ANSYS application integration - ESSS

ANSYS Workbench asan Integration Platformfor CAE SimulationJudd KaiserWorkbench FrameworkProduct Manager2010 ANSYS SouthAmerican ConferenceOctober 20, 2010© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 1 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

Overview• ANSYS application integration• The Workbench SDK• The External Connection addin• The Microsoft Excel addin• Workbench scripting and journaling• CustomizationANSYS Workbench has been engineered from the groundup to be open, extensible, customizable.© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 2 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

Workbench FrameworkApplication IntegrationGeometry Meshing Setup Solve ResultsMeshing Setup Solve ResultsGeometryMeshingSetupSetupSolveSolveResultsApplication IntegrationScriptingFramework ToolkitParameterizationData and Process ManagementComponent applications, covering various phases of thesimulation process, sitting on top of a common framework© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

Workbench FrameworkApplication Integration• Workbench Addin managesapplication/frameworkinteraction:– Actions• Edit, Refresh, Update,…– File management– Associated properties– Data transfer– Parameters© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 4 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

The ANSYS Workbench SoftwareDevelopment Kit (SDK)• The Workbench SDK released with version 13provides the APIs to support data-integration of thirdparty applications:– Data-integration implies that third party applicationsretain their user interface, but are integrated in theWorkbench 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 anadd-in that acts as a proxy for the data-integratedapplication and represents the application in theworkflow defined by the project schematic© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 5 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

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 APIsavailable to add-in developers– How-to guide, that describes the basic frameworkand the project schematic functionality– Microsoft Visual Studio add-in templates that allowfor quick creation of basic add-ins, reducing thelearning curve• Tutorials that make use of the Visual Studio add-ins arepart of the how-to guide© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 6 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

Workbench SDK at ANSYS 13.0• Notes:– The SDK assumes developments done onWindows OS with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008– Windows dlls also run on the Linux platformssupported by Workbench (via Mono)– The SDK does not describe development of„native‟ Workbench applications (such asEngineering Data or Design Explorer)• To be delivered in future versions© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 7 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

Workbench SDK at ANSYS 13.0• Early adopters– nCode (fatigue analysis tool) has beenintegrated in Workbench 12.1 & 13 using apreliminary version of the SDK– The SDK is being investigated by othercompanies for different applications• Parametric geometry deformation• Optimization software• Material properties• Fatigue simulation© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 8 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

External Connection add-in• Simple integration of externalapplication via XMLconfiguration file• Communicates input/outputparameters– Works with design points, andDesignXplorer• WB-visible properties affectexternal code execution© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 9 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

Microsoft Excel Addin• Communicateparameters withWorkbench• Defined via“named ranges”• Advancedcalculator• Explore reducedordermodels© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 10 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

Custom Toolbars• A configuration file candefine custom entriesfor the WorkbenchToolbar and/or Menubar– Read automatically atstart-up– Python scripts can bedefined for executionfrom the custom entriesin the User Interface© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 11 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

Workbench Journaling andScripting• Provides a mechanism to automate simulationprocesses and drive them in batch mode• Workbench user operations are recorded in a journal– Operations affecting the project and native applicationdata model are recorded• Workbench journals can be modified and played asscripts• Workbench journals and scripts are Python-based,object-oriented, and platform-independent• Documentation includes:– Overview, How to Guide, Command Reference,Examples© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 12 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

Support for Scripting of Data-integratedApplications• Many data-integrated applications have their own nativescripting languages– APDL, CCL, Scheme, JScript• Workbench scripting provides a mechanism to passapplication-native scripting commands to data-integratedapplications– The method is called “SendCommand”• Some data-integrated applications also record operationsto the Workbench journal using SendCommand© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 13 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

ANSYS Workbench-basedApplication CustomizationGeometryGeometrycreation/importwizardsFE ModelLoads and BCsCustom wizardsCustom loadsExternal solversupportResultsCustom post-processing© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 14 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

Customized Analysis Tools• Most customizationrequests involveapplication customization• Support for applicationlevelcustomization varies• In general, this requiresANSYS developmentsupport• More scalable approachesare comingCustom Boundary Conditions© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 15 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

Shaping the Future of SimulationGeometry Meshing Setup Solve ResultsMeshing Setup Solve ResultsGeometry Meshing Setup Solve ResultsGeometry MeshingMeshingSetup Solve ResultsResultsSetup SolveApplication IntegrationScriptingFramework ToolkitParameterizationData and Process ManagementApplications will be unified to streamline workflows.Unified applications will be scriptable.Expanded SDK will enable customization.© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 16 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

EKM-based Customization• Web-deployable simulation templates© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 17 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

Summary• Currently, most applications are data-integrated• SDK can be used to data-integrate additional tools• The External Connection provides a lightweight method ofintegrating external tools• The Microsoft Excel addin makes it easy to integrate Excel• Project-level actions are scriptable; application-level scripts canbe embedded• Application customization currently requires somedevelopment-level support• EKM can provide web-based custom simulation tools• The emergence of “Workbench-native” simulation will greatlyexpand and simplify your ability to automate and customizesimulation processes© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 18 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

Thank you!Questions? Please contact:Judd.Kaiser@ansys.com© 2010 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 19 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary