New USA Offices in Silicon Valley and Detroit

July marked the opening of a new Fluent office in Santa Clara, California, underlining Fluent's commitment to CFD modeling in the electronics and semiconductor industries. Staffed by technical leaders of the IcePak software business, the new office provides local support and training for customers on the West Coast.

Plans are also underway for the opening of a regional office in Ann Arbor, MI, to be staffed by members of Fluent's automotive industry team. Expected to open during January 1998, the Ann Arbor location will allow the support team to be in even closer contact with our many automotive clients in Detroit and throughout the midwest.

Fluid-Solid Multiphase Workshop Held

Over 30 current and future CFD users attended a workshop in October on multiphase fluid-particle flows, co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Federal Energy Technology Center (FETC) and Fluent. The workshop presented the underlying physics of dense phase flow models, emphasizing their appropriate range of application and showing examples of practical systems ranging from fluidized beds to pneumatic transport. Participants also had a chance to develop and execute a multiphase simulation, using FLUENT, and to discuss applications of individual interest.

The workshop was associated with the new CRADA (Cooperative Research And Development Agreement) between Fluent and FETC, which is focused on validation and optimization of numerical models for multiphase CFD modeling of industrial applications.

Solids concentration in a riser. Gas-solid flow modeling successes were highlighted at the recent Fluent/FETC workshop.

Year 2000 Compliance

"Year 2000" software problems have been big news as the millennium approaches, primarily affecting two-digit date/time functions used in the business or financial domains. At Fluent, work is underway to certify that our software will be free of Year 2000 problems.

Fluent's software does include functions that are date-sensitive, for example the license management software and functions that record the date in files and graphical output. However, our license management software (FlexLM) already deals with the Year 2000 change, and internal date functions in our software are not limited to two-digit representations of the year. Hence, problems are not anticipated. Verification of zero Year 2000 errors, through specific testing, is now underway and all 1998 and later releases will be certified free of Year 2000 problems.

Windows NT Parallel Initiative

Working with our partners such as Compaq Computer Company, Intel, Hewlett-Packard and others, Fluent has begun work to demonstrate multiprocessor scaling of FLUENT/UNS and RAMPANT on multiple CPU Intel architecture machines running Windows NT. Slated for introduction in 1998, the implementation utilizes MPI-style message passing and will also be scalable across networked compute nodes.

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