CFD Case Studies
CFD and Stress Analysis of a Movable Deflection Wall in a Coastal Airport Environment
Objective: Determine the stresses and deflections in a movable deflection wall under operational and extreme wind loading conditions.
Introduction: The wall finite element analysis model was developed based on geometry provided by the client. The finite element (FE) model was built using mainly 4-node plate elements. Bolted connections were modeled using beam and rigid elements. The FE model does not incorporate the bolt preload or friction between bolted components.
The wall was constrained by pinning the structure at the mounting feet.
The wind loads were calculated using ASCE 7-02, Minimum Design Loads for Building and Other Structures. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Analysis was also performed to ensure that the loads calculated ASCE 7-02 were conservative, but not so conservative that the structure would be overbuilt.
The steel design material is ASTM A500 Grade A Structural Steel Tubing with a nominal yield stress of 39,400 psi and an ultimate tensile strength of 45,000 psi. The aluminum design material is 6061 T-651 Aluminum with a nominal yield stress of 40,000 psi and an ultimate tensile strength of 45,000 psi.
The model was built using Femap v10.2 and analyzed using NX Nastran v7.1. The CFD analysis was performed using Autodesk CFD Simulation.
Mechanical Engineering CONSULTING