KTH HLLFASTHETSLRA

SE1025 FEM for engineering applications

SE1025 FEM: Homework assignment 3, 2014

Information
The homework assignments are together with the computer workshops a compulsory part of
the course. The assignments should be solved in groups of two or three students. The deadline
of HW3 is Monday, Oct. 20, 6pm. A total of 5 points can be obtained on HW3.

Problem (5 points)
If we consider bending deformation in the xz-plane of a straight beam extending in the xdirection, an applied bending moment, My, will give rise to a normal stress that varies linearly
over a cross section as x = M y I y z , where Iy is the area moment of inertia. Likewise, a
shear force, T, acting on the beam should give rise to a shear stress. From equilibrium
considerations we understand that this shear stress on the average must be equal to
xz = T A , where A is the cross sectional area. But, the question is, will the shear stress be
constant over the cross section, or will it vary? In this homework assignment you will use the
FEM program ANSYS to investigate this!
A suitable model problem to study this phenomena is illustrated in the figure below, showing
a cantilever beam subjected to a shear force P at its right end. Due to symmetry reasons, it
suffice to model only a symmetry half of the beam, for instance the half where y 0 , and
applying symmetry boundary conditions on the surface y = 0 . How should such boundary
conditions be formulated? Use ANSYS software for the numerical analysis and carry out the
computations with two different meshes, employing 20-node hexahedral elements. One with 6
elements in the z-direction and one with 12 elements in the z-direction. Report your analysis
and results as suggested below. Also summarize your results using the "front endpage"
appended below.
(a) Describe the FEM-models you have analysed (define all displacement boundary
conditions, external loads, number of elements, type of element, etc.).
(b) Present the results in graphs, where the shear stress component xz is plotted versus the
z-coordinate along the line at x = L 2 , y = 0 . How large is the relative difference
between the solutions from the two meshes? Also, compare these solutions with the
solution based on Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and comment on the results.
Use the following values: Elasticity modulus E = 200 GPa, Poissons ratio = 0.3, L = 100
mm. The values for P, b and h, given in Table 1 and 2, depends on the "person number" used on
the "front endpage" appended below.
z

Table 1: mm = month

P
y

mm

x
z

x=L
cross
section

y
b

h/mm b/mm

Table 2. dd = day
dd

P/kN

01 03

12

01 07

04 06

10

10

08 15

10

07 09

12

16 22

12

10 12

14

23 31

14

KTH HLLFASTHETSLRA

SE1025 FEM for engineering applications

Front endpaper - HW 3: FEM for engineering applications

Name and personal number (1):
Name and personal number (2):
Name and personal number (3):
Use one of the personal numbers
to determine problem parameters:

yy

mm

dd

Summarize your results below:

Maximum of the shear stress along the line { x = L 2, y = 0, h 2 z h 2 } :
Euler-Bernoulli beam theory:

( xz ) max =

FEM-analysis (6 element in z-dir.):

( xz ) max =

FEM-analysis (12 element in z-dir.): ( xz ) max =