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== Format of Output Files == | == Format of Output Files == | ||
The various visualization tools automatically read output files created by these code engines. If needed, the format of those files are documented [[Output Results Files Formats|here]]. | |||
Revision as of 11:19, 24 May 2013
This documentation wiki is for the computational mechanics software from Oregon State University in the research group of John A. Nairn. This software package focuses on material point method (MPM) calculations, but also includes basic finite element analysis (FEA) calculations. The various software components in this project are listed in the navigation bar.
Getting Starting
The calculation engines for material point method (MPM) simulations are called OSParticulas and NairnMPM. The calculation engine for finite element analysis (FEA) is called NairnFEA. These are all object-oriented, C++, platform-independent code engines. The first steps to using these tools are
Visualization
The various code engines do the calculations. Visualization of results is usually using either NairnFEAMPM (preferred, but Mac only) or NairnFEAMPMViz (Java program for Windows or Linux). For 3D analysis, some things can be visualized in NairnFEAMPM. Alternatively, calculation results can be archived as vtk files and then visualized in ParaView. Finally, for custom visualization options, you can use the ExtractMPM tool to extract selected data in various formats and input that data and to any visualization tool fo your choice.
Configuring Input Commands Files
MPM simulations using OSUParticulas or NairnMPM or FEA calculations using NairnFEA are controlled by input from an XML input file. This input file can be created manually by using any text or XML editing software. It is usually preferred, however, to use a higher-level scripting language to set up the calculations and then have a interpreter format those commands into the XML files needed by the code engines. This scripting option can be done by using either the NairnFEAMPM application (Mac only) or the NairnFEAMPMViz (Java tool) application. The scripting languages in these two applications are almost identical.
The bulk of the documentation on this web site is involved with defining the types of calculations that can be run by defining all the options for the input command files. That documentation for MPM or FEA calculation are in the following sections:
Format of Output Files
The various visualization tools automatically read output files created by these code engines. If needed, the format of those files are documented here.