Thermal Boundary Conditions in OpenFOAM


Many thermal boundary conditions are available in OpenFOAM.
I will upload some basic cases that explain the usage of these boundary conditions.

Source Code
src/TurbulenceModels/compressible/turbulentFluidThermoModels/derivedFvPatchFields/

  • convectiveHeatTransfer

    It calculates the heat transfer coefficients from the following empirical correlations for forced convection heat transfer:
    \begin{eqnarray}
    \left\{
    \begin{array}{l}
    Nu = 0.664 Re^{\frac{1}{2}} Pr^{\frac{1}{3}} \left( Re \lt 5 \times 10^5 \right) \\
    Nu = 0.037 Re^{\frac{4}{5}} Pr^{\frac{1}{3}} \left( Re \ge 5 \times 10^5 \right) \tag{1} \label{eq:NuPlate}
    \end{array}
    \right.
    \end{eqnarray}
    where \(Nu\) is the Nusselt number, \(Re\) is the Reynolds number and \(Pr\) is the Prandtl number.

  • externalCoupledTemperature
  • externalWallHeatFluxTemperature

    This boundary condition can operate in the following two modes:
    Mode#1 Specify the heat flux \(q\)
    \begin{equation}
    -k \frac{T_p – T_b}{\vert \boldsymbol{d} \vert} = q + q_r \tag{2} \label{eq:fixedHeatFlux}
    \end{equation}
    * \(k\): thermal conductivity
    * \(q_r\): radiative heat flux
    * \(T_b\): temperature on the boundary

    Mode#2 Specify the heat transfer coefficient \(h\) and the ambient temperature \(T_a\) (Fig. 1)
    \begin{equation}
    -k \frac{T_p – T_b}{\vert \boldsymbol{d} \vert} = \frac{T_a – T_b}{R_{th}} + q_r \tag{3} \label{eq:fixedHeatTransferCoeff}
    \end{equation}
    * \(R_{th}\): total thermal resistance of convective and conductive heat transfer
    \begin{equation}
    R_{th} = \frac{1}{h} + \sum_{i=1}^{n} \frac{l_i}{k_i} \tag{4} \label{eq:Rth}
    \end{equation}

    Figure 1
  • fixedIncidentRadiation
  • lumpedMassWallTemperature

    There is a dimensionless quantity called the Biot number, which is defined as
    \begin{equation}
    Bi = \frac{l/k}{1/h} = \frac{hl}{k}, \tag{5} \label{eq:Biot}
    \end{equation}
    where \(h\) is the heat transfer coefficient, \(k\) is the thermal conductivity of a solid and \(l\) is the characteristic length of the solid. As the definition in Eq. \eqref{eq:Biot} indicates, it represents the ratio of the internal conduction resistance \(l/k\) and the external convection resistance \(1/h\). If the Biot number is small (\(Bi \ll 1\)), the solid may be treated as a simple lumped mass system of an uniform temperature. This boundary condition calculates the uniform temperature variation \(\Delta T\) on the boundary from the following equation:
    \begin{equation}
    m c_p \Delta T = Q \Delta t. \tag{6} \label{eq:lumpedmass}
    \end{equation}
    * \(m\): total mass [kg]
    * \(c_p\): specific heat capacity [J/(kg.K)]
    * \(Q\): net heat flux on the boundary [W]
    * \(\Delta t\): time step [s]

  • outletMappedUniformInletHeatAddition
  • totalFlowRateAdvectiveDiffusive
  • wallHeatTransfer
  • compressible::thermalBaffle1D
  • compressible::turbulentHeatFluxTemperature
  • compressible::turbulentTemperatureCoupledBaffleMixed
  • compressible::turbulentTemperatureRadCoupledMixed
  • compressible::alphatJayatillekeWallFunction
  • compressible::alphatPhaseChangeWallFunction
  • compressible::alphatWallFunction

Author: fumiya

CFD engineer in Japan

One thought on “Thermal Boundary Conditions in OpenFOAM”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.