The Postprocessing Calculator

The postprocessing calculator performs the following calculations on data written to the output database:

• Extrapolation of integration point quantities to the nodes or interpolation of integration point quantities to the centroid of an element, according to the user-specified position for element output; see Selecting the position of element integration point and section point output for details.

• Calculation of history output at tracer particles; see Tracer particle output from Abaqus/Explicit.

The postprocessing calculator is generally not required in Abaqus/Standard because by default Abaqus/Standard performs results postprocessing during the course of the analysis. You can override this default behavior by using the environment variable auto_calculate in the Abaqus environment file. See Environment File Settings for details.

By default in Abaqus/Explicit or if requested in Abaqus/Standard (using auto_calculate in the Abaqus environment file), the postprocessing calculator will run automatically upon the completion of an analysis. During the execution of the analysis, Abaqus will determine if there are keywords in the input file that require the use of the calculator and will initiate the calculator upon completion if it is required. You can override this default behavior by using the environment variable auto_calculate in the Abaqus environment file. See Environment File Settings for details.

You can run the postprocessing calculator manually by using the convert=odb option on the abaqus execution procedure.

To see the postprocessed results before an analysis is complete, you can run the postprocessing calculator manually while the analysis is still running, using the oldjob option in conjunction with the convert=odb option on the abaqus execution procedure. The postprocessing calculator will write a new output database using the value of the job parameter as the file name. Due to the fact that the analysis is writing to the output database at the same time the postprocessing calculator is attempting to read it, the output database may be in an inconsistent state that makes reading it impossible. If this problem occurs, the postprocessing calculator will stop attempting to read the output database and exit. A warning message explaining what has happened will be output to the screen. You can then attempt to run the postprocessing calculator again. If the inconsistent state has cleared, the postprocessing calculator will run normally.

If the postprocessing calculator is run during an analysis without the oldjob option, Abaqus will ask you to confirm that the existing output database can be overwritten. You should make sure the analysis is complete before running the postprocessing calculator manually without the oldjob option. If the analysis is still running when the postprocessing calculator is run without using the oldjob option, the output database will be corrupted.

For a detailed description of the procedure for running the postprocessing calculator manually, see Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit execution.

If an analysis aborts because available CPU time has expired and you restart the analysis, the postprocessing calculator will not automatically expand the output database from the original, aborted run. You must manually run the postprocessing calculator to expand the original output database using the procedure outlined above.