Fluent Releases TGrid 3.6 With HexCore Technology

March 18, 2004, Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA…Fluent Inc., world leader in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software and services, announces the release of TGrid 3.6, a leading mesh-building tool supplied to its customers and used extensively within the automotive CFD community. TGrid’s new HexCore meshing technology offers a unique advantage to CFD analysts and designers, particularly when modeling fluid flow problems with open spaces, where a high mesh quality is required. This condition is commonly encountered in the modeling of automotive cabin interiors or complex internal ventilation designs, among others. “50% cell count reduction can be obtained on these types of applications using HexCore with no sacrifice in mesh quality,” says TGrid Product Manager Erling Eklund. “With a speed and ease-of-use comparable to our Tet Mesher, and with high quality hexahedral cells, HexCore will lead to faster and more accurate CFD simulations for many automotive applications,” he adds.

HexCore is a fully-automatic meshing tool. The process begins with the creation of a hanging-node Cartesian mesh, ensuring comparable cell sizes close to the boundary. Then, if needed, it automatically accounts for pre-defined prism cells, giving greater fidelity. In the final step, high-quality tetrahedral cells are added in the transition area between the Cartesian core and the boundary. All the while, the mesh density variation can be controlled both globally and locally. The result is a higher quality mesh at lower computational expense.

HexCore has passed a rigorous set of 40 industrial automotive test cases of up to 7 million cells in size. “We are confident that our HexCore capability is not only the most advanced but also is exceedingly stable,” says Eklund, and he continues "We will continue to deliver more and more of these advanced meshing technologies to our users, so they can increase their productivity in this critical step of the CFD simulation process."

Pricing and Availability TGrid 3.6 is available now to all users of FLUENT CFD software. For more information about TGrid, visit www.fluent.com/software/tgrid or contact your local Fluent office or distributor, referenced at www.fluent.com/contact.

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About Fluent Fluent is the world's largest provider of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software and consulting services. Fluent's software is used for simulation, visualization, and analysis of fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, and chemical reactions. It is a vital part of the computer-aided engineering (CAE) process for companies around the world and is deployed in nearly every manufacturing industry. Using Fluent's software, product development, design and research engineers build virtual prototypes and simulate the performance of proposed and existing designs, allowing them to improve design quality while reducing cost and speeding time to market. Fluent's corporate headquarters are located in Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA, with offices in Belgium, England, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan and Sweden. Its CFD software is also available around the world through joint ventures, partnerships, and distributors in Korea, Australia, Brazil, China, Taiwan, the Czech Republic, Middle East, and most European countries. FLUENT® is a registered trademark of Fluent Inc.

For more information, contact: Jennifer Correa Fluent Inc. 10 Cavendish Court Lebanon, NH 03766 (603) 643-2600 Ext. 668 jrc@fluent.com