Joining output database (.odb) files from restarted analyses

You can append output database files from analyses that restart between steps and from analyses that restart in the middle of a step. While the required syntax is the same for these two types of analyses, Abaqus appends data differently, as follows:

• For an analysis that stops and restarts between steps, Abaqus simply appends the output from the new steps to the output from the existing steps of the original analysis.

• For an analysis that stops and restarts in the middle of a step, the original and restart analyses overlap because the restart analysis resumes at the beginning of the interrupted step. In this case the abaqus restartjoin utility retains the results for any completed steps in the original analysis but replaces the results for the interrupted step with the output data produced by the restart analysis.

By default, Abaqus appends the output data produced by the restart analysis directly to the original output database file. If you prefer to retain the original output database file, you can create a copy of it and append the restart analysis output data to the copy instead. Abaqus names this copy using the format Restart_original-odb-filename; for example, a copy of the original output database file job–1.odb would be named Restart_job-1.odb.

Abaqus omits history data when you combine original and restart output databases; however, you can override this default. You can also control whether Abaqus compresses the combined output database file.