Importing ANSYS structural and thermal elements

Pre/Post offers limited support for having thermal elements in a structural solution. ANSYS CDB files, for example, may contain both structural and thermal element types, such as SOLID185 (structural) and SOLID70 (thermal). While you cannot use thermal elements in a structural analysis, you can use this new option to ensure that you do not lose any 2D or 3D thermal elements during the import process.

Note:

Currently, Pre/Post import any 1D thermal elements, such as LINK33 elements.

You can use the Import mixed element types option in the General Options group to control how Pre/Post imports elements when the input file contains both structural and thermal elements.

• Select Structural with thermal elements to have the software automatically detect whether the solution is structural or thermal. If the input file contains both structural and thermal elements, the software creates a structural solution and imports both structural and thermal elements. The software places the structural and thermal elements in different mesh collectors.

• Select Structural without thermal elements to have the software create a structural solution and import the structural elements only.

• Select Thermal without structural elements to create a thermal solution and import the thermal elements only. Select this option to have the software preserve data for all thermal element types, including 1D thermal elements.

Importing structural and thermal elements

If you select the Structural with thermal elements option, the software imports both the structural and thermal elements and stores them in separate mesh collectors. The following table shows how the different structural and thermal element types correspond.

Element topology	Structural element name	Thermal element name
3D linear	SOLID185	SOLID70
3D parabolic	SOLID186	SOLID90
3D parabolic tetrahedral	SOLID187	SOLID87
2D linear	SHELL181	SHELL131
2D parabolic	SHELL281	SHELL132
2D linear planar	PLANE182	PLANE55
2D parabolic planar	PLANE183	PLANE77

The software imports the thermal elements only and does not import their property data. When the import process completes, you can switch from a structural solution to a thermal solution to specify or correct the thermal properties for the elements.

Note:

Mixing structural and thermal elements a solution may cause the solver to fail. If you import both structural and thermal elements, you should ensure that your solution only references element types that are valid for that solution.

Where do I find it?

Application	Pre/Post
Prerequisite	A Simulation file as the displayed part and work partANSYS as the specified solver
Menu	File→Import→Simulation

Learn more

Mesh validity checking during import (ANSYS)

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ANSYS file formats supported for import

ANSYS commands supported for import and export

Working with ANSYS compressed results files

Exporting ANSYS data

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Importing ANSYS structural and thermal elements, Simcenter 3D 2021.1 Series

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