ANSYS Release Notes 190 PDF

Release Notes
ANSYS, Inc. Release 19.0

Southpointe January 2018
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Table of Contents
Global ......................................................................................................................................................... ix
1. Advisories ........................................................................................................................................... x
2. Compatibility with Previous Releases ................................................................................................... x
3. Installation .......................................................................................................................................... x
4. Licensing ............................................................................................................................................ xi
5. Documentation ................................................................................................................................. xii
6. Verification Manual ............................................................................................................................ xii
6.1. Mechanical APDL Verification Manual ........................................................................................ xii
6.1.1. New Verification Test Cases ............................................................................................... xii
6.1.2. Modified Verification Test Cases ........................................................................................ xii
6.2. Workbench Verification Manual ................................................................................................ xiii
6.2.1. New Verification Test Cases .............................................................................................. xiii
7. Online Video Access .......................................................................................................................... xiii
8. ANSYS customer site ......................................................................................................................... xiii
I. ANSYS Structural Products ...................................................................................................................... 1
1. Mechanical Application Release Notes ............................................................................................. 3
1.1. Changes in Product Behavior ...................................................................................................... 3
1.2. General ...................................................................................................................................... 6
1.3. Graphics ..................................................................................................................................... 8
1.4. Geometry ................................................................................................................................... 8
1.5. Materials .................................................................................................................................... 9
1.6. External Model ........................................................................................................................... 9
1.7. Contact and Connections .......................................................................................................... 11
1.8. Mesh ........................................................................................................................................ 12
1.9. Fracture .................................................................................................................................... 12
1.10. Acoustics Analysis ................................................................................................................... 12
1.11. Linear Dynamics ..................................................................................................................... 13
1.12. Topology Optimization ........................................................................................................... 13
1.13. Loads/Supports/Conditions .................................................................................................... 15
1.14. Mapping ................................................................................................................................. 16
1.15. Solution .................................................................................................................................. 16
1.16. Rigid Body Solver Enhancements ............................................................................................ 17
1.17. Explicit Dynamics Enhancements ............................................................................................ 18
1.18. Results .................................................................................................................................... 19
2. Mechanical APDL ............................................................................................................................ 21
2.1. Structural ................................................................................................................................. 21
2.1.1. Contact ............................................................................................................................ 21
2.1.1.1. Default Behavior Change for 3-D MPC Bonded Contact ............................................ 21
2.1.1.2. Power-Law Based Mixed Mode Debonding .............................................................. 22
2.1.1.3. Enhancements to Contact Friction Models ............................................................... 22
2.1.2. Elements and Nonlinear Technology ................................................................................. 22
2.1.2.1. Bending-Stiffness Scaling Factor Shell Elements ....................................................... 22
2.1.2.2. Membrane Option for Smeared Reinforcing ............................................................. 22
2.1.2.3. High-Order Mesh-Independent Reinforcing Elements ............................................... 22
2.1.2.4. Consolidated Lumped Mass Formulations ................................................................ 23
2.1.2.5. Nonlinear Adaptivity ................................................................................................ 23
2.1.2.5.1. SOLID187 Element Support ............................................................................. 23
2.1.2.5.2. Combining Criteria .......................................................................................... 23
2.1.2.5.3. Element Refinement via General Remeshing .................................................... 23
2.1.2.5.4. Contact Elements with Fluid Penetration ......................................................... 23
Release 19.0 - © ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. iii
ANSYS, Inc. Release Notes
2.1.2.6. 2-D to 3-D Analysis .................................................................................................. 23

2.1.3. Material and Fracture Modeling ........................................................................................ 24
2.1.3.1. SMART Method for Crack-Growth Simulation ........................................................... 24
2.1.3.2. XFEM-Based Crack Analysis and Crack-Growth Simulation ........................................ 24
2.1.3.3. Microplane Gradient Plasticity ................................................................................. 25
2.1.3.4. Parameter Scaling for Material Curve-Fitting ............................................................. 25
2.1.3.5. Thermal and Fluid Gradient Output .......................................................................... 25
2.1.3.6. Viscoplasticity Material Model Combinations ............................................................ 25
2.1.3.7. Nonlinear Kinematic Hardening ............................................................................... 26
2.1.3.8. User-Defined Material Support for Full-Harmonic Analysis ........................................ 26
2.1.3.9. Mohr-Coulomb Plastic Flow Potential ....................................................................... 26
2.1.4. Linear Dynamics .............................................................................................................. 26
2.1.4.1. Cyclic Symmetry ...................................................................................................... 26
2.1.4.2. Energies .................................................................................................................. 27
2.1.4.3. Rotordynamics ........................................................................................................ 27
2.1.4.4. Damping ................................................................................................................. 27
2.1.4.5. Bushing Element ..................................................................................................... 27
2.1.4.6. Modal Mass ............................................................................................................. 27
2.1.4.7. MAC Calculations ..................................................................................................... 27
2.1.5. Transient Dynamics .......................................................................................................... 28
2.2. Multiphysics ............................................................................................................................. 28
2.2.1. Acoustics ......................................................................................................................... 28
2.2.1.1. Room Acoustics ....................................................................................................... 28
2.2.1.2. Scattering Analysis of the Incident Diffuse Sound Field ............................................. 28
2.2.1.3. Other Enhancements ............................................................................................... 28
2.2.2. Thermal ........................................................................................................................... 29
2.2.2.1. Radiation Flux Scaling .............................................................................................. 29
2.2.3. Magnetics ........................................................................................................................ 29
2.2.3.1.Temperature Dependency of the B-H Curve .............................................................. 29
2.2.4. Coupled-Field .................................................................................................................. 29
2.2.4.1. Magneto-Structural Analysis .................................................................................... 29
2.2.4.2. Thermomagnetic Analysis ........................................................................................ 30
2.2.4.3. Piezoelectric Analysis ............................................................................................... 30
2.3. Solvers ..................................................................................................................................... 30
2.3.1. Sparse Solver Enhancements ............................................................................................ 30
2.3.2. Distributed ANSYS Enhancements .................................................................................... 30
2.4. Commands ............................................................................................................................... 31
2.4.1. New Commands ............................................................................................................... 31
2.4.2. Modified Commands ........................................................................................................ 31
2.4.3. Undocumented Commands ............................................................................................. 35
2.5. Elements .................................................................................................................................. 35
2.5.1. New Elements .................................................................................................................. 35
2.5.2. Modified Elements ........................................................................................................... 35
2.5.3. Undocumented Elements ................................................................................................. 36
2.6. Documentation ........................................................................................................................ 36
2.6.1. Technology Demonstration Guide ...................................................................................... 36
2.6.2. Documentation Updates for Programmers ........................................................................ 37
2.6.3. Feature Archive ................................................................................................................ 37
2.7. Known Incompatibilities ........................................................................................................... 37
2.7.1. Stress-Intensity Factors (SIFS) Calculation .......................................................................... 37
2.7.2. Sparse Solver Initial Memory Allocation ............................................................................ 37
2.7.3. Reduced Mode-Extraction Method Removed .................................................................... 37
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2.7.4. Default Pinball Radius for Small Sliding Contact ................................................................ 38

2.7.5. Default Degree of Freedom for CPT Elements .................................................................... 38
2.7.6. Porous Media Flow ........................................................................................................... 38
2.7.7. Lumped Mass ................................................................................................................... 38
2.7.8. Damping Proportional to the Stiffness .............................................................................. 38
3. Autodyn .......................................................................................................................................... 39
3.1. New Features and Enhancements .............................................................................................. 39
4. Aqwa ............................................................................................................................................... 41
4.1. Aqwa Solver Modules ............................................................................................................... 41
4.1.1. Tether Improvements ....................................................................................................... 41
4.1.2. Aqwa-Wave with Forward Speed ...................................................................................... 41
4.1.3. New Items in AH1 File ....................................................................................................... 41
4.1.4. Wind Spectrum Seed ........................................................................................................ 41
4.1.5. Frequency Dependent Added Mass and Damping ............................................................ 42
4.1.6. Recalculate QTFs Based on User-Input RAOs ..................................................................... 42
4.2. Aqwa Graphical Supervisor (AGS) .............................................................................................. 42
4.2.1. Drag / Drop ...................................................................................................................... 42
4.3. Hydrodynamic Analysis Systems ................................................................................................ 42
4.3.1. Current Profile .................................................................................................................. 42
4.3.2. Time Domain Statistical Results Object ............................................................................. 42
4.3.3. Improved Handling of Line Elements ................................................................................ 42
4.3.4. User-Defined Output Frequency ....................................................................................... 42
4.3.5. Connection to External Server .......................................................................................... 42
4.3.6. Current Calculation Position ............................................................................................. 43
4.3.7. Current Object ................................................................................................................. 43
4.3.8. Slender Tube .................................................................................................................... 43
4.3.9. Nonlinear Roll Damping ................................................................................................... 43
4.3.10. Yaw-Rate Drag ................................................................................................................ 43
4.3.11. Frequency Domain Statistics ........................................................................................... 43
4.3.12. Deactivated Freedoms Object ......................................................................................... 43
4.3.13. Morison Hull Drag Coefficients Object ............................................................................ 43
4.3.14. Time Domain Statistics Distribution Function .................................................................. 43
4.3.15. Generated Mesh Information .......................................................................................... 44
4.3.16. Visualization of Splitting Force Bounding Box .................................................................. 44
4.3.17. Fixed Points Container .................................................................................................... 44
5. ANSYS Composite PrepPost (ACP) .................................................................................................. 45
5.1. New Features in ANSYS Composite PrepPost (ACP) 19.0 ............................................................. 45
5.1.1. Variable Material Data and Field Definitions Plot ............................................................... 45
5.1.2. Layup Mapping: Imported Solid Model ............................................................................. 45
5.1.3. Boolean Selection Rule ..................................................................................................... 46
5.1.4. Mesh-Based Named Selections ......................................................................................... 46
5.1.5. New Export Format for Ply Geometries ............................................................................. 46
5.1.6. Export Skin of Solid Model ................................................................................................ 46
5.1.7. Performance .................................................................................................................... 46
5.2. Supported Platforms for ANSYS Composite PrepPost (ACP) 19.0 ................................................. 46
5.3. Known Limitations and Incompatibilities ................................................................................... 46
5.3.1. OpenGL Drivers on Linux .................................................................................................. 46
II. ANSYS Fluids Products .......................................................................................................................... 47
1. Fluent .............................................................................................................................................. 49
1.1. Supported Platforms for ANSYS Fluent 19.0 ............................................................................... 49
1.2. New Features in ANSYS Fluent 19.0 ........................................................................................... 49
1.2.1. Meshing Mode ................................................................................................................. 49
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1.2.2. Solution Mode ................................................................................................................. 50

1.3. Updates Affecting ANSYS Fluent 19.0 Code Behavior ................................................................. 56
1.3.1. Meshing Mode ................................................................................................................. 56
1.3.2. Solution Mode ................................................................................................................. 56
2. CFX .................................................................................................................................................. 63
2.1. Supported Platforms ................................................................................................................. 63
2.3. Incompatibilities ....................................................................................................................... 64
2.4. Updates Affecting Code Behavior .............................................................................................. 64
3. TurboGrid ........................................................................................................................................ 65
4. BladeModeler .................................................................................................................................. 67
4.2. BladeGen .................................................................................................................................. 67
4.2.1. New Features and Enhancements ..................................................................................... 67
4.3. BladeEditor ............................................................................................................................... 67
4.3.1. New Features and Enhancements ..................................................................................... 67
5. CFD-Post .......................................................................................................................................... 69
6. Polyflow .......................................................................................................................................... 71
6.1. New Features ............................................................................................................................ 71
7. Forte ................................................................................................................................................ 73
7.2. Resolved Issues and Limitations ................................................................................................ 74
8. Chemkin-Pro ................................................................................................................................... 75
8.2. Resolved Issues and Limitations ................................................................................................ 76
9. FENSAP-ICE ..................................................................................................................................... 77
9.1. New Features and Enhancements in ANSYS FENSAP-ICE ............................................................ 77
9.2. Known Limitations in ANSYS FENSAP-ICE .................................................................................. 79
9.3. Beta Features ............................................................................................................................ 79
III. ANSYS Electronics Products ................................................................................................................. 81
1. Icepak .............................................................................................................................................. 83
1.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 83
1.2. New and Modified Features in ANSYS Icepak 19.0 ...................................................................... 83
1.3. Resolved Issues and Limitations in ANSYS Icepak 19.0 ................................................................ 83
IV. ANSYS Geometry & Mesh Prep Products ............................................................................................. 85
1. DesignModeler ................................................................................................................................ 87
2. ANSYS Discovery SpaceClaim ......................................................................................................... 89
3. CAD ................................................................................................................................................. 91
4. Meshing ........................................................................................................................................... 93
4.1. Changes in Product Behavior from Previous Releases ................................................................. 93
4.2. Sizing Enhancements ................................................................................................................ 94
4.3. Topology Protection Enhancements .......................................................................................... 94
4.4. Cartesian Method ..................................................................................................................... 94
4.5. Mesh Export Enhancements ...................................................................................................... 94
4.6. Robustness Improvements ........................................................................................................ 94
5. IC Engine Release Notes .................................................................................................................. 97
6. ICEM CFD ......................................................................................................................................... 99
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6.1. Multizone Block Editing improvements ..................................................................................... 99

6.2. Usability Improvements ............................................................................................................ 99
V. ANSYS Simulation Products ................................................................................................................ 101
1. Workbench .................................................................................................................................... 103
1.1. ANSYS Workbench .................................................................................................................. 103
1.1.1. General Workbench Enhancements ................................................................................ 103
1.1.2. Design Point Update Enhancements ............................................................................... 103
1.1.3. ANSYS Workbench-System Coupling Enhancements ....................................................... 103
1.1.4. Mechanical APDL Enhancements .................................................................................... 103
1.1.5. ANSYS Workbench-Remote Solve Manager Enhancements ............................................. 103
1.1.6. ANSYS Workbench-EKM Enhancements .......................................................................... 104
1.2. External Connection Add-In .................................................................................................... 104
1.3. Engineering Data Workspace ................................................................................................... 104
1.4. External Data .......................................................................................................................... 104
1.5. External Model ........................................................................................................................ 105
1.6. Enhancement to Mechanical Model Cells ................................................................................. 105
1.7. FE Modeler ............................................................................................................................. 105
1.8. TurboSystem Release Notes ..................................................................................................... 105
1.8.1. Supported Platforms ...................................................................................................... 106
2. System Coupling ........................................................................................................................... 107
3. ACT ................................................................................................................................................ 109
4. Remote Solve Manager (RSM) ....................................................................................................... 113
4.1. New Features and Enhancements ............................................................................................ 113
4.2. Issues Resolved in this Release ................................................................................................. 113
4.3. Known Issues and Limitations ................................................................................................. 113
5. EKM ............................................................................................................................................... 115
5.2. Issues Resolved in this Release ................................................................................................. 116
5.3. Issues and Limitations ............................................................................................................. 116
6. DesignXplorer ............................................................................................................................... 117
7. ANSYS Viewer ................................................................................................................................ 119
7.2. Resolved Issues and Limitations .............................................................................................. 119
7.3. Known Issues and Limitations ................................................................................................. 120
VI. ANSYS Discovery AIM ........................................................................................................................ 121
1. Advisories ...................................................................................................................................... 123
2. Enhancements in AIM 19.0 ............................................................................................................ 125
5. Limitations .................................................................................................................................... 131
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. vii
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Global Release Notes
The release notes are specific to ANSYS, Inc. Release 19.0 and arranged by application/product, with
the exception of:
• Advisories (p. x)
• Compatibility with Previous Releases (p. x)
• Installation (p. x)
• Licensing (p. xi)
• Documentation (p. xii)
• Verification Manual (p. xii)
• Online Video Access (p. xiii)
• ANSYS customer site (p. xiii)
Note that installation- and licensing-specific information is detailed in some application and product
sections.
Release notes in printable format (PDF) for the this release are provided on the product media. They
can also be downloaded here. Release notes are also accessible in the product Help (either online or
installable, as applicable).
Release notes for previous releases are available in PDF format and, since ANSYS 18.0, online, by clicking
the appropriate links below:
• ANSYS 18.2 (PDF) (online)
• ANSYS 17.2 (PDF)
To download zip files containing the Product and Release Documentation for previous releases, see
ANSYS customer site> Downloads> Previous Releases> ANSYS Documentation and Input Files. The Release
Documentation files include the following:
• ANSYS Platform Support Strategy & Plans
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. ix
Global
• ANSYS, Inc. Installation and Licensing Tutorials
• ANSYS, Inc. Known Issues and Limitations
• ANSYS, Inc. Licensing Guide
• ANSYS Quick Start Installation Guide
• ANSYS Quick Start Licensing Guide
• ANSYS, Inc. Release Notes
• Linux Installation Guide
• SpaceClaim Release Notes (as applicable)
• Windows Installation Guide
1. Advisories
In addition to the incompatibilities noted within the release notes, known non-operational behavior,
errors and/or limitations at the time of release are documented in the Known Issues and Limitations
document, although not accessible via the ANSYS Help Viewer. See the ANSYS customer site (p. xiii) or
online Help for information about the ANSYS service packs and any additional items not included in
the Known Issues and Limitations document. First-time users of the customer site must register to
create a password.
For a list of issues and limitations in previous releases that have been resolved in Release 19.0, refer to
the Resolved Issues and Limitations document on the ANSY Help site.
Project names and paths should not include Japanese or Chinese characters. The restriction is applicable
to most ANSYS, Inc. products, including the flagship products and Workbench add-ins. The restriction
applies whether the user interface is localized or not.
2. Compatibility with Previous Releases

Backwards Compatibility: ANSYS 19.0 was tested to read and resume databases from the following
previous versions: 18.0, 18.1, and 18.2. Note that some products are able to read and resume databases
from releases prior to 18.0. Please see the specific product sections below for more details. For those
products that cannot directly read a 17.x database in 19.0, first resume it in 18.x and then resume that
database in 19.0.
Upward/Forward Compatibility: No previous release has the ability to read and resume a database
from a more recent release.
3. Installation
The following features are new or changed at Release 19.0. Review these items carefully.
• On Windows systems, the setupLM and setupEKMSVR files have been removed and replaced with
-LM and -ekmsvr command flags. These command flags can be used in conjunction with the setup file
(example: setup -LM or setup -silent -LM) for both command line and silent installation. Additionally,
the setupDocOnly file has also been removed. The stand-alone ANSYS product documentation has
been replaced by our new ANSYS online product documentation. The product installation now
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Licensing
configures your default browser to access the ANSYS Internet Help website. For a local copy of the
product documentation on your system, download an installable version from the ANSYS Download
Center.
• On Linux systems, the INSTALL.LM and INSTALL.EKMSVR files have been removed and replaced with
-LM and -ekmsvr command flags. These command flags can be used in conjunction with the INSTALL
file (example: INSTALL -LM or INSTALL -silent -LM) for both command line and silent installation. Addi-
tionally, the INSTALL.DOCONLY file has also been removed. The stand-alone ANSYS product docu-
mentation has been replaced by our new ANSYS online product documentation.The product installation
now configures your default browser to access the ANSYS Internet Help website. For a local copy of
the product documentation on your system, download an installable version from the ANSYS Download
Center.
• A new Check for Required Prerequisites option has been added to the Product & CAD Configuration
Manager. Additionally, the Product & CAD Configuration Manager interface has been modified to
match the ANSYS Product Installation Launcher.
The product selection screen displayed during the ANSYS product installation has been modified
to more clearly display which products are being installed. A check-mark to the left of the product
signifies that the product and all related "child" products are enabled for installation while a grey
box indicates that some, but not all products are enabled for installation.
• In conjunction with our new ANSYS online product documentation, the Install Documentation (to
your computer) option has been removed from the ANSYS product installation. The product installation
now configures your default browser to access the ANSYS Internet Help website. With online document-
ation, you have access to the best and latest content, updated as soon as it is available. You also gain
access to our help, tutorials, and videos in a single, convenient location, accessible from all your Internet-
connected devices. For a local copy of the product documentation on your system, download an install-
able version from the ANSYS Download Center. Instructions for installing the local package are included
with the download package.
• The Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable has been added to the Windows software prerequisites.
• ANSYS EnSight is now included as part of the ANSYS product installation and can be selected on the
product selection menu for installation.
• New "Help" and "Information" icons have been added to the installation screens. The question mark
icon located in the upper right side of each installation screen displays an explanation of the function-
ality available on that screen. The letter "I" icon displays information about the release version of the
installation software.
4. Licensing
The following enhancements were made to ANSYS, Inc. Licensing for Release 19.0:
• The setupLM.exe file has been removed and replaced with an -LM command option. This command
option can be used in conjunction with the setup.exe file (example: setup.exe -LM or setup.exe -silent
-LM) for both command line and silent installation.
• The following ANSYS products now enable you to use four cores without using any HPC licenses:
Mechanical CFD Maxwell 3D, Mechanical Maxwell 3D, Mechanical CFD, Mechanical Enterprise, Mechan-
ical Enterprise Solver, Mechanical Premium, Mechanical Pro, Icepak, Icepak Solver and Autodyn. These
four built-in HPC licenses are additive to ANSYS HPC and ANSYS HPC Pack.
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Global
• The ANSYS License Management Center License Usage History, Peak License Usage and License
Denials reports have been updated with a number of new filtering options, including, username,
hostname and duration to display.
• The FlexNet client (built into electronics products) was upgraded to version 11.13.1.4. As a result, 19.0
electronics products must use the ANSYS License Manager; the ansoftd license manager will no longer
work.
5. Documentation
ANSYS Help
Our product documentation is now online, directly linked from the products. With online documentation,
you have access to the best and latest content, updated as soon as it is available. You also gain access
to our help, tutorials, and videos in a single, convenient location, accessible from all your Internet-con-
nected devices.
If you do not have Internet access, or if you would like a local copy of the documentation on your system,
you can download an installable version of our product documentation from the ANSYS Download
Center.
Your feedback is greatly appreciated as we continue to improve this new resource.
6. Verification Manual
Significant modifications and additions occurred in the Verification Manuals at 19.0. These changes
provide greater coverage and accuracy in the verification of the ANSYS product suite.
The Verification Manuals for the following products were updated at 19.0:
6.1. Mechanical APDL Verification Manual
6.2. Workbench Verification Manual
6.1. Mechanical APDL Verification Manual

The following sections outline the changes to the Mechanical APDL Verification Manual:
6.1.1. New Verification Test Cases
6.1.2. Modified Verification Test Cases

The following new verification test cases are available:
• VM299 – Sound Diffusion in a Flat Room
• VM300 – Sound Transmission Between Rooms Coupled Through a Partition Wall
6.1.2. Modified Verification Test Cases

The following verification test cases have been updated:
• VM41 – "Small Deflection of a Rigid Beam." A case has been added using the new COMBI250 element.
xii of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
ANSYS customer site
• VM199 – "Oil Film Bearing Supporting a Rotating Shaft and Subjected to a Static Load." A case has been
added using FLUID218 element.
• VM256 – "Evaluation of Fracture Parameters for a Center Crack in a Plate" (formerly "Fracture Mechanics
Stress for a Crack in a Plate Using the CINT Command"). The model dimensions and meshing pattern have
been updated. Calculations have been added for material force, J-integral, and T-stress fracture parameters.
6.2. Workbench Verification Manual

The following sections outline the changes to the Mechanical APDL Verification Manual:

The following new verification test case is available:
• VMMECH102 – Topology Design of 2-D Beam with Clamped Ends
7. Online Video Access

To review an extensive library of How-To Videos that detail how to use ANSYS product features, go to
the ANSYS How-To Videos page at YouTube. Note that you can now also access the How-To videos
from the ANSYS Help home page for your product.
8. ANSYS customer site

If you have a password to the ANSYS customer site (www.ansys.com/customercommunity), you can
view additional documentation information and late changes. The customer site is also your source for
ANSYS, Inc. software downloads, service packs, product information (including example applications,
current and archived documentation, undocumented commands, input files, and product previews),
and online support.
All the product documentation is available in printable format (PDF). Note that the content of the files
can be copied into word processing programs.
ANSYS customer site access points:
• Tutorials and input files To access tutorials and their input files, go to the tutorials area of the cus-
tomer site.
• Documentation To access documentation files, go to the documentation area of the customer site.
• General information For general information about materials and services available to our customers,
go to the main page of the customer site.
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. xiii
xiv of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
Part I: ANSYS Structural Products
Release notes are available for the following ANSYS Structural products:
Mechanical Application (p. 3)

Mechanical APDL (p. 21)
Autodyn (p. 39)
Aqwa (p. 41)
ACP (p. 45)
Chapter 1: Mechanical Application Release Notes
This release of the Mechanical application contains all of the capabilities from previous releases plus
many new features and enhancements. Areas where you will find changes and new capabilities include
the following:
1.1. Changes in Product Behavior
1.2. General
1.3. Graphics
1.4. Geometry
1.5. Materials
1.6. External Model
1.7. Contact and Connections
1.8. Mesh
1.9. Fracture
1.10. Acoustics Analysis
1.11. Linear Dynamics
1.12.Topology Optimization
1.13. Loads/Supports/Conditions
1.14. Mapping
1.15. Solution
1.16. Rigid Body Solver Enhancements
1.17. Explicit Dynamics Enhancements
1.18. Results
Backwards Compatibility: ANSYS products strive to enable the reading and resuming of databases
from previous releases. We currently test this capability for the previous two releases and any included
point releases. This means that release 19.0 was tested and verified to be backwards compatible with
release 17.0 and 18.0 as well as any associated point releases (17.x, 18.x). Although not verified for even
earlier releases, ANSYS Mechanical should also allow resuming databases from them.
1.1. Changes in Product Behavior

Product Changes for Mechanical 19.0
Release 19.0 includes several new features and enhancements that result in product behaviors that
differ from previous releases. These behavior changes are presented below.
• Solve Process Settings. The Solve Process Settings dialog box that enables you to configure your
solution has changed. The Add Portal option, as well as all of the associated properties and fields, are
no longer available. Remote queues are specified using the Add Queue option only. For remote solutions,
the Cluster Configuration field has been renamed HPC Configuration and the Cluster Queue field
has been renamed HPC Queue. In addition, the HPC Type field has been added to the dialog interface.
• Analysis Settings - Nonlinear Adaptivity Remeshing Controls. The Nonlinear Adaptivity Remeshing
Controls category of the Analysis Settings object:
– Has been renamed "Nonlinear Adaptivity Remeshing Controls" from "Nonlinear Adaptivity Controls."
of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 3
Mechanical Application Release Notes
– Includes a change to the Remeshing Gradient property, that was previously specified using a value
(0, 1, or 2). The property now provides a new drop-down menu that includes the options: No
Gradient (equal to previous value 0), Average Gradient (equal to previous value 1), Perfect Shape
Gradient (equal to previous value 2), and Practical Shape Gradient (a new option for 3-D analysis).
• Far-field Results. In order to address certain Far-field Result limitations, Mechanical now uses a new
control to display the polar plot for Far-field Results. You may therefore see some visual differences in
the plots from the previous release. The specific issues that have been addressed include:
– The beginning and ending points of any open-ended curves in the polar plot are not joined.
– Legend lines and Tabular Data window headings of the far-field result object are displayed in the
same color.
• Small Sliding Default Setting. The Program Controlled setting for the Small Sliding property now
turns on small sliding in most situations if the Large Deflection property is set to Off or the Formulation
property is set to Bonded contact. This change to the default behavior improves solution efficiency
and robustness. However, this new default behavior may produce result differences, compared to when
it is not active, as well as impact the behavior of the solver. (See this white paper for details of why this
default setting was changed and the impact it might have on the simulation results.) Common examples
of Bonded or No Separation contact, with Small Sliding active, in an otherwise linear analysis include:
– The NEQIT,1,FORCE command is not issued. Under these circumstances, under-constrained problems
may result in a pivot error rather than a pivot warning.
– Eigenvalue buckling analysis results will be treated as linear-based rather than nonlinear-based. See
the Eigenvalue Buckling Analysis section for more information.
– Results that are not mesh dependent (such as not enough mesh refinement) can produce differences
in the results, especially for contact related results such as Contact Pressure.
• Axis-based Rotation. By specifying the Axis Rotation Available setting in the Graphics category of
the Options preference, you can activate the roll, yaw, and pitch cursor options in the Geometry window.
These options are available when you have selected the Rotate option on the Graphics toolbar.
• Imported Boundary Conditions. When using the Mechanical APDL solver, the commands to deactivate
an Imported Load at a load step are now sent prior to most other commands for that step. Therefore,
deactivated Imported Loads no longer overwrite other reactivated loads or imported loads on common
geometry or mesh selections, even if they exist higher (previously added) in the Outline tree.
• Topology Optimization Design Validation. For topology optimization studies of multiple upstream
systems, you no longer have to update each newly created design validation system using the Transfer
to Design Validation System feature. Now, the newly created systems automatically share Engineering
Data, Geometry, and Model cell data. This new capability enables you to validate your design in one
Mechanical session.
• File Management for Modal Analyses. If you specify the Distribute Solution setting (the default
setting on the Advanced Properties dialog of the Solve Process Settings), the files file.full, file.esav
and file.emat will not be combined at the end of the Modal analysis solution. As a result, any downstream
system, including a Response Spectrum, Mode-Superposition Harmonic, Mode-Superposition Transient,
or Random Vibration analysis, or a follow on Mechanical APDL (turn on the Distributed property in
Project Schematic), must also use a Distributed Solution setting as opposed to a shared memory
solution.
4 of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
Changes in Product Behavior
• Capturing Images. The Image to File option, that saves the content of the Geometry window as an
image file, has a new option: Current Graphics Display. This option is accessed from the New Figure
or Image menu of the Standard toolbar. It essentially specifies that the application uses the default
image capture settings. deselecting this option enables you to change capture preferences.

• Modal Analysis Frequency Values. In previous releases of Mechanical, for a damped modal system,
the application reported negative modes in the Tabular Data window (via the Solution object) if the
solution consisted any rigid body modes. Based upon a new logic, the application now reports only rigid
body modes and the positive frequencies in Tabular Data.
• Application Generated Messages. Now, by default, when Mechanical issues a warning/error/inform-

ation message, the message displays in a pop-up window for five seconds at the bottom of the interface
before being automatically hidden. The Messages Window is no longer automatically displayed when
new messages are issued. All messages are available to view in the Messages Window. You may turn
this default option off using the Pop-up Messages preference.

• Nonlinear Formulation (Transient Thermal). For Transient Thermal analyses, the application now
specifies the Program Controlled option of the Nonlinear Formulation property (Analysis Settings
> Nonlinear Controls) with the Full setting when enthalpy is present as a material property. In previous
releases, the Quasi option was specified by default.
• Mechatronics Analysis. The name of the macro file used to export the reduced model has been changed
from "ExportSpaceSpaceMatrices.mac" to "ExportStateSpaceMatrices.mac".
• Specifying Edge/Edge Contact Preference for 2D Models. The Options preference feature (see the
Connections category) now enables you to change the default setting for automatic contact detection
for Edges in two dimensional (2D) models. Contact detection occurs automatically by default, but you
can now change this setting (to No) so that it does not take place. This setting takes effect upon future
geometry attachments.
• Topology Optimization Solution Selection. The Solution Selection object is no longer an available
object in the Topology Optimization analysis. An Environment listing can now be seen under the
Definition category of the Solution object in the Topology Optimization analysis.
• Topology Optimization Objective Object. The properties of the Objective object has been moved
to Objective Worksheet in order to combine the properties together with the user specified weights.
• Damping Controls - Structural Damping Coefficient. For the Structural Damping Coefficient
property of the Analysis Settings Damping Controls, Mechanical previously, and incorrectly, used Hertz
(Hz) as the default unit of measure. The application now uses the proper unit of radians per second
(rad/s).
• LS-DYNA (Export) system. The LS-DYNA (Export) system is no longer fully supported. You must have
the Beta features enabled in order to use it in the current release. The Workbench LS-DYNA ACT extension
has enhanced the capabilities of using the LS-DYNA solver in the Workbench environment.
1.2. General
Enhancements for Mechanical 19.0
The following general enhancements were made at Release 19.0:
• Specifying Element Face-Based Named Selections Using the Worksheet. When using the Worksheet
to create Element Face-based Named Selections:
– The Element Face Entity Type has new criteria specification: Normal, Location X, Location Y, and
Location Z. The Normal option, in tandem with the selection you make in the Value field, either
positive or negative X Axis, Y Axis, or Z Axis, creates a Named Selection that includes all element
faces whose normal direction is same as the selected axis (for the selected Coordinate System). The
Location X/Y/Z selections require a numerical entry in the Value field and create a Named Selection
that includes all element faces whose face centroid location matches the input value.
– You can now use the Worksheet to convert element face-based Named Selections to node-based
Named Selections.
• Clipboard Toolbar. A new Clipboard toolbar is now available. The Clipboard toolbar is a selection
feature that assists you to make, store and build up geometry or mesh selections. Using the options of
the Clipboard menu, you can create, change, add to, and overwrite your clipboard selections in order
to temporarily save selection entities.
• Using Macros. Mechanical now supports macros written with the Python programming language from
the Tools menu via the Run Macro feature.
• Transferring System Data from AIM. You can now transfer the following from AIM to Mechanical:
– Contact conditions
– Coordinate system definitions
– Geometry
– Material Assignments
– Mesh
• Named Selection Protected Topology. The Named Selection object includes a new property: Protec-
ted. This property is available for geometry-based Named Selections. When you scope this Named Se-
lection to another object, such as a boundary condition, symmetry, or loading condition, the Protected
property enables you to better ensure the association between the geometry and the generated mesh
for the scoped object.

General
• Environment Duplication. Mechanical now enables you to duplicate an entire analysis environment,
including all of its child-objects, simply by selecting the environment object, right-clicking, and selecting
the new Duplicate option.
• Adding an Analysis System in Mechanical. From within the application, Mechanical now enables you
to add an analysis to your model from the new Standard Toolbar drop-down menu, New Analysis. A
corresponding analysis system, with the appropriate connections, is also included in the Project
Schematic.
• Element Face Selections:
– Graphical Selections. You can now graphically select elements faces on your mesh using the new
Element Face option on the Graphics toolbar (or hotkey combination Ctrl+K). With Element Face
selections, you can view element information in Selection Information window, create Named Se-
lections, and scope results, including User Defined Results, to element faces and element face-based
Named Selections.
– Named Selections using Worksheet Criteria. A new Worksheet criteria option, Element Face, is
now available. This option enables you to convert geometry face selections or node selections to
element face selections.
– Sending Element Face Named Selections to Solver. You can now send element face-based Named
Selections to the solver as either a nodal component or a set of Mesh200 elements.
• Named Selections Icons. The tree object icon for Named Selections now illustrates the corresponding
geometric entity or mesh type.
• Coordinate System APDL Name. The new Coordinate System object property, APDL Name, enables
you to create an APDL parameter (in the input file) and assign its value to the reference number of the
coordinate system. This facilitates easy programmatic identification of the coordinate system for later
use/reference in a Command object.
• Exporting ANSYS Viewer Files. When exporting result objects to the ANSYS Viewer, the application
now automatically opens the viewer after you have saved your AVZ file. This default behavior can be
changed the under the Export preference of the Options dialog.

• Scripting in Mechanical. A new online Help guide is now available: Scripting in Mechanical (Quick
Start Guide). This Help guide was added to introduce scripting in Mechanical. It examines important
scripting concepts and provides illustrative examples.
• Searchable Drop-Down Options. Details view properties that provide a drop-down list of options,
such as a list of Named Selections, now enable a search box in order to quickly locate a specific option.
Entering one or more characters in the search box filters the list of options to only show the ones con-
taining the search string. This feature is turned on by default, however, you can change the default
setting and disable the feature under the UI Controls category of the Miscellaneous Options.
• Specifying Named Selections using Worksheet Criteria. When you select Body as the Entity Type,
there is a new Worksheet Criteria option: Cross Section. Using this option, the application finds bodies
using the cross section selection specified in the Value column.
1.3. Graphics
No graphical enhancements were made at Release 19.0.

The following graphical enhancements were made at Release 18.2:
• Full Screen Mode. Using the F11 hotkey, Mechanical now enables you to quickly maximize the Geometry
window. This can be for presentation purposes as well as when you are preparing an analysis.
• Hotkey Additions. When the geometry window has focus, the H and Z keys now enable you to zoom
in on a selected geometric entity (Z) and then return the view to the default Isometric View (H).
• Model Rotation. Model rotation has been improved. When selecting the model in the Geometry
window, the middle mouse button now defines the rotational center upon selection, enabling you to
immediately rotate the model around that point.
• Graphics Annotations. A new Notes field has been added for User Defined annotations. This replaces
the ability to add notes in the Value column in previous releases. You can display your Notes as multiple
lines in the Geometry window using the backspace (\) keyboard character in your Note. All text following
the backspace is considered a new line.

The following graphical enhancements were made at Release 18.1:
• Line Body Thickness: A new line body display preference, Line Body Thickness, is available in Mech-
anical. You can now specify a display preference of Thin (default) or Thick.
• Body Color by Cross Section. A new Display Type property is available for the Geometry object: By
Cross Section. When this option is selected, bodies with the same cross section are assigned the same
color in the Geometry window.
• Animation. The Graph window has a new option for multi-step analyses: Update Contour Range at
Each Animation. This new option enables you to view your results on a frame by frame basis. The
Geometry window legend dynamically changes from frame to frame and the result contours display
the full range of colors from the minimum value to the maximum value.
1.4. Geometry
The following geometry enhancements were made at Release 19.0:
• Material Plot. A new option is available from the Geometry object: Material Plot. This new feature
enables you to plot material property values on your geometry using geometry or Named Selection
scoping.
External Model
• Symmetry Region. A new Behavior property is now available for Symmetry Region objects with the
Type property set to Linear Periodic. This new property enables you to specify the coupling behavior
(as Free or Coupled) between the selected Low Boundary and High Boundary.

For Release 18.2, a Surface Coating feature was added to the application. Mechanical now enables you
to create a shell surface, or Surface Coating, on an existing 3D face of your model. This feature enables
you to accurately evaluate surface stresses or to overlay your structure with thin parts, for example, to
model Thermal Barrier Coatings. To accurately model this type of application, Mechanical enables you
to specify the thickness, stiffness behavior, coordinate system, and material.

The following geometry enhancements were made at Release 18.1:
• Cross Section Object. Mechanical now displays line body cross section data as objects in the tree. Each
Cross Section object displays the type, dimensions, and attributes associated with a unique cross-section.
The application automatically inserts these objects under the Cross Section folder when you import
geometry with Line bodies.
• Line Body Alignment. ANSYS DesignModeler now has a Frame Alignment property that enables you
to override the default frame alignment assigned by DesignModeler. See the Cross Section Alignment
Help section in the DesignModeler User’s Guide for additional information.
1.5. Materials
The following material enhancements were made at Release 19.0:
• Material Plot. A new option is available from the Geometry object: Material Plot. This new feature
enables you to plot material property values on your geometry using geometry or Named Selection
scoping.
• Paris' Law is now supported for a Static Structural analysis. This model is available in the Crack Growth
Laws category of the Toolbox.
• Density now supports use of the field variables, Coordinate X, Coordinate Y, Coordinate Z, as well as User
Defined field variables.
1.6. External Model

For Release 19.0, only the following External Model enhancements were made:
• The External Model system now supports the capability to transfer the following data/objects:
– Boundary Conditions
– Bolt Pretensions
• Importing Contacts. When importing contact conditions through the External Model system, Mechan-
ical now supports the import of contact stiffness. The new Worksheet fields Normal Stiffness and
Normal Stiffness Value enable you to view and redefine this data as necessary.
• Import Summary. The new Import Summary object is a display feature that becomes available when
you import upstream data using the External Model system. This object displays upstream data in the
Worksheet. Source file data is displayed in tabular format and lists a summary of finite element content
(nodes, elements, contacts, etc.), the number of bodies, as well as a summary of the commands that
were executed in order to import the data.
• The External Model system now supports imports of LS-DYNA meshes files containing solid and shell
bodies.This supports importing nodal named selections, along with nodal rigid bodies.

For Release 18.2, the following External Model enhancements were made:
• Process Mesh200 Elements. For .cdb files only, External Model supports importing Mesh200 elements
that are included in your mesh file.
• Importing Contacts. You can now transfer contact surface to surface (solid or shell bodies) data/objects
through the External Model system. For thermal analyses, this includes thermal conductivity. This new
data type utilizes the Worksheet in order to better manage large amounts of finite element data.
• Sorting Imported Worksheet Data. For imported data from an External Model source, you can now
sort Worksheet table data by clicking on a column heading.

For Release 18.1, the following Model Assembly and External Model enhancements were made:
• Importing ABAQUS Finite Element Data. ANSYS Workbench and ANSYS Mechanical now enable you
to attach additional files to an imported parent .inp file. These support files can include additional
node and element data.
• Face Components. You can now choose to import face components from Mechanical (.cdb) and Abaqus
Input (.inp) files to Mechanical as Named Selections. You can also specify components keys in order to
filter the components contained in your mesh file. The following new properties are available for the
External Model component system to support this new capabilities:
– Process Face Components
– Face Component Key
• Editing Imported Mesh-Based Data. You can now edit the Worksheet content of an imported object
from External Model using the new Edit Items option.
• Thermal Analysis Support. You can now import coupling, contact, and remote connection data
(flexible or rigid) into thermal analyses.
Contact and Connections
1.7. Contact and Connections

The following contact and connection enhancements were made at Release 19.0:
• Small Sliding Default Setting. The Program Controlled setting for the Small Sliding property auto-
matically sets the property to On in most situations if the Large Deflection property is set to Off or
the Formulation property is set to Bonded contact. In addition, you can now change default setting
for this property using the Small Sliding option in the Connections category of the Options preference.
• Contact Step Control (Mechanical APDL solver only). A new condition is now available in Mechanical:
Contact Step Control. This condition enables you to specify contact regions as Alive or Dead, and/or
specify the Normal Stiffness for a Contact Region, for a specific load step in your analysis.
• Analysis Settings > Analysis Data Management. The Analysis Data Management category of the
Analysis Settings has a new property: Contact Summary. In order to limit the amount of contact data
written to the solver output file, this property enables you to specify where contact pair data is written
during the solution process, either to the solver output file or to a contact output file.
• Contact Region Protection. A new Contact Region property, Protected, now enables you to specify
that the scoped contact entities (faces, edges, or vertices) receive special priority during the mesh
process in order to protect the contact region’s boundaries. This means that during the mesh process,
the contact region is given priority so that the boundaries are more accurately captured. As a result,
the mesh becomes more closely associated to the geometry.

• Beam Connection Length. The Beam Connection feature has a new property: Beam Length. This
read-only property displays the length of the beam based on the end points from the scoping of the
Reference and Mobile categories.
• Small Sliding. A new contact property is now available that enables you to specify whether a contact
interface will have a small sliding motion.

• Beam Contact. Mechanical now supports contact between the edges of line bodies (beam-to-beam
contact) in a 3D structural analysis.
• Specifying Edge/Edge Contact Preference for 2D Models. The Options preference feature (see the
Connections category) now enables you to change the default setting for automatic contact detection
for Edges in two dimensional (2D) models. Contact detection occurs automatically by default, but you
can now change this setting (to No) so that it does not take place. This setting takes effect upon future
geometry attachments.
• Face Overlap Tolerance. Enables you to set your preference for the minimum percentage of overlap
at which a contact pair will be created for two overlapping faces. This setting enables the software to
obtain more precise contact pairs during automatic contact generation based on a default tolerance
that is appropriate for your simulation type. The Face Overlap Tolerance setting in the Connections
group of the Mechanical Options panel determines the default tolerance. You can modify the Face
Overlap Tolerance property in the Details view of the Connection Group folder to override the default
for the current model.
• Edge Overlap Tolerance. Enables you to set your preference for the minimum percentage of overlap
at which a contact pair will be created for an edge and a face that overlap. This setting enables the
software to obtain more precise contact pairs during automatic contact generation based on a default
tolerance that is appropriate for your simulation type. The Edge Overlap Tolerance setting in the
Connections group of the Mechanical Options panel determines the default tolerance. You can modify
the Edge Overlap Tolerance property in the Details view of the Connection Group folder to override
the default for the current model.
• Only Beam Edges for Face/Edge Contact Detection. You can select the new Only Beam Edges option
for the Face/Edge property so that face to edge connection uses only edges of beam bodies to determine
connection with all faces. In the Connections group of the Mechanical Options panel, you can set the
Face/Edge property to Only Beam Edges to make this the default for face to edge connection detection.
You can modify the Face/Edge setting in the Details view of the Connection Group folder to override
the default for the current model.
• You can now drag and drop the Contacts folder onto the Mesh object to create a Contact Sizing control
for each contact region in the folder automatically.
1.8. Mesh
Refer to the 19.0 Release Notes of the Meshing application for new features and enhancements associated
with Meshing in the Mechanical application.
1.9. Fracture
The following fracture enhancements have been made at Release 19.0:
• SMART Crack Growth: You can now simulate fatigue and static crack growth in an engineering structure
using the SMART Crack Growth object.
• Fracture Results (Fracture Tool). Equivalent SIFS Range result is supported when the crack is associated
with fatigue crack growth.
• Fracture Probes (Fracture Tool): Mechanical now provides fracture probes when you have included
SMART Crack Growth in your analysis. Fracture probes enable you to view the time history of a fracture
parameter (i.e., SIFS, Crack Extension, etc.) for a specific crack front node along the crack front only.
1.10. Acoustics Analysis

For Release 19.0, the following Acoustics analysis enhancements were made:
• Acoustic Results. During Harmonic Acoustics analyses, Mechanical now provides:
– Frequency Response Results
– Power Loss Results
Topology Optimization
– Far-field Results: A new property, Radial Axis Bounds, now appears for all Far-field Results in Har-
monic Acoustic analyses except for the Far-field Sound Power Level result. This new property enables
you to manually specify a minimum and maximum entry range for the property.
• Irregular PML Acoustic Regions. Mechanical enable you to define an Acoustics Physics Region with
Irregular PML options.
• Transfer Admittance Matrix. Mechanical now enable you to define a Transfer Admittance Matrix
model with a Square Grid Structure or a Hexagonal Grid Structure model type.
• Output Controls. The General Miscellaneous property of the Output Controls category of the Ana-
lysis Settings now has options pertaining to Acoustics analyses only that enable you to send element-
based miscellaneous solution data to the output file. You can specify whether you want to issue solution
data for all of the bodies of your model, only the acoustics bodies, or only the structural bodies. Certain
caveats and requirements may apply based on the type of Acoustics analysis as well as based on how
the objects you have specified for the analysis.
• Acoustic Far-field Results. The Harmonic Acoustics analysis now supports Microphone Results.

Acoustics Analyses. ANSYS Workbench now provides Harmonic Acoustics and a Modal Acoustics ana-
lysis types. Modal Acoustics enables you to model the acoustic and optionally structural domain together
to determine frequencies and standing wave patterns. Harmonic Acoustics analyses are used to determine
the steady-state response of an acoustic region or a structure and the surrounding fluid medium to
loads and excitation that vary sinusoidally with time.
1.11. Linear Dynamics

The following enhancements were made at Release 19.0 for Linear Dynamic features and analyses:

The following linear dynamics enhancements have been made at Release 18.2:
• Modal Analysis Frequency Values. In previous releases of Mechanical, for a damped modal system,
the application reported negative modes in the Tabular Data window (via the Solution object) if the
solution consisted of any rigid body modes. The application now reports only rigid body modes and
the positive frequencies in Tabular Data.

The following linear dynamics enhancements have been made at Release 18.1:
• Modal Analysis Commands. For Modal analyses, there is a new Commands object property: Point
Selection Mode. This property enables you to send solver commands based on the solver points of
the Campbell Diagram as specified by the Rotordynamics Controls of the Analysis Settings.
1.12. Topology Optimization

The following Topology Optimization analysis enhancements were made at Release 19.0:
• The Topology Optimization analysis now supports the use of:
– All Inertial Type Boundary Conditions (Acceleration, Standard Earth Gravity, Rotational Velocity,
and Rotational Acceleration) in an upstream Static Structural analysis.
– Imported Temperature and Thermal Condition-based boundary conditions in upstream Static

Structural analyses. This incorporates thermal effects for computing the optimized topology of the
structure.
– Fixed Joints (only) that have the Solver Element Type (MAPDL Solver Only) property set to Contact/Dir-
ect.
– The Remote Solve Manager (RSM). The RSM is supported on both the Windows and Linux platforms.
• Manufacturing Constraint. When performing a Topology Optimization analysis, Mechanical now

supports certain combinations of Manufacturing Constraint Pull Out Direction, Extrusion, Cyclic, and
Symmetry.
• Topology Analysis Settings. The Definition category of the Analysis Settings is for the Topology
Optimization analysis has a new property: Penalty Factor (Stiffness). This property enables you to
apply a penalty factor to the structural stiffness matrix in order to prevent the stiffness matrix from
scaling linearly with the pseudo density.
• Performing a Solution and Reviewing Results. If your upstream system is a single Static Structural
analysis, use step-based loading to improve scalability. This does not include the use of the Thermal
Condition load.
• Topology Optimization Design Validation. For topology optimization studies of multiple upstream
systems, you no longer have to update each newly created design validation system using the Transfer
to Design Validation System feature. Now, the newly created systems automatically share Engineering
Data, Geometry, and Model cell data. This new capability enables you to validate your design in one
Mechanical session.

• The Topology Optimization Analysis now:
– Enables the optimization of objectives and constraints selected from multiple Static Structural or
Modal analysis types.
– Enables you to combine objectives through the Objective object Worksheet.
– Response Constraints applied to selected static structural or modal analyses.
– Supports the addition of exclusions to the Optimization Region object using the new Exclusion
Region object.
– Supports the specification of a local coordinate system for the Pull Out Direction Manufacturing
Constraint.
– Enables you to specify a range for the Mass Constraint and Volume Constraint response types. The
new Define By property enables you to specify the minimum and maximum percent to retain.
Loads/Supports/Conditions
– Supports linear springs using Compliance Response Type for the Objective.
– Enables you to use the Stop button on the Solution Status window to stop your Topology Optimization
solution. See the Understanding Solving section of the User's Guide.

• For the Topology Optimization Analysis:
– The Manufacturing Constraint object now provides the following new options:
→ Pull Out Direction
→ Extrusion
→ Cyclic
→ Symmetry
– The Response Constraint object now provides the following new options:
→ Local von-Mises Stress Constraint
→ Displacement Constraint
→ Reaction Force Constraint
• Topology Optimization Frequency Detection. The detection of repeating frequencies was modified.
If the design objective is to optimize a frequency, then all of the repeating frequencies are optimized
simultaneously. This process could change the iteration sequence compared to previous versions.
1.13. Loads/Supports/Conditions
The following loads/supports/conditions enhancements were made at Release 19.0:
• Element Birth and Death (Mechanical APDL solver only). A new object is now available in Mechanical:
Element Birth and Death. This object exposes the birth and death capability of the solver and enables
you to specify that one or more elements are either Alive (active) or Dead (inactive) for a specific load
step during your analysis. This feature is useful for analyzing excavation, staged construction, sequential
assembly, as well as many other applications.
• Contact Step Control (Mechanical APDL solver only). A new condition is now available in Mechanical:
Contact Step Control. This condition enables you to specify contact regions as Alive or Dead, and/or
modify their Normal Stiffness, for a specific load step in your analysis.
• EM Transducer. The EM Transducer loading condition has a new property: Stiffness Method. This
property enables you to choose between an Augmented or Full Stiffness Method setting for the gen-
erated elements.

No enhancements were made at Release 18.2 for loads, supports, or conditions.

• Step Dependent Tabular Loading. For Static Structural analyses that use the MAPDL solver, the Inde-
pendent Variable property now provides the option Step, enabling you to specify loading on a per
step basis. The application does not use tables, but rather sends the loading to the solver as constant
values for each step.
1.14. Mapping
The following mapping enhancements were made at Release 19.0:
• Mapping One-Way FSI During CFD Analysis. You can now employ a new option, Mechanical-Based
Mapping, as the interpolation method for mapping Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) loading
conditions from an upstream Workbench system during a one-way Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI)
analysis. This new option enables the use of a number of different mapping algorithms and weighting
options.
• Maxwell-Harmonic Coupling: Mechanical now enables you to import Surface Force Density data on
element faces into a Harmonic analysis from an upstream Maxwell Transient solution.

• Maxwell-Harmonic Coupling: Mechanical now enables you to import Surface Force Density data on
element faces into a Harmonic analysis from an upstream Maxwell Eddy-current solution.
1.15. Solution
The following solution enhancements were made at Release 19.0:
• Nonlinear Adaptive Region. The Nonlinear Adaptive Region feature:
– Now supports 3-D Quadratic Tetrahedral Elements.
– Includes two new selections for the Options property when the Criterion property is set to Mesh
during a 3D analysis: Jacobian Ratio and Skewness and Jacobian Ratio.
• Analysis Settings - Nonlinear Adaptivity Remeshing Controls. The Nonlinear Adaptivity Remeshing
Controls category of the Analysis Settings object:
– Has been renamed "Nonlinear Adaptivity Remeshing Controls" from "Nonlinear Adaptivity Controls."
Rigid Body Solver Enhancements
– Has new supporting properties for the Number of Sculpted Layers and Global Size Ratio properties.
Each property is now read-only and includes sub-properties that enable you to specify Quality Im-
provement (Criterion = Mesh) or enable Refinement entries (Criterion = Energy or Box).
– Includes a new property: Refinement Algorithm. This property defines the algorithm to be used for
Refinement. The options include General Remeshing (default) and Mesh Splitting. Its use requires
that the Criterion property be set to Energy or Box
– Includes a new property: Remeshing Tolerance. This property, in combination with its sub-properties,
defines the tolerance for accepting a new mesh.
– Includes a change to the Remeshing Gradient property, that was previously specified using a value
(0, 1, or 2). The property now provides a new drop-down menu that includes the options: No
Gradient (equal to previous value 0), Average Gradient (equal to previous value 1), Perfect Shape
Gradient (equal to previous value 2), and Practical Shape Gradient (a new option for 3-D analysis).
• On Demand Stress/Strain: This feature enables you to evaluate stress, elastic strain, and thermal strain
results without writing the associated data to the result file. This means that you maintain a smaller
result file size while also being able to review stress and strain results. This option can drastically reduce
the result file size when many shell layers are present in the model.
• Read Result Files. The Read Result Files option (Tools Menu) no longer requires that you have an
error (.err) file included in the target directory. Now, the application only needs the result file (.rst or
.rth). In addition, you can also use uncombined result files from a Distributed ANSYS solution instead
of a single combined result file.

• Tabular Data Load Step Display via the Solution Object. For Static Structural and Transient Structural
analyses using the Mechanical APDL solver, when you select the Solution object once the solution is
complete for a multi-step analysis, the Tabular Data window displays the Time associated and now
also includes each Step of the analysis as well as each Substep as available.

• Worksheet Summary. The Worksheet summary feature now provides an option, List Solver Compon-
ent Information, that enables you to list, in tabular form, the Material IDs, Element Name IDs, and
Element Type IDs generated during the solution process.
• Restart Controls - Combined Restart Files. The Combined Restart Files property of the Analysis
Settings Restart Controls category now enables you to restart your downstream pre-stress analysis
using a different number of cores than the static structural analysis. You will need to set this property
to Yes prior to solving your static structural analysis.
1.16. Rigid Body Solver Enhancements

The following Rigid Body Solver enhancements were made at Release 19.0:
• Rigid Dynamics FMU Export: It is now possible to easily export a Rigid Dynamics model from Mechanical
as an FMU for cosimulation. This FMU can be used to perform co-simulation with any tool that implement
the FMI standard as a cosimulation master.
• Sticking in Joint Friction: The Rigid Dynamics solver now handles the sticking state in joint friction. Previ-
ously, only the sliding mode was supported.
1.17. Explicit Dynamics Enhancements

The Explicit Dynamics analysis system is a Workbench integrated provision of the Autodyn FE (Lagrange)
and multiple-material Euler solvers, and Euler-Lagrange Coupling (providing FSI).
The following Explicit Dynamics Solver enhancements have been made at Release 19.0:
• Most of the Joint modeling capabilities that are available for Transient Structural and Rigid Dynamics
analysis systems are now available in an Explicit Dynamics solution. This includes all general (and derived)
joint types and bushings, including the definition of stops and locks. They can be postprocessed by
using Joint probes.
• Point Masses can be defined by remote scoping to a variety of geometric entities. The definition of a
Point Mass consists of a mass and, optionally, a principal inertia vector.
The following LS-DYNA Solver enhancements have been made at Release 19.0:
• Restart System. Workbench LS-DYNA now supports restarting a calculation, with three types of restarting
provided:
– to complete a previously stopped calculation (Simple Restart).
– to make minor changes to a previously completed calculation (Small Restart).
– to make major changes to that calculation (Full Restart).
• Material Model Enhancements. The following LS-DYNA materials models are available and enable advanced
usages of LS-DYNA, such as as plasticity, metal forming, and so on.
– Cowper Symonds Power Law Hardening
– Rate Sensitive Power Law Hardening
– Cowper Symonds Piecewise Linear Hardening
– Modified Cowper Symonds Linear Hardening
– Bilinear Transversely Anisotropic Hardening
– Multilinear Transversely Anisotropic Hardening
– Bilinear FLD Transversely Anisotropic Hardening
– Multilinear FLD Transversely Anisotropic Hardening
– Bilinear 3 Parameter Barlat Hardening
– Exponential 3 Parameter Barlat Hardening
Results
– Exponential Barlat 3 Parameter Hardening
– Rate Independent Low Density Foam
– Vacuum
• Graphical Improvements. The look and feel of time-dependent boundary conditions like Rigid Body Force,
Rigid Body Rotation, Rigid Body Angular Velocity, and Rigid Moment have been improved and made con-
sistent with other Mechanical boundary conditions.
Similarly, the look and feel of Airbag, Draw bead, and Time Step control constraints have been made
consistent with other Mechanical tabular constraints.
• Postprocessing Improvements. LS-DYNA features a improved and native postprocessing engine for contour
plots.
1.18. Results
The following results enhancements were made at Release 19.0:
• Result File Item Result Scoping Option. Using the Result File Item Scoping Method, you can now
scope results to Element IDs and Node IDs.
• Results Properties. Two new result object properties are available: Average and Total. An Average
value is provided for results when Minimum and Maximum values are listed. If the units of the result
include Length, Area, Volume, Mass, Force, Moment, Energy, or Heat Rate, then the application
provides the Total result value instead of the Average.
• Fatigue Combination for Damage Results. Now, when you have more than one analysis, where each
analysis is solving for Damage results in the Fatigue Tool, Mechanical enables you to sum the Damage
results for all of the analyses using the new Fatigue Combination feature.
• Contact Result Tracker. The Contact result tracker offers a new Type (output) option, Number With
Too Much Sliding, that specifies the number of contact points having too much sliding for small sliding
contact.
• Local Minimum and Maximum Probes. When you have a result object selected, two new the Geometry
window context menu (right-click) options are now available: Create Local Max Probes (K) and Create
Local Min Probes (L). These options display probe labels for the largest (Max) and smallest (Min) result
values within the local range. The display limit for these new options is six labels.

• Multiple Result Sets. The By property, used to review result contours from the multiple result sets,
has two new options: Minimum Over Time and Time of Minimum. These options enable you to display
the minimum result value for a result set.
• Automatic Result Creation. Mechanical now provides two new contextual (right-click) menu options
to automatically create new results from solution generated result data:
– Create Results. This option is available in the Tabular Data window. It enables you to create result
objects from solution-based Tabular Data content.
– Create Results at All Sets. This option is available on solved result objects. It enables you to auto-
matically create a group of results based on all of the available Result Sets for a given solved result
item/object.
• Result File Item (formerly Solver Component) Result Scoping Option. A new result Scoping
Method is available: Result File Item. In the previous release of Mechanical, this option was named
Solver Component. This result scoping capability has been updated and renamed. This option still
enables you to scope results on solution generated Material IDs, Element Name IDs, and Element Type
IDs, but now you can also scope results to solver components. In addition, graphical interface options
now enable you to highlight elements in the Geometry window, collapse consecutive Material/Element
IDs, and there are previous/next options for large Worksheet tables of data.
• On Demand Stress/Strain (Windows Platform Only): When you have an analysis that includes an up-
stream ACP system, this property displays with the options Yes and No (default). This feature enables
you to evaluate stress and strain results without writing the associated data to the result file. This means
that you maintain a smaller result file size while also being able to review stress and strain results or
use the composite failure tool. This option can drastically reduce the result file size when many shell
layers are present in the model.
• Surface Coating. Surface Coating is a new result Scoping Method that enables you to view results
on Surface Coating objects.
• Exporting ANSYS Viewer Files. When exporting result objects to the ANSYS Viewer, the application
now automatically opens the viewer after you have saved your AVZ file. This default behavior can be
changed the under the Export preference of the Options dialog.
• Fatigue Tool. For Harmonic Response analyses, the Fatigue Tool has two new properties: Frequency
Selection and Sweep Rate. The Frequency Selection property enables you to specify whether a single
frequency, multiple frequencies, or a Sine Sweep analysis is requested. If you select Sine Sweep, you
then need to specify a Sweep Rate, the rate of frequency sweep.

• Solver Component Result Scoping. A new result Scoping Method is available: Solver Component.
This option enables you to scope results on solver generated elements, such as surface pressure elements
or weak springs, that were previously only available for post-processing within Mechanical APDL.
Chapter 2: Mechanical APDL Release Notes
Release 19.0 of the Mechanical APDL application offers most of the capabilities from prior releases. New
features, enhancements, and changes appear in the following areas:
• Structural (p. 21)
• Multiphysics (p. 28)
• Solvers (p. 30)
• Commands (p. 31)
• Elements (p. 35)
• Documentation (p. 36)
Also see Known Incompatibilities (p. 37) and the ANSYS customer site (p. xiii) for important information
about this release.
Backward Compatibility: Mechanical APDL Release 19.0 can read database files from all prior Mechan-
ical APDL releases. Due to ongoing product improvements and defect corrections, however, results
obtained from old databases running in new releases may differ somewhat from those obtained previ-
ously.
2.1. Structural
Release 19.0 includes the new features and enhancements for the following structural analysis disciplines:
2.1.1. Contact
2.1.2. Elements and Nonlinear Technology
2.1.3. Material and Fracture Modeling
2.1.4. Linear Dynamics
2.1.5.Transient Dynamics
2.1.1. Contact
Release 19.0 includes the following enhancements for structural analyses involving contact:
2.1.1.1. Default Behavior Change for 3-D MPC Bonded Contact
2.1.1.2. Power-Law Based Mixed Mode Debonding
2.1.1.3. Enhancements to Contact Friction Models
2.1.1.1. Default Behavior Change for 3-D MPC Bonded Contact

For 3-D MPC bonded contact, Mechanical APDL selects the appropriate constraint type (KEYOPT(5) value
on the target element) based on the underlying element type. In prior releases, KEYOPT(5) was internally
set for the entire contact pair: KEYOPT(5) = 1 for a solid-solid assembly, KEYOPT(5) = 2 for a shell-shell
assembly. In this release, to improve solution accuracy and robustness, the default option internally
sets KEYOPT(5) to the appropriate value for each contact constraint. If an initial gap or penetration exists,
Mechanical APDL
Mechanical APDL now uses KEYOPT(5) = 3 logic to build the internal constraint equations. For more
information, see the TARGE170 KEYOPT(5) description.
2.1.1.2. Power-Law Based Mixed Mode Debonding

The cohesive zone material models (TB,CZM,,,,CBDD and TB,CZM,,,,CBDE) used with contact elements
to model mixed-mode debonding have been enhanced to include a more general power-law-based
debonding criterion. The enhanced criterion enables mixed-mode debonding simulation for structures
that may have different debonding criteria.
2.1.1.3. Enhancements to Contact Friction Models

The following enhancements are available for contact friction:
• For steady state rolling analysis (SSTATE), the contact friction model has been changed to a viscous model.
The slip tolerance is now a function of sliding velocity instead of characteristic mesh length. The new friction
model enhances tire simulations that include stead-state rolling.
• A new orthotropic friction model (TB,FRIC,,,,FORTHO) offers a frictional coordinate system that remains fixed
in space, intended for applications where the source of orthotropic friction is a fixed surface meshed with
target elements.
2.1.2. Elements and Nonlinear Technology

Release 19.0 includes the following enhancements to elements and nonlinear technology used in
structural analyses:
2.1.2.1. Bending-Stiffness Scaling Factor Shell Elements
2.1.2.2. Membrane Option for Smeared Reinforcing
2.1.2.3. High-Order Mesh-Independent Reinforcing Elements
2.1.2.4. Consolidated Lumped Mass Formulations
2.1.2.5. Nonlinear Adaptivity
2.1.2.6. 2-D to 3-D Analysis
2.1.2.1. Bending-Stiffness Scaling Factor Shell Elements

Bending stiffness is defined by either a standard or preintegrated shell section (SECTYPE,,SHELL or
GENS, respectively). For SHELL181 and SHELL281 elements, further bending-stiffness scaling is now
available via a user-specified factor (SECCONTROL with BENSTIF ). For a standard shell section,
Mechanical APDL rebalances the element stresses to reflect the change in bending stiffness.
2.1.2.2. Membrane Option for Smeared Reinforcing

Each reinforcing layer of smeared reinforcing elements REINF263 and REINF265 can now contain a
cluster of fibers with unique orientation, material, and cross-section area, simplified as a homogeneous
membrane having unidirectional stiffness. The elements can therefore be used to model homogeneous
reinforcing membranes. The elements now support a plane-stress state (SECCONTROL,,,MEMOPT), required
for homogeneous reinforcing membranes.
2.1.2.3. High-Order Mesh-Independent Reinforcing Elements

When used to represent smeared reinforcing layers, the MESH200 element offers more options for rein-
forcing modeling using the mesh-independent method. New options include a 3-D triangle with three
Structural
or six nodes, and a quadrilateral with four or eight nodes. For more information, see Mesh-Independent
Method in the Mechanical APDL Structural Analysis Guide.
2.1.2.4. Consolidated Lumped Mass Formulations

For current technology elements with rotational degrees of freedom, the following formulations are
now available when the lumped mass approximation is requested (LUMPM,ON): direct diagonalization,
translational mass only, and frame invariant. For more information, see Special Handling of Rotational
Degrees of Freedom in the Mechanical APDL Theory Reference.
2.1.2.5. Nonlinear Adaptivity

The nonlinear adaptivity analysis capability offers the following enhancements:
2.1.2.5.1. SOLID187 Element Support
2.1.2.5.2. Combining Criteria
2.1.2.5.3. Element Refinement via General Remeshing
2.1.2.5.4. Contact Elements with Fluid Penetration
2.1.2.5.1. SOLID187 Element Support

Nonlinear adaptivity now supports the 3-D 10-node tetrahedral SOLID187 element (pure displacement
formulation and mixed u-P formulations). When defining mesh quality for removing mesh distortion
during large deformation, skewness is sufficient for representing the shape of a linear tetrahedral element
(such as SOLID285); however, for SOLID187, a second parameter representing the Jacobian ratio has
been introduced, necessary for representing the high-order nature of the element. For more information,
see SKEWNESS Option with Jacobian Ratio in the Mechanical APDL Advanced Analysis Guide.
2.1.2.5.2. Combining Criteria

Remeshing to remove mesh distortion (mesh-quality-based criterion) can now be combined with
remeshing or splitting for refinement (contact-, energy-, or position-based criteria). The criteria for the
respective remeshing operations must be activated at different substeps. For more information, see
Defining Element Components in the Mechanical APDL Advanced Analysis Guide and NLADAPTIVE.
2.1.2.5.3. Element Refinement via General Remeshing

A new option is available to refine PLANE182, SOLID187, and SOLID285 elements when contact-, energy-
, or position-based criteria are defined. General remeshing for refinement typically results in better-
quality elements (than those obtained via splitting) in the transition rezoning and is the default setting
for those elements. For PLANE182 and SOLID285, refinement via splitting is also available. For more
information, see Generating a New Mesh via General Remeshing in the Mechanical APDL Advanced
Analysis Guide and NLMESH.
2.1.2.5.4. Contact Elements with Fluid Penetration

Contact elements CONTA173 and CONTA174 with fluid penetration can be remeshed or refined.
2.1.2.6. 2-D to 3-D Analysis

The 2-D to 3-D analysis capability is now supported by Distributed ANSYS. For more information, see
2-D to 3-D Analysis in the Mechanical APDL Advanced Analysis Guide and the Parallel Processing Guide.
Mechanical APDL
2.1.3. Material and Fracture Modeling

Release 19.0 includes the following enhancements to material modeling and fracture analysis technology
used in structural analyses:
2.1.3.1. SMART Method for Crack-Growth Simulation
2.1.3.2. XFEM-Based Crack Analysis and Crack-Growth Simulation
2.1.3.3. Microplane Gradient Plasticity
2.1.3.4. Parameter Scaling for Material Curve-Fitting
2.1.3.5.Thermal and Fluid Gradient Output
2.1.3.6. Viscoplasticity Material Model Combinations
2.1.3.7. Nonlinear Kinematic Hardening
2.1.3.8. User-Defined Material Support for Full-Harmonic Analysis
2.1.3.9. Mohr-Coulomb Plastic Flow Potential
Some material properties are not available via the material property menus of the Mechanical APDL
GUI. For a list of such material properties, see GUI-Inaccessible Material Properties.
2.1.3.1. SMART Method for Crack-Growth Simulation

Fracture-and-durability analysis plays a critical role in structural design. Preexisting defects and cracks
in structural components are inevitable; therefore, it is necessary to accurately predict fatigue crack
growth and catastrophic failure.
Because the most direct and general method for crack-growth simulation uses a remeshing technique
to accommodate the changes in the crack geometry process, Mechanical APDL now offers the Separating,
Morphing, Adaptive and Remeshing Technology (SMART) method, with remeshing-based tools for
automated crack-growth simulation.
A key component of SMART is crack representation during crack growth. The technology uses a com-
bination of automated morphing, adaptive, and remeshing techniques to accommodate the crack
changes. Mesh updates occur around the crack-front region only and are integrated into the Mechanical
APDL solver without exiting and reentering the solver, resulting in a computationally efficient solution
of the crack-growth problem. Mechanical APDL bases the remeshing entirely on high-order tetrahedral
elements and uses UMM to predict fracture parameters with a high degree of accuracy.
Crack-growth fracture criteria include J-integral and stress-intensity factors (SIFS) for static crack growth,
and Paris' Law for fatigue crack growth.
For more information, see Understanding Crack-Growth Mechanics and SMART Method for Crack-Growth
Simulation.
2.1.3.2. XFEM-Based Crack Analysis and Crack-Growth Simulation

The eXtended Finite Element Method (XFEM) now supports 2-D and 3-D crack analysis and singularity-
based fatigue-crack-growth simulation in linear elastic isotropic materials.
A new method is available for defining the initial crack in an XFEM-based analysis using MESH200 ele-
ments. The crack-surface geometry is positioned appropriately within the base-element mesh, then
discretized using MESH200 elements. Mechanical APDL calculates the signed distance functions ϕ and
ψ at the nodes of the cracked elements, identifies and stores crack-front elements in an element com-
ponent, and writes the component name and the list of elements in the component to the output file
for verification. You can use the component to identify the crack-front elements required for the fracture-
parameter calculations (CINT,CXFE).
Structural
For more information, see XFEM-Based Crack Analysis and Crack-Growth Simulation and XFEM-Based
Fatigue Crack Growth in the Fracture Analysis Guide.
2.1.3.3. Microplane Gradient Plasticity

The microplane material model is now available in two forms: an elastic microplane model with damage,
and a new coupled damage-plasticity microplane model.
The damage-plasticity model overcomes the numerical instability and pathological mesh sensitivity to
which strain-softening materials such as the microplane model are susceptible. The model uses an im-
plicit gradient-regularization scheme, defined via a nonlocal field using a modified Helmholtz equation
that adds two extra degrees of freedom per node. Microplane plasticity is also introduced, using micro-
plane quantities, through laws resembling classical invariant-based plasticity models, enabling material
models with a direct link to the conventional macroscopic plasticity models. Plasticity is defined via a
three-surface microplane Drucker-Prager model, covering a full range of possible stress states and en-
abling cyclic loading; damage includes a tension-compression split to account for transition of the stress
state during cyclic loading.
The damage-plasticity microplane model is used with the following coupled pore-pressure-thermal
mechanical solid elements: CPT212, CPT213, CPT215, CPT216, and CPT217.
For more information, see Coupled Damage-Plasticity Microplane Model in the Mechanical APDL Mater-
ial Reference and Structural Implicit Gradient Regularization in the Mechanical APDL Coupled-Field Ana-
lysis Guide.
2.1.3.4. Parameter Scaling for Material Curve-Fitting

Parameters for material curve-fitting can have a wide range of values. Because optimization algorithms
used by the curve-fitting tool (TBFT) perform better when all parameters are scaled to a similar range,
a parameter-scaling option is now available to facilitate convergence for viscoelastic, Chaboche, and
creep material curve-fitting.
Parameter scaling modifies the values used in the curve-fitting equations to improve the curve-fitting
optimization process. The coefficients fit and estimated by the curve-fitting tool have different values
during the curve-fitting process; however, the values are rescaled correctly when the parameter inform-
ation is written to the database.
For more information, see Material Curve-Fitting in the Mechanical APDL Material Reference and TBFT.
2.1.3.5. Thermal and Fluid Gradient Output

For element postprocessing in a structural pore-fluid-diffusion-thermal analysis, output values for the
element thermal gradient and fluid pore-pressure gradient are now available. For more information,
see Results Output in the Mechanical APDL Coupled-Field Analysis Guide. Also see ANSOL, ESOL, ETABLE,
*GET, PLESOL, PLNSOL, PRESOL, and PRNSOL.
2.1.3.6. Viscoplasticity Material Model Combinations

The following material model combinations are now available for viscoplasticity:
• Combining multilinear isotropic hardening plasticity, rate-dependent plasticity (viscoplasticity), creep, and
Chaboche nonlinear kinematic hardening plasticity (TB,CHAB + TB,CREEP + TB,RATE + TB,PLAS). For more
information, see CREEP and RATE and CHAB and PLAS (MISO) in the Mechanical APDL Structural Analysis
Guide.
Mechanical APDL
• Combining multilinear isotropic hardening plasticity, rate-dependent plasticity (viscoplasticity), creep, and
Chaboche nonlinear kinematic hardening plasticity with kinematic static recovery (TB,CHAB + TB,CREEP +
TB,RATE + TB,PLAS + TB,PLAS,,,,KSR). For more information, see CREEP and RATE and CHAB and PLAS (MISO)
and PLAS (KSR2) Example in the Mechanical APDL Structural Analysis Guide.
2.1.3.7. Nonlinear Kinematic Hardening

You can now postprocess the kinematic back-stress vector from the Chaboche nonlinear kinematic
hardening model. The total back stress and each of the superimposed Chaboche terms (when defined)
are reported. For more information, see ESOL, ETABLE, PLESOL, PLNSOL, PRESOL, and PRNSOL.
The Chaboche nonlinear kinematic hardening specification (TB,CHAB) now offers an option for including
the temperature-rate term in back-stress evolution.
2.1.3.8. User-Defined Material Support for Full-Harmonic Analysis

In addition to time-domain analysis, the UserMat subroutine for creating your own material model
now supports full-harmonic analysis. For more information, see Subroutine UserMat (Creating Your Own
Material Model) in the Mechanical APDL Programmer's Reference.
2.1.3.9. Mohr-Coulomb Plastic Flow Potential

The Mohr-Coulomb material model, used to represent aggregate materials in geomechanical analyses,
now offers smooth plastic-flow potentials. For more information, see Plastic Flow Potentials in the
Mechanical APDL Material Reference and TB,MC.
2.1.4. Linear Dynamics

Release 19.0 includes enhancements in the following areas for structural analyses involving linear dy-
namics:
2.1.4.1. Cyclic Symmetry
2.1.4.2. Energies
2.1.4.3. Rotordynamics
2.1.4.4. Damping
2.1.4.5. Bushing Element
2.1.4.6. Modal Mass
2.1.4.7. MAC Calculations
2.1.4.1. Cyclic Symmetry

The following cyclic symmetry analysis enhancements are available in this release:
• The CFX-generated pressure files may have a Traveling Wave Flag value in the file header which can be used
to compute the aero damping coefficients. For more information, see Aero Coupling in the Mechanical APDL
Cyclic Symmetry Analysis Guide.
• For any given harmonic index, a cyclic component mode synthesis (CMS) superelement can now be generated
and used in a modal analysis use pass. For more information, see Creating the Superelement in the Mechan-
ical APDL Substructuring Analysis Guide and Single Cyclic Symmetry Superelement CMS Example.
• Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) can now be simulated for systems that are cyclically symmetric. Modal and
full harmonic analyses are supported. For more information, see Using Cyclic Symmetry with Fluid-Structure
Interaction in the Mechanical APDL Acoustic Analysis Guide.
Structural
2.1.4.2. Energies
In a structural linear dynamic analysis, the work of external loads and the damping energy are now
available for postprocessing. In a damped modal analysis or harmonic analysis, Mechanical APDL calculates
the energies for both real and complex solutions. The additional energy quantities are calculated on
demand (EngCalc on TRNOPT, HROUT, and MXPAND) and can be postprocessed using new labels
on the following postprocessing commands: PRENERGY, PRESOL, PLESOL, ENERSOL, and ESOL. For
more information, see Energies in the Mechanical APDL Theory Reference.
You can now limit the size of the results file when postprocessing energies only (OUTRES with Item
= VENG).
2.1.4.3. Rotordynamics
The following rotordynamic analysis enhancements are available in this release:
• The 3-D Structural Solid Shell element (SOLSH190) can now be used in a rotordynamic analysis (CORIOLIS).
• Following a Campbell diagram analysis, the direction of orbital motion (whirl) can now be calculated at each
node and reported at each load step or at the last load step (PRORB and PRCAMP).
• A rotor mass summary output is now available (CORIOLIS).
2.1.4.4. Damping
The material-based constant structural damping coefficient is now defined via MP,DMPS. For more in-
formation, see Damping in the Mechanical APDL Structural Analysis Guide.
2.1.4.5. Bushing Element

COMBI250 is a new bushing element for which a precise geometry is undefined. Elastic kinematic response
can be specified by stiffness, viscous damping, or structural damping in diagonal matrix form. It is an
effective option compared to defining multipoint constraints.
The element can be used in a rotordynamic analysis and supports the rotating damping effect. For
more information, see Adding Damping in the Mechanical APDL Rotordynamic Analysis Guide.
2.1.4.6. Modal Mass

Following a modal analysis expansion, the modal masses, kinetic energies, and translational effective
masses are now output after the participation factor tables. For more information, see Modal Mass and
Kinetic Energy Output in the Mechanical APDL Structural Analysis Guide.
2.1.4.7. MAC Calculations

Some options for calculating modal assurance criterion (MAC) and matching nodal solutions (RSTMAC)
are now specified with via the new MACOPT command.
By default, when comparing nodal solutions from two models, the node matching algorithm finds the
first node within a distance below the tolerance. An option is also available to find the nearest node
within a distance below the tolerance (MACOPT,KEYALGONOD,YES), which may be more robust in some
situations.
Mechanical APDL
2.1.5. Transient Dynamics

Release 19.0 includes the following enhancements for structural analyses involving transient dynamics:
• For transient structural analyses, you can now specify the intended application (TINTP), with Mechanical
APDL setting default time-integration constants and solver settings automatically based on that application.
The new application-based settings should improve the performance and robustness of transient structural
analyses. For more information, see Transient Dynamic Analysis Settings Based on Application in the Mech-
anical APDL Structural Analysis Guide.
• A new time-integration scheme based on the backward Euler method (TINTP,QUAS) has been introduced
for nearly quasi-static applications. High numerical damping inherent in the algorithm can help to achieve
convergence for some difficult nonlinear problems. For more information, see Transient Dynamic Analysis
Settings Based on Application in the Mechanical APDL Structural Analysis Guide.
• You can now initialize nodal acceleration based on centrifugal affects (ICROTATE with ACCEL = CENT).
2.2. Multiphysics
Release 19.0 includes the following enhancements for analyses involving multiphysics environments:
2.2.1. Acoustics
2.2.2.Thermal
2.2.3. Magnetics
2.2.4. Coupled-Field
2.2.1. Acoustics
The following acoustic analysis enhancements are available in this release:
2.2.1.1. Room Acoustics
2.2.1.2. Scattering Analysis of the Incident Diffuse Sound Field
2.2.1.3. Other Enhancements
2.2.1.1. Room Acoustics

You can now use the 3-D acoustic elements (FLUID30, FLUID220, and FLUID221) to model room
acoustics, where the acoustic energy density is the solution of a diffusion equation that predicts the
sound-pressure level in rooms. Set KEYOPT(2) = 4 to define a diffusion element for room acoustics. For
more information, see Solving the Diffusion Equation for Room Acoustics in the Mechanical APDL
Acoustic Analysis Guide.
2.2.1.2. Scattering Analysis of the Incident Diffuse Sound Field

If the incident diffuse sound field projects onto the objects and is scattered, the scattering analysis can
now be performed without using a surface element. For more information, see Random Excitation with
Diffuse Sound Field in the Mechanical APDL Acoustic Analysis Guide.
2.2.1.3. Other Enhancements

Following are other enhancements for acoustic analysis:
• Force potential is now available as a body force (BF,,UFOR) in the convective wave equation (mean flow).
Multiphysics
• In a one-way Fluent to Mechanical APDL coupling, support is now available for multiple load steps over the
specified frequency range.
• In a one-way structure to acoustic coupling via the .ASI file (ASIFILE), support is now available for both
restart and varying time steps.
2.2.2. Thermal
The following thermal analysis enhancement is available in this release:
2.2.2.1. Radiation Flux Scaling
2.2.2.1. Radiation Flux Scaling

Radiosity surface elements SURF251, SURF252 now have an option to scale the calculated net radiation
heat flux. This capability is useful for turbomachinery applications where a sector model has a radiation
enclosure and is also losing heat via convection to a fluid (modeled with FLUID116 elements).
2.2.3. Magnetics
The following magnetic analysis enhancement is available in this release:
2.2.3.1.Temperature Dependency of the B-H Curve
2.2.3.1. Temperature Dependency of the B-H Curve

For soft magnetic materials, you can now model temperature dependency of the B-H curve by inputting
a thermal coefficient vs. temperature data table (TB,BH,,,,TCF). The thermal coefficient is used to modify
the B-H curve. The enhancement is available for electromagnetic elements (PLANE233, SOLID236, SOL-
ID237) and coupled-field elements (PLANE223, SOLID226, SOLID227). For more information, see Magnetism
in the Mechanical APDL Material Reference.
2.2.4. Coupled-Field
The following enhancements are available for analyses involving coupled-field elements:
2.2.4.1. Magneto-Structural Analysis
2.2.4.2.Thermomagnetic Analysis
2.2.4.3. Piezoelectric Analysis
2.2.4.1. Magneto-Structural Analysis

Coupled-field elements PLANE223, SOLID226, and SOLID227 now support strong magneto-structural
(magnetic force) coupling with the following new analysis options:
• Structural-Magnetic (KEYOPT(1) = 10001)
• Structural-Electromagnetic (KEYOPT(1) = 10101)
• Structural-Stranded Coil (KEYOPT(1) = 10201)
You can use these analyses to determine structural deformations and stresses in solid magnetic mater-
ials or current-carrying conductors subjected to steady-state or transient magnetic fields.
For more information, see Magneto-Structural Analysis in the Mechanical APDL Coupled-Field Analysis
Guide and Magnetoelasticity in the Mechanical APDL Theory Reference.
Mechanical APDL
2.2.4.2. Thermomagnetic Analysis

Coupled-field elements SOLID226 and SOLID227 now support the following coupled analysis types,
used to solve thermomagnetic problems involving Joule heat generation inside current carrying con-
ductors:
• Thermal-Magnetic (KEYOPT(1) = 10010)
• Thermal-Electromagnetic (KEYOPT(1) = 10110)
For more information, see Thermal-Electromagnetic Analysis in the Mechanical APDL Coupled-Field
Analysis Guide.
2.2.4.3. Piezoelectric Analysis

Coupled-field elements SOLID226 and SOLID227 now support perfectly matched layers (PML) (KEYOP(15)
= 1). The PML feature is used to absorb outgoing elastic waves in a piezoelectric medium.
2.3. Solvers
Release 19.0 includes the following improvements to the solution process:
2.3.1. Sparse Solver Enhancements
2.3.2. Distributed ANSYS Enhancements
2.3.1. Sparse Solver Enhancements

The performance of the sparse solver (EQSLV,SPARSE) has been significantly improved when running
on higher CPU core counts, particularly when solving unsymmetric matrices.
2.3.2. Distributed ANSYS Enhancements

The following enhancements are available for distributed-memory parallel processing (Distributed ANSYS):
• The Block Lanczos eigensolver (BUCOPT,LANB) now runs in a fully distributed manner within a distributed
solution when used to solve eigenvalue buckling analyses, resulting in significantly faster performance at
higher CPU core counts.
• Distributed processing is now supported for the generation pass of substructuring analyses, including
generation of superelements via the component mode synthesis (CMS) method.
• You can now combine local results files into a single, global results file during a distributed parallel solution
(DMPOPTION). Using the global file can facilitate postprocessing while a long-running distributed-solution
progresses.
• Mechanical APDL uses new heuristics select the optimal domain decomposition algorithm for any analysis
automatically. For most analyses, the program selects the mesh-based domain-decomposition algorithm.
For some harmonic and cyclic modal analyses, however, the frequency or cyclic harmonic index domain
decomposition approach may be automatically selected based on various criteria. For more information,
see DDOPTION.
• The overall scalability of the program has been significantly improved for some models, particularly at
higher core counts (> 128 cores).
Commands
• MPI software has been upgraded as follows: Intel MPI 2017 Update3 and IBM MPI 9.1.4.3 on both the Linux
and Windows platforms.
2.4. Commands
This section describes changes to commands at Release 19.0:
2.4.1. New Commands
2.4.2. Modified Commands
2.4.3. Undocumented Commands
Some commands are inaccessible from menus and are available via the command input area or batch
file input only. The documentation for each command indicates menu path information, if available.
2.4.1. New Commands

The following new commands are available:
• MACOPT – Specifies modal assurance criterion (MAC) calculation options for RSTMAC.
• XFCRKMESH – Used in an XFEM-based crack analysis, defines a crack in the model when the crack surface
is discretized by MESH200 elements. For more information, see MESH200 Element Method in the Mechanical
APDL Fracture Analysis Guide.
• PLCKSURF – Plots the Φ = 0 level set surface in an XFEM-based crack analysis.
2.4.2. Modified Commands

The following commands have been enhanced or otherwise modified:
• AEROCOEFF – Computes the aero-damping and stiffness coefficients. The new AutoFileRead key enables
you to automatically read and use values from the CFD file header.
• ANSOL – Specifies averaged nodal data to be stored from the results file in the solution coordinate system.
This postprocessing command can now output the component thermal gradient (Item = TG) and the fluid
pore-pressure gradient (Item = FGRA) from poromechanical analyses. An MPDP item is now available for
the new coupled damage-plasticity microplane model.
• BCSOPTION – Sets the memory option for the sparse solver. The Memory_Size argument now accepts a
memory allocation value in terms of gigabytes (GB) instead of megabytes (MB).
• BF – Defines a nodal body force load. The new complex force potential body load (UFOR) is available for
acoustic analyses that include the mean flow effect.
• CGROW – Defines crack-growth information. Options have been added to support SMART crack-growth
analysis and 3-D XFEM-based fatigue crack-growth analysis.
• CINT – Defines parameters associated with fracture-parameter calculations. Options have been added to
support SMART crack-growth simulation and XFEM-based crack analysis and crack-growth simulation.
• CNVTOL – Sets convergence values for nonlinear analyses. A gradient field residual (GFRS) label (a nonlocal
field) is now available for the new coupled damage-plasticity microplane model.
Mechanical APDL
• /CONFIG – Assigns values to Mechanical APDL configuration parameters. A new NST1 option controls sup-
pression of duplicate nodal stresses, strains, and nonlinear data from the .RST results file for current-tech-
nology solid and shell elements.
• CORIOLIS – Applies the Coriolis effect to a rotating structure. The command has a new option to activate
the rotor mass summary printout.
• CUTCONTROL – Controls time-step cutback during a nonlinear solution. A new MDMG option is available
for the new coupled damage-plasticity microplane model.
• D – Defines degree-of-freedom constraints at nodes. The command now supports acoustic energy density
(ENKE) as a degree of freedom in an acoustic analysis that models room acoustics.
• DDOPTION – Sets the domain decomposer option for Distributed ANSYS. The default command behavior
now selects the optimal domain composition method for the analysis automatically.
• DMPOPTION – Specifies distributed-memory parallel file combination options. The command offers a new
option for combining local results files (on each process) into a global results file at certain time points
during the solution. The resulting global file can be postprocessed while the solution is in progress.
• DSPOPTION – Sets the memory option for the sparse solver. The Memory_Size argument now accepts a
memory allocation value in terms of gigabytes (GB) instead of megabytes (MB).
• ENERSOL – Specifies the total energies to be stored. The command now supports the following energies:
DENE and WEXT.
• ERESX – Specifies extrapolation of integration-point results. For the coupled pore-pressure-thermal elements
(CPT212, CPT213, CPT215, CPT216, CPT217), the default behavior copies integration-point results to the
nodes.
• ESOL – Specifies element data to be stored from the results file. This postprocessing command can now
output the component thermal gradient (Item = TG) and the fluid pore-pressure gradient (Item = FGRA)
from poromechanical analyses. For Chaboche nonlinear kinematic hardening, the command now reports
the total back stress and each of the superimposed Chaboche terms (when defined). An MPDP item is now
available for the new coupled damage-plasticity microplane model. The command now supports the following
energy items: ASENE, PSENE, AKENE, PKENE, DENE, and WEXT.
• ETABLE – Fills a table of element values for further processing. This postprocessing command can now
output the component thermal gradient (Item = TG) and the fluid pore-pressure gradient (Item = FGRA)
from poromechanical analyses. For Chaboche nonlinear kinematic hardening, the command now reports
the total back stress and each of the superimposed Chaboche terms (when defined). Nonlocal field values
and an MPDP item are now available for the new coupled damage-plasticity microplane model. The command
now reports the following energy items: ASENE, PSENE, AKENE, PKENE, DENE, and WEXT.
• *GET – An APDL parameter command that retrieves a value and stores it as a scalar parameter or part of an
array parameter. The command now supports component thermal gradient (Item1 = TG) and fluid pore-
pressure gradient (Item1 = FGRA) output from poromechanical analyses. An MPDP Item1 label is now
available for the new coupled damage-plasticity microplane model. Transmission loss (Item1 = TL) and
return loss (Item1 = RL) are now available for acoustic analyses. Along with the effective mass (EFFM), the
generalized (or modal) mass (Item1 = GENM) is now available for modal analyses. Following a Campbell
diagram analysis, the whirl (Item1 = WHRL) and the instability key (Item1 = UKEY) can be retrieved for
any load step. Additional energy quantities are now available: Item1 = ASENE, PSENE, AKENE, PKENE, DENE,
and WEXT.
Commands
• HROUT – Specifies the harmonic analysis output options. Additional energy calculations can now be requested
(EngCalc).
• IC – Specifies initial conditions at nodes. The command now supports an initial condition for acoustic energy
density (ENKE) in an acoustic analysis that models room acoustics.
• ICROTATE – Specifies initial velocity at nodes as a sum of rotation about an axis and translation. The command
now has an option to initialize acceleration due to centrifugal effects along with the initial velocity.
• KBC – Specifies ramped or stepped loading within a load step. The new OMGSQRDKEY key enables quadratic
interpolation of rotational velocities for ramped loading.
• *LSBAC – Solves a factorized linear system. The command now has an option to solve the transposed linear
system.
• LUMPM – Specifies a lumped mass matrix formulation. The command has new options to specify the formu-
lation for elements with rotational degrees of freedom.
• MP – Defines a linear material property. The new DMPS label is available to define a constant structural
damping coefficient.
• MXPAND – Specifies modal or buckling analysis expansion options. The command now has an option to
activate additional energy calculations (EngCalc).
• NLADAPTIVE – Defines the criteria under which a mesh is refined or modified during a nonlinear solution.
A second input parameter representing the Jacobian ratio at element integration points has been added
to the skewness criterion. Newly added support for the SOLID187 3-D quadratic tetrahedral element in mesh
nonlinear adaptivity analyses requires the additional skewness parameter to represent the element's high-
order nature.
• NLDIAG – Sets nonlinear diagnostics functionality. The contact diagnostic file created by this command
now includes the number of contact points having too much sliding for small sliding contact.
• NLHIST – Specify result items to track during solution. The number of contact points having too much
sliding for small sliding contact is now available as a tracking item.
• NLMESH – Controls remeshing in nonlinear adaptivity. Parameters have been added to enable remeshing
for both mesh-distortion removal and mesh refinement.
• NSOL – Specifies nodal data to be stored from the results file. Nonlocal field values are now available for
the new coupled damage-plasticity microplane model. Acoustic energy density (ENKE) is now available for
acoustic analyses that model room acoustics.
• OUTRES – Controls the solution data written to the database. This solution command has a new AESO option
to enable advanced element-solution output, including back-stress for kinematic hardening, Biot's effective
stress, fictive temperature, nominal strain, thermal flux and thermal gradient, and other output items. The
command also has a new VENG option to output element energies.
• PLESOL – Displays solution results as discontinuous element contours. This postprocessing command can
now output the component thermal gradient (Item = TG) and the fluid pore-pressure gradient (Item =
FGRA) from poromechanical analyses. For Chaboche nonlinear kinematic hardening, the command now
reports the total back stress and each of the superimposed Chaboche terms (when defined). An MPDP item
is now available for the new coupled damage-plasticity microplane model. The command can now display
the following energy quantities: Item1 = ASENE, PSENE, AKENE, PKENE, DENE, and WEXT.
Mechanical APDL
• PLNSOL – Displays solution results as continuous element contours. This postprocessing command can
now output the component thermal gradient (Item = TG) and the fluid pore-pressure gradient (Item =
FGRA) from poromechanical analyses. For Chaboche nonlinear kinematic hardening, the command now
reports the total back stress and each of the superimposed Chaboche terms (when defined). Nonlocal field
values and a new MPDP item are available for the new coupled damage-plasticity microplane model.
Acoustic energy density (ENKE) is now available for acoustic analyses that model room acoustics.
• PRCAMP – Prints Campbell diagram data. A new option is available to print the whirl and the instability
keys for each load step.
• PRENERGY – Prints the total energies of a model or the energies of the specified components. The following
new energies are supported: DENE and WEXT.
• PRESOL – Prints the solution results for elements. This postprocessing command can now output the
component thermal gradient (Item = TG) and the fluid pore-pressure gradient (Item = FGRA) from
poromechanical analyses. For Chaboche nonlinear kinematic hardening, the command now reports the
total back stress and each of the superimposed Chaboche terms (when defined). An MPDP item is now
available for the new coupled damage-plasticity microplane model. The command can now report the fol-
lowing energy quantities: Item1 = ASENE, PSENE, AKENE, PKENE, DENE, and WEXT.
• PRNSOL – Prints nodal solution results. This postprocessing command can now output component thermal
gradient (Item = TG) and the fluid pore-pressure gradient (Item = FGRA) from poromechanical analyses.
For Chaboche nonlinear kinematic hardening, the command now reports the total back stress and each of
the superimposed Chaboche terms (when defined). Nonlocal field values and a new MPDP item are now
available for the new coupled damage-plasticity microplane model. Acoustic energy density (ENKE) is now
available for acoustic analyses that model room acoustics.
• PRORB – Prints the orbital motion characteristics of a rotating structure. A new option is available to print
the whirl at each node.
• /PSYMB – Shows various symbols on displays. The new MARK label enables you to control the marker size.
• SECCONTROL – Supplements or overrides default section properties. For SHELL181 and SHELL281 elements,
a new user-defined factor (BENSTIF) is available to further scale the bending stiffness defined by standard
or preintegrated shell sections (SECTYPE,,SHELL or GENS, respectively). For smeared reinforcing, a new option
(MEMOPT) is available for specifying a uniaxial-stress or plane-stress state.
• SF – Specifies surface loads on nodes. In an acoustic analysis that models room acoustics, the command
now supports transmission loss for the coupled wall (Lab = ATTN).
• SFE – Specifies surface loads on elements. In an acoustic analysis that models room acoustics, the command
now supports transmission loss for the coupled wall (Lab = ATTN).
• TB – Activates a data table for material properties or special element input. For soft magnetic materials, the
command can now define temperature dependency for the specified B-H curve (TB,BH). For Chaboche
nonlinear kinematic hardening (TB,CHAB), a new option includes temperature-rate terms in back-stress
evolution (TB,CHAB). For the Mohr-Coulomb material model, scaling parameters have been added to support
smooth plastic flow potentials (TB,MC). For the microplane material model (TB,MPLANE), options have been
added for the new coupled damage-plasticity microplane model. For acoustic analysis, options have been
added to model diffusion properties for room acoustics. For contact friction (TB,FRIC), the new FORTHO
option defines orthotropic friction relative to a fixed coordinate system.
• TBFT – Performs material curve-fitting operations. A new parameter-scaling option facilitates convergence
in viscoelastic, Chaboche, and creep material curve-fitting.
Elements
• TINTP – Defines transient integration parameters. New options are available for automatically setting default
time-integration constants and solver settings based on a specified application type.
• TRNOPT – Specifies transient analysis options. The command now has an option to activate additional energy
calculations (EngCalc).
• *XPL – Accesses the contents of a Mechanical APDL file. New GOTO, MARK, COPY, and SAVE options are
available for managing the contents of a file.
2.4.3. Undocumented Commands

The following command has been undocumented:
Command Reason
RTHICK Obsolete. Use SECFUNCTION.
For information about commands that have been undocumented in prior releases, see the archived
release notes on the ANSYS customer site (p. xiii).
2.5. Elements
This section describes changes to elements at Release 19.0:
2.5.1. New Elements
2.5.2. Modified Elements
2.5.3. Undocumented Elements
Some elements are not available from within the Mechanical APDL GUI. For a list of those elements,
see GUI-Inaccessible Elements.
2.5.1. New Elements

The following new element has been added:
• COMBI250 – Bushing Element
2.5.2. Modified Elements

The following elements have been enhanced:
• COMBIN39 – This nonlinear spring element now supports more real constants.
• TARGE170 – When this 3-D target element is used for MPC bonded contact, Mechanical APDL now selects
the appropriate constraint type (KEYOPT(5) value) by default.
• FLUID30, FLUID220, FLUID221 – These 3-D acoustic elements now have an energy density degree of freedom
(ENKE) to support room-acoustic analysis.
• SHELL181, SHELL281 – In addition to the bending stiffness defined by standard or preintegrated shell sections
(SECTYPE,,SHELL or GENS, respectively), these structural shell elements now enable further scaling of the
bending stiffness by a user-specified factor (BENSTIF on the SECCONTROL command). For a standard shell
section, Mechanical APDL rebalances the element stresses to reflect the change in bending stiffness.
Mechanical APDL
• MESH200 – When used to represent smeared reinforcing layers, this meshing-facet element offers more
options for reinforcing modeling: a 3-D triangle with three or six nodes, and a quadrilateral with four or
eight nodes.
• CPT212, CPT213, CPT215, CPT216, CPT217 – These coupled pore-pressure-thermal mechanical elements
now have nonlocal-field-value degrees of freedom (GFV1, GVF2) and additional key options to support the
new coupled damage-plasticity microplane model. Prior to this releases, the pore-pressure degree of freedom
was enabled automatically; however, KEYOPT(12) must now be set to 1 to enable that option.
• PLANE223, SOLID226, SOLID227 – These 2-D and 3-D coupled-field elements now include the EMF degree
of freedom and support strong magneto-structural coupling, which enables structural-magnetic, structural-
electromagnetic, and structural-stranded coil analyses. A new key option (KEYOPT(5)) specifies eddy or ve-
locity currents in a structural-electromagnetic analysis, and new real constants are available for use in a
structural-stranded coil analysis.
• SOLID226, SOLID227 – These coupled-field solid elements now include the AZ degree of freedom and support
thermal-magnetic and thermal-electric-magnetic coupling. A new KEYOPT(15) activates a PML absorbing
condition for piezoelectric analysis.
• SURF251, SURF252 – These radiosity surface elements have a new key option (KEYOPT(13)) and a new real
constant (RADSCAL) to enable scaling of the net radiation heat flux.
• REINF263, REINF265 – These smeared-reinforcing elements can now model homogeneous reinforcing layers.
The elements now support a plane-stress state (SECCONTROL,,,,MEMOPT, required for homogeneous rein-
forcing membranes).
2.5.3. Undocumented Elements

No elements have been undocumented at this release.
For information about elements that have been undocumented in prior releases, see the archived release
notes on the ANSYS customer site (p. xiii).
2.6. Documentation
ANSYS, Inc. continues to refine the Mechanical APDL documentation set. To that end, the following
changes and enhancements to the documentation have occurred:
2.6.1.Technology Demonstration Guide
2.6.2. Documentation Updates for Programmers
2.6.3. Feature Archive
2.6.1. Technology Demonstration Guide

The following example problems have been added to the Technology Demonstration Guide:
• Load-Limit Analysis of a Reinforced Concrete Slab (TD-49) – A load-limit analysis of a reinforced concrete slab.
The problem shows how the nonlinear plastic behavior of concrete can be modeled using a modified
Drucker-Prager material. General solid element technology, geomechanics, and mesh-independent reinforcing
are highlighted.
• Normal-Pressure Hydrocephalus Analysis Using Hyperelastic Material (TD-50) – A nonlinear analysis of normal-
pressure hydrocephalus under combined structural-thermal loading using coupled pore-pressure-thermal
elements. The problem shows how displacement, pore pressure, and temperature can be solved via the
coupled elements using a hyperelastic material under combined normal pressure and thermal loading.
Known Incompatibilities
• Sequential Construction of an Embankment on a Clay Layer (TD-51) – A method for modeling nonlinear con-
solidation using soil analysis, where the load applied to the model is the self-weight. The Cam-clay material
model is highlighted.
2.6.2. Documentation Updates for Programmers

Routines and functions documented in the Programmer's Reference have been updated to reflect the
current source code. To see specific changes in a file, ANSYS, Inc. recommends opening both the old
and current files (using a text editor that displays line numbers), then comparing the two to determine
which lines have changed. You can copy the updated files to your system by performing a custom in-
stallation of the product.
2.6.3. Feature Archive

Legacy features, commands, elements, and theory information continue to move to the Feature Archive.
While ANSYS, Inc. intends to support legacy capabilities for the immediate future, some may be undoc-
umented in future releases. Consider moving to their recommended replacements.
2.7. Known Incompatibilities

The following incompatibilities with prior releases are known to exist at Release 19.0:
2.7.1. Stress-Intensity Factors (SIFS) Calculation
2.7.2. Sparse Solver Initial Memory Allocation
2.7.3. Reduced Mode-Extraction Method Removed
2.7.4. Default Pinball Radius for Small Sliding Contact
2.7.5. Default Degree of Freedom for CPT Elements
2.7.6. Porous Media Flow
2.7.7. Lumped Mass
2.7.8. Damping Proportional to the Stiffness
2.7.1. Stress-Intensity Factors (SIFS) Calculation

For fracture mechanics, new options have been added for controlling auxiliary plane-strain and plane-
stress fields in 3-D stress-intensity factors (SIFS) calculations. Fracture-parameter calculation for SIFS is
therefore incompatible with that of prior releases. For more information, see Selecting Auxiliary Crack-
Tip Stress Fields in the Mechanical APDL Fracture Analysis Guide and the CINT,TYPE,SIFS command.
2.7.2. Sparse Solver Initial Memory Allocation

An initial memory size allocation can be set for the sparse solver by inputting a Memory_Size value
on either the BCSOPTION command or the DSPOPTION command. Previously, this value was in terms
of megabytes (MB). As of this release, this value is input in terms of gigabytes (GB).
2.7.3. Reduced Mode-Extraction Method Removed

The reduced mode-extraction method (MODOPT,REDUC), previously documented in the Feature Archive,
is no longer available. If you issue the MODOPT,REDUC command, the Block Lanczos mode-extraction
method (MODOPT,LANB) will be used instead.
Mechanical APDL
2.7.4. Default Pinball Radius for Small Sliding Contact

Prior to this release, the default pinball radius for the small sliding contact option (KEYOPT(18) = 1 on
the contact elements) was 1.5 times larger than the one used for the finite sliding option (KEYOPT(18)
= 0). In this release, the program uses the same default pinball radius for both sliding behaviors.
2.7.5. Default Degree of Freedom for CPT Elements

To enable the pore-pressure degree of freedom for coupled pore-pressure-thermal mechanical elements
(CPT212, CPT213, CPT215, CPT216, CPT217), set KEYOPT(12) = 1. Prior to this release, the program enabled
the pore-pressure degree of freedom automatically.
2.7.6. Porous Media Flow

In the governing equations for Biot consolidation with heat transfer, now represents the volumetric
thermal-expansion coefficient (that is, the sum of linear thermal-expansion coefficients). Prior to this
release, represented an average of the linear thermal-expansion coefficients.
2.7.7. Lumped Mass

The program now always retains the coupling terms induced by constraint equations when the lumped
mass key is enabled (LUMPM).
2.7.8. Damping Proportional to the Stiffness

For consistency with transient analysis, the contact and joint elements no longer contribute to the
damping matrix when global damping proportional to the stiffness is defined in a modal or full harmonic
analysis (BETAD, DMPSTR).
Chapter 3: Autodyn Release Notes
The ANSYS Autodyn product encompasses of all of the following explicit solvers: FE (Lagrange), Euler,
FCT, ALE, and SPH, and various means to couple them together. All are integrated into the Autodyn
Component system, while the FE (Lagrange) and Euler—including Euler-Lagrange coupling—are also
integrated into the Explicit Dynamics Analysis system.
3.1. New Features and Enhancements

The following new features and enhancements are available in release 19.0. Refer to the product specific
documentation for full details.
• Autodyn has been enhanced to be able to solve models containing Joints using an implicit solver. These
type of models need to be setup via a Mechanical Explicit Dynamics system. In Autodyn these models show
Joints as Boundary Conditions. Note that the definition cannot be changed in Autodyn. For additional in-
formation, please see the Explicit Dynamics Enhancements (p. 18) in the Mechanical Application Release
Notes (p. 3).
• Autodyn has been enhanced to support a Point Mass assigned to a remote point definition in the Mechan-
ical Explicit Dynamics interface. For additional information, please see the Explicit Dynamics Enhance-
ments (p. 18) in the Mechanical Application Release Notes (p. 3).
• A static damping option has been added to the 3D Multi-Material Euler solver.
Chapter 4: Aqwa Release Notes
This release of the Aqwa related products contains all capabilities from previous releases plus many
new features and enhancements. The following enhancements are available in release 19.0. Refer to
the product specific documentation for full details of the new features.
4.1. Aqwa Solver Modules
4.2. Aqwa Graphical Supervisor (AGS)
4.3. Hydrodynamic Analysis Systems
4.1. Aqwa Solver Modules

The following new features provide extended capabilties in the Aqwa solver modules:
4.1.1. Tether Improvements

There have been several improvements to the modeling of tethers.
• A new format can be used in the DAT file that is more like the way that conventional mooring lines are
defined.
• The limit on the number of elements has been raised allowing a more accurate solution for arrangements
with a lot of tethers.
• Tether calculations have been speeded up by the addition of a parallel calculation capability.
Enhancements for Aqwa 18.2
4.1.2. Aqwa-Wave with Forward Speed

The core solver has been enhanced so that Aqwa-Wave now works with forward speed, although it is
still limited to a single structure.
4.1.3. New Items in AH1 File

New items, such as center of buoyancy and added mass at high frequency are output in the *.AH1
file if the AHD1 option is on.
4.1.4. Wind Spectrum Seed

The starting seed for a wind spectrum can now be set separately from the seed of a wave spectrum.
See Wind Spectra Definition and Wind for more information.
Aqwa
4.1.5. Frequency Dependent Added Mass and Damping

The restriction on combining user-defined added mass and damping with convolution in Aqwa-Naut
and Aqwa-Drift was removed. See The WAMS/WDMP Data Record - Wave Frequency Added Mass Matrix
and Wave Frequency Damping Matrix.
4.1.6. Recalculate QTFs Based on User-Input RAOs

The new URAO option allows you to recalculate QTFs based on RAOs input with the TRAO and RRAO
Data Records in Data Category 7. See Administration and Calculation Options for the Aqwa Suite.
4.2. Aqwa Graphical Supervisor (AGS)

4.2.1. Drag / Drop
It is now possible to drag & drop a .RES or .PLT file onto the AGS icon and the program will open
that file.
4.3. Hydrodynamic Analysis Systems

The following new features provide extended capabilities in the Hydrodynamic Analysis Workbench
systems:
4.3.1. Current Profile

There are now more options available for defining a current profile, including a formulated power-law
profile.
4.3.2. Time Domain Statistical Results Object

The Time Domain Statistics result has been extended to include extreme-value statistics.
4.3.3. Improved Handling of Line Elements

The handling of line elements imported from DesignModeler or SpaceClaim has been improved. The
axis definition is more rigorous and more of the properties defined in the geometry are maintained,
but a consequence of this is that there is less flexibility to change the properties in the Aqwa editor.
4.3.4. User-Defined Output Frequency

It is now possible to control how frequently results are output to the results files. This can be useful in
cases where a very small time-step is used to obtain convergence. At present this can lead to output
files that are larger than necessary and take a long time to load.
4.3.5. Connection to External Server

For some time the Aqwa solver has allowed connection to an external server (for example, python) for
running a user-defined script to add additional forces to a time-domain simulation. This is now supported
in Workbench.
Hydrodynamic Analysis Systems
4.3.6. Current Calculation Position

Currents can now be calculated at variable depth that moves depending on structure position. For more
information, see Define Parts Behavior.
4.3.7. Current Object

Current objects now have several options available for definition: constant velocity, varies with depth
(dimensional or non-dimensional), and formulated, including 1/7 power law. For more information, see
Current.
4.3.8. Slender Tube

Slender tube local axes and defining information are now imported from DesignModeler/SpaceClaim
Direct Modeler. Orientation is also correctly imported. For more information, see Line Body.
4.3.9. Nonlinear Roll Damping

Nonlinear roll damping is now included in analyses by adding the Nonlinear Roll Damping object and
defining information there. For more information, see Nonlinear Roll Damping.
4.3.10. Yaw-Rate Drag

The Yaw-Rate Drag object can now be added to define drag based on the yaw rotational velocity. For
more information, see Yaw-Rate Drag.
4.3.11. Frequency Domain Statistics

The Frequency Domain Statistics table now allows you to present statistics as probable maximum, me-
dian maximum, expected extreme, and percentile extreme. For more information, see Frequency Domain
Tabular Results.
4.3.12. Deactivated Freedoms Object

In Stability and Time Domain analyses you can add a Deactivated Freedoms object to restrict the degrees
of freedom of a structure. See Deactivated Freedoms.
4.3.13. Morison Hull Drag Coefficients Object

The Morison Hull Drag Coefficients object allows you to input a matrix of Morison Hull Drag Coefficients
using tabular input. These coefficients are used to calculate hull drag forces and moments in a similar
way to that for a Morison element. See Morison Hull Drag Coefficients.
4.3.14. Time Domain Statistics Distribution Function

The Time Domain Statistics result object can now be switched between a Probability Density Function
(PDF) and a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF). See Time Domain Statistical Results.
Aqwa
4.3.15. Generated Mesh Information

Details of the mesh now show the numbers of Line Body nodes and elements. See Mesh.
4.3.16. Visualization of Splitting Force Bounding Box

When defining the data required for a Splitting Forces result, you can now display the bounding box
and over-turning moment calculation coordinate. See Splitting Forces (RAO).
4.3.17. Fixed Points Container

Fixed Points are now grouped together in their own parent object, producing a more compact object
tree. See Add Fixed Points.
Chapter 5: ANSYS Composite PrepPost (ACP)
The following enhancements are available in release 19.0. Refer to the product specific documentation
for full details of the new features.
5.1. New Features in ANSYS Composite PrepPost (ACP) 19.0
5.2. Supported Platforms for ANSYS Composite PrepPost (ACP) 19.0
5.3. Known Limitations and Incompatibilities
5.1. New Features in ANSYS Composite PrepPost (ACP) 19.0

The following new features were added to ANSYS Composite PrepPost (ACP) for the 19.0 release.
5.1.1. Variable Material Data and Field Definitions Plot
5.1.2. Layup Mapping: Imported Solid Model
5.1.3. Boolean Selection Rule
5.1.4. Mesh-Based Named Selections
5.1.5. New Export Format for Ply Geometries
5.1.6. Export Skin of Solid Model
5.1.7. Performance
5.1.1. Variable Material Data and Field Definitions Plot

Field dependent material data can now be applied to specific layers in the composite lay-up. As such,
the variable material definition can now take place at both element-wise (constant through the thickness)
and ply-wise (for selected plies only) level.
To aid you in the application of field definitions, a new plot has been created. Field Definitions can now
be plotted ply-wise per field variable. This allows easy review of the effect of the applied Look-up Tables
in the definition of the field variables.
5.1.2. Layup Mapping: Imported Solid Model

The imported solid model feature enables you to map shell-based composite definitions onto an pre-
meshed volume that is directly loaded into ACP Pre. With this feature, you can specify the layup defin-
itions independent of the solid mesh.
A number of new plot objects have been created to help the definition and review of the layup mapping
onto an Imported Solid Model:
• Direction Plot: You can now plot fiber directions and element normals on the solid mesh.
• Layup Mapping Plot: The layup mapping plot enables you to visualize the result of the lay-up mapping
(Imported Solid Model).
• Thickness Plot: The new Component property option, Relative Thickness Correction, enables you to
show the thickness scaling due to draping or layup mapping (Imported Solid Model).
ANSYS Composite PrepPost (ACP)
5.1.3. Boolean Selection Rule

The Boolean Selection Rule is a new rule type that enables you to combine standard rules (parallel,
spherical, etc.) with boolean operators such as intersect, add, or remove. This gives you more flexibility
when defining the ply coverage.
Selection rules are also used in modeling plies to refine the extend of plies. Boolean operators are now
also available for these selection rules that are directly applied to modeling plies. Supported boolean
operators are intersect, add, and remove.
5.1.4. Mesh-Based Named Selections

Mesh-based Named Selection created in Mechanical are now supported in composite workflows.
5.1.5. New Export Format for Ply Geometries

The ply surfaces can now be exported as STL. In addition, the unit handling is improved and the CAD
files are now always exported in the unit system of the ACP model.
5.1.6. Export Skin of Solid Model

The skin of a solid model can now be exported in various formats:
• Geometry files: STP & IGS
• Mesh Files: STL & CDB
5.1.7. Performance
The overall performance of ACP has been improved compared to ACP 18.2. The shell mesh update is
about 10% more efficient, the standard solid model update up to 40%, depending on the configuration.
5.2. Supported Platforms for ANSYS Composite PrepPost (ACP) 19.0

Platform/OS levels that are supported in the current release are posted on the ANSYS website.
5.3. Known Limitations and Incompatibilities

The following known incompatibilities with previous releases for ANSYS Composite PrepPost in Release
19.0.
5.3.1. OpenGL Drivers on Linux

On Red Hat Enterprise/CentOS Linux > 7.2 systems, ACP 3D acceleration can have issues with the
standard (nouveau) graphic drivers installed. Make sure to use the latest drivers from NVIDIA or ATI
when running ACP.
Part II: ANSYS Fluids Products
Release notes are available for the following ANSYS Fluids products:
Fluent (p. 49)

CFX (p. 63)
TurboGrid (p. 65)
ANSYS BladeModeler (p. 67)
CFD-Post (p. 69)
Polyflow (p. 71)
Forte (p. 73)
ANSYS Chemkin-Pro (p. 75)
FENSAP-ICE (p. 77)
Chapter 1: Fluent Release Notes
The following sections contain release information for ANSYS Fluent 19.0.
1.1. Supported Platforms for ANSYS Fluent 19.0
1.2. New Features in ANSYS Fluent 19.0
1.3. Updates Affecting ANSYS Fluent 19.0 Code Behavior
Backwards Compatibility: In most instances, ANSYS Fluent 19.0 can read case files and (for the latter)
data files from all past Fluent releases. However, due to product improvements and defect fixes, results
obtained from old cases running in new releases may differ to some degree from the previously obtained
results. Additionally, infrequent changes made in UDF macros over time could lead to some user-defined
functions failing to compile without modification. See the user documentation for more information.
1.1. Supported Platforms for ANSYS Fluent 19.0

Information about past, present, and future operating system and platform support is viewable via the
ANSYS website.
1.2. New Features in ANSYS Fluent 19.0

The following sections list the new features available in ANSYS Fluent 19.0.
1.2.1. Meshing Mode
1.2.2. Solution Mode
1.2.1. Meshing Mode

New features available in the meshing mode of ANSYS Fluent 19.0 are listed below.
CAD Import
• A new program-controlled option for is available for the One Object Per setting and is used
by default. With the program-controlled option selected, the behavior is as follows:
– If shared topology is present, one object per part will be created.
– If no shared topology is present, one object per body will be created.
Documentation
• ANSYS Fluent Meshing documentation (Text Command List, Migration Manual, and User's Guide) is
now merged in the corresponding document within the ANSYS Fluent documentation set.
User Preferences
• New user-specific preferences allow you to tailor the graphics window display and mouse behavior to
suit your individual requirements. Preferences persist between ANSYS Fluent sessions (in both meshing
mode and solution mode) and are accessed via the File menu. Settings changes that are made outside
of the Preferences dialog box will not be retained beyond the current session.
Fluent
Journal and Scripting Improvements
• New API functions are available for the following:
– identifying interior face zones connected to a given cell zone: tgapi-util-get-interior-

zones-connected-to-cell-zones (see List Queries and Utility Functions in the Fluent
Text Command List)
– string manipulation: tgapi-util-string-replace (see Miscellaneous Functions in the

Fluent Text Command List)
– identifying seal objects: tgapi-wrap-objects-with-seals (see Wrap Functions in the

Fluent Text Command List)
– deleting unwetted object faces: tgapi-wrap-delete-unwetted-object-faces (see

Wrap Functions in the Fluent Text Command List)
• The /file/set-tui-version text command, which is automatically added to any new journal file
recorded in this release, can now restore text command prompts that have been removed (in this and
future releases). This can help a journal created in an older version to work properly when used in a
newer version. For additional information on this command, refer to Creating and Reading Journal Files
in the Fluent User's Guide.
Serial Processing
• The serial version of Fluent was revised in version 18.2 in order to be more consistent with the parallel
version. While such consistency had the benefit of adding new features to serial, it also introduced
some new limitations and changes in code behavior, as described in the Release 18.2 Release Notes. If
you encounter unacceptable changes in serial that cannot be resolved by other means, you can revert
to a version that is similar to serial from version 18.1; note that this workaround will not be available
indefinitely, but has been extended to this release in order to provide time to migrate to the new version.
You can only revert when launching Fluent: select the Parallel processing option in Fluent Launcher
and enter 0 for the number of Meshing Processors and Solver Processors; alternatively, include the
arguments -tm0 -t0 when launching from the command line (for example, fluent 3d -tm0 -
t0 -meshing).

New features available in the solution mode of ANSYS Fluent 19.0 are listed below. Where appropriate,
references to the relevant section in the User's Guide are provided.
User Interface
• New user-specific preferences allow you to tailor the graphics window display and mouse behavior to
suit your individual requirements. Preferences persist between ANSYS Fluent sessions (in both meshing
mode and solution mode) and are accessed through the File ribbon tab. Settings changes that are
made outside of the Preferences dialog box will not be retained beyond the current session.
• You can now quickly display boundary surfaces directly from the tree, by right-clicking highlighted
boundaries and selecting either Display or Add to Graphics.
• You can quickly search through the tree for boundaries and objects (graphics objects, report definitions,
and so on) using wildcard and regular expression filtering in the text entry box at the top of the tree.
New Features in ANSYS Fluent 19.0
• Right-clicking a report definition in the tree provides new operational short cuts:
– You can print the current value of a report definition. This has the same function as clicking Compute
in the Report Definition dialog box.
– You can include report definitions in report files and plots.
Remote Visualization
• Using the ANSYS Fluent Remote Visualization Client, you can start a visualization client session that can
be used to connect to multiple interactive or batch (Linux only) solver sessions running on remote
server machines. From the client you can view results, monitor solution convergence, change solution
parameters, and more. For additional information on the Remote Visualization Client, see Remote
Visualization and Accessing Fluent Remotely in the Fluent User's Guide.
Solver-Numerics
• For cases that use the algebraic multigrid (AMG) scheme:
– An "aggressive" AMG coarsening option is now available as a full feature, which optimizes the
solver for better convergence using higher multigrid coarsening rates. This option is recom-
mended if the AMG solver diverges with the default settings. The aggressive coarsening option
can be applied to scalar and/or coupled equation systems, and can be used in combination
with the existing conservative and/or Laplace coarsening options.
– The conservative coarsening option is now available (and enabled by default) for scalar
equation systems.
For further details, see Coarsening Parameters.
• A new text command option is available that can speed up transient simulations that involve a
rotating fluid zone (solve/set/rotating-mesh-flow-predictor?). Note that it is enabled
by default.
• A new option in the Convergence Conditions dialog box allows you to choose whether Fluent checks
for solution convergence at every iteration or every time step. For additional information, see Conver-
gence Conditions in the Fluent User's Guide.
Solver-Meshing
• When using overset meshes, the following extensions are now available:
– the Multiple Reference Frame (MRF) model
– user-defined scalars
– overset interfaces that do not include a background mesh (note that such setups require at
least two component meshes)
– component zones that do not have an overset boundary (note that such zones must be con-
formally connected to a component zone that does have an overset boundary)
– the mixture multiphase model with non-granular flows and/or cavitation / evaporation-condensation
mass transfer
Fluent
– the Volume of Fluid (VOF) multiphase model with cavitation / evaporation-condensation mass
transfer
For more information about overset meshes, see Overset Meshes.
• Contact detection is now supported with steady-state dynamic mesh cases. For more information
about these features, see Contact Detection Settings and Steady-State Dynamic Mesh Applications,
respectively.
• For dynamic meshes that include a mesh interface, any motion can now be automatically trans-
ferred across the mesh interface when only one side is moving as a result of user-defined or
system coupling motion, in order to ensure that the coupling is maintained on both sides. This
transfer is enabled by default. (Transferring Motion Across a Mesh Interface)
Models
• Heat Transfer and Radiation
– File I/O associated with the surface-to-surface radiation model has been reduced. This speeds up
view factor calculations, especially for larger cases.
– Radiation wall fluxes are now available for postprocessing on internal semi-transparent walls.
– There are two new field variables available for thermal simulations: Wall Adjacent Temperature
under the Temperature... category and Wall Adjacent Heat Transfer Coef under the Wall Fluxes...
category. See Field Function Definitions for their definitions. They can be used to compute fluxes in
one-way coupled FSI simulations with ANSYS Mechanical.
• Combustion and Species Transport
– The Automated Grid Refinement option can now be used to generate PDF tables in the FGM-related
partially premixed model.
– Flamelets are now generated in parallel, which could speed up flamelet generation by an order of
magnitude compared to previous releases.
– A new chemistry acceleration method called Dynamic Adaptive Chemistry (DAC) is available. This
method is similar to the Dynamic Mechanism Reduction, but available with the ANSYS Fluent CHEMKIN-
CFD Solver. (Using Dynamic Adaptive Chemistry with ANSYS Fluent CHEMKIN-CFD Solver)
– For the non-premixed and partially premixed combustion Steady Diffusion Flamelet models, the new
flamelet parameter Scalar Dissipation Multiplier gives you more flexibility and control over the
scalar dissipation intervals at which the flamelet is generated.
• Discrete Phase Model
– The following additional Lagrangian Wall Film variables are now available for postprocessing:
→ Wall Coverage
→ Film Mass Fraction of material-i
For more information, see Alphabetical Listing of Field Variables and Their Definitions in the
Fluent User's Guide.
– It is now possible to interactively preview the injection position and orientation in the graphics
window before saving the injection point properties, by using the Update Injection Display button
in the Point Properties tab of the Set Injection Properties dialog box and in the Set Multiple In-
jection Properties dialog box.
– For Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems, a tool for assessing the solids deposition risk is now
available through the text user interface (TUI). (Assessing the Risk for Solids Deposit Formation During
Selective Catalytic Reduction Process)
– The ability to couple wall erosion with dynamic meshes has been improved and is now fully supported.
This capability allows you to account for changes in the shape and position of walls in erosion simu-
lations. (Particle Erosion Coupled with Dynamic Meshes)
– The Use DPM Domain option of the Hybrid parallel DPM tracking mode is no longer ignored
if the Update DPM Sources Every Flow Iteration option is enabled.
• Multiphase Models
– For transient simulations, the variable time stepping previously available with the VOF model and
Eulerian multiphase model with the Multi-Fluid VOF Model option enabled is now available across
all multiphase models.
– For transient simulations, a new variable time stepping parameter (Initial Time Step Size) is now
available, and provides better control over the solution start-up. If an old case file is read into ANSYS
Fluent, then the Initial Time Step Size will be set as follows:
→ If the case was saved after initialization, then the saved time step size will be used.
→ If the case was saved during a solution run, then the Minimum Time Step Size specified
in the Variable Time Step Settings dialog box will be used.
– You can now use a real gas material of a pure component for vapor and liquid phase with applications
that involve multiphase models.
– The VOF-to-DPM Model Transition has been improved and is now fully supported. It provides a
connection between the Eulerian VOF model and the Lagrangian discrete phase model. For example,
in the simulation of liquid sprays, roughly spherical liquid structures in the VOF solution can be
converted automatically into Lagrangian particle parcels. This, in conjunction with dynamic solution-
adaptive mesh refinement, allows for a detailed yet time-efficient simulation of primary atomization
in, for example, gas turbines and internal combustion engines. This was available as a beta feature
in ANSYS Fluent version 18.2. (Using the VOF-to-DPM Model Transition for Dispersion of Liquid in
Gas)
– For the VOF and mixture multiphase models, an alternative formulation that uses the explicit modeling
of the energy source driven by mass transfer can now be enabled through the text user interface.
The alternative treatment can be useful for cases that involve species transport and reactions. (Altern-
ative Modeling of Energy Sources)
– The Compressive and Modified HRIC volume fraction spatial discretization schemes previously
available for the VOF model and Eulerian multiphase model with the Multi-Fluid VOF Model option
enabled can now also be used for the mixture multiphase model.
– You can now model species mass transfer in the homogeneous mixture multiphase problems without
slip velocity.
Fluent
– The Algebraic model for computing the interfacial area density is now available with the mixture
multiphase model. See Algebraic Models in the Fluent Theory Guide for more information.
– For the mixture and Eulerian multiphase models, the Gradient model for modeling interfacial area
density is now available. This model considers the volume fraction gradient at the phase interface
as the interfacial area density. It is useful for continuous-continuous systems dealing with sharp in-
terfaces. For details, refer to Interfacial Area Concentration in the Fluent Theory Guide.
– For NITA cases that involve VOF, you can now use hybrid NITA expert settings. These settings may
help you to improve solution robustness and reduce mesh sensitivity to partitioning. For more in-
formation, see Setting Solution Controls for the Non-Iterative Solver in the Fluent User's Guide.
– For Eulerian multiphase model cases that involve NITA, you can now use the body-force-weighted
scheme for the face pressure interpolation. This option is available through the text user interface.
Using the body-force-weighted scheme may improve solution robustness for cases that have difficulties
converging with the default face pressure interpolation scheme. (Controlling NITA Solution Options
via the Text Interface)
– For dispersed-dispersed Eulerian multiphase systems with more than two phases, a more accurate
and consistent approach is now used for modeling interphase heat transfer effects. The formulation
first computes heat transfer coefficients for respective phases and then calculates the effective heat
transfer coefficient using the two-resistance correlation.
– For porous-media cell zones, you can now specify the Minimum Relative Permeability for both
wetting and non-wetting phases (in the Porous Zone tab of the Fluid dialog box). This helps avoid
saturation overshoots and undershoots (that is, phase saturation dropping below residual values) in
long simulations.
– For the Eulerian multiphase model, the ability to model the capillary pressure in porous regions is
now fully supported. In addition, new default values for fitting parameters and constants for the
Skjaeveland model are used in order to improve the model performance. (Specifying the Capillary
Pressure)
• Eulerian Wall Film Model
– The phase change model in the Eulerian wall film for mixture species transport applications now allows
you to use the Wall Boundary Layer model (which was previously implemented for modeling the
film vaporization and condensation in Lagrangian wall film applications). The Wall Boundary Layer
model requires no application-specific constants and yields more accurate and mesh-independent
results compared to the existing Diffusion Balance model. (Coupling of Wall Film with Mixture Species
Transport)
Cell Zones and Boundary Conditions
• The non-reflecting boundary condition (NRBC) option is now available in the pressure-based
solver for pressure inlets and pressure outlets for VOF or mixture multiphase cases that involve
compressible gases or compressible liquids. Note that some small reflections may still occur from
NRBC boundaries when secondary-phase volume fractions are nonzero at the boundaries. For
more information about NRBCs, see General Non-Reflecting Boundary Conditions.
• You can now write one set of profile data points by consolidating multiple surface profile data points
from the Write Profile dialog box (see Writing Profile Files).
Serial Processing
• The serial version of Fluent was revised in version 18.2 in order to be more consistent with the parallel
version. While such consistency had the benefit of adding new features to serial, it also introduced
some new limitations and changes in code behavior, as described in the Release 18.2 Release Notes. If
you encounter unacceptable changes in serial that cannot be resolved by other means, you can revert
to a version that is similar to serial from version 18.1; note that this workaround will not be available
indefinitely, but has been extended to this release in order to provide time to migrate to the new version.
You can only revert when launching Fluent: select the Parallel processing option in Fluent Launcher
and enter 0 for the number of Processors; alternatively, include the argument -t0 when launching
from the command line.
Parallel Processing
• The specification of an Internet Protocol (IP) network interface to be used by the host process
is now supported in Windows (as well as Linux). This can be specified not only by using the
-host_ip=host:ip command line option, but now also by using the Specify IP Interface
option and drop-down menu in the Parallel Settings tab of Fluent Launcher. For an example
of when this option may be useful, see Starting Parallel ANSYS Fluent Using Fluent Launcher.
• In Linux, the Omni-Path interconnect is now supported with the default MPI (ibmmpi).
• Calculation times should be reduced for cases with significant numbers of solid cells (for example,
conjugate heat transfer simulations) that are manually partitioned using the new default settings
(model-weighted partitioning with the Solid Zones weighting option enabled). (Partitioning the Mesh
Manually and Balancing the Load)
Journal Files
• The /file/set-tui-version text command, which is automatically added to any new journal file
recorded in this release, can now restore text command prompts that have been removed (in this and
future releases). This can help a journal created in an older version to work properly when used in a
newer version. For additional information on this command, refer to Creating and Reading Journal Files
in the Fluent User's Guide.
Adjoint Solver Module
• When creating design conditions in the adjoint Design Tool, it is now possible to specify that
some settings are free parameters by disabling the Prescribed option. This can be helpful when
you are trying to optimize a design, as the Design Tool will automatically determine values for
such settings while satisfying your design goals. The settings that can be free parameters include:
– the Scale Factor for a prescribed-profile condition
– the Angle for a rotation condition
– the Displacement for a translation condition
– the Factor for a scaling condition
For details, see Defining Conditions for the Deformation.
• The adjoint Design Tool now allows you to create rigid-body design conditions so that you can
specify that surfaces (or clip surfaces) undergo rigid body motion. The rotations and translations
applied to the surfaces are free parameters and do not require you to define them; the Design
Fluent
Tool itself will determine rotations and translations that satisfy your goals. (Defining Conditions
for the Deformation)
Graphics, Postprocessing, and Reporting
• You can now export graphics displays in AVZ format for use in the ANSYS Viewer, allowing you to
visualize, share, collaborate, and interactively manipulate the displayed object. The ANSYS Viewer is
available as a free download. For additional information, see Saving Picture Files in the Fluent User's
Guide and ANSYS Viewer User's Guide.
• The layout of the File XY Plot dialog box is improved to work better with report files and to provide
you with more control over what curves you are plotting. For additional information on the File XY
Plot dialog box, see XY Plots of File Data in the Fluent User's Guide.
• For transient simulations, new report files created from a mesh file or from a case file written in the
current release now automatically include flow-time. For additional information on report files, see
Report Files and Report Plots in the Fluent User's Guide.
• There are two new modern 3D arrow styles available for vector plots: 3d arrow and 3d arrowhead.
Memory Usage
• The amount of memory needed will be greatly reduced for simulations that involve many cell
zones and/or use many processors; the reduction will be approximately 120 KB per zone per
processor.
1.3. Updates Affecting ANSYS Fluent 19.0 Code Behavior

The following sections list the code changes in ANSYS Fluent 19.0.
1.3.1. Meshing Mode
1.3.1. Meshing Mode

This section contains a list of code changes implemented in the meshing mode of ANSYS Fluent 19.0
that may cause behavior and/or output that is different from the previous release.
CAD Import
• When importing a CAD geometry into the meshing mode of ANSYS Fluent, the default setting
for the One Object Per option is now program-controlled.

This section contains a list of code changes implemented in the solution mode of ANSYS Fluent 19.0
that may cause behavior and/or results that are different from the previous release.
Solver-Numerics
• The default behavior of the solver has been improved in several areas. The changes generally
lead to improved convergence and/or accuracy compared to the previous version of ANSYS
Fluent:
Updates Affecting ANSYS Fluent 19.0 Code Behavior
– Simulations that involve symmetry boundary conditions with the coupled pressure-based solver
should converge faster.
– Cases with walls that use the Specified Shear condition with laminar flow now discretize the normal
viscous force, leading to more accurate results.
– A modified version of Rhie-Chow averaging may cause minor changes to turbulent flow simulations
near walls, but the effects will not be significant.
– Convergence may be improved or divergence may be avoided for cases in which the algebraic mul-
tigrid (AMG) solver previously experienced convergence difficulties, as a result of a new "early pro-
tection" scheme.
If you suspect that an individual case is being negatively impacted by these solver enhancements,
you can undo them by using the following text command: solve/set/previous-de-
faults/undo-r19.0-default-changes?. The prompts will allow you to undo some or
all of the changes.
• The computation of the cell centroids is improved and is now significantly faster. This new al-
gorithm also defines a more accurate cell centroid for cells that have very high aspect ratios.
• For transient simulations that involve a rotating fluid zone, an option that allows for better pre-
diction of the flow field at every time step is now available and enabled by default. This option
can speed up the calculation, and should not change the results compared to previous versions
(unless the previous solution was not properly converged). This option will be ignored for cases
that involve zones that rotate relative to other zones (that are themselves moving or stationary)
and/or zones that rotate with translation. To revert to the previous, slower calculation method,
use the following text command: solve/set/rotating-mesh-flow-predictor?.
• For simulations that use the algebraic multigrid (AMG) scheme, the Conservative Coarsening
option is now available and enabled by default in the Scalar Parameters group box of the Ad-
vanced Solution Controls dialog box, which may result in changes in the convergence behavior
compared to previous versions of ANSYS Fluent. For further details, see Coarsening Parameters.
• The pseudo transient under-relaxation method is improved for cases that include an outflow
boundary zone, such that changes in the time step size do not affect residuals that have converged
to the level of the machine precision. This may cause differences in the results and/or convergence
behavior compared to previous releases for pseudo-transient cases with an outflow boundary
zone, and may cause a jump in residuals for such cases when starting with a data file created in
a previous release. To revert to the previous behavior, enter the following Scheme command:
(rpsetvar 'pressure/outflow-implicit-rc-pt? #f).
• For pseudo-transient simulations, the default values for the following implicit under-relaxation
factors (available in the Expert tab of the Advanced Solution Controls dialog box) have been
changed in order to be consistent with the implicit under-relaxation factor values used by the
pressure-based coupled solver:
– FGM scalar transport: changed from 0.9 to 1.0
– Reynolds stresses: changed from 0.8 to 0.5
– pollutants: changed from 0.9 to 1.0
– soot method of moments: changed from 0.9 to 1.0
Fluent
– population balance models
→ bin fractions for the discrete method: changed from 0.5 to 1.0
→ moments for the standard method of moments (SMM) or quadrature method of moments (QMM):
changed from 0.5 to 1.0
These changes will only affect cases that start from a mesh file and/or were set up using the
Default button in the Expert tab of the Advanced Solution Controls dialog box.
• When the alternative formulation for wall temperature option is enabled (through the
solve/set/expert text command), the results should be more accurate compared to previous
releases for cases that have skewed, solid cells adjacent to wall zones.
• The discretization of flow equations for multiple reference frame simulations that use the relative
velocity formulation have been corrected, in order to avoid excessive heating at the interfaces
separating two frames of reference.
Solver-Meshing
• For overset meshes:
– Newly created cases will use the least squares interpolation method at the overset interface by default.
If you read an old case into version 19.0, it is recommended that you manually change the interpol-
ation method to use the least squares weighting through the solve/set/overset/interpol-
ation-method text command.
– A more accurate approach is used when computing gradients for cases that use the least squares
interpolation method with the pressure-based solver, and so solutions should improve compared to
previous releases. You can revert to the previous (less accurate) approach by entering the following
Scheme command: (rpsetvar 'ost/deriv/use-reconstruction-grad? #t).
– New enhancements in the least squares interpolation method for the Volume of Fluid (VOF) multiphase
model may improve solutions compared to previous releases. To revert the VOF model improvements,
enter the following Scheme command: (rpsetvar 'ost/least-squares-vof? #f); note
that this command should be used with the previously mentioned (rpsetvar 'ost/deriv/use-
reconstruction-grad? #t) command if you want to completely revert to the behavior of the
previous release.
• Cases that use dynamic gradient adaption will now always perform a single round of adaption
(that is, a "sweep" in which the gradient is estimated and cells are marked and adapted) per time
step / pseudo time step, rather than having the number of sweeps determined by an algorithm
that was based on the specified level of maximum refinement. As a result, the calculation may
speed up compared to previous versions of ANSYS Fluent for cases that have higher levels of
maximum refinement, possibly with differences in the adapted meshes. For the rare instances
in which the adapted mesh changes negatively impact the solution (as could be the case, for
example, with flows that contain shock waves), you should be able to get suitable results by
using smaller time steps; if this does not resolve the issue, you can increase the number of sweeps
by entering a Scheme command, as shown in the following example (which sets the sweeps to
2): (rpsetvar 'adapt/dynamic/sweeps 2).
• For dynamic meshes that include a mesh interface, any motion will now be automatically trans-
ferred across the mesh interface by default when only one side is moving as a result of user-
defined or system coupling motion. This transfer can be disabled using the define/mesh-
interfaces/transfer-motion-across-interfaces? text command, and further options

are described in Transferring Motion Across a Mesh Interface.
• It is possible that the mesh interfaces automatically created using the One to One Pairing option
(in the Auto Create Options dialog box) may change compared to previous releases due to an
improvement in the way ANSYS Fluent determines which zones should be grouped together. If
the resulting mesh interfaces are not suitable, you can adjust the proximity tolerance used in
their creation using the following new text command: define/mesh-interfaces/auto-
options/proximity-tolerance. For details, see Using a Non-Conformal Mesh in ANSYS
Fluent.
Data Import, Export, and Storage
• The use of parallel data files (with the .pdat extension) is no longer supported. It is recommen-
ded that you use the Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) as a replacement, as this format provides
similar or better speed increases for data file I/O operations at high processor counts compared
to standard data files. For information about HDF files, see Reading and Writing Files Using
Hierarchical Data Format (HDF).
• Case files no longer store mouse button assignments, as this information is now stored in user prefer-
ences.
• When you save an image of the graphics window, the image is captured at the graphics window
resolution by default.
Turbulence
• For cases that use the Reynolds stress model with the pressure-based solver, the residuals for
Reynolds stress equations are now normalized by a new scaling factor, in order to obtain better
residual behavior and to get better agreement between the scaled and absolute residual. For
details on the calculation of these residuals, see Definition of Residuals for the Pressure-Based
Solver. To revert to the previous calculation method and thus avoid any changes to the residual
plots, enter the following Scheme command: (rpsetvar 'drsm/residual-scaling-
option 0).
Discrete Phase Model
• The particle's angular momentum equation has been corrected; in previous implementations, it did
not include the magnitude of the relative particle–fluid angular velocity. The particle–wall interaction
of rotating particles has also been corrected, to ensure accurate particle rotation rates after impact. As
a result, you will obtain more accurate results when tracking rotating particles in your simulation.
Eulerian Multiphase Models
• For the Schnerr and Sauer cavitation mass transfer mechanism, the default value for the Bubble
Number Density is now 1e11 rather than 1e13. As a result of this and other fixes, the convergence
behavior and results should improve compared to previous releases. To reproduce the previous beha-
vior, the bubble number density may need to be adjusted.
• The default values for the variable time stepping parameters Minimum Step Change Factor and
Maximum Step Change Factor changed from 0.5 to 0.8 and from 5 to 1.2, respectively. Solution results
may change for cases if they were set up using journal files or if these parameters were not explicitly
specified.
Fluent
• To address problems with saturation overshoots and undershoots when modeling two-phase flows
through porous media, the ability to specify minimum relative permeability for wetting and non-wetting
phases is now available. As a result, you should observe better solution stability and an improvement
in saturation predictions for cases from previous releases.
• For dispersed-dispersed Eulerian multiphase systems with more than two phases, the treatment of in-
terphase heat transfer is improved. The old implementation assumed the first phase in the phase pair
to be dispersed and the second phase to be continuous. The heat transfer coefficient was calculated
based on the first phase diameter. The new formulation first computes heat transfer coefficients for
respective phases and then calculates the effective heat transfer coefficient using the two-resistance
formulation. This change improves solution accuracy compared to previous releases.
Eulerian Wall Film Model
• In mixture species transport applications, if a profile user-defined function (UDF) is used for the phase
change Condensation Rate in the Eulerian wall film, the UDF must return a positive value. In previous
releases, a negative return was required.
Cell Zones and Boundary Conditions
• Convergence behavior will improve compared to previous releases for cases that have symmetry
boundaries that border triangular and/or tetrahedral cells in a solid cell zone that uses anisotropic
diffusion for energy and/or user-defined scalars (that is, when orthotropic, cyl-orthotropic, and
so on are selected for thermal conduction and/or the UDS diffusivity coefficient). Solutions that
previously converged will not be affected. You can revert to the previous (less robust) behavior
by entering the following Scheme command: (rpsetvar 'diffusivity/ortho-sym-
linearization? #f).
Parallel Processing
• The Myrinet interconnect is no longer supported.
• When manually partitioning meshes, note that the following changes:
– Model-weighted partitioning is now enabled by default and will be used when the Metis method is
selected. You can disable model-weighted partitioning by using the following text command: par-
allel/partition/set/model-weighted-partition.
– The Solid Zones option is now enabled by default in the Weighting tab of the Partitioning and
Load Balancing dialog box, so that solid cell zones affect the partitioning. Also, the default Value
for the Solid Zones option is now 0.1; note that if you are not using model-weighted partitioning,
it is recommended that you enable User Specified and enter a larger Value for Solid Zones.
– For cases with significant numbers of solid cells (for example, conjugate heat transfer simulations)
that use model-weighted partitioning with the Solid Zones weighting option enabled, the resulting
partitions will change compared to previous releases, and the calculation times should be reduced.
For more information on manually partitioning meshes, see Partitioning the Mesh Manually and
Balancing the Load.
Adjoint Solver Module
• The descriptions of the following adjoint field variables are corrected in the documentation, in
order to more accurately describe how they have always been calculated:
– Magnitude of Sensitivity to Body Forces (Cell Values)
– Sensitivity to Body Force X-Component (Cell Values), Sensitivity to Body Force Y-Component
(Cell Values), and Sensitivity to Body Force Z-Component (Cell Values)
– Sensitivity to Mass Sources (Cell Values)
– Sensitivity to Energy Sources (Cell Values)
– Sensitivity to Body Forces (Cell Values)
For details, see Field Data.
• The following adjoint field variables are no longer available, as they have been deemed to have
limited value. It is recommended that you instead use the field variables with the same name
appended with (Cell Values).
– Magnitude of Sensitivity to Body Forces
– Sensitivity to Body Force X-Component, Sensitivity to Body Force Y-Component, and Sensitivity
to Body Force Z-Component
– Sensitivity to Mass Sources
– Sensitivity to Energy Sources
– Sensitivity to Body Forces
For details, see Field Data.
Battery Add-On Module
• With the new implementation, the Newman's P2D solver is approximately three times faster than the
previous version.
User-Defined Functions (UDFs) and User-Defined Scalars (UDSs)
• If a profile user-defined function (UDF) is used to define the phase change Condensation Rate in the
Eulerian wall film in mixture species transport applications, such UDF must return a positive value. In
previous releases, a negative return was required.
• A correction has been made for contact detection problems that use a DEFINE_CONTACT user-
defined function so that it is invoked not only on the compute-node process(es), but now on
the host process as well. Note that this correction requires that you update your UDF to include
appropriate node_to_host functions in order to sync the variables, as shown in Example 1 in
the Fluent Customization Manual.
Memory Usage
• The amount of memory needed will be greatly reduced for simulations that involve many cell
zones and/or use many processors; the reduction will be approximately 120 KB per zone per
processor.
Chapter 2: CFX Release Notes
The following sections contain release information for Release 19.0 of ANSYS CFX.
2.1. Supported Platforms
2.3. Incompatibilities
2.4. Updates Affecting Code Behavior


This section lists features and enhancements that are new in Release 19.0 of ANSYS CFX.
• The Expand Profile Data tool was changed; it is now called the Edit Profile Data tool and has profile data
mapping functionality. For details, see Edit Profile Data in the CFX-Pre User's Guide.
• Flow boundary disturbances on turbomachinery blade passages can now be solved more efficiently by using
Harmonic Analysis. For details, see Flow Boundary Disturbance using Harmonic Analysis in the CFX-Solver
Modeling Guide.
• Turbomachinery cases for up to a stage and a half that use PT-TRS interfaces can now be solved more effi-
ciently using Harmonic Analysis. For details, see Profile Transformation using Harmonic Analysis in the CFX-
Solver Modeling Guide.
• Parallel performance for large transient cases with dynamic GGI intersection, for example transient rotor
stator interfaces, has been improved. Specifically, cases with the following properties are most improved:
– Many parallel partitions
– A small or moderate number of coefficient loops
– A large number of mesh element faces on the following types of domain interfaces:
→ Those using the Transient Rotor Stator frame change/mixing model
→ Those affected by mesh deformation
These improvements can be enabled by setting the solver expert parameter parallel optimiz
ation level to 1 or 2. The default value is zero.
• You can now import tables and create user functions based on table data. For details on creating a user
function from table data, see Table User Functions in the CFX-Pre User's Guide. For information on the table
data format, see Table Data Format in the CFX-Pre User's Guide.
CFX
2.3. Incompatibilities
This section describes the operational changes, the procedural changes (actions that have to be done
differently in this release to get an outcome available in Release 18.2), and the support changes (func-
tionality that is no longer supported) in Release 19.0 of ANSYS CFX.
• For cases involving transient periodic mesh motion via the Periodic Displacement option (see Peri-
odic Displacement in the CFX-Solver Modeling Guide), the default convention for defining the direction of a
traveling wave for a positive phase angle (forward) has changed (see Direction of Forward Traveling Wave
in the CFX-Solver Modeling Guide). The default convention is controlled by the expert parameter meshdisp
phase angle convention. To ignore the convention altogether, set this expert parameter to 0. To use
the convention of Release 18.2, set this expert parameter to 2. This expert parameter is described in Physical
Models Parameters in the CFX-Solver Modeling Guide.
• For all compilers (ifort, gnufort and pgfort) there is a new compiler flag that specifies that no implicit typing
is allowed, which is the equivalent of having the FORTRAN statement “IMPLICIT NONE” at the start of every
procedure.
If you are using the Intel FORTRAN compiler (ifort), and you do not want to declare all local variables,
you can enable implicit typing by editing <CFXROOT>\etc\cfx5mkext.ccl, removing the following
compiler options:
On winnt-amd64: -warn:declarations -Qdiag-error:6717
On linux-amd64: -warn declaration -diag-error 6717
• For the Intel FORTRAN compiler (ifort) the CFX-Solver will now crash if an uninitialized variable has been
used. It is important that all variables are initialized before use.
Note
In a future release, it might no longer be possible to couple ANSYS CFX to ANSYS Mechanical
via ANSYS Multi-field. As an alternative, you may couple CFX to Mechanical via System
Coupling. For details on System Coupling, see Coupling CFX to an External Solver: System
Coupling Simulations in the CFX-Solver Modeling Guide.
2.4. Updates Affecting Code Behavior

This section contains a list of changes that may cause the solution results from ANSYS CFX to differ
between Release 19.0 and Release 18.2.
• For SDES and SBES models, the default value of constant CDES of Equation 2.203 in the CFX-Solver Theory
Guide has been changed from 0.61 to 0.4. As of Release 19.0, this constant is available in CFX-Pre as CCL
parameter Csdes for Numerical Blending. Reducing the value of this constant results in lower
weighting of the upwind-biased scheme.
Chapter 3: TurboGrid Release Notes
The following sections contain release information for Release 19.0 of ANSYS TurboGrid.


This section lists features and enhancements that are new in Release 19.0 of ANSYS TurboGrid.
• By default, 3D meshes are now automatically generated as soon as the required information is available.
When looking at a new geometry prior to unsuspending topology, you may want to change the layer Insertion
Mode option from its default, Automatic - Adaptive, to one of the manual modes. To disable auto-
matic mesh generation, suspend the 3D Mesh object. For details, see The 3D Mesh Object in the TurboGrid
User's Guide.
• When a blade is passed from BladeEditor to TurboGrid (so that a CFD mesh can be made by TurboGrid), two
versions of the geometry are passed:
– The “display geometry”, which is the true geometry designed in BladeEditor, and
– The “meshing geometry”, which is used by TurboGrid in constructing the mesh.
The meshing geometry is slightly different from the display geometry because it must meet Tur-
boGrid’s mesh generation requirements. For example, the meshing geometry has extended surfaces
that overlap so that TurboGrid can reliably locate surface intersections.
In the Mesh workspace, the display geometry can be visually compared with the mesh. In the Geo-
metry workspace, you can view both the display geometry and the meshing geometry by turning
on visibility of the corresponding CAD objects listed in the tree.
As of Release 19.0, BladeEditor can generate blade fillets; these will typically cause a noticeable differ-
ence between the mesh and the display geometry shown in TurboGrid’s Mesh workspace, and a
noticeable difference between the meshing geometry and display geometry shown in TurboGrid’s
Geometry workspace. The overall difference in fillet geometry (for example, the amount of flow
blockage) can be affected by changing fillet-related parameters in BladeEditor.
Note also that, due to the way TurboGrid approximates the hub and shroud layers with piecewise
linear (meridional) curves, the intersection between a highly curved hub/shroud layer and a blade
with a large fillet radius may be scalloped. This can be reduced (but not eliminated) by increasing
the Turbo Transform Background Mesh Size and Turbo Transform Background
Mesh Size for Topology CCL parameters under Machine Data. Increasing these parameters
will reduce the scallop size, but will also increase the time required to generate the topology.
TurboGrid
• A new template is available for a main blade with two splitter blades. For details, see Using Splitter Blades
with ATM in the TurboGrid User's Guide.
Chapter 4: ANSYS BladeModeler Release Notes
The following sections contain release information for Release 19.0 of BladeGen and BladeEditor.
4.2. BladeGen
4.3. BladeEditor

4.2. BladeGen
4.2.1. New Features and Enhancements
This section lists features and enhancements that are new in Release 19.0 of ANSYS BladeGen.
Release 19.0 of BladeGen has no new features or enhancements.
4.3. BladeEditor
4.3.1. New Features and Enhancements
This section lists features and enhancements that are new in Release 19.0 of ANSYS BladeEditor.
• You can create blade fillets on the hub and shroud. For details, see Blades made using Camberline/Thickness
Sub-features in the TurboSystem User's Guide. Note that when a blade is passed from BladeEditor to TurboGrid
(so that a CFD mesh can be made by TurboGrid), two versions of the geometry are passed:
– The “display geometry”, which is the true geometry designed in BladeEditor, and
– The “meshing geometry”, which is used by TurboGrid in constructing the mesh.
The meshing geometry is slightly different from the display geometry because it must meet Tur-
boGrid’s mesh generation requirements. For example, the meshing geometry has extended surfaces
that overlap so that TurboGrid can reliably locate surface intersections.
• By setting the blade property “Shroud Tip Clearance” to “Shroud Gap”, you can specify blade clearance at
the shroud using two values: clearance at the leading edge (LE Gap) and clearance at the trailing edge
(TE Gap). When specified in this way, the shroud clearance varies linearly with meridional coordinate.
Chapter 5: CFD-Post Release Notes
The following sections contain release information for Release 19.0 of ANSYS CFD-Post.


This section lists features and enhancements that are new in Release 19.0 of ANSYS CFD-Post.
• You can now create scatter charts using the Insert Chart dialog box. For details, see Creating a Chart Object
in the CFD-Post User's Guide.
Chapter 6: Polyflow Release Notes
The following sections contain release information for ANSYS Polyflow 19.0.
6.1. New Features
6.1. New Features

The new features in ANSYS Polyflow 19.0 are as follows:
• All ANSYS documentation is now available through the ANSYS Help site.
• Contact release is now available in 2D, as well as in 3D and shell models.
• The elements of the shear-rate dependence of the viscosity (equation 10-18) has been clarified. For
more information, see Temperature-Dependent Viscosity Laws in the Polyflow User's Guide.
• The definition of vorticity has been enhanced to accommodate 2D planar and axisymmetric flows.
For more information, see Viscosity in the Polyflow User's Guide.
• An upper limit bounding value for the Fulcher law has been introduced so that H(T) and its derivatives
are continuous. For more information, see Fulcher Law in the Polyflow User's Guide.
• For viscoelastic problems, you can now apply appropriate evolution schemes to the viscoelastic
model in order to improve convergence. For more information, see Convergence Strategy for Vis-
coelasticity in the Polyflow User's Guide.
• A blow molding simulation process template has been introduced in ANSYS AIM as a beta feature.
• The polymer extrusion capabilities in ANSYS AIM have also been extended to include restrictors as a beta
feature. Restrictors, in die extrusion applications, are solid structures placed in the polymer flow region to
obtain optimum melt flow distribution.

For information about past, present, and future operating system and platform support, see the Platform
Support section of the ANSYS Website.
Chapter 7: Forte Release Notes
The enhancements and defect corrections listed below are since ANSYS 18.2.
7.2. Resolved Issues and Limitations

This section lists new features and enhancements in Release 19.0 ofANSYS Forte CFD, organized by
topic.
Simulation Interface
• Forte and other ANSYS user documentation is available as HTML pages linked from the Help menu or
the Windows Start menu. PDF versions of the manuals can be downloaded from the ANSYS website.
19.0 is the last release that will include PDFs of the Forte manuals in the installer.
Job Submission, Monitoring, and Running Options
• Added an option to run ANSYS Forte from within Gamma Technologies’ GT-Suite(R). This can be useful
for studying the flow dynamics and dependencies in the powertrain system.
• Improved the user experience for job submission using Intel MPI, by providing an MPI-environment
setup script that is called by the run_env.sh (Linux) or run_env.bat (Windows) during job submis-
sion. This script points ANSYS Forte to the Intel MPI libraries installed in the ANSYS common files, assuring
compatibility at runtime. The run_env.* script should be run as part of the job submission script for
best results.
• Removed the need to install MPI for Forte, but on Windows systems, the -localonly flag is needed
unless MPI is installed. Removed the requirement for users to set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH or
LD_PRELOAD environment settings for usage of the Intel MPI libraries that are included in the ANSYS
common files installation.
• Added total wall film area and averaged wall film thickness to output files: spray.csv and
wall_heat_transfer.csv. Values reported in spray.csv are for the whole domain and values
in wall_heat_transfer.csv are on a per-wall basis.
• Previous releases of Forte (up to and including release 18.2) used ADF as the underlying file format for
project files, restart files and solution files. From release 19.0 onwards, HDF5 is now the underlying file
format to enable parallel output. ANSYS Forte provides conversion options from the user interface,
from a script, or using the cgns_util convert command.
• Added a conditional requirement for the NFS mount option of ‘local_lock=all’ to avoid errors
about fcntl(2). More information is available in Appendix B of the Forte User's Guide.
Engineering Models and Computation
Forte
• Significant improvements to parallel scaling including parallel I/O handling, which translate to overall
performance gains, especially for spark-ignition cases with flame propagation.
• Improved spray collision modeling with the dynamic collision mesh, which is now the default for both
solid-cone and hollow-cone spray injections. The dynamic collision mesh provides better accuracy and
performance compared to previous options.
• Automated the handling of periodic surface topology in simulations with periodic boundary conditions
and moving mesh that requires the periodic surface to expand and contract. This eliminates the need
for the user to configure the surface mesh to a particular topology and improves robustness for sector-
mesh simulations.
• Added a parcel-type parameter as a spatially-resolved solution variable to mark the state of spray parcels.
The types are: airborne parcel (before hitting wall); wall film parcel; and rebounded parcel.
• Added a slit injector to produce a fan spray, with user-specified slit angle and side spreading angle.

For a list of issues that have been resolved in Release 19.0, refer to the Resolved Issues and Limitations
document on the ANSYS Help site.
Chapter 8: Chemkin-Pro Release Notes
The following sections contain release information for Release 19.0 of Chemkin-Pro:

Chemkin-Pro
• Chemkin-Pro and other ANSYS user documentation is available as HTML pages linked from the Help
menu or the Windows Start menu. PDF versions of the manuals can be downloaded from the ANSYS
website. 19.0 is the last release that will include PDFs of the Chemkin-Pro manuals in the installer.
• Include the impact of non-ideal (real) gas on thermodynamic properties, through the use of thermody-
namic departure functions. These real-gas effects may be considered as an option in all non-plasma,
0-D, Plug-Flow Reactor, Flame Simulators, CVD Reactors, Shock Simulators, Equilibrium, and the Shear
Layer Flow reactor models.
• Improved chemistry pre-processing performance for 0-D reactor models, by automatically not processing
transport data that is included in the chemistry set, since this data is not used by the 0-D models. This
saves significant time during the pre-processing of large mechanisms.
• Added a new reactor model that allows generation of Diffusion Flamelets based on specified stoichiomet-
ric scalar dissipation-rate (SSDR). The generated flamelets are compatible with ANSYS Fluent and can
be generated over a range of SSDR values.
• Allow the writing of Premixed Flamelets that are compatible with ANSYS Fluent, from the results of the
Flame-Speed Calculator, which simulates an unstrained freely propagating premixed flame.
Reaction Workbench
• In the Property Estimation utility, added the ability to search for a species structure and associated
SMILES identifier, using a known atomic composition. The search will look up species that are defined
in the Model Fuel Library and offer candidate matches to the composition entered, along with a
schematic display of the candidate structure.
Energico
• Enable the export of an Energico equivalent reactor network (ERN) solution for use as imported data
in ANSYS Fluent. This allows the Fluent simulation to be initialized with the Energico solution. Energico
exports the Fluent “interpolation file” for this purpose.
• Added the capability to override combined inlet properties, which is useful when the fluid region is
split because of a discontinuity.
Model Fuel Library
Chemkin-Pro
• Added the MFL Report to the same installed location as the Chemkin-Pro/Reaction Workbench/Energico
user manuals, and included a link to this report in the Chemkin-Pro Help and Start menus.

Chapter 9: FENSAP-ICE Release Notes
The following sections contain release information for ANSYS FENSAP-ICE 19.0.
9.1. New Features and Enhancements in ANSYS FENSAP-ICE
9.2. Known Limitations in ANSYS FENSAP-ICE
9.3. Beta Features
9.1. New Features and Enhancements in ANSYS FENSAP-ICE

• Improvements to auto-remeshing of ice shapes
– Updates to surface displacement and remeshing algorithms considerably extend the number of automatic-
remeshing shots
– Better surface grid quality (for example, reduction of coarse patches of elements randomly placed on the
tip of the ice horns) allows a smooth convergence of air and droplet residuals
– Parallelization of the remeshing algorithms speeds up the overall ice accretion simulation
• Multishot with auto-remeshing for turbomachinery blades
– The automatic remeshing algorithm has been extended to rotor and stator blade geometries that are
meshed with unstructured elements
– Updates to the sliding mesh algorithm prevent the collapse of prism layers near the stator/shroud inter-
sections during a multishot simulation
• Multishot CFX
– The multishot CFX sequence has been substantially improved to provide accurate ice shape predictions
→ A new “High roughness” option is available for wall boundaries in CFX. This option provides appropriate
wall roughness treatment for icing calculations with FENSAP-ICE and is now supported in the multishot
CFX sequence
→ For more accurate ice results, the “Blended Near Wall Treatment (Beta)” option with the SST model in
CFX is strongly recommended
→ Beading roughness distributions are read as boundary conditions by CFX and are properly transferred
from one quasi-steady shot solution to another. With this improvement, icing simulations with CFX can
now accurately capture the natural growth of ice roughness, a crucial factor in ice shape prediction
• Vapor transport
– The vapor transport model that calculates the local surface vapor pressure and relative humidity in the
domain is included as a release feature
FENSAP-ICE
– The vapor transport model enhances the physics of icing calculations by considering local vapor pressure
distributions along walls. It replaces the free stream vapor pressure specified as a constant relative humidity
in ICE3D
– Condensation rates on cold walls can be simulated with the vapor transport model in DROP3D by specifying
a suitable “cold” wall temperature in the airflow simulation
– Evaporation rates can be simulated with the “wet wall” boundary condition in DROP3D and by setting
the wall to 100% humidity
• Vapor/Particle coupling
– Two-way coupling of vapor transport and particle dynamics models is realized by linking heat and mass
transfer source terms
→ Particles that evaporate now transfer their LWC/ICC to the vapor equation, and vice versa
→ The mass balance of particle equations now includes the volumetric evaporation/condensation rate as
part of the net balance calculation
• DROP3D SLD Updates
– The splashing and bouncing by post processing models are updated to the latest specifications in the
literature
→ NASA-Wright model updated to 2016 version
→ Corrections to Mundo and Honsek model implementations
– The splashing model of Honsek, which is used in the body force model, has also been included in the
post processing model
• DROP3D Solver improvements
– Improved robustness and stability for cases with very fine structured grids for turbomachinery applications,
avoiding residuals stalling at high levels.
– Improved overall convergence of simulations in the rotating frame of reference
– The dissipation scaling of the continuity and the momentum equations is limited to 2
• FENSAP flow solver improvements
– Radial equilibrium exit conditions can now be defined on multiple exits of the same domain
– Lift, drag, and heat flux data are now calculated and displayed at each iteration in the Graphs panel. These
values were previously only output when a solution file was written.
• CHT3D
– The temperature history of each probe point (thermostat) can now be viewed in the convergence Graphs
panel of a CHT calculation
• CFD-Post
Beta Features
– Improved the multishot data loading of icing results. The map-solution object now uses the original
map.grid file as a base display grid (except in multishot remeshing). The ice-solution object uses the current
ice.grid for the step
9.2. Known Limitations in ANSYS FENSAP-ICE

• Thermocouple probes do not work within the deicing framework, while they operate fine in standalone C3D
runs.
• When running DROP3D SLD body forces model, if the body force trigger is not reached, the droplet.primary
solution will not be written to disk.
• The lift and drag data of the very last iteration is printed in the log file but not included in the converg file.
9.3. Beta Features

(Available only if advanced/beta features are enabled in the FENSAP-ICE preferences - Settings →
Preferences → General)
• Air / Vapor / Particle coupling
– A mode to analyze the decrease in local air temperature due to the evaporation of droplets has been
added as a loosely coupled system of air flow, droplets, crystals, and vapor. This system is solved simul-
taneously in “combo” mode.
– The change in particle temperature interacts with the air energy equation, which in turn affects the con-
vective and evaporative heat fluxes experienced by the particles, local vapor concentrations, evaporating
particle diameters, etc.
– This feature allows the simulation of natural cooling that occurs when warm-dry air enters in contact with
a spray of cold droplets (for example, icing tunnels).
Part III: ANSYS Electronics Products
Release notes are available for the following ANSYS Electronics products:
Icepak (p. 83)

Chapter 1: Icepak Release Notes
Release 19.0 of the ANSYS Icepak application offers most of the capabilities from previous releases plus
many new features and enhancements.
• Introduction (p. 83)
• New and Modified Features in ANSYS Icepak 19.0 (p. 83)
• Resolved Issues and Limitations in ANSYS Icepak 19.0 (p. 83)
1.1. Introduction
ANSYS Icepak 19.0 is a release of ANSYS Icepak that has new features and resolved issues and limitations.
1.2. New and Modified Features in ANSYS Icepak 19.0

• Icepak Objects
– Added capabilities to the Network Editor panel, including editor manipulation buttons (zoom in , zoom
out, etc.), node label options, new shapes and colors to distinguish node types, new right-click context
menu options (e.g., cloning nodes), and a new node property-copying feature.
– Added Edit polygon coords panel for editing polygonal objects using an ordered list in a text editor.
• Meshing
– Added capability to keep maximum X, Y, and Z element sizes when using Set uniform mesh parameters.
– Added capability to enforce 2D cut cell when using 2D multi-level meshing.
• Solver Settings
– Added capability to use model-based flow initialization for new solutions.
1.3. Resolved Issues and Limitations in ANSYS Icepak 19.0

• Import/Export
– Import of ODB++ files is not available on Linux. (155116)
• Meshing
– For a specific model, an object is not meshed. (152368)
– For a specific model, a small change in geometry produces unacceptable mesh. (153564)
– For a specific model, Icepak produces an error when solving and automatically switches from the Mesher-
HD to the Hex Unstructured mesher. (155375)
Icepak
– Renaming an inactive object invalidates the mesh. (155758)
• Model Building
– An error occurs when attempting to assign a custom material. (153058)
– The location of solder balls cannot be changed if an underscore is in its name. (153509)
– When simulating Icpeak via SIwave, material assignments are limited to pure copper or FR-4. (154246)
– For a specific model, the total volume computed for a polygonal block is inocorrect. (154373)
– For a specific model, Icepak freezes when parsing ECAD data after turning the display of traces on and
off. (159206)
• Post-processing
– The minimum value reported by the object face (facet) tool is different than the minimum value displayed
by other tools. (152150)
– Isosurface in the transient simulation doesn't work with transient animation. (157521)
• Reports
– When attempting to export a summary report, the panel reloads and recomputes the report instead of
exporting the data. (152040)
• Solution
– During a solution, setup in Fluent is taking longer than the solve time. (150936)
– During parametric trials, monitor point plots can not be displayed after they are closed and created again.
(153347)
– For a specific model that contains a PCB with radiation, the solution produces an error. (156152)
– When running a simulation with EM losses, and then doing a full restart from that simulation with EM
losses turned off, the EM losses are not turned off and are still applied, despite turning them off. (156760)
– When running an Icepak simulation in the background with the Remote Solve Manager, a file is not copied
to pending tasks. (157993)
– When solving in parallel through Remote Solve Manager configued as two Linux nodes ARC, the job always
runs on a single node rather than on two nodes alloted by ARC. (158000)
• User Interface
– Icepak displays the incorrect axis when selecting the orientation tripod. (158939)
Part IV: ANSYS Geometry & Mesh Prep Products
Release notes are available for the following ANSYS Geometry & Mesh Prep products:
DesignModeler (p. 87)

SpaceClaim (p. 89)
CAD Integration (p. 91)
Meshing (p. 93)
IC Engine (p. 97)
ICEM CFD (p. 99)
Chapter 1: Geometry Release Notes
Release 19.0 has no new features or enhancements.
Chapter 2: ANSYS Discovery SpaceClaim
For detailed information specific to SpaceClaim 19.0, see the ANSYS Discovery SpaceClaim 19.0 Release
Notes on the ANSYS customer site.
Note
The version numbering schema for SpaceClaim has changed at Release 19.0 to be consistent
with the ANSYS numbering schema. For example, what we would have referred to as
SpaceClaim 2018.0 using the old SpaceClaim schema is called SpaceClaim 19.0 using the
ANSYS schema.
Chapter 3: CAD
This section summarizes the new features in CAD Integration Release 19.0.
For more information, see the CAD Integration section of the ANSYS Help.
Geometry Interfaces Update for New CAD Releases
Geometry interfaces are updated to support new CAD releases including:
• ACIS 2018 (Reader)
• AutoCAD 2017 (Reader)
• CATIA V5-6R2017-CADNexus CAPRI CAE Gateway v3.30.0 (Reader)
• Solid Edge ST10 (Plug-in)
• SOLIDWORKS 2018 (Plug-in)
For detailed version support information, see CAD Integration> Geometry Interface Support in the CAD
Integration section of the ANSYS Help.
Information about past, present and future CAD, operating system and platform support is viewable
via the ANSYS, Inc. website (Support> Platform Support).
Chapter 4: Meshing Application Release Notes
Release 19.0 of the Meshing application contains many new features and enhancements. Areas where
you will find changes and new capabilities include the following:
4.1. Changes in Product Behavior from Previous Releases
4.2. Sizing Enhancements
4.3.Topology Protection Enhancements
4.4. Cartesian Method
4.5. Mesh Export Enhancements
4.6. Robustness Improvements
Many of the enhancements detailed in the Mechanical Application Release Notes (p. 3) are also relevant
to the Meshing application.
4.1. Changes in Product Behavior from Previous Releases

This release includes the following changes in product behavior:
• Mesh Morphing has been removed. Geometry updates will now be processed via the normal meshing
workflow.
• The Nonlinear Mechanical physics preference defaults have changed. The options presented use the sim-
plified mesh sizing UI regardless of whether that option is turned on in the Options dialog box (Tools >
Options...).
• The options Relevance, Relevance Center, Span Angle Center, and Transition options have been removed
unless the Size Function is set to Adaptive.
• Additional size scale factors have been added for easier mesh scaling based on the Element size or Max
Face Size.
• The Defeature Size Factor can now be set depending on the physics preference.
• Topology protection has been added to the patch conforming tet mesh method to ensure feature bound-
aries are better captured when loads and boundary conditions are scoped to a model where large values
for defeaturing are also being used.
– A new Protected field has been added for Contacts and Named Selections to provide additional control
over topology protection.
– Previous databases will be resumed as follows:
→ Named Selections will be resumed with Protected set to Program Controlled.
→ Contacts will be resumed with Protected set to No.
– In some cases new errors/warnings may occur due to the protected topologies. See the Troubleshooting
section for more information.
Meshing
• The default for the Topology Checking control is now set to Yes.
4.2. Sizing Enhancements

The following enhancements have been made:
• The simplified mesh sizing UI is enabled by default when the physics preference is set to Nonlinear Mech-
anical.
• You can specify the scale factor that will be used to calculate the default defeature size depending on the
physics preference. The Mechanical Defeature Size Factor and CFD Defeature Size Factor can be set in
the Options dialog box.
• The Average Surface Area of the model is used to calculate default Element size or Max Face Size, and is
indicated in the Details view.
• The Bounding Box Factor (default value 0.05) is used to calculate the default Element size or Max Face
Size for models with only solid parts and size functions other than Adaptive.
• The Surface Area Factor (default value 0.125) is used to calculate the default Element size or Max Face Size
for models with sheet or solid/sheet parts and size functions other than Adaptive.
4.3. Topology Protection Enhancements

The following enhancements have been made:
• The Topology Checking control is enabled, by default.
• A new Protected field has been added for Contacts and Named Selections to provide additional control
over topology protection.
4.4. Cartesian Method

This release includes the full release of the Cartesian Method Control.
• This control was previously available only as a beta option.
• In addition to full release, the Cartesian Method control now includes options to modify the Aspect Ratio
of the hexa mesh and to set a balance between high quality hexa mesh and fully capturing the geometry.
• The Cartesian method supports Inflation Controls with some parameters having fixed values.
4.5. Mesh Export Enhancements

The Export Preview Surface Mesh option controls the export of the preview surface mesh elements
to the Fluent mesh file. You can use this option to export both the volume mesh and the preview surface
meshes to the Fluent mesh file when the bodies have been meshed only partially (that is, not all volumes
have been filled with elements and only previewing of surface meshes was done).
4.6. Robustness Improvements

This release also includes improved robustness through improvements and defect fixes for the following
features:
Robustness Improvements
• Shell meshing
• Washers
• MultiZone
Chapter 5: IC Engine Release Notes
Release 19.0 has no new features.
The documentation for IC Engine has moved to the Fluent in Workbench User's Guide, with the sections
relevant to Forte moving to the Forte User's Guide. To access documentation files, go to the document-
ation area of the customer site.
Chapter 6: ICEM CFD
Release 19.0 development efforts included enhancement of ANSYS ICEM CFD as a standalone application
as well as continued development of its underlying technology exposed within the ANSYS Workbench-
based Meshing application.
ANSYS ICEM CFD 19.0 includes new features and improvements in the following areas:
6.1. Multizone Block Editing improvements
6.2. Usability Improvements
6.1. Multizone Block Editing improvements

The following enhancements were made to improve block editing:
• Blocking → Split Block → Imprint Face now supports mapped faces as targets for imprinting. This
enhancement also applies to Split Free Block → By Imprint.
• Split Free Block → By Imprint has added the Split along curve option to link the split shape to a
feature. This is under Imprint Direction → Specify Direction.
• Blocking → Edit Block → Merge Blocks was extended to allow the selection of more than two blocks
for a single merge operation.
• Blocking → Edit Block → Convert Block Type → Swept will now convert a Free block in which the
number of levels on the side faces do not match.
6.2. Usability Improvements

The following enhancements were made to improve usability:
• A Reset Edge Bunching control has been added under Blocking → Pre-Mesh Parameters → Update Sizes.
If enabled, all bunching parameters are removed and size updates are based on geometry. Default is disabled.
• A Volume option has been added to the Display Tree under Blocking → Faces. If enabled, only internal
faces are displayed.
• A Show Protected option has been added to the Display Tree under Geometry → Curves. If enabled,
protected curves will be highlighted.
Part V: ANSYS Simulation Products
Release notes are available for the following ANSYS Simulation products:
Workbench (p. 103)

System Coupling (p. 107)
ACT (p. 109)
RSM (p. 113)
EKM (p. 115)
DesignXplorer (p. 117)
ANSYS Viewer (p. 119)
Chapter 1: Workbench
The ANSYS Workbench platform offers many new features and enhancements. Areas where you will
find changes and new capabilities include the following:
1.1. ANSYS Workbench
1.2. External Connection Add-In
1.3. Engineering Data Workspace
1.4. External Data
1.5. External Model
1.6. Enhancement to Mechanical Model Cells
1.7. FE Modeler
1.8.TurboSystem Release Notes
1.1. ANSYS Workbench

Enhancements were made to the following areas for Release 19.0:
1.1.1. General Workbench Enhancements
1.1.2. Design Point Update Enhancements
1.1.3. ANSYS Workbench-System Coupling Enhancements
1.1.4. Mechanical APDL Enhancements
1.1.5. ANSYS Workbench-Remote Solve Manager Enhancements
1.1.6. ANSYS Workbench-EKM Enhancements
1.1.1. General Workbench Enhancements

You can now drag project files onto the Project Schematic to open them.
1.1.2. Design Point Update Enhancements

When submitting multiple jobs for a design point update through Remote Solve Manager (RSM), if none
of the design points that are part of a job have any files associated with them, an archive file is no
longer recreated for this job. Where possible, existing archive files are used for the submitted jobs.
1.1.3. ANSYS Workbench-System Coupling Enhancements

No enhancements were made in Workbench with regard to System Coupling.
1.1.4. Mechanical APDL Enhancements

No enhancements were made in Workbench with regard to Mechanical APDL.
1.1.5. ANSYS Workbench-Remote Solve Manager Enhancements

• In RSM, you can now define configurations for job submission to an EKM portal. This means that you can
submit jobs to an EKM portal using the Submit to Remote Solve Manager option, and no longer need to
use a separate Submit to Portal option.
Workbench
When you import EKM portal queues in RSM, or submit a test job to an EKM portal from RSM, your
credentials will be cached at that time in the EKM database. This means that when you open Work-
bench and submit a job to the portal, you will not be required to specify your credentials again.
• When creating a connection to an EKM Portal in Workbench, a configuration is automatically created for
the EKM Portal in RSM.
• Through custom integration, RSM administrators can configure RSM to submit jobs to a Cloud such as Azure
Batch. If such a configuration has been created by your organization, you will be able to submit jobs to a
Cloud using the Submit to Remote Solve Manager option.
1.1.6. ANSYS Workbench-EKM Enhancements

• When creating a connection to an EKM Portal in Workbench, a configuration is automatically created for
the EKM Portal in RSM.
Also, if you will be using the connection for remote job submission, you can choose to import job
submission queues from the EKM server when creating the connection. See Creating a Connection
to an EKM Portal.
• If you have created a connection to an EKM Portal, you can import job submission queues from the EKM
server at any time using the new Import Queues action. This synchronizes the connection with the EKM
Portal, and updates the queue list in Workbench with valid job submission queues when you are using the
Submit to Remote Solve Manager update option. See Importing Job Submission Queues from an EKM
Server.
1.2. External Connection Add-In

The External Connection Add-in has been deprecated. ANSYS ACT has superseded External Connection
as the best-in-class for integrating custom external applications and processes into the ANSYS Workbench
Project Schematic workflow.
In the 19.0 release, support continues for existing projects that include an External Connection system,
but not for new development. However, External Connection will be fully deprecated in the 19.1 release.
We encourage all customers and partners engaged in Workbench customization to transition to ACT.
For specific end-of-life support, contact your local ANSYS account manager or established support
representatives. For more information, see the release notes for ACT (p. 109).
1.3. Engineering Data Workspace

For Release 19.0, the following enhancements have been made to the Engineering Data Workspace:
• Paris' Law is now supported for a Static Structural analysis. This model is available in the Crack Growth
Laws category of the Toolbox.
• Density now supports use of the field variables, Coordinate X, Coordinate Y, Coordinate Z, as well as
User Defined field variables.
1.4. External Data

No enhancements were made to the External Data add-in.
TurboSystem Release Notes
1.5. External Model

For Release 19.0, External Model has no new features or enhancements. However, you may wish to refer
to the Model Assembly and External Model Enhancements section of the Mechanical release notes for
enhancements in the Mechanical application that are based on importing data through the External
Model system.
1.6. Enhancement to Mechanical Model Cells

For Release 19.0, the Mechanical Model cell has no new features or enhancements.
1.7. FE Modeler
Release 19.0 for FE Modeler has no new features or enhancements.
Newer ANSYS technologies, such as External Model, have made the FEModeler application obsolete.
Therefore, this is notice that FEModeler will be undocumented at Release 19.1, then fully removed at
a future release.
1.8. TurboSystem Release Notes

TurboSystem is a set of software applications and software features that help you to perform turboma-
chinery analyses in ANSYS Workbench. For details, see Introduction in the TurboSystem User's Guide.
These release notes cover:
• Performance Map System
• Turbo Setup System
• Vista AFD, Vista CCD, Vista CPD and Vista RTD
• Vista TF
The software applications and software features listed above have no new features or enhancements.
These release notes do not cover:
• ANSYS BladeModeler (see ANSYS BladeModeler Release Notes)
• TurboGrid (see TurboGrid Release Notes)
• CFX-Pre (see CFX Release Notes)
• CFD-Post (see CFD-Post Release Notes)
Note
After reviewing the TurboSystem release notes, you are encouraged to see Usage Notes,
which describes some known TurboSystem workflow issues and recommended practices for
overcoming these issues.
Workbench
1.8.1. Supported Platforms

Platform/OS levels that are supported in the current release are posted on the Platform Support section
of the ANSYS Website.
Chapter 2: System Coupling
No enhancements have been made for ANSYS System Coupling 19.0.
Chapter 3: ACT
The following enhancements are available in ANSYS ACT 19.0. Unless noted otherwise, referenced topics
are in the ANSYS ACT Developer's Guide.
ACT Customization Suite

ANSYS ACT has superseded the ANSYS Workbench Software Development Kit (SDK) and External Connection
Add-In as the best-in-class tool set for customizing ANSYS products. We encourage all customers and
partners engaged in Workbench customization to transition to ACT.
ANSYS 18.2 included the final public distribution of the SDK and the final release of the External
Connection Add-In. Existing SDK-based content providers seeking specific end-of-life support can
contact their local ANSYS account manager or established support representatives.
ACT delivers a simple yet powerful approach to Workbench customization with an emphasis on
ease of use and consistency. ACT workflows specifically accommodate the SDK user base by improving
on the external application data integration opportunities offered by the SDK.
At 19.0, ACT workflows continue to benefit from the full-featured host platform of ANSYS Workbench.
Traditional coverage includes Project Schematic exposure, ANSYS product data transfer, design
exploration through parameterization, and remote execution management. You will also discover
new and time-saving features made possible only through the simplicity and product portfolio
coverage of ACT.
Additionally, past SDK prerequisites of separate ANSYS installation packages, Integrated Development
Environments, and code compilation routines no longer apply to ACT application creation. In-product
developer tools provide automated workflow construction, essential API discovery, application
verification, and deployment preparation.
• For more information about ACT, see the ANSYS ACT Developer's Guide.
• For more information about migrating from SDK and External Connection Add-in to ACT, see the
ANSYS SDK and External Connection Add-In Migration Guide on the ACT Resources page of the
ANSYS customer site.
ACT Debugger
Introduced in 18.2 as a beta feature, the ACT Debugger is now a fully fledged ACT feature. You can use it
to observe the runtime behaviour of your app step by step, quickly locating logic errors in your IronPython
scripts. The ACT Debugger currently supports debugging scripts for extensions that execute from the
Project page in Workbench and from Mechanical and DesignModeler. To help you to learn how to use
this tool, a short video and the extension used therein are provided.
ACT
Help Panel for the ACT Start Page

The ACT Start Page displays a new help panel with links to many ACT resources. With a single click, you
have direct access to ACT guides, the online and downloadable versions of the ACT API and XML Reference
Guide, and extension examples and templates.
Note
Because ACT resources now reside in a different location, any bookmarks that you created
for older versions of these files will no longer work. However, you can easily create new
bookmarks for the files accessed from the new help panel or from the ACT Resources
page of the ANSYS customer site.
ANSYS Product Improvement Program

ACT now supports the ANSYS Product Improvement Program. If you have not yet indicated whether you
want to participate in this voluntary program, a dialog box opens when you first start ANSYS, asking if you
want to participate.
ACT Documentation
• The ANSYS ACT Developer's Guide now contains only general ACT usage information. New ACT guides
provide applicable product-specific usage, customization, and automation information. Links to these
guides are available in the new help panel for the ACT Start Page and in the concluding topic of the
ANSYS ACT Developer's Guide.
• The ANSYS ACT Developer's Guide now includes the content previously in the stand-alone ACT General
Introduction document, which was posted for previous releases on the ACT Resources page of the ANSYS
customer site. As an integral part of the ANSYS ACT Developer's Guide, the new ACT Overview section
provides you with easy access to "roadmaps" that guide you through the steps for customizing an ANSYS
product.
• The ANSYS ACT Developer's Guide now includes descriptions of all supplied extension and template ex-
amples, along with download information and links to explanations when applicable.
• The APIs for ANSYS Mechanical are documented in a separate guide, ANSYS ACT APIs for Mechanical
Guide. Using it and the Scripting in Mechanical Quick Start Guide, you can learn how to write scripts to
automate routine tasks, manipulate existing objects and their properties, and create new objects.
• The new ACT Customization Guide for AIM provides robust content about step and property definitions,
AIM interface actions, and the AIM data model.
Mechanical Scripting Performance Improvements

In earlier releases, scripting performance could be poor when using Mechanical’s Automation API to create
or modify many objects. The root cause was that the user interface was refreshed after each method call.
Consequently, if 100 objects were created or modified, the user interface was refreshed 100 times. In 19.0,
the method with Transaction() allows you to define the scope of the user interface transaction so
that only one refresh is performed at the end of the transaction:
with Transaction():
# create or modify many objects here
Sample code follows:

with Transaction():
contacts = ExtAPI.DataModel.Project.Model.Connections.Children[0]
for contact in contacts.Children:
contact.ContactType = ContactType.NoSeparation
For more information, see Tree Objects in the ACT Customization Guide for Mechanical.
Postprocessing in Mechanical
Using ACT 19.0, you can create ACT objects in the Mechanical tree to access results for shell elements,
layer elements, and contacts and then display them as custom results. You use the methods SetAllValues
and NumberValuesByElement to set the result collector correctly. Using an external executable, you
can transparently control the instantiation of the results reader and postprocess results without interfering
with Mechanical. For more information, see the following topics in the ANSYS ACT Customization Guide for
Mechanical:
• Creating a Custom Stress Result on a Shell Element
• Creating a Custom Stress Result on a Layer Element
• Creating a Custom Result on a Contact
• Retrieving Mechanical Results More Efficiently
ACT App Builder (Beta)

The ACT App Builder is a standalone utility for creating ACT extensions in a visual environment. This beta
feature can be launched from either Workbench or AIM to create and edit XML code for an ACT extension
within a graphical user interface. For information, see the ACT App Builder (Beta) 19.0 document on the ACT
Resources page of the ANSYS customer site.
ACT Workflow Designer (Beta)

The ACT Workflow Designer makes creating custom workflows easy. While you can still manually create
ACT custom workflows and extensions, you can now choose to use the ACT Workflow Designer instead.
This beta feature automates workflow setup, relieving the burden of creating an ACT extension from
scratch. Using the ACT Workflow Designer, creation of a task group and tasks is a quick and interactive
process. For more information, see the ACT Workflow Designer (Beta) 19.0 document on the ACT Resources
page of the ANSYS customer site.
Chapter 4: Remote Solve Manager (RSM)
The following sections contain release information for ANSYS Remote Solve Manager 19.0:
4.2. Issues Resolved in this Release
4.3. Known Issues and Limitations

• The RSM Configuration application now enables you to create configurations for job submission to an EKM
portal. When working in client applications such as Workbench, this means that you can submit jobs to an
EKM portal using the Submit to Remote Solve Manager option, and no longer need to use a separate
Submit to Portal option.
When defining RSM queues for an EKM portal configuration, you can import queues from the EKM
portal, and submit test jobs to the portal directly from RSM.
• With assistance from ANSYS Customer Support, you can now create custom configurations in RSM which
enable you to submit jobs to a Cloud such as Azure Batch.
• Improvements to RSM architecture have made it more component-based with regard to storage management,
credential management, and job management. These improvements have made it possible to configure
job submission to a Cloud via custom integration.
• When the client cannot communicate directly with a remote cluster submit host, you can now use a custom
mechanism for client-to-cluster communication, and are not limited to using SSH.
• When specifying that you want to use an external mechanism for file transfers, you can now use a custom
external mechanism if desired, and are not limited to using SCP.
• When getting the status of jobs using the arcstatus command, the command output now includes a
Queue column to indicate the queue to which a job was submitted.


All issues and limitations known at the time of release are listed in the Known Issues and Limitations
section of the Remote Solve Manager User's Guide.
Chapter 5: ANSYS EKM Release Notes
ANSYS Engineering Knowledge Manager (EKM) 19.0 consists of the EKM server product and its companion
web application. The following sections provide an overview of new features and enhancements in
ANSYS EKM 19.0:
5.3. Issues and Limitations

If you have used previous versions of EKM, Release 19.0 offers many significant changes and improve-
ments:
Installation and Configuration

• To streamline EKM server installation options, the following changes have been made:
– On Windows systems, setupEKMSVR.exe has been removed from the product installation directory.
Use setup.exe -ekmsvr instead.
– On Linux systems, INSTALL.EKMSVR has been removed from the product installation directory. Use
install -ekmsvr instead.
• Administrators can now add metadata to EKM web pages, such as tracking code snippets to enable Google
Analytics. See Adding Metadata to EKM Web Pages.
• A themes folder has been added to the EKM_HOME\examples\conf folder. It contains sample CSS and
image files that you can edit to create custom themes for EKM web pages. See Creating a Custom Theme
for EKM Web Pages.
• You can customize the appearance of email notifications that EKM sends to users. Edit styles and colors, and
even add custom content or images. See Customizing Email Notifications Sent by EKM.
Data Management
• When viewing simulation models and images on the Image tab, the interactive 3D viewer has the following
new features and enhancements:
– View management and visibility control have been combined into a single View Manager panel for a
more cohesive user experience.
– A ZoomBox option has been added to Mouse Button Assignments. Setting a mouse button to ZoomBox
enables you to zoom a selected area by clicking and dragging a box around it.
• EKM now extracts data from optiSLang projects (.opf files), and displays a Simulation Details Report when
such a file is selected in the repository.
EKM
Job Management
• In the Electronics Batch job template, the Compute Resources tab has been updated to coincide with
changes made in the Submit Job To dialog box in recent versions of ANSYS Electronics Desktop.
• Used for developing client applications that interact with EKM, the Job Manager API has been updated,
and now includes support for file transfer operations for staging input files and downloading result files.
Process Management
• When defining a batch node in a process template, you can now specify whether the job working directory
will be created by EKM, specified by the assignee, or use the working directory of an upstream batch node.
• When defining process template attributes, a new attribute enables you to specify whether or not process
tasks can be rewound. If enabled, the process creator or any admin user will be able to use the Process
Monitor to rewind an active process to a previously completed task, essentially performing an 'undo'.
• When defining variables for a process template, a new Tag the value of this variable to process and task
names in Web interface property enables you to display a meaningful tag next to the process name and
task names in places where processes and tasks are listed or referenced.
• When defining an assignee for a node, batch node or custom dialog node in a process template, you can
specify a macro that allows multiple users and/or groups to be assigned to the task.
General Usability
• Email notifications from EKM feature improved and consistent styling.
• In EKM Studio, when defining a script for a process template or lifecycle definition, a new Apply button in
the Edit Script dialog box enables you to periodically save your changes while working on the script. Also,
the Save actions in EKM Studio remain accessible while the Edit Script dialog box is open, enabling you to
save and test out the process template or lifecycle definition, and continue making edits to the script as
needed.
• When an object that resides in a private user folder (such as My Data or My Queries) is shared with a
non-admin user, the object is now displayed in the appropriate section instead of the Administration
section when the non-admin user accesses the object.
• Dashboard gadgets can display custom views that have been defined for an object.
• Help is now delivered through the new ANSYS Help website, which also provides easy access to EKM videos,
and the full ANSYS documentation set.

5.3. Issues and Limitations

All issues and limitations known at the time of release are listed in Appendix A: Known Issues and Lim-
itations in the EKM Troubleshooting Guide.
Chapter 6: DesignXplorer
The following enhancements are available in ANSYS DesignXplorer 19.0. All referenced topics are in the
ANSYS DesignXplorer User's Guide.
Automatic Optimization Method Selection

To make performing optimizations easy for non-experts, DesignXplorer automatically selects an optimization
method by default. Based on the number and types of input parameters, the number of objectives and
constraints, any defined parameter relationships, and the run time index (for a Direct Optimization system
only), DesignXplorer selects the most appropriate method and sets its properties. For more information,
see Using Goal-Driven Optimizations.
Simultaneous Update of Design Points During Genetic Aggregation Refinement

In Genetic Aggregation properties for generating a response surface, a new property, Maximum Number
of Refinement Points per Iteration, allows you to set the number of points that can be simultaneously
updated at each iteration using your HPC resources. When multiple refinement points are generated and
updated simultaneously, Genetic Aggregation learns more at each iteration and converges faster. For more
information, see Genetic Aggregation Properties.
Relaxed Constraint on Minimum Number of Samples for a Parameters Correlation or Optimization Cell
DesignXplorer now excludes all output variables when calculating the minimum number of samples required
for a parameters correlation or for a Screening or MOGA optimization.
• For a Parameters Correlation cell, the value that you set for Number Of Samples and Convergence
Check Frequency must be greater than the number of enabled input parameters.
• For an Optimization cell with Screening selected as the optimization method, Number of Samples
must be greater than the number of enabled input parameters.
• For an Optimization cell with either MOGA or Adaptive Multiple-Objective selected as the optimization
method, Number of Initial Samples and Number of Samples Per Iteration must be greater than the
number of enabled input parameters.
DesignXplorer Extension Compatibility Updates

The following extensions were updated for compatibility with the 18.2 release:
• MATLAB Optimizers
• Parameter Sweep
• Response Surface Reader
Additionally, for your convenience, the following extensions were merged into one new extension,
DesignXplorer Utilities:
• Direct Optimization from RSO
• DOE from Correlation
DesignXplorer
• Full Factorial DOE
• Import Parameters and DOE
• LHS with Parameter Relationships
The extension DesignXplorer Utilities also provides capabilities for importing and exporting para-
meter bounds, defining parameter bounds by a variation percentage, and removing all failed design
points from a DOE.
Compatibility updates for the 19.0 release are in progress and will be released promptly upon
completion.
To access DesignXplorer extensions, go to the ANSYS App Store and filter the apps available by
typing DesignXplorer in the Search Apps field and clicking the search button. To further filter
the results, you can make a selection in the Product Version field to the left.
Chapter 7: ANSYS Viewer
The following sections contain release information for ANSYS Viewer 19.0:

If you have a previous installation of ANSYS Viewer, here are the key changes that you should know
about:
• You can use ANSYS Viewer to open ANSYS Viewer Archive (.avzm) files and view the .avz files that it
contains.
• You can use ANSYS Viewer to open and print ANSYS Report (.arz) files generated in CFD-Post.
• You can open remote files in ANSYS Viewer via the command line or the Open dialog box by specifying the
URL of the file (for example, http://servername/folder/filename.avz).
• A new View Manager panel lists all currently loaded files, the views associated with each file, and the parts
associated with each view. This enables you to easily switch between different files and views and control
part visibility from one central location.
• The context-sensitive menu contains two new options: Close File and Select File. The Select File menu
contains all of the files that you have opened in the current session, enabling you to switch back and forth
between different files without having to re-open them.
• When using ANSYS Viewer on a mobile device, you can use long-touch to display a context-sensitive menu.
• A ZoomBox option has been added to Mouse Button Assignments. Setting a mouse button to ZoomBox
enables you to zoom a selected area by clicking and dragging a box around it.
• You can use command line printing to export the default view in an .avz file to a .png file.
• When saving a view with no background to a .png file, the background of the resulting image now matches
the background of the viewer window, instead of being displayed as black or white.
• A triad is displayed in the lower right corner of the view window, showing the orientation of the three axes
for the current view.

ANSYS Viewer

All issues and limitations known at the time of release are listed in the Known Issues and Limitations
section of the ANSYS Viewer User's Guide.
Part VI: ANSYS Discovery AIM
The following enhancements are available in ANSYS, Inc. Release 19.0 (ANSYS AIM). The release notes
are intended to provide an overview of the product. Enhancements published in the Release 18.1 and
Release 18.2 release notes are included for reference.
Chapter 1: Advisories
In addition to any incompatibilities noted within the release notes, known non-operational behavior,
errors and/or limitations at the time of release are documented in the ANSYS, Inc Known Issues and
Limitations document, accessible via the ANSYS customer site (account required). First-time users of the
customer site must register to create a password. See the ANSYS customer site for information about
ANSYS service packs, and any additional items not included in the Known Issues and Limitations document.
Chapter 2: Enhancements in AIM 19.0
The following enhancements were made to ANSYS AIM Release 19.0.
• The ability to specify orthotropic porous medium to model the momentum loss of flow through filters,
perforated plates, packed beds, etc.
• The ability to include multiple material assignments in solid thermal regions for conjugate heat transfer
simulation.
• Enhanced simulation templates for fluid solid heat transfer and fluid structure interaction now support
the definition of multiple fluid and solid material assignments.
• The ability to visualize the optimized shape during a topology optimization solution.
• The ability to interrupt a topology optimization solution when a suitable optimized shape is achieved.
• The ability to specify reflective and/or rotational symmetry manufacturing constraints for a topology
optimization simulation.
• The ability to connect two bodies or connect a body to ground using either longitudinal or torsional
spring connections.
• Enhanced program controlled options (Augmented Lagrangian with small sliding) for linear contact
conditions for small deflection solutions.
• The ability to specify user defined (MAPDL solver) variables for structural, thermal and electric conduction
solutions for advanced post-processing.
• Enhanced model transfer from AIM to Mechanical includes named selections for all boundary conditions
defined in AIM, reference frames and material properties.
• The ability to specify surface integral variables (total magnetic flux and total current) as calculated values
for magnetostatic and magnetic frequency response solutions.
• The ability to specify a fill factor for stranded conductors, which enables the computation of resistive
losses for stranded conductors.
• Enhanced one-way thermal-magnetic coupling now includes one-way volumetric temperature transfer
from the last time point of a transient thermal solution.
• Enhanced electromagnetics template allows the definition of magnetostatic, magnetic frequency re-
sponse, electric conduction and/or thermal coupling with multiple material assignments.
• The ability to define line construction geometry from construction points and to create contours and/or
line charts for simulation results.
• Enhanced results definition on planes, lines and points that includes the ability to interactively move
construction geometry during results definition.
Enhancements in AIM 19.0
• Enhanced results animation includes the ability to control the speed of the animation.
• The ability to transfer geometry and physics setup from Discovery Live to Discovery AIM.
• The ability to transfer geometry from Discovery AIM to Discovery Live.
• Enhanced parallel solution now includes the ability to access up to four HPC cores
• The new ACT Customization Guide for AIM provides information on custom application creation, content
about step and property definitions, AIM interface actions, and the AIM data model.
The following enhancements were made to ANSYS AIM Release 18.2.
• The ability to model, visualize and animate time-dependent flow, including tabular or expression-based
time-dependent physics conditions, fluid-solid heat transfer, and transient startup behavior.
• Enhanced save/resume and results processing performance for fluids models with a large number of
geometric faces and/or bodies through optional merging of faces within conditions and/or bodies
within regions.
• Enhanced region interfaces for fluid-fluid and fluid-solid interfaces that include the specification of
thermal contact conductance to model thermal interface materials.
• The ability to simulate the transport of particulates in fluid flow such as solid particles in a gas or liquid,
or liquid droplets in a gas.
• Templates for fluid-solid heat transfer (conjugate heat transfer) and fluid-structure interaction have
been enhanced to automate the setup of the required physics regions, material assignments and region
interfaces
• The ability to model polymer co-extrusion with different generalized Newtonian fluids.
• The ability to perform topology optimization to maximize the strength or minimize the response to
free vibration for structural components and assemblies.
• The ability to include a point mass including the mass and mass moments of inertia in either a static
structural or modal analysis.
– The ability to define the formulation (rigid, deformable or coupled) of how the point mass is connected
to the model.
• Enhanced specification of structural boundary conditions that include conditional expressions to allow
the specification of more complex loading conditions such as bearing loads.
• The ability to define the formulation (rigid, deformable or coupled) of remote force and remote displace-
ment.
• Extended range of solution performance tuning and access to advanced solver controls for electromag-
netic simulations.
• Enhanced workflow for specifying solid and stranded conductors for magnetostatic and magnetic fre-
quency response simulation.
• The ability to display contour or vector magnetic results on a geometric edge.
• The ability to use a 3D space navigation device to pan, zoom and rotate the model display.
• The ability to graphically display the locations of minimum and maximum values for results.
• Automatic display of result values at the cursor location for contour plots on faces, planes and bodies.
• Inclusion of fluid regions in model transfer from AIM to Fluent.
• Inclusion of structural connections in model transfer from AIM to Mechanical.
• Addition of material appearance settings for the majority of materials in the material library.
• Realistic material rendering is now the default graphics option.
The following enhancements were made to ANSYS AIM for Release 18.1.
• The ability to model bi-linear isotropic hardening plasticity to simulate plastic strains and permanent
deformations of metallic materials.
• Enhanced solver file management for nonlinear structural and thermal simulations to reduce the amount
of file storage.
• Enhanced solver messages for structural and thermal simulations to provide guidance and
troubleshooting information.
• The ability to model temperature-dependent material properties, including electric conductivity, relative
permittivity, and relative permeability for electromagnetic simulations.
• The ability to specify a temperature condition for electromagnetic simulations.
• The ability to simulate one-way thermal-magnetic coupling where volumetric temperatures are mapped
from a thermal analysis to an electromagnetic simulation.
• Improved conservative algorithm for one-way electromagnetic-thermal coupling.
• The ability to specify an isotropic porous medium to model the momentum loss of flow through filters,
perforated plates, packed beds, etc.
• Enhanced fluid solver convergence, which is less sensitive to the number of parallel processes.
• Improved robustness for fluid solution automatic initial guess when the model setup includes both
pressure inlets and outlets, supersonic outlets, or mixed (supersonic/subsonic) inlet boundary conditions.
• Enhanced HPC scaling for conjugate heat transfer solutions via physics-based partitioning.
• The ability to post-process mesh quality metrics and solution residual information for fluids solutions.
• Enhanced user experience for specifying boundary layers (near wall refinement) for fluid simulations.
• Enhanced AIM start page for resuming existing projects, launching simulation process templates, and
defining new simulation workflows.
• Enhanced simulation process templates that include multiple steps and automatically launch geometry
modeling if required.
• The ability to select existing geometry tasks to build new simulations when running templates.
• Enhanced performance of transient updates, reducing the number of times updates need to be per-
formed.
• Enhanced geometry modeling, including faceting tools for organizing, modifying, and smoothing faceted
geometry for simulation.
• Enhanced custom applications that include guided steps.
• The option to expose custom applications in the context of a task/object via a right-click context menu.
• Enhanced user experience by further aligning user interactions between modeling and physics.
• The capability to export to a CSV file from solution monitors, and to select only the last two hundred
points to make it easier to review recent changes in value.
Updates Affecting Code Behavior

Listed below are code changes implemented in Release 18.1 that may cause output that is different
from the previous release.
As a result of a correction, Winding current is calculated differently than it was in Release 18.0, provided
that the number of branches used in the 18.0 project is greater than one. Opening a project that was
created and solved in Release 18.0, then re-solving in Release 18.1 may generate different results for
the static calculation type. See the Winding section of the product documentation for more information.
The inflation feature in AIM was renamed to Boundary Layer for an improved user experience. Any user-
defined apps that use Inflation will need to be updated to the new behavior.
Chapter 5: Limitations
The Known Issues and Limitations document is accessible via the ANSYS customer site (account required).
Via Knowledge Resources> Online Documentation, open the General section to view the current Known
Issues and Limitations document. First-time users of the customer site must register to create a password.

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Release Notes

ANSYS, Inc. Release 19.0

© 2017 ANSYS, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution or duplication is prohibited.

U.S. Government Rights

Published in the U.S.A.

2.1.2.6. 2-D to 3-D Analysis .................................................................................................. 23

2.7.4. Default Pinball Radius for Small Sliding Contact ................................................................ 38

1.2.2. Solution Mode ................................................................................................................. 50

6.1. Multizone Block Editing improvements ..................................................................................... 99

• Compatibility with Previous Releases (p. x)

• Licensing (p. xi)

• Documentation (p. xii)

• Verification Manual (p. xii)

• Online Video Access (p. xiii)

• ANSYS customer site (p. xiii)

• ANSYS 18.2 (PDF) (online)

• ANSYS 18.1 (PDF) (online)

• ANSYS 18.0 (PDF) (online)

• ANSYS 17.2 (PDF)

• ANSYS 17.1 (PDF)

• ANSYS 17.0 (PDF)

• ANSYS 16.2 (PDF)

• ANSYS 16.1 (PDF)

• ANSYS 16.0 (PDF)

• ANSYS Platform Support Strategy & Plans

• ANSYS, Inc. Installation and Licensing Tutorials

• ANSYS, Inc. Known Issues and Limitations

• ANSYS, Inc. Licensing Guide

• ANSYS Quick Start Installation Guide

• ANSYS Quick Start Licensing Guide

• ANSYS, Inc. Release Notes

• Linux Installation Guide

• SpaceClaim Release Notes (as applicable)

• Windows Installation Guide

2. Compatibility with Previous Releases

Your feedback is greatly appreciated as we continue to improve this new resource.

6.1. Mechanical APDL Verification Manual

6.1.1. New Verification Test Cases

• VM299 – Sound Diffusion in a Flat Room

• VM300 – Sound Transmission Between Rooms Coupled Through a Partition Wall

6.1.2. Modified Verification Test Cases

6.2. Workbench Verification Manual

6.2.1. New Verification Test Cases

• VMMECH102 – Topology Design of 2-D Beam with Clamped Ends

7. Online Video Access

8. ANSYS customer site

ANSYS customer site access points:

Mechanical Application (p. 3)

1.1. Changes in Product Behavior

Product Changes for Mechanical 18.2

• Application Generated Messages. Now, by default, when Mechanical issues a warning/error/inform-

Product Changes for Mechanical 18.1

– Coordinate system definitions

Enhancements for Mechanical 18.2

• Element Face Selections:

Enhancements for Mechanical 18.1

Enhancements for Mechanical 18.2

Enhancements for Mechanical 18.1

Enhancements for Mechanical 18.2