TUFLOW Classic/HPC 2020-10 release update and what's coming in the 2021 release.
"Twenty years on from the first TUFLOW sale, it is a truly pivotal, and both sad (for Bill) and exciting, moment as the default 2D solver for the 2021 release will be HPC instead of Classic. HPC now has several benefits over Classic and our users have overwhelmingly shifted from Classic to HPC, so the change was inevitable. We will, of course, continue to make the Classic solver available and provide support, but future computational enhancements will largely be confined to the HPC solver, and of course to our powerful 1D solver which we have started to migrate across to GPU acceleration."
Phillip Ryan and the TUFLOW Classic/HPC Team
The 2020-10-AB release beta has been available for download on the website for the past two months. Thank you to those who have tested it and provided feedback. We have taken your suggestions onboard and are currently finalising 2020-10-AB, graduating the version from beta status to a formal long-term release. If you have not read the 2020 release notes already, please download the 100+ page document from the Downloads section of the website.
With the release of significant functionality such that was made available in the 2020 TUFLOW release, it was inevitable that users would apply the functionality into new and exciting areas outside of where we originally saw the benefit. A consequence of this is the fine-tuning of the functionality and development of additional tools and approaches to support the novel use of the functionality.
The wide-ranging benefits of sub-grid sampling have been well-received by our users and we’ve been developing tools and functionality to provide high-resolution outputs based on the high resolution Digital Terrain Model (DTM) data sources. This provides high quality detailed mapped outputs based on the outputs from a coarser hydraulic mesh. Further enhancements to the sub-grid sampling approach will see the ability to also sample roughness at the sub-grid scale, check file outputs highlighting locations where sub-grid sampling may be result in ‘leaky’ embankments and would benefit from supplementary Z-shape lines is another very valuable new feature. If you are not already familiar with SGS please visit our Insights Education section of the website to learn more.
With the growth of operational control structures within our open channels and pipe networks, we’ve been adding further functionality to our existing operation control toolkit. These exciting enhancements allow users to utilise the state of other operational control structures within the catchment to control operation elsewhere in the model, subsequently translating to co-ordinated operations between multiple operational structures. Additional user control variables have also been added, new timestamp options allow pumps and other structures to change behaviour (i.e. switch off) at a lag time after a control threshold target is observed.
Waste materials from mining operations, termed tailings, are often stored within the mine premises behind embankments of earth, which can often be loose constructions. These tailings are often a mix of grain size distributions that are usually deposited in a slurry form. When subject to forces, the tailings liquefy and begin to behave as non-Newtonian fluids.
Fluids such as water are known as Newtonian fluids have a constant viscosity, independent of stress. With non-Newtonian fluids, the viscosity can change when under force. A non-Newtonian fluid can become more liquid (shear thinning) or more solid (shear thickening). For Newtonian fluids, viscous (shear) stresses are linearly correlated to the local shear rate whereas non-Newtonian fluids portray a non-linear relationship.
High fidelity modelling of non-Newtonian fluids is inherently 3-dimensional and complex in nature. However, with a number of assumptions, it is possible to model non-Newtonian fluids in 2-dimensions (2D) and therefore can be modelled within a 2D hydrodynamic modelling software such as TUFLOW HPC. Turbulent eddy viscosity which is present and causes diffusion of momentum in Newtonian fluids, can be considered not significant in non-Newtonian fluids which are usually highly viscous and therefore the 2D viscosity can be computed using a viscosity model. This is particularly true for shear thickening fluids. For shear thinning fluids, the flow regime can become turbulent and additional turbulent shear stresses are generated which are represented with the standard TUFLOW HPC Wu turbulence model. The 2020-10-AB update to Non-Newtonian includes an improvement to consider turbulence when the non-Newtonian fluid behaves much more in line with water in shear-thinning situations. Visit our Insights Education section of the website to learn more about TUFLOW’s Non-Newtonian functionality.
The 2021 release is scheduled for November 2021. Major items currently under development for the release include:
General TUFLOW news.
TUFLOW FV's new release news, staff update and user education information.
TUFLOW Viewer update, new documentation, new features, tool enhancements and future plans.
2021 TUFLOW UK/Europe Conference, Webinars, eLearning and Instructor Guided Training Schedule.
