ANSYS_quick_start.pdf

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www.ansys.belcan.com

Getting Started With ANSYS:

by Paul Dufour

Introduction:

ANSYS is a sophisticated and comprehensive finite

element program that has capabilities in many different

physics fields such as static structural, nonlinear, thermal,

implicit and explicit dynamics, fluid flow,

electromagnetics, and electric field analysis. It can also

perform coupled field analysis combining one or more of

these different physics. Obviously because ANSYS is s

a huge program with so many capabilities (even within

one of these physics fields) it is impossible to cover

everything in this short guide. This document will give an introduction as to how the ANSYS progra

works and how these basic skills will be applicable to any type of analysis within ANSYS. The most

important concepts in using ANSYS will be addressed here in a compressed format. The key to

becoming productive in any computer aided engineering program is to start to think like the program

thinks, to get the big picture of how it works in general. That is the primary goal of this guideline.

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A Couple of Preliminaries:

ANSYS is an integrated program with all operations performed under one GUI. Creating the model,

running it, and postprocessing the results are all done without leaving the ANSYS environment.

There are several different ways of working within ANSYS. This stems from the fact that like every

program, ANSYS is driven by commands. The difference between ANSYS and say, Microsoft Word,

is that when you click on an icon in Word, you have no idea what command was executed behind the

scenes to make the program do what you asked. ANSYS gives you easy access to these commands if

you want to use them. These commands are simple to use; just a keyword followed by several

arguments. By stacking these commands together in a text file the power to automate and script

ANSYS is one key reason why I think it is superior to other FEA codes on the market. More on this

powerful scripting capability in a later section.

New ANSYS users generally don’t care much about scripting to start with and just want to figure out

how to do what they want within the GUI environment, and that’s where we will start as well. Each

key concept will be explained as succinctly as possible, then at the end we will do a simple problem

using several different approaches to put it all together.

Starting ANSYS:

When you start ANSYS from the Windows Start Menu you

get three basic choices.

ANSYS Workbench: This is a brand new GUI with an emphasis on CAD connectivity, ease of use, and

easy management of assembly contact. This GUI is covered in a separate guideline.

ANSYS: This starts ANSYS in the traditional GUI. The program starts immediately using the settings

last changed under the next item, “Configure ANSYS Products”. This guideline will cover this GUI.

Configure ANSYS Products: This sounds like something you might use only the first time you fire up

ANSYS, but surprise! Typically this is where you will start the program from every time. This choice

brings up what has been always called the ANSYS Launcher.

Pick your environment: ANSYS

or Workbench, or batch mode.

Any license you have

paid for shows up here.

Start your ANSYS session

with the specified parameters.

File Management Tab:

All files created in this session will be

called jobname.something , and be

created in the working directory

specified here. The default jobname is

“file”. I like to organize my work by different directories and always use the jobname “file”, but this is

a personal preference.

Key ANSYS files you need to know about:

jobname.db – This is your database, where your model is stored.

jobname.dbb – When you save, your existing database file is copied to this before actually saving as a

backup.

jobname.log – Everything you do in a session is written to this file in the form of commands.

jobname.rxx – Results file. xx = st for structural, xx = th for thermal, etc.

Preferences Tab:

The 3D graphics driver allows you to rotate a shaded view of

your model. Most newer graphics cards can handle this fine.

Under the “Profiles” pull down menu you can save settings and easily recall them to quickly start

ANSYS with specific settings that you have defined previously.

The Help System:

ANSYS has excellent documentation available under the help menu in the main GUI window. The

amount and comprehensiveness of information available under the help menu is both a blessing and a

curse. What you want to know is there, but at times it’s hard to dig out due to the sheer amount of

information. A couple of hints:

Use the tutorials found under “Help → ANSYS

Tutorials”. There are nine different tutorials here that

are step by step, mouse click by mouse click instructions

for various types of analysis.

Under the Analysis Guide for each discipline, there are

also step by step instructions with explanations on how

to do each type of simulation. These are well

done…take advantage of them!

Under the Index tab start typing and it will

jump to that section of the list of topics as

shown at left.

When searching, use more than one word

to narrow down the search. To search on

a specific phrase put the words in double

quotes.

The ANSYS GUI:

Utility menu. These are ancillary functions that are not

directly related to creating, solving and selecting results to

look at for your finite element model.

Raise hidden. If a

dialog disappears

behind the main

window, bring it back

with this.

Can type in ANSYS

commands here if you

know them.

Customize this toolbar with

frequently used commands or

create push button automation

with macros assigned to a button.

The Main Menu. Nodes of

the tree expand and

contract. If you collapse a

full branch, it remembers

where you were upon

reopening, so you don’t

have to re-drill down to get

to that item.

Graphics window. This is

where you “plot” things to the

screen.

Manipulate

your model

view with

these buttons.

Look at this! ANSYS will prompt

you for what to do next.

This GUI is fairly easy to use, however there is some “ANSYS-speak” related to basic operation:

Resume: This is opening a previously saved database. It is important to know that if you simply

resume a database, it doesn’t change the jobname. For example: You start ANSYS with a jobname of

“file”. Then you resume mymodel.db , do some work, then save. That save is done to file.db !

Avoid this issue by always resuming using the icon on the toolbar. If you open mymodel.db using

this method, it resumes the model and automatically changes the jobname to mymodel .

Plotting: Contrary to the name, this has nothing to do with sending an image to a plotter or printer.

Plotting in ANSYS refers to drawing something in the graphics window. Generally you plot one type

of entity (lines, elements, etc.) to the screen at a time. If you want to plot more than one kind of entity

use, “Plot → Multiplot”, which by default will plot everything in your model at once.

Plot Controls: This refers to how you want your “plot” to look on the screen (shaded, wireframe,

entity numbers on or off, etc). Other plot control functions include sending an image to a graphics file

or printer.

Mouse Functionality:

Pressing the scroll wheel button is the same as a middle mouse button.

Picking Entities:

Left Button: Picks an entity. Picking is cumulative, so you don’t need to press control or shift to

pick more than one entity. Click and hold the button, then move the cursor around until the entity

you want is highlighted. When you release the button the highlighted entity is selected.

Middle Button: Completes a selection. This is like clicking “Apply” in the picking dialog (also

called “the picker”).

Right Button: Toggle back and forth between “pick” and “unpick” mode. Cursor changes so

you know what mode you in.

Manipulating the Model View: (you can change these defaults to different buttons if desired)

CTRL + Left Button: Pan the model side to side and up and down.

CTRL + Middle Button: Move the mouse left and right to rotate about screen Z. Up and down

zooms in and out.

CTRL + Right Button: Rotate the model.

Right Button: Click and drag the right button to zoom in using a window.

Rolling the scroll wheel also zooms in and out.

Right Button Pop-up Menu:

When you click the right button in the graphics area you get this pop-up with some

very common graphics functions.

• ANSYS does not always refresh the graphics screen so “Replot” is very handy.

• “Fit” makes your whole model visible.

• “Zoom Back” will go back to the view the way it was just before you zoomed in.

Importing or Creating Geometry:

Import CAD geometry using “File → Import”. ANSYS comes with IGES support by default but there

are Geometry Interfaces available for Pro/E, CATIA, UG, Solidworks, Parasolid, etc. IGES is the

oldest of these formats and does not work very well for solids, but is OK for wireframe geometry. All

of these geometry interfaces on the ANSYS “Traditional” side perform a translation of the geometry

into an ANSYS Neutral File (.anf) format, which it then reads in. In Workbench there is no

translation, it works with the native CAD format geometry.

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