STAR-DESIGN V4.04 RELEASED
12 January 2007 - NAFEMS

In the design cycle: Specifically designed for use within the design cycle, STAR-Design has a number of features that enable quick but accurate “what-if” design evaluations on product performance. These include:

* Parametric geometry handling;
* Associative model set-up, changing the geometry does not require redefinition of the problem;
* Engineering data output;
* Post-processing templates for easy comparison between designs;
* Efficient and accurate polyhedral meshing; and
* CD-adapco’s industry leading CFD technology.

Geometry control without CAD: Many CFD engineers rely on CAD engineers to provide geometry definitions, without geometry control themselves. STAR-Design’s easy-to-use parametric geometry modeling and geometry import allows CFD engineers to directly create and manage geometry for simulation.

Leading CFD technology: STAR-Design utilizes the industry leading CFD technology behind STAR-CD and STAR-CCM+. These tried, tested and trusted CFD codes have been chosen by thousands of engineers worldwide, across every industry sector. By utilizing this technology and applying CFD best practices, STAR-Design users gain easy-to-use CFD insight without compromising accuracy.

No PhD required: STAR-Design’s intuitive interface allows engineers who are not CFD specialists, or who are occasional users, to rapidly gain insight by easily accessing industrial-strength CFD.

“Engineers and analysts need tools that enable them to carry out parametric “what-if” studies with enhanced automation,” says Jean-Claude Ercolanelli, CD-adapco’s Product Manager for STAR-Design. ” STAR-Design has already met the needs of design engineers and CFD experts alike and it continues to add value to design processes across all industries.”

STAR-Design is available on Windows (32-bit), Linux and UNIX (32- and 64-bit platforms).

Eberspächer and Fluent Developing CFD Technology to Design Automotive Diesel Filters

Fluent Inc. and J. Eberspächer GmbH & Co. KG, a leading German automotive parts manufacturer, have announced a joint collaboration to develop a diesel particulate filter simulation tool. This new tool will allow companies to computationally design and optimise particulate filters in passenger car and truck applications with respect to soot loading and regeneration behavior for a filter's projected full lifecycle before it is even manufactured.

Increasingly, people in urban landscapes are experiencing deleterious health effects resulting from prolonged exposure to microscopic dust particles, especially particulates coming from the increasing numbers of diesel powered trucks and cars on our roads. The current generation of particulate filters are effective within domestic diesel cars and are very good at reducing particulate emissions. However, a rising demand for improvements in filter designs is being demanded by governmental agencies especially with respect to their regeneration behavior during normal cyclic operating conditions out on the street. Parallel to this growing need to improve the increasing number of diesel filters in our cities, manufacturers have identified a need for a software prediction tool to assess the behavior of such filters in the early design phase. Ideally, they want to take into account the condition of a given car's exhaust, the mileage of the car, its filter size and its filter shape in a flow modeling tool.

Fluent Deutschland GmbH, based in Darmstadt , Germany , and Eberspächer have generated a combined 3D/1D modeling tool, using the popular FLUENT CFD code and MATLAB TM from Mathworks Inc., to calculate diesel filter soot distribution, pressure, and regeneration under any operating condition. Eberspächer's MATLAB based diesel filter tool simulates 1D channels during loading and regeneration and then because it is closely coupled with FLUENT's 3D CFD flow modeling datasets it can simulate a complete diesel filter's behavior for local particulate buildup and regeneration over time. This modelling approach can allow for the effects of non-uniform filter inlet flow conditions in a particular car to be simulated thus permitting an assessment of the soot distribution inside. A custom filter design that prevents damaging soot build up can then be determined in the computer before it is manufactured.

A further requirement to a filter's design that the software tool provides is the ability to predict the local soot oxidation as the filter is exposed to regeneration under different driving conditions. The filter's loading behavior after partial regeneration when it has experienced different types of driving cycles is of special interest to manufacturers, and that too can be predicted using the tool. This diesel filter design tool can simulate both a clean filter as well as a loaded filter after the car experiences high mileage. In the latter case effects like ash deposits (resulting both from oil ash or ash from fuel additives) can be considered.

Dr. Gerd Gaiser, Director Pre-Development Exhaust Technology of Eberspächer, comments on this tool, "The software resulting from this cooperation allows us to design optimum filter geometries with regard to soot loading distributions and the avoidance of partial regenerations even under difficult design conditions. The ability to predict the local regeneration behavior and thereby avoid excessive local temperatures is a major requirement for the design of diesel filters consisting of less expensive but more temperature sensitive material."

Werner Seibert, Global Automotive Segment Manager for Fluent Inc., sees this modeling tool as a significant step forward. "Our collaboration with Eberspächer has produced a unique design methodology that I believe will transform the design process for complex automotive diesel filters. The net effect will be a new tool to improve filter design and thereby reduce particulate emissions at the early design stage which should lead to an improved environment for everyone."

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