Case Study: NASA achieves faster edge detection scripting with Tecplot PyTecplot

NASA Langley Research Center - Customer Case Study

NASA, specifically the Hypersonic Airbreathing Propulsion Branch at the NASA Langley Research Center, faced a challenge in efficiently visualizing complex aerospace geometries. Manually adjusting the visualization settings to display only exposed edges across hundreds of zones in Tecplot 360 was an extremely tedious and time-consuming process that was not feasible for interactive use.

Tecplot, Inc. implemented a solution using their PyTecplot Python API to rewrite the necessary edge detection algorithm. This new script was dramatically shorter, easier to debug, and reduced processing time from 18 minutes down to just 7.3 seconds for the same task, enabling efficient and interactive analysis for the customer.

NASA

Paul Ferlemann

Aeronautical Engineer and Researcher