March 16, 2005, Lebanon, NH, USA

Fluent Inc., world leader in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software and services, today announced the winners of its first annual “CFD User of the Year” Awards. The winners represent the best of the many applied CFD studies and papers published by users of Fluent’s industry-standard CFD software over the past year.

As the use of CFD becomes increasingly widespread around the globe, Fluent recognized five specific applications of CFD technology that best exemplify the important role it plays in engineering. The five winners were selected by a panel of CFD experts who reviewed over 100 studies and papers from dozens of countries around the world.

The winners are:

*Most Innovative Use of CFD Technology: Dr. John Hart of SportsPulse at the University of Sheffield in the U.K.

*Most Impact of CFD on Society: Dr. Tamer Hassan and his team of researchers from several Japanese universities and hospitals

*Most Impact of CFD on a Business Process: Dr. Matt Hyre, Associate Professor at Virginia Military Institute, U.S.A.

*Best Use of CFD as a Design Tool: Dr. Lin-Jie Huang, Delphi Inc., U.S.A.

* Best Industrial CFD Study: Dr. Peter Vogel, GTD, Germany

The winners each receive a prize and a plaque for their contributions to the application of CFD to real-world projects.

CFD is a form of digital engineering, and is the fastest growing part of the computer-aided engineering (CAE) sector. The CFD industry was valued at over US$300 million in 2004, and is expected to continue growing at 16 percent annually worldwide through 2008 according to US-based industry analyst firm Daratech.

The burgeoning use of CFD has had a dramatic effect on many industries globally because of its ability to alter product lifecycle management, to produce process efficiency improvements, to allow for more innovative products, and the consequent transformation of our quality of life brought about through these innovations.

“The breadth and scope of commercial CFD usage is now so wide that the judging panel decided to recognize five distinct categories of CFD applications instead of just a single exemplary user,” said selection committee chairperson Dr. Michael Engelman, CEO of Enductive Solutions Inc. and Corporate Vice President of Fluent Inc. “The judges were very impressed by the quality of the short listed papers and the range of CFD applications being carried out around the world. We are looking forward to the bar being raised even higher in future years because of the galvanizing effect we believe these Awards will have on our Industry.” Specific award details follow: Most Innovative use of CFD Technology

The world’s biggest event, the Olympics, was held in Athens in 2004, and the UK’s Dr. John Hart helped contribute to the success of several elite competitors. Dr. Hart instigated a program in which he first scanned complete actual Olympic cyclists and their equipment in 3-D and then carried out detailed parametric CFD studies in order to provide aerodynamic performance predictions for race situations, and to come up with customized drag improvements for each competitor. Each of his CFD simulations was performed within competitive turnaround times of hours and days rather than weeks and months, and these simulations contributed to Britain’s successful Olympic Cycling Team’s haul of Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in the Velodrome. Most Impact on Society CFD Study

The use of advanced technologies in the surgical and medical field is becoming more and more commonplace. The winners of this award, a team of researchers from several Japanese universities and hospitals—the CFD work being led by Dr. Tamer Hassan—demonstrated how CFD analysis can be coupled effectively with MRI scans of particular patients requiring life-threatening intracranial aneurysm surgery. The patient-specific software modeling tool they have devised can be used by neurosurgeons to plan treatment procedures and follow up after neurosurgical and endovascular interventions. Most Impact of CFD on a Business Process

Time is money in all industries, and saving time in production facilities can save large sums of money. This award was won by Dr. Matt Hyre of the V.M.I., USA, for a range of complex CFD simulations he carried out encompassing a complete bottle-making process that had been experiencing end-product defects. His computer modeling work identified the part of the process causing the defects, and Dr. Hyre was able to ensure that changes to the Glass Forming Line were made with minimal downtime. His work prevented weeks of trial-and-error experimental downtime, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs for the company making the bottles. Best Use of CFD as a Design Tool

With all types of industries today embracing digital product simulation techniques to save money, improving product design and lowering product time-to-market is becoming more and more critical. Dr. Lin-Jie Huang of Delphi created a customized CFD front-end design tool that has allowed Delphi to cut large slices of time out of the crucial early stages of their automotive ventilation duct design process. This has saved them prototyping costs and has led to a significant industrial competitive advantage, and almost 1.5 years have been cut from Delphi’s previous four-year design cycle for this component. Best Industrial CFD Study

CFD use today is ubiquitous in all industrial sectors around the world, and Dr. Peter Vogel’s work in Germany exemplifies this. A recognized authority on smoke hazard assessment for large public buildings as well as for heating and ventilation simulations, Dr. Vogel performed a CFD-based smoke hazard study of Munich Airport’s Terminal 2. The research led to recommendations for specific ventilation enhancements in the Terminal Hall. Actual smoke hazard tests were subsequently carried out to confirm the predicted improvements once they were installed.

To read the winning papers, find out more about the authors, the judges and how to submit an entry for the 2005 CFD User of the Year Awards, visit: http://www.fluent.com/events/cfd_user_awards/

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. FLUENT is used extensively in the Motor Racing industry worldwide by the vast majority of race teams. Using Fluent's software, 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, China 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.

For general inquiries contact:

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