Application Tutorial 1.

1a
Damping in Ansys Mechanical

Dynamic Analysis Module

Master’s
Master’s DegreeDegree
ininNumerical
Numerical Simulation in Engineering
Simulation with Ansys with Ansys
in Engineering
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Universidad Politécnica de Madrid - Ansys 9th EDITION
 Goals
The objective of this workshop is to understand the effect of damping on a mechanical structure, and how to
apply damping.

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 Description
We will assume a discrete system, that consists of 5 mass-spring systems as shown below. All masses are 1kg,
and the value of each stiffness as:

• K1 = 39.48 N/m → f1 = (1/2) 𝑲𝟏Τ =

𝒎𝟏 1.0 Hz

• K2 = 88.83 N/m → f2 = (1/2) 𝑲𝟐Τ =

𝒎𝟐 1.5 Hz

• K3 = 157.92 N/m → f3 = (1/2) 𝑲𝟑Τ =

𝒎𝟑 2.0 Hz

• K4 = 355.3 N/m → f4 = (1/2) 𝑲𝟒Τ =

𝒎𝟒 3.0 Hz

• K5 = 631.65 N/m → f5 = (1/2) 𝑲𝟓Τ =

𝒎𝟓 4.0 Hz

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 Project Schematic
Open the Project page.
From the Units menu verify:
• Project units are set to “Metric (kg, m, s, C, A,N, V)”.
• “Display Values in Project Units” is checked (on).

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 Project Schematic
• Begin a new Workbench session and, from the Project page, choose “Open“ and browse to the file
“AT01.1_Damping_in_Ansys_Mechanical_Input.wbpz” and Open the zipped file. This file already has the
geometry and springs edited.
• Otherwise users can create a set of 5 cubes in SpaceClaim and place a vertical spring with the
aforementioned stiffness values in Mechanical (Springs are given in Fundamentals Module). The resulting
model should be as shown in the image.
• When prompted, “Save” using the default
name in the same location as the archive file.

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 Project Schematic
• From the Modal system double click (or RMB > Edit) the “Model” cell.

• When Mechanical opens, verify the units are set to “Metric (m, kg, s, V, A)”.

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 Preprocessing
• Under Modal>Analysis Settings ensure that:
“Max Modes to Find” is set to “5”, and
“Solver Controls> Damped” is set to “No”.

Solve

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 Postprocessing
• Highlight the solution branch, and confirm that the first 5 natural frequencies are as expected.

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 Postprocessing
• Highlight the frequency values as shown below, and select “Create Mode Shape Results” ….. and click
“solve”.

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 Postprocessing
• Re-arrange the first 4 mode results as shown in the figure below.

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 Project Schematic
• In the project Schematic, drag a “Harmonic Response” system and drop it at the “Model” cell of the Modal
system.

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 Preprocessing
• Under the analysis settings of the harmonic analysis, set the following:
Range Minimum: 0 Hz
Range Maximum: 4.5 Hz
Solution Intervals: 100
Solution Method: Full
Damping : 2%

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 Preprocessing
• Drag the Frictional Support from the Modal Analysis and Drop it in the Harmonic Analysis branch.

Insert a 0.1 g acceleration load:

Solve.

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 Postprocessing
• Inserts a deformation Frequency Response, and scope it to the top face of the first mass.

Repeat the above procedure for the other four masses.

Solve

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 Postprocessing
• Highlight the 5 frequency responses created, then click on “Chart”.

Note the maximum

value for each mass at
its natural frequency.

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 Postprocessing
• Now, let’s repeat the harmonic analysis but with a higher damping, and compare results over the same
mass for each different damping value.

Solve

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 Postprocessing

Note the values obtained for each

mass over frequency compared to
the un-damped case.

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