Achieving Engineering Breakthroughs in the Early Stages of the Product Design Process

Companies have worked hard in recent years to shed costs and deploy new technology to become as efficient and productive as possible. There is more to be done however, especially in the engineering disciplines where timing and accurate results are critical. Fluid flow analysis is one area that is becoming increasingly important to the performance and manufacturing of a wide range of products. While computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has long been used to design high-end value added products that depend heavily on fluid flow, such as airplanes and automobiles, its use in many other markets is growing quickly. Nearly every manufactured good was once a liquid before it became a solid. Examples include the glass on your computer display, the particleboard and tiles in your building, the silicon chips in your computer, the paper and ink that you use to print this paper, etc. Better understanding of phase changes will improve a companys opportunity for higher quality, lower cost, and potential innovation. In addition, the manufacturers of many other products have turned to CFD in order to gain a competitive advantage by improving the performance of their products. For example, manufacturers of products as diverse as lawn sprinklers, copying machines, swimming suits, water treatment disinfection systems, and glucose monitors have recently used CFD to gain unique product advantages.

Technology Advances Expedite Design Decisions

The role of CFD is in the process of being transformed from a forensic tool, primarily for studying the behavior of existing designs, to a method for predicting the performance of many alternatives in the early stages of product design. Recently, new CFD tools have become available that are much easier to use because they guide the user through the complete fluid flow analysis process using well understood terminology and procedures that are simple to execute and remember. The new tools also offer the potential for even higher levels of usability by tailoring them to solve flow problems relating to specific products or industries. This approach allows engineers to evaluate the performance of a large number of possible designs in the early phases of the project in order to create a truly unique product. Additionally, the design possibilities that pass the initial CFD tests can then be used as mathematical models for more detailed refinement and study using higher fidelity CFD analysis tools later on in the development cycle. From the technology perspective, rapid improvements in CFD software now provide the ability to use it as an aid in the decision process very early in a products evolution. New customizable graphical user interfaces allow design engineers to automatically preprocess CFD simulations
The final stage includes complex analysis such as optimization techniques and sensitivity studies Probable design possibilities from the initial simulation models are imported into a Level 2 simulation tool for a higher fidelity analysis The first-pass CFD tool with its Level 1 graphical user interface (GUI) aids in the elimination of poor or inadequate designs

WP101

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simulations based on their existing design CAD data. A wizard-like interface guides users step-by-step through typical CFD related engineering problems. Automated HTML reporting tools document results in easily used and shared formats. Robust geometry readers work with a variety of CAD and geometry formats. These new software tools serve as an enabling technology for the creation of enterprise-wide engineering analysis, providing design engineers with the capability to use CFD routinely throughout the product development process, while maintaining continuous communication with skilled CFD analysts. This allows the expertise of the CFD analyst to be seamlessly integrated into the design process where it can be used to prevent, rather than isolate and resolve, design problems. The implications of this change are significant and can provide real productivity gains and economic benefit to a business.

A unified process for engineering simulation provides the benefit of creating a math model early in the design, with an increasing level of fidelity as the probability of full implementation increases

Software Developed Specifically for Use by Design Engineers

The new tools are designed to be used by engineers with undergraduate training in fluid dynamics and/or mechanical engineering. The engineers use a CAD geometry as a starting point to define their early design concepts. For the CFD portion of the design, the application begins by asking the user to point to the file that contains the product geometry. The program typically accepts common neutral file formats such as ACIS, STEP, and Parasolids. While conventional CFD software normally requires that the user close off the flow domain, the newer programs simply ask the user to select whether the geometry that was imported is solid or the flow region. Then the software automatically determines whether internal or external flow is involved and creates boundaries by closing inlets and outlets. The software automatically detects and accommodates the situation where multiple flow regions are present. Its worth noting that the new generation of software reverses the conventional CFD process of first generating the mesh then specifying the physics of the problem. The reason is that specifying the physics first provides useful information that can be used to improve the mesh. The program prompts the user to define boundary conditions for inlets, outlets and walls. The user is allowed to enter whatever information is available. For outlets, this would typically be velocity, pressure, volumetric flow rate or mass flow rate. Wall boundaries are usually assigned a thermal condition such as insulated, constant temperature, constant heat flux, or temperature dependent heat flux. In each case, the user is presented with a series of choices in a dialog box and simply checks off the right choice. When and only when the user has made an appropriate selection does the wizard allow the engineer to move on to the next design decision parameter.

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Automatic Mesh Generation and Analysis Capabilities

With the physics of the problem determined, the next step is creating the mesh. The program takes much of the complexity out of this process. Instead of forcing the user to make complicated decisions on mesh density, it simply asks them to pick whether the mesh is intended for conceptual, preliminary, or final design. This selection determines how the tradeoff between the accuracy of the mesh and the speed of the analysis will be resolved. The software also automatically performs the clean-up and simplification process that is required for CFD analysis, such as connecting small gaps, eliminating duplication and overlaps, and removing unnecessary details. The software then generates the mesh and calculates the fluid flow. It should be noted that this new type of software can handle the vast majority of design engineering fluid flow problems involving single phase fluid flow and heat transfer with minimal user knowledge and input. This software is not designed for more complicated tasks such as multiphase flow, acoustics, transient flow, and radiation where traditional CFD software, like FLUENT, is more appropriate. The new software generates automated summary reports that include minimum, maximum, and average pressures, temperatures, and velocities at inlets, outlets, walls, and throughout domains, pressure drops between all inlets and outlets, heat transfer coefficients on walls, net mass and heat flow rates. Automated postprocessing, including pathline animations, guided visualization contours and vectors on easily swept planes, is also provided. It also makes it possible for multiple users to connect to an individual session. With this capability, analytical specialists can easily assist other engineers with particularly difficult analysis problems and check the accuracy of user inputs. The software also provides management reporting to track who used the tool every month, how many simulations were performed, what results were achieved, etc.
The graphical user interface showing the wizard panel and pressure distribution on a cyclone

Developing Custom Analysis Environments

The power of the new generation of design-oriented CFD tools can be substantially increased through the development of customized interfaces to analyze a specific companys products. Nearly every aspect of the interface can be customized to a specific type of problem, further reducing its complexity and the potential for errors. For example, a manufacturer of washing machines could take advantage of the commonalities in their engineering analysis to, for instance, specify the units of the problem as metric and the work fluid as water. Rather than specify boundary conditions in terms of a mass flow rate, the interface could be customized to allow the user to pick part numbers of pumps commonly used in the companys product line or to enter the specifications of a new pump automatically. The interface could also be set up to allow the user to enter filter selections by part number. Behind the scenes, the software would then take over and generate the appropriate porous media properties. Most typically, engineers would enter their design model as CAD geometry, but an alternate approach is possible in which the software stores a parameterized version of the product. The design engineer modifies this model by entering dimensions and other information. The output from the analysis can be tailored to provide the information required in the companys specific design process and can also be formatted to meet company standards.

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Automating many of the standard modeling procedures makes CFD analysis much easier to perform and opens the door for widespread deployment of CFD as a decision-support tool throughout the entire design process. From the beginning of the design process, the engineering team can consider all possible designs in an effort to create a truly innovative product. The design possibilities are then reduced in number based on considerations ranging from performance to cost. The process of cascading down to only those designs with the highest probability of success continues throughout the development process. Introducing a fundamental CFD tool as a first-pass tool during this process aids in the decision selection process. The resulting set of design alternatives, each of which passes the initial CFD tests, are confirmed as viable candidates for further study. These design possibilities can then be transferred as mathematical models for more detailed refinement and study using higher fidelity CFD analysis tools later in the cycle. The CFD tool provides the means for the engineering process to increase its ability to innovate and continually improve product designs, key factors in the financial success of the organization.

Improving the Bottom Line

Simulating a products fluid flow characteristics earlier in the design process offers significant potential cost savings. Studies have shown that 85 percent of the total time and cost of product development are committed in the early stages of product development, when only a small percentage of project time and cost have been expended. Further along in the cycle, there is a ten-fold increase in the time and cost needed to correct problems with each step of the product development cycle: conceptual, detailed design, drafting, prototype testing, and production. Performing CFD early in the design process makes it possible to identify and fix problems with changes in the conceptual design stage for far fewer dollars than the cost of making changes after production begins. Further, it reduces the risk of design flaws associated with product liability issues and provides the business with a competitive advantage. In many cases a product comes to market sooner. In summary, a new generation of highly automated CFD software that is easy to use, and can be applied to test new design ideas much earlier than ever before, will help businesses to innovate and improve their product designs to become more successful. The next leap in engineering productivity will come from using these tools to create innovative products that win in the marketplace.

Fluent Inc.
Fluent is the worlds largest provider of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software and consulting services. Fluents software is used for simulation, visualization, and analysis of fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, and chemical reactions. It is a vital part of the computer-aided engineering (CAE) process for companies around the world and is deployed in nearly every manufacturing industry. Fluents corporate headquarters are located in Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA, with offices in Belgium, China, England, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, and Sweden. Its CFD software is also available around the world through joint ventures, partnerships, and distributors in Australia, Brazil, China, the Czech Republic, Europe, Korea, the Middle East, and Taiwan. For more information: www.flowizard.com flowizard-team@fluent.com 800-445-4454 x220 (in US) 603-643-2600 x220 (outside US)

Fluent and FloWizard is a registered trademarks of Fluent Inc. All other brand or product names are trademarks or registered marks of their respective owners. Copyright 2006 Fluent Inc. All rights reserved.