Fluent-Intro 16.0 L05 PostProcessing PDF
Fluent-Intro 16.0 L05 PostProcessing PDF
Fluent-Intro 16.0 L05 PostProcessing PDF
Post-processing
16.0 Release
Learning Aims:
You will learn:
How to perform flow field visualization and quantitative data analysis on your CFD
results
How to do this in Fluent and in CFD-Post
Learning Objectives:
You will know what post-processing options are available and how to perform the
post-processing work that your CFD simulations require
4. Generate Reports
Introduction Overview Fluent CFD-Post Summary
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Creating Locations
Locations are created from the Insert menu or from the
toolbar
Many different types available (list appears in figure) and
details of each type in the appendix
Once created, all Locations appear as entries in the
Outline tree
2. Create Chart
5. Select X and Y
Axis variables
Vector Plot
Can plot any vector variable
usually velocity
Can project vectors Normal or Tangential to the base object
Streamlines
Can proceed forwards and/or backwards from a seeding
location
Use the Surface Streamline option to visualise velocity on
walls
Legend
Create additional legends that are tied to a specific plot
(the default legend changes automatically with the active
plot)
Instance Transform
Create patterns and duplicates of the geometry
Usually used to re-create full plots from
symmetric/periodic solution data
Point
XYZ: At coordinates. Can pick from Viewer
Node Number: Some solver error messages give a node number
Variable Max / Min: Useful to locate where max / min values occur
Point Cloud
Create multiple points
Usually used as seeds to streamlines, vectors
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Location Types
Lines
Straight line between two points
Usually used as the basis for an XY Chart
Polylines
Also used for Charts
Read points from a file
Use the line of intersection
between a boundary and
another Location
Extract a line from a
contour plot
Iso Clip
An Iso Clip takes a copy of any existing Location and then
clips it using one or more criteria
E.g. the velocity contour plot on the outlet boundary
is then clipped by Velocity >= 10 [m/s] and Velocity <=
20 [m/s]
Can clip using any variable, including geometric variables
Surface of Revolution
Predefined options for Cylinder, Cone, Disc and
Sphere
From Line is much more general
Any line (existing Line, Polyline, Streamline,
Particle Track) is rotated about an axis
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Location Types
User Surface
Provides a number of additional surface creation options including:
From File: reads point data from a text file; usually export this file from a
different case
From Contour: extract a contour level
Transformed Surface: rotate, translate or scale an existing surface
Offset From Surface: offset an existing surface in either the Normal
direction or by Translating
VelRatio = 0.7
VelRatio = 0.7
Mixed units are allowed in expressions as long as the dimension makes sense
Cannot add 1.0 [mm] + 3.6 [kg] in an Expression
Expressions must be dimensionally consistent for addition and subtraction operations
(example: 1.0 [mm] + 0.45 [yds] is OK)
You cannot add values with inconsistent dimensions
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CEL Rules
Fractional and decimal powers are allowed (example: a^(1/2) + 1.0^0.5)
Units of expressions are not declared they are the result of units in the expression
(example: a [kg m^-3] * b [m s^-1] has units of [kg m^-2 s^-1]
Derived variables
Calculated by CFD-Post they are not contained in the results file
Geometric variables
X, Y, Z, Normals , mesh quality data
Solution variables
From the results file
Turbo variables
Additional variables automatically created for turbomachinery cases
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Variables Tab
The Details pane shows information for the selected
variable
Different options for User Defined variables
Next to wall boundaries you have a half control volume with = Wall = Mesh Node
some representative non-zero velocity
This non-zero velocity is stored at the wall node = Mesh Element
But we know that the velocity on a wall is zero
= Control Volume Boundary
Hybrid
For calculation purposes conservative values are used by
default
This is good! For example mass flow is calculated correctly a
velocity of zero would produce zero mass flow through the wall
adjacent control volume which is clearly wrong
Conservative
So in most cases you dont need to worry about Hybrid vs
Conservative since CFD-Post does the right thing
User Defined variables will be derived from conservative values by
default
Take care when interpreting plots! The range will be different for
hybrid and conservative values
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Expressions Tab
The Expressions tab shows all existing expressions and allows you to create new
expressions
Right-click in the top area > New
Enter the new expressions on the Definition tab in the Details view
Right-click to view Functions, Variables etc. that can be used to build your
expression
Macro Calculator
Run predefined Macros
Write your own Macros and have them appear here
More in Scripting lecture
Mesh Calculator
Mesh quality metrics and stats
Field variables exist for all the metric and can be plotted
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Turbo Post-Processing
The Turbo tab contains tools for post-processing turbomachinery cases.
Use the X and Y Axis tabs to set the variables on the axes
Add new
The remaining tabs are for various display options data series
Original Signal
Figures are not static, you can change them after they
have been created
If you do not want to change a Figure, make sure one of
View 1 View 4 is selected from the drop down menu
Quick Editor
Provides a very quick way to change the primary value
associated with each object
Probe
Pick a point from the Viewer and probe a variable value at that
point
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Multi File Mode
To post-process multiple files simultaneously you
can:
Multi-select files when loading
Or load additional results and enable the Keep
current cases loaded toggle
Each file is shown separately in the Outline tree and
the Viewer
Sync cameras
All Views move the
same
Sync objects
The visibility of all User
Locations and Plots is
the same
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Files
CFD-Post can interact with a number of different files including:
Results Files
CFX .res, ANSYS .rst, Fluent.dat
Mesh Files
CFX .def., ANSYS .cmdb, Fluent .cas,
Import
Polyline .csv, User Surface .csv, ANSYS surface .cdb
Export
Profile Data .csv, General Formatted Results .csv, ANSYS load file .csv
Recorded Session Files (.cse)
State Files (.cst)
Macros (.cse)
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Files
Results
ANSYS
CFD-Post is able to read ANSYS results for temperature,
velocity, acceleration, magnetic forces, stress, strain, and
mesh deformation
Import
Locations: .csv files which contain point data which defines a
polyline or surface
ANSYS Surface Mesh (.cdb): To allow for export of data on a
surface for use as a boundary condition in ANSYS
Export
Profile Boundary Data: for use in CFX-Pre
General formatted results data
ANSYS Load Data: Written onto an imported ANSYS .cdb file
State
Saves a snap-shot of all objects
Excludes actions (e.g. file output)
Macro
More later in Scripting and Automation lecture
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