ANSYS FLUENT 12.0 User's Guide - 1.1.5 Command Line Startup Options

To obtain information about available startup options, you can type fluent -help before starting up the solver. Table 1.1.1 and Table 1.1.2 list the available command line arguments for Linux/UNIX and Windows. More detailed descriptions of these options can be found in the proceeding sections.

**Table 1.1.1:** Available Command Line Options for Linux/UNIX and Windows Platforms
Option	Platform	Description
`-cc`	all	Use the classic color scheme
`-ccp x`	Windows only	Use the Microsoft Job Scheduler where `x` is the head node name.
`-cnf=x`	all	Specify the hosts or machine list file
`-driver`	all	Sets the graphics driver (available drivers vary by platform - `opengl` or `x11` or `null` (Linux/UNIX) - `opengl` or `msw` or `null` (Windows))
`-env`	all	Show environment variables
`-fgw`	all	Disables the embedded graphics
`-g`	all	Run without the GUI or graphics (Linux/UNIX); Run with the GUI minimized (Windows)
`-gr`	all	Run without graphics
`-gu`	all	Run without the GUI but with graphics (Linux/UNIX); Run with the GUI minimized but with graphics (Windows)
`-help`	all	Display command line options
`-hidden`	Windows only	Run in batch mode
`-host_ip=host:ip`	all	Specify the IP interface to be used by the host process

**Table 1.1.2:** Available Command Line Options for Linux/UNIX and Windows Platforms (cont.)
Option	Platform	Description
`-i journal`	all	Reads the specified journal file
`-lsf`	Linux/UNIX only	Run FLUENT using LSF
`-mpi=`	all	Specify MPI implementation
`-mpitest`	all	Will launch an MPI program to collect network performance data
`-nm`	all	Do not display mesh after reading
`-pcheck`	Linux/UNIX only	Checks all nodes
`-post`	all	Run the FLUENT post-processing-only executable
`-p<ic>`	all	Choose the interconnect `<ic>` = `default` or `myr` or `inf`
`-r`	all	List all releases installed
`-rx`	all	Specify release number
`-sge`	Linux/UNIX only	Run FLUENT under Sun Grid Engine
`-sge queue`	Linux/UNIX only	Name of the queue for a given computing grid
`-sgeckpt ckpt_obj`	Linux/UNIX only	Set checkpointing object to `ckpt_obj` for SGE
`-sgepe fluent_pe min_n-max_n`	Linux/UNIX only	Set the parallel environment for SGE to `fluent_pe`, `min_n` and `max_n` are number of min and max nodes requested
`-tx`	all	Specify the number of processors `x`

fluent -driver allows you to specify the graphics driver to be used in the solver session. For example, on Linux/UNIX you can specify fluent -driver opengl, fluent -driver x11, and fluent -driver null. These options are described in detail in Section 29.1.6. On Windows you can specify fluent -driver opengl and fluent -driver msw to enable graphics display. Using msw instead of opengl instructs ANSYS FLUENT to use the Operating Systems Windows driver rather than the hardware OpenGL driver.

fluent -cc will run Cortex using the classic black background color in the graphics window.

fluent -fgw will run Cortex without the graphics window embedded in the application (e.g., "floating").

fluent -g will run Cortex without graphics and without the graphical user interface. This option is useful if you are not on an X Window display or if you want to submit a batch job.

fluent -gr will run Cortex without graphics. This option can be used in conjunction with the -i journal option to run a job in "background'' mode.

fluent -gu will run Cortex without the graphical user interface but will display the graphics window(s). (On Windows systems, fluent -gu will run ANSYS FLUENT, keeping it in a minimized window; if you maximize the window, the GUI will be available.)

To start the solver and immediately read a journal file, type fluent -i journal, replacing journal with the name of the journal file you want to read.

fluent -nm will run Cortex without displaying the mesh in the graphics window.

-ccp x (where x is the name of the head node) runs the parallel job through the Microsoft Job Scheduler as described in Section 32.3.1.

-cnf=x (where x is the name of a hosts file) spawns a compute node on each machine listed in the hosts file. Otherwise, you can spawn the processes as described in Section 32.3.1 or Section 32.4.1.

-host_ip=host:ip specifies the IP interface to be used by the host process (Linux/UNIX only).

-mpi=<mpi> specifies the MPI to be used. You can skip this flag if you choose to use the default MPI.

-mpitest runs the mpitest program instead of ANSYS FLUENT to test the network.

-p<ic> specifies the use of parallel interconnect <ic>, where <ic> can be any of the interconnect listed in Section 32.3.1 or Section 32.4.1.

-pcheck checks the network connections before spawning compute nodes (Linux/UNIX only).

-tx specifies that x processors are to be used. For more information about starting the parallel version of ANSYS FLUENT, see Section 32.3 or Section 32.4.

fluent -post will run a version of the solver that allows you to set up a problem or perform postprocessing, but will not allow you to perform calculations. Running ANSYS FLUENT for pre- and postprocessing requires you to use the -post flag on startup. To use this option on Linux/UNIX, launch ANSYS FLUENT by adding the -post flag after the version number, for example,

To use this same feature from the graphical interface on Windows or Linux/UNIX, select the Pre/Post option in the General tab of FLUENT Launcher, as described in Section 1.1.2.

The -sge option runs ANSYS FLUENT under Sun Grid Engine (SGE) software, and allows you to use the features of this software to manage your distributed computing resources. Other options that can be employed in conjunction with -sge are -sge, requested, -sgeq queue, -sgeckpt ckpt_obj, and -sgepe fluent_pe min_n-max_n.

The -lsf option allows you to run ANSYS FLUENT under Platform Computing Corporation's LSF software, and thereby take advantage of the checkpointing features of that load management tool. For further details about using the -lsf option, go to the Load Management Documentation page on the User Services Center.

Typing fluent version -r, replacing version with the desired version, will list all releases of the specified version.

fluent -rx will run release x of ANSYS FLUENT. You may specify a version as well, or you can wait and specify the version when prompted by the solver.

fluent -env will list all environment variables before running ANSYS FLUENT.

There are other startup options that are not listed when you type the fluent -help command. These options can be used to customize your graphical user interface. For example, to change the ANSYS FLUENT window size and position you can either modify the .Xdefaults file (Linux/UNIX only) described in Section 2.2, or you can simply type the following command at startup:

where XX and YY are the width and height in pixels, respectively, and +00-50 is the position of the window.

Therefore, typing fluent 3d -geometry 700x500+20-400 will start the 3D version of ANSYS FLUENT, sizing the ANSYS FLUENT console to 700x500 pixels and positioning it on your monitor screen at +20-400.