Altair HyperWorks Virtual Wind Tunnel

HyperWorks Virtual Wind Tunnel is a vertical solution for external aerodynamics. The simplified workflow, combined with customizable automatic results reporting, ensures fast response times during the development cycle.  

Category: CAD, GIS E 3D
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What is Altair HyperWorks Virtual Wind Tunnel ?

HyperWorks Virtual Wind Tunnel is a vertical solution for external aerodynamics. The simplified workflow, combined with customizable automatic results reporting, ensures fast response times during the development cycle.

Altair's HyperWorks Virtual Wind Tunnel is a vertical application adapted for external aerodynamic studies. Designed with the needs of users, the graphical user interface provides easy access to troubleshooting and solution strategies. Automated and customizable reporting after each simulation run provides a consistent method for evaluating the project. HyperWorks Virtual Wind Tunnel integrates seamlessly with other Altair products.

Benefits

Solver CFD accurate, robust and scalable

HyperWorks VWT is powered by Altair's computational fluid dynamics solver, AcuSolve, a general purpose flow solver based on general purpose finite elements, providing fast response times, accuracy and robustness.

Designed for parallel execution on shared and distributed memory computer systems using a hybrid parallelization technique, AcuSolve provides fast and efficient transient and steady state solutions for unstructured grids and is capable of scaling a large number of computing cores.

HyperWorks VWT uses Reynolds Navier-Stokes (RANS) and Outstanding Redundancy Simulation (DES) technology to model turbulent flows and predict the flow field. DES technology combines refined RANS statistical technology to model near attached walls and boundaries layers with the ability of large swirl simulation (Les) to model the separate regions on the track behind the vehicle. Accurate external aerodynamic results are achieved for steady state simulation using the RANS approach when physics allows and transient simulation using the DES approach.

AcuSolve's fluid structure (FSI) interaction capabilities are included in vwt to support flexible component studies in an external flow field.

Rotating parts, e.g. wheels, are modeled prescribing a tangential wall speed to include rotational effects in the simulation. For automotive use cases, heat exchangers or condensers are modeled with a porous material model to consider pressure drop in components. The fluid material used during simulation is defined via density and viscosity and can be adapted to model, for example, water or air at a specific temperature.

Advanced mesh

HyperWorks VWT comes with a fast and efficient unstructured volume mesh, including boundary layer generation. User-defined volume mesh refinement zones are used to create a locally refined volume mesh to capture important flow phenomena, for example, the conveyor belt of a vehicle or building. The parameters for the layer mesh limit can be defined globally or in part, to have maximum control of the total count of elements and use refined layers only in regions where necessary. The volume mesh for an external analysis of automotive aerodynamics (including the bottom of the bodywork, the bottom compartment, and the boundary layers) is typically performed in a few hours.

Highly automated and simplified workflow process

The VWT comes with a user friendly and intuitive environment. It is a multifunctional environment in which users can import the surface mesh (watertight mesh), configure the problem, submit the simulation, and get a final report.

The configuration process is highly automated, with a minimum number of parameters and without compromising the quality of the solution. Additional controls on the various parameters are provided in the user's environment.

Simulation can be easily submitted to high-performance computing systems to streamline memory and compute-intensive tasks such as volume mesh, resolution, and post-processing.

A report containing the problem configuration, mesh statistics, and results is generated automatically after the simulation is complete. In addition, advanced CFD post-processing can be performed for the most complex and large CFD data visualization, interactively or via batch processing mode.

Resources

Pre

  • Mesh

Predefined mesh settings available, thick/medium/thin

User-defined volume refinement zones, also for individual parts

User-defined Boundary Layer (BL) parameters, globally or partially.

Delete parts of BL growth to reduce the total count of elements

Advanced BL mesh algorithms to handle complex geometry

  • Analysis configuration

Definition of rotating wheels or radiators with just a few mouse clicks

Option to move the soil of the wind tunnel

Automatic calculation of the front reference area of the vehicle

  • Solver

Based on Altair's CFD solifer, AcuSolve

Low element quality requirement

High scalability, even for low aspect ratio of mesh node/compute node

Robust fluid-structure interaction (FSI) capabilities

Transient and steady state simulation

RANS and DES turbulence modeling

  • Postprocessing

Automatic reporting containing

Summary of case configuration

Mesh statistics

Numerical results, for example, drag coefficient or y + charts

User-defined sections with contour plots

User-defined analysis points to monitor flow field progress at a specific location

System requirements:

CPU: 1.8 GHz dual core processor

RAM: 2 GB

HDD / SSD: 50 GB of free space on the main drive

Operating system: Microsoft Windows 8 32-bit, Microsoft Windows 7 32-bit and Microsoft Windows Vista 32-bit

Resolution: 1024×768

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