PLTRAC, Analopt, Item, Comp, TRPNum, Name, MXLOOP, TOLER, OPTION, ESCL, MSCL
Displays a particle flow or charged particle trace on
an element display.
AnaloptAnalysis option
FLUID | — | Particle trace in fluid flow (default) |
ELEC | — | Particle trace in electric field |
MAGN | — | Particle trace in magnetic field |
EMAG | — | Particle trace in presence of both electric and magnetic fields |
ItemLabel identifying the item to be contoured. Valid
item labels are shown in Table 212: PLTRAC - Valid Item and Component Labels below. Some
items also require a component label. If Item is blank, display only the path trajectory.
CompComponent of the item (if required). Valid component labels are shown in Table 212: PLTRAC - Valid Item and Component Labels below.
TRPNumTrace point number for storing trajectory data for use with PATH logic. Defaults to 0 (no trajectory path data is stored for further processing with PATH logic).
NameName of prefix of array variable. Defaults to TRAC. NamePOIN stores trajectory path points for trace point
number TRPNum. If Analopt = ELEC, MAGN, or EMAG, two additional array parameters, NameDATA and NameLABL, store
trajectory path data and labels for the same TRPNum.
MXLOOPMaximum number of loops traced by a particle. Defaults
to 25 for Opt = FLUID; otherwise, defaults
to 1000.
TOLERLength tolerance used for particle trajectory geometry
calculation. Valid only for Analopt =
ELEC, MAGN, or EMAG. If particle trace appears to terminate inside
an element, adjusting the length tolerance may be necessary. Defaults
to 1.0 x 10-8.
OPTIONFlow trace option:
0 | — | Use the undeformed mesh for computing the flow trace. |
1 | — | Use the deformed mesh for computing the flow trace. |
ESCLElectric field scale factor. Setting this scale factor
affects only the tracing, not the field solution results. A negative
factor corresponds to the opposite vector direction. Valid only for Analopt = ELEC or EMAG. Defaults to 1.
MSCLMagnetic field scale factor. Setting this scale factor
affects only the tracing, not the field solution results. A negative
factor corresponds to the opposite vector direction. Valid only for Analopt = MAGN or EMAG. Defaults to 1.
For a specified item, the variation of the item is displayed along the particle trace as a color-contoured ribbon. The TRPOIN command must be used to define a point on the trajectory path. Multiple traces may be displayed simultaneously by defining multiple trace points. Issue the TRPLIS command to list the current tracing points. Issue the TRPDEL command to delete tracing points defined earlier. Use the PAPUT command with the POIN option to retrieve the particle trajectory points as path points.
The model must be 3-D for the ELEC, MAGN, and EMAG analysis options.
Three array parameters are created at the time of the particle trace: TRACPOIN, TRACDATA and TRACLABL. These array parameters can be used to put the particle velocity and the elapsed time into path form. The procedure to put the arrays into a path named PATHNAME is as follows:
*get,npts,PARM,TRACPOIN,DIM,x PATH,PATHNAME,npts,9,1 PAPUT,TRACPOIN,POINTS PAPUT,TRACDATA,TABLES PAPUT,TRACLABL,LABELS PRPATH,S,T_TRACE,VX_TRACE,VY_TRACE,VZ_TRACE,VS_TRACE
Not used if Analopt = FLUID. If
working in the GUI, use the "All information" option to retrieve information
from all three arrays at once.
If OPTION is set to 1, the deformed
mesh is based on the displacement degrees of freedom UX, UY, and UZ,
which must be available in the load step.
Table 212: PLTRAC - Valid Item and Component Labels
| Item | Comp | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Valid item and component labels for nodal degree of freedom results are: | ||
| TEMP | Temperature. | |
| PRES | Pressure. | |
| V | X, Y, Z, SUM | X, Y, or Z fluid velocity or vector sum. |
Valid item labels for Analopt = ELEC nodal results are: | ||
| VOLT | Electric potential. | |
Valid item labels for Analopt = MAGN or
EMAG nodal results are: | ||
| None | Color contour displayed. | |
See the Basic Analysis Guide for more information on particle flow and charged particle traces. See Animation in the Basic Analysis Guide for information on particle trace animation.
Distributed ANSYS Restriction This command is not supported in Distributed ANSYS.