Dr. Ross Haywood with Hatch Ltd., Australia has been an early user of the new release. "I found the new release to be absolutely first-rate," Haywood said. "The ability to use all of the models together makes it possible to apply CFX-5 to a much wider range of applications. That's significant, because CFX-5 has long been unique in its ability to solve larger and more complex problems than the other codes that I am familiar with. I am extremely pleased at the rate at which this code has been improving."

Major enhancements have been added to multiphase and free surface capabilities. The number of phases in a multiphase analysis is now unlimited, so that fluidized beds and particle separators with multiple particle sizes can be simulated with ease. The free surface flow model has been expanded to include a bulk energy equation, low speed variable density, fluid-specific additional variables and fluid-specific multicomponent fluids. These capabilities extend the applicability of free surface models to include, for example, mold filling and contaminant dispersion. A surface tension model is now available which allows the engineer to predict flows accurately in capillary tubes and the coalescence of liquid droplets.

CFX-5 offers the latest and most advanced turbulence models, one being the Shear Stress Transport (SST) model combined with automated near wall treatment. Extensive validation has shown that this model raises the bar on what can be expected from turbulence modeling in commercially available CFD. Available technical reports show that the prediction of difficult effects such as flow separation and heat transfer is much improved, enhancing the accuracy of most industrial flow simulations.

The ability to use all models with CFX-5's Generalized Grid Interface capability allows the geometry and mesh generation of complex systems to be dealt with using a 'divide and conquer' approach. The analyst can assemble the definition for a complex system by pulling together meshes from independently created components, greatly reducing the amount of meshing time required to take advantage of the powerful advanced modeling features found in CFX-5.5.1.

Expansion of the available MFR models allows the analyst greater flexibility investigating the interaction of rotating and stationary components. For instance, multi-stage gas compressors can be efficiently analyzed with one blade row per component using the Stage interface, or full dynamic behavior can be simulated using the Transient Rotor Stator option. Modeling speed and accuracy for compressors, turbines, pumps and other rotating machines increase significantly with this important new release. Additionally both single- and multi-phase mixing applications can be accurately modeled with CFX-5.

All of these capabilities are fully supported under CFX-5's scalable parallel capability and coupled multigrid solver. CFX-5 has long offered industry-leading parallel efficiency. It automatically decomposes the grid into pieces that fit onto the individual processors, enabling the flow calculation to proceed in parallel. At release, the CFX-5.5.1 solver had demonstrated excellent scalability on applications over 80 million nodes distributed on 64 processors, and continues to expand the boundaries of it's parallel performance.

“CFX-5.5.1 provides a major advance in the ability to solve engineering problems involving multiphase and free surface models,” said Felix Muggli of Sulzer Innotec, Winterthur, Switzerland, of the new version. “The new interface models for rotor-stator simulations are another major improvement.” Dr. Michael Raw, Vice-President CFX Product Development added: “Most engineering fluid analysis and design problems entail the interaction of multiple physical effects and this release of CFX-5 makes significant strides in this area. The technology in CFX-5.5.1, in conjunction with our other software modules, plus the services from our industry experts, combine to provide a very competitive “solutions” package from CFX. We are continuing our aggressive development schedule with CFX-5.6 and several other important releases in the months ahead.”

CFX is a leading supplier of CFD software and services to the chemical, manufacturing and power generation industries. With sales, support and consulting offices around the world, the company’s mission is to improve customers’ efficiency and profitability by delivering outstanding CFD solutions and support.

For more information contact For more information visit www.cfx.aeat.com , contact Leigh Anne Wacker at info@cfx.aeat.com or 1-800-529-3810.