Software Releases
- Intelligent Light announced FieldView 14 including 400-times faster unsteady particle visualization and 8-core usage standard.
- CONVERGE Studio now fully integrates EnSight for post-processing.
- Convergent Science announced CONVERGE in the Cloud, a pay-per-use implementation of CONVERGE CFD.
- Daat Research announced a 20 times speed-up of solver performance in Coolit v.13.
- Beta CAE released ANSA/μETA 14.2.1, a maintenance release.
- Autodesk Simulation CFD 2013 SP1 was released.
Jobs
- Pointwise wants to hire a Technical Support Engineer.
- MSC.Software wants to hire a Principal Software Engineering for mesh generation.
Pointwise and GridPro Collaborate
The recent release of Pointwise Version 17.1 R4 includes file-level compatibility with the GridPro structured grid generator. Pointwise can export structured and unstructured surface meshes to GridPro’s fixed surfaces file format for use as geometry in GridPro. Pointwise can also import GridPro’s volume grid files so you can modify or add other grid to them (to make a hybrid mesh, for example).
Starting with a CATIA model (gray) in Pointwise, an unstructured surface mesh was generated and exported to GridPro for use as geometry. GridPro created a structured, multi-block hex grid near the blades, which was exported back to Pointwise for addition of the outer unstructured mesh.
You might think that two competitors collaborating is odd. But it makes good sense for users of both tools. A GridPro user can take advantage of Pointwise’s native CAD import and surface meshing to prepare geometry. And a Pointwise user can add unstructured and hybrid mesh to a multi-block structured grid from GridPro. And even though both programs have structured grid generation capabilities the two approaches are quite complementary.
Also included in Pointwise V17.1 R4 is a native interface to the DLR TAU CFD solver and an updated OpenFOAM interface that now supports cell sets and zones.
- The announcement of Pointwise V17.1 R4
- www.gridpro.com
Wheeling and Dealing
- CD-adapco and CCTech announced a partnership as “global education partners for CFD training through LearnCAx.”
- ICON and FRIENDSHIP SYSTEMS announced a collaboration to deliver CFD tools, optimization tools, and consulting to the marketplace.
- Meteodyn acquired the CFD code MIGAL-S from Michael Ferry R&D.
Applications
- Symscape computed the effects of a car’s rear wing on downforce.
- More CFD for bicycles: The new Alize bike and the new AiR/TTE were both designed with considerable thought to its aerodynamics including the use of CFD.
- CFD for carbon black manufacturing.
- Cool video of fluid sloshing inside a tanker truck. CFD by Autodesk.
- Ever wonder how a Dyson Air Multiplier works? [No CFD in the article but I'm willing to bet that it was used in the design of this thing.]
Tank sloshing simulation performed using Autodesk Simulation CFD 2014.
Read & Discuss
- The folks at Convergent Science are all about automating mesh generation as noted in their recent blog post, Automatic (Meshing) for the People. They quote Habashi (we “cannot let the user decide where to generate and concentrate points.”) and cite the “school of thought that believes that making a mesh by hand is essential to achieving an accurate solution.” [In my experience that's half true. No one wants or needs to hand craft a mesh. (Although it sure can be fun.) But to most people, automatic mesh generation means "make a mesh automatically and exactly the way I would have done it myself."]
- Katate Masatsuka likes CFD. You can download his 299 page book I Do Like CFD (sponsored by Software Cradle) or buy a printed and bound version for a nominal fee.
- To add to your reading, NAFEM’s has revamped their Benchmark Magazine and now provides it online for free. (Registration required.) This month’s article on Icons of CFD features Antony Jameson.
- Design News writes about Altair’s automotive-oriented Virtual Wind Tunnel.
- Videos and documents from last month’s SU2 and OpenMDAO workshop are available online.
Awards and Honors
- Reaction Design is up for a Most Innovative New Product award (San Diego’s tech industry’s version of the Academy Award®) for their FORTE CFD – Soot Prediction. [I challenge you to find "Academy Award" and "soot" in the same sentence anywhere else.]
- Two of the five winners of Computer Weekly’s European User Awards for Data Centre involve CFD.
Lattice Gases and Conformal Maps
This article sprays more mathematical terminology than former NFL headcoach Bill Cowher sprays spittle during a sideline tirade. So I will rely on smarter folk to fully enjoy Lattice Gases and Conformal Maps from the Complex Projective 4-Space blog. [My one takeaway was the great analogy of the Schwarz-Christoffel mapping as fitting a square peg into a round hole. Be sure to click on some of the linked-to articles for animations and other cool stuff.]
Mandelbulb Fractal. I have no idea. Image from Complex Projective 4-Space.
