The basic capabilities of our products make them probably the most reliable, accurate, efficient and versatile CFD tool on the market.

Nevertheless, nothing can substitute experience and know-how when it comes to analyzing complex industrial problems. With this in mind, CD-adapco also offers a series of knowledge-based expert systems that utilize our decades of experience in solving complex engineering problems and address all aspects of design process from CAD to post-processing.

These are collectively known as es-solutions and aim to achieve
the following:

• Produce the highest quality results in shortest
  turnaround times
• Use application specific best practices
• Provide application specific user interface
• Automate model set-up
• Allow accumulation of knowledge
• Allow consistency and repeatability

Due to a variety of constraints on the combustion chamber, modern engine design requires that valves generally occupy geometric positions in the engine at one instant in time, while the piston occupies the same position at a different instant. As a result of this overlap, the mesh definition for such gas-side simulations is not trivial. Simple motion of the mesh is not possible due to the distortion that would be generated through the cycle.

es-ice provides a dedicated environment to set-up and run ICE calculations, encapsulating the process and best-practices that CD-adapco has developed in over 30 years of industry experience, automating the setting up and running of the sophisticated moving-mesh technology required for engine simulation. It automatically produces a parameterized meshed template that can be altered for specific engine configurations. es-ice produces a single mesh that can satisfy the full cycle of motion. This is possible because of the ability to add and remove layers of the mesh and change the connectivity of the mesh to maintain cell aspect ratios and quality throughout the entire cycle. es-ice empowers engineers to produce the highest quality results in the shortest turnaround time, by automating the simulation process, ensuring consistency and repeatability.

STAR-CD, with its state-of-the-art models and efficient solvers, is ideally positioned to deal with all aspects of aftertreatment system simulation, including flow distribution, heat transfer and chemical reaction through the catalyst. STAR-CD users can also have access to a powerful knowledge-based expert system called es-aftertreatment, which is specially designed to deal with automotive aftertreatment simulations in as efficient a way as possible.

When STAR-CD is combined with es-aftertreatment, the complex processes are always captured efficiently and accurately. Together, STAR-CD and es-aftertreatment can be used to target a of range aftertreatment processes and devices including:

• 3 way catalytic converters
• Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCRs)
• Both catalyzed and non-catalyzed diesel particulate traps
• Sulfur traps
• Lean NOx traps
• Flow, thermal and stress calculations

CFD tools from CD-adapco and routines from Palmetto Fuel Cell Analysis and Design (PFCAD), in combination, allow for improved understanding of the physical phenomena that take place inside the fuel cell. PEMFC can be simulated and analyzed using CD-adapco's pre-processing tool, es-pemfc, for setting up ad building models, and for CFD solver STAR-CD and PFCAD's electrochemistry subroutines for calculating the solution.

Typical PEMFC issues to be simulated include:

• Temperature Distribution in the cells, to aid cooling channel design so that the conductivity of the membrane is uniform and at a maximum value
• Pressure balance between the hydrogen and air side of the PEM to understand and avoid sudden imbalances and damage to cells
• Management of water production by electrochemical reaction and gas humidification in complex flow fields, to understand and avoid build-up of condensation and flooding that can hinder gas transport and cell efficiency.
• Better understanding of electrochemistry and its influence on fuel cell construction and efficiency. Better understanding of current and voltage distribution in the conducting solids and porous regions.

Fuel Cell Research

In our efforts to provide industry with the best CFD analysis solutions in fuel cell design, CD-adapco has been involved in an extensive program of collaborative research and development with the University of South Carolina (USC) to combine CFD and electrochemistry. USC, a leader in fuel cell research, was selected by the National Science Foundation to be the first Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) for Fuel Cells. At USC, Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) research is located in the College of Engineering and Information Technology's Department of Chemical Engineering, which features one of the world's largest groups in electrochemical engineering. USC has been using CFD to understand fuel cell behavior since 1998.

"Our role is to assist industry in moving toward the commercialization of fuel cell technology and in educating well qualified engineers and scientists. CFD helps us with this mission by allowing us to understand our experimental data. Our close collaboration with CD-adapco has led to the integration of the electrochemical aspect of fuel cells with STARCD."
John Van Zee, Professor of Chemical Engineering, USC

With increasing environmental concerns and rising oil costs, fuel cells are attracting great interest for transportation and power generation applications as a cleaner and cheaper alternative. In recognition of this, CD-adapco in partnership with the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), has developed a new Expert System, es-sofc, which is playing an important role in optimizing SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cell) design.

Fuel cells convert the chemical energy of a fuel, such as hydrogen, into electrical energy without combustion, with little or no emission of pollutants and efficient electrical power generation. This is a significant improvement over internal combustion engines. The new es-sofc tool is a knowledge-based tool, carrying with it the essential electrochemistry, fluid flow, heat transfer, and geometrical modeling capabilities required for advanced SOFC design. es-sofc works with STAR-CD, as a specialized virtual design, prototyping and testing environment. Typical issues that can be handled include: correcting the distributions of fuel and oxidant to the stack, mitigation of excessive thermal gradients along with temperature prediction for the calculation of thermally induced stresses, and manifold/flow passage optimization.

These aspects together with gaining a better understanding of the electrochemistry and thermal properties involved, lead to optimized solid oxide fuel cell performance.