[gmx-users] Lincs all-bonds causing instability in otherwise stable system

Cara Kreck cara.kreck at student.curtin.edu.au
Wed May 20 06:41:21 CEST 2015


Hi everyone,

I never got a reply to my message but I figured out the problem by myself. Just in case anyone else runs into a similar problem I thought I should explain what was wrong and share the solution.

I was using a DMSO topology from the ATB that uses extra bonds to fix the geometry instead of angle or dihedral terms:

[ moleculetype ]
; Name   nrexcl
DMSO     3
[ atoms ]
;  nr  type  resnr  resid  atom  cgnr  charge    mass    total_charge
    1 SDmso    1    DMSO      S    1    0.128  32.0600 
    2 ODmso    1    DMSO      O    1   -0.448  15.9994 
    3 CDmso    1    DMSO      C    1    0.160  15.0350 
    4 CDmso    1    DMSO      C    1    0.160  15.0350      ;  0.000
; total charge of the molecule:   0.000
[ bonds ]
;  ai   aj  funct   c0         c1
    1    2    2   0.1530   8.0400e+06
    1    3    2   0.1938   4.9500e+06
    1    4    2   0.1938   4.9500e+06
    2    3    2   0.2794   2.3900e+06
    2    4    2   0.2794   2.3900e+06
    3    4    2   0.2912   2.1900e+06

This topology is fine to use with SHAKE but LINCS doesn't seem to be able to handle it. When I removed the extra bonds my simulations were able to run with all bonds constrained by LINCS. Then I found appropriate angle and dihedral parameters in the GROMOS ffbonded.itp file to control the geometry again. My topology file now looks like this:

[ moleculetype ]
; Name   nrexcl
DMSO     3
[ atoms ]
;  nr  type  resnr  resid  atom  cgnr  charge    mass    total_charge
    1 SDmso    1    DMSO      S    1    0.128  32.0600 
    2 ODmso    1    DMSO      O    1   -0.448  15.9994 
    3 CDmso    1    DMSO      C    1    0.160  15.0350 
    4 CDmso    1    DMSO      C    1    0.160  15.0350      ;  0.000
; total charge of the molecule:   0.000
[ bonds ]
;  ai   aj  funct   c0         c1
    1    2    2   0.1530   8.0400e+06
    1    3    2   0.1938   4.9500e+06
    1    4    2   0.1938   4.9500e+06
[ angles ]
;  ai   aj   ak  funct   angle     fc
    3    1    4    2    97.40      469.00
    3    1    2    2   106.75      503.00
    4    1    2    2   106.75      503.00
[ dihedrals ]
; GROMOS improper dihedrals
;  ai   aj   ak   al  funct   angle     fc
    1    3    4    2    2   35.26439   334.84617 ; tetrahedral centre

I ran an energy minimisation of a single molecule with the new topology and its geometry overlapped the old one perfectly. So the problem was difficult to diagnose but easy to fix. Especially since I was able to energy minimise the individual molecules with all bonds constrained but the constraints went haywire when everything was combined in the full system. Hopefully I can at least save someone else from wasting 3 weeks trying to get a similar topology to work with LINCS.

Cara


> From: cara.kreck at student.curtin.edu.au
> To: gromacs.org_gmx-users at maillist.sys.kth.se
> Date: Fri, 15 May 2015 14:31:16 +0800
> Subject: [gmx-users] Lincs all-bonds causing instability in otherwise stable	system
> 
> I forgot to include an example of my mdp files. I've tried varying the timestep, running with and without pressure coupling, and obviously changing the constraints as outlined in the previous message:
> 
> integrator               = md
> dt                       = 0.001 ; 1fs
> nsteps                   = 100000 ; 100ps
> comm_grps                = DOPC !DOPC
> nstxout                  = 1000
> nstvout                  = 0
> nstlog                   = 1000
> nstenergy                = 1000
> energygrps               = DOPC !DOPC
> nstcalcenergy            = 5
> nstlist                  = 5
> ns_type                  = grid
> pbc                      = xyz
> rlist                    = 0.8 
> coulombtype              = Reaction-Field
> rcoulomb                 = 1.4
> epsilon_rf               = 62
> vdwtype                  = Cut-off
> rvdw                     = 1.4 
> tcoupl                   = berendsen 
> tc-grps                  = DOPC !DOPC
> tau_t                    = 0.1 0.1
> ref_t                    = 303 303
> ;Pcoupl                   = berendsen
> ;pcoupltype               = semiisotropic
> ;tau_p                    = 1.0 1.0
> ;compressibility          = 4.6e-5 4.6e-5
> ;ref_p                    = 1.0 1.0
> gen_vel                  = no
> constraints              = all-bonds
> constraint_algorithm     = shake
> continuation             = yes
> 
> 
> > From: cara.kreck at student.curtin.edu.au
> > To: gromacs.org_gmx-users at maillist.sys.kth.se
> > Date: Fri, 15 May 2015 14:17:28 +0800
> > Subject: [gmx-users] FW: Lincs all-bonds causing instability in otherwise	stable system
> > 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I am having trouble constraining all-bonds with lincs in a system that is stable using shake all-bonds or lincs h-bonds in gromacs 4.6.7. The previous step using lincs h-bonds gave these energies:
> > 
> >            Step           Time         Lambda
> >          200000      200.00000        0.00000
> > 
> >    Energies (kJ/mol)
> >         G96Bond       G96Angle    Proper Dih.  Improper Dih.          LJ-14
> >     1.76317e+04    2.43132e+04    1.39308e+04    1.55159e+03   -2.91002e+03
> >      Coulomb-14        LJ (SR)        LJ (LR)   Coulomb (SR)   Coulomb (LR)
> >     4.07560e+05   -4.09017e+03   -1.26700e+04   -5.62217e+05   -3.06259e+03
> >        RF excl.      Potential    Kinetic En.   Total Energy    Temperature
> >    -1.24406e+05   -2.44368e+05    9.29185e+04   -1.51450e+05    3.02522e+02
> >  Pressure (bar)   Constr. rmsd
> >    -1.98735e+02    1.95240e-06
> > 
> > However, when I switch to lincs all-bonds the 0 step kinetic energy, temperature, and pressure are dramatically increased, even though continuation=yes and gen_vel=no. The system then quickly crashes. I tried using GMX_MAXCONSTRWARN=-1 and particle decomposition to get past the errors but then it simply stalls without crashing or outputting anything.
> > 
> >            Step           Time         Lambda
> >               0        0.00000        0.00000
> > 
> > Grid: 8 x 8 x 14 cells
> >    Energies (kJ/mol)
> >        G96Angle    Proper Dih.  Improper Dih.          LJ-14     Coulomb-14
> >     2.43132e+04    1.39308e+04    1.55159e+03   -2.91002e+03    4.07560e+05
> >         LJ (SR)        LJ (LR)   Coulomb (SR)   Coulomb (LR)       RF excl.
> >    -4.09017e+03   -1.26700e+04   -5.62217e+05   -3.06259e+03   -1.24406e+05
> >       Potential    Kinetic En.   Total Energy    Temperature Pressure (bar)
> >    -2.62000e+05    4.92862e+05    2.30862e+05    1.93783e+03    1.04858e+04
> >    Constr. rmsd
> >     1.44601e-02
> > 
> > When I instead switch to shake all-bonds (with particle decomposition) I get a similar spike in the kinetic energy etc. but the system is able to recover without crashing. Unfortunately gromacs won't let me use pressure coupling with shake due to my twin-range cut-offs though, so I need to find a way to get lincs to work. I tried switching to lincs all-bonds after 100ps with shake all-bonds, and there was no longer the spike in energies except for the pressure:
> > 
> >            Step           Time         Lambda
> >          100000      100.00000        0.00000
> > 
> >    Energies (kJ/mol)
> >        G96Angle    Proper Dih.  Improper Dih.          LJ-14     Coulomb-14
> >     2.46619e+04    1.38286e+04    1.50388e+03   -2.92380e+03    4.11368e+05
> >         LJ (SR)        LJ (LR)   Coulomb (SR)   Coulomb (LR)       RF excl.
> >    -3.50689e+03   -1.26695e+04   -5.64100e+05   -2.81505e+03   -1.24427e+05
> >       Potential    Kinetic En.   Total Energy    Temperature Pressure (bar)
> >    -2.59079e+05    7.73473e+04   -1.81732e+05    3.04114e+02   -4.16208e+02
> > 
> >            Step           Time         Lambda
> >               0        0.00000        0.00000
> > 
> >    Energies (kJ/mol)
> >        G96Angle    Proper Dih.  Improper Dih.          LJ-14     Coulomb-14
> >     2.46619e+04    1.38286e+04    1.50388e+03   -2.92380e+03    4.11368e+05
> >         LJ (SR)        LJ (LR)   Coulomb (SR)   Coulomb (LR)       RF excl.
> >    -3.50690e+03   -1.26695e+04   -5.64100e+05   -2.81533e+03   -1.24427e+05
> >       Potential    Kinetic En.   Total Energy    Temperature Pressure (bar)
> >    -2.59079e+05    7.73979e+04   -1.81681e+05    3.04313e+02    5.61153e+02
> >    Constr. rmsd
> >     2.45638e-04
> > 
> > However, it still crashes with a domain decomposition error. When I switch back to particle decomposition it stalls again. I then tried decreasing the time-step to 0.1fs and I got lots of these errors before stalling:
> > 
> > WARNING: Listed nonbonded interaction between particles 2485 and 2490
> > at distance 3f which is larger than the table limit 3f nm.
> > 
> > This is likely either a 1,4 interaction, or a listed interaction inside
> > a smaller molecule you are decoupling during a free energy calculation.
> > Since interactions at distances beyond the table cannot be computed,
> > they are skipped until they are inside the table limit again. You will
> > only see this message once, even if it occurs for several interactions.
> > 
> > IMPORTANT: This should not happen in a stable simulation, so there is
> > probably something wrong with your system. Only change the table-extension
> > distance in the mdp file if you are really sure that is the reason.
> > 
> > There were 156 inconsistent shifts. Check your topology
> > There were 190 inconsistent shifts. Check your topology
> > 
> > 
> > Whereas with domain decomposition and a 0.1 fs time-step it still crashes with a domain decomposition error. I don't understand why a system that is perfectly fine with lincs h-bonds and shake all-bonds can be so problematic with lincs all-bonds. Any suggestions?
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > 
> > Cara
> 
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