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Physics Simulation
Simcenter STAR-CCM+ can model a wide range of physics phenomena including fluid mechanics, solid mechanics, heat transfer, electromagnetism, and chemical reactions. Scenarios with multiple time scales can be solved within the same simulation.
Running Physics Simulations
This part of the documentation describes preparation and procedures for running a Simcenter STAR-CCM+ simulation.
Troubleshooting the Solution
Some problems that can occur when running a Simcenter STAR-CCM+ simulation are solution divergence and signal segmentation violations or memory errors. Solution divergence is likely to occur when a simulation is not well-posed. SIGSEGV or memory errors are generally unexpected and can require assistance from your support representative.
Debugging the Simulation Setup
When a simulation is diverging or a floating-point error appears, try to investigate where the problem is occurring; either in the solution process or its physical location in the mesh.
Using Threshold Parts and Cell Surfaces
Once it has been determined that the solution is growing unbounded, it is useful to identify the physical location of the problem. Locating the problem can help identify if it is occurring near a boundary, or near a poor-quality cell.

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Physics Simulation
Simcenter STAR-CCM+ can model a wide range of physics phenomena including fluid mechanics, solid mechanics, heat transfer, electromagnetism, and chemical reactions. Scenarios with multiple time scales can be solved within the same simulation.
- Defining Physics Workflow
  Simcenter STAR-CCM+ contains a wide range of physics models and methods for the simulation of single- and multi-phase fluid flow, heat transfer, turbulence, solid stress, dynamic fluid body interaction, aeroacoustics, and related phenomena. These physics models are all selected using a physics continuum.
- Setting Up Physics
  This section provides information on how to set up physics models in STAR-CCM+.
- Running Physics Simulations
  This part of the documentation describes preparation and procedures for running a Simcenter STAR-CCM+ simulation.
  - Using Initial Conditions
    Initial conditions in a physics continuum specify the initial field data for the simulation.
  - Using Solvers
    In Simcenter STAR-CCM+, solvers compute the solution during the simulation run. Each solver performs a specific task. Some solvers assemble the system of equations that describe the phenomenon of interest; some solvers simply provide source terms to other solvers.
  - Controlling Domain Decomposition
    To make use of parallel processing, Simcenter STAR-CCM+ breaks the computational domain into separate sections (called sub-domains) and assigns each to a separate process. This approach is called domain decomposition. Once the domain is decomposed, the processes work in parallel on their individual sub-domains, periodically communicating with each other.
  - Setting Up Stopping Criteria
    Stopping criteria allow you to specify how long the solution runs for and under what conditions it stops iterating and/or marching in time.
  - Obtaining a Solution Interactively
    This section explains how to use the interactive features of Simcenter STAR-CCM+ to obtain a solution.
  - Troubleshooting the Solution
    Some problems that can occur when running a Simcenter STAR-CCM+ simulation are solution divergence and signal segmentation violations or memory errors. Solution divergence is likely to occur when a simulation is not well-posed. SIGSEGV or memory errors are generally unexpected and can require assistance from your support representative.
    - Getting Past a Poor Initial Solution
      A possible cause of divergence can be related to the initial solution being radically different from a converged solution. This situation occurs because implicit numerical methods rely on linearization techniques to advance the solution of equations toward convergence, and it is possible that the linearization is inadequate to advance the solution.
    - Debugging the Simulation Setup
      When a simulation is diverging or a floating-point error appears, try to investigate where the problem is occurring; either in the solution process or its physical location in the mesh.
      - Using Maximum and Minimum Reports
        In cases where the solution is “blowing” up, it is a good idea to create report-based monitors and to plot them to see when the solution starts diverging.
      - Using Threshold Parts and Cell Surfaces
        Once it has been determined that the solution is growing unbounded, it is useful to identify the physical location of the problem. Locating the problem can help identify if it is occurring near a boundary, or near a poor-quality cell.
      - Turning on Temporary Storage
        You can turn on temporary storage for a particular solver in the Expert Properties category of that solver.
      - Zeroing Reconstruction
        When you zero reconstruction, the interpolation to the faces is a simple arithmetic averaging.
      - Omitting Secondary Gradients
        Secondary gradients (also called cross-diffusion) are used in the diffusion terms and also in the pressure-velocity coupling for SIMPLE.
  - Solution Data Interpolation
    When the mesh changes during the simulation, for example due to remeshing or mesh replacement, Simcenter STAR-CCM+ automatically interpolates any solution data that was computed on the old mesh to the new mesh representation.
  - Verification and Validation of Results
    Verification and validation are independent procedures that are used together to ensure that a code meets requirements and specifications, and that it fulfills its intended purpose. In simple terms, validation can be expressed by the query ”Are you building the right thing?” and verification by the query ”Are you building it right?”
  - Detailed Differences in Simulation Results
- Motion
  In general, motion can be defined as the change in position of a body with respect to a certain reference frame.
- Space
  The primary function of the Space models in Simcenter STAR-CCM+ is to provide methods for computing and accessing mesh metrics. Examples of mesh metrics include cell volume and centroid, face area and centroid, cell and face indexes, and skewness angle.
- Time
  The primary function of the time models in Simcenter STAR-CCM+ is to provide solvers that control the iteration and/or unsteady time-stepping.
- Mesh Motion and Adaption
  Many simulations that involve motion or geometry change require you to move or deform the mesh. Other simulations require localized mesh adaption in order to achieve an accurate solution.
- Materials
  Material models simulate substances, including various mixtures.
- Fluid Flow
  Many engineering design projects require you to predict the effect of flowing fluids on containing structures or immersed objects. While you can analyse simple scenarios with hand calculations, complex scenarios require you to apply numerical methods for accurate solutions.
- Viscous Flow
  Viscous Flow is a finite element approach for use with viscoelastic materials and other highly viscous non-Newtonian fluids, such as liquid plastics and rubber, dough and similar foodstuffs, molten glass, and mud. Viscoelastic materials resemble elastic materials, but also exhibit viscous effects, rebounding slowly from deformations.
- Passive Scalars
  Passive scalars are user-defined variables of arbitrary value, assigned to fluid phases or individual particles. They are passive because they do not affect the physical properties of the simulation. An intuitive way to think of passive scalars is as tracer dye in a fluid, but with numerical values instead of colors, and with no appreciable mass or volume.
- Heat Transfer
  Heat transfer is the study of energy in transit due to a temperature difference in a medium or between media. Heat transfer extends thermodynamic analysis through the study of the modes of energy transfer and through development of relations to calculate energy transfer rates.
- Species
  This chapter provides information about the chemical species models in Simcenter STAR-CCM+. A species model is activated whenever a multi-component liquid or multi-component gas is chosen from the Material model section of the Physics Model Selection dialog.
- Porous Media
  Simcenter STAR-CCM+ allows you to simulate the transport of a fluid or energy (e.g. heat, electrical charge) through porous materials using the concept that the action of the porous media can be represented using appropriate loss (or 'diffusion') coefficients.
- Adjoint
  The adjoint method is an efficient means to predict the influence of many design parameters and physical inputs on some engineering quantity of interest, that is, on the engineering objective of the simulation. In other words, it provides the sensitivity of the objective (output) with respect to the design variables (input).
- Fans and Blowers
  Simcenter STAR-CCM+ provides models for axial and radial fans where classical fan laws apply.
- Virtual Disk Model
  The virtual disk model is based upon the principle of representing propellers, turbines, rotors, fans, and so on, as an actuator disk. The actuator disk treatment is practical when you are concerned about the influence of the rotor/propeller behavior on the flow rather than knowing about the detailed interactions between the flow and the blades of the rotating device.
- Turbulence
  Most fluid flows of engineering interest are characterized by irregularly fluctuating flow quantities.
- Transition
  The term transition refers to the phenomenon of laminar to turbulence transition in boundary layers. A transition model in combination with a turbulence model predicts the onset of transition in a turbulent boundary layer.
- Wall Distance
  Wall distance is a parameter that represents the distance from a cell centroid to the nearest wall face with a non-slip boundary condition. Various physical models require this parameter to account for near-wall effects.
- Radiation
  The Radiation Model is the gateway, or entry point to all of the radiation modeling capabilities of Simcenter STAR-CCM+. This section describes Simcenter STAR-CCM+’s radiation modeling.
- Aeroacoustics
  Aeroacoustics investigates the aerodynamic generation of sound.
- Reacting Flow
  Simcenter STAR-CCM+ provides a selection of models that you can use to simulate a wide range of reacting flow applications.
- Internal Combustion Engines
  In an internal combustion engine (ICE), for example a gasoline engine, the process of combustion takes place in a cylinder (or cylinders) within the engine. The working fluid is a fuel and oxidizer mixture (usually air), which reacts to form combustion products.
- Multiphase Flow
  Multiphase flow is a term which refers to the flow and interaction of several phases within the same system where distinct interfaces exist between the phases. Simcenter STAR-CCM+ considers flow options where phases coexist as: gas bubbles in liquid, liquid droplets in gas, and/or solid particles in gas or liquid, and/or (large scale) free surface flows.
- Dynamic Fluid Body Interaction
  Dynamic Fluid Body Interaction (DFBI) in Simcenter STAR-CCM+ allows you to simulate the motion of a 6-DOF body with the displacement and rotation resulting from the defined mechanical and multiphysics interaction (flow, DEM, solid stress, EMAG).
- Harmonic Balance
  Some unsteady flows have a regularly repeating flow pattern, that is, they are time-periodic. Consider the flow from a fan blade passing across the entrance to a duct. Measurements of the instantaneous flow just within the duct would show a regularly repeating pattern. If the flow disturbances are sufficiently large, and propagate to the end of the duct, measurements of the unsteady flow at any point within the duct show repeating patterns. Such time-periodic patterns can be expressed using Fourier series.
- Solid Stress
  Simcenter STAR-CCM+ allows you to model the response of a solid continuum to applied loads, including mechanical loads and thermal loads that result from changes in the solid temperature.
- Electromagnetism
  Simcenter STAR-CCM+ allows you to model engineering applications involving electromagnetic phenomena. Example applications are electric motors, electric switches, and transformers, which can be modeled based on the classical theory of Electromagnetism.
- Electrochemistry
  Electrochemistry is the study of chemical reactions which occur due to an imposed electrical charge, or a difference in electrical potential at a boundary between a conductor–such as a metal–and an electrolyte. Simcenter STAR-CCM+ provides models that allow you to simulate batteries, corrosion, etching, and other electrochemical reactions.
- Electric Circuits
  Electrical circuits are conducting loops of interconnected electrical components, such as batteries, power sources, resistors, and inductors.
- Plasma
  Plasma is a state of matter similar to a gas that is composed partially or completely of charged particles such as ions and electrons which are not bound to each other.
- Batteries
  You can simulate batteries in Simcenter STAR-CCM+ using battery cells and battery cycling procedures that are defined either directly in Simcenter STAR-CCM+, or in the external software package Simcenter Battery Design Studio.
- Casting
  Casting simulations are performed using transient multiphase simulations using the VOF model with solidification. Conjugate heat transfer is applied between the solidifying melt and the solid mold.
- Region Sources
  This section provides some guidelines on how to use region sources for some common problems.
- Cell Quality Remediation
  The Cell Quality Remediation model helps you get solutions on a poor-quality mesh. This model identifies poor-quality cells, using a set of predefined criteria, such as Skewness Angle exceeding a certain threshold. Once these cells and their neighbors have been marked, the computed gradients in these cells are modified in such a way as to improve the robustness of the solution.
- Guidelines for Applying Simcenter STAR-CCM+
  This part of the documentation provides guidelines on applying Simcenter STAR-CCM+ models to your applications.
- Common Solvers Reference
  In Simcenter STAR-CCM+, solvers compute the solution during the simulation run.

Using Threshold Parts and Cell Surfaces

Once it has been determined that the solution is growing unbounded, it is useful to identify the physical location of the problem. Locating the problem can help identify if it is occurring near a boundary, or near a poor-quality cell.

Threshold parts are often the best way to view specific cells. Set the threshold to the required value (of, say, velocity magnitude), and once the threshold part is created, drag it into the scene. You can also create a cell surface from any other surface which lets you visualize a cell with a bad solution on a cutting plane.