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Fluent Text User Interface and Journal File

Link to section 'Fluent Text User Interface (TUI)' of 'Fluent Text User Interface and Journal File' Fluent Text User Interface (TUI)

If you pay attention to the “Console” window in the Fluent window when setting up and carrying out the calculation, corresponding commands can be found and executed one after another. Almost all the setting processes can be accomplished by the command lines, which is called Fluent Text User Interface (TUI). Here are the main commands in Fluent TUI:

  adjoint/                parallel/               solve/
  define/                 plot/                   surface/
  display/                preferences/            turbo-workflow/
  exit                    print-license-usage     views/
  file/                   report/
  mesh/                   server/

For example, instead of opening a case by clicking buttons in Ansys Fluent, we can type /file read-case case_file_name.cas.gz to open the saved case.

Link to section 'Fluent Journal Files' of 'Fluent Text User Interface and Journal File' Fluent Journal Files

A Fluent journal file is a series of TUI commands stored in a text file. The file can be written in a text editor or generated by Fluent as a transcript of the commands given to Fluent during your session.

A journal file generated by Fluent will include any GUI operations (in a TUI form, though). This is quite useful if you have a series of tasks that you need to execute, as it provides a shortcut. To record a journal file, start recording with File -> Write -> Start Journal..., perform whatever tasks you need, and then stop recording with File -> Write -> Stop Journal...

You can also write your own journal file into a text file. The basic rule for a Fluent journal file is to reproduce the TUI commands that controlled the configuration and calculation of Fluent in their order. You can add a comment in a line starting with a ; (semicolon).

Here are some reasons why you should use a Fluent journal file:

1. Using journal files with bash scripting can allow you to automate your jobs.
2. Using journal files can allow you to parameterize your models easily and automatically.
3. Using a journal file can set parameters you do not have in your case file e.g. autosaving.
4. Using a journal file can allow you to safely save, stop and restart your jobs easily.

The order of your journal file commands is highly important. The correct sequences must be followed and some stages have multiple options e.g. different initialization methods.

Here is a sample Fluent journal file for the demo case:

  ;testJournal.jou
  ;Set the TUI version for Fluent
  /file/set-tui-version "22.1"
  ;Read the case. The default folder
  /file read-case /home/jin456/Fluent_files/tutorial_case1/elbow_files/dp0/FFF/Fluent/FFF-1.cas.gz
  ;Initialize the case with Hybrid Initialization
  /solve/initialize/hyb-initialization
  ;Set Number of Iterations to 1000, Reporting Interval to 10 iterations and Profile Update Interval to 1 iteration
  /solve/iterate 1000 10 1
  ;Outputting solver performance data upon completion of the simulation
  /parallel timer usage
  ;Write out the simulation results.
  /file write-case-data /home/jin456/Fluent_files/tutorial_case1/elbow_files/dp0/FFF/Fluent/result.cas.h5
  ;After computation, exit Flent
  /exit

Before running this Fluent journal file, you need to make sure: 1) the ansys module has been loaded (it’s highly recommended to load the same version of Ansys when you built the case project); 2) the project case file (***.cas.gz) has been created.

Then we can use Fluent to run this journal file by simply using:fluent 3ddp -t$NTASKS -g -i testJournal.jou in the terminal. Here, 3d indicates this is a 3d model, dp indicates double precision, -t$NTASKS tells Fluent how many Solver Processes it will take (e.g. -t4), -g means to run without the GUI or graphics, -i testJournal.jou tells Fluent to read the specific journal file.

Here is a table for the available command line Options for Linux/UNIX and Windows Platforms in Ansys Fluent.

For more information for Fluent text user interface and journal files, please refer to Fluent FAQ.