Fluent Releases Next Generation of CFD Software New Releases Unlock the Power of Unstructured Hybrid Meshes for CFD

Business Wire, Oct 14, 1997

LEBANON, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 14, 1997--Fluent Inc. (NASDAQ:AATT), a leading supplier of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software for engineering analysis, has announced the release of significant upgrades to its FLUENT/UNS and RAMPANT CFD solvers and its TGrid mesh generator. The new releases greatly expand the versatility of Fluent's established unstructured CFD software, especially in the important areas of model building and mesh generation. New features improve the quality of automatically generated meshes, ensuring greater accuracy from CFD results. They also enhance productivity by allowing designers to consider parametric changes using "parts-based" meshing.

Faster Turnaround Drives CFD for Design

According to Dipankar Choudhury, Product Manager at Fluent, "These new capabilities dramatically reduce the human time required for CFD analysis to be used in engineering design. The latest releases emphasize Fluent's ongoing commitment to making CFD a vital part of the CAE process." Companies worldwide are increasingly integrating CFD-based virtual prototyping into the design process in an effort to reduce design time and meet performance requirements.

Improved Model Building

TGrid 3.0 gives users of the Fluent software a powerful integrated tool for creation of hybrid volume meshes. Hybrid meshes, consisting of mixed element types, allow analysts to combine the ease of tetrahedral meshing on complex geometries with the advantages of traditional hexahedral cells in regions of less geometric complexity.

This can substantially reduce the setup time and overall model size compared to approaches that allow only a single element type per analysis. Fluent's new CFD solvers, FLUENT/UNS and RAMPANT 4.2, fully support solutions on hybrid meshes, including all available physical models, solution-based mesh adaption, and parallel processing.

Viscous Hybrid Meshes for Automation and Efficient Solutions

TGrid 3.0 also improves the quality of automatically generated meshes, with "viscous hybrid" meshing tools. Viscous hybrid meshes use a layer of prism elements along walls, with tetrahedral elements in the bulk flow region. Compared to all-tetrahedral meshes, viscous hybrid meshes result in dramatic savings, with far fewer elements required to accurately resolve boundary layers and yield good near-wall prediction of shear stress, heat transfer, and flow separation. Viscous hybrid meshes make it possible for designers to take advantage of automated mesh generation and get accurate predictions using fewer elements.

Parts-based Meshing for Parametric Design

The new releases also support non-conformal mesh interfaces (interfaces where mesh lines are discontinuous). Support for non-conformal meshes means that CFD models can be created in a modular mode, with interchangeable meshed parts. This "parts-based" meshing dramatically improves productivity and increases the number of parametric design changes that can be quickly analyzed.

Expanded Modeling Capability

FLUENT/UNS and RAMPANT 4.2 also provide many new modeling features that expand the range of applications that can be analyzed. Included in this list are a Reynolds Stress Turbulence model for greater accuracy for highly swirling flows (e.g., cylcones), anisotropic thermal conductivity for heat conduction through composite materials, and modeling extensions for representing fans and rotor-stator interaction. Combined with previous capabilities like steady or transient, laminar or turbulent flow, chemical mixing or combustion and reaction, and heat transfer with radiation, the new releases provide a wide range of modeling capability combined with outstanding mesh flexibility.

Pricing and Availability

FLUENT/UNS and RAMPANT 4.2, along with TGrid 3.0, are available on UNIX and PC platforms. Annual license fees start at $18,000.

Corporate Background

Fluent, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aavid Thermal Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:AATT). Fluent is a world leader in the rapidly growing field of computerized design and simulation software. Fluent's software is used to predict fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, chemical reaction and related phenomena.

Fluent's software products and services help engineers in leading corporations world-wide with detailed product development, design optimization, trouble shooting, scale-up and retrofitting. Fluent's software significantly reduces engineering cost, while improving the final design of products in applications ranging from design of electronic components and systems to automotive engineering, and from combustion system design to process plant troubleshooting.

Fluent's corporate headquarters are located in Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA. Fluent's European headquarters are located in Sheffield, England, with local offices in France and Germany. Fluent's CFD software is also available around the world through joint ventures, partnerships and distributors in Japan, Korea, Australia, the Czech Republic, and most European countries.

Additional information on Fluent's products can be obtained on the World Wide Web at http://www.fluent.com or by e-mailing info@fluent.com . More information on Aavid Thermal Technologies is available at http://www.aavid.com .