8.4. Solid Files

Generating solid (.pfsol) files for a ParFlow run can be somewhat of a pain. PFTools has a few features that can help with this process.

8.4.1. Example

To see the how Python can help generate solid files, navigate to $PARFLOW_SOURCE/test/python/new_features/simple-mask.py. Here, you’ll see the following lines at the top of the script:

from parflow import Run
from parflow.tools.fs import get_absolute_path
from parflow.tools.io import load_patch_matrix_from_sa_file, load_patch_matrix_from_asc_file, load_patch_matrix_from_image_file
from parflow.tools.builders import SolidFileBuilder

By now, you should be familiar with the first two modules and functions. The load_patch_matrix... functions handle different file types to generate solid files. The SolidFileBuilder class imported from the parflow.tools.builders module handles the matrices of patches, converting them to ASCII files and passing those to the pfmask-to-pfsol converter in ParFlow. This way, the user doesn’t have to deal with the more complicated steps.

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Lines 56 through 61 show examples of how the patch_matrix functions are used for different types of files:

sabino_mask = load_patch_matrix_from_sa_file(get_absolute_path('Sabino_Mask.sa'))
# sabino_mask = load_patch_matrix_from_asc_file(get_absolute_path('Sabino_Mask.asc'))
# sabino_mask = load_patch_matrix_from_image_file(get_absolute_path('Sabino_Mask.png'))
# sabino_mask = load_patch_matrix_from_image_file(get_absolute_path('Sabino_Mask.tiff'))

Note that only one is used at a time, but all four will work. These functions return a matrix, which is assigned to sabino_mask. The input files are located in the same directory as the example, so feel free to reference them.

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Next, we’ll show some examples of the SolidFileBuilder class to demonstrate the arguments and methods that can be called on the object:

# Example of using unique ids for each surface [top/bottom/side]
SolidFileBuilder(top=1, bottom=2, side=3) \ # Initializing the SolidFileBuilder
    .mask(sabino_mask) \                      # Setting the 2D mask
    .write('sabino_domain.pfsol', cellsize=90) \  # Write pfsol file
    .for_key(sabino.GeomInput.domaininput)  # Setting keys to "sabino" Run object that relate to the solid file

# Example using an id mask for the top patches
SolidFileBuilder(bottom=2, side=3) \ # Initializing the SolidFileBuilder
    .mask(sabino_mask) \               # Setting the 2D mask
    .top_ids(id_array) \                  # Using a 2D numpy array to provide patch ids
    .write('sabino_domain.pfsol', cellsize=90) # Write pfsol file

# Example using the same matrix to write multiple solid files
SolidFileBuilder(top=1, bottom=2, side=3) \
    .mask(sabino_mask) \                      # Setting the 2D mask
    .write('sabino_domain.pfsol', cellsize=90) \  # Write first pfsol file
    .mask(sabino_mask_2) \                      # Setting another 2D mask
    .side_ids(id_array) \              # Using a 2D numpy array to provide new patch ids (possibly to change boundary conditions)
    .write('sabino_domain_2.pfsol', cellsize=90)   # Write second pfsol file

8.4.2. More examples

Other example scripts showing how to use the SolidFileBuilder can be found in $PARFLOW_SOURCE/test/python/new_features/. If you have an idea for a new feature or improvement to the functionality, please let us know, or better yet, become a contributor!