ANSYS, Inc. Release Notes
ANSYS, Inc. Release Notes
Release 14.0 of the ANSYS DesignXplorer application contains all of the capabilities from prior releases plus many new features and enhancements. Areas where you will find improvements and new capabilities include:
Via the Table view, refinement and verification points of a response surface can now be added and edited to increase the ease of use and refinement capabilities. Specifically, an external CSV file can be imported to create design points in a custom design of experiments component, or refinement and verification points in a Response Surface component.
Previous design point updates are no longer invalidated when a derived output parameter is added or removed. When you add or remove a derived output parameter and then update the first component of a DesignXplorer system, the design points are not resubmitted for update; instead, the system evaluates the derived output parameter for each design point and then rebuilds the rest of the results.
The Goal Driven Optimization component now offers additional optimization options. In the optimization Table of Schematic:
A new Optimization Domain section allows you to define the parameter space for each input parameter by setting the Lower Bound and Upper Bound. For the NLPQL optimization method, you can also set an Initial Value to specify where optimization starts for each input.
The Optimization Study section has been renamed Optimization Objectives and contains the following modifications:
The Seek Midpoint option for continuous input parameters has been changed to Seek Target. The default target is the midpoint.
You can now set Constraint Handling preferences at the parameter level for constrained parameters (i.e., parameters for which a constraint objective is defined).
For more information on optimization options, see Defining the Optimization Domain and Defining Optimization Objectives in the DesignXplorer help.
When you duplicate a design exploration system, the user data associated with it (response points, charts, and metrics objects) are also duplicated. You can opt to duplicate all user data or can select individual objects for duplication.
DesignXplorer now provides dynamic feedback during Parameter Correlation component updates and Response Surface refinement via the Kriging meta-model, allowing you to monitor the refinement process and convergence status.
During updates of Parameter Correlation components, generated points are displayed in the Table view as soon as they are solved. During Response Surface refinements via the Kriging meta-model, the Table view and the Kriging Convergence Curves chart are dynamically updated as each refinement point is solved. Also, the Kriging refinement controls have been modified to better support this enhancement.
DesignXplorer now has project reporting functionality for Goal Driven Optimization, Parameters Correlation, and Six Sigma Analysis systems, providing a project “snapshot” that you can use to capture the design process. Each report contains general sections for the Project Schematic, DOE, and Response Surface, a system-specific section (GDO, Parameters Correlation, or SSA), and incorporates chart graphics and table summaries.
For more detailed information on project reporting functionality, see Using Design Exploration Project Reports in the DesignXplorer help and Project Reporting in the Workbench User’s Guide.
When you are editing a design exploration component, the tool bar and context menu now include four new options: Update, Preview, Clear Generated Data, and Refresh. These options display when relevant to the component state and are performed only on the selected component.
In this release, the documentation offers “best practice” recommendations on the following topics:
Working with failed design points.
In Failed Design Points, see subsections Preventing Design Point Update Failures, Preserving Design Points and Files, and Handling Failed Design Points.
Selecting a meta-model to improve a response surface’s Goodness of Fit.
In Meta-Model Refinement, see subsections Working with Meta-Models and Changing the Meta-Model. The Goodness of Fit section includes expanded descriptions of Goodness of Fit criteria.
The Quick Help messages for DesignXplorer system cells provide detailed information on cell states and now include links to relevant topics in the DesignXplorer help or the Workbench User’s Guide.
You can represent real-world manufacturing or production constraints by applying a Manufacturable Values filter to continuous input parameters. The application of this filter ensures that only values that realistically represent manufacturing capabilities are included in the postprocessing analysis. This feature replaces the Usability input parameter classification that was available previously.
The Local Sensitivity charts now support the use of continuous parameters with Manufacturable Values.
On the Local Sensitivity Curves chart, you can view the placement of each Manufacturable Value along the curve. For continuous parameters with Manufacturable Values:
Continuous values are represented by a transparent gray curve.
Manufacturable Values are represented by colored markers.
On the Local Sensitivity chart, each bar is defined by the Min-Max of the Manufacturable Values and the average calculated from the support curve; this chart allows you to view the differences in the output Min-Max according to whether Manufacturable Values are considered or discounted. For continuous parameters with Manufacturable Values:
Continuous values are represented by a gray bar.
Manufacturable Values are represented by a colored bar in front of the gray bar.
If Manufacturable Values are used, both the colored bar and the gray bar are visible on the chart.
If the parameter range extends beyond the actual Manufacturable Values defined, the bar is topped with a gray line to indicate the sensitivity obtained when the Manufacturable Values are discounted.
The Response chart display has been improved to distinguish between continuous parameters with Manufacturable Values and discrete parameters, allowing you to gain a better understanding of your design. For continuous parameters with Manufacturable Values, the bars or curves representing the continuous values (depending on the type of Response chart) are now rendered in gray, with colored bars or markers to represent each of the Manufacturable Values.
You can now specify the order in which design points are updated at the DesignXplorer level. When multiple design points share the same geometry or mesh, you can improve the efficiency of the design point updates by specifying an update order ithat groups identical geometry or mesh parameters and reduces the number of geometry or mesh updates required. You can change the sequence of design point updates by entering values manually, according to a column sort, or by using the automatic sort feature. For more information, see Design Point Update Order in the Workbench User’s Guide.
As each point in a design point update is solved, DesignXplorer now writes its full definition to a design point log file as a backup. The log file is written to the user_files directory of the Workbench project and is in the “Extended CSV File Format” used by ANSYS DesignXplorer to export table and chart data and to import/export data from external CSV file. If the project ever fails or becomes corrupted in some way, you can use this log file to import the design point data back into the Table of Design Points in the Design of Experiments component of any design exploration system.
For more information, see Design Point Log Files and Extended CSV File Format in the DesignXplorer help.
Note: | When updating design points via RSM, if you exit the project or switch to another project during the update, the design point log file will not be updated when you resume the update. |
You can now submit design points from DesignXplorer to RSM for background or remote processing. Also, it is now possible to specify different update methods for solution cell and design point updates. The update method for solution cells is determined by the settings in the Solution Process dialog, accessed via the Tools > Options > Solution Process menu option. The update method for design point updates is determined by the Design Point Update Process settings in the Properties view for the Parameter Set bus bar.
For more detailed information, see Using Remote Solve Manager with DesignXplorer in the DesignXplorer help.
In the Parameter Set Properties view, use the new Default Job Submission property to specify how design points sent to Remote Solve Manager for update will be submitted. Submission options are as follows:
One Job for All Design Points: All design points being sent for update are submitted as a single job.
One Job per Design Point: Each design point being sent for update is submitted as a separate job.
Specify Maximum Number of Jobs: Design points being sent for update are distributed among and submitted in multiple jobs, up to the maximum number of jobs specified.
For more information, see Updating Design Points via Remote Solve Manager (RSM) in the Workbench User’s Guide.
Note: | The failure of design points to update or merge back into the project will not affect any design points that updated and merged successfully. If you encounter any failed design points, simply resubmit those design points for updating. When submitting design points as separate jobs using this release, you may encounter occasional failures with the design point updates. These failures are most likely to occur if submitting design points from a DesignXplorer design exploration system and generally occur when ANSYS Workbench attempts to merge the results back into the project. |
The Pending state is available for design point updates submitted by DesignXplorer to the Remote Solve Manager (RSM). With the Pending state, you can continue interacting with the project on a limited basis or view intermediate results in the Table view while the update is in progress. Additionally, if you exit the project and then reopen it, the Resume button allows you to resume the update.
For more detailed information on the Pending state, see Using Remote Solve Manager with DesignXplorer in the DesignXplorer help.
When you submit a design point update to Remote Solve Manager from DesignXplorer, the Parameter Set Table of Design Points now displays icons to differentiate between failed design points and out-of-date design points.
For more detailed information on how failed and out-of-date designs are displayed, see Design Point States in the Workbench User’s Guide.
In this release, the Sparse Grid meta-model provides enhanced refinement capabilities. When the Sparse Grid response surface is generated, it decomposes the domain into subdomains with a linear basis function for each point of discretization; this allows for a more local refinement process that uses fewer design points and reaches the requested accuracy faster.
For more information, see Sparse Grid in the Design Explorer help.
You can now specify the maximum number of refinement points that can be generated as part of the Sparse Grid refinement process via the new Maximum Number of Refinement Points response surface property. The Sparse Grid algorithm will continue the refinement process until the response surface reaches the requested level of accuracy, the maximum depth is reached, or the maximum number of refinement points has been created.
On the Predicted vs. Observed chart, you can now right-click a point and add it as a new refinement point that will be taken into account during the next generation of the Response Surface. To determine whether a particular point on the chart is a candidate for being inserted as a refinement point, you can position your mouse cursor over the point; the corresponding values for parameters, including the predicted and observed values for output parameters, display in the Properties view.
A new Local Sensitivity Curves chart allows you further focus your analysis by viewing independent parameter variations within the standard Local Sensitivity chart. This multi-curve chart displays individual local sensitivities, with a separate curve to represent the impact of each input parameter on one or two output parameters.
For more information, see Using the Local Sensitivity Curves Chart in the DesignXplorer help.
The new 2D Slices Response chart combines the advantages of both the 2D and 3D graph Response charts, compressing the data of a three-dimensional surface into an easy-to-read, two-dimensional chart. Essentially, this chart is a projection of the 3D response surface onto the XY plane, with the X-axis input varying continuously while the Y-axis input determines the number of curves or “slices” to be displayed.
For more information, see Using the 2D Slices Response Chart in the DesignXplorer help.
In this release, you can enable or disable DesignXplorer chart parameters quickly and easily via new context menu options. When you right-click a chart entity, the context menu now contains options that allow you to enable/disable the selected parameter, all inputs except the selected parameter (for inputs), or all outputs except the selected parameter (for outputs). If at least one parameter is already disabled, you can right-click anywhere in the chart and opt to reverse all enabled/disabled parameters (an operation that disables all enabled parameters, and vice versa).
This functionality is currently available for the Predicted vs. Observed chart, the Sensitivities chart, the Local Sensitivity chart, the Local Sensitivity Curves chart, the Correlation Matrix chart, and the Determination Matrix chart.
For more information, see Using DesignXplorer Charts in the DesignXplorer help.