Two Dimensional Truss Two Dimensional Truss

Introduction Introduction
This tutorial was created using ANSYS 7.0 to solve a simple 2D Truss problem. This is the first of four introductor ANSYS tutorials. Problem Description Problem Description Determine the nodal deflections! reaction forces! and stress for the truss s stem shown below "# $ 200%&a! A $ '2(0mm2).

"*odified from +handrupatla , -elegunda! .ntroduction to /inite #lements in #ngineering! p.02')

Preprocessing: Defining the Problem Preprocessing: Defining the Problem

0. Give the Simplified Version a Title "such as 1-ridge Truss Tutorial1).

.n the Utility menu bar select ile ! "hange Title2

The following window will appear2

#nter the title and clic3 1451. This title will appear in the bottom left corner of the 1%raphics1 6indow once ou begin. Note2 to get the title to appear immediatel ! select Utility #enu ! Plot ! $eplot %& 'nter (eypoints The overall geometr is defined in ANSYS using 3e points which specif various principal coordinates to define the bod . /or this e7ample! these 3e points are the ends of each truss.
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6e are going to define 7 3e points for the simplified structure as given in the following table
)eypoint + % , . / 0 coordinate * 0 0800 '900 (:00 7200 ;000 00800 y 0 '008 0 '008 0 '008 0

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"these 3e points are depicted b numbers in the above figure) /rom the 1ANSYS *ain *enu1 select2 Preprocessor ! #odeling ! "reate ! (eypoints ! In 1ctive "S

The following window will then appear2

To define the first 3e point which has the coordinates 7 $ 0 and $ 02 #nter 3e point number 1 in the appropriate bo7! and enter the 7! coordinates2 0, 0in their appropriate bo7es "as shown above). +lic3 1Appl 1 to accept what ou have t ped. #nter the remaining 3e points using the same method. 2ote: 6hen entering the final data point! clic3 on 1451 to indicate that ou are finished entering 3e points. .f ou first press 1Appl 1 and then 1451 for the final 3e point! ou will have defined it twice< .f ou did press 1Appl 1 for the final point! simpl press 1+ancel1 to close this dialog bo7.

Units Note the units of measure "ie mm) were not specified. .t is the responsibilit of the user to ensure that a consistent set of units are used for the problem= thus ma3ing an conversions where necessar . "orrecting #ista)es 6hen defining 3e points! lines! areas! volumes! elements! constraints and loads ou are bound to ma3e mista3es. /ortunatel these are easil corrected so that ou don1t need to begin from scratch ever time an error is made< #ver 1+reate1 menu for generating these various entities also has a corresponding 1Delete1 menu for fi7ing things up. ,& orm 3ines The 3e points must now be connected 6e will use the mouse to select the 3e points to form the lines.
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.n the main menu select2 Preprocessor ! #odeling ! "reate ! 3ines ! 3ines ! In 1ctive "oord. The following window will then appear2

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>se the mouse to pic3 3e point ?0 "i.e. clic3 on it). .t will now be mar3ed b a small ellow bo7. Now move the mouse toward 3e point ?2. A line will now show on the screen @oining these two points. Aeft clic3 and a permanent line will appear. +onnect the remaining 3e points using the same method. 6hen ou1re done! clic3 on 1451 in the 1Aines in Active +oord1 window! minimiBe the 1Aines1 menu and the 1+reate1 menu. Your ANSYS %raphics window should loo3 similar to the following figure.

Disappearing 3ines &lease note that an lines ou have created ma 1disappear1 throughout our anal sis. Cowever! the have most li3el 24T been deleted. .f this occurs at an time from theUtility #enu select2 Plot ! 3ines -& Define the Type of 'lement .t is now necessar to create elements. This is called 1meshing1. ANSYS first needs to 3now what 3ind of elements to use for our problem2

/rom the &reprocessor *enu! select2 'lement Type ! 1dd5'dit5Delete. The following window will then appear2

+lic3 on the 1Add...1 button. The following window will appear2

/or this e7ample! we will use the 2D spar element as selected in the above figure. Select the element shown and clic3 1451. You should see 1T pe 0 A.N501 in the 1#lement T pes1 window. o +lic3 on 1+lose1 in the 1#lement T pes1 dialog bo7. .& Define Geometric Properties
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6e now need to specif geometric properties for our elements2

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.n the &reprocessor menu! select $eal "onstants ! 1dd5'dit5Delete

+lic3 1dd&&& and select 1T pe 0 A.N501 "actuall it is alread selected). +lic3 on 1451. The following window will appear2

As shown in the window above! enter the crossDsectional area "'2(0mm)2 o +lic3 on 1451. o 1Set 01 now appears in the dialog bo7. +lic3 on 1+lose1 in the 1Eeal +onstants1 window. /& 'lement #aterial Properties
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You then need to specif material properties2

.n the 1&reprocessor1 menu select #aterial Props ! #aterial #odels

Double clic3 on Structural ! 3inear ! 'lastic ! Isotropic

6e are going to give the properties of Steel. #nter the following field2
EX 200000

Set these properties and clic3 on 1451. Note2 You ma obtain the note 1&EFY will be set to 0.01. This is poisson1s ratio and is not reGuired for this element t pe. +lic3 1451 on the window to

continue. +lose the HDefine *aterial *odel -ehaviorH b clic3ing on the 1F1 bo7 in the upper right hand corner. 0& #esh Si6e The last step before meshing is to tell ANSYS what siBe the elements should be. There are a variet of wa s to do this but we will @ust deal with one method for now.
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.n the &reprocessor menu select #eshing ! Si6e "ntrls ! #anualSi6e ! 3ines ! 1ll 3ines

.n the siBe 1ND.I1 field! enter the desired number of divisions per line. /or this e7ample we want onl 0 division per line! therefore! enter 101 and then clic3 1451. Note that we have not et meshed the geometr ! we have simpl defined the element siBes.

7& #esh Now the frame can be meshed.

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.n the 1&reprocessor1 menu select #eshing ! #esh ! 3ines and clic3 1&ic3 All1 in the 1*esh Aines1 6indow

Your model should now appear as shown in the following window

Plot 2umbering To show the line numbers! 3e point numbers! node numbers...

/rom the Utility #enu "top of screen) select Plot"trls ! 2umbering&&& /ill in the 6indow as shown below and clic3 1451

Now ou can turn numbering on or off at our discretion Saving 8our 9or) Save the model at this time! so if ou ma3e some mista3es later on! ou will at least be able to come bac3 to this point. To do this! on the Utility #enu select ile ! Save as&&&. Select the name and location where ou want to save our file. .t is a good idea to save our @ob at different times throughout the building and anal sis of the model to bac3up our wor3 in case of a s stem crash or what have ou.

Solution Phase: 1ssigning 3oads and Solving Solution Phase: 1ssigning 3oads and Solving
You have now defined our model. .t is now time to appl the load"s) and constraint"s) and solve the the resulting s stem of eGuations. 4pen up the 1Solution1 menu "from the same 1ANSYS *ain *enu1). +& Define 1nalysis Type /irst ou must tell ANSYS how ou want it to solve this problem2
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/rom the Solution *enu! select 1nalysis Type ! 2ew 1nalysis.

#nsure that 1Static1 is selected= i.e. ou are going to do a static anal sis on the truss as opposed to a d namic anal sis! for e7ample. o +lic3 1451. %& 1pply "onstraints
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.t is necessar to appl constraints to the model otherwise the model is not tied down orgrounded and a singular solution will result. .n mechanical structures! these constraints will t picall be fi7ed! pinned and rollerDt pe connections. As shown above! the left end of the truss bridge is pinned while the right end has a roller connection.
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.n the Solution menu! select Define 3oads ! 1pply ! Structural ! Displacement ! 4n (eypoints

Select the left end of the bridge "5e point 0) b clic3ing on it in the %raphics 6indow and clic3 on 1451 in the 1Appl >!E4T on 5&s1 window.

This location is fi7ed which means that all translational and rotational degrees of freedom "D4/s) are constrained. Therefore! select 1All D4/1 b clic3ing on it and enter 101 in the Ialue field and clic3 1451. You will see some blue triangles in the graphics window indicating the displacement contraints.

>sing the same method! appl the roller connection to the right end ">Y constrained). Note that more than one D4/ constraint can be selected at a time in the HAppl >!E4T on 5&sH window. Therefore! ou ma need to 1deselect1 the 1All D4/1 option to select @ust the 1>Y1 option. ,& 1pply 3oads
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As shown in the diagram! there are four downward loads of 2803N! 2003N! 2803N! and '903N at 3e points 0! '! (! and 7 respectivel .
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Select Define 3oads ! 1pply ! Structural ! orce5#oment ! on (eypoints. Select the first 5e point "left end of the truss) and clic3 1451 in the 1Appl /J* on 5&s1 window.

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Select /Y in the 1Direction of forceJmom1. This indicate that we will be appl ing the load in the 1 1 direction #nter a value of D280000 in the 1/orceJmoment value1 bo7 and clic3 1451. 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. Appl the remaining loads in the same manner.

The applied loads and constraints should now appear as shown below.

-& Solving the System

6e now tell ANSYS to find the solution2

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.n the 1Solution1 menu select Solve ! "urrent 3S. This indicates that we desire the solution under the current Aoad Step "AS).

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The above windows will appear. #nsure that our solution options are the same as shown above and clic3 1451. 4nce the solution is done the following window will pop up. +lic3 1+lose1 and close the JSTAT>S +ommand 6indow..

Postprocessing: Viewing the $esults Postprocessing: Viewing the $esults

+& :and "alculations 6e will first calculate the forces and stress in element 0 "as labeled in the problem description).

%& $esults Using 12S8S Reaction Forces A list of the resulting reaction forces can be obtained for this element
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from the *ain *enu select General Postproc ! 3ist $esults ! $eaction Solu.

Select 1All struc forc /1 as shown above and clic3 1451

These values agree with the reaction forces claculated b hand above. Deformation
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.n the %eneral &ostproc menu! select Plot $esults ! Deformed Shape. The following window will appear.

Select 1Def K undef edge1 and clic3 1451 to view both the deformed and the undeformed ob@ect.

4bserve the value of the ma7imum deflection in the upper left hand corner "D*F$7.:0;). 4ne should also observe that the constrained degrees of freedom appear to have a deflection of 0 "as e7pected<)

Deflection /or a more detailed version of the deflection of the beam!

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/rom the 1%eneral &ostproc1 menu select Plot results ! "ontour Plot ! 2odal Solution. The following window will appear.

Select 1D4/ solution1 and 1>S>*1 as shown in the above window. Aeave the other selections as the default values. +lic3 1451.

Aoo3ing at the scale! ou ma want to use more useful intervals. /rom the Utility #enu select Plot "ontrols ! Style ! "ontours ! Uniform "ontours&&& /ill in the following window as shown and clic3 1451.

You should obtain the following.

The deflection can also be obtained as a list as shown below. General Postproc ! 3ist $esults ! 2odal Solution select 1D4/ Solution1 and 1AAA D4/s1 from the lists in the 1Aist Nodal Solution1 window and clic3 1451. This means that we want to see a listing of all degrees of freedom from the solution.

Are these results what ou e7pectedL Note that all the degrees of freedom were constrained to Bero at node 0! while >Y was constrained to Bero at node 7. .f ou wanted to save these results to a file! select 1/ile1 within the results window "at the upper leftDhand corner of this list window) and select 1Save as1.

Axial Stress /or line elements "ie lin3s! beams! spars! and pipes) ou will often need to use the 'lement Table to gain access to derived data "ie stresses! strains). /or this e7ample we should obtain a7ial stress to compare with the hand calculations. The #lement Table is different for each element! therefore! we need to loo3 at the help file for A.N50 "T pe help link1into the .nput Aine). /rom Table 0.2 in the Celp file! we can see that SAFA can be obtained through the #TA-A#! using the item 1AS!01
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/rom the General Postprocessor menu select 'lement Table ! Define Table +lic3 on 1Add...1

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As shown above! enter 1SAFA1 in the 1Aab1 bo7. This specifies the name of the item ou are defining. Ne7t! in the 1.tem!+omp1 bo7es! select 1- seGuence number1 and 1AS!1. Then enter 0 after AS! in the selection bo7 +lic3 on 1451 and close the 1#lement Table Data1 window. &lot the Stresses b selecting 'lement Table ! Plot 'lem Table The following window will appear. #nsure that 1SAFA1 is selected and clic3 1451

-ecause ou changed the contour intervals for the Displacement plot to H>ser SpecifiedH D ou need to switch this bac3 to HAuto calculatedH to obtain new values for I*.NJI*AF. Utility #enu ! Plot"trls ! Style ! "ontours ! Uniform "ontours &&&

Again! ou ma wish to select more appropriate intervals for the contour plot
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Aist the Stresses /rom the 1#lement Table1 menu! select ;3ist 'lem Table; /rom the 1Aist #lement Table Data1 window which appears ensure 1SAFA1 is highlighted +lic3 1451

Note that the a7ial stress in #lement 0 is 82.;*&a as predicted anal ticall .

"ommand ile #ode of Solution "ommand ile #ode of Solution

The above e7ample was solved using a mi7ture of the %raphical >ser .nterface "or %>.) and the command language interface of ANSYS. This problem has also been solved using the ANSYS command language interface that ou ma want to browse. 4pen the .CT*A version! cop and paste the code into Notepad or a similar te7t editor and save it to our computer. Now go to ; ile ! $ead input from&&&; and select the file. A .&D/ version is also available for printing.

<uitting 12S8S <uitting 12S8S

To Guit ANSYS! select 1M>.T1 from the ANSYS Toolbar or select Utility #enu5 ile5'*it&&&. .n the dialog bo7 that appears! clic3 on 1Save #ver thing1 "assuming that ou want to) and then clic3 on 1451.