PERMAS Files

oSP3D supports the INTES file format specification in [7]. However, it can only import a very limited number of keywords of a basic component.

A typical file extension for PERMAS input files is .dat. The oSP3D PERMAS import interface accepts all file extensions and does not distinguish between them. As described in [7], the input file must consist of at least one COMPONENT and one $STRUCTURE bracket. The oSP3D PERMAS import interface is limited to one COMPONENT definition, which is the basic component, and one structure definition.

Compared to the INTES PERMAS syntax in [7], the oSP3D PERMAS import interface supports only some of its syntax elements. The following list, not exhaustive, includes some limitations:

More than 256 characters per physical line are not supported.
The environment variable PERMAS_MAXCOL is ignored. Again, more than 256 characters per line are not supported.
Comments may be inserted in any of the parts of the input file. They are identified by an exclamation mark ! in any column.
Due to the lack of the proper keyword support, data generation is not supported.
Keywords may be arranged in an arbitrary manner and must not follow any PERMAS restrictions to component configurations. Any bracket may appear before and outside any level definition. All keys are automatically aligned to the sole component definition.
Only the default Cartesian component system is supported.
Integer data types may contain decimal points.
Floating point formats may be written in C-syntax only. While the following floating point numbers are legal to the PERMAS format specification, they cause errors in the oSP3D PERMAS import interface:
- 0.7+1
- .70+1
- 70.-1

Due to the PERMAS input interface limitations, each passed PERMAS file must contain a non-empty $ENTER COMPONENT high-level bracket with a valid finite element mesh definition. This definition can be given with the keys in the following table only. All other bracket definitions are ignored. For example, the key $COOR can refer to the implicitly defined Cartesian component system only because no other coordinate system can be defined due to the lack of key support.

Key	Description	Limitations
`$ENTER`	High-level bracket definition	Support restricted to `COMPONENT` only
`$STRUCTURE`	Bracket for input of mesh and utility	Restricted keyword support
`$COOR`	Defines the geometry	Neither the node set definition set automatically nor the usage of a different coordinate system is supported
`$ELEMENT`	Element connectivity definition	Neither the element set definition set automatically nor the usage of a different element type than `TRIM6` is supported
`$NSET`	Defines a node set	Support restricted to `RULE=ITE`M only
`$ESET`	Defines an element set	Support restricted to `RULE=ITEM` only

Note: The oSP3D installation includes a simple PERMAS input file: permas.dat. For more information, see Input File Examples.