2.3.1. Run:Run

The Run page allows the user to run and monitor the simulation file as it is represented in the input editor, and/or to create multiple runs using the input file as the basic input by overriding some parameters.

grab-run-page.gif

2.3.1.1. Ribbon

Input group

Label

Shortcut

Description

add32.gif Add

Ins

Add a new simulation/input or group Groups allow better organisation of runs in the tree

x.gif Delete

Del

Delete the selected runs or spawned jobs

clone.gif Clone

Ctrl-D

Clone/Duplicate the selected runs

loop.gif Loop

Loop on the selected runs. Allows the user to create clones of runs by looping on a user defined variable (define.gif#define) over a range of values.

E.g. Imagine you want to run 9 simulations with varying energy from 10 to 100MeV

Steps:
  • define a variable in the input

    define.gif#define E 0.01

  • use the variable to the beam card

    BEAM.gifBEAM    E: =-E

    The minus is necessary for fluka to treat the function as energy. See below on Function Evaluation Function evaluation

  • Click on the loop button, select the variable E and enter as:

    • Start value: 0.01

    • End value: 0.10

    • Step: 0.01

Click ok.gif OK and 9 runs will be automatically generated.

Tip: You can loop on looped runs to create 2D scans. etc.

up.gif Move Up

Ctrl-Up

Move upwards the selected runs

down.gif Move Down

Ctrl-Dn

Move downwards the selected runs

rename.gif Rename

F2,Ctrl-E

Rename the selected run

export.gif Export

Export/Save selected inputs to files (same as using the null queue)

Job group

Label

Shortcut

Description

queue.gif Queue

The drop down box allows you to select the submit queue. You can define your own queues in the Configuration dialog Preferences}

continue.gif Continue

Find the last random number seed file available for the highlighted run and set it to the “Previous” spin box

attach.gif Attach

Ctrl-t

flair will try to find in which directory the run takes place in order to monitor the progress of the run. Attach is done automatically when submitting a job.

Prev

Select the previous(last) cycle in case you want to continue a run

Note

  • When the Prev field is zero (0) the run input will be re-generated and it will reflect the status of the mater input.

  • When the Prev field is not zero (>0) it will use the EXISTING run input, assuming that this is a continuation of the run

No

Number of cycles to be performed

To

Last cycle to run (To = Prev + No) automatically updated

Action group

Label

Shortcut

Description

clean32.gif Clean

Delete all FLUKA generated files for the selected run. Its a good habit to clean before starting a new run.

STOP.gif Stop Cycle

Creates a fluka.stop file in the temporary directory created by fluka to make a clean stop the present cycle

STOP.gif Stop Run

Creates a rfluka.stop file in the temporary directory created by fluka to make a clean stop the present run

x.gif Kill

Issues a kill -SIGHUP command to the running process. If the user is using a batch system he has to substitute the kill command with the appropriate program

Warning

killing the fluka run, no file will be saved and all results collected up to this point will be lost

refresh32.gif Refresh

Ctrl-R

Progress information is displayed at constant time intervals (~30 sec) defined the preferences dialog f4}. The refresh button will force the update of the progress information when pressed.

run32.gif Run

Ctrl-Enter

Submits a run using the submit command defined in preferences dialog f4}.

2.3.1.2. Fields

Label

Description

Title

Title of the run

Primaries

Override the number of primaries to execute

Rnd RANDOMIZ.gif

Random number seed.

Time

Time limit of run START.gifSTART WHAT(6)

Mode

Select simulation mode default is as the input was created else can be any of FLUKA, Moira, MCNP, PHITS,…

Threads

Number of threads to be used for this run (Moira)

Exe load.gif

Either select one of the default executables for the current mode or any user created executable file

Default Defines

Reset to the default define.gif#define cards

Defines

Preprocessor defines (enable/disable) and change the value. Leaving empty the value it will inherit the one from the master input

To multiple-edit many runs:
  • select the desired runs

  • all fields will be disabled

  • Right-click on the field to enable and change it

Progress

Shows the progress of the run by peaking information from the fluka output file during runtime.

2.3.1.3. Attaching process and progress monitoring

Attaching to process

flair is agnostic on where the run takes place (especially in “cluster” environments), therefore it tries to find a possible running folder and output files based on filenames and time-stamps, in order to monitor the progress of the run. Flair is trying to peek the run information only by looking the status of the output files. It doesn’t make use of the system process information. This way it increases portability across different platforms, and batch systems (see the qfluka example for a substitution of the submit command). The default behaviour of FLUKA is to report the status of the run a few times during the whole run. There in very long runs flair could have difficulties in peeking the correct information. You could force more verbose output in FLUKA with the START.gifSTART card.

Flair will be able to monitor the status only if the run takes place on the same directory. The drawback of this method is that takes some time to attach, and if many runs takes place at the same directory with the same name (highly not recommended) flair will prompt the user to select the current run to attach.

The information will be refreshed every half a minute (defined in the Preferences). During the execution the “Status” will change, initially to Waiting to attach, followed by Running and finally in Finished OK. The program is running decoupled from the flair editor, therefore if you click save on the project and exit the program. The next time you will open the program, flair will try to attach and display the current run status.

Status

A run can have on of the following status
Not Running:

not running of flair is not aware of any run

Waiting to attach:

after submission or clicking the attach.gif Attach button, when flair is searching for possible output files to identify the run

Running:

flair detected possible running output files which are still incomplete since the run takes place (or crashed)

Finished OK:

if all output files have completed successfully

Finished with ERRORS:

if there was a crash detected

Finished interrupted:

if the user has interrupted Stopped the run

* TIMED-OUT *:

if the output files are inactive after few minutes

Warning

if you don’t save the project after the run the program will not know that there was a simulation being executed, and it will not try to attached to it. To force to attach click on the attach.gif Attach button.