33.19.7 Pathlines Dialog Box

The Pathlines dialog box controls the generation and display of pathlines. See Section  29.1.4 for details about the items below.

Controls

Options   contains the options described below:

Oil Flow   toggles between regular pathlines and oil-flow pathlines. When this option is selected, pathlines are constrained to lie on the zone selected in the On Zone list.

Reverse   specifies that each particle's path is traced back in time. This option is turned off by default.

Node Values   specifies that node values should be interpolated to compute the scalar field at a particle location. This option is turned on by default. See Section  29.1.4 for details.

Auto Range   specifies that the minimum and maximum values of the scalar field will be the limits of that field. If this option is not selected, you can enter Min and Max values manually. These values determine the range of the color scale.

Draw Mesh   when enabled opens the Mesh Display dialog box where you can specify how to display your mesh.

Accuracy Control   allows you to specify tolerance to control the pathlines accuracy.

Relative Pathlines   allows you to display the pathlines relative to the rotating reference frame.

XY Plot   enables the display of an XY plot along the pathline trajectories. When this option is selected, the Display push button will change to Plot.

Write to File   activates the file-writing option. When this option is selected, the Type option becomes active and the Plot push button will change to Write.... Clicking on the Write... button will open the Select File dialog box (see Section  2.1.6), in which you can specify a name and save a file containing the XY plot data. The format of this file is described in Section  29.9.6.

Type   specifies the type of the file you want to write.

Standard   allows you to write the file in FIELDVIEW format, which can be read in FIELDVIEW.

Geometry   allows you to write the file in .ibl format, which can be read in GAMBIT.

EnSight   allows you to write the file in .encas format, which can be read in EnSight.

Pulse Mode   specifies either a single or continuous release of particles that follow the pathlines, starting at the release surface, when you use the Pulse button to animate the pathlines.

Continuous   sets the pulse mode to continuously release particles from the initial positions.

Single   sets the pulse mode to release a single wave of particles.

The Pulse Mode is used only when particles are being pulsed.

Style   sets the pathline style. Pathlines can be displayed as lines, ribbons, spheres, cylinders, or a set of points. The ribbon style also uses the Twist By field and the Twist Factor value (specified in the Ribbon Attributes dialog box). Pulsing can be done only on point or line styles.

Attributes...   opens the Path Style Attributes dialog box or the Ribbon Attributes dialog box, depending on the selected Style. These dialog boxes let you set the attributes (ribbon width, marker size, cylinder radius, twist-by field, etc.) for the chosen pathline style.

Step Size   sets the interval used for computing the next position of a particle. This is in units of length. Particle positions are always computed when they enter/leave a cell. If you specify a very large size, the particle positions at entry/exit of each cell will still be computed (and displayed).

Tolerance   allows you to control the error when using large time step sizes for the calculation. This is available when Accuracy Control is selected under Options.

Steps   sets the maximum number of steps a particle can advance. A particle's path may also end if it leaves the domain.

Path Skip   allows you to "thin'' or "sample'' the pathlines that are displayed. See Section  29.1.4 for details.

Path Coarsen   reduces the time and the number of points plotted in a pathline. Coarsening factor of 'n' will result in plotting of each 'n'th point for a given pathline in each cell.

On Zone   contains a list from which you can select the zone on which the particles are constrained to lie. This list is activated only when the Oil Flow option is selected.

Color by   contains a list from which you can select the scalar field to be used to color the pathlines. The default is Particle ID, a unique ID for each particle.

Y Axis Function   contains a list of solution variables that can be used for the $y$ axis of the plot.

This item appears when the XY Plot option is turned on.

X Axis Function   contains a list of functions for the $x$ axis of the plot. You can plot the quantity selected in the Y Axis Function drop-down list as a function of the Time elapsed along the trajectory, or the Path Length along the trajectory.

This item appears when the XY Plot option is turned on.

Min/Max   display the values to which the lower and upper ends of the color scale map. If you are using the Auto Range option, these values will be automatically computed when you press Compute. If you are not using Auto Range, you can enter values manually.

Release from Surfaces   selects the surfaces from which to release particles. You must select at least one surface before any particles can be released.

New Surface   is a drop-down list button that contains a list of surface options:

Point   opens the Point Surface dialog box.

Line/Rake   opens the Line/Rake Surface dialog box.

Plane   opens the Plane Surface dialog box.

Quadric   opens the Quadric Surface dialog box.

Iso-Surface   opens the Iso-Surface dialog box.

Iso-Clip   opens the Iso-Clip dialog box.

EnSight Encas File Name   allows you to specify a .encas file name if you selected EnSight under Type.

Browse...   opens the Select File dialog box (see Section  2.1.6) where you can select the .encas file.

Time Steps For EnSight Export   allows you to set the number of time levels that are available for animation in EnSight.

Display   displays the pathlines and records all dialog box settings.

Plot   displays an XY plot along the pathline trajectories. This button replaces the Display button when the XY Plot option is turned on.

Write...   opens the Select File dialog box (see Section  2.1.6), in which you can save the XY plot data to a file. This button replaces the Plot button when the Write to File option is turned on.

Pulse   animates the position of particles. If Pulse Mode is set to Continuous, particles are reintroduced at the seed positions repeatedly. If the mode is Single, a single wave of particles moves through the domain.

The label of this button changes to Stop ! when the animation is in progress. Press Stop ! to stop pulsing (and the label goes back to Pulse).

Compute   computes the Min and Max for the field chosen in Color by.

Axes...   opens the Axes dialog box, which allows you to customize the XY plot axes. This item appears when the XY Plot option is turned on.

Curves...   opens the Curves dialog box, which allows you to customize the curves used in the XY plot. This item appears when the XY Plot option is turned on.