Tips & Tricks

CFD-VIEW Colormap Options: Static, Dynamic, and Cumulative
The Colormap Settings panel in CFD-VIEW assigns colors to data sets. Identical data values on an object are displayed with the same color if they are using the same colormap display. Three options offer the user the opportunity to select the mode for updating the colormap as the underlying data changes, for example during transient simulations. These options are: Static, Dynamic, and Cumulative
Santosh Kini CFD

Importing an arbitrary STL surface for post-processing in CFD VIEW
When using the Arbitrary-Cut operator, you have the option to directly import an external surface in STL format into the model. This option, which was first made available in V2013.4, underwent significant performance improvements in V2014.0. This option provides the ability to plot data and process information on any arbitrarily shaped surface. The import process involves reading the STL file and computing the intersections between this surface and the model’s volume cells. Results on the imported surface are interpolated from the intersected volume cells and are independent of the surface mesh size of the STL as long as the surface is properly represented.
Abraham Meganathan CFD

Grouping option for CFD-VIEW Data Import
Grouping feature in CFD-ACE+ GUI and CFD-VIEW comes in handy when working with complex industrial models. This feature allows putting BC patches or VC entities into a group that can be manipulated easily, to either set up properties or display specific post-processing attributes.
Abraham Meganathan CFD

CFD-VIEW Scripting is easier than ever with Journaling
In addition to the numerous options and tools available via the CFD-VIEW user interface, the scripting capability of CFD-VIEW allows you to perform complex data processing on your simulation results, and gives you the option to run the post-processing phase of your simulation in batch mode.
Abraham Meganathan CFD

CFD-VIEW: Working with cell-center data in batch mode
Many improvements have been made in CFD-VIEW that allows the manipulation of cell-center data. The latest cell-center data additions implemented in CFD-VIEW V2011.0 include, for example, support for the MinMax Probe and the Calculator.
Abraham Meganathan CFD

"Per Pixel Lighting" display option in CFD-VIEW
When visualizing CFD solutions, it is often of interest to see a particular range of variable values, and it is therefore useful to be able to clip the surface coloring to that range, as to obtain a clearer view of the areas affected by the variable.
Abraham Meganathan CFD

Visualizing decomposed model without zonal interface outlines
Running a simulation in parallel allows quicker turn around for larger and complex problems. Such parallel jobs require the computational domain to be decomposed into multiple zones. Such a multiple-zone file may be inconvenient to post-process in CFD-VIEW because zonal interface outlines will be visible and the original surfaces would have been split. As depicted in figure 1 below, these outlines can be numerous and may therefore hinder the clarity of the model.
Abraham Meganathan CFD

Visualizing particle size effect on Spray particle trajectory
When analyzing flow vectors, one can get a general trend of the direction of the flow and locations of recirculation. But what if you need to specifically know where a particle will end up? Maybe release points need to be studied. Then, the size and mass can make a difference in the path a particle travels.
Abraham Meganathan CFD

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.
Abraham Meganathan CFD

Using CFD-VIEW Scripting for transient simulations post-processing
With the Python scripting capabilities of CFD-VIEW, you can quickly and easily perform the repetitive tasks you encounter when post-processing transient simulations.
Abraham Meganathan CFD