Lecture 3:

Basics of ANSYS DesignModeler

16.0 Release

Introduction to ANSYS DesignModeler

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2015 ANSYS, Inc.

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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

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Preprocessing Workflow
Import/
Geometry
Creation

Geometry
Modifications

Sketches and Planes

3D Operations
Booleans,
Decompose, etc.

3D Operations
Extrude, Revolve,
Sweep, etc

Geometry Cleanup
and Repair

Geometry Import
Options

Automatic
Cleanup

Bi-Directional
CAD/ Neutral

Simplification,
Mid-surface,
Fluid Extraction

Meshing

Meshing Methods
Hybrid Mesh: Tet,
Prisms, Pyramids
Hexa Dominant,
Sweep meshing
Assembly
Meshing

Global Mesh
Settings
Local Mesh Settings
Sizing, Controls,
etc.

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Solver

What is DesignModeler?
Overview

DesignModeler is a tool

Sketching

For importing CAD models for preprocessing 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

creation
2D Sketching
3D Modeling (Surfaces and Solids)
Dedicated tools for import & clean-up

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CAD Import
& Clean-up

Modeling

Launching DesignModeler
From Analysis Systems
Eg: Fluid Flow (Fluent), Fluid Flow (CFX)

From Component Systems

Eg: Geometry, Mesh

ANSYS DesignModeler is launched within Workbench

Double click Geometry in the System or right click and select Edit
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DesignModeler Interface
Toolbars

Tree Outline

Mode Tabs
Graphics
Window

Details View

Status/Info Bar
Entity Details Bar
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Units Display Bar

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
XY, ZX & YZ
Sketches are created on Planes

Modeling Operations are listed sequentially,

which can be edited/deleted
The Bodies/Parts which are created by the
Modeling Operations are listed beneath them
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
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Default Planes

Sequential list of
Modeling
Operations
List of bodies/parts

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).

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Info Bars

Units Display Bar

Status/Info Bar

- Displays Unit used in

current project

- Displays Status of geometry model

- Displays dynamic instructions

Entity Details Bar

- Eg:

- Displays details of entity selected in Graphics

Window or Tree Outline.

- Eg:

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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 users choice

Box Selection Options

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Criteria based Coloring

for Diagnostics/Visualization

Preprocessing Workflow
Import/
Geometry
Creation

Geometry
Modifications

Sketches and Planes

3D Operations
Booleans,
Decompose, etc.

3D Operations
Extrude, Revolve,
Sweep, etc

Geometry Cleanup
and Repair

Geometry Import
Options

Automatic
Cleanup

Bi-Directional
CAD/ Neutral

Simplification,
Mid-surface,
Fluid Extraction

Meshing

Meshing Methods
Hybrid Mesh: Tet,
Prisms, Pyramids
Hexa Dominant,
Sweep meshing
Assembly
Meshing

Global Mesh
Settings
Local Mesh Settings
Sizing, Controls,
etc.

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Solver

Concept of Planes and Sketches

A plane is required to create a 2D
sketch

Steps for creating a 3D geometry

(bottom-up approach)

Also required for some body operations

2D/3D geometry can be constructed using

Create or select an existing plane

Create a sketch on the plane
Apply a modeling operation to the sketch

a sketch as a base object

Desired plane is selected

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Sketch created on selected

plane

3D geometry created using

Extrude feature from the
sketch

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
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Sketch Creation
New Sketch

This option can be used to create a new sketch

XYPlane is active

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
active sketch

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Only sketches on active Plane are

displayed in drop down

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.
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Draw Toolbox
Many options are straight forward to use
GUI status bar provides instructions for completing each operation
Right click provides additional commands

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Open End

Open End with Fit Points

Closed End

Closed End with Fit

Points

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)

Trim( L3)

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Chamfer( L2, L3)

Corner( L1, L4)

Extend( L4, L3)

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
Edges
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Duplicate to Sketch

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
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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
Horizontal
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Vertical
Vertical

Point

Coincident

Constraints Toolbox
Color Coding
Indicates constraint status

Teal: Under-constrained
Blue: Well Defined
Black: Fixed
Red: Over-Constrained
Gray: Inconsistent or Unknown

Teal

Blue

Red
Black

Warning on Over-constraining
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Blue

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

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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)

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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

Can not be moved, edited, or deleted
Can be scaled and rotated

3D Geometry selected for

projection

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
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Sketch projected onto

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?

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Workshop 3.1 DesignModeler Basics

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Workshop 3.2 Sketching

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