Comparing Two Simualtions

The two-simulation comparison mode in QuickCompare displays two–potentially out of many–smulations in a relatively compact way. Below is an example of the default layout.

Depending on whether two or more simulations are loaded using the File Loading dialogue, QuickCompare automatically enters into either the two-simulation or multi-simulation mode by default. However, in the latter case, the user can manually switch to a two-simulation mode by clicking the "Two Sim" tab near the left end of the Comparison Control panel. In both modes, drop-down menus titled "Choose ctrl" and "Choose test" allow the user to select the control and test simulations to be compared in the viewport.

Rows of plots

The different rows in the viewport correspond to different physical quantities, i.e., different variables from the simulation files.

• The variable names are shown in the top-left corner of each row.
• A click on a variable name activates a drop-down menu, allowing a different variable to be moved to the current row. Note that in order for a variable to to be listed in the drop-down, that variable needs to have been selected and loaded using the Variable Selection control panel.

Columns of plots

There can be up to five columns in the viewport displaying the following metrics:

1. Ctrl: the variable in the control simulation;
2. Test: the variable in the test simulating;
3. Diff: the difference, test - ctrl;
4. Rel Diff (w.r.t. ctrl): (test - ctrl)/ctrl;
5. Rel Diff (w.r.t. mean): (test - ctrl)/[0.5*(test+ctrl)].

Among these five, 1-4 are shown by default, but any of the five can be turned on or off using the checkboxes in the "Comparison columns" drop-down menu.

The sequence of columns can be changed by the drop-down menus activated by clicks on the panel titles "Ctrl", "Test", "Diff", etc. Any column change triggered by the selection is applied to all rows in the viewport.