When a metal is loaded beyond its elastic limit, it no longer springs back to its original shape - it deforms permanently. Capturing this behaviour accurately in FEA requires moving beyond simple linear-elastic models and into the realm of plasticity. This post walks through the key concepts behind metal plasticity including true stress and strain, … Continue reading Elastoplastic Analysis in ANSYS and SolidWorks Simulation
Steel
Thermo-structural Simulation: An Example of Laser Welding Process
Laser welding is a highly localized heat input process in which a moving heat source induces steep thermal gradients. These gradients lead to thermal expansion and contraction generating residual stresses. They may also cause material softening or phase changes in the heat-affected zone. From a modelling perspective, laser welding process is a sequentially coupled problem … Continue reading Thermo-structural Simulation: An Example of Laser Welding Process
SAE Chassis Frontal Impact Analysis
The chassis is a major part in any automotive design since it is the structural backbone of various functional systems attached to it and is responsible for carrying loads of different components. Using ANSYS Mechanical to analyse a chassis allows different design configurations to be evaluated efficiently, making it possible to assess stiffness and deformation … Continue reading SAE Chassis Frontal Impact Analysis
Analysis of the strength of rotor punching under centrifugal force
Rotor core punching Rotating machinery can withstand significant centrifugal force during operation. Therefore, the strength of a rotor punching should be analyzed. This problem was solved using Workbench. Considering the periodicity of the rotor punching and load, a 1/8 model was created and cyclic symmetric boundaries were defined. The model consists of a rotor punching … Continue reading Analysis of the strength of rotor punching under centrifugal force
Plastic limit analysis of a statically indeterminate beam
A structure can become unstable when a load reaches its buckling value or when nonlinear material becomes unstable. It is possible to observe the full response of a structure under proportional (ramped) loads using elastic-plastic analysis in ANSYS, so the plastic limit load and the location of plastic hinges can be determined. In this post, … Continue reading Plastic limit analysis of a statically indeterminate beam
A comparison between ANSYS Mechanical and Simulation in SolidWorks
A Comparison between ANSYS Mechanical and SolidWorks Simulation
Contact Analysis of a Pipe-clamp Assembly
We have discussed multiple examples of contact analysis so far. In this post, we are going to investigate a pipe-clamp assembly. By using a pretensioned bolt, the clamp holds the pipe firmly (see the following figure). If the pretension is insufficient, slipping would happen between the pipe and clamp. If the pretension is too large, … Continue reading Contact Analysis of a Pipe-clamp Assembly
Harmonic analysis: A steel disk example
Harmonic analysis is used to determine the steady-state response of a linear structure to loads that vary sinusoidally (harmonically) with time, thus enabling you to verify whether or not your designs will successfully overcome resonance, fatigue, and other harmful effects of forced vibrations. This analysis technique calculates only the steady-state, forced vibrations of a structure. … Continue reading Harmonic analysis: A steel disk example
The application of contact elements: A bolted beam-column connection
In this post, we are going to explore the application of CONTA174 (i.e. 3D 8-node face-face contact element). CONTA174 is used to represent contact and sliding between 3D target surfaces and a deformable surface defined by this element. It can be used for both pair-based contact and general contact. In the case of pair-based contact, … Continue reading The application of contact elements: A bolted beam-column connection
The application of MACRO and *DOWHILE
In this post, I will show an example of using MACRO and *DOWHILE. The APDL is developed to model an experiment as shown below. Essentially it is a clamped-clamped cracked beam carrying a body. An important feature of the body is that its mass distributes far away from its centroid, hence the rotary inertia would … Continue reading The application of MACRO and *DOWHILE
Xutao Sun 