Altair CFD Offers a Comprehensive Set of Tools for Fluid Mechanics Problems

The applications of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are broad, spanning multiple industries and requiring varying degrees of detail and analysis.

Altair has submitted this post.

Written by: Will Haines, Director, Solutions Marketing at Altair

The applications of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are broad, spanning multiple industries and requiring varying degrees of detail and analysis. With humble beginning in the 1980s, commercial CFD software has now advanced to solve some of the toughest challenges thanks to innovations in numerical simulation and the rise of GPU power. More recently, it is not only possible to solve these extremely difficult problems, it is possible to solve them quickly.

Introducing Altair CFD – Breadth of CFD Solutions Under a Single License

For an analyst performing advanced computational fluid dynamics modelling or a design engineer quickly needing to understand fluid or thermal effects on a design proposal, Altair offers a complete package to support each project.

Altair CFD is a comprehensive set of tools to solve fluid mechanics problems, including complex multiphysics, and the only solution on the market that offers a range of CFD methodologies within a single license.

Altair CFD can help companies solve complex problems across a range of industries. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

Altair CFD can help companies solve complex problems across a range of industries. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

This enables users to solve a wide variety of fluid problems regardless of industry, level of expertise or application. Whether users are looking to perform thermal analysis of buildings, predict aerodynamics of vehicles, optimize gearbox oiling, reduce cooling fan noise or develop innovative medical devices, Altair CFD can help.

Altair’s Solvers

While there are countless CFD applications that engineers tackle daily, there are a few main methodologies that are widely used depending on the problem. Altair CFD offers multiple methodologies to suit the needs of the problem at hand:

  • Altair’s Navier Stokes (NS) solver. Used as a solution to general purpose CFD challenges. This methodology helps companies to explore designs by providing flow, heat transfer, turbulence and non-Newtonian material analysis capabilities.
  • Altair’s Lattice Boltzmann (LB) solver. Provides ultra-fast predictions of aerodynamic and aero-acoustic properties, enabling engineers to understand the associated fluid dynamics and investigate innovating structures to improve efficiency.
  • Altair’s Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) solver. Allows users to efficiently predict fluid flow around complex moving geometry and analyze fluid behavior, used predominantly for gearbox oiling, sloshing, and mixing applications.
The three methodologies included available using Altair CFD. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

The three methodologies included available using Altair CFD. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

In any given industry, there are projects that rely on access to all three of these methodologies. Understanding the fluid dynamics of the different components that constitute a modern tractor, for example, requires a varied approach depending on the application and can call for multiple solvers. To understand this in more detail, let’s have a look at some of these applications.

CFD Applications of a Modern Tractor

When designing a headlamp, identifying the maximum temperature of different components is highly important. Radiation produced by the bulb is distributed by a reflector and absorbed by nearby surfaces that heat the surrounding air.

This heat is transported through the materials via heat conduction, affecting the overall performance of the headlamp. Because of this, engineers need to identify component failures due to overheating early in the design cycle, therefore improving performance and reducing the need for physical testing.

Using Altair CFD’s general-purpose Navier-Stokes solver can help users to understand the temperature distribution within the headlamp, leading to a more optimized design. Flow fields can be visualized, and a full thermal management investigation can be undertaken to ensure the best design possible.

Headlamp thermal analysis using Altair CFD. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

Headlamp thermal analysis using Altair CFD. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

Moving on to a component with moving parts, the gearbox is vital in many industrial applications, transporting mechanical power and changing the speed factor of motors. For a gearbox to work efficiently, oiling is necessary to prevent mechanical failure that could result in expensive repairs or worse, the complete loss of production. Performing a detailed analysis of this process is therefore imperative to ensure the best design possible.

Using Altair CFD’s Smooth Particle Hydrodynamic solver, users can efficiently predict fluid flow around complex moving geometry, analyze oil behavior in all drivetrain components and reduce oil churning loss leading to an optimal design, all while reducing the need for expensive physical testing and design costs.

Gearbox oiling to improve efficiency and reliability. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

Gearbox oiling to improve efficiency and reliability. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

One aspect of machinery we can not ignore is predicting and minimizing rotating fan noise. This is highly important across a range of industries due to government regulations, because industrial equipment needs to adhere to a maximum noise level for the protection of workers and to avoid excessive noise in residential areas.

Generally, the noise generated from rotating fans are the dominant contributor of equipment operating noise overall. We have all been annoyed by loud machinery conveniently placed right outside your house or office. Altair CFD’s Lattice Boltzmann solver provides fast predictions of aerodynamic properties, enabling engineers to understand fluid dynamics and investigate innovating structures to improve efficiency, increase users’ comfort and deliver safe projects on time.

Predicting aero-acoustic noise. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

Predicting aero-acoustic noise. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

Another application worth exploring lies underneath the hood as well. Understanding underhood thermal management and air flow is critically important when maximizing engine cooling system performance. Engines that power cars, combine harvesters or planes need to operate optimally to avoid issues such as air flow hinderances and recirculation which can negatively affect the performance of a cooling system.

Having a comprehensive understanding of underhood thermal management means component designs can be executed with confidence, safe in the knowledge that a performance issues won’t occur as a result of poor airflow to parts.

Modelling underhood thermal behavior. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

Modelling underhood thermal behavior. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

Due to the variety of climatic temperatures a vehicle can experience, the accurate thermal modelling of a cabin is essential, whether it is for the internal temperature for passengers of agricultural vehicles, cars, trains or planes.

Additionally, both heating and cooling devices such as air conditioning fans or window defrosting heaters need to be efficiently designed to perform reliably over time.

Cabin thermal analysis. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

Cabin thermal analysis. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

Tank sloshing can lead to unwanted motion as energy is transferred because of moving liquid. This can lead to unstable vehicles whilst in motion, sloshing noise and structural damage. Being able to measure forces experienced by the tank or vehicle during acceleration, braking or lane changes is therefore very useful for engineers and designers.

Tank sloshing analysis. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

Tank sloshing analysis. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

Many industrial processes in agriculture, pharma or process manufacturing involve interaction between both fluid and particle phases. Realistic modelling of these complex systems can be done using CFD for fluids and Discrete Element Method (DEM) for particle simulation with Altair EDEM.

Using CFD coupled with EDEM enables engineers to realistically simulate the interaction between fluid and particles to accurately model applications such as fluidized beds or fertilizer spreading, for example.

Altair CFD coupled with Altair EDEM to simulate particle-fluid interactions. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

Altair CFD coupled with Altair EDEM to simulate particle-fluid interactions. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

Harnessing GPU Computing Power

Successfully predicting the behavior of fluids is, unsurprisingly, very computationally expensive. A myriad of parameters and elements needs to be considered and predicted accurately to produce a precise simulation that can be used for real world applications. As a result, running a CFD simulation can take several days using CPU computing power.

However, with to Altair’s GPU solutions it is possible to solve extremely quickly by relying on superior processing power, equivalent to thousands of CPU cores. Utilizing only 8 NVIDIA A100 GPUs, Altair CFD was able to solve a typical industrial size fan noise problem in just 10 – 15 hours. As all three Altair CFD solvers are optimized for use on clusters of GPUs for faster and more efficient simulations regardless of the scale and complexity, a drastic increase in simulation processing speed is possible.

Furthermore, Altair Unlimited offers companies the ability to provision GPU hardware on the cloud with services such as Google Cloud Platform. All of Altair’s CFD solvers are optimized for use on clusters of GPUs for faster and more efficient simulations regardless of the scale and complexity. Thanks to Altair’s turnkey on-premises and cloud-based appliances, users can access this processing power remotely, enabling companies to dynamically scale their infrastructure.

Nvidia’s range of powerful GPU solutions. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

NVIDIA’s range of powerful GPU solutions. (Image courtesy of Altair.)

Utilizing GPUs to accelerate numerical simulation delivers significant increases in speed and throughput. This means more opportunities to explore and fine-tune designs, make decisions faster based on more accurate results, and consequently, considerably reduce time-to-market. Harnessing the computational capabilities of the graphics processing unit (GPU) is one of the cornerstones of Altair’s mission to empower designers.

To learn more, visit Altair.