Editor's Pick: Flow Science Releases FLOW-3D Version 10.0

By Anthony J. Lockwood

Dear Desktop Engineering Reader:

Flow Science released version 10 of FLOW-3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software recently, and it sounds pretty interesting.

For those of you who are not familiar with the application, the company describes FLOW-3D as a CFD system to use in your design phase and to improve production processes. It's engineered as an all-inclusive package, meaning that you do not need special modules for meshing or post-processing. Its integrated user interface is said to tie everything from problem setup to post-processing together. It's available in a distributed-memory version, and there are specialized versions for casting design and for developing and producing products with thermosetting resins. We'll stick with the main version. Youll find links to the other versions at the end of today's Pick of the Week write-up.

So, version 10. Key enhancements include fluid structure interaction (FSI) and thermal stress evolution (TSE) models that use a combination of conforming finite-element and structured finite-difference meshes. You use these to simulate and analyze the deformations of solid components as well as solidified fluid regions and resulting stresses in response to pressure forces and thermal gradients.

The TSE model describes the evolution of stresses and deformations in metal during cooling. According to the company, stresses are simultaneously computed in the mold and in solidifying metal with simple options for the interaction between them. The FSI model is a fully-coupled interaction between fluid and solid. It models stresses and deformations in solid components in response to pressure forces from the surrounding fluid, thermal gradients, and specified constraints. Currently, it is limited to small deformations.

You can read more about the enhancements in version 10 of FLOW-3D in today's write-up. There are tons of links for you to poke around in. The full skinny on it is available from the online demo link (registration required). A hint for that: Hit the next button under the video to step through the demos.

Thanks, pal. -- Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood
Editor at Large, Desktop Engineering

Read today's Pick of the Week write-up.

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