COMPUTATIONAL POWER-how to make ANSYS simulations faster.

[eaglesfandavid]

I know there's a few Eng guys on here who might have some experience on ANSYS or just anyone else in the know.

I'm doing simulations for my thesis using ANSYS workbench and they're taking ages- sucks waiting hours only to find out the solution didn't converge DOH! I've had success using symmetry etc. to reduce computational power req'd but anyway my question is:

Which system parameters will be most effective at reducing solution time? I believe system memory is crucial? Can adding a solid state hard drive solve a lack of ram?

I am running the solutions primarily on my laptop which is a windows 7-64bit, core i5 @ 2.27GHz, 4 gig ram but I also have a core2quad cpu desktop with 2or4 gig ram.
I would be open to using the desktop if it can be made much faster than the laptop because I fear my laptop is going to fry itself :eek:

Cheers for your input.

[reNEGade]

Get an SSD?

[tinto]

Does ansys have the equivalent of a render farm function?
Probably worth asking over here if you have no luck on AL:

http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/ansys/

[LarryDavid]

Hard drive speed is definitely crucial. SSD would be ideal, or at least a 10,000rpm drive. If possible use two separate drives. One for windows and ansys to be installed on, and another to save your database on. The windows drive doesn't really need to be that fast, it's the drive you are saving the database on that's important as it saves gigabites and gigabites of data while solving. Next would be ram and cpus. check task manager while it's solving. If the ram is maxed out and the cpus are fluctuating, it's a sign you need more memory. Also you may find it's not using all cores of your cpu depending on what license you have. You need higher licenses to use more cores.

[180SXTCY]

I used anys at my last job to simulate wear and tear in iron ore trays and buckets etc etc.. some took.a whole night to finish.

that said the computer had a 8 core processor, 32 gigs of ram and ssds.

maybe going into settings and seeing if you have an option of how "indepth" the simulation is might help? maybe u can turn it down to something basic. also defeaturing of the model helped abit.

[winstor]

How much space are you needing?

Can look at setting up a RAM-disk if you need less than 20gb or so and your board can accommodate it

[duste]

ANSYS is CPU-intensive for solving, and RAM-intensive for modelling/meshing, so go with whichever system has the most processing power (number of cores, higher clock - more so the number of cores, bitches/ANSYS love cores), particularly if they have the same amount of RAM.

I would highly suggest you refine your mesh if you've not done so already - only have a high density mesh at locations of interest, and try to have uniformly shaped/sized elements. Meshing is an art. :)

[LarryDavid]

depending on your license, you could also look at GPU acceleration or parallel processing using multiple computers (clusters)

[Wrexter]

can you convert solids to shells to speed up the process?

I have only just strated using more ANSYS and one of our sub-contractors who did an analysis on a component converted the solid to shells (he used solidworks simulation not ANSYS).


Also, for ANSYS guys out there can you point me in direction of tutorials and or resources where i can become more familiar with ANSYS workbench.

Im a mech eng but most the stuff i do it structural/mechanical stuff, no fluid flow etc but would be great to learn fluid simulation as well just for fun.

[LarryDavid]

try to register on here
https://support.ansys.com/portal/site/AnsysCustomerPortal

you get access to all the training courses and tutorials etc

[DCIEVE]

ANSYS only solves using two cores by default for a start. Check your license - if you have parallel processing or an HPC you need to specify the number of cores(8max). GPU acceleration isn't an option without specific cards. Ram will slow you down if you don't have enough but on the other hand it wont help having too much - if you are going into virtual memory use less elements or reduce the number of contacts. Otherwise it's all about the processor.

If you really get stuck I can run it for you.

[TheChad]

Have you asked the uni? Surely they should have access to some decent machines and licenses you can use?