All ACRi software share the same 2 qualities that make them stand out: 1) Ease of use, and 2) Extensibility. Please see CFDStudio™ homepage to see what is meant by ease of use. As far as extensibility is concerned; the user can add new variables, allocate space for computations, define new reactions on the fly and much much more, without writing a single line of code. One can either use one of the number of turbulence models, or hook up their own model via the "User Function" feature. To top it all, ACRi CFD software is priced considerably less compared to its competitors. Please get pricing information from our competitors and compare it with the prices of our software.

You can:

1. Use the built-in simple grid generator for topologically simple problems
2. Use a 3rd party grid generator package, or
3. Work gridless. (Note that the gridless option is available only in 2D currently, and is at an experimental stage.)

• ANSYS (via a converter)
• STAR-CD
• IDEAS -- thru universal file option, using the IDEAS2ACRi (available upon special arrangement) converter.
• PATRAN
• FEMAP -- has a universal file format VERY similar to IDEAS; existing converter can be modified easily.
• GRIDGEN -- structured only
• ICEM-CFD -- unstructured hex/quad (no hybrid) (See Unstructured Data Formats)
• GRIDPRO -- structured only

No, not currently. You will need to use a 3rd party grid generator to do that.

Yes, we do have a converter that was written in house. We provide it upon special arrangement. Please contact us for details.

Yes, we do have a converter that was written in house. We provide it upon special arrangement. Please contact us for details.

Yes, we do have a converter that was written by one of our clients, and is available through ACRi. Please note that this converter is written in PERL language, hence you will need to download and install the PERL interpreter for which we do not offer any support.

ACRiCFD.COM is optimized for Internet Explorer (IE) versions 4 and higher, and Netscape version 6 and higher. If you are using an older version, the figures may look distorted, and you may not be able to make full use of the Javascript technology that uses floating toooltips.

The trial versions are full versions as far as physical models are concerned, but they are limited to 4000 computational nodes per problem. If your grid exceeds this limit (including the boundary elements) then he problem will not run. Please note that for perpetual licenses, the prices increase with increasing number of nodes, whereas Professional licenses have no limit on the maximum number of nodes.

There is a very direct ratio: roughly, 1000 kB of RAM is needed for 1000 computational nodes. So, if you have 128MB of RAM, your system can handle an executable that was compiled for a maximum number of nodes of 128,000. Hence for a Professional license, your limit is the RAM on your system. If you have 2GM of RAM, you can potentially solve a problem of 2 million elements.

Index is defined in your .out file when you run a project. It is under the heading DIAGNOSTIC AND CONVERGENCE INDICATORS: It basically means the ratio of [ Residue of Selected Variable(s)] to [Convergence Criterion for the Variable(s)] When the ratio gets less than 1.0, it means you have a converged solution. Check out your .out file for more info.

The code automatically defaults to the geometrical "center" of the domain. If the element at this center is "blocked" or otherwise has no flow, then the diagnostic node is selected to be the next node with flow, in the direction of increasing number of elements.

Yes, we have a section to explain FREEFORM™ language syntax, as well as some examples of FREEFORM™.