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General Description of FoilSim Operation

FoilSim is an interactive flow simulator which determines the airflow around various shapes of airfoils. The displays are grouped into windows or panels. These panels provide input information for the calculation routines that produce the displays. There are four main input panels:

• Airfoil Input and View Panels
• Plotter Input and View Panel
• Probe Control
• Baseball Panels

There are several conventions which have been used throughout the graphical user interface (GUI) to assist the user.

Airspeed:
On the Input Panels, information can be sent to the program in two ways: using the slider or the input box on the left of the slider.

To use the Slider:
1) click the mouse pointer on the arrows at the ends of the slider,
2) click the mouse pointer anywhere between the slider and the arrow, or
3) drag the slider with the mouse.

The value of the slider is shown in the input box to the left of the slider.

Using the Input Box:
To more accurately specify the input value, type the value into the input box. Simply click in the input box, delete the original value using the "Delete" or "Backspace " key, type in the new value, and press the " Enter" or "Tab" key when finished. The button on the slider will move corresponding to the value typed in the box. The cursor will then move to the next input box.

Units
All the input values have dimensions or units associated with them. You can choose to work in Metric units or English units by clicking the Units button at the bottom. The current setting is shown on the Units button. The units selected will appear to the right of the input slider.

Radio Buttons
On some panels there are groups of radio buttons with a small black dot indicating the chosen option. To change your selection, click on the chosen button.

Context Sensitive Help
To access the help function, simply click on the Help button at any time. The appropriate help page will be displayed for the window or panel where the cursor is located.

Ending the Program
Clicking the "Exit" button will end the FoilSim program.