25/07/2017 Introduction to CFD -- CFD-Wiki, the free CFD reference

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IntroductiontoCFD
FromCFDWiki

WhatisCFD?

Fluiddynamicsisafieldofsciencewhichstudiesthephysicallawsgoverningtheflowoffluidsundervarious
conditions.Greatefforthasgoneintounderstandingthegoverninglawsandthenatureoffluidsthemselves,
resultinginacomplexyettheoreticallystrongfieldofresearch.

ComputationalFluidDynamicsorCFDasitispopularlyknown,isusedtogenerateflowsimulationswiththe
helpofcomputers.CFDinvolvesthesolutionofthegoverninglawsoffluiddynamicsnumerically.The
complexsetofpartialdifferentialequationsaresolvedoningeometricaldomaindividedintosmallvolumes,
commonlyknownasamesh(orgrid).

CFDhasenabledustounderstandtheworldinnewways.Wecannowseewhatitisliketobeinafurnace,
modelhowbloodflowsthroughourarteriesandveinsandevencreatevirtualworlds.CFDenablesanalyststo
simulateandunderstandfluidflowswithoutthehelpofinstrumentsformeasuringvariousflowvariablesat
desiredlocations.

WhereCFDscores

TherearevariousreasonswhyCFDisbecomingpopular,someofwhichare:

CFDallowsnumericalsimulationoffluidflows,resultsforwhichareavailableforstudyevenafterthe
analysisisover.Thisisabigadvantageover,say,windtunneltestingwhereanalystshaveashorter
durationtoperformflowmeasurements.
CFDallowsobservationofflowpropertieswithoutdisturbingtheflowitself,whichisnotalways
possiblewithconventionalmeasuringinstruments.
CFDallowsobservationofflowpropertiesatlocationswhichmaynotbeaccessibleto(orharmfulfor)
measuringinstruments.Forexample,insideacombustionchamber,orbetweenturbineblades.
CFDcanbeusedasaqualitativetoolfordiscarding(ornarrowingdownthechoicesbetween),various
designs.Designersandanalystscanstudyprototypesnumerically,andthentestbyexperimentationonly
thosewhichshowpromise.
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25/07/2017 Introduction to CFD -- CFD-Wiki, the free CFD reference

WhatCFDisnot

CFDisnotyetatthelevelwhereitcanbeblindlyusedbydesignersoranalystswithoutaworking
knowledgeofnumericsinvolved.
Despitetheincreasingspeedofcomputationavailable,CFDhasnotyetmaturedtoalevelwhereitcan
beusedforrealtimecomputation.Numericalanalysesrequiresignificanttimetobesetupand
performed.
CFDisstillanaidtootheranalysisandexperimentaltoolslikewindtunneltesting,andisusedin
conjunctionwiththem.

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