Hardware for CFD
 

Dear Sirs, I am an architect concerned with energy efficient building, and I am beginning studying CFD. I intend to use it for investigation on natural ventilation systems. I would like to know what would be the minimum hardware required to start with CFD, and what would be a mid-suitable to enable some further research. Please any suggestions are welcome. Thank you,

Santiago L. Torres tiago@sminter.com.ar

Re: Hardware for CFD
 

Hello,

The hardware really depends on the size of the model you wish to generate. A basic guide is the following;

Meshing / Grid Generation - 64 Megs of RAM per million cells (based on ICEM CFD HEXA/TETRA)

Solving - 1 Gig of RAM per million cells

Storage - as much hard disk space as you can afford (most CFD users on this list will know of storage problems!)

The type of machine really depends on your budget, I always use Silicon Graphics but HPs and SUNS may be worth looking at.

regards

Dave Minns

Re: Hardware for CFD
 

Hello,

I agree completely with Dave, just want to add cpu speed is a direct function of your patience and problem size, i.e. get the fastest you can afford. We run SGI's as well and their prices are dropping...

Good luck, Erich

Re: Hardware for CFD
 

200,000 cells are definitely enough for my object, so I wonder if I can run CFD in a PC with an acceptable speed, if so, what is the requirement for harddrive, RAM for best performance? Thanks for you experts.

Re: Hardware for CFD
 

I hope this information may help:

it is possible to reach the solution of 12 dependent variables using total 200 000 control volumes for a complete modeling of a furnace with Pentium Pro processor,256 Mb RAM, 2 CPU on Windows NT and run 3 differentcase at the same time.

N. Kayakol

Re: Hardware for CFD
 

My advice is to research the available software packages that would be able to generate solutions to your satisfaction and then purchase the hardware required. I you are lucky, you may find a package that can run on your PC with little or no upgrading. I believe FLOVENT from Flomerics is specifically tailored for ventilation simulations in buildings. I suggest that you start by talking with an engineer there to see if they can meet your needs.

Re: Hardware for CFD
 

Thank you for your answers. They've been great help!

S. L. Torres

Re: Hardware for CFD
 

For a 2-D RANS using the Spalart-Allaras(sp?)turb model with 20,000 grid points, a PC with 450Mhz cpu, take about 15mins for 3000 iterations.