ANSYS (Application)

ANSYS http://www.ansys.com/Products Fluid Dynamics software can be used to simulate a wide range of 2d or 3d fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, turbulent, reacting, and multiphase flow problems. The software can be run interactively sharcnets visualization workstations or as batch jobs via the queue on designated sharcnet clusters.

Commencing January 1, 2009, there is no cost to use ANSYS on SHARCNET clusters or SHARCNET visualization workstations. The SHARCNET policy regarding commercial software can be found here.

LICENSE RENEWAL UPDATE MARCH 2019: The ansys license is in process of being renewed. As sharcnet owns a perpetual license jobs will not be effected until the new license file is put in place, advance warning will be given to those running jobs.

The SHARCNET license was renewed jan 2018 for another year. It provides a TOTAL of 25 ansys research cfd tasks and 512 ansys hpc research seats for use with icemcfd, fluent, cfx. Meshing is also supported with the sharcnet license using workbench (via the runwb2 command) and spaceclaim (as of version 19). The research cfd license is equivilent to ANSYS Cfd Premium as shown on pages 6 to 10 of this link https://www.ansys.com/-/media/ansys/corporate/resourcelibrary/brochure/ansyscapabilities180.pdf

Sharcnet’s “Academic Research CFD” license includes ANSYS Polyflow and Forte. The Sharcnet license however does not cover any mechanical, electronic or semiconductor products sold by ansys – to use these one can either purchase a license through sharcnet (at cost) in which case you can make use of the 512 free ansys hpc research seats for running large parallel jobs OR you may purchase a license through cmc in which case you must buy your own hpc seats.

The SHARCNET license is provided free for academic research use only therefore any non-publishable. proprietary, private, commercial or contract work is strictly prohibited unless the group either provides a suitable floating license file for the sharcnet license server or permits access to a local license server.

Individual users are currently limited to running 3 simultaneous jobs and consuming 128 hpc cores. It maybe necessary to reduce the the hpc core limit to 96 if the total usage during busy periods rises in 2019.

It is no longer necesssary to join a group in order to use ansys on any sharcnet or compute canada system, the software modules are freely open to use by anyone.

o Mar 28, 2019: Ansys 19.2 is now available for graphical interactive use within the sharcnet legacy module environment by connecting to gra-vdi.sharcnet.ca over tigervnc then doing module load SnEnv followed by module load ansys/19.2. This installation is special since it contains opengl nvidia gpu acceleration patches for high performance graphics visualization of complex dense geometries. The acceleration is present when starting fluent and cfx with the fluent-gui or cfx-gui wrappers or starting cfx from within workbench started with runwb2-gui. Unfortunately it turns out the Spaceclaim package cannot be installed on gra-vdi since it is only available for windows systems (gra-vdi is linux based). Since there appear to be no plans by Ansys to port Spaceclaim onto linux, users who want to use Spaceclaim will need to install it on a local windows machine. If a license is needed run Spaceclaim, and Sharcnet upgrades its license from cfd to multiphysics, it should be possible for researchers to check one out from Sharcnet for free, the details of which are currently being looked at. Designmodeller can still be used from within workbench using the ansys/19.2 on gra-vdi. As with previous ansys module versions installed on sharcnet, when using icemcfd-gui ensure x11 and NOT native is ticked in the Settings→Display menu otherwise the software will display a seg fault pop up message opon startup.

o Feb 28, 2019: Both icemcfd-gui and runwb2-gui work now on gra-vdi.computecanada.ca as described in https://www.sharcnet.ca/help/index.php/ANSYS#Compute_Canada_gra-vdi_System for interactive use. The spaceclaim installation remains under investigation, a message will be posted here when its usable.

o Jan 22, 2019: Please note icemcfd-gui and runwb2-gui (workbench) including Design Modeller do NOT work on gra-vdi due to a system issue which likely wont be fixed for several weeks – once repaired another Announcement will be posted here. At present the only workaround is to copy your files to legacy sharcnet under /work and use vdi-centos6.user.sharcnet.ca or vdi-centos7.user.sharcnet.ca over tigervnc. The situation with SpaceClaim is still being investigated, check back here for further updates.

o Dec 21, 2018: Ansys has been contacted to determine pricing for adding Spaceclaim when the license is renewed in march. Another announcement will be posted once it is determined if Sharcnet will be able to add it or not.

o Nov 2, 2018: When running fluent jobs on the old windeee (legacy) sharcnet cluster please keep in mind the machine is a GE cluster without a high performance interconnect. Therefore jobs are best run on single nodes in the threaded queue with up to 16 cores and mpp=47gb. Running jobs on multiple nodes with >16 cores will work but performance can be expected to suffer exponentially and the number of nodes involved increases, such jobs are much better off run on graham or the new orca (non-legacy) sharcnet cluster.

o June 21 2018: Note that ansys/19.1 is installed on sharcnet legacy systems. To use fluent-gui, cfx-gui, runwb2-gui and icemcfd-gui over tigervnc with ansys/19.1 one must connect to vdi-centos7.user.sharcnet.ca since the operating system installed on vdi-centos6 is to old to support the graphics. A license limit of 3 jobs per user is has been setup which include graham. Likewise a 128 hpc core limit per researcher will be enforced in coming days to cover graham.

o May 1 2018: Users are asked to limit license usage to 3 simultaneous jobs and 96 cores total. If the license usage exceeds the available seats reductions in either the number of job or cores may be requested. The limit is enforced on orca but not graham at the current time therefore we ask researchers to manually limit their usage.

o Feb 17 2017: The ansys/17.0 module will be removed Feb17 from all sharcnet systems. Anyone still using it should switch to ansys/17.2 before that date. Also on Feb17 ansys/17.2 will be installed on redfin. If there any concerns please open a ticket.

o Jan 23 2017: Ansys 18.0 is released! Its not installed on sharcnet yet but will be asap. Some benefits of this version follow:

 – Improved CFD workflow, geometry preparation and breakthrough harmonic analysis that accelerate your simulations for
better, more reliable CFD analysis
 – Advances in automated simulation and design workflows for workflows for antennas, high-speed electronics and electric
machines
 – Structural lightweighting, topology optimization and PCB modeling improvements that enable you to design lighter,
stronger, more efficient products
 – A new modeling environment for simulating complete physical systems and interoperability with systems engineering
processes
 – New solutions for developing complex, high-integrity embedded applications for avionics and advanced driver assistance
systems
 – Advanced semiconductor process technology that accelerates development and ensures power integrity across chip, package
and system
 – Improved collaboration tool in ANSYS AIM for upfront simulation and optimization of electromagnetic devices
 – New platform enhancements including an ACT app builder and support for workflow automation APIs and vertical apps

o Jan 9 2017: Ansys/14.0 now belongs to the ansys group. Previously it was accessible only to researchers in the now obsolete fluent group.

o Sept 15 2016: The maximum number of simultaneous ansys jobs (fluent/cfx) each user can run has been increased from 2 to 3. Its recommended each user limit themself to running 2 jobs so that one license can be kept free for pre/post processing on the vdi-centos6 visualization workstation. Users may purchase and add dedicated license tokens if they need guarenteed access. Researchers residing at institutions with sharcnet hardware may look into utilizing site license token which sharcnet ansys can be configured to use – if so interested open a ticket.

o Apr 15, 2016: Ansys 16.2.3 including cfx and fluent is now installed on sharcnet. The ansys cfx/15.0.7 module is fixed on all systems. Please review the Documentation for detailed cluster specific instructions regarding how to sqsub cfx jobs, as these have changed.

o Mar 26, 2019: Installed ansys/19.2 on gra-vdi.sharcnet.ca and dusky.sharcnet.ca.
o Jul 24, 2019: Installed ansys/19.1 on gra-vdi.sharcnet.ca.
o Jun 8, 2018: Installed ansys/19.1 on vdi-centos6, vdi-centos7 and, windeee cluster.
o Oct 30, 2017: Fluent from ansys/18.2 available on graham for batch jobs.
o Mar 2, 2017: Removed ansys/17.0 from all sharcnet clusters and visualization machines.
o Dec 20, 2016: Installed ansys/17.2 on saw, orca, vdi-centos6, windeee for testing.
o Apr 18, 2016: Installed ansys/17.0 on redfin, orca, saw, kraken, viz10-uwo, viz11-uwo, vdi-centos6.
o Apr 11, 2016: Installed ansys/16.2.3 on redfin, orca, saw, kraken, viz10-uwo, viz11-uwo, vdi-centos6.
o Nov 2, 2014: Added ansys/14.0 onto redfin for cfx and fluent.
o Nov 2, 2014: Added ansys/14.0 to vdi-centos6.user.sharcnet.ca, viz10-uwo.sharcnet.ca, viz11-uwo.sharcnet.ca and then removed it from viz5-uwo.sharcnet.ca and viz6-uwo.sharcnet.ca .
o Oct 28, 2014: Ansys/14.0 is no longer available on viz2-uwo, viz4-uwo, viz4-uoguelph, viz6-uoguelph or viz3-uwaterloo. Use ansys/15.0.7 on vdi-centos6 for fluent-gui, cfx-gui or icemcfd.
o Oct 2, 2014: Installed new ansys/15.0.7 on hound, kraken, orca, redfin, saw and vdi-centos6. Removed ansys/14.0 modules from smaller memory workstations viz1-wlu, viz2-wlu, viz1-wlu, viz2-wlu, viz1-uwaterloo, viz2-uwaterloo and viz5-uoguelph.
o Nov 1, 2013: Ansys 14.0 cfx removed from saw.
o Feb 4, 2013: Ansys 13.0 removed from all sharcnet systems.
o Jan 24, 2012: Ansys 14.0 is available on viz2-uoguelph and viz6-uoguelph once again.
o Apr 09, 2012: Ansys 12.1.1 has been removed from all sharcnet clusters. A copy of 12.1.1 remains on tope for users with older simulations who may still need fluent-gui or icemcfd-gui.
o Jan 06, 2012: Reinstalled ansys on mako temporarily for cfx benchmark testing
o Dec 07, 2011: Removed 13.0 from mako due to software installation disk space constraints and additionally the mako queues have a 1hour run limit and the cluster is gige only.
o Oct 28, 2011: Removed ansys 12.1.1 from mako. The ansys/13.0 module loads by default.
o Oct 25, 2011: Install ansys 13.0 on tope and sharcnet viz stations. Removed ansys 12.1 from bramble, school noting that 13.0 will replace it soon. Removed ansys 12.1 and 13.0 from guppy to avoid fluent jobs being infinitely suspended by full cluster loading by contributor jobs.
o Sep 28, 2011: Removed ansys 12.1 and installed 13.0 on silky for cfx use only.
o Aug 25, 2011: Installed ansys 13.0 on sharcnet x86_64 based centos clusters.
o Jun 2, 2011: Installed 12.1.1 on all remaining sharcnet visualization workstations.
o May 20, 2011: Installed 12.1.1 on viz1/2-wlu.sharcnet.ca workstations for testing.
o Mar 18, 2011: Removed from kraken, requin. Installed on angel, guppy, mako, orca.