Getting Started with LS-DYNA

LS-DYNA is a general purpose transient dynamic finite element program capable of simulating complex real world problems. LS-PREPOST is an advanced pre/post-processor for LS-DYNA which provides: Full Support for LS-DYNA Keywords LS-DYNA Model Visualization Model Creation & Editing Post-Processing

Before We Start: Interface Layout:

Mouse Gestures: Ctrl + Left Click: Rotate the model Ctrl + Right Click: Zoom in/out of the model Ctrl + Middle Button held down: Translate the model

Shift key can be he used in place of Ctrl key for dynamic model rendering, but Ctrl works faster as it renders wireframe models.

Building the Model: As the first step into LS-DYNA we are going to create a 3D model using LS-PREPOST and perform simple cantilever loading on the beam shown below. As this is the first exercise our steps will closely emulate the keyworded structure of the LS-DYNA input file.

0.3 m

1.0 m 0.2 m

1. To create the model click on page 7 in the main menu and select the Mesh tab to open the Meshing interface. Let the entity remain Box_Solid and select Box. Enter the co-ordinates of the end points of the diagonal as 0, 0, 0 and 0.2, 0.3, 1.0. Enter the mesh density as Vx: 4, Vy: 6 & Vz: 20. Click Create and then Accept. Press Done to clear the dynamic interface area. 2. To define the material properties open page 3 and click on the *Mat tab. From the Group by drop-down menu select All. Scroll down and select 001-ELASTIC and press Edit. In the Title enter Mild Steel. You can click on NewID or type in the material identification MID as 1. The density RO is 7850 (kg/m3), Youngs Modulus E is 210E+9 (Pa) and the Poissons Ratio PR is 0.3. Press Accept, then Done. 3. Now click on the *Section tab, select SOLID and press Edit. Enter the Section ID SECID as 1. Entering the title is optional. ELFORM allows us to select different element formulations but for this problem we will use the default constant stress solid element. Press Accept, then Done. 4. To assign the material properties and the element definitions to the model press the *Part tab. Select PART (1) and press Edit. You can change the title to Beam. Enter SECID and MID as 1.

Alternatively you can open a linked table by pressing the button next to each field and selecting the appropriate values. Click Accept, then Done. 5. You can change the Title displayed on the screen and also in the keyword file by going to page 4 and pressing he *Title tab. Select & Edit [*]TITLE (1). Change the title to Cantilever Loading of a Steel Beam. Press Accept then Done. 6. Save the model by selecting File>Save Keyword from the pull down Menu. Enter the filename as Beam.k and press Save. Loads & Boundary Conditions: 1. To select where the load will be applied on the beam select the *Set tab. From the list select NODE_LIST_GENERATE and press Edit. Enter Node set ID SID as 1. In the B1BEG field enter 731 and in the B1END field enter 735. This selects the block of five nodes from 731 to 735 that form the top edge of the beam. Click Insert to save this data, then click Accept and Done. 2. LS-DYNA requires the user to define a load versus time curve referred to as a load curve. Press the *Define tab and select to Edit CURVE from the list. Enter the Load Curve ID LCID as 1. Insert the default abscissa, A1 and ordinate O1 values which correspond to time and load respectively. Insert the next set of values as 1 & -10000. This curve defines a ramped load that goes from 0 N at 0 sec. (start time) to -10000 N at 1 sec (stop time). Press Plot to visualize the load curve. Close the plot and click Accept, then Done. 3. Now to apply the load select the *Load tab. Select NODE_SET from the list and press Edit. Enter the Node Set ID NSID as 1, DOF as 2 (y-axis translation) and Load Curve ID LCID as 1. Click Draw to visualize the load vectors on the nodes. Click ResForm button in the interface area below the rendering hot buttons to restore the dialog window. Note that this applies a load of 10000 N on each node in the y direction. Press Accept, then Done. 4. To select the nodes on the opposite face of the beam which will be fixed select the *Set tab. Select NODE_LIST_GENERATE and press Edit. Click Add to define a new set. In the B1BEG field enter 1 and in the B1END field enter 35. This selects all the 35 nodes on the end to be fixed. Click Insert to save this data, then click Accept and Done. 5. Click *Boundry tab and select to Edit SPC_SET from the list. We apply single point constraints (SPCs) on each node in the set defined above to fix the beam. Enter the Node Set ID NSID as 2 and change DOFX, DOFY & DOFZ to 1 to constrain the translational motion. Click Accept, then Done. Defining Solution & Output Parameters 1. Click on the *Control tab, select TERMINATION and press Edit. Enter the termination time ENDTIM as 1.0 (sec). Note that this termination time should not exceed the maximum time on the load curve otherwise the load will become zero after that. Select Accept then press Done. 2. Since we are using the default linear 8-node elements with reduced integration for a bending problem we need to provide some parameters to control the zero energy hourglass modes of deformation. Click on HOURGLASS from the list and press Edit. Change the default hourglass viscosity type IHQ to 4 for the stiffness form of Flanagan-Belytschko integration. Press Accept, 3

then Done. (refer to LS-DYNA Theory Manual or a finite element text for more information on hourglassing) 3. To specify the output database to be written click on the *Dbase tab. Select BINARY_D3PLOT from the list and press Edit. Enter the time interval between complete output states DT as 0.05. Click Accept, then Done. 4. Select BINARY_D3THDT and click Edit. Enter the time interval between outputs of time history data DT as 1.0. Select Accept then press Done. Save the keyword file again. Solution & Postprocessing 1. To solve the current keyword file first copy it to your hammer account. To run LS-DYNA type in lsdyna I=Beam.k and press Enter. 2. To look at the results copy your result files back onto your computer and start LS-PREPOST. Click on File>Open>Binary Plot in the pull down Menu and select d3plot and press OK. 3. First click on the Setting tab and select Disp. scale factor. Change the value from 1 to 200 to scale the displacements by a factor of 200 and click Apply. 4. The rendering hot buttons allow the users to view the model in different orientations, zoom in/out, view as solid/mesh/wireframe, plot isosurfaces/fringes and animate the results. 5. Click on the Fcomp to select different fringe components. Press the Ndv tab in the interface area below and select y-displacement. Animate the result by clicking the Animate forward button in the interface area below the rendering hot buttons. 6. The Stress and Strain tabs allow the user to plot von-Mises stress, effective strain, principal stresses and other quantities of interest. 7. To save a plot first change the background color to white by clicking on the Bcolr hot button. Select File>Print to choose other printing options before printing the file.

Questions, comments? Contact: beatnic@aset.psu.edu

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