Step 1: Visualize Data

In SAInt, plots are displayed considering a pre-defined time window for charts, which can be changed using the scenario editor. Before creating the plots, adjusting the chart time window based on the hours or days of interest is recommended. To change the default chart time window, open the scenario editor by clicking on GSCE from the scenario tab, as shown in Figure 1.

The chart time window can be adjusted by editing the ChartStartTime (i.e., the start time of a plot), ChartTimeStep (i.e., the time step of the plot), and ChartEndTime (i.e., the end time of a plot). Let’s imagine that your interest is to view what is happening only between 12:00 (12:00 p.m.) and 22:00 (10:00 p.m.). Therefore, let us adjust the chart time window to this time window, as shown in Figure 2. You leave unchanged the time step to 15 minutes.

In SAInt, all the pre-defined plots for a network object are listed under the Plot Window option in the context menu for the object. Within the pre-defined plots, the Default Plot is available to visualize a network object’s basic input properties and results. Let us create the default plot for the supply point SUPPLY1. Right-click on the object GSUP.SUPPLY1 from the model explorer (or node bar) to access the context menu. Select Plot Window  Default Plot from the context menu, as shown below in Figure 3. This exact procedure can be used to create pre-defined plots for any object type. Feel free and spend some time visualizing other objects and results.

The default plot of the supply point SUPPLY1 is created in a separate window called a chart window, as shown in Figure 4. The chart includes at the top the pressure (P), the control mode of the object (CTRL), the gas flow (Q), and the maximum flow allowed for the supply (QMAX). At the bottom, the chart shows the molar percentage of the methane (NQ!X_C1), the Wobbe index (NQ!WOB), and the Gross Calorific Value (NQ!GCV) of the gas mixture. The chart window has different interactive features allowing you to navigate, copy and extract the plot data. For more information on these features, please refer to the chart window section of the reference guide.

In addition to the pre-defined plots, SAInt allows users to create customized plots using multiple plot functions. You will use the results from the first beginner tutorial to visualize flows using the plot, stackplot, and nplot functions in the command window. The command window is below the map window by default and can be opened by clicking on the Command button from the view tab.