This international INTERDISCIPLINARY conference provides a joint forum where mathematicians, scientists, and engineers from academia, industry, and federal laboratories can communicate (exchange/assimilate) research ideas, new algorithmic and software developments, and applications involving grid generation strategies pertinent to a wide range of practical problems arising in computational field simulation.

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Here's wishing you the best in 2002.

Highlights of the Technical Committees in the CFD field include:

Applied Aerodynamics

• CFD was used in the design of a micro air vehicle optimized using a genetic algorithm. The work was sponsored by DARPA.
• NASA Glenn, Lockheed Martin, and the US Airforce Research Lab used CFD to optimize ultracompact inlet diffuser ducts.
• NASA Langley computed N-S solutions on multi-block grids for an advanced diamond wing concept. The results showed excellent agreement with data from the National Transonic Facility wind tunnel.
• NASA Ames computed high resolution solutions of a UH-60A helicopter in hover using meshes with 10.6 and 64 million grid points. In addition to providing a wealth of detailed flow field information, the results show that rotorcraft CFD simulations can provide accurate quantitative performance results as well.
• NASA's PAB3D solver was used to compute aeroacoustic solutions for round and chevron nozzles.
• ARL used FLUENT 5 to compute viscous solutions on lattice finned missiles. The article states: "Mesh generation is the challenge for this class of problems, because it is difficult to resolve the boundary layer flow around the missile body and the individual fin surfaces while keeping the model size manageable."
• A drag prediction workshop was held during the summer.

Fluent's beta test program has ensured that each new capability has been tested on a real-world industrial problem. The extensive testing performed by Fluent and their beta testers reduces the amount of validation necessary for adopters of the new code.

A new Eulerian granular model is available in FLUENT 6.0. This capability is necessary to correctly predict the behavior of solids in multiphase flows. The formulation includes the solids pressure and can accurately describe transitions in the solids phase as the packing limit is reached. The Eulerian granular model is intended for applications such as fluidized beds, risers, solids suspension, and sedimentation.

Other enhancements include dynamic load balancing for parallel simulations, new spray models including both primary and secondary atomization, VRML output, and turbo-specific post-processing on unstructured grids.

The new software also debuts moving/deforming mesh for analysis of in-cylinder engine performance as a beta capability.