features

where what details
user interface all
  • one look & feel for geometry, meshing, physics and analysis
  • easy to learn
  • instant help available: click ‘?’ and move cursor over the item that you have a question about
  • you do not see more than you need
    • we don't ask you to stare at 1000 buttons if only a few of them are relevant at that point
    • after selecting models for a domain, down the road you will only see input options for those models
    • options likely to remain unchanged for a longer time are available under preferences (and can be sticked to the current case)
manual all
  • concise
  • pdf
geometry length units meter, micrometer, millimeter, centimeter, decameter, hectometer, kilometer, micro-inch, milli-inch, inch, feet, miles
parameters by mathematical expressions
building actions
  • new primitives of many kinds, poly-primitives, delete, copy (with optional copying of settings like meshing settings), move (with possible deformations), sweep, booleans, split, boundary layer (to prepare for boundary layer meshing), fillets & chamfers, import of IGES and STEP files.
  • arguments of these actions can be mathematical expressions which depend on geometric parameters, current point positions etc.
recipe
  • all actions are listed in a geometric recipe text
  • can be easily edited and re-evaluated (directly in the GUI or in the geometry file)
  • ‘slow evaluation’ available for step-wise inspection of the building process
easy handling
  • undo & redo
  • select primitives by picking
  • tools to search & locate primitives, get exact distance between 2 points, hide part of the geometry
positioning of domains, materials and boundaries
  • geometry & meshing is physics-free
  • by easy clicking in tables (also for many primitives at once), or by picking
  • automatic detection of primitives that need a boundary definition
  • idem for ‘splitters’: boundaries between 2 different domains
meshing element size
  • steerable by 1 number for ‘default’ line meshing setting
  • can be overruled for each line by mathematical expression
lines uniform element size, or grading in 1 of 2 directions, or bump grading
surfaces
  • triangular
  • quad-dominated
  • sweep meshing, for 3- or 4-sided surfaces
bodies
  • tet-meshing
  • quad-dominated
  • sweep meshing, for bodies with shapes that enable this, like any body made by a sweep geometry action
non-matchings
  • on planar parts of the geometry, non-matching connections between 2 surfaces or 2 bodies are allowed
  • without noticeable degradation of the solver
Gmsh meshes import of Gmsh meshes is possible
files
  • geometry & meshing (a)
  • mesh (a or b)
  • case (a)
  • results (a or b)
  • a: ASCII, b: binary
  • ASCII geometry & meshing- and case files
    • have a simple syntax
    • give a clear overview of your definitions
    • can be edited in a plain-text editor and re-loaded
physics: thickness and cross-section fields
  • axi-symmetry
  • spherical-symmetry
  • you can scale 2D meshes by the ‘thickness field’, defined by a mathematical expression. If this is for instance ‘2*Pi*Z’ for meshes in the XY plane, you can conduct axi-symmetric calculations
  • not yet available for linear elasticity
physics:
models
flow
  • Navier-Stokes, both segregated and fully coupled algorithm
  • Darcy/porous flow
  • potential flow
  • imposed flow, for statically moving parts like a moving belt/rotating wheel
  • buoyancy, both Boussinesq and full-density approach
  • user-defined forces by mathematical expressions
turbulence models (RANS)
  • Spalart-Allmaras model
  • Shear Stress Transport model
  • with or without wall functions
heat temperature equation
radiation
  • Discrete Ordinates model
  • several Sn ordinate sets (modified Balsara Sn2 to Sn12)
solutes
  • any number of user-defined solutes
  • useable as tracer, pollutant species etc.
electro-magnetism
  • electro-statics
  • DC current
  • Joulean heat release if DC combined with heat model
linear elasticity
  • displacement-pressure formulation
  • thermal stresses if combined with heat model
  • fully implicit finite volume algorithm; if all properties and conditions do not depend on the solution and no damping is applied, convergence in 1 iteration
anisotropy
  • permeability for Darcy flow
  • heat conductivity
  • solute diffusivities
  • electric conductivity and electric permittivity
physics:
user variables
  • single-valued
  • scalar fields
  • vector fields
  • can be set by mathematical expressions, may depend on location, any solution field, time, other user variables etc.
  • single-valued user variables can have a location (e.g. a boundary) and an operator (e.g. the max of the evaluated expression on that location)
  • usable for
    • parameters
    • monitoring
    • output requests, like the drag on a boundary, or the total heat generation on a domain
    • fields defined by analytically known solutions to check the numerics
    • fields in non-SI units
    • etc. etc.
  • when defined before the calculation: updated each iteration
  • when defined after the calculation: can directly be evaluated using the current results
physics:
properties and conditions
material properties, sources, start values
  • can be set by mathematical expressions
  • may depend on location, any solution field, user variable values etc.
  • this enables you to define your own multi-physics
boundary conditions
  • can be set by mathematical expressions, may depend on location, surface orientation, any solution field, user variable values etc.
  • on separations between 2 domains (‘splitter boundaries’), coupling of the solution is possible
  • consult the manual for the available boundary condition types per model
physics:
numerics
space discretisation
  • colocated cell-centered finite volume method
  • optional TVD for convective fluxes
  • fully conservative, when converged balances add up to 0 (also on coarse meshes)
time discretisation
  • 1-or 2-step Backward Difference Formula for flow, heat etc.
  • for linear elasticity: Bossak-alpha method
model iterations
  • each big iteration constitutes a loop over all models that are activated (‘segregated approach’)
damping
  • settable for many fields, can be modified while the calculation runs to directly see the influence on the XY residuals plot
  • can often remain 0 for calculations on ‘not-too-bad’ meshes
linear solvers
  • PARDISO direct solver
  • iterative solvers from the Paralution library
    • state-of-the-art iterative solvers
    • default settings are good, but combination preconditioner & solver is chooseable
    • optionally with use of CUDA GPU computing (for larger NVIDIA graphical cards)
parallel
  • both matrix assembly and solve steps parallelised for use on multi-core CPU’s
  • number of used cores/threads chooseable
result
analysis
XY plots
  • convergence plot shows the residuals
  • user defined graphs for field values on straight lines
  • single-valued user variables versus iteration number, or versus time
3D graphics
  • contours: element wise or smoothed, iso-lines, banded or iso-surfaces
  • vectors
  • tensors (e.g. stress- or strain tensor)
  • stream-lines
  • animation of transient results, image files can be saved for making movies in a 3rd party program
  • export to Paraview (Ensight Gold format) for more advanced visualisation

Harengus Physics, the Netherlands