A new OpenFOAM proposal for the solution of diffusion problems. (1st October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Materano, Gilberto; Araujo, Carlos; Ochoa, Alvaro Antonio Villa
• Is Part Of: Thermal science and engineering progress. Volume 25(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-10-01
• Subjects: Computational fluid dynamics -- OpenFOAM -- laplacianFoam -- Conduction -- Diffusion; Heat engineering -- Periodicals; Heat engineering; Thermodynamics; Periodicals; 621.402
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tsep.2021.100982
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2451-9049

Abstract

Highlights: A new solver is developed in OpenFOAM to model material with temperature-dependant properties. A mixed-boundary-condition library is presented to model a multiple heat conduction mechanism at the domain edges. The validation process assesses the solver's performance on predicting soil heat-conduction. Abstract: OpenFOAM® is a powerful tool in the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics that allows users to model engineering processes employing different solvers and libraries that are easy to modify according to the user's individual needs, thanks to an open-source environment with a free distribution license. This work, therefore, presents a new heat conduction solver build from laplacianFoam, capable of modelling cases with thermal conductivities and heat capacities not linearly correlated with the temperature field, on domains with multiple materials, as well as a new library to include a mixing boundary condition that makes the new solver adaptable to the study of heat diffusion. Three cases with experimental and numerical solutions made possible the verification, comparison and validation of the new solver, demonstrating its capabilities.