Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 14, 2026

Flow Science, Inc.

Flow Science, Inc. is a developer of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software specializing in the simulation of free surface flows. The company's products are based on the volume of fluid method (VOF), pioneered by founder Dr. C.W. "Tony" Hirt while at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and its proprietary TruVOF® implementation. Flow Science serves industries including water resources engineering, metal casting, additive manufacturing, aerospace, and laser welding.

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Jun 14, 2026
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Flow Science, Inc.
Company type
Private
IndustryComputational Fluid Dynamics Software
Founded1980
FounderDr. C.W. "Tony" Hirt
Headquarters
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
,
United States
Number of locations
8
Area served
North America
South America
Europe
Asia
India
Middle East
Key people
John Wendelbo, President, Dr. Michael Barkhudarov, Chief Technology Officer
ProductsFLOW-3D, FLOW-3D CAST, FLOW-3D AM, FLOW-3D HYDRO, FLOW-3D WELD, FLOW-3D (x)
OwnerDr. Flender Holding GmbH
SubsidiariesFlow Science Deutschland, Flow Science Japan, Flow Science China, Flow Science India, Flow Science Latin America, Flow Science Australasia, and Flow Science Mediterranea
Websitewww.flow3d.com

Flow Science, Inc. is a developer of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software specializing in the simulation of free surface flows. The company's products are based on the volume of fluid method (VOF), pioneered by founder Dr. C.W. "Tony" Hirt while at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and its proprietary TruVOF® implementation. Flow Science serves industries including water resources engineering, metal casting, additive manufacturing, aerospace, and laser welding.

History

The firm was founded by Dr. C. W. "Tony" Hirt, previously a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Hirt is known for having pioneered the volume of fluid method (VOF) for tracking and locating the free surface or fluid-fluid interface. T Hirt12 left LANL and founded Flow Science in 1980 to develop CFD software for industrial and scientific applications using the VOF method .3

Flow Science is headquartered in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The company has grown to include wholly-owned subsidiaries in Germany, Japan, China, India, Latin America, Australia, and the Mediterranean region, as well as a network of independent distribution partners across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.4 In 2024, Flow Science opened an East Coast office in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, offering in-person training and workshops.5

In December 2021 the holding company Dr. Flender Holding GmbH, of Aachen, Germany, acquired 100% of Flow Science Inc. shares.6

Products

The company's products include FLOW-3D, a general-purpose multiphysics CFD solver specializing in free surface flows including phase change, cavitation, and fluid-structure interaction; FLOW-3D CAST, a simulation platform for metal casting processes including mold filling, solidification, and defect prediction; FLOW-3D AM, a simulation tool for additive manufacturing processes including melt pool dynamics across laser powder bed fusion and directed energy deposition; FLOW-3D WELD, a simulation tool for laser welding processes including keyhole dynamics and melt pool behavior; FLOW-3D HYDRO, a CFD solution for water resources and hydraulic infrastructure engineers including spillway design, sediment transport, and dam safety; FLOW-3D POST, an advanced visualization and analysis tool for all FLOW-3D products, built on ParaView; and FLOW-3D (x), a CFD workflow automation and design optimization tool supporting parametric studies and design of experiments.FLOW-3D software uses a fractional areas/volumes approach called FAVOR™ for defining problem geometry, and a free-gridding technique for mesh generation.7 The software tracks free fluid surfaces using TruVOF®, a proprietary implementation of the volume of fluid method.8

More than 2,500 peer-reviewed papers and technical presentations citing FLOW-3D software products have been published across disciplines including water resources engineering, metal casting, additive manufacturing, laser welding, coastal engineering, and aerospace.9

Flow Science offers free academic licenses for FLOW-3D, FLOW-3D HYDRO, and FLOW-3D CAST to students, faculty, and post-doctoral researchers at academic institutions worldwide through its FLOW-3D Academic Program.10

Applications

Water Resources and Environmental Engineering

FLOW-3D has been used in peer-reviewed research on energy dissipation in labyrinth weir hydraulics,11 scour protection for sea-crossing bridge foundations,12 and reservoir sedimentation and flushing.13

Metal Casting

FLOW-3D CAST has been applied in peer-reviewed research on reducing entrapped slag and reoxidation defects in steel castings,14 transient metal flow and solidification in die casting,15 and optimization of vacuum die-cast aluminum alloy properties.16

Additive Manufacturing

FLOW-3D AM has been used in peer-reviewed research published in Nature Communications on the use of non-contact ultrasound to improve laser additive manufacturing,17 dislocation evolution during rapid solidification,18 and phase and property heterogeneities in additively manufactured titanium alloys.19

Laser Welding

FLOW-3D WELD has been applied in peer-reviewed research on melt pool dynamics and pore inhibition in laser wire-filling welding,20 keyhole stability and porosity in aluminum laser welding,21 and single-crystal-like texture control in laser powder bed fusion of nickel-based superalloys.22

Aerospace

FLOW-3D has been used in peer-reviewed research on large-amplitude liquid sloshing in non-axisymmetric spacecraft tanks,23 propellant sloshing dynamics in nanosatellite design,24 and CFD modeling of propellant management devices in cryogenic tanks during parabolic flights.25

Multiphysics

FLOW-3D has been applied in peer-reviewed research across a broad range of multiphysics problems, including the effect of substrate conductivity on sessile droplet evaporation,26 the settling behavior of non-spherical particles in fluid,27 and precision micro-edge filleting using large-area electron beam irradiation.28

See also

See also

References

References

  1. Nichols, B.D. and Hirt, C.W. “Methods for Calculating Multi-Dimensional Transient Free Surface Flows Past Bodies,” Proceedings First International Conference Numerical Ship Hydrodynamics, Gaithersburg, MD, October 20–23, 1975.
  2. Hirt, C.W.; Nichols, B.D. (1981), "Volume of fluid (VOF) method for the dynamics of free boundaries," Journal of Computational Physics 39 (1): 201–225, 1981.
  3. Bloomberg Business Week, “C. W. Hirt Executive Profile.”
  4. Flow Science Global Distributors
  5. Flow Science, Inc. About page
  6. "Dr. Flender Holding GmbH Acquired Flow Science, Inc. in December 2021," PRWeb, February 2, 2022.
  7. Pamela J. Waterman, "Zeroing in on CFD Solutions," Desktop Engineering, August 30, 2009.
  8. Flow Science, Inc.
  9. FLOW-3D Bibliography, Flow Science, Inc.
  10. FLOW-3D Academic Program, Flow Science, Inc.
  11. P. Langohr, D.B. Bung, B.M. Crookston, "Numerical investigation on energy dissipation processes downstream of labyrinth weirs," Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 152.3; 2026. doi.org/10.1061/JHEND8.HYENG-13930
  12. Jian Guo, Bowen Weng, "Experimental and numerical study on scour protection effect for pile foundations of sea-crossing bridges," Physics of Fluids, 38; 015174, 2026. doi.org/10.1063/5.0308611
  13. L. Castillo, J. Carrillo, M. Álvarez, "Complementary methods for determining the sedimentation and flushing in a reservoir," Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 141.11; 2015. doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0001050
  14. Md Moinuddin Shuvo et al., "An integrated computational and experimental study of vortex chamber performance for reducing entrapped slag and reoxidation defects in steel castings," International Journal of Metalcasting, 2025. doi.org/10.1007/s40962-025-01598-4
  15. Alexandre Reikher, Krishna M. Pillai, "A fast simulation of transient metal flow and solidification in a narrow channel," International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 60; pp. 797-815, 2013. doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2012.12.060
  16. Zihan Lang et al., "Synergetic optimization of mechanical-thermal matching properties of vacuum die-cast Al-6Si-0.6Mg alloy," Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 1050; 185472, 2026. doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2025.185472
  17. Jiasen Han et al., "Non-contact ultrasound to assist laser additive manufacturing," Nature Communications, 16; 7613, 2025. doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62803-w
  18. Lin Gao et al., "Evolution of dislocations during the rapid solidification in additive manufacturing," Nature Communications, 16; 4696, 2025. doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59988-5
  19. Jingqi Zhang et al., "Designing against phase and property heterogeneities in additively manufactured titanium alloys," Nature Communications, 13; 4660, 2022. doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32446-2
  20. Chen Liu et al., "Effects of oscillation amplitude and frequency in narrow-gap laser wire-filling welding of Al alloy 5A06 on the melt pool and the mechanism of pore inhibition," International Journal of Thermal Sciences, 221; 110494, 2026. doi.org/10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2025.110494
  21. J. Dakka et al., "Influence of beam oscillation on keyhole stability and porosity in aluminum laser welding," Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 342; 118945, 2025. doi.org/10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2025.118945
  22. Fangxiang Zhang et al., "Tailoring single-crystal-like textures in a non-weldable Ni-based superalloy by controlling overlap behavior in laser powder bed fusion," Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 347; 119143, 2026. doi.org/10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2025.119143
  23. Nan Miao et al., "Composite equivalent modeling of large-amplitude liquid sloshing in non-axisymmetric tanks," Physics of Fluids, 37.7; 2025. doi.org/10.1063/5.0267604
  24. Michael Fogel et al., "Nanosatellite design considerations for a mission to explore the propellant sloshing problem," Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, 2024. doi.org/10.2514/1.A35871
  25. Jason Hartwig et al., "CFD modeling of bidirectional PMDs inside cryogenic propellant tanks onboard parabolic flights," Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, 2023. doi.org/10.2514/1.A35808
  26. Vahid Bazargan, Boris Stoeber, "Effect of substrate conductivity on the evaporation of small sessile droplets," Physical Review E, 94.3; 033103, 2016. doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.94.033103
  27. Xiaoyong Cheng et al., "A numerical study of the settling of non-spherical particles in quiescent water," Physics of Fluids, 35.9; 2023. doi.org/10.1063/5.0165555
  28. Togo Shinonaga et al., "Application of large-area electron beam irradiation to micro-edge filleting," Journal of Manufacturing Processes, 107; pp. 65-73, 2023. doi.org/10.1016/j.jmapro.2023.10.039