HPC for ANSYS Fluent

Six-Socket Xeon Platinum 8168 CFD Server: 144-Core Ultra-Parallel Power for Enterprise ANSYS Fluent

When your simulation program pushes into tens to hundreds of millions of cells, with deep physics coupling and tight deadlines, you need more than a workstation or dual-socket node. This 6× Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8168 platform delivers 144 physical cores / 288 threads, backed by 512 GB RAM and mirrored 2 × 2 TB SSDs, to run large, parallel CFD and multiphysics workloads at enterprise scale—reliably, day after day.

💻 High-Performance Configuration

Key Specifications

CPU: 6 × Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8168 (6-socket enterprise platform, 24 cores per CPU)

Total Cores/Threads: 144 cores / 288 threads

Memory: 512 GB (ECC platform; expandable based on project needs)

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

Parallel Model: Tuned for MPI domain decomposition, multi-rank scaling, and high-throughput job queues

Why it matters: High socket count + many cores = fine-grain partitions with headroom for dense physics, long transients, and multi-case pipelines—without immediately resorting to multi-node clusters.

🚀 Built for Massive, Parallel CFD & Multiphysics

Engineered for publishable, production-grade fidelity on very large models:

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 materials & tight BCs

Transient: Time-accurate aero/thermal events, cyclic duty, start-up/shut-down

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

Comfort zone: ~50–150M+ cells depending on physics, memory per rank, and numerics. Much larger totals are feasible with disciplined partitioning, I/O, and RAM planning.

🧠 Architecture Advantages (MPI, NUMA & End-to-End Throughput)

144 cores on one SMP node: Dense parallelism without inter-node network overhead

NUMA-aware scaling: Low-latency inter-socket links with processor affinity for memory locality

512 GB ECC RAM: Stable convergence at tighter CFLs; enough headroom for chemistry tables, radiation, and rich post fields

Mirrored SSDs (RAID 1): Fast checkpoints + safe restarts for multi-day campaigns

24/7 reliability: Enterprise platform designed for continuous operation and batch queues

🔧 Parallel CFD Tuning—Quick Wins That Move the Needle

Partition size: Start around ~0.4–0.8M cells per process at this core count; retune after a pilot to balance CPU vs. comms overhead.

Core pinning & NUMA: Use affinity/numactl and solver options to keep ranks local to memory domains.

Hybrid parallelism: Consider MPI + threads (where supported) to reduce MPI ranks while exploiting cores.

Order strategy: Stabilize first-order, then elevate to second-order for accuracy once residuals settle.

CFL ramps & dual-time stepping: Faster, safer transients; fewer resets.

Targeted AMR/refinement: Focus on shear layers, shocks, recirculation, flame zones, steep thermal gradients.

I/O hygiene: Use rolling checkpoints and purge old restarts; keep post fields lean to protect wall-clock.

💼 Ideal Use Cases

Aerospace & automotive: full-airframe aero, high-lift systems, aero-thermal coupling, external + underhood flows

Energy & process: combustors, gas turbines, recuperators, reacting networks, heat-exchanger modules

HVAC & built environment: microclimate, ventilation, thermal comfort at neighborhood/building scales

Digital twins & optimization: multi-variant queues, design-in-the-loop, regression pipelines at high fidelity

📊 Why Six-Socket Over Dual-Socket or Small Clusters?

More cores per node → denser partitions without inter-node latency

Higher batch throughput → more validated design points per week

Simpler ops versus multi-node fabrics for single-node mega-jobs

Future-proofing: Still cluster-ready; this node becomes a high-density compute element in distributed setups

Sizing note: If you plan sustained LES at extreme cell counts or heavy UDF/chemistry coupling, consider expanding RAM to 1 TB+ to keep per-rank memory comfortable.

🏁 Final Thoughts

The 6× Xeon Platinum 8168 | 144 cores | 512 GB RAM | 2 × 2 TB SSD (RAID 1) server is a parallel CFD powerhouse. It pairs massive core density with enterprise stability so teams can partition larger meshes, run more variants, and hit deadlines in ANSYS Fluent, OpenFOAM, and STAR-CCM+—without immediately jumping to complex clusters.

Scale your CFD with confidence.
👉 Contact MR CFD