Outputs
Outputs decide what a step writes and how often. Nothing is written that is not asked for here, so a step with no output produces no results to look at.
Output is set per step. A quantity requested in one step is not carried into the next unless it is requested there too.
The branch has three groups.
Field output
Results written for the whole model, for viewing afterwards.
| Setting | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Frequency | 1 |
Write every nth increment |
| Format | VTK |
VTK or GiD |
| Encoding | Binary |
Binary or ASCII |
Binary files are smaller and faster to write; ASCII can be read in a text editor. For a long analysis the frequency matters more than either — writing every increment of a ten-thousand-increment step produces a great many files.
Within field output, two conditions select what is written and where:
Node output, assigned to points, lines, surfaces or volumes:
| Variable | Default |
|---|---|
| Solid displacements (u) | Yes |
| Solid velocities (v) | No |
| Solid accelerations (a) | No |
| Pore-water pressure (pw) | No |
| Water displacements (U) | No |
| Pore-air pressure (pa) | No |
| Reaction forces (RF) | No |
| Stress (S) | No |
| Strain (E) | No |
| Sets | No |
| Mechanical viscosity | No |
| Effective degree of saturation | No |
| Degree of saturation | No |
| Phantom Elasticity | No |
| Connector force | No |
| Contact | No |
| Contact state | No |
| Contact diagnostic | No |
Element output, assigned to lines, surfaces or volumes, offers Stress (on by default), solid velocities, strain, void ratio, the two saturation measures, phantom elasticity, sets, material names and the three contact variables.
Request only what will be looked at. Every extra variable enlarges every file of every increment.
Print output
The same quantities written as text rather than for visualisation, useful for plotting a single point or checking a value directly.
It has its own Frequency, and three conditions rather than two:
| Condition | Assigned to |
|---|---|
| Node output | Points, lines, surfaces, volumes |
| Element output | Lines, surfaces, volumes |
| Integration points output | Lines, surfaces, volumes |
Integration points output is the one that has no equivalent in field output. It writes values at the integration points themselves rather than extrapolated to nodes, which is what you want when checking a constitutive model's response rather than viewing a contour.
Everything in print output defaults to No, so nothing is printed until asked
for.
Restart output
Restart write, stress writes the stress field to a binary file at the end of the step. That file can then initialise another analysis through the Initial stress condition of the initial-condition manager.
Other output variables
Each condition ends with a free-text field — Other node output variable, Other element output variable, and so on — for quantities not in the list above. Names must be exact and separated by commas; they are passed through unchecked, so a misspelt name produces no output rather than a warning.
This is the field to use for the state variables of a constitutive model, whose names depend on the model.
Output is described under Output, field and Output, print in the numgeo reference manual.