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.

Know Your Pump & System Curves – Part 2B

In this blog, we dive further into pump and system curves for complex systems.  The examples include demonstrating system curves changing over time and when multiple system curves exist for a single system with multiple pumps in different locations of the system.  Let us re-visit the multi-branched system example from the previo...

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Pump Geeks from a Century Ago - von Kármán and Knapp

Flow going backwards through a pump? Then the pump starts rotating in reverse? Where the heck is the check valve to stop the flow? These are all great questions (which I will answer later in this article). Theodore von Kármán and Robert Knapp were working on these questions in the early 1930's. Most engineering students encounter von Kármán in thei...

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AFT Arrow is 25 Years Old…and Still Going Strong

As the original developer of AFT Arrow, I consider it as one of my babies. This month it is all grown up and now 25 years old. Back in March we came out with the latest new version AFT Arrow 8 – just as the COVID-19 crisis was emerging. Those who have taken an AFT Arrow seminar which I have taught (at least fifty classes and counting!) have likely ...

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Modeling Fans, Blowers and Compressors - Oh My!

For gas systems flow is driven either by a pressure difference, or by a turbomachine. AFT Arrow allows users to model turbomachines such as fans, blowers and compressors. For this blog we'll talk about what differentiates these three options, and how to model them using AFT Arrow.    Definitions and Types Fans, blowers and compressors all...

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A Scenic Journey into Colorado's Mining Past Over Engineer Pass

With 54 peaks over 14,000 ft (4270 m) in elevation, the state of Colorado has many ways to get high. And rich. Once upon a time the path to riches was found underground, not on the peaks. During the 1870's mining towns began to emerge in Colorado. Colorado was definitely the "wild west" during those days! The mines operated over the next 20-30 year...

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Back to the Basics: Calculating and Defining Head

While thinking in terms of pressure is often intuitive for engineers, thinking in terms of head can be more challenging. You may be surprised by the number of cases and questions that come to the support team here at AFT about the basic definition of head, and how it relates to hydraulic modeling. Let's get back to the basics with how head is defin...

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Keeping the Future COVID-19 Vaccine Cool

Nations handle the interaction between their government and the business/industry sector differently. Earlier in life I was firmly of the belief that governments should not interfere with business/industry as, despite the best of intentions, they typically make things worse and only add on bureaucracy without providing any net value in the end. As ...

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