Imported ply

The definition and use of imported plies is demonstrated in this example. In a nutshell, the difference between ImportedModelingPly and ModelingPly is that the surface mesh of an ImportedModelingPly is defined by an external source, such as a CAD surface, where a ModelingPly is always defined on the initial loaded shell mesh. Therefore, an imported ply can only be used in combination with an ImportedSolidModel.

This examples shows hot to:

• Load an initial mesh

• Add a Material and Fabric

• Import geometries which will be used to define the surface of the ImportedModelingPly

• Add two imported modeling plies

• Create an ImportedSolidModel

• Map the imported plies to the solid model

• Visualized the mapped plies.

Import modules

Import the standard library and third-party dependencies.

import os
import pathlib
import tempfile

import pyvista

Import the PyACP dependencies.

from ansys.acp.core import CADGeometry, ImportedPlyOffsetType, PlyType, VirtualGeometry, launch_acp
from ansys.acp.core.extras import ExampleKeys, get_example_file
from ansys.acp.core.material_property_sets import ConstantDensity, ConstantEngineeringConstants



CAMERA_POSITION = [(0.0436, 0.0102, 0.0193), (0.0111, 0.0035, 0.0046), (-0.1685, 0.9827, -0.0773)]

Start ACP and load the model

Get the example file from the server.

tempdir = tempfile.TemporaryDirectory()
WORKING_DIR = pathlib.Path(tempdir.name)
input_file = get_example_file(ExampleKeys.BASIC_FLAT_PLATE_DAT, WORKING_DIR)

Launch the PyACP server and connect to it.

acp = launch_acp()

Create a model by loading a shell mesh

model = acp.import_model(path=input_file, format="ansys:dat")

Add a material and a fabric with 1mm thickness. The fabric is used for the imported modeling ply.

engineering_constants_ud = ConstantEngineeringConstants.from_orthotropic_constants(
    E1=5e10, E2=1e10, E3=1e10, nu12=0.28, nu13=0.28, nu23=0.3, G12=5e9, G23=4e9, G31=4e9
)
density_ud = ConstantDensity(rho=2700)

ud_material = model.create_material(
    name="E-Glass UD",
    ply_type=PlyType.REGULAR,
    engineering_constants=engineering_constants_ud,
    density=density_ud,
)

engineering_resin = ConstantEngineeringConstants.from_isotropic_constants(E=5e9, nu=0.3)
density_resin = ConstantDensity(rho=1200)

void_material = model.create_material(
    name="Void material",
    ply_type=PlyType.ISOTROPIC,
    engineering_constants=engineering_resin,
    density=density_resin,
)
filler_material = model.create_material(
    name="Filler material",
    ply_type=PlyType.ISOTROPIC,
    engineering_constants=engineering_resin,
    density=density_resin,
)

fabric = model.create_fabric(name="E-Glass Fabric", material=ud_material, thickness=0.001)

Import CAD geometries

Import two cad surfaces to define the surface of the imported modeling plies.

def create_virtual_geometry_from_file(
    example_key: ExampleKeys,
) -> tuple[CADGeometry, VirtualGeometry]:
    """Create a CAD geometry and virtual geometry."""
    geometry_file = get_example_file(example_key, WORKING_DIR)
    geometry_obj = model.create_cad_geometry()
    geometry_obj.refresh(geometry_file)  # upload and load the geometry file
    model.update()
    virtual_geometry = model.create_virtual_geometry(
        name=os.path.basename(geometry_file), cad_components=geometry_obj.root_shapes.values()
    )
    return geometry_obj, virtual_geometry


triangle_surf_cad, triangle_surf_vcad = create_virtual_geometry_from_file(
    ExampleKeys.RULE_GEOMETRY_TRIANGLE
)
top_surf_cad, top_surf_vcad = create_virtual_geometry_from_file(ExampleKeys.SNAP_TO_GEOMETRY)

Definition of Imported Plies

imported_ply_group = model.create_imported_modeling_group(name="Imported Ply Group")
imported_ply_triangle = imported_ply_group.create_imported_modeling_ply(
    name="Triangle Ply",
    offset_type=ImportedPlyOffsetType.BOTTOM_OFFSET,
    ply_material=fabric,
    mesh_geometry=triangle_surf_vcad,
    ply_angle=0,
    rosettes=[model.rosettes["12"]],
)

imported_ply_top = imported_ply_group.create_imported_modeling_ply(
    name="Triangle Ply",
    offset_type=ImportedPlyOffsetType.MIDDLE_OFFSET,
    ply_material=fabric,
    mesh_geometry=top_surf_vcad,
    ply_angle=45,
    rosettes=[model.rosettes["12"]],
)
model.update()

Imported plies cannot be visualized directly yet but the cad geometries are shown here instead. To visualize the imported plies, you can save the model and load it in ACP standalone.

def plotter_with_all_geometries(cad_geometries):
    colors = ["green", "yellow", "blue", "red"]
    plotter = pyvista.Plotter()
    for index, cad in enumerate(cad_geometries):
        geom_mesh = cad.visualization_mesh.to_pyvista()
        plotter.add_mesh(geom_mesh, color=colors[index], opacity=0.1)
        edges = geom_mesh.extract_feature_edges()
        plotter.add_mesh(edges, color="white", line_width=4)
        plotter.add_mesh(edges, color="black", line_width=2)
    plotter.camera_position = CAMERA_POSITION
    return plotter


plotter = plotter_with_all_geometries([triangle_surf_cad, top_surf_cad])
plotter.show()

Static Scene

Interactive Scene

Map Imported Plies onto a solid mesh

An external solid mesh is loaded now to map the imported plies onto the solid model. The next figure shows the imported solid mesh and the imported plies.

local_solid_mesh_file = get_example_file(ExampleKeys.BASIC_FLAT_PLATE_SOLID_MESH_CDB, WORKING_DIR)
remote_solid_mesh_file = acp.upload_file(local_solid_mesh_file)
imported_solid_model = model.create_imported_solid_model(
    name="Imported Solid Model",
    external_path=remote_solid_mesh_file,
    format="ansys:cdb",
)
imported_solid_model.import_initial_mesh()
plotter = plotter_with_all_geometries([triangle_surf_cad, top_surf_cad])
plotter.add_mesh(imported_solid_model.solid_mesh.to_pyvista(), show_edges=True, opacity=0.5)
plotter.show()

Static Scene

Interactive Scene

Add a mapping object to link the imported plies with the solid model. In this example, all imported plies are mapped in one go. The remaining elemental volume and elements which do not intersect with the imported plies are filled with a void and filler material, respectively.

imported_solid_model.create_layup_mapping_object(
    name="Map imported plies",
    use_imported_plies=True,  # enable imported plies
    select_all_plies=True,  # select all plies
    entire_solid_mesh=True,
    scale_ply_thicknesses=False,
    void_material=void_material,
    delete_lost_elements=False,
    filler_material=filler_material,
    rosettes=[model.rosettes["12"]],
)
model.update()

Show the imported ply geometries and mapped plies on the solid model. Note that the analysis plies are not yet directly accessible via the API of the imported solid model. Also, elemental data such as thicknesses are not yet implemented for imported plies.

plotter = plotter_with_all_geometries([triangle_surf_cad, top_surf_cad])
for imported_ply in [imported_ply_triangle, imported_ply_top]:
    for pp in imported_ply.imported_production_plies.values():
        for ap in pp.imported_analysis_plies.values():
            plotter.add_mesh(ap.solid_mesh.to_pyvista(), show_edges=True, opacity=1)
plotter.add_mesh(mesh=imported_solid_model.solid_mesh.to_pyvista(), show_edges=False, opacity=0.2)
plotter.show()

Static Scene

Interactive Scene

The imported solid model can be passed to Mechanical or MAPDL to run an analysis as shown in the examples PyMechanical solid workflow and PyMAPDL workflow.