Fluid flow through a rectangular pipe with a Elastomer membrane cap

[vinny31]

Fluid flow through a rectangular pipe with a Elastomer membrane cap blocking one end. see attached figure

Hi I am trying to simulate a fluid flow (i.e. water at room temperature) in a 3D square or rectangular pipe covered by an Elastomer membrane cap using Ansys MultiPhysics v11.

Basically the CSA of the pipe will be 40 X 40 microns, it will be 200 microns long with fluid entering the inlet end of the pipe under pressure. At the opposite end
(i.e. exit end) an elastomer cap or skin will cover and block the outlet end of the pipe. elastomer Skin thickness is 2 microns.

Basically I want to see the elastomer cap / skin bulge outward into a dome shape by 3 or more microns, due to the fluid pressure within the pipe
Can anyone suggest how to approach this problem and suggest possible elements for the elastomer?

 

[jdt152]

Hi Vinny31,

From the way you describe it - if you are looking to see structural deformation due to a fluidic loading, we are talking Fluid Structural Interaction. While this might seem scary, your analysis is fairly straight forward.

A few questions you might want to ask yourself:
a) Do I really need to do an FSI analysis?
b) Will I be happy breaking down the analysis into a separate CFD + Structural analysis? First do the CFD analysis - obtain the pressures and plug in this pressure profile in the structural analysis? This is the alternate method to FSI.
c) If you already have the pressure loading from the fluid, then you can easily add the pressure onto the bulging part to investigate the stresses.

If you want to know more about this, please drop me an email at jthakker@idac.co.uk... we are an ANSYS reseller in the UK who also do consultancy/licensing in ANSYS (obviously!). Depending on the geometry and the requirements, we can advise you of a best practice method within a day itself.

Hope this helps!