Reading view factor binary files

[fdinhSG]

Hi,

I've exported a viewfactor file from ansys using the VFOPT command.

I now want to read this file and import it into python (in an n*n numpy array).

Is it possible to do this in pymapdl? I saw an example of binary file reading in the legacy binary file reader example but when I tried using that method the following error message comes out:

RuntimeError: ANSYS binary "71" not supported

Are there other methods to do this?

Alternatively, are there ways of reading the binary file with python directly? I managed to import the binary file as string but I didn't manage to decode it in a human readable form.

Thanks in advance!

[mikerife]

Hi @fdinhSG
With binary files there is a header which is documented. But the view factor binary format is not published. Instead use the VFOPT command to change to a asci file format. Then parse that for the required info.

[fdinhSG]

Thank you! I've managed to read the ASCII file, but it's generally bigger in dimension and it takes more to read. Moreover, binary has an option to compress out zeros (with Fileformat = 1), do you know if there's a way to do that in ASCII?

[mikerife]

@fdinhSG not that I know (compressing out zeros in the ascii version of the VF file).