Performance Issue When Importing Large .inp File with STEP Command

Bug Reports
1

Dear PrePoMax team,

I’m experiencing a performance issue when importing a large .inp file (around 100,000 elements). PrePoMax reads the file correctly, but the import takes a very long time only when the *STEP section is included. If I remove the *STEP part, the file loads quickly.

Here is a link to the .inp file for reference:

Thank you for the great software and support!

2

The problem is the number of *Equation keywords. They are converted to individual user keywords, which must be correctly indexed into the model-generated keywords, and this causes a big problem.

I will have to add grouping of similar keywords to the inp reader so that all *Equation keywords would be recognized as one.

1 Like
3

If you have a script to prepare the *Equation keywords, you can try to define all the keywords under one *Equation keyword as:

*EQUATION
3
120945,2,1, 40143,2,-1, 121206,2,-1
3
120945,3,1, 40143,3,-1, 121206,3,-1

instead of:

*EQUATION
3
120945,2,1, 40143,2,-1, 121206,2,-1
*EQUATION
3
120945,3,1, 40143,3,-1, 121206,3,-1

Calculix can read such an entry, but I did not check the results to see if it really works.

1 Like
4

Thanks Matej for you fast answer, I didnt know that, I’ll try it and let you know.

5

Unfortunately, that didn’t work. I remember trying to use a single *EQUATION keyword, but CalculiX didn’t read it properly, which is why I had to apply the keyword to each node separately.

As for PrePoMax, the issue persists. Here is a link to the modified .inp file with a single *EQUATION keyword.

6

Ok, I fixed some additional bottlenecks. The fix will be available in the next version. It will definitely work for a single *Equation keyword with multiple equations. I will try to add default keyword grouping, but I am not sure it will make it in the next version.

1 Like
7

Ok, so i fixed some things in my script and it indeed worked in ccx with just one *equation command as you suggested. As with prepomax it’s the same. It’s not an issue since i can just run calculix outside and use prepomax for postprocessing only. Thanks!

8

I added some additional fixes so that now it will work much faster for a single or multiple keywords.

9

Thanks a lot!
I there a way to download a nightly build exe of prepromax? I am currently using 2.3.7 dev and I couldnt fine a release version on gitlab.

10

Try compiling with this script: CMD-script for automatic PrePoMax compilation

2 Likes
11

No, but I will probably create a new developer release in a day or two.

2 Likes
12

The new version works perfectly :+1: