Colour in visualisation for computational fluid dynamics

Colour is used in computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations in two key ways. First it is used to visualise the geometry and allow the engineer to be confident that the model constructed is a good representation of the engineering situation. Once an analysis has been completed, colour is used in post-processing the data from the simulations to illustrate the complex fluid mechanic phenomena under investigation. This paper describes these two uses of colour and provides some examples to illustrate the key visualisation approaches used in CFD.