2.7. Setting up experiments

To construct a new experiment (experiment is essentially synonymous to simulation or project) in DISPATCH one can often start out from an existing experiment, clone it into a new experiments/whatever/ directory, and modify or replace the existing files. In fact, an experiment is completely defined by the (relatively few) files that are present in the specific experiments/whatever/ directory.

The main files present there, and their funcionalities, are:

  1. Makefile: select the main solver responsible for evolving the experiment
  2. experiment_mod.f90: specify initial conditions (ICs) and boundary conditions (BCs)
  3. scaling_mod.f90: specify scaling between physical and code units
  4. extras_mod.f90: select additional functionalities from the extras/ directory, such as selfgravity, radiative transfer, auxiliary HDF5 output, etc.
  5. run.nml: specify, in Fortran namlist input files (*.nml) the parameters of specific runs of the experiment.
  6. python/*.{py,ipynb}: provide Python support; e.g. for preparation of input and/or analysis of output