Help with CFD program selection

[oharag]

I was wondering if anyone could point me in a direction where I may be able to see a thorough comparison of different CFD programs? Or can someone recommend a capable solution?

My company makes Infant Incubators. We use a thermal source with fans blowing across it to produce warm air that envelopes an infant. So depicting air velocity gradients is important. We would like to see thermal results over a period of time. It would be nice to consider the affect of moisture upon the system if possible. I believe it is important to find a CFD program that has adaptive meshing capabilities especially if the flow becomes turbulent.

Right now we saw a demo of FloWorks (we are considering moving to SolidWorks). It is a nice solution that is integrated with SolidWorks. The one thing I cannot tell is whether it has adaptive meshing. Another program that I hear is a good solution is CFDesign. I believe it communicates with SolidWorks well. Have I missed any other possible CFD solutions? Cost is a concern. Around $10,000 is the max.

Are there other features that I have not mentioned that should also be considered?

Thanks
oharag

 

[Bgoldstein]

I don't think you are going to find many CFD packages for under $10,000. I think FloWorks and CFDesign would work well for your application, though CFDesign might be over your price limit. (I've used CFDesign, Fluent/IcePak, and FloTherm in the past - CFDesign gets my vote for easiest to use, good CAD to CFD interface, and best meshing.)

You might look into Fluent - it has all the functionality and more (not that you really need it for your app) than the 2 software packages you mentioned. It is pretty pricey, but they have a pricing option where you buy the pre and post processor, and then run the solver off of their computer (they give you a set # of hours) - a good way to go if you don't have a lot of analysis to do.

Brett Goldstein

 

[oharag]

Thanks Bgoldstein for the reply.

oharag

 

[mfinke]

Hi,

you could also check out the following site:

http://www.cfd-online.com/

it has a lot of information and some discussion forums

cheers,

MAtthias

 

[JGalliera]

COSMOSFloWorks has solution adaptive meshing.

 

[brad]

The top three CFD codes (based on worldwide sales) are:
Fluent,
Star-CD,
and CFX at a distant third.

----

Not only is CFD fairly pricy, but there is a significant learning curve to properly using it. The problem which you have described seems fairly straightforward for CFD. If you are only going to do this analysis a few times, you may want to instead consider employing a consultant to do this problem for you. You could contract a CFD vendor, or an independent consultant. I know that CD/Adapco has significant consulting services, and I think Fluent does also.

I would only recommend purchasing such software if you plan on having somebody 50%+ devoted to doing such analyses. CFD (and much of CAE) is often not well-utilized by people who only dabble with it on occasion.

Just my thoughts.
Regards,
Brad