What’s New in Simcenter STAR-CCM+ 2020.1?

With Simcenter STAR-CCM+ 2020.1, we are enabling faster meshing, smarter solvers and greater collaboration to help you make better engineering decisions in hours to achieve your next innovative breakthrough.  These latest features speed up every step of your CFD simulation process.

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Reduce computational overhead with adaptive mesh refinement (AMR)

The new adaptive mesh refinement, or AMR, is the industry’s first model-driven AMR. This feature lowers computational time for the same accuracy by dynamically refining the mesh where needed. The free-surface model-driven AMR intelligently refines cells to resolve the gas-liquid interface, reducing smearing. The Overset-mesh model-driven AMR intelligently ensures that cell sizes at the interface are compatible. All of this is achieved without any user interaction.

“The new adaptive mesh refinement feature efficiently eliminated the need for scripted-AMR, bringing additional speed-up, optimized mesh cell count and improved capturing of the free-surface curvatures of our multiphase models with VOF.”

Jose Fonseca
Team Lead
ASML Netherlands

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Faster meshing with the next generation parallel polyhedral meshing

Simcenter STAR-CCM+ pioneered the polyhedral mesh for industrial CFD simulation. In 2020.1, we deliver the next generation polyhedral mesher. Re-written from the ground-up for parallel performance, meshes build up to 30 times faster than in serial. You get a consistent mesh regardless of the cores used and a more effective mesh distribution with the same accuracy and robustness. 

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Improved ease of use with simplified coupled solver settings

Automatic controls dramatically improve the ease-of-use and robustness of the coupled solver. This delivers faster convergence to solution giving users additional speedup. Now, all flow regimes, from incompressible through fully compressible, run straight out of the box – no tuning necessary – with performance that rivals (and often exceeds) those best-practices that used to take time and experience to develop. 

“The recent developments in Simcenter STAR CCM+ will seriously challenge the design time for our passive cooler product portfolio. The new parallel polyhedral mesher is 7x faster and the improvements to the coupled solver reduce the solve time by 4x. These performance gains mean we can analyze a greater number of designs and operating points.”

Henrik Alfredsson
Managing Director
Aker Solutions Sweden AB

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Effective communication of results using collaborative virtual reality (VR)

Collaborative VR in Simcenter STAR-CCM+ allows teams across the globe to interact in the same immersive virtual environment in real time, enhancing communication and speeding up decision-making. Multiple VR clients can now be connected and synchronized to the same simulation, with avatars showing the location of other users and providing the ability to tether together to get the same experience.  

“The unprecedented collaborative VR feature enables my team to virtually inspect active propeller simulations in real time from anywhere on the globe. We can make decisions faster as a team and understand the flow features better which is necessary for optimal performance”

Norbert Bulten
Product Performance Manager
Wärtsilä

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Faster innovation with many more new features

These are just the highlights. The latest release brings many other new capabilities driven by our vision for the future of CFD simulation and by listening to our customers. For information on all the new features or to download Simcenter STAR-CCM+ 2020.1, please visit the Steve Portal.