FloWorks good or bad for CFD

winpop123 · Aug 10, 2006

I recently got a FloWorks demo and quote. We are considering adding it to our software suite to aid in our up front engineering for cooling electronic cases. Any input good or bad from folks that are using the software would be appreciated. A few other comments, I'm not an analylist but the go to Mechanical guy at my company. I have alot of past experience doing in depth FEA on various structures as well as modal analysis and random vibration. Since I'm new to CFD I'm plannng on taking a training class first thing assuming we buy it. Will be running the software on an Alienware laptop:
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4800+
2 Gig RAM
NVIDIA Quadro FX Go1400
about 80 gig free space

Thanks for the help.

corus · Aug 11, 2006

You might get a better response to this in the CFD forum, under Engineerign Methods.

corus

cbrn · Aug 11, 2006

Hi,
if you plan to do flow-thermal analyses inside a closed box, then FloWorks is perfectly able to do this and I think it really worths the money. I wouldn't say it's the best choice possible, but competitors are, as far as I know, more expensive.

Regards

winpop123 · Aug 11, 2006

Thanks for the input. We use SolidWorks and the fact that FloWorks is embedded and there is no data transfer is a BIG selling point for us.

2design · Aug 11, 2006

I've been using FloWorks for less than a year and if I had a chance to change to another program I would. It has a lot of buggs and clunky work arounds. I would not purchase any analysis program just because it is integrated into a CAD software. None of my CAD models I use for design can be used for FloWorks without major changes to the models. It may be a good program as a stand alone but packaged with Solidworks might have removed some of the good features.

winpop123 · Aug 11, 2006

Thanks 2design. Could you give me a little more background to go along with your opinion? For example are you an expeirenced CFD user? Is there another program you can recommmend. How are you using the program (ie) whats your product. Thanks again for your help.

2design · Aug 11, 2006

I've used one other CFD in the past but that was for a different sector that wouldn't be of benefit to you.

I also am using Floworks for electronics packaging.

No I do not have a recommendation. I just think that you should not buy it just because it is packaged with SolidWorks. You will get what you pay for.

Some example of issues:
1) any component that requires conduction require interference (major CAD manipulation).

2) saving the results using the pulldown menu corrupts your results.

3) you have to assume adiabatics walls for internal flow

cbrn · Aug 11, 2006

Hi,
for thermal flow analyses: Icepak (a "cousin" of Fluent). But I really don't know if it's integrated with CAD.

There is surely another CFD integrated with SolidWorks, which outperforms FloWorks at least 5 to 1, but it is also much more expensive; right now I can't remember its name, but if you go to SolidWorks' site there is a page where all the partners are listed: you may want to look for "Gold Partners" because only for them SW certifies that they 100% follow SW standards for API, support, etc...

Regards

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FloWorks good or bad for CFD

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