3.3.1.6. GMSH Recorder

The GMSH recorder type is a whole model recorder, that is it is meant to record all the model geometry and metadata along with selecetd response quantities. The output of this recorder is in the .msh file format (legacy version 2) which can be visualized with the gmsh program. This recorder is enabled for use in parallel model (both OpenSeesMP and OpenSeesSP works).

recorder gmsh $fileBaseName $respType

Argument	Type	Description
$fileBaseName	string	base-name of file to which output is sent (see note 1)

$respType	string	a string indicating response requested

Note

This recorder writes several files readable by gmsh. The files are named using the convention be name $fileBaseName.$respType.$rank.msh where $rank is the MPI rank of current processor (always 0 in sequential mode, differs in parallel mode). The mesh information is always outputted (during the first write operation only, typically the first time-step) and stored in the file with name: $fileBaseName.mesh.$rank.msh.
The valid strings for respType are:

disp
vel
accel
partition
eleResponse

Note the response type partition is unique to this recorder type and it contains information on the partition each element was assigned (useful in parallel processing to check model partitioning).

The function returns a value:

SUCCESS: >0 an integer tag that can be used as a handle on the recorder for the remove a recorder in the remove.

FAILURE: -1 recorder command failed (read the log)

Example:

The following examples demonstrate the use of the gmsh recorder command to store displacement results

recorder gmsh results disp

Execution results in the files results.mesh.0.msh (where mesh info is stored) and results.disp.0.msh (where displacement response at each node are stored). In gmsh, open first the mesh file and then merge the disp file into the current model to generate a post-processing view.