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[mergen.eric]

Hello,

I have a problem where a minor geomtry update breaks completly unrelated scoping in Mechanical. If I move or resize a hole on one partof my assembly nearly all of the forces, contacts, constraints, etc in my model lose their scoping. This includes things that are scoped to parts that had no changes made. I have to go back and rescope or recreate all those forces, contacts, etc.

In Workbench, the Use Associativty box is checked in the Geometry Properties. I thought that was meant to counteract the loss of scoping that I'm experiencing. Is there something else I can do so parts with no changes don't lose their scoping?

Thanks!

[Rob]

Where are you updating the geometry from? Are you using Named Selections and then scoping mesh & stuff (I'm a Fluent user) to those?

[Aniket]

Please elaborate on your workflow a bit:

What is source of the geometry? where are you making the minor change in the model?

Have you turned on Compare parts on update to associatively?

-Aniket

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[mergen.eric]

Almost all the analyses I run are linear and non-linear static analyses. I normally import ipt and iam files from Autodesk Inventor. I then open Mechanical and start preprocessing: assigning materials, creating connections, if I have a model with fasteners I typically use beam connections, pre-tensions if I use fasteners, accelerations, constraints, etc. If an analysis shows areas are over stressed then I make some changes in Inventor (make part A thicker, add a gusset, etc) and update the geometry in Mechanical. After the geometry update I often lose material assignments to nearly all parts...not just the parts that I updated. Likewise for connections. Bonded conections between to parts that were not updated lose their scoping. Fasteners (beam connections) lose their scoping even if they connect two parts that were not updated.

It's maddening to have to rebuild so much of my model after doing a minor geometry update. As I said in my original post, I have the Use Associativity box checked under the Advanced Geometry Options in Workbench. Same for the Smart CAD Update check box. I'm running ANSYS 2022 R1 and Inventor Pro 2023.

Any suggestions to help minimize how many things "break" when I update geometry would be appriciated.

Eric

[Aniket]

I was referring to these two options highlighted in blue above, can you please confirm, if those are set as above?

Also, please note, Autodesk Inventor Reader mode does not support the CAD associativity, it is only supported in Autodesk Inventor Associative Geometry Interface which is not available with a student license, are you using a commercial license?

As a workaround, you can import additional geometry in a given Mechanical session, in addition to the previous one that you had in the Mechanical using Geometry Imports Folder. And then suppress or delete the old part and set up only the new modified part and its material and related contacts to the part. 

-Aniket

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[mergen.eric]

Changing the Compare Parts and Tolerance does make things better. There are still some items on unchanged parts still lost scoping, but not nearly as many as before.

I am using fully licensed versions of ANSYS and Inventor. How do I find out whether I'm using Read or Associative Geometry Interface?

[Aniket]

 

If you have a commercial license, can you please open a new Service request from the customer portal?

Also, in case you have a commercial license but don’t have TECS, which is required to open a new SR, A simple way of identifying which one is configured is to check if you can start Workbench directly from Inventor. If so, you are using the Associative geometry interface. If not, it is the most likely reader.

You can configure it using CAD configuration manager in the associative mode.

-Aniket

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