ANSYS Fluent and ANSYS CFX
The two solvers are both capable of modeling complex flow over a broad range of applications fast and accurate with superior parallel scalability. Today, the core fluids simulation solvers represent more than 1000 person-years of research and development. Both solvers are designed, validated and optimized to handle industrial applications ranging from air flow over an aircraft wing to combustion in a furnace, from bubble columns to oil platforms, from blood flow to semiconductor manufacturing, and from clean room design to wastewater treatment plants.
There are however some differences between the two solvers. The GUI of ANSYS CFX is more modern than the one of Fluent and defining user defined functions is easier in CFX. Fluent is capable of handling 2D flow as a dedicated solver option, while CFX is a fully coupled solver that needs to solve all three momentum equations and fully 2D-simulation is hence not possible in CFX. The Immersed solid approach available in CFX is not available in Fluent. In general, Fluent is a preferred solver when it comes to combustion and chemical reactions, while CFX is preferred for turbo machinery applications. The ANSYS CFD license gives access to both solvers.
