How to display changed mesh in Mechanical with ACT results object?

I have undertaken a changing mesh analysis using the SMART crack growth tool. I have been able to post-process the results from the updated mesh using guidance from a previous question (https://discuss.ansys.com/discussion/4529/how-to-use-dpf-to-grab-stress-results-from-a-multi-step-smart-crack-growth-analysis).

The problem now is that when bringing the results into Mechanical via an ACT Results Object, the updated mesh is not being displayed. Instead the original mesh is retained and thus the new results map across incorrectly. The images below show an example test case where the first image is correct (through a user defined result) and the second is incorrect (through the ACT results object).

A separate post (https://discuss.ansys.com/discussion/2586/contour-plots-on-changed-mesh-nlad-using-python-result-object-dpf-in-mechanical) shows how it can be done when using a Python Result object. However, I am using an ACT result object with the "collector" for gathering nodal results. (FYI I am unable to use a python result in my case as the code needs to be hidden away from the users).

Is it possible to update the associated mesh that is displayed in Mechanical?

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Accepted answers

Rajesh Meena

@John C I looked into this question a few weeks back and could not find solution back then.

ACT uses initial mesh to populate results. Python result would be the best solution there. You can always encrypt your code and expose only generic code to user.

All comments

John C

Further comment, I just noticed that I hadn't set timehistory="True" in the xml for the results object. I have now done this, but the issue remains. Things are slightly better as now the tabular data lists that the mesh has been changed for each time point. However, evaluating the results at different time points does not update the displayed mesh.

Rajesh Meena

@John C I looked into this question a few weeks back and could not find solution back then.

ACT uses initial mesh to populate results. Python result would be the best solution there. You can always encrypt your code and expose only generic code to user.

John C

Thanks @Rajesh Meena for the reply.
Ok, I will seek out an alternative approach, such as using my current script to generate a Python result, or maybe a standard User Defined Result.