Knowledgeable in FEA, But New to ANSYS

[ATX3]

Hello,

I am trying to familiarize myself with ANSYS, but am having a difficult time. I do not like the ANSYS Classic GUI, thus I've been working in the ANSYS Workbench (version 11). I am trying to familiarize myself with the GUI by just trying to model a simple axial bar; free at one end, elastically supported at one end, with a uniformily distributed axial load. I am able to generate a line body, but after that I can't do much. In particular, I can't even figure out how to select the element I would like to mesh the bar with. Do you have no control over element type in the workbench module? In playing around with the classic GUI I was able to easily select a 2-D spar (Link 1) element, but I can't figure out how to choose an element in workbench. Also, does anyone have a simple tutorial that may help me get started with the workbench module.

Many thanks!

 

[Drej]

In ANSYS Mechanical you have significantly more control (currently) over precise settings of your model. Personally, I prefer working in Mechanical owing to this. Workbench is still catching up in terms of functionality and usability. There is a command line module you can use but, like I say, I personally don't think that it gives you ultimate control of your model.

Workbench is good, particularly when dealing with CAD models and CAD associativity, but bear in mind its shortcomings in terms of control.


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[GSEngineer]

I am also just learning the ANSYS software. I recently purchased "ANSYS Tutorial Release 12.1" by Kent L. Lawrence. I suggest looking into that book for a step-by-step guide.