***external_storage

Description

This option is used to specify that the state variable storage is to be made in a separate file instead of using the FEA solver’s internal database. The command currently works with the ABAQUS and ANSYS interfaces.

With this command, there is no limit to the number of state variables which can be used in a Z-mat model. In some cases we find that the codes efficiency can be improved as well by using external storage, because of the buffering and relief from some copying operations.

Syntax

***external_storage \(~\,~\,\) *buffer_size sz \(~\,~\,\) *file db-tmp-file \(~\,~\,\) *full_path db-tmp-file \(~\,~\,\) *vars list

*buffer_size

The buffer size determines the file buffering given in number of integration points. This means that only every sz integration points will the storage be serialized to disk.

*file

Specifies the external file to be used for the storage. This file name is relative to the current working directory.

*full_path

Specifies a fully qualifies filename for the external storage. Note that ABAQUS copies your input problem to a temporary directory, so do not use relative path names for this one.

*vars

Specifies the variables which will be made available for output. Zpreload can be used to determine the variable naming which is required here (the Zebulon type names, not sdv##. In the screen or log output the sdv-type naming will be printed, for example:

done with material file reading...

** real state variables
  sdv(1)            epcum
  sdv(2)            epi22

Example

The following lines are an excerpt from a Z-mat material input file doghri_st, which demonstrates the usage of the external_storage keyword. The material file can be found in the test database in /Z-mat/umat_v61.

***external_storage
   *file oo.store
   *vars epi22 epcum
   *buffer_size 5000