Field Precision Releases KB, Educational Software for Materials under Extreme Conditions

KB, a comprehensive educational package of reference material and computer codes to model materials at high temperature and pressure, has been released by Field Precision LLC. The Windows programs, available at no charge to educational institutions and industries, may be used in computer laboratories or distributed to students. The package is of particular interest to physicists, mechanical engineers and civil engineers. It provides students with a hands-on introduction to the hydrodynamic equations, the equation of state and critical concepts like the Hugoniot curve.

The KB package includes the following components:

* Equation-of-state data for a wide variety of materials for densities up to 1000 times the normal value and temperature to 100 million degrees Kelvin.

* A 130-page instruction manual reviews essential shock and detonation physics and discusses benchmark tests to illustrate accuracy issues in numerical modeling..

* A interactive utility to calculate and to plot Hugoniot curves and other hydrodynamic quantities from EOS data.

* A 1D hydrodynamic simulation code with graphical postprocessor for planar, cylindrical and spherical geometries.

* A 2D code suite for simulations of shocks and detonations.

* Ready to run benchmark and application examples.

The 2D suite is the centerpiece of the KB package. It employs a unique finite-element approach based on a deformable mesh that provides automatic zone refinement. The code handles geometries with either planar or cylindrical symmetry. Students have complete flexibility to specify the system geometry, material types and initial conditions. The self-contained package includes graphical postprocessors for spatial and temporal data as well as the educational version of the Field Precision Mesh program. This utility creates conformal meshes to describe the initial system state. It features an integrated CAD editor with the option to import DXF files.

Universities and industries may obtain KB at http://www.fieldp.com/kb.html. Other free educational resources (including textbooks on accelerator technology and charged-particle beams and finite-element software for electromagnetic fields) are available at http://www.fieldp.com/educa.html.