Sohn, et. al. 2004-using-CFD

CFD is a mathematical modeling procedure whereby the fluid parameters of velocity,
temperature, pressure, turbulence, and contaminant concentrations are calculated
by solving the governing partial differential equations for fluid flow, heat
transfer, and conservation of species. These differential equations describe a threedimensional
viscous fluid flow field. Due to the non-linearity of these equations,
they cannot be solved analytically. The CFD approach is to transform these differential
equations into a set of discrete algebraic equations and solve the algebraic
equations by an iterative procedure.
Researchers have used CFD since the early 1970s. Its use has increased dramatically
in the last decade as a result of advances in the computing power. In the
1980s, Cray supercomputers typically were used to process CFD simulations, with
solution times taking days (which followed a long wait to even gain access to use the
supercomputer). The same simulations may now be run on a personal laptop computer
in a matter of hours. CFD modeling has been continually validated since its
inception against many known fluid phenomena. It is considered a very useful tool
for engineers and scientists working on fluid flow problems across many disciplines.