Flotherm vs. Fluent
 

Our company is going to invest some money in CFD software for electronic packaging development on card and box level. Two candidates are Flotherm from Flomerics and Fluent from ANSYS. Are there any comparison charts that make selection easier?

Thank you, Boris Levin, ME SolidWorks 2008

Re: Flotherm vs. Fluent
 

I guess you mean Icepak from Fluent (Ansys), you cannot compare the Fluent 3D solver to a specialised programme like flotherm. These special programmes solve the incompressible Navier Stokes equations (air speeds are less than Mach 0.3, so there is no need to solve for the compressibilty effects) so you have to ask your electronics card designer what file format his design software produces and then see which product reads these file format. In the end you will select the product that fits your budget, the one that you feel comfortable working with, but most importantly the one with support engineers that speak your language. Good Luck

Re: Flotherm vs. Fluent
 

Ahmed, Thank you, you are right. I meant Icepack from Fluent vs. Flotherm. I am sure there are people who went tru this selection process and might advice something. Or, may be, some people are familiar with both tools and can help. I just don't want to rely on luck.

Re: Flotherm vs. Icepak vs. Coolit
 

Let me add to your list another player, Coolit http://www.daat.com/Coolitjump.php?P...4baf9ca927b17a Without knowing exactly what type of analysis you are planning to do with this software, it is difficult to give any serious recommendation, the three solve the same set of equations using the same discretization methods, etc.......... You can ask for a trial license and check by yourself what is there or, and if you can, give one of your problems to their support engineers and compare the results obtained. I have used Icepak not only to solve thermal management problems for electronic systems but also to solve other fluid mechanics problems that did not require the compressibilty effects to be included. Selecting a software is a technical decision, luck has nothing to do with it