The AFT Fathom software is an incompressible pipe flow analysis product intended to be used by trained engineers. As a technical software package, issues of quality and reliability of the technical data generated by the software are important. The following description summarizes the steps taken by Applied Flow Technology to ensure high quality in the technical data.

1. Comparisons with open literature examples

Numerous examples of pipe flow systems are available in the open literature which include published results. AFT Fathom results have been compared against many open literature systems, which include network systems up to 70 pipes in size. AFT Fathom predictions compare favorably in all cases.

2. Software checks results to ensure mass and energy balance

AFT Fathom uses a popular iterative method to obtain solutions to pipe network systems. The method is known as the Newton-Raphson method. As applied to pipe systems, the Newton-Raphson method employs the conservation of mass equation and the momentum balance equation (i.e., Bernoulli). Solutions are sought which satisfy these equations at all points in the system. After a solution is obtained, a final check is made by the software whereby the mass flow into each node is checked for balance. If a balance is not found, the user is warned in the output. This ensures that the results generated by the software agree with the applicable fundamental equations.

In addition, if heat transfer is modeled, AFT Fathom performs a final energy balance check for each junction.

See the AFT Fathom Help System for more information.

3. Software has been used in industry since April, 1994 with no significant technical errors

AFT Fathom became available in April, 1994 and is currently being used by companies in the following industries: chemical, petrochemical, power generation, architectural, ship construction, mining, automotive, aerospace, pulp and paper, pharmaceutical, municipal water, and environmental. Since its release, no significant technical errors have been found. AFT Fathom has been used to model a wide variety of systems and customers have reported good agreement with operating and/or test data where available.

In addition, Applied Flow Technology issues maintenance releases of the software periodically to improve performance and correct any problems that may have been discovered.