4 - 12.1   FLOW-3D Loader Options

The FLOW-3D Loader Options dialog is launched when you select the "Advanced Options" toggle in the initial Load Data dialog.

Zones Page

Use the Zones page of the dialog to select which zones from your dataset to load into Tecplot 360 EX. The box on the left lists the available zones, and the box on the right lists the variables selected to load into Tecplot 360 EX.

Variables Page

Similarly, use the Variables page of the dialog to select which variables to load.

Other Page

Use the Other page of the dialog to specify transient options, boundary options, and whether to calculate the complement of F.

The page has the following options:

• Transient Options - Use the Transient Options region of the dialog to specify:

• Time Skip - Specify the interval between each loaded time step. A value of one loads all time steps, a value of two loads every other time step, and so forth.

• Auto Assign Strand IDs - Select this option to allow Tecplot 360 EX to assign the Strand IDs to your data. Regions or components of solutions throughout an unsteady solution are tracked by Strand IDs. All zones that represent a particular region or component are assigned the same Strand ID. Selecting this option directs Tecplot 360 EX to assign Strand IDs to the loaded zones. This ensures that only the zones representing the chosen solution time are displayed in Tecplot 360 EX. Zones that do not have Strand IDs assigned are displayed at all solution times. See also Section 7 - 2 “Time Aware”.

• Add Zones to Existing Strands - If you are appending data to an existing dataset, select Auto Assign Strand IDs to Zones in order for Tecplot 360 EX to append the new zones to existing strands. This is appropriate where the new data represents the same regions or components as are represented in the existing dataset, such as an additional solution time level of an unsteady solution.

For more information on working with transient data, refer to Section 7 - 2 “Time Aware”.

• Calculate Derived Variables - Use the Calculate Derived Variables region of the dialog to opt to include the Complement of F. The complement of F is calculated as:

      Complement of F = {1 - f} • {vf}

      where f is the fluid fraction and vf is the volume fraction.

The Fluid Surface, where Fluid Surface = {vf}*{f}, is always calculated and added to the dataset.

• Include Boundary Cells On - Use the boundary cell region of the dialog to specify whether to load boundary cells on the I, J, or K extrema. An additional layer of boundary cells will be loaded on the given side of each block for each extremum selected.

• Load on Demand - Toggle-on "Cache unloaded data in temporary directory" to enable Tecplot 360 EX to create a temporary directory to cache the data. The data in the temporary directory is formatted such that it may be quickly read back into Tecplot 360 EX as needed.

4 - 12.2   FLOW-3D Macro Commands

The $!READDATASET macro command is extended for the FLOW-3D loader with the following options:

4 - 12.3   FLOW-3D Auxiliary Data

The following auxiliary data is added to the dataset by the loader:

Auxiliary Data can be viewed on the Aux Data Page of the Data Set Information dialog (accessed via the Data menu).