Output file¶

gprMax produces an output file that has the same name as the input file but with .out appended. The output file uses the widely-supported HDF5 (https://www.hdfgroup.org/HDF5/) format which was designed to store and organize large amounts of numerical data.

File structure¶

The output file has the following HDF5 attributes at the root (/):

Title is the title of the model
Iterations is the number of iterations for the time window of the model
nx, ny, nz is a tuple containing the number of cells in each direction of the model
dx, dy, dz is a tuple containing the spatial discretisation, i.e. \(\Delta x\), \(\Delta y\), \(\Delta z\)
dt is the time step of the model, i.e. \(\Delta t\)
srcsteps is the spatial increment used to move all sources between model runs.
rxsteps is the spatial increment used to move all receivers between model runs.
nsrc is the total number of sources in the model.
nrx is the total number of receievers in the model.

The output file contains HDF5 groups for sources (srcs), transmission lines (tls), and receivers (rxs). Within each group are further groups that correspond to individual sources/transmission lines/receivers, e.g. src1, src2 etc...

/
    rxs/
        rx1/
            Name [optional]
            Position
            Ex
            Ey
            Ez
            Hx
            Hy
            Hz
            Ix
            Iy
            Iz
        rx2/
            ...
    srcs/
        src1/
            Type
            Position
        src2/
            ...

    tls/
        tl1/
            Position
            Resistance
            dl
            Vinc
            Iinc
            Vtotal
            Itotal
        tl22/
            ...

Within each individual rx group are the following attributes:

Name is optional if a name for the receiver is given in the model.
Position is the x, y, z position (in metres) of the receiver in the model.

Within each individual rx group can be the following datasets:

Ex is an array containing the time history (for the model time window) of the values of the x component of the electric field at that receiver position.
Ey is an array containing the time history (for the model time window) of the values of the y component of the electric field at that receiver position.
Ez is an array containing the time history (for the model time window) of the values of the z component of the electric field at that receiver position.
Hx is an array containing the time history (for the model time window) of the values of the x component of the magnetic field at that receiver position.
Hy is an array containing the time history (for the model time window) of the values of the y component of the magnetic field at that receiver position.
Hz is an array containing the time history (for the model time window) of the values of the z component of the magnetic field at that receiver position.
Ix is an array containing the time history (for the model time window) of the values of the x component of current (calculated around a single cell loop) at that receiver position.
Iy is an array containing the time history (for the model time window) of the values of the y component of current (calculated around a single cell loop) at that receiver position.
Iz is an array containing the time history (for the model time window) of the values of the z component of current (calculated around a single cell loop) at that receiver position.

Within each individual src group are the following attributes:

Type is the type of source, e.g. Hertzian dipole, voltage source etc...
Position is the x, y, z position (in metres) of the source in the model.

Within each individual tl group are the following attributes:

Position is the x, y, z position (in metres) of the source in the model.
Resistance is the resistance of the transmission line.
dl is the spatial discretisation of the transmission line.

Within each individual tl group are the following datasets:

Vinc is an array containing the time history (for the model time window) of the values of the incident voltage in the transmission line.
Iinc is an array containing the time history (for the model time window) of the values of the incident current in the transmission line.
Vtotal is an array containing the time history (for the model time window) of the values of the total (field) voltage in the transmission line.
Itotal is an array containing the time history (for the model time window) of the values of the total (field) current in the transmission line.

Viewing output¶

There are a number of free tools available to read HDF5 files. Also MATLAB has high- and low-level functions for reading and writing HDF5 files, i.e. h5info and h5disp are useful for returning information and displaying the contents of HDF5 files respectively. gprMax includes some Python modules (in the tools package) to help you view output data. These are documented in the tools section.