The Print button is activated whenever a finite element report is displayed in the browser. When the user clicks the Print button the contents of each pane are sent to the printer. (The target printer can be defined when the Windows Print Panel appears.) If the user only wants tabular reports he can right click in the tabular reports frame and then click on the Print menu selection that appears in that frame. Plotted results can only be copied to the clipboard and then “Pasted” into another document. The 3D viewer images can be sent to the clipboard by selecting Edit:Copy Image to Clipboard. The image can then be “pasted” into another document. The lighting in the 3d viewer can be adjusted to produce stunning images of the deformed and stressed model state.
The small numbers under the Print button: are used to size the print. Selecting a larger number results in the use of a large font in the tabular reports so that it can be seen easier on the screen. Selected parts of the text reports can also be highlighted and copied to the clipboard by left clicking and dragging the mouse over the desired text to highlight it. Once the desired text is highlighted, the right mouse button can be used to copy the text to the clipboard.
Files:
NozzlePRO has a somewhat unusual file system because of the variety, use, and size of the data files manipulated.
The “Files” button in the middle-right of the main data screen is used to access the file system manager.
The input for Nozzle PRO is stored in the current data subdirectory under the filename <name>.nozzlepro. The current subdirectory is always shown in the title bar of the NozzlePRO window. If the user does not enter a current subdirectory or name, then the subdirectory name NOZZLE will be chosen and established under the application root directory. Output is stored in an “\OUTPUT” subdirectory under the data subdirectory when the FEA
calculation completes. The data directory is cleared when the job finishes unless the user asks for intermediate data files to be retained. The only files needed to browse output are in the \OUTPUT folder. The file structure is shown schematically below:
When starting a new job it is best to establish the name for the datafiles where the job will be stored. Enter the new jobname in the “Input Filename:” textbox, and then click on Make “Input Filename” Current., then click on “Finished Here.” The new filename and current folder should appear in the window handle of the main form.
Version 4.0 of NozzlePRO allows the user to Edit the FE/Pipe input file, and it allows support engineers to send FE/Pipe input files back to NozzlePRO users. The FE/Pipe input file for shell models is NOZZLE.ifu and for axisymetric 2d or axisymetric brick models is SETUP.ifu. To circumvent the standard NozzlePRO file handling sequence an already existing IFU file can be placed in the \<name> subdirectory to be read in place of a new one.
The “Use Existing FE/Pipe Input File” checkbox must be checked on the optional data form before the file will be used.
When each job is finished, the used IFU file is written to the \<name>\OUTPUT subdirectory for storage.
(Everything in the \<name> subdirectory is automatically deleted when the job is completed unless the user checks the checkbox to Leave FE/Pipe data files.) For the “smithco2” job above, the FE/Pipe input file would be found in the file \smithco2\OUTPUT\NOZZLE.IFU after the run. If a support engineer emailed a modified NOZZLE.IFU file back to the user it would be placed in the \<name> subdirectory, (e.g. \smithco2\NOZZLE.IFU) and the “Use Existing FE/Pipe Input File” checkbox would be checked so that the ifu file would be
recognized and used for the subsequent run. (The IFU file is written by NozzlePRO whenever a model is plotted or run. If an IFU file already exists in the smithco2 folder and the Use Existing FE/Pipe Input File box is checked the old ifu file will be used. This is what we want if a change is made to the IFU file that should continue to be used. This is NOT what we want 99% of the time when NozzlePRO is being run in a standard mode outside of the FE/Pipe interface.) This is a convenient feature for FE/Pipe users. They can build the base model in NozzlePRO to take advantage of its smart mesh algorithms. They can use the FE/Pipe data editor to enhance the model, and then they can get the standard NozzlePRO output for reporting.
A typical file structure is shown below:
Data File Example Structure
Input datafile for Job N102: C:\SmithConsulting\N102.nozzlepro Intermediate Data Files: C:\SmithConsulting\N102\*.*
FE/Pipe Input File: C:\SmithConsulting\N102\NOZZLE.IFU...put it here to use in NozzlePRO.
FE/Pipe Input File: C:\SmithConsulting\N102\OUTPUT\NOZZLE.IFU ... found here when job finishes Output Browser Files: C:\SmithConsulting\N102\OUTPUT\NOZZLE*.HTM
Output Static Plots C:\SmithConsulting\N102\OUTPUT\*.BMP Output 3d Models C:\SmithConsulting\N102\OUTPUT\*.fex
Output 3d Results C:\SmithConsulting\N102\OUTPUT\*.fea
The output HTM and BMP files are written in standard file formats that can be read by any HTML browser. The standard htm files for a 3d shell model are shown and described below. (Files with the “p” prefix do not include the directX buttons .) For 2d axisymetric models the name NOZZLE is replace by the name SETUP.
NOZZLE-toc.htm – Table of contents for graphic pictures.
NOZZLE.htm – Body of text output report.
NOZZLE-frame.htm – 3 frame htm setup file. (Point your browser to this file to get the nozzlePRO 3 frame output window just like you see it in NozzlePRO with the directX buttons displayed and active.)
NOZZLE-pics.htm – Body of graphics output report that contains directX buttons displayed and active.
NOZZLE-pframe.htm – 3 frame htm setup file that does NOT include the directX buttons displayed and active.
(See the figure below for an example of what the directX buttons look like.)
NOZZLE-ppics.htm – Body of graphics output report that DOES NOT contain the directX buttons. (This is the htm report used for printing.)
NOZZLE-ptoc.htm – Table of contents for report that includes directX buttons.
An example frame with the directX buttons INCLUDED is shown below:
The bmp files can be used in Microsoft WORD or any document processor.
The 3d model output files can only be used with the Paulin Research Group 3d viewer. This is a nonprotected program which may be distributed freely by licensed NozzlePRO customers to their own clients for the purpose of viewing 3d results. The only job files that need to be delivered are the fex and fea files. To deliver the viewer, the files VIEWFE.EXE, DXLIB7.DLL, DXLIB8.DLL and PARTICLES.TGA must be included.
When VIEWFE starts, the user may navigate between data sets to show any combination of results. VIEWFE requires that DIRECTX 7.0A or later be loaded on the host machine. Windows 2000 and XP includes DIRECTX support automatically. Windows 98 or 95 users can download DirectX from the Microsoft web site. Windows NT users must upgrade to Windows 2000 to use the 3d viewer. The test platforms at PRG are Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 98.
Chapter 2 – Section 2 Chapter 2 – Section 2