About Sensors

A sensor filters your output request for data that you specify and displays that data as a new feature in an accessible location, the tree.

You can create two types of sensors to display different types of data: field sensors and history sensors. Depending on the analysis case type you simulate, some apps automatically create a set of field and history sensors by default. Default sensors streamline your workflow so you can quickly analyze your simulation results.

You can use sensors along with other features, such as plots and formulas, to enhance your results analysis.

This page discusses:

Field and History Sensors

Field and history sensors filter data from their corresponding type of output request. For example, a field sensor filters data that is spatially distributed over the entire model, such as the total surface area of the model. A history sensor, by contrast, filters data from a specific geometric support and iteration you specify, such as the last calculated pressure at a defined opening in your model. If multiple output requests exist, you can specify from which output request the sensor filters data. When you rerun a simulation, all sensors automatically update their values.

You can save field sensor data as a template for creating additional field sensors.

Default Sensors

Default sensors are a set of sensors that are automatically available to you after you run a simulation using a particular app. Like other sensors, the default sensors automatically update their values when you rerun the simulation. The sensors display the minimum and maximum values recorded from all frames in the simulation. They do not provide history output or field output for specific supports.

The app appends default sensor names with ".1" regardless of the number of analysis cases you create. If you create a sensor of the same type as an existing default sensor, the sensor's name uses the next sequential number available (starting with ".2"). If a sensor exists before the app generates a default sensor of the same type, the default sensor's name uses the next sequential number available. The image below depicts two sets of default sensors compared to each other using the Performance Trade-off app.