# ParaView error when reading OpenSees VTU files with ASDAbsorbingBoundary

**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-error-when-reading-opensees-vtu-files-with-asdabsorbingboundary/17683
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [August 14, 2026, 1:19pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-error-when-reading-opensees-vtu-files-with-asdabsorbingboundary/17683 "2026-08-14T13:19:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Aliy1766](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@Aliy1766](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Aliy1766)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2026, 1:19pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-error-when-reading-opensees-vtu-files-with-asdabsorbingboundary/17683/1 "2026-08-14T13:19:58Z")

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Hello,

I am using OpenSees for dynamic soil–structure interaction analysis and ParaView for post-processing the results.

My model contains quad soil elements and structural elements. The VTK output works correctly in ParaView when no absorbing boundary elements are used.

However, after adding ASDAbsorbingBoundary elements, ParaView cannot read the generated .vtu files and gives the following error:

Cannot read point data array “Disp” from PointData in piece 0.

The data array in the element may be too short.

The error is repeated for the time steps.

I am using:

recorder vtk NPP\_Results disp accel -dT 0.002

Is ASDAbsorbingBoundary fully supported by the OpenSees VTK recorder? Could these elements cause an inconsistency between the number of mesh points and the Disp PointData array?

What is the recommended way to export an OpenSees model containing ASDAbsorbingBoundary elements to ParaView?

Thank you

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### Author: ![mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/mwestphal/32/17_2.png) [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2026, 12:23pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-error-when-reading-opensees-vtu-files-with-asdabsorbingboundary/17683/2 "2026-08-17T12:23:45Z")

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Please share a non working .vtu file

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Aliy1766](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@Aliy1766](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Aliy1766)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2026, 7:06am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-error-when-reading-opensees-vtu-files-with-asdabsorbingboundary/17683/3 "2026-08-22T07:06:42Z")

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[displacement000000000000000000005.vtu](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/short-url/1EjVWmkvIAFAhtRhXuRVlnAGLo5.vtu) (248.2 KB)

This file is one of several VTU files available in the results folder.

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### Author: ![mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/mwestphal/32/17_2.png) [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2026, 9:56am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-error-when-reading-opensees-vtu-files-with-asdabsorbingboundary/17683/4 "2026-08-24T09:56:39Z")

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Works fine in ParaView 6.1.0 binary release for Linux, which version of ParaView are you using ?

 ![image](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/3X/f/8/f82d73eb2ff4e1b65d2ca13058c7e63e31591160.png)

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### Author: ![cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/cory.quammen/32/11193_2.png) [@cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/cory.quammen)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2026, 4:05pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-error-when-reading-opensees-vtu-files-with-asdabsorbingboundary/17683/5 "2026-08-24T16:05:13Z")

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Error confirmed in ParaView 6.2.0-RC1 on macOS.

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### Author: ![cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/cory.quammen/32/11193_2.png) [@cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/cory.quammen)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2026, 4:07pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-error-when-reading-opensees-vtu-files-with-asdabsorbingboundary/17683/6 "2026-08-24T16:07:37Z")

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Error confirmed also in ParaView 6.1.1 and 5.12.1 on macOS.

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### Author: ![cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/cory.quammen/32/11193_2.png) [@cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/cory.quammen)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2026, 4:16pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-error-when-reading-opensees-vtu-files-with-asdabsorbingboundary/17683/7 "2026-08-24T16:16:54Z")

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There’s nothing obviously wrong with the “Disp” data array definition in the XML file at first glance. The number of values looks to be right. I would need to dig in deeper to see what’s going on.

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### Author: ![mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/mwestphal/32/17_2.png) [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2026, 8:29am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-error-when-reading-opensees-vtu-files-with-asdabsorbingboundary/17683/8 "2026-08-25T08:29:54Z")

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Really strange to see a MacOS / Linux diff tbh
