Blog SOLIDWORKS 2019 What’s New – Flow Simulation – #SW2019
For the SOLIDWORKS 2019 release, you’ll find changes in Flow Simulation related to pre- and post-processing functionality that should make analysis of your designs quicker and easier. Let’s see what’s new for Flow!
Associate Goals with Boundary Conditions (BCs): We sometimes find it necessary to add a goal associated with a boundary condition to help with solution convergence and allow monitoring the solution progress. This has previously required a separate step but is now available during the boundary condition definition. The goal and BC are linked and updates to the BC reference will propagate to the goal. Also, the goal will be removed if the BC is deleted.
Customized Visualization Parameters: Output parameters are enhanced with additional mathematical functions available for customization. We can now apply the functions; integral, min, max, average and the logical expressions highlighted below. This enhancement will allow you to get more out of your results. An example application is to display the amount of surface area on the face of a component that is above a certain temperature.
Two-resistor (2R) Component Editing: The editing of 2R components has been added to the Component Explorer interface. Here you will find a list of all the 2R components, which can be directly edited via the right-click menu.
New Functionality Related to Heat Flux: For semitransparent surfaces, it is now possible to measure the incoming radiant heat flux. Also, we have a sharp new tool that helps visualize the heat transfer within the project. The flux plot shown below gives us this information in a graphical presentation. The “main chip” part produces 5 Watts of power, of which 3.379 Watts and 1.384 Watts is transmitted via conduction to the “heat sink” and “board” parts, respectively, and 0.236 Watts is transmitted via convection to the surrounding air. Heat leaving the main chip part through conduction to other parts is designated by scaled red arrows; heat leaving via convection to air shows up as blue arrows. A pie chart quickly reveals the dominant heat flow is directly conducted into the heat sink.
Surface Parameters in Sections: In previous releases if you wanted to show surface parameters for a specific location within the computational domain there were several steps involved:
- Create a “dummy” body at the location of interest,
- exclude the body from the analysis via Component Control (this makes it invisible to the flow),
- use one of the surfaces as a reference in the setup of the surface parameter.
With SW2019 Flow Simulation, the process is much easier. You simply create a cut plot showing any parameter on a plane that crosses the location of interest.
Then, in the surface parameters setup you’ll find the additional cut plot selection criterion that is highlighted below.
I’ve selected the mass flow rate and velocity parameters, which are clearly labeled on the geometry at the cut plane and in tabular form below the graphics area. Notice that when selecting the “Separate” check box during setup the program automatically recognizes the individual areas created where the cut plot crosses the geometry and display the requested parameters for each.
I hope this part of the What’s New series gives you a better understanding of the new features and functions of SOLIDWORKS 2019. Please check back to the CATI Blog as the CATI Application Engineers will continue to break down many of the new items in SOLIDWORKS 2019. All these articles will be stored in the category of “SOLIDWORKS What’s New.”
Kurt Kurtin
Technical Manager – Simulation and Electrical Products
Computer Aided Technology, LLC
Design Innovation Month – October 2018
What is DI MONTH?
CATI is declaring October Design Innovation MONTH. We’ve created a month-long series of events and activities around design innovation especially for our customers. Attend a SOLIDWORKS 2019 event, enter our rendering contest, and learn about some cool tips and tricks at the daily online events. Plan your month at www.cati.com/design-innovation-month
