Exercise K Linear Contact Model

Finite Element Analysis in Practice Steps for Exercises 4.00 07/11/2005 93

Exercise K
Linear Contact Model
Brick Elements
Objective: Determine the stress in the assembly for a maximum clamping load of 1000 pounds applied at
the end of the lever.

Geometry: Use the Exercise K.dmit file located in the "exercise K\input file" directory.




Loads: 1,000 pounds will be applied upward at the end of the lever.

Constraints: The four bolt holes and the top of the handle will be fully constrained.
One surface of the lever will be constrained against Z translation.
Elastic boundary elements with a stiffness of 100 lbf/in will be applied in the X and Y directions
to the end of the lever.

Elements: Brick

Material: Handle, Base and Lever: Iron
Pins: Steel (ASTM A-36)

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Contact: The default contact is bonded. Three surface contact pairs should be created:
1. Between the handle and the lever
2. Between the handle and pin
3. Between the lever and the pin
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Finite Element Analysis in Practice Steps for Exercises 4.00 07/11/2005 95
Solution
Meshing the Model
Start FEMPRO from the Windows taskbar.

"Start: Programs:
ALGOR V17: FEMPRO"
Press the Windows "Start" button. Select the
"Programs" pull-out menu and the "ALGOR V17"
pull-out menu. Select the "FEMPRO" command.

"Open" Select the "Open" icon at the left side of the dialog
"ALGOR Direct Memory Image
Transfer Files (*.dmit)"
Select the "ALGOR Direct Memory Image
Transfer Files (*.dmit)" option in the ALGOR Files
section of the "Files of type" drop-down box.
Navigate to the directory where the model is located.
Exercise K.dmit Select the Exercise K.dmit file in the "exercise K
\input file" directory.
"Open" Press the "Open" button.
"OK" A dialog will appear asking you to choose the design
scenario for this model. Press the "OK" button to
accept the default of "Static Stress with Linear
Material Models" in the "Single analysis" field.

For the toggle clamp, the contact areas include the location of the two pins and the interface between
the lever and the handle. The default contact option of "Bonded" will be kept and three contact
pairs will be created and changed to "Surface Contact". This type of contact will prevent the
surfaces from penetrating each other, but still allow them to pull away from each other with no
resistance.

Mouse Click on the heading for Part 1 in the tree view (the
lever).
<Ctrl> Mouse Holding down the <Ctrl> key, click on the heading for
Part 3 in the tree view (the handle).
Mouse Right click on one of the selected headings.
"Create Contact Pair: Surface
Contact"
Select the "Create Contact Pair" pull-out menu and
select the "Surface Contact" command.
Mouse Click on the heading for Part 1 in the tree view (the
lever).
<Ctrl> Mouse Holding down the <Ctrl> key, click on the heading for
Part 5 in the tree view (the pin connected to the lever).
Mouse Right click on one of the selected headings.
"Create Contact Pair: Surface
Contact"
Select the "Create Contact Pair" pull-out menu and
select the "Surface Contact" command.
Mouse Click on the heading for Part 3 in the tree view (the
handle).
Exercise K Linear Contact Model
Finite Element Analysis in Practice Steps for Exercises 4.00 07/11/2005 96

<Ctrl> Mouse Holding down the <Ctrl> key, click on the heading for
Part 4 in the tree view (the pin connected to the
handle).
Mouse Right click on one of the selected headings.
"Create Contact Pair: Surface
Contact"
Select the "Create Contact Pair" pull-out menu and
select the "Surface Contact" command.
"Mesh: Model Mesh Settings" Access the MESH pull-down menu and select the
"Model Mesh Settings" command.
Mouse Move the slider to 60% of the default.
"Mesh model" Press the "Mesh model" button to create the mesh.

"No" Press the "No" button when asked to view the mesh
results.

"Tools: FEA Editor" Access the TOOLS pull-down menu and select the
"FEA Editor" command to move to the FEA Editor
environment to set up the analysis.
"OK" In the "Units Definition" dialog, press the "OK"
button to accept the default unit system of "English
(in.)".

Defining Element and Material Data
Mouse Click on the "Material" heading for Part 1 in the tree
view.
<Ctrl>Mouse Holding down the <Ctrl> key, click on the
"Material" heading for Part 2 in the tree view.
<Ctrl>Mouse Holding down the <Ctrl> key, click on the
"Material" heading for Part 3 in the tree view.
Mouse Right click on one of the selected headings.
"Modify Material" Select the "Modify Material" command.
"Iron, Fe" Highlight the "Iron, Fe" item in the "Select
Material" section.
"OK" Press the "OK" button to accept the material selected
for Parts 1, 2 and 3.
Mouse Click on the "Material" heading for Part 4 in the tree
view.
<Ctrl>Mouse Holding down the <Ctrl> key, click on the
"Material" heading for Part 5 in the tree view.
Mouse Right click on one of the selected headings.
"Modify: Material" Select the "Modify" pull-out menu and select the
"Material." command.
"Steel (ASTM-A36)" Highlight the "Steel (ASTM-A36)" item in the
"Select Material" section.
"OK" Press the "OK" button to accept the material selected
for Parts 4 and 5.

After assigning the material properties, all red Xs should now be removed from the tree view.

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Adding Loads and Constraints

"View: Rotate" Access the VIEW pull-down menu and select the
"Rotate" command.

Mouse Rotate the model until you can see the bottom of the
base.

"Selection: Shape: Point" Access the SELECTION pull-down menu and select
the "Shape" pull-out menu. Select the "Point"
command. This will allow you select an object by
clicking on it.

"Selection: Select: Surfaces" Access the SELECTION pull-down menu and choose
the "Select" pull-out menu. Select the "Surfaces"
command. This will set a filter to allow you to select
surfaces.

Mouse Click on the inner surface of one of the bolt holes.

<Ctrl>Mouse Holding down the <Ctrl> key, click on each of the
inner surfaces of each of the three remaining bolt
holes.

Mouse Right click in the display area.

"Add: Surface Boundary
Conditions"
Select the "Add" pull-out menu and select the
"Surface Boundary Conditions" command.

"Fixed" Press the "Fixed" button.
"OK" Press the "OK" button to apply these constraints.

"View: Rotate" Access the VIEW pull-down menu and select the
"Rotate" command.

Mouse Rotate the model until you can see the top of the
handle.
<Esc> Press the <Esc> key to exit rotate mode.
Mouse Click on the surface at the top of the handle.
Mouse Right click in the display area.

"Add: Surface Boundary Condition" Select the "Add" pull-out menu and select the
"Surface Boundary Condition" command.
"Fixed" Press the "Fixed" button.
"OK" Press the "OK" button to apply these constraints.

"View: Rotate" Access the VIEW pull-down menu and select the
"Rotate" command.

Mouse Rotate the model until you can see the side of the
lever.

<Esc> Press the <Esc> key to exit rotate mode.

Mouse Click on the surface at the side of the lever.

Mouse Right click in the display area.

"Add: Surface Boundary Condition" Select the "Add" pull-out menu and select the
"Surface Boundary Condition" command.

Mouse Activate the "Tz" checkbox.

"OK" Press the "OK" button to apply these constraints.

"View: Rotate" Access the VIEW pull-down menu and select the
"Rotate" command.

Mouse Rotate the model until you can see the short end of the
lever.

<Esc> Press the <Esc> key to exit rotate mode.
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Mouse Click on the surface at the short end of the lever.

Mouse Right click in the display area.

"Add: Surface Elastic Boundary" Select the "Add" pull-out menu and select the
"Surface Elastic Boundary" command.

"X" Select the "X" radio button in the "Direction"
section.
100 Type "100" in the "Stiffness" field.

"OK" Press the "OK" button.

Mouse Right click in the display area.

"Add: Surface Elastic Boundary" Select the "Add" pull-out menu and select the
"Surface Elastic Boundary" command.

"Y" Select the "Y" radio button in the "Direction"
section.
100 Type "100" in the "Stiffness" field.

"OK" Press the "OK" button.

"View: Rotate" Access the VIEW pull-down menu and select the
"Rotate" command.

Mouse Rotate the model until you can see the long end of the
lever.

<Esc> Press the <Esc> key to exit rotate mode.
Mouse Click on the surface at the long end of the lever to
select it.
Mouse Right click in the display area.
"Add: Surface Force" Select the "Add" pull-out menu and select the
"Surface Force" command.
1000 Type "1000" in the "Magnitude" field.
"Y" Select the "Y" radio button in the "Direction"
section to specify that the force will be applied in the
Y direction.
"OK" Press the "OK" button to apply the surface force.

Analysis

"Analysis:
Perform Analysis"
Access the ANALYSIS pull-down menu and select
the "Perform Analysis" command to run the
analysis. At the completion of the analysis, FEMPRO
will automatically transfer to the Results environment.
Viewing the Results
There are many options available in the Results environment to customize the presentation of results.
For this exercise, the stress range and legend box font will be modified.

"Display Options:
Plot Settings "
Access the DISPLAY OPTIONS pull-down menu and
select the "Plot Settings" command.
Mouse Select the "Legend Properties" tab.
"Font" Press the "Font " button.
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Finite Element Analysis in Practice Steps for Exercises 4.00 07/11/2005 99
"18" Select the "18" option in the "Size:" field. Note that
you can also change the font to any of the TrueType
fonts listed.

"OK" Press the "OK" button to accept the changes to the
legend box font.
Mouse Select the "Range Settings" tab.

Mouse Deactivate the "Automatically calculate value
range" checkbox.
0 Type "0" in the "Low" field.

40000 Type "40000" in the "High" field. Any areas with
stresses larger than this value will now be rendered
using the highest color in the legend box (typically
red). It is common for users to set this value to the
yield stress of the material in order to quickly see what
areas of the model may have yielded.

"OK" Press the "OK" button and your presentation should
now look similar to the one shown in Figure 1.


Figure 1: Stress Results

This completes the exercise. To review a completed archive of this exercise, refer to the file
Exercise K.ach in the "exercise K\results archive" directory.

Exercise K Linear Contact Model
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