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UofAANSYSTutorialsCoupledStructural/ThermalAnalysis

UofAANSYSTutorial

SpringsandJoints
DesignOptimization

ANSYS
UTILITIES

BASIC
TUTORIALS

INTERMEDIATE

TUTORIALS

ADVANCED
TUTORIALS

POSTPROC.
TUTORIALS

COMMAND
LINEFILES

PRINTABLE
VERSION

CoupledStructural/ThermalAnalysis

Substructuring

CoupledField
pElement
ElementDeath
ContactElements
APDL

Index

Introduction
ThistutorialwascompletedusingANSYS7.0Thepurposeofthistutorialistooutlineasimple
coupledthermal/structuralanalysis.Asteellink,withnointernalstresses,ispinnedbetweentwosolid
structuresatareferencetemperatureof0C(273K).Oneofthesolidstructuresisheatedtoa
temperatureof75C(348K).Asheatistransferredfromthesolidstructureintothelink,thelinkwill
attemptoexpand.However,sinceitispinnedthiscannotoccurandassuch,stressiscreatedinthelink.
Asteadystatesolutionoftheresultingstresswillbefoundtosimplifytheanalysis.
Loadswillnotbeappliedtothelink,onlyatemperaturechangeof75degreesCelsius.Thelinkissteel
withamodulusofelasticityof200GPa,athermalconductivityof60.5W/m*Kandathermal
expansioncoefficientof12e6/K.

Contributions
Comments
MecE563
MechanicalEngineering
UniversityofAlberta

ANSYSInc.

Copyright2001
UniversityofAlberta

Preprocessing:DefiningtheProblem
AccordingtoChapter2oftheANSYSCoupledFieldGuide,"Asequentiallycoupledphysicsanalysis
isthecombinationofanalysesfromdifferentengineeringdisciplineswhichinteracttosolveaglobal
engineeringproblem.Forconvenience,...thesolutionsandproceduresassociatedwithaparticular
engineeringdiscipline[willbereferredtoas]aphysicsanalysis.Whentheinputofonephysicsanalysis
dependsontheresultsfromanotheranalysis,theanalysesarecoupled."
Thus,eachdifferentphysicsenvironmentmustbeconstructedseperatelysotheycanbeusedto
determinethecoupledphysicssolution.However,itisimportanttonotethatasinglesetofnodeswill
existfortheentiremodel.Bycreatingthegeometryinthefirstphysicalenvironment,andusingitwith
anyfollowingcoupledenvironments,thegeometryiskeptconstant.Forourcase,wewillcreatethe
geometryintheThermalEnvironment,wherethethermaleffectswillbeapplied.
Althoughthegeometrymustremainconstant,theelementtypescanchange.Forinstance,thermal
elementsarerequiredforathermalanalysiswhilestructuralelementsarerequiredtodeterimethestress
inthelink.Itisimportanttonote,howeverthatonlycertaincombinationsofelementscanbeusedfora
coupledphysicsanalysis.Foralisting,seeChapter2oftheANSYSCoupledFieldGuidelocatedinthe
helpfile.
Theprocessrequirestheusertocreateallthenecessaryenvironments,whicharebasicallythe
preprocessingportionsforeachenvironment,andwritethemtomemory.Theninthesolutionphase
theycanbecombinedtosolvethecoupledanalysis.
ThermalEnvironmentCreateGeometryandDefineThermalProperties

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1.GiveexampleaTitle
UtilityMenu>File>ChangeTitle...
/title,ThermalStressExample

2.Openpreprocessormenu
ANSYSMainMenu>Preprocessor
/PREP7

3.DefineKeypoints
Preprocessor>Modeling>Create>Keypoints>InActiveCS...
K,#,x,y,z

Wearegoingtodefine2keypointsforthislinkasgiveninthefollowingtable:
Keypoint Coordinates(x,y,z)
1
(0,0)
2

(1,0)

4.CreateLines
Preprocessor>Modeling>Create>Lines>Lines>InActiveCoord
L,1,2

CreatealinejoiningKeypoints1and2,representingalink1meterlong.
5.DefinetheTypeofElement
Preprocessor>ElementType>Add/Edit/Delete...
ForthisproblemwewillusetheLINK33(ThermalMassLink3Dconduction)element.
Thiselementisauniaxialelementwiththeabilitytoconductheatbetweenitsnodes.
6.DefineRealConstants
Preprocessor>RealConstants...>Add...
Inthe'RealConstantsforLINK33'window,enterthefollowinggeometricproperties:
i.CrosssectionalareaAREA:4e4
Thisdefinesabeamwithacrosssectionalareaof2cmX2cm.
7.DefineElementMaterialProperties
Preprocessor>MaterialProps>MaterialModels>Thermal>Conductivity>Isotropic
Inthewindowthatappears,enterthefollowinggeometricpropertiesforsteel:
i.KXX:60.5
8.DefineMeshSize
Preprocessor>Meshing>SizeCntrls>ManualSize>Lines>AllLines...
Forthisexamplewewilluseanelementedgelengthof0.1meters.
9.Meshtheframe
Preprocessor>Meshing>Mesh>Lines>click'PickAll'
10.WriteEnvironment
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Thethermalenvironment(thegeometryandthermalproperties)isnowfullydescribedand
canbewrittentomemorytobeusedatalatertime.
Preprocessor>Physics>Environment>Write
Inthewindowthatappears,entertheTITLEThermalandclickOK.

11.ClearEnvironment
Preprocessor>Physics>Environment>Clear>OK
Doingthisclearsalltheinformationprescribedforthegeometry,suchastheelementtype,
materialproperties,etc.Itdoesnotclearthegeometryhowever,soitcanbeusedinthe
nextstage,whichisdefiningthestructuralenvironment.
StructuralEnvironmentDefinePhysicalProperties
Sincethegeometryoftheproblemhasalreadybeendefinedintheprevioussteps,allthatisrequiredis
todetailthestructuralvariables.
1.SwitchElementType
Preprocessor>ElementType>SwitchElemType
ChooseThermaltoStrucfromthescolldownlist.
Thiswillswitchtothecomplimentarystructuralelementautomatically.Inthiscaseitis
LINK8.Formoreinformationonthiselement,seethehelpfile.Awarningsayingyou
shouldmodifythenewelementasnecessarywillpopup.Inthiscase,onlythematerial
propertiesneedtobemodifiedasthegeometryisstayingthesame.
2.DefineElementMaterialProperties
Preprocessor>MaterialProps>MaterialModels>Structural>Linear>Elastic>
Isotropic
Inthewindowthatappears,enterthefollowinggeometricpropertiesforsteel:
i.Young'sModulusEX:200e9
ii.Poisson'sRatioPRXY:0.3
Preprocessor>MaterialProps>MaterialModels>Structural>ThermalExpansionCoef
>Isotropic
i.ALPX:12e6
3.WriteEnvironment
Thestructuralenvironmentisnowfullydescribed.
Preprocessor>Physics>Environment>Write
Inthewindowthatappears,entertheTITLEStruct
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SolutionPhase:AssigningLoadsandSolving
1.DefineAnalysisType
Solution>AnalysisType>NewAnalysis>Static
ANTYPE,0

2.ReadintheThermalEnvironment
Solution>Physics>Environment>Read
ChoosethermalandclickOK.

IfthePhysicsoptionisnotavailableunderSolution,clickUnabridgedMenuatthebottomof
theSolutionmenu.Thisshouldmakeitvisible.
3.ApplyConstraints
Solution>DefineLoads>Apply>Thermal>Temperature>OnKeypoints
SetthetemperatureofKeypoint1,theleftmostpoint,to348Kelvin.
4.SolvetheSystem
Solution>Solve>CurrentLS
SOLVE

5.ClosetheSolutionMenu
MainMenu>Finish
ItisveryimportanttoclickFinishasitclosesthatenvironmentandallowsanewonetobe
openedwithoutcontamination.Ifthisisnotdone,youwillgeterrormessages.
Thethermalsolutionhasnowbeenobtained.Ifyouplotthesteadystatetemperatureonthelink,
youwillseeitisauniform348K,asexpected.Thisinformationissavedinafilelabelled
Jobname.rth,were.rthisthethermalresultsfile.Sincethejobnamewasn'tchangedatthe
beginningoftheanalysis,thisdatacanbefoundasfile.rth.Wewillusetheseresultsin
determingthestructuraleffects.
6.ReadintheStructuralEnvironment
Solution>Physics>Environment>Read
ChoosestructandclickOK.
7.ApplyConstraints
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Solution>DefineLoads>Apply>Structural>Displacement>OnKeypoints
FixKeypoint1forallDOF'sandKeypoint2intheUXdirection.
8.IncludeThermalEffects
Solution>DefineLoads>Apply>Structural>Temperature>FromThermAnaly
Asshownbelow,enterthefilenameFile.rth.Thiscouplestheresultsfromthesolutionof
thethermalenvironmenttotheinformationprescribedinthestructuralenvironmentand
usesitduringtheanalysis.

9.DefineReferenceTemperature
Preprocessor>Loads>DefineLoads>Settings>ReferenceTemp
Forthisexamplesetthereferencetemperatureto273degreesKelvin.

10.SolvetheSystem
Solution>Solve>CurrentLS
SOLVE

Postprocessing:ViewingtheResults
1.HandCalculations
HandcalculationswereperformedtoverifythesolutionfoundusingANSYS:

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Asshown,thestressinthelinkshouldbeauniform180MPaincompression.
2.GetStressData
Sincetheelementisonlyaline,thestresscan'tbelistedinthenormalway.Instead,an
elementtablemustbecreatedfirst.
GeneralPostproc>ElementTable>DefineTable>Add
Fillinthewindowasshownbelow.[CompStr>BySequenceNum>LS>LS,1
ETABLE,CompStress,LS,1

3.ListtheStressData
GeneralPostproc>ElementTable>ListElemTable>COMPSTR>OK
PRETAB,CompStr

Thefollowinglistshouldappear.Notethestressineachelement:0.180e9Pa,or180MPain
compressionasexpected.

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CommandFileModeofSolution

TheaboveexamplewassolvedusingamixtureoftheGraphicalUserInterface(orGUI)andthe
commandlanguageinterfaceofANSYS.ThisproblemhasalsobeensolvedusingtheANSYS
commandlanguageinterfacethatyoumaywanttobrowse.Openthe.HTMLversion,copyandpaste
thecodeintoNotepadorasimilartexteditorandsaveittoyourcomputer.Nowgoto'File>Read
inputfrom...'andselectthefile.A.PDFversionisalsoavailableforprinting.

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