[jpina]

Hello!

I'm trying to simulate an injection moulding process. An injection process is defined by two phases:

1) Filling phase: The polymer fills the mould. It is a velocity controlled phase were the inlet flow is fixed and the machine sets the necessary pressure in order to maintain this flow.

2) Packaging phase: Once the cavity is 98% full. The machine switches from velocity control to pressure control, where the cavity is "packed out" at a constant pressure.

I would like to know how could I make an inlet be a velocity or flow inlet from time 0 to time "t" and a pressure inlet after time "t". I guess I should develop a UDF but maybe there's some other way?

I appreciate your help!

[`e`]

Velocity inlet and pressure inlet are two distinct inlet conditions. Fluent needs to know to change between these two conditions and a simple DEFINE_PROFILE or UDF wouldn't suffice.

Try running a scheme file every time step (under calculation activities) which makes the switch between velocity to pressure inlet (TUI command) after a certain time (if statement).

[jpina]

Dear `e`,

I've been trying to do what you suggested me.

I created a macro, which changes the inlet_velocity boundary condition to an inlet_pressure condition.

In the calculation activities I set the following command:

*IF,CURRENT_TIME,GT,3,THEN,macro-2,*ENDIF

However, when solving the problem, Fluent says:

*IF,invalid command [*IF]
CURRENT_TIME,GT,3,THEN,macro-2,*ENDIF

I will appreciate your help.

[`e`]

What is your macro that "changes the inlet_velocity boundary condition to an inlet_pressure condition"? You need to create a scheme file with the relevant TUI commands for changing the inlet velocity boundary to a pressure inlet boundary condition.

Find these TUI commands and then include them in your scheme file with ti-menu-load-string, for example:

(ti-menu-load-string "tui-command-goes-here")

Perhaps if you're unsure of the steps, start with:
1) run the simulation for a few time steps and then change the inlet condition with the GUI (checks if Fluent won't crash from changing this inlet condition)
2) reset and run the simulation for a few time steps and then changing the inlet condition with the TUI
3) write a scheme file (using ti-menu-load-string) with the commands you used in step 2) and then run this scheme file after a number of time steps (if statement)

[jpina]

Dear `e`,

I'm afraid I need a little bit of help.

I have succeeded on changing the boundary condition from velocity to pressure:

define/boundary-conditions/zone-type inlet pressure_inlet

However, I don't know how to make a line for setting the pressure. If I make

define/boundary-conditions/pressure-inlet

I can set the pressure when fluent asks for it, but it is now suitable for making a .scm...

Thanks!!!!!!

[jpina]

I just found the solution, in case anyone needs it, it's:

Define/boundary-conditions pressure-inlet inlet mixture yes no 6000000 no 0 no 300 no yes

Where the answers to the questions without commas must be written.

[jpina]

I'm facing the following problem... I have created a .scm file with:

*if,CURRENT_TIME,gt,3,then
;Change inlet boundary condition
(ti-menu-load-string "define/boundary-conditions/zone-type inlet_velocity pressure-inlet")
;Set the pressure of the inlet boundary condition
(ti-menu-load-string "define/boundary-conditions pressure-inlet inlet_velocity mixture yes no 6000000 no 0 no 300 no yes")
*endif

However, something seems to happen with the if statement. When I do File-Read-Scheme Fluent says:

Error: eval: unbound variable
Error Object: *if
#f

The same scheme file without the if works.

Does anybody know what is happening?

Thanks!

[Kokemoor]

The correct syntax for if is

(if conditional-statement then-statement else-statement)

so you'll need something like

(if (> current_time 3) (
(ti-menu-load-string "define/boundary-conditions/zone-type inlet_velocity pressure-inlet")
)
(if (> current_time 3) (
(ti-menu-load-string "define/boundary-conditions pressure-inlet inlet_velocity mixture yes no 6000000 no 0 no 300 no yes")
)

I'm sure you could clean this up into one if statement, but I'm not in a position to test anything fancy right now.

If I was, though... this is what I'd try.

(if (> current_time 3) (map ti-menu-load-string '("define/boundary-conditions/zone-type inlet_velocity pressure-inlet" "define/boundary-conditions pressure-inlet inlet_velocity mixture yes no 6000000 no 0 no 300 no yes")))

[jpina]

Dear Kokemoor,

first of all thanks for your help.

I'm afraid to ask an obviety but... In which programming language is the code you typed?

I had looked for distinct APDL manuals and none of them showed this 'if statement' structure, for example the manual https://caeai.com/sites/default/files/APDL_0.pdf shows an estructure like:

*IF, VAL1, Oper1, VAL2, AND / OR, VAL3, Oper2, VAL4, THEN

Your code is not C either :S

[`e`]

We've both stated that you're creating a Scheme file: the programming language is Scheme (a dialect of LISP). LISP is the second oldest high-level programming language (second to Fortran), have a read of the Wikipedia article if you're interested. Scheme was created in the 1970s over in MIT (Wikipedia). I'll quote what I've typed in another thread:

Originally Posted by `e`

Fluent has no official documentation for Scheme, and in fact the developers were intending to replace Scheme with Python as the official scripting language back in 2004... have a read of this unofficial Fluent Scheme Programming Reference which I believe is the only Scheme-Fluent documentation available.

[jpina]

Hi everybody!

I've solved my problem, I expose here the definitive solution in case it's someday useful for somebody:

For changing a boundary condition at a time t:

Create a .scm file with the following content:

(if (> (rpgetvar' flow-time) 0.05)
; Set que inlet_velocity boundary to pressure-inlet
(ti-menu-load-string "define/boundary-conditions/zone-type inlet_velocity pressure-inlet")
; Set the pressure value to 6000000
(ti-menu-load-string "define/boundary-conditions pressure-inlet inlet_velocity mixture yes no 6000000 no 0 no 300 no yes")
)

In the Calculation Activities make this scheme file be executed every time_step with:

(load "velocity_to_pressure_inlet.scm")

I hope to be helpful after all the received help