Experimental Data

Measured curves (an outlet breakthrough, a temperature history at a thermocouple, a product flow) can be stored in the deck and drawn on top of the simulated results. The same datasets are what Parameterisation fits the model to.

The datasets are saved inside the .json deck, so they travel with it. Several bundled examples carry the data digitised from their paper; the Ward 2022 deck, for instance, has the outlet CO₂ mole fraction, the outlet volumetric flow and a temperature at z = 0.0715 m.

Adding a dataset

In the workspace, open Solver in the Navigator and select the Experimental Data tab.

1. Optionally type a Series name. Without one, an uploaded file is named after the file and pasted data is called Data n.
2. Either paste the numbers into the text box and click Add series, or click Upload CSV and choose a .csv, .tsv or .txt file.
3. The dataset appears in the list with its number of points. The × next to it deletes it.

Edits to the datasets are ordinary deck edits: Edit → Undo reverts them, and File → Save… stores them.

File format

Two columns of numbers, one point per line: x first, then y.

time_s, y_CO2
0, 0
600, 0.004
1200, 0.31
1250, 0.62
1300, 0.95

• Cells may be separated by commas, tabs, semicolons or spaces.
• Only the first two cells of a line are read; further columns are ignored.
• A line whose first two cells are not both numbers is skipped, so a header row, units row or comment line needs no special handling. Because the comma is a separator, numbers must use a decimal point (0.5, not 0,5).
• Scientific notation (1.2e-3) is accepted.

To bring in several columns from one spreadsheet, save one two-column file (or paste) per curve.

Units

Enter both columns in SI base units, the units the solver logs:

The overlay is converted with the plot's own display units, so if you switch the plot to minutes, kPa or °C the measured points move with the simulated curve.

Overlaying on a plot

On the Experimental Data tab, tick Overlay experimental data on the breakthrough plot. Every dataset in the deck is then drawn on the current results plot, labelled name (exp), as long as the plot has time on the x-axis:

• Plot type Column with X-axis Time: the x-axis is the time since the start of the earliest plotted step (the first ticked step of the selected cycle, or of the first logged cycle with All cycles);
• Plot type Boundary conditions: the x-axis is the time since the start of the selected step.

Position profiles and KPI plots are not overlaid. Choose the simulated variable, position or stream that the measurement corresponds to; the overlay does not do this for you. For a single breakthrough step that starts at t = 0, the two time axes coincide, so measured times from the start of the experiment can be used as they are. For a cyclic process, shift your measured times to match the axis of the plot you will compare them with.

Export CSV on the plot exports the simulated and the overlaid series together, on a common time axis.

Using the data for fitting

Parameterisation compares a dataset with a simulated series and adjusts deck parameters to minimise the RMSE. It reads the same datasets, but it interprets x differently: as the time from the start of the final simulated cycle, in a time unit you choose on its Data Assignment tab, or as a cycle number when fitting a KPI. Check the x-axis convention when you reuse a dataset for both purposes.