Ansys Bolt Load Extraction Wizard

Full Manual

An add-on for Ansys Mechanical for a Bolt Load Extraction Wizard with self-correction for Large Deflection (NLGEOM = ON) effects.

Installation

This extension can be installed in two ways: binary installer, or directory association.

Binary Installation

Do one of the following:

1. Workbench menu bar:
   1.1. Extensions > Install Extension...
   1.2. Select the binary (*.wbex) file. 1.3. Extensions > Manage Extensions...
   1.4. Click the check box next to the extension you want to activate.
2. ACT Start Page:
   2.1. Below the Workbench menu bar, click on "ACT Start Page".
   2.1. Go to "Manage Extensions" (middle of ACT Start Page window).
   2.3. In the upper right corner, click the "+" button.
   2.4. Select the binary file.
   2.5. The new extension should be added as a grey block into the collection of extensions. Simply click on it to load it (will unload after you close Workbench), or click on the upside-down triangle on the bottom right corner of the extension block and select "Load as default" to have it permanently loaded.

Directory Association

1. Download the contents of this repo into a dedicated folder
2. Below the Workbench menu bar, click on "ACT Start Page".
3. Go to "Manage Extensions" (middle of ACT Start Page window).
4. In the upper right corner, click the Gear button.
5. Click the "+ Add Folder" button.
6. Select the directory where the Bolt_Loads.xml file is located.
7. The new extension should be added as a grey block into the collection of extensions. Simply click on it to load it (will unload after you close Workbench), or click on the upside-down triangle on the bottom right corner of the extension block and select "Load as default" to have it permanently loaded.

NOTE: When working with directory association, you can modify the code directly and simply click the "Reload" button (Mechanical > Automation tab > ACT Development block) to update the loaded extension.

Contributing

Contributions in the way of bugfixes and new features are welcome!

For requests or questions, please contact Yair Preiss.

Developer setup

These tools are only needed when editing the code or opening a pull request. They are not needed to install or run the Ansys extension.

1. Clone this repository.
2. Install uv, which manages the Python environment for the developer tools.
3. Run commands from the repository root. The first uv run ... command will automatically create the local Python environment.

Developer tools

Before opening a pull request, run:

• uv run ruff format to automatically format Python files.
• uv run ruff check to check for common Python mistakes.
  • Some Ansys ACT scripts are excluded because they rely on names provided by Ansys Mechanical at runtime.
• uv run pytest to run the unit tests.
  • Unit tests check small pieces of Python code against known example inputs.

When you open a pull request, GitHub Actions runs the same checks automatically; see .github/workflows/tests.yml. If a check fails, run the matching command locally, fix the issue, and push a new commit.