[ariedinger]

Hello foamers,

We are attempting to modify the boundary patches on constant/polymesh/boundary at runTime in a multi-region solver based upon interFoam. Here's what we are trying to do:

1. We have two loops that solve two different sets of equations, where the second loop depends upon the results of the first.
2. We read the fields for the first solver and solve the first set of equations. So far so good. To do this, we need to set the boundary patch types as walls in constant/polymesh/boundary, as the fields of the first solver need zeroGradient as boundary conditions.
3. Then, we need to solve the second set of equations. But, the fields corresponding to this second set of equations need to have empty as boundary conditions, which we cannot set because the boundary patch type in constant/polymesh/boundary is already defined as wall.
4. Therefore, we were thinking that before we read said fields, we need to change the boundary patch type on constant/polymesh/boundary.

If we don't do that, we get the following ERROR message:

--> FOAM FATAL IO ERROR: 

    patch type 'wall' not constraint type 'empty'
    for patch front of field p_rgh in file "/home/ar/OpenFOAM/ar-dev/run/ar/ar04/0/region/p_rgh"

file: /home/ariedinger/OpenFOAM/ariedinger-dev/run/ar/ar04/0/region/p_rgh/boundaryField/front from line 24 to line 24.

    From function Foam::emptyFvPatchField<Type>::emptyFvPatchField(const Foam::fvPatch&, const Foam::DimensionedField<Type, Foam::volMesh>&, const Foam::dictionary&) [with Type = double]
    in file fields/fvPatchFields/constraint/empty/emptyFvPatchField.C at line 54.

 FOAM exiting

We have tried several things; we are apparently able to change the name of the boundary patch types with

        const word& patchTypeEmpty = "empty";

    allRegions[2].boundaryMesh().types()[0] = patchTypeEmpty;
    allRegions[2].boundaryMesh().types()[1] = "empty";

    Info << "\nBoundary mesh patchTypes: " << allRegions[2].boundaryMesh().types() << nl << endl;

And this outputs

Boundary mesh patchTypes: 
3
(
wall
wall
mappedWall
)

But we still get the ERROR message, so the code isn't effectively modifying the mesh information. Furthermore, if we do this:

   const word& patchTypeEmpty = "empty";

    allRegions[2].boundaryMesh().types()[0] = patchTypeEmpty;
    allRegions[2].boundaryMesh().types()[1] = "empty";

    Info << "\nBoundary mesh patchTypes: " << allRegions[2].boundaryMesh().types() << nl << endl;

    forAll(allRegions[2].boundary(), patch)
    {
        /* Boundary patch name and types */
        const word& patchName = allRegions[2].boundary()[patch].name();
        const word& patchType = allRegions[2].boundary()[patch].type();

        Info << "Read patchName: " << patchName
             << ", patchType: " << patchType
             << " in region "  << allRegions[2].name()
             << nl << endl;

        if
        (
            (patchName == "front" ||
             patchName == "back") &&
            (patchType == "wall")
        )
        {

            Info << "Attempting to change patch "
                 << patchName << " from type "
                 << patchType << " to type "
                 << patchTypeEmpty
                 << nl << endl;
        }
    }

We have the following output

Boundary mesh patchTypes: 
3
(
wall
wall
mappedWall
)

Read patchName: front, patchType: wall in region region1

Attempting to change patch front from type wall to type empty

Read patchName: back, patchType: wall in region region1

Attempting to change patch back from type wall to type empty

Read patchName: region1_to_region2, patchType: mappedWall in region region1

Which shows that allRegions[2].boundaryMesh().types(); isn't changing the mesh information at all.


There are functions such as changePatchType() [https://cpp.openfoam.org/v8/classFoam_1_1boundaryMesh.html#ae598cc11969a83a0ec f2be3e967948dd] and renamePatches() [https://cpp.openfoam.org/v10/classFo...fe1147025538f5], but we are not sure how to use them.


EDIT1: mesh.boundaryMesh().changePatchType() does not seem to exist anymore in version 10. Is there any similar function that does the same?


EDIT2: We found the function changePatchType() in the class repatchMesh().changePatchType() (that is included with the dyamic meshes libraries). We are now testing the following code

Info << "Boundary mesh patchTypes: " << allRegions[2].boundaryMesh().types() << nl << endl;

Info << "Reading mesh with repatchMesh() ... " << nl << endl;
repatchMesh().read(allRegions[2]);

Info << "Boundary mesh read with repatchMesh(): "
     << repatchMesh().mesh() << nl << endl;

Info << "Boundary patches read with repatchMesh(): "
     << repatchMesh().patches() << nl << endl;

forAll(allRegions[2].boundary(), patch)
{
    /* Boundary patch name and types */
    const word& patchName = allRegions[2].boundary()[patch].name();
    const word& patchType = allRegions[2].boundary()[patch].type();

    Info << "Read patchName: " << patchName
         << ", patchType: " << patchType
         << " in region "  << allRegions[2].name()
         << nl << endl;

    if
    (
        (patchName == "front" ||
         patchName == "back") &&
        (patchType == "wall")
    )
    {
        Info << "Attempting to change patch "
             << patchName << " from type "
             << patchType << " to type empty"
             << nl << endl;

        allRegions[2].boundaryMesh().findPatchID("front");


        repatchMesh().changePatchType("back", "empty");

        Info << "Now patch "   << patchName
             << " is of type " << patchType
             << nl << endl;
    }
}

Info << "\nBoundary mesh patchTypes are now: " << allRegions[2].boundaryMesh().types() << nl << endl;

But we aren't able to read the mesh with repatchMesh().read(mesh);. This is the output we get

Reading mesh with repatchMesh() ... 

Boundary mesh read with repatchMesh(): 

--> FOAM FATAL ERROR: 
No mesh available. Probably mesh not yet read.

    From function const Foam::repatchMesh::rMesh& Foam::repatchMesh::mesh() const
    in file repatchMesh.H at line 185.

FOAM aborting

Which is an error in repatchMesh().mesh(). If we delete said line, we get

Reading mesh with repatchMesh() ... 

Boundary patches read with repatchMesh(): 
0
(
)


Read patchName: front, patchType: wall in region ferrofluid

Attempting to change patch front from type wall to type empty



--> FOAM FATAL ERROR: 
Can't find patch named back

    From function void Foam::repatchMesh::changePatchType(const Foam::word&, const Foam::word&)
    in file repatchMesh/repatchMesh.C at line 1243.

FOAM aborting

Which makes it obvious that repatchMesh().read(mesh); isn't working.



EDIT 3: Now tested

 Info << "Reading mesh with repatchMesh() ... " << nl << endl;
//repatchMesh().read(allRegions[2]);
repatchMesh().read(allRegions[2].boundaryMesh().mesh());
// repatchMesh().read(allRegions[2].boundary().mesh());

Info << "Boundary mesh read with repatchMesh(): "
<< repatchMesh().mesh() << nl << endl;

But both repatchMesh().read(allRegions[2].boundaryMesh().mesh()); and repatchMesh().read(allRegions[2].boundary().mesh()); result in the ERROR message: repatchMesh.mesh() isn't able to find a mesh.


Any help is appreciated.


Best Regards,