Reference documentation for deal.II version 9.1.1
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Public Member Functions | List of all members
DataPostprocessor< dim > Class Template Referenceabstract

#include <deal.II/numerics/data_postprocessor.h>

Inheritance diagram for DataPostprocessor< dim >:
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Public Member Functions

virtual ~DataPostprocessor () override=default
 
virtual void evaluate_scalar_field (const DataPostprocessorInputs::Scalar< dim > &input_data, std::vector< Vector< double >> &computed_quantities) const
 
virtual void evaluate_vector_field (const DataPostprocessorInputs::Vector< dim > &input_data, std::vector< Vector< double >> &computed_quantities) const
 
virtual std::vector< std::string > get_names () const =0
 
virtual std::vector< DataComponentInterpretation::DataComponentInterpretationget_data_component_interpretation () const
 
virtual UpdateFlags get_needed_update_flags () const =0
 
- Public Member Functions inherited from Subscriptor
 Subscriptor ()
 
 Subscriptor (const Subscriptor &)
 
 Subscriptor (Subscriptor &&) noexcept
 
virtual ~Subscriptor ()
 
Subscriptoroperator= (const Subscriptor &)
 
Subscriptoroperator= (Subscriptor &&) noexcept
 
void subscribe (std::atomic< bool > *const validity, const std::string &identifier="") const
 
void unsubscribe (std::atomic< bool > *const validity, const std::string &identifier="") const
 
unsigned int n_subscriptions () const
 
template<typename StreamType >
void list_subscribers (StreamType &stream) const
 
void list_subscribers () const
 
template<class Archive >
void serialize (Archive &ar, const unsigned int version)
 

Additional Inherited Members

- Static Public Member Functions inherited from Subscriptor
static ::ExceptionBaseExcInUse (int arg1, std::string arg2, std::string arg3)
 
static ::ExceptionBaseExcNoSubscriber (std::string arg1, std::string arg2)
 

Detailed Description

template<int dim>
class DataPostprocessor< dim >

This class provides an interface to compute derived quantities from a solution that can then be output in graphical formats for visualization, using facilities such as the DataOut class.

For the (graphical) output of a FE solution one frequently wants to include derived quantities, which are calculated from the values of the solution and possibly the first and second derivatives of the solution. Examples are the calculation of Mach numbers from velocity and density in supersonic flow computations, or the computation of the magnitude of a complex-valued solution as demonstrated in step-29. Other uses are shown in step-32 and step-33. This class offers the interface to perform such postprocessing. Given the values and derivatives of the solution at those points where we want to generated output, the functions of this class can be overloaded to compute new quantities.

A data vector and an object of a class derived from the current one can be given to the DataOut::add_data_vector() function (and similarly for DataOutRotation and DataOutFaces). This will cause DataOut::build_patches() to compute the derived quantities instead of using the data provided by the data vector (typically the solution vector). Note that the DataPostprocessor object (i.e., in reality the object of your derived class) has to live until the DataOut object is destroyed as the latter keeps a pointer to the former and will complain if the object pointed to is destroyed while the latter still has a pointer to it. If both the data postprocessor and DataOut objects are local variables of a function (as they are, for example, in step-29), then you can avoid this error by declaring the data postprocessor variable before the DataOut variable as objects are destroyed in reverse order of declaration.

In order not to perform needless calculations, DataPostprocessor has to provide information which input data is needed for the calculation of the derived quantities, i.e. whether it needs the values, the first derivative and/or the second derivative of the provided data. DataPostprocessor objects which are used in combination with a DataOutFaces object can also ask for the normal vectors at each point. The information which data is needed has to be provided via the UpdateFlags returned by the virtual function get_needed_update_flags(). It is your responsibility to use only those values which were updated in the calculation of derived quantities. The DataOut object will provide references to the requested data in the call to evaluate_scalar_field() or evaluate_vector_field() (DataOut decides which of the two functions to call depending on whether the finite element in use has only a single, or multiple vector components; note that this is only determined by the number of components in the finite element in use, and not by whether the data computed by a class derived from the current one is scalar or vector valued).

Furthermore, derived classes have to implement the get_names() function, where the number of output variables returned by the latter function has to match the size of the vector returned by the former. Furthermore, this number has to match the number of computed quantities, of course.

Use in simpler cases

Deriving from the current class allows to implement very general postprocessors. For example, in the step-32 program, we implement a postprocessor that takes a solution that consists of velocity, pressure and temperature (dim+2 components) and computes a variety of output quantities, some of which are vector valued and some of which are scalar. On the other hand, in step-29 we implement a postprocessor that only computes the magnitude of a complex number given by a two-component finite element. It seems silly to have to implement four virtual functions for this (evaluate_scalar_field() or evaluate_vector_field(), get_names(), get_update_flags() and get_data_component_interpretation()).

To this end there are three classes DataPostprocessorScalar, DataPostprocessorVector, and DataPostprocessorTensor that are meant to be used if the output quantity is either a single scalar, a single vector (here used meaning to have exactly dim components), or a single tensor (here used meaning to have exactly dim*dim components). When using these classes, one only has to write a constructor that passes the name of the output variable and the update flags to the constructor of the base class and overload the function that actually computes the results.

The DataPostprocessorVector and DataPostprocessorTensor class documentations also contains a extensive examples of how they can be used. The step-29 tutorial program contains an example of using the DataPostprocessorScalar class.

Author
Tobias Leicht, 2007, Wolfgang Bangerth, 2016

Definition at line 429 of file data_postprocessor.h.

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

◆ ~DataPostprocessor()

template<int dim>
virtual DataPostprocessor< dim >::~DataPostprocessor ( )
overridevirtualdefault

Destructor. This function doesn't actually do anything but is marked as virtual to ensure that data postprocessors can be destroyed through pointers to the base class.

Member Function Documentation

◆ evaluate_scalar_field()

template<int dim>
void DataPostprocessor< dim >::evaluate_scalar_field ( const DataPostprocessorInputs::Scalar< dim > &  input_data,
std::vector< Vector< double >> &  computed_quantities 
) const
virtual

This is the main function which actually performs the postprocessing. The second argument is a reference to the postprocessed data which already has correct size and must be filled by this function.

The function takes the values, gradients, and higher derivatives of the solution at all evaluation points, as well as other data such as the cell, via the first argument. Not all of the member vectors of this argument will be filled with data – in fact, derivatives and other quantities will only be contain valid data if the corresponding flags are returned by an overridden version of the get_needed_update_flags() function (implemented in a user's derived class). Otherwise those vectors will be in an unspecified state.

This function is called when the finite element field that is being converted into graphical data by DataOut or similar classes represents scalar data, i.e. the finite element in use has only a single vector component.

Definition at line 26 of file data_postprocessor.cc.

◆ evaluate_vector_field()

template<int dim>
void DataPostprocessor< dim >::evaluate_vector_field ( const DataPostprocessorInputs::Vector< dim > &  input_data,
std::vector< Vector< double >> &  computed_quantities 
) const
virtual

Same as the evaluate_scalar_field() function, but this function is called when the original data vector represents vector data, i.e. the finite element in use has multiple vector components.

Definition at line 37 of file data_postprocessor.cc.

◆ get_names()

template<int dim>
virtual std::vector<std::string> DataPostprocessor< dim >::get_names ( ) const
pure virtual

Return the vector of strings describing the names of the computed quantities.

Implemented in DataPostprocessorTensor< dim >, DataPostprocessorVector< dim >, and DataPostprocessorScalar< dim >.

◆ get_data_component_interpretation()

template<int dim>
std::vector< DataComponentInterpretation::DataComponentInterpretation > DataPostprocessor< dim >::get_data_component_interpretation ( ) const
virtual

This function returns information about how the individual components of output files that consist of more than one data set are to be interpreted.

For example, if one has a finite element for the Stokes equations in 2d, representing components (u,v,p), one would like to indicate that the first two, u and v, represent a logical vector so that later on when we generate graphical output we can hand them off to a visualization program that will automatically know to render them as a vector field, rather than as two separate and independent scalar fields.

The default implementation of this function returns a vector of values DataComponentInterpretation::component_is_scalar, indicating that all output components are independent scalar fields. However, if a derived class produces data that represents vectors, it may return a vector that contains values DataComponentInterpretation::component_is_part_of_vector. In the example above, one would return a vector with components (DataComponentInterpretation::component_is_part_of_vector, DataComponentInterpretation::component_is_part_of_vector, DataComponentInterpretation::component_is_scalar) for (u,v,p).

Reimplemented in DataPostprocessorTensor< dim >, DataPostprocessorVector< dim >, and DataPostprocessorScalar< dim >.

Definition at line 48 of file data_postprocessor.cc.

◆ get_needed_update_flags()

template<int dim>
virtual UpdateFlags DataPostprocessor< dim >::get_needed_update_flags ( ) const
pure virtual

Return, which data has to be provided to compute the derived quantities. This has to be a combination of update_values, update_gradients and update_hessians. If the DataPostprocessor is to be used in combination with DataOutFaces, you may also ask for a update of normals via the update_normal_vectors flag.

Implemented in DataPostprocessorTensor< dim >, DataPostprocessorVector< dim >, and DataPostprocessorScalar< dim >.


The documentation for this class was generated from the following files: