[OliverSedlacek]

Apologies in advance if this is the wrong place but my search hasn't thrown up better guidance.
I want to get started with some automotive aero experimentation and I've been looking for academic courses without success. If I'm going to have to learn by myself, where do I even start? I don't want to just try installing one CFD package after another unless I can get a heads up that it will be suitable for me.

[sbaffini]

Originally Posted by OliverSedlacek

Apologies in advance if this is the wrong place but my search hasn't thrown up better guidance.
I want to get started with some automotive aero experimentation and I've been looking for academic courses without success. If I'm going to have to learn by myself, where do I even start? I don't want to just try installing one CFD package after another unless I can get a heads up that it will be suitable for me.

If picking up a CFD code/suite is your need, as of today, your two best options are either Fluent/Ansys, which has a free student edition only limited in problem size or OpenFOAM which is open source.

Both are among the most used softwares in most industries and you will gain the most by using one or possibly both of them. Obviously, Ansys is a full commercial product with GUIs etc., while OpenFOAM is a suite of terminal only independent applications whose input files must be edited manually (but there are GUIs around as well, altough not officials).

As for a CFD course, let me be clear. If you are looking for an online one, even the best ones are, in my opinion, copy paste of non original material proposed by non expert. And there is a very clear reason for this, every expert knows that such a form of course is useless.

I'm sure other younger users or customers of such courses will be able to give some advice here, and you can still later read few books to cover up. But my very point is that you learn with time and effort, every other solution that doesn't imply them is a scam.

[OliverSedlacek]

Thanks for that. I'd much rather find a 'proper' paid for course but it's proving difficult. Cranfield listed one that looked ideal pre-Covid but they show no signes of resurrecting it.

[andy_]

If you are disciplined about learning (i.e. can actively self teach in the manner of a PhD student rather than passively absorb in the manner of an undergraduate) then there is plenty of good CFD material out there. Unfortunately there is also vast amounts of scraped low grade drivel as mentioned by Paolo but that is the modern world we must learn to navigate.

Course notes from a reliable institution (e.g. MIT, VKI, IC,...), supporting text book (possibly more than one but understanding a good one from cover to cover should be the main objective), a bit of reading round when stuck, a few simulations to help fix things but this should be secondary until what is going on makes sense.

The CFD learning material I am familiar with is from decades ago before there were CFD text books around (apart from Roache). Still valid obviously but a good current CFD text book is almost certainly a better option today.

[FMDenaro]

The previous suggestions are correct, academic courses rather then online courses must be preferred. On the other hand, the presence in classroom helps to share ideas with other students.


Let me be clear with a warning: CFD is not a stand-alone discipline!
A strobng background in fluid mechanics is required, thus also a good math skill. A previous numerical analysis background is also useful.

[CFDfan]

A practical approach is to start with the guy below and then decide what is missing and what to do:

https://cfdisraelblog.wordpress.com/...ry-newsletter/

and especially this one:

https://cfdisraelblog.wordpress.com/...racticing-cfd/