To stop Ansys Fluent, particularly when calculations are in progress, you can effectively halt the simulation, save your work, and then close the model. The primary methods involve using the designated stop buttons within the Fluent interface, followed by essential data saving procedures.
Stopping an Ansys Fluent simulation involves a few critical steps to ensure your progress is saved and the application is closed gracefully.
Halting Active Calculations
When Fluent is actively solving, you have two main options to pause or stop the iterative process:
- Press "Stop": This button, typically found in the solution console or a dedicated toolbar, will immediately halt the calculation process. It's an abrupt stop, but useful if you need to intervene quickly.
- Press "Stop at end of time step": This is a more graceful option, especially for transient simulations. Fluent will complete the current time step before stopping, ensuring that the results for that completed step are internally consistent. This is generally recommended over an immediate stop for better data integrity.
Post-Stop Actions: Saving Your Work
After initiating a stop, saving your progress is paramount to avoid losing any calculated results or setup changes.
- Save Case & Data: If you are running Ansys Fluent in standalone mode, you must save your case and data files separately.
- The case file (.cas) contains your mesh, boundary conditions, solver settings, and other setup parameters.
- The data file (.dat) stores the calculated solution variables (e.g., velocity, pressure, temperature) at various iterations or time steps.
- You can typically do this via
File > Write > Case & Data...from the Fluent menu.
- Save Project (in Workbench): If you are working within the Ansys Workbench environment, the process is streamlined. You should save your Project in Workbench. This action saves all associated files, including the Fluent setup and results, ensuring everything is synchronized and preserved within the Workbench project structure.
Closing the Model and Application
Once you have successfully stopped the calculations and saved your work, you can proceed to close the Fluent model or application.
- Close the Fluent Model:
- In standalone Fluent, go to
File > CloseorFile > Exit. - In Workbench, you can close the Fluent setup cell by right-clicking on it and selecting
Close Fluent.
- In standalone Fluent, go to
- Exit Ansys Workbench: If you are done with your entire simulation project, you can then close the Ansys Workbench application.
Summary of Stopping Procedures
Here’s a quick overview of the steps:
| Action | Description | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
| Halt Calculation | Press "Stop" or "Stop at end of time step" within the Fluent solution window. "Stop" is immediate; "Stop at end of time step" completes the current step before stopping. | During active iterations, when you need to inspect results, change settings, or conclude the run. |
| Save Progress | Save case & data (standalone Fluent) via File > Write > Case & Data... or save Project (Workbench) by saving the Workbench project file (.wbpj). |
Immediately after stopping calculations to preserve all your setup and the computed results. Failing to save will result in losing the work from the current session. |
| Close Application | Close the Fluent application via File > Exit (standalone) or close the Fluent cell/Workbench project (Workbench). |
After saving all necessary files and when you are finished working on the model or project for the current session. |
Best Practices
- Regular Saving: Even during long simulations, it's good practice to save your case and data periodically or set up automatic saving (autosave) in Fluent to prevent data loss due to unexpected shutdowns or crashes.
- Review Residuals: Before stopping, especially with "Stop at end of time step," briefly check the convergence of your residuals or monitored quantities to ensure the simulation is progressing as expected.
- Documentation: For more detailed instructions and advanced stopping criteria, refer to the official Ansys Fluent User's Guide (requires Ansys account login).
Following these steps ensures a controlled and safe exit from your Ansys Fluent simulations, preserving your valuable work.
