Hello, I am seeking some general guidance on flow simulation in solidworks:
I am performing flow analysis on a low speed, low pressure, high flow turbine pump and feel i have the entire concept of simulation wrong. After setting up rotating region and environmental pressure at both inlet and outlet as BCs- my results are way out.
The thing is that i designed the impeller with CFTurbo and know the design flow rate, RPM, power etc. I simply want to see flow streamlines through various stator/pipe arrangements.
I am simulating with the understanding that the angular velocity assigned to the impeller would drive the flow through the entire system, from suction to discharge, in Flow Simulation since the inlet and outlet are basically at environmental pressure before pump startup as in the real world. The inlet is submerged at about 2 feet which is only about 1 psi different than outlet.
My beef is that setting the inlet mass flow at 40000 cu.in/s would drive the simulation instead of the rotating impeller.
I know its sounds confusing but would try my best to answer any clarifying questions.
Thanks,
Sanjay
I'm by no means an expert at that particular simulation. I do have some questions:
Are you simulating with one fluid or two? I suspect you need air and a liquid? Or is this just a piece of the pumping equipment? You are correct that you do not want to set up a mass flow because that will cause a forcing function which may not match the impeller flow rate.
Can you post a screen shot of the basic setup?
Have you done the tutorial similar to this?