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HOW TO USE LAYERED SECTION TO

SIMULATE COMPOSITES AND POST
PROCESS THE RESULTS IN ANSYS
MECHANICAL
Problem/Description:
Composites offer tremendous weight savings, increased performance, and design flexibility for industrial
use. ANSYS Mechanical provides a convenient way to define simple layered sections for a surface body
to simulated composite materials. This solution highlights several key points in defining layered sections
and post processing the results in ANSYS Mechanical. For more advanced analysis of composites in
complex geometries, please refer to ANSYS Composite Prepost (ACP) which is specialized on
comprehensive composites simulation with all necessary functionalities.

Solution:
Users can define simple layered sections for a shell body as well as define thicknesses and angles as
parameters. The layered section can be inserted under the Geometry folder from the toolbar or its right-
mouse-click (RMB) insert menu, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: layered section and corresponding coordinates in Tree Outline

There are several key points in definition of layered section and post processing.

For definition of layered section:

 Create proper layer coordinate system for each layered section. The X axis should always
represent the desired x reference direction of the element, as shown in Figure 2. Choose the
corresponding coordinates system in definition of layered sections.
 Use Worksheet to specify the layup, see Figure 3 as an example with four layers with material
assignment, thickness and direction for each layer.

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Figure 2: Define layer coordinate system with proper x axis

Figure 3: Define layers by Worksheet

For post-processing the results:

 Always plot Element Triads in order to make sure that the layered coordinate system is correct.
Element Triads is a post-processing operation found in Solution and as shown in Figure 4. This
represents the reference direction of the material (a ply with zero angle would align in this
direction).
 After solving the problem, to plot normal stress and shear stress contour for the layer (Figure 5),
user should choose Solution Coordinates System, see Figure 6. This allows one to view the
results in the layer coordinate system, which is typically more meaningful than results in a global
coordinate system for composites
 User can choose different layer number to plot results contour, see Figure 6. Please note that if
the layer number is zero, Mechanical will show the top of the top ply and the bottom of the bottom
ply. See Figure 7 and 8 for contour plots of normal and shear stress for the second layer of
composite.
 User can choose Top, Middle or Bottom results for each layer as desired, see Figure 6.

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Figure 4: Plot Element Triads, use Wireframe plot for better visualization

Figure 5: Normal stress and shear stress for each layer

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Figure 6: Viewing result in layer coordinate system and by each layer

Figure 7: Normal stress contour plot for second layer of the composite

Figure 8: Shear stress contour plot for second layer of the composite

© 2015 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

Attachments:
1. 2045698.wbpz

© 2015 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.