Getting Started with ANSYS

Amit Gupta
September 27, 2004

1. Starting ANSYS
At this moment, there are two options from where you can run ANSYS: (a) from the NANOHUB and (b) from an ECN Windows NT PC. (a) Using the NANOHUB: If you have not already done so, send out a request for an account on NANOHUB (http://www.nanohub.org) so that you will be able to access and run ANSYS. ANSYS can be found in the General Productivity section of the On-line Simulation section of the NANOHUB. This is the preferred method to run ANSYS for this course. Please make sure you have read all the notes and instructions before actually using ANSYS on NANOHUB. The instructions on using NANOHUB are well documented there and will not be discussed here. Please be patient when running ANSYS on NANOHUB. You may have to play around with the dimensions of the screen size for the VNC session for the most comfortable fit on your specific computer screen. It may be helpful to minimize the ANSYS Output Window as it may get in ones way when trying to access the Graphical User Interface (GUI). ANSYS creates very large files when running. To save disk space, it is advisable to delete unwanted files. Please see the section on General Notes for the address of a web page that describes the files ANSYS creates. This information can also be found in the ANSYS manual found in the Help option in the Utility Menu. (b) Windows NT Click on Start Programs ECN Software Ansys8.1 ANSYS. As stated above, ANSYS creates very large files, so either make sure your local directory is big enough to store these files or redirect your output to a TEMP directory on the computers hard drive. When done, move the important files to your local/working directory. Please see the section on General Notes for the address of a web page that describes the files ANSYS creates. Please make a note of the directory in which files you create are saved.

General Notes:
1. Make sure you save your work occasionally when working on complex geometries. As far as the author knows, ANSYS does not seem to have an undo command. If a mistake is made the previously saved file will have to be reloaded to resume work. 1

2. It is the responsibility of the user to be consistent with the units used in the problem. ANSYS does not ask for or specify which units to use for the parameters. This will be exemplified in the section below. 3. ANSYS creates a large amount of files and data when processing. Not all the files are useful and need to be saved. A good description on the important files is giving in http://www.mece.ualberta.ca/tutorials/ansys/AU/Files/Files.html. The description of the files can also be found in the ANSYS manual from the Help command. 4. Make extensive use of the Help command in the Utility Menu. Note that the Help command gives different options when running ANSYS from a Windows NT PC and when running from NANOHUB. In some dialog windows for commands, the Help option is also given. Clicking on it will open a separate window and describe the command. 5. Familiarize yourself with the ANSYS program. In order to be able to follow the instructions in the following tutorial, please make sure you can locate the following in the ANSYS program: ANSYS Utility Menu, ANSYS Main Menu, ANSYS Command Prompt (the window with the cursor, usually below the Utility Menu) as well as the ANSYS Toolbar.

2. ANSYS Microsized Cantilever Beam Example I

The following problem attempts to give a short introduction to ANSYS by going through a simple 2-D example. The example attempts to model a microsized silicon based cantilever beam, with a load applied at the edge of the free end. (Note: This problem has been adapted from an example found in:http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~ema405/beam/Centilever_beam.htm). F

W L Fig. 1 Simple 2-D cantilever beam

Problem Description
This example is a structural static analysis of a microsized silicon based cantilever beam. One of the edges is constrained, while the other edge is free. A single point force of 50 nN will be applied at the center of the free end in an in-plane direction. The cantilever beam has the following dimensions and material parameters: Length = 200 m = 2e-4 m Width = 20 m = 2e-5 m 2

Thickness = 1 m = 1e-6 m Youngs modulus = 1.3 x 1011 N/m2 Poissons ratio = 0.279

Pre-processing
1. Enter Jobname a. Click on ANSYS Utility Menu File Change Jobname... b. This should open a dialog window with the title Change Jobname. Enter the name beam (jobname will be beam.db). The jobname defaults to file.db if none is specified. c. Click on OK to enter the new jobname and close the dialog window. 2. Specify Title This step is not necessary as far as the analysis is concerned, but it helps in documenting your work. The title will appear on all graphic displays and will be included on the solution output. a. Click on Utility Menu File Change Title... b. Enter the title: Microsized Cantilever Beam. c. Click on OK to enter and close the dialog window. 3. Select Analysis Type Enter /PREP7 (this starts the preprocessing phase) in the Command Prompt window followed by ANTYPE,STATIC (Hit enter after typing every command in the ANSYS Command Prompt window). This selects the static analysis option. Static analysis is the default analysis type. This command can also be accessed from Main Menu Preprocessor Loads Analysis Type- New Analysis. Set Preferences Setting the preferences allows one to choose the desired engineering discipline (structural, thermal, electromagnetic etc.) for context filtering of menu choices. By default the menu choices for all disciplines are shown, with non-applicable choices dimmed based on the element type chosen for the model. By choosing the desired discipline, the dimmed choices are not shown at all. For example, turning on the structural filtering completely suppresses all thermal, electromagnetic, and fluid menu options. This problem performs a static structural analysis, so the structural discipline will be chosen. a. Click on ANSYS Main Menu Preferences... b. Click on the structural button to turn on the filtering. Leave the other default values as they are. c. Click on OK to apply the filtering and close the dialog window 3

4. Set the Units ANSYS does not specify what units to use and it is dependent on the user to specify the units. In this problem SI units will be used. Type /units, si in the ANSYS Command Prompt window. This command cannot be accessed form the menu. Please utilize the Help command in the Utility Menu to learn more about the /unit command. 5. Define Element Types and Options In any analysis one needs to select from a library of element types and define the appropriate one for the analysis. The element type determines many things such as the degree-of-freedom set (displacement, rotations, temperature etc.), the characteristic shape of the element (line, quadrilateral, brick etc.), and whether the element is 2-D or 3-D. Many element types also have additional element options to specify such things as element behavior and assumptions, element results, printout options etc. For information about the different element types, please consult the Help option in the Utility Menu. For this problem element type PLANE42, a 2-D structural element, will be used. For a more accurate result, a higher-order or mid-side node element, PLANE82, should be used. In this problem, plane stress with thickness will need to be specified as an option for PLANE42. The element thickness will be defined as a real constant. a. Click on Main Menu Preprocessor Element Type Add/Edit/Delete... b. Click on Add... to define the element type. c. Choose the Structural Mass Solid family of elements. d. Choose the Quad 4-node 42 (PLANE42) element type. e. Click on OK to apply the element type and close the dialog window. f. Click on Options... in the Element Type window to define the options for PLANE42. g. Choose option K3 (element behavior) to select plane stress with thickness. h. Click on OK to apply the options and close the dialog window. i. Click on Close. 6. Define the Real Constants Real constants are parameters that provide additional geometry information for element types whose geometry is not fully defined by their node locations. For example, shell thickness for shell elements and cross-sectional properties for beam elements. All properties required as input for a particular element type are entered as one set of real constants. There is a possibility of multiple sets only if multiple element types are used in the analysis. Each set is given a reference number.

For this problem, since the assumption is plane stress with thickness, the thickness is entered as a real constant for PLANE42. a. Click on Main Menu Preprocessor Real Constants Add/Edit/Delete... (The preprocessor options window should be still open). b. Click on Add... to add a real constant set. c. Choose PLANE42 by clicking on OK. d. Enter 1.0 e-6 for THK, the plane stress thickness constant. e. Click on OK to close the dialog window and enter the real constant value. f. Click on Close to close the Real Constants dialog window. 7. Define Material Properties Material properties are constitutive properties of materials such as modulus of elasticity, Poissons ratio, density etc and are independent of geometry. Depending on the application, material properties may be linear, non-linear, and/or anisotropic. For this problem, there are two material properties that are necessary for the analysis: the Youngs modulus and Poissons ratio. a. Click on Main Menu Preprocessor Material Props Material Models. b. A Define Material Model Behavior window will open. Click on Material Models Available Structural Linear Elastic Isotropic. (Note: You may have to specifically select the Material Model Number from the Material Models Defined section (left hand side) when there are more than one element types used). c. Enter 1.3e11 for EX (Youngs modulus). d. Enter 0.279 for PRXY (Poissons ratio). e. Click on OK to define the material property set and close the dialog window. f. Close the Define Material Model Behavior Property dialog window (either by double-clicking on the right-hand x or by clicking on Material Exit). 8. Save Database Save the database that has been created so far into file beam.db. Click on ANSYS Toolbar SAVE_DB. 9. Move Global Triad Before creating the geometry, the global triad symbol may be moved from the origin to the bottom left corner of the Graphics Window so that it will not obscure the view of the keypoint and node at the origin.

a. Click on Utility Menu PlotCtrls Window Controls Window Options b. For the option on [/TRIAD] Location of triad, select At bottom left. c. Click on OK to apply the location change of the reference triad. 10. Create Rectangle (Beam Geometry) There are several ways to create the model geometry within ANSYS, some of which are more convenient than others are. These include solid modeling and direct generation (Read more about this in the Help manual). For this problem of a simple cantilever beam, the geometry will be generated using solid modeling. The first step is to recognize that the simple beam is a single rectangle. There are simple predefined geometric shapes called primitives available in ANSYS. A rectangle primitive, for example, defines the following solid model entities in one step: one area, four lines, and four keypoints. a. Click on Main Menu Preprocessor -Modeling- Create Areas Rectangle By Dimensions. You will see a Create Rectangle by Dimensions dialog window open. It will have options for X1,X2 in the top row and options for Y1,Y2 in the bottom row. b. Enter 0 for X1, beginning X-coordinate. c. Enter 2e-4 for X2, ending X-coordinate. d. Enter 0 for Y1, beginning Y-coordinate. e. Enter 2e-5 for Y2, ending Y-coordinate. f. Click on OK to create the rectangle primitive and close the dialog window. g. In the Graphics Window, the rectangle should be displayed. h. Close the previously opened windows up to the Preprocessor options window. 11. Save the database as model.db Save the database created so far to a file with a name that represents the model before meshing. When the model needs to be re-meshed, the analysis can be resumed from this database file. a. Click on Utility Menu File Save as b. Enter model.db for the database file name. c. Click on OK to save the file and close the dialog window.

12. Mesh the area ANSYS has the feature of automatically creating the mesh of the model without specifying any mesh size control (the default mesh). If it is not clear how to determine

the mesh density, one can start by using the default mesh. In this problem, a global element size will be specified to control the overall mesh density. a. Click on Main Menu Preprocessor -Meshing- SizeCntrls -Manual Size- -Global- Size b. Enter 1e-5 for SIZE Element edge length. c. Click on OK to define the global element size and close the dialog window. d. Click on Main Menu Preprocessor -Meshing- Mesh Areas Free e. Click on Pick All for the area to be meshed when the Mesh Areas dialog box opens. f. In the Graphics window, the meshed area should be displayed. g. The pre-processing phase of this analysis is now complete. 13. Save the database as mesh.db The meshed model will be saved in the file mesh.db. a. Click on Utility Menu File Save as b. Enter mesh.db for the database file name. c. Click on OK to save the file and close the dialog window.

Solving
The solution step is where one can define the analysis type and options (already done in the beginning of the preprocessing phase in this example), apply loads and the load options, and initiate the finite element solution. The loads can also be applied in the preprocessing phase as will be shown in Example II below. All displacement constraints and loads are ultimately applied to the nodes. However, there are methods in ANSYS to initially apply them to the geometric primitives and ANSYS will automatically transfer or expand the constraints or loads to the nodes. However, for this problem, the constraints and loads will be directly applied to the nodes. 1. Apply displacement constraints a. Click on Main Menu Solution Define Loads- Apply -Structural- Displacement On Nodes + b. In the Graphics window use the left mouse button to pick the center node on the left-hand edge of the beam. A small circle may appear on the picked node. c. Click on OK to define the displacement constraints on the picked node. d. Choose All DOF for Lab2, DOFs to be constrained. e. Enter 0 for VALUE, Displacement value. f. Click on Apply to apply the displacement and continue. g. Pick the remaining nodes on the left-hand edge of the beam. 7

h. Click on OK to define the displacement constraints on the picked node. i. Choose UX only for Lab2, DOFs to be constrained (You may have to click on All DOF to unselect it). j. Enter 0 for VALUE, Displacement value. k. Click on OK to apply the displacement and close the dialog window. l. Close all the remaining windows up to the Main Menu Solution options window. 2. Apply point load a. Click on Main Menu Solution Define Loads Apply -Structural- Force/Moment On Nodes + b. Pick the center node on the right-hand edge of the beam. c. Click on OK to define the force on the picked node. d. Choose FY for Lab, Direction of force/mom. e. Enter -5e-8 for VALUE, Force/moment value. f. Click on OK to apply the force and close the dialog window. g. Close the remaining open windows up to the Solution options window. 3. Solve a. Click on Main Menu Solution -Solve- Current LS b. After reviewing the information in the /STATUS window, close the data window. c. Click on OK to begin solving the model with the current load step. d. Click on Close to close the information window when the solution is done.

Post-processing
Postprocessing is where one reviews the results of the analysis through graphic displays and tabular listings. The general postprocessor (POST1) is used to review results at one sub-step (time step) over the entire model. The time-history postprocessor (POST26) is used to review results at specific points in the model over all time steps. In this example, only the general postprocessor needs to be used. 1. Enter the general postprocessor and read in the results Click on Main Menu General Postproc Read Results First Set.

1. Plot the element stress in the X-direction a. Click on Main Menu General Postprocessor Plot Results Contour Plot Element Soln b. Choose Elemental Solution Stress and X-Component of stress.

c. Choose Undisplaced shape key Deformed shape with undeformed edge. d. Click on OK to plot and close the dialog window. A colored contour plot of the stress in the X-direction should become visible in the ANSYS Graphics window. 2. List reaction solution a. Click on Main Menu General Postproc List Results Reaction Solu b. Choose All Items for Lab, Item to be listed. c. Click on OK to list and close the dialog window. d. Review the Reaction Solution data and close the data window.

Printing Results
There are instructions on how to print results from NANOHUB under the section titled ANSYS Related Information.

Exit the ANSYS Program

When done, one can exit the ANSYS program along with performing various options. In this example, everything will be saved. a. Click on Utility Menu File Exit b. Choose Save Everything. c. Click on OK to exit ANSYS.

3. ANSYS Microsized Cantilever Beam Example II

Cantilever Beam Example I was a simple 2-D problem, attempting to give you a brief introduction to using ANSYS. This example will be a little more complex in that a 3-D model will be analyzed. In this example, a combination of the GUI and entering commands by typing in the ANSYS Command Prompt window will be performed. The assumption will be made that Example I has already been worked out prior to attempting this problem. The steps in this problem will not be explained in as much detail as in Example I. F

Fig. 2 Simple 3-D cantilever beam 9

Problem Description
The problem described here is similar to that in Example I, except that the model used here is in 3-D and that a point force of 50 nN will be applied at the center of the free end in the downward direction. The dimensions and parameters are similar to those in Example I.

Pre-processing
1. Enter Jobname beam.db 2. Specify Title Microsized Cantilever Beam 3. Select Static Analysis Type (default) 4. Set no preferences For this example, the element type is a coupled field solid. For it to be displayed in the menu, all the disciplines will have to be selected. 5. Set the Units to SI system 6. Define Element Types and Options In this analysis, element type SOLID5 will be used. It is a 3-D coupled field solid. According to the manual, it has a 3-D magnetic, thermal, structural and piezoelectric field capability with limited coupling between the fields. One can read more about it using the Help command in the Utility Menu. a. Click on Main Menu Preprocessor Element Type Add/Edit/Delete... b. Click on Add... to define the element type. c. Choose the Coupled Field family of elements (You may have to scroll down the list a bit) d. Choose the Scalar Brick 5 (SOLID5) element type. e. Click on OK to apply the element type and close the dialog window. f. Click on Options... in the Element Type window to define the options for SOLID5. g. Choose option Element degree(s) of freedom, K1 to select UX UY UZ. h. Click on OK to apply the options and close the dialog window. i. Click on Close. There are no Real Constants to be defined for this element type. 7. Define Material Properties

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Set the Youngs modulus, EX to 1.3e11 and Poissons ratio, PRXY to 0.279. 8. Save Database as beam.db 9. Move Global Triad to the bottom left location of Graphics Window 10. Create Beam Geometry In this example, the geometry will be created differently than in Example I. The model will be created using keypoints. The commands will be entered using the ANSYS Command Prompt window. As a caution, please be careful when typing to avoid typos. Save your work periodically so that if a mistake is made work can be resumed from the previously saved file. a. Enter K, 1, 0, 0, 0 in the ANSYS Command Prompt window. This commands defines keypoint number 1 with coordinates 0,0,0 in the x-y-z space (Note: Command K,1 also does the same as the default value is 0). A 1 will appear in the Graphics Window. This command can also be accessed from the menu as : Main Menu Preprocessor -Modeling Create Keypoints In Active CS ... b. Enter K, 2, 2e-4, 0, 0 in the ANSYS Command Prompt window. This defines keypoint number 2. c. Next a copy command will be used to replicate similar keypoints. This can be done either by entering the command directly into the ANSYS Command Prompt window or using the GUI. Type KGEN, 2, 1, 2, 1, , 2e-5 (careful with the commas) in the Command Prompt window. (To access the command from the menu, go to: Main Menu Preprocessor -Modeling- Copy Keypoints. Please check Help on how to use this command. ). This will display the keypoints 3 and 4. d. Enter KGEN, 2, 1, 4, 1, , , 1e-6 in the Command Prompt window or using the menu as above, enter 1e-6 for the DZ field. This will create four more keypoints in consecutive order (5, 6, 7, and 8). e. Enter L, 1, 2 in the ANSYS Command Prompt window. A line will appear connecting keypoints 1 to 2. 11. Save the database as model.db 12. Meshing a. Click on Main Menu Preprocessor -Meshing- SizeCntrls ManualSize Lines- All Lines. b. Enter 10 in the field NDIV, No. of element divisions. This command can also be executed by entering LESIZE, ALL, , , 10 in the ANSYS Command Prompt window. c. Click on Main Menu Preprocessor -Meshing- SizeCntrls ManualSize Global- Size. 11

d. Enter 2 in the field NDIV, No. of element divisions. This command can also be executed by entering ESIZE, , 2 in the ANSYS Command Prompt window. e. Enter V, 1, 2, 4, 3, 5, 6, 8, 7 in the ANSYS Command Prompt window. One must enter the keypoint numbers in this particular order; otherwise the volume will be irregularly formed. One may have to sketch this out on a piece of paper and play connect the dots to see how this volume is formed. f. Enter VMESH, 1 in the ANSYS Command Prompt window. A Warning window may open up during meshing. Review the information and close the window. At this point, the author would like to point out a command that might be useful: Utility-Menu PlotCtrls Pan, Zoom, Rotate. Explore the various options. Clicking on Dynamic Mode allows you to manipulate the model, to various positions, using the different mouse buttons. 13. Save the database as mesh.db 14. Apply displacement constraints In this example, the displacement constraints and the load application will be done in the preprocessing phase. In this part of the example, many of the commands will be entered using the ANSYS Command Prompt window. a. Enter NSEL, S, LOC, X, 0 in the Command Prompt window. This selects all the nodes in the x=0 plane (y-z plane) near the left edge of the cantilever beam. This command can be accessed using Utility Menu Select Entities. When wanting to pick more than one node at a time, one can use the Box option. b. Enter D, ALL, ALL in the Command Prompt window. This constrains the left edge of the beam in all degrees of freedom (UX, UY, and UZ). c. Step (b) using the GUI: The above command can also be accessed from Main Menu Preprocessor Loads -Loads- Apply -Structural- Displacement On Nodes +. Click on Pick All. This will pick all the nodes that were selected in step (a). Click on OK to define the displacement constraints on the picked node. Choose All DOF for Lab2, DOFs to be constrained. Enter 0 for VALUE, Displacement value (or leave blank as default value is 0). Click on OK to apply the displacement and close the dialog window. d. Enter NSEL, ALL in the ANSYS Command Prompt window. This command basically restores all the nodes as all of them have been reselected.

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14. Apply Point Load a. Click on Main Menu Preprocessor Loads Define Loads- Apply -Structural- Force/Moment On Nodes + b. Pick the center node on the right-hand edge of the beam. c. Click on OK to define the force on the picked node. d. Choose FZ for Lab, Direction of force/mom. e. Enter -5e-8 for VALUE, Force/moment value. f. Click on OK to apply the force and close the dialog window. g. The pre-processing phase of this analysis is complete.

Solving
1. Click on Main Menu Solution -Solve- Current LS 2. After reviewing the information in the /STATUS window, close the data window. 3. Click on OK to begin solving the model with the current load step (Note: If any warning statements should open up, review them and then close them). 4. Click on Close to close the information window when the solution is done. 5. Close the Main Menu Solution option window.

Post-Processing
Please see Example I for details on postprocessing. There are many things that can be analyzed for this problem. It is advisable to explore the many options available.

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