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METU Mechanical Engineering Department

ME 582 Finite Element Analysis in Thermofluids

Tecplot Tutorial

This tutorial teaches the basics of Tecplot visualization software. We ll be working on the file

CavityNE900Quad_tecplot.datwhich is the output obtained by steadyNS2D.m.

1. Click on the DAT file and by default itll be opened by Tecplot. If not first start Tecplot. From Files

menu select Load Data File(s)..., select Tecplot Data Loaderand select the DAT file.

Click OK on the window titled Select Initial Plot.

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2. By default Shadeand Edgeboxes are checked on the left panel. Click on the Meshcheckbox

to see the mesh.

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3. You can use middle and right mouse butons to pan and zoom in/out. To see everything type Ctrl-F.

To go to the last view type Ctrl-L.

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4. To draw contour plots click on the Contour checkbox of the left panel. By default pressure

contours will be shown. To see contour plots of the u velocity click on the ...button next to the

Contour checkbox to open Contour & Multi-Coloring Details window and change contour

variable from p to u.

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5. To see which numerical value corresponds to which color of the contour plot, open the Contour &

Multi-Coloring Detailswindow. Click on the small >>button on the right. Select the Legendtab

and click on Show Contour Legendcheckbox.

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6. By default a contour plot is shown in Floodform. It is possible to draw it in other forms such as

Linesor Flood and Lines. Click on the Zone Style...button of the left panel. You will see that

there is only one Zone to work with and it is already selected. Click on the Contourtab and change

Contour Typeto Lines. Turn off the Mesh plot to get a more clean view.

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7. To see the values that the contour lines correspond to open Contour & Multi-Coloring Details

window and select the Labelstab. Click on Show Labelscheckbox. If necessary increase the font

size. It is possible to show either the value of the contour or the number of the contour level on a

contour line. For the second option make sure that the Contour Legend is also shown so that contour

level values can be understood.

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8. Click on the Add contour levels and/or Delete a contour levelbuttons (They have plus and

minus signs on them) of the toolbar to add/delete a contour level.

9. To control the contour levels more precisely open the Contour & Multi-Coloring Detailswindow

and select the Levels tab. Change the levels the way you want by using Reset Levels..., New

Levels...and Add Levels...buttons. You can remove any of the existing levels by selecting it and

clicking on the Remove Selected Levels button. You can quickly add a new level by entering itsvalue and clikcing on the

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10. To create streamlines, deselect the Contour checkbox on the left panel and click on the

Streamtracescheckbox. Click OK to accept the suggested variables for velocity components. Click

on the Add a single or rake of streamtraces button next to the Streamtraces checkbox. Click

anywhere on the problem domain to create a streamtrace. Click on a point and drag the mouse to a

new point before relasing the mouse button and then release it to create multiple streamtraces

originating from equispaced points of the line drawn.

11. To change the details of how the streamlines are drawn, click on the ... button next to the

Streamtracescheckbox. Most commonly used options are

- Delete Alland Delete Lastbuttons on the Positiontab.

- Accurate addition of a streamline at a specific point on the Positiontab.

- Show Arrowheads on Linescheck box on the Linestab.

- Step Sizeand Max Stepsvalues on the Integration tab. They are used to control the length

and accuracy of the streamlines.

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12. To extract data along a line deselect the Streamtracescheckbox on the left panel and select the

Meshcheckbox. From the Datamenu, select Extractand then Points From Polyline. To see

the distribution of variables along a vertical line at x=0.5 first click at a location close to (0.5, 0) and

then click at a location close to (0.5, 1). To finish polyline selection click on the right mouse button. A

window with title Extract Data Pointswill pop up. Select Zoneand 100 as number of points and

click on Extractbutton. A new Zone will be created.

To see the u velocity distribution on this new zone change the plot type from 2D Cartesianto XY

Line using the very top button of the left panel. Click on the Mapping Style button of the left

panel. Select the first map of the mapping list. Change Zone to 2: Extracted points. Change X-Axis

Variableto u. Close the window. Type Ctrl-F to see everything.

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13. Double click on the x axis to open Axis Detailswindow. Select the Gridtab. Select Showfor

both Major and Minor grid lines for both x and y axis.

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14. The white page on which plots are generated is called frame. It is possible to create new frames,

change their sizes and move them around inside the Tecplot window. Click on the border of the only

available frame and see the square handles on its corners and edges. Use these handles to reduce its

size. Press Crtl-C and Ctrl-V to create a copy of the frame. New frame is created on top of the old

one. Select it and move it to a new place.