Mechanical Analysis Blog

I grew up in Southern California where the threat of the big one is always there – by the big one I mean the big San Andreas fault earthquake which according to experts the world over is overdue by many decades. Over the weekend San Francisco got a couple of tremblers … nothing too scary but enough to remind all Californians that the big one is lurking out there. Alas so far science has … Read More

myths of CFD, Concurrent CFD

For the past few months I’ve been working behind the scenes on a very exciting project. I’ve been working with the good folks at the Aberdeen Group, a leading Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) industry consulting and research organization, to better understand the ROI of using simulation -- specifically CFD. Of course as a leading developer of CFD software we inherently understand the value of simulation … Read More

CFD, ROI, Concurrent CFD

There aren’t that many things in our daily lives that are measured in tenths or even hundredths of a second but athletes are constantly battling time. Sometimes a race is won with such a large margin that seconds just don’t matter (did anyone see the last few legs of the Tour de France?).  And sometimes, every nanosecond counts. If you watched the snow sports in the 2010 Winter Olympics then you’d know … Read More

Concurrent CFD, FloEFD, CFD

So, after three blog posts, what is the moral of this Blue Ridge Numerics’ “CFD Comparison Chart” saga? Well, clearly one should not believe every “CFD Comparison Chart”! – or even the many “charts” that one vendor has put out. Rather, the story suggests that people who are thinking of buying a CFD tool for the first time might be well advised to be wary of what vendors claim about their own software … Read More

Ed Williams, Concurrent CFD, FloEFD, Blue Ridge Numerics, Caveat Emptor, 5-Star Support, Global Environment Fund Management Corporation, Choosing a CFD Code, Jim Spann, Computational Fluid Dynamics, CFD Comparison Chart, Upfront CFD, CFdesign

In my earlier posts I pointed out some glaring errors in the “CFD Comparison Chart” that Blue Ridge Numerics released on March 19th this year. Once we became aware of the “Chart” we quickly wrote a letter to Ed Williams, the CEO of Blue Ridge Numerics, and asked that they reveal the technical workings behind their outrageous claims. Including those I’ve mentioned, we pointed out a total of 6 very obvious … Read More

Jim Spann, Global Environment Fund Management Corporation, Upfront CFD, CFD Comparison Chart, CFdesign, Blue Ridge Numerics, Ed Williams, FloEFD, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Concurrent CFD

In my last post I pointed out a very obvious mistake in Blue Ridge Numerics’ “CFD Comparison Chart” of March 19th this year, which incorrectly stated that FloEFD can only handle incompressible sub-sonic flows. The reason I highlighted this as the most obvious mistake in the “CFD Comparison Chart” is that FloEFD can trace its history back to the Russian Aerospace Industry in the late 1980s originating … Read More

FloEFD, Fan Characterization, Global Environment Fund Management Corporation, CFD Comparison Chart, Turbomachinery, Upfront CFD, CFdesign, Blue Ridge Numerics, Jim Spann, Ed Williams, Pump Efficiency, Electronics Cooling, Rotating Reference Frame, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Solar Heating, Concurrent CFD

Rarely do I get a feeling of déjà vu in my professional life, but in March of this year something I was shown gave me a flashback to the 1980s. Some people will remember those halcyon days of two decades ago when commercial CFD was still in its infancy. Way back then the big commercial CFD vendors (Fluent, CHAM, Fidap, Flomerics, STAR-CD, and AEA) would regularly bring out CFD Comparison Charts comparing … Read More

Ed Williams, Desktop Engineering, FloEFD, Upfront CFD, Blue Ridge Numerics, Shock Capture, CFD Comparison Chart, SolidWorks, Supersonic, ANSYS, Transonic, Fluent, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Global Environment Fund Management Corporation, Concurrent CFD, Hypersonic, CFdesign, Jim Spann, CFX

If you’re involved in CFD in education in any way this will be of interest to you. Since shortly after Flomerics were acquired by Mentor Graphics we’ve been working towards getting out products into Mentor’s Higher Education Program (HEP), and we’ve finally got it done. To my knowledge, the availability of potentially millions of dollars worth of commercial CFD software, plus support and training, … Read More

Mentor HEP, Higher Education, Thermal Design, Concurrent CFD, Education, CFD, Thermal Management, FloVENT, Upfront CFD, Electronics Cooling, FloEFD

I’ve not posted for a while, which is rather remiss of me. I underestimated the response we would get to our Heatsink 201 webinar, which I gather was our most popular ever, and the number of questions that people would ask. I had around 120 questions, which after removing duplicates and those to do with logistics ended up at around 80, so it took a while to answer them all. I’ll select a couple of good … Read More

Thermal Design, Concurrent CFD, Electronics Cooling, CFD, JEDEC JC15, NAFEMS, Heatsink, heatsink 201

Let’s see a show of hands. How many of you know what I’m talking about? Yes, this was the call to action for Speedy Gonzales, the fastest cartoon mouse (and before the lawyers get involved, Speedy Gonzales and Looney Tunes are trademarks and or trade names of Warner Brothers. All rights reserved). A direct translation of it means: Up! Up! Go on! Go on! And he’d usually yell it out before speeding off … Read More

CFD, Concurrent CFD, Airflow, LEDs

Last time I promised I’d drill down into more detail about the difference between the CAD-integrated up-front approach to CFD and CAD-embedded Concurrent CFD. CAD-integrated CFD tools are essentially stand-alone tools launched from within the CAD system whereas Concurrent CFD is fully built into the CAD system. So what’s the real difference between the two? CAD-integrated CFD tools use the same approach … Read More

Upfront Analysis, Traditional CFD, Upfront CFD, CAD Integration, CFD, CAD Embedded, FloEFD, Fluent Design, Concurrent CFD, Design Process

Back in June I posted ‘Air – Is it Running Out of Gas?’ and put forward the view that for general computing applications air isn’t running out of gas just yet. There are a couple of reasons for that. One is that I suspect the general public has concerns about leaks. Most people have passed cars stuck on the highway with a blown heater hose and seen water on the ground, and I’ve had an automotive water … Read More

Liquid Cooling, Fluent Design, Thermal Management, Asetek, CAD Embedded, Apple iMac, Upfront Analysis, Electronics Cooling, FloEFD, Upfront CFD, CFD, Concurrent CFD

I normally don’t do posts about these kinds of things but I was really excited to hear this. Recently FloEFD was given an EDN Magazine’s Hot 100 Electronic Products for 2009 award. The Hot 100 consists of EDN’s list of “the products and technologies that in 2009 heated up the electronics world and grabbed the attention of our editors and our readers.” Fantastic! I know I’m a proud parent but FloEFD … Read More

Concurrent CFD, EDN Hot 100, CAD, FloEFD, Physical Prototype, Electronics Cooling, Embedded

I was on a conference call and WebEx yesterday with the NAFEMS CFD Working Group, of which Mentor Graphics is a member. One of the people on the call had a lot of background noise on his phone, which turned out to be a due to a fan by his desk to keep his computer cool. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a memory hungry, CPU intensive activity so I guess he was running a fairly substantial case. … Read More

Thermal Management, Thermal Design, Upfront Analysis, Concurrent CFD, Design Process, CFD, Upfront CFD, Kolb's Learning Styles, X-ray Vision, Electronics Cooling, Experiential Learning

Some people think that because Concurrent CFD is so easy to use it must be simplistic. Nothing could be further from the truth. FloEFD has some very sophisticated physical models for cavitation, combustion, etc. plus by being CAD-embedded it’s also easy to use the CFD results to drive other simulation packages within the MCAD environment. Not limited to upfront design, Concurrent CFD can be used continuously … Read More

Reaction Forces, Force Prediction, Upfront Analysis, CAD Integration, CFD, CAD Embedded, Upfront CFD, Fluent Design, Fluid Dynamics, Concurrent CFD, Design Process