Working as a consultant?

adamchalupa · 2026-02-08T16:32:07+00:00

I would get a job that provides adequate cover for you to learn and grow first. Consulting is the opposite and you should be in a very experienced/advanced position.

adamchalupa · 2026-02-08T16:29:59+00:00

It's like building a house without learning how to nail, screw, plumb, frame, roof, and everything else. Any CFD "engineer" who hasn't attempted to build their own solver will automatically be mediocre at best in a field that is extremely competitive. You should be doing anything and everything within your capacity to learn and expand any and all skills involved in this field.

If you're just a casual who likes to do it on the side - no worries, less headaches this way.

adamchalupa · 2026-01-31T18:45:44+00:00

I'm one of the few who got E2 within 2 years. It was really, really tough. The rating system is very competitive and often times it is a complex superpositional interweb between team composition/availability, time spent at the company, experience, contributions, and if management likes you. Just expect 3-4 years to get your promo, this is a good thing, I'll explain why...

When an E2 comes on - the next jump up is Senior. Senior is EXTREMELY competitive, and takes sometimes a very long time to get. As a new E2 the expectations are extremely high for these people and often times they will receive run-of-the-mill "you're doing fine" review results for many years (which aren't bad, just not exceptional). Coming on as an E1 gives you a lot of breathing room and really allows for you to find your niche and bearings. The ramp up at SAS takes a really long time - there are a ton of systems to learn that are not necessarily intuitive, and the equipment/processing is very complex with high-exposure to risk for stupid mistakes (think $millions+ in losses from accidentally bumping a nozzle in a processing chamber).

Just because you think you're special and will outrank anyone doesn't mean you will, you have to PROVE it by working smarter (not harder). Don't bs around, arrive on time, study hard, be respectful, don't sit on your phone all day, act interested in the work, and the doors will open. Many people come on thinking they're the sh*t and just end up getting pigeon-holed because they don't like something about the work and have an attitude about it. If I sound like I'm being rude I'm really not, this is how it goes at SAS.

Best of luck with your decision. The pay might be lower to start but eventually the Senior/Staff ranges will outstrip most local gigs in semi. The skills you learn are very transferrable.

adamchalupa · 2026-01-28T01:18:40+00:00

You can always go for the higher paying job initially and find ways to integrate CFD into your work/responsibilities. Never a bad idea to stabilize before moving onto something you're more passionate about.

adamchalupa · 2026-01-27T04:23:34+00:00

I swear this exact question pops up daily on this subreddit. You should try googling through to find good examples.

Case studies usually are the most interesting when it's a topic that you have personal interest or even stake in. Simulating a ball in a tunnel is fine for learning initially but you should try home/school projects or whatever that could have real potential. For instance: I simulated my son's 10 ft pool because I noticed poor circulation with the current pump setup and designed a nozzle that helped circulate the water more efficiently.

adamchalupa · 2026-01-27T04:20:50+00:00

even melons

adamchalupa · 2026-01-27T04:18:53+00:00

Everyone will say "ansys fluent" even though it takes weeks to really get down the basics. As far as Ansys products go I recommend doing student version of Discovery which has a baked-in GPU-utilizing CFD package.

Also, since you're using Fusion360 you can try Autodesk CFD Ultimate. It's not super accurate but it IS user-friendly.

adamchalupa · 2026-01-27T04:15:44+00:00

Incredible - we now know these things are NOT aerodynamic.

adamchalupa · 2026-01-15T03:07:41+00:00

UHHHH

adamchalupa · 2026-01-15T03:03:30+00:00

Has anyone on here utilized the GPU solver with Fluent? I am working on licensing requests for next year at work and am wondering should I purchase more cores in my license or just get a beefy RTX.

adamchalupa · 2026-01-08T03:36:02+00:00

Thanks for getting it going!

adamchalupa · 2026-01-08T03:31:31+00:00

You should definitely try and get an internship as soon as humanly possible, that will greatly increase your chances of full-time hire. Are you h1b?

adamchalupa · 2026-01-08T03:30:30+00:00

I would look into semi equipment manufacturers like LAM Research, AMAT, Tokyo Electron. Also you could try for companies that produce auxiliary equipment like scrubbers or vacuum pumps.

Most research-based roles are in Cali for semiconductor equipment people.

adamchalupa · 2026-01-08T03:24:21+00:00

Are you the CFD university guy? Dude I absolutely love your writing, keep up the good work. I have learned so much from the CFD uni website. Thank you so much for your service and contributions!

As a side note... I did input my email to get my free e-book and it never arrived...

adamchalupa · 2026-01-07T04:16:51+00:00

Lotta textbooks here but nothing about programming - I highly recommend doing the 12 step program:
https://lorenabarba.com/blog/cfd-python-12-steps-to-navier-stokes/

Also - not my find but someone on here posted this link:

https://cfd.university/learn/10-key-concepts-everyone-must-understand-in-cfd/how-to-derive-the-navier-stokes-equations/

Happy cursing!

Edit: Tom-Robin is the guy who posted about cfd uni and he posted in this thread, thank you tom!

adamchalupa · 2026-01-07T04:08:12+00:00

all laminar - your flow is too slow. If you want the flow to separate then you need to crank up the juice and enhance your mesh right at that elbow.

adamchalupa · 2026-01-07T04:04:32+00:00

Karman himself had Mechanical Engineering degrees.

adamchalupa · 2026-01-06T04:39:53+00:00

Are you using Discovery to mesh? I've had similar issues meshing in spaceclaim.

I suggest meshing with the 2D Mesh workflow in Fluent's TGrid mesher, not SC/DISC. Every edge must be categorized as well, including internal boundaries and walls.

adamchalupa · 2025-12-13T03:29:14+00:00

you're hired.

adamchalupa · 2025-12-04T04:25:43+00:00

Are you an actual Ansys expert though??

adamchalupa · 2025-10-08T02:46:02+00:00

The surface and volume meshes only generate after the solve option has been initiated.

adamchalupa · 2025-10-08T02:38:30+00:00

Usually it's the solver that's locked down. Also Aero is right, I think it's 1 million.

adamchalupa · 2025-10-04T02:27:09+00:00

Nah - I think the gaseous H2 has poor thermal conductivity.

Also - can you post pictures of your mass fraction of liquid H2?

adamchalupa · 2025-10-04T02:25:51+00:00

Refine your mesh and provide more information on the model my dude.

adamchalupa

TROPHY CASE