Run OptiStruct

The execution of OptiStruct is described here.

There are several ways to run OptiStruct, via:
  • The OptiStruct script
  • The Altair Compute Console (ACC)
  • HyperMesh

In all the above cases, Altair HyperWorks will initialize $PATH and other environment variables required to run the selected solver; however, you are responsible for initializing environment variables for 3rd party products. For instance, AMLS/FFRS external solvers (if needed) may require PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH. For MPI runs, refer to SPMD Environment Variables.

From a Script

To run on Unix from the command line, type the following:
<install_dir>/altair/scripts/optistruct "filename" -option argument
Note: On Linux/Unix installations the above command is soft linked to the location of the OptiStruct solver script as:

<install_dir>/altair/scripts/optistruct → <install_dir>/altair/hwsolvers/scripts/optistruct

To run OptiStruct from a Windows DOS prompt, type the following:
<install_dir>\hwsolvers\scripts\optistruct.bat "filename" -option argument

The options and arguments are described under Run Options.

OptiStruct looks for filename in the following manner (filename may contain a file path that is either absolute or relative to the run directory):
  • First, it checks to see if filename exists exactly as input.
  • If filename does not exist exactly as input, and if filename does not contain an extension (that is, if the actual file name without the path does not contain a period), it then checks for "filename".parm and then for "filename".fem.
  • If the filename is still not found, all the above searches are repeated with extra extension .gz appended (the file will then be assumed to be compressed using gzip or equivalent utility).

If none of these checks results in a match, OptiStruct reports an error and terminates.

From Compute Console (ACC)

The Compute Console (ACC) provides an interactive Graphical User Interface (GUI) that allows you to select input files for OptiStruct runs. It also allows you to define run options, activate multiple processor SMP and/or MPI runs. Any required environment variables for OptiStruct runs are predefined when the Compute Console (ACC) is used to submit jobs.

On Windows, the Compute Console (ACC) can be started by selecting Start > Altair 2023.1 > Compute Console.


Figure 1.
With this utility, you can start multiple solver runs, queue successive runs, submit runs to a remote server (standalone Linux host or PBS cluster) and also maintains a history of solutions. On Unix platforms, this utility can be started from the command line as:
<install_dir>/altair/hwsolvers/scripts/<solver name> -gui

For more information and to access the Altair Compute Console (ACC) help, navigate to Help > Compute Console Manual from the Altair Compute Console (ACC) GUI.

From HyperMesh

If you set up a finite element model in HyperMesh, you can run the simulation directly out of HyperMesh by going to the OptiStruct panel in the respective user profiles. The panels can be accessed through the Analysis page, from the Utility menu, or through the Applications pull-down. The panels ask for the file name. After clicking the solver button, the model is exported using the given export options, then the solver runs the script that is provided locally on the machine. After solver execution, the results can be viewed in HyperView. You can bring up HyperView with the results loaded by clicking HyperView.

Note: When running OptiStruct from HyperMesh on Unix and Linux, a shell is spawned with the DISPLAY setting <hostname>:0.0. If this is different from the DISPLAY setting for HyperMesh, 50 Altair units (in addition to the 21Altair units being used for HyperMesh) will be checked out. To avoid the checking out of additional units, be sure that the DISPLAY is set to <hostname>:0.0 before starting HyperMesh.

Configuration File

The configuration file optistruct.cfg may be used to establish default settings for OptiStruct either system wide, for a particular user, or for a local directory. A full description of the settings allowed and the usage of the configuration file is provided on the Configuration File page.