TOTBEM User's Guide
Group of Numerical Methods in Engineering
TOTBEM USER'S GUIDE
Index
Starting Salome Interface.....................................................................................................................2
USB/DVD Live................................................................................................................................2
Starting TOTBEM...........................................................................................................................3
Instructions to use the interface............................................................................................................4
Orthogonal mesh..............................................................................................................................4
Define a vertical rod........................................................................................................................6
Computation and Postprocessing.....................................................................................................7
Import Data....................................................................................................................................10
Export/Save Data...........................................................................................................................10
New Project / Close Project...........................................................................................................11
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TOTBEM User's Guide
Group of Numerical Methods in Engineering
Starting Salome Interface
The TOTBEM graphic interface is integrated in the SALOME platform which is distributed on
the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS distribution. This integrated software is available as a *.iso image that can
be freely downloaded from the website: http://caminos.udc.es/gmni and can be mounted on a
DVD or USB drive to be used.
USB/DVD Live
Once the download process of the iso image has finished and has been mounted on a DVD/USB
drive, this device must be plugged in and the computer must be restarted. In addition, it is
necessary to take into account that the predefined boot configuration of the BIOS must indicate
the DVD/USB drive as the first boot device. Otherwise, the live version of the Ubuntu
distribution will not start.
Just after the reboot of the computer the following
screen should appear. When this screen is
displayed, any key must be pressed in order to go
forward to the following menu.
When this menu appears on the screen, one of the
following options must be selected:
•
“Try Ubuntu without installing” if you want
to test the TOTBEM software without
installing anything neither modifying your
existing operating system and data.
•
“Installing Ubuntu” if you want to install the
Ubuntu 10.04 LTS distribution with the
TOTBEM interface included.
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TOTBEM User's Guide
Group of Numerical Methods in Engineering
Starting TOTBEM
Once Ubuntu 10.04 LTS operating system is running, the TOTBEM interface can be started. A
“Terminal” command line windows is needed
. To open one “Terminal” window you can
click on the “Applications” menu → Accessories → Terminal or to press the combination of
keys “CTRL+ALT+T”.
To start the TOTBEM interface you must type in the “Terminal” window the following
sentences:
cd salome
This sentence moves the current working directory to /home/(“username”)/salome.
./TOTBEM
This sentence launches the SALOME interface in order to use the TOTBEM module.
REMARK: First sentence is crucial since it is necessary to active the Salome directory as the
current working directory. Otherwise the TOTBEM application will not work properly. You can
use the “pwd” Linux command to verify the current working directory.
Now, the Salome 5.1.2 graphic interface should appear on the screen. The TOTBEM module can
be activated by clicking on the icon
. Then, a new project can be initiated by clicking the
“New” button.
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TOTBEM User's Guide
Group of Numerical Methods in Engineering
Instructions to use the interface.
The TOTBEM module incorporates specific utilities to easily design and compute numerical
simulations of grounding grids in electrical installations. All these tools have been included in
the TOTBEM menu that can be activated by clicking on the
menu.
Orthogonal mesh
This application has been defined in order to simplify the creation of an orthogonal mesh with a
predefined number of nodes and elements. We expand the
tool menu and select the
option. Then we introduce the required data and accept in order to validate
them.
When the data definition is finished, a new issue appears in the “Object Browser”:
This issue contains the geometry that defines the mesh of conductors of the problem. To show
the computed geometry of the new conductors mesh we must activate again the
button. Next, we must “right-click” on the new issue of the “Object
Browser” and then we must select
. A mesh like the one proposed in the next figure
should appear:
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TOTBEM User's Guide
Group of Numerical Methods in Engineering
The geometry of the conductors that we have already created with the “Orthogonal mesh” tool
can be easily modified by using the geometric tools of Salome. These tools can be used when the
“Geometry”
environment is activated. Thus, the user can:
1. Add a new node: by using the corresponding SALOME utility
the upper toolbar of the screen.
that can be found in
2. Add a new element: by using the corresponding SALOME utility
that can be found
in the upper toolbar of the screen. Then a specific window appears that allows to indicate
“Point 1” and “Point 2” as the extremes of the element. These two points can be indicated
by writing the number of the node in the corresponding window or by pressing the button
and directly selecting the nodes on the 3D visualization of the geometry.
3. Remove a node or an element: by just selecting with the mouse the node or the element
on the 3D visualization of the geometry and, then pressing the “Del” button of your
keyboard.
Universidade da Coruña
Page 5 of 11
TOTBEM User's Guide
Group of Numerical Methods in Engineering
Define a vertical rod
This function allows to define vertical rods in some of the nodes of the geometry previously
defined. The definition of these elements requires the activation, if it has not been previously
activated, of the
module by pressing
. Then, we click on the option
of the TOTBEM tool menu and then select/indicate the node where the vertical
rod is going to be inserted and its length.
The vertical rods previously defined can be seen on the 3D visualization of the geometry by
activating the “Geometry” module by clicking on
. Then, the geometry label of the “Object
Browser” must be right-clicked. Finally, select the
option and, by right
clicking again the geometry label, select the
option.
The final 3D visualization of the geometry should look like the proposed in the next figure.
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TOTBEM User's Guide
Group of Numerical Methods in Engineering
Computation and Postprocessing
To perform the computation and postprocessing, we must have activated previously the
TOTBEM module, otherwise press the icon
and then go to the
menu. Finally,
select
and cover all the required data
Once the analysis is obtained we can see relevant information about electrical properties and
results in text format in the "Terminal"
where TOTBEM is running. We can find the
generated postprocess files in "/home/username/salome/results", including *.dat and *.geo files
required to import the project later.
Two additional elements have been defined/created in the “Object browser”
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TOTBEM User's Guide
Group of Numerical Methods in Engineering
The new field
corresponds to the analysis mesh. This mesh
can be shown in the right window by doing right click on the item and pressing
.
. The “SMESH” has been activated and then, by doing right-click and pressing
h
the mesh is displayed.
The last field of the object browser
corresponds to the postprocessing environment. The postprocessing module or “VISU” must be activated in order to be
able to obtain postprocess results. This module can be activated by pressing right-click on the
postprocessing item and by selecting
. Finally the items “+” must be
activated until the subitem “1,-” appears, as it can be observed in the figure.
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TOTBEM User's Guide
Group of Numerical Methods in Engineering
Then, different postprocess results can be obtained by pressing right-click on
Now, a postprocess procedure can be selected, as it can be observed in the following figures.
“IsoSurfaces”
“Plot3D”
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TOTBEM User's Guide
Group of Numerical Methods in Engineering
Import Data
Data files of a project can be easily imported/restored if *.dat and *.geo files have been
previously saved. These data files must be saved in the results folder
“/home/username/salome/results” and the filenames must coincide. Data files can be imported
by activating the TOBEM module
and then by selecting the icon
.
Then select the file *.dat, file *.geo or both:
1. If the *.geo file is imported, only the geometry is recovered.
2. If both files are imported, the geometry and the data are imported and the analysis is
automatically launched to obtain the postprocessing results.
Export/Save Data
This tool can be used in order to save a project and then reload the required data if necessary in
order to update the information or modify an existent project.
The computation and postprocessing step automatically generates the data files in the results
folder “/home/usename/salome/results”.
Thus, activate the TOTBEM module
go to the
menu and select the icon
and fill the corresponding fields.
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Page 10 of 11
TOTBEM User's Guide
Group of Numerical Methods in Engineering
Once the information of the project is introduced the data files can be saved by activating the
TOTBEM module and by selecting the icon
New Project / Close Project
To start a new project press the icon
at the top left of the screen. A new Salome window is
opened. It is important to remark that only one project per window is supported.
If the current project is closed by pressing
, the active project will be closed. NOTE: If a
warning message appears press "Close w / o saving" and exit without saving the information of
the project. Any other answer will not save the project. Data files of the project can be saved by
using the adequate tools proposed in “Export/Save Data” section in this user guide.
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