Instructions Exercise 2. MT5081-03 Stresses in One Point: Fixtures
1) The document provides instructions for using SolidWorks to model a curved round bar with applied forces and calculate stresses at a single point.
2) A static study is conducted on the model with fixed geometry on one end and applied forces on the other.
3) Stresses are analyzed at a single point on the bar, with values reported for various stress types both before and after modifications to the model.
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Instructions Exercise 2. MT5081-03 Stresses in One Point: Fixtures
1) The document provides instructions for using SolidWorks to model a curved round bar with applied forces and calculate stresses at a single point.
2) A static study is conducted on the model with fixed geometry on one end and applied forces on the other.
3) Stresses are analyzed at a single point on the bar, with values reported for various stress types both before and after modifications to the model.
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Instructions Exercise 2.
MT5081-03 Stresses in one point
Start SolidWorks and a New Part. In the Top plane draw a sketch like this, starting at the Origin: Rebuild. Then in the Right plane make a circle with the centre in the origin and diameter 20 and Rebuild again. Sweep the circle along the curve to finish the model. Select material: Plain Carbon Steel and Save as Curved round bar. In this model there is no symmetry, not even in the top plane, as there is vertical force on the bar. Note that for symmetry also the loads on the model must be symmetric. If the Simulation tab does not show under the command manager, use Add InsThen start a new static study.
Fixtures: On the wall end surface of the bar (where the origin is), use Fixed Geometry. OK. On the other end surface we shall define the forces, but to do so we have to have two axes to be able to define the directions of the forces. So pick the Front and Top planes in the Feature Manager (use Ctrl) and take Insert, Reference Geometry, Axis to make Axis 1, and the Front and Right planes to define Axis 2 .
Right click on External Loads and chose Force. Pick the right end surface of the bar, change Normal to Selected direction and pick Axis 1 from the feature tree. Enter 1000 for the force in the axial direction. (Use Reverse direction if the arrows point in the wrong direction.) Repeat this procedure to enter a force 500 N on the same face but in the direction of Axis 2 and pointing downward. Hide the symbols when everything looks good.
Meshing: Now we have the loads and restraints defined, so its time to divide the bar into elements. Right click on Mesh, chose Create and check Mesh Parameters. You see that the program is recommending an over all element size of about 4 mm. Set the size to exactly 4 mm, and the tolerance will be 0.2 mm, which is 5% of the size. OK. If you right click on Mesh again, choosing Details you can get some information on the meshing.
We can see that we have 12699 nodes and 7903 elements (might be slightly different depending on how the model is done). As each node can move in three directions (except the ones that are fixed) we have about 35 000 degrees of freedom (D.O.F.) in this problem. That means that there will be 35 000 variables and 35 000 equations to solve. The Aspect Ratio tells us how distorted the elements are from the ideal tetrahedral form. This looks pretty good. (We will make changes later.)
Solving: Right click on Study 1(-Default-) and chose Properties. Check that you have the right Result Folder. Then right click again on Study 1(-Default-) and take Run.
Results: If solving is easy (although it can be time consuming for large problems), interpretation of the results needs skills and some knowledge of structural mechanics.
Displacement: Start by looking at the displacement. Pick the plus sign in front of Results (if necessary) and double click on the Displacement plot. Then right click on Displacement1, chose Edit definition, and change URES to UX and m to mm. You should get a maximum of 2,06 mm. Change to UY and you can now see that the end of the bar bends down 1.58 mm. This sounds reasonable and to be more convinced, that the input data is correct, we can animate the plot to see how the bar deforms under the load. Right click on Plot1, chose Animate, set the number of frames to 10 and run the animation. Note that you can change View Orientation or rotate the model during animation. If some loads or restraints are wrong, this will normally give an unexpected motion of the model. Of course some times even the correct deformation will be unexpected, but this is a good reason to start thinking. Another check of the loads can be done by right clicking on Results, choosing List Result Force, Reaction Force and pick the wall end of the bar. Update. We see that the reaction forces at the wall are 1000 N to the left and 500 N up, which compensates for the loads. That the reaction force in the Z-direction is not exactly zero is nothing to worry about.
Stresses: In this exercise we will look at the different stresses in one point (the point A). Make a plot of the stress in the x-direction using MPa as unit. You will see that the maximum stress in the x- direction is around 230 MPa and the minimum on the other side -240 MPa. This red on one side and blue on the other is typical of bending. One side is stretched and the other compressed. To see the value of SX in point A, look at the bar from above (Top) and zoom up the left end of the bar. Right click on Stress1 and chose Probe. Then point at the middle of the left edge this should be point A. You will get a value for SX of around 100 MPa. Now work through all types of stresses down to INT (Tresca), using edit definition on Stress1 and probing. Take notes of their values. I get: SX=106, SY=31, SZ=39, TXY=-14, TXZ=71, TYZ=1, P1=152, P2=32, P3=-8, VON=144, INT=160. All values in MPa.
Error estimate: Before we look at ERR we define a new Plot by right clicking on Results using Define Stress Plot. Chose ERR: Energy norm error. You will get a Stress2 that looks a little different from the other plots. First you see that the colouring isnt smooth but follows the elements. This is because the possible error in the energy norm is calculated for each element and not for the nodes, as with the stresses. You can see that the error at point A might be up to 20%. This is very common when youre using the restraint Fixed like weve done here.
Changing the model To see if can get rid of the influence of the fixed restraint on the stresses in point A, we will make two changes to the model. Go to Model and in the Feature Manager change the length of the first part of the bar to 60. To be able to find the point A now, we will divide the surface of the bar with a Split Line. Use the Front plane for the sketch and a view normal to the plane, to draw a vertical line 10 mm from the left edge. Then take Insert, Curve, Split Line and point at the cylindrical face of the bar. OK. Go back to Study1. As the model is changed we have to make a new mesh. Right click on Mesh, chose Apply Mesh Control, pick the edge 10 mm from the wall and set the element size here to 2 mm. Take Create Mesh and use the same 4 mm as before. Check the details. Then Run the solver by right clicking on Study1. Double click on the Stress2 (ERR). You will see that on the line where A is, the error norm is below 5% which is good. Use Top view and zoom up as before to find A where the Split Line is. Look at the stresses. Show Stress 1 and use von Mises, then right click on Stress1, chose Settings, and change Boundary Options to Mesh. Now start probing the different stress values again.
Go through all the stresses and compare them with the previous values. I now get: SX=107MPa, SY=0, SZ=1MPa, TXY=-2MPa, TXZ=50MPa, TYZ=0, P1=126MPa, P2=0, P3=-19MPa, VON=137MPa, INT=145MPa.
We can check with the formula for von Mises: s vM ={0,5[(126-0) 2 +(126+19) 2 +(0-19) 2 ]} 1/2 =136MPa (with exact values we get 137) and Tresca: s T =126 (-19) =145MPa
We also learn that a fixed surface like we had at A in the first calculations give high error values. Symmetry fixtures are much better.
Direction of stresses Finally we shall look at the von Mises stress over the whole bar. As you can see the maximum value is above the yield limit. This means that the results here are not correct. When the yield limit is reached the bar will start to deform and the stress will be more or less constant. You can also see the directions of the stresses by using Advanced Options for the von Mises plot. Chose Show as tensor plot and you will see arrows and something that look like ellipses. When the ellipses are very narrow (almost like lines) one of the three principal stresses is dominant. When they are round more stresses are involved. You can change the size and density of the arrows if you right click on the stress plot under Results and chose Vector Plot Options. 500 and 50 should look good.