The next major Caedium release (v2) is progressing well. Finally we can share with you some details - as long as you promise not to tell anyone.

OpenFOAM in Caedium

Caedium RANS Flow Add-on

Using OpenFOAM from OpenCFD we are developing a new fluid flow add-on for Caedium called RANS Flow. OpenFOAM is able to solve for incompressible/compressible, laminar/turbulent viscous flows of gases and liquids. As you are probably aware, our Caedium Panel Flow add-on is unable to model viscous flows, so our new Caedium RANS Flow add-on will be a significant addition to our analysis toolbox. For instance we will be able to accurately model:

• Internal flows, such as air flow through pipes and ducts, accounting for pressure losses
• Transonic flow containing both subsonic and supersonic regions, which occurs over passenger airplanes during their cruise phase
• Vortices produced from sharp edges, such as the complex geometry of a Formula 1 race car
• Heat-transfer due to convection from hot surfaces, such as heat sinks used in electronic equipment

Our RANS Flow add-on will be seamlessly integrated into the Caedium environment, just as our Panel Flow add-on is. Behind the scenes Caedium will write native OpenFOAM cases, run OpenFOAM solvers while displaying convergence monitors, and extract OpenFOAM results for visualization with our familiar Caedium tools. Also, due to our "OpenFOAM for Windows" effort, we will be able to offer our RANS Flow add-on for both Windows and Linux.

I hope you share our excitement over this development. We have made great strides in advancing this work, as the image above shows. We aim to have a release ready before the end of the year.

Blog

Below are teasers for our latest blog posts. The titles are links to the full posts.

NASA is 50
It's fast approaching 50 years since US President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the US Congress created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA to its friends). October 1, 1958 marks the moment when the US started taking space seriously and the rest, as they say, is history - a glorious history.

Greenbird: World Land Yacht Speed Record Contender
Wind power, with its green credentials, is a primary force in our attempt to reduce our reliance on fossils fuels in order to reduce global warming. The majority of effort to exploit wind power is focused on converting its energy into electricity. However, if you are willing to live on the edge you'll find examples of wind energy used directly to power land-based vehicles, and very quickly in Greenbird's case - a world land yacht speed record contender.

Green Power in the City
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed a bold green-power vision for New York. As a first step his administration has issued a formal request for proposals to exploit natural energy sources (wind, solar and water) to power the city.

General Aviation Technology Challenge
August is a busy month for competition fans, what with the Beijing Olympics just wrapping up, the US Open Tennis Championship about to start, numerous motor racing events, such as Formula 1 Grand Prix, and the 2008 General Aviation Technology (GAT) Challenge. OK, so maybe the GAT Challenge isn't quite in the same league as those other competitions, but with US$300,000 up for grabs, it's a serious competition intended to stimulate innovation in the personal air vehicle (PAV) arena.