EffectofSelfWeightonaCantileverBeam

Introduction
ThistutorialwascompletedusingANSYS7.0Thepurposeofthetutorialistoshowtherequiredstepsto
accountfortheweightofanobjectinANSYS.
Loadswillnotbeappliedtothebeamshownbelowinordertoobservethedeflectioncausedbythe
weightofthebeamitself.Thebeamistobemadeofsteelwithamodulusofelasticityof200GPa.

Preprocessing:DefiningtheProblem
1. GiveexampleaTitle
UtilityMenu>File>ChangeTitle...
/title,EffectsofSelfWeightforaCantileverBeam

2. Openpreprocessormenu
ANSYSMainMenu>Preprocessor
/PREP7

3. DefineKeypoints
Preprocessor>Modeling>Create>Keypoints>InActiveCS...
K,#,x,y,z

Wearegoingtodefine2keypointsforthisbeamasgiveninthefollowingtable:
Keypoint Coordinates(x,y,z)
1
(0,0)
2

(1000,0)

4. CreateLines
Preprocessor>Modeling>Create>Lines>Lines>InActiveCoord
L,1,2

CreatealinejoiningKeypoints1and2
5. DefinetheTypeofElement
Preprocessor>ElementType>Add/Edit/Delete...
ForthisproblemwewillusetheBEAM3(Beam2Delastic)element.Thiselementhas3
degreesoffreedom(translationalongtheXandYaxes,androtationabouttheZaxis).
6. DefineRealConstants
Preprocessor>RealConstants...>Add...
Inthe'RealConstantsforBEAM3'window,enterthefollowinggeometricproperties:
i. CrosssectionalareaAREA:500
ii. AreamomentofinertiaIZZ:4166.67
iii. Totalbeamheight:10
Thisdefinesabeamwithaheightof10mmandawidthof50mm.
7. DefineElementMaterialProperties
Preprocessor>MaterialProps>MaterialModels>Structural>Linear>Elastic>Isotropic
Inthewindowthatappears,enterthefollowinggeometricpropertiesforsteel:
i. Young'smodulusEX:200000
ii. Poisson'sRatioPRXY:0.3
8. DefineElementDensity
Preprocessor>MaterialProps>MaterialModels>Structural>Linear>Density
Inthewindowthatappears,enterthefollowingdensityforsteel:
i. DensityDENS:7.86e6
9. DefineMeshSize
Preprocessor>Meshing>SizeCntrls>ManualSize>Lines>AllLines...
Forthisexamplewewilluseanelementedgelengthof100mm.
10. Meshtheframe
Preprocessor>Meshing>Mesh>Lines>click'PickAll'

SolutionPhase:AssigningLoadsandSolving
1. DefineAnalysisType
Solution>AnalysisType>NewAnalysis>Static
ANTYPE,0

2. ApplyConstraints
Solution>DefineLoads>Apply>Structural>Displacement>OnKeypoints
Fixkeypoint1(ieallDOFconstrained)
3. DefineGravity
Itisnecessarytodefinethedirectionandmagnitudeofgravityforthisproblem.
SelectSolution>DefineLoads>Apply>Structural>Inertia>Gravity...
Thefollowingwindowwillappear.Fillitinasshowntodefineanaccelerationof
9.81m/s2intheydirection.

Note:Accelerationisdefinedintermsofmeters(not'mm'asusedthroughouttheproblem).
Thisisbecausetheunitsofaccelerationandmassmustbeconsistenttogivetheproductof
forceunits(Newtonsinthiscase).Alsonotethatapositiveaccelerationintheydirection
stimulatesgravityinthenegativeYdirection.
Thereshouldnowbearedarrowpointinginthepositiveydirection.Thisindicatesthatan
accelerationhasbeendefinedintheydirection.
DK,1,ALL,0,
ACEL,,9.8

Theappliedloadsandconstraintsshouldnowappearasshowninthefigurebelow.

4. SolvetheSystem
Solution>Solve>CurrentLS
SOLVE

Postprocessing:ViewingtheResults
1. HandCalculations
HandcalculationswereperformedtoverifythesolutionfoundusingANSYS:
Themaximumdeflectionwasshowntobe5.777mm
2. Showthedeformationofthebeam
GeneralPostproc>PlotResults>DeformedShape...>Def+undefedge
PLDISP,2

Asobservedintheupperlefthandcorner,themaximumdisplacementwasfoundtobe5.777mm.
Thisisinagreementwiththetheorticalvalue.

CommandFileModeofSolution

TheaboveexamplewassolvedusingamixtureoftheGraphicalUserInterface(orGUI)andthe
commandlanguageinterfaceofANSYS.ThisproblemhasalsobeensolvedusingtheANSYScommand
languageinterfacethatyoumaywanttobrowse.Openthe.HTMLversion,copyandpastethecodeinto
Notepadorasimilartexteditorandsaveittoyourcomputer.Nowgoto'File>Readinputfrom...'and
selectthefile.A.PDFversionisalsoavailableforprinting.