Script Tip Friday- Automate Imported Loads Set up with WB Scripting

This week's Script Tip is one you'll want to hold on to! Rohith Patchigolla, a Senior Application Engineer at Ansys, walks us through automating imported loads set up with Workbench scripting. Thanks for this incredibly helpful tip, Rohith!

Here's an example case you may see a lot in your work:

Example Case:

‐?????????Perform CFX stand alone and export > 600 files having pressures (x, y, z and Pressure) for different time points.

‐?????????Then map these Fluent pressures into Mechanical using External Data and set up Imported Pressure loads.

‐?????????Eg: 600 files --> each file solved as a load step --> 600 load steps

Manual process is very slow and painful

‐?????????Setting up External Data

‐?????????Setting up Imported Loads in Mechanical

‐?????????This can make using WB difficult?

Setting up External Data in WB

All these steps can be Automated! :)

Setting up Imported Pressure in Mechanical

Part 1- Inputs:

####-------------------------------------------------------------------------
#Inputs: Setting up External Data?
DataPath = r"D:\AutomateExternalLoadImport_Generic\lotsofdata"
DataExtension = "txt"
DelimiterIs = "Tab"? ? ? ? ? ? ?#Tab --> "Tab", Space --> "Space"
DelimiterStringIs = r"\t"? ? ? ?#Tab --> r"\t", Space --> r" "
StartImportAtLine = 2
LengthUnit = "mm"
PressureUnit = "MPa"


#Inputs: Sys ID of the Mechanical System - When you click on Blue bar with name "Static Structural" of a static structural system, you should see the System ID property on the right in the Properties Window
system_id = "SYS 2"


#Inputs: Setting up the Imported Pressures
namedSelectionUsed = "Pressure_Face"        

Part 2- Automation Script:

import glob
import os
import re


template1 = GetTemplate(TemplateName="External Data")
system1 = template1.CreateSystem()
setup1 = system1.GetContainer(ComponentName="Setup")


allfiles = glob.glob1(DataPath,"*." + DataExtension)
allfiles.sort(key=lambda f: int(''.join(filter(str.isdigit, f))))
numfilestoload = len(allfiles)


for i in range(numfilestoload):
? ? filenum = i+1
? ? completefilepath = os.path.join(DataPath,allfiles[i])
? ? externalLoadFileData = setup1.AddDataFile(FilePath=completefilepath)
? ??
? ? if i == 0:
? ? ? ? externalLoadFileData.SetAsMaster(Master=True)
? ? ? ? externalLoadFileDataProperty1 = externalLoadFileData.GetDataProperty()
? ? ? ??
? ? ? ? externalLoadFileData.SetStartImportAtLine(
? ? ? ? ? ? FileDataProperty=externalLoadFileDataProperty1,
? ? ? ? ? ? LineNumber=StartImportAtLine)
? ? ? ??
? ? ? ? externalLoadFileData.SetDelimiterType(
? ? ? ? ? ? FileDataProperty=externalLoadFileDataProperty1,
? ? ? ? ? ? Delimiter=DelimiterIs,
? ? ? ? ? ? DelimiterString=DelimiterStringIs)
? ? ? ??
? ? ? ? externalLoadFileDataProperty1.SetLengthUnit(Unit=LengthUnit)
? ? ? ??
? ? ? ? externalLoadColumnData1 = externalLoadFileDataProperty1.GetColumnData(Name="ExternalLoadColumnData")
? ? ? ? externalLoadFileDataProperty1.SetColumnDataType(
? ? ? ? ? ? ColumnData=externalLoadColumnData1,
? ? ? ? ? ? DataType="X Coordinate")
? ? ? ? externalLoadColumnData2 = externalLoadFileDataProperty1.GetColumnData(Name="ExternalLoadColumnData 1")
? ? ? ? externalLoadFileDataProperty1.SetColumnDataType(
? ? ? ? ? ? ColumnData=externalLoadColumnData2,
? ? ? ? ? ? DataType="Y Coordinate")
? ? ? ? externalLoadColumnData3 = externalLoadFileDataProperty1.GetColumnData(Name="ExternalLoadColumnData 2")
? ? ? ? externalLoadFileDataProperty1.SetColumnDataType(
? ? ? ? ? ? ColumnData=externalLoadColumnData3,
? ? ? ? ? ? DataType="Z Coordinate")
? ? ? ? externalLoadColumnData4 = externalLoadFileDataProperty1.GetColumnData(Name="ExternalLoadColumnData 3")
? ? ? ? externalLoadFileDataProperty1.SetColumnDataType(
? ? ? ? ? ? ColumnData=externalLoadColumnData4,
? ? ? ? ? ? DataType="Pressure")
? ? ? ? externalLoadColumnData4.Unit = PressureUnit
? ? ? ? externalLoadColumnData4.Identifier = allfiles[i]
? ??
#Setting up rest of the files
timecounter = 1
columncounter = 3
numfiles = len(setup1.GetExternalLoadData().FilesData)
for filecounter in range(numfiles-1):
? ? DataFile = setup1.GetExternalLoadData().FilesData[filecounter+1]
? ? DataProp = DataFile.GetDataProperty()
? ??
? ? DataFile.SetStartImportAtLine(
? ? ? ? FileDataProperty=DataProp,
? ? ? ? LineNumber=StartImportAtLine)
? ??
? ? DataFile.SetDelimiterType(
? ? ? ? FileDataProperty=DataProp,
? ? ? ? Delimiter=DelimiterIs,
? ? ? ? DelimiterString=DelimiterStringIs)
? ? if filecounter == 0:?
? ? ? ? columncounter = numfiles+5
? ? else:
? ? ? ? columncounter += 3
? ? DataColumn = DataProp.GetColumnData(Name="ExternalLoadColumnData " + str(columncounter))
? ? DataProp.SetColumnDataType(
? ? ? ? ColumnData=DataColumn,
? ? ? ? DataType="Pressure")
? ? DataColumn.Unit = PressureUnit
? ? timecounter += 1
? ? DataColumn.Identifier = allfiles[filecounter+1]


#Mechanical System
system2 = GetSystem(Name=system_id)
? ?
#Connect External Data to Set up of Mechanical
setupComponent2 = system2.GetComponent(Name="Setup")
setup2 = system2.GetContainer(ComponentName="Setup")


setupComponent1 = system1.GetComponent(Name="Setup")
setupComponent1.TransferData(TargetComponent=setupComponent2)


setupComponent1.Update(AllDependencies=True)
setupComponent2.Refresh()
setup2.Edit()
systemName = system2.DisplayText


mechScriptCmds="""
wbAnalysisName = '{3}'
for item in ExtAPI.DataModel.AnalysisList:
? ? if item.SystemCaption == wbAnalysisName:
? ? ? ? analysis = item
mycaption = analysis.SystemCaption
ExtAPI.Log.WriteMessage(mycaption)
with Transaction():
? ? import glob
? ? import os
? ? DataPath = r'{0}'
? ? DataExtension = '{1}'
? ? allfiles = glob.glob1(DataPath,"*." + DataExtension)
? ? allfiles.sort(key=lambda f: int(''.join(filter(str.isdigit, f))))
? ? numfilestoload = len(allfiles)
? ? importedloadobjects = [child for child in analysis.Children if child.DataModelObjectCategory.ToString() == "ImportedLoadGroup"]
? ? usedimportedloadobj = importedloadobjects[-1]
? ? importedPres = usedimportedloadobj.AddImportedPressure()
? ? namedsel_importedload = ExtAPI.DataModel.GetObjectsByName('{2}')[0]
? ? importedPres.Location = namedsel_importedload
? ? table = importedPres.GetTableByName("")
? ? for i in range(numfilestoload-1):
? ? ? ? table.Add(None)
? ? for i in range(numfilestoload):
? ? ? ? table[i][0] = "File"+str(i+1)+":"+str(allfiles[i])
? ? ? ? table[i][1] = (i+1)*100
? ? importedPres.ImportLoad()
""".format(DataPath,DataExtension,namedSelectionUsed,systemName)
model2 = system2.GetContainer(ComponentName="Model")?
model2.SendCommand(Language="Python", Command=mechScriptCmds)
        

Watch video below for full explanation of this set up:

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