Design Study Automation is an essential part of the Autodesk Simulation CFD process. The tools within Design Study Automation improve operational efficiency and facilitate simulation-based decision making. Several enhancements have been made which improve the usability and power of these tools.
Two significant improvements were made to the Design Study Builder workflow:
These improvements simplify the Design Study Builder workflow as well as improve the flexibility of modifying existing design studies.
The Rule and Template editors are very useful tools for facilitating Design Study Automation. They can, however, be a little tedious for defining a large number of similar items.
A new, alternative technique is to create rules and templates in an external table.
The flexibility provided by external definition simplifies the work flow as well as facilitates sharing and archiving of template and rule files. Simply export the file as a ".csv" file, and archive or share with associates as needed.
Microsoft® Excel is typically the recommended tool for creating these files. The sorting, copy, and paste functions simplify creating large numbers of similar entries. Small, local changes are easy to implement as well. When finished, simply export a ".csv" file, and import into the Rule or Template Editor.
For more about creating Rules with outside of the Rule Manager...
For more about creating Templates outside of Template Manager...
In many simulations, critical results values occur where boundary conditions are applied. Results at these locations often influence and even drive design decisions.
An example is the inlet of a flow control device (valve). A flow rate boundary condition is applied to the inlet, and a static gage pressure is applied to the outlet. An essential result quantity is the pressure drop, which is assessed by creating a results plane at the inlet, and designating it as a summary plane. The pressure drop value is then monitored in the Decision Center where it is compared with values from other scenarios in the design study.
To simplify results extraction and design comparison, you can use boundary conditions to pre-define Summary Planes and Summary Parts. You can use a surface boundary condition (velocity, for example) to create a Summary Plane that is co-planar with the surface. Likewise, you can use a volumetric boundary condition (total heat generation) to create a Summary Part. This reduces the number of steps required to obtain critical design information.
For more about using boundary conditions to pre-define Summary Objects...
For an example of using a boundary condition to define summary objects...
To improve feedback about the status and progress of running scenarios, e-mail Notifications have been enhanced to include periodic screen shots of the Convergence Plot. Notifications can be requested at user-specified intervals in addition to fixed milestones.
To specify the frequency of notification settings and to enable notifications that contain Convergence Plot images, open the Notifications dialog by clicking Setup > Simulation > Notifications.