Now both the checkMesh utility and functionObject operate in the same manner
with the same controls, executing the same checkGeometry and checkTopology
functions from the new meshCheck library. The controls have been updated and
made more consistent and flexible, in particular by the addition of optional
user specification for the non-orthogonality and skewness error thresholds:
Application
checkMesh
Description
Checks validity of a mesh.
Usage
\b checkMesh [OPTION]
Options:
- \par noTopology
Skip checking the mesh topology
- \par -allTopology
Check all (including non finite-volume specific) addressing
- \par -allGeometry
Check all (including non finite-volume specific) geometry
- \par -meshQuality
Check against user defined (in \a system/meshQualityDict) quality
settings
- \par -region \<name\>
Specify an alternative mesh region.
- \par -writeSurfaces
Reconstruct cellSets and faceSets of problem faces and write to
postProcessing directory.
- \par -surfaceFormat <format>
Format used to write the cellSets and faceSets surfaces
e.g. vtk or ensight.
- \par -writeSets
Reconstruct pointSets of problem points nd write to
postProcessing directory.
- \par -setFormat <format>
Format used to write the pointSets
e.g. vtk or ensight.
- \par -nonOrthThreshold <threshold value in degrees>
Threshold in degrees for reporting non-orthogonality errors,
default: 70"
- \par -skewThreshold <threshold value>
Threshold for reporting skewness errors, default: 4.
Class
Foam::functionObjects::checkMesh
Description
Executes primitiveMesh::checkMesh(true) every execute time for which the
mesh changed, i.e. moved or changed topology.
Useful to check the correctness of changing and morphing meshes.
Usage
\table
Property | Description | Required | Default value
type | type name: checkMesh | yes |
noTopology | Skip checking the mesh topology | no | false
allTopology | Check all addressing | no | false
allGeometry | Check all geometry | no | false
writeSurfaces | Reconstruct and write problem faces | no | false
surfaceFormat | Format for problem faceSets | no | vtk
writeSets | Reconstruct and write problem points | no | false
setFormat | Format used to write the problem pointSets | no | vtk
nonOrthThreshold | Threshold for non-orthogonality errors | no | 70 deg
skewThreshold | Threshold for reporting skewness errors | no | 4
\endtable
Example of checkMesh specification:
\verbatim
checkMesh
{
type checkMesh;
libs ("libutilityFunctionObjects.so");
executeControl timeStep;
executeInterval 10;
allGeometry true;
allTopology true;
writeSurfaces true;
surfaceFormat vtk;
writeSets true;
setFormat vtk;
}
\endverbatim
or using the standard configuration file:
\verbatim
#includeFunc checkMesh(executeInterval=10, allGeometry=true)
\endverbatim
Class
Foam::functionObjects::checkMesh
Description
Executes primitiveMesh::checkMesh(true) every execute time for which the
mesh changed, i.e. moved or changed topology.
Useful to check the correctness of changing and morphing meshes.
Example of checkMesh specification:
\verbatim
checkMesh
{
type checkMesh;
libs ("libutilityFunctionObjects.so");
executeControl timeStep;
executeInterval 10;
}
\endverbatim
or using the standard configuration file:
\verbatim
#includeFunc checkMesh(executeInterval=10)
\endverbatim
Can be used with any solver supporting mesh-motion, in particular the movingMesh
solver module, to check the mesh quality following morphing and/or topology
change.
This is useful to write results before a case fails due to uncontrollable
automatic time-step reduction, usually caused by unstable pressure-velocity
coupling.
Class
Foam::functionObjects::stopAtTimeStep
Description
Stops the run if the time-step drops below the specified value in seconds
and optionally write results before stopping.
The following actions are supported:
- noWriteNow
- writeNow (default)
- nextWrite
Examples of function object specification:
\verbatim
stop
{
type stopAtTimeStep;
libs ("libutilityFunctionObjects.so");
minDeltaT 1e-8;
action writeNow;
}
\endverbatim
will write the fields and stop if the time-step drops below 1e-8s.
Usage
\table
Property | Description | Required | Default value
type | type name: stopAtTimeStep | yes |
minDeltaT | Minimum time-step [s] | yes |
action | Action executed | no | writeNow
\endtable
Description
Updates the writeInterval as a Function1 of time.
Examples of function object specification:
\verbatim
setWriteInterval
{
type setWriteInterval;
libs ("libutilityFunctionObjects.so");
writeInterval table
(
(0 0.005)
(0.1 0.005)
(0.1001 0.01)
(0.2 0.01)
(0.2001 0.02)
);
}
\endverbatim
will cause results to be written every 0.005s between 0 and 0.1s, every
0.01s between 0.1 and 0.2s and every 0.02s thereafter.
Description
Stops the run when the specified clock time in second has been reached
and optionally write results before stopping.
The following actions are supported:
- noWriteNow
- writeNow
- nextWrite (default)
Examples of function object specification:
\verbatim
stop
{
type stopAtClockTime;
libs ("libutilityFunctionObjects.so");
stopTime 10;
action writeNow;
}
\endverbatim
will stop the run at the next write after the file "stop" is created in the
case directory.
Usage
\table
Property | Description | Required | Default value
type | type name: stopAtClockTime | yes |
stopTime | Maximum elapsed time [s] | yes |
action | Action executed | no | nextWrite
\endtable
By default the case stops following the next write but stopping immediately with
or without writing are also options.
The stopAtFile functionObject derived from stopAt stops the run when a file
predefined file is created in the case directory:
Description
Stops the run when the specified file is created in the case directory.
The default name of the trigger file is \c $FOAM_CASE/<name> where \c
<name> is the name of the functionObject entry and the default action is \c
nextWrite.
Currently the following action types are supported:
- noWriteNow
- writeNow
- nextWrite
Examples of function object specification:
\verbatim
stop
{
type stopAtFile;
libs ("libutilityFunctionObjects.so");
}
\endverbatim
will stop the run at the next write after the file "stop" is created in the
case directory.
\verbatim
stop
{
type stopAtFile;
libs ("libutilityFunctionObjects.so");
file "$FOAM_CASE/stop";
action writeNow;
}
\endverbatim
will write the fields and stop the run when the file "stop" is created in
the case directory.
Usage
\table
Property | Description | Required | Default value
type | type name: stopAtFile | yes |
file | Trigger file path name | no | $FOAM_CASE/<name>
action | Action executed | no | nextWrite
\endtable
and optionally the CPU and clock times per time step.
Example of function object specification:
time
{
type time;
libs ("libutilityFunctionObjects.so");
writeControl timeStep;
writeInterval 1;
perTimeStep no;
}
Adding
#includeFunc time
to the functions list in the controlDict of the motorBike tutorial generates
0 1.190000e+00 1
1 1.640000e+00 1
2 1.940000e+00 2
Enabling the optional writing of the CPU and clock time per time step is
straight forward:
#includeFunc time(perTimeStep=yes)
with the more general and flexible 'postProcess' utility and '-postProcess' solver option
Rationale
---------
Both the 'postProcess' utility and '-postProcess' solver option use the
same extensive set of functionObjects available for data-processing
during the run avoiding the substantial code duplication necessary for
the 'foamCalc' and 'postCalc' utilities and simplifying maintenance.
Additionally consistency is guaranteed between solver data processing
and post-processing.
The functionObjects have been substantially re-written and generalized
to simplify development and encourage contribution.
Configuration
-------------
An extensive set of simple functionObject configuration files are
provided in
OpenFOAM-dev/etc/caseDicts/postProcessing
and more will be added in the future. These can either be copied into
'<case>/system' directory and included into the 'controlDict.functions'
sub-dictionary or included directly from 'etc/caseDicts/postProcessing'
using the '#includeEtc' directive or the new and more convenient
'#includeFunc' directive which searches the
'<etc>/caseDicts/postProcessing' directories for the selected
functionObject, e.g.
functions
{
#includeFunc Q
#includeFunc Lambda2
}
'#includeFunc' first searches the '<case>/system' directory in case
there is a local configuration.
Description of #includeFunc
---------------------------
Specify a functionObject dictionary file to include, expects the
functionObject name to follow (without quotes).
Search for functionObject dictionary file in
user/group/shipped directories.
The search scheme allows for version-specific and
version-independent files using the following hierarchy:
- \b user settings:
- ~/.OpenFOAM/\<VERSION\>/caseDicts/postProcessing
- ~/.OpenFOAM/caseDicts/postProcessing
- \b group (site) settings (when $WM_PROJECT_SITE is set):
- $WM_PROJECT_SITE/\<VERSION\>/caseDicts/postProcessing
- $WM_PROJECT_SITE/caseDicts/postProcessing
- \b group (site) settings (when $WM_PROJECT_SITE is not set):
- $WM_PROJECT_INST_DIR/site/\<VERSION\>/caseDicts/postProcessing
- $WM_PROJECT_INST_DIR/site/caseDicts/postProcessing
- \b other (shipped) settings:
- $WM_PROJECT_DIR/etc/caseDicts/postProcessing
An example of the \c \#includeFunc directive:
\verbatim
#includeFunc <funcName>
\endverbatim
postProcess
-----------
The 'postProcess' utility and '-postProcess' solver option provide the
same set of controls to execute functionObjects after the run either by
reading a specified set of fields to process in the case of
'postProcess' or by reading all fields and models required to start the
run in the case of '-postProcess' for each selected time:
postProcess -help
Usage: postProcess [OPTIONS]
options:
-case <dir> specify alternate case directory, default is the cwd
-constant include the 'constant/' dir in the times list
-dict <file> read control dictionary from specified location
-field <name> specify the name of the field to be processed, e.g. U
-fields <list> specify a list of fields to be processed, e.g. '(U T p)' -
regular expressions not currently supported
-func <name> specify the name of the functionObject to execute, e.g. Q
-funcs <list> specify the names of the functionObjects to execute, e.g.
'(Q div(U))'
-latestTime select the latest time
-newTimes select the new times
-noFunctionObjects
do not execute functionObjects
-noZero exclude the '0/' dir from the times list, has precedence
over the -withZero option
-parallel run in parallel
-region <name> specify alternative mesh region
-roots <(dir1 .. dirN)>
slave root directories for distributed running
-time <ranges> comma-separated time ranges - eg, ':10,20,40:70,1000:'
-srcDoc display source code in browser
-doc display application documentation in browser
-help print the usage
pimpleFoam -postProcess -help
Usage: pimpleFoam [OPTIONS]
options:
-case <dir> specify alternate case directory, default is the cwd
-constant include the 'constant/' dir in the times list
-dict <file> read control dictionary from specified location
-field <name> specify the name of the field to be processed, e.g. U
-fields <list> specify a list of fields to be processed, e.g. '(U T p)' -
regular expressions not currently supported
-func <name> specify the name of the functionObject to execute, e.g. Q
-funcs <list> specify the names of the functionObjects to execute, e.g.
'(Q div(U))'
-latestTime select the latest time
-newTimes select the new times
-noFunctionObjects
do not execute functionObjects
-noZero exclude the '0/' dir from the times list, has precedence
over the -withZero option
-parallel run in parallel
-postProcess Execute functionObjects only
-region <name> specify alternative mesh region
-roots <(dir1 .. dirN)>
slave root directories for distributed running
-time <ranges> comma-separated time ranges - eg, ':10,20,40:70,1000:'
-srcDoc display source code in browser
-doc display application documentation in browser
-help print the usage
The functionObjects to execute may be specified on the command-line
using the '-func' option for a single functionObject or '-funcs' for a
list, e.g.
postProcess -func Q
postProcess -funcs '(div(U) div(phi))'
In the case of 'Q' the default field to process is 'U' which is
specified in and read from the configuration file but this may be
overridden thus:
postProcess -func 'Q(Ua)'
as is done in the example above to calculate the two forms of the divergence of
the velocity field. Additional fields which the functionObjects may depend on
can be specified using the '-field' or '-fields' options.
The 'postProcess' utility can only be used to execute functionObjects which
process fields present in the time directories. However, functionObjects which
depend on fields obtained from models, e.g. properties derived from turbulence
models can be executed using the '-postProcess' of the appropriate solver, e.g.
pisoFoam -postProcess -func PecletNo
or
sonicFoam -postProcess -func MachNo
In this case all required fields will have already been read so the '-field' or
'-fields' options are not be needed.
Henry G. Weller
CFD Direct Ltd.
