CFD Haraware

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Guidelines for Selection of CFD Hardware 

CFD simulations required the following things should be considered while purchasing any hardware for CFD simulations

Multi-core CPU

  • For industrial simulations, they should think of at least 12 core CPUs to finish the simulation in less time
  • You can select number of cores or threads as per your budget

RAM

  • Random access Memory is essential for loading and writing of large size of data during the simulation
  •  To handle large mesh sizes, higher RAM is required. The following thumb rules must note
    • 5 Million cells:    4 to 8 GB RAM
    • 10 Million Cells:   16 GB RAM
    • 30 Million Cells:    64 GB RAM
    • 50 Million Cells:    256 GB RAM
    • 100 Million cells:    522 GB RAM
    • 500 Million cells:   1 TB RAM

Graphics Card

  • the workstation must have discrete graphics cards or separate GPU units to handle geometries of more CAD features
  • As per ANSYS FLUENT requirement, 4 GB graphics is required. But 8 GB is recommended for high end simulations
  • For high-performance computing (HPC) machines or supercomputers, GPUs are connected with each node or CPU

Data Storage

  • Your PC  should have space for the storage of simulation files
  • How much simulation files take space
    • ANSYS or Converge has  “.h5″  file format which occupies less space.
    • ANSYS FLUENT files occupy around 1 GB of space for  1 million cells
    • Example: 10 M cells will take 10 GB space for combined case and data files
    • Open FOAM files would take more space than ANSYS FLUENT unless you use file compression tools
  • For data storage, you should have at least 100 GB of space in the drive

 

Workstations for CFD simulations

The following are the most advanced workstations for industrial applications.

Dell Tower 7920  Workstation

  •  This one the scalable workstations. we can expand RAM, Data Storage, number of  Graphics card
  • Multi-core processor :
    • Intel® Xeon® Silver/ Gold Processors,
    • Number core you can select as per availability  of core in processors
    • For 24 cores,  there are 48 threads
  • RAM:
    • RAM 64 GB DDR4, expandable to 3 TB
  • Graphics cards:
    • 5 GB Nvidia Quadro P2000
    • You can customize the graphics cards
  • Storage:
    • SSD storage: 480 SSD
    • Sata HD : 2 TB

Dell Precision T7920 Tower Workstation

Lenovo Think station P920  

  • Multi-core processor: Intel® Xeon®  Gold Processors, 24 cores, 48 threads
  • RAM: 64 GB DDR4, expandable to 3 TB
  • Graphics cards: 16 GB Nvidia Quadro RTX A4000
  • Storage: 480 SSD, 2 TB Sata HD

 

How can you buy a workstation?

  • New workstations are expensive, you have to invest at least  60000 to 10,00,000 INR ( 5000 – 12000 USD) for computer hardware. The cost of commercial CFD solvers is also there.
  • To save cost and electronic wastage, you can buy a refurbished workstation at a cost of 25% – 50% of new model
  • If you want to buy a refurbished workstation at the lowest rate in India, you can contact us: cfdflowengineering@gmail.com