is there any money in CFD?

John C. Chien

(1). I think you are right. And a school can not survive by creating a CFD department. As a matter of factor, there are very few aerospace or aeronautical engineering Departments. (2). At the MS level, one normally receive only the basic training in advanced calculus, partial differential equations, fluid dynamics and boundary layer theory, heat transfer (conduction, convection and radiation), and thermodynamics and statistical thermodynamics. And these are rather basic stuff. You can use these to solve a real problem directly. (3). At the PhD level, you will get additional training especially in reading the technical papers. At this level, you will have the needed background to read and follow the material presented in the paper, which is the first step to learn how to eventually solve your problem in your research project. (4). In the "IT" field, there is no need to have any advanced degrees in order to provide good services. This is the other extreme of CFD. In CFD, the current commercial trend is to create a commercial code. On the other hand, in "IT", the trend has been to create a language, so that people can use it. This create more applications of the new language and more jobs as well. The increased activities promote the health of the "IT" field. (5). So, it seems to me that the commercial cfd code development is following the old mainframe computer approach, where the goal is to create a better code or a better computer. That approach to the computer hardware and related software industries are gone. And This is the same reason why MS is having problems with the courts. (6). So, a healthy industry is one which provide common technical platform to many people, and not to implement a common solution approach. There is no such thing as "which is the best C++". (7). If you say that you have ten years of experience with a IBM mainframe computer, then I think, your job is probably not very secure. On the other hand, if you say that you have five years of experience in C++, you can probably find many high pay jobs today. (8). CFD problems are always specialized problems. If people are still trying to solve a simple flow over airfoil, then it is clear that one can not generalize the solution of it to other flow problems. (9). Most commercial cfd vendors have at one time worked for large companies in the past. Since that home base has long gone since late 80's, they are trying to stay alive in a different form. That's not their fault. It is because of the changing time. It is not possible to follow their footsteps, by repeating the history. (10). So, I like the idea of the "flea market" for the cfd forum. You simply do not ask the owner about the product he is selling ( a black box). If you like the code, just pay the cash and you have it.(no warranty provided, and the price is not fixed either. it is cheaper if you are a student.) (11). Once you have this overall picture, and still have the time left over, then come here and relax.