Case Study 3

Cantilevered Beam – Modelling using shell element

Problem description
A cantilevered beam is fixed at one end and is subjected to a vertically downward point
load of 10 kN at the free end.
The cross-section is a solid rectangular of 50 mm x 100 mm.
The Young's modulus value for the steel material is 200 kN/mm2 and Poisson’s ratio is 0.25

Idealisation
The cantilever beam can be modelled as a:
1 line using a beam element
2 plane stress surface (ABCD) using membrane elements
3 plate surface (AEFB) using shell elements (surface = 1200 mm x 50 mm,
thickness = 100 mm)

4 three dimensional solid (ABCDEFGH) using solid elements

1- Using 8-node shell element (i.e. S8R) available in ABAQUS, find the vertical deflections
U3 along the line KL of the beam

2- Find the bending stress S11 at the top surface along the line KL
3- Section moments (SM1), along PQ (and hence the bending moment at mid-span).
4- Nodal vertical forces (RF3) along AE (and hence vertical reaction at the fixed end).

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 1- Familiarize yourself with Abaqus interface

You interact with Abaqus/CAE through the main window. Figure below shows the components
that appear in the main window

2- Set up the model

Create your own directory in drive D/C. Do not save on desktop. Open Abaqus CAE and create a
new model by clicking on “With Standard/Explicit Model”

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From the Main menu bar: File → Set Work Director... Insert your chosen directory. This will
ensure that all the output files will be in this directory.

3- Model the geometry as a single part

From Module, select “Parts” and choose 3D Planar and the options shown below. Base Feature is
Shell and type is Planar. Name the part “Beam”.→ click “Continue”

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A sketch window will open and sketch tool buttons will appear. Click on“Create Line: Rectangle
(4 Lines)”

Insert coordinates: 0,0 Enter 1200,50 Enter

Use the resize button “Auto-Fit View” to fit the model on the window. Then Click “Cancel
Procedure” and “Done”

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So that you obtain:

Save the file.

4- Define Material and Section and assign Section

Select “Materials” from Module. Click on “Ceate Material” from the toolbox area. Name the
material “Steel”. Choose “Mechanical” → “Elasticity” → “Elastic”

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Insert the “Young’s modulus” in N/mm2 and the “Poisson ratio” and click on “OK”.

From toolbox area, click on “Create Section”. Name the section “beam-Section” and choose shell
from Category and Homogeneous from Type as below. Click on “Continue ...”

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Accept material “Steel” and enter the thickness 100 (100 is the height of the beam). Then click
“OK”.

From toolbox area, click on “Assign Section”. Select the beam and then click on “Done”

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Accept the settings and click on “OK”.

Save the model.

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 5- Create the Assembly

Choose “Assembly” from Module then click on “Create Instance”. Choose “Independent (mesh on
instance)” and click on “OK”.

Note: By choosing Independent (mesh on instance), you can only mesh you model on instance
(in the assembly) not on the part

6- Create a Load Step

We will now create a step in the analysis.

From Module select “Step”. Click on “Create Step”. This will automatically create a new step
which you can name “Step-1”.

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We are going to conduct a static analysis, whereby you can accept the option “Static, General”
and click on “Continue”. The following window will appear:

You can accept the default settings and click “OK”.

Go to Field output Manager→Edit→tick the “SF, Section Forces and Moments”→OK

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 9- Apply Boundary Conditions

To apply the boundary conditions (BCs), select Load from Module. Click on “Create Boundary
Condition”.

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A BCs window will appear. You can name this BC as “Ux = 0, Uy = 0, UR=0”, or any other name
you wish (Note: this is just a name that serves the purpose of remembering what this condition
is, we are not enforcing anything just by putting the name “Ux = 0, Uy = 0, UR=0”):
Choose “Displacement/Rotation” and click on “Continue”.

Click on the left end edge the beam and then on “Done”. Tick “U1” and “U2” and “UR3” then
insert values of zero and then on “OK”. Note that the U1=U2=UR3=0 represents the fixed
boundary condition.

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 10- Apply the loading

Click on the “Load Manager” →Create →Name as “Loading”→ type is “Shell edge
load”→Continue.

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Click on the right edge of the beam then”Done”

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Enter Magnitude=-200 (i.e. 10*1000/(50) in Mpa).

Click on “OK”

Notice the load on the right edge of the beams. Click Dismiss

To rotate the model, click “Rotate View”. Left click of the mouse to rotate and roll the mouse
wheel to zoom in and out.

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 11- Mesh the Model

Now we need to mesh the model to make it a real “finite-element” model. To this end, from the
module drop-down list choose “Mesh”.

Click on the “Seed Edges” then click on all surfaces/edges of the beam (press shift key for multi
selection) the beam and “Done”

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Enter “Number of elements” 4. From Constrains select “Do not allow the number of elements to
change” and click on “OK” then “Done”

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Click on the “Assign Element Type” button and select the beam, then click “Done”.
Choose “Quadratic”. Choose the family “Shell”. Notice below the name of the element S8R.
Accept the other settings by clicking on “OK”.

Now, to mesh the model, click on the “Mesh Part Instance” button and click on “Yes” at the
question “Ok to mesh the part instance”.

Save the model.

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 12- Run the Analysis and View the Results

The model now is ready to be analysed. To this end, you need to create a job.

From Module, choose “Job”→”Job manager”→create→Name the job as “16_element_Beam” (no

spaces in the name). Click on “Continue” and accept all the other settings.

Click on “Submit”.

Wait until the analysis is completed.

To view the results, right click on the “Results”.

In this way, you will automatically open the “.odb” file, i.e. the “Output Database”.
Click on “Plot Contour on Deformed Shape” to see the deformed shape of the beam.

Note: Use the Rotate View to rotate your model. Roll the mouse wheel to zoom in and out.

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 - To obtain the deflection in the vertical directions, Choose U then U3. (U3 is the
displacement in the z-direction. Please check the coordinate system at the top right
corner of the model.)

To obtain the deflection over along the beam will create a path over the beam length then obtain
the deflection values, as follow.

Go to Tools→Path→Create. A window appears and you should choose “Node list” then Continue

Edit Node List Path window will appear and click on “Add After..”.

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Click on each nodes on the middle of the beams (KL) from left to right, as shown below (zoom in
and out where needed).

Click “Done” and “OK” in the Edit Node list path.

Go to Tools→XY Data→Manager→Create →Path→ Continue→tick “X distance” and

“undeformed”→ Save as→OK. Make sure that the field output variable is U, U2.

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Double click on XYData-1 as shown below, the distances and the deflections appear. Fill Table 1
with the deflections.

To obtain the bending stress alone KL on the top surface, choose “S” then S11 (i.e. bending
stress in x-direction).

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Go to Tools→XY Data→Manager→Craete→Path→ Continue→tick “X distance” and “undeformed”

To choose the top surface, Field output →Section Point→choose SPOS (fraction =1.0)→ok→ok

Save as→OK.

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Double click on XYData-2 as shown below; the distances and the stress appear. Fill Table 2 with
the bending stress.

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To obtain the Section Moment alone PQ, choose “SM” then SM1.

Similarly you should create Path alone PQ as shown below.

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Go to Tools→XY Data→Manager→Create→Path→ Continue→tick “Y distance” and
“undeformed”→ Save as→OK. Make sure that the field output variable is SM, SM1.

Double click on XYData-3 as shown below; the distances and the section moments appear. Fill
Table 3 with the section moments.

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To obtain the bending moment at mid-span, you can directly averaging the section moments
then multiply by 50 (50 is the width of the beams).

Note: There is another way to find total bending moment in ABAQUS. This will be explored in other
lectures

To obtain the Nodal force along AE (the fixed-end), choose RF then RF3 (RF3 is the reaction
forces in the z-direction)

Similarly you should create Path alone AE as shown below.

Go to Tools→XY Data→Manager→create →Path→ Continue→tick “Y distance” and

“undeformed”→ Save as→OK. Make sure that the field output variable is RF, RF3.

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Double click on XYData-4 as shown below; the distances and the forces appear. Fill Table 4 with
the Nodal forces.

To obtain the total reaction force at the fixed-end, you can directly sum up all nodal forces.

Note: There is another way to find the reaction forces in ABAQUS. This will be explored in other
lectures

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Table 1: Results – U3 - Vertical deflection along KL (mm)

Distance from Theory FE

fixed end (mm)

150

300

450

600

750

900

1050

1200

Table 2: Results – S11 – Bending stress along AB (Mpa)

Distance from Theory FE

fixed end (mm)

150

300

450

600

750

900

1050

1200

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Table 3: Results – SM1 – Section moment along PQ (Nmm/mm)

Distance from Theory FE

bottom (mm)

6.25

13.5

18.75

25

31.25

37.5

43.75

50

Bending moment at mid-span 6*106

Table 4: Results – RF3 – Nodal force along AE (the fixed-end) (N)

Distance from Theory FE

bottom (mm)

6.25

13.5

18.75

25

31.25

37.5

43.75

50

Total force (Reaction) 10000

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Plot Graph

1 Plot on the same graph the span wise finite element vertical deflection values (along KL)
superimposed on the theoretical values.

2 Plot on the same graph the span wise the finite element bending stress values (along KL)
superimposed on the theoretical values.

3 Compare the mid-span bending moment value and reaction forces value obtained from
theory and FE.

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 Case Study 3-Solution

Cantilevered Beam – Modelling using shell element

Problem description

A cantilevered beam is fixed at one end and is subjected to a vertically downward point
load of 10 kN at the free end. The cross-section is a solid rectangular of 50 mm x 100 mm. The
Young's modulus value for the steel material is 200 kN/mm2 and Poisson’s ratio is 0.25

Table 1: Results – U3 - Vertical deflection along KL (mm)

Distance from Theory FE

fixed end (mm)

0 0
0
150 -0.15957
-0.16
300 -0.60153
-0.59
450 -1.28733
-1.28
600 -2.17506
-2.16
750 -3.22518
-3.21
900 -4.39651
-4.37
1050 -5.64904
-5.63
1200 -6.94195
-6.91

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Table 2: Results – S11 – Bending stress along AB (Mpa)

Distance from Theory FE

fixed end (mm)

0 144.038
144
150 126.165
126
300 107.743
108
450 90.1115
90
600 71.7709
72
750 54.1355
54
900 35.6628
36
1050 18.2118
18
1200 2.8569
0
Table 3: Results – SM1 – Section moment along PQ (Nmm/mm)

Distance from Theory FE

bottom (mm)

0 121107

6.25 120380

13.5 119637

18.75 119620

25 119618

31.25 119620

37.5 119637

43.75 120380

50 121107

Bending moment at mid-span 6*106 6006144

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Table 4: Results – RF3 – Nodal force along AE (the fixed-end) (N)

Distance from Theory FE

bottom (mm)

0 -10105.3

6.25 18221.2

13.5 -14606.8

18.75 17505.5

25 -12029.3

31.25 17505.5

37.5 -14606.8

43.75 18221.2

50 -10105.3

Total force -10000 -10000

(Reaction)

Theoretical calculations

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