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The Fluent Suite, FIDAP, POLYFLOW, and Beyond
In mid-1996, Fluent joined forces with Fluid Dynamics International (FDI)
and Polyflow, S.A., the developers of the FIDAP and POLYFLOW software,
respectively. As we move into 1997 under a combined company identity,
the ongoing development of this expanded group of software products remains
a key part of our corporate mission. Whether you are a user of the Fluent
suite of products (FLUENT, FLUENT/UNS, RAMPANT, and NEKTON), a FIDAP user,
or a POLYFLOW user, these plans involve substantial code developments
that will add value to your investment in CFD software.
Major updates in 1997
What's in store this year for the products you use? FIDAP users will see
FIDAP8 released in 1997. Beyond a version update, FIDAP8 provides a new
foundation for future FIDAP development and is the basis of the new set
of preprocessing tools that will be common to all Fluent codes in 1997 (see
below). Users of FLUENT, FLUENT/UNS, and RAMPANT will also see an important
update in mid-1997, with extensive modeling advances. NEKTON users will
soon receive Version 3.1, with many new features for coating flow analysis.
Finally, POLYFLOW users will see several updates in 1997, with extensions
to existing features and important new modeling capabilities. Be sure to
attend the worldwide 1997 User Group Meetings for a detailed look at these
new releases (see page 16).
Geometry and Meshing:
Important Development Synergies
An important technical synergy between the Fluent and FIDAP development
teams lies in the preprocessing area. In 1997, users of FLUENT, FLUENT/UNS,
RAMPANT, NEKTON,FIDAP, and POLYFLOW will all benefit as this synergy results
in a common set of new preprocessing tools. (See article, page 8.) While
retaining support for the preprocessors our users are currently working
with, we hope to redefine the terms "fast and easy" as applied to geometry
setup and meshing!
Future products
In the longer term, Fluent's vision includes a powerful suite of software
products, accessed by our users through a common user interface. Today,
this vision is manifested in the FLUENT, FLUENT/UNS, RAMPANT, and NEKTON
suite of solvers. With the addition of FIDAP and POLYFLOW to the Fluent
suite, tomorrow's common user environment will drive two core technologies,
the finite-element method (FEM) and the finite-volume method (FVM), as the
basis for both general-purpose and application-specific codes. As users,
you won't need to be concerned with the differences between solver methods,
but you will gain from Fluent's commitment to applying the best available
method for each specific class of problem.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Will Fluent continue to develop both FLUENT and FIDAP?
A: Yes, we will retain FLUENT and FIDAP as separate products and we will
retain our expertise in the two core technologies used by these codes
(FVM and FEM). Over time, we expect substantial code sharing between the
two, with common interface and graphical display tools, for example.
Q: Will FLUENT and FIDAP both be retained as general-purpose codes?
A: Yes, the existing general purpose nature of FLUENT and FIDAP is important
to our current users and to our long- term plans for retaining strong
core solvers in the FEM and FVM technologies. Development plans for the
two codes will build on this general-purpose nature while also focusing
on the needs of specific industry or application areas.
Q: Will POLYFLOW remain a separate software package?
A: Yes, POLYFLOW will remain a separate solver, focused on its unique
expertise in polymer processing and viscoelastic modeling. Over time,
however, we expect that POLYFLOW will be accessed through the same common
user interface that is used for the Fluent and FIDAP suite of solvers.
This transition will start in 1997, as POLYFLOW users will have the option
of using the new preprocessing tools that will be common to all Fluent
software and the postprocessing environment of FIDAP8.
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