CFD software: pushing analysis to the limit.

CFD Software: Pushing Analysis To the Limit

In 1991, a host of improved computational fluid dynamics programs will add features like advanced mesh generators, simplified user interfaces, and sophisticated graphics, as engineers tackle tough new applications in product development and manufacturing.

As it enters its second decade, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software is moving into the mainstream of mechanical engineering. While programs introduced in the early 1980s to model fluid flow and heat transfer were used almost exclusively in aerospace applications, today's codes are tackling increasingly complex real-world problems in the plastics, metals, automotive, computer, and chemical industries.

At the same time, CFD software vendors are beefing up their packages with advanced mesh generators that create better geometric representations of parts, simplified user interfaces, and more sophisticated graphics. Programs are packing in new features that allow them to handle a wider range of CFD problems. And completely new codes are being developed to take advantage of the burgeoning power of PCs and workstations.

Indeed, the major U.S.-based CFD houses have an impressive lineup of product introductions on tap for 1991, including new versions of Fluent from Creare.x Inc. (Hanover, N.H.), Phoenics from Cham of North America Inc. (Huntsville, Ala.), Fidap from Fluid Dynamics International Inc. (Evanston, Ill.), Flowtran from Compuflo Inc. (Charlottesville, Va.), and Flow3D from Flow Science Inc. (Los Alamos, N.M.). Announcements are also being readied by some of the 30 smaller sellers of CFD software based in the United States and Europe.

In many ways, software developers have been hard pressed to keep pace with the demands of mechanical engineers. "People want to solve larger and larger problems," said Jim Rice, executive vice president of research and development at Compuflo. "We're now routinely solving problems with 100,000 nodes on a workstation." Such sizes can easily be reached by assignments like the 3-D analysis of an automobile engine cooling system.

"Running bigger problems is the bottom line in computational fluid dynamics," added Kent Misegades, manager of CFD applications at Cray Research Inc. (Eagan, Minn.). "Problem size in general seems to be approximately doubling every year."