Mapping Data from Surface, Volume, or Beam Sources

The steps for creating a data mapper to interpolate fields between different mesh representations are outlined in this section.

To create a data mapper:
  1. Right-click the Tools > Data Mappers node, select New Data Mapper and choose the mapper type based on the type of source:
    • To map data from surfaces of a Simcenter STAR-CCM+ 3D mesh or of an imported CAE mesh, choose a Surface Data Mapper.

      Simcenter STAR-CCM+ treats 2D regions as surfaces. Therefore, to map data from a Simcenter STAR-CCM+ 2D region, choose a Surface Data Mapper.

    • To map data from volumes of a Simcenter STAR-CCM+ 3D mesh or of an imported CAE mesh, choose a Volume Data Mapper.
    • To map data from an imported CAE beam, choose a Beam Data Mapper. This option is intended for FSI applications and allows you to map nodal displacements and rotations, defined on an imported CAE beam, to the wetted Simcenter STAR-CCM+ surfaces.


  2. Depending on whether you created a Surface, Volume, or Beam Data Mapper, specify the source by setting the Source Surfaces, Source Volumes or Source Beams property.
    Source surfaces can either be 2D regions, region boundaries, or part surfaces in Simcenter STAR-CCM+, or surfaces defined on an imported CAE model. Source volumes can either be Simcenter STAR-CCM+ 3D regions or parts, or volumes defined on an imported CAE model. You can specify multiple source surfaces or volumes.

    For a beam mapper, specify a single source beam. Additional source beams require additional mappers. A source beam can only be an imported CAE beam model.

  3. Set the Source Stencil property to specify the location where the solution data is available on the source mesh.
    For finite volume (FV) source meshes, the source stencil is typically either a cell (for source volumes) or a face (for source surfaces). For finite element (FE) source meshes, the source stencil is typically a vertex. For more information, see Surface, Volume, Beam, and Tabular Data Mapper Reference.
Specify at least one scalar or vector field for mapping. The data mapper maps the specified fields from the source to the target mesh when you execute the mapping operation.
  1. Select the Scalar or Vector Field Functions property. Click (Custom Editor ) and use the selection dialog to select one or more fields from the list of field functions that are available for mapping.


  2. If the source mesh is a Simcenter STAR-CCM+ mesh, select the representation to get source data from.
    You can use source data defined on the volume mesh representation, or defined on any representations available in a simulation history file.


If the source mesh is subject to any motion other than Stationary, specify the reference mesh for mapping:
  1. Activate Use Original Mesh to use the original mesh as the reference mesh for mapping. Deactivate this option to use the current mesh as the reference mesh for mapping.
When you execute a data mapper, the mapped fields become available as field functions, with the default name Mapped<Target_Stencil><Field_Name>. To specify alternative names for the output field functions:
  1. Select Mapped Names. Click (Custom Editor ) and use the dialog to specify field function names for each of the specified fields.
  2. Follow the steps outlined in the next sections to specify the target mesh and other mapping options, and to execute the data mapper.