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Hi everybody, I recently tried my hands on integrating CAESES with fluent and i think its worth sharing for those who work with fluent and will like to use CAESES parametric models. Please find attached a copy of my project file. its a simple meta-surface elbow i designed with an ellipse curve.Functions for the "width and "height" of the curve are defined. you can have a look at how parameters are set from function curves. I used ICEMCFD as my meshing tool and Fluent as CFD solver. specific files such as the *.rpl and *.jou were used as input files( checkout the attachments). Absolute paths should be changed to relative paths via "getdesigndir()...." (not all paths are necessary!). A *.bat file, RunFluent.bat, was used to run both ICEMCFD and Fluent in batch mode. Snapshots, graphs etc from fluent can be included as results files for post processing. Details on post processing can be found in CAESES tutorials " getting started". You can have a look. Suggestions are welcome. Best regards, Richard "N.B: CAESES is one of the most powerful softwares for tight integration with CFD softwares for DoE and Optimization. All you need to know is to understand how your External CFD software handles its files to know exactly which input and result files to use. it must also have the capability of running in batch mode." Project1_elbow.fdbc

Hi together, please find attached a parametric model of a costa bulb and a feature definition. To recover the energy which gets lost by the hub vortex of the rotating propeller a costa bulb can help. I integrated the rudder bulb setup into the feature "Spade Rudder" which is shipped with CAESES/FFW. The bare hull to which I attached the appendages is also shipped with CAESES/FFW. All you need as input are some propeller parameters. Please find the feature here: baseline > abdy > appendages > feature:rudder Cheers Matthias (fdb file edited, 30.09.2014) containerVesselCosta.fdb

Hi Gabriel, Maybe using fv_all() command would be a better alternative. Please check the picture below; Basically, the fv_all command provides an objectlist. MyCurve.fv_all(0,myPoint:x) The command is applied to a curve. The first argument "0" refers to x-axis The second argument refers to the value on the selected axis. So result will be a list of points that have the same coordinate component value in the referred axis. As seen on the picture above, the curve would have two locations with the same x-coordinate value. Using "at(1)" I pick the second item within the objectlist (0 would be used to pick the first one). And finally I cast the entity to a FVector3 type object. Please let me know if you need further assistance. Cheers Ceyhan

Hi Adam, that looks promising already. When combining everything, you need to distinguish between boolean operations and simply adding sources. I went through your model and corrected a few things -- mostly adding the domain faces one-by-one using individual "add sources" operations. While doing so, I colored each operation so that your inlet/outlet/periodics, etc are colored reliably. I did the same for the blade and extruded and closed it to obtain a closed solid (you don't want any open/red edges and your final BRep should be closed > you can tell it is closed from it's icon being filled with grey color). Then there is only one boolean operation: substracting the closed blade from the closed domain. Since the blade and tip are already colored, the colors will "imprint" onto your domain during that operation. Hope this helps. Cheers, Heinrich FAN4_HvZ.cdbc

Hi Adam, take a look at BReps -- they are the way to go when combining, uniting, substracting, etc. various parts of your geometry. For boudary conditions you can make use of colors (their names) which can be applied robustly even when topologiacal changes occur in the model during shape variation. You should be able to find everything to get started within the help menu of CAESES. Cheers, Heinrich

Hi Manoj, You can access the CAESES documentation in the Help section in the software CAESES. In the documentation you will find the "Fine Marine Pre-Processing" tutorial under Tutorials > Maritime > Software Connection > Fine Marine Pre-Processing. Cheers, Hedi

Hi Manoj, usually, you start with a working setup that is capable to be run from the command line. This is entirely FM-specific and outside of CAESES. In the current version of CAESES we provide a tutorial on the geometry preparation for FM, based on the Maritime Workflow introduced in CAESES 5.3. Assuming you've got the latest version of CAESES installed, you can find it here: http://localhost:65038/tutorials/maritime/software-connection/fine-marine-pre-processing . This geometry should be exported either as parasolid or as multibody stl. At this point the above-mentioned workflow comes in. Please identify all relevant input files and provide them from the software connector. Define case-specific values by parameters. Put the command you used to run the setup from the command line into "ExecutionSettings|Arguments" (possibly preceded by "bin/bash"). Run the case for one geometry from the software connector and define all relevant result files within the software connector for further post-processing. Hope this helps! Cheers, Hannes

Hi Praveen, Please revise the tutorial for the ACT Connection. Within the mentioned document, it should clearly mention that, if SpaceClaim is your default geometry editor you beforehand have to open SpaceClaim and under options unselect the option "Use SpaceClaim Color Tones". Once this little procedure is completed, you can create and start the ACT procedure. Also, as mentioned within the tutorial, if SpaceClaim is your default geometry editor, please do not forget to assign a color to your BREp geometries. This will serve as named selection/s assigned to your domains. Cheers Ceyhan

Hi, Looking for outsource 3D rendering company. Who do you use for outsourcing 3D rendering? Who do you recommend? Thanks everyone for your recommendation ;)

Hi Thomas, Your code seems to work fine and sets the knot vector correctly for the b-spline curve. However, the display field of double series attributes in feature definitions has a small bug. So to see the values of the knotVector doubleseries you can drag and drop the "knotVector" into the console field and press enter. Cheers, Hedi

Hi CJ, if you check the documentation for "units" you should find this: Cheers, Heinrich

HI everyone， I'm having a hard time. I created the blades and tips. As shown in Fig. However, when I create the propeller with Model-propeller-propller, I only get incomplete blades. The tips were not created together. This is shown in the image below. Also, due to the language, I may have a problem with the description not being clear, so please forgive me. Looking forward to your answer. prop_para.cdbc

Hi CJ Coll, I edited the feature so that the labels are not on top of each other anymore and the points are removed inside the profile view. You can find the edited linesplan feature attached to this reply. To toggle the visibilty of the orientation points from the group section curves, you can use the command .setShowOrientation(true/false). If you want to further edit the feature yourself, you can access the it in your CAESES installation directory under "CAESES...\etc\features\features\Maritime". To add a line that follows the topdeck, my solution was to create an image curve from the hull's surface/brep upper edge. I hope that solves your problem. If not, don't hesitate to ask. Linesplan_edited.fde

Hi Furkan, at the computation object, there is an option to set a list of constraints. If one of these constraints is violated, the computation will not be executed for that design. Cheers, Mattia

Hi Yukai, OpenFOAM is notably complex when it comes to managing numerous processed files. To address this complexity, I've included a screenshot featuring a standard connection input file, geometries, output files, and corresponding values. It's advisable to consistently employ relative paths by utilizing the subfolder option, as illustrated in the second screenshot. To extract parameters from the force.dat file, you can directly navigate to the last line, which typically represents the converged value from OpenFOAM. This can be achieved using the -1 option in the command line. Moreover, consider incorporating a Python file for post-processing and integrating it into your connection. This can be facilitated by incorporating the Python script as a command line within the Allrun.sh executable file. Best Regards, Andreas

Hi Gustav, you could create a point through the console with: point p(curve.fv(2,zVal)) Instead of "curve" you'll have to choose your particular curve and zVal would be your z value. "2" corresponds to the z-axis (0=x, 1=y, 2=z).

Hi CJ, from visual diagnostic, it looks like a misplaced point - maybe a sign error or a bad dependency? Actually It depends on how you set up the keel line, especially the point or curve, which is going crazy. You can take a deeper look at the faulty design(s) by double clicking on it at the Result Table, or below the Object Tree at the Optimize workspace. BUT only apply changes the baseline design - every change you make inside an other design than the baseline, will not be considered for further design engines - these are always based on the baseline. But you can try out solutions by unlocking the design -> Search for your keel line and its sources. You can check the dependencies of the problematic curve. Right click on the object inside the Object Tree and select "Show Dependencies" - at the upper left corner of the Dependencies window you can switch "Show Clients" or "Show Supplier". Hope that helps, Best, Carl

Hi CJ, I guess I would just create a planar BRep intersection (BRep-based curves) and from this get the area. See attached project... Cheers, Heinrich fishingVessel.cdb

Hi Carlos, unfortunately, I cannot give you any hints regarding the integration of the .jar libraries in CAESES. Generally, a typical approach would be to - keep the setup (*.jar / *.java) on the cluster separate from CAESES. - just create a text file with all variables to be edited by CAESES and write that to the cluster. - Use a bash wrapper similar to the attached example for SLURM to fetch the setup and launch the runs. This script is called from the CAESES software connector. It is important that the bash script stays alive as long as the run in active as CAESES will be monitoring it and look for the results as soon as it ends. Hope this helps. Cheers, Hannes slurmExample.tar.gz

Hi Carlos, Yes. A student license includes the complete functionality of CAESES. See https://www.caeses.com/products/caeses/editions/#students . Cheers, Carl

Hi Carlos, please use a personal message (click on my profile -> message). Out of your last question about starting CAESES in Baseline or in designOfExperiments I assume, that you made a lot of work not with the baseline design. For CAESES each design is its own instance, and they are not connected with each other. So if you doubleclick on a design from a design engine the name of the design on top of the objecteditor gets a green background with a (by default) closed lock. For sure you can make some changes by unlocking the design, but as I said already it will not infect the baseline design. As any design engine starts from the baseline design, this might be the cause for the original issue you reported. If you want to continue working on a specific design from a design engine, you need to make it the baseline-design first: Go inside the design you want to make baseline (doubleclick -> green bar) and "Save Current Design As" a new clean project (without results from the previous design engines). I hope this helps. Best, Carl

Hi Carlos, Please make sure, that you have created an evaluation parameter which takes a value from a result file (@ 5:00 of the video tutorial) and make sure that you have set this parameter as an evaluation in the sobol settings (@6:54). If the parameter has a fix value and no reference like: Runner.getResults().getTable("cd.csv").getElementAt("cd") you may get the Message "There are evaluations that are not influenced by any design variable.". CAESES checks every dependency before running software-connections in an optimization algorithm. It is to save resources. If there is no reference to any value from a resulting file of a software-connection, this application will not be executed. Best, Carl

Please insert a reasonable knotspacing value in the BRep and datareduction afterthe transformation. The transformation might otherwise rip the geometry apart, since it moves the control points of the vessels representation. In the flat of bottom area there might be only a few and that needs to be refined. Cheers Claus

The model is unfortunately very bad. There are big gaps between several surfaces. I will see if I can find a repaired one. Best Regards Claus

I think so ...

Hi Hedi, thanks a lot! Problem solved! Now it runs really smooth on my computer. 🙂 Best regards, Yanxin

Hi David, You can display calculated values in the input dialog by defining an additional argument and editing the advanced settings of the feature argument. Here is a video tutorial on how to show result values in the input dialog. Drop down list for input values In addition, you can use String Options to choose an input value from a drop down list. Make sure you switch off the field "Allow Expression" when you use it. By using a "switch" you can define the method you would like to use for your calculations. FString chosenmethod(method) switch (chosenmethod) case "A" echo("using calculation method A") case "B" echo("using calculation method B") case "C" echo("using calculation method C") endswitch Here is the feature definition example that includes the result values in the input dialog and the switch cases with the string options for your reference. DynamicArguments_WithResultField_DropDownListOptions.fdf Have a nice day. Hedi

There is something, that seems to be related to the weight of the third point. But maybe it also comes from the curve intersetion point, there seems to be a discontinuity in the definition, see screenshot of control polygon. That is where the "folding" appears in the visualization.

Hey, I am doing some hydrostatic calculations. I did not find a way to calculate the wetted surface of a boat in the hydrostatic tool. How do you calculate the wetted surface? Thanks.

CAESES provides comprehensive functionality for propeller and fan designers so that it can be used as an expert blade design software. Basically, any kind of propeller blade (e.g. boat propeller, aircraft propeller, blowers, fans etc.) for any application can be created with it. CAESES focuses on the variable geometry of blades for design explorations and shape optimization (mostly, together with CFD). Here is a screenshot for an axial blade design, taken from one of the samples that are shipped with CAESES: For general information about modeling of propellers, see the MARINE SECTION. For other rotating machines, please see the TURBOMACHINERY SECTION. 2D PROFILES 2D profiles can be defined by the user. These can be either parametric (e.g. camber curve + thickness distribution) or based on profile data from an air foil data base. There are models available with special definitions such as Wageningen B-Series. NACA curves are also available in CAESES via the menu > curves > naca. When generating the 3D propeller surface, the profile parameters can be changed by means of radial functions for each 2D parameter (e.g. chord, camber, thickness). IMPORT AND EXPORT In order to import or export the blade in a proprietary format, feature definitions can be used which allows you cope with e.g. company-specific ASCII formats. The PFF (Propeller Free Format) is directly supported. EXTERNAL TOOL / CFD AUTOMATION Any preliminary design tool (XFOIL etc) or even CFD packages (in-house, open source, commercial) can be integrated so that a new design can be analyzed within CAESES. BLADE ANALYSIS There is a functionality that can analyze an imported blade surface (given as NURBS) to give you the chord, rake, skew, pitch, thickness and camber distributions. CUSTOMIZATION There is a lot of scripting possible in CAESES so that any specialized design process can be fully transferred into the platform. For instance, if you use Excel sheets for your profile definitions, you can access them through CAESES but also re-implement your methods using the feature definition programming editor. EXAMPLES Some propeller design case studies can be found in this section. If you are interested in drone design, then check out this post here. Here are some videos - the last one I put there only to give you an impression about how the geometry controls can be wrapped and accessed for applying changes, this can be done for all other types of blades as well. Wageningen Propeller ModelPropellerBlade Tip DesignGeometry Changes for an Axial Fan (and a Ship Hull) - Demo Video ONLINE TOOL Finally, check out the new online geometry creator for the Wageningen B-Series. Browser-based, intuitive web app.Allows you to generate typical B-Series propellers with just a few clicks.Requires very little propeller design expertise.The final geometry can be downloaded as STL or STEP file. LAST UPDATE JANUARY 2018 Note that there are FULL FREE ACADEMIC versions of the pro edition CAESES for students and PhD students as well as trial licenses with variable time frames. There are also special editions for small companies, start-ups and freelancers.

Hi Rizuan, On our webpage please go to Support > "Your Licenses" Once logged in, please check the status of your license. By clicking on the manage button on the right side, you may have the option to release a hanged webfloat slot. Please let me know if this resolves your problems. Cheers Ceyhan

Hello, Lately, I’ve been trying to run CAESES coupled with StarCCM+ in batch mode for Linux. Checking previous discussions, is it possible to reactivate again for downloading the zip file with the example on how to run CAESES in batch mode? and if you have suggestion please feel free to tell me Thanks in advance, Best, Nuttarat

Hej Ravi, I don't think that the Torqeedo props are a standard series. Might be that they use some well known section definitions but I don't think they share these information. Designing something that looks roughly like the picture (at least the outlines) will be easy, but you cannot expect to get proper performance this way. What I'd recommend at the very least is, to use a suitable series for the sections (Naca66mod could be a good starting point. Might be that you have to thicken it a little more if you are going for a 3D print), find out the pitch of the original (or, even better the pitch that suits your needs) and then use the propeller sample project that comes with CAESES to adjust chord, skew, pitch etc. distributions along the radius. Cheers, Heinrich

Sorry Christina, if you set up the linesplan, you can export the feature to IGS, that will write out the lines as curves, but not the label.

Hi Nikolas, 1) I can suggest you a work-around; Please check the attached pictures and project; What I have performed is creating a BRep out of the entire exported geometry and then to each BRep I have added an "Remove Faces" operation where I kept only the specified colored surfaces. I have disabled the scope export line inside the fsc file and then included a few lines for the export of the specific surfaces. Please let me know if this resolves your problem. 2) Can you please be more specific about the "cracked" file? Do you refer to the main stl file within which exists the data of the other extracted stl files? Cheers Ceyhan axialfan_sample.cdb

Hi Nikolas, The naming for the "STL (Extract Colors)" export should be as follows; <base name provided for exported stl>+"_"+<color name>+".stl" In the example provided, I gave a name "fanExported.stl". So the base name would be "fanExported" For the blades, during the blade creation process I have assigned a user created color with a name "w_blades" As a result the stl file for the blades ends up being "fanExported_w_blades.stl" To conclude, if you would like to change the stl file names for the exported geometry, one has to modify the assigned color names. I think the Tutorial; Geometry Modelling > BRep and Solids refers to color assignment to operations. Please let me know if you have further questions. Cheers Ceyhan

Hi Nicolas, The Export type you require is "STL (Extract Colors)" In CAESES, please create a scope, let's say "02_Export". Then please locate the BRep/s you want to be exported. Please be sure that, the geometrical entities you want to be seperated do have separate colors assigned. Then select the folder, change the file type to "exportStlExtractColors" and provide a file name. Using this procedure, whenever you create an fsc file, the export information will be written automatically. Please let me know if you have further questions. Cheers Ceyhan

Hi Assiouras, it's quite simple: fdb is the file format of the CAESES4.x and older releases, while cdb is the current format of CAESES5.x. There is no backwards compatibility (you can open an fdb in CAESES5 and save it as cdb, but not the other way around), hence the different file type. In addition, anything with an additional "c" indicates a non-commercial license and therefore cannot be opened with a commercial license. Best regards, Heinrich

Hi Farzan, The operation "Solid From Intersections" tries to obtain a solid "water-tight" geometry from the combination of several provided geometries. The reason why the operation provided some unsatisfactory result maybe due to your provided inputs were not much intersecting but flush maybe? From the pictures it is not quite clear but is there even some fillet? I will recommend you to extend the blade geometries a bit so that there can be a proper intersection among the geometries and create the fillet afterwards as a separate operation. Please let me know if you need further assistance. Cheers Ceyhan

Hi, Sometimes diagrams with important data are available only as graphics files (e.g. after scanning from a report or upon exporting from a pdf-file). CAESES / FRIENDSHIP-Framework can be quickly utilized to read off data from diagrams with high accuracy. To do so, import the graphics as an png-file within a "GL Picture Frame" (1st step). Upon setting the scales of abscissa (x-axis) and ordinate (y-axis) (2nd step) you can readily position a point in your diagram and get your x- and y-coordinates (3rd step). (You may want to use such a point to check the level of accuracy.) Furthermore, you can approximate a graph with a curve, say a B-spline curve (4th step) or interpolate it (5th step). Using the curve representation you can "inquire" the y-value for any given x-value (6th step). The attached fdb-project illustrates the work flow for an imaginary speed-power curve. In addition to using CAESES / FRIENDSHIP-Framework to extract data points from diagrams, you can follow the same approach to replicate a lines plan of a boat, yacht or ship, circumventing classic digitization. Offset data are thus produced effectively. Nice side effect is that you can adjust selected points, for instance to improve accuracy of lines remodeling and "repair" apparent outliers. Kind regards, Stefan ExampleDiagram.zip

When working with Meta Surfaces a good way to keep things well organized is using two 3DWindows at the same time (e.g. one as a central widget, the other one as a docked widget below). Using the filter options (points, curves, surfaces and name filter at the bottom of each 3DWindow) you can display only the surface in one window and just the distributional functions in the other. This way you can alter the functions conveniently while observing the immediate effect your changes have on the Meta Surface.

Hi together, If you want to change the rotational direction of a propeller blade (type FGenericBlade), then you can simply switch the orientation. See the attachment for more information. Cheers Joerg

The easiest way to flip the normal of a given surface is by reversing one of the surface directions u or v. In a NURBS/B-Spline surface this can be done with the command .reverse(1,0) or .reverse(0,1). In a Metasurface you can reverse start and end position or you create an image surface and in the u or v domain you enter [1,0] instead of [0,1].

Parametric models are typically built from various geometric or non-geometric entities, e.g. a projection curve depends on the curve that is going to be projected and the surface it is supposed to lay on. In most programs the user creates the desired object first (in this case the projection curve) - and is subsequently asked to supply the necessary objects (surface, curve and possible projection direction) until the configuration is complete. In CAESES/FFW missing information is indicated by a * next to the required attribute and you can set the relationship via drag and drop or typing. However, if you have selected a surface and a curve already when creating the projection curve, they will be automatically associated to the attributes. Note: Whenever the selection set fits to a creator called, the attributes will be set immediately. For every object you will find a list of available creators in the type documentation.

Hi, Suppose you have several educated guesses about the possible shape of your product but you are not sure which one of your shapes or which combination of these shapes will be the most suitable for a particular purpose. (Examples from naval architecture: Three different bulbous bows or two different stern configurations -- all look good and reasonable but what is the best mix?) One way to set up a parametric model (a partially parametric model to be more specific) is to use morphing, i.e., the smooth transition from one object to another by weighting. Suppose you have a cat and a dog. They look reasonably alike (two ears, two eyes, one snout etc.), meaning their topology is the same even though their geometry differ. If you set your weight to 100% cat and 0% dog, well, you get the cat. If you do it the other way round you would have the dog. Anything in-between, say 60% cat and 40% dog, makes an interesting mix, a cat-dog so to say. (No way to produce a donkey, not even by extrapolation.) Within CAESES / FRIENDSHIP-Framework you can build on this idea by utilizing one or several interspaceSurfaces. Assuming you have the same topology for your surfaces (matching orders and matching numbers of vertices when it comes to B-splines), you can interpolate between your shapes. Attached please find an example in which several surfaces are morphed. Cheers, Stefan surfaceMorphing.fdb

Dear Rohit, the design variables are used to describe/modify the functions given in 01_blade/functions. You can see how they affect their shape in 3D: You can find detailed information on their exact definitions in the documentations. To get there, just click the little blade icon next to the name of the blade: Best regards, Heinrich

If you created the other surfaces with "Coons Patch" by use of 4 boundaries, you could divide the current 2 lines into 4 lines with "image curves" and use them as boundaries for a "Coons Patch"

Hi Mlysyshyn, For sure you can do that as well. Will create the new configuration and send it once I have some time today. Cheers Ceyhan

Hi Mlysyshyn, Please find attached the modified version. Some modifications I have performed; 1) Within the Runner for the "Local Application" I have selected the AllRun.bat which I have created. Please note that I am not using any arguments. 2) The RunAll.bat executable includes commands within the "C:\OpenFOAM\19.10\cygwin64\Cygwin.bat" executable (lines 4-9) and the path to my script file which is the AllRun.sh (line 9) 3) Finally made a little modification to the script file. The final configuration seems to be working but didn't pay attention to the OpenFoam setup. Cheers Ceyhan Sduct_with_openfoam_2_FSYS.fdbc