GuideforExercise11inCourseonMechanicsofCompositeMaterialsandStructures, 2012FEAofLaminatedCompositeStructuresusingANSYS

ByErikLund,DepartmentofMechanicalandManufacturingEngineering,AalborgUniversity A(45,0)Scarbon/epoxy(AS/3501)laminateissubjectedtoabiaxialloadPx=105[N/m],Py=5104[N/m].The thicknessofeachplyis0.1mm.ThemechanicalpropertiesusedinExercises5,6,7,and8arereused. FirststartANSYS:chooseMechanicalAPDLProductLauncherintheANSYSmenuanddefinejobnameandwork directory.MakesuretheANSYSsimulationenvironmentandANSYSAcademicTeachingAdvancedlicensearechosen. ByPreprocessor>ElementType>Addweselecttheelementtouseasthe4nodeshellelementSHELL181. Alternatively,wecoulduseSHELL281,butforthisplaneexamplewithconstantstressstate,theelementchoiceisofless importance.Thefollowingoptionsfortheelementarechanged:Keyoption3(Integrationoption)issettoFullw/ incomptiblemodesinsteadofthedefault"Reducedintegration,andKeyoption8(Storageoflayerdata)ischangedto Alllayers.

Nextmaterialpropertiesaredefined:MainMenu>Preprocessor>MaterialProps>MaterialModels>Structural>Linear >Elastic>Orthotropicandyouenterthematerialdata.AsdefaultyouenterthemajorPoisson'sratio(PRXY,etc.).Itisa goodideaalsotodefinethedensity(1470kg/m3)forthelaminate.

Wewillalsoevaluatefailurecriteria,soallstrengthdatausedmustbedefinedusingMainMenu>Preprocessor> MaterialProps>FailureCriteria:

Notethattensionvaluesmustbedefinedaspositiveandcompressionvaluesasnegative.Inputtingalargenumber(here 1E12 for stresses and 1 for strains) simply indicates infinite strength in that direction and consequently cancels the contribution from stresses and strains in that direction. This is particularly useful for plane analyses as in this example. NOTE!!!Thestresscouplingcoefficients(1inthisexample)mustbeenteredasCxy,whichistwicethevalueofF*xy,i.e.Cxy =2F*xy. Nextthelayupofthe6layeredshellisdefinedusingMainMenu>Preprocessor>Sections>Shell>Layup>Add:we definethickness,materialnumberandorientationforallsixlayers.

Pleasenotethatthesectioncanbeoffsetfromthemidplane(bychoosingTopPlane,BottomPlaneorUserInput Location). WiththetabSectionControlsyoucanoverridethedefaultsectionpropertiescomputedbyANSYSlikeshearcorrection factors,hourglassstiffnesses,etc.,andwiththetabSummaryyoucancheckthepropertiesofthesectiondefined:

UsingthemenuMainMenu>Preprocessor>Sections>Shell>Layup>PlotSectionwegetthefollowingplot:

LateronyoumaygeneratesimilarplotsforthelayupofagivenelementbyusingthemenuUtilityMenu>Plot>Layered Elements. UsingthemenuMainMenu>Preprocessor>Sections>ListSectionsyouactuallygetallthesectiondatacomputedby ANSYSwhichisreallyconvenient:


Thus, ANSYS has computed the following ABD-matrices: 0.459029E+08 0.130232E+08 0.116415E-09 0.130232E+08 0.199706E+08 -0.116415E-09 0.116415E-09 -0.116415E-09 0.156536E+08 -0.454747E-12 0.00000 -0.284217E-13 0.00000 -0.284217E-13 0.568434E-13 0.284217E-13 0.284217E-13 -0.113687E-12 -0.454747E-12 0.00000 -0.284217E-13 0.879409 0.542610 0.259323 0.00000 -0.284217E-13 0.568434E-13 0.284217E-13 0.284217E-13 -0.113687E-12 0.542610 0.792968 0.259323 0.259323 0.259323 0.621523

UsingourMatlabcodeforExercise8,thefollowingstiffnessmatrix(ABD)ofthesymmetriclaminateis obtained:

Thus,theresultsfortheABDmatricesareseentobeincompleteagreement,exceptforroundofferrors.

NextwedefinetheplatebyusingMainMenu>Preprocessor>Modeling>Create>Areas>Rectangle>ByDimensions andwedefineaplateofunitsizeinthexyplane.

UsingMainMenu>Preprocessor>Meshing>MeshToolwecreatea3x3mappedmesh.Itisimportanttonotice,that allelementcoordinatesystemsaregeneratedaccordingtothecurrentlyactivecoordinatesystem!Inthisexample,wewill usetheglobalCartesiancoordinatesystem(number0)asourelementcoordinatesystem,andthusthematerialanglefor eachlayerisrelatedtotheangleintheglobalxysystem.UsingMainMenu>Preprocessor>Meshing>MeshToolwe canselectagivenareaandchangethedefinitionofareaattributes(includingtheelementcoordinatesystem).

Whendefiningshellelements,itisimportanttoknowtheorientationoftheareas.ANSYSvisualizesthetopsurfaceofan areausingthecolorgreenwhereasthebottomsurfaceispurple.Youmayalsoplotthenormalvectortotheareasinorder toensurecorrectorientation.UseUtilityMenu>PlotCrtls>Symbols,activateADirAreaDirectionandplotthearea usingUtilityMenu>Plot>Areas ThewireframemodeofANSYSmaybeconvenientwhenplottingvectorsonthemodel.UsingUtilityMenu>PlotCrtls> DeviceOptionsyoumayactivateVectormode(wireframe).Theareanormalsareplottedbothusingthestandardand thewireframemode:

WeintroducesimplesupportsontheleftedgeusingthemenuMainMenu>Preprocessor>Loads>DefineLoads>Apply >Structural>Displacement>OnLinewhereUxischosen,nexttheloweredgeisfixedintheydirection,andfinallythe lowerleftcornerisfixedforallDOF'susingMainMenu>Preprocessor>Loads>DefineLoads>Apply>Structural> Displacement>OnKeypoints. Finally,thetensileloadsappliedattheedgesaredefined.TheloadsPx=105[N/m]andPy=5104[N/m]aredefined usingthemenuMainMenu>Preprocessor>Loads>DefineLoads>Apply>Structural>Pressure>OnLine.Shelledge pressuresareinputasloadperunitlength,i.e.,wecandirectlyinputthevaluesspecified(withoutminusasapressureper definitionispositivetowardstheedge/surface).

Finally,letusplottheelementcoordinatesystem.Ifwewanttohavethenumberoftheelementcoordinatesystem plottedontheelements,thenweusethemenuUtilityMenu>PlotCtrls>NumberingandunderElem/Attrib numberingweselectElementCSnum. Herewewillplottheelementcoordinatesystemsinstead.WeselectUtilityMenu>PlotCtrls>Symbolsandactivate ESYSElementcoordinatesysunder[/PSYMB]OtherSymbols.Thentheelementscanbeplotted,andtheelement coordinatesystemsareshownontheplot.Ifwehaddefinedlocalcoordinatesystems,whichweinmostcasesneedwhen modelinglayeredshellstructures,wewouldalsoactivateCSLocalcoordinatesystem. Theelementcoordinatesystemsareshownusingthreedifferentcolorsandwithxdisplayedasthelongestlegofthetriad (xiswhite,yisgreen,andzisblue).Sometimesitisconvenienttoscalethesizeofthecoordinatesystemsshown,which canbedoneusingUtilityMenu>PlotCtrls>Style>VectorArrowScaling.

Ifyourealize,thattheorientationofyourcoordinatesystemsistheoppositeofwhatexpected,youmayusethemenu MainMenu>Preprocessor>Modeling>Move/Modify>ReverseNormals>...inordertoreversethenormals.The sectionisdefinedinthenormaldirection,i.e.,layer1isthebottomlayer,etc. Youmayplotthefiberanglesforallfiniteelementsinlayer#byusingthemacrofibangle.macprovidedatthecourse homepage.ThemacrofileillustratesaconvenientwayofmakingamacroinANSYS.Thefileshouldbeplacedinthe workingdirectoryorintheANSYSmaindirectoryformacrofiles,typicallyC:\ProgramFiles\ANSYSInc\v140\ansys\apdl\. Yousimplyenterfibangle,#where#isthelayernumber(1to6inthisexample),andthefollowingplotisobtainedfor layer1(theplottotherightiswithwireframemodeactivated):


Thus,thefiberanglesseemtobeokay(45forlayer1).

Ingeneral,itishighlyrecommendedtousemacros(alsocalledscripts)whenmakingfiniteelementmodelsofcomposite structures.Thiswasdescribedindetailinthefiniteelementcourse. WesolvetheproblemusingSolution>Solve>CurrentLS,andthenwecandothepostprocessing.Westartoutby verifyingtheboundaryconditionsbylistingthereactionforces:GeneralPostproc>ListResults>ReactionSolu:

Thereactionforcesseemtobeokay Nextwecontinuewiththepostprocessingofstressesandstrains.

Ingeneral,youshouldbeverycarefulwhenplottingandlistingresultsforlayeredstructures! Youchoosetheactivelayerinthepostprocessingbywritinglayer,#,where#isthelayernumber. Youuseshell,locwherelociseithertop,botormidtocontrolwheredataareplottedincontourplots. Youhavetocombinethesetwocommandsinordertogeneratethewantedcontourplots.Forexample,ifwewanttoplot bottomvaluesoflayer3,wewritelayer,3andshell,botbeforemakingaplotofSXasshownhereusingGeneral Postproc>PlotResults>ContourPlot>ElementSolu:

YoumayusethemenuGeneralPostproc>OptionsforOutpforsettingtheseoptions:

Wewantdirectaccesstotheelementtop/bottomvaluesforlayer3,sonextweselectGeneralPostproc>ListResults> ElementSolutionandselectstresses.Thisgeneratesalistwherevaluesforallnodesforeachelementarelisted.FirstTOP valuesarelistedforthe4cornernodesoftheelement,nexttheBOTTOMvaluesarelistedforthesame4cornernodes.

Thestressesarealsolistedforlayer1:

IfwecomparewithourCLTsolution,weseethattheresultsareinagreement(theMatlabresultsarethethreeinplane stresscomponentswithbottomandtopvaluesforeachlayer,i.e.,12x3valuesintotal):

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ItisnoteasytogetresultsinthematerialcoordinatesystemsinANSYS.AsfarasIknow,youhavetodefinealocal coordinatesystemsimilartothematerialcoordinatesystem,andthenyoucanselectthislocalcoordinatesystemasthe activecoordinatesysteminthepostprocessing. Forexample,letusdefinealocalcoordinatesystemrotated45degreesinthexyplaneusingUtilityMenu>Workplane> LocalCoordinateSystems>CreateLocalCS>AtSpecificLoc:

Weactivatebottomvaluesinlayer1:

Ifwenowlistthestrainsforlayer1,thefollowingresultsareobtained:

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 IfwecomparewiththeCLTresultsforstrainsinthematerialcoordinatesystem,weseethattheresultsareinagreement forlayer1:

Finally,welistthestrainsatthebottomoflayer3intheglobalcoordinatesystemwhichforlayer3isequaltothematerial coordinatesystem:

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Inasimilarway,youcancomparetheresultsforall6layers.TheMatlabresultsforstressesinmaterialcoordinatesystem 12andstrainsintheglobalcoordinatesystemxyarelistedhere:

Finally,wewillcomparethefailureindicescomputed.FirsttheMatlabresultsformaximumstress,maximumstrainand TsaiWufailureindicesarelisted:

WhenlistingtheresultsinANSYS,youagaingetthefailureindicescomputedforeachnodeintheactivelayer.Thevalues listedbelowforlayer3areseentobeinagreementwiththeMatlabvaluescomputedinExercise8:

ThefailureindicesfortheotherlayersarealsoinagreementwiththeMatlabresults(listtheresultsinordertoverifythis). ThisconcludestheguidetoExercise11.

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