ANSYS Explicit Dynamics Analysis Guide

ANSYS Explicit Dynamics Analysis Guide
ANSYS, Inc. Release 18.1

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Table of Contents
1. Explicit Dynamics Analysis Guide Overview ........................................................................................... 1
2. Explicit Dynamics Workflow ................................................................................................................... 3
2.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3
2.2. Create the Analysis System ................................................................................................................ 4
2.3. Define Engineering Data ................................................................................................................... 4
2.4. Attach Geometry .............................................................................................................................. 4
2.5. Define Part Behavior ......................................................................................................................... 6
2.6. Define Connections .......................................................................................................................... 7
2.6.1. Spot Welds in Explicit Dynamics Analyses ................................................................................. 8
2.6.2. Body Interactions in Explicit Dynamics Analyses ....................................................................... 9
2.6.2.1. Properties for Body Interactions Folder ........................................................................... 11
2.6.2.1.1. Contact Detection ................................................................................................. 11
2.6.2.1.2. Formulation .......................................................................................................... 13
2.6.2.1.3. Sliding Contact ..................................................................................................... 14
2.6.2.1.4. Shell Thickness Factor and Nodal Shell Thickness ................................................... 14
2.6.2.1.5. Body Self Contact .................................................................................................. 15
2.6.2.1.6. Element Self Contact ............................................................................................. 15
2.6.2.1.7. Tolerance .............................................................................................................. 15
2.6.2.1.8. Pinball Factor ........................................................................................................ 16
2.6.2.1.9. Time Step Safety Factor ......................................................................................... 16
2.6.2.1.10. Limiting Time Step Velocity ................................................................................. 16
2.6.2.1.11. Edge on Edge Contact ......................................................................................... 16
2.6.2.2. Interaction Type Properties for Body Interaction Object .................................................. 17
2.6.2.2.1. Frictionless Type ................................................................................................... 17
2.6.2.2.2. Frictional Type ...................................................................................................... 17
2.6.2.2.3. Bonded Type ........................................................................................................ 18
2.6.2.2.4. Reinforcement Type .............................................................................................. 22
2.6.2.3. Identifying Body Interactions Regions for a Body ............................................................ 23
2.7. Setting Up Symmetry ...................................................................................................................... 23
2.7.1. Explicit Dynamics Symmetry .................................................................................................. 23
2.7.1.1. General Symmetry ......................................................................................................... 24
2.7.1.2. Global Symmetry Planes ................................................................................................ 24
2.7.2. Symmetry in an Euler Domain ................................................................................................ 24
2.8. Define Remote Points ..................................................................................................................... 25
2.8.1. Explicit Dynamics Remote Points ............................................................................................ 25
2.8.2. Explicit Dynamics Remote Boundary Conditions ..................................................................... 26
2.8.3. Initial Conditions on Remote Points ........................................................................................ 27
2.8.4. Constraints and Remote Points ............................................................................................... 27
2.9. Apply Mesh Controls/Preview Mesh ................................................................................................ 28
2.10. Establish Analysis Settings ............................................................................................................. 29
2.10.1. Analysis Settings for Explicit Dynamics Analyses ................................................................... 33
2.10.1.1. Explicit Dynamics Step Controls ................................................................................... 34
2.10.1.2. Explicit Dynamics Solver Controls ................................................................................. 38
2.10.1.3. Explicit Dynamics Euler Domain Controls ..................................................................... 41
2.10.1.4. Explicit Dynamics Damping Controls ............................................................................ 43
2.10.1.5. Explicit Dynamics Erosion Controls ............................................................................... 44
2.10.1.6. Explicit Dynamics Output Controls ............................................................................... 45
2.10.1.7. Explicit Dynamics Data Management Settings .............................................................. 48
2.10.1.8. Recommendations for Analysis Settings in Explicit Dynamics ........................................ 48
2.11. Define Initial Conditions ................................................................................................................ 52
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Explicit Dynamics Analysis Guide
2.12. Apply Loads and Supports ............................................................................................................ 52

2.12.1. Impedance Boundary ........................................................................................................... 54
2.12.2. Detonation Point .................................................................................................................. 57
2.13. Solve ............................................................................................................................................ 60
2.13.1. Solving from Time = 0 ........................................................................................................... 61
2.13.2. Resume Capability for Explicit Dynamics Analyses ................................................................. 61
2.13.2.1. Load and Constraint Behavior when Extending Analysis End Time ................................ 62
2.13.3. Explicit Dynamics Performance in Parallel ............................................................................. 62
2.14. Postprocessing ............................................................................................................................. 63
2.14.1. Solution Output ................................................................................................................... 63
2.14.2. Result Trackers ..................................................................................................................... 64
2.14.2.1. Point Scoped Result Trackers for Explicit Dynamics ....................................................... 64
2.14.2.2. Body Scoped Result Trackers for Explicit Dynamics ....................................................... 67
2.14.2.3. Spring Result Trackers for Explicit Dynamics ................................................................. 69
2.14.2.4. Viewing and Filtering Result Tracker Graphs for Explicit Dynamics ................................. 69
2.14.2.5. Force Reaction Result Trackers for Explicit Dynamics ..................................................... 70
2.14.3. Review Results ..................................................................................................................... 71
2.14.4. Eroded Nodes in Explicit Dynamics Analyses ......................................................................... 72
2.14.5. Euler Domain in Explicit Dynamics Analyses .......................................................................... 73
2.14.6. User Defined Results for Explicit Dynamics Analyses .............................................................. 76
3. Transforming an Implicit Model to run in Explicit Dynamics ................................................................ 83
3.1. When Implicit Models Can be Run in Explicit .................................................................................... 83
3.2. When to Consider an Explicit Analysis .............................................................................................. 84
3.2.1. Incorrect Model Setup ............................................................................................................ 84
3.2.2. Large Deformations ............................................................................................................... 85
3.2.3. Large Contact Models ............................................................................................................ 86
3.2.4. Rigid Body Deformations ........................................................................................................ 87
3.3. Setting up the Explicit Dynamics Analysis ........................................................................................ 88
3.3.1. Attaching an Explicit Dynamics System to an Existing Static Structural System ......................... 88
3.3.2. Materials ................................................................................................................................ 89
3.3.3. Meshing ................................................................................................................................. 89
3.3.3.1. Uniform Mesh Works Best .............................................................................................. 90
3.3.3.2. Midside Nodes not Used ................................................................................................ 90
3.3.3.3. Hex/Rectangular Mesh Elements most Effective ............................................................. 91
3.3.4. Contact/Connections ............................................................................................................. 91
3.3.4.1. Contacts Tab .................................................................................................................. 91
3.3.4.2. Body Interactions Tab .................................................................................................... 92
3.3.5. Boundary Conditions ............................................................................................................. 92
3.3.5.1. Adjusting Load Cases for Reasonable Run Times ............................................................. 92
3.3.5.2. Missing Boundary Conditions from Explicit Dynamics ..................................................... 93
3.3.5.3. Application of Boundary Conditions Using Steps ............................................................ 93
3.3.5.4. Avoiding Conflicting Boundary Conditions ..................................................................... 93
3.3.5.5. Initial Conditions ........................................................................................................... 93
3.4. Analysis Settings ............................................................................................................................. 94
3.4.1. Analysis Setting Preference ..................................................................................................... 94
3.4.2. Step Controls ......................................................................................................................... 94
3.4.2.1. End Time ....................................................................................................................... 94
3.4.2.2.Timestep Controls .......................................................................................................... 95
3.4.2.3. Restarting an Analysis .................................................................................................... 97
3.4.3. Solution Stability .................................................................................................................... 97
3.4.3.1. Mass Scaling .................................................................................................................. 97
3.4.3.2. Erosion .......................................................................................................................... 98
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3.4.3.3. Damping ...................................................................................................................... 99

3.4.4. Output Controls ..................................................................................................................... 99
3.5. Solution Information ..................................................................................................................... 100
3.6. Postprocessing ............................................................................................................................. 101
3.6.1. Result Trackers ..................................................................................................................... 102
3.6.2. Result Sets ........................................................................................................................... 102
3.6.3. Improving your Simulation ................................................................................................... 103
4. Applying Pre-Stress Effects for Explicit Analysis ................................................................................ 105
4.1. Recommended Guidelines for Pre-Stress Explicit Dynamics ............................................................ 105
4.2. Pre-Stress Object Properties .......................................................................................................... 107
5. Using Explicit Dynamics to Define Initial Conditions for Implicit Analyses ........................................ 109
5.1. Transfering Explicit Results to MAPDL ............................................................................................ 109
6. Explicit Dynamics Theory Guide ......................................................................................................... 113
6.1. Why use Explicit Dynamics? ........................................................................................................... 113
6.2. What is Explicit Dynamics? ............................................................................................................ 113
6.2.1. The Solution Strategy ........................................................................................................... 114
6.2.2. Basic Formulations ............................................................................................................... 114
6.2.2.1. Implicit Transient Dynamics ......................................................................................... 115
6.2.2.2. Explicit Transient Dynamics .......................................................................................... 115
6.2.3. Time Integration ................................................................................................................... 116
6.2.3.1. Implicit Time Integration .............................................................................................. 116
6.2.3.2. Explicit Time Integration .............................................................................................. 116
6.2.3.3. Mass Scaling ................................................................................................................ 118
6.2.4. Wave Propagation ................................................................................................................ 118
6.2.4.1. Elastic Waves ............................................................................................................... 119
6.2.4.2. Plastic Waves ............................................................................................................... 119
6.2.4.3. Shock Waves ................................................................................................................ 119
6.2.5. Reference Frame .................................................................................................................. 120
6.2.5.1. Lagrangian and Eulerian Reference Frames .................................................................. 120
6.2.5.2. Eulerian (Virtual) Reference Frame in Explicit Dynamics ................................................ 122
6.2.5.3. Key Concepts of Euler (Virtual) Solutions ...................................................................... 124
6.2.5.3.1. Multiple Material Stress States ............................................................................. 124
6.2.5.3.2. Multiple Material Transport ................................................................................. 126
6.2.5.3.3. Supported Material Properties ............................................................................. 126
6.2.5.3.4. Known Limitations of Euler Solutions ................................................................... 126
6.2.6. Explicit Fluid Structure Interaction (Euler-Lagrange Coupling) ............................................... 126
6.2.6.1. Shell Coupling ............................................................................................................. 128
6.2.6.2. Sub-cycling ................................................................................................................. 128
6.3. Analysis Settings ........................................................................................................................... 129
6.3.1. Step Controls ....................................................................................................................... 129
6.3.2. Damping Controls ................................................................................................................ 130
6.3.3. Solver Controls ..................................................................................................................... 134
6.3.4. Erosion Controls ................................................................................................................... 142
6.4. Model Size Limitations in Explicit Dynamics ................................................................................... 143
6.5. References .................................................................................................................................... 144
7. Material Models Used in Explicit Dynamics Analysis .......................................................................... 147
7.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 147
7.2. Explicit Material Library ................................................................................................................. 149
7.3. Density ......................................................................................................................................... 155
7.4. Linear Elastic ................................................................................................................................. 155
7.4.1. Isotropic Elasticity ................................................................................................................ 155
7.4.2. Orthotropic Elasticity ............................................................................................................ 156
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7.4.3. Viscoelastic .......................................................................................................................... 156

7.5. Test Data ....................................................................................................................................... 157
7.6. Hyperelasticity .............................................................................................................................. 157
7.7. Plasticity ....................................................................................................................................... 162
7.7.1. Bilinear Isotropic Hardening ................................................................................................. 163
7.7.2. Multilinear Isotropic Hardening ............................................................................................ 163
7.7.3. Bilinear Kinematic Hardening ............................................................................................... 164
7.7.4. Multilinear Kinematic Hardening .......................................................................................... 164
7.7.5. Johnson-Cook Strength ........................................................................................................ 164
7.7.6. Cowper-Symonds Strength ................................................................................................... 166
7.7.7. Steinberg-Guinan Strength ................................................................................................... 167
7.7.8. Zerilli-Armstrong Strength .................................................................................................... 168
7.8. Brittle/Granular ............................................................................................................................. 170
7.8.1. Drucker-Prager Strength Linear ............................................................................................ 170
7.8.2. Drucker-Prager Strength Stassi ............................................................................................. 171
7.8.3. Drucker-Prager Strength Piecewise ....................................................................................... 172
7.8.4. Johnson-Holmquist Strength Continuous ............................................................................. 173
7.8.5. Johnson-Holmquist Strength Segmented ............................................................................. 175
7.8.6. RHT Concrete Strength ......................................................................................................... 177
7.8.7. MO Granular ........................................................................................................................ 182
7.9. Equations of State ......................................................................................................................... 183
7.9.1. Background ......................................................................................................................... 183
7.9.2. Bulk Modulus ....................................................................................................................... 184
7.9.3. Shear Modulus ..................................................................................................................... 184
7.9.4. Ideal Gas EOS ....................................................................................................................... 184
7.9.5. Polynomial EOS .................................................................................................................... 185
7.9.6. Shock EOS Linear .................................................................................................................. 187
7.9.7. Shock EOS Bilinear ................................................................................................................ 188
7.9.8. JWL EOS ............................................................................................................................... 190
7.10. Porosity ...................................................................................................................................... 192
7.10.1. Porosity-Crushable Foam .................................................................................................... 192
7.10.2. Compaction EOS Linear ...................................................................................................... 195
7.10.3. Compaction EOS Non-Linear .............................................................................................. 196
7.10.4. P-alpha EOS ....................................................................................................................... 198
7.11. Failure ......................................................................................................................................... 201
7.11.1. Plastic Strain Failure ............................................................................................................ 203
7.11.2. Principal Stress Failure ........................................................................................................ 203
7.11.3. Principal Strain Failure ........................................................................................................ 204
7.11.4. Stochastic Failure ............................................................................................................... 205
7.11.5. Tensile Pressure Failure ....................................................................................................... 206
7.11.6. Crack Softening Failure ....................................................................................................... 207
7.11.7. Johnson-Cook Failure ......................................................................................................... 209
7.11.8. Grady Spall Failure .............................................................................................................. 210
7.12. Strength ..................................................................................................................................... 211
7.13. Thermal Specific Heat .................................................................................................................. 212
7.14. Rigid Materials ............................................................................................................................ 212
7.15. References .................................................................................................................................. 212
8. Using Workbench LS-DYNA for an Explicit Dynamics Analysis ........................................................... 215
8.1. How to Load Workbench LS-DYNA ................................................................................................ 215
8.2. How to use Workbench LS-DYNA ................................................................................................... 215
8.3. LS-DYNA Keywords used by Workbench LS-DYNA .......................................................................... 216
8.4. Supported LS-DYNA Keywords ...................................................................................................... 216
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8.5. LS-DYNA General Descriptions ...................................................................................................... 245

Index ........................................................................................................................................................ 247
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Chapter 1: Explicit Dynamics Analysis Guide Overview
ANSYS Explicit Dynamics is a transient explicit dynamics Workbench application that can perform a
variety of engineering simulations, including the modeling of nonlinear dynamic behaviour of solids,
fluids, gases and their interaction. Additionally, the LS-DYNA ACT extension is available to analyze a
model using the LS-DYNA solver.
A typical simulation consists of setting up the model, interactions and the applied loads, solving the
model's nonlinear dynamic response over time for the loads and interactions, then examining the details
of the response with a variety of available tools.
The Explicit Dynamics application has objects arranged in a tree structure that guide you through the
different steps of a simulation. By expanding the objects, you expose the details associated with the
object, and you can use the corresponding tools and specification tables to perform that part of the
simulation. Objects are used, for example, to define environmental conditions such as contact surfaces
and loadings, and to define the types of results you want to have available for review.
The following sections describe in detail how to use the Explicit Dynamics application to set up and
run a simulation:
Explicit Dynamics Workflow (p. 3)
Transforming an Implicit Model to run in Explicit Dynamics (p. 83)
Applying Pre-Stress Effects for Explicit Analysis (p. 105)
Using Explicit Dynamics to Define Initial Conditions for Implicit Analyses (p. 109)
Explicit Dynamics Theory Guide (p. 113)
Material Models Used in Explicit Dynamics Analysis (p. 147)
The following section discusses how to solve an Explicit Dynamics analysis using the LS-DYNA solver:
Using Workbench LS-DYNA for an Explicit Dynamics Analysis (p. 215)
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Chapter 2: Explicit Dynamics Workflow
To learn how to perform an analysis, see Create Analysis System in the ANSYS Mechanical User's Guide.
Note that the features available may differ from one solver to another.
To perform analyses that are beyond those available using Workbench, you can insert a Commands
object in the tree.
This chapter contains the following topics:

2.1. Introduction
2.2. Create the Analysis System
2.3. Define Engineering Data
2.4. Attach Geometry
2.5. Define Part Behavior
2.6. Define Connections
2.7. Setting Up Symmetry
2.8. Define Remote Points
2.9. Apply Mesh Controls/Preview Mesh
2.10. Establish Analysis Settings
2.11. Define Initial Conditions
2.12. Apply Loads and Supports
2.13. Solve
2.14. Postprocessing
2.1. Introduction
You can perform a transient Explicit Dynamics analysis in the Mechanical application using an Explicit
Dynamics system. Additionally, the Workbench LS-DYNA ACT Extension is available to analyze a model
using the LS-DYNA solver. Unless specifically mentioned otherwise, this section addresses both the Ex-
plicit Dynamics system and Workbench LS-DYNA. Special conditions for Workbench LS-DYNA are noted
where pertinent.
An Explicit Dynamics analysis is used to determine the dynamic response of a structure due to stress
wave propagation, impact or rapidly changing time-dependent loads. Momentum exchange between
moving bodies and inertial effects are usually important aspects of the type of analysis being conducted.
This type of analysis can also be used to model mechanical phenomena that are highly nonlinear.
Nonlinearities may stem from the materials, (for example, hyperelasticity, plastic flows, failure), from
contact (for example, high speed collisions and impact) and from the geometric deformation (for example,
buckling and collapse). Events with time scales of less than 1 second (usually of order 1 millisecond)
are efficiently simulated with this type of analysis. For longer time duration events, consider using a
Transient analysis system.
The time step used in an Explicit Dynamics analysis is constrained to maintain stability and consistency
via the CFL condition (p. 116); that is, the time increment is proportional to the smallest element dimension
in the model and inversely proportional to the sound speed in the materials used. Time increments are
usually on the order of 1 microsecond and therefore thousands of time steps (computational cycles)
are usually required to obtain the solution.
Explicit Dynamics Workflow
An Explicit Dynamics analysis typically includes many different types of nonlinearities including large
deformations, large strains, plasticity, hyperelasticity, material failure etc.
An Explicit Dynamics analysis can contain both rigid and flexible bodies. For rigid/flexible body dynamic
simulations involving mechanisms and joints you may wish to consider using either the Transient
Structural Analysis or Rigid Dynamics Analysis options.
Note
The intent of this document is to provide an overview of an Explicit Dynamics analysis.

Consult our technical support department to obtain a more thorough treatment of this
topic.
2.2. Create the Analysis System

For general information about creating an analysis system see Create Analysis System in the ANSYS
Mechanical User's Guide.
From the Toolbox drag an Explicit Dynamics or a Workbench LS-DYNA template to the Project
Schematic.
Note
You need to load the Workbench LS-DYNA ACT extension before you see the template in
the toolbox.
Explicit Dynamics analyses only support the mm, mg, ms solver unit system (see Explicit
Dynamics Solver Controls (p. 38) for supported units in a Workbench LS-DYNA analysis).
The Explicit Dynamics solver is double precision (a Workbench LS-DYNA analysis can use
single or double precision).
2.3. Define Engineering Data

For general information about defining Engineering Data, see Define Engineering Data in the ANSYS
Material properties can be linear elastic or orthotropic. Many different forms of material nonlinearity
can be represented including hyperelasticity, rate and temperature dependent plasticity, pressure-de-
pendent plasticity, porosity, material strength degradation (damage), material fracture/failure/fragment-
ation. For a detailed discussion on material models used in Explicit Dynamics, refer to Material Models
Used in Explicit Dynamics Analysis (p. 147).
Density must always be specified for materials used in an Explicit Dynamics analysis.
Data for a range of materials is available in the Explicit material library.
2.4. Attach Geometry

For general information about attaching a geometry to a system, see Attach Geometry in the ANSYS
Attach Geometry
Solid, Surface, and Line bodies can be present in an Explicit Dynamics analysis.
Only symmetric cross sections are supported for line bodies in Explicit Dynamics analyses, except those
using the Workbench LS-DYNA ACT extension. The following cross sections are not supported: T-Sections,
L-Sections, Z-Sections, Hat sections, Channel Sections. For I-Sections, the two flanges must have the
same thickness. For rectangular tubes, opposite sides of the rectangle must be of the same thickness.
For Workbench LS-DYNA all available cross sections in DesignModeler will be exported for analysis with
the LS-DYNA solver. However, there are some limitations in the number of dimensions that the LS-DYNA
solver supports for the Z, Hat and Channel cross sections. For more information consult the LS-DYNA
Keywords manual.
To prevent the generation of unnecessarily small elements (and long run times) try using DesignModeler
or SpaceClaim to remove unwanted "small" features or holes from your geometry.
Thickness can be specified for selected faces on a surface body by inserting a thickness object. Constant,
tabular, and functional thickness are all supported.
Stiffness Behavior
Flexible behavior can be assigned to any body type.
Rigid behavior can be applied to Solid, Surface, and Line bodies.
Coordinate System
Local Cartesian coordinate systems can be assigned to bodies. These will be used to define the material
directions when using the Orthotropic Elasticity property in a material definition. The material directions
1, 2, 3 will be aligned with the local x, y and z axes of the local coordinate system.
Note
Cylindrical coordinate systems assigned to bodies are not supported for Explicit Dynamics
systems. Cylindrical coordinate systems are only supported to define rotational displacement
or velocity constraints.
Cylindrical coordinate systems are not supported with Workbench LS-DYNA.
Reference Temperature
This option defines the initial (time=0.0) temperature of the body.
Reference Frame
Available for solid bodies when an Explicit Dynamics system is part of the solution; the user has the
option of setting the Reference Frame to Lagrangian (default) or Eulerian (Virtual). If Stiffness Behavior
is defined as Rigid, Eulerian is not a valid setting.
The reference Frame is not supported for Workbench LS-DYNA.
Rigid Materials
For bodies defined to have rigid stiffness, only the Density property of the material associated with the
body will be used. For Explicit Dynamics systems all rigid bodies must be discretized with a Full Mesh
or the Rigid Body Behavior must be defined as Dimensionally Reduced. The Full Mesh option will be
specified by default for the Explicit meshing physics preference.
The mass and inertia of the rigid body will be derived from the elements and material density for each
body.
By default, a kinematic rigid body is defined and its motion will depend on the resultant forces and
moments applied to it through interaction with other Parts of the model. Elements filled with rigid
materials can interact with other regions via contact.
Constraints can only be applied to an entire rigid body. For example, a fixed displacement cannot be
applied to one edge of a rigid body, it must be applied to the whole body.
Note
2-D Explicit Dynamics analyses are supported for Plane Strain and Axisymmetric behaviors.
2D analyses are Beta in Workbench LS-DYNA.
Only symmetric cross-sections are supported for line bodies.
Flexible and rigid bodies cannot be combined in Multi-body Parts. Bonded connections can be
applied to connect rigid and flexible bodies.
The Thickness Mode and Offset Type fields for surface bodies are not supported for Explicit
Dynamics systems.
Offset Type is supported for Workbench LS-DYNA.
Initial over-penetrations of nodes/elements of different bodies should be avoided or minimized

if sliding contact is to be used. There are several methods available in Workbench to remove
initial penetration.
2.5. Define Part Behavior

For general information about defining parts, see Define Part Behavior in the ANSYS Mechanical User's
Guide.
Nonlinear effects are always accounted for in Explicit Dynamics analysis.
Parts may be defined as rigid or flexible. In the solver, rigid parts are represented by a single point that
carries the inertial properties together with a discretized exterior surface that represents the geometry.
Rigid bodies should be meshed using similar Method mesh controls as those used for flexible bodies.
The inertial properties used in the solver will be derived from the discretized representation of the body,
and the material density and hence may differ slightly from the values presented in the properties of
the body in the Mechanical application GUI.
At least one flexible body must be specified when using the Explicit Dynamics solver. The solver requires
this in order to calculate the time-step increments. In the absence of a flexible body, the time-step be-
comes underdefined. The boundary conditions allowed for the rigid bodies with Explicit Dynamics are:
Connections
Define Connections
Contact Regions: Frictionless, Frictional and Bonded.
Body Interactions: Frictionless, Frictional and Bonded. Bonded body interactions are not supported
for Workbench LS-DYNA.
Reinforcement Body Interactions are supported with Workbench LS-DYNA.
In Explicit Dynamics systems, rigid bodies may not be bonded to other rigid bodies.
Initial Conditions: Velocity, Angular Velocity
Supports: Displacement, Fixed Support and Velocity.
Loads: Pressure and Force. Force is not supported for Explicit Dynamics analyses.
For an Explicit Dynamics analysis, the following postprocessing features are available for rigid bodies:
Results and Probes: Deformation only - that is, Displacement, Velocity.
Result Trackers: Body average data only.
If a multibody part consists only of rigid bodies, all of which share the same material assignment, the
part will act as a single rigid body, even if the individual bodies are not physically connected.
2.6. Define Connections

For general information about defining connections, see Define Connections in the ANSYS Mechanical
User's Guide.
Line body to line body contact is possible subject to the following:
Contact Detection is set to Proximity Based in the Body Interactions Details view.
Edge on Edge is set to Yes in the Body Interactions Details view.
The Interaction Type is defined as Frictional or Frictionless.
Workbench LS-DYNA uses the *CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_GENERAL and *CONTACT_AUTOMAT-

IC_SINGLE_SURFACE keywords when a friction or frictionless Body Interaction is scoped to geometry
that contains line bodies. The keywords handle contacts between line bodies only, and line bodies to
other body types respectively. In the case where the Body Interaction is scoped to only line bodies,
then only the *CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_GENERAL keyword is used.
Reinforcement body interaction should be supported in the case when only line bodies are scoped to
a Body Interaction of Type = Reinforcement. The line bodies will then be tied to any solid body that
they intersect. Reinforcement body interactions are not supported for Workbench LS-DYNA or for 2D
Explicit Dynamics analyses. However utilizing Keyword Snippets under Contact Region objects should
provide a suitable alternative.
Body Interactions (p. 9), Contact and Spot Welds are all valid in Explicit Dynamics analyses. Frictional,
Frictionless and Bonded body interactions and contact options are available. Conditionally bonded
contact can be simulated using the breakable property of each bonded region. Spot Welds can also be
made to fail using the breakable property.
Joints and Beam connections are not supported for Explicit Dynamics analyses. Springs are not supported
for Workbench LS-DYNA analyses. The Contact Tool is also not applicable to Explicit Dynamics analyses.
For Workbench LS-DYNA, bonded body interactions are not supported. Also, Contact Region objects
with Auto Asymmetric Behavior or just Asymmetric Behavior are treated the same. Symmetric Be-
havior will create a _SURFACE_TO_SURFACE keyword for the contact and an Asymmetric Behavior
will create a _NODES_TO_SURFACE keyword.
For Workbench LS-DYNA, contacts between line bodies and solids can be implemented using the
Keyword Snippets facility available under the Manual Contact Region objects.
Bonded contact is not supported in an Explicit Dynamics analysis for bodies that have their Reference
Frame set to Eulerian (Virtual). A solver warning is shown to let the user know that such bodies will be
ignored for bonds. Bonded contact is not support in a 2D Explicit Dynamics analysis.
To avoid hourglassing problems, remote points can be used if there are only a few nodes active in the
bond definition.
Bonds are not recommended for joining tetrahedral meshes. Use multibodied parts or remote points
instead.
By default, a Body Interaction object will be automatically inserted in the Mechanical application tree
and will be scoped to all bodies in the model. This object activates frictionless contact behavior between
all bodies that come into proximity during the analysis.
2.6.1. Spot Welds in Explicit Dynamics Analyses

Spot welds provide a mechanism to rigidly connect two discrete points in a model and can be used to
represent welds, rivets, bolts, etc. The points usually belong to two different surfaces and are defined
on the geometry (see DesignModeler or SpaceClaim help).
During the solver initialization process, the two points defining each spot weld will be connected by a
rigid beam element. Additionally, rigid beam elements will be generated on each surface to enable
transfer of rotations at the spot weld location (see figure below). If the point of the spot weld lies on
a shell body, both translational and rotational degrees of freedom will be linked at the connecting point.
If the point of the spot weld lies on a surface of a solid body, additional rigid beam elements will be
generated to enable transfer of rotations at the spot weld location.
Spot welds can be released during a simulation using the Breakable Stress or Force option. If the stress
criteria is selected the user will be asked to define an effective cross sectional area. This is used to
convert the defined stress limits into equivalent force limits. A spot weld will break (release) if the fol-
lowing criteria is exceeded:
(2.1)
Where:
fn and fs are normal and shear interface forces
Sn and Ss are the maximum allowed normal and shear force limits
n and s are user defined exponential coefficients
Define Connections
Note that the normal interface force f n is non-zero for tensile values only.
After failure of the spot weld the rigid body connecting the points is removed from the simulation.
Spot welds of zero length are permitted. However, if such spot welds are defined as breakable the
above failure criteria is modified since local normal and shear directions cannot be defined. A modified
criteria is used with global forces:
(2.2)
Where, are the force differences across the spot weld in the global coordinate system.
Note
A spot weld is equivalent to a rigid body and as such multiple nodal boundary conditions
cannot be applied to spot welds.
2.6.2. Body Interactions in Explicit Dynamics Analyses

Within an Explicit Dynamics analysis, the body interaction feature represents contact between bodies
and includes settings that allow you to control these interactions. If the geometry you use has two or
more bodies in contact, a Body Interactions object folder appears by default under Connections in the
tree. Included in a Body Interactions folder are one or more Body Interaction objects, with each object
representing a contact pair.
You can also manually add these two objects:
To add a Body Interactions folder, highlight the Connections folder and choose Body Interactions from
the toolbar. A Body Interactions folder is added and includes one Body Interaction object.
To add a Body Interaction object to an existing Body Interactions folder, highlight the Connections folder,
the Body Interactions folder, or an existing Body Interaction object, and choose Body Interaction from
the toolbar.
General Notes
Each Body Interaction object activates an interaction for the bodies scoped in the object. With body
interactions, contact detection is completely automated in the solver. At any time point during the
analysis any node of the bodies scoped in the interaction may interact with any face of the bodies
scoped in the interaction. The interactions are automatically detected during the solution.
The default frictionless interaction type that is scoped to all bodies activates frictionless contact between
any external node and face that may come into contact in the model during the analysis.
To improve the efficiency of analyses involving large number of bodies, you are advised to suppress
the default frictionless interaction that is scoped to all bodies, and instead insert additional Body Inter-
action objects which limit interactions to specific bodies. The union of all frictional/frictionless body
interactions defines the matrix of possible body interactions during the analysis.
For example, in the model shown below:
Body A is traveling towards body B and we require frictional contact to occur. A frictional body interaction
type scoped only to bodies A and B will achieve this. Body A will not come close to body C during the ana-
lysis so it does not need to be included in the interaction.
Body B is bonded to body C. A bonded body Interaction type, scoped to bodies B and C will achieve this.
If the bond between bodies B and C breaks during the analysis, we want frictional contact to take place
between bodies B and C. A frictional body interaction type scoped only to bodies B and C will achieve this.
A bonded body interaction type can be applied in addition to a frictional/frictionless body interaction.
Define Connections
A reinforcement body interaction type be can be applied in addition to a frictional/frictionless body

interaction.
Object property settings are included in the Details view for both the Body Interactions folder and the
individual Body Interaction objects. Refer to the following sections for descriptions of these properties.
2.6.2.1. Properties for Body Interactions Folder
2.6.2.2. Interaction Type Properties for Body Interaction Object
2.6.2.3. Identifying Body Interactions Regions for a Body
2.6.2.1. Properties for Body Interactions Folder

All properties for the Body Interactions folder are included in an Advanced category and define the
global properties of the contact algorithm for the analysis. These properties are applied to all Body
Interaction objects and to all frictional and frictionless manual contact regions.
This section includes descriptions of the following properties for the Body Interactions folder:
2.6.2.1.1. Contact Detection
2.6.2.1.2. Formulation
2.6.2.1.3. Sliding Contact
2.6.2.1.4. Shell Thickness Factor and Nodal Shell Thickness
2.6.2.1.5. Body Self Contact
2.6.2.1.6. Element Self Contact
2.6.2.1.7.Tolerance
2.6.2.1.8. Pinball Factor
2.6.2.1.9.Time Step Safety Factor
2.6.2.1.10. Limiting Time Step Velocity
2.6.2.1.11. Edge on Edge Contact
2.6.2.1.1. Contact Detection

The available choices are described below.
Trajectory
The trajectory of nodes and faces included in frictional or frictionless contact are tracked during the
computation cycle. If the trajectory of a node and a face intersects during the cycle a contact event is
detected.
The trajectory contact algorithm is the default and recommended option in most cases for contact in
Explicit Dynamics analyses. Contacting nodes/faces can be initially separated or coincident at the start
of the analysis. Trajectory based contact detection does not impose any constraint on the analysis time
step and therefore often provides the most efficient solution.
Note that nodes which penetrate into another element at the start of the simulation will be ignored
for the purposes of contact and thus should be avoided. To generate duplicate conforming nodes across
a contact interface:
1. Use the multibody part option in DesignModeler and set Shared Topology to Imprint.
2. For meshing, use Contact Sizing, the Arbitrary match control or the Match mesh Where Possible option
of the Patch Independent mesh method.
Proximity Based
The external faces, edges and nodes of a mesh are encapsulated by a contact detection zone. If during
the analysis a node enters this detection zone, it will be repelled using a penalty based force.
Note
An additional constraint is applied to the analysis time step when this contact detection algorithm
is selected. The time step is constrained such that a node cannot travel through a fraction of the
contact detection zone size in one cycle. The fraction is defined by the Time Step Safety
Factor (p. 16) described below. For analyses involving high velocities, the time step used in the
analysis is often controlled by the contact algorithm.
The initial geometry/mesh must be defined such that there is a physical gap/separation of at
least the contact detection zone size between nodes and faces in the model. The solver will give
error messages if this criteria is not satisfied. This constraint means this option may not be prac-
tical for very complex assemblies.
Proximity Based Contact is not supported in 2D Explicit Dynamics analyses.
Define Connections
2.6.2.1.2. Formulation
This property is available if Contact Detection is set to Trajectory.
The available choices are described below.
Penalty
If contact is detected, a local penalty force is calculated to push the node involved in the contact event
back to the face. Equal and opposite forces are calculated on the nodes of the face in order to conserve
linear and angular momentum.
Trajectory based penalty force,
Proximity based penalty force,
Where:
D is the depth of penetration
M is the effective mass of the node (N) and face (F)
t is the simulation time step
Note
Kinetic energy is not necessarily conserved. You can track conservation of energy in contact using
the Solution Information object, the Solution Output, or one of the energy summary result
trackers.
The applied penalty force will push the nodes back towards the true contact position during the
cycle. However, it will usually take several cycles to satisfy the contact condition.
Decomposition Response
All contacts that take place at the same point in time are first detected. The response of the system to
these contact events is then calculated to conserve momentum and energy. During this process, forces
are calculated to ensure that the resulting position of nodes and faces does not result in further penet-
ration at that time point.
Note
The decomposition response algorithm cannot be used in combination with bonded contact
regions. The formulation will be automatically switch to penalty if bonded regions are present
in the model.
The decomposition response algorithm is more impulsive (in a given cycle) than the penalty
method. This can give rise to large hourglass energies and energy errors.
2.6.2.1.3. Sliding Contact

This option is available if Contact Detection is set to Trajectory.
When a contact event is detected part way through a cycle and the contact node has a tangential ve-
locity relative to the face it has made contact with, the node needs to slide along the face for the re-
mainder of the cycle. If the node should slide to the edge of the face before the end of the cycle, it is
necessary to determine whether the node needs to begin to slide along an adjacent face. Two options
described below are available for determining which (if any) face the node needs to slide to.
Discrete Surface
When a node slides to the edge of a face, the next face the node needs to slide on is determined using
the contact detection algorithm. This option is the default and will provide the most time efficient
solution. However, penetrations of nodes may be seen in situations where the faces that the nodes are
sliding on are experiencing large deformations or rotations. When such penetrations occur, it is recom-
mended the user switches to the Connected Surface option.
Connected Surface
When a node slides to the edge of a face, the next face the node needs to slide on is determined using
the mesh connectivity.
2.6.2.1.4. Shell Thickness Factor and Nodal Shell Thickness

These properties are available if the geometry includes one or more surface bodies and if Contact De-
tection is set to Trajectory.
The Shell Thickness Factor allows you to control the effective thickness of surface bodies used in the
contact. You can specify a value between 0.0 and 1.0.
A value of 0.0 means that contact will ignore the physical thickness of the surface body and the contact
surface will be coincident with the mid-plane of the shell.
A value of 1.0 means that the contact shell thickness will be equal to the physical shell thickness. The contact
surface will be offset from the mid-plane of the shell by half the shell thickness (on both sides of the shell).
Nodal Shell Thickness is only active when the Shell Thickness Factor value is not zero (0). It allows
you to obtain the most accurate shell to shell contact by improving on the Shell Thickness Factor ap-
proach.
When set to Yes, contact between shells is improved by eliminating the inherent small overlap that may
occur even when the Shell Thickness Factor is set to 1.0. Essentially this setting (along with a thickness
factor of 1.0) will provide the most accurate shell thickness contact behaviour.
When set to No, the contact shell thickness will be determined by the value of the Shell Thickness Factor
and the nodal shell thickness will not have any effect.
When set to Program Controlled, the behavior of nodal shell thickness is determined by the Analysis
Settings Preference Type (p. 48).
Define Connections
2.6.2.1.5. Body Self Contact

When set to Yes, the contact detection algorithm will check for external nodes of a body contacting
with faces of the same body in addition to other bodies. This is the most robust option since all possible
external contacts should be detected.
When set to No, the contact detection algorithm will only check for external nodes of a body contacting
with external faces of other bodies. This setting reduces the number of possible contact events and can
therefore improve efficiency of the analysis. This option should not be used if a body is likely to fold
onto itself during the analysis, as it would during plastic buckling for example.
When set to Program Controlled, the behavior of self contact is determined by the Analysis Settings
Preference Type (p. 48).
Presented below is an example of a model that includes self impact.
2.6.2.1.6. Element Self Contact

When set to Yes, automatic erosion (removal of elements) is enabled when an element deforms such
that one of its nodes comes within a specified distance of one of its faces. In this situation, elements
are removed before they become degenerated. Element self contact is very useful for impact penetration
examples where removal of elements is essential to allow generation of a hole in a structure. Element
removal through Element Self Contact is only activated when one of the erosion options under Erosion
Controls is also set to Yes.
When set to Program Controlled, the behavior of self contact is determined by the Analysis Settings
Preference Type (p. 48).
2.6.2.1.7. Tolerance
This property is available if Contact Detection is set to Trajectory and Element Self Contact is set to
Yes.
Tolerance defines the size of the detection zone for element self contact when the trajectory contact
option is used (see Element Self Contact (p. 15)). The value input is a factor in the range 0.1 to 0.5. This
factor is multiplied by the smallest characteristic dimension of the elements in the mesh to give a
physical dimension. A setting of 0.5 effectively equates to 50% of the smallest element dimension in
the model.
Note
The smaller the fraction the more accurate the solution.
2.6.2.1.8. Pinball Factor

This property is available if Contact Detection is set to Proximity Based.
The pinball factor defines the size of the detection zone for proximity based contact. The value input
is a factor in the range 0.1 to 0.5. This factor is multiplied by the smallest characteristic dimension of
the elements in the mesh to give a physical dimension. A setting of 0.5 effectively equates to 50% of
the smallest element dimension in the model.
Note
The smaller the fraction the more accurate the solution. The time step in the analysis could
be reduced significantly if small values are used (see Time Step Safety Factor (p. 16)).
2.6.2.1.9. Time Step Safety Factor

For proximity based contact, the time step used in the analysis is additionally constrained by contact
such that in one cycle, a node in the model cannot travel more than the detection zone size, multiplied
by a safety factor. The safety factor is defined with this property and the recommended default is 0.2.
Increasing the factor may increase the time step and hence reduce runtimes, but may also lead to
missed contacts. The maximum value you can specify is 0.5.
2.6.2.1.10. Limiting Time Step Velocity

For proximity based contact, this setting limits the maximum velocity that will be used to compute the
proximity based contact time step calculation.
2.6.2.1.11. Edge on Edge Contact

Define Connections
By default, contact events in Explicit Dynamics are detected by nodes impacting faces. Use this option
to extend the contact detection to include discrete edges impacting other edges in the model.
Note
This option is numerically intensive and can significantly increase runtimes. It is recommended
that you compare results with and without edge contact to make sure this feature is required.
A model with edge on edge contact cannot be run in parallel.
2.6.2.2. Interaction Type Properties for Body Interaction Object

This section includes descriptions of the interaction types for the Body Interaction object:
2.6.2.2.1. Frictionless Type
2.6.2.2.2. Frictional Type
2.6.2.2.3. Bonded Type
2.6.2.2.4. Reinforcement Type
2.6.2.2.1. Frictionless Type

Setting Type to Frictionless activates frictionless sliding contact between any exterior node and any
exterior face of the scoped bodies. Individual contact events are detected and tracked during the ana-
lysis. The contact is symmetric between bodies (that is, each node will belong to a master face impacted
by adjacent slave nodes; each node will also act as a slave impacting a master face).
Supported Connections
Explicit Dynamics
Connection Geometry Volume Shell Line

Volume Yes Yes Yes
Shell Yes Yes Yes
Line Yes Yes *Yes
*Only for Contact Detection = Proximity Based and Edge on Edge Contact = Yes (This option switches
on contact between ALL lines / bodies / edges; that is, there is no dependence on the scoping selection
of body interactions.)
Workbench LS-DYNA

Volume Yes Yes No
Shell Yes Yes No
Line No No No
2.6.2.2.2. Frictional Type

Setting Type to Frictional activates frictional sliding contact between any exterior node and any exter-
ior face of the scoped bodies. Individual contact events are detected and tracked during the simulation.
The contact is symmetric between bodies (that is, each node will belong to a master face impacted by
adjacent slave nodes, each node will also act as a slave impacting a master face).
Friction Coefficient: A non-zero value will activate Coulomb type friction between bodies (F = R).
The relative velocity () of sliding interfaces can influence frictional forces. A dynamic frictional formu-
lation for the coefficient of friction can be used.
(2.3)
where
= friction coefficient
= dynamic coefficient of friction
= exponential decay coefficient
= relative sliding velocity at point of contact
Non-zero values of the Dynamic Coefficient and Decay Constant should be used to apply dynamic
friction.
Explicit Dynamics

Volume Yes Yes Yes
Shell Yes Yes Yes
Line Yes Yes *Yes
*Only for Contact Detection = Proximity Based and Edge on Edge Contact = Yes (This option switches
on contact between ALL lines / bodies / edges; that is, there is no dependence on the scoping selection
of body interactions.)
Workbench LS-DYNA

Volume Yes Yes No
Shell Yes Yes No
Line No No No
2.6.2.2.3. Bonded Type

Descriptions of the following properties are also addressed in this section:
Maximum Offset
Breakable
Stress Criteria
Define Connections
Normal Stress Limit
Normal Stress Exponent
Shear Stress Limit
Shear Stress Exponent
External nodes of bodies included in bonded interactions will be tied to faces of bodies included in the
interaction if the distance between the external node and the face is less than the value defined by the
user in Maximum Offset. The solver automatically detects the bonded nodes/faces during the initialization
phase of the analysis.
Note that it is important to select an appropriate value for the Maximum Offset. The automatic search
will bond everything together which is found within this value.
During the analysis the nodes are kept at the same relative position on the face to which they are
bonded. This is done by means of penalty forces which are either dependent on the mass of the
nodes/faces or the stiffness of the material. The stiffness is weighted based on materials on either side
of the bond. In models with mass scaling the penalty method is chosen based on the mass scaling
setting:
Mass scaling off: Penalty method based on harmonic mass in the bonded pair.
Mass scaling on: Penalty method based on harmonic stiffness in the bonded pair.
Origin of Model Mass Scaling Mass Scaling

Off On
Any Workbench project opened in R18.0 or Harmonic Mass Harmonic
later Stiffness
Note
The stiffness weighted penalty method is typically superior to a mass weighted penalty and
increases the robustness of (offset) bonds. By switching on mass scaling and still using a
small target timestep (eg 1e-20) no mass will be added, but the penalty method will be
switched to harmonic stiffness.
When large material stiffness occurs between two materials that are bonded, it is recommen-
ded that you use an asymmetric definition where the contact scope (nodes to be bonded)
refers to the soft material and the target scope (faces to bond to) refers to the stiffer mater-
ial.
Use the custom variable BOND_STATUS to check bonded connections in Explicit Dynamics. The variable
records the number of nodes bonded to the faces on an element during the analysis. This can be used
not only to verify that initial bonds are generated appropriately, but also to identify bonds that break
during the simulation.
The automatic search algorithm for bonded regions will search for the minimum distance to any of the
faces. If this minimum distance falls within the maximum offset value, the bond pair will be established.
In order to compute the proper distance to a face the algorithm will determine if the perpendicular
projection to the face falls within the face. If that is not the case, the perpendicular projection to the
face edges is considered. If that is not the case, the distance to one of the face nodes is considered.
This algorithm guarantees that a minimum distance is always found and can be properly compared
against the value input for Maximum Offset.
Verification of the initialized bonds can be done by inspection of the prt file. A summary is given which
lists the number of candidate nodes for bonding and the actual number of nodes that were bonded.
If the percentage of nodes to be bonded is 0% it means none of the nodes are actually bonded. You
should consider increasing the Maximum Offset in this case.
Maximum Offset defines the tolerance used at initialization to determine whether a node is bonded
to a face.
Breakable = No implies that the bond will remain throughout the analysis.
Breakable = Stress Criteria implies that the bond may break (or be released) during the analysis. The
criteria for breaking a bond is defined as:
(2.4)
where
= Normal Stress Limit
n = Normal Stress Exponent
= Shear Stress Limit
m = Shear Stress Exponent
The Behavior option can be used as described in Behavior.
Define Connections
Auto Asymmetric behavior is dependent on the type of scoping:
Bonded connections with only faces scoped will behave symmetrically.
All other bonded connections (if the Contact or Target is scoped to a vertex or edge) will behave
asymmetrically.
Note that there are two distinguishing factors during initialization based on behavior:
Internal out-of-plane tolerance
For symmetric bond behavior the perpendicular projection of a node to a face has to fall within the
face bounds otherwise the bond pair is disregarded a candidate.
For asymmetric bond behavior the perpendicular projection of a node to a face does not have to
fall within the face bounds in order to be considered as a candidate.
For both types of behavior the Maximum offset is always taken into account.
If needed, a symmetric bond definition can also be changed to search out-of-plane by taking the
following steps:
Set the definition to Asymmetric in order to search out-of-plane
Duplicate the definition of the bond object (right-click operation)
Subsequently "flip" Contact and Target (right-click operation)
Effectively, you have created a symmetric definition (Contact->Target, Target->Contact) and

bonds will be searched out of plane.
Bond definitions referring to a single part
Symmetric bonds are disregarded for definitions that scope to a single part.
Asymmetric bonds are considered for definitions that scope to a single part.
The Trim Contact option is ignored by the Explicit solver.
Explicit Dynamics
See Supported Contact Types for more information.
Note
Bonded body interactions and contact are not supported for 2D Explicit Dynamics analyses.
Workbench LS-DYNA*

Volume Yes Yes No
Shell Yes Yes No

Line Yes Yes No
*The above matrix is valid only for Contact Regions. Bonded body interactions are not supported at all.
2.6.2.2.4. Reinforcement Type

This body interaction type is used to apply discrete reinforcement to solid bodies. All line bodies scoped
to the object will be flagged as potential discrete reinforcing bodies in the solver. On initialization of
the solver, all elements of the line bodies scoped to the object which are contained within any solid
body in the model will be converted to discrete reinforcement. Elements which lie outside all volume
bodies will remain as standard line body elements.
The reinforcing beam nodes will be constrained to stay at the same initial parametric location within
the volume element they reside during element deformation. Typical applications involve reinforced
concrete or reinforced rubber structures likes tires and hoses.
If the volume element to which a reinforcing node is tied is eroded, the beam node bonding constraint
is removed and becomes a free beam node.
On erosion of a reinforcing beam element node, if inertia is retained, the node will remain tied to the
parametric location of the volume element. If inertia is not retained, the node will also be eroded.
Note
Volume elements that are intersected by reinforcement beams, but do not contain a beam
node, will not be experiencing any reinforced beam forces. Good modeling practice is
therefore to have the element size of the beams similar or less than that of the volume ele-
ments.
Table 2.1: Example: Drop Test onto Reinforced Concrete Beam
Note that the target solid bodies do not need to be scoped to this object these will be identified
automatically by the solver on initialization.
Setting Up Symmetry
Explicit Dynamics

Volume No No *Yes
Shell No No No
Line *Yes No No
*Only the line body needs to be included in the scope. The Explicit Dynamics solver automatically detects
which volume bodies that the line body passes through.
Note
Reinforcement body interactions are not supported for 2D Explicit Dynamics analyses.
Workbench LS-DYNA

Volume No No No
Shell No No No
Line No No No
2.6.2.3. Identifying Body Interactions Regions for a Body

See the description for Body Interactions for Selected Bodies in the section Correlating Tree Outline
Objects with Model Characteristics in the ANSYS Mechanical User's Guide.
2.7. Setting Up Symmetry

For general information about setting up symmetry see Symmetry in the Mechanical Application in the
ANSYS Mechanical User's Guide.
2.7.1. Explicit Dynamics Symmetry

Symmetry regions can be defined in Explicit Dynamics analyses. Symmetry objects should be scoped
to faces of flexible bodies defined in the model. All nodes lying on the plane defined by the selected
face are constrained to give a symmetrical response of the structure.
Note
Anti-symmetry, periodicity, and anti-periodicity symmetry regions are not supported in Explicit
Dynamics systems.
Symmetry cannot be applied to rigid bodies.
Only the General Symmetry interpretation is used by the solver in 2D Explicit Dynamics analyses.
Symmetry conditions can be interpreted by the solver in two ways:
2.7.1.1. General Symmetry

2.7.1.2. Global Symmetry Planes
2.7.1.1. General Symmetry

In general, a symmetry condition will result in degree of freedom constraints being applied to the nodes
on the symmetry plane. For volume elements, the translational degree of freedom normal to the sym-
metry plane will be constrained. For shell and beam elements, the rotational degrees of freedom in the
plane of symmetry will be additionally constrained.
For nodes that have multiple symmetry regions assigned to them (for example, along the edge between
two adjacent faces), the combined constraints associated with the two symmetry planes will be enforced.
Note
Symmetry regions defined with different local coordinate systems may not be combined, unless
they are orthogonal with the global coordinate system.
General symmetry does not constrain eroded nodes. Thus, if after a group of elements erodes,
a "free" eroded node remains, the eroded node will not be constrained by the symmetry condition.
This can be resolved in certain situations via the special case of Global symmetry, described in
the next section.
2.7.1.2. Global Symmetry Planes

If a symmetry object is aligned with the Cartesian planes at x=0, y=0 or z=0, and all nodes in the model
are on the positive side of x=0, y=0, or z=0, the symmetry condition is interpreted as a special case
termed Global symmetry plane. In addition to general symmetry constraints:
If a symmetry plane is coincident with the YZ plane of the global coordinate system (X=0), and no parts of
the geometry lie on the negative side of the plane, then a symmetry plane is activated at X=0. This will
prevent any nodes (including eroded nodes) from moving through the plane X=0 during the analysis.
If a symmetry plane is coincident with the ZX plane of the global coordinate system (Y=0), and no parts of
the geometry lie on the negative side of the plane, then a symmetry plane is activated at Y=0. This will
prevent any nodes (including eroded nodes) from moving through the plane Y=0 during the analysis.
If a symmetry plane is coincident with the XY plane of the global coordinate system (Z=0), and no parts of
the geometry lie on the negative side of the plane, then a symmetry plane is activated at Z=0. This will
prevent any nodes (including eroded nodes) from moving through the plane Z=0 during the analysis.
Note
Global symmetry planes are only applicable to 3D Explicit Dynamics analyses.
2.7.2. Symmetry in an Euler Domain

There are additional considerations if an Euler Domain is defined for an analysis. For symmetry to be
applied to an Euler Domain, symmetry will have to be defined with the global coordinate system, not
a local one, and it will need to be applied on geometry faces which lie on the global coordinate system
planes.
Define Remote Points
If the symmetry is not defined with the global coordinate system, it is ignored and a warning is shown
in the messages window saying that such symmetry will be ignored but the analysis continues to solve.
If the symmetry is not applied on faces which lie on the global coordinate system planes then an error
is shown and the solution is terminated.
In the case where symmetry is valid for use with Euler Domains, if the boundary of the Euler Domain
which is parallel to the symmetry plane is below the symmetry plane, then that boundary will be moved
to lie on the symmetry plane if the following conditions are true:
The Euler Domain Size Definition option in the Analysis settings is set to Program Controlled.
The Euler body is on the positive side of the global coordinate axis.
2.8. Define Remote Points

The algorithm in the Explicit Dynamics solver is different from the Implicit solver in the way it handles
rigid bodies. For general information about how to use remote points, see Specifying Remote Points
in the Mechanical Application and Remote Boundary Conditions in the ANSYS Mechanical User's Guide.
The following topics describe the use of remote points and boundary conditions for the explicit solvers:
2.8.1. Explicit Dynamics Remote Points
2.8.2. Explicit Dynamics Remote Boundary Conditions
2.8.3. Initial Conditions on Remote Points
2.8.4. Constraints and Remote Points
2.8.1. Explicit Dynamics Remote Points

A remote point in Explicit Dynamics consists of a:
Location - The point in space from which a remote boundary condition can be applied.
Scoped region - The area of geometry the remote point is scoped to. The nodes of this scoping form a group
of rigid body nodes along with a further node created at the remote point location.
Boundary condition (optional) - The Remote Displacement and Remote Force boundary conditions are
currently available as remote boundary conditions.
The Explicit Dynamics solver does not support Deformable Behavior when using remote points.
The group of rigid body nodes which is created is treated as a regular rigid body by the Explicit Dynamics
solver. For example, if the scoped region of the remote point consists of two faces from two separate
parts, the solver will determine the center of mass and the inertial properties for all the nodes, with all
the nodes making up a combined group of rigid body nodes. This calculation creates a rigid connection
between the two parts.
In the solution, the forces acting on the group of rigid body nodes are summed at each time step. This
calculation determines the rigid body motion of the nodes belonging to the remote point. Due to the
mandatory rigid behavior of Remote Points, the group of rigid body nodes are unable to deform, even
if the elements of the parts used have flexible behavior. The group of rigid body nodes are, however,
free to translate and rotate. Due to this restriction it is important to maintain a sufficient number of
nodes in the scoped area of a remote point when scoped to a flexible solid part.
Note
When using Remote Points in Explicit Dynamics analyses:
The Behavior field must be set to Rigid. If it is set to Deformable the solution will terminate and
an error will be generated.
Only the remote displacement and remote force boundary conditions are supported for Remote
Points in Explicit Dynamics analyses.
Commands are not supported for Remote Points in Explicit Dynamics analyses.
Remote Points and boundary conditions are not supported for 2D Explicit Dynamics analyses.
2.8.2. Explicit Dynamics Remote Boundary Conditions

The remote boundary conditions available in the Explicit Dynamics solver are Remote Displacement
and Remote Force.
The Explicit Dynamics solver treats a Remote Displacement as follows:
The geometry that the Remote Displacement boundary condition is scoped to becomes a group of rigid
body nodes, determining its mass and inertial properties, and preventing these nodes from deforming. If
this group of rigid body nodes spans multiple parts, then these parts will be rigidly connected.
Displacements and/or rotations at the remote point and the group of rigid body nodes are tracked and
converted into velocities and angular velocities for use by the solver.
The actual translation and rotation of the remote point are a combination of the imposed boundary constraints
of the Remote Displacement definition and the forces acting on the group of nodes scoped to the Remote
Point. Therefore, the translation and rotation of the Remote Point and the group of rigid body nodes are
determined simultaneously and enforced with the use of a single corrective force and moment.
The Explicit Dynamics solver treats a Remote Force as follows:
The geometry that the Remote Force boundary condition is scoped to becomes a group of rigid body nodes,
determining its mass and inertial properties, and preventing these nodes from deforming. If this group of
rigid body nodes spans multiple parts, then these parts will be rigidly connected.
The force specified is applied to the node representing the remote point, which is rigidly attached to the
group of rigid body nodes.
The force is applied to the scoped group of nodes specified by the remote point.
Define Remote Points
The motion of the remote point is determined by a combination of the loads applied to the remote point,
the mass and inertial properties of the group of rigid body nodes, and the properties of the parts the group
of rigid body nodes are attached to.
Note
Remote Force is not supported for Workbench LS-DYNA.
2.8.3. Initial Conditions on Remote Points

Initial conditions are scoped to geometric parts in the model. Effectively this means that the initial
condition is scoped to a set of elements. However, remote points are scoped to the underlying nodes
in the model. This may result in different initial conditions on the same node in a remote point definition.
This section describes the behavior in such instances.
Initial condition on a flexible part:

Initial conditions can be scoped to a subset of or all elements in a flexible part. It is not necessary to scope
an initial condition to all the nodes in the remote point definition, as long as there is only one initial con-
dition defined for the nodes that participate in the remote point definition.
Initial condition on a rigid body part:

The remote point definition will automatically include all the nodes in a rigid part. Therefore the initial
condition (or multiple identical initial conditions) should be scoped to all the elements in the rigid part. The
scoped nodes of the remote point will follow the initial condition of the scoped rigid body. If the flexible
scoped nodes of the remote point contain their own initial condition, this will be ignored.
2.8.4. Constraints and Remote Points

When applying constraints to a model that includes remote points, it is important to ensure that the
model is not over-constrained. Since the Explicit Dynamics solver treats the remote point and its scoped
region as a single rigid body, the model could be over-constrained in the following two examples:
Two remote points share common nodes in their scoped regions. This is an over-constraint because each
remote point generates its own rigid body and rigid bodies cannot share nodes.
Example of an overconstrained model caused by two remote points scoped to adjacent faces.
A velocity boundary condition applied to some or all of the nodes in a remote point scoping, and a remote
displacement applied to the remote point.
Example of an overconstrained model caused by a constraining boundary condition such as a fixed

support applied to a face which is adjacent to a remote point scoping with a remote displacement
applied.
This list of examples is not exhaustive and a setup error will be issued to the user on solve if any such
over-constraints occur.
2.9. Apply Mesh Controls/Preview Mesh

For general information about how to apply mesh controls and preview the mesh, see Apply Mesh
Controls and Preview Mesh in the ANSYS Mechanical User's Guide
All mesh methods available in the Workbench meshing application can be utilized in Explicit Dynamics
systems.
Swept Volume Meshing
Patch Dependant Volume Meshing
Hex Dominant Meshing
Patch Independent Tetrahedral Meshing
Multizone Volume Meshing
Patch dependant shell meshing
Patch independent shell meshing
A smooth uniform mesh should be sought in the regions of interest for the analysis. Elsewhere,
coarsening of the mesh may help to reduce the overall size of the problem to be solved. Use the Ex-
plicit meshing preference (set by default) to auto-assign the default mesh controls that will provide a
mesh well suited for Explicit Dynamics analyses. This preference automatically sets the Rigid Body Be-
havior mesh control to Full Mesh. The Full Mesh setting is only applicable to Explicit Dynamics analyses.
Other physics preferences can be used if better consistency is desired between implicit and explicit
models.
Consideration should be given to the number of elements in the model and the quality of the mesh to
produce larger resulting time steps and therefore more efficient simulations. A coarse mesh can often
be used to gain insight into the basic dynamics of a system while a finer mesh is required to investigate
nonlinear material effects and failure. The Mesh Metric option allows you to view mesh metric information
Establish Analysis Settings
and thereby evaluate the mesh quality. A very useful mesh metric is the Characteristic Length: it is
primarily used to determine the timestep for an element.
Swept/multi-zone meshes are preferred in Explicit Dynamics analyses so geometry slicing, combined
with multibody part options in DesignModeler, are recommended to facilitate hexahedral meshing. Al-
ternatively, use the patch independent tetrahedral meshing method to obtain more uniform element
sizing and take advantage of automatic defeaturing.
Define the element size manually to produce more uniform element size distributions especially on
surface bodies.
Midside nodes should be dropped from the mesh (set Element Order to Linear) for all elements types
(solids, surface and line bodies). Error/warning messages are provided if unsupported (higher order)
elements are present in the mesh.
Pyramid elements are not supported in Explicit Dynamics analyses. Any elements of this type are con-
verted into two tetrahedral elements, and will warrant a warning in the message window of the Mech-
anical application.
An Explicit Dynamics model with fewer elements than the number of slave processes specified cannot
be run in parallel.
For Workbench LS-DYNA, only the element types listed below are supported (partly due to LS-DYNA
limitations). Any parts with a mesh containing unsupported elements will be excluded from the exported
mesh. A warning is displayed specifying excluded parts.
Shells
1st Order: triangles, quadrilaterals
2nd Order: none
Solids
1st Order: tetrahedrons, pyramids, wedges, hexahedrons, beams
2nd Order: tetrahedrons
Note
Pyramids are not recommended for LS-DYNA. A warning is issued if such elements are present
in the mesh.
When performing an implicit static structural or transient structural analysis to an Explicit Dynamics
analysis, the same mesh is required for both the implicit and explicit analysis and only low order elements
are allowed. If high order elements are used, the solve will be blocked and an error message will be
issued.
2.10. Establish Analysis Settings

For general information about how to establish analysis settings, see Establish Analysis Settings in the
ANSYS Mechanical User's Guide.
The basic analysis settings for Explicit Dynamics analyses (p. 33) are:
Step Controls - The required input for step control is the termination time for the analysis. This should be
set to your best estimate of the solution time required to simulate the event being modeled. You should
normally allow the solver to determine its own time step size based on the smallest CFL condition (p. 116)
in the model. The efficiency of the solution can be increased with the help of mass scaling options. Use this
feature with caution; too much mass scaling can give rise to non-physical results.
An Explicit Dynamics solution may be started, interrupted and resumed at any point in time. For ex-
ample, an existing solution that has reached its End Time may be extended to continue to review
the progression of the mechanical phenomena simulated. The Resume From Cycle option enables
you to select which Restart file you would like to use to resume the analysis. See Resume Capability
for Explicit Dynamics Analyses (p. 61) for more information. Explicit dynamics analyses are always
solved in a single analysis step.
Step Control options:
Resume from cycle (option not available in Workbench LS-DYNA)
Maximum Number of Cycles in the Explicit Dynamics system is replaced by Maximum time steps
in Workbench LS-DYNA
Reference energy cycle (option not available in Workbench LS-DYNA)
The Maximum Element Scaling and Update frequency (options not available in Workbench LS-
DYNA)
Solver Controls These advanced controls allow you to control a range of solver features including element
formulations and solution velocity limits. The defaults are applicable to wide range of applications.
Shell thickness update, shell inertia update, density update, minimum velocity, maximum velocity and
radius cutoff options can only be set in the Explicit Dynamics system.
Full shell integration and a selectable Unit System are available only in Workbench LS-DYNA.
Euler Domain Controls There are three sets of parameters that are necessary to define the Euler Domain:
the size of the whole domain (Domain Size Definition), the number of computational cells in the domain
(Domain Resolution Definition), and the type of boundary conditions to be applied to the edges of the
domain.
Note
Euler capabilities are not supported for Workbench LS-DYNA.
The domain size can be defined automatically (Domain Size Definition = Program Controlled) or
manually (Domain Size Definition = Manual). For both the automatic and manual options, the size
is defined from a 3D origin point and the X, Y, and Z dimensions of the domain.
For the automatic option, specify the Scope of the Domain Size Definition so that the origin and X,
Y, and Z dimensions are set to create a box large enough to include all bodies in the geometry (Scope
= All Bodies) or the Eulerian Bodies only (Scope = Eulerian Bodies Only). The automatically determ-
ined domain size can be controlled with three scaling parameters, one for each direction (X Scale
Factor, Y Scale Factor, Z Scale Factor).
The size of the domain is affected by the scale factors according to the following equations:
(2.5)
(2.6)
(2.7)
where
lx, ly, lz are the lengths of the unscaled domain in the x, y, and z directions respectively. These para-
meters are obtained automatically from the mesh.
l'x, l'y, l'z are the lengths of the scaled domain in the x, y, and z directions respectively.
Fx, Fy, Fz are the scale factors for the x, y, and z directions respectively.
For the Manual option of the Domain Size Definition, specify the origin of the Euler Domain (Minimum
X Coordinate, Minimum Y Coordinate, Minimum Z Coordinate) and the dimension in each direction
(X Dimension, Y Dimension, Z Dimension).
The domain resolution specifies how many cells should be created in the X, Y, and Z directions of
the domain. Use the Domain Resolution Definition field to specify how to determine the resolution:
either the cell size (Cell Size), the number of cells in each of the X, Y, and Z directions (Cells per
Component), or the total number of cells to be created (Total Cells).
For the Cell Size option, specify the size of the cell in the Cell Size parameter. The value specified is the
dimension of the cell in each of the X, Y, and Z directions. The units used for the cell size follow the ones
specified in the Mechanical application window and are displayed in the text box.
The number of the cells in each direction of the domain are then determined from this cell size
and the size of the domain with the following equations:
(2.8)
(2.9)
(2.10)
where
Nx, Ny, Nz are the number of cells in the X, Y, and Z directions respectively.
D is the dimension of the cell in each direction (this is the same in all directions).
For the Cells per Component option, enter the number of cells required in each of the X, Y, and Z directions
(Number of Cells in X, Number of Cells in Y, Number of Cells in Z).
For the Total Cells option, specify Total Cells (the default is 250,000). The size of the cells will depend on
the size of the Euler Domain.
The size of the cell is calculated from the following equation:
(2.11)
where
Ntot is the total number of cells in the domain.
If any bodies are defined as Eulerian (Virtual), when Analysis Settings is selected in the outline view,
the Euler domain bounding box is displayed in the graphics window. The Euler domain resolution is
indicated by black node markers along each edge line of the Euler domain. The visibility of this can
be controlled by the Display Euler Domain option in the Analysis Settings.
You can set boundary conditions on each of the faces of the Euler Domain. The faces are labeled
Lower X Face, Lower Y Face, Lower Z Face (which correspond to the faces with the minimum X, Y,
and Z coordinates) and Upper X Face, Upper Y Face, and Upper Z Face (which correspond to the
faces with the maximum X, Y, and Z coordinates). The values of the boundary conditions that can be
set for each face are:
Flow Out
Use the Flow Out boundary condition to flow out material through cell faces. The boundary
condition makes the material state of the dummy cell outside the Euler domain the same as
that of the cell adjacent to the Flow Out boundary, thus setting the gradients of velocity and
stress to zero over the boundary. This approach simulates a far field solution at the boundary,
but is only exact for outflow velocities higher than the speed of sound and is an approximation
for lower velocities. Therefore, the Flow Out boundary condition is approximate in many cases,
and should be placed as far as possible from region of interest and best at a location where
the gradients are small.
Impedance
The Impedance boundary condition acts exactly the same as the Flow Out boundary condition
and provides the same results.
Rigid
Use the Rigid boundary condition to prevent flow of material through cell faces. The cell faces
are closed for material transport and act as rigid non-slip walls. The Rigid boundary condition
takes the material state of the dummy cell outside the Euler domain as a mirrored image of
the cell adjacent to the Wall boundary, thus setting the normal material velocity at the rigid
wall to zero and leaving the tangential velocity unaffected.
Euler Tracking is currently only By Body, which scopes the results to Eulerian bodies in the same
manner as Lagrangian bodies.
Damping Controls Damping is used to control oscillations behind shock waves and reduce hourglass
modes in reduced integration elements. These options allow you to adapt the levels of damping, and for-
mulation used for the analysis being conducted. Elastic oscillations in the solution can also be automatically
damped to provide a quasi-static solution after a dynamic event.
For Hourglass Damping, only one of either the Viscous Coefficient or Stiffness Coefficient, is used
for the Flanagan Belytschko option - when running an Explicit Dynamics analysis using the LS-DYNA
solver, LS-DYNA does not allow for two coefficients to be entered in *CONTROL_HOURGLASS. Thus
the non-zero coefficient determines the damping format to be either "Flanagan-Belytschko viscous"
or "Flanagan-Belytschko stiffness", accordingly. If both are non-zero, the Stiffness Coefficient will be
used.
Note
Linear Viscosity in Expansion options are not supported for Workbench LS-DYNA.
Hourglass damping in LS-DYNA is standard by default; in the Explicit Dynamics System

the same control is AUTODYN Standard.
Erosion Controls Erosion is used to automatically remove highly distorted elements from an analysis and
is required for applications such as cutting and impact penetration. In an Explicit Dynamics analysis, erosion
is a numerical tool to help maintain large time steps, and thus obtain solutions in appropriate time scales.
Several options are available to initiate erosion. The default settings will erode elements which experience
geometric strains in excess of 150%. The default value should be increased when modeling hyperelastic
materials. Geometric strain limit and material failure criteria are not present in LS-DYNA.
Output Controls Solution output is provided in several ways:
Results files which are used to provide nodal and element data for contour and probe results such as de-
formation, velocity, stress and strain. Note that probe results will provide a filtered time history of the
result data due to the relatively infrequent saving of results files.
Restart files should be stored less frequently than results files and can be used to resume an analysis.
Tracker data is usually stored much more frequently than results or restart data and thus is used to produce
full transient data for specific quantities.
Output controls to save result tracker and solution output are not available for LS-DYNA.
When performing an implicit to explicit analysis, for a nonlinear implicit analysis, the Strain Details view
property must be set to Yes because plastic strains are needed for the correct results.
2.10.1. Analysis Settings for Explicit Dynamics Analyses

The following sections describe the available properties for the Analysis Settings folder in an Explicit
Dynamics analysis. In addition to describing each setting, it is noted whether the setting is available
for 2D analyses, and whether it is available on restart (applies to 2D and 3D analyses).
2.10.1.1. Explicit Dynamics Step Controls
2.10.1.2. Explicit Dynamics Solver Controls
2.10.1.3. Explicit Dynamics Euler Domain Controls
2.10.1.4. Explicit Dynamics Damping Controls
2.10.1.5. Explicit Dynamics Erosion Controls
2.10.1.6. Explicit Dynamics Output Controls
2.10.1.7. Explicit Dynamics Data Management Settings
2.10.1.8. Recommendations for Analysis Settings in Explicit Dynamics
2.10.1.1. Explicit Dynamics Step Controls

Field Options Description 2D Restart
Resume From Allows you to select the integration Yes Yes
Cycle cycle from which to start the solution
upon selecting Solve. A cycle of zero
(default setting) indicates the solution
will clear any previous progress and
start from time zero. A non-zero cycle,
on the other hand, allows you to revisit
a previous solution and extend it further
in time. A solution obtained from a
non-zero cycle is considered to have
been "resumed" or "restarted".
Note that the list will only contain

non-zero selections if a solve was
previously executed and restart files
have been generated.
When resuming an analysis, changes to

analysis settings will be respected
where possible. For example, you may
wish to resume an analysis with an
extended termination time. Changes to
any other features in the model
(geometry suppression, connections,
loads, and so on) will prevent restarts
from taking place.
See Resume Capability for Explicit

Dynamics Analyses (p. 61) for more
information.
This field is not available for Workbench
LS-DYNA.
Maximum Num- The maximum number of cycles allowed Yes Yes
ber of Cycles during the analysis. The analysis will stop
once the specified value is reached. Enter a
large number to have the analysis run to the
defined End Time.
End Time (Required input) The maximum length of Yes Yes
time (starting from time zero) to be
simulated by the explicit analysis. You should
enter a reasonable estimate to cover the
phenomena of interest.
Maximum Energy Energy conservation is a measure of the Yes Yes
Error quality of an Explicit Dynamics analysis.
Large deviations from energy conservation
usually imply a less than optimal model
definition. This parameter allows you to
automatically stop the solution if the

deviation from energy conservation becomes
unacceptable. Enter a fraction of the total
system energy (measured at the Reference
Energy Cycle) for which you want the
analysis to stop. For example, the default
value of 0.1 will cause the analysis to stop
if the energy error exceeds 10% of the
energy at the reference cycle.
For Workbench LS-DYNA this field

requires a percentage to be entered.
Thus the field name changes to Maxim-
um Energy Error (%).
Reference Energy The cycle at which you want the solver to Yes Yes
Cycle calculate the reference energy, against which
it will calculate the energy error. Usually this
will be the start cycle (cycle = 0). You may
need to increase this value if the model has
zero energy at cycle = 0 (for example if you
have no initial velocity defined).

LS-DYNA.
Initial Time Step Enter an initial time step you want to use, Yes Yes
or use the Program Controlled default. If
left on Program Controlled, the time step
will be automatically set to the computed
element stability time step. The Program
Controlled setting is recommended.
For Workbench LS-DYNA if this field is

left on Program Controlled, the initial
time step will be determined by the
solver.
Minimum Time Enter the minimum time step allowed in the Yes Yes
Step analysis, or use the Program Controlled
default. If the time step drops below this
value the analysis will stop. If set to Program
Controlled, the value will be chosen as
1/10th the initial time step.

LS-DYNA.
Maximum Time Enter the maximum time step allowed in the Yes Yes
Step analysis, or use the Program Controlled
default. The solver will use the minimum of
this value or the computed stability time
step during the solve. The Program Con-
trolled setting is recommended.

Time Step Safety A safety factor limit is applied to the Yes Yes
Factor computed stability time step to help keep
the solution stable. The default value of 0.9
should work for most analyses.
Characteristic Di- Diagonals (default The characteristic dimension (p. 116) Yes No
mension setting) used to determine the time-step for hex
elements will be calculated as the
volume of the element divided by the
square of the longest element diagonal
and then scaled by sqrt(2/3).

LS-DYNA.
Opposing Face The characteristic dimension used to
determine the time-step for hex
elements will be based on the minimum
distance between opposing faces.
Select this option to obtain the optimal

time step for hex solid elements.
Experience to date has shown that this
option can significantly improve the
efficiency of 3D Lagrange simulations.
However, in certain circumstances when
cells become highly distorted,
instabilities have been observed causing
the calculation to terminate with high
energy errors. The correct choice of
erosion strain can reduce these
problems. It is therefore recommended
that users only utilize this option if
efficiency is critical.

LS-DYNA.
Nearest Face The characteristic dimension used to
determine the time-step for hex
elements will be based on the minimum
distance between neighboring faces.
Experience to date has shown that this

option can significantly improve the
efficiency of 3D Lagrange simulations.
However, in certain circumstances when
cells become highly distorted,
instabilities have been observed causing
the calculation to terminate with high
energy errors. The correct choice of
erosion strain can reduce these
problems. It is therefore recommended

that users only utilize this option if
efficiency is critical.

LS-DYNA.
Automatic Mass If set to Yes, activates automatic mass Yes Yes
Scaling scaling and exposes the following options.
Minimum CFL The time step that you want to achieve Yes Yes
Time Step in the analysis.
Caution
Mass scaling introduces

additional mass into the
system to increase the
computed CFL time
step (p. 116). Introducing too
much mass can lead to
non-physical results.
Note
Employ User Defined Results

MASS_SCALE (ratio of scaled
mass/physical mass) and
TIMESTEP to review the
effects of automatic mass
scaling on the model.
Maximum Ele- This value limits the ratio of scaled Yes Yes
ment Scaling mass/physical mass that can be applied to
each element in the model.

LS-DYNA.
Maximum Part This value limits the ratio of scaled Yes Yes
Scaling mass/physical mass that can be applied to
an individual body. If this value is exceeded,
the analysis will stop and an error message
is displayed.

LS-DYNA.
Maximum Mass This value limits the ratio of scaled
Scaling (%) mass/physical mass that is applied to the
whole model. The ratio is expressed as a
percentage.

This field is only available for
Workbench LS-DYNA.
Update Fre- Allows you to control the frequency at which Yes Yes
quency the mass scaling will be calculated during
the solve. The frequency equates to the
increment in cycles at which the mass scale
factor will be recomputed, based on the
current shape of the elements. The default
of 0 is recommended and means that the
mass scale factor is only calculated once, at
the start of the solve.
In parallel solutions the update

frequency is always set to 0.

LS-DYNA.
2.10.1.2. Explicit Dynamics Solver Controls

Solve Units All model inputs will be converted to Yes No
this set of units during the solve. Results
from the analysis will be converted back
to the user units system in the GUI.
For Explicit Dynamics systems, this setting
is always mm, mg, ms.
For Workbench LS-DYNA this field is

termed Unit System and four systems
are available for selection: m, kg, s;
mm, ton, s; mm, mg, ms; in, lbf, s.
Beam Solution Bending Any line bodies will be represented as beam No No
Type elements including a full bending moment
calculation.
Truss Any line bodies will be represented as truss
elements. No bending moments are
calculated.
Beam Time Step An additional safety factor you may apply No No
Safety Factor to the stability time step calculated for beam
elements. The default value ensures stability
for most cases.
Hex Integration Exact Provides an accurate calculation of element No No
Type volume, even for warped elements.
1pt Gauss Approximates the volume calculation and is
less accurate for elements featuring warped
faces. This option is more efficient.

Shell Sublayers The number of integration points through No No
the thickness of an isotropic shell. The
default of 3 is suitable for many applications;
however, this number can be increased to
achieve better resolution of through
thickness plastic deformation and/or flow.
Shell Shear Cor- The transverse shear in the element No No
rection Factor formulation is assumed constant over the
thickness. This correction factor accounts for
the replacement of the true parabolic
variation through the thickness in response
to a uniform transverse shear stress. Using
a value other than the default is not
recommended.
Shell BWC Warp The Belytschko-Lin-Tsay element formulation No No
Correction becomes inaccurate if the elements are
warped. To overcome this, the element
formulation has an optional correction to
include warping. Setting this correction to
Yes is recommended.
Shell Thickness Nodal Changes in shell thickness are calculated at No No
Update the nodes of shell elements.

LS-DYNA.
Elemental Changes in shell thickness are calculated at
the element integration points.

LS-DYNA.
Full Shell Integra- Available only for Workbench LS-DYNA. N/A N/A
tion
Provides a very fast and accurate shell
element formulation.
Tet Integration Average Nodal The tetrahedral element formulation includes No No
Pressure an average nodal pressure integration. This
formulation does not exhibit volumetric
locking, and can be used for large
deformation, and nearly incompressible
behavior such as plastic flow or
hyperelasticity. This formulation is
recommended for the majority of tetrahedral
meshes.
Constant Pressure Uses the constant pressure integrated
tetrahedral formulation. This formulation is
more efficient than Average Nodal, however
it suffers from volumetric locking under
constant bulk deformation.

Nodal Strain When Tet Integration is set to Nodal
Strain the Puso Stability Coefficient,
field is shown.
For NBS models exhibiting zero energy

modes, the Puso coefficient can be set
to a non-zero value. A value of 0.1 is
recommended. See Solver
Controls (p. 134) for more information.
Shell Inertia Up- Recompute The principal axes of rotary inertia are by No No
date default recalculated each cycle.

LS-DYNA
Rotate Rotates the axes, rather than recomputing
each cycle. This option is more efficient;
however, it can lead to numerical instabilities
due to floating point round-off for long
running simulations.

LS-DYNA.
Density Update Program Con- The solver decides whether an incremental Yes No
trolled update is necessary based on the rate and
extent of element deformation.

LS-DYNA.
Incremental Forces the solver to always use the
incremental update.

LS-DYNA.
Total Forces the solver to always recalculate the
density from element-volume and mass.

LS-DYNA.
Minimum Velo- The minimum velocity you want to allow in Yes Yes
city the analysis. If any model velocity drops
below this Minimum Velocity, it will be set
to zero. The default is recommended for
most analyses.

LS-DYNA.
Maximum Velo- The maximum velocity you want to allow in Yes Yes
city the analysis. If any model velocity rises
above the Maximum Velocity, it will be
capped. This can improve the

stability/robustness of the analysis in some
instances. The default is recommended for
most analyses.

LS-DYNA.
Radius Cutoff At the start of your calculation, if a node is Yes Yes
within the specified radius of a symmetry
plane, it will be placed on the symmetry
plane. If a node is outside the specified
radius from a symmetry plane at the start of
your calculation, it will not be allowed to
come closer than this radius to the symmetry
plane as your calculation proceeds.

LS-DYNA.
Minimum Strain The minimum strain rate you want to allow Yes Yes
Rate Cutoff in the analysis. If any model strain rate drops
below this value, it will be set to zero. The
default is recommended for most analyses.
For low speed or quasi-static analyses, it may
be necessary to decrease this value.

LS-DYNA.
2.10.1.3. Explicit Dynamics Euler Domain Controls

Domain Size Program Con- Set Domain Size Definition to automatic. No No
Definition trolled
Manual Set Domain Size Definition to manual.
Display Euler Do- Toggles visibility of the annotation of the No No
main Euler domain in the graphics window.
Scope All Bodies Euler domain is sized to include all bodies. No No
Eulerian Bodies Euler domain is sized to include Euler bodies
Only only.
X Scale factor, Y User defined scaling factors for the No No
Scale factor, Z automatically determined X, Y, and Z sizes .
Scale Factor
Minimum X Co- X, Y, Z coordinates for the Euler domain No No
ordinate, Minim- origin for the Manual option.
um Y Coordinate,
Minimum Z Co-
ordinate

X Dimension, Y Euler domain X, Y, Z dimensions for the No No
Dimension, Z Di- Manual option.
mension
Domain Resolu- Total Cells Set Domain Resolution Definition by No No
tion Definition specifying the total number of cells in the
Euler domain.
Cell Size Set Domain Resolution Definition by
specifying the size of the cells in the Euler
domain.
Cells per Compon- Set Domain Resolution Definition by
ent specifying the number of cells in each
dimension in the Euler domain.
Total Cells Total number of cells that the Euler domain No No
should contain if Domain Resolution
Definition is Total Number of Cells.
Cell Size Dimension of the cell in each of the X, Y, and No No
Z directions if Domain Resolution Definition
is Cell Size.
Number of Cells Number of cells required in the X, Y, and Z No No
in X, Number of directions if Domain Resolution Definition is
Cells in Y, Num- Number of Cells by Component.
ber of Cells in Z
Lower X Face, Flow Out (Default Specify the boundary condition of the No No
Lower Y Face, setting) selected Euler domain face to be Flow Out.
Lower Z Face, Up- Impedance Specify the boundary condition of the
per X Face, Upper selected Euler domain face to be Impedance.
Y Face, Upper Z
Face Rigid Specify the boundary condition of the
selected Euler domain face to be Rigid.
Euler Tracking By Body Results may be scoped to Eulerian bodies in No No
the same way as for Lagrangian bodies.
If any bodies are defined as Eulerian (Virtual), when Analysis Settings is selected in the outline view the
Euler domain bounding box is displayed in the graphics window, as shown below.
The Euler domain resolution is indicated by black node markers along each edge line of the Euler domain.
The visibility of this can be controlled by the Display Euler Domain option in the Analysis Settings.
2.10.1.4. Explicit Dynamics Damping Controls

Linear Artificial A linear coefficient of artificial viscosity. This Yes Yes
Viscosity coefficient smooths out shock discontinuities
over the mesh. Using a value other than the
default is not recommended.
Quadratic Artifi- A quadratic coefficient of artificial viscosity. Yes Yes
cial Viscosity This coefficient damps out post shock
discontinuity oscillations. Using a value other
than the default is not recommended.
Linear Viscosity Artificial viscosity is normally applied to Yes Yes
in Expansion materials in compression only. This option
allows you to apply the viscosity for materials
in compression and expansion.

LS-DYNA.
Artificial Viscosity Apply artificial viscosity to all shell elements No Yes
for Shells in addition to solid elements.

LS-DYNA.
Hourglass Damp- AUTODYN Stand- The method of hourglass damping to be Yes Yes
ing ard used with solid hexahedral elements. The
Flanagan AUTODYN Standard option is available For
Belytschko 2D analyses only.
Stiffness Coeffi- The Stiffness Coefficient for Flanagan No Yes
cient Belytschko hourglass damping in solid
hexahedral elements.
Viscous Coeffi- The viscous coefficient for hourglass Yes Yes
cient damping used in hexahedral solid elements
and quadrilateral shell elements.
Static Damping A static damping constant may be specified Yes Yes
which changes the solution from a dynamic
solution to a relaxation iteration converging
to a state of stress equilibrium. For optimal
convergence, the value chosen for the
damping constant, R, may be defined by: R
= 2*timestep/T where timestep is the
expected average value of the timestep and
T is longest period of vibration for the
system being analyzed.
2.10.1.5. Explicit Dynamics Erosion Controls

On Geometric If set to Yes, elements will automatically Yes Yes
Strain Limit erode if the geometric strain in the element
exceeds the specified limit.

LS-DYNA.
Geometric Strain The geometric strain limit for erosion. Yes Yes
Limit Recommended values are in the range from
0.75 to 3.0. The default value is 1.5.

LS-DYNA.
On Material Fail- If set to Yes, elements will automatically Yes Yes
ure erode if a material failure property is defined
in the material used in the elements, and
the failure criteria has been reached.
Elements with materials including a damage
model will also erode if damage reaches a
value of 1.0.

LS-DYNA.
On Minimum Ele- If set to Yes, elements will automatically Yes Yes
ment Time Step erode if their calculated time step falls below
the specified value.
Minimum Ele- The minimum controlling time Yes Yes
ment Time Step step (p. 95) that an element can have.
If the element time step drops below
the specified value, the element will be
eroded.
Retain Inertia of If all elements that are connected to a Yes No
Eroded Material node in the mesh erode, the inertia of
the resulting free node can be retained
if this option is set to Yes. The mass and
momentum of the free node is retained
and can be involved in subsequent
impact events to transfer momentum
in the system.
If set to No, all free nodes will be

automatically removed from the
analysis.
2.10.1.6. Explicit Dynamics Output Controls

Save Results on During the solve of an Explicit Dynamics Yes Yes
system, results are saved to disk at a
frequency defined through this control. The
following settings are available.
Cycles Save results files after a specified increment Yes Yes
in the number of cycles. Exposes a Cycles
field where you enter the increment in
cycles.
This setting is not available for

Workbench LS-DYNA.
Time Save results file after a specified increment Yes Yes
in time. Exposes a Time field where you
enter a time increment.
Equally Spaced (Default) Save a specified number of result Yes Yes
Points files during the analysis. The frequency is
defined by the termination time / number
of points. Exposes a Number of Points field
where you enter the number of results files
required.
Save Restart Files During the solve of an Explicit Dynamics Yes Yes
on system, restart files are saved to disk at a
frequency defined through this control. The
following settings are available.
Cycles Save restart files after a specified increment Yes Yes
in the number of cycles. Exposes a Cycles
field where you enter the increment in
cycles.
Time Save restart files after a specified increments Yes Yes
in time. Exposes a Time field where you
enter a time increment.
This setting is not available for

Workbench LS-DYNA.
Equally Spaced (Default) Save a specified number of restart Yes Yes
defined by the termination time / number
of points. Exposes a Number of Points field
where you enter the number of restart files
required.
Save Result Use this control to define the frequency Yes Yes
Tracker Data on at which result tracker data and solution
output is saved to disk.
Result tracker data objects are scoped

to specific regions in a model.

Solution output provides a summary of
the state of the solution as the solve
proceeds. This is shown when Solution
Information is highlighted in the
project tree. This setting applies to all
the selectable views in the Solution
Output drop down list located in the
Solution Information Details view.

LS-DYNA.
Cycles (Default) Save results tracker and solution Yes Yes
output data after a specified increment in
the number of cycles. Exposes a Cycles field
where you enter the increment in cycles. The
default value is 1.
If a number less than or equal to 10 is

entered for Cycles, then the following
plots available from the Solution Out-
put drop down will be updated every
10 cycles unless overall progress has
increased by 5% since the last data
point (in which case, the plots will be
updated at a frequency as close to the
entered cycle increment as possible).
Results trackers are excluded from this
limitation.
Time Increment
Energy Conservation
Momentum Summary
Energy Summary
The Solver Output view from the Solu-

tion Output drop down will be updated
at the entered cycle increment.
Cycle zero and the final cycle will always

be displayed even if it is not a multiple
of the cycles entered.
Time Save result tracker and solution output data Yes Yes
after a specified increment in time. Exposes
a Time field where you enter a time
increment.
Although time based, the frequency of

Solution Output update is limited to no
more than every 10 cycles. If a time

equating to 10 cycles or less is chosen,
then the following plots available from
the Solution Output drop down will
be updated every 10 cycles, unless
overall progress has increased by 5%
since the last data point (in which case,
the output will be updated at a
frequency as close to the entered time
increment as possible). Results trackers
are excluded from this limitation.
Time Increment
Energy Conservation
Momentum Summary
Energy Summary
The Solver Output view from the Solu-

tion Output drop down will be updated
every cycle.
Output Contact Use this control to define the frequency No Yes
Forces that contact forces are written out to
file.
Contact forces information is written to the

solution directory into ASCII files named
extfcon_*.cfr, where * is the cycle
number.
Each file contains forces in the global x, y

and z directions for nodes on external
faces, where the forces are non-zero.
Contact forces are not written for Line

bodies or Eulerian (Virtual) bodies.
Contact forces are only written for 3D

analyses.
A separate line pair exists for each node in

the following format:
Node number
Contact Force X Contact Force Y Contact Force Z
These text files may be used by ACT to

visualize the contact pressure between
bodies.
Off (Default) Disable output of contact forces. No Yes

Cycles Write contact forces to a file after a specified No Yes
increment in the number of cycles. Exposes
a Cycles field where you enter the increment
in cycles.
Time Write contact forces to a file after a specified No Yes
increment in time. Exposes a Time field
where you enter a time increment.
Equally Spaced Write a specified number of contact force No Yes
defined by the termination time/ number of
points. Exposes a Number of Points field
where you enter the number of contact force
files required.
2.10.1.7. Explicit Dynamics Data Management Settings

Note that these settings cannot be changed from the Details panel.
Field Description
Solver Files Directory The permanent location for all the files generated during a solve.
This is a read-only field provided for information.
Scratch Solver Files Directory A temporary location for all files generated during a solve. These
files are then moved to the Solver Files Directory for completed
solves. This is a read-only field provided for information. See
Analysis Data Management in the ANSYS Mechanical User's Guide
for more information.
This field is not available for Workbench LS-DYNA.
2.10.1.8. Recommendations for Analysis Settings in Explicit Dynamics

Explicit Dynamics may be used for a wide range of applications, and a default set of Analysis Settings
designed to provide the most robust solution are not necessarily suited to every application. Therefore,
the Type setting allows the selection of particular defaults depending on the requirements of the
solution. The following options are available:
Program Controlled This is the default setting with a priority for a robust solution.
Low Velocity Recommended for low deformation/velocity (<100m/s) analyses.
High Velocity Recommended for high deformation/velocity (>100m/s) analyses.
Efficiency Settings for minimum runtime. In some cases, this may have an impact on robustness and accur-
acy.
Quasi-static Recommended for quasi-static analyses.
The exact Analysis Settings values for each of the Analysis Settings Preference Types are shown in the
table below. Switching the Type property will update all of the items displayed in the table as indicated.
If any of these settings are subsequently changed, then the Type will be indicated as Custom.
Program Efficiency Low High Quasi-Static

Controlled Velocity Velocity
Default Setting for Recommended Recommended Recommended
(Robustness) minimum setting for for high setting
run time low deformation/velocity
for
(also deformation/velocity
simulations quasi-static
minimum simulations (>100m/s) simulations
robustness (<100m/s)
and
accuracy
in some
cases)
Analysis Notes
Settings
Step Controls
Timestep 0.9 1 0.9 0.9 0.9 If solving in the Euler
Safety Factor reference frame the
maximum timestep
safety factor is 0.66667.
This will override any
values entered by the
user.
Mass Scaling No Yes Yes No Yes The user needs to
enter a reasonable
desired timestep.
Mass Scaling: Off User Must User Must Off User Must The user needs to
Minimum CFL Define Define Define enter a sensible
timestep desired timestep and
ensure the physical
response is not
significantly altered by
the additional mass
added.
Mass Scaling: Off 1000 100 Off 1000
Maximum
Element
Scaling Factor
(%)
Mass Scaling: Off 1000 5 Off 1000
Maximum
Part Scaling
Mass Scaling: Off 0 0 Off 0 Note that for low
Update deformation problems,
Frequency setting an update
frequency of
approximately 250
may also help maintain
a higher timestep

Characteristic Diagonals Opposing Opposing Diagonals Opposing
Dimension Faces Faces Faces
Solver
Controls
Beam Time 0.5 1 0.1 0.1 0.1 Increasing the safety
Step Safety factor can lead to
Factor unstable results. Check
results carefully.
Hex Exact 1pt Gauss 1pt Gauss Exact 1pt Gauss
Integration
Type
Shell 3 2 3 3 3
Sublayers
Shell Inertia Recompute Rotate Recompute Recompute Recompute Rotate option is most
Update efficient but can lead
to unstable results.
Check results carefully.
Tet ANP SCP NBS ANP NBS SCP tet is very efficient
Integration but suffers from shear
and volume locking.
Check results carefully
if using this option.
Minimum 1e-10 1e-10 0.0 1e-10 0.0
Strain Rate
Cutoff
Damping
Controls
Hourglass AUTODYN AUTODYN Flanagan AUTODYN Flanagan Autodyn standard is
Damping standard standard Belytschko standard Belytschko not rigid body rotation
invariant. Must use
Flanagan Belytschko if
large rotations are
involved.
Static 0 0 0 0 User Must For quasi-static
Damping Define analyses, it is
recommended that
static damping is used,
but the value used
depends on the
configuration of the
model. See Explicit
Dynamics Damping
Controls (p. 43) for
more details on
selecting an
appropriate value.

Erosion
Controls
On Geometric Yes No No Yes No If you expect large
Strain Limit deformations and
mesh distortions
during the simulation,
a geometric strain limit
of 1.0 to 1.5 will be
required for the
minimum run time
case.
Geometric 1.5 0.75 Unchanged 1.5 Unchanged
Strain Limit
Output
Controls
Save Results 20 20 50 50 10
on: Equally
Spaced Points
Save Result 1 10 10 1 10
Tracker Data:
Cycles
Save Solution 100 1000 100 100 100
Output:
Cycles
Body
Interactions:
Details
options
Nodal Shell No No No No No
Thickness
Body Self Yes No No Yes No
Contact
Element Self Yes No No Yes No
Contact
When using the Explicit Dynamics analysis system, the Body Self Contact and Element Self Contact
settings in the Body Interactions object Details panel should be set to Program Controlled in order for
the Analysis Settings Preference Type to have an effect on the Body Interactions objects. If the Program
Controlled setting is used, the values of the Body Interactions settings will be as shown in the table.
Note
Consider the following guidelines for setting up other areas of your analysis:
Material Properties
Use simplest Material definition possible
Use Linear Elastic properties unless you need to model non-linearities
Bonds
Only use breakable bonds if you really need to
Meshing
Mesh quality is a critical aspect for model performance and accuracy:
Use Hex Meshes whenever possible
Use the patch independent tetrahedral mesh method to ensure uniform element size and
timestep optimization
Avoid small elements unless you need them
2.11. Define Initial Conditions

For general information about how to define initial conditions, see Define Initial Conditions in the ANSYS
Mechanical User's Guide
You can assign a translational or angular velocity to a single body or to multiple bodies. In an Explicit Dy-
namics analysis, by default, all bodies are assumed to be at rest with no external constraint or load applied.
It is not a requirement to apply these types of initial conditions to a body.
An Explicit Dynamics solution requires that the model contains at least one initial condition (translational
or angular velocity), a non-zero constraint (displacement or velocity), or a valid load.
You can use the results of an implicit analysis as a pre-stress initial condition for an Explicit Dynamics ana-
lysis. For more information, see Applying Pre-Stress Effects for Explicit Analysis (p. 105).
2.12. Apply Loads and Supports

For general information about how to apply loads and supports, see Apply Loads and Supports in the
ANSYS Mechanical User's Guide
You can apply the following loads and supports in an Explicit Dynamics analysis:
Acceleration
Standard Earth Gravity
Pressure
Hydrostatic Pressure
Force
Nodal Force
Line Pressure
Apply Loads and Supports
Fixed Support
Displacement
Nodal Displacement
Detonation Point (p. 57)
Velocity
Impedance Boundary (p. 54)
Simply Supported
Fixed Rotation
Remote Displacement
Remote Force
Notes
Cylindrical coordinate systems allow the definition of a single rotational displacement or velocity constraint
on a rigid or flexible body. These coordinate systems are fixed and so do not move with the body.
For Explicit Dynamics analyses, the Y component (that is, direction) of a velocity constraint defined by
a cylindrical coordinate system has units relating to angular velocity.
For Explicit Dynamics analyses, the Y component (that is, direction) of a displacement constraint defined
by a cylindrical coordinate system has units relating to rotation.
Stepped or time varying tabular loads can be applied in an Explicit Dynamics analysis. However, Explicit
Dynamics does not support using tabular data to specify the magnitude or components of Accelerations
or Line Pressures.
Displacement and rotation boundary conditions must be ramped, meaning that they cannot have non-zero
values at the first cycle.
For Explicit Dynamics analyses, loads defined by functions are supported for Pressure, Velocity, and Remote
Force boundary conditions, but only when defined as varying in time. Spatially varying function definitions
are not supported in Explicit Dynamics. See Setting Up Boundary Conditions.
For Workbench LS-DYNA, loads defined by functions are not supported.
Loads must be applied in a single step.
Loads and supports are not valid when applied to bodies having a Reference Frame of Eulerian (Virtual).
Detonation Points are only available for 3D Explicit Dynamics analyses, not for Workbench LS-DYNA or 2D
Explicit Dynamics analyses.
For Explicit Dynamics analyses, if multiple constraints (for example, displacements) are applied to a node
then they must use the same coordinate system. This restriction is especially applicable at nodes on a shared
topology such as an edge, where two adjacent faces, each with different constraints, may come together.
These constraints must use the same coordinate system in their specification.
In the LS-DYNA solver, a Velocity or Displacement boundary condition (implemented with the *BOUND-
ARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION keyword) will override a Fixed Support or a Simple Support or a Fixed Rotation
boundary condition (implemented with the *BOUNDARY_SPC keyword). Hence if a body has a Velocity
constraint and a Fixed Support applied to it, the whole body will move in the direction of the applied velocity.
The default unconstrained body is valid. It is not a requirement to constrain any DOF of a body In Explicit
Dynamics systems.
An Explicit Dynamics solve can be performed if the model contains at least one Initial Condition (Translational
or Rotational velocity) or a non-zero constraint (displacement or velocity) or a valid load.
An Explicit Dynamics analysis which contains Pressure, Velocity, Displacement, Force, or Remote Displacement
boundary conditions defined with a function cannot be run in parallel.
The Remote Force boundary condition is not supported in Workbench LS-DYNA.
The Remote Displacement and Remote Force boundary conditions are not supported in 2D Explicit Dynamics
analyses.
A Remote Displacement boundary condition must have the Behavior field set to Rigid for an Explicit Dy-
namics analysis. An error will be reported if it is set to Deformable. If the Remote Displacement or Remote
Force object is scoped to a Remote Point that has its Behavior set to Rigid, the Remote Displacement or
Remote Force Behavior will automatically be set to Rigid also.
2.12.1. Impedance Boundary

Impedance Boundary is available for an Explicit Dynamics analysis only. It is not available for Workbench
LS-DYNA.
You can use the impedance boundary condition to transmit waves through cell faces. The boundary
condition predicts the pressure P in the dummy cell from the impedance, particle velocity, and a reference
pressure (P0). Only the perpendicular component is transmitted, as the pressure is spherical. Therefore,
the Impedance boundary condition is only approximate, and should be placed as far as possible from
region of interest.
Theory
In order to economize on problem size it is sometimes advantageous for problems which have only
outward traveling solutions (e.g. an expanding high pressure source) to limit the size of the grid by a
boundary condition which allows outward traveling waves to pass through it without reflecting energy
back into the computational grid.
In practice it proves impossible to include a simple boundary condition which is accurate for all wave
strengths but the algorithm used here give a reasonable approximation over a wide spectrum. However
it should always be borne in mind that the condition is only approximate and some reflected wave,
however small, will be created and care must be taken that such a wave does not have a significant
effect on the later solution. Note that the following analysis deals only with the normal component of
velocity of the wave and the velocity component parallel to the boundary is assumed to be unaffected
by the boundary.
For a one-dimensional wave traveling in the direction of increasing x, the conditions on the rearward
facing characteristic are
(2.12)
where c is the acoustic impedance ( is the local density and c is the local sound speed) and dp and
du are the changes of pressure and velocity normal to the wave along the characteristic. Since it is as-
sumed that no wave energy is being propagated back in the direction of decreasing x the error in ap-
plying the above condition on a non-characteristic direction is in general small and it is applied on the
transmitting boundary in the form
(2.13)
where:
uN is the component of mean velocity normal to the boundary
[c]boundary is the assumed Material Impedance for the boundary
pref is the user defined reference pressure
uref is the user defined reference velocity at the boundary
For an initially stationary structure at zero pressure, the reference values (pref and uref) are normally set
to zero. In this case we have
(2.14)
which is exact for a plane elastic longitudinal wave propagating in an infinite elastic medium.
Note
The default Material Impedance (Program Controlled) is zero. In this case the impedance
at the boundary is taken to be the impedance at time t of the element to which the
boundary is applied. This represents the case of perfect transmission of plane normal elastic
waves.
Common Characteristics
The following section outlines the common boundary condition characteristics that include application
requirements of the boundary condition, support limitations, as well as loading definitions and values.
Dimensional Types
3D Simulation: Supported.
Geometry Types: Geometry types supported for the Impedance Boundary boundary condition include:
Solid: Supported.
Surface/Shell: Supported.
Wire Body/Line Body/Beam: Supported.
Topology: The following topology selection options are supported for Impedance Boundary.
Body: Not Supported.
Face: Supported.
Edge: Not Supported.
Vertex: Not Supported.
Nodes: Not Supported.
Loading Data Definition: Enter loading data using one of the following options.
Boundary Condition Application

To apply an Impedance Boundary:
1. On the Environment context toolbar: click Supports>Impedance Boundary. Or, right-click the Environ-
ment tree object or the Geometry window and select Insert>Impedance Boundary.
2. Define the Scoping Method.
Details View Properties

The selections available in the Details view are described below.
Category Fields/Options/Description
Scope Scoping Method: Options include:
Geometry Selection: Default setting, indicating that the boundary condition is

applied to a geometry or geometries, which are chosen using a graphical selection
tools.
Geometry: Visible when the Scoping Method is set to Geometry Selection.

Displays the type of geometry (Body, Face, etc.) and the number of geometric
entities (for example: 1 Body, 2 Edges) to which the boundary has been applied
using the selection tools.
Named Selection: Indicates that the geometry selection is defined by a Named

Selection.
Named Selection: Visible when the Scoping Method is set to Named Selection.
This field provides a drop-down list of available user-defined Named Selections.
Definition Type: Read-only field that describes the object - Impedance Boundary.
Material Impedance: Program Controlled or input value.
Reference Velocity: Program Controlled or input value.
Reference Pressure: Program Controlled or input value.
Suppressed: Include (No - default) or exclude (Yes) the boundary condition.
2.12.2. Detonation Point

You can detonate an explosive by various methods of delivering energy to it. However whether an ex-
plosive is dropped, thermally irradiated, or shocked, either mechanically or through a shock from an
initiator (of a more sensitive explosive), initiation of an explosive always goes through a stage in which
a shock wave is an important feature.
It is assumed that, on initiation, a detonation wave travels away from the initiation point with constant
detonation velocity, being refracted around any inert obstacles in the explosive without moving the
obstacle, maintaining a constant detonation velocity in the refracted zone and detonating each particle
of explosive on arrival at that particle.
Analysis Types
Detonation Point is available for an Explicit Dynamics analysis only.
Common Characteristics
This section describes the characteristics of the boundary condition, including the application require-
ments, support limitations, and loading definitions and values.
Dimensional Types
2D Simulation: Not Supported.
Note
Detonation Points are not available for Workbench LS-DYNA.
Boundary Condition Application

1. On the Environment context toolbar: click Loads>Detonation Point. Or, right-click the Environment
tree object or the Geometry window and select Insert>Detonation Point.
2. Specify Location.
Multiple detonation points can be added to an analysis. The location of the selected detonation point
and the detonation time are displayed in the annotation on the model.
Details View Properties

The selections available in the Details view are described below.
Definition Burn Instantaneously: When set to Yes, results in initiation of detonation for all
elements with an explosive material at the start of the solve.
Detonation Time: User can enter the time for initiation of detonation. [Only visible
if Burn Instantaneously is set to No.]
Suppressed - Include (No - default) or exclude (Yes) the boundary condition.

Location Enter detonation point coordinates:
X Coordinate
Y Coordinate
Z Coordinate
Location: User can interactively select detonation location using the

vertex/edge/face selection tools:
Select Vertex: Sets X/Y/Z location to vertex location.
Select Edge: Sets X/Y/Z location to centre of edge.
Select Face: Sets X/Y/Z location to centre of face.
Theory
The Detonation analysis method used is Indirect Path detonation. Detonation paths are computed by
finding either a direct path through explosive regions or by following straight line segments connecting
centers of cells containing explosives. Either:
Detonation paths will be computed as the shortest route through cells that contain explosive.
Or...
Detonation paths are computed by finding the shortest path obtained by following straight line
segments connecting the centers of cells containing explosive.
The correct detonation paths will automatically be computed around wave-shapers, obstacles, corners,
etc.
Detonation points must lie within the grid. Paths cannot be computed through multiple Parts. If a det-
onation point is placed in one Part, the detonation from this point cannot propagate to another Part.
If this is required, you must place one or more detonation points in the second Part with the appropriate
initiation times set to achieve the required detonation.
The following illustration outlines the detonation process:
Detonation is initiated at a node or plane (user defined)
Detonation front propagates at the Detonation Velocity, D
Cell begins to burn at time T1
Burning is complete at time T2
Chemical energy is released linearly from T1 to T2; burn fraction increases from 0.0 to 1.0 over this time
The result DET_INIT_TIME can be used to view the initiation times of the explosive material. For example,
in the image below, the body on the left side has a detonation point with instantaneous burn defined,
and so the entire material has a detonation initiation time of 1x10-6 ms. The second body has a deton-
ation point defined in the lower X, lower Y, lower Z corner, and the detonation time can be seen to
vary from 0 ms (in other words, instantaneous detonation) to a value of 0.19555 ms in the corner of
the body furthest away from the detonation point. Once detonation is initiated in an element, a value
of zero is shown for DET_INIT_TIME.
The result ALPHA can be used to view the progress of the detonation wave through the material. This
corresponds to the burn fraction, which will be a value between zero (no detonation) and one (deton-
ation complete). For the same example, looking at values of alpha at a later stage in the calculation,
the detonation wave can clearly be seen in the body on the right as the spherical band of contours
showing the value of alpha changing from zero to one. The body on the left has a value of one for the
entire body, as it detonated instantaneously.
2.13. Solve
For general information about solving, see Solve in the ANSYS Mechanical User's Guide
Solve
2.13.1. Solving from Time = 0

Solving from Time = 0, which is from Cycle=0, is the typical way to start an analysis. This cycle value is
the default setting in the Resume From Cycle field located in the Step Controls (p. 34) section of the
Analysis Settings (p. 29). The analysis will run until either the user-defined Maximum Number of Cycles
or End Time is reached.
The following restriction applies:
An Explicit Dynamics solve can only be performed if the model contains at least one Initial Condition
(Translational or Rotational velocity), a non-zero constraint (displacement or velocity), or a valid load.
The Explicit Dynamics system always uses RSM in the background. As such the Remote Solve Manager
can be used to monitor the analysis and obtain any solution related output.
Another way of monitoring the progress of the solve is to view the Solution Information (p. 63) while
the solve is running, where you can view the estimated run time remaining.
A running analysis can be interrupted; for example, to review results part way through the analysis. An
interrupted analysis can be resumed (p. 61) to continue to the end. Similarly, a successfully ended
analysis can be extended beyond its current end time or cycle.
2.13.2. Resume Capability for Explicit Dynamics Analyses

If an Explicit Dynamics analysis has partially or totally completed, you can resume the analysis from a
non-zero time step (cycle). You may want to do this in order to:
Extend an analysis that has successfully completed beyond its current end time or cycle.
Complete an analysis that has been interrupted. For example you may wish to interrupt an analysis in order
to review results part way through a longer simulation.
Continue an analysis that has stopped part way through. For example, if an analysis has terminated prema-
turely due to the time-step size being too small, you can make adjustments to mass scaling, and restart the
calculation.
Adjust the frequency of restart file, result file or other output information. For example, you may wish to re-
solve part of an analysis that is of interest with more frequent results.
Adjust damping or erosion controls.
You may resume an analysis from any cycle that has a restart file by first selecting the cycle in the Resume
From Cycle field located in the Step Controls (p. 34) section of the Analysis Settings (p. 33), then
making any other required analysis changes and selecting Solve. The frequency of restart file output
is controlled in the Analysis Settings Output Controls (p. 45). There is no limit to the number of times
an analysis may be resumed.
The following restrictions apply:
Changes made to any feature of the model outside of the Analysis Settings will prevent a resume from
taking place.
Changes made to any of the (Analysis Settings) Solver Controls, except for Minimum Velocity, Maximum
Velocity and Radius Cutoff, will prevent a resume from taking place.
Changes made to the Retain Inertia of Eroded Material field will prevent a resume from taking place.
Changes to all other Erosion Controls, Damping Controls, and Output Controls are valid and will not
prevent a resume from taking place.
To use Automatic Mass Scaling under Analysis Settings, Step Controls), it must be enabled from the start
of the calculation. You cannot change the Automatic Mass Scaling property for a restart calculation. If
Automatic Mass Scaling is active, the other Mass Scaling properties may be changed part way through a
calculation.
Analyses with non-zero Displacement constraints defined may not be resumed.
2.13.2.1. Load and Constraint Behavior when Extending Analysis End Time
For a model with loads and constraint, when using the resume capability to extend the end time of an
analysis, the following points should be considered.
Loads and constraints may not be modified after cycle zero.
If an analysis end time has been increased, then it is possible that the analysis time may fall outside the
defined region of a time-dependent load or constraint. If this is the case, no load or constraint will be applied.
Time-dependent data for loads and supports can be defined for times greater than the end time of the
analysis, and these will become valid if the end time is then extended for a resumed analysis.
The solver representation of loads and constraints may be verified by looking at admodel.prt in the
Solver Files directory.
2.13.3. Explicit Dynamics Performance in Parallel

For general information about solving in parallel with the Mechanical Application see Understanding
Solving in the ANSYS Mechanical User's Guide
Parallel processing is not supported for 2D Explicit Dynamics models.
Explicit Dynamics 3D solutions default to using up to two cores with shared-memory parallelism. MPI
parallel processing support for 3D Explicit Dynamics models is described in the following table.
Windows Linux
Local Parallel Distributed Windows HPC Local Distributed Parallel
Parallel Jobscheduler Parallel Parallel Jobschedulers
IBM Platform IBM Platform N/A IBM IBM Platform N/A
MPI, INTEL MPI, MPI, INTEL MPI Platform MPI
Microsoft MPI MPI
You can use the additional command line arguments field as described in Using Solve Process Settings
in the ANSYS Mechanical User's Guide to specify the information necessary to run an Explicit Dynamics
solution in parallel.
The MPI software used in a distributed parallel simulation can be specified using the -mpi option. The
available options are: ibmmpi (IBM), intelmpi (Intel), and msmpi (Microsoft). The default option is IBM
MPI (ibmmpi) and will be used if the -mpi option is not specified in the additional command line options.
IBM MPI is the only mpi option that is supported for Linux machines.
Postprocessing
The machines used in a distributed parallel analysis can be specified using the -machines option. The
machines argument should be specified as:
-machines machineName1:N1,MachineName2:N2
where machineName1 will be started with N1 slave executables and MachineName2 will be started
with N2 slave executables. The machine name and number of slaves should be separated by a colon
and each pair of machine name\number of slaves should be separated by a comma. If spaces are added
then the -machines argument should be enclosed in double quotes:
-machines "machineName1 : N1 , MachineName2 : N2"
Note
When running Explicit Dynamics using IBM MPI, the MPI files used are the IBM MPI files in-
cluded with the ANSYS installation. It is possible to specify a different location for the MPI
files by setting the environment variable EXD_MPI_ROOT; for example:
EXD_MPI_ROOT = "C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\Platform-MPI"
The following capabilities of the explicit solver are not supported for a parallel environment:
Line body to line body contact using Proximity Based interaction in combination with the Edge on Edge
option.
Trajectory contact with the Decomposition Response formulation.
Note
When a model contains a capability that is not supported for a parallel environment, the
analysis will automatically run in serial mode.
2.14. Postprocessing
You can review the Solution Information object and the Result Trackers to analyze your solution quality.
Result trackers must be defined before you start the solution.
2.14.1. Solution Output

The Solution Information object provides a summary of the solution time increments and progress is
continuously updated in the solution output. For distributed analyses, the parallel load balancing is also
displayed. This is calculated for each slave as the CPU time taken on the slave divided by the average
CPU time taken on all the slaves. For a perfectly balanced solution, all slaves will have a load balancing
of one.
Histograms of time step, energy and momentum are also available for real time monitoring of solution
progress.
You can monitor the quality of the solution by reviewing momentum and energy conservation graphs
in the solution output. Low energy errors (<10% of initial energy) are indicative of good quality solutions.
Choose Tools> Solve Process Settings to solve in the background either locally or remotely. This allows
you to retrieve results while the analysis is running to get immediate feedback on the progress and
accuracy of the solution.
Note
If you choose the My Computer, Background setting, it is necessary that you also click the
Advanced... button and check Use Shared License, if possible, to obtain a successful
solution.
2.14.2. Result Trackers

General information about Result Trackers can be found in Result Trackers in the ANSYS Mechanical
User's Guide
You can view the full transient time history data after the insertion of Result Tracker objects. Body
averaged data such as momentum and energy can be selected for display. Data at a specific location
(position, velocity, stress etc.) can also be displayed.
The frequency at which Result Tracker information is provided is defined in the Save Result Tracker
Data On option of the analysis settings (p. 33).
The following topics are related specifically to result trackers in Explicit Dynamics analyses:
2.14.2.1. Point Scoped Result Trackers for Explicit Dynamics
2.14.2.2. Body Scoped Result Trackers for Explicit Dynamics
2.14.2.3. Spring Result Trackers for Explicit Dynamics
2.14.2.4. Viewing and Filtering Result Tracker Graphs for Explicit Dynamics
2.14.2.5. Force Reaction Result Trackers for Explicit Dynamics
2.14.2.1. Point Scoped Result Trackers for Explicit Dynamics

A point scoped result tracker is either associated with a node or element center, depending on the
variable selected.
Note
The point scoped trackers are only available for an Explicit Dynamics analysis. Point scoped
trackers may only be inserted prior to the analysis being solved.
You can use one of two Location Methods to specify the location of point scoped Explicit Dynamics
result trackers:
Geometry Selection
1. Set Location Method to Geometry Selection.
2. Select a vertex on the geometry or a node on the mesh.
3. Click in the Geometry field, then click Apply.
Postprocessing
For nodal results, the results tracker will record the results of the variable at the node or the vertex
the tracker is scoped to. For elemental results, the results tracker will record the results of the variable
in an element attached to the node or vertex the tracker is scoped to.
User Defined Location
1. Set Location Method to User Defined Location.
2. Specify the coordinates in the X, Y, Z Coordinate fields. You can do this in one of two ways:
Selecting a point using the Coordinate toolbar button
a. Choose Click to Change in the Location field.
b. Press the Coordinate toolbar button.
c. Move the cursor across the model and notice that the coordinates display and update as you re-
position the cursor.
d. Click the desired location. A small crosshair appears at this location. You can click again on another
location, which changes the crosshair location.
e. Click Apply in the Location field. The location coordinates display in the X, Y, Z Coordinate fields.
You can change the location by repositioning the cursor, clicking at the new location, then clicking
Click to Change and Apply, or by editing the X, Y, Z Coordinate fields in the Details view.
Note
This method does not specify a vertex or node to track as in the Geometry Selection
method, but is purely a method of selecting x, y, and z coordinates in the X, Y, Z
Coordinate fields.
Selecting a point by entering coordinates directly in the Details view
Type the coordinates into the X, Y, Z Coordinate fields in the Details view.
For trackers that record element results, the tracker will record the results of an element in which the
specified coordinates reside. If the coordinates entered do not correspond to an element location, the
result tracker will not record any data.
For trackers that record nodal results, the tracker will record the results of the node that is closest to
the specified coordinates provided the node is within half an element's dimension of the coordinates.
If no such node is found, the tracker will not record any data.
If the coordinates specified lie on the boundary of multiple elements or are coincident with multiple
nodes, the tracker will record the results of the first element/node it finds. The only way to ensure a
particular node is tracked is to use the geometry selection option.
The directional and non-directional point scoped result trackers available for Explicit Dynamics analyses
are shown in the tables below. The Details view properties for each are shown.
Directional Point Scoped Results Trackers

The properties available in the Details view for Deformation, Position, Velocity, Acceleration, Strain,
or Stress are described in the following table.
Scope Geometry Select vertex.
Definition Location Method Select geometry or a user defined location.
Coordinate System Assigned to user defined location.
X, Y, Z Coordinate Position of the user defined location.
Location Select user defined location.
Type Select deformation, velocity, acceleration, strain, or stress type.
Orientation X, Y, or Z direction.
Suppressed Prior to solving, you can include or exclude the result from
the analysis. The default is value is No.
Results Minimum Read-only indication of the minimum value of the result
tracker type.
Maximum Read-only indication of the maximum value of the result

tracker type.
Filter Type Specify low-pass filtering (p. 69) opton.
Note
Strain results trackers are not available for Euler bodies.
Non-Directional Point Scoped Results Trackers

The properties available in the Details view for Internal Energy, Temperature, Pressure or Density
are described in the following table.
Scope Geometry Select vertex.
Definition Type Read only.
Location Method Select geometry or a user defined location.
Coordinate System Assigned to user defined location.
X, Y, Z Coordinate Position of the user defined location.
Location Select user defined location.
Postprocessing
tracker type.

tracker type.
Filter Type Specify low-pass filtering (p. 69) option.
Note
Density results trackers are not available for surface and line bodies and beam elements.
Importing Point Scoped Result Trackers From a File

Choosing Result Trackers From File from the Result Tracker drop down menu in the toolbar enables
you to import point scoped result trackers from a file. The format of the file should be as in the following
example:
cm
1;2;3;velx;velocity;x
1.4;2.5;3.745;My Deformation;Deformation;Total
10;20;30;prin max strain;strain;principal1
10;20;30;middle strain;strain;principal2
The first line specifies the units of the values in the file. Acceptable inputs for this are: "m", "cm", "mm",
"in", "ft", or "um".
The subsequent lines contain the data for each tracker to be inserted. The first three numbers are the
x,y,z location values. The fourth entry is the user-given namethe one that will be seen in the tree.
The 5th and 6th entries are type and subtype.
Acceptable entries for type and subtype are:
type = "velocity", "acceleration" or "deformation" with subtypes of "x","y","z" or "total"
type = "position", "temperature", "pressure", "energy" or "density" (no subtype used)
type = "stress" or "strain" with subtypes of "xx", "yy", "zz", "xy", "yz", "zx", "principal1", "principal2",
"principal3", "equivalent"
All values in each line should be separated by a semicolon. Any lines that are not properly formatted
will be skipped; no tracker will be inserted for them.
2.14.2.2. Body Scoped Result Trackers for Explicit Dynamics

The directional and non-directional body scoped result trackers available for Explicit Dynamics analyses
are shown in the tables below. The Details view properties for each are shown.
Directional Results Trackers Scoped to Flexible or Rigid Bodies

The properties available in the Details view for Momentum, Total Mass Average Velocity, Contact
Force, or External Force are described in the following table.
Scope Geometry Select bodies.
Orientation X, Y, or Z direction.
tracker type.

tracker type.
Filter Type Specify low-pass filtering (p. 69) opton.
Note
Contact Force and External Force results trackers are not available for Euler bodies.
Non-Directional Results Trackers Scoped to Flexible or Rigid Bodies

The properties available in the Details view for Kinetic Energy, Internal Energy, Total Energy, or
Plastic Work are described in the following table.
Scope Geometry Select bodies.
Location Method Select geometry or a user defined location (internal

energy only).
Coordinate System Assigned to user defined location (internal energy

only).
X, Y, Z Coordinate Position of the user defined location (internal energy

only).
Location Select user defined location (internal energy only).
tracker type.

tracker type.
Postprocessing
Filter Type Specify low-pass filtering (p. 69) option.
Note
Internal Energy and Plastic Work results trackers are not available for rigid bodies.
2.14.2.3. Spring Result Trackers for Explicit Dynamics

You can use a spring tracker to display the following longitudinal result items from a spring in an Explicit
Dynamics analysis:
Elongation Elongation is the relative displacement between the two ends of the springs. The elongation
could be positive (stretching the spring) or negative (compressing the spring).
Velocity Velocity is the rate of stretch (or compression) of the spring.
Elastic Force Elastic force is calculated as (Spring Stiffness * Elongation). The force acts along the length
of the spring.
Damping Force Damping force is calculated as (Damping Factor * velocity) and acts to resist motion.
2.14.2.4. Viewing and Filtering Result Tracker Graphs for Explicit Dynamics
Explicit dynamics analyses typically involve a large number of time history samples, sometimes in the
order of hundreds of thousands, and the results tend to include high frequency noise that can obscure
slow rate phenomena. A low-pass filtering option is available that allows you to separate slow-rate
trends from high frequency noise in signals. This feature can be controlled from the Details view of a
Result Tracker object.
The filtered results are displayed by default in the Graph window after the solve. By setting Display
Filter During Solve to Yes in the Details view of the Solution Information object, the filtered results
can also be displayed in the Worksheet at each refresh interval of the Result Tracker.
To configure the low-pass filter for the sampled data:
Under Filter, set the following controls:
Type: Set to one of the following:
None: (Default) No filtering is applied to the data.
Butterworth: Applies a four-channel low-pass Butterworth filter to the data. Two channels are passed
twice, once in the forward direction and once in the reverse direction, to prevent phase shifts.
Cut Frequency (displayed if Type is set to Butterworth): Set to the desired cut frequency in Hz or MHz
depending on the current unit system. The default is 0, which implies no filtering.
Notes
A time history data is composed of a limited number of frequency signals that bound the range
of meaningful cut frequencies to use for filtering. If the cut frequency is too low, most signals will
be lost. On the other hand, if the cut frequency is too high, the signal may remain unaltered.
In determining a good cut frequency, sampling frequency plays a role. The sampling frequency
can be obtained by dividing the number of samples by the sampling duration. The cut frequency
should not exceed a quarter of this value. For example, if 15,000 samples occur in 0.015 seconds,
the sampling frequency will be 15,000/(0.015 s) = 1,000,000 Hz = 1 MHz. Consequently, the cut
frequency should not exceed 0.25 MHz.
The process of filtering pads the original signal with extrapolated data. This may produce unexpected
shapes in the filtered signal near the margins. The data away from the margins should reflect,
however, the proper trends and slow rate phenomena.
The signal is not filtered at all if it has less than 11 samples.
Under Filter, if Type is set to Butterworth, there are also read only indications for the Minimum
and Maximum values of the filtered data.
2.14.2.5. Force Reaction Result Trackers for Explicit Dynamics

Result trackers that can be scoped to boundary conditions and geometry are available for Explicit Dy-
namics analyses.
The Details view settings are presented as sub-bulleted items under the tracker bullet.
Force Reaction tracker
Location Method Select the scoping method for this tracker. Options are Boundary Condition and
Geometry Selection.
Boundary Condition When Boundary Condition is selected as the Location Method, select the defined
boundary condition that is to be used for scoping. At this time, the boundary conditions that are available
are: Velocity and Displacement.
Geometry When Geometry Selection is selected as the Location Method, select the vertex, edge, face,
or body where the tracker will be located.
Force Component When Geometry Selection is selected as the Location Method, select the Force
Component (Support, Euler/Lagrange Coupling, Contact, All) for which reaction force results will be shown.
Euler/Lagrange Coupling specifies that the tracker show results for the forces exerted by any
material in bodies assigned with an Eulerian reference frame that interact with the scoped region.
These trackers can only be scoped to geometry that has a Lagrangian reference frame. See Explicit
Fluid Structure Interaction (Euler-Lagrange Coupling) (p. 126) for more information about Euler
Lagrange interactions.
Support specifies that the tracker show results for the forces that will be generated due to supports
that are acting on the scoped area.
Contact specifies that the tracker show results for the total force resulting from the contact forces
acting on the scoped area.
All specifies that the tracker show results for the sum of all three components.
Orientation Select X, Y, or Z axis, or Total, which is the resultant force of its X, Y, and Z components.
The Filter option in the Details view is defined in the same manner as any other result tracker (see Viewing
and Filtering Result Tracker Graphs for Explicit Dynamics (p. 69)).
Postprocessing
The reaction force will be shown varying over time in the Graph window, and a table is displayed that
shows the data. The magnitude of the reaction force is calculated by summing the reaction forces on
each of the nodes selected by the scoping. For example, if you have scoped the tracker by Geometry
Selection to a face using the Contact Force Component, the magnitude of the reaction force is the sum
of all reaction forces due to contact at the nodes on the selected face. If you scope by Boundary Condi-
tion, the magnitude will be the sum of all of the reaction forces due to Support on the nodes scoped
to the selected boundary condition.
Note
The Force Reaction trackers are only available for an Explicit Dynamics analysis.
If you right-click a Force Reaction tracker and select Rename Based on Definition, the tracker is
renamed based on its type, the direction it shows results for, and the object it is scoped to. For
example, if a Force Reaction tracker is selected to show results in the Y direction and is scoped
to a Velocity constraint boundary condition named "Velocity Fix", by selecting Name Based on
Definition it will be renamed to "Y Force Reaction at Velocity Fix". See Renaming a Result Tracker
for more information on this renaming behavior.
2.14.3. Review Results

General information about Result can be found in Review Results in the ANSYS Mechanical User's Guide
The following structural result types are available as results of an explicit dynamic analysis:
Deformation
Stress and Strain
Energy (Transient Structural and Rigid Dynamics Analyses)
Stress Tools
Structural Probes - Limited to: Deformation, Strain, Stress, Position, Velocity, Acceleration.
Once a solution is available you can display contour results or animate them to review the response of
the structure through time.
Note
For an Explicit Dynamics analysis, there is no results interpolation between the results sets.
Specifying a time in the GUI will display results for the closest results set.
Eroded nodes (p. 201) can be toggled on or off in the graphics display.
Probes can be used to display the variation in specific results over the saved time points in the analysis.
The frequency at which data is available is defined in the Save Results On option of the analysis set-
tings (p. 33). This data should be specified prior to a solve.
You can use a Solution Information object to track, monitor, or diagnose problems that arise during
a solution.
The display of shells may become distorted if they experience large deformations or rotations. A work-
around for this is to disable Shell Thickness by toggling View>Thick Shells and Beams. Or, set the
Workbench variable UsePseudoShellDisp = 1 through Tools> Variable Manager. It may be necessary
to toggle the deformation scaling from True Scale to Undeformed to True Scale again (see Scaling
Deformed Shape under Context Toolbar). Note that this option requires True Scaling to work properly.
Additional results specific to an Explicit Dynamics analysis are available via user defined results (p. 76).
Workbench LS-DYNA supports the ability to review the results of a simulation using the LS-DYNA solver.
Additionally, results can be viewed with the lsprepost.exe application available at the ANSYS in-
stallation folder under ANSYS Inc\v181\ansys\bin\.
2.14.4. Eroded Nodes in Explicit Dynamics Analyses

During Explicit Dynamics analyses, highly distorted elements may be automatically removed (eroded)
from the model. As elements erode, nodes may become free (not connected to any element). These
nodes have mass and inertia and can impact other structures. By default, eroded nodes are plotted as
red dots (see below).
The View> Eroded Nodes toggle from the Main Menu allows you to remove the eroded nodes from
the display, as shown below.
Postprocessing
2.14.5. Euler Domain in Explicit Dynamics Analyses

In an Explicit Dynamics Analysis, if any bodies have a reference frame set to Eulerian (Virtual), an Euler
domain is created that encloses all bodies in the model. The Euler domain is a structured hexahedral
mesh. The exact size and resolution of the Eulerian domain can be controlled in the Euler Domain
Controls section of the Analysis Settings (p. 33) Details view.
Bodies with a reference frame set to Eulerian (Virtual) are used to initialize material into the Euler domain.
After the initialization of the solve, the mesh associated with such bodies is discarded. The surfaces of
the Eulerian bodies are not tracked exactly; the location of materials in the Euler domain is stored as a
material (volume) fraction for each of the Euler cells. A representation of the material surface can be
displayed as an isosurface for a material fraction value of 50%.
A comparison of Lagrangian (left) and Eulerian (right) representations of the same body is shown below.
Results cannot therefore be displayed on the original mesh applied to the Euler bodies. Instead, a mesh
is reconstructed for each material associated with the original body to which the result object is scoped.
The reconstruction of the mesh is approximate and includes:
Finding the exterior surface of each material in its current location in the Euler domain. This is achieved by
forming an isosurface on the volume fraction of each material in a cell (at 50%).
Filling the interior of the material with cells from the Euler domain that are completely inside the material.
Reconstructing an unstructured mesh for any gaps between the exterior surface and interior cells.
The example below illustrates a typical mesh displayed for a Results object scoped to a Body with Eu-
lerian (Virtual) reference frame:
Postprocessing
When the Show Undeformed Wireframe option is selected for a results object scoped to Euler bodies,
the wireframe of the background Euler domain is displayed. Only the Euler domain cells that contain
material at a given point in time are used to construct the wireframe (cells that only contain void are
not displayed). An example is given below:
If the Euler Tracking By Body option is selected in the Analysis Settings Details view, results may be
scoped to Eulerian bodies in the same way as for Lagrangian bodies, and body trackers are available
for Eulerian parts.
Additional considerations:
Displacement, strain, and BOND_STATUS results are not available for scoped results.
Probes and path plots are not supported for Eulerian bodies.
External Force and Contact Force trackers will return zero for Eulerian bodies.
Point trackers for Strain are not supported.
Deformation scaling (i.e. Undeformed, .5 Auto, AutoScaling, 2x Auto, 5x Auto ) is not available for Eulerian
bodies.
Show undeformed model is not available for Eulerian bodies.
Although it is not possible to view the Eulerian domain directly within the Mechanical application, the size
and resolution of the domain are indicated in the graphics window when Analysis Settings are selected in
the outline view; if required, the model may be transferred to an Autodyn component system where the
Euler mesh can be displayed.
There may be issues with solver efficiency for analyses containing more than ten Eulerian bodies.
When attempting to use the Euler capabilities in the Explicit Dynamics analysis system, the following license
restrictions are observed:
Set-up and solve of Euler capabilities in the Explicit Dynamics system are supported for the full ANSYS
Autodyn (acdi_ad3dfull) license.
Set-up but not solve of Euler capabilities in the Explicit Dynamics system are supported for the pre-post
ANSYS Autodyn (acdi_prepost) license.
Set-up and solve of Euler capabilities in the Explicit Dynamics system are supported for the ANSYS
Mechanical Enterprise licenses.
Further discussion of the Eulerian solver used by Explicit Dynamics analyses, including a description of
the theory, can be found in Key Concepts of Euler (Virtual) Solutions (p. 124).
2.14.6. User Defined Results for Explicit Dynamics Analyses

For general information about User Defined Results, see User Defined Results in the ANSYS Mechanical
User's Guide
Shown here are the User Defined Results that are specific to an Explicit Dynamics analysis. These User
Defined results are not available for analyses using Workbench LS-DYNA.
Variable Description Type

BEAM_LEN Beam length Element
Nodal
BOND_STATUS The number of nodes bonded to the faces on an element Elemental
during the analysis. A value of -1 is shown where all the
bonds for the face have broken.
C_S_AREA Beam cross section area. Element
Nodal
COMPRESS Material compression: Element
Nodal
Compression, = /0 .
CROSS_SECTION Beam cross section number. Elemental
DAMAGE Material Damage: Element
Nodal
0 intact material.
1- fully fractured.
DENSITY Material Density. Element
Nodal
EFF_STN Effective Geometric Strain of a cell. Element
Nodal
EFF_PL_STN Effective Plastic Strain. Note: This is calculated Element
incrementally, unlike the equivalent plastic strain Nodal
(EPPLEQV), which is calculated as an instantaneous value.
ENERGY_DAM Energy resulting from fracture for the Johnson-Holmquist Element
brittle strength model. Nodal
EROSION Erosion Status: Elemental
0 - no erosion.
>0 - eroded (will not be displayed).
Postprocessing

EPS_RATE Effective Plastic Strain Rate. Element
Nodal
F_AXIAL Beam axial force. Element
Nodal
INT_ENERGY Internal energy of the material. Element
Nodal
MASS Mass of material in an element. Element
Nodal
MATERIAL Material index. The material index as defined in the Elemental
Explicit solver. There is not always a direct one-to-one
correlation with materials defined in Engineering Data
and those used in the Explicit solver.
For layered section shells, the MATERIAL for individual

layers can be shown by using the Layer property in
the results details view.
MOM_TOR Beam rotation inertia. Element
Nodal
POROSITY Material Porosity: Elemental
Porosity, = Solid/
PRESSURE Pressure. Element
Nodal
PRES_BULK Dilation pressure for the Johnson-Holmquist brittle Elemental
strength model.
SOUNDSPEED Material soundspeed. Element
Nodal
STATUS Material Status: Elemental
1 elastic.
2 undergoing plastic flow.
3 failed due to effective criteria (with healing).
4 failed due to effective criteria.
5 failed due to stress/strain in principal direction 1.
8 failed due to shear stress/strain in principal

direction 12.

direction 23.

direction 31.
For layered section shells, the STATUS for individual

layers can be shown by selecting the Layer number
in the results details view.
STOCH_FACT Stochastic factor applied when the stochastic property as Elemental
defined in the material failure model.
STRAIN_XX Total strain XX. Element
Nodal
STRAIN_YY Total strain YY. Element
Nodal
STRAIN_ZZ Total strain ZZ. Element
Nodal
STRAIN_XY Total strain XY. These are tensor shear strains, and not Element
engineering shear strains. Nodal
STRAIN_YZ Total strain YZ. These are tensor shear strains, and not Element
STRAIN_ZX Total strain ZX. These are tensor shear strains, and not Element
SUB_STN_X_SHELL_LAYER__# Shell total strain XX, sub-layer #. These are tensor shear Element
strains, and not engineering shear strains. Nodal
SUB_STN_Y_SHELL_LAYER__# Shell total strain YY, sub-layer #. These are tensor shear Element
SUB_STN_Z_SHELL_LAYER__# Shell total strain ZZ, sub-layer #. These are tensor shear Element
SUB_STN_XY_SHELL_LAYER__# Shell total strain XY, sub-layer #. These are tensor shear Element
SUB_STN_YZ_SHELL_LAYER__# Shell total strain YZ, sub-layer #. These are tensor shear Element
SUB_STN_ZX_SHELL_LAYER__# Shell total strain ZX, sub-layer #. These are tensor shear Element
SUBL_EPS_SHELL_LAYER_# Effective plastic strain, sub-layer number. Element
Nodal
TEMPERATURE Material Temperature. Element
Nodal
THICKNESS Shell Thickness. Element
Nodal
TYPE Element category (element number returned): Elemental
HEX: 100-101.
PENTA: 102.
TET: 103-104,106.
Postprocessing

PYRAMID: 105.
QUAD: 107.
TRI: 108.
SHL: 200-202, 204.
BEAM: 203.
VISC_PRES Viscous pressure due to artificial viscosity. No results will Element
display for an Eulerian part. Nodal
VTXX Viscoelastic stress XX. Element
Nodal
VTYY Viscoelastic stress YY. Element
Nodal
VTZZ Viscoelastic stress ZZ. Element
Nodal
VTXY Viscoelastic stress XY. Element
Nodal
VTYZ Viscoelastic stress YZ. Element
Nodal
VTZX Viscoelastic stress ZX. Element
Nodal
For Euler (Virtual) Analyses

The following results are multi-material variables:
EFF_PL_STN
INT_ENERGY
MASS
COMPRESS
DET_INIT_TIME
ALPHA
DAMAGE
TEMPERATURE
For each Eulerian (Virtual) body in the analysis, a separate component will be available, which will allow
the user to plot the result for the particular material associated with that body. The component name
will be derived from the body name. There will also be an ALL component, which will displays results
for all materials. Results for Lagrangian bodies can be viewed by selecting this ALL component. For
a purely Lagrangian analysis, only the ALL component will be available to the user.
For example, an analysis has two Eulerian (Virtual) bodies (Solid, Solid) and a Lagrangian Body (Surface
Body), as shown in the image of the Outline View below.
In the User Defined Result Expression Worksheet, there are three components available for the multi-
material results named SOLID, SOLID_2, and ALL.
Note
It may be necessary to delete and reinsert multi-material results in order to view result for
databases created prior to Release 13.0
For NBS Tetrahedral Elements

The element variables listed below can be used to visualize the variable values at the nodes. The variable
values presented in the element are a volume weighted average of those at the nodes.
TEMPERATURE
SOUNDSPEED
DENSITY
COMPRESS
STRAINS (NORMAL AND SHEAR)
EFF_PL_STN
TIMESTEP
INT_ENERGY
The following variables are available as calculated directly from the solver in the element:
Postprocessing
EFF_STN
Chapter 3: Transforming an Implicit Model to run in Explicit
Dynamics
3.1. When Implicit Models Can be Run in Explicit
Implicit and Explicit finite element solvers use different methods to evaluate the underlying equations.
A simple high level overview is given in the figure below. There is an overlap in the "Quasi-Static" ap-
plication area, where both Implicit and Explicit methods can be used to solve a model. Implicit methods
are typically bounded by the amount of deformation and contact nonlinearity that is taking place, where
Explicit methods are typically bounded by the problem's time scale, which would lead to excessive run
times.
Figure 3.1: Different applications of the two solvers with respect to velocity
Problems that are in this "Quasi-Static" range have a good chance of being solved by either method
until the limitations of a particular solver are reached. At that point, it can be beneficial to consider the
use of the alternative solver.
This chapter describes the steps necessary to transform a model that was initially set up for simulation
in the Implicit solver to a model setup for simulation in the Explicit solver. Typically, you would want
to consider doing this when the degree of nonlinearity in the model is starting to pose problems for
Implicit methods. Because of the nature of the two methods, the explicit solver is more suitable for
nonlinear problems, working with less computationally heavy but a much larger number of iterations
that can follow the physical parameter changes at a much higher frequency. The implicit solver works
with much more complex calculations for each iteration but has a lot fewer of them.
Transforming an Implicit Model to run in Explicit Dynamics
3.2. When to Consider an Explicit Analysis

There are numerous reasons why an implicit methods fails to solve properly. This section tries to give
realistic guidelines for when to switch to an Explicit method.
3.2.1. Incorrect Model Setup
3.2.2. Large Deformations
3.2.3. Large Contact Models
3.2.4. Rigid Body Deformations
3.2.1. Incorrect Model Setup

A model may fail when the Implicit method is used simply due to poor model setup, in which case Ex-
plicit methods will fail also. However, an incorrect model setup may be easier to detect with an Explicit
analysis because the solution progresses with very small timesteps, and results can be visualized during
the solution (by using result trackers (p. 102), or using the Autodyn component system). Once the
problem is identified using the explicit dynamics analysis, it can be corrected and solved using implicit
methods.
The explicit dynamics solver is very useful when working with complex interacting mechanisms and
geometries. The solver can be used to quickly check for fit and how the parts are positioned with respect
to each other at the end of the simulation.
The example model shown in Figure 3.2: Example Model Run with Explicit Dynamics Showing Problem
Area (right) (p. 85) does not converge when run with the Static Structural (Implicit) solver. The output
messages recommend checking for an 'insufficiently constrained model'. The geometry has multiple
angles and edge lengths so the problematic area is not obvious. This is a good example of where explicit
dynamics methods can be used to quickly identify model problems.
The displacement of the interacting bodies is known and final body fit and alignment can be investigated.
The Explicit analysis uses the same geometry and model setup as was used for the Static Structural
analysis and the model is meshed using the Explicit meshing defaults. The endtime is chosen to obtain
a fast solution in order to observe the relative movement of the parts and their final position at the
end of the displacement. As a general guideline the endtime,Tend, should be chosen such that the av-
erage velocity of the parts, uavg, is in the order of 10 m/s during the displacement, d, of the parts:
For this example model, the endtime is set to 1 millisecond.
When to Consider an Explicit Analysis
Figure 3.2: Example Model Run with Explicit Dynamics Showing Problem Area (right)
The Explicit analysis takes about a minute, and the model solves with all options being left to their
defaults. The problematic area is obvious as can be seen above: the left notch of the upper part does
not follow the bottom part geometry. This quickly points to where a change of the geometry is necessary.
3.2.2. Large Deformations

Many models require the simulation of rubber-like highly deformable materials. This is associated with
the use of hyperelastic material models in the setup. The implicit solver makes a strong effort to solve
these models with options like Large Deflection and Nonlinear Adaptivity, which are recommended
when such materials are used. Nevertheless these solutions may not converge.
This would be a suitable situation in which to use explicit dynamics. You do need to specify all the input
for the hyperelastic materials as opposed to the implicit solver, where the density and the incompress-
ibility parameter can have zero values (see Materials (p. 89)), but the Explicit solver will provide a solution
in most cases where the implicit solver cannot. Important things to look out for in the Explicit solver
when using hyperelastic material models are the energy error/hourglassing and excessive mesh element
distortion requiring the use of erosion (p. 98). Models with high nonlinear deformations are also a good
candidate for mass scaling (p. 97). The following example demonstrates how the same setup works
with the two different solvers. Figure 3.3: Comparison between the implicit (left) and the explicit (right)
solvers for maximum deformation values (p. 86) shows the largest displacement achieved by the disc
relative to a hyperelastic material complex part.
Figure 3.3: Comparison between the implicit (left) and the explicit (right) solvers for maximum
deformation values
The implicit solver has trouble converging at around half of the total displacement but the explicit
solver manages to complete the run, simulating the high deformations.
3.2.3. Large Contact Models

Handling a large number of contacts can be problematic for the implicit solver. This is especially the
case when the contact is not bonded but is sliding and moving. The explicit dynamics solver has
standard out-of-the-box automatic contact options (trajectory contact) which work very well. Contact
will be detected in the model automatically at any point without requiring the user to define specific
contact regions. On top of that, the user can specify contacts manually (or generate them automatically)
separate from the trajectory contact, which is done similarly to the Contacts feature in the implicit
solver.
Figure 3.4: Model Setup Showing Contact (left) and Boundary Conditions (right)
The model shown in Figure 3.4: Model Setup Showing Contact (left) and Boundary Conditions
(right) (p. 86) demonstrates this contact issue. The implicit setup has a manually defined frictionless
contact consisting of 40 contact and 38 target faces between the two parts. The explicit dynamics
model simply has the default frictionless trajectory contact enabled. All other boundary conditions are
the same for both analyses: a fixed support and a displacement boundary condition. Both models have
the same mesh type and mesh density (the implicit setup does not make use of midside nodes in order
to achieve maximum similarity in comparison, since the explicit solver cannot use midside nodes). The
implicit model has problems converging while the explicit solve completes without issues. This model
When to Consider an Explicit Analysis
exemplifies the possible problematic contact handling in the implicit solver. The model will converge
when using a denser mesh; however the differences are clear for comparable mesh size (the implicit
solver using midside nodes with the standard mesh size also does not converge). The final stress results
can be seen in Figure 3.5: Final Stress Values Comparison Between the Explicit (left, 3.4E10 Pa) and Im-
plicit (right, 3.7E10 Pa) Solvers (p. 87).
Figure 3.5: Final Stress Values Comparison Between the Explicit (left, 3.4E10 Pa) and Implicit
(right, 3.7E10 Pa) Solvers
3.2.4. Rigid Body Deformations

A common analysis in the quasi-static range is the simulation of physical mechanisms. This means that
rigid body movements are included in the analysis. A common simulation is a rigid or much stiffer body
that snaps over a soft and flexible one. Some examples include: rubber seals for waterproofing, snapping
of softer metal elements to ensure a tight fit or snapping through a notch to prevent backward move-
ment. In these situations the implicit solver can encounter problems modeling the high deformations
right before the snap, or the release of the high deformations after the snap. These problems are inher-
ently unstable for the implicit solver and can be a challenge to solve successfully. Figure 3.6: The Clip
Model Setup in the Implicit Solver with Final Deformation Values (right) (p. 87) shows an example of a
clip snap through model where a metal clip has to pass over a rubber step.
Figure 3.6: The Clip Model Setup in the Implicit Solver with Final Deformation Values (right)
The solution does not converge unless the mesh is much coarser - this means the initial clip to rubber
step contact is missed (without any special settings). Also there is a problem of missed contact between
the clip and the hinge, which you can solve in the implicit solver by applying a cylindrical support. This
same model with the same setup for boundary conditions and less constraints (no cylindrical support
or equivalent), can be successfully solved by the explicit solver, as seen in Figure 3.7: The Clip Model
Setup in Explicit Dynamics with Final Deformation Values (right) (p. 88). The setup uses mostly default
settings apart from a Static Damping value which is added because of the hyperelastic material (see
Damping (p. 99)). The model will run successfully without damping, but due to the nature of the ma-
terials, strong oscillations will be introduced. This means the maximum stress on the clip will spike at
a much larger value than in the damped solution and then gradually converge on a similar final value
when the vibrations decrease.
Figure 3.7: The Clip Model Setup in Explicit Dynamics with Final Deformation Values (right)
3.3. Setting up the Explicit Dynamics Analysis

This section will take you through the steps necessary to perform the implicit analysis using the explicit
solver.
3.3.1. Attaching an Explicit Dynamics System to an Existing Static Structural

System
In general, you should use the Implicit analysis to set up the Explicit Dynamics analysis. When you
identify the need to use the Explicit Dynamics solver, you must attach an Explicit Dynamics system to
the existing Implicit one. You do this in the same way that you would attach systems in any other
Workbench project schematic operation - by drag and drop. You have four choices of what to include
in the component system information transfer (see the following figure).
Figure 3.8: Choices for information sharing between cells of implicit and explicit systems
If you drop the Explicit Dynamics system on the Engineering Data cell, only the material data would be
transferred. This is not what you want to do. Dragging and dropping on the cell Geometry or Model
cell should be used when you want to transfer the model from Implicit to Explicit. Dropping the system
on the Solution cell transfers all of the end results, deformation, and stress from the Implicit solution,
so that should only be done in prestressing cases.
If you drop the system on the Geometry cell, all of the Implicit setup has to be recreated manually for
the Explicit solver. This is the better choice when dealing with very simple models with very few options
Setting up the Explicit Dynamics Analysis
for the mesh, virtual topology, contacts, and boundary conditions. This connects the two systems, but
the model is launched in two separate Mechanical instances, only sharing the material and geometry
data.
If you drop the system on the Model cell, the models are much more connected. They share a single
Mechanical instance and the same meshing and contact options. Due to the large variation in boundary
conditions, they are not transferred automatically.
Note
Changing some options for meshing, materials, or others to make the Explicit analysis work
might interfere with the Implicit solver and make the model not solve properly. These options
are discussed in the next sections. If you want to create an Explicit simulation using the
Model cell transfer, it is recommended that you do this in a duplicate project file.
3.3.2. Materials
There are some material models that are not available for both solvers. Whenever a question mark
symbol is observed next to the Engineering Data cell, it must be properly addressed. By inspecting the
materials, it should be clear where the problem is. For example, it might be a missing density value or
a parameter which has not been set; something which might be required for the Explicit solver but not
for the Implicit one. This is the case with hyperelastic materials using the Mooney-Rivlin material model.
To get a value for the incompressibility parameter, the user must either have the experimental data
and use curve fitting, use a value from another material specification, or just use the rubber model in
the Explicit material database.
Another issue you might encounter is where a parameter that is required for the Explicit simulation can
interfere with the Implicit solution and make it unable to solve. This often occurs since both systems
share the same material data, and can be fixed by using different material assignments (if you are using
the Geometry cell data transfer and have separate Mechanical instances). A problem with unsupported
material model types is usually seen as an error message in the solver.log file or the Solution In-
formation when a solve is attempted.
Another common example of a problem is having tabular data input for a material property in Implicit
with, for example, 12 stress strain pairs. This would trigger an error in the explicit solver, which only
supports 10 or less stress strain pairs. An easy workaround for this would be to take the curve formed
by the 12 points and delete two points, relocating the others so that the curve shape remains the same.
3.3.3. Meshing
Before running the simulation, the meshing has to be thoroughly checked to ensure all requirements
are met. The Explicit and Implicit solvers require different types of meshes. The simplest way to differ-
entiate is to switch the Physics Preference option between Explicit and Mechanical. However, if the
Model cell connection is used, the models are going to make use of the same mesh; this might mean
that when the mesh is made to work with the Explicit solver it might not solve anymore with the Implicit
solver. Generally, with a complex geometry we do not want to use the same mesh for both solvers.
Figure 3.9: Meshing options menu - physics preference
3.3.3.1. Uniform Mesh Works Best

The Implicit solver works well when the areas of interest have much denser meshes. This is not the case
for the Explicit solver. First, the time step (the time increment at which the Explicit solver advances) is
controlled by the smallest mesh element - thus the size of the smallest elements in the interest area
will control the solve for the whole model, increasing the run times. Second, the nature of the Explicit
Dynamics solver is such that it works best with cuboid, evenly distributed mesh elements throughout
the model. Lastly, this element size difference will skew the results much more than with the Implicit
solver, because of the use of each individual element mass, deformation, and velocity for the calculations.
To ensure a good Explicit solve, you need to look at the mesh maximum and minimum element size
in the mesh statistics. The smaller the spread of element sizes, the better.
3.3.3.2. Midside Nodes not Used

The implicit solver can create midside nodes in the elements to aid the accuracy of the solution. This
is not possible with the Explicit solver. If you want to use the same mesh for both solvers, set Element
Order to Linear in the Defaults section of the Mesh settings. If this is not set, the error Higher order
elements detected. Element Order must be Linear for Explicit Dynamics analyses. will be generated.
Figure 3.10: Meshing options menu - Defaults
Note
It is important when there are regions of the geometry which are relatively thin and will encounter
bending, that they are meshed with at least two mesh elements across their thickness to ensure
the Explicit solver models the bending correctly. Because of this, you may want to use shell bodies
where more appropriate; the two elements across recommendation can lead to a very small time
step overall.
3.3.3.3. Hex/Rectangular Mesh Elements most Effective

Even though more complex geometry is quite difficult to mesh with hex elements, they are the most
suitable type for the simulation. If you are familiar with the Implicit solver, you should understand the
various ways to control how the mesher approaches the geometry. The geometry should be swept
meshed wherever possible. Shell bodies should be face meshed to ensure only rectangular elements
are used.
3.3.4. Contact/Connections
The contact options in Explicit Dynamics are very similar to the ones in the Implicit solver. When the
two are connected via the Model cell, all of the options for the contacts are the same as for Implicit
(apart from the addition of the Body Interactions option). Differences in the Contacts tab are only
visible when looking at a standalone explicit dynamics system or a system only sharing material and
geometry data. Unlike with meshing, the Explicit solver can use contacts defined for the Implicit solver
without any problems, although some of the options do not directly affect the Explicit solution.
3.3.4.1. Contacts Tab

In the Explicit Dynamics system, the contact region options lack the Advanced and Geometric Modi-
fication expandable tabs. These tabs offer features which help the Implicit solver deal with actions like
impact and sliding which are easily simulated with the Explicit solver, making the tabs unnecessary.
The scoping mechanism and the contact types are the same for both solvers. When using Bonded
contact with the Explicit solver, one of the most important settings is the Maximum Offset. This should
be set to a value greater than the maximum estimated distance between the scoped geometries expected
during the simulation to allow the contact to function as it should. Setting a very large value will increase
the computational load so a good estimate is preferable.
The Shell Thickness Effect option in Implicit does not affect the Explicit solve and the desired value
should be set to the Shell Thickness Factor in the Body Interactions options. Rather than on or off, the
thickness can be set to a specific portion of the shell - from 0 to 1.
3.3.4.2. Body Interactions Tab

By default, the Body Interactions object is always present for the Explicit Dynamics system. This is an
automated contact detection feature which perfectly suits the nature of the solver. It can be very useful
since Explicit Dynamics mostly models impacts and crashes, where which bodies will be in contact is
usually unknown. There are general options in the main Body Interactions object and different specified
contacts can be added. Contact types include primary types such as Frictionless, Frictional, and Bonded,
but also a specific Explicit Dynamics type, Reinforcement. It is used to model reinforced structures like
steel reinforced concrete columns, for example. The default trajectory contact settings allow you to
understand where the contact points are in the simulation after an initial coarse mesh run and then
refine the contact options and scoping.
Figure 3.11: Body interactions tab under Connections
3.3.5. Boundary Conditions

Even though both solvers model structural problems, the boundary conditions have a number of differ-
ences. Unlike the Explicit dynamic structural solver, the Implicit static structural solver has no real de-
pendency on inertia. That is why the load cases in Implicit are usually 1 second per step, which is an
arbitrary amount. Altering this value does not really have any effect on the solution. The Explicit Dynamics
solver, on the other hand, uses time as its main reference for the calculations since the duration of the
events in an Explicit problem are extremely short, and it is one of the most important aspects of the
solve. When the two systems are connected and use the same Mechanical instance, boundary conditions
can be copied by dragging and dropping from the Implicit to the Explicit system. This is the initial step
in transferring the boundary conditions, but before the Explicit solve, adjustments to the boundary
condition definitions must be made.
3.3.5.1. Adjusting Load Cases for Reasonable Run Times

Unlike the Explicit solver, the Implicit solver has no real dependency on inertia (in the static structural
solver). That is why the load cases in Implicit are usually 1 second per step, which is an arbitrary amount.
Altering this value does not really have any effect on the solution. The Explicit Dynamics solver, on the
other hand, uses time as its main reference for the calculations since the duration of the events in an
Explicit problem are extremely short, and it is one of the most important aspects of the solve (see
Timestep Controls (p. 95)).
As a starting point, a time scale factor of 100 or 1000 should be used; that is, 1 second in the implicit
solver becomes 1E-2 or 1E-3 seconds in the explicit solver. The main thing to monitor are the velocities
in the model. A good velocity to aim for is 5 m/s; it is not too low going into the static setup realm and
it is not too high which would introduce significant inertial effects.
3.3.5.2. Missing Boundary Conditions from Explicit Dynamics

There are a few Mechanical boundary conditions that do not exist in Explicit Dynamics. Some of them
can be simulated by using other boundary conditions. These include cylindrical support, frictionless
support, bolt pretension and others. Refer to the table below for ways to simulate some of the missing
boundary conditions.
Boundary condition Implicit Explicit solver

solver
Frictionless support Available Available/
Simulated by using an equivalent symmetry plane

(rigid behavior) or by creating displacement with fixed
components to provide the desired constraint.
Bolt pretension Available Simulated using a fixed support and displacement
(previously evaluated required deformation) to achieve the
stress values in the bolt.
Cylindrical support Available Simulated using remote displacement to restrict rotation.
Displacement (step Available Simulated using different boundary conditions to give the
applied) same movement - force, velocity etc.
Pressure (tabular variable Available Simulated using the Magnitude - Function setting to create
value) a function giving the same values across the scoped
geometry.
3.3.5.3. Application of Boundary Conditions Using Steps

Boundary conditions in the Implicit solver can be applied through simulation steps. A step can also be
used to suppress a boundary condition. This means a displacement can be applied up to a certain point,
after which the scoped geometry is released and it can deform freely. This behavior is not straightforward
to model using the Explicit solver. If the displacement value is set to 0 this just means that the geometry
will return to its original position. To achieve the same results in an explicit solve, a different boundary
condition has to be applied to model the step-applied displacement. For example, in the explicit solver:
use force to deform a body and then set the force to 0 at a point in the simulation in order to simulate
a step-applied displacement in the implicit solver. This difference in approach stems from the time de-
pendant nature of the explicit solver, which means boundary conditions like velocity or force can be
modeled exactly like their step applied counterparts in the implicit solver but the displacement cannot.
3.3.5.4. Avoiding Conflicting Boundary Conditions

When the scoping of two boundary conditions is done on two intersecting planes, the shared edge can
trigger an error: Could not transfer loads and constraints to the solver and/or
The combination of supports is causing some nodes to be over-constrained.
The Explicit solver will only allow more than one boundary condition to be applied to the same node
if they are not conflicting (for example, two different forces scoped to adjacent faces). The shared edge
will experience the vector sum of the forces. A common example of conflicting boundary conditions
would be a fixed support applied to one plane and displacement on an intersecting plane.
3.3.5.5. Initial Conditions

The Initial Conditions object in the Explicit Dynamics system can be helpful when certain aspects of
the Implicit model cannot be directly recreated. It is a simple initial velocity, angular or directional, that
is scoped to a body and is assigned at the initial cycle. This can be altered freely by different boundary
conditions and events during the solve; its value is not constrained or limited. Another use for Initial
Conditions is adding a pre-stress, usually from an Implicit solve. This is useful when an extensive
complex combined simulation is required, and is not intended for situations where you need to run
the same model setup with the two different solvers.
Figure 3.12: exd_ag_init_conditions.png
3.4. Analysis Settings

The final step before running the Explicit simulation is checking the options in the Analysis Settings.
They are very different compared those used for the Implicit solver, and there are many more options.
Most of them have defaults that work fine for quasi-static models but there are a few important options
to focus on.
3.4.1. Analysis Setting Preference

This setting has various options, but for quasi static simulations the two to use are Quasi Static and
Low Velocity. The default Program Controlled option should be used initially; it automatically detects
the best default options for the simulation settings. Both preference options require an input for the
mass scaling (discussed later) and apply changes to various parts of the setup to suit the velocity mode.
3.4.2. Step Controls

When using the Explicit solver to investigate a problem that was originally solved using the Implicit
solver, you should set up the analysis to take advantage of the features unique to the Explicit solver.
As discussed earlier, the Explicit simulation takes into account the inertial forces and one of its most
important parameters is the solve time (not to be mistaken with the actual run time it takes for the
model to solve). The Explicit simulation can be seen as a chunk of the real time of an event that is
slowed down as if using a high speed camera. The time values that the Explicit solver usually works
with are much smaller than 1 second. For these quasi-static Implicit to Explicit simulations, we are
working with a total time of around one millisecond to 1 second.
3.4.2.1. End Time

As stated earlier, one of the main parameters governing the solution is the time. The End Time defines
the time frame which the solver simulates, starting from zero going up to the End Time value. The End
Time should match the last entry in any of the boundary conditions tabular data time setting. This is
a good place to estimate the maximum velocity in the modelif there are any displacements or de-
formations, dividing the distance covered by the end time gives a good estimate for the initial run. An
end time target would be between 0.001 seconds and 1 second for the quasi-static simulations. Typically
the explicit models are constrained by the end time so the Maximum Number of Cycles should be
left at the default value or set to a very large number (for example, 1E7).
Analysis Settings
Each cycle is a piece of the solution time with the length of the current timestep and it is the constraint
for a single iteration. It has a variable time value depending on the settings and the events during the
solve so it is by no means guaranteed to be consistent. The maximum cycle number is rarely used to
control the solution in explicit dynamics. Its most common use is when you need to do a short solution
to check something in the setup and the Maximum Number of Cycles is set to a very small value
(10,100,1000 etc). Even if we calculate the exact number of cycles we need and we have set a time step
value, it is always better to use the end time to determine when the solve will terminate.
3.4.2.2. Timestep Controls

The timestep is the time increment at which the solve advances, and the solve time between two cal-
culation cycles. The smaller the timestep is and the more complex the calculations per cycle are (dense
mesh, material models etc.) the longer run time the solution will take. Having control over the timestep
is crucial for achieving an effective simulation. There are numerous ways to keep track of and control
the timestep. The governing factor for the timestep value is the smallest mesh element size and its
mass. The timestep is calculated based on sound speed (which depends on density and material prop-
erties) and it needs to have a small enough value to accurately simulate the stress waves traveling
through the body.
The following equation is used to determine the minimum timestep:
where is the timestep safety factor (usually not changed from default value), is the element charac-
teristic dimension (determined by smallest element size) and is the sound speed in the material (de-
pending on density and elasticity).
Figure 3.13: Analysis settings - Step controls
The initial, minimum, and maximum time step values usually should be left as default (Program Con-
trolled), except in a few cases. The Minimum Time Step value is sometimes set to a very small number
to allow the solve to continue to run and not abort with the message: Time step too small. You
would set the Minimum Time Step like this when the time step is expected to become much smaller
than its initial value during the solve due to large deformations or complex contact. When you set the
value, this overrides the minimum time step conditions determined by the solver, based on the initial
setup. This user-defined minimum time step value might lead to a much longer analysis run time.
Another case where user input might be required is when the analysis time step is determined by an
element of a rigid body. A reasonably smaller time step should be used to prevent the simulation going
forward using too large steps and becoming unstable. This can be achieved by a user defined Maximum
Time Step value.
Figure 3.14: Default Solution Information display during solve with the estimated time remaining
highlighted in yellow
Analysis Settings
When you view the Solution Information while the solve is running, the Est. Clock Time Remaining
can be observed. This is an new concept if you've only previously used the Implicit solver. This value
gives an estimate of the remaining time needed to finish the solution. After the initial few cycles, and
providing there are no abnormal deformations and unexpected events in the model during the solve,
this value is quite accurate. It is based upon the time needed to calculate each cycle and the expected
remaining number of cycles.
Usually when dealing with hyperelastic materials with a lot of deformation or other special cases, this
remaining time will get a lot higher once the part of the simulation dealing with the large deformations
is reached. This estimated time is also a good way to judge how changes to the mesh and setup will
affect the solution time. After each change the model can be solved until a certain cycle number then
interrupted, and the estimated time can be compared. This gives a rough estimate since it does not
take into account any possible difficulties which might arise, but it is a useful tool for comparison.
3.4.2.3. Restarting an Analysis

As discussed earlier, the simulation will create a number of restart files that can be used to resume the
solve following an interruption. There are a few things to consider when restarting a simulation. First,
you have to make sure that the run will restart from the correct point. Set the Resume From Cycle
value, which is based on the cycle number rather than simulation time. Another thing to note is that
the boundary conditions cannot be altered before restarting and if, for example, the end time is extended
and the user wants to continue the run, all of boundary conditions will assume they are kept constant
at the last value of the normal solve time (before the time extension). Any change made to the setup
while the solve is interrupted will mean that the restart is no longer possible. You must be careful when
examining the interrupted solve results.
3.4.3. Solution Stability

Although, there are no convergence criteria and stability requirements in the Explicit solver, there are
tools to ensure the user gets a good solution. These mainly control the time step, excessive deformations,
and unwanted oscillations. These tools are discussed in this section.
3.4.3.1. Mass Scaling

The use of mass scaling can be very helpful, especially in these quasi static simulations. It is useful in
cases where we need an area of interest to be more densely meshed, as is commonly seen in the Implicit
solver's mesh. Automatic Mass Scaling increases the mass of the smallest elements which in turn increases
the required time step. Mass scaling is automatically switched on when the Quasi Static or Low Velocity
analysis types are chosen.
When using Mass Scaling, there are several parameters to consider, but the primary one is the Minimum
CFL Time Step. This should be set to the minimum desired value of the time step, but this has to be
based on the standard time step that the model would use without scaling. Usually the mass scaling
is set up after the initial run. This minimum time step is usually within the region of 5-10 times larger
than the normal time step. The larger the increase that's required, the more scaling must be put in.
Sometimes the default maximum scaling values have to be increased to achieve the minimum time
step, but when this is done, emphasis has to be put on ensuring that the mass values are still realistic
and do not interfere with the results. It is recommended that the default maximum scaling values are
not changed.
3.4.3.2. Erosion
Another important tool is erosion. This allows for elements from the mesh to be removed and separated
from the rest of the mesh in certain cases. There are three criteria that can be enabled to cause element
erosionmaximum strain, minimum time step, and material failure. The most commonly used is the
On Geometric Strain Limit erosion. It is used when excessive deformations are expected, and prevents
the solution from stopping because of nodes displaced an abnormal distance away from the rest of the
element or heavy deformation. Once the solve with erosion is completed, you can see where the eroded
elements are and decide how the solution can be improved.
The erosion criteria On Material Failure is commonly used to realistically simulate the failure of mater-
ials based on their definitions. This can be due to stress, strain, shear or any other mode of failure that
is defined in the material data.
The last criterion is the On Minimum Element Time Step erosion. This is a very crude way of controlling
the minimum time step by simply removing the elements which would otherwise yield a smaller com-
putational time step than desired. By default, the Retain Inertia of Eroded Material is set to Yes. This
allows you to examine the erosion process and follow the debris distribution (the defaults are different
for Low Velocity and Quasi Static simulation types). An example of eroded material can be seen in the
following figure.
Figure 3.15: Example of Eroded Material in a Model Simulating a Bullet going Through a Vase
(eroded elements colored red)
Analysis Settings
3.4.3.3. Damping
Sometimes, especially when highly flexible materials are present, constant frequency oscillations can
arise in the Explicit simulation. This can be avoided by the use of Static Damping. A damping value is
calculated by dividing double the time step by the longest period of oscillation in the system. In other
words, this value should be aimed at damping the slowest vibration in the analysis. When you are not
sure of the value that should be used, it is best to start from the smallest damping valude to prevent
overdamping. If the simulation is underdamped there will still be vibration visible, but when the simu-
lation is overdamped it can lead to longer end time requirement and skewing of results. The other
damping controls should be left at their defaults.
3.4.4. Output Controls

The Output Controls section in an Explicit Dynamics system is important for the results visualization
and post processing. There are three types of output controls for saving results, restart points, and
results tracker data. The Result Number of Points controls how the visualization of the chosen solution
tools will look. This determines how many and how frequent the evaluation points will be; these will
later become frames in the post-processing animation. Having a lot of points that are tightly packed
will increase the total solution run time. The Restart Number of Points are useful when the simulated
model goes through complex actions and it is important for you to be able to rerun the simulation
from a certain point. The evaluation points are usually much less dense than the results points and one
restart file is created at the end of the solve, or at a solve interruption. The results trackers save very
specific information from small, localized areas and are important for monitoring places of interest.
Depending on the setup, they can be computationally heavy, so they are usually only used in the initial
runs to aid in setting up the model as desired.
Figure 3.16: exd_ag_settings_output_cntrl.png
The defaults are Equally Spaced Points for the results and the restart files, and saving is based on Cycles
for the result trackers. In general, these defaults are fine for the initial Explicit run. Since the number of
cycles is initially unknown, if any changes are made to the defaults they should generally use the Equally
Spaced Points options which will automatically distribute the points.
3.5. Solution Information

Once the solve has been initiated, there are a number of ways to monitor how well it is performing.
Different data and values can give clues as to which parts of the simulation are going well and which
aren't. You can also see what might be the reason for a slowdown in the simulation.
The main monitoring tool is the Solver Output viewed from the Solution Information object. Solution
output is constantly updated, providing information for each cycle - the cycle number, the simulation
time, the time step (time increment), the progress (in percent) and the estimated run time remaining.
An indication of an issue here would be inconsistency in the estimated time remaining or a decrease
of the time increment. This can be more precisely monitored by viewing the Time Increment graph of
the time step value with respect to simulation time. There are also a number of graphs available under
the Solver Output to help you determine the health of your solve.
Energy error can also indicate problems in the simulation. You can keep track of it with the Energy
Conservation graph (seen in Figure 3.17: Graph of Energy Conservation for an Explicit Simulation (p. 101))
which also shows the total energy and work done in the solve. The default threshold is 10%; any error
above this will terminate the solve. The reference value for the energy is usually the zero cycle. These
values can be altered in the Analysis Settings. Sometimes it is useful to see what is happening in the
simulation even though there is a large energy error. There are two ways this can be achieved - either
increasing the reference cycle so that its value is higher than or equal to the maximum number of
cycles, or increasing the Maximum Energy Error value. This should only be done to observe what is
happening during the solve that gives rise to the error. The results of a simulation completed with high
energy errors should not be considered accurate.
The Momentum Summary graph is also useful for monitoring the dynamics of the simulation, and it
can give some indication of a stability problem. The last monitoring tool is the Energy Summary graph.
High values of hourglass energy here usually indicate problems with the mesh. This graph also shows
the kinetic energy during the solve. The value should be insignificant with respect to the model in the
quasi static simulations to ensure that inertial effects are not altering the results.
Postprocessing
Figure 3.17: Graph of Energy Conservation for an Explicit Simulation
Another way to monitor the solve is through Results Trackers. These update in real time, giving inform-
ation about their values for each cycle, or at whatever frequency is set in the Output Controls (p. 99)
in the Analysis Settings. These trackers have to be defined before the start of a solve, and in order to
suppress or remove them they have to be cleared from the data. They cannot be added at a restart
point or at the end of a solve. The other results tools can only be examined after the solve stops (see
Result Sets (p. 102)). If a live picture of what is happening during the solve is required, the Autodyn
component system can be used. It can refresh the visualization of the solution as often as each cycle
and can show various details about whole bodies like velocity vectors, stresses, other data values, and
more.
When the solve is initiated, the checks done before the first cycle can find problems and produce
warning or error messages. These are usually related to the material models, the boundary conditions
setup, or the restart options. When a General failure error is seen, this usually means there are
possible problems with the licensing or the remote solve manager, but it can also signify other problems.
Errors or warnings can also be seen during or after the solve. The two primary reasons for a terminated
solve are the Energy error exceeded and Time step too small errors. Both of them can
mean a variety of problems - meshing, high deformation, incorrectly applied forces, etc. Usually observing
the results up to that point or using the erosion or error options to bypass the termination should give
an indication of what the problem might be.
3.6. Postprocessing
Evaluating the results is the most crucial point of any simulation. The explicit dynamics solver offers
many tools for efficient post processing. This gives not only quantifiable results but also, through ob-
serving animations and graphs, indication of what went on during the simulation and how well it rep-
resents the real experimental situation.
3.6.1. Result Trackers

As stated in the previous section, the result trackers can be a useful tool for initial evaluation of the
setup. They are usually scoped to strategic locations to give detailed information on the physical para-
meters. The trackers are the most suitable tool to use to evaluate the oscillations and vibrations in a
simulation, and are used for calculating the required damping coefficient. Because of their dense data
points, the graphs created are very smooth and accurate, suitable for even very small amplitude oscil-
lations. Depending on the type, they can be scoped to different geometry entities and evaluate a variety
of parameters. The trackers are also useful for evaluating contact forces and local energy values.
3.6.2. Result Sets

One of the main tools used for post processing are the result sets. They can help you evaluate stress,
strain, deformation, etc. They work in a similar way as in the Implicit simulation, with all of the controls
and settings being the same. All of the scoping, scaling, and contouring options should also be familiar.
Generally, there are a fewer number of result sets and tools than available for the Implicit solver, similarly
to the boundary conditions. The sets can be added before or after the simulation and then evaluated.
Apart from the standard sets of results, you can also include User Defined Result (p. 76) objects. As the
name suggests, this result can be customized to suit your needs, and can use a variety of variables (seen
by clicking the Worksheet button when the Solution tab is highlighted). It can also evaluate expressions
using any of the variables. These results are useful in situations where you want to evaluate something
in a similar way as the results trackers but scoped to whole parts or the whole model. It can also be
used to compare manually calculated values from an equation expression (using the simple variables),
which does not have an equivalent in the standard results.
Animating the results is done using the same tools as the Implicit solver, but because of the nature of
the Explicit solver, this gives much more detailed and valuable information about the solution. It is im-
portant to keep track of the results point density and restart points in order to have an animation which
best represents the solution behavior. The animations are very useful because they are based on the
simulation time, unlike the implicit simulations. This can be helpful to adjust the setup and the
boundary conditions following the initial run. Furthermore, the animation can give an indication of
which parts are oscillating and need damping; you can scope trackers to them to determine the fre-
quency. The graph of a deformation result set can be seen in the following figure.
Postprocessing
Figure 3.18: Deformation Graph (with respect to simulation time) and Results Table
Note
If the Implicit solver has the result scaling setting at anything other than True Scale (default)
this will not be transferred to the Explicit solver results. This may be the reason if you observe
very different deformations at first glance.
3.6.3. Improving your Simulation

There are many parameters you can check to ensure the simulation has achieved the desired output.
Most of them are indicators that something went wrong rather than that something is working as it
should. Start with the stability of the time step, the energy errors, and unexpected erosion. These should
be examined and the reasons behind any unexpected results should be investigated. Using the animations
to determine the eroding areas can show a number of issues either with the mesh, the setup, or the
geometry. Missed contact is also something to watch out for in the animations, especially because the
Explicit solver does not have a specific contact tool like the Implicit simulation. Such problems can be
addressed by increasing the mesh density or examining the overlap of the parts. It is also useful to ex-
amine parts of the model using a section plane. This might give insight to some problems which are
not obvious at first glance.
It is important for these quasi-static simulations that the velocity values in the model are in the range
of 1 to 10 m/s. If they are too low, it means that the Explicit solver might not be modeling the activity
correctly because it is out of range of its normal velocity modes. If they are too high, this means that
higher stresses and strains may have been introduced due to inertial and shock effects. Evaluating the
velocity also gives indication of how close the simulation is to the real, experimental expectations.
Ideally, the solver should simulate the velocities that are desired for the actual mechanism at work. This
is not always possible but it is the target to aim for. Increasing the end time while keeping the same
displacement values, for example, will decrease the velocities in the simulation but will also increase
the run time required.
The solution output includes files that also hold information, though more technical and not as easy
to understand as the details in the graphical interface. One example is the .prt file which gives extensive
information about the setup and the solve, including which operations took more CPU time, the energy
and momentum balance, and errors. After careful examination of the results, you can start working on
model improvements. Optimization may include: stabilization (damping), modifying the mesh to give
more consistent results, modifying displacement boundary conditions, adding or removing constraints,
and so on. The Explicit solver has extensive capabilities for postprocessing, allowing you to get the in-
formation you need for making necessary adjustments.
Chapter 4: Applying Pre-Stress Effects for Explicit Analysis
Because an Explicit Dynamics analysis is better suited for short duration events, preceding it with an
Implicit analysis may produce a more efficient simulation, especially for cases in which a generally slower
(or rate-independent) phenomenon is followed by a much faster event, such as the collision of a pres-
surized container. To produce this combination, you can define pre-stress as an initial condition in an
Explicit Dynamics system, specifying the transfer of either displacements only or the more complete
Material State (displacements, velocities, stresses, and strains), from a static or transient structural ana-
lysis to an Explicit Dynamics analysis.
Characteristics of the Implicit to Explicit pre-stress feature:
Applicable to 3-D analyses only.
The Material State mode, for mapping stresses, plastic strains, displacements, and velocities is valid for solid
models only.
The displacements only mode is valid for solid, shell, and beam models.
The same mesh is required for both Implicit and Explicit analyses and only low order elements are allowed.
If high order elements are used, the solve will be blocked and an error message will be issued.
For a nonlinear Implicit analysis, the Strain Details view property in the Output Controls category under
the Analysis Settings object must be set to Yes because plastic strains are needed for the correct results.
4.1. Recommended Guidelines for Pre-Stress Explicit Dynamics

The following guidelines are recommended when using pre-stress with an Explicit Dynamics analysis:
Lower order elements must be used in the static or transient structural analysis used to pre-stress the Explicit
Dynamics analysis. To do so, set the Mesh object property, Element Order (Defaults category), to Linear.
On the Brick Integration Scheme of all relevant bodies, use the Reduced option, to provide the most
consistent results between the Static Structural or Transient Structural system and the Explicit Dynamics
system. Such a selection amounts to a single integration point per lower order solid element.
For models containing Line or Surface bodies, the data transfer is limited to displacements only.
In this mode, under Analysis Settings, the Static Damping option (under Damping) should be used
to remove any dynamic oscillations in the stress state due to the imposed static displacements.
The temperature state is also transferred to the Explicit Dynamics analysis. The Unit System is taken care of
automatically, and Internal Energy due to difference in temperature will be added to each element based
on:
Einternal = Einternal + Cp(T-Tref)
Where:
Applying Pre-Stress Effects for Explicit Analysis
Cp = specific heat coefficient
Tref = room temperature
Note that stresses may still dissipate because the thermal expansion coefficient is not taken into ac-
count in the Explicit Dynamics analysis.
Example - Drop Test on Pressurized Container:
Pre-stress condition:
Transient stress distribution during drop test:
Pre-Stress Object Properties
4.2. Pre-Stress Object Properties

Mode
Displacement
Node-based displacements from a static analysis are used to initialize the Explicit node positions. These
displacements are converted to constant node-based velocities and applied for a pre-defined time in
order to obtain the required displaced coordinates. During this times, element stresses and strains are
calculated as normal by the Explicit solver. Once the displaced node positions are achieved, all node-
based velocities are set to 0 and the solution is completely initialized. This option is applicable to un-
structured solids (hexahedral and tetrahedral), shells, and beams.
Time Step Factor

The initial time step from the explicit solution is multiplied by the time step factor. The resulting
time is used with the nodal displacements from the ANSYS Mechanical analysis to calculate constant
nodal velocities. These nodal velocities are applied to theExplicit model over the resulting time in
order to initialize the Explicit nodes to the correct positions.
Material State
Node-based displacements, element stresses and strains, and plastic strains and velocities from an
Implicit solution are used to initialize an Explicit analysis at cycle 0. This option is applicable to results
from a linear static structural, nonlinear static structural, or transient dynamic Mechanical system. The
ANSYS solution may be preceded with a steady-state thermal solution in order to introduce temperature
differences into the solution. In this case, the accompanying thermal stresses due to the thermal ex-
pansion coefficient will be transferred but may dissipate since the thermal expansion coefficient is not
considered in an Explicit analysis. This option is only applicable to unstructured solid elements (hexa-
hedral and tetrahedral).
Pressure Initialization
From Deformed State

The pressure for an element is calculated from its compression, which is determined by the
initial displacement of the element's nodes. This is the default option and should be used for
almost all Implicit-Explicit analyses.
From Stress State

The pressure for an element is calculated from the direct stresses imported from the implicit
solution. This option is only available for materials with a linear equation of state. If the pressure
Applying Pre-Stress Effects for Explicit Analysis
for an element is already initialized, this calculation will be ignored. This is for a pre-stress
analysis from an Implicit solution that has been initialized from an INISTATE command and
has an .rst file with all degrees of freedom fixed.
Time
The time at which results are extracted from the Implicit analysis.
Chapter 5: Using Explicit Dynamics to Define Initial Conditions for
Implicit Analyses
5.1. Transfering Explicit Results to MAPDL
It is possible to initialize a Mechanical APDL implicit analysis from the results of an Explicit Dynamics
analysis by using features of the Mechanical APDL command language. You can obtain results from the
Explicit analysis by using an Explicit Dynamics Workbench system followed by a Design Assessment
system that uses a python script to extract the results and write the additional Mechanical APDL com-
mands to a file. A Commands object can be added to the Transient or Static Structural system to include
the execution of the Mechanical APDL commands from the file. A full description of the process follows,
and an example has been detailed in the Design Assessment documentation.
Note
This method is currently limited to cases where there is no change in mesh topology between
the start of both the Explicit and Implicit analyses.
Follows these steps to perform the Explicit-to-Implicit analysis:
1. Add an Explicit Dynamics analysis to the Workbench Project Schematic.
2. Add a Design Assessment system to the Explicit Dynamics system in the Project Schematic. You will create
an XML Definition File for the Design Assessment system that specifies a python script to be run on solve.
Set your Design Assessment type to be User Defined, and choose the XML Definition File that you created.
3. Create the python script to write to a file the necessary Mechanical APDL commands to initialize the implicit
model. The script should:
a. Get nodal deformations, stresses, and plastic strains from the end of the Explicit Dynamics analysis using
the Design Assessment API.
b. Write the Mechanical APDL commands:
Using Explicit Dynamics to Define Initial Conditions for Implicit Analyses
i. Enter the preprocessor.
Command(s): /PREP7
ii. Get initial nodal locations from the Implicit analysis.
Command(s): *GET, and so on
iii. Redefine Implicit elements to the deformed configuration by adding values from steps 3(a) and
3(b)(ii).
Command(s): N, and so on
iv. Specify reduced element integration if using solid elements. Workbench automatically converts
explicit elements to Implicit elements. However, due to Explicit elements having only one integration
point per element, it is necessary to specify this manually for the Implicit elements in order that
results can be transferred between the two analyses.
Note
Explicit uses SHELL163 for shells and SOLID164 for solids. These get automatically
converted to SHELL181 and SOLID185 respectively.
Command(s): ET, 1, 185, , 1 and so on
v. Reenter the solution processor.
Command(s): /SOLU
vi. Set any necessary constraints on the model by modifying or adding to the boundary conditions
defined during the Explicit analysis (for example, in a metal forming analysis, you need to constrain
the blank).
Command(s): D, and so on
vii. Import stresses from the Explicit Dynamics analysis. For solids, this will be one set of values per
element. For shells, this will be one set of values for every layer within each element.
Command(s): INISTATE, SET, DTYPE, STRESS
Command(s): INISTATE, DEFINE, and so on
viii.Import plastic strains and accumulated equivalent plastic strain from Explicit Dynamics analysis
Command(s): INISTATE, SET, DTYPE, EPPL
Command(s): INISTATE, SET, DTYPE, PLEQ
ix. Solve analysis.
Command(s): SOLVE
Transfering Explicit Results to MAPDL
4. Add an Implicit system, either Static Structural or Transient Structural. In this system include the file that
was created with the Design Assessment script by adding a Commands object that reads in the file that
was created by the python script.
Command(s): /INPUT, and so on
5. When post processing, view results by issuing Mechanical APDL commands in order to view results with
the initial deformed mesh. When post processing in the standard Workbench view, results will appear to
deform in the opposite direction to the Explicit Dynamics analysis because it has not taken into account
the redefined deformed mesh. To create graphic files showing the correctly deformed mesh, add a new
Commands object under the Solution branch of the Implicit analysis.
Command(s): /SHOW, PNG
Command(s): PLNSOL, and so on
6. When using shell elements, another step must be included in order to view the results. Shells only accept
INISTATE in the element coordinate system, and so when the stresses are initialized they are not in the
global coordinate system. Therefore, in order to view the results correctly, you must first change the solution
to plot the results in the solution coordinate system.
Command(s): /VIEW, , , -1
Command(s): /SHOW, PNG
Command(s): PLNSOL, and so on
Chapter 6: Explicit Dynamics Theory Guide
This chapter describes the theoretical basis of the Explicit Dynamics system available in Workbench.
The following topics are covered in this chapter:
6.1. Why use Explicit Dynamics?
6.2. What is Explicit Dynamics?
6.4. Model Size Limitations in Explicit Dynamics
6.5. References
6.1. Why use Explicit Dynamics?

The Explicit Dynamics system is designed to enable you to simulate nonlinear structural mechanics
applications involving one or more of the following:
Impact from low [1m/s] to very high velocity [5000m/s]
Stress wave propagation
High frequency dynamic response
Large deformations and geometric nonlinearities
Complex contact conditions
Complex material behavior including material damage and failure
Nonlinear structural response including buckling and snapthrough
Failure of bonds/welds/fasteners
Shock wave propagation through solids and liquids
Rigid and flexible bodies
Explicit Dynamics is most suited to events which take place over short periods of time, a few milliseconds
or less. Events which last more than 1 second can be modeled; however, long run times can be expected.
Techniques such as mass scaling and dynamic relaxation are available to improve the efficiency of
simulations with long durations.
6.2. What is Explicit Dynamics?

An overview of the solution methodology used in an Explicit Dynamics simulation is provided in this
section.
6.2.1.The Solution Strategy
6.2.2. Basic Formulations
6.2.3.Time Integration
6.2.4. Wave Propagation
Explicit Dynamics Theory Guide
6.2.5. Reference Frame

6.2.6. Explicit Fluid Structure Interaction (Euler-Lagrange Coupling)
6.2.1. The Solution Strategy

In an Explicit Dynamics solution, we start with a discretized domain (mesh) with assigned material
properties, loads, constraints and initial conditions. This initial state, when integrated in time, will produce
motion at the node points in the mesh.
The motion of the node points produces deformation in the elements of the mesh
The deformation results in a change in volume (hence density) of the material in each element
The rate of deformation is used to derive material strain rates using various element formulations
Constitutive laws take the material strain rates and derive resultant material stresses
The material stresses are transformed back into nodal forces using various element formulations
External nodal forces are computed from boundary conditions, loads and contact (body interaction)
The nodal forces are divided by nodal mass to produce nodal accelerations
The accelerations are integrated Explicitly in time to produce new nodal velocities
The nodal velocities are integrated Explicitly in time to produce new nodal positions
The solution process (Cycle) is repeated until a user defined time is reached
6.2.2. Basic Formulations

An introduction to the basic equations which are solved in Explicit Dynamics is provided in this section.
What is Explicit Dynamics?
6.2.2.1. Implicit Transient Dynamics

6.2.2.2. Explicit Transient Dynamics
6.2.2.1. Implicit Transient Dynamics

The basic equation of motion solved by an implicit transient dynamic analysis is
(6.1)
Where:
m = mass matrix
c = damping matrix
k = stiffness matrix
F(t) = load vector
At any given time, t, these equations can be thought of as a set of "static" equilibrium equations that
also take into account inertia forces and damping forces. The Newmark time integration method (or an
improved method called HHT) is used to solve these equations at discrete time points. The time increment
between successive time points is called the integration time step.
6.2.2.2. Explicit Transient Dynamics

The partial differential equations to be solved in an Explicit Dynamics analysis express the conservation
of mass, momentum, and energy in Lagrangian coordinates. These, together with a material model and
a set of initial and boundary conditions, define the complete solution of the problem.
For the Lagrangian formulations currently available in the Explicit Dynamics system, the mesh moves
and distorts with the material it models and conservation of mass is automatically satisfied. The density
at any time can be determined from the current volume of the zone and its initial mass
(6.2)
The partial differential equations that express the conservation of momentum relate the acceleration
to the stress tensor ij .
(6.3)
Conservation of energy is expressed via:

(6.4)
These equations are solved explicitly for each element in the model, based on input values at the end
of the previous time step. Small time increments are used to ensure stability and accuracy of the solution.
Note that in Explicit Dynamics we do not seek any form of equilibrium; we simply take results from the
previous time point to predict results at the next time point. There is no requirement for iteration.
In a well-posed Explicit Dynamics simulation, mass, momentum, and energy should be conserved. Only
mass and momentum conservation is enforced. Energy is accumulated over time and conservation is
monitored during the solution. Feedback on the quality of the solution is provided via summaries of
momentum and energy conservation (as opposed to convergent tolerances in implicit transient dynamics).
6.2.3. Time Integration

In this section, the Explicit Dynamics time integration scheme is described and compared with an implicit
formulation.
6.2.3.1. Implicit Time Integration
6.2.3.2. Explicit Time Integration
6.2.3.1. Implicit Time Integration

For implicit time integration, ANSYS solves the transient dynamic equilibrium equation using the Newmark
approximation (or an improved method known as HHT). For more information, see Transient Analysis.
For linear problems, the implicit time integration is unconditionally stable for certain integration para-
meters. The time step size will vary to satisfy accuracy requirements.
For nonlinear problems:
The solution is obtained using a series of linear approximations (Newton-Raphson method), so each time
step may have many equilibrium iterations.
The solution requires inversion of the nonlinear dynamic equivalent stiffness matrix.
Small, iterative time steps may be required to achieve convergence.
Convergence tools are provided, but convergence is not guaranteed for highly nonlinear problems.
6.2.3.2. Explicit Time Integration

The Explicit Dynamic solver uses a central difference time integration scheme (often referred to as the
Leapfrog method).
After forces have been computed at the nodes of the mesh (resulting from internal stress, contact, or
boundary conditions), the nodal accelerations are derived by equating acceleration to force divided by
mass.
Therefore the accelerations are

(6.5)
Where:
are the components of nodal acceleration (i=1,2,3)
are the forces acting on the nodal points
are the components of body acceleration
m is the mass attributed to the node.
With the accelerations at time n determined, the velocities at time are found from
(6.6)
and finally the positions are updated to time n+1 by integrating the velocities
(6.7)
The advantages of using this method for time integration for nonlinear problems are:
The equations become uncoupled and can be solved directly (explicitly). There is no requirement for iteration
during time integration.
No convergence checks are needed because the equations are uncoupled.
No inversion of the stiffness matrix is required. All nonlinearities (including contact) are included in the in-
ternal force vector.
To ensure stability and accuracy of the solution, the size of the timestep used in Explicit time integration
is limited by the CFL (Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy [1]) condition. This condition implies that the timestep
be limited such that a disturbance (stress wave) cannot travel farther than the smallest characteristic
element dimension in the mesh, in a single timestep. Thus the timestep criteria for solution stability is
(6.8)
Where
t is the time increment
f is the stability timestep factor (= 0.9 by default)
h is the characteristic dimension of an element
c is the local material soundspeed in an element
The element characteristic dimension, h is calculated as follows:
Table 6.1: Characteristic Element Dimensions
Hexahedral/Pentahedral The volume of the element divided by the square of the longest diagonal
of the zone and scaled by
Tetrahedral The minimum distance of any element node to its opposing element face
Quad Shell The square root of the shell area
Tri Shell The minimum distance of any element node to its opposing element edge
Beam The length of the element
The time steps used in Explicit time integration will generally be smaller than those used in Implicit
time integration.
For example, for a mesh with a characteristic dimension of 1mm and a material soundspeed of 5000m/s.
The resulting stability time step would be 0.18 seconds. To solve this simulation to a termination time
of 0.1 seconds will require 555,556 time increments.
Note
The minimum value of h/c for all elements in the model is used to calculate the time step
that will be used for all elements in the model. This implies that the number of time incre-
ments required to solve the simulation is dictated by the smallest element in the model.
Care should therefore be taken when generating meshes for Explicit Dynamics simulations
to ensure that one or two very small elements do not control the timestep. The patch-inde-
pendent meshing methods available in Workbench will generally produce a more uniform
mesh with a higher timestep than patch-dependent meshing methods.

The maximum timestep that can be used in Explicit time integration is inversely proportional to the
soundspeed of the material, hence directionally proportional to the square root of the mass of material
in an element
(6.9)
Where
Cii is the material stiffness (i=1,2,3)
is the material density
m is the material mass
V is the element volume
By artificially increasing the mass of an element, one can increase the maximum allowable stability
timestep, and reduce the number of time increments required to complete a solution. When mass
scaling is applied in an Explicit Dynamics system, it is applied only to those elements which have a
stability timestep less than a specified value. If the model contains a relatively small number of small
elements, this can be a useful mechanism for reducing the number of time steps required to complete
an Explicit simulation.
Note
Mass scaling changes the inertial properties of the portions of the mesh to which scaling is
applied. The user is responsible for ensuring that the model remains representative for the
physical problem being solved.
6.2.4. Wave Propagation

The Explicit Dynamics systems are particularly well suited to capturing various types of wave propagation
phenomena in solid and liquid materials.
6.2.4.1. Elastic Waves
6.2.4.2. Plastic Waves
6.2.4.3. Shock Waves
6.2.4.1. Elastic Waves

Different types of elastic waves can propagate in solids depending on how the motion of points in the
solid material is related to the direction of propagation of the waves (Meyers [2]). The primary elastic
wave is usually referred to as the longitudinal wave. Under uniaxial stress conditions (i.e. an elastic wave
traveling down a long slender rod), the wave propagation speed is given by
(6.10)
For the more general three-dimensional case, the additional components of stress lead to the more
general expression for the primary longitudinal elastic wave speed
(6.11)
The secondary elastic wave is usually referred to as the distortional/shear wave and its propagation
speed can be calculated as
(6.12)
Other forms of elastic waves include surface (Rayleigh) waves, Interfacial waves and bending (or flexural)
waves in bars/plates. Further details are provided by Meyers [2].
6.2.4.2. Plastic Waves

Plastic (inelastic) deformation takes place in a ductile metal when the stress in the material exceeds the
elastic limit. Under dynamic loading conditions the resulting wave propagation can be decomposed
into elastic and plastic regions (Meyers [2]). Under uniaxial strain conditions, the elastic portion of the
wave travels at the primary longitudinal wave speed whilst the plastic wave front travels at a local ve-
locity
(6.13)
For an elastic perfectly plastic material, it can be shown [3] that the plastic wave travels at a slower
velocity than the primary elastic wave
(6.14)
6.2.4.3. Shock Waves

Typical stress strain curves for a ductile metal under uniaxial stress and uniaxial strain conditions are
given below.
Table 6.2: Typical stress strain curves for a ductile metal
a) Uniaxial b) Uniaxial
stress strain
Under uniaxial stress conditions, the tangent modulus of the stress strain curve decreases with strain.
The plastic wave speed therefore decreases as the applied jump in stress associated with the stress
wave increases shock waves are unlikely to form under these conditions.
Under uniaxial strain conditions the plastic modulus (AB) increases with the magnitude of the applied
jump in stress. If the stress jump associated with the wave is greater than the gradient (OZ), the plastic
wave will travel at a higher speed than the elastic wave. Since the plastic deformation must be preceded
by the elastic deformation, the elastic and plastic waves coalesce and propagate as a single plastic
shock wave.
A shock wave can be considered to be a discontinuity in material state (density(), energy(e), stress(),
particle velocity(u)) which propagates through a medium at a velocity equal to the shock velocity (Us
).
Figure 6.1: Conditions at a Moving Shock Front
Relationships between the material state across a shock discontinuity can be derived using the principals
of conservation of mass, momentum and energy. The resulting Hugoniot equations are given by
(6.15)
(6.16)
(6.17)
6.2.5. Reference Frame

You can define the reference frame for bodies in an explicit dynamics analysis to be either Lagrangian
or Eulerian. The following sections describe the two reference frames and how their use affects the
analysis.
6.2.5.1. Lagrangian and Eulerian Reference Frames
6.2.5.2. Eulerian (Virtual) Reference Frame in Explicit Dynamics
6.2.5.3. Key Concepts of Euler (Virtual) Solutions
6.2.5.1. Lagrangian and Eulerian Reference Frames

By default, all bodies in an Explicit Dynamics analysis system are discretized and solved in a Lagrangian
reference frame: The material associated with each body is discretized in the form of a body-fitted mesh.
Each element of the mesh is used to represent a volume of material. The same amount of material mass
remains associated with each element throughout the simulation. The mesh deforms with the material
deformation. Solving using a Lagrangian reference frame is the most efficient and accurate method to
use for the majority of structural models. However, in simulations where the material undergoes extreme
deformations, such as in a fluid or gas flowing around an obstacle, the elements will become highly
distorted as the deformation of the material increases. Eventually the elements may become so distorted
that the elements become inverted (negative volumes) and the simulation cannot proceed without re-
sorting to numerical erosion of highly distorted elements.
In an Eulerian reference frame, the grid remains stationary throughout the simulation. Material flows
through the mesh. The mesh does not therefore suffer from distortion problems and large deformations
of the material can be represented. If the material you are going to model is likely to experience very
large deformations, using an Eulerian reference frame is therefore preferable.
Solving using an Eulerian reference frame is generally computationally more expensive than using a
Lagrangian reference frame. The additional cost comes from the need to transport material from one
cell to the next and also to track in which cells each material exists. Each cell in the grid can contain
one or more materials (to a maximum of 5 in the Explicit Dynamics system). The location and interface
of each material is tracked only approximately (to first order accuracy).
The representative example below shows a block of material impacting a rigid wall. First the block is
represented in the Lagrangian reference frame. During the impact process the nodes of the mesh follow
the deformation of the material. The same problem can be modelled in an Eulerian reference frame;
here the nodes of the mesh are fixed in space, they do not move. Instead the material is tracked as it
moves through the mesh.
Solid, Liquid and Gaseous materials can be used with an Eulerian (Virtual) reference frame in the Explicit
Dynamics system. Because of the computational cost and approximate tracking of material interfaces,
the Eulerian reference frame should be used only when very large deformation or flow of the material
is expected.
6.2.5.2. Eulerian (Virtual) Reference Frame in Explicit Dynamics

Switching the reference frame of a solid body in Explicit Dynamics systems from Lagrangian to Eulerian
will result in that body being mapped into an Eulerian background grid at solve time and the material
associated with the body will be solved in an Eulerian reference frame.
If one or more solid bodies have a reference frame set to Eulerian (Virtual), the following process is used
on initialization to map the Euler bodies to a background Eulerian domain:
Virtual Euler Domain

A background Eulerian (Virtual) domain is automatically generated to enclose all bodies in the model. By
default, the domain size is set to 1.2 times the size of the bounding box of all bodies in the model. The
domain is always aligned with the global Cartesian X, Y, and Z axes. Additional options to control the size
of the domain are provided in the Analysis Settings.
The background Euler domain is discretized with a mesh of uniform cell size. The cell size is defined
to give approximately 500,000 cells in total. Additional options to control the cell size are provided
in the Analysis Settings. The entire Euler domain is initialized as void; the cells contain no material.
Mapping of bodies with Euler reference frame to virtual Euler domain

The standard mesh generated on bodies marked with Eulerian (Virtual) reference frame is only used to
represent the geometry of the body during initialization of the model for the solver. The material and initial
conditions defined on bodies marked as Eulerian reference frame are mapped to the Euler domain. The
mesh associated with the original body is then deleted, prior to the solve. A unique material is created for
each body that is mapped into the Euler domain for the purposes of post processing
If multiple bodies marked as Eulerian (Virtual) overlap, the body higher in the Outline view will take
precedence. Therefore, the material assigned to the region of overlap will correspond to that assigned
to the first Eulerian body.
The exterior faces of the Euler domain can each have one of three types of boundary condition
applied. The type of boundary condition for each face is controlled in the Analysis Settings (p. 33):
Flow-out (Default)
This condition will allow any material reaching the boundary of the Euler domain to flow out of the
domain at constant velocity.
Rigid Wall
This condition makes the external boundaries of the domain act as a rigid wall.
Impedance
This condition acts the same as a Flow-out condition and allows any material reaching the boundary of
the Euler domain to flow out of the domain at constant velocity.
6.2.5.3. Key Concepts of Euler (Virtual) Solutions

The conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy are solved on a block structured background
mesh using a 2nd order accurate multi-material Godunov numerical scheme[17] with the second order
upwind method by Van Leer [19, 20]. The computational cycle for bodies represented in an Eulerian
reference frame is outlined below:
In comparison to a traditional Lagrangian numerical scheme, note the points in the following sections.
6.2.5.3.1. Multiple Material Stress States
6.2.5.3.2. Multiple Material Transport
6.2.5.3.3. Supported Material Properties
6.2.5.3.4. Known Limitations of Euler Solutions
6.2.5.3.1. Multiple Material Stress States

During the simulation, material can flow from one cell to another. At some stage in the computation
a given cell is likely to contain more than one material. Note that void (free space) is also considered
as a material in this sense; a cell containing one material and void is typical at any free surface of the
material. In the example below we can see two solid materials (green and yellow) and free surfaces
(white, void material) represented in an Eulerian reference frame.
A volume of fluid (VOF) method is used track the amount of material in each cell. Each material has a
volume fraction and the sum of the volume fraction of each material, plus the volume fraction of void,
will equate to unity.
(6.18)
Nearly all isotropic material properties can be used in an Eulerian reference frame to represent solids,
liquids or gases. Special treatment is required to allow calculation of the strain rates, pressure and
stresses in each material in a cell, and also to calculate a resultant stress tensor which is then used to
calculate cell face impulses, momentum and mass transport. Two algorithms are used for this purpose:
1. A cell containing two different gases; here we use an iterative procedure to establish an Equilibrium state
(a density and energy of each gas which results in a uniform pressure across both gases).
2. A cell containing two or more non-gaseous materials; here we use a stiffness weighted averaging technique
to distribute strain rates and establish the resultant pressure and deviatoric stress in each cell.
The choice of the above algorithms is automatic and local to each cell in the model.
Important
At any point in time during the solution, only the volume fraction of each material in each
cell is recorded and stored. The location of the material within the cell is not known. During
post-processing of the model you will see an outline of the material displayed, this outline
is an approximation derived from the volume fraction distribution in the cells. It is only ac-
curate to within one cell dimension.
6.2.5.3.2. Multiple Material Transport

To move the solution through the mesh from one timestep to another, material must be transported
across cell faces. If a cell contains only one material then we have a trivial solution and a volume fraction
of that material will be transported across the face. If however we have multiple materials in a cell we
need to employ an algorithm to decide which materials to transport and how much of each material
to transport across each cell face. We are using the SLIC (Single Line Interface Construction) method
[18] to calculate the order and quantity of material to transport across a cell face. This method takes
information from both the upstream and downstream cells to make decisions on material transport.
6.2.5.3.3. Supported Material Properties

The supported material properties are Density, Specific Heat, Isotropic Elasticity, Bilinear Isotropic
Hardening, Multilinear Isotropic Hardening, Johnson Cook Strength, Cowper Symonds Strength, Steinberg
Guinan Strength, Zerilli Armstrong Strength, Drucker-Prager Strength Linear, Drucker-Prager Strength
Stassi, Drucker-Prager Strength Piecewise, Johnson-Holmquist Strength Continuous, Johnson-Holmquist
Strength Segmented, RHT Concrete, MO Granular, Ideal Gas EOS, Bulk Modulus, Shear Modulus, Polyno-
mial EOS, Shock EOS Linear, Shock EOS Bilinear, Explosive JWL, Explosive JWL Miller, Compaction EOS
Linear, Compaction EOS Non-Linear, P-alpha EOS, Plastic Strain Failure, Tensile Pressure Failure, Johnson
Cook Failure, Grady Spall Failure.
6.2.5.3.4. Known Limitations of Euler Solutions

Sometimes the multimaterial Euler solver exhibits so called checkerboarding where the face values of
Euler elements are correct, but the Euler element values (for example, pressure) are switching between
positive and negative values from element to element. This can be seen when the smoothing of the
contour values is switched offthe plot will show a checkerboard pattern. This introduces incorrect
pressure (and other) values which will, for example, result in wrong coupling forces on a Lagrangian
flexible or rigid body.
The magnitude of the effect of this limitation on the solution may be large and easy to observe: for
example, when the flow or distortion of the material in Euler shows overall incorrect behavior. Or it
may be small and difficult to recognize: for example, in cases where the pressure switches locally, but
the overall average pressure is still correct.
Common solutions for this problem are:
A refinement of the mesh, with possibly some grading (smaller elements near the area of interest) to reduce
runtimes
Reduction of the timestep safety factor to, for example, 0.333
6.2.6. Explicit Fluid Structure Interaction (Euler-Lagrange Coupling)

In the Explicit Dynamics system, solid bodies can be assigned either a Lagrangian reference frame or
an Eulerian (Virtual) reference frame. The reference frames can be combined in the simulation to allow
the best solution technique to be applied to each type of material being modelled. During the simulation,
bodies represented in the two reference frames will automatically interact with each other. For example,
if one body is filled with steel using a Lagrangian reference frame, and another body filled with water
using an Eulerian reference frame, the two bodies will automatically interact with each other if they
come into contact. The interaction between Eulerian and Lagrangian bodies provides a capability for
tightly coupled two way fluid structure interaction in the Explicit Dynamics system.
In the simple example below, a body with Lagrangian reference frame (grey) is moving from left to
right over a body with Eulerian reference frame. As the body moves, it acts as a moving boundary in
the Euler domain by progressively covering volumes and faces in the Euler cells. This induces flow of
material in the Euler Domain. At the same time, a stress field will develop in the Euler domain which
results in external forces being applied on the moving Lagrangian body. These forces will feedback into
the motion and deformation (and stress) of the Lagrangian body.
In more detail, the Lagrangian body covers regions of the Euler domain. The intersection between the
Lagrangian and Eulerian bodies results in an updated control volume on which the conservation
equation of mass, momentum and energy are solved.
At the same time, the normal stress in the intersected Euler cell will act on the intersected area of the
Lagrangian surface.
This provides a two-way closely coupled fluid-structure (or more generally Eulerian-Lagrangian) interac-
tion. During a simulation, the Lagrangian structure can move and deform. Large deformations may also
result in erosion of the elements from the Lagrangian body. The coupling interfaces are automatically
updated in such cases.
For accurate results when coupling Lagrangian and Eulerian bodies in Explicit Dynamics it is necessary
to ensure that the size of the cells of the Euler domain are smaller than the minimum distance across
the thickness of the Lagrangian bodies. If this is not the case, you may see leakage of material in the
Euler domain through the Lagrange structure.
6.2.6.1. Shell Coupling

In the case of coupling to thin bodies (typically modelled with shells), an equivalent solid body is gen-
erated to enable intersection calculations to be performed between a Lagrangian volume and the Euler
domain. The thickness of the equivalent solid body is automatically calculated based on the Euler Domain
cell size to ensure that at least one Euler element is fully covered over the thickness and no leakage
occurs across the coupling surface. Note this 'artificial' thickness is only used for volume intersection
calculations for the purposes of coupling and is independent of the physical thickness of the shell/surface
body.
6.2.6.2. Sub-cycling
The Lagrangian reference frame is most frequently used to model solid structures with materials which
have soundspeeds in the order of several thousand meters/second. The Eulerian reference is most fre-
quently used to represent fluids or gases which typically have soundspeeds in the order of hundreds
of meters/second. In Explicit Dynamics simulations the maximum timestep that can be used is inversely
proportional to the soundspeed of the material. The timestep required to model structures is therefore
often significantly smaller than the timestep required to accurately model a gas. To enable the Lagrangian
and Eulerian parts of a coupled simulation proceed at the optimum timestep (for efficiency and accuracy)
a sub-cycling technique is used where possible. The Lagrangian domain uses its critical timestep. The
Euler domain uses its critical timestep. Coupling information is exchanged at the end of each Euler
domain timestep.
Analysis Settings

In the following sections you find theoretical background for specific controls available in the Explicit
Dynamics system.
6.3.2. Damping Controls
6.3.3. Solver Controls
6.3.4. Erosion Controls

Maximum Energy Error
Energy conservation is a measure of the quality of an explicit dynamic simulation. Bad energy conser-
vation usually implies a less than optimal model definition. This parameter allows you to automatically
stop the solution if the energy conservation becomes poor. Enter a fraction of the total system energy
at the reference cycle at which you want the simulation to stop. For example, the default value of 0.1
will cause the simulation to stop if the energy error exceeds 10% of the energy at the reference cycle.
The global energy is accounted as follows:
Reference Energy = [Internal Energy + Kinetic Energy + Hourglass Energy] at the reference cycle
Current Energy = [Internal Energy + Kinetic Energy + Hourglass Energy] at the current cycle
Work Done = Work done by constraints + Work done by loads + Work done by body forces + Energy
removed from system by element erosion + Work done by contact penalty forces
Figure 6.2: Example energy conservation graph for model with symmetry plane and erosion
6.3.2. Damping Controls

Treatment of Shock Discontinuities
Strong impacts on solid bodies can give rise to the formation of shock waves in the material. Because
of the nonlinearity of the equations being solved, shocks can form even though the initial conditions
are smooth.
In order to handle the discontinuities in the flow variables associated with such shocks, viscous terms
are introduced into the solutions. These additional terms have the effect of spreading out the shock
discontinuities over several elements and thus allow the simulation to continue to compute a smooth
solution, even after shock formation and growth.
Figure 6.3: Comparison of pressure solution at a shock wave discontinuity a) using no artificial
viscosity b) using the default artificial viscosity
The viscous terms used in the Explicit Dynamics system is based on the work of von Neumann and
Richtmeyer [4] and Wilkins [5].
(6.19)
Where
CQ is the Quadratic Artificial Viscosity coefficient
CL is the Linear Artificial Viscosity coefficient
is the local material density
d is a typical element length scale
c is the local sound speed
Analysis Settings
is the rate in change of volume
The quadratic term smooths out shock discontinuities while the linear term acts to damp out oscillations
which may occur in the solution behind the shock discontinuity.
Figure 6.4: Effects of artificial viscosity on the solution
a) Quadratic term stabilizes b) The linear term reduces

noise
Note
The pseudo-viscous term is usually added only when the flow is compressing. The Linear Viscosity
in Expansion option can be used to apply the pseudo-viscous term in both compression and
expansion. This can lead to excessive dispersion in the solution.
The inclusion of the pseudo-viscous pressure imposes further restrictions on the time step in
order to ensure stability:
Due to the quadratic term,
Due to the linear term,
The resulting critical time step is
The pseudo-viscous pressure is stored for each element and can be contoured using the custom
variable VISC_PRESSURE
Hourglass Damping
The reduced integration eight node hexahedral elements, or 4 node quadrilateral elements, used in
Explicit Dynamics can exhibit hourglass modes of deformation.
Since the expressions for strain rates and forces involve only differences in velocities and/or coordinates
of diagonally opposite nodes of the cuboidal element, if the element distorts in such a way that these
differences remain unchanged there will be no strain increase in the element and therefore no resistance
to this distortion. Hourglass modes of deformation occur with no change in energy (also called zero
energy modes) and are unphysical.
An example of such a distortion in two dimensions is illustrated below where the two diagonals remain
the same length even though the cell distorts.
Visualization in three dimensions is much more difficult but if such distortions occur in a region of many
elements, patterns such as that shown below occur and the reason for the name of hourglass instability
is more easily understood.
To avoid these zero energy modes of deformation from occurring, corrective forces (Hourglass forces)
are added to the solution to resist the hourglass modes of deformation.
Hexahedral Elements
Two formulations for calculating the Hourglass forces are available for Hexahedral elements:
The Standard formulation is based on the work of Kosloff and Frazier [6] and generates hourglass forces
proportional to nodal velocity differences. This is often referred to as a viscous formulation.
(6.20)
Where
FH is a vector of the hourglass forces at each node of the element
CH is the Viscous Coefficient for hourglass damping
is the material density
c is the material soundspeed
V is the material volume
is a vector function of the element nodal velocities aligned with the hourglass shape vector
The standard formulation is the most efficient formulation in terms of CPU and is therefore the default
option. It is not however invariant under rigid body rotation (i.e. under rigid body rotation the hourglass
forces may not sum to zero)
Analysis Settings
The Flanagan Belytschko [7] formulation is invariant under rigid body rotation and is therefore recom-
mended for simulations in which large rotations of hexahedral elements are expected. The Flanagan
Belytschko formulation is similar to the standard form.
(6.21)
The difference lies in the construction of the vector function of element nodal velocities, . These
are constructed to be orthogonal to both linear velocity field and the rigid body field.
Note
The Viscous Coefficient for hourglass forces usually varies between 0.05 and 0.15. The default
value is 0.1.
The sum of the hourglass forces applied to an element is normally zero. The momentum of the
system is therefore unaffected by hourglass forces.
The hourglass forces do however do work on the nodes of the elements. The energy associated
with hourglass forces is a) stored locally in the specific internal energy of the element b) recorded
globally over the entire model and available to review via the Solution Output, Energy Summary.
Static Damping
The Explicit Dynamics system is primarily designed for solving transient dynamic events. Using the
static damping option, a static equilibrium solution can also be obtained.
The procedure is to introduce a damping force which is proportional to the nodal velocities and which
is aimed to critically damp the lowest mode of oscillation of the static system. The solution is then
computed in time in the normal manner until it converges to an equilibrium state. The user is required
to judge when the equilibrium state is achieved. If the lowest mode of the system has period T then
we may expect the solution to converge to the static equilibrium state in a time roughly 3T if the value
of T is that for critical damping.
When the dynamic relaxation option is used the velocity update is modified to
(6.22)
where the Static Damping Coefficient, Rd , is input by the user. The value of Rd for critical damping of
the lowest mode is
(6.23)
where T is the period of the lowest mode of vibration of the system (or a close approximation to it).
Usually
(6.24)
A reasonable estimate of T must be used to ensure convergence to an equilibrium state but if the value
of T is not known accurately then is it recommended that the user overestimates it, rather than under-
estimating it. Approximate values of t and T can usually be obtained by first performing a dynamic
analysis without static damping.
A static damping coefficient may be defined, or removed, at any point during an Explicit Dynamic
simulation. Typical examples of its use would be:
To establish an initial stress distribution in a structure, prior to solving a transient dynamic event. For example
applying gravity to a structure.
To establish the final static equilibrium position of a structure after it has experienced a transient dynamic
event. For example finding the equilibrium position of structure after it has undergone large plastic deform-
ation during a dynamic event.
6.3.3. Solver Controls

Hexahedral Elements
The preferred element for solid bodies in Explicit Dynamics systems is the eight node reduced integration
hexahedral. These elements are well suited to transient dynamic applications including large deformations,
large strains, large rotations and complex contact conditions. The basic element characteristics are
Connectivity 8 Node
Nodal Quantities Position, Velocity, Acceleration, Force

Mass (lumped mass matrix)
Element Quantities Volume, Density, Strain, Stress, Energy

Other material state variables
Material Support All available materials
Points to Note Preferred element for Explicit Dynamics

Reduced integration, constant strain element
Requires hourglass damping to stabilize zero energy
hourglass modes (see section Damping Controls,
Hourglass Damping)
The default Integration Type for hexahedral elements is the Exact option. Here the element formulation
based upon the work of Wilkins [8] results in an exact volume calculation even for distorted elements.
This formulation is therefore the most accurate option, especially if the faces of the hex elements become
warped. This is also computationally the most expensive formulation.
It is possible to speed-up simulations by using the 1pt Gaussian quadrature integrated hexahedral ele-
ment. This uses the element formulation described by Hallquist [9]. There will be some loss in accuracy
Analysis Settings
when using this formulation with warped element faces which are common place in large deformation
analysis.
Tetrahedral Elements
Linear 4 noded tetrahedron elements are available for use in Explicit Dynamic analysis.
Connectivity 4 Node

Additionally ANP formulation: Volume, Pressure,
Energy
Additionally NBS: Volume, Density, Strain, Stress,
Energy, Pressure and other material state variables
Element Quantities Volume, Density, Strain, Stress, Energy
Additionally NBS: If PUSO stability coefficient is set
to a non-zero value, there is an additional variable
set for all variables for the PUSO solver
Material Support SCP: All available materials
Only Isotropic materials can be used with the ANP
formulation
Only ductile materials can be used with the NBS
formulation
Points to Note Only the ANP and NBS are recommended for use
in majority tetrahedral meshes
For NBS models exhibiting zero energy modes, the
Puso coefficient can be set to a non-zero value. A
value of 0.1 is recommended.
Reduced integration, constant strain element
The four noded linear tetrahedron is available with three forms of Pressure Integration
Standard Constant pressure integration (SCP), Zienkiewicz [10].
Average Nodal Pressure (ANP) integration, based around the work of Burton [11].
Nodal Based Strain (NBS) integration, based on work of (Bonet [21] and Puso [22]).
The SCP tetrahedral element is a basic, constant strain element and can be used with all the material
models. The element is intended as a filler element in meshes dominated by hexahedral elements.
The element is known to exhibit locking behavior under both bending and constant volumetric straining
(that is, plastic flow). If possible the element should therefore not be used in such cases.
The ANP tetrahedral formulation used here is an extension of the advanced tetrahedral element (Burton
[11]) and can be used as a majority element in the mesh. The ANP tetrahedral overcomes problems of
volumetric locking.
The NBS tetrahedral formulation based on the work of (Bonet [21] and Puso [22]) is a further extension
of the ANP tetrahedral element and can also be used as a majority element in the mesh. The NBS tetra-
hedral overcomes both problems of volumetric and shear locking, therefore is recommended over the
other two tetrahedral formulations for models involving bending.
Supported material types in the NBS tetrahedral element are currently limited to ductile materials. The
following is a list of supported material properties for NBS tetrahedral elements:
Isotropic Elasticity
Bulk Modulus
Shear Modulus
Polynomial EOS
Shock EOS
Johnson Cook Strength
Zerilli Armstrong Strength
Cowper Symonds Strength
Steinberg Guinan Strength
Bilinear Isotropic Hardening
Multilinear Isotropic Hardening
Tensile Pressure Failure
Plastic Strain Failure
Principal Stress Failure
Principal Strain Failure
Principal Stress/Principal Strain Failure
Grady Spall Failure
Johnson Cook Failure
Analysis Settings
Stochastic Failure
Note
Both flexible and rigid bodies are supported for NBS tetrahedral elements.
If a model containing NBS tetrahedral elements exhibits zero-energy modes (Puso, 2006 [22]), the PUSO
stability coefficient can be set to a non-zero value. The recommended value is 0.1. Stabilization is
achieved by taking a contribution to the nodal stresses from the SCP solution. Therefore, for models
with a non-zero Puso stability coefficient, the solution is computed on both the nodes and the elements.
NBS tetrahedral elements cannot share nodes with ANP tetrahedral elements, SCP tetrahedral elements,
shell elements, or beam elements. Also note that the use of NBS tetrahedral elements with joins or
spotwelds is not supported.
Figure 6.5: Comparison of results of a Taylor test solved using SCP, ANP and NBS Tetrahedral
elements. Results using NBS and ANP tetrahedral elements compare more favorably with
experimental results than results using SCP (see table below).
Tet-SCP Tet-ANP Tet-NBS
Table 6.3: Comparison of the performance of SCP, ANP, NBS and hex elements in a model involving
bending. The displacement of the beam with NBS tetrahedral elements is the most similar to the
beam meshed with hexahedral elements as it does not exhibit shear locking as is seen in the
beams solved using SCP and ANP tetrahedral elements.
Experiment SCP Tet ANP Tet NBS Tet

Cylinder length 31.84 30.98 30.97 31.29
(mm)
Impact diameter 12.0 10.66 11.32 11.28
(mm)
Figure 6.6: Example bending test using SCP (1), ANP (2), NBS tetrahedral (3), and hex (4) elements.
The displacement of the beam with NBS tetrahedral elements is the most similar to the beam
meshed with hexahedral elements as it does not exhibit shear locking.
Figure 6.7: Taylor test: Iron cylinder impacting rigid wall at 221m/s. Good correlation between
ANP and Hex element results is obtained
Analysis Settings
Figure 6.8: Example pull out test simulated using both hexahedral elements and ANP tetrahedral
elements. Similar plastic strains and material fracture are predicted for both element formulations
used.
Pentahedral Elements
Linear 6 noded pentahedral elements are available for use in Explicit Dynamics analysis.
Connectivity 6 Node

Element Quantities All available materials
Material Support All available materials
Points to Note Reduced integration, constant strain element
The pentahedral element is a basic constant strain element and is intended as a filler element in meshes
dominated by hexahedral elements.
Pyramid Elements
Pyramid elements are not recommended for Explicit Dynamic simulations. Any pyramid elements present
in the mesh will be converted to 2 tetrahedral elements in the solver initialization phase. Results are
mapped back onto the Pyramid element for postprocessing purposes.
Shell Quad Elements

Bilinear 4 noded quadrilateral shell elements are available for use in Explicit Dynamics analysis.
Connectivity 4 Node
Nodal Quantities Position, Velocity, Angular Velocity, Acceleration,

Force, Moment
Element Quantities Strain, Stress, Energy
Data stored per layer
Material Support Linear elasticity must be used
Equations of state and porosity are not applicable
to shell elements
Pressure dependant material strength is not
applicable to shell elements
Based on Mindlin plate theory, transverse shear
deformable
Shells have zero through thickness stress and are
therefore not suitable for modelling wave
propagation through the thickness of the surface
body
The bilinear 4 noded quadrilateral shell element is based on the corotational formulation presented by
Belytschko-Tsay [13]. The element has one quadrature point per layer and is stabilized using hourglass
control. By default, additional curvature terms are added for warped elements in accordance with
Belytschko [14]. This option can be deactivated using the Shell BWC Warp Correction setting in the
Solver Controls.
The number of through thickness integration points (sublayers) is controlled through the analysis settings
option Solver Controls, Shell Sublayers. The default value is 3.
The thickness of the shell element is updated during the simulation in accordance with the material
response. The update is carried out at the shell nodes by default.
The principal inertia of the shell nodes is recalculated every time increment (cycle) by default. This is
the most robust method. It is more efficient to rotate the principal inertias rather than recalculate (al-
though less robust for certain applications). The Shell Thickness Update option can be used to select
this more efficient inertial update method.
Analysis Settings
Shell Tri Elements

Linear 3 noded triangular shell elements are available for use in Explicit Dynamics analysis.
Connectivity 3 Node

Force, Moment
Element Quantities Volume, Density, Stress, Energy
Data stored per layer
to shell elements
applicable to shell elements
This element is only recommended for use as a
filler element in quad dominant shell meshes
Shells have zero through thickness stress and are
therefore not suitable for modelling wave
propagation through the thickness of the surface
body
The bilinear 3 noded, C0, triangular shell element is based on the formulation presented by Belytschko
et al. [15]. The number of through thickness integration points (sublayers) is controlled through the
analysis settings option Solver Controls, Shell Sublayers. The default value is 3.
The thickness of the shell element is updated during the simulation in accordance with the material
response. The update is carried out at the shell nodes by default.
Beam Elements
Linear 2 noded beam elements are available for use in Explicit Dynamics analysis.
Connectivity 2 Node

Force, Moment
Element Quantities Resultant Strain/Stress, Energy
to beam elements
applicable to beam elements
Points to Note Supports symmetrical circular, square, rectangular,
I-Beam and general cross sections
Beams have zero transverse stress and are therefore
not suitable for modelling wave propagation across
the cross section
The 2 noded beam element is based on the resultant beam formulation of Belytschko [16] and allows
for large displacements and resultant elasto-plastic response.
6.3.4. Erosion Controls

Erosion is a numerical mechanism for the automatic removal (deletion) of elements during a simulation.
The primary reason for using erosion is to remove very distorted elements from a simulation before the
elements become inverted (degenerate). This ensures that the stability timestep remains at a reasonable
level and solutions can continue to the desired termination time. Erosion can also be used to allow the
simulation of material fracture, cutting and penetration.
There are a number of mechanisms available to initiate erosion of elements. The erosion options can
be used in any combination. Elements will erode if any of the criteria are met.
Geometric Strain
Geometric strain is a measure of the distortion of an element and is calculated from the global strain
components as
Model Size Limitations in Explicit Dynamics
(6.25)
This erosion option allows removal of elements when the local element geometric strain exceeds the
specified value. Typical values range from 0.5 to 2.0. The default value of 1.5 can be used in most cases.
Custom result EFF_STN can be used to review the distribution of effective strain in the model.
Timestep
This erosion option allows removal of elements when the local element timestep, multiplied by the
time step safety factor falls below the specified value.
Custom result TIMESTEP can be used to review the time step for each element.
Material Failure
Using this option, elements will automatically erode if a material failure property is defined in the ma-
terial used in the elements, and the failure criteria has been reached. Elements with materials including
a damage model will also erode if damage reaches a value of 1.0.
Retained Inertia
If all elements that are connected to a node in the mesh are eroded, the inertia of the resulting free
node can be retained. The mass and momentum of the free node is retained and can be involved in
subsequent impact events to transfer momentum in the system. If this option is set to No, all free nodes
will be automatically removed from the simulation.
Note
Erosion is not a physical process and should be used with caution.
The internal energy of elements which are eroded is always removed from the system. This energy
is accumulated in the work done term for global energy conservation purposes.
6.4. Model Size Limitations in Explicit Dynamics

Exceedingly large (number of elements/nodes) models may not be able to complete an Explicit Dynamics
solution in a reasonable amount of time for the following reasons:
As in any Mechanical application, you will start out with a coarse mesh and investigate convergence beha-
vior while refining the mesh. This will typically lead to a satisfactory number of elements for a certain elapsed
time. You may reduce the CPU time by distributing the model over multiple processors in parallel. With
larger model sizes the initialization time (which is typically a small fraction of the total run time) may increase
significantly because the initialization is not running in parallel.
When doing convergence studies you may run into hardware limitations. An Explicit Dynamics solution
takes place in core memory, which means that RAM is the most limiting factor. Most modern workstations
typically contain large amounts of RAM and will be able to cope with large models. Note that disk space is
not generally a problem since result files are typically not exceedingly large.
Although modern workstation hardware may allow large models to be meshed, the Explicit solver may not
be able to handle some large models because most integer numbers are still allocated on a 32 bit based
definition, and if a single internal array needs to be allocated with larger than 2e9 entries the solution will
fail.
The current limitations can be summarized as follows, although these numbers are only a guideline as
to what to expect:
Although Workbench can mesh a single part up to a maximum of 100 million solid elements, or 10 million
shell elements, the Explicit solver may not be able to calculate a solution in a reasonable amount of time
with a mesh of this size. Each element and node has a number of associated variables. The number typically
depends on the type of solver chosen along with material models used and the number of options activated;
for example, Failure models or the type of Interaction.
The AUTODYN component system can be used to generate structured meshes, which in turn can be converted
to unstructured. The limit for the number of elements that can be converted lies between 50 million and
60 million.
The number of objects that can be created in the AUTODYN component system is limited to 99 in 3D.
If the Explicit solver detects that more than 500,000 nodes are packed in an SPH object a warning will be
given, since it will impact CPU and RAM resources.
Please note that these limitations are approximate and serve as a guideline when modeling for Explicit
Dynamics and AUTODYN component systems. To reduce the solution time, you should try using a
coarser mesh or use Mass Scaling in your model.
6.5. References
The following references are cited in this appendix:
1. R. Courant, K. Friedrichs and H. Lewy, "On the partial difference equations of mathematical physics", IBM
Journal, March 1967, pp. 215-234
2. Meyers, M. A., (1994) Dynamic behaviour of Materials, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-471-58262-X.
3. Zukas, J. A., (1990) High velocity impact dynamics, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-471-51444-6
4. von Neumann, J., Richtmeyer, R. D. (1950).,A Method for the Numerical Calculation of Hydrodynamic
Shocks, J. App. Phys., 21, pp 232-237, 1950
5. Wilkins, M. L., (1980). Use of Artificial Viscosity in Multidimensional Fluid Dynamic Calculations, J. Comp.
Phys., 36, pp 281-303, 1980
6. Kosloff D., Frazier G. A., (1978) Treatment of hourglass patterns in low order finite element codes, Int. J.
Num. Anal. Meth. Geomech. 2, 57-72
7. Flanagan D. P., Belytschko T., (1981) A uniform strain hexahedron and Quadrilateral and Orthogonal
Hourglass Control, Int. J. Num. Meth. Eng. 17, 679-706.
8. Wilkins, M. L., Blum, R. E., Cronshagen, E. & Grantham, P. (1974). A Method for Computer Simulation of
Problems in Solid Mechanics and Gas Dynamics in Three Dimensions and Time. Lawrence Livermore
Laboratory Report UCRL-51574, 1974
9. Hallquist, J. O., (1982) "A theoretical manual for DYNA3D, LLNL Report UCID-19401.
References
10. Zienkiewicz, O. C., Taylor, R. L., "The finite element method, Volume 1", ISBN 0-07-084174-8
11. Burton, A..J.. (1996) 'Explicit, Large Strain, Dynamic Finite Element Analysis with Applications to Human
Body Impact Problems', PhD Thesis, University of Wales.
12. Wilkins, M. L., Blum, R. E., Cronshagen, E., & Grantham, P. (1974). A Method for Computer Simulation of
Problems in Solid Mechanics and Gas Dynamics in Three Dimensions and Time. Lawrence Livermore
Laboratory Report UCRL-51574, 1974
13. Belytschko, T., et al. (1984),Explicit algorithms for the nonlinear dynamics of shells, Comp. Meth. Appl.
Mech Eng., 42, 225-251.
14. Belytschko, T., et al. (1992),Advances in one-point quadrature shell elements, Comp. Meth. Appl. Mech
Eng., 1992, 93-107.
15. Belytschko, T., et al. (1984),A C0 Triangular Plate Element with One-point Quadrature, Int. J. Num. Meth.
Engng., 20, 787-802, 1984.
16. Belytschko, T. et al., 1977,Large Displacement Analysis of Space Frames, Int. J. Num. Meth. And Anal.
Mech. Engng., 11, 65-84, 1977.
17. Godunov, S. K. (1959), "A Difference Scheme for Numerical Solution of Discontinuous Solution of Hydro-
dynamic Equations", Math. Sbornik, 47, 271-306, translated US Joint Publ. Res. Service, JPRS 7226, 1969.
18. Noh, W. F. and Woodward, P.,SLIC (Simple line interface calculation), in Lecture Notes in Physics (A. I. van
der Vooren and P. J. Zandbergen, eds.), pp. 330340, Springer-Verlag, 1976.
19. Van Leer, B (1977).Towards the Ultimate Conservative Difference Scheme. IV. A new Approach to Numer-
ical Convection, J. Comp. Phys. 23, pp 276-299, 1977.
20. Van Leer, B (1979).Towards the Ultimate Conservative Difference Scheme. V. A Second Order Sequel to
Godunovs Method, J. Comp. Phys. 32, pp 101-136, 1979.
21. Bonet J., Marriott H., Hassan O.An averaged nodal deformation gradient linear tetrahedral element for
large strain explicit dynamics applications. Communications in Numerical Methods in Engineering 2001; 17,
551-561.
22. Puso M. A.,Solberg J.A stabilized nodally integrated tetrahedral. International Journal for Numerical
Methods in Engineering 2006; 67, 841-867.
Chapter 7: Material Models Used in Explicit Dynamics Analysis
This chapter discusses the following:
7.1. Introduction
7.2. Explicit Material Library
7.3. Density
7.4. Linear Elastic
7.5.Test Data
7.6. Hyperelasticity
7.7. Plasticity
7.8. Brittle/Granular
7.9. Equations of State
7.10. Porosity
7.11. Failure
7.12. Strength
7.13.Thermal Specific Heat
7.14. Rigid Materials
7.15. References
7.1. Introduction
In general, materials have a complex response to dynamic loading and the following phenomena may
need to be modeled.
Non-linear pressure response
Strain hardening
Strain rate hardening
Pressure hardening
Thermal softening
Compaction (e.g., porous materials)
Orthotropic response (e.g., composites)
Crushing damage (e.g., ceramics, glass, concrete)
Chemical energy deposition (e.g., explosives)
Tensile failure
Phase changes (i.e., solid-liquid-gas)
The modeling of such phenomena can generally be broken down into three components:
Material Models Used in Explicit Dynamics Analysis
Equation of State
An equation of state describes the hydrodynamic response of a material.
This is the primary response for gases and liquids, which can sustain no shear. Their response to dynamic
loading is assumed hydrodynamic, with pressure varying as a function of density and internal energy.
This is also the primary response for solids at high deformation rates, when the hydrodynamic pressure
is far greater than the yield stress of the material.
Material Strength Model

Solid materials may initially respond elastically, but under highly dynamic loadings, they can reach stress
states that exceed their yield stress and deform plastically. Material strength laws describe this non-
linear elastic-plastic response.
Material Failure Model

Solids usually fail under extreme loading conditions, resulting in crushed or cracked material. Material
failure models simulate the various ways in which materials fail. Liquids will also fail in tension, a phe-
nomenon usually referred to as cavitation.
Engineering Data properties for explicit analysis in the Mechanical application cover a wide range of
materials and material behaviors. Some examples are provided below:
Class of Material Material Effects

Metals Elasticity
Shock Effects
Plasticity
Isotropic Strain Hardening
Kinematic Strain Hardening
Isotropic Strain Rate Hardening
Isotropic Thermal Softening
Ductile Fracture
Brittle Fracture (Fracture Energy based)
Dynamic Failure (Spall)

Concrete/Rock Elasticity
Shock Effects
Porous Compaction
Plasticity
Strain Hardening
Explicit Material Library
Class of Material Material Effects

Strain Rate Hardening in Compression
Strain Rate Hardening in Tension
Pressure Dependent Plasticity
Lode Angle Dependent Plasticity
Shear Damage/Fracture
Tensile Damage/Fracture
Solid/Sand Elasticity
Shock Effects
Porous Compaction
Plasticity
Pressure Dependent Plasticity
Shear Damage/Fracture
Tensile Damage/Fracture
Rubbers/Polymers Elasticity
Viscoelasticity
Hyperelasticity
Orthotropic Orthotropic Elasticity
The Engineering Data properties supported by explicit analysis are described below. Please note that
additional material modeling options, particularly in the areas of composite materials and reactive ma-
terials, are available in the ANSYS Autodyn product.
7.2. Explicit Material Library

An extensive set of material data is provided in the Engineering Data Explicit library.
We strongly recommend that you review the material data before using it in production applications.
In particular, some of the materials only contain a partial definition of the material. This data may need
to be complemented with additional properties to give the full definition required for the simulation.

Plastics-
ADIPRENE
LUCITE
NEOPRENE
POLYCARB
POLYRUBBER
POLYRUBBERH
POLYSTYRENE
RUBBER1
RUBBER2
RUBBER3
EPOXY RES
EPOXY RES2
PHENOXY
PLEXIGLAS
POLYURETH
NYLONS
POLYETHYL
TEFLON
TEFLONH
Sand/Concrete-
CONC 140MPA
CONC 35 MPA
CONCRETEL
INCENDPOWD
PERICLASE
SAND
Mineral/Element-
ANTIMONY
BARIUM
BISMUTH
CALCIUM
GERMANIUM
POTASSIUM
QUARTZ
SODIUM CHLORIDE
SODIUM
SULFUR
VANADIUM
VANADIUM2
Glass/Ceramics-
BORON CARBIDE
FLOATGLASB
FLOATGLASS
Liquid-
Parafin
WATER
WATER2
WATER3
Metals/Alloys-
AL 1100O
AL 2024
AL 2024T4
AL 6061T6
AL 7039
AL 7075T6
AL 921T
AL 2024T351
AL 20399.5
AL 20399.7
AL203 CERA
AL5083H116
ALUMINUM
BERYLLIUM
BERYLLIUM2
BRASS
CADMIUM
CART BRASS
CHROMIUM
COBALT
COPPER
COPPER2
CU OFHC
CU OFHC
CU OFHC2
CU-OFHC-F
DU-.75TI
GOLD
GOLD 5%CU
GOLD2
HAFNIUM
HAFNIUM2
INDIUM
IRIDIUM
IRON
IRON-ARMCO
IRON-ARMCO2
IRON-C.E.
LEAD
LEAD2
LEAD3
LITHIUIM
LITHIUM F
LITH-MAGN
MAG AZ-31B
MAGNESIUM
MAGNESIUM2
MERCURY
MOLYBDENUM
NICKEL
NICKEL ALL
NICKEL Z
NICKEL-200
NICKEL 3
NIOBIUM
NIOBIUM AL
NIOBIUM 2
PALLADIUM
PLATE 20% IR
PLATINUM
PLATINUM2
RHA
RHENIUM
RHODIUM
RUBIDIUM
SILVER
SILVER2
SIS 25413
SS 2169
SS 304
SS-304
STEEL 1006
STEEL 4340
STEEL S-7
STEEL V250
STNL. STEEL
STRONTIUM
TANT 10%W
TANTALUM
TANTALLUM2
TANTALLUM3
THALLIUM
THORIUM
THORIUM2
TI 6% AL 4% V
TIN
TIN2
TITANIUM
TITANIUM2
TITANIUM-2
TUNG.ALLOY
TUNGSTEN
TUNGSTEN2
TUNGSTEN3
U 0.75% TI
U 5% MO
U 8% NB3 %ZR
U 0.75% TI
U3 WT %MD
Linear Elastic
URANIUM
URANIUM2
URANIUM3
W 4% Ni 2%FE
ZINC
ZIRCONIUM
ZIRCONIUM2
7.3. Density
Density is the initial mass per unit volume of a material at time = 0.0.
Note
The temperature dependence of the linear elastic properties is not available for explicit dy-
namics systems. Only a single value can be used. The first defined values in temperature
dependent data will be used in the solver.
7.4. Linear Elastic

Young's Modulus
Poisson's Ratio
Note
The temperature dependence of the linear elastic properties is not available for explicit dy-
namics systems. Only a single value can be used. The first defined values in temperature
dependent data will be used in the solver.
7.4.1. Isotropic Elasticity

Define isotropic linear elastic material behavior by specifying
Young's Modulus
Poisson's ratio
Note
The temperature dependence of the linear elastic properties is not available for explicit
dynamics systems. Only a single value can be used. The first defined values in temper-
ature dependent data will be used in the solver.
7.4.2. Orthotropic Elasticity

Define orthotropic linear elastic material behavior by specifying:
Young's Modulus in direction X
Young's Modulus in direction Y
Young's Modulus in direction Z
Poisson's ratio XY
Poisson's ratio YZ
Poisson's ratio XZ
Shear Modulus XY
Shear Modulus YZ
Shear Modulus XZ
Note
The coordinate system X, Y, Z relates to the local coordinate system assigned to the
body.
7.4.3. Viscoelastic
To represent strain rate dependent elastic behavior, a linear viscoelastic model can be used. The long
term behavior of the model is described by the long term or elastic shear modulus G. Viscoelastic
behavior is introduced via an instantaneous shear modulus and a viscoelastic decay constant . The
viscoelastic deviatoric stress at time increment n+1 is calculated from the viscoelastic stress at time in-
crement n and the deviatoric strain increments at time increment n via
where
is the long term shear modulus of the material

is the instantaneous shear modulus of the material. This value is derived from linear elastic
properties or defined directly using the equation of state, shear modulus property
is the viscoelastic decay constant
The deviatoric viscoelastic stress is added to the elastic stress to give the total stress at the end of each
cycle.
Note
The model must be combined with either the linear elastic property or an equation of state
property (including shear modulus).
Hyperelasticity
The model can only be applied to solid bodies.
Table 7.1: Input Data
Name Symbol Units Notes

Instantaneous Shear Stress
Modulus (High rate)
Viscoelastic Decay 1/ time
Constant
Custom results variables available for this model.
Name Description Solids Shells Beams

VTXX Viscoelastic stress XX Yes No No
VTYY Viscoelastic stress YY Yes No No
VTZZ Viscoelastic stress ZZ Yes No No
VTXY Viscoelastic stress XY Yes No No
VTYZ Viscoelastic stress YZ Yes No No
VTZX Viscoelastic stress ZX Yes No No
7.5. Test Data

Uniaxial Test Data
Biaxial Test Data
Shear Test Data
Volumetric Test Data
7.6. Hyperelasticity
Following are several forms of strain energy potential () provided for the simulation of nearly incom-
pressible hyperelastic materials. The different models are generally applicable over different ranges of
strain as illustrated in the table below, however these numbers are not definitive and users should
verify the applicability of the model chosen prior to use.
Currently hyperelastic materials may only be used in solid elements for explicit dynamics simulations.
Model Applied Strain Range

Neo-Hookean 30%
Mooney-Rivlin 30%-200% depending on order
Polynomial
Ogden Up to 700%
Neo-Hookean
The strain energy function for the Neo-Hookean hyperelastic model is,
where is the deviatoric first principal invariant, J is the Jacobian and the required input parameters
are defined as:
= initial shear modulus of the material

d= incompressibility parameter.
and the initial bulk modulus is defined as:
K = 2/d
Mooney-Rivlin
The strain energy function of a hyperelastic material can be expanded as an infinite series in terms of
the first and second deviatoric principal invariants and , as follows,
The 2, 3, 5 and 9 parameter Mooney-Rivlin hyperelastic material models have been implemented and
are described in turn below.
2Parameter Mooney-Rivlin Model

The strain energy function for the 2parameter model is,
where:
C10, C01 = material constants

d = material incompressibility parameter.
The initial shear modulus is defined as:
K = 2/d

where the required input parameters are defined as:
C 10 ,C 01 ,C 11 = material constants
Hyperelasticity
d = material incompressibility parameter
The bulk and shear modulus are as defined for the 2parameter Mooney-Rivlin model.

(7.1)
C 10 ,C 01 ,C 20 ,C 11 ,C 02 = material constants

The strain energy function for the 9parameter hyperelastic model is,
(7.2)
C 10 ,C 01 ,C 20 ,C 11 , C 02 , C 30 , C 21 , C 12 ,C 03 = material constants
Polynomial
The strain energy function of a hyperelastic material can be expanded as an infinite series of the first
and second deviatoric principal invariants l 1 and l 2. The polynomial form of strain energy function is
given below:
1st, 2nd, and 3rd order polynomial hyperelastic material models have been implemented in the solver
where N is 1, 2 or 3 respectively.
Cmn = material constants

dk = material incompressibility parameters.
K = 2/d1
Yeoh
The Yeoh hyperelastic strain energy function is similar to the Mooney-Rivlin models described above
except that it is only based on the first deviatoric strain invariant. It has the general form,
Yeoh 1st order

The strain energy function for the first order Yeoh model is,
where:
N=1
C10 = material constant
d1 = incompressibility parameter
= 2c10
K = 2/d1
Yeoh 2nd order

The strain energy function for the second order Yeoh hyperelastic model is
N = 2.
C10, C20 = material constants
d1, d2 = incompressibility parameters
See 1st order Yeoh model for definitions of the initial shear and bulk modulus.
Yeoh 3rd order

The strain energy function for the third order Yeoh hyperelastic model is,
Hyperelasticity
N = 3.
C10, C20, C30 = material constants
d1, d2, d3 = incompressibility parameters
See 1st order Yeoh model for definitions of the initial shear and bulk modulus.
Ogden
The Ogden form of the strain energy function is based on the deviatoric principal stretches of the left-
Cauchy-Green tensor and has the form,
Ogden 1st Order

The strain energy function for the first order Ogden hyperelastic model is,
where:
p = deviatoric principal stretches of the left-Cauchy-Green tensor

J = determinant of the elastic deformation gradient
p, p and dp = material constants
The initial shear modulus is given as:
and the initial bulk modulus is:
Ogden 2nd order

where:
p= deviatoric principal stretches of the left-Cauchy-Green tensor

Ogden 3rd order

where:
p= deviatoric principal stretches of the left-Cauchy-Green tensor

7.7. Plasticity
All stress-strain input should be in terms of true stress and true (or logarithmic) strain and result in all
output as also true stress and true strain. For small-strain regions of response, true stress-strain and
engineering stress-strain are approximately equal. If your stress-strain data is in the form of engineering
stress and engineering strain you can convert:
strain from engineering strain to logarithmic strain using:
engineering stress to true stress using:
Note
This stress conversion is only valid for incompressible materials.
Plasticity
The following Plasticity models are discussed in this section:

7.7.1. Bilinear Isotropic Hardening
7.7.2. Multilinear Isotropic Hardening
7.7.3. Bilinear Kinematic Hardening
7.7.4. Multilinear Kinematic Hardening
7.7.5. Johnson-Cook Strength
7.7.6. Cowper-Symonds Strength
7.7.7. Steinberg-Guinan Strength
7.7.8. Zerilli-Armstrong Strength
7.7.1. Bilinear Isotropic Hardening

This plasticity material model is often used in large strain analyses. A bilinear stress-strain curve requires
that you input the Yield Strength and Tangent Modulus. The slope of the first segment in the curve
is equivalent to the Young's modulus of the material while the slope of the second segment is the
tangent modulus.
Custom results variables available for this model:

EFF_PL_STN Effective Plastic Strain Yes Yes* Yes*
SUBL_EPS Effective sublayer plastic strain No Yes No
*Resultant value over shell/beam section.
7.7.2. Multilinear Isotropic Hardening

This plasticity material model is often used in large strain analyses. Do not use this model for cyclic or
highly nonproportional load histories in small-strain analyses.
You must supply the data in the form of plastic strain vs. stress. The first point of the curve must be
the yield point, that is, zero plastic strain and yield stress. The slope of the stress-strain curve is assumed
to be zero beyond the last user-defined stress-strain data point. No segment of the curve can have a
slope of less than zero.
Note
You can define up to 10 stress strain pairs using this model in explicit dynamics systems.
Temperature dependence of the curves is not directly supported. Temperature dependent
plasticity can be represented using the Johnson-Cook plasticity model.

7.7.3. Bilinear Kinematic Hardening

This plasticity material model assumes that the total stress range is equal to twice the yield stress, to
include the Bauschinger effect. This model may be used for materials that obey Von Mises yield criteria
(includes most metals). The tangent modulus cannot be less than zero or greater than the elastic
modulus.

7.7.4. Multilinear Kinematic Hardening

This plasticity model simulates metal plasticity behavior under cyclic loading. You must supply the data
in the form of plastic strain vs. stress. The first point of the curve must be the yield point, that is, zero
plastic strain and yield stress. No segment can have a slope of less than zero. The slope of the stress-
strain curve is assumed to be zero beyond the last user-defined stress-strain data point. No segment
of the curve can have a slope of less than zero.
Note
You can define up to 10 stress strain pairs using this model in explicit dynamics systems.
Temperature dependence of the curves is not directly supported. Temperature dependent
plasticity can be represented using the Johnson-Cook plasticity model.
This model is available for solid elements in explicit dynamics systems.

EFF_PL_STN Effective Plastic Strain Yes No No
SUBL_EPS Effective sub layer plastic strain No No No
Note
This material property can only be applied to solid bodies.
7.7.5. Johnson-Cook Strength

Use this model to represent the strength behavior of materials, typically metals, subjected to large
strains, high strain rates and high temperatures. Such behavior might arise in problems of intense im-
pulsive loading due to high velocity impact.
With this model, the yield stress varies depending on strain, strain rate and temperature.
The model defines the yield stress Y as
Plasticity
where
= effective plastic strain

= normalized effective plastic strain rate
TH = homologous temperature = (T-Troom)/(Tmelt -Troom)
The five material constants are A, B, C, n and m.
The expression in the first set of brackets gives the stress as a function of strain when = 1.0 sec-1 and
TH = 0 (i.e. for laboratory experiments at room temperature). The constant A is the basic yield stress at
low strains while B and n represent the effect of strain hardening.
The expressions in the second set of brackets represent the effects of strain rate on the yield strength
of the material. The reference strain rate against which the material data was measured is used to nor-
malize the plastic strain rate enhancement. 1.0/second is used by default.
The expression in the third set of brackets represents thermal softening such that the yield stress drops
to zero at the melting temperature Tmelt.
The plastic flow algorithm used in this model has an option to reduce high frequency oscillations that
are sometimes observed in the yield surface under high strain rates. A first order strain rate correction
is applied by default. An additional implicit strain rate correction is available that can be used in cases
where the first order strain rate correction doesnt suffice, although at the cost of extra CPU time usage.
The Johnson-Cook strength model can be used in all element types and in combination with all equations
of state and failure properties.
Note
A specific heat capacity property should be defined to enable the calculation of temperature
hence thermal softening effects.

Initial Yield Stress A Stress
Hardening Constant B Stress
Hardening Exponent n None
Strain Rate Constant C None
Thermal Softening m None
Exponent
Melting Temperature Tmelt Temperature
Reference Strain Rate None Units fixed at 1/sec
Default = 1.0
Strain Rate Correction None Option List:
None

1st Order (Default)
Implicit

EFF_PL_STN_RATE Effective Plastic Strain Rate Yes Yes* Yes*
TEMP Temperature** Yes Yes* Yes*
**Temperature will be non-zero only if a specific heat capacity is defined.
7.7.6. Cowper-Symonds Strength

The Cowper-Symonds strength model lets you define the yield strength of isotropic strain hardening,
strain rate dependent materials. The yield surface is defined as
where
A is yield stress at zero plastic strain

B is the strain hardening coefficient
n is the strain hardening exponent
D and q are the strain rate hardening coefficients
It should be noted that, in the implementation within the Explicit Dynamics solver, the plastic strain
rate ( ) used in the Cowper Symonds model has a minimum value of unity to allow for compatibility
with the linear strain rate correction method. The consequence of this is that for plastic strain rates less
than unity, the material will exhibit a strain rate hardening effect equal to that for a strain rate of unity.
The plastic flow algorithm used in this model has an option to reduce high frequency oscillations that
are sometimes observed in the yield surface under high strain rates. A first order strain rate correction
is applied by default. An additional implicit strain rate correction is available that can be used in cases
where the first order strain rate correction doesnt suffice, although at the cost of extra CPU time usage.
Note that the strain rate constants should be input assuming that the units of strain rate are 1/second.
The Cowper-Symonds strength model can be used in all element types and in combination with all
equations of state and failure properties.

Initial Yield Stress A Stress
Hardening Constant B Stress
Plasticity

Strain Rate Constant D None Assumed 1/second in all cases
Strain Rate Constant q None
Strain Rate Correction - None Option List:
None
1st Order (Default)
Implicit

7.7.7. Steinberg-Guinan Strength

In this formulation the authors have assumed that while yield stress initially increases with strain rate,
experimental data on shock-induced free surface velocity versus time records indicate that at high strain
rates (greater than 105sec-1) strain rate effects become insignificant compared to other effects and that
the yield stress reaches a maximum value which is subsequently strain rate independent.
They have also postulated that the shear modulus increases with increasing pressure and decreases
with increasing temperature and in doing this they have attempted to include modeling of the
Bauschinger effect into their calculations. They have therefore produced expressions for the shear
modulus and yield strength as functions of effective plastic strain, pressure and internal energy (tem-
perature).
The constitutive relations for shear modulus G and yield stress Y for high strain rates are :
subject to
where

T = temperature (degrees K)
= compression = 0/
and the primed parameters with the subscripts p and T are derivatives of that parameter with respect
to pressure and temperature at the reference state (T = 300 K, p= 0, = 0).
The subscript zero also refers to values of G and Y at the reference state.
If the temperature of the material exceeds the specified melting temperature the shear modulus and
yield strength are set to zero.
Note
hence the melting effect.

Initial Yield Stress Y Stress
Maximum Yield Stress Ymax Stress
Hardening Constant None
Derivative dG/dP G'P None
Derivative dG/dT G'T Stress/Temperature
Derivative dY/dP Y'P None
Melting Temperature Tmelt Temperature

7.7.8. Zerilli-Armstrong Strength

While the Johnson-Cook model predicted the behavior of most materials in the Taylor tests, the model's
prediction and test results for OFHC (oxygen free high conductivity) copper did not agree well.
In an approach seeking to improve on Johnson-Cook, Zerilli and Armstrong proposed a more sophistic-
ated constitutive relation obtained through the use of dislocation dynamics.
The effects of strain hardening, strain-rate hardening and thermal softening (based on thermal activation
analysis) have been incorporated into the formulation. The effect of grain size has also been included.
Plasticity
The relation has a relatively simple expression and should be applicable to a wide range of fcc (face
centered cubic) materials.
A relation for iron has also been developed and is also applicable to other bcc (body centered cubic)
materials.
An important point made by Zerilli and Armstrong is that each material structure type (fcc, bcc, hcp)
will have its own constitutive behavior, dependent on the dislocation characteristics for that particular
structure. For example, a stronger dependence of the plastic yield stress on temperature and strain rate
is known to result for bcc metals as compared with fcc metals.
With this model, the yield stress varies depending on strain, strain rate and temperature.
The yield stress is given by:
For fcc metals
For bcc metals:
where

= normalized effective plastic strain rate
T = temperature (degrees K)
The parameters Y0, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5 and n are material constants.
The plastic flow algorithm used in this model has an implicit strain rate correction option to reduce
high frequency oscillations that are sometimes observed in the yield surface under high strain rates.
The strain rate correction algorithm will be at the expense of increased CPU usage.
Note
hence the melting effect.

Initial Yield Stress Y0 Stress
Hardening Constant #1 C1 Stress
Hardening Constant #3 C3 None
Hardening Constant #4 C4 None
Hardening Constant n n None

Reference Strain Rate None Units fixed at 1/sec
Default = 1.0
Strain Rate Correction None Option List:
None (Default)
Implicit

7.8. Brittle/Granular
A number of properties are available to allow modeling of brittle/granular materials such as concrete,
rock, soil, glass and ceramics.
7.8.1. Drucker-Prager Strength Linear
7.8.2. Drucker-Prager Strength Stassi
7.8.3. Drucker-Prager Strength Piecewise
7.8.4. Johnson-Holmquist Strength Continuous
7.8.5. Johnson-Holmquist Strength Segmented
7.8.6. RHT Concrete Strength
7.8.7. MO Granular
7.8.1. Drucker-Prager Strength Linear

This model is used to represent the behavior of dry soils, rocks, concrete and ceramics where the cohesion
and compaction behavior of the materials result in an increasing resistance to shear up to a limiting
value of yield strength as the loading increases. The yield strength of these materials is highly dependent
on pressure.
There are three forms available for this model; linear, stassi and piecewise.
Although the yield stress is pressure dependent in each case, the flow rule is volume independent, i.e.,
a Prandtl-Reuss type.
Brittle/Granular
Figure 7.1: Drucker-Prager Strength Linear

Y
The yield stress is a linear function of pressure (the original Drucker-Prager model)
Note
This property can only be applied to solid bodies.

Yield Stress (at zero pressure) Stress
Slope (degrees) None Slope in degrees

EFF_PL_STN Effective Plastic Yes No No
Strain
Pressure Material Pressure Yes No No
Note
This material property can only be applied to solid bodies.
7.8.2. Drucker-Prager Strength Stassi

Figure 7.2: Drucker-Prager Strength Stassi
Y
The Stassi yield condition takes the form:
where
J2Y is the second invariant of the deviatoric stress yield

Y0 is the yield strength in simple tension
k is the ratio between the yield strengths in compression and tension

p is the pressure
Note

Yield Stress Uniaxial Tension Y0 Stress Measure under uniaxial stress
conditions
Yield Stress Uniaxial Stress Measure under uniaxial stress
Compression conditions

Pressure Pressure Yes No No
7.8.3. Drucker-Prager Strength Piecewise

Figure 7.3: Drucker-Prager Strength Piecewise
Yield stress Y varies with pressure as a piecewise linear
function. Constant shear modulus G
Yield
Stress Y
Ymax
Piecewise Linear
Pressure P
The yield stress is a piecewise linear function of pressure.
In tension (negative values of pressure), such materials have little tensile strength and this is modeled
by dropping the yield stress rapidly to zero as pressure goes negative to give a realistic value for the
limited tensile strength.
Note
You can use up to 10 pressure-yield points to define the material strength curve.

Yield Stress vs Pressure Y vs P Stress
Brittle/Granular

Pressure Material Pressure Yes No No
7.8.4. Johnson-Holmquist Strength Continuous

This model is used for modeling brittle materials such as glass and ceramics (Johnson & Holmquist
1993) [1] subjected to large pressures, shear strain and high strain rates. Two forms of this model are
found in the literature and are available in explicit dynamics systems; continuous (JH2), segmented
(JH1).
Both these forms can be used with a linear or energy dependent polynomial equation of state.
The strength of the brittle material is described as a smoothly varying function of intact strength, fractured
strength, strain rate and damage via a dimensionless analytic function as described below. P* is the
pressure normalized by the pressure at the Hugoniot Elastic Limit (PHELL) and T* is the maximum tensile
hydrostatic pressure normalized by PHELL. The effective plastic strain rate, , is normalized by a reference
strain rate of 1.0/second.
Figure 7.4: Johnson-Holmquist Strength Model
Intact Surface,
Damage,
Fractured,
As the material undergoes inelastic deformation, damage is assumed to accumulate which degrades
the overall load carrying capacity of the materials. The Johnson-Holmquist Damage model was developed
for the simulation of the compressive and shear induced strength and failure of brittle materials. Damage
is accumulated as the ratio of incremental plastic strain over the current estimated fracture strain. The
effective fracture strain is pressure dependent as described below.
Figure 7.5: Johnson-Holmquist Damage Model
There are two methods for the application of damage to the material strength. The default Gradual
failure type results in damage being incrementally applied to the material strength as it accumulates.
If the Instantaneous failure type is selected, damage accumulates over time, however it is only applied
to the failure surface when its value reaches unity. The material strength instantaneously transitions
from intact to fully failed in this case.
The model includes an option to represent volumetric dilation of the material due to shear deformation
(Bulking). The work done in deforming the material inelastically in shear can be converted into a pressure
increase, hence volumetric dilation (if unconstrained). The amount of work which is converted into
dilation pressure is controlled through the Bulking constant, B. This can have values ranging from 0.0
(representing no shear induced dilatancy) to 1.0 (producing maximum dilatancy effects).
Note
If the Bulking constant, B is greater than zero then the Johnson-Holmquist model should be
used in conjunction with a polynomial equation of state or linear elasticity.

Hugoniot Elastic Limit HEL Stress Elastic limit under dynamic
compressive uniaxial strain
conditions
Intact Strength Constant A None
A
Intact Strength Exponent n None
n
Strain Rate Constant C C None
Fracture Strength B None
Constant B
Brittle/Granular

Fracture Strength m None
Exponent m
Maximum Fracture F Max None Maximum fracture strength as
Strength Ratio fraction of intact strength
Damage Constant D1 D1 None
Bulking Constant B None
Hydrodynamic Tensile T Stress
Limit
Failure Type Option list:
Gradual (Default)
Instantaneous

EFF_Pl_STN Effective Plastic Strain Yes No No
EFF_Pl_STN_RATE Effective Plastic Strain Rate Yes No No
PRESSURE Pressure Yes No No
DAMAGE Damage Yes No No
STATUS Material Status** Yes No No
PRES_BULK Dilation pressure Yes No No
ENERGY_DAM Damage energy contributing Yes No No
to bulking
**Material status indicators (1= elastic, 2= plastic, 3 = bulk failure, 4 = bulk failure, 5 = failed principal
direction 1, 6 = failed principal direction 2, 7 = failed direction 3)
7.8.5. Johnson-Holmquist Strength Segmented

Recent studies (Holmquist and Johnson 2002) have showed that gradual softening in the JH2 model
has not been supported by available experimental data yet while there are some indications that an
early variant of the model, known as JH1, may be more accurate. In the JH1 material model, material
strength is described by linear segments and the damage is always applied instantaneously.
Figure 7.6: Johnson-Holmquist Strength Segmented
Note
If the Bulking constant, B is greater than zero then the Johnson-Holmquist model should be
used in conjunction with a polynomial equation of state or linear elasticity.
Holmquist, T.J. & Johnson, G.R. (2002). Response of silicon carbide to high velocity impact.
Journal of Applied Physics, pp 5858-5866, Vol 91, No. 9, May 1, 2002.

Hugoniot Elastic Limit HEL Stress Elastic limit under
dynamic compressive
uniaxial strain conditions
Intact Strength Constant S1 S1 Stress
1
Intact Strength Constant P1 P Stress
Intact Strength Constant S2 S2 Stress
2
Intact Strength Constant P2 P Stress
Strain Rate Constant C C None
FMax
Maximum Fracture Strength S Stress
Failed Strength Constant None
Damage Constant D1 None
Damage Constant D2 None
Bulking Constant B None
Hydrodynamic Tensile Limit T Stress

Brittle/Granular

EFF_PL_STN_RATE Effective Plastic Strain Rate Yes No No
PRES_BULK Dilation pressure Yes No No
ENERGY_DAM Damage energy contributing Yes No No
to bulking
**Material status indicators (1 = elastic, 2 = plastic, 3 = bulk failure, 4 = bulk failure, 5 = failed principal
direction 1, 6 = failed principal direction 2, 7 = failed principal direction 3)
7.8.6. RHT Concrete Strength

The RHT concrete model is an advanced plasticity model for brittle materials developed by Riedal et al
[2], [3], [4]. It is particularly useful for modeling the dynamic loading of concrete. It can also be used for
other brittle materials such as rock and ceramic.
The RHT constitutive model is a combined plasticity and shear damage model in which the deviatoric
stress in the material is limited by a generalized failure surface of the form:
(7.3)
This failure surface can be used to represent the following aspects of the response of geological mater-
ials
Pressure hardening
Strain hardening
Strain rate hardening in tension and compression
Third invariant dependence for compressive and tensile meridians
Strain softening (shear induced damage)
Coupling of damage due to porous collapse
The model is modular in nature and is designed such that individual aspects of the material behavior
can be turned on and off. This gives the model significant practical usefulness. Further details of how
the model represents the various aspects of the material behavior are now presented.
Fracture surface
The fracture surface is represented through the expression
(7.4)
where fc' is the cylinder strength
AFAIL, NFAIL are user defined parameters
P* is pressure normalized with respect to fc'

Pspall* is the normalized hydrodynamic tensile limit
FRATE is a rate dependent enhancement factor
Additionally, there is an option to truncate the fracture surface to fit through the characteristic points
that can be observed experimentally at low pressures, while retaining the flexibility to match data at
high pressures. This feature is described in the figure below.
Figure 7.7: RHT Representation of Compressive Meridian
Tensile and Compressive Meridians

The RHT model can represent the difference between the compressive and tensile meridian in terms
of material strength using the third invariant dependence term (R3). This can be utilized to represent
the observed reduction in strength of concrete under triaxial extension, compared with triaxial compres-
sion. The third invariant dependence term is formulated using the expression
(7.5)
The input parameter Q2.0 defines the ratio of strength at zero pressure and the coefficient BQ defines
the rate at which the fracture surface transitions from approximately triangular in form to a circular
form with increasing pressure (Figure 7.8: Third invariant dependence (p. 179)).
Brittle/Granular
Figure 7.8: Third invariant dependence
Te nsile
meridian
Q 2 = 1.0
Compressive
meridian
Q 2 = 0.5
Strain Hardening
Strain hardening is represented in the model through the definition of an elastic limit surface and a
hardening slope. The elastic limit surface is scaled down from the fracture surface by user defined
ratios; (elastic strength/fc) and (elastic strength/ft). The pre-peak fracture surface is subsequently defined
through interpolation between the elastic and fracture surfaces using the hardening slope, .
This is shown in Figure 7.9: Bi-linear strain hardening function (p. 179) for the case of uniaxial compression.
where
Figure 7.9: Bi-linear strain hardening function
Shear Damage
Damage is assumed to accumulate due to inelastic deviatoric straining (shear induced cracking) using
the relationships
(7.6)
where D1 and D2 are material constants used to describe the effective strain to fracture as a function
of pressure. Damage accumulation can have two effects in the model
Strain softening (reduction in strength)
The current fracture surface (for a given level of damage) is scaled down from the intact surface using
the expression
(7.7)
where
(7.8)
The term Y XTC*SFMAX is used to limit the maximum residual shear strength (for completely damaged
material) to be a fraction (SFMAX) of the current fracture strength.
Reduction in shear stiffness
The current shear modulus is defined through the expression

(7.9)
Porous Collapse Damage

The model includes the option to include a cap to limit the elastic deviatoric stress under large com-
pressions. This effectively leads to the assumption that porous compaction results in a reduction in
deviatoric strength.
The final combination of elastic, fracture and residual failure surfaces is shown schematically below in
Figure 7.10: RHT Elastic, Fracture and Residual Failure Surfaces (p. 180).
Figure 7.10: RHT Elastic, Fracture and Residual Failure Surfaces
Strain Rate Effects

Strain rate effects are represented through increases in fracture strength with plastic strain rate. Two
different terms can be used for compression and tension with linear interpolation being used in the
intermediate pressure regime.
where
= 3e-6 in tension and 30e-6 in compression.
Brittle/Granular
Tensile Failure
By default, tensile failure is achieved using a hydrodynamic tensile limit. The maximum tensile pressure
in the material is limited to
(7.10)
Using this option, no additional user input is required since the value of Pmin is derived from ft, which
forms part of the input for the strength model.
Note that the principal tensile stress and crack softening failure properties may also be used in conjunc-
tion with this model.
Data for concrete with cube strengths of 35MPa and 140MPa are included in the distributed material
library.
The model is formulated such that input can be scaled with the cube strength, fc i.e. you can retrieve
one of the two concretes in the library, change its cube strength to match the concrete you want to
model and the remaining terms will automatically scale proportionately. The resulting data set will be
approximate and we recommend validation of the material data against experimental characterization
tests in all cases.
Note

Compressive Strength fc Stress
Tensile Strength ft/fc None
Shear Strength fs/fc None
Intact failure surface AFAIL None
constant A
Intact failure surface NFAIL None
exponent N
Tens./Comp. Meridian Q2.0 None
ratio
Brittle to Ductile BQ None
Transition
Hardening Slope None Gel/(Gel-Gpl)
Elastic Strength/ft None
Elastic Strength/fc None
Fracture Strength B None
Constant
Fracture Strength m None
Exponent
Compressive strain rate None
exponent

Tensile strain rate None
exponent
Maximum fracture SFMAX None
strength ratio
Use cap on elastic None Option:
surface
Yes (default)
No
Damage constant D1 D1 None
Damage constant D2 D2 None
Minimum strain to None
failure
Residual Shear modulus None
fraction

EFF_PL_STN_RATE Effective Plastic Strain Yes No No
Rate
**Material status indicators (1=elastic, 2= plastic, 3 = bulk failure, 4 = bulk failure, 5= failed principal
direction 1, 6= failed principal direction 2, 7 = failed principal direction 3)
7.8.7. MO Granular
This model is an extension of the Drucker-Prager model that takes into account effects associated with
granular materials such as powders, soil and sand. In addition to pressure hardening, the model also
represents density hardening and variations in the shear modulus with density.
The yield stress is made up of two components, one dependent on the density and one dependent on
the pressure,
where y, p and denote the total yield stress, the pressure yield stress and the density yield stress
respectively.
Equations of State
The unload/reload slope is defined by the shear modulus which is defined as a function of the zero
pressure density of the material.
Note
The yield stress is defined by a yield stress - pressure and a yield stress - density curve with
up to 10 points in each curve.
The shear modulus is defined by a shear modulus - density curve with up to 10 points.
All three curves must be defined.
This model can only be applied to solid bodies.

Yield Stress vs Pressure Stress Tabular data
Yield Stress vs Density Stress and Density Tabular data
Shear Modulus vs Density Stress and Density Tabular data

DENSITY Density Yes No No
7.9. Equations of State

Background information is discussed in this section along with available EOS models:
7.9.1. Background
7.9.2. Bulk Modulus
7.9.3. Shear Modulus
7.9.4. Ideal Gas EOS
7.9.5. Polynomial EOS
7.9.6. Shock EOS Linear
7.9.7. Shock EOS Bilinear
7.9.8. JWL EOS
7.9.1. Background
A general material model requires equations that relate stress to deformation and internal energy (or
temperature). In most cases, the stress tensor may be separated into a uniform hydrostatic pressure (all
three normal stresses equal) and a stress deviatoric tensor associated with the resistance of the material
to shear distortion.
Then the relation between the hydrostatic pressure, the local density (or specific volume) and local
specific energy (or temperature) is known as an equation of state.
Hooke's law is the simplest form of an equation of state and is implicitly assumed when you use linear
elastic material properties. Hooke's law is energy independent and is only valid if the material being
modeled undergoes relatively small changes in volume (less than approximately 2%). One of the altern-
ative equation of state properties should be used if the material is expected to experience high volume
changes during an analysis.
Before looking at the various equations of state available, it is good to understand some of the funda-
mental physics behind their formulations. Details are provided in Explicit Dynamics Analysis Guide (to
be published).
7.9.2. Bulk Modulus

Bulk Modulus A bulk modulus can be used to define a linear, energy independent equation of state.
Combined with a shear modulus property, this material definition is equivalent to using linear elasticity
i.e., Young's Modulus and Poisson's ratio.
7.9.3. Shear Modulus

Shear Modulus A shear modulus must be used when a solid or porous equation of state is selected
to fully define the elastic stiffness of a material. To represent fluids, specify a small value.
7.9.4. Ideal Gas EOS

One of the simplest forms of equation of state is that for an ideal polytropic gas which may be used in
many applications involving the motion of gases. This may be derived from the laws of Boyle and Gay-
Lussac and expressed in the form
This form of equation is known as the Ideal Gas equation of state and only the value of the adiabatic
exponent needs to be supplied.
In order to avoid complications with problems with multiple materials where initial small pressures in
the gas would generate small unwanted velocities the equation is modified for use in these cases
where pshift is a small initial pressure defined to give a zero starting pressure.
The definition of a non-zero adiabatic constant, c, will turn the energy dependent ideal gas equation
of state into the following energy independent adiabatic equation of state
Equations of State
Note
This equation of state can only be applied to solid bodies. A specific heat capacity should
be defined with this property to allow the calculation of temperature.

Adiabatic None
exponent
Adiabatic c None
constant
Pressure shift Pshift Pressure
This equation of state can only be used with solid elements. Custom results variables available for this
model:

COMPRESSION Compression Yes No No
INT_ENERGY Internal Energy Yes No No
TEMPERATURE Temperature Yes No No
7.9.5. Polynomial EOS

This is a general form of the Mie-Gruneisen form of the equation of state and it has different analytic
forms for states of compression and tension.
This equation of state defines the pressure as
> 0 (compression):
< 0 (tension)
where
= compression = /0-1
0 = solid, zero pressure density
e = internal energy per unit mass
A1, A2, A3, B0,, B1, T1 and T2 are material constants
If T1 is input as 0.0 it is reset to T1 = A1 in the solver.
The validity of this equation depends upon the ability to represent the variation of pressure at e = 0
(or some other reference curve) as a simple polynomial in of no more than three terms. This is probably
true as long as the range in density variation (and hence range in ) is not too large.
The Polynomial equation of state defines the Gruneisen parameter as
This allows a number of useful variants of the Gruneisen parameter to be described:
Note
This equation of state can only be used with solid elements.
The Poisson's ratio is assumed to be zero when calculating effective strain.
A specific heat capacity should be defined with this property to allow the calculation of
temperature.

Parameter A1 A1 Stress Often equivalent to the
material bulk modulus
Parameter A2 A2 Stress
Parameter A3 A3 Stress
Parameter B0 B0 None
Parameter B1 B1 None
Parameter T1 T1 Stress This value will be
automatically set to the
material bulk modulus
if entered as zero.
Parameter T2 T2 Stress

Equations of State

VISC_PRESSURE Viscous Pressure Yes No No
7.9.6. Shock EOS Linear

The Rankine-Hugoniot equations for the shock jump conditions can be regarded as defining a relation
between any pair of the variables (density), P (pressure), e (energy), up (particle velocity) and U (shock
velocity).
In many dynamic experiments making measurements of up and U it has been found that for most solids
and many liquids over a wide range of pressure there is an empirical linear relationship between these
two variables:
It is then convenient to establish a Mie-Gruneisen form of the equation of state based on the shock
Hugoniot:
where it is assumed that = 0 0 = constant and
Note that for s>1 this formulation gives a limiting value of the compression as the pressure tends to
infinity. The denominator of the first equation above becomes zero and the pressure therefore becomes
infinite for
1 (s-1)= 0
giving a maximum density of = s 0 (s-1). However, long before this regime is approached, the assump-
tion of constant is probably not valid. Furthermore, the assumption of linear variation between the
shock velocity U and the particle velocity up does not hold for too large a compression.
is known as the Gruneisen coefficient and is often approximated to ~2s-1 in the literature.
The Shock EOS linear model lets you optionally include a quadratic shock velocity, particle velocity re-
lation of the form:
The input parameter, S2, can be set to a non-zero value to better fit highly non-linear Us - up material
data.
Data for this equation of state can be found in various references and many of the materials in the ex-
plicit material library.
Note
This equation of state can only be applied to solid bodies.
temperature.

Gruneisen coefficient None
Parameter C1 C1 Velocity
Parameter S1 S1 None
Parameter Quadratic S2 S2 1/Velocity

7.9.7. Shock EOS Bilinear

This is an extension of the Shock EOS Linear property. At high shock strengths nonlinearity in the shock
velocity - particle velocity relationship is apparent, particularly for non-metallic materials. To account
for this nonlinearity, the input calls for the definition of two linear fits to the shock velocity - particle
velocity relationship; one at low shock compressions defined by Up > VB and one at high shock com-
pressions defined by Up < VE.
The region between VE and VB is covered by a smooth interpolation between the two linear relationships
as shown below.
Equations of State
Figure 7.11: Fit to Shock Velocity-Particle Velocity Relationship
In the input you are prompted for values of the parameters c1, c2, s1, s2, VE/Vo, VB/Vo, o and o. Then
Note
temperature.

Gruneisen coefficient None
Relative Volume VB/V0 VB/V0 None
Relative Volume VE/V0 VE/V0 None


7.9.8. JWL EOS

The JWL equation of state describes the detonation product expansion down to a pressure of 1 kbar
for high energy explosive materials and has been proposed by Jones, Wilkins and Lee according to the
following equation
, where 0 is the reference density, the density and = /0.
The values of the constants A, B, R1, R2 and for many common explosives have been determined
from dynamic experiments.
Figure 7.12: Pressure as function of density for the JWL equation of state
The standard JWL equation of state can be used in combination with an energy release extension
whereby additional energy is deposited over a user-defined time interval. Thermobaric explosives show
this behavior and produce more explosive energy than conventional high energy explosives through
combustion of inclusions, like aluminum, with atmospheric oxygen after detonation.
This option is activated when the additional specific energy is specified different from zero.
Equations of State
Burn on Compression
In this process the detonation wave is not predefined but the unburned explosive is initially treated
similarly to any other inert material. However, as an initiating shock travels through the unburned ex-
plosive and traverses elements within the explosive the compression of all explosive elements is mon-
itored. If and when the compression in a cell reaches a predefined value the chemical energy is allowed
to be released at a controlled rate.
Burn on compression may be defined in one of two ways:
Pre-burn bulk modulus KBK is zero. The elements start to release their energy when the element compression
exceeds a specified fraction of the Chapman-Jouguet compression:
> BCJCJ, where CJ = PCJ/(DCJ 2)
Pre-burn bulk modulus KBK is non zero. The elements start to release their energy when the element pressure
exceeds a specified fraction of the Chapman-Jouguet pressure:
P = KBK(/01) > BCJPCJ
The critical threshold compression and the release rate are parameters that must be chosen with care
in order to obtain realistic results. The burn on compression option may give unrealistic results for un-
confined regions of explosive since the material is free to expand at the time of initial shock arrival and
may not achieve sufficient compression to initiate energy release in a realistic time scale.
Typically, a burn logic based upon compression is more successful in Lagrangian computations rather
than Eulerian.
Note
The constants A, B, R1, R2 and should be considered as a set of interdependent parameters

and one constant cannot be changed unilaterally without considering the effect of this
change on the other parameters.
temperature.

Parameter A A Stress
Parameter B B Stress
Parameter R1 R1 None
Parameter R2 R2 None
Parameter None
C-J Detonation Velocity DCJ Velocity

C-J Energy/unit mass Energy/mass
C-J Pressure PCJ Stress Burn on compression logic
Burn on compression BCJ None Burn on compression logic
fraction
Pre-burn bulk modulus KBK Stress Burn on compression logic
Adiabatic constant None
Additional specific Energy/mass Additional energy release
internal energy/unit
mass
Begin Time Time Start time of additional energy
release
End Time Time End time of additional energy
release

BURN_FRAC Burn Fraction Yes No No
7.10. Porosity
The following Porosity models are discussed in this section:
7.10.1. Porosity-Crushable Foam
7.10.2. Compaction EOS Linear
7.10.3. Compaction EOS Non-Linear
7.10.4. P-alpha EOS
7.10.1. Porosity-Crushable Foam

This is a relatively simple strength model designed to represent the crush characteristics of foam mater-
ials under impact loading conditions (non-cyclic loading).
The model principal stress vs volumetric strain behavior is shown below.
Porosity
The strength model must be used with isotropic elasticity and the following incremental elastic update
of pressure and stress deviators is used.
where
The magnitude of the resulting principal stresses is compared against the allowable principal compaction
stress, for the current volumetric strain. If the principal stress exceeds the maximum allowable, it is re-
duced to the allowable value. If the tentative principal stress (denoted by an asterisk) exceeds the
maximum allowable principal compaction stress, it is scaled down to this limit. A negative tentative
principal stress exceeding the maximum is scaled down to the negative value of the limit.
After scaling back of the principal stresses they are transformed back to the global system to give the
final stress update. Note that the return of the principal stress back to the compaction stress is performed
independently in each of the principal directions, implying zero plastic Poisson's ratio.
The compaction curve can be defined as a piecewise linear principal stress vs volumetric strain curve.
The volumetric strain is defined as the natural log of the volume ratio, where V0 is the original volume
and V is the current volume.
In tension, the model additionally includes the possibility to apply a tension cut-off to the maximum
allowable principal tensile stress. If the tensile stress exceeds this value, it is maintained at this value.
The model cannot currently be used with other failure properties.
Note
This property must be used in combination with isotropic elasticity.
The property can only be applied to solid bodies.
Note that the plastic strain variable is used to store the inelastic volumetric strain for this
porosity model.

Maximum Principal Stress vs Stress and strain Tabular data
Volumetric Strain
Maximum Tensile Stress Stress

Porous Materials
Porous materials are extremely effective in attenuating shocks and mitigating impact pressures. The
material compacts to its solid density at relatively low stress levels but, because the volume change is
relatively large, a large amount of energy is irreversibly absorbed thereby attenuating shocks by
lengthening the wave in time and reducing it in amplitude as more material is compacted.
Cellular porous materials contain a population of microscopic cells separated by cell walls. When stressed
the initial elastic compression is assumed to be due to elastic buckling of the cell walls and the plastic
flow to be due to plastic deformation of these cell walls. Materials with low initial porosity has fewer
cells and thicker cell walls so that the stress required to cause buckling and subsequent deformation
of the cell walls will be greater.
Once some plastic flow has taken place, even if the fully compacted density hasn't been reached, un-
loading to zero stress and reloading to the elastic limit will be elastic. This phenomenological behavior
is illustrated in the following figure.
Porosity
Figure 7.13: Loading-Unloading Behavior for a Porous Solid

pressure
Plastic compaction
Elastic Fully
loading compacted
Elastic
unloading
(variable slope)
density
7.10.2. Compaction EOS Linear

The response of porous materials is represented via
A plastic compaction path defined as a piecewise linear function of pressure versus density
The elastic unloading/reloading path defined via a piecewise linear function of sound speed versus density.
The use of a fixed compaction path (which may be derived from static compression data, either in its
original state or arbitrarily enhanced to model dynamic data) is equivalent to using a Mie-Gruneisen
equation of state with an assumed value of zero for the Gruneisen Gamma. This ignores the pressure
enhancement due to the energy absorption.
The elastic bulk stiffness of the material is defined as a piecewise linear curve of sound speed (c) versus
density (o). The bulk stiffness of the material is given by
The level of compaction in the material is given by
Initially, o will be equal to the value defined in the density property of the material. Material property
s is the solid zero pressure density of the material and corresponds to the fully compacted material
density. For a porous material the initial density will be less than the solid density hence the value of
will be greater than 1.0. As compaction takes place, will reduce to a value of 1.0 for the fully com-
pacted state.
Note
It is important when using the model to ensure that the input data is such that the elastic
loading line from the initial porous density intersects the plastic compaction curve at the
intended position.
This property must be used in combination with a shear modulus to define the total elastic
stiffness of the material.
The input data for the porous model is as follows:

Solid Density s Density at zero pressure for fully compacted
material
Compaction Curve Tabular data of compaction pressure against
density
Linear Unloading Curve Tabular data of sound speed against density

ALPHA Porosity (Alpha) Yes No No
7.10.3. Compaction EOS Non-Linear

This property is an extension of the Compaction EOS linear property and can provide a more accurate
representation of non-linearity when unloading a porous material.
The response of porous materials is represented via
A plastic compaction path defined as a piecewise linear function of pressure versus density
The non-linear unloading defined by means of a piecewise curve of bulk modulus versus density
For the non-linear unloading, if the current pressure is less than the current compaction pressure, the
pressure is defined by
This produces a nonlinear unloading pattern, an example of which is shown below:
Porosity
Note
It is important when using the model to ensure that the input data is such that the elastic
loading line from the initial porous density intersects the plastic compaction curve at the
intended position.
The input data for the porous model is as follows:

Solid Density s Density at zero pressure for fully compacted
material
Compaction Curve Tabular data of compaction pressure against density
Nonlinear Unloading Tabular data of bulk modulus against density
Curve


7.10.4. P-alpha EOS

Although the compaction models give good results for low stress levels and low materials, it is very
desirable to obtain a single formulation for the modeling of a porous material which gives a good
representation over a wide stress range and variety of materials.
Such a model has been derived by Hermann (1969) [5] and this is available in explicit dynamics.
Hermann's P-alpha model uses a phenomenological approach to devising a representation which gives
the correct behavior at high stresses but at the same time provides a reasonably detailed description
of the compaction process at low stress levels.
The principal assumption is that the specific internal energy is the same for a porous material as for
the same material at solid density at identical conditions of pressure and temperature. Then the
porosity, , is given by
(7.11)
where v is the specific volume of the porous material and vs is the specific volume of the material in
the solid state and at the same pressure and temperature (note that vs is only equal to 1/solid at zero
pressure). becomes unity when the material compacts to a solid. If the equation of state of the solid
material, neglecting shear strength effects, is given by
(7.12)
then the equation of state of the porous material is simply

(7.13)
This function can be any of the equations of state which describe the compressed state of material, i.e.,
Linear, Polynomial and Shock, but not those describing the expanded state.
In order to complete the material description the porosity must be specified as a function of the
thermodynamic state of the material, say,
(7.14)
There is not enough data usually available to determine the function g(p,e) completely but fortunately
most problems of interest involve shock compaction of the porous material, i.e. the region of interest
lies on or near the Hugoniot. On the Hugoniot, pressure and internal energy are related by the Rankine-
Hugoniot conditions so therefore along the Hugoniot equation Equation 7.14 (p. 198) can be expressed
as
(7.15)
with the variation with energy implicitly assumed. It is assumed this equation Equation 7.15 (p. 198) re-
mains valid in the neighborhood of the Hugoniot (tacitly assuming that the compaction strength is in-
sensitive to the small changes in temperature in extrapolating small distances from the Hugoniot).
The general behavior of the compacting porous material has been described earlier and the P- model
is constructed to reproduce this behavior. The P- variation to provide this performance is shown
Porosity
schematically in the figure below. The material deforms elastically up to onset of plastic compaction,
p, and subsequent deformation is plastic until the material is fully compacted at a pressure ps.
Intermediate unloading and reloading is elastic up to the plastic loading curve.
The choice of a suitable function g(p) is somewhat arbitrary as long as it satisfies certain simple analytic
properties enumerated by Herrmann in his original paper, and several forms have been used by different
researchers. A simple form (Butcher & Karnes 1968) [6] found adequate for porous iron is a quadratic
form, but cubic and exponential forms have also been proposed and the parameters adjusted to fit
experimental data.
The following choices for the plastic compaction curve are available:
Standard
This is the default option, whereby the plastic compaction curve is defined by the solid compaction
pressure, ps, at full compaction, the initial compaction pressure, pe, at porous compaction, i, and the
compaction exponent n.
Alpha Plastic (AUTODYN component system only)

The plastic compaction curve is defined by the solid compaction pressure, ps, at full compaction, the
initial compaction pressure, pe, at the onset of plastic compaction, p, and the compaction exponent
n.
Carroll & Holt (1972) [7] modified the equation of state of the porous material to give
(7.16)
Failure
where the factor 1/ was included to allow for their argument that the pressure in the porous material
is more nearly 1/ times the average pressure in the matrix material. It is this form of the model that
is available in explicit dynamics.
Note
The solid equation of state must be defined using one of the following properties
Bulk modulus
Polynomial EOS
Shock EOS Linear
Shock EOS Bilinear

Solid Density solid Density
Porous Soundspeed Velocity
Initial Compaction Pressure Pe Stress
Solid Compaction Pressure Ps Stress
Compaction Exponent n None

7.11. Failure
Background
Materials are not able to withstand tensile stresses which exceed the material's local tensile strength.
The computation of the dynamic motion of materials assuming that they always remain continuous,
even if the predicted local stresses reach very large values, will lead to unphysical solutions.
A model has to be constructed to recognize when tensile limits are reached to modify the computation
to deal with this and to describe the properties of the material after this formulation has been applied.
Several different modes of failure initiation can be represented in the explicit dynamics system.
Element failure in the explicit dynamics system has two components:
Failure initiation
A number of mechanisms are available to initiate failure in a material (see properties Plastic Strain
Failure, Principal Stress Failure, Principal Strain Failure, Tensile Pressure Failure, Johnson-Cook Failure,
Grady Spall Failure). When specified criteria are met within an element, a post failure response is activated.
Failure initiation can be identified in the model via the custom result MAT_STATUS. The following key
is used.
MAT_STATUS Meaning
1 Material is currently undergoing elastic deformation, or no deformation
2 The plastic strain in the material increased during the last time increment
3 The material has failed due to isotropic (bulk) criteria
4 The material has failed due to isotropic (bulk) criteria
5 The material has failed in tension due to principal value 1
Post failure response

After failure initiation in an element, the subsequent strength characteristics of the element will change
depending on the type of failure model
Instantaneous Failure
Upon failure initiation, the element deviatoric stress will be immediately set to zero and retained at
this level. Subsequently, the element will only be able to support compressive pressures.
Gradual Failure (Damage)
After failure initiation, the element stress is limited by a damage evolution law. Usually this results
in a gradual reduction in an elements capability to carry deviatoric and/or pressure stresses.
By default, tensile failure models will produce an instantaneous post failure response. Inserting the crack
softening failure property, in addition to other failure initiation properties results in a gradual failure
response.
The following Failure models are discussed in this section:

7.11.1. Plastic Strain Failure
7.11.2. Principal Stress Failure
7.11.3. Principal Strain Failure
7.11.4. Stochastic Failure
7.11.5.Tensile Pressure Failure
7.11.6. Crack Softening Failure
7.11.7. Johnson-Cook Failure
7.11.8. Grady Spall Failure
Failure
7.11.1. Plastic Strain Failure

Plastic strain failure can be used to model ductile failure in materials. Failure initiation is based on the
effective plastic strain in the material. The user inputs a maximum plastic strain value.
If the material effective plastic strain is greater than the user defined maximum, failure initiation occurs.
The material instantaneously fails.
Note
This failure model must be used in conjunction with a plasticity or brittle strength model.

max
Maximum Equivalent Plastic Strain Epl None Input data > zero

EFF_PL_STN Effective Plastic Strain Yes Yes Yes
**Material status indicators (1 = elastic, 2 = plastic, 3 = bulk failure, 4= bulk failure, 5 = failed principal
direction1, 6 = failed principal direction 2, 7 = failed principal direction 3)
7.11.2. Principal Stress Failure

Principal stress failure can be used to represent brittle failure in materials.
Failure initiation is based on one of two criteria
Maximum principal tensile stress
Maximum shear stress (derived from the maximum difference in the principal stresses)
Failure is initiated when either of the above criteria is met. The material instantaneously fails.
If this model is used in conjunction with a plasticity model, it is often recommended to deactivate the
Maximum Shear stress criteria by specifying a large value. In this case the shear response will be handled
by the plasticity model.
Note
The crack softening failure property can be combined with this property to invoke fracture
energy based softening.

Maximum Tensile Stress Stress User must input a
positive value.
Default = +1e+20

Maximum Shear Stress Stress User must input a
positive value.
Default = +1e+20

7.11.3. Principal Strain Failure

Principal strain failure can be used to represent brittle or ductile failure in materials.
Failure initiation is based on one of two criteria
Maximum principal tensile strain
Maximum shear strain (derived from the maximum difference in the principal strains)
Failure is initiated when either of the above criteria is met. The material instantaneously fails.
If this model is used in conjunction with a plasticity model, it is often recommended to deactivate the
maximum shear strain criteria by specifying a large value. In this case the shear response will be treated
by the plasticity model.
Note

Maximum Principal Strain None User must input a
positive value. Default =
+1e+20
Maximum Shear Strain None User must input a
positive value. Default =
+1e+20

Failure
7.11.4. Stochastic Failure

To model fragmentation for symmetric loading and geometry it is necessary to impose some material
heterogeneity. Real materials have inherent microscopic flaws, which cause failures and cracking to
initiate. An approach to reproducing this numerically is to randomize the failure stress or strain for the
material. Using this property, a Mott distribution is used to define the variance in failure stress or strain.
Each element is allocated a value, determined by the Mott distribution, where a value of one is equivalent
to the failure stress or strain of the material.
The Mott distribution takes the form
where
P is the probability of fracture

is the strain
C and are material constants
For the implementation in explicit dynamics, the fracture value of 1 is forced to be at a probability of
50%, therefore the user needs only specify a gamma value and the constant C is derived from this.
Figure 7.14: Mott Distribution for Varying Values of Gamma
The stochastic failure option may be used in conjunction with many of the failure properties, including
hydro (Pmin), plastic strain, principal stress and/or strain. It can also be used in conjunction with the
RHT concrete model.
You must specify a value of the stochastic variance, , and also the distribution seed type. If the random
option is selected every time a simulation is performed a new distribution will be calculated. If the
fixed option is selected the same distribution will be used for each solve. However, this fixed distribution
may also change when the model is run in one release compared to when it is run in a later release

Distribution Type Option List:
Random
Fixed (default)
Stochastic Variance None
Minimum Fail Fraction None Default = 0.1

STOCH_FACT Stochastic Factor Yes No No
7.11.5. Tensile Pressure Failure

The tensile pressure failure model allows a maximum hydrodynamic tensile limit to be specified. This
is used to represent a dynamic spall (or cavitation) strength of the material. The algorithm simply limits
the maximum tensile pressure in the material as
If the material pressure P becomes less than the defined maximum tensile pressure, failure initiation
occurs. The material instantaneously fails.
If the material definition contains a damage evolution law, the user defined maximum tensile pressure
is scaled down as the damage increases from 0.0 to 1.0.
Note

Maximum Tensile Pressure Stress User must input a
negative value. Default =
1e+20
Failure

7.11.6. Crack Softening Failure

The tensile crack softening model is fracture energy based damage model which can be used with
many different types of failure initiation models to provide a gradual reduction in the ability of an element
to carry tensile stress. The model is primarily used for investigating failure of brittle materials, but has
been applied to other materials to reduce mesh dependency effects.
Failure initiation is based on any of the standard tensile failure models. e.g., Hydro, Principal Stress/Strain
On failure initiation, the current maximum principal tensile stress in the element is stored (custom result
FAIL.STRES)
A linear softening slope (custom result SOFT.SLOPE) is then defined to reduce the maximum possible prin-
cipal tensile stress in the material as a function of crack strain. This softening slope is defined as a function
of the local element size and a material parameter, the fracture energy Gf.
Lf t2
Slope =
2G f
Area = G f /L
Total Frac ture
The extent of damage in a material can be inspected by using the custom result DAMAGE. The
damage is defined to be 0.0 for an intact element and 1.0 for a fully failed element.
After failure initiation, a maximum principal tensile stress failure surface is defined to limit the maximum
principal tensile stress in the element and a flow rule is used to return to this surface and accumulate the
crack strain
There are currently three options in relation to the crack softening plastic return algorithm:
Radial Return Non-associative in and meridian planes
No-Bulking Associative in plane only (Default)
Bulking Associative in and meridian planes
The default setting has been selected based on practical experiences of using the model to simulate
impacts onto brittle materials such as glass, ceramics, and concrete.
The recompression behavior after crack softening and failure can be modified. When one of the failure cri-
teria (for instance principal stress, hydro (Pmin), or RHT concrete) has been set and Crack Softening is set
to Yes, the Onset Compression after failure option can be used to change the compression criterion at
which pressure can build up again in failed elements.
The effects of different values in this field are as follows:
Onset compression = 0.0 (default) Pressure can only build up if the material is in compression.
Onset compression < 0 For large negative values, the material will be able to immediately build up
pressure after tensional failure when fractured material resists compression. For real-world applications,
you should determine a value for this field which is less than or equal to zero and appropriate for the
material in the analysis.
The crack softening algorithm can only be used with solid elements. It can be used in combination with
any solid equation of state, plasticity model or brittle strength model.
When used in conjunction with a plasticity/brittle strength model, the return algorithm will return to
the surface giving the minimum resulting effective stress, J2.
Meridian Plane
Trial Elastic Stresses
Rankine Failure
Surface
J2
Associate flow
in Meridional Yield Surface (Strength Model)
Plane(Option)
Non-associative flow-in
Meridional Plane (Default)
Pressure
Rankine Plasticity Yielding

(Te nsile Cracking)
Failure
- space
Note

Fracture Energy Gf Energy/Area
Flow rule Option List:
Radial Return
No Bulking (Default)
Bulking (Associative)

DAMAGE Current damage level Yes No No
FAIL.STRES Principal tensile failure Yes No No
stress
SOFT.SLOPE Softening slope Yes No No
7.11.7. Johnson-Cook Failure

The Johnson-Cook failure model can be used to model ductile failure of materials experiencing large
pressures, strain rates and temperatures.
This model is constructed in a similar way to the Johnson-Cook plasticity model in that it consists of
three independent terms that define the dynamic fracture strain as a function of pressure, strain rate
and temperature:
The ratio of the incremental effective plastic strain and effective fracture strain for the element conditions
is incremented and stored in custom results variable, DAMAGE. The material is assumed to be intact
until DAMAGE = 1.0. At this point failure is initiated in the element. An instantaneous post failure response
is used.
Note

Melting Temperature Temperature

7.11.8. Grady Spall Failure

The Grady Spall model can be used to model dynamic spallation of metals under shock loading. The
critical spall stress for a ductile material can be calculated according to:
where:
is the density
c is the bulk sound speed
Y is the yield stress at EPS = 0
Strength
cis a critical strain value, usually set to 0.15
This critical spall stress is calculated for each element in the model at each time step and compared
with local maximum principal tensile stress. If the maximum element principal tensile stress exceeds
the critical spall stress, instantaneous failure of the element is initiated.
A typical value for the critical strain is 0.15 for aluminum.
Note
The property can only be applied to Lagrangian solid bodies.
The property must be used in conjunction with a plasticity model.

Critical Strain c None
Value

STATUS Material Status Yes No No
7.12. Strength
The following table summarizes the applicable strength-limit constants for each failure criterion:
Strength Limit Orthotropic Orthotropic Tsai-Wu

Constant Stress Limit Strain Limit Constants
Tensile Y Y Y
X-Direction
Tensile Y Y Y
Y-Direction
Tensile Y Y
Z-Direction
Compressive X Y
Compressive Y Y
Compressive Z
Shear XY Y Y Y
Shear YZ Y Y
Shear XZ Y Y
Coupling
Coefficient XY
Coupling
Coefficient YZ
Coupling
Coefficient XZ
Tsai-Wu Constants must be used in conjunction with Orthotropic Stress Limit. Tsai-Wu Constants used
in conjunction with Orthotropic Strain Limit are not supported.
The TSai-Wu coefficients are always reset to -1 in an Explicit solve. The Tsai-Wu Constants property
changes how the Explicit Dynamics solver uses the data from the Orthotropic Stress Limit property.
Without the Tsai-Wu Constants property, the Explicit Dynamics solver uses all three tensile stress and
all three shear stress constants from the Orthotropic Stress Limit. With the Tsai-Wu Constants property,
the Explicit Dynamics solver uses the tensile and compressive stress constants in the X and Y direction
only (not Z) and the XY shear stress constant (not YZ and XZ shears).
7.13. Thermal Specific Heat

Specific heat is the amount of heat per mass required to raise the temperature of a material.

TEMPERATURE Temperature Yes Yes Yes
7.14. Rigid Materials

Rigid materials can be modeled in an explicit dynamics system by selecting geometry, Stiffness beha-
vior = rigid on a body. In such cases only the density property of the material associated with the body
will be used.
For explicit dynamics systems all rigid bodies must be discretized with a full mesh. This will be specified
by default for the explicit meshing physics preference.
The mass and inertia of the rigid body will be derived from the elements and material density for each
body.
By default, a kinematic rigid body is defined in explicit dynamics and its motion will depend on the
resultant forces and moments applied to it through interaction with other parts of the model. Elements
filled with rigid materials can interact with other regions via contact.
Constraints can only be applied to an entire rigid body. For example, a fixed displacement cannot be
applied to one edge of a rigid body; it must be applied to the whole body.
7.15. References
The following references are cited in this appendix:
1. Johnson G. R. & Holmquist T. J. (1993). An Improved Computational Constitutive Model for Brittle Materials,
Joint AIRA/APS Conference, Colorado Springs, Colorado, June 1993.
References
2. Riedel W., Thoma K., Hiermaier S., Schmolinske E.: Penetration of Reinforced Concrete by BETA-B-500, Nu-
merical Analysis using a New Macroscopic Concrete Model for Hydrocodes. Proc. (CD-ROM) 9. Internationales
Symposium, Interaction of the Effects of Munitions with Structures, Berlin Strausberg, 03.-07. Mai 1999, pp
315 - 322
3. W. Riedel, Beton unter dynamischen Lasten: Meso- und makromechanische Modelle und ihre Parameter,
Ed.: Fraunhofer-Institut fr Kurzzeitdynamik, Ernst-Mach-Institut EMI, Freiburg/Brsg., Fraunhofer IRB Verlag
2004, ISBN 3-8167-6340-5, http://www.irbdirekt.de/irbbuch/
4. Werner Riedel, Nobuaki Kawai and Ken-ichi Kondo, Numerical Assessment for Impact Strength Measurements
in Concrete Materials, International Journal of Impact Engineering 36 (2009), pp. 283-293 DOI information:
10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2007.12.012
5. Herrmann, W (1969).Constitutive Equation for the Dynamic Compaction of Ductile Porous Materials, J.
Appl. Phys., 40, 6, pp 2490-2499, May 1969
6. Butcher, B M, & Karnes, C H (1968). Sandia Labs. Res Rep. SC-RR-67-3040, Sandia Laboratory, Albuquerque,
NM, April 1968
7. Carroll, M M, & Holt, A C (1972).Static and Dynamic Pore Collapse Relations for Ductile Porous Materials.
J. Appl.Phys., 43, 4, pp1626 et seq., 1972
Chapter 8: Using Workbench LS-DYNA for an Explicit Dynamics
Analysis
The Workbench LS-DYNA ACT extension allows you to run an explicit dynamics analysis for your model
using the LS-DYNA solver.
This chapter describes the following:

8.1. How to Load Workbench LS-DYNA
8.2. How to use Workbench LS-DYNA
8.3. LS-DYNA Keywords used by Workbench LS-DYNA
8.4. Supported LS-DYNA Keywords
8.5. LS-DYNA General Descriptions
8.1. How to Load Workbench LS-DYNA

The Workbench LS-DYNA ACT extension is included in the ANSYS product but must be loaded into
Workbench. To do so:
1. Start Workbench.
2. Select Extensions Manage Extensions...
3. In the Extensions Manager window, select the check box next to LSDYNA, then click Close.
8.2. How to use Workbench LS-DYNA

Once you load the extension, a Workbench LS-DYNA section appears in the project Toolbox. To run
an LS-DYNA analysis, expand the Workbench LS-DYNA section in the toolbox. You will see the Workbench
LS-DYNA template. You can now drag the template into a project and set up and run your model as
usual. The Workbench LS-DYNA extension will create an LS-DYNA "keyword" (.k) file that contains all
the necessary information to carry out the analysis, and will run the LS-DYNA solver using that file.
Please see the following documents for more information about setting up and running a Workbench
LS-DYNA analysis:
Explicit Dynamics Workflow (p. 3)
ANSYS Workbench LS-DYNA Documentation
The created keyword file follows the same format as the one exported by the respective Mechanical
APDL application. All the LS-DYNA keywords are implemented according to the LS_DYNA Keyword Users
Manual version 971.
All the LS-DYNA keywords that can currently be exported are described in detail in Supported LS-DYNA
Keywords (p. 216). Any parameters that are not shown for a card are not used, and their default values
will be assigned for them by the LS-DYNA solver. Some descriptions of Workbench features that do not
relate directly to keywords are given in LS-DYNA General Descriptions (p. 245).
Using Workbench LS-DYNA for an Explicit Dynamics Analysis
When using Commands objects with Workbench LS-DYNA, be aware of the following:
Keyword cards read from Commands object content (renamed to Keyword Snippets for Workbench LS-
DYNA) should not have any trailing empty lines if they are not intentional. This is because some keywords
have more than one mandatory card that can be entered as blank lines, in which case the default values for
the card will be used. Therefore, trailing blank lines should be used only if intended; otherwise they may
cause solver execution errors.
The first entry in the Commands object content must be a command name which is preceded by the *
symbol.
Refer to LS-DYNA General Descriptions (p. 245) for information about ID numbers entered in Commands
object content.
8.3. LS-DYNA Keywords used by Workbench LS-DYNA

Documentation describing the set of LS-DYNA keywords used by Workbench LS-DYNA can be found
on the ANSYS Workbench LS-DYNA Documentation page.
8.4. Supported LS-DYNA Keywords

This section shows all LS-DYNA supported keywords and their syntax. This applies to supported keywords
for resumed projects that used the LS-DYNA (Export) system. The keyword file follows the same format
as the corresponding Mechanical APDL application. Keywords conform to the "LS_DYNA Keyword User's
Manual" versions 970 and 971 (version 971 has particular features for the handling of beam cross section
and integration options).
Each keyword consists of one or more cards, each with one of more parameters. If a parameter is not
shown, it will be assigned default values by the LS-DYNA solver. In addition some descriptions to
Workbench features that do not relate directly to keywords are given at the end of this section, entitled
General Descriptions.
*BOUNDARY_NON_REFLECTING
Specifies impedance boundaries. Impedance boundaries can only be applied on solid elements in LS-
DYNA.
Card
SSID = ID of segment on whose nodes the boundary is applied (see *SET_SEGMENT bellow).
AD = 0.0 (default) for setting the activation flag for dilatational waves to on.
AS = 0.0 (default) for setting the activation flag for shear waves to on.
*BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION_NODE_ID
See *BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION_SET
*BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION_RIGID_ID
See *BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION_SET
Supported LS-DYNA Keywords
*BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION_SET_ID
Specifies velocity and displacement boundary conditions.
Card required for keyword option ID.
ID = ID of the prescribed motion keyword. This parameter is optional and does not have to be unique. An
index number is added.
HEADING = Name of the specific boundary condition data. The name is taken from the caption of the applied
velocity or displacement in the tree outline of the Mechanical application.
Card1
ID = ID of set of nodes or part (for rigid bodies) to which the boundary condition is applied.
DOF = 1, 2 or 3 depending whether the boundary condition is in the x, y or z direction respectively. Setting
4 is used if the boundary is applied according to a local coordinate system.
VAD = 0 or 2 depending whether the boundary condition is velocity or displacement.
LCID = ID of the curve prescribing the magnitude of the boundary condition. Constant values of velocity
are applied as a step function from time = 0. Constant values of displacement are ramped from zero at time
= 0 to the constant value at termination time. This is done to make sure that displacements are applied in
a transient fashion.
SF = 1.0 (default) scale factor for load curve.
VID = 0 (default). ID of vector that defines the local coordinate system the boundary condition is applied
with.
DEATH = 0.0 (default), sets it to 1E28.
BIRTH = 0, the motion is applied from the beginning of the solution.
Card2: not required.
*BOUNDARY_SPC_SET
Specifies Fixed Support, Simple Support and Fixed Rotation constraints.
Card
NSID = ID of set of nodes to which the boundary is applied.
CID = ID of the associated coordinate system. 0 specifies the global coordinate system.
DOFX = 0 or 1 for free or fixed translation, respectively, along the x direction. It is set to 0 for Fixed Rotation
and to 1 otherwise.
DOFY = 0 or 1 for free or fixed translation, respectively, along the y direction. It is set to 0 for Fixed Rotation
and to 1 otherwise.
DOFZ = 0 or 1 for free or fixed translation, respectively, along the z direction. It is set to 0 for Fixed Rotation
and to 1 otherwise.
DOFRX = 0 or 1 for free or fixed translation, respectively, along the x direction. It is set to 0 for Simple Support
and to 1 otherwise.
DOFRY = 0 or 1 for free or fixed translation, respectively, along the y direction. It is set to 0 for Simple Support
and to 1 otherwise.
DOFRZ = 0 or 1 for free or fixed translation, respectively, along the z direction. It is set to 0 for Simple Support
and to 1 otherwise.
*CONSTRAINED_RIGID_BODIES
Specifies rigid bodies to be merged into one part. The resulting Part ID matches the ID of the rigid body
designated as the master.
This keyword is created for rigid bodies which belong to the same multibody part. By constraining the
rigid bodies together using a single multibody part you avoid specifying conflicting motion on the
nodes shared among the rigid bodies. All boundary conditions applied to the master body will also be
applied to all the slaves. Any boundary conditions that were applied to the slaves will be ignored.
The body that is selected to be master is the first one that appears in the multibody-part list.
Card
PIDM = ID of the master rigid body.
PIDS = ID of the slave rigid body.
*CONSTRAINED_SPOTWELD
Specifies spot welds between non-contiguous nodal pairs of shell elements. This keyword is created
when a spot weld contact is defined in the Mechanical application.
Card
N1 = ID of the first node used in the weld.
N2 = ID of the second node present in the weld.
SN = Normal force at weld failure.
SS = Shear force at weld failure.
N = Exponent of normal force.
M = Exponent of shear force.
*CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_GENERAL
Specifies friction or frictionless contacts between line bodies (beams). This keyword is created if the
contact is specified using Body Interactions and the geometry contains line bodies.
All the parameter cards are the same as in *CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_SINGLE_SURFACE.
*CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_NODES_TO_SURFACE
Specifies nodes-to-surface friction or frictionless contacts. This keyword is created if the contact is specified
using a Contact Region and the Behavior is set to Asymmetric.
Card1 - mandatory
SSID = ID for the set of slave nodes involved in the contact.
MSID = ID for the set of master segments involved in the contact.
SSTYP = 4, the slave entities for the contact are nodes.
MSTYP = 0, the master entities for the contact are segments.
SBOXID, MBOXID, SPR and MPR are the same as in *CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_SINGLE_SURFACE.
Parameter Card2 and Card3 is the same as in *CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_SINGLE_SURFACE.
*CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_SINGLE_SURFACE
Specifies friction or frictionless contacts between parts. This keyword is created if the contact is specified
using Body Interactions.
Card1 - mandatory
SSID = ID for the set of parts created for the bodies in the Body Interaction. If the contact is applied to all
the bodies in the geometry then this parameter is set to 0.
MSID = 0.
SSTYP =2, the slave entities are parts. If the contact is applied to all the bodies in the geometry then this
parameter is set to 5.
MSTYP = 2, the master entities are parts. If the contact is applied to all the bodies in the geometry then this
parameter is set to 0.
SBOXID = It is not used, will be left blank.
MBOXID = It is not used, will be left blank.
SPR = 1 (constant) requests that forces on the slave side of the contact be included in the results files NCFORC
(ASCII) and INTFOR (binary). These two results files are not currently specified in the exported K file and are
not created. The user will need to manually specify the *DATABASE_NCFORC and *DATABASE_BINARY_INTFOR
keywords to obtain them.
MPR = 1 (constant) requests that forces on the master side of the contact be included in the results files
NCFORC (ASCII) and INTFOR (binary). These two results files are not currently specified in the exported K file
and are not created. The user will need to manually specify the *DATABASE_NCFORC and *DATABASE_BIN-
ARY_INTFOR keywords to obtain them.
Card2 - mandatory
FS = Friction Coefficient value from the inputs for frictional contact.
FD = Dynamic Coefficient value from the inputs for frictional contact.
DC = Decay Constant value from the inputs for frictional contact.
VC = 0 (LS-DYNA default).
VDC = 10 (constant). This parameter specifies the percentage of the critical viscous damping coefficient to
be used in order to avoid undesirable oscillation in the contact.
Card3 - mandatory, left blank for defaults to be used.
Card A is the same as for *CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE.
*CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE
Defines specific surface-to-surface friction or frictionless contacts. This keyword is created if the contact
is specified using a Contact Region and the Behavior is set to Symmetric.
Card1 - mandatory
SSID = ID for the set of slave segments involved in the contact.
MSID = ID for the set of master segments involved in the contact.
SSTYP = 0, the slave entities for the contact are segments.
MSTYP = 0, the master entities for the contact are segments.
Parameter Card2 and Card3 are the same as in *CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_SINGLE_SURFACE.
Card A
SOFT = 2 except for asymmetric contacts like NODES_TO_SURFACE and unbreakable bonded contacts for
which it is set to 1.
SOFSCL = left blank, the default value of 0.1 will be used. This scale factor is used to determine the stiffness
of the interface when SOFT is set to 1. For SOFT = 2 scale factor SLSFAC (see *CONTROL_CONTACT) is used
instead.
LCIDAB = left blank.
MAXPAR= left blank.
SBOPT = 3.
DEPTH = 5.
*CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE_TIEBREAK
Specifies breakable symmetric bonded contacts. This keyword is created for Bonded contact when the
Breakable option is set to Stress Criteria and the contact Behavior is set to Symmetric.
Card 1 is the same as in *CONTACT_TIED_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE_OFFSET.
Card2 - mandatory
FS = Normal Stress Limit value for the bonded contact.
FD = Shear Stress Limit value for the bonded contact.
DC = 0 (LS-DYNA default). This parameter is not required for bonded contacts.
VC and VDC are the same as in *CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_SINGLE_SURFACE.
Card3 - mandatory, is left blank.
*CONTACT_ONEWAY_AUTOMATIC_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE_TIEBREAK
Specifies breakable asymmetric bonded contacts. This keyword is created for Bonded contact when
the Breakable option is set to Stress Criteria and the contact Behavior is set to Asymmetric.
Parameter cards are the same as in *CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE_TIEBREAK.
Card A is not used for this keyword.
*CONTACT_TIED_NODES_TO_SURFACE_OFFSET
Specifies non breakable asymmetric bonded contacts. This keyword is created for Bonded contacts that
are not designated as Breakable whose Behavior is set to Asymmetric. This keyword is not used for
Body Interactions as these types of contacts are always symmetric.
Card1 - mandatory
SSID = ID for the set of slave nodes involved in the contact.
MSID = ID for the set of master segment or for the set of parts involved in the contact.
SSTYP = 4. SSID indicates the ID for a set of nodes.
MSTYP = 0, MSID indicates the ID for a set of segments.
Card 2 left blank.
Card 3
SFS = left blank, the default value of 1.0 will be used. Default slave penalty stiffness scale factor for SLSFAC
(see *CONTROL_CONTACT).
SFM= left blank, the default value of 1.0 will be used. Default master penalty stiffness scale factor for SLSFAC
(see *CONTROL_CONTACT).
SST = the negative value of:
"Maximum Offset" is the Definition parameter available for bonded contacts and body interactions.
"Maximum Offset" is obtained from the inputs of the Contact Region of Bonded type.
MST = SST.
*CONTACT_TIED_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE_OFFSET
Specifies general non-breakable bonded contacts that are symmetric. This keyword is created for Bonded
and non-breakable contacts which are defined by Contact Regions that are Bonded, non-breakable
and whose Behavior is set to Symmetric.
Card1 - mandatory
SSID = ID for a set of slave segments or a set of parts involved in the contact.
MSID = ID for the set of master segments or the set of parts involved in the contact.
SSTYP = specifies whether the ID used in SSID represents parts or segments. It is set to 0 if SSID represents
a set of segments and 2 if it represents a set of parts.
MSTYP = SSTYP.
Cards 2 and 3 are the same as in *CONTACT_TIED_NODES_TO_SURFACE_OFFSET.
*CONTROL_ACCURACY
Specifies control parameters that can improve the accuracy of the calculation.
Card
OSU = 1. Global flag for objective stress updates. Required for parts that undergo large rotations. When set
to 1 the flag is on.
INN = 4. Invariant node numbering for shell and solid elements. When set to 4 the flag is on for both shell
and solid elements.
*CONTROL_BULK_VISCOSITY
Sets the bulk viscosity coefficients globally.
Card
Q1 = Quadratic Artificial Viscosity from the "Damping Controls" in the Analysis Settings.
Q2 = Linear Artificial Viscosity from the "Damping Controls" in the Analysis settings.
TYPE = -2. Internal energy dissipated by the viscosity in the shell elements is computed and included in the
overall energy balance.
*CONTROL_CONTACT
Specifies the defaults for computations of contact surfaces.
Card 1
SLSFAC = 0 (default). Scale factor for sliding interface penalties. When set to 0 the value used is 0.1. This
scale factor together with the SFS and SFM parameters of the individual contact keyword (see Card 3 of
*CONTACT_TIED_NODES_TO_SURFACE_OFFSET) is used to determine the stiffness of the interface when
SOFT is set to 2 (see Card A of *CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE).
RWPNAL = 0 (there is no default value). Scale factor for rigid wall penalties. When equal to 0 the constrain
method is used and nodal points which belong to rigid bodies are not considered.
ISLCHK = 1 (default). Initial penetration check in contact surfaces. When set to 1 there is no checking.
SHLTHK = 1 (default). Shell thickness considered in surface to surface and node to surface contact types.
When set to 1, thickness is considered but rigid bodies are excluded.
PENOPT = 1 (default). Penalty stiffness value option.
THKCHG = 0 (default).
ORIEN = 2. Automatic reorientation for contact segments during initialization. When set to 2 it is active for
manual (segment) and automated (part) input.
ENMASS = 0 if the Retain Inertia Of Eroded Material option of the Erosion Controls in the Details window
of the analysis settings is set to No.
= 2 (default) if Retain Inertia Of Eroded Material option of the Erosion Controls in the Details view
of the analysis settings is set to Yes.
This parameter regulates the treatment of the mass for eroded nodes in contact. When set to 0
eroding nodes are removed from the calculation.
Card 2
USRSTR = 0. Storage per contact interface for user supplied interface control subroutine. When set to 0 no
input data is read and no interface storage is permitted in the user subroutine.
Default values are used for all other parameters.
Card3
SFRIC = 0. Default static coefficient of friction.
Default values are used for all other parameters.
Card4
IGNORE = 2. Specifies whether to ignore initial penetrations in the *CONTACT_AUTOMATIC options. When
set to 2 initial penetrations are allowed to exist by tracking them. Also warning messages are printed with
the original and the recommended coordinates of each slave node.
FRCENG = 0 (default).
SKIPRWG = 0 (default).
OUTSEG = 1. Yes, output each beam spot weld slave node and its master segment for *CONTACT_SPOTWELD
into D3HSP file.
SPOTSTP = 0 (default).
SPOTDEL = 1.Yes, delete the attached spot weld element if the nodes of a spot weld beam or solid element
are attached to a shell element that fails and the nodes are deleted.
SPOTHIN = 0.5. This factor can be used to scale the thickness of parts within the vicinity of the spot weld.
This factor helps avert premature weld failures due to contact of the welded parts with the weld itself. Should
be greater than zero and less than one.
*CONTROL_ENERGY
Specifies the controls for energy dissipation options.
Card
HGEN = 2. Hourglass energy is computed and included in the energy balance. Results are reported in ASCII
files GLSTAT and MATSUM.
RWEN = 2 (default).
SLNTEN = 2. Sliding interface energy dissipation is computed and included in the energy balance. Results
are reported in ASCII files GLSTAT and SLEOUT.
RYLEN = 2. Rayleigh energy dissipation is computed and included in the energy balance. Results are reported
in ASCII file GLSTAT.
*CONTROL_HOURGLASS
Specifies the global hourglass parameters.
Card
IHQ = 1 if Hourglass Damping of type Standard is selected in the Analysis Settings. Also this parameter
is equal to 1 if the Flanagan Belytschko option is selected but both the coefficients are zero.
= 5 if the Flanagan Belytschko option is selected and the Stiffness Coefficient is non-zero.
= 3 if the Flanagan Belytschko option is selected, the Stiffness Coefficient is zero and the Hex In-
tegration Type of the Solver Controls is set to Exact.
= 2 if the Flanagan Belytschko option is selected, the Stiffness Coefficient is zero and the Hex In-
tegration Type of the Solver Controls is set to 1pt Gauss.
QH = Viscous Coefficient of the Hourglass Damping section of the Analysis Settings if IHQ is equal to 1,
2, or 3.
= Stiffness Coefficient if IHQ is 5.
*CONTROL_SHELL
Specifies global parameters for shell element types.
Card
WRPANG = 20 (default).
ESORT = 1, full automatic sorting of triangular shell elements to treat degenerate quadrilateral shell elements
as C0 triangular shells.
IRNXX = -2, shell normal update option. When set to -2 unique nodal fibers are incrementally updated based
on the nodal rotation at the location of the fiber.
ISTUPD = 4, shell thickness update option for deformable shells. Membrane strains cause changes in thickness
in 3 and 4 node shell elements, however elastic strains are neglected. This option is very important in sheet
metal forming or whenever membrane stretching is important. For crash analysis, setting 4 may improve
energy conservation and stability.
THEORY = 2 (default). Belytschko-Tsay formulation.
BWC = 1 if Shell BWC Warp Correction option is set to Yes in the Solver Controls section of the Analysis
Settings. For this setting, Belytschko-Wong-Chiang warping stiffness is added.
= 2 if Shell BWC Warp Correction option is set to No.
MITER = 1 (default). Plane stress plasticity: iterative with 3 secant iterations.
PROJ = 1, the full projection method is used for the warping stiffness in the Belytschko-Tsay and Belytschko-
Wong-Chiang shell elements. This option is required for explicit calculations.
*CONTROL_SOLID
Specifies global parameters for solid element types.
Card
ESORT = 1, full automatic sorting of tetrahedron and pentahedron elements to treat degeneracies. Degen-
erate tetrahedrons will be treated as ELFORM = 10 and pentahedron as ELFORM = 15 solids respectively
(see *SECTION_SOLID).
*CONTROL_TERMINATION
Specifies the termination criteria for the solver.
Card
ENDTIM = End Time in the Step Controls section of the Analysis Settings.
ENDCYC = Maximum Time Steps of the Step Controls section of the Analysis Settings.
DTMIN = 0.01 (constant).
ENDENG = Maximum Energy Error from the Step Controls section of the Analysis Settings.
ENDMAS = Maximum Part Scaling from the Step Controls section of the Analysis Settings, if Automatic
Mass Scaling is set to Yes. If Automatic Mass Scaling is set to No, the default value of 0.0 is used.
*CONTROL_TIMESTEP
Specifies conditions for determining the computational time step.
Card
DTINIT = Initial Time Step from the Step Controls section of the Analysis Settings.
TSSFAC = Time Step Safety Factor from the Step Controls section of the Analysis Settings.
ISDO = 0 (default). Basis of time size calculation for 4-node shell elements.
TSLIMT = Minimum Element Timestep from the Erosion Controls section of the Analysis Settings, if On
Minimum Element Timestep is set to Yes. If On Minimum Element Timestep is set to No the default value
of 0.0 is used.
DT2MS = the negative value of Minimum CFL Timestep specified in the Step Controls section of the
Analysis Settings, if Automatic Mass Scaling is set to Yes. If Automatic Mass Scaling is set to No the
default value of 0.0 is used.
LCTM = ID of the load curve which uses Maximum Time Step from the Step Controls section of the Ana-
lysis Settings.
ERODE = 1 (constant).
MS1ST = 0 (default).
*DAMPING_GLOBAL
Specifies the mass weighted nodal damping applied globally to the nodes of deformable bodies and
the center of mass of rigid bodies.
Card
LCID = 0, a constant damping factor will be used as specified in VALDMP.
VALDMP = Static Damping from the Damping Controls section of the Analysis Settings.
*DATABASE_BINARY_D3PLOT
Specifies the sampling parameters for the binary D3PLOT results plotting file.
Card
DT = Time from the Output Controls section of the Analysis Settings if Save Results on is set to Time.
= End Time divided by the Number of Points if Save Results On is set to Equally Spaced Points.
*DATABASE_BINARY_RUNRSF
Specifies the sampling parameters for the RUNRSF restart file.
Card
CYCL = Time Steps from the Output Controls section of the Analysis Settings if Save Restart Files on is
set to Time Steps.
= Maximum Time Steps divided by the Number of Points if Save Results On is set to Equally
Spaced Time Points.
*DATABASE_ELOUT
Specifies the sampling parameters for the ELOUT results file (stores stress and strain results).
Card
DT = (see *DATABASE_BINARY_D3PLOT).
*DATABASE_FORMAT
Specifies the format in which to write binary results files like D3PLOT and D3THDT.
Card
IFORM = 0, binary results will be written only in the LS-DYNA format.
*DATABASE_GLSTAT
Specifies the sampling parameters for the GLSTAT results file (stores general energy results).
Card
*DATABASE_MATSUM
Specifies the sampling parameters for the MATSUM results file (stores general energy and velocity results
as the GLSTAT file but it stores them per body. It is necessary for rigid bodies).
Card
*DATABASE_NODOUT
Specifies the sampling parameters for the NODOUT results file (stores displacement and velocity results).
Card
*DEFINE_COORDINATE_SYSTEM
Specifies a local coordinate system with three points: one at the local origin, one on the local x-axis
and one on the local x-y plane.
Card1
CID = ID of the coordinate system, must be unique.
XO = global X-coordinate of the origin.
YO = global Y-coordinate of the origin.
ZO = global Z-coordinate of the origin.
XL = global X-coordinate of a point on the local x-axis.
YL = global Y-coordinate of a point on the local x-axis.
ZL = global Z-coordinate of a point on the local x-axis.
Card2
XP = global X-coordinate of a point on the local x-y plane.
YP = global Y-coordinate of a point on the local x-y plane.
ZP = global Z-coordinate of a point on the local x-y plane.
*DEFINE_CURVE
Specifies magnitudes that are given in tabular format. Some keywords require magnitudes to be specified
as a load curve. Should a constant be needed, it may be represented as a curve by repeating its value
for time steps 0 and 1.
Card1
LCID = ID for load curve, is incremented every time a new load curve is defined.
Card2, 3, 4...
A = abscissa value, usually time.
O = ordinate (function) value.
*DEFINE_VECTOR
Specifies a vector by defining the coordinates of two points. This keyword defines the local coordinate
system with respect to which a *BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION is prescribed. The ID of this coordinate
system is specified with parameter CID.
Card
VID = ID of the vector.
XT = 0, the local x-coordinate of the origin of the coordinate system specified with CID below.
YT = 0, the local y-coordinate of the origin of the coordinate system specified with CID below.
ZT = 0, the local z-coordinate of the origin of the coordinate system specified with CID below.
XH = 1 if the vector has a component in the x direction of the coordinate system specified with CID. Otherwise,
this is set to 0.
YH = 1 if the vector has a component in the x direction of the coordinate system specified with CID. Otherwise,
this is set to 0.
ZH = 1 if the vector has a component in the x direction of the coordinate system specified with CID. Otherwise,
this is set to 0.
CID = ID of the coordinate system used to define the vector. If no coordinate system is specified this para-
meter is set to 0 to specify the global coordinate system.
*ELEMENT_BEAM
Specifies beam elements.
Card
EID = ID of the element.
PID = ID of the part it belongs to.
N1 = ID of nodal point 1.
N3 = ID of nodal point 3, used for cross section orientation.
*ELEMENT_SHELL
Specifies three, four, six and eight noded shell elements.
Card
N5-8 = ID of mid side nodes for six and eight noded shells.
*ELEMENT_SHELL_THICKNESS_OFFSET
This keyword is the same as *ELEMENT_SHELL above with two additional cards for specifying thicknesses
per node and the offset of the shell.
Card1 - the same as *ELEMENT_SHELL
Card2
THIC1 = shell thickness at node 1.
BETA or MCID = 0 (Default). These parameters specify the base offset angle for Orthotropic materials.
Card3
OFFSET = offset distance from the nodal points plane to the reference surface of the shell. This is specified
in the direction of the normal vector of the shell.
*ELEMENT_SOLID
Specifies 3D solid elements including 10-noded tetrahedrons (second order). Apart from the second
order case the two cards are combined into one.
Card1
Card2
*END
Terminates the keyword file. It has no parameter cards.
Equation Of State (EOS) keywords

The following are descriptions for *EOS keywords natively supported by resumed projects that used
the LS-DYNA (Export) system. More generally, any *EOS keyword may be introduced into the export file
with the help of Commands objects in the Mechanical application (termed Keyword Snippet when
referring to the LS-DYNA solver). To use it, insert a Keyword Snippet under a Geometry body in the
Tree Outline. The program will automatically substitute the EOSID parameter, in accordance with the
*PART keyword (see below) of the associated body. All other parameters in the Keyword Snippet are
transcribed literally, overriding any values that would otherwise derive from the Engineering Data
workspace.
If the *EOS keyword is entered in a Keyword Snippet anywhere else in the Tree Outline, it will be ex-
ported literally and the Engineering Data EOS information will also be exported, if present. This practice
is not recommended, however, and a warning is provided in the header of Keyword Snippet objects
when detected.
*EOS_GRUNEISEN
Specifies a shock equation of state. This keyword is created when a Shock EOS linear equation of state
is present in the properties of a material that is used in the simulation and the Johnson Cook plasticity
model is also present. The bilinear version of this equation of state is not currently supported.
Card1
EOSID = ID of the keyword, must be unique between the *EOS keywords.
C = parameter C1 for a Linear Shock EOS property.
S1 = parameter S1 for a Linear Shock EOS property.
S2 = Parameter Quadratic S2 for a Linear Shock EOS property.
S3 = 0.
GAMAO = Gruneisen Coefficient for a Linear Shock EOS property.
A = 0.
Card2 - mandatory, left blank.
*EOS_LINEAR_POLYNOMIAL
Specifies the coefficients for a linear polynomial elastic EOS. The *EOS_LINEAR_POLYNOMIAL keyword
is only created when the Johnson Cook strength property is added to the material model (which requires
an EOS), but no other EOS has been specified. It is not directly available from the Engineering Data
workspace, however.
Card1
EOSID = ID of the keyword, must be unique between the *EOS keywords.
C0 = 0.
C1 = elastic bulk modulus
C2 = 0.
C3 = 0.
C4 = 0.
C5 = 0.
C6 = 0.
*HOURGLASS
Defines hourglass and bulk viscosity properties that are referenced in the *PART keyword via its HGID
parameter (see *PART keyword bellow).
This keyword can only be created directly with the Keyword Snippet(also, Commands objects) for the
LS-DYNA solver. To use it, insert a Keyword Snippet under a Geometry body in the Tree Outline. The
program will automatically substitute the HGID parameter in accordance with the *PART keyword (see
below) of the associated body. All other parameters in the Keyword Snippet are transcribed literally.
If the keyword is entered in a Keyword Snippet anywhere else in the Tree Outline, it will be exported
literally. This practice is not recommended, however, and a warning is provided in the header of Keyword
Snippet objects when detected.
*INITIAL_VELOCITY_GENERATION
Specifies initial translational and rotational velocities.
Card1
ID = ID of part where the initial velocity is applied.
STYP = 2, the velocity is applied to a whole part. In Workbench initial velocities can only be applied to whole
parts.
OMEGA = angular velocity about the rotational axis.
VX = initial translational velocity in the x direction.
VY = initial translational velocity in the y direction.
VZ = initial translational velocity in the z direction.
IVATN = 0 (default) slave bodies of a multibody part are not assigned the initial velocities of the master part.
Card2
XC = x coordinate of the origin of the applied coordinate system.
YC = y coordinate of the origin of the applied coordinate system.
ZC = z coordinate of the origin of the applied coordinate system.
NX = 0 if there is no angular velocity around the x-axis.
= 1 if there is angular velocity around the x-axis.
NY = 0 if there is no angular velocity around the y-axis.
= 1 if there is angular velocity around the y-axis.
NZ = 0 if there is no angular velocity around the z-axis.
= 1 if there is angular velocity around the z-axis.
PHASE = 0 (default), velocities are applied immediately.
*INITIAL_VELOCITY_RIGID_BODY
Specifies initial translational and rotational velocities at the center of gravity for rigid bodies.
Card
PID = ID of the rigid body.
VX = initial translational velocity in the x direction.
VY = initial translational velocity in the y direction.
VZ = initial translational velocity in the z direction.
VXR = initial rotational velocity around the x-axis.
VYR = initial rotational velocity around the y-axis.
VZR = initial rotational velocity around the z-axis.
*INTEGRATION_BEAM
Specifies the particulars of the integration method required for complex or user-defined cross sections
of beam elements.
Card1
IRID = incremented every time a new keyword is required.
NIP = 0, number of integration points are not specified, instead ICST is used below to choose a standard
cross sectional area.
RA = 0, number of integration points are not specified, instead ICST is used below to choose a standard
cross sectional area.
ICST = 1-21 depending on the cross sectional area specified in the GUI for the beam geometry.
Card2
D1-D4 = cross sectional dimensions for width and height.
SREF = 1, orientation for s-axis.
TREF = 1, orientation for t-axis.
*KEYWORD
Marks the beginning of a keyword file.
*LOAD_BODY_X
Specifies gravitational or other acceleration loads in the x direction. The load is applied to all nodes in
the model.
Card
LCID = ID of the load curve that represents the magnitude of the load (see *DEFINE_CURVE).
SF = 1.0 (default), load curve scale factor.
LCIDDR = 0 (default), ID of load curve defined for dynamic relaxation.
XC = 0.0 (default), X-center of rotation needed for angular velocities.
YC = 0.0 (default), Y-center of rotation needed for angular velocities.
ZC = 0.0 (default), Z-center of rotation needed for angular velocities.
CID = ID of local coordinate system used. Set to 0 for the global coordinate system.
*LOAD_BODY_Y
Specifies gravitational or other acceleration loads in the y direction. The load is applied to all nodes in
the model.
Card
(see *LOAD_BODY_X).
*LOAD_BODY_Z
Specifies gravitational or other acceleration loads in the z direction. The load is applied to all nodes in
the model.
Card
(see *LOAD_BODY_X).
*LOAD_NODE_POINT
Applies a concentrated force to a node.
Card
NODE = ID of the node on which the force is applied.
DOF = 1, 2 or 3 depending on the force direction x, y or z.
LCID = ID of the load curve that describes the magnitude of the force (see *DEFINE_CURVE).
CID = ID of local coordinate system used. Set to 0 for the global coordinate system.
*LOAD_NODE_SET
Applies a concentrated nodal force to a set of nodes.
Card
(see *LOAD_NODE_POINT. Note that parameter NODE here is replaced by NSID which is the ID of the
set of nodes where the force is applied).
*LOAD_RIGID_BODY
Applies a concentrated nodal force to a rigid body. The force is applied at the center of mass.
Card
(see *LOAD_NODE_POINT. Note that parameter NODE here is replaced by PID which is the ID of the
part the force is applied on).
*LOAD_SEGMENT
Applies a distributed pressure load over a triangular or quadrilateral face defined by three, four, six
(second order triangles) or eight (second order quadrilateral) nodes.
Card
LCID = ID of the load curve that describes the magnitude of the pressure (see *DEFINE_CURVE).
AT = arrival time for pressure is assigned the time at load step 1 if pressure is given in tabular form or 0 if
constant pressure.
N1-N4 = IDs of nodes that define the face. For triangles N4 = N3.
N5-N8 = IDs of mid-side nodes for second order triangles or quadrilaterals.
Materials keywords
The following are descriptions for *MAT keywords natively supported by resumed projects that used
the LS-DYNA (Export) system. More generally, any *MAT keyword may be introduced into the export
file with the help of Commands objects in the Mechanical application (termed Keyword Snippet when
referring to the LS-DYNA solver). To use it, insert a Keyword Snippet under a Geometry body in the
Tree Outline. The program will automatically substitute the MID parameter in accordance with the *PART
keyword (see below) of the associated body. All other parameters in the Keyword Snippet are transcribed
literally, overriding any values that would otherwise derive from the Engineering Data workspace.
If the *MAT keyword is entered in a Keyword Snippet anywhere else in the Tree Outline, it will be ex-
ported literally and Engineering Data EOS information will also be exported, if present. This practice is
not recommended, however, and a warning is provided in the header of Keyword Snippet objects
when detected.
*MAT_ELASTIC (or *MAT_001)

Specifies isotropic elastic materials. It is available for beam, shell and solid elements. This keyword is
used if the selected material includes the Isotropic Elasticity strength model and the Stiffness Behavior
is set to Deformable in the Definition section of the body.
Card
MID = ID of material type. Must be unique between the material keyword definitions.
RO = density of the material from the Engineering Data workspace.
E = Young's modulus of the material from the Engineering Data workspace, either specified directly or cal-
culated from Bulk and Shear moduli.
PR = Poisson's ratio of the material from the Engineering Data workspace, either specified directly or calculated
from Bulk and Shear moduli.
*MAT_HYPERELASTIC_RUBBER (or *MAT_077_H)

Specifies a general hyperelastic rubber model, optionally combined with viscoelasticity. This keyword
is used if the material includes the Mooney-Rivlin, Polynomial or Yeoh hyperelastic strength model and
the Stiffness Behavior is set to Deformable in the Definition section of the body.
Card1
MID = ID of material type, must be unique between the material keyword definitions.
RO = density of the material from the Engineering Data workspace.
PR = Poisson's ratio of the material from the Engineering Data workspace. Values higher than 0.49 are re-
commended. Smaller values may not work and should not be used.
N = 0, specifies that the constants in card 2 will be defined.
NV = 0. This parameter is not used if N = 0 above.
G = Shear modulus of the material from the Engineering Data workspace.
SIGF = 0. This parameter is not used if N = 0 above.
Card2
C10 = constant C10 from the Engineering Data workspace.
C01 = constant C01 from the material properties in the Engineering Data. Set to zero for Yeoh models.
C11 = constant C11 from the Engineering Data workspace. Set to zero for Yeoh models.
C02 = constant C02 from the Engineering Data workspace. Set to zero for Yeoh models.
*MAT_JOHNSON_COOK (or *MAT_015)

Defines a Johnson - Cook type of material. Such materials are useful for problems with large variations
in strain rates where adiabatic temperature increases due to plastic heating cause material softening.
This keyword is used if the material specified includes a Johnson Cook strength model.
Card1
RO = density of material.
G = Shear modulus of material.
E = Young's modulus of the material (shell elements only).
PR = Poisson's ratio of the material (shell elements only).
Card2
A = Initial yield stress from the Johnson Cook strength parameters.
B = Hardening Constant from the Johnson Cook strength parameters.
N = Hardening Exponent from the Johnson Cook strength parameters.
C = Strain Rate Constant from the Johnson Cook strength parameters.
M = Thermal Softening Exponent from the Johnson Cook strength parameters.
TM = Melting Temperature from the Johnson Cook strength parameters.
TR = 15, room temperature.
EPSO = Reference Strain Rate from the Johnson Cook strength parameters.
Card3
CP = Specific Heat from the material properties.
PC = 0 (LS-DYNA default).
SPALL = 2.0 (LS-DYNA default).
IT = 0 (LS-DYNA default).
D1 = D1 parameter of the Johnson Cook failure model definition, if present. Otherwise it is 0.
Card4
C2/P = "Reference Strain Rate (/sec)" parameter of the Johnson Cook failure model definition, if present.
Otherwise it is 0.
*MAT_OGDEN_RUBBER (or *MAT_077_O)

Specifies the Ogden rubber model, optionally combined with viscoelasticity. This keyword is used if the
material includes the Ogden hyperelastic strength model and the Stiffness Behavior is set to Deformable
in the Definition section of the body.
For card 1 see *MAT_HYPERELASTIC_RUBBER
Card2
MU1 = Material Constant MU1 from the Ogden model.
MU4 = 0.
MU5 = 0.
MU6 = 0.
MU7 = 0.
MU8 = 0.
Card3
ALPHA1 = Material Constant A1 from the Ogden model.
ALPHA1 = 0.
ALPHA1 = 0.
ALPHA1 = 0.
ALPHA1 = 0.
ALPHA8 = 0.
*MAT_ORTHOTROPIC_ELASTIC (or *MAT_002)

Specifies the model for an elastic-orthotropic behavior of solids, shells and thick shells. This keyword is
created when the Orthotropic Elasticity property is present in a material that is used. The Poisson's ratios
required with this keyword must be in their minor version, however Workbench requires their major
versions hence they are converted by multiplying them by the relevant Young's modulus ratios.
Card1
EA = Young's Modulus X direction from the Orthotropic Elasticity model.
EB = Young's Modulus Y direction from the Orthotropic Elasticity model.
EC = Young's Modulus Z direction from the Orthotropic Elasticity model.
PRBA = Poisson's Ratio XY from the Orthotropic Elasticity model multiplied by Young's Modulus Y / Young's
Modulus X.
PRCA = Poisson's Ratio YZ from the Orthotropic Elasticity model multiplied by Young's Modulus Z / Young's
Modulus X.
PRCB = Poisson's Ratio XZ from the Orthotropic Elasticity model multiplied by Young's Modulus Z / Young's
Modulus Y.
Card2
GAB = Shear Modulus XY from the Orthotropic Elasticity model.
GBC = Shear Modulus YZ from the Orthotropic Elasticity model.
GCA = Shear Modulus XZ from the Orthotropic Elasticity model.
AOPT = 0 (default). When this parameter is set to zero the locally orthotropic material axes are determined
from three element nodes. The first node specifies the local origin, the second specifies one of the axes and
the third specifies the plane on which the axis rests.
= - ID of local coordinate system assigned to the body with this material model.
*MAT_MODIFIED_PIECEWISE_LINEAR_PLASTICITY (or *MAT_123)

Defines elasto-plastic materials with arbitrary stress-strain curve and arbitrary strain rate dependency.
This keyword is used if the material specified includes a Bilinear or Multilinear Isotropic Hardening (BISO
or MISO) strength model. Cards 3 and 4 bellow, are only used if the strength model is MISO.
Card1
E = Young's modulus of the material.
PR = Poisson's ratio of the material.
SIGY = Yield Strength from the BISO strength model. It is not required for MISO models.
ETAN = Tangent Modulus from the BISO strength model. It is not required for MISO models.
FAIL = Maximum Equivalent Plastic Strain EPS parameter of the Plastic Strain failure model, if present.
Otherwise it is set to 10E+20.
Card2
C = 0.
P = 0.
LCSS = 0.
Card3 - specified only for MISO models. Otherwise it is left blank.
EPS1 = Plastic Strain data from the MISO strength model. If the strength model contains more than 8 data
points, the extra data set is ignored.
EPS2 =
EPS3 =
...
EPS8 =
Card4 - specified only for MISO models. Otherwise it is left blank.
ES1 = Yield Stress data that correspond to the above plastic strain data. If the strength model contains more
than 8 data points, the extra data set is ignored.
ES2 =
ES3 =
...
ES8 =
*MAT_PLASTIC_KINEMATIC (or *MAT_003)

Specifies isotropic and kinematic hardening plastic behavior in materials. This keyword is created when
the Bilinear Kinematic Hardening (BKIN) strength model is present in a material.
Card1
SIGY = Yield Strength from the BKIN strength model.
ETAN = Tangent Modulus from the BKIN strength model.
BETA = 0.
Card2
SRC = left blank.
SRP = left blank.
FS = Maximum Equivalent Plastic Strain EPS parameter of the Plastic Strain failure model, if present.
Otherwise it is left blank.
*MAT_RIGID (or *MAT_020)

Specifies materials for rigid bodies. This keyword is created when the Stiffness Behavior is set to Rigid
under the Definition section of the body. Any strength or EOS material properties defined are ignored.
Card1
Card2
CMO = 0 if there are no constraints on the rigid body.
= -1 if rigid body is constrained in any way.
CON1 = 0 if there are no constraints on the rigid body.
= Local Coordinate System ID if associated with the constraint. Otherwise it is set to 0.
CON2 = 0 if there are no constraints on the rigid body.
= 111111 if the body is constrained with a fixed support or with a combination of a simple support
and a fixed rotation.
= 111000 if the body is constrained with a simple support.
= 000111 if the body is constrained with a fixed rotation.
Card3
LCO = CON1 if non-zero. Otherwise it will remain blank.
*NODE
Defines nodes. All the parameters are obtained from mesh definitions of the model.
Card
NID = ID of the node.
X = x coordinate.
Y = y coordinate.
Z = z coordinate.
*PART
Defines geometry bodies.
Card1
HEADING = name of the body specified in the Workbench environment.
Card2
PID = ID of the part. It is set in the LS-DYNA solver and does not reflect the ID specified in the mesh definition
of the model.
SECID = ID of the section keyword associated with the part (see *SECTION).
MID = ID of the material keyword associated with the part (see *MAT).
EOSID = ID of the equation of state associated with the material of this part (*EOS and *MAT). If there is no
EOS keyword associated with this part then this parameter is set to 0.
HGID = ID of the hourglass keyword associated with the part (see *HOURGLASS). If there is no hourglass
keyword associated with this part then this parameter is set to 0.
*SECTION_BEAM
Defines cross sectional properties for beam, truss, spot weld and cable elements.
Card1
SECID = ID of the section.
ELFORM = 1. The element formulation option is changed to 3 if the Beam Solution Type option of the
Analysis Settings is set to Truss.
SHRF = 1.0 (default). If the cross sectional shape is rectangular or complex (see CST bellow) then SHRF is set
to 0.833.
QR = 2 (default), quadrature rule is 2x2 Gauss. If the cross sectional area of the beam is complex or user-
defined, this parameter becomes IRID and is assigned the negative value of the IRID parameter in the cor-
responding *INTEGRATION_BEAM keyword (see above for details).
CST = 0 for solid cross sections
= 1 for hollow cross sections
= 2 for complex or user defined cross sections. Such cross sections include: hollow rectangular, I, C,
L, T, Z, trapezoidal, U and hat shapes.
Card2
for solid types
TS1 = width of beam. This refers specifically to the dimension at node 1.
TS2 = TS1. This refers specifically to the dimension at node 2.
TT1 = height of beam. This refers specifically to the dimension at node 1. Set to zero circular solids.
TT2 = TT1. This refers specifically to the dimension at node 2. Set to zero circular solids.
for hollow circular types
TS1 = outer diameter of beam. This refers specifically to the dimension at node 1.
TS2 = TS1. This refers specifically to the dimension at node 2.
TT1 = inner diameter of beam. This refers specifically to the dimension at node 1.
TT2 = TT1. This refers specifically to the dimension at node 2.
for truss types
A = cross-sectional area.
for general symmetric types
A = cross-sectional area.
ISS = Iyy, moment of inertia about the local s-axis.
ITT = Izz, moment of inertia about the local t-axis.
*SECTION_SHELL
Defines section properties for shell elements.
Card1
ELFORM = 2, if the Full Shell Integration option of the Solver Controls of the Analysis Settings is set to
No.
= 16 (default) if the Full Shell Integration option of the Solver Controls of the Analysis Settings is
set to Yes.
SHRF = Shell Shear Correction Factor option of the Solver Controls of the Analysis Settings. The default
value is set to 0.8333.
NIP = Shell Sublayers option of the Solver Controls of the Analysis Settings. The default value is 3.
Card2
T1 = thickness of body.
T2-T4 = T1, shell thickness at nodes 2, 3 and 4.
*SECTION_SOLID
Defines section properties for solid elements.
Card
ELFORM = 1 (default). Also, used for first-order hexahedral elements, 5-noded pyramids, 6-noded wedges
or bodies with mixed element types that include tetrahedrons together with hexahedrons, pyramids or
wedges.
= 10 if elements are first-order tetrahedrons and Tet Pressure Integration option of the Solver
Controls of the Analysis Settings is set to Constant.
= 13 if elements are first-order tetrahedrons and Tet Pressure Integration option of the Solver
Controls of the Analysis Settings is set to Average Nodal.
= 16 if the elements are second-order tetrahedrons.
*SET_NODE_LIST
Defines a set of nodes. Card2 is repeated as many times as required to specify all the node IDs in the
set.
Card1
SID = ID of the set.
Card2
NID1-NID8 = IDs for eight of the nodes in the set.
*SET_PART_LIST
Defines a set of parts. Card2 is repeated as many times as required to specify all the part IDs in the set.
Card1
Card2
PID1-PID8 = IDs for eight of the parts in the set.
*SET_SEGMENT
Defines triangular and quadrilateral segments. Card2 is repeated as many times as required to specify
all the segments in the set.
Card1
Card2
LS-DYNA General Descriptions
N1-N4 = IDs of nodes that define one of the segments. For triangular segments N4=N3.
*TITLE
Defines a job title.
Card
TITLE = a user input. This can only be entered manually after the .k file is exported.
8.5. LS-DYNA General Descriptions

All the exported keywords are grouped into their respective sections in the .k file. These sections are
the same as the ones used by the Mechanical APDL application exporting facility apart from the
"KEYWORD SNIPPETS" section. The section titles and their order is the following:
NODE DEFINITIONS
SECTION DEFINITIONS
MATERIAL DEFINITIONS
PARTS DEFINITIONS
ELEMENT DEFINITIONS
LOAD DEFINITIONS
CONTACT DEFINITIONS
CONTROL OPTIONS
TIME HISTORY
INITIAL VELOCITY DEFINITIONS
LIST SETS
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
KEYWORD SNIPPETS
Keyword-snippets are supported for geometry bodies, for Connections and the Explicit Dynamics ana-
lysis section.
For geometry bodies, you can enter LS-DYNA specific material and equation of state types together
with the *HOURGLASS keyword. These keywords should always have a non zero value entered for their
ID. This is usually the first parameter of the keyword and can be any integer that fits within the 10
character field-width of the parameter. The same number can be entered for all of these keywords as
the software will replace it with an appropriate unique value. The IDs of these keywords will be assigned
to the *PART keyword associated with the body that the keyword-snippet belongs to. You will be in-
formed with a comment shown at the beginning of the text editor of the snippet, about the keywords
that should be entered.
For the Connections, you can enter LS-DYNA contact keywords which are not available for definition
from the GUI. These keywords can be assigned to the geometry by using the names of pre-defined
Named Selections. When the keywords are exported, these names will be replaced with IDs from the
*SET keywords created for the relevant Named Selections. If the contact region associated with the
Keyword Snippet has its scoping defined, by entering "contact" and "target" for the master and slave
entries of the contact keyword, the IDs of the *SET keywords for the Contact Region scoping will be
used instead. One contact keyword should be entered per snippet, which can be followed by as many
other keywords as required. The latter will not be processed and will be exported as entered.
For the analysis, you will be asked to enter global parameters with keywords like *CONTROL and
*DATABASE. As these parameters are global they do not need to be associated with any other keywords
so their contents will only be transferred to the .k file and will not be utilized in any other way.
Other project tree entries apart from the ones mentioned above, where keyword snippets could be
useful can be implemented at a later date if requested, or proved to be necessary.
Keywords that are entered with the keyword-snippet facility are grouped under a common section
called "KEYWORD SNIPPETS" at the end of the .k file.
Named selections whether having anything assigned to them or not, like for example a load or constrain,
will be exported as a set of IDs. This set can then be used in LS-PREPOST or by editing the .k file
manually to assign LS-DYNA specific keywords which are not represented in Workbench.
Due to the restriction of the field widths specified for each keyword, if the number to be used has more
characters than the field width allows, the following process is followed to make sure the number fits
within the field:
The number is converted to scientific.
If the scientific format is still larger than the required field width then digits are removed from the decimal
part. This is done by cleaning first the exponential number from any leading zeroes.
If all the decimals are removed and the number is still larger then digits from the mantissa are removed and
the exponent increased by 1 for every digit removed.
D
Index decay coefficient for body interaction object, 17
density, 155
Symbols detonation point, 57
2parameter mooney-rivlin model, 158 display options for result tracker graphs, 69
3parameter mooney-rivlin model, 158 dynamic coefficient for body interaction object, 17
5parameter mooney-rivlin model, 159
9parameter mooney-rivlin model, 159 E
edge on edge contact for body interactions, 16
A element self contact for body interactions, 15
analysis settings Equation of state, 148
for explicit dynamics analyses, 33 equations of state, 183
analysis types ideal gas, 184
explicit dynamics, 3 eroded nodes, 72
applying pre-stress effects, 105 Explicit Dynamics
detonation point, 57
B impedance boundary, 54
body interaction types, 17 explicit dynamics analysis
bonded, 18 LSDYNA commands, 215
frictional, 17 explicit dynamics analysis settings, 33
frictionless, 17 explicit dynamics analysis type, 3
reinforcement, 22 Explicit Dynamics system
body interactions folder properties analysis settings, 129
body self contact, 15 body scoped result tracker, 67
contact detection, 11 boundary scoped result tracker, 70
edge on edge contact, 16 elastic waves, 119
element self contact, 15 erosion controls, 142
formulation, 13 Euler (Virtual) solutions, 124
limiting time step velocity, 16 Euler-Lagrange Coupling, 126
listing, 11 Eulerian reference frame, 120
pinball factor, 16 explicit time integration, 116
shell thickness, 14 force reaction result tracker, 70
time step safety factor, 16 implicit time integration, 116
tolerance, 15 Lagrangian reference frame, 120
body interactions in explicit dynamics analyses mass scaling, 118
connections, 9 material properties, 126
body scoped result tracker, 67 moment reaction result tracker, 70
body self contact for body interactions, 15 multiple material transport, 126
bonded body interaction type, 18 operation of , 114
boundary scoped result tracker, 70 plastic waves, 119
breakable setting for body interaction object, 18 point scoped result tracker, 64, 70
brittle strength, 170 shell coupling, 128
shock waves, 119
C solver controls, 134
compaction EOS linear, 195 sub-cycling, 128
compaction EOS nonlinear, 196 theory, 113
contact detection for body interactions, 11 wave propagation, 118
contact scoped result tracker, 70 Explicit Material Library, 149
cowper symonds strength, 166 explicit transient dynamic analysis, 115
crack softening, 207
crushable foam, 192 F
failure, 201
Index
Grady Spall, 210 O

Johnson cook, 209 ogden, 161
plastic strain, 203 orthotropic elasticity, 156
post, 202
principal strain, 204 P
principal stress, 203
p-alpha EOS, 198
stochastic, 205
pinball factor for body interactions, 16
tensile pressure, 206
plasticity, 162
filtering result tracker graphs, 69
point scoped result tracker, 64
formulation for body interactions, 13
polynomial, 159
friction coefficient for body interaction object, 17
polynomial EOS, 185
frictional body interaction type, 17
porous collapse damage, 180
frictionless body interaction type, 17
porous materials, 194
I R
impedance boundary
reinforcement body interaction type, 22
description, 54
result tracker
implicit transient dynamic analysis, 115
explicit dynamics, 64
isotropic elasticity, 155
resume capability for explicit dynamics, 61
RHT concrete strength, 177
J rigid materials, 212
Johnson cook strength, 164
Johnson-holmquist strength, 173 S
shear damage, 179
L shear stress exponent for body interaction object, 18
Library shear stress limit for body interaction object, 18
Explicit Material, 149 shell thickness for body interactions, 14
limiting time step velocity for body interactions, 16 shock EOS linear, 187
Linear Elastic, 155 State
ls-dyna analyses , 3 Equation of, 148
LSDYNA commands, 215 steinberg guinan strength, 167
strain hardening, 179
M strain rate effects, 180
material properties symmetry
nonlinear, 157 defining in explicit dynamics, 23
maximum offset for body interaction object , 18
MO granular strength, 182 T
Model tensile failure, 181
Material failure, 148 test data, 157
Material strength, 148 thermal specific heat, 212
mooney-rivlin model, 158 time step safety factor for body interactions, 16
2parameter, 158 tolerance for body interactions, 15
3parameter, 158
5parameter, 159 V
9parameter, 159
Viscoelastic, 156
multilinear kinematic hardening, 164
Y
N yeoh, 160
neo-hookean, 157
normal stress exponent for body interaction object, 18
normal stress limit for body interaction object, 18
Z
zerilli armstrong, 168

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ANSYS Explicit Dynamics Analysis Guide

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ANSYS Explicit Dynamics Analysis Guide

ANSYS, Inc. Release 18.1

2017 ANSYS, Inc. Unauthorized use, distribution or duplication is prohibited.

U.S. Government Rights

Published in the U.S.A.

2.12. Apply Loads and Supports ............................................................................................................ 52

3.4.3.3. Damping ...................................................................................................................... 99

7.4.3. Viscoelastic .......................................................................................................................... 156

8.5. LS-DYNA General Descriptions ...................................................................................................... 245

Explicit Dynamics Workflow (p. 3)

Transforming an Implicit Model to run in Explicit Dynamics (p. 83)

Applying Pre-Stress Effects for Explicit Analysis (p. 105)

Explicit Dynamics Theory Guide (p. 113)

Material Models Used in Explicit Dynamics Analysis (p. 147)

Using Workbench LS-DYNA for an Explicit Dynamics Analysis (p. 215)

This chapter contains the following topics:

The intent of this document is to provide an overview of an Explicit Dynamics analysis.

2.2. Create the Analysis System

2.3. Define Engineering Data

Data for a range of materials is available in the Explicit material library.

2.4. Attach Geometry

Flexible behavior can be assigned to any body type.

Rigid behavior can be applied to Solid, Surface, and Line bodies.

Cylindrical coordinate systems are not supported with Workbench LS-DYNA.

This option defines the initial (time=0.0) temperature of the body.

The reference Frame is not supported for Workbench LS-DYNA.

2D analyses are Beta in Workbench LS-DYNA.

Only symmetric cross-sections are supported for line bodies.

Offset Type is supported for Workbench LS-DYNA.

Initial over-penetrations of nodes/elements of different bodies should be avoided or minimized

2.5. Define Part Behavior

Nonlinear effects are always accounted for in Explicit Dynamics analysis.

Contact Regions: Frictionless, Frictional and Bonded.

Reinforcement Body Interactions are supported with Workbench LS-DYNA.

Initial Conditions: Velocity, Angular Velocity

Supports: Displacement, Fixed Support and Velocity.

Results and Probes: Deformation only - that is, Displacement, Velocity.

Result Trackers: Body average data only.

2.6. Define Connections

Line body to line body contact is possible subject to the following:

Edge on Edge is set to Yes in the Body Interactions Details view.

The Interaction Type is defined as Frictional or Frictionless.

Workbench LS-DYNA uses the *CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_GENERAL and *CONTACT_AUTOMAT-

2.6.1. Spot Welds in Explicit Dynamics Analyses

fn and fs are normal and shear interface forces

n and s are user defined exponential coefficients

2.6.2. Body Interactions in Explicit Dynamics Analyses

You can also manually add these two objects:

For example, in the model shown below:

A reinforcement body interaction type be can be applied in addition to a frictional/frictionless body

2.6.2.1. Properties for Body Interactions Folder

2.6.2.1.1. Contact Detection

Proximity Based Contact is not supported in 2D Explicit Dynamics analyses.

The available choices are described below.

Trajectory based penalty force,

Proximity based penalty force,

D is the depth of penetration

M is the effective mass of the node (N) and face (F)

t is the simulation time step

2.6.2.1.3. Sliding Contact

2.6.2.1.4. Shell Thickness Factor and Nodal Shell Thickness

2.6.2.1.5. Body Self Contact

Presented below is an example of a model that includes self impact.

2.6.2.1.6. Element Self Contact

Workbench LS-DYNA uses the CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_GENERAL and CONTACT_AUTOMAT-