ANSYS Bracket Tutorial

Introduction
The ANSYS program is a computer program for finite element analysis and design. The program is used to find out how a given design (e.g., a machine component) works under operating conditions. The ANSYS program can also be used to calculate the optimal design for given operating conditions using the design optimization feature. The ANSYS program is a multi-purpose program, meaning that you can use it for almost any type of finite element analysis in virtually any industry - automobiles, aerospace, railways, machinery, electronics, sporting goods, power generation, power transmission, and biomechanics, to mention just a few. "Multi-purpose" also refers to the fact that the program can be used in all disciplines of engineering - structural, mechanical, electrical, electromagnetic, electronic, thermal, fluid, and biomedical. The ANSYS program is also used as an educational tool in universities and other academic institutions. ANSYS software is available on many types of computers - PCs (personal computers), workstations, minicomputers, superminis, mainframes, super mainframes, etc. Several operating systems are supported, as are a multitude of graphics devices.

Starting ANSYS
In the HP-lab under UNIX environment start ansys with the commands: 1. module add ansys51 2. ansys51 -g -j jobname (jobname is the filename your work is saved in. DON'T START ANSYS NOW!) In the PC-lab start ansys by double-clicking on the ansys icon on the desktop.

About the Graphical User Interface (GUI)

ANSYS GUI A total of six windows are opened when you start ANSYS.

Utility Menu (top) - contains functions that are available throughout the ANSYS session, such as file controls, selections, graphic controls and parameters. You also exit the ANSYS program from the File pull down menu. Main Menu (bottom left) - Contains the primary ANSYS functions, organized by preprocessor, solution, general postprocessor, design optimizer. Toolbar (middle right) - Contains push buttons that execute commonly used ANSYS commands. More push buttons can be added. Input Window (middle left)- Shows program prompt messages and allow you to type in commands directly Graphic Window (bottom right)- A window where graphics are shown and graphical picking are made. Output Window (not shown here) - Shows text output from the program, such as listing of data etc. It is usually positioned behind the other windows and can de put to the front when necessary.

Graphical picking
Many functions use graphical picking - using the mouse to identify model entities and coordinate locations. The two most common types of graphical picking are:

locational picking - coordinates of a new point are located retrieval picking - identifying a certain entity such as a line, key point etc

Whenever you use graphical picking a picking menu appears:

Fig. 2 Locate pick menu to the left and retriev pick menu to the right. The Function title on the top of the menu identifies the function being performed, in this example defining keypoints (location picking) / deleting key points (retrival picking). Pick mode allows you to pick or unpick a location or entity. You can use either these toggle buttons or the right mouse button to switch between pick or unpick mode. The mouse pointer is an up arrow for picking and a down arrow for unpicking. For retrieval picking, you can also have the option to select from single, box, circle and polygon mode.With single pick mode each click picks an entity. With the other three modes, press and drag the mouse to enclose a set of entities in a box, circle or polygon. Next the Pick status is shown, nr of picked items "Count". The Picked data in the case of location picking shows the coordinates. For retrival picking, this entry shows the entity nr. You can see this data by pressing and dragging the mouse in the graphics area. This allows you to preview the information before releasing the mouse button and picking the item. Sometimes the required data is easier entered from the keyboard in the Input Window , e.g coordinates can be easier to enter directly . The Keyboard entry options you can choose

between WP (working plane) or Global coordinates. For retrival picking you can enter a List of entity numbers or a Range of numbers from the keyboard in the Input Window. On the bottom of the pick menu you have the action buttons:

OK - Applies the picked items to execute the function and close the picking menu. Apply - Applies the picked items to execute the function but does not close the picking menu. Youc can either use this button or the middle button on the mouse (HP). For Windows 95 users (two mouse button) the middle button is simulated by pressing shift key and right mouse button simultaneously. Reset - Unpicks all picked entities and restore the pick menu and the graphic area to their state at the last apply. Cancel - Cancels the function and close the picking menu. Pick All - Picks all entities, (retrieval picking). Help - Help for the function being applied.

Sometimes when the "hot spot" of two or more items are coincident you might pick more than one item in retrieval picking. Ansys will bring up a multiple entities dialog where you can cycle through the overlapping entities by a Next and Previous button until the desired entity is highlighted. Press OK to select that entity.

FEM analysis of a corner bracket

This is an example of a simple static analysis of the corner bracket shown below. The objective is to control if the bracket will yield under loading. This is a typical ANSYS analysis procedure.

Input data
The dimensions of the corner bracket is given below. The bracket is made of steel with a Young's modulus of E=205 GPa (GPa = 109 N/m2) and the Poisson's ratio of 0.27 and a yield stress, including a safety factor, of 400 MPa.

Corner bracket The upper left hole is constrained around it's entire circumference. The lower right-hand hole is loaded by pin with a total force of 10 kN. The force is approximately distributed along the contact as a tapered pressure varying linearly along the lower half of the circumference, see below. The global coordinate system have been chosen to be in the center of the upper left-hand hole.

Boundary conditions

We will assume plane state of stress, (plane stress is a state of stress in which the normal and shear stress perpendicular to the plane is assumed to be zero). We will use solid modelling and automatically mesh it with nodes and elements.

Summary
The steps in any Finite Element solution can be divided in three phases:

Preprocessing - define the model suchs as mesh, loads and boundary condition Solution - assembling and solving the system of equation Postprocessing - extracting relevant result from the solution

Preprocessing Steps
1. Specify jobname and title. 2. Set preferences 3. Define element types and options 4. Define real constants 5. Define material properties 6. Define the model starting with two rectangles 7. Change plot controls and replot 8. Change working plane (WP) to polar and create first circle 9. Move the WP and create second circle 10. Add areas (rectangles and circles) 11. Create line fillet 12. Create area fillet 13. Add remaining areas together 14. Create first bolt hole 15. Move WP and create second bolt hole 16. Subtract the holes from the bracket 17. Mesh the area

Solution steps
18. Apply displacement constraint 19. Apply pressure load 20. Solve

Postprocessing steps
21. Enter the general postprocessor 22. Plot deformed shape 23. Plot the von Mises equivalent stress 24. List reactions at constrained nodes 25. Exit the ANSYS program

Preprocessing
1 Specify jobname and title
The jobname determines the name of the file your job is stored under. You specify the jobname when you start ANSYS, i.e. from an xterm window write:
> module add ansys51 > ansys51 -g -j uppgift3

After a while the ANSYS GUI:s will appear on the screen. You can also change the job name later from the Utility meny: Utility menu: File - Change Jobname Enter uppgift3 and click on OK

Next define the title of your job Utility menu: File - Change Title Enter Corner bracket - Exersize 1 and click on OK

2 Set preferences
The preferences dialog allows you to set the desired engineering discipline for context filtering of menu choices. By turning on the structural filtering completely surpresses thermal, electromagnetic and fluid menu topics. Main menu: Preferences Select the the Structural will show and click OK

3. Define element types and options

In any FEM analysis you need to select an appropriate element type for your analysis. ANSYS have many different types of element (2-D, 3-D, line elements suchs as bars, beam etc). Many types have additional element options to specify the element behavior, element results and printout option, etc. We will use only one element type, PLANE82 which is a 2-D, quadratic structural higher order element. The element have 8 nodes (4 corner nodes and 4 midside nodes) and have quadratic approximation of the displacement field (higher order shape function). Using higher order elements we can use a coarser mesh to get the same accuracy compared to lower order element (liner shape fucntion). We also need to specify plane stress with thickness as an option for PLANE 82, the thickness will be defined as a real constant in the next step. Main menu: Preprocessor - Element Type - Add/Edit/Delete..

Add.. an element type

Select Structural Solid family Quad 8 node 82 element and press OK

In the element type dialog now select options to specify

Plane stress w/thk (with thickness) OK to close the Element type options dialog

Close the Element type dialog

4. Defining real constants

For element types whos geometry is not fully defined by its node location, real constants provide additional geometry information. Real constants are tied to the element e.g crosssectional properties for beam elements, shell thickness for shell elements etc. You can have multiple sets of real constants only if multiple element types are used in the analysis. In our case we will define the thickness of the PLANE82 element. Main menu: Preprocessor - Real Constant

Add a real set OK for PLANE82

Enter 0.01 for THK ( 10 mm thickness)

You can also try the help button before you press OK and close the dialog box. Information about the PLANE82 element are presented in a help window. To exit the help window select File and Exit Press Close to finish the definition of the real constant dialog

5. Define material properties

Material properties such as Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio or density are independent of the geometry. Although they are not necessary tied to the element the material properties are listed for each element type. Depending on the application the material properties can be linear, nonlinear, anisotropic, temperature dependent etc. As with element type and real constants you can have multiple material sets (to correspond to different materials) within one analysis. Each set is given a reference number. For this analysis we only have one isotropic linear elastic material (Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio) . Furthermore we will neglect the density. Main menu: Preprocessor - Material Props - Constant - Isotropic

OK to define material set 1

Enter 205.e9 for EX (Young's modulus) Enter 0.27 for NUXY (Poisson's ratio) Press OK to define and close material set 1

We will now save the what we have done so far. The database in memory will be saved to a file uppgift3.db. The file will be your jobname with the extension db. You should save your work on regular intervalls so if a mistake is made, the model can be restored from tha last saved state.

Toolbar: SAVE_DB

6. Define rectangles
There are several ways to create the model in ANSYS. In this example we will create the model with simple geometric shapes called primitives and automatically mesh the final model. A rectangle primitive consists of the following entities: an area, four lines and four keypoints. The bracket can be built from two rectangles, two circles and two holes. Combining theses primitives we get our bracket, but first we will start with the two rectangles. The global origin we choose to set in the center of the upper left-hand hole.

Main menu: Preprocessor - Modeling - Create - Areas - Rectangle - By dimensions

Enter 0, 0.15, -0.025, 0.025 for X1,X2,Y1 and Y2 (Tab key between entries) Apply to define the first rectangle

Enter 0.1, 0.15, -0.025, -0.075 for X1,X2,Y1 and Y2 for the second rectangle OK to define the second rectangle and close the dialog

You should now have two rectangles in the same color drawn in the Graphic window.

7. Change plot controls and replot

To clearly distinguish between the areas just created we will turn on the area numbers and color control is turned on. This is done from the utility menu: Utility menu: PlotCtrls - Numbering

Turn on area numbering and press OK to close and replot

Toolbar: SAVE_DB

8 Change working plane to polar and create first circle

The next step is to create the half circles on the ends of rectangles. We will actually create full circles and the add them to the rectangles (step 10). We will also make use of the working plane (WP). The working plane is a 2D coordinate system (cartesian or polar) with an origin, a snap increment and a display grid. By default the origin coincide with the global origin. Before we begin we have to zoom out within the graphic window to see more of our created circles. For this we use the Pan, Zoom, Rotate dialog box. We will also display the WP origin. Utility menu: PlotCtrls - Pan, Zoom, Rotate

Click on the small dot (.) to zoom out

Let the Pan, Zoom, Rotate dialog be open you'll need it later Utility menu: Workplane - Display Working Plane (toggle on) The WP origin will now be visible on top of the global origin. Next, change the WP to polar, snap on, snap increment and display grid spacing to 0.005, the polar radius to 0.025 and the tolerance to 0.001. Utility menu: Workplane - WP settings

Set the parameters according to the display and click OK when finished

The next step is to create the first circle using the picking function in ANSYS. You can at this point use the Pan,Zoom,Rotate dialog to zoom in the polar WP coordinate system. Use the big dot to zoom in and the to pan. Main menu: Preprocessor - Modeling - Create - Areas - Circle - Solid Circle

Pick center point (left mouse button) at WP polar system (0,0). (Note the message in the Input window) Move the mouse to 0.025 radius and click left mouse button OK to close picking menu

9 Move working plane and create second circle

First we will move the WP origin to the center of the other circle. Then we will create the other circle in the same manner as the first one. The simplest way to move the WP without entering the number offset is to pick the average of two keypoints at the lower end of the other rectangle. Utility menu: Workplane - Offset WP to - Keypoints

Pick keypoint 1 at lower left corner of rectangle Pick keypoint 2 at lower right corner of rectangle OK to finish picking offset WP

Main menu: Preprocessor - Modeling - Create - Areas - Circle - Solid Circle

Pick center point (left mouse button) at WP polar system (0,0). Move the mouse to 0.025 radius and click left mouse button OK to close picking menu

Toolbar: SAVE_DB

10. Add areas

We need to add the different areas together to get one continuous area. This is done with the boolean operation: Add areas Main menu: Preprocessor - Modeling - Operate - Boolean - Add - Areas

Click on Pick All in the Add areas dialog OK to add all areas together

Toolbar: SAVE_DB

11. Create line fillet

We need to fill in the radius between the intersection of the two rectangles. But first we turn off the line numbers and turn off the display of the working plane. Utility menu: PlotCtrls - Numbering

Turn on line numbering and press OK to close and replot

Utility menu: Workplane - Display Working Plane (toggle off) Your graphic display should now look something like:

Main menu: Preprocessor - Modeling - Create - Lines - Line Fillet

Pick line 17 and 8 Enter 0.01 (10 mm) as fillet radius OK to create fillet and close dialog box

12. Create fillet area

The next step is to create a fillet area that can be added to the rest of the bracket. Before you continue to create a fillet area of the lines you just creates use the Pan, Zoom, Rotate dialog under Utility menu: PlotCtrls to zoom in the fillet radius as shown above. Main menu: Preprocessor - Modeling - Create - Areas - Arbitrary - By Lines

Pick lines L4, L5, L1 OK to create area and close dialog

Use the Pan, Zoom, Rotate dialog again and click on Fit and plot the areas under Utility Menu: Plot - Areas Your plot should now look like:

Don't forget to save your work: Toolbar: SAVE_DB

13. Add areas together

Now add the fillet area to the bracket area. Use the same procedure as in step 10. Main menu: Preprocessor - Modeling - Operate - Boolean - Add - Areas

Click on Pick All in the Add areas dialog OK to add all areas together

Toolbar: SAVE_DB

14. Create first bolt hole

The holes have a radius of 12.5 mm so we need to change the WP snap and display increment to 2.5mm if we want to pick the circle origin and radius when we create the holes. Utility menu: Workplane - Display Working Plane (toggle on) Utility menu: Workplane - WP settings

Change the snap incr and display spacing to 0.0025 and click OK when finished

Now create the first hole: Main menu: Preprocessor - Modeling - Create - Areas - Circle - Solid Circle

Pick center point (left mouse button) at WP polar system (0,0). Move the mouse to 0.0125 radius and click left mouse button OK to close picking menu

15. Move working plane and create the second bolt hole
First we move WP back to the global origin: Utility menu: Workplane - Offset WP to - Global origin Then we create the other hole Main menu: Preprocessor - Modeling - Create - Areas - Circle - Solid Circle

Pick center point (left mouse button) at WP polar system (0,0). Move the mouse to 0.0125 radius and click left mouse button OK to close picking menu

To view the result so far we plot all lines (plotting areas can result in that some areas hidden by others): Utility menu: Plot - Lines

Toolbar: SAVE_DB

16. Subtract the bolt holes from the bracket

To finalize the model we only have to subtract the bolt areas from the bracket to create holes. Main menu: Preprocessor - Modeling - Operate - Booleans - Subtract - Areas

Pick bracket as base area from which to subtract Apply (in picking dialog, Not OK!) Pick both bolt holes as areas to be subtracted OK to subtract and close the picking menu

Final model of the corner bracket Toolbar: SAVE_DB

17. Mesh the area

We will specify a global element size to control overall mesh density: Main Menu: Preprocessor - Meshing- Shape & Size - Global Elem Size

Type 0.01 in the SIZE Element edge length OK to close dialog

Finish the preprocessing by meshing the bracket Main Menu: Preprocessor - Meshing - Mesh - Areas

Pick the bracket area OK to mesh and close the picking menu

The mesh should look something like this Toolbar: SAVE_DB

Solution
18. Apply displacement constraints
The upper bolt hole is constrained, e.g. we have to lock the displacements (set them to zero) of the nodes on the circumference. Since we have not explicitely defined where the nodes on the circumference are located, (ANSYS automatically did that), we'll lock the 4 keypoints on the circumference and tell ANSYS the all nodes located along the lines between the keypoints will also be locked. Main Menu: Solution - Loads - Apply - Structural - Displacement - On Keypoints

Pick the four keypoints around the upper left-hand hole OK to complete in the picking menu Click on All DOF (Degree Of Freedom) Click to yes to expand displacement constraints to nodes OK to set constraint and close dialog

Toolbar: SAVE_DB

19. Apply pressure load

We'll now apply the tapered (linearly varying) pressure to the bottom right bolt hole. In ANSYS a hole is made of four lines defining the perimeter (omkrets). We will apply the pressure to the two lines making up the lower part of the circle. Since the total load Fy is 10 kN we need to calculate the maximum pressure pm in the middle of the lower half.

Calculating the maximum pressure The ANSYS convention for pressure loading is that positive value represents pressure into the surface (compressive). We need to apply the pressure in two steps first from 0 to pm at the left side then from pm to 0 on the right lower side of the hole. Main menu: Solution - Apply - Loads - Structural - Pressure - On Lines

Pick the line defining the bottom left part of the circle (line L6) Apply in the picking menu Enter 0 for VALI and 62.83e6 for VALJ Apply in the PRES on Lines menu

Pick the line defining the bottom right part of the circle (line L7) Apply in the picking menu Enter 62.83e6 for VALI and 0 for VALJ OK in the PRES on Lines menu

Pressure applied on the lower part of the circle Toolbar: SAVE_DB

20. Solve
Main menu: Solution - Solve - Current LS

Review the information in the status window and close the window (File - Close) OK to begin the solution in the Solve current load step dialog Close the information dialog when the solution is done

The result of this load step problem are stored in the database and on the result file jobname.RST. The analysis can contain multiple loadsteps but only the last solution is storde in the database. All other solutions are stored on the result file.

Postprocessing
Postprocessing is where you review the result of the analysis. The general postprocessor is used to review the result at one loadstep (time step). Over the entire model. The time-history postprocessor is used to review results at specific points in the model over all time steps.

21. Enter the general postprocessor and read in the results

Main menu: General postprocessor - Read results - First Set

22. Plot the deformed shape

Main menu: General Postproc - Plot results - Deformed shape

Choose Def(ormed) - undeformed OK

Deformed shape of loaded corner bracket

23. Plot the von Mises equivalent stress

In uniaxial (enaxlig) loading the steel yields (plasticerar) when the uniaxial stress is equal to the yield limit. In a multiaxial state of stress the yielding starts when the stress state is equal to the von Mises yield criteria. The equivalent stress (se) value in a multiaxial state of stress can be calculated using:

where s1 , s2 and s3 are the principal stresses (huvudspnningar). When the equivalent stress value reaches the yield limit the steel starts to yield. The postprocessor in ANSYS can plot contours of the von Mises equivalent stress value which makes it easy to spot critical areas of the steel structure. Main menu: General Postproc - Plot results - Contour plot - Nodal Solu

Choose stress item and scroll down to select von Mises (SEQV)

OK

von Mises stress contours To the left of the plot (not shown here) you get a color legend of stress contour values. You also get the maximum value (SMX), the minimum value (SMN) and the maximum value with the estimated error added (SMXB). Note! The finite element method only gives approximations of the true stress levels. In this case one might consider to give a denser mesh especially around the upper bolt hole where the maximum stress levels are. Compare the SMXB value with the yield limit. Will the corner bracket yield? To see the stress contours more clearly, we'll turn of the displayof the element mesh and make the outline solid: Utility menu: PlotCtrls - Edge Options

Select edges only, replot and dashed/solid OK

24. List reaction solution

In Finite Element analysis it is essential to have checkpoints. The sum of the reaction forces in ydirection should equal the total applied load and the sum in the x-direction should be near zero. Main menu: General Postproc - List results - Reaction Solu

OK to list all items in the List Reaction Solution dialog Scroll down in the PRESOL window and check the total values When finished File-Close

There are many other options available for reviewing results in the general postprocessor. You have now finished the analysis and we exit the program.

25. Exit the ANSYS program

When you exit the program you can save geometry and loads portion of the database (default) OR the default and solution OR default, solution and postprocessing (i.e. save everything) OR save nothing. We have chosen to save nothing (since we are finished). ANSYS Toolbar: QUIT

Select Quit - No Save! in the Exit ANSYS dialog OK

Redovisning av uppgift 3
Redovisa:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Strsta nedbjningen (DMX i nedbjningsplotten) Maximala von Mises spnningarna i strukturen SMX och SMXB. Vad r skillnaden mellan SMX och SMXB? Var i strukturen r pknningarna som strst? Finns det risk att stlet brjar flyta? Summa reaktionskrafter i x och y-led (Total Fx, Fy i listningen av reaction forces).

Carnegie Mellon

Self-paced learning on the Web

Mechanical Engineering

FEM/ANSYS
F2 - Heat Analogy - Channel

For educational purposes, we have included this tutorial to explain a different way to solve the fluid problem expressed in the Channel tutorial in the Fluids Section of the ANSYS tutorials. Notice the disparity in the individual solutions. Fluid #1: Velocity analysis in fluid flow in a channel using HEAT ANALOGY Introduction: In this example you will model fluid flow in a channel Physical Problem: Compute and plot the velocity distribution within the elbow. Assume that the flow is uniform at both the inlet and the outlet sections and that the elbow has uniform depth. Problem Description: The channel has dimensions as shown in the figure The flow velocity as the inlet is 10 cm/s Use the continuity equation to compute the flow velocity at exit Objective: To plot the velocity profile in the channel To plot the velocity profile across the elbow You are required to hand in print outs for the above Figure:

IMPORTANT: Convert all dimensions and forces into SI units STARTING ANSYS Click on ANSYS 6.1 in the programs menu. Select Interactive. The following menu comes up. Enter the working directory. All your files will be stored in this directory. Also under Use Default Memory Model make sure the values 64 for Total Workspace, and 32 for Database are entered. To change these values unclick Use Default Memory Model

MODELING THE STRUCTURE Go to the ANSYS Utility Menu (the top bar) Click Workplane>WP Settings The following window comes up:

o o

Check the Cartesian and Grid Only buttons Enter the values shown in the figure above

Go to the ANSYS Main Menu (on the left hand side of the screen) and click Preprocessor>Modeling>Create>Keypoints>On Working Plane Create keypoints corresponding to the vertices in the figure. The keypoints look like below.

Now create lines joining these key points. Modeling>Create>Lines>Lines>Straight line The model looks like the one below.

Now create fillets between lines L4-L5 and L1-L2. Modeling>Create>Lines>Lines>Line Fillet The fillet radius is 0.1m. The model looks like the following now.

Now make an area enclosed by these lines. Modeling>Create>Areas>Arbitrary>By Lines Select all the lines and click OK. The model looks like the following

The modeling of the problem is done. ELEMENT PROPERTIES SELECTING ELEMENT TYPE: Click Preprocessor>Element Type>Add/Edit/Delete... In the 'Element Types' window that opens click on Add... The following window opens.

Type 1 in the Element type reference number. Click on Thermal Solid and select 8node. Click OK. Close the 'Element types' window. So now we have selected Element type 1 to be a thermal solid 8node element. The component will now be modeled with thermal solid 8node elements. This finishes the selection of element type. MATERIAL PROPERTIES We will model the fluid flow problem as a thermal conduction problem. The flow corresponds to heat flux, pressure corresponds to temperature difference and permeability corresponds to conductance. Go to the ANSYS Main Menu Click Preprocessor>Material Props>Material Library>Material Models. The following window will appear

Double click Isotropic and when prompted with a window, enter 1 for the Kxx value. Now Exit Material Models. Now the material 1 has the properties defined in the above table. This represents the material properties for the fluid in the channel.

MESHING: DIVIDING THE CHANNEL INTO ELEMENTS: Go to Preprocessor>Meshing>Size Cntrls>ManualSize>Areas>Picked Areas Pick the area and then click ok. In the window that comes up type 0.05 in the field for 'Element edge length'.

Click on OK. Now when you mesh the figure ANSYS will automatically create a mesh, whose elements have a edge length of 0.05 m. Now go to Preprocessor>Meshing>Mesh>Areas>Free. Click Pick All. The mesh will look like the following.

BOUNDARY CONDITIONS AND CONSTRAINTS Go to Preprocessor>Loads>Load>Apply>Thermal>Heat Flux>On lines. Pick the left line along the outer boundary (the inlet). Click OK. The following window comes up.

Enter 10 in the HFLUX value field and click OK. the 10 corresponds to the inlet velocity of 10cm/s. Repeat the above for the outlet. First compute the outlet velocity using the continuity equation. Now apply this velocity at the outlet. Remember this is negative since it is leaving this system, so include the negative sign. The figure looks something like below.

Now the Modeling of the problem is done. Go to Utility Menu>PlotCtrls>Symbols. The following window comes up.

Fill in the values as shown and click OK. This sets up the arrow symbol to denote the heat fluxes, which in turn represent the fluid velocity. Now go to the Utility Menu>Plot>Lines SOLUTION Go to ANSYS Main Menu>Solution>Analysis Type>New Analysis. Select "Steady State" and click on OK. Go to Solution>Solve>Current LS.

Wait for ANSYS to solve the problem. Click on OK and close the 'Information' window. POST-PROCESSING Plotting the velocity vectors Now go to General Postproc>Plot Results>Vector Plot>Predefined. The following window comes up.

Enter the values as shown and click OK. The plot of velocities will look as follows.

To plot the graph of variation of the velocity along the elbow. Go to Utility Menu>Plot>Areas. Go to Main Menu>General Postproc>Path Operations>Define Path>By Nodes Pick points at the ends of the elbow as shown. We will graph the velocity distribution along the line joining these two points.

The following window comes up.

Enter the values as shown. Now go to Main Menu>General Postproc>Path Operations>Map onto Path. The following window comes up.

Now go to Main Menu>General Postproc>Path Operations>Plot Path Items>On Graph. The following window comes up.

Select VELOCITY and click OK. The graph will look as follows.

Send mail to the Teaching Staff with questions or comments about this web site.

Tutorial 2D Plane Stress Bracket Example

written by: Ken Fyfe, Amir Muradali and Boyd McKay

Introducing the Problem

The problem to be modeled in this example is a simple bracket shown in the following figure. This bracket is to be built from a 20 mm thick steel plate. A figure of the plate is shown below.

This plate will be fixed at the two small holes on the left and have a load applied to the larger hole on the right. Begin by giving the example a title.

In the Utility menu bar, select the File menu and the Change Title submenu. Type in a title of your choice. This title will appear in the Graphics Window when plots are generated. Select OK when done.

Defining the Basic Geometry

We are going to create this geometry using Boolean operations. These procedures make it easy to combine simple geometric entities to create more complex bodies. Begin by creating a planar rectangular area and then add other areas to modify it. Start with,
ANSYS Main Menu -> Preprocessor -> (-Modeling-) Create -> (-Areas-) Rectangle -> By 2 Corners.

Enter the parameters in the dialog box as shown below:

This creates a 80 by 100 rectangle with its origin at (0,0). Now create circular end on the right hand side. Note that it is the responsibility of the user to ensure that a consistent set of units are used for the various parameters in any problem. It is best to first solve a simple problem for which analytical results are available to check that all is correct.

Close the Rectangle menu and open up the Circle Menu. Select Solid Circle and fill it in as follows...

Don't worry for now that the areas overlap. They will be combined to form a single area at a later time. Also create a second and third circle for the left hand side, using the following dimensions: parameter circle 2 circle 3 WP X 0 0 WP Y 20 80 radius 20 20

One more thing to define... we need a rectangle on the left hand end to fill between the two small circles. Create a rectangle with WP X -20 WP Y 20 width 20 height 60

Your screen should now look like the following...

Boolean Operations

We now want to add these five discrete areas together to form one area. Back up to the Preprocessor menu and select Operate. Then select (-Booleans-) Add -> Areas. A dialogue box then appears. Now click on all five areas. Before pressing OK in the dialogue box, check to see that the count parameter in the dialogue box is 5 (indicating 5 selected areas). If this not the case, try again. Once OK is pressed, some processing takes place and finally one large area is plotted.

The Bolt Holes

We now want to remove the bolt holes from this plate.

Back up to Preprocessor and select (-Modeling-) Create -> (-Areas-) Circle > Solid Circle. We will now create three circles with the parameters given below: parameter circle 1 circle 2 circle 3 WP X 80 0 0 WP Y 50 20 80 radius 30 10 10

Again back up to the Preprocessor menu. Now select (-Modeling-) Operate -> (-Booleans-) Subtract -> Areas. Notice in the ANSYS Input window, that it is instructing you to pick or enter base areas from which to subract. For our example, the base area is the first large plate that we created. Select it. Then click OK. Next the ANSYS Input window will prompt for the areas to be subtracted. The areas to be subtracted are the three circles that we just created. Click on the three circles that you just created and enter OK. Some processing will take place and you will end up with the following:

Elements and Meshing

Now that the area has been defined, it is time to select the element type, its associated properties and finally, mesh the area.

Once again, back up to the Preprocessor menu. At the top of the menu, select Element Type -> Add/Edit/Delete... In the dialog box that appears, hit the Add... button. A dialog box now appears that looks like the following:

From this dialog box, you can select from a wide range of elements that are listed in various groups. Use the scroll bars to take a look at the groupings.

For our problem, select solid (under the Structural heading) and the quad 82 element, as shown in the above figure. This indicates that we will be using an eight noded quadrilateral element. It has 4 corner nodes and 4 midside nodes and possesses a quadratic shape function. Then press OK. Now select the Options... button. Under the Element Behaviour K3 label, select Plane strs w/thk. This indicates that we desire a plane stress element with thickness. Under the Extra Element Output K5 select nodal stress. The dialog box should now look as follows.

We will now assign some properties to the element.

Close up the Element Types window and once again back up to the Preprocessor menu. Select Real Constants... and click the Add... button followed by the OK button. In the thickness field, enter 20 (i.e. 20 mm). The dialog box should look like the following figure:

Click OK and close up the Real Constants window. Now enter Material Props -> (-Constant-) Isotropic ... and click OK. Fill in the table as shown below:

Click on OK when complete.

The Meshing Process

The element properties are now defined. It is time to mesh the region.

Back up to the Preprocessor menu. Select (-Meshing-) Shape & Size -> Global Elem Size.... In the Size field enter the number 5. This indicates that the element edge length is to have a nominal size of 5 mm. Press OK. Back up to the Preprocessor menu. Select (-Meshing-) Mesh -> Areas .... Once the dialog box appears, click on the plate area and then OK. You should then get a mesh that looks like:

Loads and Constraints

Now that the geometry has been defined, it is time to apply the loads and constraints to the body and finally solve the problem.

To start this next stage, we need to back up to the ANSYS Main Menu. Select Solution -> (-Analysis Type-)New Analysis .... Make sure that the type of analysis is set to Static. Click on OK.

We will now apply the constraints.

Select (-Loads-) Apply -> (-Structural-) Displacement . We will be fixing the two holes on the left side of the plate. The nodes at these holes will be constrained in both the X and Y direction. To facilitate the selection of the nodes, we will plot the nodes of the model. To do this, go the the top ANSYS Utility menu and select Plot -> Nodes. We will now zoom on this graphic window. This is performed by going to the PlotCtrls
-> Pan, Zoom, Rotate ...

The following window appears:

This window is rich with function. Try playing with some of the options. In general, you select an operation in the window and then use your mouse to activate it in the Graph Window.

For our purpose, select Box Zoom from this window. Now click and drag over one of the small bolt holes on the left. Include the hole and a few surrounding nodes. Now go back to the Displacement menu and select On nodes.... We wish to select the first ring of nodes that define the bolt hole. This selection may be performed in many ways including Single node selection or by multiple nodes using Box, Polygon or Circle. Try whatever method you like. You can always Reset or Cancel the operation. In the end, you want to select the following nodes:

Press OK once the nodes are selected. You will now be prompted to enter the value of the displacements on these nodes. Fill out the dialog box as follows:

Doing this indicates that all degrees of freedom at these nodes are fixed to zero. Do the same with the second small hole... To see the whole plate again, you will need to go over to the Pan Zoom Rotate window and select Back Up. Zoom in on the other bolt hole and constrian it in the same way.

Load Application

Zoom back out to the full view of the plate. We now will apply a single vertical load to the large bolt hole. In the Apply menu, select the Force/Moment -> On Nodes. Now pick the node at the bottom central region of the large bolt hole. Press OK. In the dialog box that appears, select a force value in the Y direction of -1000. This is a downward acting force. Your screen should now look like the following:

Solution

Before proceeding, well will plot the elements again (Plot -> Elements from the ANSYS Utility Menu). From the Solution menu, select (-Solve-) Current LS. This indicates that we want the current load step (or load condition) solved. Click on the OK button on the dialog box that appears. Close the /STAT window when the solution is complete.

Post-Processing: Viewing the Results

We are now ready to view the results. We will take a look at the both the deflected shape and the stress contours.

Close the Solution menu, and enter the General PostProc menu. From this, select (-Read Results-) Last Set to indicate the last set of the results are to be made current.

We will now take a look at a deformed plot of the object.

Select Plot Results -> Deformed Shape.... Now select the Def + undeformed and then press OK. You should now have something on the screen that looks like:

Let's take a look at some stress contours for the plate.

In the Plot Results menu, select (-Contour Plot-) Nodal Solu.... Click the Stress field and then scroll down the right hand box to find von Mises SEQV. The dialog box should look like the following:

Then press the Apply button. Your graphic window should now look like:

Any other desired stress field may also be plotted by selecting the appropriate field in the right hand box and pressing Apply. When you are done, press OK.

At this point, you might want to go ahead and change the geometry, loads ,constraints, material properties and resolve the problem.

Quitting ANSYS
To quit ANSYS, select QUIT from the ANSYS Toolbar or select Utility Menu -> File -> Exit... In the dialog box that appears, click on Save Everything (assuming that you want to) and then click on OK.

Return to ANSYS tutorial page.