AFT Blog

The AFT Platinum Pipe Award recognizes excellence in piping and ducting system modeling using AFT software . Contest details and entry form can be found at  http://www.aft.com/platinum-pipe-award . Congratulations to our winners for 2018! Correlation to Test/Field Data David Lozano and Roger Bosch from Suez in Spain - Two types of check valves were installed on a water pipeline in Barcelona, Spain to determine surge response. AFT Impulse and high frequency measured data matched very well during pump trip scenarios. Use of Features and Model Creativity Rory Heim from Swanson Rink Inc. in the United States - A data center condenser water distribution piping...

Among the many talents of AFT Fathom and AFT Arrow software is the ability to model heat transfer. While a major source of heat transfer is heat exchangers , this blog will address heat transfer that occurs in pipes. First, for the basics: Just what is heat transfer? Well, heat transfer occurs when there is a temperature difference between two objects at different temperatures. As all engineers know, the common theme of physics is that matter and energy alike travel spontaneously from higher, more chaotic surroundings to calmer, lower energy situations (not unlike the stereotypical engineer), and heat transfer is no...

In case you have not noticed, rockets can be really loud. Sound suppression on vertically launched rockets (and the Space Shuttle, back when it was flying) is more important than most of you would think. And for a different reason than most of you would guess.

Every so often I get to talk about my first job which was in the aerospace industry where I first learned about sound suppression systems. Today AFT software is used on several of these systems by our customers in the aerospace industry as well as NASA. 

The flowrate of water used in the sound suppression process is enormous. Which is why they are often called "deluge systems".

Heat exchangers are some of the most expensive pieces of process equipment, so it is crucial that their pressure losses and heat transfer are well understood. AFT Fathom and AFT Arrow allow users to model heat exchangers within their piping systems. Pressure loss models include input K factors, resistance curves, or tube bundle information. When energy balances are being considered, users can choose between 11 heat transfer models in AFT Fathom and 12 heat transfer models in AFT Arrow to best meet their hydraulic modeling needs. While AFT Fathom and AFT Arrow can also model heat transfer in pipes , this...

Around this time of year with Thanksgiving just around the corner, I always reflect on the truly endless list of things I am so grateful for. While this list is by no means exhaustive, some of these things include my loved ones, my awesome job at AFT, the bounty of pumpkin-flavored treats that sweeten up my fall-time snacking options, and of course, AFT Impulse’s detection of artificial transients. While the dreaded Warning message that an artificial transient triggers can cause any engineer’s stomach to turn, I’ll explain why every AFT Impulse user should add this feature to his/her list of things...

This week was not a typical week for me. For the first time in 30 years I found myself in not one, not two, but three university classrooms. Each classroom was in one of Colorado's excellent engineering schools.

I had a chance to come face-to-face with about 140 students in classrooms this week and several professors. A number of positive things came of the week which I will summarize below.

Superheated steam is often used in mechanical power applications, such as driving turbines. For heating or industrial processes, however, saturated steam is more efficient. Desuperheaters are used to lower the temperature of superheated steam, so that it can be more effectively used in industrial processes. A desuperheater lowers the temperature of the steam by injecting water. Now, the question is, how can you model a desuperheater within AFT Arrow? AFT Arrow  is a single-phase program for compressible flow, so it cannot model liquid water. Conveniently though, there is a feature built into the branch junction that can model a desuperheater. You...