Tools (software) to work with Code Saturne

[mhe]

We start to use Code Saturne for our project, and I am trying to pick good post-processing and meshing tools to work with Code Saturne.

For Post-processing, I am trying to decide whether to buy Tecplot or FieldView, which one is better working with Code Saturne?

For meshing, Which meshing tool is better working with Code Saturne?

Thanks


Matt.

[Yvan Fournier]

Hello,

I have never tested FieldView or Tecplot, so I really can't tell.

The tools we use are EnSight (commercial) and ParaView (open source), and we occasionally try VisIt (open source). The SALOME platform's PARAVIS is based on ParaView, and adds a MED file format reader.

EnSight has a free version (albeit very limited regarding mesh size) if you want to compare it with ParaView. In our experience, each has some strong points. EnSight performs better (for a 10 million-cell mesh on a workstation, the experience is much more fluid than with ParaView, and memory usage is lower), but ParaView is improving fast. Some operations are easier to do in EnSight, others in ParaView...

By default, we output to EnSight gold format (which ParaView and VisIt can read, and, FieldView and Tecplot also read according to their documentation).

Regarding Meshing, it is difficult to determine a "best" tool. The free SALOME meshers have improved quite a bit, and the DISTENE meshers which can be used through that platform (requiring a commercial licence are often even better). I am not a Gmsh pro, but have seen very nice meshes built with that tool.

Some of our users are fond of the ICEM meshing tools, others of tools from competitor's STAR-CCM+ (whose use with Code_Saturne requires installing the CCM-IO library).

We have never tried Pointwise, but it also seems to be an interesting option.

It really depends on the types of geometries you need to mesh, on the mesh refinement and size you aim for, as well as on your budget, existing toolchain, and current user training, as mastering meshing tools may require quite some time (moreso than postprocessing tools)...
If you have existing CAD data, quality of mesh import (which can vary based on producer/user combinations) may also be a criterion.

Best regards,

Yvan

[mhe]

Thanks for your information. it is very helpful.


Matt.