Fluid dynamics doesn’t behave the same way in a chemical reactor as it does around an aircraft wing, or inside a medical device. Each industry comes with unique physics, dominant forces, and critical parameters. Aerospace might obsess over shock waves and boundary layer transition at high speeds ✈️, while HVAC needs precise thermal comfort prediction using radiation and displacement ventilation models. Automotive aero demands specific turbulence treatments for external blunt bodies and reliable drag/lift prediction. I found this out sharply early on, applying an industrial mixing solver setup – great for large stirred tanks – to a microfluidic biomedical device.
The fundamental assumptions for the large-scale turbulence model completely broke down at the micro-level. We had to switch to totally different physics, mesh strategies focusing on capillary forces, and specialized post-processing metrics for cell viability or reagent mixing efficiency that were irrelevant in the industrial context. It’s knowing these industry-specific nuances and exactly which models, meshing tactics, and result interpretations matter most for your specific application that makes CFD useful, not just generic simulation runs.
