HyperXtrude

Adaptive Finite Element Analysis of Polymer Flow Through a 7:1 Area Contraction

This example demonstrates the use of adaptive methods to accurately predict non-Newtonian fluid flow and heat transfer inside parts with sudden changes in geometry. Here we solve polymer (PVC) flow through a square tube with a 7:1 area contraction. Such geometries are commonly encountered in polymer and metal extrusion. The boundary conditions are displayed on the coarse mesh. The coarse mesh solution shows large error near the contraction and downstream of the step. The adapted mesh consists of quadratic and cubic elements with refinement and enrichment near the step. The fine mesh results show the solution error downstream of the contraction has been eliminated and indicate the region with large solution is confined to the geometric singularity at the step.

Initial Coarse Mesh (656 tri-linear elements)		Adapted Mesh for the Final Run (Red: quadratic edges; Blue: qubic edges)
Error distribution for the solution computed using initial coarse mesh (Red color indicates regions of large error and blue denotes elements with small solution error)		Error distribution for the solution computed using final adapted mesh (Red color indicates regions of large error and blue denotes elements with small solution error)
Temperature distribution on planes along the flow direction showing temperature near the walls due to viscous dissipation.		Velocity distribution on planes along the flow direction
Particle traces superimposed on the velocity at different planes.		Pressure distribution at the two symmetry planes.

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