AFT Blog

The areas on the Specification Window which are required can be highlighted by either pressing the F2 key or by double-clicking on a blank area somewhere on the Specification Window.

To check the properties of the objects connected to the one you are specifying, position the mouse pointer on the connected object's ID (listed in the specification window) and hold down the right mouse button.

The inspection feature saves time by displaying the properties of a Workspace object in a read-only fashion. To inspect an object, position the mouse pointer on the object and hold down the right mouse button.

Very large and complex models may be constructed by building smaller models and merging them together. It is a good idea to break the large system into logical parts where there are known boundary conditions (flowrates or pressures).

Models may be merged together by selecting Merge... from the File menu. Before starting this process it is always advisable to save your current model. You will be asked for the file name to merge into the current Workspace. The model being merged in will be placed on the Workspace and each object will be selected. Move the merged model by positioning the mouse pointer on a selected junction and holding down the left mouse button and dragging it to the desired location on the Workspace. If you accidentally click somewhere off the selected items they will be come unselected and...

Flow direction arrows are for reference only, the actual direction being determined by the analysis and, if the direction is opposite the reference direction you've specified, values for flow, velocity and pressure drop will be negative. If you don't want negative values, simply select the pipe, press F3 to toggle the direction arrow and rerun your model. While this is fine for one or a few pipes, what if you have many pipes with negative flow values? Within the Workspace, open Select Special (on the Edit menu or by pressing F6). For 'Selection Type', select 'Pipe Output Properties', then 'Volumetric Flow...

Click on the junction to be moved once to select it. Then hold the Ctrl key down while you drag the junction icon and the pipes will remain in their current location. Note this results in the pipes being disconnected from the junction.