Ansys Fluent – Compilate UDF / Solution to “nmake” error

Source: Ansys

The general procedure for compiling a UDF source file and building a shared library for the resulting objects, and loading the compiled UDF library into ANSYS FLUENT using the graphical user interface (GUI) is as follows.

Note that in order to compile a UDF when running serial or parallel ANSYS FLUENT on a Windows system, then you must have Microsoft Visual Studio installed on your machine, preferably on the C: drive.

Make sure that the UDF source file you want to compile is in the same folder that contains your case and data files.

Note that if you wish to compile a UDF while running ANSYS FLUENT on a Windows parallel network , then you must `share’ the working folder where the UDF is located so that all computers on the cluster can see this folder. To share the working folder, open Windows Explorer and browse to the folder; right-click on the working folder, select Sharing and Security from the menu, click Share this folder, and click OK. If you forget to enable the sharing option for the folder using Windows Explorer, then ANSYS FLUENT will hang when you try to load the library in the Compiled UDFs dialog box.

In this tutorial you will learn how to solve the error nmake, which is very common when compiling udf files in Ansys Fluent. To achieve this we need to install the latest version of VisualStudio. Follow the instructions in this tutorial.