Hi,

I had the opportunity to read through the what's new manual and the what's new section of the SolidWorks Flow Simulation 2014 help. Here is the list of the new features and my impressions.

• Meshing:

        Meshing now leverages multicore processors! Great addition, this is something that will definitely speed up solution time! Didn't have an opportunity to take some timing because I was using a virtual machine and the result wouldn't have been reliable.

• User Interface - Model Preparation

New Leakage tracking command has its own interface and button.

Suggestion: I didn't find it in the Flow Simulation toolbar, and had to launch it from the flow simulation dropdown menu. I suggest you put the leak Tracker button command in the toolbar before SolidWorks 2014 Sp 0.0 launch.

• User Interface - Pre-Processing

     1 - Import the CircuitWorks ECAD file PCB or component thermal properties to SolidWorks Flow Simulation

      2 - You can edit multiple conditions at once, such as Boundary Condition, Surface Source, Volume Source

           Tried it on a Pressure and Flow rate boundary condition, and it would allow me to edit parameters that are common to those two boundary conditions:

3 - You can specify ambient velocity via aerodynamic angles (angle of attack and angle of sideslip) instead of a 3D vector. This improvement makes it easier to perform a Parametric study

Didn't find this one anywhere. Will it be added later ?

• Solver
  

Adaptive Mesh on a local initial mesh

I tried this one and it's cool: just define a local initial mesh, and then in the calculation control options you'll have the option of using adaptive refinement on that local mesh. It will be very useful when you'll want to concentrate refinement on a very local region (like the smallest gap of a valve).

• User Interface - post processing

    1 - CAD Volume, CAD Surface Area, Fluid Volume, Fluid Surface area defined in surface and volume goals

     2 - New Interface for the equation goal (at the bottom of the graphic area)

  3 - Dynamic Vectors. The dynamic visualization of vectors allows you to update the distribution of a vector parameter in real time as you manipulate the model, even as you zoom-in on local areas.

Couldn't really try this on my virtual machine because it doesn't see my OpenGL Card. I found the button, so I guess the feature works:

4 - New local parameter for vortex visualization. Now Lambda2-Criterion is available for vortex visualization

5 - Export to edrawings will create an edrawings file with multiple results

I guess the edrawings file will work more or less like the simulation results edrawings (which is cool), but I couldn't find the command. There's only a save image command that can be invoked by right clicking on the results folder:

6 - Improved Goal Plots and XY Plots. Now you can analyze Goal Plots and XY Plots on the pane at the bottom of the screen.

Remove it from Flow Simulation 2014 help (what's new section), it's not a new feature, it was there in 2013 already.

• User Interface - Parametric study
  

Improved Parametric Study. Now you can save studies in the top project tree using the parametric study feature for better visibility of the CFD simulations and easier investigation of the design scenarios. Also you can save selected Design Points into the project tree to save only desired scenarios. Optionally, you can save the full results of the Design Points.

I get quite confused about this one. I launched a parametric study with the standard ball valve tutorial example with 3 different values of the angle mate.

By the way: why does the parameter editor display the angle in radiants while my solidworks document units are in degrees ?

I've noticed that instead of a new project for each scenario SolidWorks Flow Simulation creates a what if project. Also it's cool that you an load a parametric study you've created before (In 2013 you would have needed to save the parametric study setup to an external file):

I haven't understood how to load a specific scenario. The only thing I've noticed is that Flow Simulation creates a parametric study subfolder containing the scenarios and the .fld files. I can use the "load from file" command to load the results of a specific scenario, but it would be good if there was a more user friendly command to do it.

Anyway I haven't really got exactly what new features have been introduced by the parametric study reading the description in the what's new PDF and in Flow help.

Do you plan adding anything else in Beta 3, Pre-release or SP 0.0 ?

Alex

www.solidworksacademy.blogspot.com