DAKOTA stands for “Design Analysis toolKit for Optimization and Terascale Applications”. This open-source software is one of the most powerful and versatile tools available to support R&D departments in the design of new products.
With this tool, it is possible to perform:

• Design optimization
• Parameters estimation
• Uncertainty quantification
• Sensitivity analisys

In this section, we will guide you through the installation and setup of the complete environment on Windows 11.

• Download the binary from the DAKOTA sourceFORGE page, into your local download folder. For example:

  C:\Users\userName\Downloads\opt\DAKOTA
  

• We recommend simply extracting the contents of dakota-6.23.0-public-windows.Windows.x64-cli.zip into the default installation folder, for example:

  C:\Program Files\dakota-6.23.0

• In the DAKOTA installation directory, create a batch script file named “DAKOTA_Startup.bat” with the following commands:

  DAKOTA_Startup.batCopy

  @echo off
  path =%path%;C:\Program Files\dakota-6.23.0\bin
  rem Modify this file to change your startup settings for the DAKOTA command window.
  
  set DISPLAY=127.0.0.1:0.0
  set HOME=C:\Users\userName\Documents\optimization\DAKOTA
  
  cd %HOME% ..
  
  cls
  echo.
  echo     DAKOTA v 6.23.0 command window
  echo         usage: type "dakota -i *.in -o *.out > *.stdout"
  echo.

• Create a folder for your optimization tutorials. For examples:

  C:\Users\userName\Documents\optimization\DAKOTA

• Create a desktop shortcut for quick access, with the Target field pointing to the command prompt that executes the DAKOTA_Startup.bat batch file:

  

  

  Destination boxCopy

  %windir%\system32\cmd.exe /k "C:\Users\userName\Downloads\opt\DAKOTA\DAKOTA_Startup.bat"

  From boxCopy

  C:\Users\userName\Documents\optimization\DAKOTA

• You can use this icon file.

• Once this is done, simply double-click the DAKOTA icon, and the Command Prompt will open: