The data organization and the input file syntax were designed to provide as much freedom as possible to the user, to reduce to a minimum the amount of information needed and in particular the information not directly related to the physical or chemical nature of the problem. At the same time the input file syntax was designed to enforce correction.
The following strategies were used:
Exclusive use of NAMELIST groups for data input.
Species and reactions are always initialized with default values. This means that only when the value of a variable is different from the default it must be explicitly included on the input file.
If the species is an excited state or an ion, the value of some properties are inherited from the parent species.
Values as the total number of species, number of species per type, number of chemical reactions etc, are automatically evaluated by PLASMAKIN
The syntax and data input routines allow the reading and processing of vibrational series and reactions involving vibrational series.
All CHARACTER values are case sensitive. This facilitates the detection of spelling errors in chemical elements and units.
PLASMAKIN_DATA -- Holds initial values of data applying to the entire systemCHEM_SPECIES -- Read chemical species and species propertiesCHEM_REACTION -- Read a chemical reaction or reactions involving vibrational series