ANSYS Workbench as an Integration Platform for CAE · PDF fileANSYS Workbench as an Integration Platform for CAE Simulation Judd Kaiser Workbench Framework Product Manager 2010 ANSYS

© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 1 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 1 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

ANSYS Workbench as

an Integration Platform

for CAE Simulation

Judd KaiserWorkbench Framework

Product Manager

2010 ANSYS South

American Conference

October 20, 2010

© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 2 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

Overview

• ANSYS application integration

• The Workbench SDK

• The External Connection addin

• The Microsoft Excel addin

• Workbench scripting and journaling

• Customization

ANSYS Workbench has been engineered from the ground

up to be open, extensible, customizable.


Geometry Meshing Setup Solve Results

Meshing Results

Geometry

SolveSetup

Setup Solve

Application Integration

Workbench Framework


Framework Toolkit Data and Process Management

Scripting Parameterization

Component applications, covering various phases of the

simulation process, sitting on top of a common framework

Meshing Setup Solve Results


Workbench Framework


• Workbench Addin manages

application/framework

interaction:

– Actions

• Edit, Refresh, Update,…

– File management

– Associated properties

– Data transfer

– Parameters


The ANSYS Workbench Software

Development Kit (SDK)

• The Workbench SDK released with version 13 provides the APIs to support data-integration of third party applications:

– Data-integration implies that third party applications retain their user interface, but are integrated in the Workbench workflow• Consuming/providing data from other applications

• Defining and consuming parameters

• Using common APIs for file mgmt., state, data transfer, etc..

• The SDK provides the APIs for the development of an add-in that acts as a proxy for the data-integrated application and represents the application in the workflow defined by the project schematic


Workbench SDK at ANSYS 13.0

• The SDK package contains:

– Dlls needed for compilation of the WB framework, not included in the standard distribution

– Reference documentation, including all the APIs available to add-in developers

– How-to guide, that describes the basic framework and the project schematic functionality

– Microsoft Visual Studio add-in templates that allow for quick creation of basic add-ins, reducing the learning curve• Tutorials that make use of the Visual Studio add-ins are

part of the how-to guide



• Notes:

– The SDK assumes developments done on

Windows OS with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008

– Windows dlls also run on the Linux platforms

supported by Workbench (via Mono)

– The SDK does not describe development of

„native‟ Workbench applications (such as

Engineering Data or Design Explorer)

• To be delivered in future versions



• Early adopters

– nCode (fatigue analysis tool) has been

integrated in Workbench 12.1 & 13 using a

preliminary version of the SDK

– The SDK is being investigated by other

companies for different applications

• Parametric geometry deformation

• Optimization software

• Material properties

• Fatigue simulation


External Connection add-in

• Simple integration of external

application via XML

configuration file

• Communicates input/output

parameters

– Works with design points, and

DesignXplorer

• WB-visible properties affect

external code execution


Microsoft Excel Addin

• Communicate

parameters with

Workbench

• Defined via

“named ranges”

• Advanced

calculator

• Explore reduced-

order models


Custom Toolbars

• A configuration file can

define custom entries

for the Workbench

Toolbar and/or Menubar

– Read automatically at

start-up

– Python scripts can be

defined for execution

from the custom entries

in the User Interface


Workbench Journaling and

Scripting

• Provides a mechanism to automate simulation

processes and drive them in batch mode

• Workbench user operations are recorded in a journal

– Operations affecting the project and native application

data model are recorded

• Workbench journals can be modified and played as

scripts

• Workbench journals and scripts are Python-based,

object-oriented, and platform-independent

• Documentation includes:

– Overview, How to Guide, Command Reference,

Examples


Support for Scripting of Data-integrated

Applications

• Many data-integrated applications have their own native

scripting languages

– APDL, CCL, Scheme, JScript

• Workbench scripting provides a mechanism to pass

application-native scripting commands to data-integrated

applications

– The method is called “SendCommand”

• Some data-integrated applications also record operations

to the Workbench journal using SendCommand


ANSYS Workbench-based

Application Customization

Geometry

Geometry

creation/import

wizards

Custom wizards

Custom loads

External solver

support

FE Model

Loads and BCs

Results

Custom post-processing


Customized Analysis Tools

• Most customization

requests involve

application customization

• Support for application-

level customization varies

• In general, this requires

ANSYS development

support

• More scalable approaches

are coming

Custom Boundary Conditions


Meshing Results

Geometry

SolveSetup

Setup Solve

Meshing Setup Solve Results

Shaping the Future of Simulation

Applications will be unified to streamline workflows.

Unified applications will be scriptable.

Expanded SDK will enable customization.


Framework Toolkit Data and Process Management

Scripting Parameterization





EKM-based Customization

• Web-deployable simulation templates


Summary

• Currently, most applications are data-integrated

• SDK can be used to data-integrate additional tools

• The External Connection provides a lightweight method of

integrating external tools

• The Microsoft Excel addin makes it easy to integrate Excel

• Project-level actions are scriptable; application-level scripts can

be embedded

• Application customization currently requires some

development-level support

• EKM can provide web-based custom simulation tools

• The emergence of “Workbench-native” simulation will greatly

expand and simplify your ability to automate and customize

simulation processes


Thank you!

Questions? Please contact:

[email protected]

Documents

ANSYS Workbench as an Integration Platform for CAE · PDF fileANSYS Workbench as an Integration Platform for CAE Simulation Judd Kaiser Workbench Framework Product Manager 2010 ANSYS