FloEFD is an award-winning frontloading computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation solution for the design engineer targeting complex design challenges. Frontloading CFD refers to the practice of moving CFD simulation early into the design process, enabling design engineers to evaluate design options and optimize product performance as well as reliability.
FloEFD is a paradigm shift in CFD. Through the use of best in class and intelligent technology, FloEFD opens the world of fluid dynamics analysis to a wider range of users including design engineers. It helps engineers move simulation into the design process where CFD can greatly benefit the user to understand the behavior of the design earlier and discount the less attractive options.
In a world where many vendors purport to offer you the same functionality, let’s take a look at what makes FloEFD the best option for you:
As an embedded application, FloEFD is completely integrated into the most popular CAD programs available on the market. FloEFD plugs effortlessly into familiar PLM software, delivering compressed timescales for product development workflows in the creation and testing of the digital twin.
In addition, FloEFD is easy-to-use and offers an intuitive user experience for MCAD users. FloEFD uses engineering terms instead of technical jargon so you can focus on solving flow problems as opposed to figuring out how to use the software. And its powerful analysis wizard guides you through problem set-up, analysis and results visualization. Most users have reported that they can start using the software with only 8 hours of training. Lastly, it offers the widest range of local language implementations to make analysis as accessible as possible.
New features highlighted in version 2022.1 and 2021.3
New features highlighted in version 2021.2
New features highlighted in version 2021.2.1
FloEFD has “Intelligent Automation” at its Core
The physics behind fluid flow are perhaps some of the most complicated disciplines in the field. As a result, CFD software is notoriously difficult to use. These programs require intimate knowledge of turbulence models and their appropriateness for specific situations. They also require users to manually tweak the mesh to get the most accurate analysis results – some specialists have been known to spend weeks if not months on optimizing the mesh. This is why a great majority of CFD software programs are unsuitable for use by design engineers who need access to physics-based simulation software.
Based on Navier-Stokes equations, FloEFD adds intelligent automation and technology to help make analysis easier, faster and accurate. Its unique SmartCells™ technology allows you to use a coarse mesh without sacrificing accuracy. The meshing technology is also robust and can easily capture arbitrary and complex geometry. As a result, the meshing process can be completely automated and requires less manual user input. Lastly, with FloEFD you can use your CAD geometry directly – without any translation or modification. In short, the intelligent technology helps you harness the power of fluid flow simulation.
FloEFD is Accurate
Just because FloEFD is easy to use it doesn’t mean it isn’t accurate. In fact, the accuracy of FloEFD results has been verified by thousands of companies that use the software to solve complex design problems. The intelligent technology at its core is what makes FloEFD just as if not more accurate than other CFD software and without the burden required by the other systems.
FloEFD is Fast
With FloEFD you don’t sacrifice speed for accuracy. FloEFD is fast. It’s so fast that it can reduce the overall simulation time by as much as 75%.
How? Let’s take a look at the process.
Gone are the days when your analysis model and your design model bifurcate and move down the design process at different rates. As FloEFD is embedded into CAD it uses native geometry. Therefore, you don’t lose any time on transferring a model, modifying it, cleaning it or generating extra geometry to represent the fluid domain. You can immediately prepare your model for analysis – in fact your material properties and boundary conditions remain with the model so when you modify your model for another round of analyses, you don’t have to repeat this step again! In addition, you can mesh highly complex models quickly. And since the design process is iterative in nature, you can simply create different variants and analyze them quickly. In short, you can analyze your problem quickly and within engineering timeframes.
After all, design engineers are responsible for design – all other tasks are secondary. In order for analysis to become a part of the design process, it needs to be easy to use, agile, fast and accurate.
How does your CFD solution meet these requirements?
FloEFD Capabilities
• Heat conduction in fluid, solid and porous media with/without conjugate heat transfer and/or contact heat resistance between solids.
• Subsonic, transonic, and supersonic gas flows, hypersonic air flows with equilibrium dissociation and ionization effects.
• Radiation heat transfer between opaque solids, absorption in semi-transparent solids and refraction in semi- and transparent solids.
• Volume (or surface) heat sources, e.g. due to Joule heating, Peltier effect, etc.
• Various types of thermal and electrical conductivity in solid medium, i.e. isotropic, unidirectional, biaxial/axisymmetrical, and orthotropic.
• Equilibrium volume condensation of water from steam and its influence on fluid flow and heat transfer.
• Water film evolution (surface condensation/evaporation, melting/freezing, film motion).
• Joule heating from direct electric current in electrically conducting solids.
• Fluid flows with boundary layers, including wall roughness effects.
• Fluid flows in models with moving/rotating surfaces and/or parts.
• Compressible gas and incompressible fluid flows. • Relative humidity in gases and mixtures of gases. • Multi-species fluids and multi-component solids. • Fluid flows and heat transfer in porous media. • Steady-state and time-dependent fluid flows. • Cavitation in water and other liquids.
• Free, forced, and mixed convection. • Combustion in gas-phase mixtures. • Two-phase (fluid + particles) flows. • Laminar and turbulent fluid flows. • Flows of non-Newtonian liquids. • External and internal fluid flows. • Real gases with phase change. • Flows of compressible liquids. • FEA Bridges including Mechanica, Patran, MpCCI and SolidWorks Structural Analysis
• Optional Add-ons: • Electronics cooling module: Besides extended databases of fan curves and packaging material or 2-Resistor components, it also contains specialized features and physics such as a PCB model and joule heating due to current flow.
• LED Module: The LED Module is the ideal module for the lighting industry and especially for LEDs, it includes a new unique LED model that provides the junction temperature and hot lumen.
• Advanced Module: provides capabilities to consider hypersonic flow for up to Mach 30 and combustion.
• HVAC Module: Special simulation capabilities for comfort and safety for occupied spaces such as buildings and transportation vehicles.
• EDA Bridge: Import data from EDA software such as Mentor Expedition, Cadence, Zuken and Altium.
FloEFD General Purpose Frontloading CFD
FloEFD is a standalone efficient frontloading CFD analysis solution for the design engineer. FloEFD offers a powerful and easy-to-use CAD-like user interface. Transfer geometry from most popular CAD programs and start preparing your models. Its powerful FloEFD General Purpose Frontloading CFD mesher and robust convergence criteria make light work of even the most complex geometries. Evaluate the design envelope by assessing results by numerical values, graphs, visual images and animations. With FloEFD gaining insight into your designs is easy.
FloEFD for Solid Edge
CFD is no longer out of the reach of the SMB. Use the powerful combination of Solid Edge and FloEFD for Solid Edge for a complete design and CFD analysis suite. Simply create your model in Solid Edge and immediately prepare and analyze it – without any translation or fluid body creation. Since FloEFD runs directly inside Solid Edge you don’t need to learn how to use a second interface in order to use analysis. Use the powerful wizard to start the process.
Take advantage of its powerful technology including an automatic mesher and very robust solver to get real insight into how your designs will perform in real life. And understanding the impact of changes on your design is easy – simply let its compare configuration and parametric study tool to do the heavy lifting for you. With FloEFD you can create better designs, faster.
FloEFD for NX
FloEFD is a fully embedded frontloading CFD solution for Siemens NX. FloEFD for NX enables you to gain insight into and optimize complex fluid flow and heat transfer effects on your designs directly inside NX. It “looks and feels” exactly as NX. In other words, you use the same user interface for design and analysis thereby rendering CFD simply as an extension of your design process. Unlike 3rd party CFD programs, FloEFD interacts directly with the native 3D CAD data without any transfer or translation so you can keep pace with on-going design changes. It features a powerful mesher which can automatically mesh highly complex geometries. And its compare configuration and parametric study capability helps you understand how changes in the geometry or boundary conditions affect the analysis results. Lastly, you can export the results to NX NASTRAN for even more realistic structural simulation. If your organization is interested in CFD analysis, then simply add FloEFD for NX without any disruption to your current design process and start creating the digital twin.
FloEFD for Creo
Analyze and optimize complex fluid flow and heat transfer effects on your designs directly inside Creo Parametric with FloEFD for Creo – the only fully embedded frontloading CFD tool for Creo. When you’re ready to test your design, you simply go to the “Flow Analysis” menu in Creo and start preparing your model. It is that simple.
FloEFD for Creo features an intuitive user interface which uses engineering terms instead of technical jargon; therefore, you can get started quickly and focus on solving flow problems as opposed to figuring out how to use the software. And because FloEFD interacts directly with native Creo CAD data – without requiring any translation or copies – your model keeps pace with on-going design changes. In addition, its powerful mesher and robust convergence criteria make light work of even the most complex geometries. And the compare configuration and parametric study capability enables you to understand the influence of changes in the geometry or boundary conditions on the results. You can even export the results to Creo Simulate for structural simulations. In short, use FloEFD for Creo and find out how easy it is to optimize your designs quickly and effortlessly.
FloEFD for CATIA V5
Gain valuable insight into complex fluid flow and heat transfer effects on your CATIA V5 designs quickly and effortlessly with FloEFD for CATIA V5. Unlike other CFD programs, FloEFD is fully embedded into your CAD platform of choice. It interacts directly with the native 3D CAD data. Therefore, you don’t need to translate or transfer your model or learn how to use a new interface – you simply prepare your model for analysis directly inside CATIA V5.
Through a mix of intelligent automation, powerful engine and FloEFD for CATIA V5
intuitive user interface, FloEFD can make light work of analyzing even the most complex geometries. Use the compare configuration and parametric study capability inside FloEFD to understand how changes in the geometry or boundary conditions influence your designs and only advance the designs that best meet specifications. In short, if you use CATIA V5 for design, you need FloEFD for CATIA V5 – the only affordable and intuitive CFD simulation tool that fits into your design process without requiring you to change the way you design products.
