FLUENT(r) 6.0  is Released

Fluent Inc.'s Flagship CFD Software's Newest Version is Tuned to the
Challenges of the Aerospace Industry

December 17, 2001, Lebanon, New Hampshire...Fluent Inc., world's leading
computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software provider, announces the
release of FLUENT 6.0. This major new offering from Fluent contains
specific features geared to the accurate simulation of common aerospace
engineering challenges, such as flow-induced noise, engine cooling,
anti-icing, and turbine engine modeling. Major leaps forward in overall
ease-of-use put this CFD code in a class by itself in its ability to
work efficiently and integrate with the rest of the design and analysis
desktop.

This release underwent extensive testing on thorny industrial-strength
engineering problems to validate its out-of-the-box applicability to the
problems of many industries, including aerospace. "We were able to test
the non-reflecting boundary conditions and partially premixed combustion
model - both new to FLUENT 6.0. Overall, we felt that this new version
of the code will address many issues which are important to
turbomachinery design," says Dr. Peter Flohr of ALSTOM Power Ltd.,
Switzerland. "Additionally, the new features in turbulence modeling are
the result of the remarkable technical advances to FLUENT 6.0," says
Rolls-Royce, Germany.

Integration Means Lower Cost-of-Ownership
CFD is a useful tool in its own right, but when it is well-integrated
with the design process, its ability to save design costs and reduce
design time is greatly enhanced. The software allows for nonconformal
walls and periodics, which make it possible to easily model zones where
heat is transferred between solids and fluids, such as in rocket engines
and cooling systems for a variety of devices including rocket engine
nozzles and turbine blades. This feature is also applicable to the
modeling of anti-icing systems for aircraft, and simplifies the meshing
process overall for faster turnaround time. Improvements to FLUENT 6.0's
modeling tool, GAMBIT(r) 2.0, make for robust geometry transfer from CAD
packages.

From UAV's to Gas Turbine Combustion
Improvements in many of the physical models in FLUENT 6.0 enable the
user to model certain geometries and phenomena in greater detail and
with more accuracy. A feature for modeling flow-induced noise lets
engineers consider the effects of airframe noise, like that produced by
landing gear. New models for looking at sprays and detailed chemical
kinetics allow for more accurate study of nonequilibrium phenomena in
gas turbine combustion. Enhancements to turbulence models have
applicability to study of the aerodynamics of unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAV's) and enable more accurate calculation of the losses in gas
turbine engines due to the clearance between the blade and the shroud.

With respect to turbomachinery modeling, FLUENT 6.0 has made a major
step forward. Its unstructured technology offers unparalleled geometric
fidelity for modeling rotating machinery, and its versatility makes it
possible for the engineer to include detailed turbomachinery results in
a complete system analysis, which also considers combustion, supersonic
flows, and other phenomena. Turbomachinery-specific panels let the user
easily calculate key integral quantities and examine meridional,
pitchwise and spanwise cuts. A specialized turbomachinery preprocessing
tool, G/Turbo(tm), is also available from Fluent for doing fast,
automated turbomachinery model set-up.

Fast
FLUENT's ability to scale well for parallel processing has been head and
shoulders above other general purpose CFD software, and this position is
further advanced with the new version, where automatic partitioning,
dynamic load balancing and other advanced features enable users to
easily adapt FLUENT to a wide variety of multiprocessor configurations.
FLUENT 6.0 offers a new set of options for postprocessing and
visualization, such as automatic generation of animations, and results
can be output in VRML format, which enables the user to send
three-dimensional images of results across the Web for remote viewing,
where the receiver can change views, zoom in/out, and rotate the image.

Pricing and Availability
FLUENT 6.0 is available on UNIX, NT, and Linux platforms. It is provided
at no additional cost to all current FLUENT users who have chosen to
purchase upgrades along with their FLUENT license. FLUENT license fees
are determined by the number of processes that a user requires. 
Annual license fees include unlimited technical support.

About Fluent
Fluent is the world's largest provider of computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) software and consulting services. Fluent's software is used for
simulation, visualization, and prediction of fluid flow, heat and mass
transfer, and chemical reactions. It is a vital part of the
computer-aided engineering (CAE) process for companies around the world
and in almost every manufacturing industry. Using Fluent's software,
product development, design and research engineers build virtual
prototypes and simulate the performance of proposed and existing
designs, which helps them to optimize, troubleshoot, scale-up, and
retrofit. Use of CFD software reduces time-to-market by reducing the
need for costly physical testing and prototyping.

Fluent's corporate headquarters are located in Lebanon, New Hampshire,
USA. Fluent's European headquarters are located in Sheffield, England,
with local offices in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Sweden.
Fluent's Asia Pacific headquarters are located in Tokyo, Japan. Its CFD
software is also available around the world through joint ventures,
partnerships, and distributors in Korea, Australia, Brazil, China,
Taiwan, the Czech Republic, Middle East, and most European countries.

Fluent is a subsidiary of Aavid Thermal Technologies Inc. Additional
information on Fluent's products can be obtained on the World Wide Web
at www.fluent.com or by e-mailing info@fluent.com. More information on
Aavid Thermal Technologies is available at www.aavid.com.

FLUENT(r) and GAMBIT(r) are registered trademarks of Fluent Inc.
G/Turbo(tm) is a trademark of Fluent Inc.

For more information, contact: Jennifer Correa Fluent Inc. 10 Cavendish
Court Lebanon, NH 03766 (603) 643-2600 Ext. 668 jrc@fluent.com