Introducing CFD
CFD is the prediction of fluid flow using numerical analysis. Let’s break that down:
- Prediction: Just as with other physical phenomena, fluid flow can be modeled mathematically, and simulated. For readers from the field of ML, this is different from an ML model’s prediction. Here, we solve a set of equations iteratively to construct the flow inside or around a body. Mainly, we use Navier-Stokes equations.
- Numerical analysis: Several tools have been created to help actually solve these equations – not surprisingly, these tools are called solvers. As with any set of tools, there are commercial and open source varieties of these solvers. It is uncommon nowadays to write any code related to the actual solving of equations – similar to how you don’t write your own ML framework before you start solving your ML problems. Numerical or mathematical methods that have been studied for decades are implemented through code in these...
