Full article is available for a fee
Al Dean, October 29, 2007
ANSYS has become a leading provider of expert technology for Fluid
Flow and Heat Transfer simulation, also known as Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD). While much of the company’s work is in the traditional
Ph.D. - led CFD arena, the last few years have seen the development of
easier-to-use CFD tools such as FloWizard, a product originally
developed at Fluent Inc., before ANSYS acquired the company.
Here Flow Pathlines are used to show how fluid or heat moves through
a product. These can be animated to provide a better understanding of
your product's performance (Click image for larger view).
The new version, FloWizard 3.0, is designed to step the user though
CFD set-up and analysis, combining expert knowledge within an easy to
understand interface that guides the user through the process. As with
other mainstream simulation tools, the first step in using FloWizard is
to import CAD-based parts or assemblies and to create flow volume.
FloWizard’s data import options operate on several levels. At its
most basic level, FloWizard can translate CAD files, such as in STEP,
IGES or CATIA V5 formats. The next uses kernel-level transfer, such as
for Parasolid (SolidWorks, NX, others) or Granite (Pro/ENGINEER) to
retain geometric integrity and avoid problems that can occur as a result
of translation. Next up, FloWizard can extend upon the kernel-level
transfer and maintain associativity to upstream CAD tools such as Pro/E
NX, SolidWorks and Inventor via file transfer. This type of connection
makes it easy to modify parts and have FloWizard respect those changes
and reflect them in an updated analysis. In addition to these CAD
formats, FloWizard also imports geometry from Fluent’s pre-processing
systems, T-Grid and Gambit as well as mesh data from various FEA systems
including ANSYS (.cdb), Hypermesh (.hmm), Nastran (.nas and .bdf) and
Patran (using the .neu neutral file) formats.
FloWizard’s meshing and set-up is an excellent example of how it has
been geared for the non-specialist user. The software combines geometry
clean-up (of factors such as short edges as typically found in CATIA
output data) with mesh controls.
Post-Processing
FloWizard 3.0 includes a range of post-processing tools that allows
extraction of useful information using 3D tools to inspect pressure,
velocity, and temperature fields on easily swept planes; particles
traces and animations of flow path lines, and such. Regarding reporting,
many of the mainstream simulation and analysis tools allow a user to
output a basic report either in HTML or Microsoft Word format, which can
then be used as the basis for your ‘real’ documentation. FloWizard is no
different and includes basic reporting tools and image capture
operations.
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