Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) consultancy services help defining and tuning CFD models according to the user specific needs. CFD is an invaluable tool to simulate engineering and industrial models with the aim of testing and optimising a design even before a physical prototype has been produced, but results are only as reliable as the model used to obtain those. CFD consultancy services are aimed at helping industries tuning their CFD models for their applications.
CFD modelling can use a number of physics and numerical models for simulating different problems and, most of the times, each model has multiple parameters to be set. There is no single solution that fits all the requirements therefore experience in setting and tuning the models is fundamental in delivering the best trade-off between accuracy and computational costs. Sometimes even increasing the computational cost, e.g. increasing the model complexity and hence the time required to complete a simulation, does not help improving the model accuracy. Every industrial problem requires a specific CFD model, and within the model all the parameters need to be tuned according to known data and experimental results relevant for the simulated problem. A CFD consultancy can help to cut down the time required to get to an optimised solution for a specific industrial application.
For example, the automotive sector requires bespoke CFD models with parameters tuned to be able to capture all the aerodynamic scales of interest. The truck simulation shown in the image above has been carried out using a Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes (RANS) model using the turbulence model K-Omega SST, which is very effective in showing the average wake of the truck. An unsteady CFD simulation can also show the time evolution of the solution and can lead to more accurate results but at the expense of much longer simulations. Sometimes the best strategy is to use multiple approaches in parallel even within a single project. For example RANS simulations are used during the development phase when quick iterations are carried out and a more accurate but more expensive Large Eddies Simulation (LES) is carried out at the end of the development cycle to compare the results to experimental data.
Each individual CFD model require specific physical parameters which need to be tuned according to existing experimental data or previous simulations of the same engineering problem, with a typical example being the RANS turbulence models which require the users to fine tune each of individual coefficient according to the specific problem simulated . The user also needs to define a computational mesh size and a computational domain optimised for the specific problem since also that can affect considerably the quality of the resutls.
The personnel costs associated with the introduction of CFD in the industrial process is by far the biggest contributor to the overall investment, since it requires very skilled and highly educated professionals to get reliable results. CFD is not only very complicated by typically every individual element in the simulation contributes to the solution as touched upon in the previous case. To implement correctly CFD in an industrial process it is not only required to have highly skilled individuals but also to provide them the required training for the CFD software of use. Very often it can also happen that it is required the use of multiple CFD softwares in parallel, one pre-processor, a mesher, a solver and finally a post-processor and every engineer has to be proficient in using all of them.
Using a very flexible and efficient software single software solution which implements all the phases of the CFD process in one combined with CFD consultancy services can significantly improve the ROI for every CFD engineers or designer involved in CFD simulations. CFD consultancy services help in cutting short the steep learning curve required to introduce CFD in an existing industrial process.
IdealSimulations Ltd offers a CFD software product, SimWorks, which is aimed for the industrial process. Our consultancy services help tuning the models and parameters making sure that the introduction of the CFD process inside your existing industrial process is seamless and immediate.
It is possible to order both SimWorks Manager, which is the go-to CFD software solution for industrial applications, and our CFD consultancy services as a package at a competitive price. While this surely is an expense it improves the process productivity and cuts down on hardware costs via an increase in simulation efficiency.
While many CFD consultancy service companies are available IdealSimulations Ltd is one of the few which develops in house CFD software products still maintaining a close relationship to the customers. This allows us to define bespoke versions of SimWorks to suit the customer needs, which range from the implementation of an additional turbulence model to a full rebuild of the software GUI according to the customer requirements.
Since every industry is different, we can create bespoke products tailored for specific needs and CFD consultancy services to fine tune the simulation models as well as training services to speed up the software introduction in an existing industrial process.