Hybrid VOF + Particle Tracking Model

The new hybrid VOF (Volume of Fluid) method integrated with particle tracking significantly enhances simulations of complex fluid behaviors, such as droplet breakup, splashing, and ligament formation. This powerful feature improves the accuracy of simulations involving turbulent free-surface flows and multiphase systems, such as coastal dynamics, spray, and hydraulic jump modeling. By combining these two approaches, FLOW-3D HYDRO ensures conservation of volume and momentum for more realistic simulations of fluid behavior under dynamic conditions.

Dissolved Oxygen Modeling for Water Quality

A new dissolved oxygen model allows engineers to simulate oxygen exchange in aquatic environments, making it ideal for analyzing water quality in rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and wastewater treatment systems. The model accounts for air bubble entrainment, oxygen dissolution, and mass transfer through the water surface, with the flexibility to define transfer coefficients based on either user-specified constants or established models such as Higbie’s theory. This feature supports detailed environmental studies, including eutrophication and aquatic ecosystem health assessments.

Active Simulation Control (ASC)

The Active Simulation Control (ASC) feature offers engineers unprecedented control over their simulations. With ASC, users can automate critical actions based on real-time simulation data, such as triggering valve openings, shutting down systems, or adjusting parameters like flow rate or pressure in response to changing conditions. This capability is particularly valuable for systems where dynamic control and optimization are required, such as in dam management, water distribution systems, or flood control operations.

Axial Pump Modeling

FLOW-3D HYDRO 2025R1 introduces a new axial pump modeling feature that allows users to simulate the behavior of pumps with time-dependent flow profiles or predefined performance curves. This capability is vital for accurately modeling complex fluid systems, such as pumping stations, wastewater treatment plants, irrigation networks, and energy systems. The flexibility to define pump performance with high precision ensures that the model reflects real-world pump dynamics under varying operational conditions.

Time-Scheduled Valve Operations

The ability to model time-dependent valve operations adds another layer of realism to simulations. With this feature, users can define valve actions based on specific time schedules, making it ideal for modeling systems where the timing of valve operations is crucial, such as in irrigation systems, water treatment plants, or emergency flood-control systems. This enhancement ensures that the behavior of valves is accurately captured throughout the simulation, leading to more precise system behavior predictions.

Shallow Water and Hybrid Mesh Enhancements

FLOW-3D HYDRO 2025R1 improves shallow water flow modeling with the ability to combine 3D and shallow water meshes. This hybrid approach results in a more accurate and stable simulation of hydraulic systems that involve both deep and shallow flow regions, such as rivers, estuaries, and reservoirs. Enhanced bottom shear stress calculations and pressure solver optimizations ensure the model performs well even under complex flow conditions, providing more reliable results for engineers working on flood modeling, dam design, or sediment transport.

Tailings Dam Failure Simulation

This release brings significant advancements in simulating tailings dam failures, with new capabilities to model bi-modal viscosity behavior, multi-layered tailings materials, and more complex rheology models. The software now supports flexible meshing options, including 3D, shallow water, and hybrid meshes, ensuring that even highly complex tailings dam failure scenarios can be accurately represented. This feature is critical for mining and civil engineering projects that involve the safety and stability of tailings dams.

Improved Two-Fluid VOF Model

The two-fluid VOF model has been enhanced to provide better stability and accuracy, especially for air-water interaction simulations. With this update, the coupling between momentum and mass conservation equations is improved, allowing for more precise modeling of fluid interfaces in applications like spillways, waves, and turbulent free-surface flows. This improvement is essential for simulating high-energy fluid systems where precise interface dynamics are crucial, such as in dam break analysis, coastal flooding, and hydroelectric plant modeling.

Tabular Material Property Definitions

Users now have the ability to define material properties such as viscosity and surface tension using tables dependent on two variables, such as temperature and shear rate. This new feature offers greater flexibility when modeling complex fluids, especially non-Newtonian fluids, which exhibit variable behavior under different conditions. This is particularly useful for simulations of slurries, sediment transport, and other multiphase flows.

Streamlined User Interface & Template Library

The 2025R1 version includes a redesigned, user-friendly interface that simplifies the workflow for new and experienced users alike. The updated software includes a comprehensive library of over 40 pre-loaded example simulations, allowing users to get started quickly with realistic models tailored to common civil and environmental engineering scenarios. The interface enhancements, combined with a set of practical templates, make it easier to set up, run, and analyze complex simulations in a more efficient manner.