CACTUS (Code for Axial and Cross-flow TUrbine Simulation) is a turbine performance simulation code, based on a free wake vortex method, to study wind turbines and marine hydrokinetic (MHK) devices.
The previous Plot3D reader was incorrect. This is now fixed, taking the reading loop directly from NASA's example page.
Despite the Plot3D reader being fixed, there is still a major limitation for wall input files. The current implementation uses a quadrilateral source panel (directly from Katz & Plotkin, Low Speed Aerodynamics, section 10.4.1), requiring that all points on each quadrilateral be coplanar. The implementation can be seen in https://github.com/SNL-WaterPower/CACTUS/blob/dev/src/mod/quadsourcepanel.f95#L19-L186.
Only the simplest of geometries can be meshed using such panels. Perhaps just ruled surfaces? If you can approximate your geometry as a collection of ruled surfaces, then this should be fine. But that's kind of a pain to do.
For more complex geometries, a generic rectilinear boundary element will need to be implemented. Another thought - perhaps the existing quadrilateral elements degenerate gracefully into triangular elements (when two points of the quad are coincident). Would need some testing.
whophil
commented
3 years ago
Addresses issue #42
The previous Plot3D reader was incorrect. This is now fixed, taking the reading loop directly from NASA's example page.
Despite the Plot3D reader being fixed, there is still a major limitation for wall input files. The current implementation uses a quadrilateral source panel (directly from Katz & Plotkin, Low Speed Aerodynamics, section 10.4.1), requiring that all points on each quadrilateral be coplanar. The implementation can be seen in https://github.com/SNL-WaterPower/CACTUS/blob/dev/src/mod/quadsourcepanel.f95#L19-L186.
Only the simplest of geometries can be meshed using such panels. Perhaps just ruled surfaces? If you can approximate your geometry as a collection of ruled surfaces, then this should be fine. But that's kind of a pain to do.
For more complex geometries, a generic rectilinear boundary element will need to be implemented. Another thought - perhaps the existing quadrilateral elements degenerate gracefully into triangular elements (when two points of the quad are coincident). Would need some testing.