STAR-CD comes fully integrated with pro-STAR, a Graphical User  
Interface (GUI) driven pre/post-processing environment that  
delivers the most advanced set of tools ever developed for CFD,
to set up, automatically mesh, run the analysis and post-process  
the results. The GUI environment is highly process-oriented, very  
intuitive and easy to learn and use. Its high-level interactive
system guides you through the model building process of:
 
.Creating / importing, checking and fixing the grid  
.Specifying boundary locations    
.Selecting thermophysical models, properties and boundary conditions  
.Setting up solution controls  
.Monitoring and steering the calculations  
 
At the end of the analysis, the GUI system helps again with  
extensive post-processing capabilities. These include animation,  
particle tracking, data graphs and a wide range of raster and  
vector style plots. Pre/post-processing features include:
 
.More flexible tabular input for transient runs
.Enhanced GL based visualization  
.New lightweight 3-D interactive viewer  
 
CAD Readers  
CD-adapco is committed to ensure that STAR-CD fits smoothly  
within your overall CAD environment and CAE workflow. Accordingly  
STAR-CD can read geometry from generic standard formats and all
major CAD systems.
The following generic standard translators are available:
 
.GES    
.STL (Stereolithography)    
.STEP AP203 ISO standard    
.Parasolid    
.VDA-FS
 
Readers for the following native CAD readers are also available,  
which enable native format CAD models to be imported offline  
without incurring the cost and inconvenience of requiring a CAD
installation on your desk:
 
.CATIA V4  
.CATIA V5  
.Unigraphics NX  
.Pro/ENGINEER  
 
Surface Cleaning and Meshing
Importing CAD models is not the end of the story. CAD data often  
includes geometry definitions that are quite adequate for CAD  
systems, but require fixing and/or defeaturing before meshing.  
Surface preparation is therefore included in the STAR-CD package  
via modules which allow defeaturing of unnecessary geometric  
details and automatically close small surface gaps and joining  
surfaces. This eventually creates a closed envelope as required
by surface and volume meshing.    
 
Surface Wrapping
This unique meshing feature available in STAR-CD was initially  
developed to enable complex and large CAD models to be quickly  
and automatically ∟shrink-wrapped↔ through a fully automatic  
process to close holes, join surfaces and remove interior and  
overlapping surfaces. This situation typically applies to
external aerodynamics, underhood, passenger compartments,
or more generally to thermal management applications (e.g.
airplanes engine nacelle, etc.) where the CAD models are large  
and may be produced by different CAD systems. The main challenge  
is overall meshing time. Our wrapping solution for the surface  
touched by the fluid, produces a completely closed surface mesh
of triangles and/or quadrangles ready for volume meshing.
 
STAR-CD provides one of the most effective numerical methodologies  
available in an industrial CFD code with the high level of accuracy  
needed for complex unstructured meshes.This is delivered with the  
speed, efficiency and robustness demanded by engineering design and  
development cycles.  
 
STAR-CD uses state-of-the-art, proprietary numerical schemes to
achieve the highest levels of accuracy in both steady and transient  
simulations, making STAR-CD one of the least sensitive codes to
mesh type and quality, including distorted tetrahedral meshes.  
Remarkably, this has been achieved without sacrificing efficiency  
or robustness. So, whatever the choice of mesh or engineering  
application, STAR-CD will provide the best solution in the
shortest time.    
 
Alternative solvers are available within the pro-STAR environment,  
including a parallelized algebraic multigrid option, a version  
optimized for high-speed compressible flows, and STAR-CDs
continuum mechanics solver, Comet which offers unique free-surface,  
multiphase and multiphysics capabilities.  
 
STAR-CDs flexibility in accepting almost any mesh structure and/or  
cell shape makes it ideal for adaptive meshing. GUI-based tools
provide an automated environment to adapt your mesh, based not only  
on solution variables but, uniquely, on actual numerical errors.  
This allows optimization of models, with refinement of cells in
areas where they are most needed.