The main menu is equivalent to Fluent's standard File menu with many of the same options for reading, writing, importing, and exporting your simulation's various types of files (for example, mesh, case, data, etc.).

For more detailed information about these options, see File Ribbon Tab.

Ansys Fluent's web interface Outline View is similar to Fluent's standard outline view, allowing you to access and interact with various portions of your simulation project. Ansys Fluent's web interface displays the corresponding node according to the presence of the case or data file in Fluent. If data is present, then the Results branch is opened by default. so you can analyze your results. If only a case file is present, then the Solution branch is opened by default. If there is no case or data, then the Setup branch is available. Branches can be expanded and collapsed to suit your requirements. In addition, as you change stages using the Stage Navigator (The Stage Navigator), the Outline View changes accordingly.

Figure 47.6: Outline View

Generally, you can add, delete, and rename objects by using the context menu on selected items in the tree. Depending on the context of where you are in the Outline View, certain objects have a context menu that has one or more of the following options available:

The graphics window displays the graphical output of your simulation (mesh, contours, pathlines, etc.). Along with being able to select one or more objects, rotate, zoom, pan, etc. within the window, you can also interact with the contents by right-clicking to display a context menu that corresponds with your current stage.

Figure 47.7: A Contour Object Displayed in the Graphics Window

Figure 47.8: A Context Menu for a Selected Boundary

Supported operations within the graphics window depend on the selected object(s) and include:

For more general information about graphics windows in Fluent, see Displaying Graphics.

Ansys Fluent's web interface includes a View Arc, a circular toolbar located within the window, containing various view-related tools such as mesh display, fit-to-window, view orientation tools, and so on.

Figure 47.10: View Arc

Options include:

General information about your simulation can be found in the status bar at the bottom of the window.

Figure 47.11: Displaying Session and Solution Information in the Status Bar

Details about your simulation (session name, status, case name) can be found in the left side of the status bar.

Figure 47.12: Displaying Session Information in the Status Bar

While a calculation is underway, you can view its progress in the status bar at the bottom of the browser window.

Figure 47.13: Displaying Solution Information in the Status Bar

The Stage Navigator is a means of traversing (using the arrows) through the various stages of your simulation. As you do, the Outline View (The Outline View) changes to expose the relevant nodes that correlate to the various stages in the simulation.

Figure 47.14: Stage Navigator

The Console panel is your primary access to any informative messages, Python commands, and output from a simulation. To open the Console panel, click the corresponding icon ( ).

Console Messaging

The panel has a Console tab that will contain transcript data, informative messages about relevant simulation progress, warnings, errors, etc.

Figure 47.15: The Console Window

You are alerted of any errors via changes to the Console icon, for example:

Figure 47.16: The Console Icon With Two Alerts

Figure 47.17: The Console Window With Alerts

You can also filter messages by types – information, warning, error, and output.

You can also search the Console output using the Search field.

Figure 47.18: Searching the Contents of the Console Window

Access to Python

The Python tab shows Python commands while you interact with the session.

Figure 47.19: The Python Tab of the Console Window

Viewing Simulation Output

The Output tab contains basic output messages from the solver.

Figure 47.20: The Output Tab of the Console Window

 

47.3.1.7.1. Using the Console to Interact with Your Session Using Python

Depending on the license level used in the Fluent session you are connected to (Enterprise or Premium), you can view and enter Python commands in this window to augment your current simulation.

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Note:  This feature is not available if you are using a Pro level license.

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Figure 47.21: The Console Window with Python Command Access

In addition, the Console window also has a Python tab that allows you to view and enter Python commands and directly interact with the Fluent session using the collection of Pythonic interfaces for Fluent.

Figure 47.22: The Python Tab of the Console Window

The Console window, the Python window, and the Output window all have a command entry field where you can type a Python command. Once you type in your command, click the Run button to run the command, or click the Clear button to remove the command from the field.

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Note:  For both the Console window and the Python window, you can capture all text within the window by using Ctrl-A.

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Ansys Fluent's web interface includes a Results Arc, a circular toolbar located within the window, containing various results-related tools such as displaying contours, vectors, and so on.

Figure 47.23: Results Arc

Options include:

You can also use the Calculate button to quickly initialize or to start a calculation.

Figure 47.24: Initializing or Running a Calculation

Once the calculations are in progress, you can choose to either Interrupt or Pause the solution progression.

Figure 47.25: Interrupting or Pausing a Calculation

Once the calculations are paused, you can choose to either Interrupt or Resume the solution progression.

Figure 47.26: Interrupting or Resuming a Calculation

Ansys Fluent's web interface includes a Plots View, where you can visualize your calculation's residual plots, as well as any report definition plots for your simulation. Click the title to open the corresponding plot.

Figure 47.27: Plots View

Hovering the mouse over the plots reveals specific data values and exposes some assorted controls for plotting:

For more information about using plots, see Working With Plots and Your Simulation Results.

You can access and edit the attributes of various objects in your simulation through the various property panels that are available. The properties panels are similar to Fluent's task pages and dialog boxes, in that they allow you to define settings, enter, and postprocess results. Note that your settings are saved as you define them in a properties panel. There are also some dialog boxes (which you may open from the Outline View or settings in the properties panel) which may have an explicit mechanism to save your work.

The content of the various property panels is similar to those found in Fluent, however, there are some differences. For instance, the visual layout of the groups, labels, and controls is more streamlined, as are the handling of units and expressions.

Unit management is more flexible from Fluent's handling of units. Using the corresponding drop-down menu, you can change the units accordingly on a case-by-case basis, if desired.

Figure 47.28: Changing Units for a Given Property

Units can be managed from the General properties in the Outline View.

Handling expressions is similar to Fluent, however, there are two ways to work with expressions in Ansys Fluent's web interface.

Especially for boundary conditions of the same type, you are able to edit more than one object at a time and apply one or more of an object's properties to another. For instance, you can select two velocity-inlet conditions, right-click and select Multi-Edit from the context menu.

Figure 47.31: Editing Multiple Boundary Conditions from the Context Menu

This displays the Multi-Edit Settings panel where you can see the selected objects, and their common properties.

Figure 47.32: An Example of the Multi-Edit Settings Panel

For common, active properties, an informational icon ( ) next to an empty property indicates a property where you can choose a value from one of the selected objects.

Figure 47.33: An Example of Using the Multi-Edit Settings Panel

For more information about multiple selection using Fluent, see Editing Multiple Boundary Conditions at Once.

You are able to access your simulation's general properties using Ansys Fluent's web interface.

 Setup → General

From here, you can view or make changes to settings such as the solver type or operating conditions such as the gravitational acceleration, and unit settings. The available general settings are similar to those found in the standard Fluent solver. For more detailed information about them, see General Task Page.

You are able to access your simulation's model properties using Ansys Fluent's web interface.

 Setup → Models

From here, you can view or make changes to the models available to your session such as the consideration of energy, turbulence (viscous), species, and discrete phase. The available model settings are similar to those found in the standard Fluent solver. For more detailed information about them, see the Fluent documentation (e.g., Models Task Page).

You are able to access your simulation's material properties using Ansys Fluent's web interface.

 Setup → Materials

From here, you can create new or view and make changes to the fluid and solid (and mixture, if applicable) materials available in your session, such as the material's density, specific heat, thermal conductivity, molecular weight, and so on. You can even access other material databases as well. The available material settings are similar to those found in the standard Fluent solver. For more detailed information about creating new and editing existing materials, see Create/Edit Materials Dialog Box.

You are able to access your simulation's cell zone conditions using Ansys Fluent's web interface.

 Setup → Cell Zone Conditions

From here, you can create new or view and make changes to the fluid and solid cell zones conditions that are available in your session, such as a cell zone's assignment, reference frame, porosity, motion, source terms, and so on. The available settings are similar to those found in the standard Fluent solver. For additional information about cell zone properties in the standard Fluent solver, see Cell Zone Conditions Task Page.

You are able to access your simulation's boundary conditions using Ansys Fluent's web interface.

 Setup → Boundary Conditions

From here, you can create new or view and make changes to existing boundary conditions that are available in your session, such as a inlets, outlet, walls, and so on. The available settings for each boundary type are similar to those found in the standard Fluent solver. For more detailed information about them, see Boundary Conditions Task Page.

You are able to access your simulation's reference values using Ansys Fluent's web interface.

 Setup → Reference Values

From here, you can create new reference values or view and make changes to existing reference values that are available in your session, such as area, density, enthalpy, length, pressure, and so on. The available settings are similar to those found in the standard Fluent solver. For more detailed information about them, see Reference Values Task Page.

You are able to access your simulation's reference frames using Ansys Fluent's web interface.

 Setup → Reference Frames

From here, you can create new reference frames or view and make changes to existing reference frames that are available in your session, such as its motion or the initial state. The available settings are similar to those found in the standard Fluent solver. For more detailed information about them, see Reference Frame Dialog Box.

You are able to access your simulation's named expressions using Ansys Fluent's web interface.

 Setup → Named Expressions

From here, you can create new named expressions, create and view plots of your expressions, or view and make changes to existing named expressions that are available in your session. The available settings are similar to those found in the standard Fluent solver. For more detailed information about them, see Expression Manager Dialog Box.

Various means of setting your solution methods are available

 Solution → Methods

From here, you can view and make changes to solution methods, such as the discretization scheme for pressure, momentum, and so on. The available settings are similar to those found in the standard Fluent solver. For more detailed information about them, see Solution Methods Task Page.

Various means of setting your solution controls are available

 Solution → Methods

From here, you can view and make changes to solution controls, such as relaxation factors, equations, limits, and so on. The available settings are similar to those found in the standard Fluent solver. For more detailed information about them, see Solution Controls Task Page.

Various means of setting your solution's report definitions are available

 Solution → Report Definitions

From here, you can create new or view and make changes to existing report definitions in your session, such as report definitions for mesh, surface, volume, force, lift, drag, moment, flux, user-defined, and single-valued expressions.

Figure 47.34: Using The Context Menu to Create Report Definitions

The available settings are similar to those found in the standard Fluent solver. For more detailed information about them, see Report Definitions Dialog Box.

Various means of setting your solution's monitors are available

 Solution → Monitors

From here, you can create new or view and make changes to existing solution monitors in your session, such as residual, report file, report plot, and convergence condition monitors. The available settings are similar to those found in the standard Fluent solver. For more detailed information about them, see the Fluent documentation.

Various means of initializing your solution are available

 Solution → Initialization

From here, you can view and make changes to solution controls such as the initialization type, the reference frame, various default solution settings, and so on. The available settings are similar to those found in the standard Fluent solver. For more detailed information about them, see Solution Initialization Task Page.

Various means of running the calculations methods are available

 Solution → Run Calculation

From here, you can view and make changes to solution controls important when running the calculations, such as time step settings, the number of iterations, reporting interval, and so on. The available settings are similar to those found in the standard Fluent solver. For more detailed information about them, see Run Calculation Task Page.

Once a calculation is started, you can either interrupt or pause the Fluent solver. When you interrupt a calculation, Fluent formally exits the iteration loop, however, when you pause a calculation, the Fluent solver is paused without exiting the iteration loop.

When using a journal file, interrupting a calculation will completely exit the journal file while pausing a calculation lets you continue to use your journal file.

 Results → Scene  New

For the new scene object, open the property editor to enable/disable the display of multiple graphics plots within a single window. In the editor, you can set up different configurations of graphics results and plots from your CFD simulation. Scenes can be comprised of mesh displays, contour, vector, and pathline plots, and so forth, and the transparencies for each can be customized.

Figure 47.46: Building a Scene

For more detailed information about scenes, see Displaying a Scene.

You can set up reports for your CFD simulation using the Outline View:

 Results → Reports

Figure 47.47: Reports

Reports can be compiled for fluxes, forces, projected areas, surface and volume integrals, among others.

For more detailed information about reports, see Reporting Alphanumeric Data.