Aerospace Ansys Solution

Industry Spotlight
Aerospace
Systems
ANSYS software offers many
features for performing fatigue
calculations and presenting
analysis data.
Simulation allows researchers

to design quieter fans for turbo-
jet engines.
Using crack evaluation methods

can lead to reduced risk and
lower costs.
Contents
Industry Spotlight Departments
4 Aerospace Systems Editorial
This industry faces increasing Developing Greater Insight into Designs ........................ 2
global competition as it addresses
complex issues in aircraft develop- Industry News
ment. Simulation can be used to Announcements and Upcoming Events ......................... 3
address critical components and
major subsystems on todays Conference Preview
aircraft from nose to tail. 2006 International ANSYS Conference ............................ 22
CFD Update
Features Quieter Fans for Turbo-Jet Engines ...................................... 24
Turbulent Mixing in Nuclear Reactors ................................ 27
9 Calculating and Displaying 15-stage Compressor Performance ..................................... 29
Fatigue Results Simulation at Work
The ANSYS Fatigue Module Evaluating a Concrete Arch Dam ............................................. 32
has a wide range of features for
performing calculations and Hardware Update
presenting analysis data. Rackable Systems Turnkey Solutions ............................ 35
Tech File
Understanding Beam Elements ............................................... 36
13 Advances in Materials
Modeling Tips and Techniques
DesignXplorer Response Surface Method .................. 38
ANSYS software provides a
complete set of tools for modeling Guest Commentary
complex materials behavior. Managing Simulation Information ............................................ 40
About the cover

17 Meshing Cracks at Industry Spotlight article
Any Location beginning on page 4
ANSYS software quickly generates discusses how companies
3-D crack meshes in arbitrary in the aerospace industry use
geometries, including those with a wide range of simulation
weld residual stresses. tools to refine aircraft
concepts, pinpoint problems,
evaluate alternatives and
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Managing Editor Art Director Circulation Manager CFD Update Advisor

Fran Hensler Dan Hart Elaine Travers Chris Reeves
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ANSYS Solutions is published for ANSYS, Inc. customers, partners and others interested in the field of design and analysis applications.
Neither ANSYS, Inc. nor the editorial director nor Miller Creative Group guarantees or warrants accuracy or completeness of the material contained in this publication. ANSYS,
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www.ansys.com ANSYS Solutions | Volume 7, Issue 2 2006

Editorial
2
Developing Greater Insight into Designs
Design of experiments and variational technology let users get a handle on
mind-boggling assortments of complex variables.
One of todays major In this issues Tips and Techniques article,

challenges in engineering is Generating Response Surfaces in ANSYS
contending with the many vari- DesignXplorer, technical support engineer Sheldon
ables of a complex product Imaoka tells how response surfaces are generated.
design such as weight, size, And he notes the importance of response surfaces
cost, material properties, in the three types of complex studies of product
fatigue life, vibration and manu- behavior done by ANSYS DesignXplorer: goal-driven
facturability. Not only are there optimization to satisfy specified design criteria, Six
often large numbers of these Sigma analysis to account for scatter in variables, and
By John Krouse variables, but sometimes they robust design to determine how to change variables to
Editorial Director compete with one another. Air- minimize their impact on design quality.
ANSYS Solutions craft parts must be lightweight In the Simulation at Work article, Using Sensi-
jkrouse@adelphia.net
to keep costs down and main- tivity Studies to Evaluate a Concrete Arch Dam,
tain fuel efficiency yet strong senior project engineer Guy Lund of URS Corporation
enough to safely last the lifetime of the plane. Also, describes an application using another powerful
some variables may interact and impact the design in approach called variational technology (VT) that
ways that are not always intuitively obvious. An auto- performs similar studies, usually much faster. Rather
motive engine mount with a certain stiffness, for exam- than performing multiple simulations, VT uses series
ple, may transmit vibrations through brackets and the expansion to make all the necessary calculations in a
vehicle frame to make the cars dashboard resonate single finite element solution. Lund used ANSYS
with an annoying rattle. DesignXplorer VT software based on this technology
Traditional engineering simulation can be used in to perform sensitivity and parametric studies for
studying a few variables one at a time. But this means assessing the influence of a range of variables on
going through simulation runs over and over again. structural strength, including concrete and foundation
Since this is usually impractical from a time and cost rock material properties as well as maximum load
perspective, more often than not the design is based assumptions in assessing a water reservoir dam
on the last acceptable design and, therefore, typically structure. Seeing the effect of variables in this
it is not the best design. Subsequent unexpected manner allowed engineers to narrow the scope of
problems then may emerge, often late in development field investigations, thus saving considerable time
when making engineering changes can have and cost on the project.
horrendous consequences. We hope you find these articles interesting and
So how can you get a better handle on all these informative and that you check out these technologies
important but mind-boggling assortments of complex as effective ways of gaining greater insight into
variables? Design of experiments (DOE) is one method designs. When you use these tools, seeing the
for studying ranges of multiple variables. This relationships of multiple variables and their impact on
approach automatically performs numerous simula- a design is a powerful capability that can turn
tions using various sampling and statistical methods, exceptionally difficult problems into excellent opportu-
including probabilistic design and Monte Carlo nities for completing projects more efficiently and,
simulation. The technology is the basis for ANSYS more profound, for developing superior innovative
DesignXplorer software, which provides feedback via products. I
output such as response surface diagrams that show
relationships between variables in color-coded 3-D
contour plots.

Industry News
Recent Announcements
and Upcoming Events 3
ANSYS Signs Definitive Agreement to customers to create elaborate projects without

Acquire Fluent significantly affecting production timelines. ATIs
FireGL products are supported by a unified driver,
ANSYS, Inc. signed a definitive agreement to acquire which is tested and certified by professional 3-D ISV
Fluent, Inc., a global provider of CAE simulation partners, making system administration and upgrades
software. Fluents CAE technologies and services cost-effective and simple. Applications certified for
utilize CFD principles and techniques to enable FireGL workstation graphics accelerators, supporting
engineers and designers to simulate fluid flow, heat either 32-bit on the 64-bit operating system or
and mass transfer, and related phenomena involving supporting 64-bit natively, include ANSYS software,
turbulent, reacting and multiphase flow. The acquisi- among others.
tion is expected to enhance the breadth, functionality,
usability and interoperability of the ANSYS portfolio
of simulation solutions. Specifically, it will increase ANSYS, Inc. and Matereality, L.L.C. Collaborate
operational efficiency and decrease design and
engineering costs for customers, and accelerate ANSYS, Inc. has collaborated with Matereality, L.L.C.
development and delivery of new and innovative to produce an interface to smoothly export
products to the marketplace. material data inputs from Matereality into ANSYS
Workbench. As a result, ANSYS Workbench users can
The combination of Fluent and ANSYS software access a wealth of databases that contain material
products and services is expected to give ANSYS, Inc. property data, furthering engineers ability to analyze
one of the most complete independent engineering designs directly on the desktop. A Web-based
simulation software offerings in the industry, data management technology, Matereality contains
reaffirming and strengthening ANSYS commitment to thousands of public and private datasets particularly
open interface and flexible simulation solutions that are relevant to the ANSYS user community and often not
primarily driven by customer demand and choice. available publicly.
Upcoming Events
ANSYS, Inc. Expands Relationship with AREVA
Offshore Technology Conference
ANSYS, Inc. and AREVA, a global leader in energy, May 1 4
have signed a three-year worldwide corporate Houston, TX USA
agreement, expanding the companies long-term http://www.otcnet.org/2006/index.html
relationship and allowing for more efficient access to
simulation technology and better coordination of the ASME Turbo Expo 2006
use of this technology across the AREVA enterprise. May 8 11
Under the agreement, AREVA will apply ANSYS Barcelona, Spain
simulation software to design optimization solutions http://igti.asme.org/events/te2006/index.html
for a wide variety of equipment used in AREVAs
5th World Congress of Biomechanics
nuclear projects.
July 29 August 4
Munich, Germany
http://www.wcb2006.org/
ATI Embraces 64-bit Operating System and Leads
Certification of 64-bit Workstation Applications 31st International Symposium on Combustion
August 6 11
As a technology leader in the workstation graphics Heidelberg, Germany
market, ATI Technologies Inc. is dedicated to http://www2.iwr.uni-heidelberg.de/conferences/
developing and supporting key industry transitions, combustion2006/index.php
such as the movement to 64-bit computing to enable
a more highly developed experience for end users. CFD for Nuclear Reactor Safety
As the complexity of design and content creation September 5 7
grows exponentially, the movement to 64-bit Munich, Germany
computing will open up new opportunities for http://www.nea.fr/html/nsd/workshops/CFD4NRS/
index.html
Industry Spotlight
4
Aerospace Systems
Engineering simulation is an integral part of the development
process for critical components and major subsystems
on todays aircraft from nose to tail.
By Simon Pereira Companies are under intense technical and business

Senior Application Specialist
ANSYS, Inc. pressures in the aerospace industry, a giant market
with annual worldwide revenues exceeding $250
billion. Manufacturers in commercial and military
sectors are experiencing unprecedented global
competition to shorten time-to-market and reduce
costs while improving aircraft performance,
increasing fuel efficiency, reducing noise and
decreasing pollutant emissions.

F-16
A wide range of some of the most advanced 5
solutions for analysis technologies such as FEA, CFD,
EMAG and FSI is provided by ANSYS, Inc. a leader
in engineering simulation. Such single-vendor
solutions avoid the problems of using different tools
from multiple suppliers including lack of compatibility
and difficulties exchanging files between systems.
One unified simulation system facilitates the overall
flow of design, cooperation between groups and
interaction between separately analyzed physics and
components. This enables companies to streamline
their product development processes while reducing
Used in air defense around the world for decades, the versatile the number of vendors two major goals for
F-16 fighter aircraft continues to be updated with the help of aerospace companies.
engineering analysis. ANSYS has formed strong partnerships with
aerospace R&D groups as well as with other software
vendors. For instance, through cooperation with
In meeting technical and business requirements, Dassault Systmes, ANSYS ICEM CFD hexa meshing
aerospace engineers face some of the most tools are now available within CATIA V5. ANSYS
demanding design challenges in engineering. Because Workbench software also has advanced geometry
of weight and space limitations, components often and meshing tools needed for complex real-world
have highly complex shapes and are made of aerospace geometry. Design optimization and vertical
nontraditional materials. Parts must withstand extreme applications specifically tailored to segments within
vibration, high acceleration loads and wide each industry round out the tool kit.
temperature fluctuations. Reliability standards and
safety compliance regulations are some of the Reducing the Need for Wind
most stringent of any industry. Tunnel Testing
For decades, engineering simulation technology When CFD is applied during the conceptual and
has been indispensable in addressing these complex preliminary design stages, it is possible to simulate
issues in aircraft development. The aerospace industry complete design configurations in a short time so the
was one of the first to implement computer-based analysis can have a significant impact on aircraft
approaches to design and analysis, and today development, and then move forward with the best
simulation-based processes represent an integral part combination of design features to meet required
of the development cycle for critical components and flight characteristics.
major subsystems throughout the aircraft. Traditionally, CFD has been used extensively for
predicting the aerodynamic behavior of aircraft. The
Simulation Tools for Complex Problems technology is a valuable tool for engineers to gain
Engineers use a wide range of simulation tools insight into the way air flows over the complex contour
to refine concepts, pinpoint problems, evaluate of the plane.
alternatives and optimize designs long before the first
hardware prototype is built and test pilots slide into
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
the cockpit.
In the aerospace industry, engineers routinely use
finite element analysis (FEA) to study stresses or
fatigue in structural members. Explicit solvers analyze
impacts and large deformations. Computational fluid
dynamics (CFD) analyzes external aerodynamics,
cabin HVAC and flow through engines. Advanced flow
problems could include heat transfer, shockwaves,
separation, combustion, chemical reaction or
acoustics issues. Computational electromagnetics
(CEM) predicts electromagnetic properties such as
radar signature for military aircraft. Two-way fluid
structure interaction (FSI) solves aerospace problems Simulation is being used extensively in development of the
new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Versions of the supersonic plane
such as wing flutter. are being developed for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine
Corps as well as many European countries.

Industry Spotlight
6 Conventional CFD software is limited in

predicting absolute values for drag, air pressure Aerodynamics
and other aerodynamic load parameters, and such
restrictions have prevented CFD from more fully
displacing wind tunnel testing. With improvements in
solver technology, meshing technology and high-
performance computing capabilities, this is quickly
changing. These advances allow CFD to predict
absolute characteristics more accurately and quickly
so that aerospace companies can save significant
time and expense by reducing their dependence on
wind tunnel testing.
Advances in turbulence modeling are making
significant strides in increasing the accuracy of
predicting absolute aerodynamic characteristics, and
ANSYS is at the forefront of this effort. The shear
stress transport (SST) model, originally developed
by Florian Menter, who now heads the turbulence
modeling group at ANSYS, is now the day-to-day
turbulence workhorse of CFX. Numerous test cases
ANSYS CFX offers the only commercially available predictive
have been performed to verify its performance. In the
transition model, which allows the code to accurately predict
NASA Tech Memorandum 110446, Turbulence the transition from laminar to turbulent flow. Accurately
Modeling, Validation Testing and Development, the modeling this transitional region is critical for calculating those
SST model was rated the most accurate model for absolute aerodynamic characteristics such as drag and skin
aerodynamic applications. Developments continue friction, as shown on the geometry courtesy of Eurocopter.
Blue areas indicate regions of laminar flow on the nose and
with improvement to unsteady formulations such as tail sections, while skin friction due to turbulence is shown by
detached eddy simulation (DES) and scale adaptive the color-coded isosurfaces on the rest of the body.
simulation (SAS), in which the larger scales of
turbulence are calculated.
ANSYS CFX also offers the only commercially
available predictive transition model, which allows the
characteristics. ANSYS CFX performed very well at
code to accurately predict the transition from laminar
the 2003 AIAA drag prediction workshop, during
to turbulent flow. Accurately modeling this transitional
which the software accurately predicted the drag
region is critical for calculating absolute aerodynamic
increase due to engine installation for complete aircraft
configurations over a wide range of angles of attack.
Hybrid Meshing Advanced Hybrid Meshing

For years, ANSYS ICEM CFD meshing technology
has been widely used as a flexible and adaptable
tool in the aerospace industry. More broadly, the
software has the potential to change the future of
meshing for the complex problems found in these
types of applications.
In particular, ANSYS is working with military and
commercial aircraft manufacturers to develop an
advanced hybrid meshing approach. Rather than
generating a tetra/prism mesh or manually blocking a
structured hexa mesh, ANSYS is developing a rapid
This hybrid mesh for a passenger aircraft study was created multi-zone blocking approach. The new process starts
with multi-zone blocking. This semi-automatic approach is
by auto-generating 2-D surface blocks. An automatic
being developed by ANSYS and tested by military and
commercial aircraft manufacturers. Zone edges are indicated 2-D to 3-D fill creates an unstructured volume block.
by the light blue lines surrounding the plane.
Some photos courtesy Lockheed Martin.

7
Model Boundary Conditions Internal View
Engineering firm Raetech used ANSYS Workbench to analyze the riveted wing spar assembly of a T-34 aircraft under a range
of loading conditions (left). The simulation determined stresses and fatigue life at the inner and outer panels (right), proving
an adequate design when flown within the stated limits.
Then the automatic o-grid function is used to capture strain gage results, the FAA allowed the fleet back into
the boundary layer, and the aircraft block faces the air with a revised maintenance schedule, including
are extruded as swept or structured boundary spar carry-through eddy current crack checks.
layer blocks.
The end result is a quick and virtually automatic State-of-the-Art Structural Analysis
hybrid mesh consisting of high-quality hexa or Aerospace engineers use a wide range of CAE tools in
hexa-dominant boundary layers surrounded by an analyzing aircraft structural characteristics such as
unstructured hexa or tetra mesh. Hybrid mesh really stiffness, stress, strength, fatigue and vibration.
means all the right mesh in the right place, with fewer Advanced technologies from ANSYS include software
nodes and better resolution. for performing studies on design sensitivity to multiple
complex variables, for optimizing designs and for
Keeping Vintage Planes in the Air developing robust designs that meet Design for Six
Even aircraft that developed long before CAE software Sigma standards.
was available can benefit from todays advanced The software has special modeling capabilities
simulation technology. Case in point is the beloved for representing composite materials so prevalent in
World War IIera T-34 propeller-driven plane, still in use airspace applications. Linear dynamics problems
for pilot training and aerobatics. ranging from modal analysis and random vibration to
In December 2004, the FAA grounded the entire specific applications like rotor dynamics all can be
fleet of about 500 aircraft due to a catastrophic failure solved with ANSYS software tools. Large aircraft
stemming from metal fatigue in the lower spar carry- structures can take advantage of advanced
through structure. Detailed analysis of the complex capabilities such as component mode synthesis
riveted assembly was subsequently performed using (CMS). Bird strikes, explosions, aircraft crashes and
ANSYS Workbench by engineering firm Raetech other high-impact events are simulated effectively
Corporation on behalf of General Aviation Modification with ANSYS tools. Current development plans include
Inc. and the T-34 owners association. motion simulation and rebar modeling to more
The simulation determined stress fields with effectively model landing gear with tires and other
various rivet conditions and revealed a high stress similar challenging problems.
concentration near the spars innermost rivet hole at
the exact point of failure. The supplied stress fields
guided strain gage placement and crack-growth
analysis. Based on the correlation between FEA and

Industry Spotlight
8 ANSYS excels in handling coupled physics or efficiency. Since the topology is usually similar
applications that are common in the aerospace within a class, a large number of design iterations are
industry. Thermal stress analysis is now routinely done achieved through a focus on automation.
with ANSYS tools and is very important in developing The mesh quality has been shown to have signifi-
gas turbine technology. ANSYS has partnered with cant effect on the analysis accuracy. Structured hexa
companies such as LMS International in solving the mesh usually is preferred for bladed components,
coupled physics involved in aero-acoustics while combustors and other complicated shapes are
problems. For studying the effects of the airflow on the more efficiently captured with a hybrid approach.
aircraft structure, engineers routinely map temperature Companies like GE Global Research and GE Aircraft
or pressure results from CFD analysis as boundary Engines have found that the ANSYS ICEM CFD
conditions for FEA analysis. structured hexa mesher offers unique features with
all the required capability and flexibility. The company
Flutter and Fatigue has made it an integral part of their automated
ANSYS software is well suited to studying CAE process.
phenomena such as aero-flutter that require Through years of extensive work in this field,
including the effects of two-way fluid structure ANSYS has become a world leader in engine design
interactions. All aircraft vibrate and deform due to optimization, particularly for rotating machinery.
aerodynamic loads, but in some cases there are The design cycle can be greatly reduced with a
concerns that the deformation may increase the combination of focused CAD and simulation
aerodynamic forces, which could then amplify technologies for advanced fluid dynamics, body
vibration. This so-called flutter can lead to dynamics, stress analysis and thermal simulation.
dangerously excessive stress and fatigue. Specialized tools such as ANSYS BladeModeler and
The two-way FSI approach requires solving ANSYS TurboGrid streamline the analysis process
structural motion equations simultaneously with and aid the connection between CFD and FEA
equations of fluid flow. The solvers need to work analyses. ANSYS Workbench optimization or FSI tools
together to exchange energy between the air and the can help develop the best possible combinations of
vibrating structure. As the geometry flexes, the mesh design elements.
will need morphing or remeshing between time steps.
For two-way FSI, ANSYS software offers the Relying on an Industry Leader
significant advantage of being a single-source ANSYS technology is widely used by aerospace
provider so users need not string together CFD, FEA OEMs and suppliers in the development of a broad
and meshing codes from different vendors (usually range of critical components and complex systems
with the help of a fourth vendor to manage the com- for aircraft in the air today as well as those in the
munication among the other codes). This enables conceptual stages of design.
more implicit coupling between the codes that allows Engineers rely on analysis as an indispensable
for faster, more robust simulations. tool in their work. Aerospace companies continue
Aerospace FSI is still on the fringe, but academic to trust ANSYS, as they have for decades, in
research groups such as one at the University of providing advanced simulation software for meeting
Colorado are working with corporate and military the ever-increasing demands of developing aircraft
research groups to apply FSI in a variety of aerospace and other aerospace products. These aerospace
applications. companies go with ANSYS as a technology leader and
reliable partner because there is little room for error in
High-Performance Propulsion Systems this industry, either in design or business strategy. I
ANSYS also has been closely involved with turbine
and rocket engine design for many years. Engine
design is more constrained than airframe design.
Engineers look for small changes that improve power

9
Fatigue factor of safety at

a specified design life
Calculating and Displaying

Fatigue Results
The ANSYS Fatigue Module has a wide range of features for
performing calculations and presenting analysis data.
By Raymond Browell Al Hancq
Product Manager Development Engineer
ANSYS, Inc. ANSYS, Inc.
In the last issue of ANSYS Solutions, we reviewed result). Results that are common to both types of fatigue
decisions required to perform a stress life or strain life analysis are listed below:
fatigue analysis and covered supported features of Fatigue life
the ANSYS Fatigue Module with respect to input Fatigue damage at a specified design life
quantities. This follow-up article deals with fatigue
calculation types and ways of displaying results
Fatigue factor of safety at a specified design life
available in the ANSYS Fatigue Module. Stress biaxiality
Fatigue sensitivity chart
Types of Results Rainflow matrix output (beta for strain life at 10.0)
Just as some input decisions change depending on Damage matrix output (beta for strain life at 10.0)
whether youre performing a stress life or a strain life
analysis, calculations and results can be dependent on The results that are available only for stress life are:
the type of fatigue analysis. Results can range from Equivalent alternating stress
contour plots of a specific result over the whole model
to information about the most damaged point in the
The results that are available only for strain life are:
model (or the most damaged point in the scope of the
Hysteresis (beta at 10.0)

10 General Fatigue
Fatigue life This result can be over the whole
model or scoped just like any other contour result in
ANSYS Workbench (that is, parts, surfaces, edges and
vertices). In addition, this and any contour result may
be exported to a tab-delimited text file by a right-
mouse-button click on the result. This result contour
plot shows the available life for the given fatigue
analysis. If loading is of constant amplitude, this
represents the number of cycles until the part will
fail due to fatigue. If loading is non-constant, this
represents the number of loading blocks until failure.
Thus, if the given load history represents one hour
of loading and the life was found to be 24,000, the
Fatigue life
expected model life would be 1,000 days. In a stress
life analysis with constant amplitude, if the equivalent most damaged point occurs at a point of mostly
alternating stress is lower than the lowest alternating uniaxial stress. If the most damaged spot was under
stress defined in the SN curve, the life at that point will pure shear, then it would be desirable to use SN data
be used. collected through torsional loading, if such data was
available. Of course, collecting experimental data
Fatigue damage This is a contour plot of the under different loading conditions is cost-prohibitive
fatigue damage at a given design life. Fatigue damage and not often done.
is defined as the design life divided by the available Note that for non-proportional fatigue loading,
life. This result may be scoped. The default design life there are multiple stress states and, therefore, there is
may be set through the control panel. For fatigue no single stress biaxiality at each node. Thus, if the
damage, values greater than 1 indicate failure before fatigue tool has non-proportional loading, the user
the design life is reached. may select either the average or the standard devia-
tion of stress biaxiality. The average value may be
Fatigue safety factor This is a contour plot of the interpreted as above, and, in combination with the
factor of safety with respect to a fatigue failure at a standard deviation, the user can get a measure of how
given design life. The maximum factor of safety the stress state changes at a given location. Thus, a
displayed is 15. Like damage and life, this result may small standard deviation indicates a condition in which
be scoped. For fatigue safety factor, values less than 1 the loading is near proportional while a larger deviation
indicate failure before the design life is reached.
Biaxiality indication As mentioned previously,

fatigue material properties are based on uniaxial
stresses, but real world stress states are usually multi-
axial. This result gives the user some idea of the stress
state over the model and how to interpret the results.
Biaxiality indication is defined as the principal stress
smaller in magnitude divided by the larger principal
stress, with the principal stress nearest zero ignored. A
biaxiality of zero corresponds to uniaxial stress, a
value of 1 corresponds to pure shear, and a value of 1
corresponds to a pure biaxial state. As you can see in
the figure illustrating biaxiality, the majority of this
model is under a pure uniaxial stress, with parts
exhibiting both pure shear and nearly pure biaxiality.
When using the biaxiality plot along with the safety
factor plot (described above), it can be seen that the
Stress biaxiality

indicates change in the direction of the principal stress 11
vectors. This information can be used to give the user
additional confidence in his results or to determine if
more in-depth fatigue analysis is needed to account
for non-proportionality.
Fatigue sensitivity This shows how the fatigue

results change as a function of the loading at the
critical location on the model. This result may be
scoped. Sensitivity may be found for life, damage or
factor of safety. The user may set the number of fill
points as well as the load variation limits. For example,
the user may wish to see the sensitivity of the models
life in which the FE load is 50 percent of the current
load through to where the load is 150 percent of the Fatigue sensitivity chart
current load. A value of 100 percent corresponds to
the life at the current loading on the model. Negative
variations are allowed in order to see the effects of a
possible negative mean stress if the loading is
not totally reversed. Linear, log-x, log-y or log-log
scaling can be chosen for chart display. Default values Stress Life
for the sensitivity options may be set through the Equivalent alternating stress In a stress life
control panel. fatigue analysis, one always needs to query an SN
curve to relate the fatigue life to the stress state. Thus,
Rainflow matrix chart (beta for strain life at 10.0) the equivalent alternating stress is the stress used to
This is a plot of the rainflow matrix at the critical query the fatigue SN curve after accounting for fatigue
location. This result is applicable only for non-constant loading type, mean stress effects, multiaxial effects
amplitude loading in which rainflow counting is and any other factors in the fatigue analysis. Therefore,
needed. This result may be scoped. In this 3-D in a fatigue analysis, the equivalent alternating stress
histogram, alternating and mean stress is divided can be considered the last-calculated quantity before
into bins and plotted. The z-axis corresponds to the fatigue life is determined. The usefulness of this result
number of counts for a given alternating and mean is that, in general, it contains all fatigue-related calcu-
stress bin. This result gives the user a measure of the lations independent of any fatigue material properties.
composition of a loading history (such as, if most of As discussed in ANSYS Solutions Volume 7 Issue 1,
the alternating stress cycles occur at a negative mean some mean stress theories use static material proper-
stress). In the rainflow matrix figure, the user can see ties such as tensile strength so equivalent alter-
that most of the alternating stresses have a positive nating stress may not be totally devoid of material
mean stress and that, in this case, the majority of properties. A quantity such as equivalent alternating
alternating stresses are quite low. stress may be useful in a variety of situations:
To avoid possible security issues with
Damage matrix chart (beta for strain life at 10.0)
proprietary material stress life properties, an
This is a plot of the damage matrix at the critical
engineer may be given equivalent alternating
location on the model. This result is applicable only for
stress design criteria.
non-constant amplitude loading in which rainflow
counting is needed. This result may be scoped. This The equivalent alternating stress may be
result is similar to the rainflow matrix, except that the exported to a third-party or in-house fatigue
percent of damage that each rainflow bin causes is code that performs specialized fatigue calcula-
plotted as the z-axis. For this particular case, as can tions based on industry-specific knowledge.
be seen from the corresponding damage matrix An engineer can perform a comparative
(see next page) for the above-mentioned rainflow analysis among a variety of designs using a
matrix, although most of the counts occur at the lower result type (stress) that he or she may feel more
stress amplitudes, most of the damage occurs at the comfortable with.
higher stress amplitudes.

12
Rainflow matrix output Damage matrix
A part can be geometrically optimized with Conclusion

respect to fatigue without regard to the
The ANSYS Fatigue Module supports a wide variety of
specific material or finishing operations that will
fatigue analyses. The comprehensive calculations and
be used for the final product.
results enable engineers to evaluate their designs for
avoiding failures under real-world conditions. As a
This result is not applicable to strain life or stress
module that is integrated into the ANSYS Workbench
life with non-constant amplitude fatigue loading due to
environment, the ANSYS Fatigue Module can further
the fact that multiple SN queries per location are
leverage advances in CAD support, including bi-direc-
required and, thus, no single equivalent alternating
tional parameters, solid modeling, virtual topology,
stress exists.
robust meshing, hex-dominant meshing, automatic
contact detection, optimization, Design for Six Sigma
Strain Life and Robust Design. I
Hysteresis (beta at 10.0) In a strain-life fatigue
analysis, although the finite element response may
be linear, the local elasticplastic response may not be
linear. The Neuber correction is used to determine the
local elasticplastic response given a linear elastic
input. Repeated loading will form closed hysteresis
loops as a result of this nonlinear local response. In a
constant amplitude analysis, a single hysteresis loop
is created, although numerous loops may be created
via rainflow counting in a non-constant amplitude
analysis. The hysteresis result plots the local
elasticplastic response at the critical location of the
scoped result. (The hysteresis result can be scoped,
similar to all result items.) Hysteresis is a good result
to help you understand the true local response that
may not be easy to infer. Notice in the hysteresis
example that, although the loading-elastic result
is tensile, the local response does venture into the
compressive region.
Hysteresis

Advances in Materials 13
Modeling
ANSYS software provides a complete set of By Achuth Rao
Product Manager
tools for modeling complex materials behavior. ANSYS, Inc.
Numerous material-related factors can cause a

Figure 1. Element stress results for
structures stiffness to change during the course of an a metal forming application with
analysis ranging from anisotropic behavior, nonlinear plasticity, rezoning and contact
stressstrain relationships, dependency on time, rate
of strain, and piezoelectric and Seebeck effects, to
name a few. Therefore, an accurate representation of
materials behavior is important for realistic simulation
in engineering design.
Materials modeling capability in ANSYS software
provides a complete set of technology to model
various complex materials behavior. These tools
work well combined with the ANSYS full complement
of nonlinear and linear elements and the most
comprehensive set of solvers available.
In addition, third-party interfaces give ANSYS
users access to material databases and material
inputs from other sources for analysis. This article
provides a brief overview of materials modeling in
ANSYS as well as some of the recent enhancements in
material technology.
Mechanical Behavior of Materials

Plasticity For most common engineering materials
beyond the yield point, the stressstrain relationship
will become nonlinear. Plastic behavior, characterized
by nonrecoverable strain, begins when stresses
exceed the materials yield point. Plasticity is a non-
conservative, path-dependent phenomenon. In other
words, the sequence in which loads are applied and in
which plastic responses occur affects the final solution
results. Plasticity material models in ANSYS software
account for these types of hardening laws and
anisotropic behavior: bilinear kinematic hardening,
multilinear kinematic hardening, nonlinear kinematic
hardening, bilinear isotropic hardening, anisotropic, hill
anisotropy, Drucker-Prager, extended Drucker-Prager,
cast iron, multilinear isotropic hardening and nonlinear
isotropic hardening.
Figure 1 shows a metal forming application using
a plasticity material model and rezoning capability in
ANSYS software.

14 Hyperelasticity Hyperelasticity can be used to
analyze rubber-like materials (elastomers) that
undergo large strains and displacements with small
volume changes (nearly incompressible materials).
The various hyperelastic material models in ANSYS
software include polynomial, Arruda-Boyce, Blatz-Ko
form, Mooney-Rivlin, Gent, Ogden (foam), Yeoh,
Neo-Hookean and anisotropic hyperelasticty models.
Others In addition to the most commonly used

Figure 2. Curve fitting using experimental data for a 9 parameter
nonlinear material behavior described above, ANSYS
Mooney-Rivlin model
software offers models for anisotropic behavior, creep,
shape memory alloy, gasket materials, viscoplastic
and viscoelastic behaviors, etc. In addition, a user can and viscoelastic material behavior listed below,
combine several of the material model options including temperature dependency for all three
in ANSYS software to simulate complex material behaviors.
behaviors. For example, plasticity models can
be combined with creep, hyperelastic models with Hyperelastic material curve fitting For hyper-
viscoelasticity, etc. elastic material models, stressstrain curves can be
converted to any of the available ANSYS supported
User material models ANSYS software allows hyperelastic models, including Mooney-Rivlin, Ogden,
users to define their own material model through Neo-Hookean, polynomial, Arruda-Boyce, Gent and
USERMAT. The user material option allows users to Yeoh. Compressible hyperelastic Ogden hyper-foam
perform the following tasks: writing your own material and Blatz-Ko models also are supported.
constitutive models; writing your own plasticity, creep
or swelling laws; writing your own hyperelasticity laws; Creep material curve fitting For creep material
updating the nonlinear strain history for a user-defined models, creep strain rate or creep strain as a function
material; checking material data you have defined; of time, stress or temperature can be converted to any
computing the derivatives of the strain energy density of the 13 ANSYS supported implicit creep models.
with respect to its invariants; and more.
Viscoelastic material curve fitting For viscoelastic
Material Curve Fitting material models, shear modulus vs. time and/or bulk
ANSYS software provides various curve-fitting tools modulus vs. time data are converted to ANSYS
to derive coefficients from experimental data and supported Prony series format.
compare experimental data to certain nonlinear Figure 2 shows the curve-fitting interface for a
material models built into ANSYS software. ANSYS hyperelastic material model in ANSYS software.
solutions support curve fitting for hyperelastic, creep
Figure 3. Stress results in the interface layer using the cohesive zone
material model (left) and comparison with a reference solution (right)

Failure and Delamination Modeling
15
Fracture or delamination along an interface between
phases plays a major role in limiting the toughness
and ductility of multi-phase materials, such as
matrixmatrix composites and laminated composite
structure. Modeling of failure and fracture of
interfaces is important for structural design. ANSYS
software offers a cohesive zone model to account for
Figure 4. Temperature distribution in a thermal electric cooler due
the softening relationships between tractions at the
to Peltier effects
interface and the separations, which in turn introduce a
critical fracture energy that is also the energy required
to break apart the interface surfaces. A special set of
interface cohesive zone elements is used to represent expansion. Figure 4 shows results from a coupled
the interface surfaces of the materials, and a cohesive physics analysis of a thermoelectric cooler with
zone model is used to characterize the interface sur- Peltier effects.
face constitutive behavior. Figure 3 shows results from
a peeling analysis using cohesive zone model and Third-Party Interfaces
comparison with reference solution. ANSYS software works closely with various third-party
software products and material databases for material
Electrical Behavior of Materials inputs.
In addition to the mechanical behavior, certain coupled
physics elements within ANSYS software allow Composites data FiberSIM (a product of Vistagy,
modeling of interaction between the structural, thermal Inc.) is a fiber draping tool used within popular CAD
and electrical physics commonly seen in micro- systems. The FiberSIM ANSYS interface allows you to
electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) applications. use the information contained in an .xml file generated
Users can define material properties for these by FiberSIM in your ANSYS model. The FiberSIM .xml
elements to model interaction such as piezoelectric, file data contains the order of layers (including
piezoresistive, Seebeck-Peltier effects and the dropped layer information) and the layer orientation. In
piezocaloric effect. ANSYS software, you supplement that information by
The piezoresistive effect commonly used in adding material and thickness information to each
pressure and force sensors is the change of electric layer via ANSYS section commands. Figure 5 shows
resistivity of the material caused by an applied displacement results on a composites structure with
mechanical strain or stress. Piezoelectrics is the section data as defined using FiberSIM.
coupling of structural and electric fields, which is a
natural property of materials such as quartz and Injection molding data With the new Moldflow
ceramics. Applying a voltage to a piezoelectric ANSYS interface, users can import thermomechanical
material creates a displacement, and vibrating a properties, fiber orientation and either process-
piezoelectric material generates a voltage. A typical induced residual stress or volumetric shrinkage data
application of piezoelectric analysis is a pressure from MPI 5.1 to ANSYS software for more in-depth
transducer. The Seebeck effect occurs when a voltage structural analysis. Fundamentally, the Moldflow data
is produced in a thermoelectric material by a ensures that the structural analysis model has material
temperature difference, in which the induced voltage is properties that would exist in the part as a result of the
proportional to the temperature difference. The injection molding process.
proportionality coefficient is known as the Seebeck The interface from Moldflow makes application-
coefficient (). The Peltier effect is the cooling or specific data available as input to ANSYS, including
heating at the junction of two dissimilar thermoelectric effects of grade-specific material properties, flow-
materials when an electric current flows through the induced material anisotropy and residual stresses
junction. Peltier heat is proportional to the current and due to processing. This unparalleled level of detail in
changes sign if the current direction is reversed. structural analysis inputs is critical to accurately
The piezocaloric effect is the manifestation of heat account for the effects of processing on the
produced by stress (isothermal process) or the change performance of injection-molded plastic parts when
in temperature in response to strain (adiabatic subject to service loading.
process) and is complementary to the thermal

16
Figure 5. Displacement results on a composites structural

panel (left) with section data (right). Images courtesy of
Vistagy, Inc.
ANSYS Workbench Materials Database extensively by the aerospace and defense industries)
and the NIST Lead-Free Solder Database (pertinent to
MatWeb materials property database ANSYS

the electronics industry).

software users now can export technical data sheets
from the MatWeb collection in the ANSYS material
Using the Matereality MIRO CAE Wizard, ANSYS
library format. Users can create and export libraries of
Workbench users can quickly search their personal
20 materials at a time in ANSYS library format (XML)
databases, as well as important industry public and
from the MatWeb collection of more than 55,000
private data collections, for ANSYS relevant data.
material data sheets. The appropriate property
They can evaluate the data for pertinence and export it
values in the correct units are automatically added
digitally into ANSYS Workbench. For more informa-
to the XML file with ease and accuracy. For more
tion, visit www.matereality.com.
information, visit www.matweb.com.
IDAC materials database An extensive material

Matereality materials database Matereality
database for ANSYS Workbench is available from
makes products to manage material data used
Integrated Design & Analysis Consultants (IDAC),
in todays high-value manufacturing verticals:
which provides engineering consulting services in
automotive, aerospace, biomedical, electronics and
the United Kingdom and is a value-added reseller
consumer products. Matereality is a Web-based data
of ANSYS software. The IDAC ANSYS Workbench
management technology that contains thousands of
Materials Database Library is available for ANSYS
datasets including stressstrain data; rate-dependent
Workbench versions 9.0 and 10.0 software releases.
properties; hyperelastic properties; thermal properties;
It contains the data indicated in the table below. For
and creep, viscoelastic and fatigue data on plastics,
more information, visit www.idac.co.uk/services/
metals, rubber, foam and composites data that is
materialdatabase.htm. I
particularly relevant to the ANSYS users. The most
extensive source of such data, Matereality also
The author wishes to thank development and technical
provides access to plastics material supplier support personnel at ANSYS, Inc. and the various third-party
databases, the MIL5 Handbook Database (used solutions providers for their efforts and contributions.
IDAC ANSYS Workbench Materials Database Library

250 Basic Materials Version 150 Nonlinear Materials Version
Youngs modulus Standard properties (re: 250 materials database)
Poissons ratio Alternating stress (fatigue) 69 curves
Density Multilinear isotropic hardening (stressstrain) 69 curves
Thermal expansion Temperature-dependent Poissons ratio 9 curves
Yield strength Temperature-dependent thermal conductivity 8 curves
Ultimate strength Temperature-dependent thermal expansion 6 curves
Thermal conductivity Temperature-dependent Youngs modulus 87 curves
Uniaxial test (hyperelastic behavior) 4 curves

Meshing Cracks at Any Location 17
ANSYS software quickly generates 3-D crack meshes in arbitrary

geometries, including those with weld residual stresses.
By Greg Thorwald and Ted Anderson
Structural Reliability Technology
All engineering materials contain flaws such as inclu- A critical-size crack can cause a catastrophic fracture
sions, porosity, lack of weld fusion and pitting. These failure, even at low stresses below the yield strength.
defects can cause cracks to form and grow over time Using fracture mechanics methods, a crack can
in many types of structures, so crack evaluation is be evaluated by utilizing the stress intensity at the
important in petroleum, chemical, power generation, crack front to determine if it is benign or requires
aerospace, mechanical and civil structure applications. repair. This feature also can be used to compute how
quickly the crack will grow. Computing the crack
fracture condition and fatigue life allows for an efficient
inspection and repair schedule, reducing risk and
cost. Computing the critical crack size verifies that
inspection methods will be able to find the crack while
it is still smaller than the critical size to cause fracture.
Figure 1. Uncracked
set-in nozzle mesh;
the crack will be
located at the internal
shell to nozzle weld.

18
Figure 2. A definition mesh (left) specifies the shape and location of the 3-D crack mesh (right).
Accurate crack stress intensity values, KI, are When a variety of crack sizes and locations are to
crucial for a thorough crack evaluation. Stress intensity be examined, the effort to generate each new crack
solutions are available from handbooks and literature mesh must be repeated. More complicated
for many basic geometries and crack locations. geometries with numerous possible crack locations
However, modeling the actual crack location and prohibit tables of stress intensity values to be
orientation in a complicated geometry is important for computed for all possible cases. Instead, the stress
obtaining accurate crack stress intensity values. intensity needs to be computed for a given crack
location and size.
Time-Consuming Modeling Tasks
When an existing stress intensity solution that FEA-Crack Software
matches the structure geometry and crack location is These time-consuming modeling difficulties led to the
not readily available, finite element analysis of 3-D development of Structural Reliability Technologys
cracks provides a way to compute the crack front FEA-Crack software to generate the 3-D crack
stress intensity. But creating 3-D crack meshes in meshes quickly and easily. The software feature allows
complex 3-D geometries can involve difficult and cracks at any location to be analyzed routinely.
time-consuming tasks. Collapsed brick elements Having an easy-to-use method for quickly
must be generated along the crack front along with generating 3-D crack mesh input files within an
concentric rings of elements around the crack front for arbitrary shape volume is needed to efficiently
the spider-web mesh pattern. Cracks following compute the crack front stress intensity at any location
curved surfaces take even more attention in more within complicated structures. The approach uses a
complicated geometries. Node sets along the crack grid mesh of brick elements extracted from the larger
front all must be listed correctly for the J-integral structure model to define an arbitrary shape volume
calculation. Crack plane symmetry constraints and with six surfaces around the crack location. The
crack face loads must be applied properly. And finally, definition mesh volume has six surfaces to match the
J-integral and stress intensity results must be shape of the preliminary 3-D crack mesh. The 3-D
extracted correctly. crack mesh is generated by FEA-Crack within the
Figure 3. On this nozzle mesh, a definition mesh (left) indicates where a crack mesh is to be inserted (center) and then connected with
bonded contact elements (right).

definition mesh region and then is inserted back into 19
the larger model. The meshes are connected by
bonded contact in ANSYS software, which permits a
different mesh pattern between the crack mesh and
larger structure mesh.
When the crack is in or near a weld, the weld
residual stresses can be included in the crack analysis
by mapping all the stress components from the
uncracked model results onto the crack mesh as
an initial stress. ANSYS software uses an initial
stress file to easily include the residual stresses in a Figure 4. ANSYS software von Mises stress results due to internal
crack analysis. Welds have regions of tensile residual pressure and weld residual stress
stresses that increase crack stress intensity and may
adversely affect the critical fracture condition. Using
displacement, stress and strain results from the
part of the bottom of the nozzle cylinder and all the
ANSYS software analysis, the crack front J-integral
internal nozzle to shell weld. The definition mesh has
and stress intensity values are computed for use in a
six surfaces to match the crack mesh initial shape.
crack evaluation.
Brick elements in the definition mesh (Figure 2) are
used directly for the crack mesh shape transformation.
Pressure Vessel Example
More elements along the curved surfaces give a more
As an example of inserting a 3-D crack mesh within a accurate shape transformation of the crack mesh.
larger and more complicated structure, consider a To generate the 3-D crack mesh, the definition
pressure vessel with a set-in nozzle and external mesh is imported into FEA-Crack, and the crack is
reinforcing pad. An internal surface crack is located at located and oriented within the definition mesh.
the shell to nozzle weld, which follows a saddle- Boundary conditions and contact surfaces are
shaped 3-D surface (Figure 1). When building the selected and the crack mesh input file is created, all
structure mesh, create a region around the crack within a few minutes. The definition mesh corner node
location for the definition mesh that gives the shape of ID numbers are used as reference points to locate the
the crack mesh. The crack region is left empty in the crack and to select the boundary conditions on each
structure mesh and will be filled by the crack mesh. of the six mesh surfaces. Since the crack mesh is
For this example, the definition mesh volume includes located on the inside of the vessel, the bottom and left
surfaces of the crack mesh have the internal pressure
applied to them. Crack faces also should have the
internal pressure applied, since the crack opens to the
inside surface of the vessel.
The top and right crack mesh surfaces are
selected for bonded contact; these are the mesh
surfaces that connect to the larger vessel mesh. The
other two crack mesh surfaces are located on the two
symmetry planes. The front crack mesh face is in the
x-y plane and a z-constraint is applied; the back crack
mesh face is in the y-z plane and an x-constraint is
applied for symmetry. The 3-D crack mesh (Figure 3)
has an offset from the bottom of the nozzle where it is
inserted into the nozzle mesh.
Without a 3-D crack mesh generator and the
definition mesh method, these tasks would take many
days of effort for a single crack mesh; this example
was completed in just a few hours. For this example,
the half-symmetric crack is located on the front sym-
metry plane for easier visualization; the x-y symmetry
plane passes through the center of the crack length,
leaving the back half of the crack in the mesh.

20 post-processing module. ANSYS software stress
results are shown in Figures 4 and 5. Crack front stress
intensity results from two analysis cases are compared
in Figure 6: internal pressure with and without the weld
residual stress. The plot shows how the weld residual
stress increases the crack front stress intensity. Each
data point in the plot is a crack front node value; the
crack front phi gives the position of the nodes along
the crack front from the crack tip (phi = 0) to the crack
depth (phi = ). If the weld is not post-weld heat-
Figure 5. An internal surface crack opens due to the applied treated, the residual stresses would be much higher,
pressure and weld residual stress.
and the stress intensity would increase even more.
Accurate and Thorough Crack Evaluations

The surface crack could be located anywhere Combining the finite element analysis capabilities of
within the definition mesh and have other orientations, ANSYS software and the 3-D crack mesh generation
such as a short axial crack. For cracks at other and J-integral post-processing features of FEA-Crack
locations in the nozzle, another definition mesh can be provides a way to quickly and easily obtain stress
created to insert additional cracks into the nozzle intensity values for cracks located within more
model; multiple cracks could be inserted into the complicated structures. Using this method, you can
vessel. Next, the crack and nozzle meshes are arrive at crack front stress intensity results efficiently
combined within a single ANSYS input file, and for more complicated structures, and residual stresses
bonded contact is used to connect the two meshes. can be readily included. This method makes possible
FEA-Crack provides the contact surface data on the more accurate and thorough crack evaluations by
crack mesh surfaces to aid in combining the meshes. supporting routine use of 3-D FEA crack analysis in
For this example, internal pressure, equivalent axial evaluating a broad range of complex geometries. I
pressure thrust and symmetry constraints are applied
to the vessel mesh.
Greg Thorwald, Ph.D., is a computational mechanics engineer
Accounting for Weld Residual Stress at Structural Reliability Technology (SRT) and the lead
To include the effect of weld residual stress, developer of the companys FEA-Crack software. President
an uncracked mesh is used to obtain the residual and founder of SRT is Ted Anderson, Ph.D., author of the text-
stresses by applying a thermal strain to the weld book Fracture Mechanics: Fundamentals and Applications
material, simulating the welding process. For a post- published by CRC Press. For more information on SRTs soft-
weld heat-treated structure, the residual stress is ware, go to www.srt-boulder.com.
typically assumed to be 20 percent of the yield
strength for fracture evaluations. To impose the weld
thermal strain, a delta temperature change of 43.6
degrees F is applied to the weld elements only; the
rest of the vessel is unaffected and does not have
a delta temperature applied. The imposed weld
temperature is chosen so that the contraction of the
weld elements causes a desired tensile stress in the
weld, about 12 ksi in this example. The stress result
components from the uncracked structure results are
then mapped onto the crack mesh as initial stress
using a 3-D interpolation method, and included in the
ANSYS software analysis by an initial stress file.
After running the crack mesh analysis in ANSYS
software, the stress, strain and displacement results
are used to compute the J-integral and stress intensity
at every crack front node within the FEA-Crack
Figure 6. Weld residual stress increases the crack front
stress intensity.

21

Conference Preview
22
Learn How Innovation Can Make
a Difference in the Marketplace

2006 International ANSYS Conference: A World of Simulation
May 2 4, Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.A.
Better, faster, cheaper is no longer about cutting General Session Speakers

corners. Its about innovation changing the product
Product Plans and Road Map for the
development process to include engineering simula-
High-Performance Computing Market
tion as an integral, collaborative part, not an after-
thought. The 2006 International ANSYS Conference is
Kyril Faenov
three days filled with presentations, exhibits and
Director, High Performance
demos from dynamic, successful companies around
Computing, Windows Server Group
the world that recognize the importance of engineering
Microsoft Corporation
simulation in product innovation. Attendees can learn
how to help their own companies realize the potential
High-performance computing (HPC)
of computer modeling and simulation technologies.
is one of the fastest-growing server
workloads worldwide, driven by
enterprises embracing server clustering and desktop
Keynote Speaker cycle stealing to solve technical and business
Xerox Innovation Exploring the Unknown; problems and only a few years ago, these problems
Leading to the Future required dedicated supercomputers. HPC features
some of the most demanding application scenarios
Sophie Vanderbroek, Ph.D. that drive innovation in distributed system develop-
Chief Technology Officer and ment, large scale management, parallel computing,
President networking and storage. Kyril discusses how the world
Xerox Innovation Group views this exciting market, as well as how Microsoft
Xerox Corporation plans to address it, including product, product plans
and road map.
Xerox Corporation is a company with
a storied history of innovation. Over
the years, Xerox has changed the nature of communi- Impact, Thermal and Structural Analysis of the
cation and the face of the office with inventions like the World Trade Center Towers
plain-paper copier, Ethernet and the laser printer.
Sophie talks about the companys focus on innovation John Gross, Ph.D., P.E.
and how its scientists are continuously finding ways to Building and Fire Research
differentiate their products and solutions to ensure that Laboratory, National Institute of
Xerox sustains its competitive edge in the market. Standards and Technology (NIST)
Sophie says that success is all about the people.
How and why did the World Trade
Center towers collapse in 2001?
NIST investigated the events that
played a significant role in the structural performance

of the towers: aircraft impact, rapid ignition of fires on equations or empirical modeling; and explosive and impact
multiple floors, growth and spread of fires and experiments and ANSYS AUTODYN is an integral part of
structural weakening resulting from effects of high the laboratories process.
temperatures. Insights gained from simulation
analysis were used to formulate and execute Conference Provides Tools for Driving Innovation 23
nonlinear, temperature-dependent FEA of global The 2006 International ANSYS Conference is a must-attend
structural systems to predict the collapse sequence. event for product development professionals, from engi-
neers to managers to executive decision-makers, who
want to learn how to drive innovation, reduce costs and get
The Birth of Underwater Flight products to market more quickly.
Technical sessions detail how product development
Graham Hawkes professionals in specific industries have deployed
Ocean Engineer, Inventor and simulation technology in their design process: aerospace
Founder and aviation, automotive and transportation, biomechanics,
Hawkes Ocean Technologies chemical process and petroleum, civil engineering,
computers and software, consumer products, education,
Historically, conventional sub- electronics and electrical, MEMS, nuclear and power
mersibles have been designed to generation.
drop like bricks into the ocean ANSYS Solves topics provide an inside look at
depths and as a result, says Graham, were not the latest technology from ANSYS, Inc. and how this
making a dent in exploring the three-quarters of the technology can be applied to help ensure success.
planet that lies underwater, which is teeming with Management sessions outline best practices,
unknown life. Todays engineers need to think outside with innovative organizations discussing how to impact
the box and innovate, developing entirely new innovation by the decisions you make.
technologies. Grahams Deep Flight project, a winged Training sessions, scheduled two days before the
submersible, actually flies underwater. He believes conference, focus on specific ANSYS solutions enhance-
that his company will devise the underwater version ments, from advanced shell meshing to programming in
of NASAs rocketry by 2007. ANSYS APDL.
The World of Innovation Expo presents ANSYS
partners and other companies as they provide hands-on
ANSYS AUTODYN as an Important Resource for demos, literature and displays of their innovative
the Explosives Applications Department products which all can contribute to further innovation
in the design process. This years new venue, the
Dale Preece, Ph.D. David L. Lawrence Convention Center, hosts the largest
Distinguished Member of exhibit hall in the events history. It allows the opportunity
Technical Staff for more space, more exhibitors (from hardware partners
Explosives Applications Department to software developers to engineering consultants)
Sandia National Laboratories and extended hours.
You wont want to miss the welcome reception, when
Efficient and safe design and devel- the World of Innovation Expo takes on an international flair.
opment are essential in conducting Each exhibitor will represent a different country, and some
explosives R&D at Sandia National Laboratories. will serve food from their "adopted" nations: Indian,
Design of explosive gadgets, devices, ballistics and German, Japanese and Italian, to name a few. Exhibitor
armor; explosive effects analysis; and detonation representatives will be on hand to demonstrate their latest
research are guided by rigorous procedures so the products and answer questions. And you can network with
work is as non-hazardous and efficient as possible. attendees from around the globe to learn how they solve
Sandias R&D methods include computer hydro-code simulation problems.
simulations; analytical, closed form, computerized
For conference and registration details, visit www.ansys.com/conf2006.

Conference Sponsor Gold Sponsors Silver Sponsors
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CFD Update: Whats New in Computational Fluid Dynamics
24
Geometric model of fan stage
Designing Quieter Fans

for Turbo-Jet Engines
Simulation enables researchers to develop an efficient engine
fan that produces less acoustic noise.
By Sergey V. Bormalev, Deputy Chief Designer
Valery G. Avgustinovich, Deputy Chief, Design Office for Scientific Work
Aleksey M. Sipatov, Chief, Computational Gas-Dynamic Department
Michail V. Usanin, Designer
Aviadvigatel Perm, Russia
Because of stringent international standards for To address these noise requirements, we used
harmful emissions and noise levels, companies that ANSYS CFX computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
design and develop gas turbine engines are faced with software to estimate aerodynamic and acoustic
the task of creating engines that attain high levels of efficiency for different fan stage geometries.
ecological efficiency. To meet these requirements, To develop fan exit guide vane (FEGV) geome-
numerical modeling of processes that occur within an tries, the area-averaged amplitude of unsteady
engine is needed to obtain an in-depth understanding pressure difference on the FEGV mid-surface was
of what occurs and to determine the factors causing considered to be the main rotor-stator acoustic
this behavior. For aircraft engines with a high by-pass source. The amplitude was obtained from a 3-D
ratio, the acoustic noise produced by a fan stage is the unsteady CFD calculation of the fan stage. Good
main contributor to the total noise level of the engine. agreement between calculation results and experi-
mental data has been found using this approach,
according to the reference literature.

25
FEGV shapes
This fan was designed for a new advanced CFD calculation of the fan stage was performed and,
turbo-jet engine. Inlet guide vanes (IGV) and FEGV as a result of this calculation, an unsteady pressure
were scaled by 20 percent to decrease the size of the difference between the pressure and suction surfaces
analysis domain. The resulting domain contained one was found on the vane mid-surface. Then the pressure
fan blade passage, two FEGV passages and four IGV difference on the mid-surface was exposed to Fourier
passages. The grid model consisted of approximately transformation. The distribution of the single blade
1.5 million nodes. Four different geometries of the exit passing frequency (BPF) amplitude along the vane
guide vanes were investigated. mid-surface was calculated for all geometry variants.
The radial design (no lean angle) was selected as Area-averaged amplitudes of dimensionless
the initial geometry. Vanes with 20-degree and pressure difference for the first four BPF harmonics
30-degree lean angles were chosen as the second and were calculated. Amplitudes of the second to the
the third geometries, respectively. The vane with a fourth harmonics, for the fourth geometry, were
curvilinear axis along the vane height was used as the reduced by 30 to 40 percent in comparison to initial
fourth geometry type. geometry. This corresponds to an estimated reduction
All CFD calculations were performed using of the noise levels due to the rotor-stator interaction in
ANSYS CFX (CFX-5.6) since this software solution the source region by 4.5 dB for the second harmonic
provides good results for unsteady flows. An unsteady and by 3 dB for the fourth harmonic.
Distribution of mach number in absolute reference

frame at mid-section and near FEGV surfaces

26
Distribution of first BPF harmonic amplitude along FEGV mid-surface
Area-averaged amplitude of unsteady pressure difference Relative efficiency of four variants of FEGV
The fan stage efficiency level is almost identical

for the first and the fourth FEGV geometries. To explain
the cause of decreasing fan stage efficiency for other
geometries, the distribution of total pressure at FEGV
outlet section was determined for all variants.
Significant total pressure losses for the third geometry
are generated by a vortex flow behavior, which exists
in the hub region for this FEGV shape. The fourth
geometry was designed after obtaining calculation
results for the third geometry and, therefore, high total
pressure losses at the hub region were avoided in
the fourth design. By using ANSYS CFX in this way,
we were able to design an efficient fan that produced
less noise. I
References:
Yamagata A., Kodama H., Tsuchiya N.: CFD Prediction of

Unsteady Pressures Due to Fan Rotor-Stator Interaction,
ISABE 2003, No. 2003-1130.
Tsuchiya N., Nakamura Y., Goto S., Kodama H., Nozaki O.,
Nishizawa T., Yamamoto K.: Low Noise FEGV Designed by
Numerical Method Based on CFD, ASME, Turbo-Expo 2004,
GT-53239.
Total pressure at FEGV outlet

27
Simulating Turbulent Mixing in

Nuclear Reactor Pressure Vessels
ANSYS CFX helps researchers study coolant mixing phenomena
for emergency and severe accident scenarios.
Ulrich Rohde, Thomas Hhne and Sren Kliem Forschungszentrum Rossendorf (FZR) is a publicly
Institute for Safety Research funded research organization and an institute member
Forschungszentrum Rossendorf Inc., Germany of the Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft G. W. Leibniz
consortium for utilizing basic research in practical
applications. One of six institutes within the FZR, the
Institute for Safety Research performs research on
the assessment and improvement of technical
infrastructures. Its focus is on nuclear reactors,
including thermo-hydraulic and neutron kinetic code
development and verification for nuclear safety
analysis, investigation of thermo-hydraulic effects,
development of measurement techniques, material
research, simulation of radiation fields, mechanical
integrity of technical systems, and process control.
FZR has 10 years of experience using ANSYS
CFX software for nuclear reactor applications and,
more recently, chemical process simulations. These
CFD activities are very closely connected to experi-
mental investigations at facilities in the institute. Using
advanced two-phase flow measurement techniques, a
comprehensive database for CFD code verification is
being created. Thus, in addition to single-phase flow
nuclear reactor engineering applications, CFD can be
used for development and verification of physical
models for two-phase flows. FZR is participating in the
German initiative on CFD applications in nuclear
reactor safety research in close cooperation with the
Gesellschaft fr Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS,
the leading German nuclear safety expert organization)
and ANSYS, Inc. The institute has set aside a
ANSYS CFX results for the start-up of the first pump after 9s. significant portion of FZRs 100-processor Linux
The mixing scalar represents the dimensionless boron cluster for its group of young and highly motivated
concentration or temperature for a pump start-up scenario. CFD scientists.

28 FZR coordinated the experimental and analytical

investigations of turbulent mixing inside pressurized
water reactors (PWRs) performed within the EC
project FLOMIX-R (fluid mixing and flow distribution in
the reactor circuit). The purpose of this project was to
describe coolant mixing phenomena, particularly for
severe accident scenarios. Such scenarios include
steam line breaks and boron dilution, in which mixing of
coolant from different loops moderates the inflow of
water with insufficient boron content or temperature
into the reactor core. These changes can lead to Streamlines representing the fluid flow 23s after ECC injection
reactor power excursions (rapid increase in reactor took place, illustrating the flow pattern in a buoyancy-driven
power) due to positive reactivity effects. An example of mixing case (PTS scenario)
a typical boron dilution scenario occurs during start-up
of the first main coolant pump after a slug of low-
borated water has formed in one of the cooling loops,
in which mixing is largely forced by the momentum
introduced by the pump starting. modeling, boundary conditions, numerical schemes
Another safety issue arises during emergency core and convergence criteria. These investigations high-
cooling (ECC) situations, when cold water is injected lighted the importance of grid quality and the need to
into a hot cooling loop. In this case, buoyancy-driven minimize numerical diffusion by using second-order
mixing is influenced by density differences in the fluid discretization. In fact, first-order schemes sometimes
and is typical for so-called pressurized thermal shock were found to provide physically incorrect results.
(PTS) scenarios. When a streak of cold ECC water ANSYS CFX was well able to predict the
touches the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) wall, experimental flow patterns and mixing phenomena for
unacceptable thermal stresses can occur. both buoyancy-driven and momentum-driven flows.
Measurement data from several sets of Two-equation turbulence models, like k- or SST,
mixing experiments, using advanced measurement were found to be suitable for momentum-driven slug
techniques with enhanced temporal and spatial resolu- mixing, while Reynolds stress models provided better
tion, improved the basic understanding of turbulent results for buoyancy-driven mixing.
mixing and provided data for CFD code verification. Comprehensive multiphase flow models,
Selected experiments were then simulated using advanced turbulence models, second order
ANSYS CFX and applying best practice guidelines discretization and scalable parallel performance all
(BPGs), a set of systematic procedures for quantifying combine to make ANSYS CFX a valuable tool at FZR.
and reducing numerical errors. BPGs were applied ANSYS CFX software has been instrumental in the
when considering computational grid resolution and development and verification of best practice guide-
time step, turbulence models, internal geometry lines for the use of CFD in nuclear safety analysis. I
Time-dependent tracer distribution of the buoyancy-driven Plateau-averaged mixing scalar in the downcomer of the Acrylic model of the reactor
mixing experiment and calculation at an indicated local pressure vessel at azimuthal positions, in which all loops pressure vessel
position of the cold leg are in operation with the nominal flow rate (185 m?/h per
loop) and tracer is injected into one loop. The result is a
sector formation of the tracer in the downcomer in the
corresponding quadrant.

29
ANSYS CFX Analysis Improves

Performance and Reduces Cost
of 15-stage Compressor
Siemens and ANSYS performed a 210 million DOF transient
simulation of 3-D flow through a complex gas turbine compressor.
Thabet Belamri, Andre Braune and Paul Galpin, ANSYS, Inc.
Christian Cornelius, Siemens AG Power Generation, Germany
One of the difficult tasks facing engineers is the and objectives become ever more challenging, so do
optimization of gas turbine compressor design in order the simulation demands, pushing future analysis to
to improve performance. The axial compressor is a include more and more of the entire machine in one
major module in a gas turbine; the turbines overall simultaneous simulation. The goals of this project
performance depends strongly on compressor were to learn how to best approach the analysis of all
performance. Siemens AG Power Generation has 15 stages of the compressor, considering a variety of
used CFD extensively to improve the compressor modeling options and choices.
design, leading to performance improvement and cost This work was quite challenging as the simula-
reduction. Recently, ANSYS CFX software was used tions included tip gaps, mass bleeds and hub leakage
to analyze the 3-D flow through a 15-stage axial com- flows; they ranged from a single passage to full
pressor (first-family prototype version of the Siemens 360-degree analysis. Within the CFD simulations,
V84.3A axial compressor), all in one computation. To various effects were considered: mesh style and
the best of our knowledge, this is the first time in CFD refinement, boundary conditions, steady or transient
history that such work has been performed using a analysis and tip clearance, as well as numerical issues
commercial multi-purpose CFD package. including turbulence models and advection models,
Traditional analysis of axial compressors involves among others. The total number of nodes used for the
isolated blade passage analysis, single-stage entire simultaneous analysis of the flow through the
(rotor-stator) analysis and, sometimes, multi-stage inlet guide vane (IGV) plus 15 stages (31 components,
analysis (two or more stages). As the design demands single passage) was approximately 640K and
Overview of a 15-stage compressor CFD model of the 15-stage compressor

30
Overview of the mesh for the 15-stage one-passage analysis (6.2 million nodes)
as well as by monitoring important quantities, such as

the predicted total pressure at key locations. Steady
state convergence is obtained in less than 120 itera-
tions for a typical simulation, with a second-order
advection scheme on the 6.2-million-nodes mesh
starting from the initial guess to convergence.
In most cases, a series of simulations was
defined, beginning with establishment of the numerical
choked flow condition and working back toward stall
conditions. A variety of comparisons was made
between experimental and design data. The stator
shroud static pressure was compared to the
experimental data. The agreement between static
pressure measurements and numerical results
is extremely good, even for the coarse mesh. An
expected disturbance in the predicted static pressure
is seen at each mass bleed location on the casing
(mb1 to mb5). The largest mass bleed occurs near the
Mesh (32 million nodes) for the 360-degree analysis of the trailing edge of stator 13, corresponding to the largest
middle portion of the compressor (five stages) casing static pressure disturbance. The agreement to
data is similar for the coarse mesh and the fine mesh,
with and without leakage. The leakage flow result
6.2 million nodes for the coarse and fine mesh, agrees most closely with the experimental data.
respectively. For the 360-degree simulation, a 32- The local total pressure and temperature were
million-nodes mesh was used to compute the entire calculated for three different locations in front of
middle section of the compressor (five stages). the stator.
Simulations of the compressor were performed The comparison between the predicted results
under both design and off-design conditions. A and measurements shows a good agreement in both
number of steady state and transient simulations of radial gradients and absolute values. Modeling the
the entire compressor were carried out from choke to leakage flows provides better results near the end wall
stall. Convergence of these simulations was based on regions because additional losses occur due to a
the residual mean square (rms) and maximum reverse flow near the hub region.
residuals of momentum, mass and energy equations,
Mass and momentum convergence history for the 6.2 million- Predicted outlet total pressure convergence history for the
node mesh, single passage. The simulation converged in about 6.2 million-node mesh, single passage
120 iterations for this very large problem.

Total pressure at mid-span using blade-to-blade view Relative total pressure in the meridional view
ANSYS CFX turbopost functions automatically create blade-to-blade and (circumferentially averaged) meridional plots.
31
Instantaneous static pressure on a mid-span Comparison between predicted and experi- Local profile developments of the total pressure
surface of the 360-degree middle portion of mental static pressure on the shroud. The axial from the hub to shroud, plotted at various axial
the compressor (five stages). This solution position 0 corresponds to the inlet of the guide locations
is still evolving. ANSYS CFX was able to vane, while position 1 is the outlet of the 15th
accurately perform this very large simulation stator. Pref corresponds to the static pressure
using parallel capabilities. at the last casing measurement point.
Transient simulations can provide more accurate compressor are possible and practical using
results than steady state simulations (for example, at the standard version of ANSYS CFX.
off-design conditions) but at an additional computa- Accurate predictions of overall performance,
tional cost. The calculations were performed in parallel including pressure rise and efficiency, can be
using a variety of computing configurations and types obtained.
(HP Itanium, HP-PARISC, AMD Opteron, network Leakage flows can be modeled in ANSYS
clusters and MP systems).
CFX. The stator leakage flows introduce
additional losses primarily due to boundary
Conclusions
layer disturbance, causing local regions of
In conclusion, a number of simulations were reverse flow.
performed to analyze the flow through an entire A number of best practice recommendations
15-stage axial compressor. These simulations have were determined as a result of this work,
shown: which generally should be applicable for such
ANSYS CFX provided accurate simulation large-scale axial compressor simulations.
of flow through the entire axial compressor.
Simulations with large meshes up to 32 million For more information on this project, see the
nodes were used. proceedings of the 2005 ASME Turbo Expo,
Single passage steady state (stage) and tran- June 6 9, 2005, papers GT2005-68261 and GT2005-
sient CFD analysis of a complete 15-stage 68262. These are available at www.asme.org. I
ANSYS CFX simulation Experiment Relative error in predicted overall compressor

efficiency as a function of mass flow rate,
Reverse flow near the hub comparing simulations from coarse to fine
meshes as well as steady state and transient
simulation techniques

Simulation at Work
32
Using Sensitivity Studies to

Evaluate a Concrete Arch Dam
ANSYS DesignXplorer VT helps to reduce project cost and provides
engineers with insight into structure behavior.
By Guy Lund
Senior Project Engineer
URS Corporation
McKelvey Lake Dam is a 77-foot-high concrete arch Exhaustive work also is needed in creating
structure with a crest length of approximately 350 feet. numerous computer models and running a wide range
The structure forms a water reservoir with a maximum of individual simulations to thoroughly analyze all
storage capacity of 4,345 acre-feet in Mahoning interrelated variables. As a result, performing an
County, Ohio. To ensure that repeated freezethaw accurate evaluation one that often includes
cycles had not compromised the integrity of the information requested by state and federal regulators
dam for increased flood loads, the dam owner and usually is a time-consuming and costly process.
operator retained URS Corporation to perform a
comprehensive structural stability evaluation. URS is Studies Performed
considered a world leader in dam engineering, design To evaluate the structural behavior of McKelvey Lake
analysis and safety. Dam for normal as well as unusual (such as flood)
As is traditional with dams of this type, the initial loading conditions, URS modeled the concrete
phases of a structural analysis would include dam and a significant portion of foundation rock using
extensive field investigations to collect concrete and 3-D FEA (Figure 1). The precision of the analysis
foundation rock samples for laboratory testing. depends directly on mesh refinement as well as the
Because engineers are unaware at project start-up assumptions used to represent material behavior in
which structural parameters are most important, a the concrete dam and foundation rock.
large number of physical samples must be collected To verify that the FEA model in the studies is
and tested: a time-consuming and costly process, sufficiently refined and that adding elements would not
especially for dams located in remote areas. significantly change analysis results, URS performed

33
Sensitivity studies were used in

evaluating McKelvey Lake Dam to
ensure that repeated freezethaw
cycles had not compromised the
integrity of the structure.
several mesh sensitivity studies with ANSYS Results of the studies were displayed in response
DesignXplorer VT. The URS studies included varying surface plots (Figure 3). Plots are read easily and assist
the size and number of elements in the dam and engineers in understanding which parameters have
foundation and evaluating the deflection and stress the greatest effect on the behavior of the model.
results. Results (Figure 2) indicate that the model used Overall, the parametric evaluations of the foundation
for these studies is sufficiently refined to assure that strengths showed that the dam has adequate
the results are not dependent on mesh refinement. capability of redistributing loads for a large range of
Several parametric studies also were performed assumed foundation material properties.
using ANSYS DesignXplorer VT to evaluate the effects The rock foundation at McKelvey Lake Dam
that varying concrete and foundation moduli would has a primary joint set with closely spaced horizontal
have on the overall stability results. The software uses bedding planes, which may result in the foundation
variational technology to determine the impact of of the dam having different horizontal and vertical
multiple parameters on overall structural performance strengths. This behavior of the foundation was
using a single finite element solution. Results are simulated using orthotropic material assumptions,
provided in various formats, including response available in the ANSYS program. Several parametric
surface plots that provide insight into design behavior studies were performed using ANSYS DesignXplorer
that otherwise would be difficult to generate using VT, varying the orthotropic material property assump-
individual single analysis runs. The URS studies varied tions of the foundation to evaluate the effect on
the concrete modulus from 2 million to 4 million the dams behavior. The results from these studies
pounds per square inch. Similarly, the foundation indicated that the stability of the dam is most
deformation modulus was varied from 100,000 to 1.6 susceptible to the horizontal shear strength of the
million pounds per square inch, and the effective foundation material (that is, shear resistance along
friction angle (used to estimate the shear strength) of the horizontal discontinuities).
the concrete/foundation interface was varied from 40
to 60 degrees.
Figure 1. Finite element analysis

simulated the behavior of the
dam and a significant portion of
foundation rock.

Simulation at Work
34
Figure 2. ANSYS mesh sensitivity

study indicates that the FEA
model is sufficiently refined to
assure that the results are not
dependent on the size of the
finite element mesh.
Based on the studies, a refined field investigation Running a series of studies for a variety of
was performed for the purpose of verifying the parameter assumptions also enabled engineers to
assumption used in the analysis. The results from the generate results showing the impact of a range of
field investigation and laboratory testing program what-if questions typically asked by state and federal
indicate that the material strengths of the concrete regulators. For example, if finite element mesh density
and foundation rock are within the range used in the were refined, how would analysis results change? If
sensitivity analysis. foundation strength were less than assumed, how
would the structure respond? If concrete in the dam
Benefits of the Solution were weaker than assumed, how would structural
The results from these sensitivity studies helped to behavior change?
reduce the cost of the project and gave project Sensitivity analysis with ANSYS DesignXplorer VT
engineers greater insight into the performance allowed engineers to efficiently evaluate these and
of the dam. By seeing the effect of a wide range of other scenarios before submitting results to regulators.
foundation strengths, engineers were able to narrow Providing this level of supporting detail in an under-
the scope of field investigations, thus saving standable format gives regulators greater confidence
considerable time and cost on the project. in a studys conclusions and thus avoids unnecessary
delays in the approval process. I
Figure 3. Response surface

showed that behavior of
the dam is influenced by
foundation modulus more
than any other parameter.

Hardware Update
35
Turnkey Solution Now Available

for ANSYS Users
Rackable Systems provides bundled SMP system with ANSYS
software for rapid deployment.
One of the worlds leading open architecture server

providers, Rackable Systems, is now offering a
cost-effective, highly scalable, turnkey shared memory
processing (SMP) solution optimized for Distributed
ANSYS (DANSYS) performance.
Rackable Systems H5100-08 is an eight-proces-
sor, rack-mount server 8.75 inches in height with
32GB of physical memory. Its industry-leading x86-
based ScaleMP vSMP architecture provides a
traditional SMP operational model using shared
memory and a single operating system. These
features allow ANSYS users to achieve high
performance and ease of management while Rackable Systems H5100-08 provides an x86-based alter-
minimizing the total cost of ownership. native to traditional RISC-based SMP servers.
Designed with high-capacity physical memory,
the H5100-08 solution enables ANSYS users
working with larger models to deploy Parallel 32GB of physical memory. A broader range of
Performance for ANSYS more quickly and easily, configurations is planned for the future, and options
saving the time and potential challenges associated may include configurations based on the AMD
with configuring a cluster. ANSYS software and the Opteron processor as well as expansion to 16-
Linux operating system come pre-installed on Rack- socket or greater systems. Performance studies
able Systems H5100-08, requiring only the installation demonstrate that the H5100-08 scales well for
of the ANSYS license key. Even after the system is in both DPCG (shown) and DSparse solvers. More
production, the SMP design of the solution enables information about the solution is available at
administrators to save time that typically would be http://www.rackable.com/products or by emailing
spent maintaining cluster configurations. sales@rackable.com. I
Rackable Systems new H5100-08 solution is an
exciting new opportunity for ANSYS customers look-
ing for parallel performance. Many users will be
pleased with Rackable Systems turnkey SMP
approach, says Ray Browell, product manager for
new technologies at ANSYS, Inc. Any ANSYS
customer wishing to deploy a turnkey solution that is
a quick-start, easy-to-maintain, high-performance
platform for running DANSYS should look at
Rackable Systems new turnkey offering.
The H5100-08 initially is available in an eight-3.6
GHz Intel Xeon 64-bit processor configuration with
Using ScaleMP vSMP architecture, Rackable Systems
H5100-08 achieves high performance.

Tech File
36
Understanding Beam Elements
Knowing the differences between earlier and later generation
elements in ANSYS is the key to proper usage.
By John Crawford The newer elements handle tapering more

Consulting Analyst consistently. They also can allow more than just a
linear shape function along their axes, which is useful
for acceleration loads along an axis caused by self
weight or spinning. In general, the newer elements
Beam elements have been have more consistent treatment for nonlinear analysis.
around since the early days of Because theyre part of the newer generation of
finite element analysis. In fact, elements in ANSYS software, there is more infrastruc-
the same technology predates tural support (namely, the ability to specify initial
finite element analysis under the stresses, account for Coriolis effects, nonlinear
term slope-deflection method, a technique for solving materials that are enhanced continually, variational
small indeterminant structures that is still taught in analysis ANSYS DesignXplorer VT).
universities today. Beam elements are relatively simple
and have two, three or four nodes. They use shape Shape Functions
functions that closely approximate the behavior of a I asked for some details about the shape functions for
structural beam. the earlier generation of beam elements. Kohnke said
In ANSYS 10.0, there are two generations of that the older elements use Bernoulli beam theory,
beam elements (listed in the sidebar). The first genera- which means that there is no shear deformation built
tion began its development in the earliest days of into the shape functions. Having said that, he related
ANSYS software with two- and three-dimensional that there are adjustments made to the stiffness matrix
beams. Later, a new generation of three-dimensional to account for shear deformation (that is, the phi term
beam elements was developed that uses sections to given with BEAM3 in the theory manual). But this
define their cross-sections. adjustment allows a small incompatibility between
To understand and to learn more about using elements, which could be significant in situations of
beam elements, I spoke with Peter Kohnke, Ph.D., of large varying shear loads.
ANSYS, Inc. He has been with the company since The shape functions for the earlier elements are a
1973 and created some of the early beam elements. cubic curve representing the lateral displacement. The
In addition, he edits the ANSYS Theoretical Manual. cubic curve is defined by four constants: the lateral
He seemed the best person to talk with about translations and rotations at both ends. The rotations
beam elements. are simply dw/dx, in which w is the lateral motion and
x is the axis along the length of the beam. Kohnke
Comparing Old and New Elements made a point of mentioning that the earlier elements
I asked about the latest set of beam elements use a small strain formulation in a large rotation
(BEAM188, BEAM189), why they were introduced, and setting. This allows for large motions of the structure,
how they differ from early beam elements (BEAM3, but, of course, the strains must remain small for a
BEAM4, etc.). According to Kohnke, BEAM188 and valid analysis.
BEAM189 were added relatively recently. Their The newer elements use Timoshenko beam
theoretical strong point is that they handle shear theory in that there is shear deformation built into the
deflection more accurately. They can account for shape functions. This is best understood by the
out-of-plane warping in the cross-section. They allow following: Inscribe a line on the undeformed beam,
use of large strain theory and virtually any of the normal to its midsurface. After deformation, the
new nonlinear material options and are compatible inscribed line will, in general, not remain normal to the
with the new generation solids and shells. Their cross- midsurface. The angle between that inscribed line and
sectional input is based on the newer section com- the normal to the centerline is the shear strain. But the
mands, allowing many more types of cross-sections to rotation of that inscribed line is defined to be a degree
be input, as well as the direct accounting of section of freedom, automatically guaranteeing interelement
and shear center offsets. shear compatibility.

The shape functions for the two-noded elements Beam Elements Available in ANSYS 10.0 37
(BEAM188) are two sets of linear curves: one for the
lateral translations and one for the rotations as defined First Generation Beam Elements:
by those inscribed lines. Note that when shear BEAM3 2-D elastic beam
deformation is trivial, the most complex lateral BEAM4 3-D elastic beam
deformation that can be represented is a parabola for BEAM23 2-D plastic beam
a two-noded element. But by setting KEYOPT(3) = 2, BEAM24 3-D thin-walled beam
an additional internal node is added so that, function- BEAM44 3-D elastic tapered unsymmetric beam
ally, the element can represent a linear variation of BEAM54 2-D elastic tapered unsymmetric beam
bending moment. The BEAM189 elements have three
nodes and use independent quadratic interpolation of Second Generation Beam Elements:
lateral translations and rotations. BEAM188 3-D linear finite strain beam
BEAM189 3-D quadratic finite strain beam
Representing 3-D Beams
When asked about the accuracy of the formulation of Note: 2-D beam elements have three degrees of
a beam element to truly represent a 3-D beam, freedom: UX, UY and ROTZ. 3-D beam elements have
Kohnke responded that beam elements should be six degrees of freedom: UX, UY, UZ, ROTX, ROTY and
used only when the physical structure being modeled ROTZ. BEAM188 and BEAM189 have an optional
behaves substantially like a beam. This includes WARP degree of freedom.
virtually any long thin member, but there are limits.
For example, what could be longer and thinner than a
flagpole, fixed at the ground? Visualize the mesh, displaced shape and
Yes, beam elements would be appropriately used contour plots in 3-D
to compute the deflection of the flag under wind
loading. But if you were trying to understand the It is important to note that the section definition is
details of a failure at the base of the flagpole, beam not merely a user convenience in defining the cross-
elements would be useless. For example, you would section geometry. It enables accurate determination/
use solid elements and maybe do a nonlinear analysis visualization of torsional/transverse shear stresses.
using contact elements, depending on the details at Newer elements also offer other ways of entering
the base. their physical characteristics. You can enter generalized
force-strain and moment-curvature relationships for the
Better Buckling and Other Benefits beam, for example. This can be helpful when you want
to use experimental data to model a beam.
Earlier elements are not especially good when
modeling buckling. Do the later elements handle this
Overall Value of New Beam Elements
any better? According to Kohnke, the older elements
handle Euler column buckling. The newer elements do The goal of the new generation of beam elements has
the same and deal with torsional and lateral buckling been to provide consistent technology that accounts
as well. for various physical effects (such as warping, large
Kohnke mentioned earlier that the newer beam axial strains, continuum-based shear flow, library of
elements use sections rather than real constants nonlinear constitutive laws, automatic determination of
(like the earlier elements used) to define the beam shear center and correction factors, etc.). With the
cross-section. The new cross-sections provide many computing power and solvers available today, a few
new choices. For example, they allow the user to: more line elements can easily compensate for lack of
cubic bending ability. However, the newer generation
Control where integration points are when
linear (with appropriate KEYOPT) and the quadratic
using nonlinear materials
beam elements do represent a linear bending moment
Describe a general section by making a variation.
2-D mesh of elements, with the section logic Now that we know enough about the formulation
picking that up to make a cross-section behind the beam elements available in ANSYS
(useful for cross-sections such as helicopter software, this column in the next ANSYS Solutions
blades) will discuss some of the practical issues involved in
Describe the tapering of the actual section using them. I
(cross-sectional properties can be evaluated at
each integration point)
Build a multi-material cross-section (for Special thanks to Peter Kohnke and Grama Bhashyam of
example, sandwich beams) ANSYS Inc. for their contributions to this article.

Tips and Techniques
38
Generating Response Surfaces
in ANSYS DesignXplorer
This graphical tool helps users visualize the influence of

input variables on design performance.
By Sheldon Imaoka
Technical Support Engineer
ANSYS, Inc.
Response surfaces are a key element in the three design (CCD) is used to locate the design
types of complex studies of product behavior points based on the range of input variables in
performed by ANSYS DesignXplorer. Goal-driven the most efficient manner.
optimization seeks optimal designs that satisfy one or
3) ANSYS DesignXplorer then solves the
several criteria, such as minimizing weight and
automatic design points, which involves
deflection. Six Sigma analysis accounts for scatter
varying the input parameters and retrieving
in input variables such as material properties or
the calculated output parameters.
operating conditions, and results are expressed as
probabilities. Robust design combines both of these 4) Once the input and corresponding output
aspects by determining how to change certain input parameter values are known, ANSYS
variables to control the uncertainty in the results, ulti- DesignXplorer performs a regression analysis
mately to achieve more predictable, reliable designs. to generate the response surfaces. A some-
In these studies, ANSYS DesignXplorer quickly what over-simplified, yet useful, description of
arrives at a range of results that otherwise would be the regression analysis is that it is a sophisti-
impractical to generate using individual analysis runs. cated curve-fitting of the output parameters.
To allow users to readily visualize these results, CCD provides the location of the design
DesignXplorer uses response surfaces to establish a points, and a quadratic polynomial is used for
mathematical relationship between input and output the regression model. One may note that a
parameters and as a basis for performing subsequent second-order polynomial may not always
optimization or probabilistic studies. provide a good approximation of the
Several steps are performed in ANSYS relationship of input and output parameters.
DesignXplorer to generate response surfaces: Hence, a Yeo-Johnson transformation is
automatically performed on the output
1) The user specifies input and output param-
parameters yi as follows:
eters. For example, this may involve specifying
the range or the probabilistic distribution of an
input variable (such as a geometric dimension)
and identifying what output variables ANSYS
DesignXplorer should track (such as the
maximum stress of a given region).
2) Based on the number of input parameters,
ANSYS DesignXplorer then automatically
determines how many solutions (called
automatic design points) need to be solved
for using a design-of-experiment (DOE)
method. Specifically, central composite

In these relationships, the parameter is Useful Information 39
used to handle special cases of exponential,
logarithm and power transformation. Although There are several aspects of ANSYS DesignXplorer to keep in
a quadratic polynomial is used to generate the mind when using the program:
response surface, transformation on output The response surface method used in ANSYS
parameter y i * allows for a more accurate DesignXplorer provides a more efficient way to
approximation of complex relationships. solve multi-objective optimization or probabilistic
5) The user then can review the response problems. However, the number of simulations
surfaces in which the variation of an output required in the DOE method is dependent on the
parameter to two input parameters is number of input parameters (not output parameters).
displayed graphically. In the example Therefore, using more than five input parameters
illustrated in the accompanying figure, the requires a significant number of iterations.
goodness-of-fit information in the lower-right The response surface is an approximation of the
corner provides the user with details on how relationship of input to output parameters. Any
well the response surface represents the design based on the response surface can be
inputoutput relationships. verified by using a reference design point, which is
6) Once the user determines that the generated a separate solution that solves a given configuration.
response surfaces provide a useful representa- The user then can compare the predicted and actual
tion of the inputoutput relationship, goal- output values under the Custom Design Points
driven optimization, Six Sigma analysis, or selection.
robust design studies then can be performed. The location of the sampling points (the quantity
Instead of running hundreds or thousands and values of the automatic design points input
of FEA solutions, a user can very efficiently parameter values) is automatically defined. However,
perform thousands to hundreds-of-thousands knowledgeable users may select the type of CCD
of iterations on the response surfaces, since used under the Tools Menu > Options: Automatic
mathematical relationships of the input and Design Points, including appending a mini CCD.
output parameters have been established. Although a Yeo-Johnson transformation is performed
on the output parameters to capture complicated
As one can see, ANSYS DesignXplorer provides relationships between input and output variables, the
the user with a very powerful tool for determining the user should note that discontinuous responses
relationship between input and output parameters and (such as geometric instability problems) may not be
using this information in optimization or uncertainty represented well with response surfaces. In addition,
analysis. Only steps one, five and six are performed by if input parameters are specified with a wide range
the user, as ANSYS DesignXplorer automates many of of values, complicated behavior that may occur
the involved tasks. I within that scope may not be captured.
Always review the goodness-of-fit information.
The coefficient of determination is the ratio of the
explained to total variation, in which a value of 1.0
indicates that the response surface explains all the
variability of the given output parameter y i. The
maximum relative residual describes the distance
of the furthest automatic design point from the
response surface, in which a value of 0.0 means that
all design points lie on the response surface.
Because goal-driven optimization, Six Sigma
analysis and robust design studies are performed
on the response surfaces, the user should be aware
that these results are only as accurate as the
generated response surfaces. For example, trying
to achieve tight probability constraints may not be
meaningful if the goodness-of-fit measures indicate
This response surface example shows the variation of an output that the output parameters are not predicted well by
parameter to two input parameters. Goodness-of-fit information
(lower right) provides details on how well the response surface the response surface.
represents inputoutput relationships.

Guest Commentary
40
Managing Simulation Information
as a Corporate Asset
PLM provides a way to readily store, access and By Ed Miller
President
leverage analysis results and work processes. CIMdata Inc.
Part of a companys valuable specifications, change orders and other critical data.
intellectual capital is repre- PLM forms the product information backbone for a
sented by simulation results company by supporting the collaborative creation,
and the processes that go management, dissemination and reuse of product
into analysis: versions of soft- definition information across the extended enterprise
ware used, how problems from concept to end of life. It provides a central
were set up, iterations per- repository for data so people at dispersed locations
formed, decisions made, share ideas, collaborate more effectively, and access
approvals, workflow, respon- information they need, when they need it. Simulation
sible parties, etc. This infor- processes and data must be incorporated into a
mation should be carefully companys PLM strategy to integrate its people more
managed to document the fully into the overall product lifecycle.
project, make it available for reuse later and, possibly, In this way, PLM can enable more effective
form the basis for establishing consistent and retrieval of simulation data and processes in industries
time-saving best practices. that require regulatory compliance and at any
Unfortunately, at most companies much of this company subject to product liabilities and
valuable simulation information is never properly warranty claims. The approach provides a means of
archived. Often, it is destroyed or lost at the end of the standardizing simulation processes across an
project, buried in obscure files or locked away in enterprise, thus saving time in performing analysis and
someones head. So when data is needed later, enforcing consistent best practices. PLM also can
considerable time must be spent looking up files or ensure that engineers and analysts working on simula-
laboriously reconstructing them. Even within the same tion projects are using up-to-date design revisions and
project, simulation executed in the early conceptual that they can more easily retrieve the loading condi-
stages may be long forgotten when problems tions, part specifications, performance requirements
occur near the end of development or after products and other data needed to perform the simulations.
are manufactured. In the worst case, this critical Benefits like these are far-reaching, but
information may be lost forever when the originator companies must do more than merely save the entire
leaves the company or is otherwise unavailable. Some vast amounts of raw data generated by simulation.
forward-thinking simulation software providers Extraneous and irrelevant files must be filtered out,
support capabilities for automatic report generation and remaining information must be appropriately
and capturing analysis processes. But many organized. The analysts and engineers who create
companies have no formal system in place for such information and work routinely with it are in
efficiently archiving this information and replicating the best position to advise and direct those in charge
the processes across the enterprise. of their organizations PLM initiatives on the best way
The impact of not managing simulation data and to blend simulation into the product definition.
related processes can be significant. Without this Companies that take the lead integrating simulation
information, there is no straightforward audit trail to into PLM in this manner will undoubtedly have a
prove how analyses were performed. Also, there are tremendous competitive advantage in the decades to
no recorded procedures for subsequent similar proj- come as the role of simulation continues to expand as
ects, forcing analysts to waste time re-inventing the a critical element throughout the product lifecycle. I
wheel. Problems with inefficiency and inconsistency
are magnified when analysts and engineers in different
locations have no system for exchanging simulation CIMdata Inc. (www.CIMdata.com, 734.668.9922) is an
data or standardizing their work processes. independent consulting firm working with both industrial
A companys product lifecycle management organizations and suppliers of PLM-related technologies and
(PLM) strategy should address these issues by services. The company also conducts research, provides
providing an effective way to manage simulation subscription services, produces several commercial
information as part of the overall product definition, publications and offers industry education throughout North
which includes CAD files, parts relationships, technical America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region.

Where price and power converge
Affordable multi-processor systems

designed by engineers who have been
using ANSYS software for over 20 years.
Visit us at the
2006 International ANSYS Conference
May 2 4
www.ihydra.com
(866) 433-1238

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Industry Spotlight

Simulation allows researchers

Using crack evaluation methods

About the cover

For ANSYS, Inc. sales information, call 1.866.267.9724, or visit www.ansys.com.

Managing Editor Art Director Circulation Manager CFD Update Advisor

www.ansys.com ANSYS Solutions | Volume 7, Issue 2 2006

One of todays major In this issues Tips and Techniques article,

www.ansys.com ANSYS Solutions | Volume 7, Issue 2 2006

ANSYS Signs Definitive Agreement to customers to create elaborate projects without

By Simon Pereira Companies are under intense technical and business

with annual worldwide revenues exceeding $250

billion. Manufacturers in commercial and military

sectors are experiencing unprecedented global

competition to shorten time-to-market and reduce

costs while improving aircraft performance,

increasing fuel efficiency, reducing noise and

decreasing pollutant emissions.

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6 Conventional CFD software is limited in

Hybrid Meshing Advanced Hybrid Meshing

Some photos courtesy Lockheed Martin.

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Fatigue factor of safety at

Calculating and Displaying

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Biaxiality indication As mentioned previously,

www.ansys.com ANSYS Solutions | Volume 7, Issue 2 2006

Fatigue sensitivity This shows how the fatigue

www.ansys.com ANSYS Solutions | Volume 7, Issue 2 2006

Rainflow matrix output Damage matrix

A part can be geometrically optimized with Conclusion

www.ansys.com ANSYS Solutions | Volume 7, Issue 2 2006

Numerous material-related factors can cause a

Mechanical Behavior of Materials

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Others In addition to the most commonly used

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Figure 5. Displacement results on a composites structural

the electronics industry).

IDAC materials database An extensive material

IDAC ANSYS Workbench Materials Database Library

www.ansys.com ANSYS Solutions | Volume 7, Issue 2 2006

ANSYS software quickly generates 3-D crack meshes in arbitrary

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www.ansys.com ANSYS Solutions | Volume 7, Issue 2 2006

Accurate and Thorough Crack Evaluations

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Learn How Innovation Can Make

a Difference in the Marketplace

Better, faster, cheaper is no longer about cutting General Session Speakers

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For conference and registration details, visit www.ansys.com/conf2006.

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