Post-Processing

Post-Processing#

After your simulation completes, the Results tab provides interactive 3D visualization and analysis tools to extract engineering insight from your data.

Available Fields#

Field

Symbol

Unit

Description

Velocity

U

m/s

Flow velocity vector

Pressure

p

Pa

Static pressure

Turbulent kinetic energy

k

m²/s²

Turbulence intensity measure

Specific dissipation rate

ω

1/s

Turbulence frequency (k-ω models)

Dissipation rate

ε

m²/s³

Turbulence dissipation (k-ε model)

Turbulent viscosity

νt

m²/s

Effective turbulent diffusivity

Wall distance

d

m

Distance from nearest wall

Visualization Tools#

Surface Coloring#

Color boundary surfaces by any field value:

  1. In the Results tab, select a field from the dropdown (e.g., Pressure)

  2. Surface patches are colored according to the field values

  3. Adjust the colormap (jet, viridis, coolwarm, etc.)

  4. Set the range manually or use auto-scaling

Use for: Identifying high/low pressure zones, wall shear patterns, temperature distributions

Slice Planes#

Create cross-sectional cuts through the domain to see internal flow structure:

  1. Click Add Slice

  2. Choose the plane orientation (X, Y, or Z normal)

  3. Drag the plane position in the 3D viewer or enter a coordinate

  4. Select the field to display on the slice

  5. The slice shows a colored contour of the field values

Use for: Visualizing wake structures, pressure distribution through the domain, internal flow patterns

Isosurfaces#

Create 3D surfaces where a field has a constant value:

  1. Click Add Isosurface

  2. Select the field (e.g., Velocity magnitude)

  3. Set the isovalue

  4. A 3D surface appears showing all points where the field equals that value

Use for: Identifying vortex cores (low pressure isosurfaces), wake boundaries (velocity isosurfaces), recirculation zones

Streamlines#

Trace the path that fluid particles follow through the domain:

  1. Click Add Streamlines

  2. Place seed points or a seeding line/plane in the 3D viewer

  3. Streamlines are computed forward (and optionally backward) from the seeds

  4. Color streamlines by velocity, pressure, or other fields

Use for: Understanding flow paths, identifying recirculation, visualizing how flow moves around geometry

Glyphs (Vectors)#

Display velocity vectors as arrows at discrete points:

  1. Click Add Glyphs

  2. Configure arrow density and scaling

  3. Arrows show the direction and magnitude of the velocity field

Use for: Understanding flow direction at specific locations, identifying stagnation points and flow turning

Quantitative Analysis#

Force and Moment Calculation#

Calculate aerodynamic forces on selected surfaces:

  1. Click Forces in the analysis tools

  2. Select the surface(s) to calculate forces on (e.g., car_body)

  3. Set the reference parameters:

    • Reference area (frontal area for drag, planform area for lift)

    • Reference velocity (freestream velocity)

    • Reference length (for moment coefficients)

  4. Results show:

Quantity

Description

Drag force (Fd)

Force in the freestream direction

Lift force (Fl)

Force perpendicular to freestream

Side force

Lateral force

Drag coefficient (Cd)

Normalized drag

Lift coefficient (Cl)

Normalized lift

Moment coefficients (Cm)

Pitching, rolling, yawing moments

Point Probes#

Query field values at specific locations:

  1. Click Probe

  2. Click a point in the 3D viewer or enter coordinates

  3. The field values at that point are displayed

Line Probes#

Extract field values along a line for 1D plotting:

  1. Click Line Probe

  2. Define start and end points

  3. A 1D plot shows the selected field value along the line

Use for: Comparing velocity profiles at different stations, checking pressure distribution along a surface

Viewer Controls#

Colormaps#

Available colormaps:

  • Jet — Rainbow (blue → green → yellow → red)

  • Viridis — Perceptually uniform (dark purple → yellow)

  • Coolwarm — Diverging (blue → white → red) — good for showing positive/negative

  • Plasma — Perceptually uniform warm palette

  • Inferno — Dark to bright warm palette

Range Control#

  • Auto — Automatically scales to the min/max values in the visible data

  • Manual — Set custom min/max values to highlight specific ranges

  • Symmetric — Centers the range around zero (good for diverging quantities like pressure coefficient)

Display Options#

Option

Description

Mesh wireframe

Overlay mesh edges on surfaces

Clipping planes

Cut away parts of the domain

Region toggle

Show/hide specific boundary patches

Transparency

Make surfaces translucent

Camera presets

Front, Back, Left, Right, Top, Bottom, Isometric views

Downloading Results#

Export your simulation results for further analysis:

  • VTU format — Complete volumetric solution (open in ParaView for advanced post-processing)

  • Screenshots — Capture the current view directly from the viewer

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