ADS Master Edition Takes Flight

Flagship edition of ADS CFD delivers advanced analysis capabilities for enhancing turbine durability and performance during design

PLEASANTON, Calif. - September 19, 2011 - AeroDynamic Solutions, Inc. (ADS) today announced the availability of the ADS Master Edition.  Targeted for cutting edge turbine and compressor designers, the ADS Master Edition extends ADS CFD with powerful new conjugate heat transfer and large scale unsteady analysis capabilities developed under an SBIR Phase II award from the U.S. Air Force.  Combined, these capabilities provide a powerful platform for advancing durability and performance during design.

"The quest for more efficient gas turbines has led the industry to smaller, lighter designs capable of withstanding heavy loads and extreme operating temperatures," said Bob Ni, Chairman and CTO, ADS.  "These conditions demand advanced CFD to design effective cooling schemes and counter the more pronounced blade row interaction effects that impact performance and durability."

With this announcement, the ADS Master Edition becomes the third and most advanced tier of the ADS product offerings, which currently include the ADS Desktop Edition for single users and ADS Enterprise Edition for turbomachinery design teams.  Key features of the ADS Master Edition include:

• Conjugate heat transfer analysis for improved cooling scheme design.  The ADS Master Edition introduces a conjugate heat transfer analysis capability for accurate surface metal temperature prediction and improved cooling scheme design.  Using standards-based unstructured mesh input for maximum design flexibility, complex features such as shaped holes with compound angle, trailing edge slots, and internal cavities with pedestal chambers and turbulators may be analyzed.  Temperature dependent material properties are provided for nine commonly used alloys, with the ability to add custom profiles as needed.  All CHT meshes may be partitioned for enhanced parallel performance, and a new heat transfer-specific output file is generated to simplify post-processing.  To streamline setup and execution, designers can take advantage of a conjugate heat transfer analysis wizard provided in the ADS Workbench.

• Enhanced "4D" unsteady analysis for improved durability and performance during design.  The ADS Master Edition enhances the multistage unsteady analysis capabilities of Code Leo by significantly improving large scale parallel computation performance.  By incorporating the fourth dimension into CFD analysis—time—designers gain critical flow insights needed to advance durability and performance.  Blade row interaction effects may be studied to counter adverse aerodynamic loads leading to high cycle fatigue.  Endwall secondary flow effects may also be analyzed to enhance efficiency and operating range.  To allow designers to achieve the proper balance of accuracy and turnaround time, sector, scaled sector and full wheel analysis options are provided.  Finally, a multistage unsteady analysis wizard is provided in the ADS Workbench to simplify setup and execution.

• Design time application.  The enhancements provided in the Master Edition makes it practical to conduct advanced durability and performance studies during design, before committing to hardware. 

• Easy integration to design optimization loop.  In addition to interactive analysis through the ADS Workbench, both conjugate heat transfer and large scale unsteady analysis capabilities may be easily integrated into design optimization loops through the use of text-based setup files and command line executables.

"Advanced analysis capabilities such as conjugate heat transfer and multistage unsteady are essential to advancing gas turbine design," said John Clark, Turbine Engine Division, Air Force Research Laboratory.  "Products like the Master Edition from ADS will make it increasingly practical for gas turbine designers to gain critical insights needed to achieve new levels of efficiency, durability and performance."

"Bob Ni and team continue to craft turbomachinery CFD that can be counted on for design," said George Fan, President and CEO.  "With this announcement, cutting edge designers working in application areas such as cooled turbines can tackle durability and performance with confidence."

For more information on pricing, please contact ADS at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Initial availability is limited to U.S. based customers.