Lecture 3:

Basics of ANSYS DesignModeler

16.0 Release

Introduction to ANSYS DesignModeler

1 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Overview

In this lecture we will learn about:

• Pre-processing Workflow using ANSYS WB tools
• What is ANSYS DesignModeler
• DesignModeler Interface
• Concept of Planes and Sketches
• Sketching Interface
• Sketching Toolboxes

2 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Preprocessing Workflow

Import/
Geometry
Geometry Meshing Solver
Modifications
Creation

Sketches and Planes 3D Operations Meshing Methods

Booleans, Hybrid Mesh: Tet,

3D Operations Decompose, etc. Prisms, Pyramids

Extrude, Revolve, Hexa Dominant,

Sweep, etc Sweep meshing
Geometry Cleanup
and Repair Assembly
Geometry Import Meshing
Options Automatic
Cleanup Global Mesh
Bi-Directional
Settings
CAD/ Neutral
Simplification,
Mid-surface, Local Mesh Settings
Fluid Extraction

Sizing, Controls,
etc.
3 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019
 What is DesignModeler?
Overview
• DesignModeler is a tool Sketching Modeling
– For importing CAD models for pre-
processing before engineering analysis
– For geometry simplification/modification
and preparation for meshing
– For parametric feature-based modeling

Application Fundamentals
• Two basic modes of operation for geometry CAD Import
creation
& Clean-up
– 2D Sketching
– 3D Modeling (Surfaces and Solids)
• Dedicated tools for import & clean-up

4 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Launching DesignModeler

From Analysis Systems From Component Systems

Eg: Fluid Flow (Fluent), Fluid Flow (CFX) Eg: Geometry, Mesh

• ANSYS DesignModeler is launched within Workbench

• Double click Geometry in the System or right click and select Edit
5 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019
 DesignModeler Interface
Toolbars

Tree Outline

Mode Tabs

Graphics
Details View Window

Status/Info Bar
Entity Details Bar Units Display Bar
6 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019
 Tree Outline
DesignModeler is a History based modeling
tool
• Tree Outline is where are being displayed the
recorded sequential feature operations
– Starts with three default Planes Default Planes
– XY, ZX & YZ
– Sketches are created on Planes
Sequential list of
• Modeling Operations are listed sequentially, Modeling
which can be edited/deleted Operations
• The Bodies/Parts which are created by the
Modeling Operations are listed beneath them List of bodies/parts
• This list of Bodies/Parts is not feature based
– Changes can only be made based on Feature
operations in the Tree Outline
– Changes by Part Management operations such as
Form a New Part
7 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019
 Details View
Working with the Details View
• Feature inputs are listed in the Details View
• The second column contains user input
values or selections
• Each input box is activated by Left Click
• Boxes requiring entity selection (Sketch,
Geometry etc) will display Apply/Cancel
when activated

• Yellow boxes indicate that input is required

(numeric or selection input).

8 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Info Bars

Units Display Bar

Status/Info Bar
- Displays Unit used in
- Displays Status of geometry model
current project
- Displays dynamic instructions
- Eg: Entity Details Bar
- Displays details of entity selected in Graphics
Window or Tree Outline.
- Eg:

9 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Toolbars
Toolbars can be accessed to get quick access to most commonly used features
• The most commonly used toolbars are
• Selection
• View Controls
• Display Controls

• Toolbars can also be customized to Add/Remove features of user’s choice

Criteria based Coloring

Box Selection Options for Diagnostics/Visualization
10 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019
 Preprocessing Workflow

Import/
Geometry
Geometry Meshing Solver
Modifications
Creation

Sketches and Planes 3D Operations Meshing Methods

Booleans, Hybrid Mesh: Tet,

3D Operations Decompose, etc. Prisms, Pyramids

Extrude, Revolve, Hexa Dominant,

Sweep, etc Sweep meshing
Geometry Cleanup
and Repair Assembly
Geometry Import Meshing
Options Automatic
Cleanup Global Mesh
Bi-Directional
Settings
CAD/ Neutral
Simplification,
Mid-surface, Local Mesh Settings
Fluid Extraction

Sizing, Controls,
etc.
11 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019
 Concept of Planes and Sketches

A plane is required to create a 2D Steps for creating a 3D geometry

sketch (bottom-up approach)
• Also required for some body operations • Create or select an existing plane
• 2D/3D geometry can be constructed using • Create a sketch on the plane
a sketch as a base object • Apply a modeling operation to the sketch

Desired plane is selected Sketch created on selected 3D geometry created using

plane Extrude feature from the
sketch
12 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019
 Planes

Working with Planes

• At start-up, three default planes are available (XY,
ZX & YZ) on which sketches can be created
– New planes can be created to host sketches
elsewhere
• New Plane

– This option can be used for creating a new plane

– Suitable options for creating planes can be chosen
from list of options available under “Type”
• For example, by transforming (offset, rotate,
etc.) an existing plane OR from a selected face
– Optionally apply one or more transformations

13 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Sketch Creation
New Sketch
XYPlane is active
• This option can be used to create a new sketch
on active/selected plane
– New sketches are placed in the Tree Outline
beneath their associated plane
• Sketches can be created in Sketching mode
only
– Selecting a Plane with no sketches and entering
sketch mode automatically creates a New sketch
– Multiple sketches can be created in any given
plane
– Clicking on Sketching mode tab will take you to the
Only sketches on active Plane are
active sketch
displayed in drop down

14 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Sketching Interface

Sketching tools are

arranged in five
toolboxes - Draw,
Modify, Dimensions,
Constraints and
Settings

Sketching toolboxes
are available when you
switch to sketching
mode

Details of the current

sketch (Dimensions,
Constraints etc) are
displayed in the
Details View.
15 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019
 Draw Toolbox
• Many options are straight forward to use
• GUI status bar provides instructions for completing each operation
• Right click provides additional commands

Open End Open End with Fit Points

Closed End with Fit

Closed End
Points
16 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019
 Modify Toolbox
Modify Toolbox can be used to Add/Edit/Remove things in the existing sketch such as trimming sketch,
adding chamfers, splitting edges, etc.

L2

L1 L3
L4

Fillet( L1, L2) Chamfer( L2, L3) Corner( L1, L4)

Trim( L3) Extend( L4, L3)

17 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Modify Toolbox
A new sketch can be created by referencing existing
geometry
• Allows selected boundaries of plane to be duplicated as new sketch
entities
– All sketches have to be in the same plane

Create Plane
From Face

Select Required Duplicate to Sketch

Edges
18 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019
 Dimensions Toolbox

Used for defining dimensions of a sketch

• User can pick any specific dimensioning tool OR can use General or
Semi-Automatic
• General
– General selects appropriate dimension type based on entity
selection
– Right click provide quick access to specific dimension types

• Semi-Automatic
– Cycles through entities until sketch is fully constrained (or) user
chooses to exit
19 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019
 Constraints Toolbox
Constraints can be applied on sketch entities for other
than Dimensional restrictions
• These are applied
– Manually
• Constraints can be added or deleted manually on existing sketch entities
– Automatically (Auto Constraints is ON by default)

• “Auto Constraints” displays possible constraints on the fly while

drawing sketches. Some examples:

Horizontal
Horizontal Vertical
Horizontal Vertical Point Coincident

20 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Constraints Toolbox

Color Coding
• Indicates constraint status
– Teal: Under-constrained
– Blue: Well Defined
Teal Blue
– Black: Fixed
– Red: Over-Constrained
– Gray: Inconsistent or Unknown

Red
Black

Warning on Over-constraining Blue

21 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Sketching Tips
• Ruler allows to get a quick sense of scale while sketching

• “Look At” tool will orient the display perpendicular to a plane, sketch or
selected entity normal.

• Many operations become easier via a right click context menu on the
graphics screen
• Undo/Redo buttons are available in Sketching mode only Context Menu

Please Note: Only one

– IMPORTANT: Each plane stores its own Undo “Stack”
sketch is active at a time!
• The “Back” operation (available via RMB) acts like a micro undo during
multi-step sketching operations (e.g. polyline)
22 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019
 Advanced Sketching Options
• Sketch Instancing
– Allows copies of sketches to be added in other planes
• Sketch is persistent
– Gets automatically updated when changes in base sketch are
made
• Edges are fixed 3D Geometry selected for
– Can not be moved, edited, or deleted projection
– Can be scaled and rotated
• Can only be placed in planes lower in the tree outline than
the plane with the base sketch
• Sketch Projection
– Can be used for projecting 3D entity onto a plane to
create new sketch entities
• Remain associated to input geometry Sketch projected onto
23 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019 existing plane
 Summary

What have we learnt in this session?

• What is the normal Pre-processing Workflow within ANSYS WB tools?
• Where is DesignModeler used in Pre-processing process?
• What is the concept of Planes and Sketches?
• How to use Sketching Mode for creating sketches?
• How to constrain sketches?

24 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Workshop 3.1 – DesignModeler Basics

25 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Workshop 3.2 – Sketching

26 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019