Automatic Report Generation Examples

Use hwCFDReport to create a .pptx or .pdf report with user defined visualization.

Create a Simple Input File

To create a simple input file with a cover page and summary, navigate to the simulation results folder, and create a file named report.img with the following contents:

Each command here starts with the name, COMMAND, followed by curly braces {} with options specified inside the braces. The simulation data to summarize is specified with the DATASET{} command.
DATASET{
     resultFile                 = "uFX_fullData\uFX_output.case"
     summary_file               = " uFX_summary.txt"
     summary_in_report          = on
}
REPORT("Run summary"){
    report_type                 = run_summary
    format                      = pptx
}
The following will produce a simple report with a cover page and a summary of the uFX results.
>> hwcfdReport –img report.img

Add Images

Use the IMAGE{} command to tell the utility to create and display an image. In the command options, specify which parts are to be shown and the views from which the image is to be rendered. In this example, we define two views: front and left.
IMAGE("Car_view"){
    parts                      = {"Car"}
    views                      = {"front","left"}
    image_type                 = static
}
The parts options specified above is a reference and needs to be fully defined in a separate PART{} command. This particular command instance is named Car and is referenced above with this name. A PART{} command includes all boundaries and default visualization settings. These are optional and can be customized as seen below:
PART("Car"){
     show_boundary_names       = {"_all"}
     display_type              = solid
     color_type                = constant
     constant_color            = "white"
}
After the summary page, the two views of the Car model are rendered and attached in the report.
Figure 1.


Figure 2.


Results Visualization Tools

The advanced options enable you to unlock more colorful possibilities. Visualization mainstays such as Contours, Cut-planes, Iso-surfaces, and Streamlines have dedicated commands. Two- dimensional plots such as Line-plots and Bar-charts can also be created. All these commands can be further customized using the VARIABLE{} command that makes these commands more powerful and portable across multiple simulations. Last but not the least, two simulation results can be used to create a report that renders images side by side for a quick spot the difference comparison.

Surface Contours

Surface contours are defined in two parts. In the PART{} command, we modify the color_type from constant to contour. This changes the coloring of the car model from a constant color to a surface contour. We also specify the contour function which controls the coloring of the contour, in this example time_avg_pressure_coefficient. This is followed by more settings that control the legend on the right-hand corner in the plot.
IMAGE("Surface Cp"){
    parts                      = {"Surface Cp"}
    views                      = {"front_top_left"}                                 
    image_type                 = static
}

PART("Surface Cp"){
     display_type              = solid
     solid_display_type        = smooth
     color_type                = contour
     contour_function          = time_avg_pressure_coefficient
     legend_display            = on
     legend_min                = -1.0
     legend_max                =  1.0
}
Figure 3.


Cut Planes

A cut plane is defined with a dedicated command named CUT_PLANE{}. In this example, a cut plane corresponding to the plane y = 0 is defined. The instantaneous total pressure coefficient, total_pressure_coefficient, is used to color the plane and the size of the plane is controlled by the inputs: x_min, x_max, and z_max.
Note: The use of variables car_length and car_height are needed for the command to work.
IMAGE("Cut plane y total_pressure_coefficient"){
    cut_planes                 = {"y cut total_pressure_coefficient"}
    parts                      = {"Full vehicle - white"}
    views                      = {"left"}
    clip_parts                 = off
}
CUT_PLANE("y cut total_pressure_coefficient"){
     normal_direction          = y
     cut_location              = 0.0
     color_type                = contour
     contour_function          = total_pressure_coefficient
     legend_display            = on
     legend_min                = -1.0
     legend_max                = 1.0
     x_min                     = -0.78 - car_length/4.0
     x_max                     = 3.29 + car_length
     z_max 		       = 1.3 + 0.5*car_height
}
Figure 4.


Variables

The VARIABLE{} command can be used to define frequently used quantities. This makes it possible to re-use scripts and compute more complex expressions. A VARIABLE{} has a name, variable_name, and an expression associated with it. The expression can be a constant, another variable, or a mathematical expression containing more variables. The following variables, car_length and car_height need to be defined to get the CUT_Plane{} in the previous section to work correctly.
VARIABLE{
	variable_name  			= car_length
	expression 			    = 4.07
}

VARIABLE{
	variable_name  			= car_height
	expression 			    = 1.317
}

Iso-Surfaces

Iso-surfaces are created with the ISO_SURFACE{} command. In this example, the time averaged pressure coefficient, time_avg_pressure_coefficient, is used to create the iso-surface which is then colored with a constant color, blue for time_avg_pressure_coefficient=-0.3 and red for time_avg_pressure_coefficient=0.5.
IMAGE("Cp Iso""){
parts	       = {"Full vehicle - white"}
iso_surfaces	= {"Cp = -0.3”,” Cp = 0.5"”}
views	       = {"left"}
image_type 	= static
}
ISO_SURFACE("Cp = -0.3"){
iso_function	  = time_avg_pressure_coeffient
iso_value	     = -0.3
display_type	  = solid
solid_display_type  = smooth
color_type	    = constant
constant_color      = blue
}

ISO_SURFACE("Cp = 0.5"){
iso_function	    = time_avg_pressure_coeffient
iso_value	       = 0.5
display_type	    = solid
solid_display_type    = smooth
color_type	      = constant
constant_color        = red
}
Figure 5.


Line Plots

A line plot is created with a single LINE_PLOT{} command. The data source to read ASCII data from is specified with the data_file input. The data in the ASCII file is organized into rows and columns. Specify the column numbers in the x_column and y_column fields to get a line plot.
LINE_PLOT("Instantaneous drag"){
    data_source                = "file"
    data_file                  = "./uFX_coefficientsData/uFX_coefficients_Inst.txt"
    num_header_rows            = 11 
    x_column                   = 1
    y_columns                  = {2}
    x_label                    = "Time (s)"
    y_label                    = "Coefficients"
    title                      = "Instantaneous Drag"
    legend_labels              = "C_d"
    show_legend                = on
    show_grid                  = on
}
Figure 6.