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SOFTWARE · PERSONAL PROJECT

Flowstead

An open-source process simulator for Android, built on the DWSIM thermodynamic engine: steady-state and dynamic flowsheets, relief and line sizing, and engineering deliverables, on a phone.

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Android Web (any device) GPL-3.0 Latest: v3.2.1 40 signed releases (Nov 2026)
Flowstead promotional graphic: 'Steady-state process simulation, in your pocket', with two phones showing the equipment palette (heat transfer, rotating, piping, mixing, separators, columns and reactors) in light and dark themes.

WHY I BUILT IT

A real simulation engine, in your pocket

Much of process engineering is quick checking: a flash, a line, a relief case. Flowstead lets you build, solve and check a flowsheet on a phone, with every number coming from the open-source DWSIM engine rather than shortcut correlations. It runs offline, and it is open source, so anyone can read how a result was produced.

My role: creator and technical owner. I defined the product, set the engineering rules it follows, verified its results against HYSYS and released it.

FEATURES

What it does

Simulation

  • Steady-state and dynamic flowsheets
  • Distillation columns and absorbers
  • Reactors
  • Pipelines (Beggs & Brill)
  • Pump and compressor performance curves
  • Phase envelopes with hydrate curves

Safety & Relief

  • PSV sizing (API 520 / 526)
  • Relief scenarios and depressuring (API 521: fire, blocked outlet)
  • PSV inlet-loss and back-pressure checks

Sizing

  • Separator and line sizing (API 14E)
  • Control valve sizing

Outputs

  • Equipment data sheets
  • Heat and material balances
  • PFDs
  • Export to PDF and Excel

VERIFICATION

How results are checked

Results are checked in automated tests against HYSYS cases, so a change that moves a number away from the reference fails the build before it can be released. For example, the fire-case PSV for a wet air receiver reproduces the orifice that HYSYS selects for the same case (1D2).

SCREENSHOTS

Inside the app

Flowstead equipment palette in the dark theme: material and energy streams; heater, cooler, heat exchanger and air cooler; pump, compressor and expander; valve, pipe segment, orifice plate and relief valve; mixer, tee and component splitter; separator, 3-phase separator, tank, filter and cyclone; shortcut and distillation columns and absorbers; conversion, equilibrium, Gibbs, CSTR and PFR reactors; recycle, adjust, set and energy recycle.
Equipment palette (dark theme)

Get Flowstead

Signed APKs are published on GitHub Releases. On iPhone, iPad or a computer, use Flowstead Web: the same DWSIM engine running in the browser, with no install and no server. The full source code is on GitHub under the GPL-3.0 licence.

Download APK Use in your browser Source code

Powered by DWSIM (GPL-3.0). Flowstead is not affiliated with the DWSIM project.

Flowstead is an engineering screening tool for preliminary design and studies. Final design shall be validated against project specifications, licensed simulation software, and applicable international codes.