I have a problem not listed here

You experience a problem that is not described here nor in the Readme? You have searched our forum at http://www.cervenka.cz/forum/index.php and could still not find any solution? Please send us your model (.cc3, .cc2, or .gid, without results, ZIPped), the version you are using, your WR (ATENA user ID from the "About" dialog), and a description of the problem.

Dead weight was not correctly applied in analysis in ATENA 3D 4.1.x

Body load (dead weight) was not correctly taken into account in ATENA 3D 4.1.x prior to 4.1.3g. The problem did NOT occur in ATENA-GiD, AtenaWin, or ATENA 2D. A patch is available for download http://www.cervenka.cz/downloads/atena-4.1.3g-patch. The problem is also solved in ATENA 4.1.4.

Problem restoring minimized Atena3D window

Atena 3D v4 sometimes can not be restored by clicking when minimized into the Windows taskbar. If this occurs, please open the Task Manager (Shift+Ctrl+Esc) and restore the window using the "Switch to" command in the context menu brought by right-clicking Atena 3D in the applications list.

Out of memory error during Atena analysis

If you can not make your model smaller (e.g., by making use of symmetry or a coarser mesh etc.), you can switch from the standard direct band matrix solver to one of the sparse iterative solvers (ICCG or DCG), which have considerably lower memory requirements. See section "3.8.1.1 Analysis information" in the ATENA 3D Users Manual for details.

I get the warning "Convergence criteria (within line search) not satisfied due to eta limit, continuing superordinate iteration" during analysis, what does it mean?

It is a warning about the line search iterations. Line search method is explained in the Theory manual in chapter 4.5 page 180. This method only helps to stabilize the convergence process. Normally, the solution parameters are defined such that only 1-2 line search iterations are performed in each step. Thus, it is quite normal that it is not enough for this method to fully converge, but it is not a problem and the main important thing is that at the end each analysis step converges. This you can for instance check in the menu Data | Analysis progress information in ATENA 3D.

I get the message "The execution is killed due to violation of stop iteration criteria", what does it mean?

If you get the message "The execution is killed due to violation of stop iteration criteria" or "The execution is killed due to violation of stop step criteria" and you do not understand what it means, please read about the Conditional Break Criteria in section 3.8.5.1 Solution parameters of the ATENA 3D User's Manual.

Some GiD examples need to be transformed

Some GiD examples distributed with ATENA need to be transformed to the new version. If you get an

Error in line 2 at xxxxxxxxx.uni: system ATENA is not defined

when opening a project, go to Data-Problem Type-Atena v4 and select again the checked type, e.g. Transport. Then choose "Transform to new problemtype" (Transform, NOT Update - the latter would destroy boundary conditions). After that the project should work normally.

I get the warning "Invalid master-slave" during analysis, what is wrong?

This warning says that there are multiple boundary conditions (constraints) assigned to a node (nodes). This is in most cases NOT an error since only one is applied, while others are ignored. However, a warning message is reported, since the program does no know if it was really an intention and the situation may be a consequence of wrongly assigned BCs.
In a typical case, this message occurs in regions where master-slave conditions meet other boundary conditions (like prescribed displacements), e.g., on a boundary line with displacement constraint, which has its endnode connected to the neighbouring macrolelement (i.e., it belongs to the surface in contact with the other macroelement).
ATENA usually creates double nodes at macroelement boundaries, one node for each macroelement. In this way, each macroelement has its unique entities, which makes the operations with data of macroelements easy, such as adding, deleting, etc. In the solution core, nodes with identical locations, which are kinematically connected, are processed by Dirichlet BC procedure, which puts all prescribed constraints in each DOF together and issues the warning if there is more than one.
Do not worry about this message, although it always makes sense to check the locations of the reported nodes if there is any problem with the model.

I have problems when using the Interface (GAP) material on contacts

The interface material settings with tensile strength, cohesion, and friction coeff. all zero are very likely to cause numerical problems. The friction coefficient is hardly ever lower than 0.1 (maybe except an oiled surface), if you have no better measurement/estimate, 0.3-0.5 are usually not far from reality. Cohesion always has to be greater than (or at least equal to) tensile strength times the friction coefficient, i.e., c => ft mu.
A good starting value for both initial stiffnesses is about 10 times the stiffness of the adjacent elements, i.e., E_concrete / elem_size * 10, e.g., 3.0E+04 MPa / 0.1m * 10 gives 3.e+6 MN/m3 for Knn and Ktt. The residual stiffness values for numerical purposes are recommended about 1/100 - 1/1000 of the initial values.
See Section 4.4.3.2 Interface material in ATENA 2D User's manual and 2.6 Interface Material Model in the Theory manual, especially the paragraphs following Fig. 2-38.

SARA Studio 3D can not start ATENA analysis

SARA Studio 3D can not start ATENA analysis in version 3.3.2. The analysis of the generated samples (.cc3) can be run manually. Or, upgrade to ATENA 4.1.1.

Display problems with "Desktop Composition" in Windows Vista/7

In Windows Vista, "Desktop Composition" has to be disabled if you notice display problems. Right click on the Atena3D and 2D items in the start menu, select Properties, then the Compatibility tab. Check the box "Disable desktop composition".
In some cases, changing the display theme (Control Panel - Appearance and Personalization - Personalization - Theme) to "Windows Classic" can also help with display problems.

Problem meshing geometry created in older ATENA versions

In the case of geometry created in older ATENA versions, sometimes the mesh is not generated for a macroelement and an error is reported. In this case it is necessary to open the problematic macroelement for editing and close it again by clicking "OK" (i.e., recreating it is not required).

Problem with Network Key

Symptoms: when ATENA is started, sometimes there are error messages complaining about the HW key, although the server with the NetHasp Licence Manager and connected Network Key is accessible through the local network.

Reason: another network key is found first

Solution: download the sample NetHasp configuration file nethasp.ini, copy it to the ATENA installation directory, and edit it to set the NH_SERVER_ADDR to the IP address of your Licence Manager server. ATENA should now always find the correct network key first and start normally.

Problem with automatic creation/deletion of interfaces

In ATENA 3.3.1 and older, interfaces were sometimes deleted or not created when a macroelement was added/copied or deleted in Atena 3D, or not deleted when a macroelement was moved.
This is fixed in version 3.3.2, please upgrade. Users of version 3.3.0 and newer with a valid maintenance agreement can download the upgrade online in the downloads section.
With old data, application of the corrected contact checking agorithm has to be triggered by adding and deleting a macroelement.

Change in plasticity model

The return algorithm of the plasticity model has changed in version 3.3.0 (06/09/14). The BETA parameter of the NonLinCementitious2 model now has a different impact on the final results. Specifically, if a standard Poisson's ratio of 0.2 is used, the BETA parameter of the new solver is equal to half of the BETA parameter of the old solver. Hence, all old models with nonzero BETA should be updated.

Problem with some graphics drivers

Some nVidia graphics cards (and other, generally, gaming/office cards) do not work correctly (errors e.g. in rendering the colour scale). For correct display, keep/return to the nVidia 7.x.x.x drivers or decrease the HW acceleration to max. the 2nd position "Disable all but basic accelerations" with drivers 8.x.x.x, 9.x.x.x, and 16x.xx, including 182.50 (6.14.11.8250).
Graphics cards designed for CAD, e.g., nVidia FX series or ATI FireGL/FirePro series, are recommended for ATENA.

Principal strains in 3D material models may show wrong values in the post-processor

The shear terms are not divided by 2 in the calculation of principal values. This affects only the output values. In the calculation of 3D material models, the principal strains are calculated correctly. Problem fixed in version 1.1.2

Principal stresses in 2D material models may show wrong values in the post-processor

This does not affect the calculation, but only the output of results. Problem fixed in version 1.1.2

Sometimes, after lot of editing an error message appears

In this case it is recommended to save your data and start the program again. In most cases this error does not result in any loss of data.

Some materials do not support Tangent predictor

Some materials do not support Tangent predictor. Elastic stiffness is used instead. This concerns the following material types: CC3DCementitious, CC3DNonLinCementitious where the tangent stiffness is supported only for cracking. CC3DBiLinearSteelVonMises, CC3DDruckerPragerPlasticity where the tangent stiffness is not supported at all.

It is not possible to read results created with version 1.1.1 and older of the program

Only input data are backward compatible, so it is necessary to re-calculate old data when new version of the program is installed. Problem fixed in version 1.1.2

Problem with some very old parallel hardlocks in ATENA 3.3.0

Some very old parallel hardlocks (pre-2000, originally supplied with SBETA) do not work properly in Atena 3.3.0. If you experience crashes while generating the FE mesh or starting the analysis, ask for a new HW key, you can choose parallel or USB.

Problem/Fix for ATENA v3.3.0 installation

Problem/Fix for ATENA v3.3.0 installation

Symptoms: after ATENA 3.3.0 is installed, ATENA 2D crashes at startup with an initialisation error in FAVystup.dll or "catasrophic failure".

Reason: some DLLs were not properly registered

Solution: make sure you have administrator rights. Unpack rega2d.zip (e.g. into c:\temp) and run rega2d.bat. Try to run ATENA 2D, it should start normally now.

Reactions are always correctly calculated but they can be wrongly reported in the post-processor in case of:

• inclined supports - only one component of the reaction is shown
• for supports close to the reinforcement. part of the reaction that goes into the reinforcement rod is not shown, but it will appear in the textual output in the node that belongs to the reinforcement and is close to the support condition.
• reaction at a joint which connects too regions will contain the reaction force only from one region and not the other. This may be especially a problem in case of load-displacement diagram monitoring. It is recommended not to monitor reaction or forces at geometrical joints that belong to more than one region. If it is neccessary then the reaction force should be monitored at all nodes with identical coordinates. The total reaction can be then obtained by their summation.

Correct reaction forces can be verified from the text output of the REACTIONS. This problem was partially fixed in version 1.1.3, but full fix exists in version 1.2.2. In this version there are two types of reactions:

• PARTIAL_REACTIONS - some forces appear to be missing, but they can be found in other nodes that are constrained with the node, where the support is applied.
• COMPACT_REACTIONS - these are the reactions that you will be using most of the time. They are not modified by the various constraints due to for instance reinforcement or others.