Customizing the legend

in Mechanical

José Ramón Rodríguez

ANSYS Iberia

1 © 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013

 Introduction
• In structural analysis there are several situations that can cause singularities.
• These “artificial” hot spots can adversely affect both error plots and
convergence.
• Also the results plot can be confusing because of high non real values.

2 © 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013

 How can we avoid the singularities?
1. Remove the singularity (e.g. more realistic loads and/or
geometry).
2. Scope the results to those zones far away from the
singularities.
3. Customize the legend.

3 © 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013

 How can we avoid the singularities?
1. Remove the singularity (e.g. more realistic loads
and/or geometry).
2. Scope the results to those zones far away from the
singularities.
3. Customize the legend.

4 © 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013

 Customizing the legend
Right Clicking on the legend in the graphics area allows the user to modify the
legend display.
Edit Value

Export/Import/Switch to a saved legend setting

Increase/Decrease Contour Bands Horizontal/Vertical legend

Display Date/Time

Display Max/Min label on the legend

Switch to Logarithmic Scale

Switch to Scientific Notation

Number of Significant Digits

Continued . . .

5 © 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013

 The legend bounds can be manipulated to show
result distributions more clearly for contour plots.

Max/Min values
are unchanged

Click and drag contour dividers (or

type in values) to specify contour
ranges.

6 © 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013

Independent Bands allow neutral colors to represent regions of the model above
or below the specified legend limits.

Legend Contour
Range

7 © 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013

 What if I want to change the max and min
legend values?

8 © 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013

It is possible to customize more deeply the legend by changing its .xml associated file.
The procedure to be followed is:

1. Right click on the 2. Give a name to your 3. Right click again on the
legend. Select Named customized legend. Click legend. Select Named
Legends and then New Ok Legends and then Manage

9 © 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013

 4. Select the desired Legend and click on Export. Save the
.xml file in a known location

5. Open the .xml saved file. This file contains the whole information about the legend
settings.
For changing the maximum bound go to the last <band> command and modify the
next keys:
• value: set here the max value to be plotted Be careful with the
• valueAuto: change it to 0 units!!

For example:

10 © 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013

 6. Right click again on the 7. Click on Import. Select 8. Right click again on the
legend. Select Named the previous .xml file and legend. Select Named
Legends and then Manage click Ok. Legends and then Manage.
Select the desired legend.

11 © 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013

 Comparison

With top independent bands in the With a customized legend

legend (see slide 7)

12 © 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 27, 2013