While your simulation runs, SimPilot continuously monitors solver progress and provides real-time feedback on convergence health, estimated completion time, and actionable suggestions when problems arise.
Real-time tracking
During a simulation run, the monitoring system tracks:
| Metric | Description |
|---|
| Residuals | Per-field residual values (pressure, velocity components, turbulence quantities) plotted over iterations |
| Courant number | Maximum and mean Courant number to verify time-step stability |
| Solver progress | Current iteration or time step vs. total target |
| Wall-clock time | Elapsed time and estimated time remaining |
Residuals and Courant numbers update live in the chat interface as the solver produces new output.
Convergence status
The system classifies your simulation's convergence into one of five states:
Healthy
Residuals are decreasing steadily. The simulation is progressing toward convergence at a normal rate.
Converged
All monitored residuals have dropped below the convergence threshold. The simulation has reached a stable solution.
Stagnating
Residuals have plateaued and are no longer decreasing. The simulation may be stuck at a local minimum or need parameter adjustment.
Oscillating
Residuals are fluctuating without a clear downward trend. Common in unsteady flows or when relaxation factors are too aggressive.
Diverging
Residuals are increasing. The simulation is becoming unstable and may crash if not corrected.
ETA calculation
The estimated time to completion is computed from:
- Current iteration vs. target iteration count
- Wall-clock time per iteration (averaged over recent iterations)
- Convergence rate (for criteria-based stopping rather than fixed iteration count)
The ETA updates as the simulation progresses, becoming more accurate over time.
Health snapshots
Periodic health updates appear in the chat showing the current state:
- Current iteration and percentage complete
- Residual levels for all monitored fields
- Convergence status classification
- Any warnings or suggestions
These snapshots let you check on a running simulation without interrupting your other work.
Coaching suggestions
When the monitoring system detects an issue, it provides specific, actionable suggestions:
Divergence detection
The system raises an alert when residuals increase by 10x over 5 consecutive iterations. At this point:
- The divergence is flagged in the chat with the affected fields
- If the simulation has not already crashed, the AI may suggest an immediate corrective action
- If the simulation crashes, the error recovery pipeline takes over (see Error Recovery)
In some cases, the AI can intervene automatically -- adjusting relaxation factors, reducing the time step, or modifying numerical schemes -- and restart the solver without requiring manual action. This depends on the detected failure mode and the AI's confidence in the fix.
Progress bar
A progress bar at the top of the simulation view shows:
- Percentage complete: Based on iterations or simulated time vs. target
- Estimated remaining time: Wall-clock time to completion
- Status indicator: Color-coded by convergence health (green, yellow, red)