PETSc error code is: 77 (Petsc has generated inconsistent data)

I am running the PETSc’s TAO solver for nonlinear (bound-constrained)
optimization problems, it worked well in serial.
The FEniCS was installed from the Ubuntu PPA.
However, when it run in parallel, I ended up with following error:

*** -------------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Error:   Unable to successfully call PETSc function 'TaoSolve'.
*** Reason:  PETSc error code is: 77 (Petsc has generated inconsistent data).
*** Where:   This error was encountered inside /build/dolfin-V0jMTP/dolfin-2018.1.0.post1/dolfin/nls/PETScTAOSolver.cpp.
*** Process: 1
*** 
*** DOLFIN version: 2018.1.0
*** Git changeset:  unknown
*** -------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are the MWE (actually it is the demo from dolfin/demo/undocumented/contact-vi-tao/python )

from __future__ import print_function
from dolfin import *
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt


if not has_petsc():
    print("DOLFIN must be compiled with PETSc to run this demo.")
    exit(0)

# Read mesh
mesh = Mesh("../circle_yplane.xml.gz")

# Create function space
V = VectorFunctionSpace(mesh, "Lagrange", 1)

# Define functions
du = TrialFunction(V)            # Incremental displacement
v  = TestFunction(V)             # Test function
u  = Function(V)                 # Displacement from previous iteration
B  = Constant((0.0, -1.5))       # Body force per unit volume

# Kinematics
I = Identity(len(u))  # Identity tensor
F = I + grad(u)             # Deformation gradient
C = F.T*F                   # Right Cauchy-Green tensor

# Invariants of deformation tensors
Ic = tr(C)
J  = det(F)

# Elasticity parameters
E, nu = 10.0, 0.3
mu, lmbda = Constant(E/(2*(1+nu))), Constant(E*nu/((1+nu)*(1-2*nu)))

# Stored strain energy density (compressible neo-Hookean model)
psi = (mu/2)*(Ic-2) - mu*ln(J) + (lmbda/2)*(ln(J))**2

# Total potential energy
Pi = psi*dx - dot(B, u)*dx

# Compute first variation of Pi (directional derivative about u in the
# direction of v)
F = derivative(Pi, u, v)

# Compute Jacobian of F
J = derivative(F, u, du)

# Define the minimisation problem by using OptimisationProblem class
class ContactProblem(OptimisationProblem):

    def __init__(self):
        OptimisationProblem.__init__(self)

    # Objective function
    def f(self, x):
        u.vector()[:] = x
        return assemble(Pi)

    # Gradient of the objective function
    def F(self, b, x):
        u.vector()[:] = x
        assemble(F, tensor=b)

    # Hessian of the objective function
    def J(self, A, x):
        u.vector()[:] = x
        assemble(J, tensor=A)

# The displacement u must be such that the current configuration
# doesn't escape the box [xmin, xmax] x [ymin, ymax]
constraint_u = Expression(("xmax-x[0]", "ymax-x[1]"), xmax=1.0, ymax=1.0, degree=1)
constraint_l = Expression(("xmin-x[0]", "ymin-x[1]"), xmin=-1.0, ymin=-1.0, degree=1)
u_min = interpolate(constraint_l, V)
u_max = interpolate(constraint_u, V)

# Symmetry condition (to block rigid body rotations)
def symmetry_line(x, on_boundary):
    return near(x[0], 0)
bc = DirichletBC(V.sub(0), Constant(0.0), symmetry_line)
bc.apply(u_min.vector())  # BC will be incorporated into the lower
bc.apply(u_max.vector())  # and upper bounds

# Create the PETScTAOSolver
solver = PETScTAOSolver()

# Set some parameters
solver.parameters["method"] = "tron"  # when using gpcg make sure that you have a constant Hessian
# solver.parameters["linear_solver"] = "nash"
solver.parameters["line_search"] = "gpcg"
# solver.parameters["preconditioner"] = "ml_amg"
solver.parameters["monitor_convergence"] = True
solver.parameters["report"] = True

# Uncomment this line to see the available parameters
# info(parameters, True)

# Parse (PETSc) parameters
parameters.parse()

# Solve the problem
solver.solve(ContactProblem(), u.vector(), u_min.vector(), u_max.vector())

# Save solution in XDMF format if available
out = XDMFFile(mesh.mpi_comm(), "u.xdmf")
if has_hdf5():
    out.write(u)
elif MPI.size(mesh.mpi_comm()) == 1:
    encoding = XDMFFile.Encoding_ASCII
    out.write(u, encoding)
else:
    # Save solution in vtk format
    out = File("u.pvd")
    out << u
1 Like

I got suggestion from Drew Parsons in FEniCS slack channel, and upgraded to ubuntu 19.0.4 version, then it solved the problem.

That is, the error arises from PETSc 3.7 (in Ubuntu 18.04 bionic). It doesn’t occur with later versions of PETSc (later Ubuntu releases).