Common Pitfalls and Benefits

Despite the increased user friendliness of modem CFD software, there are still a number of potential pitfalls that can beset the analyst. Some of the mistakes made most commonly when using CFD are listed below. 

Fortunately, none of these problems is fundamental to the CFD technology itself. A coarse grid may be refined, unconverged calculations continued, and accurate physical constants may be measured. These easily avoided pitfalls are far outweighed by the following benefits  

In summary, if the CFD analyst is careful when addressing the issues of problem setup and solution convergence, the potential benefits that can be extracted from the simulation are numerous. Furthermore, the computational resources available today, in terms of both speed and power, should encourage engineers to make use of high density grids and complex models so as to achieve results of the best possible quality. 

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