1.1. Understanding Mechanical APDL Binary Files

Mechanical APDL-written binary files include the following:

  • The following results files, in which Mechanical APDL stores the results of solving finite element analysis problems:

    • Jobname.rst A structural or coupled-field analysis

    • Jobname.rth A thermal analysis

    • Jobname.rmg A magnetic analysis

  • The Jobname.mode file, storing data related to a modal analysis

  • The Jobname.rdsp file, storing data related to a mode-superposition transient analysis.

  • The Jobname.rfrq file, storing data related to a mode-superposition harmonic analysis

  • The Jobname.emat file, storing data related to element matrices

  • The Jobname.sub file, storing data related to substructure matrices

  • The Jobname.full file, storing the full stiffness-mass matrix

  • The Jobname.dsub file, storing displacements related to substructure matrices

The files listed above cover almost all users' needs, although there are others. For more information, see the Basic Analysis Guide.

 

1.1.1. Conventions Used to Describe Binary Files

In the information describing the binary file formats:

  • Record ID is the identifier for this record. Not all records will have identifiers; they're indicated only for records whose record pointers are stored in a header.

  • Type indicates what kind of information this record stores.

  • Number of records indicates how many records of this description are found here.

  • Record length indicates the number of items stored in the record.

In some record descriptions, actual variable names used may appear in the record contents area.

 

1.1.2. The Standard Header for Mechanical APDL Binary Files

Each of the Mechanical APDL program's binary files contains a standard, 100-integer file header that describes the file contents. The header contains the items listed below, always in the order shown:

Item 1The file number
Item 2The file format. This item has a value of 1 if the file is small format, -1 if large format.
Item 3The time, in compact form (that is, 130619 is 13:06:19)
Item 4The date, in compact form (that is, 20041023 is 10/23/2004)
Item 5The units of measurement used. The value of this item is as follows:

  • 0 for user-defined units

  • 1 for SI units

  • 2 for CSG units

  • 3 for U. S. Customary units (feet)

  • 4 for U. S. Customary units (inches)

  • 5 for MKS units

  • 6 for MPA units

  • 7 for μMKS units

Item 10The Mechanical APDL release level in integer form ("X.X" in character form)
Item 11The date of the Mechanical APDL release
Items 12-14The machine identifier in integer form (three four-character strings)
Items 15-16The Jobname in integer form (two four-character strings)
Items 17-18The Mechanical APDL product name in integer form (two four-character strings)
Item 19The Mechanical APDL special-version label in integer form (one four-character string)
Items 20-22The user name in integer form (three four-character strings)
Items 23-25The machine identifier in integer form (three four-character strings)
Item 26The system record size
Item 27The maximum file length
Item 28The maximum record number
Item 29The number of cores used with shared-memory parallel
Item 30The number of cores used with distributed-memory parallel
Items 31-38The Jobname (eight four-character strings)
Items 41-60The main analysis title in integer form (20 four-character strings)
Items 61-80The first subtitle in integer form (20 four-character strings)
Item 81File compression level
Item 82File sparsification key
Item 95The split point of the file (0 means the file will not split)
Items 97-98LONGINT of the maximum file length