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Tutorials
Tutorials show you how to use Simcenter STAR-CCM+ for various applications in a step-by-step format with recommendations for setup, initialization and steps of the solution process specific to the application. Macro and simulation files are available for download for a large proportion of cases.
Compressible Flow
The tutorials in this set illustrate various Simcenter STAR-CCM+ features for compressible fluid flows as well as harmonic balance.
Adaptive Mesh Refinement: Hypersonic Flow
Hypersonic flows and flight envelopes present unique challenges in Computational Flow Dynamics. The extreme gradients and shocks can push flow solvers to their limits and resolving the flow features, particularly shock formation, is of paramount importance in obtaining valid converged solutions. In Simcenter STAR-CCM+, you can apply Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) to accurately resolve developing shocks using refinement based on solution gradients.

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Tutorials
Tutorials show you how to use Simcenter STAR-CCM+ for various applications in a step-by-step format with recommendations for setup, initialization and steps of the solution process specific to the application. Macro and simulation files are available for download for a large proportion of cases.
- Using Tutorial Macros and Files
  Macros, input files, and final simulation files for a range of tutorials are provided as an optional download package on the Support Center website. These macros and final simulation files are provided as an aid to the written tutorials, so that you can check your final results against the downloaded files, or against a simulation that is built and run using the macros.
- Introduction
  Welcome to the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ introductory tutorial. In this tutorial, you explore the important concepts and workflow. Complete this tutorial before attempting any others.
- Foundation Tutorials
  The foundation tutorials showcase the major features of Simcenter STAR-CCM+ in a series of short tutorials.
- Geometry
  The tutorials in this set illustrate various Simcenter STAR-CCM+ features for creating and working with parts and 3D-CAD.
- Mesh
  The tutorials in this set illustrate various STAR-CCM+ features for building CFD meshes.
- Incompressible Flow
  The tutorials in this set illustrate various Simcenter STAR-CCM+ features for incompressible fluid flows as well as porosity and solution recording
- Compressible Flow
  The tutorials in this set illustrate various Simcenter STAR-CCM+ features for compressible fluid flows as well as harmonic balance.
  - Subsonic Flow: NACA-Type Intake
    This tutorial illustrates how to solve a three-dimensional compressible flow problem using Simcenter STAR-CCM+.
  - Transonic Flow: RAE2822 Airfoil
    The tutorial simulates two-dimensional, turbulent, compressible, transonic air flow over an idealized airfoil.
  - Transonic Flow: RAE2822 Airfoil Using Overset Mesh
    This tutorial demonstrates how to use an overset mesh to simulate transonic flow over the RAE2822 airfoil.
  - Anisotropic Volume Meshing: Onera M6 Wing
    When meshing aerospace geometries such as wings, propeller blades, or turbine blades, you are required to generate a very fine mesh that adequately captures the curvature of the leading and trailing edges. To help reduce the cell count while maintaining solution accuracy, Simcenter STAR-CCM+ provides an anisotropic meshing option by which you can refine these edges.
  - Adaptive Mesh Refinement: Hypersonic Flow
    Hypersonic flows and flight envelopes present unique challenges in Computational Flow Dynamics. The extreme gradients and shocks can push flow solvers to their limits and resolving the flow features, particularly shock formation, is of paramount importance in obtaining valid converged solutions. In Simcenter STAR-CCM+, you can apply Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) to accurately resolve developing shocks using refinement based on solution gradients.
    - Loading the Starting File and Generating the Volume Mesh
      You start this tutorial by loading a simulation file and generating the volume mesh.
    - Setting up Physics Continuum
      In the physics continuum, you choose the Coupled Flow model for solving the steady hypersonic flow. Mesh adaption is activated by choosing the Adaptive Mesh model. In a later stage, you define the adaptive criterion based on the Mach number.
    - Creating a User-Defined Adaptive Mesh Criterion
      After selecting the Adaptive Mesh model in the physics continuum, you define a field function that returns an adaption criterion based on the gradient of the Mach number.
    - Setting Up Boundary and Initial Conditions
      You specify the physics values for the free stream boundary and set the corresponding values to the initial conditions also.
    - Setting the Solver Parameters
      The simulation runs for 1000 iterations with mesh adaption triggered every 100 iterations. You specify the update frequency in the Adaptive Mesh solver. Additionally, the Coupled Implicit solver requires special settings because of the high-speed hypersonic flow regime. Normally, solver defaults are adequate for most compressible flow cases without requiring any change.
    - Visualizing the Mach Number on the Adapted Mesh
      To visualize the shock wave in the hypersonic flow, you create a scalar scene across the region that plots Mach number. As an indicator of mesh adaption you add a cell count annotation within the scalar scene.
    - Running the Simulation
      Here you set up a stopping criterion and run the simulation. As defined in the AMR solver settings, the mesh is adapted every 100 iterations.
  - Harmonic Balance: Single Stage Periodic Flow
    The tutorial illustrates the steps necessary to simulate a single axial compressor blade row so that the effect of a periodic wake can be analyzed using the Harmonic Balance method.
  - Gas Turbine Aerodynamics: Post-Processing
    In turbomachinery studies, the analysis of the flow field throughout the blade passage requires advanced post processing methods.
- Heat Transfer and Radiation
  The tutorials in this set illustrate various Simcenter STAR-CCM+ features for heat transfer, radiation, and thermal comfort.
- Multiphase Flow
  The tutorials in this set illustrate various Simcenter STAR-CCM+ features for simulating multiphase fluid flow problems
- Discrete Element Method
  The tutorials in this set illustrate various Simcenter STAR-CCM+ features for simulating Discrete Element Method problems
- Motion
  The tutorials in this set illustrate various STAR-CCM+ features for simulating problems with moving geometries and meshes, dynamic fluid body interaction, and rigid body motion:
- Reacting Flow
  The tutorials in this set illustrate various Simcenter STAR-CCM+ features for simulating reacting flows such as combustion.
- Solid Stress
  The tutorials in this set illustrate various Simcenter STAR-CCM+ features for computing deformation, strain, and stresses in solid regions. They also show how such computations can be coupled to the fluid behavior in an analysis of fluid-structure interaction.
- Aeroacoustics
  The tutorials in this set illustrate various Simcenter STAR-CCM+ features for solving aeroacoustic simulations.
- Electromagnetism
  The following tutorials illustrate features for solving problems that involve electromagnetic fields.
- Electrochemistry
  The following tutorial demonstrates chemical reactions induced by an electrical current.
- Battery
  The tutorials in this set illustrate various Simcenter STAR-CCM+ features for setting up a battery model:
- Automation
  The tutorials in this set illustrate various Simcenter STAR-CCM+ automation and macro features.
- Design Exploration
  The tutorials in this set illustrate various features for running design exploration studies in Design Manager.
- Coupling with CAE Codes
  The tutorials in this set illustrate various Simcenter STAR-CCM+ features for coupling with CAE codes:
- Analysis Methods
  The tutorials in this set illustrate various Simcenter STAR-CCM+ features for analysing and visualizing simulation data.
- Simcenter STAR-CCM+ In-cylinder
  The tutorials in this set illustrate features for simulating internal combustion engines in Simcenter STAR-CCM+ using the dedicated add-on Simcenter STAR-CCM+ In-cylinder.

Adaptive Mesh Refinement: Hypersonic Flow

Hypersonic flows and flight envelopes present unique challenges in Computational Flow Dynamics. The extreme gradients and shocks can push flow solvers to their limits and resolving the flow features, particularly shock formation, is of paramount importance in obtaining valid converged solutions. In Simcenter STAR-CCM+, you can apply Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) to accurately resolve developing shocks using refinement based on solution gradients.

This tutorial covers hypersonic flow around a simple sphere at Mach 12 and incorporates some unique solver settings designed for hypersonic flows. You use the gradient of Mach number as a user-defined criterion for polyhedral mesh adaption. Physically, this gradient is used to capture the velocity discontinuity—which appears as a shock wave. Cells are refined where the gradient of the Mach number exceeds a certain value.

The outer boundaries are set to free stream boundaries. To reduce the cell count, the hypersonic flow is simulated with a half model—the central plane is set to a symmetry plane boundary. The computational domain is illustrated as follows:

The initial mesh is shown below with the initialized flow solution obtained from grid sequencing:

When the simulation is complete, the mesh is refined around the shock wave:

For the purposes of this tutorial, only one level of mesh refinement is permitted. In practice, for an industrial simulation, you would increase the number of levels of mesh refinement to 2 or 3.