Workshop 05.

1 – Solid
Modeling

Introduction to
ANSYS Composite PrepPost

Release 2020 R1

1 © 2019 ANSYS, Inc.

5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

Introduction
• In this workshop, we create a composite solid model for a doubly-curved tensile test
specimen.
• For thick composite structure, the plane-stress assumption of shell elements no longer
holds true and we have to move solid elements for an accurate representation.
• Solid elements capture the 3D stress state and in this workshop we compare the results
of 2D and 3D failure criteria.

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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

Assembly Information
• The composite part has the following lay-up:
• [0, 0, -30, +30, 0, 0] (deg) symmetric UD

• Extrusion Guides in the form of CAD geometries are provided to give the extruded solid
model straight edges.

• The composite part is combined with metal parts into an assembly.

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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

Start ANSYS Workbench and Open Archive

1
2
1. Start ANSYS Workbench and open the archive
Solid_Modeling_FROM_START_<Release>.wbpz
2. Save the Workbench project

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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

The archived project contains two systems:

• ACP(Pre) → The system

with the composite part

• Metal Parts → The system

with the non composite
metal parts of the assembly
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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

• The composite part and the metal parts are assembled later

• The solid composite model is generated based on a shell model and extruded to a solid
model

• This is the first step of the workshop

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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

Open ANSYS Composite PrepPost Model

Make sure that Epoxy Carbon UD (395GPa)
Prepreg is defined in Engineering Data.

1 If not, look for it in Composite Materials:

1. Open ANSYS Composite PrepPost; The shell mesh and materials are already defined
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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

Create Fabrics

1
1. Create a new fabric using Epoxy Carbon Prepreg material and a thickness of 0.232 mm

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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

Create Edge Wise Rosette

1
1. We use an edge wise rosette to specify the fiber reference direction. Create a new edge
wise rosette based on Edge1. This edge has been defined as named selection in the
model.
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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling
2
Create Oriented Selection Set

1
1. Create a new Oriented Selection Set based on all elements. Use the edge wise rosette
created in the previous step and an orientations direction as shown above.
2. Check the reference direction of the oriented selection set created before
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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

Create Plies

1. Create a new ply group

PlyGroup.1
2. Create 12 new layers (0°, 0°,
-30°, 30°, 0°,0°, 0°,0°, 30°,
-30°, 0°,0°).

Using the Excel Link can speed up

the process of defining 12 plies.
1
Create one Modeling Ply manually
and duplicate it in Excel.

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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

• When the composite lay-up is defined the solid model is created by extrusion
• We use extrusion guides imported as CAD file to extrude the model along a specific
surface

Solid model extrusion using Solid model extrusion without using

extrusion guidelines guidelines in surface normal direction
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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

Import CAD Geometry 3

1
2
1. Insert Geometry from the Component Systems
2. Link Geometry to Setup of ACP (Pre)
3. Import the cad file extrusion_guide.stp, the step file can be found in

1 the workshop folder

4. Update ACP (Pre) setup and return to ACP (Pre)
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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

Import CAD Geometry

1
2 2
1. The CAD file imported before is present in CAD Geometries
2. Create a new virtual geometry (Right mouse button on Virtual
Geometries → Create Virtual Geometry)

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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

Create a Solid Model

2
1 3
1. Create a new Solid Model (Right Mouse button on Solid Models
→ Create Solid Model)
2. Select All Elements in element sets
3. Select extrusion method Analysis Ply Wise

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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

Create a Solid Model

2
23
4 4
1. Insert a new Extrusion Guide

1 2.
3.
4.
Select Edge1 for the first extrusion guide
Select Type Geometry
Select the imported CAD geometry
5. Repeat Steps 1-4 for Edge Set Edge2 using same geometry
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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

• The solid model has been extruded by ANSYS Composite PrepPost and can now be used
for different analyses.

• In the next steps we will

assemble composite
and metal parts within
ANSYS Mechanical.

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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

Transfer composite and metal parts to ANSYS Mechanical

2
1. Update the ACP (Pre) Setup
2. Drag and Drop a new Static Structural system into the project schematic. Do not drop the
new system onto any of the existing systems.
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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling
Transfer composite and metal parts to ANSYS Mechanical

1 3
2 4
1. Drag and Drop Setup of ACP (Pre) onto Model of the new Static Structural (select Transfer Solid Composite Data)
2. Drag and Drop Model of Metal Parts onto Model of the new Static Structural
3. length units are consistent: Cell C2 > RMB Properties > General Model Assembly Properties > Length Unit: mm
4. Update Model of the new Static Structural
5. Open ANSYS Mechanical by double-clicking Model of the new Analysis System

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ANSYS Mechanical

Meshes and materials of the solid composite and of the metal parts are imported from the
ACP (Pre) and Metal Parts analysis systems, they can not be modified here

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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

Check Automatically Defined Contacts

1. The contact regions for the assembly have been automatically defined by ANSYS
Mechanical. Please check both contact regions. Bonded contacts are used to connect the
metal parts to the composite specimen.
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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

Apply Boundary Conditions

1. Apply a fixed support to one end and a remote displacement to the other end. Define a
displacement of 0.5 mm in x-direction and fix all other displacements and rotations.
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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

Solve the Model

2 1
1. Add Total Deformation to the solution and scale the deformation plot as done in this slide
2. Solve the Model

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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

Post-processing in ANSYS Composite PrepPost

2
1
1. Drag and Drop ACP (Post) onto Model of ACP (Pre) system
2. Drag and Drop Solution of Static Structural analysis system onto Results of new ACP (Post) system
3. Update and open Results of new ACP (Post) system and update Model
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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

ACP Post-processing
1 2

13
1. Add Failure Criteria to Definitions (consider Puck criterion)
2. Select Configure and choose a 3D definition for the criterion
3. Repeat the previous step to define a 2D Puck criterion
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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

• Interlaminar strains and stresses for solid models are calculated by ANSYS and
automatically available in ANSYS Composite PrepPost.

• The following failure criteria can be switched to 3D: Maximum Strain, Maximum Stress,
Tsai-Wu, Tsai-Hill, Hashin, Puck, Cuntze

• All failure criteria can be evaluated at the same time

(If hardware resources allow this, ANYS Composite PrepPost utilizes multiple CPUs to
evaluate failure criteria)

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ACP Post-processing

13 2
1. Add Failure Plot to Solution 1
2. Select the Puck 3D failure criterion
3. Repeat the previous steps for the Puck 2D failure criterion

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5.1 Workshop Solid Modeling

• Compare 2D vs. 3D Puck criterion evaluation

Puck 2D Puck 3D

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• Create a Sampling Point to examine out of plane S3 stress and Puck 2D vs 3D across the
thickness of the composite part in the transition region

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Summary
• A composite solid model assembly is created.
• Given the doubly curved shape and part thickness, we observe that the off-plane stress
s3 is significant.
• We see the difference in results for a 2D and a 3D failure criterion.
• Note that the 2D criterion does not take the off-plane stress s3 into account.
• Equally, a 3D criterion is only of use if 3D stress results are available

30 © 2019 ANSYS, Inc.