SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Reaction Design®, the leading developer of combustion simulation software, has added knock prediction capabilities to FORTÉ, the most advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) package for realistic 3D modeling of fuel effects in internal combustion (IC) engines. FORTÉ can be used to accurately simulate both autoignition and flame propagation phenomena in the cylinder, allowing designers to create engines with optimal performance, better fuel economy and reduced emissions.
“Until now, CFD simulation approaches have been focused on modeling engine behaviors at a high level, but the true value of simulation is in being able to predict the key events during the combustion cycle that directly impact efficiency, reliability and emissions. FORTÉ is the only CFD package with integrated CHEMKIN-PRO chemistry solvers which enable the prediction of autoignition events,” said Bernie Rosenthal, chief executive officer of Reaction Design. “When fuel improperly ignites, it interferes with the engine’s cycles, causes damage to components and impacts the vehicle’s performance. Using FORTÉ, developers can gain confidence in their designs before beginning the time-consuming and expensive task of experimenting on real hardware.”
To meet computational time-to-solution goals, traditional IC engine CFD simulation approaches require the use of severely reduced fuel chemistry models that are unable to accurately emulate real autoignition behavior. Using its embedded CHEMKIN-PRO solver technology, FORTÉ produces results 10 times faster and with greater accuracy than competitive CFD packages without the use of severely reduced fuel models. FORTÉ utilizes multi-component gasoline fuel models that comprise the hundreds of chemical species and corresponding kinetic reactions that have proved necessary to reliably predict when ignition occurs.
“Designing engines with reduced emissions, enhanced performance and high reliability requires the consideration of both the physics and chemistry involved in the combustion process,” said Professor Rolf Reitz, distinguished professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and director of the Engine Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also a founding partner of Wisconsin Engine Research Consultants (WERC), a co-developer of FORTE. “FORTÉ makes use of decades of study and physical model improvements, together with the latest numerical methods to provide truly predictive capabilities for important engine conditions where both accurate models of the physics and the chemical kinetics are critical.”
The Model Fuels Consortium, founded by Reaction Design in 2005, developed and validated detailed chemical mechanisms and software including FORTÉ, against real engines and real fuel compositions. As a result, engine designers have access to CFD models that accurately capture behaviors that exist in today’s high-efficiency, low-emissions engine designs.
Availability
The new capabilities in FORTÉ are available now. To get more information or to purchase FORTÉ, contact sales@reactiondesign.com.
About Reaction Design
Reaction Design, a San Diego, California-based software supplier, enables transportation manufacturers and energy companies to rapidly achieve their clean technology goals by automating the analysis of chemical processes via computer simulation and modeling solutions.
Reaction Design is the exclusive developer and distributor of CHEMKIN and CHEMKIN-PRO, the gold standard for modeling gas-phase and surface chemistry that provides engineers ultra-fast access to reliable answers that save time and money in the development process. Reaction Design’s FORTÉ is an advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation package for realistic 3D modeling of fuel effects in internal combustion engines with superior time-to-solution metrics that fit in commercial development timeframes. Reaction Design’s ENERGICO software brings accurate chemistry simulation to gas turbine and boiler/furnace combustion systems using automated reactor network analysis. Reaction Design also offers the CHEMKIN-CFD software module, which brings detailed kinetics modeling to other engineering applications, such as CFD packages.
Reaction Design’s world-class engineers, chemists and programmers have expertise that spans multi-scale engineering from the molecule to the engine. Reaction Design serves more than 400 customers in the commercial, government and academic markets.
Reaction Design can be found online at www.reactiondesign.com
CHEMKIN®, CHEMKIN-PRO® and Reaction Design® are registered trademarks of Reaction Design. FORTÉ, ENERGICO, CHEMKIN-PRO Reaction Workbench, CHEMKIN-CFD and Model Fuels Consortium are trademarks of Reaction Design. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
