Welds in Pro/E and ANSYS Workbench

Mike Renfro
July 14, 2008

1 Modeling Weld Material as Pro/E Parts

Accurate analysis of welds in ANSYS Workbench requires that the weld geom-
etry be accurately modeled. Since all of our geometry modeling is done inside
Pro/E, we’ll use it to model the welds as well. The basic procedure will be to
create simple parts that match the weld geometry. By default, we’ll assume
that a weld is a revolved or extruded isosceles right triangle with a given leg
length. For a weld along a straight edge, this triangle will be extruded. For a
weld along a circular edge, this triangle will be revolved. If we’ll have a large
number of different weld geometries (with respect to either weld size, length,
or circular edge diameter), we might use a family table to make all the similar
welds.

Figure 1: Sketch of Revolved Feature for Weld Part

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2 Assembling Welds to Other Pro/E Parts
Once we have the various weld geometries modeled, we assemble them as sep-
arate components into the top-level assembly or any lower-level subassemblies.

Figure 2: Welds Assembled to Other Parts

3 Suppressing Contact Pairs for Missing Load

Paths
When we import a Pro/E assembly into ANSYS Workbench, every pair of parts
that make contact with each other generates a contact pair. In order to accu-
rately reflect the actual load paths on the real assembly, we may need to suppress
some contact pairs in order to drive the loads through the new contact pairs
associated with the welds. In Figure 3, notice the “X” symbols by some of the
contact pairs indicating that they’ve been suppressed.

4 Examining Differences Among Models With

Varying Levels of Weld Accuracy
It may be helpful to see the differences in model displacement and maximum
equivalent stresses as we move from a simple model with no welds to a more
complex model with welds present or absent on the outside surface of the bracket

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Figure 3: Screenshot Showing Suppressed Contact Pairs for Missing Load Paths

(with a surface normal in the positive Z direction), the inside surface of the
bracket (with a surface normal in the negative Z direction), or between the rod
and the base block. The base block measures 6 in × 6 in × 2 in, and is fixed on
five surfaces. The bracket has a 100 lbf load applied in the negative Y direction
on the bottom surface of the smaller hole. See Figure 4 for clarification.
As shown in Figure 5, ANSYS Workbench’s default mesh size was used on
all parts except for the welds. The weld mesh size was held to approximately
0.125 in.
As an example, Figure 6 shows the equivalent stresses across the assembly
when all three welds are present, and loads travel through six contact pairs.
Table 1 shows the maximum equivalent stress and maximum displacement for
each model.

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Figure 4: FEA Model Loads and Boundary Conditions

Figure 5: Mesh Sizing Overview

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 Table 1: Summary of Results
Variant dmax (in) σmax (psi) σmax Location
No welds, 2 contact pairs 0.0135 4218 Bottom Bracket Face

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Outside weld, 3 contact pairs 0.0145 10300 Outside Weld
Outside and back welds, 4 contact pairs 0.0147 10300 Outside Weld
All welds, 6 contact pairs 0.0137 7511 Back Weld
Figure 6: Stress Results Including All Welds