MBDyn sim suite

Contents:
-Prerequisites
-Package contents
-Quick-installation

Basic conceptual thoughts

The project is split into several separate modules or parts such that a user can pick just the ones he is interested in and in order to facilitate the update procedure by restricting only to those parts of the project that have been changed and not to upload a complete version of the package for each minor change.
Thus the basic idea is to provide an empty template directory structure as a sort of skeleton which can be individually formed to build a complete system.

Prerequisites

Windows

The model files for MBDyn are platform independent as they have plain ascii text format. The initial cick-off release was developed on Windows/Cygwin so that's currently the only supported platform for which a bunch of binaries is included. So if you are working on Windows and plan to use the included shell scripts you should have a running Cygwin-installation by downloading the:

• setup.exe

Be sure to have the cygwin LIB directory in your path. You can then download all the MBDyn Cygwin binaries in the package:

• bin-Cygwin.zip

See the package description.

GNU/Linux

For other Linux platforms the packages needs to be built from source:

• MBDyn sources
• EasyAnim-sources (Optional)

A Gentoo ebuild has been written for MBDyn 1.2.6 and can be got there. The files directory includes two patches to build MBDyn-1.2.6 with GCC-4.

Package contents

You will find all the packages described here by visiting the download area.

• mbdyn.sim-SKELETON.zip (size: 4KB)
  This file contains the empty(!) template directory structure of the MBDyn-Sim-Suite. Just one file is included in the mbdyn.sim head directory mbdyn.sim\mbdyn_sim_dir_structure.txt which contains a brief explanation of the purpose of the various sub-directories. Unpack the content to a location of your choice where you want the simulation environement to reside.
• bin-Cygwin.zip (size: 6MB , uncompressed 16MB)
  This module contains binary executables for Windows/Cygwin and shell scripts. Unpack the content into the mbdyn.sim head directory. Currently this is the only platform-specific bunch of binaries but other platforms shall/will follow.

  • /bin - subdirectory contains BINARIES for Windows/Cygwin of
    • MBDyn-1.2.6 the heart already compiled for Cygwin
    • EasyAnim (1.3) visualization software for animating results
    • EasyAnimM (1.3) the Milan-modified version of EasyAnim with special adaptions to MBDyn compiled on Cygwin
    • mbdyn2easyanim.sh shell script for conversion of MBDyn bulk data for visualization with EasyAnimM.
    • mbdyn2easyanim.awk command file for awk
  • /_CONTROL_ - subdirectory contains shell scripts (bash) for starting a simulation and converting MBDyn bulk data for visualization with EasyAnimM.
• model.turbine.2_blade-CART.cart_by_PM.MDL.zip (size: 17KB)
  Model of the 2-bladed, teetered CART wind turbine as described by the NREL. Initial draft of Pierangelo Masarati. Unpack the content into the mbdyn.sim head directory.
• model.turbine.3_blade-5MW.draft-007.MDL.zip (size: 650KB)
  Model of a generic 3-bladed 5MW wind turbine as described by the NREL. Unpack the content into the mbdyn.sim head directory.
• model.turbine.2_blade-CART.doc.zip (size: 5MB)
  Documentaton related to CART model. Unpack the content into the mbdyn.sim head directory.
• model.turbine.3_blade-5MW.doc.zip (size: 21MB)
  Documentaton related to generic 5MW turbine model. Unpack the content into the mbdyn.sim head directory.

Quick-installation

1. Unpack the archive 'mbdyn.sim-SKELETON.zip' to a directory of your choice. The archive contains an empty directory structure serving as a template structure for the following package-parts.
   The file 'mbdyn_sim_dir_structure.txt' in the top level directory 'mbdyn.sim' contains some conceptual thoughts of what purpose the various sub-directories are intended for.
2. Choose one / several / all of the archives listed below as their content fits to your needs. Unpack their content into the top level directory