Simcenter STAR-CCM+ 2502: What’s New in the Latest CFD Software Update?
The Latest Simcenter STAR-CCM+ 2502 Release Brings Faster, Smarter CFD Simulations
For CFD engineers working in industries like automotive, aerospace, energy, and marine, every new software update brings an opportunity to streamline workflows, enhance accuracy, and reduce simulation time.
The latest version of Simcenter STAR-CCM+, 2502, delivers a significant leap forward in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. This release is built around key themes to help engineers push the boundaries of innovation: modeling complexity, exploring possibilities, going faster, and staying integrated. From groundbreaking performance enhancements on GPUs to sophisticated new physics models and streamlined automation, here’s a high-level look at the most impactful new features.
Go Faster: Unleashing Next-Generation Performance
This release places a massive emphasis on speed, enabling you to get results faster and tackle larger, more complex problems than ever before.
Multi-GPU and High-Performance Computing (HPC) Enhancements
GPU-native solvers have been significantly expanded to accelerate simulations. You can now speed up Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT) simulations with thin solids by running energy solvers directly on GPUs. Turnaround times for Vehicle Thermal Management simulations are also reduced with the GPU-native Actual Flow Dual Stream Heat Exchanger method. Furthermore, Smoothed-Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations can be significantly accelerated on multiple GPUs with a new multi-GPU-native SPH solver.
Accelerated Sliding Mesh and Motion
Simulations involving moving parts see a major boost in speed. The introduction of Boundary Interface Caching accelerates sliding mesh simulations on both CPUs and GPUs. For cases running on 8 x A100 GPUs, this can result in speed-ups of 10-45%.
A New Approach to Motion: The Virtual Body Method
An entirely new, pragmatic approach for simulating moving objects has been introduced. The Virtual Body method offers a fast and scalable way to tackle complex mesh motion scenarios like paint dipping and bottle filling, showing good stability in cases with tight gaps.
Model the Complexity: Deeper Physics for Higher Fidelity
Simcenter STAR-CCM+ 2502 introduces several new physics models and enhancements, allowing you to capture real-world phenomena with greater accuracy.
Advanced Solid Mechanics and Plasticity
The software’s structural simulation capabilities have been expanded with new models for anisotropic material plasticity.
Hill Plasticity Model: Accurately model applications featuring anisotropic plasticity by employing the Hill yield criterion.
Kinematic Hardening Model: Model the complexity of cyclic loading applications, accounting for yield strength reduction due to the Bauschinger effect.
Complex Multiphase and Reacting Flows
Simulating complex multiphase systems is now more robust and accurate.
Homogenous Multiphase Complex Chemistry: A new framework allows for robust and accurate reactions to occur between any number of species in any phase within a multiphase mixture.
Yield Stress for Non-Newtonian Fluids: You can now accurately model non-Newtonian Bingham fluids like mayonnaise by including yield stress when using Cross or Carreau-Yasuda viscosity laws.
Hybrid Multiphase: Faster hybrid simulations are now possible with support for the transition of wall-bound droplets to a fluid film and VOF.
Enhanced Corrosion and Electrochemistry Modeling
Setting up advanced electrochemical studies of galvanic corrosion is now significantly faster thanks to the integration of the Corrdesa Corrosion Djinn material database directly within Simcenter STAR-CCM+. This is complemented by a simplified workflow for material property assignment and a new native "Corrosion Rate" field function.
Explore the Possibilities: Smarter Automation and Design Exploration
This release empowers you to explore more designs and gain deeper insights through intelligent automation and refined data analysis tools.
Stages: The Ultimate Automation Tool
The "Stages" feature sees a major expansion, allowing for the automation of more complex, multi-step workflows without the need for Java scripting.
Support has been added for coupled flow and energy models, enabling workflows like an initial RANS simulation followed by a DES model.
Workflows can now automatically transition between Moving Reference Frame (MRF) and Rigid Body Motion (RBM).
Harmonic Balance workflows for turbomachinery can now be fully automated, from a precursor RANS simulation to the final harmonic balance analysis.
Adjoint Solver Enhancements
Adjoint-based optimization studies are now faster and more accurate. Algorithmic improvements significantly reduce the turnaround time for studies using second-order discretization. Additionally, a new feature-matching geometric sensitivity mesher enhances the accuracy of adjoint sensitivities for sharp-edged geometries.
Richer Design Space Insights with Design Manager
Design Manager now provides more confidence in Pareto Front results by adding all non-dominated points for analysis. You can easily track the evolution of ranks with new color coding and export all non-dominated points to a .csv file.
Stay Integrated: Seamless Industry-Specific Workflows
Simcenter STAR-CCM+ 2502 continues to deliver tailored solutions that streamline workflows for key industries.
E-Powertrain and Battery Simulation
Productivity and collaboration are enhanced for e-machine designers and CFD engineers with the new Simcenter Data eXchange (.scdx) file format, which contains both CAD and Physics in a single file. For battery simulation, the batteries add-on now features a more readable, industry-standard circuit layout and an easier setup to account for current and ohmic heating in connectors.
Turbomachinery and In-Cylinder Solutions
Alongside the "Stages" support for Harmonic Balance , turbomachinery engineers can now more accurately capture blade wakes with automatic propagation of wake refinements across periodic boundaries. For in-cylinder applications, data analysis is accelerated with automated post-processing for static domain parts, including the generation of reports and plots for mass flow rate, pressure, and temperature.
These updates ensure that Simcenter STAR-CCM+ remains the leading CFD software for engineers tackling real-world industry challenges.
Final Thoughts: Should You Upgrade to STAR-CCM+ 2502?
Based on the extensive new features, upgrading to Simcenter STAR-CCM+ 2502 is highly recommended for engineers seeking to accelerate their simulation workflows, enhance physical realism, and improve productivity.
The decision to upgrade is compelling for several key reasons:
Go Faster with Unprecedented Performance: This release delivers significant speed-ups, particularly for complex simulations. It introduces multi-GPU native SPH solvers , expands GPU-native solvers for Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT) , and provides accelerated sliding mesh simulations on both CPU and GPU , in some cases cutting simulation time by up to 45%.
Achieve More with Smarter Automation: The powerful "Stages" feature has been significantly expanded to automate complex, multi-step workflows without the need for extensive scripting. This includes support for transitioning between coupled and segregated flow solvers , moving between Moving Reference Frame (MRF) and Rigid Body Motion (RBM) , and automating Harmonic Balance workflows for turbomachinery.
Model the Complexity of the Real World: Version 2502 introduces sophisticated new physics models to tackle challenging industrial applications. This includes advanced capabilities for solid mechanics with the Hill Plasticity and Kinematic Hardening models , more accurate modeling of non-Newtonian fluids with yield stress , and a new framework for homogenous multiphase complex chemistry.
Streamline Industry-Specific Workflows: The update provides tailored enhancements that boost efficiency. This includes the integration of the Corrdesa Corrosion Djinn material database for faster electrochemical studies , the new SCDX file format for improved collaboration on e-machine design , and numerous improvements for battery and in-cylinder simulations.
Ultimately, Simcenter STAR-CCM+ 2502 offers a potent combination of speed, intelligence, and advanced physical modeling that can reduce turnaround times, increase simulation accuracy, and empower more extensive design exploration.
Try Simcenter STAR-CCM+ 2502 Today
📌Want to see it in action? Explore the full release notes or contact us for more details. Purchase STAR-CCM+ Essentials now directly online!
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