Full porous media with two-fluid capability represents significant breakthrough for CFD and multiphysics applications

PARIS, Dec. 9 -- ESI Group, a pioneer and world-leading supplier of digital simulation software for prototyping and manufacturing processes, announced today the release of CFD-ACE+ V2009.0. This version strengthens the modular and expandable design of CFD-ACE+ which offers users the highest level of flexibility. ESI Group's CFD-ACE+, the industry's most advanced Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Multiphysics software, enables coupled simulations of fluid, thermal, chemical, biological, electrical and mechanical phenomena for a variety of applications across a wide range of industries.

There are over 30 additions and improvements in the V2009.0 release across all applications.

Improved Fast Time Stepping (FTS) Performance

CFD-ACE+ V2009.0 has focused on the market's demands for reducing costs. Indeed, CPU costs of transient simulations can be reduced significantly using Fast Time Stepping by ensuring convergence of each time step within a few iterations. FTS was first implemented in V2008.2 and has now been improved to allow for auto time stepping. It has been extended to support additional modules including porous media, deforming grids and free surfaces (VOF).

Improved porous media with two-fluid capability

A major highlight of CFD-ACE+ V2009.0 is the improvement of the two-phase module with a new numerical formulation that is extensively more robust and faster to converge. In addition, two-phase coupling allows the most accurate modeling of two-phase simulations in porous media regions. This new improvement enhances ESI Group's capabilities for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) modeling and helps address common deficiencies of previous model formulations. This is a significant advancement for the simulation of fuel cell water management. Additionally, a large number of processes and applications can now be addressed efficiently using the enhanced two-fluid model.

Advanced front methodology for unstructured triangular surface meshing in CFD-GEOM

V2009.0 also includes advances in accuracy of the CFD-ACE+ solver and the mesh generation capabilities in CFD-GEOM. Indeed, the general purpose mesh generation tool CFD-GEOM has added advancing front surface triangulation to its already impressive set of surface meshing tools. Users can now select from Delaunay triangles, advancing front triangles, quad morphing, or quad paving algorithms. ESI Group wants to give to users the ability to select the best surface mesh type for the specific application. Other CFD-GEOM improvements include remeshing of discrete surfaces and boundary layer generation from discrete surfaces which make working with existing (legacy or 3rd party) meshes easy.

CFD-ACE+ V2009.0 also offers a unique and innovative tool -- ESI CFD Mobile support -- providing remote access to CFD-ACE+ core applications (CFD View and CFD GUI). Indeed, ESI CFD Mobile allows engineers and managers to have handheld access to their post-process solutions remotely from their iPhone or iPod Touch.

"Release V2009.0 includes more than 30 new features and enhancements, including significant advances for our Fuel Cell, Energy, and Electronics industry customers. This release comes just six months after the last major CFD-ACE+ release, thus underscoring our commitment to quickly addressing market requirements," said Joseph Strelow, director of Design and Analysis Simulation at ESI Group. "With the increased usability, robustness, and accuracy V2009.0 provides, we are confident the market will recognize the enhanced value provided by the CFD-ACE+ toolset," he continued.

About ESI Group

ESI Group (ESIN FR0004110310) is a world-leading supplier and pioneer of digital simulation software for prototyping and manufacturing processes that take into account the physics of materials. ESI Group has developed an extensive suite of coherent, industry-oriented applications to realistically simulate a product's behavior during testing, to fine-tune manufacturing processes in accordance with desired product performance, and to evaluate the environment's impact on product performance. ESI Group's products represent a unique collaborative and open environment for Simulation-Based Design, enabling virtual prototypes to be improved in a continuous and collaborative manner while eliminating the need for physical prototypes during product development. The company employs over 700 high-level specialists worldwide covering more than 30 countries. ESI Group is listed in compartment C of NYSE Euronext Paris. For further information, visit www.esi-group.com.

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Source: ESI Group