368 FEM WITH ANSYS®

POSTPROCESSING
• Review };-displacement contours (PLNSOL command) using the follow-
ing menu path:
Main Menu > General PostProc > Plot Results > Contour Plot > Nodal Solu

• Contour Nodal Solution Data dialog box appears. Select DOF solution
from the left list and Translation UY from the right list; click on OK,
• The contour plot is shown in Fig. 8.24 as it appears in the Graphics
Window.

• Review displacement values (PRNSOL command) using the following

menu path:
Main Menu > General Postproc > List Results > Nodal Solution

• Highlight DOF solution in the left list and Translation UY in the right
list; click on OK,
• The list appears in a separate window. It is a long list of z-
displacements. At the bottom of the window, the maximum displace-
ment value is printed as '-0J2464E''03,

8.1,4.3,2 Analysis of a Circular Plate Pushed Down by a Piston Head

An aluminum circular plate with a diameter of 40 in is pushed down by a
steel piston head, as shown in Fig. 8.25. The piston head has two sections
with diameters 20 in and 2 in. The elastic modulus and Poisson's ratio for
the aluminum plate are given as E^i =10xl0^psi and v^i =0.35, respec-
tively, whereas the corresponding properties for steel are E^^ =30x10^ psi
and v^f = 0.3. The aluminum plate is clamped along the boundary (all
degrees of freedom constrained). The goal is to obtain the displacement and
stress fields when the piston is pushed down (at the top) by an amount of 0.1
in. This problem possesses the conditions necessary for axisymmetry to be
employed. Following is the solution utilizing axisymmetric elements in
ANSYS.

MODEL GENERATION
• Define the element type (ET command) using the following menu path:
Main Menu > Preprocessor > Element Type > Add/Edit/Delete
• Click on Add.
• Select Solid in the left list and Quad 4 Node 42 in the right list; click
on OK,
• Click on Options,
LINEAR STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS 369

k
.725E-03
.644E-03
.564E-03
.483E-03
.403E-03
I i .322E-03
.242E-03
.161E-03
.805E-04

Fig. 8.24 Contour plot of z-displacement of a bar elon-

gated due to its own weight.
Y

X
0.5 in I

40 in
Fig. 8.25 Schematic of a circular plate pushed down by a piston head.
370 FEM WITH ANSYS®

• PLANE42 element type options dialog box appears; select

Axisymmetric item from the pull-down menu corresponding to
Element behavior K3.
• Click on 0K\ click on Close.

• Specify material properties (MP command) using the following menu

path:
Main Menu > Preprocessor > Material Props > Material Models

• In the Define Material Model Behavior dialog box, in the right window,
successively double-click on Structural, Linear, Elastic, and, finally,
Isotropic, which will bring up another dialog box.
• Enter 10e6 for EX and 0.35 for PRXY, click on OK.
• Add new material model using the following menu path:
Material > New Model

• Click on OK in the new dialog box.

• In the right window, successively double-click on Structural, Linear,
Elastic, and, finally. Isotropic, Enter 30e6 for EX and 03 for PRXY;
click on OK.
• Close the Define Material Model Behavior dialog box by using the
following menu path:
Material > Exit

• Three rectangles defining the geometry will be created and overlapped.

Create the rectangles defining the axisymmetric cross section (RECTNG
command) using the following menu path:
Main Menu > Preprocessor > Modeling > Create > Areas > Rectangle > By Dimensions

• In the Create Rectangle by Dimensions dialog box, enter 0 and 20 for

XI and X2 and 0 and 0.5 for Yl and Y2\ click on Apply.
• Now, enter 0 and 10 for XI and X2 and 0 and 1.5 for Yl and Y2', click
on Apply.
• Finally, enter 0 and / for XI and X2 and 0 and 5.5 for Yl and Y2', click
on OK.

• Overlap the rectangles (AOVLAP command) using the following menu

path:
Main Menu > Preprocessor > Modeling > Operate > Booieans > Overlap > Areas

• Pick Menu appears, click on Pick All.

• The overlapping operation produces six areas (started with three),
sharing lines along the interfaces.
LINEAR STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS 371

• Specify the global element size (ESIZE command) using the following
menu path:
Main Menu > Preprocessor > Meshing > Size Cntrls > ManualSize > Global > Size

• Global Element Sizes dialog box appears; enter 0.2 for SIZE\ click on
OK.

• Create the mesh for the aluminum plate (AMESH command) using the
following menu path:
Main Menu > Preprocessor > Meshing > Mesh > Areas > Mapped > 3 or 4 sided

• Pick Menu appears; pick the bottom row of rectangles (corresponding

to the aluminum plate); click on OK in the Pick Menu.
• Plot the areas (APLOT command) using the following menu path:
Utility Menu > Plot > Areas

• Change default element attribute for material number from 1 to 2 (MAT

command) using the following menu path:
Main Menu > Preprocessor > Meshing > Mesh Attributes > Default Attribs

• Meshing Attributes dialog box appears; select 2 from the [MAT]

Material number pull-down menu; click on OK.
• Create mesh for the steel piston (AMESH command) using the following
menu path:
Main Menu > Preprocessor > Meshing > Mesh > Areas > Mapped > 3 or 4 sided

• Pick Menu appears; pick the rectangles corresponding to the steel pis-
ton; click on OK in the Pick Menu.
• Plot elements with different colors based on their material numbers
using the following menu path:
Utility Menu > PlotCtrls > Numbering

• Plot Numbering Controls dialog box appears. Select Material numbers

from the first pull-down menu (corresponding to Elem I Attrib num-
bering) and select Colors only from the second pull-down menu
(corresponding to [/NUM] Numbering shown with); click on OK.
Figure 8.26 shows the corresponding element plot with different colors
based on material numbers.

SOLUTION
• Apply displacement constraints along the periphery of the aluminum plate
(D command) using the following menu path:
Main Menu > Solution > Define Loads > Apply > Structural > Displacement > On Nodes
372 FEM WITH ANSYS^

Fig. 8.26 Element plot with different colors based on material

numbers.

• Pick Menu appears; pick the nodes along the right boundary {x - 20);
click on OK in the Pick Menu,
• Highlight All DOF\ click on OK.

Apply displacement constraints along the top surface of the steel piston (D
command) using the following menu path:
Main Menu > Solution > Define Loads > Apply > Structural > Displacement > On Nodes

• Pick Menu appears; pick the nodes along the top boundary {y = 5.5);
click on OK in the Pick Menu.
• Remove the highlight on All DOF and highlight UY.
• Enter -0,1 in the text box for VALUE Displacement value \ click on
OK.

Obtain the solution (SOLVE command) using the following menu path:
Main Menu > Solution > Solve > Current LS
• Confirmation Window appears along with Status Report Window.
• Review status, if OK, close the Status Report Window, click on OK in
the Confirmation Window.
• Wait until ANSYS responds with Solution is done!

POSTPROCESSING

• Review the deformed shape (PLDISP command) using the following

menu path:
Main Menu > General PostProc > Plot Results > Deformed Shape

• Plot Deformed Shape dialog box appears; select the Def + undef edge
radio button; click on OK.
• Corresponding deformed shape is shown in Fig. 8.27.
LINEAR STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS 373

Fig, 8.27 Deformed shape with undeformed edge.

• Review the equivalent stress (von Mises) contour plot (PLNSOL com-
mand) using the following menu path:
Main Menu > General PostProc > Plot Results > Contour Plot > Nodal Solu

• Contour Nodal Solution Data dialog box appears. Select Stress from
the left list; in the right list, scroll down to select von Mises SEQV.
Click on OK,
• Figure 8.28 shows the corresponding contour plot

8.1.5 Plates and Shells

Many engineering structures involve plates and shells where one dimension
is much smaller than the other two. When these thin members are flat and
only in-plane loads are applied, the problem can be solved using Plane
Stress idealization. However, if they are curved and/or subjected to both in-
plane and out-of-plane loads, it is necessary to solve the problem in 3-D
using shell elements. At each node of the shell elements, both displacements
and rotations are the degrees of freedom. Three problems are solved utiliz-
ing shell elements.

8.1.5,1 Static Analysis of a Bracket

The bracket shown in Fig. 8.29 is clamped at the two top holes and is
subjected to static vertical loading at the bottom two holes. Due to the sym-
metry in geometry, only one quarter of the structure is modeled at first.
Once the top-left quarter is modeled and meshed, two symmetric reflection
operations are utilized to create the rest of the bracket. The goal is to create
the finite element model and obtain the static solution.

MODEL GENERATION

• Specify ihc jobname as bracket using the following menu path:

Utility Menu > File > Change Jobname

• In the dialog box, type bracket in the [/FILNAM] Enter new jobname
text field; click on the checkbox for New log and error files to show
Yes\ click on OK,
374 FEM WITH ANSYS^

I
227.365 3956 7684 11413 1^14^
2092 5820 9549 13277 17006

Fig. 8.28 Equivalent stress contours.

all dimensions in inches

hole diameters = 0.25 in
metal thickness = 0.1 in
E = 30E6psi
Poisson's ratio = 0.3
Density = 0.00073 Ib-secVin'
F = 6\b

Fig. 8.29 Geometry, material properties, and loading on the bracket.

Define the element type (ET command) using the following menu path:
Main Menu > Preprocessor > Element Type > Add/Edit/Delete
• Click on Add.
• Select Shell in the left list and Elastic 4node 63 in the right list; click
on OK,
• Click on Close.

Specify the thickness using real constants (R command) using the

following menu path:
Main Menu > Preprocessor > Real Constants > Add/Edit/Delete

• CVick on Add.
• Click on 0K\ dialog box appears.