3D turbulent calculation

Discoganya

Hi,

I need to perform a 3D turbulence calculation with a complicated irregular geometry. To understand the complexity involved, think of Couette-Taylor flow with a complicated obstruction at some azimuthal position, and boundary conditions on the top and bottom lids. I have 2 years of CFD experience with Spectral methods, but don't have too much knowledge of turbulence modeling by finite volume/elements.

What would you recommend?
1. Should I start from scratch and develop my own solver? I am well versed with F90 programming, and have access to fast Linux Machines.
2. Should I procure something like FEMLAB (<a href=http://www.femlab.com/>link here</a>) which will make the exact flow modeling easier,
3. Or should I think of procuring a packaged solver like FLUENT, which will reduce the time I spend on it drastically. If not a commercial package, does anyone know of a realiable finite element or finite volume solver that is freely available?


I have about 6 months to execute the project. The main constraint is time. An ANSYS model (in IGES format) of the flow domain is ready; boundary conditions are to be specified.