the Continuous phase is the Domain material.

The default Density, continuous phase ρc (SI unit: kg/m3) uses values From material (as
selected in the Materials section). For User defined enter another value or expression. In
this case the default is 0 kg/m3.

The density in a material can depend on temperature and/or pressure and these
dependencies are automatically replaced by pref and Tref, which are specified in the
Model Input section.

The default Dynamic viscosity, continuous phase μc (SI unit: Pa·s), uses values From
material. It describes the relationship between the shear stresses and the shear rate in a
fluid. Intuitively, water and air have a low viscosity, and substances often described as
thick, such as oil, have a higher viscosity. For User defined enter another value or
expression. In this case, the default is 0 Pa·s.

DISPERSED PHASE PROPERTIES

The number of Dispersed Phase Properties sections depends on the number of phases
defined in the coupled Phase Transport interface: the number of sections is equal to
the number of dispersed phases, which is in turn equal to the number of phases defined
in the coupled Phase Transport interface minus one.

THE PHASE TRANSPORT MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 453

 The options in these sections are influenced by the selections made in the Physical
Model section.

Select the fluid materials to use for the material properties. The default material used
for the Phase is the Domain material.

The default Density, dispersed phase ρi (SI unit: kg/m3) uses values From material (as
selected in the Materials section). For User defined enter another value or expression. In
this case, the default is 0 kg/m3.

The density in a material can depend on temperature and/or pressure and these
dependencies are automatically replaced by pref and Tref, which are specified in the
Model Input section.

If Liquid droplets/bubbles is selected from the Dispersed phase list in the Physical Model
section, then Dynamic viscosity, dispersed phase μi (SI unit: Pa·s) is also available. The
default uses values From material or select User defined to enter another value or
expression. In this case, the default is 0 Pa·s.

If one of the predefined slip models (Hadamard-Rybczynski, Schiller-Naumann, or

Haider-Levenspiel) is selected from the Slip model list in the Physical Model section, then
Diameter of particles/droplets di (SI unit: m) is also available. The default is 10−3 m
(1 mm). If Haider-Levenspiel is selected for the Slip model under Physical Model, enter a
value between 0 and 1 for the Sphericity (dimensionless). The default is 1.

If a Schiller-Naumann or a Haider-Levenspiel slip model is selected from the Slip model

list in the Physical Model section, enter an initial value for the Squared slip velocity
slipvel0,i (SI unit: m2/s2). The default is 0 m2/s2.

When a User defined Slip model is selected in the Physical Model section, specify an
arbitrary expression for the slip velocity uslip,i (SI unit: m/s). For example, give a
constant velocity based on experimental data.

• See Theory for the Phase Transport Mixture Model Interfaces

454 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

If a physics interface is deleted and then added to the model again, then
in order to reestablish the coupling, you need to choose the physics
interface again from the Phase transport or Fluid flow lists. This is
applicable to all multiphysics coupling nodes that would normally default
to the once present interface. See Multiphysics Modeling Workflow in the
COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

THE PHASE TRANSPORT MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 455

 Theory for the Two-Phase Flow
Interfaces
The Two-Phase Flow, Level Set and Phase Field interfaces can be used to model the
flow of two different, immiscible fluids, where the exact position of the interface
between the two fluids is of interest. The fluid-fluid interface is tracked using an
auxiliary function on a fixed mesh. These methods account for differences in the two
fluids’ densities and viscosities and include the effects of surface tension and gravity.

The Two-Phase Flow, Level Set and Phase Field Interfaces theory is described in this
section:

• Level Set and Phase Field Equations

• Conservative and Nonconservative Formulations
• Phase Initialization
• Numerical Stabilization
• References for the Level Set and Phase Field Interfaces

Level Set and Phase Field Equations

By default, the Level Set and Phase Field interfaces use the incompressible formulation
of the Navier-Stokes equations:

∂u T
ρ + ρ ( u ⋅ ∇ )u = ∇ ⋅ [ – p I + μ ( ∇u + ∇u ) ] + F g + F st + F ext + F (7-3)
∂t

∇⋅u = 0 (7-4)

Note that Equation 7-3, and Equation 7-4 are solved in the contained interface,
Laminar Flow or Turbulent Flow interface. Note that the form of the continuity
equation, appropriate for high density difference mixtures, differs from the definition
in Theory for the Single-Phase Flow Interfaces.

USING THE LEVEL SET METHOD

If the level set method is used to track the interface, it adds the following equation:

456 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 ∂-----φ- ∇φ
+ u ⋅ ∇φ = γ∇ ⋅  ε∇φ – φ ( 1 – φ ) ---------- (7-5)
∂t  ∇φ 

where γ is the reinitialization parameter (set to 1 by default), and ε is the interface

thickness controlling parameter (set to hmax/2 where hmax is the maximum element
size in the component). The density is a function of the level set function defined as

ρ = ρ 1 + ( ρ 2 – ρ 1 )φ

and the dynamic viscosity is given by

μ = μ 1 + ( μ 2 – μ 1 )φ

where ρ1 and ρ2 are the constant densities of Fluid 1 and Fluid 2, respectively, and μ1
and μ2 are the dynamic viscosities of Fluid 1 and Fluid 2, respectively. Here, Fluid 1
corresponds to the domain where φ < 0.5 , and Fluid 2 corresponds to the domain
where φ > 0.5 .

Further details of the theory for the level set method are in Ref. 1.

USING THE PHASE FIELD METHOD

If the phase field method is used to track the interface, it adds the following equations:

∂φ γλ
+ u ⋅ ∇φ = ∇ ⋅ -----2- ∇ψ (7-6)
∂t ε

ε ∂f ext
2
ψ = – ∇ ⋅ ε ∇φ + ( φ – 1 )φ +  -----
2 2
(7-7)
λ ∂φ

where the quantity λ (SI unit: N) is the mixing energy density and ε (SI unit: m) is a
capillary width that scales with the thickness of the interface. These two parameters are
related to the surface tension coefficient, σ (SI unit: N/m), through the equation

2 2λ
σ = ----------- ---
3 ε

and γ is the mobility parameter which is related to ε through γ = χε2 where χ is the
mobility tuning parameter (set to 1 by default). The volume fraction of Fluid 2 is
computed as

V f = min ( max ( [ ( 1 + φ ) ⁄ 2 ], 0 ), 1 )

THEORY FOR THE TWO-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 457

 where the min and max operators are used so that the volume fraction has a lower limit
of 0 and an upper limit of 1. The density is then defined as

ρ = ρ 1 + ( ρ 2 – ρ 1 )V f

and the dynamic viscosity according to

μ = μ 1 + ( μ 2 – μ 1 )V f

where ρ1 and ρ2 are the densities and μ1 and μ2 are the dynamic viscosities of Fluid 1
and Fluid 2, respectively.

The mean curvature (SI unit: 1/m) can be computed by entering the following
expression:

G
κ = 2 ( 1 + φ ) ( 1 – φ ) ----
σ

where G is the chemical potential defined as:

2
φ ( φ – 1 ) ∂f
G = λ  – ∇2φ + ----------------------
- + ------
 ε 2  ∂φ

Details of the theory for the phase field method are found in Ref. 2.

FORCE TERMS
The four forces on the right-hand side of Equation 7-3 are due to gravity, surface
tension, a force due to an external contribution to the free energy (using the phase field
method only), and a user-defined volume force.

The Surface Tension Force for the Level Set Method

For the level set method, the surface tension force acting on the interface between the
two fluids is:

F st = σδκn + δ∇ s σ

where σ is the surface tensions coefficient (SI unit: N/m), n is the unit normal to the
interface, and κ = – ∇ ⋅ n is the curvature. δ (SI unit: 1/m) is a Dirac delta function
located at the interface. ∇ s is the surface gradient operator

T
∇ s = ( I – nn )∇

The δ-function is approximated by a smooth function according to

458 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 δ = 6 ∇φ φ ( 1 – φ )

The Surface Tension Force for the Phase Field Method

The surface tension force for the phase field method is implemented as a body force

∂f
F st =  G – ------ ∇φ
 ∂φ

where G is the chemical potential (SI unit: J/m3) defined in The Equations for the
Phase Field Method and ∂f ⁄ ∂φ is a user-defined source of free energy. If Include surface
tension gradient effects in surface tension force is selected, extra terms are added to
account for the Marangoni effect due to gradients in the surface tension coefficient
(see Ref. 6):

2
∂f  ∇φ 2 ( φ 2 – 1 ) 
F st =  G – ------ ∇φ +  ------------- + ---------------------- ∇λ – ( ∇λ ⋅ ∇φ )∇φ
 ∂φ  2 ∂φ 4ε 2 

The Gravity Force

The gravity force is Fg = ρg where g is the gravity vector. Add this as a Gravity feature
to the fluid domain.

The User Defined Volume Force

When using a Phase Field interface, a force arising due to a user-defined source of free
energy is computed according to:

∂f
F ext =   ∇φ
∂φ

This force is added when a φ -derivative of the external free energy has been defined in
the External Free Energy section of the Fluid Properties feature.

Conservative and Nonconservative Formulations

When the velocity field is divergence free, you can use either the conservative or the
nonconservative formulation of the level set or phase field equation. The conservative
form perfectly conserves the mass of each fluid, but the computational time is generally
longer.

When the Level Set or Phase Field interface are coupled to a fluid flow interface by
means of The Two-Phase Flow, Level Set Coupling Feature or The Two-Phase Flow,
Phase Field Coupling Feature, improved conservation of the integral of the level set or

THEORY FOR THE TWO-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 459

 phase field variable is obtained using the nonconservative form provided that the
discretization order of the level set or phase field variable is equal to or lower than the
order of the pressure.

Phase Initialization
If the study type Transient with Phase Initialization is used in the model, the level set
or phase field variable is automatically initialized. For this study, two study steps are
created, Phase Initialization and Time Dependent. The Phase Initialization step solves
for the distance to the initial interface, Dwi. The Time Dependent step then uses the
initial condition for the level set function according to the following expression:

1
φ 0 = -----------------------
D ⁄ε
-
1 + e wi

in domains initially filled with Fluid 1 and

1
φ 0 = -------------------------
–D ⁄ ε
-
1 + e wi

in domains initially filled with Fluid 2.

Correspondingly, for the phase field method the following expressions are used:

D wi
φ 0 = – tanh  ----------
2ε

in Fluid 1 and

D wi
φ 0 = tanh  ----------
 2ε

460 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

in Fluid 2. The initial condition for the help variable is ψ0 = 0. These expressions are
based on the analytical solution of the steady state solution of Equation 7-5,
Equation 7-6, and Equation 7-7 for a straight, non-moving interface.

For the initialization to work it is crucial that there are two Initial Values
nodes and one Initial Interface node. One of the Initial Values nodes
should use Specify phase: Fluid 1 and the other Specify phase: Fluid 2. The
Initial Interface node is not default but can be added and should have all
interior boundaries where the interface is initially present as selection. If
the selection of the Initial Interface node is empty, the initialization fails.
Note that when the value of Level set variable or Phase field variable is
User defined, arbitrary user defined initial values are used. In this case, no
Initial Interface node should be added, and a Time Dependent study
should be used instead of Time Dependent with Phase Initialization.

• The Two-Phase Flow, Level Set and Phase Field Interfaces

• Studies and Solvers and Time Dependent with Phase Initialization in
the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual

Numerical Stabilization
Three types of stabilization methods are available for the flow (Navier-Stokes),
turbulence, and interface (level set or phase field) equations. Two are consistent
stabilization methods — Streamline diffusion and Crosswind diffusion — and one is
inconsistent — Isotropic diffusion.

To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Stabilization
from the Show More Options dialog box.

• The Two-Phase Flow, Level Set and Phase Field Interfaces

• Override and Contribution in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual

References for the Level Set and Phase Field Interfaces

1. E. Olsson and G. Kreiss, “A Conservative Level Set Method for Two Phase Flow”,
J. Comput. Phys., vol. 210, pp. 225–246, 2005.

THEORY FOR THE TWO-PHASE FLOW INTERFACES | 461

 2. P. Yue, J.J. Feng, C. Liu, and J. Shen, “A Diffuse-interface Method for Simulating
Two-phase Flows of Complex Fluids”, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 515, pp. 293–317, 2004.

3. B. Lafaurie, C. Nardone, R. Scardovelli, S. Zaleski, and G. Zanetti “Modelling

Merging and Fragmentation in Multiphase Flows with SURFER.”, J. Comput. Phys.,
vol. 113, no. 1, pp. 134–147, 1994.

4. Y. D. Shikhmurzaev, “The Moving Contact line on a Smooth Solid Surface”,

Int. J. Multiph. Flow, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 589–610, 1993.

5. J. F. Gerbeau and T. Lelièvre, “Generalized Navier Boundary Condition and

Geometric Conservation Law for surface tension”,
Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng, vol. 198, no. 5-8, pp. 644–656, 2009.

6. C. Liu, J. Shen, J. J. Feng, and P. Yue, “Variational Approach in Two-Phase Flows

of Complex Fluids: Transport and Induced Elastic Stress”, Chapter 11 in
Mathematical Models and Methods in Phase Transitions, Alan Miranville, ed, Nova
Publishers, pp. 259-278, 2005.

462 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Theory for the Three-Phase Flow
Interface
The Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field interface can be used to model the flow and
interaction of three different, immiscible fluids, when the exact positions of the
interfaces separating the fluids are of interest. The fluid-fluid interfaces are tracked
using a ternary phase field formulation which account for differences in the fluids’
densities and viscosities and include the effects of surface tension.

The Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface theory is described in the following
sections:

• Governing Equations of the Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface

• Reference for the Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface

Governing Equations of the Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface

LAMINAR FLOW EQUATIONS

The Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field interface is used to study the evolution of three
immiscible fluid phases denoted by fluid A, fluid B, and fluid C. The interface solves
the Navier-Stokes equations governing conservation of momentum and mass. The
momentum equations solved correspond to

∂u T 2
ρ + ρ ( u ⋅ ∇ )u = ∇ ⋅ – p I + μ ( ∇u + ∇u ) – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u ) I + F st + F (7-8)
∂t 3

where Fst is the surface tension force. The physics interface assumes that the density
of each phase is constant. The density may however vary between the phases. In order
to accurately handle systems where density of the phases are significantly different, as
well as systems with phases of similar density, the following fully compressible
continuity equation is solved by the interface

∂--------------
log ρ-
+ ∇ ⋅ u + u ⋅ ∇ log ρ = 0 (7-9)
∂t

THEORY FOR THE THREE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACE | 463

 TERNARY PHASE FIELD EQUATIONS
In order to track the interfaces between three immiscible fluids, a ternary phase field
model based on the work of Boyer and co-workers in Ref. 1 is used. The model solves
the following Cahn-Hilliard equations

∂φ M
--------i + ∇ ⋅ ( uφ i ) = ∇ ⋅  -------0- ∇η i
∂t  Σi 
(7-10)
4Σ T 1  ∂F ∂F   3
 ----
η i = ----------
ε  - -------- – -------- – --- εΣ ∇ 2 φ i
 Σ j  ∂φ i ∂φ j  4 j
j≠i

governing the phase field variable, φi, and a generalized chemical potential, ηi, of each
phase i = A, B, C. The phase field variables vary between 0 and 1 and are a measure
of the concentration of each phase. The phase field variable for phase A is one in
instances containing only this phase, and zero where there is no phase A. Since the
fluids are immiscible, variations in the phase field variable occur, and define the
interface separating two phases. At each point the phase field variables satisfy the
following constraint

 φi = 1 (7-11)
i = A, B , C

The density of each phase is assumed to be constant which implies that the phase field
variable corresponds to the volume fraction of the phase in question. In order to satisfy
Equation 7-11, two sets of the equations shown in Equation 7-10 are solved, namely
those for phase A and phase B. The phase field variable, and correspondingly the mass
fraction, for fluid C is computed from Equation 7-11.

The density and viscosity of the fluid mixture used in Equation 7-3 and 7-4 are defined
as:

ρ = ρA φA + ρB φB + ρC φC
(7-12)
μ = μA φA + μB φB + μC φC

Free energy
The free energy of the three phase system is defined as a function of the phase field
variables in the manner of:

464 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 2 2 2 2 2 2
F = σ AB φ A φ B + σ AC φ A φ C + σ BC φ B φ C +
(7-13)
2 2 2
φ A φ B φ C ( Σ A φ A + Σ B φ B + Σ C φ C ) + Λφ A φ B φ C

Here the σij denotes the surface tension coefficient of the interface separating phase i
and j, and the capillary parameters Σi are defined for each phase in the manner of:

Σ A = σ AB + σ AC – σ BC
Σ B = σ AB + σ BC – σ AC (7-14)
Σ C = σ BC + σ AC – σ AB

Λ in the free energy is a function or parameter specifying the additional free bulk
energy of the system. By default Λ is zero. In this case it can be seen that the free energy
in Equation 7-13 represents the mixing energy, since only interfaces between two
phases (where two phase field variables varies between the limiting values) contributes
to the free energy.

Ternary Phase Field parameters

In Equation 7-10, ε (SI unit: 1/m) is a parameter controlling the interface thickness,
M0 (SI unit: m3/s) is a molecular mobility parameter, and the parameter ΣT is defined
as

3 1 1 1
------ = ------- + ------- + ------- (7-15)
ΣT ΣA ΣB ΣC

When using the interface it is recommended that the parameter ε is given a value in the
same order as the elements in the regions passed by the fluid-fluid interfaces. The
mobility determines the time scale of the Cahn-Hilliard diffusion and must be large
enough to retain a constant interfacial thickness, but small enough to avoid damping
the convective transport. In order to ensure that the mobility is in the correct range,
it is recommended to a apply a mobility parameter such that the following holds
approximately

–2
M 0 = L c U c ε ⋅ 10 (7-16)

where Lc and Uc are the characteristic length and velocity scales of the system at hand.

SURFACE TENSION
The surface tension force applied in the momentum equations (Equation 7-3) as a
body force computed from the generalized chemical potentials:

THEORY FOR THE THREE-PHASE FLOW INTERFACE | 465

 F st =  η i ∇φ i (7-17)
i = A , B, C

Reference for the Three-Phase Flow, Phase Field Interface

1. F. Boyer, C. Lapuerta, S. Minjeaud, B. Piar, and M. Quintard,
“Cahn-Hilliard/Navier-Stokes model for the simulation of three-phase flows”,
Transport in Porous Media, vol. 28, pp. 463–484, 2010.

466 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Theory for the Bubbly Flow
Interfaces
The Bubbly Flow interfaces are suitable for macroscopic modeling of mixtures of
liquids and gas bubbles. These physics interfaces solve for the averaged volume fraction
occupied by each of the two phases, rather than tracking each bubble in detail. Each
phase has its own velocity field.

In this section:

• The Bubbly Flow Equations

• Turbulence Modeling in Bubbly Flow Applications
• References for the Bubbly Flow Interfaces

The Bubbly Flow Equations

The two-fluid Euler-Euler Model is a general, macroscopic model for two-phase fluid
flow. It treats the two phases as interpenetrating media, tracking the averaged
concentration of the phases. One velocity field is associated with each phase. A
momentum balance equation and a continuity equation describe the dynamics of each
of the phases. The bubbly flow model is a simplification of the two-fluid model, relying
on the following assumptions:

• The gas density is negligible compared to the liquid density.

• The motion of the gas bubbles relative to the liquid is determined by a balance
between viscous drag and pressure forces.
• The two phases share the same pressure field.

Based on these assumptions, the momentum and continuity equations for the two
phases can be combined and a gas phase transport equation is kept in order to track
the volume fraction of the bubbles. The momentum equation is

∂u l
φl ρl + φ l ρ l u l ⋅ ∇u l =
∂t
(7-18)
= – ∇p + ∇ ⋅ φ l ( μ l + μ T )  ∇u l + ∇u l – --- ( ∇ ⋅ u l )I + φ l ρ l g + F
T 2
3

THEORY FOR THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 467

 In Equation 7-18, the variables are as follows:

• ul is the velocity vector (SI unit: m/s)

• p is the pressure (SI unit: Pa)
• φ is the phase volume fraction (SI unit: m3/m3)
• ρ is the density (SI unit: kg/m3)
• g is the gravity vector (SI unit: m/s2)
• F is any additional volume force (SI unit: N/m3)
• μl is the dynamic viscosity of the liquid (SI unit: Pa·s), and
• μT is the turbulent viscosity (SI unit: Pa·s)

The subscripts “l” and “g” denote quantities related to the liquid phase and the gas
phase, respectively.

The continuity equation is

∂ ρ
( φ + ρg φg ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρl φl ul + ρg φg ug ) = 0 (7-19)
∂t l l

and the gas phase transport equation is

∂ρ g φ g
--------------- + ∇ ⋅ ( φ g ρ u g ) = – m gl (7-20)
∂t g

where mgl is the mass transfer rate from the gas to the liquid (SI unit: kg/(m3·s)).

For low gas volume fractions ( φ g ∼ 0.01 ), you can replace the momentum equations,
Equation 7-18, and the continuity equation, Equation 7-19, by

∂u l
ρl + ρ l u l ⋅ ∇u l =
∂t (7-21)
T
= – ∇p + ∇ ⋅ [ ( μ l + μ T ) ( ∇u l + ∇u l ) ] + φ l ρ l g + F

ρl ∇ ⋅ ul = 0 (7-22)

By default, the Laminar Bubbly Flow interface uses Equation 7-21 and 7-22. To
switch to Equation 7-18 and 7-19, click to clear the Low gas concentration check box
under the Physical Model section.

The physics interface solves for ul, p, and

468 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 ρ̃ g = ρ g φ g

the effective gas density. The gas velocity ug is the sum of the following velocities:

u g = u l + u slip + u drift (7-23)

where uslip is the relative velocity between the phases and udrift is a drift velocity (see
Turbulence Modeling in Bubbly Flow Applications). The physics interface calculates
the gas density from the ideal gas law:

( p + p ref )M
ρ g = ------------------------------
RT

where M is the molecular weight of the gas (SI unit: kg/mol), R is the ideal gas
constant (8.314472 J/(mol·K)), pref a reference pressure (SI unit: Pa), and T is
temperature (SI unit: K). pref is a scalar variable, which by default is 1 atm (1
atmosphere or 101,325 Pa). The liquid volume fraction is calculated from

φl = 1 – φg

When there is a drift velocity, it has the form

μ̃ ∇φ g
u drift = – ---- ---------- (7-24)
ρl φg

Where μ̃ is an effective viscosity causing the drift. Inserting Equation 7-24 and
Equation 7-23 into Equation 7-20 gives

∂ρ g φ g  μ̃ρ 
--------------- + ∇ ⋅ ( φ g ρ ( u l + u slip ) ) = ∇ ⋅  ---------g ∇φ g – m gl
∂t g
 l ρ 

That is, the drift velocity introduces a diffusive term in the gas transport equation. This
is how the equation for the transport of the volume fraction of gas is actually
implemented in the physics interface.

The bubbly-flow equation formulation is relatively simple, but it can display some
nonphysical behavior. One is artificial accumulation of bubbles, for example, beneath
walls where the pressure gradient forces the bubbles upward, but the bubbles have no
place to go and there is no term in the model to prevent the volume fraction of gas
from growing. To prevent this from happening, μ̃ is set to μl in the laminar case. The
only apparent effect of this in most cases where the bubbly-flow equations are
applicable is that nonphysical accumulation of bubbles is reduced. The small effective

THEORY FOR THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 469

 viscosity in the transport equation for φ g has beneficial effects on the numerical
properties of the equation system.

MASS TRANSFER AND INTERFACIAL AREA

It is possible to account for mass transfer between the two phases by specifying an
expression for the mass transfer rate from the gas to the liquid mgl (SI unit:
kg/(m3·s)).

The mass transfer rate typically depends on the interfacial area between the two phases.
An example is when gas dissolves into a liquid. In order to determine the interfacial
area, it is necessary to solve for the bubble number density (that is, the number of
bubbles per volume) in addition to the phase volume fraction. The Bubbly Flow
interface assumes that the gas bubbles can expand or shrink but not completely vanish,
merge, or split. The conservation of the number density n (SI unit: 1/m3) then gives

∂n
+ ∇ ⋅ ( nu g ) = 0
∂t

The number density and the volume fraction of gas give the interfacial area per unit
volume (SI unit: m2/m3):

1⁄3 2⁄3
a = ( 4nπ ) ( 3φ g )

SLIP MODEL
The simplest possible approximation for the slip velocity uslip is to assume that the
bubbles always follow the liquid phase; that is, uslip = 0. This is known as
homogeneous flow.

A better model can be obtained from the momentum equation for the gas phase.
Comparing size of different terms, it can be argued that the equation can be reduced
to a balance between the viscous drag force, fD and the pressure gradient (Ref. 3), a so
called pressure-drag balance:

φ g ∇p = f D (7-25)

Here fD can be written as

3 ρl
f D = – φ g C d --- ------ u slip u slip (7-26)
4 db

where in turn db (SI unit: m) is the bubble diameter, and Cd (dimensionless) is the
viscous drag coefficient. Given Cd and db, Equation 7-25 can be used to calculate the

470 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

slip velocity. In practice, Equation 7-25 is multiplied by φ l to reduce the slip velocity
for large values of φ g .

Schwarz and Turner (Ref. 4) proposed a linearized version of Equation 7-26

appropriate for air bubbles of 1–10 mm mean diameter in water:

kg-
f D = – φ g C W u slip C W = 5 ⋅ 10 4 --------- (7-27)
m3s

The Hadamard-Rybczynski model is appropriate for small spherical bubbles with

diameter less than 2 mm, and bubble Reynolds number less than one. The model uses
the following expression for the drag coefficient (Ref. 5):

16 d b ρ l u slip
C d = ---------- , Re b = ---------------------------
Re b μl

For bubbles with diameter larger than 2 mm, the model suggested by Sokolichin,
Eigenberger, and Lapin (Ref. 1) is a more appropriate choice:

0,622
C d = -----------------------------
1
------- + 0,235
Eö

where Eö is the Eötvös number

2
gρ l d b
Eö = ---------------
σ

Here, g is the magnitude of the gravity vector and σ the surface tension coefficient.

Turbulence Modeling in Bubbly Flow Applications

For most bubbly flow applications the flow field is turbulent. In that case, use a
turbulence model and solve for the averaged velocity field. The Bubbly Flow,
Turbulent Flow interfaces include the turbulence models described in Theory for the
Turbulent Flow Interfaces, but the material properties of the liquid phase are used. In
addition to the options of the single-phase flow model, in The Bubbly Flow, k-ε
Interface, The Bubbly Flow, Realizable k-ε Interface, The Bubbly Flow, k-ω Interface,
The Bubbly Flow, SST Interface, and The Bubbly Flow, Low Re k-ε Interface it is also
possible to account for bubble-induced turbulence — that is, extra production of
turbulence due to relative motion between the gas bubbles and the liquid. The

THEORY FOR THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 471

 transport equation for the turbulent kinetic energy, k, includes a source term Sk which
accounts for bubble-induced turbulence and is given by

S k = – C k φ g ∇p ⋅ u slip

The transport equation for the turbulent energy’s dissipation rate, ε, includes the
following source term:

ε
C ε S k ---
k

The following source term is added to the transport equation for the specific
dissipation rate, ω:

ω
α ω S k ----
k

Suitable values for the model parameters Ck, Cε, and αω are not as well established as
the parameters for single-phase flow. In the literature, values within the ranges
0.01 < Ck < 1, 1 < Cε < 1.92 have been suggested (Ref. 1), and αω can be defined as
αω = Cε – 1 .

The turbulent viscosity appears in the momentum equation and when adding a drift
term to the gas velocity:

μ T ∇φ g
u drift = – ------ ----------
ρl φg

Using a turbulence model that solves for the turbulent kinetic energy, k, together with
a gas concentration that is not assumed to be low, the stress tensor contains an extra
contribution, and the momentum equations becomes

∂u l
φl ρl + φ l ρ l u l ⋅ ∇u l =
∂t
(7-28)
 T 2  2
= – ∇p + ∇ ⋅ φ l ( μ l + μ T ) ∇u l + ∇u l – --- ( ∇ ⋅ u l )I – --- φ l ρ l kI + φ l ρ l g + F
 3  3

References for the Bubbly Flow Interfaces

1. A. Sokolichin, G. Eigenberger, and A. Lapin, “Simulations of Buoyancy Driven
Bubbly Flow: Established Simplifications and Open Questions”, AIChE Journal,
vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 24–49, 2004.

472 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

2. D. Kuzmin and S. Turek, Efficient Numerical Techniques for Flow Simulation in
Bubble Column Reactors, Institute of Applied Mathematics, University of Dortmund,
2000.

3. D. Kuzmin, S. Turek, and H. Haario, Finite Element Simulation of Turbulent

Bubbly Flows in Gas-liquid Reactors, Ergebnisberichte Angew, Math, 298, University
of Dortmund, 2005.

4. M.P. Schwarz and W.J. Turner, “Applicability of the Standard k-ε Turbulence Model
to Gas-stirred Baths”, Applied Mathematical Modelling, vol. 12, pp. 273–279, 1988.

5. C. Crowe, M. Sommerfeld, and Y. Tsuji, Multiphase Flows with Droplets and

Particles, CRC Press, 1998.

THEORY FOR THE BUBBLY FLOW INTERFACES | 473

 T he o r y f o r the Mi xt u re Mod el
Interfaces
The mixture model is a macroscopic two-phase flow model, in many ways similar to
the bubbly flow model. It tracks the averaged phase concentration, or volume fraction,
and solves a single momentum equation for the mixture velocity. It is suitable for
mixtures consisting of solid particles or liquid droplets immersed in a liquid.

The Mixture Model interface theory is described in this section:

• The Mixture Model Equations

• Dispersed Phase Boundary Conditions Equations
• Turbulence Modeling in Mixture Models
• Slip Velocity Models
• References for the Mixture Model Interfaces

The Mixture Model Equations

In the Mixture Model interfaces the particle-fluid combination is regarded as a single
flowing continuum with macroscopic properties such as density and viscosity. The two
phases consist of one dispersed phase and one continuous phase. The mixture model
is valid if the continuous phase is a liquid, and the dispersed phase consists of solid
particles, liquid droplets, or gas bubbles. For gas bubbles in a liquid, however, the
bubbly flow model is preferable. The mixture model relies on the following
assumptions:

• The density of each phase is approximately constant.

• Both phases share the same pressure field.
• The particle relaxation time is short compared to the time-scales of the macroscopic
flow.

The mixture density is given by

ρ = φc ρc + φd ρd

474 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

where

• φ c and φ d denote the volume fractions of the continuous phase and the dispersed
phase (SI unit: m3/m3), respectively
• ρc is the continuous phase density (SI unit: kg/m3), and
• ρd is the dispersed phase density (SI unit: kg/m3).

The volume flux for each phase is

jd = φd ud

jc = φc uc

where uc and ud (SI unit: m/s) are the continuous and the dispersed phase velocity
vectors, respectively.

In previous versions of COMSOL Multiphysics (prior to version 5.4, see Mass

averaged mixture velocity), the mixture velocity used was the mass-averaged mixture
velocity u (SI unit: m/s), defined as

φc ρc uc + φd ρd ud
u = -------------------------------------------- (7-29)
ρ

The mixture velocity used here is the volume-averaged flux density, or

volume-averaged mixture velocity j (SI unit: m/s), defined as

j = jd + jc

The continuity equation for the mixture is

ρ t + ∇ ⋅ ( ρu ) = 0 (7-30)

In the Mixture Model interfaces it is assumed that the densities of both phases, ρc and
ρd, are constant, and therefore the following alternative form of the continuity
equation for the mixture is used

∇ ⋅ j = m dc  ----- – ------
1 1
(7-31)
 ρ c ρ d

The momentum equation for the mixture is

THEORY FOR THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 475

 ρj t + ρ ( j ⋅ ∇ )j + ρ c ε ( j slip ⋅ ∇ )j = – ∇ p – ∇ ⋅ τ Gm + ρg + F
T
– ∇ ⋅ [ ρ c ( 1 + φ c ε )u slip j slip ]

– ρ c ε ( j ⋅ ∇ )j slip + ( ∇ ⋅ ( D md ∇φ d ) )j + j slip m dc  ----- – ------

1 1
 ρ c ρ d

where:

• j is the velocity vector (SI unit: m/s)

• ρ is the density (SI unit: kg/m3)
• p is the pressure (SI unit: Pa)
• ε is the reduced density difference (SI unit: kg/kg)
• uslip is the slip velocity vector between the two phases (SI unit: m/s)
• jslip is the slip flux (SI unit: m/s)
• τGm is the sum of the viscous and turbulent stresses (SI unit: kg/(m·s2))
• Dmd is a turbulent dispersion coefficient (SI unit: m2/s)
• mdc is the mass transfer rate from the dispersed to the continuous phase (SI unit:
kg/(m3·s))
• g is the gravity vector (SI unit: m/s2), and
• F is any additional volume force (SI unit: N/m3)

The slip flux is defined for convenience as,

j slip = φ d φ c u slip (7-32)

Here, uslip (SI unit: m/s) denotes the relative velocity between the two phases. For
different available models for the slip velocity, see Slip Velocity Models.

The reduced density difference ε is given by

ρd – ρc
ε = -----------------
ρc

The sum of the viscous and turbulent stresses is

T 2 2
τ Gm = ( μ + μ T ) [ ∇j + ∇j ] – --- ( μ + μ T ) ( ∇ ⋅ j )I – --- ρkI (7-33)
3 3

476 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

where μ (SI unit: Pa·s) is the mixture viscosity, μT (SI unit: Pa·s) the turbulent viscosity,
and k (SI unit: m2/s2) is the turbulent kinetic energy, when available. If no turbulence
model is used, μT and k equal zero

The transport equation for φ d , the dispersed phase volume fraction, is

∂ φ
( ρ ) + ∇ ⋅ ( φ d ρ d u d ) = ∇ ⋅ ( ρ d D md ∇φ d ) – m dc (7-34)
∂t d d

where mdc (SI unit: kg/(m3·s)) is the mass transfer rate from the dispersed to the
continuous phase and Dmd is a turbulent dispersion coefficient (SI unit: m2/s) (see
Turbulence Modeling in Mixture Models), accounting for extra diffusion due to
turbulent eddies. When a turbulence model is not used, Dmd is zero. Assuming
constant density for the dispersed phase and using Equation 7-31, Equation 7-34 can
be rewritten as

∂ φ m dc ρ
( ) + j ⋅ ∇φ d + ∇ ⋅ ( j slip ) = ∇ ⋅ ( D md ∇φ d ) – -------------- (7-35)
∂t d ρd ρc

The continuous phase volume fraction φ c is

φc = 1 – φd

MASS TRANSFER AND INTERFACIAL AREA

It is possible to account for mass transfer between the two phases by specifying an
expression for the mass transfer rate from the dispersed phase to the continuous mdc
(SI unit: kg/(m3·s)).

The mass transfer rate typically depends on the interfacial area between the two phases.
An example is when gas dissolves into a liquid. In order to determine the interfacial
area, it is necessary to solve for the dispersed phase number density (that is, the number
of particles per volume) in addition to the phase volume fraction. The Mixture Model
interface assumes that the particles can increase or decrease in size but not completely
vanish, merge, or split. The conservation of the number density n (SI unit: 1/m3) then
gives

∂n
+ j ⋅ ∇n + ∇ ⋅ ( nφ c u slip ) = ∇ ⋅ ( D md ∇n ) – nm dc  ----- – ------
1 1
∂t  ρ c ρ d

The number density and the volume fraction dispersed particles give the interfacial area
per unit volume (SI unit: m2/m3):

THEORY FOR THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 477

 1⁄3 2⁄3
a = ( 4nπ ) ( 3φ d )

MASS AVERAGED MIXTURE VELOCITY

In previous versions of COMSOL Multiphysics (prior to version 5.4), the mixture
velocity used was the mass-averaged mixture velocity u (SI unit: m/s), see
Equation 7-29. The continuity equation was

m dc
( ρ c – ρ d ) ∇ ⋅ ( φ d ( 1 – c d )u slip – D md ∇φ d ) + ---------- + ρ c ( ∇ ⋅ u ) = 0 (7-36)
ρd

and the transport equation for φ d was

∂ (φ ) + ∇ ⋅ (φ u ) m dc
d
----------
d d = ∇ ⋅ ( D md ∇φ d ) – ρ (7-37)
∂t d

The dispersed phase velocity vector ud and the mass fraction of the dispersed phase cd
are given by

u d = u + ( 1 – c d )u slip

φd ρd
c d = ------------
ρ

The continuity equation Equation 7-36 is incompatible with the no-penetration

condition of u at the walls, and u is not divergence-free. The volume-averaged velocity
j is solenoidal and Equation 7-31 is compatible with the no-penetration condition at
the walls (as long as there is no mass transfer or the densities of the two phases are
equal).

Dispersed Phase Boundary Conditions Equations

In addition to the boundary conditions for the mixture, specify boundary conditions
for the dispersed phase on Wall, Inlet, and Outlet nodes. For these boundary types, the
boundary condition’s Settings window contains a Dispersed Phase Boundary
Condition section.

DISPERSED PHASE CONCENTRATION

This is the default for the Inlet node. Specify the dispersed phase volume fraction:

φ d = φ d0

478 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Enter the Dispersed phase volume fraction (dimensionless) in the φ d0 field.

If Solve for interfacial area is selected under the Physical Model section, the dispersed
phase number density is also specified. The dispersed phase number density can be
specified directly,

n = n0

or, when Diameter of particles/droplets is selected, computed from the diameter of

particles and droplets dd:

φ d0
n = 6 ---------3-
πd d

DISPERSED PHASE OUTLET

This is the default for the Outlet node. This boundary condition is appropriate for
boundaries where the dispersed phase leaves the domain with the dispersed phase
velocity ud. No condition is imposed on the volume fractions at the boundary.

A corresponding flux condition is also applied for the number density equation (when
Solve for interfacial area is selected under the Physical Model section).

DISPERSED PHASE FLUX

Using this boundary condition, specify the dispersed phase flux through the boundary:

–n ⋅ ( φd ud ) = Nφd

Enter the Dispersed phase flux (SI unit: m/s) in the N φ d field.

If Solve for interfacial area is selected under the Physical Model section, the number
density flux through the boundary is also specified:

– n ⋅ ( nu d ) = N n d

SYMMETRY
This boundary condition, which is useful on boundaries that represent a symmetry line
for the dispersed phase, sets the dispersed phase flux through the boundary to zero:

n ⋅ ( φd ud ) = 0

A corresponding flux condition is also applied for the number density equation (when
Solve for interfacial area is selected under the Physical Model section).

THEORY FOR THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 479

 NO DISPERSED FLUX
This is the default for the Wall node. This boundary condition represents boundaries
where the dispersed phase flux through the boundary is zero:

n ⋅ ( φd ud ) = 0

In the case of moving Wall and Interior Wall, the dispersed flux through the boundary
is:

n ⋅ ( φd ud ) = n ⋅ ( φd j )

This implies that the flux, relative to the boundary motion, is zero. A corresponding
flux condition is also applied for the number density equation (when Solve for
interfacial area is selected under the Physical Model section).

Turbulence Modeling in Mixture Models

Turbulence modeling is particularly relevant for dilute flows, that is, for flows with a
low dispersed phase volume fraction. For dense flows, the mixture viscosity usually
becomes high. In such cases, the flow is laminar and no turbulence modeling is
necessary.

The Mixture Model, Turbulent Flow interfaces include the turbulence models
described in Theory for the Turbulent Flow Interfaces.

The turbulence must be accounted for in the calculation of the dispersed phase volume
fraction. This is accomplished by introducing a turbulent dispersion coefficient Dmd
(SI unit: m2/s) in Equation 7-35 as

μT
D md = ----------
ρσ T

where σT is the turbulent particle Schmidt number (dimensionless). The particle

Schmidt number is usually suggested a value ranging from 0.35 to 0.7. In the physics
interface the default value is 0.35. The so-called drift velocity is included in
Equation 7-35 as a diffusion term

∂ φ m dc ρ
( ) + j ⋅ ∇φ d + ∇ ⋅ ( j slip ) = ∇ ⋅ ( D md ∇φ d ) – --------------
∂t d ρd ρc

Similarly, the number density equation (used to compute the interfacial area) for
turbulent flow corresponds to

480 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 ∂n
+ j ⋅ ∇n + ∇ ⋅ ( nφ c u slip ) = ∇ ⋅ ( D md ∇n ) – nm dc  ----- – ------
1 1
∂t  ρ c ρ d

The inclusion of the drift velocity in Equation 7-35 modifies the flux of the dispersed
phase. The effective dispersed phase flux jd,eff and velocity ud,eff are given by

j d, eff = j d – D md ∇φ d

D md
u d, eff = u d – ------------ ∇φ d
φd

jd,eff and ud,eff are available in the physics interface as [Link] and [Link].

Slip Velocity Models

The Mixture Model interfaces contain three predefined models for the relative velocity
between the two phases uslip (SI unit: m/s):

• The Schiller-Naumann model

• The Haider-Levenspiel model
• The Hadamard-Rybczynski model

All three models use the following relation for the slip velocity:

C ( ρ – ρd ) 
----
3 - – j – ( j ⋅ ∇ )j + g + F
--- ------d- u slip u slip = – ------------------- (7-38)
4 dd ρc  t ρ

where Cd (dimensionless) is the particle drag coefficient. Essentially, interpret the

relation as a balance between viscous drag and buoyancy forces acting on the dispersed
phase.

The Schiller-Naumann model models the drag coefficient according to

 24- 0,687
 --------- ( 1 + 0,15Re p ) Re p < 1000
Cd =  Re p

 0,44 Re p > 1000

where Rep is the particle Reynolds number

d d ρ c u slip
Re p = ---------------------------
μ

THEORY FOR THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 481

 Note that this definition of the particle Reynolds number uses the viscosity of the
mixture and not the viscosity of the continuous phase, as would be customary for a
single particle in a pure fluid with viscosity μc. This choice incorporates the hindrance
effect of the other particles on the slip velocity, see Ref. 4.

Because the particle Reynolds number depends on the slip velocity, an implicit
equation must be solved to obtain the slip velocity. Therefore, the Mixture Model
interfaces add an additional equation for

2
u slip

when the Schiller-Naumann slip model is used. The Schiller-Naumann model is

particularly well-suited for solid particles in a liquid.

The Haider-Levenspiel model is applicable to nonspherical particles. It models the

drag coefficient according to

B ( Sp ) C ( Sp )
C d = ----------  1 + A ( S p )Re p  + ----------------------------------------
24 -
Re p   1 + D ( S p ) ⁄ Re p

where A, B, C, and D are empirical correlations of the particle sphericity. The sphericity
is defined as the ratio of the surface area of a volume equivalent sphere to the surface
area of the considered nonspherical particle

A sphere
0 < S p = ------------------ ≤ 1
A particle

The correlation coefficients are given by

2.3288-6.4581S p + 2.4486S p2
A ( Sp ) = e
B ( S p ) = 0.0964+0.5565S p
4.905-13.8944S p + 18.4222S p2 – 10.2599S p3
C ( Sp ) = e
1.4681 + 12.2584S p – 20.7322S p2 + 15.8855S p3
D ( Sp ) = e

The diameter used in the particle Reynolds number is that of the volume equivalent
sphere. The equation for the squared slip velocity is also added when the
Haider-Levenspiel slip model is used.

482 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

The Hadamard-Rybczynski drag law is valid for particle Reynolds numbers less than
1, for particles, bubbles, and droplets. The drag coefficient for liquid droplets or
bubbles is

 2 μ c-
 1 + --3- -----μ d
C d = ----------  --------------------
24
Re p  μ 
 1 + -----c- 
 μd 

which yields the following explicit expression for the slip velocity

 μc 
1 + ------ 
ρ d )d d 
2
(ρ – μd
= – ---------------------------  --------------------  – j t – ( j ⋅ ∇ )j + g + ----
F
u slip
18μ μ ρ
1 + 2 --- -----c-
 3 μ d

For solid particles, the slip velocity is given by

2
( ρ – ρ d )d d
u slip = – ---------------------------  – j t – ( j ⋅ ∇ )j + g + ----
F
18μ  ρ

when Rep < 1. For very small gas bubbles, the drag coefficient is observed to be closer
to the solid-particle value. This is believed to be caused by surface-active impurities
collecting on the bubble surface.

References for the Mixture Model Interfaces

1. M. Manninen, V. Taivassalo, and S. Kallio, On the Mixture Model for Multiphase
Flow, VTT Publications, 288, VTT Energy, Nuclear Energy, Technical Research
Center of Finland (VTT), 1996.

2. C. Crowe, M. Sommerfeld, and Y. Tsuji, Multiphase Flows with Droplets and

Particles, CRC Press, 1998.

3. M.S. Nigam, “Numerical Simulation of Buoyant Mixture Flows,” Int. Jour. of

Multi. Flow., vol. 29, pp. 983–1015, 2003.

4. M. Ungarish, Hydrodynamics of suspensions, Springer-Verlag, 1993.

THEORY FOR THE MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 483

 Theory for the Euler-Euler Model
Interfaces
The Euler-Euler Model interfaces are based on averaging the Navier-Stokes equations
for each present phase over a volume that is small compared to the computational
domain but large compared to the dispersed phase (particles, droplets, or bubbles).
The two phases, the continuous and the dispersed phase, are assumed to behave as two
continuous and interpenetrating fluids, and the physics interface solves one set of
momentum equations for each phase.

In this section:

• The Euler-Euler Model Equations

• Turbulent Two-Phase Flow Modeling
• References for the Euler-Euler Model Interfaces

The Euler-Euler Model Equations

MASS BALANCE
Assuming that the mass transfer between the two phases is zero, the following
continuity relations hold for the continuous and dispersed phases (Ref. 3):

∂ ρ
( φ ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρc φc uc ) = 0 (7-39)
∂t c c

∂ ρ
( φ ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρd φd ud ) = 0 (7-40)
∂t d d

Here φ (dimensionless) denotes the phase volume fraction, ρ (SI unit: kg/m3) is the
density, and u (SI unit: m/s) the velocity of each phase. The subscripts c and d denote
quantities relating to the continuous and the dispersed and phase, respectively. The
following relation between the volume fractions must hold

φc = 1 – φd

Both phases are considered to be incompressible, in which case Equation 7-39 and
Equation 7-40 can be simplified as:

484 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 ∂φ d
+ ∇ ⋅ ( φd ud ) = 0 (7-41)
∂t

∂φ c
+ ∇ ⋅ ( φc uc ) = 0 (7-42)
∂t

If Equation 7-41 and Equation 7-42 are added together, a continuity equation for the
mixture is obtained:

∇ ⋅ ( φd ud + uc ( 1 – φd ) ) = 0 (7-43)

In order to control the mass balance of the two phases, the Euler-Euler Model
interfaces solves Equation 7-41 together with Equation 7-43. Equation 7-41 is used
to compute the volume fraction of the dispersed phase, and Equation 7-43 is used to
compute the mixture pressure.

MOMENTUM BALANCE
The momentum equations for the continuous and dispersed phases, using the
nonconservative forms (see for example Ref. 3 or Ref. 9), are:

∂
ρc φc ( u ) + u c ∇ ⋅ ( u c ) = – φ c ∇p + φ c ∇ ⋅ τ c + φ c ρ c g + F m,c + φ c F c (7-44)
∂t c

∂
ρd φd ( u ) + u d ∇ ⋅ ( u d ) = – φ d ∇p + φ d ∇ ⋅ τ d + φ d ρ d g + F m,d + φ d F d (7-45)
∂t d

Here p (SI unit: Pa) is the mixture pressure, which is assumed to be equal for the two
phases. In the momentum equations the viscous stress tensor for each phase is denoted
by τ (SI unit: Pa), g (SI unit: m/s2) is the vector of gravitational acceleration, Fm
(SI unit: N/m3) is the interphase momentum transfer term (that is, the volume force
exerted on each phase by the other phase), and F (SI unit: N/m3) is any other volume
force term.

In these equations, the influence of surface tension in the case of liquid phases has been
neglected, and the potential size distribution of the dispersed particles or droplets is
not considered.

For fluid-solid mixtures where ρ d » ρ c , Equation 7-45 is modified in the manner of

Enwald (Ref. 5)

THEORY FOR THE EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES | 485

 ∂
ρd φd ( u ) + ud ∇ ⋅ ( ud ) =
∂t d (7-46)
– φ d ∇p – ∇p s + φ d ρ d g + F m,d + φ d F d

where ps (SI unit: Pa) is the solid pressure.

The fluid phases in the above equations are assumed to be Newtonian and the viscous
stress tensors are defined as

τ c = μ cm  ∇u c + ( ∇u c ) – --- ( ∇ ⋅ u c )I
T 2
 3 

τ d = μ dm  ∇u d + ( ∇u d ) – --- ( ∇ ⋅ u d )I
T 2
3

where μ cm and μ dm (SI unit: Pa·s) are the dynamic viscosity model of the respective
phase. Observe how the viscous terms in equation Equation 7-44 and Equation 7-45
appear with their volume fractions outside the divergence operators. The equations can
also be derived so that the terms read ∇ ⋅ ( φ c τ c ) and ∇ ⋅ ( φ d τ d ) instead (see for
example Ref. 4 or Ref. 5). It depends on exactly how the derivation is carried out.
formulation in Equation 7-44 and Equation 7-45 are so that the momentum equation
can be divided by φ c and φ d respectively as described below.

In order to avoid singular solutions when the volume fractions tend to zero, the
governing equations above are divided by the corresponding volume fraction. The
implemented momentum equation for the continuous phase is:

∂ F m,c
ρ c (u c) + ρ c u c ∇ ⋅ ( u c ) = – ∇p + ∇ ⋅ τ c + ρ c g + ----------- + F c
∂t φc

The implemented momentum equations for the dispersed phase in the case of
dispersed liquid droplets or bubbles is:

∂ F m,d
ρ d (u d) + ρ d u d ∇ ⋅ ( u d ) = – ∇p + ∇ ⋅ τ d + ρ d g + ------------ + F d (7-47)
∂t φd

and in the case of dispersed solid particles:

∂ ∇p s F m,d
ρd ( u ) + ρ d u d ∇ ⋅ ( u d ) = – ∇p – --------- + ρ d g + ------------ + F d (7-48)
∂t d φd φd

486 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

VISCOSITY MODELS
The Newtonian viscosities of interpenetrating media are not readily available. Instead
empirical and analytical models for the dynamic viscosity of the two-phase mixture
have been developed by various researchers, usually as a function of the dispersed
volume fraction. Using an expression for the mixture viscosity, the default values for
the dynamic viscosities of the two interpenetrating phases are taken to be:

μ cm = μ dm = μ mix (7-49)

A simple mixture viscosity covering the entire range of particle concentrations is the
Krieger type model (Ref. 5):

φ d – 2.5φ d,max
μ mix = μ c  1 – --------------- (7-50)
 φ d,max

Here φ d,max is the maximum packing limit, by default 0.62 for solid particles.
Equation 7-50 can be applied when μ c « μ d . An extension of Equation 7-50 can be
applied for liquid droplets/bubbles:

μ d + 0.4μ c
– 2.5φ d,max -------------------------
-
φd μd + μc
μ mix = μ c  1 – --------------- (7-51)
 φ d,max

For liquid droplets/bubbles the default value of φ d,max is 1.

For fluid-fluid systems, the simple relation

μ mix = φ c μ c + φ d μ d (7-52)

can sometimes be applied or the viscosity for each individual phase can be applied to
the respective momentum equation.

An alternative to mixture viscosity for dispersed solid particles, that is particles in gas
flow, is to model the particle interface with a solid pressure instead (see Solid Pressure).
A small viscosity is however necessary for numerical robustness and Gidaspow (Ref. 6)
suggested to use

μ dm = 0.5max ( φ d, φ d,res ) (7-53)

This is consistent with the requirement that μ dm → 0 when φ d → 0 (Ref. 9), but in
practice it can suffice with any small enough, nonzero value.

THEORY FOR THE EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES | 487

 INTERPHASE MOMENTUM TRANSFER
In all the equations, Fm denotes the interphase momentum transfer, that is the force
imposed on one phase by the other phase. Considering a particle, droplet, or bubble
in a fluid flow, it is affected by a number of forces, for example, the drag force, the
added mass force, the Basset force, and the lift force. The most important force is
usually the drag force, especially in fluids with a high concentration of dispersed solids,
and hence this is the predefined force included in the Euler-Euler model. The drag
force added to the momentum equation is defined as:

·
F drag,c = – F drag,d = βu slip (7-54)

where β is a drag force coefficient and the slip velocity is defined as

u slip = u d – u c

The drag force on the dispersed phase is equal to the one on the
continuous phase but is working in the opposite direction.

The drag force coefficient, β, is for solid particles often written as (Ref. 2)

3
β = ---------- φ d C D ρ c u slip (7-55)
4d d

For fluid-fluid system, Equation 7-55 is regularized to read (Ref. 12)

3
β = ---------- φ d φ c C D ρ c u slip (7-56)
4d d

which is consistent with a vanishing β if φ c → 0 . All drag force models except

Gidaspow are based on Equation 7-55 for solid particles and on Equation 7-56 for
bubbles and droplets.

Gidaspow
For dense particle flows with a high concentration of the dispersed phase — for
example, in fluidized bed models — the Gidaspow model (Ref. 6) for the drag
coefficient can be used. It combines the Wen and Yu (Ref. 7) fluidized state expression:

For φ c > 0.8

3φ c φ d ρ c C d – 2.65
β = ---------------------------- u slip φ c (7-57)
4d d

488 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

with the Ergun (Ref. 8) packed bed expression:

For φ c < 0.8

2
μc φd φd ρc
β = 150 -----------2- + 1.75 ----------- u slip (7-58)
φc dd dd

In the above equations, dd (SI unit: m) is the dispersed particle diameter, and Cd is the
drag coefficient for a single dispersed particle. The drag coefficient is in general a
function of the particle Reynolds number

d d ρ c u slip
Re p = --------------------------
μc

No universally valid expression for the drag coefficient exists. Using the implemented
Gidaspow model, Cd is computed using the Schiller-Naumann relation.

Schiller-Naumann
The Schiller-Naumann model describes the drag coefficient in Equation 7-55 and
Equation 7-56 for a single rigid sphere (see for example Ref. 3)

 24- 0.687
 --------- ( 1 + 0.15Re p ) Re p < 1000
Cd =  Re p (7-59)

 0.44 Re p > 1000

It is valid for particle Reynolds numbers up to some critical Reynolds number,

approximately equal to 2.5·105 where drag crisis occurs.

The Schiller-Naumann model is appropriate for diluted flows since the correlation in
Equation 7-59 is based on a single particle and does not take particle-particle
interaction into account.

The Schiller-Naumann model can be applied to small fluid particles since they do not
deform significantly.

Hadamard-Rybczynski
The Hadamard-Rybczynski drag law is valid for dilute flows with particle Reynolds
number less than one for particles, bubbles, and droplets and is defined as:

THEORY FOR THE EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES | 489

  2 μ c-
 1 + --3- -----μ d
C d = ----------  --------------------
24
Re p  μ 
 1 + -----c- 
 μd 

for bubbles and droplets and as

24
C d = ----------
Re p

for solid particles (the Stokes limit). For very small gas bubbles, the drag coefficient is
observed to be closer to the solid-particle value. This is believed to be caused by
surface-active impurities collecting on the bubble surface.

Ishii-Zuber
The Ishii-Zuber model (Ref. 10) can for solid particles be regarded as a generalization
of the Schiller-Naumann model. For solid particles it can be formulated as

 24 1 + 17.67f ( φ d ) 6 / 7 
0.75 ], 0.45 ----------------------------------------------
C D = max  ----------- [ 1 + 0.1Re m  (7-60)
 Re m 18.67f ( φ d ) 

where

f ( φd ) = φc ( μc ⁄ μm ) (7-61)

and Rem is a Reynolds number based on the mixture viscosity

d d ρ c u slip
Re m = -------------------------- (7-62)
μm

The Ishii-Zuber model is formulated with the assumption that μ m is described by a

Krieger type model (Equation 7-50 for solids or Equation 7-51 for droplets and
bubbles). The dependence on μ m means that the Ishii-Zuber model is valid also for
dense suspensions.

For bubbles and droplets, Ishii and Zuber identifies three regimes. At low Reynolds
numbers, bubbles and droplets behave in the same way as solid particles and the drag
coefficient can be described by

24
C D, visc = ----------- [ 1 + 0.1Re m
0.75 ] (7-63)
Re m

490 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

When the Reynolds number becomes higher, bubbles and droplets start to deform in
such a way that the drag coefficient increases linearly with diameter but is independent
of viscosity. Ishii and Zuber refer to this as the distorted particle regime and suggest
the following correlation for this regime:

2 1 + 17.67f ( φ d ) 6 / 7
C D, dist = --- Eo ---------------------------------------------- (7-64)
3 18.67f ( φ d )

where Eo is the Eötvös number

g ρ c – ρ d d d2
Eo = ------------------------------- (7-65)
σ

where in turn g is the gravitational constant and σ is the surface tension coefficient.
The Eötvös number relates surface tension forces to gravitational forces. The second,
“distorted” regime ends when hydrodynamic instabilities prevents the drag from
increasing further and the distorted regime is capped by the following value:

8
C D, cap = --- φ c2 (7-66)
3

The complete model for bubbles and droplets can hence be written:

 C D, visc if C D, visc ≥ C D, dist

CD =  (7-67)
 min ( C
 D, dist, C D, cap ) if C D, visc < C D, dist

Haider-Levenspiel
The Haider-Levenspiel model is applicable to dilute flows with nonspherical solid
particles. It models the drag coefficient according to

B ( Sp ) C ( Sp )
C d = ----------  1 + A ( S p )Re p  + ----------------------------------------
24
-
Re p  1 + D ( S p ) ⁄ Re p

where A, B, C, and D are empirical correlations of the particle sphericity (see Slip
Velocity Models for further details).

Tomiyama et al.
The Tomiyama et al. (Ref. 11) provided three correlations for diluted bubbles and
droplets. The correlation for purified fluids read

THEORY FOR THE EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES | 491

  16 48 8 Eo 
C D = max  min --------- ( 1 + 0.15Re p0.687 ), --------- , --- -----------------  (7-68)
 Re p Re p 3 Eo + 4 

Fluid pure enough for Equation 7-68 to be valid is typically only achievable in
laboratory environments. Even small amounts of surface-active impurities can collect
at the droplet/bubble interface and cause a surface tension gradient which resists
surface movement. The correlation for slightly contaminated fluids therefore prescribe
a slightly higher drag coefficient:

 24 72 8 Eo 
C D = max  min --------- ( 1 + 0.15Re p0.687 ), --------- , --- -----------------  (7-69)
 Re p Re p 3 Eo + 4 

This correlation is the default one and applies to droplets and bubbles in fluids of
contamination levels comparable to ordinary tap water.

When the contamination level is high, the impurities effectively prevent all motion
within the droplet or bubble and the following correlation is suggested:

 24 8 Eo 
C D = max  min --------- ( 1 + 0.15Re p0.687 ), --- -----------------  (7-70)
 Re p 3 Eo + 4 

SOLID PRESSURE
For fluid-solid mixtures where ρ d » ρ c , for example solid particles in gas flow, a model
for the solid pressure, ps in Equation 7-48, is needed. The solid pressure models the
particle interaction due to collisions and friction between the particles. The solid
pressure model implemented uses a gradient diffusion based assumption:

∇p s = – G ( φ c )∇φ c

where the empirical function G can be though of as a modulus of elasticity or powder

modulus. A common form for G is (Ref. 5)

B1 φc + B2
G ( φ c ) = 10 (7-71)

The available predefined models (all defined in Ref. 5) are those of Gidaspow and
Ettehadieh,

-8.76φ c + 5.43
G ( φ c ) = 10 (7-72)

Ettehadieh,

492 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

 -10.46φ c + 6.577
G ( φ c ) = 10 (7-73)

and Gidaspow,

-10.5φ c + 9.0
G ( φ c ) = 10 (7-74)

Observe that the solid pressure term theoretically replaces the stress term in the
dispersed phase momentum equation. A small viscosity is however necessary for
numerical robustness. The Gidaspow formulation or a small constant value is
appropriate. The viscosity for the continuous phase, μ cm , can be taken as the single
phase value, that is μ cm = μ c .

NOTES ON THE IMPLEMENTATION

There are several equations with potentially singular terms and expressions such as the
term

F m,d
------------
φd

in Equation 7-47. Also, φ d is a degree of freedom and can therefore, during

computations, obtain nonphysical values in small areas. This can, in turn, lead to
nonphysical values of material properties such as viscosity and density. To avoid these
problems, the implementation uses the following regularizations:

• 1/ φ k, k=c,d is replaced by1/ φ k,pos where

φ k, pos = max ( φ k, φ k,res )

The residue volume fractions are per default set to 10−4 but can be changed in the
Advanced Settings section of the interface settings.
• When appropriate, for example when evaluating drag models and mixture
viscosities, φ k, k=c,d are replaced by
φ k, reg = min ( max ( φ k, 0 ), 1 )

Note however that the continuity equation, Equation 7-43, uses φ k without
regularization in order to guarantee mass conservation.

THEORY FOR THE EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES | 493

 Some Notes on Boundary Conditions
An effect of dividing the momentum equations with φ c and φ d respectively is that for
example ud obtains a value even if φ d = 0 . In many cases ud will tend to uc in lack of
a dispersed phase. So on inlets where φ d = 0 , it is appropriate to set ud=uc.

A fixed value for φ d should only be prescribed if there is no transport of φ d towards

the inlet. If, for example, a cloud of dispersed phase with higher φ d than the prescribed
value somehow reaches the inlet, φ d will actually be “consumed”.

When specifying a dispersed phase flux, make sure to specify an appropriate velocity to
go with the flux to avoid nonphysical concentrations of φ d close to the boundary.

At walls, where it is possible to prescribe a wall leakage, the continuous phase normal
velocity is set to

·
mc
u c ⋅ n = – --------------------
ρ c φ c, pos

For a dispersed phase leakage:

 ·
 md ·
 – --------------------------------- if ( m d > 0 )
 ρ d ( 1 – φ c, res )
ud ⋅ n = 
 · ·
 mc if ( m d < 0 )
 – ---------------------
ρ d φ d, pos


That is, dispersed phase is injected with a low velocity and transported out with a
velocity that is consistent with the specified flux. Wall leakage for one phase works best
if combined with slip condition for the other phase so that the mixture is given
maximum freedom to react to the leakage.

Turbulent Two-Phase Flow Modeling

When the characteristic Reynolds number of the two-phase mixture under
investigation becomes high, the flow transitions and becomes turbulent. The influence
of the turbulence on the flow characteristics (mixing, particle dispersion, pressure
drop, and so on) are usually significant and warrants the use of a turbulence model.

In order to model fluid flow turbulence, the Euler-Euler Model, Turbulent Flow
interface uses the k-ε turbulence model. This is realized by solving transport equations

494 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

for the kinetic energy k (SI unit: m2/s2) and the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic
energy ε (SI unit: m2/s3).

The interface includes the possibility to model the turbulent flow of the two-phase
mixture, or to solve for turbulent flow of each phase separately. In the former case, one
set of k-ε equations are solved, while in the latter two sets of k-ε equations are solved
for, one for each phase.

MIXTURE TURBULENCE
Mixture turbulence assumes that the turbulence effects on both the continuous and
dispersed phase can be modeled by solving for the turbulence of the resulting
two-phase mixture. Here this is done using a two-equation k-ε model where the
transport of turbulence quantities is based on based on the mass-averaged mixture
velocity

φc ρc um + φd ρd um
u m = ----------------------------------------------- ,
ρ

and a volume-averaged mixture viscosity

μ m = φ c μ cm + φ d μ dm

This implies that the model is appropriate for flows where the relaxation time of the
dispersed particles (the time scale on which particles react to changes in the carrier fluid
velocity) is not significantly different to the time scale of the turbulence. It is also
appropriate for stratified flows, where the mixture mainly consists of one of the phases.

Setting the Two-phase turbulence interface property to Mixture, the turbulence of the
two-phase flow is modeled by solving the following k and ε equations:

∂k μT
ρ ------ + ρ u m ⋅ ∇k = ∇ ⋅   μ m + ------ ∇k + P k – ρε (7-75)
∂t  σk 

∂ε μT ε ε2
ρ ----- + ρ u m ⋅ ∇ε = ∇ ⋅   μ m + ------ ∇ε + C ε1 --- P – C ε2 ρ ----- (7-76)
∂t  σε   k k k

The equations correspond to the standard two-equation k-ε model including

realizability constraints.

The production term is defined accordingly as

THEORY FOR THE EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES | 495

 P k = μ T  ∇u m : ( ∇u m + ( ∇u m ) T ) – --- ( ∇ ⋅ u m ) 2 – --- ρk∇ ⋅ u m
2 2
 3  3

and the resulting turbulent viscosity is defined as

k2
μ T = ρC μ ------
ε

where Cμ is a model constant. The viscous stress tensors for the phases are hence
defined as

τ c = ( μ cm + μ T )  ∇u c + ( ∇u c ) – --- ( ∇ ⋅ u c )I – --- ρ c kI ,

T 2 2
3 3

τ d = ( μ dm + μ T )  ∇u d + ( ∇u d ) – --- ( ∇ ⋅ u d )I – --- ρ d kI .

T 2 2
 3  3

Assuming mixture turbulence, the transport equation for the volume fraction is:

∂ φ
( ) + ∇ ⋅ ( φ d u d ) = ∇ ⋅ ( D md ∇φ d ) (7-77)
∂t d

Here the dispersion of the particulate phase by the turbulent fluctuations is modeled
using a gradient based hypothesis. The turbulent dispersion coefficient is defined from
the turbulent viscosity of the two-phase mixture in the manner of

μT
D md = ----------
ρσ T

where σT is a turbulent particle Schmidt number (dimensionless).

The default values of the dimensionless parameters using the Mixture Two-phase
turbulence model are:

CONSTANT VALUE

Cμ 0.09
Cε1 1.44
Cε2 1.92
σk 1.0
σε 1.3
Kv 0.41

496 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

CONSTANT VALUE

B 5.2
σΤ 0.35

PHASE SPECIFIC TURBULENCE

The phase specific Two-phase turbulence model assumes that the turbulent flow of the
continuous and dispersed phase can be modeled by solving for the turbulence of each
phase separately by using two sets of k-ε equations. The model implies that the time
scales of the turbulent flow of each phase can differ, but it is also computationally more
expensive than assuming solving one set of k-ε equations for the mixture.

Setting the Two-phase turbulence interface property to Phase specific, the turbulent flow
of the two phases is modeled by solving two sets of k and ε equations, one for each
phase. For the continuous phase, the transport equations for k and ε are

∂k c μ T,c
ρ c -------- + ρ c u c ⋅ ∇k c = ∇ ⋅   μ cm + ---------- ∇k c + P k, c – ρ c ε c (7-78)
∂t   σ k, c 

∂ε c μ T,c εc ε d2
ρ c ------- + ρ c u c ⋅ ∇ε c = ∇ ⋅   μ cm + ---------- ∇ε c + C ε1,c ----- P k, c – C ε2,c ρ ------ (7-79)
∂t  σ ε, c  kc kd

while for the dispersed phase the corresponding equations are

∂k d μ T,d
ρ d --------- + ρ d u d ⋅ ∇k d = ∇ ⋅   μ dm + ----------- ∇k d + P k, d – ρ d ε d (7-80)
∂t  σ k, d

∂ε d μ T,d εd ε d2
ρ d -------- + ρ d u d ⋅ ∇ε d = ∇ ⋅   μ dm + ---------- ∇ε d + C ε1,d ------ P k, d – C ε2,d ρ ------ (7-81)
∂t  σ ε, d kd kd

The equations for each phase correspond to the standard two-equation k-ε model
including realizability constraints.

The production terms are defined as

P k, c = μ T,c  ∇u c : ( ∇u c + ( ∇u c ) T ) – --- ( ∇ ⋅ u c ) 2 – --- ρ c k d ∇ ⋅ u c

2 2
 3  3

P k, d = μ T,d  ∇u d : ( ∇u d + ( ∇u d ) T ) – --- ( ∇ ⋅ u d ) 2 – --- ρ d k d ∇ ⋅ u d

2 2
3 3

THEORY FOR THE EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES | 497

 The resulting turbulent viscosity, applied individually in the momentum equations of
the continuous and the dispersed phases, are

k c2 k d2
μ T, c = ρ c C μ, c ------ , μ T, d = ρ d C μ, d ------ (7-82)
εc εd

where Cμ,c and Cμ,d are model constants. The viscous stress tensors for the phases are
hence defined as

τ c = ( μ cm + μ T, c )  ∇u c + ( ∇u c ) – --- ( ∇ ⋅ u c )I – --- ρ c k c I ,

T 2 2
 3  3

τ d = ( μ dm + μ T, d )  ∇u d + ( ∇u d ) – --- ( ∇ ⋅ u d )I – --- ρ d k d I .

T 2 2
3 3

As in the case of mixture turbulence, the dispersion of the particulate phase by the
turbulent fluctuations is modeled using a gradient based hypothesis (Equation 7-77).
For phase-specific turbulence the dispersion coefficient is modeled as a volume average
of the respective turbulent diffusivity of each phase

μ T, c μ T, d
D md = -----------  φ c ----------- + φ d -----------
1
σ T, d ρc ρd

using a turbulent particle Schmidt number σT,d (dimensionless).

The default values of the turbulence model parameters for phase specific turbulence are

CONTINUOUS VALUE DISPERSED VALUE

PHASE PHASE
CONSTANTS CONSTANTS

Cμ,c 0.09 Cμ,d 0.09

Cε1,c 1.44 Cε1,d 1.44
Cε2,c 1.92 Cε2,d 1.92
σk,c 1.0 σk,d 1.0
σε,c 1.3 σε,d 1.3
Kv,c 0.41 Kv,d 0.41
Bc 5.2 Bd 5.2
σΤ,d 0.35

498 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

References for the Euler-Euler Model Interfaces
1. M.J.V. Goldschmidt, B.P.B. Hoomans, and J.A.M. Kuipers, “Recent Progress
Towards Hydrodynamic Modelling of Dense Gas-Particle Flows”, Recent Research
Developments in Chemical Engineering, Transworld Research Network, India, pp.
273–292, 2000.

2. A. Soulaimani and M. Fortin, “Finite Element Solution of Compressible Viscous

Flows Using Conservative Variables”, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and
Engineering, vol. 118, pp. 319–350, 1994.

3. C. Crowe, M. Sommerfeld, and Y Tsuji, Multiphase Flows with Droplets and

Particles, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1998.

4. B.G.M. van Wachem, J.C. Schouten, C.M. van den Bleek, R. Krishna, and J.L.
Sinclair, “Comparative Analysis of CFD Models of Dense Gas-Solid Systems”, AIChE
Journal, vol. 47, no. 5, pp. 1035–1051, 2001.

5. H. Enwald, E. Peirano, and A.-E. Almstedt, “Eulerian Two-Phase Flow Theory

Applied to Fluidization”, Int. J. Multiphase Flow, vol. 22, pp. 21–66, 1996.

6. D. Gidaspow, Multiphase Flow and Fluidization, Academic Press, San Diego,

1994.

7. C.Y. Wen and Y.H. Yu, “Mechanics of Fluidization”, Chemical Engineering

Progress Symposium Series, vol. 62, pp. 100–110, 1966.

8. S. Ergun, “Fluid Flow Through Packed Columns”, Chemical Engineering

Progress, vol. 48, pp. 89–94, 1952.

9. M. Ungarish, Hydrodynamics of Suspensions, Springer-Verlag, 1993.

10. M. Ishii and N. Zuber, “Drag Coefficient and Relative Velocity in Bubbly, Droplet
or Particulate Flows”, AIChE Journal, vol. 25, no. 5, 1979.

11. A. Tomiyama, I. Kataoka, I. Zun and T. Sakaguchi, “Drag coefficients of single

bubbles under normal and micro gravity conditions”, JSME International Journal,
series B. Vol. 41, pp. 472–479, 1998.

12. P.J. Oliveira and R.I. Issa, “Numerical aspects of an algorithm for the Eulerian
simulation of two-phase flows”, Int. J. Numer. Meth. Fluids, vol. 43, pp. 1177–1198,
2003.

THEORY FOR THE EULER-EULER MODEL INTERFACES | 499

 Theory for the Phase Transport
Mixture Model Interfaces
The model equations that are solved in the Phase Transport Mixture Model interfaces
are based on the mass conservation of each phase and on conservation of momentum.
The mass conservation equation for each (immiscible) phase i = 1, …, N is given by:

∂
( ρ s ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρi si ui ) = Qi (7-83)
∂t i i

where ρi denotes the density (SI unit: kg/m3), si denotes the volume fraction
(dimensionless), and ui denotes the velocity vector (SI unit: m/s) of phase i. In
addition, the term Qi denotes a mass source for phase i (SI unit: kg/(m3·s)). It is
assumed that the sum of the volume fractions of the phases equals 1:

 si = 1 (7-84)
i=1

This means that N − 1 phase volume fractions are independent and are possible to solve
for using Equation 7-83. The volume constraint Equation 7-84 is used to reduce the
number of dependent variables: one volume fraction, let us say of phase ic (to be
specified in the main node of the coupled Phase Transport interface), is expressed using
the other volume fractions:

N
 
 s i
sic = 1–
  
(7-85)
 i = 1, i ≠ i c 

In the Mixture Model multiphysics coupling feature, it is assumed that the phase ic is the
continuous phase.

Furthermore, the volume averaged mixture velocity j is defined as:

j =  si ui (7-86)
i=1

500 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

In the Phase Transport Mixture Model interfaces it is assumed that the densities of all
phases are constant, and therefore the following form of the continuity equation for
the mixture can be used

N
Qi
∇⋅j =  -----
ρi
- (7-87)
i=1

The momentum equation for the mixture is

ρj t + ρ ( j ⋅ ∇ )j = – ∇ p – ∇ ⋅ τ Gm + ρg + F (7-88)

Here ρ is the mixture density (SI unit: kg/m3) given by:

ρ =  si ρi (7-89)
i=1

and τGm is the sum of the viscous and turbulent stresses (SI unit: kg/(m·s2)).

The relative velocity uri of phase i is defined as:

u ri = u i – u ic for i ≠ i c (7-90)

This relative velocity uri is assumed to be given by two terms

D md
u ri = u slip,i – ------------ ∇s i for i ≠ i c (7-91)
si

where the slip velocity uslip,i (SI unit: m/s) in the first term is given by one of the slip
velocity models discussed below, and where the second term accounts for the turbulent
effects, with Dmd (SI unit: m2/s) a turbulent dispersion coefficient given by

μT
D md = ----------
ρσ T

where σT is the turbulent particle Schmidt number (dimensionless). The particle

Schmidt number is usually suggested a value ranging from 0.35 to 0.7.

With the previous definitions, the mixture velocity j can be rewritten as

N N

j = sic ui +
c  s i ( u ic + u ri ) = u ic +  ( s i u slip,i – D md ∇s i ) (7-92)
i = 1, i ≠ i c i = 1, i ≠ i c

THEORY FOR THE PHASE TRANSPORT MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 501

 From this equation, and using the volume constraint Equation 7-84, the velocity of
the continuous phase u i c can be written in terms of the mixture velocity j and the slip
velocities uslip,i as follows:

u ic = j – D md ∇s ic –  s i u slip,i (7-93)
i = 1, i ≠ i c

and the conservation equation for the dispersed phases can be written as

∂
( ρ s ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρ i s i ( u ic + u slip,i ) – ρ i D md ∇s i ) = Q i (7-94)
∂t i i

Mixture Viscosity Models

The Newtonian viscosities of interpenetrating media are not readily available. Instead
empirical and analytical models for the dynamic viscosity mixture have been developed,
usually as a function of the dispersed volume fraction.

A simple mixture viscosity model, which is only available when there is one dispersed
phase covering the entire range of particle volume fractions sd is the Krieger type
model (Ref. 1):

s d –2.5φ d,max
μ = μ c  1 – --------------- (7-95)
 φ d,max

Here φ d,max is the maximum packing limit, by default 0.62. An extension of

Equation 7-50 can be applied for liquid droplets/bubbles:

μ d + 0.4μ c
– 2.5φ d,max -------------------------
-
sd μd + μc
μ = μ c  1 – --------------- (7-96)
 φ d,max

where μc and μd are the viscosities of the continuous and dispersed phase, respectively.

For fluid-fluid systems, the volume averaged viscosity defined by

μ =  si μi (7-97)
i=1

is also available.

502 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

Slip Velocity Models
The Mixture Model multiphysics coupling contains three predefined models for the slip
velocity between a dispersed phase and the continuous phase uslip,i:

• The Schiller-Naumann model

• The Haider-Levenspiel model
• The Hadamard-Rybczynski model

All three models use the following relation for the slip velocity:

C d,i ( ρ – ρi ) 
----
3
--- --------- - – j – ( j ⋅ ∇ )j + g + F
- u slip,i u slip,i = – ------------------ (7-98)
4 di ρic  t ρ

where Cd,i (dimensionless) is the particle drag coefficient and di is the particle
diameter of phase i.

The Schiller-Naumann model models the drag coefficient according to

 24 0,687
 ------------- ( 1 + 0,15Re p, i ) Re p,i < 1000
C d,i =  Re p,i

 0,44 Re p,i > 1000

where Rep,i is the particle Reynolds number

d i ρ ic u slip,i
Re p,i = ------------------------------
μ

Note that this definition of the particle Reynolds number uses the viscosity of the
mixture and not the viscosity of the continuous phase, as would be customary for a
single particle in a pure fluid with viscosity μc. This choice incorporates the hindrance
effect of the other particles on the slip velocity, see Ref. 2.

Because the particle Reynolds number depends on the slip velocity, an implicit
equation must be solved to obtain the slip velocity. Therefore, the Mixture Model
multiphysics coupling feature adds an additional equation for

2
u slip,i

when the Schiller-Naumann slip model is used. The Schiller-Naumann model is

particularly well-suited for solid particles in a liquid.

THEORY FOR THE PHASE TRANSPORT MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 503

 The Haider-Levenspiel model is applicable to nonspherical particles. It models the
drag coefficient according to

24 B(S ) C ( Si )
C d,i = ------------- ( 1 + A ( S i )Re p,i i ) + -------------------------------------------
Re p,i 1 + D ( S i ) ⁄ Re p,i

where A, B, C, and D are empirical correlations of the particle sphericity Si. The
sphericity is defined as the ratio of the surface area of a volume equivalent sphere to
the surface area of the considered nonspherical particle

A sphere
0 < S i = ------------------ ≤ 1
A particle

The correlation coefficients are given by

2.3288-6.4581S i + 2.4486S i2
A ( Si ) = e
B ( S i ) = 0.0964+0.5565S i
4.905-13.8944S i + 18.4222S i2 – 10.2599S i3
C ( Si ) = e
1.4681 + 12.2584S i – 20.7322S i2 + 15.8855S i3
D ( Si ) = e

The diameter used in the particle Reynolds number is that of the volume equivalent
sphere. The equation for the squared slip velocity is also added when the
Haider-Levenspiel slip model is used.

The Hadamard-Rybczynski drag law is valid for particle Reynolds numbers less than
1, for particles, bubbles, and droplets. The drag coefficient for liquid droplets or
bubbles is

 2 μ i c
 1 + --3- -----μi 
-
= -------------  --------------------
24
C d,i
Re p,i μ
 1 + -----i-c 
 μi 

which yields the following explicit expression for the slip velocity

 μic 
2 1 + ------ 
( ρ – ρ i )d i  μi
= – -------------------------- --------------------  – j t – ( j ⋅ ∇ )j + g + ----
F
u slip,i
18μ i c  2 μ i c  ρ
 1 + --- ------
 3 μi 

504 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES

For solid particles, the slip velocity is given by

2
( ρ – ρ i )d i
u slip,i = – --------------------------  – j t – ( j ⋅ ∇ )j + g + ----
F
18μ i c  ρ

when Rep,i < 1. For very small gas bubbles, the drag coefficient is observed to be closer
to the solid-particle value. This is believed to be caused by surface-active impurities
collecting on the bubble surface.

Coupled Interfaces: Equations and Coupled Quantities

The equations for the volume fractions of the dispersed phases (Equation 7-94) are
solved in the Phase Transport interface. The momentum equation and the continuity
equation for the mixture velocity and pressure (Equation 7-87 and Equation 7-88) are
solved in the coupled laminar or turbulent single-phase flow interface. The Mixture
Model multiphysics coupling feature supplies the mixture density ρ and viscosity μ to
the single-phase flow interface, and the convective dispersed phase velocities
u ic + u slip,i to the Phase Transport interface. In addition it adds the diffusive term to
the transport equations for the dispersed phases (Equation 7-94). In case there are
mass sources in the Phase Transport interface, the Mixture Model multiphysics feature
adds the right-hand side to the mixture continuity equation (Equation 7-87).

References
1. H. Enwald, E. Peirano, and A.-E. Almstedt, “Eulerian Two-Phase Flow Theory
Applied to Fluidization”, Int. J. Multiphase Flow, vol. 22, pp. 21–66, 1996.

2. M. Ungarish, Hydrodynamics of suspensions, Springer-Verlag, 1993.

3.

THEORY FOR THE PHASE TRANSPORT MIXTURE MODEL INTERFACES | 505

506 | CHAPTER 7: MULTIPHASE FLOW INTERFACES
 8

Porous Media and Subsurface Flow

Interfaces
This chapter discusses physics interfaces under the Fluid Flow>Porous Media and
Subsurface Flow branch ( ). The section Modeling Porous Media and Subsurface
Flow helps you choose the best physics interface to start with.

In this chapter:

• The Darcy’s Law Interface

• The Brinkman Equations Interface
• The Free and Porous Media Flow Interface
• The Two-Phase Darcy’s Law Interface
• The Phase Transport in Porous Media Interface
• The Multiphase Flow in Porous Media Interface
• Theory for the Darcy’s Law Interface
• Theory for the Brinkman Equations Interface
• Theory for the Free and Porous Media Flow Interface
• Theory for the Two-Phase Darcy’s Law Interface
• Theory for the Phase Transport Interface
• Theory for the Multiphase Flow in Porous Media Interface

507
 Modeling Porous Media and
Subsurface Flow
In this section:

• Selecting the Right Physics Interface

• The Porous Media Flow Interface Options
• Coupling to Other Physics Interfaces

Selecting the Right Physics Interface

The Porous Media and Subsurface Flow branch ( ) included with the CFD Module
has a number of subbranches to describe momentum transport. These can be added
either singularly or in combination with other physics interfaces modeling mass and
energy transfer, and even chemical reactions.

Different types of flow require different equations to describe them. If the flow type
to model is known, then select it directly. However, when you are not certain of the
flow type, or when it is difficult to obtain a solution, you can instead start with a
simplified model and add complexity as you build the model. Then you can
successively advance forward, comparing models and results. For porous media flow,
the Darcy’s Law interface is a good place to start if this is the case.

In other cases, you might know exactly how a fluid behaves and which equations,
models, or physics interfaces best describe it, but because the model is so complex it is
difficult to reach convergence. Simplifying assumptions can be made to solve the
problem, and other physics interfaces can be better at fine-tuning the solution process
for the more complex problem. The next section gives you an overview of each of the
physics interfaces to help you choose.
TABLE 8-1: THE POROUS MEDIA FLOW DEFAULT SETTINGS

PHYSICS NAME COMPRESSIBILITY NEGLECT PORE SIZE

INTERFACE LABEL INERTIAL TERM

Darcy's Law dl n/a n/a Low porosity and low

permeability, slow flow
Two-Phase tpdl n/a n/a Low porosity and low
Darcy’s law permeability, slow flow

508 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

TABLE 8-1: THE POROUS MEDIA FLOW DEFAULT SETTINGS

PHYSICS NAME COMPRESSIBILITY NEGLECT PORE SIZE

INTERFACE LABEL INERTIAL TERM

Brinkman br Incompressible Yes - High permeability and

Equations flow Stokes-Brink porosity, faster flow
man
Free and Porous fp Incompressible Not selected High permeability and
Media Flow flow porosity, fast flow
Figure 8-1 is an example of the Settings window for Brinkman Equations where you can
select either Compressible or Incompressible flow, and either normal or Stokes
Brinkman flow.

The Porous Media Flow Interface Options

DARCY’S LAW
The Darcy’s Law Interface ( ) is used for modeling fluid movement through
interstices in a porous medium by homogenizing the porous and fluid media into a
single medium. Together with the continuity equation and equation of state for the
pore fluid (or gas) this physics interface can be used to model low velocity flows, for
which the pressure gradient is the major driving force. The penetration of reacting
gases into a tight catalytic layer, such as a washcoat or membrane, is a classic example
for the use of Darcy’s Law.

Darcy’s law can be used in porous media where the fluid is mostly influenced by the
frictional resistance within the pores. It applies to very slow flows, or media where the
pore size is very small.

BRINKMAN EQUATIONS
Where the size of the interstices are larger, and the fluid is also influenced by internal
shear or shear stresses on boundaries, the viscous shear within the fluid must be
considered. This is done in the Brinkman Equations interface. Fluid penetration of
filters and packed beds are applications for this mode. The Brinkman Equations
Interface ( ) is used to model compressible flow at speeds less than Mach 0.3, but
you have to maintain control over the density and any of the mass balances that are
deployed to accomplish this. You can also choose to model incompressible flow, and
simplify the equations to be solved. Furthermore, you can select the Stokes-Brinkman
flow feature to reduce the influence of inertial effects (see Figure 8-1).

MODELING POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW | 509

 Figure 8-1: The Settings window for the Brinkman Equations interface. You can model
compressible or incompressible flow as well as Stokes-Brinkman flow. Combinations are also
possible.

The Brinkman equations extend Darcy’s law to describe the dissipation of

momentum by viscous shear, similar to the Navier-Stokes equation. Consequently,
they are well suited to model transitions between slow flow in porous media, governed
by Darcy’s law, and fast flow in channels described by the Navier-Stokes equations.

The Brinkman Equations interface also includes the possibility to add a Forchheimer
drag term, which is a viscous drag on the porous matrix proportional to the square of
the flow velocity. This term accounts for an inertial turbulent drag effect that comes
into play for fast flows through large pores. Adding the Forchheimer term takes into
account all drag contributions that the Ergun equation covers.

FREE AND POROUS MEDIA FLOW

The Free and Porous Media Flow Interface ( ) is useful for modeling equipment
that contains domains with both free flow and porous media flow, such as packed-bed
reactors and catalytic converters. It should be noted that if the porous medium is large

510 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

in comparison with the free channel, and you are not primarily interested in results in
the vicinity of the interface, you can always couple a Fluid Flow interface to a Darcy’s
Law interface, to make your overall model computationally cheaper.

The Free and Porous Media Flow interface is used on at least two different domains;
a free channel and a porous medium. The physics interface adds functionality that
allows the equations to be optimized according to the definitions of the material
properties of the relevant domain. For example, you can select the Stokes-Brinkman
flow feature to reduce the dependence on inertial effects in the porous domain, or just
the Stoke’s flow feature to reduce the dependence on inertial effects in the free
channel.

Compressible flow is also possible to model in this physics interface at speeds less than
Mach 0.3, but you have to maintain control over the density and any of the mass
balances that are deployed to accomplish this. You can also choose to model
incompressible flow, and simplify the equations to be solved.

As always, the physics interface gives you provides you with options to define, either
by constants or expressions, the material properties that describe the porous media
flow. This includes the density, dynamic viscosity, permeability, porosity, and matrix
properties.

TWO-PHASE DARCY’S LAW

The Two-Phase Darcy’s Law Interface ( ) has the equations and boundary
conditions for modeling two-phase fluid movement through interstices in a porous
medium using Darcy’s law. The two fluids are considered immiscible, and in general,
have different densities and viscosities.

As for the single phase Darcy's Law, the total velocity field is determined by the total
pressure gradient and the structure of the porous medium, but the average viscosity
and average density are calculated from the saturation of each immiscible phase and
their fluid properties. An extra equation is computed — the fluid content of one phase
— in order to calculate the saturation transport.

Coupling to Other Physics Interfaces

Often, you are simulating applications that couple fluid flow in porous or subsurface
media to another type of phenomenon described in another physics interface. This can
include chemical reactions and mass transport, as described in Chemical Species
Transport Interfaces, or energy transport in porous media described in the Heat
Transfer and Nonisothermal Flow Interfaces chapter.

MODELING POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW | 511

 More extensive descriptions of modeling chemical reactions and mass transport are
found in the Chemical Reaction Engineering Module. Furthermore, some applications
that involve electrochemical reactions and porous electrodes, particularly in
electrochemical power source applications, are supported in the Batteries & Fuel Cells
Module.

Fluid flow is an important phenomenon for cooling in electromagnetic applications,

such as heat created through induction and microwave heating, which are simulated in
the AC/DC Module and RF Module, respectively. Other applications can involve the
effect of fluid-imposed momentum on structural applications; poroelasticity. The
Structural Mechanics Module and Subsurface Flow Module have interfaces specifically
for these multiphysics applications.

The following sections list all the physics interfaces and the features associated with
them under the Porous Media Subsurface Flow branch. The descriptions follow a
structured order as defined by the order in the branch. Because many of the physics
interfaces are integrated with each other, some features described also cross reference
to other physics interfaces. At the end of this section is a summary of the theory for
the physics interfaces under the Porous Media Subsurface Flow branch.

512 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

The Darcy’s Law Interface
The Darcy’s Law (dl) interface ( ), found under the Porous Media and Subsurface Flow
branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used to simulate fluid flow through
interstices in a porous medium. It can be used to model low-velocity flows or media
where the permeability and porosity are very small, and for which the pressure gradient
is the major driving force and the flow is mostly influenced by the frictional resistance
within the pores. Set up multiple Darcy's Law interfaces to model multiphase flows
involving more than one mobile phase. The Darcy’s Law interface can be used for
stationary and time-dependent analyses.

The main feature is the Fluid and Matrix Properties node, which provides an interface
for defining the fluid material along with the porous medium properties.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder — Fluid and Matrix Properties, No Flow (the default boundary condition),
and Initial Values. Then, from the Physics toolbar, add other nodes that implement, for
example, boundary conditions and mass sources. You can also right-click Darcy's Law
to select physics features from the context menu.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is dl.

PHYSICAL MODEL
Enter a Reference pressure level pref (SI unit: Pa). The default value is 1[atm].

GRAVITY EFFECTS
This feature requires a specific license. For a detailed overview of the functionality
available in each product visit [Link]

THE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 513

 By default there are no gravity effects added to Darcy’s Law interface. Select the check
box Include gravity to activate the acceleration of gravity. When this check box is
selected a global Gravity feature node is shown in the interface model tree.

Enter a value for the acceleration of gravity. The default value g_const is the
predefined standard acceleration of gravity on Earth.

For a detailed overview of the functionality available in each product, visit

[Link]

DISCRETIZATION
To display all settings available in this section, click the Show More Options button ( )
and select Advanced Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box.

You can choose the order of the shape functions used for the pressure variable solved
by the Darcy’s Law interface. The default shape functions are Quadratic Lagrange.

The Compute boundary fluxes check box is not activated by default. When this option
is selected, the solver computes variables storing accurate boundary fluxes from each
boundary into the adjacent domain.

If the check box is cleared, the COMSOL Multiphysics software instead computes the
flux variables from the dependent variables using extrapolation, which is less accurate
in post processing results, but does not create extra dependent variables on the
boundaries for the fluxes.

Also the Apply smoothing to boundary fluxes check box is available if the previous check
box is checked. The smoothing can provide a better behaved flux value close to
singularities.

For details about the boundary fluxes settings, see Computing Accurate Fluxes in the
COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

The Value type when using splitting of complex variables setting should in most pure
mass transport problems be set to Real which is the default. It makes sure that the
dependent variable does not get affected by small imaginary contributions, which can
occur, for example, when combining a Time Dependent or Stationary study with a
frequency-domain study. For more information, see Splitting Complex-Valued
Variables in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

514 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variable (field variable) is the Pressure. The name can be changed but
the names of fields and dependent variables must be unique within a model.

• Domain, Boundary, Edge, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Darcy’s Law
Interface
• Theory for the Darcy’s Law Interface
• Physical Constants in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual

• Species Transport in the Gas Diffusion Layers of a PEM: Application

Library path
Batteries_and_Fuel_Cells_Module/Fuel_Cells/pem_gdl_species_transport_2
d
• Steam Reformer: Application Library path
Chemical_Reaction_Engineering_Module/Reactors_with_Porous_Catalysts/
steam_reformer
• Terzaghi Compaction: Application Library path
Subsurface_Flow_Module/Flow_and_Solid_Deformation/terzaghi_compacti
on

Domain, Boundary, Edge, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Darcy’s Law
Interface
The Darcy’s Law Interface has the following domain, boundary, edge, point, and pair
nodes, these nodes are available from the Physics ribbon toolbar (Windows users),
Physics context menu (Mac or Linux users), or right-click to access the context menu
(all users).

THE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 515

 DOMAIN

• Fluid and Matrix Properties • Mass Source

• Gravity • Poroelastic Storage
• Initial Values • Porous Electrode Coupling
• Storage Model • Richards’ Equation Model

Note that some features are only available with certain COMSOL products (see
[Link]

BOUNDARY, EDGE, AND POINT

The following nodes (listed in alphabetical order) are available on exterior boundaries:

• Atmosphere/Gauge
• Outlet
• Cross Section
• Pervious Layer
• Electrode Surface Coupling
• Point Mass Source
• Flux Discontinuity
• Precipitation
• Fracture Flow
• Pressure
• Hydraulic Head
• Pressure Head
• Inlet
• 1
• Interior Wall
• Symmetry
• Line Mass Source
• Thickness
• Mass Flux
• Thin Barrier
• No Flow
1
This node is described for the Transport of Diluted Species Interface

Note that some features are only available with certain COMSOL products (see
[Link]

The relevant physics interface condition at interior boundaries is continuity:

n ⋅ ( ρ1 u1 –ρ2 u2 ) = 0

516 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

The continuity boundary condition ensures that the pressure and mass flux are
continuous. In addition, the Pressure boundary condition is available on interior
boundaries.

The continuity boundary condition provides continuity for the pressure and mass flux.
In addition, the following boundary conditions are available on interior boundaries:

• Pressure • Pervious Layer

• Pressure Head • Flux Discontinuity
• Hydraulic Head • Fracture Flow
• Interior Wall • Thin Barrier

In general, to add a node, go to the Physics toolbar, no matter what

operating system you are using. Subnodes are available by clicking the
parent node and selecting it from the Attributes menu.

For axisymmetric components, COMSOL Multiphysics takes the axial

symmetry boundaries (at r = 0) into account and automatically adds an
Axial Symmetry node that is valid on the axial symmetry boundaries only.

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual see Table 2-4 for links
to common sections and Table 2-5 to common feature nodes. You can
also search for information: press F1 to open the Help window or Ctrl+F1
to open the Documentation window.

Fluid and Matrix Properties

The Fluid and Matrix Properties node adds the equations for Darcy’s law, Equation 8-1
and Equation 8-2 (excluding any mass sources), and contains settings for the fluid
properties and the porous matrix properties such as the effective porosity.

∂ ( ρε ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρu )
= Qm (8-1)
∂t

THE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 517

 κ
u = – --- ( ∇p + ρ g ∇D ) (8-2)
μ

Note that D is the elevation which is only included in the Subsurface Flow Module.
Otherwise, D is zero and Equation 8-2 simplifies to:

κ
u = – --- ∇p (8-3)
μ

FLUID PROPERTIES
Select the Fluid material to use for the fluid properties. Select Domain material (the
default) to use the material defined for the domain. Select another material to use that
material’s properties for the fluid.

Density
The default Density ρ (SI unit: kg/m3) uses values From material based on the Fluid
material selection.

• For User defined enter another value or expression. The default is 0 kg/m3.
• For Ideal gas it uses the ideal gas law to describe the fluid. In this case, specify the
thermodynamics properties. Select a Gas constant type — Specific gas constant Rs
(the default) or Mean molar mass Mn (SI unit: J/(mol·K)). For Mean molar mass the
universal gas constant R = 8.314 J/(mol·K) is used as the built-in physical constant.
For both properties, the defaults use values From material. For User defined enter
another value or expression.

Dynamic Viscosity
Select a Dynamic viscosity μ (SI unit: Pa·s). The default uses values From material as
defined by the Fluid material selected. For User defined the default is 0 Pa·s.

If the settings for the dynamic viscosity are unavailable, this is due to Hydraulic
conductivity being selected as the Permeability model under the Matrix Properties
section below. The hydraulic conductivity is defined using a combination of fluid and
matrix properties and replaces the need to define the dynamic viscosity. Note that this
option is only available with the Subsurface Flow Module.

MATRIX PROPERTIES
Select the material to use as porous matrix. Select Domain material from the Porous
material list (the default) to use the material defined for the porous domain. Select
another material to use that material’s properties.

518 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

The default Porosity εp (a dimensionless number between 0 and 1) uses the value From
material, defined by the Porous material selected. For User defined the default is 0.

Select a Permeability model to specify the capacity of the porous material to transmit
flow — Permeability to define the permeability of the porous matrix, Hydraulic
conductivity to define a combination of fluid permeability and dynamic viscosity,
Kozeny-Carman to define the permeability from the porosity and mean particle
diameter, or Non-Darcian in cases when Darcy’s linear relation between pressure drop
and velocity is no longer valid due to turbulence or inertial effects.

Note that the option to choose Hydraulic conductivity is only available for the
Subsurface Flow Module. The Non-Darcian Flow option is only available in some
modules. For a detailed overview of the functionality available in each product, visit
[Link]

The default Permeability κ (SI unit: m2) uses the value From material, as defined by the
Porous material list. For User defined select Isotropic to define a scalar value or Diagonal,
Symmetric, or Full to define a tensor value and enter another value or expression in the
field or matrix.

For Hydraulic conductivity K (SI unit: m/s) select Isotropic to define a scalar value or
Diagonal, Symmetric, or Full to define a tensor value. The default is 2.94·10−4 m/s.

For Kozeny-Carman, enter the mean Particle diameter dp (SI unit: m), the default value
is 0.5 mm.

For Non-Darcian, choose a Non-Darcian flow model from the selection list. The available
options, depending on the modules licensed, are Forchheimer, Ergun, Burke-Plummer,
and Klinkenberg.

For Forchheimer, the default Permeability κ (SI unit: m2) uses the value From material,
as defined by the Porous material list. Furthermore, the dimensionless Forchheimer
parameter cF can be defined. The default value is 0.55.

If Ergun is selected, enter the mean Particle diameter dp (default value: 0.5 mm). The
permeability κ is then calculated using Equation 8-23.

For Burke-Plummer, specify the mean Particle diameter dp (default value: 0.5 mm).

If Klinkenberg is selected from the list, the default Permeability κ∞ (SI unit: m2) uses
the value From material, as defined by the Porous material list. Enter the Klinkenberg
parameter bK. Its default value is 1e3 Pa. The corrected permeability κ is then
calculated using Equation 8-30.

THE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 519

 Mass Source
The Mass Source node adds a mass source Qm, which appears on the right-hand side of
the Darcy’s Law equation (Equation 8-4, the equation for porosity).

∂ ( ρε ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρu )
= Qm (8-4)
∂t

For the Fracture Flow Interface — which is available for the Subsurface Flow Module
and the Porous Media Flow Module — the mass source is applicable to the right-hand
side of Equation 8-7 (where it is multiplied with the fracture thickness).

MASS SOURCE
Enter a value or expression for the Mass source Qm (SI unit: kg/(m3·s)). The default is
0 kg/(m3·s).

Initial Values
The Initial Values node adds an initial value for the pressure that can serve as an initial
condition for a transient simulation or as an initial guess for a nonlinear solver.

If you have the Subsurface Flow Module licensed, you can specify the pressure either
directly or as an expression for the pressure head, Hp, or the hydraulic head, H; the
hydraulic head and the pressure head relate to the pressure p as

p
H p = ------ ; H = Hp + D
ρg

where ρ is the fluid density (SI unit: kg/m3); g denotes the acceleration of gravity
(SI unit: m/s2); and D is the elevation (SI unit: m).

INITIAL VALUES
Enter a value or expression for the initial value of the Pressure p (SI unit: Pa). The
default value is 0 Pa.

In case the Subsurface Flow Module is available, click the Pressure head button to enter
a value or expression for Hp (SI unit: m). The default is 0 m. Click the Hydraulic head
button to enter a value or expression for H (SI unit: m). The default is 0 m.

520 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

Storage Model
The Storage Model node adds Equation 8-2 and Equation 8-18 (excluding any mass
sources). Use it to define the fluid and porous media properties, including a storage
term for the specific storage.

This feature requires a specific license. For a detailed overview of the functionality
available in each product visit [Link]

FLUID PROPERTIES
The settings are the same as for the Fluid and Matrix Properties node except a gas
constant type is not required.

MATRIX PROPERTIES
The settings are the same as in the Matrix Properties section under Fluid and Matrix
Properties.

STORAGE MODEL
Select a Storage S (SI unit: 1/Pa) — Linearized storage (the default) or User defined.

• For User defined enter a value or expression for Storage S (SI unit: 1/Pa) (Sf in
Equation 8-7).
• For Linearized storage it uses the following linear equation to define the storage:

S = εχ f + ( 1 – ε p )χ p

This is equivalent to the Reuss average of the fluid and solid compressibilities. Enter
the value or expression for each of the following:
- Compressibility of fluid χf (SI unit: 1/Pa). The default uses values From material.
For User defined, the default is 4·10−10 1/Pa.
- Effective compressibility of matrix χp (SI unit: 1/Pa). The default is 1·10−4 1/Pa).

FRACTURE FLOW
For the Fracture Flow Interface, enter a value or expression for the Fracture thickness
df (SI unit: m). The default is 0.1 m.

Discrete Fracture: Application Library path

Subsurface_Flow_Module/Fluid_Flow/discrete_fracture

THE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 521

 Richards’ Equation Model
The Richards’ Equation Model node defines the storage and retention models in variably
saturated porous media. See the Richards’ Equation Model described for the Richards’
Equation interface.

This feature requires a specific license. For a detailed overview of the functionality
available in each product visit [Link]

Poroelastic Storage
The Poroelastic Storage node adds Equation 8-2 and Equation 8-18 (excluding any
mass sources). Use it to define the fluid and porous media properties, including a
storage term to account for the Poroelasticity multiphysics coupling.

This feature requires a specific license. For a detailed overview of the functionality
available in each product visit [Link]

FLUID PROPERTIES
The settings are the same as for the Storage Model node except a gas constant type is
not required. There is also an option to define the fluid compressibility.

Compressibility
Select the Compressibility of fluid χf (SI unit: 1/Pa). The default uses values From
material as defined by the Fluid material selected. For User defined the default is
4·10−10 1/Pa.

MATRIX PROPERTIES
The settings are the same as in the Matrix Properties section under Fluid and Matrix
Properties.

Gravity
The Gravity node is automatically added when Include gravity is selected at interface
level in the Darcy’s Law settings and it is active in all domains in which the Darcy’s Law
interface is applied.

This feature requires a specific license. For a detailed overview of the functionality
available in each product visit [Link]

522 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

COORDINATE SYSTEM SELECTION
The Global coordinate system is selected by default. The Coordinate system list contains
any additional coordinate systems that the model includes. It can be used when
prescribing the direction of the gravitational forces.

GRAVITY
Specify either the acceleration vector or — in case you have a Subsurface Flow Module
license — the elevation.

When Acceleration is selected from the list, enter the components of the Gravity vector
g. The default value is g_const which is the physical constant having the value
9.8066 m/s2.

• For 3D and 2D axisymmetric models, the default value is -g_const in the

z direction.
• For 2D models, the default value is -g_const in the y direction.

When Elevation is selected from the list, specify the Elevation D (SI unit: m). Select the
check box Specify reference position to define a reference elevation.

Select the acceleration of gravity from either the Darcy’s Law interface Settings
(default), or specify a user defined value. When the check box Include gravity is not
selected in the Darcy’s Law interface Settings, the elevation D is set equal to zero.

Porous Electrode Coupling

Use the Porous Electrode Coupling node to define a mass source based on the volumetric
current densities of one or multiple Porous Electrode Reaction nodes in an
Electrochemistry interface.

The source (or sink) is proportional to the Molar mass (kg/mol) of the reacting species,
the current densities and the stoichiometric coefficients according to Faraday’s law as
defined by summation over the Reaction Coefficient subnodes.

This feature requires a specific license. For a detailed overview of the functionality
available in each product visit [Link]

SPECIES
Based on the number of species required for the model, use the Add ( ) and
Delete ) buttons under the table to add or remove Species. Then enter a value for
the Molar mass (kg/mol) in the applicable rows for each species.

THE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 523

 The setting in the table will determine the number of available fields for entering the
stoichiometric coefficients of the Reaction Coefficient subnodes.

Electrode Surface Coupling

Use the Electrode Surface Coupling node to define a combined wall and inflow/outflow
boundary condition based on current densities of one or multiple Electrode Reaction
nodes in an Electrochemistry interface.

The flow is proportional to the Molar mass (kg/mol) of the reacting species, the current
densities and the stoichiometric coefficients according to Faraday’s law as defined by
summation over the Reaction Coefficient subnodes.

This feature requires a specific license. For a detailed overview of the functionality
available in each product visit [Link]

SPECIES
Based on the number of species required for the model, use the Add ( ) and
Delete ) buttons under the table to add or remove Species. Then enter a value for
the Molar mass (kg/mol) in the applicable rows for each species.

The setting in the table will determine the number of available field for entering the
stoichiometric coefficients of the Reaction Coefficient subnodes.

Pressure
Use the Pressure node to specify the pressure on a boundary. In many cases the
distribution of pressure is known, giving a Dirichlet condition p = p0 where p0 is a
known pressure given as a number, a distribution, or an expression involving time, t,
for example.

PRESSURE
Enter a value or expression for the Pressure p0(SI unit: Pa). Enter a relative pressure
value in p0 (SI unit: Pa).

For the Subsurface Flow Module, the Pressure node provides the pressure P0 as a
condition on edges in 3D models. Then select the edges under Edge Selection.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box.

524 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

Pressure constraint on edges are available for use with the Fracture Flow boundary
condition (which is available in the Subsurface Flow Module). This boundary
condition needs constraints on the edges surrounding the fracture-flow boundary. In
other cases, pressure constraints on edges are not implemented.

Mass Flux
Use the Mass Flux node to specify the mass flux into or out of the model domain
through some of its boundaries. It is often possible to determine the mass flux from
the pumping rate or from measurements. With this boundary condition, positive
values correspond to flow into the model domain:

κ
n ⋅ ρ --- ( ∇p + ρ g ∇D ) = N 0
μ

where N0 is a value or expression for the specified inward (or outward) Darcy flux. D
is the elevation head which is set to zero for other than Subsurface Flow Module
applications.

MASS FLUX
Enter a value or expression for the Inward mass flux N0. A positive value of N0
represents an inward mass flux whereas a negative value represents an outward mass
flux. The units are based on the geometric entity: Boundaries: (SI unit: kg/(m2·s)).

Line Mass Source

The Line Mass Source node adds mass flow originating from a tube of infinitely small
radius.

SELECTION
The Line Mass Source feature is available for all dimensions, but the applicable selection
differs between the dimensions.

MODEL DIMENSION APPLICABLE GEOMETRICAL ENTITY

2D Points
2D Axisymmetry Points not on the symmetry axis
3D Edges

THE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 525

 LINE MASS SOURCE
Enter a value or expression for the source strength, N0 (SI unit: kg/(m·s)). A positive
value results in mass injection from the line into the computational domain, and a
negative value means that the mass is removed from the computational domain.

Line sources located on a boundary affect the adjacent computational domains. This
effect makes the physical strength of a line source located in a symmetry plane twice
the given strength.

Point Mass Source

The Point Mass Source node models mass flow originating from an infinitely small
sphere centered around a point. It is available for points in 3D geometries.

POINT MASS SOURCE

Enter a value or expression for the source strength, N0 (SI unit: kg/(s)). A positive
value results in mass injection from the point into the computational domain, and a
negative value means that the mass is removed from the computational domain.

Point sources located on a boundary or on an edge affect the adjacent computational

domains. This has the effect, for example, that the physical strength of a point source
located in a symmetry plane is twice the given strength.

Inlet
The Inlet node adds a boundary condition for the inflow (or outflow) perpendicular
(normal) to the boundary. It has three options that can be used to specify inlet
condition on a boundary, as follows:

VELOCITY
Enter a value or expression for the Normal inflow velocity U0 (SI unit: m/s). A positive
value of U0 represents an inflow velocity. A negative value represents an outflow
velocity. The inlet velocity boundary condition is implemented as;

κ
n ⋅ ρ --- ( ∇p + ρ g ∇D ) = ρU 0
μ

where U0 is a value or expression for the specified inward (or outward) Darcy velocity.
A positive value of the velocity U0 corresponds to flow into the model domain whereas
a negative value represents an outflow. D is the elevation head which is set to zero for
other than Subsurface Flow Module applications.

526 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

PRESSURE
Use the Pressure option to specify the inlet pressure on a boundary. In many cases the
distribution of pressure is known, giving a Dirichlet condition p = p0 where p0 is a
known pressure given as a number, a distribution, or an expression involving time, t,
for example. Enter a value or expression for the Pressure p0(SI unit: Pa).

MASS FLOW
If you select Mass flow as the inlet condition, specify the total Mass flow rate M0(SI unit:
kg/s), or the Pointwise mass flux N0(SI unit: kg/(m2·s)).

With Mass flow rate boundary condition, positive values correspond to flow into the
model domain:

–  ρ ( u ⋅ n ) dS = M0
∂Ω

where M0 is a value or expression for the specified inward (or outward) Darcy flux.

Pointwise mass flux boundary condition, positive values correspond to flow into the
model domain:

κ
n ⋅ ρ --- ( ∇p + ρ g ∇D ) = N 0
μ

where N0 is a value or expression for the specified inward (or outward) Darcy flux.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box.

Symmetry
The Symmetry node describes a symmetry boundary. The following condition
implements the symmetry condition on an axis or a flow divide:

κ
n ⋅ --- ∇p = 0
μ

κ
n ⋅ --- ( ∇p + ρ g ∇D ) = 0
μ

THE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 527

 For axisymmetric components, COMSOL Multiphysics takes the axial symmetry
boundaries (at r = 0) into account and automatically adds an Axial Symmetry node that
is valid on the axial symmetry boundaries only.

No Flow
The No Flow node is the default boundary condition stating that there is no flow across
impermeable boundaries. The mathematical formulation is:

κ
n ⋅ ρ --- ( ∇p + ρ g ∇D ) = 0
μ

where n is the vector normal to the boundary. D is the elevation head which is set to
zero for any other than Subsurface Flow Module applications.

Flux Discontinuity
Use the Flux Discontinuity node to specify a mass flux discontinuity through an interior
boundary. The condition is represented by the following equation:

– n ⋅ ( ρu 1 – ρ u 2 ) = N 0

In this equation, n is the vector normal (perpendicular) to the interior boundary, ρ is

the fluid density, u1 and u2 are the Darcy velocities in the adjacent domains (as defined
in Equation 8-5) and N0 is a specified value or expression for the flux discontinuity.

κ
u = – --- ∇p (8-5)
μ

For this boundary condition, a positive value of N0 corresponds to a flow discontinuity

in the opposite direction to the normal vector of the interior boundary.

MASS FLUX
Enter a value or expression for the Inward mass flux N0 (SI unit: kg/(m2·s)). A positive
value of N0 represents a mass flux discontinuity in the opposite direction to the normal
vector of the interior boundary.

528 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

Outlet
The Outlet node adds a boundary condition for the outflow (or inflow) perpendicular
(normal) to the boundary. It has two options that can be used to specify inlet condition
on a boundary, as follows:

VELOCITY
Enter a value or expression for the Normal outflow velocity U0 (SI unit: m/s). A positive
value of U0 represents an outflow velocity whereas a negative value represents an
inflow velocity.

κ
– n ⋅ ρ --- ∇p = ρU 0
μ

where U0 is a specified value or expression for the outward (or inward) Darcy velocity.

PRESSURE
Similar to the inlet Pressure option, the outlet pressure on a boundary can be specified.
Enter a value or expression for the Pressure p0(SI unit: Pa).

Precipitation
Enter a value or expression for the Precipitation rate which then contributes to the mass
flux at the boundaries selected. If the boundary is inclined, a Slope correction can be
applied.

This feature requires a specific license. For a detailed overview of the functionality
available in each product visit [Link]

Cross Section
Use this node with 1D components to model domains with another cross-sectional
area than the global one that is used in the interface Physical Model section. In 1D
geometries, the pressure is assumed to be constant in the radial direction, and Darcy’s
Law accounts for that.

CROSS SECTION
Enter values for the Cross-sectional area Ac to set the cross section of the domain in the
plane perpendicular to the 1D geometry.

THE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 529

 Thickness
Use this node with 2D and 1D axisymmetric components to model domains with
another thickness than the overall thickness that is specified in the interface Physical
Model section. In 2D geometries, the pressure is assumed to be constant in the
out-of-plane direction (z direction with default spatial coordinate names). In 1D
axisymmetric geometries the thickness represents the z direction.

THICKNESS
Specify a value for the Thickness dz of the domain in the out-of-plane direction. This
value replaces the overall thickness in the domains that are selected in the Domain
Selection section, and is used to multiply some terms into the heat equation.

Interior Wall
The Interior Wall boundary condition can only be applied on interior boundaries. It is
similar to the No Flux boundary available on exterior boundaries except that it applies
on both sides of an interior boundary. It allows discontinuities of velocity and pressure
across the boundary. The Interior Wall boundary condition can be used to avoid
meshing thin structures by applying no-flux condition on interior curves and surfaces
instead.

This feature requires a specific license. For a detailed overview of the functionality
available in each product visit [Link]

Thin Barrier
The Thin Barrier boundary condition models interior permeable walls, membranes,
geotextiles, or perforated plates as thin permeable barriers. The Thin Barrier boundary
condition can only be applied on interior boundaries.

This feature requires a specific license. For a detailed overview of the functionality
available in each product visit [Link]

WALL
Enter a value or expression for the Thickness db (SI unit: m, the default is 0.1 m) and
for the Permeability κb (SI unit: m2). The default Permeability κb uses the value From
material. For User defined select Isotropic to define a scalar value or Diagonal, Symmetric,
or Full to define a tensor value and enter another value or expression in the field or
matrix.

530 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

Pressure Head
Use the Pressure Head node to specify the pressure head (instead of the pressure) on a
boundary. It adds this boundary condition for the pressure head Hp= Hp0, where Hp0
is a known pressure head given as a number, a distribution, or an expression involving
time, t, for example. The dimension of the pressure head is length (SI unit: m).

The Subsurface Flow Module license is required to use this boundary condition (see
[Link]

PRESSURE HEAD
Enter a value or expression for the Pressure head Hp0 (SI unit: m). The default is 0 m.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box.

Hydraulic Head
Use the Hydraulic Head node to specify the hydraulic head (instead of the pressure) on
a boundary. This adds the Dirichlet condition for the hydraulic head H = H0 where H0
is a known hydraulic head given as a number, a distribution, or an expression involving
time, t, for example.

The Subsurface Flow Module license is required to use this boundary condition (see
[Link]

HYDRAULIC HEAD
Enter a value or expression for the Hydraulic head H0 (SI unit: m). The default is 0 m.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box.

Atmosphere/Gauge
The Atmosphere/Gauge node specifies an atmospheric pressure or gauges the pressure
to the atmospheric value. This means that the total hydraulic potential reduces to the
gravitational pressure at the free surface. At a free surface, such as a spring or a seepage
face, the pressure is atmospheric. If the pressures in the model is gauged to the

THE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 531

 atmospheric value (p = 0), the total hydraulic potential reduces to the gravitational
potential at the free surface — for example, the height of the free surface multiplied by
the fluid weight, or ρf gD. This boundary condition sets the pressure at the boundary
to zero and p = 0.

The Subsurface Flow Module license is required to use this boundary condition (see
[Link]

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box.

Pervious Layer
The Subsurface Flow Module license is required to use this boundary condition (see
[Link]

The Pervious Layer node provides a boundary condition that describes a mass flux
through a semi-pervious layer connected to an external fluid source at different
pressure, pressure head, or hydraulic head. The model domain might connect to a
larger body of water through the semi-pervious layer. This condition is represented
with the following boundary condition:

κ ( pb – p )
n ⋅ ρ --- ( ∇p + ρ g ∇D ) = ρR b -------------------- + ( D b – D ) (8-6)
μ ρg

In this equation, pb (SI unit: Pa) and Db (SI unit: m) are the pressure and the elevation
of the distant fluid source, respectively, and Rb (SI unit: 1/s) is the conductance of
materials between the source and the model domain (conductance to flow in the
semi-pervious layer adjacent to the boundary). Typically Rb = K'/B', where K' is the
hydraulic conductivity (SI unit: m/s) of the layer and B' (SI unit: m) is its thickness.
Using logical relationships, it is possible to activate these expressions at different times
or under various flow conditions.

When the pressure head Hp is specified instead of the pressure, the boundary condition
is the following:

n ⋅ ρK∇ ( H p + D ) = ρR b [ ( H pb – H p ) + ( D b – D ) ] (8-7)

Hpb is the pressure head (SI unit: m) at the edge of the layer.

532 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

When the hydraulic head H is specified instead of the pressure head, the boundary
condition becomes:

n ⋅ ρK∇H = ρR b [ H b – H ] (8-8)

Hb is the hydraulic head (SI unit: m) at the edge of the layer.

K in Equation 8-7 and Equation 8-8 is the hydraulic conductivity.

At a free surface, such as a water table or seepage face, the pressure is atmospheric (here
taken to be zero), so the total hydraulic potential equals gravitational potential, which
is defined on D.

Gravity effects are not active by default. Select the check box Include
gravity to activate the acceleration of gravity. Setting the elevation D to
zero also turns off gravity effects.

PERVIOUS LAYER
Specify the material properties whether to specify an external pressure, pressure head,
or hydraulic head.

Select an External variable to specify — Pressure and elevation to specify the external
pressure, Pressure head and elevation to specify the external pressure head, or Hydraulic
head. For all selections, enter a value for the Conductance Rb (SI unit: 1/s).

• For Pressure and elevation enter an External pressure pb (SI unit: Pa) and External
elevation Db (SI unit: m).
• For Pressure head and elevation enter an External pressure head Hpb (SI unit: m), Hpb
(SI unit: m) and External elevation Db (SI unit: m).
• For Hydraulic head enter the Hydraulic head Hb (SI unit: m).

Well
The Well feature is intended to model injection or production wells and is available
with the Subsurface Flow Module.

WELL
Enter a value or expression for the Well diameter dw (SI unit: m, the default is 0.1 m).
Select the Well type from the list, Production or Injection well.

THE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 533

 Specify either the Pressure (SI unit: Pa), Pressure head (SI unit: m), Hydraulic head (SI
unit: m), or the Mass flow. If you select Mass flow, specify the total Mass flow rate (SI
unit: kg/s), the Mass flow rate per unit length (SI unit: kg/(m·s)) or the Mass flux (SI
unit: kg/(m2·s)).

Fracture Flow
The Fracture Flow node adds fracture flow on boundaries using tangential derivatives
to define the flow along interior boundaries representing fractures within a porous
medium. It is implemented through . Additional subnodes are available from the
context menu (right-click the parent node) or from the Physics toolbar, Attributes
menu.

This feature requires a specific license. For a detailed overview of the functionality
available in each product visit [Link]

534 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

The Brinkman Equations Interface
The Brinkman Equations (br) interface ( ), found under the Porous Media and
Subsurface Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used to compute fluid
velocity and pressure fields of single-phase flow in porous media in the laminar flow
regime. The physics interface extends Darcy’s law to describe the dissipation of the
kinetic energy by viscous shear, similar to the Navier-Stokes equations. Fluids with
varying density can be included at Mach numbers below 0.3. Also the viscosity of a
fluid can vary, for example, to describe non-Newtonian fluids. To simplify the
equations, select the Stokes-Brinkman flow feature to reduce the dependence on
inertial effects when the Reynolds number is significantly less than 1. The physics
interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent analyses.

The main node is the Fluid and Matrix Properties feature, which adds the Brinkman
equations and provides an interface for defining the fluid material and the porous
matrix.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder — Fluid and Matrix Properties, Wall (the default boundary type, using No
slip as the default boundary condition), and Initial Values. Then, from the Physics
toolbar, add other nodes that implement, for example, boundary conditions and
volume forces. You can also right-click Brinkman Equations to select physics features
from the context menu.

The boundary conditions are essentially the same as for the Laminar Flow interface.
Differences exist for the following boundary types: Outlet, Symmetry, Open
Boundary, and Boundary Stress where the viscous part of the stress is divided by the
porosity to appear as

1-  T 2 
---- μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) ) – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I 
ε p  3 

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual see Table 2-4 for links to common
sections such as Discretization, Consistent Stabilization, and Inconsistent Stabilization,
and Advanced Settings sections, all accessed by clicking the Show button ( ) and
choosing the applicable option. You can also search for information: press F1 to open
the Help window or Ctrl+F1 to open the Documentation window.

THE BRINKMAN EQUATIONS INTERFACE | 535

 SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is br.

PHYSICAL MODEL
This node specifies the properties of the Brinkman Equations interface, which describe
the overall type of fluid flow model.

Compressibility
By default the physics interface uses the Incompressible flow formulation of the
Brinkman equations to model constant density flow. Alternatively, select Compressible
flow (Ma<0.3) from the Compressibility list if there are small variations in the density,
typically dependent on the temperature (nonisothermal flow). For compressible flow
modeled with the Brinkman Equations interface, the Mach number must be below
0.3.

Neglect Inertial Term (Stokes-Brinkman Flow)

The Neglect inertial term (Stokes-Brinkman) check box is selected by default to model
flow at low Reynolds numbers for which the inertial term can be neglected. This results
in the linear Stokes-Brinkman equations.

Enable porous media domains

The Enable porous media domains check box is selected by default to solve Brinkman
equations in porous domains.

Reference Pressure Level

Enter a Reference pressure level pref (SI unit: Pa). The default value is 1[atm].

Swirl Flow
For 2D axisymmetric models, select the Swirl flow check box to include the swirl
velocity component, that is the velocity component u ϕ in the azimuthal direction.
While u ϕ can be nonzero, there can be no gradients in the ϕ direction.

536 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface — the
Velocity field u (SI unit: m/s) and its components, and the Pressure p (SI unit: Pa).

ADVANCED SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box. Normally these settings do not
need to be changed.

The Use pseudo time stepping for stationary equation form option adds pseudo time
derivatives to the equation when the Stationary equation form is used in order to speed
up convergence. When selected, a CFL number expression should also be defined. For
the default Automatic option, the local CFL number (from the Courant–Friedrichs–
Lewy condition) is determined by a PID regulator.

• Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Brinkman Equations
Interface
• Theory for the Brinkman Equations Interface

• Pseudo Time Stepping for Laminar Flow Models and Pseudo Time
Stepping in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual
• Numerical Stability — Stabilization Techniques for Fluid Flow
• Discontinuous Galerkin Formulation

Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Brinkman

Equations Interface
The Brinkman Equations Interface has the following domain, boundary, point, and
pair nodes, listed in alphabetical order, available from the Physics ribbon toolbar
(Windows users), Physics context menu (Mac or Linux users), or right-click to access
the context menu (all users).

In general, to add a node, go to the Physics toolbar, no matter what

operating system you are using. Subnodes are available by clicking the
parent node and selecting it from the Attributes menu.

THE BRINKMAN EQUATIONS INTERFACE | 537

 These nodes are described in this section:

• Fluid and Matrix Properties • Volume Force

• Initial Values • Fluid Properties
• Mass Source

The following nodes(listed in alphabetical order) are described for the Laminar Flow
interface :

• Flow Continuity • Periodic Flow Condition

• Inlet • Point Mass Source
• Line Mass Source • Pressure Point Constraint
• Boundary Stress • Symmetry
• Outlet • Wall
• Open Boundary

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual see Table 2-4 for links
to common sections and Table 2-5 to common feature nodes. You can
also search for information: press F1 to open the Help window or Ctrl+F1
to open the Documentation window.

Fluid and Matrix Properties

The Fluid and Matrix Properties node adds the Brinkman equations: Equation 8-9 and
Equation 8-10 (excluding any mass sources), and provides an interface for defining the
properties of the fluid material and the porous matrix.

FLUID PROPERTIES
The default Fluid material uses the Domain material. Select another material as needed.

Both the default Density ρ (SI unit: kg/m3) and Dynamic viscosity μ (SI unit: Pa·s) use
values From material based on the Fluid material selection. For User defined enter
another value or expression. In this case, the default is 0 kg/m3 for the density and
0 Pa·s for the dynamic viscosity. The dynamic viscosity describes the relationship
between the shear stresses and the shear rate in a fluid. Intuitively, water and air have

538 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

a low viscosity, and substances often described as thick, such as oil, have a higher
viscosity. Non-Newtonian fluids have a viscosity that is shear-rate dependent. Examples
of non-Newtonian fluids include yogurt, paper pulp, and polymer suspensions.

POROUS MATRIX PROPERTIES

The default Porous material uses the Domain material for the porous matrix. Select
another material as needed.

The Porosity εp (a dimensionless number between 0 and 1) uses by default the value
From material as defined by the Porous material selection. For User defined the default
is 0.

Select a Permeability model to specify the capacity of the porous material to transmit
flow — Permeability to directly enter the permeability of the porous matrix,
Kozeny-Carman to define the permeability from the porosity and mean particle
diameter, or Non-Darcian in cases when Darcy’s linear relation between pressure drop
and velocity is no longer valid due to turbulence or inertial effects. The Non-Darcian
Flow option includes different models, some of them are only available for certain
modules. For a detailed overview of the functionality available in each product, visit
[Link]

The default Permeability κ (SI unit: m2) uses the value From material, as defined by the
Porous material list. For User defined select Isotropic to define a scalar value or Diagonal,
Symmetric, or Full to define a tensor value and enter another value or expression in the
field or matrix.

For Kozeny-Carman, enter the mean Particle diameter dp (SI unit: m), the default value
is 0.5 mm.

For Non-Darcian, choose a Non-Darcian flow model from the selection list. The available
options, depending on the modules licensed, are Forchheimer or Ergun.

For Forchheimer, the default Permeability κ (SI unit: m2) uses the value From material,
as defined by the Porous material list. Furthermore, the dimensionless Forchheimer
parameter cF can be defined. The default value is 0.55.

If Ergun is selected, enter the mean Particle diameter dp (default value: 0.5 mm). The
permeability κ is then calculated using Equation 8-23.

THE BRINKMAN EQUATIONS INTERFACE | 539

 Mass Source
The Mass Source node adds a mass source (or mass sink) Qm to the right-hand side of
the continuity equation: Equation 8-9. This term accounts for mass deposit and/or
mass creation in porous domains. The physics interface assumes that the mass
exchange occurs at zero velocity.

∂ ( ε ρ ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρu ) = Q
(8-9)
∂t p m

DOMAIN SELECTION
Only Porous Matrix domains are available.

MASS SOURCE
Enter a value or expression for the Source term Qbr (SI unit: kg/(m3·s)). The default
is 0 kg/(m3·s).

Volume Force
Use the Volume Force node to specify the force F on the right-hand side of
Equation 8-10. It then acts on each fluid element in the specified domains. A common
application is to include gravity effects.

ρ-  ∂u
+ ( u ⋅ ∇ ) ----- =
u
----
εp  ∂ t εp
(8-10)
1 T 2   –1 Q m
–∇ p + ∇ ⋅ ----
- --
- --------
μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) ) – μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I  –  κ μ + 2  u + F
ε p  3   εp 

VOLUME FORCE
Enter the components of Volume force F (SI unit: N/m3).

Initial Values
The Initial Values node adds initial values for the velocity field and the pressure that can
serve as an initial condition for a transient simulation or as an initial guess for a
nonlinear solver.

540 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

INITIAL VALUES
Enter initial values or expressions for the Velocity field u (SI unit: m/s) and the Pressure
p (SI unit: Pa). The default values are 0 m/s and 0 Pa, respectively.

Fluid Properties
The Fluid Properties node adds the momentum and continuity equations to solve for
free flow in nonporous domains. The node also provides an interface for defining the
material properties of the fluid.

MODEL INPUTS
Fluid properties, such as density and viscosity, can be defined through user inputs,
variables or by selecting a material. For the latter option, additional inputs — for
example, temperature or pressure — may be required to define these properties.

Temperature
By default, the single-phase flow interfaces are set to model isothermal flow. Hence,
the Temperature is User defined and defaults to 293.15 K. If a Heat Transfer interface
is included in the component, the temperature may alternatively be selected from this
physics interface. All physics interfaces have their own tags (Name). For example, if a
Heat Transfer in Fluids interface is included in the component, the Temperature (ht)
option is available.

Absolute Pressure
This input appears when a material requires the absolute pressure as a model input.
The absolute pressure is used to evaluate material properties, but it also relates to the
value of the calculated pressure field. There are generally two ways to calculate the
pressure when describing fluid flow: either to solve for the absolute pressure or for a
pressure (often denoted gauge pressure) that relates to the absolute pressure through
a reference pressure.

The choice of pressure variable depends on the system of equations being solved. For
example, in a unidirectional incompressible flow problem, the pressure drop over the
modeled domain is probably many orders of magnitude smaller than the atmospheric
pressure, which, when included, may reduce the stability and convergence properties
of the solver. In other cases, such as when the pressure is part of an expression for the
gas volume or the diffusion coefficients, it may be more convenient to solve for the
absolute pressure.

The default Absolute pressure pA is p+pref where p is the dependent pressure variable
from the Navier-Stokes equations, and pref is from the user input defined at the physics

THE BRINKMAN EQUATIONS INTERFACE | 541

 interface level. When pref is nonzero, the physics interface solves for a gauge pressure.
If the pressure field instead is an absolute pressure field, pref should be set to 0.

The Absolute pressure field can be edited by clicking Make All Model Inputs Editable
( ) and entering the desired value in the input field.

FLUID PROPERTIES
If density variations with respect to pressure are to be included in the computations,
the flow must be set to compressible.

The Dynamic viscosity μ describes the relationship between the shear rate and the shear
stresses in a fluid. Intuitively, water and air have low viscosities, and substances often
described as thick (such as oil) have higher viscosities.

542 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

The Free and Porous Media Flow
Interface
The Free and Porous Media Flow (fp) interface ( ), found under the Porous Media and
Subsurface Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used to compute fluid
velocity and pressure fields of single-phase flow where free flow is connected to porous
media. The Free and Porous Media Flow interface is used over at least two different
domains: a free channel and a porous medium. The physics interface is well suited for
transitions between slow flow in porous media, governed by the Brinkman equations,
and fast flow in channels described by the Navier-Stokes equations. Fluids with varying
density can be included at Mach numbers below 0.3. Also the viscosity of a fluid can
vary, for example, to describe non-Newtonian fluids. The physics interface can be used
for stationary and time-dependent analyses.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder — Fluid Properties, Wall, and Initial Values. Then, from the Physics
toolbar, add a Fluid and Matrix Properties node to be used on the domain selection
corresponding to the porous media, or add other nodes that implement, for example,
boundary conditions and volume forces. You can also right-click Free and Porous Media
Flow to select physics features from the context menu.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is fp.

PHYSICAL MODEL

Compressibility
By default the physics interface uses the Incompressible flow formulation of the
Navier-Stokes and Brinkman equations to model constant density flow. If required,
select Compressible flow (Ma<0.3) from the Compressibility list, to account for small

THE FREE AND POROUS MEDIA FLOW INTERFACE | 543

 variations in the density, typically dependent on the temperature (nonisothermal flow).
For compressible flow modeled with this physics interface, the Mach number must be
below 0.3.

Neglect Inertial Term

Select the Neglect inertial term (Stokes flow) check box if the inertial forces are small
compared to the viscous forces. This is typical for creeping flow, where Re « 1 .

Reference Pressure Level

Enter a Reference pressure level pref (SI unit: Pa). The default value is 1[atm].

Reference Temperature
Enter a Reference temperature Tref (SI unit: K). The default value is 293.15[K].

Swirl Flow
For 2D axisymmetric components, select the Swirl flow check box to include the swirl
velocity component, that is the velocity component u ϕ in the azimuthal direction.
While u ϕ can be nonzero, there can be no gradients in the ϕ direction.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The following dependent variables (fields) are defined for this physics interface — the
Velocity field u (SI unit: m/s) and its components, and the Pressure p (SI unit: Pa).

• Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Free and Porous
Media Flow Interface
• Theory for the Free and Porous Media Flow Interface

Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Free and Porous
Media Flow Interface
The Free and Porous Media Flow Interface has the following domain, boundary,
point, and pair nodes, listed in alphabetical order, available from the Physics ribbon
toolbar (Windows users), Physics context menu (Mac or Linux users), or right-click to
access the context menu (all users).

In general, to add a node, go to the Physics toolbar, no matter what

operating system you are using. Subnodes are available by clicking the
parent node and selecting it from the Attributes menu.

544 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

 • Fluid Properties • Fluid and Matrix Properties
• Initial Values • Mass Source
• Mass Source • Volume Force
• Wall

The following nodes (listed in alphabetical order) are described for the Laminar Flow
interface:

• No Viscous Stress • Open Boundary

• Flow Continuity • Periodic Flow Condition
• Inlet • Point Mass Source
• Line Mass Source • Pressure Point Constraint
• Outlet • Symmetry

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual see Table 2-4 for links
to common sections and Table 2-5 to common feature nodes. You can
also search for information: press F1 to open the Help window or Ctrl+F1
to open the Documentation window.

Fluid Properties
Use the Fluid Properties node to define the fluid material, density, and dynamic
viscosity.

FLUID PROPERTIES
The default Fluid material uses the Domain material (the material defined for the
domain). Select another material as needed.

The default Density ρ (SI unit: kg/m3) uses values From material based on the Fluid
material selection. For User defined enter another value or expression. The default is
0 kg/m3.

The Dynamic viscosity μ (SI unit: Pa·s) uses values From material based on the Fluid
material selection. For User defined enter another value or expression. The default is
0 Pa·s.

THE FREE AND POROUS MEDIA FLOW INTERFACE | 545

 Fluid and Matrix Properties
Use the Fluid and Matrix Properties node to define which domains contain porous
material and to define the porous matrix properties, such as the porosity and
permeability in these domains.

DOMAIN SELECTION
Choose domains from the Selection list, to solve for porous media flow governed by
the Brinkman equations. In the domains not selected, the Free and Porous Media Flow
interface solves for laminar flow governed by the Navier-Stokes (or Stokes) equations.

POROUS MATRIX PROPERTIES

The default Porous material uses the Domain material for the porous matrix. Select
another material as needed.

The Porosity εp (a dimensionless number between 0 and 1) uses by default the value
From material as defined by the Porous material selection. For User defined the default
is 0.

In this node you specify the porosity εp, whereas in other nodes the
volume fraction of solid material θp = 1 − εp is required instead. See
Porous Medium in the Heat Transfer Module User’s Guide for an
example.

Select a Permeability model to specify the capacity of the porous material to transmit
flow — Permeability to directly enter the permeability of the porous matrix,
Kozeny-Carman to define the permeability from the porosity and mean particle
diameter, or Non-Darcian in cases when Darcy’s linear relation between pressure drop
and velocity is no longer valid due to turbulence or inertial effects. The Non-Darcian
Flow option is only available for the Subsurface Flow Module and the Porous Media
Flow Module. For a detailed overview of the functionality available in each product,
visit [Link]

The default Permeability κ (SI unit: m2) uses the value From material, as defined by the
Porous material list. For User defined select Isotropic to define a scalar value or Diagonal,
Symmetric, or Full to define a tensor value and enter another value or expression in the
field or matrix.

For Kozeny-Carman, enter the mean Particle diameter dp (SI unit: m), the default value
is 0.5 mm.

546 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

For Non-Darcian, choose a Non-Darcian flow model from the selection list. The available
options, depend on the modules licensed, are Forchheimer or Ergun.

For Forchheimer, the default Permeability κ (SI unit: m2) uses the value From material,
as defined by the Porous material list. Furthermore, the dimensionless Forchheimer
parameter cF can be defined. The default value is 0.55.

If Ergun is selected, enter the mean Particle diameter dp (default value: 0.5 mm). The
permeability κ is then calculated using .

Mass Source
Enter a value or expression for an optional mass source (or sink) Source term Qm (SI
unit: kg/(m3·s)). This term accounts for mass deposit or mass creation within porous
domains. The physics interface assumes that the mass exchange occurs at zero velocity.

Effective Mass Transport Parameters

A correction factor (Bruggeman, No Correction, or User defined) to the mass transport
parameters (defined in the Transport Properties node) can be applied for the porous
domain. Species diffusivities and mobilities are automatically adjusted by the porous
media corrections. For User defined enter a value or expression for the Conversion factor
feff. The default is 1. Species diffusivities and mobilities are automatically adjusted by
the porous media corrections.

Volume Force
The Volume Force node specifies the force F on the right-hand side of the
Navier-Stokes or Brinkman equations, depending on whether the Porous Matrix
Properties node is active for the domain. Use it, for example, to incorporate the effects
of gravity in a model.

VOLUME FORCE
Enter the components of the Volume force F (SI unit: N/m3).

Initial Values
The Initial Values node adds initial values for the velocity field and the pressure that can
serve as an initial condition for a transient simulation or as an initial guess for a
nonlinear solver.

THE FREE AND POROUS MEDIA FLOW INTERFACE | 547

 INITIAL VALUES
Enter initial values or expressions for the Velocity field u (SI unit: m/s) and for the
Pressure p (SI unit: Pa). The default values are 0 m/s and 0 Pa, respectively.

Microfluidic Wall Conditions

Use the Microfluidic Wall Conditions node to add boundary conditions to the moving
wall and specify whether to use viscous slip or thermal creep.

BOUNDARY CONDITION
The default Boundary condition for the wall is Slip velocity. Enter values or expressions
for the components of the Velocity of moving wall uw (SI unit: m/s).

Use Viscous Slip

Select the Use viscous slip check box to define the slip length:

• The default is User defined. Enter a value for Ls (SI unit: m). The default is 1e-7 m.
• Select Maxwell’s model to calculate it from:

2 – αv
L s =  --------------- λ
 αv 

• Then enter values or expressions for the Tangential momentum accommodation

coefficient (TMAC) av (dimensionless) (the default is 0.9) and the Mean free path λ
(SI unit: m) (the default is 1e-6 m).

Use Thermal Creep

Select the Use thermal creep check box to activate the thermal creep component of the
boundary condition. Enter the fluid’s Temperature T (SI unit: K) and the Thermal slip
coefficient σT. The default temperature is 293.15 K and the default thermal slip
coefficient is 0.75.

If you also have a license for the MEMS Module, an additional Boundary condition
option Electroosmotic velocity is available. This is described in the MEMS Module
User’s Guide.

Wall
The Wall node includes a set of boundary conditions describing fluid-flow conditions
at stationary, moving, and leaking walls.

548 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

BOUNDARY CONDITION
Select a Boundary condition for the wall.

• No Slip1 • Leaking Wall

• Slip

No Slip
No slip is the default boundary condition for a stationary solid wall for laminar flow
(and SST, Low Re k-ε, Algebraic yPlus, L-VEL, and Spalart-Allmaras turbulence
models). The condition prescribes u = 0; that is, the fluid at the wall is not moving.

Slip
The Slip option prescribes a no-penetration condition, u·n=0. It is implicitly assumed
that there are no viscous effects at the slip wall and hence, no boundary layer develops.
From a modeling point of view, this can be a reasonable approximation if the main
effect of the wall is to prevent fluid from leaving the domain.

Leaking Wall
This boundary condition may be used to simulate a wall where fluid is leaking into or
leaving the domain with the velocity u = ul through a perforated wall. The
components of the Fluid velocity ul on the leaking wall should be specified.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
This section is displayed by clicking the Show button ( ) and selecting Advanced
Physics Options.

• Theory for the Wall Boundary Condition

• The Moving Mesh Interface in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual

THE FREE AND POROUS MEDIA FLOW INTERFACE | 549

 The Two-Phase Darcy’s Law Interface
The Two-Phase Darcy’s Law (tpdl) interface ( ), found under the Porous Media and
Subsurface Flow branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used to simulate fluid
flow through interstices in a porous medium. It solves Darcy’s law for the total
pressure and the transport of the fluid content for one fluid phase. The physics
interface can be used to model low velocity flows or media where the permeability and
porosity are very small, for which the pressure gradient is the major driving force and
the flow is mostly influenced by the frictional resistance within the pores. The physics
interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent analyses.

The main feature is the Fluids and Matrix Properties node, which provides an interface
for defining the two immiscible fluids properties along with the porous medium
properties. The physics interface is available in 2D, 2D axisymmetric, and 3D.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder — Fluids and Matrix Properties, No Flow (the default boundary condition),
and Initial Values. Then, from the Physics toolbar, add other nodes that implement, for
example, boundary conditions and mass sources. You can also right-click Two-Phase
Darcy’s Law to select physics features from the context menu.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is tpdl.

PHYSICAL MODEL
Enter a Reference pressure level pref (SI unit: Pa). The default value is 1[atm].

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variables (field variables) are the Pressure and Fluid content 1. The name
can be changed but the names of fields and dependent variables must be unique within
a component.

550 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

CONSISTENT STABILIZATION
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Stabilization
from the Show More Options dialog box.

There are two consistent stabilization methods available — Streamline diffusion and
Crosswind diffusion. Streamline diffusion is active by default. The Residual setting applies
to both the consistent stabilization methods. Approximate residual is the default setting
and it means that derivatives of the capillary diffusion tensor components are
neglected. This setting is usually accurate enough and computationally faster. If
required, select Full residual instead.

DISCRETIZATION
You can choose the order of the shape functions used for the pressure and fluid content
variables solved by the Two-Phase Darcy’s Law interface. The default shape functions
are P2+P1 Lagrange.

To display all settings available in this section, click the Show More Options button ( )
and select Advanced Physics Options from the Show More Options dialog box.

• Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Two-Phase Darcy’s Law
Interface
• Theory for the Two-Phase Darcy’s Law Interface

Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Two-Phase Darcy’s Law
Interface
The Two-Phase Darcy’s Law Interface has these domain, boundary, and pair nodes,
listed in alphabetical order, available from the Physics ribbon toolbar (Windows users),
Physics context menu (Mac or Linux users), or right-click to access the context menu
(all users).

In general, to add a node, go to the Physics toolbar, no matter what

operating system you are using. Subnodes are available by clicking the
parent node and selecting it from the Attributes menu.

THE TWO-PHASE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 551

 • Fluid and Matrix Properties • Mass Flux
• Inlet • No Flux
• Initial Values • Outlet
• Symmetry • Pressure and Saturation
• Interior Wall

For axisymmetric models, COMSOL Multiphysics takes the axial

symmetry boundaries (at r = 0) into account and automatically adds an
Axial Symmetry node that is valid on the axial symmetry boundaries only.

Fluid and Matrix Properties

The Fluids and Matrix Properties node adds Equation 8-11 and Equation 8-12 and
defines properties including density, dynamic viscosity, relative permeability, and
porosity.

∂ ρε
( p ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρu ) = 0 (8-11)
∂t

∂ c
( ε ) + ∇ ⋅ ( c 1 u ) = ∇ ⋅ D c ∇c 1 (8-12)
∂t 1 p

CAPILLARY MODEL
The list defaults to Capillary diffusion or choose Capillary pressure.

For Capillary diffusion, choose Isotropic to define a scalar or Diagonal, Symmetric, or Full
to enter a tensor, and then enter values or expressions in the Dc (SI unit: m2/s) field
or fields.

For Capillary pressure, select a Pressure model — van Genuchten (the default), Brooks
and Corey, or User defined.

• For van Genuchten, enter an Entry capillary pressure pec (SI unit: Pa), the Constitutive
relations constant mvG (dimensionless), and Constitutive relations constant IvG
(dimensionless).
• For Brooks and Corey, enter an Entry capillary pressure pec (SI unit: Pa) and the Pore
size distribution index λp (dimensionless).
• For User defined, enter a Capillary pressure pc (SI unit: Pa).

552 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

FLUID 1 PROPERTIES
Select the material to use for Fluid 1. Select Domain material (the default value) to use
the material defined for the domain. Select another material to use that material’s
properties.

Define the properties for Fluid 1:

The default Density ρ1 (SI unit: kg/m3) uses values From material based on the Fluid 1
selection. For User defined enter another value or expression. The default is 0 kg/m3.

Select a Dynamic viscosity μ1 (SI unit: Pa·s). The default uses values From material as
defined by the Fluid 1 selection. For User defined enter another value or expression. The
default is 0 Pa·s.

Select the Relative permeability κr1 (a dimensionless number between 0 and 1) for
fluid 1. The default is 1.

FLUID 2 PROPERTIES
The settings to define the properties for Fluid 2 are similar as for Fluid 1.

MATRIX PROPERTIES
Select the material to use as porous matrix. Select Domain material (the default) from
the Porous material list to use the material defined for the porous domain. Select
another material to use that material’s properties.

The default Porosity εp (a dimensionless number between 0 and 1) uses the value From
material, defined by the Porous material selection. For User defined enter another value
or expression The default is 0.

The default Permeability κ (SI unit: m2) uses the value From material, as defined by the
Porous material selection. For User defined select Isotropic to define a scalar or Diagonal,
Symmetric or Full to enter a tensor and enter other values or expressions in the field or
matrix.

Initial Values
The Initial Values node adds initial values for the pressure and the saturation of fluid 1
(that is, the fraction of that fluid inside the pore space) that can serve as initial
conditions for a transient simulation or as an initial guess for a nonlinear solver.

THE TWO-PHASE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 553

 INITIAL VALUES
Enter a value or expression for the initial value of the Pressure p (SI unit: Pa). The
default value is 0 Pa. Enter a value or expression for the initial value of the Saturation
fluid 1 s1 (a dimensionless number between 0 and 1). The default value is 0. The
saturation of Fluid 2 is then calculated as s2 = 1 − s1.

No Flux
The No Flux node is the default boundary condition stating that there is no flow across
impervious boundaries. The mathematical formulation is:

n ⋅ ρu = 0

where n is the vector normal to the boundary.

Also, the No Flux boundary enforces a zero gradient condition for the fluid content
across the selected boundary

n ⋅ ∇c 1 = 0

Pressure and Saturation

Use the Pressure and Saturation node to specify the pressure and fluid volume fractions
on a boundary. In many cases the distribution of pressure and saturation are known as
numbers, distributions, or expressions involving time, t, for example.

PRESSURE AND SATURATION

Enter a value or expression for the Pressure p (SI unit: Pa), and for the Saturation
fluid 1 s1 (a dimensionless number between 0 and 1). The default values are 0. The
saturation of Fluid 2 is then calculated as s2 = 1 − s1.

Mass Flux
Use the Mass Flux node to specify the mass flux into or out of the model domain
through some of its boundaries. It is often possible to determine the mass flux from
the pumping rate or from measurements. With this boundary condition, positive
values correspond to flow into the model domain

– n ⋅ ρu = N 0

554 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

where N0 is a value or expression for the inward (or outward) Darcy’s flux that is
specified.

MASS FLUX AND SATURATION

Enter a value or expression for the Inward mass flux N0 (SI unit: kg/(m2·s)). A positive
value of N0 represents an inward mass flux, whereas a negative value represents an
outward mass flux.

Enter a value or expression for the Saturation fluid 1 s1 (a dimensionless number

between 0 and 1) in the mass flux. The default value is 0.

Inlet
The Inlet node adds a boundary condition for the inflow (or outflow) perpendicular
(normal) to the boundary:

– n ⋅ ρu = ( s 1 ρ 1 + s 2 ρ 1 )U 0

where U0 is a specified value or expression for the inward (or outward) Darcy’s velocity.
A positive value of the velocity U0 corresponds to flow into the model domain whereas
a negative value represents an outflow.

INLET
Enter a value or expression for the Normal inflow velocity U0 (SI unit: m/s). A positive
value of U0 represents an inflow velocity, whereas a negative value represents an
outward velocity.

Enter a value or expression for the Saturation fluid 1 s1 (a dimensionless number

between 0 and 1). The default value is 0.

Outlet
The Outlet node adds a boundary condition for the outflow perpendicular (normal) to
the boundary:

– n ⋅ D c ∇c 1 = 0

where Dc is the capillary diffusion (SI unit: m2/s) and c1 = s1ρ1 is the fluid 1 content
(SI unit: kg/m3). This means that the normal gradient of fluid saturation does not
change through this boundary.

THE TWO-PHASE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 555

 PRESSURE
Enter a value or expression for the Pressure p. The default value is 0. If the reference
pressure pref, defined at the physics interface level is 0, enter the absolute pressure.
Otherwise, enter the relative pressure.

Symmetry
The Symmetry node describes a symmetry boundary where there is no tangential flow.
The following condition implements the symmetry condition on an axis or a flow
divide:

– n ⋅ ρu = 0

– n ⋅ D c ∇c 1 = 0

For axisymmetric components, COMSOL Multiphysics takes the axial symmetry

boundaries (at r = 0) into account and automatically adds an Axial Symmetry node that
is valid on the axial symmetry boundaries only.

Interior Wall
The Interior Wall boundary condition can only be applied on interior boundaries.

It is similar to the No Flux boundary available on exterior boundaries except that it

applies on both sides of an internal boundary. It allows discontinuities of velocity and
pressure across the boundary. The Interior Wall boundary condition can be used to
avoid meshing thin structures by applying no-flux condition on interior curves and
surfaces instead.

Thin Barrier
The Thin Barrier boundary condition can only be applied on interior boundaries.

It is similar to the Interior Wall boundary available on interior boundaries except that
it allows pressure and concentration gradients across the boundary. The Thin Barrier
boundary condition can be used to avoid meshing thin permeable structures by
applying flux condition on interior curves and surfaces instead.

556 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

The Phase Transport in Porous Media
Interface
The Phase Transport in Porous Media interface ( ), found under the Fluid Flow >
Porous Media and Subsurface Flow branch ( ), when adding a physics interface, is used
to simulate the transport of multiple immiscible phases either in flow through a porous
medium or in free flow. This interface solves for the averaged volume fractions (also
called saturations in a porous medium) of the phases, and does not track the interfaces
between the different phases, although microscopic interfacial effects are taken into
account in the macroscopic equations for phase transport in porous media through the
relative permeabilities and capillary pressure functions. The Phase Transport in Porous
Media interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent analyses.

The main feature is the Phase and Porous Media Transport Properties node, which
provides an interface for defining the phase materials along with the transporting
porous medium flow properties.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder — Phase and Porous Media Transport Properties, No Flux (the default
boundary condition), and Initial Values. Then, from the Physics toolbar, add other
nodes that implement, for example, boundary conditions and mass sources. You can
also right-click the Phase Transport in Porous Media node to select physics features from
the context menu.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is phtr.

PHASES
Select the volume fraction of the phase that this physics interface solves for using the
volume constraint in equation Equation 8-13 (that is, its value comes from the fact

THE PHASE TRANSPORT IN POROUS MEDIA INTERFACE | 557

 that the sum of all volume fractions must equal 1). In the From volume constraint list,
select the volume fraction of the preferred phase. By default, the first volume fraction
is used:

s1 = 1 –  si (8-13)
i=2

CONSISTENT AND INCONSISTENT STABILIZATION

To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Stabilization
in the Show More Options dialog box.

There are two consistent stabilization methods: Streamline diffusion and Crosswind
diffusion. Both check boxes for these methods are selected by default and should
remain selected for optimal performance. Consistent stabilization methods do not
perturb the original transport equation.

There is one inconsistent stabilization method: Isotropic diffusion. This method is

equivalent to adding a diffusion term to the equations in order to dampen the effect
of oscillations by making the system somewhat less dominated by convection. By
default, the Isotropic diffusion check box is not selected because this type of
stabilization adds artificial diffusion and affects the accuracy of the original problem. If
required, select the Isotropic diffusion check box and enter a Tuning parameter as a scalar
positive value. The default value is 0.25. A higher value adds more isotropic diffusion.

GRAVITY EFFECTS
When the Include gravity check box is selected, a global Gravity feature is shown in the
interface model tree, and the gravitational force is added to the phase transport
equations in porous domains. For more information, see Gravity.

QUADRATURE SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box.

These settings affect the numerical integration, and you do not normally need to
change them. The Use automatic quadrature settings check box is selected by default,
meaning that the settings are taken from the main equation in the interface.

If the check box is cleared, the following setting become available:

558 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

Integration Order
The Integration order specifies the desired accuracy of integration during
discretization. Polynomials of at most the given integration order are integrated
without systematic errors. For smooth constraints, a sufficient integration order is
typically twice the order of the shape function. For example, the default integration
order for linear elements is 2. The integration order is a positive integer.

The settings in this section currently only affect the integration order in the Phase and
Transport Properties and Phase and Porous Media Transport Properties domain features.

DISCRETIZATION
You can choose the order of the shape functions used for the volume fraction variables.
The default shape functions are Linear Lagrange.

To display all settings available in this section, click the Show More Options button ( )
and select Advanced Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box.

The Value type when using splitting of complex variables setting should in most pure
mass transport problems be set to Real which is the default. It makes sure that the
dependent variable does not get affected by small imaginary contributions, which can
occur, for example, when combining a Time Dependent or Stationary study with a
frequency-domain study. For more information, see Splitting Complex-Valued
Variables in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
Add or remove volume fractions of different phases in the model and also change the
names of the dependent variables that represent the volume fractions.

Specify the Number of phases. There must be at least two phases. To add a single phase,
click the Add volume fraction button ( ) under the table. To remove a volume
fraction, select it in the list and click the Remove volume fraction button ( ) under
the table. Edit the names of the phases directly in the table.

The Phase Transport Interface

The Phase Transport (phtr) interface ( ), found under the Fluid Flow > Multiphase
Flow > Phase Transport branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used to
simulate the transport of multiple immiscible phases either in free flow or in flow
through a porous medium. The interface is the same as the Phase Transport in Porous
Media interface but it uses other defaults: a Phase and Transport Properties node is
added by default, instead of a Phase and Porous Media Transport Properties node.

THE PHASE TRANSPORT IN POROUS MEDIA INTERFACE | 559

 The Phase Transport interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent analyses.

The main feature is the Phase and Transport Properties node, which provides an
interface for defining the phase materials along with the transporting properties.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder — Phase and Transport Properties, No Flux (the default boundary
condition), and Initial Values. Then, from the Physics toolbar, add other nodes that
implement, for example, boundary conditions and mass sources. You can also
right-click the Phase Transport node to select physics features from the context menu.

SETTINGS
The rest of the settings are the same as for the Phase Transport in Porous Media interface.

Domain, Boundary, Edge, and Point Nodes for the Phase Transport
and Phase Transport in Porous Media Interfaces
The Phase Transport and Phase Transport in Porous Media interfaces have the following
domain, boundary, edge, and point nodes (listed in alphabetic order) available from
the Physics ribbon toolbar (Windows users), Physics context menu (Mac or Linux
users), or right-click to access the context menu (all users).

• Gravity • Outflow
• Initial Values • Phase and Porous Media Transport
• Interior Wall Properties

• Mass Flux • Phase and Transport Properties

• Mass Source • Porous Medium Discontinuity

• No Flux • Volume Fraction

Phase and Transport Properties

For this node, the Turbulent Mixing subnode is available from the context menu as
well as from the Physics toolbar, Attributes menu.

VELOCITY FIELD
Specify the velocity field for each phase that is not computed from the volume
constraint. Select the source of the Velocity field. For User defined, enter values or

560 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

expressions for the velocity components in the input fields. This input option is always
available.

You can also select the velocity field solved for by a fluid flow interface added to the
model component. These physics interfaces are available for selection in the velocity
field list.

DENSITY
Enter the Density ρ (SI unit: kg/m3) of each phase. The default value is 1000 kg/m3.

Turbulent Mixing
This subnode is available from the context menu (right-click the Phase and Transport
Properties parent node) as well as from the Physics toolbar, Attributes menu. Use this
node to account for the turbulent mixing caused by the eddy diffusivity. An example
is when the specified velocity field corresponds to a RANS solution.

TURBULENT MIXING PARAMETERS

Some physics interfaces provide the turbulent kinematic viscosity, and these appear as
options in the Turbulent kinematic viscosity νT list. The list always contains the User
defined option where any value or expression can be entered.

The default Turbulent Schmidt number ScT is 0.71 (dimensionless).

FURTHER READING
See the section About Turbulent Mixing in the CFD Module User’s Guide (this link
is available online or if you have the CFD Module documentation installed).

Phase and Porous Media Transport Properties

Use this node to model the transport of multiple phases through a porous medium.
The node contains functionality to include the effects of the relative permeabilities and
capillary pressures.

MODEL INPUT
Enter the absolute pressure field (SI unit: Pa) for the phase that is computed from the
volume constraint. The volumetric flux of this phase is computed using Darcy’s law,
and in many cases that pressure field will be computed for in a Darcy’s Law interface,
coupled to the Phase Transport interface using a Multiphase Flow in Porous Media
multiphysics coupling node.

THE PHASE TRANSPORT IN POROUS MEDIA INTERFACE | 561

 The volumetric fluxes of the other phases are also computed using Darcy’s law, taking
into account the relative permeabilities and capillary pressures.

CAPILLARY PRESSURE
Select a Capillary pressure model — User defined (the default), van Genuchten, or Brooks
and Corey. The latter two options are only available when there are not more than two
phases present in the model.

• For User defined, enter an expression for the Capillary pressure pc (SI unit: Pa) for
the phases that are not computed from the volume constraint. The pressure of the
corresponding phase is equal to the pressure of the phase computed from the
volume constraint (supplied in the Pressure input field) plus the capillary pressure
supplied for this phase.

• For van Genuchten, select the Wetting phase and enter an Entry capillary pressure pec
(SI unit: Pa), the Constitutive relations constant mvG (dimensionless), and
Constitutive relations constant lvG (dimensionless).
• For Brooks and Corey, select the Wetting phase and enter an Entry capillary pressure
pec (SI unit: Pa) and the Pore size distribution index λp (dimensionless).

PHASE PROPERTIES
Select the material to use for each phase. Select Domain material (the default) from the
Fluid list to use the material defined for the domain. Select another material to use that
material’s properties.

Enter the Density ρ (SI unit: kg/m3), Dynamic viscosity μ (SI unit: Pa·s) and Relative
permeability κr (a dimensionless number between 0 and 1) for each phase. The defaults
for the Density and Dynamic viscosity are From material, and User defined for the Relative
permeability. For User defined, the default values are 1000 kg/m3, 0.001 Pa·s. and s i2 ,
respectively.

The Relative permeability input fields are only available when the Capillary pressure
model is set to User defined. In the other cases (van Genuchten or Brooks and Corey) the
relative permeabilities are defined by the van Genuchten or Brooks and Corey model. For
the van Genuchten and Brooks and Corey model, specify the Residual saturation sri
(dimensionless, default value 0) for each phase.

MATRIX PROPERTIES
Select the material to use as porous matrix. Select Domain material (the default) from
the Porous material list to use the material defined for the porous domain. Select
another material to use that material’s properties.

562 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

The default Porosity εp (a dimensionless number between 0 and 1) uses the value From
material, defined by the Porous material selected. For User defined the default is 0.5.

The default Permeability κ (SI unit: m2) uses the value From material, as defined by the
Porous material selected. For User defined the default is the Isotropic scalar value of
1e-9 m2. To define a tensor value, select Diagonal, Symmetric, or Full, and enter values
or expressions in the matrix.

Gravity
The Gravity global feature is automatically added when Include gravity is selected at the
interface level in the Gravity Effects settings. It defines the gravity forces from the
Gravity vector value. Note that this feature only has an effect in porous domains.

GRAVITY
Enter the components of the Gravity vector g . The default value is g_const which is
the physical constant having the value 9.8066 m/s2.

• For 3D and 2D axisymmetric models, the default value is -g_const in the

z direction.
• For 2D models, the default value is -g_const in the y direction.

Initial Values
The Initial Values node specifies the initial values for the volume fraction of each phase.
These serve as an initial guess for a stationary solver or as initial condition for a
transient simulation.

DOMAIN SELECTION
If there are several types of domains with different initial values defined, it might be
necessary to remove some domains from the selection. These are then defined in an
additional Initial Values node.

INITIAL VALUES
Enter a value or expression in the field for the volume fraction of each phase except for
the one computed from the volume constraint.

THE PHASE TRANSPORT IN POROUS MEDIA INTERFACE | 563

 Mass Source
In order to account for consumption or production of the different phases due to one
or more reactions or other physical processes, the Mass Source node adds source terms
to the right-hand side of the phase transport equations.

MASS SOURCE
Add an expression for the mass source for each individual phase present, except for the
one computed from the volume constraint. The net mass source of all phases together
is assumed to be zero, which means that the mass is transferred to or from the phase
that is computed from the volume constraint.

Select the Mass transfer to other phases check box if mass is transferred from or to
phases not accounted for in the phase transport interface, for instance when mass is
released or absorbed by the solid part of the porous matrix. In this case the mass source
for the phase calculated from the volume constraint should also be specified. The net
mass transfer corresponds to the sum of the mass sources for all phases and should be
accounted for in the computation of the flow field.

No Flux
This node is the default boundary condition on exterior boundaries. It represents
boundaries where no mass flows in or out of the boundaries. Hence, the total flux is
zero.

Volume Fraction
This node adds a boundary condition for the volume fractions of the different phases.
Set the volume fractions of all phases except the one computed from the volume
constraint. This ensures that the sum of the volume fractions is equal to one.

VOLUME FRACTION
Specify the volume fraction for each phase individually. Select the check box for the
phases to specify the volume fraction, and enter a value or expression in the
corresponding field. To use another boundary condition for a specific phase, click to
clear the check box for the volume fraction of that phase.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box. You can find details about the

564 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

different constraint settings in the section Constraint Reaction Terms in the COMSOL
Multiphysics Reference Manual.

Mass Flux
The Mass Flux node can be used to specify the total mass flux of a phase across a
boundary. Set the mass flux for all phases except the one computed from the volume
constraint. This ensures that the sum of the volume fractions is equal to one.

For modeling mass flux from very thin objects add a Line Mass Source or a Point Mass
Source node.

The Line Mass Source node adds mass flow originating from a tube of infinitely small
radius. It is available for edges in 3D geometries or points in 2D and 2D axisymmetric
geometries.

The Point Mass Source node models mass flow originating from an infinitely small
sphere centered around a point. It is available for points in 3D geometries.

MASS FLUX
Specify the inward mass flux for each phase individually. Select the check box for the
phase to prescribe a mass flux and enter a value or expression for the flux in the
corresponding field. To use another boundary condition for a specific phase, click to
clear the check box for the flux of that phase. Use a positive value for an inward flux.
The units are based on the geometric entity: Boundaries: (SI unit: kg/(m2·s)), Lines (SI
unit: kg/(m·s), and Points (SI unit: kg/s)).

Outflow
Set this condition at exterior boundaries where the phases are transported out of the
model domain by fluid motion. The outward mass flux for each phase is in this case set
to the normal outward phase velocity times the phase density.

Interior Wall
The Interior Wall boundary condition can only be applied on interior boundaries.

It is similar to the No Flux boundary available on exterior boundaries except that it

applies on both sides of an interior boundary. It allows discontinuities of the volume
fraction across the boundary. The Interior Wall boundary condition can be used to

THE PHASE TRANSPORT IN POROUS MEDIA INTERFACE | 565

 avoid meshing thin structures by applying a no-flux condition on interior curves and
surfaces instead.

Porous Medium Discontinuity

The Porous Medium Discontinuity boundary condition can only be applied on interior
boundaries, and only when on both sides of the boundary a Phase and Porous Media
Transport Properties domain condition is active. Set this condition at boundaries over
which the capillary pressure function is discontinuous in the phase saturations due to
the different properties of the porous matrix on both sides of the discontinuity.

POROUS MEDIUM DISCONTINUITY SETTINGS

This section is only available when only two phases are present in the physics interface.
Select the check box to use automatic settings in this case.

ENTRY CAPILLARY PRESSURE

This section is only available if the automatic settings are not used for the Porous
Medium Discontinuity Settings, or when the Porous Medium Discontinuity Settings section
is not available, which is the case if there are three or more phases present.

Specify on which side of the discontinuity the lower permeable medium is located
using the settings for the of the Location of lower permeable medium.

Specify the Entry capillary pressure pec (SI unit: Pa) for all phases, except the one
computed from the volume constraint. Make sure the values correspond to the settings
for the capillary pressure model in the adjacent domain conditions.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box. You can find details about the
different constraint settings in the section Constraint Reaction Terms in the COMSOL
Multiphysics Reference Manual.

Continuity
The Continuity condition is suitable for pairs where the boundaries match; it prescribes
that the volume fraction for each phase is continuous across the pair.

A No Flux subnode is added by default and it applies to the parts of the pair boundaries
where a source boundary lacks a corresponding destination boundary and vice versa.

566 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

The No Flux feature can be overridden by any other boundary condition that applies to
exterior boundaries. By right-clicking the Continuity node, additional Fallback feature
subnodes can be added.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box. The Constraints settings can be set
to Use pointwise constraints (default) or to Use DG constraints. DG constraints should
not be used on pairs that are adjacent to a porous domain. DG constraints are
recommended on pairs adjacent to a Phase and Transport Properties feature, especially
when the mesh nodes do not match across the pair or when the mesh is sliding.

Depending on the constraint method selected, the following settings are available:

• Apply reaction terms on can be set to Individual dependent variables (default) or All
physics (symmetric). This setting is not available when Use DG constraints is selected.
• Select Elemental (default) or Nodal under Constraint method. This setting is available
for Use pointwise constraints.

LOCATION IN USER INTERFACE

Right click the physics interface and select Pairs>Continuity

Ribbon
Physics tab with the physics interface selected:

Pairs>Continuity

THE PHASE TRANSPORT IN POROUS MEDIA INTERFACE | 567

 T he M ulti pha s e Fl ow i n Porou s Med i a
Interface
The Multiphase Flow in Porous Media interface ( ) combines the Darcy’s Law interface
with the Phase Transport in Porous Media interface to model the flow and transport of
multiple immiscible phases in a porous medium.

When a predefined Multiphase Flow in Porous Media interface is added from Porous
Media and Subsurface Flow branch ( ) of the Model Wizard or Add Physics window,
Phase Transport and Darcy’s Law interfaces are added to the Model Builder. In addition,
the Multiphysics node is added, which automatically includes the Multiphase Flow in
Porous Media multiphysics coupling.

On the Constituent Physics Interfaces

The Phase Transport in Porous Media interface is used to simulate the transport of
immiscible multiple species in a porous medium and solves for their averaged volume
fractions (also called saturations). The interfaces between the different phases are not
tracked explicitly, although microscopic interfacial effects are taken into account in the
macroscopic equations through the capillary pressure functions.

The Darcy’s Law interface is used to simulate fluid flow through interstices in a porous
medium. It can be used to model low-velocity flows or media where the permeability
and porosity are very small, and for which the pressure gradient is the major driving
force and the flow is mostly influenced by the frictional resistance within the pores.

SETTINGS FOR PHYSICS INTERFACES AND COUPLING FEATURES

When physics interfaces are added using the predefined couplings, for example
Multiphase Flow in Porous Media, specific settings are included with the physics
interfaces and the coupling features.

However, if physics interfaces are added one at a time, followed by the coupling
features, these modified settings are not automatically included.

For example, if single Phase Transport and Darcy’s Law interfaces are added, an empty
Multiphysics node appears in the model tree. You can choose from the available
coupling features but the settings in the constituent interfaces are not modified.

568 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

Multiphase Flow in Porous Media (Multiphysics Coupling)
The Multiphase Flow in Porous Media multiphysics coupling node ( ) links
bidirectionally the Phase Transport in Porous Media and Darcy’s Law interfaces.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default multiphysics coupling feature name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the coupling node.
Refer to such variables in expressions using the pattern <name>.<variable_name>. In
order to distinguish between variables belonging to different coupling nodes or physics
interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and underscores (_)
are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first multiphysics coupling feature in the model) is mfpm1.

DOMAIN SELECTION
When nodes are added from the context menu, you can select Manual (the default)
from the Selection list to choose specific domains to define the multiphase flow
coupling, or select All domains as needed.

When Multiphase Flow in Porous Media is added as an effect of adding a Multiphase Flow
in Porous Media interface, the selection is the same as for the participating physics
interfaces.

Only domains that are active in the participating physics interfaces (which are chosen
from the Coupled Interfaces selection list) can be selected.

COUPLED INTERFACES
This section defines the physics involved in the multiphysics coupling. The Phase
transport and Flow in porous media lists include all applicable physics interfaces.

The default values depend on how the coupling node is created.

• If it is added from the Physics ribbon (Windows users), Physics contextual toolbar
(Mac and Linux users), or context menu (all users), then the first physics interface
of each type in the component is selected as the default.
• If it is added automatically when a multiphysics interface is selected in the Model
Wizard or Add Physics window, then the two participating physics interfaces are
selected.

THE MULTIPHASE FLOW IN POROUS MEDIA INTERFACE | 569

 You can also select None from either list to uncouple the Multiphase Flow in Porous
Media node from a physics interface. If the physics interface is removed from the Model
Builder, for example Darcy’s Law is deleted, then the Flow in porous media list defaults
to None as there is nothing to couple to.

570 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

Theory for the Darcy’s Law Interface
The Darcy’s Law Interface theory is described in this section:

• About Darcy’s Law

• Darcy’s Law — Equation Formulation
• Storage Model
• Hydraulic Head, Pressure Head, and Elevation Head
• Average Linear Velocity
• Permeability Models and Non-Darcian Flow
• References for the Darcy’s Law Interface

About Darcy’s Law

In a porous medium, the global transport of momentum by shear stresses in the fluid
is often negligible, because the pore walls impede momentum transport to the fluid
outside the individual pores. A detailed description, down to the resolution of every
pore, is not practical in most applications. A homogenization of the porous and fluid
media into a single medium is a common alternative approach. Darcy’s law together
with the continuity equation and equation of state for the pore fluid (or gas) provide
a complete mathematical model suitable for a wide variety of applications involving
porous media flows, for which the pressure gradient is the major driving force.

Darcy’s law describes fluid movement through interstices in a porous medium.

Because the fluid loses considerable energy to frictional resistance within pores, flow
velocities in porous media are very low. The Darcy’s Law interface can be applied to
small-scale tasks in chemical engineering as well as to large-scale geophysical or
hydrological tasks such as water moving in an aquifer or stream bank, oil migrating to
a well, and even magma rising through the earth to a chamber in a volcano (see Ref. 1,
Ref. 2, Ref. 3, and Ref. 4). Also set up multiple Darcy’s Law interfaces to model
multiphase flows involving more than one mobile phase.

Darcy’s law describes flow in porous media driven by gradients in the hydraulic
potential field, which has units of pressure. For many applications it is convenient to
represent the total hydraulic potential or the pressure and the gravitational
components with equivalent heights of fluid or head. Division of potential by the fluid
weight can simplify modeling because units of length make it straightforward to

THEORY FOR THE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 571

 compare to many physical data. Consider, for example, fluid levels in wells, stream
heights, topography, and velocities. The physics interface also supports specifying
boundary conditions and result evaluation using hydraulic head and pressure head. In
the physics interface, pressure is always the dependent variable.

Darcy’s Law — Equation Formulation

Darcy’s law states that the velocity field is determined by the pressure gradient, the
fluid viscosity, and the structure of the porous medium:

κ
u = – --- ∇p (8-14)
μ

In this equation, u is the Darcy’s velocity or specific discharge vector (SI unit: m/s);
κ is the permeability of the porous medium (SI unit: m2); μ is the fluid’s dynamic
viscosity (SI unit: Pa·s); p is the pore pressure (SI unit: Pa) and ρ is the density of the
fluid (SI unit: kg/m3).

For large-scale applications it might be necessary to take gravity effects into account.
Darcy’s law then applies when the gradient in hydraulic potential drives fluid
movement in the porous medium. Visualize the hydraulic potential field by
considering the difference in both pressure and elevation potential from the start to
the end points of the flow line. According to Darcy’s law, the net flux across a face of
porous surface is

κ
u = – --- ( ∇p + ρg ) (8-15)
μ

In this equation g is the vector of gravitational acceleration. Furthermore, in the

Subsurface Flow Module, g can be defined as g = − g∇D where g is the magnitude of
gravitational acceleration (SI unit: m/s2), D is the elevation (SI unit: m), and ∇D is a
unit vector in the direction over which the gravity acts. Here the permeability κ

572 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

represents the resistance to flow over a representative volume consisting of many solid
grains and pores.

• Note that gravity effects are only included in some modules. For a
detailed overview of the functionality available in each product visit
[Link]
• Gravity effects are not active by default. Select the check box Include
gravity to activate the acceleration of gravity. Setting the elevation D to
zero also turns off gravity effects.

The Darcy’s Law interface combines Darcy’s law with the continuity equation

∂ ρε
( p ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρu ) = Q m (8-16)
∂t

In the above equation, ρ is the fluid density (SI unit: kg/m3), εp is the porosity, and
Qm is a mass source term (SI unit: kg/(m3·s)). Porosity is defined as the fraction of
the control volume that is occupied by pores. Thus, the porosity can vary from zero
for pure solid regions to unity for domains of free flow.

Storage Model
Inserting Darcy’s law (Equation 8-33) into the continuity equation produces the
generalized governing equation

∂ ρε κ
( p ) + ∇ ⋅ ρ – --- ( ∇p ) = Q m (8-17)
∂t μ

Represent this equation fully in COMSOL Multiphysics because relationships between

density or permeability can be freely specified, for example, and pressure, temperature,
concentration, and so on.

Expand the time-derivative term in Equation 8-35

∂ ρε ∂ρ ∂ε p
( p ) = ε p ------ + ρ --------
∂t ∂t ∂t

Define the porosity and the density as functions of the pressure, and apply the chain
rule

THEORY FOR THE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 573

 ∂ρ ∂ε p ∂ρ ∂p ∂ε p ∂p
ε p ------ + ρ -------- = ε p ------ ------ + ρ -------- ------
∂t ∂t ∂p ∂t ∂p ∂t

Insert the definition of fluid compressibility χf = (1/ρ)(∂ρ/∂p) to the right-hand side and
rearrange to arrive at

∂( ρε p ) ∂ε p ∂p ∂p
---------------- = ρ  ε p χ f + -------- ------ = ρS ------
∂t ∂p ∂t ∂t

Using this relation, the generalized governing equation (Equation 8-35) takes the
following form:

∂p κ
ρS ------ + ∇ ⋅ ρ – --- ( ∇p + ρg ∇D ) = Q m (8-18)
∂t μ

In this equation, S is the storage coefficient (SI unit: 1/Pa), which can be interpreted
as the weighted compressibility of the porous material and the fluid. The storage S can
be an expression involving results from a solid-deformation equation or an expression
involving temperatures and concentrations from other analyses. The Darcy’s Law
interface implements Equation 8-18 using the Storage Model node, which explicitly
includes an option to define S as the linearized storage (SI unit: 1/Pa) using the
compressibility of fluids and porous matrix.

Note that the Storage Model node is only available for the Subsurface
Flow Module and the Porous Media Flow Module. For a detailed
overview of the functionality available in each product visit
[Link]

Hydraulic Head, Pressure Head, and Elevation Head

Hydraulic head, H, pressure head, Hp, and elevation head, D, relate to pressure p as

p
H p = ------ ; H = Hp + D (8-19)
ρg

where ρ is the fluid density, g denotes the acceleration of gravity, and D is the elevation.
When defined as vertical elevation, the horizontal gradients in D equal zero and
vertical gradients in D equal one. Choose to specify pressure, hydraulic head, or
pressure head on the boundaries of a model, either directly or as part of the pervious

574 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

layer boundary condition. Also use pressure, hydraulic head, and pressure head during
analysis and postprocessing.

• Turning off gravity effects sets the elevation D to zero, and the
hydraulic head equals the pressure head.
• This feature is only available with the Subsurface Flow Module

Average Linear Velocity

Because fluids typically occupy only 10% to 50% of a porous medium, it follows that
velocities within the pore channels exceed the Darcy velocity, u, on the order of two
to ten times. For clarity, the physics interface includes the average linear velocity within
the pores, uα, (also termed the seepage velocity) defined as uα = u/εp, where εp is the
porosity.

Permeability Models and Non-Darcian Flow

Different models can define the capacity of the porous medium to transmit flow. Some
use the permeability, κ, and the viscosity of the fluid, μ, and others use the hydraulic
conductivity, K (SI unit: m/s).

HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY
The hydraulic conductivity represents both fluid and solid properties. If the model is
defined using the hydraulic conductivity as in:

--κ- = -------
K
μ ρg

Equation 8-33 changes to

K
u = – ------ ( ∇p + ρ g ∇D ) (8-20)
ρg

The hydraulic potential in the equation comes from the pore pressure, p, and gravity,
ρgD. COMSOL Multiphysics solves for the pressure, p. By default, g is the predefined
acceleration of gravity (a physical constant), and D is the vertical coordinate. The
choice of D has a significant impact on results and the physics involved. For example,
if D is the vertical coordinate z and if the flow is entirely horizontal within the xy-plane,
then the gradient in D vanishes and the driving force is caused by pressure gradients
alone.

THEORY FOR THE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 575

 KOZENY-CARMAN
The Kozeny-Carman equation describes the flow through granular soils and packed
beds by estimating the permeability of the porous medium from the porosity εp and
average particle diameter dp (see, for example, Ref. 5)

d p2 ε p3
κ = ---------- ---------------------2-
180 ( 1 – ε p )

If the model is defined using the Kozeny-Carman equation, the expression for Darcy’s
velocity in Equation 8-33 changes to

d p2 ε p3
u = – ------------- ---------------------2- ( ∇p ) (8-21)
180μ ( 1 – ε p )

The hydraulic conductivity combines properties of both the fluid and

porous matrix, while the permeability is a property of the porous matrix
only.

In case of relatively fast flow (Re > 10) or relatively high Knudsen numbers (Kn > 0.1)
Darcy’s linear relation between velocity and pressure drop is no longer valid.
Therefore, different permeability models have been introduced to capture these
effects.

The flow regime through a packed bed may be identified from the Reynolds number
of the bed. According to textbooks, for Reynolds numbers Re < 10 the flow can be
described by Kozeny-Carman equation (Darcian flow). For 10 < Re < 1000, which is
sometimes called the transitional regime, the flow is better described by the
non-Darcian Ergun equation, and for Re > 1000 Ergun’s equation can be
approximated by the Burke-Plummer equation for turbulent flows.

ERGUN
The Ergun equation is an extension of Kozeny-Carman equation to higher Reynolds
numbers (Re > 10), where Darcy’s linear relation between pressure drop and velocity
is no longer valid. In Ergun equation the linear relation between pressure drop and
velocity is augmented by a quadratic term. The pressure drop (Ref. 6) in Ergun’s
equation is given by:

576 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

 150 ( 1 – ε p ) 1 – εp )
1.75- (------------------
2
– ∇p = ---------
- ---------------------- μu + ---------- - ρu u (8-22)
d p2 ε p3 dp ε p3

Here, dp is the effective (average) particle diameter in the porous medium and εp is the
porosity. With definitions of permeability κ and parameter β (SI unit 1/m) as

d p2 ε p3
κ = ---------- ---------------------2- (8-23)
150 ( 1 – ε p )

and

1.75 ( 1 – ε p )
β = ----------- ------------------
- (8-24)
dp ε p3

we get

μ
∇p = – --- u – β ρ u u
κ

Ergun’s velocity can then be calculated as

κ 2
u = – --- ---------------------------------------------------------- ∇p (8-25)
μ κ 2
1 + 1 + 4  --- βρ ∇p
μ

Using the Reynolds number Re and the friction factor fp for packed beds

dp ρ u
Re = -----------------------
( 1 – ε p )μ

dp ε p3 150
f p = ∇p ---------2- ------------------- = ---------- + 1.75 ,
ρu ( 1 – ε p ) Re

Ergun’s velocity can alternatively be written as

κ κ
u = – --- ----------------------------- ∇p = – ---  1 – ----------- ∇p
1 1.75
μ 1.75 μ  fp 
1 + ----------- Re
150

From this expression, we observe that for low Reynolds numbers Re < 1 (or
equivalently, high friction factors) the flow can be described by the linear Darcy’s Law.

THEORY FOR THE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 577

 FORCHHEIMER
For increasing filter velocities (Re > 10), inertial effects and turbulent friction forces
become significant. In the Forchheimer drag this is considered by adding an additional
term to Darcy’s law:

μ cF
– ∇ p = --- u + ------- ρu u (8-26)
κ κ

Here, the Forchheimer parameter cF is dimensionless. The permeability κ is specified

by the user and is not computed from porosity nor particle diameter as for Ergun’s
equation. If the parameter β is defined as

cF
β = -------
κ

Equation 8-26 becomes equivalent to Ergun’s equation (Equation 8-22)

μ
– ∇ p = --- u + βρu u
κ

BURKE-PLUMMER
The Burke-Plummer equation is applicable in flow regimes with Reynolds number
Re > 1000. Here, the pressure drop is proportional to the square of the velocity:

Δp ( 1 – εp ) 2
------- = 1.75
----------- ------------------
- ρv (8-27)
L dp ε p3

here, L is the length of the packed bed, Δp is the pressure drop dp is the effective
(average) particle diameter in the porous medium, εp is the porosity, and v is the
velocity magnitude.

Using the same definition for the parameter β (SI unit 1/m) as in Ergun’s equation

1.75 ( 1 – ε p )
β = ----------- ------------------
-
dp ε p3

the pressure drop is related to the velocity as

Δp 2
------- = βρv (8-28)
L

which means that the velocity magnitude can be written in terms of the pressure
gradient as

578 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

 ∇p-
v = ---------
βρ

As flow travels from areas of higher pressure to areas of lower pressure, Equation 8-22
can be more generally written as

– ∇p = βρ u u

replacing

u = v = ∇p ⁄ βρ

we get an expression for the velocity field in terms of the pressure gradient

1
u = – ---------------------- ∇p (8-29)
βρ ∇p

Note that the viscosity is not used to define the velocity as in Darcy’s law, but only the
fluid density, the porosity and particle diameter. Note also that the analytical friction
factor for Burke-Plummer equation is fp = 1.75. A small parameter is added inside the
square-root to avoid division by zero when the pressure gradient approaches zero.

KLINKENBERG
The Klinkenberg effect becomes important for gas flows in porous media where the
mean free path of the gas molecules is comparable to the pore dimensions. In this case,
molecular collisions with the pore walls occur more often than collisions between
molecules. To take this effect into account, Klinkenberg (Ref. 7) derived the following
expression for the permeability:

bK
κ = κ ∞  1 + ------- (8-30)
 p A

here, κ∞ is the permeability of the gas at high pressure and density (Knudsen number
0.001 < Kn < 0.1), bK is the Klinkenberg parameter (also called Klinkenberg slip
factor, or gas slippage factor), whose default value is set to 1 kPa according to Ref. 8,
and pA is the absolute pressure as defined in the Darcy’s Law interface (pA = p + pref).

References for the Darcy’s Law Interface

1. J. Bear, Hydraulics of Groundwater, McGraw-Hill, 1979.

THEORY FOR THE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 579

 2. S.E. Ingebritsen and W.E. Sanford, Groundwater in Geologic Processes, Cambridge
University Press, 1998.

3. N.H. Sleep and K. Fujita, Principles of Geophysics, Blackwell Science, 1997.

4. D.L. Turcotte and G. Schubert, Geodynamics, Cambridge University Press, 2002.

5. J. Bear, Dynamics of Fluids in Porous Media, Elsevier Scientific Publishing, 1972.

6. Ö. Akgiray and A.M. Saatçı, “A New Look at Filter Backwash Hydraulics,” Water
Science and Technology: Water Supply, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 65–72, 2001.

7. L. Klinkenberg, “The permeability of porous media to liquids and gases,” Drilling

and Production Practice, Am. Petroleum Inst., pp. 200–213, 1941.

8. Yu-Shu Wu et al., “Gas Flow in Porous Media with Klinkenberg Effects,” Transport
in Porous Media, vol. 32, pp. 117–137, 1998.

580 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

Theory for the Brinkman Equations
Interface
The Brinkman Equations Interface theory is described in this section:

• About the Brinkman Equations

• Brinkman Equations Theory
• References for the Brinkman Equations Interface

About the Brinkman Equations

The Brinkman equations describe fluids in porous media for which the momentum
transport within the fluid due to shear stresses is of importance. This mathematical
model extends Darcy’s law to include a term that accounts for the viscous transport in
the momentum balance, and it treats both the pressure and the flow velocity vector as
independent variables. Use the Free and Porous Media Flow interface to model
combinations of porous media and free flow domains. These types of problems are
often encountered in applications such as monolithic reactors and fuel cells.

The Free and Porous Media Flow Interface

In porous domains, the flow variables and fluid properties are defined at any point
inside the medium by means of averaging of the actual variables and properties over a
certain volume surrounding the point. This control volume must be small compared
to the typical macroscopic dimensions of the problem, but it must be large enough to
contain many pores and solid matrix elements.

Porosity is defined as the fraction of the control volume that is occupied by pores.
Thus, the porosity can vary from zero for pure solid regions to unity for domains of
free flow.

The physical properties of the fluid, such as density and viscosity, are defined as
intrinsic volume averages that correspond to a unit volume of the pores. Defined this
way, they present the relevant physical parameters that can be measured experimentally,
and they are assumed to be continuous with the corresponding parameters in the
adjacent free flow.

THEORY FOR THE BRINKMAN EQUATIONS INTERFACE | 581

 The flow velocity is defined as a superficial volume average, and it corresponds to a
unit volume of the medium including both the pores and the matrix. It is sometimes
called the Darcy velocity, defined as the volume flow rate per unit cross section of the
medium. Such a definition makes the velocity field continuous across the boundaries
between porous regions and regions of free flow.

Brinkman Equations Theory

The dependent variables in the Brinkman equations are the Darcy velocity and the
pressure. The flow in porous media is governed by a combination of the continuity
equation and the momentum equation, which together form the Brinkman equations:

∂ ε
( ρ ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρu ) = Q m (8-31)
∂t p

ρ-  ∂u
+ ( u ⋅ ∇ ) ----- =
u
----
εp  ∂ t ε p
(8-32)
1 T 2   Q m
– ∇ p + ∇ ⋅ -----  μ ( ∇u + ( ∇u ) ) – --- μ ( ∇ ⋅ u )I  –  κ –1 μ + -------- u +F
εp  3   ε p2 

In these equations:

• μ (SI unit: kg/(m·s)) is the dynamic viscosity of the fluid

• u (SI unit: m/s) is the velocity vector
• ρ (SI unit: kg/m3) is the density of the fluid
• p (SI unit: Pa) is the pressure
• εp is the porosity
• κ (SI unit: m2) is the permeability of the porous medium, and
• Qm (SI unit: kg/(m3·s)) is a mass source or sink

Influence of gravity and other volume forces can be accounted for via the force term
F (SI unit: kg/(m2·s2)).

When the Neglect inertial term (Stokes flow) check box is selected, the term
(u · ∇)(u/εp) on the left-hand side of Equation 8-10 is disabled.

The mass source, Qm, accounts for mass deposit and mass creation within the domains.
The mass exchange is assumed to occur at zero velocity.

582 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

The Forchheimer and Ergun drag options add a viscous force proportional to the
square of the fluid velocity, F = −ρβ|u|u, on the right-hand side of Equation 8-10; see
Permeability Models and Non-Darcian Flow for details.

In case of a flow with variable density, Equation 8-9 and Equation 8-10 must be solved
together with the equation of state that relates the density to the temperature and
pressure (for instance the ideal gas law).

For incompressible flow, the density stays constant in any fluid particle, which can be
expressed as

∂ ε
( ρ ) + u ⋅ ∇ρ = 0
∂t p

and the continuity equation (Equation 8-9) reduces to

ρ∇ ⋅ u = Q m

References for the Brinkman Equations Interface

1. D. Nield and A. Bejan, Convection in Porous Media, 3rd ed., Springer, 2006.

2. M. Le Bars and M.G. Worster, “Interfacial Conditions Between a Pure Fluid and a
Porous Medium: Implications for Binary Alloy Solidification,” J. Fluid Mech.,
vol. 550, pp. 149–173, 2006.

THEORY FOR THE BRINKMAN EQUATIONS INTERFACE | 583

 Theory for the Free and Porous
Media Flow Interface
The Free and Porous Media Flow Interface uses the Navier-Stokes equations to
describe the flow in open regions, and the Brinkman equations to describe the flow in
porous regions.

The same fields, u and p, are solved for in both the free flow domains and in the porous
domains. This means that the pressure in the free fluid and the pressure in the pores is
continuous over the interface between a free flow domain and a porous domain. It also
means that continuity is enforced between the fluid velocity in the free flow and the
Darcy velocity in the porous domain. This treatment is one of several possible models
for the physics at the interface. Examples of other models can be found in Ref. 1.

The continuity in u and p implies a stress discontinuity at the interface between a

free-flow domain and a porous domain. The difference corresponds to the stress
absorbed by the rigid porous matrix, which is a consequence implicit in the
formulations of the Navier-Stokes and Brinkman equations.

Reference for the Free and Porous Media Flow Interface

1. M.L. Bars and M.G. Worster, “Interfacial Conditions Between a Pure Fluid and a
Porous Medium: Implications for Binary Alloy Solidification,” J. Fluid Mech.,
vol. 550, pp. 149–173, 2006.

584 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

Theory for the Two-Phase Darcy’s
L a w Inte r f a c e
Darcy’s Law
Darcy’s law states that the velocity field is determined by the pressure gradient, the
fluid viscosity, and the permeability of the porous medium. According to Darcy’s law,
the velocity field is given by

κ
u = – --- ∇p (8-33)
μ

In this equation:

• u (SI unit: m/s) is the Darcy velocity vector

• κ (SI unit: m2) is the permeability of the porous medium
• μ (SI unit: Pa·s) is the fluid’s dynamic viscosity, and
• p (SI unit: Pa) is the fluid’s pressure

The permeability, κ, represents the resistance to flow over a representative volume

consisting of solid grains and pores.

The Two-Phase Darcy’s Law interface combines Darcy’s law (Equation 8-33) with the
continuity equation for the average density ρ

∂ ρε
( p ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρu ) = 0 (8-34)
∂t

here, εp is the porosity, defined as the fraction of the control volume that is occupied
by pores. Inserting Darcy’s law (Equation 8-33) into the continuity equation
(Equation 8-34) produces the governing equation

∂ ( ρε ) + ∇ ⋅ ρ – --κ- ∇p = 0 (8-35)
∂t p μ

In the presence of two miscible fluid phases, the average density ρ and average viscosity
μ depend on the composition of the mixture (Ref. 2). In the Two-Phase Darcy’s Law
interface these dependencies are given by

1 = s1 + s2 (8-36)

THEORY FOR THE TWO-PHASE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 585

 ρ = s1 ρ1 + s2 ρ2 (8-37)

κ r1 κ r2
--1- = s 1 -------
- + s 2 -------
- (8-38)
μ μ1 μ2

here, s1 and s2 represent the saturation of each phase, ρ1 and ρ2 the densities, and κr1
and κr2 the relative permeabilities. When either of the fluids is compressible, its density
can be related to the pressure (for instance using the ideal gas law).

Capillary Pressure
Beside the continuity equation for the mixture (Equation 8-35), the Two-Phase
Darcy’s Law interface also solves the transport equation for the fluid content of one of
the phases, c1 = s1ρ1

∂ ε
( c ) + ∇ ⋅ ( c 1 u ) = ∇ ⋅ D c ∇c 1 (8-39)
∂t p 1

here, Dc (SI unit: m2/s) is the capillary diffusion coefficient, which can be directly
specified, or it can be derived from a capillary pressure expression. Normally, the fluid
content c1 will be the concentration of the wetting phase.

When capillary pressure is selected as capillary model, the capillary diffusion

coefficient is computed from the saturation of one of the phases and the capillary
pressure

κ r1 ∂p c
D c = -------- κ ( s 1 – 1 ) (8-40)
μ1 ∂ s1

The capillary pressure is defined as the pressure difference between the phases, and it
can be defined as a function of saturation, pc(s1). The capillary pressure can be a user
defined expression, or it can be derived from van Genuchten (Ref. 3) or Brooks and
Corey (Ref. 4) models.

For van Genuchten model, the expression for the capillary pressure as a function of
saturation follows the curve

 1 1 – m
p c = p ec  -----------
- – 1 (8-41)
 s 11 ⁄ m 

where pec is the entry capillary pressure and m is a constitutive exponent.

586 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

For the Brooks and Corey model, the capillary pressure curve depends on saturation as

1-
p c = p ec ----------
1⁄λ
(8-42)
s1

where λ is the pore distribution index.

When capillary pressure is selected as capillary model, the relative permeabilities and
are also determined by the van Genuchten or Brooks and Corey models. For the van
Genuchten model, the relative permeabilities are given by

l vG 1 ⁄ m vG m vG 2
κ r1 = s 1 ( 1 – ( 1 – s 1 ) )

l 1 ⁄ m vG 2m vG
κ r2 = ( 1 – s 1 ) vG ( 1 – s 1 )

where mvG and lvG are constitutive constants.

For the Brooks and Corey model, the relative permeabilities are given by

(3 + 2 ⁄ λ)
κ r1 = s 1

2 (1 + 2 ⁄ λ)
κ r2 = ( 1 – s 1 ) ( 1 – s 1 )

where λ is again the pore distribution index.

References for the Two-Phase Darcy’s Law Interface

2. Z. Chen, G. Huan, and Y. Ma, Computational Methods for Multiphase Flows in
Porous Media. Philadelphia: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, 2006.

3. [Link]. van Genuchten, “A Closed-form Equation for Predicting the Hydraulic

Conductivity of Unsaturated Soils,” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., vol. 44, 1980.

4. R.H. Brooks and A.T. Corey, “Properties of Porous Media Affecting Fluid Flow,”
J. Irrig. Drainage Div., ASCE Proc., vol. 72 (IR2), 1966.

THEORY FOR THE TWO-PHASE DARCY’S LAW INTERFACE | 587

 Theory for the Phase Transport
Interface
The Phase Transport interface provides a predefined modeling environment for
studying the transport of multiple immiscible fluid, gas, or (dispersed) solid phases
either in free flow or in flow through a porous medium. This interface solves for the
averaged volume fractions (also called saturations in a porous medium) of the phases,
and does not track the interfaces between the different phases. The Phase Transport
interface is based on the macroscopic mass conservation equations of each phase. In a
porous medium the effects of the microscopic (or pore scale) interfaces between the
phases can be taken into account via the capillary pressure functions.

Phase Transport in Free Flow

Suppose the fluid consists of a mixture of i = 1, …, N immiscible phases. The
following mass conservation equation describes the transport for an individual phase:

∂
( ρ s ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρi si ui ) = Qi (8-43)
∂t i i

where ρi denotes the density (SI unit: kg/m3), si denotes the volume fraction
(dimensionless), and ui denotes the velocity vector (SI unit: m/s) of phase i. In
addition, the term Qi denotes a mass source for phase i (SI unit: kg/(m3·s)). It is
assumed that the sum of the volume fractions of the phases equals 1:

 si = 1 (8-44)
i=1

This means that N − 1 phase volume fractions are independent and are possible to solve
for using Equation 8-43. The volume constraint Equation 8-44 is used to reduce the
number of dependent variables: one volume fraction, let us say of phase ic (to be
specified in the main node of the Phase Transport interface), is expressed using the
other volume fractions:

N
 
 s i
sic = 1–
  
(8-45)
 i = 1, i ≠ i c 

588 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

Turbulent Mixing
A flow field obtained using a turbulence model does not explicitly contain the small
eddies. These unresolved eddies still have a profound effect on the species transport,
an effect known as turbulent mixing.

The Phase Transport interface supports the inclusion of turbulent mixing via the
gradient-diffusion hypothesis. In this case it adds a diffusion term proportional to the
turbulent kinematic viscosity to the phase transport Equation 8-43, which then
becomes

∂ νT
( ρ s ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρ i s i u i ) – ∇ ⋅  ρ i --------- ∇s i = Q i for i ≠ i c (8-46)
∂t i i  Sc T 

Phase Transport in Porous Media

In a porous domain, the mass conservation equation for each phase is given by:

∂
( ε ρ s ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρi ui ) = Qi (8-47)
∂t p i i

Here εp (dimensionless) is the porosity, and the vector ui should now be interpreted
as the volumetric flux of phase i (SI unit m3/(m2·s) or m/s). The volumetric fluxes
are determined using the extended Darcy’s law (Ref. 4)

κ ri
u i = – ------- κ ( ∇p i – ρ i g ) (8-48)
μi

where κ denotes the permeability (SI unit: m2) of the porous medium, g the
gravitational acceleration vector (SI unit m/s2), and μi the dynamic viscosity (SI unit:
kg/(m·s)), pi the pressure field (SI unit: Pa), and κri the relative permeability
(dimensionless) of phase i, respectively.

One phase pressure can be chosen independently, which in the Phase Transport in
Porous Media interface is chosen to be the phase pressure, p i c , of the phase computed
from the volume constraint, and the other phase pressures are defined by the following
N − 1 capillary pressure relations:

p i = p ic + p c ( s 1, …, s N ) for i ≠ i c (8-49)
i

THEORY FOR THE PHASE TRANSPORT INTERFACE | 589

 Substituting Equation 8-48 into Equation 8-47, and using the volume constraint in
Equation 8-44, we arrive at the following N − 1 equations for the phase volume
fractions si, (i ≠ ic) that are solved in the Phase Transport in Porous Media interface:

∂ κ
( ε ρ s ) – ∇ ⋅  ρ i κ ri ----- ( ∇ ( p i c + p ci ) – ρ i g ) = Q i for i ≠ i c (8-50)
∂t p i i  μi 

The remaining volume fraction is computed from

N
 
 s i
sic = 1–
  
(8-51)
 i = 1, i ≠ i c 

Predefined Capillary Pressure and Relative Permeability Models

The capillary pressure functions p ci can be supplied as user defined expressions, or, in
case there are only two phases present in the Phase Transport in Porous Media interface,
the capillary pressure function can be derived from van Genuchten (Ref. 3) or Brooks
and Corey (Ref. 4) models. When either of these predefined models is used, the user
has to specify which phase is the wetting phase. If the wetting phase is the same as the
phase computed from the volume constraint, then

pi = pic + pc for i ≠ i c (8-52)

otherwise

pi = p ic – pc for i ≠ i c (8-53)

For the van Genuchten model, the expression for the capillary pressure as a function
of saturation follows the curve

 1  1 – m vG
p c = p ec  ------------------------
1 ⁄ m vG
– 1 (8-54)
(s ) 
w

where pec is the entry capillary pressure and mvG is a constitutive constant, and where
s w denotes the effective saturation of the wetting phase. The effective saturation of
each phase is defined as

N
 
 s rj
s i = ( s i – s ri ) ⁄  1 –  (8-55)
 j=1 

590 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

where srj denotes the residual saturation of phase j. For the Brooks and Corey model,
the capillary pressure curve depends on saturation as

1 -
p c = p ec --------------------
1 ⁄ λp
(8-56)
( sw )

where λp is the pore distribution index.

When the van Genuchten or Brooks and Corey capillary pressure model is selected, the
relative permeabilities are also determined by these predefined models. For the van
Genuchten model, the relative permeabilities are given by

1 ⁄ m vG m vG 2
κ rsw = ( s w )  1 – ( 1 – ( s w ) 
l vG
) (8-57)
 

l vG 1 ⁄ m vG 2m vG
κ rsn = ( s n ) ( 1 – ( 1 – s n ) ) (8-58)

where mvG and lvG are constitutive constants, and where sn denotes the volume
fraction of the nonwetting phase. For the Brooks and Corey model, the relative
permeabilities are given by

( 3 + 2 ⁄ λp )
κ rsw = ( s w ) (8-59)

2 ( 1 + 2 ⁄ λp )
κ rsn = s n ( 1 – ( 1 – s n ) ) (8-60)

where λp is again the pore distribution index.

Porous Medium Discontinuity Boundary Condition

Over a boundary between a more permeable and a less permeable porous domain the
macroscopic saturation of the different phases is often discontinuous. The Porous
Medium Discontinuity boundary condition implements the following condition on such
an interior boundary:

 l h h l
l l  p ec, i if p ci ( s i ) ≤ p ec, i
pci ( si ) =  for i ≠ i c (8-61)
 p hc ( s hi ) if
h h
p ci ( s i ) > p ec, i
l
 i

where the superscript l is used to indicate the saturation and capillary pressure on the
low permeable side of the boundary and the superscript h indicates the high permeable

THEORY FOR THE PHASE TRANSPORT INTERFACE | 591

 side. The first case implements the condition that if the capillary pressure on the more
permeable side is lower than the entry capillary pressure on the less permeable side,
then the saturation of phase i on the less permeable side equals 0 (or the residual
saturation), and the second case implements the condition that if the capillary pressure
on the more permeable side is higher than the entry capillary pressure on the less
permeable side, the phase i is present on both sides of the interface, and that in this
case the capillary pressure is continuous over the interface.

The additional conditions are continuity of the fluxes for all phases and continuity of
the pressure of the phase ic computed from the volume constraint. Note that this last
condition assumes that this phase is present on both sides of the porous medium
discontinuity boundary condition. In addition this boundary condition assumes that
the phase ic computed from the volume constraint is the wetting phase and it is
necessary that the settings for the van Genuchten or Brooks and Corey capillary
pressure model match this assumption.

When the automatic settings are used for the Porous Medium Discontinuity boundary
condition and if in one or both of the adjacent domains none of the predefined
capillary pressure models is selected (van Genuchten or Brooks and Corey), the entry
capillary pressure in that domain is determined by substituting 0 for saturation of the
phase which is not computed from the volume constraint into the user defined
expression for the capillary pressure.

References
1. [Link]. van Genuchten, “A Closed-form Equation for Predicting the Hydraulic
Conductivity of Unsaturated Soils,” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., vol. 44, 1980.

2. R.H. Brooks and A.T. Corey, “Properties of Porous Media Affecting Fluid Flow,”
J. Irrig. Drainage Div., ASCE Proc., vol. 72 (IR2), 1966.

592 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

Theory for the Multiphase Flow in
Porous Media Interface
The model equations that are solved in the Multiphase Flow in Porous Media interface
are based on the mass conservation of each phase and on an extended Darcy’s law. The
mass conservation equation for each phase is given by

∂
( ε ρ s ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρi ui ) = Qi (8-62)
∂t p i i

where εp (dimensionless) is the porosity, and the vector ui should be interpreted as the
volumetric flux of phase i (SI unit m3/(m2·s) or m/s). The volumetric fluxes are
determined using the extended Darcy’s law (Ref. 2)

κ ri
u i = – ------- κ ( ∇p i – ρ i g ) (8-63)
μi

where κ denotes the permeability (SI unit: m2) of the porous medium, g the
gravitational acceleration vector (SI unit m/s2), and μi the dynamic viscosity (SI unit:
kg/(m·s)), pi the pressure field (SI unit: Pa), and κri the relative permeability
(dimensionless) of phase i, respectively. The phase pressures pi are related through the
capillary pressure functions p cij :

p i – p j = p cij ( s 1, …, s N ) i≠j (8-64)

One phase pressure can be chosen independently so that N − 1 capillary pressure

relations are needed to define the other phase pressures. In addition it is assume that
all phases together fill the pore space completely, so that we have

 si = 1 (8-65)
i=1

Pressure-Saturation Formulation
The algebraic relations in Equation 8-64 and Equation 8-65 allow for a reduction of
the number of dependent variables. An often used way is to eliminate N − 1 phase
pressures and one of the saturations. This results in a so-called pressure-saturation

THEORY FOR THE MULTIPHASE FLOW IN POROUS MEDIA INTERFACE | 593

 formulation (Ref. 3). The procedure in the Multiphase Flow in Porous Media interface is
to pick one of the phases, let us say phase i c , then express the volume fraction, s ic , of
this phase in terms of the volume fractions of the other phases and in addition to use
the pressure, p i c , of this phase to define the other phase pressures:

N
 
s i c = 1 –   s i (8-66)
 i = 1, i ≠ i c 

p i = p ic + p c ( s 1, …, s N ) for i ≠ i c (8-67)
ij

The equations for the volume fractions si, (i ≠ ic) are given by Equation 8-62 and
Equation 8-63. To arrive at an equation for pi, the conservation equations of all phases
are summed. This results in

N
   N 
∂
εp ρi si + ∇ ⋅ 
 ρ i u i = Q tot
 (8-68)
∂t   
 i=1  i = 1 

where the total mass source Qtot is given by

Q tot =  Qi (8-69)
i=1

The equations for the volume fractions si are solved in the Phase Transport in Porous
Media interface (see Equation 8-47 and Equation 8-48). The Equation 8-68 for the
pressure field p ic , needed as an input to the Phase Transport in Porous Media interface,
is solved for in the Darcy’s Law interface: the Multiphase Flow in Porous Media
multiphysics coupling interface replaces the equation

∂ 1
( ε ρ ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρ ic u d ) = Q m where u d = – ------ κ ( ∇p i c – ρ ic g ) (8-70)
∂ t p ic μic

which is originally implemented in the Darcy’s Law interface, with Equation 8-68 by
adding the following terms to the left-hand side of Equation 8-70:

N
   N 
∂
εp ρ i s i – ε p ρ tot + ∇ ⋅ 
 ρ i u i – ( ρ tot u d )
 (8-71)
∂t   
 i=1  i = 1 

and by setting the right-hand side Qm to be equal to Qtot.

594 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

Furthermore, the Multiphase Flow in Porous Media multiphysics coupling interface
couples the user inputs for the porosity and permeability of the porous matrix in the
Darcy’s Law interface to the corresponding user input fields in the Phase and Porous
Media Transport Properties feature, and couples the pressure field computed for in the
Darcy’s Law interface to the user input field for the pressure of the phase computed
from the volume constraint.

Note that when the hydraulic conductivity of a domain is specified in the Darcy’s Law
interface (instead of the permeability), the coupled Phase and Porous Media Transport
Properties feature is supplied with a permeability that is computed using a reference
kinematic viscosity of 1.004*10-6 m2s-1 (kinematic viscosity of water at 293.15 K).

In the other direction, the multiphysics coupling node provides the averaged density
(denoted by ρtot in Equation 8-71 above) and effective viscosity to the Darcy’s Law
interface.

Mass Source
When adding a Mass Source node in the coupled Phase Transport interface, it is by
default assumed that the net mass source of all phases, Qtot, equals zero. This implies

Qic = –  Qi (8-72)
i = 1, i ≠ i c

However, when mass is transfered from or to phases not accounted for in the phase
transport interface, for instance when mass is released or absorbed by the solid part of
the porous matrix, select the Mass transfer to other phases check box. In this case the
mass source for the phase calculated from the volume constraint should also be
specified, and the net total mass source Qtot is supplied as a right-hand side to the
Darcy Equation 8-68 for p ic .

Boundary Conditions
When supplying boundary conditions for the coupled Phase Transport in Porous Media
and Darcy’s Law interfaces, bear in mind that the Pressure boundary condition in the
Darcy’s Law interface affects the pressure of the phase from the volume constraint, p i c .
If the pressure of another phase needs to supplied, take into account the capillary
pressure.

THEORY FOR THE MULTIPHASE FLOW IN POROUS MEDIA INTERFACE | 595

 Since the coupled Darcy’s Law interface uses the conservation equation for the total
mass (Equation 8-68) to solve for p ic , the Mass Flux boundary condition in the Darcy’s
Law interface should be used to prescribe the mass flux of all phases together.

If the mass flux of the phase computed from the volume constraint needs to be
prescribed at a boundary, and the total mass flux is not known a priori, it might be
necessary to compute for the total mass flux in the form of a Lagrange multiplier by
using the weak constraint formulation for the pressure boundary condition in the
Darcy’s Law interface.

References
1. J. Bear, Dynamics of Fluids in Porous Media, Elsevier Scientific Publishing, 1972.

2. Z. Chen, G. Huan, and Y. Ma, Computational Methods for Multiphase Flows in

Porous Media, Philadelphia: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, 2006.

3. R. Helmig, Multiphase Flow and Transport Processes in the Subsurface – A

Contribution to the Modeling of Hydrosystems, Springer–Verlag, 1997.

596 | CHAPTER 8: POROUS MEDIA AND SUBSURFACE FLOW INTERFACES

 9

Chemical Species Transport Interfaces

The physics interfaces under the Chemical Species Transport branch ( )

accommodate all types of material transport that can occur through diffusion and
convection. The section Modeling Chemical Species Transport helps you choose
the best physics interface to start with.

In this chapter:

• The Transport of Diluted Species Interface

• The Transport of Concentrated Species Interface
• The Reacting Flow Multiphysics Interfaces
• The Reacting Flow in Porous Media Interfaces
• Theory for the Transport of Diluted Species Interface
• Theory for the Transport of Concentrated Species Interface
• Theory for the Reacting Flow Interfaces

597
 Modeling Chemical Species Transport
In this section:

• Selecting the Right Physics Interface

• Coupling to Other Physics Interfaces
• Adding a Chemical Species Transport Interface

Selecting the Right Physics Interface

The behavior of chemical reactions in real environments is often not adequately
described by the assumptions of perfectly mixed or controlled environments. This
means that the transport of material through both time and space need to be
considered. Physics interfaces in the Chemical Species Transport branch accommodate
all types of material transport that can occur through diffusion and convection —
either alone or in combination with one another. The branch includes physics
interfaces solving equations for diluted as well as concentrated mixtures, where the
species propagation can occur in solids, free flowing fluids, or through porous media.

The Transport of Diluted Species Interface ( ) is applicable for solutions (either

fluid or solid) where the transported species have concentrations at least one order of
magnitude less than the solvent. The settings for this physics interface can be chosen
to simulate chemical species transport through diffusion (Fick’s law) and convection
(when coupled to fluid flow).

The Transport of Concentrated Species Interface ( ) is used for modeling transport

within mixtures where no single component is clearly dominant. Often the
concentrations of the participating species are of the same order of magnitude, and the
molecular effects of the respective species on each other need to be considered. This
physics interface supports transport through Fickian diffusion, a mixture average
diffusion model, and as described by the Maxwell-Stefan equations.

REACTING FLOW
The Reacting Laminar Flow Interface ( ) combines the functionality of the Laminar
Flow and Transport of Concentrated Species interfaces. Using this physics interface
the mass and momentum transport in a reacting fluid can be modeled, with the
couplings between the velocity field and the mixture density set up automatically. This
physics interface is applicable for fluid flow in the laminar regime.

598 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

The Reacting Turbulent Flow, k-ε Interface ( ) combines the functionality of the
Turbulent Flow, k-ε and Transport of Concentrated Species interfaces. Using this
physics interface, the mass and momentum transport in reacting turbulent fluid flow
can be modeled, with the couplings between the velocity field and the mixture density
set up automatically. The physics interface solves for the mean velocity and pressure
fields, together with an arbitrary number of mass fractions. The fluid-flow turbulence
is modeled using the standard k-ε model, solving for the turbulent kinetic energy k and
the rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy ε.

The Reacting Turbulent Flow, k-ω Interface ( ) combines the functionality of the
Turbulent Flow, k-ω and Transport of Concentrated Species interfaces. Using this
physics interface, the mass and momentum transport in reacting turbulent fluid flow
can be modeled, with the couplings between the velocity field and the mixture density
set up automatically. The physics interface solves for the mean velocity and pressure
fields, together with an arbitrary number of mass fractions. The fluid-flow turbulence
is modeled using the Wilcox revised k-ω model, solving for the turbulent kinetic
energy k and the rate of specific dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy ω.

The Reacting Turbulent Flow, SST Interface ( ) combines the functionality of the
Turbulent Flow, SST and Transport of Concentrated Species interfaces. Using this
physics interface, the mass and momentum transport in reacting turbulent fluid flow
can be modeled, with the couplings between the velocity field and the mixture density
set up automatically. The physics interface solves for the mean velocity and pressure
fields, together with an arbitrary number of mass fractions. The fluid-flow turbulence
is modeled using the Menter SST model, solving for the turbulent kinetic energy k and
the rate of specific dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy ω. The physics interface also
includes a wall distance equation that solves for the reciprocal wall distance.

The Reacting Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε Interface ( ) combines the functionality
of the Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε and Transport of Concentrated Species interfaces.
Using this physics interface, the mass and momentum transport in reacting turbulent
fluid flow can be modeled, with the couplings between the velocity field and the
mixture density set up automatically. The physics interface solves for the mean velocity
and pressure fields, together with an arbitrary number of mass fractions. The fluid-flow
turbulence is modeled using the AKN low-Reynolds number k-ε model, solving for
the turbulent kinetic energy k and the rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy ε.
The physics interface also includes a wall distance equation that solves for the
reciprocal wall distance.

MODELING CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT | 599

 REACTING FLOW IN POROUS MEDIA
The Reacting Flow in Porous Media, Transport of Diluted Species Interface ( )
merges the functionality of the Transport of Diluted Species and the Free and Porous
Media Flow interfaces into a multiphysics interface. This way, coupled mass and
momentum transport in free and porous media can be modeled from a single physics
interface, with the nonlocal coupling for the velocity field set up automatically. In
addition, the effective transport coefficients in a porous matrix domain can be derived
based on the corresponding values in for a nonporous domain.

The Reacting Flow in Porous Media, Transport of Concentrated Species Interface

( ) combines the Transport of Concentrated Species and the Free and Porous Media
Flow interfaces. This means that mass and momentum transport can be modeled from
a single physics interface, with the couplings between the velocity field and the mixture
density set up automatically. Also, the effective transport coefficients in a porous matrix
domain are derived based on the corresponding values for a nonporous domain. This
physics interface is applicable for fluid flow in the laminar regime.

Coupling to Other Physics Interfaces

When you are simulating applications that can be described by the material transport
interfaces in the Chemical Species Transport branch, there is often a need to couple the
material transport to other physics interfaces. Convection is often the cause of the
material transport, so couplings to Fluid Flow interfaces is required. The CFD Module
includes physics interfaces for Laminar Flow and Porous Media Flow as well as more
advanced descriptions of fluid flow, such as turbulent and Multiphase Flow.

Moreover, most chemical reactions or other types of material processing, such as

casting, either require or produce heat, which in turn affects both the reaction and
other physical processes connected to the system. This module includes physics
interfaces for heat transfer through conduction and convection as well as through
porous media. More extensive description of heat transfer, such as surface-to-surface
radiation, can be found in the Heat Transfer Module.

Finally, COMSOL Multiphysics supports simulations of electrostatics or DC-based

physical phenomena, even when the conductivity is nonlinear. If the electric field is
AC/DC in nature, or if your system is affected by electromagnetic waves, then the
AC/DC Module and RF Module include appropriate physics interfaces for such
phenomena. Furthermore, some applications of electrochemical reactions, particularly
in electrochemical power source applications, are better handled by the Batteries &
Fuel Cells Module.

600 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

Adding a Chemical Species Transport Interface
A chemical species transport interface can be added when first creating a new model,
or at any time during the modeling process.

Creating a New Model in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual

1 To add a physics interface:

- Select New to open the Model Wizard, after selecting a space dimension, go to the
Select Physics page.
- From the Home toolbar, click Add Physics ( ). Or right-click the Component
node in the Model Builder and select Add Physics. Go to the Add Physics window.

2 Under Chemical Species Transport, navigate to the physics interface to add and
double-click it.
There are other ways to add a physics interface depending on whether you are in the
Model Builder or Add Physics window:
- In the Model Wizard, click Add or right-click and select Add Physics ( ). The
physics interface displays under Added physics interfaces.
- In the Add Physics window, click Add to Component ( ) or right-click and select
Add to Component.
3 Specify the number of species (concentrations or mass fractions) and the names:
- In the Model Wizard, on the Review Physics Interface page under Dependent
Variables.
- In the Add Physics window, click to expand the Dependent Variables section.
- After adding the physics interface, you can also edit this information — click the
node in the Model Builder, then, on the Settings window under Dependent
Variables, specify the information.

4 Continue by adding more interfaces and specifying the number of species

(concentrations or mass fractions) that are to be simulated in a mass transport
physics interface when adding that interface.
5 In the Dependent Variables section, enter the Number of species. To add a single
species, click the Add Concentration button ( ) underneath the table or enter a

MODELING CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT | 601

 value into the Number of species field. Click the Remove Concentration button ( )
underneath the table if required.
The Transport of Concentrated Species interface needs to contain at least two species
(the default). Also edit the strings or names directly in the table. The names must
be unique for all species (and all other dependent variables) in the model.

602 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

The Transport of Diluted Species
Interface
The Transport of Diluted Species (tds) interface ( ), found under the Chemical Species
Transport branch ( ), is used to calculate the concentration field of a dilute solute in
a solvent. Transport and reactions of the species dissolved in a gas, liquid, or solid can
be handled with this interface. The driving forces for transport can be diffusion by
Fick’s law, convection when coupled to a flow field, and migration, when coupled to
an electric field.

The interface supports simulation of transport by convection and diffusion in 1D, 2D,
and 3D as well as for axisymmetric components in 1D and 2D. The dependent variable
is the molar concentration, c. Modeling multiple species transport is possible, whereby
the physics interface solves for the molar concentration, ci, of each species i.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is tds.

DOMAIN SELECTION
If any part of the model geometry should not partake in the mass transfer model,
remove that part from the selection list.

TRANSPORT MECHANISMS
Mass transport due to diffusion is always included. Use the check boxes available under
Additional transport mechanisms to control other transport mechanisms.

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 603

 Note: Some of the additional transport mechanisms listed below are only available in
certain products. For details see [Link]

• By default, the Convection check box is selected. Clear the check box to disable
convective transport.
• Select the Migration in electric field check box to activate transport of ionic species in
an electric field. See further the theory section Adding Transport Through
Migration.

Transport of ionic species in an electric field is available in a limited set of

add-on products. See
[Link] for more details on
availability.

Mass Transport in Porous Media

The Mass transport in porous media check box activates functionality specific to species
transport in porous media. When selected, the following transport mechanisms are
available:

• Select the Dispersion in porous media check box to activate the dispersion mechanism
in porous media. See further Dispersion in the theory chapter.
• Select the Volatilization in partially saturated porous media check box to model
volatilization in partially saturated domains. For more information see Theory for
the Transport of Diluted Species Interface

The following features are also enabled when selecting the Mass transport in porous
media check box:

• Adsorption
• Fracture
• Partially Saturated Porous Media
• Porous Electrode Coupling
• Porous Media Transport Properties

604 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

• Reactive Pellet Bed
• Species Source

Note: Mass transport in porous media is only available in a limited set of

add-on products. See
[Link] for more details on
availability.

CONSISTENT STABILIZATION
To display this sections, click the Show button ( ) and select Stabilization.

• When the Crosswind diffusion check box is selected, a weak term that reduces
spurious oscillations is added to the transport equation. The resulting equation
system is always nonlinear. There are two options for the Crosswind diffusion type:
- Do Carmo and Galeão — the default option. This type of crosswind diffusion
reduces undershoots and overshoots to a minimum but can in rare cases give
equation systems that are difficult to fully converge.
- Codina. This option is less diffusive compared to the Do Carmo and Galeão
option but can result in more undershoots and overshoots. It is also less effective
for anisotropic meshes. The Codina option activates a text field for the Lower
gradient limit glim. It defaults to 0.1[mol/m^3)/[Link], where [Link]
is the local element size.
• For both consistent stabilization methods, select an Equation residual. Approximate
residual is the default and means that derivatives of the diffusion tensor components
are neglected. This setting is usually accurate enough and is computationally faster.
If required, select Full residual instead.

INCONSISTENT STABILIZATION
To display this section, click the Show button ( ) and select Stabilization. By default,
the Isotropic diffusion check box is not selected, because this type of stabilization adds
artificial diffusion and affects the accuracy of the original problem. However, this
option can be used to get a good initial guess for underresolved problems.

ADVANCED SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show button ( ) and select Advanced Physics Options.
Normally these settings do not need to be changed. Select a Convective term —
Nonconservative form (the default) or Conservative form. The conservative formulation

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 605

 should be used for compressible flow. See Convective Term Formulation for more
information.

DISCRETIZATION
To display all settings available in this section, click the Show button ( ) and select
Advanced Physics Options.

The Compute boundary fluxes check box is activated by default so that COMSOL
Multiphysics computes predefined accurate boundary flux variables. When this option
is checked, the solver computes variables storing accurate boundary fluxes from each
boundary into the adjacent domain.

If the check box is cleared, the COMSOL Multiphysics software instead computes the
flux variables from the dependent variables using extrapolation, which is less accurate
in postprocessing results but does not create extra dependent variables on the
boundaries for the fluxes.

The flux variables affected in the interface are:

• ndflux_c (where c is the dependent variable for the concentration). This is the
normal diffusive flux and corresponds to the boundary flux when diffusion is the
only contribution to the flux term.
• ntflux_c (where c is the dependent variable for the concentration). This is the
normal total flux and corresponds to the boundary flux plus additional transport
terms, for example, the convective flux when you use the nonconservative form.

Also the Apply smoothing to boundary fluxes check box is available if the previous check
box is checked. The smoothing can provide a more well-behaved flux value close to
singularities.

For details about the boundary fluxes settings, see Computing Accurate Fluxes in the
COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

The Value type when using splitting of complex variables setting should in most pure
mass transfer problems be set to Real, which is the default. It makes sure that the
dependent variable does not get affected by small imaginary contributions, which can
occur, for example, when combining a Time Dependent or Stationary study with a
frequency-domain study. For more information, see Splitting Complex-Valued
Variables in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

606 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variable name is the Concentration c by default. The names must be
unique with respect to all other dependent variables in the component.

Add or remove species variables in the model and also change the names of the
dependent variables that represent the species concentrations.

Enter the Number of species. Use the Add concentration ( ) and Remove
concentration ( ) buttons as needed.

FURTHER READING

• Theory for the Transport of Diluted Species Interface

• Numerical Stabilization in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
Manual.
• In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual, see Table 2-4 for
links to common sections and Table 2-5 for common feature nodes.
You can also search for information: press F1 to open the Help window
or Ctrl+F1 to open the Documentation window.

• Effective Diffusivity in Porous Materials: Application Library path

COMSOL_Multiphysics/Diffusion/effective_diffusivity
• Micromixer: Application Library path
COMSOL_Multiphysics/Fluid_Dynamics/micromixer

The Transport of Diluted Species in Porous Media Interface

This interface ( ), found under the Chemical Species Transport branch ( ), is used
to calculate the species concentration and transport in free and porous media. The
interface is the same as the Transport of Diluted Species interface but it uses other
defaults: The Mass Transport in Porous Media property is selected, and a Porous
Media Transport Properties node is added by default. The interface includes reaction
rate expressions and solute sources for modeling of species transport and reaction in
porous media.

This interface is dedicated to modeling transport in porous media, including immobile

and mobile phases, where the chemical species may be subjected to diffusion,
convection, migration, dispersion, adsorption, and volatilization in porous media. It

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 607

 supports cases where either the solid phase substrate is exclusively immobile, or when
a gas-filling medium is also assumed to be immobile.

It applies to one or more diluted species or solutes that move primarily within a fluid
that fills (saturated) or partially fills (unsaturated) the voids in a solid porous medium.
The pore space not filled with fluid contains an immobile gas phase. Models including
a combination of porous media types can be studied.

The main feature nodes are the Porous Media Transport Properties and Partially
Saturated Porous Media nodes, which add the equations for the species concentrations
and provide an interface for defining the properties of the porous media, as well as
additional properties governing adsorption, volatilization, dispersion and diffusion,
migration, and the velocity field to model convection.

The physics interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent analysis.

When this physics interface is added, these default nodes are also added to the Model
Builder — Porous Media Transport Properties, No Flux (the default boundary condition),
and Initial Values. Then, from the Physics toolbar, add other nodes that implement, for
example, boundary conditions, reaction rate expressions, and species sources. You can
also right-click Transport of Diluted Species in Porous Media to select physics features
from the context menu.

SETTINGS
The rest of the settings are the same as The Transport of Diluted Species Interface.

FURTHER READING

• Theory for the Transport of Diluted Species Interface

• Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Transport of Diluted
Species Interface

• Variably Saturated Flow and Transport — Sorbing Solute:

Application Library path
Subsurface_Flow_Module/Solute_Transport/sorbing_solute
Web link:
[Link]
ort-sorbing-solute-490

608 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Transport of Diluted
Species Interface
The Transport of Diluted Species Interface has the following domain, boundary, and
pair nodes, listed in alphabetical order, available from the Physics ribbon toolbar
(Windows users), Physics context menu (Mac or Linux users), or by right-clicking to
access the context menu (all users).

To add a node, go to the Physics toolbar, no matter what operating system

you are using. Subnodes are available by clicking the parent node and
selecting it from the Attributes menu.

• Adsorption • Periodic Condition

• Concentration • Point Mass Source
• Electrode Surface Coupling • Porous Electrode Coupling
• Equilibrium Reaction • Porous Media Transport Properties
• Fast Irreversible Surface Reaction • Reaction Coefficients
• Flux • Reactions
• Flux Discontinuity • Reactive Pellet Bed
• Fracture • Species Source
• Inflow • Surface Reactions
• Initial Values • Surface Equilibrium Reaction
• Line Mass Source • Symmetry
• Mass-Based Concentrations • Thin Diffusion Barrier
• No Flux • Thin Impermeable Barrier
• Open Boundary • Transport Properties
• Outflow • Turbulent Mixing
• Partially Saturated Porous Media • Volatilization
• Partition Condition

Some features require certain add-on modules. For details see

[Link]

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 609

 For axisymmetric components, COMSOL Multiphysics takes the axial
symmetry boundaries (at r = 0) into account and automatically adds an
Axial Symmetry node that is valid on boundaries representing the
symmetry axis.

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual, see Table 2-4 for links
to common sections and Table 2-5 for common feature nodes. You can
also search for information: press F1 to open the Help window or Ctrl+F1
to open the Documentation window.

Transport Properties
The settings in this node are dependent on the check boxes selected under Transport
Mechanisms on the Settings window for the Transport of Diluted Species interface. It
includes only the sections required by the activated transport mechanisms. It has all the
equations defining transport of diluted species as well as inputs for the material
properties.

When the Convection check box is selected, the Turbulent Mixing subnode is available
from the context menu as well as from the Physics toolbar, Attributes menu.

MODEL INPUTS
The temperature model input is always available. Select the source of the Temperature.
For User defined, enter a value or expression for the temperature in the input field. This
input option is always available.

You can also select the temperature solved for by a Heat Transfer interface added to
the model component. These physics interfaces are available for selection in the
Temperature list.

CONVECTION
If transport by convection is active, the velocity field of the solvent needs to be
specified. Select the source of the Velocity field. For User defined, enter values or
expressions for the velocity components in the input fields. This input option is always
available.

You can also select the velocity field solved for by a Fluid Flow interface added to the
model component. These physics interfaces are available for selection in the Velocity
field list.

610 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

DIFFUSION
Select an option from the Material list. This selection list can only be used if a material
has been added in the Materials node and if that material has a diffusion coefficient
defined. Else, you need to type in the diffusivity in the User Defined edit field.

Enter the Diffusion coefficient Dc for each species. This can be a scalar value for isotropic
diffusion or a tensor describing anisotropic diffusion. Select the appropriate tensor
type — Isotropic, Diagonal, Symmetric, or Full that describes the diffusion transport, and
then enter the values in the corresponding element (one value for each species).

Note that multiple species, as well as Migration in Electric fields (described below) is
only available for certain COMSOL Multiphysics add-on products. See details:
[Link]

MIGRATION IN ELECTRIC FIELD

This section is available when the Migration in electric field check box is selected. From
the Electric potential list, select the source of the electric field.

• Enter a value or expression for the Electric potential V, which is User defined; this
input option is always available.
• Select the electric potential solved by an AC/DC-based interface that has also been
added to the model.
• Select the electric potential defined or solved by Electrochemistry interface that has
been added to the component.

By default the Mobility is set to be calculated based on the species diffusivity and the
temperature using the Nernst-Einstein relation. For User defined, and under Mobility,
select the appropriate scalar or tensor type — Isotropic, Diagonal, Symmetric, or Full —
and type in the value of expression of the mobility um,c.

Enter the Charge number zc (dimensionless, but requires a plus or minus sign) for each
species.

The temperature (if you are using mobilities based on the Nernst-Einstein relation) is
taken from Model Inputs section.

Note that the migration in electric fields feature is only available in some COMSOL
products. See details: [Link]

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 611

 EXAMPLE MODELS

• Separation Through Dialysis: Application Library path

Chemical_Reaction_Engineering_Module/Mixing_and_Separation/dialysis
Web link:
[Link]

• Transport in an Electrokinetic Valve: Application Library path

Microfluidics_Module/Fluid_Flow/electrokinetic_valve
Web link: [Link]

Turbulent Mixing
Use this node to account for the turbulent mixing of the chemical species caused by
the eddy diffusivity. This node should typically be used when the specified velocity field
corresponds to a RANS solution.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

The subnode can added from the context menu (right-click the Transport Properties
parent node), as well as from the Physics toolbar, Attributes menu, provided that
Convection is selected as a transport mechanism.

TURBULENT MIXING PARAMETERS

Some physics interfaces provide the turbulent kinematic viscosity, and these appear as
options in the Turbulent kinematic viscosity νT list. The list always contains the User
defined option where any value or expression can be entered.

The default Turbulent Schmidt number ScT is 0.71 (dimensionless).

FURTHER READING
See the section About Turbulent Mixing in the CFD Module User’s Guide (this link
is available online or if you have the CFD Module documentation installed).

612 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

Initial Values
The Initial Values node specifies the initial values for the concentration of each species.
These serve as an initial guess for a stationary solver or as initial conditions for a
transient simulation.

DOMAIN SELECTION
If there are several types of domains with different initial values defined, it might be
necessary to remove some domains from the selection. These are then defined in an
additional Initial Values node.

INITIAL VALUES
Enter a value or expression for the initial value of the Concentration or concentrations,
ci. This also serves as a starting guess for stationary problems.

Mass-Based Concentrations
Use the Mass-Based Concentrations node to add postprocessing variables for mass-based
concentrations (SI unit: kg/m3) and mass fractions (dimensionless) for all species.

MIXTURE PROPERTIES
The default Solvent density ρsolvent is taken From material. For User defined, enter a
value or expression manually. Define the Molar mass of each species, which is needed
to calculate the mass-based concentration.

Reactions
Use the Reactions node to account for the consumption or production of species
through chemical reactions. Define the rate expressions as required.

DOMAIN SELECTION
From the Selection list, choose the domains on which to define rate expression or
expressions that govern the source term in the transport equations.

Several reaction nodes can be used to account for different reactions in different parts
for the modeling geometry.

REACTION RATES
Add a rate expression Ri (SI unit: mol/(m3·s)) for species i. Enter a value or expression
in the field. Note that if you have the Chemistry interface available, provided with the

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 613

 Chemical Reaction Engineering Module, the reaction rate expressions can be
automatically generated and picked up using the drop-down menu. For an example,
see the application Fine Chemical Production in a Plate Reactor as linked below.

REACTING VOLUME
This section is only available when the Mass Transport in Porous Media property is
available and selected. See [Link] for
more details on availability.

When specifying reaction rates for a species in porous media, the specified reaction rate
may have the basis of the total volume, the pore volume, or the volume of a particular
phase.

• For Total volume, the reaction expressions in mol/(m3·s) are specified per unit
volume of the model domain (multiplied by unity).
• For Pore volume, the reaction expressions in mol/(m3·s) are specified per unit
volume of total pore space. The reaction expressions will be multiplied by the
domain porosity, εp. (εp equals unity for nonporous domains.)
• For Liquid phase, the reaction expressions in mol/(m3·s) are specified per unit
volume of liquid in the pore space. The expressions will be multiplied by the liquid
volume fraction θ. (θ equals εp for Saturated Porous Media domains).
• For Gas phase, the expressions are multiplied by the gas volume fraction av = εp − θ.
av equals 0 for Saturated Porous Media domains.

FURTHER READING
See the theory chapter on chemical species transport, starting with the section Mass
Balance Equation.

• Fine Chemical Production in a Plate Reactor: Application Library

path
Chemical_Reaction_Engineering_Module/Reactors_with_Mass_and_Heat_T
ransfer/plate_reactor
Web link:
[Link]
te-reactor-8589

614 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

No Flux
This node is the default boundary condition on exterior boundaries. It should be used
on boundaries across which there is no mass flux, typically solid walls where no surface
reactions occur. The condition applied for each species corresponds to

– n ⋅ ( – D∇c ) = 0

where n denotes the outward pointing normal of the boundary. When the mass
transport includes migration of ionic species, the no flux condition is:

– n ⋅ ( – D∇c – zu m Fc∇φ ) = 0

CONVECTION
By default, the feature prescribes a vanishing flux due to diffusion and migration in an
electric field. This is the appropriate no flux condition when the relative convective
velocity at the boundary is zero. When the fluid velocity at the boundary is not equal
to that of the boundary, it is often convenient to prescribe the total flux including the
convection. To do this select Include in the Convection section.

When including the convection, the no flux condition prescribed is:

– n ⋅ ( – D∇c + uc ) = 0

or

– n ⋅ ( – D∇c – zu m Fc∇φ + uc ) = 0

when migration of ionic species is included.

Inflow
Use this node to specify all species concentrations at an inlet boundary.

If you want to specify the concentration of a subset of the partaking species, this can
be done by using the Concentration node instead.

For the Electroanalysis interface, this node is available when you select the Convection
check box on the physics interface Settings window.

CONCENTRATION
For the concentration of each species c0,c (SI unit: mol/m3), enter a value or
expression.

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 615

 BOUNDARY CONDITION TYPE
The option Concentration constraint constrains the concentration values on the
boundary by the use of pointwise constraints.

The other option, Flux (Danckwerts) can be used when the concentration at the
boundary is not known, or when it varies in a non-trivial manner. This may, for
example, be useful when reactions with high reaction rates occur in the vicinity of the
inlet. In this case the concentration far upstream of the boundary is instead prescribed.
The Flux (Danckwerts) condition prescribes the total flux defined by the upstream
concentration and the fluid velocity at the boundary.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show button ( ) and select Advanced Physics Options.
You can find details about the different constraint settings in the section Constraint
Reaction Terms in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

FURTHER READING
See the theory chapter in the section Danckwerts Inflow Boundary Condition.

Outflow
Apply this condition at outlets boundaries where species should be transported out of
the model domain by fluid motion or by an electric field (in the case of ions). It is
assumed that convection and migration in an electric are the dominating transport
mechanisms across the boundary, and therefore that the diffusive transport can be
ignored, that is:

n ⋅ ( – D ∇c ) = 0

Note that the Convection or the Migration in electric field transport mechanisms needs
to be included for this node to be available.

Concentration
This condition node adds a boundary condition for the species concentration. For
example, a c = c0 condition specifies the concentration of species c.

CONCENTRATION
Individually specify the concentration for each species. Select the check box for the
Species to specify the concentration, and then enter a value or expression in the

616 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

corresponding field. To use another boundary condition for a specific species, click to
clear the check box for the concentration of that species.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show button ( ) and select Advanced Physics Options.
You can find details about the different constraint settings in the section Constraint
Reaction Terms in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

Flux
This node can be used to specify the species molar flux across a boundary. The flux can
for example occur due to chemical reactions or a phase change at the boundary. The
flux can also represent the transport to or from a surrounding environment currently
not included model.

The prescribed flux of a species c is by default defined as

– n ⋅ ( – D∇c ) = J 0

where n denotes the outward pointing normal of the boundary. When the mass
transport includes migration of ionic species, the flux is defined as:

– n ⋅ ( – D∇c – zu m Fc∇φ ) = J 0

The flux prescribed, J0, can include any arbitrary user-specified expression. It can be
constant or a function of a dependent variable or independent variable. Common
examples are a flux dependent of the concentration, temperature, pressure or the
electric potential φ .

CONVECTION
By default, the flux due to diffusion and migration in an electric field is prescribed. This
is the appropriate flux condition when the relative velocity at the boundary is zero.
When the fluid velocity is not equal to that of the boundary, it is often convenient to
prescribe the total flux, including the convection. To do this select Include in the
Convection section.

When including the convection, the prescribed flux is defined as:

– n ⋅ ( – D∇c + uc ) = J 0

or

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 617

 – n ⋅ ( – D∇c – zu m Fc∇φ + uc ) = J 0

when migration of ionic species is included.

INWARD FLUX
Select the Species check box for the species for which to specify the flux, and enter a
value or expression for the inward flux in the corresponding field. Use a minus sign
when specifying a flux directed out of the system. To use another boundary condition
for a specific species, click to clear the check box for that species.

External convection
Set Flux type to External convection to prescribe a flux to or from an exterior domain
(not modeled) assumed to include convection. The exterior can for example include a
forced convection to control the temperature or to increase the mass transport. In this
case the prescribed mass flux corresponds to

J0 = kc ( cb – c )

where kc is a mass transfer coefficient and cb is the bulk concentration, the typical
concentration far into the surrounding exterior domain.

Symmetry
The Symmetry node can be used to represent boundaries where the species
concentration is symmetric, that is, where there is no mass flux across the boundary.

This boundary condition is identical to that of the No Flux node.

Flux Discontinuity
This node represents a discontinuity in the mass flux across an interior boundary:

– n ⋅ [ ( J + uc ) u – ( J + uc ) d ] = N 0 J = – D∇c

where the value N0 (SI unit: mol/(m2·s)) specifies the jump in total flux at the
boundary. This can be used to model a boundary source, for example a surface
reaction, adsorption or desorption.

FLUX DISCONTINUITY
In this section the jump in species flux (or surface source) is specified.

618 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

Select the Species check box for the species to specify and enter a value or expression
for the material flux jump in the corresponding field. To use a different boundary
condition for a specific species, click to clear the check box for the flux discontinuity
of that species.

Partition Condition
The Partition Condition node can be used to prescribe the ratio between the
concentration of a solute species in two different immiscible phases. It can for example
be used on interior boundaries separating two liquid phases, a gas-liquid interface, or
on a boundary separating a liquid phase and a solid or porous media. For a species
concentration ci, the ratio between the concentration on the up side and on the down
side of the boundary (ci,u and ci,d respectively) is defined as

c i, u
K i = ---------
c i, d

in terms of a partition coefficient Ki. The up and down side of the selected boundary
is indicated in the Graphics window. The arrows point from the down side into the up
side.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

PARTITION COEFFICIENT
Select the Reverse direction check box to reverse the direction of the arrows on the
selected boundaries, and the corresponding definition of the up and down side
concentration.

Use the associated input fields to prescribe the partition coefficient Ki.

FURTHER READING
For an example of using a partition condition, see this application example:

Separation Through Dialysis: Application Library path

Chemical_Reaction_Engineering_Module/Mixing_and_Separation/dialysis

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 619

 Periodic Condition
The Periodic Condition node can be used to define periodicity for the mass transport
between two sets of boundaries. The node prescribes continuity in the concentration
and the mass flux between the “source” and the “destination” side respectively. Note
that these names are arbitrary and does not influence the direction in which mass is
transported. It is dictated by mass transfer equations in the adjacent domains.

The node can be activated on more than two boundaries, in which case the feature tries
to identify two separate surfaces that each consist of one or several connected
boundaries.

For more complex geometries, it might be necessary to add the Destination Selection
subnode, which is available from the context menu (right-click the parent node) as well
as from the Physics toolbar, Attributes menu. With this subnode, the boundaries that
constitute the source and destination surfaces can be manually specified.

FURTHER READING
For an example of using a periodic condition, see this application example:

The KdV Equation and Solitons: Application Library path

COMSOL_Multiphysics/Equation_Based/kdv_equation

Line Mass Source

The Line Mass Source feature models mass flow originating from a tube or line region
with an infinitely small radius.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

620 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

SELECTION
The Line Mass Source feature is available for all dimensions, but the applicable selection
differs between the dimensions.

MODEL DIMENSION APPLICABLE GEOMETRICAL ENTITY

2D Points
2D Axisymmetry Points not on the symmetry axis and the symmetry axis
3D Edges

SPECIES SOURCE
·
Enter the source strength, q l,c , for each species (SI unit: mol/(m·s)). A positive value
results in species injection from the line into the computational domain, and a negative
value means that the species is removed from the computational domain.

Line sources located on a boundary affect the adjacent computational domains. This
effect makes the physical strength of a line source located in a symmetry plane twice
the given strength.

FURTHER READING
See the section Mass Sources for Species Transport.

Point Mass Source

The Point Mass Source feature models mass flow originating from an infinitely small
domain around a point.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

SPECIES SOURCE
·
Enter the source strength, q p,c , for each species (SI unit: mol/s). A positive value
results in species injection from the point into the computational domain, and a
negative value means that the species is removed from the computational domain.

Point sources located on a boundary or on an edge affect the adjacent computational

domains. This has the effect, for example, that the physical strength of a point source
located in a symmetry plane is twice the given strength.

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 621

 FURTHER READING
See the section Mass Sources for Species Transport.

Open Boundary
Use this node to set up mass transport across boundaries where both convective inflow
and outflow can occur. On the parts of the boundary where fluid flows into the
domain, an exterior species concentration is prescribed. On the remaining parts, where
fluid flows out of the domain, a condition equivalent to the Outflow node is instead
prescribed.

The direction of the flow across the boundary is typically calculated by a fluid flow
interface and is provided as a model input to the Transport of Diluted Species
interface.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

EXTERIOR CONCENTRATION
Enter a value or expression for the Exterior concentration.

Thin Diffusion Barrier

Use this boundary condition to model a thin layer through which mass is transported
by diffusion only. The node is applicable on interior boundaries and can be used to
avoid meshing thin structures.

THIN DIFFUSION BARRIER

Specify the Layer thickness, ds, and input a Diffusion coefficient, Ds,c, for each of the
species included.

Thin Impermeable Barrier

This feature models a thin mass transfer barrier. It is available on interior boundaries
and introduces a discontinuity in the concentration across the boundary. On each side,
a no-flux condition is prescribed for the mass transport implying that it acts as a barrier.
The feature can be used to avoid meshing thin structures.

622 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

Solving a model involving coupled fluid flow and mass transfer, the Thin Impermeable
Barrier feature can be combined with an Interior Wall feature in order to model a thin
solid wall.

Equilibrium Reaction
Use this node to model a reaction where the kinetics is assumed so fast that the
equilibrium condition is fulfilled at all times. The node solves for an additional degree
of freedom (the reaction rate Req) to fulfill the equilibrium condition at all times in all
space coordinates.

If the Apply equilibrium condition on inflow boundaries check box is selected, the
specified inflow concentration values in all active Inflow boundary nodes for the physics
interface are modified to comply with the equilibrium condition.

• A necessary requirement for this is feature to be available is that two or

more species are solved for by the interface.
• This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See
[Link] for more details
on availability.

EQUILIBRIUM CONDITION
The list defaults to Equilibrium constant or select User defined. For either option, the
Apply equilibrium condition on inflow boundaries check box is selected by default.

For Equilibrium constant, enter an Equilibrium constant Keq (dimensionless). Also enter
a value or expression for the Unit activity concentration Ca0 (SI unit: mol/m3).
Selecting Equilibrium constant defines an equilibrium condition based on the
stoichiometric coefficients, the species activities, and the law of mass action.

For User defined, enter an Equilibrium expression Eeq (dimensionless).

STOICHIOMETRIC COEFFICIENTS
Enter a value for the stoichiometric coefficientνc (dimensionless). The default is 0. Use
negative values for reactants and positive values for products in the modeled reaction.

Species with a stoichiometric coefficient value of 0 are not affected by the Equilibrium
Reaction node.

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 623

 Surface Reactions
The Surface Reactions node can be used to account for the species boundary flux due
to chemical reactions occurring on a surface (heterogeneous reactions). For a domain
species participating in a surface reaction, the boundary flux corresponds to the
reaction rate at the surface.

SURFACE REACTION RATE

Specify the surface reaction rate J0 of each species resulting from the reactions. Note
that if you have the Chemistry interface available, provided with the Chemical
Reaction Engineering Module, the reaction rate expressions can be automatically
generated and picked up using the drop-down menu.

FURTHER READING
For an example of using the Surface Reactions node, see this application example:

Chemical Vapor Deposition of GaAs: Application Library path

Chemical_Reaction_Engineering_Module/Reactors_with_Mass_and_Heat_Tran
sfer/gaas_cvd

Surface Equilibrium Reaction

Use this node to model an equilibrium reaction on a boundary (surface). The settings
for this node are similar to Equilibrium Reaction. Note that a necessary requirement
for this is feature to be available is that two or more species are solved for by the
interface.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

Fast Irreversible Surface Reaction

This boundary node defines an irreversible reaction where the kinetics is so fast that
the only factor limiting the reaction rate is the transport of a species to the reacting
surface.

624 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

The node will set the Rate limiting species concentration to zero at the boundary, and
balance the fluxes of the species participating in the reaction and the current densities
according to the Stoichiometric Coefficients settings.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

Porous Electrode Coupling

Use this node to add a molar source in a domain that is coupled to one or multiple
Porous Electrode Reaction nodes of an Electrochemistry Interface.

The molar source is calculated from the number of electrons, stoichiometric

coefficients, and volumetric current densities of the coupled porous electrode reactions
specified in the Reaction Coefficients subnodes.

In the Transport of Concentrated Species interface, the molar sources (or sinks) are
multiplied by the species molar masses to obtain the corresponding mass sources.

Additional Reaction Coefficients subnodes are available from the context menu
(right-click the parent node) as well as from the Physics toolbar, Attributes menu.

Note that if you are also modeling the momentum transport and expect a
nonnegligible total mass source or sink, which is often the case in gas diffusion
electrodes, you need to also add a corresponding Porous Electrode Coupling node in
the Fluid Flow interface.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

Reaction Coefficients
Add this node to the Electrode Surface Coupling and Porous Electrode Coupling
features to define molar fluxes and sources based on electrode current densities in an
Electrochemistry interface.

The molar flux or source is proportional to the stoichiometric coefficients and the
current density according to Faraday’s law.

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 625

 Current densities from Electrode Reaction (iloc, SI unit: A/m2) or Porous Electrode
Reaction nodes (iv, SI unit: A/m3) of any Electrochemistry interface in the model are
available for selection as the Coupled reaction, and user-defined expressions are also
supported.

Enter the Number of participating electrons nm (dimensionless) and the Stoichiometric

coefficient vc (dimensionless) as explained in the theory section linked below.

Use multiple subnodes to couple to multiple reactions.

Electrode Surface Coupling

Use this node to define a flux boundary condition based on current densities of one or
multiple Electrode Reaction nodes in an Electrochemistry interface.

The flux is proportional to the current densities and the stoichiometric coefficients
according to Faraday’s law as defined by summation over the Reaction Coefficients
subnodes.

Note that if you are also modeling the momentum transport and expect a
nonnegligible total mass flux over the boundary, which is often the case for gas
diffusion electrodes, you need to also add a corresponding Electrode Surface Coupling
node in the Fluid Flow interface.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

Porous Media Transport Properties

Use this node to model the concentration of diluted species transported through
interstices in porous media. A part form convection and diffusion, the node contains
functionality to include species evolution through adsorption, dispersion, and reaction.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

626 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

MODEL INPUTS
The temperature model input is always available. Select the source of the Temperature.
For User defined, enter a value or expression for the temperature in the input field. This
input option is always available.

You can also select the temperature solved for by a Heat Transfer interface added to
the model component. These physics interfaces are available for selection in the
Temperature list.

MATRIX PROPERTIES
Use the Porous material list to define a material specifying the matrix properties on the
current selection. By default the Domain material is used.

Specify the Porosity, εp (dimensionless) of the porous matrix. This is by default taken
From material. Select User defined to instead enter a different value.

CONVECTION
If transport by convection is active, the velocity field of the solvent needs to be
specified. Select the source of the Velocity field. For User defined, enter values or
expressions for the velocity components in the input fields. This input option is always
available.

You can also select the velocity field solved for by a Fluid Flow interface added to the
model component. These physics interfaces are available for selection in the Velocity
field list.

DIFFUSION
Select a Fluid material (when available and applicable).

Specify the Fluid diffusion coefficient DF,i (SI unit: m2/s). Enter a value or expression
for each of the species in the corresponding input field. The default is 1·10-9 m2/s.

Select the Effective diffusivity model: Millington and Quirk model (the default),
Bruggeman model, Tortuosity model, or User defined. For Tortuosity model, enter a value
for the tortuosity τF,i (dimensionless). The default is 1.

MIGRATION IN ELECTRIC FIELD

This section is available when the Migration in electric field check box is selected. From
the Electric potential list, select the source of the electric field.

• Enter a value or expression for the Electric potential V, which is User defined; this
input option is always available.

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 627

 • Select the electric potential solved by an AC/DC-based interface that has also been
added to the model.
• Select the electric potential defined or solved by Electrochemistry interface that has
been added to the component.

By default the Mobility is set to be calculated based on the species effective diffusivity
and the temperature using the Nernst-Einstein relation. For User defined, and under
Mobility, select the appropriate scalar or tensor type — Isotropic, Diagonal, Symmetric,
or Full — and type in the value of expression of the effective mobility ume,c.

Enter the Charge number zc for each species.

DISPERSION
This section is available when the Dispersion in porous media check box is selected on
the Settings window for the physics interface.

Select the Specify dispersion for each species individually check box to specify the
dispersion tensor DD (SI unit: m2/s) for each species separately. The default is to use
the same dispersion tensor DD for all species.

Select an option from the Dispersion tensor list — User defined (the default) or
Dispersivity. For User defined, use it to specify the dispersion components as
user-defined constants or expressions. Select Isotropic, Diagonal, Symmetric, or Full
based on the properties of the dispersion tensor.

Select Dispersivity when Convection has been added as the transport mechanism. Specify
the dispersivities (SI unit: m) to define the dispersion tensor DD (SI unit: m2/s)
together with the velocity field u. Select an option from the Dispersivity model list:
Isotropic (the default) or Transverse isotropic based on the properties of the porous
media. For isotropic porous media, specify the longitudinal and transverse
dispersivities. For transverse isotropic porous media, specify the longitudinal,
horizontal transverse, and vertical transverse dispersivities.

628 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

Adsorption
Use this node to model adsorption of the fluid phase species onto the porous media
surface. It is available as a subnode to the Porous Media Transport Properties and the
Partially Saturated Porous Media nodes.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

MATRIX PROPERTIES
Use the Porous material list to define a material specifying the matrix properties on the
current selection. By default the Domain material is used.

The density of the porous media is needed when modeling adsorption to the surface
of the porous matrix. By default Density ρ is defined from the domain material.

ADSORPTION
Select a Sorption type — Langmuir (the default), Freundlich, Toth, BET,or User defined to
specify how to compute cP, the amount of species sorbed to the solid phase (moles per
unit dry weight of the solid):

• For Langmuir:

KL c ∂c P K L c Pmax
c P = c Pmax -------------------- , K P = -------- = ---------------------------2-
1 + KL c ∂c ( 1 + KL c )

Enter a Langmuir constant kL,c (SI unit: m3/mol) and an Adsorption maximum
cp,max,c (SI unit: mol/kg).

• For Freundlich:

c N ∂c P cP
c P = K F  -------- , K P = -------- = N ------
c ref ∂c c

Enter a Freundlich constant kF,c (SI unit: mol/kg), a Freundlich exponent NF,c
(dimensionless), and a Reference concentration cref,c (SI unit: mol/m3).
• For Toth:

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 629

 bT c
c P = c Pmax ----------------------------------------------
N 1 ⁄ NT
( 1 + ( bT c ) T )

and

–  1 + -------
1
∂c P  N T
N
KP = -------- = c Pmax b T ( 1 + ( b T c ) T )
∂c

Enter a Toth constant bT,c (SI unit: m3/mol), a Toth exponent NT,c (dimensionless),
and an Adsorption maximum cp,max,c (SI unit: mol/kg).
• For BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller):
KB c0 c
c P = --------------------------------------------------------------
( c S – c )  1 + ( K B – 1 ) -----
c
cS

and

2 2
∂c P K B c 0 c S ( ( K B – 1 )c + c S )
K P = -------- = -----------------------------------------------------------------
-
∂c 2
( c – c S ) ( c S + ( K B – 1 )c )
2

Enter a BET constant KB,c (dimensionless), a Monolayer adsorption capacity c0,c

(SI unit: mol/kg), and an Saturation concentration cS,c (SI unit: mol/m3).
• For User defined:

cP = f ( c )

Enter an Adsorption isotherm cP,c (SI unit: mol/kg).

For more information, see in the theory section.

FURTHER READING
See the theory chapter in the section .

Partially Saturated Porous Media

Use this node to model the concentration of diluted species transported by a liquid
through in partially filled porous media. The interstices of the porous media contains
the liquid carrier phase and gas pockets. A part from convection and diffusion, the

630 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

node contains functionality to include species evolution through adsorption,
dispersion, reaction, and volatilization.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

MODEL INPUTS
The temperature model input is always available. Select the source of the Temperature.
For User defined, enter a value or expression for the temperature in the input field. This
input option is always available.

You can also select the temperature solved for by a Heat Transfer interface added to
the model component. These physics interfaces are available for selection in the
Temperature list.

MATRIX PROPERTIES
Use the Porous material list to define a material specifying the matrix properties on the
current selection. By default the Domain material is used.

Specify the Porosity, εp (dimensionless) of the porous matrix. This is by default taken
From material. Select User defined to instead enter a different value.

SATURATION
Select Saturation or Liquid volume fraction from the list.

For Saturation, enter a value for s (dimensionless) between 0 and 1. The liquid volume
fraction is then computed from the saturation and porosity as θ = sεp.

For Liquid volume fraction, enter a value for θ (dimensionless) between 0 and the value
of porosity. The saturation is then computed from the porosity and the liquid volume
fraction as s = θεp.

Select a Fluid fraction time change: Fluid fraction constant in time (the default), Time
change in fluid fraction, or Time change in pressure head.

• For Time change in fluid fraction, enter dθ/dt (SI unit: 1/s).
• For Time change in pressure head, enter dHp/dt (SI unit: m/s) and a Specific
moisture capacity Cm (SI unit: 1/m).

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 631

 CONVECTION
If transport by convection is active, the velocity field of the solvent needs to be
specified. Select the source of the Velocity field. For User defined, enter values or
expressions for the velocity components in the input fields. This input option is always
available.

You can also select the velocity field solved for by a Fluid Flow interface added to the
model component. These physics interfaces are available for selection in the Velocity
field list.

DIFFUSION
Select a Liquid material from the list.

Specify the Liquid diffusion coefficient DL,c (SI unit: m2/s). Enter a value or expression
for each of the species in the corresponding input field. The default is 1·10-9 m2/s.

Select the Effective diffusivity model, liquid: Millington and Quirk model (the default),
Bruggeman model, Tortuosity model, or User defined. For Tortuosity model, enter a value
for τL,c (dimensionless). The default is 1.

When the Volatilization in partially saturated porous media check box is selected on the
Settings window for the physics interface, also define the Gas material, Gas diffusion
coefficient, and Effective diffusivity model, gas.

MIGRATION IN ELECTRIC FIELD

This section is available when the Migration in electric field check box is selected. It is
similar to that in Porous Media Transport Properties feature. Select the source of electric
field from the Electric potential list. The default selection to Mobility is the
Nernst-Einstein relation.

DISPERSION
This section is available when the Dispersion in porous media check box is selected on
the Settings window for the physics interface. The settings are the same as for Porous
Media Transport Properties.

VOLATILIZATION
This section is available when the Volatilization in partially saturated porous media check
box is selected on the Settings window for the physics interface.

Enter a value for the Volatilization kG,c (dimensionless) for each species.

632 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

Volatilization
This feature is available when the Volatilization in partially saturated porous media check
box is selected on the Settings window for the physics interface.

Use this feature to model mass transfer at the boundary due to volatilization. The
feature can be added on boundaries of a Partially Saturated Porous Media domain. In
this case the porous media contains a liquid phase and a gas phase. The species
dissolved in the liquid are assumed to be vaporized at the boundary, and transported
into the surrounding bulk region due to convection and diffusion. The mass transfer
at the boundary is defined as

– n ⋅ J c = – h c ( k G,c c – c Gatm,c )

where hc is the mass transfer coefficient, kG,c the volatilization coefficient, and cGatm,c
the concentration in the surrounding atmosphere.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

VOLATILIZATION
Enter a Mass transfer coefficient hc defining the transfer into the surrounding media.
This can be given by boundary layer theory. When assuming that no convective flow
is present in the surrounding, the mass transfer coefficient can be defined from the gas
diffusion coefficient DGc and the thickness of the diffusion layer ds in the manner of

D Gc
h c = ----------
ds

Also give the atmospheric concentration for each species, cGatm,c. The Volatilization
coefficient kG,c for each species are taken from the adjacent Partially Saturated Porous
Media domain.

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 633

 Reactive Pellet Bed
Use this feature to model packed bed reactors with catalytic pellets. For details, see the
section Theory for the Reactive Pellet Bed. By default, subnodes for Reactions and are
added.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

BED PARAMETERS
Here you can specify the bed porosity, which is the void fraction in the packed bed
structure. Select From densities to calculate the porosity from the bed density and the
individual pellet density. Select User defined to specify the porosity directly.

PELLET SHAPE AND SIZE

The default shape is spherical. Cylinders, flakes, and user-defined shapes can also be
selected. A uniform pellet size or a discrete size distribution can be selected. Select a
Pellet size distribution — Uniform size (the default), Two sizes, Three sizes, Four sizes, or
Five sizes to select up to five different particle sizes.

Depending on the shape selection, equivalent radii or volumes and surface areas will
be required as input. If a size distribution is selected, the volume percentage of each
size is required as input.

Note that different chemical reactions can be specified for each pellet size if a
distribution is specified.

SURFACE SPECIES
In order to add surface species, click the Add button and enter the species name in the
Surface species table. Added surface species are be available inside all pellet types
defined in the Pellet Shape and Size section, but not in the bulk fluid.

For each pellet type, specify the Reactive specific surface area, Sb,reac (SI unit: 1/m),
corresponding to the surface area, per volume, available for surface reactions.

PELLET PARAMETERS
Enter a Pellet porosity εpe (dimensionless) to specify the porosity of the pellet internals.

634 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

Select Diffusion model — Millington and Quirk model (the default), Bruggeman model,
Tortuosity model, or User defined to describe the effective correction of the diffusion
coefficient in the pellet. In the case of the Tortuosity model, a value for the tortuosity
τpe within the pellet is required.
Enter also the Diffusion coefficient Dpe,c (SI unit: m2/s). If a User defined diffusion
model is selected, an Effective diffusion coefficient Dpeff,c (SI unit: m2/s) is entered. The
default value is 1·10-9 m2/s in both cases.

PELLET-FLUID SURFACE
For the coupling of concentration between the pellet internals and the surrounding
fluid, two Coupling type options are available:

• Continuous concentration, assuming that all resistance to mass transfer to/from the
pellet is within the pellet and no resistance to pellet-fluid mass transfer is on the bulk
fluid side. The concentration in the fluid will thus be equal to that in the pellet pore
just at the pellet surface: cpe,i = ci. This constraint also automatically ensures flux
continuity between the internal pellet domain and the free fluid domain through
so-called reaction forces in the finite element formulation.
• Film resistance (mass flux): The flux of mass across the pellet-fluid interface into the
pellet is possibly rate determined on the bulk fluid side, by film resistance. The
resistance is expressed in terms of a film mass transfer coefficient, hDi, such that:
N i,inward = h D, i ( c i – c pe, i ) .

The Film resistance (mass flux) option computes the inward surface flux,
Ni,inward = hD,i(ci − cpe,i). hDi is the mass transfer coefficient (SI unit: m/s) and is
calculated with the default Automatic setting from a dimensionless Sherwood number
expression or with User defined mass transfer coefficients.

The Active specific surface area (SI unit: m-1) is required to couple the mass transfer
between the pellets and the bed fluid. Select either the Automatic setting that calculates
the specific surface area from the shape information given above. User defined is also
available for explicit surface area specification.

The Sherwood number expression can be computed from three available expressions:
Frössling, Rosner, and Garner and Keey. The Frössling equation is the default and
probably the most commonly used for packed spheres. All of these are based on the
dimensionless Reynolds, Re, and Schmidt, Sc, numbers, which are computed from
Density and Dynamic viscosity. Select these to be taken either From material or choose
the User defined alternative.

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 635

 PELLET DISCRETIZATION
The extra dimension in the pellet needs to be discretized into elements. Select a
Distribution — Cubic root sequence (the default), Linear, or Square root sequence. Enter
the Number of elements Nelem.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show button ( ) and select Advanced Physics Options.
See the details about the different constraint settings in the section Constraint
Reaction Terms.

FURTHER READING
Theory for the Reactive Pellet Bed in the Theory section of this manual.

For an application using the Reactive Pellet Bed feature, see

• A Multiscale 3D Packed Bed Reactor: Application Library path

Chemical_Reaction_Engineering_Module/Reactors_with_Porous_Catalysts/
packed_bed_reactor_3d
Web link:
[Link]
or-17019

Reactions (Reactive Pellet Bed)

The Reactions subfeature to the Reactive Pellet Bed is used to define reaction terms to
the transport within the reactive pellets. The feature also defines the corresponding
averaged heat sources to be applied to heat transport in the bulk fluid.

DOMAIN SELECTION
From the Selection list, choose the domains on which to define rate expression or
expressions that govern source terms in the transport equations.

Several reaction nodes can be used to account for different reactions in different parts
for the modeling geometry.

REACTION RATES
Add a rate expression Ri (SI unit: mol/(m3·s)) for species i using a value or an
expression. One reaction rate per species and pellet type can be entered.

636 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

Note that if you have the Chemistry interface available, provided with the Chemical
Reaction Engineering Module, the reaction rate expressions can be automatically
generated and picked up using the drop-down menu. For an example, see the
application Fine Chemical Production in a Plate Reactor.

SURFACE REACTION RATES

The section is available when one or more surface species have been added in the
Surface Species section of the Reactive Pellet Bed feature.

Specify the rate expression Rsurf,i (SI unit: mol/(m2·s)) corresponding to the surface
reaction rate of each volumetric species i participating in the surface reaction.
Furthermore, specify the surface reaction rates for the participating surface species in
the corresponding table.

If several pellet types have been defined, one set of surface reaction rates per pellet type
can be defined.

Note that if you have the Chemistry interface available, provided with the Chemical
Reaction Engineering Module, the reaction rate expressions can be automatically
generated and picked up using the drop-down menu.

HEAT SOURCE
Specify the heat source originating from the heat of reaction of the chemical reactions
inside the pellet can be specified. Both heat sources from reactions in the fluid, and
heat sources resulting from surface reactions can be defined. When using several pellet
types, heat sources for each type can be added.

The heat sources are most conveniently picked up from a Chemistry feature that
defines the reaction rate and the heat of reactions. In that case, the Rate expression can
be selected from the drop-down menu. Else it can be set to User Defined.

The defined heat source can be used by a Heat Source feature in any of the heat
transfer interfaces.

Species Source
In order to account for consumption or production of species in porous domains, the
Species Source node adds source terms expressions Si to the right-hand side of the
species transport equations.

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 637

 DOMAIN SELECTION
From the Selection list, choose the domains on which to define rate expression or
expressions that govern the source term in the transport equations.

If there are several types of domains, with subsequent and different reactions occurring
within them, it might be necessary to remove some domains from the selection. These
are then defined in an additional Species Source node.

SPECIES SOURCE
Add a source term Si (SI unit: mol/(m3·s)) for each of the species solved for. Enter a
value or expression in the field of the corresponding species.

Hygroscopic Swelling
The Hygroscopic Swelling multiphysics coupling node ( ) is used for moisture
concentration coupling between the Solid Mechanics interface and either the
Transport of Diluted Species or Transport of Diluted Species in Porous Media
interfaces.

Hygroscopic swelling is an effect of internal strain caused by changes in moisture

content. This volumetric strain can be written as

ε hs = β h M m ( c mo – c mo,ref )

where βh is the coefficient of hygroscopic swelling, Mm is the molar mass, cmo is the
moisture concentration, and cmo,ref is the strain-free reference concentration.

This feature requires a license of either the MEMS Module or the Structural Mechanics
Module. The multiphysics feature will appear automatically if both the Transport of
Diluted Species and the Solid Mechanics interfaces are added to the same component.
For the most current information about licensing, please see See
[Link]

FURTHER READING
More information about how to use hygroscopic swelling can be found in Hygroscopic
Swelling Coupling section in the Structural Mechanics Module User’s Guide.

More information about multiphysics coupling nodes can be found in the section The
Multiphysics Branch.

638 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

Fracture
Use this node to model mass transport along thin fractures in porous media. The node
assumes that the transport in the tangential direction along the fracture is dominant,
as a result of lower flow resistance.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

FRACTURE PROPERTIES
Specify a value for the Fracture thickness dfr.

MATRIX PROPERTIES
Use the Porous material list to define a material specifying the matrix properties on the
current selection. By default the Boundary material is used.

Specify the Porosity, εp (dimensionless) of the porous matrix. This is by default taken
From material. Select User defined to instead enter a different value.

CONVECTION
Select an option from the Velocity field list to specify the convective velocity along the
fracture. For a consistent model, use a Fracture Flow feature in a Darcy’s Law interface
to compute the fluid flow velocity in the fracture.

For User defined, enter values or expressions for the velocity components in the table
shown.

The settings for the Diffusion, and Dispersion sections are the same as for
Porous Media Transport Properties.

THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 639

 T he T r a ns po r t of Con c en t rat ed
Species Interface
The Transport of Concentrated Species (tcs) interface ( ), found under the Chemical
Species Transport branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used to study
gaseous and liquid mixtures where the species concentrations are of the same order of
magnitude and none of the species can be identified as a solvent. In this case, properties
of the mixture depend on the composition, and the molecular and ionic interactions
between all species need to be considered. The physics interface includes models for
multicomponent diffusion, where the diffusive driving force of each species depends
on the mixture composition, temperature, and pressure.

The physics interface solves for the mass fractions of all participating species. Transport
through convection, diffusion, and migration in an electric field can be included.

It supports simulations of transport by convection, migration, and diffusion in 1D,

2D, and 3D as well as for axisymmetric components in 1D and 2D. The physics
interface defines the equations for the species mass fractions, including a diffusion
model (Mixture-averaged, Maxwell-Stefan, or Fick’s law).

The available transport mechanisms and diffusion models differs between various
COMSOL products (see [Link]

Some examples of what can be studied with this physics interface include:

• The evolution of a chemical species transported by convection and diffusion.

• The migration in an electric field in the case of ionic species, in mixtures and
solutions that cannot be deemed as being diluted.
• Concentrated solutions or gas mixtures, where the concentration of all participating
species are of the same order of magnitude, and their molecular and ionic interaction
with each other therefore must be considered. This implies that the diffusive
transport of a single species is dependent on the mixture composition, and possibly
on the temperature, the electric potential, the pressure, or any combination.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder — Transport Properties, No Flux, and Initial Values. Then, from the Physics
toolbar, add other nodes that implement, for example, boundary conditions and
reactions. You can also right-click Transport of Concentrated Species to select physics
features from the context menu.

640 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is tcs.

EQUATION
The basic equation for the conservation of mass of a species i is:

∂ ρω
( i ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρω i u ) = – ∇ ⋅ j i + R i (9-1)
∂t

Using the continuity equation, the sum of all species equations, the equation can be
re-cast in its non-conservative form:

∂
ρ (ω i) + ρ ( u ⋅ ∇ )ω i = – ∇ ⋅ j i + R i (9-2)
∂t

The form of the equation is the one which is used the Transport of Concentrated
Species interface. The equation displayed in the interface changes depending on the
active transport mechanisms, the selected diffusion model, and the type of reactions
modeled.

TRANSPORT MECHANISMS
The Transport of Concentrated Species interface always accounts for transport due to
diffusion.

The available diffusion models and the additional transport mechanisms differs
between various COMSOL products
(see [Link]

Diffusion Model
• The Maxwell-Stefan option employs the most detailed diffusion model, but is also the
most computationally expensive. The model is intended for diffusion dominated
models, and requires that the multicomponent Maxwell-Stefan diffusivities of all
component pairs are known. No stabilization is available when selecting this model.

THE TRANSPORT OF CONCENTRATED SPECIES INTERFACE | 641

 • The Mixture-averaged option is less computationally expensive than the
Maxwell-Stefan model. It is a simpler model that can be used when variations in the
partial pressures and temperature can be assumed to not affect the multicomponent
diffusion. The model includes stabilization but requires the multicomponent
Maxwell-Stefan diffusivities of all component pairs.
• The Fick’s law model is a general model that should be used when the diffusion is
assumed Fickian, or when no multicomponent diffusivities are available. Also, when
molecular diffusion is not the dominating transport mechanism and a robust but
low order model is wanted, the Fick’s law options should be used. The model
includes stabilization.

Additional Transport Mechanisms

Under Additional transport mechanisms, click to select or clear any combination of
check boxes as needed.

Migration in Electric Field

Select the Migration in electric field check box to activate migration of ionic species due
to an electric field. The resulting migration term is part of the relative mass flux vector.

Mass Transport in Porous Media

The Mass transport in porous media check box activates functionality specific to species
transport in porous media. When selected the following features are enabled:

• Porous Media Transport Properties

• Porous Electrode Coupling

Knudsen Diffusion
For Mixture-averaged and Fick’s law, it is possible to include Knudsen diffusion. This
mechanism accounts for species collisions with the surrounding media, for example,
the pore walls the species pass through. It is also an important component when setting
up a Dusty gas model.

Maxwell-Stefan Diffusion Model

When using the Maxwell-Stefan diffusion model the relative mass flux vector is

Q T
Di
j i = – ρω i  D̃ ik d k – -------- ∇T
T
k=1

642 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

 ˜
where D ik (SI unit: m2/s) are the multicomponent Fick diffusivities, dk
(SI unit: 1/m) is the diffusional driving force, T (SI unit: K) is the temperature, and
T
D i (SI unit: kg/(m·s)) is the thermal diffusion coefficient.

The diffusional driving force is defined as

Q
1
d k = ∇x k + --- ( x k – ω k ) ∇p – ρω k g k + ω k
p  ρωl gl (9-3)
l=1

where gk is an external force (per unit mass) acting on species k. In the case of an ionic
species, the external force due to the electric field, which is added by selecting the
Migration in electric field check box, is

zk F
g k = – --------- ∇φ (9-4)
Mk

where zk is the species charge number, F (SI unit: A·s/mol) is Faraday’s constant and
φ (SI unit: V) is the electric potential.

Mixture-Averaged Diffusion Model

When using the Mixture-averaged diffusion model, the diffusive flux is formulated in
terms of a mixture-averaged diffusion coefficient representing the diffusion of each
species into the resulting mixture. The diffusion coefficient is based on the
multicomponent Maxwell-Stefan diffusivities Dik. The Mixture-averaged diffusion
model is computationally less expensive, and significantly more robust than the
Maxwell-Stefan Diffusion Model, but constitutes an approximation of the
multicomponent flux. For information on the flux formulation in this case see
Multicomponent Diffusion: Mixture-Averaged Approximation.

Fick’s Law Diffusion Model

When using the Fick’s law diffusion model, the diffusive flux is formulated in terms of
a Fickian diffusion coefficient. The Fick’s law diffusion model is computationally less
expensive and significantly more robust than the Maxwell-Stefan Diffusion Model, but
constitutes an approximation of the multicomponent flux. For information on the flux
formulation in this case see Multispecies Diffusion: Fick’s Law Approximation.

SPECIES
Select the species that this physics interface solves for using the mass constraint in
Equation 9-5 (that is, its value comes from the fact that the sum of all mass fractions
must equal 1). In the From mass constraint list, select the preferred species. To

THE TRANSPORT OF CONCENTRATED SPECIES INTERFACE | 643

 minimize the impact of any numerical and model introduced errors, use the species
with the highest concentration. By default, the first species is used.

ω1 = 1 –  ωi (9-5)
i=2

CONSISTENT AND INCONSISTENT STABILIZATION

To display this section, click the Show button ( ) and select Stabilization.

• There are two consistent stabilization methods available when using the
Mixture-Averaged Diffusion Model or Fick’s Law Diffusion Model — Streamline
diffusion and Crosswind diffusion. Both are active by default.
The Residual setting applies to both the consistent stabilization methods.
Approximate residual is the default setting and it means that derivatives of the
diffusion tensor components are neglected. This setting is usually accurate enough
and computationally faster. If required, select Full residual instead.
• There is one inconsistent stabilization method, Isotropic diffusion, which is available
when using the Mixture-Averaged Diffusion Model or Fick’s Law Diffusion Model.

ADVANCED SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show button ( ) and select Advanced Physics Options.
Normally these settings do not need to be changed.

Regularization
From the Regularization list, select On (the default) or Off. When turned On, regularized
mass fractions are calculated such that

0 ≤ w i, reg ≤ 1

Regularized mass fractions are used for the calculation of composition-dependent

material properties, such as the density.

Diffusion
The Diffusion settings are available for the approximate diffusion models
Mixture-averaged and Fick’s law.

When the Mixture diffusion correction is enabled, a flux correction is added to ensure
that the net diffusive flux is zero. This typically also mean that the solution becomes
less sensitive to the species selected to be computed from the mass constraint in the

644 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

Species section. More information on this correction is available in the theory section
Multicomponent Diffusion: Mixture-Averaged Approximation.

The Diffusion flux type list controls the whether the molecular flux is assumed
proportional to the mole fraction or the mass fraction. See Multicomponent Diffusion:
Mixture-Averaged Approximation or Multispecies Diffusion: Fick’s Law
Approximation for information on the diffusive flux formulation.

Pseudo Time Stepping

The Use pseudo time stepping for stationary equation form option adds pseudo time
derivatives to the equation when the Stationary equation form is used in order to speed
up convergence. When selected, a CFL number expression should also be defined. For
the default Automatic option, the local CFL number (from the Courant–Friedrichs–
Lewy condition) is determined by a PID regulator. For more information, see Pseudo
Time Stepping for Mass Transport.

DISCRETIZATION
To display all settings available in this section, click the Show button ( ) and select
Advanced Physics Options.

For more information about these settings, see the Discretization section under The
Transport of Diluted Species Interface.

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual see Table 2-4 for links
to common sections and Table 2-5 to common feature nodes. You can
also search for information: press F1 to open the Help window or Ctrl+F1
to open the Documentation window.

• Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Transport of Concentrated

Species Interface
• Theory for the Transport of Concentrated Species Interface

THE TRANSPORT OF CONCENTRATED SPECIES INTERFACE | 645

 • Species Transport in the Gas Diffusion Layers of a PEM: Application
Library path
Batteries_and_Fuel_Cells_Module/Fuel_Cells/pem_gdl_species_transport_2
d
Web link:
[Link]
on-layers-of-a-pem-260

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
Add or remove species in the model and also change the names of the dependent
variables that represent the species concentrations.

Specify the Number of species. There must be at least two species. To add a single
species, click the Add concentration button ( ) under the table. To remove a species,
select it in the list and click the Remove concentration button ( ) under the table.
Edit the names of the species directly in the table.

The species are dependent variables, and their names must be unique with
respect to all other dependent variables in the component.

Adding a Chemical Species Transport Interface

Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Transport of

Concentrated Species Interface
The Transport of Concentrated Species Interface has these domain, boundary, and pair
nodes, listed in alphabetical order, available from the Physics ribbon toolbar (Windows
users), Physics context menu (Mac or Linux users), or right-click to access the context
menu (all users).

In general, to add a node, go to the Physics toolbar, no matter what

operating system you are using. Subnodes are available by clicking the
parent node and selecting it from the Attributes menu.

646 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

 In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual see Table 2-4 for links
to common sections and Table 2-5 to common feature nodes. You can
also search for information: press F1 to open the Help window or Ctrl+F1
to open the Documentation window.

For axisymmetric components, COMSOL Multiphysics takes the axial

symmetry boundaries (at r = 0) into account and automatically adds an
Axial Symmetry node to the component that is valid on the axial symmetry
boundaries only.

These nodes are described in this section or as indicated:

• Electrode Surface Coupling • Porous Media Transport Properties

• Equilibrium Reaction • Reaction
• Flux • Reaction Sources
• Flux Discontinuity • Surface Equilibrium Reaction
• Inflow • Symmetry
• Initial Values • Thin Impermeable Barrier1
• Mass Fraction • Turbulent Mixing
• No Flux • Transport Properties
• Open Boundary
• Outflow

Some features require certain add-on modules. See details

[Link]
1 The node is described for the Transport of Diluted Species interface.

Transport Properties
The Transport Properties is the main node used to model mass transfer in a fluid
mixture with the Transport of Concentrates species interface. The node adds the
equations governing the mass fractions of all present species, and provides inputs for
the transport mechanisms and for the material properties of the fluid mixture.

THE TRANSPORT OF CONCENTRATED SPECIES INTERFACE | 647

 The settings in this node are dependent on the check boxes selected under Transport
Mechanisms in the Settings window of the Transport of Concentrated Species
interface.

The Turbulent Mixing subnode is available from the context menu as well as from the
Physics toolbar, Attributes menu.

The options available in this feature differs between COMSOL products.

(See [Link]

MODEL INPUTS
Specify the temperature and pressure to be used in the physics interface. The
temperature model input is used when calculating the density from the ideal gas law,
but also when thermal diffusion is accounted for by supplying thermal diffusion
coefficients. The pressure model input is used in the diffusional driving force in
Equation 9-3 (that is, when a Maxwell-Stefan Diffusion Model is used) and when
calculating the density from the ideal gas law.

Temperature
Select the source of the Temperature field T:

• Select User defined to enter a value or an expression for the temperature (SI unit: K).
This input is always available.
• If required, select a temperature defined by a Heat Transfer interface present in the
model (if any). For example, select Temperature (ht) to use the temperature defined
by the Heat Transfer in Fluids interface with the ht name.

Absolute Pressure
Select the source of the Absolute pressure p:

• Select User defined to enter a value or an expression for the absolute pressure
(SI unit: Pa). This input is always available.
• In addition, select a pressure defined by a Fluid Flow interface present in the model
(if any). For example, select Absolute pressure (spf) to use the pressure defined in a
Laminar Flow interface with spf as the Name.

DENSITY
Define the density of the mixture and the molar masses of the participating species.

648 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

Mixture Density
Select a way to define the density from the Mixture density list — Ideal gas or User
defined:

• For Ideal gas, the density is computed from the ideal gas law in the manner of:
pM
ρ = -----------
Rg T

Here M is the mean molar mass of the mixture and Rg is the universal gas constant.
The absolute pressure, p, and temperature, T, used corresponds to the ones defined
in the Model Inputs section.
• For User defined enter a value or expression for the Mixture density ρ.

Molar Mass
Enter a value or expression for the Molar mass Mw for each species. The default value
is 0.032 kg/mol, which is the molar mass of O2 gas.

CONVECTION
Select the source of the Velocity field u:

• Select User defined to enter manually defined values or expressions for the velocity
components. This input is always available.
• Select a velocity field defined by a Fluid Flow interface present in the model (if any).
For example, select Velocity field (spf) to use the velocity field defined by the Fluid
Properties node fp1 in a Single-Phase Flow, Laminar Flow interface with spf as the
Name.

DIFFUSION
Specify the molecular and thermal diffusivities of the present species based on the
selected Diffusion model.

When using a Maxwell-Stefan Diffusion Model or a Mixture-Averaged Diffusion

Model, select the Binary diffusion input type (Table or Matrix) and specify the
Maxwell-Stefan diffusivities in the table or matrix, then enter the Thermal diffusion
T
coefficients D w .
F
When using a Fick’s Law Diffusion Model, specify the Diffusion coefficient D w and the
T
Thermal diffusion coefficients D w for each of the species.

THE TRANSPORT OF CONCENTRATED SPECIES INTERFACE | 649

 Maxwell-Stefan Diffusivity Matrix
Using a Maxwell-Stefan Diffusion Model or a Mixture-Averaged Diffusion Model, the
Maxwell-Stefan diffusivity matrix Dik (SI unit: m2/s) can be specified by a table or
matrix. For a simulation involving Q species the Maxwell-Stefan diffusivity matrix is a
Q-by-Q symmetric matrix, where the diagonal components are 1. Enter values for the
upper triangular components, Dij, which describe the interdiffusion between species i
and j. For the table input type, only upper triangular components (Dij) are listed. The
name of species pair consists of species in the first and second column. For the matrix
input type, the numbering of the species corresponds to the order, from top to
bottom, used for all the input fields for species properties (see for example the molar
mass fields in the Density section).

Diffusion Coefficient
Using a Fick’s Law Diffusion Model, the diffusion is by default assumed to be isotropic
F
and governed by one Diffusion coefficient D w (SI unit: m2/s) for each species. To allow
for a general representation, it is also possible to use diffusion matrices (diagonal,
symmetric, or anisotropic).

Thermal Diffusion Coefficient

T
To model thermal diffusion, prescribe the Thermal diffusion coefficients D i
(SI unit: kg/(m·s)), by entering one thermal diffusion coefficient for each species in
the corresponding field. In a multicomponent mixture, the sum of the thermal
diffusion coefficients is zero. The default value for all thermal diffusion coefficients
is 0.

Specify the molecular and thermal diffusivities of the present species based on the
selected Diffusion model.

KNUDSEN DIFFUSION
The Knudsen diffusion transport mechanism accounts for the interaction of the species
with the surroundings (interspecies collisions excluded) — for example, the pore wall
when a species passes through porous media.

Depending on which Diffusion model is selected, either the Fick’s law or the
M
Mixture-averaged diffusion coefficient D i is corrected with the Knudsen diffusion
K
coefficient D i in the following way

MK  1 1 -
-1
Di =  --------
M
- + -------
K

 Di Di 

650 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

For gases, the Kinetic gas theory is often valid and requires the Mean path length λpath
(SI unit: m). Typically, for transport in porous media, the pore diameter can be entered
here. For other cases, choose User defined.

MIGRATION IN ELECTRIC FIELD

This section is available when the Migration in electric field check box is selected for the
Transport of Concentrated Species interface.

Electric Potential
• Select User defined to enter a value or expression for the electric potential . This input
is always available.
• If required, select an electric potential defined by an AC/DC interface that is
present in the model (if any). For example, select Electric potential (ec) to use the
electric field defined by the Current Conservation node cucn1 in an Electric
Currents interface ec.

Settings for the mobilities are used for the Mixture-averaged and Fick’s law transport
models. By default the mobility is set to be calculated based on the species diffusivities
and the temperature using the Nernst-Einstein relation. To manually specify the
mobilities, select User defined for the mobility um,c (SI unit: s·mol/kg) and enter one
value for each species.

Enter the Charge number zc (dimensionless, but requires a plus or minus sign) for each
species.

The temperature (if you are using mobilities based on the Nernst-Einstein relation) is
taken from the Model Inputs section.

Porous Media Transport Properties

The Porous Media Transport Properties node is used to model mass transfer in porous
media using the Transport of Concentrated Species interface. The node adds the
equations governing the mass fractions of all present species, and provides inputs for
the transport mechanisms and for the material properties of the fluid mixture.

THE TRANSPORT OF CONCENTRATED SPECIES INTERFACE | 651

 The settings in this node are dependent on the check boxes selected under Transport
Mechanisms in the Settings window of the Transport of Concentrated Species
interface.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

MODEL INPUTS
Specify the temperature and pressure to be used in the physics interface. The
temperature model input is used when calculating the density from the ideal gas law,
but also when thermal diffusion is accounted for by supplying thermal diffusion
coefficients. The pressure model input is used in the diffusional driving force in
Equation 9-3 (that is, when a Maxwell-Stefan Diffusion Model is used) and when
calculating the density from the ideal gas law.

Temperature
Select the source of the Temperature field T:

• Select User defined to enter a value or an expression for the temperature (SI unit: K).
This input is always available.
• If required, select a temperature defined by a Heat Transfer interface present in the
model (if any). For example, select Temperature (ht) to use the temperature defined
by the Heat Transfer in Fluids interface with the ht name.

Absolute Pressure
Select the source of the Absolute pressure p:

• Select User defined to enter a value or an expression for the absolute pressure
(SI unit: Pa). This input is always available.
• In addition, select a pressure defined by a Fluid Flow interface present in the model
(if any). For example, select Absolute pressure (spf) to use the pressure defined in a
Laminar Flow interface with spf as the Name.

MATRIX PROPERTIES
Enter a value or expression for the Porosity, εp (dimensionless), of the porous media.

In order use a porosity defined in a material; specify the material using the Porous
material list, and select From material from the Porosity list.

652 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

DENSITY
Use this section to define the mixture density, and to specify the molar masses of the
participating species.

Mixture Density
Select a way to define the density from the Mixture density list — Ideal gas or User
defined:

• For Ideal gas, the density is computed from the ideal gas law in the manner of:
pM
ρ = -----------
Rg T

Here M is the mean molar mass of the mixture and Rg is the universal gas constant.
The absolute pressure, p, and temperature, T, used corresponds to the ones defined
in the Model Inputs section.
• For User defined enter a value or expression for the Mixture density ρ.

Molar Mass
Enter a value or expression for the Molar mass Mw for each species. The default value
is 0.032 kg/mol, which is the molar mass of O2 gas.

CONVECTION
Select the source of the Velocity field u:

• Select User defined to enter values or expressions for the velocity components. This
input is always available.
• Select a velocity field defined by a Fluid Flow interface present in the model (if any).
For example, select Velocity field (spf) to use the velocity field defined by the Fluid
Properties node fp1 in a Single-Phase Flow, Laminar Flow interface with spf as the
Name.

DIFFUSION
Specify the species molecular and thermal diffusivities in nonporous media in the
manner described for the Transport Properties node.

To account for the effect of porosity in the diffusivities, select an Effective diffusivity
model — Millington and Quirk model, Bruggeman model, Tortuosity model, or No
correction. Using one of the first four models, the effective transport factor, fe, is
defined from the porosity and the fluid tortuosity factor in the manner of:

THE TRANSPORT OF CONCENTRATED SPECIES INTERFACE | 653

 εp
f e = ----- (9-6)
τF

For No correction, the effective transport factor is set to one.

–1 ⁄ 3
• For the Millington and Quirk model, the effective transport factor is τ F = ε p .
–1 ⁄ 2
• For the Bruggeman model, the effective transport factor is τ F = εp .
• For the Tortuosity model, specify the tortuosity factor is τF.

The species diffusivities and mobilities are automatically adjusted for porous media
transport using the effective transport factor.

MIGRATION IN ELECTRIC FIELD

This section is available when the Migration in electric field check box is selected in the
Transport Mechanisms section of the interface, select the source of the Electric
potential V:

• Select User defined to enter a value or expression for the electric potential. This input
is always available.
• If required, select an electric potential defined by an AC/DC interface that is
present in the model (if any). For example, select Electric potential (ec) to use the
electric field defined by the Current Conservation node cucn1 in an Electric
Currents interface ec.

Settings for the mobilities are needed for the Mixture-averaged and Fick’s law diffusion
models. By default the mobility is set to be calculated based on the species diffusivities
(adjusted by the Effective diffusivity model in the Diffusion section) using the
Nernst-Einstein relation. To manually specify the mobilities, select User defined for the
mobility um,w (SI unit: s·mol/kg) and enter one value for each species.

Enter the Charge number zc (dimensionless, but requires a plus or minus sign) for each
species.

The temperature (if you are using mobilities based or the Nernst-Einstein relation) is
taken from the Model Inputs section.

Electrode Surface Coupling

Use this node to define a flux boundary condition based on current densities of one or
multiple Electrode Surface Coupling nodes in an Electrochemistry interface.

654 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

The flux is proportional to the current densities and the stoichiometric coefficients
according to Faraday’s law as defined by summation over the Reaction Coefficients
subnodes. The molar fluxes are multiplied by the species molar masses to obtain the
corresponding mass fluxes.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

MASS TRANSFER TO OTHER PHASES

When using the Reacting Flow coupling feature to model coupled momentum and
mass transport, boundary conditions that results in a nonnegligible mass flux can be
consistently handled by accounting for The Stefan Velocity.

Select Account for Stefan velocity to update the Stefan velocity in accordance with the
mass flux from the electrode reactions. One example that may benefit from this is when
modeling gas diffusion electrodes.

Turbulent Mixing
Use this node to account for the species mixing caused by turbulent flow, typically
when the specified velocity field corresponds to a RANS solution. The node defines
the turbulent mass diffusion from the turbulent kinematic viscosity and a turbulent
Schmidt number.

This node is available if the Diffusion model is Mixture-averaged or Fick’s law.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

The Turbulent Mixing feature should not be used together with the
Reacting Flow coupling feature. In this case the turbulent mixing is added
by the coupling feature.

The Turbulent Mixing subnode can be added from the context menu (right-click the
Transport Properties parent node) or from the Physics toolbar, Attributes menu.

THE TRANSPORT OF CONCENTRATED SPECIES INTERFACE | 655

 TURBULENT MIXING
Physics interfaces capable of solving for turbulent fluid flow provide the turbulent
kinematic viscosity, and these appear as options in the Turbulent kinematic viscosity νT
(SI unit: m2/s) list. The list always contains the User defined option that makes it
possible to enter any value or expression.

The default Turbulent Schmidt number ScT is 0.71 (dimensionless).

About Turbulent Mixing

Reaction
Use the Reaction node to specify the reaction kinetics for a single homogeneous
chemical reaction. The resulting mass source terms for the species involved in the
reaction are automatically defined and added on the selected domains. For turbulent
flow, the Reaction node includes the Eddy-dissipation turbulent-reactions model.

REACTION RATE
Select a Reaction rate — Automatic (the default), or User defined. Selecting Automatic
the laminar flow reaction rate is computed using the mass action law.

For User defined, input a custom expression or constants for the Reaction rate r.

Specify the reaction stoichiometry by entering values for the stoichiometric coefficients
(dimensionless) of each species. Enter negative values for reactants and positive values
for products.

RATE CONSTANTS
When the Use Arrhenius expressions check box is not selected, input custom expressions
or constants for the Forward rate constant kf and Reverse rate constant kr.

When the Use Arrhenius expressions check box is selected, enter values for the following
parameters of the forward and reverse reactions:

• Forward frequency factor Af and Reverse frequency factor Ar (dimensionless)

• Forward activation energy Ef and Reverse activation energy Er
• Forward temperature exponent nf and Reverse temperature exponent nr
(dimensionless)

656 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

TURBULENT FLOW
Note this section is only available when then licensed to the CFD Module
(see [Link]

When the Turbulent-reaction model is set to None, laminar flow is assumed and the
reaction source terms are defined from the reaction stoichiometry and reaction rates
prescribed.

When the Turbulent-reaction model is set to Eddy-dissipation, turbulent flow will be

accounted for in the reaction mass sources in the manner described in The Reaction
Source Term for Turbulent Flow. In this case, enter values for the Turbulent reaction
model parameters αED and β ED (dimensionless).

The Eddy-dissipation model also requires an estimation of the turbulent mixing time of
the fluid flow turbulence. When a Fluid Flow interface defining it is present in the
model, it can be selected from the Turbulence time scale list. For example, select
Turbulence time scale (spf/fp1) to use the time scale defined by the Fluid Properties node
fp1 in a Turbulent Flow, k-ε interface with the Name set to spf.

REGULARIZATION
Select Rate expression in order to regularize the individual rate expressions that are
added to each species. If the mass fraction for a reactant species ωi becomes smaller
than its damping limit, ωidl, the rate expression added to species ωi is reduced linearly.
If ω i ≤ 0 for a reactant species, the reaction rate contribution to that species is
completely removed. Similarly, the if the mass fraction for a product species ωj becomes
larger than 1−ωjdl, the rate expression added to that species is damped linearly. If
ω j ≥ 1 for a product species, the reaction rate contribution to that species is
completely removed.

The default value for the damping limit, ωidl, is 1e−6, which is appropriate for most
applications, but can require adjustment when working with for example catalytic trace
species.

Regularization of the rate expressions adds considerable stability to the reaction

expressions, but should optimally only be used as a mean to reach convergence. If the
regularization is active in too large parts of the domain, the mass balance can become
affected since the regularization acts on the contributions to each individual species,
not the reaction as a whole.

THE TRANSPORT OF CONCENTRATED SPECIES INTERFACE | 657

 Reaction Sources
Use the Reaction Sources node to define mass source terms from one or more chemical
reactions. Both homogeneous reactions as well as heterogeneous reactions occurring
in a porous media can be studied. The node also includes the possibility to pick up
automatically defined source term definitions from a Chemistry physics interface.

REACTIONS
Add an expression for the reaction mass source, Ri, for each individual species present,
except for the one computed from the mass constraint (see Species). Enter a value or
expression in the field for the corresponding species.

Select the Mass transport to other phases check box if mass is leaving or entering the
fluid as a result of the reactions, for instance due to condensation or vaporization in a
porous matrix. In this case the mass source for the species calculated from the mass
constraint can also be specified. The net mass transfer corresponds to the sum of the
mass sources for all species.

REACTING VOLUME
When specifying reaction sources for a species in porous media, the specified mass
source may have the basis of the total volume, or the pore volume. For nonporous
domains, the Reacting Volume setting has no impact.

• For Total volume, the reaction mass source expressions are specified per unit volume
of the model domain.
• For Pore volume, the reaction mass source expressions are specified per unit volume
pore space. In this case the reaction mass sources will be multiplied by the domain
porosity εp (εp equals unity for nonporous domains).

Initial Values
The Initial Values node adds initial values for the mass fractions that can serve as an
initial condition for a transient simulation, or as an initial guess for a nonlinear solver.
If required, add additional Initial Values nodes from the Physics toolbar.

INITIAL VALUES
The initial mass fractions can be specified using a number of quantities. Select the type
of input from the Mixture specification list. Select:

• Mass fractions (the default) to enter mass fractions (ω0,ω1 for example)

658 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

• Mole fractions to enter mole fractions (x0,ω1 for example)
• Molar concentrations (SI unit: mol/m3) to enter molar concentrations (c0,ω1 for
example)
• Number densities (SI unit: 1/m3) to enter number densities (n0,ω1 for example)
• Densities (SI unit: kg/m3) to enter densities (ρ0,ω1 for example)

Enter a value or expression in the field for each species except for the one computed
from the mass constraint.

INITIAL MIXTURE DENSITY

When the selecting Molar concentrations, Number densities, or Densities are selected
from the Mixture specification list, the should also be specified. Select Ideal gas or User
defined from the Initial mixture density list.

• For Ideal gas, also specify the Initial pressure p0 and the Initial Temperature T0. Note
that dependent variables solved for are evaluated to zero for initial values. When
solving for pressure or temperature together with the mass fractions, apply the initial
values from the corresponding interfaces here as well.
• For User defined, input a custom for the Initial mixture density ρm0.

Mass Fraction
The Mass Fraction node adds boundary conditions for the species mass fractions. For
example, the following condition specifies the mass fraction of species i: ωi = ωi,0.

Set the mass fractions of all species except the one computed from the mass constraint.
This ensures that the sum of the mass fractions is equal to one (see Species). This node
is available for exterior and interior boundaries.

MASS FRACTION
Specify the mass fraction for each species individually. Select the check box for the
species to specify the mass fraction, and enter a value or expression in the
corresponding field. To use another boundary condition for a specific species, click to
clear the check box for the mass fraction of that species.

MASS TRANSFER TO OTHER PHASES

When using the Reacting Flow coupling feature to model coupled momentum and
mass transport, boundary conditions that results in a nonnegligible mass flux can be
consistently handled by accounting for The Stefan Velocity.

THE TRANSPORT OF CONCENTRATED SPECIES INTERFACE | 659

 Select Account for Stefan velocity to update the Stefan velocity in accordance with the
prescribed mass fractions. Examples of cases that may benefit from this are, for
example, when modeling surface reactions or phase change on an exterior boundary.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show button ( ) and select Advanced Physics Options.

Flux
The Flux node is available on exterior boundaries and can be used to specify the mass
flux. The boundary mass flux for each species is defined in the manner of

– n ⋅ j i = j 0, i (9-7)

where n denotes the outward pointing normal of the boundary. The prescribed flux
j0,i can contain an arbitrary flux expression. It can for example be used to represent a
heterogeneous reaction or a separation process occurring at the boundary. The flux can
for example be a function of ωi, the temperature, the pressure or even the electric
potential.

CONVECTION
By default, the flux due to diffusion and migration in an electric field is prescribed. This
is the appropriate flux condition when the relative velocity at the boundary is zero.
When the fluid velocity is not equal to that of the boundary, for example due to a fluid
injection, it is often convenient to prescribe the total flux including convection. To do
so select Include in the Convection section. In this case the prescribed flux is defined as:

– n ⋅ ( j i + ρuω i ) = J 0

MASS TRANSFER TO OTHER PHASES

When using the Reacting Flow coupling feature to model coupled momentum and
mass transport, boundary conditions that results in a nonnegligible mass flux can be
consistently handled by accounting for The Stefan Velocity.

Select Account for Stefan velocity to update the Stefan velocity in accordance with the
prescribed flux. Examples of cases that benefit from this are for example when
modeling surface reactions or phase change on an exterior boundary. The Stefan
velocity represents the mixture velocity resulting from mass fluxes at the wall. This
section is not available when Include is selected in the Convection section.

660 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

INWARD FLUX
Specify the Inward flux for each species individually. Select the check box for the species
to prescribe a flux for and enter a value or expression in the corresponding field. To
use another boundary condition for a specific species, click to clear the check box for
the flux of that species. Use a positive value for an inward flux.

External convection
Set Flux type to External convection to prescribe a mass flux to or from an exterior
domain (not modeled) assumed to include convection. The exterior can for example
include a forced convection to control the temperature or to increase the mass
transport. In this case the prescribed mass flux corresponds to

j 0, i = k ω, i ( ω b, i – ω i ) (9-8)

where kω,i is a mass transfer coefficient and ωb,i is the bulk mass fraction, the typical
mass fraction far into the surrounding exterior domain.

Inflow
The Inflow node adds a boundary condition for an inflow boundary, defining the
composition of the mixture. The node is available for exterior boundaries. The mixture
composition can be specified using the following quantities:

• Mass fractions: ωi = ω0,i

• The mole fraction: xi = x0,i
• The molar concentration: ci = c0,i
• The number density, which describes the number of particles per volume: ni = n0,i
• The density: ρi = ρ0,i
• The mass flow rates.

The node requires input for all species. (The Mass Fraction node can be used to specify
boundary mass fractions for a subset of the active species in the interface.)

INFLOW
Select a Mixture specification:

• Mass fractions (the default) to enter mass fractions (ω0,ω1, for example)
• Mole fractions to enter mole fractions (x0,ω1 for example)

THE TRANSPORT OF CONCENTRATED SPECIES INTERFACE | 661

 • Molar concentrations (SI unit: mol/m3) to enter molar concentrations (c0,ω1, for
example)
• Number densities (SI unit: 1/m3) to enter number densities (n0,ω1, for example)
• Densities (SI unit: kg/m3) to enter densities (ρ0,ω1, for example)
• Mass flow rates (SI unit: kg/s) to enter the total mass flow over the boundary
(Jin,ω1, for example)

Enter a value or expression in the field for each species except for the one computed
from the mass constraint.

CONSTRAINT SETTINGS
To display this section, click the Show button ( ) and select Advanced Physics Options.

No Flux
The No Flux node is the default boundary condition available for exterior boundaries.
It should be used on boundaries across which there is no mass flux, typically exterior
solid walls where no surface reactions occur. The condition applied for each species
corresponds to

–n ⋅ ji = 0

where n denotes the outward pointing normal of the boundary.

Outflow
The Outflow node is the preferred boundary condition at outlets where the species are
to be transported out of the model domain. It is useful, for example, in mass transport
models where it is assumed that convection is the dominating effect driving the mass
flow through the outflow boundary. This node is available for exterior boundaries. The
boundary condition is applied to all species and corresponds to one of the following
equations depending on the selected diffusion model:

• For the Mixture-Averaged Diffusion Model:

m
– n ⋅ ρD i ∇ω i = 0

• For the Fick’s Law Diffusion Model:

f
– n ⋅ ρD i ∇ω i = 0

662 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

Symmetry
The Symmetry node can be used to represent boundaries where the species
concentration is symmetric; that is, there is no mass flux in the normal direction across
the boundary:

– n ⋅ N = – n ⋅ ( ρω i u + j i ) = 0

This boundary condition is identical to the No Flux node, but applies to all species and
cannot be applied to individual species. The Symmetry node is available for exterior
boundaries.

Flux Discontinuity
The Flux Discontinuity node represents a discontinuity in the mass flux across an interior
boundary:

–n ⋅ ( Nd – Nu ) = N0 N = ( ρω i u + j i )

where the value of N0 specifies the size of the flux jump evaluated from the down to
the upside of the boundary.

FLUX DISCONTINUITY
Specify the jump in species mass flux. Use a positive value for increasing flux when
going from the downside to the upside of the boundary. The boundary normal points
in the direction from the downside to the upside of an interior boundary and can be
plotted for visualization.

Select the Species check boxes to specify a flux discontinuity, and enter a value or
expression for the Flux discontinuity N0 (SI unit: kg/(m2·s)) in the corresponding field,
N0, w1 for example. To use a different boundary condition for a specific species, click
to clear the check box for the flux discontinuity of that species.

Open Boundary
Use the Open Boundary node to set up mass transport across boundaries where both
convective inflow and outflow can occur. Use the node to specify an exterior species
composition on parts of the boundary where fluid flows into the domain. A condition
equivalent to the Outflow node applies to the parts of the boundary where fluid flows
out of the domain. The direction of the flow across the boundary is typically calculated
by a Fluid Flow interface and is entered as Model Inputs.

THE TRANSPORT OF CONCENTRATED SPECIES INTERFACE | 663

 EXTERIOR COMPOSITION
Enter a value or expression for the species composition. Select:

• Mass fractions (the default) to enter mass fractions (ω0,ω1, for example)
• Mole fractions to enter mole fractions (x0,ω1, for example)
• Molar concentrations (SI unit: mol/m3) to enter molar concentrations (c0,ω1, for
example)
• Number densities (SI unit: 1/m3) to enter number densities (n0,ω1, for example)
and to describe the number of particles per volume n = n0
• Densities (SI unit: kg/m3) to enter densities (ρ0,ω1, for example)

A concentration quantity other than the mass fractions can only be used
when all species are defined.

Equilibrium Reaction
Use this node to model a reaction where the kinetics is assumed so fast that the
equilibrium condition is fulfilled at all times. The node solves for an additional degree
of freedom (the reaction rate Req) to fulfill the equilibrium condition at all times in all
space coordinates.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

EQUILIBRIUM CONDITION
Selecting Equilibrium constant in the list, the following equilibrium condition based on
the species activities and the law of mass action is used

ν
∏ ai i
i ∈ products
K eq = ----------------------------------
–ν
∏ ai i
i ∈ reactants

where νi are the stoichiometric coefficients and the species activities are defined from
the concentration, ci, and the unit activity concentration ca0.

664 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

 ci
a i = -------
c a0

Enter a value or expression for the dimensionless Equilibrium constant Keq, and the Unit
activity concentration Ca0.

Select User defined from the list to instead enter a manually defined Equilibrium
expression Eeq.

STOICHIOMETRIC COEFFICIENTS
Enter a value for the stoichiometric coefficientν for all participating species. Use
negative values for reactants and positive values for products in the modeled reaction.
Species with a stoichiometric coefficient value of 0 are not affected by the Equilibrium
Reaction node.

Surface Equilibrium Reaction

Use this node to model an equilibrium reaction on a boundary (surface). The kinetics
of the reaction is assumed so fast that the equilibrium condition is fulfilled at all times.
The node solves for an additional degree of freedom (the mass flux Jeq) to fulfill the
equilibrium condition at all times in all space coordinates along the boundary.

This feature is only available in a limited set of add-on products. See

[Link] for more details on
availability.

The settings for this node are the same as for Equilibrium Reaction except for the
setting in the section below.

MASS TRANSFER TO OTHER PHASES

When using the Reacting Flow coupling feature to model coupled momentum and
mass transport, boundary conditions that results in a nonnegligible mass flux can be
consistently handled by accounting for The Stefan Velocity. Select Account for Stefan
velocity to update the Stefan velocity in accordance with the prescribed mass fractions.
Examples of cases that may benefit from this are for example when modeling surface
reactions or phase change on an exterior boundary.

THE TRANSPORT OF CONCENTRATED SPECIES INTERFACE | 665

 The Reacting Flow Multiphysics
Interfaces
The CFD Module includes predefined multiphysics interfaces that couples fluid with
mass transport and reactions.

Selecting a multiphysics interface under the Chemical Species Transport>Reacting Flow

branch of the Model Wizard or Add Physics windows, one of the Single-Phase Flow
interfaces (laminar or turbulent flow) and a Transport of Concentrated Species interface
are added to the Model Builder.

In addition, the Multiphysics node is added, which includes the multiphysics coupling
feature Reacting Flow. The Reacting Flow feature predefines and controls the couplings
between the separate interfaces in order to facilitate easy set up of models.

In this section:

• The Reacting Laminar Flow Interface

• The Reacting Turbulent Flow, k-ε Interface
• The Reacting Turbulent Flow, k-ω Interface
• The Reacting Turbulent Flow, SST Interface
• The Reacting Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε Interface
• The Reacting Flow Coupling Feature
• Physics Interface Features

The Reacting Laminar Flow Interface

The Reacting Laminar Flow multiphysics interface is used to simulate laminar flow
coupled to species transport in a gas or liquid.

It combines the Laminar Flow, and Transport of Concentrated Species interfaces. The
Reacting Flow multiphysics coupling, which is added automatically, couples fluid flow
and mass transport. The fluid flow can either be free flow or flow in a porous medium.
The species transport supports both a mixture, where the concentrations are of
comparable order of magnitude, and low-concentration solutes in a solvent.

The interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent analysis in 2D, 2D axial
symmetry, and 3D.

666 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

On the constituent physics interfaces:

The equations solved by the Laminar Flow interface are the Navier-Stokes equations for
conservation of momentum and the continuity equation for conservation of mass. A
Fluid Properties feature is active by default on the entire interface selection. A Fluid and
Matrix Properties feature can be added in order to model flow in porous media by
solving the Brinkman equations.

The Transport of Concentrated Species interface solves for an arbitrary number of mass
fractions. The species equations include transport by convection, diffusion and,
optionally, migration in an electric field.

The Reacting Laminar Flow interface triggers pseudo time stepping for the
flow equations when Use pseudo time stepping for stationary equation form
in the Fluid Flow interface is set to Automatic from physics.

The Reacting Turbulent Flow, k-ε Interface

The Reacting Turbulent Flow, k-ε multiphysics interface is used to simulate flow in the
turbulent regime coupled to species transport in a gas or liquid.

It combines the Turbulent Flow, k-ε and Transport of Concentrated Species interfaces.
The Reacting Flow multiphysics coupling, which is added automatically, couples the
fluid flow and mass transport and applies turbulence modeling for the mass transport.
The species transport supports both a mixture, where the concentrations are of
comparable order of magnitude, and low-concentration solutes in a solvent.

The interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent analysis in 2D, 2D axial
symmetry, and 3D.

On the constituent physics interfaces:

The equations solved by the Turbulent Flow, k-ε interface are the Navier-Stokes
equations for conservation of momentum and the continuity equation for
conservation of mass. Turbulence effects are modeled using the standard two-equation
k-ε model with realizability constraints. Flow close to walls is modeled using wall
functions.

The Transport of Concentrated Species interface solves for an arbitrary number of mass
fractions. The species equations include transport by convection, diffusion and,
optionally, migration in an electric field. Mass transport close to solid walls is modeled

THE REACTING FLOW MULTIPHYSICS INTERFACES | 667

 using wall functions, and reactions within the turbulent flow are modeled using the
eddy dissipation model.

The Reacting Turbulent Flow, k-ω Interface

The Reacting Turbulent Flow k-ω multiphysics interface is used to simulate flow in the
turbulent regime coupled to species transport in a gas or liquid.

It combines the Turbulent Flow k-ω and Transport of Concentrated Species interfaces.
The Reacting Flow multiphysics coupling, which is added automatically, couples fluid
flow and mass transport and applies turbulence modeling for the mass transport. The
species transport supports both a mixture, where the concentrations are of comparable
order of magnitude, and low-concentration solutes in a solvent.

The interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent analysis in 2D, 2D axial
symmetry, and 3D.

On the constituent physics interfaces:

The equations solved by the Turbulent Flow k-ω interface are the Navier-Stokes
equations for conservation of momentum and the continuity equation for
conservation of mass. The fluid flow turbulence is modeled using the Wilcox revised
k-ω model with realizability constraints. Flow close to walls is modeled using wall
functions.

The Transport of Concentrated Species interface solves for an arbitrary number of mass
fractions. The species equations include transport by convection, diffusion and,
optionally, migration in an electric field. Mass transport close to solid walls is modeled
using wall functions, and reactions within the turbulent flow are modeled using the
eddy dissipation model.

The Reacting Turbulent Flow, SST Interface

The Reacting Turbulent Flow, SST multiphysics interface is used to simulate flow in the
turbulent regime coupled to species transport in a gas or liquid.

It combines the Turbulent Flow, SST and Transport of Concentrated Species interfaces.
The Reacting Flow multiphysics coupling, which is added automatically, couples fluid
flow and mass transport and applies turbulence modeling for the mass transport. The
species transport supports both a mixture, where the concentrations are of comparable
order of magnitude, and low-concentration solutes in a solvent.

668 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

The interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent analysis in 2D, 2D axial
symmetry, and 3D.

On the constituent physics interfaces:

The equations solved by the Turbulent Flow, SST interface are the Navier-Stokes
equations for conservation of momentum and the continuity equation for
conservation of mass. The fluid flow turbulence is modeled using the SST model. The
SST model is a low-Reynolds number model which means that it resolves the velocity,
pressure, and mass fractions all the way down to the wall. For that reason this physics
interface is suited for studying mass transfer at high Schmidt numbers. The SST model
depends on the distance to the closest wall, and the interface therefore includes a wall
distance equation.

The Transport of Concentrated Species interface solves for an arbitrary number of mass
fractions. The species equations include transport by convection, diffusion and,
optionally, migration in an electric field. Reactions within the turbulent flow are
modeled using the eddy dissipation model.

The Reacting Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε Interface

The Reacting Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε multiphysics interface is used to simulate flow
in the turbulent regime coupled to species transport in a gas or liquid.

It combines the Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε and Transport of Concentrated Species
interfaces. The Reacting Flow multiphysics coupling, which is added automatically,
couples fluid flow and mass transport and applies turbulence modeling for the mass
transport. The species transport supports both a mixture, where the concentrations are
of comparable order of magnitude, and low-concentration solutes in a solvent.

The interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent analysis in 2D, 2D axial
symmetry, and 3D.

On the constituent physics interfaces:

The equations solved by the Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε interface are the Navier-Stokes
equations for conservation of momentum and the continuity equation for
conservation of mass. The fluid flow turbulence is modeled using the AKN
low-Reynolds number k-ε model. The low-Reynolds number model resolves the
velocity, pressure, and mass fractions all the way down to the wall. For that reason this
physics interface is suited for studying mass transfer at high Schmidt numbers. The

THE REACTING FLOW MULTIPHYSICS INTERFACES | 669

 AKN model depends on the distance to the closest wall, and the interface therefore
includes a wall distance equation.

The Transport of Concentrated Species interface solves for an arbitrary number of mass
fractions. The species equations include transport by convection, diffusion and,
optionally, migration in an electric field. Reactions within the turbulent flow are
modeled using the eddy dissipation model.

The Reacting Flow Coupling Feature

Use the Reacting Flow ( ) multiphysics coupling to simulate mass transport and
reactions in a gas or liquid mixture where the fluid flow can be dependent on the
mixture composition.

DOMAIN LEVEL SYNCHRONIZATION

The Reacting Flow coupling synchronizes the features from a Single-Phase Flow, or
Brinkman Equations, interface and a Transport of Concentrated Species interface.
When added, the density in the Single-Phase Flow interface is automatically
synchronized to the one defined by the Transport of Concentrated Species interface.
Conversely, the velocity field used by the latter interface is synchronized to the one
computed in the former interface.

THE STEFAN VELOCITY

The Reacting Flow coupling feature automatically couples mass transfer on boundaries
and applies a corresponding velocity contribution for the flow. Prescribing a net mass
boundary flux in the Transport of Concentrated Species interface, either using a Flux or
Mass Fraction feature, the Reacting Flow feature computes The Stefan Velocity and
applies this in Wall features using the same selection.

MASS TRANSFER TO OTHER PHASES IN POROUS MEDIA

When coupled to the Brinkman Equations interface, the Reacting Flow node
automatically computes the net mass source or sink in a Reactions (when Mass transfer
to other phases is enabled) node in the Transport of Concentrated Species interface and
adds the corresponding source/sink to the momentum equations of the Fluid and
Matrix Properties domains.

670 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

TURBULENT MASS TRANSFER
When a turbulence model is used, the Reacting Flow coupling applies turbulence
modeling for the mass transport in the following manners:

• Turbulent mass transport is added, defined from the turbulent viscosity and a
turbulent Schmidt number (for more information, see Turbulent Mass Transport
Models).
• Mass transport wall functions. When a turbulence model using wall functions is used
for the fluid flow, the Reacting Flow coupling automatically adds wall functions for
the mass transport on the same boundaries (for more information, see Mass
Transport Wall Functions).

SETTINGS
The Label is the default multiphysics coupling feature name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the coupling node.
Refer to such variables in expressions using the pattern <name>.<variable_name>. In
order to distinguish between variables belonging to different coupling nodes or physics
interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and underscores (_)
are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first multiphysics coupling feature in the model) is rf1.

DOMAIN SELECTION
The Reacting Flow coupling is automatically defined on the intersection of the
selections for the coupled interfaces.

The Selection list displays the domains where the coupling feature is active.

COUPLED INTERFACES
This section defines the physics involved in the multiphysics coupling. The Fluid flow
and Species transport lists include all applicable physics interfaces.

The default values depend on how this coupling node is created.

• If it is added from the Physics ribbon (Windows users), Physics contextual toolbar
(Mac and Linux users), or context menu (all users), then the first physics interface
of each type in the component is selected as the default.
• If it is added automatically when a multiphysics interface is chosen in the Model
Wizard or Add Physics window, then the two participating physics interfaces are
selected.

THE REACTING FLOW MULTIPHYSICS INTERFACES | 671

 You can also select None from either list to uncouple the node from a physics interface.
If the physics interface is removed from the Model Builder, for example Laminar Flow is
deleted, then the Species transport list defaults to None as there is nothing to couple to.

Click the Go to Source buttons ( ) to move to the main physics interface node for
the selected physics interface.

Click the Show or Hide Physics Properties Settings button ( ) to toggle the display of
physics properties settings affecting the coupling feature. When a turbulence model is
used, turbulent mass transfer is automatically accounted for (see the settings in the
Turbulence section below). Using Reacting Flow, the mass transfer treatment at walls
follows that applied for the fluid flow. Therefore the Wall treatment setting is also
displayed when using a turbulence model. For more information on turbulent mass
transfer at walls, see the section Mass Transport Wall Functions in the CFD Module
User’s Guide.

If a physics interface is deleted and then added to the model again, then
in order to reestablish the coupling, you need to choose the physics
interface again from the Fluid flow or Species transport lists. This is
applicable to all multiphysics coupling nodes that would normally default
to the once present interface. See Multiphysics Modeling Workflow in the
COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

TURBULENCE
When the fluid flow interface uses a turbulence model, select an option from the Mass
transport turbulence model list — Kays-Crawford, High Schmidt Number, or User-defined
turbulent Schmidt number.

For User-defined turbulent Schmidt number, enter a Turbulent Schmidt number ScT
(dimensionless).

The turbulent mass transfer added to the mass fraction equations is defined as

μT
N i, T = – --------- ∇ω i
Sc T

where μT is the turbulent viscosity defined by the flow interface, and the turbulent
Schmidt number, ScT, depends on the Mass transport turbulence model used.

672 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

Note, since the Reacting Flow coupling feature adds the turbulent mass transport, it
should not be combined with a Turbulent Mixing feature (subfeature to Transport
Properties in the Transport of Concentrated Species interface).

Physics Interface Features

Physics nodes are available from the Physics ribbon toolbar (Windows users), Physics
context menu (Mac or Linux users), or right-click to access the context menu (all
users).

In general, to add a node, go to the Physics toolbar, no matter what

operating system you are using.

LAMINAR FLOW
The available physics features for The Laminar Flow interface are listed in the section
Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow in the COMSOL
Multiphysics Reference Manual.

T U R B U L E N T F L O W , k-ε
The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, k-ε interface are listed in the
section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

T U R B U L E N T F L O W , k-ω
The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, k-ω interface are listed in the
section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

TURBULENT FLOW, SST

The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, SST interface are listed in the
section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

T U R B U L E N T F L O W , L O W R E k-ε
The available physics features for The Turbulent Flow, Low Re k-ε interface are listed
in the section Domain, Boundary, Pair, and Point Nodes for Single-Phase Flow.

TRANSPORT OF CONCENTRATED SPECIES

The available physics features for The Transport of Concentrated Species interface are
listed in the section Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Transport of
Concentrated Species Interface.

THE REACTING FLOW MULTIPHYSICS INTERFACES | 673

 The Reacting Flow in Porous Media
Interfaces
The CFD Module includes two predefined multiphysics interface that couples fluid
flow in porous media with mass transport and reactions in porous media.

Selecting a multiphysics interface under the Chemical Species Transport>Reacting Flow

in Porous Media branch of the Model Wizard or Add Physics windows, a Brinkman
Equations interface combined with either the Transport of Diluted Species in Porous
Media interface or the Transport of Concentrated Species interfaces are added to the
Model Builder.

In addition, the Multiphysics node is added, which includes the multiphysics coupling
feature. The multiphysics coupling feature controls the coupling between the separate
interfaces in order to facilitate easy set up of models.

In this section:

• The Reacting Flow in Porous Media, Transport of Diluted Species Interface

• The Reacting Flow in Porous Media, Transport of Concentrated Species Interface
• The Reacting Flow, Diluted Species Coupling Feature
• The Reacting Flow Coupling Feature
• Physics Interface Features

The Reacting Flow in Porous Media, Transport of Diluted Species

Interface
The Reacting Flow in Porous Media, Transport of Diluted Species interface ( ) is used
to study the flow and chemical composition of a gas or liquid moving through the
interstices of a porous medium.

It combines the Brinkman Equations, and Transport of Diluted Species in Porous Media
interfaces. The Reacting Flow, Diluted Species multiphysics coupling feature, which is
added automatically, couples the fluid flow and mass transport.

The interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent analysis in 2D, 2Daxi and
3D.

On the constituent physics interfaces:

674 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

The Brinkman Equations interface computes the fluid velocity and pressure fields of
single-phase flow in porous media in the laminar flow regime. A Fluid and Matrix
Properties feature is active by default on the entire interface selection.

The Transport of Diluted Species in Porous Media interface computes the species
concentration in free and porous media, assuming that the species are of solutes,
dissolved in a solvent of significantly higher concentration. The species equations
include transport by convection, diffusion and, optionally, migration in an electric
field.

The Reacting Flow in Porous Media, Transport of Concentrated

Species Interface
The Reacting Flow in Porous Media, Transport of Concentrated Species interface ( ) is
used to study the flow and chemical composition of a gas or liquid moving through
the interstices of a porous medium. The fluid can consist of a mixture of species where
the individual concentrations are of comparable order of magnitude.

It combines the Brinkman Equations, and Transport of Concentrated Species interfaces.

The Reacting Flow multiphysics coupling feature, which is added automatically, couples
the fluid flow and mass transport.

The interface can be used for stationary and time-dependent analysis in 2D, 2Daxi and
3D.

On the constituent physics interfaces:

The Brinkman Equations interface computes the fluid velocity and pressure fields of
single-phase flow in porous media in the laminar flow regime. A Fluid and Matrix
Properties feature is active by default on the entire interface selection.

The Transport of Concentrated Species interface solves for an arbitrary number of mass
fractions in free and porous media. In the current multiphysics interface a Porous Media
Transport Properties feature is active by default on the entire interface selection.

The Reacting Flow, Diluted Species Coupling Feature

For the settings of this feature see The Reacting Flow, Diluted Species Coupling
Feature in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual.

THE REACTING FLOW IN POROUS MEDIA INTERFACES | 675

 The Reacting Flow Coupling Feature
For the settings of this feature see The Reacting Flow Coupling Feature in the
Chemical Reaction Engineering Module User’s Guide.

Physics Interface Features

Physics nodes are available from the Physics ribbon toolbar (Windows users), Physics
context menu (Mac or Linux users), or right-click to access the context menu (all
users).

BRINKMAN EQUATIONS
The available physics features for The Brinkman Equations interface are listed in the
Domain, Boundary, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Brinkman Equations Interface
section in the CFD Module User’s Guide.

TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES

The available physics features for The Transport of Diluted Species interface are listed
in the Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Transport of Diluted Species
Interface section.

TRANSPORT OF CONCENTRATED SPECIES

The available physics features for The Transport of Concentrated Species interface are
listed in the Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Transport of Concentrated
Species Interface section.

676 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

T he o r y f o r t he Tran sp ort of D i l u t ed
S pe c i e s Inte r f a c e
The Transport of Diluted Species Interface provides a predefined modeling
environment for studying the evolution of chemical species transported by diffusion
and convection. The physics interface assumes that all species present are dilute; that
is, that their concentration is small compared to a solvent fluid or solid. As a rule of
thumb, a mixture containing several species can be considered dilute when the
concentration of the solvent is more than 90 mol%. Due to the dilution, mixture
properties such as density and viscosity can be assumed to correspond to those of the
solvent.

When studying mixtures that are not dilute, the mixture and transport properties
depend on the composition, and a different physics interface is recommended. See The
Transport of Concentrated Species Interface for more information.

Fick’s law governs the diffusion of the solutes, dilute mixtures, or solutions, while the
phenomenon of ionic migration is sometimes referred to as electrokinetic flow. The
Transport of Diluted Species interface supports the simulations of chemical species
transport by convection, migration, and diffusion in 1D, 2D, and 3D as well as for
axisymmetric components in 1D and 2D.

In this section:

• Adding Transport Through • Mass Balance Equation

Migration • Mass Sources for Species Transport
• Convective Term Formulation • Solving a Diffusion Equation Only
• Crosswind Diffusion • Supporting Electrolytes
• Danckwerts Inflow Boundary • References
Condition
• Equilibrium Reaction Theory

Note: Some features explained in this section require certain add-on modules. For
details see [Link]

THEORY FOR THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 677

 The section also includes the theory for The Transport of Diluted Species in Porous
Media Interface:

• Adsorption • Mass Balance Equation for

• Convection in Porous Media Transport of Diluted Species in
Porous Media
• Diffusion in Porous Media
• Mass Transport in Fractures
• Dispersion
• Reactions

Mass Balance Equation

The default node attributed to the Transport of Diluted Species interface models
chemical species transport through diffusion and convection and solves the mass
conservation equation for one or more chemical species i:

∂c i
------- + ∇ ⋅ J i + u ⋅ ∇c i = R i (9-9)
∂t

Equation 9-9 in its form above includes the transport mechanisms diffusion and
convection. If Migration in Electric Field is activated (only available in some add-on
products), the migration mechanism will be added to the equation as well. See more
details in the section Adding Transport Through Migration.

• ci is the concentration of the species (SI unit: mol/m3)

• Di denotes the diffusion coefficient (SI unit: m2/s)
• Ri is a reaction rate expression for the species (SI unit: mol/(m3·s))
• u is the mass averaged velocity vector (SI unit: m/s)
• Ji is the mass flux diffusive flux vector (SI unit: mol/(m2·s))

The mass flux relative to the mass averaged velocity, Ji (SI unit: mol/(m2·s)), is
associated with the mass balance equation above and used in boundary conditions and
flux computations. The Transport of Diluted Species interface always includes mass
transport due to molecular diffusion. In this case the mass flux Ji defines the diffusive
flux vector

J i = – D ∇c (9-10)

An input field for the diffusion coefficient is available.

678 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

When Migration in Electric Fields is activated, the migration term is also added to
the diffusive flux vector as shown in the section Adding Transport Through Migration.

The third term on the left side of Equation 9-9 describes the convective transport due
to a velocity field u. This field can be expressed analytically or obtained from coupling
the physics interface to one that solves for fluid flow, such as Laminar Flow. Note that
all fluid flow interfaces solve for the mass averaged velocity.

On the right-hand side of the mass balance equation (Equation 9-9), Ri represents a
source or sink term, typically due to a chemical reaction or desorption on a porous
matrix. To specify Ri, another node must be added to the Transport of Diluted Species
interface — the Reaction node for example, which includes an input field for specifying
a reaction expression using the variable names of all participating species.

Equilibrium Reaction Theory

The feature Equilibrium Reaction is described in this section. A chemical equilibrium
reaction system is defined by the stoichiometry of the reaction and the relation
between the chemical activities of the chemical species participating in the reaction (the
equilibrium condition).

The kinetics of the reaction is so fast that the equilibrium condition is fulfilled at all
times in all space coordinates.

The equilibrium condition is commonly based on the stoichiometric coefficients,

νi (dimensionless), of the reaction; the species activities of the reacting species
ai (dimensionless); and an equilibrium constant, Keq (1) according to:

ν
∏ ai i
i ∈ products
K eq = ----------------------------------
–ν
∏ ai i
i ∈ reactants

where the species activities are defined as

ci
a i = γ c, i -------
c a0

where ca0 (SI unit: mol/m3) is the standard molarity, and γc,i (dimensionless) an
activity coefficient.

THEORY FOR THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 679

 Defining the stoichiometric coefficients positive for products and negative for
reactants, the above equilibrium condition can also be written:

νi
K eq = ∏ ai
i

The Equilibrium Reaction node solves for a reaction rate so that the equilibrium
condition is always fulfilled in the domain. It is available for the Modules Chemical
Engineering, Corrosion, Electrochemistry, Electrodeposition, and Batteries and Fuel
Cells

γc,i is set to unity when the Equilibrium constant is selected on the

Settings window. For nonunity activity coefficients, a user defined
equilibrium condition can be used.

EQUILIBRIUM REACTIONS AND INFLOW BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

Contradictory constraints arise if the boundary conditions for concentrations or
activities are set so that the domain equilibrium condition is not fulfilled. Special
treatment is therefore needed at Inflow boundaries, where the concentrations are set
for all species in the mass transport interfaces.

One way of avoiding competing constraints on an inflow boundary is to add an

additional reaction coordinate degree of freedom, solved for to create a set of modified
inflow concentrations that fulfill the domain equilibrium condition. The reaction
coordinate gives rise to a concentration shift, which is the offset to the inflow
concentrations provided by the user. The shift for each species obeys the stoichiometry
of the reaction and the equilibrium expression. The modified inflow concentrations are
then used in the boundary conditions for the domain mass transport equations. The
resulting modified inflow concentrations can be seen as the stationary solution for a
batch reactor with the user inflow concentrations as initial concentrations. In addition,
the domain reaction rate degree of freedom of the equilibrium reaction is constrained
to zero on all Inflow boundaries.

EQUILIBRIUM REACTIONS AND CONCENTRATION BOUNDARY

CONDITIONS
No special treatment is made with regards to input concentration values of the
Concentration boundary node. Using this feature, you can explicitly set one or a set of
concentrations, and the equilibrium condition acts on the rest of the concentrations.

680 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

However, there is no solution to the problem if more concentrations than the number
of species minus the number of equilibrium reactions are set using this feature.

EQUILIBRIUM REACTIONS AND TIME-DEPENDENT SIMULATIONS

Spurious oscillations may occur in a time-dependent problem if the initial conditions
do not fulfill the equilibrium condition. Since equilibrium reactions are assumed to be
infinitely fast, the solution is to initialize the problem using an additional study step,
solving for a stationary problem with all nonequilibrium reaction rates set to zero.
Manual scaling of the reaction rate dependent variables is needed in this study step.

Convective Term Formulation

The default node attributed to The Transport of Diluted Species Interface assumes
chemical species transport through diffusion and convection (depending on the
modules licensed, a check box to activate migration is available) and implements the
mass balance equation in Equation 9-9.

There are two ways to present a mass balance where chemical species transport occurs
through diffusion and convection. These are the nonconservative and conservative
formulations of the convective term:

∂c
nonconservative: ----- + u ⋅ ∇c = ∇ ⋅ J i + R (9-11)
∂t

∂c
conservative: ----- + ∇ ⋅ ( cu ) = ∇ ⋅ J i + R (9-12)
∂t

and each is treated slightly differently by the solver algorithms. In these equations
Ji (SI unit: mol/(m2·s)) is the diffusive flux vector, R (SI unit: mol/(m3·s)) is a
production or consumption rate expression, and u (SI unit: m/s) is the solvent velocity
field. The diffusion process can be anisotropic, in which case D is a tensor.

If the conservative formulation is expanded using the chain rule, then one of the terms
from the convection part, c∇·u, would equal zero for an incompressible fluid and
would result in the nonconservative formulation above. This is in fact the default
formulation in this physics interface. To switch between the two formulations, click the
Show button ( ) and select Advanced Physics Options.

THEORY FOR THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 681

 Solving a Diffusion Equation Only
Remove the convection term from Equation 9-11 and Equation 9-12 by clearing the
Convection check box in the Transport Mechanisms section for The Transport of
Diluted Species Interface. The equation then becomes

∂----c-
= ∇ ⋅ Ji + R
∂t

Mass Sources for Species Transport

Note: The features below are only available in a limited set of add-on products. For a
detailed overview of which features are available in each product, visit
[Link]

There are two types of mass sources in the Transport of Diluted Species interface: point
sources and line sources.

POINT SOURCE
·
A point source is theoretically formed by assuming a mass injection/ejection, Q c (SI
unit: mol/(m3·s)), in a small volume δV and then letting the size of the volume tend
to zero while keeping the total mass flux constant. Given a point source strength, q· p,c
(SI unit: mol/s), this can be expressed as

·
lim  Qc = q· p,c (9-13)
δV → 0
δV

An alternative way to form a point source is to assume that mass is injected/extracted

through the surface of a small object. Letting the object surface area tend to zero while
keeping the mass flux constant results in the same point source. For this alternative
approach, effects resulting from the physical object’s volume need to be neglected.

The weak contribution

q· p,c test ( c )
·
is added at a point in the geometry. As can be seen from Equation 9-13, Q c must tend
to plus or minus infinity as δV tends to zero. This means that in theory the
concentration also tends to plus or minus infinity.

682 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

Observe that “point” refers to the physical representation of the source. A point source
can therefore only be added to points in 3D components and to points on the
symmetry axis in 2D axisymmetry components. Other geometrical points in 2D
components represent physical lines.

The finite element representation of Equation 9-13 corresponds to a finite

concentration at a point with the effect of the point source spread out over a region
around the point. The size of the region depends on the mesh and on the strength of
the source. A finer mesh gives a smaller affected region but also a more extreme
concentration value. It is important not to mesh too finely around a point source since
this can result in unphysical concentration values. It can also have a negative effect on
the condition number for the equation system.

LINE SOURCE
·
A line source can theoretically be formed by assuming a source of strength Q l,c (SI
unit: mol/(m3·s)), located within a tube with cross section δS and then letting δS tend
to zero while keeping the total mass flux per unit length constant. Given a line source
strength, q· l,c (SI unit: mol/(m·s)), this can be expressed as

·
lim  Ql,c = q· l,c (9-14)
δS → 0
δS

As in the point source case, an alternative approach is to assume that mass is

injected/extracted through the surface of a small object. This results in the same mass
source, but requires that effects resulting from the physical object’s volume are
neglected.

The weak contribution

q· l,c test ( c )

is added on lines in 3D or at points in 2D (which represent cut-through views of lines).

Line sources can also be added on the axisymmetry line in 2D axisymmetry
components. It cannot, however, be added on geometrical lines in 2D since those
represent physical planes.

As with a point source, it is important not to mesh too finely around the line source.

For feature node information, see Line Mass Source and Point Mass
Source.

THEORY FOR THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 683

 For the Reacting Flow in Porous Media, Diluted Species interface, which
is available with the CFD Module, Chemical Reaction Engineering
Module, or Batteries & Fuel Cells Module, these shared physics nodes are
renamed as follows:

• The Line Mass Source node is available as two nodes, one for the fluid
flow (Fluid Line Source) and one for the species (Species Line Source).
• The Point Mass Source node is available as two nodes, one for the fluid
flow (Fluid Point Source) and one for the species (Species Point Source).

Adding Transport Through Migration

Note: Migration is only available in a limited set of add-on products. For a detailed
overview of which features are available in each product, visit
[Link]

In addition to transport due to convection and diffusion, the Transport of Diluted

Species interface supports ionic species transport by migration. This is done by
selecting the Migration in Electric Field check box under the Transport Mechanisms
section for the physics interface. The mass balance then becomes:

∂c i
+ ∇ ⋅ ( – D i ∇c i – z i u m, i F c i ∇V + c i u ) = R i (9-15)
∂t

where

• ci (SI unit: mol/ m3) denotes the concentration of species i

• Di (SI unit: m2/s) is the diffusion coefficient of species i
• u (SI unit: m/s) is the fluid velocity
• F (SI unit: A·s/mol) refers to Faraday’s constant
• V (SI unit: V) denotes the electric potential
• zi (dimensionless) is the charge number of the ionic species, and
• um,i (SI unit: mol·s/kg) is its ionic mobility

In this case the diffusive flux vector is

684 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

 J i = – D i ∇c i – z i u m, i Fc i ∇V

The velocity, u, can be a computed fluid velocity field from a Fluid Flow interface or
a specified function of the spatial variables x, y, and z. The potential can be provided
by an expression or by coupling the system of equations to a current balance, such as
the Electrostatics interface. Sometimes it is assumed to be a supporting electrolyte
present, which simplifies the transport equations. In that case, the modeled charged
species concentration is very low compared to other ions dissolved in the solution.
Thus, the species concentration does not influence the solution’s conductivity and the
net charge within the fluid.

The Nernst-Einstein relation can in many cases be used for relating the species mobility
to the species diffusivity according to

Di
u m, i = --------
RT

where R (SI unit: J/(mol·K)) is the molar gas constant and T (SI unit: K) is the
temperature.

Note: In the Nernst-Planck Equations interface, the ionic species contribute to the
charge transfer in the solution. It includes an electroneutrality condition and also
computes the electric potential field in the electrolyte. For more information, see
Theory for the Nernst-Planck Equations Interface. This interface is included in the
Chemical Reaction Engineering Module.

Supporting Electrolytes
In electrolyte solutions, a salt can be added to provide a high electrolyte conductivity
and decrease the ohmic losses in a cell. These solutions are often called supporting
electrolytes, buffer solutions, or carrier electrolytes. The added species, a negative and
a positive ion pair, predominates over all other species. Therefore, the supporting
electrolyte species can be assumed to dominate the current transport in the solution.
In addition, the predominant supporting ions are usually selected so that they do not
react at the electrode surfaces since the high conductivity should be kept through the
process, that is, they should not be electro-active species. This also means that the
concentration gradients of the predominant species in a supporting electrolyte are
usually negligible.

THEORY FOR THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 685

 Modeling and solving for a supporting electrolyte in the Electrostatics or Secondary
Current Distribution interfaces will give a potential distribution that drives the
migration in the Transport of Diluted Species Interface.

The current density vector is proportional to the sum of all species fluxes as expressed
by Faraday’s law:

i = F  zi Ni
i

The electroneutrality condition ensures that there is always a zero net charge at any
position in a dilute solution. Intuitively, this means that it is impossible to create a
current by manually pumping positive ions in one direction and negative ions in the
other. Therefore, the convective term is canceled out to yield the following expression
for the electrolyte current density, where j denotes the supporting species:

 –zj um, j F cj ∇φ
2
i = F (9-16)
j

Equation 9-16 is simply Ohm’s law for ionic current transport and can be simplified to

i = – κ ∇φ (9-17)

where κ is the conductivity of the supporting electrolyte. A current balance gives the
current and potential density in the cell

∇⋅i = 0

which, in combination with Equation 9-17, yields:

∇ ⋅ ( – κ ∇φ ) = 0 (9-18)

Equation 9-18 can be easily solved using the Electrostatics or Secondary Current
Distribution interface and, when coupled to the Transport in Diluted Species interface,
the potential distribution shows up in the migration term.

Crosswind Diffusion
Transport of diluted species applications can often result in models with a very high
cell Péclèt number — that is, systems where convection or migration dominates over
diffusion. Streamline diffusion and crosswind diffusion are of paramount importance
to obtain physically reasonable results. The Transport of Diluted Species interface

686 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

provides two crosswind diffusion options using different formulations. Observe that
crosswind diffusion makes the equation system nonlinear even if the transport
equation is linear.

DO CARMO AND GALEÃO

This is the formulation described in Numerical Stabilization in the COMSOL
Multiphysics Reference Manual. The method reduces over- and undershoots to a
minimum, even for anisotropic meshes.

In some cases, the resulting nonlinear equation system can be difficult to converge.
This can happen when the cell Péclèt number is very high and the model contains
many thin layers, such as contact discontinuities. You then have three options:

• Refine the mesh, especially in regions with thin layers.

• Use a nonlinear solver with a constant damping factor less than one.
• Switch to the Codina crosswind formulation.

CODINA
The Codina formulation is described in Ref. 1. It adds diffusion strictly in the direction
orthogonal to the streamline direction. Compared to the do Carmo and Galeão
formulation, the Codina formulation adds less diffusion but is not as efficient at
reducing over- and undershoots. It also does not work as well for anisotropic meshes.
The advantage is that the resulting nonlinear system is easier to converge and that
underresolved gradients are less smeared out.

Danckwerts Inflow Boundary Condition

Constraining the composition to fixed values at an inlet to a reactor may sometimes
result in issues with unreasonably high reaction rates or singularities at the inlet
boundary. These problems may many times be mitigated by using a flux boundary
condition instead, based on the upstream concentrations and the fluid velocity at the
boundary. In chemical engineering, this type of flux boundary condition is also known
as a Danckwerts condition.

Use the Danckwerts condition to specify inlet conditions for domains where high
reaction rates are anticipated in the vicinity to the inlet (Ref. 2).

Given an upstream concentration ci,0, the Danckwerts inflow boundary condition

prescribed the total flux as

THEORY FOR THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 687

 n ⋅ ( J i + uc i ) = n ⋅ ( uc i, 0 ) (9-19)

Mass Balance Equation for Transport of Diluted Species in Porous

Media

VARIABLY SATURATED POROUS MEDIA

The following equations for the molar concentrations, ci, describe the transport of
solutes in a variably saturated porous medium for the most general case, when the pore
space is primarily filled with liquid but also contain pockets or immobile gas:

∂ θc ∂
( i ) + ∂ ( ρc P, i ) + (a v c G, i) + u ⋅ ∇c i =
∂t ∂t ∂t (9-20)
∇ ⋅ [ ( D D, i + D e, i ) ∇c i ] + R i + S i

On the left-hand side of Equation 9-20, the first three terms correspond to the
accumulation of species within the liquid, solid, and gas phases, while the last term
describes the convection due to the velocity field u (SI unit: m/s).

In Equation 9-20 ci denotes the concentration of species i in the liquid (SI unit:
mol/m3), cP, i the amount adsorbed to solid particles (moles per unit dry weight of
the solid), and cG, i the concentration of species i in the gas phase.

The equation balances the mass transport throughout the porous medium using the
porosity εp, the liquid volume fraction θ; the matrix (drained) density, ρ = (1 − εp)ρp,
and the solid phase density ρp.

For saturated porous media, the liquid volume fraction θ is equal to the porosity εp,
but for partially saturated porous media, they are related by the saturation s as θ = sεp.
The resulting gas volume fraction is av = εp − θ = (1-s)εp.

On the right-hand side of Equation 9-20, the first term introduces the spreading of
species due to mechanical mixing resulting from the porous media (dispersion), as well
as from diffusion and volatilization to the gas phase. The dispersion tensor is denoted
DD (SI unit: m2/s) and the effective diffusion by De (SI unit: m2/s).

The last two terms on the right-hand side of Equation 9-20 describe production or
consumption of the species; Ri is a reaction rate expression which can account for
reactions in the liquid, solid, or gas phase, and Si is an arbitrary source term, for
example due to a fluid flow source or sink.

688 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

Adsorption
The time evolution of the adsorption, the solute transport to or from the solid phase,
is defined by assuming that the amount of solute adsorbed to the solid, cP,i, is a
function of the concentration in the fluid ci. This implies that the solute concentration
in the liquid and solid phase are in instant equilibrium. The adsorption term can be
expanded to give

∂c P, i ∂c i ∂ε P ∂c i ∂ε P
∂ ρc = ρK P,i – ρc P, i (9-21)
( P, i ) = ρ – ρc P, i ∂ t ∂t
∂t ∂ ci ∂ t ∂t

where kP,i = ∂cP,i/∂ci is the adsorption isotherm.

Volatilization
Volatilization is the process where a solute species in the liquid is transported to the
gas phase due to vaporization. Assuming that the amount of solute in the gas phase,
cG,i, is a linear function of the liquid phase concentration, the volatilization term is
defined as

∂c G, i ∂c i ∂a v ∂c i ∂a v
∂ = a v k G, i + k G, i c i (9-22)
a v c G, i = a v + k G, i c i ∂ t ∂t
∂t ∂ c i ∂ t ∂ t

where kG,i = ∂cG,i/∂ci is the linear volatilization.

SATURATED POROUS MEDIA

In the case of transport in a saturated porous medium, θ = εp, and the governing
equations are

∂ ε
( c ) + ∂ ( ρc P, i ) + u ⋅ ∇c i = ∇ ⋅ [ ( D D, i + D e, i ) ∇c i ] + R i + S i (9-23)
∂t p i ∂t

Convection in Porous Media

Convection (also called advection) describes the movement of a species, such as a
pollutant, with the bulk fluid velocity. The velocity field u corresponds to a superficial
volume average over a unit volume of the porous medium, including both pores and
matrix. This velocity is sometimes called Darcy velocity, and defined as volume flow

THEORY FOR THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 689

 rates per unit cross section of the medium. This definition makes the velocity field
continuous across the boundaries between porous regions and regions with free flow.

The velocity field to be used in the Model Inputs section on the physics
interface can, for example, be prescribed using the velocity field from a
Darcy’s Law or a Brinkman Equations interface.

The average linear fluid velocities ua, provides an estimate of the fluid velocity within
the pores:

u
u a = ----- Saturated
εp
u
u a = ---- Partially saturated
θ

where εp is the porosity and θ = sεp the liquid volume fraction, and s the saturation, a
dimensionless number between 0 and 1.

Figure 9-1: A block of a porous medium consisting of solids and the pore space between the
solid grains. The average linear velocity describes how fast the fluid moves within the pores.
The Darcy velocity attributes this flow over the entire fluid-solid face.

CONVECTIVE TERM FORMULATION

The Transport of Diluted Species in Porous Media interface includes two formulations
of the convective term. The conservative formulation of the species equations in
Equation 9-20 is written as:

690 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

 ∂ ( θc ) + ∂ ( ρ c ) + ∂ (a c ) + ∇ ⋅ uc =
∂t i
∂ t b P, i ∂ t v G, i i
(9-24)
∇ ⋅ [ ( D D, i + D e, i ) ∇c i ] + R i + S i

If the conservative formulation is expanded using the chain rule, then one of the terms
from the convection part, ci∇·u, would equal zero for an incompressible fluid and
would result in the nonconservative formulation described in Equation 9-20.

When using the nonconservative formulation, which is the default, the fluid is assumed
incompressible and divergence free: ∇ ⋅ u = 0. The nonconservative formulation
improves the stability of systems coupled to a momentum equation (fluid flow
equation).

To switch between the two formulations, click the Show button ( ) and
select Advanced Physics Options. In the section Advanced Settings select
either Nonconservative form (the default) or Conservative form. The
conservative formulation should be used for compressible flow.

Diffusion in Porous Media

The effective diffusion in porous media, De, depends on the structure of the porous
material and the phases involved. Depending on the transport of diluted species occurs
in free flow, saturated or partially saturated porous media, the effective diffusivity is
defined as:

De = DF Free Flow
εp
D e = ----- D L Saturated Porous Media
τL
θ
D e = ----- D L Partially Saturated Porous Media
τL
θ av
D e = ----- D L + ------ k G D G Partially Saturated with Volatilization
τL τG

Here DF, DL, and DG are the single-phase diffusion coefficients for the species diluted
in fluid, pure liquid, and gas phases, respectively (SI unit: m2/s), and τF, τL, and τG
are the corresponding tortuosity factors (dimensionless).

The tortuosity factor accounts for the reduced diffusivity due to the fact that the solid
grains impede Brownian motion. The interface provides predefined expressions to

THEORY FOR THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 691

 compute the tortuosity factors in partially saturated porous media according to the
Millington and Quirk model (Ref. 12):

–7 ⁄ 3 2 –7 ⁄ 3 2
τL = θ ε , τG = av ε

and Bruggeman model

–5 ⁄ 2 2 –5 ⁄ 2 2
τL = θ ε , τG = av ε

For saturated porous media θ = εp. The fluid tortuosity for the Millington and Quirk
model is

–1 ⁄ 3
τL = εp

and for the Bruggeman model the tortuosity is defined as

–1 ⁄ 2
τL = εp

User defined expressions for the tortuosity factor can also be applied.

Dispersion
The contribution of dispersion to the mixing of species typically overshadows the
contribution from molecular diffusion, except when the fluid velocity is very small.

The spreading of mass, as species travel through a porous medium is caused by several
contributing effects. Local variations in fluid velocity lead to mechanical mixing
referred to as dispersion occurs because the fluid in the pore space flows around solid
particles, so the velocity field varies within pore channels. The spreading in the
direction parallel to the flow, or longitudinal dispersivity, typically exceeds the
transverse dispersivity from up to an order of magnitude. Being driven by the
concentration gradient alone, molecular diffusion is small relative to the mechanical
dispersion, except at very low fluid velocities.

692 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

Figure 9-2: Spreading of fluid around solid particles in a porous medium.

is controlled through the dispersion tensor DD. The tensor components can either be
given by user-defined values or expressions, or derived from the directional
dispersivities.

Using the longitudinal and transverse dispersivities in 2D, the dispersivity tensor
components are (Ref. 9):

2 2
ui uj
D Dii = α L ------- + α T -------
u u

ui uj
D Dij = D Dji = ( α L – α T ) -----------
u

In these equations, DDii (SI unit: m2/s) are the principal components of the
dispersivity tensor, and DDji and DDji are the cross terms. The parameters αL and αT
(SI unit: m) specify the longitudinal and transverse dispersivities; and ui (SI unit: m/s)
stands for the velocity field components.

In order to facilitate modeling of stratified porous media in 3D, the tensor formulation
by Burnett and Frind (Ref. 10) can be used. Consider a transverse isotropic media,
where the strata are piled up in the z direction, the dispersivity tensor components are:

THEORY FOR THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 693

 2 2 2
u v w
D Lxx = α 1 ------- + α 2 ------- + α 3 -------
u u u
2 2 2
v u w
D Lyy = α 1 ------- + α 2 ------- + α 3 -------
u u u
2 2 2
w u v
D Lzz = α 1 ------- + α 3 ------- + α 3 -------
u u u (9-25)
uv
D Lxy = D Lyx = ( α 1 – α 2 ) -------
u
uw
D Lxz = D Lzx = ( α 1 – α 3 ) --------
u
vw
D Lyz = D Lzy = ( α 1 – α 3 ) --------
u

In Equation 9-25 the fluid velocities u, v, and w correspond to the components of the
velocity field u in the x, y, and z directions, respectively, and α1 (SI unit: m) is the
longitudinal dispersivity. If z is the vertical axis, α2 and α3 are the dispersivities in the
transverse horizontal and transverse vertical directions, respectively (SI unit: m).
Setting α2 = α3 gives the expressions for isotropic media shown in Bear (Ref. 9 and
Ref. 11).

Adsorption
As species travel through a porous medium they typically attach to (adsorb), and
detach (desorb) from the solid phase, which slows chemical transport through the
porous medium. Adsorption and desorption respectively reduces or increases species
concentrations in the fluid. The adsorption properties vary between chemicals, so a
plume containing multiple species can separate into components (Ref. 6). The
Adsorption feature includes four predefined and one user defined relationships to
predict the solid concentrations, cPi from the concentration in the liquid phase, ci:

694 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

 KL c
c P = c Pmax -------------------- Langmuir
1 + KL c
c N
c P = K F  -------- Freundlich
 c ref
bT c (9-26)
c P = c Pmax ---------------------------------------------- Toth
N 1 ⁄ NT
( 1 + ( bT c ) T )
KB c0 c
c P = -------------------------------------------------------------- BET
( c S – c )  1 + ( K B – 1 ) -----
c
 c S

The above equations contains the following parameters:

• Freundlich: Freundlich constant KF (SI unit:·mol/kg), Freundlich exponent NF

(dimensionless), and reference concentration cref (SI unit: mol/m3).
• Langmuir: Langmuir constant KL (SI unit: m3/mol), and adsorption maximum
cPmax (SI unit: mol/kg).
• Toth: Toth constant bT (SI unit: m3/mol), Toth exponent NT (dimensionless), and
adsorption maximum cPmax (SI unit: mol/kg).
• BET (Braunauer-Emmett-Teller): BET constant KB (dimensionless), and a
monolayer adsorption capacity c0 (SI unit: mol/kg) and a Saturation concentration,
cS(SI unit: mol/m3).

These predefined expressions are adsorption isotherms that describe the amount of
species sorbed to the solid. Defined at equilibrium, the switch between liquid and solid
phases is instantaneous.

Using a Species Source feature, arbitrary expressions can be entered to define, for
example, nonequilibrium and temperature-dependent adsorption laws, including
those set out by Fetter (Ref. 7) and Bear and Verruijt (Ref. 8).

The retardation factor, RF, describes how adsorption slows the solute velocity, uc,
relative to the average linear velocity of the fluid, ua, as in

ρ b ∂c P ua
RF = 1 + ------ -------- = ------
θ ∂c uc

If the contaminant moves at the average linear velocity of the fluid for RF = 1. For
RF > 1, the contaminant velocity is smaller than the fluid velocity owing to residence
time on solids.

THEORY FOR THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 695

 Reactions
Chemical reactions of all types influence species transport in porous media. Examples
include biodegradation, radioactive decay, transformation to tracked products,
temperature- and pressure-dependent functions, exothermic reactions, and
endothermic reactions. The reactions represent change in species concentration per
unit volume porous medium per time. Reaction terms are used on the right-hand side
of the governing equation to represent these processes. For reactions in a fluid phase,
multiply the expression by the fluid volume fraction θ. Similarly, solid phase reaction
expressions include the bulk density, ρb, and gas phase reactions include the gas
volume fraction, av.

The following expressions define some common types of reactions:

ln 2
R Li = – θ --------- c i Radioactive decay — liquid
λ Li
ln 2 ∂c Pi
R Pi = – ρ b ---------  ---------- c i Radioactive decay — solid
λ Pi ∂c i
∂c Gi
R Gi = – --------- a v  ----------- c i Radioactive decay — gas
ln 2
λ Gi  ∂c 
R Lk = θζ Li c i Creation from parent c Li — liquid
∂c Pi
R Pk = ρ b ζ Pi  ---------- c i Creation from sorbed parent c Pi — solid
∂c i
∂c Gi
R Gk = – ζa v  ----------- c i Reaction — gas
∂c

where λ is the chemical half life, ζ is a reaction rate, and the subscripts L, P, and G
denote liquid, solid, and gas phases, respectively. In the equations, the reactions either
depend on liquid concentration ci or solid phase concentrations cPi obtained using the
sorption derivative with ci or gas phase concentration cGi depending on the gas volume
fraction, the volatilization, and the liquid concentration.

Reaction rates can vary with results from other equations in your model, such as
temperature. For example, enter the Arrhenius rate law given in Ref. 13:

Ea ( T – TR )
ζ T = ζ R exp ------------------------------ (9-27)
R u TT R

696 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

In Equation 9-27, T denotes the current absolute temperature, TR denotes the
reference absolute temperature, Ea is the activation energy, and Ru is the universal gas
constant.

Mass Transport in Fractures

When thin fractures occur in porous media, fluid flow tends to move faster along the
fracture than in the surrounding media. The transport of chemical species therefore
also occur also faster in the direction of the fractures.

The fluid flow in a fracture can be modeled using Darcy’s law formulated in a thin
sheet of porous medium (a fracture):

κ
u = --- ∇ t p
μ

Here u is the tangential Darcy velocity, κ is the fracture permeability, μ the fluid’s
dynamic viscosity, and ∇tp is the tangential gradient of the fluid pressure.

The equation to solve for mass transport of species ci in a thin fracture, embedded in
a porous media, is derived from Equation 9-20. The resulting equation is:

∂ρ b c P, i ∂ε p c i
d fr  ------------------- + ------------- + ∇ t ⋅ ( D e, i ∇ t c i ) + u ⋅ ∇ t c i = d fr R i + d fr S i + n 0 (9-28)
∂t ∂t

Here dfr is the fracture thickness, cP, i the amount of species adsorbed to (or desorbed
from) the porous matrix (moles per unit dry weight of the solid), εp is the fracture
porosity, and De is the effective diffusivity. The first two terms on the right hand side
represent source terms from reactions, and n0 corresponds to out-of plane flux from
the adjacent porous domain.

In order to arrive at the tangential differential equation, the gradient is split into the
contributions normal and tangential to the fracture:

∇c i = ∇ n c i + ∇ t c i

The normal gradient is defined in the direction normal to the boundary representing
the fracture and the tangential gradient is defined along the boundary. Assuming that
the variations in the normal (thin) direction of the fracture are negligible compared to
those in the tangential direction, the gradient is simplified as:

∇c i = ∇ t c i

THEORY FOR THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 697

 Using The Transport of Diluted Species in Fractures Interface, the transport along
fracture boundaries alone is solved for. In this case the transport in the surrounding
porous media neglected and the out-of plane flux n0 vanishes.

See Fracture for more information about the boundary feature solving
Equation 9-28. See for more information about the physics interface
solving the equation on boundaries only.

References
1. R. Codina, “A discontinuity-capturing crosswind-dissipation for the finite element
solution of the convection-diffusion equation”, Computer Methods in Applied
Mechanics and Engineering, vol. 110, pp. 325–342, 1993.

2. P.V. Danckwerts, “Continuous flow systems: Distribution of residence times”,

Chem. Eng. Sci., vol. 2, no. 1, 1953.

3. J.M. Coulson and J.F. Richardson, Chemical Engineering, vol. 2, 4th ed.,
Pergamon Press, Oxford, U.K., 1991.

4. J.M. Coulson and J.F. Richardson, Chemical Engineering, vol. 1, 4th ed.,
Pergamon Press, Oxford, U.K., 1991.

5. D.E Rosner, Transport Processes in Chemically Reacting Flow Systems, ISBN-13:

978-1483130262, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1986

6. D.M. Mackay, D.L. Freyberg, P.V. Roberts, and J.A. Cherry, “A Natural Gradient
Experiment on Solute Transport in a Sand Aquifer: 1. Approach and Overview of
Plume Movement”, Water Resourc. Res., vol. 22, no. 13, pp. 2017–2030, 1986.

7. C.W. Fetter, Contaminant Hydrogeology, Prentice Hall, 1999.

8. J. Bear and A. Verruijt, Modeling Groundwater Flow and Pollution, D. Reidel

Publishing, 1994.

9. J. Bear, Hydraulics of Groundwater, McGraw-Hill, 1979.

10. R.D. Burnett and E.O. Frind, “An Alternating Direction Galerkin Technique for
Simulation of Groundwater Contaminant Transport in Three Dimensions: 2.
Dimensionality Effects”, Water Resour. Res., vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 695–705, 1987.

11. J. Bear, Dynamics of Fluids in Porous Media, Elsevier Scientific Publishing, 1972.

698 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

12. R.J. Millington and J.M. Quirk, “Permeability of Porous Solids”, Trans. Faraday
Soc., vol. 57, pp. 1200–1207, 1961.

13. I. Langmuir, “Chemical Reactions at Low Temperatures”, J. Amer. Chem. Soc.,

vol. 37, 1915.

14. R.B. Bird, W.E. Stewart, and E.N. Lightfoot, Transport Phenomena, 2nd ed.,
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007.

About Turbulent Mixing

A flow field obtained using a turbulence model does not explicitly contain the small
eddies. These unresolved eddies still have a profound effect on the species transport,
an effect known as turbulent mixing.

The Transport of Diluted Species interface supports the inclusion of turbulent mixing
via the gradient-diffusion hypothesis which adds the following contribution to the
diffusion coefficient tensor:

νT
---------
-I (9-29)
Sc T

where νT is the turbulent kinematic viscosity, ScT is the turbulent Schmidt number and
I is the unit matrix. While having the form of a diffusive contribution, Equation 9-29
really models a convective phenomenon and it can therefore only be applied along with
convection.

The Schmidt number is typically given a value between 0.7 and 0.72, but it can range
between 0.3 and 1.3 (at least) depending on the application.

THEORY FOR THE TRANSPORT OF DILUTED SPECIES INTERFACE | 699

 Theory for the Transport of
Concentrated Species Interface
The Transport of Concentrated Species Interface theory is described in this section:

• Multicomponent Mass Transport

• Multicomponent Diffusion: Mixture-Averaged Approximation
• Multispecies Diffusion: Fick’s Law Approximation
• Multicomponent Thermal Diffusion
• Turbulent Mixing
• Regularization of Reaction Rate Expression
• References for the Transport of Concentrated Species Interface

Multicomponent Mass Transport

Suppose a reacting flow consists of a mixture with i = 1, …, Q species and j = 1, …, N
reactions. Equation 9-1 then describes the mass transport for an individual species:

∂ ρω
( i ) + ∇ ⋅ ( ρω i u ) = – ∇ ⋅ j i + R i (9-30)
∂t

where, ρ (SI unit: kg/m3) denotes the mixture density and u (SI unit: m/s) the mass
averaged velocity of the mixture. The remaining variables are specific for each of the
species, i, being described by the mass transfer equation:

• ωi is the mass fraction (1)

• ji (SI unit: kg/(m2·s)) is the mass flux relative to the mass averaged velocity, and
• Ri (SI unit: kg/ (m3·s)) is the rate expression describing its production or
consumption.

The relative mass flux vector ji can include contributions due to molecular diffusion
and thermal diffusion.

Summation of the transport equations over all present species gives Equation 9-31 for
the conservation of mass

700 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

 ∂ρ
+ ∇ ⋅ ( ρu ) = 0 (9-31)
∂t

assuming that

Q Q Q

 ωi = 1 ,  ji = 0 ,  Ri = 0
i=1 i=1 i=1

Using the mass conservation equation, the species transport for an individual species,
i, is given by:

ρ ∂ ( ω i ) + ρ ( u ⋅ ∇ )ω i = – ∇ ⋅ j i + R i (9-32)
∂t

Q − 1 of the species equations are independent and possible to solve for using
Equation 9-32. To compute the mass fraction of the remaining species, COMSOL
Multiphysics uses the fact that the sum of the mass fractions is equal to 1:

ω1 = 1 –  ωi (9-33)
i=2

Multicomponent Diffusion: Mixture-Averaged Approximation

The mixture-averaged diffusion model assumes that the relative mass flux due to
molecular diffusion is governed by a Fick’s law type approximation.

Assuming that the diffusive flux, relative to the mass averaged velocity, is proportional
to the mole fraction gradient, the mass flux is defined as:

m ∇x i
j md, i = – ρ i D i --------- (9-34)
xi

Here ρi is the density, and xi the mole fraction of species i. Using the definition of the
species density and mole fraction

ωi
ρ i = ρω i , x i = ------- M
Mi

Equation 9-34 can be expressed in terms of the mass fractions (ωi) in the manner of

THEORY FOR THE TRANSPORT OF CONCENTRATED SPECIES INTERFACE | 701

 m ∇M
j md, i = –  ρD i ∇ω i + ρω i D i ---------
m
 M

Using Equation 9-34 together with the Maxwell-Stefan equations, where isobaric and
isothermal conditions have been assumed, the following expression for the
mixture-averaged diffusion coefficients can be derived (Ref. 3):

m 1 – ωi
D i = -------------------------- (9-35)
xk

N
---------
k≠iD
ik

If instead the diffusive flux (relative to the mass averaged velocity) is assumed
proportional to the mass fraction gradient, the mass flux is defined as:

m* ∇ω i m*
j md, i = – ρ i D i ---------- = – ρD i ∇ω i (9-36)
ωi

For this assumption, using Equation 9-36 together with the Maxwell-Stefan
equations, also assuming isobaric and isothermal conditions, the following expression
for the mixture-averaged diffusion coefficients can be derived (Ref. 3):

1 xk xi ωk
k ≠ i --------
D ik 1 – ω i k ≠ i D ik
N N
----------- =
m*
- + --------------- --------- (9-37)
Di

THE MIXTURE-AVERAGED DIFFUSION COEFFICIENT

When using the mixture-averaged model, the diffusion is proportional to a single
diffusion coefficient. The coefficient describes the diffusion of species i relative to the
remaining mixture and is referred to as the mixture-averaged diffusion coefficient. The
coefficient is explicitly given in terms of the multicomponent Maxwell-Stefan
diffusivities Dik. For low-density gas mixtures, the Dik components can be replaced by
the binary diffusivities for the species pairs present.

MIXTURE DIFFUSION CORRECTION

It should be noted that models for the multicomponent diffusivities based on Fick’s
law are approximations. One drawback of this is that the net diffusive mass flux, the
sum of all mass fluxes relative to the mass averaged velocity, is not constrained to zero.
To account for this we add a flux, defined by a correction velocity uc, to enforce a zero
net diffusive flux in the manner of:

702 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

 i = 1 ρωi ( ud,i + uc )
N
j md, i = = 0 (9-38)

Hence the correction velocity is:

i = 1 ωi ud,i
N
uc = – (9-39)

Here ud,i is the diffusion velocity resulting from the flux assumption in Equation 9-34
or Equation 9-36. Note that the correction velocity is a constant correction (same for
all species), but varies in space.

Using the correction velocity together with Equation 9-34, the resulting diffusive flux
is

m ∇M Mi
i = 1 ------
m N m
j md, i = – ρD i ∇ω i – ρω i D i --------- + ρω i - D ∇x i (9-40)
M M i

If instead Equation 9-36is used the resulting diffusive flux is

i = 1 Di
m* N m*
j md, i = – ρD i ∇ω i + ρω i ∇ω i (9-41)

ADDITIONAL TRANSPORT MECHANISMS

Apart from molecular diffusion, transport due to thermal diffusion can be accounted
for by adding the following term to the diffusive flux:

T ∇T
j i = ∇ ⋅  D i --------
 T

T
Here D i (SI unit: kg/(m·s)) is the thermal diffusion coefficient.

Multispecies Diffusion: Fick’s Law Approximation

Using a Fick’s law approximation, the relative mass flux due to molecular diffusion is
governed by

F ∇x i
j md, i = – ρ i D i, kl --------- (9-42)
xi

when assuming that the diffusive flux is proportional to the mole fraction gradient. If
instead assuming that it is proportional to the mass fraction it becomes

THEORY FOR THE TRANSPORT OF CONCENTRATED SPECIES INTERFACE | 703

 F
j md, i = – ρD i, kl ∇ω i (9-43)
F
In the equations above D i, kl represents a general diffusion matrix (SI unit: m2/s)
describing the diffusion of species i into the mixture. This form makes it possible to
use any diffusion coefficient, matrix, or empirical model based on Fick’s law. For
example, in situations when the mass transport is not dominated by diffusion, an
alternative is to use the diffusion coefficients at infinite dilution,

F 0
D i, kk = D i

These coefficients are typically more readily available compared to the binary diffusion
diffusivities, especially for liquid mixtures.

The mixture diffusion correction described above for the mixture-averaged diffusion
can also be applied in this case. Correspondingly, the resulting diffusive flux is

F ∇M Mi
i = 1 ------
F N F
j md, i = – ρD i, kl ∇ω i – ρω i D i, kl --------- + ρω i - D ∇x (9-44)
M M i, kl i

when using Equation 9-42 and

i = 1 Di, kl ∇ωi
F N F
j md, i = – ρD i, kl ∇ω i + ρω i (9-45)

when instead using Equation 9-43.

When using the Fick’s Law approximation, Additional Transport Mechanisms can be
accounted for in the same manner as described above for the mixture-averaged
approximation.

Multicomponent Thermal Diffusion

Mass diffusion in multicomponent mixtures due to temperature gradients is referred
to as the Soret effect. This occurs in mixtures with high temperature gradients and
large variations in molecular weight (or size) of the species. Typically species with high
molecular weight accumulate in lower temperature regions while the diffusion due to
the Soret effect transports species with low molecular weight to higher temperature
regions. In COMSOL Multiphysics, thermal diffusion is included by prescribing the
T
thermal diffusion coefficients D i . In a multicomponent mixture, the sum of the
thermal diffusion coefficients is zero:

704 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

 Q

 Di
T
= 0
i=1

Turbulent Mixing
A flow field obtained using a turbulence model does not explicitly contain the small
eddies. These unresolved eddies still have a profound effect on the species transport,
an effect known as turbulent mixing.

The Transport of Concentrated Species Interface supports the inclusion of turbulent

mixing via the gradient-diffusion hypothesis. In the case of mixture-averaged diffusion,
it adds the following contribution to the diffusion coefficient for each species:

νT
---------
- (9-46)
Sc T

while for Fick’s law diffusion, it adds the following contribution to the diffusion
coefficient tensor:

νT
---------
-I (9-47)
Sc T

Here, νT is the turbulent kinematic viscosity, ScT is the turbulent Schmidt number and
I is the unit matrix. While having the form of diffusive contributions, Equation 9-46
and Equation 9-47 really model a convective phenomenon and they can therefore only
be applied along with convection.

The Schmidt number is typically given a value between 0.7 and 0.72, but it can range
between 0.3 and 1.3 (at least) depending on the application.

Regularization of Reaction Rate Expression

The flexibility of COMSOL means that a reaction can result in nearly any reaction rate
contribution Ric to a mass fraction ωi. But a reactant, ωr, can physically only be
consumed if ωr > 0 and a product, ωk, can only be formed if ωk < 1. The Reaction
feature in Transport of Concentrated Species Interface contains a way to regularize
make the rate expression contributions comply to these restrictions.

When selected the “core”, or unregularized reaction rate contribution, Ric, to a mass
fraction ωi is replaced by

THEORY FOR THE TRANSPORT OF CONCENTRATED SPECIES INTERFACE | 705

 c c c c
1 Ri – Ri 1 Ri + Ri
R i = --- -------------------------------- max ( ω i, 0 ) + --- -----------------------------------------
- max ( 1 – ω i, 0 ) (9-48)
2 max ( ω , ω ) dl 2 max ( 1 – ω , ω dl )
i i i i

The first term on the right hand side of Equation 9-48 is active if Ric < 0, that is if ωi
is a reactant. The reaction rate contribution, Ri, is equal to the “core” reaction rate,
Ric, as long as ωi > ωidl. As ωi approaches zero, the regularization damps out negative
Ric and for ωi < 0, Ri for reactant ωi is equal to zero.

The second term on the right hand side of Equation 9-48 is active if Ric > 0, that is if
ωi is a product. The reaction rate contribution, Ri, is equal to the “core” reaction rate,
Ric, as long as ωi < 1−ωidl. As ωi approaches one, the regularization damps out
positive Ric and for ωi > 1, Ri for product ωi is equal to zero.

The damping limits, ωidl, should be in an order of magnitude that can be considered
numerical noise for species i. The damping limits are per default set to 1e−6, which is
appropriate for most applications. It can be advantageous to lower some limits when
working with for example catalytic trace species and the limits can sometimes be raised
to gain additional robustness.

References for the Transport of Concentrated Species Interface

1. C.F. Curtiss and R.B. Bird, “Multicomponent Diffusion”, Ind. Chem. Res., vol. 38
pp. 2515–2522, 1999.

2. R.B. Bird, W.E. Stewart, and E.N. Lightfoot, Transport Phenomena, 2nd ed., John
Wiley & Sons, 2005.

3. R.J. Kee, M.E. Coltrin, and P. Glarborg, Chemically Reacting Flow, John Wiley &
Sons, 2003.

4. A. Soulaïmani and M. Fortin, “Finite Element Solution of Compressible Viscous

Flows Using Conservative Variables”, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and
Engineering, vol. 118, pp. 319–350, 1994.

706 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

Theory for the Reacting Flow
Interfaces
The following sections describe theory applicable for the Reacting Flow interfaces:

• Pseudo Time Stepping for Mass Transport

• The Stefan Velocity
• The Chemical Reaction Rate
• Turbulent Mass Transport Models
• Mass Transport Wall Functions
• Turbulent Reactions
• The Reaction Source Term for Turbulent Flow
• Theory for the Interior Fan Boundary Condition
• References for the Reacting Flow Interfaces

Pseudo Time Stepping for Mass Transport

In order to improve the solution robustness, pseudo time stepping can be used for the
Transport of Concentrated Species interface when solving a stationary model. Using
pseudo time stepping, a fictitious time derivative term:

ω i – nojac ( ω i )
ρ ------------------------------------
Δt̃

is added to the left-hand side of the mass fraction equations. Here ρ is the fluid mixture
density, ωi is the mass fraction (dimensionless) of species i, and Δt̃ is the pseudo time
step. Since ωi−nojac(ωi) is always zero, this term does not affect the final solution. It
does, however, affect the discrete equation system and effectively transforms a
nonlinear iteration into a time step of size Δt̃ .

For a description of the pseudo time step term for the Navier-Stokes
equations and the pseudo time step see Pseudo Time Stepping for
Laminar Flow Models and Pseudo Time Stepping in the COMSOL
Multiphysics Reference Manual.

THEORY FOR THE REACTING FLOW INTERFACES | 707

 The Stefan Velocity
Heterogeneous reactions on fluid-solid surfaces can affect the mass, momentum, and
energy balances at the interface separating the fluid and the solid. On the reacting
surface, the production or destruction rate, rs,i (SI unit: mol/(m2·s)), of a fluid phase
species is balanced by the total mass flux of the species. The mass balance for species i
on a boundary representing a fluid-solid interface is given by:

n ⋅ ( j i + ρω i u ) = r s,i M i (9-49)

Here, n is the unit normal pointing out of the fluid domain, u is the mass averaged
velocity of the fluid mixture (SI unit: m/s), ji denotes the mass flux of species i relative
to relative to the mixture (typically due to diffusion), and Mi is the species molar mass
(SI unit: kg/mol). Summing the mass balances at the surface, over all species, results
in an effective mixture velocity:

n ⋅ ρu s =  rs,i Mi (9-50)
i=1

referred to as the Stefan velocity, here denoted us. To reach Equation 9-50 the fact
that the sum of all mass fractions is one, and that the sum of all relative diffusive fluxes
is zero, was used.

Equation 9-50 implies that surface reactions result in a net flux between the surface
and the domain. A net flux in turn corresponds to an effective convective velocity at
the domain boundary; the Stefan velocity. It should be noted here that when solving
for mass transport inside a fluid domain, an outer boundary of the domain corresponds
to a position just outside of the actual physical wall (on the fluid side). The domain
boundary does not coincide with the physical wall.

In most reacting flow models, the species mass fractions in the fluid domain are solved
for without including the surface concentrations (mol per area) on exterior walls. One
reason for this is that the surface reaction rates are often not known. In this case,
surface reactions can be modeled either by applying a mass flux or prescribing the mass
fraction, or a combination of both, on fluid boundaries adjacent to the reacting
surface. The Stefan velocity on a fluid domain boundary is then defined as the net mass
flux resulting from the boundary conditions applied:

708 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

 N

n ⋅ ρu s =  n ⋅ ( j0, i + ρω0, i u ) (9-51)

i=1

Here, the first term contains contributions from boundary conditions prescribing the
mass flux, while the second contains contributions from boundary conditions
prescribing the mass fractions. Contributions to the Stefan velocity can be added by
selecting Account for Stefan velocity in the Flux or Mass Fraction features in The
Transport of Concentrated Species interface.

The resulting Stefan velocity based on mass transport boundary conditions is

computed as:

 n ⋅ j 0, i
i=1
n ⋅ u s = ------------------------------------
- (9-52)
N
 
ρ  1 –  ω i, 0
 i 

Using a Reacting Flow interface, the Stefan velocity, defined in the manner of
Equation 9-52, is automatically computed and applied on boundaries corresponding
to walls in the coupled fluid flow interface. The Stefan velocity is prescribed in the wall
normal direction on the wall selection.

The Chemical Reaction Rate

For laminar flow, or when the Turbulent-reaction model is set to None in a Reaction
feature (in Transport of Concentrated Species), the default (Automatic) reaction rate
used by the Reaction feature is based on the mass action law. Consider a general
reaction belonging to a set of j reactions and involving i species:

f (9-53)
kj
aA + bB + ... r
xX + yY + ...
kj

For such a reaction set, the reaction rates rj (SI unit: mol/(m3·s)), can be described by
the mass action law:

THEORY FOR THE REACTING FLOW INTERFACES | 709

 f –ν ν
∏
r
rj = kj c i ij – k j ∏ c i ij (9-54)
i ∈ react i ∈ prod
f r
Here, k j and k j denote the forward and reverse rate constants, respectively. The
concentration of species i is denoted ci (SI unit: mol/m3). The stoichiometric
coefficients are denoted νij, and are defined to be negative for reactants and positive
for products. In practice, a reaction seldom involves more than two species colliding
in a reacting step, which means that a kinetic expression is usually of order 2 or less
(with respect to the involved concentrations).

In addition to the concentration dependence, the temperature dependence can be

included by using the predefined Arrhenius expressions for the rate constants:

k = AT exp  – -----------
n E
 R g T

Here, A denotes the frequency factor, n the temperature exponent, E the activation
energy (SI unit: J/mol) and Rg the gas constant, 8.314 J/(mol·K). The
pre-exponential factor, including the frequency factor A and the temperature factor
Tn, is given the units (m3/mol)α − 1/s, where α is the order of the reaction (with
respect to the concentrations).

Turbulent Mass Transport Models

The RANS turbulence models included in the Reacting Flow interfaces are based on
averaging of the fluid flow equations. Applying a corresponding decomposition of the
fluctuating mass fraction, into mean and fluctuating parts, and averaging the mass
transport equations, additional unclosed terms are introduced in the equations. These
terms need to be modeled in order to close the set of equations. The most important
terms, containing the correlations of the velocity and mass fraction fluctuations,
referred to as the turbulent mass transport fluxes, are given by:

∂ ( ρu i ″ω″ )
---------------------------
∂x i

Here the double primes denote Favre (density-based) fluctuations. In the case of
varying density flow, Favre averaging is favored over Reynolds averaging since it
reduces the number of unclosed terms and renders the equation on the same form as
the incompressible RANS equations. For more background on averaging, see
Turbulence Modeling.

710 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

The most common way to model this term is to use a gradient based assumption,
where the additional turbulent transport is related to the turbulent viscosity through a
turbulent Schmidt number ScT:

μ T ∂ω̃ ∂ω̃
ρu i ″ω″ = – --------- -------- = – ρD T -------- (9-55)
Sc T ∂x i ∂x i

Here ω̃ denotes the Favre averaged mass fraction which is the quantity solved for.

Using a RANS turbulence model, the turbulent mass flux is defined from
Equation 9-55, and the equation solved for each species is:

ρ ∂ ( ω̃ i ) + ρ ( ũ ⋅ ∇ )ω̃ i =
∂t
νT ∇M T ∇T
∇ ⋅  ρ  D i + --------- ∇ω̃ i + ρω̃ i D i --------- + D i -------- + ρω̃ i z i u m, i F ∇V + R i
 Sc T M T

where the molecular diffusion coefficient, Di, is given by the diffusion model
(Mixture-Average or Fick’s Law).

KAYS-CRAWFORD
Assuming that the turbulent transport mechanisms of heat and mass processes are
analogous, the turbulent Schmidt number is defined by (Ref. 1):

 1 0.3Pe T  –1
Sc T =  ---------------- + ------------------- – ( 0.3Pe T ) 2 [ 1 – e – 1 ⁄ ( 0.3Pe T Sc T∞ ) ]

 2Sc T∞ Sc T∞ 

where the Schmidt number at infinity is ScT∞ = 0.85, and the turbulent Peclet number
is defined as the ratio of the turbulent to molecular viscosity times the Schmidt
number:

νT
Pe T = ------ Sc
ν

HIGH SCHMIDT NUMBER MODEL

In the case of high Schmidt numbers, which is typical for mass transport in liquids, the
mass transfer near walls can be significantly different than that for Schmidt numbers of
order unity. A diffusion layer near a solid wall, due to, for example, a reaction on the
wall, does not have the same properties as the (momentum) boundary layer. Most
importantly the diffusion layer thickness is significantly smaller than the boundary layer

THEORY FOR THE REACTING FLOW INTERFACES | 711

 thickness for high Schmidt numbers. To correctly capture the mass flux at the wall, the
wall resolution required is dictated by the diffusion layer rather than by the boundary
layer.

The High Schmidt number model is based on the model by Kubacki and Dick (Ref. 2)
and is available when using the Low-Reynolds k-ε turbulence model or the SST
turbulence model. In this case the fluid flow is resolved all the way to the physical wall
and consequently, and species boundary equations are applied directly on the wall
(without using wall functions).

In the near wall region, where the species transport is limited by diffusion, the mass
diffusivity is modeled using an analytical function of the nondimensional wall distance
due to Na and Hanratty (Ref. 3):

D T,w m
------------ = b ( l * )
ν

The nondimensional wall distance applied, l * , corresponds to that defined by the

turbulence model. The value of the constants b and m are given in Table 9-1.
TABLE 9-1: NA AND HANRATTY PARAMETERS

SCHMIDT NUMBER b m
0.1 < Sc < 5 7.3·10-4 3
-4
5 < Sc < 50 5.3·10 3
-4
Sc > 50 4.63·10 3.38

Further out from the wall, where the mass transport is governed by the turbulent
transport, the transport is modeled using a turbulent Schmidt number of the form
(Ref. 2):

νT νT 3 –1
Sc T,c =  0.5882 + 0.228  ------ – 0.0441  ------ [ 1 – e – 5.165 ⁄ ( ν T ⁄ ν ) ]
  ν  ν 

In order to combine the two descriptions, the blending function by Kader (Ref. 4) is
used:

νT ( –Γ ) ( –1 ⁄ Γ )
D T = ------------ e + D T,w e
Sc T,c

where

712 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

 4
0.01 ( l * ) -
Γ = -----------------------
( 1 + 5l * )

Mass Transport Wall Functions

Analogous to the single-phase flow wall functions (see Wall Functions applied for the
Wall boundary condition), there is a theoretical gap between the solid wall and the
computational domain of the fluid. This gap is often ignored when the computational
geometry is drawn.

Assuming that the turbulent heat and mass transfer in the near-wall region are
analogous, the same type of wall functions used for the temperature (Ref. 8) is also
applicable for the mass transport. The mass transfer wall function is formulated as a
function of the molecular and turbulent Schmidt numbers of each species, instead of
the corresponding Prandtl numbers.

Assume that there is a mass fraction ωi,w just outside the wall and that it is in
equilibrium with the surface chemistry. The mass flux, for species i, between the wall
and a fluid with a mass fraction of ωi,f at the lift-off position is:

ρC μ1 / 4 k 1 / 2 ( ω i, w – ω i, f )
m wf = -----------------------------------------------------------
-
ω i+

where ρ is the fluid density, Cμ is a turbulence modeling constant, and k is the

turbulent kinetic energy. ω i+ is the dimensionless mass fraction given by (Ref. 8):

+
Scδ w for δ w
+ < δ+
w1

 15Sc 2 / 3 – 500
---------- + ≤ δ+ < δ+
for δ w1
ω i+ =  δ +2  w w2
w
Sc T
--------- lnδ w
+ +β for δ w2
+ ≤ δ+
κ w

where in turn

THEORY FOR THE REACTING FLOW INTERFACES | 713

 δ w ρ C μ1 / 2 k 10 -
+ = ------------------------------
δw + = ------------
δ w1
μ Sc 1 / 3
κ
+ = 10 10 -------- μ
δ w2 - Sc = ----------------
Sc T ρD i, m
Sc T κ
β = 15Sc 2 / 3 – ---------  1 + ln  1000 --------- 
2κ v   Sc T 

κv is the von Karman constant, and Di,m the mean species diffusion coefficient. The
latter corresponds directly to the mixture-averaged diffusion coefficient when using
the Mixture-average diffusion model. Using the Fick’s law diffusion model, the mean
diffusion coefficient is computed as 1/N·tr(Di), where Di is the diffusion tensor and N
is the dimension of the model.

The computational result should be checked so that the distance between the
computational fluid domain and the wall, δw, is almost everywhere small compared to
any geometrical quantity of interest. The distance δw is available as a postprocessing
variable (delta_w) on boundaries.

Turbulent Reactions
In turbulent flow the reaction rate is significantly affected by the turbulence. Turbulent
fluctuations can increase the reaction rate due to the increased mixing, but it can also
quench it through removal of species or the heat required for ignition. The interaction
between the flow and the reactions can be quantified through the Damköhler number
Da:

τT
Da = ------
τc

which compares the time scale of the largest turbulent flow structures (the integral
time scale), to the chemical time scale. In the limit of large Damköhler numbers
Da >> 1, the reactive time scale is significantly smaller than that of the turbulence. In
this regime the inner structure of a reaction zone is thin enough not to be affected by
turbulence. The reacting regions are, however, convected and wrinkled by the
turbulence. In this case the global reaction rate is proportional to the chemical reaction
rate times the surface of the reacting regions. In the limit of small Damköhler numbers
Da << 1, the chemical time scale is much larger than that of the turbulent flow. In this
case the global reaction rate is controlled by the chemistry, while the turbulence acts

714 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

by continuously mixing the species. This regime is referred to as a “perfectly stirred
reactor”.

MEAN VALUE CLOSURE

A mean turbulent production rate can be obtained by directly applying the mean
concentrations and temperature in the kinetic reaction rate expressions:

R i = ν i M i r MVC,i

where νi denotes the species stoichiometric coefficient, Mi the molar mass

(SI unit: kg/mol), and rMVC,i is the reaction rate from Equation 9-54 using mean
quantities.

This is referred to as mean value closure of the turbulent reaction rate, and corresponds
to keeping the first term in a Taylor series expansion of the turbulent reaction rate
following a Reynolds decomposition of the fluctuating variables (Ref. 5). The mean
value closure is directly applicable in the perfectly-stirred-reactor limit (Da << 1). In
this case the turbulence is able to mix the species in the sense of changing the mean
concentration, but the turbulent fluctuations do not affect the chemical reaction rate.
The mean value closure is also applicable in the limit of low turbulence levels since the
turbulent fluctuations tend to zero as the laminar flow regime is approached.

EDDY DISSIPATION MODEL

The eddy-dissipation model for the mean reaction rate originally developed by
Magnusson and Hjertager (Ref. 6) for non-premixed combustion. Using this reaction
model, the mean production rate of species i is defined as:

α ωr ωp
R i = ν i M i ------ ρ ⋅ min min  ------------- , β   -------------- = ν i M i r ED,i
τT νr Mr ν p M p
p

The model assumes that both the Reynolds and Damköhler numbers are sufficiently
high for the reaction rate to be limited by the turbulent mixing time-scale τT. The
reaction can hence at most progress at the rate at which fresh reactants are mixed, at
the molecular level, by the turbulence present. Furthermore the reaction rate is limited
by the deficient reactant; the reactant with the lowest local concentration. When the
model parameter β is finite, the existence of product species is also required for
reaction, modeling the activation energy required for reaction (ignition). For gaseous
non-premixed combustion the model parameters have been found to correspond to
(Ref. 6):

THEORY FOR THE REACTING FLOW INTERFACES | 715

 α = 4 , β = 0.5

For liquid reactions it is recommended that the model parameters are calibrated against
experimental or simulation data. Using a mix of the mean value closure and a modified
version of the eddy-dissipation model Bakker and Fasano (Ref. 7) found the following
parameter values

α 2 = 0.08 , α 1 = β 1 = β 2 = ∞

to give good results for a competitive reaction pair when compared with experimental
results.

A common approximation for the turbulence mixing time-scale τT is τ T ≈ k ⁄ ε

(Ref. 5). Due to realizability constraints, a more accurate approximation is however

τ T = min  ---, -----------------------

k 1
(9-56)
 ε C μ 3λ max

where in turn

1
λ max = --- S ij S ij
2

for 2D and

2S ij S ij
λ max = ------------------
-
3

for 3D and 2D axisymmetry. Equation 9-56 is directly applicable to the k-ε model. For
the k-ω and SST turbulence models, Equation 9-56 reads

τ T = min  --------- 
1
1 - ---------------------
,
β * ω β * 3λ max

Equation 9-56 is used also for the low-Reynolds k-ε model even though k/ε is not
actually the turbulence mixing time scale. To obtain a consistent turbulence mixing
time scale for low-Reynolds k-ε, k/ε needs to be multiplied by a damping function that
goes to zero at solid walls. Ref. 5 does however notice that τT is not a relevant time
scale close to walls since it is too small. The damping function is therefore neglected in
the eddy-dissipation model.

716 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

The Reaction Source Term for Turbulent Flow
For turbulent flow, or when the Turbulent-reaction model is set to Eddy-dissipation in
the Reaction feature (in Transport of Concentrated Species), the reaction source term
is computed as the minimum of the mean value closure and that from the eddy
dissipation model:

R i = ν i M i ⋅ min r MVC,i, r EDC,i

This approach combines the regimes of the separate models. For fast reactions the
reaction rate is limited by the turbulent mixing. At the same time, in regions with low
turbulence levels, or low kinetic reactions rates, the latter limits the production rate.

Theory for the Interior Fan Boundary Condition

When the Reacting Flow multiphysics coupling feature is active, the mass fraction fields
that are discontinuous over the fan. For each species, ωi, an outlet mass fraction
condition is applied:

• If direction is Along normal vector, the outlet mass fraction ωi, avg is defined by:
 

 up ( u ⋅ nρ ) dS ω i, avg =
   down ( u ⋅ nρωi ) dS
Γ Γ

• If the direction is opposite to normal vector, the outlet temperature Tavg is defined
by:
 

 down ( u ⋅ nρ ) dS ω i, avg =
   up ( u ⋅ nρωi ) dS
Γ Γ

This means that there is no diffusion over the interior fan, and no migration either.

References for the Reacting Flow Interfaces

1. W.M. Kays, “Turbulent Prandtl Number — Where Are We?”, ASME Journal of
Heat Transfer, vol. 116, pp. 284–295, 1994.

2. S. Kubacki and E. Dick, “Simulation of Impinging Mass Transfer at High Schmidt

Number with Algebraic Models”, Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, vol.
11, no. 1, pp. 30–41, 2011.

THEORY FOR THE REACTING FLOW INTERFACES | 717

 3. Y. Na and T.J. Hanratty, “Limiting Behavior of Turbulent Scalar Transport Close to
the Wall”, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, vol. 43, pp. 1749–1758, 2000.

4. B.A. Kader, “Temperature and Concentration Profiles in Fully Turbulent Boundary

Layers”, Int. J. of Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 24, pp. 1541–1544, 1981.

5. T. Poinsot and D. Veynante, Theoretical and Numerical Combustion, 2nd. ed.,

R.T. Edwards, Philadelphia, 2005.

6. B.F. Magnussen and B.H. Hjertager, “On Mathematical Modeling of Turbulent

Combustion with Special Emphasis on Soot Formation and Combustion”, 16th Symp.
(Int.) on Combustion. Comb. Inst., Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, pp. 719–729, 1976.

7. A. Bakker and J.B. Fasano, “Time Dependent, Turbulent Mixing and Chemical
Reactions in Stirred Tank”, AIChE Symposium Series 299, vol. 90, pp. 71–78, 1993.

8. D. Lacasse, È. Turgeon, and D. Pelletier, “On the Judicious Use of the k-ε Model,
Wall Functions and Adaptivity”, Int.J. of Thermal Sciences, vol. 43, pp. 925–938,
2004.

718 | CHAPTER 9: CHEMICAL SPECIES TRANSPORT INTERFACES

 10

Thin-Film Flow Interfaces

The physics interfaces described in this section are found under the Thin-Film Flow
branch ( ).

In this chapter

• The Thin-Film Flow Interfaces

• Theory for the Thin-Film Flow Interfaces

719
 T he T hi n- Fi lm Fl ow In t erfaces
In this section:

• The Thin-Film Flow, Shell Interface

• The Thin-Film Flow, Domain Interface
• The Thin-Film Flow, Edge Interface
• Domain, Boundary, Edge, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Thin-Film Flow Branch
Interfaces

The physics interfaces found under the Thin-Film Flow branch ( ) when adding a
physics interface describe momentum transport. These physics interfaces can be added
either singularly or in combination with other physics interfaces describing mass and
energy transfer. The thin-film flow interfaces are shown in Table 10-1.
TABLE 10-1: THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES DEFAULT SETTINGS

PHYSICS INTERFACE LABEL NAME SPACE DIMENSION GEOMETRIC ENTITY LEVEL

Thin-Film Flow, Shell tffs 3D Boundaries

Thin-Film Flow, Edge tffs 2D, 2D axisymmetric Boundaries
Thin-Film Flow, Domain tff 2D Domains

Each of the physics interfaces can be configured to solve either the standard Reynolds
Equation (with a material or user-defined density specified at the absolute pressure), or
to solve the Modified Reynolds Equation, which should be used for gas flows. The
Modified Reynolds Equation assumes the ideal gas law and applies when gas pressure
changes in the flow itself result in significant density changes.

Theory for the Thin-Film Flow Interfaces

The Thin-Film Flow, Shell Interface

The Thin-Film Flow, Shell (tffs) interface ( ), found under the Thin-Film Flow
branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used to solve the Reynolds equation
or the modified Reynolds equation in a narrow channel that is represented by a surface
within the geometry. It is used for lubrication, elastohydrodynamics, or gas damping
simulations when the fluid channel is thin enough for the Reynolds equation or the

720 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

Modified Reynolds equation to apply. The physics interface is available for 3D
geometries.

This physics interface is defined in a boundary mode, which means that the boundary
level is the highest level for which this physics interface has equations and features; it
does not have any features or equations on the domain level. The boundary level
represents a reference surface on which the flow is solved. On one side of the boundary
level there is a wall and on the other a base surface, neither of which is represented in
the geometry. The wall and base surfaces are orientated with respect to the reference
surface normal as shown in Figure 10-1. Fluid flows in the gap between the wall and
the base.

Figure 10-1: Diagram illustrating the orientation of the wall and the base surfaces with
respect to the reference surface in the Thin-Film Flow interfaces. A vector from the
reference surface to the corresponding point on the wall always points in the −nref
direction, where nref is the reference surface normal. Similarly a vector from the reference
surface to the corresponding point on the base points in the +nref direction. The height of
the wall above the reference surface (hw) and the height of the base below the reference
surface (hb) are also shown in the figure.

Using equations on the reference surface, the physics interface computes the pressure
in a narrow gap between the wall and the base. When modeling the flow, it is assumed
that the total gap height, h = hw+hb, is much smaller than the typical lateral dimension
L of the reference surface. The physics interface is used to model laminar flow in thin
gaps or channels. A lubricating oil between two rotating cylinders is an example of this.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder — Fluid-Film Properties, Border, and Initial Values. Then, from the Physics
toolbar, you can add other nodes that implement, for example, boundary conditions.
You can also right-click Thin-Film Flow, Shell to select physics features from the context
menu.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 721

 The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is tffs.

PHYSICAL MODEL
Select an Equation type — Reynolds equation (the default) or Modified Reynolds equation.

CAVITATION
To display this section, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Show
Advanced Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box. Select the Cavitation
check box to use when modeling bearings, for example. Then enter a Cavitation
transition width (SI unit: Pa). The default is 1 MPa.

Under normal operating conditions, the gases dissolved in the lubricant cause
cavitation in the diverging clearance between the journal and the bearing. This
happens because the pressure in the lubricant drops below the saturation pressure.

See the theory section for Cavitation for more information.

Note: Cavitation is only available in the Thin-Film Flow, Shell physics interface with a
CFD Module license. It is not available for the Thin-Film Damping boundary
condition, which can be added to the physics interfaces in the Structural Mechanics
area.

REFERENCE PRESSURE
Enter a Reference pressure level pref (SI unit: Pa). The default value is 1[atm]. This
pressure represents the ambient pressure and fluid loads are computed without
accounting for this pressure.

722 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variable (field variable) is the Pressure pf. The name can be changed
but the names of fields and dependent variables must be unique within a component.

• Domain, Boundary, Edge, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Thin-Film
Flow Branch Interfaces
• Theory for the Thin-Film Flow Interfaces

• Journal Bearing: Application Library path

CFD_Module/Thin-Film_Flow/journal_bearing
• Tilted Pad Thrust Bearing: Application Library path
CFD_Module/Thin-Film_Flow/tilted_pad_bearing

The Thin-Film Flow, Domain Interface

The Thin-Film Flow, Domain (tffs) interface ( ), found under the Thin-Film Flow
branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used to solve the Reynolds equation
or the modified Reynolds equation in a narrow channel that is represented by a domain
within the geometry. It is used for lubrication or gas damping simulations when the
fluid channel is thin enough for the Reynolds equation or the Modified Reynolds
equation to apply. The physics interface is available for 2D geometries.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder — Fluid-Film Properties, Border (the default boundary condition), and
Initial Values. Then, from the Physics toolbar, add other nodes that implement, for
example, boundary conditions. You can also right-click Thin-Film Flow, Domain to select
physics features from the context menu.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is tff.

THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 723

 The rest of the settings are the same as for The Thin-Film Flow, Shell Interface.

• Domain, Boundary, Edge, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Thin-Film
Flow Branch Interfaces
• Theory for the Thin-Film Flow Interfaces

The Thin-Film Flow, Edge Interface

The Thin-Film Flow, Edge (tffs) interface ( ) is used to solve the Reynolds equation
or the modified Reynolds equation in a narrow channel that is represented by an edge
within the geometry. It is used for lubrication, elastohydrodynamics, or gas damping
simulations when the fluid channel is thin enough for the Reynolds equation or the
Modified Reynolds equation to apply. The physics interface is for 2D and 2D
axisymmetric components.

The rest of the settings are the same as for The Thin-Film Flow, Shell Interface.

• Domain, Boundary, Edge, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Thin-Film
Flow Branch Interfaces
• Theory for the Thin-Film Flow Interfaces

724 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

Domain, Boundary, Edge, Point, and Pair Nodes for the Thin-Film
Flow Branch Interfaces
For the physics interfaces under the Thin-Film Flow branch, the following domain,
boundary, edge, point, and pair nodes (listed in alphabetical order) are described in
this section:

• Border • Perforations
• Fluid-Film Properties • Outlet
• Initial Values • Symmetry
• Inlet • Wall

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual see Table 2-4 for links
to common sections and Table 2-5 to common feature nodes. You can
also search for information: press F1 to open the Help window or Ctrl+F1
to open the Documentation window.

Fluid-Film Properties
Use the Fluid-Film Properties node to set the wall properties, base properties, fluid
properties, and the film flow model.

REFERENCE SURFACE PROPERTIES

In the Thin-Film Flow, Shell (tffs) and Thin-Film Flow, Edge (tffs) interfaces, the Reference
normal orientation setting allows you to reverse the direction of the reference surface
normal used by the physics interface. By default this is set to Same direction as geometry
normal. To reverse the direction, select Opposite direction to geometry normal.

In the Thin-Film Flow, Domain (tff) interface, the Reference surface normal orientation
setting allows you to set the direction of the reference normal so that it either points
out of or into the plane of the domain. By default this is set to Reference surface normal
points out of plane, such that the reference surface normal is given by {0,0,1}. Selecting
Reference surface normal points into plane sets the reference surface normal to {0,0,-1}.

WALL PROPERTIES
Enter a value or expression for the Height of wall above reference plane hw1 (SI unit: m).
The default is 10 μm.

THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 725

 By default the Additional wall displacement is User defined. Enter values or expressions
for uw (SI unit: m). The defaults are 0 m. Alternatively select a feature input (defined
by a separate physics interface) or None from the list.

When using a feature input to define an additional displacement based on the

movement of a structure, refer to Figure 10-1 to decide whether the additional
displacement should be added to the wall or the base.

• If the reference normal points out of the structure for which the displacement is
provided, the structure should be considered to be the wall, and its displacement
should be added to the additional wall displacement.
If the reference normal points into the structure for which the displacement is
provided, the structure is the base and its displacement should be added to the
additional base [Link] determine the reference normal orientation before
fully solving the model, click Show Default Solver ( ) on the Study toolbar (or
right-click the Study 1 node and select Show Default Solver). Then expand the
Study 1>Solver Configurations>Solver 1 node, right-click the Dependent variables
sub-node and select Compute to Selected.

You can then add a 2D or 3D plot group with an Arrow Surface plot (in 3D) ( ) or
Arrow Line plot (in 2D) ( ), and use the Replace Expression ( ) button to plot the
Reference surface normal.

Note that the orientation of the reference surface normal can be changed using the
Reference normal orientation setting in the Reference Surface Properties section.

Select a Wall velocity vw (SI unit: m/s) — None (the default), Calculate from wall
displacement, or User defined. For User defined enter values or expressions for the
components of vw (SI unit: m/s). The defaults are 0 m/s.

BASE PROPERTIES
See Wall Properties above for details to help you decide whether the additional
displacement should be added to the wall or the base.

726 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

Enter a value or expression for the Height of base below reference plane hb1 (SI unit: m).
The default is 0 m.

By default Additional base displacement is User defined. Enter values or expressions for
ub (SI unit: m). The defaults are 0 m. Or select None from the list.

Select a Base velocity vb (SI unit: m/s) — None (the default), Calculate from base
displacement, or User defined. For User defined enter values or expressions for the
components of vb (SI unit: m/s). The defaults are 0 m/s.

FLUID PROPERTIES
The default Dynamic viscosity μ (SI unit: Pa·s) is taken From material. For User defined
enter a different value or expression. The default is 0 Pa·s.

With the default options, the Density ρ (SI unit: kg/m3) is taken From material. For
User defined enter a different value or expression. The default is 0 kg/m3. If the
Modified Reynolds Equation is being solved, the density is determined automatically by
the ideal gas law. If cavitation is enabled, the density is assumed to take the form
ρ=ρc exp(βpf) where pf is the fluid pressure, ρc is the density at the cavitation pressure,
and β is the compressibility. (SI unit: 1/Pa). In this case enter the values for the Density
at cavitation pressure ρc (SI unit: Pa) and the Compressibility β (SI unit: 1/Pa).

FILM FLOW MODEL

Select a Film flow model — No-slip walls (the default), Slip at walls, User defined-relative
flow function, or User defined-general. The film flow model is used to compute the mean
fluid velocity as a function of the pressure gradient, the wall velocity, and the base
velocity. Within the gap the fluid velocity profile is a linear combination of the
Poiseuille and Couette velocity profiles.

No-slip Walls
This flow model assumes no slip at both the wall and base surfaces. Thus the average
fluid velocity is computed by assuming that the fluid velocity at the wall and base is
equal to the wall and base velocity, respectively.

Slip at Walls
Use Slip at walls when slip occurs at the wall and/or the base. In this case the difference
between the wall or base velocity and the fluid velocity is proportional to the tangential
part of the of the normal stress tensor component. The slip length divided by the fluid
viscosity is the constant of proportionality in this relationship. The mean fluid velocity
is computed using this assumption, given the pressure gradient and the wall and base
velocities.

THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 727

 Enter a Slip length, wall Lsw (SI unit: m). The default is 0.1 μm. Select the Use different
slip length for base check box to enter a Slip length, base Lsb (SI unit: m). The default
is 0.1 μm.

For the Modified Reynolds Equation it is possible to use the gas mean free path to specify
the slip length. Change the Type of Slip setting (which defaults to Slip Length with the
settings described above) to Mean free path and same accommodation coefficients or to
Mean free path and different accommodation coefficients.

• For Mean free path and same accommodation coefficients enter a value for the Wall
and base accommodation coefficient α (dimensionless). The default is 0.9.
• For Mean free path and different accommodation coefficients enter values for the Wall
accommodation coefficient αw (dimensionless, default 0.9) and the Base
accommodation coefficient αb (dimensionless, default 0.9).

Select an option to define the Mean free path — Compute from material properties (the
default), User defined expression, or User defined with reference pressure.

• For User defined expression enter an expression for the Mean free path λ (SI unit: m).
The default expression is ((70[nm])*(1[atm]))/([Link]).
• For User defined with reference pressure enter values for the Mean free path at
reference pressure λ0 (SI unit: m; the default is 70 nm), and for the Mean free path
reference pressure pλ0 (SI unit: Pa; the default is 1 atm).

Rarefied-Total Accommodation (Modified Reynolds Equation Only)

The Rarefied-total accommodation option provides a rarefied gas model that assumes
total accommodation at the wall and the base. This model is accurate to within 5% over
the range 0<Kn<880 (here Kn is the Knudsen number, which is the ratio of the film
thickness to the mean free path). An empirical function, fitted to stationary solutions
of the Boltzmann equation, is used to define the Poiseuille component of the flow.

Select an option to define the Mean free path — Compute from material properties (the
default), User defined expression, or User defined with reference pressure.

• For User defined expression enter an expression for the Mean free path λ (SI unit: m).
The default expression is ((70[nm])*(1[atm]))/([Link]).
• For User defined with reference pressure enter values for the Mean free path at
reference pressure λ0 (SI unit: m; the default is 70 nm) and for the Mean free path
reference pressure pλ0 (SI unit: Pa; the default is 1 atm).

728 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

Select a Force model. Select:

• Normal-pressure forces only (the default) to include only the normal pressure forces
in the model.
• Couette (slide film) forces only to include only the shear forces generated from an
empirical model of the rarefied flow developed for pure Couette flows.
• Shear and normal forces to include both the shear and pressure forces, combining the
other two force models.

Rarefied-General Accommodation (Modified Reynolds Equation Only)

The Rarefied-general accommodation option provides a rarefied gas model that assumes
the same accommodation coefficient, α, at the wall and the base. This model is
accurate to within 1% over the ranges 0.7<α<1 and 0.01<Kn<100 (here Kn is the
Knudsen number, which is the ratio of the film thickness to the mean free path). An
empirical function, fitted to stationary solutions of the Boltzmann equation, is used to
define the Poiseuille component of the flow.

Select an option to define the Mean free path — Compute from material properties (the
default), User defined expression, or User defined with reference pressure.

• For User defined expression enter an expression for the Mean free path λ (SI unit: m).
The default expression is 70[nm]*1[atm]/[Link].
• For User defined with reference pressure enter values for the Mean free path at
reference pressure λ0 (SI unit: m, the default is 70 nm) and for the Mean free path
reference pressure pλ0 (SI unit: Pa, the default is 1 atm).

Select a Force model. Select:

• Normal-pressure forces only (the default) to include only the normal pressure forces
in the model.
• Couette (slide film) forces only to include only the shear forces generated from an
empirical model of the rarefied flow developed for pure Couette flows.
• Shear and normal forces to include both the shear and pressure forces, combining the
other two force models.

User Defined-relative Flow Function

The User defined-relative flow function option enables user-defined models in which an
effective fluid viscosity is employed. The fluid viscosity is divided by an additional
factor Qch, which can be defined as an arbitrary expression in the GUI. It is also
possible to define the expressions for the fluid forces on the wall and on the base (these
are included as feature inputs in other physics interfaces).

THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 729

 Enter values or expressions for:

• Relative flow rate function Qch (dimensionless). The default is 0.

• Fluid load on wall fw (SI unit: N/m2). The defaults are 0 N/m2.
• Fluid load on base fb (SI unit: N/m2). The defaults are 0 N/m2.

User Defined - General

The User defined-general option allows for arbitrary flow models to be defined. Both
the Poiseuille and Couette terms in the mean velocity can be defined arbitrarily. It is
also possible to define the expressions for the fluid forces on the wall and on the base,
(these are included as feature inputs in other physics interfaces).

Enter values or expressions for:

• Poiseuille mean fluid velocity coefficient vave,P (SI unit: m3⋅s/kg). The default is
0 m3⋅s/kg.
• Couette mean fluid velocity component vave,C (SI unit: m/s). The defaults are 0 m/s.
• Fluid load on wall fw (SI unit: N/m2). The defaults are 0 N/m2.
• Fluid load on base fb (SI unit: N/m2). The defaults are 0 N/m2.

Arrow Line and Arrow Surface in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference

Manual

Border
Use the Border node to set a pressure condition at the border and the border flow type.

The Border flow condition is used to account for the pressure drop caused by the flow
converging into the gap, outside the thin layer. The acoustic elongation options does
this by adding additional thickness to the thin layer beyond the edge of the geometry
(assuming a pressure gradient in this layer equal to that at the boundary). The
Out-of-plane motion calculates the pressure gradient due to circulation of the fluid
caused by motion of the wall or base surfaces using a predefined model. Alternatively
the pressure gradient at the boundary can be specified using an arbitrary expression,
which allows for more sophisticated, user-defined models.

BORDER SETTINGS
Select a Border condition — Zero pressure (the default), Pressure, or Border flow. When
the Cavitation check box is selected for the physics interface, Starvation is also available.

730 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

For Pressure enter a Pressure pf0 (SI unit: Pa) to define pf = pf0 on the boundary, edge,
or point. The default is 0 Pa. If the reference pressure pref, defined at the physics
interface level is 0, pf0 is the absolute pressure. Otherwise, pf0 is the relative pressure.

For Border flow select a Border flow type — Acoustic boundary condition-absolute
elongation, Acoustic boundary condition-relative elongation, Out-of-plane motion, or User
defined.

• For Acoustic Boundary condition-absolute elongation enter a Border elongation ΔL

(SI unit: m). The default is 0.1 μm.
• For Acoustic boundary condition-relative elongation enter a Relative border elongation
ΔLr (dimensionless). The default is 0.7.
• For Out-of-plane motion enter the Model coefficients η, ζ, χ with defaults 0, 0, 1,
respectively. Also enter the Slip length, Λ (SI unit: m). The default slip length uses
an if condition to set the slip length equal to that defined in the Fluid-Film
Properties node if a suitable Film flow model is selected. If the Slip length is not
defined in the Fluid-Film Properties node, it defaults to 0.1μm.
Note that the coefficients can be specified according to the results given in the paper
by Gallis and Torczynski (M. A. Gallis and J. R. Torczynski, “An Improved
Reynolds-Equation Model for Gas Damping of Microbeam Motion”, Journal of
Microelectromechanical Systems, vol. 13, pp. 653–659, 2004). The following
values are recommended:

Λ
1 + 8.834  ----
h
χ = ----------------------------------
Λ
1 + 5.118  ----
 h
Λ
0.634 + 1.572  ----
h
η = ----------------------------------------------
Λ
1 + 0.537  ----
 h
Λ
0.445 + 11.20  ----
h
ζ = ----------------------------------------------
Λ
1 + 5.510  ----
 h

where h is the gap height. The above equations are valid in the range 0 ≤ Λ/h ≤ 1.

THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 731

 • For User defined enter a Normal pressure gradient (SI unit: N/m3). The default is
pf/(0.1 μm) N/m3.
• For Starvation enter a value for the Fluid fraction θ0 (dimensionless). The default is
0.6.

Perforations
Use the Perforations node for applications in MEMS devices, where the phenomenon
of squeeze-film damping is important. A free-hanging thin plate or the substrate often
has an array of etch holes that allow the gas in-between to escape. The perforations
feature acts as a sink for gas that is proportional to both the ambient pressure and to
the pressure difference with respect to the ambient on the other side of the perforated
surface. The constant of proportionality is known as the admittance, Y, and can either
be defined directly or determined from the model due to Bao (M. Bao and H. Yang
“Squeeze film air damping in MEMS”, Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, vol. 136,
no. 1, pp. 3–27, 2014). The ambient pressure (defined at the level of the parent physics
interface or Thin-Film Damping feature) is assumed to be the reference pressure
specified at the physics interface level.

Note that this feature applies only when the walls do not have tangential movement.

PERFORATIONS
Select a Perforation admittance — User defined (the default) or Bao model.

For User defined, enter a value or expression for Y (SI unit: m2⋅s/kg).

For Bao model, choose a Perforation shape — Square (the default) or Circular. Then
enter the following as applicable:

• Side length sh (SI unit: m).

• Hole radius rh (SI unit: m).
• Hole length lh (SI unit: m).
• Hole density nh (SI unit: 1/m2).

Initial Values
The Initial Values node adds an initial value for the pressure that can serve as an initial
condition for a transient simulation or as an initial guess for a nonlinear solver. If more
than one set of initial values is required, add additional Initial Values nodes from the
Physics toolbar.

732 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

INITIAL VALUES
Enter a value or an expression for the initial value of the Pressure pf (SI unit: Pa).

Inlet
Use the Inlet node to define an edge or point where fluid enters the gap.

INLET SETTINGS
Select an Inlet condition — Zero pressure (the default), Pressure, or Normal inflow
velocity. When the Cavitation check box is selected for the physics interface (see
Cavitation), Starvation is also available.

• For Zero pressure pf = 0 applies on the boundary, edge, or point.

• For Pressure enter a Pressure pf0 (SI unit: Pa) to impose pf = pf0 on the boundary,
edge, or point. The default is 0 Pa. If the reference pressure pref, defined at the
physics interface level is 0, pf0 is the absolute pressure. Otherwise, pf0 is the relative
pressure.
• For Normal inflow velocity enter a Normal inflow velocity U0 (SI unit: m/s). The
default is 0 m/s.
• For Starvation enter a value for the Fluid fraction θ0 (dimensionless). The default is
0.6.

Outlet
The Outlet node defines an edge or point where fluid leaves the gap.

OUTLET SETTINGS
Select an Outlet condition — Zero pressure (the default), Pressure, Normal outflow
velocity, or Outflow. When the Cavitation check box is selected for the physics interface
(see Cavitation), Starvation is also available.

• For Zero pressure, pf = 0 applies on the boundary, edge, or point.

• For Pressure, enter a Pressure pf0 (SI unit: Pa) to impose pf = pf0 on the boundary,
edge, or point. The default is 0 Pa. If the reference pressure pref, defined at the
physics interface level is 0, pf0 is the absolute pressure. Otherwise, pf0 is the relative
pressure.
• For Normal outflow velocity, enter a Normal outflow velocity U0 (SI unit: m/s). The
default is 0 m/s.

THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 733

 • For Outflow, the fluid is allowed to leave the gap without explicitly imposing a value
of pressure or velocity.
• For Starvation, enter a value for the Fluid fraction θ0 (dimensionless). The default is
0.6.

Wall
The Wall node prevents fluid flow in the direction perpendicular to the boundary.

Symmetry
The Symmetry node sets the perpendicular component of the average velocity in the
gap to zero.

734 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

Theory for the Thin-Film Flow
Interfaces
The theory for the different versions of the Thin-Film Flow interfaces are described in
this section:

• Thin-Film Flow
• The Reynolds Equation
• Flow Models
• The Modified Reynolds Equation — Gas Flows
• Flow Models for Rarefied Gases
• Frequency-Domain Formulation
• Boundary Conditions
• Cavitation
• References for the Thin-Film Flow Interfaces

Thin-Film Flow
Figure 10-2 shows a typical configuration for the flow of fluid in a thin layer. The
upper boundary is referred to as the wall, and the lower boundary is referred to as the
base. Damping or lubrication forces operate on both surfaces.

In many cases the gap is sufficiently small for the flow in the thin film to be isothermal.
Usually the gap thickness, h, is much smaller than the lateral dimensions of the
geometry, L. If this is the case it is possible to neglect inertial effects in the fluid in
comparison to viscous effects (for MEMS devices this assumption is reasonable below
MHz frequencies). Additionally, the curvature of the reference surface can be ignored
when h/L«1. Under these assumptions the Reynolds equation applies. For gas flows
under the same conditions it is possible to derive a modified form of the Reynolds
Equation, which uses the ideal gas law to eliminate the density from the equation
system. Such a modified Reynolds equation can even be adapted to model the flow of
rarefied gases.

Different terminology is used for thin-film flow in different fields of physics. In

tribology the term lubrication is frequently used, especially when the fluid is a liquid.
In resonant MEMS devices, flow in the thin layer of gas separating a device from the

THEORY FOR THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 735

 substrate on which it is fabricated often provides significant damping. In this case
there is usually a distinction between squeeze-film damping, when the direction of
motion of the structure is predominantly perpendicular to the reference plane, and
slide-film damping for motion predominantly parallel to the reference plane.

Figure 10-2: An example illustrating a typical configuration for thin-film flow. A

reference surface with normal nref sits in a narrow gap between a wall and base. In
COMSOL Multiphysics, the vector nref points into the base and out of the wall. The wall
moves with a displacement uwall and velocity vwall from its initial position. Similarly the
base moves from its initial position with displacement ubase and velocity vbase. The
compression of the fluid results in an excess pressure, pf, above the reference pressure, pref,
and a fluid velocity in the gap. At a point on the reference surface the average value of the
fluid velocity along a line perpendicular to the surface is given by the in plane vector vave.
The motion of the fluid results in forces on the wall (Fwall) and on the base (Fbase). The
distance to the wall above the reference surface is hw while the base resides a distance hb
below the reference surface. The total size of the gap is h=hw+hb. At a given time
hw=hw1−nref ⋅uwall and hb=hb1−nref ⋅uwall where hw1 and hb1 are the initial distances
to the wall and base, respectively.

The Reynolds Equation

The equations of fluid flow in thin films are usually formulated on a reference surface
in the Eulerian frame. Consider a cylinder, fixed with respect to a stationary reference
surface, as shown in Figure 10-3.

736 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

 dA

Figure 10-3: Reference cylinder, fixed with respect to the stationary reference surface, in a
small gap between two surfaces (the wall and the base). The cylinder has outward normal,
nc. Its area, projected onto the reference surface, is dA.

The cylinder is fixed with respect to the reference surface, but its height can change
due to changes in the position of the base and the wall. Considering the flow in the
reference plane, the rate at which mass accumulates within the reference cylinder is
determined by the divergence of the mass flow field in the reference plane:

d ( ρh )
= – ∇ t ⋅ ( ρhv av ) (10-1)
dt

where h=hw+hb and the tangential velocity, vav represents the mean velocity of the
flow in the reference plane. Particular care must be taken with respect to the definition
of h. The above equation applies if h is measured with respect to a fixed point on the
reference surface as a function of time. The reference surface itself must be fixed in
space and obviously cannot deform as time progresses. Equations represented on the
reference surface are described as Eulerian, that is they are defined in a frame that is
fixed with respect to the motion of the fluid or of the body. Fluid flow problems are
usually formulated in the Eulerian frame, and COMSOL Multiphysics adopts this
convention in most of its fluid flow interfaces. It is useful to note that the Eulerian

THEORY FOR THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 737

 frame is usually called the spatial frame within the COMSOL Multiphysics interface.
When a structure deforms in COMSOL Multiphysics, the spatial frame changes shape.

The wall and the base can, and often do, move with respect to the reference surface.
The wall and base are usually the surfaces of mechanical components which are
deforming as a result of the pressure building up within the region of fluid flow. When
describing the physics of a deforming solid, it is often convenient to work in the
Lagrangian frame, which is fixed with respect to a small control volume of the solid.
As the solid deforms, the Lagrangian frame moves along with the material contained
within the control volume. Using the Lagrangian frame for describing structural
deformation means that changes in the local density and material orientation as a result
of the distortion of the control volume do not need to be accounted for by
complicated transformations. In COMSOL Multiphysics, the Lagrangian frame,
usually referred to as the material frame, is used for describing structural deformations.
When a structure deforms in COMSOL Multiphysics, the material frame remains in
the original configuration of the structure, and the deformation is accounted for by the
underlying equations.

Because of the mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian approach adopted within COMSOL

Multiphysics, particular care must be taken with the formulation of the Reynolds
equations. Typically it is not desirable to represent the geometry of the thin film itself
directly, because it is often much smaller than the other components in the model. The
equations apply on a single surface in the model, the reference surface. Since we do not
want the reference surface to deform, the equations are added in the material frame
(even though this frame is normally used in a Lagrangian approach) and manual
transformations are added to the system to account for the fact that the structural
equations also exist in the material frame, and employ a truly Lagrangian approach.

The situation encountered when both the wall and the base undergo a displacement is
depicted in Figure 10-4. The Eulerian wall height changes from an initial value hw1 to
a final value hw. Similarly the base height changes from an initial value hb1 to hb.

738 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

 uw
uw⋅nref
wall uw⋅∇thw1

hw1
hw

reference
surface X

nref hb
hb1
base
ub⋅∇thb1

ub -ub⋅nref

Figure 10-4: Diagram showing the displacement of the wall and the base with respect to
the reference surface, and the corresponding change in the height of the channel.

From the figure it is clear that:

h w = h w1 – u w ⋅ n ref – u w ⋅ ∇ t h w1
h b = h b1 + u b ⋅ n ref – u b ⋅ ∇ t h b1 (10-2)
h = hw + hb

It should be noted that similar corrections should be applied to the velocity of the wall,
if it is computed from the structural displacement. That is the velocity should be
modified by a term proportional to its spatial gradient. This correction term, is
however, a second order term, and consequently it is usually negligible in practical
circumstances. It is neglected in the thin film flow interface.

Consequently, provided that the definitions of the wall and base height from
Equation 10-2 are used, the Reynolds equation takes the form:

∂ ( ρh ) ∇
+ t ⋅ ( hρv av ) = 0 (10-3)
∂t

THEORY FOR THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 739

 The definition of the average flow velocity, vav, together with the forces that act on the
structure, remain to be specified.

Flow Models
The Navier-Stokes equations can be nondimensionalized for a domain whose width
(h0) is much smaller than its lateral dimension(s) (l0) (see Ref. 1 for a detailed
discussion). When Re(h0/l0)2<<1, and terms of order (h0/l0)2 are neglected, the
Navier-Stokes equations reduce to a modified form of the Stokes equation, which must
be considered in conjunction with the continuity relation.

wall

reference
surface

base

Figure 10-5: The coordinate system employed for the derivation of the average flow velocity.

The equations are most conveniently expressed by considering a local coordinate

system in which x’ and y’ are tangent to the plane of the reference surface, and z’ is
perpendicular to the surface, as illustrated in Figure 10-5. Using this coordinate
system:

740 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

 ∂p f ∂  ∂v x'
= μ
∂ x' ∂ z'  ∂ z' 
∂p f ∂  ∂v y'
= μ
∂ y' ∂ z'  ∂ z' 
∂p
= 0
∂ z'

Here pf is the pressure resulting from the fluid flow, μ is the fluid viscosity, and (vx’,vy’)
is the fluid velocity in the reference plane (which varies in the z’ direction).

These equations can be integrated directly, yielding the in-plane velocity distributions,
by making the assumption that the viscosity represents the mean viscosity through the
film thickness. The following equations are derived:

∂v x' z' ∂p f C 1x' ∂v y' z' ∂p f C 1y'

= --- + ---------- = --- + ---------- (10-4)
∂ z' μ ∂ x' μ ∂ z' μ ∂ y' μ

z ∂p f C 1x' z' z ∂p f C 1y' z'

2 2
v x' = ------- + -------------- + C 2x' v y' = ------- + -------------- + C 2y' (10-5)
2μ ∂ x' μ 2μ ∂ y' μ

The constants C1x’, C2x’, C1y’, and C2y’ are determined by the boundary conditions.
Equation 10-4 shows that the flow is a linear combination of laminar Poiseuille and
Couette flows. The velocity profile is quadratic in form, as shown in Equation 10-5.

The average flow rate in the reference plane, vav , is given by:

hw
1
 vx' dz'
2 2
--- ( h w – h w h b + h b ) ∂p f h w – h b
h --------------------------------------------- + -------------------- C + C 2x'
v av = – h b
1
= --- 6μ ∂ x' 2μ 1x'
hw h 2 2
( h w – h w h b + h b ) ∂p f h w – h b
--1- v y' dz'
h  ---------------------------------------------
6μ ∂ y'
+ -------------------- C + C 2y'
2μ 1y'
–hb

The forces acting on the walls are determined by the normal component of the viscous
stress tensor, τ, at the walls (τn - where n is the normal that points out of the fluid
domain). The viscous stress tensor takes the form:

THEORY FOR THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 741

 ∂v x'  ∂v y' ∂v x'  ∂v z' ∂v x'
– p f + 2μ μ + μ +
∂ x'  ∂ x' ∂ y'   ∂ x' ∂ z' 

τ = μ ( ∇v + ( ∇v ) ) – pI = μ  ∂v x' + ∂v y' – p + 2μ ∂v y' μ  ∂v z + ∂v y'

T
 ∂ y' ∂ x'  f ∂ y'  ∂ y' ∂ z' 
∂v x' ∂v z'  ∂v y' ∂v z ∂v z'
μ  + μ + – p f + 2μ
∂ z' ∂ x'   ∂ z' ∂ y'  ∂ z'

Neglecting the gradient terms, which are of order h0/l0, results in the following form
for the stress tensor:

∂v x'
–pf 0 μ
∂ z'

τ≈ ∂v y' (10-6)
0 –pf μ
∂ z'
∂v x' ∂v y'
μ μ –pf
∂ z' ∂ z'

The components of the stress tensor can be expressed in terms of the velocity and
pressure gradients using Equation 10-4. Note that the normals to both the wall and
the base are parallel to the z’ direction, to zeroth order in h0/l0. The forces acting on
the base and the wall are therefore given by:

h w ∂p f C 1x' h b ∂p f C 1x'
------- + ---------- ------ + ----------
μ ∂ x' μ μ ∂ x' μ
f w = h ∂p C f b = h ∂p C
w
- f + ---------
------ 1y'
- -----b- f + ---------
1y'
-
μ ∂ y' μ μ ∂ y' μ
pf –pf

GENERAL SLIP BOUNDARY CONDITION

Assuming a slip length of Lsw at the wall and a slip length of Lsb at the base, the general
slip boundary conditions are given by:

742 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

 b L sb ∂v x'
v x' ( z' = – h b ) – v x' = --------- τ z'x' ( z' = – h b ) = L sb ( z' = – h b )
μ ∂ z'

b L sb ∂v y'
v y' ( z' = – h b ) – v y' = --------- τ z'y' ( z' = – h b ) = L sb ( z' = – h b )
μ ∂ z'

w L sw ∂v x'
v x' ( z' = h w ) – v x' = – ---------- τ z'x' ( z' = h w ) = – L sw ( z' = h w )
μ ∂ z'

w L sw ∂v y'
v y' ( z' = h w ) – v y' = – ---------- τ · ( z' = h w ) = – L sw ( z' = h w )
μ z'y' ∂ z'

For non-identical slip lengths the constants C1x’, C2x’, C1y’, and C2y’ take the following
values:

w b 2 2
μ ( v x' – v x' ) h b – h w – 2L sw h w + 2L sb h b ∂p f
C 1x' = ------------------------------------ – --------------------------------------------------------------------------
h + L sw + L sb 2 ( h + L sb + L sw ) ∂ x'
w b
v x' ( h b + L sb ) + v x' ( h w + L sw )
C 2x' = ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
h + L sw + L sb
2 2
h w ( h b + L sb ) + h b ( h w + L sw ) + 2h w h b ( L sw + L sb ) + 2hL sw L sb ∂p f
– ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 ( h + L sw + L sb )μ ∂ x'
w b 2 2
μ ( v y' – v y' ) h b – h w – 2L sw h w + 2L sb h b ∂p f
C 1y' = ------------------------------------ – --------------------------------------------------------------------------
h + L sw + L sb 2 ( h + L sw + L sb ) ∂ y'
w b
v y' ( h b + L sb ) + v y' ( h w + L sw )
C 2y' = ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
h + L sw + L sb
2 2
h w ( h b + L sb ) + h b ( h w + L sw ) + 2h w h b ( L sw + L sb ) + 2hL sw L sb ∂p f
– ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 ( h + L sw + L sb )μ ∂ y'

The average flow rate becomes:

w b w b
h ( v x' + v x' ) + 2 ( L sw v x' + L sb v x' ) h ( h 2 + 4h ( L sw + L sb ) + 12L sb L sw ) ∂p f
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- – ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 ( h + L sw + L sb ) 12μ ( h + L sw + L sb ) ∂ x'
v av =
w b w b
h ( v y' + v y' ) + 2 ( L sw v y' + L sb v y' ) h ( h 2 + 4h ( L sw + L sb ) + 12L sb L sw ) ∂p f
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- – ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 ( h + L sw + L sb ) 12μ ( h + L sw + L sb ) ∂ y'

which can be expressed in vector notation as:

THEORY FOR THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 743

 1 T
v av = -------------------------------------------- ( I – n r n r ) ( ( h + 2L sw )v w + ( h + 2L sb )v b )
2 ( h + L sw + L sb )
2
h ( h + 4h ( L sw + L sb ) + 12L sb L sw )
– --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ∇ t p f
12μ ( h + L sw + L sb )

The above equation can be written on the form:

v av = v av, c – v av, p ∇ t p f (10-7)

where vav,c is a term associated with Couette flow, and vav,p is a coefficient associated
with Poiseuille flow (see Table 10-2 below).

The forces acting on the two boundaries are given by:

b w
h ( h + 2L sb ) ∂p f ( v x' – v x' )μ
– -------------------------------------------- + ----------------------------------------
2 ( h + L sw + L sb ) ∂ x' ( h + L sw + L sb )
fw = b w
h ( h + 2L sb ) ∂p f ( v y' – v y' )μ
– -------------------------------------------- + ----------------------------------------
2 ( h + L sw + L sb ) ∂ y' ( h + L sw + L sb )
pf
(10-8)
w b
h ( h + 2L sw ) ∂p f ( v x'
– v x' )μ
– -------------------------------------------- + ----------------------------------------
2 ( h + L sw + L sb ) ∂ x' ( h + L sw + L sb )
fb = w b
h ( h + 2L sw ) ∂p f ( v y' – v y' )μ
– -------------------------------------------- + ----------------------------------------
2 ( h + L sw + L sb ) ∂ y' ( h + L sw + L sb )
–pf

Note that the z’ direction corresponds to the −nr direction. The x’ and y’ directions
correspond to the two tangent vectors in the plane. Using vector notation the forces
become:

h ( h + 2L sb ) μ T b w
f w = – -------------------------------------------- ∇ t p f + ------------------------------------ ( I – n r n r ) ( v – v ) + p f n w
2 ( h + L sw + L sb ) h + L sw + L sb
h ( h + 2L sw ) μ T w b
f b = – -------------------------------------------- ∇ t p f + ------------------------------------ ( I – n r n r ) ( v – v ) + p f n b
2 ( h + L sw + L sb ) h + L sw + L sb

In Equation 10-8 it is assumed that nw=−nr and nb=nr. In COMSOL Multiphysics,

the accuracy of the force terms is improved slightly over the usual approximation

744 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

(which neglects the slope of the wall and base as it is of order h0/l0) by using the
following equations for nw and nb:

nw = ( – nr – ∇t hw )

nb = ( nr – ∇t hw )

These definitions are derived from Equation 10-4 and Equation 10-5 and include the
additional area that the pressure acts on as a result of the wall slope.

Once again, the force terms can be written on the form:

f w = – f w, p ∇ t p f + f w, c
(10-9)
f b = – f b, p ∇ t p f + f b, c

where fw,p is the Poiseuille coefficient for the force on the wall, and fw,c incorporates
the Couette and normal forces (due to the pressure) on the wall. Similarly, fb,p is the
Poiseuille coefficient for the force on the base, and fb,c incorporates the Couette and
normal forces (due to the pressure) on the base.

The cases of identical slip length and non-slip are limiting cases of the formulas derived
above. The main results are summarized in Table 10-2, where the constants defined in
Equation 10-7 and Equation 10-9 are used.

THEORY FOR THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 745

 TABLE 10-2: EQUATION VARIABLES FOR VARIOUS FLOW MODELS

VARIABLE DEFINITION

General Slip Flow Model

v av, c 1 T
-------------------------------------------
- ( I – n r n r ) ( ( h + 2L sb )v w + ( h + 2L sw )v b )
2 ( h + L sw + L sb )

v av, p 2
h ( h + 4h ( L sw + L sb ) + 12L sb L sw )
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
12μ ( h + L sw + L sb )
μ T
- ( I – nr nr ) ( vb – vw ) + pf n
-----------------------------------
f w, c h + L sw + L sb w

f w, p h ( h + 2L sb )
-------------------------------------------
-
2 ( h + L sw + L sb )

f b, c μ T w b
------------------------------------ ( I – n r n r ) ( v – v ) + p f n
h + L sw + L sb b

f b, p h ( h + 2L sw )
-------------------------------------------
-
2 ( h + L sw + L sb )

Equal Slip Lengths Flow Model Lsw=Lsb=L

v av, c 1 T
--- ( I – n r n r ) ( v w + v b )
2
v av, p 2
( h + 6L s h ) ⁄ ( 12μ )

f w, c μ -
-------------------
T b w
( I – nr nr ) ( v – v ) + pf nw
h + 2L s

f w, p h⁄2

f b, c μ -
-------------------
T w b
( I – nr nr ) ( v – v ) + pf nb
h + 2L s

f b, p h⁄2

746 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

TABLE 10-2: EQUATION VARIABLES FOR VARIOUS FLOW MODELS

VARIABLE DEFINITION

Non-Slip Flow Model Lsw=Lsb=0

v av, c 1 T
--- ( I – n r n r ) ( v w + v b )
2
v av, p
2
h ⁄ ( 12μ )

--μ- ( I – n r n r ) ( v b – v w ) + p f n
f w, c T
h w

f w, p h⁄2

--μ- ( I – n r n r ) ( v w – v b ) + p f n
f b, c T
h b

f b, p h⁄2

The Modified Reynolds Equation — Gas Flows

Thin-film gas flows are often isothermal, and in many cases the ideal gas law can be
assumed. Under these circumstances, the ideal gas law can be written on the form:

RT 0
p A = ----------- ρ
Mn

where T0 is the (constant) temperature of the gas, Mn is the molar mass of the gas, and
R is the universal gas constant. Here the total gas pressure, pA = pref+pf, where pA is
the absolute pressure and pf is the pressure developed as a result of the flow.
Substituting this relation into Equation 10-3 and dividing through by the constant
Mn/RT0 results in a modified form of the Reynolds equation:

∂ p
( h ) + ∇ t ⋅ ( hp A v av ) = 0 (10-10)
∂t A

This equation can be used to model isothermal flows of ideal gases. The average flow
rate and the forces acting on the bearings are computed in the same manner as for the
standard Reynolds equation.

SLIP BOUNDARY CONDITIONS FOR GASES

For a gas, the slip length is often expressed using the mean free path, λ, and a tangential
momentum accommodation coefficient, α. For compatibility with the existing

THEORY FOR THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 747

 literature on thin-film gas flow the following definition of the mean free path is used
by COMSOL Multiphysics in the Thin-Film Flow interfaces:

1
---
μ 2RT 2
λ = ---  ------------
p Mn

The slip length is then defined as:

π 2–α
L s = ------- λ  -------------
2 α

Values for the tangential-momentum-accommodation coefficients for various gas

surface combinations are given in Ref. 2.

Flow Models for Rarefied Gases

For gases at low pressure, the ratio of the gas mean free path, λ, to the gap size (known
as the Knudsen number: Kn = λ/h) grows. For Knudsen numbers greater than 0.1,
the gas cannot be treated using the continuum Navier-Stokes equations and the
Boltzmann equation must be solved instead.

At steady state, the solutions to the linearized Boltzmann equation for isothermal flow
in a narrow gap between parallel plates can be expressed as a combination of Poiseuille
and Couette flows. This is analogous to the solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations
in the limit of small h0/l0. Provided that the surfaces of the wall and base are identical
(which is normally the case in many practical applications), the Couette contribution
to the bulk fluid velocity is unchanged (it remains the mean of the wall and base
velocities for identical surfaces). The Poiseuille contribution to the flow is more
complicated for a rarefied gas. A practical approach, pioneered by Fukui and Kaneko
(Ref. 3) is to solve the linearized Boltzmann BGK equation over a range of Knudsen
numbers and to provide an empirical fit to the flow. This results in the following form
for the average velocity of the flow:

2
1 T h
v av = --- ( I – n r n r ) ( v w + v b ) – ---------------- ∇ t p
2 12μ eff
(10-11)
μ
μ eff = ----------------------------------------
Q ( Kn , α w , α b )

where Q(Kn, αw , αb) is a nondimensional function of the Knudsen number (Kn) and
the tangential momentum accommodation coefficient at the wall (αw) and base (αb).

748 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

Q(Kn, αw , αb) is obtained by solving the linearized Boltzmann BGK equation for
steady Poiseuille flow with a range of Knudsen numbers and slip coefficients. This
approach assumes that stationary solutions of the Boltzmann equation apply inside the
gap, that is, that the flow can be treated as quasi-static.

Fukui and Kaneko provided data on Q(Kn, αw , αb) for the case where αw=αb
(Ref. 4), which was subsequently fitted to different empirical formulas by Veijola and
others (Ref. 5). Note also that additional, more accurate, data is available in Ref. 6.
Veijola provided two empirical formulas, which apply under different circumstances
with various degrees of accuracy:

• αw=αb=1 (available as the option Rarefied-Total Accommodation in COMSOL

Multiphysics):
1,159
Q ( Kn ,1 , 1 ) = 1 + 9,638Kn

(accurate to within 5% in the range 0<Kn<880)

• αw=αb=α (available as the option Rarefied-General Accommodation in COMSOL
Multiphysics):
˜
6Q ( D, α ) π
Q ( Kn ,α ,α ) = ------------------------- D = ------------
D 2Kn
0.17
˜ α - -------------------------------------
1.3 ( 1 – α ) - ------------------------------------
- ln  ---  + -------------
D 1 1- 0.64αD
Q ( D, α ) = ---- + -------------------- + 4.1 + +
6 α 1.34 π  D  6.4D
D + 0.08D
1.83
1 + 1.12D
0.72

(accurate to within 1% in the ranges D>0.01, 0.7<α<1 and 0.01<Kn<100).

Both of these empirical models are available as flow models with the options listed.
Additionally, a user-defined relative flow rate function can be defined (which could, for
example, be based on an interpolation function derived from the original data in
Ref. 6). Data on the tangential momentum accommodation coefficients for various
gas-surface combinations is available in Ref. 2.

Various definitions of the mean free path are used in the literature,
frequently without explanation. For compatibility with the existing
literature on thin-film flow, COMSOL Multiphysics uses the same mean
free path definition as Veijola and others.

In this definition the mean free path and Knudsen number are defined as:

THEORY FOR THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 749

 1 1
--- ---
μ 2RT 2 μ 2RT 2
λ = ---  ------------ Kn = -------  ------------ (10-12)
p  Mn  ph  M n 

where μ is the gas viscosity, p is the gas pressure, R is the molar gas constant, T is the
temperature, and Mn is the molar mass of the gas. Ref. 2 also employs this definition
of the mean free path.

In many applications the forces acting on the wall and base are important. The pressure
in the gas can be computed correctly by solving Equations 10-10 and 10-11. However,
this approach provides only the normal component of the traction acting on the wall
and base. To obtain the shear forces, the approach adopted by Torczynski and Gallis
(Ref. 7) is used. They produced an empirical expression for the shear force that has the
correct behavior in the free molecular flow and continuum limits as well as in the limits
for the accommodation coefficient. Torczynski and Gallis solve the problem of pure
Couette flow and derive an empirical function for the slip length that predicts the
correct forces for the flow in the gap in several limiting cases. Their empirical
expression for the slip length is given by:

2 – α 2λ  d1 α 
L s = ------------- -----------  1 + --------------------------------------------- (10-13)
α πμ  1 + ( 2d Kn ) ⁄ π 2

where d1≈0.15 and d2≈0.59. In principle d1 and d2 are variables themselves, but they
were found to be constant to within the accuracy of the DSMC experiments used to
derive their values.

The slip length in Equation 10-13 (which is used in COMSOL

Multiphysics) differs slightly from the equivalent expression in Ref. 7 as a
result of a different definition of the mean free path (Torczynski and
Gallis’ mean free path is different from Equation 10-12 by a factor of
√π/2).

Equation 10-7 gives the following expressions for the shear forces on the wall and base
for pure Couette flow:

shear μ T b w
fw = -------------------- ( I – n r n r ) ( v – v )
h + 2L s
shear μ T w b
fb = -------------------- ( I – n r n r ) ( v – v )
h + 2L s

750 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

where Ls is taken from Equation 10-13.

A general flow incorporates both Poiseuille and Couette terms. Assuming that the
Poiseuille and Couette flows can be superposed, the forces become:

h μ T b w
f w = – --- ∇ t p + -------------------- ( I – n r n r ) ( v – v ) – pn r
2 h + 2L s
(10-14)
h μ T w b
f b = – --- ∇ t p + -------------------- ( I – n r n r ) ( v – v ) + pn r
2 h + 2L s

here Ls is derived from Equation 10-13 and p is obtained by solving Equation 10-10
with Equation 10-11. Strictly speaking, Torczynski and Gallis’ result applies for
Couette flow only and was derived for a more general variable-soft-sphere gas rather
than for the linearized BGK equations, using numerical simulations. From a practical
perspective, it seems likely that solutions of the linearized BGK equations would also
be fitted by these expressions, and in that case it should be possible to combine the
forces using superposition. In the absence of a detailed proof Equation 10-14 is not
the default option for the force model, but is available as an additional option.

Both Veijola and others (Ref. 5) and Cercignani and others (Ref. 5)
provided data for the relative flow rate Q(Kn, σsw, σsb) in specific cases
where the wall and base have different accommodation coefficients. Since
no details on how to compute the forces acting on the walls for highly
rarefied gases were published, these models are not currently supported
in COMSOL Multiphysics.

Frequency-Domain Formulation
In the frequency domain it is necessary to make additional simplifications to the
equation system to produce a fully linearized equation set. In the general case, the
physical quantities in the Reynolds and flow equations take the form:

h w = h w1 + h˜ w h b = h b1 + h˜ b h = h w1 + h b1 + h˜ w + h˜ b = h 1 + h˜

p f = p˜f p A = p ref + p˜f

v w = v˜ w v b = v˜ b

Here the tilde denotes a harmonically varying component. The components marked
with the subscript 1 are static offsets to the harmonic terms. In order to linearize the
equation system, it is necessary to assume that the offsets are much larger than the

THEORY FOR THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 751

 harmonic components. Practically speaking this means that the harmonically varying
pressures induced by the flow should be significantly smaller than the ambient
pressure, and the harmonic changes in the gap size due to the wall and base
displacements should be significantly less than the gap height itself. Given these
assumptions, the average fluid velocity can also be written on the form:

v av = v˜ av

since in general both the Couette and Poiseuille terms vary harmonically to first-order
accuracy.

Substituting these terms into the Reynolds equation gives:

∂ ρ h
( ( 1 + h˜ ) ) + ∇ t ⋅ ( ρ ( h 1 + h˜ )ṽ av ) = 0
∂t

In the frequency domain, the total absolute pressure pA is set to the reference pressure
pref because the deviation from the reference pressure pf in this case represents an
oscillating component and cannot be added to the pressure in a straightforward
manner. ρ is defined as a function of pA and so contains no small harmonic component.
The products of small harmonic terms result in second-order effects (at double the
frequency of interest) and can be neglected provided the harmonic terms are much
smaller than the static terms. The Reynolds equation therefore reduces to:

∂
ρ (h˜ ) + ∇ t ⋅ ( ρh 1 v˜ av ) = 0
∂t

Note that:

∂ ( h˜ )
= v˜ b ⋅ n ref – v˜ w ⋅ n ref – v˜ b ⋅ ∇ t h b1 – v˜ w ⋅ ∇ t h w1 (10-15)
∂t

So the following result holds:

ρ ( v˜ b ⋅ n ref – v˜ w ⋅ n ref – v˜ b ⋅ ∇ t h b1 – v˜ w ⋅ ∇ t h w1 ) + ∇ t ⋅ ( ρh 1 v˜ av ) = 0 (10-16)

Dropping the tildes leads to the form of the equation shown in the equation display:

ρ ( v b ⋅ n ref – v w ⋅ n ref – v w ⋅ ∇ t h w1 – v b ⋅ ∇ t h b1 ) + ∇ t ⋅ ( ρh 1 v av ) = 0

The modified Reynolds Equation takes the following form:

∂ p
(( + p˜f ) ( h 1 + h˜ ) ) + ∇ t ⋅ ( ( p ref + p˜f ) ( h 1 + h˜ )ṽ av ) = 0 (10-17)
∂ t ref

752 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

Linearizing Equation 10-17 gives:

∂ h˜ h ∂ p˜
p ref + 1 + ∇ t ⋅ ( p ref h 1 v˜ av ) = 0
∂t ∂t f

Equation 10-15 can be used to substitute for the time derivative of the harmonic
component of h in the above equation, yielding:

p ref ( v˜ b ⋅ n ref – v˜ w ⋅ n ref – v˜ b ⋅ ∇ t h b1 – v˜ w ⋅ ∇ t h w1 )

∂ (10-18)
+ h 1 (p˜f) + ∇ t ⋅ ( p ref h 1 v˜ av ) = 0
∂t

Dropping the tildes and using complex notation to express the time derivative of pf
gives:

p ref ( v b ⋅ n ref – v w ⋅ n ref – v w ⋅ ∇ t h w1 – v b ⋅ ∇ t h b1 )

+ iωh 1 p f + ∇ t ⋅ ( p ref h 1 v av ) = 0

Equation 10-16 and Equation 10-18 are used as the basis for the frequency domain
formulation in the Thin-Film Flow interfaces. It is important to note that these
equations are independent of the harmonic components of the displacement, since
those terms lead to second-order contributions to the frequency-domain response
(that is, they produce a response proportional to the square of the harmonic term,
which results in a signal at twice the driving frequency).

Since the frequency domain results do not depend on the variation in the
displacement, the additional displacement setting has no effect on the
solution in a frequency-domain problem (unless the velocity is computed
from it by selecting Calculate from wall displacement or Calculate from base
displacement in the wall and base velocity settings, respectively). This is
reflected in the equations given above (and in the equation display in the
physics interface) but can be nonintuitive, particularly when setting up a
model that is coupled with a structural analysis. If the velocity of both the
wall and the base is set to zero, then in the frequency domain there is no
response.

Boundary Conditions
Most of the boundary conditions either constrain the flow into the system by
prescribing a fluid velocity or constrain the pressure at the boundary. The border flow

THEORY FOR THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 753

 condition is slightly more complex, requiring the gradient of the pressure to be set by
specifying the value of the gradient of the pressure in the anti-normal direction such
that:

– n ⋅ ∇p = Γ

The Border flow type selection list enables four ways that the value of Γ can be specified:

• The User defined option allows the value of Γ to be directly entered as an expression
in a text field. This allows for arbitrary normal pressure gradients.
• The two Acoustic elongation options assume a linear gradient in the pressure outside
the domain away from the boundary. The pressure gradient is calculated by dividing
the pressure at the boundary, pf, by an elongation length, ΔL. The elongation
length can either be specified as an absolute length or as a fraction of the domain
width, such that:
pf
– n ⋅ ∇p = --------
ΔL

• The Out-of-plane motion option calculates the pressure gradient at the boundary
using a model detailed in Ref. 8. This model is suitable for including the effects of
gas damping when fluid in a thin gap is subjected to out-of-plane motion of the
walls or base (for example, when a microbeam is oscillating above an extended
surface). When this option is selected, text fields are provided to specify the required
coefficients (ζ,η,χ) and the pressure gradient is defined according to

12μU  6Λ –1 p – p∞
– n ⋅ ∇p = ζ --------------
- 1 + χ -------
2 
+ ---------------
-
h  2
ηh ηh

where U is the out-of-plane velocity, Λ is the slip length at the walls, and p∞ is the
ambient pressure far from the boundary away from the domain.

Cavitation
Several types of cavitation can occur in thin film flow. When the flow pressure drops
below the ambient pressure, the air and other gases dissolved within the fluid are
released. This phenomenon, characteristic of loaded bearings, is known as cavitation
or gaseous cavitation. In some cases involving high frequency varying loads, as in
internal combustion engines, the pressure might drop below the fluid vapor pressure,
which is lower than the ambient pressure. In this case, bubbles are formed by rapid
evaporation or boiling of the fluid. This phenomenon is known as vapor cavitation.

754 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

The cavitation feature in COMSOL Multiphysics is designed to address gaseous
cavitation.

The implementation of the cavitation feature is based on a modified version of the

Elrod’s algorithm (Ref. 9 and Ref. 10). This algorithm automatically predicts film
rupture and reformation in bearings and offers a reasonable compromise between
accuracy and practicality. It is applicable to heavily and moderately loaded bearings but
it is not suitable when surface tension plays an important role.

Elrod and Adam’s algorithm is based on the JFO cavitation theory, a widely accepted
and adopted theory developed by Jakobson (Ref. 11), Floberg (Ref. 12 and Ref. 13),
and Olsson (Ref. 14). The JFO theory divides the flow in two regions:

• A full film region where the pressure varies but is limited from below by the
cavitation pressure.
• A cavitation region where only part of the volume is occupied by the fluid. Because
of the presence of the gas in the void fraction, the pressure in this region is assumed
to be constant and equal to the cavitation pressure.

Elrod and Adams derived a general form of the Reynolds equation, Equation 10-1, by
introducing a switch function, g, equal to 1 in the full film region and 0 in the
cavitation region. This switch function allows for solving a single equation for both the
full film and the cavitation region and leads to a modified version of Equation 10-7:

v av = v av, c – gv av, p ∇tp f

where the second and third terms on the left-hand side correspond to the average
Couette and average Poiseuille velocities, respectively. This switch function sets the
average Poiseuille velocity to zero in the cavitation region.

Because the average Poiseuille velocity is set to zero in the cavitation

region, the density needs to be a function of the pressure variable and is
defined as

βp f
ρ = ρc e

where β is the compressibility, and ρc is the density at the cavitation

pressure. A density that is not pressure dependent would lead to empty
equations in the cavitation region since the pressure variable pf would no
longer present in the governing equations.

THEORY FOR THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 755

 A variable θ can be defined, given by:

ρ
θ = -----
ρc

In the cavitation region (θ < 1) θ represents the fractional film content.

NOTE ABOUT RESULTS POSTPROCESSING

While the pressure is constant and equal to the cavitation pressure in the cavitation
region, the computed pressure is negative in this region. The value of this negative
pressure can be physically be interpreted as the volume fraction of fluid in the
cavitation region. The actual or physical pressure, available in the postprocessing
section as tffs.p, is equal to the computed pressure in the full film region (θ ≥ 1) and
equal to the cavitation pressure in the cavitation region (θ < 1).

References for the Thin-Film Flow Interfaces

1. B.J. Hamrock, S.R. Schmid and B.O. Jacobson, Fundamentals of Fluid Film
Lubrication, Marcel Dekker, 2004.

2. F. Sharipov, “Data on the Velocity Slip and Temperature Jump on a Gas-Solid

Interface”, J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data, vol. 40, no. 2, 023101, 2011.

3. S. Fukui and R. Kaneko, “Analysis of Ultra-Thin Gas Film Lubrication Based on

Linearized Boltzmann Equation: First Report — Derivation of a Generalized
Lubrication Equation Including Thermal Creep Flow”, J. Tribology, vol. 110, no. 2,
pp. 253–261, 1988.

4. S. Fukui and R. Kaneko, “A Database for Interpolation of Poiseuille Flow Rates for
High Knudsen Number Lubrication”, Transactions of the ASME, vol. 112, pp. 78–
83, 1990.

5. T. Veijola, H. Kuisma, and J. Lahdenperä, “The Influence of Gas-surface Interaction

on Gas Film Damping in a Silicon Accelerometer”, Sensors and Actuators, vol. A 66,
pp. 83–92, 1998.

6. C. Cercignani, Maria Lampis, and Silvia Lorenzani “Variational Approach to Gas

Flows in Microchannels”, Physics of Fluids, vol. 16, no. 9, 2004.

7. J.R. Torczynski and M.A. Gallis, “DSMC-Based Shear-Stress/Velocity-Slip

Boundary Condition for Navier-Stokes Couette-Flow Simulations”, 27th
International Symposium on Rarefied Gas Dynamics (2010), AIP Conf. Proc. vol.
1333, pp. 802–807, 2011.

756 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES

8. M. A. Gallis and J. R. Torczynski, “An Improved Reynolds-Equation Model for Gas
Damping of Microbeam Motion”, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, vol.
13, pp. 653–659, 2004.

9. H. [Link], “A Cavitation Algorithm”, J. Lubrication Technology, vol. 103, no. 3,

pp. 350–354, 1981.

10. H. G. Elrod and M. L. Adams, “A computer program for cavitation and starvation
problems”, Cavitation and related phenomena in lubrication, Proceedings of the
1st Leeds–Lyon Symposium on Tribology, University of Leeds, UK, 1974.

11. B. Jacobson and L. Floberg, “The finite journal bearing considering vaporization”,
Transactions of Chalmers University Technology, Göteborg, Sweden, vol. 190, pp. 1–
119, 1957.

12. L. Floberg, “On journal bearing lubrication considering the tensile strength of the
liquid lubricant”, Transactions of the Machine Elements Division, Lund Technical
University, Lund, Sweden, pp. 1–26, 1973.

13. L. Floberg, “Cavitation boundary conditions with regard to the number of

streamers and tensile strength of the liquid,” Cavitation and related phenomena in
lubrication, Proceedings of the 1st Leeds–Lyon Symposium on Tribology, University
of Leeds, UK, pp. 31–36 (Mechanical Engineering Publications Ltd, London, UK),
1974.

14. K.O. Olsson, “Cavitation in dynamically loaded bearings”, Transactions of

Chalmers University Technology, Göteborg, Sweden, vol. 308, 1965.

THEORY FOR THE THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES | 757

758 | CHAPTER 10: THIN-FILM FLOW INTERFACES
 11

Mathematics, Moving Interface Branch

The Level Set and Phase Field Moving interfaces are available under the
Mathematics>Moving Interface branch ( ). Also see Modeling Multiphase Flow to
help you choose the best interface to start with.

In this chapter:

• The Level Set Interface

• The Phase Field Interface
• The Ternary Phase Field Interface
• Theory for the Level Set Interface
• Theory for the Phase Field Interface
• Theory for the Ternary Phase Field Interface

759
 T he L e v e l S e t In t erfac e
The Level Set (ls) interface ( ), found under the Mathematics>Moving Interface
branch ( ) when adding an interface, is used to track moving interfaces in fluid-flow
models by solving a transport equation for the level set function. Simulations using the
Level Set interface are always time dependent since the position of an interface almost
always depends on its history.

The main node is the Level Set Model feature, which adds the level set equation and
provides an interface for defining the level set properties and the velocity field.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder — Level Set Model, No Flow (the default boundary condition) and Initial
Values. Then, from the Physics toolbar, add other nodes that implement, for example,
boundary conditions. You can also right-click Level Set to select physics features from
the context menu.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is ls.

STABILIZATION
To display this sections, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select
Stabilization in the Show More Options dialog box.

There are two stabilization methods available — Streamline diffusion and Crosswind
diffusion. Both are active by default and should remain selected for optimal
performance.

ADVANCED SETTINGS
To display this sections, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
Physics Options in the Show More Options dialog box.

760 | CHAPTER 11: MATHEMATICS, MOVING INTERFACE BRANCH

Specify the Convective term as Nonconservative form (default) or Conservative form.

DISCRETIZATION
By default, the Level Set interface uses Linear elements. When coupling the physics
interface to a fluid flow interface by means of The Two-Phase Flow, Level Set
Coupling Feature, exact conservation of the integral of φ is obtained using the
nonconservative form provided that the discretization order of the level set variable is
equal to or lower than the order of the pressure.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
The dependent variable (field variable) is the Level set variable phi. The name can be
changed but the names of fields and dependent variables must be unique within a
model.

• Conservative and Nonconservative Form

• Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Level Set Interface
• Theory for the Level Set Interface
• Theory for the Two-Phase Flow Interfaces

THE LEVEL SET INTERFACE | 761

 Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Level Set Interface
The Level Set Interface has the following domain, boundary and pair nodes described.

• Continuity • Periodic Condition (see Periodic

• Initial Interface Boundary Conditions in the
COMSOL Multiphysics Reference
• Initial Values
Manual)
• Inlet
• Symmetry1
• Level Set Model
• Thin Barrier
• No Flow
• Outlet1
1 Described for the Laminar Flow interface.

Boundary conditions for axial symmetry boundaries are not required. For
the symmetry axis at r = 0, the software automatically provides a suitable
boundary condition and adds an Axial Symmetry node that is valid on the
axial symmetry boundaries only.

In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual see Table 2-4 for links
to common sections and Table 2-5 to common feature nodes. You can
also search for information: press F1 to open the Help window or Ctrl+F1
to open the Documentation window.

Level Set Model

The Level Set Model node adds the following transport equation governing a level set
function φ

∂φ ∇φ
+ u ⋅ ∇φ = γ∇ ⋅  ε∇φ – φ ( 1 – φ ) ----------
∂t ∇φ

and provides the options to define the associated level set parameters and the velocity
field.

762 | CHAPTER 11: MATHEMATICS, MOVING INTERFACE BRANCH

LEVEL SET PARAMETERS
Enter a value or expression for the Reinitialization parameter γ (SI unit: m/s). The
default is 1 m/s.

Enter a value or expression for the Parameter controlling interface thickness els
(SI unit: m). The default expression is [Link]/2, which means that the value is half
of the maximum mesh element size in the region through which the interface passes.

CONVECTION
Enter values or expressions for the components (u, v, and w in 3D, for example) of the
Velocity field u (SI unit: m/s). The applied velocity field transports the level set
function through convection.

Initial Values
Use the Initial Values node to define the initial values of the level set variable.

INITIAL VALUES
The initial positions of the two fluids, and consequently the separating interface, can
be specified in two ways. The level set function can be specified explicitly, using any
type of variable or expression. Alternatively the fluid occupying the current domain
selection can be specified. Using the former method, a Time Dependent study step can
directly be solved. Using the latter method, a Phase Initialization study step is needed
in order to initialize the level set function across the fluid-fluid interface.

Specify the Level set variable as one of the following:

• To specify the fluid occupying the domain, select Specify phase (default). Then select
the check box Fluid 1 ( φ = 0 ) or Fluid 2 ( φ = 1 ).
• For User defined enter a value or expression for the level set variable φ .

If the Phase Initialization ( ) study step is being used, for the

initialization to work it is crucial that there are two Initial Values nodes
and one Initial Interface node. The Initial Values nodes should specify the
Level set variable as Specify phase: Fluid 1 and Specify phase: Fluid 2
respectively. The Initial Interface node should include all interior
boundaries that define the initial position of the fluid-fluid interface. If the
selection of the Initial interface node is empty, the initialization fails.

See Initializing the Level Set Function.

THE LEVEL SET INTERFACE | 763

 Inlet

SETTINGS
Specify Level Set Condition according to one of the following options:

• Fluid 1 ( φ = 0 )
• Fluid 2 ( φ = 1 )
• Specify level set function explicitly

When the Specify level set function explicitly is selected, the level set function φ must
be specified in the entire domain. The value must be in the range from 0 to 1, where
the default is 0.

Initial Interface
The Initial Interface node defines the boundary as the initial position of the interface
φ = 0.

If the Transient with Initialization ( ) study is being used, for the

initialization to work it is crucial that there are two Initial Values nodes
and one Initial Interface node. One of the Initial Values nodes should use
Specify phase: Fluid 1 and the other Specify phase: Fluid 2. The Initial
Interface node should have all interior boundaries where the interface is
initially present as selection. If the selection of the Initial interface node is
empty, the initialization fails.

See Initializing the Level Set Function.

A version of the Initial Interface suitable for pairs where the boundaries match is also
available. It combines the initial interface feature with the Continuity feature, which
prescribes that the level set variable is continuous across the pair. To add the pair
version of the initial interface feature, right click the physics interface and select
Pairs>Initial Interface.

No Flow
The No Flow node adds a boundary condition that represents boundaries where there
is no flow across the boundary. This is the default boundary condition.

764 | CHAPTER 11: MATHEMATICS, MOVING INTERFACE BRANCH

Thin Barrier
The Thin Barrier feature is available on interior boundaries and introduces a
discontinuity in the level set variable across the boundary. A No Flow condition is
prescribed on each side. This node can be used to avoid meshing thin structures.

Continuity
The Continuity condition is suitable for pairs where the boundaries match; it prescribes
that the level set variable is continuous across the pair.

A No Flow subnode is added by default and it applies to the parts of the pair
boundaries where a source boundary lacks a corresponding destination boundary and
vice versa. The No Flow feature can be overridden by any other boundary condition that
applies to exterior boundaries. By right-clicking the Continuity node, additional
Fallback feature subnodes can be added.

LOCATION IN USER INTERFACE

Right click the physics interface and select Pairs>Continuity

Ribbon
Physics tab with the physics interface selected:

Pairs>Continuity

THE LEVEL SET INTERFACE | 765

 The Phase Field Interface
The Phase Field (pf) interface ( ), found under the Mathematics>Moving Interface
branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used to track moving interfaces by
solving two transport equations, one for the phase field variable, φ , and one for the
mixing energy density, ψ. The position of the interface is determined by minimizing
the free energy.

The main node is the Phase Field Model feature, which adds the phase field equations
and provides an interface for defining the phase field model properties.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder — Phase Field Model, Wetted Wall (the default boundary condition) and
Initial Values. Then, from the Physics toolbar, add other nodes that implement, for
example, boundary conditions. You can also right-click Phase Field to select physics
features from the context menu.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is pf.

ADVANCED SETTINGS
To display this sections, click the Show More Options button ( ) and select Advanced
settings options in the Show More Options dialog box.

Specify the Convective term as Nonconservative form (default) or Conservative form.

DISCRETIZATION
By default, the Phase Field interface uses Linear elements.

766 | CHAPTER 11: MATHEMATICS, MOVING INTERFACE BRANCH

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
This interface defines the dependent variables (fields) Phase field variable φ and Phase
field help variable ψ. If required, edit the name, but dependent variables must be
unique within a model.

• Conservative and Nonconservative Forms

• Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Phase Field Interface
• Theory for the Phase Field Interface

Phase Separation: Application Library path

CFD_Module/Multiphase_Flow/phase_separation

Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Phase Field Interface
The Phase Field Interface includes the following domain, boundary, and pair nodes,
listed in alphabetical order, available from the Physics ribbon toolbar (Windows users),
Physics context menu (Mac or Linux users), or right-click to access the context menu
(all users).

In general, to add a node, go to the Physics toolbar, no matter what

operating system you are using. Subnodes are available by clicking the
parent node and selecting it from the Attributes menu.

• Continuity • Periodic Condition (see Periodic Boundary

• Initial Interface Conditions in the COMSOL Multiphysics
Reference Manual)
• Initial Values
• Phase Field Model
• Inlet
• Symmetry1
• Interior Wetted Wall
• Wetted Wall
• Outlet1
1 Described for the Laminar Flow interface.

THE PHASE FIELD INTERFACE | 767

 In the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual see Table 2-4 for links
to common sections and Table 2-5 to common feature nodes. You can
also search for information: press F1 to open the Help window or Ctrl+F1
to open the Documentation window.

Phase Field Model

The Phase Field Model node adds the equations described in The Equations for the
Phase Field Method. The node defines the associated phase field parameters including
surface tension and interface thickness.

PHASE FIELD PARAMETERS

Define the following phase field parameters. Enter a value or expression for the:

• Surface tension coefficient σ (SI unit: N/m).

• Parameter controlling interface thickness epf (SI unit: m). The default expression is
[Link]/2, which means that the value is half of the maximum mesh element size
in the region through which the interface passes.
• Mobility tuning parameter χ (SI unit: m·s/kg). This parameter determines the time
scale of the Cahn-Hilliard diffusion and it thereby also governs the diffusion-related
time scale for the interface. Select User defined (default) or Calculate from velocity.
For User defined enter a value or expression for the mobility tunning parameter χ.
The default is 1 m·s/kg, which is a good starting point for most models.

For Calculate from velocity enter a value for the expected velocity at the interface U
(SI unit: m/s). χ is then computed as:
Uh max
χ = ------------------
3 2σε

where hmax is the largest mesh cell size.

Keep the χ parameter value large enough to maintain a constant interface

thickness but still low enough to not damp the convective motion. A too
high mobility can also lead to excessive diffusion of droplets.

EXTERNAL FREE ENERGY

Add a source of external free energy to the phase field equations. This modifies the last
term on the right-hand side of the equation:

768 | CHAPTER 11: MATHEMATICS, MOVING INTERFACE BRANCH

 2
ε ∂f
ψ = – ∇ ⋅ ε ∇φ + ( φ – 1 )φ +  -----
2 2
λ ∂φ

The external free energy f (SI unit: J/m3) is a user-defined free energy. In most cases,
the external free energy can be set to zero. Manually differentiate the expression for
the external free energy with respect to φ and then enter it into the φ -derivative of
external free energy field ∂f ⁄ ∂φ .

CONVECTION
Enter values or expressions for the components (u, v, and w in 3D, for example) of the
Velocity field u (SI unit: m/s). The applied velocity field transports the phase field
variables through convection.

Additional Sources of Free Energy

Initial Values
Use the Initial Values node to define the initial values of the phase field variable.

INITIAL VALUES
The initial positions of the two fluids, and consequently the fluid-fluid interface, can
be specified in two ways. The phase field variable can be specified explicitly, using any
type of variable or expression. Alternatively the fluid occupying the current domain
selection can be specified. Using the former method, a Time Dependent study step can
directly be solved. Using the latter method, a Phase Initialization study step is needed
in order to initialize the phase field function across the fluid-fluid interface.

THE PHASE FIELD INTERFACE | 769

 Specify the Phase field variable as one of the following:

• To specify the fluid occupying the domain, select Specify phase (default). Then select
the check box Fluid 1 ( φ = – 1 ) or Fluid 2 ( φ = 1 ).
• For User defined enter a value or expression for the phase field variable φ .

If the Phase Initialization ( ) study step is being used, for the

initialization to work it is crucial that there are two Initial Values nodes
and one Initial Interface node. The Initial Values nodes should specify the
Phase field variable as Specify phase: Fluid 1 and Specify phase: Fluid 2
respectively. The Initial Interface node should include all interior
boundaries that defines the initial position of the fluid-fluid interface. If
the selection of the Initial interface node is empty, the initialization will
fail.

Inlet

SETTINGS
Specify Phase field Condition according to one of the following options:

• Fluid 1 ( φ = – 1 )
• Fluid 2 ( φ = 1 )
• Specify phase field function explicitly

When Specify phase field function explicitly is selected, the phase field function φ must
be specified in the entire domain. The value must be in the range from -1 to 1, where
the default is 1.

770 | CHAPTER 11: MATHEMATICS, MOVING INTERFACE BRANCH

Initial Interface
The Initial Interface node defines the boundary as the initial position of the interface
φ = 0.

If the Transient with Phase Initialization ( ) study is being used, for the
initialization to work it is crucial that there are two Initial Values nodes and
one Initial Interface node. One of the Initial Values nodes is set to Specify
phase: Fluid 1 and the other to Specify phase: Fluid 2. The Initial Interface
node should have all interior boundaries where the interface is initially
present as selection. If the selection of the Initial Interface node is empty,
the initialization fails.

A version of the Initial Interface suitable for pairs where the boundaries match is also
available. It combines the initial interface feature with the Continuity feature, which
prescribes that the phase field variables are continuous across the pair. To add the pair
version of the initial interface feature, right click the physics interface and select
Pairs>Initial Interface.

Wetted Wall
The Wetted Wall node is the default boundary condition representing wetted walls.
Along a wetted wall the contact angle for the fluid, θw, is specified, and across it, the
mass flow is zero. This is prescribed by

2 2
n ⋅ ε ∇φ = ε cos ( θ w ) ∇φ

in combination with

γλ
n ⋅ -----2- ∇ψ = 0
ε

The contact angle θw can be defined directly or from Young's equation, which
considers the components of the forces in the plane of the surface:

σ cos ( θ w ) + γ s2 = γ s1 (11-1)

where γs1 is the surface energy density on the fluid 1 — solid (wall) interface and γs2
is the surface energy density on the fluid 2 — solid (wall) interface.

THE PHASE FIELD INTERFACE | 771

 WETTED WALL
Select an option from the Specify contact angle list — Directly (the default) or Through
Young’s equation. For Directly enter a value or expression for the Contact angle θw (SI
unit: rad). The default value is π/2 radians. For Through Young’s equation enter values
or expressions for Phase 1-Solid surface energy density γs1 (SI unit: J/m2) and Phase
2-Solid surface energy density γs2 (SI unit: J/m2).

Interior Wetted Wall

The Interior Wetted Wall feature is available on interior boundaries. It is similar to the
Wetted Wall condition except that it applies on both sides of an interior boundary and
introduces a discontinuity of the phase field variables across the boundary. This node
can be used to avoid meshing thin structures.

Along an interior wetted wall the contact angle for the fluid, θw, is specified on both
sides of the boundary, and across it, the mass flow is zero.

WETTED WALL
Enter a value or expression for the Contact angle θw. The default value is π/2 rad.

Continuity
The Continuity condition is suitable for pairs where the boundaries match; it prescribes
that the phase field variables are continuous across the pair.

A Wetted Wall subnode is added by default and it applies to the parts of the pair
boundaries where a source boundary lacks a corresponding destination boundary and
vice versa. The Wetted Wall feature can be overridden by any other boundary condition
that applies to exterior boundaries. By right-clicking the Continuity node, additional
Fallback feature subnodes can be added.

LOCATION IN USER INTERFACE

Right click the physics interface and select Pairs>Continuity.

Ribbon
Physics tab with the physics interface selected:

Pairs>Continuity

772 | CHAPTER 11: MATHEMATICS, MOVING INTERFACE BRANCH

The Ternary Phase Field Interface
The Ternary Phase Field (terpf) interface ( ), found under the Mathematics>Moving
Interface branch ( ) when adding a physics interface, is used to track moving
interfaces separating three different phases. The interface solves four transport
equations: two equations governing phase field variables, φ A and φ B , and two
equations for the corresponding generalized chemical potentials, ηA and ηB. The
position of the interfaces are determined by minimization of the free energy.

The phase field variables are defined such that they represent the volume fraction of
the respective phase. The volume fraction of the third phase not solved for, but
computed from the natural constraint that the sum of the volume fractions of all phases
is one.

The main node of the interface is the Phase Field Model feature, which adds the phase
field equations and provides an interface for defining the phase field model properties
such as surface tensions and parameters controlling the interface thickness.

When this physics interface is added, the following default nodes are also added in the
Model Builder — Mixture Properties, Wetted Wall and Initial Values. Then, from the
Physics toolbar, add other nodes that implement, for example, boundary conditions.
You can also right-click Ternary Phase Field to select physics features from the context
menu.

SETTINGS
The Label is the default physics interface name.

The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics
interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to
different physics interfaces, the name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and
underscores (_) are permitted in the Name field. The first character must be a letter.

The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is terpf.

DEPENDENT VARIABLES
This interface defines the dependent variables (fields):

• Phase field variable, fluid A phiA

• Phase field variable, fluid B phiB

THE TERNARY PHASE FIELD INTERFACE | 773

 • Generalized chemical potential of fluid A etaA
• Generalized chemical potential of fluid B etaB

If required, edit the any of the names, but dependent variables must be unique within
a model.

Theory for the Ternary Phase Field Interface

Domain, Boundary, and Pair Nodes for the Ternary Phase Field
Interface
The Ternary Phase Field Interface includes the following domain, boundary, and pair
nodes, listed in alphabetical order, available from the Physics ribbon toolbar (Windows
users), Physics context menu (Mac or Linux users), or by right-clicking the interface
node to access the context menu (all users).

• Initial Values • Phase Field Model

• Inlet • Symmetry
• Outlet • Wetted Wall

Mixture Properties
The Mixture Properties node adds the equations described in The Equations of the
Ternary Phase Field Method. The node defines the associated phase field parameters,
including the surface tension coefficients and parameters controlling the thickness of
the interfaces.

MODEL INPUTS
The surface tension coefficients can be defined through user inputs, variables, or by
selecting a material. For the latter option, an additional input, the temperature, may
be required to define these properties.

Temperature
By default, the Temperature model input is set to Common model input, and the
temperature is controlled from Default Model Inputs under Global Definitions or by a
locally defined Model Input. If a Heat Transfer interface is included in the component,

774 | CHAPTER 11: MATHEMATICS, MOVING INTERFACE BRANCH

it controls the temperature Common model input. Alternatively, the temperature field
can be selected from another physics interface. All physics interfaces have their own
tags (Name). For example, if a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface is included in the
component, the Temperature (ht) option is available for T.

You can also select User defined from the Temperature model input in order to manually
prescribe T

Model Inputs and Multiphysics Couplings in the COMSOL Multiphysics

Reference Manual

PHASE FIELD PARAMETERS

Define the following phase field parameters. Enter a value or expression for the:

• Parameter controlling interface thickness ε. The default expression applied is

[Link]*sqrt(2), which means that the thickness is related to the maximum
mesh element size in the domain. If the element size in the regions passed by the
interfaces is known beforehand, it is recommended to apply a value of ε in that
order.
• Mobility tuning parameter M0. This parameter determines the time scale of the
Cahn-Hilliard diffusion and it thereby also governs the diffusion-related time scale
for the interface. Keep the mobility tuning parameter value large enough to
maintain a constant interface thickness but still low enough to not damp the
convective motion. A too high mobility can also lead to excessive diffusion of
droplets. By default, M0 is set to 1·10−4 m3/s, which is a good starting point for
most models.
• Additional free bulk energy Λ. When needed, add a user-defined expression for the
additional bulk energy.

SURFACE TENSION
Specify the surface tension coefficients for the three types of interfaces present.

• To use a predefined expression, select Library coefficient, liquid/gas interface or

Library coefficient, liquid/liquid interface. Then select an option from the list that
displays below (Water/Air, Glycerol/Air, and so forth).
• For User defined, enter a value or expression for the surface tension coefficient.

THE TERNARY PHASE FIELD INTERFACE | 775

 CONVECTION
Enter values or expressions for the components (u, v, and w in 3D, for example) of the
Velocity field u. The applied velocity field transports the phase field variables through
convection.

Initial Values
The Initial Values node adds initial values for the phase field variables that can serve as
initial conditions for a transient simulation.

INITIAL VALUES
Enter initial values or expressions for Phase field variable A and the Phase field variable
B corresponding to the mass fraction of the respective phase. The value must be in the
range from 0 to 1.

Inlet
This condition should be used on boundaries for which there is a net convective flow
of the phases into the adjacent domain.

INLET
Specify phase field variables, corresponding to the volume fractions, of phase A and
phase B. The value must be in the range from 0 to 1. The volume fraction of phase C
will be evaluated such that the sum of all mass fractions equals one.

Mathematically this boundary condition imposes

M0
φ i = φ i, 0 , n ⋅ -------- ∇η i = 0
Σi

for phases i = A and B.

Outlet
This condition should be used on boundaries for which there is a net convective
outflow from the domain.

Mathematically this boundary condition imposes

M0
n ⋅ -------- ∇η i = 0
Σi

776 | CHAPTER 11: MATHEMATICS, MOVING INTERFACE BRANCH

for phases i = A and B.

Symmetry
Use this condition on boundaries that represent a geometrical symmetry line across
which the flow of the fluid phases is zero.

Mathematically this boundary condition imposes

M0
n ⋅ -------- ∇η i = 0
Σi

for phases i = A and B.

Wetted Wall
Use this node to represent a solid wall along which the contact angles between the
separating interfaces and the wall should be prescribed.

WETTED WALL
Enter values or expressions for the contact angles for the three interfaces types:

• The Contact angle of interface from phase A to phase C θα.

• The Contact angle of interface from phase B to phase C θβ.
• The Contact angle of interface from phase A to phase B θγ.

THE TERNARY PHASE FIELD INTERFACE | 777

 The definition of the contact angles with respect to the wall are shown in the figure
below.

Figure 11-1: Definitions of the contact angels in the Wetted Wall feature of the Ternary
Phase Field interface.

778 | CHAPTER 11: MATHEMATICS, MOVING INTERFACE BRANCH

Theory for the Level Set Interface
Fluid flow with moving interfaces or boundaries occur in a number of different
applications, such as fluid-structure interaction, multiphase flows, and flexible
membranes moving in a liquid. One way to track moving interfaces is to use a level set
method. A certain contour line of the globally defined function, the level set function,
then represents the interface between the phases. For The Level Set Interface the
fluid-fluid interface can be advected with an arbitrary velocity field.

In this section:

• The Level Set Method

• Conservative and Nonconservative Form
• Initializing the Level Set Function
• Variables For Geometric Properties of the Interface
• Reference for the Level Set Interface

The Level Set Method

The level set method is a technique to represent moving interfaces or boundaries using
a fixed mesh. It is useful for problems where the computational domain can be divided
into two domains separated by an interface. Each of the two domains can consist of
several parts. Figure 11-2 shows an example where one of the domains consists of two
separated parts. The interface is represented by a certain level set or isocontour of a
globally defined function, the level set function φ . In COMSOL Multiphysics, φ is a
smooth step function that equals zero (0) in one domain and one (1) in the other.
Across the interface, there is a smooth transition from zero to one. The interface is

THEORY FOR THE LEVEL SET INTERFACE | 779

 defined by the 0.5 isocontour, or level set, of φ . Figure 11-3 shows the level set
representation of the interface in Figure 11-2.

Figure 11-2: An example of two domains divided by an interface. In this case, one of the
domains consists of two parts. Figure 11-3 shows the corresponding level set representation.

Figure 11-3: A surface plot of the level set function corresponding to Figure 11-2.

The physics interface solves Equation 11-2 in order to move the interface with the
velocity field u:

∂φ ∇φ
+ u ⋅ ∇φ = γ∇ ⋅  ε∇φ – φ ( 1 – φ ) ---------- (11-2)
∂t ∇φ

The terms on the left-hand side give the correct motion of the interface, while those
on the right-hand side are necessary for numerical stability. The parameter, ε,
determines the thickness of the region where φ varies smoothly from zero to one and
is typically of the same order as the size of the elements of the mesh. By default, ε is

780 | CHAPTER 11: MATHEMATICS, MOVING INTERFACE BRANCH

constant within each domain and equals the largest value of the mesh size, h, within
the domain. The parameter γ determines the amount of reinitialization or stabilization
of the level set function. It needs to be tuned for each specific problem. If γ is too small,
the thickness of the interface might not remain constant and oscillations in φ can
appear because of numerical instabilities. On the other hand, if γ is too large the
interface moves incorrectly. A suitable value for γ is the maximum magnitude of the
velocity field u.

Conservative and Nonconservative Form

If the velocity is divergence free, that is, if

∇⋅u = 0 (11-3)

the volume (area for 2D problems) bounded by the interface should be conserved if
there is no inflow or outflow through the boundaries. To obtain exact numerical
conservation in cases where Equation 11-3 is not fully satisfied, switch to the
conservative form

∂φ ∇φ
+ ∇ ⋅ ( uφ ) = γ∇ ⋅  ε∇φ – φ ( 1 – φ ) ---------- (11-4)
∂t  ∇φ 

in Settings window for The Level Set Interface.

Using the conservative level set form, exact numerical conservation of the integral of
φ is obtained. However, the nonconservative form is better suited for numerical
calculations and usually converges more easily. The nonconservative form, which is the
default form, only conserves the integral of the level set function approximately, but
this is sufficient for most applications.

When the Level Set interface is coupled to a fluid flow interface by means of The
Two-Phase Flow, Level Set Coupling Feature, exact conservation of the integral of φ
is obtained using the nonconservative form provided that the discretization order of
the level set variable is equal to or lower than the order of the pressure.

Rising Bubble: path CFD_Module/Multiphase_Tutorials/rising_bubble_2daxi

THEORY FOR THE LEVEL SET INTERFACE | 781

 Initializing the Level Set Function
If the study type Transient with Phase Initialization is used in the model, the level set
variable is first initialized so that it varies smoothly between zero and one over the
interface. For that study, two study steps are created, Phase Initialization and Time
Dependent. The Phase Initialization step solves for the distance to the initial interface,
Dwi. The Time Dependent step then uses the initial condition for the level set function
according to the following expression:

1
φ 0 = -------------------------
–D ⁄ ε
-
1 + e wi

in domains initially outside the interface and

1 -
φ 0 = -----------------------
D ⁄ε
1 + e wi

in domains initially inside the interface. Here, inside refers to domains where φ < 0.5
and outside refers to domains where φ > 0.5 .

For the initialization to work it is crucial that there are two Initial Values
nodes and one Initial Interface node. One of the Initial Values nodes
should use Specify phase: Fluid 1 ( φ = 0 ) and the other Specify phase: Fluid
2 ( φ = 1 ). The Initial Interface node should have all interior boundaries
where the interface is initially present as selection. If the selection of the
Initial interface node is empty, the initialization fails.

• The Level Set Interface

• Studies and Solvers and Time Dependent with Initialization in the
COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual

Variables For Geometric Properties of the Interface

Geometric properties of the interface are often needed. The unit normal to the
interface is given by

∇φ
n = ---------- (11-5)
∇φ φ = 0,5

782 | CHAPTER 11: MATHEMATICS, MOVING INTERFACE BRANCH

This variable is available in the physics interface as the interface normal [Link].

Reference for the Level Set Interface

1. E. Olsson and G. Kreiss, “A Conservative Level Set Method for Two Phase Flow,”
J. Comput. Phys., vol. 210, pp. 225–246, 2005.

THEORY FOR THE LEVEL SET INTERFACE | 783

 Theory for the Phase Field Interface
The Phase Field Interface theory is described in this section:

• About the Phase Field Method

• The Equations for the Phase Field Method
• Conservative and Nonconservative Forms
• Additional Sources of Free Energy
• Initializing the Phase Field Function
• Variables and Expressions
• Reference for the Phase Field Interface

About the Phase Field Method

The phase field method offers an attractive alternative to more established methods for
solving multiphase flow problems. Instead of directly tracking the interface between
two fluids, the interfacial layer is governed by a phase field variable, φ . The surface
tension force is added to the Navier-Stokes equations as a body force by multiplying
the chemical potential of the system by the gradient of the phase field variable.

The evolution of the phase field variable is governed by the Cahn-Hilliard equation,
which is a 4th-order PDE. The Phase Field interface decomposes the Cahn-Hilliard
equation into two second-order PDEs.

For the level set method, the fluid interface is simply advected with the flow field. The
Cahn-Hilliard equation, on the other hand, does not only convect the fluid interface,
but it also ensures that the total energy of the system diminishes correctly. The phase
field method thus includes more physics than the level set method.

The free energy of a system of two immiscible fluids consists of mixing, bulk distortion,
and anchoring energy. For simple two-phase flows, only the mixing energy is retained,
which results in a rather simple expression for the free energy.

The Equations for the Phase Field Method

The free energy is a functional of a dimensionless phase field parameter, φ :

784 | CHAPTER 11: MATHEMATICS, MOVING INTERFACE BRANCH

   --2- ε ∇φ + f ( φ, T ) dV =
1
 ftot dV
2 2
F ( φ, ∇φ, T ) =


where ε is a measure of the interface thickness. Equation 11-6 describes the evolution
of the phase field parameter:

∂φ ∂f tot ∂f tot
+ ( u ⋅ ∇ )φ = ∇ ⋅ γ∇  –∇⋅ (11-6)
∂t ∂φ ∂ ∇φ 

where ftot (SI unit: J/m3) is the total free energy density of the system, and u
(SI unit: m/s) is the velocity field for the advection. The right-hand side of
Equation 11-6 aims to minimize the total free energy with a relaxation time controlled
by the mobility γ (SI unit: m3·s/kg).

The free energy density of an isothermal mixture of two immiscible fluids is the sum
of the mixing energy and elastic energy. The mixing energy assumes the
Ginzburg-Landau form:

1 2 λ 2 2
f mix ( φ, ∇φ ) = --- λ ∇φ + --------2- ( φ – 1 )
2 4ε

where φ is the dimensionless phase field variable, defined such that the volume fraction
of the components of the fluid are (1+ φ )/2 and (1− φ )/2. The quantity λ
(SI unit: N) is the mixing energy density and ε (SI unit: m) is a capillary width that
scales with the thickness of the interface. These two parameters are related to the
surface tension coefficient, σ (SI unit: N/m), through the equation

2 2λ
σ = ----------- --- (11-7)
3 ε

The PDE governing the phase field variable is the Cahn-Hilliard equation:

∂φ
+ u ⋅ ∇φ = ∇ ⋅ γ ∇G (11-8)
∂t

where G (SI unit: Pa) is the chemical potential and γ (SI unit: m3·s/kg) is the mobility.
The mobility determines the time scale of the Cahn-Hilliard diffusion and must be
large enough to retain a constant interfacial thickness but small enough so that the
convective terms are not overly damped. In COMSOL Multiphysics the mobility is
determined by a mobility tuning parameter that is a function of the interface thickness
γ = χε2. The chemical potential is:

THEORY FOR THE PHASE FIELD INTERFACE | 785

 2
2 φ(φ – 1)
G = λ – ∇ φ + ----------------------
2
- (11-9)
ε

The Cahn-Hilliard equation forces φ to take a value of 1 or −1 except in a very thin

region on the fluid-fluid interface. The Phase Field interface breaks Equation 11-8 up
into two second-order PDEs:

∂φ γλ
+ u ⋅ ∇φ = ∇ ⋅ -----2- ∇ψ (11-10)
∂t ε

2 2
ψ = – ∇ ⋅ ε ∇φ + ( φ – 1 )φ (11-11)

Conservative and Nonconservative Forms

If the velocity field is divergence free, that is, if

∇⋅u = 0 (11-12)

the volume (area for 2D problems) bounded by the interface should be conserved if
there is no inflow or outflow through the boundaries. To obtain exact numerical
conservation in cases where Equation 11-12 is not fully satisfied, switch to the
conservative form

∂φ γλ
+ ∇ ⋅ uφ = ∇ ⋅ -----2- ∇ψ
∂t ε

Using the conservative phase field form, exact numerical conservation of the integral
of φ is obtained. However, the nonconservative form is better suited for numerical
calculations and usually converges more easily. The nonconservative form, which is the
default form, only conserves the integral of the phase field function approximately, but
this is sufficient for most applications.

When the Phase Field interface is coupled to a fluid flow interface by means of The
Two-Phase Flow, Phase Field Coupling Feature, conservation of the integral of φ
using the nonconservative form can be improved provided that the discretization order
of the phase field variables is equal to or lower than the order of the pressure.

786 | CHAPTER 11: MATHEMATICS, MOVING INTERFACE BRANCH

Additional Sources of Free Energy
In some cases, the expression for the free energy can include other sources. It is
possible to incorporate these by modifying Equation 11-11:

2
ε ∂f
ψ = – ∇ ⋅ ε ∇φ + ( φ – 1 )φ +  -----
2 2
(11-13)
 λ  ∂φ

where f is a user-defined free energy (SI unit: J/m3).

The expression for the external free energy must be manually

differentiated with respect to φ and then entered into the ∂f ⁄ ∂φ field.
In most cases, the external free energy is zero.

Initializing the Phase Field Function

If the study type Transient with Phase Initialization is used in the model, the phase field
variable is first initialized so that it varies smoothly between zero and one over the
interface. For this study, two study steps are created, Phase Initialization and Time
Dependent. The Phase Initialization step solves for the distance to the initial interface,
Dwi. The Time Dependent step then uses the initial condition for the phase field
function according to the following expression:

D wi
φ 0 = – tanh  ----------
2ε

in Fluid 1 and

D wi
φ 0 = tanh  ----------
 2ε

THEORY FOR THE PHASE FIELD INTERFACE | 787

 in Fluid 2. These expressions are based on a steady, analytic solution to
Equation 11-10 and Equation 11-11 for a straight, non-moving interface.

If the Transient with Phase Initialization ( ) study is being used, for the
initialization to work it is crucial that there are two Initial Values nodes and
one Initial Interface node. One of the Initial Values nodes is set to Specify
phase: Fluid 1 and the other to Specify phase: Fluid 2. The Initial Interface
node should have all interior boundaries where the interface is initially
present as selection. If the selection of the Initial Interface node is empty,
the initialization fails.

Studies and Solvers in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual

Variables and Expressions

Unlike the level set method, the phase field method does not require expressions for
the unit normal to the interface or smoothed delta functions, so they are not available
for analysis. Variables that are defined are the chemical potential, which can be
rewritten in terms of the dependent variable ψ,

λψ
G = ------2-
ε

and the surface tension force F = G∇ φ .

The mean curvature (SI unit: 1/m) of the interface can be computed by entering the
following expression:

G
κ = 2 ( 1 + φ ) ( 1 – φ ) ----
σ

Reference for the Phase Field Interface

1. P. Yue, C. Zhou, J.J. Feng, C.F. Ollivier-Gooch, and H.H. Hu, “Phase-field
Simulations of Interfacial Dynamics in Viscoelastic Fluids Using Finite Elements with
Adaptive Meshing,” J. Comp. Phys., vol. 219, pp. 47–67, 2006.

788 | CHAPTER 11: MATHEMATICS, MOVING INTERFACE BRANCH

THEORY FOR THE PHASE FIELD INTERFACE | 789
 Theory for the Ternary Phase Field
Interface
The Ternary Phase Field Interface theory is described in this section:

• About the Phase Field Method

• The Equations of the Ternary Phase Field Method
• Reference for the Phase Field Interface

About the Phase Field Method

The phase field method offers an attractive alternative to more established methods for
solving multiphase flow problems. Instead of directly tracking the interface between
two fluids, the separating interface is identified as the region across which the phase
field variables of the two adjacent phases varies between its two limiting values. The
surface tension force is added to the Navier-Stokes equations as a body force by
multiplying the chemical potentials of the phases by the gradient of the corresponding
phase field variable.

The evolution of each phase field variable is governed by the Cahn-Hilliard equation,
which is a 4th-order PDE. The Ternary Phase Field interface decomposes each
Cahn-Hilliard equation into two second-order PDEs.

For the level set method, the fluid interface is simply advected with the flow field. The
Cahn-Hilliard equation, on the other hand, does not only convect the fluid interface,
but it also ensures that the total energy of the system diminishes correctly. The phase
field method thus includes more physics than the level set method.

The free energy of a system of immiscible fluids consists of mixing, bulk distortion, and
anchoring energy. For simple three-phase flows, only the mixing energy is retained.

The Equations of the Ternary Phase Field Method

The ternary phase field model implemented in COMSOL is based the work of Boyer
and co-workers in Ref. 1. The model is designed in order to study the evolution of the
three immiscible phases, denoted phase A, phase B, and phase C, respectively. Each
phase is represented by a phase field variable φ , which takes values between 0 and 1.
The phase field variables satisfies the constraint

790 | CHAPTER 11: MATHEMATICS, MOVING INTERFACE BRANCH

  φi = 0 (11-14)
i = A , B, C

and density of each phase is assumed to be constant. This implies that the phase field
variable corresponds directly to the volume fraction of the phase in question.

The free energy of the three phase system is defined as a function of the phase field
variables in the manner of:

2 2 2 2 2 2
F = σ AB φ A φ B + σ AC φ A φ C + σ BC φ B φ C +
(11-15)
2 2 2
φ A φ B φ C ( Σ A φ A + Σ B φ B + Σ C φ C ) + Λφ A φ B φ C

Here the σij denotes the surface tension coefficient of the interface separating phase i
and j, and the capillary parameters Σi are defined as

Σ i = σ ij + σ ik – σ jk (11-16)

and Λ is a function or parameter specifying the additional free bulk energy. By default
Λ is zero. In this case it can be seen that the free energy in Equation 11-15 represents
the mixing energy, since only interfaces between two phases (where two phase field
variables varies between the limiting values) contributes to the free energy.

The Cahn-Hilliard equations to be solved for each phase p = A, B, C are

∂φ ∂u j φ i ∂ M 0 ∂η i
--------i + ------------- = --------  -------- --------
∂t ∂x j ∂x j  Σ i ∂x j 
(11-17)
4Σ T 1  ∂F ∂F   3
 ---- ∂η i
∂ -  -------
η i = ----------
ε  - -------- -------- – --- -------
 Σ j  ∂φ i – ∂φ j  4 εΣ j ∂x j  ∂x j 
-
j≠i

It can be noted that the Cahn-Hilliard equation is originally a 4th-order PDE. In

COMSOL Multiphysics, that PDE is split up into two second-order PDEs by
introducing an additional dependent variable, the generalized potential η, one for each
phase. In order to satisfy Equation 11-15, two sets of the equations shown in
Equation 11-17 are solved, those for phase A and phase B. The phase field variable,
and correspondingly the mass fraction, for fluid C is computed from Equation 11-15.

In Equation 11-17 ε (SI unit: 1/m) is a parameter controlling the interface thickness,
M0 (SI unit: m3/s) is a molecular mobility parameter, and the parameter ΣT is defined
as

THEORY FOR THE TERNARY PHASE FIELD INTERFACE | 791

 3 1 1 1
------ = ------- + ------- + ------- (11-18)
ΣT ΣA ΣB ΣC

Reference for the Ternary Phase Field Interface

1. F. Boyer, C. Lapuerta, S. Minjeaud, B. Piar, and M. Quintard,
“Cahn-Hilliard/Navier-Stokes model for the simulation of three-phase flows”,
Transport in Porous Media, vol. 28, pp. 463–484, 2010.

792 | CHAPTER 11: MATHEMATICS, MOVING INTERFACE BRANCH

 12

Glossary

This Glossary of Terms contains application-specific terms used in the CFD

Module software and documentation. For finite element modeling terms,
mathematical terms, and geometry and CAD terms, see the glossary in the
COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual. For references to more information
about a term, see the index.

793
 Glossary of Terms
Algebraic yPlus turbulence model Low-Reynolds number, algebraic turbulence
model that solves for the wall distance, y+ (in viscous units).

anisotropy Directional dependence. Is often obtained from homogenization of

regular structures, for example, monolithic structures in tubular reactors.

Boussinesq approximation An approximate method to include buoyancy effects, for

which the density variation is only taken into account in the buoyancy term.

Brinkman equations A set of equations extending Darcy’s law in order to include

transport of momentum through shear in porous media flow.

boundary layer Region in a fluid close to a solid surface. This region is characterized
by large gradients in velocity and other properties. In turbulent flow it is often treated
with approximate methods because of the difficulty to resolve the large gradients.

bubbly flow Flow with gas bubbles dispersed in a liquid.

conjugate heat transfer heat transfer that takes place in both a solid and a fluid.

creeping flow Models the Navier-Stokes equations without the contribution of the
inertial term. This is often referred to as Stokes flow and is applicable when viscous flow
dominates, such as in very small channels or microfluidic devices.

crosswind diffusion A numerical technique for stabilization of convection-dominated

PDEs by artificially adding diffusion perpendicular to the direction of the streamlines.
It reduces oscillations near sharp gradients.

Darcy’s law Equation that gives the velocity vector as proportional to the pressure
gradient. Often used to describe flow in porous media.

Euler flow Flow of an inviscid fluid. Often used to approximate high speed
compressible flows.

Euler-Euler model A two-phase flow model that treats both phases as interpenetrating
continua.

794 | CHAPTER 12: GLOSSARY

Fick’s laws The first law states that the diffusive flux of a solute infinitely diluted in a
solvent is proportional to its concentration gradient. The second law introduces the
first law into a differential material balance for the temporal evolution of the solute.

fluid-structure interaction (FSI) When a fluid flow affects the deformation of a solid
object and vice versa.

fully developed laminar flow Laminar flow along a channel or pipe that only has
velocity components in the streamwise direction. The velocity profile does not change
downstream.

Hagen-Poiseuille equation See Poiseuille’s law.

heterogeneous reaction Reaction that takes place at the interface between two phases.

homogeneous reaction Reaction that takes place in the bulk of a solution.

intrinsic volume averages The physical properties of the fluid, such as density,
viscosity, and pressure.

k-ε turbulence model A two-equation RANS model that solves for the turbulent
kinetic energy, k, and the dissipation of turbulence kinetic energy, ε. Utilizes wall
functions to describe the flow close to solid walls.

k-ω turbulence model A two-equation RANS model that solves for the turbulent
kinetic energy, k, and the specific dissipation rate, ω. Utilizes wall functions to describe
the flow close to solid walls.

L-VEL turbulence model Low-Reynolds number, algebraic turbulence model that

+
solves for the tangential velocity near walls, u (in viscous units).

law of the wall See wall function.

low-Reynolds k-ε turbulence model Two-equation RANS model that solves for the
turbulence kinetic energy, k, and the dissipation of turbulence kinetic energy, ε.
Includes damping functions to be able to describe regions with low Reynolds numbers,
for example close to solid walls.

low Reynolds number The region close to the wall where viscous effects dominate.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS | 795

 Mach number Dimensionless number equal to the flow velocity over the speed of
sound. Compressible effects because of the flow speed can be neglected for Mach
number less than 0.3.

multiphase flow Flow with more than one phase.

Navier-Stokes equations The momentum balance equation for a Newtonian fluid

coupled to the equation of continuity. The meaning of the term originally only referred
to the momentum balance but it is here used in the more general context.

Newtonian fluid A fluid for which the stress is proportional to the rate of strain. Many
common fluids such as water and air are Newtonian.

non-Newtonian fluid A fluid for which the stress is not proportional to the rate of
strain. Blood and suspensions of polymers are examples of non-Newtonian fluids.

Poiseuille’s law Equation stating that the mass rate of flow in a tube is proportional to
the pressure difference per unit length and to the fourth power of the tube radius. The
law is valid for fully developed laminar flow.

pressure work Describes the reversible conversion of work, performed by the pressure
in a fluid, into heat.

RANS Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes; implying that a time-averaging operation

has been performed on the equations of motion. The Reynolds’ stresses (correlations
between fluctuating velocity components) obtained from this averaging operation
have to be obtained from an additional set of equations — a closure. Turbulence
models like the k-ε and Spalart-Allmaras models constitute closures to the RANS
equations.

Reynolds number A dimensionless number that describes the relative importance

between inertia and viscous effects. Flow at high Reynolds number have a tendency to
undergo transition to turbulence.

Soret effect Mass diffusion due to temperature gradients in multicomponent

mixtures.

Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model A one-equation turbulence model that solves for

the undamped turbulent kinematic viscosity, ν̃ T .

796 | CHAPTER 12: GLOSSARY

SST turbulence model The Shear Stress Transport model is a two-equation
turbulence model combining the k-ω model in the near-wall region with the k-ε model
in the free stream. The SST model is a low-Reynolds number model requiring high
resolution near walls. The dependent variables are the turbulent kinetic energy, k, and
the turbulent dissipation rate, ω.

Stokes flow See creeping flow.

streamline diffusion A numerical technique for stabilization of convection-dominated

PDEs by artificially adding upwinding in the streamline direction.

superficial volume averages The flow velocities, which correspond to a unit volume of
the medium including both pores and matrix. They are sometimes called Darcy
velocities, defined as volume flow rates per unit cross section of the medium.

thin-film flow Flow in very thin regions where the it can be assumed to always have a
fully developed profile.

viscous heating The heat irreversibly generated from work by viscous friction in a
fluid.

wall function Semi-empirical expression for the boundary-layer flow used in

turbulence models. Often based on the assumption of negligible variations in the
pressure gradient tangential to the surface.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS | 797

798 | CHAPTER 12: GLOSSARY
I n d e x
A absolute pressure 93, 326, 336, 341, 371, Brinkman equations 537
410, 434, 451, 541 bubbly flow 369
added mass force 488 Darcy’s law interface 515
adding species 601 Euler-Euler interface 432
adsorption 629 free and porous media flow 544
AKN model 211 hmnf interfaces 278
algebraic yPlus turbulence model 71 level set 762
Application Libraries window 28 mm interfaces 408
application library examples phase field 767
convection and diffusion 612 rmspf interfaces 134
Darcy’s law 515 ternary phase field 774
inlet (laminar flow) 106 tff interface 725
laminar flow 70 tffs interfaces 725
laminar, two-phase flow, moving mesh tpdl interface 551
345 transport of concentrated species 646
level set conservation 781 transport of diluted species 609
migration in electric field 612 boundary stress (node) 109
mixture model, laminar flow 391 Boussinesq approximation 261, 266
phase field 767 Brinkman equations 581
rmspf interfaces 130 Brinkman equations interface 535
storage model 521 theory 581
thin-film flow, shell 723 bubble number density 470
transport of concentrated species 646 bubbly flow algebraic yplus (bf) interface
transport of diluted species 607 354
turbulent bubbly flow 359 bubbly flow k-epsilon (bf) interface 357
turbulent flow (hmnf) interface 277 bubbly flow k-omega (bf) interface 360
turbulent flow, k-epsilon (spf) 75 bubbly flow Low Re k-epsilon (bf) inter-
turbulent flow, k-omega (spf) 78 face 363
atmosphere/gauge (node) 531 bubbly flow L-VEL (bf) interface 355
automatic wall treatment 191, 194, 204, bubbly flow Realizable k-epsilon (bf) in-
209, 212, 216, 219 terface 359
average linear velocity 575 bubbly flow Spalart-Allmaras (bf) inter-

B Basset force 488 face 365

border (node) bubbly flow SST (bf) interface 362

thin-film flow 730 bubbly flow v2f (bf) interface 367

boundary nodes C Cahn-Hilliard equation 784, 790

INDEX| 799
 cavitation, thin film flow 754 distance to cell center in viscous units
CFL number variable 206, 209, 214, 221
high Mach number flow 302 documentation 26
pseudo time stepping, and 130 domain nodes
settings 70, 354, 391, 429, 537 Brinkman equations 537
chemical potential variable 788 bubbly flow 369
common settings 53 Darcy’s law 515
compressible euler equations interface Euler-Euler interface 432
286 free and porous media flow 544
concentration (node) 616 hmnf interfaces 278
concentration of species 601 level set 762
conjugate heat transfer multiphysics in- mm interfaces 408
terface phase field 767
theory 258 rmspf interfaces 134
contact angle (node) 137 ternary phase field 774
continuity (node) 294, 566, 765, 772 tff interface 725
continuity equation, multiphase flow 475 tffs interfaces 725
convection 689 tpdl interface 551
convective terms, diluted species 681 transport of concentrated species 646
Couette flow 741 transport of diluted species 609
creeping flow 345 drag force 488
creeping flow (spf) interface 64 drag law, Hadamard-Rybczynski 481, 503
theory 138 Dusty gas model 642

D Damköhler number 714 E eddy dissipation concept (EDC) 715

damping, slide-film 736 eddy viscosity 186
damping, squeeze-film 736 edge nodes
Darcy velocity 526, 689 Darcy’s law interface 515
Darcy’s law interface 513 hmnf interfaces 278
theory 571 tff interface 725
defining species concentration 601 tffs interface 725
dense flows 488 electrode-electrolyte interface coupling
diffusion models 641 (node)
dispersed liquid droplets 486 free and porous media flow 524
dispersed phase boundary conditions transport of diluted species 626, 654
478 elevation 523
dispersed phase number density 477 emailing COMSOL 28
dispersed phase particles 484 entropy waves 300
dispersed solid particles 486 Eötvös number 471

800 | I N D E X
 Equilibrium Reaction fluid-fluid interface (node) 346
theory for 679 fluids and matrix properties (node) 552
equilibrium reaction (node) 623, 664 fluid-solid mixtures 485
Ergun packed bed expression 489 flux (node)
Ettehadieh solid pressure model 492 transport of concentrated species 660
Euler-Euler equations 484, 493 transport of diluted species 617, 639
bubbly flow 467 flux discontinuity (node) 618
Euler-Euler model, laminar flow (ee) in- Darcy’s law 528
terface 427 transport of concentrated species 663
theory 484 transport of diluted species 618
Euler-Euler model, turbulent flow (ee) fracture flow (node) 534
interface 430 free and porous matrix properties
external fluid interface (node) 347 (node) 546
free and porous media flow interface 543
F fan (node) 115
theory 584
fan curves
Freundlich exponent 695
inlet boundary condition 116
frozen rotor 235
Faraday’s law 686
Fukui and Kaneko 748
Favre average 187, 260
fully developed flow 104
Fick’s law approximation diffusion 703
Fick’s law diffusion model 643 G gas boundary conditions 385
flow continuity (node) 122, 385, 445 gas constant 710
flow rate in SCCMs 102 gaseous cavitation 754
fluid (node) general stress (boundary stress condi-
hmnf interfaces 280 tion) 109
fluid and matrix properties (node) geometry, simplifying 35
Brinkman equations 538 Gidaspow and Ettehadieh solid pressure
Darcy’s law 517 model 492
fluid flow Gidaspow model 488
approaches to analysis 34 Gidaspow solid pressure model 493
Brinkman equations theory 581 Ginzburg-Landau equation 785
turbulent flow theory 184 gravity 126
fluid properties 35 gravity (node)
fluid properties (node) bf interfaces 375
bf interfaces 370 ee interfaces 438
cee interface 289 mm interfaces 415
free and porous media flow 545 gravity, cee 294
spf interfaces 92 grille (node) 121
fluid-film properties (node) 725
H Hadamard-Rybczynski drag law 481, 503

INDEX| 801
 Haider-Levenspiel slip model 481, 503 initializing functions 782, 787
Heat source (node) inlet (boundary stress condition) 111
cee interface 290 inlet (node)
Henry’s law 374 bf interfaces 378
high Mach number flow (hmnf) interfaces cee 291
theory 295 Darcy’s law 526
high mach number flow, laminar inter- ee interface 441
face 273 hmnf interfaces 282
high mach number flow, Spalart-Allmaras mm interfaces 420
(hmnf) interface 276 single-phase flow 100, 291
high machnumber flow, k-epsilon (hmnf) ternary phase field 776–777
interface 274 thin-film flow 733
high Schmidt numbers 711 tpdl interface 555
hybrid outlet 301 interface normal variable 783
hydraulic head (node) 531 interior fan 717
Hygroscopic Swelling 638 interior fan (node) 118
interior wall (node)
I implementing, Euler-Euler equations 493
bf interfaces 383
inflow (node) 615
cee interfaces 293
transport of concentrated species 661
ee interface 444
initial interface (node)
mm interfaces 424
level set 764
spf interfaces 119
phase field 771
interior wetted wall (node) 772
initial values (node)
internet resources 26
bf interfaces 375
interphase momentum transfer 488
Brinkman equations 540
intrinsic volume averages 581
cee interface 289
Darcy’s law 520 K Karman constant 265, 714
ee interface 437 Kays-Crawford models 263
free and porous media flow 547 k-epsilon turbulence model 74, 85–87,
hmnf interfaces 279 194
level set 763, 769 knowledge base, COMSOL 29
mm interfaces 415 Knudsen diffusion 642
phase field 776 Knudsen number 748
spf interfaces 96 k-omega turbulence model 77
thin-film flow 732 Krieger type model 487, 502
tpdl interface 553 Krieger type viscosity model 412, 452
transport of concentrated species 658
L laminar bubbly flow (bf) interface 351
transport of diluted species 613
theory 467

802 | I N D E X
 laminar flow interface 65 459
laminar mixture model (mm) interface mass flux (node)
theory 474 Darcy’s law 525
laminar three-phase flow, phase field in- tpdl interface 554
terface 339 mass fraction (node) 659
laminar two-phase flow mass fractions 601
moving mesh interface 344 mass source (node)
laminar two-phase flow, level set (tpf) in- Brinkman equations 540
terface 322, 333–334 Darcy’s law 520
Langmuir constant 695 mass transfer (node)
leaking wall, wall boundary condition 99, bf interfaces 373
549 ee interfaces 438
level set functions, initializing 782, 787 mm interfaces 414
level set interface 760 mass transport 700
theory 456, 779 mathematics, moving interfaces
level set model (node) 762 level set 760
lift force 488 phase field 766, 773
line mass source (node) theory 779, 784, 790
fluid flow 124 Maxwell-Stefan diffusion model 642
species transport 620 mean value closure 715
line source MEMS Module 548
species transport 683 meshing 37
local microfluidic wall conditions (node) 548
CFL number 70, 354, 391, 429, 537 mixture continuity (node) 426
local CFL number 130, 228 mixture model, algebraic yPlus (mm) in-
high Mach number flow 302 terface 391
low re k-epsilon turbulence model 80, 83 mixture model, k-epsilon (mm) interface
low Reynolds number 395
k-epsilon turbulence theory 210 mixture model, k-omega (mm) interface
low Reynolds number wall treatment 399
191, 193, 206, 209, 213, 217, 221 mixture model, laminar flow (mm) inter-
lubrication 735 face 387
L-VEL turbulence model 72 mixture model, low Re k-epsilon (mm)
interface 402
M Marangoni effect (node) 255
mixture model, L-VEL (mm) interface
mass action law, laminar flow 709
393
mass balance 484
mixture model, realizable k-epsilon
mass based concentrations (node) 613
(mm) interface 397
mass conservation, level set equations

INDEX| 803
 mixture model, Spalart-Allmaras (mm) O Ohm’s law 686
interface 404 open boundary (boundary stress condi-
mixture model, SST (mm) interface 400 tion) 111
mixture model, v2-f (mm) interface 406 open boundary (node)
mixture properties (node) 409, 774 spf interfaces 108
mixture viscosity 411 transport of concentrated species 663
mixture-averaged diffusion model 643, transport of diluted species 622
701 out (node)
modeling strategy 34 cee 292
modified Reynolds equation, gas flow 747 outflow (node)
modified Reynolds equation, thin-film transport of concentrated species 662
flow 735 transport of diluted species 616
momentum balance equations 485 outlet (boundary stress condition) 111
moving interfaces 784, 790 outlet (node)
MPH-files 28 bf interfaces 381
multiphase flow theory 456, 467, 474, cee interfaces 292
779, 784, 790 Darcy’s law 529
hmnf interfaces 284
N Navier-Stokes equations 456
mm interfaces 422
Nernst-Einstein relation 611, 628, 632,
spf interfaces 106
685
ternary phase field 776
Neumann condition 198
thin-film flow 733
no flow (node) 528
tpdl interface 555
Darcy’s law 528
level set 764 P pair nodes
no flux (node) 615 Brinkman equations 537
tpdl interface 554 Darcy’s law interface 515
transport of concentrated species 662 Euler-Euler interface 432
no slip, interior wall boundary condition free and porous media flow 544
119 hmnf interfaces 278
no slip, wall boundary condition 97, 549 level set 762
no viscous stress (open boundary) 109 phase field 767
nodes, common settings 53 rmspf interfaces 134
non-conservative formulations 459 ternary phase field 774
nonconservative formulations 681 tff interface 725
nonisothermal flow interface tffs interfaces 725
theory 258 transport of concentrated species 646
normal stress, normal flow (boundary transport of diluted species 609
stress condition) 110 partially saturated porous media (node)

804 | I N D E X
 630 theory, Brinkman equations 581
perfectly stirred reactor 715 theory, free and porous media flow
perforations (node) 732 584
periodic condition (node) porous media transport properties
transport of diluted species 620 (node) 626
periodic flow condition (node) 114, 383, Prandtl number 263
423 pressure (node) 524, 527, 529
permeability models 519 pressure and saturation (node) 554
pervious layer (node) 532 pressure head (node) 531
phase field interface 766 pressure point constraint (node) 122
theory 456, 784, 790 pseudo time step 707
phase field model (node) 768 pseudo time stepping
phase properties (node) 433 hmnf interfaces 302
physics interfaces, common settings 53 settings 70, 354, 391, 429, 537
point mass source (node)
R RANS
fluid flow 123
Euler-Euler interface 355–356, 358,
species transport 621
360–361, 363–364, 366–367, 392,
point nodes
394–395, 398–399, 401, 403–404,
Brinkman equations 537
406
Darcy’s law interface 515
mixture model interface 431
Euler-Euler interface 432
theory, single-phase flow 185
free and porous media flow 544
rarefied gas 748
hmnf interfaces 278
rarefied, general accommodation 729
rmspf interfaces 134
rarefied, total accommodation 728
tff interface 725
rarefied-general accommodation 749
tffs interfaces 725
rarefied-total accommodation 749
point source
Reacting Volume 614
species transport 682
reaction (node) 656
Poiseuille flow 741
reaction coefficients (node) 625
poroelastic storage (node)
reaction rate, turbulence and 714
Darcy’s law 522
Reactions
porous electrode coupling (node) 625
in porous catalyst pellets 636
free and porous media flow 523
reactions (node)
porous media and subsurface flow
transport of concentrated species 658
Brinkman equations interface 535
transport of diluted species 613
Darcy’s law interface 513
reactive pellet bed (node) 634
free and porous media flow interface
Realizable k-epsilon turbulence model
543
76, 201

INDEX| 805
 removing species 601 slip model
retardation factor 695 Hadamard-Rybczynski 481, 503
Reuss average 521 Schiller-Naumann 481, 503
Reynolds number 253 slip model theory 470
extended Kays-Crawford 264 Haider-Levenspiel 481, 503
low, turbulence theory 210 Reynolds number 481, 503
slip velocity models 481, 503 slip velocity, wall boundary condition 97
turbulent flow theory 184 slip, interior wall boundary condition 120
Reynolds stress tensor 186, 195 slip, wall boundary condition 97, 549
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes. See solid pressure and particle interaction
RANS. 492
rotating machinery (rmspf) interfaces Soret effect 704
theory 234 sound waves 300
rotating machinery, laminar flow (rmspf) Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model 81
interface 129 squeeze-film damping 736
rotating machinery, turbulent flow (rm- SST turbulence model 78
spf) interface 131–133 standard cubic centimeters per minute
rough walls 198 102
standard flow rate 102
S SCCM, flow rate in 102
standard settings 53
Schiller-Naumann slip model 481, 503
static pressure curves 113, 116
Schmidt number 480, 496, 498, 501, 711
Stokes equations 64
screen (node) 111
Stokes flow 64, 345
selecting
storage model (node)
heat transfer interfaces 240
Darcy’s law 521
high Mach number flow (hmnf) inter-
stratified porous media 693
faces 272
superficial volume average, porous me-
multiphase flow interfaces 311
dia 582
porous media and subsurface flow in-
superficial volume averages, porous me-
terfaces 508
dia 689
single-phase flow interfaces 56
supersonic inlet 301
SEMI standard E12-0303 102
supersonic outlet 302
single-phase flow
Supporting Electrolytes 685
turbulent flow theory 184
surface equilibrium reaction (node) 624,
single-phase flow interface
665
laminar flow 65
surface tension force variable 788
slide-film damping 736
Sutherland’s law 281, 297
sliding wall 99, 419, 440
swirl flow 196
slip length 748

806 | I N D E X
 symmetry (node) turbulent flow low re k-epsilon model
bf interfaces 382 184
cee interface 293 thermal creep, wall boundary condition
cee interfaces 285 98
Darcy’s law 527 thermal diffusion 704
mm interfaces 423 thickness
spf interfaces 108 fracture 639
thin-film flow 734 out-of-plane 530
transport of concentrated species 663 thin barrier (node)
transport of diluted species 618 level set 765
thin diffusion barrier (node) 622
T technical support, COMSOL 28
Thin Impermeable Barrier 622
tensors
thin-film flow interfaces
Reynolds stress 195
theory 735
ternary phase field interface 773
thin-film flow, domain (tffs) interface 723
theory
thin-film flow, edge (tff) interface 724
bf interfaces 467
thin-film flow, shell (tffs) interface 720
Brinkman equations 581
thin-film gas flows 747
conjugate heat transfer multiphysics
TMAC, microfluidic wall conditions 548
interface 258
Torczynski and Gallis 750
Darcy’s law 571
tortuosity factors 691
Euler-Euler model, laminar flow 484
traction boundary conditions 109
free and porous media flow 584
transport mechanisms 648, 652, 654
hmnf interfaces 295
transport of concentrated species inter-
level set 779
face 640
mm interfaces 474
theory 700
nonisothermal flow 258
transport of diluted species in porous
phase field 784, 790
media interface 607
rmspf interfaces 234
theory 678
spf interfaces 138
transport of diluted species interface 603
thin-film flow 735
theory 677
tpf interfaces 456
turbulence models
transport of concentrated species in-
algebraic yPlus 71, 188
terface 700
k-epsilon 74, 85–87, 194
transport of diluted species in porous
k-omega 77
media interface 678
low re k-epsilon 80, 83
transport of diluted species interface
L-VEL 72, 192
677
Realizable k-epsilon 76, 201
turbulent flow k-epsilon model 184

INDEX| 807
 Spalart-Allmaras 81, 215 turbulent Prandtl number 253, 263
SST 78 turbulent Schmidt number 699, 705
turbulence models, reacting flow 710 turbulent two-phase flow, level set (tpf)
turbulent bubbly flow (bf) interface interfaces 323
theory 467 two-fluid Euler-Euler model
turbulent compressible flow 187 bubbly flow 467
turbulent conjugate heat transfer two-phase Darcy’s law (tpdl) interface
theory 260 550
turbulent flow algebraic yPlus (spf) inter-
U undamped turbulent kinematic viscosity
face 71
215
turbulent flow k-epsilon (spf) interface
Ungarish 483
74, 85–87
V vacuum pump (node) 112
turbulent flow k-epsilon interface
vapor cavitation 754
theory 184
variables
turbulent flow k-omega interface 77
distance to cell center in viscous units
turbulent flow low re k-epsilon (spf) in-
206, 209, 214, 221
terface 80, 83
level set interface 783
turbulent flow low re k-epsilon interface
phase field interface 788
theory 184
viscous drag, coefficient 470
turbulent flow L-VEL (spf) interface 72
viscous slip, wall boundary condition 98
turbulent flow Realizable k-epsilon (spf)
visloelastic flow 88
interface 76
volume averages 581
turbulent flow Spalart-Allmaras (spf) in-
volume force (node)
terface 81
Brinkman equations 540
turbulent flow, SST (spf) interface 78
cee interface 290
turbulent kinetic energy theory
ee interfaces 439
k-epsilon model 194
free and porous media flow 547
RANS 188
spf interfaces 95
turbulent length scale 223
vorticity waves 300
turbulent mass transport flux 710
turbulent mixing 699, 705 W wall (node)
turbulent mixing (node) bf interfaces 376
transport of concentrated species 655 cee 291
transport of diluted species 612 ee interface 439
turbulent mixture model (mm) interface free and porous media flow 548
theory 474 mm interfaces 416
turbulent non-isothermal flow interfaces single-phase flow 97
theory 260 thin-film flow 734

808 | I N D E X
wall distance initialization study step 208,
212, 219
wall fluid interface (node) 349
wall functions 197, 205
rough walls 198
wall functions, turbulent flow 197
wall roughness 97, 119
wall treatment
automatic 191, 194, 204, 209, 212, 216,
219
low Reynolds number 191, 193, 206,
209, 213, 217, 221
wall functions 197, 205
websites, COMSOL 29
well posedness 298
Wen and Yu fluidized state expression
488
wetted wall (boundary condition) 328
wetted wall (node) 771, 777

INDEX| 809
810 | I N D E X