BoardSurfers: Have You Heard About Computational Fluid Dynamics Yet?

Dear BoardSurfers, I want to unapologetically hijack the normal news and exciting feature information that you are accustomed to reading about in the world of PCB Design blogs to eagerly let you know about Cadence’s recent ventures into the world of Computational Fluid Dynamics.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is an aspect of multiphysics system analysis that uses numerical analysis to simulate the interaction of fluids or fluidic motion on and within bodies. As modern electronic designs are becoming complicated, having an understanding of its performance in the real world is crucial. Optimizing airflow or estimating performance under different environmental conditions is one of the key aspects of modern electronic designs. This is why CFD has emerged as an essential technology across numerous industries such as marine, aerospace, automobile, turbomachinery, and electronics design. Recognizing this need, Cadence has significantly broadened its system analysis portfolio, particularly in the area of CFD. The acquisitions of NUMECA and Pointwise have, in particular, caught peoples’ imaginations both inside and outside of the organization.

With so much happening on the CFD front, it can be hard to keep up to date with the CFD news, events, and posts on social media. That's why we are presenting to you a summary of the top news and blogs in Cadence CFD.

So, let’s get into it! 

Events 

For all CFD enthusiasts there were some great opportunities to learn about CFD through a series of events. Here are some exciting CFD events that have taken place over the last few weeks: 

• NASA's Advanced Modeling and Simulation (AMS) Seminar: Cadence's Travis Carrigan and Nick Wyman participated in NASA's Advanced Modeling and Simulation (AMS) Seminar series where they shared our latest progress in adaptive mesh generation. You can find out more about the presentation in Upcoming NASA Seminar on Adaptive Meshing.

• International Meshing Roundtable 2021: If you are interested in the latest meshing technologies and all things meshing, the International Meshing Roundtable is always the place to be. The 29th edition of the event was held virtually this year. Apart from the technical papers and presentations, this virtual event had a meshing poster contest with a dinosaur theme. Cadence participated in the contest with a T-Rex entry generated with Pointwise.

John Chawner gives you the lowdown on the virtual meeting and our entry for the meshing contest in Welcome to... Our Meshing Roundtable Poster.

• SU2 Conference 2021: Stanford University's annual SU2 Conference was also held virtually this year. This conference brings together a community of researchers and practitioners who are focused on the SU2 open-source CFD code. Cadence's Travis Carrigan presented "Automation, Adaptation, and Advanced CFD Meshing in Pointwise" at this year's event to bring the group up to speed on the software's latest capabilities.

You can find more details about the conference and a link to Travis Carrigan's presentation in Cadence CFD at the SU2 Conference 2021.

• Aerovehicles 4: The Fourth International Conference in Numerical and Experimental Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles and Trains took place as a hybrid event (with both in-person and online participation) from 23rd to 25th August  2021. Cadence's Nick Wyman and ISimQ's Paul Galpin presented some very cool work under the banner "Practical Mesh Adaptation for Aerodynamics Simulations". Check out the event page for details.

• AutoCFD-2: The Automotive CFD Prediction Workshop (AutoCFD 2) was another hybrid event held from 26th to 27th August 2021. The main objective of this event was to assess the predictive capability of CFD codes for road cars. Cadence's Olivier Thiry gave a presentation on the "CFD Results on the Windsor Body and the DrivAer Notchback". Check out the event page for details.

Product Releases 

I am sure after checking out those events, you would want to know more about our latest CFD offerings. Here's our recent CFD product release:

• Omnis Version 5.1

The newest version of the Omnis simulation environment has introduced a new discrete particle solver, a surface-to-volume mesh module, and more than 100 other new features that will simplify your workflows, boost your productivity, and extend the scope of your simulations. To learn about these new features check out our blog New Release - Omnis Version 5.1 Is Out Now! 

You can read up on all the amazing things you can accomplish using Omnis at https://www.numeca.com/omnis.

Blogs 

While these new advances, usability enhancements, and events kept us busy, we tried to keep you updated on all things CFD through our blog posts. Here's a complete list of the CFD blogs that were published recently:

• This Week in CFD

  Click the links below to get the weekly coverage of the CFD news and events: 

   
  • This Week in CFD (September 7)
  • This Week in CFD (August 30)
  • This Week in CFD (August 13)
  • This Week in CFD (August 6)
  • This Week in CFD (July 30)
  • This Week in CFD (July 23)
  • This Week in CFD (July 16)
  • This Week in CFD (July 2)
 
• OMNIS - Addressing Today's And Tomorrow's Multiphysics Simulation Challenges - A Focus On Automotive

Yannick Baux discusses how Cadence Omnis, with its breadth of CFD technology behind it, solves the most complex fluid flow challenges for automotive design, while at the same time reducing engineering and solving time in a fully streamlined easy-to-use collaborative workflow. 

• Big Wave Surfboard Optimization Using Cadence's Pointwise and CRUNCH CFD

Anne-Marie Schelkens explains how engineers at CRAFT Tech used the automated meshing tools provided by Cadence to create an aerodynamically optimized leading-edge design for the big-wave board that increases speed and stability for the surfer and can make a world of difference between riding the wave and being consumed by it!

• Damen: Wind Study On A Slender Boat Design Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

Anne-Marie Schelkens talks about how DAMEN, in partnership with NUMECA, developed a CFD methodology that can be used for the determination of wind loads on model ships without the need for expensive wind tunnel experiments. This blog post also has links to the results of the validation campaign, as well as to a video demonstration.

• The CFD Vision 2030 Roadmap: 2020 Status, Progress, and Challenges

John Chawner presents an update on AIAA's CFD Vision 2030 roadmap, along with the 2020 status, progress, and challenges. You can also download the 2020 report using the link provided in the blog.

• Pipistrel Mitigates Aviation Noise Emissions for Electric Aircraft

Anne-Marie Schelkens talks about how Pipistrel used Omnis/Open solvers and the Omnis/Hexpress grid generator for the aerodynamic simulation of DEP systems and the validation of low-noise technologies.

Trainings 

You now have an opportunity to receive our Pointwise Meshing Foundations course for free. All you have to do is to sign up for a free trial.  

I hope this blog piqued your interest in CFD. To receive notifications about our latest CFD blogs SUBSCRIBE to our Computational Fluid Dynamics blog series.

Happy reading!

Deepti Kamal