Visualization techniques for engineering mechanics

Scientific visualization is an emerging computational technology that helps scientists and engineers to investigate physical systems through a process of geometric abstraction. Visualization is an interdisciplinary subject, drawing on numerical simulation, perceptual psychology, graphic arts, computer graphics, image processing, data management, parallel processing, distributed computing and various disciplinary specialities of science and engineering. Recent developments in the field are surveyed, with emphasis on the role of visualization in engineering mechanics. Visualization is described as a structured process of data preprocessing, geometric abstraction and image rendering. After a discussion of the role of human perception in visualization, various techniques for displaying scalar, vector, and higher-order tensor fields are presented. An application of visualization to elastodynamic fracture mechanics demonstrates the benefits of combining visualization with numerical simulation.