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By ivo WeinholdMenTor Graphics, Mechanical analysis division puT TinG ForWard soMe vieWs and opinions ThaT you May or noT aGree WiTh, ivo Weinhold FroM MenTor Graphics suGGesT ThaT recenT advances can explode The My Ths oF cFd
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W h i t e P a P e r
Computational fluiddynamics (CFD) simulation has long had the reputation of being too difficult, slowand expensive to be performed as part of the mainstream design process. A decade ago, these ideas were grounded in reality. But CFD has changed a lot over the past decade and today has become much easier, faster and less expensive to use. However, the previous disadvantages of CFD persist as myths that are standing in the way of greater use of CFD in the early phases of mechanical design. These myths help explain why only about 30,000 out of over 1 million mechanical design engineers worldwide use CFD to simulate the flowof fluidsinside and around their products. This article will explain the impact of the latest advancements in CFD software that are helping companies use CFD to improve product performance, reduce time to market, and lower engineering costs.
The newest generation of CFD software contains sophisticated automatic control functions that ensure convergence in almost every application without the need for manual tuning. Perhaps the most important function controls the quality of the mesh to avoid one of the biggest reasons for run divergence. Virtually the only situation where the software will not converge is in a problem with a naturally unsteady flo. This type of problem can usually be solved simply by switching to transient analysis. The skills required to operate the CFD software are simply knowledge of the CAD system and the physics of the product, both of which the vast majority of design engineers already possess. The engineer is thus able to focus his or her time and attention on optimizing the performance of the product as opposed to operating the software.
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Myth #2: CFD takes too long to use During the Design proCess
CFD has long been primarily used as a validation step after the design process has been essentially completed. The major reason is that in the past CFD has taken so long that if a design iteration were to be analyzed during the design process it would have been superseded by other iterations before the analysis results were available. The greatest time sink is the meshing process. This used to require a time-consuming manual step of translating the geometry from the CAD software to the CFD package. From this point, another tedious step was required to extract the cavities from the CAD model and then mesh them. While automatic meshers have long been available, a considerable amount of manual intervention was still needed in order to maintain the quality of the mesh by eliminating gaps and overlaps, and maintaining the required skewness, aspect ratio, warpage and volume of individual cells. This manual process had to be repeated for every design change. The new generation of CFD software greatly reduces the time required for analysis by automating all of these steps. In the new approach, native 3D CAD data is used directly for fluidflowsimulations without the need for translations or copies. All ancillary data required for flowsimulation, such as material properties and boundary conditions is associatively linked to the CAD model and carried along with all design changes. The software analyzes the CAD model and automatically identifiesfluidand solid regions without user interaction. Then the automatic mesher creates the mesh while maintaining the skewness, aspect ratio, warpage and volume to high levels of quality, completely eliminating the need for any manual intervention. The result is that new parts and design changes can be meshed in a matter of minutes, dramatically reducing the time required for analysis.
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Myth #4: you Cant DireCtly use your CaD MoDel to Do CFD analysis
In the past it was necessary to copy or translate the CAD model to a different program and then modify it substantially in order to create the CFD model. The main reason was that the tools available to translate the CAD model to the CFD program required a considerable amount of manual intervention. Typically the translation process might work for 80% of the geometry but the rest had to be re-created or simplifiedby hand. Many users found it more reliable to start from scratch by creating the geometry in the CFD program, although this also involved a considerable expenditure of time. The new generation of CFD software uses the native 3D CAD data directly for flowsimulations without the need for translations or copies. All design changes based on simulation results are carried out directly in the CAD system using familiar solid modeling functions. There is no need to create phantom objects in the feature tree to represent the fluidspaces. Flow conditions are defineddirectly on the CAD model and organized similarly to other design data in the feature tree. As a result, the original CAD model can be used without modificationfor CFD analysis. thE nEwEst gEnEration of cfd softwarE contains sophisticatEd automatic control functions that EnsurE convErgEncE in almost EvEry application without thE nEEd for manual tuning.
ContaCt
Ivo Weinhold, Mentor Graphics, ivo_weinhold@mentor.com
ConClusion
Many engineers still think of CFD software as being difficult, time-consuming and expensive touse when actually a new generation of CFD software has addressed all these concerns. The new softwares ability to integrate CFD into the design process allows design engineers to focus on the physics of the problem, which in most cases they already understand well, and generate results much more quickly. This makes it possible for design engineers to get reliable answers gain insight, and deliver tangible results that lead to improvements in product performance and reductions in time to market.
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