ANSYS : Use of Commands

Table 1 Session and database commands
Command	Description
/CLEAR	Clear the database(and memory)
/PREP7	Enter the Preprocessor
/SOLU	Enter the solution
/POST1	Enter the General Postprocessor
/POST26	Enter the general Postprocessor
FINISH	Exit the current processor; go to Begin level
/EOF	Marks the end of file(stop reading)
/FILNAME	Specify jobname
HELP	Display help pages related to the command
SAVE	Save the database
RESUME	Resume from an existing database
KSEL, LSEL, ASEL, VSEL, NSEL, ESEL, CMSEL	Select keypoints, lines, areas, volumes, nodes, elements, and components
ALLSEL	Select all entities
CLOCAL, LOCAL	Define local coordinate systems
CSYS	Switch between coordinate systems
!	Start comment

Table 2 APDL commands
Command	Description
*AFUN	Switch between degrees and radians to be used for angles
*GET	Store model or result information into parameters
*VWRITE	Write formatted output to external files
*DO, *ENDDO	Beginning and ending of do loops
*IF, *ELSE, *ELSEIF, *ENDIF	Command related to IF-THEN-ELSE blocks
*SET	Define parameters

Table 3 Preprocessor solid model generation commands
Command	Description
BLC4	Create rectangular area or prism
CYL4	Create circular area or cylindrical volume
K, L, A, AL, V, VA	Create keypoints, lines, areas, and volumes
LARC	Create circular arc
SPLINE, BSPLIN	Create line through spline fit to keypoints
ADRAG	Create an area by dragging a line along a path
VRAG	Create a volume by dragging an area along a path
VEXT	Create a volume by extruding an area
AADD, VADD	Add areas and volumes
LGLUE, AGLUE, VGLUE	Glue lines, areas, and volumes
LOVLAP, AOVLAP, VOVLAP	Overlap lines, areas, and volumes
CM	Create components
KDELE, LDELE, ADELE, VDELE, CMDELE	Delete keypoints, lines, areas, volumes, and components
KPLOT, LPLOT, APLOT, VPLOT	Plot keypoints, lines, areas, and volumes in the Graphics Window
KLIST, LLIST, ALIST, VLIST, CMLIST	List keypoints, lines, areas, volumes, and components

Table 4 Preprocessor meshing commands
Command	Description
ET	Specify element type
R	Specify real constants
MP	Specify material properties
N	Create nodes
E	Create elements
TYPE	Specify default element type attribute number
REAL	Specify default real constant set attribute
MAT	Specify default material property set attribute number
LMESH, AMESH, VMESH	Mesh the lines, areas, and volumes
LCLEAR, ACLEAR, VCLEAR	Clear the mesh from lines, areas, and volumes (delete the nodes and elements attached to those entities)
LESIZE	Specify number of elements or element sizes along selected lines
MSHKEY	Specify whether to use mapped or free meshing
NDELE, EDELE	Delete nodes and elements
NPLOT, EPLOT	Plot nodes and elements in the Graphics Window
NLIST, ELIST	List nodes and elements

Table 5 Solution commands
Command	Description
SOLVE	Start solution for the current load step
LSSOLVE	Start solution from multiple load step files
D	Specify DOF constraints on nodes
F	Specify concentrated load boundary conditions on nodes
SF, SFE, SFL, SFA	Specify surface(distributed) loads on nodes, elements, lines, and areas
BF, BFE	Specify body loads on nodes and elements
TUNIF	Specify uniform thermal load on all nodes
IC	Specify initial conditions
LSREAD, LSWRITE	Read from and write to load step files

Table 6 General postprocessor commands
Command	Description
FILE	Specify the results file for the results to be read from
SET	Specify the load step and substep numbers to be loaded
PLDISP	Plot deformed shape
PLNSOL	Plot contours of nodal solution
PLESOL	Plot contours of element solution
PRNSOL	List nodal solution items
PRESOL	List element solution items

Table 7 List of operators within ANSYS
Operator	Description
+	Addition
-	Subtraction
*	Multiplication
/	Division
**	Exponentiation
<	Less-than comparison
>	Greater-than comparison
=	Equal to(used in defining parameters)

Table 8 Selected ANSYS functions
Function	Description
ABS(X)	Absolute value of X
EXP(X)	Exponential of X
LOG(X)	Natural logarithm of X
LOG10(X)	Base 10 logarithm of X
SQRT(X)	Square root of X
NINT(X)	Nearest integer to X
RAND(X, Y)	Random number within the range X to Y
SIN(X), COS(X), TAN(X)	Sine, cosine, and tangent of X
SINH(X), COSH(X), TANH(X)	Hyperbolic sine, hyperbolic cosine, and hyperbolic tangent of X
ASIN(X), ACOS(X), ATAN(X)	Inverse sine, inverse cosine, and inverse tangent of X

Table 9 Commonly used ANSYS commands for selecting operations
Command	Description
ALLSEL	Select all the entities
KSEL, LSEL, ASEL, VSEL, NSEL, ESEL	Select subsets of keypoints, lines, areas, volumes, nodes, and elements
NSLE	Select nodes attached to the selected element
ESLN	Select elements containing the selected nodes
NSLL, NSLA, NSLV	Select nodes associated with the selected lines, areas, and volumes
ESLL, ESLA, ESLV	Select elements associated with the selected lines, areas, and volumes
KSLL	Select keypoints contained in the selected lines
LSLK	Select lines containing the selected keypoints
LSLA	Select lines contained in the selected areas
ASLL	Select areas containing the selected lines
ASLV	Select areas contained in the selected volumes
VSLA	Select volumes containing the selected areas

Reference
Erdogen Madenci, Ibrahim Guven, 2007,
"The Finite Element Method and Applications in Engineering Using ANSYS", pp.297-328