Flow Science, Inc. announces the availability of a new upgrade release of its FLOW-3D® computational fluid dynamics software. Version 8.1 features multi-processor capability, new models and improvements to existing models, new file compression options, continued advances in the FLOW-VU visualization tool, and a general speed-up in tested calculation speeds.

This release makes available to interested users a version of FLOW-3D® that will run on shared memory, multiple processor computers. The implementation is based on OpenMP technology and is available on Windows NT, 2000 and XP, HP-UX, Compaq DEC Alpha and SGI platforms.

Other notable aspects of Version 8.1 are:

· Increase in calculation efficiency. The solver calculation efficiency has been increased by improving the structure of FLOW-3D®. As a result, CPU times are reduced by as much as 20%, depending on the computer platform and the type of problem. The largest speedup was achieved on the DEC Alpha and HP platforms for a range of flow and heat transfer problems.

· Unsaturated flow in porous media. Each porous obstacle can now have its own set of unsaturated porous medium properties. This enhancement to the unsaturated porous media flow allows users to have multiple porous objects with different saturation properties.

· Turbulent wall boundary conditions. The logarithmic law-of-the-wall turbulent boundary conditions, have been fully implemented in both momentum and turbulent transport equations. This enhancement improves the accuracy of the turbulence models in the code. There is no special input required to invoke the new turbulent wall shear model.

· Wall roughness in turbulent and laminar flows. Wall roughness has been incorporated into no-slip, laminar and turbulent, wall boundary conditions in a more accurate and consistent fashion. The roughness can now be defined as the actual physical size of the pits and bumps on the wall surface, eliminating the need for calibration studies.

· Two-fluid phase change. A two-fluid phase change model has been added. The new model is designed to model mass and heat exchange between a compressible gas (vapor) and an incompressible fluid (condensed vapor) when significant spatial variations of pressure and temperature are expected in the vapor.

· Temperature-dependent cavitation/boiling model. The existing cavitation model has been extended to include thermal effects in both fluid and vapor. The model works in conjunction with the homogeneous bubble and phase change models. The new model will enable the formation of vapor bubbles in the fluid by applying heat, which is a common technique for creating pressure pulses in inkjet nozzles. Another typical application of the model is the boiling of liquids.

· Wall adhesion. The surface tension and wall adhesion models have been enhanced to better handle flow near curved and sloped walls. This reduces the dependence of the flow solution on the orientation of the walls and generally improves the accuracy of the surface tension model.

· Residence time. A new model has been added to record the residence time for the fluid. The model works by recording the time a specific volume of fluid has spent within the computational domain from the beginning of the calculation, or from the time of entry through an inlet boundary or at a mass source. This addition should be useful in a wide range of applications, from casting, to pollution control, to civil engineering flow problems.

· File compression. Progress has been made to meet the long-standing user demands to reduce the size of the main solver output file. Three options are now available for the output file format.

· FLOW-VU. FLOW-3D®?s OpenGL-based visualization tool, FLOW-VU, has been improved significantly. The major new features include multiple display windows, the ability to display meshes and the ability to probe and transform (translate, rotate and scale) objects.

Flow Science has commenced shipment of the new release to customers under maintenance contracts.

Flow Science, Inc. is a privately held software company specializing in high fidelity fluid dynamics modeling software for industrial and scientific applications worldwide. Flow Science has Associates for FLOW-3D® sales and support in Japan, Germany, Korea, Finland, Norway, Russia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy.

For information, contact Flow Science, Inc. at

683 Harkle Road, Suite A Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA Telephone: (505) 982-0088 Fax: (505) 982-5551 E-mail: cfd@flow3d.com Website: www.flow3d.com.