Introduction to ANSYS nCode DesignLife
Customer Training Material
Lecture 3: Workbench/DesignLife
Integration
Introduction to ANSYS nCode DesignLife
L3-2 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
© 2013 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. Release 14.5
April 20133
Customer Training Material Agenda
• Review Workbench interface
• Discuss accessing ANSYS nCode DesignLife
• Discuss transferring data from ANSYS Mechanical to DesignLife
• Explain management of DesignLife files
• Review DesignLife material library
• Discuss interaction of ANSYS nCode DesignLife and Workbench
Parameter Manager
Introduction to ANSYS nCode DesignLife
L3-3 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
© 2013 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. Release 14.5
April 20133
Customer Training Material Workbench Overview
• Workbench is the interface used to host ANSYS products and
interact with CAD systems and other third-party software
• Workbench environment supports two types of applications
– native applications that run within the Workbench window
• Parameter Manager, Engineering Data, etc.
– data integrated applications that open in a separate window
• ANSYS Mechanical, ANSYS nCode DesignLife, etc.
Introduction to ANSYS nCode DesignLife
L3-4 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
© 2013 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. Release 14.5
April 20133
Customer Training Material Workbench Environment
• Workbench environment is divided into 2 primary sections
Toolbox Project Schematic
Introduction to ANSYS nCode DesignLife
L3-5 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
© 2013 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. Release 14.5
April 20133
Customer Training Material Toolbox
• Analysis Systems
– predefined analysis templates
• Component Systems
– individual applications used to build analysis systems
• Custom Systems
– predefined coupled-field analysis systems
• Design Exploration
– parameter manager
– optimization tools
Introduction to ANSYS nCode DesignLife
L3-6 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
© 2013 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. Release 14.5
April 20133
Customer Training Material Project Schematic
• Project schematic contains a graphical representation of the workflow
– toolbox entities are dropped into project schematic to create workflow
Introduction to ANSYS nCode DesignLife
L3-7 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
© 2013 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. Release 14.5
April 20133
Customer Training Material Accessing DesignLife
• ANSYS nCode DesignLife is accessed from WB project page
– 7 pre-defined DesignLife workflows are stored in the Toolbox
– can be used “as-is” or modified
– user-defined DesignLife workflows can be added to the Toolbox
Introduction to ANSYS nCode DesignLife
L3-8 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
© 2013 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. Release 14.5
April 20133
Customer Training Material Accessing DesignLife
• To share Engineering Data and transfer Mechanical results, drop a
DesignLife Analysis System onto the Solution cell of the Mechanical
system
Introduction to ANSYS nCode DesignLife
L3-9 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
© 2013 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. Release 14.5
April 20133
Customer Training Material Transferring WB Data to DesignLife
• When DesignLife system is linked to Engineering Data cell of
Mechanical system, ANSYS nCode DesignLife opens ds.dat file and
reads
– unit system
– material information
– Named Selections (optional)
Introduction to ANSYS nCode DesignLife
L3-10 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
© 2013 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. Release 14.5
April 20133
Customer Training Material Transferring WB Data to DesignLife
• When DesignLife system is linked to Solution cell of Mechanical
system, ANSYS nCode DesignLife opens the file.rst file and reads
– node information (numbers, locations, etc.)
– element information (connectivity, attributes, etc.)
– stresses/strains
Introduction to ANSYS nCode DesignLife
L3-11 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
© 2013 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. Release 14.5
April 20133
Customer Training Material File Management
• Workbench uses a project file, project directory, and a group of
subdirectories to manage files associated with a project
– ANSYS nCode DesignLife files are fully managed by WB
• When project is saved, project file (.wbpj) and project directory with
same name are created
– subdirectories are created under the project directory
– including a subdirectory containing the DesignLife files
DesignLife database
Introduction to ANSYS nCode DesignLife
L3-12 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
© 2013 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. Release 14.5
April 20133
Customer Training Material Project Archive File
• Archive utility generates compressed file that contains all project files
– accessed through the “File” menu
– stored in zip format (.wbpz)
– can be unzipped using the “Restore Archive . . . ” utility
– ANSYS nCode DesignLife files are included in the archive
Introduction to ANSYS nCode DesignLife
L3-13 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
© 2013 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. Release 14.5
April 20133
Customer Training Material nCode Material Library
• nCode material library is integrated into Engineering Data
– if nCode library is not exposed, pick add new library button and browse
to find nCode_matml.xml file
– location may vary depending on system
Introduction to ANSYS nCode DesignLife
L3-14 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
© 2013 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. Release 14.5
April 20133
Customer Training Material Parameter Manager
• ANSYS Mechanical and ANSYS nCode DesignLife share the WB
Parameter Manager
• Fatigue life and damage can be passed as parameters from
DesignLife to the WB Parameter Manager
Introduction to ANSYS nCode DesignLife
L3-15 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
© 2013 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. Release 14.5
April 20133
Customer Training Material Summary
• ANSYS nCode DesignLife is integrated into the Workbench platform
– 7 pre-defined DesignLife workflows are stored in the Toolbox
– user-defined DesignLife workflows can be added to the Toolbox
– nCode DesignLife material library integrated into Engineering Data
– ANSYS nCode DesignLife files are fully managed by WB
• stored in project archive
– DesignLife shares the WB Parameter Manager