Ansys Motion: Mutibody Dynamics Simulation
Analyze the mechanical system as a whole with multibody dynamics simulation.
Create More Robust Multibody Dynamic System Designs
Ansys Motion allows for fast and precise analysis of both rigid and flexible bodies, providing an accurate evaluation of physical events by analyzing the mechanical system as a whole.
As a fully integrated simulation tool for modeling components and systems, Ansys Motion gives fast and precise analysis for both rigid and flexible bodies using a single solver. System motion performance, stress-safety analysis, heat transfer, vibration, and fatigue are all part of its capabilities. Ansys Motion is the top simulation solution for designing multibody dynamic systems.
Ansys Motion Highlights
You can perform simulations in Ansys Motion using the same interface as your regular structural analysis. Save time by reusing a single model for various purposes. The specs include the Ansys Motion Links modeler for tracked vehicles, FE Dynamics tools, and more.
What’s New
2025 R2 release of Ansys Motion
Faster Drivetrain Gear Performance
Achieve a 3.5x improvement in solve performance for drivetrain gear analysis, which affects external, internal, and planetary gear sets.
Improved Drivetrain Modeling
Enhanced geometry creation: optimized processes influence the generation of shaft, bearing, sliding bearing, carrier body, gear, link, and tire geometry. This includes a one-click feature that automatically generates all drivetrain components.
Improved Visualization Performance
View control performance has been enhanced for several general and toolkit entities. Link assembler and path follower – changed from line-only path to segment-visible path for clarity.
Capabilities
Ansys Motion is a pioneering force in flexible Multibody Dynamics (MBD).
Ansys Motion allows for fast and accurate analysis of rigid and flexible bodies within a single solver system. Motion reduces time-to-market by performing system motion performance, stress safety, vibration, and fatigue analysis during the design process across many industries. Motion’s integrated GUI offers a strong modeling environment for components and systems, which can be analyzed independently or simultaneously, opening new possibilities during design and analysis.
Key Features
- Solver
- Pre-post Processor
- MBD Pro
- FE Dynamics
- Modal Flex
- Linear
- Fatigue
- MATLAB Interface
- FMI
- Drivetrain Toolkit
- Links Toolkit for Chains and Belts
- Links Toolkit for Tracks
- Car Toolkit
- Easyflex Toolkit
- CAD Translators
Solver
The Motion solver can speed up simulations for systems with a large degree of freedom. It uses shared memory parallel processing (SMP) and massive parallel processing (MPP) environments to simulate faster.
Pre-post Processor
Optimize modeling environment for components and systems with Ansys Motion’s pre-processor. Model components as a single entity with a part file and a mesh file. Part and mesh files are managed independently, allowing for data reuse in other models. The post-processor provides fast animation of systems with complex geometries.
MBD Pro
MBD Pro is included in the Ansys Motion base package and analyzes rigid body systems. It uses parametric generalized coordinate systems to formulate the governing equations of motion. Rigid bodies are connected by joints, primitive constraints, bushings, contacts, and user-defined functions. Smooth surface-to-surface contact is supported, with surfaces represented by piecewise triangular patches or NURBS surfaces.
FE Dynamics
Perform dynamic analysis on a mixed system of rigid and flexible bodies. The solver combines the disciplines of multibody dynamics (MBD) and finite element (FE) analysis. It includes many unique connecting elements for rigid and flexible bodies. Using a numerically stable implicit integration method, the solution is smooth, reliable, and free from numerical noise.
Modal Flex
For a flexible body with no contact or only slightly changing force elements, the modal flexible body is preferred for its efficiency. Mode shapes are extracted from a finite element program like Ansys Mechanical, and deformation is expressed as a linear combination of these mode shapes. This method solves reduced modal coordinates, making computation time shorter. You can easily switch between modal flexible bodies and full nodal flexible bodies, and solve them alongside other rigid and nodal flexible bodies.
Linear
Linear analysis is used to solve eigenvalues and eigenvectors for FE bodies, EasyFlex bodies, or systems. It can simulate natural frequencies and modes. For more accurate results in body eigenvalue analysis, the static correction mode is recommended for modal flexible bodies.
Fatigue
Traditional fatigue analysis required separate analyses for load history and stresses. In Ansys Motion, these processes are combined into one system. The Ansys Motion solver generates both load history and stress history simultaneously. You can directly view the fatigue life in the Ansys Motion post-processor.
MATLAB Interface
Included in the Ansys Motion base package, the MATLAB/Simulink interface enables co-simulation between MATLAB control models and Ansys Motion mechanical models. You need to define system input/output in the Ansys Motion model and in the Simulink file in MATLAB.
FMI
The functional mockup interface (FMI) capability allows Ansys Motion mechanical models to co-simulate with other simulation tools that support FMI. You must define the system input/output in the Ansys Motion model. Note that Ansys Motion’s FMI is available only as a slave simulator.
Drivetrain Toolkit
It can conduct analyses from the initial design concept through to detailed production models. Waterfall color maps and order tracking data can be produced in the same manner as in a real-world test environment to allow easy comparison of simulation and reality.
Links Toolkit for Chains and Belts
An Ansys Motion Links toolkit analysis involves path bodies (wound bodies) and segment bodies (winding bodies). Once you define these bodies, a chain assembly is automatically created. Path and segment bodies can be subsystems, parts, or mesh files, allowing you to build various types of irregular chains. All contact parameters among the segment and path bodies are controlled from one window. Connections between segments can include any type of force, joint, or contact entity.
Links Toolkit for Tracks
Predefined geometries for segment and path bodies are provided, enabling parametric studies. Track assembly is further simplified by eliminating the need for manual selection of path bodies. The path bodies are automatically identified and used to assemble the track segments. Contact surfaces are predefined for these geometries, so there’s no need to manually define them. These predefined geometries include intricate modeling details to accurately represent real shapes.
Car Toolkit
Dedicated template and subsystem modeling tools can be utilized to construct chassis, suspension, steering, and wheels for predefined analysis scenarios. Symmetric modeling capabilities and template-based workflows enable users to effortlessly analyze kinematics and compliance (K&C) as well as ride and handling (R&H) scenarios.
EasyFlex Toolkit
Unlike traditional finite element analysis, the Ansys Motion EasyFlex toolkit eliminates the need for meshing prior to structural analysis. This makes flexibility modeling accessible to all users, even those without experience in meshing technologies. By utilizing the Ansys Motion EasyFlex toolkit, strain and stress calculations for machine parts of various shapes can be completed within minutes.
Translators
The Ansys Motion pre-processor is built on the ACIS kernel, allowing direct reading of .sat and .sab files. Other CAD data files need to be translated using the appropriate CAD translator.
