I thought that I’d write a quick post for current users of SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation who are looking for a more advanced tip.
Say I have an example where there is a water channel flowing constantly to cool the plate above it that is heated by a thermostatically controlled source. Thus I would need to first develop the flow field inside the channel, so I set up a separate steady state project to do this. But since the heat source is controlled by a thermostat, the power will turn on and off in time so I need to run this as a transient solution. How do I run a Transient problem when I need to start with some steady results?
The key to the problem is changing from “User defined” to “Transferred” in the Parameter Definition option of “Initial and Ambient conditions,” see image below. This is done either done through the Wizard (when initially setting up a problem from scratch) or in the General settings (when the study has already been defined or cloned). You may not have known that you can change this option, but if you click on the box that reads “User defined,” you’ll find that a down arrow on the right-hand side tell you there is a menu to select from so this is where you’ll see “Transferred.” You have the option of either starting from a named project or from a results file (where you’ll have to Browse to the correct steady state project folder number). My preference and recommendation is to descriptively name projects so that you know exactly which project to select.
Original Post created by Joe Galliera, Senior Simulation Technical Manager , East area at DS SOLIDWORKS
