Follow the steps below to run an analysis with Helius PFA using ANSYS.
Create a material using Composite Material Manager.
A Helius PFA-compatible material cannot be created inside ANSYS MAPDL or using an ANSYS command inside an input file. A Helius PFA material can only be created using Composite Material Manager. The material file must be saved in the Helius PFA material library. By default, materials are saved to a specific materials directory in your home directory:
%APPDATA%\Autodesk\Helius PFA 20XX.X\Materials
where %APPDATA% is the value of the environment variable named APPDATA.
For additional information, refer to the Composite Material Manager User's Guide.
Create a finite element model in ANSYS MAPDL or other general pre-processor.
If a finite element model is created in ANSYS MAPDL, a Helius PFA plug-in is available to define how the material created in the previous step will be used in the model.
ANSYS MAPDL must be launched under a specific environment for ANSYS to find the Helius PFA plug-ins. This is done with the Helius PFA for ANSYS APDL Launcher. The Launcher can be accessed from the desktop shortcut or under Autodesk in the Start menu.
If a model is created using a general pre-processor, the ANSYS input file must be modified to facilitate an analysis with Helius PFA.
For additional information, refer to the User's Guide for ANSYS.
Submit the model to the ANSYS solver.
You can submit an analysis with Helius PFA through ANSYS MAPDL or using a command prompt. For additional information on submitting an analysis through MAPDL, refer to the ANSYS documentation. Use the information below to submit an analysis using a command prompt.
For convenience, a batch file (ansys-helius.bat) is installed as part of the Helius PFA package. This file expedites the analysis submission procedure. The batch file is installed in the Helius PFA bin directory. Access to this batch file is made simple by opening the Autodesk Helius PFA 2025 Command Shell via the desktop or Start menu shortcut.
For information regarding use of the Command Shell, refer to the User's Guide for ANSYS.