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  1. How do I create my model in ABAQUS

    ABAQUS/CAE can be used to create your model. To start, issue the following command at the prompt:

    prompt:> abaqus cae -mesa

    The graphical interface is user-friendly and it gives the new user an option to run the ABAQUS/CAE Tutorials at the start of the program.

  2. What is the abaqus_v6.env file and how do I use it?

    The abaqus_v6.env is the environment file which you can create to set certain environment variables that Abaqus reads when the software is started up.  Abaqus reads the environment variables from the following files in the sequence shown:

    i. the global abaqus_v6.env file set by the administrators
    ii.the abaqus_v6.env file in the user’s home directory
    iii. the abaqus_v6.env file in the current working directory

    Only items ii and iii are accessible by normal users.

  3. What are the typical variables found in the abaqus_v6.env file?

    The detailed list variables that users can set in the abaqus_v6.env file is found in the online manual.  A sample abaqus_v6.env file in SVU may contain the following:

    #pre_memory = '1024 mb'
    #standard_memory = '1024 mb'
    memory = '1024 mb'
    ask_delete=OFF
    scratch='/scratch'
    #
    # for mpi jobs
    #
    mp_rsh_command = 'ssh -l %U %H %C'
    #
    # LSF 7 batch queue definitions
    #
    # for SERIAL jobs
    #
    queue_name = ['linux64']
    linux64 = '/app1/common/bin/bsub -q linux64 -R "rusage[abq_public=5]" %A %T -o %L ./%S'
    #
    queue_name = queue_name + ['atlas3']
    atlas3 = '/app1/common/bin/bsub -q linux64 -m atlas3cluster -R "rusage[abq_public=5]" %A %T -o %L ./%S'
    #
    queue_name = queue_name + ['atlas4']
    atlas4 = '/app1/common/bin/bsub -q linux64 -m atlas4cluster -R "rusage[abq_public=5]" %A %T -o %L ./%S'
    #
    queue_name = queue_name + ['atlas5']
    atlas5 = '/app1/common/bin/bsub -q linux64 -m atlas5cluster -R "rusage[abq_public=5]" %A %T -o %L ./%S'
    #
    # for PARALLEL jobs
    #
    queue_name = queue_name + ['atlas3_parallel']
    atlas3_parallel = '/app1/common/bin/bsub -q atlas3_parallel -n 8 -R "rusage[abq_public=12]" %A %T -o %L ./%S'
    #
    queue_name = queue_name + ['atlas4_parallel']
    atlas4_parallel = '/app1/common/bin/bsub -q atlas4_parallel -n 8 -R "rusage[abq_public=12]" %A %T -o %L ./%S'
    #
    queue_name = queue_name + ['par_4core']
    par_4core = '/app1/common/bin/bsub -q 4core_parallel -n 4 -R "rusage[abq_public=8]" %A %T -o %L ./%S'
    #
    queue_name = queue_name + ['par_8core']
    par_8core = '/app1/common/bin/bsub -q 8core_parallel -n 8 -R "rusage[abq_public=12]" %A %T -o %L ./%S'
    #
    queue_name = queue_name + ['parallel_4cpus']
    parallel_4cpus = '/app1/common/bin/bsub -q 4core_parallel -n 4 -R "rusage[abq_public=8]" %A %T -o %L ./%S'
    #
    queue_name = queue_name + ['parallel_8cpus']
    parallel_8cpus = '/app1/common/bin/bsub -q 8core_parallel -n 8 -R "rusage[abq_public=12]" %A %T -o %L ./%S'
    #
    queue_name = queue_name + ['parallel_12cpus']
    parallel_12cpus = '/app1/common/bin/bsub -q 8core_parallel -n 12 -R "rusage[abq_public=14]" %A %T -o %L ./%S'
    #
    queue_name = queue_name + ['parallel_16cpus']
    parallel_16cpus = '/app1/common/bin/bsub -q 8core_parallel -n 16 -R "rusage[abq_public=16]" %A %T -o %L ./%S'
    #
    queue_name = queue_name + ['parallel_24cpus']
    parallel_24cpus = '/app1/common/bin/bsub -q 8core_parallel -n 24 -R "rusage[abq_public=19]" %A %T -o %L ./%S'
    #
    queue_name = queue_name + ['parallel_32cpus']
    parallel_32cpus = '/app1/common/bin/bsub -q 8core_parallel -n 32 -R "rusage[abq_public=21]" %A %T -o %L ./%S'

    The first 2 lines set the pre-execution memory and the standard memory to 1024 MB.  These are normally not needed, and hence they are commented with the “#” character.  “ask_delete=OFF” tells Abaqus not to prompt before deleting old result files.  “scratch=/scratch” tells Abaqus to use /scratch to store temporary files during anaylsis runs.  mp_rsh_command tells Abaqus to use the ssh command when running parallel MPI jobs.

    The rest of the lines contain custom queue definitions that tells Abaqus which batch queue to use when running an analysis job.

  4. How do I run my ABAQUS/Standard and ABAQUS/Explicit analysis jobs?

    The ABAQUS/Standard and ABAQUS/Explicit solvers are only available on SVU's compute clusters.

    First, create your input files using ABAQUS/CAE (Do not submit the job from ABAQUS/CAE directly as this will not be run on the compute clusters).  After creating the input file, place the input file and any user subroutines you have in a directory that is commonly accessible such as /atlas3tmp and login to the compute server via ssh. At the compute server, issue the following command in the directory where the input files are placed:

    To submit an Abaqus analysis job to all the queues under LSF, please follow the procedure described below, for both serial and parallel runs. In the examples given, we assume that you already have an Abaqus input file, sample.inp created using Abaqus, and it is in the /atlas3tmp/testdir directory that you created and you have permission to write in this directory.

    Basic submission procedure
    For serial (single processor) runs of Abaqus (for queues ia64, linux and linux64), issue the following commands

    prompt:>  cd /atlas3tmp/testdir
    prompt:> abaqus job=sample queue=linux64

    Specifying a parallel job
    The parallel job run submitted to LSF is similar to the serial job, except that an additional flag is used (cpus=N).  A sample command to run a parallel job is shown below:

    prompt:> cd /atlas3tmp/testdir
    prompt:> abaqus job=sample queue=atlas3_parallel cpus=8

    In the example, the job will be sent to the atlas3_parallel queue and will run 8 parallel threads.  Note that this corresponds to the queue definition in the sample abaqus_v6.env file above.  Users can change the number of cpus by changing both the abaqus_v6.env file, and the command line flag cpus=N, where N is the desired number of paralle threads.  This is subject to the maximum number of processes allowed in the parallel queues.  This maximum number can be found by issuing the command “bqueues -l atlas3_parallel” for example.

 

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