ANSYS Composite

PrepPost v14.5

Tutorial Exercise 1

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Goals:
Basic composite workflow from a geometry to post-processing.
Build a simple sandwich panel.

Load case: Clamped panel under uniform pressure.

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Open a new Workbench project and restore the archive tutorial_1.wbpz.
Review the boundary conditions, and verify that the model is well-defined
with the default material. Review the results with an isotropic material.

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Add the ACP (Pre) component to the existing analysis.

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First composite materials have to be defined in ANSYS Workbench
Engineering Data:
There are two possibilities:
1. Import preconfigured materials from the Composite Materials catalog (see
figure below)
2. Create new materials
In this example, you will create new materials as shown in the following slides.

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Define a unidirectional material in ANSYS Workbench Engineering Data
with the following properties:

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Define also a core material:
Uncheck the filter button to display all properties in the toolbox

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Update Model and then refresh Setup in the ACP (Pre) component:
Open Setup of ACP (Pre) with a double-click on Setup (or Edit in dropdown menu )

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In ACP further material data (Fabrics,
Stackup and Sublaminates) have to be
defined.
Define a new Fabric with the defined
materials:
Carbon UD with 0.2 mm thickness,
Foam core with 15 mm thickness.

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Define a new Stackup with the UD Carbon. A Stackup is a pre-assembled
tape also called non-crimp fabric (NCF).

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Review the Biax properties through the Plot tab.

Click on Apply to update the

plot. Click on OK to close the
window.
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Define a Sub Laminate as shown below and plot the mechanical
properties.

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Define a new Oriented Element Set (OES):
Click on an
element of the
model.
1

2
3

(1) Click in the Element Sets box

in the dialog box
(2) Select the desired Element
Set in the tree

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(1) The Orientation Point and Direction specify the offset direction.
Toggle the
button in the toolbar and select the OES to check the
offset direction.
(2) The rosette of an OES defines the material reference (0) direction.
Toggle the
button to visualize the reference direction.
(Click Update button if no orientation is displayed.)

The OES is now used to define the layup. The offset direction of the OES
and the order of the Modeling Plies define the stacking sequence, the
reference direction and the relative angle of the modeling plies specify the
fiber alignment.
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Define 3 Ply Groups:

Create the first Modeling Ply:

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1. Configure the first ply:
1
2 : select in the tree
3: select ply from the list
4: Angle 0 (default)
5

2. Define a second ply in the Sandwich_Core Ply Group with the Fabric
Core and a Ply angle of 0.
3. Define a third ply in the Sandwich_Top Ply Group with the Fabric
Carbon UD and a Ply angle of 90. Set Number of Layers to 3.
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Update the model:

The ply definition should look like this:

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Return to ANSYS Project Schematic.
Update the ACP (Pre) Setup.
Refresh the Section Data.
Update the whole project

Updating directly the whole project is also possible.

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Add ACP (Post) System
Update ACP (Post) Results
Open Results of ACP (Post) by double-clicking on the cell

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The Solution is already imported and some standard post-processing
definitions are already available.

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Configure the Scene to visualize the
deformations:
The load case (solution) is selected in the
General tab.
The Contour Plot tab is used to configure
the visualization: Select the definition and
component.

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Update the Scene.

Sum of deformation

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In the next step a combined Failure Criteria is configured to create an
overall failure plot of the composite structure.

For the 2 materials, the stress limits are already defined at the beginning
of this tutorial.
Definitions: Create a Failure Criteria.

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Choose the following criteria (using the default configuration):

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Configure the Scene to plot the failure
criteria:
On the Contour Plot tab, set Definition
to FailureCriteria.1
Deactivate Ply Wise plotting
Activate the Failure Mode Plot with
Mode and Layer options.

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Update the Scene to get the overall failure plot:
The contour plot shows the maximum inverse reserve factor of each element
(through all layers, all selected failure criteria and integration points)
The text plot indicates the critical layer and the critical failure mode.

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Afterwards the critical regions are investigated using the ply-wise plot
option.
The 3D Stress Definition is already defined in the default definitions:

Select the element of

interest.

Create a Sampling Element:

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Reconfigure the scene properties:

Select the 3D Stress definition

Select Ply Wise
Select the critical stress component s2
Press OK to activate the new properties
and close the scene dialog

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Select the Analysis Plies of the
Sampling Element to visualize the
stress distribution of a single ply.

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The through-the-thickness distribution of strains, stresses or failure results
can be visualized in the Analysis tab of the Sampling Element.
Change to the Analysis Tab of the Sampling Element to configure the
through-the-thickness post-processing plot:

Configure the throughthe-thickness plot

Update the plot.

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