NLADAPT

Bulk Data Entry Defines parameters for time-stepping and convergence criteria in Nonlinear Analysis.

Format A

NLADAPT parameters which accept a single value per parameter.

(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)	(9)	(10)
NLADAPT	`ID`	`PARAM1`	`VALUE`	`PARAM2`	`VALUE`	`PARAM3`	`VALUE`
		`PARAM4`	`VALUE`	`PARAM5`	`VALUE`	`PARAM6`	`VALUE`

Format B

NLADAPT parameters which accept two values per parameter.

(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)	(9)	(10)
NLADAPT	`ID`	`PARAM1`	`VALUE1`	`VALUE2`	`PARAM2`	`VALUE1`	`VALUE2`
		`PARAM3`	`VALUE1`	`VALUE2`	`PARAM4`	`VALUE1`	`VALUE2`

Example A

(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)	(9)	(10)
NLADAPT	23	`NCUTS`	5	`DTMAX`	4.0	`DTMIN`	1.0

Example B

(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)	(9)	(10)
NLADAPT	23	`ERRFINF`	MAX	0.001

Definitions

Field	Contents	SI Unit Example
`ID`	Each NLADAPT Bulk Data Entry should have a unique ID. No default (Integer > 0)
`NCUTS`	Number of cutbacks allowed to reduce the time increment. Default = 5 (Integer > 0)
`DTMAX`	Maximum time increment allowed. No default (Real > 0.0)
`DTMIN`	Minimum time increment allowed. No default (Real > 0.0)
`NOPCL`	Number of grids allowed to have open-close contact status change. 2 (Integer ≥ 0)
`NSTSL`	Number of grids allowed to have stick-slip contact status change when the current time step converged. No default (Integer ≥ 0)
`EXTRA`	LINEAR Activates linear extrapolation in the Newton-Raphson method. The displacement value from the previous load increment is used as the initial guess for the current load increment. NO (Default) Extrapolation is turned off.
`DIRECT`	NO (Default) Adopt adaptive time increment scheme. Cutback is triggered if the time increment does not converge and none of the stopping criteria are satisfied. YES Adopt fixed time increment. In case of divergence, the run will stop immediately.
`STABILIZ`	Scale factor value to control the stabilization energy limit. 3 YES or 1.0 (Default) Limits stabilization energy to 1.0e-4 times the strain energy. Since the strain energy can vary during the solution, the corresponding maximum stabilization energy for the YES option also varies accordingly. Real > 0.0 The stabilization energy is limited to Scale Factor * 1.0e-4 strain energy. For example, if STABILIZ is set to 2.0, then the stabilization energy is limited to 2.01.0e-4strain energy. Since the strain energy can vary during the solution, the corresponding maximum stabilization energy for the Real > 0.0 option also varies accordingly. Real < 0.0 The negative sign for scale factor simply indicates that the stabilization energy will remain constant throughout the solution. It is calculated using the strain energy at the beginning of the solution. The stabilization energy is equal to Abs(Scale Factor) 1.0e-4 * (Initial strain energy) for the entire solution, where Abs (Scale Factor) indicates the absolute value of the scale factor, and Initial Strain Energy indicates that the initial value of the Strain energy is used for the calculation of stabilization energy for the entire solution. For example, if `STABILIZ` is set to -3.0, then the stabilization energy is set equal to (+3.0)1.0e-4(initial strain energy), and this value is used for the entire solution. Note: For a “buckling” type of phenomenon, which is an unstable problem, in large displacement analysis, a fixed stabilization energy is more stable than a varying one.
`ERRFINF`	Controls the activation of maximum residual grid point force-based convergence criteria. This parameter allows specification of two values. Nonlinear convergence criteria via `ERRFINF`, if active, should be satisfied, in addition to any criteria from NLPARM Bulk Data. MAX Activates grid point force based convergence criteria. If MAX is set, the maximum residual grid point force of any grid should be lower than FTOL*Maximum grid point force. FTOL is defined as the second value to this parameter and the default value is 0.005. No default <FTOL> Specifies the tolerance factor. Default = 0.005 (Real)

Comments

The NLADAPT Bulk Data Entry is selected by the Subcase Information Entry NLADAPT=ID. The NLADAPT Subcase Entry can be specified in any Nonlinear Subcase.

The following table summarizes the support of different fields in NLADAPT for different analysis types.

NLADAPT Field	Small Displacement Nonlinear Analysis (SMDISP)		Large Displacement Nonlinear Analysis (LGDISP)
NLADAPT Field	Static	Transient	Static	Transient
`NCUTS`	Not Supported	Not Supported	Supported	Supported
`DTMAX`	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported
`DTMIN`	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported
`NOPCL`	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported
`NSTSL`	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported
`EXTRA`	Not Supported	Not Supported	Supported	Not Supported
`DIRECT`	Supported	Supported	Supported	Supported
`STABILIZ`	Not Supported	Not Supported	Supported	Supported
`ERRFINF`	Not Supported	Not Supported	Supported	Supported

This is a static stabilization based on viscous damping, where the viscous forces are added to the equilibrium equations. The viscous damping force ( $F_{v}$ ) is:(1)
$F_{v} = c * v$

Where,

$c$

f (Scale factor from STABILIZ, Compliance/Strain energy)

$v$

Velocity of the nodes ( $\frac{d u}{d t}$ ) calculated from the time increment ( $d t$ ).