Using FIPREP

Open your geometric model in the usual way from the command prompt:

fidap –id exam01 –gui &

and you are greeted with the initial FIDAP screen:

Just for fun, go into FI-GEN and view the model:

click FI-Gen

(graphics window will open and show model in default scale)

click on the graphics window

press “F” or “f” to scale the drawing (or use the “view” menu off the toobar

you should see what’s in the figure below.

FIPREP

In the FIPREP module we will set all the conditions that describe the problem to be solved (fluid flow/conduction, laminar/turbulent, compressible/incompressible, etc.) and specify all properties and boundary conditions.

Open the FIPREP module

if you have another module open, like FI-Gen, close it by clicking END

click FIPREP to open the FIPREP module

You’ll see a screen similar to the one below. Note the row of buttons that have appeared below the toolbar. The subcommands are grouped together by logical function (SIMULATION, BOUNDARY C., etc.) but all of the FIPREP commands are listed under the button ALL. We will often use the ALL button to access the commands.

SIMULATION

In this block we will define the problem to be solved and any special solution techniques to be used.

click SIMULATION

The list of available commands appears on the right. The list may be truncated at the bottom if the screen resolution is not more than 1024x768. From the list of available commands:

click EXECUTION

The default for this is “DATACHECK” which merely checks all input and reports any errors. To actually solve a problem, which we want to do, change the value in the window (left-click rotates to the next available choice; right click pops up a menu to choose from) and

choose NEWJOB

click ADD

The screen shot is shown as the second figure below.

click PROBLEM

The moveable menu window below is displayed

The defaults are shown. Change these values as described next

Geometry type2-D is okay

Flow regimeignored for conduction

Simulation typeSteady is correct

Convection termLinear is correct for pure conduction

Fluid typeignored for conduction problem

Momentum equationCHANGE TO “NOMOMENTUM” – means we won’t solve the fluid momentum equations

Temperature dependenceCHANGE TO “ENERGY” – means we are going to solve the energy equation

The remaining entries are okay.

click ADD

ENTITIES

Before any of the geometric entities defined previously in FI-GEN can be used in FIPREP, they must be defined in FIPREP

click ENTITIES

click on the “?” next to NAME

Note the drop down box which shows all the geometric entities in the model. Each of these has an “R” out to the side which means they have been Referenced in the model. Every one of these must be Defined within FIPREP before the model can run.

click “medcond” on the list

change “Entity Type” to SOLID

click Property Type and type “highcond” in the box

right-click on the Entity page and choose “ADD(REPEAT)”

In the model the area named “med conductivity” corresponds to the block of elements on the upper right and lower left. These are inappropriately labeled (but makes the point that the labels are in fact arbitrary) as the regions in question are supposed to have high conductivity. The label in the “Poperty Type” box will serve to tie any properties defined and labeled with “highcond” to this group of elements.

In a similar way, assign for the “center” entity the Property Type “lowcond” and for the “triangles” entity the Property Type “medcond”. All of these entities should be type “SOLID”. Be sure and click “ADD(repeat) after each.

Now all the boundary entities must be defined. All of these but one will have a “PLOT” entity. The “PLOT” entity is a do-nothing sort of entity and is so named because it can be used in the FIPOST post-processing to help generate plots. But every referenced entity must be defined as something, so all but one of the boundaries are “PLOT” entities.

click on the “?” to show the drop down list

choose“edgetopright” from the list

change ENTITY TYPE to “PLOT”

clear the red check box next to “property type”

right-click in the pane and choose “ADD(REPEAT)”

Do the same for “edgetopleft” and “edgebotleft”

For the remaining edge, a type 3 boundary condition must be described. ONLY THE TYPE 3 BCs are defined through ENTITY; the Type 1 and Type 2 BCs are defined in another section.

click on the “?” to show the drop down list

choose“edgetopleft” from the list

change ENTITY TYPE to “CONVECTION”

check “HEAT TRANSFER COEF.” and supply the label “convection”

right-click in the pane and choose “ADD(REPEAT)”

Okay. Now all the referenced entities should be defined. You will see this if you click on the “?” – all the entities should now have “[R&D]” next to them to indicate they are referenced and defined.

click CANCEL at the bottom of the pane to get out of ENTITIES

Boundary Conditions

Now we can apply the type 1 and type 2 boundary conditions. This is done in the BOUNDARY C. group.

click BOUNDARY C.

We will use the first two commands in the list, BCNODE and BCFLUX. The BCNODE command is used to apply any type 1 conditions, while BCFLUX is for type 2.

click BCNODE

change “DEGREE OF FREEDOM” to TEMPERATURE

change “REGION SELECTION” to ENTITY and select “edgetopright”

type “10” in the box next to VALUE GENERATION – CONSTANT

right-click in the pane and choose “ADD(REPEAT)”

click CANCEL at the bottom of the pane to close it

In a similar way specify the Type 2 conditions.

Click BCFLUX

Select the options as in the second screen shot below.

Click ADD to add the condition and close the pane

Properties

Now we have to define the thermal conductivities and convection boundary conditions.

click PROPERTIES off the menu bar

choose CONDUCTIVITY from the list

type “highcond” in the “MODEL SET NUMBER” box

type “100” in the MODEL TYPE – CONSTANT box

right-click in the pane and choose “ADD(REPEAT)”

In a similar way, define “lowcond” to have a value of “1” and “medcond” to have a value of “10”

choose CANCEL at the bottom of the pane to close it

Now set the parameters for the Type 3 condition:

click HTRANSFER from the list of commands

set the parameters as in the screen shot below and click ADD

Now we are ready to “compile” the input and run the problem!

click END off the tool bar to close the FIPREP module

CREATE and RUN

First CREATE the input for the solver (FISOLV)

click CREATE on the toolbar

click CREATE on the menu bar that appears on the left

ensure that “FILE TYPE” is set to “FISOLV”

click ACCEPT

You should see some output in the output window. If all is okay there will be no ** ERROR or ** WARNING messages, and the last line in the output window will say *** FISOLV INPUT DATA SUCCESSFULLY CREATED.

Now we are ready to execute the FISOLV module and get some answers.

click RUN off the main toolbar

choose FISOLV in the dropdown list

change the “BACKGROUND” to “FOREGROUND” in the middle of the screen.

click ACCEPT

you will briefly see the hourglass box on the screen:

when it disappears, it means the solution is complete!