Rusty Measurement Runner

An automation tool for executing parametric measurement series with rusty_fluid_solver.

Overview

rusty_measurement_runner automates the execution of rusty_fluid_solver across a predefined set of simulation parameter combinations. It reads a measurement configuration file, either generates all parameter permutations or zips all parameter lists, and runs the solver for each combination — collecting .csv measurement outputs into a destination folder.

This is useful for:

• Parameter sweeps (e.g. varying viscosity, particle spacing, time step size)
• Generating reproducible measurement series for analysis
• Batch simulation runs without manual intervention

How It Works

1. Parse measurement config (.csv / .toml)
2. Zip parameters or compute cartesian product of parameter combinations
3. For each combination:

• Patch the scene config file with current parameters
• Write a temporary config file
• Spawn rusty_fluid_solver as a subprocess
• Stream solver output to terminal
• Collect .csv measurement results

4. Clean up temporary files

Output Structure

measurement_destination_folder/
├── measurement_config_copy.toml      # Copy of the measurement config
├── scene_config_copy.toml            # Copy of the original scene config
├── paramA_val1_paramB_val1.csv       # Measurement for combination 1
├── paramA_val1_paramB_val2.csv       # Measurement for combination 2
├── paramA_val2_paramB_val1.csv       # Measurement for combination 3
└── ...

Output filenames are automatically generated from the parameter names and values (sorted alphabetically), e.g. viscosity_0.01_particle_spacing_0.02.csv.

Usage

cargo run --release -p rusty_measurement_runner -- [OPTIONS] <MEASUREMENT_FILE>

Arguments

Argument	Description
measurement_file	Path to the measurement configuration file

Options

Option	Short	Description
--exit	-e	Automatically exit each solver run when the measurement is finished and proceed to the next
--log <LEVEL>	-l	Log severity: TRACE, DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR, OFF (default: INFO)

Examples

# Run a full measurement series with auto-exit
cargo run --release -p rusty_measurement_runner -- measurements.toml --exit

# Run interactively (manually close each solver window to proceed)
cargo run --release -p rusty_measurement_runner -- measurements.toml

# With debug logging
cargo run --release -p rusty_measurement_runner -- measurements.toml --exit --log DEBUG

Measurement Configuration

The measurement configuration file defines:

• General settings — paths, time range, executable location
• Parameter series — which parameters to vary and their values

Configuration Fields

Section	Field	Description
general	config_file	Path to the base scene configuration .toml file
general	executable	Path to the rusty_fluid_solver binary
general	measurement_destination_file_path	Output folder for results
general	start_time	Simulation time at which measurement begins
general	finish_time	Simulation time at which measurement ends
general	state_file	(Optional) Path to a saved state file to resume from
parameters	<param_name>	List of values to sweep for each parameter, <param_name> can be any field from parameters in the fluid simulations configuration

Example Configuration

[general]
config_file = "scene_config.toml"
executable = "./target/release/rusty_fluid_solver"
measurement_destination_file_path = "output/measurements/"
start_time = 0.0
finish_time = 5.0
state_file = ""

[operation]
type = "Cartesian" # Zip, Cartesian

[parameters]
viscosity = [0.01, 0.05, 0.1]
time_increment = [0.005, 0.01]

This configuration produces 3 × 2 = 6 simulation runs, one for each combination of viscosity and time_increment.

Behavior

• Parameter validation — The runner verifies that each parameter listed in the measurement config exists in the scene config file. If a parameter is not found, the program panics with a descriptive error.
• File preservation — Both the measurement config and the original scene config are copied to the destination folder for reproducibility.
• Temporary files — A temporary patched config file is created during execution and cleaned up after all measurements complete.
• Progress tracking — A progress bar (indicatif) shows overall completion status and estimated time remaining.
• Solver output — stdout from each rusty_fluid_solver invocation is streamed above the progress bar.

Relationship to rusty_fluid_solver

This tool is a companion program — it does not contain simulation logic itself. It orchestrates multiple runs of rusty_fluid_solver by:

1. Modifying the scene config's [parameters] section for each combination
2. Passing appropriate CLI flags (-m, -s, -f, -r, -e, --state)
3. Collecting the resulting .csv measurement files in one location

Workflow Integration

This tool is the first step in the measurement pipeline:

rusty_fluid_solver ──► .csv measurement files ──► rusty_plotter ──► plots (.png / .svg)
        ▲
        │
rusty_measurement_runner

1. rusty_fluid_solver runs a simulation and exports measurements to .csv
2. rusty_measurement_runner automates parameter sweeps → multiple .csv files
3. rusty_plotter reads the .csv folder → generates comparison plots

Dependencies

Crate	Purpose
clap	CLI argument parsing
toml	Scene config parsing and patching
tracing / tracing-subscriber	Structured logging
indicatif	Progress bar display
std::process::Command	Subprocess management for solver invocation