Unwrap the cylindrical surface to a plane

CFDturbomachinery · December 24, 2014, 17:42

Hi guys:

does anyone have any idea on how to unwrap the cylindrical surface into a flat surface in CFX post? I have plotted the velocity contour on the cylindrical surface and would like to unwrap it into a rectangular plane!
thanks

ghorrocks · December 25, 2014, 03:45

Here are the steps:
1) Generate the cylindrical surface in CFD-Post
2) File/Export, use the cylinder as the object locator and export it to some file you can read
3) Use Tecplot, Paraview, python, matlab or some other post processing tool to work on the exported data.

CFDturbomachinery · December 31, 2014, 14:03

Glenn,
I exported all the x,y,z and velocity data to excel and tried to plot in MATLAB but I got quite obscured plot. So I want to use tecplot: can you explain step by step how you do this in tecplot? Thanks a lot.

ghorrocks · December 31, 2014, 17:06

This is a simple thing to do and simply moving to another software will not fix it. If you already have the data in matlab then make it work in matlab. What do you mean by "obscured plot"?

You will probably have to define a function so your cylindrical surface is mapped to a surface. This means calculating the theta angle on the cylinder and then plotting the points as z height versus theta.

December 24, 2014, 17:42	Unwrap the cylindrical surface to a plane	#1
CFDturbomachinery New Member Sharon Wilcox Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: California, USA Posts: 21 Rep Power: 11	Hi guys: does anyone have any idea on how to unwrap the cylindrical surface into a flat surface in CFX post? I have plotted the velocity contour on the cylindrical surface and would like to unwrap it into a rectangular plane! thanks

December 25, 2014, 03:45		#2
ghorrocks Super Moderator Glenn Horrocks Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 17,700 Rep Power: 143	Here are the steps: 1) Generate the cylindrical surface in CFD-Post 2) File/Export, use the cylinder as the object locator and export it to some file you can read 3) Use Tecplot, Paraview, python, matlab or some other post processing tool to work on the exported data. CFDturbomachinery likes this.

December 31, 2014, 17:06		#4
ghorrocks Super Moderator Glenn Horrocks Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 17,700 Rep Power: 143	This is a simple thing to do and simply moving to another software will not fix it. If you already have the data in matlab then make it work in matlab. What do you mean by "obscured plot"? You will probably have to define a function so your cylindrical surface is mapped to a surface. This means calculating the theta angle on the cylinder and then plotting the points as z height versus theta. CFDturbomachinery likes this.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Bulk averaged values on a surface plane other than the inlet or outlet planes..How??	nikesh	FloEFD, FloWorks & FloTHERM	5	August 19, 2014 01:42
Cylindrical Quadric Surface for Post-process analysis	Steady State	FLUENT	0	November 7, 2013 10:03
Flatten 3D cylindrical surface to 2D XY plot	aerohead	FLUENT	2	June 28, 2013 07:18
Calculating forces on a non-closed surface	ScottN	FLUENT	0	March 1, 2011 17:18
SnappyHexMesh plane surface bounding box	podallaire	OpenFOAM Bugs	22	August 26, 2009 07:34

December 31, 2014, 14:03		#3
CFDturbomachinery New Member Sharon Wilcox Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: California, USA Posts: 21 Rep Power: 11	Glenn, I exported all the x,y,z and velocity data to excel and tried to plot in MATLAB but I got quite obscured plot. So I want to use tecplot: can you explain step by step how you do this in tecplot? Thanks a lot.