I am posting this message to get some advice on how to select a CFD package or what package might fit our needs the best. I was looking at the packages offered by CFdesign, ANSYS, and CD-Adapco. We currently use SolidEdge for our 3D CAD package and there are only a few users and I would become the "expert" in CFD, so I am looking for a cost effective and relatively easy to use package. We manufacture respiratory medical devices, so we basically deal with air flow through our devices trying to optimize the flow with openings and moving devices. Any feedback on this issue would be great. Thanks.

Does SolidEdge have anything to do with your CFD package?

No, that is our CAD system we use. Some CFD packages integrate better with certain CAD packages.

The standard advice normally given in these pages is to ask the candidate suppliers "show me", i.e. give them one of your CAD models and ask them to do a sample flow solution for you. Then make up your mind based on what you think of their results, support and ease of use. Might also be worth finding out what others in your field are using.

What I would do is testing software using test licences. Mostly meshing is most challanging. I do not know how complex your geometries are....

It could be worth thinking about seperate tools for meshing and postprocessing and using an open source solver (openfoam, see below) for your purposes. This is cheaper than an integrated package like FLUENT or STAR.

Regards

Mmmm. This is of course exactly what the discussion below is all about. Unless Ron regards himself as very knowledgeable in CFD (in which case I think he would know not to ask for code selection advice on this forum!), he would be well advised to steer clear of open source for now. OpenFOAM in particular is not for the inexperienced, or, in this case, for somebody who is probably not going to be doing full-time CFD. What you really need when starting off with using CFD in design for the first time, is a code vendor who is prepared to work with you quite closely initially. If you don't have this, you can easily be in for a frustrating year or so before you start making real design progress. This is business gentlemen, not academic research. "Time is money" might be a really old saying, but there is a reason why old sayings exist.

Back to Ron's original question.... the question you may well need to answer first is whether you want a CFD package aimed at design engineers (which typically integrates quite nicely with the cad, but may take some liberties with the actual modelling) or one with a higher fidelity of CFD modelling, but perhaps more difficult to integrate into your design process.

Even though i am a big time OpenFOAM supporter but i agree with charles. He would also need Linux to run OpenFOAM properly. As a result things are gone get complicated. I would say look into Cosmosflow which is cheaper than Fluent & CFX and could well meet your requirements. Its also easier to use than CFX and Fluent.

Ahmed

Hi Ron,

Just responding to your initial post, I would suggest you do look into CFdesign. For airflow and moving devices it should suit you very well. By the sounds of what you are looking to analyse ought to be very simple to set up and run within that package. Hope that's some help to you

Please do not use CFDesign. It only has a 1st order upwind scheme. Results will be very .... hmmm, ..... how should I say, unreliable.

Go for a high end package, especially if you are going to use moving parts. If you need dynamic meshing, used fluent of star cd. Otherwise CFX would be a good choice as well.

Good luck, Gert-Jan

www.bunova.nl