################################################################# # # Getting started # ################################################################### # Start Python, and at the prompt type: from Cantera import * # This statement imports the most commonly-used components of Cantera. # Now type gas1 = GRI30() print gas1 # If you have successfully installed the Cantera package, # you should see something like this: # # # temperature 300 K # pressure 101325 Pa # density 0.081896 kg/m^3 # mean mol. weight 2.01594 amu # # X Y # ------------- ------------ # H2 1.000000e+000 1.000000e+000 # # # What you have just done is to create an object ("gas1") that # implements GRI-Mech 3.0, the 53-species, 325-reaction natural gas # combustion mechanism developed by Gregory P. Smith, David M. Golden, # Michael Frenklach, Nigel W. Moriarty, Boris Eiteneer, Mikhail # Goldenberg, C. Thomas Bowman, Ronald K. Hanson, Soonho Song, William # C. Gardiner, Jr., Vitali V. Lissianski, and Zhiwei Qin. See # http://www.me.berkeley.edu/gri_mech/ for more information. # # The object created by GI30() has properties you would expect for a gas # mixture - it has a temperature, a pressure, species mole and mass # fractions, etc. As we'll soon see, it has many more properties. # # The summary of the state of 'gas1' printed above shows that new # objects created by function GRI30() start out with a temperature of # 300 K, a pressure of 1 atm, and have a composition that consists of # only one species, in this case hydrogen. There is nothing special # about H2 - it just happens to be the first species listed in the # input file defining GRI-Mech 3.0 that the 'GRI30' function reads. In # general, whichever species is listed first will initially have a # mole fraction of 1.0, and all of the others will be zero. # The printed summary only shows those species with non-zero mole # fractions, so only H2 is shown, and the 52 other species are not # listed. (More precisely, only species with mole fractions above a # threshold value of 1.E-20 are shown.) # Setting the state # ----------------- # The state of the object can easily be changed. For example, gas1.setTemperature(1200) # sets the temperature to 1200 K. (Cantera always uses SI units.) # After this statement, print gas1 # results in: # # temperature 1200 K # pressure 405300 Pa # density 0.081896 kg/m^3 # mean mol. weight 2.01594 amu # # X Y # ------------- ------------ # H2 1.000000e+000 1.000000e+000 # # Notice that the temperature has been changed as requested, but the # pressure has changed too. The density and composition have # not. # # When setting properties individually, some convention needs to be # adopted to specify which other properties are held constant. This is # because thermodynamics requires that *two* properties (not one) in # addition to composition information be specified to fix the # intensive state of a substance (or mixture). # # Cantera adopts the following convention: only one of the set # (temperature, density, mass fractions) is altered by setting any # single property. In particular: # # a) Setting the temperature is done holding density and # composition fixed. (The pressure changes.) # b) Setting the pressure is done holding temperature and # composition fixed. (The density changes.) # # c) Setting the composition is done holding temperature # and density fixed. (The pressure changes). # # Setting multiple properties # --------------------------------------------------- # If you want to set multiple properties at once, use the 'set' function: set(gas1, Temperature = 900.0, Pressure = 1.e5) # This statement sets both temperature and pressure at the same # time. Any number of property/value pairs can be specified in a # call to 'set'. For example, the following sets the mole fractions # too: set(gas1, Temperature = 900.0, Pressure = 1.e5, MoleFractions = 'CH4:1,O2:2,N2:7.52') # The 'set' function also accepts abbreviated property names: set(gas1,T = 900.0, P = 1.e5, X = 'CH4:1,O2:2,N2:7.52') # Either version results in # # temperature 900 K # pressure 100000 Pa # density 0.3693 kg/m^3 # mean mol. weight 27.6332 amu # # X Y # ------------- ------------ # O2 1.901141e-001 2.201489e-001 # CH4 9.505703e-002 5.518732e-002 # N2 7.148289e-001 7.246638e-001 # # Other properties may also be set using 'set', including some that # can't be set individually. The following property pairs may be # set: (Enthalpy, Pressure), (IntEnergy, Volume), (Entropy, # Volume), (Entropy, Pressure). In each case, the values of the # extensive properties must be entered *per unit mass*. # Setting the enthalpy and pressure: set(gas1, Enthalpy = 2*gas1.enthalpy_mass(), Pressure = 2*OneAtm) # The composition above was specified using a string. The format is a # comma-separated list of : # pairs. The mole numbers will be normalized to produce the mole # fractions, and therefore they are 'relative' mole numbers. Mass # fractions can be set in this way too by changing 'X' to 'Y' in the # above statement. # The composition can also be set using an array, which must have the # same size as the number of species. For example, to set all 53 mole # fractions to the same value, do this: x = ones(53,'d'); # NumPy array of 53 ones set(gas1, X = x) print gas1 # To set the mass fractions to equal values: set(gas1, Y = x) print gas1