Running Ansys from Matlab

Hi,

I need to run Ansys from Matlab. I write the code

dos('ansys145 -b -i model2.txt -o output2.txt');

Then I get an error

ansys145 is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

I try adding "C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v145\ansys\bin\winx64\ANSYS145.exe" as a path to Environmental Variables but the problem is not solved.

[Geoff Hayes]

What happens if you try running the same command outside of MATLAB, in the DOS/Command window - does that work?

And did you add C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v145\ansys\bin\winx64\ANSYS145.exe to the Environment Path variable, or C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v145\ansys\bin\winx64\ where the latter has just the path to the application and not the application name?

[Merve]

I added "C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v145\ansys\bin\winx64\ANSYS145.exe" to the Environmental Path and this did not work. I solve problem by changing the command as

dos('"C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v145\ansys\bin\winx64\ANSYS145.exe" -b -i model2.txt -o output2.txt');

[Geoff Hayes]

It would have been interesting to see if just adding C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v145\ansys\bin\winx64 to the environment PATH would have been sufficient because I think that you typically add paths to this variable and not files or executables (along with their path).

[Mohan prasad K S]

Hello Merve & Geoff

I used the code

 !"C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v160\ansys\bin\winx64ANSYS160.exe" -b -i  C:\Users\cfo1714\python\s3.txt -o C:\Users\cfo1714\python\output.txt

and I also used

 dos('"C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v160\ansys\bin\winx64ANSYS160.exe" -b -dir "C:\Users\cfo1714\python" -i  "C:\Users\cfo1714\python\s3.txt -o C:\Users\cfo1714\python\output.txt"')

I got the same result, which is

 '"C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v160\ansys\bin\winx64ANSYS160.exe"' is not recognized as an internal or external command, 
operable program or batch file. 

 ans =

     1

Please help me, in solving the problem

[Walter Roberson]

Mohan prasad K S, you appear to be missing the \ between winx64 and ANSYS160.exe

Check with your Windows Explorer that you are using exactly the same path and file name as your ANSYS executable.

[Prakul Mittal]

Hi Guys I am facing the same issue

dos( ' "C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v162\ansys\bin\winx64\ANSYS" -b -i C:\New folder\matlabex\ansyscampbell\in.txt -o C:\New folder\matlabex\ansyscampbell\out.txt ');

but ansys is not working, and I am geting ans vaule = -1.0737e+09

can any one help please. thanks

[Sorin Munteanu]

Hi Prakul,

I will suggest to use interactive connection between Matlab and ANSYS (aka the ANSYS aaS connection). The link provided by Sarah is a very good start ( MATLAB Apps For ANSYS )

Using ANSYS aaS you will be able start Matlab and ANSYS on two different machines (e.g. Matlab on Windows and ANSYS on Linux) and connect them. You will be able then to issue one command(i.e. one line in your in.txt) at the time and retrieve the output/error for each command.

The approach that you mentioned will implicitly require ANSYS and Matlab running on the same machine, and further more ANSYS will most surely execute in the memory of the Matlab process, therefore it will be applicable only to relative small academic ANSYS simulations. The aaS approach will let you to execute large ANSYS simulation too, e.g. parallel simulations running on multiple compute node on a Linux cluster. On top of thatm with aaS, you do not have to wait for ANSYS simulation to complete and read the output file, but you will be updated by the simulation progress as this is executed.

Sorin

[Walter Roberson]

Prakul, try

dos( ' "C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v162\ansys\bin\winx64\ANSYS" -b -i "C:\New folder\matlabex\ansyscampbell\in.txt" -o "C:\New folder\matlabex\ansyscampbell\out.txt" ');

That is, every path should have "" around it, so that if it happens to have a space in it, dos will not break it up into two arguments.

[Prakul Mittal]

Hi Sorin & Walter,

Thanks for the input.

Answer 1

[Sarah Palfreyman]

See ANSYS for the MATLAB AAS Toolbox interface.

http://www.ansys-blog.com/how-to-make-matlab-apps-for-ansys/

[Oscar Espinosa]

That doesn't solve the issue in the case of having a ANSYS students license.

Answer 2

[broken_arrow]

As of today, the provided link

http://www.ansys-blog.com/how-to-make-matlab-apps-for-ansys/

redirects to the Ansys start page. The latest ANSYS_aaS Toolbox I could get is 1.1.9, which officially works until Matlab R2018b. I couldn't get it to work with newer releases and also can't downgrade my Matlab release because I'm using some functionalities of newer releases. Is there any follow-up on this? Has Ansys aaS been discontinued?

[Walter Roberson]

The blog appears to have moved to

https://www.ansys.com/blog/how-to-make-matlab-apps-for-ansys

Unfortunately the toolbox they mention there cannot be searched for on their site -- it looks like public and students cannot gain access to the place in the Customer Portal that has the toolbox.

[broken_arrow]

Thanks for providing the new link. Still, the time stamp is from 2017 and according to the text, the toolbox works for Matlab releases from 2014b through 2016a. It would be great to get an update on the state of things (@Sarah Palfreyman, @MathWorks Support Team).

Answer 3

[Akshay Kumar]

Check this out, might be helpful. using MATLAB to run (ANSYS) APDL macro code