Most established flow simulation tools,although constantly being perfected to compute the flow accurately,are inherently incapable of predicting the regime the flow being simulated is operating in.One typical example is that most flow solvers can not predict whether the flow is steady or unsteady,and this major decision is up to the user to judge and decide.Most often,application engineers arrive at the conclusion that the flow is unsteady when the steady solver does not converge.On the contrary,the accurate prediction of the flow condition at which the flow changes from steady to unsteady is of paramount importance for applications ranging from the edge-of-envelope prediction of aircraft to the surge line of compressors.Sometimes,this qualitative information is even more important than quantitative analysis.In this paper,a complete workflow for predicting the bifurcation parameter is explained and the method is applied to the two dimensional laminar flow around a circular cylinder case to demonstrate its e ectiveness.