Nantes-based software publisher, Nextflow Software, one of the European leaders in the field of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), presents a new solution for the exploration and analysis of fluid flows complexes for industrial designs based on the SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics) method.
SPH, the particle-based method, a new standard in the CFD market
After more than 20 years of research carried out by Nextflow Software and other players, the SPH method left academic laboratories to join the engineering offices of industrialists. It complements the traditional method of finite volumes ( Finite Volume - FV ) with geometric mesh to simulate certain complex and specific flows.
The SPH method is widely adopted by automobile manufacturers and suppliers, in particular for applications for lubricating and cooling transmission and power drive systems (including electric motors), or fording vehicles.
SPH is also adopted for other applications in the aeronautics, marine, energy, environment, industrial processes and manufacturing machines, etc.
The main characteristics of the SPH method are:
- Solving the Navier-Stokes equations by representing the flow of fluids in the form of particle movements . This representation is particularly well suited to simulating complex solid interfaces (moving bodies, deformations, contacts, etc.) as well as liquids (multi-phases, atomization, coalescence, etc.). Interfaces for which FV methods are often limited by their meshed nature and cannot effectively simulate;
- An approach that does not require manual meshing and allows engineers to run a simulation in minutes after their CAD files are ready. For their part, the FV methods require a manual meshing operation, the duration of which (from several hours to days) and the quality are largely dependent on the user.
SPH-flow: different solvers to address all the objectives, application cases and uses of SPH
SPH-flow, Nextflow Software's SPH product offer, includes 2 complementary products to address all engineering needs:
- SPH-flow Explorer is typically used in the exploratory pre-study phase, when rapid simulations are needed to guide and orient the first design choices.
- SPH-flow Designer allows you to obtain reliable and successful simulation results, useful for more in-depth phases of study and analysis of a design.
SPH-flow offers compressible and incompressible formulations in each of the solvers to target any type of flow:
- The incompressible formulation of SPH-flow is recommended for very fragmented flows, where the fluid is atomized into droplets or jets, or for long flows;
- The compressible formulation of SPH-flow is recommended for flows involving complex physical phenomena and brief dynamics, such as shocks and impacts. This formulation is suitable for precise studies of local pressure fields as well as of free surface.
SPH-flow offers the best precision and speed of SPH calculation on the market
SPH-flow Designer uses the most advanced models in the state of the art of global SPH research, improving the precision and order of convergence of the method, even in the case of complex multi-physical phenomena: multiphase flows, surface tension with wettability, fluid-structure interactions ( Fluid-Structure Interactions - FSI ), thermal analysis, SPH-LBM ( Lattice Boltzmann Method - LBM ) or SPH-FV co-simulation ...
SPH-flow Explorer is a new product optimized to deliver results as quickly as possible, in order to limit simulation time.
SPH-flow is now available for workstations and small servers, as well as for high performance computing (HPC ) supercomputers / clusters when large computing capacities are required. A version for Graphics Processing Unit (GPU ) will be available in early 2021.
SPH-flow can be 5 to 100 times faster than FV solvers on specific applications particularly well suited to the SPH method, allowing simulations to go through in hours instead of days, often with better results compared to FV on these applications.
Find out more: www.nextflow-software.com
