Learning Forum

[Bhargav.Bobbili-Int]

Hello Everyone,

Ansys Discovery allows creation of mid-surfaces for thin-walled structures, which are typically analyzed using shell elements. Since a mid-surface is essentially a 2D representation of a 3D solid with thickness assigned as a property, can Discovery perform a true 2D shell-based structural simulation? If yes, how are loads and supports applied, given that the software asks for face selections rather than edge selections on the mid-surface model.

Any guidance, examples, or learning resources would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[Charudatta Bandgar]

Hello,

Discovery does not currently support structural simulation directly on surface bodies using shell elements. In the Explore stage, Discovery uses a voxel-based solver, where the geometry is discretized into volumetric cells (voxels), and the simulation is performed on the resulting 3D representation rather than on shell elements.

Therefore, even if you create a mid-surface from a thin-walled structure, Discovery cannot perform a true 2D shell-based structural analysis with shell-specific load and boundary condition definitions.

That said, Discovery can be used effectively as a preprocessing tool to extract and prepare midsurfaces from sheet metal or thin-walled geometries. The midsurface geometry can then be transferred to Ansys Mechanical, where shell elements are supported, thickness can be assigned as a property, and loads and supports can be applied using the standard shell modeling workflow.

Regards,
Charudatta

[Bhargav.Bobbili-Int]

Thank you charudatta