Fluent FAQ

1. Interface GUI comments

Mouse Control Display Operations
GUI graphics window display operations employ all three mouse buttons. The types of
display operations are as follows:

Rotate

Translate

Revolve

Zoom and pan-zoom

Enlarge
Rotating the Model (Left-drag): To rotate the model, left-click anywhere and left-drag the
cursor either horizontally or vertically. GUI rotates the model around an axis in the plane
of the screen and perpendicular to the direction of mouse movement.
Translating the Model (Middle-drag): To translate the model across the screen, middleclick anywhere and middle-drag the cursor either horizontally or vertically.
Revolving/Zooming the Model (Right-drag): The right mouse button performs two
different types of display operations in the graphics window, each of which corresponds
to a different direction of mouse movement:

Revolve (horizontal movement)

Zoom (vertical movement)

When you right-click anywhere and right-drag the mouse horizontally, GUI revolves the
model around a central axis normal to the plane of the screen. When you right-drag the
mouse vertically, GUI zooms in or out on the model.
Enlarging the Model: GUI allows you to enlarge any portion of the model display using
the control (Ctrl) keyboard key and either the left or middle mouse buttons. The Ctrl-left
and Ctrl-middle mouse button functions differ with respect to whether GUI retains or
ignores the proportions of the model when the model display is enlarged. Ctrl-left-drag
retains model proportions. Ctrl-middle-drag ignores model proportions.
Global Control Toolpad Key Commands
(positioned in lower right area of FlowLab 1.1 GUI)

Fit to Window:
Scales the graphics display to fit within the boundaries of the
enabled quadrant (the active graphics window).

Orient Model:
Applies the present model orientation. Left clicking the
Orient Model command button orients the model with respect to a specified face or
vector. To open the menu of Orient Model options, right-click this command button.

2. Gambit CAD
3.
Importing UG geometries into Gambit
1) Enter the sketcher application in Unigraphics and create your geometry.
(For this example the geometry created is for a 2-D axisymmetric converging pipe)

2) Once you finish sketching your geometry, exit the sketcher and save your part file.
3) On the toolbar go to File->Export->IGES.

4) On the Export IGES window, click the Specify IGES file button.

5) Choose a file path and file name for the IGES file.

6) After naming the file, click OK on the Export IGES window. Assuming your work
part is the geometry you want exported, select Yes when UG asks if you want to
translate the entire work part. The file should then be exported to the place you specified.

7) Launch Gambit 2.0, and on the toolbar select File->Import->IGES.

8) On the Import IGES file window, select Browse. Navigate to the file you
exported, select it, and then click Accept. Back on the Import IGES file window,
select Accept again. (If you cant find the file, double check if it was exported by
searching for it in windows explorer. I find that exporting IGES files to the desktop dont
always show up when youre trying to find them in Gambit. If this happens, go back to
step 5 and re-export to a new directory, such as the Temp folder.)

Your UG sketch should now appear in Gambit. For a geometry this simple it may be
more efficient to create it directly in Gambit, however, UG sketches become useful when
you want to create more complicated geometries involving curves.

4. Fluent

5. Postprocessing
White Background: A white screen is harsh on the eyes, that is why most programs
(UG, Gambit, FLUENT, AutoCad etc) use black backgrounds. If you want it white you
can cut and paste into another program (paint) and use the invert color command. Or,
more easily, File>Hardcopy. It automatically selects current display, make it a JPEG,
make sure Reverse Foreground/Background is selected, and press apply, then save it.
Post Processing with New points, lines and surfaces: If you need to find information
at a point, across a simple line or face that you did not create in Gambit, you can make
the point in FLUENT. You can use monitors to trace that value as FLUENT iterates
(based on time step for transient problems). Create them in surface>point or line\rake or
Plane or Quadratic. If you need a more complex surface, go back to gambit and make it.
Use the report section of commands to choose what values need to be reported.
Printing XY Plot: You can print the XY plot to a file using the Print button in the XY
Plot Window. Clicking the Print button opens the Print panel. To print the plot to a file,
select the File radio button. Enter the file name under File Name and click Print. You can
also click the Browse... command button and select an existing filename using the Select
File panel. A white background color is the default. A post script file will be created.
Exporting Data from XY Plot
You can export the XY plot data to an external file, using the Export Data button in the
XY plot. Clicking the Export Data button opens the Export Data form.
To export an XY plot, follow the steps given below:
1. Under Export to Format, select either csv or dat to specify the format in
which you would like to export the data. {CSV may be easily imported
into Excel}.
2. Turn on either the Zoom or Non Zoom option to specify the range of data
to be exported. The Zoom option exports only the data within the zoomed
points, while Non Zoom option exports all the data in the range.
3. Turn on either the Active Data or All Data option to specify to variables to
be exported. Active Data exports the data corresponding to the variable
which are currently displayed in the XY plot. All Data exports the data
corresponding to all the variables.
4. Under File Name enter the name of the file to which the data is to be
exported.
5. Click Export to export the data.