Function objects

Table of Contents

Function objects are OpenFOAM utilities to ease workflow configurations and enhance workflows by producing additional user-requested data both during runtime and postprocessing calculations, typically in the form of additional logging to the screen, or generating text, image and field files.

Function objects eliminate the need to store all runtime generated data, hence saving considerable resources. Furthermore, function objects are readily applied to batch-driven processes, improving reliability by standardising the sequence of operations and reducing the amount of manual interaction.

In addition, the output of most function objects, e.g. output fields, are stored on the mesh database so that it can be retrieved and used for other applications (e.g. directly using wallShearStress function object output in fieldAverage function object to produce wallShearStressMean field).

Usage

Function objects can be executed by using two methods:

  • functions sub-dictionary in the system/controlDict file
  • postProcess command-line utility, available to solver applications as well with the option -postProcess.

For the first method, each selected function object should be listed inside functions sub-dictionary of the system/controlDict file as a nested sub-dictionary, typically as in the following example: 

functions    // sub-dictionary name under the system/controlDict file
{
    <userDefinedSubDictName1>
    {
        // Mandatory entries
        type                <functionObjectTypeName>;
        libs                (<libType>FunctionObjects);

        // Mandatory entries defined in <functionObjectType>
        ...

        // Optional entries defined in <functionObjectType>
        ...

        // Optional (inherited) entries
        region              region0;
        enabled             true;
        log                 true;
        timeStart           0;
        timeEnd             1000;
        executeControl      timeStep;
        executeInterval     1;
        writeControl        timeStep;
        writeInterval       1;
    }

    <userDefinedSubDictName2>
    {
        ...
    }

    ...

    <userDefinedSubDictNameN>
    {
        ...
    }
}

where the entries mean:

Property Description Type Required Default
type Type name of function object word yes -
libs Library name containing implementation word yes -
region Name of region for multi-region cases word no region0
enabled Switch to turn function object on/off bool no true
log Switch to write log info to standard output bool no true
timeStart Start time for function object execution scalar no 0
timeEnd End time for function object execution scalar no inf
executeControl See time controls below word no timeStep
executeInterval Steps/time between execute phases label no 1
writeControl See time controls below word no timeStep
writeInterval Steps/time between write phases label no 1

The sub-dictionary name <userDefinedSubDictName> is chosen by the user, and is typically used as the name of the output directory for any data written by the function object.

As the base mandatory entries, the type entry defines the type of function object properties that follow. Function objects are packaged into separate libraries for flexibility and the libs entry is used to specify which library should be loaded.

Run-time control

When applied at run-time, the objects are controlled according to the optional two options:

  • executeControl: when the object is updated (for updating calculations or for management tasks),
  • writeControl: when the object output is written (for writing the calculated data to disk).

Time controls (take the same type of values as the writeControl entry in the controlDict, with some additions): 

Option            | Description
none              | Trigger is disabled
timeStep          | Trigger every 'Interval' time-steps, e.g. every x time steps
writeTime         | Trigger every 'Interval' output times, i.e. alongside standard field output
runTime           | Trigger every 'Interval' run time period, e.g. every x seconds of calculation time
adjustableRunTime | Currently identical to "runTime"
clockTime         | Trigger every 'Interval' clock time period
cpuTime           | Trigger every 'Interval' CPU time period
onEnd             | Trigger on end of simulation run

For example, to set a Courant Number function object to evaluate every 2 time steps and write at every output time: 

functions
{
    Co1
    {
        type                CourantNo;
        libs                (fieldFunctionObjects);
        executeControl      timeStep;
        executeInterval     2;
        writeControl        writeTime;
    }
}

Data derived from function objects are written to the case postProcessing directory or to the time directories, typically in a subdirectory with the same 

$FOAM_CASE/postProcessing/<functionObjectName>/<time>/<data>

$FOAM_CASE/<time>/<outField>

Post-process utility

The second method of executing function objects is to use postProcess utility.

When specified without additional arguments, the postProcess utility executes all function objects defined in the system/controlDict file for all time directories: 

postProcess

Most function objects can be invoked directly without the need to specify the input dictionary using the -func option, e.g. to execute the Courant number function object: 

postProcess -func CourantNo

Application post-processing

The -postProcess option is also available to all solvers, and operates similarly to the stand-alone postProcess utility. For example, having completed a simpleFoam calculation, the following will execute all function objects defined in the system/controlDict file for all time directories: 

simpleFoam -postProcess

which will execute all function objects defined in the controlDict.

Options

Function objects are grouped into libraries that perform similar operations or operate on similar object types:

Further information

Source code: