ANSYS/LS-Dyna Multi-Material

ALE Modeling

Presented By: Steven Hale, M.S.M.E.

Computer Aided Engineering Associates, Inc.
Multi-Material ALE Basics

z What is the Multi-Material ALE method (MMALE)

— MMALE stands for Multi-Material Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian
— Combines Lagrangian and Eulerian methods
• Lagrangian step – mesh moves with the material in the first part of the step
• Eulerian step – the mesh is smoothed out to minimize element distortion and
material flows between elements. This is also known as the advection step.
• ADVANTAGE over a pure Eulerian method – Elements are allowed to move and
distort which minimizes advection. This minimizes energy dissipation and speeds
up run time.

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Multi-Material ALE Basics

z MMALE requires a domain mesh with some elements that contain solid
or fluid materials.
• The outer elements of the domain mesh typically contain a vacuum or fluid
material.
• Solid materials are then assigned to elements within the domain mesh.
— *INITIAL_VOLUME_FRACTION can be used to assign volume fractions of different
materials in each element of the domain

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Support for MMALE in ANSYS

z The ANSYS pre-processor does not support inputs for the MMALE method
z The following model features can be assigned in ANSYS:
— Geometry
— Mesh
— Material properties
— Hourglass controls
— Boundary constraints
— Initial velocities
— Time and output controls
— All inputs specific to lagrangian parts
z The following model features must be added directly to the LS-Dyna input
file:
— Contact definitions
— MMALE control settings: advection control, mesh smoothing, movement, and
expansion control
— MMALE group definitions – used to define discrete MMALE parts

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MMALE Input

z Element formulation
— *SECTION_SOLID
— SECID, ELFORM
• ELFORM = 5 (single-material ALE)
• ELFORM = 6 (pure Eulerian)
• ELFORM = 11 (multi-material ALE) *

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MMALE Input

z *CONTROL_ALE: MMALE control settings

— DCT,NADV,METH,AFAC,BFAC,CFAC,DFAC,EFAC
• DCT (ignored)
• NADV: Number of time steps between mesh smoothing and advection cycles
— Can speed up run time but reduce stability
• METH: Advection method
— Meth = 1 (1st order advecton – fast, valid for fluids only)
— Meth = 2 (2nd order advection – slower, minimizes energy loss)
• AFAC,BFAC,CFAC,DFAC: Mesh smoothing parameters
— AFAC = -1 (no smoothing), 1 (simple average smoothing)
• -1 does not allow element distortion, only expansion and contraction
• 1 simple average method – commonly used
— BFAC = 1 (volume-weighted smoothing)
— CFAC = 1 (isoparametric smoothing)
— DFAC = 1 (equipotential smoothing) - commonly used
— EFAC = 1 (equilibrium smoothing)

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MMALE Input

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MMALE Input

z *ALE_MULTI-MATERIAL_GROUP
— Defines MMALE groups
— Part/Set ID list

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MMALE Input

z *ALE_REFERENCE_SYSTEM_GROUP
— Defines the motion of the ALE mesh

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MMALE Input

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MMALE Input

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MMALE Input

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MMALE Input

z *CONSTRAINED_LAGRANGE_IN_SOLID
— Defines contact between MMALE groups and Lagrangian elements

Slave part must be

lagrangian, Master part
is MMALE

CTYPE = 2 (constrained acel and vel (default). Cannot be

used with rigid bodies. Does not conserve energy)
CTYPE = 4 (penalty coupling without erosion)
CTYPE = 5 (penalty coupling wih erosion in Lagrangian part)
DIREC = 1 (glued together in tension and compression)
DIREC = 2 (compression only)

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MMALE Input

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MMALE Input

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MMALE Input

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MMALE Input

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Example: Lagrange Sphere – MMALE Block

z MMALE Input
— Defines contact between MMALE groups and Lagrangian elements
$
$ 2nd order advection, No smoothing
*CONTROL_ALE
,1,2,-1.,

*ALE_MULTI-MATERIAL_GROUP
2, 1
3, 1
$
$ ALE mesh motion/expansion control
$ 7 = no rotations
*ALE_REFERENCE_SYSTEM_GROUP
4,0,4,0,5,3,7,
0,0,0,,
$
$ Define coupling between Part 1 (ALE) and Part 3 (Lagrangian)
$ Use 2 x 2 quadrature
*CONSTRAINED_LAGRANGE_IN_SOLID
1,4,1,0,-2,4,2,1
,,

$
*SET_PART_LIST
4,
2,3,

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