Industrial agitators simulation- which CFD software?

[Jezovuk]

Hello!

I am a mechanical engineer currently working for mid size company in Germany that produces industrial agitators and pressure equipment.
We are currently considering buying a CFD software that will allow us to go deeper in mixing process and to develop better agitators.
I have no huge experience with CFD softwares but i have earlier worked with SolidWorks fluid simulations and have all necessary theoretic knowledge.

My question is: "What is the best software (regarding the price and final results credibility) for the purpose of deeper understanding of a mixing process (suspension, dispersion, homogenization, heat transfer)?"
Basically, i want to compare results of two simulations with equal input data for two different agitators and say for example, No.:2 is "better" for given purpose.


Thank you in advance!

 

[Dave442]

have a look at openFoam, its open-source (free) but very capable

 

[Jezovuk]

Thank You Dave442!

A got a same advice from mine Fluid Mechanics profesor.
I was looking for some OpenFoam info on web and it turns out one must have programing knowledge in order to use it. Is that true or is OpenFoam more "beginner friendly"?

 

[Dave442]

In my opinion, openFoam is not beginner friendly but there are a ton of resources available online to get you up and running. Check out the openFoam wiki and CFD online. Alternatively, you could check out simFlow. It uses openFoam libraries but has a nice GUI and is available for free under an open source licence (with some restrictions on analysis size and parallelisation). It also runs on windows.