The announcement follows an initiative by french group issued from a summer school in july 2005. All participants, organizations and laboratories, even from non-European countries, are welcome. The subscription is totally free.

Any assistance is appreciated, thanks.
David Dunavant"

The combination of Fluent's and ANSYS' software products and services is expected to give ANSYS one of the most complete, independent engineering simulation software offerings in the industry, reaffirming and strengthening ANSYS' commitment to open interface and flexible simulation solutions that are primarily driven by customer demand and choice. With over 40 direct sales offices and 17 development centers, on three continents, the combined company will employ approximately 1,350 people.

"We are very excited about the industry leading technologies that Fluent adds to ANSYS' simulation capabilities," said James Cashman, President and CEO of ANSYS. "Both companies have a strong commitment to their customers and employees and share a passion for the development of innovative products and services and a history of world-class execution. This combination will strengthen these values and will allow us to better serve our customers by accelerating delivery of comprehensive, customer-driven engineering simulation solutions and by enabling us to provide high quality support throughout the world."

The positive displacement pump used to power hydraulic-assisted steering is one of the main noise sources in an automotive steering system. DHB Componentes Automotivos, a manufacturer of steering systems for automotive and marine applications located in Brazil, is using ANSYS CFX software to analyze and understand the flow behavior within their pumps.

Customers are now looking for cars with very low noise levels. As engines are improved for quiet operation, noise from other areas such as the steering system is becoming more and more apparent. Noise level is now the first requirement analyzed when an automotive manufacturer selects a hydraulic steering system.

A troubling statistic from the survey quoted in the article is that:

the survey revealed low adoption rates of industry standard formats like STEP and IGES. Though these neutral formats were created specifically to facilitate the exchange of disparate CAD models, only 19 percent of the respondents reported using either of them.

As a result, the engineers surveyed had developed their own solutions for dealing with the problem which includes exchanging PDF files and rapid prototypes rather than CAD models.

The effect of mesh skew on accuracy and convergence was observed. Fourteen operating speeds were simulated from 1000-7500rpm at 500rpm increments.