Usage

Variables module to deal with physical variables and units.

It allows attaching docstrings to variable names, defining their domains (e.g. integer, real or complex), their units and LaTeX representations. You can also provide a default value, which is particularly useful for physical constants.

Creating variables

To create custom variables, first import Variable:

>>> from essm.variables import Variable

To define units, you must first import these units from the library:

>>> from essm.variables.units import joule, kelvin, meter

Then you can define a custom variable with its name, description, domain, latex_name, unit, and an optional default value, e.g.:

>>> class demo_chamber_volume(Variable):
...    '''Volume of chamber.'''
...    latex_name = 'V_c'
...    domain = 'real'
...    name = 'V_c'
...    unit = meter ** 3
...    default = 1

>>> class demo_chamber_length(Variable):
...    '''Length of chamber.'''
...    latex_name = 'L_c'
...    domain = 'real'
...    name = 'L_c'
...    unit = meter
...    default = 1

Now, demo_chamber_volume is displayed as V_c and demo_chamber_length is displayed as L_c. You can type help(demo_chamber_volume) to inspects its metadata.

Variable.__defaults__ returns a dictionary with all variables and their default values, Variable.__units__ returns their units, and demo_chamber_volume.short_unit() can be used to obtain the units in short notation.

Creating equations

To create custom equations, proceed similarly to above, i.e. first import Equation:

>>> from essm.equations import Equation

Then define an equation, e.g.:

>>> class demo_eq_volume(Equation):
...    '''Calculate chamber volume.
...
...    Uses :math:`V_{l}` and assumes cubic shape.
...    '''
...    expr = demo_chamber_volume == demo_chamber_length ** 3

Importing variables and equations

You can import pre-defined variables and equations as e.g.:

>>> from essm.variables.physics.thermodynamics import *
>>> from essm.equations.physics.thermodynamics import *