Flomerics EFD Lab v. 9 Features New Parallel Solver

Flomerics has recently announced version 9 of EFD Lab, a tool for solving and predicting engineering fluid dynamics problems.

Ivo Weinhold, manager of CFD product for Flomerics, explained version 9 is the latest in the company’s annual series releases for EFD Lab. Weinhold said each release has had its own direction. “This time we are focusing on performance, improving the ability to use physical models and improving usability.” He says roughly 80 percent of these changes are suggestions that come directly from their user base.

To improve the performance of EFD Lab Weinhold said the company has developed a parallel solver that allows users to take advantage of recent advancements in computational speed. Weinhold said the new version will support multi-core processing which has come to be common place in recent years. Weinhold said even a budget-priced home computer will typically feature a dual or quad-core processor. He explained that it is very difficult to directly quantify the speed improvement but on a dual-core processor users will typically see at least an 80 percent increase. However, he stipulated that the larger the model, the more noticeable the improvement will be. “The real benefit will come from large models that have typically taken several hours to complete,” he said.

The improvements to EFD Lab’s ability to handle physical models include an improved set of features with a new functionality to allow users to handle more tasks that could not be performed in older versions. Newtonian simulations will be a newly added feature that Weinhold said is critical for the simulation of biomedical equipment, sewage, plastics, water and mineable oil.

Also, new to this version of EFD Lab are hypersonic models to simulate hypersonic flows that occur with very high speed situations like spacecraft, or anything else that has to return to earth from space. In addition to interest from the obvious government and academia customers, Weinhold said there is a great deal of interest in this area among private industry. The interest exists mainly in the aerospace and defense industries. Lockheed-Martin, for example, has become a pilot customer.

The third model added to the new version of EFD Lab is an improved solorization model. The newly improved model will account for the way heat enters and escapes, as well as model solar radiation. This is ideal for structures like greenhouses. “This is a good match for users working with all of the environmental design that is happening these days,” said Weinhold. Also, the feature can be used to check for labor regulation compliancy, to ensure a work environment falls within acceptable temperature levels.

The third set of improvements addresses usability. In this version the company has focused on post-processing to make it easier to access results. This direction includes a tool to allow users to point and click to make annotations. Weinhold explained these comments can be used to create effects that are very dynamic and effective. This feature will also make it possible to create colorful images and visualizations. “This will make it easier to acquire and understand the numbers by automating a lot of the process. The end result is that it will make communication easier,” he pointed out.
For users working within the framework of building design, Version 9 will include tools for simulating potential hazardous environments and simulating the potential-mean-H. Potential-mean-H is used to ensure designs meet environmental rules and labor regulations. It checks to ensure the level of H particles in the air is not higher than is considered acceptable by labor and environmental guidelines.

Lastly, Weinhold says it is possible to extend the CFD interface so that it runs off of external applications. This allows users to optimize simulations that require multiple parameters and co-checks to find optimal solutions packages.

For more information about Flomerics, visit www.flomerics.com



By John Myers, ConnectPress Editor
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