Frequently Asked Questions

What is CFD?
CFD stands for Computational Fluid Dynamics and is a group of complex mathematical models describing how fluids behave.

How Long Does it Take?
This obviously depends on the problem and scope, but as a general guide

To determine the scope and approach and create the geometry takes between 1 to 4 days for most problems.

To run the simulation depends on how complex the model and can take an hour for simple steady state problems and over a week for a large complex transient simulation.

Based on past experience, for a single item of equipment the whole process start to finish tends to take between 2 and 4 weeks for most projects.

What is involved?
A typical project outline covers the following items.

Decide on the specific objectives
Establish the most appropriate models for the simulation
Determine the required extents of the model
Develop the geometry
Determine the boundary conditions
Run the simulation and validate results
Investigate areas of interest
Develop design ideas based on the knowledge gained
Run additional cases as required

How does it Work?

The outline geometry of the equipment is first defined.
This volume is then split into a series of small volumes or cells.
Each cell will contain the properties of the fluid at that point, such as the pressure, velocity and amount of turbulence
Equations are solved across the whole model, which calculate how the fluid behaves from one cell to the next.