ANSYS - Structural Analysis/FEA 3-D Structure with Shell elements

Problem: Analyze a rectangular plate (6 m 4 m 20 mm) with 8 mm thick stiffeners subject to 30 kN/m2 pressure on an area (1 m 2.5 m) in the middle of the plate as shown in the figure below. The plates are made of steel (E = 2 105 MPa, = 0.3).

1.5 m

3m

0.3 m 1m 2m 1m

1.5 m

1.5 m
z y x

0.3 m 1m

1.5 m 1m

Tutorial 7

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STEP 1: Start up Preference> Structural /UNITS, SI STEP 2: Preprocessor Select the element type to be Shell Elastic 4-node (SHELL63) Create 2 real constant sets for the above thicknesses (0.02 and 0.008) Create the material model Create the keypoints at 1 (0, 0, 0.3) 3 (2, 0, 0.3) 5 (1, 1.5, 0.3) 7 (0, 3, 0.3) 9 (2, 3, 0.3) 2 (1, 0, 0.3) 4 (0, 1.5, 0.3) 6 (2, 1.5, 0.3) 8 (1, 3, 0.3)

Copy points 1-6, 8 and 9 a distance of 0.3 in the negative z-direction as follows: Main Menu > Preprocessor > Modeling > Copy > Keypoints then select the keypoints to be copied. Click OK. Enter the z-offset DZ as -0.3 Now 3 extra keypoints shall be used to identify the area upon which the load is applied: 18 (0, 1.75, 0.3) 19 (0.5, 1.75, 0.3) 20 (0.5, 3, 0.3) Join the point with straight lines Create areas using the generated lines

Tutorial 7

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Assign the meshing attributes such that the stiffeners will have the smaller thickness. Main Menu > Preprocessor > Meshing > Mesh Attributes > Picked Areas select the areas of the plate and assign the appropriate real constant set, then repeat the command and select the areas of the stiffeners and assign the other real constant set. Set the element size of the all the areas Main Menu > Preprocessor > Meshing > Mesh Tool Click Set in front of areas, Pick All and set the element length to 0.05 Mesh all the areas Main Menu > Preprocessor > Meshing > Mesh Tool make sure that both Quad and Free are selected, then click Mesh and select all the areas. Apply the pressure load to the middle area as -30000 Apply symmetry boundary conditions. Set Symmetry B.C. for all the lines on plane X = 0, and for those on plane Y = 3. Now set UZ to zero for all the lower lines of the outer stiffeners.

STEP 5: Solution

STEP 6: Postprocessor Check the deformed shape and Von Mises stress distribution.

Batch File
Tutorial 7 3/5

/FILNAME, 3DShell /TITLE, 3D Shell Analysis /UNITS, SI *SET, B, 2 *SET, W, 3 *SET, T, 0.3 *SET, WL, 1.25 *SET, BL, 0.5 /PREP7 ET,1,SHELL63 R, 1,0.02 R, 2, 0.008 ! Specify material properties MP,EX,1,2 E11 MP,PRXY,1,0.3 K, 1, 0, 0, T K, 2, B/2, 0, T K, 3, B, 0, T K, 4, 0, W/2, T K, 5, B/2, W/2, T K, 6, B, W/2, T K, 7, 0, W, T K, 8, B/2, W, T K, 9, B, W, T KGEN, 2, 1, 6,1,,,-T KGEN, 2, 8,9,,,,-T K, 18, 0, W-WL, T K, 19, BL, W-WL, T K, 20, BL, W, T ! Create a line between two keypoints L, 1, 2 L, 2, 3 L, 9, 8 L, 8, 20 L, 18, 4 L, 4, 1 L, 2, 5 L, 5,8 L, 12, 15 L, 15, 17 L, 11, 14 L, 14, 16 L, 3, 12 L, 4, 13 L, 8, 16 L, 9, 17 ! Assigns values to user-named parameter ! SET, par, value

! Enter Preprocessing Module ! Specify element type (ET, itype, ename) ! Specify real constant (R, nset, r1, r2)

! MP, lab, mat, c0 (label EX = Youngs modulus - Pa) ! PRXY = Poissons ratio !Create keypoints (top of the shell) ! K, npt, x, y, z

! Generates keypoints from a pattern of keypoints ! KGEN, itime, np1, np2, ninc, dx, dy, dz ! Keypoints for area under loading

L, 3, 6 L, 20, 7 L, 4, 5 L, 10, 11 L, 13, 14 L, 1, 10 L, 5, 14 L, 18, 19

L, 6, 9 L, 7, 18 L, 5, 6 L, 11, 12 L, 14, 15 L, 2, 11 L, 6, 15 L, 19, 20

! Generates an area bounded by lines ( AL, l1, l2, l3, l4, l5, l6, l7, l8, l9, l10) AL, 7, 8, 31, 32 AL, 9, 11,14,6,32,31 AL, 11,26,19,27 AL, 14,27,22,29 AL, 11,10,1,13 AL, 1,23,15,24 AL, 13,24,21,27 AL, 5, 14,12,4 AL, 12,27,20,28 AL, 4,28,18,30

Tutorial 7

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AL, 12,13,2,3 AL, 3,25,17,28 AESIZE, ALL, 0.05 REAL,1 TYPE, 1 MAT, 1 ASEL, S, AREA,,1,2 ASEL, A, AREA, ,5, 11, 3 AMESH, ALL REAL, 2 ASEL, INVE AMESH, ALL ASEL, ALL SFA,1,,PRES,-30000 ! Boundary Conditions NSEL,S,LOC,X,0 DSYM,SYMM,X NSEL,S,LOC,Y,W DSYM,SYMM,Y NSEL,S,LOC,Z,0 NSEL,R,LOC,Y,W D, ALL, UZ, 0 NSEL,S,LOC,Z,0 NSEL,R,LOC,X,B D, ALL, UZ, 0 NSEL, ALL SFTRAN /SOLU SOLVE SAVE /POST1 PLDISP, 2 PLESOL, S, EQV, 2

AL, 2,24,16,25 ! Specifies the element size to be meshed onto areas ! Select real constant set for mesh attribute ! Select element type ! Select material type ! Select a subset of area (type S = select a new set) ! ASEL, type, item, comp, vmin, vmax, vinc ! Mesh areas (AMESH, na1, na2, ninc) ! type INVE = invert the current set

! SFA, area, lkey, lab, value, value2

! Select nodes with location X= 0 ! Symmetry along plane with normal in X direction ! Select nodes with location Y = 3 ! Symmetry along plane with normal in X direction ! Select nodes with location Z = 0 ! Reselect nodes from the current set (only at Y= W and Z = 0) ! Defines DOF constraints at nodes (D, node, lab, value) ! Select nodes with location Z = 0 ! Reselect nodes from the current set (only at X = B and Z = 0) ! Defines DOF constraints ! Transfer the solid model surface loads to the FE model ! Enter the solution processor ! Solve the current load step ! Enters the database results postprocessor ! Plot deformed shape (PLDISP, kund) ! Displays the solution results (PLESOL, item, comp, kund)

Tutorial 7

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