What's New in Autodesk® Simulation CFD 2015

CAD Connections

New supported CAD and geometry file types

You can transfer geometry into Simulation CFD 2015 by directly opening a geometry or CAD file. The following formats are newly supported in Simulation CFD 2015:

  • Step
  • CATIA
  • IGES
  • Rhino 5
  • Siemens JT

For more about launching with CAD geometry files...

New Design Study Manager Workflow

When launching from a CAD system, the Design Study Manager opens to help you launch your model into a new or existing design study. The dialog box now includes separate tabs for creating a design study and for updating an existing study. When updating an existing study, you can open a study, add a design to study, or update a design with the current CAD model.

For more about the Design Study Manager...

SpaceClaim CAD Launcher

Simulation CFD supports geometry import by launching from several CAD systems. In the 2015 version, direct launch from SpaceClaim is supported. As a result, you can open a SpaceClaim model, and launch it directly into Simulation CFD by clicking the launch icon within the SpaceClaim user interface.

For more about CAD Launchers...

Updated launch ribbon in Inventor

The Inventor commands for launching into Simulation CFD are more space efficient and clear.

For more about CAD Launchers...

Inventor Fusion available for download

Autodesk Inventor Fusion is a useful tool for preparing CAD geometry for simulation. Previously, Simulation CFD included Fusion, but for 2015, it is available as a separate download.

Autodesk® Inventor Fusion is recommended for launching models from several CAD systems including Pro/Engineer Wildfire 3 and earlier versions, One Space Designer, and Solid Edge.

For more about Fusion...

User Interface

Improved Design Study bar collapse/expand behavior

The branches of the Design Study bar now expand and contract in a more logical, user-friendly manner. When you modify the tree state by expanding or contracting branches, these changes persist until you modify the tree again.

For more about the Design Study bar...

Italian language support

The User Interface is now available in Italian.

Control visibility from context toolbar

In the setup modes, you can hide an object by left clicking it, and clicking the Hide icon on the context toolbar. If multiple items are selected, clicking the Hide icon hides all selected items. To show all items, left click off the model, and click the Show all icon from the context toolbar.

For more about the context toolbar...

Right mouse button context menu updates

To determine the active selection type, right click and view the selection mode on the context menu.

To make the Hide and Show all commands easier to find on the right-click context menu, icons are shown on the menu.

For more about the right-click menus...

Start & Learn tab updates

The Learning Map command on the Start & Learn tab is now Learning Path, matching the terminology used in the Simulation Learning Paths.

The Options command is now on the Launch panel. Use this command to customize the user interface to suit your work habits and working environment.

For more about the Start & Learn tab...

Geometry tools dialog box updates

The titles of the angular position indicators on the External volume tab of the Geometry tools dialog box received slight updates to improve clarity. The Pitch Angle, Yaw Angle, and Roll Angle are now +X Angle, +Y Angle, and +Z Angle, respectively. A positive value indicates positive direction rotation about the indicated axis.

For more about the External Volume Geometry tool...

Spatially variable boundary conditions

You can now define velocity and temperature boundary conditions that vary across a dimension of the applied surface. This functionality is useful for simulating a known velocity or temperature profile caused by phenomena or equipment located upstream of, but not included in, the simulation model. Examples include:

  • The velocity distribution at the inlet of a wind tunnel produced by upstream equipment such as a diffuser or flow guides.
  • The velocity profile at the inlet of a city scape simulation - essential for accurately predicting wind shear.
  • The flow and temperature gradients produced by neighboring components of an electronic module in a data center.

Variable boundary conditions are defined over a single dimension of the applied surface with a Piecewise Linear table. You can specify the data points (value vs. dimension along the specified variable direction) or import a ".csv" file containing the data.

For more about spatially varying boundary conditions...

Meshing

Adaptive Meshing enhancements

Mesh Adaptation now accounts for more flow phenomena:

  • Free shear layers
  • Compressible shocks
  • Heat producing parts

These improvements serve to improve solution accuracy. There are several new options on the Adaptation tab of the Solve dialog box.

For more about Adaptive Meshing...

Enhancement Blending option

By default, the element size transition between the mesh enhancement region and the adjacent mesh is instantaneous - from highly anisotropic to isotropic. The Enable enhancement blending option on the Boundary Mesh Enhancement dialog box causes a more gradual transition in this region.

A more gradual transition can improve solution stability and accuracy in certain simulations, especially simulations featuring the new turbulence models.

For more about Mesh Enhancement...

Refinement Region dialog box updates

The titles of the angular position indicators received slight updates to improve clarity. The Pitch Angle, Yaw Angle, and Roll Angle are now +X Angle, +Y Angle, and +Z Angle, respectively. A positive value indicates positive direction rotation about the indicated axis.

For more about mesh refinement regions...

Simulation Capabilities

Two-Phase Mixtures

In addition to the previously included steam tables, several new materials now have thermodynamics tables included for use with the Simulation CFD phase change capabilities. You can also define and include your own custom thermodynamic tables in your simulations. These tables provide the capability to simulate the thermodynamic phase change in materials such as refrigerants and user-defined materials. The phase change computational algorithms are now more robust, accurate, and achieve better mass and energy balance.

For more about two-phase mixtures...

Heat Sinks

Many electronic assemblies contain highly detailed, physically complex heat sinks that are necessary for proper thermal management throughout the system. Modeling these heat sinks, especially within the context of a complex system, has proven to be time consuming and resource intensive.

The introduction of the heat sink material device addresses this problem. The heat sink material device approximates the flow and thermal characteristics of several different types of heat sinks using a simple ("lumped") geometric model. You define the material properties and geometric characteristics of your heat sink, and Simulation CFD uses correlations to simulate the effects of the heat sink.

For more about heat sink devices...

Joule heating for surface parts

Joule heating in and across surface parts now delivers a more realistic temperature distribution. The improved distribution extends the Joule heating capability to include resistance heating in both solid parts and surface parts.

For more about Joule heating...

Intelligent wall function for k-epsilon turbulence model

Intelligent Wall Formulation (IWF), introduced to the SST k-omega turbulence models in Simulation CFD 2014, is a scalable wall formulation that enhances stability and accuracy. For Simulation 2015, IWF now provides improved convergence and accuracy with the k-epsilon turbulence model.

For more about the k-epsilon turbulence model...

Wall roughness for SST turbulence model

The SST turbulence model can solve wall roughness, as prescribed in the material definition. To use it, however, disable the Intelligent Wall Formulation for the SST turbulence models. The wall roughness model works for k-epsilon with and without IWF enabled.

For more about the SST turbulence model...

Results Visualization

Report generator

The Report Generator makes it easy to share your results and communicate your findings. After your simulation has run, click the Report Generator command in the Results tab. You can customize the content of the report to include the items of interest. Further you can select which simulations from the design study are included.

For more about the Report generator...

Vector Settings control on Planes context menu

To make it easier to control vectors while viewing results, the Vector Settings command is now a primary control on the Planes context ribbon.

For about results planes...

Interoperability--Pressure mapping to Simulation Mechanical

You can now map pressure results from your Simulation CFD analysis to boundary conditions for mechanical stress analyses in Autodesk® Simulation Mechanical. After completing your analysis in Simulation CFD, launch the CAD model in Simulation Mechanical. Assign settings to define the stress analysis, and select the Simulation CFD design study file as the pressure source.

For more about mapping results...

Video Presentation: Simulation CFD 2015 Overview Hangout

This video is a recording of a Simulation Support "Hangout" in which the new features contained in Simulation 2015 are described and demonstrated. A short question and answer session follows.