Research On Visualization For The Result Of Finite Element Analysis Based On Volume Rendering

As a numerical method, finite element analysis is widely used in engineering, whose visualization plays an incrementally significant role. Data in three-dimension simulation is a spatial distribution, but classic facial visualization can only display the front facial distribution, so we need to do some cutting to explore embedded data.Volume rendering is a popular graphical technique in medical diagnosis, which can enhance or weaken some data to distinguish the embedded structures of a person. This technology can be applied in rendering for there-dimension finite element data to discover critic data inside directly.Based on three kinds of volume rendering algorithms (ProjectedTetrahedra, RayCast and ZSweep) four methods are put forward to show the three-dimension finite element data after analyzing the characteristic of volume rendering and the structure of finite element data.They are single-volume rendering, volume-facial rendering, time-series rendering and multiple-scalar rendering. The single-volume rendering is a pure volume rendering for a certain scalar; the volume-facial rendering combines single rendering and facial rendering (isosurface, slice and vector-arrow) together; the time-series volume rendering is a static rendering for several time spots in transient analysis; the multiple-scalar volume rendering is a static rendering for several scalars.A cross-platform volume rendering system for three-dimension finite element data is established based on Visualization Toolkit library (VTK) and Qt library. It consists of input module, interaction module, rendering module and output module. The input module is used to import the outside simulation data into the system; the rendering module is the key of the system which corresponds with four rendering methods; the interaction operations are controlled by the interaction module; the output module is applied to save rendering result as a certain picture style.Finally, five3-D finite element instances which are parallel plate welding, Bessel panel, controlled diffusion micromixer, absorptive muffler and lamella mixer are rendered in the system. They convince that volume rendering for finite element data is not only show the embedded data but also in favor of immersive explore.