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Marc Gebhardt, M.Sc.
2024-10-22

Reducing File Size and Loading Time

There are various settings that can be used to influence the file size of models. The following article explains the basic principles and program-specific settings.

The file size of the calculation model can be influenced in different ways. However, it is always a reflection of the information contained in the model. Reducing the file size therefore always involves some loss of information.

Tip

If you have any problems with the loading times, please check the hardware specifications, the storage location of your model file, and the working directory. Using an SSD and a processor with a high turbo clock can lead to a significant acceleration.

Geometric Transfer

One of the most obvious ways to reduce file size is to control the level of detail in the model itself. First and foremost, this concerns geometry. Ask yourself the following questions:

  • What is the goal of my calculation and what do I want to analyze?
  • How much detail does the calculation object need to represent the existing geometry to produce usable results?

For example, if you want to calculate a bridge, the detailed modeling of the decorative elements is a nice gimmick, but does not lead to a significant improvement of the simulation results. The same applies for modeling a skyscraper, where every pipe penetration is included, but the load-bearing effect of the entire structure needs to be analyzed. On the other hand, a detailed analysis of the influence of the hole shape in a steel plate does not require the entire silo to be calculated. In this case, it may be more appropriate to create a defined submodel and apply the load from a less detailed main model.

If you can assume a subordinate interaction, subdividing into submodels may also be useful. Although this will not reduce the overall memory requirements of your project, the loading and computation times may be reduced by the smaller submodels. One way to do this is to use the "Import Support Reactions" load wizard.

If you only need objects for presentation, you do not need to include them in the FE geometry. You can use the "Visual Objects" function. However, if these are used excessively or are very detailed, that is, have a large file size themselves, visual objects can also have an influence that should not be neglected. The same applies to the background layers.

Mesh Fineness / Discretization

The basis of finite element simulations is the decomposition of a problem into solvable sub-problems. This is done by so-called discretization. It is important to exclude the mesh influence in this case. This means that the mesh is so fine that further refinement has no relevant influence on the results. However, this also means that excessively fine-meshed models can be avoided. Without an additional increase in accuracy, this would result in longer computation time and increased memory requirements.

You can control the meshing in RFEM using various mesh settings.. It may be advisable not to refine the entire model if the results depend on the local mesh. For this purpose, RFEM provides the option of local FE mesh refinement. In RFEM 6, you can check the quality of your FE mesh using different quality criteria.

Further information on mesh refinement can be found on the FAQ pages:

Result Selection

The selection of the load to be designed is another important point for reducing file size and calculation time. This can be done by correctly selecting the load cases and their combination using combination expressions and load case relations. It can also be useful to reduce the number of generated combinations.

Furthermore, you do not necessarily need to calculate and save the base load cases when you use load or result combinations for the design.

If you generate enveloping result combinations and can do without saving the partial results, this also reduces the file size. The same applies to saving the results of all load increments when applying loads by increments. It is also possible to automatically determine the number of eigenvalues to be determined in a modal analysis and thus reduce them, if necessary.

Further memory reductions can be found in the result determination. While the result grid of surfaces has no influence on the memory consumption, the number of integration points does. If this is very high for nonlinear material behavior and multilayer surfaces, the memory requirement also increases. The use of nonlinear material behavior itself increases the file size because more results are saved.

If you use the convenient Save as Version function, you should be aware that this may also lead to a significant increase in memory requirements, as all results available at the time of saving are also saved.

Author

Mr. Gebhardt provides technical support for customers of Dlubal Software and takes care of their requests.

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