User Support Policy

Free user support

All PHOENICS users with a current PHOENICS Maintenance Agreement obtained through ArcoFluid Consulting LLC, ie those who have paid the license fee and maintenance charge for the current period, are entitled to unlimited user support, without further charge. The support is given equally by ArcoFluid Consulting and/or by CHAM Headquarter.

Free user support is however confined to enabling users to run the PHOENICS code modules successfully in a conventional manner, to understand the documentation, and to detect any common mistakes which they may have made.

Users requiring support in resolving convergence problems or implausible solutions are requested to demonstrate the problem on as coarse a mesh as possible before sending their files to ArcoFluid Consulting. The model should be simplified as far as possible in terms of dimensionality, physical models (such as turbulence, radiation, etc), physical properties, boundary conditions, removing GROUND, etc.

When requesting user support, please include the following information:

  • Your organisation's name and PHOENICS Maintenance Agreement number
  • Version of PHOENICS being used
  • Details of hardware configuration and operating system
  • Any information that may help us to answer the query, such as problem sketches, Q1 files, GROUND coding, and a clear statement of the problem encountered with the software.

Users who require assistance in setting up new models can avail themselves of ArcoFluid Consulting's ECS scheme, as follows.

Extended Consultancy Support (paid-for)

PHOENICS users do however sometimes require assistance of a different kind.

For example, they may require general advice about what is the best way to model a particular physical process or equipment item, making use of the available features of PHOENICS. To give this advice, ArcoFluid Consulting's support staff may need to spend time in studying the user's specific needs.

Alternatively, what needs to be done may be clear, but the user may prefer the work to be done by ArcoFluid Consulting personnel, whose greater experience may reduce the time which will be taken.

In some circumstances, the user may have started a complicated model-building operation and then run into difficulty; he or she may then seek ArcoFluid Consulting's assistance in the detection and removal of its cause.

While eager to provide assistance of these kinds, ArcoFluid Consulting's User-Support team does have to make a charge for it, based usually on the number of hours expended. The cost of the work would be agreed in advance during contractual negotiations with the user. ArcoFluid Consulting would commence work on receipt of the user's formal authorization.

Work of this kind is normally carried out under an "Extended-Consultancy Contract" between ArcoFluid Consulting and the user's organization.

Training

 

We provide advanced and beginners training programs to ensure that our customers become knowledgeable users of CFD models and CHAM's CFD software's.

A typical new users PHOENICS Training Course Program

Training sessions are offered:

  1. At our Orlando office
  2. On client sites
  3. Over the internet.

For more information on registration, please contact support@arcofluidconsulting.com