Transient CFD Visualization of Fossil Fuel Combustion Simulations

The design of high-efficiency lower-emission coal-fed power plants is facilitated by the extensive use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. This paper describes work conducted at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) to provide an environment for the immersive three-dimensional visualization of CFD simulation results. A low-cost high-resolution projection system has been developed in the visualization lab at NETL. This multi-wall system consists of four projection screens, three of which are tiled into four quadrants. The graphics for the multi-wall system are rendered using a cluster of eight personal computers. A high-level visualization interface named Mavis has also been developed to combine the powerful 3D modules of OpenDX with methods developed at NETL for studying multiphase CFD data. With Python, a completely new OpenDX user interface was built that extends and simplifies the features of a basic graphics library.