ANSYS ED

Workbench Tutorial

Assemblies
And
Contact

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 1 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Introduction – Assemblies

• The ANSYS Workbench represents more than a

general purpose engineering tool.
– It provides a highly integrated engineering
simulation platform.
– Supports multiple multi-physics engineering
solutions.
– Provides bi-directional parametric associativity
with most available CAD systems.
• This exercise is designed to introduce you to the
import and use of “Assemblies” and “Contact” in the
ANSYS Workbench

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 2 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Purpose

• This tutorial is incremental in nature

• It is designed to introduce you to:
– The nature and design of the ANSYS Workbench
User Interface
– The concepts of ANSYS Workbench Projects and
Applets
– The integrated nature of ANSYS Workbench
technology
– The power of the ANSYS Workbench in using
applied parametric modeling and simulation
techniques to provide quality engineering solutions

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Using “Assemblies”

• The methods taught in this tutorial apply

equally well to both attached CAD and
DesignModeler files.
• For the purposes of this tutorial we will be
using the DesignModeler file produced in
Exercise 4 of this tutorial.
• When using attached CAD systems auto-
contact generation works with parts imported
from from your CAD models.

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 4 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Using “Contact Regions”

• Contact regions generated by auto-contact in

the ANSYS Workbench allow you to define
and refine the relations between various parts
in an assembly.
• Contact regions can also be used to define
joint relationships for Multi-body dynamics.

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 5 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Getting Started

If you are starting Exercise 5 without previously

completing Exercise 4 copy the following file to a
local working directory

…\ANSYS ED Tutorial\Samples\Exercise4.wbdb
…\ANSYS ED Tutorial\Samples\Exercise4.agdb
…\ANSYS ED Tutorial\Samples\Exercise4.dsdb
…\ANSYS ED Tutorial\Samples\Exercise4.eddb

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 6 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Getting Started

Launch the ANSYS Workbench

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 7 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Exercise 5 Outline

1. Cloning Projects
2. Creating Planes and Sketches
3. Building an Assembly
4. Configuring Contact
5. Re-Scoping Named Selections (supports)
6. Solving a modified design

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 8 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Opening your Exercise4 files

Make sure that the

Open: pull-down is
set to “Workbench
Projects”

Browse for and Open Exercise4.wbdb

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 9 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
 Step 1A _ Renaming Projects

2. Left mouse click on the Exercise 4 geometry and open it

Note: This Project now

references files from
Exercise4

1. Select “File>Save As” and save

your project as
“Exerecise5.wbdb”

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 10 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Step 1B – Renaming Geometry

2. Select the folder tab and return to the Project Page

1. Select “Save As” and save your

geometry as “Exercise5.agdb”

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 11 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Step 1C – Renaming Geometry

1. Select (left mouse click) and

rename your geometry in the
Project Tree

2. Select and open your previous Simulation

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 12 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Step 1D – Renaming Simulation

2. Select the folder tab and return to the Project Page

1. Select “Save As” and save your

Simulation as “Exercise5.dsdb”

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 13 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Step 1E – Validate and Save

3. Select and
return to your
Geometry

1. Check to make sure that all your

files now reflect Exercise 5

2. Select
“Save All”

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 14 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Step 2A – Creating Planes

2. Select the New Plane ICON

1. Select the
“XYPlane”

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 15 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Step 2B – Offsetting a Plane

5. Select “Generate”

1. Verify the Base

Plane (XYPlane)

2. Set the Transform 4. Set the Offset as a

to Offset Z Parameter

3. Set the initial Offset Value

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 16 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Step 2C – Creating a Sketch

2. Select the New

Sketch ICON 3. Select and open
the Parameter
Manager

1. Select your new Plane

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 17 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Step 2C – Planes and Parameters

3. Select Look At to Orient your Sketch

2. Select
“Generate”

1. Set the offset of your

new plane to
@Thickness (the
thickness of the plate)
© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 18 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
 Step 3A – Creating a Post

3. Select Circle and

insert a circle and the
sketch origin

1. Close the
Parameter
2. Switch to
Manager
Sketching and
Draw Mode
© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 19 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
 Step 3B – Dimensioning the Post

1. Switch to Dimensions and General

3. Set the value 2. Select your

for your circle and
dimension dimension its
diameter
© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 20 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
 Step 3C – Post Diam Parameter

2. Select “Extrude”

1. Set your dimension

as a Parameter
“PostDiameter”

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 21 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Step 3D – Extruding the Post

1. Note: Default for all extrusions is

“Add Material” in this case we
want to create a separate part in an
5. Select “Generate” Assembly

2. Set the “Operation” to

“Add Frozen” to create
a separate Part

4. Name the Parameter

3. Set the depth and Create a Parameter

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 22 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
 Step 3E – Orienting the Model

Orient your new view

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 23 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Step 3F – Define Post Support

5. Select the “Simulation” folder tab

2. Select “Tools>Named Selections”

4. Select “Generate”

1. Select the
base of the
post
3. Name the selection
“PostSupport”

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 24 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Import Note

• If you started Exercise 5 without completing

Exercise 4 it is important to remember we are
modifying a previous simulation of a fixed
plate and mounting the plate on a post.
• Before continuing take time to review the
Exercise 4 results before updating the
geometry in Simulation

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 25 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Exercise 4 Results

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 26 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Step 4A – Updating Geometry

2. Update your previous

Simulation Geometry

1. Select the “Geometry” branch of the “Outline”

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 27 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Step 4B – Reviewing Contacts

1. Orient your model view

4. Collapse
the Outline
2. Expand
View by
“Contact” in
removing
the Outline
the Tack

3. Select the “Contact Region” auto-

generated from the imported
geometry

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 28 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Step 4C – Setting up Contacts

1. Set up your Contact Region as shown

2. Expand the Outline View

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 29 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Step 5A – Re-Scoping Supports

1. Select the first “Fixed Support”

2. Re-scope the Named Selection from

“FixedSurfaces” to “PostSupport”

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 30 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Step 5B – Solving New Design

2. Select “Solve”

1. Repeat the previous operation for the

remaining fixed supports
© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 31 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
 Step 6 – Reviewing Results

2. Return to the Project Page

1. Compare results as in previous Exercises

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 32 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
 Step 4C – Saving Results

1. Select “Save All”

2. Select “Exit”

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 33 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Congratulations

• At this point you have completed Exercises 1

through 5
• You have learned
– Model creation
– Loads, Constraints and Solutions
– Named Selections and Localized Load
Application
– Combining and comparing solutions
– Assemblies and Contact

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 34 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Working with CAD systems

• Remember:
– When importing or connecting to CAD
systems you can import simple parts or
full assemblies
– Contact regions will be created in
Simulation for all appropriate regions
– Care should be taken to ensure the
proper definition and interaction of
these regions in the model

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 35 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Congratulations

• You have completed Exercise 5 of the

ANSYS ED Workbench Tutorial
• Click here if you wish to continue with the
next exercise

© 2006 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 36 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary