The Plots node, which has a pop-up menu, is the manager object for all monitor plots and XY plots that have been created in the simulation. It exists even when empty to allow creation of the first plot, but will typically contain a Residuals plot, which is created automatically once you start iterating.
The manager object can contain any number of plots up to the computer's memory limits and the plots are saved in the database when the simulation is saved.
The plotting features in STAR-CCM+ allow you to create two kinds of two-dimensional plots:
As with many other simulation objects, plots can be deleted and renamed and can be extensively customized. If the plot is open in the Graphics window while you are customizing properties, the relevant object on the plot display will change as you enter the new value. This is a useful way to become familiar with the various properties. All plots, along with any customization, are saved in the simulation file.
The plot display is highly interactive, having its own toolbar, zoom, pan and pop-up operations as well as being linked to the simulation tree through drag-and-drop operations. These operations include plotting data from a table, though this can also be done using the Properties window.
The data being plotted can be viewed in a spreadsheet-like dialog or it can be exported to file for manipulation in other programs. The plot can also be printed to file or to a printer.
A sample XY plot produced by STAR-CCM+ is shown below. In this plot, simulation data is shown on the same plot with data from an external file.
Any type of plot can be opened by double-clicking its node in the simulation tree, or by right-clicking that node and selecting Open. Either operation opens the selected plot to display it in a new document in the Graphics window, or brings the document to the foreground if the plot is already open.
Since there is a lot of similarity between monitor plots and XY plots, parts of this reference section cover the nodes that are specific to monitor plots and XY plots before covering all nodes that are common to both.