Contours: Techniques and Sample Images

This page illustrates several different methods of displaying contours.

• Simple Contour lines. The number of contour lines, and the color map, and the format of the table can be modified. Some packages will allow you to smooth the sharp edges of the contour lines. Contour lines are good for black and white figures. The individual contours can be labeled. (Software: Tecplot).

• Shaded Contours. Again, the number of contour lines, and the color map, and the format of the table can be modified. Some packages will blend the colors from one level to the next. No such blending occurs in the following image. Shaded contours work well with grayscale. For better results, set the color map to a grayscale while creating the image, rather than converting the color image to grayscale (either by just printing it out on a gray scale printer or by using various image manipulation tools). (Software: Tecplot).
• Contour Lines Displayed on a Surface. The surface can be rotated to view it from different angles. (Software: Tecplot).

• The Surface Colored by the Contour Values. The surface can be rotated to view it from different angles. Note: the colors from one level to the next are blended. (Software: IBM Data Visualization Explorer).

  Other surfaces colored by the contour values (Software: FAST).

  Contributors: Xiangying Chen and Prof. Charles Song These figures show the recent development and application of the compressible hydrodynamics theory based on the Large Eddy Simulation model on the simulation of flow through the runner and wicket gate of a Francis turbine system. Here, the pressure distributions on the solid boundaries of the turbine runner and wicket gate is shown. This information is very important for producing efficient and relatively cavitation free turbines.

• The Mesh Colored by the Contour Values. Sometimes, viewing the mesh that has been colored by contour values works quite well. The mesh allows you to see through the surface and view all the data. (Software: IBM Data Visualization Explorer).

• To show separation between different contour values, one can draw contour lines of a fixed color on top of the shaded contours. Or as in the following image, one can use the colors to delineate the differing contours. Note: The contours were drawn on the surface and therefore are 2D contours. (Software: Tecplot). Contributor: Liangsheng Cheng The microindentation and microscratch tests are currently carried out for measuring the mechanical properties of composite materials at the NSF Center for Interfacial Engineering at the University of Minnesota. To uncover some significant phenomena behind these tests (due to the difficulty of their size and configuration), an efficient numerical model is needed to provide a better understanding, employment and improvement of mechanical properties of composite materials. In this research, an explicit finite difference approach has been developed based on the continuum theories of large displacement, large deformation, elasto-plasticity and contact mechanics.

  This image shows a microindentation process of multilayered medium. The contact area, surface pileup and plastic zone can be accurately determined through the numerical simulation.

• Some packages have the ability to smooth out the sharp corners of contour lines. Instead of just drawing lines, such software pieces together smooth curves called splines. In the following image, the contours on the left are the basic contours, the contours on the right use splines. (Software: PV~Wave).