Creo Flow Analysis - CFD 201 Webcast Replay

Chapter Summaries

• 0:00 – Welcome & Introductions: CFD 201 Webinar Kickoff with PTC and Simerics Moderator Diane opens the CFD 201 webinar, covers Q&A/chat logistics, and introduces the presenters: Tom Quaglia (PTC Director of CAD Strategic Accounts), Todd Kraft, Rich Moore (Simerics EVP), and Alex Zhang.
• 1:05 – CFD 201 Overview: Cavitation, Wear & Product Life Cycle Rich Moore frames the session around cavitation, surface wear-and-tear, and product failure, previewing Alex Zhang's pump example that combines solid modeling in Creo Parametric with rotating geometry analysis in Creo Flow Analysis.
• 3:02 – Simerics Recap: Simerics MP, PumpLinx & Creo Flow Analysis Packages Recap of CFD 101/102 covering Simerics MP embedded in PumpLinx (pumps, valves, compressors) and Orca3D Marine CFD, plus the Creo Flow Analysis Base, Plus (rotating/moving), and Premium (cavitation + multiphase) tiers available inside Creo Parametric and Onshape.
• 5:59 – Digital Thread Integration: Creo Simulate FSI, Vuforia Studio & Windchill Walkthrough of how Creo Flow Analysis passes pressure and temperature fields to Creo Simulate for fluid-structure interaction (FSI), publishes AR results to Vuforia Studio for product marketing, and drives Windchill configuration studies like snowmobile windshield sizing.
• 8:21 – CFD 201 Goals: Democratizing Analyst-Grade CFD for Designers & Engineers Rich explains how Creo Flow Analysis brings analyst-quality CFD — body-fitted meshing, rotation, and cavitation — directly to Creo Parametric designers to cut prototype cycles, expose the "dirty little secret" of cavitation-driven failures, and shorten the CAD-to-analyst handoff.
• 10:12 – Rotating Geometry: Body-Fitted Mesh & Mismatched Grid Interface (MGI) Alex introduces Creo Flow Analysis' fully automatic body-fitted mesher and the proprietary Mismatched Grid Interface (MGI, aka "magic grid interface") that stitches rotating and stationary meshes together mid-solve — validated on complex cases like an axial fan benchmark.
• 13:01 – Cavitation Fundamentals: Vapor Bubble Formation, Shockwaves & Surface Pitting Physics primer on how pressure drops in liquid flow generate vapor bubbles that collapse near solid surfaces, producing shockwaves, pitting, erosion, noise, and performance loss in propellers, pumps, valves, pipes, and tubes — including the classic flow-rate vs rotational-speed pump curve.
• 15:50 – Reducing Cavitation Risk: Sharp Corners, Flow Detachment & Impeller Blade Design Practical mitigation strategies including slowing flow, straightening elbows, using gradual cross-section expansions (nozzles vs plate orifices), tuning impeller blade spacing/sizing at the eye of the impeller, and rounding sharp edges to prevent flow detachment and recirculation zones.
• 18:22 – Lab Prototyping vs Creo Flow Analysis: From Thermocouples to In-Creo Simulation Contrast between traditional prototype-and-test loops (shop builds, thermocouples, velocity probes, pressure taps) and running prototype-accurate CFA simulations directly at the designer's desk in Creo Parametric for rapid, high-fidelity what-if iteration.
• 21:09 – Rayleigh-Plesset Cavitation Model & Real-World Pump/Propeller Benchmarks Deep dive into Simerics' Rayleigh-Plesset-based cavitation model with free and dissolved non-condensable gases and full liquid/gas compressibility, plus benchmark pump performance curves, propeller bubble simulations, and a 14-stage centrifugal pump validation.
• 25:02 – Live Demo Setup: Centrifugal Pump in Creo Parametric with the CFA Wizard Hands-on setup inside Creo Parametric: launching Creo Flow Analysis from the Applications tab, using the step-by-step Wizard, enabling the Premium (cavitation) package, running the automatic fluid domain extraction, splitting the rotating impeller domain, choosing water, and defining pressure inlet / flow-rate outlet boundary conditions plus a 50 rad/s rotating wall.
• 32:55 – Running Steady-State Simulation & Post-Processing: Isosurfaces, Streamlines & XY Plots Live steady-state solve with a non-inertial frame on the Cartesian cut-cell body-fitted mesh, with real-time result rendering. Tour of post-processing tools: section views, isosurfaces for pressure and total gas volume fraction, monitor points, animated streamlines for recirculation/detachment, and XY plots for pressure rise, power, and torque.
• 39:00 – Transient Rotating Mesh & Design Iteration: Volume Remesh, MGI & Geometry Updates Switching to a transient volume-remesh simulation with a right-click-generated MGI for 1–2% accuracy, identifying flow detachment at sharp corners and cavitation from cross-sectional expansion, then editing the Creo Parametric geometry (rounds, channel width) and re-running with all boundary conditions and MGI preserved via Update Project.
• 45:59 – Wrap-Up, Getting Started Options & Q&A: Workshops, How-To Videos & Roadmap Rich and Tom close by summarizing the CAD-meets-analyst-CFD value, offering demos, online training, cloud-based hands-on workshops, and the 8-part "How to Use Creo Flow Analysis" video series. Q&A covers webinar recording links, MGI contact/topology changes, mesh convergence studies, prism-layer adjustment, and confirmation that CFA uses a pressure-based Finite Volume Method (FVM) solver.