This project is a fork/extension of and complete frontend for an Ansys Fluent plugin based on the PhD work of Dr. Richard C. Gilmore at Colorado School of Mines. Dr. Gilmore's research focuses (in part) on performing a multiphase fluid simulation of the mixing of methane and oxygen within panels of gob created by underground longwall coal and trona mining, as well as analyzing the results to determine the likelyhood of an explosive mixture forming in the given mine. This can be useful when designing safe and effective methane ventilation systems for new mines, analyzing previous explosions, or proposing changes to existing ventilation systems.
Architecture: x86_64 (Linux or Windows)
C Compiler: (If using Linux,) C99 compiler available on the system path (probably already the case; check using $ cc -v)
C++ Compiler: A version of g++ supporting C++17 or newer available on the system path (careful about this on Windows!)
Ansys Fluent: Version 2023 R1 or newer (software + active license)
- Place all files from this repo in a directory alongside a valid mesh/case/data file(s)
a. This should be the working directory when you start Fluent - Load the mesh/case file into Fluent
- Load the plugin; either
a. GUI: File > Read > Scheme >gob_user_interface.scm
b. TUI:> (load "gob_user_interface.scm") - Open the GUI by clicking the newly-created "Model Mine Gob" button in the Fluent ribbon menu
- Set up simulation; in any order
a. Required Settings: Choose a mine type to model the simulation after (see more about what these mean in Dr. Gilmore's research), toggle explosive gas zone colorization, and enter mass fraction concentrations for methane and oxygen (be sure to click "Apply" whenever you change these values!)
b. Optional Settings: Enter whatever values you like (reasonable defaults are entered automatically)
c. Zone Selection: This is sort of a matching game; one at a time you must choose a zone type, match it to an actual zone in the loaded mesh from the provided list, and click "Select Zone" (if any zone is assigned to "Single Part Mesh", all other selections will be ignored and calculations will be done as a single-part mesh setup) - Click "OK"
- Display desired contour graphs under Results > Graphics > Contours
See below for how to use the color map selection menu.
- 2D or 3D (prefer 3D for modern applications)
- Can be a super-critical (9 zones) or sub-critical (6 zones) mine panel
- Can be partitioned into zones (working face, mid-panel, startup room, etc.) or a single partition
- For a single-part mesh, the startup room must be at a more positive y-location than the working face (there is simply not enough information present in such a mesh to avoid this limitation)
- Zones names must contain the string "gob" in order to be filtered out of all the other non-gob-related zones
The equations assume a coordinate space like the one seen above for the mesh. From this location, the mesh may be transformed, though with some restrictions:
Scaling: Uniform scaling only
Rotation: Interger multiples of π, about the z-axis
Translation: All translations permitted
In effect - mesh must be aligned with the axes such that the panel length lies parallel to the y-axis and the panel width parallel to the x-axis
- Allow for arbitrary mesh transformations by computing the complete transformation matrix for any given mesh
- Would likely involve retrieving the 8 corner points of the panel and doing some relatively simple linear algebra
- Generalize the original VSI fitting equations to scale accurately to any given mine by reworking Dr. Gilmore's math (good luck :) )
- Compile the code into a single binary that can be shipped with Fluent as an official add-in
- Getting the tools to do this from Ansys proved more difficult and ... mysterious than expected
- There is a small bug where the contour graphs for porosity, permeability, and inertial resistance get cleared to zero before the user can view them (the numbers are obviously there at some point during the simulation, but then they're ... not)
The file colormap_selection.scm can be used to easily select and load custom colormaps via a button box.
Examples of the colormaps can be seen in the acknowledgements.
Make sure that the folder colormaps containing all of the .colormap files is in your working directory.
The file colormap_selection.scm should also be put into the working directory.
If only the colormap_selection.scm file is loaded into Fluent, the colormap selected via the button box GUI will automatically be loaded and will apply to newly created colormaps.
If gob_user_interface.scm is loaded, colormap_selection.scm will be automatically loaded. Selecting a new colormap via the GUI will still load the colormap, but the user must go to Contours > Colormap Options > Currently Defined > and then select the colormap that was loaded
Option 1: Go to File > Read > Scheme > colormap_selection.scm
Option 2: Type the relative path into the console: (load "colormap_selection.scm")
Option 3: Type the absolute path into the console: (load "C:/<file path>/colormap_selection.scm")
Note: The ribbon cannot be removed unless Ansys Fluent is restarted
In the top ribbon menu, select the "Colormap Selection" tab and the dropdown to open the menu.
Select your colormap and then click "OK" for it to apply.
A command will automatically be applied and it can be seen in the console.
To have a colormap selection apply to an existing model, a new contour must be created.
To see built in colormap options using the TUI: preferences/graphics/colormap-settings/colormap
To change colormap: preferences/graphics/colormap-settings/colormap/<colormap>
e.g. preferences/graphics/colormap-settings/colormap/field_velocity
Use "q" or "quit" in the prompt to move back to the previously occupied menu, if needed.
Step 1: Add this file to Fluent
Option 1: Go to File > Read > Scheme > colormap_selection.scm
Option 2: Type the absolute path into the console: (load "C:/<path>/colormap_selection.scm" )
Step 2: In Ansys Fluent, change the currently selected colormap
To see colormap options, type into the console: preferences/graphics/colormap-settings/colormap
To select a colormap, type into the console: preferences/graphics/colormap-settings/colormap/<colormap>
e.g. preferences/graphics/colormap-settings/colormap/field_velocity
Use "q" or "quit" in the prompt to move back to the previously occupied menu, if needed
Step 3: Save the colormap file to the colormaps folder
Into the console, type: file/write-colormap colormaps/<file name>.colormap
e.g. file/write-colormap colormaps/gray.colormap
Step 4: Add button for colormap into this .scm file
In the code below, there are 6 locations that must be edited. They can be searched for by finding "NEW COLORMAP"
Uncomment these lines (comments start with semicolons)
Replace what is inside the angle brackets (<>) with the appropriate names
Step 5: Add the colormap_selection.scm file to Fluent again
Option 1: Go to File > Read >Scheme > colormap_selection.scm
Option 2: Type the relative path into the console: (load "colormap_selection.scm")
Option 3: Type the absolute path into the console: (load "C:/<path>/colormap_selection.scm")
Note: The previous ribbon cannot be removed from Fluent unless Fluent is restarted
Step 1: Add the .colormap file to the colormaps folder
Step 2: Add button for colormap into the colormap_selection.scm file
In the code below, there are 6 locations that must be edited. They can be searched for by finding "NEW COLORMAP"
Uncomment these lines (comments start with semicolons)
Replace what is inside the angle brackets (<>) with the appropriate names
Step 3: Add this colormap_selection.scm file to Fluent again
Option 1: Go to File > Read > Scheme > colormap_selection.scm
Option 2: Type the relative path into the console: (load "colormap_selection.scm")
Option 3: Type the absolute path into the console: (load "C:/<path>/colormap_selection.scm")
Note: The previous ribbon cannot be removed from Fluent unless Fluent is restarted
The Scheme commands for reading and writing .colormap files along with custom colormaps were created/provided by James Wright and can be found here: https://github.com/jrwrigh/fluent_colormaps/tree/master