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Old   August 30, 2010, 12:07
Default Binary files
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Hello,

I have 2 separate questions regarding OpenFOAM binary output:

1) Is there a flag in the OpenFOAM file structure that can tell me whether binary data is written in single or double precision?

2) Also, is there a way to tell whether big or little endian is used to write the binary data in the file?

Thanks.

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Old   September 17, 2010, 02:05
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Quote:
Originally Posted by amtri View Post
Hello,

I have 2 separate questions regarding OpenFOAM binary output:

1) Is there a flag in the OpenFOAM file structure that can tell me whether binary data is written in single or double precision?
Binary files should be written with the precision of the compiled code (double if you use the double precision solver, float if you use the single precision solver), since their purpose is not to lose accuracy when storing data.
OpenFOAM compiles in double precision mode by default.

Best,
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Old   March 15, 2011, 05:15
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Originally Posted by alberto View Post
Binary files should be written with the precision of the compiled code (double if you use the double precision solver, float if you use the single precision solver)
Thats true. However, I am looking for a way to save meshes in double precision but run solver in single precision. Therefore, this solver needs to be able to read/write double precision. Has anybody done this before?

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Old   March 16, 2011, 00:43
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What is the logic behind this? You would lose the double precision used in the mesh immediately at the first operation you force to be single precision.
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Old   March 16, 2011, 03:59
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What is the logic behind this? You would lose the double precision used in the mesh immediately at the first operation you force to be single precision.
I will gain a speedup of 40%!
The accuracy differences between SP and DP for my cases are very small.
I can reproduce this behaviour with the ASCII-option: Saving my mesh with 6 digits prevents simpleFoam from running both in SP and DP but saving with 10 digits makes simpleFoam to run in both SP and DP. However SP is about 40% quicker and I don't really want to save in ASCII as it doubles the required diskspace.

Regards Bastian

Last edited by bastil; March 16, 2011 at 04:17.
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Old   March 16, 2011, 19:35
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You can simply save the mesh in compressed format as ASCII, and then switch to binary for the data.

Best,
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Old   March 17, 2011, 10:01
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hello,

On some testcase i did some time ago, with a lot of time step saving, I've got the best speedup with compressed ascii file, binary file where little slower, and ascii file much slower.
so try compressed file !

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