Flow simulations in rotary volumetric pumps and compressors with the fictitious domain method

Abstract

The fictitious domain (FD) method is an interesting method of flow calculation for domains where mesh generation is not straightforward. This method has been reported in literature to be able to simulate flow in relatively open domains with incompressible fluids. In this paper a FD technique is tested for flow calculations inside closed geometries and for compressible flow. The computational fluid dynamics code FLUENT, versions 5.4 and 6.0, has been extended with user-defined functions and has been used for the analysis of incompressible flow in a lobe pump and the analysis of compressible flow in a tooth compressor. The results show that the FD method can be made to work for incompressible flow, although further development is necessary for compressible flow.