External Material Files

An external material definition is also supported. This allows ANSYS material data cards to be drawn directly from a named file in a directory specified by environment variable FG_PRE_MAT (see section 1.4).

This type of material data is accessed via the 'EXTERNAL' material type with the name of the file supplied as the material name.

For example, the following command should be used to access file 'msolid5' in the materials directory:

PROPERTY MATERIAL EXTERNAL msolid5 1

The integer 1 must be included but is not used. The interface program will test for both 'msolid5' and 'MSOLID5' on unix systems. A valid material file msolid5 (for element SOLID5) might contain the following data:

MP,  EX,   10,  210000.0    
MP,  EY,   10,  210000.0    
MP,  EZ,   10,  210000.0    
MP,NUXY,   10, 0.2900000    
MP,NUYZ,   10, 0.2900000    
MP,NUXZ,   10, 0.2900000    
MP,ALPX,   10, 0.0000000    
MP,ALPY,   10, 0.0000000    
MP,ALPZ,   10, 0.0000000    
MP,DENS,   10, 0.7860001E-05
MP, GXY,   10,  30000.00    
MP, GYZ,   10,  30000.00    
MP, GXZ,   10,  30000.00    
MP,DAMP,   10,  1.000000    
MP, KXX,   10,  2.000000    
MP, KYY,   10,  2.000000    
MP, KZZ,   10,  2.000000    
MP,   C,   10,  1.000000    
MP,ENTH,   10,  1.000000    
MP,RSVX,   10,  0.1
MP,RSVY,   10,  0.1
MP,RSVZ,   10,  0.1

Some elements, such as VISCO88, need further material constants that are entered in data tables with the 'TB' command, this can only be done with the EXTERNAL material type and an appropriate material file.

Note: The interface program assigns an identification number to the material and writes it out in the 'MP' command lines in place of the existing number.