Flow Science, Inc.  Flow Science, Inc. is a developer of software for computational fluid dynamics, also known as CFD, a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical methods and algorithms to solve and analyze problems that involve fluid flows. 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 Hirt left LANL and founded Flow Science in 1980 to develop CFD software for industrial and scientific applications using the VOF method . The company is located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The company opened an office in Japan in June 2011, and an office in Germany in 2012. The company's products include FLOW-3D, a CFD software analyzing various physical flow processes; FLOW-3D CAST, a software product for metal casting users; FLOW-3D AM, a software product for simulating additive manufacturing and laser welding processes; and FLOW-3D CLOUD, a cloud computing service installed on Penguin Computing On Demand (POD). There are high-performance computing (HPC) versions of both FLOW-3D and FLOW-3D CAST. FLOW-3D software uses a fractional areas/volumes approach called FAVOR for defining problem geometry, and a free-gridding technique for mesh generation. "Desktop Engineering Magazine, "in a review of FLOW-3D Version 10.0, said: “Key enhancements include fluid structure interaction (FSI) and thermal stress evolution (TSE) models that use a combination of conforming finite-element and structured finite-difference meshes. You use these to simulate and analyze the deformations of solid components as well as solidified fluid regions and resulting stresses in response to pressure forces and thermal gradients.” Key improvements of FLOW-3D Version 11.0 included increased meshing capabilities, solution sub-domains, an improved core gas model and improved surface tension model. FLOW-3D v11.0 also included a new visualization tool, FlowSight. Key improvements of FLOW-3D Version 12.0 included a visual overhaul of the GUI, an immersed boundary method, sludge settling model, a 2-fluid 2-temperature model, and a steady-state accelerator. Blue Hill Hydraulics used FLOW-3D software to update the design of a fish ladder on Mt. Desert Island, Maine, that helps alewife migrate to the fresh water spawning habitat.