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Description

The components function object extracts the components of a field and outputs the result into new fields, where the fields possess the same sizes and dimensions.

More than one field input per function object is not allowed. Therefore, for each given field, a separate components function object should be created.

Depending on the base type of the input field, the number of output fields and output suffixes are as follows (the base type cannot be scalar since scalars have no components):

Base type       | Number of components | Suffixes
vector          | 3                    | (x y z)
sphericalTensor | 3                    | (x y z)
symmTensor      | 6                    | (xx xy xz yy yz zz)
tensor          | 9                    | (xx xy xz yx yy yz zx zy zz)

Operands

Operand Type Location
input {vol,surface}<Type>Field (Type != Scalar) $FOAM_CASE/<time>/<inpField>
output file - -
output field {vol,surface}ScalarField for each component $FOAM_CASE/<time>/<outField><suffix>

where <Type>=Scalar/Vector/SphericalTensor/SymmTensor/Tensor.

Usage

Example of the components function object by using functions sub-dictionary in system/controlDict file:

components1
{
    // Mandatory entries (unmodifiable)
    type            components;
    libs            (fieldFunctionObjects);

    // Mandatory (inherited) entry (runtime modifiable)
    field           <field>;

    // Optional (inherited) entries
    region          region0;
    enabled         true;
    log             true;
    timeStart       0;
    timeEnd         1000;
    executeControl  timeStep;
    executeInterval 1;
    writeControl    timeStep;
    writeInterval   1;
}

where the entries mean:

Property Description Type Required Default
type Type name: components word yes -
libs Library name: fieldFunctionObjects word yes -
field Name of the operand field word yes -

The inherited entries are elaborated in:

Minimal example by using the postProcess utility:

postProcess -func "components(<field>)"

Notes on entries

The components function object is not executed for fields whose base type is scalar, e.g. volScalarField, since scalar has a single component which is itself.

The result entry is intentionally omitted by the components function object, therefore the default names for the output fields (i.e. component suffixes) cannot be overridden.

Stored properties

Fields

The components function object is stored on the mesh database, using the default name:

<field><component>

For instance, for a field named U.air, resulting the following fields:

U.airx U.airy U.airz

The default names cannot be overridden by using the result entry.

Further information

Tutorial:

Source code:

API:

History: