The ANSYS CFD technology encompasses two well-established and widely-used CFD tools, ANSYS FLUENT and ANSYS CFX, 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 ANSYS CFX and ANSYS 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 ANSYS 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 ANSYS FLUENT or ANSYS CFX, so we recommend that you contact your local LEAP office to discuss your own unique application.
- ANSYS FLUENT Applications
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In Australia and New Zealand, ANSYS FLUENT is widely used by engineers in industries such as:
- aerospace
- automotive
- electronics
- energy, oil & gas
- construction
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 FLUENT for the advanced problems that are typically encountered by engineers in these disciplines.
- ANSYS FLUENT Benefits
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Regardless of the CFD problem, the strengths of ANSYS FLUENT are in its fast solver technology which offers unrivalled parallel scalability and provides full access to the broad physical modelling capabilities ranging from complex flows including multiple phases, turbulence, heat transfer and radiation, combustion, chemical reactions and moving geometries. Engineering customers in Australia and New Zealand, particularly in academic and high-level research organisations, also appreciate the ability to create User-defined functions in ANSYS FLUENT which allow the implementation of new user models and further customisation of existing models. Results from ANSYS FLUENT can be viewed immediately or automatically read into ANSYS CFD-Post for more advanced post-processing tools, automated reporting and insightful case comparisons to view the difference between results from multiple cases, side-by-side.
ANSYS FLUENT 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 FLUENT 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 FLUENT. In both cases, the commonality of tools and methodology within the ANSYS Workbench now removes the need for engineers to deal with complex third-party coupling software.
