Fluid Flow Software Question

I don't use anything like this but I used to.

There are some open-source (yes, free!) packages out there. Here is a Google search to get you started.

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&gs_nf=1&cp=15&gs_id=7i&xhr=t&q=open+source+CFD+software&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&oq=open+source+CFD+software&aq=0&aqi=g2&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=9970e3d003ee7d92&biw=1288&bih=714

Who is the vendor of Pipe flow? There seems to be more than one on the market with this name. How complex is your system and what is the problem you have? Seems talking to the vendor did not get you somewhere, is this right?

Do you need transient flow or only steady state? For the first one you looking at more bucks to spend. It is as it is.

It is not acceptable if you get a bad service from the vendor. You can ask to lease software or have a consultant doing it for you. Depends on how frequently you use it.

I am working in the industry so I post anonym in case you use our software! :-)

He has stated his problem. The open-source software may not have all the bells and whistles of $20,000/year license software. To use this type of software to obtain necessary information, bells and whistles are immaterial unless you are in a quick-design, high-competition environment. Other that that, all you have to offer is service. How is yours?

Thank you Mikerho.

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Well I see two problems. One is the program is giving him pains. I take this as detailed description of his problem and assume it does not do what he wants it to do. Will a another maybe free program do it? Maybe. Can we tell him? No since we don't know what the expectations are what the program needs to do. So question is what expectations are there?

Second problem I see: the program is too expensive. Whether it is for the functions it does not have or for the support that is not there is not easily to grasp. Maybe the problem is money altogether and the question should have been for free programs. But it wasn't. Is OP in a quick design high competition environment? I can not see it, where did you get this from? If so we talking probably steady state to make a clumsy prediction of what could be. I would not like to pay 20k a year for this. I am sure open-source software offers some service, but will this be enough?

As for our service it think we have a pretty good setup. Anybody who says it is perfect lies and I cant talk for everybody in my company. I am sure if somebody approaches us with a problem or needs a new feature we can react and implement this if it is feasible. This shall put us on the higher range of the market.

If there is still interest from the OP I can PM him and get him on a way.

Look at Flow Master. Not too expensive, and works fairly well.

I will. Thank you.

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I use H2ONet by Innovyze (one of many programs they have). Purchase once and pay again only when there's an upgrade that you want. The capabilities are tremendous and has more bells and whistles than what I use it for about 90% of the time. The program I use is integrated with CAD although I'm sure they have stand alone stuff too.

Positives: The software can model nearly anything I can dream up.

Negatives: The software has a poorly designed user interface that makes learning the software difficult for new users. I've found that even as I got comfortable and adept at using the software that for "simple" models (<20 or 30 nodes) it is often quicker to do the calculations by hand.

If this particular program can be used as an indicator for the rest of their software, they will likely have one to suit your needs (hopefully one that has a better GUI than H2ONet).

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I've been using AFT Fathom here and it's pretty user friendly. I don't know how it will work with non-newtonian fluids though. It basically gives me pressure drops in the system.

No idea what the cost is though.

Another program is ANSYS FLUENT . It will do just about anything you want it to. If I remember right it has an optional yearly maintenance/updates fee of about $8k. The problem is it cost like $45 to purchase. It's overkill for network pressure drops though.