A New Wave in CFD

The convergence of virtual reality, parallel processing, and Internet access is enabling computational-fluid-dynamics (CFD) codes to model complex problems in the process and petroleum industries. Improved user interfaces are making it easier for non-specialists to use CFD to investigate the conditions under which flammable or poisonous gases, to investigate the conditions under which flammable or poisonous gases, for example, might build up around an oil platform. CFD rests on the sure foundation of the scientific laws that deal with mass, momentum, and energy. Engineers used CFD in the design of a coal-fired furnace whose burners produce a swirling flow, enhancing the efficiency of the combustion process. CFD codes simulate the processes in four key stages: ignition, laminar-flame propagation, turbulence generation, and turbulence-controlled combustion. The ignition process is usually represented by the sudden temperature increase of a small body of gas, such as in a single computational cell. Most CFD codes seeking to simulate explosions use variants of one of these models.