40.2 Usage

To describe the usage of the script, it will be assumed that the user is modeling a laser driven HEDP experiment. The example will be based on the LaserSlab simulation described in 35.7.5. The script essentially assumes you are running a simulation using the MTMMMT EOS, where the plasma electron number density and ion number density can be determined using the SUMY and YE variables. Spect3D requires this information for most applications. The simulation must have material information where species are used to model each material. In the case of the LaserSlab simulation, there are two species: cham and targ.

The script takes, as arguments, a list of one or more FLASH checkpoint/plot files and converts each of these files. The new files have the same names as the old files, but have a .exo extension. For example, the checkpoint file lasslab_hdf5_chk_0000 would be converted into the file lasslab_hdf5_chk_0000.exo. The minimal information required by the script is the list of the FLASH output files and a list of the species. For example, for the LaserSlab simulation described in section 35.7.5, the command for convert the checkpoint files would be:  

> convertspec3d lasslab_hdf5_chk_* -species=cham,targ

You should then see a series of .exo files generated. The new files contain the following information by default:

• The electron temperature in eV
• The ion temperature in eV
• The electron number density in 1/cc
• The ion number density in 1/cc
• The mass density in g/cc
• The “partial” mass density for each species (i.e. the fraction of the total density in each cell accounted for by each species)

With this information, users can run many Spect3D simulations.

If FLASH plot files are being converted, they must contain certain variables. The required variables are:

• dens
• tele
• tion
• sumy
• ye
• The variables for each species. In this example, cham and targ

In addition to simulating diagnostic responses, Spect3D can also plot simulation code output directly. Thus, even though Spect3D doesn't require it, users might want to plot the radiation temperature, or some other variable, in Spect3D. The -extra command line argument for convertspec3d allows users to add additional variables. For example, let's extend the convertspec3d command to include the total specific internal energy and radiation temperature:  

> convertspec3d lasslab_hdf5_chk_* -species=cham,targ -extra=trad,eint