Surface File Description (e)

A surface file named surface is generated during an execution if surfaces were defined on the Surface Flux Card. If a file named surface already exists in the current directory then that file will be erased and overwritten. The user is responsible for renaming previous surface files prior to executing the simulator. Examples of post-processing of the surface file are provided on the Surface File Post-processing page.

Header

A surface file begins with a welcome statement, disclaimer, and banner, which should appear similar to

Surface Flux rate and Integral Data

Following the header are the number of surfaces requested and the surface variables requested, followed by columns of surface flux rate and integral data. Surface flux information is written to the surface file every time step, at the conclusion of every time step. The first column of data in the surface file is the time step in the units specified with the Output Time Units variable in the Output Control Card. Each surface flux output is written in two columns, the first column being the surface flux rate at the current time step and the second being the integral of the surface flux rate from the beginning of the current simulation. Surface flux integral data are not carried over on restart simulations. Each column in the surface file is titled with an abbreviated header and associated units shown in brackets below the column title. In general, the beginning letter (U,V,W) designates the surface direction (x-,y-,z-). Definitions of the header abbreviations for the surface file are given here. Each header title is followed with an integer enclosed in parentheses. This integer refers to the surface flux number, as defined in the Surface Flux Card (i.e., the surface flux definition order).