Simplest questions ever
 

First time user of any kind of CFD program here. I'm knowledgable in fluid dynamics, but never used programs such as these. I've spent the past couple of hours trying to research them and have become thoroughly overwhelmed. Consequently, I have decided to just post my questions here and hope someone can cut to the chase with me. Short "yes" or "no" answers will suffice unless more detail is necessary.

I want to model air flow through what basically amounts to a pipe with several bends and changes of diameter. This is for upper atmospheric studies on a B-52 jet so the air will be low density and approaching mach 0.7.

1.) Flow 3D is easiest for me to get my hands on. Is it good for internal flow such as this?

2.) With regards to boundary conditions: can I specify velocity, pressure, and density at the inlet and only pressure at the outlet? If so, is the specified pressure static or total?

3.) Can it calculate pressure, velocity, and density as a function of distance along the pipe?

4.) Is the 3D model of the pipe built in Flow 3D or in some other software (such as solid works or Pro-E) and loaded into Flow 3D?

Thanks in advance for any and all help! It will be most appreciated.

Take a few days and attend at training session at Flow Science. You'll get your answers and some context to evaluate them for yourself.

Santa Fe is a great place to go to school!

Check at www.flow-3d.com

(BTW, I'm not an employee and haven't used flow-3d in at least 20 years).

Hi Kizy
fast respond to your questions as below

1. Flow-3D can handle internal flow/confine flow (but not sure if any issue with mach 0.7) but if you have major change in the geometry dimension then you might end up to use a lot of mesh block that will slow down the simulation speed.

2. yes, both static pressure and total.

3. yes but you need to do some custom plot on it

4. you can build with Flow-3D if it is simple geometry. Any CAD software that export STL file format work well with Flow-3D

hope this help.