One of the various new features introduced in CFD-GEOM V2009.2 is the ‘Exposed Boundaries’ visualization tool. This tool allows users to quickly visualize those areas where closure problems remain in an otherwise closed and “watertight” model.

ESI is proud to announce the V2009.2 software release of our ACE+ Suite of CFD and Multiphysics software. This release comes just five months after our last major release, and includes many new features that our customers have requested. We welcome and encourage all of our customers to download and use the latest versions, which include numerous enhancements.

The 2009.2 Beta version of CFD software products was released on May 5, 2009. A number of new features were made available in this version to cater to the demands from the various industry sectors.

DTF version 8 and rollback to DTF version 7

In response to the multiple requests for reduction in DTF file size, V2009.2 Beta codes were linked and made available with DTF version 8 (an upgrade from DTF version 7). DTF version 8 uses a data compression (zlib) algorithm that results in reduced DTF file size. Benchmark runs indicated the average increase in write/read time to be around 10%. In certain extreme cases though, a much higher increase in time was observed. We were concerned that this may not be ideal for some of our customers whose main objective is to reduce their overall CFD solution process time. With this in mind, and after detailed consideration, we have made a decision to rollback to DTF v7. The V2009.2 Beta codes linked to DTF v7 will be available for download from our portal and ftp site today, July 2, 2009 onwards.

How this affects our customers

• This rollback affects the usability of DTF files generated with V2009.2 Beta codes till date. All such (DTF v8) files will need to be converted to DTF v7 - we will provide a free service to convert all existing v8 DTF files to v7.
• This rollback does not affect access to new features - all new features introduced in V2009.2 Beta will continue to be available to customers.
• Customers who have not used V2009.2 Beta codes are in no way affected by this rollback.

How to request the free conversion service (DTF v8 to v7)

• All conversion service requests should be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it - please include your organization name and COIN.
• A secure ftp account will be created and detailed information regarding the ftp account and upload procedure will be sent to the customer.
• Once the files have been received, we will convert and upload the corresponding DTF v7 files to the same ftp account within 2 business days.
• As always, all customer files will be handled with utmost confidentiality and will be deleted from our servers as soon as the converted files have been picked up by the customer.
• There is no limit to the number of DTF files that a customer can upload for conversion.

How to check if a DTF file is v7 or v8?

The easiest way to check the version number of a DTF file is to run the following command:

DTF -i filename.DTF

For example:

>DTF –i flow.DTF

Title       : Flow Simulation
Origin      : <none>
Created by  : CFD-VisCART, ver. 2009.2.6
Created on  : Tue Jun 30 16:37:02 2009
Modified on : Tue Jun 30 16:39:23 2009
DTF version : 8.0.4
Scaling     : 0.001000

1 simulation(s):
- simulation 1: Projected Cartesian Grid Generated With CFD-VisCART 2009.2.6
 1 zone(s):
 - zone 1: Polyhedral Zone Type
   is_sorted= 1
   138771 vertices
   128443 cells (by type     Hexahedron: 127971     Poly-Cell: 472)
   18 data array(s)

Please note that if you run the above command on a v8 DTF file using v7 DTF utility, you will get an error message as shown below. This would also confirm that the DTF file is v8.

Error: DTF file was written with a newer version than contained in this application

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this rollback may cause but we had to make this decision keeping the best interests of all of our customers in mind.

Regards,
ESI CFD Team

In engineering systems, the presence of obstacles in the flow path provides resistance to flow accompanied by a pressure drop across the component. Often, the flow paths within such components are too complex to be resolved by a mesh (assuming it is known) and only the macro effects are of interest to design engineers.

In some cases, you might have to perform the same task several times to post-process your results in CFD-VIEW. This can happen for example when you are running a parametric study and need to extract the same information from all the solution files. In this case, it might be time-saving to use the Macro option of CFD-VIEW, especially if obtaining the information necessitates many operations.