How to use Z88 in FEM?

[AhmedER]

How to use Z88 as a solver instead of CalculiX?

After I made the following analysis, I tried FEM->Solver Job, but it isn't working.

OS: Linux Mint 18 Sarah
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.17.11084 (Git)
Build type: None
Branch: master
Hash: fa00b4f06a0c96de57a777d6532467dfd8e5d141
Python version: 2.7.12
Qt version: 4.8.7
Coin version: 4.0.0a
OCC version: 7.1.0

[Kunda1]

Please always post your FC version info (Help > About FreeCAD > Copy to clipboard)

[AhmedER]

Please always post your FC version info (Help > About FreeCAD > Copy to clipboard)

Sorry I forgot, I normally remember to add the info.


OS: Linux Mint 18 Sarah
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.17.11084 (Git)
Build type: None
Branch: master
Hash: fa00b4f06a0c96de57a777d6532467dfd8e5d141
Python version: 2.7.12
Qt version: 4.8.7
Coin version: 4.0.0a
OCC version: 7.1.0

[NormandC]

Version: 0.17.11084 (Git)

You are using an obsolete development version, 425 commits behind the one currently available (0.17.11509). A respectable number of them were in the FEM workbench.

How did you install it? If you installed through the freecad-daily PPA, it must mean that you froze the updates otherwise you would get updates every other day (sometimes daily) or once a week if your system is configured to check for updates weekly.

Also, activate the report view (View --> Panels menu): it will report errors, paste them here.

[bernd]

have you installed z88 binary? you can get it here https://github.com/LSCAD/Z88OS/tree/master/bin

bernd

[bernd]

would you post the file?

[AhmedER]

Version: 0.17.11084 (Git)

You are using an obsolete development version, 425 commits behind the one currently available (0.17.11509). A respectable number of them were in the FEM workbench.

The problem persisted after updating my FreeCAD.

Selecting "FEM->Solver Job Control" doesn't do anything, while choosing "FEM->run Solver Calculations" yield the following error

"
FemConstraintForce has Vertex reference shapes.
FemConstraintForce001 has Vertex reference shapes.
FemConstraintForce002 has Vertex reference shapes.
FEM preferences working dir is not set, the solver working directory is used.
Dir '' doesn't exist and cannot be created.
Dir '/tmp' will be used instead.
FemTools.setup_working_dir() --> self.working_dir = /tmp
True
SolidMaterial has Edge reference shapes.
SolidMaterial has Edge reference shapes.
FemInputWriterZ88 --> self.dir_name --> /tmp
FemInputWriterZ88 --> self.file_name --> /tmp/z88
3
Edge femmesh will be exported as 3D truss element nr 4
{'ISFLAG': '1', 'INTORD': '0', 'INTOS': '0', 'IHFLAG': '0'}
Multiple beamsections for Z88 not yet supported!
/tmp
/tmp
/tmp
Running the Python command 'FEM_SolverRun' failed:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/freecad-daily/Mod/Fem/PyGui/_CommandFemSolverRun.py", line 73, in Activated
self.fea.run() # test z88
File "/usr/lib/freecad-daily/Mod/Fem/FemToolsZ88.py", line 133, in run
self.z88_test_run()
File "/usr/lib/freecad-daily/Mod/Fem/FemToolsZ88.py", line 141, in z88_test_run
z88_testrun_binary = self.z88_binary + " -t -choly"

'FemToolsZ88' object has no attribute 'z88_binary'
"



OS: Linux Mint 18 Sarah
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.17.11509 (Git)
Build type: None
Branch: master
Hash: fdedf8fb4d36043145e8498244177aae16c806a5
Python version: 2.7.12
Qt version: 4.8.7
Coin version: 4.0.0a
OCC version: 7.1.0

[bernd]

you need to set the path to your z88r binary file in preferences.
bernd

[AhmedER]

you need to set the path to your z88r binary file in preferences.
bernd

I did that. The error is gone, but there is no results in sight.

Z88_2.png (186.18 KiB) Viewed 1571 times

This is the file

TrussZ88real.fcstd

(10.43 KiB) Downloaded 36 times

On an unrelated note. Have you tried coding for Calculix? Is there any forums/wiki/guides/... to help me learn how to do that? I am still trying to implement a general beam cross section, as opposing to the current limitation of rectangle and pipe. Do you recommend I try to develop it from the first place, or do you think the Z88OS will be better option?

Thank you for your time and guidance.
Ahmed

[bernd]

I get no results either. I need to have a closer look. This may take some time.

To try if your z88 runs in FreeCAD you could do the following.

- start FreeCAD
- go to start wb
- load 3D FEM example
- activate the analysis
- add an solver z88 object
- select the z88 solver
- click on the run analysis button
- a new result object should be created. You should get the same deformations as with Calculix

bernd