Department of _MME Even Semester 2016-17The

LNM IIT, Jaipur

FEM LAB: 4_Cantilever Beam

Figure 1 shows an overview of the cantilever beam. The beam is 2 metres long with the
left hand edge built into a thick wall and a load of 40 kN acts at midspan. The beam is
made from steel with E = 200 GPa with square beam cross section of B= 0.0832358 m
and H=0.0832358 m.

Fig. 1. Cantilever beam

Solution
Pre-processing
1. Main menu: Preference
a. Turn ON Structural and click OK
2. Main menu: Preprocessor > Element type > Add/Edit/Delete
a. Click Add and select Beam under structural mass
b. Select 2 node 188 and click OK
3. Main menu: Preprocessor > Sections > Beam > Common Sections
a. Enter a value of 0.0832358 for B and for H and click OK
4. Main menu: Preprocessor > Material props > Material models
a. > Structural > Linear > Elastic > Isotropic
b. Enter 200e9 against EX
c. Enter 0.3 againt PRXY and click OK
5. Main menu: Preprocessor > Modeling > Create > Nodes > In active CS
a. Enter 1 against NODE and enter 0, 0, 0 against X, Y, Z and click Apply
b. Enter 2 against NODE and enter 1, 0, 0 against X, Y, Z and click Apply
c. Enter 3 against NODE and enter 2, 0, 0 against X, Y, Z and click Ok
d. Utility menu > Plotctrls > Numbering > Click ON against Node >
Corresponding to Elm/Attrib Numbering select Element Numbers and click
Ok
6. Main menu: Preprocessor > Modeling > Create > Elements > Auto numbered >
Thru nodes
a. Click on nodes 1 and 2 and click Apply
b. Click on nodes 2 and 3 and click Ok
7. Main menu: Preprocessor > Loads > Define Loads > Apply > Structural >
Displacement > On Nodes
a. Pick all nodes and click Apply
b. Select UX, UZ, ROTX and ROTY in the next dialog box that appears and enter
a value of 0 for displacement value and click OK
Department of _MME Even Semester 2016-17The
LNM IIT, Jaipur

8. Main menu: Preprocessor > Loads > Define Loads > Apply > Structural >
Displacement > On Nodes
a. Pick node 1 and click Apply
b. Select All DOF against Lab2 DOFs to be constrained (deselect UX, UZ, ROTX
and ROTY) and enter a value of 0 for displacement value and click OK
9. Main menu: Preprocessor > Loads > Define Loads > Apply > Structural > Force/
Moment > On Nodes
a. Pick node 2 and click Apply
b. Select FY and enter -40e3 for value of Force/Moment and click Ok
Processing
10.Main menu: Solution > Solve > Current LS
a. Click OK in the form displayed Solve current load step
b. Click Close in the form displayed note
Post-processing
11.Main menu: General postproc > List results > Nodal solution
a. Select DOF solution in the form List nodal solution
b. Select Displacement vector sum in the sub menu of DOF solution
c. Click OK and close the form after noting the results
12.Main menu > General postproc > Plot results > Contour plot > Nodal solution
a. Click MEMBER
b. Click OK and note the plot of stress values
Reference
1. https://sites.google.com/site/onlinefiniteelement/ansys-tutorials/ansys-1d-
structural-beam-tutorial
Department of _MME Even Semester 2016-17The
LNM IIT, Jaipur