[finn_amann]

Hello friends,

I want to export the normal vectors of all faces as surfaceVectorField. Since I couldn't find any functionObjects that allow me to do so, I followed some basic direction that was suggested on this forum (About extracting the normals to faces on a patch).

The advice was to modify the function object writeCellCentres and that works out pretty well so far. The following code is a modification of the write-function of the mentioned function object.

bool Foam::functionObjects::writeSurfaceNormalVectors::write()
{

     surfaceVectorField nv
     (
         IOobject
         (
             "NormalVectors",
             time_.timeName(),
             mesh_,
             IOobject::READ_IF_PRESENT,
             IOobject::AUTO_WRITE
         ),
         mesh_.Sf()
     );

     Log << type() << " " << name() << " write:" << nl
         << "    writing normal vectors field " << nv.name()
         << " to " << time_.timeName() << endl;

      nv.write();
}

This way I get the normal vectors as a surfaceVectorField in my timestep folders. The files look as I imagine they should and contain the vectors.
However, when I use utilities like reconstructPar or foamToVTK -faceZones aNiceFaceZone which access these newly generated files, I get the following error:

--> FOAM FATAL ERROR: (openfoam-2206)
Not implemented

    From Foam::slicedFvsPatchField<Type>::slicedFvsPatchField(const Foam::fvPatch&, const Foam::DimensionedField<Type, Foam::surfaceMesh>&, const Foam::dictionary&) [with Type = Foam::Vector<double>]
    in file fields/fvsPatchFields/basic/sliced/slicedFvsPatchField.C at line 68.

FOAM aborting

#0  Foam::error::printStack(Foam::Ostream&) at ??:?
#1  Foam::error::simpleExit(int, bool) at ??:?
#2  Foam::slicedFvsPatchField<Foam::Vector<double> >::slicedFvsPatchField(Foam::fvPatch const&, Foam::DimensionedField<Foam::Vector<double>, Foam::surfaceMesh> const&, Foam::dictionary const&) at ??:?
#3  Foam::fvsPatchField<Foam::Vector<double> >::adddictionaryConstructorToTable<Foam::slicedFvsPatchField<Foam::Vector<double> > >::New(Foam::fvPatch const&, Foam::DimensionedField<Foam::Vector<double>, Foam::surfaceMesh> const&, Foam::dictionary const&) at ??:?
#4  Foam::fvsPatchField<Foam::Vector<double> >::New(Foam::fvPatch const&, Foam::DimensionedField<Foam::Vector<double>, Foam::surfaceMesh> const&, Foam::dictionary const&) at ??:?
#5  Foam::GeometricBoundaryField<Foam::Vector<double>, Foam::fvsPatchField, Foam::surfaceMesh>::readField(Foam::DimensionedField<Foam::Vector<double>, Foam::surfaceMesh> const&, Foam::dictionary const&) at ??:?
#6  Foam::GeometricField<Foam::Vector<double>, Foam::fvsPatchField, Foam::surfaceMesh>::readFields(Foam::dictionary const&) at ??:?
#7  Foam::GeometricField<Foam::Vector<double>, Foam::fvsPatchField, Foam::surfaceMesh>::readFields() at ??:?
#8  Foam::GeometricField<Foam::Vector<double>, Foam::fvsPatchField, Foam::surfaceMesh>::GeometricField(Foam::IOobject const&, Foam::fvMesh const&, bool) at ??:?
#9  Foam::tmp<Foam::GeometricField<Foam::Vector<double>, Foam::fvsPatchField, Foam::surfaceMesh> > Foam::fvFieldReconstructor::reconstructSurfaceField<Foam::Vector<double> >(Foam::IOobject const&) const at ??:?
#10  int Foam::fvFieldReconstructor::reconstructSurfaceFields<Foam::Vector<double> >(Foam::UPtrList<Foam::IOobject const> const&) at ??:?
#11  Foam::fvFieldReconstructor::reconstructAllFields(Foam::IOobjectList const&, Foam::wordRes const&) at ??:?
#12  ? in ~/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-v2206/platforms/linux64GccDPInt32Opt/bin/reconstructPar
#13  ? in /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6
#14  __libc_start_main in /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6
#15  ? in ~/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-v2206/platforms/linux64GccDPInt32Opt/bin/reconstructPar
 Aborted (core dumped)

I know there are other ways to get the normal vectors, e.g. export the components of the vectors individually as surfaceScalarFields and combine them afterwards in ParaView, etc., but I just really wanna know why the way described above is not working. Do the utilities mentioned above maybe not handle surfaceVectorFields? If I write out the components as surfaceScalarFields, it works.

Best regards,
Finn