Plotting Simulation Data

Create plots of velocity and wall shear stress.

For the velocity plot, import experimental data from a file and plot it alongside the numerical data. The development of the solution can be observed throughout the run by viewing these plots.

To create the wall shear stress plot:
  1. Right-click the Plots node and select New Plot > XY Plot.
  2. Rename the XY Plot 1 node to WSS Plot.
  3. Select the WSS Plot node and set Parts to Derived Parts > Z = 0.

Recirculation zones occur upstream and downstream of the obstacle and are visible on the graph as regions where the wall shear stress is negative. To determine the length of the downstream recirculation zone, change the graph formatting.

  1. Expand the WSS Plot > Y Types > Y Type 1 node and set the following properties:
    Node Property Value
    Scalar Function Field Function Wall Shear Stress > Laboratory > i
    Z = 0 Sort Plot Data Activated
    Line Style Style Solid
    Symbol Style Shape None
  2. Expand the WSS Plot > Axes node and set the following properties:
    Node Property Value
    Bottom Axis Maximum 0.9
    Minimum 0.3
    Major Labels Spacing 0.05
    Left Axis Maximum 0.005
    Minimum -0.0075
    Major Labels Spacing 0.0025
To create the velocity data plot:
  1. Right-click the Plots node and select New Plot > XY Plot.
  2. Rename the XY Plot 1 node to Velocity Plot at X = 0.38.
  3. Expand the Velocity Plot at X = 0.38 node and set the following properties:
    Node Property Value
    Velocity Plot at X = 0.38 Parts Derived Parts > X = 0.38
    Y Types > Y Type 1 Data Type Scalar
    Y Types > Y Type 1 > Scalar Function Field Function Velocity > Lab Reference Frame > Laboratory > i
    X Type Data Type Direction
    X Type > Vector Quantity Value [0.0, 1.0, 0.0] m
To compare the experimental velocity data with the velocity plot, import the data in the supplied file into a table:
  1. Right-click the Tools > Tables node and select New Table > File Table.
  2. In the Open dialog, navigate to the incompressibleFlow folder of the downloaded tutorial files and select the file exp380.xy.
  3. Click Open.

The data in that file are now stored in a table named ‘exp380’.

To display it on the velocity plot:

  1. Return to the Velocity Plot at X = 0.38 node.
  2. Right-click the Velocity Plot at X = 0.38 > Data Series node and select Add Data.
  3. Select exp380 and click OK.
    The supplied experimental data appear in the plot. Numerical data is shown once the simulation has started.
  4. Right-click the Velocity Plot at X = 0.38 > Axes node and select Orient Axes.
  5. In the Orient Axes dialog, click the (horizontal) and (clockwise) rotation buttons, then click OK.
To rename the axes:
  1. Expand the Axes node and set the following properties:
    Node Property Setting
    Bottom Axis > Title Title Velocity (m/s)
    Left Axis > Title Title Y (m)
  2. To view the solution while it is being generated, look at the scalar and vector scenes.
The pre-processing set-up for the simulation is complete.
  1. Stop the macro recording by clicking (Stop Recording) in the Macro toolbar.
  2. Save the simulation.