Previously the coordinate system functionality was split between
coordinateSystem and coordinateRotation. The coordinateRotation stored
the rotation tensor and handled all tensor transformations.
The functionality has now been revised and consolidated into the
coordinateSystem classes. The sole purpose of coordinateRotation
is now just to provide a selectable mechanism of how to define the
rotation tensor (eg, axis-angle, euler angles, local axes) for user
input, but after providing the appropriate rotation tensor it has
no further influence on the transformations.
--
The coordinateSystem class now contains an origin and a base rotation
tensor directly and various transformation methods.
- The origin represents the "shift" for a local coordinate system.
- The base rotation tensor represents the "tilt" or orientation
of the local coordinate system in general (eg, for mapping
positions), but may require position-dependent tensors when
transforming vectors and tensors.
For some coordinate systems (currently the cylindrical coordinate system),
the rotation tensor required for rotating a vector or tensor is
position-dependent.
The new coordinateSystem and its derivates (cartesian, cylindrical,
indirect) now provide a uniform() method to define if the rotation
tensor is position dependent/independent.
The coordinateSystem transform and invTransform methods are now
available in two-parameter forms for obtaining position-dependent
rotation tensors. Eg,
... = cs.transform(globalPt, someVector);
In some cases it can be useful to use query uniform() to avoid
storage of redundant values.
if (cs.uniform())
{
vector xx = cs.transform(someVector);
}
else
{
List<vector> xx = cs.transform(manyPoints, someVector);
}
Support transform/invTransform for common data types:
(scalar, vector, sphericalTensor, symmTensor, tensor).
====================
Breaking Changes
====================
- These changes to coordinate systems and rotations may represent
a breaking change for existing user coding.
- Relocating the rotation tensor into coordinateSystem itself means
that the coordinate system 'R()' method now returns the rotation
directly instead of the coordinateRotation. The method name 'R()'
was chosen for consistency with other low-level entities (eg,
quaternion).
The following changes will be needed in coding:
Old: tensor rot = cs.R().R();
New: tensor rot = cs.R();
Old: cs.R().transform(...);
New: cs.transform(...);
Accessing the runTime selectable coordinateRotation
has moved to the rotation() method:
Old: Info<< "Rotation input: " << cs.R() << nl;
New: Info<< "Rotation input: " << cs.rotation() << nl;
- Naming consistency changes may also cause code to break.
Old: transformVector()
New: transformPrincipal()
The old method name transformTensor() now simply becomes transform().
====================
New methods
====================
For operations requiring caching of the coordinate rotations, the
'R()' method can be used with multiple input points:
tensorField rots(cs.R(somePoints));
and later
Foam::transformList(rots, someVectors);
The rotation() method can also be used to change the rotation tensor
via a new coordinateRotation definition (issue #879).
The new methods transformPoint/invTransformPoint provide
transformations with an origin offset using Cartesian for both local
and global points. These can be used to determine the local position
based on the origin/rotation without interpreting it as a r-theta-z
value, for example.
================
Input format
================
- Streamline dictionary input requirements
* The default type is cartesian.
* The default rotation type is the commonly used axes rotation
specification (with e1/e2/3), which is assumed if the 'rotation'
sub-dictionary does not exist.
Example,
Compact specification:
coordinateSystem
{
origin (0 0 0);
e2 (0 1 0);
e3 (0.5 0 0.866025);
}
Full specification (also accepts the longer 'coordinateRotation'
sub-dictionary name):
coordinateSystem
{
type cartesian;
origin (0 0 0);
rotation
{
type axes;
e2 (0 1 0);
e3 (0.5 0 0.866025);
}
}
This simplifies the input for many cases.
- Additional rotation specification 'none' (an identity rotation):
coordinateSystem
{
origin (0 0 0);
rotation { type none; }
}
- Additional rotation specification 'axisAngle', which is similar
to the -rotate-angle option for transforming points (issue #660).
For some cases this can be more intuitive.
For example,
rotation
{
type axisAngle;
axis (0 1 0);
angle 30;
}
vs.
rotation
{
type axes;
e2 (0 1 0);
e3 (0.5 0 0.866025);
}
- shorter names (or older longer names) for the coordinate rotation
specification.
euler EulerRotation
starcd STARCDRotation
axes axesRotation
================
Coding Style
================
- use Foam::coordSystem namespace for categories of coordinate systems
(cartesian, cylindrical, indirect). This reduces potential name
clashes and makes a clearer declaration. Eg,
coordSystem::cartesian csys_;
The older names (eg, cartesianCS, etc) remain available via typedefs.
- added coordinateRotations namespace for better organization and
reduce potential name clashes.
- this provides internal consistency and allows direct use of the
coordinate angle with sin(), cos() functions.
It eliminates potential issues that could otherwise arise from
alternative user input.
Eg, in mixerFvMesh it would have previously been possible to specify
the coordinate system to use degrees or radians, but these units were
not checked when determining the tangential sweep positions.
NOTE: this may represent a breaking change if user coding has been
relying on cylindrical coordinate system in degrees.
- avoids compiler ambiguity when virtual methods such as
IOdictionary::read() exist.
- the method was introduced in 1806, and was thus not yet widely used
- when constructing dimensioned fields that are to be zero-initialized,
it is preferrable to use a form such as
dimensionedScalar(dims, Zero)
dimensionedVector(dims, Zero)
rather than
dimensionedScalar("0", dims, 0)
dimensionedVector("zero", dims, vector::zero)
This reduces clutter and also avoids any suggestion that the name of
the dimensioned quantity has any influence on the field's name.
An even shorter version is possible. Eg,
dimensionedScalar(dims)
but reduces the clarity of meaning.
- NB: UniformDimensionedField is an exception to these style changes
since it does use the name of the dimensioned type (instead of the
regIOobject).
- Remove the unused enums() method since it delivers wholly unreliable
results. It is not guaranteed to cover the full enumeration range,
but only the listed names.
- Remove the unused strings() method.
Duplicated functionality of the words(), but was never used.
- Change access of words() method from static to object.
Better code isolation. Permits the constructor to take over
as the single point of failure for bad input.
- Add values() method
- do not expose internal (HashTable) lookup since it makes it more
difficult to enforce constness and the implementation detail should
not be exposed. However leave toc() and sortedToc() for the interface.
STYLE: relocated NamedEnum under primitives (was containers)
- internal typedef as 'value_type' for some consistency with STL conventions
In most boundary conditions, fvOptions etc. required and optional fields
to be looked-up from the objectRegistry are selected by setting the
keyword corresponding to the standard field name in the BC etc. to the
appropriate name in the objectRegistry. Usually a default is provided
with sets the field name to the keyword name, e.g. in the
totalPressureFvPatchScalarField the velocity is selected by setting the
keyword 'U' to the appropriate name which defaults to 'U':
Property | Description | Required | Default value
U | velocity field name | no | U
phi | flux field name | no | phi
.
.
.
However, in some BCs and functionObjects and many fvOptions another
convention is used in which the field name keyword is appended by 'Name'
e.g.
Property | Description | Required | Default value
pName | pressure field name | no | p
UName | velocity field name | no | U
This difference in convention is unnecessary and confusing, hinders code
and dictionary reuse and complicates code maintenance. In this commit
the appended 'Name' is removed from the field selection keywords
standardizing OpenFOAM on the first convention above.
to have the prefix 'write' rather than 'output'
So outputTime() -> writeTime()
but 'outputTime()' is still supported for backward-compatibility.
Also removed the redundant secondary-writing functionality from Time
which has been superseded by the 'writeRegisteredObject' functionObject.
Rather than requiring each functionObject to handle failed construction
internally (using the active_ flag) the static member function "viable"
is provided which returns true if construction of the functionObject is
likely to be successful. Failed construction is then handled by the
wrapper-class which constructs the functionObject,
e.g. "OutputFilterFunctionObject".
These new names are more consistent and logical because:
primitiveField():
primitiveFieldRef():
Provides low-level access to the Field<Type> (primitive field)
without dimension or mesh-consistency checking. This should only be
used in the low-level functions where dimensional consistency is
ensured by careful programming and computational efficiency is
paramount.
internalField():
internalFieldRef():
Provides access to the DimensionedField<Type, GeoMesh> of values on
the internal mesh-type for which the GeometricField is defined and
supports dimension and checking and mesh-consistency checking.
This class does not simply rotate the coordinate system is also changes
it from Cartesian to cylindrical which is not clear from the original name.
We plan to rewrite the coordinateRotation classes to be
coordinateTransformation classes and massively simplify the interface
from the currently unintelligible mess.
by introducing rational base-classes rather than using the hideous
'switch' statement. Further rationalization of the cell-selection
mechanism will be implemented via an appropriate class hierarchy to
replace the remaining 'switch' statement.
Mesh-motion is currently handled very inefficiently for cellSets and not
at all for inter-region coupling. The former will be improved when the
cell-selection classes are written and the latter by making the
meshToMesh class a MeshObject after it has been corrected for mapFields.
coordinate systems
Modifying constructors from dictionary of coordinateSystem class (no
default type)
Adding localAxesRotation type. It constructs a axes-rotation tensor on each
cell centre.
Adding functionality to coordinateRotation blase class (transformTensor,
transformVector, etc)