HPC for ANSYS Fluent

⚙️ Quad-Socket Xeon Platinum 8168 CFD Server: 96-Core Parallel Power for Enterprise ANSYS Fluent

When your CFD program demands massive meshes, tight deadlines, and 24/7 reliability, a quad-socket Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8168 platform delivers uncompromising throughput. With 4 CPUs = 96 physical cores / 192 threads, 128 GB RAM, and mirrored SSDs, this server accelerates large, parallel CFD and multiphysics workflows across engineering and research at enterprise scale.

💻 High-Performance Configuration

Key Specifications

CPU: 4 × Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8168 (quad-socket enterprise platform)

Memory: 128 GB (ECC platform; expandable per project needs)

Storage: 2 × 1 TB SSD (recommended RAID 1 mirror for uptime & data safety)

Parallel Model: Optimized for MPI-based domain decomposition and multi-run queues

What this means: Quad-socket Platinum 8168 provides high core density and low-latency inter-socket links, so large meshes can be split into many partitions without collapsing solver efficiency—exactly what high-end ANSYS Fluent, OpenFOAM, and STAR-CCM+ campaigns need.

🚀 Built for Large-Scale, Parallel CFD & Multiphysics

Designed to push beyond workstation limits into publishable, production-grade fidelity:

Turbulence: RANS (k-ε, k-ω SST), Transition, hybrid RANS-LES/DES, LES “starts”

Multiphase/Reacting: VOF, Eulerian, cavitation, sprays, combustion (EDM/FRC)

Thermal/CHT: Conjugate heat transfer with complex material stacks and tight BCs

Transient: Time-accurate aero/thermal events, startups/shutdowns, cyclic duty

Design exploration: DOE, adjoint/parametric sweeps, response surfaces, multi-case queues

Typical comfort zone: 20–60M+ cells depending on physics and numerics; much larger models are feasible with disciplined partitioning and memory planning (see tips).

🧠 Parallel Scaling Advantages (MPI & Decomposition)

96 cores / 192 threads: Dense parallelism for fine-grain partitions

Inter-socket fabric: Low-latency CPU-to-CPU links preserve scaling as ranks increase

NUMA-aware platform: Predictable memory locality and bandwidth for big partitions

Batch throughput: Run multiple large jobs or sweep studies concurrently

Straight talk: 128 GB RAM is adequate for many big RANS cases, but LES/chemistry-heavy models or very high mesh counts benefit from more memory. If you’ll live above ~50–70M cells or run many ranks with heavy UDFs, plan an upgrade path (256–512 GB+).

🔧 Parallel CFD Tuning—Quick Wins that Matter

Partition size: Start at ~0.6–1.0M cells per process; refine after a pilot run to balance CPU time vs. comms overhead.

Core pinning & NUMA: Use processor affinity and NUMA-aware pinning (e.g., numactl, solver flags) to keep ranks local to memory.

MPI fabric: Prefer Infiniband or high-speed interconnects when clustering; on a single node, ensure optimized MPI library and shared-memory transport.

Order strategy: Stabilize first-order → second-order for accuracy; avoid premature high-order on poorly conditioned meshes.

CFL ramps / dual-time: Faster, safer transients with fewer resets.

AMR/refinement discipline: Focus on shear layers, recirculation, shocks, flame zones—avoid blanket refinement.

Checkpoint cadence: Frequent autosaves protect long runs; set rolling backups to the mirrored SSDs.

💼 Ideal Use Cases

Aerospace & automotive: external aero, high-lift, underbody/underhood flows, aero-thermal coupling

Energy & process: combustors, gas turbines, recuperators, reacting networks

HVAC & built environment: microclimate, ventilation, thermal comfort at high resolution

Digital twins & optimization: multi-variant queues, design-in-the-loop, regression runs

📊 Why Quad-Socket Over Dual-Socket?

More cores per node → denser partitions without cluster fabric overhead

Higher batch throughput → more designs evaluated per week

Simpler ops vs. multi-node clusters (no external interconnect required for single-node campaigns)

If you later need distributed scale, this node still slots into a cluster as a high-density head/compute resource.

🏁 Final Thoughts

The Quad-Socket Xeon Platinum 8168 | 96 cores | 128 GB RAM | 2 × 1 TB SSD (RAID 1) server is a parallel CFD workhorse. It pairs massive core counts with enterprise stability, enabling teams to partition larger meshes, run more variants, and hit deadlines in ANSYS Fluent, OpenFOAM, and STAR-CCM+.

Scale your CFD with confidence.
👉 Contact MR CFD