Imported masses in Revit to CFD

[kmackenzie]

Hey everyone,

I'm trying to utilize the rule manager for CFD Simulation and find new methods to set up my geometry so it's faster to assign materials / boundary conditions.

I want to be able to use Revit masses, create different types of various sizes and NAMES (very important), so that when the geometry is imported into CFD I am able to use those type names to create associated rules.

When I tried placing a mass family and adjust the name, then import the model into CFD, the volume just appears as "FamilyInstance".

Anyone have any tips? Maybe other families you use or ways to get CFD to recogonize the mass types?  I have alternatives, like using a archectural wall family and adjusting the size.  However a mass is much more conenvient for hallow spaces where I can align the edges of the volume as needed.

Thanks!

Katie

[Royce_adsk]

Hi Katie!

This is an excellent question and the workflow that you describe would be beneficial when using the rules inside of CFD.

The problem is that the masses were no included in the associativity improvements done recently.  This is a known limitation and is part of our list of future improvements.  That is why you see the name 'FamilyInstance'. That is the catch all name for non-associative parts.

What you will probably have to do is create your own famliy instead of using the basic masses.  Or you can edit generic components in place.  Most of that is beyond my Revit knowledge so you'll have to reach out to that team for help.

-Royce

[kmackenzie]

Hi again everyone,

I ended up making a very simple generic family that should do the trick.  It's just a solid box with width, length and height deminensions that I made instance parameters so you can adjust as needed per project.

Hopes this helps other people trying to do the same thing!

Katie

[Royce_adsk]

Huge kudos for sharing!  I am going to use this myself.

Thanks!

Royce

[kmackenzie · Accepted solution]

Hi all,

Made a quick fix to the box.  I had accidently made the height parameter dimensioned from the ref. level and not the reference plane, which was preventing the heigh to have the handles for quick adjustments.  Try this model instead!