Accelerating Model Creation with Altair Flow Simulator
Altair EmployeeCreating a complex flow and thermal model with Flow Simulator can be tedious.
Here are some Tips-n-Tricks to accelerate your model creation.
Item Creation
Items are created in Flow Simulator by dragging from the element library to the modeling window.
Quickly create multiple chambers by holding down the “Shift” key while dragging.
Three mouse clicks are usually required to create an element (1. symbol, 2. upstream chamber, 3. downstream chamber). Holding the “S” key while dragging an element can create an element with only 1 click. The GUI will automatically detect upstream and downstream chambers based on the cursor position.
Reverse the selected element’s direction by hitting the Space bar.
Copy and Paste
Model items can be copied and pasted in the modeling window with CTRL-C and a left mouse button click. No need to drag an item from the element library every time. A single item or several items can be copied. Item Inputs will also be copied.
Multiple Copy
Quickly create multiple copies of model items using Translate (or Rotate) with the “Copy to group” option. This is useful for models that contain similar patterns of elements. Remember to also select an element’s upstream and downstream chambers to copy. An element can’t be copied using this method unless its chambers are also copied. This method may result in duplicate chambers, but the chamber merge option can be used to efficiently remove the duplicates.
Multi-Edit
If multiple modeling items need the same inputs, it is possible to change them at the same time. The property editor will only display inputs that are common to all items selected. The more similar the items selected the more common inputs will appear in the property editor. For instance, if chambers and element are selected the property editor will only show the “Active” toggle and Location X,Y,Z. These inputs are useful for changing the active status for many items at once or aligning chambers to have same X location. If only standard tubes are selected, the property editor will show all properties for a standard tube.
All these tips have been demonstrated using flow elements and chambers, but they will also work the thermal nodes and resistors. Items can also be created quickly using geometry or a “jacketed” pipe domain creator. These will be subjects of future blogs.