Anusha is Team Lead Software Development/Software Engineer and is based in Towcester, UK. Björn is a technology Expert in Fluid Mechanics and Mixing as well as the Reaction Engineering Subgroup Lead within the Process Engineering Technology Group and is based in Skopau, Germany.
The development was started in early 2020 and CO-LaN has been kept in the loop, providing light support along the way. By implementing a CAPE-OPEN thermodynamic socket in Simcenter Flomaster, Mentor joins many other software vendors who have chosen the CAPE-OPEN technology to make their application interoperate with a variety of other process simulation applications such as thermodynamic servers or unit operations. CO-LaN welcomes Simcenter Flomaster as a new addition to the list of CAPE-OPEN based Process Modelling Environments.
Summary
Fundamental chemical engineering calculations, such as heat transfer, mass transfer and fluid mechanics, that are used to model and design chemical processes require accurate physical property and phase equilibria data. Inaccurate physical property data can have a major impact on the design of major unit operations such as heat exchangers, distillation equipment, pumps, compressors, reactors and mixing equipment. The sizing of interconnected piping, control elements (e.g. flow control valves) and process safety equipment (e.g., pressure relief devices) are also impacted by the quality of physical property data. Hence, accurate and consistent property data is crucial.
Like most other chemical producing and engineering companies, Dow Inc. deploys a variety of different commercial and inhouse computer-based tools. The transfer of physical property data between these platforms can be a challenging and time-consuming exercise. Having to manually transfer this data can lead to user frustration and creates opportunities for engineering error. The CAPE-OPEN property interface offers an automated way to quickly transfer relevant physical property data from a common data source to different computer-based applications. Dow Inc. and Mentor, a Siemens Business, have collaborated to develop a CAPE-OPEN interface for the 1D CFD thermo-hydraulic modelling tool Simcenter Flomaster. Simcenter Flomaster is used globally within Dow for the steady-state and transient modelling of thermo-hydraulic models.
In the presentation we discuss the value brought by CAPE-OPEN and how the CAPE-OPEN interfaces are implemented in Simcenter Flomaster.