How to import lines from SpaceClaim to CFD-Post

During post-processing, it is sometimes necessary to generate results on lines that are not available within the CFD-Post options. These lines can be created in SpaceClaim and then imported later. The procedure is shown here.

Let's assume we have the pipe system shown below. Water at 25°C flows (velocity profile) through the pipe with walls at 200°C. In this case, the geometry is created in Ansys SpaceClaim, the Tet mesh in Ansys Meshing and the CFD model in Ansys CFX. The temperature distribution shows the temperature increasing near the outlet as expected.  

But, what if we need to get the temperature values on a line that cannot be created by the options available in the CFD-Post? We will use the Helix shown in the geometry for this purpose. Make sure to save a copy of your work, at least a backup of your geometry. As we will open SpaceClaim again, this will affect the results. Or, you can follow these steps before solving your model. 

Open SpaceClaim and go to the 'Detail Tab'. Find the icon for 'Curve Table':

This tools will create a table with the coordinates of the desired curve. First, you have to select the origin that serves as reference (left) and then, select the line (right).

There are options available on the bottom left part of the screen (left).  Click on Snapshot and type the 'Maximum Deviation' (resolution) you prefer. By Default the value is 0.1 mm. Click on Complete (✓). You will see a table that appears in the X-Y plane having the coordinates (right).

Right click on the edge of the table > Save table as > Select CSV file (*.csv). Just to mention, there are two additional formats: Web page (*.htm, *.html) and XML Document (*.xml). 

Now, open the csv file with Microsoft Excel and save the file as *.xlsx. Separate the data in columns and organize them in the way it can be seen below (right). You must add some specific lines to match the format the CFD-Post uses to this type of input data. You can add a name if you prefer, in this case is 'Helix'. 

Now save this file again, but this time select the first CSV file format on the list, as Microsoft Excel has four types files: CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited), CSV (Comma delimited), CSV (Masintosh) and CSV (MS-DOS). In the CFD-Post, go to File > Import > Import Surface, 'Line or Point Data...'  A Window will open to search for the table.

Then, you will see the line loaded in the geometry:

We can use this line to get the temperature vs. X distance in a chart:

And this concludes the procedure. Use SpaceClaim to draw any line and follow the procedure to import the data in the CFD-Post.