Global parameters

Z-set can be configured with a number of global parameters which may be used to customize the software. These parameters can be set using different ways

1. Using zsetrc files:

   • On Linux, configuration files (dotfiles) can be used to set the value of global parameters. Z-set will read these files in the following order:

     $Z7PATH/lib/zsetrc
     $HOME/.zsetrc
     ./zsetrc
     

     This means that a configuration file read later will override previously defined variables in $Z7PATH/lib/zsetrc. The last .zsetrc file to be read is the one located in the working directory, if it exists.

     The .zsetrc can also be set up using Zmaster GUI as shown below

     

     The following is an example .zsetrc file (either % or # can be used to comment lines):

     # Solver.GlobalMatrix   sparse_direct
       Solver.GlobalMatrix   ldlt_dscpack
     # Solver.GlobalMatrix   frontal
     
     Zmaster.Colortable  Low_white
     # Zmaster.Colortable  BW
     
     Zmaster.HardCopy.AutoScale 0
     
     License.WaitQueuePauseSec  5
     License.WaitQueueMinutes   2
     
     Zmaster.GlobalApp.Height   800
     Zmaster.GlobalApp.Width    800
     

   • On Windows systems, the set of zsetrc files are read in the following order:

     %Z7PATH%/lib/zsetrc
     %USERPROFILE%/zsetrc
     ./zsetrc
     

     %USERPROFILE% is an environment variable in Windows that points to the current user’s profile directory. Note that, unlike in Linux where a preceding ‘.’ is used to make user RC scripts hidden files, there is no preceding ‘.’ in the Windows filename.

2. The global parameters can also be set in the problem input file under the ***global_parameter command

   ****calcul
    ***global_parameter
       Solver.Renumbering 0
       Solver.GlobalMatrix   sparse_direct
    ***resolution
   
    ...
   

3. Using the command line with a -s switch. These last two methods supersede all the zsetrc initialization methods, but cannot be used for any of the Z-mat coupled simulations with external solvers. For example,

   Zrun -s Solver.Renumbering 0 problem.inp
   

The current value of all parameters may be checked by issuing the command:

Zrun -param_list

The following tables describe the meaning of various important global parameters with their default values. The table is not necessarily complete but covers the major operational parameters for this release. Some additional parameters exist for debugging purposes, or other specialized applications which will not be documented here.

Basic Parameters

Parameter	Default	Description
Base.ClockFormat	direct	This parameter sets what the default Zebulon internal problem clock will be used. Useful for some special instances where very small time steps are required (e.g. when damage leads to fracture instability), and the default clock can fail due to roundoff errors. Using the clock type incremental will possibly help in these instances.
Base.MessageSuffix	.msg	The screen output message log file suffix. Note that on many windows machines the .msg suffix is taken by another application, so something like .txt may be adequate.
License.WaitQueueMinutes	1440	The number of minutes that a process will wait trying to check out a license when none is available.
License.WaitQueuePauseSec	60	The number of seconds between each check for a license when the program is waiting in the queue.
Solver.GlobalMatrix	mumps	Solver type. Available types can be seen with the Zrun -H command under the heading class SOLVER_PARAMETER.

Development related Parameters

¹In Linux, PWD is an environment variable that indicates the current working directory.

Parameter	Default	Description
Solver.PluginPath	PWD 1 1In Linux, PWD is an environment variable that indicates the current working directory.	Directory where additional plugins will be located. Refer to the development manual for details on loading plugins.
Solver.PluginRoot	Z7PATH	root plugin directory where plugins for different architectures can be loaded. The directory searched will be the value of this parameter, followed by PUBLIC/lib-$Z7MACHINE.

Parallel Parameters

The parallel solver uses the global parameters more pervasively as a means of passing information between the different running processes. In a parallel run the different processes run in totally separate memory spaces, so this is actually the only way to maintain global information. Many of the parameters are set automatically when the process is launched with Zrun -mpi command line options. Others are specific solver parameters which normally would not require modification except in unusual advanced use instances.

Parameter	Default	Description
MPI	default	This selects the message passing interface to use for parallel computations. This is set using the Zrun -mpi command line option.
Parallel.Mpmd.RunMode	none	This is the switch which gets run in parallel computations. Normally this will be set correctly by either running with Zrun or Zglue.
Parallel.UsePfile	1	Whether to use the internal nano-nfs service. If set to zero, Z-set assumes that the input data file are located into an NFS shared directory.
KernelMatrix.Gap	100000	This value is used to decide when rigid body motions are encountered : the rigid body motions list starts when the ratio between two pivot of the Schur complement is greather than this value.
KernelMatrix.Zero	1e-5	The cutoff where the parallel solver sees a null pivot to determine unconstrained domain modes.

Other Parameters

Parameter	Default	Description
Mesh.AutoConnectivity	1	Automatic update of connectivity information when needed (may be costly for huge meshes).
Mesher.MeshFusion	0.001	Used in Zmaster and Z-mesh for the close limit between two points.
Solver.AutomaticThreshold	0.001	The threshold of the external force norm below which the solver uses an absolute norm, whatever the user norm choice is.
Solver.Fe_in_Fe.Verbose	0	Verbosity in FE\(^2\) computations.
Solver.OutputFormat	Z7	sets the output format: Z7, Z7B, Z8 or Z8B. The letter B is for binary output.
Solver.Renumbering	1	This applies to the sparse matrix solvers. In the case of contact with the cholesky_dscpack or ldlt_dscpack the multifrontal method may be invalidated by this renumbering and the parameter should be set to 0.
Timeout	0	the total number of seconds allowable for a process to run (useful for preventing hanging jobs). Only available on certain Linux platforms.
UtilityDatabase.Diff	1e-6	The “zero” measure used in the utility database management methods: two floating points number are equal if the absolute difference between the two is lower than this measure.
ZLanguage.Debug	1	Debug (yes: 1 no: 0) your Zlanguage scripts.
Zmaster.Colortable	default	This parameter sets the default colortable for contour plotting over a structure. The different file choices are located in $Z7PATH/lib/color_tables
Zmaster.Cull_face	1	Whether to use backface culling.
Zmaster.Display.DPI	72	Tweak the way Zmaster draws some things according to real lengths.
Zmaster.DrawingArea.Height	0	Adjusts the main window drawing area clip box height. Try using small values (e.g. 100x200) to see the effect.
Zmaster.DrawingArea.Width	0	This adjusts the main window drawing area clip box width. Try using small values (e.g. 100x200) to see the effect.
Zmaster.Error.Abort	0	Is Zmaster should crash right off if an error is presented instead of producing many popup warnings.
Zmaster.GlobalApp.Height	0	Global Zmaster main window height in pixels. Value of 0 indicates auto guess at size.
Zmaster.GlobalApp.Width	0	Global Zmaster main window width in pixels. Value of 0 indicates auto guess at size.
Zmaster.HardCopy.AutoScale	0	Use autoscaling when generating PostScript code.
Zmaster.HardCopy.Clip	1	Use clipping in the generated PostScript code.
Zmaster.HardCopy.FillFace	1	Fill faces in the generated PostScript code.
Zmaster.Interface	motif	The widget toolkit (e.g. motif, wx, gl, …).
Zmaster.RedrawDuringRotate	1	Redraw the structure during trackball move. If not set (0), the structure is redrawn only when the user releases the trackball.
Zmaster.UseOffScreen	1	Use offscreen pixmap painting to speed-up screen redrawing.
Zmaster.Vectors_CTELE	0	Use .ctele file instead of .ctnod file when drawing a vector view.