NAFEMS Front-loading CFD in the Design Process Seminar is taking place on 26th November in Coventry.

Terms like UpFront CFD, Engineering Fluid Dynamics and Simulation Driven Product Development have become associated with the areas of rapid growth in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) implementation in recent years. All these phrases have behind them the concept that if you can use CFD tools early on in the engineering design process you stand to gain the most benefit because this is where the biggest changes in the design are practical. The more traditional approach of using CFD as a troubleshooting tool late in the design process, or even after the device has gone into production, means that any changes suggested by the simulation are far more expensive to implement, so the effort involved with the CFD simulation may turn out to be worthless. Simulation early in the Design Cycle can also save on the time and costs involved with multiple prototypes.

To encourage this up-front approach to simulation many of the software vendors have concentrated on improving the ease of use of their tools and started targeting them at multi-tasking design and development engineers. This is achieved by either integrating closely with the CAD tools, commonly used by these engineers, or by providing application specific graphical user interfaces (GUI’s). Of course, in some larger organisations, the same can be achieved by calling in existing CFD expertise at the design stage and allowing these engineers to influence the design process, but in small and medium (SME) companies these experts often do not exist.

The idea of giving CFD tools to design engineers has been likened by some to “giving guns to children”. Due to the complex non-linear nature of the physics and mathematics involved there is some basis to this argument but many companies have invested in such technology and are reaping the benefits. This seminar is intending to address this issue and answer some of the relevant questions. How have companies successfully implemented design based CFD? How have they avoided falling into the pitfalls associated with the complex physics involved? Have the CFD vendors provided the tools necessary to give reliable answers? What skill sets and training are needed to Front Load CFD in the design process?

For further information and to register please visit http://www.nafems.org/events/nafems/2008/upfrontcfd/.