DataGuide™

DataGuide™ lets you create specially formatted files, based on grid and results files, that will substantially decrease read-in time.

The time savings for very large transient datasets, for example, can be extraordinary. DataGuide™ licensing is included to both create and also to use DataGuide™ files. Command-line switches are needed to create DataGuide™ files. Once the files are created, if they reside in the same directory as the grid and results file, they will be automatically used by AcuFieldView. The data read-in process is no different for you.

Making DataGuide™ Pre-Processing Files

Start AcuFieldView with an appropriate command line switch to create grid and/or results DataGuide™ files. It is strongly recommended to create DataGuide™ files in batch mode operation, however DataGuide™ files can be created during an interactive session. As soon as a dataset is read, either a DataGuide™ grid pre-processing file, or a DataGuide™ grid and a results pre-processing file are created. If you have a transient dataset, perform a transient sweep to create the pre-processing files for each time step.

Using DataGuide™ Pre-Processing Files

After having created the DataGuide™ pre-processing files, start a new AcuFieldView session without the command line switches. The DataGuide™ pre-processing files will be automatically read when the dataset files they are based on are read into AcuFieldView.

DataGuide™ Grid Pre-Processing

DataGuide™ grid pre-processing causes AcuFieldView to create a file based on the filename of the grid file having the extension .fvpre. Although requiring additional disk space, the original grid file must still remain, having DataGuide™ grid files will substantially decrease read in times and access times for data. The performance increase will be greater for structured grids than for unstructured grids.

Using Point subsetting, use every other grid point, for example, or Grid subsetting, reading in only grids 1, 2 and 4, instead of all 4, for example, affects the DataGuide™ grid file that is created. Once the DataGuide™ grid processing file is created, it contains information relevant to any subsetting used at the time of its creation. Reading in the data at a later time, where AcuFieldView will use the DataGuide™ grid file, with a different Point or Grid subsetting will result in an error pop-up and the DataGuide™ grid file will not be used.

Using either the -create_exterior_fvbnd or -create_wall_fvbnd command-line switches while using DataGuide™ processing will cause AcuFieldView to make these specific types of structured boundaries. All structured boundaries will be grouped into a single *.fvbnd file for each grid file. The threshold function register must have a valid function to use the -create_exterior_fvbnd command-line switch.

DataGuide™ Results Pre-Processing

DataGuide™ results pre-processing causes AcuFieldView to create a file based on the file name of the results file having the extension .fvres. For solvers that combine grid and results data in a single file, the name would be based on the single file name. AcuFieldView will calculate the minimum and maximum values of solver variables and store them in this file. These files are readable text and also report the IJK and XYZ values of the minima and maxima per function / per grid. For scalar functions AcuFieldView will also report where the minimum and maximum values occur. Vector functions will not show the min/max locations except by their component scalar function listings.

Implementation

There are three different command line switches depending on the amount of DataGuide™ processing you want to do:

-p0 means build only the grid DataGuide™ file

-p1 means build both the grid and results DataGuide™ files

-p2 means build both the grid and results DataGuide™ files

If more than one of the above switches appears on the command line, AcuFieldView will perform the one that does the least. If AcuFieldView is started with a command line switch to create a DataGuide™ file, and the DataGuide™ file already exists, the files will be overwritten.

DataGuide™ processing can be used in conjunction with a Script or a Restart, or by itself:
acuFv -p2
acuFv -p2 -f restart_name
AcuFieldView will exit upon completion
acuFv -p2 -s script_name

AcuFieldView will exit upon completion

Note: Grid and Results DataGuide™ processing will not function for transient data where the grid and results are all in a single file, for example when the AcuSolve direct reader is used to access transient data. DataGuide™ licensing causes the default increment for coordinate surfaces to be 1 instead of the normal default of 2. This may cause restarts using coordinate surfaces with an Inc: value of 2 to take longer to display than without DataGuide™ licensing. This is due to the fact that the surface must be recalculated with a replaced increment value of 1.