4. Add-ons

The following updates were made to the Mechanical add-ons for Release 2025 R1:

  • The DesignLife add-on now offers the following capabilities:

    • Hybrid Loading Events including time-step loading

    • Temperature load provider for Time Domain Loading Events

    • Virtual Strain Gauge analysis

    • The display of Least Safety Factor tabular data for evaluated results

    • Fatigue life estimation for MSUP Harmonic analysis with Residual Vectors​ is now possible. This newly introduced manual-selection option helps you to perform fatigue life estimation for Harmonic loading including a residual vector, which was not supported previously.​

    • Manual selection of a Modal rst file for the Modal-Transient case in a Time Domain analysis.

    • s3t or dat file input for a Time Series Load

    • The Solution Location option is exposed under Analysis Settings, allowing you to select between AveragedNodeOnElement, WeldHotSpot, NodeOnElement or Element options

    • Surface Nodes Only and Resolve to Local Analysis Settings for crack analysis in solid elements

    • Advanced Analysis Settings for Equivalent Life calculation and Output Stats for reporting minimum and maximum combined stress

    • Thermal Offset for Vibration Fatigue projects with an upstream Thermal Analysis system

    • Material names in Materials Assignment now support special and Japanese characters

    • A new parametric studies option for Certainty of Survival can be set as a parameter design point

    • Workflow improvements:

      • The DesignLife add-on now only passes FE files of selected environments, so the solution of every upstream system is no longer required

      • Multiple DesignLife systems can now be connected and can also be intercalated with other systems.

      • The DesignLife add-on can load environments from upstream or downstream systems

      • A DesignLife system can be independent if only manual rst files are loaded.

  • The NVH Toolkit add-on now includes support for:

    • The use of Grouped Input and Output Remote Points and h5 file export from the FRF Calculator

    • The FRF Calculator also allows frequency spacing based on Harmonic Response Analysis and allows import of Damping data from an Excel file.

    • Pre-Test Worksheet filter mode options for Absolute Participation Factor and Relative Frequency Tolerance

    • The MAC Calculator now allows the use of distributed rst files for File2

  • The Rotordynamics add-on has been added and includes the following capabilities:

    • Compatibility with every officially-supported language.

  • The Forced Response add-on now includes support for:

    • Dark, Classic, and Light modes.

  • The Crystal Plasticity (CP) Microstructure add-on has been added and includes the following capabilities:

    • Generates element (mesh) and materials data files that accurately capture grain geometry and texture

    • Serves as a pre-processor for crystal plasticity (CP) simulations in Mechanical APDL.

  • The Bolt Tools add-on now offers:

  • Updates for the Additive Manufacturing add-ons are described in the Additive Manufacturing Release Notes: