Which CFD software is better for my problem?

davidedav · May 6, 2009, 08:23

Hi everybody!

I'm attending the 3rd year of Chemical Engineering, and to get my degree, I have to take a 3 months-work that deals with Engineering. An engineering society (oil&gas) offers me a piece of work based on a simulation of a simple bi-phase separator (either oil/water, or gas/liquid).

I'm totally new to this kind of problems (CFD), but this fascinates me a lot.
I need to learn correctly how to use a software that solve this problem, and probably they will give me help in doing this.

But, we need to decide which software is better for doing this simulation, which is the best in correct results, user-friendly interface (for a beginner as me!), and what are the "pros and cons" of that software.

We have to choose between COMSOL, STAR-CD and maybe FLUENT (which is the most used in my university...).

Does anybody know to help me in doing the right choice?

Thank you everybody,

Davide.

deltaquattro · May 7, 2009, 10:45

Hi Davide,

I'm happy to know that another guy from my country is entering the field of Oil & Gas CFD.

As a general advice, it's more important to have a good tutor when learning CFD than to have the "best" (?) software. So go for the most common software at university, in case your professor is going to support you for the CFD part of you project, or for the one most used at the company, in case engineers from the company are going to guide you.

In case you have to work on your own (and I seriously hope that's not the case), I found FLUENT (now ANSYS) to be quite easy to use, robust and as accurate as some university codes (at least those in some Italian universities

, using the higher order schemes. I used COMSOL some years ago: at that time, it was a much more general package (multiphysics, not just fluid dynamics), but, on the same machine, it would slower, occupy more memory, and it had less options for turbulence modeling compa from electromagnetism to porous media flow), but it is slower, occupies more memory and has less options for turbulence modeling, at least. I've never used STAR-CD, so I can't say anything.

Just out of curiosity, can you tell me (in private) where are you going to work, and in which university are you going to take your 1st level Laurea? Maybe we have some common acquaintance

Regards,

deltaquattro

May 6, 2009, 08:23	Which CFD software is better for my problem?	#1
davidedav New Member Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	Hi everybody! I'm attending the 3rd year of Chemical Engineering, and to get my degree, I have to take a 3 months-work that deals with Engineering. An engineering society (oil&gas) offers me a piece of work based on a simulation of a simple bi-phase separator (either oil/water, or gas/liquid). I'm totally new to this kind of problems (CFD), but this fascinates me a lot. I need to learn correctly how to use a software that solve this problem, and probably they will give me help in doing this. But, we need to decide which software is better for doing this simulation, which is the best in correct results, user-friendly interface (for a beginner as me!), and what are the "pros and cons" of that software. We have to choose between COMSOL, STAR-CD and maybe FLUENT (which is the most used in my university...). Does anybody know to help me in doing the right choice? Thank you everybody, Davide.

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May 7, 2009, 10:45		#2
deltaquattro New Member Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 10 Rep Power: 17	Hi Davide, I'm happy to know that another guy from my country is entering the field of Oil & Gas CFD. As a general advice, it's more important to have a good tutor when learning CFD than to have the "best" (?) software. So go for the most common software at university, in case your professor is going to support you for the CFD part of you project, or for the one most used at the company, in case engineers from the company are going to guide you. In case you have to work on your own (and I seriously hope that's not the case), I found FLUENT (now ANSYS) to be quite easy to use, robust and as accurate as some university codes (at least those in some Italian universities , using the higher order schemes. I used COMSOL some years ago: at that time, it was a much more general package (multiphysics, not just fluid dynamics), but, on the same machine, it would slower, occupy more memory, and it had less options for turbulence modeling compa from electromagnetism to porous media flow), but it is slower, occupies more memory and has less options for turbulence modeling, at least. I've never used STAR-CD, so I can't say anything. Just out of curiosity, can you tell me (in private) where are you going to work, and in which university are you going to take your 1st level Laurea? Maybe we have some common acquaintance Regards, deltaquattro