Course in ANSYS

Introduction

 What is Finite Element Analysis?

 The FEM is a computer The FEM is a

computer-aided mathematical technique
for obtaining approximate numerical
solutions to the abstract equations of
calculus that predict the response of
physical systems subjected to external
influences subjected to external influences

 Build computer models or transfer CAD

models of structures, products,
components, or systems.
Apply operating loads or other design
performance conditions.
Study physical responses, such as
stress levels, temperature distributions,
or electromagnetic fields.

 Optimize a design early in the

development process to reduce
production costs.
Do prototype testing in environments
where it otherwise would be
undesirable or impossible (for example,
biomedical applications).

Facilities in ANSYS
Structural Linear
Structural Nonlinear
Structural Contact/Common Boundaries
Structural Dynamic

Structural Buckling
Thermal Analysis
CFD Analysis
Electromagnetic -Low Frequency
Electromagnetics-High Frequency
Field and Coupled-Field Analysis

Solvers
Iterative
Sparse
Frontal
Explicit
Preprocessing
Postprocessing
General Features

Model Discrete
Each point have an
infinite number of
deformation state
variables, i.e.
degre-es of
freedom (dof)

Real model Continuum

Analysis model Discrete

 Divide a continuum with infinitely degrees

of freedom in to finite elements with a
given number of degrees of freedom

An element is
geometrical defined
by a number of
nodes in which the
elements are
connected. The
directions a node can
move in is termed
degrees of freedom
(dof)

 Following conditions must always be

satisfied
Equilibrium conditions
Compatibility conditions
Constitutive conditions
Boundary conditions

Advantages
Irregular Boundaries
General Loads
Different Materials
Boundary Conditions
Variable Element Size
Easy Modification
Dynamics
Nonlinear Problems (Geometric and/or Material)

Disadvantages
An approximate solution
An element dependent solution
Shape quality of elements affect the solution,
e.g. poorly shaped elements (irregular shapes)
reduce accuracy of the FE solution
Element density affect the solution, i.e. the
element size should be adjusted to capture
gradients

FEM -Resources
ALGOR
ANSYS
COSMOS/M
STARDYNE/FEMAP
MSC/NASTRAN
SAP90/2000
ADINA
NISA
GT Strudl
ABAQUS
Plaxis

Matlabbased:
CalFem
FemLab
CAE products:
Pro/ENGINEER
Pro/FEA
Pro/MECHANICA
Cosmos/Works
Inventor/ANSYS
IDEAS
Resources

 ANSYS runs on Windows XP and Unix

workstations.
The maximum problem size is about
12,000 elements and 16,000 nodes.

ANSYS Utilities
An introduction to using ANSYS, a quick
explanation of the stages of analysis, how
to start ANSYS, and the use of the
windows in ANSYS.

 Starting up ANSYS
How to start ANSYS using windows NT and Unix
X-Windows.
ANSYS Environment
An introduction to the windows used in ANSYS
ANSYS Interface
An explanation of the Graphic User Interface
(GUI) in comparison to the command file
approach.

 Convergence Testing
This file can help you to determine how
small your meshing elements need to be
before you can trust the solution.
Saving/Restoring Jobs
Description of how to save your work in
ANSYS and how to resume a previously
saved job.

 ANSYS Files
Definitions of the different files created by
ANSYS.
Printing Results
Saving data and figures generated in
ANSYS.

 In general, a finite element solution may

be broken into the following three stages.
This is a general guideline that can be
used for setting up any finite element
analysis.

1. Preprocessing: defining the problem;

the major steps in preprocessing are
given below:
Define keypoints/lines/areas/volumes
Define element type and material/geometric
properties
Mesh lines/areas/volumes as required

 The amount of detail required will depend

on the dimensionality of the analysis (i.e.
1D, 2D, axi-symmetric, 3D).

2. Solution: assigning loads, constraints

and solving; here we specify the loads
and finally solve the resulting set of
equations.

3. Postprocessing: further processing

and viewing of the results; in this stage
one may wish to see:

Lists of nodal displacements

Element forces and moments
Deflection plots
Magnetic & electric fields

Starting up ANSYS
Large File Sizes
ANSYS can create rather large files when
running and saving; be sure that your local
drive has space for it.

Getting the Program Started

There are two ways that you can start up
ANSYS:
Windows NT application
Unix X-Windows application

Windows NT Start Up
Starting up ANSYS in Windows NT is
simple:
Start Menu
Programs
ANSYS 6.0
Run Interactive Now

Unix X-Windows Start Up

Starting the Unix version of ANSYS involves
a few more steps:
We do not require this step.

 ANSYS 7.0 Environment

The ANSYS Environment for ANSYS 8.1
contains 2 windows: the Main Window and
an Output Window.

Utility Menu

The Utility Menu contains functions that

are available throughout the ANSYS
session, such as file controls, selections,
graphic controls and parameters.

Input Lindow

The Input Line shows program prompt

messages and allows you to type in
commands directly.

Toolbar

The Toolbar contains push buttons that

execute commonly used ANSYS
commands. More push buttons can be
added if desired.

Main Menu

The Main Menu contains the primary

ANSYS functions, organized by
preprocessor, solution, general
postprocessor, design optimizer.

Graphics Window

The Graphic Window is where graphics

are shown and graphical picking can be
made. It is here where you will
graphically view the model in its various
stages of construction and the ensuing
results from the analysis.

Output Window

 The Output Window shows text output

from the program, such as listing of
data etc. It is usually positioned behind
the main window and can de put to the
front if necessary.

ANSYS Interface

Graphical Interface vs. Command File

Coding

There are two methods to use ANSYS.

The first is by means of the graphical user
interface or GUI. This method follows the
conventions of popular Windows and XpWindows based programs.

The second is by means of command files.

The command file approach has a steeper
learning curve for many, but it has the
advantage that an entire analysis can be
described in a small text file, typically in
less than 50 lines of commands.

This approach enables easy model

modifications and minimal file space
requirements

The curse are designed to teach both the

GUI and the command file approach,
however, many of you will find the
command file simple and more efficient to
use once you have invested a small
amount of time into learning the code.

FEM Convergence Testing

Introduction
A fundamental premise of using the finite
element procedure is that the body is subdivided up into small discrete regions
known as finite elements.

These elements defined by nodes and

interpolation functions. Governing
equations are written for each element and
these elements are assembled into a
global matrix. Loads and constraints are
applied and the solution is then
determined.

The Problem
The question that always arises is: How
small do I need to make the elements
before I can trust the solution?

What to do about it...

In general there are no real firm answers
on this. It will be necessary to conduct
convergence tests! By this we mean that
you begin with a mesh discretization and
then observe and record the solution.

Now repeat the problem with a finer mesh

(i.e. more elements) and then compare the
results with the previous test.

If the results are nearly similar, then the

first mesh is probably good enough for that
particular geometry, loading and
constraints. If the results differ by a large
amount however, it will be necessary to try
a finer mesh yet.

The Consequences
Finer meshes come with a cost however:
more calculational time and large memory
requirements (both disk and RAM)! It is
desired to find the minimum number of
elements that give you a converged
solution.

General Models
In general however, it is necessary to
conduct convergence tests on your finite
element model to confirm that a fine
enough element discretization has been
used.

In a electromagnetic problem, this would

be done by creating several models with
different mesh sizes and comparing the
resulting fields and electrical stresses, for
example. In general, the electrical stresses
will converge more quickly than the
displacement, so it is not sufficient to
examine the displacement convergence.

ANSYS: Saving and Restoring Jobs

Saving Your Job
It is good practice to save your model at
various points during its creation.

Very often you will get to a point in the

modeling where things have gone well and
you like to save it at the point. In that way,
if you make some mistakes later on, you
will at least be able to come back to this
point.

To save your model, select Utility Menu

Bar -> File -> Save As Jobname.db.
Your model will be saved in a file called
jobname.db, where jobname is the name
that you specified in the Launcher when
you first started ANSYS.

It is a good idea to save your job at

different times throughout the building and
analysis of the model to backup your work
in case of a system crash or other
unforeseen problems.

Recalling or Resuming a Previously

Saved Job
Frequently you want to start up ANSYS
and recall and continue a previous job.
There are two methods to do this:

1. Using the Launcher...

In the ANSYS Launcher, select Interactive...
and specify the previously defined jobname.
Then when you get ANSYS started, select
Utility Menu -> File -> Resume Jobname.db
.
This will restore as much of your database
(geometry, loads, solution, etc) that you
previously saved.

2. Or, start ANSYS and select Utitily Menu > File -> Resume from... and select your
job from the list that appears.

 Introduction
A large number of files are created when
you run ANSYS. If you started ANSYS
without specifying a jobname, the name of
all the files created will be FILE.* where
the * represents various extensions
described below.

 If you specified a jobname, say Frame,

and then the created files will all have the
file prefix, Frame again with various
extensions:

frame.db
Database file (binary). This file stores the
geometry, boundary conditions and any
solutions.
frame.dbb
Backup of the database file (binary).
frame.err
Error file (text). Listing of all error and
warning messages.

frame.out
Output of all ANSYS operations (text).
This is what normally scrolls in the output
window during an ANSYS session.
frame.log
Logfile or listing of ANSYS commands
(text). Listing of all equivalent ANSYS
command line commands used during the
current session.

 What to save?
When you want to clean up your directory,
or move things from the /scratch directory,
what files do you need to save?

If you will always be using the GUI, then

you only require the .db file. This file
stores the geometry, boundary conditions
and any solutions.

Once the ANSYS has started, and the

jobname has been specified, you need
only activate the resume command to
proceed from where you last left off.

If you plan on using ANSYS command

files, then you need only store your
command file and/or the log file.

This file contains a complete listing of the

ANSYS commands used to get you model
to its current point. That file may be rerun
as is, or edited and rerun as desired
(Command File Creation and Execution).

If you plan to use the command mode of

operation, starting with an existing log file,
rename it first so that it does not get overwritten or added to, from another ANSYS
run.

Printing Text Results to a File

ANSYS produces lists and tables of many
types of results that are normally displayed
on the screen. However, it is often desired
to save the results to a file to be later
analyzed or included in a report.

Electric Stresses: instead of using 'Plot

Results' to plot the stresses, choose 'List
Results'. Select 'Elem Table Data', and
choose what you want to list from the
menu. You can pick multiple items.
When the list appears on the screen in
its own window, Select 'File'/'Save As...'
and give a file name to store the results.

 Any other solutions can be done in the

same way. For example select 'Nodal
Solution' from the 'List Results' menu, to
get electric or magnetic fields.

 Preprocessing and Solution data can be

listed and saved from the 'List' menu in the
'Utility Menu bar'. Save the resulting list in
the same way described above.

Plotting of Figures
There are two major routes to get
hardcopies from ANSYS. The first is a
quick a raster-based screen dump, while
the second is a scalable vector plot.

Quick Image Save

When you want to quickly save an image of the
entire screen or the current 'Graphics window',
select:
'Utility menu bar'/'PlotCtrls'/'Hard Copy ...'.
In the window that appears, you will normally want
to select 'Graphics window', 'Monochrome',
'Reverse Video', 'Landscape' and 'Save to:'.
Then enter the file name of your choice.
Press 'OK'

Two Dimensional Truss

Solve a simple 2D Truss problem.

Problem Description
Determine the nodal deflections, reaction
forces and stress for the truss system
shown below
(E = 200GPa, A = 3250mm2).

Preprocessing: Defining the

Problem
1. Give the Simplified Version a
Title
In the Utility menu bar select File >
Change Title:

The following window will appear:

Enter the title and click 'OK'.

This title will appear in the bottom left
corner of the 'Graphics' Window once
you begin. Note: to get the title to
appear immediately, select Utility
Menu > Plot > Replot

2. Enter Keypoints
The overall geometry is defined in
ANSYS using keypoints which specify
various principal coordinates to define
the body. For this example, these
keypoints are the ends of each truss.

 We are going to define 7 keypoints for the simplified

structure as given in the following table
keypoint

coordinate
x

1800

3118

3600

5400

3118

7200

9000

3118

10800

 From the 'ANSYS Main Menu' select:

Preprocessor > Modeling > Create >
Keypoints > In Active CS

The following window will then appear:

 To define the first keypoint which has the

coordinates x = 0 and y = 0:
Enter keypoint number 1 in the appropriate
box, and enter the x,y coordinates: 0, 0 in
their appropriate boxes (as shown above).
Click 'Apply' to accept what you have typed.
Enter the remaining keypoints using the same
method.

Note: When entering the final data point,

click on 'OK' to indicate that you are
finished entering keypoints. If you first
press 'Apply' and then 'OK' for the final
keypoint, you will have defined it twice!
If you did press 'Apply' for the final point,
simply press 'Cancel' to close this dialog
box.

Units
Note the units of measure (ie mm) were
not specified. It is the responsibility of the
user to ensure that a consistent set of
units are used for the problem; thus
making any conversions where necessary.

Correcting Mistakes
When defining keypoints, lines, areas,
volumes, elements and loads you are
bound to make mistakes. Fortunately
these are easily corrected so that you
don't need to begin from scratch every
time an error is made! Every 'Create'
menu for generating these various entities
also has a corresponding 'Delete' menu for
fixing things up.

3. Form Lines
The keypoints must now be connected
We will use the mouse to select the
keypoints to form the lines.

In the main menu select: Preprocessor >

Modeling > Create > Lines > Lines > In
Active Coord. The following window will then
appear:

 Use the mouse to pick keypoint #1 (i.e. click

on it). It will now be marked by a small yellow
box.
Now move the mouse toward keypoint #2. A
line will now show on the screen joining these
two points. Left click and a permanent line will
appear.

 Connect the remaining keypoints using the

same method.
When you're done, click on 'OK' in the 'Lines
in Active Coord' window, minimize the 'Lines'
menu and the 'Create' menu. Your ANSYS
Graphics window should look similar to the
following figure.

Disappearing Lines
Please note that any lines you have
created may 'disappear' throughout your
analysis. However, they have most likely
NOT been deleted. If this occurs at any
time from the Utility Menu select:
Plot > Lines

4. Define the Type of Element

It is now necessary to create elements. This
is called 'meshing'. ANSYS first needs to
know what kind of elements to use for
our problem:

From the Preprocessor Menu, select: Element Type >

Add/Edit/Delete. The following window will then
appear:

Click on the 'Add...' button. The following window will

appear:

 For this example, we will use the 2D spar

element as selected in the above figure.
Select the element shown and click 'OK'. You
should see 'Type 1 LINK1' in the 'Element
Types' window.
Click on 'Close' in the 'Element Types' dialog
box.

5. Define Geometric Properties

We now need to specify geometric
properties for our elements:
In the Preprocessor menu, select Real
Constants > Add/Edit/Delete

Click Add... and select 'Type 1 LINK1' (actually it is

already selected). Click on 'OK'. The following
window will appear:

 As shown in the window above, enter the

cross-sectional area (3250mm):
Click on 'OK'.
'Set 1' now appears in the dialog box. Click on
'Close' in the 'Real Constants' window.

Element Material Properties

You then need to specify material
properties:
In the 'Preprocessor' menu select Material
Props > Material Models

Double click on Structural > Linear > Elastic > Isotropic

We are going to give the properties of Steel. Enter the
following field:

Set these properties and click on 'OK'. Note:

You may obtain the note 'PRXY will be set
to 0.0'. This is poisson's ratio and is not
required for this element type.

Click 'OK' on the window to continue. Close

the "Define Material Model Behavior"
WINDOW

Mesh Size
The last step before meshing is to tell
ANSYS what size the elements should
be. There are a variety of ways to do this
but we will just deal with one method for
now.

In the Preprocessor menu select Meshing >

Size Cntrls > ManualSize > Lines > All
Lines

In the size 'NDIV' field, enter the desired

number of divisions per line. For this example
we want only 1 division per line, therefore,
enter '1' and then click 'OK'. Note that we
have not yet meshed the geometry, we have
simply defined the element sizes.

8. Mesh
Now the frame can be meshed.
In the 'Preprocessor' menu select Meshing >
Mesh > Lines and click 'Pick All' in the
'Mesh Lines' Window

Your model should now appear as shown in

the following window

Plot Numbering
To show the line numbers, keypoint
numbers, node numbers...
From the Utility Menu (top of screen) select
PlotCtrls > Numbering...
Fill in the Window as shown below and click
'OK'

Now you can turn numbering on or off at your

discretion

Saving Your Work

Save the model at this time, so if you make
some mistakes later on, you will at least
be able to come back to this point. To do
this, on the Utility Menu select File >
Save as.... Select the name and location
where you want to save your file.

It is a good idea to save your job at different

times throughout the building and analysis
of the model to backup your work in case
of a system crash or what have you.

Solution Phase: Assigning Loads and

Solving
You have now defined your model. It is now
time to apply the load(s) and constraint(s)
and solve the resulting system of
equations.

Open up the 'Solution' menu (from the same

'ANSYS Main Menu').

1. Define Analysis Type

First you must tell ANSYS how you want it to
solve this problem:
From the Solution Menu, select Analysis Type
> New Analysis.

Ensure that 'Static' is selected; i.e. you are

going to do a static analysis on the truss as
opposed to a dynamic analysis, for example.

Click 'OK'

2. Apply Constraints
It is necessary to apply constraints to the
model otherwise the model is not tied
down or grounded and a singular
solution will result.

In mechanical structures, these constraints

will typically be fixed, pinned and rollertype connections. As shown IN THE
SCHEMA, the left end of the truss bridge
is pinned while the right end has a roller
connection.

In the Solution menu, select Define Loads >

Apply > Structural > Displacement > On
Keypoints

Select the left end of the bridge (Keypoint 1) by

clicking on it in the Graphics Window and click
on 'OK' in the 'Apply U,ROT on KPs' window.

This location is fixed which means that all

translational and rotational degrees of
freedom (DOFs) are constrained. Therefore,
select 'All DOF' by clicking on it and enter '0'
in the Value field and click 'OK'.

You will see some blue triangles in the

graphics window indicating the
displacement contraints.

Using the same method, apply the roller

connection to the right end (UY constrained).
Note that more than one DOF constraint can
be selected at a time in the "Apply U,ROT on
KPs" window. Therefore, you may need to
'deselect' the 'All DOF' option to select just the
'UY' option.

3. Apply Loads
As shown in the diagram, there are four
downward loads of 280kN, 210kN,
280kN, and 360kN at keypoints 1, 3, 5,
and 7 respectively.

 Select Define Loads > Apply > Structural >

Force/Moment > on Keypoints.
Select the first Keypoint (left end of the truss)
and click 'OK' in the 'Apply F/M on KPs'
window.

 Select FY in the 'Direction of force/mom'. This

indicate that we will be applying the load in
the 'y' direction
Enter a value of -280000 in the
'Force/moment value' box and click 'OK'. Note
that we are using units of N here, this is
consistent with the previous values input.

 The force will appear in the graphics window

as a red arrow.
Apply the remaining loads in the same
manner.

The applied loads and constraints should now

appear as shown below.

Solving the System

We now tell ANSYS to find the solution:
In the 'Solution' menu select Solve >
Current LS. This indicates that we desire
the solution under the current Load Step
(LS).

The above windows will appear.

Ensure that your solution options are
the same as shown above and click
'OK'.

Once the solution is done the following

window will pop up. Click 'Close' and
close the /STATUS Command
Window..

Postprocessing: Viewing the Results

1. Hand Calculations
We will first calculate the forces and stress
in element 1 (as labeled in the problem
description).

Results Using ANSYS

Reaction Forces
A list of the resulting reaction forces can be
obtained for this element
from the Main Menu select General
Postproc > List Results > Reaction Solu.

Select 'All struc forc F' as shown above and click 'OK'

 Deformation
In the General Postproc menu, select Plot
Results > Deformed Shape. The following
window will appear.

Select 'Def + undef edge' and click 'OK' to view both the
deformed and the undeformed object

Deflection
For a more detailed version of the deflection
of the beam,
From the 'General Postproc' menu select Plot
results > Contour Plot > Nodal Solution.
The following window will appear.

Select 'DOF solution' and 'USUM' as shown in the

above window. Leave the other selections as the
default values. Click 'OK'.

 Looking at the scale, you may want to use

more useful intervals. From the Utility Menu
select Plot Controls > Style > Contours >
Uniform Contours...
Fill in the following window as shown and click
'OK'.

You should obtain the following.

The deflection can also be obtained as a list as

shown below. General Postproc > List
Results > Nodal Solution select 'DOF
Solution' and 'ALL DOFs' from the lists in the
'List Nodal Solution' window and click 'OK'.
This means that we want to see a listing of all
degrees of freedom from the solution.

 Are these results what you expected? Note

that all the degrees of freedom were
constrained to zero at node 1, while UY was
constrained to zero at node 7.
If you wanted to save these results to a file,
select 'File' within the results window (at the
upper left-hand corner of this list window) and
select 'Save as'.

 Axial Stress
For line elements (ie links, beams, spars,
and pipes) you will often need to use the
Element Table to gain access to derived
data (ie stresses, strains). For this
example we should obtain axial stress to
compare with the hand calculations.

 The Element Table is different for each

element, therefore, we need to look at the
help file for LINK1 (Type help link1 into
the Input Line). From Table 1.2 in the Help
file, we can see that SAXL can be
obtained through the ETABLE, using the
item 'LS,1'

 From the General Postprocessor menu

select Element Table > Define Table
Click on 'Add...'

 As shown above, enter 'SAXL' in the 'Lab'

box. This specifies the name of the item you
are defining. Next, in the 'Item,Comp' boxes,
select 'By sequence number' and 'LS,'. Then
enter 1 after LS, in the selection box

 Click on 'OK' and close the 'Element Table

Data' window.
Plot the Stresses by selecting Element Table
> Plot Elem Table
The following window will appear. Ensure that
'SAXL' is selected and click 'OK'

Because you changed the contour intervals for

the Displacement plot to "User Specified" you need to switch this back to "Auto
calculated" to obtain new values for
VMIN/VMAX.

Utility Menu > PlotCtrls > Style > Contours >

Uniform Contours ...

Again, you may wish to select more

appropriate intervals for the contour plot
List the Stresses

From the 'Element Table' menu, select 'List

Elem Table'
From the 'List Element Table Data' window which
appears ensure 'SAXL' is highlighted
Click 'OK'

Note that the axial stress in Element 1 is 82.9MPa as

predicted analytically.