Mechanical uses the same solver kernels that Ansys Mechanical APDL (MAPDL) uses. At the Solve step, Mechanical passes its data to the appropriate MAPDL solver kernel, based on the type of analysis to be performed. That kernel then passes the solution data back to Mechanical, where you are able to look at the results. Because the same solver kernels are used, you will obtain the same results from Mechanical that you would if doing the same analysis in MAPDL.
Based on the analysis type, the following solvers are available in Mechanical:
Mechanical Ansys Parametric Design Language (MAPDL) Solver.
Ansys Rigid Dynamics Solver: only available for Rigid Dynamics Analysis.
LS-DYNA Solver: only available for Explicit Dynamics analysis.
Explicit Dynamics Solver: only available for Explicit Dynamics analysis.
Samcef Solver: only available for Static Structural, Transient Structural, Steady-State Thermal, Transient Thermal, Modal, and Eigenvalue Buckling analyses.
ABAQUS Solver: only available for Static Structural, Transient Structural, Steady-State Thermal, Transient Thermal, and Modal analyses.
You can execute the solution process on your local machine or on a remote machine such as a powerful server you might have access to. The Remote Solve Manager (RSM) feature allows you to perform solutions on a remote machine. Once completed, results are transferred to your local machine for post processing. Refer to the Solve Modes and Recommended Usage section for more details.
Solution Progress
Because nonlinear or transient solutions can take significant time to complete, a progress pane is displayed in the status bar to indicate the overall progress of solution. More detailed information on solution status can be obtained from the Solution Information object contained under the Solution folder. The Solution Information object enables you to:
View solver output.
Monitor output such as convergence criteria for nonlinear problems.
Diagnose possible reasons for convergence difficulties by plotting Newton-Raphson residuals.
Monitor certain result items, such as displacement or temperature.
Solve References for the Mechanical Application
See the Solving section for details on the above and other topics related to solving.