Appendix A.1 - Argument #1: Material Reference Number

ANSYS requires all material property definitions to have a material reference number assigned to it. This number is used to associate a particular material with the finite elements representing that material. A material reference number must be a positive integer (non-zero). The Simulation Composite Analysis GUI can be used to view each material and its corresponding material reference number (MATID).

When Simulation Composite Analysis is installed for ANSYS, an ASCAMatDB.xml file is created in two locations: the %APPDATA%\Autodesk\Simulation Composite Analysis 2015.1\Materials folder and the AUTODESK_DIR\Materials folder (C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Simulation Composite Analysis 2015.1\Materials for example). The purpose of this file is to link the material reference number (MATID) with the name of a material stored in the Simulation Composite Analysis Materials Database (this is the %APPDATA%\Autodesk\Simulation Composite Analysis 2015.1\Materials directory).

The material reference numbers for the composite materials that come with the product install are already included in this file. If a new material file is created using Composite Material Manager, the ASCAMatDB.xml file is automatically updated to include the new material and is assigned a material ID number. However, if the material files are manually copied and edited, the ASCAMatDB.xml file must be updated to include the new link between the material reference number (MATID) and the name of the newly created composite material. If the ASCAMatDB.xml file is opened using a text editor or internet browser, the contents will look similar to the following (if opened with a text editor):

<?xml version="1.0"?>

</ASCAMatDB>

To add a link between a newly created material file and an ANSYS material reference number (MATID), copy the format of the existing file to add an additional line that links the two items. For example, if the newly created material file was saved as example_composite_material, the file would be modified as:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<Material id="9018" name="example_composite_material"/>

</ASCAMatDB>

The value 9018 would be used as the first argument in the COMPAN command telling Simulation Composite Analysis to use the material "example_composite_material".