Current status of CFD codes - possibilities, limitations, current developments and future trends

Single and multiphase flows occur in many industrial processes. Reliable predictions on flow characteristics are necessary for the design, process optimization and safety analysis of related apparatuses and processes. Experimental investigations are expensive and in most cases not transferable to modified geometries or different scales and flow conditions. For this reason there is a strong requirement for numerical tools. With the use of modern multiprocessor machines, application areas are expected to broaden, and progress to accelerate. Accompanying this drive forwards is a need to establish quality and trust in the predictive capabilities of the codes, and, as a consequence of open public awareness.

Due to the 3D nature of flows and the importance of turbulence in most cases this means a strong need for reliable 3D CFD-tools rather than 1D system codes or simplified correlations. The general aim is to provide simulation tools for the design, optimization and safety analyses of medium and large scale applications in which single/multiphase flows are involved. Such tools can contribute to improve the efficient use of energy and resources (e.g. in chemical engineering and oil industries) and to guarantee the safe operation (especially nuclear safety) – provided that they are predictive.

Presently the predictive capabilities for basic hydrodynamics are restricted due to limitations of the closure models. For this reason one focus of our fluid dynamics research is the improvement of the closures first for adiabatic flow modelling but also phase transfer, chemical reactions etc. have to be considered.

The current status of commercial (like ANSYS CFX, Fluent) and open source (like OpenFoam) CFD tools and available models will be discussed. Code comparisons of similar problems will show the possibilities and limitations of each CFD code system.

These activities will help to improve the CFD codes capabilities in energy related industrial applications.