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Is CFD software useful ?
Useful for what ?
I have a long defunct CFD program put out many years ago called Falcon.
It is now called something else, and costs thousands of dollars.
I got the free beta program.
The program was apparently created to be portred to tablets for schools.
It not only has a touch friendly interface, but also silly models included in the test folder, such as a car, an SUV a toy spacehip ( ! ) and a pair of SUNGLASSES ( !! )
This leads me to think it was designed for children.
So what about the program ? Well I find it useful to test the direction of airflow on vehicles without tuft testing them.
Is it accurate ?
Not really, but in some areas surprisingly so, given that I am literally running it on a second generation Surface Pro Tablet with maybe 2 GB ram. ( My phone is around twice as fast )
You can see the flow lines over the car in near real time.
It also gives an accurate view of the pressure on the body of the car.
It even gives a Cd after only 20 -30 minutes.
They provide a roughly built model of a Porche 911, and the Cd it gives is actually accurate.
However, models I import in .obj format or any other such as .3ds don't give accurate Cd results.
So if you are just looking to do a virtual tuft test or see if a modification changes the Cd in a good way, then certainly I think it would be useful.
Many of these CFD programs can run on a normal laptop.
If you do find a good CFD program that is accurate and CHEAP, as well as easy ( visual U.I. ) please share the info on it.
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