Flow Analysis, Inc. provides computational fluid dynamics software applicable to vortex-dominated flows, such as those associated with buildings, bridges, automobiles, and rotorcraft. Vortex-dominated flows are difficult to compute, since most CFD methods are dissipative. Physical vortices persist and convect with the flow; vortices computed by conventional CFD methods tend to dissipate prematurely. FAI invented and implemented an approach called "vorticity confinement" that will allow vortex structures to persist indefinitely on a coarse grid. As a result, most computations, even on complex bodies, can be done on ordinary PCs. Vorticity confinement has found applications in flow visualization, and in particular the modeling of smoke. Vorticity confinement results in the development of small-scale structures that result in extremely realistic smoke images that cannot be produced with standard CFD methods
