Free Foil
Set The Parameters for Free Foils
The Perforated Foil Options dialog changes in some details when choosing Free Foil instead of Periodic Foil. The option to select several unit cells is no longer available, instead the Width (X) and Length (Y) of the foil must be chosen directly. The options to select the Row Shift and the Rotation Angle are added. In most cases, the foil cannot be repeated periodically. The center of the first hole is in the origin of the domain.
Materials
The materials of the foil and the medium surrounding it can be chosen from the GeoDict material database by clicking the buttons Pore / Matrix Material (ID 00) and Material (ID 01).
The pull-down menu gives access to selecting the desired material from the GeoDict Material Database. When none of the materials available in the database fit the preferred specifications, Manual should be chosen. Alternatively, a new material with the desired specifications can be added to the Material Database (see the Material Database handbook).
To match realistic material colors for visualization in a certain application, the default material colors can be changed through the Color & Visibility tab of the GUI sidebar. For more visualization options, see the Visualization handbook.
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Size in the Chosen Unit
Selecting the Width (X) and Length (Y) defines the dimension of the domain. The Height (Z) cannot be edited, because it is determined by the Foil Thickness and the Inlet and Outlet.
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Inlet and Outlet
Inlet and Outlet define the height of the empty area above and below the foil. The Inlet is in Z- direction, the Outlet is in Z+ direction. These parameters might be of interest for flow simulations on the foils, or when embedding them in other structures.
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Size in Number of Voxels
The size of the created structure in voxels (NX, NY, and NZ) can also not be edited, but is determined by the size in units (Width (X), Length (Y), and Height (Z)) and the chosen Voxel Length.
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Voxel Length
The Voxel Length determines the size of a voxel in the selected length unit and therefore the resolution of the structure. To evaluate the effect of choosing the number of Voxels per X-Unit Cell on the resolution of the structure, it is important that the 3D-structure mode is set to Box (select View à 3D Structure Renderer à Box).
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Hole Spacing
The parameters Hole Spacing in X and Hole Spacing in Y define the distance between subsequent hole centers, as shown in the figure below. Choosing a higher hole spacing value will increase the structure size.
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Foil Thickness
The Foil Thickness determines the height of the foil which influences the Height (Z) of the generated structure.
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Row Shift
The Row Shift defines the distance by which subsequent rows are shifted in X-direction.
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Rotation Angle
The Rotation Angle is the angle in degrees by which the whole lattice is rotated around the Z-axes of the domain.
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Hole Defining Parameters
The parameters defining the hole shape are explained in combination in the following figures. The main shape of the holes can be defined by selecting Round or Square for the Hole Shape. The hole dimensions at the top and bottom of the foil can be determined by setting Hole Top Width (X), Hole Top Length (Y), Hole Bottom Width (X) and Hole Bottom Length (Y). With these options, a large variety of hole shapes (e.g. straight or conical holes) is possible.
Furthermore, the hole walls can be chosen to be curved (Curved Hole Walls). This option only has an effect if the hole has different sizes at the top and bottom.
Below, find the examples from above, where the top and bottom of the hole have different size, but with Curved Hole Walls.
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