CFD FAQ

ESI is proud to announce the Release of the V2011.0 ACE+ Suite of CFD and Multiphysics software. This release comes just over a year after our last major release, and includes many new features that our customers have requested. We welcome and encourage all of our customers to download and use the latest version of our software.

Included in the V2011.0 release are significant updates to:

• CFD-ACE+ - Advanced CFD and Multiphysics Solver
• CFD-FASTRAN - CFD Physics Solver for high-speed flows
• CFD-GEOM - Geometry Modeler and Mesh Generator
• CFD-VisCART - Cartesian Mesh Generator
• CFD-VIEW - Solution Analysis and Visualization Tool

Enhancements have been made to increase usability, robustness and accuracy, and we are sure that this new version will make for a worthwhile upgrade to your CFD/Multiphysics toolset. In addition, V2011.0 marks the beginning of ACE+ Suite support on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 platform.

We are also pleased to announce that ACE+ Suite V2011.0 is Intel® Cluster Ready! This release meets the Intel Cluster Ready specifications and has passed the tests of the Intel® Cluster Checker.

The remainder of this note gives you some information about the V2011.0 software release. Please read on to learn more about the updates, and let us know if you have any comments or questions.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are running V2010.x or earlier software versions, then you may require a new license to run V2011.x versions! ESI licensing policy requires licensing to the version of the software. This means that if you currently have a V2010.x (or earlier) license, you will need to replace it with a V2011.x license. These are available upon request from your ESI license or sales representative. If you are not sure who that is, you should contact support.cfd@esi-group.com. Please include your existing license file for the quickest service. Note that if you already have a V2011.x license, no action is required.

V2011.0 Release Highlights

As with previous releases, there are many improvements to features, performance, and robustness. Below is a short bullet list of some of the top reasons why you should consider upgrading to V2011.0. For a more detailed description of the new and improved features, please consult the Release Notes document, which can be found in the Knowledge Base section of the ESI CFD Portal (login required).

CFD-ACE+ V2011.0

• Enhanced CAFVM Discrete Ordinate Method for Radiation
• Improved Plasma Implementation with Wave Effects
• Improved Linear Solver and Preconditioner Choices
• Improved Domain Decomposition Efficiency
• Generalized Gradient and Divergence Calculation Options (Green-Gauss, Least-Squares)
• New VOF Boussinesq Approximation
• New Full Anisotropic Material Support
• New Plasma User Subroutine Options
• Several application-oriented additions
• Additional CCP Output (Plasma)
• New Gas Species Mole Fraction Output
• New Gas Phase Reaction Mechanism for Ar/NF3 Mixtures

CFD-FASTRAN V2011.0

• New Compressibility Corrections for Turbulence Models

CFD-GEOM V2011.0

• Newly Supported Surface Topologies (including non-manifold topologies)
• New Advanced Trimming Tool
• New Boundary Layer Meshing Option
• Improved Boundary Layer Robustness
• New Discrete Surface Meshing Options
• New Discrete Surface Creation from Outlines
• Extension of Honeycomb Meshing to 2D Geometries
• Improved CAD Import Performance and Options
• Improved Advancing Front Triangle Meshing
• Improved IGES Reader
• Improved Performance of Several Existing Tools
• New “Tip of the Day” Dialog

CFD-VisCART V2011.0

• Enhanced Boundary Layer Generation Capability
• Boundary Layer Support in Parallel Mode
• Boundary Layer Generation on Thin-Walls
• New Local Thickness Boundary Layer Growing Method
• New Cancel Mesh Generation Feature
• New Preservation Option for Coplanar and Intersecting Patches
• New Cylindrical Bounding Box
• New Suppress Option for Surfaces, Domains, Sources and Gaps
• New Mesh Extrusion Feature
• Extended and Enhanced Refine Cells Near High Curvature Option
• New Domain Marker Positioning Option
• Reduced VGD File Size

CFD-VIEW V2011.0

• Extended Cell-Center Data Visualization
• Support for Calculator, Simple Lines, MinMax Probe and Carpet Plot
• New Option to Snap Probes to Closest Grid Node
• New Logarithmic Colormap
• Improved Truetype Font Support for Headless CFD-VIEW
• Improved Legend

V2011.0 Installation

The 2011.0 software can be installed with existing 2010.0 or earlier software directories. You will continue to be able to use old and new versions of the software, which will allow as much time as needed for transition. However, as only V2011.0 will be supported moving forward, you should use V2011.0 to get access to future software issue resolutions and feature improvements. Step-by-step instructions for the download and installation of V2011.0 software can be found in the Getting Started Guide (located in the Knowledge Base - login required).

Regards,
ESI CFD Team