Parameter

Values

Description

NESLEXPD

Integer > 0

Default = 20

This parameter specifies the number of time steps retained for optimization from each EXPDYN subcase. At each time step, one ESL (equivalent static load) is generated.

The termination time (TTERM) of the subcase is always retained.

If 0, all of the time steps are retained.

The total number of time steps is determined by the duration of the subcase (difference in TTERM between current and previous subcases) and animation output control (TA0 and DTA on XSTEP card).

While retaining fewer time steps will result in less computational time in the inner loop of the ESL method, very low number of retained time steps could result in many outer loops required or even divergence of the solution in the outer loop.