© 2011 ANSYS, Inc. May 20, 2012 1

An Introduction to Application Customization Toolkit (ACT) and Examples

© 2011 ANSYS, Inc. May 20, 2012 2

• Positioning:

– ACT is an easy-to-use and comprehensive toolkit for performing customization within ANSYS Mechanical

• Key point: Usability

– User skill required for effectively using ACT is somewhere between an application engineer and a programmer, and no need for a compiler

• Targeted-beta at R14 (select customers and partners)

– ACT is scheduled to be released commercially in R14.5

• Components: ACT Module (free for beta) and derived ACT-based extensions (not licensed)

– Both require presence of an ANSYS Mechanical license to run

• Supported & Documented

Snapshot at R14

© 2011 ANSYS, Inc. May 20, 2012 3

• Encapsulate APDL macros: Allows re-use of legacy APDL-scripts and encourages migration from MAPDL to Mechanical via “encapsulated macros”

• MAPDL exposure: Fills the gap between MAPDL solver capabilities and their exposure in ANSYS Mechanical

• New pre-processing features (custom loads and boundary conditions)

• New post-processing features (custom results)

• 3rd party/in-house solver integration (Mechanical GUI)

Scope

© 2011 ANSYS, Inc. May 20, 2012 4

Examples

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FEInfo extension

© 2011 ANSYS, Inc. May 20, 2012 6

• Apply a convective boundary condition to the blade surface in a 2D axi-symmetric analysis

• Instead, expose the same functionality via ACT

2D Convection Load extension

Need to apply a convective boundary condition to this surface

Since the model is 2D, convective boundary condition is allowed only on edges! Using a command snippet we can apply the convection load to the surface!

© 2011 ANSYS, Inc. May 20, 2012 7

! APDL_script_for_convection.inp /prep7 thickness = 0.001 film_coefficient = 200. temperature = 120 cmsel,s,component *GET,n_el,ELEM,0,num,max *GET,mat1, ELEM,n_el,ATTR,MAT et,100,152 keyop,100,8,2. et,1001,131 keyo,1001,3,2 sectype,1001,shell secdata,thickness,mat1 secoff,mid emodif,all,type,1001 emodif,all,secnum,1001 type,100 esurf fini alls /solu esel,s,type,,100 nsle sf,all,conv,film_coefficient,temperature allsel, all APDL WB Mechanical

2D Convection Load extension

© 2011 ANSYS, Inc. May 20, 2012 8

Clamp and Displace extension

Load Step-1: Apply the pressure Allow the body to bend Load Step-2: Clamp the top surface in its deformed state Load Step-3: Apply a deformation to the clamped surface

LS-1

LS-3

LS-2

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Solution using Command Snippet

Definition based on named selection previously defined

LS 2

LS 3

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Solution using ACT

User inputs in the APDL command snippets are translated to ACT properties related to the newly integrated ACT load: • The location provided by the named selection is now defined based on a scoping method compatible with both named selection and direct geometry selection • The load step number for clamping is available from a drop-down menu initialized with the number of steps already defined in the Analysis Settings object • The X Displacement value for the next load step is defined by a new property declared as a length. This makes this property always consistent with the current unit system activated in Mechanical

© 2011 ANSYS, Inc. May 20, 2012 11

Contact Force Vectors extension

• Contact Force is not available for visualization in Mechanical

• In MAPDL, we have access to the contact force components • Using APDL commands, we can get all the force components

• Using ACT, we can access the values and visualize the vectors

The Minimum and Maximum values of the result can be defined as “parameter” to perform DP and DX analysis

!

© 2011 ANSYS, Inc. May 20, 2012 12

Animation of Contact Force Vectors

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Post-process the maximum admissible criteria based on temperature dependent properties in Mechanical

The relevant material property are retrieved directly from EDA

The material property can also be defined by the user directly in Mechanical (user defined property)

Stress Limit Damage extension

© 2011 ANSYS, Inc. May 20, 2012 14

Stress Limit Damage extension

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Node Coupling extension

New extension for specific load creation

The Coupling object

© 2011 ANSYS, Inc. May 20, 2012 16

Sub-modeling extension

Sub-modeling in Mechanical between 2 structural analysis

– Interpolation of displacement (CBDOF) and temperature (BFINT).

– Choose 2D-2D, 3D-3D or 2D axi-3D sub-modeling

– Choose Solid-solid & Shell-shell key or Solid-shell key

– Tabular data for multi-stepping

The sub-modeling extension was developed as an example just to show the possibility. Since, sub-modeling is scheduled to be released natively in Mechanical at R14.5, the extension is not being developed further or distributed.

© 2011 ANSYS, Inc. May 20, 2012 17

Acoustics extension

Expose Acoustics features in Mechanical via ACT

– Define acoustics elements, real constants & material properties

– Apply acoustics boundary conditions & loads

– Plot Far/Near field & Time/Frequency results

– Post process Pressure & SPL

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Example acoustics simulations

Speaker

Underwater

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Tosca integration in Workbench

Tosca structure is an Non-parametric optimization solver (topological optimization)

Initial design

Optimal result

Optimal design

Verification

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Using ACT extensions

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Using the ACT extension for a Project

The “Extensions” option is available in the menu bar of the project page

View log file to review messages generated from the extensions

Extension Manager to Load / Unload available extensions

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Using ACT in Mechanical

Command line editor

Output window

Functions list

Refresh to reload the extensions

Info window

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ACT Extension Basics

• An ACT extension consists of – XML file

• Configures the UI content

• Defines the extensions properties

• Configures behaviors for custom loads and results.

• Binds application events to IronPython script functions.

– IronPython script file • Implements the extensions functionality

• Event driven

– Functions are invoked by application generated events

• Supports access to external libraries

• The script file is typically placed in a folder in the same name as the XML file

• One may have additional files/folders to organize the content better

– E.g. a separate folder for images, other resources etc.

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Extension structure

Pre-Processing object

Post-Processing object

Customization Toolkit

WB Project/Mechanical

Geometry

Mesh

Simulation data

Results

Materials

XML definition

Python scripts

UI

Mechanical toolbar

Events

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Summary

• ACT enables to customize Mechanical application (adding new Pre & Post features) and even allow to integrate third party solver

• ACT is a method to migrate MAPDL automations to Mechanical

– Offers a unified and consistent workflow taking into account legacy automations

• Replacing the command snippets with interactive objects avoids errors and facilitate ease of use

– Take full advantage of the ANSYS Workbench environment and the full portfolio (parametric environment, DX, coupled physics …)

• The ACT based customizations have the same behavior as a standard workbench feature (native object)

• Solutions developed using ACT will work on future WB versions w/o modification

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Discussion and Q/A