5. Use Plots in PostPDS

The identification tag for this tutorial is PDS-AAE.

5.1. Tutorial overview

This tutorial covers:

  • Visualizing simulation results from the cable tutorial
  • Plotting tension
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Fig. 5.1 Cable model visualization

5.2. Load results in PostPDS

The data created from tutorial Simulate a Cable are in a subfolder called Results in the project directory.

  • Click on the PostPDS button in PST or alternatively double-clicking the Results.PDSo file in the cable simulation results folder to load simulation results in PostPDS.
  • Use default options in the PostPDS Specify Load Options window and click OK to continue.
  • Move the camera such that the cable can be seen in the viewing window.
  • Start simulation playback and observe the cable swing under its own weight.

The display type can be changed from rendered to engineering view. In engineering view, all cables are rendered with straight lines between finite element nodes. Nodes can be seen by selecting Show element nodes. The red and blue nodes indicate node 0 and node N, respectively. The colour and opacity of the background water can be changed. This can be done by selecting a new colour and adjusting the Density slider. The same can be done for Colours above water.

  • Double click on cable_1 in the DObject tree to center the camera on node 0 of the cable.

5.3. Plot data

There are several plotting tools embedded in PostPDS. Tension plots for a given Cable element can be created. Cable reports the average tension in an element.

  • In PostPDS, right click on the cable object and select Plot, Tension, and submit element 10 to view the tension occurring at the bottom of the cable.
  • Click Plotted Variable in PostPDS and select Tension from the drop down menu. Click the Show legend check box. Now the cable in the visualization window will be coloured by tension values indicated in the legend.

The minimum and maximum tension values used in the legend can be manually changed in their text editor boxes.