CFD with Matlab

mjerdem · December 17, 2012, 23:00

I am planning to use Matlab for a CFD calculation; however, I have my doubts about the plotting capabilities of Matlab. IN my first program I am going to model a pipe filling a pool. I will solve for the flow in the pipe and flow in the pool in 3D with time. Is it possible to make a movie of it using Matlab or I need to get more professional plotting tools such as paraview?

cdegroot · December 18, 2012, 08:27

Matlab can do animation for sure. No fancy CFD visualizations but you can animate a contour plot for example.

sbaffini · December 18, 2012, 10:44

I would more seriously think about the computational issues of a computation in Matlab, instead of the post-processing ones. However, for 3D and/or unstructured postprocessing i usually export everything in Paraview; indeed, even if you can do something in Matlab, even plotting an unstructured mesh is a computational resources' nightmare.

cdegroot · December 18, 2012, 10:51

Good points. I sort of assumed he was talking about a structured code; if it is unstructured you will definitely run into difficulties doing any post processing in Matlab.

And it is good to point out too that Matlab is definitely not going to be the most efficient platform for computation. It is good for testing things out but it will be much slower and use much more memory than writing the code in C, C++, or Fortran for example.

cdegroot · December 18, 2012, 11:03

I should mention I wrote a little 2D CFD code in Matlab (just as a demonstration "toy") and did some animations of Rayleigh-Benard convection. It was fine for that purpose but 3D CFD may be too demanding.

Engr.RZA · December 18, 2012, 14:33

Yes you can write CFD code using matlab with ease of direct functions to solve equations. But for 3D contour plotting in matlab you need to put extra effort, however you can easily plot 2D contour plots in it..

sbaffini · December 18, 2012, 14:39

I guess i also assumed he was working within an unstructured framework (which for Matlab might not be well suited). However, for a structured approach (even if computationally demanding) the post-processing stage can be much more easier and cheap as you can manage the plane and line extractions by index.

I also have my demonstration toy in Matlab (i guess we all have it

), but more than a full CFD code it is just a 3D unstructured FV framework to test gradients, filters, interpolations etc. And i found myself in real troubles when trying to plot even simple things... actually, it needed more time to plot a full 3D grid than reading it. That's why i suggest paraview, it's easy, quick, runs under windows, supports a lot of formats (you may want to use an output format different from VTK). You can't ask for a better thing

December 17, 2012, 23:00	CFD with Matlab	#1
mjerdem New Member Erdem Join Date: Dec 2012 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	I am planning to use Matlab for a CFD calculation; however, I have my doubts about the plotting capabilities of Matlab. IN my first program I am going to model a pipe filling a pool. I will solve for the flow in the pipe and flow in the pool in 3D with time. Is it possible to make a movie of it using Matlab or I need to get more professional plotting tools such as paraview?

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December 18, 2012, 08:27		#2
cdegroot Senior Member Chris DeGroot Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Canada Posts: 414 Rep Power: 18	Matlab can do animation for sure. No fancy CFD visualizations but you can animate a contour plot for example.

December 18, 2012, 10:44		#3
sbaffini Senior Member Paolo Lampitella Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Italy Posts: 2,195 Blog Entries: 29 Rep Power: 39	I would more seriously think about the computational issues of a computation in Matlab, instead of the post-processing ones. However, for 3D and/or unstructured postprocessing i usually export everything in Paraview; indeed, even if you can do something in Matlab, even plotting an unstructured mesh is a computational resources' nightmare.

December 18, 2012, 10:51		#4
cdegroot Senior Member Chris DeGroot Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Canada Posts: 414 Rep Power: 18	Good points. I sort of assumed he was talking about a structured code; if it is unstructured you will definitely run into difficulties doing any post processing in Matlab. And it is good to point out too that Matlab is definitely not going to be the most efficient platform for computation. It is good for testing things out but it will be much slower and use much more memory than writing the code in C, C++, or Fortran for example.

December 18, 2012, 11:03		#5
cdegroot Senior Member Chris DeGroot Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Canada Posts: 414 Rep Power: 18	I should mention I wrote a little 2D CFD code in Matlab (just as a demonstration "toy") and did some animations of Rayleigh-Benard convection. It was fine for that purpose but 3D CFD may be too demanding.

December 18, 2012, 14:33		#6
Engr.RZA New Member RZA Join Date: Nov 2012 Posts: 25 Rep Power: 14	Yes you can write CFD code using matlab with ease of direct functions to solve equations. But for 3D contour plotting in matlab you need to put extra effort, however you can easily plot 2D contour plots in it..

December 18, 2012, 14:39		#7
sbaffini Senior Member Paolo Lampitella Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Italy Posts: 2,195 Blog Entries: 29 Rep Power: 39	I guess i also assumed he was working within an unstructured framework (which for Matlab might not be well suited). However, for a structured approach (even if computationally demanding) the post-processing stage can be much more easier and cheap as you can manage the plane and line extractions by index. I also have my demonstration toy in Matlab (i guess we all have it ), but more than a full CFD code it is just a 3D unstructured FV framework to test gradients, filters, interpolations etc. And i found myself in real troubles when trying to plot even simple things... actually, it needed more time to plot a full 3D grid than reading it. That's why i suggest paraview, it's easy, quick, runs under windows, supports a lot of formats (you may want to use an output format different from VTK). You can't ask for a better thing