- The writers have changed from being a generic state-less set of
routines to more properly conforming to the normal notion of a writer.
These changes allow us to combine output fields (eg, in a single
VTK/vtp file for each timestep).
Parallel data reduction and any associated bookkeeping is now part
of the surface writers.
This improves their re-usability and avoids unnecessary
and premature data reduction at the sampling stage.
It is now possible to have different output formats on a per-surface
basis.
- A new feature of the surface sampling is the ability to "store" the
sampled surfaces and fields onto a registry for reuse by other
function objects.
Additionally, the "store" can be triggered at the execution phase
as well
- use the dictionary 'get' methods instead of readScalar for
additional checking
Unchecked: readScalar(dict.lookup("key"));
Checked: dict.get<scalar>("key");
- In templated classes that also inherit from a dictionary, an additional
'template' keyword will be required. Eg,
this->coeffsDict().template get<scalar>("key");
For this common use case, the predefined getXXX shortcuts may be
useful. Eg,
this->coeffsDict().getScalar("key");
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.
- instead of dict.lookup(name) >> val;
can use dict.readEntry(name, val);
for checking of input token sizes.
This helps catch certain types of input errors:
{
key1 ; // <- Missing value
key2 1234 // <- Missing ';' terminator
key3 val;
}
STYLE: readIfPresent() instead of 'if found ...' in a few more places.
- subsetList, inplaceSubsetList with optional inverted logic.
- use moveable elements where possible.
- allow optional starting offset for the identity global function.
Eg, 'identity(10, start)' vs 'identity(10) + start'
A lot of methods were taking argument data which could be referenced or
generated from the parcel class at little or no additional cost. This
was confusing and generated the possibility of inconsistent data states.
The particle collector was collecting some particles twice due to a
tolerance extending the tracked path. This has been removed. The new
tracking algorithm does not generate the same sorts of spurious
tolerance-scale motions that the old one did, so this extension of the
tracking path is unnecessary.
Some particles were also not being collected at all as they were hitting
a diagonal of the collection polygon and registering as not having hit
either of the adjacent triangles. The hit criteria has been rewritten. A
hit now occurs when the normals of the triangles created by joining the
intersection point with the polygon edges are all in the same direction
as the overall polygon normal. This calculation is not affected by the
polygon's diagonals.
The issue was raised by, and resolved with support from, Karl Meredith
at FM Global.
This resolves bug-report https://bugs.openfoam.org/view.php?id=2595
- Allows passing of additional information (per-face zone ids) or possibly
other things, while reducing the number of arguments to pass.
- In sampledTriSurfaceMesh, preserve the region information that was
read in, passing it onwards via the UnsortedMeshSurface content.
The Nastran surface writer is currently the only writer making use
of this per-face zone information.
Passing it through as a PSHELL attribute, which should retain the
distinction for parts. (issue #204)
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.
