Ansys Tips and Ansys Tricks

5/9/2016
ANSYSTipsandANSYSTricks
ANSYSTips
PeterBudgell
Burlington,Ontario,Canada
1998,1999byPeterC.BudgellYouarewelcometoprintandphotocopythesepages.
Thesetipsandcommentsareintendedforusereducationpurposesonly.Theyaretobeusedatyourownrisk.Thecontents
arebasedonmyexperiencewithANSYS5.3morerecentversionsmaychangethings.Thecontentsdonotattemptto
discussalltheconceptsofthefiniteelementmethodthatarerequiredtoobtainsuccessfulsolutions.Itisyourresponsibilityto
determineifyouhavesufficientknowlegeandunderstandingoffiniteelementtheorytoapplythesoftwareappropriately.I
haveattemptedtogiveaccurateinformation,butcannotacceptliabilityforanyconsequencesordamageswhichmayresult
fromerrorsinthisdiscussion.Accordingly,Idisclaimanyliabilityforanydamagesincluding,butnotlimitedto,injurytopersonor
property,lostprofit,datarecoverycharges,attorney'sfees,oranyothercostsorexpenses.
Asonewriterputit,Thisinformationisfree,andmaybewellworththeprice.
ReturntoHomePage
FEAandOptimizationIntroductionPage
FEAModelingIssuesPage
TheANSYSmanualsexplainmanythingsandgivesomeexamples,buttheydonotgive
manytipstotheuser.HereisacollectionofthingsIhavenotedorlearned.(Useatyour
ownrisk...)Necessityisthemotherofinvention,andIlearnedvirtuallyeverythinghereas
aresultofneed,orasaresultoftrialandlotsoferror.I'malsothankfultomylocal
ANSYSdistributorformanyhelpfulconversations.ThecommentsinthesepagesarebasedonmyexperiencewithANSYS
5.0throughANSYS5.3.Ihopethesetipswillshortenyourlearningcurve.Ananalystfrequentlydoesnothaveamentorfor
guidance,soconsiderableeffortcanbeneededtodeducehowtoaccomplishsometasks.ANSYSusersneedtospenda
generousamountoftimereadingthemanualsandtrainingmaterials,andreturningtoreadthemagainastheuser'sknowledge
oftheprogramincreases.Don'tuseanythinghereverbatim...understandwhyitworks,andwhethermycommentsareinerror
orinappropriateforyoursituation,beforeemployinganyofthesesuggestions.
TheteachingofFEAattheacademiclevelisintendedtoeducatethemind,teachhowFEAmethodsarederivedfromfirst
principles,andtodevelopstudentswhocaninventandcodenewelements,testtheirbehavior,writeresearchorindustrial
qualitysoftware,andapplyittodifficultacademicorresearchproblems.Someprofessorsfeelstronglythatthepurposeofan
undergradcourseinFEAisfurthereducationinhowappliedmath,engineering,continuummechanics,energymethods,and
analysisofstructurescometogether,buildingontheStrengthofMaterialscoursesalreadytakenIhavenoargumentwith
that.AuserwithacomprehensionofwhatunderliesFEAworkwillknowwhentoapplyandhowtoevaluateFEAwork,have
morecreativity,learnquickly,problemsolvebetter,bemoreinnovative,andmakefewerseriousmodelingerrors.The
professorsdonotfeelthatthecourseisintendedtoconcentrateonmodelingdetailsorlearningtheinterfacetoacommercial
FEAprogram.(Students,ontheotherhand,wanttograduatehavingusedanFEApackagetodosomethingsignificant.
AssignmentsandprojectswithANSYS/EDareagoodwaytogetthere.)I'veheardtheopinionexpressedthatwithFEA
technologymaturing,thereislessresearchgrantmoneyforFEAworkinuniversities,andthesupplyofadvancedFEA
graduatestudentsmaybeshrinking.TheteachingofcommercialFEAprogramuseisprincipallyfocusedontrainingpeopleto
usetheinterfacetoandcommandsoftheparticularsoftwarepackage,andhowtoperformbasicanalysistypes.Some
instructorspeppertheirpresentationswithtips,buttheattendeesmaybedrowningfrominformationoverload.Littleis
availabletoleadtheuserthroughthetechniquesthatcanbeusedinmodelingcomplexstructures,andaroundthetrapsthat
exist,excepthelpfromgoodvendorsupportpeople,coworkers,orotherusers,andsubstantialreading,thought,trying
examples,andtestingtechniquesonthepartoftheanalyst.Ihopethatthesepageswillprovidesomehelpfuldetails.
CONTENTS:
Tip1:UseAnnotations
Tip2:MakingRoomforAnnotations
Tip3:UsingParametersinAnnotations
Tip4:UseSmallAnnotations
Tip5:MathematicalFunctionsAvailable
Tip6:Start16BitApplicationsbeforeStartingANSYSunderWindowsNT
Tip7:RunningANSYSatLowPriorityunderWindowsNT4.0
Tip8:Operatingon(Scaling)Loads
Tip9:RampingLoadsDowntoZero
Tip10:StartingANSYSGraphsatt=0
Tip11:PressureonLines
Tip12:RampingSomeLoads,NotOthers
Tip13:ForceandPressureonFlatPlatesorFlatShells
Tip14:LinearandNonlinearBuckling
Tip15:NonlinearAnalysisandtheArcLengthMethod
Tip16:AnimatingResultsfromaNonlinearorOtherAnalysis
Tip17:GettingtheMassorWeightofaModel
Tip18:UsingFncCallsfromMacros
http://home.cogeco.ca/~pbudgell/ANSYS_tips.html
1/46
5/9/2016
Tip19:UseENSYMandENORMtoTurnOverShellElements
Tip20:ShellTypestoTry
Tip21:MovingaModelfromANSYSMechanicaltoANSYSLinear/Plus
Tip22:DeletingNodeswithNodalCoupling
Tip23:ConvergencewithShellFiniteElementModelsinNonlinearAnalysisunderANSYS
Tip24:WorkingwithLoadStepFilesinANSYS
Tip25:PlottingShellStressSurface,MidPlaneStress,LoadPaths,ESYSandRSYS
Tip26:NodalCoupling(CP)versusRigidRegion(CERIG)
Tip27:VibrationModeswithPrestress
Tip28:CreatingNewElementsbyCopyingorReflectingExistingStructure
Tip29:AddingtoaModelComprisedofElementsandNodesOnly
Tip30:ZeroMassBeamElementsFormRigidRegion
Tip31:TurnoffSymbolsWhenChangingaModelafterSolution
Tip32:Arethe"FreeFree"VibrationModesRelevant?
Tip33:SelectingaCADorFEASystemCoverYourself
Tip34:CreatingLinesPerpendicularto,oratAngletoExistingLines
Tip35:Usethe/UIcommandinYourANSYSToolbartoBringupGUIDialogBoxes
Tip36:ReactionForce,NodalForce,andLoadPaths
Tip37:InputtingTemperatureswithBF,BFE,andTUNIFinStructuralAnalysis
Tip38:ANSYSToolbarUse
Tip39:ANSYSPipingElementLengths
Tip40:GraphicalOutputfromANSYS
Tip41:CheckNodalLoadsatBolts,Rivets,SpotWeldsandLinks
Tip42:UseQUERYtoCheckResultswithPicking
Tip43:LoadsonGeometricEntitiesOverwriteLoadsonNodesandElementsEasyErrortoMake
Tip44:UseComponentsforLoadInput,andforResultsReview
Tip45:SimpleSubstructuringExamplesBottomUpandTopDown
Tip46:PlotAppliedTemperatures
Tip47:SkippingOverStatementsinanInputFile
Tip48:StaticAnalysisFollowedbyTransientAnalysis
Tip49:FileCompressionforModelStorage
Tip50:OrganizingLargeFEAModels
Tip51:SelectingNodesinaStressorStrainRange
Tip52:SelectingNodesthatareSubjectedtoNodalCoupling
Tip53:/NOPRand/GOPRSpeedUpInputFilesandMacros
Tip54:UsingCommandsIMMEDand/UISand/SHOW,OFF
Tip55:What'stheBauschingerEffect?CommentsonMaterialYield
Tip56:ThoughtExperiments
Tip57:ControlofMeshing
Tip58:FourViewPlot
Tip59:QuickReviewofModeShapes
Tip60:UsingANSYSHelp
Tip61:TheFEAJobHunt
Tip62:*VPUTandDESOL
Tip63:HowtoDivideOneElementTableColumnbyAnother
Tip64:ElementTables(ETABLE)andArraysAnExample
Tip65:ErrorEstimation,PowerGraphics,andERNORM
Tip66:ConcatenateandMeshLast
Tip67:ANSYSOutputofDatatoFilesforUsebyOtherPrograms
Tip68:WritingArrayColumnstoOutputortoFiles
Tip69:SynthesizingParameterNamesandManipulatingJobnamesandLongStringsinAPDL
Tip70:SolidElements95and92EfficiencyandInterconnection
Tip71:RadiansandDegrees
Tip1:UseAnnotations:
OnlyaonelinetitleispossibleontheANSYSscreenorplot.Considerablymoreinformationcanbeincludedinannotations
onthescreen.Theannotationsarekeptthroughallplotsuntiltheyaredeletedwiththecommand:/ANNOT,DELEorvia
pickingwiththegraphicaluserinterface(GUI).
AtthetopoftheAnnotationdialogbox,thereisalistboxfromwhichtheusercanchooseText,Lines,etc.,ondownto
Controls.Theseselectionsbringupdifferentmenus.TheControlsselectionoffersaSNAPsettingthatmakesitmucheasierto
getthetextalignednicely.(Hint:ANSYS,Inc.shouldputthisSNAPselectionupfrontunderText,orevenoneverymenu.)
ActivatetheSnapsetting,thengobacktoTexttoentertheannotations.
Tip2:MakingRoomforAnnotations:
The/PLOPTScommandcontrolswhatgoesintothelegendattheright(bydefault)sideoftheANSYSscreenandplot.Ifyou
turnoffLEG2(therelativelyuseless"view"information),youwillgetextraroomatthebottomofthelegend.Thisareacanbe
usedforannotationsifthenumberofcontourlevelsinstressplotsisnottoogreat(thedefaultisfine).
Tip3:UsingParametersinAnnotations:
Justasinatitlecreatedwiththecommand/TITLE,ANSYSpermitstheuseofaparameterinanannotation,asdiscussedin
theCommandsManualdescriptionofthe/TLABLEcommand.WhentypingtheannotationusingtheGUI,includethe
parameterinpercentsignslikethis:%pname%wherepnameistheparametername.Theparametercancontaineither
2/46
5/9/2016
numbersortext.Thevalueoftheparameterwillbeplottedintheannotationstring.TheANSYSfunctionNINTcanbeusedto
roundanumberthenearestinteger,sometimesimprovingtheappearanceoftheannotationforlargenumbersinwhichthe
fractionalpartisirrelevant(e.g.NINT(123.456789)=123).Forthis,theparametricexpressionshouldbeenclosedinpercent
signs.AnnotationsareusuallycreatedintheGUI,butcanbeenteredwithcodelikethatshownbelow.Enteringasingle
annotationlinecontainingResult=%pname%generateslogfilecontentssuchas:
!Thefollowingcommandsplaceanannotationonthescreen.
!Forinformationonly.Useatyourownrisk.
!Inthisexample,"pname"isaparameterwithanumericalvaluesuchas123.456789
/ANUM,0,1,1.2303,.74699
/TSPEC,15,.600,1,0,0
/TLAB,1.010,.747,Result=%pname%
Thelastlineintheaboveexamplecontainsthestringthattheusertypesmanually.Theotherdatasetupthestringpositioning
onthescreen,andthepropertiesofthecharacters.ToapplytheNINTfunctiontotheparameter,manuallyenterResult=
%NINT(pname)%astheannotation:
!Typetheannotationinoneline,sothelogfilecontains:
/ANUM,0,1,1.2303,.74699
/TSPEC,15,.600,1,0,0
/TLAB,1.010,.747,Result=%NINT(pname)%
Thebeautyofdoingthisisthatifthevalueoftheparameterpnameshouldchange,thenwhenthenextplotcommandis
executed,theannotationwillautomaticallyupdatetoreflectthenewvalue!Tryit:aftercreatinganannotationonthescreen
thatincludesaparameter,changetheparameter'svalue,thendoa/REPLOT.Runningamacrocouldgetinformationthatgoes
intotheparameterthata/REPLOTwillautomaticallyputitonthescreen.Thismakesitpossibletoautomaticallyincludefar
moreinformationthancangointothetitle,andtodoitforaseriesofautomaticallygeneratedplotsorgraphs.
Tip4:UseSmallAnnotations:
Thedefaultcharactersizesettingforanannotationis1.ThesizeofanannotationcanbedecreasedusingtheGUI.Asizeof
0.6isquitereadableandpermitsfarmoreinformationtobepackedintoaplot.Notethatthereisalimittothenumberof
characterspossibleonanannotationlinethisisindependentofcharactersize.
Tip5:MathematicalFunctionsAvailable:
UndertheHelplistingforthe*SETcommandthereappearslistsofmathematicalfunctionsavailableinANSYS.Anotherlist
isintheANSYSUser'sGuideonAPDL.NotethatbydefaulttrigonometriccalculationsaredoneinRadians,notDegrees.
Thereisafunction*AFUNthatcanbedonetochoosewhethertoworkinRadiansorDegrees.Thecommandsareusable
anywhere.Theyinclude:
ABS(X)
Absolutevalue
ACOS(X)
ArcCosine
ASIN(X)
ArcSin
ATAN(X)
ArcTangent
ATAN2(X,Y)
ArcTangentof(Y/X)withthesignofeachcomponentconsidered(seea
FORTRANmanualifyoudon'tknowwhatthismeans.)
COS(X)
Cosine
COSH(X)
Hyperboliccosine
EXP(X)
Exponential
GDIS(X,Y)
RandomsampleofGaussiandistributionswhereXisthemean,andYisthe
standarddeviation.MightbeusedinaMonteCarloSimulationtoexplorethe
distributionofoutputsbasedonrandomizedloadingsandmaterialproperties.
Foranexplanation,seeagoodmodernengineeringdesigntextbook.
LOG(X)
Naturallog(tobasee)
LOG10(X)
Log(tobase10)
MOD(X,Y)
Modulus(X/Y),itreturnstheremainderofX/Y.IfY=0,returnszero(0)
3/46
5/9/2016
NINT(X)
Nearestinteger(niceforoutputsofstressesto/TITLEorannotations(seeTip
3above))
RAND(X,Y)
Randomnumber,whereXisthelowerbound,andYistheupperbound.
(UsefulforMonteCarloSimulation,etc.)
SIGN(X,Y)
AbsolutevalueofXwithsignofY.Y=0resultsinpositivesign.
SIN(X)
Sine
SINH(X)
Hyperbolicsine
SQRT(X)
Squareroot.
TAN(X)
Tangent
TANH(X)
HyperbolicTangent
Note:
Thefunctionformofthe*GETcommandscanalsobeusedtogetinformationfromthemodelseetheAPDLguide
mentionedaboveforalistingofavailablefunctions.TheAPDLguidealsogivesfunctionstoretrievethevaluesof
parameters,bothnumericalandcharacter.The*VFUNcommandhasalistoffunctionsthatactonanarrayentry.The
CommandsmanuallistsfunctionsthatactonElementTablesinthesection"POST1CommandforElementTable".
Creativelyused,thearrayandETABLEalgebracommandscanbesurprisinglypowerful.
Tip6:Start16BitApplicationsbeforeStartingANSYSunderWindowsNT:
Ithasbeenmyexperiencethatsomelargecommercial16bitapplicationswillnotstartproperlywhenANSYSisalready
running.IfyoustartthembeforelaunchingANSYS,therewillbenoproblem.Ifyouintendtoworkwiththose16bit
applicationsintheforegroundwhiletheANSYSSOLVEisrunninginthebackground,thiswillbeausefultip.Ihaveseen
otherapplicationsstartupveryslowly(e.g.InternetExplorer)orwaituntilANSYSwasdonebeforeproceeding(setup.exefor
manyWindowsinstallprograms).
Tip7:RunningANSYSatLowPriorityunderWindowsNT4.0:
SettingProcessPriorityinNT
UnderWindowsNT4.0theprioritylevelof
individualprocessescanbeuseradjusted.Todo
this,bringuptheTaskManager(rightclickon
theWindowsNTtaskbar),andclickthetabfor
"Processes".Rightclickontheprocesstitled
"ANSYS.EXE",and"SetPriority>"comesup.
Setthepriorityto"Low"tohelpmake
foregroundapplicationsrunmoresmoothlywhile
ANSYSisrunningSOLVEinthebackground.
ThismayhelpmoreifyouhavealargeRAMin
thecomputer.
WhenANSYShascompletedtheSOLVE
process,returnthepriorityto"Normal"sothat
ANSYSisnotsloweddownwhenyoustart
doingplotsthroughtheGUI.
Tip8:Operatingon(Scaling)Loads:
Youcanoperateonloadsonnodesandelements
inordertoscalethemupordown.Unfortunately,
scalingloadsongeometricentities(keypoints,
lines,areasandvolumes)seemsnottobe
available.Ifanyloadonyourstructurehasbeen
appliedtoageometricentity,ratherthandirectly
toelementsornodes,thatloadwillbetransferredtotheelementsandnodesatsolutiontime.Thetransferwilloverwriteany
scalingofloadsthatyouhaveapplied.(GuesshowIfiguredthisout!)
Sowhatcanyoudoaboutthis?Method1:Transfertheloadingfromgeometricentitiestotheelementsandnodes,thenwritea
4/46
5/9/2016
loadstepfile.Thisrecordsloadingonelementsandnodes.Deletetheloadingongeometricentities,thenreadtheloadstepfile
thatwasjustwritten.Nowtheloadingcanbescaledupordownfreely.Method2:Forafastermethod,seethe
"LSCLEAR,SOLID"command,whichwillnotrequirewritingaloadstepfile.Method3:Transfertheloadingfromgeometric
entitiestotheelementsandnodes,thendeletetherelationshipbetweengeometryandtheFEAmeshwiththe
MODMSH,DETAcommand.Method4:Transferloadingfromgeometricentitiestotheelementsandnodes,thenunselectthe
geometricentities,beforeexecutingSOLVE.Theelementandnodeloadingcanbescaledafterithasbeentransferredfrom
geometricentities.AnunselectedgeometricentitywillnottransferitsloadingtoelementsornodeswhenSOLVEisexecuted.
Warnings:Method3ruinstherelationshipbetweengeometryandthemesh.Savethemodelunderanappropriatefilename
beforeexecutingMODMSH,DETA.Method4isfine,aslongasyoudonotforgetandreselectthegeometricentities
ALLSELwilldothis.
Scalingdisplacements(nodalconstraintvalues)isalsopossible.Onethingthathasnotworkedformeisanattempttoreduce
applieddisplacementstozerobyusing0.0asthescalingfactor.Whatdidworkformewastouse"_TINY"asavalue,which
multiplieddisplacementsbyafactorofroughly10^(31)andreducedloadstovirtuallyzero.Attemptstouse0.0asthefactor
resultedinNOchangetotheapplieddisplacements.
Tip9:RampingLoadsDowntoZero:
Ifyouarerampingforce,pressure,andaccelerationloadsupanddownaspartofananalysis,youmaywanttoreturnloadsto
zero.IdothiswhenIwanttoinspectpermanentdeformationthatresultsfromplasticyielding.Ifyoudeletetheappliedload,
theloadingwilldropimmediatelytozero,evenifyouhaveloadrampingturnedon.Thethingtodoistosettheloadingto
virtuallyzeroorthescalingfactortovirtuallyzero,notdeletetheload.ItisimportanttoappreciatethattoANSYS,reducinga
loadtonearlyzeroisnotthesamethingasdeletingit(zeroingit),forthepurposesoframpingloads.Thetimesubstepsizesto
usewilldependonyourmodel.
Settingdisplacementstozeroornearzerois,ofcourse,verydifferentfromdeletingconstraints.
Tip10:StartingANSYSGraphsatt=0
Graphsstartatthefirstdatapoint,whichmeansthatifyoudoatimehistorytrace,youdon'tgetat=0datapoint.Ifyouleave
timeas0.0ontheTIMEcommand,yougetthedefault1.0inyouroutput.TheonlywaytogetagraphfromzerothatIhave
foundistodoafirstloadstepwith"t"extremelysmall,incomparisontoothertimesintheanalysis,e.g.t=0.0000001.The
loadatthistimemustbeappropriatesothattheresponserampsupcorrectly.(Ifyourintentwastorampupfromzeroload,just
leavetheloadsaszero.)Thenextloadstepcontinuesasusual.
Tip11:PressureonLines:
Applyingpressureonalineresultsinloadsbeingappliedtothenodesassociatedwiththatline.Theloadsonthenodesthatthe
FEAprogramapplieswillbeappropriategiventheformulationoftheelements.Ifyouwanttoapplyatotalforcetotheline,
youcanusea*GETcommandtofindthelengthoftheline,thendividetheforcebythelengthandusetheresultasthe
pressure.
Notethatpressureonalineactsintheplaneoftheareathatisattachedtotheline.Iftwoareasareattachedat90degreesor
anotherangle,twoloadsaresetup,actingineachoftheareaplanedirections.Youcanuseselectlogicontheareastogetsome
interestingeffectsastothedirectioninwhichtheappliedforcesact,butonlyifbothareasaremeshed,andtheelementsare
selected.Ifyouunselectoneoftheareas,pressureonthelinewillonlybeexertedinthedirectionoftheareathatisselected.
TheselectlogicmuststillbeinplacewhenyouSOLVE,orelseyourcarefullycraftedloadcasecanbeoverwritten.Asabove,
transferringloadsfromgeometricentitiestonodesandelements,writingthemasaloadstep,deletingalltheloadson
geometricentities,andreadingintheloadstepwillprotectyourloadcase,andmakescalingtheloadspossible.Alternatively,
considerthe"LSCLEAR,SOLID"command.
NOTE:PressuresonsurfacesfollowthedeformedshapeduringaLargeDisplacement(geometricallynonlinear)analysis.
Forcesonnodesmaintaintheirorientationinspace,evenunderLargeDisplacement.Thisdifferencewillgovernhowloads
shouldbeappliedinsomemodels.
Tip12:RampingSomeLoads,NotOthers:
Toholdsomeloadsconstantandrampupordownothers,runafirstloadstepwithalltheloadsattheirstartingvalues,
rampingfromzeroonlyifappropriate.
Ifyouwant,useanextremelysmallvalueontheTIMEcommand,e.g.0.0000001,andrunthisasafirstloadstep.Thensetup
asecondloadstep,withrampingactivated.Changethoseloadstoberampedfromtheirstartingvaluestonewvalues.Holdthe
otherloadsconstant.TheTIMEcommandcanbeusedwithanewvalue,suchas1.0.
Anexampleistheapplicationofagravityloadbeforeotherloadsaretoberampedupfromzero.Insomecases,thiscould
giveamorerealisticassessmentofnonlinearbucklingcausedbyappliedforcesotherthangravityloading.(Youwillwantto
checkthecodesthatregulateyourdesignworkbeforedecidingonthis.CodesthatIhaveseenweregenerallystartedbefore
FEAwaswidelyavailable,anddonotaddressthisconcept.Findoutwhatisconsideredgoodpracticeinyourindustry.)
5/46
5/9/2016
Applyinggravityfirstcangivemuchbetterconvergencewhenassessingtheeffectofthermalexpansionmovingstructures
acrossfrictioncontactelements,wherethenormalloadonthecontactelementsiscausedbygravity.
IsuspectthatthisisnotpossiblewiththeArcLengthmethod.Ihavenotexperimentedwithit,butdonotseehowcontrolled
rampingofonlysomeloadscouldbeimplementedunderArcLengthcontrolofappliedloadinganyopinions?
Tip13:ForceandPressureonFlatPlatesorFlatShells
Thereisaruleofthumb,thatiftheoutofplanedeflectionofaflatplateorshellisgreaterthanhalfthethickness,then
membraneforcesstarttobecomesignificantinresistingtheappliedload.InANSYS,thiscallsforactivatingaLarge
Displacementsolution(a.k.a.geometricnonlinearity).Ignoringthiscanresultinyourdesignmissingoutoninherentstrength,
ORingrosslyinadequateunderdesign.Knowwhatyouaredoing.
Tip14:LinearandNonlinearBuckling:
Lineareigenvalue(classicalEuler)bucklingisa"quick"checkonastructure,buttheANSYSmanualsgotoconsiderable
painstopointoutthatinmanysituations,aLargeDisplacementsolution(geometricnonlinearity)needstoberunalsoasa
checkonthebucklingadequacyofadesign.Aswithlinearbuckling,nonlinearbucklingmayneedtobeassessedwithrespect
toanumberofloadcases.Insomestructures,adiagonaltensionfieldisdevelopedinaweb,andelasticbucklingfailuredoes
notdevelopatthefirsteigenvaluespredicted.Inotherstructures,bucklingfailuremayoccurbeforethefirsteigenvalue,and
onlynonlinearanalysiswillpredictthis.
Lineareigenvaluebucklinghastoassumethatgapandcontactelementsareeitherclosedandactive,oropenandinactive.
Nonlinearanalysiswillfollowtheeffectsoftheseelementsastheygoinandoutofcontact,whentheloadingisapplied.
AfteranyLargeDisplacementnonlinearelasticbucklinganalysis(ifitdoesn'tdiverge),seewhethertheelasticstresslimits
havebeenexceeded(thisincludesthesurfacesofshellelements,andbecarefulthatnodalaveragingdoesnothideanything).
Ifsignificantlyoverstressed,thestructuremaynotbeadequate.
CombinedbendingandaxialcompressioninabeamisaclassicplacewhereinadequacyinstrengthcanbepredictedinFEA
onlybyLargeDisplacementnonlinearanalysis(i.e.alinearanalysissaysitisOK,butanonlinearanalysisshowsitisNOT).
ForsomestructuresundergoingelasticLargeDisplacementanalysiswithoutcontactandgapelements,theusermaywantto
consideraSouthwellplot.
IfelasticstresslimitsareexceededintheLargeDisplacementmodel,itmaybedesirabletodoacombinedLarge
DisplacementandPlasticDeformationmodel.Ifthestructureisoverloaded,itmaybegintocollapse(perhapsonlylocally),
andtheArcLengthmethodmaybeneededforconvergencecontrol.Aneedtostrengthenthestructuremaybepredictedor
identified.Thematerialpropertiestouseareapplicationdomainandindustryspecificstartbytalkingtoyourcoworkers,
supervisor,andsuppliers.
Tip15:NonlinearAnalysisandtheArcLength
Method:
ThebasicwaytodononlinearanalysisinANSYS
istouseNRiterationandmanydefaultsettings.At
times,convergencewillbecomeaproblemI've
encounteredthiswithshellstructuresunder
compressivestresses.Thearclengthmethodcan
sometimescopebetterwithnonlinearsolutions,
becauseofitsabilitytofollowforcedeflection
curvesthatriseandfall.Bepreparedforlongrun
timesifyourmodelislarge.
Myexperiencewiththearclengthmethodisthat
initsdefaultsettingsforstepsizemultipliers,it
doesnotgivesatisfactoryresultswhen
compressingsomeshellbasedmodels.Whatmay
workistosetanumberoftimesubsteps,suchas
10,sothateachsubstepis1/10oftheloadstep.
SettheArcLengthmaximummultiplier
MAXARCto1.0sothatnosubstepslargerthan1/10oftheloadsteparetaken.SettheArcLengthminimummultiplier
MINARCto0.1,sothatthesmallestloadsubstepis1/100ofthefullloadstep.Ifoundthistohelpconsiderably.Youmay
wanttouseralargerorsmallerMINARCsetting,butmyexperiencetodatesuggeststhatoneshouldnotgetgreedywith
MAXARC.Obviously,youmaywanttoplaywiththenumberoftimesubsteps.
Thesolutionmaystilldivergebutitislikelythatyouwillgetmoreinformationthanwithoutarclengthanalysis.Youwillwant
6/46
5/9/2016
tosetaterminationconditionfortheanalysisifbucklingisexpectedtoresult.
Ifinditdesirabletosavetheresultsatevery
timesubstepwhendoingthistypeofanalysis
(ithelpstohavealargeharddrive)inorder
toreviewtheprocess.Whenyoureviewthe
resultsofasingleloadcaserununderArc
lengthcontrol,theTIMEvalueonthe
ANSYSplotsshowsthedecimalfractionof
thefullloadbeingappliedtothemodel.As
youmoveforwardthroughtheplots,ifthe
load/displacementcurveforthestructureis
falling,thedecimalfractionwillfall,even
thoughsomedisplacementsarevisibly
gettinglarger.
Asmentionedabove,somethingIhavenot
triedistogettheArclengthsolutioncontrol
torampsomeloadsandnotothers,byhaving
runapreliminaryloadstep.Isthiseven
possible?Ifnot,thentheusermayfacethe
prospectofgravitybeingrampedupand
down,inadditiontootherappliedloads,and
thephysicalrealismofthemodelmaybe
affected.
Tip16:AnimatingResultsfroma
NonlinearorOtherAnalysis:
Itcanbehelpfultowatchtheincreasingstresslevelsthatresultasanonlinearanalysisloadingisrampedup.Tocreatean
animation,firstrunyouranalysiswithloadsrampedup,andanumberofsubsteps.Haveallsubstepswrittentotheresultsfile.
Doastressplotofinteresttosetthetypeofstressplottobeanimatedbythemacrothatwillberun.MaketheANSYS
Graphicswindowassmallasyouwanttheanimationwindowtoappear(mostscreenswillhavelowerresolutionthanaCAD
workstation),keepingtheaspectratiocorrect.Smallergraphicswindowsresultinsmalleranimationfiles,ifsizematters.
AnimationfilesunderWindowsNT(AVIfiles)fromANSYSoftencompressverywellforstoragepurposes.UsethePlotCtrls
menuselectionontheUtilityMenu,andchooseAnimatetogetasubmenuofchoices.Choose"DynamicResults"tocreatean
animationofyoursavedloadsubstepresultswiththetimeshowninthelegend.Thisseemstoworkonlyforthelastloadstep
(readtheANSYSmacro).TheresultingAVIfilecanbeviewedwiththemediaplayer,distributed,putonawebsite,andsoon.
Themediaplayercanbesteppedmanuallyforslowviewing.Itmakesiteasiertowatchthechangingstresspatternor
deformationasnonlineareffectstakeoverthemodel.
Inanimatingachangingstressorothercontourplot,youmaywishtospecifythecontourlevelsbeforegeneratingthe
animationfile.Viewtheloadsteporsubstepwiththeworstresultsaspartofdecidingwheretosetthecontourlevels.
IhavenotfoundthatanyoftheANSYSsuppliedanimationmacrosdotheonesimplestthingIwant.UsuallyIwantto
animateeverysubstepofeveryloadstepstoredintheresultsfile.Thefollowingsimplemacrodoesthisformeunder
WindowsNT.Thereisvirtuallynoerrorcheckinginthismacro.Notethatthissimplemacrodoesnotupdateelementtable
dataateachframe.Consequentlyitwillnotworkproperlyforplotsofelementtabledata.Ifstresses,strains,orotherdatawith
amplitudeinformationaretobeplotted,theusermaywanttofixthecontourmaplevelsaheadoftime.Theuserwillwantto
setthedisplacementamplitudescalingwith/DSCALEinadvanceautomaticscalingwillnotbesatisfactory.Ingeneral,it
maynotbesatisfactorytohave/ZOOM,OFFactive,sincetheviewwillchangeifplotsofsignificantdeflectionareincludedin
theanimation.Manuallysettingaviewmayyieldabetteranimation.Modifythismacroasyouwish.
Thismacromustbecalledfromwithin/POST1.Thefilethatcontainstheresultsmusthavealreadybeenselected,anda
prototypeplotcommandexecutedsothatcalling/REPLOTwillgeneratethetypeofplottheuserwants:
!
!MY_ANIM.MACAquickanddirtyanimationofallofthesubsteps
!
!Usermustindicatehowmanyframesaretobeanimated
!Thismacrostartswiththefirstsubstepintheresultsfile
!byusingtheSET,FIRSTcommandinternally
!UserimplicitlyindicateshowmanytimestousetheSET,NEXTcommand.
!ThenumberofframesneededmustexistintheRSTfile,elseerrors.
!NOTE:ThisdoesNOTworkforplotsofdatainanelementtable.
!Plottingelementtableresultswouldrequireamacroinwhich
!theelementtableresultsareupdatedateachsubstep.
!
7/46
5/9/2016
!VirtuallyNOErrorCheckingIsPerformed!!!!!
!
!Whatwillbeplottedisbasedon/REPLOTtherefore,onthelastuserplotexecuted
!beforethismacroiscalled.
!Scaling,etc.areallbasedonthelastuserplot.OnlytheSETvalueisupdated.
!
!Callwith:
!
!my_anim,time_delay_for_frame,number_of_frames_including_first
!
ar11=arg1
*if,arg1,eq,0,then
ar11=0.1
*endif
*if,arg2,ne,0,then
/NOPR
/gsav,xxx,gsav,,temp
/seg,delete
/seg,multi,,ar11
set,first
/replot
*do,_iii,1,arg21,1
set,next
/replot
*enddo
/seg,off
anim,1,1,ar11
/gres,xxx,gsav
/gopr
*endif
AnalternativetothismacrocouldstepthroughallsubstepsontheRSTfilebyusinga*GETcommandofthetype
*GET,NTOTAL,ACTIVE,0,SOLU,NCMSStocheckthenumberofsubstepsastheSET,NEXTcommandisissued.The
parameterNTOTALwillberesetto1whentheanimationiscomplete,andthe*IFand*EXITcommandscancheckthisand
breakoutofadoloopseeTip59belowfortheexampleofautomaticallyplottingallmodeshapes.Theuserwouldthennot
needtospecifythenumberofsubstepstoplot,improvingtheautomation,andlettingthesolverusevariablesubstepsizes
withouttheuserhavingtocheckonthenumberofsubstepsthatresulted.
Tip17:GettingtheMassorWeightofaModel:
Areaderhasbeenhelpfulbypointingpointoutthatmass(orweight,dependingonyourunits)ofkeypoints,lines,areas,or
volumesinamodelcanberetrieved,whenattributeshavebeenassignedtotheseentities,byusingcommandsavailablein
/PREP7.Usingthegraphicaluserinterface,enterinto"PreprocessorOperateCalcGeometricItems"toseethechoices:"Of
Keypoints,OfLines,OfAreas,OfVolumes,OfGeometry".Theseitemsexecutethe"sum"commands:"KSUM,LSUM,
ASUM,VSUM,GSUM"respectively.Ifnoattributeshavebeenassignedtothegeometricentities,unitdensitiesareassumed
inreportingmassandcenterofgravityinformation.Aftertheexecutionofthesecommands,the*GETcommandcanbeused
toassigntoavariabletheimpliedvolumeofanarea(basedonthethicknessassociatedwithitsattributes)orthevolumeofa
"volume".Thevolumeofaseriesofareasor"volumes"canalsoberetrievedwiththe*GETcommandaftera"sum"command
isused.The*VGETcommandcanalsobeused,whereappropriate,inretrievinginformationmadeavailableafteroneofthe
"sum"commandsisexecuted.
Forsomeunstatedreason,ANSYSwillnotdirectlygivethetotalweightormassofamodel(retrievedfromthemassmatrices
oftheelements),excepttoprintittooutputduringthesolutionofaproblem.Theusercanrunapartialsolveinordertoget
thisweightormassprintedreasonablyquickly.InImperialunits,itmaybedesirabletoconvertbetweenpoundsmassand
poundsweight.Thereisno*GETcommandthatdirectlyreturnstheweightofselectedelements.However,thevolumeofan
elementcanbereturned,andthevolumeofasetofelementscanbeputintoanelementtable,andsummed.
Youcangettheweightofmanymodelsintoaparameterby:stepthroughallmaterialtypes,selectingelementsforeach
materialtype.Getthevolumeofthoseelements,andmultiplybythedensityofthatmaterialtype.Sumthemassesorweights
ofallthematerialtypes.Thiswillnotincludeaddedmassandmasselementsatnodes(checkthiscarefullyagainsttheoutput
massinthesolvemodule)orotherthingsthatImaynothavethoughtof.
Ofcourse,youcangettheweight(assumingyougavedensitiesinthematerialdefinitions)byremovingallloads(don'tlet
thermalexpansion,nodalrigidregion,nodalcoupling,variousgapandcontactelements,orloadsonconstrainednodestrip
youupusetheminimalconstraintsneededtostabilizeallbodiesin3D),applying1gvertical,havingconstraintsonvertical
motion,runningSOLVEinalinearanalysis,andfindingtheverticalreactionforce.Insucharun,acombinationoftheFSUM
(selectverticallyrestrainednodesonly,withallattachedelements)and*GETcommandsin/POST1mighthelpyoutogetthe
weightintoavariable.However,apartialsolvewillgivetheanswermorequickly(butnotputitintoavariable).Depending
onyoursystemofunits,remember,youmaywanttoconvertbetweenweightandmass.
Ibasemycomment,abouttheinabilityofANSYStodirectlyreturntheweightofthemodelwith*GET,oncommentsinthe
8/46
5/9/2016
manualsonOptimization.Theoptimizationexamplesworktoreducemodelvolume,notweight.
Tip18:UsingFncCallsfromMacros:
Beforeusingmacrosforthefirsttime,readaboutthe*USEcommandintheANSYSHelpmanual,inadditiontoother
relevantpartsoftheANSYSmanuals.The*USEcommandhelpdiscussesthemacrocallingparametersandtheirlocalscope.
NoteaslightdifferenceincallingparametersAR19andAR20whenthe*USEformofamacrocallisused,versusthe
"unknowncommand"form.
TherearetimeswhencallsfrommacrosdirectlytotheFunctionformofanANSYScommandwillbetheonlywaytogetthe
functioncalledwithpicking.Itmaybedesirabletosenttheuseramessagethatexplainswhythepickinghasbeenrequested.
Thefunctionmustbecalledwiththeexactuseofuppercaseandlowercasecharacters.Anexample:Fnc_ENSYMwillwork,
whereasfnc_ENSYMwillnot,becausethecapitalFismissing.
Tip19:UseENSYMandENORMtoTurnOverShellElements:
ANSYShastwocommands,ENSYMandENORM,forreorientingshellelementssothatasetofshellelementscanallhave
their"top"surfacefacethesameway.Thismakesapplicationofpressure,contactelements,andreviewofresultsmore
feasible.ThisorientationshouldbedonebeforerunningSOLVEtheresultsarenotreorientedinthedatabasewhenthese
commandsareapplied,norintheresultsfile,soiftheelementsarereorientedafterSOLVE,thestressresultswillnolonger
applytothecorrectshellsurfacesandameaninglessmesswillresult.Thesecommandsworkwithshellelementsthatare
attachedtoareas,aswellaswithindependentshellelements.Note:Ifyoucleartheelementsattachedtoanarea,thenremesh,
thenewelementswillhavethesameorientationasthearea.(Hint:ANSYSoughttodothisreorientationforAreas,makingit
easiertopressurizetheinteriorsofcontainersdefinedwithshellelements.)
SeeHELP,ENSYMforinformationonwhatthiscommandwilldo.ENSYMcanbeusedto"flipover"ashellelementsothat
theoppositeside(ToporBottom)isshowing.TodothiswouldrequirereversingthenodeorderinthedatabasesothatFace1
(Bottom)andFace2(Top)getswitched.
Formorepowerfulcapabilitiesinreorientingshellelements,seeHELP,ENORM.Thiscommandwillsearchoutwardfroma
chosenelementthattheuserconsiders"correct",reorientingaconnectedsetofshellelementssothattheyfacethe"same
way"(thistakessomeinterpretation),evenworkingaroundcorners.Itsearcheselementsfromtheselectedsetofelements,
untilithitstheedgeofthemodel,oruntiltwoormoreelementsareattachedtooneelementedge.Theusershouldexperiment
withthiscommandinordertounderstandexactlywhatitdoes,andinspectthemodelthoroughlyafterENORMisapplied,to
verifythattheresultsareasdesired.ThecorrectuseofENORMcanmaketheapplicationofpressureorcontactelementstoa
complexmodelsubstantiallyeasier.
ItwouldbeveryhelpfulifANSYShadaspecialcommandthatwouldplotshellelementswiththesidescoloredaccordingto
whethertheywereFACE1orFACE2oftheelement.Thiscommandcouldbeextendedtocolorthe(upto)sixsidesofsolid
elements,accordingtotheirfacenumber.Asimilarcommandforplottingareaswouldhelp,too.Itcouldevenbedonefor
beamsdisplayedwith/ESHAPEshowingtheouterenvelope.Atpresent,withANSYS5.3runningonWindowsNT,Iget
differentcolorsforFace1andFace2ofshellelementswhenPowerGraphicsisON,and"NoNumbering"plus"Colors"or
"ColorsandNumbers"hasbeenchosenunderPlotCtrls,Numbering.Ihavenotseenthisdocumented.Thisdoesnothappenfor
areas,orforsolidelements.
Tip20:ShellTypestoTry:
IhaveusedShell63(forElastic),Shell43(forPlastic),Shell93(8Node,forElastic&Plastic),Shell143(forPlastic),and
Shell181(forPlastic).TheRevision5.4forANSYSwillincludeabugfixforaShell181problem.Shell143isnolonger
supported,butisstillembedded(hidden)inRevision5.3ofANSYSforcompatibilityreasons.
IhaverecentlyfoundShell93tobeusefulinmodelingsomecurvedstructures,becauseofitsabilitytofollowcurvedsurfaces.
(Shell63elementsareflat,andcanmakeamessofageneralcurvedsurfaceunderfreemeshing.)Shell93gavemegood
convergenceforbothelasticandplasticLargeDisplacement(nonlineargeometric)analysis.Itdoesnotliketofollowtoolarge
anangleofcurvaturewithoneelement,sothenumberofelementsonanareafilletcanbelarge.Settheanglesubtendedby
Shell93elementsduringmeshingtoavaluethatissmallenoughtoavoidwarningmessages.Watchoutforaspectratio
warnings.(Lackofwarningsisnotacompleteguaranteeofacceptableelementshapes.)Ifthestructurehaspressurizedflat
surfaces,Shell93oftenconvergesbetterwhenstressstiffeningisactivatedforLargeDisplacementanalysis.Stressstiffening
forShell93isactivatedatthesolutionphaseoftheanalysis,whereasShell63is(apparently)onlystressstiffenedbysetting
oneoftheKEYOPTvalues.(IhaveobtaineddifferentLargeDisplacementconvergenceswithShell63withnostress
stiffeningset,withtheKEYOPTstressstiffeningset,withstressstiffeningsetin/SOLU,andwithstressstiffeningsetinboth
places.)LikeShell63,Shell93alsohasthevirtueofbeingsupportedbytheLinear/PlusversionofANSYSforLarge
Displacementelasticanalysis,somodelscanbemovedbackandforth.
WhenforcingmappedmeshingofcurvesidedShell93elementsonaplaneareabyconcatenatingperimeterlines,Ihave
occasionallyhadmidsidenodescreated,intheinteriorofthearea,suchthattherewastoomuchelementcurvaturedistortion
intheplaneoftheelement.Onefixistohavetheelementscreatedwiththesidesstraight,whichistolerableiftheelementsare
flat,andifitdoesnotcausetroubleontheperimeteroftheplaneareabeingmeshed."Trouble"heremeanspoorrepresentation
9/46
5/9/2016
ofcurvedboundariesotherelementsontheseboundariesmayneedtocurvetofollowcurvedsurfaces,oritmaybedesiredto
haveacurvedfittoanoutsideedge.Ifflatelementsidescausetroubleontheperimeter,thenstartbymeshingareasonthe
othersideoftheperimeterwithelementsthathavecurvedsidestheseelementscouldevenbetriangular.Next,meshthearea
ofinterestwiththeelementssidessetstraight,thenclearthesurroundingareas,ifthesurroundingareasarenotintendedtobe
meshed,orneedbetterelementshapecontrol.Thiswillleavetheplaneareaofinterestmeshedwithelementsthathavestraight
edgesintheinterior,andcurvededgesontheperimeter.Thisisillustratedbythefollowingimagesofanintentionallyextreme
example.Inthefirstimage,alineplotofelementedgesshowsextremedistortionintheplane.Anintendedholeismeshed
withtriangles.AlltheseelementsareShell93,havingmidsidenodes.
Inthesecondimage,meshingwithmidsidenodespositionedonstraightlinesisbeingchosen.
Inthethirdimage,theconsequenceofmeshingthepartwithstraightsidedelementsisshown.Theelementsattheholehavea
curvedside,becausetheholeisalreadymeshedwithcurvedsidedelements.
Inthefourthimage,theelementsborderingtheholeareshown,aftertheholehasbeenclearedofelements.Theelement
curvatureattheholeisvisible.Theinterioroftheplaneareaismeshedwithstraightsidedelements.Thesameproblemanda
similarfixcanbeencounteredwithmidsidenodedSOLID95brickelementsthathave20nodes.Thesurfaceareasofa
volumecanbemeshedwith8nodeSHELL93elementswithcurvature,thenthevolumemeshedwithSOLID95elementswith
10/46
5/9/2016
thesidesstraight,thentheshellelementsontheareasremovedwiththeACLEARcommand.Thiswillleavethevolume
meshedwithSOLID95elementsthatarecurvedonthesurfaceareas,butwithstraightsidesintheinterior.Therearerare
occasionswhenthiswilleliminateelementdistortionwarningmessages.
Tip21:MovingaModelfromANSYSMechanicaltoANSYSLinear/Plus:
BecauseversionsofANSYSsellfordifferentprices,acompanymayownoneversiontobeusedfornonlinearmodels,and
severallicensesforlinearwork,orjustformodelcreationandresultsreview.Occasionally,amodelwillbemoved"down"
fromafullerversionofANSYStotheLinear/Plusversion.
AusercanrunintodifficultymovingamodelfromANSYSMechanical(orANSYSStructural,etc.)tothelessexpensive
ANSYSLinear/Plus.TheLinear/Plusversionlimitsthenumberofnodesallowed.Unfortunately,itimplementsthiscontrolby
notallowingnodenumbersthatexceedalimitingvalue.Thismeansthatcompressionofnodenumbers(andelementnumbers)
mayberequiredinordertogetlargermodelstobeacceptedbyANSYSLinear/Plus.Otherwise,theprogramquitswithoutan
opportunitytocompressthenumbering(morerecentANSYSversionsmaybemoretolerant,butthenumberingwillhavetobe
compressedatsomepoint).
Whenthenodeandelementnumbersarecompressed,coordinationofloadingwiththenumberingexpressedinloadstepfiles
islost.ThewayaroundthisthatIhaveusedistoreadintheoriginaldatabase,readinaloadstepfile,compressthe
numbering,andwritetheloadstepfile.Theprocess,readingintheoriginaldatabase,mustberepeatedforeveryloadcase(a
macrocouldbewrittentoautomatethis.)Finally,theoriginaldatabaseisreadin,numberingiscompressed,andthenew
databaseiswritten.
UnsupportedelementtypescannotbeusedinANSYSLinear/Plusneithercantoolargeawavefront(canthePCGsolverget
aroundthis?).Theunsupportedelementsneedtobedeletedorchangedbeforemovingthemodel(e.g.changeSHELL181to
SHELL63).Then,ifthenumberofentitiesdoesnotexceedANSYSLinear/Pluslimitations,thedatabasecanbemovedtothe
otherprogram.
ThenextprobleminmovingmodelstoANSYSLinear/Plus,isthatnonlinearmaterialmodelsmustbedeletedinANSYS
Mechanical(Structural,etc...)beforemovingthedatabasetoANSYSLinear/Plus.ThisisbecausetheANSYSLinear/Plus
programwillcomplainthatthematerialnonlinearityisincluded,butnotacceptthecommandstodeleteit(Hint:ANSYS
shouldaddthisdeletefunctiontoLinear/Plus.)Ofcourse,Ifoundallthisoutthehardway.
Onrareoccasions,amodelfromamorerecentversionofANSYSmaybemovedbacktoanearlierANSYSversion.IfIGES
isnotsatisfactory,ausercoulduseCDWRITEtowriteouttheelementandnodemodelandothermodeldatatoafile(theDB
option),thenmanuallycleanupthefilesothattheearlierversionofANSYScouldacceptit.Thisincludesmodifying
commandsforelementcreation,afterdeducingwhatformatisneeded.WritingtheelementdatawithEWRITEthencutting
andpastingwiththeCDWRITEfilemaybeeasierIhaven'ttriedit.Auserwrittenprogramcanexpeditecleanupforalarge
model.
Tip22:DeletingNodesthathaveNodalCoupling:
Whendeletingasetofnodesforwhichsomeweremembersofcouplednodesets,deletethecouplingequationsBEFORE
deletingthenodes.Otherwise,unwantedcouplingequationsmaybeactiveifyoucreatemorenodes.Thecouplingequations
11/46
5/9/2016
arenotautomaticallydeletedwhenthenodesaredeletedisthisabug?Selectthenodestobedeleted,thendeletenode
couplingequationsforwhichanynodesareselected,thendeletethenodes.(Youwillhavehadtofirstdeletetheelements.)
Clearingsolidmodelentitiesisthesameasdeletingtheelementsandnodessimultaneously.
Ifinditveryhelpfultoturnonthesymbolsfornodalcouplingwhencheckingforproperuseofthesedetails.
Tip23:ConvergencewithShellFEAModelsinNonlinearAnalysisunderANSYS:
First,rememberthattherearethreebasickindsofnonlinearity:(1)LargeDisplacement(geometricallynonlinear)analysis,and
(2)PlasticMaterialpropertiesaretheobvioustypes.Inaddition,nonlinearsolutionsoccur(3)whennonlinearelementssuchas
gapelements,hookelements,andsurfacecontactelementsareused.Becauseof(3)itisclearertorefertoa"linear"analysisas
"smalldisplacementelastic",since"linear"maybeperceivedasmeaningthattherearenononlinearelementspresent.A
nonlinearanalysiswilltakelonger,usuallyconsiderablylonger,thanalinearanalysis.Foralargefiniteelementmodel,ithelps
tohaveacomputerwithanextremelyfastCPU,largeRAM,largeharddrive,andfastharddrivedatatransfer(highspeed
SCSImayhelponPC's)fornonlinearanalysis.
InANSYS,theShell63elementwilldoLargeDisplacement,butisNOTcapableofmaterialnonlinearity(plasticity).Shell
43,Shell143,andShell181arecapableofbothLargeDisplacementandmaterialnonlinearity.Thesefourelementsare4node
quadelements.ANSYSalsohasan8nodeshellelement,Shell93.TheShell93elementiscapableofbothLarge
Displacementandmaterialnonlinearity.Shell93hastheadvantagethatitcanfollowacurvedsurface.Therearealsoshell
elementsforcompositematerialsandforPelementsolutions.Iwillrestrictmycommentstothebasicshellelements:63,43,
143,181,and93.
Theelementsshouldhaveacceptableaspectratios,notberidiculouslylargeorsmall,notbepathologicallydeformed,andnot
generatewarningsaboutbeingwarped.Ifwarpedquadelementsareunavoidableduringmeshing,itmaybedesirabletouse
eithersmalltriangles,ortheShell93element.NotethatwithintheANSYSmanuals,highorderelementsarenotconsideredto
beidealfornonlinearwork.However,IseemtohavehadsomesuccesswiththeShell93element(can'tsayiftheresultswere
ideallyaccurate).Youcanevaluatethemodelquicklybydoingapartialsolve(PartialSoluintheGUI),onlygeneratingthe
elementmatrices,andgettingwarnings(ifany)andotherinformationintheANSYSOutputwindow.
IfaLargeDisplacementsolutionischosen,somesolutionsareimprovedbysettingStressStiffeningbeforerunningthesolve
process.Stressstiffeningforelements63,43,143,and181can(apparently)onlybesetwithoneoftheKEYOPTvalues
(Keyopt(2))fortheelement(seeOptionswhenusingAdd/Edit/DeletetoaddelementtypeswiththeGUI).Somebeam
elementsarelikethis,too.Itapparently(Ifindthemanualsdifficulttointerpretonthis)canNOTbesetwithintheSolve
module,eventhoughtheGUIhasaselectionboxforStressStiffening.However,Iseemtohavehadconvergencedifferences
withShell63withstressstiffeningsetandnotsetinthesolvemodule.ForShell93,stressstiffeningISsetwithintheSolve
module,bychoosingitunderAnalysisOptionsintheGUI(SSTIF).Theuseofstressstiffeningforconvergenceimprovement
iscontraindicatedbysomeconditionssuchasthesubstantialuseofnodalcouplingornodalconstraintequations...seethe
ANSYSmanualsonthis.NotethatSSTIFisNOTthesamethingasthecommandPSTRES.
Asecondthingthathelpsmanynonlinearsolutions(bothLargeDisplacementandplastic)toconvergewhensubstepsare
beingusedistoactivatethePredictor(PRED)intheSolvemodule.(Thismaybemoreofahindrancethanahelpwhengap
andothernonlinearelementswillbechangingstatusfrequently.)
Thereareothersettingsthatcanbetriedwhenattemptsatconvergencearenotworking.Iusuallysticktolettingtheprogram
decidehowtouseNewtonRaphsoniterationandadaptivedescentintheSolvemodule.UndertheNonlinearsettingsofthe
GUI,theusercanmodifytheConvergenceCriteria.Ioftenuseonlyconvergenceonforces(notmoments)whenanalyzing
shellsifIamnotinputtinganymomentsdirectly.IusuallyreducethenumberofEquilibriumIterationsto15whendoingshell
models,preferringtousesmallersubstepsinstead.However,inamodelwithgaporcontactelementsitmaybedesirableto
haveamuchlargernumberofEquilibriumIterations.IrarelytryLineSearch.
Makingagoodchoiceoftimesubstepsizesiscriticallyimportantingettingmodelstoconverge.Ifshellmodelsofflatplates
subjectedtopressureorperpendicularforcesareincludedintheanalysis,theshellwillatfirstactasaflatplateinbending.
Oncetheshellhascurved,bymovementassmallashalfitsthickness,theshellwillstarttocarrytheappliedloadwith
membraneforces.Inamodelofthistype,startingwithverysmallsubsteps(e.g.1/100ofthefullload)maybeneededto
achieveconvergence.Iwouldstartwithaverysmallfirstsubstep,butallowthelargestsubsteptobeaslargeafractionas1/4
oftheappliedload.IftherearenoperpendicularloadsbuttheloadingiscausingLargeDisplacement,orifbucklingistobe
considered,itislikelythatsmalltimestepswillbeneededtowardtheendoftheforceapplicationramp.Wherethereisno
pressureorperpendicularforceonflatshells,Iwouldstartwithasubstepsuchas1/10or1/4oftheappliedload,butallowa
minimumsubstepassmallas1/100ofthefullload.Iftheseapproacheswillnotwork,itislikelythatconvergencecontrol
commandsinadditiontotimesubstepsizewillneedconsideration.
Ifthestructureisbucklingorundergoingplasticfailure,or"simplywillnotconverge"itmayhelptousetheArcLength
method.AsIhavenotedelsewhere,Idon'tusethedefaultArcLengthsettings.Iusuallystartwithanumberofsubsteps
(NSUBST),anddon'tlettheArcLengthsolverincreasethesizeofastepbeyondmymaximumsubstepsize.IlettheArc
Lengthsolveruseaminimumstepsizethatis1/10or1/100ofmysubstepsize.IlettheArcLengthsolveruseamaximum
stepsizemultiplierofone.TheArcLengthmethodcanfollowarisingandfallingforcedisplacementrelationship.Ifind
PlotCtrls/Animate/Dynamic_ResultstobeusefulinreviewingthebehaviorduringanArcLengthanalysis,andothernonlinear
12/46
5/9/2016
analyses.Iprefertosavetheresultsateverysubstepwhendoingthis(OutputCtrls).WhenusingArcLengthanalysis,itis
usuallydesirabletosetacriteriontostopananalysis(NCNV).Iusuallyusemaximumdisplacementasthecriterionforshell
work.
Remembertorampupyourloads,permitautomatictimestepping,andintheNSUBSTcommand,allowtheprogramto
bisectionbysettingthemaximumnumberofsubstepsgreaterthantheminimumnumberofsubsteps.
Ifyouarehavingtroublewithconvergence,savetheresultsatintermediatesubstepssoyoucanreviewthestressand
displacements.IfyouaredoingcombinedLargeDisplacementandplasticdeformation,andhavingtroublewithconvergence,
considerastudyinwhichyoudo(1)anelasticsmalldisplacementanalysisasacheckonelementshape,loading,and
constraints,(2)aLargeDisplacementelasticsolution,andpossibly(3)aplasticsmalldisplacementsolution.Ifthesework
withoutsignificantwarningmessages,youshouldbemakingsomeprogress.Ifgaporcontactelementsarebeingused,
consider(4)softeningthenormalandtangentialstiffnessvaluesinapreliminaryanalysis(KNandKS).Youcanalso(5)try
relaxingtheconvergencecriteriaonforceand/ormomenterror.Ifdesperate,acoarselymeshedmodelmayimprovespeed
enoughforyoutostudywhathelpsgetananswer.Thesepreliminarystudiesmayhelpyoutofindwhatsettingshelpyoutoget
convergenceordiscovermodelingproblemsbeforeyoudomoretimeconsumingaccurateanalysis.Ifyouaretryinganew
technique,considertestingitonatoysizedproblem,beforeapplyingittoalargeindustrialsizedproblemthatrunsforhours
ordays,inordertolearnthepeculiaritiesandpitfallsofaparticulartimeconsumingmethod.
Ifgaporcontactelementsaretheonlynonlinearitiesinamodel,considersubstructuringthelinearregionsofthemodel.This
canresultinatremendousincreaseinsolutionspeed.Ifonlyasubregionofamodelwillbehaveinanonlinearmanner,itmay
reducesolutiontimetosubstructuretheregionthatcanberegardedasactinginalinearmanner.Thisspeedupeffectormay
notoccurwithlargedisplacementmodeling,whenthesubstructureitselfwillbeundergoinglargedisplacementIhavedone
onlylimitedtestingofthistechnique.Seebelowforabriefdiscussionandforsimpleexamplesofsubstructuring.
Tip24:WorkingwithLoadStepFilesinANSYS:
Loadstepfilescanbeusedtoautomatetheapplicationofanumberofdifferentloadcasesonastructure.Aloadstepfile
containsloadsonelementsandnodes.ItdoesNOTcontainloadsongeometricentities.Consequently,aloadstepfilecanbe
generatedafterallloadsfromgeometricentitieshavebeentransferredtoamodel.Afterallloadingongeometricentitieshas
beendeleted,theloadstepfilecanbereadbackin,recoveringallappliedloads.Alternatively,considerthe
"LSCLEAR,SOLID"command.Theseloadscanthenbescaled.
Theuserneedstobecarefulwhenmanipulatingloadstepfiles.TheloadstepfilesmaycontaintheKUSEinstructiontelling
ANSYStoreusetheTRIfileiftheconstraintshavenotchanged.Iftheuserdeletesaloadstepfile,changestheorderoftheir
execution,ormanuallymodifiestheircontents,invalidanalysismightresult.
Ifthemodelisrenumberedafterloadstepfilesaregenerated,thenodeandelementnumbersintheloadstepfilewillno
longerbesynchronizedwiththemodel,andwillbeinvalid.Awayaroundthisismentionedelsewhereinthesenotes(SeeTip
21).
ThereadershouldtakenoteoftheANSYSuserguidescommentsontheLSCLEARcommand.Thisdeletesallloadsand
resetsallloadstepoptionstotheirdefaults.Thiscan"cleanup"theloadstepdatabeforeusingLSREADtoreadaloadstep
fileformodification.WhatthisimpliesisthattheloadstepexecutionprocessdoesNOTexecuteanLSCLEARcommand
whenaloadstepfileisreadin.Ifitdid,thenANSYSwouldhavetoimplementsubstantialcheckingtoseewhetheraTRIfile
wassafetoreuse,underthefrontalsolver(TRIfilereusesavesconsiderabletime).Loadstepimplementationcancause
havocwhentheuseremploysloadstepfilesinamannerforwhichthemethodwasnotdesigned.Itmayhelptoreadthe
contentsoftheLSSOLVE.MACmacroinpredictingwhatwillhappen,andtoseewhatLSSOLVEdoestoavoidtrouble.The
LSSOLVE.MACmacroatANSYS5.3includessomeundocumentedcommandsincludingDMARK,FMARD,SMARK,
BMARK,anda*GETcommandthatretrievestheerrornumberinthe/SOLUprocess.Italsousesan"LSCLEAR,SOLID"
commandthatremovesloadsongeometricentitiesbeforereadinginloadstepfiles.ItselectsallDOFlabels,setsxCUMlabels
to"replace",anddoesafewotherthings.Idonotconsiderthemanualstopursuethistopicadequatelyauseroughttoread
themacro.
TheANSYSmanualcommentsontheLSREADcommand.ThecommanddoesNOTclearALLcurrentloadsonthemodel
whenitreadsinanewloadstepfile(itdoesclearsome...readthemanual).
Whenusingloadstepfiles:IfloadsonnodesandelementsaresetwithBFandBFEcommands(forexampleapplying
temperaturesforathermaldeformationstressanalysis),thenifyousetupasubsequentloadstep,ifthesetemperaturesareto
bereturnedtoambientitmaybenecessarytousetheBFandBFEcommandtosetthenodesandelementstothereference
temperature(bydefault0)ratherthanjustdeletingtheloadsusingBFDELEandBFEDELEandusingBFUNIFtoinputthe
uniformtemperature.Itmayhelptousecommandssuchas"nsel,s,bf,temp,999,99999"and"esel,s,bfe,temp,999,99999"to
selectallofthenodesorelementstowhichtemperatureshavebeenapplied,ifyouaregoingtochangethem.Beverycareful
withtheBFEcommand.Ifyousetthevalueofthetemperatureat,forexample,fourlocationsonanelementwithBFE,andin
alaterloadstepsetthevalueatonlytwolocationswithinanelement,thetemperatureattheothertwolocationswillstillbe
"hangingaround"atthepreviousvalue.Itisveryeasytomakethismistakewhenrunningaseriesofloadstepfiles.(Another
thingIfoundoutthehardway,inamodelwherebothpipingcreationcommandsandbeamelementswereused.)
13/46
5/9/2016
IftheuserisdeletingdisplacementconstraintsusingDDELE,andthenwritinganadditionalloadstepfile,theoldconstraint
maystillbepresentwhentheseriesofloadstepfilesisreadinunderLSREADcheckforthisinyourresults.Becarefulwith
this.Itmaycompromisetheuseofloadstepfiles,orrequiresomeinterventionlikewritinganinputfilethatcallsloadstep
filesinusingLSREAD,implementingfixupcommandsasneededbecarefulthataTRIfileisnotreusedbecauseaload
stepfilecontains"KUSE,1"whenyourchangestoconstraintsmeanthatanewTRIfileshouldbegenerated.Statementsinthe
LSSOLVE.MACmacrocanprovideguidanceonusingLSREADeffectively.Youmayneedtolookinsidetheloadstepfiles
withatexteditor.Bewarnedthatchangingthecontentsofloadstepfileswithatexteditorcanbetrickybecauseofunintended
sideeffects.
Ingeneraltheuserwillhavetobecarefulthatthe"residue"fromtheloadsanddisplacementsfromoneloadstepdonotappear
inappropriatelyinlaterloadsteps.Thisistruewhengeneratingtheloadstepfilesinthefirstplace,andmayapplywhen
readinginloadstepfileswithLSREAD.Asnoted,LSSOLVE.MACusescleanupstatements.
Theuserwillhavetobecarefultochangeloadsbetweenloadstepsinamannerconsistentwithgettingsmoothrampingof
loadsanddisplacements,forthosecaseswhenthisisdesired,eitherfortransientanalysis,orforgoodnonlinearanalysis
convergence,orwhenintermediateresultsaredesiredatinbetweenloads.
BeforereadinginloadstepfilestosolvewithLSREAD,ensurethatloadsongeometricentitiesandelementsandnodeshave
beendeleted,unlessyouarekeepingthemintentionally(asnoted,loadsongeometricentitiesoverwriteloadsonelementsand
nodes).Asnoted,LSSOLVE.MACinANSYS5.3containsthecommand"LSCLEAR,SOLID"toremovethesolidmodel
loadsonthemodelbeforeproceeding.
IfLargeDisplacementanalysisisgoingtobeusedinanalysesrunbyloadstepfiles,theNLGEOMflagmustbesetinthefirst
loadstepfile.TherewillbenoNLGEOMcommandgeneratedinsubsequentloadstepfiles.BecauseANSYSdoesnotpermit
thekindofanalysistobechangedwhenapplyingaseriesofloadsteps,errormessageswillberesultiftheuserchangesthe
valueofNLGEOMinthemiddleofasetofloadstepfiles.
Tip25:PlottingShellStressesSurface,MidPlaneStress,LoadPaths,ESYSandRSYS:
IntheANSYSdatabase,shellstresses(and
strains)forthebasicshellelements(63,43,143,
181,and93)arereportedatthetopandbottom
surfacesoftheshellelement.Theusercanhas
fouroptionsinANSYS5.3forplottingshell
stresses(andstrains).Threeofthemareselected
withthecommands:"SHELL,TOP",
"SHELL,MID"or"SHELL,BOT".Thesewill
causeplottingofshellstresses(andstrains)tobe
basedonthevaluesatthetopsurface,midplane,
orbottomsurfaceofeachshellelement.Thisisabitmisleading.Themidplanestressisbasedontheaverageofthestressesat
thetopandbottom(thismaynotbecorrect,atleastforsomeelements,consideringSection2.3.4oftheTheorymanual,which
referstostressonthemidplaneofashellelementseparatelyfromthetopandbottom,andformstheforceperlinearunitfrom
aweightedaverageoftopsurface,midplane,andbottomsurfacestresswhat'sgoingonhere?).Whatconstitutesthetop
andbottomofashellelementdependsontheelement'sorientationwhenitwasdefined(seeelsewhereinthesepages).Itis
possibletohaveadjacentelements,onewitha"top"surfacepointingupward,anditsneighbourwiththe"top"surfacepointing
downward.Incomplexstructuresithappensallthetime.Ifnodalaveragedplotsaredone,forexamplewith
"PLNSOL,S,EQV",wheneithertopsurfaceorbottomsurfaceplottingischosen,thenwithsuchadjacentelements,theplotted
topsurfaceandbottomsurfaceresultswillgetblended,causingamisleadingmesstobedisplayed.(SeeTip19forcommands
thatcanreorientshellelements.)
Moreinsightintotheflowofstressinamodelcanbegainedbyplottingthestressvectors,usingthe"PLVECT,S"command.
Withshells,thesevectorswillbeplottedforthemidplaneprinciplestresscomponents.Attimesyouwillwanttousevector
graphicswithnohiddensurfaceremoval,togivethebestviewofthesevectors.Ifthereislocalcompression,thevectorspoint
inward.Thesevectorscangiveinsightintoloadpathsinastructure.
Wherethereareintersectionsofplanesofshellelements,e.g.cornersor"Tee"intersections,orwhereelementsofdiffering
thicknessmeet,theaveragingofnodestressescanrenderlocalstressplotinformationmeaninglessattheintersection.Thisis
trueofbothsurfaceandmidplanestressplots.Thisisonewayinwhichexcessivestresseswillbeunintentionallymissed.
Anytimethatnodalaveragedplottingisdone,itispossiblefortheaveragingto"washout"localstressesthatmaybe
important,yetitiscommontodonodalaveragedplotsbecauseoftheirmuchcleanerappearance(Idothemmyself).The
fourthoptioninplottingshellstressesistoswitchontheANSYSPowergraphicsfeature.Thiscausesshellresultstobe
displayed,evenaveraged,forthevisiblesurface.OptionsactivatedwiththeAVRESand/EFACETcommandscanrefinethe
waytheresultsareplottedunderPowergraphics(lookthemup).Powergraphicshastheoptionstodiscontinuetheaveragingof
stresscontourswheretherearecertaindiscontinuitiesinthematerialorgeometryinthemodel.I'mgoingintothisdetail,
becauseahighstressthatiswashedoutbynodalaveragingcouldbeastressthatcausesseriousfatigueorotherdamage,such
ascracking,oraweldbeingtornapart.
14/46
5/9/2016
TheonlyshortcomingisthatPowergraphicswillnotworkwithmidplanestress.Theuserhasfewoptionshere.Sometimesit
isimportanttoselectonlyregionsofamodelwhendoingnodalaveragedmidplanestressplots(using"SHELL,MID",
withoutPowergraphics)sothattheaveragingdoesnotwashanythingout.AmidplanestressplotwithoutPowergraphicscan
bedoneforelementstresses,usingacommandlike"PLESOL,S,EQV".Thiswilllookmessy,butatleastitdoesn'thidean
extremestress.AnalternativeIusedisdiscussedelsewhereinthesepages:Iwroteamacrotogetthemidplaneaveraged
stress(allcomponents)ateverynodeofeveryelement(agivennodehasdifferentresultswithreferencetoeachofthe
elementstowhichitisattached,soagivennodewillbelookedupasmanytimesasthenumberofelementstowhichitis
attached),andtransferittothetopandbottomsurfaces,sothatPowergraphicswouldplotmidplaneaveragedstressneatly,
withdiscontinuities.CAUTION:Thisruinstheresultsdatabase.Themacroisextremelyslowtorun.Themethod(under
Powergraphics)does,however,givefarbetterlookingplotsthanusingthe"PLESOL,S,EQV"commandtoplotmidplane
elementstresseswithoutnodalaveraging(withoutPowergraphics).
LOADPATHS:ThemacroImentionabovecouldbemodifiedtomultiplythemidplaneaveragedstresscomponentsbythe
localshellelementthicknessateachnode.Theresultingvalueswouldyieldacontourplotofforceperlinearinch(orother
dimensionalunit)"averaged"atthemidplaneoftheshellthiscouldhelptomakeloadpathsvisibleinacomplexshell
structure."PLVECT,S"plotsthatwouldnowshowarrowscorrespondingtotheloadperunitlengthonthemidplaneand
showtheprincipaldirectionsinwhichitpoints,helpingtoillustratetheloadpaths.Thismacrowouldalsoruinthedatabasefor
anyotheruse.Beforeplotting"loadperunitlength"data,theuserneedstodecidehowtoorienttheresultsdatacoordinate
systemswithRSYSforinformationsuchasSxorSythatcontainsdirectioninformation(stressandstrainwithEQVdoesnot
containdirectioninformation).
Note:TheOutputDatasectiononShell63,Shell43,andShell93includesInplaneelementX,Y,andXYforcescalledTX,TY,
andTXY.Consequently,shell"forceperunitlength"datacanbeobtaineddirectlyinanElementTableveryquickly,though
witharesolutionofonevalueperelement.(ForShell63,43,and93,useSMISCsetting1,2,or3whengeneratingtheelement
tabledata.)TheTheoryManualusesthetermInplaneforcesperunitlengthwhiletheelementsmanualreferstojustforcesas
aboveasimpletestIranshowsthedatatobeforceperunitlength.Theelementsmanualoughttoclarifythis.TheElement
Tabledatacanbecontourplotted,buttherearenoprincipalstressstylevectorplotsoftabledata.(Clarification:PLVECTcan
plotvectorarrowsbasedon3ETABLEcolumns,butnotthedoubleheadedarrowsforanETABLEasinaprincipalstress
vectorplot.)TheElementsmanualshowstheTX,TY,andTXYvaluesnotbeingavailableunder"MiscellaneousElement
Output"ateverynode,onlyatthecentroid.TheElementsmanualdoesnotexplicitlyshowthatS,EQVorS,INTstress
informationcanbeextractedatthemidplane.Theirvalueisextractedwiththecomponentnamemethod.Brief
experimentationshowsthatifthecommand"SHELL,MID"isfollowedby"ETABLE,SEQVMID,S,EQV"thatthecolumn
calledSEQVMIDwillcontainanaverageSEQVvalueforthemidplane.If"SHELL,TOP"or"SHELL,BOT"iscalled,the
ETABLEvalueofSEQVwillchangeiftheupdatecommand"ETABLE,REFL"isexecuted.Warning:WhenplottingETABLE
shellelementelementtabledatawithPLETABtheplotinformationlegendwillreadTOP,MID,orBOTaccordingtothe
currentsettingoftheSHELLcommand.ThisbitofinformationDOESNOTreflecttheSHELLsurfacesettingconditionsin
effectwhentheETABLEdatawasstored,andcouldbemisleading.Forthisreason,thelabelusedforthecolumnshould
indicatetheshelllayersettinginusewhentheelementtabledatawasloaded,aswith"SEQVMID"above.Doinganelement
tableupdatewithETABLE,REFLwillrefillcolumnswithresultsdata.AchangeoftheSHELLlayersettingcanchangestress
resultsthatareloadedinanupdate.Consequently,loadingshellelementdatamustbehandledverycarefullyinorderthatthe
layerchoiceiscontrolled.ElementtabledatafromtheCALCmodule(addingcolumnsetc.)isNOTupdatedandhastobe
explicitlyrecalculated.
NOTEAlso:ThedirectionoftheelementtableloadperunitlengthTX,TY,andTXYisastakenfromtheelementinElement
Coordinates.UnlikeSXorSY,thevaluesofTX,TY,andTXYappeartobeinsensitivetotheRSYSsetting.TheElement
CoordinateSystemwillvaryorientationfromelementtoelement,particularlyunderfreemeshing,andaffectstheusefulnessof
TX,TY,andTXYdata.Theelementtabledatacanbeprocessedbytheusertoyieldanewtablecolumncontainingthe"load
perunitlengthintensity"inthesenseofaMohr'scircle,givingrapidifsomewhatcoarseplotsofloadpathinformationalong
15/46
5/9/2016
theshellmidplane.Theplotswillusuallybemoreinformativewithoutnodalaveraging.Section2.3.4oftheANSYSTheory
manualdiscussesForcesandMomentsperunitlengthonshellelementsthesuggestionisthatinternally,atleastforsome
shellelements,themidplanestressisNOTsimplytheaverageofthetopandbottomstresses.Thewayaroundtheproblemof
elementcoordinatesystemsbeingarbitrarilyorientedistodefinelocalcoordinatesystemsbeforemeshingareas(orotherwise
generatingshellelements)anduseESYStogetallshellelementsorientedwiththelocalcoordinatesystems.ESYSassignedto
elementscanbemodifiedafterthefactbutbeforeSOLVE,byusingtheEMODIFcommandin/PREP7.Itmaybedesirableto
havealocalcoordinatesystemalignedwitheachflatareatobemeshedwithshellelementssothatallshellelementcoordinate
systemscanbealignedintheplaneoftheareaatimeconsumingprocessunlessamacroisused.Curvedsurfaceswouldbe
difficult.
Theproblemoforientingcoordinatesystemsintheplottingofresultsisillustratedbytheimagesbelow.Thefirstshows3
elementsthatwerecreatedduringfreemeshing.Theelementsareplottedusingvectorgraphics,withtheelementcoordinate
systemsshown.Eachelementhasitscoordinatesystemorienteddifferently.Theimagebelowitliststheelementsandtheir
nodenumbers.Lookatthesequenceofnodenumbersforthethreeelementstoseewhytheelementcoordinatesystemspoint
insuchdifferentdirections.
ThenexttwoimagesshowaplotofTXdonefromanelementtable.TheelementtablewasfilledbytheTXvaluesforthe
elements(thisistheloadperunitlengthintheelementcoordinatesystemXdirection).Thevaluesdiffersomuchfrom
elementtoelementbecauseofthedifferenceintheelementcoordinatesystems.Theplotconsequentlytellsustoolittle.The
followingelementplotofSxshowsthestressintheXdirection.Theresultsareshownintheglobalcoordinatesystem.
16/46
5/9/2016
ThefinalimagesinthissectionshowagroupofShell63elementsthathavehadtheirelementcoordinatesystemsalignedwith
localcoordinatesystemsatthetimeofthecreationoftheelements,bytheuseoftheESYScommand.Thiswillpermit
elementtableresultsTX,TY,andTXYtobealignedinaknownmanner.ThisalsopermitsSx,Sy,andSxytobealignedinthe
planeoftheelementscreationifRSYS,SOLUisactivewhenplottingstressresults.Knowlegeofthealignmentoftheloads
andstressescanmakeplotsmoreusefulinunderstandingloadpaths,reducethetotalnumberofplotsrequiredinmodel
assessment,andhelpfacilitateanevaluationofloadingonwelds.Thefirstplotwithvectorgraphicsshowstheelementswith
theirelementcoordinatesystems.Notethattheyarealigned.Therearetwolocalcoordinatesystemsatworkinthisexample
theyarenumbered11and12andtheirsymbolsareplotted.Elementshavebeencreatedalignedwithnumber11inoneplane,
andalignedwithnumber12intheotherplaneofelements.AlinepressurehasbeenappliedintheglobalYdirection.The
secondplotwithrastergraphicsisofSxattheshellmidplane.BecauseRSYS,SOLUwasactivewhentheSxplotwas
generated,thereareSxvaluesshowninallelements.IfRSYS,0wereactivewhentheSxplotwasdone,theplaneofelements
thatisperpendiculartotheglobalXaxiswouldshowzerostressintheXdirectioninthisexample.
17/46
5/9/2016
ThereisanalternativetousingESYSandRSYS,SOLUtoalignelementcoordinatesystemsforthepurposesofstressplots
likeSx,Sy,andSxy.Duringpostprocessingin/POST1,alocalcoordinatesystemcanbealignedwiththeplaneofshell
elementsofinterest,andRSYSsettothatlocalcoordinatesystem,beforeplottingSx,Sy,orSxy.However,thiswoulddo
nothingforTX,TY,andTXYwhichdependontheelementcoordinatesystemandaregeneratedinanElementTable.
Ileavethetopicofwhethertoplotsurfaceormidplaneshellstressestothereadertodetermine.Toomuchisindustryor
applicationdomainspecific.Hint:Checkmidplaneplusbothshellsurfacestresses.Surfacestressesandstrainscancauselocal
18/46
5/9/2016
bending,cracking,breakingofprotectivecoatings,fatigue,andimplypossibleoverloadorpryingofweldsandfasteners,and
canhighlightothertroubles.
Tip26:NodalCoupling(CP)versusRigidRegion(CERIG):
Ihaveseenanalystsmistakenlyusenodalcouplingwhererigidregionconstraintequationsshouldhavebeenemployed.(The
nodesconcernedwerenotatthesamelocationinspace.)Rigidregionconstraintlockstogetheraselectedsetofnodessothat
theytranslateANDrotateinspaceasiftheywerelockedtogetherbyaninfinitelystiffstructure.Nodalcouplinglockstogether
selecteddegreesoffreedom(translationand/orrotation)individually,sothatthesamedegreeoffreedomvaluewillresultfor
thenodesinthecoupledset.Nodalcouplingwillnotcombinetherotationsandtranslationsthatarenecessarytoimplyrotation
asarigidbodyinspace.
NotethatrigidregionconstraintmaynotbeappropriateforLargeDisplacement,whenthedisplacementrotationsare
significant(sin(theta)differingfromtheta,etc.).ThisisbecauseANSYSusesalinearapproximationtotherigidbodyrotation
matrix.Arigidregiongroupingcanbeimpliedbytyingnodestogetherwithextremelystiffbeamelements(zeromassbeam
elementsafewordersofmagnitudestifferthanthestructuretowhichtheyareattached.)Thebeamelementsshouldhavethe
advantagethattheyworkunderLargeDisplacement.Thebeamelementsshouldnotbetoostiff,orillconditionedmatrices
couldresult.Ifthebeamsareofverywidelyvaryinglengths,thensomemaybetoostiff,otherstooflexiblerememberthat
flexibilityisproportionaltolengthcubed.
Iranamodelinwhichaboutonethousandbeamelementswereusedtopositiongapelements.Thesebeamelementswould
ideallyhavebeeninfinitelystiff.Ineededelements,insteadofnodalcouplingorconstraintequations,becauseofthermal
expansionconsiderations.Thebeamelementswerewidelyvaryinginlength.Thiscreatedsolvertrouble,untilIwroteamacro
thatassignedeachbeamelementauniqueREALvalue,whichsetvaluesforeachBEAM4'sIxx,Iyy,Izz,andAreaasa
functionoftheelement'slength.Ifounditsufficienttosettheirstiffnessacoupleofordersofmagnitudestifferthatcontact
stiffnessforthegapelements.
Turningonthesymbolsfornodalcouplingandfornodalconstraintequationsisveryhelpfulinreviewingthecorrectnessofa
model.
Tip27:VibrationModeswithPrestress:
CalculationofnaturalfrequenciesandmodesofvibrationCANbedonewithprestressingofthestructureunderANSYS.
Thereisa"PRESTRESS"flagtosetundermodalanalysis.ThisisavailableinthedialogboxforModalAnalysisOptions.
First,doastaticanalysiswiththeprestressflagset.ExitSolution(clickFinishorenter"/fini").ReenterSolution,anddoa
modalanalysiswiththeprestressflagsetagain.ThisdoesnotseemtoworkwhenthestressrunisdonewithLarge
Displacementactivated.
Ileavethequestionofhowaperformerplaysmusicwithahandsawandaviolinbowasan"exerciseforthereader":)
Tip28:CreatingNewElementsbyCopyingorReflectingExistingStructure:
Inordertocreatenewelementsbyreflectingorcopyingexistingelements,thereareafewthingstodo.First,selectthe
elementstobecopiedandgettheirnodeswithNSLE.Copyorreflectthenodes,notingthenodalnumberoffsetthatwillbe
usedwriteitdown.Copyorreflecttheelements,usingthenodaloffsetnumberthatyouwrotedown.ANSYSshoulddefault
toanodaloffsetnumberequaltoyourhighestnumberednode.Ifyoumakeitsmaller,youruntheriskofchangingthelocation
ofnodesthatalreadyexist,resultinginalovelymess.IfyouarerunningsomethinglikeANSYS/EDyoumaywantto
compressyournodenumbersfirst,forifanodenumberresultsthatexceedstheANSYS/EDlimit,theprogramwillterminate
immediately(themorerecentANSYSrevisionsmaygiveanonfatalwarningmessageandquitsometimelaterifyoudon't
cleanup).Youcouldcompressthenodenumbers,andthenmaketheoffsetnumberequaloneplusthedifferencebetweenthe
maximumnodenumberofthewholemodelandthelowestnodenumberofthosenodestobecopiedorreflected.Youcanfind
thesenodenumberswith*GETcommands.(Rememberthatcompressingnodeorelementnumberswilldestroy
synchronizationwithLoadStepfiles.)
Thesamenodaloffsetnumberwillneedtobeusedifnodalcouplingistobecopiedaswell.Inordertocopynodalcoupling,
use"GenerateCoupledDOFSetswithsameDOF"forwhichyouwillneedthesamenodaloffsetnumber.Doareplottosee
thenewlycreatednodalcoupling.Caution:Besurethatifnodesweredeletedearlier,thatnodalcouplingequationsthatinthe
pastincludedthosedeletednodeswerealsodeleted.Ifyouforget,youmaygetaprettymess.
Rememberthatiftherearenodesontheplaneofreflection,newnodeswilloverlaythem.Mergecommandsmaybewanted
forthenodesonthereflectionplane.Nowthetrickypart:elementslyinginthereflectionplane(shellelementswilldothis)get
generatedwiththenodeorderreversed,becauseofthemirrorimaging.TheyWillNotMergewiththeelementfromwhich
theywerereflected.Theymayhavetobedeleted,dependingonwhatyouaretryingtoaccomplish.Alternatively,donotselect
elementsthatlieintheplaneofreflectionwhenreflectingthestructure.Youstillneedtoreflectthenodesontheplaneof
reflection,inordertoreflecttheelementsthatwilljointhemtotheremainderofthereflectedstructure,sothenodalmergewill
stillbeneeded.
Tip29:AddingtoaModelComprisedofElementsandNodesOnly:
19/46
5/9/2016
Itmayhappenthatamodelthatconsistsofnodesandelementsonlyhastohaveasectionreplaced,orrequirestheadditionof
morestructure.Thewaytoattachnewgeometryontoexistingnodesandelementsisto:(1)Placekeypointsonthenodesonto
whichnewgeometryistobebuilt(i.e.grafted).(2)Jointhesekeypointswithlines.(3)Setmeshdensityalongtheselinesto
onlyoneelement.(4)Buildnewgeometryoutwardfromthesekeypointsandlines.Thisgetsmessyifyouarebuildingsolids.
(5)Meshthenewgeometry.(6)Selectthenodes(newandold)alongtheinterfacebetweentheoldnodesandthenodesofthe
newgeometry.(7)MergeONLYthesenodesalongtheinterfaceusingtheNUMMRG,NODEcommand.Alternatively(much
moreworkunlessamacroiswrittenortheCPINTFcommandisusedcorrectly),fullycouplethePAIRSofnodeswiththeCP
command.Intheeventofelementswithmidsidenodes,lineswillhavetobecreatedcurvedsothatasinglelinespansthree
keypointsplacedonthethreenodesalongtheedgeofanelement.Itisprobablyadvisabletoconnectelementswithmidside
nodestootherelementswithmidsidenodes.
Thisattachesthenewgeometryandmeshtotheoldelementsandnodes.Besuretodoublecheckthatthemerginghasbeen
donecorrectlyandaccordingtoyourintentionsIhavefoundthistobeasurprisinglyerrorproneoperation.
Tip30:ZeroMassBeamElementsFormRigidRegion:
Ananalystcoulduseverystiffbeamelements(afewordersofmagnitudestifferthanthesurroundingstructure)inorderimply
arigidregiongroupingofnodes,whichworksunderLargeDisplacement(aCERIGgroupdoesnotworkwithlarge
displacement).ThisisanoldFEAtrickitisnotperfect.Aseparatematerialshouldbecreatedforthesebeams,andbegiven
zeromass(setthematerialdensitytozero)sothatnogravitationalorotherinertialloadactsonthematerial.Athermal
expansioncoefficientshouldbeinputifappropriateitwouldusuallybeidenticaltothecoefficientvalueforthestructurethat
itapproximates.
Iwroteamacrotocreatearigidregionusingbeamelements.Itiscalledafterthesetofnodestobeconnectedisselected.The
lowestnumberedofthesetofnodesisattachedtoeachoftheothernodesinthesetbyabeamelement.Thebeamelementto
usehastobesetupinadvance,andtheappropriateMAT,REAL,andTYPEsetbytheuser.Amacrolikethisisveryfastto
run.Caution:Suchamacrowouldbecomecomplexifitcheckedforduplicatenodesatthefirstnodelocation(ANSYScan't
usezerolengthbeams),andcheckedforwidelyvaryingbeamlengths.Thisisnotaguaranteedmethod.
Tip31:TurnoffSymbolsWhenChangingaModelafterSolution:
IfyouhaverunSOLVE,theresultsdatabasewillbefullofdata.Ifyouthenchangeamodel,andcreateanythingthatplotsa
symbol,allsymbolsbecomeactive,andplotsbecomeextremelyslow.Turnoffsymbolswith/PBC,ALL,,0tospeedthingsup.
IputthiscommandintheToolboxforconvenience.Ihavefoundthatplottingcanbecomeslowwithverylargemodelswhen
loadshavebeenapplied,andevenwhenappliedanddeleted.PresumablyANSYSischeckingtoseeifanysymbolsshouldbe
shown.Theplottingspeededupconsiderablywhensymbolswereturnedoffwith"/PBC,ALL,,0"eventhoughtherewere,in
fact,nosymbolstobeplotted.
Tip32:Arethe"FreeFree"VibrationModesRelevant?:
Simplesupportsonastructuremaybeappropriateforstaticanalysisandgravityloading,sincethestructurewill"sink"until
thesimplesupportreactsenoughtowithstandtheappliedload.Ifamodalvibrationisexcited,smallamplitudevibrationsmay
resultinverylittleresponsefromthesupport,andvibrationsimilartoastructurethatisfreeinspacemayresult(thisis
obviouslyveryproblemdependent).Ifso,itmaybedesirabletorunamodalvibrationanalysiswithnoconstraints.Morethan
sixmodesmustberequested,sincethefirst6representthefreetranslationandrotation,andgiveZeroeigenvalues.Abetter
approachwouldbetocharacterizetheflexibilityoftheconstraintpoints.Withsomestructures,youmaygetafewsurprises,as
torsionalandothervibrationmodesappear.
Tip33:SelectingaCADorFEASystemCoverYourself
ItiscommontoevaluateafewCADorFEApackageswhentryingtomaketherightchoiceforapurchase.Watchoutforthis
stunt:(I'veseenitdone,andbeenthreatenedwithitonce(Ilaughedather).)Alosingvendorwritesalettertoyourboss,or
eventotheheadofyourcompany,claimingthattheengineersareincompetent(stupid,uninformed,can'tspell,andsoon)and
makingahugemistake.Ifthebossisnotanengineerandcannotunderstandtheissues,thiscouldgetawkward.(Certain
Dilbertcartoonscometomind.)Warnyourboss(es)inadvancethatafewvendorspullthismoveandthatyouandyourgroup
willevaluatetheproductsinathoroughmanner.Writedownsomecriteriaandyourassessments.Also,becarefulthatyou
cannotbeaccusedofleakinginformationunfairlyfromonevendortoanotherdateyourcorrespondencecarefully,andwork
throughyourpurchasingdepartmentifthatisappropriateatyourfirm.Somesalestypesareverygreedyfortheir
commissions,andpetulantwhentheylose.(Nameswillnotbementioned,toprotecttheguilty.Ifyou'vebeenaroundtheblock
acoupleoftimes,perhapsyoucanmakeafewguesses.)
(TheANSYSvendorI'vedealtwithhasbeenveryprofessional.)
20/46
5/9/2016
Tip34:CreatingLinesPerpendicularto,oratAngletoExistingLines
Whencreatingstructuresinthe/PREP7portionofANSYS,Ifindthatthecommandsthatcreate
linesthatareperpendiculartoexistinglines,oratanangletoexistinglines,areextremelyuseful.
LookatthecommandsLANG,LTAN,L2ANG,aswellastheothers.Thesecommandsbreak
lineswherenewlinesintersect,eventhoughtheoriginallinesarealreadyattachedtoareas.Since
Ioftenmodelshellsthataretoactasiftheyareweldedtogether,Ineedthelinestobeshared
whereareascontacteachother.ThesecommandsgivetheconnectivityIneed.
Thecommandthatmeetsanotherlineatananglemaydobetterifitisenteredmanually,withthe
firstguessofthecontactpointsetat0.0,0.5,or1.0,dependingonyourintention.Thisoften
succeedswhentheinterfacecommandfails.
Tip35:Usethe/UIcommandinYourANSYSToolbartoBringupGUIDialogBoxes
Takealookatthe/UIcommandinANSYS.YoucanuseitinyourToolbartoactivatecertainGUIdialogboxeswithoneclick
simplicity,insteadoffindingyourwaythoughthemenusystem.IsometimesgetoddresultsfromtheHardCopycommand
whenIdothisIhavenoideawhy.
Tip36:ReactionForce,NodalForce,andLoadPaths
Iworkedonamodelsubjecttoaerodynamicpressureandgravityload.Weneededtoknowtheloadthatthestructurewould
applytoitsfoundations.PrintingtheReactionForcewouldgivethisvalue,howeverthe+/signisinthedirectionoftheforce
thattheconstrainednode(ornodes)appliesTOthestructure.IfnodesareselectedwiththethreecommandsNSEL,S,D,UX$
NSEL,A,D,UY$NSEL,A,D,UZtheNodalForceattheconstrainednodescanbeprinted.Thisistheforcewithwhichthe
nodespressonthesupports.(NOTE:Youmayneedtoincludenodeswherethereareconstraintsonrotation,dependingon
whatyouaremodeling.)
WARNING:Anumberofthingscangowrongwiththisapproach.
1.Ifyouaskfornodalforceswithoutlimitingthenodeselectiontonodeswherethereareconstraints,youwillgetnodal
forceswhereverforcesandpressureshavebeenappliedtoyourstructure.(Forthecurious,printingnodalforceswhen
onlypressurehasbeenappliedtoshellandhighorderelementswillillustratethatFEAsoftwareinputsacomplexsetof
forcesandmomentsbecauseofhowtheelementsarederivedfromfirstprinciples.Whatisbeingprintedistheforce
withwhichthenodesreacttotheforcesinputfromoutsideifamomentisinput,anodal"force"momentisoutputin
reaction.)
2.Ifaninputforcehasbeenappliedtoaconstrainednode,thenodalforceandthereactionforcemagnitudeswilldiffer.
WhenItestedthis,thereactionforcethatANSYSlistedwasmodifiedbythepresenceofaforceapplieddirectlytoa
constrainednode,whereasthenodalforce(thatisbasedonlyonelementdeformation)wasnotaffected.
3.IMPORTANT:Alltheelementstowhichtheselectednodeisattachedmustbeselectedinordertogetthetotalforce
withwhichthenodepushesontheoutsideworld(useESLNafterselectingthenodes).ThegenerationofNodalForce
(andReactionForce,ifIremembercorrectly)isdeterminedfromthedeformationandstiffnessofattachedelements.If
elementsattachedtoanodeofinterestarenotselected,thenthecontributionofthoseelementstotheforceatthenodeis
notincludedandwillbemissing.
4.Caution:Ifyouhaveusedarigidregionwiththenodeofinterest,thelackofelementdeformationmeansthatyouwill
NOTgettheNodalForceorReactioncorrectlyyoumayneedtoworkfromthesetofnodeswheretherigidregion
attachestotheflexiblepartofthestructure.I'mnotsurewhatkindofeffectsnodalcouplingwouldhave.
TherearevariousotherusestowhichyoucanputNodalForce.YoucanplottheNodalForcevectorsalongwithyourmodel
(seethe/PBCcommand),afterSOLVE,givingvisualcuesduringyourreview.YoucanuseNODALFORCEtofindoutabout
theloadbeingcarriedincertainLoadPaths:
Determinewheretopositiona"cut"inthemodel.Locateitwhereyouwanttodeterminetheforcecarriedacrossthecut.
The"cut"shouldfollowapathalongtheedgeofasetofadjoiningelements.SelectalltheelementsonONEsideofthe
"cut".
Selectthenodesonthe"cut"sideofthoseelements.
PrintingtheNodalForce(forcesonly)willtellyouabouttheforcesthatyourselectedelementsapplytothosenodes.
Thesumthatisprintedtellsyouthetotalforcecarriedacrossthe"cut"intheX,Y,Zdirections,basedontheselected
elements.
Caution:Gettingthemomentacrossthecutisnotsoeasy,becausemomentisdeterminedwithrespecttoanaxis.You
wouldhavetodoextraworktopursuemomentacrossacut,determiningyour"neutral"axis,andusingothercommands.
See,forexample,ANSYSmanualsinformationontheSPOINTcommand.
NotemyearliercommentTip25onmakingloadpathsvisibleinshellmodels.Forfurtherinformation,readtheANSYS
manualsontheFSUMandNFORCEcommands.
Tip37:InputtingTemperatureswithBF,BFE,andTUNIFinStructuralAnalysis
21/46
5/9/2016
AsdiscussedbyANSYSinChapter2.6oftheElementsManual,BodyLoads(temperaturesforstructuralanalysisthatcause
thermalstrainsandaffecttemperaturedependentmaterialproperties)maybeinputinanodalformatoranelementformat.
"Eitherthenodalortheelementloadingformatmaybeusedforanelement,withtheelementformattakingprecedence.Body
Loadsaredesignatedinthe"InputSummary"ofeachelement."ThismeansthatifbothBFEandBFareappliedtoanelement
anditsnodes,andtheinputsdiffer,theBFEsettingwillgovern.Iftemperatureisinputonanodalbasis,thetemperatureinput
atanodewillinfluencealltheattachedelements.Iftemperatureisinputonanelementbasis,thetemperature(s)inputwill
influenceonlytheelementtowhichitwasapplied.ThecommandsTUNIFandBFUNIFcanbeusedtosetallnodestoone
defaulttemperaturethatdiffersfromthereferencetemperature.Then,BForBFEcommandscantousedonspecificregionsof
themodeltoputinothertemperatures.
Ifyouusepipingcommandstocreatepipeelements,andhaveappliedtemperatures,ANSYSwillapplythetemperaturesonan
elementbasis(tocheckthis,generateaLoadStepfileandinspectitscontents,orusetheBFLISTandBFELISTcommands).
Fortheuserapplyingtemperaturesdirectly,itcanbealittlesimplertoapplytemperaturesonanodalbasiswithBF,sincethe
nodescanbeselectedbylocation.InputtingtemperaturesonanelementbasiswithBFEpermitscontrolofthingssuchas
temperaturedifferencesbetweentheinsideandoutsideofpipeelements,orbetweenthetopandbottomofbeamelements.The
elementlistingintheElementsManualshouldbeconsultedbeforeapplyingtemperatureswithBFE.AsIdiscussedelsewhere,
ifyouchangetemperaturesthatwerepreviouslysetwithBFE,thetemperatureshavetobechangedatallthelocationswithin
eachelementtowhichtemperatureswereapplied.Otherwise,theoldtemperatureswillstillbethere.Youmaywanttocleanup
withaBFEDELEorothercleanupcommandbeforestarting.TheBFDELEandBFEDELEcommandsonlyactonselected
nodesandelementsifyouwanttoremovealltemperatureapplication,selectthefullmodelfirst.Bewaryofwhathappens
whenyouuseLoadStepfiles.
Tip38:ANSYSToolbarUse
TheANSYSToolbarcanbeveryhelpfulingiving"oneclick"accesstofrequentlyusedcommands.Toolbarbuttonscanalso
callmacros,orthefunctionformofcommands,forexampleFnc_Pl_Symbolstobringupthedialogboxforsettingsymbols.If
youwanttogetfancy,atoolbarbuttoncouldbeusedtoactivateanalternativetoolbar.
Inthetoolbarshownhere,avarietyofbuttonshavebeenenabled.Someofthecaptionsarealittle
crypticthisisbecausethecaptionsarelimitedtoonly8characters.Thecommandthatgetsexecuted
cannotincludethe$sign.Consequently,onlyonecommandcanbeexecuted,however,amacrocan
becalledinordertoperformacomplexsetofinstructions.Thetoolbareditingisbroughtupfromthe
menuitem"MenuCtrls".Intheexampletoolbarshownhere,thebuttonsarenotinahighlylogical
order.Inordertomodifythebuttonsequence,savethetoolbar(Isuggesttheunimaginativefilename
"toolbar")andreorderthelinesinthatfilewithatexteditor.Keeptheeventualsizingofyourtoolbar
inmind.Theexamplehereissizedforsixrowsdeep,andsevencolumnswide.Usethe"SaveMenu
Layout"menuselectiontosavethelayoutofallofyourANSYSwindowsincludingthetoolbar
shape.(Thissettingisdestroyedifyoumodifythe"GUIconfiguration"underyourANSYS
Interactivestartupdialogbox.)Whenyouarehappywiththelayoutofyourtoolbar,youcanappend
thetoolbarfile'scontentstotheendofthe"Start.ans"filelocatedintheANSYS"DOCU"
subdirectory.
Tip39:ANSYSPipingElements
TheuseofANSYSpipingelements,Pipe16andPipe18,cansimplifytheworkrequiredtocreatemodelsofpipingsystems
thatwillsatisfycertaincoderequirements.Pipingcommandscanbeusedin/PREP7todirectlycreatemodelsofpiping.In
usingpipingcreationcommands,auserworksouttheintersectionpointsoftherunsofpipingasiftherearesharpanglebends.
Eachrunofpipeisenteredasdx,dy,dz,creatingPipe16elements,andthenaradiusofcurvatureatthepreviousintersection
canbeapplied,creatingPipe18elements.ThePipe18elementsaretakenoutofthetwoPipe16elementsthatmetatthelast
cornerintersection.IfthesetwoPipe16elementsaretoosmalltoencompassthePipe18bendelements,difficultieswillresult.
IftheuserisdefiningUbends,itiseasytohavezerolengthPipe16elementsgenerated.Myapproachtothisistoinspectthe
modelforzerolengthPipe16elements,anddeletethem,afterImakesurethatallpipenodesaremerged.Iuseamacroto
inspectthemodelanddothedeletions.Checksareincludedinthemacro,becausePipe18elementsalwaysreturnazero
length.IhavealsoseenusersdoaUbendwithasmallextraspacesothataverysmallPipe16elementwillremainbetween
thetwo90degreebendsthatmakeupthe180degreeUbend,avoidingazerolengthelementproblem.
Tolistorplotusefulstressinformationfromthepipingmodelusuallyrequiresputtingselectedresultsdataintoelementdata
tables,andtheuseofappropriatePLLScommands.Fortunately,ANSYSincludesmanyoutputpossibilitiesforthetwopiping
elementtypes,sotypicalpipingcoderequirementscanbemet.Seetheelementmanualfortheseelementsforinformationon
22/46
5/9/2016
theavailableoutputdata.
Forobviousreasons,Ileaveproperuseofdesigncodeswithinpipinganalysisasan"exerciseforthereader.":)
PipingcreationinANSYSincludesthepossibilityofaddedmassduetofluidinthepipes,andfrominsulationaddedtothe
piping.Theinsulationadditionissimpletheusercaninputthicknessanddensity.Thisletstheaddedmasspresenceofheat
exchangerfinsbeeasilyfakedbyinputtingtheproductoffin_thicknessxfins_per_inchxfin_material_densityasthe
"insulation"density,andfinheightasthe"insulation"thickness.(Substitutetheappropriatedimensionforfins_per_inch,etc.
foryoursystemofunits.)
ThedeflectionbehaviorofpipeelementsisbasedonANSYSbeamelements.Ifaccuratevibrationbehavioristobemodeled,
atleastseveralpipeelementswillbeneededbetweensupports.Ifaccurategravityinduceddeflectionsandstressarewanted,
betterresultswillcomefromtheuseofaconsistentmassmatrix,ifelementdensitybetweensupportsislow.
DevelopinganunderstandingofthefunctionoftheANSYSelementcreationcommands(BRANCH,RUN,BEND,andsoon)
willrequirecreatingsomeelementswithmaterialanddimensionalinformation,thenreviewingwhatelementTYPEand
REALdatahasbeencreatedinthemodeldatabase.Modelreviewisenhancedbyplottingtheelementswiththe/ESHAPE
optionactive.
Wherepipingisconnectedwithslidingsupportstotheoutsideworld,theuseofgapelementsmaybeneededifslidingfriction
istobeincludedinthemodel.ANSYSdoesnotdifferentiatebetweenstaticfrictionandslidingfrictioncoefficients,soa
reasonableandconservativevalueforcoefficientoffriction(aswellascontactstiffnessofthegapelement)willhavetobe
determinedbytheanalyst.Iftherearethermalexpansionsinthepiping,stressespredictedbythemodelwillusuallybe
reducedifthegapsinthesupportstructureareincludedinthemodel(dependingonthenatureofthestructure)ratherthan
having"tight"fitsattheslidingconnections.
Tip40:GraphicalOutputfromANSYS
IfyoustartupANSYSunderWindowsNTwith"win32"selectedforgraphics,thestressplotswillbeshaded.Ifyouselect
"win32c"forthegraphics,thestressplotswillnotbeshaded,andwillusuallylookbetterwhenplottedtopaper,especially
whenplottedfromANSYSwithHardCopytoinkjetprinters.Theycanbeselectedwiththecommands/SHOW,WIN32and
/SHOW,WIN32CwhenusingtheGUI.
PlottingtothescreenwindowwithZbufferingasthehiddensurfacecontrolcangiveverysatisfactoryandoftenquicker
results.HardcopiesoftheseZbufferplots,however,willlook"pixelated",beinglimitedtoacoarseresolution.Betterlooking
hardcopiestopaperwillusuallyresultifthescreenissetto"PreciseHidden"oreventoCentroidalhiddensurfacecontrol.
Thisisusuallytrueofplotssenttoafile,forsubsequentprocessingwiththeANSYSDISPLAYprogram.
Plotscanberedirectedtofilesbyusingthe/SHOWcommand.ThispermitstheDISPLAYprogramtodovariousthingswith
theresults,includingthegenerationofanimations.UnderWindowsNT,ananimationcanbegeneratedasanAVIfile.
Ioccasionallyfindithelpfultogenerateananimationfilebasedonasinglestressplotofaloadstep,inwhichIspinthemodel
aboutthescreenXorYaxis.Youcanusethe/ANGLEcommandandthe/REPLOTcommandtoaccomplishthis.Asimple
macrodoes/REPLOTcallswiththemodelsetataseriesofanglesfrom0to360degrees.Youcanevenexecutethiscommand
ononelineusingthe"$"symboltoseparatethecommands.Thecommand
"*DO,III,0,355,5$/ANGLE,ALL,III,YS,0$/REPLOT$*ENDDO"willachievethisforyou.Thescalingofthedisplayshould
NOTbesetwith/ZOOM,OFForelsetheimagewill"moveinandout"inordertofillthescreenastheviewisrotatedset
thezoomlevelmanuallywithpickingyoumaywanttomoveoutsothatthemodelfitsinallviews.Youmayneedto
experiment.Nodeplotswithoutsymbolsareaquickwaytoassessthebehaviorwhiletesting.Iftheplotshavebeenredirected
toafilewhenthiscommandisexecuted,theplotsinthefilecanbeanimatedbytheANSYSDISPLAYprogram.
ATtheANSYS5.3level,andpresumablyabove,youcandoa/SHOW,VRMLplottogeta3DVRMLfileproducedofa3D
modelplot.Thiscouldbeastresscontourplotofa3Dmodel.WiththerightoptionsactivatedforagoodVRMLviewer
pluggedintoaWebbrowser,thestressesonthe3Dmodelcanbereviewedatanyviewinganglewiththepositioningcontrola
VRMLviewer.Thisoughttobeparticularlyinterestingonacomputerwithafast3Dgraphicsaccelerator.
ThereareutilitiesthatcanconvertaPostscriptoutputfilefromtheANSYSDISPLAYprogramintoabitmapimagefile.A
freeconversionprogramisGhostscript,onceyoufigureouthowtouseit.TheusershouldgetafrontendfortheGhostscript
program,foreaseofuse.
UnderWindowsNT,theAlt/PrintScreenkeycombinationwillcopyawindowtotheClipboard.Thiscanbeusedtocapturean
ANSYSgraphicswindowforpastingintoawordprocessordocument,orintoanimageprocessingprogramforconversiontoa
GIForotherbitmapfile.GIFfilescanbeusedinWEBpagestoshowtheresultsofANSYSwork.IrecommendGIFover
JPEGfilesforimagesfromANSYS,becauseGIFfilespreciselyreproduce256,16,and2colorimages(youhavetoreducethe
colorsto256orfewerlevelsintheimageprocessingprogram,oracceptthedefaultcolorreductionusedwhentheGIFfileis
generated.)BeforecapturingtheGraphicswindowofANSYS,setitssizetoyoursatisfaction.Bitmapimagesizechangesin
animageprocessingprogramarenotsatisfactorywiththistypeofgraphicaloutput.Ifyouwanttogetreallyfancy,generatea
GIFfilethatcontainsananimationofaANSYSmodel.(AnimatedGIFfilescanbegeneratedfromindividualimageswith
23/46
5/9/2016
softwarethatyoucanfindontheWeborpurchase.)
ResizingoftheANSYSgraphicswindowunderWindowsNTispainfulifamodelhasbeenplotted,becauseANSYSwants
tokeepreplottingtheimageasthewindowedgeorcornerisdragged.ThisproblemgoesawayifyousettheWindowsNT
DisplayPropertiestoNOTshowwindowcontentswhiledragging.IkeepmyPCpermanentlysetthiswayforthisreason.
Tip41:CheckNodalLoadsatBolts,Rivets,SpotWeldsandLinks
Whereverconnectionbybolts,rivets,orspotweldshasbeenrepresentedbyvarioussimplificationsorrepresentationsinan
ANSYSmodel,theloadonthoseconnectionsshouldbechecked,andcomparedwithallowables.Spotweldreviewmay
requireassessmentofmoments(especiallyaboutanaxisperpendiculartothesheetsthatarespotweldedtogether),aswellas
assessmentofforces.Onewaytodothisistoselecttheappropriatenode(s)attheconnection,selectelementson"oneside"of
thenode(s),andchecknodalloads.Theconnectiondevicesshouldnotbeoverloaded.Theholeinwhichaboltorrivetis
placedmustnotbeoverloadedortoonearanoutsideedgeofasheetorplate,either.Additionally,buildingcodesusually
forbidorsubstantiallylimit"prying"loadsonboltedandrivetedconnections.IftheFEAmodelhasgooddetail,includinggap
orcontactelements,ahighpryingloadcanbedemonstratedinsomemodels(neverassumeyourFEAmodelwill
automaticallyshowyoualltroublespots).
Similarly,linksor"spars"thatareloadedshouldbecheckedforstress,andbecheckedforbuckling.Sincealinkwillbe
representedbyoneelementthatispinconnectedattheends,andonlycrosssectionareaisentered,ANSYSwillnotgenerate
bucklinginformationaboutthelink,noteveninaLargeDisplacementanalysis.Theusermustdosomeworktocompare
compressiveloadwithcriticalbucklingload(useagoodmarginofsafety).Ausercouldwriteamacrotostepthroughalllink
elements,identifyingthecompressivestressandforce,andcalculatingbucklinginformation.TheANSYSLink10element
supportsatensiononlyandacompressiononlycapability.Whereitisnotknowninadvancewhetheralllinkswillremainin
tension,andthelinksareslender,thiselementcouldbeusedtoimplythatnolinkcansupportcompressionforwhatmaybea
"worstcase"evaluationofsomemodels.Anexamplewouldbethestaysthatsupportthemastonasailboat,withpre
tensioningimpliedwithinitialstrain.(Ifthestaysarewovenropeorsteelcable,gettingarepresentativecrossectionforthelink
elementswillrequiresomeextrawork.)
SpotweldrepresentationinlargestructuresisusuallyaninexactscienceinFEAmodeling.Spotweldswillbefound,for
example,inmanyautomobilebodystructures.Plugweldsareastrongeralternative,applicabletothickersteelsheetsand
plates.Thecrudestandquickestrepresentationofspotweldsistomergecoincidentnodesfromthetwojoinedlayerswhere
nodeshavebeenintentionallycreatedcoincidentatthespotweld.Alternatively,thenodescanbefullycoupledwiththeCP
commandiftheyarecoincident.TheycanbejoinedasarigidregionwithCERIGifthenodesareclosebutnottouchingas
whenshellelementsarekeptatthemidplanepositionoftwosheetsthatarespotweldedtogether.(RememberthatCERIGis
validonlyinsmalldisplacementanalysiscouplingwithzeromassstiffbeamelementscouldbesubstitutediflarge
displacementswereneeded.)Theshellnodescanbejoinedwithabeamelementthathaspropertiesthatreflectthediameterof
thespotweld.Theroughestapproximationwillmergeorcouplejustonenodepair.Ifnodalcouplingisused,rotationsshould
becoupledaswellastranslations,forspotweldrepresentation.NOTE:Withshellelements,readthe"drillingmode"
commentsintheANSYSElementsManualitmaybenecessarytosetaKEYOPTvaluetotransmitrotationandtorque
aboutanaxisperpendiculartotheshellelementswhenaspotweldiscrudelyrepresentedbysinglenodepaircoupling,
merging,CERIG,orbeamelements.Contactelementsbetweenthejoinedshellsormaterialsmaywantconsideration.Exactly
whattodoforspotweldrepresentationisveryproblem,industry,andmaterialdependent.Theseveryapproximatetechniques
telluslittleornothingaboutstress,fatigue,orfracturepossibilitiesnearorattheweld.Moreelaboratemodeling(morenodes
andelements,andspecialelementtypes)ofeachspotweldcouldgivemoreinformationaboutlocalstresses,whenlocal
stressesmatter.Studyingthe"crack"thatishiddenbetweenthesheetmetallayersinaspotweldisan"advancedtopic"
discussthiswithanexpertorconsultant.Idoubtthatyouwouldfindmanyspotweldsusedwithaluminum,notonlybecause
ofthedifficultyofweldingaluminum,butalsobecauseofthefatigueconsiderationsconsiderhowcommonlyaircraftuse
rivetsandmodernadhesives.
ThereisadocumentonspotweldfatigueandFEAontheMSC/Nastranwebsite.(Thereisavarietyofothergoodreadingat
thesite,too.)TakealookatthepaperinPDFformatbyHeyesandFermer,which,althoughitisMSC/Nastranrelated,is
interestingandincludesthefollowingreferences:
Rupp,A.,Strzel,K.andGrubisic,V."ComputerAidedDimensioningofSpotWeldedAutomotiveStructures".SAETechnicalPaper950711,1995.
Smith,R.A.andCooper,J.F."Theoreticalpredictionsofthefatiguelifeofshearspotwelds."FatigueofWeldedStructures,Ed.S.J.Maddox,pp.287293,The
WeldingInstitute,1988.
BritishStandardsInstitution.CodeofPracticeforFatigueDesignandAssessmentofSteelStructures.BS7608,1993.
Radaj,D."LocalFatigueStrengthCharacteristicValuesforSpotWeldedJoints."EngineeringFractureMechanics,Vol.37,No.1,pp.245250,1990.
Sheppard,S.D.andStrange,M.E."FatigueLifeEstimationinResistanceSpotWelds:InitiationandEarlyGrowthPhase."FatigueandFractureofEngineering
MaterialsandStructures,Vol.15,No.6,pp.531549,1992.
Sheppard,S.D."EstimationofFatiguePropagationLifeinResistanceSpotWelds."ASTMSTP1211,AdvancesinFatigueLifePredictionTechniques,M.R.Mitchell
andR.W.Landgraf,Eds.,pp.169185,ASTMPhiladelphia,1993.
Heyes,P.,Dakin,J.andStJohn,C."TheAssessmentandUseofLinearStaticFEStressAnalysesforDurabilityCalculations."SAETechnicalPaper951101,1995.
Ihaveneverworkedinaerospace,butIrecentlyhadalookinsideaoldhelicopterthatwasonpublicdisplay.Inadditionto
rivets,whatwaseitheracaulkingoranadhesiveappearedtohavebeenusedbetweensomeribsandtheoutershell.Thismay
preventcorrosioninthegap,andhelpreducevibrationandfrettingorgalling.Ifitispurelyasoftcaulking,itmightbeignored
24/46
5/9/2016
inFEA,butifitfunctionsasanadhesive,theloadontherivetsisprobablyreduced.Presumablythemanufacturerhas
standardsforthistypeofdesign.
Tip42:UseQUERYtoCheckResultswithPicking
In/POST1the"QueryResults"capabilityappliedtonodesmakesiteasytocheckonresults(stresses,strains,deflections,etc.)
bypickingnodes.ToseeanimageofthisinactionClicktoSeeImageanduseyourbrowser'sBackbuttontoreturn.Forthe
shellelementillustrated,theresultwillbereportedfortheTop,Middle,orBottom,accordingtohowtheSHELLcommand
wasissued(theusualrulesastowhatconstitutestheTopandBottomofashellelementapply).Itwilldothisevenif
PowerGraphicsisactivefortheplotonthescreen.Notethatthenodalstressesarebasedonaveragesifmorethanoneelement
thatisconnectedtoanodeisselected.Youcaninspecttheconsequenceofelementselectiononnodalstresseasilywiththis
feature.Theelementqueryreturnsonlydataonenergyanderrorestimation.
Tip43:LoadsonGeometricEntitiesOverwriteLoadsonNodesandElementsEasyErrortoMake
My"dumbmoveoftheweek"wastoretrieveanoldmodelofabeamwithredundantsupports,changetheloadonanode,and
rerunthemodel.Ithenupdatedtheelementtableresults,andusedPLLStoplottheresult,asshownbelow.Thisisaplotof
topsurfacebendingstress,withgravityloadingincluded.Bothappliedpointloadsandreactionsareshownascoloredarrows.
Stresscolorshavebeengrayscaledforprintingtoablackandwhitelaserprinter.Uponinspectionbyacoworker,henoticed
thattheresultswerethesameastheresultsthelasttimethemodelwasrun,underdifferentloading,amonthbefore.Whatwas
wrong?
Themodeldatabasefilehadbeensavedwiththeoriginalloadingandresults.Theoriginalmodelhadtheloadappliedtothe
keypoints.Ichangedtheloadonanode.WhenIranSOLVE,theloadonthekeypointOVERWROTEtheloadonthenode,
andIgottheoldresult.WhenIlistedtheappliedforceswithFLISTbeforerunningSOLVE,Isawmymodifiedloads.WhenI
listedtheappliedforceswithFLISTafterrunningSOLVE,IgottheOLDloadsonthenodes.Thesameprincipleappliesto
loadsonlines,areas,andvolumes.Presumably,ithappenswithapplieddisplacements,also.Sinceloadsongeometricentities
cannotbescaled,theremaybelittlereasontokeeptheloadsongeometricentitiesaftertheseloadshavebeentransferredto
nodesandelements,EXCEPTwhenmeshingmaybechangedinthefuture.Theuseofcomponentsisanalternativewayto
selectpartsofthemodelforloading.
Suggestion:Theusershouldaddawarningannotationstatingthatloadingisongeometricentities,beforearchivingamodel.
ShouldANSYSaddawarningmessageaboutSOLVEtransferringloadsfromgeometricentities,whichrequiresuser
acknowledgment?
Apotentiallydangerousmistakewatchforit!
Tip44:UseComponentsforLoadInput,andforResultsReview
Auserwritteninputfilecouldbeusedtoapplyloadstocomponentsthattheuserhasdefined.Anevenmoreconvenientuse
forcomponentsisforreviewingstressesduetoaload.Thecomponentscanbecalledupandstressesplottedwithouttheneed
todomanualselectionoverandoverforeachloadcase.Iwroteamacrothatautomaticallystepsthroughallcomponents,
plottingthestressesforeachcomponentfromacoupleofviewpoints,foreachloadcase.Whentheplotsweredivertedtoa
plotfile,thefilecouldbeusedinANSYSDISPLAYtoplotstressesforallcomponentsforallloadcases.Statementsinthe
macrowouldputthecomponentnameandweight(basedonvolumeonly)inanannotationthetitlealreadycontainedtheload
casename.
Tip45:SimpleSubstructuringExamplesBottomUpandTopDown
ANSYS/EDiscapableofonlyasmallnumberofMasterDegreesofFreedom(50thelasttimeIlooked),soanyuseof
substructuringinANSYS/EDwillhavetobedonewithaverysmallnumberofnodesformasterdegreeoffreedomuse.A2D
elementsuchasPLANE42maybebestformanysubstructureexperimentswithANSYS/ED.InLargeDisplacement
substructuring,rotationaldegreesoffreedomareneededatthenodes,andANSYS/EDwillonlyhandleverysmallnumbersof
nodes2DbeamsmaybebestforlearningexperimentswithLargeDisplacement.Theproblemwithusingbeamselements
forlearningisthatreviewofstressesismorecomplexelementtablesmustbeusedtoholdanddisplaybeamstress
information.Foranalternative,considerSHELL63elementswithveryfewMDOFnodes(8nodesx6DOF/node=48DOF),
inLargeDisplacementsubstructuringstudies.
25/46
5/9/2016
SubstructuringhasbecomemorerareinFEAwork,becauseofthecapacityofmoderncomputersforlargemodels.Thereare
stilltimeswhenitisdesirable,suchaswhengapelementsorcontactelementsareemployedinlargemodels,orwhen
extremelylargemodelsareinuse.Theuserwillhavetoemploysomeinsighttoselectsubstructuresinawaythatminimizes
theresultingnumberofdegreesoffreedomandwavefrontsize.Substructuringisarelativelytrickyprocedure,particularly
withmultiplesubstepsormultiplesubstructures.Forserioususe,theANSYSmanualsonsubstructuringshouldbepurchased
andstudiedindetail.
Thereaderisremindedthattheelementsinsideasubstructurearetreatedaslinear.Anynonlinearelementsgroupedinsidethe
substructurewillbetreatedasiftheywereintheirinitialcondition,withoutmaterialnonlinearity.Thetwosimpleexamples
belowdonotaddressuseofmultiplesubstructures,multipleloadcases,gloading,vibrations,andothercomplications.
Nonlinearity(LargeDisplacement)ismentionedonlybriefly.Ifyoudonotturntoexperthelpforsubstructurework,I
recommendsubstantialtestingofanytechniquesonsmallmodelsbeforedoinganyrealwork.
Warning:ReadtheANSYSElementsManualsectiononMATRIX50thesuperelement.Noteitswarningthatifgravityis
appliedduringthe"gen"passwhenthesuperelementiscreated,andgravityisappliedduringthe"use"pass,itwillbeapplied
TWICEtothesuperelementsubstructureDOUBLINGthegravityloadonthesuperelementregionofthemodel.Forthis
reason,gravityloadwouldhavetobeintroduced"carefully".Unfortunately,adetaileddesctiptionofthiscarefulapplicationis
notincludedinthebaseANSYSmanuals.Inthe"TopDown"examplebelow,Iset"ACEL"forthemodeltoZEROinallthree
globalcoordinatedirectionsduringthe"gen"partthatgeneratesthesuperelement.Iftheuserhasappliedgravitytothemodel
filethatisreadin,itwillbeappliedduringthe"use"partoftheanalysis,andsoonlyappliedoncetothesuperelement.This
mayaffecttheaccuracyofthesolutionIhavenotyetdonecomparisonrunstotestthis.Theexampledoesnotaddress
centrifugalloadingorothercomplications.Unfortunately,linearaccelerationloading(e.g.gravityloading)ismoreaccurately
representedwhenappliedasaloadvector.Thispresentsaproblemwhenthereareelementswithmassthatarenotincludedin
substructures.IhavenotyetdeterminedwhethergravitycouldbeappliedtoasuperelementintheGENpass,withouthavinga
superelementmassmatrixgeneratedifitcouldbedone,thenthe"accurate"applicationofgravityloadingtothe
superelementcouldbeaccomplishedwithoutcountinggravityloadtwice.Usingrotatedsuperelementsintroducesanotherset
ofproblemswiththedirectioninwhichloadsareappliedreadthemanuals.
NotethatnonzeroappliedDOFdisplacementsarenottobeappliedbyaloadvector,soMDOFshouldbeappliedtonodes
wherenonzeroDOFvaluesaretobeappliedduringtheanalysis.LoadsandconstraintscreatedintheGENpass(i.e.inaload
vector)cannotbechangedinthe"USE"pass,exceptbyuniformscaling.BrieftestingIdidsuggeststhatloadrampingDOES
workforloadvectorstheusershouldcheckthisindependently.Theexceptiontouniformscalingiswithrespecttoangular
motionreadtheANSYStutorialanduser'sguidemanualsonsubstructuring.
ThesubstructuringexamplesgiveninChapter4oftheANSYSAdvancedAnalysisTechniquesmanualleavesouttheroutine
stepsleaveouttoomany,inmyopinion.TheusershouldpurchaseanANSYSmanualandtutorialmanualonsubstructuring
beforedoingseriouswork.(ANSYS5.5hasaddedsomehelpfulcommentstoitsAdvancedUser'sGuideonSubstructuring.)
ThecommandEXPSOLhastobeaddedintheexpansionpassofthebottomupexampleinordertogetanyresultsinthe
expansionresultsfile.TheSFEcommandisneededonlyifloadswereappliedtothesuperelementifSFEisused,ithasto
pointtotheelementnumberofthesuperelementthatwasreadinwiththeSEcommandaswellastheappropriateloadstep
number.A*GETcommandcouldfindtheelementnumberofthesuperelementrightaftertheSEcommand.Thecommands
manualdoesnotexplainthisadequatelyinANSYS5.3.Thefollowingexamplesarefairlybrief.Inthebottomupexample,the
couplingcommandCPINTFisusedtojointhesuperelementwiththenonsuperelementportionofthemodel.Theexample
showsthestressesinthesuperelementaftertheexpansionpasscompletes.Theresultsoftheusepassaresavedinthefile
"use.db"forlaterreviewbytheuser.
BottomUpSubstructuringExample:
!Substructuringdemonstration*************************************
fini!finishwhateverwasactivepreviously
/clear!clearthedatabase
/title,SubstructureTechniqueTest
/filname,gen!filenameforthegenerationpass
/prep7!
et,1,shell63!elementtype1settoSHELL63
r,1,.05!shellis0.05thick
mp,ex,1,30000000!setvalueofE
blc4,.5,0.5,1.0,1.0!createarectangulararea
lesize,all,,,3,1,1!3elementsperlineusercanchangethis
amesh,1!meshtherectangle
fini
/solu
antype,subst!substructureanalysis
seopt,gen!generationpass
lsel,s,line,,2!lineatrightside
nsll,s,1!selectallnodesonline
m,all,all!makethesenodesMasterDegreesofFreedom
lsel,s,line,,4!lineatleftside
26/46
5/9/2016
nsll,s,1!selectallnodesonline
d,all,all!constrainnodesagainstallmotion
allsel
save!savethispartofmodelasgen.dbforexpansionpass
!thesaveneednotfollow"solve"
solve!generatesthegen.subfile
fini
/clear,nostart
/title,Shellelementsareattachedtoasuperelement
/filname,use!filenamefortheusepass
/prep7
et,1,50!elementtype1settosuperelementMATRIX50
type,1!settype1
se,gen!readinthesuperelementmatrixfromgenerationpass
!afterreadingsuperelement,createremainderofmodel:
et,2,shell63!elementtype2settoSHELL63
r,2,.05!shellis0.05thick
mp,ex,2,30000000!setvalueofE
blc4,.5,.5,1.0,1.0!createanewrectangulararea
lesize,all,,,3,1,1!3elementsperlineusercanchangethis
aatt,2,2,2!assignmat=2,real=2,type=2totheunmeshedarea
amesh,1!meshtheareanotesuperelementnodenumbersarenotused
cpintf,all!automaticallycouplecoincidentnodesatinterface
eplo
fini
/solu
ksel,s,kp,,3!keypointatupperrightcorner
nslk!selectnodeatthiskeypoint
f,all,fy,1!putaloadonnodeatupperrightcorner
nsel,all!selectallnodes
!SFE,1,1,SELV,,1!noloadappliedingenerationpass,thisstatementnotneeded
solve!resultsgointhefileuse.rst
save!saveuse.dbtoreviewresultsinthenonsuperelements
fini
/post1
/pbc,f,,1!showappliedforcesymbols
/pbc,cp,,1!shownodalcouplingsymbols
plnsol,s,eqv!plotthestressesinthenonsuperlements
fini
/clear,nostart
/filname,gen!filenamefortheexpansionpass
resume!bringsupgen.dbsavedabove
/solu
expass,on!activateexpansionpass
seexp,gen,use!optionsforthesubstructureexpansionpass
expsol,1,1!THISISNEEDED!(readaboutNUMEXPalso)**************
!OUTRES,ALL,ALL!notrequiredforoneloadstepsolution
solve
fini
/POST1
/title,StressintheSubstructure
/pbc,mast,,1!showmasterdegreesoffreedomsymbols
/pbc,u,,1!showdisplacementconstraints
/pbc,rot,,1!showrotationconstraints
plnsol,s,eqv!lookatthestressinthesuperelement
Intheaboveexample,theusercanchangethemeshdensity.Thenumbersandpositionsofnodesalongthecommoninterface
betweenthesuperelementandthenormalportionofthemodelhavetobethesameforCPINTFtosuccessfullyconnectthe
twopartsofthemodel.
Themodeliscreatedwiththe"bottomup"approach.Inthe"use"partofthisexample,thesuperelementisreadinwithSE
beforetheremainderofthemodeliscreated.Iftheremainderofthemodelwascreatedbeforethesuperelementwasreadin,
thentheuserwouldhavetoaddstatementstocontrolthenodenumbering,sothatnoneofthemasternodescominginwiththe
superelementwouldreplicatethenodenumbersoftheexistingelements.Ifthesuperelementhasmasternodesthathavethe
samenodenumbersastheexistingmodel,themodelnodeswillberedefined,andamesswillresult.Checkthemanual,and
lookattheSETRANcommandtoactonthesuperelement,orattheNUMOFFcommandtoactontheexistingmodel,to
preventnodereplicationproblems.ThePARSAVandPARREScommandscanbeusedtoputmodelparameterinformation
intoacodedfile,andretrieveitafterthe/CLEARcommandhasbeenissued.Themaximumnodenumbercanbeputintoa
parameterby*GETandputintoafilewithPARSAVduringthegenerationpass.Itcanberetrievedduringtheusepassby
PARRES,andusedtoguidetheoffsetofnodenumbersineitherthealreadygeneratedsuperelementwithSETRAN,orinthe
remainderofthemodelwithNUMOFF.
27/46
5/9/2016
TopDownSubstructuringExample
ThefollowingexampleisNOTasubstituteforadetailedunderstandingofANSYSsubstructuring.Itisfordemonstration
purposesonly.GettheANSYSSubstructuringTutorialguideandtheSubstructuringGuideforseriouswork.
Thetopdownsubstructuringtechniquemakesitpossibletotakeanexistingmodel,andhaveaportionofitchangedintoa
substructure.Thiscanboostefficiencyinanumberofways,suchasdealingwithcontactsurfacesandgapelements,and
handlingverylargemodelsthathavealreadybeengenerated.Intheexamplepresentedbelow,amodeldatabaseisreadinfrom
auserpreparedfilenamed"model.db".Thismodelin"model.db"musthavehadaportionoftheelementsgroupedintoa
componentcalled"super"usingthecommandCM,SUPER,ELEM.Thiscomponentwillberenderedintoasubstructure.The
intendedsubstructureshould,ingeneral,consistoflinearelements.Themodelmusthavehadconstraintsandloadsapplied.
TheSFEcommandusedinthisexampleexpectsloadstoexistinsidethesuperelement,butshouldworkwithoutthem.Some
nodescanhavebeendeclaredbytheusertobemasterdegreesoffreedom.Inordertocreatemasterdegreesoffreedom
throughtheGUI,theanalysistypehastobeSubstructure.Inordertousetheexamplebelow,theanalysistypewillhavetobe
changedbacktothetypedesiredaftercreatingextramasterdegreesoffreedomusuallytostaticanalysis.Notethatfor
dynamicanalysis,masterdegreesoffreedomareneededthroughoutthesubstructuretheyarenotcreatedbytheexample
below.Intheexamplepresented,masterdegreesoffreedomareautomaticallygeneratedforthenodesontheinterfacebetween
thecomponent"super"andtheremainderofthemodel.(Thereisnocheckforredundancywithuserdeclaredmasterdegrees
offreedom.)Thefullmodelisusedtheanalysisisnotlimitedtotheselectedsetofelementsinthefile"model.db"whenitis
loaded.Theexamplewillautomaticallyperformthesubstructuregenerationandthesubsequentanalysis,andwillplotresults
toplotfiles.Ihaveaddedaplotoftheresultsforthefullmodel,withresultsfilesforboththesubstructureandthenon
substructurebeingread.Thereisnoerrorcheckingintheexample.Thisexamplehashadlimitedtestingletmeknowabout
errors.
Whendealingwithgapelementsand/orcontactsurfaces,theusualprocedurewouldbetoselectallthelinearelementsinthe
model(notthegaporthecontactelements),andinthisexample,callthemthecomponent"super"forsubstructuring.Because
thesubstructurematrixisusuallymuchsmallerthanthefullmodelmatrix,theiterationsrequiredforconvergencewithgap
andcontactelementswillusuallyrunfarfasterthaniterationsinvolvingthefullmodel,oncethesubstructurematrixis
generated.Thismakesotherwiseinfeasiblemodelingintoapossibility.
Indealingwithextremelylargemodels,wheretheobjectiveissimplytodealwiththesize,notnonlinearelementslikegap
elements,theremaylittleadvantageinturningtheentirelargemodelintoasubstructureitcouldtakeaslongtogeneratethe
superelementastosolvethemodelforoneloadcase.Itwouldbemorecommontoturnportionsofthemodelintooneormore
substructures.Theconnectingregionsbetweenthesubstructureswouldbechosentoinvolveassmallanumberofnodesas
possible,tominimizesubstructurematrixsize,andmodelwavefrontsize.
AlthoughaMATRIX50substructuresuperelementcanundergoLargeDisplacement,itwillactinternallyasalinearelastic
structure.MethodstouseMATRIX50innonlinearapplicationsshouldbethoroughlytestedbytheuserbeforeapplication,
includingplotsofdisplacementandstresstolookforcompatibilityinresultsamongthesubstructureregionsandtheremainder
ofthemodel,andchecksthatreactionforcesequalthetotalappliedforces.IhaveencountereddifficultiescombiningLarge
DisplacementwithSubstructuringseetheimagebelow.
Tousethefollowingexample:(1)Createamodel,and(2)selectaportionoftheelementstobecomethesubstructure.Give
thisselectionsetofelementsthecomponentname"super"withthecommand"CM,SUPER,ELEM".(3)Themodelshould
haveloadsandconstraintsapplied,andtheanalysistypedefined.Theanalysistypemustbeacceptableforsubstructureuse.(4)
Savethemodelwiththedatabasename"model.db".(5)Calltheroutinebelowwiththe/INPUTcommand.Graphicalresults
forthelastloadsubstepintheresultsfileswillbeplottedtodiskfiles.Ifruninteractively,theuserwillhavetoclickthe"OK"
buttonafewtimes,andaplottothescreenshouldresultwhendone.Expectwarningmessagesrelatedtopartialelement
selection,andtoreadingfromresultsfiles.NOTE:ThisexamplesetsgravityloadtoZEROinthe"gen"portionofthe
analysisotherwise,gravitywouldbeDOUBLEDonthesuperelementiftheuser'smodelincludesgravityseetheElements
ManualforMATRIX50.(Ifgravityisapplied,besureadensitywasappliedtothematerialsinthemodel.Ifthereisnogravity,
theexamplecanhavethe"seopt"commandchangedtoNOTgeneratethemassmatrixforthesuperelement.)
TheloadingonMDOFnodeswouldalsobeDOUBLEDifitwasusedinthesuperelementloadvector,andusedinthe"USE"
pass.Forthisreason,correctionstothisroutinehavebeenadded(Nov.2,Nov.41998).Acomplicationforsubstructuring:Only
amasternodefromacouplednodesetoraconstraintequationnodegroupcanbeusedasanMDOFforsubstructuring.This
complicationisNOTaddressedinthepresentexample.Theexampleisforstressanalysis.Itdoesnotaddresscentrifugal
loading.Toaddressothertypesofanalyis,startwithalookattheANSYSAdvancedUser'sGuide,andlookatthetableof
loadsapplicableinasubstructureanalysis.
AutomatingasubstructureanalysisissomewhattrickythisfilewillNOTbeapplicabletoalltypesofanalyses.Ihavebeen
testingitwithsimplestressexamples.The"POSTPROCESS"passseemstoworkinloadingstressesfromthetwodifferent
sourcesforviewing,"USE.RST"and"GEN.RST",althoughIhaven'tseenthisdocumented.ItriedtheSUBSETcommand,but
wasgettingwarningmessagesaboutthenodalforceandotherresultsnotnecessarilybeingcorrect.Ihaven'tthoroughly
investigatedthis.HaveacloselookathowthesubstepsareoutputwithOUTRESandselectedforexpansion:
!"TopDown"SubstructuringExampleInDevelopment
!
28/46
5/9/2016
!Thereisnoerrorcheckinginthisexample.
!Warningmessageswillbegenerated.
!ANSYS/EDsupportsveryfewmasterdegreesoffreedom.
!
!WARNING:GravitywouldbeappliedTWICEtothesuperelementifACEL
!werenotzeroedinthe"gen"pass.Formodelsthatdonot
!includeinertialloads,changethe"seopt"commandtogenerate
!STIFFNESSonly.SeetheElementsmanualforMATRIX50.
!ThisexampleNOTdesignedforotherinertialloads.
!
!WARNING:Inthe"use"pass,nodalloadsonsuperelementMDOFnodes
!aredeletedsoloadsonMDOFnodesarenotcountedTWICE.
!FDELEandDDELEareused.
!
!Themodeltobeprocessedisinthefile"model.db".Theusermust
!haveidentifiedtheregiontobesubstructuredasthecomponent"super"
!withthecommand"CM,SUPER,ELEM"andsavedthemodelas"model.db".
!Anythingnonlinearinthecomponent"super"willbetreatedaslinear.
!Analysistypeisdefinedbythefile"model.db"mustbeacceptabletype.
!The"USE"passhasOUTRESsettowriteALLsubstepstotheRSTfile.
!The"EXPAND"passhasa*DOloopthatexpandssolutionsatALLsubsteps.
!Themodelmusthavehaditsloadingandconstraintsapplied.
!Thisexampleisforoneloadcaseonly.SomeMasterDegreesofFreedom
!canhavebeenappliedbytheuserneededfordynamicanalysis.
!MasterDegreesofFreedomNodeswillbegeneratedbetweenthesubstructure
!andtheremainderofthemodel.Nocheckforredundancyisperformed.
!UnlessthisfileisrunBATCH,theuserwillhavetoclickthe"OK"button
!whenevertheCLEARcommandisexecuted,andiferrormessagesappear.
!
fini!finishwhateverwasactivepreviously
/clear!clearthedatabase
/COM,############GEN############
/COM,############GEN############
/COM,############GEN############
/show,part1,grp!fileforstoringplots
resume,model,db!readthemodeltobeprocessed
!allloadsandconstraintsmustalreadybeapplied
!theSFEcommandisemployedinthe"use"passto
!applyloadstothesubstructure
!onlyonesubstructuregeneratedinthisexample
/filname,gen!filenameforthegenerationpass
/prep7
allsel
*get,nmx,node,,num,max!getthehighestnodenumber
*get,nmn,node,,num,min!getthelowestnodenumber
cmsel,s,super!selecttheelementsidentifiedasthecomponent"super"
nsle!selectnodesoftheseelements
esel,invert!selecttheelementsthatarenotpartof"super"
nsle,r!reselectnodesconnecting"super"toremainderofmodel
m,all,all!makethesenodesMasterDegreesofFreedom(MDOF)
cmsel,s,super!selectthe"super"elementsagain
nsle!selecttheirassociatednodes
nsel,r,m,,nmn,nmx!reselectallofthesenodesthatareMDOF(don'twantnodes
!outsidethe"super"thattheusercalledMDOF)
fdele,all,all!deleteloadsontheseMDOFnodesfor"gen"
ddele,all,all!deletedisplacementloadsontheseMDOFnodesfor"gen"
nsle!selectnodesofthecomponent"super"
/pbc,mast,,1
/pbc,f,,1
/pbc,m,,1
/pbc,u,,1
/pbc,rot,,1
/title,Elementsofthetobesubstructure
eplo!plottheelementsofthetobesubstructure
fini
/solu
antype,subst!substructureanalysis
seopt,gen,2!generationpassgenerateSTIFFNESSandMASSmatrices
!ifnoinertialload,changesettingtoSTIFFNESSonly
save!savethispartofmodelas"gen.db"forexpansionpass
!SAVEneednotfollowthecommand"solve"
29/46
5/9/2016
!component"super"anditsnodescurrentlyselected
acel,0,0,0!setgravitytoZeroAFTER"save"butBEFORE"solve"
solve!generatesthe"gen.sub"file
fini
/COM,############USE############
/COM,############USE############
/COM,############USE############
/clear,nostart
/show,part2,grp
resume,model,db!bringthemodelinagain.restores"acel"ifany.
!"model.db"hastodefinetheanalysistypeitshouldnot
!beasubstructuregeneration
/filname,use!filenamefortheusepass
/prep7
allsel
*get,nmn,node,,num,min
*get,nmx,node,,num,max
cmsel,s,super!selecttheportionintendedforthesubstructure
esel,invert!selecttheremainderofthemodel
nsle!selectnodesoftheremainderofthemodel
nsel,a,m,,nmn,nmx!addMDOFnodesforvisibility(notneededforsolve)
*get,ntp,etyp,,num,max!getmaxelementtypenumberinthemodelinparameterntp
et,ntp+1,50!newelementtypentp+1settosuperelementMATRIX50
type,ntp+1!settypentp+1beforereading"creating"superelementwithSE
se,gen!readinthesuperelementmatrixfromgenerationpass
!masterD.O.F.nodesalreadyareattheinterface
!noneedtocouplecoincidentinterfacenodesthisexample
!newelementnumberassignedshouldbeabovemaximum
*get,snm,elem,,num,max!gettheelementnumberofthesuperelementjustloaded
!neededforSFEloadingthesuperelementbelow
!extraworkneededifmorethanonesuperelement
/pbc,all,,0
/pbc,f,,1
/pbc,m,,1
/pbc,mast,,1
/title,Remainderofmodelattachedtosubstructure
eplo!plottheelementsinthenonsubstructureplus"outline"view
!ofthesubstructure
fini
/solu!"model.db"analysistypeforsubstructureisneeded
SFE,snm,1,SELV,,1!loadappliedingenerationpasswasin"model.db"
!applyloadtotosuperelementnumber"snm"foundabove
!extraworkneededifmorethanonesuperelement
outres,all,all!saveresultsfortheallsubstepsofloadstep
!changehereand"EXPAND"belowifdesiredtochange
solve!resultsgointhefile"use.rst"
save!save"use.db"tooptionallyreviewnonsubstructureresults
fini!"use.db"and"use.rst"nowcontainnonsubstructureresults
/post1
set,last!plotresultsattheendoftheloadstep
/title,Stressinthenonsubstructureelements
plnsol,s,eqv!shownodalstressinthenonsubstructure
*get,lastlstp,active,,set,lstp!getthelastloadstepnumber
*get,lastsbst,active,,set,sbst!getthelastsubstepnumber
parsav,scalar,parameterstore,parm!storetheminfileforretrievalbelow
fini
/COM,############EXPAND############
/COM,############EXPAND############
/COM,############EXPAND############
/clear,nostart
/show,part3,grp
/filname,gen!filenamefortheexpansionpass
resume!bringsup"gen.db"savedabove,"super"isselected
parres,new,parameterstore,parm!retrievedataonlastloadstep/substep
!parresmustfollowresumestatement
/solu
expass,on!activateexpansionpass
seexp,gen,use!optionsforthesubstructureexpansionpass
*do,iii,1,lastsbst
expsol,lastlstp,iii,,yes!expandresultatlastloadstep/substep
!(readaboutNUMEXPalso)
30/46
5/9/2016
outres,all,all!alldatawritten
solve
*enddo
fini!"gen.rst"nowcontainssubstructureresults,laststep
/POST1
/title,StressintheSubstructure
plnsol,s,eqv!shownodalstressinthesubstructure
save,stresses_in_super,db
fini
/COM,############POSTPROCESS############
/COM,############POSTPROCESS############
/COM,############POSTPROCESS############
!
!WARNING:Thefollowingismyowninventionuseatyourownrisk.
!WarningmessageswillbegeneratedbyANSYS.
resume,model,db
/show,part4,grp
/post1
cmsel,s,super
nsle
file,gen,rst
set,last
esel,invert!SelecttheelementsNOTinsubstructurecomponent"super"
nsle!Selectthenodesoftheseelements
file,use,rst!Pointtofile"use.rst"thatcontainstherestoftheresults
set,last!Readinloadstepdataforselectedelements,lastsubstep
esel,all!Selectallelements
nsle!Selectthenodesoftheelements
/pbc,all,,0
/pbc,f,,1
/pbc,m,,1
/pbc,mast,,1
/title,StressintheFullStructure
plnsol,s,eqv!Shownodalstressforthefullmodel.
!Becauseofaveraging,PLNSOLstressesontheinterfaceofthe
!substructureandnonsubstructureregionscannotexactly
!matchvaluesfortheselocationsplottedseparately,above.
!Elementstressanddisplacementshouldexactlymatchin
!asmalldisplacementlinearanalysis.
save,stress_allelem,db!Savethemodelwithallstressesonelements
/show,term!Backtoscreenonlyworksifusedinteractively
plnsol,s,eqv!ShowthestressresultsforallelementsifinteractiveANSYS
The"topdown"examplesavestheresultsofthe"use"passandthe"expansion"passindatabasefiles.Thesecanbeloadedto
inspectresultsinthenonsubstructureandinthesubstructurepartsofthemodel,respectively.Ifthefileisruninteractively,the
userwillhavetoclickthe"OK"buttoneachtimethe/CLEARcommandexecutes,andforavarietyofwarningmessagesthat
canappear.ItmaybepreferredtorunthefileunderBatchcontrol,andtolaterreviewtheresultsintheplotfiles,andinthe
resultingdatabasefiles.Remembertocheckforerrorandwarningmessages.Becauseofthecomplexityofsubstructure
analysis,theusershouldrunchecksonbalanceofforces,anddoothertypicalcheckingofresults.
LargeDisplacementNonlinearityandSubstructure:TheANSYS5.5AdvancedUser'sGuide,Chapter5givesmorehelpon
largerotation(largedisplacement,geometricallynonlinear)substructuredanalysisthanatthe5.3level.Notethecommentthat
constraintsshouldbeappliedinthe"use"pass,notinthe"gen"pass,forlargerotationanalysis.
Ifthefile"model.db",usedintheaboveexample,hashadLargeDisplacementactivatedwith"NLGEOM,ON"thena
nonlinearsolutionwillbesought.Convergencecriteria,rampingofloading,substeps,andothernonlinearcontrolsmaybe
desired.Becausethesubstructurewillactlinearlyinternally,convergencemaynotbeaseasyastheuserwouldwish.Whenthe
rundoesconverge,theresultswillnotbeanexactmatchfortheresultwithoutsubstructuring.Theoutputplotsshouldbe
examinedtoseeiftheyread"Substep999999",indicatingfailuretoconverge.IfyoutesttheaboveexamplewithLarge
Displacement,useaLargeDisplacementmodelthatconvergeseasilywithoutasubstructureapproach.Anattempthasbeen
madeintheaboveexampletocopewithamodelthatdevelopstheLargeDisplacementsolutioninaloadstepcontainingaset
ofsubsteps.Thisisthereasonforstatementsthatrecordthelastloadstepandsubstepnumbers.However,theexampledoes
NOTreserveapplicationofallDOFconstraintsforthe"USE"pass,asrecommendedintheANSYS5.5guide,soitwillNOT
beappropriateformodelswithconstraintsappliedtononMDOFnodesinthesubstructureregion.Theusercangetaroundthis
bymanuallyassigningMDOFtoallthenodestowhichconstraintsareappliedinthecomponent"super",in"model.db".
ThemasterdegreesoffreedomforthesuperelementmusthaverotationaldegreesoffreedomforLargeDisplacementwork.
TheusercantryassigningMASS21elementstothemasterdegreeoffreedomnodesiftheelementsinthemodeldonothave
rotationaldegreesoffreedom.TheMASS21elementscanhaveaREALvaluethatcontainszerovaluesforthemassesand
massmomentsofinertia.Thiswillintroducetherequisiterotationaldegreesoffreedom.
31/46
5/9/2016
WhenusingelementslikeSHELL63,whichhaverotationaldegreesoffreedom,Ihaveencounteredaratheroddresult:The
LargeDisplacementsolutionfortheelementsinthesuperelement(storedin"gen.rst"intheexample)isforthedisplacement
ofthesubstructurenodeswithrespecttoacoordinatesystemembeddedinthesuperelement,notwithrespecttotheglobal
axes.Thisisnotthecaseforsmalldisplacementsolutions,whichappeardisplacedcorrectly.Sincethesuperelementcan
undergolargerotation,thedisplacementthatisreportedandplottedforthenodesinsidethesuperelementwillbefarsmaller
thanthedisplacementreportedandplottedfortheremainderofthemodel,inaLargeDisplacementsolution.Thisisbecause
thecoordinatesystemembeddedinthesuperelementmoveswiththesuperelement.Inlimitedtesting,theSEQVstressplots
appeartobeOK,iftheloadstepthatistobeexpandedisidentifiedproperly.Ihavenotinvestigatedwhathappenstostress
componentsintheGlobalandElementCoordinateSystems.Rotationaltransormationofthestressandstraintensorscouldbe
verycomplex.SeetheimagebelowforaresultcombiningSHELL63elements,substructuring,andLargeDisplacement.
Apossiblevisualdisplacementfix(forthedisplacementplotproblemof6DOFelementsinLargeDisplacementsubstructures)
istotransformthedisplacedpositioncoordinatesofthenonMDOFnodesinthesuperelementonthebasisoftherotationsand
translationsoftheoriginofthesuperelementinGlobalCoordinates.TheoriginofthesuperelementwillbetheMDOFnode
thatreportsnodisplacementsorrotationsinsidethesuperelement(insuperelementcoordinates)itappearstobetheMDOF
nodewiththelowestnodenumber.Applyingatransformationproperlywillrequirededucingorlookinguptheorderofthe
sequenceofrotationsthatANSYSusesinLargeDisplacementwork,orthatANSYSusestoreportnoderotations.Areading
oftheTheoryManualsuggeststhatANSYSinternallyusesquaternionsforlargedisplacementrotationsinspace.Thiswould
befortheusualreasonthatquaternionsdonothaveasingularityinanyorientation,incontrasttoEulerangles.Itappearsthat
therotationsreportedatanoderepresent3Dcomponentsofasinglerotationvector,ratherthanEulerorotherangles,sothe
transformationwillneedtobebasedonrotationaboutavectorthatstartsataknownpointinspace(theoriginofthe
superelement),plustranslations.Iwillbeworkingonthisasmynextprojectforthiswebpage.Thereportedrotationmaybe
complicatedbyrotatednodalcoordinatesystems(NROTAT)orsuperelementsthattheuserhasemployed...thiswillrequire
checking.Readerfeedbackwouldbeappreciated.IfIgetanywherewiththis,Iwilllimitmyselftodisplacementsonly.
Transformingstresstensorswouldbeabitmuch!
Theaboveplotwasgeneratedusingtheabovesample/INPUTfileonaLargeDisplacementmodelofacantileverbeam
createdwithSHELL63elements.AsimilardisplacementdiscontinuityresultswithBEAM4elementsinasimilarapplication,
asshownintheimagesbelow:
Tip46:PlotAppliedTemperatures
32/46
5/9/2016
Inathermalstressanalysis,temperatureswillbeappliedasa"load".TemperaturescanbeappliedtonodeswiththeBF
command,toelementswiththeBFEcommand,orimpliedusingothercommands.(ChecktheBFEcommandandtheelement
typeintheANSYSdocumentationfordetailsonusingBFE.)Acoloredelementplotofappliedtemperaturescanbegenerated
byusingthecommands/PBF,TEMP,,1andEPLO,whichShowsbodyforceloadsascontoursondisplays,pertheANSYS
Commandsmanual.
Whenusingbeam,link,andpipeelements,iftheelementthicknessisshownwiththe/ESHAPEcommandbeforeexecuting
EPLO,temperaturescanbemadevisiblewithcontourcoloringfortheselineelements.Itmaybedesiredtoexaggeratetheir
displayedthicknesswith/ESHAPEinordertomakethetemperatureinformationmorevisible.
Tip47:SkippingOverStatementsinanANSYSInputFile
ANSYScommandscanbedevelopedinafilethatisexecutedwiththe/INPUTcommand.Thiscanpermitveryflexibleand
sophisticateduseoftheprogram.Hereisawellknownprogrammingtrickthatcanbeusedtotemporarilyskipoverpartofan
ANSYSinputfile.Setaparameter("SKIP"inthisexample)toavaluethattellsan*IFstatementtojumpoverasectionof
codethatyouwanttoskip.Thisismuchquickerthancommentingoutablockofcode,orcuttingandpastingasaninputfileis
developedandmodified.*IFstatementsthatusethisparametercouldbelocatedinanumberofpositionsintheinputfile
thispermitschangingthevalueofoneparameteratthebeginningoftheinputfiletocauseskippingofinputcodeinavariety
oflocations.
!InputcodetoANSYS...
!...
SKIP=1!Setto1toskip,0torunthecodeinsidethe*IF...*ENDIFcommands
*IF,SKIP,EQ,0,THEN
!ANSYScommandsthatareoptionallyexecuted...
*ENDIF
!...morecodefollows
Sincethereisnocompilationoftheinputfile,the"skip"techniqueuseslittletimeinchoosingtoexecuteorbypasstheblocked
offcommands(ANSYSstillhastoreadtheblockedoutcodeinordertocheckoffthenumberof*IFand*ENDIFcommands).
Tip48:StaticAnalysisFollowedbyTransientAnalysis
TransientanalysisbyANSYScanmodeltransientvibrations,orthedynamicsofaflexiblemechanisminmotion,inaddition
tomorecomplexeffects.Initialconditionscanbeapplied,followedbytransientanalysis.Onetypeofinitialconditionisazero
velocityinitialpositionwithstoredenergy.Thestoredenergycanbepotentialenergyofposition,elasticenergy,orboth.
Anotherinitialconditionisaninitialvelocity.Amodelcanhavebothinitialvelocityandstoredenergy.Astaticanalysismay
bedesiredtodevelopthestoredelasticenergy,beforestartingatransientanalysis.Rememberthatfortransientanalysis,the
massofthemodelmustbeinputintheappropriatemassunits,notasweight.
ThefollowingANSYSinputfileillustratestheexecutionofalinearelasticstaticanalysisthatsetsaninitialcondition,
followedbyatransientanalysis.Themodelisofacantileveredbeamthathasaforceappliedtothefreeendinastatic
analysis.Thetransientvibrationthatresultswhentheforceonthefreeendisremovedisobtained.Nogravityisused.No
dampinghasbeenapplied,andANSYSdefaultsforthenumericalintegrationareimplicit.Thisisalinearelasticsolution,so
thenumericalintegrationshouldbestable,giventheANSYSalgorithmused.Thetimesubstepsizeforthetransientanalysis
shouldbesmallerthan1/20oftheperiodofthefirstfewmodesofvibration.(TheusercouldtweaktheANSYSnumerical
integrationparameterssothatveryhighfrequencyresponsemodesarenumericallydamped.StabilityinLargeDisplacement
nonlineartransientanalysisisprobablynotguaranteed,althoughdampingandsmalltimesubstepsizeshouldhelp.)Theuseof
aconsistentmassmatrix(default)shouldingeneralyieldmoreaccurateresultsthanareducedmassmatrixiftheelement
densityiscoarse,howevertheuseofareducedmassmatrixmayshortenthesolutiontimeinlargemodels.Themovementof
thetipofthebeamisplotteditisnotaperfectsinusoidbecausetheinitialdeflectedshapeofthebeamisnotanexactmatch
toamodeofvibration.
!Transientvibration,cantileverbeam,"plucking"thetip.
!Forillustrationpurposesonly.Useatyourownrisk.
fini
/clear!Startfresh
/title,TransientVibrationofCantileverBeam
/PREP7
ET,1,BEAM3!2Dmodelofbeam
R,1,1,1,1!beamcrossectionproperties
MP,EX,1,30000000!Young'smodulus,BINunits
MP,DENS,1,7.34E04!beammassdensity,BINunits
K,,0.0!keypoints
K,,10.!10"long
L,1,2!line
LESIZE,ALL,,,8,1,1!8elementdivisions
LMESH,1!meshwithbeamelements
FINISH
/SOLU
33/46
5/9/2016
ANTYPE,4!Selecttransientanalysis
F,2,FY,50000!applydownforceonRHSnode(unrealisticallyhigh)
d,1,ux!constrainfirstnodeatLHS,inXdirection
d,1,uy!inYdirection
d,1,rotz!andconstrainrotation
time,0.0005!smalltimeincrement,static
OUTRES,ALL,ALL!saveallsubstepresults
timint,off,all!notimeintegrationtreatasSteadyState
nsubst,2!twosubstepstoimplyzeroinitialvelocityfortransient
kbc,1!stepchangeload
solve!findthestaticdeformedshape
TIME,.002!timeatendoftransient(predeterminedtoshowoscillation)
NSUBST,100!timestepssmallenoughtoshowvibration
KBC,1!stepchangeload
fdele,all,all!deleteforceshowvibrationafterforceisreleased
OUTRES,ALL,ALL,!saveallsubstepresults
timint,on,all!activatetransientanalysis
solve!findthetransientvibrationofthebeam
fini
/post1
/dscale,1!automaticscaling,toeasilyviewfinalresult
pldisp,1!showfinaldeformedshape
FINISH
/POST26
NSOL,2,2,U,Y,UY!resultsvariableforplotting
/title,TransientVibrationofCantileverBeam:MotionofTip
PLVAR,2!graphoscillationofthetipofthebeam
FINISH
NOTE:TheuseoftheTIMINTcommandcontrolsactivationofthestaticandtransientportionsofthesolution.Thestatic
solutionisobtainedattwotimesubstepssothataninitialvelocityofzeroisimplied.Ananimationofthetransientsolutioncan
begeneratedforthefullbeamin/POST1,showingthetransientvibrationinaction.Forananimation,theuserwillhavetoset
asatisfactorydisplacementscalingvaluewiththecommand/DSCALE,notuseautomaticscaling.Intheanimationofthe
LargeDisplacementmotionsofamechanism,a/DSCALEsettingof1.0willgenerallybewanted,sothatanglesofrotation
lookcorrect.Azoomsettingotherthan/ZOOM,OFFwillusuallyyieldabetteranimation.
Tip49:FileCompressionforModelStorage
IfnorestartistobeexecutedonanANSYSmodel,itwilloftenbesufficienttosaveonlythemodeldatabasefile(*.DB)and
theresultsfile(*.RST)whenarchivinganANSYSmodel.Ifthemodelwasgeneratedfromcommandinputfiles,thesewill
requirestorage.Ifonlyoneloadstepwaswrittentotheresultsfile,theresultsfilemaynotrequirearchivaliftheresultsare
alsocontainedinthedatabasefile.Loadcase,graphicsoutput,andotherfilesmaybewantedforarchival.Thedatabase,
graphics,andresultsfilescanbeextremelylarge.Theyoftencompresswellusingdatacompressionprogramssuchasthe
UNIXcompressandgziputilities(gzipismorepowerfulthancompress).OnWindowscomputers,gzipisalsoavailablefor
NT(ithandleslongfilenames),inadditiontothesharewareZIPutilities,thoughyouwillneedtodigontheInternettofind
gzipforWindowsNThavealookatGZIPonthewebandlookforinstructionsandtheversionforyourcomputer(test
beforeuse).InFEAwork,Ifindtheadvantageofthegziputilitytobethatthecompressedfilenameissimplytheoriginalfile
namewith.gzappended,andtheuncompressedfileisremoved.Thedatastoragerequirementmaybereducedbyroughly25%
to80%,bothontheharddrive,andontapeorremovabledisk.Thedatacompressionissignificantlymoreeffective,though
muchslower,thanwiththediskcompressionschemethatcanbeusedbyWindowsNT4.0,whichalsodoesnotkeepthefiles
compressedwhentheyaresentoveranetwork,orotherwisemovedaround.Hint:Makesurethatthosewhowilldecompress
thefilesinfuturewillknowhowtodoit!
Tip50:OrganizingLargeFEAModels
ExaminingtheresultsofanFEAmodel,selectingandmodifyingportionsofthemodel,andkeepingarecordofwhatMAT
(material)andREAL(shellthickness,beamsize,etc.)valueswereusedforvariouspartsofamodelbecomesverydifficult
withlargeFEAmodels.Averylargestructurerepresentedwithhundredsorthousandsofindividualbeamelementsorareas
meshedwithshellelements,willrequirethattheidentities,materialsandREALsettingsforlargenumbersofpartsbe
organizedandrecorded.
Thereisnoonewaytodothis.Individualparts,orgroupsofparts,canbedefinedtobecomponentsthatareaccessedby
namesofupto8characters.Thesepartscanbegeometricentities,elements,ornodes.Macroscanstepthroughallthe
componentsusing*GETcommands.Collectionsofcomponentscanbegroupedintocomponentassemblies.Anindividual
assemblycouldbecreatedforthosecomponentsthataretobeselectedundercertaincircumstances,foranalysisorforresults
review.Theuseofcomponentsmakesitpossibletorefertoeitherapartorasubassemblybyonename,andeasytoselectit.
Thecreationofacomponentcansaveasetofentitiesthatwereselectedwithacertainsequenceofselectlogic,andbeusedin
34/46
5/9/2016
theenhancementoftheANSYSselectlogicprocess.Thedatabasecomponentcommandsare:CM,CMDELE,CMEDIT,
CMGRP,CMLIST,andCMSEL.Amacrocanbewrittenthatwillstepthroughallcomponents,plottingthem,includingthe
componentnameandinformationonitintheplottitle,oranannotation.
EitherREALvaluesforelementsandentities,orMATvalues,canbeusedtoidentifypartsinamodelwithnumbers.(The
elementtypewillhavetosupportaREALvalueifaREAListobecreatedforthatelementtype.However,aREALvaluecan
beforcedonanelementeveniftheelementtypedoesnotadmitassignmentofaREAL.Thiscanbedonewhencreatingan
element,appliedtothegeometricentitythatistobemeshedwiththeelement,orforcedafterthefactwithEMODIF.When
EMODIFisused,becautionedthatinaremeshingtheREALassignedtothegeometricentitywillbeused.Whentheelement
typedoesnotacceptaREALsetting,theRsettingcansimplybeleftblank.Inthatcase,thecommandsNUMMRG,ALLand
NUMCMP,ALLcanmakeamessandshouldnotbeusedinthisallinclusiveformsticktospecificformssuchas
NUMMRG,KP.)Inamodelmadeofshellelementsorbeamelements,forexample,eachplateorbeamcouldbedescribedwith
itsownREALvalue,eventhoughtheremaybemanyplatesorbeamsofagiventhicknessorsizewithinthemodel.Wherea
groupofpartswillalwaysbechosenwiththesameREALvalue,theycouldshareoneREALsetting.Thismakeschangingthe
shellthicknessorthebeamcharacteristicsverysimple,andprovideseasypartselectionwithcommandslikeESEL,ASEL,or
LSEL,asappropriate,accordingtotheirREALvalue,orarangeofREALvalues.Anarray(seethe*DIMcommand)could
correlateREALvalueswithotherinformation,suchaspartnames(withan8characterlimit).Thesameapproachcanbetaken
withthesettingofMATvaluesfordescribingthematerialproperties.Usingmaterialnumbersforpartidentification,however,
couldgetcumbersome,becausetherearesuchalargenumberofindividualmaterialpropertysettings,andtheymaybe
temperaturedependentinsomemodels,orincludematerialnonlinearity.
IfindithelpfulNOTtosetanyofthegeometricentitiesorelementsinalargemodeltoaMATorREALvalueofone.Oneisa
defaultvaluethatissometimesassignedwhennovaluehasbeenassignedbytheuser.Geometricentitiesmayhaveavalueof
zerowhennothinghasbeenassigned.IcanthenselectthingsthathaveaMATorREALofzerooronetocheckonwhetherI
haveforgottentoassignavaluetoanypartofthemodel.PlotswithcoloringassignedaccordingtoREALorMATwillhelpin
checkingamodel.
WhenREALorMATvalueshavebeenusedtodifferentiatebetweendifferentpartsofamodel,theusermustbecarefulnotto
useaNUMCMP,ALLorNUMMRG,ALLcommandonentitynumbering,becauseitwillcompressormergeoutREALand
MATvalues.Thiswilldestroytheidentificationscheme.TheNUMCMPcommandwillhavetobecalledwiththespecific
quantitiestobecompressedindividuallyidentified,suchasNODE,asinthemanual.
WhenthepartshavebeenidentifiedbydifferentREALorMATnumbers,acoloringschemebasedonREALorMATcanbe
usedduringelementorgeometricentityplots,toimproveidentificationofthepartsofamodel,andtheappearanceoftheFEA
plot.Caution:ANSYSdoesnotusea"4colormaptheorem"whenplotting(can'tdothisin3Danyway)sopartsofdiffering
REALorMATmaybeadjacentandhavethesamecolor.
Arrayscouldbeusedtoassignnumberstocomponentnames,andtokeeptrackofwhatREALvalueswereusedbythe
elementswithincomponents.Arrayscouldassign8characternamestothepartsdescribedbydifferentREALvalues.Arrays
couldbeusedtosetseveralvaluesofanumberofshellthicknessesorbeamsizestobeexaminedinaseriesofanalysesthat
aretoberunautomatically.Asdiscussedabove,thisparameterinformationcanbeincludedinannotationsduringmodeland
resultsplotting,makingmodelrevieweasierandlesserrorprone.
Tip51:SelectingNodesinaStressorStrainRange
Theselectionofnodesinacertainstressrangecanbeeffectedwith,forexample,thecommand
NSEL,S,S,EQV,40000,9999999inordertogetnodeswithEQV(VonMisesequivalent)stressesfrom40000to9999999.This
andsimilarcommandscanbeusedtogetatonlytheportionsofafullmodelthataresignificantlystressed.
Theeffectivenessofthiscommandcanbecompromisedsomewhatbynodalstressaveraging,shellstresssurfaceselection
(TOP,MID,orBOT),andothercomplications.ThecommandwouldtypicallybefollowedbythetwocommandsESLNand
NSLEtobeabletoplottheassociatedelementsandtheirstresses.
IftheabovepartidentificationschemeusingREALvalueshasbeenemployed,thestresslevelselectioncommandcouldbe
followedbyamacrothatselectsallpartsthatmatchtheREALtypesoftheselectedelements.Thiswouldmakeitpossibleto
seeallhighlystressedparts.Thisapproachishelpfulwithcomplexmodelswithpartsvisuallyhiddenbyotherparts.
Tip52:SelectingNodesthatareSubjectedtoNodalCoupling
NodesthatarecoupledcanbeselectedwithcommandssuchasNSEL,S,CP,,1,999999inordertoshowonlythecouplednodes,
andtohavetheoptionofusingpickingtodeletenodalcoupling,orforotherpurposes.Oncecouplednodeshavebeenselected,
worktoevaluatetheforcesresultingfromthecouplingcanbegin.Similarly,nodescanbeselectedaccordingtotheirpresence
inconstraintequations(CE),theirapplieddisplacement(D),forcesapplied,andothercriteriaseetheNSELcommandfor
furtherinformation.
Tip53:/NOPRand/GOPRSpeedUpInputFilesandMacros
WhenalonginputfileormacroisreadwhilerunningANSYSinteractively,textinformationiswrittentotheoutputscreen
35/46
5/9/2016
andoptionallytoanoutputfile.Ifasignificantnumberof*GETandsimilaroperationsarebeingexecuted,alargequantityof
textinformationwillbewrittentooutput.Iftheinputfilesandmacrosareknowntobefullydebugged,theymayexecute
fasteriftheystartwith/NOPRandendwith/GOPRinordertoswitchofftextoutputwhiletheyarerunning.Iftheirexecution
iscausinggeometry,nodes,orelementstobegenerated,aspeedupmayresultfromtemporarilyswitchingoffthegenerationof
graphicswithIMMED,0and/SHOW,OFF.TheycanbereactivatedwithIMMED,1and/SHOW,TERM.Youmaywantto
considerthe/UIScommandalso.
Tip54:UsingCommandsIMMEDand/UISand/SHOW,OFFtoSuppressPlotting
Isometimesdevelopamodelinteractively,settingupsomedimensionsasparameters,thenmanuallymodifyandaddtothelog
filethatisgenerated.TheresultinglogfilebecomesaninputfilethatIcanuseforparametricgenerationofamodel.WhenI
runthisinputlogfile,Idon'twantallofmyvariousplotcommandstobeexecuted,onlythoseforfinishedmodeldisplayand
resultsreview.ThiscanbeimplementedwiththeIMMED,0(forinteractiveexecution),/UIS,REPLOT,0and/SHOW,OFF
commands.TheycanbereactivatedwithIMMED,1and/UIS/REPLOT,1and/SHOW,TERM.Ifthegraphicsoutputis
intendedtobesenttoagraphicsfile,thecommand/SHOW,FILEcanbeusedforreactivationofwritingtoafilepreviously
designatedbya/SHOW,filenamecommand.Ifwritingtoafile,theimmediatemodeplottingisoffbydefault.Bewarnedthat
ifyouchangetoanotheroutputgraphicsfilenamewiththe/SHOWcommand,thencomebacktothefirstfilename,thefirst
filewillbeoverwritten.
Whenrerunningalogfileusing/INPUTthemessagesthatrequiredclicking"OK"willbegeneratedandexecutionwillpause.
Thismeansthatthe/INPUTcommandwillnotrerunalllogfilesunattended.Ihavenotfoundthe/UIScommandto
completelystopthis,suchaswhenthe/CLEARcommandisissued.Runningbatchissometimesdesirable.
Tip55:What'stheBauschingerEffect?CommentsonMaterialYield
Ifirstwantedtodoelastic/plasticanalysisinANSYStogetafeelfortheonsetoffailureinanautomotivepart.Itwasofvalue
toshowthatoneproposedcrossectionshapewassignificantlybetterthananother.Thisrequiredmetouseplasticmaterial
propertiesforsteel,innonlinearlargedeflectionanalysisinANSYS.Unfortunately,Ihadtakenneitheranacademiccoursein
metalforming,norattendedanANSYScourseinnonlinearanalysis.DiggingintotheANSYSmanuals,thefirstthingonehas
todecideoniswhethertouseKinematicHardeningorIsotropicHardeningforthematerialmodel.Fortunately,highprecision
wasnotneededforwhatIwasdoing,sotheexactstress/straincurveandthechoiceofmaterialyieldruleswerenotabig
concern.Still,IwantedtoknowwhatIwasdoing,withinreason.Themanualmentionstherelationshipbetweenkinematic
hardeningandtheBauschingereffect.Aftersomepokingaround,IfinallyfoundabasicdescriptionoftheBauschingereffect
inTimoshenko'sStrengthofMaterialsPartII:AdvancedTheoryandProblemsThirdEdition,Krieger,Florida,1976.
Essentially,atensiontestcausingslightyieldingpermanentlydeforms(causesslipin)unfavorablyorientedcrystalsbefore
othercrystalsinaspecimen.Consequently,uponunloading,thepermanentlydeformedcrystalsareinsomecompression.After
reloadingwithtension,theonsetofyieldisraisedbecausethedeformedcrystalsdonotreachtheirnewslipstressuntilthe
loadishigherthanthefirsttime.Ifthematerialiscompressedaftertensionloading,thedeformedcrystalsreachtheir
compressionslipstressbeforetherestofthecrystals,withtheresultthatcompressionyieldingstartssoonerthaninafresh
unstrainedspecimen.QuotingTimoshenko,"Thusthetensiletestcycleraisestheelasticlimitintension,butlowerstheelastic
limitincompression."ThisistheBauschingereffect.
OnethingthatmayaffectthechoiceofayieldmodelinANSYSwillbewhatissupportedbyanelementtype.Shell63does
notsupportnonlinearmaterialpropertiesatall.Shell181supportsisotropichardeningbutnotkinematichardening.Shell43
apparentlysupportsboth,butitissuggestedthatShell181ismorecapable.
ItshouldberememberedthatANSYSrequiresatruestraincurveinmaterialcharacterization,nottheengineeringstraincurve,
whenmultilinearcurvesareentered.Inquickanddirtychecksonthepossibilityoffailureofastructure,Isometimesconsider
itsufficientjusttouseabilinearmodel,withtheyieldportionofthecurvefairlyflat.Thiswouldn'tdoformodelsofmetal
forminginmanufacturing,butcansometimesbeusedtoassesswhetherstructurefailureisaconcernwhensomeportionsofan
elasticmodelareexceedingyield.Itmaybedesirabletoloadthestructurebeyondthedesignloadinordertoobservewhere
significantfailurestarts,inordertogetafeelformarginofsafety.Thismayrequirearclengthanalysis.(Myuseoftheword
"quick"in"quickanddirty"isoverlyoptimistic.)
Somedesigncodeshaverulesforelasticplasticorforfullyplasticanalysisthatwouldhavetobeused,ifsuchananalysiswas
neededtojustifyorqualifyadesignlegallyortofulfillacontract.
Tip56:ThoughtExperiments
Nothingsofocusesthemindonthedesigndetailsofaproductashearingthatitfailedintestingorinservice.Youdon'thave
tobeEinsteintoperformthefollowingthoughtexperiment:Supposethatyouheardthatsomeaspectofadesignhadfailedin
service.Thefailurecouldbeyielding,buckling,crackgrowth,fracture,vibratingtodeath,unacceptabledeformation,wearor
binding,orwhateverisappropriate.Brainstormastowhetheritcouldhappen,whatcouldhavecausedit,andhowanalysis
couldhighlightwhatisorcouldbewrong.Dothisthoughtexperimentforasmanycharacteristicsoftheproductasyoucan.
Youmaysubstantiallyextendthenumberofthingsthatyouconsiderinthedesign,andintheFEAwork.Itmaysave
someone'sneck,eitherfigurativelyorliterally.
36/46
5/9/2016
Possibilitiesand"WhatIf's":
Whatcouldcauseyieldingarefastenersorweldsoverloaded?Weretheirloadsevencheckedandforallloadcases,orthe
boundingloadcases?Aretheboundingloadcasescomplete?Arestressesaboveyieldoverasignificantregion?Aresurface
stressesofshellelementsdoingsomethingunusual?Werenonlinearitiesconsidered?Wereallpossiblecombinationsofloading
considered?Isthereahighloadsituationthatwasnotconsidered?WereallcomponentsevaluatedinFEA?Isthereanunusual
boundaryconditionarrangementthathasnotbeenconsidered?WastheFEAmeshtoocoarse?Wererelevantdetailsthatcause
stressconcentrationsleftoutofthemodel?Canwhatwasdiscountedasalocalstressconcentrationleadtoprogressivecollapseor
crackgrowth?
Canbucklingarise?Havebothlinearandnonlinearapproachestobucklingpossibilitiesbeenconsidered?Hasaportionofthemodel
beenrepresentedsosimplifiedthatbucklingpossibilityisnotdetected?Hasnonlinearbucklingbeenconsideredatloadsgreaterthan
thedesignloads,sothatsomesenseofthemarginofsafetyisobtained?Canrestraintofthermalexpansioncausestressand
buckling?
CrackGrowthwhatdetailsexistthatcouldpossiblybesitesforcrackgrowth?Dosurfacestressesgiveanywarnings?Where
coulddetailsbeincludedtoreducecrackgrowthpossibilities?Areregionsthathavegeometrythatcouldleadtocrackgrowthhighly
stressedand/orcyclicallystressed?IsdirecttensiononweldscausingTypeIfractureloading?Isshear,bendingortorsionalloading
(appliedforcesandmoments,and/orapplieddisplacementsandrotations)onstructuraldetailscausingTypeIIorTypeIIIfracture
loadingonwelds?Istheloadingsignificant?Isfatigueanissue?Isfractureanalysiswarranted?Isthereareliableshortcutguideto
whatistolerable?Issuchaguideevenpossible?Couldcrackgrowthbesorapidthatithappensbetweeninspectionsandcauses
suddenfracture?Arecracksdetectableatasizethatdoesnotimmediatelycausefracture?Shouldinspectionintervalsbemore
frequentwhentheproductisnew?
Vibrationwhatloadingcouldstimulatevibration?Whatfrequenciescoulddrivevibration?Isthereadequatestructuraldampingor
arethereothermechanismstosuppresstrouble?Wherearethenaturalfrequenciesofvibration?Dosteadystateresponsesor
randomvibrationresponsesneedtobeevaluated?Isflowinducedvibrationapossibility?Willsoundandnoisecausedestructive
vibrations?Haveallpossibleboundaryconditionarrangementsbeenincludedinassessingvibration?
Willlargedeformationsgooutsideofwhatisacceptable?Isthestructurestiffnesshighenoughfortheproductuse?Willdeformation
causelossoffunction,contactwiththesurroundings,binding,interference,collision,orexcessivewearofmovingparts?
Isthedesignsomethingthatcanbemanufacturedwiththequalityanduniformityrequiredtoavoidstructuralweakness?
Theanalystshouldextendtheaboveitemstoeverythingthatneedstobeconsidered,orthatcouldgowrong.
Tip57:ControlofMeshing
SinceIamusingANSYS5.3,Ican'tcommentonthelatestinANSYSautomaticmeshingcapabilities,butacoupleof
suggestionsaboutthebasicsmaybehelpful.Youcanselectthelinesthathavenotyethadmeshdensityapplied,withthe
command"LSEL,S,NDIV,,0"asacheckthatalllineshavehadmeshdensityapplied,orforconvenience.Thesametypeof
commandcanbeusedtofindthelineswithothermeshdensities.
BasicANSYStrainingshouldhavetaughtyouthatlineandareaconcatenationcanhelpyougetmappedmeshing,whichgives
relativelyneatregularmeshessuchasallfoursidedareaelements,orallsixsidedsolidelements.Thiscanmakeabig
differenceinsomemodels.
Tip58:FourViewPlot
Whenassessingmodesofvibrationordeflectionofa3Dstructure,Ihavefounditconvenient(thoughslower)togenerate
ANSYSplotsshowingmymodelinfourviewsononesheetofpaperorscreenplot.Thetraditionalviews:FrontElevation
(front),Plan(top),SideElevation(right),andIsometric(iso),canbepositionedinfourwindowsthatarelocatedinthelower
leftquarter,upperleftquarter,lowerrightquarter,andupperrightquarteroftheplot,respectively.(Otherstandardview
layoutscanbesubstituted).AdisplacementplotofamodeshapewithPLDISPorPLDISP,1withthesefourviewsactivewill
leavefewerambiguitiesaboutwhatishappeningwithmodeshapesthanasingleviewplot.Theonlyshortcomingisthatthe
imagesaresmallIprefertouse11"x17"paperinlandscapemodefortheseplots.
AnannecdoteIheardfromaguyIknew:AU.S.shipenteredaforeignshipyardneedinganewpropeller.Theship'sengineer
suppliedadrawing,andapropellerwascastandinstalled.Theshipwaslaunchedandpoweredup.Whensettogoforward,the
shipwentbackwardtheshipyardusedtheEuropeanstandardviewinterpretationofanAmericandrawing,andthepropeller
wasmirrorimaged!
Thefollowingcodecanbeputintoamacrotogenerateafourviewscreen.CustomizeitasyouwishIincludecommandsto
turnoffPowerGraphicsandtouseCentroidalsort.Thispermitscleanplotsonpaperwithlargemodels.NOTE:Usersmay
wanttosetthe/DSCALEvaluetothesamelevelinallfourwindowswith"/DSCALE,ALL,value".
!Puttheselinesinamacro
!Setscreentoshowfourstandardviews:
!Usermaywanttoset/DSCALEtothesamevalueinallwindows
/WIN,1,LTOP!Window1lefttop
/WIN,2,RTOP!Window2righttop
/WIN,3,LBOT!Window3leftbottom
/WIN,4,RBOT!Window4rightbottom
37/46
5/9/2016
/WIN,5,OFF!TurnoffWindow5
/VIEW,1,0,1,0!Window1top(plan)view
/VUP,1,Y!Referenceorientation
/VIEW,2,1,1,1!Window2ISO(isometricprojection)view
/VIEW,3,0,0,1!Window3front(frontelevation)view
/VIEW,4,1,0,0!Window4right(sideelevation)view
/AUTO,ALL!Fitallwindows
/PLOPTS,INFO,1!Includeinformationcolumn
/PLOPTS,LEG2,0!Don'tincludeviewinformation
/TYPE,ALL,2!Centroidsort,betterprintthatZbuffer
/CPLANE,0!Cuttingplane
/graphics,full!NOTPowerGraphics(fewerfacets?)
!Userhastoissuetheplotcommand
Thenextcodecanbeusedinamacrotoreturntoafrontviewinonewindow.Again,theusermaywanttocustomizesomeof
thelines:
!SetscreentoshowonefrontviewinWindow1
/WIN,1,SQUA!FullsquareWindow1
/WIN,1,ON!TurnonWindow1
/PLOPTS,INFO,1!Infoonforrightcolumn
/PLOPTS,LEG2,0!Don'tshowtheviewinformation
/VIEW,1,0,0,1!Front(frontelevation)view
/TYPE,ALL,2!Centroidalsort,betterprintthanZbuffer
/CPLANE,0!Cuttingplane
/graphics,full!NotPowerGraphics(fewerfacets?)
!Userhastoissuetheplotcommand
Afterrunningoneoftheaboveviewgeneratingmacros,theuserhastoissueaplotcommandtoseetheresult.
Tip59:QuickReviewofModeShapes
TostartprintingplotsofmodeshapesdirectlyfromANSYSmodeshaperesults,havingthehardcopywindowpopup
automatically,typeinaninputlinesuchas:
SET,1,1$PLDISP$/UI,COPY
Thedollarsignseparatesthecommandsthataregroupedononeinputline.ClickthehardcopyOKbuttontokickoffthe
hardcopy.Youmaywanttosettheprinttolandscapemode,first.Then,toprintplotsoftherestofthemodeshapes,type:
SET,NEXT$PLDISP$/UI,COPY
Simplykeeprepeatingthesecondline(toavoidretyping,doubleclickitintheANSYSInputwindow),andclickingthe
hardcopyOKbutton,togettherestofthemodesprinted.NotethattheSET,NEXTcommandwillloopbacktothefirstmode
shapeafterthenumberofmodesstoredintheRSTfilehasbeenexhausted.
Youmayseethesomewhatoddmessage:
Thiscomesupbecauseofthe/UI,COPYcommand,andhassomethingtodowiththe/ZOOMcommand.Consequently,this
methodmaynotworksatisfactorilyifyourzoomisnotoff.Inviewingmodeshapes,itwillbetypicaltohavezoomingoff.
Thefollowingcodefragmentreadfromaninputormacrofilecanautomaticallyplotasetofmodeshapes.*GETcommands
areusedtodetectinformationonwhatsubstepandfrequencyareread.Theuserdoesnotneedtoknowhowmanymodeswere
38/46
5/9/2016
generated,soautomatedplottingtoafileissimpler.Thedisplacementplotswillcontainsubstepandfrequencyinformation.
Thiscodeshouldcopewithdegenerateeigenvaluesorrigidbodydisplacements.Executethisfromwithin/POST1aftera
modecaseanalysiswasrun,orafterthedatabaseandRSTfileforamodecaseanalysisareloaded.Thereisnoerrorcheck,so
thismustbeusedproperly.Theuserwillwanttotestandcustomizethesecommands:
set,1,1!settothefirstmode
pldisp!plotthefirstmode
*do,iii,1,9999999!useaverylargenumber
set,next!settothenextmode
*get,ntotal,active,0,solu,ncmss!cumulativesubstepscyclesto1ifallmodesinRSTdone
*get,thefreq,mode,iii,freq!usethislineifdesiredtogetfrequencyintoaparameter
*if,ntotal,eq,1,then
*exit!exitdoloopifdone
*endif
pldisp!plotthedisplacedshape
*enddo
Tip60:UsingANSYSHelp
WhenusingANSYSinteractively,helponanycommandcanbeaccessedimmediatelybytypingHELP,commandnameintothe
inputwindow.IftheHELPapplicationhasbeenlaunchedindependently,thequickwaytogethelponaparticularcommandis
tousethe"Navigate"and"HelpOn..."menuchoice.Typethecommandnameintothe"HelpOn"textboxthatpopsup,then
clicktheApplybutton.
ThiswillsendthehelpprogramtotheCommandsmanualforthecommandnametyped.Ifyouclickthe"Apply"button,the
"HelpOn"dialogboxremainsvisible,andcanbeusedtotypeinothercommandnames.
TheonlineANSYShelpsystemmakestheneedfortripstohardcopydocumentationmuchlessfrequent.TheHelpapplication
39/46
5/9/2016
canbelaunchedwhileANSYSisrunninginthebackground,soANSYSdocumentationcanbestudiedwhilealargemodelis
solving.
Tip61:TheFEAJobHunt
NotstrictlyanANSYSissue,Iwanttoputinmyowntwocent'sworthonthistopic,whichisofinteresttoallofus.Some
timebackwhenIwasjobhuntingduringarecession,Iwasgivenaprescreeninginterviewoverthephone.Theinterviewer
ownedaconsultingfirm.Itrapidlybecameapparentthathehadbeenliedto,manytimesandbymanypeople,abouttheirFEA
experience.Ihadbeenusingacompany'sproprietaryFEAcodeandwasnotexperiencedwiththemajorcommercialprograms,
sowasimmediatelysuspect.Anothertime,Iheardofanapplicantusinganotherguy'sFEAmodelimagestopresentinajob
interviewas"evidence"ofhisownexperience.Iinterviewedaguywhoclaimedexperiencewith"alocallyavailableproductI
wouldn'tknow."Itbecameapparentthathehadbeencoachedandknewonlythebuzzwords.Whenjobhuntingitischallenge
enoughtocompetewithotherexperiencedpeoplemisrepresentationwedon'tneed.
TheFEAjobapplicantshouldbeabletopresentevidenceofacademicand/orpostacademictraining.Theapplicantshould
haveaportfolioofpreviouswork.Theapplicantshouldbeinstructedtobringthesetotheinterview.Theportfolioinformation
canbealittleawkwardwhentheproductsareproprietary.Ifitwouldbeillegaltopresentanyimagesofworkdone,thenI
suggestakeenapplicantindependentlydevelopasetofsmallmodelsusingANSYS/EDthatillustratetheFEAtechniqueswith
whichtheapplicantisfamiliar.Theapplicantshouldbeabletodescribethemodelingconsiderations,techniques,
compromises,pitfalls,andpostprocessingpossibilitiesoftheexamples.
Ofcourse,withgoodreferencesandpersonalnetworking,theabovesituationsarelessofaconcern.Still,aswithcomputer
programming,theproductivityofindividualscanvarysurprisingly.Consequently,theapplicantshouldbeabletodescribe
whatmakesFEAproductivitypossible,someofthemodelingshortcutspossible,andgiveanenergetic,articulateand
confidentpresentationofself.
Questionsofthe"howwouldyoumodelthis"and"howwouldyouhandlethis"typearejustasrelevantastheyareinother
professionalinterviews.
Ihavehadbothexcellentandverypoorinterviewersassessingme.Withsome,I'vehadtopolitelydirecttheinterviewjustto
beabletopointoutmyrangeofskills.OnthebasisofmyownsmallsetofexperiencesIwouldsaythatfirstimpressionsare
verytellingifyougetabadfeelingaboutaplaceduringtheinterview,itmaybeforagoodreason.Ifyouseeaplaceas
beingawelcomingworkplacewithahealthyenvironment,andthepeopleyoumeetbehavewellandaresociallyskilled,the
oddsarethataslongasyoufunctionasavaluableemployee,lifetherewillbeOK.I'vehadaninterviewerkeepmewaitingfor
anhourandahalfpasttheappointmenttime.Igotthejob,andfoundthatthingswerefrequentlyoutofcontrol,andtheguy
wasimpossibletosee.Ihadanunpleasant"stressinterview",andsureenough,theplacewascheap,hadanunhealthywork
life,andpoorlystructuredleadership.Anotherinterviewerstruckmeashighlymanipulative,tryingtogoadmeintomaking
negativecommentsaboutemployersandethnicgroups(ofallthingstalkaboutplayingwithfireapersonnelmanagerwho
apparentlyfanciedhimselfapsychologist),andgivingmeinaccuratedataonhiringintentions.Afriendofminegotthejoband
detestedit,sayingtheplacewaspoisonedwithpoliticalgames.I'vehadathoroughlypositiveinterview,gotthejob,andfound
Iwaswithgreatpeople.Ignoretheirhype:Whatyouseeis(mostlikely)whatyouget.
Toendthisonafewpositivenotes:Employerswanttohiresomeonewhowillbeasuccessforthem.Yourbosswillbevery
happyifyoumakeeveryone'slifeeasierthroughyourcontributions.Prepareyourselftogiveapictureofyourrangeofskills,
energy,confidence,communicationskill,abilitytoworkwithothers,rangeofpastexperience,andabilitytotimemanageaset
ofresponsibilities.Someemployersbegrudgeeverypenny,butothersarepleasedtocompensateyouattractivelyifyou
producewell.Sizeupthepotentialemployercarefully,foryourtimeisvaluable.Bestofluck.
Tip62:*VPUTandDESOL
Ihavenoideawhythecommandsmanualentryfor*VPUTdescribestheparameterParRas"Thenameoftheresultingvector
arrayparameter."TheparameterParRisthesourceofdata,NOTwhatischangedby*VPUT.Notethat*VPUTcanwriteto
noderesults,andtoanelementETABLE.Thereisadifferencebetweenwritingto"nodaldegreeoffreedomresults",andwhat
themanualcalls"elementnodalresults"with*VPUT.
The*VPUTcommandcanwriteinformationtothenoderesultswhichcanthenbeplottedasifitwasthenodalresults,using
thePLNSOLcommand.Thecommandmanualtellsusthattheeffectispermanentfordegreeoffreedomresults(changingthe
database),buttemporaryforallothers(derivedresults,notchangingtheunderlyingdatabase).Writingstressdatawith*VPUT
doesnotaffectelementplotswithPLESOL,S,option.Ifyouuse*VPUTtowriteto"elementnodalstressresults",immediately
doaPLNSOLplottoseetheeffect,doaPLDISPplot(seeingunaffecteddegreeoffreedomdata),andthendoanother
PLNSOLstressplot,thelatterPLNSOLplotshowsoriginaldatathatisunaffectedby*VPUT.Thetemporarymodified
PLNSOLstressploteffectdoesnotcooperatewithPowerGraphicstogiveaplotwithcontourdiscontinuities.Beforeusingthe
*VPUTtemporaryeffectinplottingnodalstress(orotherderived)results,testthemethodcarefullyforerrors,andforany
errorsinwhatIhavejustsaid!Warning:Inashellmodel,theplotoftemporary*VPUTderiveddatamaymaketheplotlegend
indicatorfortheTOP,MIDorBOTsurfaceoftheshellelementsmeaninglessannotatetheplottoinformthereviewer.
TheDESOLcommanddoeswritederivedinformationintothedatabasetothenodesofelements,onapermanentbasis.The
commandispowerful,andpotentiallydangerous.Annotateplotsandchangetitlestoinformthereviewer.Itcanbepainfully
40/46
5/9/2016
slowtoapplyDESOLtoeverynodeofeveryelement,elementbyelement,inalargemodel.
Tip63:HowtoDivideOneElementTableColumnbyAnother
Todivideonecolumnofanelementtable(ETABLE)byanothercolumn,usetheSEXPcommand.Makesurethedenominator
isnonzero!Perthecommandsmanual,SEXP"formsanelementtableitembyexponentiatingandmultiplying."Theresultof
SEXPisformedfrom(ABS(Lab1)**EXP1)*(ABS(Lab2)**EXP2).Becauseoftheabsolutevalueoperationsthatprotect
ANSYSfromcomplexnumbersbeinggenerated,youwillgettheabsolutevalueoftheansweryouwant.TodividewithSEXP,
useapositiveexponentEXP1=+1forthenumeratorLab1,andanegativeexponentEXP2=1forthedenominatorLab2.
IfyoumusthavetheETABLEcolumnanswerwithitspositiveornegativesign,onewaytogetitwouldbetouseablendof
SEXPandSMULT.GivenETABLEcolumnsAandB,youwantacolumnofA/Bvalueswiththeirsigns.UseSMULTtoform
C=A*BwhichhasthesamesignasA/B.UseSEXPtoformD=1/(ABS(B)**2)whichispositive.UseSMULTtoform
E=C*D.NowthecolumnE=A/Bwithitscorrectsign.
Tip64:ElementTables(ETABLE)andArrayDataExchangeAnExample
Notethat*VGETand*VPUTcancommunicatewithanETABLEandwithanArray.Inthisway,informationthatcanonlybe
obtainedineitheranETABLEoranArraycanbemovedbackandforthformanipulation,evaluation,anddisplay.Youhaveto
beinside/POST1touseETABLE.SOLVEhastohavebeenexecutedinorderforETABLEdatatobeavailable.Inbrief
testing,Ifoundpartialsolveexecutionnottobesufficienttomakeanydataavailableforanelementtable,forexample,
elementvolume.Inordertouse*VPUTonanETABLE,thearrayandETABLEcolumnwillhavetoalreadyexist.Createthe
ETABLEcolumnbymakingacopyofanexistingETABLEcolumn(youcanusetheSADDcommand,forexample),orby
creatinganewdummycolumnfrommodelinformation.Givethenewcolumnanappropriatenameforthedatathatwillcome
fromthearray.Ifselectionofonlyasubsetofyourelementsisinplace,oriftherearegapsintheelementnumbering,itmay
bepreferabletousea*VMASKduringthe*VGETand*VPUTcallstoavoidwarningmessages.The*VMASKarray
contentscanbebasedonatestofelementselection.ArraysizecanbebasedonMINandMAXvaluesforselectedelement
numbering,ifyouuseanoffsetduringdatamovement.Minimizingarraysizeisagoodreasonforcompressingnodeand
elementnumberswhendevelopingalargemodel,beforeloadcases,solutionsandarraydimensionsareprepared.
Anexamplewithshellelements:putshellelementvolumeinanETABLE,shellelementareainanarray,movetheareaarray
intoanETABLEcolumn,dividevolumebyareatogetshellelementthicknessforeachelementinanewETABLEcolumn,
anddoacoloredETABLEcontourplotofyourmodel'sshellelementthicknesses(donotaveragethevaluesintheETABLE
plot).Iftheshellelementisofvaryingthickness,thisprocessgeneratesanaveragefortheelement.Printacoloredpictureof
thisplot.Augmentthiswithanelementplotusing/ESHAPE,1andcoloringbasedonREALconstantvalues.Thisshouldhelp
with"peskyvisitors"whoarealwayswonderinghowthickcertainpartsofacomplexshellmodelare.Itmayhelpyoucatch
somemodelingerrors.HereisamacrotogeneratetheETABLEthicknesscolumnandplotthemodelcoloredbyelement
thickness.ThismacroiswrittentoprocessShell63elementsintheselectedsetofelements.Itisabasicmacrowithnotesting
topreventerrorconditions,or"cleanup"afterexecution.Itillustratesmovementofanarraycolumnintoanelementtable
column,useofmasks,offsetofthetransferreddatatominimizearrayandelementtablesize,anddivisionofoneETABLE
columnbyanotherusingtheSEXPcommand.ThemacrohastobereexecutedifthemodelischangedanETABLEupdate
wouldnotbesufficient.Thedenominatorthatcontainselementareainthedivideoperationshouldautomaticallybenonzero
becauseallshellelementshaveareas.
!ETABLEandArrayusageandinteractionexample.
!Forillustrationonly.Useatyourownrisk.
!ThisexampleisusedonSHELL63elements.
!Anarrayiscreatedcalled"aaa",elementselectionmaybereduced,
!andelementtablesareused.Aplotresults.
!Runfromwithin/POST1
!PutelementvolumeinanETABLE,andelementareainanarray.
!MovetheareaarraydataintotheETABLE
!Divideelementvolumebyelementareatogetanelementthicknesscolumn.
!Elementthicknessvalueshouldbetheaverageforvariablethicknesselements.
!PlottheETABLEthicknessdataforaviewoftheShell63elements
!thatarecontourcoloredaccordingtotheelementthickness.
!
esel,r,ename,,63!reselectonlytheSHELL63elements
aaa=!killthearraytobeused
*get,xmax,elem,,num,max!whatisthehighestelementnumberselected?
!elementnumbercompressionwillbedesirable
*get,xmin,elem,,num,min!minimumelementnumber
*dim,aaa,array,xmaxxmin+1!arraytoholdareashastobethisbig
*vget,aaa(1),elem,xmin,esel!fillarraywithinfoonwhetherelementisselected
!1=notselected,0=undefined,1=selected
!offsetwithxmin(seethemanual)
*vmask,aaa(1)!useelementselectioninfoasamask
*vget,aaa(1),elem,xmin,geom!fillthearraywithgeominfoontheelements
!forshellelementsthisisAREA.Offsetwithxmin
etable,volu,volu!createelementtablecolumnwithelementvolume
sadd,geom,volu,,0,1!createdummycolumntocontainotherdata
41/46
5/9/2016
*vmask,aaa(1)!usearrayasamask(geomdataispositiveorzero)
*vput,aaa(1),elem,xmin,etab,geom!putdataintoETABLE"geom"column.Offsetwithxmin
sexp,thick,volu,geom,1,1!dividevolumebyarea,getavg.shellelementthick.
/title,ETABLEPlotofShell63ElementThicknessValues
pletab,thick,noav
Youcanthenselectafewelementsofinterest,andlisttheelementtableforthecolumncontainingthethickness,togeta
numericalthicknessvalueforthoseelements.Youcoulduse*VGETtoputtheREALvaluesfortheshellelementsintoan
array,andtransferthatdataintoanETABLEcolumn.ThenwhenyoulistETABLEinformationforaselectedelement,you
couldseetheREALandthethicknessvaluesidebyside.Contourcolorscouldbeexplicitlyassignedtothedifferent
thicknessesfoundintheETABLEcolumn,ifthenumberofthicknesseswasnottoogreat.Youcouldplaceabuttononthe
toolbarthatcallsamacrothat(1)checksthattheuserisin/POST1,(2)checksthatthereisresultsdatainthedatabase,(3)asks
youtopickelementswiththemouse,then(4)generatesandprintstheETABLEvaluesfortheREAL,thickness,andstress
valuesofthoseelements,and(5)finallycleansupandrestorestheoriginalelementselection.
Anotheruse:PutshellelementmidplaneSx,Sy,andSxyintocolumns,andmultiplythembytheelementthicknesscolumn.
TheresultingdatawouldbesimilartoTX,TY,andTXYdatathatcanbeobtaineddirectly,butnowwouldbeinthedirection
definedbytheactivecoordinatesystem.Amacrocould(1)havetheuserpicknodesorkeypointstodefinealocalcoordinate
system,(2)makeitactive,(3)developthisETABLEdataandgenerateplotscoloredbyloadperunitlengthintheknown
directions,then(4)cleanup.ThiscouldbedoneforSINTorSEQVifdesired.
Thepossibilitiesareendless.
Tip65:ErrorEstimation,PowerGraphics,andERNORM
ErrorEstimationwillnotbeavailablewhenyouenter/POST1ifPowerGraphicsisactive.IfyouturnoffPowerGraphics,then
the"OptionsforOutput"intheGUIwilloffertheERNORMsettingthatactivateserrorestimation.IfPowerGraphicsisnot
active,thenthe"OptionsforOutput"intheGUIwillnotoffertheAVRESsettingthatcontrolsdiscontinuityofcontoursat
changesofmaterialandREALvalueforelements.ThefirsttimeIencounteredthiswaswhenIcouldn'tgetanerrorreport,
andcouldn'timaginewhy,untilIhadpokedaroundforawhile.Ihadentered/POST1with/PowerGraphicsactive.ERNORM
isONbydefaultwhenyouenter/POST1,butonlyifPowerGraphicsisOFFwith/GRAPHICS,FULL.
Tip66:ConcatenateandMeshLast
OneofthethingsIhaveseengowronginmodeldevelopmentis:Ihaveconcatenatedlinesand/orareas,thenperformeda
booleanoperationonthem.ModelproblemsresultedandIhadtostartfromscratch(Ireranmostofthelogfile)Isuggest
thatbooleanoperationshappenfirstconcatenateandmeshlast.(ThiswaswithANSYS5.3solidmodelingproblemsare
reducedwitheachversion.)
Ihavefoundthatwhenthreeormoreareasareconcatenated,thelinesthatareimplicitlyconcatenatedhavetobeconcatenated
manuallybeforesuccessfulmappedmeshingwillproceed.Whenonlytwoareasareconcatenated,thelinesconcatenate
automatically.
Whenconcatenatedareasareusedtomapmeshavolume,itmayhappenthatanadjacentvolumedefinedbyanareathatis
partoftheconcatenatedsetwillnotmeshuntilthe"pseudoarea"thatresultsfromtheconcatenationisdeleted.I'vehad
occasionswhenthisdidanddidnothappen.Theconcatenatedlinesmayneedcleanup,also.Itispossiblethatifthevolumes
thatdonotrequireconcatenatedareasinordertobemeshed,aremeshedfirst,thattheremainingvolumescanhaveareaand
lineconcatenationcreatedafter,andthenbemeshedthemselves,withouterrormessages.Thisconsiderationmaycompromise
easymeshrefinementandadaptivemeshing.Itmaybenecessarytogototetrahedralelementsforeasymeshing,unless
ANSYSrevisionshavefixedupmappedmeshingconcatenation.
Trivia:Ifirstencounteredtheword"contatenate"whenusinganIBM370alongtimeback.Aneighbourtoldmethat
"concatenate"isbasedontheLatinwordfor"chain".
Tip67:ANSYSOutputofDatatoFilesforUsebyOtherPrograms
NumericaldatacontainedinparameterscanbeoutputintoASCIIfilesusingthe*CFOPEN,the*VWRITE,andthe*CFCLOS
commands.The*VWRITEcommandonlyworkswhencalledfromaninputfilethatincludesaformatstatementsimilarto
FORTRAN.Thefollowingsimplemacromakesthe*VWRITEcommandeasytouse:
!Putthiscodeintoamacrofilecalled"writer.mac"
!callwith:writer,data
!writedatainarg1toafilepreviouslyopenedwith*CFOPEN
!lateron,closethefilewith*CFCLOSE
*vwrite,arg1
(E16.8)
ThefollowingANSYS/INPUTdatatestwilldemonstratetheuseoftheabovemacro.Inthistest,themacrohasbeencalled
"writer.mac"anditisinthecurrentdirectory.Eithernumbersorparametersthatevaluatetonumberscanbeusedinthe
followingcommands:
42/46
5/9/2016
!ExampleofdataoutputtofilefromANSYS
*cfopen,myoutput,dat
writer,123
writer,234
/clear
writer,345
writer,456
*cfclos
ExecutingtheabovecommandsfromwithinANSYSgeneratesthefollowingdatainthefile"myoutput.dat",anddemonstrates
thattheoutputfileremainsopeninspiteofthe/CLEARcommand.Thefollowingisthecontentofthefile"myoutput.dat":
.12300000E+03
.23400000E+03
.34500000E+03
.45600000E+03
Thefilenameusedinthedemoendedin".dat"sothatthedatawouldbeaccessibletotheMathCadprogramfromMathSoft,
Inc.TheaboveproceduremakesitpossibletogetANSYSinformationoutintoanotherprogramwithouterrorsinmanual
transcription.IfyoucangettheANSYSinformationintoaparameter,itcanbemovedtoanexternalfile.Datacanberead
backintoANSYSwiththe*VREADcommand.Similarmethodscanbeusedtomovearraysfullofdata.Notethatthe
*VGETand*VPUTcommandscanmovedatabetweenelementtablesandarrays,andthearrayscanbeusedtoputdatainto
externaltextfiles,sosignificantautomateddatamovementispossible.Thisapproachcanhelptoreducedataerrorsinreports.
HereisanexampleoftemporarilyswitchingtheANSYS/OUTPUTinformationfromthedefault,toafile.Notethatcertain
listinformationwillnotgotothefilewhentheGUIisinuse(readthemanual).
!Thefollowingcodeswitches/OUTPUTtoafile,
!writestwocomments,writesPRSECTinformationon
!linearizedstressesalongapreviouslydefinedpath,
!thenreturns/OUTPUTtothedefault.
/output,lin_path,out
/COM,LinearizedPathResultsfromPRSECT
/COM,CompareResultswithCodeAllowables
PRSECT,,0
/output
Thisgivesapermanentrecordthatisindependentofplottedresults.
Tip68:WritingArrayColumnstoOutputortoFiles
The*VWRITEcommandcanbeusedtooutputanarraycolumn,inadditiontoscalarparameters.Thearraypositionfrom
whichtheprintingwillstartmustbeindicatedwhenexecutingthe*VWRITEcommand.Asmentionedabove,the*VWRITE
commandcannotbeexecutedinsidetheGUI,ithastobeexecutedfromaninputfileormacro.The*VWRITEcommand
printsthedatafromthestartingpositionondowntotheendofthecolumn.Theoutputthatresultscanberedirectedwiththe
/OUTPUTorwiththe*CFOPENand*CFCLOScommands.Thefollowingtwomacroscanbeusedtomakecallingthe
*VWRITEcommandeasy.Thearraymustexist,havingbeencreatedwitha*DIMcommand.Thefirstmacroworksona1
dimensionalarrayparameter.Notetheinstructiononhowtocallthemacro,withthearrayparameternamesurroundedby
singlequotesinordertodelaytheevaluation.
!Thismacrowillprinta1dimensionalarray
!accordingtothestartingpositionindicated.
!IfthismacroiscalledWRITEAR1.MACandan
!arraycalledCOL1DATAistobeprintedfrom
!positionCOL1DATA(1)totheendofthearray
!thencallthismacrowiththestatement:
!WRITEAR1,'COL1DATA',1
!settingthenameofthearrayinsinglequotes.
!TheusermaywishtochangetheFORMATstatement.
*vwrite,arg1(arg2)
(E16.8)
Thesecondworksona2dimensionalarrayparameter.Themacrocallwillincludetherowandcolumnpositionfromwhichto
start.The*VWRITEstatementwillcauseprintingofacolumnofthe2dimensionalarray.Whencallingthemacro,thearray
parameternameis,asabove,enclosedwithsinglequotestodelayevaluation.
!Thismacrowillprintacolumnofa2dimensionalarray
!accordingtothestartingpositionindicated.
!IfthismacroiscalledWRITEAR2.MACandan
!arraycalledMYDATA2Distobeprintedfrom
!positionMYDATA2D(1,2)totheendofcolumn2thencall
43/46
5/9/2016
!thismacrowiththestatement:
!WRITEAR2,'MYDATA2D',1,2
!settingthenameofthearrayinsinglequotes.
!TheusermaywishtochangetheFORMATstatement.
*vwrite,arg1(arg2,arg3)
(E16.8)
GiventhatallANSYSarraysareimplicitly3dimensional,thesecondmacroabovecouldbeusedtoprintouta1dimensional
arrayifthesecondcallingparameterissettoone.Asimilarmacrocanbewrittentoprinta"column"ofa3dimensionalarray.
IfaterminthearrayisMYARRAY(III,JJJ,KKK)thenthe*VWRITEcommandwillcyclethroughthevaluesoftheIIIindex
whenprintingoutdata.Themacrofora3dimensionalarraycouldbewrittensothatittestsARG2,ARG3,andARG4toseeif
theyarezero.Iftheyarezero,thentheypresumablywerenotentered,andthecorrectformofa*VWRITEcommandcouldbe
usedtoprintascalar,1Darray,2Darray,or3Darray,asappropriate.Suchamacroisillustratedbelow.Itsusewouldbe
veryerrorpronewithouterrorcheckingcode.Ascalarneednothaveitsnameenclosedinsinglequotesincallingthismacro,
butanarraywouldhavetobeenclosedinsinglequotesasintheaboveexamples.Ausermaywanttocustomizethismacroto
changetheFORMATstatements,ortoremovethe/NOPRand/GOPRcommands.
!Macrotowriteascalaroranarraycolumn,asappropriate.
!Indicatethestartingpositionfor*VWRITEifanarrayisused.
!Encloseanarrayparameternameinsinglequotes.#################
!Examples,ifthismacroiscalledWRITER.MAC:
!writer,aaa!ifaaaisascalar
!writer,'bbb',1,3,2!ifbbbisa3Darrayparameter
!Notethe/NOPRand/GOPRcommands.Theywilloverwriteusersettings.
/nopr!reducetheamountprintedto/OUTPUT
*if,arg2,ne,0,then!ifnonzeroanarrayisused
*if,arg3,eq,0,then!ifnota2Darray
arg3=1
*endif
*if,arg4,eq,0,then!ifnota3Darray
arg4=1
*endif
*vwrite,arg1(arg2,arg3,arg4)
(E16.8)
*else!ifascalar
*vwrite,arg1
(E16.8)
*endif
/gopr!switchon/OUTPUT
Testthesemacrosthoroughlybeforeuse.Notethattheycontainnoerrorhandlingcode.Warning:Itisparticularlydifficultto
remembertosurroundthenameofthearrayparameterwithsinglequotes.
Tip69:SynthesizingParameterNamesandManipulatingJobnamesandLongStringsinAPDL
AlthoughIhaven'tfounddocumentationreferencetothefollowingtricks,theyworkinANSYS5.3,andpresumablywillin
future.Theabilitytosynthesizeparameternames,andtodoothertextmanipulation,couldleadtosomeverycreativeactivities
in"programming"ANSYSmethodsandinmacrowriting.Parameternamesthemselvescanbesynthesizedbychainingtext
stringstogether.Rememberthatthereisalimitonthenumberofparametersinamodelarraysmustbeusedtogetaround
this,ifitisaproblem.TrythesestatementsinANSYSmanuallyentertheselinesoneatatimeintheANSYSInputwindow,
andcheckwhatturnsupwhenthe*STATUScommandisissued(scrolldowntothebottomoftheSTATUStextwindowthat
popsup):
aaa='qwer'
bbb='tyui'
%aaa%%bbb%=12345
*status
%aaa%1234=5
*status
*do,iii,1,9$abc%iii%=iii$*enddo
*status
Forwhatit'sworth,youcanevenstoreANSYScommandsinparameters,andexecutethem.Iencounteredsometrouble
executingcommandswithcommasembeddedinsidethecharacterparameters,butthefollowingworked.Givethematry:
aaa='nplo'
%aaa%
a='*get'
b='xx'
c='active'
d='0'
44/46
5/9/2016
e='time'
f='wall'
%a%,%b%,%c%,%d%,%e%,%f%
*status,%b%
thetime=%b%
/title,%a%,%b%,%c%,%d%,%e%,%f%yields%thetime%
/repl
Parametersthatholdtextdataarelimitedto8characters.Severaltextvariablescanbechainedtogether(concatenated)using
the"percent"sign.Theusershouldexperimenttoseehowblanksaretruncated.Thefollowingexampleillustrateschaining.
Thestringsareconcatenatedinthe/TITLEcommand,andthe/REPLcommandshowstheresultintheplottitle.
xxx='The1st'
yyy='&2nd'
/TITLE,%xxx%%yyy%
/REPL
Situationswhenthistrickmightbeusedcouldbetosaveandemploylongtitlestrings,annotationstrings,orjobnamesforthe
/FILNAMEcommand.Themethodcanuseseveralparameters,orseveraltermsofanarrayparameter.Ajobnamecanbeupto
32characterslong,souptofourparameters,or4termsinanarrayparameter,wouldbeneeded.Notethatthe*GETcommand
canreadinajobname,withthe*GETstatementpointingtothecharacterinthejobnamewheretheparameterwillbeginto
readthestring.Anexampleofarrayuseis:
*DIM,aaa,char,4
aaa(1)='Firstte'
aaa(2)='rm&2nd'
/TITLE,%aaa(1)%%aaa(2)%
/repl
Adatabasecouldbesavedwithstatementssuchasthese,inwhichparameter"aaa"istextand"num"isaninteger.The
contentsof"num"couldbetheresultsofaloadstep"num"andthefilenamewouldidentifytheloadstepnumber:
aaa='model'
num='456'
SAVE,%aaa%%num%,db
SAVE,%aaa%123,db
SAVE,myjob%num%,db
Anotheruseiswithaparameterinsidepercentsignsgroupedwithtextwithallinsidesinglequotes.Considerthisexample,
whichwasusedtodeleteloadstepfilesinacomplexapplication:
!Parameter"compname"containstheJobnameofaloadstepfile
*do,jjj,st1,st2,st3
*if,jjj,lt,10,then
/delete,compname,'s0%jjj%'
*else
/delete,compname,'s%jjj%'
*endif
*enddo
BoththeRESUMEcommandandthe/CLEARcommandcandestroythecounterusedina*DOloop.Ihaveusedthe
PARSAVcommandbeforeRESUME,andthePARREScommandimmediatelyafter,inordertorecoverthecounterandother
loopingparameterswhenplacingRESUMEinsidea*DOloop.Theusershouldtestthistechniquebeforeusingthe
parameterssavedandrestoredmayundesirablyoverwriteparametersinthefilethatisresumed.Lookatthis/CLEAR
exampleitillustrateswhatcanbedone:
!testoflooping
fini!exitwhateverisactive
*do,iii,1,3
parsav,all,xxx,parm
/clear!bepreparedtohitOKbutton
parres,new,xxx,parm
*enddo
ThesemethodscanmakeitpossibletoprogramconsiderableautomationintoANSYS,usingtheabilitytoassembleparameter
names,parametercontents,commands,andfilenamesfromlettersandnumbers.
Tip70:SolidElements95and92EfficiencyandInterconnection
Thesetwosolidelementshavemidsidenodes,sotheyfollowcurvedsurfacesnicely.Fewerelementsareneededthanwith
Solid458nodebricks,forequivalentaccuracy.NotetheANSYSmanualcommentsthatthesimplerflatsidedelementsmay
bepreferredformaterialnonlinearity.However,nonlinearityissupportedbySolid92andSolid95.TheSolid45tetrahedral
45/46
5/9/2016
elementis"notrecommended"intheANSYSmanualsbecauseofitslowaccuracyinpredictingstressesthehigherorder
Solid92and95tetrahedraloptionelementsdonothavethesewarnings,andmaybepreferredinsomecases.
Solidelement95isa20nodebrickelement.Italsosupportsaprism,pyramid,andtetrahedralelementshapeoption.At
revision5.3ofANSYS,mytestingsuggeststhattheprismandpyramidformsarenotgeneratedbytheautomaticvolume
mesher.Atthe5.5revision,pyramidsmaybegeneratedbythemesherattheinterfacebetweenthebrickform,andthe
tetrahedralform.BrieftestingIdidsuggeststhatmeshingofvolumescansuccessfullyinterfacethebrickandtetrahedral
forms.Thetetrahedraformedattheinterfacewithbrickelementsdonothavemidsidenodeswheretheywouldnotexiston
thematchingbrickelements,sothereshouldnotbeabigmismatchproblemattheinterface.Theseelementsthathaveamid
sidenodemissingareconsideredtobedegenerateformsintheANSYSmanuals,andarenotrecommendedinregionswith
highstressgradients,orwhereexacestressvaluesareimportant.
TheSolid92elementisa10notetetrahedronitshouldactthesameasthe10nodeversionoftheSolid95elementin
producingresults.However,itexecutessignificantlyfasterthanthe10nodeSolid95element,presumablybecausethesoftware
isnotdealingwiththeredundantextra10nodes.Inlargemodels,thisspeedupwillbeofvaluetousers,soSolid92elements
shouldbeconsideredwhereSolid95tetrahedralformswouldotherwisebeemployedinlargestructuralmodels.
Tip71:RadiansandDegrees
InANSYS,geometrydevelopmentisdonewithanglesinDegrees.Degreeoffreedomvariablesfornodeswithrotational
degreesoffreedomareinRadians.TrigonometriccalculationswiththebuiltinfunctionssuchasSINandCOSarecalculated
inRadiansbydefault,butcanbeswitchedtoDegreesbythe*AFUNcommand.
Whenmodalanalysisisdone,thefrequenciesarereturnedinCyclesperTimeUnit,usuallycyclespersecond,whereacycleis
afull360degreecycle.Harmonicanalysisisalsodoneincyclespertimeunit.Whenrotationisenteredasaninertialloadwith
theOMEGAcommand,itisdoneinradianspertimeunit.Becarefulwithunitsforrotationalvelocitywhenusingthenew
CampbellDiagramplots.
UptoContents
ReturntoMainPage
FEAandOptimizationIntroductionPage
FEAModelingIssuesPage
1998,1999byPeterC.BudgellYouarewelcometoprintandphotocopythesepages(don'tplagiarizeorsellthecontents).
May27,1999
Linkto:TheANSYSHomePageatwww.ansys.com
Linkto:ANSYSTechnicalOverviewRecommendedReading
Formorelinks,ReturntoLinksonMainPage.
46/46

Ansys Tips and Ansys Tricks

Diunggah oleh

Informasi Dokumen

Hak Cipta

Format Tersedia

Bagikan dokumen Ini

Bagikan atau Tanam Dokumen

Opsi Berbagi

Apakah menurut Anda dokumen ini bermanfaat?

Apakah konten ini tidak pantas?

Hak Cipta:

Format Tersedia

Ansys Tips and Ansys Tricks

Diunggah oleh

Hak Cipta:

Format Tersedia

5/9/2016

Anda mungkin juga menyukai