Engineering Data User's Guide

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Release 17.0
January 2016
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Table of Contents
Basics of Engineering Data ......................................................................................................................... 1
Overview ............................................................................................................................................... 1
User Interface ......................................................................................................................................... 2
Menu Bar ......................................................................................................................................... 3
Toolbar ............................................................................................................................................. 4
Toolbox ............................................................................................................................................ 4
Engineering Data Sources Pane ......................................................................................................... 4
Outline Pane .................................................................................................................................... 5
Properties Pane ................................................................................................................................ 8
Table Pane ........................................................................................................................................ 9
Chart Pane ..................................................................................................................................... 12
Working with Data Sources ................................................................................................................... 12
Working with Data ................................................................................................................................ 13
Perform Basic Tasks in Engineering Data ................................................................................................ 15
Perform Advanced Tasks in Engineering Data ........................................................................................ 16
Material Data ............................................................................................................................................ 19
Definitions ........................................................................................................................................... 19
Sample Libraries ................................................................................................................................... 19
Default Material Assignment for Model Parts ......................................................................................... 20
Supported Properties ........................................................................................................................... 20
Electric ........................................................................................................................................... 21
Explicit Dynamics ........................................................................................................................... 21
Harmonic ....................................................................................................................................... 22
Linear Buckling .............................................................................................................................. 22
Magnetostatic ................................................................................................................................ 23
Modal ............................................................................................................................................. 23
Random Vibration & Response Spectrum ........................................................................................ 24
Static Structural & Modal (Samcef ) .................................................................................................. 25
Steady-State Thermal ...................................................................................................................... 25
Thermal-Electric ............................................................................................................................. 25
Static Structural & Transient Structural ............................................................................................. 26
Rigid Dynamics .............................................................................................................................. 28
Transient Thermal .......................................................................................................................... 28
Suppression of Mutually Exclusive Properties ........................................................................................ 29
Charting ............................................................................................................................................... 29
Validation ............................................................................................................................................. 29
Curve Fitting ......................................................................................................................................... 29
Perform Material Tasks in Engineering Data ........................................................................................... 30
Field Variables ...................................................................................................................................... 32
Material Property Support for the Mechanical Application ..................................................................... 36
Linear Material Models .................................................................................................................... 37
Material Models with Nonlinear Behavior (No Unit Conversion) ........................................................ 38
Chaboche Kinematic Hardening ...................................................................................................... 38
Hyperelastic Material Models .......................................................................................................... 38
Gasket Material Model .................................................................................................................... 39
Gurson Material Model ................................................................................................................... 39
Puck Material Model ....................................................................................................................... 40
Cam-Clay ........................................................................................................................................ 40
Drucker-Prager ............................................................................................................................... 40
Jointed Rock ................................................................................................................................... 41
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Engineering Data User's Guide

Mohr-Coulomb ............................................................................................................................... 41
Porous Elasticity ............................................................................................................................. 42
Electromagnetic Material Properties ............................................................................................... 42
Mutually Exclusive Properties ................................................................................................................ 44
Mechanical Material Curve Fitting ......................................................................................................... 46
CAD Materials ....................................................................................................................................... 48
Appendix .................................................................................................................................................. 51
Appendix A: Material Library File Format ............................................................................................... 51
Appendix B: Custom Material Models .................................................................................................... 51
Create Material Models ................................................................................................................... 52
Material Definition Methods File ..................................................................................................... 54
Material Relationships File ............................................................................................................... 55
Material Properties File ................................................................................................................... 57
Metadata Element .......................................................................................................................... 63
Index .......................................................................................................................................................... 65

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Basics of Engineering Data

The following topics cover the basics of using Engineering Data:
Overview
User Interface
Working with Data Sources
Working with Data
Perform Basic Tasks in Engineering Data
Perform Advanced Tasks in Engineering Data

Overview
Engineering Data is a resource for material properties used in an analysis system. Engineering Data can
be used as a repository for company or department data, such as material data libraries. The Engineering
Data workspace is designed to allow you to create, save, and retrieve material models, as well as to
create libraries of data that can be saved and used in subsequent projects and by other users.
Engineering Data can be shown as a component system or as a cell in any Mechanical analysis system.
As a standalone component system, the workspace accesses all material models and properties by default.
When viewed as a cell in a Mechanical analysis system, the workspace shows the material models and
properties pertinent to that system's physics.
To access Engineering Data:
1.

Insert an Engineering Data component system or a Mechanical system into the Project Schematic.

2.

Select Edit from the Engineering Data cell's context menu, or double-click the cell.

3.

The Engineering Data workspace appears. From here, you can navigate through the data for your analysis
system, access external data sources, create new data, and store data for future use.

If you share an Engineering Data cell with one or more other analysis systems, be aware that changes
in one system will change the data for all systems with which the data is shared.

Definitions
The Engineering Data documentation makes use of the following terminology:
Term
Engineering
Data

Definition
The cell of a system in the Project Schematic, which contains engineering data. The
default name is Engineering Data.

Also see the definition topic for individual topics:

Material Definitions (p. 19)

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Basics of Engineering Data

Modes of Operation
Data for an Analysis - You can create data or retrieve stored data which can then be assigned to the model
of the analysis system. You can also review, modify, and suppress the data used by an analysis system.
Data Libraries - You can create, edit, and save a library made up of the data that you use most often. This
library can then be used in another project or analysis system.
The data contained in Engineering Data is automatically saved when the project is saved.

User Interface
The Engineering Data workspace is an integrated Workbench feature. This workspace enables you to
add and modify material data. The illustration shown below is the primary and default interface.

The workspace provides the following interface elements.

Name

Description

Menu
Bar (p. 3)

Operations for Engineering Data and Project.

Toolbar (p. 4)

Operations for Engineering Data and Project.

Toolbox (p. 4)

Data items that can be included into Engineering Data.

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User Interface
Name

Description

Engineering
Data Sources
Pane (p. 4)

Displays the available data sources and their location, edit state and description.

Outline
Pane (p. 5)

Displays the outline of the contents of the selected data source in the Engineering Data
Sources pane or the contents of Engineering Data.

Properties
Pane (p. 8)

Displays the properties of the selected item in the Outline pane.

Table
Pane (p. 9)

Shows the tabular data for the selected item in the Properties pane.

Chart
Pane (p. 12)

Shows the chart of the item selected in the Properties pane.

When you select the Engineering Data Sources button, as highlighted below, you display the available
data sources that are included with the application.

Menu Bar
The following items in the menu bar are provided by Engineering Data or affect Engineering Data:
Menu
File

Selection(s)

Description

Import Engineering Data

Imports (p. 13) data into the selected

data source. You must change a
library data source to edit mode in
order to import it.

Export Engineering Data

Exports (p. 13) the selected data

source or selected items to disk.

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Basics of Engineering Data

Menu

Selection(s)

Description

Edit

Delete

Deletes the selected item.

View

Various Choices

This ANSYS Workbench menu can be

used to adjust the panes you see
while in the Engineering Data
workspace. See View Menu in the
ANSYS Workbench help.

Units

Various Choices

This ANSYS Workbench menu can be

used to change the units you see
while using Engineering Data. See
Units Menu in the ANSYS Workbench
help.

Extensions

Various Choices

This ANSYS Workbench menu can be

used to work with Extensions or
view log files while in Engineering
Data. See Extensions Menu in the
ANSYS Workbench help.

Help

Various Choices

This ANSYS Workbench menu

provides access to help information.

Toolbar
The Engineering Data Toolbar provides the following buttons that you toggle on and off:
Filter Engineering Data: filter Toolbox content and property data based on the system(s) containing
this Engineering Data. The default setting is on (also see Filtering (p. 15)).
Engineering Data Sources: displays the Engineering Data Sources pane (p. 4). The default setting
is off.

Toolbox
Engineering Data will filter the Toolbox to those items which are applicable for the current selection.
For example, in the User Interface (p. 2), the current selection is Structural Steel. The Toolbox presents
items in the following categories:
Material properties and models (p. 19)
Additional tabular data that can be added to a property or model (p. 19)
Curve fitting of data (p. 29)

Engineering Data Sources Pane

The Engineering Data Sources pane provides the selection of a data source to be viewed in the
Outline pane. This pane is used to manage data sources that you have available to you. It will always
show your (Libraries

) and Favorites (

). You can perform the following actions in this pane:

Create a new library

Add an existing data source

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User Interface
Remove a data source from the list
Enable the editing of a data source
Save a data source

Edit Column
The edit column ( ) is used to mark a library for editing. When exiting edit mode, you will be
prompted to save the library.

Location Column
The Location column shows a diskette button. Hold the mouse cursor over the button to display a tool
tip that includes the path to the data source. If you are editing the data source, you may save to the
location ( ) (if the internal format is supported for export, see Exporting (p. 13)), or save as a different
file name and/or location ( ). You may also load an existing library from file by clicking the file open
button (... ).

Outline Pane
The Outline pane shows an outline of the contents of the selected data source. You can perform the
following actions in this pane:
Create a new material
Delete a material
Rename a material
Suppress (p. 14) a material
Add a description for a material
Add a material to the system from an external data source
Select a default material for the solid and or fluid parts of a model
An example of the Outline pane is illustrated below. Refer to the table below for descriptions of the
interface elements of the pane.

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Basics of Engineering Data

The pane includes the following interface elements.
Interface
Element

Description

Contents
Column

The Contents column shows the name of the items contained in the selected data
source. The type and status of the item is indicated under the Material title by an
icon to the left of the name.

: The data contained in this material is valid data (see the Validation (p. 29)
and Filtering (p. 15) topics).

: Some data contained in this material requires attention (see the

Validation (p. 29) and Filtering (p. 15) topics).

Color
Column

The Color column provides a fly-out menu option for each material that enables
you to assign a specific color to your materials. This material-based color scheme
is transferred to Mechanical. The application assigns random colors by default. You
can change the default colors using the palette or you can make manual color
value entries.

Suppression
Column

The Suppression column shows the suppression status of the item and may also
be used to switch the status (see Suppression (p. 14)). This column is only displayed
when the selected data source is Engineering Data.

Source
Column

The Source column displays the location of the material file and whether the data
is linked to the file. You can hold the mouse cursor over the link icon to display a
tool tip that includes the path to the linked source. Link status is indicated by the
following icons.

: The data matches the data in the linked source.

: The data does not match the data in the linked location. Right-click and
select the Refresh From Linked Source option.

: The data could not be found in the linked source or the linked source is
missing.

Description
Column

The Description column displays the description for the item contained in the
data source. Hold the mouse cursor over the description to display a tool tip with
the complete description. If the column is too small, you may still see the contents
without resizing.

Add
Columns

The Add columns are used to add an item from an external data source to
Engineering Data for the system you are editing, and indicates if the item is included
in Engineering Data. This column is only displayed when the selected data source
is other than Engineering Data. Click on the addition button ( ) to add the item
to Engineering Data. When an item is included in Engineering Data it is indicated
by the presence of an icon (

).

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User Interface
Interface
Element
Default
Column

Description

The Default column (

) shows those items which will be included by default
into Engineering Data when it is created in a new system. This column is only
displayed when the selected data source is Favorites.

Contextual Menu Options

Right-clicking a Material file in the Outline pane displays the following menu.

In addition to the common menu options, the following selections perform specific actions.
Duplicate: this option creates a duplicate of the source file.
View Linked Source: this option displays the Engineering Data Sources pane.
Refreshed From Linked Source: this option refreshes the materials from the source file. This action
will discard any changes that you have performed.
Break Link to Source: this option disconnects the link to your material source file.
Default Solid Material For Model: this option automatically assigns the selected material to all solid
bodies that do not have a specified material.

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Basics of Engineering Data

Default Fluid/Field Material For Model: this option automatically assigns the selected material to all
fluid bodies that do not have a specified material.
An additional option, Consolidate, appears in the context menu when you select multiple materials
and at least two of the selected materials contain the same data and come from the same source. This
option merges all identical selected materials into a single material.

Properties Pane
The Properties pane shows the properties for the item selected in the Outline pane. You can perform
the following actions in this pane:
Add additional properties, tabular data, or curve fitting (from the Toolbox)
Delete a property
Modify constant data
Suppress (p. 14) a property
Parameterize a property

Property Column
The property column lists the properties for the item selected in the Outline pane. Selecting a property
will change the contents of the Table pane and Chart pane. The type and status of the item is indicated
by an icon to the left of the name.
Material Property
The status of the material property is indicated as follows:
The material property is described in a single property data (see the Material
Definitions (p. 19) topic).
Some data contained in this material property requires attention (see the Validation (p. 29)
and Filtering (p. 15) topics).
The material property is described in a collection of property data (see the Material
Definitions (p. 19) topic).

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User Interface
Indicates that the collection of property data requires attention (see the Validation (p. 29)
and Filtering (p. 15) topics).

Value Column
The value column is used to change data for a property or indicates that the data for the property is
tabular (

). If the item selected in the Outline pane is not editable this column will be shown disabled.

Unit Column
The unit column displays the unit of the data shown in the value column . If the column is editable (see
Units Menu), changing the unit will convert the value into the selected unit (there is no net change in
the data, so the solution is still valid).

Suppression Column
The suppression column (
) shows the suppression status of the item and may also be used to switch
the status (see Suppression (p. 14)).

Parameter Column
The parameter column ( ) shows the parameterization status of the item and may also be used to
switch the status (see Parameterize (p. 14)).

Table Pane
The Table pane shows the tabular data for the item selected in the Properties pane. If there are independent variables (for example, Temperature) for the selected item and the item is constant, you may
change it to a table by entering a value into the independent variables data cell. If a row is shown with
an index of *, you may add additional rows of data. The data may be sorted by using the filter item in
the header of the column.

Tabular Data Filter

In Engineering Data, if a material property has more than one independent variable, one of those variables
will be chosen by Engineering Data to be a primary independent variable. All independent variables
excluding the primary independent variable are shown in the left pane and are used as a filter. The row
chosen in the left pane will filter the content in the right pane. This is shown in the figure below, the
filter is shown in the left panel, while the filtered contents are shown in the right panel.

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Basics of Engineering Data

The data is separated in this way to make it easier to visualize and modify but the data is maintained
in a single table by Engineering Data.

Import Tabular Data

When active, the Table pane provides the context menu (right mouse button) option, Import Delimited
Data, that enables you to import delimited text files to populate your tabular data.

When you select the Import Delimited Data option, a dialog box titled "Delimited Data Import" appears,
as illustrated below with the default settings shown, and enables you to specify certain criteria regarding
the format of your data file.

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User Interface

As shown, you use the Browse button to select the file you wish to import and you may then further
define how the data is imported into the table. You can choose a specific line in the file to begin the
import from, select a Delimiter Type, either Comma (default), Semicolon, Space, or Tab and as needed,
you can choose specific columns in the file to import.
The Auto Detect feature examines your file's content to find recognizable delimiters and numeric data.
During this process, the feature attempts to convert any string data preceding the numerical data as a
variable type and its units.
As illustrated in the example shown below, Auto Detect automatically sets the form's controls to match
the format of the file to import. The settings of the File Format settings and the Data table match the
format of the example file. This feature provides a preview of your file's content based on the header
information contained in the file.
As illustrated, Preview is selected. This option displays the header information as well as the first 50
lines of your file. As needed, select Full File to display the entire content of the file. Additional features
include:
Import: activate/deactivate the column.
Variable: this option provides a drop-down list of available variables from the property shown in the
Table pane. These values are read-in by the tool. You can change them as necessary.
Unit: another drop-down list of units based on the specified Variable. For variables that do not require
units, this field is left blank.

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Basics of Engineering Data

Note
The import operation always appends data in the Table. Data is never overwritten.
You can drag and drop your file onto a cell of the Table pane to automatically launch the
Delimited Data Import window.

Chart of Properties for Table Content

The Chart of Properties pane displays graphs of the data contained in the tables of the selected
property.
Selecting a row in the left pane of a table displays a graph for the filtered data only.
Selecting an independent variable name in the column heading in the table, such as Mean Stress (Pa)
as shown above, displays a graph for each of the independent data. In the case of Isotropic Elasticity,
choosing a dependent variable displays the graph for the chosen data.

Chart Pane
The Chart pane shows the chart of the selected item in the Properties pane.

Working with Data Sources

A data source contains engineering data information. There are three types of data sources used in the
Engineering Data workspace: Engineering Data, Libraries, and Favorites. The Engineering Data data
source is the default view when accessing Engineering Data (p. 4). The other data sources are viewed
in the Engineering Data Sources pane. The procedures for working with data sources are discussed
in Perform Basic Tasks in Engineering Data (p. 15).

Engineering Data
Engineering Data is the source of the material information that is used for the analysis of the system it
is contained in. The information in an Engineering Data component system is used if shared to an
analysis system. Engineering Data allows you to view, edit, and add data for use in your analysis system.

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Working with Data

Library
A library is the term used for a collection of engineering data. Engineering Data allows you to add a
library for viewing, editing, and adding additional data. To edit a library, select the check box to the
right of the library's title. You can add items from the library to Engineering Data for use in your analysis
system.

Favorites
The favorites ( ) data source is the location for those items that you use frequently and allows you to
mark items as defaults for a new analysis system. You can add items from other data sources to the
favorites using the context menu (right-click). You can add items from the favorites to Engineering Data
for use in your analysis system. Material defaults for newly created systems may be assigned in the
context menu (see Material Defaults (p. 20)).

Importing
You can import data into an existing data source (if it is editable) or import it as a library. The following
types of files are supported for import:
Engineering Data libraries exported from Workbench 9.0 to 11.0 SP1
Material(s) file following the MatML 3.1 schema
Material(s) file generated by AUTODYN
Import into Existing Source
When you use the Import Engineering Data menu item, the data contained in that source will be added
to the currently selected data source (if edit enabled).
Import as Data Source
When you use the "..." open file dialog in the Engineering Data Sources pane, the selected data source
will be added to the list of data sources.

Exporting
You can export a complete data source or the selected items in a data source. The following format is
supported for export:
MatML 3.1 schema for Material(s)

Working with Data

Modifying
You can modify both constant and tabular data.
Constant Data
You modify constant data by changing the value and/or unit of that data in the Properties pane. The
value and unit together constitute one integral piece of information, or datum. The value is modified
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Basics of Engineering Data

by selecting the cell in the Value column and typing in the new value. If available, modifying the unit
will convert the value to correspond to the new unit (see Units Menu). If the value entered is not in the
acceptable range it will be indicated in yellow and will cause the state of the Engineering Data cell to
change to Attention Required.
Tabular Data
If the data is in a tabular format it is indicated in the Value column ( ). This data is modified in the
Table pane and each datum is a value and unit as one integral piece. The value is modified by selecting
the cell in the variable column you want to change. If the value entered is not in the acceptable range,
it will be indicated in yellow and will cause the state of the Engineering Data cell to change to Attention
Required (see Validation (p. 29)). The unit is shown in the header, and if available, modifying the unit
will modify each datum for that variable to have the same unit (see Units Menu).

Parameterize
Data can be parameterized to allow it to be used in parametric studies and design points (see Working
with Design Points). To parameterize an item in the Properties pane, choose the check box in the
parameter column (
). The parameter value can then be changed in the Parameters and Design Points
workspace. Use caution when parameterizing data that is dependent on other data to maintain valid
data. The parameterized data is always calculated from the original values, so also use caution when
modifying data in the parameter workspace to avoid computer precision problems.
Constant Data
When you parameterize constant data, the constant data can be changed by the Parameter Workspace
but the original datum is not modified. The original datum is restored when the parameterization is
removed.
Tabular Data
You can parameterize tabular data by parameterizing the scale and/or offset for all of the tabular data.
The scale value varies the curve by multiplying the y-axis value of each point on the curve. The offset
is added to or subtracted from a y-axis value for each point on the curve. The equation used for varying
each datum value in the tabular data is:
Property = Scale * Nominal Value + Offset
The original tabular data is not modified, but the scale and/or offset datum are restored to the defaults
of 1.0 and 0.0 when the parameterization is removed.

Suppression
Data may be defined but suppressed to prevent it from being sent to a downstream cell in the system.
For example, suppressing a material or material property will prevent it from being used in the model.
A data item may be suppressed by selecting the check box in the suppression column (
). Suppressed
items are shown by a strike through the name (for example,
) and the check box being selected in the suppression column.

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Perform Basic Tasks in Engineering Data

Filtering
Engineering Data will filter the data which pertains to the project system being edited, by default. The
filtering is based on the Physics, Analysis Type, and Solver. You can turn filtering on and off in the
toolbar (
). All data is transferred to the downstream cell regardless of filtering being turned on or
off. A selected solver may ignore the data if it is not recognized or supported.

Perform Basic Tasks in Engineering Data

Task

Procedure

Access
Engineering
Data.

In the Project Schematic:

Access
Engineering
Data
Sources.

1. Access Engineering Data

1. Double-click the Engineering Data cell or right-click the Engineering Data cell and select
Edit...

2. Choose the Engineering Data Sources button on the toolbar

Note
You may also access via RMB.
Import data
into a data
source.

1. Access Engineering Data Sources.

2. Select a data source in the Engineering Data Sources pane.
3. Check the Edit library box to the right of the data source title.
4. Choose File> Import Engineering Data....
5. Select a file and choose Open.

Note
Only recognized data will be imported into the data source.
Import data
as a data
source.

1. Access Engineering Data Sources.

2. Select the browse button (...) in the last row of the Engineering Data Sources pane.
3. Select a file and choose Open.

Note
Only recognized data will be imported.
Export a
data source.

1. Access Engineering Data Sources.

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Basics of Engineering Data

Task

Procedure
2. Select a data source in the Engineering Data Sources pane.
3. Choose File> Export Engineering Data....
4. In the Save As dialog, select the folder, provide a file name, and choose Save.

Export
individual
data.

1. Access Engineering Data Sources.

2. Select a data source in the Engineering Data Sources pane.
3. Select one or more items in the Outline pane.
4. Choose File> Export Engineering Data....
5. In the Save As dialog, select the folder, provide a file name and choose Save.

Note
Multiple items may be selected in the Outline pane.
Combine
data
sources.

1. Perform the "Import Data as a data source" task for each of the data sources you want
to combine.
2. Perform the "Edit a data source" task to combine into an existing data source, or perform
the "Create a library" task to combine into a new library.
3. Select a data source.
4. From the Outline pane drag the item of interest into theEngineering Data Sources
pane and drop the item on the data source you want to combine.
5. Complete the above operation for all items of interest.
6. Choose the Save button (

) in the Outline Filter pane.

Perform Advanced Tasks in Engineering Data

The Engineering Data workspace enables you to create custom material models. This advanced option
works in conjunction with a Material User Programmable Feature (UPF) of the Mechanical ADPL programming interface and therefore, it is necessary for you to have the prerequisite expertise in material
constitutive modeling and software programming.
To implement a custom material model:
1. From the Custom Material Models category of the Toolbox, double-click Create Custom Model.

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Perform Advanced Tasks in Engineering Data

The Create Custom Model dialog box displays.

2. Enter the following in the dialog box:

Name: user-defined name for the model.
Type: UPF type.
Model Coefficients: user variable input for the UPF subroutine.
Model State Variables: state variable input for the UPF subroutine.
For each Model Coefficient and State Variable provide the following:
Index: defines the argument index of the variable in the UPF subroutine.
Name: defines the name of the variable.
Quantity Type: defines the quantity type of the variable.
Unit: defines the variable's units.
Initial State: defines the initial value of the variable.
Show: determines if the variable is shown in Engineering Data.
Here is an example model.

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Basics of Engineering Data

3. Once the model is defined click OK to add the new model to the Toolbox category and the selected
material.
An example of the new model added to Structural Steel is illustrated here.

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Material Data
This section examines the function and use of material properties within Engineering Data.
Definitions
Sample Libraries
Default Material Assignment for Model Parts
Supported Properties
Suppression of Mutually Exclusive Properties
Charting
Validation
Curve Fitting
Perform Material Tasks in Engineering Data
Field Variables
Material Property Support for the Mechanical Application
Mutually Exclusive Properties
Mechanical Material Curve Fitting
CAD Materials

Definitions
The documentation for Material Data makes use of the following terminology:
Term

Definition

Property

This is the identifier for the singular information (for example, Density) that together with
other properties defines or models the behavior of the material. A property is always defined
by at least one table (tabular data), which could be singular. Some properties can contain
a collection of tabular data (for example, Isotropic Elasticity).

Property
data

This is the identifier for tabular data (for example, Young's Modulus).

Sample Libraries
Engineering Data provides sample material data categorized into several libraries. You must validate
that the data is consistent with the material you are using in your analysis. If you are viewing the library
in an analysis system, the contents of a material will be filtered to that system (see Filtering (p. 15)).
The samples are part of the installation and are located in the path ANSYS
Inc.\v170\Addins\EngineeringData\Language\<lang>\Samples.
The following libraries are included:
General Materials,
This is a library of general use materials and consists mostly of metals that can be used in various analyses.
General Nonlinear Materials,
This is a library of general use nonlinear materials for performing nonlinear analyses.

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Material Data
Explicit Materials,
This is a library of materials containing data, specific for use in an explicit dynamics analysis.
Hyperelastic Materials,
This is a library of "materials" containing stress strain data which can be used to experiment with curve
fitting (see the Curve Fitting (p. 29) topic). The data doesn't correspond to any particular material.
Magnetic B-H Curves,
This is a library of materials containing B-H Curve data, specific for use in a magnetic analysis.
Thermal Materials,
This is a library of materials containing data, specific for use in a thermal analysis.
Fluid Materials,
This is a library of materials containing data, specific for use in a fluid analysis.
Composite Materials,
This is a library of materials containing data, specific for use in a composite analysis.

Default Material Assignment for Model Parts

Engineering Data is configured at installation with the default material assignments as Structural Steel
for solid parts and as Air for fluid parts. You can change these defaults or remove the default for an
individual analysis system or for each newly created analysis system. If the Engineering Data cell is
shared and the default is changed, the first Model cell Edit action uses the current default.
To change the default settings for each newly created analysis system, access Favorites, select the material you want to use as the default, and change the context menu selection for Default Solid Material or Default Fluid/Field Material. You can also choose to not have a default material by selecting
the current default and removing the selection in the context menu. Including and setting that material
as the default for the Model (or not setting the default) will affect all subsequent systems created in
the project.
To change the default settings in an analysis system (before the Model cell is edited), in the Outline
pane, choose the material that you want to assign as the default to the model parts and change the
selection in the context menu for Default Solid Material for Model or Default Fluid/Field Material
for Model. You can also choose to not have a default material assigned to the model parts by selecting
the current default and removing the selection in the context menu.
You can replace a default material assignment in the Model by deleting the default material and then
refreshing the Model, which will assign the active default material.

Supported Properties
The supported material properties are defined by the analysis system(s) that contains or shares the
Engineering Data cell. If filtering is active (see Filtering (p. 15)), you will only see the supported material
properties. See the list of material properties supported by a given analysis system in the following
sections. The minimum material properties required for a given analysis are marked with an asterisk (*).
Select the link to read more information about a particular property. If temperature dependency is
supported, the material property will be marked with f(T).
Electric (p. 21)
Explicit Dynamics (p. 21)
Harmonic (p. 22)
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Supported Properties
Linear Buckling (p. 22)
Magnetostatic (p. 23)
Modal (p. 23)
Rigid Dynamics (p. 28)
Static Structural & Transient Structural (p. 26)
Static Structural & Modal (Samcef ) (p. 25)
Steady-State Thermal (p. 25)
Thermal-Electric (p. 25)
Transient Thermal (p. 28)
Random Vibration & Response Spectrum (p. 24)

Electric
Properties
*Isotropic
Resistivity
Orthotropic
Resistivity

Explicit Dynamics
Properties
Density
Isotropic Elasticity
Orthotropic Elasticity
Viscoelastic
Bilinear Isotropic Hardening
Multilinear Isotropic Hardening
Bilinear Kinematic Hardening
Multilinear Kinematic Hardening
Johnson Cook Strength
Cowper Symonds Strength
Steinberg Guinan Strength
Zerilli Armstrong Strength
Neo-Hookean
Mooney-Rivlin (2, 3, 5, and 9 Parameter) f(T)
Polynomial (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Order)
Yeoh (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Order)
Ogden (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Order)
Specific Heat
Drucker-Prager Strength Linear
Drucker-Prager Strength Stassi
Drucker-Prager Strength Piecewise
Johnson-Holmquist Strength Continuous
Johnson-Holmquist Strength Segmented
RHT Concrete Strength
MO Granular
Bulk Modulus
Shear Modulus
Polynomial EOS
Shock EOS Linear
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Material Data
Properties
Shock EOS Bilinear
Crushable Foam
Compaction EOS Linear
Compaction EOS Non-Linear
P-alpha EOS
Plastic Strain Failure
Principal Stress Failure
Principal Strain Failure
Stochastic Failure
Tensile Pressure Failure
Crack Softening Failure
Johnson Cook Failure
Grady Spall Failure
Specific Heat
Explosive JWL
Explosive JWL Miller
Ideal Gas EOS
See Material Models Used in Explicit Dynamics Analysis for a description of the above properties.
Orthotropic Stress Limits
Orthotropic Strain Limits
Tsai-Wu Constants
Tsai-Wu Constants must be used in conjunction with Orthotropic Stress Limit. Tsai-Wu Constants
used in conjunction with Orthotropic Strain Limit are not supported.

Harmonic
Properties
*Density f(T)
Damping Factor ()
Damping Factor ()
Constant Damping Coefficient
*Isotropic Elasticity f(T)
Orthotropic Elasticity f(T)
See Linear Material Properties in the Material Reference for a description of the above properties.
Anisotropic Elasticity (p. 37)
Hyperelastic Material Models are supported for pre-stress modal based analysis but not for pure
modal based analysis.

Linear Buckling
Properties
*Density f(T)
*Isotropic Elasticity f(T)
Orthotropic Elasticity f(T)

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Supported Properties
Properties
See Linear Material Properties in the Material Reference for a description of the above properties.
Anisotropic Elasticity (p. 37)
Orthotropic Stress Limits
Orthotropic Strain Limits
Tsai-Wu Constants
Puck Constants
LaRc03/04 Constants
Superelasticity
Shape Memory Alloy
The above shape memory alloy material model properties are supported only for pre-stress
analysis.
Gasket Material Model (p. 39) is supported for pre-stress analysis.

Magnetostatic
Properties
*Relative Permeability
Coercive Force & Residual Induction
B-H Curve
Demagnetization B-H Curve
Relative Permeability (Orthotropic)
*Isotropic Resistivity
Orthotropic Resistivity
See Electromagnetic Material Properties (p. 42) for a description of the above
properties.

Modal
Properties
*Density f(T)
Damping Factor ()
Damping Factor ()
Constant Damping Coefficient
Coefficient of Thermal Expansion f(T) (p. 37)
*Isotropic Elasticity f(T)
Orthotropic Elasticity f(T)
See Linear Material Properties in the Material Reference for a description of the above properties.
Anisotropic Elasticity (p. 37)
Bilinear Isotropic Hardening f(T)
Bilinear Kinematic Hardening f(T)
Multilinear Isotropic Hardening f(T)
Multilinear Kinematic Hardening f(T)
Chaboche Kinematic Hardening f(T)

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Material Data
Properties
Anand Viscoplasticity
Orthotropic Stress Limits
Orthotropic Strain Limits
Tsai-Wu Constants
Puck Constants
LaRc03/04 Constants
See Material Strength Limits for a description of the above properties.
Superelasticity
Shape Memory Alloy
See Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) for a description of the above properties.
The above shape memory alloy material model properties are supported for pre-stress modal analysis
but not for pure modal analysis.
Gasket Material Model (p. 39) is supported for pre-stress modal analysis but not for pure modal
analysis.
Hyperelastic Material Models (p. 38) are supported for pre-stress modal analysis but not for pure
modal analysis.

Random Vibration & Response Spectrum

Properties
*Density f(T)
Damping Factor ()
Damping Factor ()
Constant Damping Coefficient
Coefficient of Thermal Expansion f(T) (p. 37)
*Isotropic Elasticity f(T)
Orthotropic Elasticity f(T)
See Linear Material Properties in the Material Reference for a description of the above properties.
Anisotropic Elasticity (p. 37)
Bilinear Isotropic Hardening f(T)
Bilinear Kinematic Hardening f(T)
Multilinear Isotropic Hardening f(T)
Multilinear Kinematic Hardening f(T)
Chaboche Kinematic Hardening f(T)
Anand Viscoplasticity
Orthotropic Stress Limits
Orthotropic Strain Limits
Tsai-Wu Constants
Puck Constants
LaRc03/04 Constants
Superelasticity
Shape Memory Alloy
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Supported Properties
Properties
The above shape memory alloy material model properties are supported for pre-stress modal based
analysis but not for pure modal based analysis.
Gasket Material Model (p. 39) is supported for pre-stress modal based analysis but not for pure modal
based analysis.
Hyperelastic Material Models (p. 38) are supported for pre-stress modal based analysis but not for
pure modal based analysis.

Static Structural & Modal (Samcef)

Properties
Density f(T)
Isotropic Secant Coefficient of Thermal Expansion f(T)
Orthoropic Secant Coefficient of Thermal Expansion f(T)
*Isotropic Elasticity f(T)
Orthotropic Elasticity f(T)
Bilinear Isotropic Hardening f(T)
Bilinear Kinematic Hardening f(T)
Multilinear Isotropic Hardening f(T)
Multilinear Kinematic Hardening f(T)
Chaboche Kinematic Hardening
Nonlinear Elastic Model with Damage
Plakin Special Hardening Law
Refer to the Samcef documentation for a description of the above
properties.

Steady-State Thermal
Properties
*Isotropic Thermal Conductivity f(T)
Orthotropic Thermal Conductivity f(T)
See Linear Material Properties in the Material Reference for a description of the above
properties.

Thermal-Electric
Properties
*Isotropic Thermal Conductivity f(T )
Orthotropic Thermal
Conductivity f(T)
*Isotropic Resistivity
Orthotropic Resistivity
Seebeck Coefficient
Orthotropic Seebeck Coefficient

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Material Data
Properties
See Linear Material Properties in the Material Reference for a description of the above
properties.

Static Structural & Transient Structural

Properties
Physical Properties
*Density f(T)
Coefficient of Thermal Expansion f(T) (p. 37) ( (p. 37))
Stress-Strain Relationships
*Isotropic Elasticity (Field Variables (p. 32))
Orthotropic Elasticity (Field Variables (p. 32))
Anisotropic Elasticity ( (p. 37))
Damping
Damping Factor () (Transient Structural only)
Damping Factor () (Transient Structural only)
Constant Damping Coefficient (Transient Structural only)
Hyperelasticity
Mooney-Rivlin (2, 3, 5, and 9 Parameter) f(T) ( (p. 38))
Neo-Hookean f(T) ( (p. 38))
Polynomial (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Order) f(T) ( (p. 38))
Yeoh (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Order) f(T) ( (p. 38))
Ogden (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Order) f(T) ( (p. 38))
Arruda-Boyce f(T) ( (p. 38))
Gent f(T) ( (p. 38))
Blatz-Ko f(T) ( (p. 38))
Response Function ( (p. 38))
Ogden Foam (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Order) f(T) ( (p. 38))
Extended Tube f(T) ( (p. 38))
Mullins Effect f(T) ( (p. 38))
General Isotropic Hardening
Bilinear Isotropic Hardening f(T)
Multilinear Isotropic Hardening f(T)
General Kinematic Hardening
Bilinear Kinematic Hardening f(T)
Multilinear Kinematic Hardening f(T)
Chaboche Kinematic Hardening f(T) (p. 38)
Rate-Dependent Plasticity

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Supported Properties
Properties
Anand Viscoplasticity
Rate-Independent Plasticity
Gurson Model ( (p. 39))
Fatigue
Alternating Stress Mean Stress
Alternating Stress R-Ratio
Strain-Life Parameters
Viscoelasticity
Prony Shear Relaxation
Prony Volumetric Relaxation
Williams-Landel-Ferry Shift Function ( (p. 38))
Tool-Narayanaswamy Shift Function ( (p. 38))
Tool-Narayanaswamy with Fictive Temperature Shift Function
( (p. 38))
Stress Tool
Tensile Yield Strength
Compressive Yield Strength
Tensile Ultimate Strength
Compressive Ultimate Strength
Gasket Model
Implicit Creep Equations (p. 38)
Strain Hardening
Time Hardening
Generalized Exponential
Generalized Graham
Generalized Blackburn
Modified Time Hardening
Modified Strain Hardening
Generalized Garofalo
Exponential form
Norton
Combined Time Hardening
Rational polynomial
Generalized Time Hardening
Material Strength Limits
Orthotropic Stress Limits
Orthotropic Strain Limits
Tsai-Wu Constants
Puck Constants
LaRc03/04 Constants
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Material Data
Properties
Shape Memory Alloy (SMA)
Superelasticity
Shape Memory Alloy
Geomechanical
Cam Clay ( (p. 40))
Drucker-Prager ( (p. 40))
Jointed Rock ( (p. 41))
Mohr-Coulomb ( (p. 41))
Material Damage
Damage Initiation Criteria
Damage Evolution Law
Cohesive Zone
Exponential for Interface Delamination
Bilinear for Interface Delamination
Separation-Distance based Debonding
Fracture-Energies based Debonding
Fracture Criteria
Linear Fracture Criterion
Bilinear Fracture Criterion
B-K Fracture Criterion
Modified B-K Fracture Criterion
Power Law Fracture Criterion
() Refers to the corresponding Engineer Data Help page.

Rigid Dynamics
Properties
*Density

Transient Thermal
Properties
*Density f(T)
*Isotropic Thermal Conductivity f(T)
Orthotropic Thermal Conductivity f(T)
*Specific Heat f(T)
Enthalpy f(T)
See Linear Material Properties in the Material Reference for a description of the above
properties.

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Curve Fitting

Suppression of Mutually Exclusive Properties

Some properties are mutually exclusive of each other and require that only one property in the mutually
exclusive set be unsuppressed. The addition or removing of the suppression for one of these properties
automatically suppresses the other mutually exclusive properties.
For example, defining Bilinear Isotropic Hardening and Multilinear Isotropic Hardening for the same
material represents redundant plasticity behavior. Only one behavior can be active for the material.
When such a conflict occurs, the property defined last is used and the previously defined, conflicting
property is automatically suppressed.

Charting
The axis range can be modified on a chart by choosing Edit Properties from the axis context menu
(see Setting Chart Properties). This range will be used when generating the x-y data for the chart so
that you can examine the data beyond the default range.

Validation
The user interface will indicate invalid data by showing a yellow background and changing the state
of the material to attention required. To find the reason for the data being invalid, choose Display
Validation Failure from the context menu of the invalid item.

Curve Fitting
When curve fitting is available for a selected item in Engineering Data a Curve Fitting group will be
accessible in the ANSYS Workbench Toolbox. A curve fitting module can then be added to the selected
item. The data that can be used for the curve fitting module will be shown, regardless of whether or
not the data is available. If the required data is not available it should be added from the Toolbox. The
data used for curve fitting can be suppressed (in some instances), in the curve fitting module, to prevent
its use in the curve fitting calculations. The curve fitting solution is done by choosing Solve Curve Fit
in the context menu for Curve Fitting, in the Properties pane. You can then visually compare the fitted

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Material Data
curve to the original data in the Chart pane. Once you are satisfied with the solution you can then
choose Copy Calculated Values to Property in the context menu.

Note
Curve Fitting is only active for the running session. If you exit the application you will have
to add the curve fitting module again. You should be sure to Copy Calculated Values to
Property to maintain the calculated information.

Note
If the active unit system for the project is changed, the current Curve Fitting modules in
the project will be recreated using the new unit system. This will result in the seed values
being reset to their default values.

Note
Note: If the experimental data is parametrized, the current design point parameter value
will be used for the computations when choosing Solve Curve Fit, but will have no effect
for other design points when updating a project, because of the interactive nature of performing the fitting.
Curve fitting is specific to a given solver and so the following topics provide specific information:
Mechanical Material Curve Fitting (p. 46)
Perform Material Tasks in Engineering Data (p. 30)

Curve Fitting Icons

Module for performing curve fitting.
Indicates that this curve fitting module requires attention.

Perform Material Tasks in Engineering Data

All material related tasks require that you perform the following basic tasks (p. 15):
Access Engineering Data
If desired to perform tasks on libraries or favorites select a data source in the Engineering Data Sources pane.
Mark the data source as editable if needed (see the Edit a data source (p. 15) basic task).
Task
Create New Material.

Procedure
1. In the Outline pane click in the cell marked as Click here to add a new
material.
2. Type in the name of the new material and press Enter.

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Perform Material Tasks in Engineering Data

Task

Procedure

Add Material Properties.

1. Select the material in the Outline pane that is to receive the additional
property.
2. Double-click the property in the Toolbox that you want to add.

Delete Material
Properties.

1. Select the material in the Outline pane whose property is to be deleted.

2. Select the material property in the Properties pane.
3. Right-click and choose Delete or on the menu bar, choose Edit> Delete.

Modify Material
Properties.

1. Select the material in the Outline pane that contains the property you want
to modify.
2. In the Properties pane change the value or unit for constant data.
3. Perform one of the following:
For constant data, change the value or unit in the Properties pane.
For tabular data, change the value or unit(s) in the Table pane.

Parameterize Material
Properties.

1. Select the material in the Outline pane that contains the property you want
to parameterize.
2. Select the check box in the parameter column for the property you want to
parameterize. For tabular data, use scale and/or offset (see
Parameterize (p. 14)).

Suppress Material
Properties

1. Select the material in the Outline pane that contains the property you want
to suppress.
2. Select the check box in the suppression column for the property you want
to suppress.

Select Material Default

for the Model

1. Select the material in the Outline pane that is to be used as the default for
the Model cell.
2. Right-click and choose Default Solid Material for Model or Default Fluid/Field
Material for Model.
Note: This default setting applies only to the Engineering Data cell in
which it is set (see Material Defaults (p. 20)).

Curve Fitting of Material

Models

1. Select a material model that supports curve fitting. The option for performing
a curve fit is indicated by the "Curve Fitting" group in the Toolbox (see Curve
Fitting (p. 29)).
2. Modify options for the curve fitting calculations.
3. Suppress any experimental data to exclude from the curve fitting calculations.

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Material Data
Task

Procedure
4. Select the Curve Fitting item in the Properties pane and select Solve Curve
Fit in the context menu.
5. Review the accuracy of the fitted data to the experimental data.
6. Select the Curve Fitting item in the Properties pane and select Copy
Calculated Values To Property.

Field Variables
Material data can be dependent on variables such as temperature, shear angle, degradation factor, or
user-defined entries. These variables are termed as Field Variables and are only available for specific
material properties and models, as listed below. For more information on this topic, see the discussion
on User-Defined Field Variables in the Mechanical APDL Material Reference.
Engineering Data supports the following Field Variables:
Temperature
Shear Angle
Degradation Factor
User-defined variables (as discussed below).

Important
Shear Angle, Degradation Factor, and user-defined field variables are only applicable
when used in an ACP-Pre system because only ACP defines field information for the
solution.
The use of field variables to further define material properties enables you to simulate the effects of
environmental conditions and manufacturing processes on material characteristics. This can be of particular importance when you are using the ANSYS Composite PrepPost application to model composites.
See the Variable Material Data in Composite Analyses section of the ANSYS Composite PrepPost User's
Guide for additional information.
The supported material properties and models are listed below.
Isotropic elasticity
Orthotropic elasticity
Orthotropic Stress Limits
Orthotropic Strain Limits
Woven Specification for Puck

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Field Variables

Defining System Provided Field Variables

To implement a system provided field variable:
1. Select one of the supported material properties (as listed above). The application displays the Field
Variables category in the Toolbox.

2. From the Field Variables category, select the desired system provided field variable:
Temperature
Shear Angle
Degradation Factor
The new field variable populates the Table pane (p. 9). Enter appropriate values.

Creating User-Defined Field Variables

To implement a user-defined field variable:
1. Select the Create Field Variable option from the Field Variables category in the Toolbox.

2. The following dialog box displays. Enter a name for your new field variable and select a desired Quantity
Type from the drop-down list. Dimensionless is the default. Once complete, click OK.

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Material Data

3. The new field variable populates the Table pane. Enter appropriate values. Example entries are illustrated
below for the user-defined field variable Example_Custom_Fld_Var.

4. Select the Interpolation Options property to display the following Table pane. This table defines the algorithm the solver uses to interpolate between the data entered in the Table pane from Step 2 in order
to get the values corresponding to the calculated field variable values on a given element. Please refer to
the General Interpolation Library section of the ANSYS Composite PrepPost User's Guide for more details
about the algorithms and options used when creating user-defined Field Variables.

5. Select one of the following Algorithm Types from the drop-down menu:

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Field Variables

6. Refine the interpolation algorithm by activating one or more of the following options.
Normalize: scale the axes to achieve an unbiased distance metric. The ranges used to scale the axes are
defined by the Lower Limit and Upper Limit values of the Material Field Variables table pane.
Quantize: discretize the field variable axes based on the ranges and Resolution defined in the Material
Field Variables table pane.
Cache: save previous queries in order to increase performance.
7. Select the Material Field Variables property to display the following table pane.

Field descriptions for the Interpolations Options property:

Default Data: this value is used by the interpolation algorithm when the corresponding field
variable is not defined on a given element.
Lower Limit: this value defines the upper boundary on the range used when the data is normalized
and/or quantized. When you use the Program Controlled setting, the value defaults to the minimum value of the data entered for all instances of the corresponding field variable in the selected
material.
Upper Limit: this value defines the upper boundary on the range used when the data is normalized
and/or quantized. When you use the Program Controlled setting, the value defaults to the
maximum value of the data entered for all instances of the corresponding field variable in the
selected material.
Resolution: this value defines the number of points the range of the corresponding field variable
is divided into when the Quantize option is enabled.

Usage Notes
The order in which you add field variables to a material property becomes important if:
Your material data has multiple field variables.
The data is structured such that one field variable changes while the others remain fixed.
Whichever field variable varies the most, is the variable that you should insert and define first. Consider
the example illustrated below. In this case, the Temperature varies more than the Shear Angle, so it will
be best to add temperature first and then shear angle. Adding the field variables in this order results
in a table structure that, for each shear angle, there is data at multiple temperatures.

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Material Data

The drop-down menu on the Table pane for the field variable provides options (e.g., sorting and filtering).
In order to remove a Field Variable from a property, you must use the Delete option from this dropdown menu.

Material Property Support for the Mechanical Application

You should choose your material properties based on how the material exhibits properties in orthogonal
directions (X, Y, and Z), either constant in all directions (isotropic behavior) or different in orthogonal
directions (orthotropic behavior). These orthogonal directions in a part, by default, align with the
global coordinate system. You may apply a local coordinate system to the part to change the directions.
For orthotropic properties, the X, Y, and Z value must be specified for the model to solve (2-D models

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Material Property Support for the Mechanical Application

only use the X and Y values). Those properties which support isotropic or orthotropic behavior will be
preceded by Isotropic or Orthotropic (for example, Isotropic Thermal Conductivity).
Temperature-dependent properties (the identifier f(T) will be shown beside the property) are input as
tabular data (value vs. temperature). During solution, the material properties are evaluated for the
temperature of the integration points of the elements. If the temperature of an integration point falls
below or rises above the defined temperature range of tabular data, the solver assumes the defined
extreme minimum or maximum value, respectively, for the material property outside the defined range.
The following are supported.
Linear Material Models
Material Models with Nonlinear Behavior (No Unit Conversion)
Chaboche Kinematic Hardening
Hyperelastic Material Models
Gasket Material Model
Gurson Material Model
Puck Material Model
Cam-Clay
Drucker-Prager
Jointed Rock
Mohr-Coulomb
Porous Elasticity
Electromagnetic Material Properties

Linear Material Models

Coefficient of Thermal Expansion
You can define the coefficient of thermal expansion using the secant or instantaneous method.
When the coefficient of thermal expansion is defined using the secant method, the zero-thermalstrain reference temperature is the temperature that the thermal strains are measured from and
is used to adjust the temperature-dependent curve to the reference temperature of the body it
is used in. Its value is determined by the MPAMOD command in the Mechanical APDL application,
and written as the MPAMOD command in the ds.dat file. The coefficient of thermal expansion
values are computed according to the equation documented in Temperature-Dependent Coefficient of Thermal Expansion located in the Mechanical APDL Theory Reference.
For more information on this topic, see the discussion Linear Material Properties in the Material
Reference.
Anisotropic Elasticity
You can define an anisotropic elasticity model by entering the stiffness terms in an elastic coefficient matrix [D]. The following graphic show the location of the terms for this symmetric matrix:
D11
D21

D22

D31

D32

D33

D41

D42

D43

D44

D51

D52

D53

D54

D55

D61

D62

D63

D64

D65

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D66

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Material Data
Each row corresponds to the terms of x, y, z, xy, yz, xz. The stiffness terms must be positive definite (requiring all determinants to be positive). The stiffness terms have units of Force/Area
operating on the strain vector.

Material Models with Nonlinear Behavior (No Unit Conversion)

Material models which have nonlinear behavior do not allow for conversion of data from one unit system
to another. For these material models you will specify the units of the data in the Reference Units
drop-down list. In Mechanical if an attempt is made to solve the solution, in a unit system which is not
compatible with the Reference Units, an error will be shown and the solution will be stopped. The
following material models have this restriction:
Anand Viscoplasticity
Shift Functions
The Reference Unit setting will be applicable for all inputs except the Reference Temperature, where
the unit can be set independently. Modification of the Reference Unit setting will convert the Reference
Temperature to the value corresponding to the temperature unit specified in the Reference Unit.
Creep
These material models require temperature values to be in an absolute scale. Mechanical will write all
temperature inputs for a solver in C or F and so will include a TOFFST command with the value appropriate to the solver unit system setting. This setting will allow the computation of these material
models to be performed correctly.

Chaboche Kinematic Hardening

The chaboche kinematic hardening material model can be defined with respect to temperature and
allows up to five kinematic models for each temperature. It is required that all kinematic models be
defined for each temperature. You can specify the number of kinematic models in the drop down list.
This will add additional columns for entering the data. For additional information, see the Mechanical
APDL application discussion of the Chaboche Kinematic Hardening f(T).

Hyperelastic Material Models

Hyperelasticity can be used to analyze rubber-like materials (elastomers) that undergo large strains and
displacements, with small volume changes (nearly incompressible materials). Large strain theory is required (in the Mechanical application, set Large Deflection to On).
The hyperelastic material models are isotropic and constant with respect to temperature. The hyperelastic materials are also assumed to be nearly or purely incompressible. Thermal expansion, in the material, is also assumed to be isotropic.
Experimental testing data can be input for a material, and then using the curve fitting module (see
Curve Fitting (p. 29)), calculate coefficients for various hyperelastic material models. Another option is
to make use of the Response Function which allows the use of experimental testing data and the
definition of incompressibility parameters. The allowed experimental testing data are Uniaxial Test
Data, Biaxial Test Data, Shear Test Data, Volumetric Test Data, Simple Shear Test Data, Uniaxial Tension
Test Data, and Uniaxial Compression Test Data. The definition of the incompressibility parameters is
sequential and associated with a given index. To delete values requires that they be deleted from the
end of the sequence.

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Material Property Support for the Mechanical Application

Mullins effect is used for modeling load-induced changes to constitutive response exhibited by some
hyperelastic materials. Mullins Effect should be used in conjunction with a hyperelastic material model
except for Blatz-Ko and Ogden Foam models.
For additional information on these hyperelastic models see the Mechanical APDL application discussion
of Hyperelastic Material Models in the Material Reference.

Gasket Material Model

A gasket material model is used to analyze structural components that have a sealing component
between them. For additional information on the gasket model see the Mechanical APDL application
discussion of Gasket Material Model in the Material Reference. The gasket is defined by a compression
load closure curve, unloading data (linear or nonlinear), and optionally transverse shear and the maximum
tension stress. The gasket can additionally be defined at different temperature values by adding an
additional Data Set, found in the Gasket-Additional Data category of the Toolbox view for each
temperature.
The compression load closure curve defines the pressure in the material at given closure values. To
enter this data select the Compression item and enter the data in the Table view.
The unloading data can be entered as linear or nonlinear data. To add unloading data, choose Linear
Unloading or Nonlinear Unloading, found in the Gasket-Additional Data category of the Toolbox
view. When choosing linear unloading multiple curves are entered into each row of the table in the
Table view. If nonlinear unloading is chosen each individual unloading curve is added from the Toolbox
and then the data is added in the Table view.
To optionally define the maximum tension stress, add Gasket Parameters, found in the Gasket-Additional Data category of the Toolbox view.
To optionally define the transverse shear, add Transverse Shear, found in the Gasket-Additional Data
category of the Toolbox view.

Charts
Select Data Set node in Properties Pane to display chart for all the data defined for specific data set or
temperature value.
Select Gasket Model property node in Properties Pane to display all the gasket data. Each data set is displayed in unique color and associated temperature value can be seen in the chart legend.

Gurson Material Model

You use the Gurson material model to analyze structural components that experience plasticity and
damage in porous ductile metals.
Refer to the Mechanical APDL Material Reference in the Rate-Independent Plasticity section for a more
detailed description of the Gurson Material Model.
You define the Gurson model with yield function inputs which allow the growth to occur. You can then
optionally combine the yield function with a nucleation model controlled by stress or strain, and/or, a
coalescence model.
Once you insert the Gurson Model, the Gurson - Additional Data category displays in the Toolbox so
that you can add the optional additional models:
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Material Data
Nucleation Stress Controlled
Nucleation Strain Controlled
Coalescence
You may specify either stress or strain but not both.

Puck Material Model

The Puck material model is used to analyze the failure of a material in a laminate. In some situations
you may not have experimental data for the Puck parameters but can classify the material as a glass
or carbon. You can choose the Puck material classification from a drop-down menu and the appropriate
data will be filled in. The possible entries are as follows: Material Specific, Glass, or Carbon. Material
Specific is the default selection.

Cam-Clay
The Cam-Clay material model is contained in the Geomechanical Toolbox data item. This property
supports Static Structural and Transient Structural analyses. When you added this model, the Porous
Elasticity (p. 42) model is also automatically added. For additional information, see the discussion of
Cam-Clay in the Mechanical APDL Material Reference.
Cam-Clay includes the following physical properties:
Plastic Slope Parameter
Slope of Critical State Line
Initial Size of Yield Surface
Minimum Size of Yield Surface
Dry Part of Yield Surface Modifier
Wetting Part of Yield Surface Modifier
Anisotropic Yield Surface Parameter

Drucker-Prager
The Drucker-Prager material model is contained in the Geomechanical Toolbox data item. This property
supports Static Structural and Transient Structural analyses. For additional information, see the discussion
of Drucker-Prager in the Mechanical APDL Material Reference.
Drucker-Prager Base is the primary property and includes the following physical properties:
Uniaxial Compressive Strength
Uniaxial Tensile Strength
Biaxial Compressive Strength
In addition, once you insert the Drucker-Prager model, the Drucker-Prager - Additional Data data
item displays in the Toolbox so that you can add one of the following:

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Material Property Support for the Mechanical Application

Softening
Failure Plane Data Set

Jointed Rock
The Jointed Rock material model is contained in the Geomechanical Toolbox data item. This property
supports Static Structural and Transient Structural analyses. For additional information, see the discussion
of Jointed Rock in the Mechanical APDL Material Reference.
The Jointed Rock property includes the following physical properties:
Residual Strength Coupling
Yield Surface
Initial Inner Friction Angle (Degree)
Initial Cohesion (Force/length2)
Dilatancy Angle (Degree)
Residual Inner Friction Angle (Degree)
Residual Cohesion (Force/length2)
In addition, once you insert the Jointed Rock model, the Jointed Rock - Additional Data data item
displays in the Toolbox so that you can add one of the following:
Tension Rankine Yield Surface
Failure Plane Data Set

Mohr-Coulomb
The Mohr-Coulomb material model is contained in the Geomechanical Toolbox data item. This property
supports Static Structural and Transient Structural analyses. For additional information, see the discussion
of Mohr-Coulomb in the Mechanical APDL Material Reference.
Yield Surface is the Mohr-Coulomb property and includes the following physical properties:
Initial Inner Friction Angle (Degree)
Initial Cohesion (Force/length2)
Dilatancy Angle (Degree)
Residual Inner Friction Angle (Degree)
Residual Cohesion (Force/length2)
In addition, once you insert the Mohr-Coulomb model, the Mohr-Coulomb - Additional Data data
item displays in the Toolbox so that you can add the optional additional model Tension Rankine Yield
Surface.

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Material Data

Porous Elasticity
The Porous Elasticity material model is contained in the Geomechanical Toolbox data item. This property
supports Static Structural and Transient Structural analyses. Porous Elasticity is automatically added
when the Cam Clay (p. 40) model is added. For additional information, see the discussion of Porous
Elasticity in the Mechanical APDL Material Reference.
Porous Elasticity includes the following physical properties:
Swell Index
Elastic Limit of Tensile Strength
Poisson's Ratio
Initial Void Ratio

Electromagnetic Material Properties

Linear Soft Magnetic Material
This classification characterizes magnetic material assuming a constant permeability, that is, no saturation effects. Permeability is simply defined as the ratio of B to H: = B/H. Permeability is more easily
expressed in terms of relative and free-space values: = or. Free-space permeability, o, is equal
to 4e-07 H/m. Relative permeability, r is a multiplier of free-space permeability. Free-space permeability is defined internally within the program. You are required to supply a relative permeability value.
This classification is applicable to nonmagnetic material such as air, copper, aluminum. It can also be
used as an approximation to magnetic materials when a B-H curve is not available. If the material
exhibits constant properties in all directions (isotropic behavior) then select Relative Permeability
and enter the appropriate value. If the material exhibits different permeability in different orthogonal
directions (orthotropic), then select Relative Permeability (Orthotropic) and enter values for three
orthogonal directions (X, Y, Z). By default, the global coordinate system is used when the material is
applied to a part in the Mechanical application. If desired, you can apply a local coordinate system
to the part. The material orthogonal properties will align with the coordinate system assigned to the
part. For orthotropic material properties, all property values must be entered for the model to properly
solve.
Linear Hard Magnetic Material
This classification characterizes hard magnetic materials such as permanent magnets. The demagnetization curve of the permanent magnet is assumed to have a constant slope. The demagnetization
curve intersects the H axis at a value corresponding to the coercive force, Hc. The curve also intersects
the B-axis at a value corresponding to the residual induction, Br. You must enter the Coercive Force
and Residual Induction values. (Use a positive value for the Coercive Force). A permanent magnet
is polarized along an axis of the part. By default, the global coordinate system is used when the material is applied to a part in the Mechanical application. If desired, you can apply a local coordinate
system to the part. Align the X-axis of the coordinate system in the direction of the North pole of
the magnet. The coordinate system may be Cartesian or cylindrical. A cylindrical system may be used
for radially oriented permanent magnets.
Nonlinear Soft Magnetic Material

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Material Property Support for the Mechanical Application

This classification characterizes soft materials that exhibit nonlinear behavior between B and H. Select
B-H Curve to enter nonlinear B-H data. The nonlinear behavior is described by a single B-H curve.
You may create a curve by entering B and H data points in Engineering Data, or you may choose
from a library of B-H curves for typical properties (p. 19). For material exhibiting orthotropic behavior,
you may also select Relative Permeability (Orthotropic). You may elect to apply the B-H curve in
any one or all three orthotropic directions, and specify a constant relative permeability in the other
directions. If you use the orthotropic option, you can apply a local coordinate system to the part in
the Mechanical application instead of using the default, global coordinate system. When creating BH curves, please observe the following guidelines:
a. The curve should be smooth and continuous.
b. Extend the curve well beyond the operating location to accurately capture local high saturation levels.
The slope of the curve should asymptotically approach that of free-space permeability. The program will
extrapolate beyond the end of the curve at a slope equal to free-space permeability if required during
the simulation.
c. Group data points around the knee of the curve for better curve-fitting.
d. For best convergence of the simulation, the curve should approach the (0,0) point asymptotically. A new
point in the curve near the curve origin may cause convergence problems.
Nonlinear Hard Magnetic Material
This classification characterizes hard magnetic materials such as permanent magnets. The demagnetization curve of the permanent magnet is described by a series of B-H data points located in the
second quadrant. Select Demagnetization B-H Curve to enter this data. The first data entry point
should be at B = 0, H = -Hc. A permanent magnet is polarized along an axis of the part. In the
Mechanical application, you can apply a local coordinate system to the part, instead of using the
default, global coordinate system. Align the X-axis of the coordinate system in the direction of the
North pole of the magnet. The coordinate system may be Cartesian, cylindrical. A cylindrical system
may be used for radially oriented permanent magnets. When creating B-H curves, please observe the
following guidelines:
a. The curve should be smooth and continuous.
b. The curve may extend into the first quadrant.
c. Group data points around the knee of the curve for better curve-fitting.
Electric: This classification defines the electrical properties of materials, including:
Isotropic Resistivity
Orthotropic Resistivity
Choose your material properties based on how the material exhibits properties in orthogonal directions,
either constant in all directions (isotropic behavior) or different in orthogonal directions (orthotropic).
By default, the global coordinate system is used when you apply these properties to a part in the
Mechanical application. If desired, you can apply a local coordinate system to the part. The material
orthogonal properties will align with the coordinate system assigned to the part. For orthotropic
material properties, all property values must be entered for the model to properly solve.

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Material Data

Mutually Exclusive Properties

The properties that are mutually exclusive are grouped in the following table.
Isotropic Elasticity
Orthotropic Elasticity
Mooney-Rivlin
Neo-Hookean
Polynomial
Yeoh
Ogden
Arruda-Boyce
Gent
Blatz-Ko
Ogden Foam
Extended Tube
Bilinear Isotropic Hardening
Multilinear Isotropic Hardening
Bilinear Kinematic Hardening
Multilinear Kinematic Hardening
Relative Permeability
Relative Permeability (Orthotropic)
Coercive Force & Residual Induction
Demagnetization B-H Curve
Thermal Conductivity Isotropic
Thermal Conductivity Orthotropic
Isotropic Resistivity
Orthotropic Resistivity
Orthotropic Seebeck Coefficient

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Mutually Exclusive Properties

Seebeck Coefficient
Relative Permeability
B-H Curve
Coercive Force & Residual Induction
Demagnetization B-H Curve
Mooney-Rivlin
Neo-Hookean
Polynomial
Yeoh
Ogden
Arruda-Boyce
Gent
Blatz-Ko
Ogden Foam
Extended Tube
Anand Viscoplasticity
Williams-Landel-Ferry Shift Function
Tool-Narayanaswamy Shift Function
Tool-Narayanaswamy with Fictive Temperature Shift
Function
Superelasticity
Shape Memory Effect
Isotropic Elasticity
Orthotropic Elasticity
Anisotropic Elasticity
Blatz-Ko
Ogden Foam
Mullins Effect

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Material Data
Exponential for Interface Delamination
Bilinear for Interface Delamination
Separation-Distance based Debonding
Fracture-Energies based Debonding
Linear Fracture Criterion
Bilinear Fracture Criterion
B-K Fracture Criterion
Modified B-K Fracture Criterion
Power Law Fracture Criterion

Mechanical Material Curve Fitting

The material curve fitting will calculate coefficients of material models that approximate the following
experimental data. You can enter the data or copy and paste data from a spreadsheet into the Table
pane.
Hyperelastic Test Data
Uniaxial Test f(T) (Engineering Strain vs. Engineering Stress)
Biaxial Test f(T) (Engineering Strain vs. Engineering Stress)
Shear Test f(T) (Engineering Strain vs. Engineering Stress)
Volumetric Test f(T)
The following hyperelastic material models support curve fitting (see Curve Fitting (p. 29)) of the experimental data:
Mooney-Rivlin
Ogden
Neo-Hookean
Polynomial
Yeoh
Arruda-Boyce
Gent

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Mechanical Material Curve Fitting

Blatz-Ko

Note
The Volume Ratio equals the ratio of the current volume to that of the original volume and
all solution data displayed for postprocessing are true stresses and logarithmic strains.
The experimental data defined for all temperatures is used for curve fitting. Please make sure that
temperatures are defined consistently for different experimental data. If the experimental data contains
temperature mismatch then the warning message will be displayed in the Messages pane during Solve
Curve Fit.
When volumetric data is supplied, a compressible or nearly incompressible model is implied. When no
volumetric data is supplied, the model is understood to be incompressible. Supplying zero as a coefficient
for the volumetric data also denotes an incompressible model.
You should perform curve fitting for the various hyperelastic models to choose the one, based on the
range of strain you are interested in, that best matches the experimental data provided.
Chaboche Test Data
Uniaxial Plastic Strain Test Data f(T) (Plastic Strain vs. True Stress)

Note
To use curve fitting with plasticity, the only experimental data supported is Uniaxial Plastic
Strain Test Data. Experimental data for plasticity is path dependent. Multiple Uniaxial Plastic
strain test data can be added from Uniaxial Plastic Strain Additional Test Data group
which will be accessible in the Toolbox, when Uniaxial Plastic Strain Test Data is selected.
Chaboche Kinematic Hardening plasticity model supports curve fitting (see Curve Fitting (p. 29)) of
the Uniaxial Plastic strain test data.
Viscoelastic Test Data
Shear Data- Viscoelastic f(T) (Time vs. Shear Modulus)
Bulk Data - Viscoelastic f(T) (Time vs. Bulk Modulus)

Note
Both the above test data are path dependent. Multiple test data can be added from Viscoelastic - Additional Test Data group which will be accessible in the Toolbox, when test
data is selected in properties.
Viscoelastic models with curve fitting (see Curve Fitting (p. 29)) support:
Prony Shear Relaxation

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Material Data
Prony Volumetric Relaxation

Note
A change in the Number of Terms on the Prony models will update the curve fitting coefficients to allow fitting for the desired number of terms. The calculated values in the curve
fitting are normalized, when Copy Calculated Values to Property is selected. The normalization uses the following equations, which describe the relationship between the Prony
Coefficient ( ) and the corresponding coefficient generated in curve fitting ( ). is the
number of terms computed.
is the square root of
and
are the shear modulus and bulk modulus at
values used in the property table positive.

and
is the square root of
. This is done to keep all

.
and

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

Error Norm for Fit

The error norm can be set to use normalized or absolute error. Normalized error norm considers each
experimental datum equally in computing the curve fit. It generally provides better results than the
absolute error norm, but in some cases the absolute error norm is a better choice.

Nonlinear Fitting (Ogden, Gent and Chaboche Kinematic Hardening)

For nonlinear curve fitting you can provide seed values for the coefficients or you can fix these seed
values. The seed values can be provided for each temperature data. If you do not provide seed values
internal defaults will be used. It is suggested that you attempt to use seed values based on experience
if possible. The nonlinear curve fit will most often converge to a local error norm minimum. It may take
several attempts (trial seed values) to achieve the desired fit, or copying and pasting the last solution
as seed values and solving again.
Curvefitting for viscoelastic models Prony Shear Relaxation and Prony Volumetric Relaxation is nonlinear.

CAD Materials
The materials assigned to parts in a CAD package can be used in Mechanical by checking the Material
Properties check box in the Geometry cell properties pane. The materials assigned to parts in the CAD
package will be assigned to corresponding parts in the Mechanical application.
CADMaterials Engineering Data Source- When a model is refreshed after importing CAD geometry,
a temporary MatML 3.1 file will be created, which contains the materials from the CAD package. This
file will be added as a Data Source in Engineering Data as CADMaterials and the file description will
identify the system it belongs to. This file is overwritten when a CAD update operation is performed,
so the file should not be edited directly.
Please see the following work flows related to the use of materials from CAD packages.

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CAD Materials
A. Using CAD materials
1. Check Material Properties check box in the Geometry cell and import geometry.
2. Refresh model- The materials assigned to parts in the CAD package will be assigned to corresponding
parts in the Mechanical application.

Note
If the part in the CAD package doesn't have a material assigned, the default material
will be assigned in Mechanical (see Default Material Assignment for Model
Parts (p. 20)).

B. Modifying material properties

1. Follow workflow. A. Using CAD materials.
2. Modify material- Add the material from CADMaterials Data Source to Engineering Data and modify it.
3. Refresh model- Mechanical will use the material defined in Engineering Data.
C. Deleting material in Engineering Data
1. Follow workflow. B. Modifying material properties.
2. Edit material- Edit Engineering Data cell and delete the material.
3. Refresh model- The default material will be assigned to corresponding parts in Mechanical (see Default
Material Assignment for Model Parts (p. 20)).
D. Updating material from CAD
1. Follow workflow. A. Using CAD materials.
2. Modify material- Open geometry in the CAD application. Modify material properties in the CAD application and save.
3. Update geometry from CAD.
4. Refresh model- Mechanical will then use the modified material from CAD.
E. Materials with same name or synonym
1. Define some materials in Engineering Data.
2. Check Material Properties check box in the Geometry cell and import geometry.
3. Refresh model.
4. If the material in Engineering Data has the same name or synonym (seen in the tool tip) as the material
defined in the CAD package, then the Mechanical application will use the material defined in Engineering
Data and not from CAD package.

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Appendix
This section includes the following:
Appendix A: Material Library File Format
Appendix B: Custom Material Models

Appendix A: Material Library File Format

Engineering Data follows the MatML 3.1 Schema for saving material data to external libraries on disk.
More information about MatML can be found at www.matml.org. For an example of the format see the
Export individual data item in the Perform Basic Tasks in Engineering Data (p. 15) section and then
open the file with a text/xml editor.

Appendix B: Custom Material Models

Introduction
Your installation of Workbench provides templates that enable you to customize the Engineering Data
Workspace to provide inputs for a user-defined material model.
This appendix describes the files that you will use as templates to create your own property categories
and the corresponding property data for your own user-defined material model(s).

Assumptions and Prerequisites

The process of creating user-defined materials requires you to edit installation files. Therefore, it is assumed that you have the necessary skills and experience to perform these tasks. Expertise in material
constitutive modeling and software programming is necessary and experience writing XML. Furthermore,
creating user-defined material models also requires validation and testing. ANSYS, Inc. strongly recommends that you test both the single elements and the multiple elements with various loading conditions
to ensure correct results. This feature supports shared memory and distributed parallel processing;
however, you are responsible for ensuring that your code can use parallel processing.
In addition, in order to use user-defined material model(s) in Engineering Data, you must first follow
the steps to create the corresponding Subroutine in Mechanical APDL. See the Custom Material Models
section of the Mechanical APDL Material Reference before continuing.
The files to be customized contain instructional comments to assist you with the modification process.
The following sections further elaborate upon and explain the steps for customization.
Create Material Models
Material Definition Methods File
Material Relationships File
Material Properties File
Metadata Element

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Appendix

Create Material Models

Customization Files for Engineering Data Workspace The following files are included within your production installation. They enable you to create interface elements within the Engineering Data Workspace.
MAPDL_UserMat_Properties.xml: Defines a user-defined material model's constants to be sent to Mechanical. These can be displayed in the Property view or hidden. Installation location:
Drive:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\version\Addins\EngineeringData\MetaData

MAPDL_UserMat_DefinitionMethods.xml: Defines the category and names to display for the user-defined
material model(s) in the Toolbox view. Installation location:
Drive:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\version\Addins\EngineeringData\MetaData

MAPDL_UserMat_Relationships.xml: Defines dependencies and mutual exclusions for the custom material model(s). Installation location:
Drive:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\version\Addins\EngineeringData\MetaData

EngineeringData.config: Defines the files to be used by the product and if your edits are invalid, you can
disable the product. Installation location:
Drive:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\version\Addins\EngineeringData\bin\<machine-type>

These files include instructional comments that guide you during the modification process. Each file is
described in subsequent sections.

Important
ANSYS recommends that you use a text editor that allows you to expand and collapse sections
in the XML files for ease of editing.

Procedure
1. Open the following installation directory:
Drive:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\version\Addins\EngineeringData\MetaData

2. Highlight and copy each of the following files to a new folder. This helps to ensure that the integrity of the
original files is maintained.
MAPDL_UserMat_Properties.xml
MAPDL_UserMat_DefinitionMethods.xml
MAPDL_UserMat_Relationships.xml
3. Rename the new files by replacing MAPDL with your companys name. For example:
MyCompany_UserMat_Properties.xml
MyCompany_UserMat_DefinitionMethods.xml

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MyCompany_UserMat_Relationships.xml
Once copied to a new folder and renamed, you can begin editing the files.

Important
It is recommended that you use a text editor that allows you to expand and collapse sections
in the XML files for ease of editing.
Once you feel that your edits are complete and accurate, you need to modify the EngineeringData.config
file. This is a critical program file.

Warning
If you introduce an error into EngineeringData.config file, you may disable the product.
Therefore, it is critical that you have a backup copy of the file before performing edits to it.
1. Open the following installation directory:
Drive:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\version\Addins\EngineeringData\bin\<machine-type>

2. Make a copy of EngineeringData.config before editing.

3. Open the file in any text editor and search for "UserMat" and duplicate the lines related to "UserMat" below
the existing lines.
4. Replace the filename with your filename and then change enabled to "true" as highlighted below.
5. Make sure that you have copied your files to the installation folder.

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6. Open the Engineering Data Workspace and select the Filter Engineering Data button. The Toolbox should
display your material model(s).

Material Definition Methods File

The content of the User Material Definition Methods file, MyCompany_DefinitionMethods.xml, is illustrated
below. This file defines the category and property names that are displayed in the Engineering Data
Toolbox.

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As shown above, the <PropertyCategory> element defines the Engineering Data Toolbox category
and the <Property> element defines a property contained in the category.
As illustrated, you can have more than one property. In addition, this is where you also create additional
property categories. You can copy and paste these lines to help you create additional properties and
property categories.

Note
The string for the name attribute must be the same as that used in the MyCompany_UserMat_Properties.xml file for the name of the user-defined material model to be valid. An example of this
entry is shown below.

The text "(UPF)" is appended to the string by Engineering Data to clearly distinguish user-defined
material models from those provided by ANSYS.
Make sure that your tags are properly formatted with beginning ("<") and ending ("/>") characters.

Material Relationships File

The content of the User Material Relationships file, MyCompany_UserMat_Relationships.xml, is illustrated
below. Your material model may require specific material data, such as Density in order for it to be
computed. This file defines those types of dependencies and also defines the mutual exclusions for
your material model(s).

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The PropertyDependencies element provides all material property dependencies. A given property is
specified which then contains those properties which it is dependent upon.

Note
The string for the name attribute must be the same as that used in the MyCompany_UserMat_Properties.xml file for the name of the user-defined material model to be valid. An example of this
entry is shown below.

Make sure that your tags are properly formatted with beginning ("<") and ending ("/>") characters.

Mutual Exclusions
A user-defined material model may not be able to be used with other material data (e.g. isotropic
elasticity) because the user-defined material model provides the needed computation (e.g. elasticity).
The relationships file enables you to specify this information so that when a user would add the userdefined material model to the material the other material properties or models will be suppressed
automatically if in the material.
Any mutual exclusion to other material models is defined within the MutualExclusions element. You
use the subelements (ModelData) to specify those models which cannot be used together. There can
be more than one MutuallyExclusive element specified. Add the ModelData line multiple times with
a string as a property name which cannot be used with the user-defined material model.

Material Properties File

The MyCompany_UserMat_Properties.xml file contains the specific data that is sent to Mechanical.
Within the file, the Bulk Details element houses the data elements.
The illustration shown below displays the BulkDetails element in a collapsed view. The additional elements within BulkDetails are the elements that you will make changes to.

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Within the BulkDetails element, the PropertyData element defines the input data for each user-defined
material model.

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The PropertyData element requires the property attribute (property="prUSER") which is a string data
type that corresponds to an id attribute in the Metadata element within the properties files. You may
use any unique string as the identification for a given Property. The PropertyData element also requires
the minOccurrences attribute (minOccurrences="1") attribute. You use the ParameterValue element
within PropertyData to define the data for a user-defined material model.
<Data format>=string</Data>
You must include this line as shown for compatibility requirements.
<Qualifier name="UserMat">string</Qualifier>
Identifies this PropertyData as being defined in UserMat. The string should be specified as "USER" to
define inputs for this user-defined material model (TB, USER) or "STATE" to define state variables for this
user-defined material model (TB, STATE) or a material model (e.g. CZM) which supports USER as a valid
TBOPT field (e.g. TB,CZM,,,,USER).

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<Qualifier name="Display">False</Qualifier>
This Boolean allows the PropertyData to be hidden (False) in the GUI but the data is sent to Mechanical.
The individual field data and behaviors for a user-defined material model are defined within the ParameterValue element. The following attributes are applicable for this element.
Attribute

Value

Description

parameter

"string"

The string corresponds to the id attribute in a

ParametersDetails element of the Metadata element.
You may use any unique string as the identification
for a given Parameter (user-defined material model
field).

format

"string"

This attribute is required for compatibility requirements

and the string value must equal "float".

lowerLimit

"string"

This string is the lower limit of valid data. It is possible

to use ">0.0" for a positive non-zero value. The default
is negative the maximum double numerical
representation.

upperLimit

"string"

The string is the upper limit of valid data. It is possible

to use "<0.0" for a negative non-zero value. The default
is the maximum double numerical representation.

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Further defining ParameterValue content includes the following:

<Data=string</Data>
The string is the default value for the parameter to send to Mechanical. If the desire is to have a blank field
in the GUI to indicate a value should be entered (shown in yellow), use the value included in the example,
the result of pow(2,-100).
<Qualifier name="UserMat Constant">string</Qualifier>
The string is an integer value which specifies this parameter value's position in TBDATA command. For
example, the user input value of parameter "paC3" will be placed at the fifth position in TBDATA command.

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<Qualifier name="Variable Type">string</Qualifier>

This string should be specified as Dependent for a dependent parameter and as Independent for an independent parameter (e.g. Temperature).

Temperature Dependent Parameter Value

When the data can vary with temperature then you need to include a parameter (in the example,
ParameterValue parameter="pa1") as the first element of the PropertyData element. You need to also
include the following two attributes to define the number of temperature points for which data will be
provided.
minEntries
minEntries="string": The string is an integer value. A value of "0" allows the user to enter data without
any temperature points.
maxEntries
maxEntries="string": The string is an integer value. For example, a value of "2" allows up to a maximum
of two temperature data points to be specified. The maximum entries allowed by MAPDL is limited by the
following calculation:
maxEntries <= 1000 / (number of user-defined material model inputs)

For the example content, the parameter "pa1" is defined in the Metadata table as Temperature.
You can use an alternate string if desired (e.g. "temp").

STATE Dependent Parameter Value

If your material model also needs STATE data to complete the inputs, include the groupPropertyData
parameter as the last element in the PropertyData element. In the example illustrated below, placing
this element in more than one PropertyData element will group these PropertyData under a single
property "UserMat Model Example 1" in the GUI.

The parameter groupPropertyData is defined in the Metadata table with the name Material Property
which facilitates this behavior. You can use an alternate string if desired (e.g. "group").

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Metadata Element
The details for the attributes used on PropertyData (property="") and ParameterValue (parameter="")
are contained within Metadata element. Metadata content is illustrated below.

Parameter Details
The string used by ParameterDetails is a unique identification for the parameter to be used in conjunction with a ParmeterValue's attribute parameter.
Name
<Name>"string"</Name>: This string to be displayed in the GUI as the name of the parameter.

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Units
The Units element defines the name of the physical quantity for which defined units are available. For example, units of a parameter which has Stress units (Pa) can be defined as shown below. Use Unitless for
parameters without units as shown above.

Caution
Use extreme caution if you are choosing the unit of measure. This value is converted to the
Unit System specified for the solution and if you do not enter a supported unit, you could
produce incorrect data for the solution.

Property Details
The only PropertyDetails attribute is id="string". The string is a unique identification for the property
(prUSER) to be used in conjunction with a PropertyData's attribute property. Following elements are
used to further specify PropertyDetails.
Name
<Name>"string"</Name>: The string to be displayed in the GUI as the name of the user-defined material
model.
Units
This is required for compatibility and should not be modified.

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Index
C
chart pane, 12
create custom material models, 51
custom material models, 16, 51

D
definitions, 1

E
Engineering Data user interface, 2
exporting, 12

material library file format, 51

material model
cam-clay, 40, 42
drucker-prager, 40
gasket, 39
gurson, 39
jointed rock, 41
mohr-coulomb, 41
nonlinear , 38
plastic, 38
puck, 40
menu bar, 3
modes of operation, 1
modifying, 13

F
favorites, 12
filtering, 13

outline filter pane, 4

outline pane, 5
overview, 1

importing, 12

parameterizing, 13
performing basic tasks, 15
properties pane, 8

L
layout
Engineering Data, 2
library, 12

quick start, 1

material
cad material, 48
charting, 29
composite, 20
curve fitting, 29
definitions, 19
electromagnetic properties, 42
explicit library, 20
fluid, 20
general library, 19
general nonlinear library, 19
hyperelastic library, 20
magnetic B-H curve library, 20
Mechanical APDL material curve fitting, 46
mutually exclusive properties, 44
perform tasks, 30
properties, 19
property support, 36
sample libraries, 19
supported properties, 20
suppression of mutually exclusive properties, 29
thermal, 20
validation, 29

suppressing, 13

T
table pane, 9
toolbar, 4
toolbox, 4

U
user interface
Engineering Data, 2

W
working with data, 13
working with data sources, 12
workspace
Engineering Data, 2

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