Learning Forum

[itziog]

Hello, I'm trying to define a 3D Fan Zone to simulate an Axial DC Fan and I get the following error:

"3D fan zone requires planar inlet zone; the inlet boundary zone of the 3D fan zone must meet this requirement"

The fan is simply modeled as a solid box with a cylinder cut into to it to represent the fan blades opening + fan hub. I then fill the cylinder in spaceclaim with volume extraction and I've made sure that everything is shared topology. In the mesher, I've selected the cylinder and created a named selection called fan_volume. Also, using the face select tool I select the fan inlet face (which is a circular disk) and name it fan_inlet. Then I go into fluent where after defining fluid and solid zones, I change the fan_inlet from a wall to interior. (It seems strange that it treats it as a wall at first even though I have shared topology) Afterwards I change the fan_volume to a 3D fan zone and select the fan_inlet as my Inlet Fan Zone and then I get the error I mentioned. It might be worth noting that this is a radiator + duct system which means I used volume extract to get the air volume inside the duct and outside I've used an enclosure.

What could be wrong?

[Bhargav Desai]

Hello

Please refer to below from out knowledge base:

If the issue persists, it may help if you can share image of what the domain looks like.

[Omkar Pawar]

When defining a 3D Fan Zone, certain constraints must be respected; otherwise, you may encounter the above message.

The inlet boundary must be planar, and the cell zone must be defined as interior. Additionally, there should be two boundary zones marked as interior, which act as the fan inlet and outlet.
You may also see the same message if one of the boundaries is aligned with the domain boundary (for example, a pressure outlet) or if the outlet zone of the fan is defined as a wall.

Please refer to the following link for more detailed information. 8.2. Cell Zone Conditions