Element groups by nickmedwards · Pull Request #139 · NLR-SolTrace/SolTrace

nickmedwards · 2026-05-13T14:52:18Z

added --level and --verbose to simdriver\main.cpp. for main, --level changes the file printing behavior. i haven't actually implemented --verbose yet
added group to elements to programmatically track groups of elements. i tried to make this backwards compatible, so simulations without groups wouldn't need to be changed. currently groups must be added through the JSON file. elements are given a group by the "group" key. groups must be non-negative integers.
default group for single elements is -1 (ie ungrouped) set in single_element.cpp, composite/stage/etc elements are given -2 because they don't interact with the trace
created struct SolTrace::Result::GroupResult to hold the counts for a given group. right now it just has basic counts (ie absorbs/reflects), but i will write a function for comparing GroupResult structs to get stuff like efficiencies.
added a vector of GroupResults to SimulationResult and created SimulationResult::write_group_json_file to write those structs to a json file
i think that it would be potentially useful to used group information in the trace itself, so i added the groups to OptixRunner. haven't added groups to the other runners, yet.
added enum SolTrace::Runner::RunnerStatistics to toggle between different reporting behavior, ie does runner.report_simulation(&result, level) return the ray record data, the group results, or both?
created some tests to cover my bases, all are in \unit-tests, added some json files for testing file io behavior

jmaack24

I like this feature. I think forcing a group to be an interval of element ids is too rigid though. It would make grouping difficult to use in a python script and nearly impossible to use with the GUI.

There is also no implementation done for the NativeRunner or EmbreeRunner. At a minimum, there should be some sort of error printed or thrown for those two runners that say this feature has not been implemented. From the user survey results, I expect these are going to be the most commonly used runners by users.

taylorbrown75 · 2026-05-13T19:57:30Z

Should we change the JSON schema with this pull request? That process is not defined, but it seems like adding json variables would be a good time to increment it. @jmaack24

jmaack24 · 2026-05-13T20:14:04Z

Should we change the JSON schema with this pull request? That process is not defined, but it seems like adding json variables would be a good time to increment it. @jmaack24

We probably should come up with a process for changing the JSON schema or some sort of versioning for it. What were you thinking of adding?

taylorbrown75 · 2026-05-13T20:46:45Z

Should we change the JSON schema with this pull request? That process is not defined, but it seems like adding json variables would be a good time to increment it. @jmaack24

We probably should come up with a process for changing the JSON schema or some sort of versioning for it. What were you thinking of adding?

I don't have a plan in mind. I'll add a note so we remember to discuss it at the next meeting.

nickmedwards

@taylorbrown75 Here is what I got going for friend access for a test. I didn't want to use the FRIEND_TEST marco because it involved changing the CMakeLists.txt to build non-test builds with gtest, and I didn't want to get into all that.

jmaack24

Looks good. Fix the failing CI tests and then it should be ready to merge.

jmaack24 · 2026-08-12T17:41:42Z

These changes don't seem to be needed.

* Source cleanups * Clean up load * Fixes NLR-SolTrace#155 Added massive flux mapping improvements. Yay! * Source cleanup and documentation * Binding licenses (#213) * Initial * Renames * Bindings refactor * Build in licenses to the UI * Reduce ambiguity on the ray stats * Fit all in view * Some instance editor improvements Fix rotation gimbal lock * Fix the busted cmake for linux * Comment pass --------- Co-authored-by: RiannaSantivong <107436905+RiannaSantivong@users.noreply.github.com>

* Update High Flux Solar Furnace.stinput * added power tower with tower files --------- Co-authored-by: Hartlaub <chartlau@nrel.gov>

…ar Furnace (NLR-SolTrace#169) * Initial plan * Add spherical surface support to GPU (OptiX) runner for HFSF file - Add SPHERICAL surface type to OptixCSP SurfaceType enum - Add SurfaceSpherical class to OptixCSP Surface.h - Add spherical geometry data structs to GeometryDataST.h for all 6 aperture types - Add HEXAGON_SPHERICAL and other spherical variants to OpticalEntityType enum - Add spherical ray-intersection helpers and kernels to intersection.cu - Update geometry_manager.cpp to handle SPHERICAL surface type - Update CspElement.cpp to convert spherical elements to GPU geometry data - Update pipeline_manager.cpp to register new spherical intersection programs - Map SurfaceType::SPHERE to OptixCSP::SPHERICAL in optix_runner.cpp - Add GPU regression test for High Flux Solar Furnace file * Remove unused variables in rectangle_spherical intersection shader * Add validation of surface and aperture data fields * Changes to OptixRunner sphere implementation * Add basic spherical intersection tests for optix runner; refactor tests to use common code * Test fixes * Fix test and tighten tolerance; address copilot comments * Relax test tolerance * Move test to relative error test * Return to 10 percent tolerance * Rename parabola_ray_to_local function --------- Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Jonathan Maack <jonathan.maack@nrel.gov>

… test for group statistics

nickmedwards marked this pull request as ready for review May 13, 2026 15:05

jmaack24 requested changes May 13, 2026

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taylorbrown75 assigned nickmedwards and unassigned nickmedwards May 13, 2026

taylorbrown75 added enhancement optix runner labels May 13, 2026

taylorbrown75 modified the milestone: Beta-release May 13, 2026

nickmedwards force-pushed the element_groups branch from f262bee to dbc776f Compare June 8, 2026 18:35

nickmedwards commented Jun 11, 2026

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Comment thread google-tests/unit-tests/simulation_runner/optix_runner/grouped_results_test.cpp

nickmedwards commented Jun 11, 2026

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nickmedwards force-pushed the element_groups branch from f7840fc to 9fa16a2 Compare June 16, 2026 14:52

nickmedwards force-pushed the element_groups branch 2 times, most recently from 6995024 to a875bcf Compare June 29, 2026 20:23

nickmedwards force-pushed the element_groups branch from 7d2e9ee to 4296259 Compare July 9, 2026 15:27

nickmedwards added 10 commits July 17, 2026 11:51

changed printing behavior of optix runner

ffb4764

print stuff

e05bf2b

disable stages for embree in simdriver

0dfeb7a

track number of loops for optix simulation

d1a5f97

clean up old prints

891da66

work on element groups

8a3635f

finished group tests

f7dba17

added tag for verbose to simdriver main

1dc7b2f

wrote group result struct and test to get into report_simulation

ff7544f

added counters for group result

ec3dc93

nickmedwards and others added 14 commits August 11, 2026 22:32

convert to std::set

1ce5948

added ignore to python related stuff

be3c73e

addressing copilot comment about json import, keeping namespace

9b32e3f

fix tests

700b42f

fix optix tests

e7e0860

fix conflicit with develop

e7cc6a2

addressing copilot comment about including iomanip

f4f8a47

addressing copilot typos

9b3d00e

addressing copilot suggestion about reseting m_groups

0020e82

addressing copilot suggestion about resetting timers

2fe13bc

addressing copilot suggestions about consting getters for group/depth

3ca05e6

addressing copilot about JSON loader accepting negative values

73a75a7

addressing copilot comment about unused

67fdde9

Merge branch 'develop' into element_groups

a263c46

jmaack24 approved these changes Aug 12, 2026

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Comment thread google-tests/unit-tests/simulation_results/CMakeLists.txt

jmaack24 Aug 12, 2026

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These changes don't seem to be needed.

nicholasbl and others added 15 commits August 13, 2026 09:05

Added power tower files with towers (NLR-SolTrace#172)

400815a

* Update High Flux Solar Furnace.stinput * added power tower with tower files --------- Co-authored-by: Hartlaub <chartlau@nrel.gov>

work on element groups

a704de8

finished group tests

4e41449

convert to std::set

40734b0

convert to std::set

b0fc531

finished group tests

757d14f

convert to std::set

d88a49f

addressed pr comments about group membership to optix runner, work on…

707ff0b

… test for group statistics

fix tests

5aea83d

fix conflicit with develop

b1c7130

accidentally missed changes during rebase, addressed pr comment

3d32a1b

typo in single_element, missed sun sampling stats stuff in embree runner

5f62a37

Merge branch 'develop' into element_groups

4ee14c7

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Element groups - #139

Element groups#139
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