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Flowsquare+ for Beginners

From installation to perfoming your first simulation

Introduction

* This page is for older versions of Flowsquare+ (2021R1.0 or earlier). For newer versions (2021R2.0 or later) please visit this page.

Here, we will demonstrate how to perform a typical fluid simulation with Flowsquare+ by using test case input files which are also included in the Flowsquare+ download file. The test case is set up for a simulation of Karman vortex street. There are only 10 steps to follow to perform your first simulation!

  1. Installing Flowsquare+
  2. License activation (skippable)
  3. Setting project name
  4. Selecting preset domain configuration
  5. Setting input file path (only for a new project)
  6. Project confirmation
  7. Parameter setting
  8. Loading boundary configuration images
  9. Comfirming constructed boundary
  10. Starting your first simulation!
Simulation result of the test case (Karman vortex street)
(tracer particles and XY color contour).

 

1. Installing Flowsquare+

You can download Flowsquare+ from here. You need to accept the license agreement and disclaimer to do so.

Then, you need to Unzip the downloaded file by selecting "Extract All", and make sure you have the below files in the FSP folder.

  • FSP Folder
    • FSP.exe (executable file)
    • bcXY0.bmp (input file; boundary configuration image file)
    • param.txt (input file; parameter file)

Now Flowsquare+ is ready to use!

 

2. License activation (skippable)

Let's double click FSP.exe and execute Flowsquare+. License key input field is diplayed first, but this can be skipped for now. Press [Enter] key or proceedto proceed. To cancel, press [ESC] key or cancel.

 

3. Project name

Next, enter a new or existing project name in the field, and select execution mode. Execution mode can be selected from "Simulation mode" and "Analysis mode"

  • Simulation mode
    For a new simulation or resuming a simulation.
  • Analysis mode
    For visualization of output (dump) data from a previous simulation.

Let's set the project name as "test" and select the simulation mode. Then, press [Enter] key or proceedto proceed. To cancel, press [ESC] key or cancel.

Project name input field.
Project name input field.

 

4. Preset domain configuration

Next, you can choose a preset domain configuration. To select one, click on a desired preset configuration button. Clicking the same button again deselects the preset configuration.

The preset configuration can be used with your own model or boundary configuration constructed from CAD or pain images. For the present case, let's NOT choose a preset configuration (manual configuration). Press [Enter] key or proceedto proceed. To cancel, press [ESC] key or cancel.

Preset domain configuration selection Click to select, click again to deselect.
Preset domain configuration selection. Click to select, click again to deselect.

 

5. Input file path (only for a new project)

For a new project, you need to set a path to the input files, by simply performing drag-and-drop of one of these input files on the window shown below.

Here, all the input files must be in the FSP folder or its sub-directory all together. Also, all folders in the FSP folder must be named using single-byte characters. For the present case, let's drag-and-drop the param.txt in the FSP folder.

For an existing project, all input files are loaded from the project folder.

Input file drop window
Input file drop window.

 

6. Project confirmation

Now, let's confirm the blow project configuration.

  • Project name
    test
  • Project newness
    a new project, or an existing project
  • Execution mode
    Simulation mode, or Analysis mode
  • Input files' relative path starting from the FSP folder
    FSP/
  • Preset domain configuration
    None (Manual)

Once confirmed, press [Enter] key or proceedto proceed. To cancel, press [ESC] key or cancel. Now, a new project folder will be created in the FSP folder under the same name as the project name, and all the input files are copied into the project folder.

Project confirmation window.
Project confirmation window.

 

7. Parameter setting

Once the project folder is created successfully, the parameter file, param.txt is loaded from the project folder. The parameter file defines all the parameters related to the simulation. The parameter file is displayed in the parameter editor, in which you can modify each parameter value, and also add add, remove delete, rearrange swap up／swap down parameters, because many of tunable parameters may not be necessary for your simulation. For the present case, no parameter needs to be changed, so please press [Enter] key or proceedto proceed. If the simulation mode is used, any change in parameters will be saved at this moment. For the analysis mode, no change will be saved.

Parameter editor window.
Parameter editor window.

 

8. Boundary configuration images

Next step is to load boundary configuration images (if any). In this step shown in the below image, boundary configuration images (BMP images whose name beginning with "bc") are loaded from the project folder one by one, and each of them is displayed with the discretization mesh defined in the parameter setting.

With a mouse drag operation in the domain area, you can see the direction of the boundary configuration image in the 3D field from any direction.

This step also allows you to specify advanced configuration options such as "Stretching", "Symmetric" and "Inverse". If there are more than one configuration images, pressing [Enter] key or proceed loads the next image. If you have a CAD (STL) model to use, it will be loaded after all images are loaded.

There is only one image and no option will be needed this time, so please press [Enter] key or proceed to proceed. Boundary construction will be started.

Loaded boundary configuration images.
Loaded boundary configuration images.

 

9. Constructed boundary and simulation domain

Finally, constructed boundary and simulation domain are visualized so you can confirm whether they seem good. You can perform various mouse/keyboard operations to view your simulation domain from various angles and distance. If you are happy with the domain and boundary configuration, press [Enter] key or proceedto proceed. To cancel, press [ESC] key or cancel. Your first simulation will be started immediately!

Constructed boundary and simulation domain.
Constructed boundary and simulation domain.

 

10. Your first simulation!

Once the simulation has been started, visualization of the flow field is performed in-situ at the same time as computation. There are various tools in Flowsquare+ to visualize the flow field.

Simulation images are saved once in every nfig time steps, and instantaneous solution data (field data; dump data) are saved once in every nfile steps. Here, nfig and nfile are parameters specified in the set of parameters. These images and dump data are respectively saved in figs and dump folders in the project folder.

The saved images can be used to generate a movie of your simulated flow after simulation. Also, the saved dump data can be loaded by using the analysis mode to examine the simulated flow field closely using many analysis tools provided in the Flowsquare+.

A typical display with default visualization tools during the simulation.
A typical display with default visualization tools during the simulation.
Visualization of uncorrelated vectors and hydrodynamic forces.
Visualization of uncorrelated vectors and hydrodynamic forces.

The free trial license we used for this case limits the file output beyond 300 steps (2020R1.0 or later). For more useful simulation and analysis, please consider using a professional license.

 

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