Lecture 1

Introduction
14.5 Release

ANSYS LS-DYNA
in Mechanical APDL
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Welcome !
Welcome to the Explicit Dynamics with ANSYS LS-DYNA training course!
This training course covers the ANSYS LS-DYNA Interface, which seamlessly

links the ANSYS traditional environment pre- and post-processing software

with the LS-DYNA explicit solver to conduct highly nonlinear, transient
dynamic analyses. Sequential solutions are also discussed, in which the
ANSYS implicit solver is used in conjunction with the LS-DYNA explicit solver
to extend the range of applications.
This course is intended for those already familiar with the procedures for
performing nonlinear static and dynamic analyses in the ANSYS Classic
Environment, including such topics as metal plasticity, contact, and transient
phenomena. Basic meshing and modeling experience, such as ANSYS select
logic, is also assumed. Currently, the ANSYS Workbench Environment does
not support ANSYS LS-DYNA. However, this should be partially addressed in
the next release of ANSYS Workbench.

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Seminar Objectives and Format

Seminar objectives:
The ability to distinguish what problems should be analyzed explicitly
versus those that should be analyzed implicitly.
A complete working knowledge of the steps required for performing an
explicit dynamic analysis in ANSYS LS-DYNA.
Practical experience on how to efficiently obtain and analyze results in an
explicit dynamic analysis.

Course format:
The Training Manual and Workshop Supplement that you have are exact
copies of the overhead slides.
The workshop exercises are used to reinforce the topics learned in each
lecture.
The input files for these exercises are included in the appendix of the
Workshop Supplement and are available electronically, upon request.

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Objectives
This lecture covers the background, uses, theory, and general overview of
explicit dynamics and the ANSYS LS-DYNA program.

Topics:
A. What is ANSYS LS-DYNA ?
B. Applications of ANSYS LS-DYNA
C. Comparison of Implicit and Explicit Methods
D. Critical Time Step
E. File Organization
F. Introduction Workshop
G. Course Outline

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A. What is ANSYS LS-DYNA?

General purpose explicit dynamic finite element program

Used to solve highly nonlinear transient dynamic problems

Efficient for a wide range of contact types
Advanced material modeling capabilities
Robust for very large deformation analyses

Seamless interface of the ANSYS and LS-DYNA programs

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

Full integration of the LS-DYNA solver into ANSYS

All pre- and post-processing performed using standard ANSYS conventions
GUI has look and feel of classic ANSYS
Supports capability of implicit - explicit sequential solutions
ALE (Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian) method supported

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 What is ANSYS LS-DYNA?

Excellent combination of explicit and implicit solution technology

ANSYS pre- and post-processing:

All explicit dynamic specific commands begin with EDxx prefix

Customized ANSYS GUI for efficient execution of explicit problems
Supports all ANSYS solid modeling and Boolean operations
Allows direct geometry import from IGES, Pro/E, ACIS, Parasolid, etc.
Supports all ANSYS automatic meshing features
APDL and design optimization can be used
Supports all general postprocessing features and animation macros
Specialized time-history postprocessing

LS-DYNA solver

Fastest explicit solver in marketplace

More features than any other explicit code
Full version of LS-DYNA (with airbags, seatbelts, explosives, etc.)
Full version of LS-PREPOST preprocessor/postprocessor

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B. Applications of ANSYS LS-DYNA

Crash in ALL vehicle industries

Crashworthiness analysis

Car
Truck

ANSYS LS-DYNA well suited to wave

propagation applications:

Bus

o Full car crash

o Car component analyses

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Train
Ship
Aircraft

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 Applications of ANSYS LS-DYNA

Manufacturing process simulation

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Deep drawing
Hydro forming
Superplastic forming
Rolling
Extrusion
Stamping
Machining
Drilling

Almost all forming processes have

been simulated with the LS-DYNA
program using mass scaling and
altered tool speeds

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 Applications of ANSYS LS-DYNA

Contact/Impact

Drop test
Pendulum impact test
Jet engine fan containment
A wide range of contact types are
possible

Pipe whip (ANSYS News 3/93):

Impact of a pipe with a rotational
velocity of 50 rad/sec
Extremely fast run time compared to
implicit solution

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 Applications of ANSYS LS-DYNA

F(t)

Nonlinear buckling
Snap-through buckling
Sonic wave propagation
Failure analysis

Stress wave propagation. 2500 solid elements.

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C. Comparison of Implicit and Explicit Methods

QUASI STATIC

STATIC

DYNAMIC

PUNCH

BLANK

DIE

Structural problems

Metal forming

SF= 0

SF 0

Impact problems

SF= ma

IMPLICIT METHOD
EXPLICIT METHOD
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 Comparison of Implicit and Explicit Methods

Implicit Time Integration:

Average acceleration - displacements evaluated at time t+Dt:

ut Dt K 1Ft a Dt
Linear Problems:
Unconditionally stable when [K] is linear
Large time steps can be taken

Nonlinear Problems:
Solution obtained using a series of linear approximations (NewtonRaphson)
Requires inversion of nonlinear stiffness matrix [K]
Small iterative time steps are required to achieve convergence
Convergence is not guaranteed for highly nonlinear problems
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 Comparison of Implicit and Explicit Methods

Explicit Time Integration
Central difference method used - accelerations evaluated at time t:
{Ftext} is the applied external and body force

where
vector,
given by:

{Ftint} is the internal force vector which is

a t M1 Ftext Ftint

F int S BT n d F hg F contact

Fhg is the hourglass resistance force (see ELEMENTS Lecture) and Fcont is the
contact force.

The velocities and displacements are then evaluated:

vt Dt / 2 vt Dt / 2 at Dt t
ut Dt ut vt Dt / 2 Dt t Dt / 2
where
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Dtt+Dt/2=.5(Dtt+ Dtt+ Dt) and Dtt- Dt/2=.5(Dtt- Dtt+ Dt)

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 Comparison of Implicit and Explicit Methods

Explicit Time Integration (continued):
The geometry is updated by adding the displacement increments to the initial
geometry {xo}:

xt Dt xo ut Dt
Nonlinear problems:
Lumped mass matrix required for simple inversion
Equations become uncoupled and can be solved for directly (explicitly)
No inversion of stiffness matrix is required. All nonlinearities (including contact) are
included in the internal force vector.
Major computational expense is in calculating the internal forces.
No convergence checks are needed
Very small time steps are required to maintain stability limit

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 Comparison of Implicit and Explicit Methods

Implicit Time Integration

Explicit Time Integration

For linear problems, the time step can

be arbitrarily large (always stable)

Only stable if time step size is smaller

than critical time step size:

For nonlinear problems, time step size

may become small due to convergence
difficulties

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Dt Dt

crit

max

Where wmax = largest natural

circular frequency

Due to this very small time

step size, explicit is useful
only for very short transients

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D. Critical Time Step Size

Critical time step size of a rod
Natural frequency:
c
max=2
l

Critical time step:

with

E
c=

(wave propagation velocity)

l
t=
c

Courant-Friedrichs-Levy-criterion
t is the time needed for the wave to propagate through the rod of
length l
Note: The critical time step size is automatically calculated by LS-DYNA.
It depends on element lengths and material properties (sonic speed). It
rarely needs to be over-ridden by the user (discussed later).
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 Critical Time Step Size

ANSYS LS-DYNA checks all elements when calculating the

required time step. For stability reasons a scale factor of 0.9
(default) is used to decrease the time step: Dt 0.9 l
c

The characteristic length l and the wave propagation velocity c

are dependent on element type:
Beam Elements:

l = length of the element

c=

Shell Elements:

l=

A
2A
, for triangular shells: l=
max(L1,L2,L3,L4 )
max(L1,L2,L3)

E
c=
(1- 2 )
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L4

L3
A

L2

L1
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E. File Organization
Restart file (d3dump)
written at frequency
specified by EDDUMP.

ANSYS /PREP7
Preprocessing (database)
Creates Jobname.DB
-mesh, materials, loads, etc.

ANSYS /POST1
General postprocessing
Reads Jobname.RST
- general binary result data
EDRST,Freq

ANSYS /SOLU
LS-DYNA solver task
Writes and submits Jobname.K
- standard LS-DYNA ASCII input file

LS-PREPOST (phase 3) & ANSYS /POST26

Postprocess ASCII output files
- GLSTAT, MATSUM, SPCFORC, etc.
EDOUT,File and EDREAD, ,File

ANSYS /POST26
Time history postprocessing
Reads Jobname.HIS
- selective binary results data
EDHIST,Comp and EDHTIME,Freq

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EDSTART continues
analysis from specified
d3dump (restart) file.

LS-PREPOST (phase 1)
Postprocess binary files
- d3plot
Similar to Jobname.RST
EDRST,Freq

LS-PREPOST (phase 2)
Postprocess time history binary results files
- d3thdt
Similar to Jobname.HIS
EDHIST,Comp and EDHTIME,Freq

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 File Organization
Description of ANSYS files generated during an ANSYS LS-DYNA run:
Jobname.K
LS-DYNA input file that is automatically generated upon execution of the ANSYS SOLVE
command.
Contains geometry, load, and material data that exists in ANSYS database
ASCII input file 100% compatible with LS-DYNA version 971
File can also be manually generated using the EDWRITE command:

Solution > Write Jobname.K

Jobname.RST
Explicit dynamics results file that is nearly identical to standard ANSYS .RST
Primarily used to review results in the general ANSYS postprocessor (POST1)
Contains results at a relatively small number of time steps (e.g., 10 - 100)

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 File Organization
Description of ANSYS files generated during an ANSYS LS-DYNA run (cont.):

Jobname.HIS
Explicit dynamics time history results files used in POST26
Contains results for a subset of nodes and/or elements of the model
Typically contains results at significantly more time steps than Jobname.RST
Use /CONFIG, NRES to write more than 1000 results sets to .HIS and .RST files

ANSYS File Splitting

Both Jobname.RST and Jobname.HIS files can be split

Subsequent results files named Jobname.RSTnn and Jobname.HISnn ( 02 < nn < 99 )

Split point in megawords (millions of words = bytes / 4194304)

Files will split even without user intervention (based on operating system defaults)

/CONFIG,FSPLIT,xxxx overrides FILESPLIT=xxxx in configuration file

xxxx = integer value defaulting to maximum file size for the system

Split point information written to results file headers on EDWRITE or SOLVE

Postprocessing across split files is transparent to the user

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 File Organization
Description of LS-DYNA files generated during an ANSYS LS-DYNA run:
Time-History ASCII Output Files

Specialized files containing additional information about the explicit analysis

User must specify which files are written before solution (EDOUT command)

ASCII output files (some accessible via EDREAD in POST26) include:

GLSTAT:
Global statistics and energies
MATSUM:
Material energy summaries (on Part ID basis)
SPCFORC:
Single point (nodal) constraint reaction forces
RCFORC:
Resultant contact interface forces
RBDOUT:
Rigid body data
NODOUT:
Nodal data
ELOUT:
Element data
etc....

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 File Organization
Description of LS-DYNA files generated during an ANSYS LS-DYNA run (cont.):

Time-History Binary Output Files

Since the LS-PREPOST postprocessor comes with ANSYS LS-DYNA, the
following two LS-DYNA binary results files can be generated during an
explicit dynamic analysis for later review in LS-PREPOST:
D3PLOT : Binary results file similar to ANSYS Jobname.RST
D3DHDT : Time-history results file similar to ANSYS Jobname.HIS

All ASCII time-history output files generated by LS-DYNA are accessible

using the LS-PREPOST postprocessor

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F. Introduction Workshop
This workshop consists of the following problem:
WS01. Fan Blade Containment Analysis
Please refer to your Workshop Supplement for instructions.

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G. Course Outline
1. Introduction
2. Elements
3. Part Definitions
4. Material Definitions
5. Loading, Rigid Bodies, and Boundary Conditions
6. Contact Surfaces
7. Solution and Simulation Controls
8. Postprocessing
9. Restarting
10. Explicit-to-Implicit Sequential Solution
11. Implicit-to-Explicit Sequential Solution
12. Drop Test Module (DTM)
13. ALE (Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian) Method
14. Summary

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