Visualizing Results of Your First CFD model in FEBioStudio
This tutorial assumes that the reader has completed the tutorial “Creating Your First Model in FEBioStudio.” While there is considerable overlap with visualizing results from structural mechanics models, features particularly useful for fluid flow visualization are described here.
Opening the Simulation Output
Please consult tutorial “Performing Your First Analysis in FEBioStudio,” where the cylinder fluid flow problem is opened instead.
Viewing the Model’s Animation
Please consult tutorial “Performing Your First Analysis in FEBioStudio.”
Visualizing Data with the Color Map
Please consult tutorial “Performing Your First Analysis in FEBioStudio.”
Viewing Data Graphically
Please consult tutorial “Performing Your First Analysis in FEBioStudio.”
Mirror and Cut Planes
The user can cut the model along a plane, or alternatively, mirror the model along a plane in the case of a symmetric model. This can be done by the Plane cut 
and Mirror plane 
buttons respectively.
For Plane Cut:
- Click the Plane cut button. It should appear in the Post panel under the Model tab.
- For the cylinder problem, the default orientation can be used to visualize the flow through the center of the cylinder. The plane can be turned off be setting Show plane to No.
- Different orientations for the cut plane can be visualized by changing X-normal, Y-normal, Z-normal, and offset. Other options can toggle visualization of the mesh and cutting of hidden parts, which are Show Mesh and Cut hidden respectively.
For Mirror plane:
- Click the Mirror plane button. Note that this feature would normally be used for this kind of problem if the geometry was a half or quarter cylinder.
- Mirror Plane and Offset can be chosen in the Properties menu to move the plane at which the model is mirrored. Show plane can toggle the plane on or off.
Visualizing Vector Data
Vector Data can be expressed as a Vector plot 
, Stream line plot 
, Particle flow plot 
, and Volume flow plot 
. Note for some of these features, whenever element data is selected, the geometry may have to be made transparent in order to visualize the results. This can be done under the Post panel on the left side under Material->Transparency and setting it to a value less than 1 (0.2-0.5 recommended).
Vector plot:
- Click the Vector plot button, and it will appear in the Post panel under the Model tab.
- The vector plot will be added on top of the plane cut in this case (ensure that it is still active in the Model tab). Here, the Data field = nodal fluid velocity, with Allow Clipping = no to allow the arrow to be shown for the hidden nodes. The Scale = 3 and Auto-scale=Yes to see the arrows. Note that depending on the problem and magnitude of the data field, these parameters, along with Density and Normalize have to be adjusted. Note that the Glyph can be set to Cone, Cylinder, Sphere, Box and Line in addition to Arrow, and the color can be adjusted with Glyph Color and Solid Color.
Stream line plot:
- Click the stream line plot button and it will appear in the Post panel under the Model tab on the left side. Delete the vector plot from the previous step by clicking on VectorPlot in the Post panel and clicking the Delete button below (alternatively it can be unchecked to hide it).
- The stream line plot will be added simultaneously with the plane cut. Here, the Data field = nodal fluid velocity, with Allow Clipping = yes to make the stream lines less cluttered. All other parameters were kept at the default values. Note that depending on the problem and magnitude of the data field, Step size, Density, and Velocity Threshold change the appearance and how the stream lines are calculated. The Color map can be changed for the stream lines color representation.
Particle flow plot:
- Click the particle flow plot button and it will appear in the Post panel under the Model tab on the left side. Again like before, previous plots can be deleted or hidden.
- Delete the plane cut to see the whole cylinder. Here, the Data field = nodal fluid velocity and Show path lines = yes. All other parameters were kept at the default values. Note that depending on the problem and magnitude of the data field, Step size, Density, and Velocity Threshold change the appearance and how the path lines are calculated. The Seed step indicates the time step at which the particles appear. The Color map can be changed for the path lines like with the stream lines.
Volume flow plot:
- Click the volume flow plot button and it will appear in the Post panel under the Model tab on the left side. Again, like before, previous plots should be deleted or hidden
- Ensure that the plane cut is deleted to see the whole cylinder. Here, the Data field = total nodal fluid velocity. All other parameters were kept at the default values. The Color map can be changed for the volume color map and the Opacity scale can be adjusted to change how easily the center can be seen. This tools allows the user to see the color map throughout the whole volume.
Visualizing Tensor Data
Tensor data can be expressed using the Tensor plot 
tool. As was done with the vector plots, the geometry may have to be made transparent in order to visualize the results.
- Click the Tensor plot button and it will appear in the Post panel under the Model tab on the left side. Again like before, previous plots should be deleted or hidden.
- Ensure that the plane cut is deleted to see the whole cylinder. Here, the Data field = fluid stress and Glyph = sphere. All other parameters were kept at the default values. Note the tensor plot can also calculate columns and rows of tensors in addition to eigenvectors. Other glyphs that can be used are boxes, lines, and arrows, and the color can be adjusted with Glyph Color and Solid Color. Like with the Vector plot, the Scale, Density, Auto-scale, and Normalize parameters can change the size and density of the glyphs.
