KS279-RN
November 2004
ANSYS, Inc. is a
UL registered
ISO 9001: 2000
Company.
ANSYS, Inc.
Southpointe
275 Technology Drive
Canonsburg, PA 15317
ansysinfo@ansys.com
http://www.ansys.com
(T) 724-746-3304
(F) 724-514-9494
Table of Contents
1. ANSYS Workbench Products Release Notes .......................................................................................
DesignModeler Release Notes .............................................................................................................
CFX-Mesh Release Notes .....................................................................................................................
Simulation Release Notes ....................................................................................................................
FE Modeler Release Notes ...................................................................................................................
DesignXplorer Release Notes ..............................................................................................................
ANSYS Workbench Products Release Notes . ANSYS Workbench Release 9.0 . KS279-RN . SAS IP, Inc.
11
12
14
16
19
19
vi
A CAD Licensing setting has been added to the Options dialog box, in the Common Settings section.
The setting determines whether CAD licenses will be held throughout an ANSYS Workbench session, or
whether they will be released when not in use.
The Advanced Structural Meshing Module is now included with ANSYS Structural Licenses and above. It
was offered as an option in previous releases.
The ANSLIC_ADMIN utility has been redesigned for better ease-of-use and consistency across Windows
and UNIX platforms. For more information on the ANSLIC_ADMIN utility, see the ANSYS, Inc. Licensing
Guide.
You can now use license borrowing to allow a user to take a license for use outside of the company facility,
such as for an engineer to take a license home on his laptop. To use license borrowing, you must have license keys that specify borrowable licenses. A new borrowing utility, accessible from the ANSLIC_ADMIN
utility, allows you to choose the license(s) you want to borrow, specify the amount of time you want to
borrow them for, and return borrowed licenses early. License borrowing is available only on Windows
platforms. For more information on license borrowing, see the discussion on Using License Borrowing in
the ANSYS, Inc. Licensing Guide.
Platforms
The ANSYS and Workbench product installations are now more consistent between products and across
platforms. On UNIX installations for both ANSYS and Workbench, the option to use the symbolic link is
asked earlier in the installation, at the point where you specify your mount and installation directories. At
Release 9.0, the symbolic link option is on by default.
Workbench products are now supported on Intel IA-32 Linux systems running RedHat 7.3 Kernel 2.4.18.
Parasolid and SAT are both supported on this platform.
Workbench products now support the Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 2 reader on the HP and Sun UNIX platforms.
The STEP reader is available as a beta feature.
CFX-Mesh is now shipped with Workbench products on HP, Sun, and Linux platforms, in addition to
Windows.
ANSYS Workbench Products Release Notes . ANSYS Workbench Release 9.0 . KS279-RN . SAS IP, Inc.
Magnifier Window
A Magnifier Window is now available in DesignModeler, Simulation, FE Modeler, and DesignXplorer VT that allows
users to zoom in to portions of the model. With the model in any state, users can display the Magnifier Window
from a button on the Graphics Toolbar. The window functions as a magnifying glass over the model. Users control
window position, magnification, and overall size using mouse functions and context menu options.
Enclosure Symmetry
The Enclosure feature now supports symmetry models when the shape of the enclosure is a box or a cylinder.
A symmetry model may contain up to three symmetry planes. You can choose either full or partial models to be
included in the enclosure. If a full model is used, symmetry planes will slice off the enclosure feature and only a
portion of the enclosure will be retained. During the model transfer from DesignModeler to Simulation, the enclosure feature with symmetry planes forms two types of named selections: Open Domain and Symmetry Plane.
Go To Feature
When you have a model entity selected in the Model View window, the Go To Feature function is accessible via
the right mouse button. The function allows you to find which feature generated the selected entity. The supported entities are faces, edges, vertices, point feature points (PF points) and bodies. When a body entity is selected, this function will identify the feature that created the body.
Image Capture
The Image Capture tool allows you to save the contents of the graphics view in a standard image file format.
The following file formats are supported:
12
Pattern Feature
The Pattern feature is a tool, found in the Create menu, that allows you to create copies of faces and bodies in
Linear, Circular, and Rectangular patterns. For Linear patterns, a direction and offset distance is required. For
Rectangular patterns, two sets of directions and offsets are needed. For Circular patterns, a rotation axis and
angle are required. To evenly space the instances about the rotation axis, you may set the angle as 0 and
DesignModeler will automatically compute the proper angle for you.
ANSYS Workbench Products Release Notes . ANSYS Workbench Release 9.0 . KS279-RN . SAS IP, Inc.
13
Scripting API
This Scripting Application Program Interface (API) is accessible via the Run Script button in the File menu, which
opens a file browser window where you can select the file to run. Access to DesignModeler functions is accessible
via the prefix 'agb.'
Surface Extension
The Surface Extension feature now includes a new To Surface extent. A target face is chosen through an Apply/Cancel property. The face's underlying surface is used to bound the surface extension.
3D Curve
The 3D Curve feature is a tool, found in the Concept menu, which allows you to create Line Bodies in DesignModeler that are based on existing points or coordinates. Points can be any 2D sketch points, 3D model vertices,
and Point Feature (PF) points. Coordinates are read from text files. The feature's selections are defined by a collection of points. Points in the segment must not coincide. Curves may be both open and closed. A 3D Curve
feature can produce multiple curves when reading the data from files.
Winding Tool
The Winding Tool, accessible via the Tools menu, is used to create winding bodies (a special form of line body)
that represent coils of wire wound through slots of a rotor or stator of a motor. The winding bodies generated
will automatically be named using the phase and coil from the Winding Table. When you select one of these,
you will be shown the cross section size for this coil and the number of turns for it. Unlike standard Line Bodies,
you cannot change the Cross Section or Alignment of its edges. The Winding Tool itself sets these. Like normal
Line Bodies, the display of Winding Bodies is affected by the View options Show Cross Section Alignments, and
Show Cross Section Solids.
Note that standard Cross Sections as created under the Concept menu are not used for Winding bodies. Instead,
the cross section information for a Winding Body is provided in the Winding Table for each coil. These values are
used in a similar way to standard Cross Sections. When DesignModeler parts are transferred to Simulation, information is sent to identifying the Winding Bodies, along with the Number of Turns and the special cross section
information needed.
14
ANSYS Workbench Products Release Notes . ANSYS Workbench Release 9.0 . KS279-RN . SAS IP, Inc.
Inflation Viewing
Several options have been added to improve the viewing of inflated elements, including options which allow
the prism elements to be viewed directly.
Parallel Meshing
CFX-Mesh now allows you to use multiple processors on the same machine to generate the mesh. This speeds
up mesh generation for large meshes, and also allows the creation of larger meshes than could be generated
on a single processor.
Point Selection
The selection of points for Controls and for specifying the rotation axis for a Periodic Pair has been extended.
You can now select points anywhere on the model faces as well as selecting a model vertex or entering coordinates.
Re-initialize Database
You can now re-initialize a database (Clear Settings) so that it contains just the default settings. This allows you
to begin setting up your mesh from scratch again, without requiring the time taken for the geometry to be reread.
ANSYS Workbench Products Release Notes . ANSYS Workbench Release 9.0 . KS279-RN . SAS IP, Inc.
15
Virtual Topology
As a beta feature, CFX-Mesh now allows you to combine faces into Virtual Cells, so that you can mesh across small
surfaces without having to resolve them. This means that you can use fewer nodes and elements to mesh small
faces. See Chapter 7, Virtual Topology for details and limitations.
2-D Simulations. Workbench now supports 2-D simulations from models created in supported CAD systems, or created or attached to DesignModeler, then brought into Simulation.
Nonlinear Material Effects Option. Users now have the option of ignoring nonlinear material effects for
individual bodies using a new setting in the Details View for each body. This avoids the need for defining
duplicate materials. Simply changing the Nonlinear Material Effects option to No causes nonlinear material effects such as plasticity in a structural simulation or data from a BH curve in an electromagnetic
simulation to be ignored for that part.
Material Polarization Setting for Hard Magnetic Materials. A new setting in the Details View of bodies
defined with Hard Linear or Nonlinear magnetic materials allows users to define the material polarization
in either the positive or negative x direction.
Coordinate System Origin Selection. Users can now specify the origin of a local coordinate system by
simply clicking anywhere on the model. This method has been added to the existing methods of specifying
the origin through topology selection or explicit entry of the origin coordinates.
Coordinate System Reference Numbers. Users can now assign specific reference numbers to coordinate
systems listed in ANSYS input files using the new Ansys System and Ansys System Number controls.
These controls are located in the Details View of Coordinate System objects. Manually assigning these
reference numbers facilitates identifying and referencing specific coordinate systems listed in the input
files.
Worksheet View for Coordinate Systems. A Worksheet view is now available for the Coordinate Systems
folder. The view includes a tabular summary of the individual coordinate system items within the folder.
Named Selections from Tree Bodies. Named selections can now be created by selecting bodies under
the Geometry object.
Suppression/Unsuppression and Hide/Show of Bodies Associated with Named Selections from Tree
. Bodies associated with named selections can now be suppressed or unsuppressed, as well as hidden or
displayed through new options available in a context menu that appears using a right mouse button click
on a named selection item.
Hide All Other Bodies. A Hide All Other Bodies context menu option has been added allowing users
to hide all bodies except those selected in the tree or in the Geometry window.
Contact Enhancements
The following contact enhancements have been made at release 9.0:
16
ANSYS Workbench Products Release Notes . ANSYS Workbench Release 9.0 . KS279-RN . SAS IP, Inc.
Contact Global Control for Preventing Same Body Grouping. A global control has been added that
prevents grouping of contact surfaces and edges that lie on the same body. This feature is useful for
avoiding excessive contact search times in the ANSYS solver when there are a large number of
source/content surfaces in a single region, or when defining different contact behaviors on separate regions
with contact of two parts.
Contact Regions Scoped to Named Selections. Contact regions now have an option for scoping to
either a Named Selection or to geometry.
Contact Formulation and Update Stiffness Options Included in DesignSpace License. The Formulation
and Update Stiffness contact region Advanced options are now included at the DesignSpace license
level allowing them to be used at the basic level for contact simulations within Workbench.
Expanded Formulation Support for Contact Surface Body Faces and Edges. The Augmented Lagrange
and Pure Penalty contact Formulation options are now supported for any contacts (Face/Edge or
Edge/Edge) involving surface body edges.
Contact Region Ease of Use Enhancements. Provisions have been added for merging contact regions
that share the same geometry, saving and loading configuration settings to and from an external file, and
resetting default values. These enhancements are included in the context menu for contact regions.
Contact Reactions Available in Local Coordinate Systems and as Parameters. Contact reactions, introduced as part of the Contact Tool in the previous release, now have provisions for display in local coordinate systems and for being declared as parameters for further processing in Workbench.
Meshing Enhancements
The following meshing enhancements have been made at release 9.0:
Match Face Mesh. The Match Face Mesh control adds capability for use in cyclic symmetry applications.
This new control matches the mesh on two faces for non-swept solid parts.
Gap Sizing. A Gap Sizing tool has been added that increases the accuracy of Electromagnetic simulations
by improving mesh refinement across air gaps encountered typically in actuators, and between a rotor
and a stator of a rotating machine.
Straight Sided Element Meshing. An Advanced meshing control has been added for meshing only to
straight sided elements, useful in Electromagnetic simulations.
Loads/Supports Enhancements
The following loads/supports enhancements have been made at release 9.0:
Sequenced Simulations. A sequenced simulation is now configurable from the Environment toolbar
that allows users to apply load steps to more efficiently handle problems with varying loads or to review
results in intermediate stages.
Uniform Temperature. You can apply a uniform temperature to an Environment by entering it in the
Details View.
Acceleration, Standard Earth Gravity, and Rotational Velocity Available in Local Coordinate Systems.
The Acceleration, Standard Earth Gravity, and Rotational Velocity loads can now be defined in local
coordinate systems through a setting in the Details View of the particular load.
ANSYS Workbench Products Release Notes . ANSYS Workbench Release 9.0 . KS279-RN . SAS IP, Inc.
17
Surface Forces Available in Cylindrical Coordinate Systems. Cylindrical coordinate systems may now
be applied to Forces applied to surfaces, to facilitate simulations involving cylindrical symmetry.
Remote Displacement. Remote Displacement joins the list of supports, allowing users the capability for
applying both a displacement and rotation from an arbitrary remote location in space.
Solution Enhancements
The following solution enhancements have been made at release 9.0:
Refinement Depth Control Added to Adaptive Convergence. For adaptive converged solutions, users
can now control the aggressiveness of the mesh refinement.
Number of Processors Setting Added to Details View. Users now have the ability to specify the number
of processors to use during solution under the Solution Details View. Previously, the number of processors
could only be set through the Options dialog box.
Automatic Time Stepping. Users now have the option to turn automatic time stepping on or off, or to
let the program automatically control it.
Results Enhancements
The following results enhancements have been made at release 9.0:
Scoping Results to an Edge/Vertex. Results can now be scoped to multiple edges. A graph showing the
variation of the result along a single scoped edge or contiguous scoped edges is now superimposed over
the result plot and displayed in the Worksheet tab. Prior to this release, the graph was only displayed in
the Worksheet tab.
Beam Stress Results. Beam stresses can now be viewed using a new Beam Tool. The types of beam
stresses available include Direct Stress, Minimum Bending Stress, Maximum Bending Stress, Minimum
Combined Stress, and Maximum Combined Stress.
Electromagnetic Results. It is now possible to solve for electromagnetic results. The types of results
available are Flux Density, Directional Flux Density, Field Intensity, Directional Field Intensity, Force,
Directional Force, Electric Potential, Inductance, and Flux Linkage.
Enhanced Harmonic Results. Users can now request additional contour results and vector plots for
harmonic analyses. Previously, only component stresses, strains and displacements could be displayed.
Now, quantities such as principal stresses and strains, and total displacement can be displayed as well.
Error Results for Structural and Thermal Simulations. Error result items are now available that are
based on stresses (for structural simulations) and heat flux (for thermal simulations). Error result items
help identify regions that would benefit from a more refined mesh for producing more accurate results.
Vector Display Option. A button added to the Results toolbar allows users to view vector results, which
is extremely useful for viewing Electromagnetic results. A Vector Display toolbar is also available with
various options for controlling vector formats to suit specific viewing applications.
Customized Scale Factor for Viewing Deformed Results. The scale factor drop down control in the
Results context toolbar now has a provision for users to enter a customized scale factor as well as using
any of the preset scale factors.
Miscellaneous Enhancements
The following miscellaneous enhancements have been made at release 9.0:
18
Commands objects have replaced the functionality of Preprocessing and Postprocessing Commands
Objects at this release. ANSYS commands from database files in previous releases that are included
in Preprocessing and Postprocessing Commands Objects can be copied and pasted into Commands
objects for use at this release and subsequent releases.
Commands objects can now be added to bodies within Geometry objects and Contact Regions
within Contact objects. Prior to this release, they could be used only at the Environment and Solution
object level.
Input arguments for ANSYS commands have been incorporated into Commands objects.
Commands objects can be renamed to an imported or exported file name. This option is available by
choosing Rename Based on Definition in the context menu that appears from a right mouse button
click on a Commands object.
ANSYS plots that result from Commands objects can now be viewed in Workbench. This feature is
useful for viewing results that are available in ANSYS but not in Workbench.
Tables Enhancements. Values can now be added to or deleted from the probability and inverse probability tables of each parameter, Tables and Charts have been separated in the View Sub-options, and it is
now possible to parameterize statistics for each variable.
Charts Enhancements. It is now possible to view different probability axes for cumulative distribution
function plots.
Sensitivities Enhancements. Sensitivities plots now distinguish between significant and insignificant
input parameters.
ANSYS Workbench Products Release Notes . ANSYS Workbench Release 9.0 . KS279-RN . SAS IP, Inc.
19
DesignXplorer VT Enhancements
The following DX VT enhancements have been made at release 9.0:
Discrete Parameters in DX VT. A DesignXplorer VT solution can now be obtained based on one or more
discrete inputs. This allows the optimization of combinations of discrete variables in order to get an optimal solution that will reduce weight or minimize failure in a design.
Viewing .rsx Files. DesignXplorer VT can now read .rsx files, which contain all solution information for a
solve using the Variational Technology processor (/SX command) in ANSYS VT. The file can be created in
ANSYS or by a DX VT run in Windows.
Automatic Design Points: Specifies a Central Composite Design type for helping to improve response
surface fits for DOE studies.
Number of Gridlines: Enhances the viewing of 2-D/3-D Response Surface charts by controlling the
number of points used by the continuous input parameter axes.
Color Usage: Controls color quality and chart rendering speed for tradeoff charts.
Maximum Mesh Distortion: Controls the overall mesh quality for DX VT.
Correlation Coefficient Calculation Type: Specifies the method for calculating correlation coefficients.
Robust Design
DesignXplorer now supports Robust Design studies, which combine Optimization and Six Sigma Analysis to
optimize Six Sigma Analysis results to minimize the probability of failure.
110
ANSYS Workbench Products Release Notes . ANSYS Workbench Release 9.0 . KS279-RN . SAS IP, Inc.
Snapshots
It is now possible to take snapshots of any response chart, sensitivity chart, spider chart, FEA results, or TradeOff
chart. Snapshots provide quick access to their related graphs and can be renamed or deleted in the Snapshots
view.
TradeOff Studies
Tradeoff studies use multi-objective optimization to define the best subset within the total set of results.
ANSYS Workbench Products Release Notes . ANSYS Workbench Release 9.0 . KS279-RN . SAS IP, Inc.
111