[MarcusW]

Hi All,

I would appreciate comments or feedback on the best options for CFD software.

It is for a work application. I design industrial laser welding machines. Removing soot generated by the process is critical and is achieved by flowing gas through the welding chamber. I do not need to accurately model any welding processes, just the macroscopic flow patterns in the ducts/pipes/chamber - so nothing too fancy required, just accurate turbulence, basic heat transfer, maybe porosity for meshes and flow straighteners, etc.

Options:

1. Fluent: I used Fluent for a masters thesis so I am relatively familiar with it. It's approx. US$15,000 per year which is pretty expensive.
2. OpenFOAM: Obviously free, which is good. I've done a few tutorials but it seems like a steep learning curve.
3. SimFlow: I'm considering getting the paid version of SimFlow. It's US$5000 per year introductory rate. Is this any good? How have other users found it?

I have found the lack of forum posts commenting on SimFlow issues a bit of a drawback as I usually resolve problems by reading older posts. Do people usually just comment in the OpenFOAM forum as SimFlow is just a GUI for OpenFOAM?

I will be iterating through lots of geometries as I test designs, so ease of use and speed have to be taken into account.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Marcus