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FASTFLO - GENERAL PURPOSE FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING
Air movements over a wing, heat transfer, stress and strain, electromagnetic forces - they can all be described by mathematical systems known as partial differential equations (PDEs).
There are hundreds of other applications for PDEs in scientific and engineering disciplines. In chemistry, for example, and in fluid dynamics and metallurgy. They are even useful in the equally complex world of finance.
Solving the relevant PDEs is the key to successfully simulating the systems they describe. Simulation demands the most advanced mathematical modelling techniques allied with heavyweight computing resources. But on the other hand there is a big incentive for researchers to learn more about how such systems work and to suggest ways of improving them.
That's because the equipment in which these highly complex systems operate is often extremely expensive. Some of it is also extremely inefficient.
CSIRO has developed a suite of novel software technologies specifically designed to solve these problems and to simulate complex engineering and scientific systems. These technologies help engineers, scientists, researchers and academics address a range of problems related to product or process behaviour.
Fastflo is already a successful commercial product from this suite. It is extremely flexible and is able to solve a very wide range of PDEs. The solutions can be presented in complex 3D geometrics, and the user is empowered to develop his or her own algorithms to solve particular problems.
Despite the advanced concepts on which it is based, Fastflo addresses PDE systems using a mathematically intuitive and easy-to-understand language. The product also has a friendly user interface.
Distributed in some 35 countries by the Numerical Algorithms Group (NAG) and its affiliates, Fastflo has found wide research applications in engineering and science, and as a teaching tool in academia. Special purpose ToolBoxes are now available to provide 'black box' solvers for certain specific problems.
Fastflo Version 2.1 is currently available in UNIX and PC versions. An advanced Version 3 is planned was release in June 1999. This features an improved mesh generator, 3D post-processing, mesh adaptation, and the release of the new Fluids ToolBox.
Fastflo's developers have been working on the famous Black-Scholes equation for option pricing in finance, and a new Black-Scholes product based on Fastflo was launched in mid-1999.
Turbulent air flow around a Daimler-Benz model car. Diagram shows the velocity in symmetry plane and kinetic energy shading on the car surface.
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Catalogue Contents
