The IPG Automotive integration allows you to simulate runs with products of the CarMaker family, called CarMaker throughout this topic.
Overview
Given a TestRun file, the optiSLang IPG Automotive integration takes over the following functions:
Read/modify design and project parameter specified as named values.
Execution of the CarMaker analysis.
Extract outputs from the result file. The storage of results is defined within the CarMaker menu ( > ).
Setup
The node is initialized by specifying the path to the TestRun file (located in project_dir/Data/TestRun/). You can use the solver wizard for the initial setup or create a new node. Ansys recommends that you use a TestRun file that has been run and completed successfully and you have checked the results. Also avoid having unimportant files in the project directory as most of the data will be copied by the integration.
Parameters
Input parameters allow optiSLang to modify the behavior of the simulation. As there are a lot of different parameters in a CarMaker project, the integration makes use of named values. For example a named value (temp) to control the temperature from optiSLang:
| Original: Env.Temperature = 20 | Named selection: Env.Temperature = $temp=20 |
Named selections must conform to the following format:
Always start with '$'
No spaces before or after the equal sign
A value can be a number or a string
Parameter values are type sensitive. For example, $temp=20 will be converted into an integer value, $temp=20.0 into a real value
You can add named values for each value, even if a parameter has multiple values.
The search for named values is not limited to the TestRun file. The integration searches the TestRun file for referenced files. However, its search is limited to the Data and SimInput directories of the project. The plugins folder is separately scanned for named values.
For example, in the TestRun file, the vehicle parameter is set to Vehicle = vehicle1.cm. The file is located in project_dir/Data/Vehicle/vehicle1.cm. Now the integration can detect every named value specified in vehicle1.cm.
All parameters found by the integration are listed in the Inputs list after the TestRun file is loaded. If some input parameters are missing, check that all of the above criteria are fulfilled. Each parameter has a prefix that contains the relative path to its file to ensure that the parameter name is unique.
Responses
The integration tries to extract the available responses from the simulation result file using the resutil executable. Ansys recommends performing a simulation with the TestRun before loading it into optiSLang The integration searches the SimOutput folder of the project for the newest result file. All found responses are displayed in the Outputs list.
Note that:
You can run the integration in input and solve mode only to generate a result file.
The integration supports .erg and .dat result files.
The name of the result file must contain the name of the TestRun file. You can modify the export settings of your CarMaker application accordingly.
A value can be a number or a string.
The output quantities are vectors. Ansys recommends not registering those vectors as responses directly, instead convert them to signals using the Variables tab.
Solver
The integration can be used in batch mode or in the user interface mode.
The integration does not use the original project directory for the simulation. Instead, it copies all contents of the project, except the SimOutput folder, to the design directory. When you enable the purge setting, all files of the copied project folder in the working directory are removed, except the following:
The selected TestRun file
Files that contain named values (and are referenced by the TestRun file)
The result files and their .info files
The log file and the .pluginfo files in the Plugins folder
After copying the project directory, the specified CarMaker executable is started either in user interface mode or batch mode, based on the according setting. In interface mode it uses a TCP connection for communication. This connection is established after the application is started using the specified port. The integration then starts the simulation run, closes the application when it is finished and extracts the results. This is done for each design.
Parallelization
Parallelization is only supported for batch mode as you cannot open multiple CarMaker user interfaces simultaneously.
Settings
This node provides the following settings:
| Name | Default value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Executable path | Insert the path to the Maker executable | Define the location of your CarMaker, TruckMaker or MotorcycleMaker executable. For example, C:\IPG\carmaker\win64-10.0.1\bin\CM.exe on Windows or /opt/ipg/carmaker/linux64-10.0.1/bin/CM on Linux |
| Resutil path | Insert the path to the resutil executable | Define the location of the resutil executable. Usually it is located in the same folder as the CarMaker executable. |
| Port | 16660 | Define the port that will be used for the socket connection. Only active in the user interface mode. |
| Buffer size | 1024 | Define the buffer size for the communication with the CarMaker application. Only active in the user interface mode. |
| Simulation speed | 0.0 | Define the simulation speed for CarMaker. Only active for user interface mode. Simulation speed is not set if the value is 0.0, the value defined in CarMaker will be used instead. |
| Cleanup | True | Set this flag if the copied project directory should be cleaned up after execution. |
| Batch mode | True | Run CarMaker in batch mode (True) or user interface mode (False). |
Run Options
This node has general Run Options. The number of supported options is individual for each node.
Supported Versions
See the Supported Integration Versions table.
Latest tested version: CarMaker 10.1
Known Issues
When the integration is run in user interface mode with CarMaker 9.1.4, the following error message may be displayed:
Can't save GUI configuration
To work around this issue, run the integration in batch mode.