What is computational fluid dynamics (CFD)?
Definition
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is the use of numerical methods and computers to solve the equations that govern fluid flow and heat transfer. Engineers model a geometry, divide the fluid region into a mesh and compute fields such as velocity, pressure and temperature, to predict how a design behaves before it is built or tested.
Example
An engineer designing a heat exchanger meshes the fluid volume, sets the inlet flow and the wall temperatures, and runs a CFD solver to predict the pressure drop and the temperature field for each candidate geometry. Because each detailed run is costly, only a limited number of variants can be simulated in a design cycle.
Sources
- NASA Glenn Research Center, "Navier-Stokes Equations," grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/nseqs.html
- NASA Glenn NPARC Alliance, "Overview of CFD Verification and Validation," grc.nasa.gov/www/wind/valid/tutorial/overview.html