Introduction
When submitting a case, you have to make two decisions. If the case needs to run on a detailed or conceptual level and what amount of credits to select. This article will go more in depth on the first decision to make: when to submit using a detailed level and when to use a conceptual level.
Difference between detailed and conceptual level for simulation cases
| Conceptual | Detailed | |
|---|---|---|
| Mesh refinement | Slightly less refined. | High refinement. |
| Computational time | Runs very quickly. | Takes longer to complete. |
For a simulation case, the only difference between a detailed simulation and a conceptual simulation is the mesh refinement. The mesh of a detailed simulation is more refined compared to that of a conceptual one.
This means that the results of a detailed simulation are more accurate compared to the ones of a conceptual simulation. However, this comes at the cost of a longer computational time.
✎ Note |
|---|
| In short, it is advised to submit your simulation on a detailed level if you desire high precision results. On the other hand, if you only want to have a quick first estimation about the performance of your design, a conceptual level is the one to use due to the shorter run time. |
Difference between detailed and conceptual level for design cases
For a design case, the difference between the two refinement levels is much more pronounced compared to a simulation case. Next follows a table of the differences:
| Conceptual | Detailed | |
|---|---|---|
| manufacturability | Does not need to meet all manufacturabiltiy constraints. | guarantees manufacturability. |
| Mesh refinement | Slightly less refined. | High refinement. |
| Computational time | Runs very quickly. | Takes longer to complete. |
Starting with the first point in the table above. Only a detailed design guarantees manufacturability. This means that if you want to design something for prototyping, you'll need to submit your case using a detailed refinement level.
However, because detailed designs have a significant computational time, it is strongly recommended to start with a conceptual design to make sure the results are as expected. A conceptual design will give you a pretty good idea of what to expect of a detailed case.
A conceptual design is not fully manufacturable, but it runs faster compared to a detailed design case.
Let's make the above paragraph more concrete by using an example case. This example case was submitted with the following two objectives: a pressureLossMinimization and a temperatureMinimization. After ColdStream has finished the optimization run, you prefer a result with a lower pressuredrop and don't mind a higher temperature distribution. For the next design run, you can increase the weighting factor for the pressureLossMinimization objective and/or decrease the one for the temperature objective before resubmitting it.
If the above example was submitted using a conceptual refinement, you'll know sooner if the design is as you desire. For a detailed design, you'll need to wait twice as long (as a rule of thumb).
✎ Note |
|---|
| A conceptual design finds its strength in fine tuning a case setup. You could of course do this using a detailed refinement level, but you'll waiste time doing so. A detailed design guarantees manufacturability and should be used for prototyping purposses. |
Below you'll find two pictures showing the difference between a conceptual and a detailed design.
