FlowSight™ is an advanced visualization and analysis tool powered
by the world-leading EnSight® post-processor from CEI. FlowSight is included
with all FLOW-3D products without any additional cost. FlowSight is a robust
post-processor that provides enormous flexibility to the user for analyzing and
presenting the simulation data generated from FLOW-3D products. Some of FlowSight’s
key capabilities include volume rendering, volume/surface/point queries, case
comparison, CFD calculators, and animated streamlines. Just as new developments
are added to FLOW-3D products, FlowSight also continues to be extended and
improved. With the release of FLOW-3D v11.1 and FLOW-3DCast v4.1, FlowSight’s
feature and functionality list has grown further.
In this series of upcoming blog posts, I will be talking
about the key improvements to the latest version of FlowSight. I will start
with geometry list improvements, open volume and void isosurface visualization
developments, and new 3D-clipping features.
Geometry List Improvements
In addition to geometry components, geometry types like
baffles, sampling volumes, and probes form an important part of many simulations.
FlowSight can now display more geometry types allowing the user a more clear
connection between geometry setup and results analysis. This connection is
important as it helps the user understand how a certain geometry type, for
instance a solid baffle, has affected the overall results in the simulation.
Another example is a probe, which is passive in the sense that it does not the
change the simulation results, and only collects data. But, it is informative
to visualize a probe during post-processing to give the user a thorough insight
about the location of the probe in the simulation.
The Geometry list now includes the following subtypes:
Isosurface of open volume with and without cooling channels
Isosurface of all components
Geometry components (Isosurface and STL)
TSE - solidified fluid
FSI - deformable components
Marker particles / probes / mass momentum sources
Sampling volumes
Mooring lines
Cooling channels (STLs only)
A geometry subtype is only shown in the list, if geometry
belonging to this subtype exists in the simulation. The screenshot below shows
a geometry list of possible geometry types for an example case. Notice that
baffles can be seen at the bottom of the list.
Geometry list of an example simulation in FlowSight
Open Volume and void isosurface without cooling channels
For
the benefit of our die casting customers, FlowSight now allows users to hide
cooling channels with an option to draw Open volume without Cooling Channels. Open
volume is basically any region in the computational domain without solid. This feature
enables the user to view the casting geometry without having cooling channels
in the way.
Void isosurface with cooling channels Vs w/o cooling
channels
3D clipping
The 3D clipping tool allows users to slice an isosurface in
all six directions simultaneously. This is very useful for finding areas of interest,
such as porosity-related defects, or visualizing output such as temperature,
pressure, or velocity profiles inside the domain.
3D clip showing temperature profile
3D clipping is currently allowed with a Cartesian mesh only.
The image above shows a high pressure die casting (HPDC) simulation.
A 3D clip can be animated between the given extents in a
particular direction. The user can swap 3D clips in one of the X, Y or Z
directions at a time. Animations can be played forward/backward once or in a
loop mode. These options can be accessed from the loop control combo box.
A saved 3D clip animation is shown in the video below. The left
half of the animation plots temperature isosurface and the right half plots
entrained air fraction isosurface. The rates of animation in the two halves
have been set differently, causing the left half animation to take longer to go
through the geometry, compared to the right half. The rate is governed by the number
of steps shown in the loop control combo box above.
The new developments in FlowSight described here provide
users with a better connection between the simulation and post-processing,
particularly in relation to visualizing the geometry features such as baffles,
probes, and sampling volumes. In the upcoming blog posts, more new features of
the latest version of FlowSight will be discussed.
