Re: Periodic cell has become too small for original patch grid!

From: Jeffrey J. Potoff (jpotoff_at_chem1.eng.wayne.edu)
Date: Tue Apr 06 2010 - 11:18:24 CDT

Hi Philip,
    This bottom line is that your system is too far away, in terms of
density, from where it wants to go. If you have not done so already,
you should calculate the density of your system and make sure you have
enough water to get you to ~1.0g/cm^3.

If the density seems ok, then you just need to bootstrap off of your
first simulation. Run until NAMD spits the patch grid error, then use
the final configuration to feed into your next simulation. After a
couple iterations you should have a relatively stable density, which
will allow you to run long simulations without worry of the patch grid
error.

I advise against tinkering with the margin, as in most cases you are
masking the real problem and making your simulations (potentially) run
slower.

FYI, The "patch grid error" has been discussed many times on this
mailing list and you should be able to find nearly every possible
"solution" by searching the mailing list archives.
Regards,
    J.

Philip Peartree wrote:
> I tried this, I managed to get 100 ps out of it with the pistonperiod
> and decay as below. I then tried to revert to 100 and 50 and this gave
> periodic cell has become too small errors again, so I tried a less
> drastic stepsize of 500 and 250, the same error. I tried 750 and 375
> and got another 100 ps out of it, but again it failed when I reverted
> to 500 and 250. Anyone got any ideas why this might happen?
>
> Also, is there a difference between using the .restart.coor and the
> normal .coor files?
>
> Philip Peartree
> University of Manchester
>
> On 3 April 2010 00:06, Philip Peartree
> <p.peartree_at_postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
> <mailto:p.peartree_at_postgrad.manchester.ac.uk>> wrote:
>
> That seems like a good idea, I will try that if my re-min doesn't
> solve the problem!
>
>
> On 2 April 2010 23:05, Jeff Wereszczynski
> <jmweresz_at_mccammon.ucsd.edu <mailto:jmweresz_at_mccammon.ucsd.edu>>
> wrote:
>
> I have a different approach to fixing this problem. I believe
> that the underlying cause of this error is that the system is
> resizing too quickly (due to the system pressure being far
> from the specified pressure). To slow the resizing down I
> increase langevinPistonPeriod to 1000 and langevinPistonDecay
> to 500 for a short time when I start the NPT simulation, and
> then switch to the normal values of 100 and 50.
>
> For example, in your case I would do one input file for 100 ps
> with a constraintscaling of 10, langevinPistonPeriod of 1000,
> and a langevinPistonDecay of 500. Then I would load the
> restart files into a new simulation and proceed as you were
> above. Also, by restarting the simulation you are forcing
> NAMD to re-assign the patches, which will help prevent this error.
>
> Hope this helps,
> Jeff
>
> On Fri, Apr 2, 2010 at 1:36 PM, Philip Peartree
> <p.peartree_at_postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
> <mailto:p.peartree_at_postgrad.manchester.ac.uk>> wrote:
>
> Any idea how best to do this? If it's any help, I got
> round this problem with a margin of 5 but then got a pile
> of rattle errors, so I figured it was something wrong with
> my structure, so I'm re-minimizing them for a longer
> number of steps, to see if that helps!
>
>
> On 2 April 2010 19:33, snoze pa <snoze.pa
> <http://snoze.pa>@gmail.com <http://gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> If increase in margin is not helpful then try to
> translate the center
> to PDB file to origin (0,0,0) of the coordinate
> system. Create new PDB
> and PSF files. This helped me a lot many times to
> avoid margin error
> message.
>
> On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 8:27 AM, Philip Peartree
> <p.peartree_at_postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
> <mailto:p.peartree_at_postgrad.manchester.ac.uk>> wrote:
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I'm getting the above error with one of my
> simulations, I read the tips
> > given on here and have increased the margin
> (initially 0) to 2.5 and this
> > has made no difference. Unfortunately I can't
> restart at an earlier stage,
> > as this is the first step of my equilibration. Below
> is my input:
> >
> > #Heating script, change according to correct molecule
> >
> > # input
> > coordinates 2HKM_f_ionized.pdb
> > structure 2HKM_f_ionized.psf
> > binCoordinates 2HKM_f_therm.coor
> > binVelocities 2HKM_f_therm.vel
> > parameters par_ttw_namd.inp ;#
> parameter file for simulation
> > paratypecharmm on
> > extendedSystem 2HKM_f_therm.xsc
> >
> >
> > # output
> > set output 2HKM_f_eq1
> > outputname $output
> > dcdfile ${output}.dcd
> > xstFile ${output}.xst
> > dcdfreq 50
> > xstFreq 50
> >
> > binaryoutput yes
> > binaryrestart yes
> > outputEnergies 100
> > outputTiming 50
> > restartfreq 1000
> >
> > # Basic dynamics
> >
> > exclude scaled1-4
> > 1-4scaling 1
> > COMmotion no
> > dielectric 1.0
> > rigidBonds all
> >
> > # Simulation space partitioning
> >
> > switching on
> > switchdist 12
> > cutoff 14
> > pairlistdist 16
> >
> > # Multiple timestepping
> >
> > firsttimestep 0
> > timestep 1
> > stepspercycle 20
> > nonbondedFreq 2
> > fullElectFrequency 4
> >
> > # PBC (commented out settings not needed with xsc)
> >
> >
> > #cellBasisVector1 82 0 0 ;#set correct basis
> vectors and origin
> > #cellBasisVector2 0 72 0
> > #cellBasisVector3 0 0 83
> > #cellOrigin 5.11 1.78 0.03
> > wrapAll on
> > wrapWater on
> > dcdUnitCell yes
> > useGroupPressure yes
> > useFlexibleCell no
> > useConstantRatio no
> > margin 2.5
> >
> > #PME
> >
> > PME on
> > PMEGridSpacing 1
> >
> > #Langevin Settings
> >
> > langevin on
> > langevinTemp 300
> > langevinDamping 3.0 # 3 for equilibration 1
> > langevinHydrogen off
> >
> > langevinPiston on
> > langevinPistonTarget 1.00 ;# in bar.
> > langevinPistonPeriod 100 ;# in fs.
> > langevinPistonDecay 50
> > langevinPistonTemp 300 ;# set same as
> langevinTemp.
> >
> > # Constraints
> >
> > constraints on
> > consRef 2HKM_f_theq_const.pdb
> > consKFile 2HKM_f_theq_const.pdb
> > consKCol B
> > constraintScaling 10
> >
> >
> > run 100000 ; # run for 100 ps
> >
> > constraintScaling 5
> >
> > run 100000 ; # run for 100 ps
> >
> > constraintScaling 2.5
> >
> > run 100000
> >
> > constraintScaling 1
> >
> > run 100000
> >
> > constraintScaling 0.5
> >
> > run 100000
> >
> > Any help would be appreciated, although I will
> continue to play with things
> > until then!
> >
> > Philip Peartree
> > University of Manchester
> >
>
>
>
>
>

-- 
======================================================================
Jeffrey J. Potoff                         jpotoff_at_chem1.eng.wayne.edu
Associate Professor                       Wayne State University		
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
5050 Anthony Wayne Dr                     Phone:(313)577-9357		
Detroit, MI 48202                         Fax:  (313)578-5815
http://potoff1.eng.wayne.edu
======================================================================

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