29.1.5 Displaying Results on a Sweep Surface

Sweep surfaces can be used when you want to examine the mesh, contours, or vectors on various sections of the domain without explicitly creating the corresponding surfaces. For example, if you want to display solution results for a 3D combustion chamber, instead of creating numerous surfaces at different cross-sections of the domain, you can use a sweep surface to view the variation of the flow and temperature throughout the chamber.

Steps for Generating a Plot Using a Sweep Surface

You can plot meshes, contours, or vectors on a sweep surface using the Sweep Surface dialog box (Figure  29.1.26).

Graphics and Animations Sweep Surface Set Up...

Figure 29.1.26: The Sweep Surface Dialog Box

The basic steps for generating a mesh, contour, or vector plot using a sweep surface are as follows:

1.   Under Sweep Axis, specify the ( X, Y, Z) vector representing the axis along which the surface should be swept.

2.   Click Compute to update the Min Value and Max Value to reflect the extents of the domain along the specified axis.

3.   Under Display Type, specify the type of display you want to see: Mesh, Contours, or Vectors. The first time that you select Contours or Vectors, ANSYS FLUENT will open the Contours dialog box or the Vectors dialog box so you can modify the settings for the display. To make subsequent modifications to the display settings, click the Properties... button to open the Contours or Vectors dialog box.

4.   Move the slider under Value (which indicates the value of $x$, $y$, or $z$) to move the sweep surface through the domain along the specified Sweep Axis. ANSYS FLUENT will update the mesh, contour, or vector display when you release the slider. You can also enter a position in the Value field and press the <Enter> key to update the display.

5.   If you want to save the currently displayed sweep surface so that you can use it for a different type of plot (e.g., a pathlines plot or an XY plot) or combine it with displays on other surfaces, click Create... to open the Create Surface dialog box (Figure  29.1.27). Enter the Surface Name and click OK.

Figure 29.1.27: The Create Surface Dialog Box

The surface that is created is an isosurface based on the mesh coordinates; the contour or vector settings are not stored in the surface.

You can also animate the sweep surface display, as described below, rather than moving the slide bar yourself.

Animating a Sweep Surface Display

The steps for animating a sweep surface display are as follows:

1.   Specify the Sweep Axis and Display Type as described above.

2.   Under Animation, enter the Initial Value and Final Value for the animation. These values correspond to the minimum and maximum values along the Sweep Axis for which you want to animate the display.

3.   Specify the number of Frames you want to see in the animation.

4.   Click Animate.