Madison, WisconsinㅡOctober 16, 2019ㅡConvergent Science has released the highly anticipated new version of their computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, CONVERGE 3.0. CONVERGE 3.0 builds on previous versions with new features, enhancements, and expanded capabilities. One of the most notable enhancements in CONVERGE 3.0 is a dramatic improvement in scalingㅡusers will see significant speedup when running the software on large numbers of processors.

"In CONVERGE 3.0, we switched from partitioning the domain on blocks coarser than the solution grid to partitioning the solution grid directly," says Keith Richards, co-owner of Convergent Science and one of the principal developers of CONVERGE. "This allows us to get a good load balance for any solution mesh, including those with very high levels of embedding, and means CONVERGE scales well even on thousands of cores."

The way CONVERGE stores information during simulation runtime has also been modified in version 3.0, resulting in a greatly reduced memory footprint. Additionally, CONVERGE's post-processor, Tecplot for CONVERGE, is more seamlessly integrated into the software, creating a smoother workflow for users.

CONVERGE 3.0 offers more flexibility in meshing than previous versions. With autonomous meshing, CONVERGE automatically generates an optimized Cartesian mesh at runtime. In 3.0, users can optionally incorporate an inlaid mesh in a region of the grid to obtain accurate results with fewer cells. Inlaid meshes can be aligned with the flow direction to reduce numerical viscosity, or users can refine the mesh in only one or two directions instead of all three. This allows users to accurately resolve boundary layers, for example, at a reduced computational cost by increasing mesh resolution only normal to the wall.

Among the new features in CONVERGE are two new combustion models. The thickened flame model for use in conjunction with LES (TFM-LES) is useful for simulations with large differences in length scales, like resolving the flame front in a boiler. The second new model, SAGE PDF, accounts for turbulence-chemistry interactions in flames modeled with RANS.

CONVERGE's chemistry capabilities have also been enhanced in version 3.0. The SAGE detailed chemistry solver has seen significant speedup, especially for large reaction mechanisms, making CONVERGE one of the fastest chemistry solvers on the market. In addition, CONVERGE 3.0 includes numerous new chemistry tools, including new 0D chemical reactors, a new 1D flamespeed solver, and enhanced tools for manipulating chemical mechanisms.

"At the end of the day," says Richards, "CONVERGE 3.0 opens the door to larger, faster, and more diverse simulations than ever before."