Problem

When attempting to open the Transient Analysis Output Log or Transient Analysis Detailed Report, the program crashes with a generic "H&H-HAMMER Stopped Working". For example you may be trying to access the bottom section of the Detailed Report to view extended results for certain elements such as air valves or surge tanks.

Solution

This can happen if the size of the transient output files are excessively large. In some cases the output files could be several hundred megabytes or more, exceeding the ability for the WordPad text editor to be able to open.

First, check the size of the output files after saving the model. These will be located in the same folder as the main hydraulic model files, with the same base file name. The .RPT file is the transient analysis detailed report and the .HUT file is the Transient Analysis Output Log.

Try right clicking on the file and choosing to Open with your text editor. If the file is very large, it could be exceeding the ability of the text editor, or your memory. In such cases, an enhanced text editor such as "Notepad++" could be used. (try opening Notepad++, then browse to the RPT/HUT file)

If the size of the RPT or HUT still exceeds the ability for the text editor to open it, the problem may be with the configuration of the model; it may be generating more output than needed.

First, check the run duration and calculation timestep in the transient solver calculation options. A typical duration is 30-300 seconds, with some cases up to roughly 600-800 seconds. If the entire transient event is a slow-moving one (with respect to the Characteristic Time), then it is recommended that you use a larger calculation timestep, such as 1.0 seconds. You can set this in the transient calculation options or in the Transient Timestep options. If you do this, you will need to (if at all possible), avoid short pipes, as they will be artificially lengthened. See more here:

Understanding length/wave speed adjustments and their impact on results

To reduce the output files further, you can reduce the number of report points in the Transient calculation options to a bare minimum (just the critical areas that you want to graph in the Time Histories tab of the Transient Results Viewer), and other things mentioned here:

"The period between path histories has been increased by a factor of X to limit the number of path records to Y. "

See Also