Embed with CFD
MCAD Online, February 2008

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has traditionally been a research tool usually used by analytical specialists at the latter stages of the development process. But recently commercial CFD codes have been released with interfaces that look and operate like MCAD software with the CFD solver interacting directly with the native solid model data. The result is that CFD has become a tool that is easily used by design engineers and other team members, at every stage of the product development cycle. As a result, engineers are now using CFD to research theoretical concepts during the pre-development phase, determine the viability of design concepts at the early stages of the development cycle, and optimize the performance of the near-final design.

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Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has long had the reputation of being too difficult, too slow, and too expensive for everyday bench-level engineers. A decade ago, this was true. But CFD has changed. Today, it is easier, faster, and less expensive. The disadvantages of earlier CFD programs, however, persist as myths and stand in the way of engineers using CFD in the early phases of design. These myths help explain why only about 30,000 out of over 1 million mechanical-design engineers worldwide use CFD to simulate fluid flows inside and around their products.

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There is an increasing trend toward use of simulation early in the product development cycle by mechanical design engineers. Yet today only about 30,000 out of over 1 million mechanical design engineers worldwide use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to simulate the flow of fluids inside and around their products. Engineers give reasons such as “not aware of benefits,” “too difficult,” “not well integrated,” and “too expensive” for why CFD is not more widely used. These limitations are gradually being overcome as flow simulation becomes more embedded in the mechanical design process. The result is that simulation results are becoming available nearly as fast as changes occur in the design cycle so that CFD can play a central role in design decision-making and optimization.

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Dialight PLC, a world leader in applied LED technology, has selected Flomerics’ EFD.Pro engineering fluid dynamics software, embedded in Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire, for the design of advanced lighting systems based on light-emitting diode (LED) technology.

“Although power LEDs are becoming more efficient, a significant amount of input power translates into heat” said Gordon Routledge, VP of illumination products, Dialight plc. “Cooling of the electronics and LED devices is critical to long-term reliability and so thermal analysis -- including airflow analysis – is vital to help us meet our demanding development schedules.”

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Engineering Fluid Dynamics (EFD) V8 was granted the Readers' Choice Award for February 2008 by Desktop Engineering magazine.