Release 2026 R1 includes new features and enhancements that result in product behaviors that differ from previous releases. Behavior changes include:
Impedance Sheet Formulation for Acoustic Analysis. The formulation for the Impedance Sheet definition has been refined to ensure greater physical consistency in acoustic simulations. See the Mechanical APDL Release 2026 R1 Update Guide for more information.
Electromechanical Coupling Coefficient. When you insert an Electromechanical Coupling Coefficient probe in a coupled field simulation that includes Acoustics physics, the scoping of the probe now automatically selects the coupled field and structural bodies of the analysis/analyses. Previously, the application automatically used the All Bodies option.
Imported Body Temperature. When importing a body temperature load from a result file (*.rth) that contains degenerated elements, and 1) the Mapped Data property is set to To Binary File and 2) the Weighting property is set to Shape Function, the elements are now classified according to their original element type when the application maps the mesh. The mapping process uses element type classification and shape function weighting algorithms to determine spatial interpolation and node inside/outside criteria.
Previously, if you had a quadrilateral element with four nodes (1, 2, 3, and 4), and nodes 3 and 4 were duplicates, the application reclassified the element as triangular. Now, the same element is treated as a quadrilateral element, preserving its original type. This change affects interpolation calculations and may result in different mapped target data compared to previous versions. See the Degenerated Shape Elements section of the Mechanical APDL Element Reference for more information.
Remote Point Application. Now, when you apply a Remote Point to a single surface node, the Behavior property must be set to Rigid. Previously, you could set this property to either Deformable or Rigid. See the Force-distributed Constraint Theory Background topic in the Surface-Based Constraints section of the Mechanical APDL Contact Technology Guide for more information.
Remote Points Property Setting When Grouping Loads Imported from Maxwell. When loads are imported from Maxwell, the Grouping property is now set to To Binary File by default. As a result, the Remote Points property is automatically set to Globally Available. The default setting for the Grouping property is specified using the Grouping Default for Imported Remote Loads (Options > Import > Imported Remote Loads) preference. Options for this preference include By Location, To Binary (default), and No.
Fracture Analysis. The following fracture-related behavioral changes have been made in the current release:
SMART Crack Growth: For the SMART Crack Growth feature:
You can now evaluate the Fracture Probes, Crack Extension, and Total Number of Cycles, regardless of the setting of the Store Results At property (Analysis Settings > Output Controls). In previous releases, these results were only supported when Store Results At was set to All Time Points.
The default maximum number of restart files (*.xnnn) saved during a restart analysis that includes SMART Crack Growth is now 99, matching the maximum for remeshing database files (*.rdnn). Previously, the default maximum was 999 for restart files and 99 for remeshing database files.
Imported Body Temperature. Previously, during a fracture analysis, when you imported Body Temperature loads (node-based loads) from External Model, and generated a crack mesh over the imported mesh, the application removed scoping if the load was applied to the nodes included in the crack mesh region. Now, the application preserves the scoping and properly maps the load values onto the crack mesh generated on the imported base mesh.
Imported Constraints and Named Selections. When you import Constraints or Named Selections from External Model into an analysis that includes analytical crack definitions, the application now retains their scoping, as long as these objects are not included in the scoping of crack definitions. In previous releases, such scoping was automatically removed, even if the imported objects were outside the crack mesh zone.
Upstream Modal Calculation Improvements for Level-Set and Shape Optimization. For the Level-Set and Shape Optimization methods of a Structural Optimization analysis, the application now performs more accurate result calculations when Objective and Response Constraint objects are specified for an upstream Modal analysis. This enhancement may result in different result values compared to previous releases due to improved computational accuracy.
Importing Geometry from Deformation Results. When you transfer deformed geometry from a supported upstream system to a downstream system in Workbench, the application supports the generated Mechanical APDL common database (*.cdb) files, used to transfer the geometry, in COMPACT formats for the CMBLOCK and EBLOCK commands. See the Coded Database File Commands section of the Mechanical APDL Programmer's Reference for more information about these commands. Note that External Model system supports *.cdb files generated in COMPACT format.
Velocity Result Import from Upstream Coupled Field Harmonic Analyses. Now, when you import velocities from an upstream Coupled Field Harmonic analysis, the Source Bodies property of the Imported Velocity object should be set to the bodies that include the velocity results. If the property is set to the All option, the application returns an import failure.
Use the new option, All Available Result Nodes, for the Source Bodies property. This option automatically selects only the bodies in the upstream system that contain result data, streamlining the import process and improving mapping accuracy. This change prevents importing bodies that do not contain result data and eliminates unnecessary processing operations, improving overall efficiency.
Note that you can also select the bodies that include the results using the following options of the Source Bodies property:
Manual: Manually select bodies based on Material ID.
Named Selection: Select a Named Selections defined in the upstream system.
Imported Velocity Mapping. To improve performance and reduce resource usage when mapping Imported Velocity load data, the application now automatically sets the Weighting property to Triangulation whenever the Mapping Control property is set to Program Controlled. Previously, the application used Shape Function as the default setting for the Weighting property. Unlike Shape Function, Triangulation uses point cloud-based mapping on nodal data. As a result, it avoids mapping data from interior nodes, which reduces both mapping time and resource consumption.
Linked Mode-Superposition (MSUP) Analyses. Now, when locally (In Process) solving an MSUP Harmonic Response or an MSUP Transient Structural analysis linked to an upstream Modal analysis, a new preference, Enforce Remote File Usage for Modal, eliminates the need to manually enable the On Demand Expansion Option property. When you select the Enforce Remote File Usage for Modal preference, the application automatically references prerequisite files using full paths (RESUME and MODDIR). This reduces setup effort and prevents file duplication, even when On Demand Expansion Option property is set to No.
Connections Group. When the Connection Type property is set to Contact, the Faces option of the Group By property now merges multiple contacts which have the same scoping on the target side and overlapping scoping on the contact side. In previous releases, the application would create individual contacts. Furthermore, when the Face/Face property is set to Yes and you change the Group By property to Faces, the Face Overlap Tolerance is automatically set to
5%. Previously it was set to0().Connections Worksheet. The Connections worksheet now includes the following usability improvements:
Table Display and Sizing: Now, when you first generate worksheet content, the application automatically sizes all table columns to fit to the current screen width.
Default Filter Behavior: Previously, all property filters were active by default when generating worksheet content. Now, properties with all values set to Program Controlled are by default, not displayed.
Resetting Columns: Now, when you select the Reset Columns option, the application automatically hides columns with all properties values set to Program Controlled or Not Applicable ().
Contact Region Constraint Type. The Program Controlled setting of the Constraint Type property now uses Automatic Constraint Type for all contacts associated with bodies that have non-structural physics. In previous releases, the application used Distributed, All Directions.
Vector Display properties for Life and Damage Vector Results in the DesignLife Add-on can now be modified from the Mechanical application toolbar.
For Strain-Life analyses using the DesignLife Add-on, user-defined Materials Assignment parameters are populated automatically using values from the Engineering Data, if available. Otherwise a set of default values is used.
The Initial Conditions object for the Mechanical Motion application has been updated so that it is only applied once, not cumulatively, for geometries within a single part, regardless of how many geometries are selected. If multiple Initial Conditions objects are defined for these geometries, only the most recent is applied.
Tooltips: New hover-over tooltips have been added for the Details pane properties of selected objects, including Contact Region, among others
Material Optimization Result Display. In the previous release, results generated using the Material Optimization method were displayed with a transition region between optimized materials, which limited the clarity of the output. This issue has been resolved in the current release. The results now display distinct material regions as intended, improving interpretability and accuracy.
Python Code objects now support copy, paste, and duplicate.