In setting up a Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation, much of the task of data-input is simply defining the geometry of the mechanical structures within (or around) which the fluid flows. Yet these structures are often already well described by engineers within their chosen CAD systems.
With the PHOENICS Universal CAD Interface, the opportunity now exists for engineers to transfer geometrical data automatically into the PHOENICS Family of CFD packages as the starting point for the simulation.
CHAM has achieved this through the development of an interface which simply transfers wire-frame models in the universal IGES format supported by all leading CAD and FE packages, directly into the code
The interface is a translator which will read an ASCII format IGES wire-frame model and write the geometry into a PHOENICS Q1 file. This will provide the user with the initial data for the development of a grid using the interactive grid generation facilities within the PHOENICS menu system.
| IGES Entity No: | IGES Entity Name: | PHOENICS Entity: | |
| 100 | Circular Arc | ARC Line | |
| 102 | Composite curve | SPLINE Curve and Line | |
| 104 | Conic Arc | ARC Line | |
| 106 | Copious Data | SPLINE Curve and Line | |
| 110 | Line | Line | |
| 112 | Parametric Spline | SPLINE Curve and Line | |
| Curve | |||
| 116 | Point | Point | |
| 124 | Transformation Matrix | Applied to other entities | |
| before output | |||
| 126 | Rational B-Spline | SPLINE Curve | |
| Curve | and Line |
Any points and line that lie with the model tolerance will be merged into single entities.
Since CAD (and FE) packages almost all produce IGES files, the list of mechanical and structural design codes now interfaced to the PHOE Family of CFD codes is very large and includes:
| AutoCAD | ProEngineer | Catia |
| Ansys | Duct 5 | CADDS |
| Matra | Intergraph | PATRAN* |
| I-DEAS* |
(*specialised interfaces also available)
wbs