ANSYS BASIC

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SpringsandJoints

DesignOptimization
Substructuring
Substructuring

CoupledField Introduction
pElement
ThistutorialwascompletedusingANSYS7.0Thepurposeofthetutorialistoshowthehowtouse
ElementDeath substructuringinANSYS.Substructuringisaprocedurethatcondensesagroupoffiniteelementsinto
ContactElements
onesuperelement.Thisreducestherequiredcomputationtimeandalsoallowsthesolutionofvery
largeproblems.
APDL
Asimpleexamplewillbedemonstratedtoexplainthestepsrequired,however,pleasenotethatthis
modelisnotonewhichrequirestheuseofsubstructuring.Theexampleinvolvesablockofwood(E
Index
=10GPav=0.29)connectedtoablockofsilicone(E=2.5MPa,v=0.41)whichisrigidlyattachedto
theground.Aforcewillbeappliedtothestructureasshowninthefollowingfigure.Forthisexample,
substructuringwillbeusedforthewoodblock.
Contributions

Comments

MecE563

MechanicalEngineering

UniversityofAlberta

ANSYSInc.

Copyright2001
UniversityofAlberta TheuseofsubstructuringinANSYSisathreestageprocess:

1. GenerationPass
Generatethesuperelementbycondensingseveralelementstogether.Selectthedegreesof
freedomtosave(masterDOFs)andtodiscard(slaveDOFs).Applyloadstothesuperelement

2. UsePass
Createthefullmodelincludingthesuperelementcreatedinthegenerationpass.Apply
remainingloadstothemodel.Thesolutionwillconsistofthereducedsolutiontorthesuper
elementandthecompletesolutionforthenonsuperelements.

3. ExpansionPass
ExpandthereducedsolutiontoobtainthesolutionatallDOFsforthesuperelement.

Notethatathismethodisabottomupsubstructuring(eachsuperelementiscreatedseparatelyandthen
assembledintheUsePass).TopdownsubstructuringisalsopossibleinANSYS(theentiremodelis
built,thensuperelementarecreatedbyselectingtheappropriateelements).Thismethodissuitablefor
smallermodelsandhastheadvantagethattheresultsformultiplesuperelementscanbeassembledin
postprocessing.

ExpansionPass:CreatingtheSuperelement
Preprocessing:DefiningtheProblem

1. GiveGenerationPassaJobname
 UtilityMenu>File>ChangeJobname...

Enter'GEN'forthejobname

2. Openpreprocessormenu

ANSYSMainMenu>Preprocessor
/PREP7

3. Creategeometryofthesuperelement

Preprocessor>Modeling>Create>Areas>Rectangle>By2Corners
BLC4,XCORNER,YCORNER,WIDTH,HEIGHT

Createarectanglewiththedimensions(allunitsinmm):

XCORNER(WPX)=0
YCORNER(WPY)=40
Width=100
Height=100

4. DefinetheTypeofElement

Preprocessor>ElementType>Add/Edit/Delete...

ForthisproblemwewillusePLANE42(2Dstructuralsolid).Thiselementhas4nodes,
eachwith2degreesoffreedom(translationalongtheXandYaxes).

5. DefineElementMaterialProperties

Preprocessor>MaterialProps>MaterialModels>Structural>Linear>Elastic>
Isotropic

Inthewindowthatappears,enterthefollowinggeometricpropertiesforwood:

i. Young'smodulusEX:10000(MPa)
ii. Poisson'sRatioPRXY:0.29

6. DefineMeshSize

Preprocessor>Meshing>SizeCntrls>ManualSize>Areas>AllAreas...

Forthisexamplewewilluseanelementedgelengthof10mm.

7. Meshtheblock

Preprocessor>Meshing>Mesh>Areas>Free>click'PickAll'
AMESH,1

SolutionPhase:AssigningLoadsandSolving
1. DefineAnalysisType

Solution>AnalysisType>NewAnalysis>Substructuring
ANTYPE,SUBST

2. SelectSubstructuringAnalysisOptions

Itisnecessarytodefinethesubstructuringanalysisoptions

SelectSolution>AnalysisType>AnalysisOptions

Thefollowingwindowwillappear.Ensurethattheoptionsarefilledinasshown.
 Sename(thenameofthesuperelementmatrixfile)willdefaulttothejobname.
Inthiscase,thestiffnessmatrixistobegenerated.
WiththeoptionSEPR,thestiffnessmatrixorloadmatrixcanbeprintedtotheoutput
windowifdesired.

3. SelectMasterDegreesofFreedom

MasterDOFsmustbedefinedattheinterfacebetweenthesuperelementandotherelementsin
additiontopointswhereloads/constraintsareapplied.

SelectSolution>MasterDOFs>UserSelected>Define

SelecttheMasterDOFasshowninthefollowingfigure.

Inthewindowthatappears,setthe1stdegreeoffreedomtoAllDOF
 4. ApplyLoads

Solution>DefineLoads>Apply>Structural>Force/Moment>OnNodes

Placealoadof5Ninthexdirectiononthetoplefthandnode

Themodelshouldnowappearasshowninthefigurebelow.

5. Savethedatabase

UtilityMenu>File>SaveasJobname.db
SAVE

Savethedatabasetobeusedagainintheexpansionpass

6. SolvetheSystem

Solution>Solve>CurrentLS
SOLVE

UsePass:UsingtheSuperelement
TheUsePassiswherewemodeltheentiremodel,includingthesuperelementsfromtheGeneration
Pass.

Preprocessing:DefiningtheProblem
 1. Cleartheexistingdatabase

UtilityMenu>File>Clear&StartNew

2. GiveUsePassaJobname

UtilityMenu>File>ChangeJobname...
FILNAME,USE

Enter'USE'forthejobname

3. Openpreprocessormenu

ANSYSMainMenu>Preprocessor
/PREP7

NowweneedtobringtheSuperelementintothemodel

4. DefinetheSuperelementType

Preprocessor>ElementType>Add/Edit/Delete...

Select'Superelement'(MATRIX50)

5. Creategeometryofthenonsuperelement(Silicone)

Preprocessor>Modeling>Create>Areas>Rectangle>By2Corners
BLC4,XCORNER,YCORNER,WIDTH,HEIGHT

Createarectanglewiththedimensions(allunitsinmm):

XCORNER(WPX)=0
YCORNER(WPY)=0
Width=100
Height=40

6. DefinetheNonSuperelementType

Preprocessor>ElementType>Add/Edit/Delete...

WewillagainusePLANE42(2Dstructuralsolid).

7. DefineElementMaterialProperties

Preprocessor>MaterialProps>MaterialModels>Structural>Linear>Elastic>
Isotropic

Inthewindowthatappears,enterthefollowinggeometricpropertiesforsilicone:

i. Young'smodulusEX:2.5(MPa)
ii. Poisson'sRatioPRXY:0.41

8. DefineMeshSize

Preprocessor>Meshing>SizeCntrls>ManualSize>Areas>AllAreas...

Forthisblockwewillagainuseanelementedgelengthof10mm.Notethatisis
imperativethatthenodesofthenonsuperelementmatchupwiththesuperelement
MDOFs.

9. Meshtheblock

Preprocessor>Meshing>Mesh>Areas>Free>click'PickAll'
AMESH,1

10. OffsetNodeNumbering
Sinceboththesuperelementandthenonsuperelementwerecreatedindependently,theycontain
similarlynumberednodes(iebothobjectswillhavenode#1etc.).Ifwebringinthesuper
elementwithsimilarnodenumbers,thenodeswilloverwriteexistingnodesfromthenon
superelements.Therefore,weneedtooffsetthesuperelementnodes

Determinethenumberofnodesintheexistingmodel

SelectUtilityMenu>Parameters>GetScalarData...
Thefollowingwindowwillappear.SelectModelData,ForSelectedsetasshown.

FillinthefollowingwindowasshowntosetMaxNode=thehighestnodenumber

Offsetthenodenumbering

SelectPreprocessor>Modeling>Create>Elements>Superelements>BYCS
Transfer
Fillinthefollowingwindowasshowntooffsetthenodenumbersandsavethefileas
GEN2

Readinthesuperelementmatrix

SelectPreprocessor>Modeling>Create>Elements>Superelements>From.SUB
File...
Enter'GEN2'astheJobnameofthematrixfileinthewindow(shownbelow)
 UtilityMenu>Plot>Replot

11. CoupleNodePairsatInterfaceofSuperelementandNonSuperelements

Selectthenodesattheinterface

SelectUtilityMenu>Select>Entities...
Thefollowingwindowwillappear.SelectNodes,ByLocation,Ycoordinates,40as
shown.

Couplethepairnodesattheinterface

SelectPreprocessor>Coupling/Ceqn>CoincidentNodes

Reselectallofthenodes

SelectUtilityMenu>Select>Entities...
Inthewindowthatappears,click'Nodes>ByNum/Pick>FromFull>SeleAll'

SolutionPhase:AssigningLoadsandSolving
1. DefineAnalysisType

Solution>NewAnalysis>Static
ANTYPE,0

2. ApplyConstraints

Solution>DefineLoads>Apply>Structural>Displacement>OnLines

Fixthebottomline(ieallDOFconstrained)

3. Applysuperelementloadvectors
 Determinetheelementnumberofthesuperelement(SelectUtilityMenu>PlotCtrls>
Numbering...)

Youshouldfindthatthesuperelementiselement41

SelectSolution>DefineLoads>Apply>LoadVector>ForSuperelement

Thefollowingwindowwillappear.Fillitinasshowntoapplythesuperelementload
vector.

4. Savethedatabase

UtilityMenu>File>SaveasJobname.db
SAVE

Savethedatabasetobeusedagainintheexpansionpass

5. SolvetheSystem

Solution>Solve>CurrentLS
SOLVE

GeneralPostprocessing:ViewingtheResults
1. ShowtheDisplacementContourPlot

GeneralPostproc>PlotResults>ContourPlot>NodalSolution...>DOFsolution,
TranslationUSUM
PLNSOL,U,SUM,0,1
 Notethatonlythedeformationforthenonsuperelementsisplotted.Thisresultsagreewithwhat
wasfoundwithoutusingsubstructuring(seefigurebelow).

ExpansionPass:ExpandingtheResultswithintheSuper
element
Toobtainthesolutionforallelementswithinthesuperelementyouwillneedtoperformanexpansion
pass.

Preprocessing:DefiningtheProblem
1. Cleartheexistingdatabase

UtilityMenu>File>Clear&StartNew
 2. ChangetheJobnamebacktoGenerationpassJobname

UtilityMenu>File>ChangeJobname...
FILNAME,GEN

Enter'GEN'forthejobname

3. ResumeGenerationPassDatabase

UtilityMenu>File>ResumeJobname.db...
RESUME

SolutionPhase:AssigningLoadsandSolving
1. ActivateExpansionPass

EntertheSolutionmodebyselectingMainMenu>Solutionorbytyping/SOLUintothe
commandline.

Type'EXPASS,ON'intothecommandlinetoinitiatetheexpansionpass.

2. EntertheSuperelementnametobeExpanded

SelectSolution>LoadSTEPOPTS>ExpansionPass>SingleExpand>Expand
Superelem...

Thefollowingwindowwillappear.Fillitinasshowntoselectthesuperelement.

3. EntertheSuperelementnametobeExpanded

SelectSolution>LoadStepOpts>ExpansionPass>SingleExpand>ByLoadStep...

Thefollowingwindowwillappear.Fillitinasshowntoexpandthesolution.

4. SolvetheSystem

Solution>Solve>CurrentLS
SOLVE

GeneralPostprocessing:ViewingtheResults
 1. ShowtheDisplacementContourPlot

GeneralPostproc>PlotResults>(ContourPlot)NodalSolution...>DOFsolution,
TranslationUSUM
PLNSOL,U,SUM,0,1

Notethatonlythedeformationforthesuperelementsisplotted(andthatthecontourintervals
havebeenmodifiedtobeginat0).Thisresultsagreewithwhatwasfoundwithoutusing
substructuring(seefigurebelow).

CommandFileModeofSolution
TheaboveexamplewassolvedusingamixtureoftheGraphicalUserInterface(orGUI)andthe
commandlanguageinterfaceofANSYS.ThisproblemhasalsobeensolvedusingtheANSYS
commandlanguageinterfacethatyoumaywanttobrowse.Openthe.HTMLversion,copyandpaste
thecodeintoNotepadorasimilartexteditorandsaveittoyourcomputer.Nowgoto'File>Read
inputfrom...'andselectthefile.A.PDFversionisalsoavailableforprinting.