Service offers airflow simulation on supercomputer

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Sep 9, 2002

Airpak/RSF is a new service that significantly reduces the entry cost for using engineering simulation software in the design of buildings and other facilities.

Airpak/RSF is a new service that significantly reduces the entry cost for using engineering simulation software in the design of buildings and other facilities.

This new subscription-based service delivers Airpak airflow modelling software through a secure Internet portal.

The user pays for simulation time, rather than having to purchase additional hardware and software.

This pay-as-you-go option lets building designers get started with powerful airflow modelling tools for less than $6000 allowing costs to be scaled to project needs.

Airpak helps building designers to better understand and visualise the performance of various ventilation systems.

It quickly and accurately simulates room airflow patterns, temperature distribution, contaminant distribution, ventilation effectiveness, and thermal comfort so designers can optimise their ventilation systems design and minimise risk exposure well before construction begins.

"I saw the value of airflow modelling years ago, but couldn't manage the upfront costs of the better simulation packages.

The Airpak/RSF lets me have the best of both worlds.

Now, I can scale my airflow modelling usage and costs to fit my project workload, and get all the computing horsepower I need from any location, at any time.

My clients appreciate being able to visualise how the design will perform, and I value the competitive advantage it gives me in the proposal process", says Paul Martin of Sigma Psi Consulting.

Driven by the powerful Fluent Remote Simulation Facility, the Airpak/RSF uses a secure Internet portal that allows users to exploit supercomputer capacity from their own desktop, but only have to pay for what they need.

The Airpak/RSF is specifically designed for small to medium-sized companies who need indoor environmental airflow simulation capabilities on a project-driven basis.

This dynamic new simulation system lets the user get started on their project right away, building and meshing models locally before uploading the job to a secure supercomputer facility for the number-crunching part of the simulation.

After the simulation is complete, the user simply downloads the results for local post-processing.

The user need not worry about availability as the Airpak/RSF is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

The facility uses state-of-the-art security and systems infrastructure from providers that include Cisco, Sun Microsystems, Silicon Graphics, and Hewlett Packard.

The Airpak/RSF is now available on a worldwide basis at prices beginning at under US $6000.

This typical startup cost for a user new to the Airpak/RSF includes the licence fees, unlimited use of the Airpak pre/post-processor on the users local machine, training, 40 CPU-hours of supercomputer simulation time, and 8 hours of user support.

Additional simulation time can be purchased at rates as low as $10/CPU hour in volume.

Time spent on the user's computer for model creation, meshing, and post-processing are not metered, nor is the interactive "online" time.