Ansys Polyflow is a finite-element computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program designed primarily for simulating applications where viscous and viscoelastic flows play an important role. The flows can be isothermal or nonisothermal, two- or three-dimensional, steady-state or time-dependent. Ansys Polyflow is used primarily to solve flow problems in polymer and rubber processing, food rheology, glasswork furnaces, and many other rheological applications. The calculation of such flows is based on non-Newtonian fluid mechanics, characterized by a wide variety of fluid models and strong nonlinearities. The development of Ansys Polyflow is intimately linked to progresses in numerical simulation of non-Newtonian fluid mechanics; the most recent and best-performing algorithms are incorporated in Ansys Polyflow on a regular basis. The selection of constitutive models available in Ansys Polyflow is also based on current research in the area.

Ansys Polyflow can also be used to solve chemically reacting flows. Transport of species as well as chemical reactions that act as sources or sinks of materials can be included.

It is possible to detect contact during Ansys Polyflow simulations. This capability makes Ansys Polyflow useful for blow molding, thermoforming, and compression molding simulations. A major advantage is that access to a library of non-Newtonian materials is maintained for all contact problems. Ansys Polyflow also provides additional capabilities for glass furnaces, such as bubbling, radiative correction, and electrical heating.

Ansys Polyflow can perform a number of complex calculations such as multidomain simulations, coextrusion of several fluids, three-dimensional extrusion, and implicit and time-dependent calculation of free surfaces.