This section will give you a quick overview on workflow in simFlow.
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Run the software.
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In the first window that shows up (Launcher) fill in the case name and the location on your disk where the case files will be saved. Confirm by clicking the OK button. The main window shows up.
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The first thing to do is create a new mesh using our software or importing a previously created one.To create a new mesh you need a geometry. Go to Geometry panel and choose Load Geometry or create a new one with predefined geometries.
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Go to Meshing panel, where you define meshing parameters for previously created geometries.
Each loaded geometry will be used to cut out with its contour an area of your base mesh. Base mesh is a cuboid consisting of hexahedral elements. Each of the base mesh boundaries can be later assigned with individual boundary condition.
After all the parameters are defined as desired, go to the Mesh tab and click the Mesh button.
The program will automatically create a mesh and cut the desired shape out using the specified geometry. Now you have computational domain needed to solve your problem. -
Go to the ‘Setup’ panel. Choose appropriate solver from the list of available solvers. To limit the range of solvers, choose filters that are relevant to you case. Those filters can be used to hide models that are not necessary to simulate the phenomena you are interested. When you finish selecting a solver, click the Select button.
Additional options for particular solver appear in the panel list on the left. -
Customize solver parameters in Setup panel tree. Depending on the chosen solver set parameters related to the modeling of the physics of the problem.
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Define the boundary conditions in the “Boundary conditions” panel. Here you define behavior for each variable on the selected boundary.
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Set desired initial value of each variable in “Initial Conditions” panel, that is what should be the solution for the 0 seconds time point. In other words, what should be the state of the flow at the beginning of the calculation.
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In addition to the physical properties of the problem, define appropriate settings for numerical algorithms (Solution panel) using for solving systems of linear equations, the residuals (tolerance accuracy of the solution), the number of internal solver iterations, etc …
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Choose the output of calculations in “Controls” panel. Select options that best fit the needs of the simulation.
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The last step of preparations – go to “Run” panel and define the simulation time (start, step time, end), choose the number of processors to use and run the calculation.
Most of the settings mentioned above have default values already set, therefore running your first simulation is effortless. -
After the calculation is finished, you are able to make a simplified postprocessing in simFlow, such as determine the average values on boundaries, to calculate the additional fields. For more advanced options, click the “Postprocess with ParaView”.