Polaris CFD software suite consists of three packages, Polaris Viewer, Polaris Solver and Alta License Service. Polaris Viewer is designed for pre and post processing of a CFD analysis in one integrated interface. It is built upon several software packages such as ParaView, VTK and QT. It is a low-cost yet powerful visualizer in the suite. The entire Polaris software suite can be installed on either 64-bit Linux or Windows operating systems.

Polaris CFD solver is based on the kinetic theory of gases, which studies the microscopic behavior of molecules and molecular interaction. In gas kinetics, all flow variables are moments of a single particle distribution function, and the Navier–Stokes equations can be derived from the Boltzmann equation. The macroscopic relationships like the ideal gas law can be derived eventually. Polaris CFD solver is suitable for both compressible and incompressible flows, as well as internal and external flow problems. Aided by state-of-the-art turbulence models Polaris CFD solver delivers transient, time-accurate CFD results.

Polaris CFD software uses Cartesian grid for discretization. It is capable of handling complex geometries without compromising accuracy. Compared to body-fitted grids, generating Cartesian grid is fast and requirement on the surface mesh quality is much less stringent. Cut cells are generated at the boundaries and the solver takes care of the complexity of boundary interactions. Without painstaking volume meshing as in some other CFD software, Polaris CFD is built for rapid simulation and fast turn-around time.

Defining spatial refinement is straight forward in Polaris CFD. Polaris CFD solver discretizes the simulation domain into a hierarchy of grid levels of consecutive refinements. Typically fine levels are embedded inside next coarser levels. Temporal refinement is automatically applied to fine grids to achieve better accuracy. Adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) is a standard feature in Polaris CFD. This can further reduce the amount of computation compared to static grids.

Here is a complete list of features:

• Gas kinetics aerodynamics solver
• Cartesian grid & cutcell
• Adaptive mesh refinement
• Parallel processing
• Moving boundary
• Wide range of Mach numbers
• Turbulent models
• Aeroacoustics/noise analysis
• Heat transfer and diffusion analysis
• Moving geometry & 6-DOF
• Rotating geometry
• Unified interface for pre/post processing
• Cross-platform

Polaris CFD software suite is validated to provide a complete solution for analyzing flow related phenomenon. It is a reliable and easy-to-use tool for the most demanding designers, researchers and decision makers across industries and academia. The software can run on desktops, multi-core workstations and distributed parallel clusters.