# Import issues with \*SURFACE

**URL:** <https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/import-issues-with-surface/82>\
**Category:** Bug Reports\
**Created:** [February 26, 2022, 8:44pm UTC](https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/import-issues-with-surface/82 "2022-02-26T20:44:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jbr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecccb3/32.png) [@jbr](https://prepomax.discourse.group/u/jbr)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 8:44pm UTC](https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/import-issues-with-surface/82/1 "2022-02-26T20:44:42Z")

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Hello Dear PrePoMax community! First of all, thank you and congratulations for all the hard work that is going on to have such an outstanding piece of open-source software for FEA simulations.

I’ve been trying to import the following input file from the CalculiX Discourse group: [Unexpected displacements in contact analysis](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/unexpected-displacements-in-contact-analysis/994). However, the \*SURFACE keywords are giving me some “soft” errors:

```auto
Error: Failed to import surface Fixed_surface: *SURFACE, NAME=Fixed_surface, Type=Element
Error: Failed to import surface Symmetry_plane: *SURFACE, NAME=Symmetry_plane, Type=Element
Error: Failed to import surface Load_surface: *SURFACE, NAME=Load_surface, Type=Element
Error: Failed to import surface Primary: *SURFACE, NAME=Primary, Type=Element
Error: Failed to import surface Secondary: *SURFACE, NAME=Secondary, Type=Element

```

I’m just trying to pinpoint the issue, and it seems that the surfaces have the correct element number and face ID. Not sure what is going on with the reader. Maybe it needs to be an element set instead of a column list? Where could I get more information about how this is imported into the source code? Maybe I can do a few tests and provide a patch.

Thank you for your time!!

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**Author:** ![FEAnalyst](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/prepomax.discourse.group/feanalyst/32/688_2.png) [@FEAnalyst](https://prepomax.discourse.group/u/FEAnalyst)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 9:56pm UTC](https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/import-issues-with-surface/82/2 "2022-02-26T21:56:17Z")

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> [@jbr](#):
>
> Maybe it needs to be an element set instead of a column list?

Apparently yes. I made a simple test model and import works properly when the surface is defined this way:

```auto
*Elset, elset=Test_surf_set
1, 2, 21, 22
*Surface, type=ELEMENT, name=Test_surf
Test_surf_set, S3

```

but fails with an error when the surface is defined like this:

```auto
*Surface, type=ELEMENT, name=Test_surf
1, S3
2, S3
21, S3
22, S3

```

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**Author:** ![jbr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecccb3/32.png) [@jbr](https://prepomax.discourse.group/u/jbr)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2022, 6:12am UTC](https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/import-issues-with-surface/82/3 "2022-02-27T06:12:52Z")

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That’s what I thought. Thank you for confirming this @FEAnalyst !

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**Author:** ![Matej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@Matej](https://prepomax.discourse.group/u/Matej)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2022, 6:33pm UTC](https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/import-issues-with-surface/82/4 "2022-02-27T18:33:15Z")

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Thank you for the issue report. The inp file reader is far behind the inp file exporter. The other thing is that the exporter only uses one possible CalculiX inp output while the reader would have to support all of them. And there are many options and combinations possible. For now, the idea is to support the files created by PrePoMax and then add additional versions of how the keywords can be written.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jbr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecccb3/32.png) [@jbr](https://prepomax.discourse.group/u/jbr)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 6:02am UTC](https://prepomax.discourse.group/t/import-issues-with-surface/82/5 "2022-03-01T06:02:40Z")

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Thank you @Matej ! Sure, I understand. I will take a look at the ccx inp output just to see if there are any pieces that I could grab from there and implement on the ccx inp reader. I’m not sure when I can get to it but hopefully soon enough.