ACADEMIA

Fluent Inc., the world leader in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software and services, recently announced the release of the latest version of its flagship CFD software, FLUENT 6.2. This release has over 300 new capabilities that will broaden the range of possible CFD applications in both the chemical and hydrocarbon processing Industries. Key enhancements to the core FLUENT solver have led to dramatic speed-ups for transient simulations, as well as improved accuracy, without compromising robustness and ease of use. With this latest release, Fluent Inc. continues to focus on improving usability and increasing the range of applicability of CFD for process industry applications involving complex physics, chemistry and geometries. For multiphase modeling, FLUENT 6.2 uniquely offers process engineers the ability to include species transport and chemical reactions with all multiphase models, including the Eulerian and free surface models, in a fully unstructured environment. As beta tester Wayne Strasser, of the Eastman Chemical Company in the US, said, "FLUENT is a world-class code, and the 6.2 release offers many benefits. I have tested models for multiphase flow, heat transfer, and steady turbulence. I have found improvements in convergence rate, and have found the software very user-friendly. I use FLUENT day in and day out to save my company money." While reactor design is at the heart of chemical and process engineering, other flow-related problems are abundant in chemical and hydrocarbon processing. FLUENT 6.2 allows aspects of many difficult unit operations to be addressed. A few notable examples of FLUENT 6.2 features that impact the processing industry are: -- A new sliding mesh formulation for rotating machinery, such as stirred tanks, improves robustness and provides substantial speed-up and scalability in parallel processing -- Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and hybrid RANS/LES models make accurate high-end simulations possible -- Advances in gaseous combustion and the addition of a new stiff chemistry algorithm for laminar flows enable laminar finite rate chemistry problems to be solved more efficiently -- Enhancements to the NOx model improve pollution prediction -- A new ability to create custom material databases enables the re-use of material properties and reaction mechanisms in different cases -- Enhancements to FLUENT's easy-to-use moving and deforming mesh capability, coupled with support for compressible liquids, permits applications with moving parts to be simulated while accounting for phenomena such as water hammer. .