GridConvert is a application used to convert output files from multi-dimensional simulation codes (such as radiation-hydrodynamics codes or PIC codes) to a single NetCDF- (or EXODUS-) formatted file that can be read in by the SPECT3D to generate diagnostic signatures based on multi-dimensional plasma distributions.
SPECT3D is used to simulate a variety of radiation-based diagnostics, including filtered images and high-resolution spectra, based on 1-D, 2-D, or 3-D plasma grids having either structured or unstructured meshes. Simulation code output that is utilized by SPECT3D includes:
- Grid parameters that defined by node positions in the spatial grid, and the connectivityfor each volume element (i.e., the nodes that bound each volume element)
- Physical parameters for each volume element, including:
- Electron temperature
- Ion temperature (if different from electron temperature)
- Non-Maxwellian component of the electron distribution (if any)
- Material densities
Currently, GridConvert supports the following types of input files:
- NetCDF (EXODUS)
- 'Spect P4' files generated by LSP(Voss Scientific format)
- Yorick-formatted files generated by LSP (University of Rochester format)
A variety of radiation-hydrodynamics simulation codes have to ability to generate NetCDF-formatted files. In addition, PlasmaGEN can generate plasma distibutions based on user-specified analytic functions. Each NetCDF-formatted output file generated by PlasmaGEN corresponds to a plasma at a single instance in time. GridConvert can read in multiple NetCDF-formatted, single timestep files, and combine them into a single multi-timestep file.