LinkedIn CFD Group Newsletter.

1. July 2008
Issue 3
L INKED I N CFD
A networking forum for CFD professionals
Membership Report Inside This Issue
Membership Report 1
As reported in previous newsletters, our group
Pointwise User Meeting 1
membership is growing rapidly. Currently, we have
Career Opportunity 1
227 members in our group. Interestingly, our Google Discussion Group 2
membership is spread across the globe as well as Upfront CFD 2
across the spectrum of fields associated with CFD. Your Input 3
Somehow we need to harness the power of this Your Help 3
group by devising a database that shows how each
member is associated with CFD and what is the
expertise of each member. Career Opportunity
Research Scientist
Pointwise User Meeting Combustion Research and Flow Technology, Inc.
(CRAFT Tech) has openings for energetic and
motivated individuals with experience in
Pointwise, Inc. is pleased to announce the
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). MS/PhD in
Pointwise User Group Meeting 2008 will be held at
mechanical/aerospace engineering preferred, BS with
the Embassy Suites Hotel in Downtown Fort Worth
at least 2 years direct experience will also be
on 5-6 November, 2008. The meeting will include
considered. U.S. citizenship is required. Backgrounds
special Pointwise and Gridgen training seminars,
in grid generation/adaptation, turbulence modeling
presentations by Pointwise staff on new product
and/or LES, DSMC, combustion and/or multi-phase
developments, exhibits by our partners, and user
flow a plus. Technical writing, presentation, and
presentations.
programming skills (Fortran, MPI) are essential.
There will be plenty of opportunities for
As a Research Scientist, you will join a rapidly growing
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) users to
small business supporting DoD agencies, NASA, and
learn about the latest Pointwise and Gridgen
prime aerospace contractors. CRAFT Tech offers a
features, get a glimpse of future developments,
stimulating work environment with excellent
and network with other CFD experts from around
opportunities for career growth, further education and
the world.
responsibility, along with an attractive benefits and
Pointwise, Inc. invites Pointwise and Gridgen users compensation package, including profit-sharing. Our
to present their work at the Pointwise User Group headquarters is located in the suburbs of Philadelphia,
Meeting. The call for papers can be viewed at PA, with a satellite office in Huntsville, AL.
www.pointwise.com/ugm/cfp.shtml. Interested parties may contact:
For more information about the Pointwise User Dr. Peter Cavallo
Group Meeting, please go to Senior Research Scientist
www.pointwise.com/ugm. (215)-766-1520; cavallo@craft-tech.com

2. Hold the email
Now, you don’t need to send another mass email to
and Inventor all came out approximately the same
the group. A Google discussion group was recently
time and have literally changed the way many
created (http://groups.google.com/group/cfdlinked)
people look at 3D modeling, in general. The first
for members that need to communicate with entire
step was to expose structural and thermal FEA to
group. Many have already joined and you can to by
the MCAD community. Products like CosmosWorks
clicking on “Apply for group membership“ on the group
and Design Space were easy to use, gave reasonably
page. This discussion group should eliminate the
accurate results, but most importantly opened the
need to send a mass email requesting help. Please
eyes of engineers to help visually drive design.
refrain from sending any mass email to the group
Some of the key areas that were affected.
and consider using the discussion group for your
1. Reducing the risk of failure
request of help. Mass email could results in
deactivation of your membership. 2. Reducing the number of prototypes
3. Reducing the cost of materials
Upfront CFD: 4. Reducing the weight of designs
5. Broadening the spectrum of innovation
CFD for the Design Engineer
All of the above applies on the fluids/heat
Historically, CFD has been a tool driven by analysts transfer side of things as well. Even more so, I
in an effort to reproduce or simulate complex fluid believe. Why? Well, it can sometimes be easier
flow and heat transfer phenomena on various 2D & to test the structural integrity of a design
3D geometry. The tight community of users has because you can build a test rig, apply loads
produced some spectacular results over the years. and visually see if it deforms or if failure occurs
But, the fact is that the adoption of CFD as a design (not in all cases, but some). Fluids are a
tool has been slow in “mainstream” organizations. different thing altogether. For example, it is
One reason is that a majority of the development difficult to see “inside” of a valve to actually
over the years has been dedicated to fine tuning visualize what is going on. How can you
the physics, solvers, meshing and maximizing improve performance and reduce the pressure
computer performance. All in an effort to solve a drop if you are not able to visualize the flow in
multitude of very specific fluid flow problems. 3D? So why is CFD not mainstream in the design
Great strides have been made by many of the community?
vendors in all of the above areas. All of the codes
have become easier to use, but the fact is most of
them are still being developed with the analyst in
mind.
It is not much different than it was in the broader
Structural FEA market. There was a time when
many people felt that the easier the product was to
use, the more you compromised accuracy. Pretty
silly to think about that now, but it was a fact a few
years ago. There was a defining moment in the
market with the explosion of the mid-range 3D Flow Traces through a Water Separator
MCAD market. Pioneers like SolidWorks, Solid Edge

3. LinkedIn CFD Upfront CFD (Cont.)
Group Manager
Kamran Fouladi
fouladi@infomec.cc There are a variety of factors, but probably the most
significant, it requires vendors to be dedicated to
Phone: developing software for the mainstream multi-
610-291-6642 tasking engineer. For example, above is an image of
a water separator that is designed in Autodesk
E-Mail: Inventor. The Design Engineer is able to take the
CFDlinked@gmail.com
native Inventor geometry into CFdeisgn, apply what
he knows and within minutes he is able to visualize
the flow patterns within the device. He then tweaks
Past issues the design in Inventor (or any MCAD product),
repeats the above and compares. He can automate
Past issues of this newsletter can be the cycle until an optimized design is reached. The
accessed at: final step is to build a prototype and validate. This
http://www.infomec.cc/news.htm process is now expanding beyond MCAD users, with
the release of products like SpaceClaim.
But, in general, this is an entire category of software
altogether. Call it what you want. It is CFD that is
Your Input done “Upfront” in the design process. It has to be
As you know, members can reach one another done in an environment that is easy to use and
individually. On the other hand, this newsletter speaks the language of the design engineer, not the
allows members to broadcast their requests, news, CFD analyst. It can surely be run by analysts but is
events, and opinions to the entire group easily and typically intended to be used as a design tool. There
effectively. Your participation is needed and are a few of us out there that are dedicated to this
appreciated. approach. Don’t take my word for it, fire up Google
Following is our current guidelines for your input: and check out for yourself.
• Inputs should be no more than 300 words Derrek Cooper
• Inputs should be in Microsoft Word format www.derrekcooper.com
• Inputs should exclude any direct sales pitch
(we don’t want to turn this into a billboard)
• Inputs can include a link to send interested
Spare a Few Minutes
readers to the full story (pitch)
Here is your chance to get more involved. Send us a
• Inputs can include one or two small images
note and let us know that you can help. More
specifically, a manager is needed to run our new
Email us at: CFDlinkedin@gmail.com
Google discussion group.
Also, let us know of your ideas to make the
LinkedIn CFD group the premier CFD networking
group.
Email us at: CFDlinkedin@gmail.com