[miragemobile]

Hello,

TLDR: How do I create a patch from faces along a specified plane? The plane is an external area of the domain?

I am working with faces that lie on a single plane. I am trying to combine these faces into a single faceSet/patch to define a boundary condition.

All of these faces are currently part of different patches.

To my understanding (please correct if wrong), I need to use topoSetDict and createPatchDict and maybe something with setSet and surfaceToFace or surfaceToCell or boundaryToFace.

I've tried boundaryToFace, but it combined all exterior faces into 1 faceSet. I would like to have multiple exterior faceSets.

I've seen the example below:

name heaterCellSet;
type cellSet; //faceSet;
action new;
source boxToCell; //boxToFace;
sourceInfo
{
box (-0.01001 0 -100 )(0.01001 0.00999 100);
}

However, this requires a box to be specified around the cells/faces. For faces, it seems more natural to specify a plane.

Is there a method that doesn't involve using boxToFace? I seem to get the error message 'Face X is not external to the mesh', even though my box dimensions appear to only encapsulate one cell width.

[miragemobile]

Visually,

How would one perform this grouping of exterior faces on the flat and curved faces of a cylindrical slice?

The boxToFace would not be able to encompass all exterior faces without also encompassing interior cells...

[peterhess]

Hello Miragemobile!

I cant give you direct answer, anyway I can suggest the following source:

https://openfoamwiki.net/index.php/TopoSet

See: 5 List of sources

Regards

Peter

[miragemobile]

Originally Posted by peterhess

Hello Miragemobile!

I cant give you direct answer, anyway I can suggest the following source:

https://openfoamwiki.net/index.php/TopoSet

See: 5 List of sources

Regards

Peter

Thank you Peter!

normalToFace could be beneficial for my selection of faces along planes.

surfaceToCell could be beneficial for my selection of faces along a curved surface. I wonder if the STL can just be an open surface or if it has to be closed.

I will try these out.

Mirage

[miragemobile]

Two more questions:

1. normalToFace obviously collects all faces normal to a given plane (including interior faces). I am looking to collect only exterior faces. I am considering using boundaryToFace, followed by normalToFace. However I am not sure how to use the functions on an existing faceSet and not the entire domain.


2. Does anyone know if surfaceToCell requires a closed surface?