The ANSYS CFD technology encompasses two well-established and widely-used CFD tools, ANSYS CFX and ANSYS FLUENT, which have been integrated into the ANSYS Workbench over the past decade. Both of these world-leading general-purpose fluid dynamics products can be used to solve the majority of fluid dynamics problems that are faced by our customers in Australia and New Zealand, however each has its own unique advantages.
In our experience, engineers are usually dealing with fluid dynamics problems that involve some level of additional complexity (beyond simple fluid flow and heat transfer) and we aim to thoroughly understand and work through each customer’s unique problem requirements before we recommend the best CFD tool for your needs. In most cases, the unification of the CFX and FLUENT development teams over the past 5 years has meant that previously unique features have been integrated into both solvers (for example, the ground-breaking laminar-to-turbulent transition turbulence model which was developed by Dr. Florian Menter and initially implemented in CFX) which allows all of our customers to enjoy the benefit of these previous decades of focused R&D. In some specialised cases, research partnerships or funding programs may have resulted in customisation that is still unique to either CFX or FLUENT, so we recommend that you contact your local LEAP office to discuss your own unique application.
- CFX Applications
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In Australia and New Zealand, ANSYS CFX is widely used by engineers in industries such as:
- transport,
- minerals processing,
- chemical engineering and
- power generation
In addition to the ability to solve all general-purpose fluid dynamics problems, this long-term industry engagement has also resulted in further refinement of ANSYS CFX for the advanced problems that are typically encountered by engineers in these disciplines.
- CFX Benefits
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Regardless of the CFD problem, the real strength of ANSYS CFX is its advanced, parallelized solver technology which is renowned for providing robust, accurate solutions in the minimum amount of time. Access to the ANSYS CFX solver is via a modern, intuitive, and flexible User Interface which provides hassle-free customisation and automation using session files, scripting and the powerful CFX expression language. Results from ANSYS CFX can utilise ANSYS CFD-Post to access a suite of powerful yet intuitive post-processing tools, with the bonus of automatic report creation and insightful case comparisons which offer the ability to view the difference between results from multiple cases, side-by-side.
ANSYS CFX is also fully integrated within the ANSYS Workbench, allowing full use of bi-directional CAD connectivity to mainstream CAD packages such as PTC’s Creo (formerly Pro/ENGINEER), the tailored Workbench geometry/meshing/pre- and post-processing tools (which are common to all users regardless of intended physics) and robust design optimisation tools (which can run through a quick “what if?” study or perform more advanced Design of Experiments studies and Goal-Driven Opimisation). The drag-and-drop nature of the ANSYS Workbench interface also provides quick and repeatable setup for fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problems using common geometry, meshing and post-processing tools. The drag-and-drop methodology makes it just as simple to setup a straightforward 1-way transfer of pressure or thermal loads from CFX to ANSYS Mechanical, as for a complex 2-way FSI simulation where the magnitude of the deformation calculated in ANSYS Mechanical is sufficient to require automated recalculation of the transient flow and thermal results within ANSYS CFX. In both cases, the commonality of tools and methodology within the ANSYS Workbench removes the need for engineers to deal with complex third-party coupling software.