[mervinrasquinha]

I'm new to CFD. I got a bachelors in Chemical Engineering a few years ago so I studied Fluid Dynamics, Navier Stokes, etc. - although my gpa was a little low due to hard times in college. I am taking an Introduction to CFD course at a nearby university while working fulltime. I am trying to read MacCormack's Numerical Computation of Compressible and Viscous Flow book as well. However, I'm still very confused and feel like I retain less than half of what I read. What do you recommend for an absolute beginner? Does someone pursuing a career in CFD need a masters? If so, a masters in what? I need someone to give me some guidance. Thank you!

[R.M]

If you are interesting in pursuing master program then I will recommend computational fluid dynamics master program or aerospace engineering.

as a CFD beginner, I also recommend you to read computationa fluid dynamics book for John D. Anderson. You must read this book if you want to understand CFD. Also try to install FLUENT program student version from ANSYS website and try to fellow the instructions and tutorials.

[cwl]

What do you recommend for an absolute beginner?

Read. Think. Read. It's science agter all.
Try writing simple CFD/thermal codes - just to see how it works from the inside.

Also - I'd recommend "An Introduction to Computational Fluid Dynamics: The Finite Volume Method" by H. Versteeg

[KasperWayne]

I also stronly recommend "An introduction to Computational Fluid Dynamics: THe finite volume method". If you want a good feeling with what you're doing, I'd recommend using OpenFOAM (Also, it's opensource, so you don't have to be enrolled at a university). It might take longer to learn, but you get a good feeling with your choices and what you're doing.

[andy_]

Originally Posted by mervinrasquinha

I'm new to CFD. I got a bachelors in Chemical Engineering a few years ago so I studied Fluid Dynamics, Navier Stokes, etc. - although my gpa was a little low due to hard times in college. I am taking an Introduction to CFD course at a nearby university while working fulltime. I am trying to read MacCormack's Numerical Computation of Compressible and Viscous Flow book as well. However, I'm still very confused and feel like I retain less than half of what I read. What do you recommend for an absolute beginner? Does someone pursuing a career in CFD need a masters? If so, a masters in what? I need someone to give me some guidance. Thank you!

A career in CFD? CFD is a tool like a hammer. A career in hammers is an extremely specialised career. Since you do not intend to follow a highly academic career which would normally be needed to develop and implement improvements to the CFD tool you are presumably looking to become a user of CFD? In which case a career would normally be defined by the area of engineering/science in which CFD is heavily used.

For example, a career in compressor/turbine/wing research and development would normally require extensive understanding of the relevant physics and the relevant CFD tools (e.g. look at the SU2 tutorials and use those to guide your theoretical and practical understanding).

Even if you want a career as a CFD consultant you will be working for/with engineers from a specialised application area. You are almost certainly going to be required to demonstrate knowledge and experience in their area if you want to be employed. Which brings us back to what area/s of specialised engineering/scientific knowledge that use CFD do you want to target?