PLTRAC

PLTRAC, Analopt, Item, Comp, TRPNum, Name, MXLOOP, TOLER, --, ESCL, MSCL
Displays a charged particle trace on an element display.

POST1: Trace Points

Analopt

Analysis option

ELEC	—	Particle trace in electric field
MAGN	—	Particle trace in magnetic field
EMAG	—	Particle trace in presence of both electric and magnetic fields (default)

Item

Label identifying the item to be contoured. Valid item labels are shown in Table 219: PLTRAC - Valid Item and Component Labels below. Some items also require a component label. If Item is blank, display only the path trajectory.

Comp

Component of the item (if required). Valid component labels are shown in Table 219: PLTRAC - Valid Item and Component Labels below.

TRPNum

Trace point number for storing trajectory data for use with PATH logic. Defaults to 0 (no trajectory path data is stored for further processing with PATH logic).

Name

Name of prefix of array variable. Defaults to TRAC. NamePOIN stores trajectory path points for trace point number TRPNum. If Analopt = ELEC, MAGN, or EMAG, two additional array parameters, NameDATA and NameLABL, store trajectory path data and labels for the same TRPNum.

MXLOOP

Maximum number of loops traced by a particle. Defaults to 1000.

TOLER

Length tolerance used for particle trajectory geometry calculation. Valid for Analopt = ELEC, MAGN, or EMAG. If particle trace appears to terminate inside an element, adjusting the length tolerance may be necessary. Defaults to 1.0 x 10^-8.

--

Unused field.

ESCL

Electric field scale factor. Setting this scale factor affects only the tracing, not the field solution results. A negative factor corresponds to the opposite vector direction. Valid only for Analopt = ELEC or EMAG. Defaults to 1.

MSCL

Magnetic field scale factor. Setting this scale factor affects only the tracing, not the field solution results. A negative factor corresponds to the opposite vector direction. Valid only for Analopt = MAGN or EMAG. Defaults to 1.

Notes

For a specified item, the variation of the item is displayed along the particle trace as a color-contoured ribbon. The TRPOIN command must be used to define a point on the trajectory path. Multiple traces may be displayed simultaneously by defining multiple trace points. Issue the TRPLIS command to list the current tracing points. Issue the TRPDEL command to delete tracing points defined earlier. Use the PAPUT command with the POIN option to retrieve the particle trajectory points as path points.

The model must be 3D for the ELEC, MAGN, and EMAG analysis options.

Three array parameters are created at the time of the particle trace: TRACPOIN, TRACDATA and TRACLABL. These array parameters can be used to put the particle velocity and the elapsed time into path form. The procedure to put the arrays into a path named PATHNAME is as follows:

*get,npts,PARM,TRACPOIN,DIM,x
PATH,PATHNAME,npts,9,1
PAPUT,TRACPOIN,POINTS
PAPUT,TRACDATA,TABLES
PAPUT,TRACLABL,LABELS
PRPATH,S,T_TRACE,VX_TRACE,VY_TRACE,VZ_TRACE,VS_TRACE

If working in the GUI, use the "All information" option to retrieve information from all three arrays at once.

Table 219: PLTRAC - Valid Item and Component Labels

Item	Comp	Description
*Valid item labels for `Analopt`* = ELEC nodal results are:**
VOLT		Electric potential.
*Valid item labels for `Analopt`* = MAGN or EMAG nodal results are:**
None		Color contour displayed.

See the Basic Analysis Guide for more information on charged particle traces. See Animation in the Basic Analysis Guide for information on particle trace animation.

Menu Paths

Main Menu>General Postproc>Plot Results>Particle Trace

Utility Menu>PlotCtrls>Animate>Particle Flow