Graphical Visualization of Physical Phenomena Simulated with the Finite Element Method

Abstract

Scientific visualization is one of the emerging techniques used to represent large multi-parameter data sets in a comprehensible way. Finite element method, as one of the largely used techniques to simulate the behavior of complex systems, typically produces large amounts of multidimensional data. This paper describes a visualization environment for the analysis of finite element data resulting from the integration of several techniques specifically optimized for the domain problem. In the first part of the paper introductory remarks are given on visualization and simulation. The finite element method is presented in more detail in order to keep the description of the system consistent with the paper. Subsequently, an overview of the logical functionality made available by the system is presented. In the second part of the paper, implemented algorithms dealing with the representation and the visualization of finite element data are detailed. Two different methodologies, together with their underlying algorithms, are considered which serve different purposes in the analysis task and in the dissemination of results.