Model Steps - Week 6 Session
Model Steps - Week 6 Session
Download the Week 6 Cantilevered Beam model, Week 6 Automotive Structure Impact model and
Automotive Structure.x_t geometry file.
Exercise 1
In this exercise we are going to change the element type and see what effect that has in terms of the
results.
1. Open FEMAP.
2. Go to File; Open…
a. On the pop-up menu (Open) browse to the directory where you have downloaded
the file “Week_6_Cantilevered_Thin_Half_Beam”.
b. Click on the file and select Open.
The formulation type (element type) is stored in the elements. To change it we need to modify the
formulation related to the elements. First off, we are going to check the current formulation on the
plate elements.
c. On the pop up menu (Element Listing Options) select sort by ID and Ascending and
then select OK.
d. At the bottom of the screen in Messages the information about the element should
be displayed. The formulation should be 1..Constant Stress - 1-Point (as that is what
we set) but this has not been picked up by FEMAP.
Having set the formulation (element type), the model is ready to be run.
To view the results and get the required maximum displacement, maximum longitudinal stress and
maximum effective plastic strain information:
7. Go to the side menu Model Info and expand the items under the Results, the Analysis Study
and the analysis Cantilevered beam.
a. You should then be able to see the different steps of the results.
b. Click on the final result.
8. Before looking at the results set the entity display toolbar to only show elements as shown
below:
There are some post processing options that we can change to make things a bit easier to see what
is happening.
9. Selecting the tab at the bottom of the model info menu you can swap to post processing.
This allows you to open up menus to set options for deform (what is displayed in terms of
deformation), contour (what is displayed you show contours on the model) and freebody (to
create views with loads and moments showing on elements).
a. On the deform menu select the Scale option and make sure the scale option is set to
Actual Deformations (rather than % of model). This will make the deformations less
pronounced (if they are exaggerated; parts can seem to go through each other).
To analyse the results, we can use the Post toolbar. The Post toolbar allows you to select your view
(type of deformation, type of plot (contour, criteria and arrow), switch outputs set (what time point
is shown), switch output vector (what is being displayed; stress, velocity etc) and change settings.
11. Use settings and makes sure that Deform is set to Total Translation and contour is set to
the beam longitudinal stress (normal stress in z direction).
a. Select OK.
b. Record the maximum longitudinal stress number.
12. Use settings and makes sure that Deform is set to Total Translation and contour is set to
effective plastic strain.
a. Select OK.
b. Record the maximum plastic strain number.
13. Use settings and makes sure that Deform is set to Total Translation and contour is set to
Total Translation.
a. Select OK.
b. Record the maximum deflection.
14. Repeat the process twice more with element formulation: Selectively Integrated 8 Noded
(No. 2) and Fully Integrated 8 Noded (No. 3).
Exercise 2 – 2D Mesh
In this exercise we are going to mesh the structure we have before but using a 2D mesh.
Open Femap.
1. Go to File; Preferences…
a. On the pop-up file menu (Preferences) select the Geometry/Model tab.
b. On the Solid Geometry Scale Factor enter Metres
Although LS-Dyna is dimensionless the Femap CAD system appears to default to scale around metres
and it seems Parasolid models and Step files are saved in metres. We want to be in metres as this
makes setting up materials etc easier.
c. Select OK.
2. Go to File; Import; Geometry…
a. On the pop-up file manager (Geometry File to Import) got to where you downloaded
the Parasolid model (Automotive Structure.x_t)
I recommend placing the Parasolid model in a folder in the downloads folder. Do not have any
spaces in the folder name as Femap and LS-Dyna do not like having spaces in names of files or
directory paths (as they are originally Unix based software).
We are now going to create 2D surfaces to represent the walls in our structure.
3. Go to Geometry; Midsurface; Automatic…
a. On the pop up menu (Entity Selection) click on Select All and then click on OK.
b. On the pop up menu (Automatic Midsurface Generation) enter a target thickness of
0.012 (12mm). This sets the maximum length between outside surfaces that the
program will look at for inserting a midsurface.
If you had a plate that was 100mm by 100mm by 6mm and set the target thickness to 110mm the
programme would put in 3 midsurfaces (1 between each set of outside surfaces) but if you set the
target thickness it to 10mm it would only create 1 surface (between your surfaces that are closest
together).
It won’t necessarily be obvious that anything has happened as the midsurfaces will be hidden by
your 3D geometry. You should see in your message pane the following
If you expand geometry in the model info pane you should see midsurfaces labelled 2 to 19.
b. On the pop up menu (Automatic Mesh Sizing) enter 0.01 (10mm) in the element size
and then select OK.
c. Select “Cancel” on the pop up menu (entity selection) to come out of the process for
creating mesh control on surfaces.
You should see mesh control (seeds) along the edge curves of each of the surfaces.
Now ready to mesh the surfaces.
b. On the pop up menu (Automesh Surfaces) leave the Property dialog empty (as we
are only going to look at the mesh rather than create a full model). Make sure Max
Quads is selected and Midsize Nodes are not selected. Then click on OK.
c. On the pop up menu that asks if you are “OK to mesh with Plot Only Elements”
select OK (only in this case as we are not going to create a full model).
You should see a fully meshed structure. The thickness of the walls of the structure, if we were
creating a full model, would be defined in the property (which includes the material, element type
etc).
Exercise 3
In this exercise we are going to change the element type and see what effect that has in terms of the
results.
1. Open FEMAP.
2. Go to File; Open…
a. On the pop-up menu (Open) browse to the directory where you have downloaded
the file “Week_6_Automotive_Structure_Impact.modfem”.
b. Click on the file and select Open.
This model has the previously developed cantilevered beam with the automotive structure. The
automotive structure has been turned into a 2D mesh and has a velocity of 15m/s applied to it, in
the direction of the cantilevered beam. The model is fully set up and ready to run. However we are
going to check what element formulation is being used on the automotive structure.
To change the element formulation the Modify command can be used (Skip this step for the first
run and use Belytschko -Tsay (No. 2)).
Having set the formulation (element type), the model is ready to be run.
e. On the pop up menu (DYNA Results) leave the defaults as they are and click OK.
To record the run time of the model:
To view the results and get the required maximum rigidwall displacement, maximum von Mises mid
plane stress and maximum plastic mid plane strain information:
9. Go to the side menu Model Info and expand the items under the Results, the Analysis Study
and the analysis Cantilevered beam.
a. You should then be able to see the different steps of the results.
b. Click on the final result.
c. Before looking at the results set the entity display toolbar to only show elements as
shown below:
There are some post processing options that we can change to make things a bit easier to see what
is happening.
10. Selecting the tab at the bottom of the model info menu you can swap to post processing.
This allows you to open up menus to set options for deform (what is displayed in terms of
deformation), contour (what is displayed you show contours on the model) and freebody (to
create views with loads and moments showing on elements).
a. On the deform menu select the Scale option and make sure the scale option is set to
Actual Deformations (rather than % of model). This will make the deformations less
pronounced (if they are exaggerated; parts can seem to go through each other).
To analyse the results, we can use the Post toolbar. The Post toolbar allows you to select your view
(type of deformation, type of plot (contour, criteria and arrow), switch outputs set (what time point
is shown), switch output vector (what is being displayed; stress, velocity etc) and change settings.
To measure the maximum displacement of the beam tip it is best to plot the movement of one of
the attached nodes. To plot the nodal displacement, we need to open the charting pane.
12. To open the charting pane on the Panes Toolbar make sure the icon is lit up. This should
make a Charting pane appear to the left of the screen.
a. Right click on the graph paper in the chart pane and on the pop up menu select
Create Data Series.
b. Change the Type to Vector vs Set.
c. In the title write Node Displacement.
d. Unclick the Use ALL Output Sets
e. Select which study you want to plot (the one you have just run)
f. The Vector should be set to 1..Total Translation (or T2).
g. Click on the location dialog (has a zero in it to start) and then left click on a node on
the front corner tip of the beam.
To get a good understanding of what is happening you can create multiple graphs. If you left click on
the current graph and use Create Data Series it will create additional plots in the same graph. Due to
scaling this might not be best. To start a fresh graph go to the top of the Charting pane and in the
dialog select 0..None/Create New, to start a fresh graph. You can swap back to previous graphs by
selecting them in the top dialog. The icon on the top of the Charting pane opens up the Chart
Data Series Manager and allows you to edit and delete charts.
It would be ideal to get the exact value for the point at which the wall is at maximum value.
13. Right click on the chart and on the pop down menu select chart options/
a. On the pop up menu (Charting) select the Labels and Markers tab.
b. Click so Display Labels is selected.
c. Click so that Show Max/Min Only is selected
d. Then click Done.
e. This will show the max and min values on the chart.
Now run for the other element formulations