CFD Software: FLOW-3D Overview FLOW-3D is a powerful and highly-accurate CFD software that gives engineers valuable insight into many physical flow processes. With special capabilities for accurately predicting free-surface flows, FLOW-3D is the ideal CFD software to use in your design phase as well as in improving production processes. FLOW-3D is an all-inclusive package. No special additional modules for meshing or post-processing are needed. An integrated graphical user interface ties everything together, from problem setup to post-processing. For a description of key features in our latest FLOW-3D release, go to the What's New in Version 10 page. Download the FLOW-3D Features List. FLOW-3D v10 Features List *NEW* v10 features are listed in red Meshing & Geometry •Finite element meshes for solids •Structured finite difference/control volume meshes •Multi-Block gridding with nested & linked blocks •Fractional areas/volumes (FAVOR™) for efficient & accurate geometry definition •Unstructured Memory Allocation (UMA) •Basic Solids Modeler •Import CAD data •Grid & geometry independence •Cartesian or cylindrical coordinates Flow Type Options •Internal, external & free-surface flows •3D, 2D & 1D problems •Transient flows •Inviscid, viscous laminar & turbulent flows •Non-inertial reference frames •Multiple scalar species •Two-phase flows •Heat transfer with phase change •Saturated & unsaturated porous media ^ back to top Flow Definition Options •General initial and boundary conditions •Symmetry •Rigid and flexible walls •Continuative •Periodic •Specified pressure •Specified velocity •Outflow •Grid overlay •Hydrostatic pressure •Volume flow rate •Non-linear periodic and solitary surface waves •Restart from previous simulation •Continuation of a simulation •Overlay boundary conditions •Change mesh •Change model parameters Thermal Modeling Options •Natural convection •Forced convection •Conduction in fluid & solid •Fluid-solid heat transfer •Conduction •Specified heat flux •Specified solid temperature •Distributed energy sources/sinks in fluids and solids •Radiation •Viscous heating Numerical Modeling Options •TruVOF Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) method for fluid interfaces •First and second order advection •Sharp and diffuse interface tracking •Implicit & explicit numerical methods •GMRES, point and line relaxation pressure solvers •User-defined variables, subroutines & output •Utilities for runtime interaction during execution ^ back to top Fluid Modeling Options •One incompressible fluid – confined or with free surfaces •Two incompressible fluids – miscible or with sharp interfaces •Compressible fluid – subsonic, transonic, supersonic •Stratified fluid •Acoustic phenomena •Mass particles with variable density or diameter Shallow Flow Models •Shallow water model •General topography •Wetting & drying •Wind shear •Ground roughness effects •Laminar & turbulent flow Physical Modeling Options •Fluid structure interaction •Thermal stress evolution •Granular flow •Moisture drying •Solid solute dissolution •Sediment scour deposition & bedload transport •Cavitation •Phase change (liquid-vapor, liquid-solid) •Surface tension •Thermocapillary effects •Wall adhesion •Wall roughness •Vapor & gas bubbles •Solidification & melting •Mass/momentum/energy sources •Shear, density & temperature-dependent viscosity •Thixotropic viscosity •Visco-elastic-plastic fluids •Elastic membranes & walls •Evaporation residue •Electric field •Dielectric phenomena •Electro-osmosis •Electrostatic particles •Electro-mechanical effects •Joule heating •Air entrainment •Molecular & turbulent diffusion •Temperature-dependent material properties Advanced Physical Models •General Moving Object model with 6 DOF–prescribed and fully-coupled motion •Rotating/spinning objects •Collision model •Tethered moving objects (springs & ropes) •Flexing membranes and walls Chemistry Models •Stiff equation solver for chemical rate equations •Stationary or advected species ^ back to top Metal Casting Models •Thermal stress & deformations •Iron solidification •Sand core blowing •Sand core drying •Permeable molds •Solidification & melting •Solidification shrinkage with interdendritic feeding •Micro & macro porosity •Binary alloy segregation •Thermal die cycling •Surface Oxide Defects •Cavitation potential •Lost-foam casting •Semi-solid material •Core gas generation •Back pressure & vents •Shot sleeves •Air entrainment •Temperature-dependent material properties Porous Media Models •Saturated and unsaturated flow •Variable porosity •Directional porosity •General flow losses (linear & quadratic) •Capillary pressure •Heat transfer in porous media •Van Genunchten model for unsaturated flow Discrete Particle Models •Massless marker particles •Mass particles of variable size/mass •Linear & quadratic fluid-dynamic drag •Monte-Carlo diffusion •Particle-Fluid momentum coupling •Coefficient of restitution or sticky particles •Point or volumetric particle sources •Charged particles •Probe particles Turbulence Models •RNG model •Two-equation k- model •Large eddy simulation Two-Phase & Two-Component Models •Liquid/liquid & gas/liquid interfaces •Variable density mixtures •One compressible fluid with a dispersed incompressible component •Drift flux •Two-component, vapor/non-condensable gases •Phase transformations for gas-liquid & liquid-solid •Adiabatic bubbles •Bubbles with phase change •Continuum fluid with discrete particles •Scalar transport •Homogeneous bubbles Coupling with Other Programs •Geometry input from Stereolithography (STL) files – binary or ASCII •Geometry input from ANSYS or I’DEAS tetrahedral data •Direct interfaces with EnSight®, FieldView® & Tecplot® visualization software •PLOT3D output •Neutral file output •Extensive customization possibilities •Topographic data input •Solid Properties Materials Database ^ back to top Data Processing Options •Automatic or custom results analysis •High-quality OpenGL-based graphics •Color or B/W vector, contour, 3D surface & particle plots •Moving history & probe data •Force & moment computations •Animation output •PostScript, JPEG & Bitmap output •Streamlines •Flow tracers User Conveniences •Mesh & initial condition generators •Automatic time-step control for accuracy & stability •Automatic convergence control •Mentor help to optimize efficiency •Change simulation parameters while solver runs •Manage & launch multiple simulations •Automatic simulation termination based on user-defined criteria Multi-Processor Computing: •Shared memory computers •Distributed memory clusters