The project is the full collection of systems, components, data, and their connections that you create to achieve an overall CAE goal.

A system is a collection of components that together provide workflow to achieve an engineering simulation goal, such as completing a static structural analysis or a steady state fluid flow simulation. Systems may also contain a single component to complete an analysis sub-task, for example, meshing a geometric assembly.

A component includes a collection of data and a data editor that work together to achieve a CAE-related task. A system may include several components which together to define a simulation workflow. A data editor can be an Ansys Workbench-enabled application like Ansys Fluent or Mechanical, or a native Ansys Workbench workspace like Engineering Data or Design Exploration. In the Ansys Workbench user interface, a component is depicted as a cell in the Project Schematic.

In an abstract sense, a component receives data from external or upstream sources, enables you to edit data local to the container, and then performs operations to produce output data. For example, a meshing component may receive geometry data from an upstream source, enable you define meshing attributes, and then generate a mesh for a downstream analysis.

In addition to managing the data and data editor required for a CAE task, a component also provides common services to control the input and output data from the component. For example, the component allows its output data to be transferred to other components.

A data container includes data unique to an individual component as well as the services to manage and manipulate it. Although most components have a single data container, they may have more than one.

Services which create, retrieve, or modify a component’s local data are provided by the data container, while services to control the transfer of data into and out of the component are provide by the component.

A data entity is a data structure defined within the data container. A data container often employs several data entities. A data entity is similar to a class in an object-oriented programming language. It defines member data (or properties) and methods that can be called to perform operations on the data.

A data reference is a handle to an instantiated data entity. From a data entity definition, an object can be created, and the data reference provides access to that object. In an Ansys Workbench journal, data references are assigned to variables. The variables are then used to access the properties and methods of the data entity. Consider the following example:

system = GetSystem(Name="My Analysis")
system.Update()

The first line queries for a previously instantiated system data entity named My Analysis. The GetSystem method returns a data reference to the specified system object and assigns it to the variable system. Using this variable, the second line calls a method supported by the system data entity named Update. This method updates the state of the system referenced by the variable, which is named My Analysis.

Similar to data references, a data container reference is a handle to an instantiated data container object.

An object encapsulates a combination of data and services that act on the data. In the Ansys Workbench scripting interface, data entities, data containers, or components are all examples of objects. Access to these objects is provided by data references and data container references.

A object’s data is referred to as its properties. In the Ansys Workbench scripting interface, only objects derived from data entities have properties. A property is defined by its name, type, and value. Property types include:

An object’s properties are accessed by applying the dot operator on the corresponding reference to that object. In the following example, parameter1 is a data reference to a parameter object. The Expression property of this object is set to 10.

parameter1.Expression = "10"

A method is a command that is bound to a data entity or data container object. Methods can change property values, create or delete properties, or invoke complex calculations and operations. Methods may require arguments to further specify the action to be taken, and they may return an object as a result of that action. Like properties, an object's methods are accessed by applying the dot operator on a corresponding data reference. In the following example, parameter1 is a data reference to a parameter object. The method SetQuantityUnits is called to set the object's units to meters.

parameter1.SetQuantityUnits("m")

To see a list of all methods and queries in a component, execute dir(component) from the Workbench script console.

An argument is a variable that can be passed to a method when invoked. An argument has a type and share most of the same types as properties.

Ansys Workbench methods use named arguments, where each argument is given a name that is used to distinguish it from other arguments in the method. Because the arguments are named, their order is inconsequential.

Arguments can be required or optional. All required arguments must be specified or the method will fail. Optional arguments may be omitted and typically take a default value.

In the following example, the density property of a material is set to 8500 kg/m3. The named arguments are Variables and Values, which are set to "Density" and "8500 [kg m^-3]" respectively.

property1.SetData(Variables="Density", Values="8500 [kg m^-3]")

Because Ansys Workbench uses named arguments, the following form of the command is also acceptable.

property1.SetData(Values="8500 [kg m^-3]", Variables="Density")

A query is a method which typically returns a data or container reference which can then be used to further interrogate or modify the project. Queries by themselves do not change the state of the project. Like methods, queries may require specifying arguments.

Namespaced commands are commands that are not bound to a particular object but have been grouped in a namespace with other commands having similar context. Like methods, commands perform some action, often require arguments, and may return an object as a result of the action. In the following example, the Update command is called in the Project namespace to update all components in a project by refreshing the input data and performing local calculations:

Project.Update()

A project template defines a set of system templates and the connections between them that can be used to perform a multi-disciplinary CAE analysis task (such as Thermal-Stress or One-Way FSI).

The project template can be used to create specific instances of systems and components within the project (such as the custom templates in the Ansys Workbench Toolbox).

A system template contains the information to create an Ansys Workbench System designed for a particular simulation objective. Ansys Workbench provides system templates for many types of standard analyses, including static structural, fluid flow, explicit dynamics, steady-state thermal, and others. The analysis systems listed in the Ansys Workbench Toolbox are all examples of system templates. All analyses performed in Ansys Workbench begin by referencing a system template.

The component template includes the allowed input/output data types, internal data, and key commands associated with a specific component (such as Geometry).