What is Z-set

Z-set is a computational code devoted to the analysis of material and structure behavior, involving a finite element solver and a collection of specific tools for material parameter calibration, preprocessing and postprocessing computations. Some of the main capabilities are illustrated at the following links: solutions, gallery or publications.

How to install Z-set

Under most circumstances installing Z-set on Windows or Linux takes less than five minutes to complete.
Simply download the package, extract it and set a few environment variables. The detailed installation instructions are available for download.

How to obtain a license

Z-set can be tested without a license, in which case it is limited to 1000 node meshes, and a few simple materials. To obtain a commercial license, please contact us.

How to restart an Abaqus computation coupled with Z-mat

After the keyword *RESTART, the restarted Abaqus input file should contain the material behavior description with the help of *MATERIAL keyword pointing to the zmat input file. It can be copied from the input file used for the main run, for example:

MATERIAL,NAME=zmat_file_name
DEPVAR : 17
USER MATERIAL,CONSTANTS=1 : 0.0


The command to run the computation from restart is then:

Zmat -oj <oldjob filename> newjob_filename.inp


How do I setup and execute a Z-set parallel job using multithreading?

Z-set may use multithreading for the resolution of the global equilibrium problem and for material integration. Setting the OMP_NUM_THREADS environment variable allows the number of threads used to solve the global problem to be defined.
Parallelization of both the equilibrium and the local integration scheme can be activated using the “smp” argument when launching the job, for example:

Zrun -smp 8 calcul.inp

Where can I get further help?

Z-set is a complex software collection and requires some practice to be used efficiently. The Z-set manuals are available in pdf format. Once Z-set has been installed, they can be accessed using the Zman command:

Zman mat  provides the documentation on material models
Zman user provides the documentation of the finite element solver
Zman -h   gives a complete list of the available documentation

Training sessions are also organized on a regular basis. More information is available here.

What to do if Zsetup_service does not run on Windows?

Check the following points:

1. The command prompt (CMD) used to run Zsetup_service is started with administrator privileges (right click over the command prompt and from the context menu select “run as administrator“)
2. The Z7LICENSE environment variable is defined as System variable