surfaceDistance

Description

The surfaceDistance function object computes the distance to the nearest surface from a given geometry.

Operands

Operand	Type	Location
input	-	-
output file	-	-
output field	volScalarField	$FOAM_CASE/<time>/surfaceDistance

Usage

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

surfaceDistance1
{
    // Mandatory entries (unmodifiable)
    type            surfaceDistance;
    libs            (fieldFunctionObjects);

    // Mandatory entries (runtime modifiable)
    geometry
    {
        motorBike.obj
        {
            type triSurfaceMesh;
            name motorBike;
        }
    }

    // Optional entries (runtime modifiable)
    calculateCells  true;

    // 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: surfaceDistance	word	yes	-
libs	Library name: fieldFunctionObjects	word	yes	-
geometry	Surface details	dict	yes	-
calculateCells	Calculate distance from cell	bool	no	true

The inherited entries are elaborated in:

• functionObject

Usage by the postProcess utility is not available.

Further information

Tutorial:

• cavity

Source code:

• surfaceDistance

API:

• Foam::functionObjects::surfaceDistance

History: Introduced in version v1912