UH3D (UnderHood in 3 Dimensions)

UH3D is a niche application designed for vehicle front end cooling analysis. Traditionally this area of CFD analysis is complex and time consuming. UH3D overcomes the constraints of the traditional approach by solving complex geometries, supporting parallel processing and producing tangible results.

Initially developed by Ford Motor Company, currently ESI CFD Services (exclusively) support the development and distribution of UH3D. This tool is extensively used at Ford, Mazda and other automotive companies.

Core areas for UH3D analysis

1. Front-end cooling

2. AIS Rise Over Ambient (ROA)

3. Heat Management (Trailer Tow Conditions)

Key Benefits

1. Minimal learning curve & simple model set up - Underhood CFD analysis is very time consuming due to the complex geometry involved. UH3D overcomes this by only requiring a triangle surface mesh as geometry, together with a Cartesian mesh as volume input. UH3D calculates the effective fluid domain by intersecting both meshes.

2. High accuracy and deeper insights - The results provide velocity, pressure, and temperature distributions throughout the vehicle front end (3-D). Air temperature and velocity profiles on to the heat exchangers can be easily obtained from the results field. Pressure drop and temperature rise across each heat exchanger, as well as radiator coolant inlet temperature is also calculated. The results produced are high on accuracy and can easily be relied upon.

3. Parallel processing with high turnaround time - The solver is very efficient in parallel, hence design iterations can be done as they are proposed. The simulation time is also reduced significantly compared to the standard commercial codes.