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Exercise 20 Stress Concentration 

Exercise 20
Stress Concentration

20-1 Introduction
In Exercise 15, forces are uniformly applied on a block of regular shape, and the resulting stresses are uniformly distributed among the block (15-6[17-21]). In many other cases, stresses are not uniformly distributed: some locations have higher stress than others. As an example, in the C-Bar example, the stress is higher at an inner corner [1]. This phenomenon is called stress concentration. After performing a stress analysis, you should pay attention on locations of stress concentration, and make sure the material doesn't fail, according to the failure criteria discussed in 19-1.  Besides an inner corner, stress concentration may occurs in many other situations. For example, when a force is applied on a very small area, it would produce a high stress on the area. In this exercise, however, we'll focus on the stress concentration on an inner corner.  In this exercise, we'll show that, given an external loading, the magnitude of concentrated stress depends on the radius of the llet of an inner corner. The smaller the radius, the larger the stress. Fillets should be designed in a structure so that the stresses are well below the safety margin.  In the next exercise (Exercise 21), we'll show that, as the radius of a llet approaches zero, the stress concentration will approach a theoretical value of innity. A stress of innite value is called a singular stress. In computer simulations, to reduce computing time, we often simplify the geometry by neglecting detailed features such as llets, and model the llets as sharp inner corners. The results usually remain quite satisfactory in a global sense. Locally, however, singular stresses occur at these sharp inner corners. Singular stresses may not exist in the real-world, since zero-radius llets are not common in the realworld, but they exist everywhere in a simulation model.  What we want to emphasize is that when you see a large stress value, check again to see if it is caused by a unrealistic simplication of geometry. If it is, then you should neglect it.

[1] The stress is concentrated here. (This picture is a duplicate of 19-4[5].)

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Problem Description
Stress concentration occurs most commonly on concave corners. In this exercise, we'll use a lleted plate [2-4] to show that the degree of stress concentration depends on the radius of the llets. The smaller the radius, the larger the degree of stress concentration. The stress concentration factor K, which will be dened later, is commonly used to describe the degree of stress concentration. We'll complete a chart that shows how the stress concentration factor increases as the radius of the llets decrease.

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100 Unit: mm.

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[2] The plate is made of steel.

[4] The radius of the llets ranges from 5 to 15 mm.

[3] The plate has a thickness of 2 mm.

20-2 Start a New Project


Launch Workbench. Create a <Static Structural> system. Save the project as "Fillet." Start up DesignModeler [1]. Select <Millimeter> as length unit.

[1] Double-click <Geometry> to start up DesignModeler.

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10 kN

10 kN

Exercise 20 Stress Concentration 

20-3 Create Geometry in DesignModeler


[1] Create this sketch on XYPlane. The sketch is symmetric about the X-axis.

[2] Click <Extrude>.

[3] Click <Apply>.

[5] Click <Generate>. [4] Type 2 (mm) for <Depth>.

20-4 Start Up <Mechanical>


[1] Don't close DesignModel. We'll be back again. Double-click <Model> to start up <Mechanical>.

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20-5 Apply Forces

[2] Apply a force on this face. For details, see next step.

[1, 4] Highlight <Structural Static> and select <Loads/Force>.

[3] Details of <Force>.

[6] Details of <Force 2>.

[5] Apply a force on this face. For details, see next step.

Exercise 20 Stress Concentration 

20-6 Set Up Mesh Controls


[1] With <Mesh> highlighted, select <Fine> for <Relevance Center> and type 100 for <Relevance>. This is the nest mesh we can obtain using these two settings.

[2] With <Mesh> highlighted, select <Mesh/ Generate Mesh>.

[3] Mesh count.

20-7 Set Up a Result Object and Solve


[2] Solve the model.

[3] The maximum stress is max = 168 MPa.

[1] With <Solution> highlighted, select <Stress/Normal> to insert a <Normal Stress>. Leave all settings in the <Details> as their defaults.

[4] The average stress is ave = 100 MPa.

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Stress Concentration Factor


The stress concentration factor K, used to describe the degree of stress concentration, is dened by the ratio between the maximum stress and the average stress; in this case,  K=

max 168 = = 1.68 ave 100

20-8 Modify the Radius of the Fillets in DesignModeler

[1] In DesignModeler, change the radius to 10 (mm). [2] Click <Generate>.

20-9 Update the Model and Solve It in <Mechanical>

[1] Don't close DesignModeler. In <Mechanical>, select <File/ Refresh All Data>.

[2] Solve the new model.

Exercise 20 Stress Concentration 

[3] The maximum stress is max = 189 MPa.

[4] The average stress is ave = 100 MPa.

The stress concentration factor in this case is  K=

max 189 = = 1.89 ave 100

20-10 Modify the Radius of the Fillets in DesignModeler

[2] Click <Generate>.

[1] In DesignModeler, change the radius to 5 (mm).

20-11 Update the Model and Solve It in <Mechanical>

[1] Don't close DesignModeler. In <Mechanical>, select <File/ Refresh All Data>.

[2] Solve the new model.

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[3] The maximum stress is max = 219 MPa.

[4] The average stress is ave = 100 MPa.

The stress concentration factor in this case is  K=

max 219 = = 2.19 ave 100

20-12 Discussion
According to foregoing stress analyses, we may plot a curve to show a relationship between the radius of the llets and the stress concentration factor [1]. We conclude that, as the radius becomes smaller, the degree of stress concentration becomes larger.

2.2 Stress Concentration Factor (K) Radius (mm) 15 10 5 Stress concentration factor (K) 1.68 1.89 2.19 2.1 2.0 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.6

[1] The curve shows, as the radius becomes smaller, the degree of stress concentration becomes larger.

10 Radius of Fillets (mm)

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Are the calculated stresses accurate enough?


The stresses calculated are actually not very accurate. In an area where the stress changes abruptly (i.e., high stress gradient), it usually requires a ner mesh [2]; the ner the mesh, the more accurate the stress. If the mesh is not ne enough, the stress is usually underestimated. On the other hand, in an area where the stress distribution is smooth (i.e., low stress gradient), the mesh can be coarser [3]. In the following exercises, we'll rene the mesh near the areas of stress concentration, to obtain more accurate results.

Exercise 20 Stress Concentration 

[2] In an area where the stress changes abruptly, it usually requires a ner mesh.

[3] In an area where the stress distribution is smooth, the mesh can be coarser.

20-13 Rene Mesh Around the Fillets


[1] With <Mesh> highlighted, select <Medium> for <Relevance Center> and type 0 for <Relevance>. [3] Select the body and click <Apply>.

[2] Select <Mesh Control/Method> to insert a mesh control method.

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[4] Select <Mesh Control/Sizing> to insert a sizing control.

[6] Select this point. [5] Turn on <Vertex>.

[7] Click <Apply>.

[8] Select <Mesh Control/Sizing> to insert another sizing control.

[10] Click <Apply>. [9] Select this point.

Exercise 20 Stress Concentration 

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[11] With <Mesh> highlighted, select <Mesh/ Generate Mesh>.

[12] Solve the model.

[13] The maximum stress is max = 234 MPa.

The stress concentration factor is  K=

max 234 = = 2.34 ave 100

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20-14 A More Accurate Results


Modify the radius of llets to 10 mm and 15 mm respectively (20-8[1, 2]), refresh the geometry (20-9[1]), and solve the model repeatedly (20-9[2]). We'll come up with stresses of 190 MPa and 168 MPa respectively. A new curve may be plotted [1]. Note that the difference is signicant. 2.5 Stress Concentration Factor (K) Radius (mm) 15 10 5 Stress concentration factor (K) 1.68 1.90 2.34

2.3

[1] This curve is more accurate

2.1

2.0 [2] The curve duplicated from 20-12[1].

1.8

1.6

10 Radius of Fillets (mm)

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Numerical simulations are mesh dependent!?


A lesson we've learned in this section, besides the behavior of stress concentration, is that solution accuracy depends on mesh adequacy. As a general rule, the ner the mesh, the more accurate the solutions. This is an important nature of numerical simulations. Meshing techniques are inseparable part of computer simulations. As a rst course of computer simulation, we will not discuss further on meshing techniques. For now, however, following questions must be answered. In 20-13[13], the calculated maximum stress is 234 MPa. How accurate is this value? Is this value the most accurate one we can obtain? If we rene the mesh further, can we obtain an even more accurate stress? The same questions may be applied to the stresses calculated in 17-4[18]. We will answer these question in next exercise (Exercise 21).

Wrap Up

Close both DesignModeler and <Mechanical>, save the project, and exit Workbench.

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