The application, by default, creates a global coordinate system for your model when it is imported. A variety of environmental objects use the option during the analysis.
A Coordinate System property is available for results that change with respect to a coordinate system, such as Normal Stress. For the applicable result types, the Coordinate System property provides a drop-down list of available coordinate system options, which include:
(default setting)
User-defined local coordinate systems
The setting is the default setting. However, you can create local coordinate systems and apply them to individual result objects. Also, the option is available for circumstances such as examining surface and line bodies that align themselves on a per element basis. Note, in some scenarios, result contours in the can appear to be a random collection of colors.
Note:
If a given result experiences any change in position due to the loading conditions, such as a displacement or deformation, the Geometry window always displays this position change in the (per global XYZ coordinate triad). If you have specified a local coordinate system for your result, the application exposes all data contained in the Details view as well as the Tabular Data window based the local coordinate system entry. Furthermore, if applicable, the application always displays result contour colors in the Geometry window based on a specified local coordinate system.
The Mechanical APDL solver treats a "cylindrical" coordinate system as a set of Cartesian coordinate systems aligned with the specified cylindrical system at each point in the model. See the Additional POST1 Postprocessing section in the Mechanical APDL Basic Analysis Guide for additional technical information.
For Probes, the Orientation property specifies coordinate systems.