Virtual material data represents the property development of an isolated piece of a material, given a certain temperature history. To create a virtual material simulation; click the first task, Create a basic simulation on the Common tasks and reports window. If the window is not visible, select Show Feedback Window from the Window menu.
This task is very similar to selecting “New simulation” from the Data menu, or clicking the 
New simulation button on the main toolbar, except they don’t automatically thin the simulation results. Many actions in RAVEN are accessible in several different ways.
You will be presented with the Create new simulation dialog.
Select a material from the drop-down box, and enter a name for the simulation (or just leave the automatically generated name intact). Now a cure cycle must be defined for the simulation. Click on Default Cycle to load the default cycle, which will be shown graphically in the dialog. If the material has a default MRCC (Manufacturer’s Recommended Cure Cycle) defined, it will be used. If not, the default RAVEN cycle will be used. See Creating/Editing Cure Cycles for more information about cure cycles. Click OK to process the simulation. After a few seconds a default plot will appear with a both a Temperature vs Time and Degree of Cure vs Time series for the new simulation.
Thermal profile data represents the property development and thermal history of a stack of material layers subjected to one (or many) thermal cycles throughout the material stack.
To create a thermal profile simulation; click the fourth task, Create a thermal profile simulation on the Common tasks and reports window. If the window is not visible, select Show Feedback Window from the Window menu.
Although it’s possible to create a stand-alone thermal profile simulation (using the New simulation button), using the thermal profile task automates several very common post-processing and plotting operations.
You will be presented with the Create new thermal profile study dialog.
At the top of the tab, a name can be assigned to the study. Next, the autoclave (AC) cycle name is displayed, along with a ... button which is used to assign the main cycle for the simulation. Unless otherwise specified using a local cycle, all boundaries will use the autoclave cycle.
Since thermal profile simulation stacks can become quite complex, it is possible to save and open stacks to disk. This is accomplished using the 
Save Stack and 
Open Stack buttons (as well as one for 
Reset Stack).
A thermal profile stack is made up of a combination of “boundary” and “material” layers. A boundary layer defines a location where heat transfer is controlled by a cure cycle, either with a given HTC, or a set temp (which forces the temperature at that point to follow the cycle exactly). A material layer has a defined material, thickness, and initial degree-of-cure (DOC). A stack can also have a single boundary layer set as the datum, which sets z=0 at that location. If no datum layer is defined, z=0 is located at the bottom of the stack.
To insert a layer, click either the << Boundary or << Material button, depending on the layer type desired. A text entry for the layer will be inserted in the list to the left of the buttons, and a visual representation of the layer will appear on the right. The Delete, Move Up, and Move Down buttons can be used to manipulate layers in the stack.
Only materials with the models necessary for a thermal profile simulation will be available when selecting the material for a material layer. When the selected material is changed, the initial DOC will update to reflect the suggested value for the new material.
This tab controls both the post processing actions performed on the simulation results, as well as the automatically generated/updated plots for the thermal profile task.
In many cases, viewing the through-thickness distribution of a property at specific times is beneficial when performing a thermal profile study. By default, the simulation results are queried at the start/end of the autoclave cure cycle segments. Additional query values (times) can be defined as either a list of Specified Times, or using start/end/step Time Segments.
Both Temperature vs Time and Temperature Through-Thickness are plotted by default. If different plot types are desired, the variables of interest can be checked/unckecked in the corresponding lists. Depending on the materials used in the thermal profile simulation, some of the values selected may not result in plots (since not all materials output every property).
In addition, a specialized Temperature Rate vs Temperature plot can be toggled.