ZacrosJob

The ZacrosJob class represents a single zacros calculation. This class is an extension of the PLAMS Job class and so it inherits all its powerful features like e.g. being executed locally or submitted to some external queueing system in a transparent way, or executing your jobs in parallel with a predefined dependency structure. See all configure possibilities on the PLAMS Job class documentation in this link: PLAMS.Job.

The ZacrosJob class constructor requires a Settings object, and the set of objects that defines the system, namely: lattice, mechanism, and the cluster expansion Hamiltonian. See the following lines from our example (see use case system)

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 job = pz.ZacrosJob( settings=sett, lattice=lat,
                     mechanism=[CO_ads, O2_ads, CO_oxi],
                     cluster_expansion=[CO_p, O_p] )

 print(job)

In the previous code, we used the function print() to see the content of the files that are going to be used with Zacros. This output information is separated into 4 sections, each corresponding to the zacros input files: simulation_input.dat, lattice_input.dat, energetics_input.dat, and mechanism_input.dat.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
simulation_input.dat
---------------------------------------------------------------------
random_seed         953129
temperature          500.0
pressure               1.0

snapshots                 on time       0.1
process_statistics        on time       0.1
species_numbers           on time       0.1
event_report      off
max_steps         infinity
max_time          1.0

n_gas_species    3
gas_specs_names              CO           O2          CO2
gas_energies        0.00000e+00  0.00000e+00 -2.33700e+00
gas_molec_weights   2.79949e+01  3.19898e+01  4.39898e+01
gas_molar_fracs     4.50000e-01  5.50000e-01  0.00000e+00

n_surf_species    2
surf_specs_names         CO*        O*
surf_specs_dent            1         1

finish
---------------------------------------------------------------------
lattice_input.dat
---------------------------------------------------------------------
lattice default_choice
  triangular_periodic 1.0 10 3
end_lattice
---------------------------------------------------------------------
energetics_input.dat
---------------------------------------------------------------------
energetics

cluster CO*_0-0
  sites 1
  lattice_state
    1 CO* 1
  site_types 1
  graph_multiplicity 1
  cluster_eng -1.30000e+00
end_cluster

cluster O*_0-0
  sites 1
  lattice_state
    1 O* 1
  site_types 1
  graph_multiplicity 1
  cluster_eng -2.30000e+00
end_cluster

end_energetics
---------------------------------------------------------------------
mechanism_input.dat
---------------------------------------------------------------------
mechanism

step CO_adsorption
  gas_reacs_prods CO -1
  sites 1
  initial
    1 * 1
  final
    1 CO* 1
  site_types 1
  pre_expon  1.00000e+01
  activ_eng  0.00000e+00
end_step

step O2_adsorption
  gas_reacs_prods O2 -1
  sites 2
  neighboring 1-2
  initial
    1 * 1
    2 * 1
  final
    1 O* 1
    2 O* 1
  site_types 1 1
  pre_expon  2.50000e+00
  activ_eng  0.00000e+00
end_step

step CO_oxidation
  gas_reacs_prods CO2 1
  sites 2
  neighboring 1-2
  initial
    1 CO* 1
    2 O* 1
  final
    1 * 1
    2 * 1
  site_types 1 1
  pre_expon  1.00000e+20
  activ_eng  0.00000e+00
end_step

end_mechanism

When running the ZacrosJob calculation (see run() method), all necessary input files for zacros are generated in the job directory (see option name in the constructor), and Zacros is internally executed. Then, all output files generated by Zacros are stored for future reference in the same directory. The information contained in the output files can be easily accessed by using the class ZacrosResults.

API

class ZacrosJob(lattice, mechanism, cluster_expansion, initial_state=None, restart=None, **kwargs)

Create a new ZacrosJob object.

  • lattice – Lattice containing the lattice to be used during the calculation.
  • mechanism – Mechanism containing the mechanisms involed in the calculation.
  • cluster_expansion – ClusterExpansion containing the list of Clusters to use during the simulation.
  • initial_state – Initial state of the system. By default the simulation will use an empty lattice.
  • settings – Settings containing the parameters of the Zacros calculation.
  • name – A string containing the name of the job. All zacros input and output files are stored in a folder with this name. If not supplied, the default name is plamsjob.
  • restart – ZacrosJob object from which the calculation will be restarted
get_input()

It should generate the Zacros input file. But Zacros has several input files. So, we discourage using this function. On the other side, this function is also used as a hash to represent the job univocally. Because of that, we just return its string representation which contains all input files concatenated.

get_simulation_input()

Return a string with the content of simulation_input.dat.

get_lattice_input()

Return a string with the content of the lattice_input.dat file.

get_energetics_input()

Return a string with the content of the energetics_input.dat file.

get_mechanism_input()

Returns a string with the content of the mechanism_input.dat file

get_initial_state_input()

Returns a string with the content of the state_input.dat file

get_restart_input()

Returns a string with the content of the restart.inf file

check()

Look for the normal termination signal in the output. Note, that it does not mean your calculation was successful!

get_runscript()

Generate a runscript for slurm

name is taken from the class attribute _command. -n flag is added if settings.runscript.nproc exists. [>jobname.out] is used based on settings.runscript.stdout_redirect.

classmethod load_external(path, settings=None, finalize=False, restart=None)

Loads an “external job,” a Zacros calculation that either was or was not managed by pyZacros. All input and output files produced during the calculation should be placed in one folder, and path should be the path to this folder. The name of the folder is used as the job name. Example:

import scm.pyzacros as pz
job = ZacrosJob.load_external( path="plams_workdir/plamsjob" )
print(job)
  • path – Path to the folder containing input and output files to restore.
  • settings – The Settings object for the calculation (self.settings) is loaded automatically from the path path. However, by using this option self.settings will be replaced by settings.
  • finalize – If finalize is False, the status of the returned job is copied and results will be restored too. Otherwise, results will not be restored, so the job will need to be executed again.
  • restart – Selects the ZacrosJob to restart from