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DAKOTA, a multilevel parellel object-oriented framework for design optimization, parameter estimation, uncertainty quantification, and sensitivity analysis:version 4.0 uers's manual

Swiler, Laura P.; Giunta, Anthony A.; Hart, William E.; Watson, Jean-Paul W.; Eddy, John P.; Griffin, Joshua G.; Hough, Patricia D.; Kolda, Tamara G.; Martinez-Canales, Monica L.; Williams, Pamela J.; Eldred, Michael S.; Brown, Shannon L.; Adams, Brian M.; Dunlavy, Daniel D.

The DAKOTA (Design Analysis Kit for Optimization and Terascale Applications) toolkit provides a flexible and extensible interface between simulation codes and iterative analysis methods. DAKOTA contains algorithms for optimization with gradient and nongradient-based methods; uncertainty quantification with sampling, reliability, and stochastic finite element methods; parameter estimation with nonlinear least squares methods; and sensitivity/variance analysis with design of experiments and parameter study methods. These capabilities may be used on their own or as components within advanced strategies such as surrogate-based optimization, mixed integer nonlinear programming, or optimization under uncertainty. By employing object-oriented design to implement abstractions of the key components required for iterative systems analyses, the DAKOTA toolkit provides a flexible and extensible problem-solving environment for design and performance analysis of computational models on high performance computers. This report serves as a user's manual for the DAKOTA software and provides capability overviews and procedures for software execution, as well as a variety of example studies.