This article describes the workflow for accessing ANSYS Mechanical APDL from ANSYS Structures (in Batch Mode) on NIMBIX platform.
To access Mechanical APDL, on NIMBIX, in batch mode, the following steps are required:
- Select the desired ANSYS Structures release from the Compute dashboard from NIMBIX
If you cannot find the ANSYS Structures icon on the first page that pops up, please click on “More” button at the bottom of the page:
2. Click on the Mechanical (Batch) icon as shown below:
3. Cloud set-up screen opens and here you must choose some of your settings by clicking on the Tabs on the top of the window (General, Optional, etc) one tab at a time.
UNDER GENERAL TAB
- Under Machine type when you click on the caret on the right, you can select the type of machine you want to run your job on. The decision on machine type selection is based on size and complexity of your model and cost associated with the machine type (some machines will have higher RAM, others will only run the job on single CPU, others will have better graphics and therefore higher cost, etc). Batch processing runs faster than the interactive counterpart so 4 cores is typically a good number to select.
2. Select the number of cores:
The machine type you selected in the previous step, will dictate the increment in the number of cores that you can choose/select. For a very simple and small model, you can leave default selection, which in this case would be “4” or move the scroll bar to the desired number of cores or simply type over “4” the number of cores you wish to run your job on.
NOTE: Do not confuse number of cores with number of nodes (nodes represent the number of increment of cores that you selected. In this example, we selected 1 node with 4 cores).
3. Select the Input file in the “Parameters” section
Note: Use any text editor to create the input file using classic APDL commands or use WorkBench Mechanical Enterprise to write the input file used for batch processing. Save the “.inp” file in the desired directory before starting the analysis.
Leave the MPI as default.
UNDER OPTIONAL TAB
1. Assign a Job Label (give a name that will help you keep track on your running jobs. For example, MyStructures_Batch):
Leave blank the wall time limit and the IP address. The Window size and License Option can be left as default.
UNDER STORAGE TAB
Select vault type: Default vault is “Elastic_File”
The “Elastic_File” vault is recommended for small to medium size jobs, such as Icepak projects, simple linear Mechanical Analysis projects, some HFSS and simple Fluent projects (not multi-phase). For any complex and computationally heavy jobs, and where partitioning the job over number of cores becomes challenging, the Performance_SSD vault is strongly recommended. The Performance_SSD vault can be found in the drop-down under “Select Vault” tab (NOTE: requires subscription and extra monthly payment to have access to Performance_SSD vault).
Before submitting your job for running, you can preview your settings under the PREVIEW SUBMISSION tab.
You can start your job by clicking on the SUBMIT button.
RUN YOUR JOB IN BATCH MODE
The batch process starts as soon as the “SUBMIT” button is pressed and stops as soon as the job is completed. You can monitor the computing performance from the “Detailed Job Metrics” as before.
Once the batch process launches, you can monitor the progress of your simulation in your “Output Window”.
Batch process runs in the background and closes when the job is completed. There is no post processing in batch mode. You can see the entire output file (click the caret to expand the window)
You can download the entire output file on your local machine for debugging purposes by clicking on the “Download” icon on the top right of the output window
VISUALIZE YOUR RESULTS
Use MAPDL to see your results (refer to MAPDL Help if you need help with starting APDL)
- Open the job Database (Select “Open” icon from the toolbar)
2. Open the “.db” file from the directory where results are saved (look for the folder that has the current date and time stamp)
3. Process your results as desired. Exit and save your work as desired once you are done post processing.