F1technical.net

Not so much of an serious tool but nice to play around with and isnt to inacurate to sketch out rough ideas. only problem is that its 2D. i have it for my ipad as just wanted to share...

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wind-tun ... 71296?mt=8

Do you know if it's available for android?

to be honest i'm not sure. if it is i would say its more for the android tablets because the battery and prossesor usage must be huge

I would like to see a cloud based CFD program that can use resources of multiple computers to solve aerodynamic problems. You could make it like a game....for nerds, I'd buy it

godlameroso wrote:I would like to see a cloud based CFD program that can use resources of multiple computers to solve aerodynamic problems. You could make it like a game....for nerds, I'd buy it :D

Im surprised a F1 team hasnt tried something like it before. Willis used some of TATAs cloud computing for the F111 earlier in the season, but if Hispania were to offer a Folding@Home program to their fans to use their computers for CFD and help them, im sure pretty sure that a good proportion of F1 fans would download it and help Hispania design a hell of a car.

If they offered the chance for your name to be on the car as well, albeit it would be on the car in such a small print you wouldnt see it, you would then have the pride of knowing your name is on both cars and your computing power helped make that car so fast (or if it was slow, shame).

Also the cost of the computing power wouldnt be that much for a team, probably much cheaper than the €32m Albert III that BMW left Sauber. And it would probably be much more powerful than what the most powerful is in what Virgin and Renault have as theres not much between their systems.

That looks awesome. 2D is great to test concepts.

Has anybody tested them? What is the difference between the lite, normal and pro versions? It is not clear from the webpage exactly what the pro version can that the normal one can't beyond pretty colors...

Do they allow to calculate a force equivalent? (adjusting for the fact that it is 2D and the units will of course be mangled, of course)

All I could notice was that the lite version you got a set few objects to put in the "tunnel". free hand drawing, speed, friction, viscosity and more visualisations. Also works out drag to lift and give some figures although probably nothing dependable. I've been drawing aerofoils and incorporating channels, ala F-duct. Quite interesting. There are a few extra things I would like to see in the app and have written a few ideas to put to the developers. Like most things on app stores, updates are usually quite regular.
I have pro for ipad 2 but cant say i know what you get extra?

On cloud computing. Stanford university was using the PS3 to simulate viruses (biological) and simulate how they form and spread. Since all the network hacking it all had to get canned. It would be a BRILLIANT idea, especially if you could also be able to view an end report of the item that was tested, or a unscaled CAD picture of the part tested. BUT I could also see it being used as a way for people to disrupt teams work maliciously if security was lax. Great idea though.

I have the lite version of windtunnel on my IPad. Its not bad, gives you an idea of the 2d flow structures, it also gives you some basic lift\drag figures. I've been using it to look at trialing edges gurneys, perf' Gurneys and flaps, in respect to the Red Bull diffuser.
I beleive the full version allows you to import PNG files to create shapes, rather than finger-painting!

just downloaded it on my iphone, i cant get off it its awesome lol

Am quite sure, this will put an end to all CFD codes...

I'm glad I shared it with you all in that case. I will recommend that if you make an item to import on paint as scarbs mentioned, to first make sure your usable drawing area is the same ratio as prescribed by the app. I made a rough sketch of the "jet fighter" type side pods discussed in another thread and it was squashed and stretched all over the place. I think it's 1024x768 for iPad and 480x320 for iPhone.

For those w/o an iPhone/iPad you can also do something similar for free on your computer at:

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/foil3.html

There are options to import a list of points and you can create all sorts of various shapes by doing that.

I checked the Android market, no such luck

So I tried it! Interesting but a toy really. Below a caveat to anyone using it (I think we'll see more of it in this forum).
Does anyone know any specifics of how the app actually works?

Now as to why you should be very, very, VERY cautious using this Wtunnel-pro tool:
1) It is 2D, obviously. That still should allow it to be good enough for some concept tests like this.
2) From the web page of the tool:
What are the units of the simulation ?
There are currently no actual units in the simulation. It was at first designed to be a visual app, not an engineering tool. However, we agree it could be interesting to give some units and values (speed, viscosity, pressure, Reynolds number). We are working on it and might include some units in a future update.
This means that we don't know if the density, viscosity, etc. is equivalent to those of air, water or molten lava.
3) The velocity field is solved in a 120×160 grid on iPad and on a 92×138 grid on iPod/iPhones.
This means that models have to be insanely simple.
4)...we developed a highly optimized simulation engine...
I am not sure how to interpret that, but my first instinct is that they simplified the math. That's never a good idea and the tool does display some really bizarre behavior. Particles stick to the walls and flow separation is moody, but the worse is that the conservation of mass is somehow broken. Simulations like this show it clearly:

The straight lines are velocity field, the dots simulated particles. As one can see, they go into the bottle and keep entering and entering for ever and making a whirlwind), yet nothing comes out. Whatever simplification they did, it was a step too far.

So be very, very, very careful before concluding anything from this tool!

I wouldnot making any sort of conclusion from this. You don't know boundary conditions, plus all the stuff already noted.

It's a toy, Nothing more. It just generates some colorful dots on a screen