SolidWorks FloXpress is an easy to use simulation tool that allows you to experiment with the fluid flows either through or over your components in a representative virtual environment. By analysing the fluid velocities and directions, you'll be able to make informed decisions about your designs, creating a better product while also saving money and development time. And like the rest of the Xpress tools, FloXpress is a free tool included with every version of SolidWorks. We will take you through a real world example that you can follow along with. But first let’s explain some of the principles behind flow analysis. We will start with this simple device where we should restrict the flow along its length. To begin with, we need to create a finite area for our calculations. As this tube is currently open at both ends, we will need to create caps that enclose the area. This will give us a complete volume with no gaps, and it is this volume that we can then decide if it's full entirely of water or air. We then need to apply some kind of flow. Typically, this is by employing a pressure volume or mass flow rate at one of the caps. This flow needs to go somewhere, so we choose the other cap and apply a different pressure or a different flow rate. So now the fluid knows where it's coming from and where it's going to. All that we have to do now is let the FloXpress, do the calculations and for us to look at the results. So how about that real world example? Let's imagine that we've been tasked with developing some new diffusers for the end of a hairdryer. What does the profile and the size of the end do to the flow of the air? Could it be flat, concave or convex in shape? And just how fast is that air moving? Here is what we can actually do. As I explained earlier, we need to create an enclosed volume to run our calculations through. This will involve the creation of some additional caps. If we section this dryer, you can see that I've already created a cap roughly where the fan would be located. I don't need to model the fan. I just need to have an area that I can supply and apply a flow to. That flow needs to go somewhere. And in this case, it did take some creative thinking as you are only allowed one outlet. But I wanted to see how the air would affect the surrounding area. So I effectively have enclosed the outlet within a balloon. This gives me the one surface that I can select and apply that as an outlet. In this example, FloXpress can sometimes mistake the actual air inlet as part of the calculation. So I will suppress that part from the model to avoid any confusion. You will find the FloXpress Analysis Wizard on the evaluation taskbar. If this is the first time you're using the tool, then it will ask you to activate the license. Just follow along with the on screen instructions or have a watch of our Xpress Activation Guide video. The tool will recognise the enclosed volume and then ask you to select a face for the flow inlet. This is where I select the face representing the fan, and I add a mass flow rate of 0.0246 kilograms a second. I have Google to thank for that information. Clicking next, we can then select the inner face of our output balloon and just leave it with a default setting, which is basically atmospheric pressure. Now we will let flow solve the calculations. I've speeded up the video here. The actual results took just under a minute. Before we look at these results. Let's tidy up our model. I don't need to see the outlook balloon anymore so I can hide that part of the model. And now we have no distracttions from our flow graphs. The first thing that you will want to do is look at the velocity shown here using the pipes option. We can see that it pinches through the outlet and then opens back out again. I suppose that is as expected, but we can also see the actual speed. So as it immediately leaves the nozzle it’s traveling approximately nine meters per second, but within about five or six centimeters, this is reduced to roughly five meters per second. We can also see that the flows effectively split in two and the air in the middle of our flow is running about a meter and a half slower than that on the outer flows. We can also look at the additional air that the flow sucks in from the surrounding area, by just examining the outlet flow rather than the inlet flow. Another useful way of looking at the results is to use balls instead of pipes, which can be really quite useful, especially if the pipe flow results are hiding too much of the underlying geometry. As with all simulation tools, we now have one answer and we can physically see what is happening. Where do we go from here? Depends on what you trying to achieve. Do you want a faster flow? Are you trying to even out the flow across the nozzle? All that remains is to make a modification to your model and rerun the calculations to see what happens. If you are happy with the results, then maybe the best thing to do is just to capture a few screenshots and generate a report using the automatic tool. SolidWorks FloXpress is designed to be a simple and easy to use tool that makes for a great introduction into fluid flow analysis. The complete flow analysis tool builds on this Xpress tool with the ability to add multiple inlets and outlets, multiple different fluids, mixing of gases and liquids, as well as numerous ways of evaluating the calculation results. Visit the link in the description to learn more about our simulation tools or speak with one of our engineers today for help with your specific requirements.