I’d like to request a new step type which would be called a Repeat step or something similar, which allows the user to specify one or several previously defined steps to repeat N number of times. So for example, if the user specifies steps 1-3 to be repeated 2 times it would run:
Step 1, first pass as defined
Step 2, first pass as defined
Step 3, first pass as defined
Step 1, first repeat
Step 2, first repeat
Step 3, first repeat
Step 1, second repeat
Step 2, second repeat
Step 3, second repeat
I’m currently modeling a cyclic thermal contact between N number of objects at an elevated temperature and a single surface for N number of cycles. I use a very short step to reset the initial temperature of the object to simulate a new object at the same initial temperature being placed on the surface followed by a long time step to determine the heat transfer and convective film cooling for both the object and the surface. I then need to duplicate this N number of times to repeat the cycle. I cannot use amplitudes because it would override the temperature of anything it’s assigned to.
I can’t open your file to see the details, but I started out using amplitudes similarly but found that separating it into steps and duplicating them was quicker when dealing with many repeated cycles. Doing it this way also allowed me to simplify the problem by using heat transfer steps rather than coupled temp displacement steps so that it runs the calculation faster.
Ah okay i thought of a thermo-mech. analysis. My bad, i created the file with v2.1.1 so it can’t be opened with 2.1.0… But your post made me also thinking for a simpler way to repeat cycles, maybe by adding a “repead option” directly when defining loads/BCs:
I don’t think that adding repetitions in the load/bc is a good idea. If such an option would be added, I think it should be added to the amplitude creation window.
