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Combining flow simulation with motion study

Question asked by Ricardo Roque on May 24, 2012
Latest reply on Nov 4, 2014 by Jared Conway

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Lets say I´m designing a windmill and not only I want to simulate the way the blades behave when in a wind tunnel, but I also want to simulate the stress that all the parts (including gears inside the windmill mechanism) are subject to when the windmill is in use. Simply put: I have a windmill with a mechanism inside in order to produce energy. Is it possible to simulate the stress in the parts while the windmill is turning due to the action of the wind in the wind tunnel?

How can this be done?

Thanks for your inputs!

Ricardo Roque

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Chris Michalski May 24, 2012 7:22 AM
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Ricardo -

you have to separate the 2 simulations. Flow does all of the fluid dynamics calculations & Simulation does all of the stresses.

Simulation can import the data from a Flow simulation (temperatures, pressures, etc) in order to calculate the stresses but you have to run them as separate studies, Flow first, then Simulation.
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Anthony Botting May 24, 2012 9:02 PM
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Chris is correct. You should be able to get the shaft torque from Flow Simulation (set a "goal" for that from a rotating air field around the blades). You could take that shaft torque number and apply it directly to the shaft for a SolidWorks Motion simulation, where you could simulate start-up, shut-down, or steady-state running. The results should show driven torques and reactions on components, then you could port that data into an FEA simulation and get the stresses on the gears and other surfaces.
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- Nandish Datti @ Anthony Botting on May 24, 2012 10:15 PM
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  If we consider motion analysis results into Simulation it wont consider the effect of wind pressue over the components. It will consider loads due to mass and inertia. I think importing flow loads into simulation would be the right approach for the rotating components like fans where the effect of wind pressure will have more importance.
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  - Anthony Botting @ Nandish Datti on May 25, 2012 10:00 AM
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    True. You can transfer the Flow Simulation results of pressure distribution on just the windmill blades assembly, to an FEA simulation, and get the elastic response of the blades. I have done that on a three-bladed, horizontal axis windmill...
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    - Hillebrand Van Kessel @ Anthony Botting on Oct 30, 2014 4:37 AM
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      Is it also possible to reverse this? So that you can transfer the Motion Simulation results in a Flow Simulation. To say like you want to know how the wind behaves when a car or truck drives into a tunnel.
      
      Thanks for your input.
      
      Hillebrand van Kessel
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      - Jared Conway @ Hillebrand Van Kessel on Nov 4, 2014 10:16 AM
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        nothing can "move" in a flow simulation
        
        the only thing you can do to couple flow simulation with is a static or thermal analysis
        
        what you could do in your case is create a flow simulation with changing conditions at the inlet of your "wind tunnel" but it wouldn't be the same as handling how it would go through a tunnel. you'd have to create multiple simulations and look at different cases in the tunnel.
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Combining flow simulation with motion study

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