Tips & Tricks

Improvements to Parallel Simulation Setup in CFD-FASTRAN

Setting up and launching a parallel simulation has become much simpler and easier in FASTRAN. This note discusses some of these developments. Let’s start with things that have not changed. There are still two versions of CFD-FASTRAN solvers for parallel cases. The difference between the two versions is the underlying parallel communication mechanism, the choice of which is decided by the type of mesh used.

Simulation of the Hypersonic Flow Past a Blunted Cone-cylinder-flare (HB-2) using CFD-FASTRAN

Study of supersonic flows is of high interest for a wide variety of problems including design of high speed planes and other related applications [1]. This user tip presents a validation of numerical methods against experimental data.

Clipping of X, Y, Z, Arbitrary Cuts and Iso-Surfaces in CFD-VIEW

In CFD-VIEW, performing X, Y, Z, arbitrary cut and iso-surface operations on volumes yield surface objects. One may desire to visualize and/or perform calculations in a user specified spatial range of the surface instead of the whole surface.

Blanking Option in CFD-VIEW for Visualizing Chimera Grids

CFD-FASTRAN uses closed surfaces, such as walls or blocked regions, to create Chimera holes (or blanked regions) in a grid. By default, the number of buffer layers is set to 1. This means that a closed surface will cut a hole in any mesh that overlaps it, and the initial "blanking" of grid cells defines the hole.

Using CFD-VIEW Display Types

When post processing a simulation in CFD-VIEW, you will often be working with multiple types of objects. Volumes and Surfaces are two types objects that you will most definitely have whether the model is 2D or 3D.

Using the "Extra Variable" in CFD-VIEW

In CFD-VIEW, the Extra Variable list that appears in the Attribute toolbar is used for different purposes depending on the object type. If you are interested in knowing more about this feature, please read on.

Selective Reading for DTF import in CFD-VIEW

When managing a model with complex geometry and/or physics, have you ever wondered how you could simplify the post-processing? You can do it easily using the selective reading capability in CFD-VIEW.

Using the Clone Feature in CFD-VIEW

As the name suggests, the Clone operator creates an exact copy of the input object. The input object could be a surface (iso-surface, plane cut, geometry surface, border object) or a volume. The drawing style of this copy (or copies) is completely independent from that of the original.

Using the Particle Trace Feature in CFD-VIEW

You can use the Particle Trace option in CFD-VIEW to enhance your flow visualization presentations. The use of this feature allows the display of more than one streamline and can be used in one, two, or three directions (but normally used in one or two directions).

Mirroring Tool in CFD-VIEW

One should always take advantage of geometric and solution symmetry to model just one-half or one-fourth of the computational domain to reduce the computational time by significantly reducing the size of the model. After modeling half or one fourth of the model, you always want to present data for the full model.