146 TEM Module

Crash sensor dynamic simulation

This section contains an example involving mechanical dynamics simulation. This is a pure mechanical analysis.
Direct integration and modal methods are demonstrated.

In general, a dynamics analysis is computationally expensive and requires large amounts of disk space. Please
make sure you are running in a directory with plenty of disk space.

Note: The user is referred to the user’s manual for more theoretical aspects regarding dynamics simulation.

This example involves the dynamic simulation of the crash sensor shown in the following figure. The following
types of simulation will be demonstrated in this example:

Example A: Direct integration-transient analysis

Example B: Transient modal analysis
Example C: Steady state modal analysis

Figure 114 Crash sensor finite element mesh

Start the ThermoElectroMechanical analysis module. Click File…Open and open
\IntelliSuite\Training\TEM\crash-sensor\crash_sensor.save.

You will be performing a dynamic mechanical analysis.

Click Simulation…Simulation Setting

In the dialog box that appears, set the Calculation Type to Dynamic and the Analysis Type to Stress/Disp.
(Direct Integration). In the Dynamic portion of the box, check Transient (Fixed Time Increment). Set the Time
Period to 4e-2 seconds and the Increment Number to 50. Click OK.
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Figure 115 Simulation Setting Dialog

Apply a fixed boundary to both the top and bottom faces of the outer rim (it is not necessary to fix the faces
inside the rim). To do this click Boundary…Fixed. You will then be asked for the face to which to apply the
boundary condition.

Figure 116 Fixed boundaries

Next, we will apply a time dependent acceleration load.

Click Loads…Amplitude vs. Time…Tabular

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Click Loads…Acceleration

Click the center moving mass to apply an acceleration curve.

Once the Amplitude Definition window appears, enter Data Number 3. Then, on your keyboard, click the enter/
return key to update the table. Enter the information as shown in Figure 106. To edit a row, click on the row
number and then click edit. A Modify Dialog will appear. Enter the appropriate values and click OK. The values
will be updated in the table.

Figure 117 Amplitude definition dialog box

Now we can perform transient analysis for the structure. There are two options available: Direct Integration and
Mode Based.

Example A: Direct integration-transient analysis

For this device,

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Click Material…Damping Definition

Click on the moving mass to define a mass damping factor of 100 and a stiffness damping factor of 0, which
describes a low frequency dominated damping case.

Figure 118 Material Damping Definition

Note: A higher stiffness-damping factor may cause a smaller time increment size and cause convergence
difficulties. Usually, for most MEMS devices, the mass damping factor can be adjusted or extracted from the
quality factor Q measurement of low mode resonant frequency, which is strong enough for low mode
dominated transient analysis.

Click Analysis…Start Dynamic Analysis

The dynamic analysis will start to proceed.

Note: This may take up to 45 minutes to run, depending on the speed of your computer.

After the analysis is complete,

Click Result…Show Mode…Entity

Click Result…Displacement…Z

Select the center moving mass. The transient analysis results of the Z-displacement at the last time step (0.04
seconds) will be shown on the screen, as shown in the following figure.
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Figure 119 Z-displacement at last time step

Click Result…2D Plot, Mechanical Analysis…
Click Maximum…Dis_Z (Mag)

The center point z-displacement vs. time curve shows on the screen. This should look like the following figure.

Figure 120 Z-displacement of center node versus time

Quit the graph.

To view the stress components,

Click Result…Stress Component…Any stress components

Select the yellow beam entity.

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Figure 121 beam entity 2D plot

Click Result…Node Curve…Magnitude

You can view the curve of stress components (s xx, s yy , etc.) vs. time at any point picked.

Figure 122 the curve of stress components vs. time at any point

Example B: Transient modal analysis

Click Simulation…Simulation Setting

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In the dialog box that appears, set the Calculation Type to Dynamic and the Analysis Type to Stress/Disp.
(Mode Based). In the “Dynamic” portion of the box, check Transient Modal Dynamics. Set the Time Period to 4e-
2 seconds and the Increment Number to 50. Click OK.

Figure 123 Simulation Setting Dialog

Click Material…Mode Damping Definition

A Dialog window will appear. Enter “6” for Mode number and press Enter. Enter the values shown in Figure 124.
To edit a value, click on the mode number and then click Edit. Enter the new value and click OK. The value will be
updated.
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Figure 124 Mode damping factors

Click Analysis…Start Dynamic Analysis

The dynamic analysis will start to proceed. After the analysis is completed,

Click Result…Displacement…Z

Select the center moving mass. The transient analysis results of the z-displacement at the last time step will show
on the screen. To obtain the time history response at the center of the moving mass,

Figure 125 Z-displacement at last time step

Click Result…Node Curve…Magnitude

Then choose the center point on the moving mass. The center point z-displacement vs. time curve shows on the
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screen.

Figure 126 Z-displacement of center node versus time

Close the graph.

Example C: Steady state modal analysis

We will now investigate the steady state response of the crash sensor under loads of varying frequency.

Click Simulation…Simulation Setting

In the dialog box that appears, set the Calculation Type to Dynamic and the Analysis Type to Stress/Disp.
(Mode Based). In the “Dynamic” portion of the box, check Steady State Dynamics. Define the analysis frequency
range from 100 Hz to 1000 Hz; use 10 for the point number. Click OK.
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Figure 127 Simulation Setting Dialog

Note: The point number indicates the number of analysis points in the following three frequency ranges:

• The first range extends from the lower limit of the frequency range given to the first eigenfrequency.
• The intermediate range extends from eigenfrequency to eigenfrequency.
• The last range extends from the highest eigenfrequency to the upper limit of the frequency range.

Actually, the value of the lower limit of the frequency range can be set equal to the value of the upper limit of
the frequency range. That is, the value of Freq. Range, from (Hz) can be set equal to the value of Freq. Range,
to (Hz). But in this case, the Point Number must be set to 1. With such simulation settings, the dynamic
analysis will be performed on only one single frequency.

Click Loads…Amplitude vs. Frequency…Tabular

Click Loads…Acceleration

Select the moving mass. An Amplitude Definition dialog window will appear. Enter 3 for Data Number, and press
Enter. Enter the values shown in the following figure and click OK.
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Figure 128 Acceleration loading in frequency domain

Click Material…Mode Damping Definition

Confirm that the values match those from Example B.

Figure 129 Mode damping factors

Click Analysis…Start Dynamic Analysis
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The steady state analysis will begin. After the analysis is completed,

Click Result…Displacement…Z

Choose an entity to view the displacement for the last frequency (1000 Hz).

Figure 130 Z-Displacement in the frequency domain

Click Result…Node Curve…Magnitude

Choose the center point of the moving mass. The displacement vs. frequency curve appears. The peak response
happens in the first eigenfrequency, as shown in the next figure.

Figure 131 Displacement response curve in the frequency domain