2. Outputs

The panel method in VortexAD offers a set of outputs to select from. Lie the inputs, the solver output dictionary can be found above the PanelMethod class here. It is also shown below. The values corresponding to each output key represent the output shapes for the (unstructured, structured) grids. These outputs can be printed to the terminal window by calling PanelMethod.print_output_options().

output_options_dict = {
    # forces and coefficients:
    'CL': ['lift coefficient (unitless)', '(num_nodes,)'],
    'CDi': ['induced drag coefficient (unitless)', '(num_nodes,)'],
    'CM': ['moment coefficient (unitless)', '(num_nodes, 3)'],
    'L': ['lift force (N)', '(num_nodes,)'],
    'Di': ['induced drag force (N)', '(num_nodes,)'],
    'M': ['moment (Nm)', '(num_nodes, 3)'],

    # force and pressure DISTRIBUTIONS
    'Cp': ['pressure coefficient distribution (unitless)', '(num_nodes, num_panels) or (num_nodes, nc, ns)'],
    'panel_forces': ['force on each panel (N)', '(num_nodes, num_panels, 3) or (num_nodes, nc, ns, 3)'],
    'L_panel': ['lift force on each panel (N)', '(num_nodes, num_panels) or (num_nodes, nc, ns)'],
    'Di_panel': ['induced drag force on each panel (N)', '(num_nodes, num_panels) or (num_nodes, nc, ns)'],

    # flow field information
    'V_mag': ['velocity magnitude at collocation points (m/s)', '(num_nodes, num_panels) or (num_nodes, nc, ns)'],
}

The table below summarizes each outout. The shape of each output is dictated by the number of parallel/vectorized analyses (num_nodes) and the number of mesh panels (num_panels).

Key	Meaning	Units	Shape
CL	Lift coefficient	None	(num_nodes,)
CDi	Induced drag coefficient	None	(num_nodes,)
CM	Moment coefficient	None	(num_nodes,3)
L	Lift force	N	(num_nodes,)
Di	Induced drag force	N	(num_nodes,)
M	Moment	Nm	(num_nodes,3)
Cp	Pressure coefficient distribution	None	(num_nodes, num_panels)
panel_forces	Panel forces	N	(num_nodes, num_panels, 3)
L_panel	Panel lift forces	N	(num_nodes,num_panels)
Di_panel	Panel induced drag forces	N	(num_nodes, num_panels)
V_mag	Surface velocity magnitude	m/s	(num_nodes, num_panels)