ANSYS ACT guide

Most interesting ACT to complete Workbench’s solutions

V1

1 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Bolt and weld Miscellaneous Simulations

• Bolt Toolkit • Convection

• Weld Strength • Acoustics
• Hydrostatic Fluid exposure
• Exposure of MAPDL Offshore features
Codes assessment
General preprocessing
• ASME Local Strain Assessment
• Pressure Vessels Automatic Paths Creation • Analysis Settings Importer
• ASME Pipe Check • Multi Step Parametric
• Beam End Release • LoadsBodies/Instances Converter
• Wind Load • Mesh Settings
• Spreadsheet Based Load Case Combination
• Stress Envelop
• Linearized Stresses General postprocessing

Fatigue • Modal Mass

• Report Generator
• Weld Fatigue • Extended Probe
• Fatigue Scanning
• Fatigue Crossland

2 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Bolt and weld

3 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 1200 $
Bolt Toolkit
DESCRIPTION

The Bolt Toolkit app simplifies and speeds up the creation

and post processing of bolts. Features includes:

• Pretension on groups of existing bolts (CAD bolts).

• Creation of groups of simplified bolts (NVH-bolts)
with pretension
• Creation of groups of advanced bolts (brick mesh)
with contacts, thread interaction and pretension
• Post processing of the bolt types including
Eurocode 3 and VDI 2230

Target
Energy, construction, Automotive, Consumer Products

4 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 1200 $
Weld Strength
DESCRIPTION

Post processing tool to evaluate weld strength according

to Eurocode 3 for fillet and butt welds. All types of FE-
models can be used; shell/solid, contact/multi-body, with
or without weld geometry

The Weld Strength app can create weld stresses and

forces for one or all load steps (maximum over time)

The app can calculate minimum required weld section

thickness based on one or all load steps.

Target
Energy, construction, Automotive

5 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Codes assessment

6 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 FREE
ASME Local Strain Assessment
DESCRIPTION

Perform local strain assessments according to ASME

Section VIII division 2 part-5 for pressure vessels by
calculating the local strain limit and a usage factor

The calculation will display the Local Strain Limit results as

a contour plot and also give the parameter values

The ACT does not calculate results for shell

This limitation was put there on purpose as the ASME local
strain assessments meant to be used on a well refined
solid mesh in order to capture the true 3D behavior of the
model

Target
Pressure vassels, energy, construction

7 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Pressure Vessels Automatic Paths Creation FREE

DESCRIPTION

Automate the creation of paths & linearized stress results

to meet pressure vessels standards

Target
Pressure vassels, energy, construction

8 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 FREE
ASME Pipe Check
DESCRIPTION

Check stress against established industry codes, such as

ASME B31.8 Gas Transmission & Distribution Piping
Systems

Target
Pipeline, subsea manifolds, Offshore, energy, construction

9 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 FREE
Beam End Release
DESCRIPTION

Expose the end release feature for beam elements and enable advanced graphic
post-processing for beam results

The pre-processing focuses on the end release definition which is available with the
element BEAM 44.

Target

10 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 FREE
Wind Load
DESCRIPTION

This extension expose the capability of apply wind loading

on beam/shell/solid structures per API 4F guideline

Applicable to different geometry types. Either solid, shell

or beam structures can utilize this extension

Wind front faces(windward) detection is programmed

Target
Pipeline, subsea manifolds, Offshore, energy, construction

11 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Spreadsheet Based Load Case Combination FREE

DESCRIPTION

This extension expose the capability of doing load case combination based
on spreadsheet in ANSYS Mechanical

Target
Subsea manifolds, Offshore, energy, construction

12 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 FREE
Stress Envelop
DESCRIPTION

This App allows user to create an Envelope of Max/Min

Stresses over all the time steps (substeps).

User is allowed an option to select any of the six stress

components along with Equivalent and Principal Stresses

This app would help user to identify the Max tensile and
compressive stresses in a multi step Static/Transient analysis
plot.

Target
Subsea manifolds, Offshore, energy, construction

13 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 FREE
Linearized Stresses
DESCRIPTION

Create Linearized Stresses results for Static and Transient

Structural analyses and export them to MS Excel

Target

14 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Fatigue

15 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 2200 $
Weld Fatigue
DESCRIPTION

Post processing tool based on IIW recommendations to

evaluate weld fatigue according to Nominal, Hot-Spot
and Effective Notch method

The Weld Fatigue app can create results for life,

damage, safety factor and stress range along all the
weld sections in the model

The cumulative damage for multiple load cases can be

calculated.

Target
Energy, construction, Automotive

16 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 FREE
Fatigue Scanning
DESCRIPTION

Post processing tool to evaluate maximum stress or strain

range from a selected range of solution steps. Results are
saved in a csv file for external fatigue analysis and plotting
using “CSV Plot”

With the Fatigue Scanning app you select the geometry of

interest (typically a number of faces of a body) and let the
app run all possible load case combinations from the
selected steps.

The result is the highest stress or strain range from the

selected range in the time history

Target
Energy, construction, Automotive

17 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 5000 $
Fatigue Crossland
DESCRIPTION

Fatigue post-processing tool based on the Crossland

criterion for Static and Transient simulations

The computation of the Crossland criterion is based on

two stress fields:
• The stress fields have to come from the same
model (same mesh)
• The stress fields can come from steps of
different analyses, or from two different steps
of the same analysis
• The second stress field can be null

Target
Energy, construction, Automotive

18 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Miscellaneous Simulations

19 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 FREE
Convection
DESCRIPTION

Expose convection with pilot node capability in steady-

state and transient thermal analyses

The Convection ACT extension permits to define a

convection boundary condition connected to an extra
node, its temperature becomes the bulk temperature

This allows to consider the temperature variation of the

fluid

temperature
Target time

20 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 FREE
Acoustics
DESCRIPTION

Expose 3Dacoustic features in Mechanical without

the need for APDL

• Define acoustics properties

• Apply acoustic boundary conditions & loads
• Postprocess acoustic results
• Create customized Results
• Ability to connect a third party solver in a
standard Workbench process

Target
Construction, Automotive, Consumer Products

21 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 FREE
Hydrostatic Fluid exposure
DESCRIPTION

ACT Hydrostatic Fluid extension is a customization made

with ACT to integrate ANSYS hydrostatic fluid element
capabilities in Mechanical

• 2D & 3D analyses
• Create hydrostatic elements and assign fluid material
model Apply boundary conditions & loads:
temperature, pressure, mass flow rate
• Plot hydrostatic results: pressure, volume, mass,
mass flow

Target
Energy, construction

22 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 Exposure of MAPDL Offshore features FREE

DESCRIPTION

ACT Offshore extension is a customization made with ACT to

integrate MAPDL offshore capabilities in Mechanical

Ability to input the basic environment through OCTYPE,BASIC along

with the ability to adjust and graphically view the mean water level
and sea bed level from the global origin

Ability to input ocean current both as a simple and tabular form of

input as handled under OCTYPE, CURR commands at any load step

Ability to control the flooding and the input of local variation of drag
and inertia coefficients based on Z level, Component based as
handled under OCZONE, ZLOC/COMP commands
Target
Offshore

23 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 General preprocessing

24 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 FREE
Analysis Settings Importer
DESCRIPTION

Allows the user to use a .csv file to import analysis time stepping

Step,End Time,Time Stepping,Define By,Initial Step/Time,Min Step/Time,Max Step/Time

1,3600,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
2,7200,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
3,10800,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
4,14400,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
5,18000,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
6,21600,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
7,25200,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
8,28800,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
9,32400,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
10,36000,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
11,39600,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
12,43200,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
13,46800,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
14,50400,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
15,54000,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
16,57600,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
17,61200,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
18,64800,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
19,68400,On,SubSteps,1,1,10
20,72000,On,SubSteps,1,1,10

Target
All

25 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 FREE
Multi Step Parametric Loads
DESCRIPTION

To make parametric a structural load in a multistep

analysis, including transient ones. The loads taken into
consideration are: force, pressure, moment and
displacement

Target
All

26 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 FREE
Bodies/Instances Converter
DESCRIPTION

Simplify repetitive multi-body adjustments by easily

defining group and layer instances of similar yet
independent solid bodies (e.g., bolts, screws, washers, ...)

You only need to modify one to change all same bodies

Target
All repetitive bodies

27 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 FREE
Mesh Settings
DESCRIPTION

Mesh utility tool to export/import all global mesh

settings in Mechanical meshing for re-use in
different Workbench projects

Target
All

28 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 General postprocessing

29 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 FREE
Modal Mass
DESCRIPTION

Allow users to easily view a modal analysis’ effective

mass data without searching through the Solver Output
file

Target
All

30 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 1200 $
Report Generator
DESCRIPTION

Create Word report direct from a Mechanical model

The Word template can be modified by the user

Customer tailored versions can be made to included
additional Mechanical features, section headings
and text objects etc.

Target
All

31 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential

 FREE
Extended Probe
DESCRIPTION

A simple app to measure deformed nodal positions, distances

and angles

The extension consists of a single button, which will be

loaded along with Mechanical GUI when model is opened

This button displays three different behaviors, based on the

number of nodes selected when it is clicked

Target
All

32 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. May 29, 2018 ANSYS Confidential