Siemens has acquired Nextflow Software, an independent provider of particle-based computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solutions, for an undisclosed sum.
As part of the acquisition, Siemens will incorporate Nextflow's smooth-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) technology into its Xcelerator software. The integration will allow for rapid and automated analysis of fluid flow and transient motion applications in the automotive, aerospace, and marine industries. Use cases include gearbox lubrication, tank sloshing, spray cooling of motors, and more.
"Our customers need to leverage sophisticated simulations earlier and more often in their design process, and this is creating a strong demand for rapid and automated CFD of dynamic gas-liquid flows," said Jean-Claude Ercolanelli, senior vice president of simulation and test solutions at Siemens Digital Industries Software.
Ercolanelli continued, "Meshless technology has emerged as a leading solution to greatly reduce the setup and solving times for this class of problems, accelerating time to results and prove the behavior of products at a reduced time and cost."
The Siemens Digital Industries Software suite caters to a broad range of mechanical and electrical design scenarios with computer-aided design and high-fidelity tools.
With Nextflow Software's SPH technology now included in the Siemens' Simcenter Xcelerator portfolio, engineers can capitalize on the complementary benefits of meshless and mesh-based solvers to address design challenges, added Siemens.
For instance, in applications where it would be best suited, SPH-flow Explorer can be 5 to 100 times faster than conventional finite volume (FV) solvers, simplifying a week's worth of simulations into a few hours, with superior results over FV.
"We are very excited to join Siemens and expand the scope of CFD simulation for our customers," said Vincent Perrier, Nextflow Software CEO.
"Today, there is no single validation approach that fits all industrial applications. As engineering problems become more complex and design cycles are shortened, analysts must find the optimal trade-off between accuracy and computation time. Nextflow Software's SPH solutions nicely complement the existing CFD offering in the Simcenter Portfolio to overcome challenges of complexity and long run-times."
