Workbench offers several methods to import databases from earlier releases:
Context Menu Import: Create the appropriate system and cell in the Project Schematic, right-click the cell, and import the file into the cell from the context menu.
File Import: From the menu bar, select > , then select the file to import. The proper systems and cells are created and populated with the data from the imported file. You can also drag-and-drop one or multiple files from Windows Explorer onto the Project Schematic. These files are treated as if they were imported.
Project Import: From the menu bar, select > , then select the project to import. All necessary systems, cells, and links are established and populated with data from the various files that made up the earlier release's project.
In each of these cases, you must launch the associated application to use the imported file, which is typically the same application that was used to edit the file in the earlier release. The imported files are not undergoing any transformation in this release of Workbench; rather, access to the files is being coordinated through the Project Schematic interface.
Not all products/databases use all of these methods.
DesignXplorer Release 11 (.dxdb) file import is not supported; however, basic parameter import is supported.
The following table shows which applications can use the three methods described above.
| Application | Context Menu Import | File Import | Project Import |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ansys Workbench, Release 10 or 11 (.wbdb) | X | ||
| Mechanical (.dsdb) | X | X | |
| Engineering Data (.eddb) | X (except convections and load histories) | ||
| Engineering Data (.xml, .engd) | X | ||
| Ansys Aqwa, Release 12 only (.aqdb) | X | X | |
| Autodyn (.ad) | X | X | |
| Mechanical APDL (.inp, .dat, .cdb, .mac, .anf) | X | ||
| DesignModeler (.agdb) | X | X | X |
| Meshing (.cmdb) | X | X | |
| Fluent (.msh, .cas, .dat) | X | ||
| CFX (.cfx, .def, .res) | X | X | |
| BladeGen (.bdg) | X | X |
Additional Mechanical Application Import Details
Any .dsdb files and .wbdb project files created in Release 11 or earlier containing items that convert into Mesh or Mechanical systems cannot be imported. To import these files, import them first into a version between Release 12 and 19.2, save as file in that version, and then import into Release 2024 R2.
Legacy .dsdb files that contain multiple models are split into multiple files.
.dsdb files become .mechdb files internally.
Separate systems are created to correspond to each of the Release 11 environments. Environments that use the same geometry and model are represented with a link between the Geometry and Model cells of the systems. Physics environments are typically represented as a link between a Solution cell of the originating system and the Setup cell of the receiving system. For example, a thermal condition is represented by a connection between the Solution cell of a thermal system and the Setup cell of a structural system.
Information that is transferred from the Release 11 system to the current system includes:
Model name
Model state
Physics type
Internal IDs for model, mesh, environment, and answer set
Engineering Data file path
Material property suppression path
Solver files directory path
Solver type
Geometry preferences
Parameters
Legacy .dsdb files that do not contain an environment are imported as Mechanical Model systems.
When you import a database that does not include a result file (such as .mechdat files), certain Mechanical result-based features may be lost. For example, if no result file is available:
Results do not deform or animate properly.
A Harmonic Acoustics environment has multiple RPM values selected. The Tabular Data for a result lists all frequencies in the analysis, not just the frequencies in the selected RPM Set Number.
Additional Aqwa Import Details
Only Ansys Aqwa Release 12 databases can be imported. More recent versions are not imported correctly and may cause functional issues.
An Aqwa Release 12 database is imported as a standalone Hydrodynamic Diffraction system.
If the Release 12 database contains multiple analyses, they are converted into multiple Hydrodynamic Diffraction systems.
Geometry associated with the legacy database is associated with the Geometry cell of the Hydrodynamic Diffraction system and is editable.
Additional Autodyn Import Details
Links are not created when Autodyn files are imported from Release 11.0.
Additional CFX Import Details
If CFX files are included in the .wbdb project, they appear in the Files pane, but system or links associated with these files are not created. To create a CFX system and import the selected file, select from the Files pane. This creates a CFX system and imports the selected file.
You can import CFX-Solver .bak files or full .trn files into the Project Schematic so that you can postprocess results for debugging when a run fails. You may find it useful to use full .trn files as a backup mechanism because all timesteps are retained, instead of just the most recent ones, and it is easier to postprocess multiple timesteps.
Additional DesignModeler Import Details
DesignModeler files (.agdb) can be imported through context menu import.
.agdb and .modeldv files can be imported by selecting > .
Links with other cells are automatically generated when .agdb files that are present in the Release 11.0 .wbdb project are imported into the appropriate system (Mechanical Model or other appropriate system).
Parameters contained in the .agdb file are not immediately published to the Project Schematic interface. They are published when the DesignModeler application is opened.
CAD files that were imported into the .agdb are not immediately registered in the Files pane of the Project Schematic. Registration of these files occurs when the DesignModeler application is opened.
Additional Meshing Import Details
.cmdb files from Release 10 that contain CFX-Mesh data are not supported. To import these files, import them first into Release 11, save as a Release 11 file, and then import into Release 2024 R2.
Links with other cells are automatically generated when .cmdb files that are present in the Release 11.0 .wbdb project are imported into the appropriate system (Mechanical model or other appropriate system).
CFX-Mesh files (.gtm, .cfx) can be imported via context menu import from the Mesh cell of a Mesh system.