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Electrostatic analysis

This example shows how to use PyAEDT to create a Maxwell 2D electrostatic analysis. It shows how to create the geometry, load material properties from a Microsoft Excel file, and set up the mesh settings. Moreover, it focuses on postprocessing operations, in particular how to plot field line traces, which are relevant for an electrostatic analysis.

Keywords: Maxwell 2D, electrostatic.

Perform imports and define constants

Perform required imports.

import os
import tempfile
import time

import ansys.aedt.core

Define constants.

AEDT_VERSION = "2024.2"
NUM_CORES = 4
NG_MODE = False

Create temporary directory

Create a temporary directory where downloaded data or dumped data can be stored. If you’d like to retrieve the project data for subsequent use, the temporary folder name is given by temp_folder.name..

temp_folder = tempfile.TemporaryDirectory(suffix=".ansys")

Download Excel file

Set the local temporary folder to export the Excel (XLSX) file to.

file_name_xlsx = ansys.aedt.core.downloads.download_file(
    source="field_line_traces", name="my_copper.xlsx", destination=temp_folder.name
)

Initialize dictionaries

Initialize the dictionaries that contain all the definitions for the design variables.

geom_params_circle = {
    "circle_x0": "-10mm",
    "circle_y0": "0mm",
    "circle_z0": "0mm",
    "circle_axis": "Z",
    "circle_radius": "1mm",
}

geom_params_rectangle = {
    "r_x0": "1mm",
    "r_y0": "5mm",
    "r_z0": "0mm",
    "r_axis": "Z",
    "r_dx": "-1mm",
    "r_dy": "-10mm",
}

Launch AEDT and Maxwell 2D

Launch AEDT and Maxwell 2D after first setting up the project and design names, the solver, and the version. The following code also creates an instance of the Maxwell2d class named m2d.

project_name = os.path.join(temp_folder.name, "M2D_Electrostatic.aedt")
m2d = ansys.aedt.core.Maxwell2d(
    project=project_name,
    version=AEDT_VERSION,
    design="Design1",
    solution_type="Electrostatic",
    new_desktop=True,
    non_graphical=NG_MODE,
)

PyAEDT INFO: Python version 3.10.11 (tags/v3.10.11:7d4cc5a, Apr  5 2023, 00:38:17) [MSC v.1929 64 bit (AMD64)]
PyAEDT INFO: PyAEDT version 0.12.dev0.
PyAEDT INFO: Initializing new Desktop session.
PyAEDT INFO: Log on console is enabled.
PyAEDT INFO: Log on file C:\Users\ansys\AppData\Local\Temp\pyaedt_ansys_7ddb8222-9d50-4fa0-9de7-12ad9331876c.log is enabled.
PyAEDT INFO: Log on AEDT is enabled.
PyAEDT INFO: Debug logger is disabled. PyAEDT methods will not be logged.
PyAEDT INFO: Launching PyAEDT with gRPC plugin.
PyAEDT INFO: New AEDT session is starting on gRPC port 51136
PyAEDT INFO: AEDT installation Path C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\v242\Win64
PyAEDT INFO: Ansoft.ElectronicsDesktop.2024.2 version started with process ID 3260.
PyAEDT INFO: Project M2D_Electrostatic has been created.
PyAEDT INFO: Added design 'Design1' of type Maxwell 2D.
PyAEDT INFO: Aedt Objects correctly read

Set modeler units

Set modeler units to mm.

m2d.modeler.model_units = "mm"

PyAEDT INFO: Modeler2D class has been initialized!
PyAEDT INFO: Modeler class has been initialized! Elapsed time: 0m 1sec

Define variables from dictionaries

Define design variables from the created dictionaries.

for k, v in geom_params_circle.items():
    m2d[k] = v
for k, v in geom_params_rectangle.items():
    m2d[k] = v

Read materials from Excel file

Read materials from the Excel file into the design.

mats = m2d.materials.import_materials_from_excel(file_name_xlsx)

PyAEDT INFO: Materials class has been initialized! Elapsed time: 0m 0sec

Create design geometries

Create a rectangle and a circle. Assign the material read from the Excel file. Create two new polylines and a region.

rect = m2d.modeler.create_rectangle(
    origin=["r_x0", "r_y0", "r_z0"],
    sizes=["r_dx", "r_dy", 0],
    name="Ground",
    material=mats[0],
)
rect.color = (0, 0, 255)  # rgb
rect.solve_inside = False

circle = m2d.modeler.create_circle(
    origin=["circle_x0", "circle_y0", "circle_z0"],
    radius="circle_radius",
    num_sides="0",
    is_covered=True,
    name="Electrode",
    material=mats[0],
)
circle.color = (0, 0, 255)  # rgb
circle.solve_inside = False

poly1_points = [[-9, 2, 0], [-4, 2, 0], [2, -2, 0], [8, 2, 0]]
poly2_points = [[-9, 0, 0], [9, 0, 0]]
poly1_id = m2d.modeler.create_polyline(
    points=poly1_points, segment_type="Spline", name="Poly1"
)
poly2_id = m2d.modeler.create_polyline(points=poly2_points, name="Poly2")
m2d.modeler.split(assignment=[poly1_id, poly2_id], plane="YZ", sides="NegativeOnly")
m2d.modeler.create_region(pad_value=[20, 100, 20, 100])

<ansys.aedt.core.modeler.cad.object_3d.Object3d at 0x154db9b0b80>

Define excitations

Assign voltage excitations to the rectangle and circle.

m2d.assign_voltage(assignment=rect.id, amplitude=0, name="Ground")
m2d.assign_voltage(assignment=circle.id, amplitude=50e6, name="50kV")

<ansys.aedt.core.modules.boundary.BoundaryObject at 0x154db9b3b20>

Create initial mesh settings

Assign a surface mesh to the rectangle.

m2d.mesh.assign_surface_mesh_manual(assignment=["Ground"], surface_deviation=0.001)

PyAEDT INFO: Mesh class has been initialized! Elapsed time: 0m 0sec
PyAEDT INFO: Mesh class has been initialized! Elapsed time: 0m 0sec

<ansys.aedt.core.modules.mesh.MeshOperation at 0x154db9607f0>

Create, validate, and analyze setup

setup_name = "MySetupAuto"
setup = m2d.create_setup(name=setup_name)
setup.props["PercentError"] = 0.5
setup.update()
m2d.validate_simple()
m2d.analyze_setup(name=setup_name, use_auto_settings=False, cores=NUM_CORES)

PyAEDT INFO: Key Desktop/ActiveDSOConfigurations/Maxwell 2D correctly changed.
PyAEDT INFO: Solving design setup MySetupAuto
PyAEDT INFO: Key Desktop/ActiveDSOConfigurations/Maxwell 2D correctly changed.
PyAEDT INFO: Design setup MySetupAuto solved correctly in 0.0h 0.0m 12.0s

True

Evaluate the E Field tangential component

Evaluate the E Field tangential component along the given polylines. Add these operations to the Named Expression list in the field calculator.

e_line = m2d.post.fields_calculator.add_expression(
    calculation="e_line", assignment=None
)
m2d.post.fields_calculator.expression_plot(
    calculation="e_line", assignment="Poly1", names=[e_line]
)
m2d.post.fields_calculator.expression_plot(
    calculation="e_line", assignment="Poly12", names=[e_line]
)

PyAEDT INFO: Parsing C:/Users/ansys/AppData/Local/Temp/tmpn3h_0rj0.ansys/M2D_Electrostatic.aedt.
PyAEDT INFO: File C:/Users/ansys/AppData/Local/Temp/tmpn3h_0rj0.ansys/M2D_Electrostatic.aedt correctly loaded. Elapsed time: 0m 0sec
PyAEDT INFO: aedt file load time 0.015622854232788086
PyAEDT INFO: PostProcessor class has been initialized! Elapsed time: 0m 0sec
PyAEDT INFO: Post class has been initialized! Elapsed time: 0m 0sec

[]

Create field line traces plot

Create a field line traces plot specifying as seeding faces the ground, the electrode, and the region and as In surface objects only the region.

plot = m2d.post.create_fieldplot_line_traces(
    seeding_faces=["Ground", "Electrode", "Region"],
    in_volume_tracing_objs=["Region"],
    plot_name="LineTracesTest",
)

Update field line traces plot

Update the field line traces plot. Update the seeding points number, line style, and line width.

plot.SeedingPointsNumber = 20
plot.LineStyle = "Cylinder"
plot.LineWidth = 3
plot.update()

True

Export field line traces plot

Export the field line traces plot. For the field lint traces plot, the export file format is .fldplt.

m2d.post.export_field_plot(
    plot_name="LineTracesTest", output_dir=temp_folder.name, file_format="fldplt"
)

'C:\\Users\\ansys\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\tmpn3h_0rj0.ansys\\LineTracesTest.fldplt'

Export mesh field plot

Export the mesh to an AEDTPLT file.

m2d.post.export_mesh_obj(setup=m2d.nominal_adaptive)

'C:\\Users\\ansys\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\tmpn3h_0rj0.ansys\\M2D_Electrostatic.pyaedt\\Design1\\Mesh_V3R6CZ.aedtplt'

Release AEDT

m2d.save_project()
m2d.release_desktop()
# Wait 3 seconds to allow AEDT to shut down before cleaning the temporary directory.
time.sleep(3)

PyAEDT INFO: Project M2D_Electrostatic Saved correctly
PyAEDT INFO: Desktop has been released and closed.

Clean up

All project files are saved in the folder temp_folder.name. If you’ve run this example as a Jupyter notebook, you can retrieve those project files. The following cell removes all temporary files, including the project folder.

temp_folder.cleanup()

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