Clean your reading spectacles because this week’s roundup of CFD news includes some substantial reading and watching. An article asks why simulation isn’t mainstream yet and a video answers in a manner that’s counter to what software vendors say. If computational geometry kernels are your thing, there’s a nice white paper on what you should consider before you change from brand A to brand B. And those of you with plenty of time will enjoy the 70-page 2020 update to the CFD Vision 2030 that documents progress since 2014. Shown here is one image from a PyFR DNS simulation of a low pressure turbine showing density gradient magnitude at the leading edge pressure side of a turbine blade.

Reading

• ICYMI, the first comprehensive assessment of progress toward the CFD Vision 2030 including an update of the roadmap to the Vision has been published and is freely available at cfd2030.com – The CFD Vision 2030 Roadmap: 2020 Status, Progress and Challenges.
• I’ve been thinking a lot about turbulence and scale-resolving simulations recently [A meshing guy? Turbulence?] and I think this video is a good explainer: Why 5/3 Is a Fundamental Constant for Turbulence.
  • Remember what we [I] say: “Mesh generation exists to make turbulence modeling seem respectable.”
• Siemens Digital Industries Software, developers of the Parasolid kernel, share thoughts about the hidden cost of swapping CAD kernels [presumably from Parasolid to something else]. On that page you’ll find a link to a white paper on the same topic written by industry analyst Monica Schnitger. Anything Monica writes is usually insightful enough that it’s worth your time to enter some information on the form gating the white paper.
  • My friend Nigel will charge me another $1 if I don’t point out the mis-use of “CAD” in this context. He’s quite the stickler and it’s costing me a lot of money even though the original use isn’t mine (and in this instance it’s kinda accurate). For example, our kernel in the Pointwise software (Geode) is a “non-manifold solid modeling and computational geometry kernel.”

Business

• PTC reported a solid Q3 with total revenue up 23% to $436 million and software revenue up 24%. (As reported by Monica Schnitger.)
• I have to admit that I lost the original source who directed me to this video that includes a response to the DEVELOP3D article Why Is Simulation Not Mainstream Yet? The video’s response counters the responses in the article by saying we should be developing more simulation experts through software training but the software companies don’t make enough money off training so they focus on new software techniques which lets them sell more licenses. [Personally, my experience has been that training usually leads to an increase in software licenses.] As this might be a bit controversial, I’ll be interested in your opinions.

CFD for…

• blown lift and distributed electric propulsion for aircraft.
• torque converters.
• a Porsche 911 that’s been enhanced.

Computing

• Same PyFR DNS simulation of the MTU-T161 low pressure turbine, two different write-ups.
  • Short version from HPCwire: Oak Ridge Supercomputer Enables Next-Gen Jet Turbine Research
  • Long version from Computers & Fluids: High-Order Accurate Direct Numerical Simulation of Flow Over a MTU-T161 Low Pressure Turbine Blade
• CFD on AWS is a white paper that describes best practices for running CFD on AWS.
• Is the race to exascale really on its final leg? Regardless, what’s after exascale is the subject of this article from HPCwire and apparently it’s something called the Internet of Workflows.

Jobs

• Simerics has an opening for a Lead Application Engineer for CFD.
  • Cadence has an opening for an Account Technical Executive – CFD (aka tech sales) in Fort Worth.
  • Cadence has an opening for a Product Engineer in Automotive and Aerospace in Brussels.
• AirShaper maintains their own job board for CFD jobs throughout the industry.
• Florida International University has 3 openings for PhD Research Assistants in CFD/AI.

Making the Transient Permanent

Some of my notepads are full of mesh and grid doodles that look very much like Yoonmi Nam’s Sketchbook. My doodles usually end up in the trash while Nam’s are capture in ceramic. Yes, the photo below is of a ceramic sculpture. Throughout her work, Nam explores the fleeting nature of impermanent, everyday objects. See more at Colossal.