University of Puerto Rico at Mayagez Department of Mechanical Engineering

Workshop 2 Steel Bracket

Modified by (2008): Dr. Vijay K. Goyal Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Puerto Rico at Mayagez Thanks to UPRM students enrolled in INME 4058 sections 2006-08

Scope

The purpose of this problem is to demonstrate how to solve the displacements and stresses of a homogeneous steel bracket using ANSYS.

Problem description

Solve a 2D stress analysis of the simple bracket shown below:

F=1000 The plate is fixed at the two holes

Starting ANSYS

From your desktop: Click on: START > All Programs > ANSYS > ANSYS Product Launcher.

Here we will set our Working Directory and the Graphics Manager

Starting ANSYS
1. Launch ANSYS product launcher. 2. Specify working directory and give a job name.

Graphics Setup
Click the button: Customization/Preferences. On the item of Use custom memory settings type 128 on Total Workspace (MB): and type 64 on Database (MB): Then click the Run bottom.

* This setup applies to computers running under 512 MB of RAM

ANSYS GUI Overview

This is ANSYSs Graphical User Interface window.

Changing Title
To change title go to file and choose change title.

Give the simplified version a title such as Steel bracket.

Preferences
Go to preferences and choose structural and leave the h method as the discipline options.

Pre Processing

Element type It is important to define the element type for the beam. For this problem we will use solid 8 node82. To chose this element type click: Pre processor Element type Add/Edit/Delete Solid 8 node 82

In the Element Types window, click on Options, select K3 Plane Stress with thickness, K5 Nodal Stress.

Real Constants

To define the geometric properties we select real constants. The real constant are the dimensions that must remain constant during the design. These constants are:thickness, among others. For the wall thickness TKWALL: 5 mm

To chose the real constants click: processor Real Constants

Add/Edit/Delete

Material properties
To define the element material properties we choose material models. Our material will have a Modulus of Elasticity of 70,000 (MPa) and a Poissons ratio of 0.33 To add material properties click:
Preprocessor Material Props Material Models Structural Linear Elastic Isotropic When the pop up window appears, write the modulus of elasticity and the Poisson's ratio

Geometry of the steel bracket

Create the main rectangular shape. The main rectangular shape has a width of 80 mm, a height of 100 mm and the bottom left corner is located at coordinates (0,0). To create this click:
Preprocessor Modeling Create Areas Rectangle By 2 corners

A pop up window will appear asking for the position of the corners

Type 0 Type 0 Type 80 Type 100

This is an illustration of the created rectangle.

Create the circular end on the right hand side. The center of the circle is located at (80,50) and has a radius of 50 mm. Click:
Preprocessor Modeling Create Areas Circle Solid Circle

Type 80 Type 50 Type 50

The new geometry will look like this:

Create two circles on the left by using the same procedure as Slide 14 but with different values

Add a rectangular area to fill in the space between the circles at the left. To do this we use the same procedure as Slide 12 but with different values to create a rectangle by two corners.

Type -20 Type 20 Type 20 Type 60

The new geometry will look like this:

Now select the Add Areas feature from the Booleans Operations Menu. Once we select this option we click on all the areas of the solid. The result should be an undivided solid. Click:
Preprocessor Modeling Operate Boolean Add Areas

Now we create the bolt holes. We create the circular shapes the same way we did previously on Slide 14: Type the numbers shown below for each circle individually.

Using the Boolean operations we must subtract the circles from the remaining area. Click:
Preprocessor Modeling Operate Booleans Subtract Areas

The new geometry should look like this:

Mesh
For this problem we will be using the smart size tool since we want a finer mesh since we have holes and there is a stress concentration on that area. Click:
Preprocessor Meshing Mesh Tool

When the pop up window appears set it as the figure to the right.
Smart size set to 5

Click Mesh and then Ok.

The solid should now look like this:

Boundary conditions
Now the boundary conditions are applied to the bolt circles, this is why the displacement in the circle is set on the bolt circles nodes.
Preprocessor Define Loads Apply Structural Displacement On Nodes

The following pop up window will appear.

Choose Circle.

Place area in center of bolt holes. Click and hold, extending circle to the outer edges of the hole. This will select all nodes on the surface of the hole.

Loads
The load F will be applied at a keypoint at the bottom of the large circle. To pick this point, we must plot the keypoints. From the menu select Plot, Keypoints, Keypoints.

To apply the load click:

Preprocessor Define Loads Apply Structural Force/Moment On Keypoints

Select the Keypoint at the bottom of the large circle.

Enter:
FY: -1000 (Note given in Newtons)

Solution

Analysis type
To start the solution phase it is important to set the type of analysis. We will perform a static analysis since we only want stresses and deflections. To select analysis type click:
Solution Analysis Type New Analysis Static Ok

Solve Now we proceed to solve the problem. To do this click:

Solution Solve Current LS

Note: When the pop up windows appear click the OK button.

A pop up window that says: Solution is done will appear after ANSYS finishes solving the problem. Click close

Post processing

FEM Solution & Plotting Results

Now we already developed the geometry, Loads & Displacements and the meshing. We will start with the finite element analysis and obtain the displacements and stresses on the key points. After make the FEM solution we are able to plot the results, in this case the displacements and stresses.

Reading Results
To read the results click:
Solution General Postproc Results summary Read Results First Set

Click here

View deflection results To view the results of the applied load we use plot results of the deformed shape. Click:
General postproc Plot results Deformed shape

Chose def+Undeformed

The deformed shape plot will look like this:

Stress results
To see the results of the deflection we use the nodal solution. Click:
General postproc Plot results Contour plot Nodal Solution

The plot will look like this:

 END of Analysis using ANSYS 10.0