Scottish software firm links with CFD major

Lebanon, New Hampshire/Edinburgh, UK —DEM Solutions, an Edinburgh-based developer of discrete element method (DEM) software, has entered a partnership deal with Fluent Inc. — a global supplier of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software.

The partnership will deliver integrated CFD with DEM capabilities, said a 7 March joint announcement. The deal, it noted, follows a recent agreement enabling Fluent subsidiary Fluent Asia Pacific to deliver DEM Solutions’ EDEM software to the Japanese market.

"We believe there are significant synergies between the solutions provided by our two companies and that by working together we will be able to rapidly develop commercial products that will deliver new and unique capabilities into the CAE market," said John Favier, CEO of DEM Solutions.

"We will support DEM Solutions’ effort to further integrate EDEM with the Fluent CFD code to allow engineers to simulate and analyse interactions between particles and fluid flow thus accounting for greater details of particle mechanics," added Ahmad Haidari, Fluent's process industry market director.

Fluent claims to be the world’s largest provider of CFD software and consulting services. The US firm’s software is used for simulation, visualisation, and analysis of fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, and chemical reactions throughout manufacturing industry.

DEM Solutions’ EDEM software is designed to simulate and analyse the behavior of particulate materials, such as pills, pellets, aggregates, during processing, manufacturing and material handling operations. The system is being targeted at a range of industries, including chemical, pharmaceutical, materials processing, mining, and agriculture.