Measurement Data Mapping onto Cylindrical Surfaces Using 4D Interpolation

Categories:

A custom 4D temporal and spatial cylindrical interpolation method was developed to map discrete measurement data onto a curved surface for simulation boundary conditions. The implemented UDF performed surface-based distance calculations and time-dependent interpolation directly on the cylindrical geometry, ensuring accurate data mapping. This approach provided a significantly more realistic and reusable boundary condition for multiple simulation cases.

Details:

Technologies Used:

Ansys Discovery
Ansys Fluent
UDF

Objective:

Map discrete measurement data onto a cylindrical surface using interpolation for use as a realistic simulation boundary condition.

Challenge:

Experimental measurements are available only at discrete points, while numerical simulations require values defined over an entire surface. Although some interpolation tools exist in standard software, they typically rely on Euclidean distance in space rather than distance along the surface, leading to inaccuracies when applied to curved geometries such as cylinders.

Solution:

A custom User-Defined Function (UDF) was developed to perform interpolation in both space and time based on surface distance. The UDF included dedicated functions to:

calculate distances along the cylindrical surface,

identify the appropriate measurement points in space and time, and

interpolate the data consistently across the surface.

This approach ensured that the applied boundary condition accurately reflected the underlying measurement data and geometric characteristics.

Conclusion:

The resulting boundary condition provided a significantly more realistic representation of the measured system behavior. The interpolation methodology proved robust and reusable, and the developed UDF was successfully applied to multiple additional simulation cases, extending its value beyond the original application.

Figure 1: Photorealism Pictures of the Project.

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