Adapting non-inertial reference frame model results to
enable visualization from a stationary frame of reference is a nifty new
feature coming in the upcoming releases of FlowSightTM forFLOW-3D
Cast v4.2 (next month) and FLOW-3D v11.2 (late 2016). This brief note describes
this feature and gives a couple examples.
Many real-world processes happen
in accelerating or non-inertial reference frames. Examples of such processes
include sloshing of fuel in satellite tanks and centrifugal casting. FLOW-3D
has long incorporated in its solver the ability to model fluid and solid motion
using a non-inertial reference frame model (NIRF), but lacked the ability to
visualize the motion depicted from a stationary frame of reference. After the
introduction of the General Moving Objects (GMO) model, users could have their cake
and eat it, too: modeling the coupled fluid-solid motion and visualizing the
resulting motion in a realistic way. Unfortunately, the GMO model comes with a
price in terms of computational time. While the NIRF may be more computationally
convenient for solving large problems, the inability to analyze the solution
from a stationary frame of reference frustrated many users. FlowSight’s
recent development makes it easy to apply the NIRF feature to all parts of a
case, such as iso-surfaces, clips and streamlines, allowing the user to view
the rigid body motion and the fluid flow from a stationary reference frame.
NIRF motion can be captured in
animations that are created by FlowSight. The user can activate only one or
both of the possible motions – rotation and translation. The scale of the translational
motion can be adjusted for better visualization in cases where the translations
are huge, like aerospace applications where the moving body can translate for
miles.
Below are the two animations with
NIRF motions for tilt pour and centrifugal casting.