The CFD world did not stop producing cool news while This Week in CFD was on hiatus as evidenced by the fact that this post hardly put a dent in the backlog of bookmarks. There are two surveys seeking your input, one on using CFD software while working from home, the other on your wants from CAD software. And a research study delves into simulation and prototyping practices. If you have cold feet about using CFD, be certain to read the application story about the use of CFD in the design of winter cycling footwear (AirShaper results shown here). With that, let’s begin digging into the backlog.

The First Five

• A recording of the panel discussion Aerospace Grand Challenges for Revolutionary CFD Capabilities from this past summer’s AIAA Aviation is available for you to enjoy. It will provide great background for the special session coming at AIAA SciTech this January with invited presentations that delve into the details of implementing these grand challenges.
• CFD, aerodynamics, and the front wing of a Formula-1 car.
• Anyone using FreeCAD?
• A profile of turbulence researcher William Irvine.
• Here’s Visualizing Data’s best of the visualization web for May 2020.

The Second Five

• CFD Support launched TCAE, “a flexible and automated system of standalone modules for engineering simulations.”
• The Global Altair Technology Conference 2020 is online and is next week.
• In this article about HPC for Manufacturing [which really seems to be about Lenovo’s HPC offerings] we read that for each $1 invested in HPC in Manufacturing, $83 in revenue is generated with $20 of profit.
• CFD and 3D printing contributed to Scuderia AlphaTauri’s F-1 victory at Monza, they say.
• At your leisure, watch the presentation of Robust, Efficient and Accurate Mesh Adaptation for Turbomachinery CFD Simulations at the recent AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum in which Pointwise and ISimQ applied mesh adaptation to a turbomachinery flowfield.

The Third Five

• CFD for clay extrusion nozzles designed in a framework with topology optimization and 3D printing. [Not the Play-Doh Fun Factory]
• CFD for Tesla’s Cybertruck. [Slightly less of a toy than the Fun Factory]
• CFD (by AirShaper) for shoes to keep your feet warm while cycling in the winter.
• OpenFOAM 8 was released.
• Lubos Brieda from Particle in Cell Consulting and two co-authors are working on a new book, Introduction to Modern Scientific Programming and Numerical Methods, due out next summer. They are seeking feedback on their webpage. [This is one of the latest efforts to teach engineers and scientists programming that’s not MATLAB, a discussion that’s gone hot and cold many times over the past decade.]

You See Where This Is Going, Right?

• CFD for industrial blowers by SimScale.
• The University of Michigan has openings for graduate research assistants for Fall 2020 in computational multiphase/multiphysics projects.
• Pointwise asks that you participate in our survey on Engineering Software Licensing and Working Remotely.
• Vela Software has acquired Compusense and their sensory research software. Compusense will report into Tecplot [an odd phrase that I don’t really know what it means].
• CFD for the 2022 Maserati MC20 [from which I learned that “dry sump lubrication” is a car thing not a medical thing].

The Last Five

• Cornell undergrads got to work with CFD and cloud computing as part of a Research Experience for Undergraduates program.
• Request from engineering.com a copy of the research report “A Look at Simulation and Prototyping Practices Across the Globe.” [Not to nitpick, but should that be “Around the Globe”?] I haven’t finished reading my copy yet but here’s a nugget: What makes simulation work challenging? 49% say pre-processing effort.
• Here’s Visualizing Data’s best of the visualization web for June 2020.
• The 16th OpenFOAM Workshop 2021 will be held entirely online on 7-11 June 2021. Registration and abstract submission are open.
• What do you need from CAD? Participate today in Tech-Clarity’s latest industry survey.

The Venn Diagram of Art and Engineering

There is the perception that abstract (i.e. non-figurative) painting is just an exercise in random aesthetics meaning nothing. There is also the perception that mathematics is dry, cold, and dead.

Crockett Johnson, engineer and children’s book author, produced many paintings based on mathematical theorems. Polar Line of a Point and a Circle (Apollonius), shown below, illustrates two orthogonal circles and is as fine a work of geometric art as I’ve ever seen, with a great deal of its appeal deriving from his color choices.

The Venn diagram of art and engineering has a bigger intersection than may be apparent at first glance.

Bonus: I am not responsible for the time you spend playing working with the SynBIM online fluid simulator.