studentFLUENT Goes to College
By Shane Moeykens, studentFLUENT Product Manager
 2D simulation of vortex shedding behind a cylinder |
An interesting transition has occurred across many campuses in the US. Laptops and individual PCs have become synonymous with the hand calculators students equipped themselves with in the 70s and 80s. It is not uncommon for engineering students to be required to purchase their own PC along with text books and other school supplies.With this increase in personal computer access, students are now expressing an interest in licensing their own individual copies of software, from word processors to CFD tools, such as FLUENT. As part of this shift in software usage, some key universities in the US are downsizing computer labs from centralized campus-based facilities to individual PCs. Recognizing this trend, Fluent released studentFLUENT in September, 2005.
Initially available in North America only,studentFLUENT offers all of the advanced functionality and physical models provided by FLUENT 6.2, using a maximum cell limitation of 20,000 elements. Unlike FLUENT 6.2,studentFLUENT can be purchased directly by students for use on personal laptops. A student can setup, converge, and postprocess CFD problems away from campus-based computer facilities using this tool. All activities except geometry modeling and meshing can be performed with studentFLUENT. Students will access GAMBIT on campus or be provided geometry and mesh files by a professor for use in their class.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University(VT) decided to use studentFLUENT in the Fall 2005 Fluids-Heat Transfer Design course. This is a required class for all undergraduate mechanical engineers,and is typically offered to 250 senior-level students each year. Dr. Karen Thole, Assistant Department Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department at VT, commented “studentFLUENT provides students with a useful tool for their design projects. In addition, employers of VT students have voiced the need for BSME students to have some CFD experience.The use of studentFLUENT in a required course is vital in that it represents a modernization to the VTME curriculum; we believe this modernization will help our students gain fundamental knowledge and increased skills.
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