HES5320 Solid Mechanics (FEA Computer Lab Sessions)

2014

Basic Introduction to Finite Element Analysis (FEA) Using

Solidworks Simulation Package

Among the analyses skills that today’s engineers are expected to possess is Finite Element
Analysis (FEA). FEA is basically a tool that provides engineers with the power to rapidly
generate critical information for a design concept, a design model or a complete working model
that needs modification. Although, a basic FEA of simple problems can be done through
pencil/pen and paper, the method is predominantly carried out on computers for fast and
avoidance of avoidable mistakes. A number of software applications have been developed to
efficiently deal with FEA:
 Solidworks
 Autodesk Inventor
 Ansys
 Abaqus
 And many others
The following are few of the application areas that FEA can be applied to:
 Structural analysis
 Vibration analysis
 Heat transfer
 Fluid flow
 Multiphysics analysis

The Basic Step

The basic step in FEA is as shown in Figure 1. As an engineer, one must notes that a novice user
of FEA can obtain results (a bunch of numbers). However the ability to make sense of the results
requires knowledge of the fundamental engineering principles.

The lectures in HES5320 are meant to increase your knowledge of these so-called fundamental
engineering principles. Our focus in this tutorial will be on the structural analysis of circular
plates which we covered under Topic 4 (Plates and Shell). Structural analysis as you might
have known deals with static deflection and stress distribution in a mechanical structure. This
tutorial will show you how to create simple plate geometric models and start the analysis study.
This tutorial aims to convey the concepts of:
• Basic processes involved in carrying out FEA: Pre-processing, Processing, Post-
processing
• Process of verifying numerical systems

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 HES5320 Solid Mechanics (FEA Computer Lab Sessions)
2014

• Concept of converting real life systems to numerical systems

Geomt
eric
Model
Results

Meshing+Loa
d+Fixtures+M
aterials
Validation

Figure 1: Basic FEA steps.

Tutorial 1: Analysis of fully clamped circular plate with a distributed surface load (slide
page 32, Topic 4)

Analysis Data

Geometric data to define the geometry of the structure:

Diameter of the circular plate: 𝑑 = 220𝑚𝑚
Thickness of the plate: 𝑡 = 10.0𝑚𝑚

Material Properties data

Aluminium modelled as linear elastic material
Young’s modulus: E= 70GPa (70,000MPa)

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 HES5320 Solid Mechanics (FEA Computer Lab Sessions)
2014

Poisson’s ratio: υ = 0.3

Boundary Conditions to define support

Fully Fixed – movement and rotation restrained 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧, 𝑅𝑥, 𝑅𝑦, 𝑅𝑧
Loading:
Pressure load: 𝑝 = 15𝑘𝑁/𝑚2
Warning:

- Please save the work frequently to avoid losing your work prematurely.

Caution:

- Be consistent with units, use m N Pa or mm N MPa. i.e. Young’s modulus E 70GPa

should be entered as 70,000,000,000 Pa if you use m, N, Pa or 70,000MPa if you use
mm, N, MPa.

Pre-processing: Modelling
Start up the SolidWorks® package.
Menu bar

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 HES5320 Solid Mechanics (FEA Computer Lab Sessions)
2014
Figure 1: SolidWorks® Basic start up page of the GUI

Figure 2: SolidWorks® GUI. Figure extracted from SolidWorks® Help Documentation

• Create a New Part document.

File New Part

Figure 3: (a) Starting a new document; (b) specifying a new part to be deigned in SolidWorks®.

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2014

Save the new part in a folder location of your choice. By default, Solidworks save files to the
SolidWorks document folder. That is, where your *.sldprt (solidworks® part) file is found.

• Start a new sketch - Picking the Top Plane as the working plane.

Figure 4: Sketch mode

• Draw a closed circle – by using circle tool in sketch mode

• Set the radius using “smart dimension” tool: 𝒓 = 𝟏𝟏𝟎𝒎𝒎
Note: When entities are defined they appear in “black”. Blue entities are those yet to be
defined.
• Insert planer surface.
Menu bar>Insert>surface>planar (see image below)
Select the circle sketch if not selected and click ok

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2014

Figure 5: Adding planar surface

We now have a circular surface, but note, the thickness is not added yet. This will be added
under the Simulation environment.

Activate Solidworks Simulation Add-in (by default this is inactivated so we need to bring it
up)
Tool Add-Ins (First image)
From the Add-Ins window tick Solidworks Simulation (see second image below)

Figure 6: Activating simulation add-in

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 HES5320 Solid Mechanics (FEA Computer Lab Sessions)
2014

Click on the Simulation CommadManager

Click the down arrow on Study Advisor (Simulation CommandManager) and select New Study.
In the PropertyManager:
Type clampedplate (or any name) for name.
Under Type, click Static.
Click Ok.

Define the thickness of the plate

In the Simulation study tree, right click on the file name (see Fig 7)
Pick Define Shell by Selected Faces (this is where we add the thickness)
Input the value of the shell thickness (see Fig 8)
Click on the surface of the plate under selection and click Ok.

Figure 7: Define shell thickness

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2014

Figure 8: Define shell thickness (input value)

Applying Fixtures

Right-click the Fixtures folder and select Fixed Geometry.

Change the view orientation to * Isometric to make sure you select the edge
In the PropertyManager:
Select Fixed Geometry under Standard.
Click Ok

Figure 9: Fixed periphery of the plate

Apply a pressure on the surface of the circular plate.

To apply a pressure:
Ensure the view orientation is * Isometric to make sure you select the correct surface.
Right-click the External Loads folder and select pressure.
In the PropertyManager, under Type:
Select normal to selected face and click on the surface of the plate
Under Pressure:
Enter the value of the pressure given (see Figure 10): Note you have to reverse the
direction

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2014

Figure 10: Pressure on the surface of the plate

Discretization/Meshing

To mesh the model and run the study:

In the Simulation study tree, right-click Mesh and select Create Mesh.
Notice that each beam is divided into a number of beam elements.

Add material
In the Simulation study tree, right-click the file name folder and select Apply Material to All
Bodies (see Figure 11).
Assign Alloy Steel from the SolidWorks Material library (Click Apply and then click Close)

Figure 11: Application of materials

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2014

Run
In the Simulation study tree, right-click the study name and select Run.

Post-Processing: Results output and contour plot

Define results to present
Manager Tree>Results>Right click “Define Displacement Plot”
From the drop down menu, select “UY: Y Displacement” to display the displacement in the
global Y-axis.

Figure 12: Displacement in 𝒀 − 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

Commentary/Discussion

From our analysis, the maximum deflection in the thickness direction of the plate is
0.005319 𝑚𝑚. And as expected this maximum deflection of the plate occurs at the centre of the
circular plate. The question now is, does this value agree with the result from theoretical analysis?
We will check this by using the equation below (from Slide page 26 of Topic 4):

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𝑝𝑎4
𝑀𝑎𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 (𝑤𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑦 ) =
64𝐷
where
𝑁 220
𝑝 = 15000 ; 𝑎 = = 110𝑚𝑚
𝑚2 2
3
𝐸ℎ 70 ∗ 10 ∗ (10 ∗ 10−3 )3
9
𝐷= = = 6410.256𝑁/𝑚3
12(1 − 𝑣 3 ) 12(1 − 0.32 )

By substituting these values and carrying out the calculation, we obtain:

𝑤𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑦 = 0.005353 𝑚𝑚
𝑤𝐹𝐸𝐴 = 0.005319 𝑚𝑚
�𝑤𝐹𝐸𝐴 − 𝑤𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑦 �
𝑬𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 = ∗ 100 = 0.6%
�𝑤𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑦 �

How about the maximum radial stress?

Manager Tree>Results> click “Define Stress Plot”>Under Display select “SX: X Normal Stress.
Even though, we are presently using Cartesian coordinate in the Solidworks environment. The
above will give us the stress in the radial direction. Why?

Figure 13: Radial stress in 𝑿 − 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

As also expected the maximum radial stress of the plate occurs at the periphery of the circular
plate where 𝑟 = 110 (see slide page 29 of Topic 4). The question again is, does this value agree
with the result from theoretical analysis? We will also check this by using the equation below
(from Slide page 29 of Topic 4):

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3 𝑝𝑎2
(𝜎𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑥 )𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑦 = ±
4 ℎ2
where
𝑁 220
𝑝 = 15000 ; 𝑎 = = 110𝑚𝑚; ℎ = 10𝑚𝑚
𝑚2 2
By substituting these values and carrying out the calculation, we obtain:
(𝜎𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑥 )𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑦 = 1,361 250 𝑁/𝑚2
(𝜎𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑥 )𝐹𝐸𝐴 = 1,368 627 𝑁/𝑚2 (See Figure 13)

The FEA result for the stress seems to be a bit far off. We can increase the closeness of the FEA
result to the exact theoretical result by reducing the mesh size.

Assignment/Exercise

Q1: Using the procedure highlighted in the manual, repeat the analysis for a simply supported
circular plate.
(a) Verify the answer, using the formula in slide page 34 of Topic 4, for:
1. Maximum deflection
2. Maximum stress
3. Maximum radial moment
(b) Show a plot of the displacement versus radius of the plate, what can you deduce from the
plot?
(c) Show a plot of the radial stress versus the radius of the plate, what can you deduce from the
plot?

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