Wednesday, September 24, 2008
2008 R&D 100 Winner
Today’s industries rely heavily on both process simulation and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software to help meet the demanding engineering needs of a plant or business. However, a gulf exists between commercial process simulators and CFD packages and between the engineers using the software. This could be a problem, especially when considering 80% of capital costs are committed during the conceptual phase.
The introduction of APECS with ANSYS Engineering Knowledge Manager (EKM), developed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory, Morgantown, W.V., and four other partners, now bridges this gap, bringing process/CFD co-simulation technology to the marketplace. APECS, or Advanced Process Engineering Co-Simulator, drastically reduces the time need to integrate CFD models and custom equipment codes in plant-wide models. Plug-and-play capability is achieved by using the CAPE-OPEN software standard, which provides interfaces for reaction kinetics, numerical solvers, and other plant operation segments. The rapid flow of information between process models and CFD-related models helps reduce the potential for suboptimal designs, and the addition of EKM give APECS access to an extensive equipment model database.
Technology
Process/CFD co-simulation technology
Developers
National Energy Technology Laboratory
ANSYS Inc.
ALSTOM Power Inc.
Aspen Technology Inc.
Carnegie Mellon Univ.
