Reading Material Points from a Previous Simulation

Sometimes it is useful to run a simulation, output the material point locations, and them use those settings for a new MPM simulation. One approach is to extract all material point locations to an XML file using the ExtractMPM tool, and then input that file to a new commands file. The process is:

1. Run an MPM simulation
2. Select an archive time and use ExtractMPM to extract particle data to an XML file. A typical command would be:

   ExtractMPM -Xh -q mass -o particles Archive.1843
   

   where Archive.1843 is desired time archive containing material point locations. The points will be written to an XML file called particles.xml. The output file will have one <PointList block with one<mp>element for each material point. See the ExtractMPM tool documentation for more details on an XML extraction.
3. Finally, include this saved file in another commands file using an XML</t> entity reference. First, define the path to the new file in the file's DOCTYPE element such as:

   <!DOCTYPE JANFEAInput SYSTEM '/full path to/NairnMPM.dtd'
   [   <!ENTITY mpfile SYSTEM "pointlist.xml">
   ]>
   

   Then, import that file in the <MaterialPoints> element using

   <MaterialPoints>
      &mpfile;
   </MaterialPoints>