Ansys Case Study

Two Dimensional Elasticity

Reference:
Finite Element Modeling and Simulation with Ansys Workbench,
Chen, Xiaolin and Liu, Yijun, CRC Press, 2015
A combination wrench is a convenient tool that
is used to apply torque to loosen or tighten a
fastener.
Problem Description
The wrench shown below is made of stainless
steel and has a thickness of 3 mm.
Determine the maximum deformation and the
distribution of stresses under the given distributed load and
von Mises boundary conditions

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Create a Static Structural (ANSYS) Analysis System
Click Static Structural
Double-click (or right-click and choose Edit) on the Engineering Data cell in the above Project
Schematic to edit or add a material.

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Add a New Material
In the following Engineering Data interface which replaces the Project Schematic, click the empty box
highlighted below and type “Stainless Steel” as name for the new material.
Select “Stainless Steel” from the Outline window, and double-click Isotropic Elasticity under Linear Elastic in the
leftmost Toolbox window.

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Add a New Material
Enter “193E9” for Young’s Modulus and “0.27” for Poisson’s Ratio in the bottom center Properties
window.
Save the project and return to Project Schematic

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Launch the DesignModeler Program
Double-click the Geometry cell to launch DesignModeler, and select “Millimeter” in the Units
pop-up window.

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Create Surface Sketch
Click on the Sketching tab. Select the Draw toolbox and then Line.
Draw a rectangle in the XY-plane in the Graphics window
Select the Dimensions toolbox to specify one horizontal (H1) and vertical dimensions (V2) as shown below.

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Select the Draw toolbox and then Circle.
Draw a circle by first clicking on the X-axis for the center of the circle and then at a corner of the rectangle for a
point on the circle, as shown below.
The letter C indicates the center has a coincident relation with X-axis, and the letter P indicates the cursor is on
the corner point. Select Dimensions and specify a radius of 10 mm for the circle

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Draw another circle on the left by first clicking on the X-axis and then at the upper-left corner of
the rectangle. Make sure letters C and P show up as you draw. Specify a radius dimension of 12.5
mm

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Select the Draw toolbox and then Polygon. Draw a six-sided polygon (set n = 6) in the Graphics window by first
clicking at the center of the right circle. Then, drag the cursor anywhere inside the circle and click when there is
a letter H showing above the top edge of the polygon. The letter H indicates the edge is a horizontal line. Select
the Dimensions toolbox and specify the polygon side length as 7 mm.

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Select the Modify toolbox and then Trim.
Click on unwanted line segments and arcs (a total of four lines and four arcs) in the Graphics
window to trim them away. The trimmed sketch looks like the following.

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Select the Draw toolbox and then Rectangle. Draw a rectangle on the left as shown
below. Select the Dimensions toolbox and specify one horizontal dimension (H7) and two
vertical dimensions (V8 and V9) as given below

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Select the Modify toolbox and then Trim.
Trim away unwanted line segments and arcs (a total of two lines and two arcs) by clicking on
them. The trimmed sketch looks like the following

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Select the Modify toolbox and then Fillet. Set the radius of fillet as 2.5 mm.
Click on two intersecting edges to define a fillet.
Create two fillets as shown below at the corners of the rectangle

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Create Surface Body
Switch to the Modeling tab and select Surfaces from Sketches from the drop-down menu of
Concept

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Select Sketch1 from the Tree Outline and click Apply on the Base Objects selection in
the Details of SurfaceSK1. Then click Generate.

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A Surface Body is now created from the surface sketch.
Set the Thickness to 3 mm in the Details of Surface Body.
Save and Exit the DesignModeler

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Launch the Static Structural Program
Double-click on the Model cell to launch the Static Structural program.

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In the Details of “Surface Body,” click to the right of the Material Assignment field
and select Stainless Steel from the drop-down context menu

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Generate Mesh
Right click on Mesh in the Project Outline tree. Select Insert and then Method from the context menu.
Click on the surface body in the Graphics window, and apply it to the Geometry selection in the Details of
“Automatic Method

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Right click on Mesh in the Project Outline.
Select Insert and then Sizing from the context menu

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In the Details of “Body Sizing,” enter “‘1.5e-3 m” for the Element Size. Click on the
surface body in the Graphics window and apply it to the Geometry selection. In
the Outline of Project, right-click on the Mesh and select Generate Mesh

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The following mesh plot will show up.

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Apply Boundary Conditions
Right-click on Static Structural (A5) and select Insert and then Fixed Support from the context
menu

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Ctrl-Click all six sides of the polygon as highlighted in the Graphics window.
You must turn on the Edge Selection filter to select a line.
Click Apply on the Geometry selection field in the Details of “Fixed Support

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Apply Loads
In the Outline, right-click on Static Structural (A5). Choose Insert and then Line Pressure

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In the Details of “Pressure”, click on the arc as shown below and apply it to the Geometry selection.
The Edge Selection filter must be turned on to allow this selection.
Choose Vector for the Define By field, and enter “2e6” for Magnitude.
Click on the vertical line as shown below and click Apply to confirm on the Direction selection.
Make sure the vector is pointing downward.
If not, click the left or right arrow at the bottom left corner to toggle direction.

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Retrieve Solution
Insert a Total Deformation item by right-clicking on Solution (A6) in the Outline tree.

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Insert an Equivalent Stress item by right-clicking on Solution (A6) in the Outline tree

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Right-click on Solution (A6) in the Outline tree and select Solve.
The program will start to solve the model. After completion,
click Total Deformation in the Outline to review the total deformation results. As shown below, the maximum
deformation occurs at the two end tips on the left side of the wrench with a magnitude shown below

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Select Equivalent Stress in the Outline to review the von Mises stress distribution.
The following figure shows that the maximum von Mises stress is located at the two entrant corners on the
right side of the wrench with a magnitude still below 207 MPa, the yield strength of stainless steel.
Decrease the element size in the Details of “Body Sizing” and solve again to see if there is any increase in the
solution accuracy.

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