For information on creating profile data files, see:
Type in the CFD-Post User's Guide (about exporting profile files from CFD-Post)
Edit Profile Data (about editing profile data in CFX-Pre)
Once you have a file that contains data in the profile data format (see Profile Data Format), you can import it as described in Initialize Profile Data.
When the profile file is initialized, a user function is created in the
Outline tree view under Simulation >
Expressions, Functions and Variables > User Functions.
The user function has a details view where you can complete the profile function setup by:
Making associations between function data and CEL parameters.
Controlling visibility options.
The following topics are discussed:
A profile data file is formatted as follows:
# Comment line # The following section (beginning with [Name] and ending with # [Data]) represents one profile, which can be repeated # to define multiple profiles. [Name] My Boundary [Parameters] Coefficient ABC = 12.8 Coefficient2 = -5500 Parameter123 = 123.5 [K] [Spatial Fields] r, theta, z . . . [Data] X [ m ], Y [ m ], Z [ m ], Area [ m^2 ], Density [ kg m^-3 ] -1.773e-02, -5.382e-02, 6.000e-02, 7.121e-06, 1.231e+00 -1.773e-02, -5.796e-02, 5.999e-02, 5.063e-06, 1.231e+00 . . . # -------- end of first profile 'My Boundary'---------- [Name] Plane 2 . . .
Notes about the profile data format:
The name of each locator is listed under the
[Name]heading.The names of the fields are case-insensitive (that is,
[data]and[Data]are acceptable).The names of variables used in the data fields are case sensitive.
For example,
u [m]is a valid x velocity component, whereasU [m]is an unrecognized field name. You have to map this unrecognized field name with a valid variable name when loading into CFX-Pre. This is consistent with the use of CEL elsewhere.Comments in the file are preceded by
#(or##for the CFX polyline format) and can appear anywhere in the file.Commas must separate all fields in the profile. Any trailing commas at the end of a line are ignored. Any additional commas within a line of data will be a syntax error.
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 shown in the data format).If any lines with text are included above the keyword
[Name], a syntax error will occur. Such lines should be preceded by#character to convert them into comments.Multiple data sets are permitted within the same file; each profile begins with keyword
[Name].Point coordinates and the corresponding variable values are stored in the
[Data]section.[Spatial Fields]can contain 1, 2, or 3 values, corresponding to 1D, 2D, or 3D data.Within the
[Data]section, the Spatial Fields must be the first entries in each row of data, before the other variables.The data file has a
.csvextension for compatibility with other software packages.When this data file is read in, it is checked for any format violations; physics errors are shown for such situations.
Note: A file exported from CFD-Post in a user-specified coordinate system contains a coordinate
frame ([CoordFrame]) section. The coordinate frame definition is
written to the profile file; CFX-Pre defines the coordinate frame when you initialize the
data.
Additional information on profile data is available:
When you import data from a profile data file, a corresponding
user function is created in the Outline tree view
under Simulation > Expressions, Functions
and Variables > User Functions. Right-click
the user function and select Edit to view and
edit the Basic Settings.
Some of the settings on the Basic Settings tab are read-only, providing information about the profile function.
The following topics are discussed:
In the Basic Settings tab, you can optionally associate the value fields of the profile data with CEL parameters. If you are using the profile data in a profile boundary condition or an injection region, this association can facilitate the automatic configuration of related settings (via the Generate Values button).
To associate the value fields of the profile data with CEL parameters:
Select a value field in the Value Fields list.
Select Parameter List.
Select one or more CEL parameters to associate with the value field.
You can do this by clicking the drop-down arrow beside Parameter List and selecting (or Ctrl-selecting) parameters. If a parameter that you want to select does not appear, click Multi-select from extended list
to see all of the parameters that are available.
You can create a custom coordinate system using the profile’s data, if the latter defines a mapping between the spatial coordinates and custom coordinates (such as turbomachinery-related coordinates).
For example, a profile containing x, y, and z as spatial fields and u, and v as value fields could be used to define a coordinate system with u and v as the spatial fields. If such a coordinate system were to be used for a user point definition, then the user point coordinates would be entered as a (u,v) pair instead of as (x,y,z). CFX-Pre uses the provided profile data to interpolate the given (u,v) pair back to (x,y,z) for visualisation and for use in the CFX-Solver.
A custom coordinate system created from profile data could be used:
As a basis for defining user locations such as user lines and user points. For details, see User Locations.
As a basis for producing a transformed profile. For example, using the mapping provided by a profile’s custom (u,v) coordinates, you could transform another profile having spatial fields of the same custom coordinates to yield a transformed version having Cartesian spatial fields. For details on profile transformations based on a custom coordinate system, see Modifying Spatial Fields in Profile Data.
A profile file used to define a custom coordinate system must meet the following requirements:
There must be surface connectivity data.
The profile must have 3 Cartesian spatial fields.
There must be an unambiguous mapping between the custom coordinates and Cartesian coordinates. For example, a custom two dimensional coordinate system intended to fit a turbine blade surface might need to be defined for only one side of the blade in order to avoid having any single point in custom coordinates map to multiple locations in Cartesian coordinates.
If the profile function contains values of custom coordinates, and if the profile function meets the requirements described above, then you can define a custom coordinate system as follows:
Select Coordinate System Definition.
For Coord. Variables, multi-select profile variables to indicate the axes for the custom coordinate system.
If the imported profile data has three Cartesian spatial fields (i.e. x, y, and z), you can display the profile data in the viewer by editing the corresponding user function. To display the profile data in the viewer:
Select the Plot Options > Visibility check box.
Optionally select the Color by Profile Variable check box and select a Profile Variable.
Optionally select the Profile Vector check box to visualize vectors defined from the variables in the profile file. There are two types of vector quantities available for selection in the drop-down list:
Standard Vectors
These vector quantities are automatically constructed from the variables in the profile file, wherever CFX-Pre is able to recognize the available variables as components of a vector quantity. You cannot modify the settings for these vectors.
User Defined
This selection enables you to manually specify the vector components individually. You can specify the Vector Type as either
CartesianorCylindrical. The Profile Variable drop-down boxes enable you to select any variable defined in the file for each component. All components must have the same dimensions.
Optionally change the rendering options (such as the type and size of the symbol used to mark each profile data point) by doing one of the following:
Right-click the profile in the tree view and select Render > Properties.
Right-click the profile in the viewer and select Render > Properties.
For details on the rendering options, see Render Options.
You can also control the visibility of the profile data by the visibility check box in the tree view, and by the Hide command in the menu that appears when you right-click the profile in the viewer.