Product News CFD and CAE Software - STAR-CCM+, STAR-CD, STAR-CAD Series

Jean Claude Ercolanelli, VP of Product Management, CD-adapco

 

READ THE ARTICLES: STAR-CCM+ V2.10 Article STAR-CCM+ V3.02 Article STAR-CD V4.04 Article STAR-CAD Series V4.14 Article

During November 2007 CD-adapco announced three major product releases, firstly STAR-CCM+ V2.10 and the STAR-CAD Series V4.14 were released, closely followed by STAR-CD Version 4.04.

The release of major new versions of all three product lines is testimony to the CD-adapco’s Power of Integration, a common theme running through all of our products: STAR-CCM+ offers a single integrated process from 3D-CAD geometry to the CFD solution; STAR-CD provides an integrated platform for flow, thermal and stress analysis and the STAR-CAD Series integrates industrial strength flow and thermal technology into CAD and PLM environments.

The release of new versions of all our products required an integrated effort across the whole of CD-adapco, and demonstrates commitment at every level towards delivering the best-in-class CAE technology for our users and partners.

The concerted rate of product development continues with the arrival of STAR-CAD series and STAR-CCM+ V3.02 and the impending release of STAR-CD 4.06.

 

STAR-CCM+
The November release brought STAR-CCM+ version 2.10 and an extensive list of new features, the most significant being the addition of the Lagrangian multiphase capability to add to the existing free surface models. From calculating the impact of rain droplets on the windscreen of a car to predicting the erosive effect of small particles of sand carried in an oil pipeline, the Lagrangian models allow users to simulate the transport of solid particles, liquid droplets or bubbles of gas by a background fluid.

Beyond the addition of physical models within STAR-CCM+, version 2.10 also added significant improvements in pre and post processing. These included the addition of the extruder mesh model allowing the extension of the solution domain through boundary extrusion, Boolean operations on both regions and boundaries helping to prepare geometries for meshing in record time as well as general improvements to all the meshing models. From a post-processing point of view the addition of animation and constrained sections helped to bring your results to life.

Maintaining the demanding four monthly release schedule, the newly arrived STAR-CCM+ V3.02 introduces innovative capabilities at every stage of the workflow process and further reinforces its competitive advantages: single integrated user environment, surface preparation and meshing, physics modeling and improved parallel performance across all platforms. Among the new functionalities, STAR-CCM+ features a new “automatic surface repair” function, an enhancements to the Boolean operations that allow the merging and “imprinting” of surface regions and extended extruder options. STAR-CCM+ V3.02 also introduces K-E-SST-DES turbulence modeling as well as a new model for simulating heat exchangers and improvements in parallel radiation capabilities.

For turbomachinery applications, STAR-CCM+ V3.02 now includes a dedicated environment for guiding the user effortlessly through the import, setup, meshing, running and post processing of a single or multiple stage turbine or compressor, preparing a high quality mesh and all boundary conditions for analysis. With the addition of explicit mixing planes for unequal pitch rotors, recently released in versions 2.10 and extended in 3.02, STAR-CCM+ provides you with the tools necessary for complete turbine analyses in a single integrated environment.

 

STAR-CD
With the release of Version 4.04, STAR-CD reinforced its position as the leading CAE code for engineering problems involving complex multi-physics. Including a newly re-written version of pro-STAR, STAR-CD V4.04 incorporates the STAR-CCM+ meshing technology, allowing users to automatically create high quality tetrahedral, polyhedral and trimmed cell meshes and granting pro-STAR users the benefits of the latest generation of surface wrapping technology.

STAR-CD V4.04 includes an enhanced liquid film capability, which is being expanded for V4.06 with stripping and re-entrainment capabilities, and the S-Gamma model, which accounts for varying droplet and bubble sizes in Eulerian two-phase calculations. Integration with other codes also continues with a new MpCCI interface to ABAQUS and the introduction of pro-STAR tools to align, map and export data directly.

Future releases of STAR-CD will continue to consolidate and enhance multiphysics capabilities, while introducing extended and validated engine modeling capabilities as well as continuing improvements in parallel performance helping users better utilize their computer clusters.

 

STAR-CAD Series
Now released alongside every new version of STAR-CCM+, the STAR-CAD series continues to integrate the power of the full
STAR-CCM+ solver into native CAD and PLM environments. Available on both 32bit and 64bit windows XP and for the latest version of your CAD software, improvements are driven entirely by our customers’ needs. From version 3.02 onwards the STAR-CAD Series will adopt the STAR-CCM+ version numbering, reflecting the integrated nature of the two packages.

Engineering data reporting has been extensively enhanced, allowing more effective communication of results to decision makers, ultimately reducing testing and production costs. Users of STAR-CAT5 are also able to use CATIA V5 sensors to monitor their solutions from within the CFD environment. CATIA sensors are designed to be shared by any CATIA module and 3rd party partner component. Users will be able to create CATIA parameters which can be used, for instance, within
optimization loops, the CATIA formula editor will add data together and allow to create derived engineering parameters like pressure drop, temperature difference, etc.

Along with continual improvements in robustness and usability, a greater range of boundary conditions are now available with rotation available at inlets and on walls. The release of 3.02 also saw the first introduction of the state of the art STAR-CCM+ meshing technology within the CAD tools, with the surface mesher now integrated helping to created high quality polyhedral meshing.