Transient Structural Analysis

Introduction

A transient analysis, by definition, involves loads that are a function of time. In the
Mechanical application, you can perform a
transient analysis on either a flexible structure or
a rigid assembly. For a flexible structure, the Mechanical application can use the
ANSYS
Mechanical APDL, Samcef, or ABAQUS solver to solve a Transient Structural analysis.

You can perform a transient structural analysis (also called time-history analysis) in the
Mechanical application using the transient
structural analysis that specifically uses the
ANSYS Mechanical APDL solver. This type of analysis is used to determine the dynamic
response of
a structure under the action of any general time-dependent loads. You can use it to
determine the time-varying
displacements, strains, stresses, and forces in a structure as it
responds to any transient loads. The time scale of the loading is
such that the inertia or
damping effects are considered to be important. If the inertia and damping effects are not
important, you
might be able to use a static analysis instead.

Points to Remember

A transient structural analysis can be either linear or nonlinear. All types of

nonlinearities are allowed - large deformations, plasticity,
contact, hyperelasticity, and
so on. ANSYS Workbench offers an additional solution method of Mode-Superposition to perform
linear
transient structural analysis. In the Mode-Superposition method, the transient
response to a given loading condition is obtained by
calculating the necessary linear
combinations of the eigenvectors obtained in a modal analysis. For more details, refer to
Transient
Structural Analysis
Using Linked Modal Analysis System section. The Mode Superposition method is not
available to the Samcef or
ABAQUS solver.

A transient dynamic analysis is more involved than a static analysis because it generally
requires more computer resources and
more of your resources, in terms of the
“engineering” time involved. You can save a significant amount of these
resources by doing
some preliminary work to understand the physics of the problem. For
example, you can:

1. Try to understand how nonlinearities (if you are including them) affect the
structure's response by doing a static analysis first. In
some cases, nonlinearities
need not be included in the dynamic analysis. Including nonlinear effects can be
expensive in terms
of solution time.

2. Understand the dynamics of the problem. By doing a modal analysis, which

calculates the natural frequencies and mode
shapes, you can learn how the structure
responds when those modes are excited. The natural frequencies are also useful for
calculating the correct integration time step.

3. Analyze a simpler model first. A model of beams, masses, springs, and dampers can
provide good insight into the problem at
minimal cost. This simpler model may be all
you need to determine the dynamic response of the structure.

Note:  Refer to the following sections of the Mechanical APDL application documentation for a more
thorough treatment
of dynamic analysis capabilities:

The Transient
Dynamic Analysis chapter of the
Structural Analysis Guide - for a technical overview
of nonlinear
transient dynamics.
 The Multibody
Analysis Guide - for a reference that is particular
to multibody motion problems. In this context,
“multibody” refers to
multiple rigid or flexible parts interacting in a dynamic fashion.

Although not all dynamic analysis features discussed in these manuals are directly
applicable to Mechanical features,
the manuals provide an excellent background on
general theoretical topics.

Preparing a Transient Structural

Analysis

Create Analysis System

 
Basic general
information about this topic

 
... for this analysis
type:

From the Toolbox, drag a Transient

Structural, Transient Structural (Samcef), or
Transient Structural (ABAQUS)
template to the Project
Schematic.

Define Engineering Data

 
Basic general information
about this topic

 
... for this analysis
type:

Material properties can be linear or nonlinear, isotropic or orthotropic, and constant

or temperature-dependent. Both Young’s
modulus (and stiffness in some form) and
density (or mass in some form) must be defined.

Attach Geometry

 
Basic general information
about this topic

 
... for this analysis
type:

There are no specific considerations for transient structural analysis.

Define Part Behavior

 
Basic general
information about this topic

 
... for this analysis
type:
 You can define a Point Mass
for this analysis type.

In a transient structural analysis, rigid parts are often used to model mechanisms
that have gross motion and transfer loads
between parts, but detailed stress
distribution is not of interest. The output from a rigid part is the overall motion of
the part
plus any force transferred via that part to the rest of the structure. A
“rigid” part is essentially a point mass connected to the
rest of the
structure via joints. Hence in a transient structural analysis the only applicable loads
on a rigid part are
acceleration and rotational velocity loads. You can also apply loads
to a rigid part via joint loads. Rigid behavior cannot be
used with the Samcef or ABAQUS
solver.

If your model includes nonlinearities such as large deflection or hyperelasticity, the

solution time can be significant due to the
iterative solution procedure. Hence, you may
want to simplify your model if possible. For example, you may be able to
represent your
3D structure as a 2-D plane stress, plane strain, or axisymmetric model, or you may be
able to reduce your
model size through the use of symmetry or antisymmetry surfaces.
Similarly, if you can omit nonlinear behavior in one or
more parts of your assembly
without affecting results in critical regions, it will be advantageous to do so.

Define Connections

 
Basic general
information about this topic

 
... for this analysis
type:

Contact, joints and

springs are all valid in a transient structural
analysis. In a transient structural analysis, you can specify a
damping coefficient
property in longitudinal springs that will generate a damping force proportional to
velocity.

For the Samcef and ABAQUS solvers, only contacts, springs, and beams are supported.
Joints are not supported.

Apply Mesh Controls/Preview Mesh

 
Basic general
information about this topic

 
... for this analysis
type:

Provide an adequate mesh density on contact surfaces to allow contact stresses to be

distributed in a smooth fashion.
Likewise, provide a mesh density adequate for resolving
stresses; areas where stresses or strains are of interest require a
relatively fine mesh
compared to that needed for displacement or nonlinearity resolution. If you want to
include nonlinearities,
the mesh should be able to capture the effects of the
nonlinearities. For example, plasticity requires a reasonable integration
point density
(and therefore a fine element mesh) in areas with high plastic deformation
gradients.

In a dynamic analysis, the mesh should be fine enough to be able to represent the
highest mode shape of interest.

Establish Analysis Settings

 
Basic general
information about this topic

 
... for this analysis
type:
For a Transient Structural analysis, the basic Analysis Settings
include:

Large Deflection

Large Deflection is typically needed for slender

structures. A rule of thumb is that you can use large deflection if
the
transverse displacements in a slender structure are more than 10% of the
thickness.
Small deflection and small strain analyses assume that displacements are
small enough that the resulting stiffness
changes are insignificant. Setting
Large Deflection to On will
take into account stiffness changes resulting from
change in element shape
and orientation due to large deflection, large rotation, and large strain.
Therefore the
results will be more accurate. However this effect requires an
iterative solution. In addition it may also need the load
to be applied in
small increments. Therefore the solution may take longer to solve.
You also need to turn on large deflection if you suspect instability
(buckling) in the system. Use of hyperelastic
materials also requires large
deflection to be turned on.

Step Controls for Static and Transient Analyses

Step Controls enable you to control the time step

size in a transient analysis. Refer to the Guidelines for
Integration Step Size section for further information. In
addition this control also enables you to create multiple
steps. Multiple steps are useful if new loads
are introduced or removed at different times in the load history, or if you
want to change the analysis settings such as the time step size at some
points in the time history. When the applied
load has high frequency content
or if nonlinearities are present, it may be necessary to use a small time
step size
(that is, small load increments) and perform solutions at these
intermediate time points to arrive at good quality
results. This group can
be modified on a per step basis.

Output Controls

Output Controls enable you to specify the time points

at which results should be available for postprocessing. In a
transient
nonlinear analysis it may be necessary to perform many solutions at
intermediate time values. However, i)
you may not be interested in all the
intermediate results, and ii) writing all the results can make the results
file size
unwieldy. This group can be modified on a per step basis except
for Stress and Strain.

Nonlinear Controls

Nonlinear Controls enable you to modify convergence

criteria and other specialized solution controls. Typically
you will not
need to change the default values for this control. This group can be
modified on a per step basis. If you
are performing a nonlinear Full Transient Structural analysis,
the Newton-Raphson Type property becomes
available.
This property only affects nonlinear analyses. Your selections execute the
Mechanical APDL NROPT
command. The default option,
Program Controlled, allows the application to
select the appropriate NROPT option
or you
can make a manual selection and choose Full,
Modified, or
Unsymmetric.
See the Help section for the NROPT command in the
Mechanical APDL Command Reference for
additional
information about the operation of the Newton-Raphson
Type property.

Damping Controls

Damping Controls enable you to specify

damping for the structure in the Transient analysis. Controls
include: Stiffness Coefficient (Beta
Damping), Mass Coefficient (Alpha Damping),
and Numerical
Damping. They can also be
applied as Material Damping
using the Engineering
Data tab. In addition,
 Numerical Damping is also available for
handling result accuracy. Damping controls are not available
to
the Samcef or ABAQUS solver.

Analysis Data Management

Analysis Data Management settings enable you to save

specific solution files from the transient structural analysis
for use in
other analyses. The default behavior is to only keep the files required for
postprocessing. You can use
these controls to keep all files created during
solution or to create and save the Mechanical APDL application
database (db
file).

Define Initial Conditions

 
Basic general
information about this topic

 
... for this analysis
type:
1. A transient analysis involves loads that are functions of time. The first
step in applying transient loads is to establish initial
conditions (that
is, the condition at Time = 0).

2. The default initial condition for a transient structural analysis is that

the structure is “at rest”, that is, both initial
displacement
and initial velocity are zero. A transient structural analysis is at rest,
by default. The Initial Conditions
object enables you
to specify Velocity.

3. In many analyses one or more parts will have an initial known velocity
such as in a drop test, metal forming analysis or
kinematic analysis. In
these analyses, you can specify a constant Velocity
initial condition if needed. The constant
velocity could be scoped to one or
more parts of the structure. The remaining parts of the structure which are
not part of
the scoping will retain the “at rest” initial
condition.

4. Initial Condition using

Steps (ANSYS solver only):
You can also
specify initial conditions using step controls, that is,
by specifying
multiple steps in a transient analysis and controlling the time integration
effects along with
activation/deactivation of loads (ANSYS solver only). This
comes in handy when, for example, you have different parts of
your model
that have different initial velocities or more complex initial conditions.
The following are approaches to some
commonly encountered initial condition
scenarios:

a. Initial Displacement
= 0, Initial Velocity ≠ 0 for some
parts:
The nonzero velocity is established
by applying small
displacements over a small time interval on the
part of the structure where velocity is to be specified.

i. Specify 2 steps in your analysis. The first step will be

used to establish initial velocity on one or more
parts.

ii. Choose a small end time (compared to the total span of the
transient analysis) for the first step. The second step
will
cover the total time span.

iii. Specify displacement(s) on one or more faces of the

part(s) that will give you the required initial velocity.
This
requires that you do not have any other boundary
condition on the part that will interfere with rigid body
motion of
that part. Make sure that these displacements are
ramped from a value of 0.

iv. Deactivate or release the specified displacement load in

the second step so that the part is free to move with the
specified initial velocity.

For example, if you want to specify an initial Y velocity

of 5 inch/second on a part, and your first step end time is
0.001 second, then specify the following loads. Make sure
that the load is ramped from a value of 0 at time = 0 so
that you will get the required velocity.

In this case the end time of the actual transient analysis

is 30 seconds. Note that the Y displacement in the second
step is deactivated.

v. In the Analysis Settings Details

view, set the following for first step:
 vi. You can choose appropriate time step sizes for the second
step (the actual transient). Make sure that time
integration
effects are turned on for the second step.

In the first step, inertia effects will not be included but

velocity will be computed based on the displacement applied. In
the
second step, this displacement is released by deactivation and the
time integration effects are turned on.

b. Initial Displacement
≠ 0, Initial Velocity ≠ 0:
This
is similar to case a. above except that the imposed displacements
are the actual values instead of “small” values. For
example if the initial displacement is 1 inch and the initial
velocity
is 2.5 inch/sec then you would apply a displacement of 1
inch over 0.4 seconds.

i. Specify 2 steps in your analysis. The first step will be

used to establish initial displacement and velocity on one
or
more parts.

ii. Choose a small end time (compared to the total span of the
transient analysis) for the first step. The second step
will
cover the total time span.

iii. Specify the initial displacement(s) on one or more faces

of the part(s) as needed. This requires that you do not
have
any other boundary condition on the part that will interfere
with rigid body motion of that part. Make sure that
these
displacements are ramped from a value of 0.

iv. Deactivate or release the specified displacement load in

the second step so that the part is free to move with the
specified initial velocity.

For example if you want to specify an initial Z velocity

on a part of 0.5 inch/sec and have an initial displacement
of
0.1 inch, then your first step end time = (0.1/0.5) = 0.2
second. Make sure that the displacement is ramped from a
value of 0 at time = 0 so that you will get the required
velocity.

In this case the end time of the actual transient analysis

is 5 seconds. Note that the Z displacement in the second
step is deactivated.

v. In the Analysis Settings Details

view, set the following for first step:
 vi. You can choose appropriate time step sizes for the second
step (the actual transient). Make sure that time
integration
effects are turned on for the second step.

In the first step, inertia effects will not be included but

velocity will be computed based on the displacement applied. In
the
second step, this displacement is released by deactivation and the
time integration effects are turned on.

c. Initial Displacement
≠ 0, Initial Velocity = 0:
This
requires the use of two steps also. The main difference between
b.
above and this scenario is that the displacement load in the first
step is not ramped from zero. Instead it is step
applied as shown
below with 2 or more substeps to ensure that the velocity is zero at
the end of step 1.

i. Specify 2 steps in your analysis. The first step will be

used to establish initial displacement on one or more
parts.

ii. Choose an end time for the first step that together with
the initial displacement values will create the necessary
initial velocity.

iii. Specify the initial displacement(s) on one or more faces

of the part(s) as needed. This requires that you do not
have
any other boundary condition on the part that will interfere
with rigid body motion of that part. Make sure that
this
load is step applied, that is, apply the full value of
displacements at time = 0 itself and maintain it throughout
the first step.

iv. Deactivate or release the specified displacement load in

the second step so that the part is free to move with the
initial displacement values.

For example if you want to specify an initial Z

displacement of 0.1 inch and the end time for the first step
is 0.001
seconds, then the load history displays as shown
below. Note the step application of the displacement.

In this case the end time of the actual transient analysis

is 5 seconds. Note that the Z displacement in the second
step is deactivated.

v. In the Analysis Settings Details

view, set the following for first step. Note that the number
of substeps must be at
least 2 to set the initial velocity
to zero.
 vi. You can choose appropriate time step sizes for the second
step (the actual transient). Make sure that time
integration
effects are turned on for the second step.

In the first step, inertia effects will not be included but

velocity will be computed based on the displacement applied.
But
since the displacement value is held constant, the velocity will
evaluate to zero after the first substep. In the
second step, this
displacement is released by deactivation and the time integration
effects are turned on.

Apply Loads and Supports

 
Basic general
information about this topic

 
... for this analysis
type:

For a Transient Structural analysis applicable loads are all Inertial, structural,
imported, and interaction loads, applicable
structural Supports, certain Conditions Type Boundary Conditions, as well as supported Direct FE Type Boundary
Conditions. Joint
Loads are used to kinematically drive joints. See the Joint Load section for details. Joint Loads
are not
available to the Samcef or ABAQUS solver.

In this analysis, the load’s magnitude could be a constant value or could vary
with time as defined in a table or via a function.
Details of how to apply a tabular or
function load are described in Defining Boundary Condition Magnitude. In addition, see
the Apply Loads and Supports section
for more information about time stepping and ramped loads.

For the solver to converge, it is recommended that you ramp joint load angles and
positions from zero to the real initial
condition over one step.

Note:  
Acceleration and/or Displacement can be defined as a base
excitation only in a Transient Structural
Analysis Using Linked Modal Analysis System.

Solve

 
Basic general information about this
topic

 
... for this analysis
type:
 When performing a nonlinear analysis, you may encounter convergence difficulties due
to a number of reasons. Some
examples may be initially open contact surfaces causing
rigid body motion, large load increments causing non-convergence,
material
instabilities, or large deformations causing mesh distortion that result in element
shape errors. To identify possible
problem areas some tools are available under Solution Information object
Details view.

Solution Output continuously updates any listing output from the

solver and provides valuable information on the behavior
of the structure during the
analysis. Any convergence data output in this printout can be graphically displayed as
explained in
the Solution
Information section.

You can display contour plots of Newton-Raphson Residuals in a

nonlinear static analysis. Such a capability can be useful
when you experience
convergence difficulties in the middle of a step, where the model has a large number of
contact
surfaces and other nonlinearities. When the solution diverges, identifying
regions of high Newton-Raphson residual forces
can provide insight into possible
problems.

Result Tracker
is
another useful tool that enables you to monitor displacement and energy results as the
solution
progresses. This is especially useful in the case of structures that may go
through convergence difficulties due to buckling
instability. Result
Tracker is not available to the Samcef or ABAQUS solver.

Review Results

 
Basic general information
about this topic

 
... for this analysis
type:

All structural result types except

frequencies are available as a result of a transient structural analysis. You can use a
Solution Information object
to track, monitor, or diagnose problems that arise during a solution.

Once a solution is available you can contour the

results or animate the results to
review the response of the structure.

As a result of a nonlinear static analysis, you may have a solution at several time
points. You can use probes to display the
variation
of a result item as the load increases.

Note:  Fixed body-to-body joints between two rigid bodies will not produce a joint force
or moment in a transient
structural analysis.

Also of interest is the ability to plot one result quantity (for example, displacement
at a vertex) against another result item (for
example, applied load). You can use the
Charts feature to develop such charts.
Charts are also useful to compare results
between two analyses of the same model. For example, you can compare the displacement
response at a vertex from two
transient structural analyses with different damping
characteristics.

Contains proprietary and confidential information of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.

Release 2019 R3 - © ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.