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What is .fek file?

Altair Forum User

Hi,

I am wondering the purpose of .fek file?, When I create a feko geometry and save it. it does not create a .fek file. I noticed that it creates when I run the feko solver. When I submit a job for a supercomputer for running simulation, it asks for .fek file and often give errors due to the problems related .fek file. If someone can clarify this(at least the role of .fek file) that would be great.

Thanks in advanced

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Altair Forum User

Hello,

The *.fek file is the solver input file. In other words, whenever you are doing a simulation, the solver needs a single *.fek file that describes the geometry and solution settings.

When I create a feko geometry and save it. it does not create a .fek file.

CADFEKO will create a *.cfx, *.cfm and *.pre file. I know it seems that there are many extra files being generated, but each one has a different purpose:

CFX: The CADFEKO model file. It contains the CAD information and any solution settings.
CFM: Contains the mesh information for a model that was meshed using CADFEKO
PRE: Contains the solution settings
FEK: This file is generated by PREFEKO (a batch application) that combines the CFM and PRE files into a file that the solver can understand

After you've run the solver, you should see a *.bof file ('binary output file') and an *.out file (that contains ASCII output information).

Usually, all of these files are generated automatically when they are needed and you shouldn't need to worry too much about them. Can you elaborate on the types of errors you are getting? Is the problem that the *.fek files cannot be generated?

Altair Forum User

Thank Andries for quick and detailed explanation.It really helps. Our feko solver is running in a linux based server. I submit jobs from my work station to server. As soon as I submit a job , I get an error saying it could not open the .fek file (error 3472).

I noticed when I save my model before submitting to solver, I do not see .fek file is generated. It could be the problem, but I am not sure how to solve it. That would be great if you can assist me further.

Thank you

Altair Forum User

Our feko solver is running in a linux based server. I submit jobs from my work station to server.

Would you be able to send me the version and platform information for both your workstation and the server? You can just type the command 'runfeko x --version' in each one's terminal and copy the output. Can you also tell me what the run command is? Do you know if the run is sequential or in parallel? On my machine the version output looks something like this:

 RUNFEKO Version 14.0.432-29 from 2016-08-22         Copyright (c) 1999-2014 Altair Development S.A. (Pty) Ltd         Copyright (c) 2014-2016 Altair Engineering, Inc.

I noticed when I save my model before submitting to solver, I do not see .fek file is generated. It could be the problem, but I am not sure how to solve it.

You don't need to do anything. When you run FEKO it will automatically generate the files that are needed. If you have a CFX file (or a CFM+PRE file) then that should be sufficient.

My best guess is that the version of FEKO on your terminal might be newer than the one on the server. If this is the case, then the version on the Linux server might not be able to open the newer file that was generated on your machine. If you can give attach a model and the *.out file, that would also help to track down what the problem could be.

It might also be good if you can have a look at Chapter 19.2.3 of the User Manual, which explains how to launch FEKO on a remote machine using different methods. It sounds like you are launching everything correctly, but it might be good to make sure anyway.