AFT Blog

Welcome to the Applied Flow Technology Blog where you will find the latest news and training on how to use AFT Fathom, AFT Arrow, AFT Impulse, AFT xStream and other AFT software products.

Using Orthogonal Pipe Drawing in AFT Fathom 7.0

A new feature in AFT Fathom 7.0, orthogonal pipe drawing automatically inserts an intermediate vertex into a pipe and adjusts the length of the pipe segments to create a right angle graphical bend between the pipe end points. Orthogonal drawing can be turned on either from Options, Workspace Preferences Display Options tab, or quickly toggled on and off with the F4 key. By toggling orthogonal drawing on and off you can easily mix pipe drawing modes and even have drawing modes compliment each other. For example, with orthogonal drawing toggled off, select a pipe and insert a segment using AFT Fathom's...

Continue reading
Tags:
  2166 Hits

Using Zoom Select

The zoom select tool is a quick way to zoom into an area of interest. If you click the zoom select tool and draw your selection box the selected area will expand to fit the selection box. The drawn selection box will expand to fit your Workspace so that the magnification will will vary according to the size of the selection box and the area of the model selected. Alternatively you can always have zoom select zoom to 100% by clicking the zoom select tool then holding the shift key down while you draw the selection box and release the mouse...

Continue reading
  2015 Hits

Viewing the Output on the Workspace

You probably already know that you can quickly view a summary of the input data for any object in your model with the Inspection Window. Simply place the cursor over a pipe or junction and 'right click' your mouse ('left click' for you lefties). Think how handy it would be if you could also see a summary of output information on the Workspace. You can and it's as easily done as viewing the Inspection Window by holding the 'ctl' key down as you right click. P.S. - In case you didn't already know, holding the 'shift' key down while right clicking...

Continue reading
  2500 Hits

Is This Valve Choked?

Under sub-sonic gas flow conditions, loss models can use the familiar K, Cv or resistance curve methods. At choked flow, however, the dynamics of compressible flow require a different method to characterize the loss, which AFT Arrow users will see as the optional 'CdA' input value on the valve and other junctions specifications window. The product of coefficient of discharge and effective flow area under choked conditions, AFT Arrow can directly calculate the CdA for some cases, such as at the discharge from a pipe. For other components, such as valves, determining these values is most commonly done through flow testing....

Continue reading
  2426 Hits

Displaying the Fluid Name in Chempak Excel Add-in

If you are using multiple fluids in the same Excel Add-In worksheet, you display which fluid or fluid alias is used in an Excel cell by using the "Fluid" or "FluidAlias" function.

Tags:
  1819 Hits

Adjusting Ambient Pressure

We're not talking about literally adjusting atmospheric pressure here, rather, the ambient reference pressure used in AFT software. The default value is 1 standard atmosphere, but can be changed as desired. Open System Properties either from the Analysis menu or by double clicking the System Properties check box in the status bar, and select the System Data tab. Enter the desired value in the 'Atmospheric Pressure' field and select the appropriate pressure unit in the adjacent unit drop down box. Gauge pressures, NPSHA and cavitation calculations will reflect this specified atmospheric pressure. Note that this does not change the value of...

Continue reading
  2251 Hits

Calculating Results in Pipes and Junctions Not in Service

AFT flow modeling software allows you to easily change system line-up by closing junctions and pipes. How you take a portion of a system out of service affects what calculated results are available in output. Let's take the case where we have a valve, pipe, heat exchanger, pipe and valve in sequence. To close one of the valves we can either open its specifications window, select the Optional tab and check 'Special Condition / Closed' or simply click the valve junction to select it then click the Special Condition button on the toolbar. A red "X" will appear next to the...

Continue reading
  1983 Hits
Log in

Login to your account

Username *
Password *
Remember Me

Create an account

Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.
Name *
Username *
Password *
Verify password *
Email *
Verify email *
Captcha *
Reload Captcha
© 1996 - 2024 Applied Flow Technology