Consultant needed to optimize an oblique diffuser.

Paul

Hello I am looking for recommendations on consultants who can optimize an oblique air inlet duct for a radiator installation. A brief description of the problem is listed below. Forgive me for having to be somewhat anonymous but interested parties can send me an email at aeroforward@bigfoot.com to get further details.

The problem: Develop modified inlet duct geometry to provide maximum pressure recovery and even pressure distribution over the face of the radiator. The duct is approximately 30" long with an inlet to outlet area ratio of about 25%. Geometry constraints make for an oblique radiator entrance. The inlet air velocity is about 160 ft/s. Current status: A prototype duct was designed as a "streamline" diffuser, but space limitations compromised the duct geometry with the end result being something closer to an oblique header. Test results show a significant pressure loss over 1/3 of the radiator's face. Testing of duct modifications indicate that significant improvements can be achieved through optimizing the duct geometry. All geometry is molded in pro/engineer and can be exported to a wide variety of formats.

Contract: Contract bids should be on a fixed-price or not to exceed price basis. We will test the final duct geometry to validate successful competition of the contract. Work on a second duct design is also a possibility.

With so much consulting work being done by CFD software vendors, I will also note that we are interested in codes that do well at calculating external aerodynamic drag and work efficiently with pro/engineer. This could be an opportunity for us to become familiar with your product so a software purchase option to the contract is invited.

Thanks in advance.