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Editor's Note

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Fluent News Spring 2006 - Flexible Fliers

THE TERM "MULTIPHYSICS" has been a part of simulation engineers' vocabulary for some time. It describes any situation where two or more physical phenomena are coupled together. Often, the term is used to describe simulations that involve both fluid and structural mechanics, such as fluid-structure interaction (FSI). During the past few years, we have run stories on FSI in Fluent News and in the current issue, several stories are featured that illustrate different approaches to this difficult engineering problem. The articles cover applications ranging from aerospace to healthcare. Most describe tightly coupled interactions between CFD and structural solvers and one illustrates the use of MpCCI (Mesh-based parallel Code Coupling Interface, from Fraunhofer SCAI) to manage the coupled calculation. Not all such applications are tightly coupled however, and the Support Corner describes a tool, based on user-defined functions in FLUENT, that can be used to transfer data between fluid and structural solvers for loosely coupled interactions.