ANSYS FLUENT Getting Started Guide

ANSYS, Inc. Release 14.5

Southpointe October 2012
275 Technology Drive
Canonsburg, PA 15317 ANSYS, Inc. is
[email protected] certified to ISO
9001:2008.
http://www.ansys.com
(T) 724-746-3304
(F) 724-514-9494
Copyright and Trademark Information

© 2012 SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use, distribution or duplication is prohibited.

ANSYS, ANSYS Workbench, Ansoft, AUTODYN, EKM, Engineering Knowledge Manager, CFX, FLUENT, HFSS and any
and all ANSYS, Inc. brand, product, service and feature names, logos and slogans are registered trademarks or
trademarks of ANSYS, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States or other countries. ICEM CFD is a trademark used
by ANSYS, Inc. under license. CFX is a trademark of Sony Corporation in Japan. All other brand, product, service
and feature names or trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Disclaimer Notice

THIS ANSYS SOFTWARE PRODUCT AND PROGRAM DOCUMENTATION INCLUDE TRADE SECRETS AND ARE CONFID-
ENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY PRODUCTS OF ANSYS, INC., ITS SUBSIDIARIES, OR LICENSORS. The software products
and documentation are furnished by ANSYS, Inc., its subsidiaries, or affiliates under a software license agreement
that contains provisions concerning non-disclosure, copying, length and nature of use, compliance with exporting
laws, warranties, disclaimers, limitations of liability, and remedies, and other provisions. The software products
and documentation may be used, disclosed, transferred, or copied only in accordance with the terms and conditions
of that software license agreement.

ANSYS, Inc. is certified to ISO 9001:2008.

U.S. Government Rights

For U.S. Government users, except as specifically granted by the ANSYS, Inc. software license agreement, the use,
duplication, or disclosure by the United States Government is subject to restrictions stated in the ANSYS, Inc.
software license agreement and FAR 12.212 (for non-DOD licenses).

Third-Party Software

See the legal information in the product help files for the complete Legal Notice for ANSYS proprietary software
and third-party software. If you are unable to access the Legal Notice, please contact ANSYS, Inc.

Published in the U.S.A.

Table of Contents
Preface ......................................................................................................................................................... v
1. The Contents of This Manual ................................................................................................................ v
2. The Contents of the FLUENT Manuals ................................................................................................... v
3. Technical Support ............................................................................................................................... vi
1. Introduction to ANSYS FLUENT ............................................................................................................... 1
1.1. Program Capabilities ......................................................................................................................... 4
1.2. ANSYS FLUENT Documentation ......................................................................................................... 5
1.2.1. Accessing the ANSYS FLUENT Documentation .......................................................................... 5
1.2.1.1. Accessing the Documentation Files Using the ANSYS Help Viewer .................................... 5
1.2.1.2. Downloading and Extracting the PDF Documentation Files .............................................. 6
1.2.2. Viewing and Printing the PDF Documentation .......................................................................... 6
1.2.2.1. Navigating the PDF Files .................................................................................................. 6
1.2.2.2. Printing the PDF Files ....................................................................................................... 7
2. Basic Steps for CFD Analysis using ANSYS FLUENT ................................................................................ 9
2.1. Steps in Solving Your CFD Problem .................................................................................................... 9
2.2. Planning Your CFD Analysis ............................................................................................................... 9
3. Guide to a Successful Simulation Using ANSYS FLUENT ....................................................................... 15
4. Starting and Executing ANSYS FLUENT ................................................................................................ 17
4.1. Starting ANSYS FLUENT ................................................................................................................... 17
4.1.1. Starting ANSYS FLUENT Using FLUENT Launcher ..................................................................... 17
4.1.1.1. Setting General Options in FLUENT Launcher ................................................................. 19
4.1.1.2. Single-Precision and Double-Precision Solvers ................................................................ 21
4.1.1.3. Setting Parallel Options in FLUENT Launcher .................................................................. 21
4.1.1.4. Setting Remote Options in FLUENT Launcher ................................................................. 22
4.1.1.5. Setting Scheduler Options in FLUENT Launcher .............................................................. 23
4.1.1.6. Setting Environment Options in FLUENT Launcher ......................................................... 24
4.1.2. Starting ANSYS FLUENT on a Windows System ........................................................................ 25
4.1.3. Starting ANSYS FLUENT on a Linux System .............................................................................. 26
4.1.4. Command Line Startup Options ............................................................................................. 26
4.1.4.1. Graphics Options ........................................................................................................... 28
4.1.4.2. Meshing Mode Option ................................................................................................... 28
4.1.4.3. Parallel Options ............................................................................................................. 28
4.1.4.4. Postprocessing Option .................................................................................................. 29
4.1.4.5. SGE Options .................................................................................................................. 29
4.1.4.6. LSF Option .................................................................................................................... 29
4.1.4.7. Version and Release Options .......................................................................................... 29
4.1.4.8. System Coupling Options .............................................................................................. 30
4.1.4.9. Other Startup Options ................................................................................................... 30
4.2. Running ANSYS FLUENT in Batch Mode ........................................................................................... 31
4.2.1. Background Execution on Linux Systems ................................................................................ 31
4.2.2. Background Execution on Windows Systems .......................................................................... 32
4.2.3. Batch Execution Options ........................................................................................................ 33
4.3. Switching Between Meshing and Solution Modes ............................................................................ 34
4.4. Checkpointing an ANSYS FLUENT Simulation .................................................................................. 34
4.5. Cleaning Up Processes From an ANSYS FLUENT Simulation .............................................................. 35
4.6. Exiting ANSYS FLUENT .................................................................................................................... 36
Glossary of Terms ........................................................................................................................................ 37

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. iii
 Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
iv of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
Preface
This preface is divided into the following sections:
1.The Contents of This Manual
2.The Contents of the FLUENT Manuals
3.Technical Support

1. The Contents of This Manual

The ANSYS FLUENT Getting Started Guide highlights some of the features in ANSYS FLUENT and how
to get started using the software.

A brief description of what is in each chapter follows:

• Introduction to ANSYS FLUENT (p. 1), provides an overview of the capabilities of ANSYS FLUENT and
details about the available documentation.

• Basic Steps for CFD Analysis using ANSYS FLUENT (p. 9), describes the steps involved in solving a CFD
problem and questions to consider.

• Guide to a Successful Simulation Using ANSYS FLUENT (p. 15), provides specific guidelines that help ensure
your CFD simulation is a success.

• Starting and Executing ANSYS FLUENT (p. 17), describes options and alternatives to starting, running, and
exiting ANSYS FLUENT. It also provides instructions for remote execution and batch execution.

• Glossary of Terms (p. 37), contains a listing of terms commonly used throughout the documentation.

2. The Contents of the FLUENT Manuals

The manuals listed below form the FLUENT product documentation set. They include descriptions of
the procedures, commands, and theoretical details needed to use FLUENT products.

• FLUENT Getting Started Guide contains general information about getting started with using FLUENT
and provides details about starting, running, and exiting the program.

• FLUENT Migration Manual contains information about transitioning from the previous release of FLUENT,
including details about new features, solution changes, and text command list changes.

• FLUENT User's Guide contains detailed information about running a simulation using the solution
mode of FLUENT, including information about the user interface, reading and writing files, defining
boundary conditions, setting up physical models, calculating a solution, and analyzing your results.

• ANSYS FLUENT Meshing User Guide contains detailed information about creating 3D meshes using
the meshing mode of FLUENT.

• FLUENT in Workbench User's Guide contains information about getting started with and using FLUENT
within the Workbench environment.

• FLUENT Theory Guide contains reference information for how the physical models are implemented in
FLUENT.

• FLUENT UDF Manual contains information about writing and using user-defined functions (UDFs).

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. v
Preface

• FLUENT Tutorial Guide contains a number of examples of various flow problems with detailed instructions,
commentary, and postprocessing of results.

• ANSYS FLUENT Meshing Tutorials contains a number of examples of general mesh-generation techniques
used in ANSYS FLUENT Meshing.

• FLUENT Text Command List contains a brief description of each of the commands in FLUENT’s solution
mode text interface.

• ANSYS FLUENT Meshing Text Command List contains a brief description of each of the commands in
FLUENT’s meshing mode text interface.

• FLUENT Adjoint Solver Module Manual contains information about the background and usage of FLUENT's
Adjoint Solver Module that allows you to obtain detailed sensitivity data for the performance of a fluid
system.

• FLUENT Battery Module Manual contains information about the background and usage of FLUENT's Battery
Module that allows you to analyze the behavior of electric batteries.

• FLUENT Continuous Fiber Module Manual contains information about the background and usage of FLUENT's
Continuous Fiber Module that allows you to analyze the behavior of fiber flow, fiber properties, and
coupling between fibers and the surrounding fluid due to the strong interaction that exists between the
fibers and the surrounding gas.

• FLUENT Fuel Cell Modules Manual contains information about the background and the usage of two
separate add-on fuel cell models for FLUENT that allow you to model polymer electrolyte membrane fuel
cells (PEMFC), solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), and electrolysis with FLUENT.

• FLUENT Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) Module Manual contains information about the background and
usage of FLUENT's Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) Module that allows you to analyze the behavior of
electrically conducting fluid flow under the influence of constant (DC) or oscillating (AC) electromagnetic
fields.

• FLUENT Population Balance Module Manual contains information about the background and usage of
FLUENT's Population Balance Module that allows you to analyze multiphase flows involving size distributions
where particle population (as well as momentum, mass, and energy) require a balance equation.

• FLUENT as a Server User's Guide contains information about the usage of FLUENT as a Server which allows
you to connect to a FLUENT session and issue commands from a remote client application.

• Running FLUENT Under LSF contains information about using FLUENT with Platform Computing’s LSF
software, a distributed computing resource management tool.

• Running FLUENT Under PBS Professional contains information about using FLUENT with Altair PBS Profes-
sional, an open workload management tool for local and distributed environments.

• Running FLUENT Under SGE contains information about using FLUENT with Sun Grid Engine (SGE) software,
a distributed computing resource management tool.

3. Technical Support
If you encounter difficulties while using ANSYS FLUENT, please first refer to the section(s) of the
manual containing information on the commands you are trying to use or the type of problem you are

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
vi of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
 Technical Support

trying to solve. The product documentation is available from the online help, or from the ANSYS Cus-
tomer Portal (www.ansys.com/customerportal).

If you encounter an error, please write down the exact error message that appeared and note as much
information as you can about what you were doing in ANSYS FLUENT.

Technical Support for ANSYS, Inc. products is provided either by ANSYS, Inc. directly or by one of our
certified ANSYS Support Providers. Please check with the ANSYS Support Coordinator (ASC) at your
company to determine who provides support for your company, or go to www.ansys.com and select
About ANSYS> Contacts and Locations.

If your support is provided by ANSYS, Inc. directly, Technical Support can be accessed quickly and effi-
ciently from the ANSYS Customer Portal, which is available from the ANSYS Website (www.ansys.com)
under Support> Technical Support where the Customer Portal is located. The direct URL is: support.an-
sys.com.

One of the many useful features of the Customer Portal is the Knowledge Resources Search, which can
be found on the Home page of the Customer Portal.

Systems and installation Knowledge Resources are easily accessible via the Customer Portal by using
the following keywords in the search box: Systems/Installation. These Knowledge Resources
provide solutions and guidance on how to resolve installation and licensing issues quickly.

NORTH AMERICA
All ANSYS, Inc. Products
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
Toll-Free Telephone: 1.800.711.7199
Fax: 1.724.514.5096
Support for University customers is provided only through the ANSYS Customer Portal.

GERMANY
ANSYS Mechanical Products
Telephone: +49 (0) 8092 7005-55 (CADFEM)
Email: [email protected]
All ANSYS Products
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
National Toll-Free Telephone:
German language: 0800 181 8499
English language: 0800 181 1565
Austria: 0800 297 835
Switzerland: 0800 546 318
International Telephone:
German language: +49 6151 152 9981
English language: +49 6151 152 9982
Email: [email protected]

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. vii
Preface

UNITED KINGDOM
All ANSYS, Inc. Products
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
Telephone: Please have your Customer or Contact ID ready.
UK: 0800 048 0462
Republic of Ireland: 1800 065 6642
Outside UK: +44 1235 420130
Email: [email protected]
Support for University customers is provided only through the ANSYS Customer Portal.

JAPAN
CFX , ICEM CFD and Mechanical Products
Telephone: +81-3-5324-8333
Fax: +81-3-5324-7308
Email:
CFX: [email protected];
Mechanical: [email protected]
FLUENT Products
Telephone: +81-3-5324-7305
Email:
FLUENT: [email protected];
POLYFLOW: [email protected];
FfC: [email protected];
FloWizard: [email protected]
Icepak
Telephone: +81-3-5324-7444
Email: [email protected]
Licensing and Installation
Email: [email protected]

INDIA
All ANSYS, Inc. Products
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
Telephone: +91 1 800 209 3475 (toll free) or +91 20 6654 3000 (toll)
Fax: +91 80 6772 2600
Email:
FEA products: [email protected];
CFD products: [email protected];

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
viii of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
 Technical Support

Ansoft products: [email protected];

Installation: [email protected]

FRANCE
All ANSYS, Inc. Products
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
Toll-Free Telephone: +33 (0) 800 919 225 Toll Number: +33 (0) 170 489 087
Email: [email protected]

BELGIUM
All ANSYS Products
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
Telephone: +32 (0) 10 45 28 61
Email: [email protected]
Support for University customers is provided only through the ANSYS Customer Portal.

SWEDEN
All ANSYS Products
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
Telephone: +44 (0) 870 142 0300
Email: [email protected]
Support for University customers is provided only through the ANSYS Customer Portal.

SPAIN and PORTUGAL

All ANSYS Products
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
Telephone: +34 900 933 407 (Spain), +351 800 880 513 (Portugal)
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Support for University customers is provided only through the ANSYS Customer Portal.

ITALY
All ANSYS Products
Web: Go to the ANSYS Customer Portal (http://www.ansys.com/customerportal) and select the appropriate
option.
Telephone: +39 02 89013378
Email: [email protected]
Support for University customers is provided only through the ANSYS Customer Portal.

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. ix
 Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
x of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
Chapter 1: Introduction to ANSYS FLUENT
ANSYS FLUENT is a state-of-the-art computer program for modeling fluid flow, heat transfer, and
chemical reactions in complex geometries.

ANSYS FLUENT is written in the C computer language and makes full use of the flexibility and power
offered by the language. Consequently, true dynamic memory allocation, efficient data structures, and
flexible solver control are all possible. In addition, ANSYS FLUENT uses a client/server architecture, which
enables it to run as separate simultaneous processes on client desktop workstations and powerful
compute servers. This architecture allows for efficient execution, interactive control, and complete
flexibility between different types of machines or operating systems.

ANSYS FLUENT provides complete mesh flexibility, including the ability to solve your flow problems
using unstructured meshes that can be generated about complex geometries with relative ease. Sup-
ported mesh types include 2D triangular/quadrilateral, 3D tetrahedral/hexahedral/pyramid/wedge/poly-
hedral, and mixed (hybrid) meshes. ANSYS FLUENT also enables you to refine or coarsen your mesh
based on the flow solution.

You can read your mesh into ANSYS FLUENT, or, for 3D geometries, create your mesh using the meshing
mode of FLUENT (see the FLUENT Meshing User’s Guide for further details). All remaining operations
are performed within the solution mode of FLUENT, including setting boundary conditions, defining
fluid properties, executing the solution, refining the mesh, and postprocessing and viewing the results.

The ANSYS FLUENT serial solver manages file input and output, data storage, and flow field calculations
using a single solver process on a single computer. ANSYS FLUENT also uses a utility called cortex
that manages ANSYS FLUENT’s user interface and basic graphical functions. ANSYS FLUENT’s parallel
solver enables you to compute a solution using multiple processes that may be executing on the same
computer, or on different computers in a network.

Parallel processing in ANSYS FLUENT involves an interaction between ANSYS FLUENT, a host process,
and a set of compute-node processes. ANSYS FLUENT interacts with the host process and the collection
of compute nodes using the cortex user interface utility.

Figure 1.1: Serial ANSYS FLUENT Architecture (p. 2) and Figure 1.2: Parallel ANSYS FLUENT Architec-
ture (p. 3) illustrate the serial and parallel ANSYS FLUENT architectures.

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 1
Introduction to ANSYS FLUENT

Figure 1.1: Serial ANSYS FLUENT Architecture

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
2 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
Figure 1.2: Parallel ANSYS FLUENT Architecture

For more information about ANSYS FLUENT’s parallel processing capabilities, message passing interfaces
(MPI), and so on, refer to Parallel Processing in the User's Guide.

All functions required to compute a solution and display the results are accessible in ANSYS FLUENT
through an interactive interface.

For more information, see the following sections:

1.1. Program Capabilities
1.2. ANSYS FLUENT Documentation

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 3
Introduction to ANSYS FLUENT

1.1. Program Capabilities

When in meshing mode, ANSYS FLUENT functions as a robust unstructured-volume-mesh generator
(see Program Capabilities in the FLUENT Meshing User’s Guide for further details). When in solution
mode, FLUENT allows you to simulate the following:

• 2D planar, 2D axisymmetric, 2D axisymmetric with swirl (rotationally symmetric), and 3D flows

• Flows on quadrilateral, triangular, hexahedral (brick), tetrahedral, prism (wedge), pyramid, polyhedral, and
mixed element meshes

• Steady-state or transient flows

• Incompressible or compressible flows, including all speed regimes (low subsonic, transonic, supersonic,
and hypersonic flows)

• Inviscid, laminar, and turbulent flows

• Newtonian or non-Newtonian flows

• Ideal or real gases

• Heat transfer, including forced, natural, and mixed convection, conjugate (solid/fluid) heat transfer, and
radiation

• Chemical species mixing and reaction, including homogeneous and heterogeneous combustion models
and surface deposition/reaction models

• Free surface and multiphase models for gas-liquid, gas-solid, and liquid-solid flows

• Lagrangian trajectory calculations for dispersed phase (particles/droplets/bubbles), including coupling

with continuous phase and spray modeling

• Cavitation model simulations

• Melting/solidification applications using the phase change model

• Porous media with non-isotropic permeability, inertial resistance, solid heat conduction, and porous-face
pressure jump conditions

• Lumped parameter models for fans, pumps, radiators, and heat exchangers

• Acoustic models for predicting flow-induced noise

• Inertial (stationary) or non-inertial (rotating or accelerating) reference frames

• Multiple moving frames using multiple reference frame (MRF) and sliding mesh options

• Mixing-plane model simulations of rotor-stator interactions, torque converters, and similar turbomachinery
applications with options for mass conservation and swirl conservation

• Dynamic mesh model simulations for domains with moving and deforming meshes

• Volumetric sources of mass, momentum, heat, and chemical species

• Simulations that use a material property database

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
4 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
 ANSYS FLUENT Documentation

• Simulations customized by user-defined functions

• Dynamic (two-way) coupling with GT-Power and WAVE

• Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) module (documented separately)

• Continuous fiber module (documented separately)

• Fuel cell modules (documented separately)

• Population balance module (documented separately)

ANSYS FLUENT is ideally suited for incompressible and compressible fluid-flow simulations in complex
geometries. ANSYS FLUENT’s parallel solver enables you to compute solutions for cases with very large
meshes on multiple processors, either on the same computer or on different computers in a network.
ANSYS, Inc. also offers other solvers that address different flow regimes and incorporate alternative
physical models. Additional CFD programs from ANSYS, Inc. include CFX, ANSYS Airpak, ANSYS Icepak,
and ANSYS POLYFLOW.

1.2. ANSYS FLUENT Documentation

ANSYS FLUENT documentation is available through ANSYS FLUENT’s online help system. The online
help system provides access to the ANSYS FLUENT documentation, using the ANSYS help viewer,
whether you are working in ANSYS FLUENT or not. This section describes how to access the ANSYS
FLUENT documentation outside of ANSYS FLUENT. See the User's Guide for information about accessing
the documentation through ANSYS FLUENT.

To view the documentation, you can use the help viewer available from the installation area.
1.2.1. Accessing the ANSYS FLUENT Documentation
1.2.2. Viewing and Printing the PDF Documentation

1.2.1. Accessing the ANSYS FLUENT Documentation

You can access the ANSYS FLUENT documentation through the ANSYS help viewer.
1.2.1.1. Accessing the Documentation Files Using the ANSYS Help Viewer
1.2.1.2. Downloading and Extracting the PDF Documentation Files

1.2.1.1. Accessing the Documentation Files Using the ANSYS Help Viewer
To start the ANSYS help viewer, go to the following location from the Windows Start menu:

Start > Program Files > ANSYS 14.5 > Help > ANSYS Help

The ANSYS help viewer provides access to documentation for most ANSYS products.

To navigate to the ANSYS FLUENT documentation, do the following:

1. Scroll down to ANSYS in the left-hand panel.

2. Expand the ANSYS FLUENT documentation set by clicking the icon next to ANSYS.

3. Click a document title to display the table of contents for the selected document.

4. To find specific information, you can do any of the following:

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 5
Introduction to ANSYS FLUENT

a. In the Contents tab, click an icon next to a title to expand the tree hierarchy, or click an item in the
tree hierarchy to display the corresponding information.

b. In the Search tab, enter a keyword or phrase and click Search.

Note

Search results can be sorted by clicking on the column title.

c. In the Index tab, type an index string.

Note

Index entries that partially match your typing will be displayed. You can continue
typing, or scroll through the list to find specific entries.

1.2.1.2. Downloading and Extracting the PDF Documentation Files

You can download the PDF documentation from the ANSYS Customer Portal (support.ansys.com/doc-
downloads). These files must be downloaded and extracted to the following location so you can launch
them from within your ANSYS product Help menu.

On Windows:

path\ANSYS Inc\v145\commonfiles\help\en-us\pdf\

where path is the folder where you installed your ANSYS product (by default, the path is C:\Program
Files).

On Linux:

path/ansys_inc/v145/commonfiles/help/en-us/pdf/

where path is the directory where you installed your ANSYS product.

1.2.2. Viewing and Printing the PDF Documentation

The PDF documentation files are appropriate for viewing and printing with Adobe Acrobat Reader
(version 5.0 or higher), which is available for most Windows and Linux systems. These files are distin-
guished by a .pdf suffix in their file names.
1.2.2.1. Navigating the PDF Files
1.2.2.2. Printing the PDF Files

1.2.2.1. Navigating the PDF Files

For the purpose of easier online document navigation, the PDF files contain hyperlinks in the table of
contents and index. In addition, hyperlinks have been applied to all cross-references to chapters, sections,
figures, tables, bibliography, and index entries.

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
6 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
 ANSYS FLUENT Documentation

1.2.2.2. Printing the PDF Files

Adobe Acrobat PDF files are provided for printing all or part of the manuals. While you can also print
individual topics from the ANSYS help viewer, the PDF files are recommended when printing long sections
since the printout will have a higher quality.

Note that you can select the paper size to which you are printing in Adobe Acrobat Reader by selecting
the File/Print Setup... menu item and choosing the desired Paper size. If the page is too large to fit
on your paper size, you can reduce it by selecting the File/Print... menu item and choosing the Reduce
to Printer Margins option under Page Scaling.

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 7
 Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
8 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
Chapter 2: Basic Steps for CFD Analysis using ANSYS FLUENT
Before you begin your CFD analysis using ANSYS FLUENT, careful consideration of the following issues
will contribute significantly to the success of your modeling effort. Also, when you are planning a CFD
project, be sure to take advantage of the customer support available to all ANSYS FLUENT users.

For more information, see the following sections:

2.1. Steps in Solving Your CFD Problem
2.2. Planning Your CFD Analysis

2.1. Steps in Solving Your CFD Problem

Once you have determined the important features of the problem you want to solve, follow the basic
procedural steps shown below.

1. Define the modeling goals.

2. Create the model geometry and mesh.

3. Set up the solver and physical models.

4. Compute and monitor the solution.

5. Examine and save the results.

6. Consider revisions to the numerical or physical model parameters, if necessary.

Step 2. of the solution process requires a geometry modeler and mesh generator. You can use Design-
Modeler and ANSYS Meshing within ANSYS Workbench or you can use a separate CAD system for
geometry modeling and mesh generation. When meshing 3D geometries, you can also use the meshing
mode of FLUENT. Alternatively, you can use supported CAD packages to generate volume meshes for
import into ANSYS FLUENT (see the User's Guide). For more information on creating geometry and
generating meshes using each of these programs, refer to their respective manuals.

The details of the remaining steps are covered in the User's Guide.

2.2. Planning Your CFD Analysis

For each of the problem-solving steps, there are some questions that you need to consider:

• Defining the Modeling Goals

– What results are you looking for, and how will they be used?

→ What are your modeling options?

→ What physical models will need to be included in your analysis?

→ What simplifying assumptions do you have to make?

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 9
Basic Steps for CFD Analysis using ANSYS FLUENT

→ What simplifying assumptions can you make?

→ Do you require a unique modeling capability?

• Could you utilize user-defined functions (written in C)?

– What degree of accuracy is required?

– How quickly do you need the results?

– How will you isolate a piece of the complete physical system?

– Where will the computational domain begin and end?

→ Do you have boundary condition information at these boundaries?

→ Can the boundary condition types accommodate that information?

→ Can you extend the domain to a point where reasonable data exists?

– Can it be simplified or approximated as a 2D or axisymmetric problem?

• Creating Your Model Geometry and Mesh

ANSYS FLUENT uses unstructured meshes in order to reduce the amount of time you spend generating
meshes, to simplify the geometry modeling and mesh generation process, to enable modeling of
more complex geometries than you can handle with conventional, multi-block structured meshes,
and to enable you to adapt the mesh to resolve the flow-field features. ANSYS FLUENT can also use
body-fitted, block-structured meshes (for example, those used by ANSYS FLUENT 4 and many other
CFD solvers). ANSYS FLUENT is capable of handling triangular and quadrilateral elements (or a com-
bination of the two) in 2D, and tetrahedral, hexahedral, pyramid, wedge, and polyhedral elements
(or a combination of these) in 3D. This flexibility enables you to pick mesh topologies that are best
suited for your particular application, as described in the User's Guide.

For 3D geometries, you can create the mesh using the meshing mode of FLUENT; otherwise, you
must generate the initial mesh (whatever the element types used) outside of FLUENT or use one of
the CAD systems for which mesh import filters exist. When in solution mode, FLUENT can be used
to adapt all types of meshes (except for polyhedral), in order to resolve large gradients in the flow
field.

The following questions should be considered when you are generating a mesh:

– Can you benefit from other ANSYS, Inc. products such as CFX, ANSYS Icepak, or ANSYS Airpak?

– Can you use a quad/hex mesh or should you use a tri/tet mesh or a hybrid mesh?

→ How complex is the geometry and flow?

→ Will you need a non-conformal interface?

– What degree of mesh resolution is required in each region of the domain?

→ Is the resolution sufficient for the geometry?

→ Can you predict regions with high gradients?

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
10 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
 Planning Your CFD Analysis

→ Will you use adaption to add resolution?

– Do you have sufficient computer memory?

→ How many cells are required?

→ How many models will be used?

• Setting Up the Solver and Physical Models

For a given problem, you will need to:

– Import and check the mesh.

– Select the numerical solver (for example, density based, pressure based, unsteady, and so on).

– Select appropriate physical models.

→ Turbulence, combustion, multiphase, and so on.

– Define material properties.

→ Fluid

→ Solid

→ Mixture

– Prescribe operating conditions.

– Prescribe boundary conditions at all boundary zones.

– Provide an initial solution.

– Set up solver controls.

– Set up convergence monitors.

– Initialize the flow field.

• Computing and Monitoring Your Solution

– The discretized conservation equations are solved iteratively.

→ A number of iterations are usually required to reach a converged solution.

– Convergence is reached when:

→ Changes in solution variables from one iteration to the next are negligible.

• Residuals provide a mechanism to help monitor this trend.

→ Overall property conservation is achieved.

– The accuracy of a converged solution is dependent upon:

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 11
Basic Steps for CFD Analysis using ANSYS FLUENT

→ Appropriateness and accuracy of physical models.

→ Mesh resolution and independence.

→ Problem setup.

• Examining and Saving Your Results

Examine the results to review the solution and extract useful data.

– Visualization tools can be used to answer such questions as:

→ What is the overall flow pattern?

→ Is there separation?

→ Where do shocks, shear layers, and so on form?

→ Are key flow features being resolved?

– Numerical reporting tools can be used to calculate the following quantitative results:

→ Forces and moments

→ Average heat transfer coefficients

→ Surface and volume integrated quantities

→ Flux balances

• Revising Your Model

Once your solution is converged, the following questions should be considered when you are analyzing
the solution:

– Are physical models appropriate?

→ Is flow turbulent?

→ Is flow unsteady?

→ Are there compressibility effects?

→ Are there 3D effects?

– Are boundary conditions correct?

→ Is the computational domain large enough?

→ Are boundary conditions appropriate?

→ Are boundary values reasonable?

– Is the mesh adequate?

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
12 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
 Planning Your CFD Analysis

→ Can the mesh be adapted to improve results?

→ Does the solution change significantly with adaption, or is the solution mesh independent?

→ Does boundary resolution need to be improved?

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 13
 Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
14 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
Chapter 3: Guide to a Successful Simulation Using ANSYS FLUENT
The following guidelines can help you make sure your CFD simulation is a success. Before logging a
technical support request, make sure you do the following:

1. Examine the quality of the mesh in FLUENT.

There are two basic things that you should do before you start a simulation:

• Perform a mesh check to avoid problems due to incorrect mesh connectivity, and so on. In particular,
you should be sure that the minimum reported cell volume is not negative.

• Look at maximum cell skewness (for example, using the Compute button in the Contours dialog box
after initializing the model). As a rule of thumb, the skewness should be below 0.98. You can also use
the Report Quality function to calculate the minimum cell orthogonality. You can find more details
about mesh quality considerations in Mesh Quality in the FLUENT User's Guide.

If there are mesh problems, you may have to re-mesh the problem.

2. Scale the mesh and check length units.

In ANSYS FLUENT, all physical dimensions are initially assumed to be in meters. You should scale
the mesh accordingly. Other quantities can also be scaled independently of other units used. ANSYS
FLUENT defaults to SI units.

3. Employ the appropriate physical models.

4. Set the energy under-relaxation factor between 0.95 and 1.

For problems with conjugate heat transfer, when the conductivity ratio is very high, smaller values
of the energy under-relaxation factor practically stall the convergence rate.

5. Use node-based gradients with unstructured tetrahedral meshes.

The node-based averaging scheme is known to be more accurate than the default cell-based scheme
for unstructured meshes, most notably for triangular and tetrahedral meshes.

6. Monitor convergence with residuals history.

Residual plots can show when the residual values have reached the specified tolerance. After the
−
simulation, note if your residuals have decreased by at least 3 orders of magnitude to at least .
−

For the pressure-based solver, the scaled energy residual must decrease to . Also, the scaled
−
species residual may need to decrease to to achieve species balance.

You can also monitor lift, drag, or moment forces as well as pertinent variables or functions (for
example, surface integrals) at a boundary or any defined surface.

7. Run the CFD simulation using second order discretization for better accuracy rather than a faster solution.

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 15
Guide to a Successful Simulation Using ANSYS FLUENT

A converged solution is not necessarily a correct one. You should use the second-order upwind
discretization scheme for final results.

8. Monitor values of solution variables to make sure that any changes in the solution variables from one
iteration to the next are negligible.

9. Verify that property conservation is satisfied.

After the simulation, note if overall property conservation has been achieved. In addition to monit-
oring residual and variable histories, you should also check for overall heat and mass balances. At
a minimum, the net imbalance should be less than 1% of smallest flux through domain boundary.

10. Check for mesh dependence.

You should ensure that the solution is mesh-independent and use mesh adaption to modify the
mesh or create additional meshes for the mesh-independence study.

11. Check to see that the solution makes sense based on engineering judgment.

If flow features do not seem reasonable, you should reconsider your physical models and boundary
conditions. Reconsider the choice of the boundary locations (or the domain). An inadequate choice
of domain (especially the outlet boundary) can significantly impact solution accuracy.

You are encouraged to collaborate with your technical support engineer in order to develop a solution
process that ensures good results for your specific application. This type of collaboration is a good in-
vestment of time for both yourself and the ANSYS FLUENT support engineer.

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
16 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
Chapter 4: Starting and Executing ANSYS FLUENT
This chapter provides instructions for starting and executing ANSYS FLUENT.
4.1. Starting ANSYS FLUENT
4.2. Running ANSYS FLUENT in Batch Mode
4.3. Switching Between Meshing and Solution Modes
4.4. Checkpointing an ANSYS FLUENT Simulation
4.5. Cleaning Up Processes From an ANSYS FLUENT Simulation
4.6. Exiting ANSYS FLUENT

4.1. Starting ANSYS FLUENT

The following sections describe how start ANSYS FLUENT:
4.1.1. Starting ANSYS FLUENT Using FLUENT Launcher
4.1.2. Starting ANSYS FLUENT on a Windows System
4.1.3. Starting ANSYS FLUENT on a Linux System
4.1.4. Command Line Startup Options

4.1.1. Starting ANSYS FLUENT Using FLUENT Launcher

When you start ANSYS FLUENT from the Linux or Windows command line with no arguments, from the
Windows Programs menu, or from the Windows desktop, FLUENT Launcher will appear (Figure 4.1: FLUENT
Launcher (p. 18)). In the FLUENT Launcher, you can specify the dimensionality of the problem (2D or
3D), as well as other options (for example, whether you want a single-precision or double-precision
calculation):

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 17
Starting and Executing ANSYS FLUENT

Figure 4.1: FLUENT Launcher

Under Dimension, select 2D for two-dimensional problems, or select 3D for the three-dimensional
problems.

The Display Options allow you to make decisions related to the graphics windows:

• You can choose to have ANSYS FLUENT automatically display the mesh immediately after reading a mesh
or case file by using the Display Mesh After Reading option (disabled by default). All of the boundary
zones will be displayed, except for the interior zones of 3D geometries. Note that your decision regarding
this option can be overridden after you have launched ANSYS FLUENT: simply change the status of the
Display Mesh After Reading option in the Select File dialog box that opens when you are reading in
the mesh or case file.

• You can choose to have the graphics windows embedded within the ANSYS FLUENT application window
by using the Embed Graphics Windows option (enabled by default), rather than having floating graphics
windows.

• You can choose to use the default Workbench Color Scheme in the graphics windows (that is, a blue
background), rather than the classic black background.

Under Options, you can do the following:

• You can choose to run ANSYS FLUENT in double-precision mode by enabling the Double-Precision option
(by default, you start ANSYS FLUENT in single-precision mode).

• You can choose to start ANSYS FLUENT in meshing mode (rather than the default solution mode) by en-
abling the Meshing Mode option. See the FLUENT Meshing User’s Guide for further details about the
meshing mode.

• You can choose to use various job schedulers using the Use Job Scheduler option (for example, the Mi-
crosoft Job Scheduler for Windows, or LSF, SGE, and PBS Pro on Linux). For more information about using

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
18 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
 Starting ANSYS FLUENT

FLUENT Launcher with job schedulers, see Setting Scheduler Options in FLUENT Launcher (p. 23), as well
as Setting Parallel Scheduler Options in FLUENT Launcher in the User's Guide.

• You can choose to run parallel simulations on Linux clusters, via the Windows interface using the Use
Remote Linux Nodes option (see Setting Remote Options in FLUENT Launcher (p. 22) for details).

Under Processing Options, select Serial for the serial solver, or select Parallel to run the solver in
parallel (see Parallel Processing in the User's Guide).

If you select the Show More Options button, FLUENT Launcher expands to reveal more options (Fig-
ure 4.2: The General Options Tab of FLUENT Launcher (p. 20)). Note that once FLUENT Launcher expands,
the Show More Options button becomes the Show Fewer Options button, allowing you to hide the
additional options.

Important

FLUENT Launcher also appears when you start ANSYS FLUENT within ANSYS Workbench. For
more information, see the separate ANSYS FLUENT in Workbench User's Guide.

4.1.1.1. Setting General Options in FLUENT Launcher

The General Options tab allows you to specify generic settings for running ANSYS FLUENT.

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 19
Starting and Executing ANSYS FLUENT

Figure 4.2: The General Options Tab of FLUENT Launcher

1. Specify the version of ANSYS FLUENT by selecting the appropriate option in the Version drop-down
list. The drop-down list contains all of the available versions of ANSYS FLUENT that exist in your ANSYS
FLUENT installation.

In addition, you start ANSYS FLUENT in full solution mode. You can choose to run ANSYS FLU-
ENT where only the set up or postprocessing capabilities are available by selecting the Pre/Post
Only check box. The full ANSYS FLUENT solution mode allows you to set up, solve and postprocess
a problem, while Pre/Post Only allows you to set up or postprocess a problem, but will not allow
you to perform calculations.

2. Specify the path of your current working folder using the Working Directory field or click to browse
through your directory structure. Note that a Uniform Naming Convention (UNC) path cannot be set
as a working folder, and you need to map a drive to the UNC path (Windows only).

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
20 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
 Starting ANSYS FLUENT

3. Specify the location of the ANSYS FLUENT installation on your system using the Fluent Root Path field,

or click to browse through your directory structure to locate the installation folder; try to use the

UNC path if applicable—the button automatically converts a local path to a UNC path if any
matching shared directory is found (Windows only). Once set, various fields in FLUENT Launcher (for
example, parallel settings, etc.) are automatically populated with the available options, depending on
the ANSYS FLUENT installations that are available.

4. Specify the path and name of a journal file by selecting the Use Journal File check box and entering

the journal file location and name, or click to browse through your directory structure to locate
the file. Using the journal file, you can automatically load the case, compile any user-defined functions,
iterate until the solution converges, and write results to an output file.

4.1.1.2. Single-Precision and Double-Precision Solvers

Both single-precision and double-precision versions of ANSYS FLUENT are available on all computer
platforms. For most cases, the single-precision solver will be sufficiently accurate, but certain types of
problems may benefit from the use of a double-precision version. Several examples are listed below:

• If your geometry has features of very disparate length scales (for example, a very long, thin pipe), single-
precision calculations may not be adequate to represent the node coordinates.

• If your geometry involves multiple enclosures connected via small-diameter pipes (for example, automotive
manifolds), mean pressure levels in all but one of the zones can be quite large (since you can set only
one global reference pressure location). Double-precision calculations may therefore be necessary to resolve
the pressure differences that drive the flow, since these will typically be much smaller than the pressure
levels.

• For conjugate problems involving high thermal-conductivity ratios and/or high-aspect-ratio meshes, con-
vergence and/or accuracy may be impaired with the single-precision solver, due to inefficient transfer of
boundary information.

• For multiphase problems where the population balance model is used to resolve particle size distributions,
which could have statistical moments whose values span many orders of magnitude.

Note

ANSYS FLUENT allows only a period to be used as a decimal separator. If your system is set
to a European locale that uses a comma separator (for example, Germany), fields that accept
numeric input may accept a comma, but may ignore everything after the comma. If your
system is set to a non-European locale, numeric fields will not accept a comma at all.

ANSYS Workbench accepts commas as decimal delimiters. These are translated into periods
when data is passed to ANSYS FLUENT.

4.1.1.3. Setting Parallel Options in FLUENT Launcher

The Parallel Settings tab (Figure 4.3: The Parallel Settings Tab of FLUENT Launcher (p. 22)) allows you
to specify settings for running ANSYS FLUENT in parallel. This tab is only available if you have selected
Parallel under Processing Options. Once you select Parallel, you can specify the number of processes
using the Number of Processes field.

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 21
Starting and Executing ANSYS FLUENT

Figure 4.3: The Parallel Settings Tab of FLUENT Launcher

For additional information about this tab, see Starting Parallel ANSYS FLUENT Using FLUENT Launcher
in the User's Guide.

4.1.1.4. Setting Remote Options in FLUENT Launcher

The Remote tab (Figure 4.4: The Remote Tab of FLUENT Launcher (p. 23)) allows you to specify settings
for running ANSYS FLUENT parallel simulations on Linux clusters, via the Windows interface.

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
22 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
 Starting ANSYS FLUENT

Figure 4.4: The Remote Tab of FLUENT Launcher

For additional information about this tab, see Setting Additional Options When Running on Remote
Linux Machines in the User's Guide.

4.1.1.5. Setting Scheduler Options in FLUENT Launcher

The Scheduler tab (Figure 4.5: The Scheduler Tab of FLUENT Launcher (Windows 64 Version) (p. 24))
allows you to specify settings for running ANSYS FLUENT with various job schedulers (for example, the
Microsoft Job Scheduler for Windows (64–bit only), or LSF, SGE, and PBS Pro on Linux). This tab is
available if you have selected Use Job Scheduler under Options.

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 23
Starting and Executing ANSYS FLUENT

Figure 4.5: The Scheduler Tab of FLUENT Launcher (Windows 64 Version)

For additional information about this tab, see Setting Parallel Scheduler Options in FLUENT Launcher
in the User's Guide.

4.1.1.6. Setting Environment Options in FLUENT Launcher

The Environment tab (Figure 4.6: The Environment Tab of FLUENT Launcher (p. 25)) allows you to
specify compiler settings for compiling user-defined functions (UDFs) with ANSYS FLUENT (Windows
only). The Environment tab also allows you to specify environment variable settings for running ANSYS
FLUENT.

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
24 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
 Starting ANSYS FLUENT

Figure 4.6: The Environment Tab of FLUENT Launcher

Specify a batch file that contains UDF compilation environment settings by selecting the Setup Com-
pilation Environment for UDF check box (enabled by default). Once selected, you can then enter a
batch file name in the text field. By default, FLUENT Launcher uses the udf.bat file that is located in
the folder where ANSYS FLUENT is installed. It is recommended that you keep the default batch file,
which is tested with the latest MS Visual Studio C++ compilers at the time of the ANSYS FLUENT release
date. For more information about compiling UDFs, see the separate ANSYS FLUENT UDF Manual.

Under Other Environment Variables, enter or edit license file or environment variable information in
the text field. Using the Default button resets the default value(s).

4.1.2. Starting ANSYS FLUENT on a Windows System

There are two ways to start ANSYS FLUENT on a Windows system:

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 25
Starting and Executing ANSYS FLUENT

• Click the Start button, select the All Programs menu, select the ANSYS 14.5 menu, select the Fluid
Dynamics menu, the select the FLUENT program item. (Note that if the default “ANSYS 14.5” program
group name was changed when ANSYS FLUENT was installed, you will find the FLUENT menu item in the
program group with the new name that was assigned, rather than in the ANSYS 14.5 program group.)
This option starts FLUENT Launcher (see Starting ANSYS FLUENT Using FLUENT Launcher).

• Start from a Command Prompt window by typing fluent 2d (for the 2D single-precision solver), fluent
3d (for the 3D single-precision solver), fluent 2ddp (for the 2D double-precision solver), or fluent
3ddp (for the 3D double-precision solver) at the prompt. Before doing so, however, you must first modify
your user environment so that the Command utility will find fluent. You can do this by executing the
setenv.exe program located in the ANSYS FLUENT home directory (for example, C:\Program
Files\ANSYS Inc\v145\fluent\ntbin\win64). This program will add the ANSYS FLUENT folder
to your command search path.

From the Command Prompt window, you can also start the parallel version of ANSYS FLUENT. To
start the parallel version on x processors, type fluent version -tx at the prompt, replacing
version with the desired solver version (2d, 3d, 2ddp, or 3ddp) and x with the number of processors
(for example, fluent 3d -t4 to run the 3D version on 4 processors). For information about the
parallel version of ANSYS FLUENT for Windows, see Starting Parallel ANSYS FLUENT on a Windows
System in the User's Guide.

4.1.3. Starting ANSYS FLUENT on a Linux System

There are two ways to start ANSYS FLUENT on a Linux system:

• Start FLUENT from the command line without specifying a version, and then use FLUENT Launcher to
choose the appropriate version along with other options. See Starting ANSYS FLUENT Using FLUENT
Launcher for details.

• Start the appropriate version from the command line by typing fluent2d (for the 2D single-precision
solver), fluent3d (for the 3D single-precision solver), fluent 2ddp (for the 2D double-precision
solver), or fluent 3ddp (for the 3D double-precision solver) at the prompt.

You can also start the parallel version of ANSYS FLUENT from the command line. To start the parallel
version on x processors, type fluent version -tx at the prompt, replacing version with the
desired solver version (2d, 3d, 2ddp, or 3ddp) and x with the number of processors (for example,
fluent 3d -t4 to run the 3D version on 4 processors). See Starting Parallel ANSYS FLUENT on a
Linux System in the User's Guide for more information about starting the parallel solvers.

4.1.4. Command Line Startup Options

To obtain information about available startup options, you can type fluent -help before starting
up FLUENT. Table 4.1: Available Command Line Options for Linux and Windows Platforms (p. 26) lists
the available command line arguments for Linux and Windows. More detailed descriptions of these
options can be found in the following sections.

Table 4.1: Available Command Line Options for Linux and Windows Platforms

Option Platform Description

-aas all Start FLUENT in server mode
-cc all Use the classic color scheme

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
26 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
 Starting ANSYS FLUENT

Option Platform Description

-ccp x Windows only Use the Microsoft Job Scheduler where
x is the head node name.
-cnf=x all Specify the hosts or machine list file
-driver all Sets the graphics driver (available
drivers vary by platform – opengl or
x11 or null (Linux) – opengl or msw
or null (Windows))
-env all Show environment variables
-fgw all Disables the embedded graphics
-g all Run without the GUI or graphics (Linux);
Run with the GUI minimized (Windows)
-gr all Run without graphics
-gu all Run without the GUI but with graphics
(Linux); Run with the GUI minimized
but with graphics (Windows)
-help all Display command line options
-hidden Windows only Run in batch mode
-host_ip=host:ip all Specify the IP interface to be used by
the host
-i journal all Reads the specified journal file
-lsf Linux only Run ANSYS FLUENT using LSF
-mesher all Start ANSYS FLUENT in meshing mode
-mpi= all Specify MPI implementation
-mpitest all Will launch an MPI program to collect
network performance data
-nm all Do not display mesh after reading
-pcheck Linux only Checks all nodes
-post all Run the ANSYS FLUENT post-pro-
cessing-only executable
-p<ic> all Choose the interconnect <ic>= de-
fault or myr or inf
-r all List all releases installed
-rx all Specify release number
-schost all Specify a host machine for system
coupling
-scport all Specify a port on the host machine for
system coupling
-scname all Specify a unique name for a system
coupling participant
-sge Linux only Run ANSYS FLUENT under Sun Grid
Engine

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 27
Starting and Executing ANSYS FLUENT

Option Platform Description

-sge queue Linux only Name of the queue for a given comput-
ing grid
-sgeckpt ckpt_obj Linux only Set checkpointing object to ckpt_obj
for SGE
-sgepe fluent_pe min_n-max_n Linux only Set the parallel environment for SGE to
fluent_pe, min_n and max_n are
number of min and max nodes reques-
ted
-tx all Specify the number of processors x

4.1.4.1. Graphics Options

fluent -driver allows you to specify the graphics driver to be used in the session. For example,
on Linux you can specify fluent -driver opengl, fluent -driver x11, or fluent -driver
null. These options are described in detail in Hiding the Graphics Window Display in the User's Guide.
On Windows you can specify fluent -driver opengl or fluent -driver msw to enable
graphics display. Using msw instead of opengl instructs ANSYS FLUENT to use the Operating Systems
Windows driver rather than the hardware OpenGL driver.

fluent -cc will run Cortex using the classic black background color in the graphics window.

fluent -fgw will run Cortex without the graphics window embedded in the application (for example,
“floating”).

fluent -g will run Cortex without graphics and without the graphical user interface. This option is
useful if you are not on an X Window display or if you want to submit a batch job.

fluent -gr will run Cortex without graphics. This option can be used in conjunction with the -i
journal option to run a job in “background” mode.

fluent -gu will run Cortex without the graphical user interface but will display the graphics window(s).
(On Windows systems, fluent -gu will run ANSYS FLUENT, keeping it in a minimized window; if you
maximize the window, the GUI will be available.)

To start FLUENT and immediately read a journal file, type fluent -i journal, replacing journal
with the name of the journal file you want to read.

fluent -nm will run Cortex without displaying the mesh in the graphics window.

4.1.4.2. Meshing Mode Option

fluent -mesher specifies that FLUENT opens in meshing mode rather than the default solution
mode. See the FLUENT Meshing User’s Guide for further details about the meshing mode.

4.1.4.3. Parallel Options

These options are used in association with the parallel solver.

-ccp x (where x is the name of the head node) runs the parallel job through the Microsoft Job
Scheduler as described in Starting Parallel ANSYS FLUENT with the Microsoft Job Scheduler in the User's
Guide.

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
28 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
 Starting ANSYS FLUENT

-cnf=x (where x is the name of a hosts file) spawns a compute node on each machine listed in the
hosts file. Otherwise, you can spawn the processes as described in Starting Parallel ANSYS FLUENT on
a Windows System Using Command Line Options or Starting Parallel ANSYS FLUENT on a Linux System
Using Command Line Options in the User's Guide.

-host_ip=host:ip specifies the IP interface to be used by the host process (Linux only).

-mpi=mpi specifies the MPI to be used. You can skip this flag if you choose to use the default MPI.

-mpitest runs the mpitest program instead of ANSYS FLUENT to test the network.

-p<ic> specifies the use of parallel interconnect <ic>, where <ic> can be any of the interconnects
listed in Starting Parallel ANSYS FLUENT on a Windows System Using Command Line Options or Starting
Parallel ANSYS FLUENT on a Linux System Using Command Line Options in the User's Guide.

-pcheck checks the network connections before spawning compute nodes (Linux only).

-tx specifies that x processors are to be used. For more information about starting the parallel version
of ANSYS FLUENT, see Starting Parallel ANSYS FLUENT on a Windows System or Starting Parallel ANSYS
FLUENT on a Linux System in the User's Guide.

4.1.4.4. Postprocessing Option

fluent -post will run a version of FLUENT that allows you to set up a problem or perform postpro-
cessing, but will not allow you to perform calculations. Running ANSYS FLUENT for pre- and postpro-
cessing requires you to use the -post flag on startup. To use this option on Linux, launch ANSYS FLU-
ENT by adding the -post flag after the version number, for example,

fluent 3d -post

To use this same feature from the graphical interface on Windows or Linux, select the Pre/Post option
in the General tab of FLUENT Launcher, as described in Starting ANSYS FLUENT Using FLUENT
Launcher.

4.1.4.5. SGE Options

The -sge option runs ANSYS FLUENT under Sun Grid Engine (SGE) software, and allows you to use the
features of this software to manage your distributed computing resources. Other options that can be
employed in conjunction with -sge are -sge, requested, -sgeq queue, -sgeckpt ckpt_obj,
and -sgepe fluent_pe min_n-max_n.

For a detailed explanation of these options, see Running FLUENT Under SGE.

4.1.4.6. LSF Option

The -lsf option allows you to run ANSYS FLUENT under Platform Computing Corporation’s LSF software,
and thereby take advantage of the checkpointing features of that load management tool. For further
details about using the -lsf option, see Running FLUENT Under LSF.

4.1.4.7. Version and Release Options

Typing fluent version -r, replacing version with the desired version, will list all releases of
the specified version.

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 29
Starting and Executing ANSYS FLUENT

fluent -rx will run release x of ANSYS FLUENT. You may specify a version as well, or you can wait
and specify the version when prompted.

fluent -env will list all environment variables before running ANSYS FLUENT.

4.1.4.8. System Coupling Options

The following command line options (in either Windows or Linux) can be used when ANSYS FLUENT is
involved in a system coupling simulation.

-schost=x (where x is the name of the host machine, in quotes) specifies the host machine on which
the coupling service is running (to which the co-simulation participant/solver must connect).

-scport=y (where y is the port number) specifies the port on the host machine upon which the
coupling service is listening for connections from co-simulation participants.

-scname=z (where z is the name of the participant, in quotes) specifies the unique name used by the
co-simulation participant to identify itself to the coupling service (see System Coupling Server File
(scServer.scs) in the System Coupling Guide for more information).

The general syntax for invoking ANSYS FLUENT for system coupling is:

fluent 3d –schost=host name in quotes –scport=port number –scname=name of the solver in

quotes

For instance:
fluent 3d –schost="machine1.domain.com” –scport=1234 –scname="Solution1"

Once ANSYS FLUENT loads and initializes the case, start the system coupling by typing the following
command in the ANSYS FLUENT text user interface (TUI):
(sc-solve)

For more information, see Performing System Coupling Simulations Using FLUENT in Workbench in the
FLUENT in Workbench User’s Guide, as well as the System Coupling Guide.

4.1.4.9. Other Startup Options

There are other startup options that are not listed when you type the fluent -help command.
These options can be used to customize your graphical user interface. For example, to change the ANSYS
FLUENT window size and position you can either modify the .Xdefaults file (Linux only) described in
Customizing the Graphical User Interface (Linux Systems Only) in the User's Guide, or you can simply
type the following command at startup:
fluent [version] [-geometry] [XXxYY+00-50]

where XX and YY are the width and height in pixels, respectively, and +00-50 is the position of the
window.

Therefore, typing fluent 3d -geometry 700x500+20-400 will start the 3D version of ANSYS
FLUENT, sizing the ANSYS FLUENT console to 700x500 pixels and positioning it on your monitor screen
at +20-400.

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
30 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
 Running ANSYS FLUENT in Batch Mode

4.2. Running ANSYS FLUENT in Batch Mode

ANSYS FLUENT can be used interactively, with input from and display to your computer screen, or it
can be used in a batch or background mode in which inputs are obtained from and outputs are stored
in files. Generally you will perform problem setup, initial calculations, and postprocessing of results in
an interactive mode. However, when you are ready to perform a large number of iterative calculations,
you may want to run ANSYS FLUENT in batch or background mode. This allows the computer resources
to be prioritized, enables you to control the process from a file (eliminating the need for you to be
present during the calculation), and also provides a record of the calculation history (residuals) in an
output file. While the procedures for running ANSYS FLUENT in a batch mode differ depending on your
computer operating system, Background Execution on Linux Systems (p. 31) provides guidance for
running in batch/background on Linux systems, and Background Execution on Windows Systems (p. 32)
provides guidance for running in batch/background on Windows systems.

For additional information, see the following sections:

4.2.1. Background Execution on Linux Systems
4.2.2. Background Execution on Windows Systems
4.2.3. Batch Execution Options

4.2.1. Background Execution on Linux Systems

To run ANSYS FLUENT in the background in a C-shell (csh) on a Linux system, type a command of the
following form at the system-level prompt:
fluent 2d -g < inputfile > & outputfile &

or in a Bourne/Korn-shell, type:
fluent 2d -g < inputfile > outputfile 2>&1 &

In these examples,

• fluent is the command you type to execute ANSYS FLUENT interactively.

• -g indicates that the program is to be run without the GUI or graphics (see Starting ANSYS FLUENT (p. 17)).

• inputfile is a file of ANSYS FLUENT commands that are identical to those that you would type inter-
actively.

• outputfile is a file that the background job will create and which will contain the output that ANSYS
FLUENT would normally print to the screen (for example, the menu prompts and residual reports).

• & tells the Linux system to perform this task in background and to send all standard system errors (if any)
to outputfile.

The file inputfile can be a journal file created in an earlier ANSYS FLUENT session, or it can be a file
that you have created using a text editor. In either case, the file must consist only of text interface
commands (since the GUI is disabled during batch execution). A typical inputfile is shown below:
; Read case file
rc example.cas
; Initialize the solution
/solve/initialize/initialize-flow
; Calculate 50 iterations
it 50
; Write data file
wd example50.dat
; Calculate another 50 iterations

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 31
Starting and Executing ANSYS FLUENT

it 50
; Write another data file
wd example100.dat
; Exit FLUENT
exit
yes

This example file reads a case file example.cas, initializes the solution, and performs 100 iterations
in two groups of 50, saving a new data file after each 50 iterations. The final line of the file terminates
the session. Note that the example input file makes use of the standard aliases for reading and writing
case and data files and for iterating. (it is the alias for /solve/iterate, rc is the alias for
/file/read-case, wd is the alias for /file/write-data, etc.) These predefined aliases allow you
to execute commonly used commands without entering the text menu in which they are found. In
general, ANSYS FLUENT assumes that input beginning with a / starts in the top-level text menu, so if
you use any text commands for which aliases do not exist, you must be sure to type in the complete
name of the command (for example, /solve/initialize/initialize-flow). Note also that
you can include comments in the file. As in the example above, comment lines must begin with a ;
(semicolon).

An alternate strategy for submitting your batch run, as follows, has the advantage that the outputfile
will contain a record of the commands in the inputfile. In this approach, you would submit the
batch job in a C-shell using:
fluent 2d -g -i inputfile >& outputfile &

or in a Bourne/Korn-shell using:
fluent 2d -g -i inputfile > outputfile 2>&1 &

4.2.2. Background Execution on Windows Systems

To run ANSYS FLUENT in the background on a Windows system, the following commands can be used:
fluent 3d -g -i journal

fluent 3d -g -wait -i journal

fluent 3d -hidden -i journal

In these examples,

• fluent is the command you type to execute ANSYS FLUENT interactively.

• -g indicates that the program is to be run minimized in the task bar.

• -i journal reads the specified journal file.

• -wait is the command you type in a DOS batch file or some other script in a situation where the script
must wait until ANSYS FLUENT has completed its run.

• -hidden is similar to the -wait command, but also executes ANSYS FLUENT completely hidden and
noninteractively.

To get an output (or transcript) file while running ANSYS FLUENT in the background on a Windows
system, the journal file must contain the following command to write a transcript file:
; start transcript file
/file/start-transcript outputfile.trn

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
32 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
 Running ANSYS FLUENT in Batch Mode

where the outputfile is a file that the background job will create and which will contain the output
that ANSYS FLUENT would normally print to the screen (for example, the menu prompts and residual
reports).

See Creating and Reading Journal Files in the User's Guide for details about journal files. See Creating
Transcript Files in the User's Guide for details about transcript files.

4.2.3. Batch Execution Options

During a typical session, ANSYS FLUENT may require feedback from you in the event of a problem it
encounters. ANSYS FLUENT usually communicates problems or questions through the use of Error
dialog boxes, Warning dialog boxes, or Question dialog boxes. While executing ANSYS FLUENT in batch
mode, you may want to suppress this type of interaction in order to, for example, create journal files
more easily.

There are three common batch configuration options available to you when running ANSYS FLUENT in
batch mode. You can access these options using the Batch Options dialog box (Figure 4.7: The Batch
Options Dialog Box (p. 33)).

File → Batch Options...

Figure 4.7: The Batch Options Dialog Box

The Batch Options dialog box contains the following items:

Confirm File Overwrite

determines whether ANSYS FLUENT confirms a file overwrite. This option is turned on by default.

Hide Questions
allows you to hide Question dialog boxes. This option is turned off by default.

Exit on Error
allows you to automatically exit from batch mode when an error occurs. This option is turned off by
default.

Note that these options are also available in the file/set-batch-options command in the text
interface.

file → set-batch-options

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 33
Starting and Executing ANSYS FLUENT

Any combination of these options can be turned on or off at any given time prior to running in batch
mode.

Important

Batch option settings are not saved with case files. They are meant to apply for the duration
of the current ANSYS FLUENT session only. If you read in additional mesh or case files during
this session, the batch option settings will not be altered. As batch options are not saved
with case files, journal files developed for use in batch mode should begin by enabling the
desired batch option settings (if different from the default settings).

4.3. Switching Between Meshing and Solution Modes

You can switch from the meshing mode of FLUENT to the solution mode by clicking the Switch to
Solution button, located by default in the top left corner of the application window. The mesh
from your meshing mode session will be transferred and read in the new solution mode session.

You can switch from the solution mode of FLUENT to the meshing mode by using the switch-to-
meshing-mode text command. Note that this text command is only available for 3D sessions, before
you have read a mesh or case file.

4.4. Checkpointing an ANSYS FLUENT Simulation

The checkpointing feature of ANSYS FLUENT allows you to save case and data files while your simulation
is running. While similar to the autosave feature of ANSYS FLUENT (Automatic Saving of Case and Data
Files in the User's Guide), which allows you to save files throughout a simulation, checkpointing allows
you slightly more control in that you can save an ANSYS FLUENT job even after you have started the
job and did not set the autosave option. Checkpointing also allows you to save case and data files and
then exit out of ANSYS FLUENT. This feature is especially useful when you need to stop an ANSYS
FLUENT job abruptly and save its data.

There are two different ways to checkpoint an ANSYS FLUENT simulation, depending upon how the
simulation has been started.

1. ANSYS FLUENT running under LSF or SGE

ANSYS FLUENT is integrated with load management tools like LSF and SGE. These two tools allow
you to checkpoint any job running under them. You can use the standard method provided by
these tools to checkpoint the ANSYS FLUENT job.

For more information on using ANSYS FLUENT and SGE or LSF, see Running FLUENT Under SGE or
Running FLUENT Under LSF, respectively.

2. Independently running ANSYS FLUENT

When not using tools such as LSF or SGE, a different checkpointing mechanism can be used when
running an ANSYS FLUENT simulation. You can checkpoint an ANSYS FLUENT simulation while iter-
ating/time-stepping, so that ANSYS FLUENT saves the case and data files and then continues the
calculation, or so that ANSYS FLUENT saves the case and data files and then exits.

• Saving case and data files and continuing the calculation:

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
34 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
 Cleaning Up Processes From an ANSYS FLUENT Simulation

On Linux, create a file called check-fluent, that is,

/tmp/check-fluent

On Windows, create a file called check-fluent.txt, that is,

C:\temp\check-fluent.txt

• Saving case and data files and exiting ANSYS FLUENT:

On Linux, create a file called exit-fluent, that is,

/tmp/exit-fluent

On Windows, create a file called exit-fluent.txt, that is,

C:\temp\exit-fluent.txt

The saved case and data files will have the current iteration number appended to their file names.

ANSYS FLUENT offers an alternate way to checkpoint an unsteady simulation. While the default be-
havior is to checkpoint the simulation at the end of the current iteration, for unsteady simulations
you have the option of completing all of the iterations in the current time-step before checkpointing.
This can be set by entering the following Scheme command prior to running the unsteady simulation:
(ckpt/time-step?
#t)

Now when you save the checkpoint file (as described previously), the case and data file will be saved
at the end of the current time-step and named accordingly. To switch back to the default check-
pointing mechanism at the end of the current iteration, use the following Scheme command:

(ckpt/time-step? #f)

Important

Note that the (ckpt/time-step? #t) command will have the effect only in the case
of an unsteady simulation.

Note

It is recommended that you do not use checkpointing when using ANSYS FLUENT in Work-
bench. However, if checkpointing is necessary, the exit-fluent/exit-fluent.txt
file can be used and the file will be checked in its default location (the FFF/FLU system
directory containing the *.set file). If ANSYS FLUENT is calculating, then the existence of
the file is equivalent to an interrupt command. Similarly, the check-fluent/check-
fluent.txt file can be used to save the project on demand when ANSYS FLUENT is calcu-
lating.

4.5. Cleaning Up Processes From an ANSYS FLUENT Simulation

ANSYS FLUENT lets you easily remove extraneous processes in the event that an ANSYS FLUENT simulation
needs to be stopped.

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 35
Starting and Executing ANSYS FLUENT

When a session is started, ANSYS FLUENT creates a cleanup-fluent script file. The script can be
used to clean up all ANSYS FLUENT-related processes. ANSYS FLUENT creates the cleanup-script file in
the current working folder with a file name that includes the machine name and the process identific-
ation number (PID) (for example, cleanup-fluent-mymachine-1234).

If the current directory does not possess the proper write permissions, then ANSYS FLUENT will write
the cleanup-script file to your home directory.

If, for example, ANSYS FLUENT is started on a machine called thor and the process identification
number is 32895, ANSYS FLUENT will create a cleanup-script called cleanup-fluent-thor-32895
in the current folder. To run the cleanup-script, and clean up all ANSYS FLUENT processes related to
your session, on Linux platforms, type the following command in the console window:
sh cleanup-fluent-thor-32895

Or, if the shell script already has executable permissions, simply type:
cleanup-fluent-thor-32895

To clean up extraneous ANSYS FLUENT processes on Windows (serial or parallel), double-click the cor-
responding batch file (for example, cleanup-fluent-thor-32895.bat) that ANSYS FLUENT gen-
erates at the beginning of each session.

Important

During a normal run, this file will be deleted automatically after exiting ANSYS FLUENT. In
abnormal situations, you may use this batch file to clean up the ANSYS FLUENT processes.
Once an ANSYS FLUENT session has been closed, you can safely delete any left over cleanup
scripts from your working folder.

Important

If an ANSYS FLUENT session hangs or freezes on Windows, and you want to view the complete
contents of the ANSYS FLUENT console output in a transcript file, you should use the
taskkill command through the DOS command prompt, rather than terminating the ANSYS
FLUENT application through the Windows Task Manager.

4.6. Exiting ANSYS FLUENT

You can exit ANSYS FLUENT by selecting Exit in the File pull-down menu. If the present state of the
program has not been written to a file, a Question dialog box will open to confirm if you want to
proceed. You can cancel the exit and write the appropriate file(s) or you can continue to exit without
saving the case or data.

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
36 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
Glossary of Terms
This glossary contains a listing of terms commonly used throughout the documentation.

• adaption (p. 37)

• case files (p. 37)

• cell types (p. 38)

• computational fluid dynamics (CFD) (p. 38)

• console (p. 38)

• convergence (p. 38)

• cortex (p. 39)

• data files (p. 39)

• dialog boxes (p. 39)

• discretization (p. 39)

• GUI (p. 39)

• mesh (p. 39)

• models (p. 39)

• node (p. 39)

• postprocessing (p. 39)

• residuals (p. 39)

• skewness (p. 39)

• solvers (p. 39)

• terminal emulator (p. 39)

• TUI (p. 40)

adaption A technique useful in improving overall mesh quality. The solution-adapt-

ive mesh refinement feature of ANSYS FLUENT allows you to refine and/or
coarsen your mesh based on geometric and numerical solution data. In
addition, ANSYS FLUENT provides tools for creating and viewing adaption
fields customized to particular applications.

case files Files that contain the mesh, boundary conditions, and solution parameters
for a problem. A case file also contains the information about the user
interface and graphics environment.

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 37
Glossary of Terms

cell types The various shapes or units that constitute the base elements of a mesh.
ANSYS FLUENT can use meshes comprised of tetrahedral, hexahedral,
pyramid, wedge, or polyhedral cells (or a combination of these).

Figure 10: Cell Types

computational fluid dynam- The science of predicting fluid flow, heat transfer, mass transfer (as in
ics (CFD) perspiration or dissolution), phase change (as in freezing or boiling),
chemical reaction (for example, combustion), mechanical movement (for
example, fan rotation), stress or deformation of related solid structures
(such as a mast bending in the wind), and related phenomena by solving
the mathematical equations that govern these processes using a numer-
ical algorithm on a computer.

console The console is part of the ANSYS FLUENT application window that allows
for text command input and the display of information.

convergence The point at which the solution is no longer changing with each success-
ive iteration. Convergence criteria, along with a reduction in residuals,

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
38 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
 also help in determining when a solution is complete. Convergence cri-
teria are pre-set conditions on the residuals that indicate that a certain
level of convergence has been achieved. If the residuals for all problem
variables fall below the convergence criteria but are still in decline, the
solution is still changing to a greater or lesser degree. A better indicator
occurs when the residuals flatten in a traditional residual plot (of residual
value vs. iteration). This point, sometimes referred to as convergence at
the level of machine accuracy, takes time to reach, however, and may
be beyond your needs. For this reason, alternative tools such as reports
of forces, heat balances, or mass balances can be used instead.

cortex A utility that manages ANSYS FLUENT’s user interface and basic graphical
functions.

data files Files that contain the values of the flow field in each grid element and
the convergence history (residuals) for that flow field.

dialog boxes The separate windows that are used like forms to perform input tasks.
Each dialog box is unique and employs various types of input controls
that make up the form.

discretization The act of replacing the differential equations that govern fluid flow with
a set of algebraic equations that are solved at distinct points.

GUI The graphical user interface, which consists of the main ANSYS FLUENT
application window, dialog boxes, graphics windows, etc.

mesh A collection of points representing the flow field, where the equations
of fluid motion (and temperature, if relevant) are calculated.

models Numerical algorithms that approximate physical phenomenon (for ex-

ample, turbulence).

node The distinct points of a mesh (p. 39) at which the equations of fluid
motion are solved.

postprocessing The act of analyzing the numerical results of your CFD simulation using
reports, integrals, and graphical analysis tools such as contour plots, an-
imations, etc.

residuals The small imbalance that is created during the course of the iterative
solution algorithm. This imbalance in each cell is a small, non-zero value
that, under normal circumstances, decreases as the solution progresses.

skewness The difference between the shape of the cell and the shape of an equi-
lateral cell of equivalent volume. Highly skewed cells can decrease accur-
acy and destabilize the solution.

solvers ANSYS FLUENT has two distinct solvers, based on numerical precision
(single-precision vs. double-precision). Within each of these categories,
there are solver formulations: pressure based; density based explicit; and
density based implicit.

terminal emulator See console (p. 38).

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 39
Glossary of Terms

TUI The text user interface, which consists of textual commands that can be
entered into the terminal emulator.

Release 14.5 - © SAS IP, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
40 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.