Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
1. Introduction
This example demonstrates the use and effects of the WTMASS parameter in NEiNastran. The model
shown in Figure 1 is a 7 in diameter steel plate with a thickness of 0.125 in. The mesh is comprised of 6
elements along the radial and 24 elements around the circumference.
The total weight of the model can be readily calculated as the volume of the disk times the weight density
of the material. The weight of this model is 1.44 lbs. Under a 1 g load, the resultant load vector should
be the weight of the model, in this case -1.44 in the Z-direction.
NEiNastran reports a total mass in the results summary file of:
TOTAL MASS = 1.426740E+00
And a load vector resultant of:
SUBCASE
T1
T2
T3
R1
R2
R3
0.00000E+00
0.00000E+00
-1.42674E+00
0.00000E+00
0.00000E+00
0.00000E+00
The 0.7% difference from theory is attributed to the discretization of the disk. Adding more elements
around the circumference would better approximate the curvature of the perimeter, therefore improving
the accuracy of the model. For most all FEA analysis, this error is acceptable.
1 1 1 ft
1
2
=
= 0.002588 s in .
=
ft
g 32.2 s 2 12in 386.4 in s 2
Table 1 shows a comparison of this model run with the WTMASS parameter correctly specified, as
compared to the theoretical natural frequencies of this disk.
Error (%)
-0.85
-1.8
If the WTMASS parameter is not specified for this model, errors of 95% result. The WTMASS parameter
is very important to the accuracy of a dynamic solution when the density has been entered on the
material card in weight units.
is used in the calculations of gravity loads, and generation of mass properties. This results in output that
has all been converted to mass units, leaving the user to back out the conversion factor to return to load
factors, and model weight. In NEiNastran, this matrix modification is done after the mass properties and
gravity loads are calculated. This results in more user friendly output; total mass is reported in the
expected weight units.