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New Features for 2023.0

The following features are new with this release:

Grill element property for 3D analyses

The option of element cross-sectional shapes representing grill patterns has been added for 3D part elements in Moldflow Insight. The grill element property was already available for mid-plane meshes in previous releases. In the current release, this option is extended to 3D part elements. The grill element property can be used to simplify a model where there are many small repeating features in the model such as holes through the thickness or partially through the thickness. Use of such a simplified model reduces the time required to create the model, generate the mesh, and perform the analysis while providing reasonable accuracy for many cases.

Additional Solver API options

Two new options for user-specified inputs to a 3D fill and pack analysis are introduced in this release. The new user options are:

  1. The Heat Transfer Coefficient (HTC) between the injected polymer and the mold
  2. An additional heat source which adds a temperature increment at each node

These options can be enabled on the Solver API tab of the Solver Parameters which is accessed via: Processing Settings->Advanced Options..->Solver parameters->Edit->Solver API.

Solver API dialog

When the HTC option is enabled, a function in the user supplied Dynamically Linked Library (DLL) will be called by the 3D Flow solver to supply the HTC value. This user implemented function will be called at each time-step for each element on the part surface. The function can determine the appropriate Heat Transfer Coefficient based on location and local field variables such as pressure and temperature using any modeling equations implemented in the function by the user.

When the Additional Heat Source option is enabled, a user implemented function is called at each time-step for each node in the part geometry to provide an additional temperature increment value for that time-step at that node. This user defined heat source value is in addition to the heat sources already included in the temperature solution such as shear heating and compressive heating. Typical uses of this additional heat source option are to include the latent heat of crystallization or the heat released by a chemical reaction. The temperature increment can also be negative, such as for an endothermic reaction.

Inputs to both these new user functions can be further configured via the parameter text string field associated with each option.

Example codes of both these new options are provided in the Moldflow Insight data folder which is typically located at: C:\Program Files\AutodeskMoldflow Insight 2023\data\solverapi.

You can access help on the scope of the solver API and how to use it, in the Solver Application Programming Interface (API) help page. The help also includes a description of the example projects.

Note: You can find detailed documentation of all the user and utility functions in the Solver API Reference located in the help menu in Synergy.

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