Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), sometimes referred to as flow simulation, is a computer simulation technique that allows the fluid flow around or through any product to be analyzed in great detail. CFD allows the fluid mass flow, velocity, density, temperature, pressure, concentration or any derived fluid property to be calculated at all locations within the flow field. The interaction of the fluid with its solid boundaries, such as fluid-dynamic forces and heat transfer rates can also be calculated accurately for use in stress analysis.

By using this technique, designers can verify that their products will conform to a client’s specifications early in the design cycle, greatly accelerating the product development process. CFD can be used to calculate design mass-flow rates, pressure drops, heat transfer rates, and fluid dynamic forces such as lift, drag and pitching moments.

The accuracy and fidelity of modern Computational Fluid Dynamics methods has significantly increased the level of design insight available to engineers throughout the design process and therefore greatly reduces companies’ exposure to technical risk when developing thermal and fluid-based products. The use of CFD in design generally leads to far fewer physical prototypes being necessary during development, far less prototype testing and consequently reduces the time-to-market and cost-to-market substantially.

The large global shared-memory of architecture of the SGI® Altix® product line delivers the scalability and performance required of complex physical modeling that includes multi-phase flows, chemistry, combustion, and spray. The SGI® Altix® XE servers deliver unmatched memory bandwidth for cluster performance and superior configuration flexibility for both capacity and capability. The SGI Altix and Altix XE servers running on industry standard Linux® operating systems dominate real-world application tests and provide options for complex simultions. SGI® InfiniteStorage technology delivers optimal efficiency for storing, organizing, accessing and managing data. Combining these computing and storage technologies, SGI® Solutions for CSM enable design engineers and analysis professionals to deliver superior product design more quickly by providing:

• Unmatched insight into systems that may be difficult to prototype or test through experimentation

• Ability to foresee implications of design changes and optimize accordingly

• Accurately predict mass flow rates, pressure drops, mixing rates, heat transfer rates & fluid dynamic forces

Applications include but are not limited to: