What Can You Model with Mesh Free Particle Based CFD Simulation Software?
Posted on: 4 April 2022
Many computer modeling systems rely on mesh-based techniques to simulate how real-world items work. While this is often computationally cheaper than using other approaches, it sacrifices accuracy by limiting similarity to the way matter works in real life.
Computational fluid dynamics, often called CFD, proposes a different approach to modeling the performance of many objects, including solid materials. If you're interested in using mesh-free particle-based CFD simulation software to evaluate how a system or material might perform, you should understand what you can model with it. Here are four options.
Stress
Thinking of solid objects as only solids is a mistake in many scenarios. Lots of materials are only solid until they experience certain stresses. If you need to assess how steel might perform once it has been stressed to the point of at least partially liquefying, mesh-free particle-based CFD software can help you explore the possible scenarios.
Flow
One of the more obvious reasons for using a particle approach over something mesh-based is to evaluate how fluids will perform in general. An oil company might need to determine how much pressure is appropriate for stabilizing a pipeline, for example. The company also will have to assess how different bends and junctions in the system will change the pressure. Similarly, they'll have to examine how the fluid will perform at different pressures and temperatures. Notably, they have to assess all of this while determining what the oil's flow characteristics will be in each case.
Solid-Fluid Interactions
Modern machinery often involves solid-fluid interactions. A car manufacturer needs to tell drivers what weight of motor oil to use, for example. The answer to the question, though, hinges on what will provide optimal performance over the life of the car. Mesh-free particle-based CFD simulation software can perform millions of runs to average out variations and determine the optimal solution. The company can then tell drivers the specifications for their vehicles' engines.
Transitional States
One of the trickier particle simulation problems involves materials caught in transitional states. Water, for example, can be a gas, solid, or fluid under the right combination of temperatures and pressures. How water performs in these transitional states may affect crystallization, melting, or evaporation processes. This information is invaluable if you're trying to figure out how a material might last the up and down winters of the American Northeast, for example. Mesh- free particle based CFD software can iterate through millions of permutations of temperature and pressure to tell you what is likely to happen.
Share