AXL ASAS Interface for Microsoft Excel
Contents
1. type and requested value Example axlgetelementflt C ABCD WXYZ 1 100 0 API LRFDALLOED1 UC UC AXIAL 1 1 1 2 1 returns the maximum unity check value for all positions on all elements for loadcase 100 The results are retrieved for the project ABCD structure WX YZ located in CA axlgetequation Purpose Returns the requested equation result Syntax axlgetequation model node load subset result type result component Notes The result type and result component indicate which information will be retrieved For example the result type may be displacement and the result component x y z etc The result type and component can be entered as upper or lower case Zero should be entered for subset if the load contains no subsets Example axlgetequation Rig 2 3 0 displacement y returns the displacement in the y direction at the second node of loadcase 3 within the model Rig axlgetglobal Purpose Returns the requested global result Syntax axlgetglobal model load subset result type result component Notes Global results are specific to the load case and or subset and not to a certain element or node The result type and result component indicate which information will be retrieved For example the result type may be reaction sum and the result component x y z etc The result type and component can be entered as upper or lower case Zero shou2. AXL 203 AXL 204 AXL 205 AXL 206 AXL 207 AXL 208 AXL 209 AXL 210 AXL 211 AXL 212 AXL 213 AXL 214 AXL 215 AXL 216 AXL 217 AXL 218 AXL 219 AXL 220 HAXL 221 HAXL 222 AXL 223 AXL 224 AXL 225 AXL 226 AXL 227 AXL 228 AXL 229 AXL 230 AXL 231 AXL 232 Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 5 1 AXL User Manual Error Codes AXL 233 AXL 234 AXL 235 AXL 299 AXL 300 AXL 301 AXL 302 AXL 303 AXL 304 AXL 305 AXL 306 AXL 307 AXL 308 AXL 309 AXL 310 AXL 311 AXL 312 AXL 313 AXL 314 AXL 315 AXL 321 AXL 322 AXL 331 AXL 332 AXL 333 AXL 341 AXL 351 requested element is not a beam AXL 352 AXL 353 AXL 354 AXL 355 cannot determine coordinates for node not connected to an element AXL 356 invalid time step requested HAXL 357 AXL 359 AXL 369 AXL 370 AXL 371 AXL 372 AXL 373 AXL 374 AXL 375 AXL 376 AXL 377 AXL 378 AXL 379 AXL 380 AXL 401 AXL 402 AXL 413 AXL A17 AXL 429 AXL 432 AXL 456 AXL 501 AXL 505 AXL 506 Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 5 2 AXL User Manual Error Codes AXL 513 AXL 515 HAXL 517 HAXL 529 HAXL 532 HAXL 535 HAXL 556 AXL 569 HAXL 601 AXL 606 AXL 613 AXL 615 HAXL 617 HAXL 632 cannot read data from IBSST file HAXL 635 cannot read data from I
3. a text string identifying the version of the add in macro sheet ax132 xla and the associated dynamic link library ax132 d1l which are currently being used This is mainly intended so that support personnel can identify possible problems due to the use of superseded software Page 4 4 AXL User Manual AXL Functions 4 3 Functions to Retrieve Standard Information The following functions can be used to retrieve standard items of information from an ASAS database No understanding of the internal structure of the database is required to make use of these functions axlbeamaxis Purpose Returns the direction cosine components for beam element local axes Syntax axlbeamaxis model element axisname Notes axisname corresponds to the required axis direction cosine and may be one of the following Direction cosines for local X axis Direction cosines for local Y axis Direction cosines for local Z axis The axis information returned relates to the final member orientation i e taking account of any rigid offsets Example axlbeamaxis Jacket 1001 Zy returns the y component of the local Z axis for element 1001 in the model defined by the named cell Jacket axlbeamforce Purpose Returns the force or moment in a beam element at one end Syntax axlbeamforce model element node loadcase force Notes node may be either one of the nodes on the beam or 1 to indicate end 1 of the beam or 2 to indicate end 2 force may be g
4. be used when another AXL function in a cell displays a message of the form axl nnn where nnn is an error number For example if cell C22 is showing ax1 302 then typing axlerror C22 in an empty cell will show a description of the error as above Returns a text string identifying the version of the add in macro sheet axl xla and the associated dynamic link library axl dll which are currently being used This is mainly intended so that support personnel can identify possible problems due to the use of out of date software axlversion This returns a string something like axl xla version 12 00 01 0 axl dll version 12 00 01 0 Note that the function does not require an argument Not required Page 4 27 AXL User Manual AXL Functions 4 8 Problem Solving When using AXL functions several different types of problem might arise These fall into three main groups e errors in function names and arguments e errors in values given to a function e errors in accessing the ASAS files Some problems may cause Excel to display one of its standard error indicators NAME usually means that you have mis typed the name of the function or that the ax132 xla add in has not been loaded N A usually means that too few arguments have been given to a function VALUE usually means that the wrong type of arguments have been given such as text where a number is expected or a wrong value for an argument with a restricted range of val
5. entered by clicking on the appropriate cells However if this formula is copied to from cell B9 to cell C10 it becomes axldisplace B5 B10 C7 C9 which is completely wrong The required formula in cell C10 is axldisplace A4 A10 B6 C8 Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 3 2 AXL User Manual Running AXL Column and row numbers in a formula can be made absolute by prefixing them with dollar signs Therefore the formula in cell B9 can be rewritten as axldisplace S A 4 SA9 SBS6 BS8 which when copied to C10 gives axldisplace A 4 SA10 SBS6 CS8 which evaluates to axldisplace C ALPHA PLAT JACK 2030 401 Y as required Use of named cells can also be useful when requiring invariant data access By naming cell A4 model use can be made of this name in the function cells and behaves as though giving an absolute address Thus model is synonymous with a 4 The formula in cell B9 becomes axldisplace model A9 B 6 B 8 The formula in cell B9 can be copied over the whole of the table B9 D 14 to give the required table as follows A B C D 1 C ALPHA 2 PLAT 3 JACK 4 A1 amp amp A2 amp amp A3 5 6 Loadcase 401 T 8 Node X Y Z 9 2020 axIdisplace model A9 B 6 B 8 10 2030 11 2040 12 3020 13 3030 14 3040 Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and aff
6. in due course Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 1 1 AXL User Manual Running AXL 2 Installation 2 1 Installing AXL The notes below relate to Microsoft Excel 2007 Earlier versions may vary slightly from the suggested installation To use the AXL functions in Excel it needs to know the location of the XLA file and to access the ax132 dll file ax132 dll This file is located within the installed Ansys files default location C Program Files Ansys Inc lt version gt asas bin lt platform gt It must either be copied to a location on the system path or have the above folder added to the path You may need additional permissions to perform either of these actions and hence we recommend that you consult your IT department ax132 xla In Excel select Office Excel Options Add Ins then browse to the location of the ax132 xla file by default this is in the axl sub folder of the ASAS installation Next select Office Excel Options Add Ins Manage Excel Add ins and ensure the Ax132 box is ticked Ensure that these settings are saved before closing Excel If you are presented with options to update links when opening an existing spreadsheet select Don t Update then copy the path preceding an AXL command including apostrophes and the exclamation mark and carry out a Find and Replace with no entry for the Replace to remove it Save
7. of ASAS integers Returns zero if the record does not exist axlleni model filenumber recordnumber For real records use axllenr If mixed integer and real records are addressed the number of integers is predefined and is given in the ASAS Programmer s Manual The number of reals can then be determined by the following formula numberReals Integer Length of Record Number Integers Int To Real is returned from axlleni is obtained from the Programmer s Manual is the number of integer values in a real For MOST machines this is 2 the exception being the Cray where itis 1 where Integer Length of Record Number Integers Int to Real axlleni Jacket 35 13 returns 120 the length of record 13 of file 35 for the model defined in the named cell Jacket Same as axlleni except that the record length is counted in terms of reals This does not actually guarantee that the record contains real numbers axllenr model filenumber recordnumber For integer or mixed integer real records use axlleni axllenr Jacket 5 2 returns the length in number of reals of record 2 of file 5 This is the geometric properties data Returns the record number of the last record on an ASAS file axllast model filenumber This can be useful in determining how much information there is to retrieve from the database axllast Jacket 35 returns the number of the last record on file 35 the IADMIN file for the model defined in th
8. or moment in a beam element at one end Returns the displacement velocity acceleration for a node in a transient response analysis Returns number of time steps selected for reporting in a transient response analysis Returns the time associated with a given step in a transient response analysis Retrieves a single integer value from any file of the specified model at any position of any record Same as axli except that the value returned is real The position on the record is also calculated in terms of real numbers Same as axli except that the integer is converted to a text string of four or fewer characters such as an element name or a component name Returns the length of the record counter in terms of ASAS integers Returns zero if the record does not exist Same as axlleni except that the record length is counted in terms of reals This does not actually guarantee that the record contains real numbers Returns the record number of the last record on an ASAS file Returns an item from the RUNINF common block Returns the requested element result Returns the requested element result extended for additional result availability Returns the requested element result filtered based on the given information Returns the requested equation result Returns the requested global result Returns the requested nodal result Converts an axis or force name to a number Returns a text string describing an error code returned by an AXL function Returns
9. 50 2 returns the number of the second node on element 2050 in the model defined by the named cell Jacket axlelementtype Purpose Returns the ASAS M element type Syntax axlelementtype model element Notes This function returns the four character name by which an element type is identified within the ASAS system e g TUBE BM3D QUMA etc Example axlelementtype Jacket 1001 returns the ASAS element type for user element 1001 in the model defined by the named cell Jacket axlelementresult Purpose Returns one force stress etc result for any type of element Syntax axlelementresult model element loadcase result Notes All the results for one load case on an element are stored as a list of numbers by ASAS Itis necessary to know the order of the results and the node numbering of the element to extract the required result The axlbeamforce or axlfx etc functions should be used for retrieving results from the standard three dimensional beam elements Example axlelementresult vessel 2050 10 13 returns the Oxx stress on the third node of a GCS8 element number 2050 for loadcase 10 in the model defined by the named cell vessel axlfreedomcode Purpose Determines the internal ASAS M freedom code corresponding to a named freedom Returns zero if the freedom name is invalid This function is generally not required as most AXL functions can convert freedom names to freedom codes when required Syntax axlfreed
10. ADMIN file HAXL 656 cannot read data from pile element information LEXSP file HAXL 669 cannot read data from results IFRESL file AXL 570 this function can only be used with a physical 45 file AXL 629 cannot read data from ISFIL file AXL 701 cannot open results steering IFRESU file AXL 806 requested file exists in ASAS index but has no records so AXL 704 cannot read data from displacement velocity acceleration IFOUTD file AXL 801 illegal project name AXL 802 cannot open project file AXL 808 unable to allocate memory to read indexes etc AXL 809 AXL 702 cannot read data from results steering IFRESU file AXL 703 cannot open displacement velocity acceleration IFOUTD file AXL 807 physical file does not exist or is not readable AXL 811 defective unit information table AXL 812 cannot open any more ASAS files without first closing some AXL 803 AXL 804 AXL 813 cannot allocate more space for internal control table AXL 805 requested file does not exist in ASAS index AXL 810 defective sub index AXL 815 AXL 816 AXL 817 AXL 818 AXL 814 AXL 822 AXL 823 AXL 824 AXL 825 AXL 826 AXL 827 AXL 828 AXL 829 AXL 830 AXL 831 AXL 832 AXL 833 AXL 834 AXL 821 invalid ASBI file handle Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 5 3 AXL User Manual Error Codes AXL 853 unable to allocate memory Contains pro
11. AXL ASAS Interface for Microsoft Excel Version 12 1 ANSYS Inc Southpointe 275 Technology Drive Canonsburg PA 15317 ansysinfo O ansys com http www ansys com T 724 746 3304 F 724 514 9494 Copyright 2009 SAS IP Inc All Rights Reserved Unauthorised use distribution or duplication is prohibited ANSYS Inc is certified to ISO 9001 2008 Revision Information The information in this guide applies to all ANSYS Inc products released on or after this date until superseded by a newer version of this guide This guide replaces individual product installation guides from previous releases Copyright and Trademark Information O 2009 SAS IP Inc All rights reserved Unauthorized use distribution or duplication is prohibited ANSYS ANSYS Workbench AUTODYN CFX FLUENT and any and all ANSYS Inc brand product service and feature names logos and slogans are registered trademarks or trademarks of ANSYS Inc or its subsidiaries located in the United States or other countries ICEM CFD is a trademark used by ANSYS Inc under license All other brand product service and feature names or trademarks are the property of their respective owners Disclaimer Notice THIS ANSYS SOFTWARE PRODUCT AND PROGRAM DOCUMENTATION INCLUDE TRADE SECRETS AND ARE CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY PRODUCTS OF ANSYS INC ITS SUBSIDIARIES OR LICENSORS The software products and documentation are furnished by ANSYS Inc its subsidi
12. C axlgetelementflt Purpose Returns the requested element result filtered based on the given information Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 24 AXL User Manual AXL Functions Syntax axlgetelementflt model element load subset result type result component surface node result position filter type return type Notes This is an extended version of axlgetelement however it allows for the filtering of a range of values to be obtained Model result type result position and result component all function as per axlgetelementex The filtering is controlled by the filter type and requested value for which the following should be entered Filter type Filtering algorithm 1 Maximum 2 Minimum 3 Absolute Maximum i e furthest from zero 4 Absolute Minimum i e closest to zero Return type Returned Result 1 Value of Result 2 Element Number at which the value can be found 3 Load Case Set for which the value can be found 4 Load Subset for which the value can be found 5 Surface at which the value can be found 6 Local node at which the value can be found Element load subset surface and node should have either a particular value assigned to limit the searching to a particular set of results or 1 entered to loop over each result available e g entering a loadcase of 1 will mean that all loadcases will be searched according to the filter
13. a specified load case Returns element geometric property number Returns the value of a node number on an element Returns element stress force or moment result Returns the ASAS element type Determines the internal ASAS freedom code corresponding to a named freedom These six functions return the force or moment at one end of a beam element Returns the component or structure name for the model from the master index Returns a coordinate of the global overturning point used by ASAS in calculating moments in load resultants These three functions return x y or z coordinate of the global overturning point used by ASAS in calculating moments in load resultants Returns the user element number of the elements within the specified group Returns the user group number of the specified group Returns the title of the specified loadcase number Returns the user loadcase number of the specified internal loadcase Returns a time step eigen number given a model loadcase and subset Returns the time step given a model and a step number Returns the number of elements in the model Returns the number of loadcases on the model Returns the number of nodes on the model Returns one of the global coordinates of a specified node Returns the user node number Returns the skew system number at a node These three functions return the x y and z coordinates respectively of a specified node Returns the number of skew systems in the model Returns the number of
14. and close your file and this message shouldn t be shown again when re opening unless the link is modified this may occur if you transfer the file to another machine and the path to the XLA file is different If you are shown this repeatedly it is likely that the links are not being updated correctly so check the path to the link in Edit Links ensure that only one ax132 xla file is installed on your machine then update the location via Tools Add Ins Test the installation by entering AxIVersion into a cell to ensure that you have the correct version installed If the result cannot be evaluated then it is likely that the ax132 d1l is not located on the system path Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 2 1 AXL User Manual Running AXL 3 Running AXL 3 1 Using AXL Functions AXL is reasonably simple to use as follows e Start Excel as usual e Ifthe AXL32 XLA worksheet file is not auto loaded at startup open the AXL32 XLA file using the normal Excel File Open command e Use the axl functions in a standard Excel worksheet When the AXL32 XLA file is loaded nothing appears on the screen This is normal If the file is not loaded any worksheet formulae using axl functions will display as REF If a function is used and VALUE is displayed text has probably been entered for an argument which should be a number or vice versa If N A a
15. aries or affiliates under a software license agreement that contains provisions concerning non disclosure copying length and nature of use compliance with exporting laws warranties disclaimers limitations of liability and remedies and other provisions The software products and documentation may be used disclosed transferred or copied only in accordance with the terms and conditions of that software license agreement ANSYS Inc is certified to ISO 9001 2008 U S Government Rights For U S Government users except as specifically granted by the ANSYS Inc software license agreement the use duplication or disclosure by the United States Government is subject to restrictions stated in the ANSYS Inc software license agreement and FAR 12 212 for non DOD licenses Third Party Software The products described in this document contain the following licensed software that requires reproduction of the following notices Formula One is a trademark of Visual Components Inc The product contains Formula One from Visual Components Inc Copyright 1994 1995 All rights reserved See the legal information in the product help files for the complete Legal Notice for ANSYS proprietary software and third party software If you are unable to access the Legal Notice please contact ANSYS Inc Published in the U S A Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates AXL User Manual Updat
16. ation as axlgotp Jacket x above Page 4 10 AXL User Manual AXL Functions axlgroupelements Purpose Returns the user number of an elements within a group Syntax axlgroupelements model group element Notes Group should be the user group number and element the element index 1 2 3 A zero value for group indicates the unspecified elements Example axlgroupelements jacket 4 2 returns the user number of the second element within group 4 associated with the model defined by the named cell jacket axlgroupnumber Purpose Returns the user number of a group Syntax axlgroupnumber model group Notes Group should be the group index number A zero value for the user group number indicates the group which consists of the unspecified elements Example axlgroupnumber jacket 3 returns the user number of the third group within associated with the model defined by the named cell jacket axlloadname Purpose Returns the title of the specified loadcase number Syntax axlloadname model loadcase Notes loadcase is the user defined loadcase number Example axlloadname Jacket 10 returns the title of loadcase 10 in the model defined by the named cell Jacket axlloadnumber Purpose Returns the user loadcase number of the specified internal loadcase Syntax axlloadnumber model internalloadcase Notes ASAS internally numbers its loadcases 1 2 3 in the order in which they are defined No other AXL function
17. axlgetmodel Directory Project index Directory is the full path name of the directory in which the project file is stored eg C CENTURY Project is the four character identifier of the ASAS project index is the position in the project file of the structure or component name being retrieved The index should be a number between and the number of components structures in the project An entry for a component does not imply that results exist for any instance of the component axlgetmodel C CENTURY PROJ 2 returns the font character name of the structure or component stored in entry 2 of the project PROJ residing in the directory C CENTURY Returns a coordinate of the global overturning point used by ASAS in calculating moments in load resultants axlgotp model axis axis may be specified by name X Y or Z or by number 1 2 or 3 axlgotp Jacket x returns the x coordinate of the global overturning point for the model defined by the named cell Jacket axlgotpx axlgotpy axlgotpz Purpose Syntax Notes Example Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates These three functions return x y or z coordinate of the global overturning point used by ASAS in calculating moments in load resultants axlgotpx model These functions may be used in place of calls to axlgotp axlgotpx Jacket returns the same inform
18. ber as input and the result type and component must be specified The valid result type and components are specified in the ASAS Database User Manual and depend upon what programs have been run The result type and component cannot be more than 20 and 8 characters long respectively The model information comprises the path job and structure names concatenated into a single string separated by semicolons for example C Models Job1 STRA There are four general functions which return element equation global and nodal results all of which read exclusively from the physical 45 file Therefore within the ASAS Linear ASAS Non linear etc data file the option RESU must be specified axlgetelement Purpose Returns the requested element result Syntax axlgetelement model element load subset result type result component surface node Notes The result type and result component indicate which information will be retrieved For 66 99 66 example the result type may be stress and the result component sxx syy szz etc The result type and component can be entered as upper or lower case An element may have more than one surface or node and therefore the surface number and node must be entered in this function Zero should be entered for subset if the load contains no subsets In instances where beam type elements have results at section positions along their length the node field is used to identify the s
19. culate if nothing has changed in the spreadsheet itself This can be a problem with ASAS results where models may be rerun as far as Excel is concerned a function asking for say the axial force in member 123 at node 567 for load case 89 does not need recalculating if none of these numbers have changed it does not take account of the fact that the data in files outside Excel may have changed This consideration applies even when a spreadsheet is closed and re opened or Excel restarted To force all the results to be reloaded make a null edit of the model name as used in the first argument to each AXL function by clicking on the cell then pressing F2 to edit the cell then enter to accept the edit Excel will recalculate the spreadsheet and update all the values Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 31 AXL User Manual Error Codes 5 Error Codes The error codes on the left can be translated into the text on the right with the axlerror function described above Some of these error messages relate to problems within the AXL interface that cannot be corrected by the user These may arise due to errors within the AXL code corrupt ASAS files or lack of resources such as free memory or file handles HAXL 1 AXL 2 AXL 3 AXL 9 AXL 101 AXL 102 AXL 103 AXL 104 AXL 105 AXL 106 AXL 107 AXL 108 AXL 109 AXL 110 HAXL 111 AXL 200 AXL 201 AXL 202
20. e Sheet for Version 12 1 November 2009 Modifications The following modifications have been incorporated Section Page s Update Addition Explanation Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates AXL User Manual Contents Table of Contents Tes Oyerview eia nna RR OE REI a a a 1 1 1 1 Introduction ay Seve n E EE E EE E E E a 1 1 1 2 Compatibilty liar ARRAS SAS ee AR eG ee 1 1 Des EA cde tonbusdutcudce a iea e ia ewe 2 1 2 1 ANA A RN 2 1 3 RUMI AX it is eiii is di dis Shes 3 2 3 1 Using AXL F ctionS ita lied tii AE Lae Ao db 3 2 E AAA od o a e 4 1 4 1 Functional Interface ANS A 4 1 4 2 Function Descritores dead id dad 4 2 4 3 Functions to Retrieve Standard InformatiON oococonononononononononononanonononononononononononononononononononononononanononono 4 5 4 4 Functions to Retrieve Response InformMatiON ooonncnnnnnonnnonnnononononncnnnconoconoconocn nono nonn nono nrnn cnn nnnncnncnns 4 19 4 5 Functions to Retrieve Specific Keyed Items of Data from an ASAS Database eee 4 21 4 6 Results Database Funcionan 4 24 4 7 Miscellaneous FU A Sond e e tn Gh de eaa aaie eE a aeieea 4 27 4 8 Problem SOM outils eoteewnen edestuatoente 4 28 4 9 REStEIG TOMS A A A 4 30 AO PEONES Rie 4 30 411 Model pd ates iii li isienate onsen Sedantuebente 4 31 X Error COMES ii A A A Relea vie aa Reet 5 1 Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subs
21. e named cell Jacket Returns an item from the RUNINF common block stored on record 13 of file 35 the IADMIN file axlruninf model item Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 22 AXL User Manual AXL Functions Notes The RUNINF common block stores many of the run time counters such as number of elements loadcases etc Some of these have explicit functions such as axlnelement but other values can only be obtained using axlruninf The user is referred to the ASAS Programmer s Manual for detailed descriptions of the ASAS file system Item can either be the position within RUNINF or may refer to the name of the variable as defined in the ASAS Programmer s Manual Names may be given in upper or lower case Example axlruninf Jacket NELEM or axlruninf Jacket 11 both return item number 11 in the RUNINF common block which is called NELEM and is the number of elements in the model Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 23 AXL User Manual AXL Functions 4 6 Results Database Functions With the introduction of the Unified Results Storage Database for ASAS Version 14 additional functions have been implemented with AXL to facilitate the retrieval of any data within the database These functions require the model load subset element and node num
22. eam the offset is required Use 1 for end 1 or 2 for end 2 freedomname may be either X Y or Z representing the offset along the associated local axis of the beam If an offset has not been defined a value of zero will be returned Example axlbeamoffset jacket 1001 2 x returns the axial offset at end 2 of element 1001 in the model defined by the named cell Jacket axlbeamprop Purpose Returns the flexural properties for a beam element such as length area inertia etc Syntax axlbeamprop model element step property Notes step corresponds to the step number on the beam For unstepped beams O or 1 may be used The section information at either end of the beam may be obtained using a step number of 1 for end 1 or 2 for end 2 The property may be one of the following Applicable to Element or step length GRIL BM2D BEAM TUBE Area GRIL BM2D BM3D BEAM TUBE Inertia about Y axis GRIL BM3D BEAM TUBE Inertia about Z axis BM2D BM3D BEAM TUBE Torsion constant GRIL BM3D BEAM TUBE Shear area for Y axis BM2D BM3D TUBE Shear area for Z axis GRIL BM3D TUBE f For unstepped beams the length returned is the total physical length of the element after the application of offsets For stepped beams the length returned is for the requested step E Where properties are requested that are not applicable to a particular beam type a value of zero will be returned Example axlbeamprop jacket 1001 2 a ret
23. ection positions Care should be taken if section steps are used as two results will be generated at these positions one on either side of the step For example if you have a 10m long tube with a section change at 2m from one end and section results are requested at 10 intervals you will have twelve result positions two at the ends nine at intermediate points one at the step Example axlgetelement Jacket 35 2 10 force moment x 1 3 returns the force in the x direction at the third node on the first surface of element 35 The results are retrieved for the tenth subset of loadcase 2 within the model Jacket axlgetelementex Purpose Returns the requested element result extended for additional result availability Syntax axlgetelementex model element load subset result type result component surface node result position Notes This is an extended version of axlgetelement all input is the same as that except for the additional result position This is used for results where there are multiple values of a result for example STRESS in a time history based FATJACK analysis with rainflow counting Example axlgetelementex C ABCD WXYZ 72 11 1 RANGE HISTOGRAM STRESS 1 2 10 returns the 10 STRESS in the RANGE HISTOGRAM values at the second node on the first surface of element 72 The results are retrieved for the 11 loadcase 1 subset within the project ABCD structure WXYZ located in
24. epth is the distance downwards along the pile from its top node not the mudline unless coincident If this does not correspond to a sub element division on the pile the nearest results will be returned without interpolation SPLINTER results recovery requires a SAVE 7 FILES 13 15 17 29 32 35 56 in the SPLINTER analysis Example axlpileforce Pilemodel 80 12 0 10 my returns the y bending moment at a depth of 12m from the top of pile number 80 for loadcase 10 in the model defined by the named cell Pilemodel axlpilelength Purpose Returns the length of a pile calculated as the distance between its top and bottom nodes Syntax axlpilelength model element Notes SPLINTER results recovery requires a SAVE 7 FILES 13 15 17 29 32 35 56 in the SPLINTER analysis Example axlpilength Pilemodel 80 returns the length of pile number 80 in the model defined by the named cell Pilemodel axlprogversion Purpose Returns the program name and version information associated with a particular analysis Syntax axlprogversion model Notes This function returns a description in the form ASAS 12 00 01 0 Example axlprogversion Jacket returns the program information for the model defined by the named cell Jacket Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 15 AXL User Manual axlreaction Purpose Syntax Notes Example axlresultant Purpo
25. et axlbeamsectname Purpose Returns the section name associated with a beam element Syntax axlbeamsectname model element step Notes step corresponds to the step number on the beam For unstepped beams 0 or may be used The section information at either end of the beam may be obtained using a step number of 1 for end 1 or 2 for end 2 If section data has not been defined an error code will be returned The section name recovered may be up to 12 characters long Example axlbeamsectname jacket 1001 2 returns the section name associated with end 2 of element 1001 in the model defined by the named cell Jacket axlbeamsecttype Purpose Returns the section profile type for a beam element Syntax axlbeamsecttype model element step Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 7 AXL User Manual AXL Functions Notes step corresponds to the step number on the beam For unstepped beams O or 1 may be used The section information at either end of the beam may be obtained using a step number of 1 for end 1 or 2 for end 2 If section data has not been defined an error code will be returned Profiles returned will be one of the following Wide Flange Tube Fabricated Box Rolled Hollow Section Tee Angle Section Channel Prismatic Example axlbeamsecttype jacket 1001 2 returns the section type at end 2 of element 1001 in the model defined by the
26. files If it returns the number of load cases the problem is elsewhere e Ifthe error is of one of the standard Excel types apply the following checks FNAME check that the function name is spelled correctly and that the ax132 xla add in has been loaded N A check that the correct number and type of arguments have been given to the function use the FormulalPaste Function command in Excel to check what the arguments mean VALUE if the cell contains a formula which does a calculation the AXL function may be returning an error code and Excel is signalling that it cannot perform arithmetic on text values if the cell simply calls a function check that arguments which can only take a few possible values such as axis names force names etc have been correctly specified REF this error is generally nothing to do with AXL Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 28 AXL User Manual AXL Functions e If the ASAS analysis has been re run since the spreadsheet was last used make a null edit of the cell where the ASAS files are defined simply put the cursor on the cell press F2 enter and Excel will re calculate as if you had changed the cell even though you know that you have not This may clear up problems due to Excel displaying out of date results e Many errors in tables come from confusion about absolute and relative cell addresses so check that a formula
27. id values such as Q or 8 for an axis name where only X Y Z 1 2 or 3 would be acceptable Other problems cause AXL to display one of its own error indications These all take the form of a short text AXL nnnn where nnnn is a to 4 digit number A list of these errors is given in the appendix below If it is not obvious why an AXL function is returning an error code look it up in the appendix or use the axlerror function as described above to determine its meaning Some of the descriptions are self explanatory Some general rules for solving problems are e Check that the model files are readable by using the axlnelement function If this cannot retrieve the number of elements then either the model data is incorrect or there is something wrong with the ASAS files e If an error message is described as unable to open file this usually means that something in the first part of the function call is wrong perhaps the directory name is wrong or the project or structure name Perhaps the files have been deleted If in doubt try testing the files with a simple function Suppose cell C3 contains the directory project structure text for the ASAS files Try entering this formula into an empty cell axInload C3 which will return the number of load cases for the structure which may be zero if it is a master component without loading data If it returns an error code then the problem is definitely with the ASAS
28. idiaries and affiliates 1 AXL User Manual Overview 1 Overview 1 1 Introduction AXL is an interface from ASAS to Microsoft Excel It is intended to facilitate the development of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets that require data from ASAS databases The interface consists of a series of Excel functions that can be accessed within the spreadsheet to recover data directly from the ASAS database A typical example might be an application that tabulates forces in a particular member for several load cases and then undertakes a post processing exercise Key features are e Direct access to the ASAS database information using Excel Function calls e Recovery of element forces using element number and load case e Recovery of nodal displacements reactions using node number and load case e Lower level functionality for recovery of keyed data from the ASAS database e Error trapping e Simple installation e Cross platform interrogation of ASAS databases 1 2 Compatibility AXL is available for Excel variants designed to run under Microsoft Windows The interface program does not require an ASAS dongle or security file to operate The interface has been designed to allow access to some non PC versions of the ASAS database At present databases created on SUN HP and SG workstations are automatically identified by the interface functions and provide full extraction capabilities Access to ASAS databases on other machine types will be added
29. ied elements axlnumberofgroupelements jacket 4 returns the number of elements within group 4 associated with the model defined by the named cell jacket Returns the number of skew systems in the model axlnskew model The direction cosines for each skew system may be retrieved with the axlskew function axlnskew Jacket returns the number of skew systems in the model defined by the named cell Jacket Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 14 AXL User Manual AXL Functions axInumbersubsets Purpose Returns the number of subsets which constitute a loadcase Syntax axlnumbersubsets mode loadcasel Notes The function returns the number of subsets within a loadcase of a model these subsets may indicate different time steps or eigenvalues from RESPONSE or ASAS Non linear Example axlnumbersubsets Pile 4 returns the number of subsets contained within the forth load of the model defined by Pile axl pileforce Notes Returns the force or moment in a pile at a specified depth Syntax axlpileforce model element depth loadcase force Notes force may be given by name FX QY QZ MX MY or MZ or by a number 1 for axial force 2 for shear in the local Y direction of the element 3 for shear in the local Z direction 4 for torque 5 for moment about the local Y axis 6 for moment about the local Z axis d
30. iliates Page 3 3 AXL User Manual AXL Functions 4 AXL Functions 4 1 Functional Interface The ASAS interface for Excel consists of two main parts e A dynamic link library called ax132 dll e An Excel add in macro sheet called ax132 xla The dynamic link library or dll is a set of functions written in the C language These functions understand enough about the ASAS file system to extract information from it They do all the hard work The add in macro sheet provides a set of spreadsheet functions that use the dynamic link library to access the ASAS file system These spreadsheet functions can be used like any other functions in an Excel spreadsheet or worksheet in Microsoft s terminology All the functions have names starting with the prefix axl The functions are designed to be relatively straightforward to use All arguments are in terms of user numbers user element number user loadcase number etc rather than ASAS internal numbers The AXL interface requires no special configuration no start up macros etc Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 1 AXL User Manual AXL Functions 4 2 Function Description There are two main classes of function e functions which retrieve information or results for a particular item from an ASAS model e functions which retrieve a value from a record in an ASAS file Functions in the first category a
31. ime in the form 08 41 1 JUL 97 axlrundate Jacket returns the date and time information for the model defined by the named cell Jacket Returns the title used for a given analysis axlruntitle model This function returns an 81 character text string containing the title in the form Example 2 1 Extreme Wave Analysis axlruntitle Jacket returns the title for the model defined by the named cell Jacket Returns a component of the direction cosines for the specified skew system Page 4 16 AXL User Manual AXL Functions Syntax axlskew model skewsystem index Notes index selects which component of the direction cosines for the skew system is returned where 1 X X 2 X Y 3 X Z2 4 Y X 5 Y Y 6 Y Z 7 Z X 8 Z Y 9 Z Z The final three values are not stored by ASAS but are calculated from the stored values by this function Example axlskew Jacket 12 4 returns the x component of the direction cosine defining the y axis of the skew system number 12 in the model defined by the named cell Jacket axlsubsetnumber Purpose Returns the user number of a subset Syntax axlsubsetnumber model loadcase subset Notes The function returns the user number of a subset denoted by its model load and system subset number Example axlsubsetnumber Jacket 6 2 returns the user subset number of the second subset contained within the sixth load of the model defined by Jacket axlunits Purpose Returns the units associated wi
32. information from a database created by RESPONSE It should be noted that to access this information the following SAVE commands must be included in the RESPONSE data file SAVE LOCO FILES SAVE 2 FILE 3 10 axltransientntimesteps Purpose Returns the number of timesteps for a given model Syntax axltransientntimesteps model Notes The number of time steps returned corresponds to the times given as part of the RESULTS Output TIME command it does not refer to the times at which the transient analysis has been undertaken Example axltransientntimesteps Jacket returns the number of timesteps for the named cell Jacket axltransienttimesteps Purpose Returns the time associated with a given time step Syntax axltransienttimesteps model timestep Notes refers to a given time within a list of ascending results time steps The time is returned in seconds Example axltransienttimesteps Jacket 2 returns the time of the second recorded timestep for the named cell Jacket axltransientdisplace Purpose Returns the displacement velocity or acceleration associated with a given time step and node Syntax axltransientdisplace model node timestep freedomname resulttype Notes refers to a given time within a list of ascending results time steps The freedom name is expressed as a name e g X RX The resulttype is either displacement velocity or acceleration Example axltransien
33. ins proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 2 AXL User Manual AXL Functions FUNCTIONS DESCRIPTION Functions to Retrieve Standard Information axlbeamaxis axlbeamforce axlbeamnsteps axlbeamoffset axlbeamprop axlbeamsect axlbeamsectname axlbeamsecttype axldisplace axlelementgeomn axlelementnode axlelementresult axlelementtype axlfreedomcode axlfx axlqy axlqz axlmx axlmy axlmz axlgetmodel axlgotp axlgotpx axlgotpy axlgotpz axlgroupelements axlgroupnumber axlloadname axlloadnumber axlloadtimestep axlmodeltimestep axInelement axInload axInnode axInode axInodenumber axInodeskew axInodex axInodez axInskew axInumberincrements axInumberofgroupelements axInumberofgroups axInumbersubsets axlpileforce axlpilelength axInodey axlprogversion axlreaction axlresultant axlrundate axlruntitle axlskew axlsubsetnumber axlunits axluserelement Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Returns beam axis direction cosines Returns the force or moment in a beam element at one end Returns number of steps on a beam element Returns beam element rigid offset information Returns beam element geometric properties Returns section dimension for a beam element Returns section name for a beam element Return section profile type for a beam element Returns the displacement at a node for
34. iven by name FX QY QZ MX MY or MZ or by a number 1 for axial force 2 for shear in the local Y direction of the element 3 for shear in the local Z direction 4 for torque 5 for moment about the local Y axis 6 for moment about the local Z axis It may be more convenient to use the shorter functions axlfx axlqy axlqz axlmx axlmy and axlmz described below Results for non beam elements may be obtained with the axlelementresult function Results for piles from a SPLINTER analysis may be obtained with the axlpileforce function Example axlbeamforce Jacket 2050 1 10 Fx returns the axial force at end 1 of element 2050 for loadcase 10 in the model defined by the named cell Jacket axlbeamnsteps Purpose Returns the number of steps on a beam element Syntax axlbeamnsteps model element Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 5 AXL User Manual AXL Functions Notes This function can only be used with the engineering beam elements BM2D BM3D TUBE and GRIL Unstepped beams return a value of 0 Example axlbeamnsteps jacket 1001 returns the number of steps associated with element 1001 for the model defined by the named cell Jacket axlbeamoffset Purpose Returns a beam element rigid offset information Syntax axlbeamoffset model element end freedomname Notes end corresponds to which end of the b
35. l structure of the ASAS file system and detailed information about the contents of the relevant files This information is contained in Volume 1 of the ASAS Programmer s Manual axli Purpose Retrieves a single integer value from any file of the specified model at any position of any record Syntax axli model filenumber recordnumber position Notes Extreme care must be exercised when extracting information from mixed integer and real records if the ASAS files are stored on a remote computer running a different operating system to the host machine The user is referred to the ASAS Programmer s Manual for detailed descriptions of the ASAS file system Example axli Jacket 13 5 7 returns the 7th integer from record 5 of file 13 for the model defined in the named cell Jacket This corresponds to the user element number for system element 3 5 1 2 since there are two records per element axlr Purpose Same as axli except that the value returned is real The position on the record is also calculated in terms of real numbers Syntax axlr model filenumber recordnumber position Notes Extreme care must be exercised when extracting information from mixed integer and character records if the ASAS files are stored on a remote computer running a different operating system to the host machine The user is referred to the ASAS Programmer s Manual for detailed descriptions of the ASAS file system Example axlr Jacket 13 6 2 retur
36. ld be entered for subset if the load contains no subsets Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 25 AXL User Manual AXL Functions Example axlgetglobal Jacket 10 0 prescribed reac sum z returns the prescribed reaction global sum in the z direction for loadcase 10 within the model Jacket axlgetnodal Purpose Returns the requested nodal result Syntax axlgetnodal model node load subset result type result component freedom Notes Nodal results are generally concerned with the history of the displacement velocity and acceleration of a node The result type and result component indicate which information will be retrieved For example the result type may be history displacement and the result component x y z or time etc The result type and component can be entered as upper or lower case Zero should be entered for subset if the load contains no subsets If max displacement etc is entered as a result type this will retrieve the maximum displacement from all the load cases and therefore the load case should be entered as one and the subset zero The freedom input indicates which freedom x y z etc to retrieve when using max displacement etc Example axlgetnodal Rig 12 1 0 max acceleration time 2 returns the time at which the maximum acceleration occurred fo
37. named cell Jacket axldisplace Purpose Returns the displacement at a node for a specified load case Syntax axldisplace model node loadcase freedom Notes The displacement may be in any of the applicable ASAS freedoms This may be expressed as a name e g X RX or as a number 1 2 If the node is skewed the displacements are in the skewed directions Example axldisplace Jacket 1010 10 x returns the x displacement at node 1010 for loadcase 10 in the model defined by the named cell Jacket axlelementgeomn Purpose Returns the geometric property number associated with an element Syntax axlelementgeomn model element Notes Information cannot be retrieved from the database for specific geometric property numbers but this function may be useful for checking data input cross references Example axlelementgeomn Jacket 1001 returns the geometric property number for element 1001 in the model defined by the named cell Jacket axlelementnode Purpose Returns the value of a node number on an element Nodes are returned in the same order as they are defined in the ASAS data Syntax axlelementnode model element index Notes index is the position of the node in the element definition as given in the original ASAS data Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 8 AXL User Manual AXL Functions Example axlelementnode Jacket 20
38. nodez model nodenumber These functions may be used in place of calls to axlnode model nodenumber axis Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 13 AXL User Manual AXL Functions Example axlnodey Jacket 1010 returns the y global coordinate for node 1010 in the model defined by the named cell Jacket axInumberincrements Purpose Returns the number of time steps within a model Syntax axlnumberincrements model Notes On occasion a model may produce load cases which represent different time steps of the solution or similarly one loadcase and many subsets this function allows the retrieval of the number of time steps with the model Example axlnumberincrements Jacket returns the number of time steps or eigenvalues within the model defined by Rig axlnumberofgroups Purpose Returns the number of groups that a structure contains Syntax axlnumberofgroups model Notes The number returned includes the group containing the unspecified elements Example axlnumberofgroups jacket returns the number of groups associated with the model defined by the named cell jacket axInumberofgroupelements Purpose Syntax Notes Example axInskew Purpose Syntax Notes Example Returns the number of elements within a group axlnumberofgroupelements model group Group should be the user group number A zero value for group indicates the unspecif
39. ns the 2nd real from record 6 of file 13 for the model defined in the named cell Jacket This corresponds to the y coordinate of the first node for system element 3 6 2 since there are two records per element axls Purpose Same as axli except that the integer is converted to a text string of 4 or fewer characters such as an element name or a component name Syntax axls model filenumber recordnumber position Notes Extreme care must be exercised when extracting information from mixed integer and real records if the ASAS files are stored on a remote computer running a different operating system to the host machine The user is referred to the ASAS Programmer s Manual for detailed descriptions of the ASAS file system Example axls Jacket 13 5 7 returns the character string stored at the 7th position of record 5 of file 13 for the model defined in the named cell Jacket For a component this Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 21 AXL User Manual axlleni Purpose Syntax Notes Example axllenr Purpose Syntax Notes Example axllast Purpose Syntax Notes Example axlruninf Purpose Syntax AXL Functions corresponds to the assembled name for the component stored in position 3 of the element list 5 1 2 since there are two records per element or component Returns the length of the record counted in terms
40. omcode model freedomname Notes If freedom X Y Z RX RY or RZ is specified these are converted to codes 1 2 3 4 5 or 6 without accessing the ASAS files Hence this is one of the few AXL functions which may return a valid answer when an invalid model is specified Example axlfreedomcode Jacket x returns the freedom code 1 axlfx axlqy axlqz axlmx axlmy axlmz Purpose These six functions return the force or moment at one end of a beam element Syntax axlfx model element node loadcase Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 9 AXL User Manual Notes Example axlgetmodel Purpose Syntax Notes Example axlgotp Purpose Syntax Notes Example AXL Functions axlqy model element node loadcase axlqz model element node loadcase axlmx model element node loadcase axlmy model element node loadcase axlmz model element node loadcase node may be either one of the nodes numbers on the beam or 1 to indicate end 1 of the beam or 2 to indicate end 2 These functions are similar to axlbeamforce described above axlmx Jacket 2050 2 10 returns the torsion moment at end 2 of element 2050 for loadcase 10 in the model defined by the named cell Jacket Returns a component or structure name stored in the project file by reference to an index from 1 to the number of models in the project
41. ppears one of the arguments has probably been omitted AXL functions are included in formulae just like ordinary Excel functions such as sine sum max etc If you cannot remember the order or meaning of the arguments to the function use Excel s function wizard the AXL functions are listed in a category called ASAS Excel A simple example is shown below axldisplace C ALPHA PLAT JACK 2020 401 X This function returns the X displacement for node 2020 in load case 401 for the specified structure JACK in project PLAT stored in directory C ALPHA To avoid typing such long formulae it is a good idea to use absolute and relative row and column references in Excel as much as possible This is illustrated in the example below where the user requires a table of X Y and Z displacements for a set of nodes for one loadcase on one model The directory project and model name are entered into cells Al A2 and A3 splitting these up makes changing to a different model easy These items are then concatenated with semicolons into a single string in cell A4 The load case number is entered into cell B6 Axis names X Y and Z are entered into cells B8 C8 and D8 Node numbers are entered into cells A9 A10 All A12 A13 and A14 The displacement for cell B9 in the table is as above axldisplace C ALPHA PLAT JACK 2020 401 X which would be entered as a formula axldisplace A4 A9 B6 B8 This is much shorter and can be
42. prietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 5 4
43. ps of the solution or similarly one loadcase and many subsets this function allows the retrieval of the time for each step when This function should only be used when a model contains only one transient or eigenvalue solution Example axlmodeltimestep Rig 53 returns the time or eigenvalue of the 53 subset or step of the model defined by Rig axInelement Purpose Returns the number of elements in the model Syntax axlnelement model Notes This function will exclude any components that have been defined in the model Example axlnelement Jacket returns the number of elements in the model defined by the named cell Jacket axInload Purpose Returns the number of loadcases on the model Syntax axlnload model Notes May be useful used in conjunction with axlloadnumber above to generate a list of user loadcase numbers Example axlnload Jacket returns the number of loadcases in the model defined by the named cell Jacket axInnode Purpose Returns the number of nodes on the model Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 12 AXL User Manual AXL Functions Syntax axlnnode model Notes Nodes are counted on the basis of generating equations in the stiffness matrix so nodes which are only used as guide points to define local axes or skew systems are not included Example axlnnode Jacket returns the number of structural nodes in the model defined by
44. r freedom number 2 when considering all loadcases within the results set Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 26 AXL User Manual AXL Functions 4 7 Miscellaneous Functions There are also a few miscellaneous utility functions which do not access a particular ASAS model axlaxis Purpose Syntax Notes Example axlerror Purpose Syntax Notes Example axlversion Purpose Syntax Notes Example Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Converts an axis or force name to a number axlaxis axis This function is mainly intended for use by other AXL functions Given a string it attempts to convert it to an axis number where 1 is the X axis 2 is Y and 3 is Z 4 is rotation about the X axis 5 is rotation about Y 6 is rotation about Z For example y Y FY and qy are all returned as 2 If the axis is not recognised zero is returned It does not access ASAS files axlaxis Y returns 2 Returns a text string describing an error code returned by an AXL function axlerror error The description may be useful in determining the cause of a problem See the section about error handling in this document axlerror 302 or axlerror ax1 302 will return the description AXL invalid element number This function should only
45. re generally the most useful The second category is intended for examining the contents of the ASAS file system and assumes that the user knows what to expect on each record There are also a few miscellaneous utility functions that are described separately All the function information in this section can be obtained using the help button from the Function Wizard in Excel The list of functions below is complete at the time of writing but more functions will be added as and when necessary Model Description Many of the functions start with an argument called model in the descriptions below This argument defines the ASAS project the structure or component being investigated and the directory in which the files are located It 1s a string consisting of three parts separated by semi colons directory project structure component tree so for example T C USER PROJ PILE JACO would specify a component with the assembled name JACO in structure PILE which is in an ASAS project called PROJ with all the files stored in a directory called USER on drive C The best way of entering this data is to enter it into a single cell of the spreadsheet then refer to this cell in each call of an AXL function Use the symbol to make this an absolute cell reference or name the cell to make it easier The purpose of specifying the model in each call is to allow results from different models to be intermixed in one spreadsheet at will Conta
46. s require the user to know the internal load case number The purpose of this function is to allow users to generate a list of all the load cases on the model by creating a table with one column containing the sequence 1 2 3 and the next column using this function to determine the ASAS load case number See also axlnload and axlresultant below Example axlloadnumber Jacket 2 returns the user loadcase number corresponding to the second loadcase for the model defined by the named cell Jacket Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 11 AXL User Manual AXL Functions axlloadtimestep Purpose Returns a time step eigen number given a model loadcase and subset For an ASAS L or ASAS Non linear frequency analysis the value is the frequency f Hz For ASAS Non linear buckling or spectral runs the value is A the eigenvalue Syntax axlloadtimestep model load step Notes load is the loadcase number of the results from a transient or eigenvalue analysis where step is the required subset number or step Example axlloadtimestep Jacket 115 3 returns the time or eigenvalue of the 3 subset or step of loadcase number 115 for the model defined by Jacket axlmodeltimestep Purpose Returns a time step given a model and step number Syntax axlmodeltimestep model step Notes On occasion a model may produce load cases which represent different time ste
47. se Syntax Notes Example axlrundate Purpose Syntax Notes Example axlruntitle Purpose Syntax Notes Example axlskew Purpose Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates AXL Functions Returns the reaction at a node for a specified loadcase axlreaction model node loadcase freedom The reaction may be for any of the applicable ASAS freedoms This may be expressed as a name e g X RX or as a number 1 2 If the node is skewed the reactions are in the skewed directions axlreaction Jacket 1010 10 x returns the reaction in the x direction at node 1010 for loadcase 10 in the model defined by the named cell Jacket Returns the total resultant force or moment for a specified load case axlresultant model loadcase axis The total load resultant is that calculated by ASAS during the data check Hence it will be inaccurate if the resultant load calculated during the data check is inaccurate The axis may be specified by name X RY etc by force FX MY etc or by number 1 to 6 axlresultant Jacket 1010 x returns the load resultant in the global x direction for loadcase 1010 in the model defined by the named cell Jacket Returns the date and time for a given analysis axlrundate model This function returns a 17 character text string containing the date and t
48. tdisplace Rig 2 1 X velocity returns the velocity of the second node of the model Rig at the first time step axlbeamtransientforce Purpose Returns a beam force or moment for a given time step element and node Syntax axlbeamtransientforce model element node timestep forcename Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 19 AXL User Manual AXL Functions Notes refers to a given time within a list of ascending results time steps node can be either one of the nodes on the beam or 1 to indicate end 1 of the beam or 2 to indicate end 2 The force name is expressed as a name e g FX MX or by a number 1 for axial force 2 for shear in the local Y direction of the element 3 for shear in the local Z direction 4 for torque 5 for moment about the local Y axis 6 for moment about the local Z axis Example axlbeamtransientforce Jacket 5 1 3 FX returns the force in the x direction at the end 1 of the beam for load case number 5 of the model named Jacket Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 20 AXL User Manual AXL Functions 4 5 Functions to Retrieve Specific Keyed Items of Data from an ASAS Database The following functions can be used to extract any data from any file of the ASAS file system To use them effectively you must have an understanding of the interna
49. th a particular analysis Syntax axlunits model unitname Notes unitname refers to the particular unit type required and may be one of the following FORCE LENGTH ROTATION MASS TEMPERATURE TIME Abbreviations are permitted e g F FOR FORCE will all retrieve the force unit If units were not used in the analysis an appropriate error message is returned The function returns a 13 character unit name Example axlunits Jacket length returns the length unit the model defined by the named cell Jacket axluserelement Purpose Returns the user element number by reference to an index in increasing user element order Syntax axluserelement model index Notes index alludes to the reference to a given element within a list of ascending user element numbers index should be between 1 and the number of elements in the model see axlnelement Components are excluded from this list Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 17 AXL User Manual AXL Functions Example axluserelement Jacket 115 returns the user element number at position 115 of the sorted user element list for the model defined by the named cell Jacket Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 18 AXL User Manual AXL Functions 4 4 Functions to Retrieve Response Information The following functions can be used to retrieve
50. that you have copied does reference appropriate rows and columns for element node etc numbers The individual functions in the DLL are designed to be fairly robust so they will not cause Excel or Windows to crash in the event of problems They only read from ASAS files so cannot corrupt any data However it is not advisable to attempt to read from an ASAS backing file at the same time as an ASAS program is trying to write to it Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 29 AXL User Manual AXL Functions 4 9 Restrictions Excel sometimes returns spurious error codes from functional calls All results should be checked by the user There are no facilities for writing information back to the ASAS files The DLL functions can be accessed directly from Excel using the CALL function However this is not recommended because errors in the parameters to CALL can easily lead to Excel or Windows crashing Don t do it 4 10 Performance The AXL functions are designed for convenience not speed The functions in the DLL do include some local caching to reduce the amount of file access when a single model is being used However as they comply with the general Windows recommendation for not keeping files open between calls which also means that they do not require initialisation or close down and should not cause system problems if the ASAS files are updated while Excel is running
51. the named cell Jacket axInode Purpose Returns one of the global coordinates of a specified node Syntax axlnode model nodenumber axis Notes axis may be specified by name X Y or Z or by number 1 2 or 3 Example axlnode Jacket 1010 y returns the y global coordinate for node 1010 in the model defined by the named cell Jacket axInodenumber Purpose Returns the user node number by reference to an index in increasing node number order Syntax axlnodenumber model index Notes index alludes to the reference to a given node within a list of ascending user node numbers index should be between 1 and the number of nodes in the model see axlnnode Example axlnodenumber Jacket 216 returns the node number at position 216 of the sorted node number list for the model defined by the named cell Jacket axInodeskew Purpose Returns the skew system number at a node Syntax axlnodeskew model node Notes If the node is not skewed or does not exist returns zero The direction cosines of the skew system may be obtained with the axlskew function Example axlnodeskew Jacket 1020 returns the skew number associated with node number 1020 in the model defined by the named cell Jacket axInodex axInodey axInodez Purpose Syntax Notes These three functions return the x y and z coordinates respectively of a specified node axlnodex model nodenumber axlnodey model nodenumber axl
52. they do perform a lot of input from the ASAS file system to retrieve even small amounts of data The amount of physical disk input can be minimised by use of disk caching This should be enabled when Windows is in use anyway Excel does have an unpleasant habit of performing a full recalculation when not necessary especially when a row or column is inserted or deleted or after moves or copies If a worksheet has a table containing thousands of numbers retrieved by AXL this can take some time One way of avoiding the recalculation is to create the table using AXL functions and then replace the formulae with the results so the cells contain only numbers thereafter which require no recalculation To do this select the main body of the table then the copy command Edit Copy on the menu Immediately after this give the paste special command specifying values only Edit Paste Special Values OK on the menu It s a good idea to save a single copy of the original formula somewhere in case the table has to be reconstructed Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 30 AXL User Manual AXL Functions 4 11 Model Updates Like all spreadsheet programs Excel tries to avoid doing unnecessary recalculation If nothing has changed in a spreadsheet it does not automatically recalculate it Even the Excel command Options Calculate Calc Now F9 will not force a spreadsheet to recal
53. time steps for a given model Returns the user element number of the elements within the specified group Returns the user group number of the specified group Returns the number of subsets for a given loadcase Returns the force or moment in a pile at a specified depth Returns the length of a pile calculated as the distance between its top and bottom nodes Returns the program name and the version of the run Returns the reaction at a node for a specified loadcase Returns the resultant force or moment for a specified loadcase Returns date and time of the ASAS run Returns the title of the ASAS analysis Returns a component of the direction cosines for the specified skew system Returns a user subset number given a model user loadcase and system subset number Returns the units associated with the analysis Returns the user element number Page 4 3 AXL User Manual Functions to Retrieve Response Information axlbeamtransientforce axltransientdisplace axltransientntimesteps axltransienttimesteps Functions to Retrieve Specific Keyed Items axli axlr axls axlleni axllenr axllast axlruninf Results Database Functions axlgetelement axlgetelementex axlgetelementflt axlgetequation axlgetglobal axlgetnodal Miscellaneous Functions axlaxis axlerror axlversion Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates AXL Functions Returns the transient response force
54. urns the cross sectional area at end 2 of element 1001 in the model defined by the named cell Jacket Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS Inc and its subsidiaries and affiliates Page 4 6 AXL User Manual AXL Functions axlbeamsect Purpose Returns a section dimension for a beam element Syntax axlbeamsect model element step dimensionname Notes step corresponds to the step number on the beam For unstepped beams 0 or 1 may be used The section information at either end of the beam may be obtained using a step number of 1 for end 1 or 2 for end 2 dimensionname may be one of the following Applicable to diameter TUB thickness TUB depth WF RHS BOX TEE ANGL CHAN PRE breadth WF RHS BOX TEE ANGL CHAN PRE web thickness WF RHS BOX TEE ANGL CHAN flange thickness WF RHS BOX TEE ANGL CHAN fillet radius WF RHS CHAN ANGL TEE If section data has not been defined an error code will be returned For TUBE elements however the dimension information can still be retrieved using this function For RHS and ANGL sections only one thickness is defined Both TW and TF are set to this value For BOX sections TW corresponds to the thickness of the side plates For BOX sections TF corresponds to the thickness of the top and bottom plates Example axlbeamsect jacket 1001 2 t returns the thickness at end 2 of tubular element 1001 in the model defined by the named cell Jack
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