Brian Spalding: CFD and reality – A personal recollection

Abstract Brian Spalding did not invent CFD. He did not even coin the name. But more than anyone else, he created the practice of CFD – its application to problems of interest to engineers. The author was associated with, and was an integral part of the team led by, Prof. Spalding that developed the basic engineering practice that came to be known as the Imperial College (IC) approach to “CFD”. Most of today’s commercially available CFD software tools trace their origin to the work done by the IC group in the decade spanning the mid-60s and mid-70s. This paper is a personal recollection of the key moments of the CFD developments at Imperial College and the role played by Brian Spalding as a leader of, and as an active contributor to, the IC Group. His key insights during this decade often made breakthroughs possible and re-directed the focus at critical moments. The paper also explores the opportunities missed by the IC Group during this decade of breakneck progress in CFD.

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