Hi MVP Readers,

This is a review/tutorial/intro video of KINTECH software tools:  Chemical Workbench - for modeling reactive flow processes, KinteckDB- database for storing species and reaction and chemical mechanism info, and KHIMERA - tool for calculating reaction rate parameters.

The video is in 4 parts.  It gives a good overview of what you might expect from KINTECH tools.  You can request a free trial version of the software by visiting: http://www.kintechlab.com, creating a login name and clicking on the “downloads” link.

DISCLAIMER: I am using the free trial version of this software. This is my personal, unbiased opinion. I am not paid, or in anyway compensated by to do a review of this software.

(I realize you can’t fast forward on these videos, sorry about that! I am using screentoaster.com, guess the fast forward capability is not available)

Part1: Chemical Workbench Overview

(Sorry about the lame background screen during the first 5 mins -  my webcam is lagging behind the screen video just in this first video! Bear with me - the other 3 videos uploaded just fine.)

Part2: Running an example

Part3: KintechDB (database tool) Overview (LOOOOOOOOOOOVE this tool!)

Part4: KHIMERA (Cool tool for creating your own rxn rate constants)

If you can’t view the video, try this link:

http://www.screentoaster.com/watch/stVEpQQkRIR19WSFxZWlxRXlZd

Please help make this blog better! In comments, let me know

1)What other software reviews you would like to see here?

2) How can I make these reviews better for you?

Cheers!
Masha

An expert with 25 years of experience in the field of fuel chemistry and chemical kinetics, Dr. Pitz addresses these questions in my interview with him:

1. Why are chemical mechanisms relevant? Who should study them and why?
2. From a kinetecist point of view a mechanism can never be proven to be correct, only shown to be incorrect. What is the point of testing mechanisms against experimental data? Would they always be “incorrect” and is it better to just stick to experiments?
3. Could computations that use chemical mechanisms ever be useful?
4. What is the difference between detailed and reduced chemistry mechanisms? What do you see as being the biggest challenge in obtaining reduced mechanisms?
5. What is the biggest misconception that engineers have about chemical mechanisms?
6. What is the biggest challenge in reactive flow simulation and modeling?
7. If you had to give one piece of advice to an engineer who is thinking of adding some reactive flow modeling to his research and is looking for mechanisms – what would it be?

Dr. Pitz Bio:

Dr. Pitz received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, under the supervision of Professor Robert F. Sawyer. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in engineering science from Purdue University.  He has been developing chemical kinetic mechanisms for hydrocarbon fuels and alternative fuels at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for over 25 years.  He has been using these mechanisms to study applied problems of ignition and pollutant emissions from HCCI and diesel engines, and engine knock in spark ignition engines.  For his work, he has received the Horning Award and the Cowell Merit Award from the society of automotive engineers.

(Click on “play” button to listen tot he 35 minute interview. If you are not able to listen, make sure that Quicktime plug-in is installed) Read more »