Creating materials
As shown on the input definition page, creating the mesh object for the simulation requires including a material object in the arguments of the Mesh instantiation.
from hamopy.classes import Mesh
from hamopy.materials.standard import wood_fibre
mesh = Mesh(materials = [wood_fibre],
sizes = [0.08],
nbr_elem = [16] )
This means that the hamopy\materials\standard.py file contains the definition of an object called wood_fibre, which is of the Material class and includes all material data.
Material definition in hamopy is a bit tricky, as it was designed to give the user maximum freedom for defining fully customisable transport properties.
This page tells you how to
- define a new material,
- use its properties once they have been registered,
- modify a material in an existing mesh.
Material definition
Instantiation
For purposes of reusability, the definition of a new material should preferably be done in a separate file which you can then import into your script (like hamopy.materials.standard above)
Once there, you may start by instantiating a new Material object:
from hamopy.classes import Material
concrete = Material('concrete', rho = 2400., cp = 880.)
The instantiation may take up to three arguments: the material name, its dry density (kg/m3) and specific heat (J/(kg.K)).
Once created, the Material object contains the following set of methods to register all material properties.
set_density()
If not provided at the instantiation, you can specify the dry density of the material like so:
concrete.set_density(2430.)
set_capacity()
In the current state of hamopy, the heat capacity (J/(kg.K)) of the dry material can be defined as a function of the temperature.
concrete.set_capacity(cp_0 = 2430., cp_t = 27.)
When called, the value of the heat capacity will then be cp = cp_0 + T(°C) * cp_t
The default value for cp_t is 0.
set_conduc()
The thermal conductivity (W/(m.K)) may be defined as a function of the moisture content and temperature.
concrete.set_conduc(lambda_0 = 1.75, lambda_m = 4.5, lambda_t = 1e-4)
When called, the value of the conductivity will then be lambda = lambda_0 + w(kg/m3)/1000 * lambda_m + T(°C) * lambda_t
The default value for lambda_m and lambda_t is 0.
set_isotherm()
There are currently two methods for defining the sorption isotherm:
Either a 3rd degree polynomial interpolation, fitted on a list of measurement points:
wood_fibre.set_isotherm('polynomial', **{"HR" : [0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75],
"W" : [0, 6.2, 12.4, 20.9] })
where the list given in the 'W' key are the values of the moisture content measured at the relative humidities 'HR'.
The second method for defining the sorption isotherm is the van Genuchten mono- or multimodal law:
lightweight.set_isotherm('vangenuchten', **{"w_sat" : 871,
"l" : [0.41, 0.59],
"alpha" : [6.12e-7, 1.22e-6],
"m" : [0.5981, 0.5816] })
set_perm_vapor()
There are currently two methods for defining the water vapor permeability:
Either by interpolation between measurement points:
concrete.set_perm_vapor('interp', **{"HR" : [0.25, 0.75],
"dp" : [4.2e-12, 7.8e-12] } )
Ot with the Schirmer law:
lightweight.set_perm_vapor('schirmer', **{"mu" : 5.6,
"p" : 0.2 })
set_perm_liquid()
There are currently two methods for defining the liquid permeability:
Either with an exponential law:
lightweight.set_perm_liquid('exp', **{"a" : [-46.245, 294.506, -1439, 3249, -3370, 1305] } )
Or with the Durner multi-modal law:
concrete.set_perm_liquid('durner', **{"K_sat" : 2.2182e-13,
"tau" : -4.6974,
"l" : [0.5062, 0.4938],
"alpha" : [5.5383e-7, 2.2493e-8],
"m" : [0.6148, 0.1913] } )
Note that if this method is not used in the definition of a material, this permeability will be set to 0 and liquid transfer will not be considered in the calculation.
set_perm_air()
The air permeability should be given in (m^2^). Only a constant value is expected:
lightweight.set_perm_air(1.08e-10)
Calling this method is optional: the default air permeability is 0.
Calling properties
Once defined, all properties may be called as fonctions of the temperature T and capillary pressure p_c. The following methods are bound within the Material class for this purpose
material.rho(T): densitymaterial.cp(T): heat capacitymaterial.conduc(p_c, T): heat conductivity (p_candTare optional arguments)material.w(p_c): moisture content (kg/m3)material.c_v(p_c): moisture capacity (derivative of the moisture content)material.delta_p(p_c, T): vapour permeability (Tis an optional argument)material.k_l(p_c, T): liquid permeability (Tis an optional argument)material.k_air(): air permeability
Important: hamopy is written with the capillary pressure as the driving potential for moisture transfer. All variables depending on the humidity are therefore methods expecting p_c as input argument, rather than the value of relative humidity or vapor pressure. Some functions are however available in the library to easily switch from one another.
Switch materials
Once a material has been integrated into a Mesh object, it is still possible to change some of its properties and tell the mesh of the modifications:
from hamopy.materials.standard import concrete, wood_fibre
from copy import deepcopy
mesh = Mesh(**{"materials" : [concrete, wood_fibre],
"sizes" : [0.1, 0.08],
"nbr_elements" : [16, 12] })
wood_fibre_2 = deepcopy(wood_fibre)
wood_fibre_2.set_density(170.)
mesh.replace_materials([concrete, wood_fibre_2])
This functionality is particularly interesting when running a large number of simulations with different material properties, like in case of a sensitivity analysis. The instantiation of the Mesh and Material objects is not repeated, which saves some time.