FLOW SCIENCE INC. has released an updated version of the distributed memory version of its primary CFD software product. FLOW-3D/MP v4.2 includes hybrid parallelization incorporating MPI and OpenMP architecture, and according to the developer it offers users “a substantial increase in performance, with scaling to as many as 256 cores and runtime improvements of as much as 60x over the comparable FLOW-3D release.”
Foundries must perform a great deal of up-front engineering to ensure casting quality is achieved on the first trial. Numerical tools for modeling metal flow, solidification, microstructure evolution and residual stresses have become common in recent years, and FLOW-3D/MP helps engineers solve casting-related defects to produce better parts within their design cycles.
Flow Science Inc develops transient, free-surface computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling software for industrial and scientific use. The new release is being shipped to FLOW-3D/MP subscribers under maintenance contracts.
First released by Flow Science in 2006, FLOW-3D/MP uses multi-block methodology to decompose the computational domain into blocks, and then distributes these among the nodes in a cluster. FLOW-3D/MP v4.2 was tested extensively on both Windows (Server 2008 and 2008 R2) and Linux systems (RHEL 4 & 5 and SUSE 10 &11.)
Flow Science indicated that v4.2 was developed to work with multi-core server architecture, and offer increased processing speed and accuracy with fewer mesh blocks and reduced MPI communication. Also, the program performance is improved because it is capable of directional decomposition, with thread scheduling and dynamic thread balancing. It is capable of scaling up to 256 cores.
For more information, visit www.flow3d.com