openfoam/doc/changes/splitCyclic.txt
2010-10-22 13:09:13 +01:00

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Short overview of the changes to have cyclics split into two halves.
Cyclics
-------
The two cyclic halves are now split like processor patches. There should be no
difference in running.
Advantages:
- decomposed cyclics can now be handled properly. It just needs to preserve
the cyclic patch it originates from.
- We can now construct a table of global transformations and handle
points/edges/cells with transformations.
- face ordering after topological changes becomes much easier since we
now preserve what half the face comes from.
- cyclic handling becomes more consistent with processor handling and can
quite often be handled in the same condition.
- transformation tensors now become single entry.
The disadvantages:
- a patch-wise loop now might need to store data to go to the neighbour half
since it is no longer handled in a single patch.
- decomposed cyclics now require overlapping communications so will
only work in 'nonBlocking' mode or 'blocking' (=buffered) mode but not
in 'scheduled' mode. The underlying message passing library
will require overlapping communications with message tags.
- it is quite a code-change and there might be some oversights.
- once converted (see foamUpgradeCyclics below) cases are not backwards
compatible with previous versions.
blockMesh
---------
blockMeshDict now allows patch definition using the construct-from-dictionary
constructor. This helps defining patches that require additional input e.g.
directMapped and now cyclic:
boundary
(
sides2_half0
{
type cyclic;
neighbourPatch sides2_half1;
faces ((2 4 5 3));
}
The syntax is - like the polyMesh/boundary file - a list of dictionaries with
one additional entry 'faces' for the block faces. Above shows the new
required entry 'neighbourPatch' for cyclic.
blockMesh still reads the old format. For a cyclic it will automatically
introduce two patches for the halves, with names xxx_half0 and xxx_half1.
foamUpgradeCyclics
------------------
This is a tool which reads the polyMesh/boundary file and any vol/surface/point
fields and converts them.
It will check if anything needs to be converted, backup the current file to .old
and split any cyclic patchFields into two entries.
Mesh converters
---------------
Most mesh formats use cyclics in a single patch (i.e. the old way).
The converters have been adapted to use the patch 'oldCyclic' instead of
'cyclic'. oldCyclic uses the 17x automatic ordering but writes 'type cyclic'
so afterwards foamUpgradeCyclics can be run to upgrade.
decomposePar
------------
Decomposes cyclics into processorCyclic:
procBoundary0to1throughsides1_half0
{
type processorCyclic;
nFaces 1000;
startFace 91350;
myProcNo 0;
neighbProcNo 1;
referPatch sides1_half0;
}
They have an additional 'referPatch' entry which gives the (cyclic) patch
to use for any transformation.
Details
-------
- the cyclic patch dictionary has an entry neighbourPatch. The
patch has new member functions:
//- Get neighbouring patchID
label neighbPatchID() const
//- Get neighbouring patch
const cyclicPolyPatch& neighbPatch()
//- Am I the owner half
bool owner()
The cyclic still has forward() and reverse() transformations (with
the reverse() equal to the neighbPatch().forward()).
There is no transformLocalFace anymore - the ordering is the same for
both halves.
- 'pure' processor patches now are always coincident - they (should) have no
transformation. As said above cyclics are decomposed into a derived
type 'processorCyclic'.
- processor patches use overlapping communication using a different message
tag. This maps straight through into the MPI message tag. Each processor
'interface' (processorPolyPatch, processorFvPatch, etc.) has a 'tag()'
to use for communication.
- when constructing a GeometricField from a dictionary it will explicitly
check for non-existing entries for cyclic patches and exit with an error message
warning to run foamUpgradeCyclics. (1.7.x will check if you are trying
to run a case which has split cyclics)