7.

Release Guide
 Contents
• General overview ..…………………………………………………………………….. 3

• Grid generation enhancements .………………………………………………… 4

• Core fill time model …………………………………………………………………… 18

• Support for new operating systems ………………………………………….. 24

• Side-by-side installation ..…………………………………………………………. 26

• For more information ……………………………………………………………….. 28

2
 General Overview
This Release Guide is an overview of the major
features in Arena-flow 7.5

• Arena-flow 7.5 contains all of the sand core

engineering technology from prior Arena-
flow releases with additional models and
usability enhancements

• This guide assumes you are familiar with

prior releases of the Arena-flow Sand Core
Engineering software

• This guide serves as reference material on

the new features in Arena-flow since 7.4

3
 Grid Generator Setup Dialogue
• In Arena-flow 7.5, all grid-
related activities can now
be accomplished from a
single dialogue
– Importing a grid from
another project
– Defining and evaluating the
grid
– Generating the grid
– Viewing the resultant
output files
– New capabilities have also
been added

• Additional details are

provided on the following
slides

4
 Grid Generation Dialogue Navigation
• Basic tasks are
shown across the top

– Import Grid

– Undo

– Redo

– Check Grid

– Generate Grid

– View Output

5
 Import Grid Feature
• The new “Import
Grid” feature imports
the grid lines from
another Arena-flow
project file.

• For example, a grid

from a steady-state
airflow calculation
may be reused by a
transient curing
calculation for the
same core

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 Undo & Redo Support
• Modifications to a
grid can now easily
be evaluated and
removed if results
are undesirable using
the “Undo” and
“Redo” buttons

7
 Check Grid Feature
• Arena-flow
calculations run best
on uniform grids.
However, it is not
always feasible to
use perfectly uniform
grids for complex
cores.

• The new “Check

Grid” feature
provides a plot
revealing grid
uniformity data

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 Check Grid Feature
• Clicking “Check Grid”
produces a plot of the
grid spacing in the three
directions normalized
by the smallest cell
spacing

• For best results:

– Avoid placing a large
cell directly next to a
small cell
– Keep your largest cell in
any direction less than
2.5 times the size of
your smallest cell in
that same direction

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 Generating the Grid

• Click “Generate Grid”

to generate the grid
from within Grid
Generation screen

10
 Viewing Output

• Click “View Output”

to:
– View grid
– View CAD
– View Transparent
Model
– Compare Grid to CAD

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 Grid Generator Layout
• One of the most apparent
changes to the grid
generation dialogue is
that all three views of the
grid and geometry are
shown concurrently
– x-y plane
– x-z plane
– y-z plane

• The three windows can be

resized as desired by
dragging the separators
between the view planes

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 Grid Generator Layout
• To accommodate the
multiple views, the rest of
the dialogue layout has
been rearranged

– Geometry and subset

information is located in the
“STL/Subset” panel at the
top

– Grid controls are located in

the “Controls” panel at the
side

– Grid line information is still

available and can be
accessed by clicking on the
“Grid lines” tab at the
bottom

13
 Detaching or Hiding Panels
• All three of these
panels can be closed or
detached by clicking on
the or buttons
associated with that
panel, or toggled on/off
by using the “Docks”
menu

• Hiding panels allows for

increased working area
for the views of the
CAD and grid

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• The STL Subset slider bar
STL Subsets
feature, first introduced in
Arena-flow 7.4, has been
expanded to utilize all three
view planes
– In this example a subset in y is
chosen by either moving the
slider bars or entering
coordinates
– The green lines on the x-y plane
show the corresponding subset
location
– The view plane perpendicular to
the subset (in this case x-z), only
shows STL triangles within the
subset

• This is a powerful tool for

capturing blow tube tips and
other core features with
specified grid lines

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 Non-Linear Grid Spacing
• Arena-flow 7.5 now has
optional non-linear grid
spacing

• When defining or modifying

grid spacing, you can enter a
growth ratio for the grid lines.
– The default growth ratio is 0
which indicates all cells are
equal size (used for all prior
Arena-flow version)
– This example shows the z-grid
lines growing by 10%.

• This can be useful for

smoothly transitioning from
regions of fine grid resolution
to coarser regions

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 Non-Linear Grid Spacing
• The grid growth factor is shown as the
third column in the “Grid lines” output
windows

• The spacing (Δ) between each

subsequent grid line will grow by this
growth factor, g:

 i 1  (1  g ) i
• Given a growth factor, ggrowing, the
equivalent growth factor for
subsequently smaller cells is:
g growing
g shrinking  
1  g growing
• For example:
– 0 indicates uniform grid spacing
– 0.1 indicates each subsequent cell is 10%
larger than the previous cell
– -0.0909 indicates each subsequent cell is
9.09% smaller than the previous cell

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 Core Fill Time Model
• A new core fill time model has
been added to Arena-flow 7.5

• If activated, cells will be

colored by the time at which
the cell was filled with sand,
providing a visual map of the
core filling profile

• To activate the model, select

the “Core fill time model”
from the “Models” dialogue
– Available on binder-coated
sand, shell sand or expert
interfaces only. Not applicable
to core curing simulations.

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 Core Fill Time Model Advanced Settings
• Clicking on “Fill settings” raises
the “Core fill time advanced
options” window

• Users can control what defines a

core as being filled or unfilled by
setting the “Filled trigger” and
“Unfilled trigger” values.

• The default model settings:

– Will mark the cell as filled at the
time the sand volume fraction
first exceeds 95% of the close
pack volume fraction
– Will also note if the cell’s sand
volume fraction subsequently
drops below 90% of the close
pack volume fraction

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 Post-Processing Core Fill Time Results
• To view core fill time
model results, click on
“View fill time map” on
the “Post-run” dialogue

• GMV is launched
showing the core
colored by “Time filled
[s]”
– Default scale is 0-1
seconds
– A value of 1,000
indicates the cell was
never filled

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 Post-Processing Core Fill Time Results
• In general, cores should fill:
– Bottom first, top last
– Away from blow tubes first,
close to blow tubes last

• Often it is helpful to adjust

data limits for the “filled1”
variable to better view fill
time data

• In this example, when

results are viewed on a 0-
0.4 second scale, it is
evident that regions near
the outer arms fill slightly
after regions closer to the
center tube.

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 Using the Core Fill Time Model
• Core fill time model results
should always be compared
with transient core filling results
– In this example, sequences from
the core filling animation reveal
the same potential problem area
as highlighted by the core fill time
model.
– For additional discussion, see
pages 161-162 of the Arena-flow
User Guide

• The core fill time model does

not change computational
results, but rather is another
tool to highlight potential
problem areas warranting
further study

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 Advanced Core Fill Time Model Usage
• The basic core fill time model usage, outlined on the previous slides, displays the “filled1”
variable which indicates when the sand volume fraction in the cell first exceeds the “Fill
trigger” value.

• Two additional variables are created by the model and are available for post-processing in
GMV
– “filled2”: This variable also indicates when the sand volume fraction in the cell exceeds the “Fill trigger”
value. However, if the sand volume fraction subsequently decreases below the “Unfilled trigger” value,
the “filled2” variable is reset whereas the “filled1” variable is not.
– “diff”: This variable is the difference between “filled1” and “filled2”.

• In summary:
– “filled1” – time when the cell is first filled, regardless of whether sand later leaves the cell
– “filled2” – time when the cell is last filled and stays filled
– “diff” – the difference between “filled1” and “filled2”

• The “diff” variable can be used similar to the basic model results. Regions with a non-zero
value should be studied further. Once a region is filled it is generally undesirable to have
sand subsequently vacate the same region.

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 Supported Operating Systems
• Arena-flow 7.5 continues to be available for 64-bit Linux
operating systems

• Arena-flow 7.5 is also available for the 64-bit Windows 7

operating system

• Support for 32-bit operating systems is no longer available

– For 32-bit operating systems, please continue using your current
release (last compatible version is the 7.4.1 maintenance release in
the 7.4 software series)
– If you have a 32-bit operating system, a considerable speed-up is likely
obtainable by updating your hardware and operating system. Contact
Arena-flow support, or your distributor, for recommendations

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 Running on Windows
• Arena-flow 7.5 on Windows has the same functionality as the traditional Linux
installation.

• However, other programs used with Arena-flow may differ on Windows. Examples
include:

– GMV. GMV on Windows utilizes the Cygwin X-Server, which is optionally included in the Arena-flow
7.5 installation. A compatible version of Cygwin must be running for GMV to launch correctly. The
first time GMV is launched through the Arena-flow GUI, Cygwin will be started. On some systems,
there is a lag between the Cygwin start-up and GMV system call. In these cases, GMV will not launch
correctly the first time, but will thereafter. If Cygwin is running a icon will appear in the task-
bar.

– xmgr. The xmgr plotting utility is often used to plot data on Linux installations, but is not available
for Windows. When running Arena-flow on Windows, plotting defaults to using the qtGrace utility
instead.

– Command line usage. For users accustomed to scripting, batch post-processing and other command
line utility calls, Windows does not generally offer the same functionality as Linux. However, some
functionality is available when Cygwin is running. When performing batch post-processing from the
command line on Windows, be sure to launch the command prompt through the Arena-flow GUI.
Within that command prompt, type “xterm” to launch an xterminal running Cygwin (ensure Cygwin
is running first). Many Linux-style commands and scripts can be run within the Cygwin xterminal.

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 Side-by-Side Installation
• Arena-flow 7.5 now supports side-by-side
installation with earlier versions of Arena-
flow

• The Arena-flow 7.5 installer will create a new

desktop icon which links to the Arena-flow 7.5
installation (version 7.5.0)
– To run Arena-flow 7.5, click on the new icon
– To run your pervious version, click on the old
desktop icon

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 Command Line Program Calls
• To facilitate side-by-side installation with earlier Arena-flow version,
command line program calls have changed:
Program 7.4 command 7.5 command
GUI arena arena.7
solver arena.x arena.x.7
grid generator arena.g arena.g.7
interact utility act_arena act_arena.7

When calling Arena-flow 7.5 programs from the command line, please be sure
to use the 7.5 command. Continue to use older commands for older versions.

• Names for other commonly utilities or post-processing tools have

not changed
– e.g. gmv, scalestl, bldcol, etc.

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Additional Feedback and Questions
We want your feedback. Please let us know what you think
of Arena-flow 7.5. Please contact Arena-flow support, or
your distributor, with additional feedback or questions:

Arena-flow LLC
10899 Montgomery Blvd. NE, Suite A
Albuquerque, NM 87111
+1-505-275-3849
support@arena-flow.com

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