NIRDESH

CHAUHAN
M32374775
ndchauha@mtu.e
du
25
September,2012

INTRODUCTION TO
FINITE ELEMENT
ANALYSISMEEM4405
LAB REPORT-2
DERRICK TRUSSES

PROBLEM STATEMENT
The derrick truss is a pin-jointed truss structure in which the members can rotate freely at
the joints. The frame is prevented from moving out of plane. The truss elements are made
of steel and are circular bars that are 5 mm in diameter. A force of 10 kN is applied to the
derrick. Construct an Abaqus model of the derrick with the correct boundary conditions and
loads in a similar manner as with Lab 1

Material Properties
Material
=Steel
Density
=7800kg/m^3
Youngs modulus
=200E9 Pa
Poissons ratio
=0.3
Cross Section diameter=0.005m
Cross-Section Area
=1.693E-5
External Force
= 10 kN

APPROACH
1) Creating part geometry

After starting Abaqus, selecting standard/Explicit model, from model tree

select Parts container.
Select Name of the part, model space, type, base feature.
Approximate the model size as 25 and continue to enter sketcher.
Using create lines select Rectangle tool and create 11m by 11m size
rectangle and create 3m by 3 m box with in it. Join the top right most point of
smaller box to top right point of larger box.
Delete the additional line segments.
Delete perpendicular constrains and add parallel constraint to the top and
bottom edges of sketch, give dimensions to the edges and by using create
connected line create two lines in mid- section.
Final part sketch would be shown as below.

2) Defining Material and assigning section properties

Select Material from model tree and specify properties in Edit Material dialog
box.
In this box specify name, youngs modulus=200.0E9 and Poissons ratio =
0.3.

Select Sections and specify beam and select truss, input the cross-sectional
area as 1.693E-5.
Assign the whole frame as steel section from Section Assignment option.
Define the assembly by creating Instance from Assembly option.

3) Configuring Analysis
In this problem we are interested in the static response of the derrick truss to a 10 kN load
applied at the top most point, with the left-hand end fully constrained and a roller constraint
on the right-hand end of the lower segment. This is a single event, so only a single analysis
step is needed for the simulation. Thus, the model will consist of two steps overall:

An initial step, in which you will apply boundary conditions that constrain the lower
ends of the truss.
An analysis step, in which you will apply a concentrated load at the right top of the
truss.
From model tree by selecting Step option we can formulate step by selecting General
as procedure type.

4) Application of load and boundary conditions

We need to apply load of 10000 N in downward direction at the upmost point shown
in figure. In this problem we have two boundary conditions. One end is fixed and
one end has roller support.

In the Model Tree, From the Loads container and select manager to Create Load.
Name the load as FORCE and from Mechanical Category select concentrated force as
load type.
In the viewport, select the vertex at the top right point of the frame as the region
where the load will be applied and in the Edit Load dialog box enter a magnitude of
-10000 for CF2.
Now in the model tree, From BCs, In the Create Boundary Condition dialog box Name
the boundary condition FIXED.
Select INITIAL as the step, In the Category list, accept Mechanical .From types for
Selected Step list, and select Displacement/Rotation.
In the viewport, select the vertex at the bottom-left corner of the frame as the region
to which the boundary condition will be applied. Follow the same steps for Roller
boundary.

4) Meshing the Truss

Generate the finite element mesh, meshing technique that Abaqus/CAE will use to create the
mesh, the element shape, and the element type.

To assign an Abaqus element type, In the Model Tree underneath the Parts container
select truss. If Then double-click Mesh and select element type.
In the viewport, select the entire part and in the Element Type dialog box select
Standard as the Element Library selection, Linear as the Geometric Order, and Truss
as the Family of elements.
To seed and mesh the model from the main menu bar, select seed and In the Global
Seeds dialog box, specify an approximate global element size of 1.0.
From the main menu bar, select MeshPart to mesh the part instance and select yes
in the view point.

Figure of assembly with node and elements labels

5) Analysis Job

In the Model Tree, double-click the Jobs container to create a job.

Name the job Truss, and click Continue. The Edit Job dialog box appears.
In the Description field, type Derrick Truss.
Click OK to accept all other default job settings in the job editor and to close the
dialog box.

6) Model check
Next to the generation of the model before run the analysis, it is possible to have errors in
the model because of incorrect or missing data. So perform a data check analysis first before
running the simulation.

To run a data check analysis In the Model Tree, expand the Jobs container. Right click
the job named Frame, and select Data Check from the menu that appears to submit
your job for a data check analysis.
After you submission of job, information appears next to the job name indicating the
job's status. The status of the overhead hoist problem indicates one of the following
conditions.
Check Submitted->Check Running-> Check Completed->Submitted-> Running.

When the full analysis is complete, and the output has been written to the output
database.
During the analysis, Abaqus/Standard sends information to Abaqus/CAE to allow you
to monitor the progress of the job. Information from the status, data, log, and
message files appear in the Job Monitor dialog box.
To monitor the status of a job in the Model Tree, right click the job named Frame and
select Monitor from the menu that appears to open the Job Monitor dialog box.

7) Running the analysis and Post processing

After making any necessary corrections to the model, when the data check analysis
completes with no error messages, run the analysis itself. To do this, right click the job
named truss and select Continue from the menu that appears.
It is important because of the selection of particular visualization module as per requirement
with the large amount of data created during a simulation. The Visualization module allows
viewing the results graphically using a variety of methods, including deformed shape plots,
contour plots, vector plots, animations, and XY plots.

RESULTS
After all the processing In the Model Tree, right click the job named Frame and select Results
from the menu that appears to enter the Visualization module. Use the Results Tree to query
the components of the model. The Results Tree allows easy access to the history output
contained in an output database file for the purpose of creating XY plots and also to groups
of elements, nodes, and surfaces based on set names, material and section assignment.

To query the model:

In the left side of the main window, click the Results tab to switch to the Results Tree
if it is not already visible
All output database files that are open in a given post processing session are listed
underneath the Output Databases container. . Expand this container and then expand
the container for the output database named Truss.odb .
Expand the Materials container, and click the material named STEEL. All elements are
highlighted in the viewport because only one material assignment was used in this
analysis

Unreformed model shape

Displaying a deformed shape plot superposed with undeformed

shape

Discussion

Question a)
What is the maximum stress in the derrick truss? Is the maximum in tension or
compression? If the yield
Strength is 700 MPa, then will this derrick fail under
the given load?

Answer
From the truss rpt file we can observe that the maximum stress application is on
element 4(top most element). And the value is S=2.64 E9 Pa (N/M^2).The sign is
negative so the type is Tension.
Now the maximum stress is 2.30 GPa = 2300 MPa, whereas the yield strength of the
element is 700 Mpa so the structure can easily deform under this load application.

Question b)
What is the magnitude of the displacement of the node at the tip of the derrick
arm? Does this seem reasonable?

Answer
The top node (node no 4) has following displacement data.
Dx=1.49983m Dy=-1.74681m
Which is quite reasonable .Node 4 should have displaced the most and data indicates the
same.

Question C)
Do the external forces and the reaction forces balance? Please show
you calculations.
Answer:
From the field output report of reaction force output,
Node Label
1
2
3
4
5
Total Reaction Forces

RF1
0
0
0
0
-51.0789E-12
-51.0789E-12

RF2
36.66E03
0
0
0
-26.6667E3
+10,000 N

Now our external Load (force) is -10000N in vertical direction which is balanced by
RF2 total.
Force balance=RF2 (total) +External vertical=10,000N-10,000N=0 N
There is some reaction force due to load transfer by members which is -51.0789E12 N which is quite negligible.
So there the sum is zero for both vertical and horizontal directions.

Conclusion:
For two dimensional Derrick truss structure we had simulate the member
under application of static external load of 10000N.The simulation process
started with creating geometry in the sketch area and then defining and
employing material to the structure using given values. To analyze the
structure we deployed initial boundary and external load conditions. Then we
created element mesh to employ FEA analysis. The output indicated
deformation of the structure in specific shape and the maximum
displacement is at the same node at which we had applied external load.
We learned how to analyze the 2-D truss structure by FEA using Abaqus. As a
result we can get visualization of deformed structure, graphical visualization
of important properties as well as data files in various formats. So at the end
Abaqus is a very useful and user friendly tool for structural dynamics
problems.