Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is an engineering method that calculates flow fields and other physics in detail for an application of interest. ANSYS uses a multidisciplinary approach to simulation in which fluid flow models integrate seamlessly with other types of physics simulation technologies. The CFD, or fluids, simulation results can be used as part of a Simulation Driven Product Development process — to illustrate how a product or process operates, to troubleshoot problems, to optimize performance and to design new products.

ANSYS CFD™ technology provides access to both the well-known ANSYS FLUENT^® and ANSYS CFX^® products. Also available separately, these are the primary general-purpose fluids simulation products offered by ANSYS. The core fluids simulation solvers represent more than 1,000 person-years of research and development to deliver experience, trust, depth of technology, and breadth of application to ANSYS customers. Companies worldwide use and rely upon fluid dynamics products from ANSYS.

ANSYS FLUENT^® software contains the broad physical modeling capabilities needed to model flow, turbulence, heat transfer, and reactions for industrial applications ranging from air flow over an aircraft wing to combustion in a furnace, from bubble columns to oil platforms, from blood flow to semiconductor manufacturing, and from clean room design to wastewater treatment plants. Special models that give the software the ability to model in-cylinder combustion, aeroacoustics, turbomachinery, and multiphase systems have served to broaden its reach.

ANSYS CFX^® software is a high-performance, general purpose fluid dynamics program that has been applied to solve wide-ranging fluid flow problems for over 20 years. At the heart of ANSYS CFX is its advanced solver technology, the key to achieving reliable and accurate solutions quickly and robustly. The modern, highly parallelized solver is the foundation for an abundant choice of physical models to capture virtually any type of phenomena related to fluid flow. The solver and its many physical models are wrapped in a modern, intuitive, and flexible GUI and user environment, with extensive capabilities for customization and automation using session files, scripting and a powerful expression language.

ANSYS CFD-Flo™ software addresses the fluid flow analysis needs of designers working on the front lines of their company’s product development process. The tool provides the physics models most commonly required by companies seeking to create better products faster and is compatible with other tools available within the ANSYS Workbench environment. The focused feature set and competitive cost of ANSYS CFD-Flo make it an ideal choice for companies with design departments that require access to CFD technology to improve their products and processes.

Model Courtesy of Hawkes Ocean Technologies

ANSYS Icepak software provides robust and powerful computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for electronics thermal management. Based on the renowned ANSYS FLUENT solver, ANSYS Icepak combines advanced solver technology with robust meshing options designed to provide fast and accurate thermal results for electronics cooling applications.

For more than a decade, companies around the world have relied on ANSYS Icepak to carry out rapid heat transfer and fluid flow analysis of IC packages, printed circuit boards and complete electronic system as well as to perform easy validation of design modifications before building any physical prototypes.

ANSYS Polyflow software provides advanced fluid dynamics technology for companies in the polymer, glass, metals and cement processing industries. This technology is used extensively to design and optimize processes such as extrusion, thermoforming, blow molding, glass forming, fiber drawing and concrete shaping. For more than 25 years, design engineers have used ANSYS Polyflow software to minimize physical prototyping when manufacturing extrusion dies or to reduce thickness variation to improve the quality of thermoformed or blown products.

Because of a unique inverse die design capability, dies can be cut much faster than with the traditional build-and-test method. This translates into substantial cost reduction and time savings. The quality of the blown and thermoformed products is improved by running trial-and-error processes with ANSYS Polyflow rather than testing changes on the production line. Glass forming and float glass engineering simulation help designers to more quickly produce higher-quality tableware, glass containers and flat glass.