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Postprocessing with
FLUENT and CFD-Post
Introductory FLUENT
Training
Sharif University of Technology
Lecturer: Ehsan Saadati
ehsan.saadati@gmail.com
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.
11-1
Postprocessing
Overview
Training Manual
Isosurfaces
Vector Plots
Contour plots (shaded and graded)
Streamlines and pathlines
XY plotting
Animation creation
11-2
Postprocessing
Postprocessing in FLUENT
Training Manual
Surface creation
Display types
Rendering options
Plots of solution data
Flux reports and Integral
calculations
For more information, please refer to the web-based lecture, PostProcessing in FLUENT on the FLUENT User Services Center
www.fluentusers.com
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.
11-3
Postprocessing
Surface Creation
Training Manual
11-4
Iso-Surface of a constant
grid coordinate can be created
for viewing data within a plane.
April 28, 2009
Inventory #002600
Postprocessing
Training Manual
Rendering
11-5
Postprocessing
Plots
Training Manual
You can modify the colors, titles, legend, axis and curve attributes to
customize your plots.
Other data files (experimental, computational) can also be read in to compare
results.
11-6
Postprocessing
Reports
Training Manual
Flux reports
Net flux is calculated.
Total Heat Transfer Rate
includes radiation.
Surface integrals
slightly less accurate on
user-generated surfaces
due to interpolation error.
Volume integrals
11-7
Postprocessing with
CFD-Post
11-8
Postprocessing
Starting CFD-Post
Training Manual
CFD-Post can also be started from the CFX-Solver Manager or the CFX
Launcher
11-9
Postprocessing
GUI Layout
Training Manual
Details view
Various Viewers (3D, Chart, )
11-10
Postprocessing
Training Manual
11-11
Postprocessing
Creating Locations
Training Manual
Locations are created from the Insert menu or from the toolbar
Once created, all Locations appear as entries in the Outline tree
Use the check boxes
next to each object in
the Outline tree to
quickly control visibility
Double-click objects in
the Outline tree to edit
Right-click objects in
the Outline tree to
Duplicate or Delete
11-12
Postprocessing
Creating Locations
Training Manual
11-13
Postprocessing
Training Manual
11-14
Postprocessing
Location Types
Training Manual
Planes
XY Plane, Point and Normal, etc.
Can define a circle or rectangle to bound the
plane, otherwise its bounded only by the
solution domain(s)
Point
XYZ: At coordinates. Can pick from Viewer
Node Number: Some solver error messages
give a node number
Variable Max / Min: Useful to locate where
max / min values occur
Point Cloud
Create multiple points
Usually used as seeds to streamlines, vectors
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.
11-15
Postprocessing
Location Types
Training Manual
Lines
Straight line between two points
Usually used as the basis for an XY Chart
Polylines
Also used for Charts
Read points from a file
Use the line of intersection
between a boundary and
another location
Extract a line from a
contour plot
11-16
Postprocessing
Location Types
Training Manual
Volumes
Elements are either in or out
No cut volumes
From Surface
A volume is formed from all
elements touching (or above /
below) the selected location
Can be useful for mesh checking
Isovolume
Base on a variable at, above or
below a given value, or between
two values
11-17
Postprocessing
Location Types
Training Manual
Isosurfaces
Surface of a variable at a specified
value
Iso Clip
An Iso Clip takes a copy of any
existing location and then clips it
using one or more criteria
E.g. a outlet boundary plot which is
then clipped by Velocity >= 10 [m/s]
and Velocity <= 20 [m/s]
11-18
Postprocessing
Location Types
Training Manual
Surface of Revolution
Predefined options for Cylinder,
Cone, Disc and Sphere
From Line is much more
general
Any line (existing Line, Polyline,
Streamline, Particle Track) is
rotated about an axis
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.
11-19
Postprocessing
Location Types
Training Manual
User Surface
Provides a number of additional surface
creation options including
From File: reads point data from a text file;
usually export this file from a different case
From Contour: extract a contour level
Transformed Surface: rotate, translate or scale
and existing surface
Offset From Surface: offset an existing surface
in either the Normal direction or by Translating
User Surface: From
Contour Method
(Note: It is generally easier
to use Iso Clips instead)
11-20
Postprocessing
Training Manual
Render
Draw Faces: shows solid surface
Draw Lines: shows mesh edges or intersecting lines
between mesh edges and the plot
Transparency, Lighting, Texture
View
Apply Rotation, Translations, Reflection, Scaling
Pick a different Instance Transform
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.
11-21
Postprocessing
Training Manual
Vector Plot
Can plot any vector variable; usually
velocity
Can project vectors Normal or
Tangential to the base object
Streamlines
Can proceed forwards and/or
backwards from a seeding location
Use the Surface Streamline option to
visualise velocity on walls
11-22
Postprocessing
Training Manual
Coord Frame
Legend
Create addition legend that are tied
to a specific plot (the default legend
changes automatically with the active
plot)
Instance Transform
Usually used to re-create full plots
from symmetric/periodic solution
data
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.
11-23
Postprocessing
Training Manual
Clip Plane
Define a plane; when active all viewer
object in front / behind this plane are
hidden
Color Map
Create custom color maps
11-24
Postprocessing
Variables Tab
Training Manual
Geometric variables
X, Y, Z, Normals , mesh quality data
Solution variables
From the results file
Turbo variables
Additional variables automatically created for
turbomachinery cases
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.
11-25
Postprocessing
VelRatio
Training Manual
VelRatio 0.7
Vlocal
V
1.
2.
11-26
Postprocessing
3.
VelRatio
Training Manual
VelRatio 0.7
Vlocal
V
11-27
Postprocessing
Expressions Tab
Training Manual
11-28
Postprocessing
Calculators Tab
Training Manual
Function Calculator
Extract engineering data from the results
Many functions, see doc to understand
how they operate
Same function used as when creating
expressions
Macro Calculator
Run predefined Macros
Write your own Macros and have them
appear here
More in Scripting lecture
Mesh Calculator
Mesh quality metrics and stats
Field variables exist for all the metric and
can be plotted
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.
11-29
Postprocessing
Training Manual
11-30
Postprocessing
Tables
Training Manual
1. Create Table
11-31
Postprocessing
Charts
Training Manual
11-32
Postprocessing
Charts
Training Manual
1. Create Curves
2. Create Chart
3. Select
Chart Type
4. Create
Data Series
(Lines)
5. Select X
and Y Axis
variables
11-33
Postprocessing
Charts: Type
Training Manual
XY Transient or Sequence
Plots an expression (usually Time) versus a
variable at a point locator
Typically used to show the transient
variation of a variable at a point
Histogram
Can be based on any locator that contains
multiple data locations lines, surfaces,
planes, domains (but not points)
Plots a variable divided into discrete bands
on the X Axis versus the frequency of
occurrence on the Y Axis
11-34
Postprocessing
Training Manual
Add new
data series
11-35
Postprocessing
Training Manual
Original Signal
11-36
Postprocessing
Reports
Training Manual
11-37
Postprocessing
Reports
Training Manual
11-38
Postprocessing
Reports: Figures
Training Manual
11-39
Postprocessing
Reports: Figures
Training Manual
11-40
Postprocessing
Reports
Training Manual
11-41
Postprocessing
Other Tools
Training Manual
Timestep Selector
Transient results are post-processed by
loading in the end results file, then
selecting different timesteps from the
Timestep Selector
Animation
Animate objects, create MPEGs
More on next slide
Quick Editor
Provides a very quick way to change the
primary value associated with each
object
Probe
Pick a point from the Viewer and probe a
variable value at that point
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.
11-42
Postprocessing
Animations
Training Manual
11-43
Postprocessing
Training Manual
11-44
Postprocessing
Training Manual
Sync cameras
All Views move the
same
Sync objects
The visibility of all
User Locations
and Plots is the
same
11-45
Postprocessing
Case Comparison
Training Manual
SST
k-
Difference Plot
Expression syntax:
function()@CASE:#.Location
E.g: areaAve(Pressure)@CASE:1.Inlet
11-46
Postprocessing
3D Viewer Files
Training Manual
Save Picture in the CFX Viewer State (3D) file format (.cvf file)
Can then use the stand-alone Viewer to view the file, rotate, pan, zoom, etc
Unlicensed and free to distribute to your customers
Can embed 3D Viewer files in PowerPoints and HTML files
Download from the Customer Portal under Product Information > ANSYS CFX
Zoom
11-47
Postprocessing
Files
Training Manual
Results
ANSYS CFD Post can read ANSYS
results for temperature, velocity,
acceleration, magnetic forces, stress,
strain, and mesh deformation
Import
Locations .csv files which contain
point data which defines a polyline
or surface
ANSYS Surface Mesh (.cdb): To allow for export of data on a
surface for use as a boundary condition in ANSYS
Export
Profile Boundary Data: for use in CFX-Pre
General formatted results data
ANSYS Load Data: Written onto an imported ANSYS .cdb file
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.
11-48
Postprocessing
Files
Training Manual
Session
Session files can be used to quickly reproduce all the
actions performed in a previous CFD-Post session
Session recording in CFX Command Language
(CCL)
State
Saves a snapshot of all objects
Excludes actions (e.g. file output)
Macros
Useful for automating tasks.
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.
11-49