EXPERIMENT NO 6

TWO DIMENTIONAL TRUSS

Title: Static Structural Analysis Using 2-D Truss Element by Standard FE Package
Aim: Determine the displacement distribution and stress distribution in the framework
due to the applied loading and boundary conditions. A two-dimensional structural truss
element (often also called a "spar", "spring" or "link" element) will be used for this
analysis. The Figure below shows an overview of the truss problem on the left hand side
and a representative finite element model on the right hand side.

Fig: Overview of Truss Framework Problem and Representative FE Model

The relevant node and element data are given in the tables below. We will use SI system
units for this tutorial: length = m, mass = kg, time = sec, force = N, stress/pressure = Pa.

We can use the information in the tables above to define our nodes and elements. In
order to define the boundary conditions and loads on the finite element model we can
reference figure 01 in order to generate a list of constraints and loads on each node, as
shown in the table below.

Fig shows an overview of the expected results from the Practical Stress Analysis with
Finite Elements book. We are going to attempt to recreate these results here.

Step 1: Launch ANSYS We have already covered how to launch ANSYS properly in
tutorials 1 and 2. Please go back and re-read these tutorials if you cannot remember
how to do it.

Step 2: Define Element Type 1. In the Main Menu select Preprocessor > Element Type >
Add/Edit/Delete 2. Click on Add in the dialog box that appears.

3. Select Link in the left hand menu and 3Dfinit stn 180 in the right hand menu and then
click Ok

4. This will define element type 1 as a LINK 180 element. LINK 180 is actually a 3D truss
element but we are going to use it as a 2D truss by later suppressing some of it's degrees
of freedom. 5. Click Close to close the Element Type dialog box.
Step 3: Define Element Cross Sectional Area (Real Constant) 1. In the Main Menu select
Preprocessor > Real Constants > Add/Edit/Delete 2. Click on Add in the dialog box that
appears. 3. Click on OK to define a real constant for element type 1 LINK 180

4. Enter the value for cross sectional area for element 1: 0.05m2 and then click OK

5.Click on Close to close the real constants dialog box. Step 4: Define the Material
Behaviour
1. In the Main Menu click on Preprocessor > Material Props > Material Models, the
Define Material Model Behaviour dialog box will now appear.
2. Expand the options in the right hand pane of the dialog box: Structural > Linear >
Isotropic
3. In the dialog box that pops up, enter suitable material parameters for steel ( E = 210 x
109 Pa, Poissons ratio = 0.3):

4. Click on Ok to close the dialog box in which you entered the material parameters.
5. Close the Define Material Model Behavior dialog box by clicking on the X in the upper
right corner.
Step 5: Define Nodes and Elements

1. In the Main Menu click on Preprocessor > Modeling > Create > Nodes > In Active CS

2. In the dialog box that appears: enter the x and y coordinates for node 1 (i.e. 0,0) and

click on Apply (note that Apply issues the command to create the node but keeps the

dialog box open, clicking OK would also issue the command to create the node but

would close the dialog box).

3. Now enter the x and y coordinates for node 2 (i.e. 2, 1.5) and click Apply

4. Enter the x and y coordinates for node 3 (i.e. 0,1.5) and click OK to dismiss the dialog
box
5. You may have notice nodes appearing on the main window when you clicked apply.
You should now be able to see 3 nodes in the main window (note that node 1 is at the
origin so you may not be able to see it due to the display of the triad at the origin, this is
OK):
6. We must now create the elements that join the nodes together: click on Preprocessor
> Modeling > Create > Elements > Auto Numbered > Thru Nodes
7. In the main window click on node 1 and then node 2. Then click Apply in the dialog
box. You should see a line element appear joining nodes 1 and 2.
8. Now click on node 2 and then node 3 and click OK. A line element should appear
joining nodes 2 and 3.
9. Your display should now look like this:
Step 6: Define Boundary Conditions
1. In this case we are using a 3D truss to model a 2D truss problem so we must prevent
the nodes from moving in the Z direction (i.e. only allow movement in the X and Y
directions). In order to do this we constrain all nodes in the finite element model in the
Z direction.
2. Preprocessor > Loads > Define Loads > Apply > Structural > Displacement > On Nodes
3. Select Pick All in the dialog box that appears.
4. Select UZ in the next dialog box that appears and enter a value of 0 for displacement
value.
5. Click Ok to close the dialog box. You should notice blue crosses appearing at each of
the nodes.
6. Now we can apply the problem boundary conditions.
7. Using the table above: we must constrain node 1 and 3 in both the X and Y directions.
8. Again, select: Preprocessor > Loads > Define Loads > Apply > Structural >
Displacement > On Nodes 9. Click on Nodes 1 and 3 and then click Ok
10. Select UX, UY and UZ and enter a value of 0 for displacement value
11. Click Ok to close the dialog box. Your should have noticed extra constraints
appearing at nodes 1 and 3 (blue triangles pointing in the horizontal and vertical
directions)
Step 7: Define Loads 1. Select Preprocessor > Loads > Define Loads > Apply > Structural
> Force/ Moment > On Nodes 2. Pick node 2 and click on Ok 3. In the dialog box that
appears make sure that the direction of force is set to FY and that the Force/ Moment
value is 100000

4. Click on Ok to close the dialog box.

5. You should see a red arrow appear on node 2 pointing to upwards.

Step 8: Solve the Problem

1. In the Main Menu select Solution > Analysis Type > New Analysis
2. Make sure that Static is selected in the dialog box that pops up and then click on OK to
dismiss the dialog.
3. Select Solution > Solve > Current LS to solve the problem
4. A new window and a dialog box will pop up. Take a quick look at the infromation in
the window ( /STATUS Command) before closing it. 5. Click on OK in the dialog box to
solve the problem. 6. Once the problem has been solved you will get a message to say
that the solution is done, close this window when you are ready.

Step 9: Examine the Results

1. In the Main Menu select General Postproc > Plot Results > Deformed Shape

In the dialog box that appears make sure that Def + undef edge is selected. This shows
the deformed shaped overlaid on the original shape of the finite element model. Click on
OK to plot the deformed shape:

2. Now, select General Postproc > List Results > Nodal Solution > DOF solution >
Displacement Vector Sum and click OK
3. You should get a screen similar to this:
4. This gives us the displacement results for each node in the finite element model.
5. The truss element that we have used is quite basic and it is difficult to get stress
results directly from it. In order to access stress results we have to define an element
table.
6. Select General Postproc > Element Table > Define Table > Add 7. Edit the options in
the dialog box so that they look like this:
8. It is very important to add the "1" after "LS, " !
9. Click on Ok to define the element table. 10. Click on Close to close the other dialog
box.
11. Now select General Postproc > Element Table > List Elem Table you should get a
listing like this:
12. This listing gives the stress in each element, for example element 1 has an axial
stress of 0.3333 x 106 Pa or 0.333 MPa 13. Finally, we need to obtain the reaction forces
for each node in the finite element model: select General Postproc > List Results >
Reaction Solu and click on OK in the dialog box that appears, you should see a listing like
this:

14. This listing gives the reaction force at each node, for example node 3 has a x
direction reaction force of 13,333 N.

Step 10: Validate the Results

Result Quantity Ansys Result Result in book % Accuracy

X Displacement of -0.25397e-5 m -0.2539e-5 m 100%
Node 2
Y Displacement of 0.1e-4 m 1e-5 m 100%
Node 2
Stress in Element 1 0.33333e6 Pa 0.33 x 106 Pa 100%
Stress in Element 2 -0.26667e6 Pa -0.266 x 106 Pa 100%
RX of Node 1 -13,333 N -13,333 N 100%
RY of Node 1 -10,000 N -10,000 N 100%
RX of Node 3 13,333 N 13,333 N 100%
RY of Node 3 0N 0N 100%
As the table above clearly shows, our finite element results are consistent with those
given in the book. Summary This tutorial has given you the following skills:
1. The ability to model 2-D truss problems in ANSYS.
2. The ability to generate finite element models using the direct method (i.e. defining
nodes and then defining elements linking those nodes, as opposed to taking a solid
model and dividing it up into elements which we will do in subsequent tutorials).
3. The ability to define element types, real constants and material parameters for a finite
element model.
4. The ability to apply boundary conditions and loads to specific nodes in a finite
element model.
5. The ability to run a simple linear static analysis.
6. The ability to plot the deformed shape of a model and overlay it on the original shape

7. The ability to list displacement results for each node in the finite element model.
8. The ability to create an element table to obtain additional results from a finite
element model and to list these results.
Experience in comparing the results obtained from your finite element model with
other results and validating your results against the other results.