Getting Started

RODAPre launcher (click here) launches the ANSYS for preperation of the RODA anslysis model. A button named "RODAP" is added inside the ANSYS toolbar (see the pic below) when the ANSYS graphics window is brought up.

click RODAP button to bring up the RODAPre main GUI.


Once the user clicks on "RODAP", the following GUI is popped-up.

There are 3 components in this GUI. The menu, the toolbar and the main window.



Menu



The "List" item in menu is used to see and review various data viz. user-elem, beam properties, and stations etc. Through "Help" item the user can launch the HTML browser based documentation.

Toolbar



The toolbar has been defined with ANSYS commands and macros that are helpful in plotting with all material numbers and color (MAT_ON), RODA element types numbers and color (TYP_ON), RODA beam numbers and color (BM_ON), RODA element numbers and color (E_ON) and node numbers or RODA station numbers and color (N_ON).

Main Window



The main window contains the buttons, using which the RODA model componenets and parameters are defined. For more information on each function please visit the links in the side left frame.

"Write roda input" is used to generate the roda input file in the working directory. The name of this file is always unique and that is "roda_in".

"Read roda input" is used to convert existing roda input file to ANSYS /prep7 input file. RODA model may then be plotted using ANSYS type selections on element properties using the RODAPre toolbar options.

If IGES geometry of an engine has been read in, then comparison plots overlaying the RODA model on the engine cross-section can be made. The RODA model may be plotted on top of the engine cross-section, or an over/under plot may be made.

"Cancel" iconifies the GUI window. It doesn't destroy the window. The window can only be destroyed by using ANSYS clear db command.