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User Interface
Simcenter STAR-CCM+ provides a Graphical User Interface generally known as the client workspace. This interface appears when you launch Simcenter STAR-CCM+ interactively.
Using the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ Workspace
This chapter shows you how to use the various components of Simcenter STAR-CCM+, with a focus on the user interface.
Tables
Tables refer to objects in Simcenter STAR-CCM+ containing tabular data.
Tables Reference
Cartesian and Structured Tables
Whenever possible, organize tables to be "Cartesian" or at least "Structured." These tables are much faster to search than "Unstructured" tables.

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User Interface
Simcenter STAR-CCM+ provides a Graphical User Interface generally known as the client workspace. This interface appears when you launch Simcenter STAR-CCM+ interactively.
- Using the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ Workspace
  This chapter shows you how to use the various components of Simcenter STAR-CCM+, with a focus on the user interface.
  - Using the Workspace
    If you have used any GUI-based applications (such as Microsoft Word), you will have little difficulty using the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ workspace.
  - Using the Menus
    The menu bar is typical of GUI-based applications. It can be navigated with the mouse or with the keyboard.
  - Using the Toolbars
    Like the menu bars, the toolbars are typical of GUI-based applications, providing easy access to the most common actions.
  - Using the Explorer Pane
    The Explorer pane is typically docked on the left of the workspace.
  - Using the Table Editor
    The table editor combines the functionality of the simulation tree and Properties window.
  - Using the Properties Window
    The Properties window is a single location where all of the properties for a selected object can be viewed and manipulated.
  - Guide to the Graphics Window
    The graphics window displays viewable objects such as scenes and plots. The window also hosts interactive views such as the 3D-CAD view and the surface repair environment.
  - Using the Output Window
    The Output window gives a precise text description of all developments within the simulation.
  - Using Keyboard Shortcuts
    Simcenter STAR-CCM+ accommodates keystrokes for a host of activities.
  - Conditions, Values, and Profiles
    Throughout the simulation tree, Simcenter STAR-CCM+ presents groups of condition nodes and their matching value nodes. For example, a boundary object has child nodes on which you choose physics conditions, and child nodes on which you set physics values. These values are quantities such as velocity, temperature, or density. The particular values available for change depend on what you set in the conditions.
  - Tables
    Tables refer to objects in Simcenter STAR-CCM+ containing tabular data.
    - Table Tasks
    - Tables Reference
      - File Format Reference
        This section details the formats of files when tables are saved to disk and the formats of files from which you can read a table.
      - Cartesian and Structured Tables
        Whenever possible, organize tables to be "Cartesian" or at least "Structured." These tables are much faster to search than "Unstructured" tables.
- What Are the Important Concepts?
  This section presents the key concepts you come across when using Simcenter STAR-CCM+.
- Working with Simulation Objects
  Objects are the key components of Simcenter STAR-CCM+. They represent various aspects of a simulation and have properties that you can set as required for your particular problem.
- Automation
  The Automation node provides easy access to a number of frequently used automated processes.
- Expressions
  In Simcenter STAR-CCM+, you can define property values using expressions, which you write using a function language that is a subset of the C programming language. Expressions can define mathematical expressions or perform other operations, such as interpolating tabular data from XY tables in the simulation.
- Global Parameters
  Global parameters include scalar and vector physical quantities (for example, 120.0 K or [0.0, 1.0, 0.0] m) that can be defined once and used in multiple objects. Another type of global parameter is a file, currently used for the Replace Parts operation in Geometry > Operations and in Design Manager.
- Field Functions
  Field functions allow you to access fields (scalar or vector data that are evaluated at cells, vertices, or boundary faces) in Simcenter STAR-CCM+. You can use field functions to visualize the computed fields, to specify boundary and region values, or to define initial conditions.
- Engineering Units
  Simcenter STAR-CCM+ has flexible and customizable support for engineering units. The standard SI and USCS systems are built in, and you can add new units as desired. Physical quantities can be specified and displayed in any of these units. Individual quantities can be specified with new units on the fly by simply typing something like “80 mph”.
- Simulation Operations
  Simulation operations allow you to automate the solution processes in Simcenter STAR-CCM+ without using Java macros. Condition and loop operations provide the basic logic control common to many programming languages.
- Staged Physics
  In Simcenter STAR-CCM+, staged physics allows you to store multiple configurations of physics settings and apply them in sequence during a simulation. Simulation operations provide the framework in which physics stages are applied.
- Working with Volume Shapes
  A volume shape is a closed geometric figure that can be shaped as a block, cone, cylinder, or sphere.
- Simulation Guide
  The simulation guide is a single embedded document that you can edit within a simulation file. This document can contain formatted text, tables, images, and hyperlinks to nodes in the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ object tree or external web resources.
- Template Simulation Files
  Template simulation files allow you to define pre-configured setups for use in new simulations. When used in conjunction with query-based selection, template files present a powerful technique for automating repeat analyses on similar geometries.
- Scripting the Application
  Scripting allows you to work more efficiently by automating repetitive tasks.
- Working with User Code
  User code allows Simcenter STAR-CCM+ to be customized with functions written in a compiled language such as C, C++ or Fortran.
- Working with the Plugins Manager
  The Plugins Manager makes it possible to install and manage NetBeans modules for Simcenter STAR-CCM+.
- Simulation Assistants
  A Simulation Assistant provides a visual workflow within the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ user interface (UI).
- Wizard Guide
  This part of the documentation illustrates how Simcenter STAR-CCM+ is used for special application tools and projects.

Cartesian and Structured Tables

Whenever possible, organize tables to be "Cartesian" or at least "Structured." These tables are much faster to search than "Unstructured" tables.

In a Cartesian table, the entries for the independent variable are equally spaced. In a Structured table, the spacing is predictable but not uniform. The organization of a table is reported in the read-only Table Format property for Table(T), Table(T,P), and Table(Reaction Time) tables.

When STAR-CCM+ reads a table, it first sorts the data points in each dimension and then computes the spacing. For example, in a 2D table let there be Nx points in the first dimension and Ny points in the second dimension. If the total number of specified points is Nx*Ny and if the spacing is uniform in each dimension then the table is tagged Cartesian. If the spacing is non-uniform then it is tagged Structured. If the total number of points does not match Nx*Ny, then it is tagged Unstructured. (Note that even if the spacing is uniform, but the total number of points does not match Nx*Ny, the table is tagged Unstructured, since this situation means that some points are missing in the Nx*Ny grid.)

Examples:

1D Cartesian: This table is a 1D Cartesian table since the sample points are equally spaced. 1D tables can only be Cartesian or Structured; they cannot be Unstructured.
2D Cartesian: This table is a 2D Cartesian table since the points are equally spaced along the independent variable.
2D Structured: This table is a 2D Structured table since the points lie on a Structured grid, although the spacing is not uniform.
2D Unstructured: This table is a 2D Unstructured table since the points are irregularly spaced along the independent variable.

These categories also apply to higher-dimensional tables. If the independent points lie on an N-dimensional Structured grid, then it is a Structured table or (if the spacing is uniform) a Cartesian table. If points are irregularly spaced in the N-dimensional space, then it is an Unstructured table.