Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics

Chapter 15
Explicit Dynamics
15.1 Basics of Explicit Dynamics
15.2 High-Speed Impact
15.3 Drop Test
15.4 Review

Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics

Section 15.1 Basics of Explicit Dynamics

Section 15.1
Basics of Explicit Dynamics
Key Concepts

Implicit Integration Methods

Explicit Integration Methods
Solution Accuracy
Integration Time Steps
Automatic Mass Scaling
Static Damping

Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics

Section 15.1 Basics of Explicit Dynamics

Implicit Integration Methods

{}

{}

{ } {}

M D + C D + K D = F

Transient Structural solves the above equation using the following algorithm:
Dn+1 = Dn + t
Dn+1 = Dn + tDn +

The parameters

and

Dn+1 + (1

)Dn

1 2
t 2 Dn+1 + (1 2 )Dn
2

are chosen to control characteristics of the algorithm such as

accuracy, numerical stability, etc.

It is called an implicit method because the response at the current time step depends on
not only the historical information but also the current information; iterations are
needed in a single time step.

Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics

Section 15.1 Basics of Explicit Dynamics

Explicit Integration Methods

{}

{}

{ } {}

M D + C D + K D = F

Explicit Dynamics solves the above equation using the following algorithm:
Dn+ 1 = Dn 1 + Dn t
2

Dn+1 = Dn + Dn+ 1 t
2

It is called explicit methods because the response at the current time can be calculated
explicitly; no iterations within a time step is needed.

Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics

Section 15.1 Basics of Explicit Dynamics

Solution Accuracy

Explicit Dynamics uses the principle of conservation of energy to monitor the solution
accuracy.
(Reference Energy) + (Work Done)Reference

Current

= (Current Energy)

It calculates overall energy at each cycle. If the energy error reaches a threshold, the
solution is regarded as unstable and stops. The default threshold is 10%.

The Energy Error is dened by

Energy Error =

(Current Energy)-(Reference Energy) - (Work Done)Reference

Current

max Current Energy , Reference Energy , Kinetic Energy

Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics

Section 15.1 Basics of Explicit Dynamics

The red curve is the energy error. In this

case, the energy error begins to accumulate
and is approaching the threshold, 10%.

Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics

Section 15.1 Basics of Explicit Dynamics

Integration Time Steps

With explicit methods, the integration time step needs to be small enough to ensure
stability and accuracy of the solution. The German mathematicians, Courant, Friedrichs,
and Lewy, suggested that, in a single time step, a wave should not travel further than the
smallest element size, i.e.
t

h
c

where h is the smallest element size, c is the wave speed in the element.

Because of the CFL condition, when generating meshes for Explicit Dynamics, make
sure that one or two very small elements do not control the time step. In general, a
uniform mesh size is desirable for Explicit Dynamics simulations.

Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics

Section 15.1 Basics of Explicit Dynamics

Automatic Mass Scaling

The wave speed in an element is c = E

and

, where E is the Young's modulus

is the mass density of the element. Further,

= m V , where m is the

mass and V is the volume of the element. Therefore the CFL condition yields
t fh

m
VE

The idea of mass scaling is to articially increase the mass of small elements,
so that the stability time step can be increased.

Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics

Static Damping

Explicit Dynamics is primarily

designed for solving transient dynamic
problems.

Using Static Damping option, a

steady-state solution can also be
obtained.

The idea is to introduce a damping force,

to critically damp the lowest mode of
oscillation.

Section 15.1 Basics of Explicit Dynamics

Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics

Section 15.2
High-Speed Impact

Section 15.2 High-Speed Impact

10

Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics

Section 15.2 High-Speed Impact

11

Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics

Section 15.3 Drop Test

Section 15.3
Drop Test
R20
5 m/s

[1] The phone

body is made of an
aluminum alloy.
120

10

R3

20

Unit: mm.
60

[2] The concrete oor can be

modeled with arbitrary sizes, we
will use 160x80x10 (mm).

12

Chapter 15 Explicit Dynamics

Section 15.3 Drop Test

The energy error begins to

accumulate and is approaching
the threshold, 10%. With
current mesh, if you want to
extend the simulation further,
one way is to increase the
threshold.

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