by Frederic Aguile and Alain Quinqueneau, Gaz de France

How do we make our CFX models and results available to our project partners?

That was the critical question when we wrote our proposal for funding under the European Union Brite-Euram programme. In the subsequent project, called MECBURN, a consortium of a gas supplier, burner manufacturers and end users aim to develop a new generation of gas-fired industrial burners. Success depends on close collaboration between modellers and experimentalists to refine the design in the light of a detailed understanding of burner operation at different scales and thermal ratings. So good communication and easy accessibility of the models and their predictions are crucial if the benefits of CFD modelling are going to be realized.