ESI Group launches CFD-ACE+ V2008.0 for advanced CFD solutions

Paris (France), 29 January 2008 – ESI Group, a leading global solutions provider in physics-based simulation software, has announced the release of Version 2008.0 of its CFD-ACE+ software platform. New features include honeycomb meshing for complex 3D geometries and new fuel-cell chemistry models that will provide faster, more realistic simulations.

Paris (France), 29 January 2008 – ESI Group, a leading global solutions provider in physics-based simulation software, has announced the release of Version 2008.0 of its CFD-ACE+ software platform. New features include honeycomb meshing for complex 3D geometries and new fuel-cell chemistry models that will provide faster, more realistic simulations.

CFD-ACE+ is the industry’s most advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and multiphysics software, enabling coupled simulations of fluid, thermal, chemical, biological, electrical and mechanical phenomena for a variety of applications across a wide range of industries.

CFD-ACE+ has been designed to be modular and expandable, which offers users the highest level of flexibility. Used by over 400 organisations worldwide, CFD-ACE+ includes state-of-the-art numerical and physical models, as well as an advanced simulation-based design environment. It also supports all modelling technologies, including multi-block structured, general polyhedral unstructured, arbitrary interfaces, and moving and deforming meshes with data links for most of the commonly used CAD, CAE and EDA data formats. With the addition of polyhedral-honeycomb technology in the CFD-GEOM application, the V2008.0 release marks a major milestone in CFD-ACE+ meshing capabilities.

“This technology produces superior quality meshes, and the better the mesh, the better the performance from the solver, both in terms of speed and convergence,” says Richard Thoms, CFD Product Manager. “Unlike other solvers on the market that were not originally designed for polyhedral meshing, CFD-ACE+ takes full advantage of an advanced solver platform and industry-leading meshing capabilities to deliver better accuracy and faster solution times.”

“We foresee a great opportunity to be the leaders in providing this new technology to anyone simulating complex 3D geometries, such as external flows for full aircraft or automotive configurations, as well as complex internal configurations like those found in process and control equipment,” he adds.

The key new enhancements to CFD-ACE+ include innovative honeycomb meshing for complex 3D geometries, which now allow any tetrahedral mesh system to be turned into a high quality polyhedral-honeycomb mesh with lower cell counts and more robust convergence, resulting in improved overall cell quality.

The addition of multi-step electro-chemistry for fuel-cell modelling utilising the full form of the Butler-Volmer equation is an industry first. Now fuel-cell developers can use simulation-based design to accurately model the effects of fuel/air starvation and optimise fuel-cell designs to avoid carbon corrosion and decay of the fuel-cell membrane electrolyte assembly (MEA).

There is also a new boundary layer meshing option allowing the creation of either highly stretched prismatic or hexahedral layers near desired surfaces prior to tetrahedral mesh generation. Using this method will minimise the number of cells and allow the proper resolution of near-wall behaviour for applications where high accuracy is needed, such as aerodynamic drag calculation and wall heat transfer.

About ESI Group ESI Group is a pioneer and world-leading supplier of digital simulation software for prototyping and manufacturing processes that take into account the physics of materials. ESI Group has developed an entire suite of coherent, industry-oriented applications to simulate a product’s behaviour realistically during testing, to fine-tune the manufacturing processes in accordance with the desired product performance, and to evaluate the environment’s impact on product usage.

ESI Group’s products, which have a proven track record in manufacturing and have been combined in multi-trade value chains, represent a unique collaborative, virtual engineering solution, known as the Virtual Try-Out Space (VTOS), enabling virtual prototypes to be improved in a continuous manner. By drastically reducing costs and development lead times, VTOS solutions offer major competitive advantages and make it possible to eliminate gradually the need for physical prototypes. This integrated protocol allows all the company’s solutions to work with each other and with applications developed by independent software vendors. By significantly reducing costs and development lead times and enabling product/process synergies, VTOS solutions progressively eliminate the need for physical prototypes during product development, thus offering major competitive advantages.

ESI Group is listed on the Eurolist compartment C of Euronext Paris, and generated sales of €66m in 2006. The company employs over 600 high-level specialists worldwide, and covers more than 30 countries.

Virtual Try-Out Space® and VTOS® are registered trademarks of ESI Group. All other products, names and companies mentioned in this press release are brands, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

For further information, please go to: www.esi-group.com