Addendum to the

ANSYS FLUENT 12.0 User’s Guide

October 2009
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Contents

1 New Features in ANSYS FLUENT 12.1 1

1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Meshing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.3 Graphical User Interface and Text User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3.1 Starting ANSYS FLUENT on Linux from Windows . . . . . . . . 2
1.3.2 Accessing the Online Technical Resources Web Site . . . . . . . . 4
1.3.3 Plot3D Results File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 VOF Multiphase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

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Chapter 1. New Features in ANSYS FLUENT 12.1

1.1 Introduction
This document contains information about changes to ANSYS FLUENT for the 12.1
release since the 12.0 release. Features in the initial release of ANSYS FLUENT 12.0 are
described in the ANSYS FLUENT 12.0 User’s Guide.
In addition, the ANSYS FLUENT in ANSYS Workbench User’s Guide has been updated
for the 12.1 release.
The new and changed features are described in the following sections:

• Section 1.2: Meshing

• Section 1.3: Graphical User Interface and Text User Interface

• Section 1.4: VOF Multiphase

1.2 Meshing
• The tmerge filter has been improved to reduce the memory required for combin-
ing meshes, allowing you to merge larger meshes on existing workstations without
upgrading the memory. The tmerge filter is described in Section 6.3.15, Reading
Multiple Mesh/Case/Data Files in the ANSYS FLUENT 12.0 User’s Guide.

• When using both ANSYS FLUENT and ABAQUS, you can now import mesh files
using the ABAQUS ODB 6.8 E-F format into ANSYS FLUENT for all platforms that
support ODB so that you can use existing ABAQUS import/export capabilities in
ANSYS FLUENT. The new 6.8-EF format will not be supported on ultra 64 and
hpux11 64. The two platforms should continue to support the older ODB file
format.

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1.3 Graphical User Interface and Text User Interface

1.3.1 Starting ANSYS FLUENT on Linux from Windows
You can run parallel simulations on Linux clusters, via the Windows interface. To ac-
cess remote 64-bit Linux clusters for your parallel calculation, select the Parallel (Local
Machine) option under Processing Options, then enable Use Remote Linux Nodes, which
now appears under Options. The Remote tab in FLUENT Launcher will become available,
where you can specify the remote ANSYS FLUENT Linux installation root path in the Re-
mote FLUENT Root Path field. The Remote Working Directory field allows you to specify
a working directory for the remote Linux nodes, other than the default temp directory.
Select one of the following Remote Spawn Commands to connect to the remote node:

• RSH (the default) is used to spawn nodes from the local Windows machine to the
Linux head node as well as from the Linux head node to the compute nodes. If you
want the Linux cluster to use SSH, then you need to set the FLUENT NO REMOTE RSH
to 1. You will also need to set up passwordless access.

• SSH is used to spawn nodes from the local Windows machine to the Linux head
node as well as from the Linux head node to the compute nodes. To use SSH
with ANSYS FLUENT, you need to set up passwordless SSH access. If you want the
Linux cluster to use RSH, then you need to set the FLUENT NO REMOTE SSH to 1. For
more information about setting up SSH without a password, see http://www.debian-
administration.org/articles/152.

• Other allows you to provide other compatible remote shell commands.

Enable the Use Remote Cluster Head Node field and specify the remote node to which
ANSYS FLUENT will connect for spawning (e.g., via rsh or ssh). If this is not provided,
then ANSYS FLUENT will try to use the first machine in the machine file. If SGE is
chosen as the job scheduler, then the SGE qmaster will serve the same purpose.
In addition to using the settings in the Remote tab in FLUENT Launcher, the follow-
ing command line options are also available when starting ANSYS FLUENT from the
command line:

-nodepath=<path> is the path on the remote machine where ANSYS FLUENT is in-
stalled.

-node0=<machine name> is the machine from which to launch other nodes.

-nodehomedir=<directory> is the directory that becomes the current working directory

for all the nodes. Additionally, this will be used as a scratch area for temporary
files that are created on the nodes.

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-rsh=<remote shell command> is the command that will be used to launch executables
remotely. This option defaults to rsh.exe but can point to any equivalent program.
The form of this command should be that it should not wait for additional inputs
such as passwords. For example, if you install SSH, and try to launch in mixed
mode using ssh, the launch may fail unless you have set up a login for SSH without
a password. For more information about setting up SSH without a password, see
http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/152.

As there are known issues with launching ANSYS FLUENT in mixed Windows/Linux
mode from cygwin, it is recommended that you use the command prompt (cmd.exe).
While ANSYS FLUENT case and data files are read from and written to the Windows
machine while running mixed Windows/Linux simulations, parallel data files (.pdat files)
are written by the nodes and will not be available on the Windows machine. Therefore,
the path specified for writing .pdat files should be a Linux path (you can set node’s home
directory if you want to provide relative paths). If you use the graphical user interface to
read and/or write .pdat files, the directory component of the path is ignored and only
the file name is used to read and/or write the .pdat file relative to the node’s current
working directory.
When working with mixed Linux and Windows runs that employ user-defined functions
(UDFs), you should keep in mind that the file that you have opened for reading/writing
on the host machine will not be available on remote nodes and vice-versa. You may
therefore have to transfer data present on the nodes to the host and write it from host,
(or distribute the data from the host to the nodes after reading the data from the host).

Setting Job Scheduler Options When Running on Remote Linux Machines

By selecting the Use Remote Linux Nodes option and the Use Job Scheduler option in
FLUENT Launcher, you can set job scheduler options for the remote Linux machines you
are accessing for your CFD analysis.
When these options are enabled in FLUENT Launcher, you can use the Scheduler tab to
set parameters for either LSF, SGE, or PBS Pro job schedulers. You can learn more about
each of the schedulers by referring to the Load Management Documentation.
The following list describes the various controls that are available in the Scheduler tab:

Use LSF allows you to use the LSF job scheduler.

LSF queue allows you to specify a job queue and enter the queue name in the
text box.
Use Checkpointing allows you to use checkpointing with LSF. By default, the
checkpointing directory will be the current working directory; however, you
have the option of enabling Checkpointing Directory.

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Checkpointing Directory allows you to specify a checkpointing directory which is

different from the current working directory.
Automatic Checkpoint with Setting of Period allows you to specify that the check-
pointing is done automatically at a set time interval. Enter the period (in
minutes) in the text box, otherwise checkpointing will not occur unless you
call the bchkpnt command.

Use SGE allows you to use the SGE job scheduler.

SGE qmaster is the machine in the SGE job submission host list. SGE will allow
the SGE qmaster node to summon jobs. By default, localhost is specified for
SGE qmaster. Note that the button allows you to check the job status.
SGE queue is the queue where you want to submit your ANSYS FLUENT jobs.
Note that you can use the button to contact the SGE qmaster for a list
of queues. Leave this field blank if you want to use the default queue.
SGE pe is the parallel environment where you want to submit your ANSYS FLU-
ENT jobs. The parallel environment must be defined by an administrator.
For more information about creating a parallel environment, please refer to
the SGE documentation. Leave this field blank if you want to use the default
parallel environment.

Use PBS Pro allows you to use the PBS Pro job scheduler.

1.3.2 Accessing the Online Technical Resources Web Site

You can access the Online Technical Resources web site by selecting the Online Technical
Resources... menu item in the Help pull-down menu.
Help −→Online Technical Resources...
ANSYS FLUENT will direct your web browser to the ANSYS Customer Portal
(www.ansys.com/customerportal).

1.3.3 Plot3D Results File

ANSYS FLUENT no longer supports the import of PLOT3D results files. Please note
that the ability to import PLOT3D grid files is still supported.

• The File/Import/PLOT3D/Result File... menu item has been removed.

• The file/import/plot3d/result text command has been removed.

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1.4 VOF Multiphase

The default setting for the surface tension calculation changed from cell based to node
based. This setting can be modified using the solve/set/surface-tension command.
Note that if you are reading in a case that was created in versions prior to ANSYS FLUENT
12.1, then cell-based smoothing will be used by default for the VOF calculations.
With node-based smoothing now being the default for surface tension, the results for the
VOF tutorial will be affected. Please refer to the ANSYS FLUENT Tutorial Guide for the
updated VOF tutorial.

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