Keyword type: step
This option is used to print selected nodal variables in file jobname.frd for subsequent viewing by CalculiX GraphiX. Displacements (key=U),temperatures (key=NT) or reaction forces (key=RF)can be selected. The selected variables are stored for the complete model.
The first occurrence of an *NODE FILE keyword card within a step wipes out all previous nodal variable selections for file output. If no *NODE FILE card is used within a step the selections of the previous step apply. If there is no previous step, and no element variable selection nor nodal variable selection is made for file output, the displacements (U) are stored by default.
Notice that only values in nodes belonging to elements are stored. Values in nodes not belonging to any element (e.g. the rotational node in a *RIGID BODY option) can only be obtained using *NODE PRINT.
The only optional parameter is FREQUENCY, and applies to nonlinear calculations where a step can consist of several increments. Default is FREQUENCY=1, which indicates that the results of all increments will be stored. FREQUENCY=N with N an integer indicates that the results of every Nth increment will be stored. The final results of a step are always stored. If you only want the final results, choose N very big. The value of N applies to *EL FILE, *ELPRINT, *NODE FILE and *NODE PRINT. If the FREQUENCY parameter is used for more than one of these keywords with conflicting values of N, the biggest value applies to all.
First line:
Example: *NODE FILE,FREQUENCY=2 RF,NT
requests the storage of reaction forces and temperatures in the .frd file every second increment.
Example files: beampt, beampo1.