Introduction to LS-PrePost

Quanqing Yan, Philip Ho, LST 2020

 Table of Contents
SECTION WORKSHOPS
Overview -
General Operations Workshop 1
Mesh Generation Workshop 2
Pre-Processing Workshop 3-4-5
Post-Processing Workshop 6
Configuration Files -

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 2

 Overview

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 3

 About LS-PrePost
 LS-PrePost is an advanced pre and post-processor
designed specifically for LS-DYNA
 LS-PrePost is developed for Windows and Linux
 LS-PrePost is Free
 Core Functionality
• Full support of LS-DYNA keyword files
• Full support of LS-DYNA results files
• Robust handling of geometry data (new CAD engine)
• Pre-processing (meshing, model clean-up, entity creation)
• Post-processing (animation, fringe plotting, curve plotting)

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 4

 Online Resources
 Official Website
• http://www.lstc.com/lspp
 User Group
• http://groups.google.com/group/ls-prepost
 Latest Release Version:
• http://ftp.lstc.com/anonymous/outgoing/lsprepost/4.6/
• ftp://ftp.lstc.com/outgoing/lsprepost/4.6/
 Beta Version:
• http://ftp.lstc.com/anonymous/outgoing/lsprepost/dev
 Training notes:
• ftp://ftp.lstc.com/outgoing/qyan/Class

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 5

 GUI Layout

Menus Floting Toolbar

File management & preferences Movable semitransparent

Feature Tree Right Toolbar

Tree list of assembly and parts Access to pre and post-processing tools

Graphics Viewport

Command Line Bottom Toolbar

Type in operation command Model rendering controls

Message window
Prompt message (Double click for popup)

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 6

 Input / Output
 Input (partial list)
• FEM: LS-DYNA Keyword, Nastran, I-DEAS Universal,
PAM-CRASH, RADIOSS, ABAQUS
• CAD: IGES, STEP
• ASCII: glstat, matsum, etc…
• Binary: d3plot, binout, etc…
 Output (partial list)
• FEM: LS-DYNA Keyword, Nastran, STL
• Image: PNG, TIFF, BMP, GIF, JPG, PostScript
• Movie: AVI, MPEG, Animated GIF, JPEG
• XY Data: CRV, CSV, XML
• Other: Post.db, Project File

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 7

 Mouse and Keyboard
 Dynamic Model Operation
• Rotate: Shift + Left-click
• Translate: Shift + Middle-click
• Zoom: Shift + Right-click/Scroll-wheel
(Using Ctrl instead of Shift for edge mode)
 Graphics Selection
• Pick (single): Left Click
• Area (rectangle): Left-click + Drag
• Poly (polygon): Left-click at corners / Right-click to finish
 List Selection
• Multi-Select: Left-click + Drag / Ctrl + Left-click
 Mouse over controls for status bar help comments
LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 8
 File Menu
 New – Launch a new session of LS-PrePost, all model/data will be
closed (only in version 4.0 and later)
 Open – Open file (new model created for each file opened)
 Import – Import file (adds keyword data to current model)
 Recent – Open recent files (stored in /user/.lspp_recent)
 Save – Over-write current Keyword or Project file
 Save As – Save any of the following file formats using advanced options:
Keyword, Active Keyword (visible data), Project, Post.db (condensed
d3plot data), Geometry, Keyword and Project (using same file name)
 Update – Load new d3plots for run in progress
 Run LS-DYNA – pop up LS-DYNA job submission dialog, currently only
limited to the same local machine LS-PrePost is running
 Print... – Launch printing interface (send to printer or image file)
 Movie... – Launch movie generation interface
 Exit – Exit LS-PrePost
 Save and Exit – Save data to current file and exit LS-PrePost

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 9

 Miscellanies Menu
 View Model Info – Launch model information interface
 View Memory Info – Launch memory usage interface
 View Message Info – Launch keyword reader message interface
 Display Ruler – Launch ruler interface
 Set Keyword Title – Launch title interface
 Swap Byte On Title – Swap byte order for title
 Start Recording Commands – Start/stop recording macro
commands
 Launch Macro Interface – Launch Macro interface
 Manage Command File – Launch command file interface
 Execute System Call – Launch system call interface
 Keyword File Separate – Separate a single keyword file into multiple
files based on *KEYWORD title

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 10

 View Menu
 Full Screen (Esc to Exit) – Show graphics area in full screen mode
 Background – Set background style (plain, faded, or image)
 Geometry Shade – Set geometry rendering style
 Element Shade – Set element rendering style
 All Element/Geometry – Show all elements/geometry
 Ref Geometry – Show reference geometry
 Points/Curves/Surfaces – Show points/curves/surfaces
 Toolbar – Hide/display toolbars, set text/icon mode, and set font size
 Local Axes – Toggle between global/local
 Beam Prism – Toggle between line/prism
 Smooth Fringe Color – Enable smooth contours (when in fringe mode)
 Keep Zout Orientation – Maintain orientation when zooming out
 Show Deleted Nodes – Display deleted nodes when viewing results
 Show Deleted Elements – Display deleted elements when viewing
results
 Result On Screen – Display results on screen when Ident > Show Results
is active (when in fringe mode)
 Smooth Shade – Use smooth shading
 Record Message – Write messages to lspost.msg
 Show Mid-Side Nodes – for 10-node Tetrahedron element

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 11

 Geometry Menu
 Reference Geometry – Access tools for creating and editing
reference geometry (Axis, Plane, Coordinate System, and Point)
 Curve – Access tools for creating and editing curves (Point,
Line, Circle, Circular Arc, Ellipse, Elliptical Arc, BSpline Curve,
Helix, Composite Curve, Break Curve, Merge Curve, Bridge
Edge, Smooth Curve, Middle Curve, Morphing Curve, Fillet
Curve)
 Surface – Access tools for creating and editing surfaces (Plane,
Cylinder, Cone, Sphere, Torus, Fill Plane, Extrude, Revolve,
Sweep, Loft, N-Side Surface, Patch Surface, Bridge Two Faces,
Combine Faces, Fit From Points/Mesh, Middle Surface, Surface
Morphing)
 Solid – Access tools for creating and editing solids (Box,
Cylinder, Cone, Sphere, Torus, Extrude, Revolve, Sweep, Loft,
Fillet, Chamfer, Draft, Thicken, Wedge, Boolean)
 Geometry Tools – Access other geometry tools (Delete Face,
Extend Curve, Extend Face, Intersection, Offset, Project,
Replace Face, Stitch Faces, Trim Transform, Copy Entity,
Management, Heal, Topology Simplify, Measure)

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 12
 FEM Menu
 Element and Mesh – Access mesh creation tools (Shape
Mesher, Auto Mesher, Solid Mesher, Block Mesher, N-Line
Mesher, Tetrahedral Mesher, Blank Mesher, Element
Generation, Node Editing, Element, Editing, Mass Trimming,
Spot Welding, SPH Generation)
 Model and Part – Access model and part tools (Assembly and
Select Part, Keyword Manager, Create Entity, Display Entity,
Reference Check, Renumber, Section Plane, Model Selection,
Subsystem Manager, Group, View, Part Color, Appearance,
Annotation, Split Window, Explode, Lighting Setup)
 Element Tools – Access element tools (Identify, Find, Blank,
Move or Copy, Offset, Transform, Normals, Detach, Measure,
Morph, Smooth, Part Trim, Part Travel)
 Post – Access post-processing tools (Fringe Component, Fringe
Range, History, XY Plot, ASCII, Binary Output, Follow, Trace,
State, Particle, Circle Grid, Chain Model, FLD, Output, Setting,
Vector)
 Favorites – Customizable toolbar (see Setting → Toolbar
Manager)

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 13

 Application Menu

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 14

 Setting Menu
 Current Subsystem ID – Set current subsystem ID
 Current Working Directory – Set current working directory
 General Settings – Set general parameters
 Post Settings – Set post processing parameters
 Configuration Settings – Set configuration settings
 Toolbar Manager – Customize toolbars

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 15

 Help Menu
 Document – View LS-PrePost documentation
 Tutorial – View LS-PrePost tutorials
 Will need to download the Help and Tutorial documents from
LSTC’s ftp site the first time these documents are being
accessed
 Old to New – View mapping between old (v2.4) and new (v3.0+) GUI
 Release Notes – View release notes
 Check for Update – Check server for newer version of LS-PrePost
 About LS-PrePost – View version info

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 16

 Bottom Toolbar

Opti Toggle Title, Legend, Min-Max, Time Stamp, Triad, Clear Clear all picked or highlighted information
Background Color, Mesh Color, Performance Stats on/off, AutCen Automatically center model to fit within window
Feature Tree, ISO View and Animation Play ZoIn Zoom in, click and drag to draw a box
HidEle Display elements with hidden lines removed Zout Zoom out to previous zoom position
ShaEle Display elements in shaded mode with mesh lines off Pcen Pick node as new center point for model rotation
VieEle Display elements in plain color mode VCrd View coordinate systems
WirEle Display elements in wireframe mode Top Choose Top, Bottom, Front, Back, Right, or Left view
Feat Display elements in feature line mode (default angle=30°) Angle Left-click to reverse rotation direction
Edge Display elements in edge line mode Right-click to modify rotation angle
Grid Display each nodal point as a colored pixel Rotate Left-click to rotate about axis shown
Mesh Toggle element mesh on/off Right-click to switch rotation axis (X/Y/Z)
Shrink Draw elements in shrunken mode (default=0.85) Persp Toggle Parallel/Perspective view mode
Section Display section view with plane selected Home Restore default view and fit model
Frin Toggle Fringe/Line-contours/Iso-surfaces ActAll Restore all entities to be active
Unref Toggle unreferenced nodes on/off BacCol Toggle background color black/white (Plain background mode only)
EdgGeo Display geometry in shaded mode with edges on Anim Display animation controls or start/stop animation
ShaGeo Display geometry in shaded mode with edges off SelPart Launch Assembly and Select Part interface
WirGeo Display geometry in wireframe mode ResPart Restore the last removed part (Shift+R)
ShfCtr Toggle Off/Shift/Ctrl (for one-handed rotate/pan/zoom) Plot Open XY plot management interface

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 17

 General Operations

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 18

 FEM General Selection
Pick Select a single entity ID Enter Ids of the entity to be selected into
the text box for highlighting
Area Select using a rectangular window
Type When selecting element, choose
Poly Select using an irregular polygon
element type to be selected
Sel1 Pick 1 entity (only 1 will be in buffer) Label selection put a label on the selected
Sphe Select entities within a sphere entities
Box Select entities within a box Prop Propagate selection (pick seed)
Prox Select entities within proximity to a part Adap Propagate across adaptive elements
Circ Select entities within a circle Ang Feature angle for propagation to stop
Frin Select entities within a fringe plot range
Plan Select entities within a plane

In Select entities inside Area/Poly

Out Select entities outside Area/Poly
Add Add entities to a selection set
Rm Remove entities to a selection set

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 19

 FEM General Selection
Adjacent Select adjacent elements
Attach Select attached elements
Clear Clear selection
Save Save selection to buffer or to file
Load Load selection from buffer or
from file
Deselect Undo last selection
Whole Select all entities in model
ByNode Select nodes
Visible Select all visible entities ByElem Select elements
Reverse Reverse selection ByPart Select parts
BySet Set based selection
ByEdge Edge based selection
ByPath Select first and last along a path
BySegm Select segments
BySurf Select surface (geometry)

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 20

 Model → Assembly and Select Part
Purpose: turn parts on/off (on=“active”)
 Parts listed by PID and name (or element type)
 Top drop-down menu selects current model
 Parts can be turned on/off by element type
 Use General selection to select parts
 Active parts can be Saved/Loaded from buffers
(via Save button in General selection)
 Selected displays active parts only in list
 Info button launches Part Information
interface for active parts
 SortBy button launches Part Sort interface

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 21

 Model → Assembly and Select Part
Right click on part to show
the part information and
statistics

Keep mouse pressed and

move to other part to show
information dynamically

Keyword data gives more

information than post-
processing data

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 22

 Model->Select Part->SortBy
Each header can be
clicked to sort the IDs
of that column

Options to select info

to be tabulated

Highlighted parts can

be set as active part in
the graphics rendering

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 23

 Element Tools → Blank
Purpose: temporarily hide or “mask” elements
 Uses General Selection interface
 Entity types:
• Node, Element, CNRB, Curve, Surface, Particle
 Element types:
• Shell, Solid, Beam, TShell, SPH, Mass, Discrete, Seatbelt,
Inertia, Nurbs, DiscSph, Any element
 UnBlank Part – click to restore partially hidden
parts
 Auto-Apply – blank automatically (no need to click
Apply button)
 Auto-Update – update display of solid surfaces and
edges automatically (no need to click Update Surf
or Update Edge)
LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 24
 Model → Views
Purpose: create views (based on color, appearance,
orientation, and active parts)
 Create – create a new view
 Select – load the selected view
 Delete – delete the selected view
 Save – save views to a binary file
 Load – load views from file

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 25

 Model → Appearance
Purpose: modify the appearance of parts
 Parts can be selected by Single/Area/Polygon
 Each selected part will have the selected rendering
options applied
 Thick – draw shells with true thickness
 Sphere – draw solid part nodes as spheres (for EFG)
 AllVis – selected rendering options are applied to all
active parts
 Render buttons are disabled while using Appear
interface

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 26

 Model → Part Color
Purpose: modify part color and transparency
 Set/Show colors for parts or other entities
(background, text, mesh, labels)
 Sky (top), Middle, Ground (bottom) refer to
background color (when View > Background > Tri
Fade is selected)
 Select color from palette or form new color using
RBG
 Editmap – to assign new color to the color map
 Fringe colors can also be changed – select a fringe
color, then after the color selection, click Fringe
button.
 Amap – apply the current color map to part drawing
 Rstp – restore transparency of all parts to opaque

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 27

 Model → Part Color
 Smap – save the current color map to a file
 Lmap – load color map from a previous saved file

Transparency – draw part in transparent mode,

transparency factor:
 0.0 fully opaque (once is set to 0.0, need to click
part again to turn it into transparent)
 1.0 totally transparent
 Pick toggle – pick a part to toggle it from opaque
to transparent and vice versa
 Pick through – pick through a part to set part that
is behind this part

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 28

 Model → Lighting Setup
Purpose: adjust model and material lighting
 Light – adjust model lights
• 2 lights are on by default
 Front – position (0.0, 0.0, 1.0)

 Back – position (0.0, 0.0, -1.0)

 Click the Latitude and Longitude to control the

light position
• Up to 8 more can be activated
• The following properties can be adjusted for each
 Ambient

 Diffuse

 Specular

 Material – adjust material lighting properties and

the Shininess

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 29

 Element Tools → Identify
Purpose: identify nodes/elements/parts
 Uses General Selection interface
 Entity types:
• Node, Element, Part, Curve, Surface, Particle, constrained
nodal rigid body (cnrb)
 Element types:
• Shell, Solid, Beam, TShell, SPH, Mass, Discrete, Seatbelt,
Inertia, Nurbs, DiscSph, Any
 Max. number of IDs that can be shown is 12800
 Can key in xyz coordinates to show position
 Can show element directions (shell and beam)
 Can show orthotropic material directions

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 30

 Element Tools → Identify
Purpose: identify nodes/elements/parts
 Can show node/element results (after fringing in
post-processing)
 Can show element results at integration points
 To show result on screen, go to pull down menu
View, and turn on “Results on Screen”
 When identifying a very large no. of nodes or
elements, make sure to turn off “Echo” and turn
on “No ID”, otherwise will take a long time to come
back

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 31

 Element Tools → Find
Purpose: find nodes/elements/parts/Cnrb
 Find any element by ID or specified type
 Show Only – shows found entity by itself
 Highlight – highlights found entity
 Neighbors – propagates to neighboring elements
 UnblankAll – turns on all elements and parts
 UnblankPart – turns on all elements in part that
found node/element belongs to

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 32

 Model → Groups
Purpose: create part groups
 Groups are automatically generated for all
*SET_PART that exist in the model
 Create – create a new group from active parts
 Select – load the selected group
 Add – add a group to the current display
 Subtract – subtract a group from the current display
 Save – save groups to an ASCII file
 Load – load groups from file
(Save and Load effective for presentations)
 Or, And, Xor – used for Adding groups
 Auto Center – automatically center the selected
group

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 33

 Model → Explode
Purpose: separate (explode) parts for better
visualization
 Factor – scale factor for parts movement
 Direction – direction for part movement
 All – explode all parts
 Part – explode selected parts only
 PtGroup – explode a group of parts (defined using
Page 1: Group)

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020 ©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS company 34

 Model → Annotation
Purpose: annotate Graphics and XY-Plot windows
 Position – interactively position text
 Arrow – add fixed arrow
 Nd Arrow – add arrow tied to node location
 Move – move annotations
 Text size, color, and orientation can be adjusted
 Annotations can be saved to / loaded from a file

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 35
 Workshop 1
General Operations

 Parts on/off
 Render buttons (bottom toolbar)
 Group, appearance and view
 Identify and find
 Element blank(mask)
 Part color

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 36
 Mesh Generation

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 37
 Create Position Interface
Purpose: define an XYZ location
 By picking a position
 By picking a node
 At an element center
 At an edge midpoint
 At the average center of nodes or elements
 At the center of a circle
 New *NODE can be created

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 38
 Create Direction Interface
Purpose: define a direction
 By picking 2 positions
 By picking 2 nodes
 Along an element edge
 Along an element normal
 Direction can be rotated about global or local
coordinate system
 New *DEFINE_VECTOR can be created

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 39
 Mesh → Simple Shape Meshing
Purpose: mesh basic geometries
 Box_Solid, Box_Shell – define min/max
coordinates and mesh density
 4N-Shell – define 4 corners and mesh density
 Sphere_Solid, Sphere_Shell – define center, radius
and mesh density (quarter circle)
 Cylinder_Solid, Cylinder_Shell – define center,
direction, radius, length and mesh density (if
number of elements in circumferential direction is
multiple of 4, butterfly mesh will be create)
 Circle_Shell – define outer radius, inner radius (if
hole is desired), angle (to create an arc), mesh
density, and normal direction

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 40
 Mesh → Auto Mesher (Size)
 Mesh by Size creates uniformly sized elements
 Can be mix of quad and tri element or all tri only
 Compute button will give rough estimate of
element size
 Connect Boundary Nodes will connect with the
nodes on existing mesh
 Mesh Across Suppressed Edges will ignore edges
that is suppressed in the geometry Heal->Edge
 Mesh by GPart will create separate LS-DYNA part
for each geometry part
 Ignore Hole Size, hole size smaller than this value
will be ignore and be filled with elements
 Merge Tolerance controls nodes being merged
when close to each other
©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS
LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 41
 Mesh → Auto Mesher (Variable size)
 Mesh by variable size will create mesh that has
smaller elements at high curvature area and
larger elements on flat surfaces
 It is similar to “By Size” method, in general gives
better results
 4 parameters control the element size
• Max element size
• Min element size
• Max deviation
• Max angle

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 42
 Mesh → Auto Mesher (Deviation)
 Mesh by Deviation is for tooling in metal forming
stamping applications
 Deviation mode creates small elements on curved
surfaces and large elements on flat surfaces
 4 parameters control the element size
• Max element size
• Min element size
• Max deviation
• Max angle

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 43
 Mesh → Auto Mesher (Remesh)
 Remesh mode allows user to remesh
part of the model
 Options to delete the original
elements and connect to the nodes
on the existing mesh

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 44
 Mesh → N-Line Mesher
Purpose: create mesh from 2/3/4 lines
 2 Line Shell – create mesh between 2 lines
 3 Line Shell – create mesh between 3 lines
 4 Line Shell – create mesh between 4 lines
• Enter number of elements on each edge
• Or enter element size
• Or use points on lines to create elements
 Line Sweep – sweep one line along another line

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 45
 Mesh → Solid Mesher
 Solid meshing by blocks
 Uses cut & dice method followed by sweeping

Define cutting planes

on geometry

Cut and trim

into small
blocks

Sweep block faces to

form hex elements

©2012 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | November , 2012
company 46
 Mesh → Tetrahedron Mesher
Purpose: create 4-node solid elements
(tetrahedron) inside an enclosed shell volume
 Pick Skin Parts – shell parts that form a water
tight enclosure, multiple parts are allowed as
long as each part form the enclosure
 Requirement: skin normal must be aligned
 Skin can be re-meshed to give better solid
tetrahedron mesh
 Pick Skin Geometry – surface geometry can
be used instead of shell part, LSPP will first
create shell mesh internally, element size is
needed for shell meshing
 10-node tets can also be created
 Created Solid mesh can be translated in space
©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS
LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 47
 Mesh → Element Generation (Beam)
Purpose: create beam elements
 On an edge
 On a curve
 By dragging nodes
 By spinning nodes
 Along shell diagonals

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 48
 Mesh → Element Generation (Shell)
Purpose – To create shell elements from:
 Solid Surface - On all outer surfaces of a solid
 Solid Face - On individual solid faces
 Edge Drag - By dragging an edge
 Edge Spin - By spinning an edge
 Edge Extend - By extending an edge
 Curve Drag - By dragging a curve
 Curve Spin - By spinning a curve (geometry curve)
 Segment Set – Create shell element from segment set
 Fill Holes - By filling holes
 4Nodesto8Nodes – Create 8-node shell element
 Helix – Create helix shell loop
 Wrap – Wrap over open parts
 Solid/Tshell Midplane – Create shell from a single layer
solid part at the mid-plane of the solid part

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 49
 Mesh → Element Generation (Solid)
Purpose: create solid elements
 Solid Face Drage – Create another solid By dragging a solid face
 Solid Face Offset - By offsetting solid face
 Solid Face Spin - By spinning solid face
 Shell Drag – By dragging a shell element
 Shell Offset – By offsetting a shell element
 Shell Spin – By spinning a shell element
 Shell Thickness – Apply the thickness of shell
 Two Shell Sets – Take 2 sets of shells to form solid between
them (must have identical mesh connectivity)
 Shell Sweep – Sweep shell element along a curve
 Tet4 to Tet10 – Change 4-node tet to 10-node tet
 Hex to Tet4 – Convert hexahedron into 4-node tetrahedron
 Helix – Create helix form of solid elements

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 50
 Workshop 2
Mesh Generation

 Shape mesh
 N-line mesh
 Auto mesh
 Solid mesh

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 51
 Pre-Processing

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 52
 Element Tool → Element Editing
Purpose: modify an existing mesh by editing elements
 Element Editing Tools
• Check (quality)
• Create (beam, shell, tetra, penta, hexa, discrete)
• Delete
• Split / Merge
• Modify (thickness)
• Direction (change material direction for orthotropic
materials)
• Composite (special operation to model composite
laminated shell elements, see tutorial no. 4 in the model
section)
• Align (re-orient element connectivity according to a seed
element)

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 53
 Element Tool → Element Editing (Split/Merge)
 Shell elements can be split into quads or tris
 Constrain Adaptive button – If checked
(*CONSTRAINED_ADAPTIVITY automatically
created when splitting deformable elements)
 Click edge of element for splitting into 2
elements, can be perpendicular or parallel to
the picked edge
 Quad can also be split into Tris
 Two quads can be merged into a single quad
 Solid elements can also be split

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 54
 Element Tool → Element Editing (Align)
 Align – to re-align the connectivity of a group
of shell/solid/tshell elements such that the
orientation of the elements will be consistent
 Pick the face and edge of a seed element, the
picked face will be used as face one, and the
picked edge will be used as n1->n2 (first edge)
 Show Seed only will show the picked element
and allow user to select different face/edge
 Show normal, show direction will show
element orientation

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 55
 Element Tool → Element Editing (Align)
Solid/Tshell connectivity re-alignment – to re-align the connectivity
of a group of solid/tshell elements such that the orientation of
the elements will be consistent

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 56
 Element Tool → Node Editing
Purpose: modify an existing mesh by editing nodes
 Node Editing Tools
• Create – to create new nodes, use Advance button to
create nodes using different methods
• Delete – to delete unreferenced (no other element or
entity attached to it)
• Replace – to replace one node with another node
(merge) or take the center point of the 2 nodes
• Align – to align nodes that is close to a line formed by 2
points
• Modify (xyz coordinates)

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 57
 Element Tool → Node Editing (Replace)
 Two nodes replacement
• Merge two nodes into one
• Option to choose final position of merged node
(Node1, Node2, MidPoint)
• Single pick or area select
 Multiple (Many) nodes replacement
• Merge multiple nodes into one
• Option to choose final position of merged node
(Center, Node, Position)
• General Selection interface used to select nodes

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 58
 Element Tool → Node Editing (Align)
 Define line by picking two points
 Select nodes that will be snapped to the line
 Option to use Nodes or Point on Element
 SpNdEQ – special option to put node in equal
spacing when align to the line

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 59
 Element Tools → Normals
Purpose: show/reverse/align element normal
 Apply to Shell/Segment/Tshell/Cohesive/Solid
 For Shell element, positive normal has different
color than negative normal
 General Selection interface can be used to
manually show or reverse normal vectors
 Automatic alignment (Auto Reverse) can be
performed by picking a “seed” element

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 60
 Element Tools → Duplicate Nodes
show and merge duplicate (coincident) nodes
 Tolerance is automatically calculated but can be
overridden
 Option to keep smaller or larger Node ID
 Option to put new node at the xyz centroid of all
merged nodes
 Show Dup Nodes – will show all the nodes that
meet the tolerance criterion
 Select Nodes – allow user to select subset of
nodes shown
 Merge Dup Nodes – will perform the merging of
the duplicated Nodes
 Option to delete degenerated elements (elements
with zero area)
©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS
LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 61
 Element Tools → Detach
Purpose: detach elements from an existing mesh
 Shell, Beam, Solid, Tshell – detach elements by type
 Node – detach all elements connected to a node
 Element – Select group of elements to be detached
 Edge – Select edges of elements to be detached
 Starting NID – Enter starting ID for new nodes

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 62
 Element Tools → Measure
Purpose: take measurements of various items
 Item – list of available measurements
• Coordinate – xyz coordinate
• Dist N2N – distance between 2 nodes
• Dist N2S – distance between a node and a surface
• Dist P2P – distance between 2 points
• Dist E2E 4Node – distance between edge to edge (4nodes)
• Angle 3Node – angle between 3 nodes
• Angle 4node – angle between 2 lines formed by 4 nodes
• 3Pt Radius – the radius formed by 3 nodes
• Area / Volume / Mass / Inertia
• Ang Vel – angular velocity
• Create Axes – to create a local coordinate systems
• Separation – measure distance between two parts in
fringe color
©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS
LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 63
 Element Tools → Measure (continued...)
 Active Elements Only – for certain quantities (e.g.,
Area, Volume, Mass, Inertia)
 Element/Part/All – measure by element, by part, or
all
 For shell part volume, beside the volume computed
by (area x thickness), it also computes the enclosure
volume if the part form a water tight enclosure
 Cancel pick – remove last picked entity
 Apply – take measurement
 Reference Axes – select current reference axes for
measurement (define axis using Item: Create Axis)
 History – depends on selected item

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 64
 Workshop 3
Model Editing

 Model free edge

 Duplicate nodes merge
 Node and element Editing
 Fill holes
 Element normal align
 Save a keyword file

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 65
 Pre-Processing
(continued…)

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 66
 Element Tools → Move/Copy
Purpose: move or copy elements from one part to
another
 Use General Selection interface to select elements
 Target part can be a non-existent
 Starting IDs for new elements and nodes can be
specified when performing a copy

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 67
 Element Tools → Offset
Purpose: offset shells (always in normal direction)
 Offset Distance – distance to offset
 Element normals must be aligned before offsetting
 Beware of offsetting small radii inward
 Elements can be copied while offsetting

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 68
 Element Tools→ Transform (Translate)
Purpose: translate nodes/elements/parts
 Translate Distance – distance to translate
 X,Y,Z directions can be in global or local system
 N1-N2 – translate in the direction from N1 to N2
 N1-N2-N3 – translate in the direction normal to
the plane formed by N1, N2, and N3
 N1-to-N2 – translate using the distance and
direction between N1 and N2
 Pt-to-Pt – translate using the distance and
direction between P1 and P2
 Sh-Normal – pick a shell element and use its
normal as the direction of the translation

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 69
 Element Tools→ Transform (Translate)
 Free Edit – after distance, direction and node
selection, user can drag the selected nodes on
screen
 Copy Elem – copy elements while translating
 Copy Node – copy nodes while translating
 Transfer – transfer selection to copied elements
 Multiple copies can be created
 New elements can be placed in a new part ID
 User can enter starting element ID for new
elements
 User can enter starting node ID for new nodes

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 70
 Element Tools→ Transform (Rotate)
Purpose: rotate nodes/elements/parts
 Rot. Angle – angle to rotate in degree
 X,Y,Z axes can be in global or local coordinates
 N1-N2 – rotate about an axis from N1 to N2
 N1-N2-N3 – rotate about the normal formed by

N1, N2, and N3

 Origin of rotation can be a node or XYZ location
 Elements/Nodes can be copied while rotating

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 71
 Element Tools→ Transform (Reflect)
Purpose: reflect nodes/elements/parts
 Norm X/Y/Z – reflect along global axes
 N1-N2 – reflect along the direction from N1 to N2
 N1-N2-N3 – reflect along the normal formed by

N1, N2, and N3

 Origin of reflection can be a node or

an XYZ location
 Elements/Nodes can be copied while reflecting

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 72
 Element Tools→ Transform (Project)
Purpose: project nodes and elements
 Norm X/Y/Z – project along global axes
 N1-N2 – project along the direction from N1 to N2
 N1-N2-N3 – project along the normal formed by

N1, N2, and N3

 Can also project To Mesh, To Curve, or To Surface
 Point on plane of projection can be a node or

an XYZ location
 Elements can be copied while projecting

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 73
 Element Tools→ Transform (Scale)
Purpose: scale nodes/elements/parts
 Scale Factor – greater than 1 to enlarge, less than
1 to shrink (when using Scale+)
 X,Y,Z – scale in either global or local coordinate
system
 N1-N2 – scale in direction from N1 to N2
 N1-N2-N3 – scale in direction of normal formed
by N1, N2, and N3
 Origin can be a node or a XYZ location
 Elements/Nodes can be copied while scaling

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 74
 Element Tools→ Transform (Transform)
Purpose: transform nodes/elements/parts from one
coordinate system to another
 From – pick 3 nodes (first set of P1,P2,P3) to
define a starting system
 To – pick 3 nodes (second set of P1,P2,P3) to
define a destination system
 P1-P3 buttons launch Create Position interface
 Elements can be copied while transforming

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 75
 Element Tools → Smooth
Purpose: smooth a mesh to improve element quality
 Use General Selection interface to select
elements
 Specified nodes can be locked to prevent
movement
 Nodes along feature angles are not moved
 Boundary nodes can be fixed or free
 User specified number of smoothing iterations
can be applied
 Nodes can be projected back to geometry after
smoothing

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 76
 Element Tools → Part Trim
Purpose: trim a mesh using a curve
 Parts – first, choose the parts to be trimmed
 Trim Curves – second, select curves for trimming
 Trim Methods (projecting curves to mesh)...
• Closest 3D projection
• Vector projection (along a specified vector)

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 77
 Workshop 4
Build a fan model

 Create a surface
 Surface mesh
 2Line mesh
 Part trim
 Model transform (rotate)
 Save a keyword file

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 78
 Pre-Processing
(continued…)

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 79
 Keyword Input Form
 Example Keyword Input form for *PART

Keyword type List of existing keywords of this type

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 80
 Keyword Input Form (continued...)
 Keyword Input form buttons
Always click first when creating a new card Commit changes
Draw entity in the graphics window
Delete/Undelete
Popup RefBy interface selected keyword

Open interface to pick

data directly from model
Set all entries to
Create fresh keyword Default values
using default values

Exit keyword editing form

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 81
 Keyword Input Form (continued...)
 Keyword Input form controls

Card Number

Parameter Names
Link Button

Parameter Values Drop-down Menu

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 82
 Keyword Input Form (continued...)
 Other Keyword Input form features
• Blue parameter titles can be clicked to display description in
bottom text area (see below)
• Red parameters indicate that additional cards may be
displayed depending on the parameter value

User comments can be entered here

Click in any field above to display description here

(same information found in LS-DYNA Keyword Manual)

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 83
 Model → Keyword Manager
 All LS-DYNA keywords are
accessible through Keyword
Manager tree list (over 900 total)
 Keywords that exist in the current
model are shown in Blue
 Click All to display all keywords (or
click Model to display only those
that exist in the current model)
 Expand the tree and double-click to
edit a keyword (opens Keyword
Input Form)

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 84
 Model → Keyword Delete and Transfer
 Right click on a keyword in the
keyword tree opens up the
Deletion and Transfer menu
 Keyword data can be deleted by all
or by IDs
 A keyword data can be transferred
to another similar keyword data,
common fields will be preserved,
missing fields will need to be
entered. e.g.
 *ELEMENT_SHELL_BETA to
*ELEMENT_SHELL_THICKNESS

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 85
 Model → Entity Interface
A uniform interface to deal with LS-DYNA
entities that can be shown graphically
 Show – to show the entities
 Create – to create the entity
 Modify – modify the existing entities
 Delete – delete entities
 Write entity data to a file
 General selection is used whenever it is
possible for selecting the entities

Arrow to collapse this area

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 86
 Model → Create Entity → Set Data
 Show *SET_{OPTION}
 Create *SET_{OPTION}
• OPTIONS – NODE, BEAM, DISCRETE, PART,
SEGMENT, SHELL, SOLID, THICK SHELL
• Select entities using General Selection
interface
 Modify *SET_{OPTION}
• Sets must be shown before they can be
modified
 Delete *SET_{OPTION}
 Write *SET_{OPTION} to a file

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 87
 Boundary → Spc
 Show *BOUNDARY_SPC_{OPTION}
• Label – None/Symbol/Detail
• Local coordinate systems will be shown if used
• Match – Filter by constrained DOFs
 Create *BOUNDARY_SPC_{OPTION}
• OPTIONS – NODE, NODE_SET
• Use General Selection interface to select nodes
• Activate constrained DOFs
• Use global or local coordinate system
 Modify *BOUNDARY_SPC_{OPTION}
 Delete *BOUNDARY_SPC_{OPTION}

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 88
 Constrained → Nodal Rigid Body (CNRB)
 Show *CONSTRAINED_NODAL_RIGID_BODY
 Create *CONSTRAINED_NODAL_RIGID_BODY
• OPTION – SPC
• Use General Selection interface to select nodes
• Set additional flags
 Modify
*CONSTRAINED_NODAL_RIGID_BODY
 Delete *CONSTRAINED_NODAL_RIGID_BODY

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 89
 Model → Display Entity
Purpose: visualize model entities (keywords) other than
nodes and elements (which are displayed by default)
 Available options include…
• *BOUNDARY_{OPTION}
• *CONSTRAINED_{OPTION}
• *INITIAL_VELOCITY_{OPTION}
• *LOAD_{OPTION}
• *RIGIDWALL_{OPTION}
• *SET_{OPTION}
 Use while post-processing by loading d3plots
followed by the corresponding keyword file

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 90
 Model → Part Data
There are 7 functions in the Part
Data dialog:
 Show – show existing part data
 Create – create new part data
 Mod – modify existing data
 Sear – search parts by
parameters
 Assign – assign part data
properties
 Prop – edit properties of part
data
 Replace – replace a part with
another part

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 91
 Model → Part Data
 Replace – replace a part in one model
with another part from another
model
 The second model can be loaded with
the “Load” button

Replace this part with

another part that has
finer mesh

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 92
 Model → Reference Check (Attach)
Purpose: identify entities that are attached to
other model entities
 Initial attachment set can be all visible or as
selected (using General Selection interface)
 Attachment set can grow By Part or By
Element
 Final attachment set can be written to a file

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 93
 Model → Renumber
Purpose: renumber and offset model
entities
 By Keyword – Entities can be
renumbered/offset by Keyword
• ID range can be specified
• Entities can be picked using the General
Selection interface
 By Part – Parts/Elements/Nodes can be
renumbered/offset by Part
 By Selected – Parts/Elements/Nodes can
be renumbered/offset by Selected

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 94
 Model → MSelect → Select
Purpose: switch between loaded models, view
multiple models, perform keyword comparison
 Select – display selected model(s)
 Trans – translate a model (for visualization only,
useful for side-by-side animation)
 Remove – unload a model
 Info – show model summary

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 95
 Model → MSelect→ Compare
Purpose: compare two similar LS-DYNA keyword
input files that have minor differences
 Disregards keyword order, unlike other
compare/difference software
 Normalizes data to ignore differences below a
certain tolerance
 Provides a summary only when a large number
of differences are detected

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 96
 Model → SplitW (Split Windows)
 Allow multiple windows to display multiple models or same
model with different views Right click windows to
 Configure with 2x1, 1x2, or 2x2 splits activate windows to be
focus and set as main
window

Turn on Draw All Area

to draw all windows,
also true with most
operations like AC,
blank a part, blank
element, fringe, etc.

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 97
 Application → Model Checking
Element Quality Check: provides
general idea of the quality of the
finite element model
Define allowable value, LS-PrePost will
show no. of elements that violate
the allowable. The violated
elements can be saved into general
selection buffers
Different checking method for different
element types

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 98
 Application → Model Checking
Element Quality Check example: characteristic length

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 99
 Application → Model Checking
Comprehensive LS-DYNA keyword data check, to indicate if the
keyword data will or will not fail in LS-DYNA run

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 100
 File → Save Keyword As…
 Output Version – 960/970/971
(only change if using an old
version of LS-DYNA)
 Renumber/Offset – can
renumber or offset before
saving
 BySubSystem – activate to save
subsystems to separate files (not
visible unless model contains
subsystems)
 Advanced... – additional options
(see next slide)
©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS
LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 101
 Advanced Settings Interface
 Keyword order can be customized
 Keywords can be selectively omitted
 Title, Field Names, and Comments can be omitted
 Parameter names can be output instead of actual values

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 102
 File → Save Active Keyword As…
 Output Version – 960/970/971
(only change if using an old
version of LS-DYNA)
 Keywords can be selectively
output using the Advanced
Setting interface

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 103
 Workshop 5
Create a Keyword File
(S-Rail to Rigidwall Impact)

 Mesh model
 Assign material and property
 Apply mass, constraint and velocity
 Rigid wall creation
 Define spot welding
 Save a keyword file
 Model comparison

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 104
 Post-Processing

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 105
 Animation Interface
 The Animation controls are displayed when d3plots are
loaded. If the animation interface is closed, it can be
restored by clicking the Anim render button.
Final State States per Increment
Initial State

Activate Eigen Current State

Mode Animation

Control Speed Current Time Loop / Play Once

Control State

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 106
 Post → Fringe Component
Purpose: to select a component for fringing
 Stress – regular stress components
 Ndv – nodal displacements and velocities
 Result – resultant stress components
 Strain – regular strain components
 Misc – pressure, temp, shell thickness, etc...
 Infin / Green / Almans – infinitesimal, Green-St.
Venant, and Almansi strains
 S.Rate – strain rates
 Residu – residual elastic strains
 FLD – forming limit diagram strain components
 Beam – beam element forces and stress resultants
 CFD – Navier-Stokes fluid components

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 107
 Post → Fringe Component (continued...)
 Frin – choose rendering type
• Frin – default fringing
• Isos – iso-surfaces for solid
• Lcon – line contours
• XFrn – fringe max value through all states
• FMes – fringe color on the mesh
• Expr – user define expression
 Max – location of shell surfaces
• Low / Mid / Upp – lower, mid-plane, and upper
• Max / Ave / Min – maximum, average, minimum
• Ipt – shell integration point
• Bpt – beam integration point
 Glob – coordinate system
• Glob / Loca – global or local

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 108
 Post → Fringe Range
Purpose: control fringe and iso-surface ranges
 Dynamic – min/max adjusted for each time state
 Static – same min/max for all the states
 User – custom min/max for all the states
 Show – show elements within the specified range
 Entire Model – legend based on entire model
 Active Parts Only – legend based on displayed parts
 Active Elements Only – legend based on displayed
elements only

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 109
 Post → Fringe Range (continued...)
 Reverse Colors – reverse legend colors
 Ident Min / Max – identify min and max elements
by ID (user defines number of entities to identify)
 Lower / Upper – set color for out-of-range
elements
 Levels – customize number of fringe levels
 Palette – allows colors to be modified

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 110
 Plot Window
 Drawing XY curves for History/ASCII/Binout/XYPlot

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 111
 Plot Window (continued...)
 Title – modify main, axis, legend, and curve titles

 Attr – modify curve attributes (symbol, color, width, style)

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 112
 Plot Window (continued...)
 Filter – filter curves (SAE, Butterworth, COS, etc...)

 Save – write curves to file (.crv, Keep, XY Pairs, .csv, .xml)

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 113
 Plot Window (continued...)
 Oper – perform curve operations (integrate, sum, invert, etc...)

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 114
 New Plot Interface
 New XYPlot
interface puts
plots in the
Main window
 Multiple plots
on a page /
multiple pages
 Plots from one
port can be
easily moved or
copied to
another port

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 115
 New Plot Interface (continued...)
 Curve and Port panel perform curve operations and allows
plots to be customized

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 116
 Post → History
Purpose: plot time history data (from d3plots)
 Global – energies and kinematic data for full
model
 Part – energies and kinematic data for parts
 Nodal – kinematic data for nodes
 Element – stress and strain data for elements
• Value – set to element value or min/max value for the
part
• E-Type – choose element type to plot history
• E-Axes – global or local
• Surface – choose shell location (through-thickness)
 Int Pt – integration point data
 Scalar – plot scalar value that is being fringed
(choose component in Fcomp interface)
©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS
LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 117
 Post → History (continued...)
 Standard plotting options...
• Plot – plot selected value in current Plot Window
• New – plot selected value in new Plot Window
• Padd – add selected value to current Plot Window
• Raise – bring forward all open plot windows
• Pop – open and bring forward all closed plot windows
 Interfaces that use these plot functions...
• History
• XYPlot
• ASCII
• Binout
• FLD
• Measure
• Section > Force

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 118
 Post → ASCII
Purpose: create XY-Plots from ASCII output files
 ASCII File Operations...
• File – browse and load ASCII file from any directory
• Load – load selected file type from current directory
• Unload – unload files from memory
• All – select all items in the list
• Clear – clear selected items
• Rev – reverse selection
• Info – show information on the loaded ASCII file
• Multiple Select – plot multiple curves at once when
multiple files are loaded (using File option above)

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 119
 Post → ASCII (continued...)
 ASCII Sub-branches...
• Lists all data available in the selected ASCII file
• Some ASCII files have special toggles that can be used to
process data...
 MATSUM, SECFORC, SPCFORC, NODFOR, BNDOUT,

SLEOUT, and GCEOUT – [Total] combine multiple ASCII

item selections
 ABSTAT – [Airb/Mat] select airbag/material ID

 ELOUT – [Clrcp] clear component list

 ELOUT – [Stress/Strain/Beams]

 DEFORC – [Trans/Rotat] force and moments

 NODFOR – [Group] combine nodal forces of the group

 NODOUT – [HicCsi] open HIC/CSI pre-filter options

 RBDOUT – [Local] plot in local coordinate system

 SPCFORC – [Force/Momt] force and moments

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS
LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 120
 Post → XYPlot
Purpose: create and manipulate XY-Plots (all saved XY
data is automatically added to the file list)
 File – show list of all loaded XY-Plot files
 Window – show list of all XY-Plot windows
 Add – import XY data (use CRV, CSV, XY formats)
 Remove – remove files from list
 Info – display number of data points
 Show – show selected plot
 Cross – create cross plot (e.g., combine Force/Time
and Disp/Time to create Force/Disp)
 Curve Clip – clip curve
 Interpolate – modify number of points in curve

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 121
 Post → Binout
Purpose: plot data from binout files
 Binout contains same data as ASCII files but in binary
format
 Set BINARY=2 on *DATABASE_{OPTION} to generate
binout file
 Load – load binout file (multiple binout files can be
loaded)
 Unload – unload binout file
 Save – save binout branch in ASCII format
 Done – exit the Binout interface

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 122
 Post → Follow
Purpose: define a reference point or plane for
animation and fringing relative displacement
 Animation usage...
• Pick node(s) to define reference point or plane
• Click Apply
• Play animation
 To fringe relative displacement...
• Pick node(s) to define reference point or plane
• Click Apply
• Go to Page 1: Fcomp
• Select Ndv
• Select “rx-disp”, “ry-disp”, “rz-disp”, or “r-result disp”

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 123
 Post → Trace
Purpose: trace nodal displacements
 Use General Selection interface to select nodes
 Set width and color of trace line
 Select state to begin trace
 Output trace in several formats...
• *DEFINE_CURVE
• Coordinate history
• *BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION_NODE

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 124
 Post → State
Purpose: select/overlay animation states or display
mulitple states in a grid
 Select – display the selected state or create state
overlays (with customized rendering type)
 Inactive – make states inactive (remove from
animation playback)
 Delete – delete states (delete d3plot files if possible)
 Multistate – display multiple states in a grid

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 125
 Post → Output
Purpose: output post-processing data
 Some available formats...
• LS-DYNA Keyword
• Nastran
• Dynain ASCII
• ASCII and Binary STL
 Active Parts Only – write only displayed parts
 Entire Model – write entire model (use check
boxes to control exactly which entities are
written)
 St No – Controls which state is written

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 126
 Post → Vector
Purpose: create vector plots (similar to fringing)
 d3plot (binary plot) options...
• Shell Normal
• Displacement
• Velocity
• Principal Stress
• Principle Strain
 intfor (interface force file) options...
• Force
• Pressure
• Surface Shear

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 127
 Post → Vector (continued...)
 X, Y, and Z components for displacement, velocity
and force can be selected
 Range settings...
• Dynamic – min/max adjusted for each time state
• Static – same min/max for all the states
• User – custom min/max for all the states
• Show – show vectors within the specified range
 Display settings...
• SF – set vector size scale factor
• Whole – display vectors for the whole model
• Part – display vectors for a specific part
• Area – display vectors for a user defined area
• El/Node – display vectors for specific elements/nodes

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 128
 Model → Section Plane
Purpose: visualize section planes or take measurements
 Section plane options...
• FixS – section plane is fixed in space
• FixM – section plane is fixed to the model (3Nds only)
• Lagr – section plane is lagrangian type
 Plane definition options...
• 1p+NL – base point + normal direction
• N1-N2 – n1 defines base point, n1 to n2 defines direction
• 3Nds – 3 nodes define the plane
• 2Nds+D – 2 nodes + direction define the plane
• BasePt/BaseNd – enter XYZ or select node as base point
• NormX/NormY/NormZ – set direction cosines
• Centroid – make centroid of model the base point
• Reset – reset and clear plane definition

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 129
 Model → Section Plane (continued...)
 Additional options...
• No. of Cut/Distance - divide model along the plane normal
direction
• Right/Left Arrows – move the plane forward/backward
• MP Anim – animate the section
• Upd Bspt – update base point with current position
• Clear Kpsc – clear all kept section cuts from memory

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 130
 Model → Section Plane (continued...)
 Additional options...
• Project View – view section normal to section plane
• Off/Clip – turn clipping planes off/on
• Kp Cuts – keep and display all section cuts
• Clr – clear all section cuts (keep only the last cut)
• Cut – perform section cut
• Options – display additional section plane options
• Crush – open crush/intrusion interface
• Model – reset display to full model view
• Meas – open section cut measurement interface
• Line – open line plot interface
• Force – open section force interface
• Save – open interface to save/load planes (to file)
• Done – exit the Section Plane interface

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 131
 Model → Section Plane (continued...)
 “Options” Interface
• ShowPl – show section plane on/off
• 3DOutline – show solid part outline after cut
• ShMesh – show section plane as mesh
• Line Width – set section cut line width
• Line Color – set section cut line color
• Color/Cut – use different color for each cut instead of
different color for each part
• Thickness – draw section cut with thickness
• VP – draw vector on section cut
• Write – write section cut to file in selected format
(Keyword, VGA, or IGES)
• Curr State – set current state for writing

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 132
 Model → Section Plane (continued...)
 “Crush” Interface – measure distance from node to
plane (intrusion plotting)
• Line Width – Intrusion plot line width
• Line Color – Intrusion plot line color
• PlotType – select history plot type
• Node ID – can be picked or keyed in
 “Line” Interface – plot fringe values at section cut
along the length of the cut
• Mainly used for metal stamping
• Must load fringe value (using Fcomp) and perform cut first
• Pick a part for the line plot

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 133
 Model → Section Plane (continued...)
 “Force” Interface – calculate and plot section values
• Forces
• Moments
• Area
• Centroid
 “Meas” Interface – section plane measurements
• Coordinate
• Distance
• 3Pt-Angle
• 3Pt-Radius
• 2Ln-Angle
• Measure can be done between any two cuts

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 134
 Configuration
 Configuration files
• Lsppconf – record general configuration parameters, user the
pull down menu “Setting”->”Configuration Settings” to set
parameters
• Lspplasttouch – record last session windows size, dialog
location, file path, etc.
• Configuire_Toolbar.cfg – record toolbar configurations
• .lspp_recent – record recently used files and their locations
 Configuration file location (each version of LS-PrePost
has its own directory)
• Windows – C:\Users\uname\AppData\Roaming\LSTC\LS-PrePostx.x
• Linux - $HOME/LSTC/LS-PrepostX.x

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 135
 Function Keys
 F1 launches Function Key interface shown below (shows
layout of the function keys)
 Except for F1 and F10, all other function keys can be
programmed to act as a button
 Also, a command file with the name F#.cfile can be
called using F# (place file in current working directory)
 Function keys can be customized in the configuration file
(lsppconf)

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 136
 Workshop 6
Post-Processing

 Animation interface
 Fringe (contour) plotting
 Time history/ASCII data plotting
 Section cut
 Cross plotting
 Vector draw

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 137
 Thank You!

©2020 Livermore Software Technology, an ANSYS

LS-PrePost Intro | 2020
company 138