Chemical and Process

Mentor’s fluid flow and heat transfer solutions for the chemical and process industries encompasses reactions, separations, mixing, heat exchange, combustion and equipment design.

A wide range of industrial uses

Mentor’s mechanical analysis software is used in the design of equipment for many Chemical and Process industry unit operations, including filtration, separation, storage, mixing, and in closely-allied industries such Oil, Gas and Plastics.

Specific applications include the design of pumps, pipes, valves, flow meters, filters, dryers and heat exchangers, fluidized beds, combustors, extrusion die and injection mould cooling.

Featured White Paper

Gas Mixing Best Practices

This white paper describes the application of CFD to gas mixing processes, including a discussion of best practice backed up by simulation guidelines and a real world example. The paper concludes with an... View White Paper

Related Product

  • FloEFD™

    Award winning FloEFD. Embedded into major MCAD systems Concurrent CFD software FloEFD is a full-featured 3D fluid flow and heat transfer analysis package without to help Design Engineers optimize product design and speed up their workflow. Better products, faster.

Application Examples

Tanks

Flow distribution inside tank

Tanks, hollow housings for the storage of fluids (whether gas or liquid), are used across a wide range of industries.

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Pressure Distribution

In process industries they are used to store chemicals, pharmaceuticals and even petroleum. In this case the engineer needed to optimize the internal plate to minimize pressure loss. FloEFD was used to calculate the flow distribution and pressure loss inside the chamber.

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Flow Distribution

To find the best design option for the tank, the engineer conducted “what-if” analysis with FloEFD. FloEFD makes it easy to modify solid models and analyze them. The process is simple: by using the cloning feature, users can create multiple variations of their designs and without having to reapply loads, boundary conditions, material properties etc the model can be analyzed again. Then the user can choose the best possible design among the various options. With FloEFD, improving and optimizing designs is easy.

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Velocity Trajectories

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Pipes

Flow Distribution

Pipes, hollow cylinders for the conveyance of fluids (whether gas or liquid), are used across a wide range of industries.

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Isobars and pressure distribution

In process industries they are used to move chemicals, pharmaceuticals and even petroleum. In this case the engineer needed to optimize the flow through the central chamber to obtain uniform flow in each branch. FloEFD was used to calculate the flow volume in branches.

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Flow trajectories and distribution on pipe entrance

While analyzing this model, the user took advantage of one of the most important features of FloEFD. Unlike traditional CFD programs which require users to create additional solid parts to represent the fluid (empty) regions, FloEFD automatically differentiates between the two and automatically represents the fluid domain. As a result, FloEFD frees users from the problem of creating unnecessary geometry just to prepare a model for analysis.

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Velocity distribution on walls

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Velocity trajectories

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Ovens

Flow Streamlines

Often used for cooking or baking, ovens can be used in various industries and under various disguises such as industrial ovens, kilns or furnaces. imageView Larger Detail

Flow streamlines and cake surface temperature plot

In this case, an engineer was concerned with designing a baker’s oven. His main area of concern was obtaining and improving the distribution of air for achieving optimum baking conditions for cakes.

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View from above detailing cut plot around the top cake

FloEFD was used to investigate the airflow inside the oven. Special FloEFD functionality such as cloning projects was used to shorten the analysis process. By cloning the project, users can easily change boundary conditions or geometry configurations and without having to reapply loads or boundary conditions reanalyze the problem. Variant analysis has never been this easy.

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Velocity distribution

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Valves / Machinery

Velocity trajectories

Valves are quite versatile -- flow of practically any kind of gas or liquid can be regulated with the help of valves.

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Flow Distribution

This valve is a component of a large machine. The task at hand was to investigate whether the design experienced any cavitation problems and reduce pressure loss. FloEFD was used to calculate the pressure in not only the openings but also the entire valve.

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Velocity Distribution

FloEFD can handle models that experience cavitation quite easily. FloEFD automatically predicts pressure gradients where cavitation may occur thereby further increasing accuracy of the analysis results.

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Velocity trajectories

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Valve Design

Velocity Trajectories

Valves are quite versatile. Flow of practically any kind of gas or liquid can be regulated with the help of valves.

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Pressure Trajectories

In this case, a medical device design engineer was interested in optimizing airflow and reducing pressure loss. Therefore, FloEFD was used to calculate static pressure in the openings. 

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Pressure and Flow Distribution

Preparing the model for analysis was very easy with FloEFD. Unlike traditional CFD programs that require users to create additional solid parts to represent the fluid (empty) regions, FloEFD automatically differentiates between the two for internal and external flows and automatically represents the fluid domain. As a result, engineers are freed from the tedium of creating unnecessary geometry just to prepare a solid model for analysis.

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Detailed View of Pressure and Flow Distribution

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Flow Trajectories

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 Learn more about Mentor Graphics' Mechanical Analysis solutions.

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Customer Success

Bronswerk

Bronswerk Heat Transfer BV Develops Groundbreaking Air-Cooled Coolers Bronswerk’s air-cooled coolers are used as process coolers in the oil and gas as well as chemical industries. Their fans range from 2 to 10 meters in diameter and cool heat exchangers which are also... View

Boll & Kirch Filterbau

Flowing Success at Boll and Kirch Filterbau The engine filter manufacturer chose FloEFD flow simulation software due to its ease-of-use, speed, and precise results. View