Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Fergyanto E. Gunawan (f.e.gunawan@gmail.com)

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Toyohashi University of Technology

Objectives:

 Using solid element; element type SOLID186.

 Create a solid lug.

 Compare the computation time of following cases:

– Nonlinear SOLID186, TARGE170 and CONTA174

– Linear PLANE182 and LINK1

 Review the results

DISCLAIMER: This module is based on the example problem presented in MSC.Natran 120 Exercise Workbook - Release 9.0. However,

a number of modications is made to tailor the need of ANSYS 9.0.

 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Model Description

Figure 1 is a geometric representation of the lug shown on the title page; and its also shows the pin-bearing
load scenario that will be considered.

t = 1.0
1.0 psi

R2.5

15.0
R5

Figure 1: The simplied lug and its loading conditions.

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Pre-Processing Phase:

1. Dene some parameters: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

Parameters B Scalar Parameters

Selection PI = ACOS(-1.0)

Accept

2. Select an element type: ANSYS Main Menu

Preprocessor B Element Type B Add/Edit/Delete

Add

Solid 20node 186

OK

Close

3. Dene material properties: ANSYS Main Menu

Preprocessor B Material Props B Material Models

Structural B Linear B Elastic B Isotropic

EX 10.0E+06

PRXY 0.3

OK

Material B Exit

4. Create two rectangles: ANSYS Main Menu

Preprocessor B Modeling B Create B Areas B Rectangle B By 2 Corners

WP X 0.0

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

WP Y 0.0

Width 5.0

Height 5.0

Apply

WP X 5.0

WP Y 0.0

Width 10.0

Height 5.0

OK

5. Create two circles: ANSYS Main Menu

Preprocessor B Modeling B Create B Area B Circl B Partial Annulus

WP X 0.0

WP Y 0.0

Rad-1 0.0

Theta-1 0.0

Rad-2 5.0

Theta-2 180

Apply

WP X 0.0

WP Y 0.0

Rad-1 0.0

Theta-1 0.0

Rad-2 2.5

Theta-2 180

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

OK

6. Turn on some entities numbers: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

PlotCtrls B Numbering
LINE Line numbers  on

AREA Area numbers  on

NODE Node numbers  on

OK

7. Add Area A1 and Area A3: ANSYS Main Menu

Preprocessing B Modeling B Operate B Booleans B Add B Areas

< Pick Areas A1 and A3 >

OK

You should see the new area which has a number of A5

8. Subtract Area A5 by A4: ANSYS Main Menu

Preprocessing B Modeling B Operate B Booleans B Substract B Areas

< Pick Area A5 >

OK

< Pick Area A4 >

OK

You should see the new area which has a number of A1

9. Merges coincident Keypoints: ANSYS Main Menu

Preprocessor B Numbering Ctrls B Merge Items

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Label Type of item to be merge Keypoints

OK

After the substraction and merging the coincident keypoints, we obtain a model, presented in Fig. 2,
that has two areas: A1 and A2.

Figure 2: The model after the area substraction and merging of the coincident nodes.

10. Create two keypoints: ANSYS Main Menu

Preprocessor B Modeling B Create B Keypoints B In Active CS

NPT Keypoint number 100

X, Y, Z Location in active CS 0.0 0.0 0.0

Apply

NPT Keypoint number 200

X,Y,Z Location in active CS 5.0*COS(3/4*PI) 5.0*SIN(3/4*PI) 0

OK

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

11. Create three lines: ANSYS Main Menu

Preprocessor B Modeling B Create B Lines B Lines B Straight line

< Pick Keypoints: 100, and then 200 >

< Pick Keypoints: 100, and then 4 >

< Pick Keypoints: 100, and then 3 >

Cancel

12. Cut the Area A1 into two areas: ANSYS Main Menu

Preprocessing B Modeling B Operate B Booleans B Divide B Area by Line

< Pick Area A1 >

OK

< Pick Line L1 >

Apply

You should see the new area of Area A4. Cut the area by Line L8:

< Pick Area A4 >

OK

< Pick Line L8 >

Apply

You should see the new area of Area A5. Cut the area by Line L10:

< Pick Area A5 >

OK

< Pick Line L10 >

OK

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Figure 3: The lug model that breaking down into ve areas.

13. Control the mesh density: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

Preprocessor B Meshing B MeshTool

Lines Set

Pick All

NDIV No. of element divisions 4

Apply

< Pick Lines L5 and L7 >

NDIV No. of element divisions 6

OK

Close

14. Extrude the areas: ANSYS Main Menu

Preprocessor B Modeling B Operate B Extrude B Areas B By XYZ Oset

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Pick All
DX,DY,DZ Osets for extrusion 0.0 0.0 0.5
OK

15. Merges coincident Keypoints: ANSYS Main Menu

Preprocessor B Numbering Ctrls B Merge Items

Label Type of item to be merge Keypoints
OK

16. Change the viewpoint to the isometric viewpoint: ANSYS Toolbars

< Click >

17. Sweep mesh all volumes: ANSYS Main Menu

Preprocessor B Meshing B Mesh B Volume Sweep B Sweep

Pick All

Note I A pin having a radius of 2.5 in (See following gure) is inserted into the lug hole
to prevent the lug being moved when an uniform stress is applied onto the lug
right end. Therefore, the target elements must be installed onto the surface of the
lug hole, and the contact element must be installed onto the surface of the pin
surface. Those nodes in the area where the target and the contact elements will
be created should be grouped for simplicity.
Target elements Contact elements
Lug

Pin

18. Change the active coordinate system: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

Workplane B Change Active CS To B Global Cylindrical

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Figure 4: The meshed lug.

19. Select and groups nodes: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

Select B Entities
Nodes

By Location

 X coordinates
Min, Max 2.5, 2.5

Apply

Plot

OK

Group those nodes:

Select B Comp/Assembly B Create Component

Cname Component name cNodeTarget

Entity Component is made of Nodes

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Close

20. Change the active coordinate system: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

Workplane B Change Active CS To B Global Cartesian

21. Activate everything: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

Select B Everything

22. Create a quarter of a solid cylinder: ANSYS Main Menu

Preprocessor B Modeling B Create B Volumes B Cylinder B Partial Cylinder

WP X 0.0

WP Y 0.0

Rad-1 0.0

Theta-1 0.0

Rad-2 2.5

Theta-2 90

Depth 0.5

OK

23. Before we mesh the quarter solid cylinder, we should bring the volume into our focus, and removes all
other volumes: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

Select B Entities
Volumes

OK

< Click the quarter of a cylinder >

OK

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

A quarter of a cylinder

Figure 5: A quarter of a solid cylinder for modeling the pin.

Now, select all lines and areas constructed the volume:

Select B Below B Selected Volumes

Plot B Lines

You should obtain a gure as shown in Fig. 6. Before we mesh the volume, similar to the meshing
of the previous volume, we should control the mesh density along the boundary; in this case, mesh
density on lines: L36, L36, and L40.

Figure 6: The quarter of a cylinder.

24. Control mesh density on lines L36, L37, and L40; and mesh the new volume: ANSYS Main Menu

Preprocessor B Meshing B MeshTool

Lines Set

< Click Line L40 >

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

NDIV No. of element divisions 8

Apply

< Click Line L36 and L37 >

NDIV No. of element divisions 6

OK

Mesh: Volumes

Shape:  Hex/Wedge
Shape:  Sweep
Sweep

< Click the volume >

Close

You should obtain a nite element mesh similar to that depicted in Fig. 7. In addition, you should
re ect the mesh to obtain a meshed half cylinder.

Figure 7: The meshed of the quarter of a cylinder.

25. Re ect the volume and all elements within the volume: ANSYS Main Menu

Preprocessor B Modeling B Re ect B Volumes

< Click the volumes >

OK

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

NOELEM Items to be re ected Volume and mesh

OK

26. Plot the elements: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

Plot B Elements
You should obtain a mesh similar to that shown in Fig. 8. As you can see, there are a number of
coincidents nodes, encircled noded in the gure; therefore, those nodes should be merged.

Figure 8: The coincident nodes, encircled nodes, on the half cylinder

27. Merge the coincident nodes: ANSYS Main Menu

Preprocessor B Numbering Ctrls B Merge Items

Label Type of item to be merge Nodes

OK

28. Change the active coordinate system: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

Workplane B Change Active CS To B Global Cylindrical

29. Select and groups nodes: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

Select B Entities

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Nodes

By Location

 X coordinates
Min, Max 2.5, 2.5

Apply

Plot

OK

30. Group those nodes: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

Select B Comp/Assembly B Create Component

Cname Component name cNodeContact

Entity Component is made of Nodes

Close

31. Change the active coordinate system: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

Workplane B Change Active CS To B Global Cartesian

32. Activate everything: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

Select B Everything
Plot B Areas
You should obtain a solid model of a pinned lug (see Fig. 9).

33. Select everything: ANSYS Puldown Menu

Select B Everything
Plot B Elements

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Figure 9: The solid model of a pinned lug.

Note I We have two groups of nodes: cNodeTarget and cNodeContact. Therefore, we now
are ready to create both the target elements and the contact elements. ANSYS
9.0 has a wizard to automatically create both type of elements: TARGE170 and
CONTA174.

34. Create the target elements and the contact elements: ANSYS Main Menu

Preprocessor B Modeling B Create B Contact Pair

Press this button to start the wizard

for creating the contact and
the target elements

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Select the target nodes

Select the contact nodes

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Close the wizard.

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Solution Phase

1. Dene the analysis type: ANSYS Main Menu

Solution B Analysis Type B New Analysis

[ANTYPE] Type of analysis:  Static
OK

2. Activate the front view: ANSYS Toolbars

< Click >

3. Select and grouping the nodes: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

Select B Entities
Nodes

By Location

 Y coordinates
0, 0

Apply

Plot

Select B Entities B Comp/Assembly B Create Components

Cname Component name cNodeBottom

Entity Component is made of Nodes

Apply

 X coordinates
0, 0

 Resellect
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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Apply

Plot

Select B Entities B Comp/Assembly B Create Components

Cname Component name cNodeCenter

Entity Component is made of Nodes

OK

Select B Entities
 Z coordinates
0, 0

Apply

Plot

Select B Entities B Comp/Assembly B Create Components

Cname Component name cNodeFront

Entity Component is made of Nodes

Apply

Select B Everything
Plot B Nodes

4. Apply the boundary condition: ANSYS Main Menu

Solution B Dene Loads B Apply B Structural B Displacement B On Nodes Components

 List of Items cNodeBottom

Apply

Lab2 DOFs to be constrained UY

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Apply

 List of Items cNodeFront

Apply

Lab2 DOFs to be constrained UZ

Apply

 List of Items cNodeCenter

Apply

Lab2 DOFs to be constrained ALL DOF

OK

5. Activate the isometric view: ANSYS Toolbars

< Click >

6. Apply the uniform pressure: ANSYS Main Menu

Solution B Dene Loads B Apply B Structural B Pressure B On Area

< Click Area A13 >

OK

VALUE Load PRES value -100.0

OK

Note I If you have done any selection command, for example, selecting certain lines,
nodes, elements or so on, you should remember to reselect entire model before the
run.

7. Activate everything: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Select B Everything

8. Solve the problem: ANSYS Main Menu

Solution B Solve B Current LS

OK

Close

Post Processing Phase

1. Plot deformation: ANSYS Main Menu

General Postproc B Plot Results B Deformed Shape

KUND Items to be plotted:  Def shape only
OK

The result is shown Fig. 10; in the left-top corner, it tells that the DMX, the maximum displacement,
is 0.474E-03 in.

Figure 10: The deformation of a pinned lug.

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

2. Plot the von-Mises stress of a partial model:

(a) Activate the isometric view: ANSYS Toolbars

< Click >

(b) Activate the area number: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

PlotCtrls B Numbering
AREA Area numbers  on

(c) Select the volumes: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

Select B Entities
Volumes
OK
< Click A5 and A16 >
OK

(d) Select everything within the volumes: ANSYS Pulldown Menu

Select B Everything Below B Selected Volumes
(e) Plot the stress: ANSYS Main Menu
General Postproc B Plot Results B Nodal Solu
Nodal Solution B Stress B von Misses stress
OK

3. The appendix presents a dierent approach that utilizes a linear solution PLANE183 and LINK1. the
results are compared in the table.

Table 1: Comparison
Elements Computation Time (s) x at a node (psi)
PLANE183, LINK1 0.2778E-03 44.22
SOLID186, TARGE170, CONTA174 0.3611E-02 (13 longer) 43.85

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Figure 11: The von-Mises stress of the partial model.

Figure 12: the von-Mises stress for PLANE183 and LINK1 elements

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Batch Mode

Preamble:
/clear ! Delete everything
/view, 1, 1, 1, 1, ! Change the view to isometric view
PI = acos(-1.0) ! Define a constant of PI

Pre-Processing Phase

1. Enter the preprocessing phase:

/prep7 ! Enter preprocessing phase

The GUI counterpart of the above command is

ANSYS Main Menu B Preprocessor

2. Select an element type:

et, 1, solid186 ! Select 20 nodes solid186 element type

3. Dene the material properties:

mp, ex, 1, 10.0E+06 ! Young’s modulus
mp, nuxy, 1, 0.3 ! Poisson’s ratio

4. Create some areas:

rectng, 0.0, 5.0, 0.0, 5.0 ! Create a rectangle; has a number of A1
rectng, 5.0, 15.0, 0, 5 ! Create a rectangle; has a number of A2
pcirc, 0.0, 5.0, 90, 180 ! Create a half circle; has a number of A3
pcirc, 0.0, 2.5, 0, 180 ! Create a half circle; has a number of A4

5. Joint areas and cut the hole:

aadd, 1, 3 ! Add A1 with A3, produces A5
asba, 5, 4 ! Cut A5 with A4, produces A1

Only two areas are left: A1 and A2.

6. Some Keypoints reside in the same locations; therefore, joint them:

nummrg, kp

Joining the keypoints will also joint the lines connecting those keypoints.

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

7. Create two Keypoints:

k, 100, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0
k, 200, 5.0*cos(0.75*PI), 5.0*sin(0.75*PI), 0.0

8. Create three lines:

l, 100, 200 ! visual check, L1
l, 100, kp(0.0, 5.0, 0.0) ! visual check, L8
l, 100, kp(5.0, 5.0, 0.0) ! visual check; L10

Note I The kp is an intrinstic function that returns the number of the keypoint at a given
location. The complete command is
presentKeypoint = kp(x, y, z)

As you may guess, to get the node number at a given location (x; y; z ), the intrinsic
function is
presentNode = node(x, y, z)

9. Cut the area:

asbl, 1, 1 ! Divides A1 with L1; produces A4 (visual check)
asbl, 4, 8 ! Divides A4 with L8; produces A5 (visual check)
asbl, 5, 10 ! Divides A5 with L10; produces A1 (visual check)

10. Control the mesh-size:

lesize, all, , , 4 ! Break down all lines into 4 elements
lesize, 5, , , 6 ! For L5 and L7, use 6 elements
lesize, 7, , , 6 !

11. Create volumes:

voffst, 1, 0.5*1.0 ! Offset A1 to form a volume
voffst, 2, 0.5*1.0 ! Offset A2 to form a volume
voffst, 3, 0.5*1.0 ! Offset A3 to form a volume
voffst, 4, 0.5*1.0 ! Offset A4 to form a volume
voffst, 6, 0.5*1.0 ! Offset A6 to form a volume

12. Merge the coincident Keypoints:

nummrg, kp

13. Mesh all volumes:

vsweep, all ! Mesh all volumes

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

14. Group some nodes to form creating target elements:

csys, 1 ! Activate the cylidrical coordinate system
nsel, , loc, x, 2.5, 2.5 ! Select nodes at location r = 2.5
cm, cNodeTarget, node ! Groups those nodes, the group name is cNodeTarget
csys, 0 ! Activate the cartesian coordinate system
alls ! Select everything

15. Create a quarter of volume for making the pin:

cyl4, , , 0.0, 0.0, 2.5, 90, 0.5*1.0 ! Create a quarter cylinder, V6

16. Mesh the pin:

lesize, 40, , , 8 ! 8 elements on L40; needs visual check
lesize, 37, , , 6 ! 6 elements on L37; needs visual check
lesize, 36, , , 6 ! 6 elements on L36; needs visual check
vsweep, 6 ! Mesh volume V6

17. Re ect the volumes and the elements

vsymm, x, 6 ! Create V7 and also elements

18. Merge the coincident nodes on the pin:

vsel, , volu,, 6 ! Select V6
vsel, a, volu,, 7 ! In addition, select V7
nslv,, 1 ! Select nodes on selected volumes, in this case V6 and V7
nummrg, node ! Joint the coincident nodes

19. Group the nodes

csys, 1 ! Activate the cylindrical coordinate system
nsel, , loc, x, 2.5, 2.5 ! Select nodes on location r = 2.5
cm, cNodeContact, node ! Group those nodes, the name is cNodeContact
csys, 0 ! Activate the Cartesian coordinate system
alls ! Select everything

20. Create the target elements:

et, 2, targe170 ! Create element type of targe170
nsel,, node,, cNodeTarget ! Select nodes: cNodeTarget
esln, s, 0 ! Select the elements attached to those nodes
esurf ! Create targe170 elements

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

Note I The command esln allows us to select elements for a given selected nodes. The
command is mnemonic of Elements SeLected Nodes. Therefore, it is logical to
speculate the existence of : nsll (nodes selected lines), nslv (nodes selected
volumes), nsle (nodes selected elements), esln (elements selected nodes), and so
on; including the best one, of course, is wslf (wife selected by fate).

21. Create the contact elements:

et, 3, conta174 ! Create element type of conta174
nsel,, node,, cNodeContact ! Select nodes: cNodeContact
esln, s, 0 ! Select the elements attached to those nodes
esurf ! Create conta174 elements
alls ! Select everything

22. Leave the pre-processing phase:

finish ! Get out the preprocessing phase

Solution

1. Enter the solution phase:

/solu

2. Select the analysis type:

antype, static

3. Apply the boundary constraints:

nsel,, loc, y, 0.0, 0.0 ! Select nodes at location y = 0.0
dsym, symm, y ! Apply the constraints on those nodes

nsel, r, loc, x, 0.0, 0.0 ! Reselect the previous selected nodes only at location x = 0.0
d, all ,all ! Apply the constraints on those nodes

nsel,, loc, z, 0.0, 0.0 ! Select nodes at z = 0.0

dsym, symm, z ! Apply the symmetry constraints

4. Apply pressure:
asel,, loc, x, 15.0, 15.0 ! Select area at x = 15.0, end of the lug
sfa, all, , pres, -100.0 ! Apply uniform pressure

5. Select everything:

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

alls ! Select everything

6. Solve
solve

7. Leave the solution phase

finish

Appendix

Code for Linear Analysis

/clear
*afun, deg
pi = acos(-1.0)
/prep7
et, 1, plane183, , , 3
r, 1, 1.0
mp, ex, 1, 10.0E+06
mp, nuxy, 1, 0.3

rectng, 0.0, 5.0, 0.0, 5.0

rectng, 5.0, 15.0, 0, 5
pcirc, 0.0, 5.0, 90, 180
pcirc, 0.0, 2.5, 0, 180
aadd, 1, 3
asba, 5, 4
nummrg, kp
k, 100, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0
k, 200, 5.0*cos(0.75*pi), 5.0*sin(0.75*pi), 0.0
l, 100, 200
l, 100, kp(0.0, 5.0, 0.0)
l, 100, kp(5.0, 5.0, 0.0)
asbl, 1, 1
asbl, 4, 8
asbl, 5, 10

lesize, all, , , 4
lesize, 5, , , 6
lesize, 7, , , 6

amesh, all

et, 2, link1

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 Non-Linear Static Analysis of a Solid Lug

r, 2, 100
type, 2
real, 2
n, 1000, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0
angleInc = 90/8
angle = 180
iNode = 1000
*do, i, 1, 8
jNode = node( 2.5*cos(angle), 2.5*sin(angle), 0.0 )
e, iNode, jNode
angle = angle - angleInc
*enddo
finish
/solu
type, static

dcum, add
nsel,, loc, y, 0.0, 0.0
dsym, symm, y

nsel, r, loc, x, 0.0, 0.0

d, all ,all

lsel,, loc, x, 15.0, 15.0

sfl, all, pres, -100.0
sftran
alls
*get, timeStart, ACTIVE, 0, time, wall
solve
*get, timeEnd, ACTIVE, 0, time, wall
finish
/post1
nodeOutput = node(0, 5.5, 0.0)
*get, nodeStress, NODE, nodeOutput, S, EQV
*cfopen, output, dat
*vwrite, timeEnd - timeStart, nodeStress
(E15.4, 2X, E15.4)
*cfclose
finish

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