Visualize PDE Results

Create and explore visualizations of PDE results in the Live Editor

Since R2022b

Description

The Visualize PDE Results task enables you to plot and inspect results of structural, thermal, electromagnetic, or general PDE analysis using interactive controls. The task automatically generates MATLAB^® code for your live script.

Using this task, you can:

• Select which solution data to display.

• Quickly access plots for different frequencies, modes, time steps, and phases.

• Show animated solutions.

• Add a mesh to a solution plot.

• Adjust color limits for a colormap.

• Adjust surface transparency.

For general information about Live Editor tasks, see Add Interactive Tasks to a Live Script.

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Open the Task

To add the Visualize PDE Results task to a live script in the MATLAB Editor:

• On the Live Editor tab, select Task > Visualize PDE Results.

• In a code block in the script, type a relevant keyword, such as pde. Select Visualize PDE Results from the suggested command completions.

Examples

Visualization of Modal Analysis Results in Live Editor

Use the Visualize PDE Results task in the Live Editor to explore structural modal analysis results of a tuning fork. Open this example to see a preconfigured script containing the Visualize PDE Results task.

Find natural frequencies and mode shapes for the fundamental mode of a tuning fork and the next several modes. To perform unconstrained modal analysis of a structure, you can specify just the geometry, mesh, and material properties.

model = femodel(AnalysisType="structuralModal", ...
                Geometry="TuningFork.stl");
model.MaterialProperties = ...
    materialProperties(YoungsModulus=210e9, ...
                       PoissonsRatio=0.3, ...
                       MassDensity=8000);
model = generateMesh(model,Hmax=0.001);

Solve the model for a chosen frequency range.

RF = solve(model,FrequencyRange=[-1,4000]*2*pi);

To visualize mode shapes, open the Visualize PDE Results Live Editor task. On the Live Editor tab, select Task > Visualize PDE Results. This action inserts the task into your script.

In the Select results section of the task, select RF from the drop-down list. Because there are no boundary constraints in this example, modal results include the rigid body modes. The first six near-zero frequencies indicate the six rigid body modes of the 3-D tuning fork. The first flexible mode is the seventh mode with a frequency of about 460 Hz.

The best way to visualize mode shapes is to animate the harmonic motion at their respective frequencies. Select Animate to see the harmonic motion at a frequency of about 460 Hz.

Related Examples

• Deflection Analysis of Bracket
• Thermal Deflection of Bimetallic Beam
• Modal and Frequency Response Analysis for Single Part of Kinova Gen3 Robotic Arm
• Finite Element Analysis of Electrostatically Actuated MEMS Device
• Temperature Distribution in Heat Sink
• Minimal Surface Problem

Parameters

Select results — Results to plot

structural results | thermal results | electromagnetic results | general PDE results

Choose the results to plot from the structural, thermal, electromagnetic, and general PDE results available in the MATLAB workspace. You can select only one solution at a time. The solution must be specified as one of these objects:

• StaticStructuralResults, TransientStructuralResults, ModalStructuralResults, or FrequencyStructuralResults for a structural model

• SteadyStateThermalResults, TransientThermalResults, or ModalThermalResults for a thermal model

• ElectrostaticResults, MagnetostaticResults, HarmonicResults, or ConductionResults for an electromagnetic model

• StationaryResults, TimeDependentResults, or EigenResults for a general PDE model

Specify data parameters

Type — Part of solution to plot

Displacement | Temperature | Electric field | ...

Choose the part of the solution to plot, such as a displacement for a structural problem, temperature for a thermal problem, or electric field for an electrostatic problem.

Component — Components to plot

Magnitude (default) | X | Y | Z | ...

Choose to plot the x-, y-, or z-component of a solution such as displacement, stress, temperature gradient, electric field, or magnetic field.

Mode — Mode to plot

first mode (default) | number

Choose the number corresponding to the solution mode to plot.

Frequency — Solution frequency to plot

lowest frequency (default) | number

Choose the number corresponding to the solution frequency to plot.

Decay rate — Eigenvalue of thermal model

first eigenvalue (default) | number

Choose the number corresponding to the eigenvalue of a thermal model.

Equation — Equation to plot

1 (default) | positive integer

Choose the number corresponding to the equation to plot.

Eigenvalue — Eigenvalue of general PDE model

first eigenvalue (default) | number

Choose the number corresponding to the eigenvalue of a PDE model.

Time — Time to plot results for

solution times

Choose the time to plot results for. The slider values correspond to the times that you used when solving the problem.

Phase — Phase to plot results for

values are from 0 to 2π

Choose the phase to plot results for. The slider values are from 0 to 2π.

Animate — Animate plot

off (default) | on

Select this option to play the animation.

Specify visualization parameters

Axes — Show coordinate axes

on (default) | off

Select this option to show the coordinate axes.

Colorbar — Show color bar

on (default) | off

Select this option to show the color bar.

Mesh — Show mesh

off (default) | on

Select this option to show the mesh.

Title — Show plot title

off (default) | on

Select this option to show an autogenerated plot title.

Deformation — Deformed or undeformed shape for structural analysis models

on (default) | off

Switch between deformed and undeformed shapes for a 3-D structural model. In an undeformed shape, center nodes in quadratic meshes are always added at the halfway point between corners. When you plot a deformed shape, the center nodes can move away from the edge centers.

Color limits — Set colormap limits

numbers

Set the colormap limits. The default mapping is useful in most cases, but you can perform the mapping over any range you choose, even if the range you choose is different than the range of your data. Choosing a different mapping range allows you to:

• See where your data is at or beyond the limits of that range.

• See where your data lies within that range.

For details, see Control Colormap Limits.

Transparency — Surface transparency

None | transparency in the range from None to High

Adjust the surface transparency by moving the slider between None, Medium, and High.

Version History

Introduced in R2022b