Practical 4

Static Structural Analysis of a Pressure Vessel.

Problem Statement:

Consider the following pressurized thick-walled hydraulic cylinder. The following figure shows
a section through the mid plane.

Stress directions in cylindrical coordinates

 σ hoop is in the circumferential direction (out of the plane here).

 a = inner radius = 1.5 in b = outer radius = 2 in.
 Assume the cylinders are 18 inches long and the vessel is pressurized to 1000 psi. Here,
we will be interested in finding the hoop, axial and radial stresses at the mid-length of the
cylinders (@ 9 inches), to neglect the local effects of the end caps.
  Compare the finite element results obtained from axisymmetric analysis to those calculated
with the theoretical formulae for both thin-wall and thick-wall approximations.

PRE-ANALYSIS:
 The equations for stresses in thin- and thick-wall cylinders can be found in many
mechanics of materials references, and are summarized here, with a = inner radius, b =
outer radius, r = radial position where stress is to be found, and t = wall thickness.

 Notice that in thick-wall theory, the hoop stress varies with the radial position, while the
stress is assumed to be constant in thin-wall theory.
 Comparing the substitution of a and b for r in the hoop stress thick-wall equation will
convince you that stress is greater on the inner surface. The hoop stress variation in thick-
walled vessels can be depicted as follows (the view shown corresponds to looking from
above the pressure vessel):
 By using the parameters given in the problem statement and the above formulae for hoop
stress, we find that the maximum hoop stresses using the thin-wall and thick-wall
approximations yield 3000 psi and 3571 psi, respectively.
 This corresponds to a 16% difference which tells us that the thin wall theory might not be
adequate for this geometry. Thin-wall theory gives good results when b/a ratio is less
than 1.10, and that is not the case here. Notice that the axial stresses are constant for both
theories since they do not depend on radius. For this example, the thin-wall and thick-
wall approximations yield 1500 psi and 1285 psi, respectively.
 The radial stresses at the inner and outer surfaces can be deduced from the boundary
conditions.
 The radial stress at the outer surface is 0 psi since the traction is zero at a free surface.
 The radial stress at the inner surface is -1000 psi since it must equal the applied normal
traction (radial direction is also the normal direction here). The negative sign indicates
that the applied traction is compressive.
 The following tables display the results of these approximations:
  We will fill in the missing information by performing an axisymmetric analysis using
ANSYS. We will then compare the numerical results from ANSYS to the analytical
results.

Learning Goals

 The purpose of this experiment is to showcase, in a relatively simple situation, where thin-
wall pressure vessel theory is no longer as valid as it is in the limit of large radius-to-
thickness ratios.
 The point is that inadequate theory should not be used for validation purposes in the limit
that the physical assumptions on which the theory is based break down. In this problem,
this happens gradually as the vessel walls become thicker.
 This Experiment is meant to highlight where it is relatively straightforward to apply
axisymmetric FEA and resolve a solution correctly that disprove analytical treatment with
simple formulae derived for thin-walled vessels.

Procedure:

Open Static Structure toolbox

 Open workbench by typing workbench in search bar.

 Drag the static structure from tool box to project schematic.

1. Material Selection

 Note: For this problem, the material choice will not affect the stresses; it will only affect
the displacements and strains. So, use the Structural Steel as by default in Engineering
Data.

2. Geometry

 For axisymmetric models, we use cylindrical polar coordinates (r, θ, z) with no variation
in the θ direction. So we can just model a slice in the (r, z) plane as shown below.

 In ANSYS, the radial direction is x (rather than r) and the axial direction is y (rather than
z). We recommend that in an axisymmetric analysis, you think of the directions in
ANSYS as radial & axial rather than “x” and “y”.
 Note that for axisymmetric models in ANSYS, the y-axis is always the axis of symmetry.
The corresponding 3D geometry can be generated by revolving the 2D section 360° about
the y-axis.
 Below is the 2D geometry we need to model:
 We use symmetry to model only half the total length of the cylinder. We will first create a
sketch and then a "surface body" from the sketch. The "surface body" is nothing but an
area that we can mesh and apply boundary conditions to. The below steps to be followed
to create the sketch and surface body.
 Step 1: First step is to create a 2d geometry, we right click on geometry then click on
properties under advanced geometry options we change the analysis type to 2d we can then
close this window we are now ready to create our geometry
 Step 2: So, we right click on geometry and click on new design modeler geometry.
 Step 3: Select inch for the desired unit and press ok.
 Step 4 : we will draw a sketch in the XY plane so we first click on the Z area and then
click on the XY plane on the left hand menu we then click on sketching button .Here is to
draw two rectangles and combine them select the rectangle tool then we click on the origin
click and we drag to create the base of our figure we didn't click on the bottom right corner
and drag again to create the vertical part of your sketch we now wish to remove this
dividing line.
 Step 5: click on modify and select the trim tool click on the line you wish to remove twice.
 Step 6 : Now add the specified dimensions to our sketch click on dimensions make sure
the general tool is selected click on the rightmost edge move the mouse and click again
into details View window we enter 9 inch for this image to better of your figure click on
the zoom to fit button you can also click the pan button to move our figure around in similar
manner we define the dimensions of the thickness and the inner radius of the pressure
vessel
 Step: 7 Now it`s time to create a surface body click on the line selection tool select any
line of your sketch going to concept and click on surface from sketches click apply.
 Step: 8 Generate the body, save and close the design modeler
3. Mesh

 Step 1: This part of the Experiment covers the mesh creation of an axisymmetric pressure
vessel in the previous part we clicked on geometry which opened up the design modeler
for the rest of this project we will be working in mechanical, we now double click on model
or click on edit.
 Step 2: we want to apply the optimal type of mesh for our geometry in this case it will be
a rectangular mesh due to the rectangular form factor of our geometry one way to apply a
rectangular mesh is to use mapped face meshing to do this we right-click on mesh on the
left-hand menu click insert map face mesh now make sure that the face selection is selected
click on the surface body click apply it.
 Step 3: we will now define an element size for a mesh but before this first click on units
under home tab and select US customary.
 Step 4: right click on mesh insert sizing make sure your face selection tool is selected click
on your surface body now click apply under definition choose your element size to be 0.1
inch now click update let's click on mesh to view the generated mesh.
 We will now close mechanical and save our project.

4. Physical Setup

 Boundary conditions we will impose on the model is shown in below image

  Symmetry boundary condition at the top edge implies zero displacement in the axial (y)
direction. The top edge represents a plane of symmetry since it is located at the mid-length
of the cylinder and we are modeling only half the length. In ANSYS, we impose this
symmetry boundary condition using a “Frictionless support”.
 In an axisymmetric model, no displacement constraints are necessary in the radial direction
to prevent rigid body motion in that direction. This is because radial displacement
represents expansion/contraction of the structure which is resisted structurally.
 The following part shows how to specify the physics of the problem: axisymmetric
analysis, material properties (Young's modulus and Poisson ratio) and boundary
conditions. These settings get fed into the element formulation when obtaining the
numerical solution later.
 Step 1: This part covers the physics setup of an axisymmetric pressure vessel let's start by
opening up mechanical. First update and then edit the setup bar.
 Step 2 : we are now at the point where we decide that we want to create an axisymmetric
pressure vessel from the surface body that we created, note that for axisymmetric models
and ANSYS the y-axis is always the axis of symmetry so to do this we click on geometry
and under definition we changed a 2d behavior from plane stress to axisymmetric it's that
simple if you click on surface value we see that the option to specify thickness has been
taken out since an axisymmetric calculation automatically implies an extremely thin
thickness.
 Step 3: you can also see that ANSYS will use a structural steel as defined in engineering
data by default for the upcoming calculation.
 Step 4 : we are now ready to apply two boundary conditions let's start by defining the inner
pressure of 1000 psi we right click on static structural insert and select pressure after
making sure that the site selection tool has been selected we press the control key and
select the inner right and inner bottom sides we then click apply notice that defined by is
set to normal which means that the pressure will be normal to the sides we select this is
what we want so we'll go ahead and enter 1000 psi for the magnitude.
 Step 5: let's now assign a frictionless support and the top edge for the symmetry boundary
condition we right click again on static structural insert and select frictionless support we
then select the top edge and click apply so we now have our pressure boundary condition
and our frictionless support this is all we need

5. Numerical Solution

 To obtain the numerical solution, click solve. ANSYS formed the stiffness matrix for each
element, assembled the global stiffness matrix and inverted it to get the nodal
displacements.
 This is the bulk of the computation that ANSYS performs. All the results that we will look
at next such as the deformed shape and the stresses are derived from these nodal
displacements.

Total Deformation
  The following part shows how to plot the deformed shape to check if our boundary
conditions have been applied correctly.
 Step 1 : we will now plot the deformed shape from the nodal displacements we click on
solution down on deformation from the bottom toolbar select total click solve.
 Step 2: so we can do a few things here by clicking on this icon control under the result
tab ,the undeformed wireframe this is the outline of our body before deformation as shown

Hoop, Axial and Radial stresses

 The hoop, axial and radial stresses can be found in a similar fashion.
 Step 1: next we will show the hoop axial and radial stresses graphically click on stress in
a toolbar click normal let's do the same thing two more times in order to have all three
stresses normal.
 Step 2: one two and three might eventually get confusing so let's rename our stresses
right-click and select rename I would call this one who stress this middle one axe of
stress and last one radial stress.
 Step 3: so let's now define the orientation of each stress let's go back and take a look at
the axis drawn in the promise table so hoop stress is in the Z Direction axial is in the Y
direction and radial is in the X direction let's input these orientation for all three stresses
go here change the orientation of stress z x y.

Path tool in ANSYS

 A really neat way to represent hoop stress graphically is by using the “path” tool in
ANSYS.

 We will now use the path tool to find the stresses along the line we will draw a path along
the top edge since this is the location that we want to find our stresses in this video I will
demonstrate how to use the path tool for hoop stress only but I invite you to try it for the
axial and radial stresses as well Steps.
 Step 1: Let's start by right clicking on model choose insert and select construction
geometry we then click on path

 Step 2: we now have to define a start and end point of our path by looking back at our
dimensions we find that the starting point is (1.5,9) so we'll enter that here for X&Y the
end point is (2,9) so let's enter that here as well okay so that looks like what we want
 Step:3 we will now tell ANSYS that we want to evaluate hoop stress along that line let's
add a new result for hoop stress along that path click on solution stress and in normal

 Step: 4 let’s now rename it call it stress path.

 Step 5: we now change the scoping method to path click on the yellow box on this right
arrow select our path remember that we want hoop stress.
 Step 6: So let's change the orientation to the z axis now we click solve we can now clearly
see hoop stress as a function of radius the maximum stress appears of the inner surface as
we predicted and it goes down as we move in the positive radial direction.

 Step 7: Now this is fine for what we want we can easily compare this result analytical
results but we can do more than that what if we would actually want to represent the
stresses like the figure prior to this video so notice at the bottom right corner that answers
this placed stress value at every node along that path let's right click on that table and
export the data so you can select a location where you want to save that file and we'll call
it hoop stress path.
Revolve 2D section into 3D
 The next part shows how to display the full 3d model by revolving the 2D section 360°
about the y-axis. Note that it comes from it different project, but the steps are the same. we
get answers to help us visualize the full - 3d geometry by revolving the 2d geometry about
the axis so to do that Steps:
 Step 1: first go to the project page by clicking on this yellow icon here and you need to
turn on the beta options so select tools options
 Step 2: Appearance scroll down and turn on beta options, once you've turned on the beta
options you can go back to the mechanical window
 Step 3 : what you need to do is add a symmetry object so highlight model in the tree and
click symmetry and that adds a symmetry object under model
 Step 4: Under details of symmetry go to type and from type change it to 2d axisymmetric
and so what answers will do is take the section and revolve it in ten degree increments a
total of I guess thirty-six times and that'll basically cover the entire circle circumference.

 Step 5: Take a look at say any of my results for instance the normal stress Iet see that it's
showing the full 3d geometry
Pressure Vessel - Verification and Validation

 "Verification and validation" can be thought of as a formal process for checking results.
We previously performed some sanity checks on the deformed shape. A further basic check
is how the results change on refining the mesh.
 The following part shows how to recalculate the results on a refined mesh.
 Step 1: First clos the open project.
 Step 2: Duplicate the project
 Step 3: Rename the copied project in project schematic window.
 Step :4 Open Model window and reduce element sizing under the details of face sizing
window to 0.05 inch.
 Step 5: View the results

Mesh Refinement results

 Similarly find results for Mesh size 0.01 inch.
 Our results don't change significantly on refining the mesh. The medium and finest meshes
yield virtually identical results. So, we'll use the results from the medium mesh (element
size of 0.05 in) to compare with the thin-walled and thick-walled hand calculations.
 Compare with thin and thick-walled theory results from the pre-analysis.