Structure of the Knowledge Base

Introduction to the QNET Knowledge Base

The knowledge base is partitioned into Gold and Silver Domains. The Gold Domain is the repository for content that has been carefully checked and therefore satisfies high quality standards. The Gold Domain is restricted to ERCOFTAC members who will be issued with privileged access. However, the list of all Application (AC) Challenges and Underlying Flow Regimes (UFR), (both described below) with their abstracts are in the public domain.

The Silver Domain is the repository for less mature content which is still under discussion and open for improvement. Parts of the Silver Domain are marked as Silver . This is reserved for content which has matured to levels of quality and significance approaching Gold standard, and made public to serve as examples of the high quality found in the Gold domain. In some cases it will act to invite the addition of new CFD results obtained with alternative models. Both Silver and Silver are fully in the public domain.

Both Gold and Silver Domains are application centred, facilitating the identification of appropriate knowledge and advice for specific industrial purposes. They are organised around:

• Application Areas
• Underlying Flow Regimes

Application Areas

The application area section contains articles of specific interest to particular sector disciplines such as: Built Environment, Chemical and Process Engineering, External Aerodynamics, Turbomachinery, Combustion and Heat Transfer.

Each Application Area is comprised of Application Challenges (AC) which are realistic industrial test cases used to judge the competency and limitations of CFD for a given Application Area.

Underlying Flow Regimes

These are generic, well studied test cases capturing important elements of the key flow physics encountered across the Application Areas.

Content of the Knowledge Base

The content of each Application Challenge (AC) test case and Underlying Flow Regimes (UFR) test case article within the Knowledge Base consists of an:

• Abstract - Summary of content
• Description - Introduction to test case and physical phenomena involved, (for ACs also practical importance and parameters of interest and for UFRs, review of previous studies).
• Test Case Studies - Description of test case experiments and CFD simulations (and provision of data and CFD results for ACs)
• Evaluation - Comparison of CFD calculations with test case experiments
• Best Practice Advice
• Quality Review

The AC articles are expected to contain links to detailed data files for all experimental and CFD results according to the guidelines set out here. In the UFR articles it is sufficient to present the data as plots, although it is highly desirable to provide links to associated databases where these are available.

The templates for compiling AC and UFR articles can be found below.

• Application Challenge Article Template

• Underlying Flow Regime Article Template

Please note that only Gold AC and UFR test cases include a quality review form. For more information on quality reviews please click on the following link, Quality Review Documents.

For a full index of all the Application Challenge and Underlying Flow Regime test case articles within the Knowledge Base please click on the following links:

AC Index

UFR Index