-acf

N/A

Option to specify that the input file is an ACF file for a multi-body dynamics solution sequence.

All Platforms

-aif

N/A

An internal option generated automatically when a job is run from the HyperWorks Solver Run Manager (for OptiStruct runs) with Use Solver Control (-screen manual option entry) turned ON. –aif is added to the command line to allow Abort/Stop functions. The –aif start option is an internal option and is not part of the HWSolver Run Manager Options Selector and can be ignored by the user.

All Platforms

-amls

YES/NO

Invokes the external AMLS eigenvalue solver. The AMLS_EXE environment variable needs to point to the AMLS executable for this setting to work.

Overrides the PARAM, AMLS setting in the input file.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –amls yes)

Linux

-amlsncpu

Integer > 1

Defines the number of CPUs to be used by the external AMLS eigenvalue solver.

OptiStruct and AMLS can be run with different allocations of processors. For example, OptiStruct can be run with 1 processor and AMLS with 4 processors in the same run.

Only valid with –amls run option or when PARAM, AMLS is set to YES.

Overrides the PARAM, AMLSNCPU setting in the input file.

Default = 1.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –amls yes –amlsncpu 4)

Linux

-amlsmem

Memory in GB

<Real>

Defines the amount of memory in Gigabytes to be used by the external AMLS eigenvalue solver. This run option is only supported for AMLS versions 5 and later.

Note:

Linux

-amses

YES/BOTH

Invokes the AMSES eigenvalue solver.

YES: Activates AMSES for the structural model.

BOTH: Activates AMSES for both the structure and fluid parts of the model.

Note:

When the executable is run directly (not recommended), then –amses (without any other arguments) will activate AMSES for the structural model. This is not possible when running using the script or the HWSolver Run Manager.

All Platforms

-analysis

N/A

Submit an analysis run. This option will also check the optimization data; the job will be terminated if any errors exist.

-optskip will skip checking the optimization data and the analysis will be performed.

Cannot be used with -check or -restart.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –analysis)

All Platforms

-buildinfo

N/A

Displays build information for selected solver executables.

OptiStruct

-check

N/A

Submit a check job through the command line.

The memory needed is automatically allocated.

Cannot be used with –analysis, -optskip or -restart.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –check)

All Platforms

-checkel

yes, no, full

Note:
An argument for –checkel is optional. If an argument is not specified, the default argument (yes) is assigned.

If NO, element quality checks are not performed, but mathematical validity checks are performed.

If YES, or if no argument is given, the geometric quality of each element is checked. Any violation of the error limits is counted as a fatal error and the run will stop. Any violation of warning limits is non-fatal. Error or warning messages are printed for elements violating the limits along with the offending property values. The amount of output is limited to the first 3 occurrences for each individual case, plus a summary table of all errors.

If FULL, the same checks are performed as for YES, but the error or warning messages are printed for all of the elements violating the error or warning limits.

Default is YES.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –checkel full)

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –checkel)

All Platforms

-compress

N/A

Submits a compression run.

Reduces out matching material and property definitions.

Property definitions referencing deleted material definitions are updated with the retained matching material definition (reduction of property definition occurs after this process).

Element definitions referencing deleted property definitions are updated with the retained matching property definition. The resulting bulk data file will be written to a file named <filename>.echo.

It is assumed that there is no optimization, nonlinear or thermal-material data in the bulk data. If such data are present in the input file, the resulting file (<filename>.echo) may not be valid.

The –compress run option cannot be used in combination with any other option as OptiStruct terminates the run after the .echo file is generated.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –compress)

See OptiStruct Compression Run for more information.

All Platforms

-core

in, out, min

in – in-core solution is forced

out – out-of-core solution is forced

min – minimum core solution is forced

The solver assigns the appropriate memory required. If there is not enough memory available, OptiStruct will error out. Overwrites the –len option.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –core in)

All Platforms

-cpu
or
-proc
or
-nproc
or
-ncpu
or
-nt
or
-nthread

Number of cores

Number of cores to be used for SMP solution. (Comment 2).

(Example: optistruct infile.fem -ncpu 2)

All Platforms

-ddm

N/A

Runs MPI-based OptiStruct SPMD in Domain Decomposition Mode.

Not all platforms are supported. Refer to OptiStruct SPMD for the list of supported platforms.

-delay

Number of seconds

Delays the start of an OptiStruct run for the specified number of seconds. This functionality does not use licenses, computer memory or CPU before the start of the run (the delay expires).

Note:

All Platforms

-dir

N/A

Change directory to the location of input file before starting the solver.

All Platforms

-ffrs

YES/NO

Invokes the external FastFRS (Fast Frequency Response Solver) solver. The FASTFRS_EXE environment variable should point to the FastFRS executable for this setting to work.

Overrides the PARAM, FFRS setting in the input file.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –ffrs yes)

Linux

-ffrsncpu

1, 2, or 4

Defines the number of CPUs to be used by the external FastFRS eigenvalue solver. This parameter will set the environment variable OMP_NUM_THREADS.

The default value is the current value of OMP_NUM_THREADS. Note that this value can be set by the command line arguments –nproc or –ncpu.

OptiStruct and FastFRS can be run with different allocations of processors. For example, OptiStruct can be run with 1 processor and FastFRS with 4 processors in the same run.

Valid only when the –ffrs run option or PARAM, FFRS is set to YES.

Overrides the PARAM, FFRSNCPU setting in the input file.

Default: Number of processors used by OptiStruct.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –ffrs yes –ffrsncpu 4)

Linux

-ffrsmem

Memory in GB

<Real>

Defines the amount of memory in Gigabytes to be used by the external FastFRS eigenvalue solver. This run option is only supported for FastFRS versions 2 and later.

Note:

Linux

-fixlen

RAM in MBytes

Disables dynamic memory allocation.

OptiStruct will allocate the given amount of memory and use it throughout the run. If this memory is not available, or if the allocated amount is not sufficient for the solution process, OptiStruct will terminate with an error.

To avoid over specifying the memory when using this option, it is suggested first to run OptiStruct with the -check option and use the results of that run to properly define the memory size for the -fixlen option.

This option allows, on certain platforms, to avoid memory fragmentation and allocate more memory than is possible with dynamic memory allocation.

Overwritten by -len and -core options.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem - fixlen 500)

All Platforms

-gpu

N/A

Activates GPU computing.

All Platforms

-gpuid

N/A

N: Integer, Optional, Selects the GPU card.

Default = 1.

All Platforms

-h

N/A

Displays script usage.

All Platforms

-i64

N/A

The 64-bit OptiStruct executable is used for the run if the –i64 run option is specified. This is useful in models where you encounter 32-bit overflow issue with the default (32-bit) executable.

All Platforms

-i64slv

N/A

The internal long (64-bit) integer sparse direct solver is activated. This can also be activated if a large memory value (>16 GB) is set on the –len run option or by setting PARAM, I64SLV to YES.

All Platforms

-ldm

N/A

The Load Decomposition Method (MPI-based SPMD) is activated (this method is also the default, if –ldm is not used).

Not all platforms are supported. Refer to OptiStruct SPMD for the list of supported platforms.

-len

RAM in MBytes

Preferred upper bound on dynamic memory allocation.

When different algorithms can be chosen, the solver will try to use the fastest algorithm which can run within the specified amount of memory. If no such algorithm is available, the algorithm with minimum memory requirement will be used. For example, the sparse linear solver, which can run in-core, out-of-core or min-core will be selected. The –core option will override the –len option. The default for –len is 1000MB, this means that all except for very small models, OptiStruct will use only the minimum memory needed to run the job. If –len value is larger than the amount of available physical RAM, it may cause excessive swapping during computations, and significantly slow down the solution process.

Default = 1000 MB.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –len 32)

Best practices for –len specification:
For proper memory allocation while using –len in an OptiStruct run, avoid using the exact reported memory estimate value (for example, Using Check). The –len value should be provided based on the actual memory of the system. This would be the recommended memory limit to run the job, it may not necessarily represent the memory utilized by the job or the actual memory limit. This way, the job is more likely to run with the best possible performance. If the same system is shared by multiple jobs, the memory allocation should follow the same procedure as above; except, that the individual maximum memory should be used in place of the total system memory. If a job runs out-of-core instead of in-core (it exceeded the memory allocation) it will still run very efficiently. However, make sure that the job does not exceed the actual memory of the system itself as this will slow the run down by a large factor. The recommended method to deal with this is to specify –maxlen as the actual memory of the system to limit the maximum memory that can be used on the system.

Note:

If a value greater than 16 GB is specified, the internal long (64-bit) integer sparse direct solver is activated automatically.

All Platforms

-lic

FEA, OPT

FEA -

FE analysis only (OptiStructFEA).

All Platforms

OPT -

Optimization (OptiStruct or OptiStructMulti).

The solver checks out a license of the specified type before reading the input data. Once the input data is read, the solver verifies that the requested license is of the correct type. If this is not the case, OptiStruct will terminate with an error.

No default

(Example: OptiStruct infile.fem -lic FEA)

-licwait

Hours to wait for a license to become available

Note:
An argument for –licwait is optional. If the argument is not specified, the default argument (12) is assigned.

If present and there are not 50 HyperWorks Units available, OptiStruct will wait for up to the number of hours specified (default=12) for licenses to become available and then will start to run. The maximum wait period that can be specified to wait is 168 hours (a week). OptiStruct will check for available HyperWorks Units every two minutes.

All Platforms

-manual

N/A

Launches the online OptiStruct User’s Guide manual.

All Platforms

-maxlen

RAM in Mbytes

Hard limit on the upper bound of dynamic memory allocation.

OptiStruct will not exceed this limit.

No default

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –maxlen 1000)

All Platforms

-minlen

RAM in Mbytes

Hard limit on the lower bound of dynamic memory allocation.

This is the minimum amount of memory allocated in the dynamic memory allocation process and OptiStruct will not go below this limit.

No default

(Example: optistruct infile123.fem –minlen 200)

All Platforms

-mmo

N/A

The –mmo option can be used to run multiple optimization models in a single run.

Not all platforms are supported. Refer to OptiStruct SPMD for the list of supported platforms.

-monitor

N/A

Monitor convergence from an optimization or nonlinear run. Equivalent to SCREEN, LOG in the input deck.

All Platforms

-mpi

i (Intel MPI),

pl (IBM Platform-MPI (formerly HP-MPI)),

ms (MS-MPI),

pl8 (for versions 8 and newer of IBM Platform-MPI)

Note:
An argument for –mpi is optional. If an argument is not specified, Intel MPI is used by default.

Specify the Message Passing Interface (MPI) type for use MPI-based SPMD runs on supported platforms.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –mpi –np 4)

Not all platforms are supported. Refer to OptiStruct SPMD for the list of supported platforms.

-mpiargs

(arguments for mpirun>

This run option can be used in MPI-based parallelization runs to specify additional arguments for mpirun.

Note: This option is valid for an MPI run only.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –mpi i –np 4 –mpiargs “<args_for_mpirun>”)

Not all platforms are supported. Refer to OptiStruct SPMD for the list of supported platforms.

-mpipath

path

Specify the directory containing HP-MPI’s mpirun executable.

Note: This option is useful if MPI environments from multiple MPI vendors are installed on the system. Valid for an MPI run only.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –mpi –np 4 –mpipath /apps/hpmpi/bin)

Not all platforms are supported. Refer to OptiStruct SPMD for the list of supported platforms.

-ncpu

Numbe of cores

Same as -cpu

All Platforms

-nlrestart

Subcase ID

Restart a geometric nonlinear solution sequence from specified subcase ID.

If Subcase ID is not specified, it will restart from the first geometric nonlinear subcase ending with error in previous run.

Note: The geometric nonlinear solution sequence is a series of geometric nonlinear subcases (ANALYSIS = NLGEOM, IMPDYN or EXPDYN) linked by CNTNLSUB.

All Platforms

-np

Number of processors

Number of processors to be used in SPMD analysis.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –mpi –np 4)

All Platforms

-nproc

Number of cores

Same as -cpu

All Platforms

-nt

Number of cores

Same as -cpu

All Platforms

-nthread

Number of cores

Same as -cpu

All Platforms

-optskip

N/A

Submit an analysis run without performing check on optimization data (skip reading all optimization related cards).

Cannot be used with –check or –restart.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem -optskip)

All Platforms

-out

N/A

Echos the output file to the screen. This takes precedence over the I/O option SCREEN.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem -out)

All Platforms

-outfile

Prefix for output filenames

Option to direct the output files to a directory different from the one in which the input file exists. If such a directory does not exist, the last part of the path is assumed to be the prefix of the output files. This takes precedence over the I/O option OUTFILE.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem -outfile results; here OptiStruct will output results.out, etc.)

All Platforms

-proc

Number of cores

Same as -cpu

All Platforms

-radopt

Run RADIOSS optimization in OptiStruct

Option to run RADIOSS optimization in OptiStruct. A RADIOSS optimization file <name>.radopt should be input to OptiStruct and the optional –radopt run option may be specified to request an optimization run for a RADIOSS input deck.

Note: The RADIOSS Starter and input files supporting the optimization input should be available in the same directory as the <name>.radopt file.

Refer to Design Optimization in the RADIOSS User’s Guide for more information.

All Platforms

-ramdisk

Size of virtual disk (in MB)

Option to specify area in RAM allocated to store information which otherwise would be stored in scratch files on the hard drive.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –ramdisk 800)

For a more detailed description, see the RAMDISK setting on I/O option SYSSETTING.

All Platforms

-reanal

Density threshold

This option can only be used in combination with -restart.

Inclusion of this option on a restart run will cause the last iteration to be reanalyzed without penalization.

If the "density threshold" given is less than the value of MINDENS (default = 0.01) used in the optimization, all elements will be assigned the densities they had during the final iteration of the optimization. As there is no penalization, stiffness will now be proportional to density.

If the "density threshold" given is greater than the value of MINDENS, those elements whose density is less than the given value will have density equal to MINDENS, all others will have a density of 1.0.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem -restart -reanal 0.3)

All Platforms

-restart

filename.sh

Specify a restart run. If no argument is provided, OptiStruct will look for the restart file, which will have the same root as the input file with the extension .sh. If you enter an argument on PC, you will need to provide the full path to the restart file including the file name.

Cannot be used with –check, -analysis or –optskip.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem -restart); here OptiStruct looks for the restart file infile.sh.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –restart C:\oldrun\old_infile.sh); here OptiStruct looks for the restart file old_infile.sh.

All Platforms

-rnp

Number of processors

Number of processors to be used in OptiStruct SPMD for IMPDYN, EXPDYN, and NLGEOM analysis types.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –mpi –rnp 4)

All Platforms

-rnt

Number of cores

Number of cores to be used for OptiStruct SMP for IMPDYN, EXPDYN, and NLGEOM analysis types.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem -rnt 2)

All Platforms

-rsf

Safety factor

Specify a safety factor over the limit of allocated memory.

Not applicable when -maxlen is used.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –rsf 1.2)

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –len 32 –rsf 1.2)

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –core out –rsf 1.2)

All Platforms

-scr
or
-tmpdir

Path, filesize=n, slow=1

Option to choose directories in which the scratch files are to be written. filesize=n and slow=1 arguments are optional. Multiple arguments may be separated by a comma.

path ; give the path to the directory for scratch file storage.

filesize=n ; defines the maximum file size (in GB) that may be written to that location.

slow=1 ; indicates a network drive.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –scr filesize=2,slow=1,/network_dir/tmp)

Multiple scratch directories may be defined through repeated instances of –tmpdir or –scr.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –tmpdir C:\tmp –tmpdir filesize=2,slow=1,Z:\network_drive\tmp)

This overwrites the environment variable OS_TMP_DIR, and the TMPDIR definition in the I/O section of the input deck.

For a more detailed description, see the I/O Option TMPDIR.

All Platforms

-scrfmode

basic, buffered, unbuffer, smbuffer, stripe, mixfcio

Option to select different mode of storing scratch files for linear solver (especially for out-of-core and minimum-core solution modes). Multiple arguments may be comma separated.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –scrfmode buffered, stripe – tmpdir C:\tmp)

For a description of the arguments, see the SCRFMODE setting on I/O option SYSSETTING.

All Platforms

-testmpi

N/A

Check if MPI is configured properly and if the SPMD version of the OptiStruct executables is available for this system.

(Example: optistruct infile.fem –mpi –np 4 –mpipath /apps/hpmpi/bin -testmpi)

All Platforms

-uselen

RAM in MBytes

Suggested dynamic memory usage limit. OptiStruct will use more than the minimum memory required up to this limit, but only when it improves the speed of the solution. This value is used only for some solution sequences, which can profit from additional memory available (for example, to use bigger buffers to store intermediate results).

This value is automatically limited by the value specified by –len, so –uselen can be set safely to a very large value.

Note

To be effective, in most cases, -uselen option has to be accompanied by the –len option.

All Platforms

-version

N/A

Checks version and build time information from OptiStruct.

All Platforms

-xml

N/A

Option to specify that the input file is an XML file for a multi-body dynamics solution sequence.

All Platforms