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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

The Importance of Computational Fluid Mechanics in Engineering and Science Applications

Especially in the last decade, there have been great advancements in almost all branches of sciences and engineering. Most experts would agree that the advent of computers and the internet has contributed to this a lot, since designing and analyzing any kind of a system has become more easier then ever. With various computer aided design tools, it is possible to design any component in 3D and analyze it under realistic conditions without producing that particular component. Moreover, through the use of internet, any data and analysis can be shared by colleagues all across the world. One branch of engineering that has benefited from these prospects above is definitely computational fluid dynamics.

With computational fluid dynamics, it is possible to analyze the flow of any type of fluid over any solid object. Through computational fluid dynamics, you can analyze the flow over any aerospace craft or over any ground vehicle. Especially in Aerospace engineering as well as in automotive design engineering, the usage of CFD or Computational Fluid Dynamics has become more important than ever. By using CFD techniques, you can create a virtual laboratory and replicate the flow conditions of the flow over the solid body. For example, especially in the development of the Formula 1 race cars, the usage of computational fluid dynamics has become more important than ever. Of course, computational fluid dynamics can be used to analyze any vehicle in any flow situation including ships as well as submarines.

Naturally, the prospect of CFD goes far beyond the examples given above. For instance, in mechanical engineering, the analysis of any parts that is in contact with a fluid or a lubricant is also analyzed by using CFD. Moreover, many combustion systems in chemical engineering as well as in process design engineering can be analyzed fully by using CFD techniques.

Of course, CFD is not just about calculation of the properties, but it is also about visualization of the system in operation as well. This has become a very important point, as many CFD engineers in medical fields have helped doctors improve their surgical techniques by creating a visualization of blood flow in various organs in the body. Thus, the scope of computational fluid dynamics touches almost all branches of science and engineering to some aspect. Many engineers and scientists can become proficient in CFD by taking graduate level education in that field or they can undergo special training in special visualization, grid generation and computational programming techniques which are required for CFD.

 By Dr. Ugur Guven

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