FLOW-3D News
Fall 2003
Increase: Interactively Creating Geometry and Meshes
FlowVu is the new tool for creating
and working with geometry and meshes
FLOW-3D now offers increased ability to interactively create and modify geometry and meshes on-screen using the FlowVu visualization tool.
When a user opens a new or existing file and selects the Meshing & Geometry
tab, he or she will have the option to open FlowVu to create or modify geometry
or meshes. Experienced users, if they prefer, can still continue to use
the meshing and geometry approach of prior versions or directly edit the input
file.
Within FlowVu, the user can import STL, Ansys, I’DEAS or topographical
files, as before (STL and topographical file readers have been greatly improved).
FLOW-3D primitives can be created to modify imported
geometry, or to compile a whole new geometry. When the geometry creation is completed,
the user can then use his mouse to draw in a mesh, or meshes if a multi-block
representation is desired.
A tree structure is used to record and store all the data about the geometry and the meshes. This data can be edited handily. Rather than running the preprocessor and waiting to view its results, however, all this is visible as you execute the commands.
Another valuable new feature is the ability to push a cutting plane through your mesh in all three directions (for Cartesian meshes, one direction for cylindrical meshes) to analyze how well the mesh resolves your geometry. In complex cases, use of a zoom feature makes it even easier to locate and correct mesh resolution in critical places.
Increasing interactivity with visualization tools leads to increased productivity, a goal of every new release of FLOW-3D.
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