33.19.10 Particle Tracks Dialog Box

The Particle Tracks dialog box controls the generation and display of discrete phase particles. See Section  23.7.1 for details about the items below.

Controls

Options   contains the options described below:

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   toggles between displaying and not displaying the mesh. The Mesh Display dialog box is opened when Draw Mesh is selected.

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

Write to File   (available only when XY Plot is on) activates the file-writing option. When this option is selected, 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.

Reporting   allows you to specify how you would like to report particle tracks.

Report Type   controls the type of trajectory-fate reports to be displayed.

Off   disables reporting of trajectory fates.

Summary   enables summary reports of trajectory fates. See Section  23.7.2 for details.

Step by Step   enables the step-by-step reporting of trajectories. This item will not appear if you have requested unsteady tracking in the Discrete Phase Model dialog box. See Section  23.7.3 for details.

Current Positions   enables the reporting of the positions and velocities of all particles that are in the domain at the current time. This item appears only when unsteady tracking has been requested in the Discrete Phase Model dialog box. See Section  23.7.4 for details.

Report to   indicates the destination of the trajectory report.

File   enables the writing of the trajectory report to a file. When this option is enabled, the Track button will become the Write... button.

Console   enables the display of the trajectory report information in the console window.

Significant Figures   controls the number of significant figures used when a Step by Step or Current Positions report is selected.

Reporting Variables...   opens the Reporting Variables dialog box that contains a list from which you can select the scalar field to be used to color the particle tracks.

Style   sets the trajectory style. Trajectories 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 Scale 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 trajectory style.

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

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.

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.

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

Track PDF Transport Particles   enables the tracking of PDF transport particles. This item is available only when the composition PDF transport model is enabled.

Track Single Particle Stream   enables the tracking of a single particle stream in the selected injection, instead of all the streams in that injection. See Section  23.7.1 for details.

Stream ID   specifies the particle stream to be tracked when the Track Single Particle Stream option is enabled.

Skip   allows you to "thin'' or "sample'' the particles that are displayed when the Track PDF Transport Particles option is enabled.

Coarsen   reduces the plotting time by reducing the number of points that are plotted for a given trajectory in any cell. This is only valid for steady-state cases

Release from Injections   selects the injections from which to release particles. You must select at least one injection before any particles can be released.

Display   displays the trajectories and generates a trajectory report in the console window (if requested).

Plot   displays an XY plot along the particle 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 or trajectory report to a file. This button replaces the Plot button when the Write to File option is turned on, or the Track button when the File option is selected under Report to.

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).

Track   computes the particle trajectories and generates any reports without displaying the trajectories in the graphics window.

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.