Co-Simulation Interface and Exchanged Fields

Co-Simulation with Abaqus allows for thermal and mechanical coupling at the fluid-structure interface. In thermal co-simulation analyses, Simcenter STAR-CCM+ exports boundary heat flux to Abaqus and imports temperature data. In mechanical co-simulation analyses, Simcenter STAR-CCM+ exports traction data (pressure and wall shear stress) to Abaqus and imports nodal displacements. Co-Simulation with Abaqus allows for implicit or explicit coupling.

Fluid-Structure Interface

During the co-simulation, Simcenter STAR-CCM+ and Abaqus exchange fields across a shared interface, that you specify by defining co-simulation zones in Simcenter STAR-CCM+. A co-simulation zone specifies a set of coupled boundaries and their Abaqus counterpart. A co-simulation zone also specifies which fields are exchanged between the coupled model parts specified for that zone.

In a co-simulation with Abaqus, you can exchange data between Simcenter STAR-CCM+ boundaries and Abaqus surfaces (surface-to-surface coupling), or between Simcenter STAR-CCM+ boundaries and Abaqus nodes (surface-to-point coupling).

In surface-to-point coupling, Simcenter STAR-CCM+ maps boundary loads onto the coupled Abaqus node. This feature is intended for coupling Simcenter STAR-CCM+ with a rigid body in Abaqus. In mechanical co-simulation analyses, the displacement of the Abaqus node in response to the applied loads completely defines the displacement of the rigid body Abaqus model. For thermal co-simulation analyses, the coupled Abaqus node must have temperature specifications. For example, an isothermal rigid body in Abaqus is specified as *RIGID BODY, ISOTHERMAL=yes.

NoteSurface-to-point coupling is only available when you select Simcenter STAR-CCM+ as the mapper code. For more information, see Specifying Co-Simulation Settings in Simcenter STAR-CCM+.

The coupled Simcenter STAR-CCM+ boundaries can be wall boundaries, baffle boundaries, and porous baffle boundaries. In most cases, you can use wall boundaries. The use of baffle boundaries or porous baffle boundaries is recommended for modeling the thermal resistance or porosity of a thin structure. In both cases, thermal resistance and porosity are modeled within Simcenter STAR-CCM+, whereas Abaqus models the structure response to the pressure field sent by Simcenter STAR-CCM+.

Exchanged Fields

The tables below identify the fields that can be exchanged between Abaqus and Simcenter STAR-CCM+ during a co-simulation. The first table defines the correspondence between the Abaqus fields and the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ field functions as well as the dimensionality of the fields.

Field Abaqus STAR-CCM+
Field Name Abaqus Field ID Dimensionality Field Function Name* Dimensionality
Displacement, Rotation U, UR L Displacement L
Velocity, Rotational Velocity V, VR LT-1, T-1 Velocity LT-1
Traction Vector, Total Moment CF, CM F, FL Wall Shear Stress, Pressure FL-2
Temperature NT θ Temperature θ
Heat Flux CFL JT-1 Boundary Heat Flux JT-1L-2

Film Properties

(heat transfer coefficient, ambient temperature)

FILM

θ

Heat Transfer Coefficient, Local Heat Transfer Reference Temperature or Specified Y+ Heat Transfer Reference Temperature

θ

Pressure

(pressure on elements)

PRESS

FL-2

 Pressure

Pa

*Simcenter STAR-CCM+ creates new field functions to store the imported or exported data. The name of these field functions is the name of the field functions selected for import/export, preceded by Co-Simulation: Imported/Exported. For example, Co-Simulation: Imported Temperature, or Co-Simulation: Exported Pressure.

The following table lists the fields which are imported (incoming) or exported (outgoing) by Abaqus for each available Abaqus analysis procedure type.

Abaqus Procedure Incoming Fields Outgoing Fields
CF, CM CFL FILM U, UR V, VR NT
Static

- -

- -
Dynamic (Implicit)

- -



-
Dynamic (Explicit)

- -



-
Heat Transfer -



- -

Coupled Temperature- Displacement







-