ACP (Post) is no longer supported for any Ansys products. Ansys recommends using the Mechanical product to postprocess composite structures. The following features in the Mechanical application provide the previous core features of ACP (Post): Composite Failure Tool, Composite Sampling Point Tool, and Envelope Solution. For more information on composites postprocessing, see Composite Postprocessing in the Mechanical User's Guide.

A Python module PyDPF Composites is available for scripting and customizing composite postprocessing.

All ACP (Post) computations are blocked. You can still restore Ansys Workbench projects that contain one or more ACP (Post) systems. You can also open ACP (Post) to migrate the failure definitions to the Mechanical application. For information on how to migrate old projects, see ACP (Post) to Mechanical Software Migration in the ACP User's Guide.

For questions or concerns, contact the composites team at composites@ansys.com.

There are several enhancements for composites postprocessing:

The Workbench LS-DYNA module now supports the interface layers of ACP solid models to model delamination of plies. The interface layers are converted to zero-volume LS-DYNA cohesive elements (ELFORM=19) with a cohesive material model (*MAT_COHESIVE_MIXED_MODE). In the Engineering Data, it is defined by material model Bilinear for Interface Delamination.

Also, contact debonding between bodies is now supported as well. The bonded contacts are converted to LS-DYNA tiebreak contacts with a fracture model based on *MAT_COHESIVE_MIXED_MODE. In the Engineering Data, the supported cohesive zone material model is Fracture-Energies based Debonding.

For more details, see LS-DYNA User's Guide and Interface Layer Properties in the ACP User's Guide.

Imported geometries in ACP are now fully serialized which significantly improves the performance of the open and reload step in ACP. This enhancement resolves delays when opening ACP models with large geometries that have many bodies or surfaces.

Starting from Release 2025 R1, nodal thicknesses are now supported for modeling plies with a thickness definition (Modeling Ply Properties) through lookup tables (Look-Up Table). The nodal thicknesses are only computed if the option Use Nodal Thicknesses is enabled (Model Properties - General). Then, that additional information is used for the generation of a 3D mesh (Solid Model).

The nodal thicknesses enhancement is significant since the default thickness computation (at the element centers) may lead to an inaccurate representation of the ply thickness in certain areas, especially if the thickness becomes 0.

PyACP and the standalone version of ACP enable you to operate directly on APDL models via the .cdb file format. The updates to the .cdb interface of PyACP and ACP support the latest enhancements, including the ETBLOCK command.

The ACP scene now supports three lighting modes: dark (default), light (reduced shadows), and no shadows (all surfaces fully illuminated). The light and no shadows modes improve visibility in closed structures or regions in the shade. The no shadows mode accurately represents colors in plots, but does not convey curvature information. You can switch between lighting modes using the following button in the Scene's toolbar:  .

ACCS now comes with an RTM solver that enables the simulation of infusion processes and layered composites. Results such as infusion time, fill (flow front), pressure, and velocity can be used to investigate the infusion process. The RTM solver is part of the standard ACCS license and can be easily configured because of its exposure in the Mechanical application.

In addition, the following enhancements have been made to the curing module of ACCS:

A new release of Envyo, the multi-purpose mapping tool closing the simulation-process chain for LS-DYNA, is available. This release comes with the following new features and enhancements:

THESEUS-SOLID

SOLID-SOLID

MAPPING FROM MOLDING SIMULATION

You can now use ACP preprocessing features as a public Python module, PyACP, in a standard Python environment outside of Workbench. PyACP can be used in combination with other PyAnsys modules, such as PyMAPDL and PyDPF Composites. This enables the implementation of automated simulation workflows such as optimization and parameter studies. Since this is the first PyACP release, a few features or interfaces are not implemented yet. For more information on PyACP, see its documentation and examples.

If you have any questions or feature requests, contact the composites team at composites@ansys.com or create an issue on PyACP's GitHub.

The second Short Fiber Composites tutorial has been updated to include the following:

For more information, see Calibration and Validation of the Elasto-Plastic Properties of a Short Fiber Composite Tutorial in the Short Fiber Composites Tutorials.