Exercise 2

Given structure: 2D concrete frame with partial discontinuity (two simmetric precasted
components with middle pin-jointed connection).
Geometry and loads:

according to the sketch

Supports:

according to the sketch

Column cross section:

30 30 cm; A = 900 cm2; I = 67500 cm4

Beam cross section:

20 40 cm; A = 800 cm2; I = 106666 cm4

Material properties:

E = 2105 daN/cm2
= 0.2

Distributed load:

p = 60 daN/cm

Force value:

F = 600 daN

Element type:

BEAM3

Requirements:
- Deformed shape
- List of nodal displacements
- List of reaction forces
- Axial force, shear force and bending moment diagrams along the structure

New preprocessing commands

In order to insert the partial discontinuity (the hinge) in the middle of the girder, two coincident
nodes must be defined in that position (7, 8). The displacement DOFs are restored by coupling the
horizontal and vertical displacement of these two nodes. The rotational DOF remain
unconstrained, thus the two beam elements conected to nodes 7 and 8 repectively may have
different rotations (according to applied loads).
To couple DOFs for coincident (or close) nodes, ANSYS provides the following command:
CPINTF, lab, toler
lab
toler

- degree of freedom label (ux, uy, uz, rotx, roty, rotz)

- tolerance for coincidence (defaults to 0.0001)

Note: all nodes lying inside a circle (sphere) of radius toler are coupled along the lab DOFs.
To apply distributed loads along a beam element, ANSYS provides the following command:
SFBEAM, elem, lkey, lab, vali, valj
elem
lkey
lab
vali
valj

- element number or all if applied after a previous elements selection

- load key defining the load orientation (see element input data)
- pres
- load value at node i
- load value at node j

Note: if the distributed load is constant, only the first value (vali) is required.
Preprocessing text file
/PREP7
!
ET,1,BEAM3
R,1,900,67500,30
R,2,800,106666,40
MP,EX,1,2E6
MP,NUXY,1,0.2
!
N,1,0,0
N,5,0,400
FILL,1,5
N,6,100,400
N,7,200,400
N,8,200,400
N,9,300,400
N,10,400,400
N,14,400,0
FILL,10,14
!
REAL,1

!
E,1,2
EGEN,4,1,1
E,10,11
EGEN,4,1,5
!
REAL,2
!
E,5,6
E,6,7
E,8,9
E,9,10
!
D,1,ALL,0
D,14,ALL,0
!
CPINTF,UX
CPINTF,UY
!
ESEL,S,ELEM,,9,12,1
SFBEAM,ALL,1,PRES,60
EALL
!
F,5,FX,600
F,10,FX,600
!
SAVE
FINISH
Postprocessing
The element table assignement for the required graphical representations (axial force, shear force
and bending moment diagrams) are (for element BEAM3):

AXIAL FORCE
SHEAR FORCE
BENDING MOMENT

ITEM

COMP (NODE i)

SMISC
SMISC
SMISC

1
2
6

COMP (NODE j)
7
8
12

Commands sequence for postprocessing (to be typed in the GUI* command line):
/POST1
PLDI,2
PRNS,U,COMP
PRRS,F
PRRS,M
ETAB,NI,SMISC,1
ETAB,NJ,SMISC,7
ETAB,TI,SMISC,2
ETAB,TJ,SMISC,8
ETAB,MI,SMISC,6

ETAB,MJ,SMISC,12
PLLS,NI,NJ
PLLS,TI,TJ
PLLS,MI,MJ
PRET,NI,NJ,TI,TJ,MI,MJ
* Graphical User Interface