Why CFD Is Important for Modeling

Computational fluid dynamics, CFD, is an integral part in a constantly growing number of development processes, and is a well established field within many different engineering disciplines; mechanical, chemical, civil, aeronautical, and also in more specialized areas such as biomedical engineering.

Often the flow itself is not the main focus in a simulation. Instead it is how the flow affects other process and application parameters that is important. The transport of species through the different parts of a chemical reactor, the effective cooling of a computer’s hard drive and electronics, the dispersion of energy within the damping film of an accelerometer, the extent of nuclear waste spreading from a subterranean repository — all of these are applications for which the flow must be fully understood and is an integral part of the process’s description and simulation.

In many situations, while the flow can add necessary operational parameters to a process or application, it is also affected by them. For example, a chemical reactor creates a pressure which disturbs the flow, the electronic heat affects the fluid’s density and flow properties, the accelerometer elasticity imposes an oscillation on the flow, while the subterranean environment’s poroelasticity changes the course of the flow.

A description combining several physics fields is often required to produce accurate models of real world applications involving fluid flow. Being able to effectively simulate such models increases the understanding of the studied processes and applications, which in turn leads to optimization of the flow and other parameters.

Historically, a sophisticated modeling tool was a privilege that only large companies could afford, for which the savings made in bulk production justified the computer software costs and need for CFD specialists. Today’s engineers are educated in the use of software modeling tools, and are often expected to create realistic models of advanced systems on their personal computers. This is where COMSOL Multiphysics can improve your modeling capabilities.