Drivers

CaRMeN can be used to run any external simulation program. Drivers are thin interface layers that serve to translate between the data formats CaRMeN uses and those of the simulation code. They are essentially wrappers around the actual simulation software that take the simulation parameters as an input argument and return data as output. Because a simulation code can create multiple outputs, you must explicitly name the output resource you would like to use in the case definition under the output field.

Drivers are necessary because both the input and output formats of the simulation programs are not standardized. In addition, programs generally have multiple ways of communicating diagnostic information such as errors or warnings to the user (error logs, exit codes, simple error messages to standard output, etc.). Behind the scenes, a driver typically performs the following tasks:

• Create the necessary input files in the format native to the simulation code.
• Run the simulation program as an external process.
• Provide a description of the output file formats so CaRMeN knows how to import the resulting data. This can sometimes also involve transforming the data to a format CaRMeN can understand.

The driver to be used is defined by providing the name of the driver as a value for the driver field in the definition of cases and mixins.

Available Drivers

Currently, drivers are available for the following simulation codes:

• DETCHEM STAGNATION (driver name: detchem_stagnation)
• DETCHEM PLUG (driver name: detchem_plug)
• DETCHEM CHANNEL (driver name: detchem_channel)
• DETCHEM BATCH (driver name: detchem_batch)
• DETCHEM MPTR (driver name: detchem_mptr)

For more information about the configuration parameters and options are available for each chapter refer to the chapter Drivers under the reference section of this documentation.