Dakota Reference Manual: burn_in_samples

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burn_in_samples

Manually specify the burn in period for the MCMC chain.

## Specification

Alias: none

Argument(s): INTEGER

Default: 0

## Description

The burn in period is the number of samples at the beginning of the MCMC chain that are discarded. The resulting chain is less dependent on the starting point of the chain.

Default Behavior

If not specified, no MCMC samples are discarded

Expected Output

If `burn_in_samples` is specified, an additional tabular output file containing the final MCMC chain is generated.

## Examples

Generate a chain of length 1000 and discard the first 100 points, resulting in a chain of length 900.

    method,
        bayes_calibration queso
          chain_samples = 1000 seed = 348
          dram
        proposal_covariance
          diagonal values 1.0e6 1.0e-1
        burn_in_samples 100