The TrackData::switchProcessor flag was not being set for some of the
tracking steps made by the more complicated parcels. In the case that a
parcel starts the step already on a processor boundary, this sometimes
lead to the particle being transferred back and forth indefinitely. The
flag is now explicitly set in all cases.
The KinematicCloud::patchData method has been made consistent on moving
meshes and/or when the time-step is being sub-cycled.
It has also been altered to calculate the normal component of a moving
patch's velocity directly from the point motions. This prevents an
infinite loop occuring due to inconsistency between the velocity used to
calculate a rebound and that used when tracking.
Some minor style improvements to the particle class have also been made.
When an OpenFOAM simulation runs in parallel, the data for decomposed fields and
mesh(es) has historically been stored in multiple files within separate
directories for each processor. Processor directories are named 'processorN',
where N is the processor number.
This commit introduces an alternative "collated" file format where the data for
each decomposed field (and mesh) is collated into a single file, which is
written and read on the master processor. The files are stored in a single
directory named 'processors'.
The new format produces significantly fewer files - one per field, instead of N
per field. For large parallel cases, this avoids the restriction on the number
of open files imposed by the operating system limits.
The file writing can be threaded allowing the simulation to continue running
while the data is being written to file. NFS (Network File System) is not
needed when using the the collated format and additionally, there is an option
to run without NFS with the original uncollated approach, known as
"masterUncollated".
The controls for the file handling are in the OptimisationSwitches of
etc/controlDict:
OptimisationSwitches
{
...
//- Parallel IO file handler
// uncollated (default), collated or masterUncollated
fileHandler uncollated;
//- collated: thread buffer size for queued file writes.
// If set to 0 or not sufficient for the file size threading is not used.
// Default: 2e9
maxThreadFileBufferSize 2e9;
//- masterUncollated: non-blocking buffer size.
// If the file exceeds this buffer size scheduled transfer is used.
// Default: 2e9
maxMasterFileBufferSize 2e9;
}
When using the collated file handling, memory is allocated for the data in the
thread. maxThreadFileBufferSize sets the maximum size of memory in bytes that
is allocated. If the data exceeds this size, the write does not use threading.
When using the masterUncollated file handling, non-blocking MPI communication
requires a sufficiently large memory buffer on the master node.
maxMasterFileBufferSize sets the maximum size in bytes of the buffer. If the
data exceeds this size, the system uses scheduled communication.
The installation defaults for the fileHandler choice, maxThreadFileBufferSize
and maxMasterFileBufferSize (set in etc/controlDict) can be over-ridden within
the case controlDict file, like other parameters. Additionally the fileHandler
can be set by:
- the "-fileHandler" command line argument;
- a FOAM_FILEHANDLER environment variable.
A foamFormatConvert utility allows users to convert files between the collated
and uncollated formats, e.g.
mpirun -np 2 foamFormatConvert -parallel -fileHandler uncollated
An example case demonstrating the file handling methods is provided in:
$FOAM_TUTORIALS/IO/fileHandling
The work was undertaken by Mattijs Janssens, in collaboration with Henry Weller.
This change changes the point-tetIndices-face interpolation function
method to take barycentric-tetIndices-face arguments instead. This
function is, at present, only used for interpolating Eulerian data to
Lagrangian particles.
This change prevents an inefficiency in cellPointInterpolation whereby
the position of the particle is calculated from it's barycentric
coordinates, before immediately being converted back to barycentric
coordinates to perform the interpolation.
The averaging methods now take the particle barycentric coordinates as
inputs rather than global positions. This change significantly optimises
Dual averaging, which is the most commonly used method. The run time of
the lagrangian/MPPICFoam/Goldschmidt tutorial has been reduced by a
factor of about two.
"pos" now returns 1 if the argument is greater than 0, otherwise it returns 0.
This is consistent with the common mathematical definition of the "pos" function:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_(mathematics)
However the previous implementation in which 1 was also returned for a 0
argument is useful in many situations so the "pos0" has been added which returns
1 if the argument is greater or equal to 0. Additionally the "neg0" has been
added which returns 1 if if the argument is less than or equal to 0.
terms of the local barycentric coordinates of the current tetrahedron,
rather than the global coordinate system.
Barycentric tracking works on any mesh, irrespective of mesh quality.
Particles do not get "lost", and tracking does not require ad-hoc
"corrections" or "rescues" to function robustly, because the calculation
of particle-face intersections is unambiguous and reproducible, even at
small angles of incidence.
Each particle position is defined by topology (i.e. the decomposed tet
cell it is in) and geometry (i.e. where it is in the cell). No search
operations are needed on restart or reconstruct, unlike when particle
positions are stored in the global coordinate system.
The particle positions file now contains particles' local coordinates
and topology, rather than the global coordinates and cell. This change
to the output format is not backwards compatible. Existing cases with
Lagrangian data will not restart, but they will still run from time
zero without any modification. This change was necessary in order to
guarantee that the loaded particle is valid, and therefore
fundamentally prevent "loss" and "search-failure" type bugs (e.g.,
2517, 2442, 2286, 1836, 1461, 1341, 1097).
The tracking functions have also been converted to function in terms
of displacement, rather than end position. This helps remove floating
point error issues, particularly towards the end of a tracking step.
Wall bounded streamlines have been removed. The implementation proved
incompatible with the new tracking algorithm. ParaView has a surface
LIC plugin which provides equivalent, or better, functionality.
Additionally, bug report <https://bugs.openfoam.org/view.php?id=2517>
is resolved by this change.
coupled patches, to prevent rebound/stick/etc... on these patches. Also
added "none" interaction type to LocalInteraction, which reverts the
patch interaction to the fundamental behaviour. This is primarily useful
for non-coupled constraint types.
Resolves https://bugs.openfoam.org/view.php?id=2458
Ensures consistency between the mixture thermodynamics and composition specifications for the parcels.
Simpler more efficient implementation.
Resolves bug-report http://www.openfoam.org/mantisbt/view.php?id=1395
as well as other consistency issues not yet reported.
The old separate incompressible and compressible libraries have been removed.
Most of the commonly used RANS and LES models have been upgraded to the
new framework but there are a few missing which will be added over the
next few days, in particular the realizable k-epsilon model. Some of
the less common incompressible RANS models have been introduced into the
new library instantiated for incompressible flow only. If they prove to
be generally useful they can be templated for compressible and
multiphase application.
The Spalart-Allmaras DDES and IDDES models have been thoroughly
debugged, removing serious errors concerning the use of S rather than
Omega.
The compressible instances of the models have been augmented by a simple
backward-compatible eddyDiffusivity model for thermal transport based on
alphat and alphaEff. This will be replaced with a separate run-time
selectable thermal transport model framework in a few weeks.
For simplicity and ease of maintenance and further development the
turbulent transport and wall modeling is based on nut/nuEff rather than
mut/muEff for compressible models so that all forms of turbulence models
can use the same wall-functions and other BCs.
All turbulence model selection made in the constant/turbulenceProperties
dictionary with RAS and LES as sub-dictionaries rather than in separate
files which added huge complexity for multiphase.
All tutorials have been updated so study the changes and update your own
cases by comparison with similar cases provided.
Sorry for the inconvenience in the break in backward-compatibility but
this update to the turbulence modeling is an essential step in the
future of OpenFOAM to allow more models to be added and maintained for a
wider range of cases and physics. Over the next weeks and months more
turbulence models will be added of single and multiphase flow, more
additional sub-models and further development and testing of existing
models. I hope this brings benefits to all OpenFOAM users.
Henry G. Weller
