My name is Carlos E. Colosqui I´ve a degree in aeronautical engineering and I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I´m interested on which are the most economic and ductile CFD packages we can purchase to eventually work this way:

Grid generator -Import DXF, ASCII and 3DS files among other data

formats. Solver code -Deal with general purpose 3D fluid problems (wingtip vortices, drag of blunt bodies, transition of boundary layer,flow in ducts, etc...), especially at subsonic conditions an covering a wide range of Reynold numbers. Post-processor -Display diverse visual results.

The hardware will consist of a dual pentium PC and the codes preferentially run under Windows NT.

If you know which codes meet this requirements please inform me their prices and how to contact the people who provide them.

Thank you all in advance,

Carlos E. Colosqui

I don't think such codes exist at all. This is because CFD field is still a rather specialized field even though more and more engineers have started using CFD tools ( in-house or commercial codes). The problems you mentioned are almost at the PhD level. At that level, most researchers write their own codes so that they can check out mesh generation, solution algorithms, turbulence modeling, etc. Normally, these research codes do not have complete user interface such as pre- and post-processors. At the commercial code level, the existence of the developer depends on the market size and their consulting service to survive. So, I think there is no economic way to solve PhD level problems. And even if you can get the best commercial code and support, there is no guarantee that the transition of boundary layer problem can be easily solved. If you are interested in learning what CFD can do in solving fluid dynamic problems, then any commercial code is a good starting point.