[gmx-users] Re: Chloroform (CHCl3) solvent box for G53a5 force field

Justin A. Lemkul jalemkul at vt.edu
Tue Oct 27 13:03:01 CET 2009



Pablo Englebienne wrote:
> Thanks for the suggestions, Justin.
> 
> I'm still having issues with instabilities and large fluctuations in 
> unconstrained NPT simulations of the CHCl3 box, so I'll appreciate 
> comments from the list on my run parameters. I think there is a problem 
> with the pressure coupling, but I'm not sure what to change to fix it.
> 
> I modified the topology, using the H-Cl and Cl-Cl as bonds, and the H-C 
> and C-Cl bond distances as constraints:
> 
> ---[chcl3.itp]---
> [...]
> 
> [ bonds ]
>    1     3     2    gb_47
>    1     4     2    gb_47
>    1     5     2    gb_47
>    3     4     2    gb_48
>    3     5     2    gb_48
>    4     5     2    gb_48
> 
> [ constraints ]
>    1     2     1    0.1100
>    2     3     1    0.1758
>    2     4     1    0.1758
>    2     5     1    0.1758
> [...]
> ---[chcl3.itp]---
> 
> This prevented the grompp warning message about too many constraints to 
> appear.
> 
> I first minimized the 216-molecule box with the following mdp:
> 
> ---[em.mdp]---
> integrator          =  steep
> nsteps              =  50000
> emtol               =  100
> emstep              =  0.01
> 
> ;
> ;    Electrostatics
> ;
> coulombtype         =  PME
> rlist               =  1
> rcoulomb            =  1.0
> ns_type             =  grid
> nstlist             =  1
> 
> ;
> ;    vdW
> ;
> rvdw                =  1.0
> 
> ;
> ;       PBC
> ;
> pbc            =  xyz
> 
> ;
> ; constraints
> ;
> constraint_algorithm = lincs
> constraints = none
> lincs_iter    = 1
> lincs_order    = 4
> ---[em.mdp]---
> 
> This converged well:
> ---[em.log]---
>   Energies (kJ/mol)
>        G96Bond       G96Angle        LJ (SR)   Coulomb (SR)   Coul. recip.
>    3.05135e+00    4.35449e-01   -5.41548e+03   -2.09196e+01   -2.57100e+01
>      Potential Pressure (bar)  Cons. rmsd ()
>   -5.45863e+03    1.17031e+03    1.50663e-07
> 
> 
> Steepest Descents converged to Fmax < 100 in 297 steps
> Potential Energy  = -5.45862698325888e+03
> Maximum force     =  9.95795243267423e+01 on atom 798
> Norm of force     =  3.22657158607021e+01
> ---[em.log]---
> 
> Then, I heated the system to 300K in an NVT simulation:
> ---[nvt.mdp]---
> ;
> ;NVT equilibration
> ;
> ; Run parameters
> integrator    = md       nsteps        = 25000       dt        = 
> 0.002       ; Output control
> nstxout        = 100       nstvout        = 100       nstenergy    = 
> 100       nstlog        = 100       ; Bond parameters
> continuation    = no       constraint_algorithm = lincs   constraints    
> = none   lincs_iter    = 1       lincs_order    = 4       ; 
> Neighborsearching
> ns_type        = grid       nstlist        = 5       rlist        = 
> 1.0       rcoulomb    = 1.0       rvdw        = 1.0       ; Electrostatics
> coulombtype    = PME       pme_order    = 4       fourierspacing    = 
> 0.16       ; Temperature coupling is on
> tcoupl        = V-rescale   tau_t        = 0.1       tc_grps        = 
> SYSTEM    ref_t        = 300       ; Pressure coupling is off
> pcoupl        = no        ; PBC
> pbc        = xyz       ; Dispersion correction
> DispCorr    = EnerPres   ; Velocity generation
> gen_vel        = yes       gen_temp    = 300       gen_seed    = -1
> ---[nvt.mdp]---
> 
> This simulation yielded a temperature with large fluctuations:
> 
> Energy                      Average       RMSD     Fluct.      Drift  
> Tot-Drift
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> 
> Temperature                 298.899    10.1857    10.1724 -0.0360483   
> -1.80249
> 
> The fluctuations look fairly large, but I'm not sure if these  are 
> reasonable for a 216-molecule system.
> 
> I then applied pressure to the system:
> ---[npt.mdp]---
> ; NPT equilibration
> ; Run parameters
> integrator    = md       nsteps        = 50000       dt        = 
> 0.002       ; Output control
> nstxout        = 100       nstvout        = 100       nstenergy    = 
> 100       nstlog        = 100       ; Bond parameters
> continuation    = yes       constraint_algorithm = lincs   
> constraints    = none       lincs_iter    = 1       lincs_order    = 
> 4       ; Neighborsearching
> ns_type        = grid       nstlist        = 5       rlist        = 
> 1.0       rcoulomb    = 1.0       rvdw        = 1.0       ; Electrostatics
> coulombtype    = PME       pme_order    = 4       fourierspacing    = 
> 0.16       ; Temperature coupling is on
> tcoupl        = V-rescale   tc-grps        = SYSTEM   tau_t        = 
> 0.1   ref_t        = 300   ; Pressure coupling is on
> pcoupl        = Parrinello-Rahman   pcoupltype    = isotropic   
> tau_p        = 2.0       ref_p        = 1.0       compressibility = 
> 1e-4   ; Periodic boundary conditions
> pbc        = xyz       ; Dispersion correction
> DispCorr    = EnerPres   ; Velocity generation
> gen_vel        = no
> ---[npt.mdp]---
> 
> This simulation yields large fluctuations of temperature as well:
> 
> 
> I tried playing around with the value of tau_p:
> 
> - tau_p = 5.0 ==> slow increase of density, not stable after 100 ps; 
> temperature with similar fluctuations as NVT (300K, RMSD 9); pressure 
> starts oscillating wildly after ~10 ps
> - tau_p = 2.0 ==> increase of density, not stable at end of simulation; 
> huge fluctuations in potential energy (-4000 kJ; RMSD 1000)
> - tau_p = 1.0 ==> increase of Density to 1850 in the first 10ps, then 
> stable with fluctuations of ~34 in the remaining 90ps; potential energy 
> with huge fluctuations
> - tau_p = 0.2 (as used in Mol. Phys. 1994, 83, 381) ==> LINCS warnings 
> and posterior crash:
> 
> Step 23, time 0.046 (ps)  LINCS WARNING
> relative constraint deviation after LINCS:
> rms 0.079726, max 0.094860 (between atoms 672 and 673)
> bonds that rotated more than 30 degrees:
> atom 1 atom 2  angle  previous, current, constraint length
>    242    243   36.2    0.2504   0.1919      0.1758
> [...]
> -------------------------------------------------------
> Program mdrun_mpi_d, VERSION 4.0.5
> Source code file: nsgrid.c, line: 357
> 
> Range checking error:
> Explanation: During neighborsearching, we assign each particle to a grid
> based on its coordinates. If your system contains collisions or parameter
> errors that give particles very high velocities you might end up with some
> coordinates being +-Infinity or NaN (not-a-number). Obviously, we cannot
> put these on a grid, so this is usually where we detect those errors.
> Make sure your system is properly energy-minimized and that the potential
> energy seems reasonable before trying again.
> 
> Variable ci has value -2147483631. It should have been within [ 0 .. 84 ]
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 
> I'll appreciate pointers as to what to try next!
> 

If not all your bonds are constraints, you may have to use dt = 0.001.  Also, 
for the initial equilibration, you might try the Berendsen weak coupling method, 
then after the system stabilizes, switch to Parrinello-Rahman.

-Justin

> Regards,
> Pablo
> 

-- 
========================================

Justin A. Lemkul
Ph.D. Candidate
ICTAS Doctoral Scholar
Department of Biochemistry
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA
jalemkul[at]vt.edu | (540) 231-9080
http://www.bevanlab.biochem.vt.edu/Pages/Personal/justin

========================================



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