Inlet and Outlet Tools

The following options are available:

Velocity Enter the velocity magnitude at which fluid is flowing into or out of the domain. The specified flow velocity at this location is maintained regardless of any resistance. Additional options for velocity inlet are listed in the table below.
Mass flow rate Enter the mass flow rate. This is where fluid is delivered by a positive displacement device upstream and is capable of overcoming the back pressure of the system being modeled. The specified flow rate at this location is maintained regardless of any resistance.
Pressure Enter the gauge total pressure, which represents the pressure obtained by bringing the flow isentropically to rest (for example, upstream plenum pressure). It is measured relative to the operating pressure.

Velocity Inlet Options

The following velocity inlet options are available:

Velocity profile

By default, the velocity profile is considered Plug or uniform. That is, the fluid's velocity is constant across any cross-section of the pipe perpendicular to its axis.

Select Fully developed if the velocity profile is no longer changing in the direction of flow. This typically occurs after the fluid has traveled a certain distance from the inlet or past an obstruction, allowing the effects of viscosity to fully develop across the pipe or channel’s cross-section. the Discovery application will pick the profile based on the turbulence model used in your simulation.

This option is available for circular faces in Explore and for Refine with the LiveGX solver.
Direction Specify the direction of flow to be in the normal direction or per the specified X, Y, and Z components for plug flow. With fully developed flow, the direction of flow can only be specified in the normal direction.
Swirling flow Include Swirling flow if the fluid has rotating or twisting movement. Enter the rotational speed if known. You can reverse the direction of rotation by entering a negative rotational speed or double-clicking the arrow showing the rotation direction.