ANSYS finite element analysis Coordinate system/working plane

table of Contents

 Blog Links
 1. Frontier
 2. Global and local coordinate system
o 2.1 Activate the coordinate system CSYS
o 2.2 New coordinate system
 2.2.1 LOCAL
 2.2.2 CLOCAL
o 2.3 Coordinate system commands
 3. Node coordinate system NROTAT
 Fourth, the unit coordinate system
 Five, the result coordinate system RSYS
 Six, working plane WPCSYS
 Seven, the end
 8. References

Blog Links

 ANSYS finite element analysis Coordinate system/working plane

 ANSYS finite element analysis geometric modeling

Due to limited personal ability, it is inevitable that there are omissions/errors in this article.
Please criticize and correct any inaccuracies.

1. Frontier

When the background color of the model space is black, the coordinate axes are: x, y, z-
white, green, and blue.

When the background color of the model space is white, the coordinate axes are: x, y, z-
black, green, and blue.
 In the Ansys system, there are a variety of coordinate systems to choose from, mainly:
global and local coordinate systems, node coordinate systems, element coordinate systems,
and result coordinate systems.

• Global and local coordinate systems: used to define geometric shape parameters
(nodes, key points, etc.) and spatial positions.

• Node coordinate system: define the degree of freedom of each node and the direction
of the result data of the node. (The difference between the degree of freedom of the element
node and the degree of freedom of the global node)

• Unit coordinate system: Determine the material characteristic main axis and the
direction of the unit result data.

• Result coordinate system: used to list, display, or convert node and unit results to a
specific coordinate system in general post-processing operations.

2. Global and local coordinate system

2.1 Activate the coordinate system CSYS

 CSYS

Use function: Activate a predefined coordinate system.

Use format： CSYS，KCN 。

Parameter Description： KCN A coordinate system reference number greater than or equal to
11 is given to the user as a sign to identify the local coordinate system.
 KCN Description
0 Cartesian coordinates (default)
1 Cylindrical coordinate system with z-axis as the rotation axis
2 Spherical coordinate system
4 or WP Working plane
5 Cylindrical coordinate system with y-axis as the rotation axis
11 and above Local coordinate system predefined by the user

Reference example: Activate a pre-defined coordinate system.

CSYS,0 ! Activate the overall Cartesian coordinate system

 1

2.2 New coordinate system

2.2.1 LOCAL

 LOCAL

Use function: Specify a local coordinate system by position and direction.

Use format： LOCAL，KCN，KCS，XC，YC，ZC，THXY，THYZ，THZX，PAR1，

PAR2 。

Parameter Description： KCN A coordinate system reference number greater than or equal to
11 is given to the user as a sign to identify the local coordinate system.

KCS: The type of coordinate system.

XC，YC，ZC: The origin of the new coordinate system (in the global
rectangular coordinate system).

THXY，THYZ，THZX: The angle of rotation around the z-axis, the x-axis and
the y-axis, the positive direction is: xy, yz, zx.

KCS Description
0 / CART Cartesian coordinates (Cartesian)
1 / CYLIN Cylindrical (circular or elliptical)
 KCS Description
2 / SPHE Spherical (or spheroidal)
3 / TORO Toroidal

Reference example: Create a local rectangular coordinate system 15, the positive direction of
the local z-axis is the same as the overall x-axis.

CSYS,0 ! Activate the global Cartesian

coordinate system
xc = 500 $ yc = 0 $ zc = 0 ! Origin of local coordinate
system(Corresponds to the currently active coordinate system)
thxy = 0 $ thyz = 0 $ thzx = 90 ! Rotation angle of local
coordinate axis(Corresponds to the currently active coordinate system)
LOCAL,15,0,xc,yc,zc,thxy,thyz,thzx ! Create a local rectangular
coordinate system 15

 1
 2
 3
 4

Relative to the global rectangular coordinate system, the coordinate origin of the local
rectangular coordinate system 15 is (500, 0, 0), and the positive direction of the local z-axis is
parallel to the vector (1, 0, 0) in the same direction (collinear).

2.2.2 CLOCAL

 CLOCAL

Use function： Defines a local coordinate system relative to the active coordinate system。

Use format： CLOCAL，KCN，KCS，XL，YL，ZL，THXY，THYZ，THZX，PAR1，

PAR2 。

Parameter Description： KCN A coordinate system reference number greater than or equal to
11 is given to the user as a sign to identify the local coordinate system.

KCS: The type of coordinate system, 0 is rectangular coordinate system, 1 is

cylindrical coordinate system, and 2 is spherical coordinate system.

XL，YL，ZL： Location (in the active coordinate system) of the origin of the
new coordinate system

(R, θ, Z for cylindrical, R, θ,Φ for spherical or toroidal).

THXY： First rotation about local Z (positive X toward Y).

 THYZ： Second rotation about local X (positive Y toward Z).

THZX： Third rotation about local Y (positive Z toward X).

Reference example: Activate a predefined coordinate system.

CSYS,15 ! Activate local coordinate system

15
xc = 1000 $ yc = 0 $ zc = 0 ! Origin of local coordinate
system(Corresponds to the currently active coordinate system)
thxy = 0 $ thyz = 0 $ thzx = 0 ! Rotation angle of local coordinate
axis(Corresponds to the currently active coordinate system)
CLOCAL,16,1,xc,yc,zc,thxy,thyz,thzx ! Define a new local cylindrical
coordinate system 16 based on the active local coordinate system 15

 1
 2
 3
 4

Relative to the local rectangular coordinate system, the coordinate origin of the local
cylindrical coordinate system 16 is (1000, 0, 0), and the positive direction of the local z-axis is
parallel to the vector (0, 0, 1) (collinear).

Above , the created local coordinate systems 15 and 16 are as shown in the figure below:

2.3 Coordinate system commands

command Features
CSDELE Delete local coordinate system
CS Define local coordinate system through existing nodes
CSKP Define local coordinate system through existing key points
CSWPLA Define the local coordinate system at the origin of the current work plane
command Features
CSLIST View all global and local coordinate systems

1. Creation/Deletion of Local Coordinate System in GUI

interview method: Menu bar >> WorkPlane >> Local Coordinate Systems.

Creation and deletion of local coordinate system

2. View the model coordinate system in GUI

interview method: Menu bar >> List >> Others >> Local Coord Sys.
 View of coordinate system

3. View the currently active coordinate system in the GUI

Pay attention to the status prompt bar, as shown below:

The current local coordinate system 16 is active

3. Node coordinate system NROTAT

The global and local coordinate systems are used for geometric/grid positioning, while
the node coordinate system is used to define the direction of the node degrees of freedom.
Each node has its own node coordinate system. By default, it is always parallel to the overall
Cartesian coordinate system (it has nothing to do with the active coordinate system that
defines the node). The following methods can be used to rotate any node coordinate system to
the desired direction.

 NROTAT
Use function: Rotate nodal coordinate systems into the active system / Rotates nodal
coordinate systems into the active system.

Use format： NROTAT，NODE1，NODE1，NINC 。

Parameter Description： NODE1 Is the starting number of the node;NODE2 Is the end
number of the node;NINC Is the number increment.

Reference example: Rotate the node coordinate system of the node with the highest number to
make it parallel to the currently active local coordinate system 15.

csys,15 ! Activate local coordinate system

15
*GET,ndmax,NODE,,NUM,MAX, , , , ! Get the currently defined maximum
node number and assign it to the variable ndmax
NROTAT,ndmax ! Rotate the node coordinate system
of the ndmax node to make it parallel to the local coordinate system 15.

 1
 2
 3

Fourth, the unit coordinate system

Each element has its own coordinate system. The element coordinate system is used to
specify the direction of the orthogonal material properties, apply pressure and display the
output direction of the results (such as stress and strain). All element coordinate systems are
orthogonal right-handed systems.

Five, the result coordinate system RSYS

In the process of solving, the calculated result data includes displacement (Ux, Uy, Rots,
etc.), gradient (Tgx, Tgy, etc.), stress (Sx, Sy, Sz, etc.), strain (Epplx, Epplxy, etc.), etc. These
data are stored in the database and result files, either in the node coordinate system (initial or
node data) or in the element coordinate system (derived or element data). However, the result
data is usually rotated to the active coordinate system (the default is the overall Cartesian
coordinate system) for cloud graph display, list display, and unit data storage (ETABLE
command).
 You can transform the result coordinate system of the activity to another coordinate
system (such as a global coordinate system or a local coordinate system), or to the coordinate
system used in the solution (such as node and element coordinate system). If you list, display
or manipulate these result data, they will first be rotated to the result coordinate system. Use
the following methods to change the result coordinate system:

 RSYS

Use function： Activates a coordinate system for printout or display of element and nodal
results.

Use format： RSYS，KCN 。

Parameter Description： KCN —— The coordinate system to use for results output:

KCN Description
0 Global Cartesian coordinate system (default, except for spectrum analyses).
1 Global cylindrical coordinate system in Z.
2 Global spherical coordinate system.
5 Global cylindrical coordinate system in Y.
6 Global cylindrical coordinate system in X.
>10 Any existing local coordinate system.
SOLU Solution coordinate systems.
LSYS Layer coordinate system (default for spectrum analysis).

Reference example： Rotate the node coordinate system of the node with the highest number
to make it parallel to the currently active local coordinate system 15.

 1

Six, working plane WPCSYS

Working plane is an infinite plane, with origin, two-dimensional coordinate system, snap
increment and display grid. Only one working plane can be defined at the same time (the
existing working plane will be deleted when a new working plane is currently defined).

The work plane is used independently of the coordinate system. For example, the work
plane and the active coordinate system can have different origins and rotation directions.
 When entering the Ansys program, there is a default work plane, which is the x-y plane
of the overall Cartesian coordinate system. The x-axis and y-axis of the work plane are
respectively taken as the x-axis and y-axis of the overall Cartesian coordinate system.

command Features
WPLANE Define a working plane by 3 points
NWPLANE Define a working plane by 3 nodes
KWPLANE Define a working plane by 3 key points
The plane perpendicular to the straight line passing through a point on a
LWPLANE
specified line is defined as the work plane
WPCSYS View all global and local coordinate systems
WPCSYS View all global and local coordinate systems
KWPAVE Move the origin of the work plane to a key point
NWPAVE Move the origin of the work plane to the node
WPAVE Move the origin of the work plane to the specified point
WPOFFS Offset work plane
WPROTA Rotate work plane

 WPCSYS

Use function: Define the position of the work plane according to the current coordinate
system.

Use format： WPCSYS，WN，KCN 。

Parameter Description： WN —— Window number whose viewing direction will be

modified to be normal to

the working plane (defaults to 1). If WN is a negative value, the viewing

direction will not be modified.

KCNIt is the reference number of the coordinate system, and the default value is
the currently active coordinate system.

 KWPLAN

Use function: Three key points define a work plane.

Use format： KWPLAN，WN，KORIG，KXAX，KPLAN 。

Parameter Description： WN —— Window number whose viewing direction will be

modified to be normal to
 KORIG： Keypoint number defining the origin of the working plane coordinate
system 。

KXAX： Keypoint number defining the x-axis orientation 。

KPLAN： Keypoint number defining the working plane 。

is respectively: the origin of the working plane coordinate, a point on the x-axis
of the working plane, and any point on the working plane.

The geometry is drawn on the working plane. The working plane can only be the xy
plane of the current coordinate system, and the z direction is the normal direction, soWN
Determine whether the line of sight comes from the positive or negative direction of the z-
axis.

The definition of working plane in GUI is as follows:

Definition of working plane

Seven, the end

Above , it isANSYS coordinate system/work plane Part of the brief introduction.

 This article is just a reminder for my ANSYS related study, and also provides more
reference for people in need.

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wander happily in the pāo of knowledge.

Because of the limited personal level, it is inevitable that there are omissions in the
article. I also ask you to criticize and correct.

Finally, I wish you all the siege lions, cherish life and protect the hairline!

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