AFT Blog
Several generations of engineers ago engineers realized that performing calculations on gas flow is a lot more difficult than for liquids. As a result, the bulk of what is gas flow engineering history has revolved around how to treat gases as liquids. Another large portion of history is how to simplify gas flow equations down to simple isothermal relationships. In other words, the majority of gas flow engineering historically is about how to take short cuts with gas flow calculations.
With the release of AFT Fathom 8 and AFT Impulse 5, there is an incredibly useful new feature available on the Workspace called the "Quick Access Panel". This feature allows you to quickly and easily work with several useful features of the software in one area such as the Scenario Manager, Pipe and Junction Inspection, Workspace Overview Map, the Checklist, and ability to activate the add-on modules. Scenario Manager Access to the full Scenario Manager capabilities exists in the Quick Access Panel. Add new scenarios, clone scenarios, promote scenarios, re-order scenarios, add notes for scenarios, etc. Properties The Properties tab in...
AFT Fathom 8 has a new and improved method for predicting system pressures that involve laminar flow or non-Newtonian fluids. The Adjusted Turbulent K Factor (ATKF) method is used to apply corrections to pipes and components involving these special flows. The ATKF method can be enabled on the System Data tab in the System Properties window. Clicking on the question mark next to the ATKF method will access the AFT Fathom 8 Help Content that discusses the ATKF method in detail. In September 2012, Applied Flow Technology and DuPont published a technical article for the International Pump Users Symposium that discusses...
AFT Fathom has the ability to model heat transfer. The default mode (found in system properties) is “Constant Fluid Properties”. To avoid confusion in the default mode, several of the heat transfer input fields and option boxes are invisible or disabled until one of the following heat transfer modes are employed: Heat Transfer With Energy Balance (Single Fluid)Heat Transfer With Energy Balance (Multiple Fluids) Upon selecting one of these heat transfer modes, the user may notice an option box labeled “Balance Energy at Junction”; found at the lower left of the first tab in the properties window for the Assigned Pressure...
One of the many new features in Fathom 8 is the ability to show images in the annotation box. This simple feature will allow the engineer to easily and clearly communicate a vast array of information through the Workspace and Visual Report. To add an image to the Workspace or Visual Report, as seen above, select the Annotation tool from the toolbox. Then select the “Line/Arrow/Image” tab and specify the file path to your image. Once the image is selected, click OK. The image box shown on the workspace can be easily moved and resized.
A frequently asked question at our training seminars - usually during a break or over lunch - is how we came up with the name "Arrow". More completely, the product is named AFT Arrow™ and it is considered by many as the world's leading compressible pipe flow modeling software product.