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Topics relate to Fluent, CFX, Turbogrid and more

What are the differences between CFX and

Fluent?
gishnutr Member
Posts: 4

May 2018

Hi All,

  I am a Fluent user. I have never tried CFX.

1.What are the differences in using CFX and Fluent? 

2. Are they used for any specific kind of problems? If yes, why those
problems are for CFX/Fluent?

Thank You.
 

Comments
raul.raghav Bethlehem, PA Posts: 478 Member

May 2018 edited May 2018

There is always something new to learn

.

1. They are both equally good CFD solvers. Preference primarily

depends on the physics of the flow and the user's familiarity with
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11/24/21, 12:40 PM What are the differences between CFX and Fluent? — Ansys Learning Forum

the solver. Below are some main differences that come to my mind
right away thinking about the two solvers.

• CFX cannot handle a true 2D mesh. It can handle a pseudo-2D

mesh which would be a 1 element thickness 3D mesh. While
Fluent can handle 2D meshes with no problems.
• Fluent uses a cell-centered approach while CFX uses a vertex-
centered approach. The point being is, Fluent is capable of
handling polyhedral mesh and cutcell meshes while CFX sticks
to just the traditional tetra and hexa mesh topologies.
• CEL (CFX Expression Language) is also used with CFD-Post. So
its easier to define algebraic equations and monitor them
during your run with CFX. Fluent needs UDFs for customization
which can complicate things for beginners. Fluent has post-
processing capabilities of its own while CFX needs a dedicated
post-processor.
• Mesh Adaption capabilities are weaker in CFX compared to
Fluent. In CFX, "Adaptive meshing is available for single
domains with no GGI interfaces and limited physics".
• Fluent is continuously worked upon by the engineers at Ansys
and there is a significant improvement made with every new
release. CFX definitely lacks the focus that Fluent gets from the
developers, in my opinion.
• Simulation acceleration with a GPU is possible in Fluent, while
it doesn't benefit CFX.

2. Both the solvers can handle most of the flow physics with some
limitations for the both. I believe turbomachinery is one field where
CFX has been proving its worth. Fluent is preferred for high
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11/24/21, 12:40 PM What are the differences between CFX and Fluent? — Ansys Learning Forum

Mach number flows (supersonic and hypersonic flows). Fluent has a

lot more tutorials easily accessible, which makes learning it a tad bit
easier. CFX has limited tutorials available making the learning
process a bit harder for a beginner.

Hope this helps!

 

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