Mechanical Design Simulation Analysis

Handles are often present in mechanical computer aided design models since they have mostly a functional role in this context. Consequently, previous visualization techniques based on Contour trees could hardly handle that kind of data before. In collaboration with mechanical experts from Dassault Systems, we applied topologically clean isosurface extraction for mechanical design simulation analysis.

This real-time video shows a pressure simulation on a brake-disk (containing 54 handles) designed with the software CATIA. In this context, engineers simulate functional pressure forces applied on mechanical pieces.

First, a fixed point is defined on one of the handles of the brake disk. Then pressure forces simulating the interaction of the braking pads are applied in four distinct locations. The color gradient depicts the intensity of the simulated local pressure.

Second, the Reeb graph of this scalar field is computed and reveals immediately the presence of noise in the field (large number of features). Then, an isosurface of the pressure field is shown, revealing also the presence of noise by the large number of small components. Those small components of isosurface can make the visual interpretation of the simulation difficult. Consequently, by progressively simplifying the Reeb graph, we enable the progressive removing of the small components, in order of geometrical importance, enabling the user to have a progressive understanding of the major trends of the simulation.