The Export action enables you to export your results to a data file. You may export results for any available variable in CFD-Post on any defined locator. In the export file, data is written in blocks on a per locator basis in the order given by the locator list. Each block starts with lines listing the values of the selected variables at the locator points (one line corresponds to one point).
The following two examples on how to export data are given at the end of this section:
The File setting specifies a file for the
data to be exported to. You may type a filename or click Browse 
to search for a file to export
the results to, or enter a new filename.
The Type setting has the following options:
| Option | Description |
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Exports data to a file, writing
the data in blocks for every locator. Each block starts with listing
the values of the selected variables at the locator points. The |
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Creates a boundary condition profile to be exported.
The |
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Provides a short summary of the results file in xml format. |
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Creates a .csv file containing geometric information for the chosen Locations. |
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Creates a .stl file containing geometric information for the chosen Locations. Only ASCII .stl files are supported. |
Note: If you are using the Geometry Only option to export a surface
to set up a User Location in CFX-Pre, ensure that the mesh is in its initial position
(not translated, rotated, or deformed). In CFX-Pre, the 2D User Location is
independent from the volume mesh, so the mesh used in CFD-Post to create the surface
must match the initial mesh found in CFX-Pre.
Locations is available only if either the Generic or BC Profile option is selected.
The Locations setting specifies the locators
for which the results of your variable is written. You can hold down
the Ctrl key to select more than one locator and
the Shift key to select a block of locators.
Name Aliases is available only if either
the Generic or BC Profile option is selected. The Name Aliases setting
specifies custom naming of locators. To change the names of locators
that will appear in the output file, insert a comma-separated list
of names in the same order as locators.
Coord Frame is available only if either
the Generic or BC Profile option is selected. The Coord Frame setting
specifies the coordinate frame relative to which the data will be
exported. Information on creating a custom coordinate frame is available.
For details, see Coordinate Frame Command.
The Unit System setting determines the units in which the data will be exported. By default, this will use the global units system selected in Edit > Options. For details, see Setting the Display Units.
Boundary Data is available only if either
the Generic or the BC Profile option is selected. The Boundary Data setting
enables you to select Hybrid or Conservative boundary values. For details, see Hybrid and Conservative Variable Values. Setting Boundary Data to Current will select Hybrid/Conservative for each variable depending
on the current setting. For details, see Variables Details View.
Export Geometry Information is available
only if the Generic option is selected. Select
this check box to export the x, y, z coordinate information of the
locator at the beginning of the block.
Line and Face Connectivity is available
if the Generic or BC Profile option is selected. Select this check box to export the connectivity
information after the coordinate information in the file.
Profile Type is available only if the BC Profile option is selected. The Profile Type setting has the following options:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
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Exports the |
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Exports the |
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Exports the |
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Exports the |
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Exports the |
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Exports the |
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| Enables you to select custom variables to export from the Select Variable(s) list box. |
Spatial Fields is available only if the BC Profile option is selected. The Spatial Fields list box specifies the coordinate plane axes for the file being
exported.
Select Variable(s) is available only if
either the Generic or BC Profile options are selected. This list box is displayed for the BC Profile option only if the Custom option is selected for the Profile Type setting.
This list box selects the variables to export. You can hold down the Ctrl key to select more than one variable or use the Shift key to select a block of variables.
Vector Variables is available only if either
the Generic or Case Summary options are selected for the Type setting in
the Options tab.
The Vector Display options enable you to select either Components or Scalar. The Components setting writes each component of a vector to the data file. The components appear inside the selected brackets. The Scalar option writes only the magnitude of a vector quantity.
Select the Include Nodes With Undefined Variable check box to write Null Tokens to the output file. Select the symbol used to denote undefined variable values. For details, see Null Token.
Null Token is available only if the Include Nodes With Undefined Variable check box is selected.
The Null Token setting specifies the token to
be displayed in the place of an undefined variable value. You may
select the item used as a null token from a predefined list. Examples
of a variables with undefined values include Velocity in a Solid Domain and a variable value at a
point outside the solution domain, which can be created using a polyline,
sampling plane or surface locator.
Some variables, including Yplus and Wall Shear, are calculated only on the boundaries of the
domain and are assigned UNDEF values elsewhere.
If the Line and Face Connectivity check box is selected in the Options tab, then the Null Token is automatically exported.
The Precision setting specifies the precision
with which your results are exported. The data is exported in scientific
number format, and Precision sets the number
of digits that appear after the decimal point. For example, 13490
set to a precision of 2 outputs 1.35e+04. The same number set to a precision of 7 yields 1.3490000e+04.
The Separator setting specifies the character to separate the numbers in each row.
Select the Include File Info Header check box to export comments at the top of the export file displaying the build date, date and time, and results file from which it is generated.
To save a polyline or line to a file:
Select File > Export.
The Export dialog box appears.
On the Options tab:
Set Type to
Generic.Select Export Geometry Information and Export Connectivity.
On the Formatting tab, under Vector Variables, ensure that the Vector Display option is set to
Scalar.
Note that, on the Formatting tab, there is a Null Token field. This is used to indicate the string that should be written to represent values that are undefined.
If you want to make your own polyline file with a text editor, follow the format specified below.
For details, see Polyline Command.
The following is an abbreviated polyline file:
[Name] Polyline 1 [Data] X [ m ], Y [ m ], Z [ m ], Area [ m^2 ], Density [ kg m^-3 ] -1.04539007e-01, 1.68649014e-02, 5.99999987e-02, 0.00000000e+00, ... -9.89871025e-02, 3.27597000e-02, 5.99999987e-02, 0.00000000e+00, . . . [Lines] 0, 1 1, 2 . . . [Name] Polyline 2 . . .
The name of each locator is listed under the Name heading. Point coordinates and the corresponding variable values
are stored in the Data section. Line connectivity
data is listed in the Lines section, and references
the points in the Data section, where the latter
are implicitly numbered, starting with 0.
Comments in the file are preceded by # (or ## for the CFX-5.6 polyline format)
and can appear anywhere in the file.
Blank lines are ignored and can appear anywhere in the file
(except between the [<data>] and
first data line, where <data> is one of the
key words in square brackets).
Surfaces can be exported and then read into CFX-Pre as a boundary profile (or into CFD-Post as a User Surface).
An abbreviated user surface file, that could be read back into CFD-Post, is shown below:
[Name] Plane 1 [Data] X [ m ], Y [ m ], Z [ m ], Area [ m^2 ], Density [ kg m^-3 ] -1.77312009e-02, -5.38203605e-02, 6.00000024e-02, 7.12153496e-06, ... -1.77312009e-02, -5.79627529e-02, 5.99999949e-02, 5.06326614e-06, . . . [Faces] 369, 370, 376, 367, 375 350, 374, 367, 368, 351 . . . [Name] Plane 2 . . .
This is similar to the polyline data format described earlier
(POLYLINE Data Format), except for the connectivity information.
Instead of defining lines, this file defines faces (small surfaces),
each by 3 (triangle) to 6 (hexagon) points. The points must be ordered
to trace a path going around the face. For proper rendering, the faces
should have consistent point ordering, either clockwise or counterclockwise.
Each face is automatically closed by connecting the last point to
the first point. Face connectivity data is listed in the Faces section and references the points in the Data section, where the latter are implicitly numbered,
starting with 0.