[foolfishzju]

I’ve been facing an issue for several weeks related to updating fields at regular time intervals, and I’m hoping for some help.

I am trying to create a droplet or bubble in a specific location at each time interval during a simulation. After researching different approaches, I found two possible solutions:
1. Using the coded function object in system/controlDict.
2. Using the systemCall function object to run a script that executes the setFields command.
However, both methods have their challenges, and I have been unable to get either to work.

For the coded function object approach, the issue is that while I can access field data (like alpha.water) using the lookupObject function, I’m unable to modify the field values. It seems that these fields are read-only within the coded function.

For the systemCall approach, there are conflicts between the ongoing computation and the execution of setFields. Since the job is actively running when the systemCall function is triggered, modifying fields during the computation can lead to conflicts and cause the job to crash.

Please could anyone help me?
Many thanks in advance!

[foolfishzju]

Problem resolved. By combing a bash script with 'timeActivatedFileUpdate' function, we are able to update fields at regular time intervals. Below is the script.

while (( (echo "$time_start < $time_end" | bc -l) ))
do

    # Step 1: Run setFields in parallel mode
    mpirun -np $TOTAL_TASKS setFields -parallel > log.setFields_$time_start 2>&1

    # Step 2: Run the case from time_start to time_start + time_step
    # ControlDict will be updated using timeActivatedFileUpdate function
    mpirun -np $TOTAL_TASKS icoFoam -parallel > log.icoFoam_$time_start 2>&1

    # Increment time_start for the next interval
    time_start=$(echo "$time_start + $time_step" | bc)

done