cantera/docs/doxyinput/matlab.txt
2010-08-04 23:15:35 +00:00

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/**
\page matlab-tutorial MATLAB Cantera Tutorial
\section tut2 Tutorial 2: Working with input files
Topics:
- CTI files
- CTI files distributed with %Cantera
- using functions 'importPhase' and 'importInterface'
- input files distributed with %Cantera
- the %Cantera search path
- CTML files
- converting from CK format
\section cti-files CTI files
In the last tutorial, we used function GRI30 to create an object that models
an ideal gas mixture with the species and reactions of GRI-Mech 3.0. Another
way to do this is shown here, with statements added to measure how long this
takes:
\verbatim
gas1 = importPhase('gri30.cti', 'gri30');
\endverbatim
Function importPhase constructs an object representing a phase of matter by
reading in attributes of the phase from a file, which in this case is
'gri30.cti'. This file contains several phase specifications; the one we want
here is 'gri30', which is specified by the second argument. This file contains
a complete specification of the GRI-Mech 3.0 reaction mechanism, including
element data (name, atomic weight), species data (name, elemental composition,
coefficients to compute thermodynamic and transport properties), and reaction
data (stoichiometry, rate coefficient parameters). The file is written in a
format understood by %Cantera, which is described in the document "Defining
Phases and Interfaces."
On some systems, processing long CTI files like gri30.cti can be a little
slow. For example, using a typical laptop computer running Windows 2000, the
statement above takes more than 4 s, while on a Mac Powerbook G4 of similar
CPU speed it takes only 0.3 s. In any case, running it again takes much less
time, because %Cantera 'remembers' files it has already processed and doesn't
need to read them in again.
See also:
Cantera Input File Examples
\section cti-distrib CTI files distributed with %Cantera
Several reaction mechanism files in this format are included in the %Cantera
distribution, including ones that model high-temperature air, a
hydrogen/oxygen reaction mechanism, and a few surface reaction mechanisms.
Under Windows, these files may be located in 'C: Files Files', or in 'C:',
depending on how you installed %Cantera and the options you specified. On a
unix/linux/Mac OSX machine, they are usually kept in the 'data' subdirectory
within the %Cantera installation directory.
If for some reason %Cantera has difficulty finding where these files are on
your system, set environment variable CANTERA_DATA to the directory where they
are located. Alternatively, you can call function addDirectory to add a
directory to the %Cantera search path:
\verbatim
addDirectory('/usr/local/cantera/my_data_files');
\endverbatim
%Cantera input files are plain text files, and can be created with any text
editor. See the document 'Defining Phases and Interfaces' for more
information.
\section mat-import Importing multiple phases or interfaces
A %Cantera input file may contain more than one phase specification, or may
contain specifications of interfaces (surfaces). Here we import definitions of
two bulk phases and the interface between them from file diamond.cti:
\verbatim
gas2 = importPhase('diamond.cti', 'gas'); a gas
diamond = importPhase('diamond.cti','diamond'); bulk diamond
diamonnd_surf = importInterface('diamond.cti','diamond_100',...
gas2, diamond);
\endverbatim
Note that the bulk (i.e., 3D) phases that participate in the surface reactions
must also be passed as arguments to importInterface.
\section ctml-files CTML files
Note that when %Cantera reads a .cti input file, wherever it is located, it
always writes a file of the same name but with extension .xml *in the local
directory*. If you happen to have some other file by that name, it will be
overwritten. Once the XML file is created, you can use it instead of the .cti
file, which will result in somewhat faster startup.
\verbatim
gas4 = importPhase('gri30.xml','gri30');
\endverbatim
Interfaces can be imported from XML files too.
\verbatim
diamonnd_surf2 = importInterface('diamond.xml','diamond_100',...
gas2, diamond);
\endverbatim
\section ck-convert Converting CK-format files
Many existing reaction mechanism files are in "CK format," by which we mean
the input file format developed for use with the Chemkin-II software package.
[See R. J. Kee, F. M. Rupley, and J. A. Miller, Sandia National Laboratories
Report SAND89-8009 (1989).]
%Cantera comes with a converter utility program 'ck2cti' (or 'ck2cti.exe') that
converts CK format into %Cantera format. This program should be run from the
command line first to convert any CK files you plan to use into %Cantera
format. This utility program can also be downloaded from the %Cantera User's
Group web site.
Here's an example of how to use it:
\verbatim
ck2cti -i mech.inp -t therm.dat -tr tran.dat -id mymech > mech.cti
\endverbatim
*/