Use ANSYS Mechanical APDL to Create Input Files for use with Helius PFA

Use ANSYS Mechanical APDL to create input files compatible with Helius PFA.

It is assumed you are familiar with the process of using the ANSYS Mechanical APDL to create an ANSYS input file. Consequently, this section focuses primarily on those aspects of model creation that are unique to models intended for use with Helius PFA. In particular, this section explains the use of the software's two Graphical User Interfaces (GUI's) that can be accessed from within the ANSYS Mechanical APDL. The Create Composite Material GUI provides a simple, intuitive means for you to create material definitions that are compatible with Helius PFA. The Create Cohesive Material GUI allows you to create cohesive material definitions for delamination predictions in Helius PFA.

Note: To launch ANSYS Mechanical APDL when using Helius PFA, a unique process is required. To simplify this process, a launcher tool is installed that configures the required environment settings to run ANSYS with it. APDL must be opened using the launcher in order to use Helius PFA. The launcher tool is located here: %HPFA_DIR%\Helius PFA 20XX.X\bin\ansys-helius-launcher.exe