FLUENT CFD Software Meets Challenging JSAE Benchmark.

Business/Technology Editors

LEBANON, N.H. & TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 10, 2002

Earlier this year, the Japan Society of Automotive Engineers JSAE invited the major CFD software vendors who serve Japan's automotive industry to take part in a benchmarking exercise which tested CFD predictions on six classical automotive problems. Fluent Asia Pacific, Tokyo, Japan, using the worldwide company's flagship product, FLUENT, was one of the few companies to successfully complete all of the challenge problems with a high score. The test cases included:

-- External aerodynamics

-- HVAC climate control in an automobile cabin

-- Static port modeling for internal combustion engine analysis

-- HVAC defrosting of an automobile windscreen

-- Automatic meshing capabilities

-- Visualization capabilities

Although Fluent has numerous turbulence models and wall functions, the rules of the competition specified that participants use the default turbulence model without modifying any of the turbulence model constants. Fluent employed the realizable k-epsilon model throughout. Participants were, however, allowed some flexibility over the mesh design. A tetra mesh with a hybrid prism near the surface proved to be most popular.

In addition to checking the accuracy of the solutions against experimental data, the calculation speed and memory requirements were also taken into consideration. In all these important areas, FLUENT performed well. A full description of the results is available from the Japanese Society of Automotive Engineers www.jsae.or.jp.

About Fluent

Fluent is the world's largest provider of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software and consulting services. Fluent's software is used for simulation, visualization, and prediction of fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, and chemical reactions. It is a vital part of the computer-aided engineering (CAE) process for companies around the world and in almost every manufacturing industry. Using Fluent's software, product development, design and research engineers build virtual prototypes and simulate the performance of proposed and existing designs, which helps them to optimize, troubleshoot, scale-up, and retrofit. Use of CFD software reduces time-to-market by reducing the need for costly physical testing and prototyping.

Fluent's corporate headquarters are located in Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA. Fluent's European headquarters are located in Sheffield, England, with local offices in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Sweden. Fluent's Asia Pacific headquarters are located in Tokyo, Japan. Its CFD software is also available around the world through joint ventures, partnerships, and distributors in Korea, Australia, Brazil, China, Taiwan, the Czech Republic, Middle East, and most European countries.

Fluent is a subsidiary of Aavid Thermal Technologies Inc. Additional information on Fluent's products can be obtained on the World Wide Web at www.fluent.com or by e-mailing [e-mail]. More information on Aavid Thermal Technologies is available at www.aavid.com.

FLUENT(R) is a registered trademark of Fluent Inc.

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