Editor's Pick: Conduct Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations More Efficiently

Dear DE Reader, 

Recent advancements in computation power and affordability make simulation and analysis faster and more accessible. A new player in CAE is harnessing that power to bring an advanced simulation method to market. 

Nextflow Software of Nantes, France, specializes in what are called SPH methods—smoothed-particle hydrodynamics. Originally developed for advanced astrophysics problems, Nextflow is working to make SPH accessible to product design. Their new software Nextflow Studio puts the power of SPH in a modern user interface. Its innovative approach to computational fluid dynamics is one of the reasons why Nextflow Studio is our Editor’s Pick of the Week. 

Nextflow Studio has a modern, intuitive graphical user interface that simplifies preparing models as well as various geometry optimization tools and meshing tools to reduce the time it takes to prepare a simulation.  

Nextflow Software brings more than 20 years of academic and industrial research to this new product. SPH methods are great for studying free surface, liquid-air interfaces. Shocks, splashing and deformations as part of complex use cases are typical uses for Nextflow Studio.

Use of SPH puts Nextflow Studio on the cutting edge. Classical methods like Finite Volume—requiring volume meshing—are not suitable for many applications including dynamic flows with complex interfaces. But SPH is ideal for high-dynamic flows, deformable and complex boundaries, and interfaces with fragmentations and/or reconnections. Examples include gearbox lubrication, tire hydroplaning and aircraft ditching. 

Nextflow Studio is not only a tool for SPH analysis. It covers the entire CFD workflow from pre-processing to computation and post-processing. Manual meshing is not required; Nextflow Studio automates the process, so users can focus on the process and not get bogged down in prep work. 

There is more to like about Nextflow Studio than we can fit in a single email message. Read our Product Brief for more about the interface, supported computing environments, its use of Dassault Systèmes’ Spatial CGM technology, and details about the wide variety of physics capabilities. 

Thanks for reading; we’ll be back next week with another Editor’s Pick of the Week. 

—The DE Editors