Software

• Reaction Design has added modeling of lean blow off to ENERGICO, their modeling tool that works in conjunction with CFD for turbines.
• UFO-CFD v3 is now available.
• simFlow Beta has been released for use and testing. simFlow appears to be based on OpenFOAM but with an “intuitive user interface.” [Please forgive me if this post is a duplicate of something I already posted about.]

Applications

• Here’s part 1 of a video of the use of meteodynWT for CFD wind assessment.
• techCAE offers part 1 of a series of blog posts about pump cavitation analysis using CFX.
• The Indy 500 is already in our rear view mirror but it’s not too late to enjoy this article from Machine Design about the use of CFD for race cars.

Must Watch Video of the Week

If you’re on the fence about whether or not to attend SIGGRAPH this year (21-25 July, Anaheim, CA) just watch this video preview of some of the technical papers to be presented. There’s fluid simulations, meshes, aircraft, and plenty of WOW.

SIGGRAPH 2013 Technical Paper Preview (click to watch video)

News in Brief

• Project CoolEmAll [Really? Cool ’em all? Sounds too “cowboy” for our European friends.] is a EU funded effort to make data centers more energy efficient including development of simulation software.
• Based a survey of researchers, Microsoft Research concluded that “all researchers receive formal training in computational methods.” The study also concluded that the source code of scientific software be made available for peer review in conjunction with published research results.
• You may not be aware that FYFD has started a series of Fluids Round-up posts. [You are following FYFD, aren’t you?]
• In a case of “big data” meeting simulation, here’s an article about how simulation lifecycle management (SLM) helps make the best use of petabytes of data. Tecplot Chorus gets mentioned as tool that helps solve this problem.
• Exa has a job opening for a senior software engineer in grid generation development.
• CFD Engine reports that CFD in the cloud got the cold shoulder at DEVELOP3D Live and offers a few reasons why this may be the case including lack of a clear definition of exactly what “in the cloud” means.
• From MIT comes this web page of colliding fluid jets.

Photos of colliding fluid jets and the resulting “fluid chains and fishbones.” Image from the website cited above.

Events

• The 2013 Americas Altair Technology Conference will be held on 1-3 October in Garden Grove, CA.
• KARALIT 2.0, due to be released later this year, will be demonstrated at next month’s ASME Turbo Expo. Pointwise will also be exhibiting at Turbo Expo.[Coverage from the Wall Street Journal no less.]
• NAFEMS is offering a 3-day course on a Practical Introduction to CFD on 23-25 July 2013 in Villanova, PA.
• A detailed agenda has been posted for the Femap Symposium 2013.

Dissecting an Article About CFD Results

Desktop Engineering’s CFD for Design Engineers: Dissecting the Results is part 2 of an interview with ANSYS about application of CFD but this time from the standpoint of interpreting results.

Simulation of flow through a valve by ANSYS. Image from Desktop Engineering.

The only nit picking I’ll do is point out two contradictory statements. The first is that visual inspection of the simulation results helps the user get an idea whether the simulation is correct. However, the case being simulated is described as one for which it is difficult to foresee the fluid’s behavior. The paradox is that you’re simulating the flow because you don’t know what it will do, yet you have to look at the result and decide whether it did the right thing. In fact, it’s often what’s missing from the flowfield that might make all the difference as anyone who’s under-resolved a vortex knows. I think we’d all agree that the way to know that your simulation results are correct is by having performed validation and verification in advance of doing real world simulations.

Please note that I’m not picking on ANSYS. I’m certain the results of their simulations are accurate and trustworthy.

In fact, you should read this article from DEVELOP3D about all the new CFD features in ANSYS 14.5.

You See Balloons, I See a Mesh

At the Edinburgh International Science Festival you’ll be confronted by Jason Hackensworth’s sculpture Pisces which is comprised of 10,000 balloons. As impressive as this is, I can’t help but see it as a giant (albeit inflatable) mesh. There are more images on Gizmodo.

Jason Hackensworth, Pisces