Drop Test Simulation Made Easy

With ANSYS Simulation

John Higgins
Application Engineer
ANSYS, Inc.

2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 1 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Agenda

Introduction
Methods of Drop Test Analysis
Implicit Transient Dynamics
Explicit Dynamics
Response Spectrum (Linear Dynamics)
Examples
Live demonstration of Explicit STR

2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 2 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Introduction

Many commercial and electronic components

have drop test specifications
Build and test methodology takes large
amounts of calendar time and labor and
material costs
It would be very useful to be able to
determine before the drop test if the
component will survive.
That can be done with simulation (or virtual
drop test)
2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 3 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
 Drop Test Simulation Methods
Response Spectrum (frequency integration)
The impact is assumed to be a half sine loading with a hand caclulated
time duration expressed a a harmonic frequency.
This is a mode superposition method that requires the model to be
completely linear.
This analysis solves much faster than the transient approaches and uses
significantly fewer resources.
Implicit (time integration)
The solution is obtained using a series of linear approximations.
Small iterative time steps are required to achieve convergence.
Good for drop simulation with long time durations and no or
moderate nonlinearities.
Explicit (time integration)
The equations become uncoupled and can be solved for directly
(explicitly).
Tiny time steps solved once
No inversion of the stiffness matrix is required.
Good for problems with short time transients and extreme
nonlinearities. This includes extremely large distortions and
deformation, material failure, extremely nonlinear materials.
2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 4 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
 Response Spectrum Drop Test
Simulation

Method described in Vibration Analysis of

Electronic Equipment, by Dave Steinberg
Set up the model as you would for any
response spectrum analysis
Load Spectrum are hand calculated based on
drop height and

2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 5 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Implicit Transient Dynamics

Solution depends on previous time step and current time step

Resolves nonlinearities with standard Newton Raphson
iteration approach
Can handle moderate nonlinearities
Most contact
Moderate nonlinear materials
Moderate distortion and strain
Can handle events of second-minute duration
Uses standard 2nd order solid elements
No hourglass energy issues
Use for problems of duration of seconds to minutes with
moderate or no nonlinearities

2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 6 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Example Implicit Drop Simulation
Electronic Enclosure

Linear elastic materials

Small strain
Straight forward contact
Prefailure only

2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 7 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Explicit Dynamics

Solution depends only on previous time step

Requires a very small (sub- s) time step
Limited to problem with duration in milliseconds or less
Most drop problems are of this duration
Time step is partially based on mesh size
Does not require non-linear convergence, therefore can resolve
the most severe nonlinearities
Excessive distortion and displacement
Extremely non-linear material
Buckling
Material failure
Contact failure
Uses 1st order elements
Need finer mesh to get same accuracy as implicit

2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 8 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Explicit Dynamics Solutions

ANSYS/LS-DYNA
Jointly developed product (since 1995)
Mechanical Interface for preprocessing MAPDL or LS-Post for post
processing
LSTC LS-DYNA solver
Brick meshes
Solid problems only

ANSYS Explicit STR

Purchased Century Dynamics in 2005
Continual development over 30 years
Same interface as ANSYS Mechanical
Tetrahedral and brick meshing
Easy restart
Easy parametric studies
Angle of strike
Design Exploration

2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 9 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 ANSYS/LS-DYNA Applications
Electronics
Large Distortion
Material Failure

2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 10 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 ANSYS/LS-DYNA Applications
Consumer Product

2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 11 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 ANSYS/LS-DYNA Applications
Consumer Product

2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 12 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Explicit/STR Applications
Electronics Product

Material Failure
Contact Failure

2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 13 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Explicit/STR Applications
Nuclear Waste Containment Vessel

2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 14 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Explicit/STR Applications
Electronics Product

2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 15 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Demonstration

2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 16 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Graphics Card

2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 17 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Live Demonstrations

2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 18 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 ANSYS AUTODYN
Applications
Example:: Sports equipment design (Extreme and
otherwise)

Mesh Sand

Convert Sand Mesh

To SPH

2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 19 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

 Conclusions

Explicit Dynamics simulation is very useful

when
Time durations are very short (approximately
msec.)
Extremely non-linear behavior
Implicit schemes will not converge
ANSYS has 3 of the top Explicit Dynamics
solutions.
ANSYS Explicit/STR
ANSYS/LS-DYNA
ANSYS Autodyn
2008 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 20 ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary