Use TUI commands#

TUI commands refer to a programming interface that mirrors the Fluent TUI (text user interface). There is a TUI command hierarchy defined for each of the two modes: meshing and solution. The hierarchy that is active depends on the current Fluent mode. The guidance in this topic applies to both modes.

The PyFluent TUI commands allow you to automate workflows. Everything that’s in the Fluent TUI (which itself is a comprehensive automation interface) is exposed in PyFluent. The PyFluent TUI commands are Pythonic versions of the commands that are used in the Fluent console.

The PyFluent TUI commands do not support TUI features such as aliases or command abbreviation. To make using PyFluent commands in an interactive session easier, you can install a tool such as pyreadline3, which provides both command line completion and history. To inspect any PyFluent TUI object further, you can use the Python built-in help and dir functions.

The arguments to a TUI command are those that would be passed in direct interaction in the Fluent console, but they are in a Pythonic style. The most productive way to write Python commands is with reference to existing TUI commands. The following examples show how the Python usage mirrors the existing TUI usage.

TUI command construction#

Assume that you are in the solution mode and type the following in the Fluent console to set velocity inlet properties:

/define/boundary_conditions/set/velocity-inlet

This command instigates a sequence of prompts in the console. Assume that your responses to each prompt are as follows:

velocity-inlet-5

()

temperature

no

293.15

quit

The following code yields the same result but specifies all arguments in one call:

/define/boundary-conditions/set/velocity-inlet velocity-inlet-5 () temperature no 293.15 quit

You can see how using the interactive TUI provides a reliable approach for constructing TUI calls that include full sequences of arguments.

With the full TUI call in hand, you can transform it to a Python call. This code launches Fluent and makes the call to set velocity inlet properties:

from ansys.fluent.core import launch_fluent

solver = launch_fluent(mode="solver")

tui = solver.solver.tui

tui.define.boundary_conditions.set.velocity_inlet(
    "velocity-inlet-5", [], "temperature", "no", 293.15, "quit"
)

Here is another Fluent console interaction:

/define/units

pressure

"Pa"

The corresponding Python call is:

tui.define.units("pressure", '"Pa"')

To preserve the double quotation marks around the TUI argument, you must wrap the string "Pa" in single quotation marks.

TUI command transformation rules#

The following rules are implied in the preceding examples:

  • Each forward slash separator between elements in TUI paths is transformed to Python dot notation.

  • Some characters in path elements are either removed or replaced because they are illegal inside Python names. For example:

    • Each hyphen in a path element is transformed to an underscore.

    • Each question mark in a path element is removed.

  • Here are some rules about strings:

    • String-type arguments must be surrounded by quotation marks in Python.

    • A target Fluent TUI argument that is surrounded by quotation marks (like "Pa" in the preceding example) must be wrapped in single quotation marks so that the original quotation marks are preserved.

    • The contents of string arguments are preserved.

For more examples of TUI command usage, see Watertight geometry meshing workflow.