RE: [Harp-L] Re: CFD

["MLeFree" <mlefree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

When I asked:
> > "One quick question for Jonathan, too (I always have more questions than
> > answers, it seems...  ;).  I know there are commercially available FEA
> > software environments that are fairly easy to use (heh, heh...), though
they
> > aren't cheap.  By "easy to use" I mean you can input a 2- or 3-D
> > mathematical model and some relevant boundary conditions and the program
> > will make a wire frame and do the FEA calculations for you.  Is there
such a
> > commercially available progam environment for computational fluid
dynamics?
> > Might you have acces to it?"

Jonathan Metts replied:
> There are many commercially available CFD programs, but such
> specialized software tends to be very expensive.  Moreover,
> setting up any CFD problem is very difficult, and I don't know if
> there's much any program can do to aid in the process.  If you
> are suggesting that you want to try getting a CFD program to do
> this problem yourself without any training, I think you would be
> wasting your time (no offense).  We're talking about extremely
> advanced aerodynamics work that people go to school for years and
> years to learn to handle.  Personally, I have intentionally
> avoided taking CFD classes because I don't want to get stuck in a
> job where I'm expected to work on that stuff for the rest of my
> life.  I think the best route here is to find someone who is
> already learning or using CFD analyses and convince them that the
> harmonica is a sufficiently interesting topic of interest.

Hi, Jonathan -

Thanks for the speedy reply!

I wouldn't have even broached the topic if I didn't have a degree in applied
mathematics.  My expertise is really in digital image processing, but I've
dabbled in FEA through my research in blood flow through coronary arteries
(those supplying the heart muscle with blood).  Back then I reconstructed a
wireframe model of the inner wall of an artery using a sequence of
ultrasound images.  I was at the point of applying FEA to calculate the
blood flowing through the model when I had a career shift. That was in the
late eighties.

So, I do appreciate what sort of preparation one must have to even
appreciate the concepts involved in computational fluid dynamics.  I suppose
I was hoping that available software technology would permit someone with
somewhat less than a Ph.D. in ME or AE to use it.  Moreover, I admit to
doing a little fishing, hoping to entice you to look into the possbilities.
;^)

Can't blame a gal for trying, eh?  It is an intriguing problem, you must
admit.

Thanks and best of luck in your studies,

Michelle