A Major Step Forward in CAD Integration

This May, Fluent released the first significant upgrade to its third-generation preprocessor, GAMBIT. The GAMBIT 1.1 release is a major step forward in the areas of CAD translation and automatic geometry cleanup. A new IGES translator greatly improves GAMBIT's handling of complex trimmed surfaces and adds support for solid entities from I-DEAS and other systems. New "healing" technology can often automatically reconstruct solid geometry models within GAMBIT after importing IGES surfaces. We have also added a new "virtual cleanup" capability that can be invoked during IGES import to automatically repair CAD models with large tolerances.

Despite their recent release, these improved CAD integration tools are already producing excellent results on complicated models from leading CAD systems such as Pro/ENGINEER, Unigraphics, and I-DEAS. GAMBIT 1.1 also represents Fluent's first step toward direct integration with major CAD systems.

"I'd guess the modeling job alone (not meshing) was about five times easier with GAMBIT 1.1. Meshing took virtually no work on my part and I got about as good of a mesh as I've seen. I was able to turn around results for the client very quickly & GAMBIT is very well laid out. Once you understand a few concepts, you can move forward very efficiently. "

Mark S. Bohn, Rentech, Inc.

Pro/ENGINEER part files can now be selected for direct import via VRML, a geometry format popular on the World Wide Web. This is the beginning of a major initiative that plans to deliver direct, seamless access to geometry from all major CAD systems. The GAMBIT 1.1 release incorporates numerous other enhancements, including import of Optegra Visualizer geometry files and PLOT3D mesh files, extended functionality for GAMBIT's flexible virtual geometry, and performance improvements in many areas. GAMBIT 1.1 is available via ftp download and on CD-ROM. Contact your local Fluent representative for downloading instructions or to request a CD-ROM. You'll find the improvements in GAMBIT 1.1 well worth your efforts!

"A significant reason I use GAMBIT 1.1 is because I can import my geometry from Pro/E. We're analyzing drill bits, which typically have several hundred faces to mesh. It would be a detriment to our program if we had to rebuild the geometry from scratch. I really like the flexibility of GAMBIT meshing and the capacity to refine, tailor, and examine the mesh. This has enabled us to reduce the element count on our problems and at the same time, get a better solution. Using GAMBIT 1.1 has definitely advanced our analysis capabilities."

Dwayne Terracina, Smith Tool International

Racing two-valve port and chamber model in I-DEAS Master Series 6A, courtesy of Ford R&VT Racing.

The same model, imported with GAMBIT's new IGES translator.

Geometry modifications, such as subtracting the valve from the chamber, are easily done after importing the geometry.

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