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CSV Vector

Table of contents

csvVector CSV Vector

About

The CSV Vector is a feature to read nodal or elemental vector result values from a comma separated values text file (csv) and plot on the geometry.

Usage

Click the “CSV Vector” button in the toolbar to add to the current selected solution.

csv_vector_details

Inputs to define the CSV Vector are:

Geometry  
Scoping Method All Bodies (Default)/Geometry Selection/Named Selection (i)
Geometry Vertex/Edge/Face/Body/Node/Element (i)
Definition  
CSV File Open file dialog to browse to the csv file.
CSV Filter Text to identify items to use. (Default *)
CSV Item X List box to select the X component result in the csv file. (ii)
CSV Item Y List box to select the Y component result in the csv file. (ii)
CSV Item Z List box to select the Z component result in the csv file. (ii)
Result Location Node (Default)/Element Type of data in the CSV file. (iii)
By Time (Default)/Result Set/Maximum Over Time/Time Of Maximum
Display Time Load step time for deformed shape.
Identifier Result item name for use in User Defined Result “Expression”.

(i) Geometry

The node or element numbers in the csv file will be compared with the selection and results will only be plotted for numbers that are scoped in the selection. The default “All Bodies” will always work but will be slower compared to select the corresponding geometry as is defined in the csv file. You may also limit the selection to certain faces and not plot the entire contents of the csv file.

(ii) CSV Item

The CSV Item X/Y/Z must be in global coordinates.
If Item = ‘None’ then the corresponding value is set to zero.

(iii) Result Location Node

If the csv file only contains results data for corner nodes mid node results will be interpolated.

CSV File Definition

The csv file can be created in any way, e.g. from Excel a csv file can be created by “Save as type: CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv)”. There are a number of rules that the file must fulfil in order to work.

csv_file_vector

  • First line is header line with column description including unit string.
  • First column is node or element numbers (may be saved as integer or floating point number).
    If “Node” or “Element” is in the name on the first row the “Result Location” is set correspondingly.
  • All fields must be comma (or semi colon) separated values, hence “CSV”.
    If field separator is comma decimal point separator must be used.
    If field separator is semi colon decimal point or decimal comma may be used.
  • The unit string must be defined as Workbench standard e.g. “[mm]” or “(N mm^-2)”.
  • A unit string is optional and without a valid unit string the result will be “Dimensionless”.
    The unit string can be enclosed in “( )” or “[ ]”. If you have multiple parentheses of the same type in a field the last one is used for the unit string. If there is a mix of types the square type “[ ]” will be used for unit string.
    All of the following examples are valid and will use “MPa” as unit string.
    “Stress (MPa)”, “Stress (von-Mises) [MPa]”, “Stress (von-Mises) (MPa)”, “Stress [MPa] (von-Mises)”
    All units that are available in the External Data setup are recognized.
  • Valid unit quantity names are: Stress, Strain, Pressure, Heat Transfer Coefficient, Heat Flux, Heat Generation, Heat Rate, Length, Velocity, Force, Force Intensity, Body Force Density.
  • Any format errors are printed in the ACT Log file together with reference to line number.