At European CATIA Forum 2004 (ECF2004) in Paris, CD-adapco will be demonstrating STAR-CAT5, a new CAD embedded Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software system, designed to bring the benefits of CFD technology to users of Dassault Systèmes’ CAD package CATIA V5.

CD-adapco aims to provide design engineers with not only a CFD solver, but also a complete flow-simulation process. STAR-CAT5 has therefore been developed as a process whereby CFD is embedded within the CATIA V5 environment. The advantage of this is that the CFD solution becomes an integral part of the CAD model. No other existing approach enables designers to get from a CATIA model to an accurate CFD solution as quickly.

Steve MacDonald, President of CD-adapco, says, "The advantage of STAR-CAT5 is that it enables rapid high quality meshing, model setup, solution and result evaluation to be completely integrated within the CATIA V5 environment. Engineers who are familiar with CAD will therefore find adding CFD to existing models easy and intuitive, since boundary conditions and fluid properties are simply entered within the familiar CATIA V5 GUI environment."

Simulations can be set-up, run and post-processed entirely within the comfort of CATIA V5, leaving the user free to manipulate the model using familiar mouse clicks and keyboard shortcuts. With the ability to easily manipulate the model and visualize the results, users are much more able to get a feel for a solution and understand the underlying flow physics. For the first time designers and CFD engineers are able to speak the same language by sharing a common tool.

Meshing is accomplished at the click of a button. Since the mesh is created directly from the solid CATIA model, no translation is necessary and there is no need to clean any CAD. The boundary conditions, mesh and solution are all stored within the CATIA model. Design changes, made in response to the CFD results or otherwise, are reflected in the CFD solution almost immediately. Solutions are updated at the click of a button without additional user intervention and are stored within the model, accessible to downstream users.

Keith Mountain, Vice President of Marketing, for Spatial, a Dassault Systèmes’ company, adds, “We are pleased to have CD-adapco as a CAA V5 Adopter. Their experience in the CFD arena is a welcome addition to the increasing number of solutions available to the CATIA V5 user community."