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1. Getting Started
1.1. Overview
1.1.1. Introduction
1.1.2. Supported Platforms and Functional Add-ons
1.1.3. Known Limitations
1.1.4. First Steps
1.2. The Ansys Product Improvement Program
1.3. Graphical User Interface
1.3.1. Menus
1.3.1.1. File
1.3.1.1.1. Workbench
1.3.1.1.2. Stand Alone
1.3.1.2. View
1.3.1.2.1. Perspectives
1.3.1.2.2. View Manager
1.3.1.3. Tools
1.3.1.3.1. Extract Materials From Composite CAE H5...
1.3.1.3.2. Winding Wizard
1.3.1.3.3. Migration Helper
1.3.1.3.4. Preferences
1.3.1.3.4.1. Add Ons
1.3.1.3.4.2. Ansys Product Improvement Program
1.3.1.3.4.3. General ACP Preferences
1.3.1.3.4.4. Logger Settings
1.3.1.3.4.5. Material Database
1.3.1.3.4.6. Notifications and Pop-ups
1.3.1.3.4.7. Scene Preferences
1.3.1.3.4.8. Section Generation
1.3.1.3.4.9. Units
1.3.2. Tree View
1.3.3. Scene
1.3.3.1. Scene Manipulation
1.3.4. Toolbar
1.3.4.1. Updates
1.3.4.2. Edit Entities with Excel
1.3.4.3. Scene Options
1.3.4.4. Mesh Appearance
1.3.4.5. Orientation Visualization
1.3.4.6. Fiber Directions
1.3.4.7. Draping
1.3.4.8. Other Features
1.3.4.9. Configure Plots
1.3.5. View Panes
1.3.5.1. Shell View
1.3.5.2. Keyboard Shortcuts
1.3.5.3. Logger
1.3.5.4. History View
1.3.6. Keyboard Shortcuts
1.3.6.1. General Shortcuts
1.3.6.2. Scene View Shortcuts
1.3.6.3. Tree View Shortcuts
1.3.6.4. Shell View
1.3.6.5. Properties Windows
1.4. Implementation in Workbench
1.4.1. Basic Workflow
1.4.1.1. Transfer Types
1.4.2. ACP Component Properties
1.4.3. Supported Analysis Types
1.4.3.1. ACP–LS-DYNA
1.4.4. Multiple Load Cases and Analyses
1.4.5. Shared Composite Definition for Different Models
1.4.6. Solid Modeling
1.4.7. Assembly
1.4.7.1. Renumbering and Transfer Type
1.4.7.2. Creating a Mixed Assembly
1.4.8. Limitations
1.5. Migrating ACP Projects from Previous Versions
1.6. The ACP Python Scripting User Interface
1.7. Stand Alone Operation
1.7.1. Starting ACP in Windows
1.7.2. Starting ACP in Linux
1.7.3. Command Line Options and Batch Mode
1.7.4. Workflow in Stand Alone Operation
1.8. Tutorials and Examples
2. Usage Reference
2.1. Features
2.1.1. Model
2.1.1.1. Model Properties - General
2.1.1.1.1. ACP Model
2.1.1.1.2. Reference Surface
2.1.1.1.3. Lay-Up Computation
2.1.1.1.4. Model Summary
2.1.1.2. Solve
2.1.1.3. Import/Export of ACP Composite Definitions File
2.1.1.4. Import From/Export to HDF5 Composite CAE File
2.1.1.5. Import Section Data from Legacy Model
2.1.1.6. Element- vs. Node-based Thicknesses
2.1.1.7. Winding Wizard
2.1.2. Scripts
2.1.2.1. Executing Scripts
2.1.2.2. Script Properties
2.1.2.3. Limitations
2.1.2.4. Tips and Best Practices
2.1.2.5. Sorting Scripts
2.1.3. Material Data
2.1.3.1. Materials
2.1.3.1.1. Materials Context Menu
2.1.3.1.2. Temperature Dependent and General Variable Material Properties
2.1.3.1.3. Material Properties Dialog
2.1.3.1.4. Thermal Expansion Coefficients
2.1.3.1.5. Fabric Fiber Angle
2.1.3.1.6. Strain Limits
2.1.3.1.7. Stress Limits
2.1.3.1.8. Puck Constants
2.1.3.1.9. Puck for Woven
2.1.3.1.10. Tsai-Wu Constants
2.1.3.1.11. LaRC Constants
2.1.3.2. Fabric
2.1.3.2.1. General
2.1.3.2.2. Polar Properties
2.1.3.2.3. Fabric Solid Model Options
2.1.3.2.4. Draping
2.1.3.3. Stackup
2.1.3.3.1. Top-Down or Bottom-Up Sequence
2.1.3.3.2. Symmetries
2.1.3.3.3. Analysis
2.1.3.3.4. Stackup Solid Model Options
2.1.3.3.5. Draping Options
2.1.3.4. Sublaminates
2.1.4. Element and Edge Sets
2.1.4.1. Element Sets
2.1.4.1.1. Context Menu
2.1.4.2. Edge Sets
2.1.5. Geometry
2.1.5.1. CAD Geometries
2.1.5.1.1. Direct Import
2.1.5.1.2. Workbench Geometry Link
2.1.5.2. Virtual Geometries
2.1.6. Rosettes
2.1.6.1. Rosette Definition
2.1.7. Look-Up Tables
2.1.7.1. 3D Look-Up Table With The Excel Link
2.1.7.2. 1D Look-Up Table with .csv Files
2.1.7.3. Look-Up Table with a Python Script
2.1.7.4. 1-D Look-Up Table
2.1.7.5. 3D Look-Up Table
2.1.7.6. Look-Up Table Column Properties
2.1.8. Selection Rules
2.1.8.1. Basic Selection Rules
2.1.8.2. Tube Selection Rule
2.1.8.3. Cut-Off Selection Rules
2.1.8.3.1. Geometry Cut-Off Selection Rule
2.1.8.3.2. Taper Cut-Off Selection Rule
2.1.8.3.3. Example Cut-Off
2.1.8.4. Geometrical Selection Rule
2.1.8.5. Variable Offset Selection Rule
2.1.8.6. Boolean Selection Rules
2.1.9. Oriented Selection Sets (OSS)
2.1.9.1. Reference Direction
2.1.9.1.1. Use Cases for Rotation Angle
2.1.9.2. Selection Rules
2.1.9.3. Draping
2.1.10. Modeling Groups
2.1.10.1. Modeling Group Structure
2.1.10.2. Modeling Group Tree Object Context Menu
2.1.10.3. Individual Modeling Group Context Menu
2.1.10.4. Modeling Ply Properties
2.1.10.4.1. Draping
2.1.10.4.2. Selection Rules
2.1.10.4.3. Thickness
2.1.10.4.4. Modeling Ply Context Menu
2.1.10.5. Interface Layer Properties
2.1.10.6. Butt Joint Sequence
2.1.10.6.1. Butt Joint Sequence Notes and Limitations
2.1.10.7. Reordering Modeling Plies, Interface Layers, and Butt Joint Sequences
2.1.10.8. Production Ply
2.1.10.9. Analysis Ply
2.1.10.10. Import from / Export to CSV File
2.1.10.10.1. Export
2.1.10.10.2. Import
2.1.10.11. Export Ply Geometry
2.1.11. Imported Modeling Group
2.1.11.1. Tree Object Context Menu
2.1.11.2. Imported Modeling Ply
2.1.11.2.1. Imported Modeling Ply Properties
2.1.11.3. Imported Production Ply
2.1.11.4. Imported Analysis Ply
2.1.12. Field Definitions
2.1.13. Sampling Points
2.1.14. Section Cuts
2.1.14.1. Types of Extrusion
2.1.14.2. Section Cut Notes
2.1.14.3. Section Cut Export
2.1.14.4. Computation of Equivalent Sectional Properties
2.1.14.4.1. Theory
2.1.14.4.2. Results
2.1.14.4.3. Best Practices
2.1.14.4.4. Limitations
2.1.14.4.5. References
2.1.15. Sensors
2.1.16. Solid Models
2.1.16.1. Solid Model
2.1.16.1.1. Properties
2.1.16.1.1.1. General
2.1.16.1.1.2. Drop-Offs
2.1.16.1.1.3. Export
2.1.16.1.2. Export Solid Model
2.1.16.1.3. Extrusion Guides
2.1.16.1.3.1. Mesh Morphing
2.1.16.1.3.2. Extrusion Guide Examples
2.1.16.1.4. Snap-To Geometry
2.1.16.1.5. Cut-Off Geometry
2.1.16.1.5.1. Defining Cut-Off Geometry
2.1.16.1.5.2. Decomposition of Degenerated Elements
2.1.16.1.5.3. Limitations
2.1.16.1.6. Mesh Components
2.1.16.1.7. Material Handling for Different Extrusion Methods
2.1.16.1.8. Save & Reload Solid Models
2.1.16.1.9. Node-based Thicknesses
2.1.16.2. Imported Solid Model
2.1.16.2.1. Imported Solid Model Properties
2.1.16.2.1.1. General Tab
2.1.16.2.1.2. Export Tab
2.1.16.2.1.3. Mapping Statistics
2.1.16.2.2. Mesh Components
2.1.16.2.3. Lay-up Mapping Objects
2.1.16.2.3.1. General Tab
2.1.16.2.3.2. Layered Element Tab
2.1.16.2.3.2.1. Limitations
2.1.16.2.3.3. Reinforcing Tab
2.1.16.2.3.3.1. Design Tips and Best Practices
2.1.16.2.3.3.2. Limitations
2.1.16.2.4. Quality Check
2.1.16.2.5. Miscellaneous
2.1.17. Lay-Up Plots
2.1.17.1. Interface Options
2.1.17.2. Thickness Plots
2.1.17.3. Angle Plot
2.1.17.4. Draping Mesh Plot
2.1.17.5. Look-Up Table Plot
2.1.17.6. Field Definition Plot
2.1.17.7. Lay-Up Mapping Plot
2.1.17.8. Material Plots
2.1.17.9. User-Defined Plot
2.1.18. Scenes
2.1.19. Views
2.1.20. Ply Books
2.1.20.1. Creating Chapters
2.1.20.2. Chapter Properties
2.1.20.3. Editing the Ply Book Template
2.1.20.3.1. Python Expressions
2.1.20.4. Modifying the Ply Book Snapshots
2.1.20.5. Exporting the Plybook
2.1.20.6. Sample Ply Book Page
2.1.20.7. Ply Book Limitations
2.1.21. Parameters
2.1.21.1. Settings for an Expression Output
2.1.22. Material Database
2.2. Exchanging Composite Definitions with Other Programs
2.2.1. HDF5 Composite CAE Format
2.2.1.1. Export
2.2.1.2. Import
2.2.1.2.1. Import Projection Types
2.2.1.2.2. Import Settings
2.2.2. Mechanical APDL File Format
2.2.3. Import of Legacy Mechanical APDL Composite Models
2.2.3.1. Special Cases
2.2.3.2. Known Limitations
2.2.4. Tabular Data Format for Excel
2.2.5. CSV Format
2.2.6. ESAComp
2.2.6.1. Export
2.2.6.2. Import
2.2.7. LS-Dyna
2.2.8. BECAS
3. Composite Modeling Techniques
3.1. T-Joint
3.2. Local Reinforcements
3.3. Ply Tapering and Staggering
3.3.1. Ply Tapering
3.3.1.1. Edge Tapering
3.3.1.2. Tapered Core
3.3.1.3. Tapered Edges
3.3.1.4. Tapering of Multiple Plies
3.3.2. Ply Staggering
3.4. Variable Core Thickness
3.4.1. Solid CAD Geometry
3.4.2. Look-Up Table
3.4.3. Geometry Cut-Off Selection Rule
3.4.4. General Application
3.5. Draping
3.5.1. Internal Draping Algorithm of ACP
3.5.2. User-Defined Draping
3.5.3. Visualization
3.6. Guide to Solid Modeling
3.6.1. When to Use a Solid Model
3.6.2. How to Use the Solid Model Feature
3.6.3. Principles of Solid Model Generation
3.6.4. Drop-Off and Cut-Off Elements
3.6.5. Workflow
3.6.6. Practical Tips
3.6.7. Known Limitations
3.7. Guide to Composite Visualizations
3.7.1. Model Verification
3.7.2. Postprocessing Visualizations
3.8. Guide to Composite Failure Criteria
3.9. Element Choice in ACP
3.9.1. Introduction
3.9.2. Shell Elements
3.9.3. Solid Elements
3.9.4. Solid-shell Elements
3.10. Variable Material Data in Composite Analyses
3.10.1. Element- or Layer-wise Field Definition
3.10.2. Draping Shear
3.10.3. Degradation Factors
3.10.3.1. Definition of the Degradation Factor Field
3.10.4. Definition of General User-Defined Fields in ACP (Pre)
3.10.5. Variable Data Interpolation Settings
4. Example Analyses
4.1. Analysis of a Composite Shell Model
4.1.1. Preprocessing
4.1.1.1. Workbench Integration
4.1.1.2. Adding ACP Components to the Project
4.1.1.3. Engineering Data
4.1.1.4. Properties
4.1.1.5. Geometry and Units
4.1.1.6. Named Selections and Elements/Edge Sets
4.1.1.7. Starting and Running ACP
4.1.2. Workbench: Adding an Analysis System to the Project
4.1.3. Postprocessing
4.2. Analysis of a Composite Solid Model
4.2.1. Preprocessing
4.2.2. Workbench Application Analysis System
4.2.3. Postprocessing
4.3. Analysis Using Variable Material Data
4.3.1. Workbench Application Engineering Data: Set-Up Variable Data
4.3.2. ACP (Pre): Define Fields for Shear Angle, Degradation Factor, and User-Defined Field Variables
4.3.3. Mechanical, Thermal Loading, and External Data
4.3.4. Postprocessing in Mechanical Application: Analysis Effect of Variable Data
4.4. Analysis of a Mapped Composite Solid Model
4.4.1. Transfer External Solid Mesh to ACP (Pre)
4.4.1.1. Geometry
4.4.1.2. Meshing
4.4.1.3. Linking the Systems in the Workbench Application
4.4.2. Lay-Up Mapping in ACP (Pre)
4.4.3. Analysis of A Mapped Composite Model
4.5. Shear Dependent Materials in Composite Analysis
4.6. 3D Ply Workflow – Imported Plies
4.6.1. Inputs
4.6.2. Example of Use - HDF5 Composite CAE
4.7. ACP for Workbench LS-DYNA: Bird Strike
4.7.1. Workbench Workflow
4.7.2. Engineering Data – Material Model Definition
4.7.3. SpaceClaim – Geometry
4.7.4. Mechanical Model Setup
4.7.5. ACP - Material Assignment and Lay-Up
4.7.6. Setting Up the LS-DYNA Analysis System
4.7.7. Post-Processing in Workbench LS-DYNA:
4.8. Workflow with Equivalent Beam Models
4.8.1. Constant Composite Cross Section with a Straight Beam
4.8.2. Generic Composite Wind Blade
4.8.3. Conclusion
5. Guide for ACP Terminology
Bibliography