ReadMe for Flowmaster V7.8.0

Including Aerospace, Automotive, and Gas Turbine Product

Variants

May 2011

This ReadMe File provides the latest information on this release. It discusses topics not covered

by other documentation or resulting from late changes to the software. The ReadMe relates to

Flowmaster V7.8.0 and all product variants: Aerospace, Automotive, and Gas Turbine.

Flowmaster V7 General Systems is now simply called Flowmaster V7. The license file

determines which product variant can be used. Information on the content of this release can be

found in the Release Notes provided with the installation package download.

Microsoft Updates: Please ensure that the latest Microsoft updates have been installed on the

PC (http://www.update.microsoft.com). This can be done after the Flowmaster installation.

License Management – FLEXnet: A Flowmaster V7.8 license file will be required to run this

Release. Please contact your Flowmaster representative.

Installation: Flowmaster V7.8.0 automatically upgrades any existing installation of

Flowmaster V7.7.x. or Flowmaster V7.6.x

Database Upgrade: Having installed Flowmaster V7.8.0, if you have been using an older version

of Flowmaster, your existing database will be automatically upgraded for compatibility with

Flowmaster V7.8.0 when Flowmaster V7.8.0 first accesses the database. As part of the database

upgrade process, Flowmaster V7 will automatically create a backup copy of the existing

database. In view of Flowmaster database changes introduced at Flowmaster V7.8, it is

recommended that such backup databases are retained.

Essential database changes have been necessary at Flowmaster V7.8.0. It is essential that all

users accessing the Flowmaster V7.8.0 database are using Flowmaster V7.8.0 or later.

SQL Server Databases: Flowmaster V7.8.0 databases attached to SQL Server 2008 R2 Express

are not backwardly compatible with SQL Server 2005 Express.

Databases: If an existing installation is being upgraded for Flowmaster V7.8.0, a database may

already be installed to <Homedrive:>\FlowmasterV7\Data. If this is the case, installers are

recommended to consult the Flowmaster V7 Installation and Configuration Guide to learn how to

attach Flowmaster V7.8.0 to the existing Flowmaster database (See page 16 and/or Appendix B).

COM Automation: COM may fail to run on Windows XP for the following reasons:-

1. The latest Microsoft updates have not been installed. Please ensure that the latest

Microsoft updates (http://www.update.microsoft.com) are installed on the PC

2. The available PC memory may be too low. From the Flowmaster V7 Installation and

Configuration Guide the minimum requirement is 1GB. This assumes that no other

memory intensive applications are running. Microsoft Office 2003 requires an additional

128MB of RAM

3. The disk is heavily fragmented. Testing has shown that defragmenting the disk on a

virtual XP machine has allowed COM to run straight from the Flowmaster V7 Installation

package.

Reporting: We are aware that the document upload, inspect and update feature may very

occasionally misbehave in a way that is not consistently reproducible, but, as far as we are

aware, it is not fatal. If you are affected by this issue, please contact your local support office with

details as to how the issue arose and, if possible, data and/or screen shots and/or videos to show

the effect. This will help us to resolve the issue in a future update.

Priming: During late testing, a difference in the behaviour of the gas-side flows was observed;

some users may notice increased pressure and flow oscillations. In some cases, stability may be

improved by the use of a smaller timestep. The instabilities on the gas-side flows are not

believed significantly to affect liquid-side flows.

Cross Head Bearing (CHB) and Hydraulic Tappet Lash Adjuster (HTLA): Networks featuring

Cross Head Bearing components may experience convergence failures when the network

upstream of the CHB is not dominated by pressure (i.e. upstream pressures set by pressure

specifying components). Similar convergence errors may also affect Hydraulic Tappet Lash

Adjuster components. We are currently investigating the cause of these issues and expect a

patch to be available sometime after the formal release of Flowmaster V7.8.0.

This concludes the Flowmaster V7.8.0 ReadMe for users who have previously installed

Flowmaster V7.7.x.

First time installations: Further information

First time installers of Flowmaster V7 may find the following notes from earlier ReadMe files

useful.

Flowmaster V7 Updates and Maintenance Releases: New functionality becomes available as

periodic downloadable updates. Please visit the customer portal to check for the availability of

downloads (See http://www.flowmaster.com/customer.html). If a subsequent Maintenance

Release (such as Flowmaster V7.8.1) is available when you intend to install Flowmaster V7.8.0

you are recommended to install the later release in addition to (and in preference to) Flowmaster

V7.8.0. Flowmaster V7.8.0 should first be installed from a web download or a DVD before

proceeding with the download and installation of the latest Maintenance Release – unless on-

screen instructions advise otherwise.

Note: Flowmaster V7 Updates are cumulative. This means that when downloading the latest

Update from the Flowmaster Customer Portal all enhancements and bug fixes from earlier

Updates will automatically be included.

Help Tools: On first opening Flowmaster V7 you will have access to a number of “How To…..”

video clips available from the Show Me tab on the right of your screen. Additional Help Tools are

Flowmaster Help (providing guidance on use of the user interface) and Reference Help (providing

information on components, data, and analysis options). These are accessible from the top menu

or in a context sense from various locations in the software.

Databases: For a default (Standalone) installation, the Flowmaster V7 database data files will be

installed to: <Homedrive:>\Program Files\Common Files\FlowmasterV7\.

For a Standalone – Custom or Server Installations, the database data files may be installed to

any specified directory by a user having local Administrator privilege.

Once attached to the SQL Server, database files should not be moved using operating system

commands alone. Instead users should refer to their system or database managers.

Pack-Files: A Pack-file is a compact means of transferring networks and database items

between databases. It contains only user-defined information, enabling a large model to be

transferred in a small file that can be emailed. Flowmaster supplied items (components, curves,

surfaces, etc.) are not included.

At Flowmaster V7, pack-files may be created and unpacked into another Flowmaster V7

database. Flowmaster V7 pack-files will unpack into another database at the same version

number or higher. However, pack-files created at a higher version cannot be unpacked into a

lower version database. For example, it is possible to unpack a Flowmaster V7.5.1 pack-file into

a Flowmaster V7.8.0 database, but you cannot unpack a Flowmaster V7.8.0 pack-file into a

Flowmaster V7.5.1 database.

Flowmaster V6.x pack-files cannot be unpacked at Flowmaster V7. These must be unpacked

into the same database version at which they were created, and then the database should be

upgraded through to Flowmaster V7.

Flowmaster V7 pack-files unpack into the project you are currently logged into or you can

selectively unpack them to specific projects by selecting the project in 'project view'.

Results Control: At Flowmaster V7 all data and results are stored in the same Flowmaster V7

relational database. It is possible to tightly control what results are stored either on an individual

component and node basis, or in terms of individual results variables and time step reporting

(selected on the Output Control sub form of the Simulation Data tab).

It is strongly recommended that you consider what specific results are useful to your engineering

appraisal of the system and switch off all others as this can have a significant effect on simulation

run-time and storage requirements.

Network Data Audit: Performance data: Flowmaster V7 supports network input data audit. When

an Equation, Curve or Surface (i.e. performance data) is modified, this modification is not

reflected in any networks that use them - the network will continue to use the previous,

unmodified version. If you do want a network to use the updated version of the performance data,

then you must re-assign it to components within the network.

Important Note: Flowmaster V7 production databases should be backed up regularly to prevent

loss of data in the event of hardware failure or accidental deletion of data. Please consult your

system administrator for assistance to back up SQL databases.

It is recommended that all Flowmaster V7 databases are backed up before carrying out any

Flowmaster V7 uninstall procedure – to guard against accidental data deletion.