The Profile tool allows users to import data that defines the profile from a comma-delimited text (.csv) file. In this way, users who wish to construct more complex functional forms can do so using spreadsheet or other 3rd-party programs to generate the piecewise linear pairs required by Ansys Chemkin. The Import button is located at the bottom of the Profile editor panel, as shown in Figure 2.64: Profile: New. It can be used to supplement an existing profile or populate a new profile. An example of the default format required for a data file to be input is shown in Figure 2.66: Profile Tool Data Input Format. This file shows four points for distance vs. temperature, where the temperature (second column) is in Kelvin and the distance (first column) is in cm. The units are specified in the Profile panel. There should be no header information in the imported file. The default format's field separator is a comma and the numeric radix (decimal point) character is a period. The character specified for each purpose can be changed at the time of file selection. Leading and trailing blanks and any embedded blanks in a field are all removed before numeric conversion is attempted. For this reason, be careful if the blank character is the specified field separator.

Figure 2.66: Profile Tool Data Input Format

0.0,  300
0.5,  600
1.0,  1000
10.0,  2000