CFD software shortlist

grolschey · July 22, 2013, 05:41

Hi, I am due to start evaluating commercial CFD packages soon, and have a list, I need to select just a few to trial. I have a reference case which is to determine current forces on a ships hull in all directions (360deg in 15deg steps). I have no previous experience with CFD but have been researching for about a month now. Out of the list below what packages would I have the most chance of successfully simulating my reference case based on my limited experience and web/support resources available.

ADINA - ADINA CFD
ALTAIR – AcuSolve
ANSYS – Fluent/CFX
CD-ADAPCO - STAR-CCM+
COMPASSIS – SeaFEM/Tdyne
COMSOL - CFD Module
FLOW SCIENCE – Flow3D
LEMMA – ANANAS
NUMECA - FINE™/Marine
SIMERICS INC. – Simerics
SOLIDWORKS - Flow Simulation
SYMSCAPE – Caedium

Thanks in advanced

plucas · July 22, 2013, 12:07

I would stay away from Solidworks flow simulation personally.

Otherwise on that list, I only have experience with Fluent (I am an OpenFOAM) user. ANSYS always worked well for me and plenty of help on here for different problems.

macfly · July 31, 2013, 23:46

I know Fluent and Comsol.

Fluent is not user-friendly when you want to tweak stuff, it's a steep learning curve with UDFs and the scheme language. It has a very good mesher in the Ansys Suite (Icem CFD). It also has a strong reputation in fluids. And you can find a lot of help around here.

My experience with Comsol is that it's slow for fluid simulations. But it's so user-friendly, tweaking the program and the equations is fast and easy, just intuitive (whereas it will take days in Fluent...). And Comsol coupled with Matlab => sky is the limit, you just do what you want (2-way couplings, first-class post-processing, loops, etc.). I read that the newer versions can be parallelized on clusters so that the slowness may not be a problem. The mesher is rather basic, but does the job for most problems.

July 22, 2013, 05:41	CFD software shortlist	#1
grolschey New Member Andrew Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Hi, I am due to start evaluating commercial CFD packages soon, and have a list, I need to select just a few to trial. I have a reference case which is to determine current forces on a ships hull in all directions (360deg in 15deg steps). I have no previous experience with CFD but have been researching for about a month now. Out of the list below what packages would I have the most chance of successfully simulating my reference case based on my limited experience and web/support resources available. ADINA - ADINA CFD ALTAIR – AcuSolve ANSYS – Fluent/CFX CD-ADAPCO - STAR-CCM+ COMPASSIS – SeaFEM/Tdyne COMSOL - CFD Module FLOW SCIENCE – Flow3D LEMMA – ANANAS NUMECA - FINE™/Marine SIMERICS INC. – Simerics SOLIDWORKS - Flow Simulation SYMSCAPE – Caedium Thanks in advanced

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July 22, 2013, 12:07		#2
plucas Senior Member Anonymous Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: USA Posts: 108 Rep Power: 14	I would stay away from Solidworks flow simulation personally. Otherwise on that list, I only have experience with Fluent (I am an OpenFOAM) user. ANSYS always worked well for me and plenty of help on here for different problems.

July 31, 2013, 23:46		#3
macfly Senior Member François Grégoire Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Canada Posts: 392 Rep Power: 17	I know Fluent and Comsol. Fluent is not user-friendly when you want to tweak stuff, it's a steep learning curve with UDFs and the scheme language. It has a very good mesher in the Ansys Suite (Icem CFD). It also has a strong reputation in fluids. And you can find a lot of help around here. My experience with Comsol is that it's slow for fluid simulations. But it's so user-friendly, tweaking the program and the equations is fast and easy, just intuitive (whereas it will take days in Fluent...). And Comsol coupled with Matlab => sky is the limit, you just do what you want (2-way couplings, first-class post-processing, loops, etc.). I read that the newer versions can be parallelized on clusters so that the slowness may not be a problem. The mesher is rather basic, but does the job for most problems.