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ANSYSCommandFileCreationandExecution

UofAANSYSTutorial

CreatingFiles
Features
BasicTutorials

ANSYS
UTILITIES

BASIC
TUTORIALS

INTERMEDIATE

TUTORIALS

ADVANCED
TUTORIALS

POSTPROC.
TUTORIALS

COMMAND
LINEFILES

PRINTABLE
VERSION

ANSYSCommandFileCreationandExecution
GeneratingtheCommandFile

IntermediateTutorials
AdvancedTutorials
PostProcTutorials

Therearetwochoicestogeneratethecommandfile:
1.Directlytypeinthecommandsintoatextfilefromscratch.Thisassumesagoodknowledgeof
theANSYScommandlanguageandtheassociatedoptions.

Radiation

Index

Contributions
Comments
MecE563
MechanicalEngineering
UniversityofAlberta

Ifyouknowwhatsomeofthecommandsandareunsureofothers,executethedesiredoperation
fromtheGUIandthengotoFile>List>LogFile.Thiswillthenopenupanewwindow
showingthecommandlineequivialentofallcommandsenteredtothispoint.Youmaydirectly
cutandpastefromheretoatexteditor,orifyou'dliketosavethewholefile,seethenextitemin
thislist.
2.SetupandsolvetheproblemasyounormallywouldusingtheANSYSgraphicuserinterface
(GUI).Thenbeforeyouarefinished,enterthecommandFile>SaveDBLogFileThissaves
theequivalentANSYScommandsthatyouenteredintheGUImode,toatextfile.Youcannow
editthisfilewithatexteditortocleanitup,deleteerrorsfromyourGUIuseandmakechanges
asdesired.

RunningtheCommandFile

ANSYSInc.

ToruntheANSYScommandfile,
savetheASCIItextcommandsinatextfilee.g.frame.cmd
startupeithertheGUIortextmodeofANSYS

Copyright2001
UniversityofAlberta

GUICommandFileLoading
TorunthiscommandfilefromtheGUI,youwoulddothefollowing:
FromtheFilemenu,selectReadInputfrom....Changetotheappropriatedirectorywherethe
file(frame.cmd)isstoredandselectit.
NowANSYSwillexecutethecommandsfromthatfile.Theoutputwindowshowstheprogress
ofthisprocedure.Anyerrorsandwarningswillbelistedinthiswindow.
Whenitiscomplete,youmaynothaveafullviewofyourstructureinthegraphicwindow.You
mayneedtoselectPlot>ElementsorPlot>Linesorwhathaveyou.
Assumingthattheanalysisworkedproperly,youcannowusethepostprocessortoviewelement
deflections,stress,etc.
Ifyouwanttofixsomeerrorsormakesomechangestothecommandfile,makethosechangesin
aseparatewindowinatexteditor.Savethosechangestodisk.
Torerunthecommandfile,youshouldfirstofallclearthecurrentmodelfromANSYS.Select
File>Clear&StartNew.
ThenreadinthefileasbeforeFile>ReadInputfrom...

CommandLineFileLoading
Alternatively,youcanalsoreadinthecommandfilerightfromtheANSYScommandline.Assuming
thatyoustartedANSYSusingthecommands...
/ansys52/bin/ansysu52

andthenentered
/show,x11c

ThishasnowstartedANSYSinthetextmodeandhastolditwhatgraphicdevicetouse(inthiscasean
XWindows,X11c,mode).Atthispointyoucouldtypein/menu,on,butyoumightnotwanttoturnon
thefullgraphicmodeifworkingonaslowmachineorifyouareexecutingtheprogramremotely.Let's
assumethatwedon'tturnthemenumodeon...
IfthecommandfileisinthecurrentdirectoryforANSYS,thenfromtheANSYSinputwindow,type
/input,frame,cmd
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andyesthatisacomma(,)betweenframeandcmd.IfANSYScannotfindthefileinthecurrent
directory,youmayneedtopointittotheproperdirectory.Ifthefilewasinthedirectory,
/myfiles/ansys/frameforexample,youwouldusethefollowingsyntax
/input,frame,cmd,/myfiles/ansys/frame

Ifyouwanttorerunanewormodifiedfile,itisnecessarytoclearthecurrentmodelinmemorywith
thecommand
/clear,start

Thisfullprocedureofloadingincommandfilesandclearingjobsandstartingoveragaincanbe
completedasmanytimesasdesired.

ANSYSCommandGroupings
ANSYScontainshundredsofcommandsforgeneratinggeometry,applyingloadsandconstraints,
settingupdifferentanalysistypesandpostprocessing.Thefollowingisonlyabriefsummaryofsome
ofthemorecommoncommandsusedforstructuralanalysis.
Category
Basic
Geometry

Solid
Modeling
(Primitives)

Boolean
Operations

Command

Description

Syntax

keypointdefinition

k,kp#,xcoord,ycoord,zcoord

straightlinecreation

l,kp1,kp2

larc

circulararcline
(fromkeypoints)

larc,kp1,kp2,kp3,rad
(kp3definesplane)

circle

circularlinecreation
(createskeypoints)

seeonlinehelp

spline

splinelinethroughkeypoints

spline,kp1,kp2,...kp6

areadefinitionfromkeypoints

a,kp1,kp2,...kp18

al

areadefinitionfromlines

a,l1,l2,...l10

volumedefinitionfrom
keypoints

v,kp1,kp2,...kp8

va

volumedefinitionfromareas

va,a1,a2,...a10

vext

createvolumefromarea
extrusion

seeonlinehelp

vdrag

createvolumebydraggingarea
alongpath

seeonlinehelp

rectng

rectanglecreation

rectng,x1,x2,y1,y2

block

blockvolumecreation

block,x1,x2,y1,y2,z1,z2

cylind

cylindricalvolumecreation

cylind,rad1,rad2,z1,z2,theta1,theta2

sphere

sphericalvolumecreation

sphere,rad1,rad2,theta1,theta2

prism
cone
torus

variousvolumecreation
commands

seeonlinehelp

aadd

addsseparateareastocreate
singlearea

aadd,a1,a2,...a9

aglue

createsnewareasbyglueing
(propertiesremainseparate)

aglue,a1,a2,...a9

asba

creatnewareabyarea
substraction

asba,a1,a2

aina

createnewareabyarea
intersection

aina,a1,a2,...a9

volumebooleanoperations

seeonlinehelp

vadd
vlgue
vsbv
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vinv
Elements&
Meshing

Sets&
Selection

Constraints

Loads

et

defineselementtype

et,number,type
maydefineasmanyasrequired
currenttypeissetbytype

type

setcurrentelementtypepointer

type,number

definerealconstantsfor
elements

r,number,r1,r2,...r6
maydefineasmanyasrequired
currenttypeissetbyreal

real

setscurrentrealconstantpointer real,number

mp

setsmaterialpropertiesfor
elements

mp,label,number,c0,c1,...c4
maydefineasmanyasrequired
currenttypeissetbymat

mat

setscurrentmaterialproperty
pointer

mat,number

esize

setssizeornumberofdivisions
onlines

esize,size,ndivs
useeithersizeorndivs

eshape

controlselementshape

seeonlinehelp

lmesh

meshline(s)

lmesh,line1,line2,inc
orlmesh,all

amesh

mesharea(s)

amesh,area1,area2,inc
oramesh,all

vmesh

meshvolume(s)

vmesh,vol1,vol2,inc
orvmesh,all

ksel

selectasubsetofkeypoints

seeonlinehelp

nsel

selectasubsetofnodes

seeonlinehelp

lsel

selectasubjsetoflines

seeonlinehelp

asel

selectasubsetofareas

seeonlinehelp

nsla

selectnodeswithinselected
area(s)

seeonlinehelp

allsel

selecteverything
i.e.resetselection

allsel

dk

definesaDOFconstraintona
keypoint

dk,kp#,label,value
labels:
UX,UY,UZ,ROTX,ROTY,ROTZ,ALL

definesaDOFconstraintona
node

d,node#,label,value
labels:
UX,UY,UZ,ROTX,ROTY,ROTZ,ALL

dl

defines(anti)symmetryDOF
constraintsonaline

dl,line#,area#,label
labels:SYMM(symmetry)ASYM
(antisymmetry)

fk

definesa

fk,kp#,label,value
labels:FX,FY,FZ,MX,MY,MZ

definesaforceatanode

f,node#,label,value
labels:FX,FY,FZ,MX,MY,MZ

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