The majority of input parameters now support automatic unit conversion.
Units are specified within square brackets, either before or after the
value. Primitive parameters (e.g., scalars, vectors, tensors, ...),
dimensioned types, fields, Function1-s and Function2-s all support unit
conversion in this way.
Unit conversion occurs on input only. OpenFOAM writes out all fields and
parameters in standard units. It is recommended to use '.orig' files in
the 0 directory to preserve user-readable input if those files are being
modified by pre-processing applications (e.g., setFields).
For example, to specify a volumetric flow rate inlet boundary in litres
per second [l/s], rather than metres-cubed per second [m^3/s], in 0/U:
boundaryField
{
inlet
{
type flowRateInletVelocity;
volumetricFlowRate 0.1 [l/s];
value $internalField;
}
...
}
Or, to specify the pressure field in bar, in 0/p:
internalField uniform 1 [bar];
Or, to convert the parameters of an Arrhenius reaction rate from a
cm-mol-kcal unit system, in constant/chemistryProperties:
reactions
{
methaneReaction
{
type irreversibleArrhenius;
reaction "CH4^0.2 + 2O2^1.3 = CO2 + 2H2O";
A 6.7e12 [(mol/cm^3)^-0.5/s];
beta 0;
Ea 48.4 [kcal/mol];
}
}
Or, to define a time-varying outlet pressure using a CSV file in which
the pressure column is in mega-pascals [MPa], in 0/p:
boundaryField
{
outlet
{
type uniformFixedValue;
value
{
type table;
format csv;
nHeaderLine 1;
units ([s] [MPa]); // <-- new units entry
columns (0 1);
mergeSeparators no;
file "data/pressure.csv";
outOfBounds clamp;
interpolationScheme linear;
}
}
...
}
(Note also that a new 'columns' entry replaces the old 'refColumn' and
'componentColumns'. This is is considered to be more intuitive, and has
a consistent syntax with the new 'units' entry. 'columns' and
'componentColumns' have been retained for backwards compatibility and
will continue to work for the time being.)
Unit definitions can be added in the global or case controlDict files.
See UnitConversions in $WM_PROJECT_DIR/etc/controlDict for examples.
Currently available units include:
Standard: kg m s K kmol A Cd
Derived: Hz N Pa J W g um mm cm km l ml us ms min hr mol
rpm bar atm kPa MPa cal kcal cSt cP % rad rot deg
A user-time unit is also provided if user-time is in operation. This
allows it to be specified locally whether a parameter relates to
real-time or to user-time. For example, to define a mass source that
ramps up from a given engine-time (in crank-angle-degrees [CAD]) over a
duration in real-time, in constant/fvModels:
massSource1
{
type massSource;
points ((1 2 3));
massFlowRate
{
type scale;
scale linearRamp;
start 20 [CAD];
duration 50 [ms];
value 0.1 [g/s];
}
}
Specified units will be checked against the parameter's dimensions where
possible, and an error generated if they are not consistent. For the
dimensions to be available for this check, the code requires
modification, and work propagating this change across OpenFOAM is
ongoing. Unit conversions are still possible without these changes, but
the validity of such conversions will not be checked.
Units are no longer permitted in 'dimensions' entries in field files.
These 'dimensions' entries can now, instead, take the names of
dimensions. The names of the available dimensions are:
Standard: mass length time temperature
moles current luminousIntensity
Derived: area volume rate velocity momentum acceleration density
force energy power pressure kinematicPressure
compressibility gasConstant specificHeatCapacity
kinematicViscosity dynamicViscosity thermalConductivity
volumetricFlux massFlux
So, for example, a 0/epsilon file might specify the dimensions as
follows:
dimensions [energy/mass/time];
And a 0/alphat file might have:
dimensions [thermalConductivity/specificHeatCapacity];
*** Development Notes ***
A unit conversion can construct trivially from a dimension set,
resulting in a "standard" unit with a conversion factor of one. This
means the functions which perform unit conversion on read can be
provided dimension sets or unit conversion objects interchangeably.
A basic `dict.lookup<vector>("Umean")` call will do unit conversion, but
it does not know the parameter's dimensions, so it cannot check the
validity of the supplied units. A corresponding lookup function has been
added in which the dimensions or units can be provided; in this case the
corresponding call would be `dict.lookup<vector>("Umean", dimVelocity)`.
This function enables additional checking and should be used wherever
possible.
Function1-s and Function2-s have had their constructors and selectors
changed so that dimensions/units must be specified by calling code. In
the case of Function1, two unit arguments must be given; one for the
x-axis and one for the value-axis. For Function2-s, three must be
provided.
In some cases, it is desirable (or at least established practice), that
a given non-standard unit be used in the absence of specific
user-defined units. Commonly this includes reading angles in degrees
(rather than radians) and reading times in user-time (rather than
real-time). The primitive lookup functions and Function1 and Function2
selectors both support specifying a non-standard default unit. For
example, `theta_ = dict.lookup<scalar>("theta", unitDegrees)` will read
an angle in degrees by default. If this is done within a model which
also supports writing then the write call must be modified accordingly
so that the data is also written out in degrees. Overloads of writeEntry
have been created for this purpose. In this case, the angle theta should
be written out with `writeEntry(os, "theta", unitDegrees, theta_)`.
Function1-s and Function2-s behave similarly, but with greater numbers
of dimensions/units arguments as before.
The non-standard user-time unit can be accessed by a `userUnits()`
method that has been added to Time. Use of this user-time unit in the
construction of Function1-s should prevent the need for explicit
user-time conversion in boundary conditions and sub-models and similar.
Some models might contain non-typed stream-based lookups of the form
`dict.lookup("p0") >> p0_` (e.g., in a re-read method), or
`Umean_(dict.lookup("Umean"))` (e.g., in an initialiser list). These
calls cannot facilitate unit conversion and are therefore discouraged.
They should be replaced with
`p0_ = dict.lookup<scalar>("p0", dimPressure)` and
`Umean_(dict.lookup<vector>("Umean", dimVelocity))` and similar whenever
they are found.
Now cellZones are handled directly by the applications and the new
cellZone::topoChange function so that any cell can now be in any number of
zones, significantly increasing the flexibility and usefulness of cellZones.
The same rationalisation and generalisation will be applied to faceZones in the
future.
A new nonConformalMappedWall patch type has been added which can couple
between different regions of a multi-region simulation. This patch type
uses the same intersection algorithm as the nonConformalCyclic patch,
which is used for coupling sections of a mesh within the same region.
The nonConformalMappedWall provides some advantages over the existing
mappedWall patches:
- The connection it creates is not interpolative. It creates a pair of
coupled finite-volume faces wherever two opposing faces overlap.
There is therefore no interpolation error associated with mapping
values across the coupling.
- Faces (or parts of faces) which do not overlap are not normalised
away by an interpolation or averaging process. Instead, they are
assigned an alternative boundary condition; e.g., an external
constraint, or even another non-conformal cyclic or mapped wall.
This makes the system able to construct partially-overlapping
couplings.
- The direct non-interpolative transfer of values between the patches
makes the method equivalent to a conformal coupling. Properties of
the solution algorithm, such as conservation and boundedness, are
retained regardless of the non-conformance of the boundary meshes.
- All constructed finite volume faces have accurate centre points.
This makes the method second order accurate in space.
Usage:
Non-conformal mapped wall couplings are constructed as the last stage of
a multi-region meshing process. First, a multi-region mesh is
constructed in one of the usual ways, but with the boundaries specified
as standard non-coupled walls instead of a special mapped type. Then,
createNonConformalCouples is called to construct non-conformal mapped
patches that couple overlapping parts of these non-coupled walls. This
process is very similar to the construction of non-conformal cyclics.
createNonConformalCouples requires a
system/createNonConformalCouplesDict in order to construct non-conformal
mapped walls. Each coupling is specified in its own sub-dictionary, and
a "regions" entry is used to specify the pair of regions that the
non-conformal mapped wall will couple. Non-conformal cyclics can also be
created using the same dictionary, and will be assumed if the two
specified regions are the same, or if a single "region" entry is
specified. For example:
// Do not modify the fields
fields no;
// List of non-conformal couplings
nonConformalCouples
{
// Non-conformal cyclic interface. Only one region is specified.
fluidFluid
{
region fluid;
originalPatches (nonCoupleRotating nonCoupleStationary);
}
// Non-conformal mapped wall interface. Two different regions
// have been specified.
fluidSolid
{
regions (fluid solid);
originalPatches (nonCoupleRotating nonCoupleStationary);
}
}
After this step, a case should execute with foamMultiRun and decompose
and reconstruct and post-process normally.
One additional restriction for parallelised workflows is that
decomposition and reconstruction must be done with the -allRegions
option, so that the both sides of the coupling are available to the
decomposition/reconstruction algorithm.
Tutorials:
Two tutorials have been added to demonstrate use of this new
functionality:
- The multiRegion/CHT/misalignedDuct case provides a simple visual
confirmation that the patches are working (the exposed corners of
the solid will be hot if the non-conformal mapped walls are active),
and it demonstrates createNonConformalCouples's ability to add
boundary conditions to existing fields.
- The multiRegion/CHT/notchedRoller case demonstrates use of
non-conformal mapped walls with a moving mesh, and also provides an
example of parallelised usage.
Notes for Developers:
A coupled boundary condition now uses a new class,
mappedFvPatchBaseBase, in order to perform a transfer of values to or
from the neighbouring patch. For example:
// Cast the patch type to it's underlying mapping engine
const mappedFvPatchBaseBase& mapper =
mappedFvPatchBaseBase::getMap(patch());
// Lookup a field on the neighbouring patch
const fvPatchScalarField& nbrTn =
mapper.nbrFvPatch().lookupPatchField<volScalarField, scalar>("T");
// Map the values to this patch
const scalarField Tn(mapper.fromNeighbour(nbrTn));
For this to work, the fvPatch should be of an appropriate mapped type
which derives from mappedFvPatchBaseBase. This mappedFvPatchBaseBase
class provides an interface to to both conformal/interpolative and
non-conformal mapping procedures. This means that a coupled boundary
condition implemented in the manner above will work with either
conformal/interpolative or non-conformal mapped patch types.
Previously, coupled boundary conditions would access a mappedPatchBase
base class of the associated polyPatch, and use that to transfer values
between the patches. This direct dependence on the polyPatch's mapping
engine meant that only conformal/interpolative fvPatch fields that
corresponded to the polyPatch's geometry could be mapped.
This prevents spurious factors of 1000 from being introduced in
thermodynamic models. It also generalises the system further with
respect to alternative unit sets.
The fact that these names create sources in their associated transport
equations is clear in context, so the name does not need to contain
'Source'.
Having 'Source' in the name is a historic convention that dates back to
when fvModels and fvConstraints were combined in a single fvOptions
interface. In this interface, disambiguation between sources and
constraints was necessary.
The full set of name changes is as follows:
accelerationSource -> acceleration
actuationDiskSource -> actuationDisk
effectivenessHeatExchangerSource -> effectivenessHeatExchanger
explicitPorositySource -> porosityForce
radialActuationDiskSource -> radialActuationDisk
rotorDiskSource -> rotorDisk
sixDoFAccelerationSource -> sixDoFAcceleration
solidEquilibriumEnergySource -> solidThermalEquilibrium
solidificationMeltingSource -> solidificationMelting
volumeFractionSource -> volumeBlockage
interRegionExplicitPorositySource -> interRegionPorosityForce
VoFSolidificationMeltingSource -> VoFSolidificationMelting
The old names are still available for backwards compatibility.
The fact that these names refer to constraints is clear in context, so
the name does not need to contain 'Constraint'.
Having 'Constraint' in the name is a historic convention that dates back
to when fvConstraints and fvModels were combined in a single fvOptions
interface. In this interface, disambiguation between sources and
constraints was necessary.
This change has been applied to the 'fixedValue' and 'fixedTemperature'
constraints, which were formerly named 'fixedValueConstraint' and
'fixedTemperatureConstraint', respectively.
The old names are still available for backwards compatibility.
This change makes multiphaseEuler more consistent with other modules and
makes its sub-libraries less inter-dependent. Some left-over references
to multiphaseEulerFoam have also been removed.
In order to add convergence control to multi-region cases it is no longer
necessary to provide a residualControl entry in all region, convergence
specification can be provided for any sub-set of the region for which particular
residual levels should be met.
The tutorials/multiRegion/CHT/circuitBoardCooling case now has valid convergence
criteria to demonstrate this change.
The momentum equation central coefficient and drag matrix is formulated,
inverted and used to eliminate the drag terms from each of the phase momentum
equations which are combined for formulate a drag-implicit pressure equation.
This eliminates the lagged drag terms from the previous formulation which
significantly improves convergence for small particle and Euler-VoF high-drag
cases.
It would also be possible to refactor the virtual-mass terms and include the
central coefficients of the phase acceleration terms in the drag matrix before
inversion to further improve the implicitness of the phase momentum-pressure
coupling for bubbly flows. This work is pending funding.
The parcelsPerSecond control can now be specified as a time-varying
function. This provides additional control over the temporal
distribution of injected parcels, which may be advantageous if, for
example, the mass flow rate varies significantly. It also enables
variable flow rates of particulates in cases which have a fixed number
of particles per parcel.
If the libs entry is not provided and the name of the library containing the
functionObject, fvModel or fvConstraint corresponds to the type specified the
corresponding library is automatically loaded, e.g. to apply the
VoFTurbulenceDamping fvModel to an incompressibleVoF simulation the following
will load the libVoFTurbulenceDamping.so library automatically and instantiate
the fvModel:
turbulenceDamping
{
type VoFTurbulenceDamping;
delta 1e-4;
}
This avoids potential hidden run-time errors caused by solvers running with
boundary conditions which are not fully specified. Note that "null-constructor"
here means the constructor from patch and internal field only, no data is
provided.
Constraint and simple BCs such as 'calculated', 'zeroGradient' and others which
do not require user input to fully specify their operation remain on the
null-constructor table for the construction of fields with for example all
'calculated' or all 'zeroGradient' BCs.
A special version of the 'inletOutlet' fvPatchField named 'zeroInletOutlet' has
been added in which the inlet value is hard-coded to zero which allows this BC
to be included on the null-constructor table. This is useful for the 'age'
functionObject to avoid the need to provide the 'age' volScalarField at time 0
unless special inlet or outlet BCs are required. Also for isothermalFilm in
which the 'alpha' field is created automatically from the 'delta' field if it is
not present and can inherit 'zeroInletOutlet' from 'delta' if appropriate. If a
specific 'inletValue' is require or other more complex BCs then the 'alpha'
field file must be provided to specify these BCs as before.
Following this improvement it will now be possible to remove the
null-constructors from all fvPatchFields not added to the null-constructor
table, which is most of them, thus reducing the amount of code and maintenance
overhead and making easier and more obvious to write new fvPatchField types.
