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CFD-VIEW User Tips

Using CFD-VIEW Display Types

When post processing a simulation in CFD-VIEW, you will often be working with multiple types of objects. Volumes and Surfaces are two types objects that you will most definitely have whether the model is 2D or 3D. Other types of objects that CFD-VIEW interprets as unique types are Cuts (X,Y,Z), Planes (I,J,K), Annotations, and various other types. You can use the "Display Item Masks" to filter which objects are visible/selectable in the graphics window. The "Display Item Masks" tab is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Display Item Masks in the Attributes Panel

For illustration purposes, a model that consists of flow over a series of heated cylinders will be used, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Example case

As shown in Figure 1, this model consists of Inlets, Outlets, Walls, Interfaces, Symmetries, and Volumes. In the case of surfaces, CFD-VIEW allows you to also filter by surface type (for 3D cases). So, if you are only interested in viewing the Walls in a model, you can uncheck all other surface types. The most common surface type that might need to be filtered is Interface, since in most cases they are simply artifacts of the grid generation process, i.e. they serve no physical purpose with respect to the model. For 3D models with many Interfaces, filtering these can greatly improve model visualization.

Figure 3. Symmetry and Interface surface types filtered

As mentioned, cuts, planes, annotations, etc. can also be masked. When a new type of object is created, an option for filtering this type of object is added to the "Display Item Masks" panel. For example, an Iso-Surface, Cut, Plane, Stream Trace, Point Probe, and an Annotation were created for this model. As shown in Figure 4, each of these objects types show up in the "Display Item Masks" panel. We can now filter these objects as needed.

Figure 4. Various object types that can be filtered

Next time you use CFD-VIEW, try using the "Display Item Masks" filtering to see if it helps you with your post-processing.

If you have any questions about this tip or would like us to discuss other topics in the future, please let us know.

Regards,
ESI CFD Support Team

Using Macros in CFD-VIEW

In some cases, you might have to perform the same task several times to post-process your results in CFD-VIEW. This can happen for example when you are running a parametric study and need to extract the same information from all the solution files. In this case, it might be time-saving to use the Macro option of CFD-VIEW, especially if obtaining the information necessitates many operations.

Using the Clone Feature in CFD-VIEW

As the name suggests, the Clone operator creates an exact copy of the input object. The input object could be a surface (iso-surface, plane cut, geometry surface, border object) or a volume. The drawing style of this copy (or copies) is completely independent from that of the original.

Mirroring Tool in CFD-VIEW

One should always take advantage of geometric and solution symmetry to model just one-half or one-fourth of the computational domain to reduce the computational time by significantly reducing the size of the model. After modeling half or one fourth of the model, you always want to present data for the full model.

Point Net Feature in CFD-VIEW

A Point Net is primarily used for creating an evenly spaced vector field over existing 3D volumes, 2D surfaces (if the domain is two-dimensional), or cutting planes. The Point Net creates a set of points over the selected entity, and the simulation variable values (such as pressure, temperature, etc.) at these points are derived by interpolation on the underlying mesh.

Making Plots Along Constant Radius Curves

How do I plot a variable along the circumference of a circle or circular arc? The above query has been made several times by CFD-ACE+ users. In case of cylindrical geometry, it’s very useful to have a plot of the desired variable along a circle of certain radius.