22.1. Running Autodyn on Windows Platforms

Autodyn, by default, runs in interactive mode, with the graphics window and interface displayed. If desired, you may also run Autodyn in batch mode where no graphics interface is shown. You may experience an increase in speed since the graphics do not need to be generated or refreshed. Also, by running Autodyn in batch mode it is possible to stack jobs to run consecutively while your PC is unattended (for example, overnight).

Autodyn can be executed from the operating system command line and accepts a number of command line arguments. The following command can be used to run Autodyn from the command line:

<installation path>\v242\aisol\AUTODYN\Winx64\AUTODYNWRAPPER.exe -noinput

The following table describes the command line arguments that can be used to control Autodyn file operations and execution behavior at start-up.

Argument	Operation Type	Operation
-noinput	Interactive (Serial\Parallel)	Opens the Autodyn GUI in order to create\execute models manually. In order to run a parallel simulation using the GUI, the -noinput option should be used in combination with the -mpi and -np options described below.
-i "<`Autodyn model file`>"	Batch (Serial\Parallel)	<`Autodyn model file`> is the name of the model file (including the path, if necessary). Using this option will run Autodyn in batch mode.
-beta		When running in batch mode, the model will run without beta options by default. Specifying this option will enable the model to run with beta features on.
-np <`number of worker processes`>	Batch (Parallel)	<`number of worker processes`> must be an integer that indicates the number of worker processes that will be used for the simulation. This option will have no effect on models that do not have the parallel options turned on.
-mpi <`mpi type`>	Batch (Parallel)	<`mpi type`> must be either `intelmpi`, `intelmpi2018`, or `msmpi`. `intelmpi` will run with the default version of Intel MPI (currently 2021.11) which is provided in the Ansys Install. `intelmpi2018` will run with Intel MPI version 2018.3.210 which is also provided with the Ansys Install. `msmpi` runs with Microsoft MPI.
-machines "<`machine name`>"	Batch (Distributed Parallel)	<`machine name`> must be a string containing a list of node names (computer names) that will be used to run the worker executables, and the number of worker processes that will be run on each machine. The master executable is run on the local machine (which is called the head node) by default. The string should be constructed with a machine name followed by a colon followed by the number of workers to be run on the machine. Multiple node definitions should be separated by commas; for example `"MachineA:2,MachineB:3"`.

Note: When running a model with the AUTODYNWRAPPER using Intel MPI, it is assumed that the MPI files used are those included with the Ansys installation. It is possible to specify a different location for the MPI files by setting the environment variable I_MPI_ROOT; for example:

I_MPI_ROOT = C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\oneAPI\mpi\2021.9.0

If running using Intel MPI version 2018 or earlier, you must also specify the –mpi intelmpi2018 option to the AUTODYNWRAPPER.exe.

When running in batch mode, it is possible to request the creation of a save file and to stop the solve process before the end of the run by placing data files in either of the following directories:

The configuration folder. On Windows 10 systems this is: C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Ansys\v242\AUTODYN.
The data folder. This is where the model input and output files are located.

Putting a file named endbat.dat in either of these folders will cause a simulation to stop at the end of the current cycle. Once stopped, Autodyn will delete the endbat.dat file.

Putting a file named savenow.dat in either of these folders will force the simulation to write a restart file at the end of the current cycle. Once the restart file has been written out, Autodyn will delete the savenow.dat file and it must be re-created to write out a new restart file.

An example batch file below shows how to stop a job that is running in batch mode.

REM write out endbat.dat in data directory 
cd /D "D:\Analysis Data" 
echo null>endbat.dat

Autodyn will use the user temporary folder for temporary files and log file creation. This folder must have read/write permission for the user. The location of the folder for Windows 10 systems is C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp.