The Home tab option Chart is a feature that enables you to chart loading and result data versus time, versus additional loading conditions, as well as versus other result data. This includes the loading conditions and/or results of different analyses. For example, you may wish to compare the displacement responses from two different transient analyses with multiple damping characteristics.
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Overview
You use the Chart feature to:
Chart load(s) and result(s) vs time.
Chart multiple harmonic response plots vs. Frequency.
Change x-axis to plot a result against a load or another result.
Compare results across analyses.
Visualize and compress data into an easy-to-understand report.
Create a Chart
Select the objects you wish to chart. You can select multiple objects of interest. In doing so, note that:
You can choose objects in the tree that belong to different analyses of a model. However all objects must belong to the same Model.
Only loads, probes and results that can be contoured are added to the chart.
For result items the variation of minimum and maximum values is plotted as a function of time
Select the Chart button on the Home tab. This adds a new Chart object to the Outline. You can add multiple charts.
Determining Data Points
You can choose a mixture of loads and results that may even span different analyses. In these cases there can be a mismatch between the time points at which the loads are defined and the time points at which results are available. For example in case of a nonlinear transient stress analysis under constant load, the load has a single value but there can be many time points where results are available. The below interpolation scheme is used to create charts when such mismatch occurs.
Loads are interpolated or extrapolated to the time points at which result values or other load values.
Results are not interpolated or extrapolated.
Details Pane Content
The Details categories include:
- Definition
Outline Selection: This property lists how many objects are used in the chart. Clicking on the number of objects highlights the objects in the tree allowing you to modify the selection if needed.
- Chart Controls
This category includes the following properties:
X-Axis: By default the data of the selected objects are plotted against time. You may choose a different load or result quantity for the x-axis. For example you can plot a Force – Deflection curve by choosing the deflection to be the X-axis.
Plot Style: display as , , or (default).
Scale:
(default) - plot as linear graph.
- X-Axis is plotted logarithmically. If negative axis values or a zero value exists, this option is not supported and the graph plots linearly.
- Y-Axis is plotted logarithmically. If negative axis values or a zero value exists, this option is not supported and the graph plots linearly.
- X-Axis and Y-Axis are plotted logarithmically. If negative axis values or a zero value exists, this option is not supported and the graph plots linearly.
Gridlines: Show gridlines for plotting 2D X-Y curves.
Both - The gridlines for both the X-axis and Y-axis are shown.
X Axis - The gridline for the X-axis is shown.
Y Axis - The gridline for the Y-axis is shown.
None - No gridlines are shown.
- Axis Labels
This category includes the X-Axis and Y-Axis properties. You can enter appropriate labels for the X and Y axes. In doing so, note that:
The X and Y axes always show the units of the item(s) being charted. These units are appended to any label that you enter.
When multiple items are plotted on the Y-axis the units are determined as follows: If all the items plotted on the Y-axis have the same units then the unit is displayed. For example, if all items are of type deformation and the active unit system is British Inch unit system then the unit is displayed as Inch. If the items plotted on the Y-axis are of different types for example, stress and strain then Normalized is displayed for unit.
When determining pairs of points to plot on the chart when X-axis is not time be aware that time is still used to determine the pairs of points to plot when an item other than time is used for the x-axis. Both the X-axis quantity and the Y-axis quantity must share a common time point to be considered a valid pair.
- Report
This category includes the following properties:
Content: By default both the chart as well as the data listing of the objects gets added to reports. Instead you may choose to only add the chart or only add the data listing or exclude the chart from report. Note that only tabular data or chart data with two or more points is displayed in the report.
Caption: You may enter a caption for the chart. The caption will be included in the report.
- Input Quantities
Any valid load object added to the chart gets displayed under Input Quantities. If a load has multiple components then each component will get a line in this details group.
- Output Quantities
Any valid result object added to the chart gets displayed under Output Quantities. If a result has multiple components then each component will get a line in this details group.
Input/Output Quantities:
Note: When using Input and Output Quantities, note that:
Naming and legend: Each object added to a chart is assigned a name and a legend label. The name is simply the object name in the tree if there are no components associated with the object. An example would be a Y displacement probe. For objects that have multiple components the component direction or name will get added to the object name. For example adding ‘Equivalent Stress’ result item to a chart will result in two items getting added – ‘Equivalent Stress (min)’ and ‘Equivalent Stress (max)’.
Each name is preceded by a one letter label such as [A] or [B]. This label is also displayed on the corresponding curve in the chart and is used to associate the object name with the curve.
The default setting is to display the item in the chart and data grid. You can exclude an item by setting this field to Omit. Omitting an item removes the corresponding data from both data grid and chart. Be aware that an item chosen for X-axis cannot be omitted and this field will be reset to Display for that item.
Graph Display
Legend: You can use the right-click context menu options / to display or hide annotations in the Graph window for the selected Chart.
Normalization: Scaling of Y-axis is determined as follows.
Single item on Y-axis: Scaling is based on the minimum and maximum values of the item plotted
Multiple items on Y-axis that have same unit type: Scaling is based on the minimum and maximum values of the items plotted. For example, plot applied pressure load and a stress result against time.
Multiple items on Y-axis that have different unit types: In this case each curve is normalized to lie between 0 and 1, that is the minimum value is treated as zero and the maximum value as one. The label of the Y-axis reflects this by appending Normalized to any user specified label. Note that the data grid displays the actual values always.
Tabular Data Display
The data contained in the Tabular Data window is read-only and reflects the data for the specified object/objects.