Configurable Driver-Properties

This section provides a reference of all possible driver-statement properties that are configurable through the DRIVER command.

This page discusses:

Introduction and Overview

A Python object called driver is exposed to the user by the DRIVER-command. The usual syntax of accessing the members or properties of this object is as follows: 


DRIVER
 driver.Logger.LogLevel = LogLevels.DEBUG
 driver.Modules[ ToscaModules.TOSCA_PREP ].Path = r'e:\FE_APP\TOSCA\SMATsoToscaPrep.exe'
END_
The driver-object contains further Python-objects. An overview of the hierarchy of all available objects looks as follows:



The squared letters (shown also in the Legend) correspond to the different types of the Python-objects. A detailed explanation of the different objects is provided in the sections below.

driver.Solver

The driver.Solver object provides access to the settings of the FE-solver used for the optimization. Note that this object can have additional and/or different members for some solvers. For example, the driver.Solver.MatrixFormat is used only in the context of the Abaqus solver and is ignored for other solvers.

Name

Data Type

Range of Values

Description

Default Value

driver.Solver.Name

Enumeration constant

FeSolvers.ABAQUS

FeSolvers.ANSYS

FeSolvers.MSCNASTRAN

Identifies the solver used for the optimization.

FeSolvers.ABAQUS

driver.Solver.Path

String

For example, r'e:\FE_APP\Solver\MySolver.exe'

Points to the full path of the main solver executable file.

Installation/configuration setting

driver.Solver.Version

String

For example, r'Abaqus 2017'

The identifier of the specific FE-solver version. Can be used in combination with driver.Solver.AddCallArgs when more than one version is installed.

Unset or value of command line argument --fe_solver_version

driver.Solver.AddCallArgs

List of Strings

Arbitrary strings containing solver-specific command-line arguments.

Example: [ '--format_matrices', 'FIL' ]

Allows addition of command-line arguments to the solver call.

Empty list

driver.Solver.Wrapper

List of Strings

Refer to the section: Defining Wrappers for Executable Modules

Provides a way to execute the solver as a child process of a given tool.

Empty List

driver.Solver.StandardCallArgs

List of Strings

Arbitrary strings containing solver-specific command-line arguments.

Example: [ '--format_matrices', 'FIL' ]

Allows overwriting of the default command-line arguments for the solver.

Installation/configuration setting

driver.Solver.Cpus

Integer

1, 2, 3, ...

Defines the number of CPUs to be used by the solver.

1

driver.Solver.NumQueues

Integer

1, 2, 3, ...

Defines the maximum number of solver-tasks to be executed simultaneously.

1

driver.Solver.MaterialCluster

Integer

Non-negative integer, typical values: 10,000..100,000

Defines the maximum number of materials (after reduction) in the modified input file.

More materials improve the resolution of the optimization method, but might slow down the solver preprocessor.

If no value is provided, the default value of 10,000 is assumed and used internally.

Enter a value of 0 to disable clustering of materials and thus use a separate material for each element.

Unset; per default 10,000 is enforced.

driver.Solver.CheckStrings

List of Two Strings

Solver-specific string messages to look for in the solver output.

The first string corresponds to solver success, and the second string corresponds to solver failure.

Redefinition of these strings enables the user to change the criterion for determining whether the solver run succeeded or failed.

Example: a value of [ 'Solver Run OK', '' ] instructs the Python Control that the solver run was successful in the string 'Solver Run OK' is found.

A value of [ '', 'Solver Run Failed!' ] prescribes the criterion for failure, assuming success if the string 'Solver Run Failed!' is not detected.

Installation/configuration setting

driver.Solver.MessageExt

String

A valid file extension string.

Redefinition of the file extension of the solver message file.

Example: 'msg' is the extension for the Abaqus/Standard solver, 'sta' - for the Abaqus/Explicit solver.

Installation/configuration setting

driver.Solver.runMode

(Abaqus-specific)(Obsolete)

Enumeration constant

This option is obsolete. To enforce a specific run mode use SOLVER_RUN_MODE of the OPTION command.

driver.Solver.MatrixFormat

(Abaqus-specific)

Enumeration constant

MatrixFormats.SIM

MatrixFormats.FIL

Prescribes which file format is used for the transfer of elemental stiffness matrices from Abaqus to Tosca Structure.

MatrixFormats.SIM

driver.Solver.PseudoStepToLc

(Abaqus-specific)

Integer (Boolean)

0 or 1

Triggers the automatic conversion of Abaqus linear *STEP-commands into *LOADCASE commands for improved solver performance.

1

driver.Solver.MaxStepPseudoLc

(Abaqus-specific)

Integer

Arbitrary integer value

Establishes a limit for the number of Abaqus *LOADCASE keywords to be used within one *STEP-keyword.

A negative value or zero indicates that the limit is disabled.

-1

driver.Solver.RemoveUserRequests

(Abaqus-specific)

Integer (Boolean)

0 or 1

Controls whether Tosca should remove output requests defined in the input file that are not used by the optimization. Can be used to improve performance.

0

driver.Solver.iMode

(Nastran-specific)

Enumeration constant

MSCNastranRunModes.I4

MSCNastranRunModes.I8

Defines the mode for the Nastran-solver (I4 or I8).

MSCNastranRunModes.I8

driver.LifeSolver

The driver.LifeSolver object provides access to the settings that are specific to the different Life-solvers that are supported by Tosca Structure.

The driver.LifeSolver object is derived from the driver.Solver object and thus most of the settings are identical between driver.LifeSolver and driver.Solver. In this section, only the settings unique to the Life-Solvers are documented.

Name

Data Type

Range of Values

Description

Default Value

driver.LifeSolver.Name

Enumeration constant

LifeSolvers.ONF

LifeSolvers.FESAFE

LifeSolvers.FEMFAT

Identifies the life solver used for the optimization.

LifeSolvers.FESAFE

driver.LifeSolver.Inverse

Integer (Boolean)

0 or 1

Trigger an inverted value interpretation for the Damage-value.

1

driver.EmagSolver

The driver.EmagSolver object provides access to the settings that are specific to the different EMAG solvers that Tosca Structure supports.

The driver.EmagSolver object is derived from the driver.Solver object. Thus, most of the settings are identical between driver.EmagSolver and driver.Solver. In this section, only the settings unique to the EMAG Solvers are documented.

Name

Data Type

Range of Values

Description

Default Value

driver.EmagSolver.Name

Enumeration constant

EmagSolvers.CST

Identifies the EMAG solver used for the optimization.

EmagSolvers.CST

driver.EmagSolver.Threads

Integer

1, 2, 3, ...

Number of parallel threads that should be used by the EMAG solver.

1

driver.EmagSolver.Cpus

Integer

1, 2, 3, ...

Number of CPU cores that should be used by the EMAG solver.

1

driver.EmagSolver.Gpus

Integer

1, 2, 3, ...

Number of GPU cores that should be used by the EMAG solver.

0

driver.Modules

The driver.Modules dictionary gives access to the setup of the Tosca Structure executable modules. The user can replace one or mode modules for a specific optimization run. For a list of the modules, refer to the Redefinition of the Tosca Modules section.

Name

Data Type

Range of Values

Description

Default Value

driver.Modules[ <Module> ].Name

Enumeration constant

ToscaModules.ABQ_LC_STEP

ToscaModules.FEM_INCLUDE

ToscaModules.FEM_2_ONF

ToscaModules.FEM_MODIF

ToscaModules.TOSCA_PREP

ToscaModules.TOSCA_OPT

ToscaModules.RES_2_VTM

ToscaModules.ODB_2_VTM

ToscaModules.LIFE_2_VTM

ToscaModules.REPORT

ToscaModules.SMOOTH

ToscaModules.ONF_2_SIM

Read-only name of the module, used as an index for the dictionary. Basically identical to <Module>.

These values are explained in more details in the Redefinition of the Tosca Modules section.

Installation/configuration setting

driver.Modules[ <Module> ].Path

String

A valid path to a file

Established an alternative execution module.

Installation/configuration setting

driver.Modules[ <Module> ].AddCallArgs

List of Strings

Arbitrary strings containing module specific command-line arguments.

Example: [ '--format_matrices', 'FIL' ]

Allows addition of command-line arguments to the module call.

Empty list

driver.Modules[ <Module> ].LogLevel

Enumeration constant

LogLevels.QUIET

LogLevels.CRITICAL

... (same as driver.Logger.LogLevel below)

Establishes a new log-level setting for the module.

Inherit global log-level for the run: value copied from driver.Logger.LogLevel

driver.Modules[ <Module> ].Wrapper

List of Strings

Refer to the section: Defining Wrappers for Executable Modules

Provides a way to execute the module as a child process of a given tool.

Empty List

driver.Logger

The driver.Logger object allows modification of the logging settings of the Tosca Structure run.

Name

Data Type

Range of Values

Description

Default Value

driver.Logger.LogFileName

String

A valid path to a file

Redirect the log-output to a new file.

Please note that some messages - output before the setting of the new log-file - might end up logged in the default log file.

For optimization: TOSCA.OUT

For post-processing: TOSCA_POST.OUT

For info output: TOSCA_INFO.OUT

driver.Logger.LogLevel

Enumeration constant

LogLevels.QUIET

LogLevels.CRITICAL

LogLevels.ERROR

LogLevels.WARNING

LogLevels.NOTICE

LogLevels.INFO

LogLevels.DEBUG

LogLevels.TRACE

Establish a new log-level for output printed by the control itself.

The modules loglevel need to be set separately. The below snipped sets all modules to loglevel DEBUG: 


if driver.Modules:
for _m in driver.Modules: driver.Modules[_m].LogLevel = LogLevels.DEBUG

Note that some messages—output before the setting of the new log-level might be logged with a different log-level.

Note that changes to the loglevel are only activated if it is not set as a command line argument (--loglevel).

LogLevels.INFO

driver.Logger.ScreenLogLevel

Enumeration constant

LogLevels.QUIET

LogLevels.CRITICAL

... (same as driver.Logger.LogLevel above)

Establish a new global log-level for the console output.

Note that some messages - output before the setting of the new log-level - might be displayed with a different log-level.

LogLevels.NOTICE

driver.registerSaveRule( Type, Checkpoint, Frequency, FilePattern, Directory, Suffix, Bundle )

The driver.registerSaveRule method allows the user to add rules for saving files to and from the Tosca Structure working directory.

Parameter

Data Type

Range of Values

Description

Default Value

Type

UpdateRules Enum

UpdateRules.COPY

UpdateRules.MOVE

UpdateRules.DELETE

Specifies the action the SaveRule shall perform.

Required by user

Checkpoint

CheckPoints Enum

CheckPoints.CYCLE_COMPLETE

CheckPoints.OPT_COMPLETE

CheckPoints.MX_COMPLETE

CheckPoints.OPT_BEGIN

A checkpoint is a specific point during the optimization process.

Required by user

Frequency

List of EventTimes Enum Entries

or

EventTimes Enum Entry

or

(EventTimes Enum Entry, Integer)

EventTimes.EVER

EventTimes.NEVER

EventTimes.FIRST

EventTimes.LAST

EventTimes.FIRST_LAST

(EventTimes.NTH, int)

(EventTimes.FREQ, int)

An EventTimes entry always refers to a design cycle. For example, EventTimes.First refers to design cycle 0.

EventTimes.NTH can be used to execute the SaveRule on a specific design cycle. For example, (EventTimes.NTH,0) refers to the first design cycle and is identical to EventTimes.First. It is also possible to supply a list of integers for multiple design cycles. The syntax is (EventTimes.NTH, [1, 2]).

EventTimes.FREQ can be used when the SaveRule shall be executed every nth design cycle. For example, (EventTimes.FREQ,2) will execute every second design cycle. It always starts with design cycle 0 and behaves like a modulo operation. Hence, (EventTimes.FREQ,2) will execute on design cycle 0,2,4,6,... and so on. (EventTimes.FREQ,1) is identical to EventTimes.EVER.

EventTimes.NEVER can be used to disable default SaveRules for the defined files.

EventTimes.LAST turns the destination into a rolling copy that contains the source file/s version of the previous design cycle. In other words, the last version of a particular file (or files, depending on the file pattern) for which a design cycle successfully completed. See use case Keeping only the last working version of a file for details.

Required by user

FilePattern

List of Strings

Special characters:

*: Wildcard

?: One arbitrary Character

Defines the files which are effected by the SaveRule. If an entry is not an absolute path it is relative to the working directory of the job. For example, ["*.odb"] will match every odb file located inside the working directory.

If Type is UpdateRules.DELETE:

None

if Type is UpdateRules.COPY or UpdateRules.MOVE:

Required by user

Directory

String

 The directory to which the SaveRule shall copy/move the specified files.

Working directory of the job.

Suffix

String

Special characters:

%i: Iteration number

The files being stored are renamed by adding a suffix to the base file name. If %i or %p is present it will be replaced by the current design cycle.

 None

Bundle

Boolean

True

False

Controls if the suffix is appended to every file or if a sub-sub-directory is created. The subdirectory is named like the suffix and is located inside Directory specified given to the SaveRule. It holds the files specified by the file patterns.

 False

Use cases:

  • Copy Files to working directory:

    The following command copies test.txt from C:\Documents\test.txt to the working directory before the optimization begins.

    driver.registerSaveRule( UpdateRules.COPY, CheckPoints.OPT_BEGIN, EventTimes.EVER, [r"E:\Documents\test.txt"], "" )

  • Copy files from working directory:

    The following SaveRule copies all odb files present in the working directory to the subdirectory SAVE.inp.

    driver.registerSaveRule( UpdateRules.COPY, CheckPoints.CYCLE_COMPLETE, EventTimes.EVER, ["*.odb"], "SAVE.inp", "copied_in_%i", False )

    It is executed at the end of every design cycle. All files copied have the suffix "copied_in_%i" appended to their name where %i is replaced by the corresponding design cycle number.

  • Overwrite a SaveRule defined in a system-wide configuration that cannot be changed for a single user

    Here, the first SaveRule is overwritten by the second one. All files are moved over to AnOtherDir.

    DRIVER
driver.registerSaveRule( UpdateRules.MOVE, CheckPoints.CYCLE_COMPLETE, EventTimes.EVER, ["*.msg"], "SAVE.inp", "_%i", False ) 
driver.registerSaveRule( UpdateRules.MOVE, CheckPoints.CYCLE_COMPLETE, EventTimes.EVER, ["*.msg","*.odb"], "AnOtherDir", "_%i", False ) 
END_

    Remarks on overwriting SaveRules:

    • The order counts. SaveRules registered last are overwriting rules defined earlier.

    • In order for one SaveRule to completely overwrite another rule the parameters Type, Checkpoint and Frequency must match.

    • In order to partially overwrite a SaveRule the Frequency might differ. For example:

      
DRIVER
 driver.registerSaveRule( UpdateRules.MOVE, CheckPoints.CYCLE_COMPLETE, EventTimes.EVER, ["*.msg"], "SAVE.msg", "_%i", False )
 driver.registerSaveRule( UpdateRules.MOVE, CheckPoints.CYCLE_COMPLETE, EventTimes.FIRST_LAST, ["*.msg"], "AnOtherDir", "_%i", False )
END_

      Here, the first SaveRule is partially overwritten. Only in the first and last design cycle .msg files are saved in AnOtherDir. In all other design cycles they are saved into SAVE.msg.

  • Disable SaveRules

    To disable a SaveRule copy it and change the Frequency to EventTimes.NEVER.

    
DRIVER
 driver.registerSaveRule( UpdateRules.MOVE, CheckPoints.CYCLE_COMPLETE, EventTimes.EVER, ["*.msg"], "SAVE.msg", "_%i", False )
 driver.registerSaveRule( UpdateRules.MOVE, CheckPoints.CYCLE_COMPLETE, EventTimes.NEVER, ["*.msg"], "AnOtherDir", "_%i", False )
END_

    EventTimes.NEVER always has priority. The following SaveRule will never be executed: 

    
DRIVER
 driver.registerSaveRule( UpdateRules.MOVE, CheckPoints.CYCLE_COMPLETE, [ EventTimes.EVER, EventTimes.NEVER ], ["*.msg"], "SAVE.msg", "_%i", False )
END_

  • Keeping only the last working version of a file

    If you want to conserve disk space you can use EventTimes.LAST instead of EventTimes.EVER. For example, the following SaveRule only ever keeps one version of result.odb in the SAVE.odb directory. During design cycle 5 result_004.odb can be found in SAVE.odb. Once the 5th design cycle is completed, the SaveRule will update the file from result_004.odb to result_005.odb. 

    
DRIVER
  driver.registerSaveRule( UpdateRules.MOVE, CheckPoints.CYCLE_COMPLETE, EventTimes.LAST, ["result.odb"], "SAVE.odb", "_%i", False )
END_
    EventTimes.LAST can be combined with bundling and other EventTimes. The next rules behavior is to keep always the latest result.odb and, in addition, result.odb from design cycle 3 (named result_003.odb). 
    
DRIVER
  driver.registerSaveRule( UpdateRules.MOVE, CheckPoints.CYCLE_COMPLETE, [ EventTimes.LAST, (EventTimes.NTH, 3 ) ], ["result.odb"], "SAVE.odb", "_%i", False )
END_

driver.registerModuleHook / driver.registerCheckPointHook

These functions are used to attach user-scripts to different points of the Tosca Python workflow. Refer to section User Script Entry Points ("Hooks") for a comprehensive documentation of these functions.

driver.setReportCycle( PostTypes, EventTimes )

The driver.setReportCycle method allows the user to add reporting steps to be performed at the end of specific design cycles.

  • PostTypes can be one of the following:

    PostTypes.REPORT: Generates a .vtfx report

    PostTypes.SMOOTH: Generates a smooth isosurface

    PostTypes.ONF2SIM: Generates an optimization report in .sim file format)

  • EventTimes can be one of the following:

    EventTimes.EVER: Every time

    EventTimes.NEVER: Never

    EventTimes.FIRST: Only the first time

    EventTimes.LAST: Only the last time

    EventTimes.FIRST_LAST: Only the first and the last time

    EventTimes.NTH: Only once, the Nth-time

    EventTimes.FREQ: Every Nth-time

Here is an example of setReportCycle that generates a .vtfx report file after every design cycle and one .sim file at the end of design cycle 5.


DRIVER
 driver.setReportCycle( PostTypes.REPORT, EventTimes.EVER )
 driver.setReportCycle( PostTypes.ONF2SIM, (EventTimes.NTH, 5) )
END_


  driver.registerSaveRule( UpdateRules.COPY, CheckPoints.CYCLE_COMPLETE, [ EventTimes.FIRST_LAST, (EventTimes.NTH,1) ], [ '*.odb' ], 'SAVE.odb', '_%i', bundle=True )

driver.registerSolverSubScripts( Solver, SubmitScriptCmd, CheckScriptCmd, CheckInterval, JobTimeout )

The driver.registerSolverSubScripts method allows the user to submit the FE or Life solver run to a cluster system. The user must supply two scripts, a submit script and a script checking the remote execution status. Also, once the checkScripts return value is zero Tosca resumes its execution expecting all relevant result files are located in the local working directory.

  • Solver can be one of the following:

    FeSolvers.ABAQUS

    FeSolvers.MSCNASTRAN

    LifeSolvers.FESAFE

  • The SubmitScriptCmd is a python string containing the system call that is used to call the submit script. The supplied string is appended by the argument list of the solver call (as configured by Tosca).

  • The CheckScriptCmd is a python string containing the system call that is used to call the script checking if the remote execution is still running.

    The return values of the check script are interpreted by Tosca as:

    0: Remote execution finished

    1: Remote execution still running

    >1: Remote execution error

  • CheckInterval is an integer(default: 30) and represents the time in seconds Tosca is waiting before it calls the check script again.

  • JobTimeout is an integer(default: 60) and represents the time in minutes Tosca is allowed to wait for a remote execution to finish until it terminates the optimization.

Here is an example of registerSolverSubScripts that runs ABAQUS on a remote system: 


DRIVER
 driver.registerSolverSubScripts( FeSolvers.ABAQUS, "submitAbaqus.py", "checkStatus.py", 30, 60 )
END_