TIPS

Geometric Nonlinearity: A Flat Thin Plate Under Pressure:

by Paul Dufour

Introduction:

What is geometric nonlinearity? A fishing rod is the classic example of a familiar structure that is
bending so dramatically that this behavior is obvious, and it fits into the definition of geometric
nonlinearity, that is, a situation where the displacement does not have a straight-line response to the
applied loads. It also has very large displacements and rotations.

The basic equation of the finite element method is | |{ } { } K u F = , where [K] is the stiffness, {u} is the
displacement vector, and {F} is the applied load vector. This is analogous to a simple spring, and is
the essence of small deflection theory.
F
u
K
F
u
K
can extrapolate
from load point

For some structures however, this relationship between force and displacement is not constant, because
as the structure deflects, the stiffness changes.

F
u
K
Softening
i
K
t
F
u
K
Stiffening
i
K
t


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An example of stress softening could be the buckling of a structure. As it gets closer and closer to the
buckling point, there is more and more deflection for steadily increasing applied load, until at the
buckling or collapsing load the deflection is extreme for a very small increase in load. The long
fishing rod is an example of stress stiffening. There is less and less deflection as the load increases
because the orientation of the applied load has changed with respect to the tip and also has moved
closer to the end where you are holding it, reducing the bending moment. Also classical large
deflection theory for a cantilever beam accounts for the square of the first derivative of curvature,
which is ignored in small deflection theory. Another less obvious example of stress stiffening is a thin
flat plate under pressure, which is examined in detail below.

Analysis of a Flat Plate Under Pressure:

The figure below shows the ANSYS model created for this study.



This plate is one foot square and has a thickness of 0.040 with an elastic modulus of 10e6 psi. A
pressure of 10 psi is applied on the bottom pushing up. A mesh of SHELL181 four noded quadrilateral
elements with a global edge length of 0.5 is used. All edges are simply supported.

Analysis Results:

Linear
z
= 14.08
V.M.
= 283,941 psi
Nonlinear
z
= 0.229
V.M.
= 15,562 psi

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Linear Solution: Deflection shown at
actual scale (i.e., /DSCALE,1,1.0). By
default ANSYS will automatically
scale the displacement plot, which
could mask this effect if you dont pay
attention to the numerical values.


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Nonlinear Solution:
Deflection shown at actual
scale (i.e., /DSCALE,1,1.0)


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Wow! What a huge difference between the two runs. The only difference in ANSYS was changing
from Small Displacement Static to Large Displacement Static in the Solution Controls dialog box.
What happened here? Why did the linear analysis blow up and give such wrong results? Its because
the stiffness of the thin plate changed dramatically as it deflected. Small displacement theory assumes
that deflections will not be large enough for this to happen. With the small deflection assumption, the
initial stiffness with the structure in the undeformed position is assumed to be valid for the whole
analysis and range of loading. In essence the linear analysis simply works with the bending moment of
inertia and transverse shear stiffness of the plate and uses that to calculate the deflections. Since the
thickness is so small, the moment of inertia is very small, so it calculates a large displacement. In
reality what happens is that as pressure is applied to the panel, it immediately deflects and then starts
pulling on the plate edges and carrying the load in tension. This is called membrane stiffening. An
ideal membrane has absolutely no bending stiffness and carries all loading by this stretching effect. A
balloon and a trampoline are extreme examples of this kind of behavior.

Many engineering structures fall into the thin plate category shown below. From Ref. 1:



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We can see this effect if we look at the support reaction plots for our linear and nonlinear models.


Linear: Pressure carried
strictly by vertical bending
and shear. The stiffness
matrix is based on the
initial undeformed position.


Nonlinear: Pressure
carried through membrane
effect (plate is mostly in
tension). Stiffness
recalculated at each
deformed

matrix is
position.

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You can also verify this in the ANSYS model by cutting out a small section at the middle of the panel
and looking at the free-body forces (NFOR) and moments (NMOM).

1.248
1.252
1.248
1.252
1.252
1.248
1.252
1.248
X Y
Z
-17.458
17.458
35.09
17.458
17.458
-35.09
35.09
-17.458
-17.458
-35.09
17.458
-17.458
X Y
Z

Linear Solution



123.001
120.704
1.881
247.442
2.565
123.001
-120.704
1.881
-.971434
244.187
1.224
-.971568
-244.187
1.224
-123.007
123.006
-245.525
-123.007
-123.006
.626107
X
Y
Z
-.200983
.207554
-.100E-02
.422328
.200983
.207554
.100E-02
-.409186
-.004279
-.002028
.480E-03
.409186
-.004278
.002028
-.205495
-.204357
-.001008
-.406913
.205495
-.204357
.001008
X
Y
Z


Out of plane bending
moments orders of
magnitude smaller
Nonlinear Solution




Its important to know that ANSYS doesnt know the relationships between the plate thickness and
deflection, and furthermore doesnt use a different set of equations to solve the nonlinear prob
simply breaks the load up into increments and applies it gradually, checking equilibrium and
recalculating the stiffness m
lem. It
atrix in the deformed position at each substep of load and solving the linear
set of equations each time.
How do you know when to turn on large deflections in ANSYS for a plate under a pressure load?
Per Reference 2 if your calculated deflection in a linear analysis is more than about half the
thickness of the plate, you will get membrane stiffening effects, and you must do a geometric
nonlinear analysis to calculate realistic stresses and deflections.
Significant in plane
stretching forces
Significant out of
plane bending
moments
Vertical
shear forces

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References:

1. Martinelli, J.A., Stress Analysis of Pressurized Panels, Machine Design, Dec. 9, 1976,
pp.149-151.

2. Young, W.C., Roarks Formulas for Stress and Strain, Sixth Edition, Section 10.11,
McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1989.




Appendix Hand Calculations:

As always when tackling a new type of analysis, its good to make sure the answers are in the ballpark
of a simple hand calculation. The calculations below show the ANSYS results for both the linear and
nonlinear runs are close to what we would calculate using a classical equation. These hand
calculations also help us to understand what ANSYS is doing.

a = 12 plate width p = 10 psi applied pressure load
b = 12 plate height E = 10e6 psi elastic modulus
t = 0.040 plate thickness

Linear Equations: (Ref. 2, p. 458, Table 26, Case 1)


( )( )( )
( )
( )( )( )
( )( )
2
2
2 2
4
4
max 3 3
0.2874 10 psi 12 pb
258, 660 psi
t
0.040
0.0444 10 psi 12 pb
14.386
Et
10e6 psi 0.040

= = =

= = =

Large Deflection Equations: (Ref. 1)



( ) ( )
( )( )
( )
( )( )
( )( )
( )( )
1
2
3
1
3
max
10 psi 12
0.356 10e6 psi 22, 510 psi
0.040
10 psi 12
0.318 12 0.255
10e6 psi 0.040
(
| |
= = (
|

(
\ .

(
= =
(

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