24.15.3 Postprocessing for Time-Dependent Problems

The postprocessing of time-dependent data is similar to that for steady-state data, with all graphical and alphanumeric commands available. You can read a data file that was saved at any point in the calculation (by you or with the autosave option) to restore the data at any of the time levels that were saved.

File $\rightarrow$ Read $\rightarrow$ Data...

FLUENT will label any subsequent graphical or alphanumeric output with the time value of the current data set.

If you save data from the force or surface monitors to files (see step 5 in Section  24.15.1), you can read these files back in and plot them to see a time history of the monitored quantity. Figure  24.15.5 shows a sample plot generated in this way.

Figure 24.15.5: Lift Coefficient Plot for a Time-Periodic Solution

If you enabled the Data Sampling for Time Statistics option in the Iterate panel, FLUENT will compute the time average (mean) and root-mean-squares of the instantaneous values sampled during the calculation. The mean and root-mean-square (RMS) values for all solution variables will be available in the Unsteady Statistics... category of the variable selection drop-down list that appears in postprocessing panels.