Displaying Results

Generating results to understand the behavior of an analyzed model is fundamental to any simulation analysis. Discovery offers a variety of result display types and tools to present the results you need. Those displayed results update instantly as you interact with your model.

When in Refine, you can choose to display the mesh with any evaluated results. Additionally, you can probe the solution anywhere on your model by mousing over the contour or iso-surface in Refine, or any result type in Explore. A value displays in the legend and changes as you move to a different location in your model.

Displayed results fall into the following categories:
  • Scalar result presentation methods:
    • Contours: Visualize as a colored contour to assess the range and rate of change for scalar variables including scalar components of vector or tensor variables. Includes options to display volumetrically.
    • Iso-surface: Display surfaces of user-defined constant values.
  • Directional result presentation methods:
    • Vectors: Distribute a number of arrows to show the direction and magnitude of vector variables on a surface. The arrows can be colored and sized by the magnitude of the vector. For fluid flow simulations, curved vectors provide a way to visualize the global field flow characteristics and explore the flow by velocity or circulation.
    • Streamlines: Show pathlines following the vectors of least turbulence from a seed location. The lines are colored by the selected variable in the results legend.
    • Particles: Show virtual or actual particles traveling along the path lines. These particles can be from a seed location or by filling a volume and are colored by the selected variable in the results legend.
    • Direction field: Display directionality on a surface based on the vector.
    Note: Result plots for structural and fluids simulations are combined. Structural simulations display Displacement as a vector variable oriented by deformation and then colored by the selected variable. Reaction Force and Reaction Resultant use their own variable for orientation, rather than displacement. These variables are not available for the Direction field plot. Fluids simulations use Velocity as the vector variable, which is then colored by the selected variable. Thermal variables are oriented by Heat Flux.
  • Electromagnetics result presentation methods:
    • Near-field pattern: Display the electric field intensity within the simulation region. Visualize the results as a colored contour to assess the range and rate of change for electromagnetic variables.
    • Far-field pattern: Display the radiated electric field, gain and other antenna parameters versus angle, as observed on an infinite sphere.

Results Variables lists all commonly used variables based on the physics used in your simulation.