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Module 02: Setting Up Domain

Introduction to ANSYS Fluent

1 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 12, 2016

 Introduction
Lecture Theme:
The ribbon in the Fluent user interface is used to guide your workflow.

Learning Aims:
You will learn:
• The Fluent user interface
• How to use the Ribbon to guide your workflow
• Some basic operations under Setting Up Domain

Learning Objectives:
You will become familiar with the Fluent environment and the first steps
performed at the beginning of a Fluent session

Introduction CFD Approach Pre-Processing Solution Post-Processing Summary

2 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc.

 Fluent Graphical User Interface (GUI): Ribbon

• The Ribbon, at the top of

the GUI, is the primary
method for setting up and
running your simulation
− Work through the tabs from
left to right
• Setting Up Domain
• Setting Up Physics
• Solving
• Postprocessing

3 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc.

 ANSYS Fluent Workflow
Ribbon Guides Basic Workflow

• Setting Up Domain • Setting Up Physics • Solving • Postprocessing

– Read and check mesh – Solver – Choose solution methods – Graphics and Plots
– Check mesh quality • Setup basic options and controls • Visualize solution data
– Define mesh – Models – Define reports for – Reports
interfaces (if needed) • Setup Energy, Viscous convergence checking • Quantitative solution
• See Module 3 (turbulence), – Initialization analysis
– Convert mesh to Multiphase, … – Run calculation
polyhedra (optional, – Materials
if needed) • Create/Edit materials
– Transform mesh and their properties
(optional, if – Zones
needed) • Cell zone and boundary
• Scale, translate, rotate conditions
– Introduction
Set units Material Properties Cell Zone Conditions Boundary Conditions Mesh Interfaces Summary

4 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc.

 Demo: GUI and Setting Up Domain Operations

• Instructor will demonstrate

− Starting Fluent
• From Workbench
• Outside Workbench (“standalone mode”)
− GUI Components
• Graphics windows and mouse operation
• Changing the layout
− Setting Up Domain Operations
• Mesh check
• Mesh quality report
• Polyhedral conversion
• Scaling
• Units

5 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc.

 Summary

• The Ribbon is the primary method for setting up and running your
simulation
− Workflow proceeds through the Ribbon tabs from left to right
• The GUI layout can be customized
• The most common steps in the Setting Up Domain tab have been
demonstrated

Introduction CFD Approach Pre-Processing Solution Post-Processing Summary

6 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc.

 Auxiliary Operations

• The definition of models, material properties, boundary conditions

and cell zone conditions is a fundamental part of setting up any CFD
simulation in Fluent
• There are some additional auxiliary operations that may be generally
very useful when setting up a simulation in Fluent
– Polyhedral mesh conversion
– Text User Interface (TUI)
– Journal files
– Reading and writing data profiles

7 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc.

 Polyhedral Mesh Conversion
Tet/Hybrid Mesh
• A tetrahedral or hybrid grid can be converted to
polyhedra in the Fluent GUI (not in ANSYS Meshing).
– Generate a tetrahedral mesh then convert inside Fluent.
– Advantages
• Improved mesh quality.
• Can reduce cell count significantly.
• User has control of the conversion process.
– Disadvantages:
• Cannot be adapted or converted again. Polyhedral Mesh
• Cannot use tools such as skewness-based smoothing or extrude to
modify the mesh.
– Laplacian and quality-based smoothing can be used as an alternative
• Two conversion options are available in the Mesh menu:
Mesh > Polyhedra > Convert Domain
– Convert all cells in the domain (except hex cells) to polyhedra
• Cannot convert adapted meshes with hangingnodes

– Convert only highly skewed cells to polyhedra

Mesh > Polyhedra > Convert Skewed Cells
8 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc.
 Text User Interface
• Most GUI commands have a
corresponding TUI command.
– Press the Enter key to display the
command set at the current level.
– q moves up one level.
– Some advanced commands are only
available through the TUI.

• The TUI offers many valuable

benefits: TUI in Console Window
– Journal (text) files can be constructed
to automate repetitive tasks.
– Fluent can be run in batch mode, with
TUI journal scripts set to automate
the loading / modification / solver
execution and postprocessing.
– Very complex models can be set using a
spreadsheet to generate the TUI
commands.
9 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc.
 Sample Fluent Journal

• A journal file is a text file which contains TUI ; Read case file
commands which Fluent will execute rc
sequentially. example.cas.gz
; Initialize the solution
/solve/initialize/initialize-flow
• Note that the Fluent TUI accepts abbreviations ; Calculate 50 iterations
of the commands for example, it 50
– rcd Reads case and data files ; Write data file
– wcd Writes case and data files wd example50.dat.gz
; Calculate another 50 iterations
• Fluent text commands listed in the ANSYS it 50
Documentation: FLUENT->Text Command List ; Write another data file
wd example100.dat.gz
; Exit Fluent
exit
yes
Sample Journal File

10 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc.

 Launching ANSYS Fluent: Batch Mode

• ANSYS Fluent can be run in batch mode in conjunction with a journal file
– This is useful if the HPC cluster being used to run a job does not allow interactiveexecution

• See User Guide for more details

11 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc.

 Scaling the Mesh and Selecting Units

• When Fluent reads a mesh file (.msh),

all dimensions are assumed to be in
units of meters
– If your model was not built in meters, then it must
be scaled
– Always verify that the domain extents are
correct
• When importing a mesh under
Workbench, the mesh does not need
to be scaled; however, the units are
set to the default MKS system
• Any “mixed” units system can be used
if desired
– By default, Fluent uses the SI system of units
(specifically, MKS system)
– Any units can be specified in the Set Units panel,
accessed from the Define menu

12 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc.

 Reordering and Modifying the Grid

• The grid can be reordered so that neighboring cells are near each other in the zones and in
memory
– Improves efficiency of memory access and reduces the bandwidth of the computation
– Reordering can be performed for the entire domain or specific cell zones.
Mesh > Reorder > Domain Mesh > Reorder > Zones

– The bandwidth of each partition in the grid can be printed for reference.
Mesh > Reorder > Domain

• Face and cell zones can be modified by the following operations in the Mesh menu:
– Separation and merge of zones
– Fusing of cell zones with merge of duplicate faces and nodes
– Translate, rotate, reflect face or cell zones
– Extrusion of face zones to extend the domain
– Replace a cell zone with another or delete it
– Activate and Deactivate cell zones

13 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc.