[QE-users] vc-relax Convergence problem with 'TS' VdW correction

Nicola Marzari nicola.marzari at epfl.ch
Fri Oct 12 21:31:47 CEST 2018


First I would try to have a much, much tighter convergence threshold
than conv_thr = 1.0d-6; I think we use as a standard 0.2d-9 times
the number of atoms - so in your case 4.0d-9, rather than
1.0d-6. If your selfconsistency is poor, your forces are noisy, and the
relaxation slow.

I also note that there is a variable called
ts_vdw_econv_thr ; not sure what it does, but seems relevant.

nicola




On 12/10/2018 16:36, Hooman Yaghoobnejad Asl wrote:
> Dear all,
> I'm experiencing a problem with total force minimization when 
> the vdw_corr = 'TS' is used. Without the vdw_corr option, force 
> minimization completes smoothly, as shown below:
> 
>       Total force =     0.144455     Total SCF correction =     0.002938
>       Total force =     0.096620     Total SCF correction =     0.004258
>       Total force =     0.023833     Total SCF correction =     0.000694
>       Total force =     0.013572     Total SCF correction =     0.000196
>       Total force =     0.013176     Total SCF correction =     0.000775
>       Total force =     0.013520     Total SCF correction =     0.001316
>       Total force =     0.013322     Total SCF correction =     0.000670
>       Total force =     0.013164     Total SCF correction =     0.000897
>       Total force =     0.013634     Total SCF correction =     0.000800
>       Total force =     0.016822     Total SCF correction =     0.000639
>       Total force =     0.015558     Total SCF correction =     0.000354
>       Total force =     0.012359     Total SCF correction =     0.000858
>       Total force =     0.009014     Total SCF correction =     0.000322
>       Total force =     0.007140     Total SCF correction =     0.000338
>       Total force =     0.006073     Total SCF correction =     0.000556
>       Total force =     0.005047     Total SCF correction =     0.000465
>       Total force =     0.004639     Total SCF correction =     0.000050
>       Total force =     0.003113     Total SCF correction =     0.000382
>       Total force =     0.002225     Total SCF correction =     0.000268
>       Total force =     0.001698     Total SCF correction =     0.000156
>       Total force =     0.001505     Total SCF correction =     0.000372
>       Total force =     0.001422     Total SCF correction =     0.000244
>       Total force =     0.001442     Total SCF correction =     0.000420
> However, after implementing the VdW correction, it seems that the forces 
> cannot be minimized further even after 200 ionic steps:
> 
>       Total force =     0.146620     Total SCF correction =     0.003488
>       Total force =     0.108842     Total SCF correction =     0.004843
>       Total force =     0.069519     Total SCF correction =     0.000923
>       Total force =     0.016339     Total SCF correction =     0.002655
>       Total force =     0.015353     Total SCF correction =     0.001041
>       Total force =     0.016188     Total SCF correction =     0.000361
>       Total force =     0.016350     Total SCF correction =     0.000832
>       Total force =     0.015878     Total SCF correction =     0.001654
>       Total force =     0.016273     Total SCF correction =     0.000560
>       Total force =     0.016349     Total SCF correction =     0.000406
>       Total force =     0.015879     Total SCF correction =     0.001403
>       .
>       .
>       .
>       .
>       Total force =     0.015866     Total SCF correction =     0.001214
>       Total force =     0.016279     Total SCF correction =     0.000263
>       Total force =     0.016351     Total SCF correction =     0.000394
>       Total force =     0.015879     Total SCF correction =     0.000394
>       Total force =     0.016277     Total SCF correction =     0.001323
>       Total force =     0.016347     Total SCF correction =     0.000194
>       Total force =     0.015878     Total SCF correction =     0.000606
> I was wondering if anyone can make a comment on this? I'm using QE 6.2 
> on a cluster. Input copied below:
>   &CONTROL
>                         title = 'Li0.5NiO2 NCPP FM VdW ' ,
>                   calculation = 'vc-relax' ,
>                   max_seconds = 86300 ,
>                !    wf_collect = .true. ,
>                        outdir = '/' ,
>                        wfcdir = '/' ,
>                    pseudo_dir = '/scratch/05246/pseudo/' ,
> !restart_mode = 'restart' ,
>                        prefix = 'LNO' ,
>                       disk_io = 'low' ,
>                     verbosity = 'high' ,
> nstep = 200 ,
>   /
>   &SYSTEM
>                         ibrav = 0,
>                     celldm(1) = 1.889726,
>                           nat = 21,
>                          ntyp = 3,
>                       ecutwfc = 80 ,
>                       ecutrho = 320 ,
>                  occupations = 'smearing' ,
>                       degauss = 0.001 ,
>                      smearing = 'gaussian' ,
>                         nspin = 2 ,
>     starting_magnetization(1) = 0.25,
>               vdw_corr = 'TS' ,
>   /
>   &ELECTRONS
>              electron_maxstep = 500,
>                      conv_thr = 1.0d-6 ,
> /
>   &IONS
> /
>   &CELL
> /
> CELL_PARAMETERS {alat}
>    5.790000   0.000000   0.000000
>   -1.447500   2.507144   0.000000
>    0.000000   0.000000  14.221000
> ATOMIC_SPECIES
>     Ni   58.69000   Ni_ONCV_PBE-1.0.upf
>      O    15.99000  O_ONCV_PBE-1.0.upf
>     Li    6.94000   Li_ONCV_PBE-1.0.upf
> ATOMIC_POSITIONS crystal
> O       0.000000   0.000000   0.232000
> O       0.000000   0.000000   0.768000
> O       0.333333   0.333333   0.565333
> O       0.333333   0.333333   0.101333
> O       0.166667   0.666667   0.898667
> O       0.166667   0.666667   0.434667
> Ni     0.000000   0.000000   0.500000
> Ni     0.333333   0.333333   0.833333
> Ni     0.166667   0.666667   0.166667
> Li      0.166667   0.666667   0.666667
> O       0.500000   0.000000   0.232000
> O       0.500000   0.000000   0.768000
> O       0.833333   0.333333   0.565333
> O       0.833333   0.333333   0.101333
> O       0.666667   0.666667   0.898667
> O       0.666667   0.666667   0.434667
> Ni     0.500000   0.000000   0.500000
> Ni     0.833333   0.333333   0.833333
> Ni     0.666667   0.666667   0.166667
> Li      0.500000   0.000000   0.000000
> Li      0.833333   0.333333   0.333333
> K_POINTS automatic
> 4 8 2   0 0 0
> 
> Thank you
> P.S. I benchmarked the wf cut-off energy vs binary oxides for each metal 
> and 80 Ry gave values comparable to 320 Ry.
> 
> -- 
> *Hooman Yaghoobnejad
> *
> *PhD, Department of Chemistry
> *
> *Missouri University of Science and Technology
> *
> *Rolla, MO 65409
> *
> *USA*
> 
> 
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> 


-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Prof Nicola Marzari, Chair of Theory and Simulation of Materials, EPFL
Director, National Centre for Competence in Research NCCR MARVEL, EPFL
http://theossrv1.epfl.ch/Main/Contact http://nccr-marvel.ch/en/project


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