Quick start

Download and extract the contents of the latest APM binaries archive and the apm-getting-started.zip archive to a folder called "naca4412_wing". You can create the "naca4412_wing" folder anywhere. In this example the "naca4412_wing" folder is created in "D:\". Once you create the folder open a command prompt window and navigate to the folder.

D:\naca4412_wing>

Type dir and press enter to view the contents of the folder. You should see 4 files.

D:\naca4412_wing> dir
05/04/2025  12:28    <DIR>          .
05/04/2025  12:28    <DIR>          ..
11/03/2025  22:13         3,983,360 apm-preprocessor-1.1.0-windows-amd64.exe
11/03/2025  22:13         4,300,800 apm-solver-1.1.0-windows-amd64.exe
05/04/2025  12:26               310 naca4412_wing.conf
05/04/2025  12:26           273,106 naca4412_wing.stl
               4 File(s)      8,557,576 bytes

If you obtained a licence for APM, before running the APM Solver or Preprocessor, you need to make sure your licence key file is in the working folder of the binary, or you have an environmental variable APM_KEY pointing to your licence key file. Please refer to the following page explaining how to set up your licence key - https://docs.aviumtechnologies.com/quick-start/set-up-your-licence-key.

Type > apm-preprocessor-1.1.0-windows-amd64.exe naca4412_wing and press enter. The APM preprocessor will read the mesh and will create a .mdl file. Once the .mdl file is created, type > apm-solver-1.1.0-windows-amd64.exe naca4412_wingand press enter. The APM Solver will read the .mdl file and will solve for the potential flow around the NACA4412 wing. Once the solver finishes, you should see the following files in the "naca4412_wing" folder.

D:\naca4412_wing> dir
05/04/2025  12:30    <DIR>          .
05/04/2025  12:30    <DIR>          ..
05/04/2025  12:30         3,983,872 apm-preprocessor-1.1.0-windows-amd64.exe
05/04/2025  12:30         4,299,264 apm-solver-1.1.0-windows-amd64.exe
05/04/2025  12:30           186,356 naca4412_wing.checkpoint
05/04/2025  12:26               310 naca4412_wing.conf
05/04/2025  12:30             1,377 naca4412_wing.loads
05/04/2025  12:28            46,458 naca4412_wing.mdl
05/04/2025  12:26           273,106 naca4412_wing.stl
05/04/2025  12:28            51,916 naca4412_wing.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30           145,076 naca4412_wing_body_panels_14.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30           145,071 naca4412_wing_body_panels_19.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30           145,069 naca4412_wing_body_panels_24.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30           145,070 naca4412_wing_body_panels_29.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30           145,071 naca4412_wing_body_panels_34.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30           145,069 naca4412_wing_body_panels_39.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30           145,271 naca4412_wing_body_panels_4.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30           145,072 naca4412_wing_body_panels_44.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30           145,078 naca4412_wing_body_panels_49.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30           145,100 naca4412_wing_body_panels_9.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30            34,356 naca4412_wing_wake_panels_14.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30            45,485 naca4412_wing_wake_panels_19.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30            56,604 naca4412_wing_wake_panels_24.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30            67,822 naca4412_wing_wake_panels_29.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30            79,078 naca4412_wing_wake_panels_34.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30            90,364 naca4412_wing_wake_panels_39.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30            12,452 naca4412_wing_wake_panels_4.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30           102,030 naca4412_wing_wake_panels_44.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30           113,716 naca4412_wing_wake_panels_49.vtu
05/04/2025  12:30            23,229 naca4412_wing_wake_panels_9.vtu
              28 File(s)     10,918,742 bytes

If you haven't downloaded ParaView, go to https://www.paraview.org/download/. ParaView is an open-source, multi-platform data analysis and visualization application. Install and open ParaView. Then click on "File->Open" and select the "naca4412_wing_body_panels_..vtu" and "naca4412_wing_wake_panels_..vtu" files. Once you select the files click "Ok".

Loading .vtu files

Once the files are loaded, click the apply button in the properties tab on the left. The wing and the wake will be shown in the visualisation window. You can change which variable is currently displayed by selecting a coloring dropdown value. The image below shows the NACA 4412 wing colored by the pressure coefficient.

Alternatively, you could use the APM Viewer to visualise the results. The APM Viewer opens a .json file containing the results. By default, the .json file output is disabled. You need to add the following option to the .conf file to enable .json file output.

json_output = 1

Run the solver again. Once the solver finishes, you should have a "naca4412_wing.json" file in the "naca4412_wing" folder. Go to https://apm.aviumtechnologies.com/viewer and click the "Upload your model" button. Select the "naca4412_wing.json" file and click the "Open" button. The image below shows the NACA4412 wing results visualised with the APM Viewer.

APM Viewer