Ansys Products 18 2 Win64 SSQ
Beaulah Mozie
The need to run from the command line has not changed since we originally published this post in 2012. And most of the options are the same. Some things are simpler, there are some new command line options, and there are a lot more products in the Ansys family. In this post, we will cover the basics for launching from the command line for the flagship products and also share where you can learn more in the Ansys documentation.
One of the big changes over the past years is the use of Python or 3rd party programs to run Ansys solvers for you. Maybe you are doing a multi-tool optimization or a digital twin. Or maybe you created a vertical application that runs Ansys solvers in the background. In such cases, you will be launching the executables from your program or script, and the path and the options are critical for this.
When you execute a program on Windows or Linux, you have to tell the operating system where the executable is that you want to run. This is called the path. As an example, Ansys MAPDL is located here for 2022R1:
If things are not working, it could be because of paths. Most of that has been fixed in recent versions of Ansys, but it could be a problem. Scroll down to the section on paths in the original articles to learn details on what this means and how to do it. That has not changed since 2012 (actually, its been the same since 2002 or so). In most cases, just use the full path to run the program, as in the examples below.
There are 37 total command line options for Ansys Mechanical APDL as of Ansys 2022R2. They control parallel processing, which licenses to call, GPU usage, custom executables of the solver, and a few other things you may want to control. To see the full list and get details on every option, go help in:
The Ansys Workbench is fundamentally a program written to use a graphical interface. You can launch it from the command line, have it run commands, and then exit. You can launch a huge array of Ansys products from Ansys Workbench and control them with python commands.
But even in batch mode it is a text-only batch program. Once launched, you can type commands into the command console or use Python scripts to control things. Truthfully, running Ansys Workbench and all the programs it controls is really about scripting and not running from the command line.
Being an older program, and being a CFD tool, Ansys Fluent is much more like Ansys Mechanical APDL when it comes to being run from the command line. You can launch the graphical user interface, GUI, or run in text-only mode.
LS-Dyna is a batch solver. Although there are a variety of pre- and post-processors around that work with the solver, most people use Ansys Workbench these days. Workbench will build a command string and then run the solver. If you want to execute your own solves, especially if you modify the input file (filename.k) they provide a handy utility called LS-Run.
Sometimes you just get tired of clicking on icons. Sometimes you just need to feel the control and power of launching your applications from the command line. You type it in, you hit the enter key, and sometimes you can actually hear the disk spin up or the fan run faster to cool the processor as the program you asked for, the program you took time to type out, leaps to life in front of you. Satisfaction.
The first and most important concept is to be aware of the path. This is where most errors happen. One of the big changes over the years is that as software gets more complicated, the executable program or script that you use to launch a solver is now buried deep down inside a directory structure. Since we never run in that actual directory we need to tell the operating system where the executable is. You can do this by including the full directory path in your command line argument, or by adding it to your path.
On Windows it is not documented, the assumption being that you will be clicking on icons and not typing into a command window. So a little detective work is needed. Use a file explorer and the Linux documentation on launching to locate the executable for solvers you want to use:
The /ansys_inc part is usually replaced with c:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc. The rest of the path is pretty much the same, swapping forward slashes with backward slashes. Use these paths in your command line or add to your path by:
Important note for Windows: If you are typing the path in on the command line, you need to put it in double quotes. The convention on Windows is to specify directories with spaces in the name. But the convention is not to have a command line parser that recognizes this. So you will get an error if you type:
You of course need a command line to launch a solver. This is usually a window that lets you type operating system commands: called a Command Prompt in Windows or a shell on Linux. On Linux it can be an xterm window, a console window, or some other terminal window you have opened.
The solver with the most options and capabilities from the command line is Mechanical APDL. So we will start there. It is important to know these even if you use Mechanical most of the time. That is because you can set these, and better control your solves, under Tools->Options->Mechanical APDL. Here is what that dialog looks like:
ANSYS Workbench also has some command line arguments. not as rich as what is available in MAPDL, but still powerful. It allows you to run Mechanical in Batch or Interactive mode, supply python commands as needed. The key thing to remember is that the workbench interface is not Mechanical or FLUENT. It is the infrastructure that other programs run on. Scripting in workbench allows you to control material properties, parameters, and how systems are created and executed.
The updated Student Edition process now leverages Altair One and uses a streamlined process to provide you with the free Altair Student Edition. Altair One is the one-and-only place to download all Altair Software, access the Altair community, learning resources, support, and much more!
NOTE: If instead of the license activation key a "pending verification" message appears, please wait 2-3 business days and check your email to be notified when your credentials are verified. Once the verification is complete you can go back and finish this step.
PSIM - Click on almutil_gui.exe to open the Altair License Utility box and copy the license file path in the license store section under the user dropdown, open PSIM and paste the copied license path in the license setup window as shown below and click OK.
AI Studio - If using AI Studio separately and not after installing any other product like Altair Inspire beforehand, you will need the Almutil GUI, download Amutil GUI from the below links for the concerned OS and then follow Step 4 above.
Most of the products in the Altair Student Edition bundle do not have any limitations, but for those that do, we've described them in this section.
The are NO model or problem size limitations for the following products:
Please reach out to your university to see if they can create an email address for you. If not, have your professor contact the Global Academic Program team (at academi...@altair.com) and acquire an Academic License. With an Academic License, your professor can give their students access without requiring a school-issued email address.
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