LinkedIn CFD Group Newsletter.

1. November 2008
Issue 7
L INKED I N CFD
A networking forum for CFD professionals
Inside This Issue
Newsletter Issues Newsletter Issues
Becoming More Practical 2
1
Share Your Thoughts 2
Your
Opinion:
My
request
for
group’s
opinion
on
continuing
Improving solar panel 3
the
monthly
newsletter
went
out
to
650
members
and
I
heard
back
from
35
members
(little
more
than
5%).
Interestingly,
only
two
members
did
not
see
any
value
for
the
newsletter.
That
is,
the
majority
of
respondents
requested
interesting
comment
from John
Chawner
of
Pointwise.
He
that
newsletter
to
be
continued
in
some
shape
or
form.
wrote:
It
would
be
interesting
to
know
how
you
see
the
Unfortunately,
this
might
be
the
last
newsletter
and
I
might
group
differentiating
itself
form
other
CFD
forums
such
as
have
to
disappoint
these
folks.
Honestly,
emailing
the
CFD-­‐Online.com
and
CFDReview.com.
My
thought
is
that
the
newsletter
or
the
link
to
a
newsletter
is
a
chore.
Currently,
I
best
way
this
group
can
help
our
members
is
to
provide
a
use
Gmail
to
email
the
entire
group
and
Gmail
does
not
allow
forum
for
networking
and
this
networking
could
certainly
mass
email
to
more
than
500
addresses
at
one
time,
with
or
include
technical
as
well
as
professional.
What
distinguishes
without
attachment.
Also,
they
limit
the
number
of
mass
this
group
from
the
other
forums
is
that
you
can
reach
the
emails
sent
per
day.
We
currently
have
706
members
and
we
entire
group
of
CFD
professionals
all
at
once
as
well
as
reach
are
still
growing.
Another
problem
is
our
membership
is
for
them
individually.
What
I
hope
we
can
develop
is
a
constantly
changing.
Therefore,
I
have
to
continue
making
database
that
we
can
easily
search
to
find
the
person
or
skill
changes
to
the distribution
list
by
exporting
from
LinkedIn
we
are
looking
for
that
already
resides
in
our
group.
The
and
importing
to
Gmail.
Finally,
I
am
getting
requests
from
expertise
is
there
and
the
information
is
there
as
well.
We
some
members
to
be
taken
of
the
Newsletter
email
just
need
to
put
it
together.
I
believe
soon
we
can
distribution.
accomplish
that.
LinkedIn
is
constantly
evolving
and
more
tools
are
being
provided
to
groups.
My
aim
is
to
use
all
the
Discontinuation
of
Newsletter:
I
believe
majority
of
our
available
tools
and
keep
you
updated.
members
would
like
to
see
an
active
group
and
I
don’t
believe
that
necessarily
means
through
newsletter.
I
started
the
newsletter
because
in
the
past
there
were
no
means
to
communicate
with
the
entire
group.
Now
LinkedIn
allows
group
members
to
post
a
discussion
or
an
article
for
the
entire
group
to
see.
Therefore,
members
can
bypass
the
newsletter
or
me
and make
an
announcement
to
entire
group
on
their
own.
Members
will
however
need
to
set
your
email
notification
appropriately
if
they
want
to
know
about
Joining Us
these
postings.
To
do
that:
On
LinkedIn,
go
to
group
page;
click
on
tab
"setting,”
and
then
in
"contact
settings"
section,
check
Digest
Email.
Please
encourage
your
CFD
friends
or
colleagues
to
join
our
Improving
the
Group:
The
response
on
my
questions
LinkedIn
CFD
group.
Please
note
that
LinkedIn
membership
regarding
the
networking
benefits
and
suggestion
on
is
required
for
joining.
To
join,
applicants
should
first
sign
in
improving
the
group
were
fairly
sparse.
Several
respondents
on
LinkedIn
and
then
do
a
search
in
LinkedIn
using
stated
that
they
have
made
some
connections
in
the
group,
Keywords:
CFD
in
Category:
Professional
Group.
Our
group
but
no
drastic
networking
benefit
was
reported
yet.
I
hope
should
be
the
first
on
the
list.
Look
for
our
logo.
this
changes
as
we
learn
to
use
this
great
tool.
Among
the
responses
on
how
to
improve
the
group,
I
got
an

2. Becoming More Practical
At
University
of
Cincinnati
the
Theoretical
Becomes
Practical
-­‐
The
University
of
Cincinnati
has
participated
in
the
Pointwise
Teaching
Partnership
for
several
years
and
uses
Gridgen
in
many
of
its
graduate
and
undergraduate
courses
in
the
Department
of
Aerospace
Engineering
and
the
Department
of
Mechanical,
Industrial,
and
Nuclear
Engineering.
The
University
of
Cincinnati,
College
of
Engineering
is
known
for
originating
the
concept
of
cooperative
education
wherein
students
get
practical
Gridgen’s
floating
boundary
conditions
are
used
to
quickly
industrial
experience
while
completing
their
studies.
Even
in
improve
grid
quality
on
multiple
block
structured
grids.
the
classroom,
students
receive
hands-­‐on
experience
with
the
engineering
tools,
like
Gridgen,
they
will
use
after
they
graduate
and
begin
their
professional
careers.
Professor
Paul
Orkwis
coordinates
Gridgen’s
usage
at
the
University
of
Cincinnati.
He
notes,
“Gridgen
provides
an
effective
means
of
tying
together
theory
and
practice
of
mesh
construction
in
a
single
package
for
students
to
explore
both
structured,
unstructured,
and
hybrid
mesh
generation.”
In
his
numerical
grid
generation
course,
Professor
Orkwis’
students
quickly
become
proficient
using
Gridgen
as
he
Structured
and
unstructured
grids
are
combined
to
resolve
notes,
“After
only
a
single
lecture,
students
had
learned
the
both
the
boundary
layer
and
vortical
flow
structures
around
basics
and
were
able
to
generate
structured,
unstructured,
this
air
vehicle.
and
hybrid
meshes
on
simple
geometries.
Before
long,
students
were
generating
meshes
pertaining
to
their
own
interest
and
research
topics.”
Gridgen
has
been
used
for
a
variety
of
student
research
projects
from
the
study
of
blood
flow
in
arterial
grafts
to
turbine
blades
and
advanced
aircraft
projects.
A
good
example
of
the
types
of
structured
grids
being
generated
by
University
of
Cincinnati
students
is
the
mesh
Share Your Thoughts
for
a
turbine
blade
generated
by
graduate
student
Marshall
Galbraith
shown
in
the
figure
below.
Floating
boundary
conditions
in
Gridgen’s
elliptic
partial
differential
equation
based
smoothing
techniques
were
used
to
improve
grid
You
now
have
the
tool
to
share
your
ideas,
requests,
opinions,
quality
by
allowing
domain
boundaries
to
move.
announcements,
and
news
to
the
entire
LinkedIn
CFD
group.
Students
have
also
used
Gridgen
for
hybrid
grids.
The
figure
You
can
either
post
a
discussion
or
an
article.
You
can
submit
a
below
shows
a
hybrid
grid
comprising
hexahedral,
pyramidal
discussion
topic
or
a
news
article
at
“overview”
page
of
our
and
tetrahedral
cells
for
an
Uninhabited
Air
Vehicle
study.
In
group.
To
get
notified
of
these
posting:
this
case,
the
grid
needs
to
resolve
the
surface
boundary
On
LinkedIn,
go
to
group
page;
click
on
tab
"setting,”
and
then
layer,
but
must
also
resolve
a
strong
vortex
that
comes
off
in
"contact
settings"
section,
check
Digest
Email.
the
wing-­‐body
junction.
The
geometry
is
such
that
it
makes
the
most
sense
to
have
unstructured
grids
away
from
the
surface
but
a
structured
grid
wrapped
around
the
surface
itself
to
resolve
the
boundary
layer.
This
was
accomplished
in
Gridgen
without
significant
difficulty.
Using
Gridgen
in
the
classroom
and
in
research
projects
gives
students
experience
with
the
types
of
analysis
tools
they
will
be
using
once
they
are
in
industry.
At
the
University
of
Cincinnati
it
is
just
a
continuation
of
their
tradition
of
providing
the
highest
level
of
both
theoretical
and
practical
education.

3. Improving Photovoltaic
Solar Panel Performance
Schueco,
one
of
the
leading
producers
of
photovoltaic
panels,
“Examining
the
flow
of
air
under
the
photovoltaic
panels
used
Flomerics’
FloVENT
computational
fluid
dynamics
(CFD)
showed
that
the
size
of
the
passageway
was
constricting
software
to
redesign
its
products
to
improve
their
thermal
the
flow
of
air.
We
increased
the
depth
of
the
profile
that
performance
so
that
15%
to
20%
more
panels
can
be
used
in
a
supports
the
photovoltaic
panels
to
increase
the
distance
given
space.
Today’s
photovoltaic
panels
present
a
major
between
the
panels
and
the
roof.
Re-­‐running
the
thermal
design
challenge
since
every
degree
Centigrade
of
simulation
demonstrated
that
this
increased
the
airflow
temperature
rise
reduces
the
power
produced
by
0.5%.
“The
and
reduced
the
temperature
of
the
photovoltaic
panels.
CFD
results
helped
us
understand
exactly
how
the
panels
were
Through
these
studies,
we
optimized
the
design
of
the
solar
being
heated
and
guided
us
as
we
made
major
improvements
energy
systems
and
also
gained
an
understanding
of
how
to
the
design,”
said
Hamid
Batoul,
Technical
Director
of
Solar
temperature
is
affected
by
different
arrangements
of
Department,
Schueco
International,
Paris,
France.
“As
the
first
panels
and
ambient
conditions.”
in
our
industry
to
perform
CFD
simulation,
we
believe
that
we
are
now
able
to
provide
our
customers
with
substantially
higher
power
output
than
an
equivalent
competitive
design.”
Schueco
provides
complete
solar
energy
systems
including
all
components
needed
to
produce
energy
from
the
sun
including
panels,
collectors,
tanks,
mounting
system,
control
units
and
monitoring
electronics.
Sunlight
hits
the
photovoltaic
panels
and
generates
direct
current.
The
UK
government
sponsored
Energy
Saving
Trust
estimates
that
microgeneration
could
reduce
the
UK’s
carbon
emissions
by
15%
compared
with
the
present
mix
of
energy
generation.
The
Rocky
Mountain
Institute
in
Snowmass,
Colorado
recently
released
a
study
that
showed
that
output
of
small
scale
power
sources
will
soon
outstrip
the
world’s
nuclear
power
industry.
For
more
information
about
FloVENT,
visit
www.flovent.com.
Schueco
was
the
first
company
in
the
solar
energy
business
to
recognize
that
substantial
improvements
in
photovoltaic
panel
performance
could
be
achieved
by
optimizing
thermal
design.
“I
previously
worked
for
several
companies
making
telecommunications
equipment
and
used
thermal
simulation
to
solve
thermal
challenges,”
Batoul
said.
“I
found
that
Flomerics’
FloTHERM
CFD
software
was
the
most
powerful
tool
available
in
that
space.
Performing
thermal
simulation
of
solar
energy
systems
requires
different
software
because
of
the
need
to
model
building
materials
that
play
a
role
in
thermal
performance.
Flomerics
offers
FloVENT
CFD
software
designing
for
addressing
heating,
ventilation
and
cooling
problems
in
buildings.
We
tried
FloVENT
and
found
it
met
all
our
requirements
such
as
modeling
the
thermal
characteristics
of
glass
and
simulating
the
effects
of
radiation
on
the
panels.”
Batoul
uses
FloVENT
to
model
complete
solar
systems.
FloVENT
simulates
the
absorption
and
reflection
of
solar
energy
by
the
panels,
the
transfer
of
heat
to
aluminum
profiles
and
the
surrounding
air,
etc.
“The
CFD
results
helped
us
understand
exactly
how
the
panels
were
being
heated
and
guided
us
as
we
made
major
improvements
to
their
design,”
Batoul
said.

4. LinkedIn CFD
cfdlinked@gmail.com
Group Manager
Kamran Fouladi
fouladi@infomec.cc
Phone:
610-291-6642
E-Mail:
CFDlinked@gmail.com
Past issues
Past
issues
of
this
newsletter
can
be
accessed
at:
http://www.infomec.cc/news.htm