How to handle with sim data by differential equations

Question

I've studied dynamic simulations like planetary or molecular motion.

Output data are huge, and saved as text data.

Exp.

FILE* f = fopen("xyzFile.txt", "w");
for (int i=0;i<max;i++) {
    // Ordinary differential equation.
    ode(particle);
    fprintf(f, "%.8f %.8f %.8f\n", particle.x, particle.y, particle.z);
}
fclose(f);

I can't find initial value, created date and so on from filename.

I'd like to save those data efficiently.

Do I have to use any database? I guess Mongodb can be nice. Let me know nice solution.

Thanks in advance.

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 24 '13 at 15:44

I have worked with databases to some extent and I have worked with a lot of numerical simulations. My advice is to use an SQL database such as Postgres or MySQL (I recommend Postgres over MySQL although probably either one will work).

The table to store particle positions can have one or more columns which index contextual information in other tables. For example: position table can have a simulation timestamp (i.e., time in the simulation world), x, y, and z coordinates, and an index for a particle, which points into another table, which has columns for the initial position of the particle and perhaps other descriptive data.

With that kind of database structure, you can execute queries to find the position of all particles at a given time, or positions between two times, or all positions for a single particle.

From what I know, SQL is better suited for such uses than MongoDB or other "NoSQL" databases.

How to handle with sim data by differential equations

1 Answers1