Optimisation still running, CPU usage 0%

Hi Caleb,

 

I guess you are runing 'out of core' with your optimization:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

You can easily check if you are running 'in core' or 'out of core', by taking a look at the topoOpt.out file, which is located in your scratch directory (by default in the user directory).

Inside you will find information regarding the recent Iteration (easy to see if your computation is still runing). Furthermore the info regarding your Memory usage:

Within the Iteration 0 you will get the infomation if it is running 'in core' or not:

In case it isn't running incore, you might decrease the amount of elements by increasing the 'Minimum Thickness constraint' inside the 'Run Optimization' window:

 

Out of Core Simulations are working usually, but they are way slower as the RAM isn't large enouth to fit the computation. Instead, data is shifted between your HDD, RAM and the Processor. As a result 90% of the time, no computation is going on - but data is read and written to your HDD.

 

You might also should think about upgrading your RAM - 8GB RAM is really not much for optimizations. To put things into perspective: I'm working with 32GB of RAM.

Highend Customers, usuallly got 128GB and even more.

 

 

Regards,

Felix

 

Thank you a lot Felix that explains a lot about how it runs. I knew this computer wouldn't be up to spec, though I have to use what I have as it's for university thesis. I completed two optimisations overnight at 15mm min. with a third at 10.33 (as initially input by inspire) still running  at the moment and have checked that it is 'in-core', it is still doing the same thing but seems to be slowly progressing through an iteration every few hours (up to 6 now). It sits around 0 percent CPU and every hour or so starts up again as normal. There is still one gb of ram free most of the time , is this still expected behaviour? Or should I manually input the amount of ram allocated? I will try to upgrade my ram to 16 gb if possible. Is it possible to put the hard-drive in an alternate computer and run inspire, or is the licence linked to the network hardware too? 

I have some questions to try and improve run time. Is it possible to manually input the mesh characteristics for optimisation (refine mesh in critical areas)? Does removing parts of design space that is not used in any load cases or most element thicknesses greatly improve time (less mesh and analysis?)?

Thank you again for your help,

Caleb Saunders

Hi Caleb,

 

Glad to hear this was helpful! If you are changing your PC, you have to request another license through our website:

https://solidthinking.com/Buy.aspx?category=Buy&item=Students Educators

You can do mesh refinement with 2018.1, but it will not be helpful for the optimization - but the analysis:

Click on this tiny triangle next to 'Setup':

Then choose 'Mesh Control':

 

You can use it to increase or decrease the elementsize by selecting surfaces of your model. But again - this isn't helpful for an optimization.

 

Regards,

Felix