ANSYS Workbench in Batch

In this document, we present instructions on how to solve your ANSYS simulations in batch directly from a Workbench Archive file.

Normally, ANSYS Workbench in batch requires a number of tasks, particularly creating a journal file that must contain the right commands to solve the analysis systems (e.g. Fluent, Mechanical) from the project schematic. However, here at Rescale, we’ve automated this process so that you only need the workbench archive file.

As opposed to solving interactively (through the GUI), running in batch is strongly recommended for heavy workloads. By leveraging Rescale HPC resources, you can make use of your account cloud storage to store large data and result files and only use what you need for your post-processing activities.

It is worth mentioning that this is not the only method to submit your ANSYS jobs in batch. Keep in mind about the standard batch submission by analysis (e.g. Mechanical in batch, Fluent in batch) if you want to piecewise update each analysis system. Refer to the ANSYS Batch Tutorials for more information.

In addition, if you are new to Rescale, you can refer to our Basic Job Tutorial to read more details about submitting a batch job.

Please contact us if you’re having trouble.

Requirements

Currently, we support a wide variety of project schematics such as single systems, multiple systems, and design point analyses.

As we are working towards increasing the coverage of ANSYS Workbench project schematics (e.g. Mesh/Model component systems and FSI analysis systems among others) please read the Requirements section below to ensure your project schematic is compatible with our Rescale Workbench in batch solution.

IMPORTANT: Please ensure that your project schematic meets the following criteria; this way Rescale’s workbench in batch submission will be successful

  • ANSYS version 19 projects
  • No single geometry or mesh/model systems in the project schematic, aka component systems
Unallowed WB Systems
  • The only cells that should require an update are the Setup, Solution, & Results components of every system therein. All cells upstream such as Engineering Data, Geometry, and Model should all be completed before archiving the project to solve in batch.
Unallowed WB Incomplete Systems

Archive Workbench Project

  • In ANSYS Workbench, save your project and then go to File > Archive… to save an archived project in .wbpz format
  • In your Rescale platform account by clicking on + New Job; in the Input Files page, upload the .wbpz input file that you generated; any other formats such as .wbpj will not work here.
  • On the Software Settings page, select ANSYS Workbench and then the version you want to use.
  • If solving a workbench project with one ANSYS Mechanical system or more, your license should contain the ANSYS Mechanical Enterprise (meba) feature which is the standalone solver option to support multiple Mechanical Batch license checkouts.
WB Batch Command Template

The next section covers the currently supported project schematics and their respective command that you would need to specify in the Software Settings page.

Supported project schematics

You will notice that the default Analysis Options > Command is the following:

solve_workbench_project –input  [–single-frame | –multi-frame | –parameter-sweep] [–use-mechanical] [–cores-per-design-point ]

  • ANSYS Workbench Batch Flags:

solve_workbench_project --input <*.wbpz> [--single-frame | --multi-frame | --parameter-sweep | --use-license-feature [MEBA | ANSYS]]

  • These are the required parameter that have to be selected:

–input : specify input Workbench archive (*.wbpz) to be solved.

–single-frame : workbench archive contains a single frame schematic to be solved.

–multi-frame : workbench archive contains a multi-frame schematic to be solved.

–parameter-sweep: workbench archive contains a single frame parameter sweep to be solved.

  • These are the optional parameters:

–use-mechanical : specified Workbench archive uses frames that run the ANSYS Mechanical solver.(Default: False)

–journal <*.wbjn> : specify a custom Workbench journal to run. (Default: use journal generated by this script)

–cores-per-design-point : specify number of cores each design point is solved with.
Usually used with –parameter-sweep.

–use-license-feature
: use license feature specified.

–configure-arc-only : configure ARC on the provisioned cluster and exit.

–archive : archive project when completed. Completed project archive will be named _completed.wbpz.

–help : print this message and exit.

For the purpose of this tutorial, we will call a sample project file:

my-project.wbpz

From the list below, choose the command that corresponds to how you laid out your project schematic.

The command below solves any single system workbench project that’s an ANSYS Mechanical analysis.

solve_workbench_project --input my-project.wbpz --single-frame --use-mechanical


The command below solves any multi-system workbench project where all the analyses are ANSYS Mechanical; this includes dependent systems such as the one shown below as well as multiple independent ANSYS Mechanical systems.

solve_workbench_project --input my-project.wbpz --multi-frame --use-mechanical
WB Multiple Mechanical Systems

The command below solves any Non-Mechanical single system such as Fluent, CFX, and Icepak.

solve_workbench_project --input my-project.wbpz --single-frame
WB Single Non-Mechanical System

The command below solves any multiple Non-Mechanical systems such as Fluent, CFX, and Icepak.

solve_workbench_project --input my-project.wbpz --multi-frame
WB Multiple Non-Mechanical Systems

The command below solves 4 cores per design point. For instance if your project contains 8 design points and you choose a 16 core Nickel hardware setting, then 4 design points (each with 4 cores) will solve simultaneously while the remaining 4 design points will wait and start as each design point completes.

solve_workbench_project --input my-project.wbpz --parameter-sweep --cores-per-design-point 4 --use-mechanical

This workflow assumes and works only if you have the ANSYS Mechanical Enterprise Solver (meba) license feature

WB Mechanical Design Points

The command below solves 4 cores per design point. For instance if your project contains 8 design points and you choose a 16 core Nickel hardware setting, then 4 design points (each with 4 cores) will solve simultaneously while the remaining 4 design points will wait and start as each design point completes.

solve_workbench_project --input tjunction_18_0_8dp.wbpz --parameter-sweep --cores-per-design-point 4
WB Non-Mechanical Design Points