Numerics for Chemical Engineering Files

Numerics for Chemical Engineering
=================================
Copyright (c) 2014,2015 Carlo Tegano

NCE SpreadSheets has been discontinued in favor of *Process Engineering Tools*
Python package.

2014-12-30

Numerics for Chemical Engineering Spreadsheets Collection
=========================================================
Spreadsheets are used to provide a user friendly interface to setup 
calculation input and collect the output.

Spreadsheets list
-----------------
> Data fitting - vapor pressure - Antoine
> Data fitting - Specific heat
> Data fitting - Activity coefficient - Wilson
> Equations of state 
> Irreversible gas expansion (throttling)
> Specific volume of saturated and compressed liquids
> Pressure loss in a pipe
> Storage tank heat losses
> Viscosity of gases and liquids
Old releases:
> Vapor - Liquid equilibria (NCE-Vle-0.0.4)
> Gas multistage compression (EquipComprMultiSpSh-alpha-0.0.1)
        
Quick start
-----------
Linux users:
- unpack the tarball
- surf to "./bin/shell" and give executable permission to all the scripts 
  in the folder "runNCE-fooName.sh"
  (user@local:~$ chmod u+x runNCE*.sh)
You are ready for the calculation:
- Launch the model of your choice by double-clicking on the corresponding
  launcher script "runNCE-fooName.sh"
  An xterm window pops-up showing calculation engine output and 
  user interface spreadsheet opens
- Edit sheet3 "MAIN" to setup the calculation as in a common spreadsheet
- Pressing any key on the xterm window produces a new run of the calculation
- Results should be automatically updated on the user interface

Windows users:
- unpack the tarball
You are ready for the calculation:
- Open the user interface spreadsheet for the model of choice in "./ui".
- Launch the model of your choice by double-clicking on the corresponding
  launcher script "runNCE-fooNamehoice.bat" in folder "./bin/bat".
  A terminal window pops-up showing calculation engine output 
- Edit sheet3 "MAIN" to setup the calculation as in a common spreadsheet
- Pressing any key on the terminal window produces a new run of the calculation
- Results: see below known issues

Requirements
------------
Open Document Spreadsheet format support
A spreadsheet application that supports Open Document Format is required.
Sheets are built with LibreOffice, but other equivalent applications shall work
the same way.

See also RELEASE.txt in the package.

Architecture overview
---------------------

The calculation tool is based on 3 components:

nce-spsh.jar       - java calculation engine
NCE-fooName-UI.ods - spreadsheet user interface
NCE-fooName-IO.ods - spreadsheet for input/output between core and UI

--------------------                -------------------------
|                  |   Input data   |  NCE-fooName-UI.ods   |
|   Java Engine    |<---------------|                       |
|                  |                |                       |
--------------------                |sheet1-Input to core   |
        |                           |                       |
        V                           |sheet2-Output from core|
--------------------                |                       |
|                  |  Output data   |sheet3-User interface  |
|NCE-fooName-IO.ods|--------------->|                       |
|                  |                |                       |
--------------------                -------------------------

How it works
------------
The user starts the launcher script for the model of choice 
by double-clicking on it.
This will open the corresponding spreadsheet interface and a shell with 
a running calculation engine.
Sheet3 presents a self explanatory interface to setup calculation, insert input 
data and read calculation results.
It is customizable, with the only exception of to not break the links to
the other sheets, as they are used to input and output the calculation engine.
Pressing "enter" on the shell will cause the calculation engine to perform a 
new calculation loop. It will read the input directly scanning sheet0 of the 
user interface spreadsheet. 
For this reason it is important to not move sheet0 from first position.
The calculation engine writes its output to the IO Link spreadsheet.
This is linked with sheet1 of the user interface spreadsheet. Once more, do not
move sheet1 from its position.
The link is automatically updated within the interface at short time intervals, 
so calculation output is refreshed continuously. There is no need to keep
the IO Link spreadsheet open.

Tips
-----
User Interface (LibreOffice)
the link to external data is visible in "Edit -> Links".

IO Link (LibreOffice)
The exported cell range is defined in "Data -> Define Range"

Files renaming (general)
renaming the files causes the links to break. Renaming is possible
but links as well as scripts shall be properly adapted to new names.

Known issues
------------
There is a lack of support to Open Document Format in Excel, that causes the
inability to continuously refresh program output. Input and calculation still
work, but output is available only on the terminal.

Feedback
--------
Feedback is welcome. Write your comments, suggestions and questions 
to the author: <carlotorresce@gmail.com>

Testing
-------
The tool has been tested on Ubuntu 14.04 with Libreoffice 4.2.7.2