New partnership with FluiDyna and acquisition of Click2Cast boosts Altair/HyperWorks’ CFD abilities.
Image courtesy of Altair and FluiDyna.
Recently, Altair improved their computational fluid dynamics (CFD) offerings by adding FluiDyna to the Altair Partner Alliance (APA) shortly after acquiring Click2Cast. This will bring nanoFluidX and ultraFluidX to HyperWorks users and casting simulation technology to both HyperWorks and solidThinking customers.
FluiDyna Joins the APA
Image courtesy of Altair and FluiDyna.
With FluiDyna joining the APA, users of HyperWorks will be able to access both nanoFluidX and ultraFluidX using their HyperWorks Unit licensing tokens.
The nanoFluidX solver uses a meshless, smoothed particle hydrodynamics technique to model fluid flow in geometries that involve motion. This solver is compatible with both free surface and multiphase flows. This makes nanoFluidX optimal for assessing problems like oil distributions in a gear house.
Image courtesy of Altair and FluiDyna.
Conversely, ultraFluidX utilizes the Lattice Boltzmann method, integrated volume meshing and transient analysis to assess external aerodynamics.
Therefore, ultraFluidX will typically be used to assess the outer shells of cars, airplanes and other transportation vehicles. Additionally, the solver can be used to assess buildings and environmental aerodynamics.
Both of the solvers allow for GPUs to be used to boost the speed of computations.
“FluiDyna is delighted to be joining the Altair family,” said Dr. Thomas Indinger, founder and CEO at FluiDyna. “The capabilities of nanoFluidX and ultraFluidX complement HyperWorks by adding alternative fluid flow modeling techniques. Together, we will be able to bring our mutual customers a more complete CFD solution.”
“FluiDyna’s CFD software tools are a great addition to the Altair offering,” said Dr. Uwe Schramm, CTO for Altair’s solvers, optimization and smart multi-physics solutions and strategy. “We have already begun integrating them with HyperWorks to bring more complete and valuable solutions to our customers.”
Click2Cast Brings Simple Casting Simulations to Altair solidThinking
Image courtesy of Altair.
As for Click2Cast, it will be joining the solidThinking and HyperWorks product lines through an acquisition.
The casting simulation software is designed to be extremely user friendly to the point that no training or technical background is required. This is a very risky claim, requiring extensive “fool proofing” of the software.
Click2Cast’s ease of use falls in line with solidThinking’s structural topology optimization software, Inspire. It would be interesting to see the two merge into one product to allow designers to easily assess optimal production techniques for their designs from 3D printing to casting, extrusion and more.
It should be noted that the casting simulation software has been available to users through the APA for quite some time now. However, this new acquisition will allow Altair to dive deeper into the software to improve the offering for their users.
James R. Scapa, founder and CEO of Altair, seems to hint at the idea that Click2Cast and Inspire might have a common destiny. He said, “We are excited to bring this dynamic team of individuals and best-in-class software [for casting] simulation into Altair. We plan to leverage their expertise and technology to develop new solutions for synthesizing innovative structures optimized for both performance and manufacturing feasibility.”
Martin Solina, general manager of Click2Cast, was also optimistic about the destiny of his product. He said, “This new agreement will allow us to provide even more powerful technological advantages and capabilities in one solution for our end users focused on the design and production of verified casted parts. We look forward to integrating Click2Cast with Altair’s world-class software portfolio.”
What Other CFD Options Do You Have with HyperWorks?
Potential users might be interested to know that these additions to HyperWorks and the APA are just the tip of the CFD iceberg with respect to Altair’s offerings.
To start, AcuSolve is Altair’s general purpose, finite element method based CFD solver. It has various coupled multiphysics capabilities including, but limited to:
- Radiation
- Turbulence
- Thermal
- Direct coupling with structural interactions
- Particle tracing
These CFD options by AcuSolve are further enhanced with other CFD solutions found on the APA. These tools can be coupled with AcuSolve to create more multiphysics solution options. Some APA CFD offerings include:
- RadTherm for thermal assessments based on human comfort instead of air temperature
- AcuNexus to automate CFD workflows with reusable templates to reduce preprocessing and improve consistency
- JMAG for electromagnetic losses mapping as heat loss
- scSTREAM and SC/Tetra for structured and unstructured mesh CFD analysis
- ElectroFlow for conduction, natural/forced convection, radiation and conjugate heat transfer in electronics
What CFD solutions do you use from HyperWorks and the APA? Would you like to see Inspire include some casting logic? Comment below.