Workbench uses parameters and design points to allow you to run optimization and what-if scenarios. You can define both input and output parameters in Fluent that can be used in your Workbench project. You can also define parameters in other applications including Ansys SpaceClaim Direct Modeler, Ansys DesignModeler and Ansys CFD-Post. Once you have defined parameters for your system, a Parameters cell is added to the system and the Parameter Set bus bar is added to your project. Arrows representing input and output parameters connect the bus bar to each system in which you have defined parameters.
Double-click the Parameter Set bus bar to open the Parameters Set tab. The Parameters Set tab includes the Outline of All Parameters table that lists all of the parameters in your project as well as the Table of Design Points table in which you can specify design points.
To create a new design point, enter the input parameter values that you want to use for that design point in the Table of Design Points in the row with an asterisk (*) in the first column. You can create several design points. Once you have finished specifying design points, you can right-click the row for one design point and select the Update Selected Design Point command from the context menu to compute the output parameters for that design point. Alternatively, you can select Update All Design Points from the Toolbar to update all of your design points in sequence.
Important: By default, Workbench only saves the calculated data for the design point in the row labeled Current. If you want to save the data for a design point other than Current within the project (so you can postprocess the results from a different design point in either Ansys Fluent or Ansys CFD-Post), enable the option in the Retain column for that design point before you update it. After the calculation is complete, you can then right-click the design point in the Table of Design Points and select Set as Current to access the data. Alternatively, you can export design points to separate projects. For details, see Retaining Design Point Data and Exporting Design Points to New Projects in the separate Workbench User's Guide.
Important: Note that you cannot create, edit, delete, or rename parameters in Fluent if any iterations (or time-steps) have been performed. If you want to create, edit, delete, or rename parameters in Fluent for a case with an existing solution, you must first initialize the solution. Alternatively, you can disable the Use as parameter option in the Expression dialog box in Fluent to edit the expression, then re-enable the Use as parameter option.
Additionally, expressions that are in use cannot be converted to input parameters.
Note: In Fluent, you can directly access the Parameters dialog box using the Parameters & Customization/Parameters tree item in Fluent, or the corresponding Parameter System toolbar command (
).
For more information about using input and output parameters in Fluent (along with using them in Scheme functions and UDFs), see Defining and Viewing Parameters and Creating Output Parameters in the Fluent User's Guide.
For more information about parameters, design points, what-if scenarios and optimization studies in Workbench, see the Workbench online documentation.