Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
So, I was ready some of the the links that someone on the Aptera forum posted, and all of these look like they would require some major work, and programming in Linux is not my strong point. (Also, my best Linux machine had some shorts and is no longer with us...and my remaining Linux machine is about 6 or 7 years old Athlon XP with 768MB of RAM.)
So, if I get a model (I hope that I might in a week or two), can anybody point the way to getting it tested in a system that has a 3D CFD already up and running?
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I've tried my hand at two different types of CFD.
There are a few simple CFD programs out there, like SolidWorks FloWorks Express, whose only output is visual. But FloWorks Express only displays a small number of streamlines, or pressure gradients that were probably generated at very low resolution, and displayed with lots of interpolation. FloWorks Express takes about a minute of CPU time (instead of many hours) to run its solver. How detailed of a model could that possibly be?
There are other, much simpler CFD and flow illustrator programs, some of which even run in a web browser.
The other kind of program I've tried is the proper CFD suite, like OpenFOAM or Ansys ICEM. Many of the solvers they use have been scientifically validated, i.e. the results of real wind tunnel tests were compared against the ouput of the solver, and the amount of accuracy was established.
OpenFOAM is very difficult to get into. You do need some programming and some engineering background. I've given up on it.
ICEM is relatively easy, but it's far from user-friendly. However, I could not for the life of me get the mesher to generate a valid mesh, so I never got the simulation to run. But if you can get me a mesh, I'll run it through the solver.
Someone on Eng-Tips.com recommended ANSYS Fluent, saying it comes with tutorials that'll have you running basic simulations in half an hour. Maybe I'll check if my alma mater has Fluent, and if I can get access to the right computer lab.
Good luck with CFD, and let us know what you come up with.