Defining the Geometry of the Cell Network

The first step in using the CellNet Generator to define the Geometry of the Cell net that you wish to generate. GoldSim provides two options for the geometry:

• Planar: The Cell net that is generated represents a rectangular region of specified Thickness. In this case, each Cell physically represents a rectangular prism:

• Cylindrical: The dialog takes on a slightly different appearance when you specify Cylindrical geometry:

The Cell net that is generated represents a cylindrical region that is axi-symmetric about the Z-direction. In this case, each Cell physically represents a cylindrical "shell":

By default, the Cell net represents a full cylinder (Angle = 360), but you can specify a smaller number (e.g., Angle = 180 would represent a half cylinder).

Note that all geometric data (e.g., thicknesses, angles) must be entered as numbers (not links).

After defining the geometry, you must next specify the level of discretization. #Cells defines the number of Cells in each dimension. Start and End specify the beginning and ending coordinates of the network in each dimension. They are specified without units, as they are assumed to be defined in the Length Unit. In most cases, Start will be specified as 0, and End will represent the length of the network in the specified direction.

The arrows adjacent to the direction control how the cells are created in the graphics pane. For example, if using planar geometry, and selecting the X-direction to go from left to right with 3 cells, and the Y-direction to go from bottom to top with 2 cells, GoldSim would generate 3 columns of 2 cells. Alternatively, if using planar geometry, and selecting the X-direction to go from top to bottom with 3 cells, and the Y-direction to go from left to right with 2 cells, GoldSim would generate 2 columns of 3 cells.

The following examples illustrate the use of the various fields to create specific geometries:

This would define a rectangular prism 20m long in the x direction, 10m long in the y direction and 5m thick. It would consist of a 2 x 2 grid of 4 Cells. Each Cell would be 10m long in the x direction, 5m long in the y direction, and 5m thick.

This would define a one-dimensional cylinder, 20m long, with a radius of 2m. It would consist of a row of 4 Cells. Each Cell would represent a 5m long cylinder with a 2m radius.

This would define a 20m long cylinder, with a radius of 5m. It would consist of 20 Cells (4 columns of 5 cells). The cylinder would be divided into 4 equal-length (5m) sections. Each section would consist of a Cell (the first in each column) representing a central "core" cylinder (1 m radius), and 4 Cells representing concentric cylindrical shells (each having a thickness of 1m) around the core.

This would define a hollow 20m long cylinder, with an outer radius of 10m and a hollow center of radius 5m. It would consist of 20 Cells (4 columns of 5 cells). The cylinder would be divided into 4 equal-length (5m) sections. Each section would consist of 5 Cells representing concentric cylindrical shells (each having a thickness of 1m) around the hollow center. The innermost shell would be represented by the first cell in each column.

The Spacing field for each direction determines the spacing of Cells in each dimension. By default, the spacing is "Regular".

If "Length Ratio" is chosen, each successive Cell will be N times longer than the previous Cell, where N is the specified Ratio. For example, in this case:

The first Cell would have a length of 1 unit, the second a length of 2 units, and the third a length of 4 units.

Pressing this button provides access to a dialog for directly specifying the lengths of each Cell:

This defines the length of 10 Cells along the X-direction. The first 6 Cells have a length of 2m, the 7^th Cell has a length of 8m, and the last three Cells have a length of 10m.