AFT Blog

Welcome to the Applied Flow Technology Blog where you will find the latest news and training on how to use AFT Fathom, AFT Arrow, AFT Impulse, AFT xStream and other AFT software products.

AFT Fathom 8...Worth the Wait

We at Applied Flow Technology are really excited about the new version of AFT Fathom 8 coming in September. Once our customers get their hands on it we are confident they will be equally excited. This version represents the most significant upgrade since AFT Fathom 4 was released in year 2000. It will further establish AFT Fathom as the world's leading pipe flow modeling tool.The prices are increasing soon so if you are planning to order new AFT Fathom licenses or SUM annual support do not delay. Read further for more details.The effort to move AFT Fathom from version 7 to 8 turned...

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Increasing Heat Exchanger Accuracy for Large Temperature Differences and Non-Linear Heat Capacity

Many times when modeling heat transfer using heat exchangers in AFT Fathom, significant temperature differences across the heat exchanger can have a major impact on the accuracy of the heat transfer results.  This can especially become a problem with non-linear heat capacity relationships.  The heat transfer across the heat exchanger in the model below is calculated from the temperature difference across the heat exchanger and the arithmetic average heat capacity. One way to enhance the accuracy of the heat transfer results is to model the single heat exchanger junction, J2, as multiple heat exchangers as shown in the below model. The...

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The Future of Engineering - Part 2

This article is the second in a two-part series on the future of engineering. Part 1 was discussed last month in The Future of Engineering - Part 1.

I was teaching a training class a few months ago at Kennedy Space Center in Florida and had the good fortune to get a guided tour of the space center by "Rob," one of the attendees in my class. I wrote about this tour in  My 50th Anniversary Visit to the Site of John Glenn’s First American Flight Into Space.

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How AFT Impulse Can Help Engineers Comply With ASME Codes

Summary Engineers are often responsible to design systems to comply with codes and standards. In recent years codes that apply to waterhammer and surge pressures have become more prominent. Increasingly AFT Impulse is being used to help engineers comply with such codes. Once AFT Impulse has calculated the maximum pressure due to a transient event, what shall the designer do with this value? The answer to this question depends on the code that is being used as the piping design basis. In this article, we’ll be discussing how two important piping design codes - B31.4 and B31.3 - deal with surge...

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New Prices for Next Generation of AFT Software Products

We have been hard at work for the last several years on the next generation of AFT software products. These new versions will extend AFT's leadership in the global marketplace and offer engineers unprecedented modeling and user interface capabilities.

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The Future of Engineering - Part 1

May and June are the time for graduations in the USA. My third son graduated from high school this month and will be pursuing a major in Aerospace Engineering. My oldest son is finishing his third year in Mining Engineering and my second son has started into a Mechanical Engineering major. Engineering education and the future of engineering is a frequent discussion topic around our home.

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Sonic Choking: Flow Areas vs. Sonic Areas

AFT Arrow can be used to model various types of choking such as restriction choking, endpoint choking, and expansion choking.  A useful parameter in AFT Arrow’s output is the “Sonic Flow Area” and this is the flow area in which sonic choking will occur.  Comparing the sonic flow area to the actual flow area can help determine the margin between not choking and choking. The figure below provides a conceptual understanding of comparing various sonic areas to the actual flow area of a compressible system.  If one defines their system such that the sonic area (ASonic,1) is less than the flow...

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