Setting Up Strip Charts
By default, Adams View displays measure data in a Strip chart. Strip charts are interactive and update with each Output step from the Simulation. They are a convenient way to track the progress of a measure while the simulation is running, and they let you see the model animation synchronized with the plotting of the measure. If a strip chart gets in the way, you can delete it without losing the associated measure. You can also select to create it again, if necessary.
Notes: | 1. Displaying script charts during a simulation adversely affects the speed of the simulation. The more strip charts you display, the slower your simulation. 2. Strip charts only show the results of the most recently run simulation regardless of what’s being animated in Adams View. See Saving Curves to Establish a Baseline to learn how to keep a curve from a previously run simulation. |
Creating, Displaying, and Closing Strip Charts
If you've made changes to the attributes of a Strip chart, such as changed its legend, you need to close the strip chart and then redisplay it to see the changes. In addition, the procedure of redisplaying a strip chart also creates a strip chart for an existing measure.
To create a strip chart as you create a measure:
■Create a measure, and then select Create Strip Chart from the measure create dialog box.
To display a strip chart or create a strip chart for an existing measure:
1. Click Design exploration tab. From the Measures container, select the Measure whose strip chart you want to display or create.
or
(Classic interface) From the Build menu, point to Measure, and then select Display.
The Database Navigator appears with the current measures in the model.
2. Select the measure whose strip chart you want to display or create.
3. Select OK.
To close a strip chart:
■In the upper right corner of the strip chart, select the Close button (an X in Windows; a - in Linux).
Deleting Strip Charts and Curves
You can delete a Strip chart without deleting the measure associated with it. You can also delete any curves in a strip chart. If you delete a strip chart and want to create it again, follow the instructions in Creating, Displaying, and Closing Strip Charts.
To delete a strip chart:
1. In the strip chart, right-click the background (not on a curve).
2. Point to scht1, and then select Delete Strip Chart.
To delete a curve in a strip chart:
1. In the strip chart, right-click a curve.
2. Point to the name of the curve, and then select Delete.
To delete all curves in a strip chart:
1. In the strip chart, right-click the background (not on a curve).
2. Point to scht1, and then select Delete All Curves.
Saving Curves to Establish a Baseline
You can save any curve in a Strip chart. Once you save the curve, Adams View keeps the curve in the strip chart so you can use it as a baseline curve, against which you compare other curves that it generates during a Simulation. Adams View only preserves a saved curve from simulation to simulation.
To save a curve:
1. In the strip chart, right-click a curve.
2. Point to the name of the curve, and then select Save Curve.
Setting Strip Chart Attributes
When you modify a measure, you can set the attributes for a Strip chart, including creating a legend, setting axis limits, and setting the color and line type for the curve.
Note: | ■You have to redisplay the strip chart to see the effects of changing the legend, color, line type, line symbol, and line thickness. Learn about redisplaying strip charts. ■The Lower, Upper, and Label text boxes currently are not available. |
To set strip chart attributes:
1. From a measure modify dialog box, select the Measure Attributes tool 
.
. 2. In the Legend text box, enter text that describes the data that the curve in the strip chart represents. The text appears in the title bar of the strip chart. Note that you have to redisplay the strip chart to see the effects of changing the legend.
3. In the Comment text box, enter text that describes the measure. The text appears in Adams PostProcessor when you transfer the strip chart to it for plotting. Learn how to transfer a strip chart to Adams PostProcessor.
4. Select the type of plot to be displayed in Adams PostProcessor when you transfer the strip chart to it for plotting:
■linear - Performs no transformation of data or axis values. This is the default.
■logar (Logarithmic) - Scales the axis values so that each power of 10 is separated by the same distance. For example, the values 1, 10, 100, 1000, and 10,000 are equally spaced.
♦db (Decibel) - Displays 20 * log 10 (value) for each value.
♦default - Selecting this means no specific axis type is requested and it appears in the default axis type, which is usually linear.
5. Set Line Type to the type of line style for the curve. For example, you can select a line that alternates between dots and dashes.
6. Set Symbol to the type of symbol displayed at data points along the curve.
7. In the Color text box, enter the color of the curve.
8. In the Thickness text box, change the weight of the curve line. Weight values range from 1 to 5 screen pixels.
9. Select OK.
Transferring a Strip Chart to Adams PostProcessor
You can transfer a curve in a Strip chart, representing a measure, to Adams PostProcessor so that you can further investigate its results.
To transfer a measure:
1. Right-click a strip chart to display a menu of measure results currently in the window.
2. Point to the measure results that you want to display, and then select Transfer to Full Plot.
Note: | You can also select to display a measure from Adams PostProcessor. See the Adams PostProcessor online help. |
About Strip Charts of Adams Solver Settings
You can display four types of debugging Strip charts during an Interactive Simulation to help you debug your simulation. The first three apply to any default Transient simulation, and the last one applies to a Static equilibrium or Quasi-static simulation. The strip charts can provide you with insight into how the Adams Solver Integrator acts, particularly if you display strip charts of Measures of modeling objects, such as key forces and accelerations, side-by-side with the debugging strip charts.
To help you interpret the solution-related information in the strip charts, see the DEBUG command in the Adams Solver online help.
The strip charts you can display are:
■Step Size - The Step Size strip chart displays the integrator step size (units of model time), as the simulation progresses, on a logarithmic scale. The step size strip chart provides useful information for debugging a model because, in general, the integrator step size becomes much smaller in response to rapidly changing dynamics. Rapidly changing dynamics are, in some cases, intentional (for example, contacts that engage or disengage over a short duration), but can often be a symptom of modeling errors. For example, they can indicate that there is an incorrect damping value in an IMPACT function that causes unrealistically high forces. It also can indicate the use of discontinuous function expressions, such as an IF function.
■Iterations per Step - The Iterations per Step strip chart displays the number of iterations that Adams Solver needed to successfully progress to the next integration time step, over the course of a simulation. These iterations occur during the corrector phase of the integration. For more information on the phases in a dynamic simulation, see Extended Definition in the INTEGRATOR statement in the Adams Solver online help.
The information in the Iterations per Step strip chart can provide you with several insights into your model:
■If your simulation progresses with very few iterations at each time step, Adams Solver is having an easy time simulating your model. You can further increase performance or speed by increasing the allowed maximum time step.
■If Adams Solver requires many iterations for any particular step, it is likely encountering a period of rapidly changing dynamics that can require corrective action as described for the Step Size strip chart explained in the previous section.
■If you notice that Adams Solver requires many iterations right from the beginning of a simulation, it is likely that you have chosen an integration step size that is too large for the dynamics in your model. You can obtain better performance if you choose a smaller time step. For information on changing the time step, see Running an Interactive Simulation.
■Integrator Order - The Integrator Order strip chart displays the order of the polynomial that Adams Solver uses during the predictor phase of integration. Adams Solver uses a polynomial to predict the future value of the state variables in an Adams model. In general, lower order polynomials are required to successfully integrate more difficult portions of a simulation, characterized either by nonlinearities or rapidly changing dynamics. For more information, see Solver Settings - Dynamics.
Similar to the Iterations per Step strip chart, if the Integrator Order strip chart shows the consistent use of high (three or more) order polynomials, you may be able to increase performance by increasing the maximum allowed time step. If Adams Solver consistently or periodically uses low-order polynomials, it is symptomatic of a period of rapidly changing dynamics that may require corrective action as described for the Step Size strip chart or the integration step size may be too large for the dynamics in your model.
■Static Imbalance - The Static Imbalance strip chart displays the current imbalance in the equilibrium equations that Adams Solver computes during a static equilibrium simulation. A static equilibrium simulation is an iterative process to compute a position in which your model assumes a minimum energy configuration. Learn about Performing Static Equilibrium Simulations.
The Static Imbalance strip chart displays a measure of how close the solution is coming to a complete balance of the equilibrium equations at each equilibrium iteration, in units of your selected force units.
Note: | You need to select the option, Update Every Iteration, to watch the iteration-by-iteration progress of an equilibrium simulation. For more information, see Solver Settings - Display. |