3/8/2020 MSC Nastran Useful Resources: An Overview of SOL 106: Nonlinear Static Analysis

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MSC Nastran Useful Resources

MSC Nastran is one of the premiere structural analysis program, well-known and well-established in the CAE field. The purpose of this blog is
to point engineers and students likewise some helpful tips and resources in aiding them to use this tool. Ofcourse, it is assumed that engineers
who make use of this are aware of basic finite element method basics of MSC Nastran and its applications. Stay tuned!!!

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2008 World of Nastran

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An Overview of SOL 106: Nonlinear Static
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Analysis
Scope: Useful Links
The scope of the document includes basic nonlinear static analysis with
geometry (large displacement) and material nonlinearity (elstoplastic) only. MSC Software Homepage
Contacts and Gaps are not part of the discussion. It is expected that the MSC Software News & Events
reader has basic knowledge about linear and nonlinear finite element Nastran/Patran Examples
analysis and basics of Nastran. Also, refer to Nastran Quick Reference
Guide and Nastran Reference Manual – “Additional Topics” for detailed
description of nonlinear static analysis About MSC NASTRAN

MSC Nastran is a general purpose Finite

Introduction: Element Analysis Program belonging to MSC
Software Corp with a wide spectrum of
analysis capabilties like Linear Static, Non-
Linear Static, Dynamic, Buckling, Optimization,
Thermal, Aeroelasticity, Implicit and Explicit
Non-Linear Analysis, etc...
An advantage of this program is that it is user-
friendly, easy-to-understand and quite efficient.

About Me

Vijesh

A brief introduction about me: I've been

Nonlinear effects working in the field of CAE for more than 8
in structures occur mainly due to nonlinear material behavior and large years now. Currently, I am responsible for
deformations. All of these attributes may be represented by the availability Country Wide Marketing and New Industries'
of nonlinear elements. Non-linear elements may be combined with linear Business Development for MSC Software in
elements for computational efficiency if nonlinear effects can be localized. India. I believe in constant improvisation of
Geometric nonlinearity becomes discernible when the structure is subjected
ones technical and soft skills to be at par with
to large displacement and rotation. Geometric nonlinearity effects are
the cut throat competition among your peers.
prominent in two different aspects: geometric stiffening due to initial
displacements and stresses, and follower forces due to a change in loads View my complete profile
as a function of displacements.
Material nonlinearity is an inherent property of any engineering material.
Material nonlinear effects may be classified into many categories. They are Subscribe To Nastran Useful Resources
plasticity, nonlinear elasticity, creep, visco elasticity.
Posts
The primary solution operations are gradual load or time increments (as
shown by DP in Figure 1), iterations with convergence tests for acceptable
Comments
equilibrium error (indicated by R1, R2 …) and stiffness matrix updates. The
iterative process is based on the modified Newton’s method. The stiffness
matrix is updated as per the selection of the iterative method (which has Blog Archive
effect on computational efficiency). Solution sequence SOL 106
consolidates all the nonlinear features in MSC. Nastran. ► 2012 (1)
▼ 2008 (4)
General Solution Structure: ► December (1)
$$----EXECUTIVE CONTROL SECTION----$$
► November (1)
SOL 106 $ NONLINEAR STATIC ANALYSIS
DIAG 8,50 $ DIAGNOSTIC PRINTOUT ▼ September (2)
CEND An Overview of SOL 106: Nonlinear
$$----END OF EXECUTIVE CONTROL DATA----$$ Static Analysis
$$----CASE CONTROL SECTION----$$
XDB vs OP2
TITLE = TEST OF CTETRA ELEMENT (CUBE SUBJECT TO UNIAXIAL LOADING)

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3/8/2020 MSC Nastran Useful Resources: An Overview of SOL 106: Nonlinear Static Analysis
DISP = ALL Simulate More
STRESS = ALL
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SUBCASE 1
SUBTITLE = ELASTIC -- LOAD TO 850. PSI Driving Smarter Additive Manufacturing
LABEL = LOAD TO YIELD at Formnext 2019
LOAD = 50 Debunking the Five Myths of Multibody
NLPARM = 50 Dynamics Simulation
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SUBTITLE = PLASTIC -- LOAD TO 1000. PSI Discover the 10x ICME Solution to Gain
LABEL = LOAD BEYOND YIELD Performance in Your Product Lifecycle
LOAD = 100
NLPARM = 100
$$----END OF CASE CONTROL DATA----$ Nafems | Industry News
$$----BULK DATA SECTION----$$ Error loading feed.
BEGIN BULK
NLPARM 50 1 AUTO UPW NO $ PARAMETERS FOR NONLINEAR ITERATION OF SUBCASE
1
NLPARM 100 8 SEMI UPW NO $ PARAMETERS FOR NONLINEAR ITERATION OF
SUBCASE 2
.
.
.
ENDDATA

Nonlinear Characteristics & General Recommendation:

Modeling for nonlinear analysis is not exempted from the guidelines for
good modeling practice pertaining to a linear analysis. Some of them can be
summarized below:

Understanding the behavior of the structure. A simple model should

be the starting point
Size of the model should be determined based on the purpose of
the analysis balancing between the accuracy and efficiency of the
analysis
Meshing biased towards the expected stress gradient, i.e. a finer
mesh in the area of stress concentration
Avoid over stiff elements like TRIA3 and TET4
Other practices followed in general
Nonlinear analysis requires a better insight into structural behavior.
First of all, the type of nonlinearities involved must be determined.
The material nonlinear is significant depending on the magnitude
and duration of the loading. The geometric nonlinearity is
characterized by large rotations which usually cause large
displacement

Linear Subcase Vs Nonlinear Subcase: In a linear analysis, subcases

represent an independent loading condition. Each subcase is distinct from
all others. In a nonlinear analysis, the end of a subcase is the initial
condition for the next subcase or in other words, Subcase 2 is a
continuation of Subcase 1 and Subcase 3 is a continuation of Subcase 2
and so on... Nonlinear static analysis permits only one independent loading
condition per run. However, this loading does not need to be constant in
magnitude or in position. Loadings can vary from subcase to subcase.
Since a nonlinear static analysis is path dependent, the geometric and
material changes in subcases are cumulative.
NLPARM Entry:

The unique data required for SOL 106 is supplied on the NLPARM entry,
which controls the incremental and iterative solution processes. It is
important that the most crucial data for successful nonlinear static solutions

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are contained in the NLPARM entry, which defines strategies for the
incremental and iterative solution processes. It is difficult to choose the
optimal combination of all the options for a specific problem. However,
based on a considerable number of numerical experiments, the default
option was intended to provide the best workable method for a general
class of problems. Therefore, users with little insight or experience in a
specific application should start with the default option.
Some important points in NLPARM entry:

1. The ID field is referenced by the NLPARM Case Control

command.
2. The NINC field is an integer which specifies the number of
increments to be processed in the subcase. The total load
specified in the subcase minus the load specified in the preceding
subcase is equally divided by this integer (NINC) to obtain the
incremental load for the current subcase. Another subcase should
be defined to change constraints or loading paths. However,
multiple subcases may be required in the absence of any changes
in constraints or loads to use a moderate value (e.g., not to
exceed 20) for NINC. Use of a moderate value has advantages in
controlling database size, output size, and restarts.
3. The DT field requires a real number specifying the time increment
for each load step in the case of creep analysis. Not Applicable for
current scope of discussion
4. Stiffness matrix update strategies are determined by a
combination of the data specified in the two fields KMETHOD and
KSTEP. Options for KMETHOD are AUTO, SEMI, or ITER. The
KSTEP field, which is an auxiliary to the KMETHOD field, should
have an integer equal to or greater than 1. Discussed in detail in a
later section.
5. The MAXITER field is an integer representing the number of
iterations allowed for each load increment. If the number of
iterations reaches MAXITER without convergence, the load
increment is bisected and the analysis is repeated. If the load
increment cannot be bisected (i.e., MAXBIS is reached or
MAXBIS = 0) and MAXDIV is positive, the best attainable solution
is computed and the analysis is continued to the next load
increment. If MAXDIV is negative, the analysis is terminated.
6. The convergence test is performed at every iteration with the
criteria specified in the CONV field. Any combination of U (for
displacement), P (for load), and W (for work) may be specified. All
the specified criteria must be satisfied to achieve convergence.
7. INTOUT controls the output requests for displacements, element
forces and stresses, etc. YES: Gives all outputs at every
increment No: Gives output at last increment or load step
8. The convergence tolerances are specified in the fields EPSU,
EPSP, and EPSW for U, P, and W criteria, respectively. Default
values of tolerances should be adhered to until there is a good
reason to change them.

Nonlinear Iteration Method – METHOD: Since each nonlinear problem is

different, it is difficult to generalize the selection of an iteration solution
method. In nonlinear static (SOL 106), the AUTO, SEMI, and ITER methods
are available. In addition, a number of convergence acceleration techniques
(e.g., quasi-Newton, line search, bisection) exist to enhance the nonlinear
solution convergence. Each of the methods examines the appropriate
parameters, convergence criteria, and error indicators to proceed through
the solution.
The AUTO method works very well as a starting point and is the default
method in the nonlinear static solution. This method essentially examines
the solution convergence rate and uses the quasi-Newton, line search
and/or bisection methods to perform the solution as efficiently as possible
sometimes without a stiffness matrix update. Highly nonlinear behavior in
some cases may not be handled effectively using the AUTO method.
The SEMI method is also an efficient technique for nonlinear static iteration.
It is similar to the AUTO method since it uses the quasi-Newton, line search
and/or bisection methods, but it differs from the AUTO method in one
respect. The SEMI method forces a stiffness matrix update after the first

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iteration of a load increment. This update is performed irrespective of the

convergence status of the solution. It is effective in many highly nonlinear
problems where regular stiffness matrix updates help the solution to
converge.
The ITER method is known as the "brute force" method in nonlinear static
analysis because a stiffness matrix update is forced at every KSTEPth
iterations with a resultant increase in CPU time. Its best applications tend to
be those involving highly nonlinear behavior for which using only multiple
iterations may not be efficient.
Load Step Bisection – MAXBIS and Convergence Criteria – CONV:
The incremental load value is bisected automatically if the convergence is
not achieved in any incremental load step even after maximum number of
iteration defined by the user. The allowable maximum number of bisections
in each incremental load can be defined in the NLPARM card.
Hence, when the program reads that it is impossible for the solution to
converge; a procedure called divergence processing is employed. One
technique used in this procedure is bisection. Bisection means cutting the
time step size or load increment size by half. This bisection occurs mainly
due to any large nonlinearity in the model or when the NINC or load
increment for the particular load step is too large. Divergence processing
uses a combination of stiffness updates and bisections to facilitate
convergence.
When the program determines that the large nonlinearity is gone and the
solution is stabilized toward convergence, reversal of the bisection is
performed in order to maintain the time step size required by the time step
adjustment method given above.
Note: MAXBIS is not written out directly from Patran. It has to be manually
included if the default values need to be overwritten
The activation of bisection method is indicated by the following message in
the .f06 file:
*** USER INFORMATION MESSAGE 6187 (NCONVG)
*** BISECTION METHOD IS NOW ACTIVATED ***
The decision about the convergence criterion (CONV) to be used in the
non-linear iterative solution strategy is important. Choice of convergence
criterion depends on the type of structure, degree of accuracy required,
efficiency in solution process required etc.
Convergence criterion may be any combination of out-of-balance forces,
change in displacements, and energy (work) error. Convergence criterion
based on out-of balance force and change in displacement is used before
yielding and convergence criterion based on out-of-balance force is used
after yielding because displacement is very high after yielding.
If a solution for particular load increment (or time step) cannot converge
within MAXITER number of iterations, that increment is halved. Solution is
attempted again, and if it does not converge again, another halving
(bisection in NASTRAN speak) is done, up to a maximum number of
bisections controlled by MAXBIS entry on NLPARM entry. Default is 5, max
value is 10, but if you have to go higher, it most likely indicates either some
irregularity with the model, or that NASTRAN is not the best tool for problem
at hand.
A few suggestions worth trying for a solution to converge:

1. Increase NINC from default 10 to, say, 15

2. Increase MAXBIS, up to 10
3. Change KMETHOD to ITER and set KSTEP to 1 (caution: this will
slow down the solution significantly)

Nonlinear Material Definition – MATS1 and TABLES1:

Elastoplastic material consists of elastic and a plastic portion in stress-strain
curve. The elastic portion is defined by providing the Young’s Modulus, E
and Poisson’s ratio, n (MAT1); and the plastic portion is defined using a
stress-strain curve data points through tabular input (MATS1 + TABLES1 or
‘FIELDS’ in Patran). A couple of important points to consider while defining
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stress-strain curve is that

the first point must be at the
origin (X1 = 0, Y1 = 0) and
the second point (X2, Y2)
must be at the initial yield
point specified on the
MATS1 entry. The slope of
the line joining the origin to
the yield stress must be
equal to the value of E.

Output in Nonlinear Static

Analysis:
There are two output blocks
in SOL 106:
1) Nonlinear stress/strain
(for non linear element
only)
This is printed as "NONLI
EAR STRESSES IN
TETRAHEDRON SOLID ELEMENT S (TETRA)" in the *.f06 and it is given
by default case control command NLSTRESS = ALL. The Patran stress
output label NONLINEAR comes from this table. This is the "True stress."
(This table also contains strains, the strains labeled NONLINEAR come
from this output.) The nonlinear stress data is output in the element
coordinate system.

2) Linear stress/strain (for linear and nonlinear elements)

This is printed as "STRESSES IN TETRAHEDRON SOLID ELEMENTS
(CTETRA)" in the *.f06 and it is given by default case control command
STRESS = ALL. In Patran it is shown as "STRESS TENSOR". In short it is
the "equivalent linear stress". You can also ask for STRAIN=ALL, this is the
STRAIN TENSOR.
The stresses at center should match in both cases, however due to
extrapolation, linear and nonlinear may not match. Many times the
discrepancy is also caused by averaging stresses at node (in fringe plot)
And sometimes if you don’t have perfect elastic plastic the stresses could
be higher than yield point as well. You can have a look at the "nonlinear
stresses, stress tensor" with the centroidal values. It will give you the best
correlation with hand calculations. [Nonlinear stresses are given for nodal
as well as centroid]
Nastran nonlinear stress request (NLSTRESS) contains both - stress and
strain. Whereas for linear elements (e.g.: CBAR), one has to request stress
and strain separately (STRESS=ALL/STRAIN=ALL)
"STRESS TENSOR" is applicable for all the elements - (linear and nonlinear
elements)
"NONLINEAR STRESSES, STRESS TENSOR" is applicable for nonlinear
elements ONLY (e.g.: BEAM, TETRA (4&10)). "NONLINEAR STRESSES,
EQUIVALENT STRESSES" is applicable to Von-Mises stresses in Non-
Linear elements
"The results that you see marked as "Stress Tensor" in Patran from your
nonlinear run are linear stresses based on nonlinear displacements, and the
results marked as "Nonlinear Stresses, Stress Tensor" are the true
nonlinear stresses. The ones marked "Nonlinear Stresses, Equivalent
Stress" are a Von Mises stress calculation."

"STRAIN TENSOR" is same as stress tensor, but Strain Values - (for both

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linear and nonlinear elements). PLASTIC STRAIN is strain beyond the

elastic limit.
When post-processing strain results in PATRAN, the results menu under
"create Fringe plot" allows for two strain values the user can plot:
A) Nonlinear strains, plastic strain; and
B) Nonlinear strains, strain tensor
Choice "A" is consistent with the value from the .f06 file under the EFF.
STRAIN/ PLAS/NLELAS column from the NLSTRESS case control request.
Choice "B" is consistent with the value from the .F06 file under STRAIN
output you got from STRAIN=ALL case control command.
"The results that you see marked as "Stress Tensor" in Patran from your
nonlinear run are linear stresses based on nonlinear displacements, and the
results marked as "Nonlinear Stresses, Stress Tensor" are the true
nonlinear stresses. The ones marked "Nonlinear Stresses, Equivalent
Stress" are a Von Mises stress calculation."

Restriction and Limitations in SOL 106:

1. CROD, CBEAM, CGAP, CQUAD4, CQUAD8, CTRIA3, CTRIA6,

CHEXA, and CTETRA elements may be defined with material or
geometric nonlinear properties. All other elements will be treated
as having small displacements and linear materials.
2. Constraints apply only to the nonrotated displacements at a grid
point. In particular, multipoint constraints and rigid elements may
cause problems if the connected grid points undergo large
motions. However, also note that replacement of the constraints
with overly stiff elements can result in convergence problems.
3. Large deformations of the elements may cause nonequilibrium
loading effects. The elements are assumed to have constant
length, area, and volume, except for hyperelastic elements.
4. Since the solution to a particular load involves a nonlinear search
procedure, solution is not guaranteed. Care must be used in
selecting the search procedures on the NLPARM data. Nearly all
iteration control restrictions may be overridden by the user.
5. Follower force effects are calculated for loads which change
direction with grid point motion.
6. Every subcase must define a new total load or enforced boundary
displacement. It is necessary because error ratios are measured
with respect to the load change.

Common Errors: Some of the common errors that can be avoided are:

Slope of elastic curve in MATS1/TABLES1 & Young’s Modulus, E in

MAT1 should be same
Avoid having large load steps. E.g.: If the total load to be applied is
say 10000N, break it into 2 or preferably 3 subcases/loadsteps
Since the units of convergence tolerance is independent of units,
avoid tightening or loosening the tolerance in the first run
Make sure enough system resources (Memory and Hard Disk
Space) are available at hand for large models
“User Fatal Message 4676 (NMEPD) - ERROR EXCEEDS 20.00
PERCENT OF YIELD STRESS IN ELEMENT ID=XX” may be
encountered if there exists large deformation of the nodes of an
element or presence of severely distorted elements. In case of
large deformation (caused due to extremely large loads), then it is
basically a large strain problem (as opposed to small strain
assumption in Nastran) which needs to be solved by another
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solution sequence like MSC Marc or SOL 600. In case of severely

distorted element, it is advisable to inspect the element quality in
the mesh of the model.
“USER FATAL MESSAGE 1221 (GALLOC) - THE PARTITION OF
THE SCRATCH DBSET USED FOR DMAP-SCRATCH
DATABLOCKS IS FULL”. This fatal message is commonly
encountered due to low system resources. Note that this fatal will
stop writing the results into xdb/op2 completely and no output will
be obtained. To avoid this fatal message, include “NASTRAN
SYSTEM(151)=1” and increase the buff size “NASTRAN
BUFFSIZE=65537” in the NASTRAN SYSTEM CELL SECTION of
input file (above Executive Control Section)

Posted by Vijesh at 3:51 PM

6 comments:

Gaurav said...

Actually I got divergence error above 20%. I found this article

Very good, I got the solution of my problem. Now I am trying
to solve using Marc, I also tried sol106 using low steps
increaments and it worked.

December 1, 2008 at 3:04 PM

PeRSaMo said...

Do you know where i can find an extensive manual about sol

106?
Thank you, this tutorial is a great overview about these
solution but i need something for advantage users.

December 5, 2008 at 2:02 PM

Vijesh said...

Documentation of SOL 106 in MSC Nastran has been

covered fully in 'Nonlinear Handbook' which I guess needs to
be purchased from Amazon or other sites... But a lot of
important info has been covered in MSC Nastran Reference
Manual under Additional Topics - Nonlinear Analysis. A
google search of Nastran Reference Manual would give you
many hits...

December 9, 2008 at 11:47 AM

Unknown said...

Hiii...vijesh i want some information about nonlinear

analysis..can u give me your mail id...please its urgent.

May 21, 2011 at 9:56 AM

anuj said...

Hi, it will be really great if you can help me out in MSC patran.
i am able to complete my modeling and able to run and view
the results file (.XDB) in Patran. issue i am facing currently is
i am not getting Op2 file, i am wondering is there some
setting issue.

February 23, 2012 at 5:09 PM

Steven said...

I'm trying to remember how I broke up the load cases within a

non-linear run. Right now the run diverges at 50% of the load.
I am using pressure and trying to remember how you break
up the load cases so that I can run the model up to say 45%

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of the total load, then run the next iteration from 45% to 55%
with much smaller steps to get past the instability, etc. Do you
have an example of breaking up the load cases within a non-
linear run?

April 18, 2012 at 2:10 AM

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