The purpose of this guide is to categorize and describe the operations that are available by means of the GAMBIT GUI. The logical structure of the guide follows that of the Operation toolpad and its associated subpads. That is, the organization of the chapters, sections, and subsections reflects the hierarchy of command buttons on the GUI. For example, Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 describe operations associated with the Geometry, Mesh, Zones, Tools, and Postprocessing command buttons, respectively—which reflects the order in which the command buttons appear on the on the Operation toolpad (see Figure 1-1). (NOTE: The postprocessing capabilities described in Chapter 6 are available only in the Fluent FlowLab software package—which is derived from the GAMBIT program. Consequently, they pertain only to the direct use of FlowLab and/or to the use of GAMBIT to create FlowLab templates.)
Figure 1-1: Operation toolpad
Similarly, the description of the Blend Volumes operation follows that of the Volume Boolean operations, because its toolpad command button is located immediately to the right of the Boolean command button on the Geometry/Volume subpad (see Figure 1-2).
Figure 1-2: Geometry/Volume subpad
1.1 Format and Font Conventions
Chapter 1 of the GAMBIT User's Guide describes the basic format and font conventions that are employed throughout this guide. For convenience, the descriptions of format and font conventions are duplicated here.
This guide employs two standard format types.
The GAMBIT GUI employs two basic types of components for user interaction.
The GAMBIT GUI employs control elements such as command buttons, option buttons, and text boxes to allow you to perform operations such as executing actions, choosing from among sets of options, and inputting alphanumeric data. The graphic format conventions used in this guide to represent the GAMBIT GUI control elements are as follows.
Control Element |
Example |
Graphic Format |
Function |
| Command button |
|
Command |
Executes the command indicated on the button title |
| Option button |
|
Option 1 Option 2 … |
Selects from a hidden menu of mutually exclusive options |
| Text box |
|
Value | Accepts alphanumeric data from the keyboard |
| Form heading |
|
Heading: | Indicates the general function of button and selector groups |
| Radio button |
|
Option | Selects from a displayed menu of mutually exclusive options |
| Check box |
|
Option | Toggles on or off a program option |
| Pick-list box |
|
List | Selects items from a pick list form |
| Scroll list |
|
List | Displays scrollable lists |
| Slider bar |
|
Parameter -- | Selects parameter values across a continuous range |
For a complete description of the function and operation of GUI control elements, see Chapter 3 of the GAMBIT User's Guide.
In addition to the control elements listed above, GAMBIT also employs toolpad command buttons in the execution of its operations. Toolpad command buttons are used to perform operations such as opening other toolpads and specification forms and are also used to control the GUI display characteristics, such as the screen layout and the orientation of the model in the graphics window.
Toolpad command buttons appear on toolpads located on the upper and lower right portions of the GUI. Each toolpad command button contains a graphical symbol that represents the function of the button. For example, the Examine Mesh command button appears as follows:
.
In this guide, all toolpad command buttons are represented as push buttons containing the graphical symbol appropriate to the button.
Throughout this guide, descriptions of specification forms follow a layout format convention wherein paragraphs describing subgroups of control elements are indented relative to their respective headings or groups. For example, the description of the Create Straight Edge form (see Section 2.3.1) appears as follows.
Using the Create Straight Edge Form
To open the Create Straight Edge form, click the Create Straight Edge command button on the Geometry/Edge subpad.
The Create Straight Edge form includes the following specifications.
Vertices |
specifies the vertices that constitute the endpoints of the edges. |
|
Type: |
------------------------------------------------------- |
| Real |
specifies the creation of a real edge. |
| Virtual |
specifies the creation of a virtual edge. If you choose the Virtual option, you can also specify a host edge, face, or volume for the virtual edge. |
|
Host |
specifies that any created virtual edges are hosted by an existing volume, face, or edge. |
|
Volume |
specifies the host entity type. |
|
Volume |
specifies the host entity name. |
|
Label |
specifies a label for the new edge. (See Section 2.1.1.) |
1.1.2 Fonts
The following font conventions are used throughout this guide to represent user input data, the titles of forms and command buttons, and the names of modeling objects such as topological entities and coordinate systems.
| Font | Description | Example(s) |
| Courier | User keyboard input such as command line arguments and file names | gambit value |
| Courier New | Command line options | filename vertex |
| Arial Narrow, Bold | Titles of buttons, selectors, and form fields | Model Volume Vertex |
| Arial Narrow | Titles of options and commands | Interval size Lower topology |
| Arial Narrow, Italic | Names of GAMBIT topological entities, coordinate systems, and boundary layers | edge.1 vertex.1 c_sys.1 b_layer.1 |
The following table summarizes the content of this guide.
Chapter |
Title | Description |
1 |
Introduction | A brief overview of this guide |
2 |
Creating the Geometry | Geometry operations such as creating volumes and splitting or merging edges or faces |
3 |
Meshing the Model | Meshing operations such as specifying boundary conditions and setting face vertex types |
4 |
Specifying Zone Types | Operations related to the specification of boundary and continuum types |
5 |
Using the Modeling Tools | Operations related to GAMBIT procedures such as creating a coordinate system or activating a grid |
6 |
Postprocessing Results | Operations related to the display of simulation results |
Appendix A |
Virtual Geometry | An overview of "virtual" geometry operations |
© Fluent, Inc. 10/25/01
