Cutting a Cell with a surface. (Splitting a cell in two)

frobaux · February 14, 2020, 09:53

Hello everyone,

Does an utility exists to split a cell which is cut by a surface?
Actually, what I'm interested about is the volume left on each side.

I currently have identified which cells/faces/edges are "cut" by my surface (using mainly cellClassification). I still need to compute the volumes on each side of the triSurface, but I have to admit, I have not clue on how to do that.

Is there an utility to do that? I would take any lead, or idea!

Thank you a lot for you help!

HPE · February 14, 2020, 16:26

For a given cell and an arbitrary defined surface passing through the cell in an arbitrary orientation, you want to calculate the volume portions of the cell separated by the surface?

I dont think there is a utility for that, which seems to be quite 'niche' to me unless I correctly understand it. You may need to hack the source code.

Curious, what is the application related to this?

frobaux · February 15, 2020, 04:18

Well, It is exactly that. I'm currently trying to devellop it with a particular hypothesis:
The surface inside the cut cell is planar. (so that the intersection points with the edges defines a face). In my case that hypothesis is true but it probably won't always be.
Well even like that is not that simple to write.

The application is to convert a free surface defined by a surface (direct method) into a volume of fluid method (ie. obtain the alpha.water field, representing the volume fraction of a given cell which is under water).

I hope I was clear!

Kind regards!
Fabien

February 14, 2020, 09:53	Cutting a Cell with a surface. (Splitting a cell in two)	#1
frobaux Member Fabien Robaux Join Date: Oct 2016 Posts: 45 Rep Power: 5	Hello everyone, Does an utility exists to split a cell which is cut by a surface? Actually, what I'm interested about is the volume left on each side. I currently have identified which cells/faces/edges are "cut" by my surface (using mainly cellClassification). I still need to compute the volumes on each side of the triSurface, but I have to admit, I have not clue on how to do that. Is there an utility to do that? I would take any lead, or idea! Thank you a lot for you help!

February 14, 2020, 16:26		#2
HPE Senior Member Herpes Free Engineer Join Date: Sep 2019 Posts: 298 Rep Power: 3	For a given cell and an arbitrary defined surface passing through the cell in an arbitrary orientation, you want to calculate the volume portions of the cell separated by the surface? I dont think there is a utility for that, which seems to be quite 'niche' to me unless I correctly understand it. You may need to hack the source code. Curious, what is the application related to this? __________________ Kind regards, HPE The OpenFOAM community is the biggest contributor to OpenFOAM; not person A or B. Let's report bugs or issue feature requests in GitLab-OpenFOAM. Please `design` your questions well. Such effort always pays off well for inquirers and `helpmate`s: How to create a Minimal, Reproducible Example, How to give enough info to get help.

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February 15, 2020, 04:18		#3
frobaux Member Fabien Robaux Join Date: Oct 2016 Posts: 45 Rep Power: 5	Well, It is exactly that. I'm currently trying to devellop it with a particular hypothesis: The surface inside the cut cell is planar. (so that the intersection points with the edges defines a face). In my case that hypothesis is true but it probably won't always be. Well even like that is not that simple to write. The application is to convert a free surface defined by a surface (direct method) into a volume of fluid method (ie. obtain the alpha.water field, representing the volume fraction of a given cell which is under water). I hope I was clear! Kind regards! Fabien