Fluid Properties
The Fluid Properties node adds the momentum and continuity equations solved by the physics interface, except for volume forces, which are added by the Volume Force feature. The node also provides an interface for defining the material properties of the fluid.
 
 
Model Inputs
Fluid properties, such as density and viscosity, can be defined through user inputs, variables, or by selecting a material. For the latter option, additional inputs, for example temperature or pressure, may be required to define these properties.
Temperature
By default, the Temperature model input is set to Common model input, and the temperature is controlled from Default Model Inputs under Global Definitions or by a locally defined Model Input. If a Heat Transfer interface is included in the component, it controls the temperature Common model input. Alternatively, the temperature field can be selected from another physics interface. All physics interfaces have their own tags (Name). For example, if a Heat Transfer in Fluids interface is included in the component, the Temperature (ht) option is available for T.
You can also select User defined from the Temperature model input in order to manually prescribe T.
Absolute Pressure
This input appears when a material requires the absolute pressure as a model input. The absolute pressure is used to evaluate material properties, but it also relates to the value of the calculated pressure field. There are generally two ways to calculate the pressure when describing fluid flow: either to solve for the absolute pressure or for a pressure (often denoted gauge pressure) that relates to the absolute pressure through a reference pressure.
The choice of pressure variable depends on the system of equations being solved. For example, in a unidirectional incompressible flow problem, the pressure drop over the modeled domain is probably many orders of magnitude smaller than the atmospheric pressure, which, when included, may reduce the stability and convergence properties of the solver. In other cases, such as when the pressure is part of an expression for the gas volume or the diffusion coefficients, it may be more convenient to solve for the absolute pressure.
The default Absolute pressure pA is p+pref, where p is the dependent pressure variable from the Navier-Stokes or RANS equations, and pref is from the user input defined at the physics interface level. When pref is nonzero, the physics interface solves for a gauge pressure. If the pressure field instead is an absolute pressure field, pref should be set to 0.
The Absolute pressure field can be edited by clicking Make All Model Inputs Editable () and entering the desired value in the input field.
Model Inputs and Multiphysics Couplings in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual
Fluid Properties
Density
The density can either be specified by a material, or by a User defined expression. The density in a material can depend on temperature and/or pressure and these dependencies are automatically replaced by pref for weakly compressible flows and pref and Tref for incompressible flows (as specified by the Compressibility setting at the physics interface level). If density variations with respect to pressure are to be included in the computations, Compressibility must be set to compressible. Any dependencies in the density on quantities other than temperature and pressure must be consistent with the Compressibility setting at the interface level.
Dynamic Viscosity
The Dynamic viscosity μ describes the relationship between the shear rate and the shear stresses in a fluid. Intuitively, water and air have low viscosities, and substances often described as thick (such as oil) have higher viscosities.